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Scott Community High School musicians earning I ratings at regional and qualifying for the state festival this weekend are (from left) Ryan Cure, Clare Hawkins and William Cupp. (Record Photo)
SCHS instrumental state qualifiers up for the challenge
Qualifying for the state music festival on one instrument is challenging enough.
To be a state qualifier on two instruments - and a sophomore - sets a student apart from the rest of the field.
Ryan Cure is one of those exceptions who will be performing on the tenor saxophone and the clarinet at the state festival in Wichita on Saturday.
“Ryan’s a very dedicated musician,” says Scott Community High School director Suzette Price. “He’s gone the extra mile to take his music talent to another level. And what’s great is that we get to keep him for another two years.”
Cure began playing the clarinet as a fifth grader entering the middle school band program. It wasn’t until the second semester of his eighth grade year that he picked up a saxophone at the request of Price.
“She needed an up-and-coming musician to be part of the jazz band,” says Cure. “I like playing both and I decided to take each instrument to regional as a challenge.”
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Observations of Colony Collapse Disorder
Luke Pontbriand
Editor's note: The following is an essay by Luke Pontbriand about one challenge of beekeeping.
By Luke Pontbriand
We had an observation hive experience CCD, (Colony Collapse Disorder), well, here are my observations.
An observation hive is usually two frames in a wooden box with glass panels alongside the frames so you can look into it. Ours was placed inside a window frame, instead of the window. Bees went to and from the hive via a clear, plastic, tube; roughly one to two centimeters in diameter on the inside, and it was pretty long, so bees had to walk a distance to enter or leave the hive.
In early July of 2004 they swarmed. Swarming is when a hive gets too big for its space and splits, one half leaves to find a new home, and the other stays. A few days later we began to hear something sounding like Canadian geese calling, but we could never see the geese. It took a few more days for us to realize it was the new queens calling challenges to each other from still within their cells. I don't know if that is normal or not, we only noticed it because we saw, watched and heard it all the time, (it was in a dining room window, right next to the table).
In all our other hives we only visited them when necessary, and besides, we could keep them from swarming, the observation hive was so small we could do nothing to prevent it from swarming. Anyway one queen hatched first, as usual, the hive did well and grew back to full strength, but not big enough to swarm. It swarmed again in the same year, except this time, it was different, and it was something that can only be called CCD.
Here is what happened — the first thing that was peculiar was that it swarmed in mid-August. If you aren't a bee expert you wouldn't know that bees do not swarm that late. When they swarm they leave home with little to no food, they find a new home and start from scratch. Swarming that late in the year leaves them with no chance to rebuild or gather food in time for winter. Swarming that late leaves them with no chance for survival. They are not stupid. They just don't do that sort of thing.
The second thing we noticed was that all the bees left. A handful stayed behind and opened up all the brood cells, then proceeded to kill the brood. When they were done they joined the swarm, which was, interestingly enough, in the exact same spot as they had swarmed to in July. The swarm stayed in that spot for three days until it died off. The hive had self-destructed.
We asked around but no one could make sense of it. Only now, after learning about CCD and remembering what happened back then do we realize, or at least believe that we witnessed CCD.
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Susan Beth Gustafson
Susan Beth Gustafson, of Harrison, Maine, completed her journey here on Earth on June 24, 2008, with the same grace and beauty that she lived. Always the thoughtful friend, Sue, 54, comforted her family and friends until the end, asking them not to mourn her death, but celebrate her amazing, blessed and loving life.
She was never without a kind word or her trademark smile. The births of her two grandchildren, Stella and Colby Gilmore, enriched Sue's life. Always radiant, Sue glowed so bright when talking about them. Stella and Colby now have the grandest guardian angel in heaven, their "Nama." Sue always believed that life is precious and that it is important to enjoy the present moment. Two years ago, Sue and her husband, Dave, decided to move to Harrison to have a more relaxing lifestyle. Their new home is 45 minutes from their favorite ski mountain and 15 minutes from their boat at the lakeside camp where they spent time together and with their family and friends. Sue was happiest surrounded by her family and friends. Before a critical surgery two months ago, Sue told the family how proud she was of her life and her family and all her accomplishments. She had done everything she dreamed of doing.
Sue loved adventure. She celebrated her 40th birthday by parachuting from a plane and every year after she sought out a new adventure, whether it was paragliding or traveling to a new place. Her passion was water skiing, which she started at age eight on Chautauqua Lake, near Jamestown, N.Y., where she was born on July 6, 1953. Sue was such an avid water skier that she enjoyed showing off all of her tricks to friends and family.
Consciously she lived and loved. Sue so enjoyed having her exchange student sister from Malaysia live with her family during high school, that she was an active hostess for many exchange students during her children's high school years. She wanted to teach her children to embrace world cultures and they did just that. Sue loved traveling to Switzerland with her husband a couple years ago, and was most impressed by her visit last year to Croatia with her "sisters" in the Voices From the Heart choir, where Sue was an alto for four years.
As a professional woman, Sue helped so many people through so much. For a decade she worked as program director of Crotched Mountain Community Care, where she was instrumental at getting ServiceLink operating in New Hampshire.
Sue is survived by her loving husband of 32 years, Dave Gustafson, of Harrison, Maine, daughter Jen and her husband, Kelsey Gilmore, of Newmarket, N.H., son Jeff and his wife, Hesty Gustafson, of Dover, N.H., parents Garth and Betty Secor of Jamestown, N.Y., two sisters, Sharon and her husband, Rick Erickson, of Lakewood, N.Y., and Shelly and her husband, Jerry Davis, of Jamestown, N.Y., one brother, Steven and his wife, Linda Secor, of Fletcher, N.C., two grandchildren, Stella and Colby Gilmore, several nieces and nephews, and Henry, Sue's canine night nurse.
"It's not the years. It's the mileage." — Randy Pausch
A celebration of life honoring Sue's memory is scheduled for 3 p.m. on July 11, 2008, at the South Church, 292 State St., Portsmouth, N.H.
Donations can be made in memory of Sue to Crotched Mountain Community Care, 30 International Drive, Portsmouth, NH 03801; the Dana Farber Cancer Institute at www.dana-farber.org; or Voices From the Heart, P.O. Box 926, Portsmouth, NH 03801.
© Copyright 2006-2019 GateHouse Media, LLC. All rights reserved • GateHouse Publicrecords04
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U.S. Screws Indian Drug Firm Ranbaxy; Bans 30 Drugs on Safety, Quality Grounds
By SearchIndia.com on September 17, 2008 No Comment
Citing “serious manufacturing deficiencies” at plants belonging to Indian drug manufacturer Ranbaxy, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has banned import of over 30 different generic drugs from the company.
The Ranbaxy plants under fire are located at Dewas and Paonta Sahib in India.
The FDA also sent out two warning letters to Ranbaxy, the second time the agency has issued a warning letter to this company in less than three years.
According to FDA oficials, the problems at the two Ranbaxy plants relate to deficiencies in the company’s drug manufacturing process including inadequate sterile processing operations, cleaning of equipment used to make drugs, cross-contamination concerns and quality control issues.
The ban excludes Ganciclovir oral capsules because Ranbaxy is the sole supplier of this drug to the U.S.
So if you live in the U.S. (like we do), you might want to think twice before taking any Ranbaxy drugs. Given the high cost of healthcare in the U.S., you just can’t afford to take chances (Apart from the FDA’s serious concerns, Ranbaxy is also being investigated separately by the U.S. Justice Department).Â
According to the FDA’s director of its Center for Drug Evaluation and Research Janet Woodcock, M.D.:
With this action we are sending a clear signal that drug products intended for use by American consumers must meet our standards of safety and quality. The FDA has notified other agencies and health care professionals to make them aware of today’s actions so that they can take appropriate action and advise patients as needed.
Until Ranbaxy fixes deficiencies at the two facilities and the plants come into compliance with U.S. specifications, FDA will not approve new drug applications that list the Paonta Sahib or Dewas plants respectively as the manufacturer of active pharmaceutical ingredients or finished drug products.
In its statement, Ranbaxy did not address the specific concerns cited by the FDA in the two letters but claimed:
Ranbaxy is very disappointed in the action FDA has taken today. The company has responded to each concern FDA has raised during the past two years and had thought that progress was being made….The company has just received the warning letters that FDA has issued and has not had the opportunity to review those concerns that FDA has determined are unresolved.
The FDA, however, is not removing the Ranbaxy products from the market, and found no evidence to date that the company has shipped defective products.
FDA is asking consumers to continue taking their Ranbaxy medications and not disrupt their drug therapy.Â
One of the largest foreign suppliers of generic drugs to the U.S., Ranbaxy makes several drug products including some that compete with drugs made by giant U.S. companies such as Bristol-Myers Squibb.
U.S. Screws Indian Drug Firm Ranbaxy; Bans 30 Drugs on Safety, Quality Grounds added by SearchIndia.com on September 17, 2008
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Turntable star Qbert talks about DJ Hero 2
Arts & Entertainment // Entertainment
Peter Hartlaub Oct. 6, 2010
1of3DJ Qbert, seen here on Thursday, September 23, 2010 at video game release party in San Francisco, Calif., was born in Daly City and developed his turntable skills as a student at Balboa High School. He's one of the premiere turntablists in the world, considered by some to be the Jimi Hendrix of mixing and scratching. He's also a consultant on the DJ Hero video game and it's sequel DJ Hero 2 which is to be released soon.Photo: Carlos Avila Gonzalez, The Chronicle
2of3San Francisco turntable legend DJ Qbert as he appears in DJ Hero 2.Photo: Courtesy Activision
Long before DJ Qbert fell in love with turntable scratching, the Daly City native was obsessed with video games.
"My dad bought a console at a flea market," he remembers. "It was just Pong. That was it. You couldn't play cartridges on it. We had a black-and-white TV for many years, and we'd play Pong and Atari."
Now a turntable maestro, the 40-year-old Qbert (born Richard Quitevis) has been working with the makers of DJ Hero, a video game that simulates mixing and scratching. Qbert, who has been credited with coming up with the first musical annotation for scratching, is an outspoken advocate for turntables to be accepted as musical instruments. He's hoping the Activision game will introduce his passion to a broader demographic.
Qbert, a founding member of the San Francisco turntable pioneers Invisibl Skratch Piklz, lives in Burlingame and runs a school for scratching at www.DJ Qbert.com. We caught up with him two weeks ago during an event in San Francisco for DJ Hero 2, which comes out Oct. 19.
Q:You've designed turntables in the past, but you don't patent them. Why?
A: When I was a kid, I learned about Mercedes-Benz. They invented the seat belt, and they (said), "We're not going to patent it. Everyone should have a seat belt in their car." I thought that was nice. People should be like that. It's beyond money, it's about karma. It's a beautiful thing.
Q:Was there any time during your Pong days that you imagined a turntable video game?
A: We thought about it, but we never knew how it was going to work. So we just made music for video games. ... It's going to get more advanced. Just as any other musical instrument gets more advanced, video games are kind of an instrument in themselves. The graphics will get better. I think we'll be playing hologram video games some day.
Q:Do you remember your first experience with a turntable?
A: It was back when they had rock records, and people were saying, "If you play it backward you can hear the devil." I was doing that kind of thing. It wasn't actual scratching, but it involved manipulating sound in a certain way.
Q:What about actual scratching?
A: I was walking home from school one day, 15 years old, coming home from Balboa High School. It was on Excelsior Street, where the hills are really steep. Somebody had their garage door open, and some kid was manipulating "The Egyptian Lover." "Wha-wha-wha ... He's the DJ if you can't scratch ... wha-wha-wha." I thought that was pretty trippy. I went home and had the exact same record so I tried it myself. And I just fell in love.
Q:How many people said that you would never make a living scratching?
A: At Balboa High School, there was an ROTC popularity poll. I got "Class Clown" and "Most Likely to Not Succeed"
Q:Do you ever get the urge to say "In your face!" to your old classmates? You could even scratch it. "In your fa-fa-face!"
A: They were looking for a place to throw the party, so I had the reunion at my house. ... I try not to do the "In your face" thing. I try to keep it low key.
Q:How does your online scratching school work?
A: It's a worldwide community. We all just talk about scratching. There's a curriculum with videos. There are hundreds of scratches you can learn, from beginner to advanced. There's also a section where a DJ can send in video - say he's in Africa or something - can say, "Hey, what do you think about my scratching?" People are helping me out, too. It's a great community of DJs.
Q:Do you get any senior citizens? Anyone with a surprising background?
A: Everyone who loves scratching is on there. All ages. Every nationality you can think of. Different cultures, religions. We've even got a priest on there. He's from the Bible Belt. He's always talking about the Bible. He's cool.
Q:Are you hoping that DJ Hero 2 works as a gateway, so kids start scratching for real?
A: That's the reason why I'm here. If I didn't think it would interest kids in actual scratching, I wouldn't be doing it. Kids will check it out and hopefully say, "Whoa, this is a great unexplored universe." ... I think of my cousin. After he played Guitar Hero, became a real bass player. I figured if he can play bass, we can get more kids interested in the art of scratching.
Peter Hartlaub
https://www.facebook.com/SFChronicle/peterhartlaub
Peter Hartlaub is The San Francisco Chronicle’s pop culture critic and host of the podcast The Big Event. The Bay Area native has worked at The Chronicle since 2000, and was a Chronicle paperboy from 1982 to 1984. He reviews movies, television and comedy, covers entertainment, creates multimedia projects and writes the Our San Francisco local history column. The Big Event is recorded in The Chronicle’s basement archive. Hartlaub lives in Alameda.
‘Crawl,’ and six more good movies that didn’t screen for critics
Apollo 11 advertisements: First Mad Men on the moon
Dan the Automator follows his own lane to food, movies, ‘Always Be My Maybe’
U.S. government sues to evict couple from Presidio Heights mansion
By Roland Li
SF office space is expensive. A ballot proposal might make it worse
How to ‘eat’ makeup: An ASMR artist reveals her tricks
Harjo first Native American to be named U.S. Poet Laureate
Having located the Exit sign, I am proceeding to the exit
And (almost finally), some of the things I hate
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Police make arrest in 1988 death of 10-year-old girl
EEUU: Mujer que recibe postal de 1993 encuentra al remitente
https://www.sfgate.com/visionsf/article/Rose-Broome-uses-crowdfunding-to-offer-hope-to-6857696.php
Rose Broome uses crowdfunding to offer hope to homeless
By Kevin Fagan
Updated 4:40 pm PST, Wednesday, March 9, 2016
Rose Broome is a techno-nerd. Proudly so. She also agonizes emotionally about the homeless. Proudly so.
Photo: Peter DaSilva, Special To The Chronicle
Rose Broome, founder of the HandUp is seen on Thursday, Jan. 28, 2016 in San Francisco, Calif.
Rose Broome, founder of the HandUp is seen on Thursday, Jan. 28,...
She sees no disconnect there, contrary to stereotypes of uncaring, young and well-off techies. And she has put proof to that lack of disconnect by founding — and taking to wild success — one of the more compassionate technological enterprises to emerge in recent years to help the penniless.
Three years ago, 34-year-old Broome invented a crowdfunding program to raise money tailored to individual homeless people. She called it HandUp, and to date, it has helped 1,637 people with more than $1.07 million funneled through her site — and she’s just getting started.
“I don’t have all the answers; I have a lot of questions,” said Broome, whose innocent-seeming sincerity belies the steely, no-nonsense interior of someone who knows how to hammer home deals. “But as a person who has worked in tech, I have seen how new ideas are nurturing and encouraging.”
‘Moral imperitive’
Broome leaned forward earnestly on one of the plain white desks at her airy, modern office in the Hattery, a South of Market hub for startups like hers. “Here’s the thing,” she said. “For me, I feel a moral imperative. We’ve created all this technology and this thing called crowdfunding, so we have to use it for good.”
For acting on that conviction, Broome has been nominated for the second annual Visionary of the Year award, sponsored by The Chronicle and St. Mary’s College of Economics and Business Administration.
The system she created is not complicated, which is the point. Someone in need compiles a short story or video detailing what he or she desires to move positively ahead in life, posts it on the HandUp site — and then people donate to that specific member.
Easy to find help
Some people need dentures. Others need glasses or security deposits for moving indoors — the sort of things someone who is down and out needs to get up and running in life. And as they fill those needs, donors get to follow their progress online. It’s a double-feel-good loop.
Clients are found through case managers who help the needy, and donations are processed through organizations such as Project Homeless Connect so that they are sure to go to the need delineated. The organization started out in San Francisco and is still based there, but it has expanded around the nation to locations including Detroit, Oregon and Utah.
“Everyone has to jump through so many hoops normally to get help, but we just want it to be easy,” Broome said. “So what we’ve come up with is really pretty simple — crowdfunding, connecting people with the crowd. That’s basically it.”
Broome got the idea for her startup one freezing winter night in 2012 as she was walking along Market Street. She passed a woman shivering, asleep in a doorway on top of a thin blanket, and Broom’s mental lightbulb turned on.
“Of course, we see people on the streets every day, but it was so cold and this woman looked so miserable,” she said. “I just stopped and thought, ‘Why are things not adding up here? Why doesn’t this woman have a place to stay?’
“I thought, ‘In this city with all this innovating, all this building, here’s a problem that needs to be solved, and maybe I can do something about it.’”
The small plaza area near the 5th Street onramp to the Bay Bridge is a favorite with a hardy group of homeless. Homeless encampments are still prevalent in San Francisco, Calif. and their locations are becoming more apparent. less
The small plaza area near the 5th Street onramp to the Bay Bridge is a favorite with a hardy group of homeless. Homeless encampments are still prevalent in San Francisco, Calif. and their locations are becoming ... more
Photo: The Chronicle
Going outside system
At the time, Broome was working as a data analyst for a self-improvement startup, offering games to help people cope with sickness or lose weight. Four months later, with the help of hackathon buddies Zac Witte and Sammie Rayner, HandUp was born.
It took months of fishing for startup money before she caught the ear of angel investor Jason Calacanis. He gave her $35,000, which was enough to get up and running. Soon investors from Ron Conway, who nominated her for the award, to Salesforce.com CEO Marc Benioff were weighing in, and she was well on her way.
“I’m a New York and Los Angeles transfer, and I’d moved to San Francisco and was in complete shock at what I saw here on the streets,” Calacanis said. “So when I met Rose I was really intrigued.
“I said, ‘You know, this sounds kind of crazy starting a Kickstarter for homeless people,’ but Rose is someone who does not take ‘no’ for an answer. As a closer, she is indefatigable. Being nice is great, but she’s also ruthless when it comes to execution and to raising money.”
Another person wowed early on by Broome was Bevan Dufty, then the San Francisco mayor’s point man on homelessness.
“I have seen over and over that sometimes you have to go outside the system to get people the help they need,” said Dufty, who retired from his job at the end of 2015. “And HandUp is brilliant at doing that.”
“One thing that’s wonderful about Rose is that she is credible in the service provider community and credible in the tech community,” Dufty said. “Not many people can walk in both of those worlds. I just love Rose.”
Collaborative effort
Getting off the street is a fully collaborative effort with the HandUp people — and that is not lost on anyone.
“Rose is an amazing person, and what she started changed my life,” said Ronnie Goodman, 55, who gained national attention as an artist and competitive runner while living in a tent in San Francisco for five years. Goodman moved indoors in December after he got more than $3,000 in move-in costs through HandUp.
“What I got was not charity, not a handout,” Goodman said. “It was a belief in what I was doing — belief in helping people up, giving them a hand. It’s beautiful.”
Kevin Fagan is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: kfagan@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @KevinChron
Visionary of the Year award
This is one of eight profiles of nominees for The Chronicle’s second annual Visionary of the Year award, which is presented in collaboration with St. Mary’s College’s School of Economics and Business Administration. The honor salutes leaders who strive to make the world a better place and drive social and economic change by employing new, innovative business models and practices. The eight finalists were nominated by a distinguished committee that included Evan Marwell, CEO and co-founder of the nonprofit group Education SuperHighway; Pam Baer, founder and CEO of For Goodness Sake, a nonprofit foundation that created an e-commerce site to connect consumers with curated brands and nonprofits; Ron Conway, an angel investor and philanthropist; Ben Fong-Torres, a noted rock journalist, author and broadcaster; Pamela Joyner, founder of the strategic marketing consulting company Avid Partners LLC; Zhan Li, dean of St. Mary’s School of Economics and Business Administration; and John Diaz, The Chronicle’s editorial page editor.
Chronicle Publisher Jeff Johnson, Editor in Chief Audrey Cooper and Diaz will select the winner, which will be announced during a March 29 ceremony.
To read more, go to www.sfgate.com/visionsf.
With tent city cleared, no shortage of ideas — or homeless
Mayor says Campos’ homeless proposal just a lot of talk
Supervisor pushes S.F. to speed building of homeless shelters
Homeless encampment on SF’s Division Street cleared by city
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Dave Ogilvie mixing ‘Call Me Maybe’
Inside Track | Secrets Of The Mix Engineers
By Paul Tingen
All it took to make a star of Carly Rae Jepsen was one memorable song — and, in Dave Ogilvie, a mix engineer who understood how to make it stand out.
Dave 'Rave' Ogilvie at The Warehouse in Vancouver, where 'Call Me Maybe' was mixed. Photo: Adam PW Smith
Producer Josh Ramsay called mixer David 'Rave' Ogilvie in March 2011, excited about a new song he'd written and recorded with the relatively unknown Canadian singer Carly Rae Jepsen. Ogilvie recalls, "I enjoy everything Josh works on and like mixing his stuff, so I was eager to hear what he'd done. I went over to his studio, The Umbrella Factory, and when he played me the song I thought it had one of the biggest hooks I'd heard in years. I couldn't wait to mix it, and did so a couple of months later. I knew that the Canadian radio would love the song, and when it took off in Canada I felt vindicated in my initial opinion. But I had no inkling at all of its worldwide potential.”
Very few people had. 'Call Me Maybe' was released in Canada in September 2011, and was in the top 10 by the end of the year. Then Justin Bieber heard it on Canadian radio and tweeted that it was "possibly the catchiest song I've ever heard” — whereupon 'Call Me Maybe' went on to become the big Summer hit of 2012. It reached number one in 20-something countries, including Canada, the UK and the US, went multi-platinum in Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the US (where it sold a whopping four million copies), and turned Jepsen from a former Canadian Idol second runner-up into a global star.
Back at home in Vancouver, Ogilvie is well known as a top mixer and producer, although he is more strongly associated with electronic and industrial music than breezy, catchy pop. He has worked with Skinny Puppy, Nine Inch Nails, the Birthday Massacre, Marilyn Manson, Einstürzende Neubauten and many more, and in recent years his activities have increasingly crossed over to the pop market, in part because of his regular work with Ramsay, who is also a member of the pop band Marianas Trench.
Ogilvie: "One of my biggest influences was Neil Young, so I can relate to the folky, acoustic guitar stuff, but also to more experimental things. For example, the first record that I ever bought was by Kraftwerk. So as a producer I've always been completely comfortable working with synthesizers and computers and rock and folk guitars. When I finally got round to working with Nine Inch Nails [1994], one of the most striking things for me was Trent [Reznor]'s love of melody. It's also where I came from: when I was a kid, I listened to a lot of pop music on the radio. To be able to enjoy melody in industrial music was a big turning point for me: finally, there was somebody who understood that you can have cacophony and all these crazy, aggressive sounds, and yet you can put melody in it as well. There is music in everything, and these days there's a big convergence of genres. You can now use anything from anywhere, and people get excited about it. The pop music that has fallen into my lap during the last two years has been easy to deal with, because usually it's well recorded with lots of slick sounds. I may then throw some really extreme drum samples into the mix, and people will say: 'Hey, that's amazing, where did that come from?' Often I don't have the heart to tell them, because they may get nervous about it!”
'Call Me Maybe' thus conceals some darker elements beneath its radio-friendly surface. At first listen, it's a rather fluffy, lightweight, bubblegum pop song, but closer inspection quickly reveals another dimension, which is most apparent in a hypnotic four-to-the-floor bass drum that becomes monstrous in the choruses and a muscular string hook. The song also comes across as a genuine representation of Carly Rae Jepsen's character.
"Yeah, Carly has this quirky aspect to her personality,” comments Ogilvie. "Josh and I both know her well and it was very important for us that you could hear and feel who she is in the song, that you could feel her attitude. It's something that so often gets lost in the production or the mix, when the lead vocal gets homogenised and you can't really identify with the singer. For me as a mixer, this is one of the biggest issues, and I'm always very careful to make sure that the singer's identity comes across, which in this case was a bright and sassy young woman with lots of confidence. Mixing this song was a matter of really making sure that the reality of the song and Carly's personality were matched by the technology. It is a teenage song and most people would not have taken it any further than that, but Josh and I did whatever it took to make it something special. We didn't want to take the easy route of using presets and adding loads of bells and whistles. Instead we were looking for a more creative and different approach. Compared to a lot of the other pop stuff I mix, this session was quite minimal. The arrangement doesn't try to fit every hole, and mixing the song was more about making what's there jump out at you.
"The main thing that Josh wanted me to do during my mix of 'Call Me Maybe' was to make the kick drum really prominent and punchy. He wanted me to do everything I could to make it super-special. I think I spent a good couple of hours on the kick drum alone, and kept pushing myself to create the ultimate kick drum, and have it super-loud and driving the track. When I finished the mix, I thought it really was very, very loud, and I was a little apprehensive about the power of the bottom end, wondering whether I'd gone too far with it for a pop song. But Josh and I looked at each other and said: 'This is what we are shooting for.' So we printed it like that and when I later heard it on the radio I was like, 'Wow, this is awesome.' It seems to work because of the space in the track, which I was careful to leave, which means that you can hear the punch the kick drum is intended to have on computer speakers and in cars and in stores, in fact pretty much everywhere.
"My background in industrial music definitely helped in achieving this. I was trying to get the same feel in 'Call Me Maybe' as in a Nine Inch Nails song, making sure it had a pop sensibility, but with people not even noticing how aggressive the kick drum is. It was the same thing with the strings, which are canned, taken from a Miroslav sample bank, an Orkester patch and an EXS24 patch. I find that it's so easy for strings to get lost in a track. You often mix them to a level where you think they are good, and later you hear them on the radio and you think, 'Man, I should have put them up a dB or more.' Josh and I both knew that the strings provided a big hook for the song, and so he had doubled them with electric and acoustic guitars to make them sound beefier and more aggressive. I mixed these guitars in just behind the string samples, so you don't really consciously notice them, but they definitely gave the strings more kick. I normally wouldn't think that strings and guitars would combine well like that, but in this case it gave the strings such an aggression and a striking sonic image. We had to get over our fear of mixing the strings and kick too loud and for them not to drown out the vocals, which were the third crucial element. The vocals also had to be clear as day and aggressive-sounding.”
Warehouse Rave
Josh Ramsay (second from right), who co-wrote and produced 'Call Me Maybe', in his day job as frontman of Canadian rockers Marianas Trench.
David Ogilvie mixed 'Call Me Maybe' on a 72-channel G-series SSL with E-series EQ in The Warehouse, one of the big studios in Vancouver, owned by Bryan Adams. He explains his requirements in choosing a studio. "Where I work depends on the project. Budgets have changed, so I can't always work on a massive SSL with a huge Pro Tools rig. I don't like working in the box. I'll do it if absolutely necessary, but I'll generally try to work out a deal with the studio so they'll give me a break and I don't have to work in the box. When working on a desk, I'll always mix on an SSL, and one of the main issues is that it has to be in good working condition, because there's nothing worse than mixing on an old board that's not working properly any more. For monitors, I still like the NS10s with subwoofer powered by a Studer amp, and I also like working with Genelecs, Dynaudios and KRKs. I generally work at one of three studios: the in-house studio of 604 Records [Jepsen's label, which is closely related to Simkin Management, which has Jepsen, Ramsay and Ogilvie on its roster], Hipposonic Studios, or The Warehouse Studio A, which is normally Randy Staub's room.” (See January 2012 issue: /sos/jan12/articles/it-0112.htm)
"The first thing I do when I start a mix is push up all the faders and listen to everything. I walk around the room and tweak little things, but I'm otherwise not doing very much for the first hour or so. If there are people in the room, they can get quite confused, because it looks like I'm not doing anything, but I'm busy in my mind trying to assemble a picture of the entire Session, and formulating a vision for where I want to go with it. Of course, I will also already be listening for what sounds work and don't work and whether I have to add any samples. But you can't tell what a sound is going to do unless you hear it in context with the other sounds. You could spend three hours working on a snare sound and make it sound fantastic on its own, but when you put it in with the guitars, all of a sudden it may sound terrible. So I really like to assess all the sounds at the same time, in context, sometimes hearing them in groups, as opposed to listening to them individually.
"Phase two will, 90 percent of the time, be me going to the drums and working with them, and working on the bottom end. I try to get the bottom end of the drums to the point where I can bring in the bass, and get the entire low end tight. From there, I will start looking at the width of the drums, and after that I'll establish the middle. So I'll first work with the rhythm and then I'll figure out where the space is for the vocals. At that point, it's my priority to establish the middle, the centre, especially for radio. So that's kick, snare, bass and vocals, and that centre has to be really strong before I start thinking about the edges, like the strings and guitars and so on. Once my centre is strong enough, I'll turn off the vocals and I'll bring in all the instruments. With 'Call Me Maybe', it was definitely a matter of first bringing in the strings, to make sure that they had enough power and wouldn't disappear the moment I brought the vocals back in.”
Drums: SSL EQ & compression, Metric Halo Channel Strip, GML EQ, Dbx 120XP, AMS RMX.
"As you can see on the screenshots, I far prefer the desk and outboard for treating the drums. The only inboard [plug-in] I used was the Metric Halo Channel Strip on the 'Verse Kick' (5) and on the 'Ghost Snare' (15). All the drum tracks would have had some treatment from the GML EQ. I would have used all five bands on the GML, all set pretty aggressively, with +5 or +6 or -5 on the frequencies. I'd also have parallel compression on the drums, using the SSL board compressor. My main focus in working on the drums was making the chorus kick drums as massive as possible. There's only one bass drum in the verses, which had a Pultec on it for some more punch, and five bass drum tracks in the choruses, and I spent almost two hours adding three bass-drum samples in the choruses to the two that Josh already had in there, and making them sit right with each other and in the track. I have amassed an enormous sample collection over the years, from recording different artists, being in different spaces, in general recording things anywhere where I could get good sounds. It just kept building and building and it's now so massive that I feel sorry for the assistants I work with, because when I say to them 'Find a kick sample,' they are so overwhelmed. But I can go to a sample bank and I'll immediately find what I am looking for just from looking at them.
Like many top mix engineers, Dave Ogilvie prefers to work on a large-format analogue console where possible — provided it's in good working order! Photo: Adam PW Smith"In this case, I went for more dance-orientated kick samples. There have been many pop songs in the US in recent years that use that four-to-the-floor Euro-style dance kick — Katy Perry's 'Fireworks' certainly was an influence — and that's funny, because for me, it's a matter of things coming full circle. A lot of what I was doing in the 1980s used the big four-on-the-floor dance thing. It kind of disappeared in the 1990s, but all of a sudden it's made a comeback. For me, it's stepping into a comfort zone, as opposed to trying to be really subtle with things. Instead it's a matter of how to drive that four-on-the-floor thing. It's easy to program it, but much more of a challenge to turn it into something special. One thing I did in this track was to have some Dbx 120XP [subharmonic synthesizer] on the kicks, and a little bit on the snare, adding some subharmonics. That's a trick I picked up from Randy [Staub]. Another thing I did was feed a little bit of the bass guitar into the drum bus, so it will go through the drum EQ and compression and it'll also get some subsonic effects from the DBX, and then all of a sudden the kick, the snare, and the bass blend together as a solid unit in the middle. With the snare, we were taking the approach of not having a traditional snare, with it being made up 60 percent of handclaps, 30 percent from the 808 snare, and the real snare quite low in the mix. It was quite fun not to have to worry about a traditional snare sound. The clap snare sound worked much better in the track. The Ghost Snare (15) is subtly thinned out with the Metric Halo Channel Strip. I also had some AMS RMX reverb on the snare, and on the drum loops, as well as some compression from the SSL.”
Guitar & bass: SSL EQ & compression, Pultec EQ, Metric Halo Channel Strip, Sansamp PSA1, Urei 1176.
"The guitars were all treated with Pultec EQ and SSL desk EQ and compression, no inboard. The acoustic guitar was just there for rhythmic support, and would have had some SSL board compressor. I didn't do much to treat the two synth- bass tracks, just some Channel Strip and some parallel compression on the board, while the bass guitar in the chorus also has the Channel Strip to tighten it up, plus a Sansamp PSA1 for some grit. In addition, I added some parallel compression on the bass guitar from an Urei 'blackface' 1176, which is a standard thing for me. At the start of every mix session, I'll set up an SSL compressor going into an SSL EQ for the drums, an 1176 for the bass, and an [Empirical Labs] Distressor for the vocals.”
Vocals: Empirical Labs Distressor, Waves SSL Channel, Renaissance Vox, Renaissance De-esser, L1, Dbx de-esser, AMS DMX, Avid Revibe.
"Josh had recorded the verse vocals with a Neumann U87 going into a Neve preamp and then into a Distressor for a cleaner tone, and used a Neumann U87 going into an API mic pre into an [Empirical Labs] Fatso Jr for a more aggressive chorus vocal sound. I used a lot of plug-ins on the vocals in general, because I will painstakingly go through each vocal track and will generally put a compressor, limiter, EQ and de-esser on each track. There's normally not enough outboard to do this on individual channels on the desk, so this is where I get quite deeply involved in using plug-ins, and I'll then do a little more stuff on the desk and I'll have parallel compression from a Distressor.
"For most pop stuff, I'll have a centre vocal and a left and a right channel vocal. So I'll have three vocals, and I'll treat them almost as one, with the main one in the middle a little louder. The other two are each in a speaker, so the lead vocal jumps out at you in every way. You can see that there are quite a few treatments on the middle vocal in the chorus (36), which has the SSL Channel, the Renaissance Vox and the Renaissance De-esser. Before those, there's a Trim, so I can determine how hard I hit the SSL Channel, which will mainly apply some EQ. The RVox smoothes the vocal out a bit, and after the Renaissance De-esser it goes to the board, where I'll have a Dbx de-esser on the insert on the channel as well. Different de-essers work differently.
"On the vocal doubles in the chorus (37, 38), I'll have the same plug-ins, but the L1 [limiter] instead of the RVox, because I want to square those doubles as loud as I can for size and power. I put the L1 on anything that I want really loud and strong, like vocal doubles and triples. It is a fantastic plug-in that I use extensively on vocals. If I want more forgiving compression on a lead vocal, I'll use the RVox or the C4 [multi-band compressor], and also the Distressor. The latter is always a big part of my lead vocal sound, and I slam it very, very hard, probably 8:1. On its own, that's kind of unlistenable, but I blend it right in underneath the normal vocal sound, and I'll then group these two channels together and I'll move them as one for the rest of the mix. Of course, the balance between the Distressor vocal sound and the non-Distressor vocal sound is critical. I also used the AMS DMX on the vocals for very tight stereo harmonising, and inboard I used the ReVibe for some reverb. Incidentally, all vocals in [the doubled] tracks are actual vocal overdubs sung by Carly, I didn't copy the tracks across. Oh, and track 43 is a last-minute vocal overdub that I asked Josh to do live in the studio while I was mixing. I felt that there was something missing there, and it takes five minutes to set up a microphone when you have an idea. So that vocal was thrown in at the last moment and definitely made the song stronger.
"If there was any Auto-Tune on the vocals, it would have been done very minimally by hand before I began the mix. Carly is such a strong singer that tuning her vocals isn't really necessary. I really have a problem with people who run Auto-Tune in automatic mode, because it means that the vocal will sound very processed. I listen thoroughly to the tuning of the vocals, and if something bothers me, I'll fix it, but if it doesn't, I let it go. I will not look at the graph. The average listener now expects perfection in tuning and timing, but I will always go on what my ears tell me. Yes, there's a greater demand for perfection than in the past, but you need imperfection, otherwise there's nothing special about what you're doing. Everything will sound the same. So I'll always do my best to get away with as much imperfection as I can. The other thing that has changed is that musicians and singers have become much better because of advances in technology. They understand timing and tuning on a much deeper level and have incorporated that into their performances. I really like that. And because singers are better, their breaths have become bigger and louder. As opposed to editing these out I prefer to use volume automation and my ears to ride these breaths, and also the esses, to make it sound as natural and effective as possible. You can see these volume rides on track 33, for example.”
Strings & keyboards: SSL EQ, Metric Halo Channel Strip, Avid Revibe, Focusrite Red 3.
"With synthesizers, I try to make sure that the sounds that are there are the sounds I want, rather than treating them with inboard or outboard after programming them. Josh and I are very in tune with each other on this, and he creates great synth sounds. He works with many synths that I also have and that I showed him how to use, like Vanguard, Massive, Nexus and Sylenth, and he's taken them to the next stage, where I go, 'wow, how did you do that?' So very little was done to treat the few synth tracks in this session. The string tracks that you see in the session are all pre-blended, pre-EQ'ed, and pre-compressed and bounced down to stereo tracks, probably using a lot of Metric Halo Channel Strip, which is my go-to inboard EQ. It's a plug-in that you can use multiple instances of in a session without it collapsing in on itself. I find that with some plug-ins, if you put them on one channel, they sound OK, but if you put them on 16 channels and then mix them together, something really strange happens, perhaps through phasing or something. With the strings on this session, you can see that there's no inboard, apart from the Revibe aux. The rest is outboard, mostly the SSL channel EQs and, most importantly, the Focusrite Red, which is a fantastic fattening limiter. I used the Red to slam all the strings together and give them more size. The Red colours the strings to make them sound warmer and bigger and bring them to life. I used the Red as parallel compression that I mixed in with the original signal.”
Stereo mix: Sontec MEC 432C.
"The entire Session was in 24-bit/48kHz and I mixed back into the Session, going via the Sontec MES 432C mastering EQ. I always set that up very early in the mix, probably when I'm working on the rhythm section and the centre, and I'll put the Sontec in the chain and create an EQ that'll be 95 percent correct, and I'll continue listening to what I'm doing via the Sontec. 'Call Me Maybe' was mastered by Gene Grimaldi at Oasis Mastering in Los Angeles, and he's one of the three or four mastering engineers that I trust. I want the mastered mixes to come back to me sounding better than when I sent them off, and also loud enough to combat other music out there, but not so loud that there's no room any more, otherwise it hurts my ears. When stuff is slammed too hard, it drives me nuts. I really don't like the extra distortion it adds. If I want distortion on a mix, I'll add it myself! A mix is my baby, but I've learned that as long as it's one of those guys that I trust, I mix and produce, and they master. Gene knows what he's doing and he did a great job on this track.”
Trimming The Tracks
This composite screenshot shows all 56 tracks of the 'Call Me Maybe' mix Session, many of which were consolidated from multiple originals to make the mix more manageable.
The 'Call Me Maybe' Pro Tools mix Session consists of 56 mono and stereo tracks, a dramatic reduction from the number originally recorded. Dave Ogilvie explains: "Josh and I did a lot of comping and cleaned the session up before I began mixing. Carly is a strong singer, with whom tuning and timing are not an issue, so her vocals were also a matter of simply finding the good takes and putting them together for a final comp. Strings we pre-mixed down quite dramatically. For example, stereo tracks 52 and 53, the verse strings, would originally have consisted of 12 to 14 tracks.
"At the top of the Session are a rough mix ['Faders Up'] and the master mix. I had the piano swell and tambourine on the very left side of the board, and that's why they're the two tracks underneath that. Normally, the drums would start immediately under the master mix. There are 19 tracks of drums, which include just one track of verse kick drum (track 5), five tracks of chorus kicks (10-14, two from Josh and three that I added); 15 is a snare, 16 an 808 snare, 17-18 are handclap samples, 20 is a crash sound, and 19 a hi-hat, though most of the hi-hat sounds came from the drum loops (21-24). Tracks 25-29 are guitars, then there are two bass synth tracks and a bass guitar track: after that, 11 vocal tracks (33-44), and finally, in purple, the keyboards and strings. There's an Aux track for some Revibe reverb on the strings (50), and immediately after that a string run going into the verse strings (52 and 53), which are beefed up by the acoustic guitar (29). I put the bridge guitar with the strings (54), because it is doubling the bridge strings (55). It is adding to the string track rather than being a real guitar track. The chorus strings are further complemented by Mellotron string samples (56). I'm very lucky to have a friend who painstakingly sampled all his Mellotron and Novatron units, and they are wonderful to add underneath strings.”
Preparing A Mix
'Call Me Maybe' took two days to mix, but the process was accelerated by some prep work done by Josh Ramsay and Dave Ogilvie at the former's studio. "We prepare the Sessions beforehand in Pro Tools, so as not to waste time in the studio,” says Ogilvie. "We'll submix things like strings and backing vocals to make the Session manageable on a desk, and edit and tune things, and in other ways make sure the Session is the way I want it. If there's a big vocal bounce to be done, with many layers of vocals, generally speaking I'll do that beforehand with Josh, which saves hours of time. Josh was raised in a studio — his father was the owner of Little Mountain Sound — so he learned to have his Sessions in really good shape. His sessions are 95 percent the way I like them, so I can get started on them immediately by the time I get into the mix room. It's the same with Ryan Stewart, the other producer who worked on Carly's forthcoming album, his sessions are also in really good shape.” [Jepsen's Curiosity EP, featuring 'Call Me Maybe' was only released in Canada, and an album by the singer, mixed by Ogilvie, was in the works at the time of writing.]
"Before I start work on a mix, I make sure that the Pro Tools Session itself is laid out exactly the way I want it, which is usually quite standard, with — from the top — drums, bass, guitars, keyboards, vocals, and then effects at the bottom. Colour-coding makes it far easier to move around the Session and find things faster. I then lay things out on the board. When moving from side to side on the board, the difference in sound can be brutal, so I lay things that I'll be listening to a lot out in the middle of the board, usually the vocals.
"I'll always ask for the rough before I begin a mix. If you have a starting point of how the artist, producer, label and management hear the balances in a song, and you then work on improving the sonic qualities, it can prevent lots of miscommunication and save hours of work. You don't want to have spent six hours on a mix and for them to then say, 'Oh, no, we wanted it completely different.' What's nice in Josh's case is that he won't give me a mix that's supposed to be a final one; he simply gives me the Session the way they last listened to it, with the faders where he left them. So I can just throw up the faders, and even though it's still messy, it gives me a rough basic balance and I'll take it from there.”
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Mix Rescue: Daniel Thompson | Audio Examples July 2019
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By Hunter S. Thompson
Read by Christopher Lane
Unabridged Audio Download
Trade Paperback eBook Abridged Audio Download
Chapters/Indigo
Made into a major motion picture starring Johnny Depp, The Rum Diary—a national bestseller and New York Times Notable Book—is Hunter S. Thompson’s brilliant love story of jealousy, treachery, and violent lust in the Caribbean.
Begun in 1959 by a twenty-two-year-old Hunter S. Thompson, The Rum Diary is a brilliantly tangled love story of jealousy, treachery, and violent alcoholic lust in the Caribbean boomtown that was San Juan, Puerto Rico, in the late 1950s. The narrator, freelance journalist Paul Kemp, irresistibly drawn to a sexy, mysterious woman, is soon thrust into a world where corruption and get-rich-quick schemes rule, and anything (including murder) is permissible. Exuberant and mad, youthful and energetic, this dazzling comedic romp provides a fictional excursion as riveting and outrageous as Thompson’s Fear and Loathing books.
Photo Credit: William J. Dibble
Hunter S. Thompson was born and raised in Louisville, Kentucky. His books include Hell's Angels, Fear and Loathing at Rolling Stone, Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail '72, The Rum Diary, and Better than Sex. He died in February 2005.
Christopher Lane
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio (October 2011)
Fiction > General
Book Cover Image (jpg): The RUM DIARY
Unabridged Audio Download 9781442349940
Author Photo (jpg): Hunter S. Thompson
More books from this author: Hunter S. Thompson
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A Culture of Fear
November 21, 2016 January 14, 2017 Simon Michael Blog, Uncategorized
As church bells sounded across Britain on Armistice Day, November 11, 1918, my family celebrated the fact that, by some miracle, all six brothers shown in this photograph survived the Great War. Second Lieutenant Mick Michael, King’s Royal Rifle Corps; Leading Aircraftman Joe Michael; Sergeant Harry Michael, 40TH Royal Fusiliers; Sergeant John Michael, Royal Army Service Corps; Private Maurice Michael, Manchester Regiment. And, the youngest of the six, my grandfather, Rifleman George Michael, Queens Westminster Rifles.
I don’t usually post, blog or tweet about politics. Political discourse has become frighteningly tribal in the last couple of years and I believe there should be some tranquil public spaces immune to the virus, especially in a blog dedicated to fiction and entertainment. This blog is to be no exception. However Britain’s decision to quit Europe, the growing acceptability of vilifying “the other” in our midst, the refusal of FIFA to permit British footballers to wear poppy armbands, and my own family history have together combined to produce this reflection.
My father’s family left Cordoba in what is now southern Spain in 1492, Jewish refugees from the Spanish Inquisition. I must assume they were, at least in the fifteenth century, devout Jews, preferring to flee what had been their homeland for hundreds of years rather than face forced conversion or auto-da-fé (burning at the stake). They landed in the East End of London, where they remained for the next 450 years, contributing in an undistinguished way to the commercial and cultural life of the city and, finally, integrating fully. By the twentieth century they wore their Judaism lightly and considered themselves Londoners, albeit with a Jewish cultural identity.
All six brothers volunteered to fight during the 1st World War. Two of the eldest found themselves in the same theatre of war, Salonica, Greece, during the Jewish High Holy Days, and for a few days were billeted with a Jewish Greek family named Cohen which also had three sons, two of whom were in the Greek Venizelist army fighting Germany and the Central Powers. The friendship created between the four young soldiers lasted the duration of the war and continued thereafter when the Cohen brothers, now named Jacques and Nico, moved to Paris between the wars.
After the 1st World War the families continued to keep in touch. All those young enough to do so fought again in the 2nd World War. When I first met the third brother, Michel, I was astonished to find that he spoke French not with a Greek accent but with that of a Glaswegian. He had not been in Thessalonica during the 1st World War. The Greek monarchy had been formally neutral but de facto pro—German and Michel, a hotheaded political young man, had wanted to fight against the Germans. He had run away, hidden aboard a cargo steamer, and landed up in Glasgow, where he joined the Black Watch and fought with the Scots in northern Europe. He was in Paris when war broke out again, and became an organiser in the FFI (the French Forces of the interior – the Resistance). At the end of August 1944, two days before the German garrison surrendered Paris to the Free French and the advancing Allies, he watched as his wife and daughter were captured by the SS and shot dead on the street.
After the war, when all the men were again demobbed, the friendship continued in correspondence. My parents married in 1949, and took the boat train to the south of France for their honeymoon. They knew no one in France, but my father was given the address of Nico Cohen in case of emergency. On the return journey my mother suffered a bad bout of flu and could travel no further than Paris. They got off the train and my father found a telephone to call the name on the piece of paper my grandfather had given him. How he managed to communicate the problem remains a mystery, because my father has never spoken a word of French or Greek in his life, but within a short while Nico Cohen had arrived in his old Citroen, collected my parents from the station, and taken them to his flat. There he and his wife, Odette, gave up their bed to the newlyweds. The Cohens slept on the couch for a week until my mother was recovered. Thus was formed a second generation of friendship between a Greek/French family and an Iberian/English family.
Letters continued to travel backwards and forwards across the channel over the next 25 years. Nico was particularly fond of Marks & Spencer T-shirts, underwear and marmalade, and every now and then a parcel would be sent to Paris. In return, several unlabelled bottles of red wine would periodically be delivered to London, the produce of a vineyard in which Nico had a share.
In 1973, at the age of 18, I was about to go to university when my first serious relationship ended, and I decided the best way to mend my broken heart and forget the young lady concerned was by deferring my place and travelling for a year. Realising with some disappointment that the French Foreign Legion was unlikely to accept me, I decided to take my entire savings of £50 (presently worth just less than £600) and travel to the nearest capital city, Paris, and see what came up. I spoke poor O-level French degraded by two years of disuse, and I knew no one in France. The only assistance my parents could give me in case of emergency was a scrap of paper on which were written the names Nico and Odette Cohen, and an address.
At that time there was a bureau at the Gard du Nord to place students who arrived in the city in appropriate hostel accommodation, but I was unlucky. No beds could be found for me on the day I arrived, having made no plans whatsoever for my first night, and I was given the choice of a park bench or a room in a hotel in the 15th arrondissement. I chose the latter (you will have suspected that a young man who needs his creature comforts was never likely to have been happy in the French Foreign Legion). Only after my first night did I appreciate that the rooms in the small hotel were all, with the exception of mine, used throughout the night by prostitutes. The room I occupied was immediately next to a large flashing neon sign which put the punters off their stroke. More about my first few weeks in Paris will be the subject of another blog.
After four weeks in France and most of my money gone, I had been unable to find a job or a flat. Not only was my French poor, but I was a very young and innocent 18-year-old who looked barely 16. In retrospect it’s hardly surprising that no landlord or employer was prepared to take a chance on me.
Eventually I had no choice but to phone the name on the piece of paper. I fully expected to be packed off back to London with my tail between my legs. I called, and Nico arrived at my “working girls’ hotel” later that day. He was a little man, no more than 5’6” in height, wearing a beret and a raincoat with a turned-up collar. He was exactly what I expected Commissaire Maigret to look like. I knew nothing of his background or the fact that he had been born and grown up in Greece, but he spoke French very fast and, at least to my ear, had no accent except that of a Parisian. He was scandalised that a teenager had been allowed to run around Europe on his own without a proper home or parents to care for him, and he promptly took me under his wing. I had to resist hard the suggestion that I should live with him and Odette, and so he set to finding me a job in a relative’s textile business. Having secured a job working in the warehouse where I found myself amongst a group of other non-Anglophone foreigners, he telegraphed my parents and insisted they came over to countersign a lease of a tiny flat he had found in the 19th arrondissement just opposite the Parc des Buttes Chaumont.
During the nine months I lived in Paris, Nico became my adopted grandfather, making sure I ate a proper Sunday lunch every week in his tiny flat, trying, in vain, to teach me something about wine, and keeping an eye on me from a distance via his relative’s fierce wife who ran the textile business in a manner of which Napoleon would have been proud. He remained my friend for the next fifteen years until his sudden death, making mine the third generation to enjoy the friendship of this remarkable Greco-French family.
My books are about alienation and people who don’t fit in. Charles Holborne, the antihero of The Brief series, faces daily prejudice, anti-Semitism and class prejudice. He wants to be accepted, but is not. Whereas in British society it used to be the Jews, now it is the Muslims.
The European Union was a deeply flawed project but it nonetheless brought 28 nations of Europe together in a way which had never occurred before. Whatever one thinks of the overall project, its underlying themes were of cooperation and shared democratic values. It took the position that what unites us as humans is greater than what divides us, and in allowing so many Syrian refugees into Germany, Chancellor Merkel put those principles into practice. It might have been a mistake in political terms but, in my opinion, it was undoubtedly right in human terms. It spoke to the best we can be, and not the worst.
Globalism and the birth of global terror are making people afraid again. Brexit, Donald Trump and his Mexican wall, Marine Le Pen – all are just examples of what can happen when politicians prey on the fear of “the stranger”. The story of my great-uncles and their friendship with the Cohen brothers, all immigrants at different times, and their willingness to fight for a unifying human cause, tells me we can be better than that.
Me (aged 24) with Nico Cohen, M&S bag in hand, on his return to Paris from a London trip c. 1979
10 thoughts to “A Culture of Fear”
Deborah Carr says:
Fascinating post.
Simon Michael says:
Hi Deborah. Glad you liked it. I thought it would either sink without trace (the equivalent to talking to oneself while in the loo – I do a lot of that) or create a political argument, but the response has been very heartening.
Samantha O says:
Evocative and inspiring. I would love to spend more time following this bright-eyed young man on his wayward adventures in Paris. Potential for a brilliant script. Thank you for sharing your lovely story!
Thanks Samantha. I have promised myself for some time that I will write about my Parisian sojourn, and I think I shall now have to do something about it.
Great stuff – fascinating!
Thanks Katie.
This is a fascinating story and a very readable blog. Looking forward to the next one.
Ta, Ruth. I’d be interested to see what your OH thinks.
Jill Doyle says:
Vince and I once used the bureau in the Gare du Nord and spent a night in a similar establishment – it certainly gave us something to talk about the next day!
It’s lovely to read other people’s family stories especially ones that highlight the goodness in people. Despite all that is happening in the world I live in hope that goodness will overcome the racism, religious intolerance and bigotry.
I completely agree. I think that’s why I like Dickens so much. Despite rapacious landlords, the Law’s delay, corruption, poverty and vice etc, it’s the kindness of ordinary people which usually shines through.
Time and Place Interview – Jill’s Book Cafe
Memories From Beyond Dementia
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Utah Senate passes affordable-housing bill by 20-9 despite concerns it costs too much and isn’t tough enough on cities
(Francisco Kjolseth | Tribune file photo) Project Open, an affordable housing project northwest of downtown Salt Lake City. The Utah Senate passed SB34 on Wednesday encouraging cities to plan for more affordable housing in their communities.
By Tony Semerad
· Published: February 13
The Utah Senate passed a bill Wednesday that would encourage cities to plan for affordable housing, even though senators raised worries the measure doesn't do enough and that it spends too much money.
After seeing several major revisions, SB34 — the 2019 Legislature’s most significant attempt thus far to address a statewide shortage of moderately priced homes — advanced on a Senate vote of 20-9 and moves to the House.
Sponsored by Sen. Jake Anderegg, R-Lehi, the bill would make a one-time $20 million contribution in 2020 to the state’s Olene Walker Housing Loan Fund, which provides low-interest lending to affordable residential construction, and then would kick in $4 million to the fund each year thereafter. SB34 also requires cities to take state-approved steps aimed at encouraging affordable housing to be eligible to receive investment cash from the Utah Department of Transportation.
The bill is the product of a dozen meetings by the state Commission on Housing Affordability, created by lawmakers last year to address rapidly escalating housing prices in Utah and a shortage of homes for those earning moderate incomes or below.
“I’ll be the first to say, it is not a silver bullet,” Anderegg, co-chairman of the commission, told Senate colleagues Wednesday. “This is not going to solve our housing crisis, but it is a really good step in the right direction.”
SB34’s spending piece has caused heartburn for some of the Senate’s fiscal conservatives, including influential Sen. Lyle Hillyard, R-Logan, who warned the bill’s budget allocation was only “a drop in the bucket” compared to the magnitude of the housing problem.
“I hate to step out in this area,” Hillyard said Monday of SB34. “I mean, once you start, how much money are you going to finally need? $200 million? $400 million?”
In his proposed state budget, Gov. Gary Herbert has asked lawmakers for a one-time $15 million payment to the Olene Walker fund and an additional $2 million yearly after that. The fund typically offers so-called “gap financing” to low-income housing developers across Utah who already have other primary lending sources.
The state-managed fund loaned $8.8 million in fiscal 2018 for housing projects worth a total of $132.7 million.
But SB34 also offers cities an expanded menu of nearly 25 strategies they can pursue to encourage affordable housing, ranging from waiving development fees, allowing so-called mother-in-law apartments and revamping aging homes to adopting zoning that encourages construction of high-density housing near transit lines.
The bill now requires cities to adopt at least three of those strategies as part of their state-mandated land-use and transportation plans to become eligible for cash from UDOT to invest in transportation corridors in their communities, known as TIFF money.
Cities with a transit corridor already within their boundaries would have to adopt four of the bill’s affordable-housing strategies to be eligible for TIFF money, estimated at about $700 million per year.
Modifications to SB34 came after a closed-door meeting Tuesday between the Senate’s GOP caucus and lobbyists for the Salt Lake Chamber, Utah League of Cities and Towns, Utah Housing Coalition and other advocates.
First-term Sen. Derek Kitchen, D-Salt Lake City, said Wednesday that by increasing the number of required steps for cities from two, state lawmakers were “raising the bar” and helping to shift cities’ focus toward housing “as a critical component of our long-term economic health.”
He said as the state’s population continues to grow, Salt Lake City was experiencing one of its tightest housing markets ever, with a vacancy rate hovering around 2.5 percent. Many other cities, he said, face a similar situation.
“This is a simple supply-and-demand issue,” said Kitchen, who championed affordable housing as a member of the Salt Lake City Council. “We’ve got to figure out how to pump more into the supply side.”
Anderegg said that in addition to bringing more affordable homes to Utah, linking municipal land-use planning with transportation had the potential of saving taxpayers millions of dollars by making road construction more efficient.
But Sen. Don Ipson, R-St. George, who voted against SB34, said that tying city compliance to receiving TIFF money was tantamount to “holding them hostage.”
Others, including Sen. Lincoln Fillmore, R-South Jordan, complained that even the revised version of SB34 appeared to do little, given that all but a handful of Utah’s more than 240 municipalities were already deploying some of the steps the bill recommends.
Fillmore said he suspected SB34 was being run for ulterior motives that weren’t being shared with rank-and-file legislators. “The intent of the bill is different from what is being publicly stated,” he said, a claim Anderegg denied, saying instead that he was an “honest broker” of work by the Commission on Housing Affordability.
tsemerad@sltrib.com
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By Thomas Burr • 45m ago
Justin Fox: The Amtrak that works and the Amtrak that doesn’t work
By Justin Fox | Bloomberg Opinion • 58m ago
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DVD REVIEW: THE NINES
After seeing so many films based on sequels, remakes, novel adaptations, video games and television shows, it is refreshing to see that not everybody is following the same format. That is the case of John August's film "The Nines". An original and emotional puzzler film that picks on audience's brains like no other. "The Nines" marks the directorial debut of acclaimed screenwriter John August, (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Big Fish, Go).
Because of the complexity of the film John August couldn't have picked a better story to make his directorial debut, who better than the writers' vision to direct an originality. The film is divided into three parts or stories. The first story called “The Prisoner”, tells the story of a troubled television star (Reynolds) who finds himself under house arrest. This story plays similar to the film "Memento", yet the difference is that it is not the cast who is lost and trying to find himself, it is the audience who falls in a desperate state of knowing what's going on and the thrill ride begins. The second story called “Reality Television” is a "Making of" a documentary about the creation of a network television drama. There is no reason to believe that John August is sharing some of his personal experiences in the world of television in this part of the film, making it a very interesting story. The last story is called "Knowing" which follow the tale of a videogame designer who finds himself with car trouble deep in the woods. These three stories overlap each other at some point and it is up to the audience to put the pieces together.
In addition to John August ingenuity, it is necessary to mention the cast. The selection of the cast was without question the best, performing at a high level even with the difficulty of playing three different characters in the same film. However, it is Ryan Reynolds who runs the table with his performance. After watching the first story, where he plays an actor, it is impressive to see Reynolds performance in the second story where he is actually playing John August. It is like watching two different actors.
Overall the film is a must see especially if you are a fan of the TV show "Lost" or if you like stories where the pieces are presented to you, but it is up to you and your imagination to put it all together and solve the puzzle.
The DVD comes with a lot of nice features to continue the mystery of "The Nines". It includes two feature commentaries – the first with Director John August and Ryan Reynolds and the second with John August, Editor Douglas Crise and Actor Melissa McCarthy, a featurette entitled “Summing Up The Nines” and “Script to Screen,” where users explore the creative process by watching clips from the film alongside script pages and storyboards. The disc also includes an original short film from John August with optional commentary, an explosive alternate ending, and deleted scenes.
English 5.1 (Dolby Digital).
Summing Up The Nines A good 21 minutes documentary about the film production. The documentary tell us all about how the film was created, cast selection and directors' ideas for the film.
Script to Storyboard to Screen Comparison (5:23)
God Short Film with option commentary with Director John August, Actor Melissa McCarthy and Editor Douglas Crise A funny satirical short film, the best feature of the DVD. A must see (11:26)
Deleted scenes: A total of 8 deleted scenes all worth watching and an original ending. All with option Commentary with Director John August and Editor Douglas Crise (13:01)
Feature Commentary with Director John August and Actor Ryan Reynolds
Feature Commentary with Director John August, Editor Douglas Crise and Actor Melissa McCarthy
Photo Gallery Montage (3:18)
Director: John August
Writer: John August
Staring: Ryan Reynolds
Hope Davis
Dahlia Salem
Producer: Bruce Cohen
Dan Etheridge
Dan Jinks
Rating: R for language, some drug content
and sexuality
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Qatar gets royal welcome in Washington despite tiff with U.S. allies
WASHINGTON DC - The U.S. has swept aside the impasse between several of its allies and the tiny Gulf state of Qatar, and signed a number of agreements which will cement busiess ties between the two countries.
Qatar, which is home to some of the richest gas fields in the world, and which boasts the richest population in the world on a per-capita basis, has been at odds with Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Bahrain, Jordan, Yemen, Libya and a number of other countries, since those countries implemented a blockade against it around two years ago. Those countries are all strong allies of the U.S., as is Qatar which is home to the U.S. Fifth Fleet.
While the Gulf countries and their allies continue to rebuff Qatar, the U.S. is expanding its relationship.
Deals signed on Tuesday are in the areas of defense, aeronautics and energy.
U.S. President Donald Trump and the Emir of Qatar Tamim Bin Hamad Al-Thani sealed the deals in a signing ceremony at the White House on Tuesday.
"It's a great honor to be with the emir of Qatar, a highly respected man, a real leader in a large part of the world and a very important part of the world. And we've known each other a long time. We've been friends for a long time," President Trump said prior to the signing.
"They're investing very heavily in our country. They're creating a lot of jobs. They're buying tremendous amounts of military equipment, including planes. And they're buying commercial planes, as you know, very large numbers of commercial planes from Boeing. And we very much appreciate it."
Qatar Airways which has been blocked from flying over the airspace of its former Gulf allies, and has been banned from operating in those countries, has shown no sign of being weakened by the blockade as it has agreed to buy five Boeing 777 freighters, and has signed on to buy even more Gulfstream large-cabin aircraft than it had on order.
Qatar Airways has also agreed to use General Electric jet engines and services to power its fleet of Boeing 787 and 777 aircraft.
Chevron-Phillips are doing a deal with Qatar Petroleum for the two to joint-venture a petrochemical complex in Qatar.
Raytheon's medium-to-long range NASAM and long-range Patriot Systems surface-to-air missile systems will be bought by the Qatar defense ministry as part of another deal.
The value of the deals signed on Tuesday was not disclosed. Trade between the two countries is currently around $185 billion however, and the emir at one point said the countries were looking to double their current volume of trade.
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© Photo: Flickr / World Economic Forum
Usually, America’s Republican billionaires are obsessed against Iran, and America’s Democratic billionaires are obsessed against Russia, but nonetheless on June 30th, the Boston Globe’s columnist Stephen Kinzer exaggerated when he headlined, “In an astonishing turn, George Soros and Charles Koch team up to end US ‘forever war’ policy” and he reported that, “the leftist financier George Soros and the right-wing Koch brothers have little in common. They could be seen as polar opposites.” There actually is no such basic disagreement amongst America’s billionaires regarding foreign policies, as there is regarding domestic policies — on which topics they indeed are as far apart as liberals and conservatives are. Whereas Soros and the Kochs famously disagree on domestic policies, the situation is very different on foreign policies, where they all basically agree with one-another, because they all are neoconservatives. Some may want America to conquer Iran first and Russia second, while others may want to conquer Russia first and Iran second, but all US billionaires are neoconservatives, simply because spreading the US empire until their Government controls every country on earth is just as profitable for America’s aristocrats today, as the spread of Britain’s empire was profitable for Britain’s aristocrats, and as the spread of Germany’s empire was profitable for Germany’s (but only non-Jewish) aristocrats during the Third Reich — and so on, throughout human history. The big-money people are always neocons, even if only moderate ones.
For example, the Koch brothers’ Cato Institute is a propanganda operation for Trump’s policy to grab Venezuela and Syria; and for Obama’s policy to postpone grabbing back Iran; and it blames the “Libya Fiasco” on NATO — basically on Europe. So, that’s a Democratic Party, instead of a Republican Party, moderate neoconservatism, which Cato is pumping, and that’s also George Soros’s propaganda-line. It is neoconservatism (endorsement of US imperialism), but it is not consistently the extremist sort that’s represented by people (the neocon purists) such as Victoria Nuland, Robert Kagan, John Bolton, Mike Pompeo, Bill Krystol, Nikki Haley, Elliott Abrams, and Eliot Cohen. In fact, sometimes Soros does (or his ‘charities’ do) veer into such far-right extremism, promotion of outright genocide, which neither of the Kochs (nor any of their ‘charities’) has done; and, therefore, if anything, “the leftist” Soros is actually more of a neoconservative than “the right-wing” Kochs are. Soros definitely is more of a neocon regarding Russia than the Kochs are. Perhaps Soros is a heavy investor in firms such as Lockheed Martin, which thrive on wars, and especially thrive on any tensions against Russia, since anti-Russian tensions increase spending on strategic weapons, which are such firms’ bread and butter. But neither the Kochs nor Soros have ever been against American imperialism per se. Kinzer exaggerates their differences — as do most political commentators.
What, then, is the real substance of this new ‘charity’ to propagandize for restoration of Obama’s policy toward Iran? Kinzer says, “Soros is an old-fashioned New Deal liberal. The Koch brothers are fire-breathing right-wingers who dream of cutting taxes and dismantling government. Now they have found something to agree on: the United States must end its ‘forever war’ and adopt an entirely new foreign policy.” However, FDR’s New Deal was much more drastic than anything Soros has advocated; Roosevelt was dealing with the greatest economic crash in history. There’s no comparison. Furthermore: whereas FDR was passionately opposed to all imperialism and was determined to end the British Empire as soon as the German and Japanese and Italian empires would be defeated in WW II, Soros is a champion of American empire very much in the British mold. And, to the exact contrary of “the United States must end its ‘forever war’,” Soros is among the champions of intensifying America’s and Europe’s war against Russia. Not only was he one of the principals behind Obama’s February 2014 bloody coup in Ukraine that was hidden behind massive anti-corruption demonstrations, but he personally propagandized for, first, an additional $20 billion to go toward Ukraine’s war against the separatist region on Russia’s border, and then a month later hiked that demand to an added $50 billion.
On 20 November 2014, he headlined in The New York Review of Books, “Wake Up, Europe”, and said: “the Russian attack on Ukraine is indirectly an attack on the European Union and its principles of governance.” At the website Live Mint, he headlined on 1 January 2015, “George Soros | Europe at war: Supporting the new Ukraine in 2015 and beyond is the most cost-effective investment the EU could make”, and he urged: “Putin’s regime is based on rule by force, manifested in repression at home and aggression abroad. … Ukraine needs an immediate cash injection of, say, $20 billion, with a promise of more when needed, in order to stave off a financial collapse. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) could provide these funds, as it did previously, with the EU promising to match the IMF’s contribution.” A month later, at The New York Review of Books again, he headlined “A New Policy to Rescue Ukraine”, and he more than doubled the amount, to “a new financial package of $50 billion or more. Needless to say, the IMF would remain in charge of actual disbursements, so there would be no loss of control. But instead of scraping together the minimum, the official lenders would hold out the promise of the maximum. That would be a game-changer. Ukraine would embark on radical reforms and, instead of hovering on the edge of bankruptcy, it would turn into a land of promise that would attract private investment. Europe needs to wake up and recognize that it is under attack from Russia.” So, first, his President, Obama, overthrew Russia’s next-door neighbor, Ukraine, and installed there a rabidly anti-Russia regime, and then Soros urged that $50 billion more in debt be created in order for Ukraine to grab back the rejectionist region (which had voted over 90% for the Ukrainian President whom Obama had overthrown). And, somehow, this would produce in Ukraine “radical reforms and, instead of hovering on the edge of bankruptcy, it would turn into a land of promise that would attract private investment.”
What, then, about Iran? Kinzer reports: “‘This is big,’ said Trita Parsi, former president of the National Iranian American Council and a co-founder of the new think tank.” So, who is Trita Parsi, and what is his National Iranian Council? Are they progressives, such as Kinzer implies? Here’s from Wikipedia, on both: Parsi‘s relatives aren’t publicly known, but a plug for him says: “Founder and president of the National Iranian American Council, Parsi was born in Iran to a Zoroastrian family. His father, a politically active university professor, was jailed twice, first by the Shah and later by the regime of Ayatollah Khomeini. At the age of four, Parsi fled with his family to Sweden where he grew up. He came to the US as an adult, and received his Ph.D. from the School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University.” In other words: he got his PhD from the staunchly neoconservative JH SAIS, after his Zoroastrian father, a professor in the US-imposed Shah’s Iran jailed him once, and then the Shiite successor Government under Khomeini also jailed him once, and then the entire family fled to Sweden, and then Parsi came to the US — the land which had overthrown Iran’s democracy and imposed the Shah. It’s unlikely that a person who fled his homeland and now lives and thrives in its enemy imperialistic country that’s trying to grab it back, would be favorable toward that country, and toward its continued independence from its former imperial master. This is especially so if Parsi’s success has come from aristocrats of the Shah’s regime, who were stooges of the US — agents of the exploiting foreign aristocracy (mainly America’s oil aristocrats). On 14 April 2017, the neocon site The Daily Beast posted an 8,000-word article “The Shady Family Behind America’s Iran Lobby” by “a well-known Iranian dissident who requested that The Daily Beast keep his identity concealed,” and it alleged that the National Iranian American Coucil had been co-founded by Parsi with money that came from the family of “Mohammad Bagher Namazi, also known as Baquer Namazi,” who “is the patriarch of the family and formerly the governor under the Shah of the oil-rich Iranian province of Khuzestan.” If that is true, then it’s likely a very wealthy family, part of Iran’s aristocracy under the US-imposed dictatorship by the Shah. And if that is true, then the American billionaires Koch and Soros are now hiring the Namazi clan’s agent Parsi to lead this new institute, the Quincy Institute, in order to restore Barack Obama’s Iranian policy.
Furthermore, Obama was very hostile towards Iran; his policies simply were less hostile than Trump’s are. Obama and his Administration continued the Clinton and Bush lie that “Iran is the top state sponsor of terrorism”. Furthermore, it was under Obama that the US Government officially accused — and fined — Iran as having been the state-sponsor of the 9/11 attacks. That lie, and $10.5 billion fine (blaming Iran for 9/11), are neoconservative enough, for most Americans, but not neoconservative enough for America’s Republican billionaires, except now for Charles Koch, Soros’s partner in co-founding what is to be called the Quincy Institute, which will be trying to get Obama’s policy restored.
In an article on 18 February 2019 titled “How America’s Dictatorship Works” I mentioned another aristocrat under the Shah who had become active in US politics, but this one was the second-biggest donor to incoming Republican President Donald Trump’s Inaugural Committee:
Hushang Ansary of Stewart & Stevenson, at $2 million, … [who] had previously been the CEO of the National Iranian Oil Company until the CIA-appointed dictator, the brutal and widely hated Shah, was overthrown in 1979 and replaced by Iran’s now theocratically overseen limited democracy. The US aristocracy, whose CIA had overthrown Iran’s popular and democratically elected Prime Minister in 1953, installed the Shah to replace that elected head-of-state, and they then denationalized and privatized Iran’s oil company, so as to cut America’s aristocrats in on Iran’s oil. Basically, America’s aristocracy stole Iran in 1953, and Iranians grabbed their country back in 1979, and USbillionaires have been trying to get it back ever since. Ansary’s net worth is estimated at “over $2 billion,” and, “By the 1970s, the CIA considered Ansary to be one of seventeen members of ‘the Shah’s Inner Circle’ and he was one of the Shah’s top two choices to succeed Amir Abbas Hoveyda as Prime Minister.” But, that just happened to be the time when the Shah became replaced in an authentic revolution against America’s dictatorship. Iran’s revolution produced the country’s current partially democratic Government. So, this would-be US stooge Ansary fled to America, which had been Iran’s master during 1953-79, and he was welcomed with open arms by Amerca’s and allied aristocracies.
Perhaps Joe Biden or Kamala Harris or whomever wins the Democratic nomination will be able to get some money from the Kochs, and not only from Soros and other Democratic Party billionaires, but President Trump will likely have on his side plenty of billionaires who simply want the US to conquer Iran. All of America’s billionaires want to conquer both Iran and Russia, but they disagree with one-another about the order in which it should be done.
The debate between Obama’s and Trump’s policies on Iran is basically a dispute between America’s billionaires. America’s electorate are just observers. The actual decisions will be made by only the big-money people, because they are the gate-keepers to power, certainly in America, even if not necessarily in some other countries.
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Stuttering. This often misunderstood disability affects over three million Americans. And despite decades of research, both basic and clinical, the causes are still largely unknown.
The history of the Foundation is the story of how one person with a significant stutter led a successful life and made a lasting difference in the lives of others with the same disability.
In 1947, Malcolm Fraser, a young man in Memphis, Tennessee, decided to do what he could to help others who stutter. He knew about this disability from personal, often painful experience. He met with one of the foremost authorities of the day, Dr. Charles Van Riper, to discuss founding a nonprofit charitable organization to help those who stutter.
The organization Fraser founded became today’s Stuttering Foundation of America. Its goal was to provide the best and most up-to-date information and help available for the prevention of stuttering in young children and the most effective treatment available for teenagers and adults.
More than 70 years later, the Stuttering Foundation continues to pursue these same goals, although the tools to accomplish them are more varied and widespread. As it did when Malcolm Fraser turned his dream into reality, the Foundation dedicates itself to the contemporary concerns of those who stutter.
The Stuttering Foundation of America is a tax-exempt organization under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code and is classified as a private operating foundation as defined in section 4942(j)(3).
Charitable contributions and bequests to the Foundation are tax deductible, subject to limitations under the Code. Contributions can also be made through the Combined Federal Campaign/United Way.
CELEBRITY FOCUS
Ken Venturi
As much of the nation watches the U.S. Open Golf Championship, it is impossible not to think about our late friend Ken Venturi. Ken overcame many challenges to win the Open at Congressional in 1964 and go on to become the voice of golf for more than three decades.
However, Ken faced no bigger obstacle than stuttering. Ken Venturi was a champion to those who stutter, going out of his way to share his personal experience when consulted by a colleague, friend, or child who stutters.
John Melendez
He is a talented musician, actor, and comedian. Listen to a podcast.
Darren Sproles, now a running back for The Philadelphia Eagles, made history with the San Diego Chargers in 2007 when he became the first player in NFL history to return a kickoff and a punt for his first two NFL touchdowns in the same game.
After that game, Sproles was approached more often for interviews, which exacerbated his stuttering. “I had to talk to the media a lot, and once they put a camera in my face that's when it got bad," Sproles said. 'I just had to work on it. I couldn't really stress about it, because that's just me."
Actress Emily Blunt struggled with stuttering early in her life. A teacher encouraged her to act in a school play at age 12 despite her stuttering.
Blunt’s name is prominently featured on the Stuttering Foundation's list of Famous People Who Stutter.
Kenyon Martin, the basketball sensation who was named to the NBA’s All Star Team in 2004, joins other famous people who stutter in a new brochure. The brochure - which unfolds into a small poster - is available free of charge from The Stuttering Foundation.
The poster is intended to give children and adults who stutter inspiration as they grapple with their speech disorder.
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What History Books Get Wrong About the Battle of Little Big Horn
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Treaties Between the United States and Indigenous Nations, Explained
Treaties, and the U.S. government’s history of unilaterally breaching them, have had a profound effect on Native people.
OG History is a Teen Vogue series where we unearth history not told through a white, cisheteropatriarchal lens. In this op-ed, Ruth H. Hopkins (Cankudutawin-Red Road Woman), a Dakota/Lakota Sioux writer, biologist, attorney, and former tribal judge, explains the history of broken treaties between the United States government and the Oceti Sakowin (Great Sioux Nation), which she belongs to.
Treaties are part of what the U.S. Constitution calls "the supreme law of the land." Yet they are too seldom discussed, too often ignored, and viewed by too many today as ancient history.
Nonetheless, treaties are legally binding agreements that occur nation to nation. Treaties were made between newly formed European settler governments and the sovereign Indigenous nations that already populated the continent.
Today, Natives are often thought of in terms of race, and we are considered people of color. But American Indians specifically are also designated by the federal government as a political classification. This is because we belong to ancient Indigenous tribes that predate the existence of the United States of America and we made treaties with them. These treaties recognized our sovereignty as independent nations.
Treaties, and the U.S. government’s history of unilaterally breaching them, have had a profound effect on Native people. To be blunt, we were lied to. Treaties were used as a ruse to coax tribes out of defending their territory and to steal Native lands and resources.
The U.S. made hundreds of treaties with Native nations. The list is exhaustive. I am Dakota and Lakota from the Oceti Sakowin (Great Sioux Nation), so I will focus on treaties that my people have signed with the government and how that has affected us.
Minnesota is the ancestral land of the Dakota. More than 1 in 10 treaties ever signed by the U.S. involved land in what is today Minnesota.
In the 1851 treaties of Traverse des Sioux and Mendota, Dakota of the Oceti Sakowin (Great Sioux Nation) ceded land in Minnesota to the U.S. in exchange for money, goods, and services. Unbeknownst to the Dakota, Congress eliminated Article 3 of each treaty. This Article set up reservation land within Minnesota for the Dakota to live on. The government also defaulted on payments to the Dakota. It kept more than 80% of the money. Of the payments that were made, the government often gave the money directly to traders who were supposed to supply the Dakota with rations. The withholding of rations by these traders led to the Dakota War of 1862, because the Dakota, of which there were an estimated 6,500 people, were starving. All told, the war lasted a month and a half. About 400 Dakota were arrested by the U.S. military. Ultimately, 38 Dakota men were hung in the largest mass execution in U.S. history, in Mankato, Minnesota, on December 26, 1862, under the orders of President Abraham Lincoln.
The Dakota people were separated after the war. We became exiles. The governor of Minnesota put a bounty on the scalps of every Dakota man, woman, and child. Some Dakota were taken to prison camps in Iowa. Others, like my ancestor Chief Wabasha, were marched to the Crow Creek Reservation in South Dakota. More were moved to Nebraska territory. Most Dakota from the Sisseton and Wahpeton bands were moved to the Lake Traverse Reservation in South Dakota. Some managed to escape to the Spirit Lake Reservation in North Dakota and to Canada. Others died from sickness and famine. More than one-quarter of Dakota in 1862 died during the following year.
In 1863, more than 150 Dakota were massacred at Whitestone Hill, where the cavalry took out their vengeance for the war on many innocent Dakota by ambushing them. Women and children were slaughtered there. They even killed the Dakota’s dogs and horses.
The Fort Laramie Treaty of 1851 "granted" the Lakota of the Oceti Sakowin (Great Sioux Nation) and their allies a large swath of territory in South Dakota, Wyoming, Nebraska, Montana, and North Dakota in exchange for the passage of roads and railways. Despite this, Lakota lands were encroached upon by outside invaders in breach of treaty law. The U.S. military launched the 1865 Powder River Expedition to subdue Natives within their own, established territory. The Lakota defended their lands. Oglala and Minniconjou Lakota warriors led by Red Cloud, Crazy Horse, and High-Back-Bone killed U.S. Captain W.J. Fetterman and all 80 of his men in half an hour, in what would become known as the Fetterman Fight.
Enter the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868, which came about because of Red Cloud’s War. In short, the Lakota, led by the Crazy Horse, were kicking settler butt. In this treaty, the Lakota were promised half of South Dakota and part of North Dakota as a “Great Sioux Reservation.”
The Black Hills are the birthplace of the Lakota. Important ceremonies that bring harmony to the Universe have been held there for millennia. They are sacred to the Oceti Sakowin and are part of Lakota treaty lands, but they were taken from the Lakota when Congress reneged on the Fort Laramie Treaty during the gold rush that historians say began in 1874 — although rumors of gold in the Black Hills had lingered for years before then. In 1980, in United States v. Sioux Nation of Indians, the U.S. Supreme Court held that the seizure of the Black Hills from the Lakota was a wrongful taking and that the Sioux were entitled to "just compensation" under the 5th Amendment's "Takings Clause." The Lakota refuse to accept the money, because the Black Hills are not for sale. To this day, they rightfully belong to the Great Sioux Nation.
Lakota treaty land also includes the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation, where I was born and where water protectors camped out for nearly a year to prevent the construction of the Dakota Access pipeline through ancient Oceti Sakowin burial sites and under the freshwater source of millions of people downstream, both Native, and non-Native. February 23 marks the anniversary of the final raid of camps there. One of the last arrested was Regina Brave, a Lakota grandmother who was making a treaty stand. She is a veteran of the American Indian Movement's 1973 Occupation of Wounded Knee.
We are still fighting to protect our lands and waters. In June 2017, a federal judge ordered the Army Corps of Engineers to reconsider its environmental review of the construction of the Dakota Access pipeline by Energy Transfer Partners, thanks to successful protests and litigation by the Oceti Sakowin and their allies. That process is now underway.
Oceti Sakowin tribes are now mobilizing to stop the Keystone XL pipeline from crossing Lakota treaty lands. In January, permits were granted to start additional gold mining operations in the Black Hills. Lakota tribes were never consulted, nor did they consent. But we are on the right side of history.
Honor the treaties. Join us.
Related: Colonialism, Explained
Keywordstreatiesindigenousindigenous rightsindigenous peoplegreat sioux nationbroken treaties
Teen Vogue Had The Perfect Sweet 16 And Everything Was Pink
Asia Milia Ware
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A Judge Wouldn't Try an Accused Rapist as an Adult Because He Comes From a "Good Family"
R. Kelly Was Arrested on Federal Child Pornography Charges
People Are Body Shaming Khloé Kardashian Because She Body Shamed Jordyn Woods and It's a Mess
The Man Who Killed Heather Heyer in Charlottesville Was Sentenced to Life in Prison
Sexual Health + Identity
Rapper XXXTentacion Plans to Hold an Event for Survivors of Sexual Violence
The event comes amid numerous domestic violence charges against the rapper.
Bennett Raglin/ Getty Images
Before he's set to appear in court on charges of aggravated battery of a pregnant woman, domestic battery by strangulation, false imprisonment, and witness-tampering, rapper XXXTentacion has announced plans on his Instagram to host an anti-rape event during Miami's Art Basel, one day before his December 11 trial.
According to XXL, the rapper, who has been accused of reportedly punching and kicking his then-girlfriend who was pregnant, will hold the event as an attempt to show what they call "compassion." The 51 pages of medical records that detail the alleged incident between XXXTentacion and his former girlfriend include a point in which XXXTentacion attempted to strangle the victim until she passed out.
In his Instagram post, XXXTentacion said rape victims will be encouraged to gather and share their stories, allowing the group to support one another. For the anti-rape event, the rapper is asking fans "come bearing no type of negative energy and you make sure you come with the full support in your heart to those that have experienced any sort of post-traumatic experience or event. I ask that you be understanding." No other details regarding where and when the event will be held were given at this time.
If you or someone you know has been sexually assaulted, you can seek help by calling the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 800-656-HOPE (4673). For more resources on sexual assault, visit RAINN, End Rape on Campus, Know Your IX, and the National Sexual Violence Resource Center.
__Related:__6 Self-Care Tips for Sexual Assault Survivors
Keywordsxxxtentaciondomestic violence
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William Hague interview
The former Conservative leader's piano-playing days are over - for now - as he dismisses talk of a "wobble" and tells Benedict Brogan of the party's desire to clear up "stinking mess" created by Labour.
Former Conservative Party leader William Hague Photo: EDDIE MULHOLLAND
By Benedict Brogan
8:00AM GMT 13 Feb 2010
William Hague stopped playing the piano when he was appointed to the front bench by David Cameron. And he has no plans to tickle the ivories any time soon. The hard work is about to start in earnest.
He has not gone through the mill of opposition to walk away now. What awaits the Conservatives if they win will be the defining moment of their lives. “I am not going to miss this for anything,” he says.
This is not complacency. Far from it. If anything, Mr Hague, along with others at the top of the party, are nervous. The past few weeks have been described by Labour as a Tory “wobble”. The reality is nothing as melodramatic, but these are testing times. The gap in the polls has closed to a more realistic level. There is not enough clear blue water to be certain of a majority.
Which is why Mr Hague has a stark message for anyone who wants rid of Labour and Gordon Brown. In a candid interview in which he ruled out using immigration as a weapon in the election campaign and defended Mr Cameron’s refusal to offer a pledge of more tax cuts, the former leader laid out what the consequences would be if Britain woke up to find Mr Brown still at No 10. The choice facing the country? “It’s between change or ruin.”
This from the politician at the sharp end of the battle to secure that elusive Tory majority. For three years now, true to his Yorkshire roots, Mr Hague has chaired the party’s northern campaign. His aim is to win back seats the party has not held since 1997 by finding voters north of the Wash who are prepared to embrace Mr Cameron’s modern Conservatism.
William Hague: My role in forming the Coalition
William Hague's clear message: vote Tory, or be ruined
He dismisses talk of a “wobble”, arguing that the recent hiccups over policy have had no impact outside Westminster. His main concern is finding new voters to support the Tories.
He laughs off concerns about the state of the party’s lead in the polls, which has deflated in recent weeks and stands at “just” 10 points. “Ten points? When I arrived at my first party conference in 1997 we were 40 points behind — Labour was on 60, we were on 20. It’s like Monty Python: what I wouldn’t have given for a 10pt lead …” He laughs at the absurdity of it.
Yet the electoral arithmetic works against the Tories. They must beat all records to secure a majority of just one. A hung Parliament is a possibility. “We only win a majority if a large number of people vote Conservative who have never voted Conservative. It’s not as if there is a large lump of Tory voters who are waiting to return.”
The signs are good, he says, in places such as Sunderland Central, Wakefield, Dewsbury and in Ed Balls’s seat of Morley and Outwood. He is amused that the Schools Secretary, one of Mr Brown’s closest allies, is pinned in his constituency having to fight hard to hold on to it.
“All the potential is there and I am determined if and when we win a majority there will be a strong voice for the north of England in that majority and we will have shown that the Conservative Party is a truly national party. One of the worst aspects of the 1997 defeat is that we became in Parliament predominantly a southern party. I don’t say that as an insult but as a fact.”
With Mr Cameron under fire from some traditional Tories for refusing their demands for more policy red meat on tax and immigration, it is worth hearing what Mr Hague — the poster boy of the Right — has to say about the leader. He admires Mr Cameron’s purpose, his strategic sense, his calm under fire, his even temperament.
“There are no sharp ups or downs. If things are going well he doesn’t get excited. If they are going badly he doesn’t get depressed,” he says. “If we are elected, he’s got the steel to govern the country through some very difficult times. He’s not put off by a bit of flak or a sudden turn of events.”
“He’s the sanest person to have led the party in a long time, including me. He has no phobias or obsessions.” And he will be decisive. He won’t suffer people in a job when they are not up to it.” Ominously, he adds: “He’s got a very clear view of who is doing well and who is doing badly.”
To those who worry that the public seems uncertain about Mr Cameron, he points to the low opinion of Margaret Thatcher before the 1979 election. “The debate was whether she was up to it and whether the manifesto was specific enough. At times she was 20 points behind Callaghan on who would make a better prime minister.”
Mr Cameron, he argues, gets a far better reaction: his personal poll ratings are noticeably higher than those of Mr Brown. So what is the choice on polling day? Is it between Cameron and Brown? No. “It’s between change or ruin.”
This is what he wants the country to focus on: the shock of finding Mr Brown and Labour still in power. “If the Labour Government were re-elected they themselves would be horrified to find themselves sitting in the middle of the stinking mess they have created.”
The light-hearted ease of the interview stops here. Suddenly it’s serious. “The point I want to make is that it’s too late then. There is no other chance.
“This country is hurtling towards massive debt and ever higher taxes under Gordon Brown. It is hurtling towards a position in the world that is dramatically more minor than the position that Mrs Thatcher presided over and Tony Blair was happy to exploit.”
Britain will be diminished, its voice silenced, its credibility shredded. “It will be too late to come back in five years’ time.” Do the voters realise it? “Some do and some don’t.”
He suggests that the harm done to politics by The Daily Telegraph’s expenses disclosures risks pushing people towards the BNP and other fringe parties. He also accepts that for some the Tories still have work to do. “If you want to change the government there is only one way to do that. We may not be perfect, we may not be the ideal for everyone but if we don’t do it then it is too late.”
He tackles the complaint that the Tories are not doing enough to spell out a tax-cutting message. He points to their pledges to freeze council tax for two years, to scrap death duties for estates worth up to £1million, to reduce corporation tax to 25p and to reform stamp duty. “We talk about those as much as we can. There is a tax reduction agenda there.” But for the moment — and until polling day it seems — it stops there.
He reminds those pressing for more, in particular the abolition of the 50p rate that begins this April, that the Tories would inherit the worst fiscal position of any incoming government in peacetime. When the Tories can afford to cut taxes, their first priority will be to reduce the imminent increase in National Insurance contributions that will hit everyone on more than £20,000. “That has got to be our highest priority.”
He cites Baroness Thatcher again for the way she secured a national consensus for cutting taxes by favouring not just the wealthy but those lower down the income scale. “When you reduce taxes on higher earners it’s vital to be reducing them on lower earning people as well so the nation shares in the approach.”
He is also keen that the nation should share his apprehension over the possibility of a hung parliament. “That will bring with it a lot of financial uncertainty and that won’t be good for the country. We have to play with whatever hand the voters deal us, but the overwhelming national interest is to have a clear majority.
“For all those who are not sure, for all those who may dabble with a fringe party, who think voting Liberal is a halfway house to change, none of that will work, none of that will help the country. We need a new government to govern.”
We ask him specifically about immigration, after a previously unpublished document disclosed this week the extent to which the public was misled by Labour about its deliberate policy of encouraging substantial numbers of migrants to enter the country. Mr Hague took a robust line on the issue when he led his party in the 2001 election, but is not about to do so now. He says the party should stick to its priorities: protecting the NHS, reforming education, sorting out the economy. “We must not change that strategy and that means in the campaign itself those issues have to be to the fore. So if you are saying the Conservatives should make immigration a front-page issue then I say no. It would be a distraction to fight the election on immigration.” However, he reiterates party policy, which is a cap on the number of migrants from outside the European Union. At the moment it is running at near 200,000 a year; Mr Cameron says it should be slashed to the “tens of thousands”. Mr Hague is firm: “We are not going to fight another election on immigration. It would not reflect the nation’s priorities.”
He does argue that tackling immigration is among those things that voters can rely on a Conservative government to do in any circumstances, along with being tough on crime and not ceding more powers to the EU. What about cutting taxes? He hesitates. “Obviously a Conservative government will always leave taxes lower than they have been under Labour. Those things go with the territory of the Conservative Party.”
Mr Hague has given up his numerous outside interests to concentrate on the campaign. He is a successful author, has been wooed by businesses and is one of Westminster’s most in-demand after-dinner speakers.
And in addition to a rigorous fitness regime, he did begin teaching himself to play the piano. Does he still have time to play? Sadly not. He gave up when Mr Cameron made him shadow foreign secretary. He preferred to stop completely than to practise intermittently. What lies ahead demands every ounce of effort.
“Having come all this way in the last few years, I’m not going to miss this for anything. It will be the defining experience of our lives. We should be psychologically prepared.
“But we are up for that and after 13 years of only being able to watch while all this damage is done to the country we are highly motivated. One day I will go back to my books and piano, but not yet.”
Benedict Brogan »
Editor's Choice »
General Election 2010 »
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Trump and Ivanka met K-Pop boy band EXO on their South Korea visit
[email protected] (Kat Tenbarge)
President Donald Trump included a quick stop in Seoul, South Korea during his travel schedule this week, which included a four-day state visit to Japan. The White House Press Office detailed a state dinner at the “blue house,” or South Korean presidential palace, with President Moon Jae-in.
Trump’s daughter Ivanka accompanied him to the blue house, where the two were introduced to K-Pop boy band EXO, along with the South Korean first lady, foreign minister Kang Kyung-wha, and former Ladies Professional Golf Association champion Se-ri Park for a cocktail reception.
During the meeting, President Moon told Trump and Ivanka he had invited EXO on her behalf, since she was a fan of the K-Pop band and her daughter’s birthday was coming up in July. Ivanka confirmed she had been a fan since seeing EXO perform at the closing ceremony of the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang province in South Korea.
Members of EXO also presented Trump and Ivanka with a signed copy of their fifth studio album “LOVE SHOT” for her daughter’s birthday.
Read more: A K-Pop superstar dramatically quit the music business over secret sex videos he made, amid a growing sex and prostitution scandal rocking the scene
K-Pop fans reacted to the meeting on Twitter, with some expressing pride that EXO was chosen to represent the country of South Korea at a state meeting (the Korea Tourism Organization selected EXO as “Nation’s Pick” public ambassadors in 2018), while others were less than pleased their idols met with Trump.
Trump also noted that he could potentially meet with North Korean Supreme Leader Kim Jong-Un at the border between North and South Korea later in his trip, but said the details were not confirmed.
How to remove gel nail polish at home: A step-by-step guide
First 2020 Democratic debate: Inside the insanity of the Spin Room
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10 maps show how different LGBTQ rights are around the world
Shayanne Gal and Ashley Collman
LGBTQ activists suffered a major blow on Tuesday when the Supreme Court voted to reinstate President Trump’s transgender ban for the time being.
The 5-4 decision doesn’t make a final ruling on the ban, but says the rule can be put in place while appeals go through the lower courts.
The new policy, which President Donald Trump announced on Twitter in 2017, bans anyone diagnosed with gender dysphoria from joining the military, unless they serve as the gender they were assigned at birth. Transgender soldiers already serving would be grandfathered in.
If the courts ultimately decide Trump’s ban can be permanent, it would leave just 19 countries in the world where transgender people are allowed to serve in the military.
The fracas is a reflection of how much of an up-hill battle LGBTQ rights continue to be around the world. For example, gay sex is still illegal in nearly 40% of countries in the United Nations, according to Statistics released last year by the International Lesbian. Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association (ILGA).
To understand how LGBTQ rights vary around the world, Business Insider created a set of maps that visualize where gay marriage is legalized and where gay people can still be put to death, among other things.
The results show that while homosexuality is no longer outlawed in the majority of the world, there’s still a long way to go in terms of acceptance and equality for LGBTQ people.
Trump trade war: Wilbur Ross says US, China deal ‘miles and miles’ away
The town with the most government workers in each US state
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Education & Science›
Italy: number of registered students at leading universities 2015-2016
Number of students registered at university in Italy for the academic year 2015 to 2016, by leading universities
This statistic provides the number of new students registered at university in Italy for the academic year 2015-2016, broken down by leading universities. At the time of the survey, around 14,500 students registered at the Università degli studi di Roma La Sapienza and another 13,200 new students registered at the Università degli studi di Bologna.
Aademic year 2015-2016
Data refers to the number of students who were registered at an Italian university by the end of July 2016.
Italy: total number of students 2015-2016, by field of study
Italy: total number of students at leading universities 2015-2016
Italy: enrollment in pre-primary schools 2017, by region
Italy: total number of foreign students 2016-2017, by country of origin
Everything On "Rome (Italy)" in One Document: Edited and Divided into Handy Chapters. Including Detailed References.
Statistics on "Education in Italy"
Pre-primary schools
Lower-secondary schools
Upper-secondary schools
Number of pre-primary schools in Italy from the school year 2012/2013 to 2016/2017Italy: number of pre-primary schools 2012-2017
Number of pre-primary schools in Italy in the school year 2016/2017, by regionItaly: number of pre-primary schools 2017, by region
Number of children enrolled in pre-primary schools in Italy from the school year 2012/2013 to 2016/2017Italy: enrollment in pre-primary schools 2012-2017
Enrollment in pre-primary schools in Italy in the academic year 2016/2017, by regionItaly: enrollment in pre-primary schools 2017, by region
Average number of children per class in pre-primary schools in Italy from the school year 2012/2013 to 2016/2017Italy: average number of children per class in pre-primary schools 2012-2017
Foreign pupils in pre-primary schools in Italy in the school year 2016/2017, by regionItaly: foreign pupils in pre-primary schools 2016/2017, by region
Number of primary schools in Italy from the school year 2012/2013 to 2016/2017Italy: number of primary schools 2012-2017
Number of primary schools in Italy in the school year 2016/2017, by regionItaly: number of primary schools in 2017, by region
Number of pupils enrolled in primary schools in Italy from the school year 2012/2013 to 2016/2017Italy: enrollment in primary schools 2012-2017
Number of pupils enrolled in primary schools in Italy in the school year 2016/2017, by regionItaly: enrollment in primary schools 2017, by region
Average number of pupils per class in primary schools in Italy from the school year 2012/2013 to 2016/2017Italy: average number of children per class in primary schools 2012-2017
Number of new textbooks for primary schools published in Italy from 2007 to 2017 (in units)*Italy: published textbooks for primary schools 2007-2017
Number of lower secondary schools in Italy from the school year 2012/2013 to 2016/2017Italy: number of lower secondary schools 2012-2017
Number of lower secondary schools in Italy in the school year 2016/2017, by regionItaly: number of lower secondary schools in 2017, by region
Number of students enrolled in lower secondary schools in Italy from the school year 2012/2013 to 2016/2017Italy: enrollment in lower secondary schools 2012-2017
Number of students enrolled in lower secondary schools in Italy in the academic year 2016/2017, by regionItaly: enrollment in lower secondary schools 2017, by region
Average number of students per class in lower secondary schools in Italy from the school year 2012/2013 to 2016/2017Italy: average number of students per class in lower secondary schools 2012-2017
Average math grade of foreign students in lower secondary school in Italy in 2015, by country of originItaly: foreigners´ average math grade in lower secondary school 2015
Number of upper secondary schools in Italy from the school year 2012/2013 to 2016/2017Italy: number of upper secondary schools 2012-2017
Number of upper secondary schools in Italy in the school year 2016/2017, by regionItaly: number of upper secondary schools in 2017, by region
Number of students enrolled in upper secondary schools in Italy from the school year 2012/2013 to 2016/2017Italy: enrollment in upper secondary schools 2012-2017
Number of students enrolled in upper secondary schools in Italy in the academic year 2016/2017, by regionItaly: enrollment in upper secondary schools 2017, by region
Share of students enrolled in upper secondary schools in Italy for the academic year 2016 to 2017, by type of school and genderItaly: gender share of students enrolled in upper secondary schools 2016-2017
Average number of students per class in upper secondary schools in Italy from the school year 2012/2013 to 2016/2017Italy: average number of students per class in upper secondary schools 2012-2017
Percentage of repeaters in upper secondary schools in Italy from the school year 2012/2013 to 2016/2017Italy: share of repeaters in upper secondary schools 2012-2017
Leading ten Italian universities by number of courses activated for the academic year 2017/2018Italy: top 10 universities by number of courses activated 2017/2018
Total number of students registered at university in Italy for the academic year 2015 to 2016, by field of studyItaly: total number of students 2015-2016, by field of study
Total number of foreign students registered at university in Italy for the academic year 2016 to 2017, by leading countries of originItaly: total number of foreign students 2016-2017, by country of origin
Number of students enrolled at university in Italy for the academic year 2015 to 2016, by leading universitiesItaly: total number of students at leading universities 2015-2016
Number of students registered at university in Italy for the academic year 2015 to 2016, by leading universitiesItaly: number of registered students at leading universities 2015-2016
Share of students enrolled at university in Italy for the academic year 2016 to 2017, by macro-area of studiesItaly: share of enrolled students at universities 2016-2017, by macro-area of studies
Number of Italian doctorate graduates seeking jobs in 2014Italy: PHD graduates seeking jobs in 2014
Satisfaction for the programme completed of Italian doctorate graduates* in 2014Italy: satisfaction for the programme completed of PHD graduates 2014
Italian doctorate graduates* living abroad in 2014, by field of studyItaly: PHD graduates living abroad 2014, by field of study
Italian doctorate graduates seeking jobs in 2014, by professional statusItaly: PHD graduates seeking jobs 2014, by professional status
Italy: share of enrolled male students at universities 2016-2017
Ecuador: university enrollment 2013, by degree & ownership
Ecuador: university enrollment 2012-2013, by degree
Total number of students enrolled in universities Flanders 2016-2019
Colombia: university enrollment 2010-2014
Number of university students in Vietnam 2013-2017
Number of university students in the Netherlands 2018, by field of study
Panama: number of university students enrolled 2010-2017
Leading public universities across India 2015 by number of international students
Biggest universities in Sweden in 2017, by number of students
Brazil: undergraduate students 2015-2017, by degree type
Brazil: number of higher education institutions 2014-2017
Total number of university students in Japan 2010-2017
U.S. students studying abroad for academic credit 1991-2016
Upper secondary school students in Europe in 2016
Number of private university students in Vietnam 2013-2017
Canada: second language programs enrollment, by province 2017
Personnel costs of the sewerage sector in Cyprus 2008-2014
E-learning and digital education
Higher education graduation in the U.S.
Colleges and universities in the U.S.
Housing for students in the United States
University finances in the UK
The Ivy League
College choice in the United States
Back-to-school market
Funding university in the United States
Back-to-college market
Community colleges and other 2-year institutions in U.S. higher education
Imperial College London: Annual Report and Accounts 2015/2016
University of Cambridge: Reports and Financial Statements for the year ended 31 July 2016
University of Oxford: Financial Statements 2015/2016
Public Elementary and Secondary School Student Enrollment and Staff 2008-09
2016 Marketing and Student Recruitment Practices Benchmark Report
Number of pre-primary schools in Italy from the school year 2012/2013 to 2016/2017
Number of pre-primary schools in Italy in the school year 2016/2017, by region
Number of children enrolled in pre-primary schools in Italy from the school year 2012/2013 to 2016/2017
Enrollment in pre-primary schools in Italy in the academic year 2016/2017, by region
Average number of children per class in pre-primary schools in Italy from the school year 2012/2013 to 2016/2017
Foreign pupils in pre-primary schools in Italy in the school year 2016/2017, by region
Number of primary schools in Italy from the school year 2012/2013 to 2016/2017
Number of primary schools in Italy in the school year 2016/2017, by region
Number of pupils enrolled in primary schools in Italy from the school year 2012/2013 to 2016/2017
Number of pupils enrolled in primary schools in Italy in the school year 2016/2017, by region
Average number of pupils per class in primary schools in Italy from the school year 2012/2013 to 2016/2017
Number of new textbooks for primary schools published in Italy from 2007 to 2017 (in units)*
Number of lower secondary schools in Italy from the school year 2012/2013 to 2016/2017
Number of lower secondary schools in Italy in the school year 2016/2017, by region
Number of students enrolled in lower secondary schools in Italy from the school year 2012/2013 to 2016/2017
Number of students enrolled in lower secondary schools in Italy in the academic year 2016/2017, by region
Average number of students per class in lower secondary schools in Italy from the school year 2012/2013 to 2016/2017
Average math grade of foreign students in lower secondary school in Italy in 2015, by country of origin
Number of upper secondary schools in Italy from the school year 2012/2013 to 2016/2017
Number of upper secondary schools in Italy in the school year 2016/2017, by region
Number of students enrolled in upper secondary schools in Italy from the school year 2012/2013 to 2016/2017
Number of students enrolled in upper secondary schools in Italy in the academic year 2016/2017, by region
Share of students enrolled in upper secondary schools in Italy for the academic year 2016 to 2017, by type of school and gender
Average number of students per class in upper secondary schools in Italy from the school year 2012/2013 to 2016/2017
Percentage of repeaters in upper secondary schools in Italy from the school year 2012/2013 to 2016/2017
Share of citizens aged 19 years graduated from upper secondary schools in Italy from the school year 2012/2013 to 2016/2017
Are you satisfied with the secondary school you have chosen?
Do you think you will enroll at the university after graduating from secondary school?
Leading ten Italian universities by number of courses activated for the academic year 2017/2018
Total number of students registered at university in Italy for the academic year 2015 to 2016, by field of study
Total number of foreign students registered at university in Italy for the academic year 2016 to 2017, by leading countries of origin
Number of students enrolled at university in Italy for the academic year 2015 to 2016, by leading universities
Share of students enrolled at university in Italy for the academic year 2016 to 2017, by macro-area of studies
Regional distribution of people aged between 18 to 24 years who discontinued education and training in Italy in 2017, by gender
Mobility of Italian students participating in Erasmus+ from 2014 to 2017
Leading ten universities in Italy as of December 2018, by number of Facebook page fans
Number of Italian doctorate graduates seeking jobs in 2014
Satisfaction for the programme completed of Italian doctorate graduates* in 2014
Italian doctorate graduates* living abroad in 2014, by field of study
Italian doctorate graduates seeking jobs in 2014, by professional status
Share of male students enrolled at university in Italy for the academic year 2016 to 2017, by macro-area of studies
Number of students enrolled in universities in Ecuador in 2013, by degree type and university ownership
Number of students enrolled in universities in Ecuador in 2012 and 2013, by degree type
Total number of students enrolled in universities in Flanders (Belgium) from 2016 to 2019
Number of students enrolled in universities in Colombia from 2010 to 2014
Number of university students in Vietnam from 2013 to 2017 (in millions)
Number of university students in the Netherlands in 2018, by field of study (in 1,000s)
Number of students enrolled in universities in Panama from 2010 to 2017
Leading public universities across India in 2015, by number of international students
20 biggest universities in Sweden in 2017, by number of registered students
Number of undergraduate students enrolled in universities in Brazil in 2015 and 2017, by type of degree (in millions)
Number of institutions offering higher education programs in Brazil from 2014 to 2017
Total number of students enrolled in universities in Japan from 2010 to 2017 (in millions)
Number of U.S. students that studied abroad for academic credit from 1991 to 2016
Number of upper secondary school students in the Europe in 2016, by country
Number of private university students in Vietnam from 2013 to 2017 (in 1,000s)
Number of students enrolled in regular second language programs in Canada in 2017, by province
Annual personnel costs of the sewerage sector in Cyprus from 2008 to 2014 (in million euros)
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State of Health›
Prevalence of doctor-diagnosed arthritis by diabetes diagnosis in U.S. 2013-2015
Comparison of the prevalence of doctor-diagnosed arthritis among those with and without diabetes, in the U.S. in 2013-2015*
by John Elflein, last edited May 24, 2018
This statistic displays the prevalence of doctor-diagnosed arthritis in the adult population in the United States from 2013 to 2015, adjusted for age, by diabetes diagnosis. For the period from 2013 to 2015, 19.8 percent of the survey respondents without diabetes indicated that they had a doctor-diagnosed form of arthritis; while 33.7 percent of those with diabetes had been diagnosed with arthritis.
Diabetes diagnosis
Percentage of respondents
Number of respondents
base: around 35,000 households annually
Special properties
age-adjusted
Method of interview
* Doctor-diagnosed arthritis was defined as an affirmative response to the question “Have you ever been told by a doctor or other health professional that you have some form of arthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, gout, lupus, or fibromyalgia?"
Age adjusted to the 2000 U.S. projected adult population, using three age groups: 18–44, 45–64, and ≥65 years.
Arthritis and rheumatic diseases in the U.S.
Pharmaceutical Products & Market
Top worldwide anti-rheumatics by market share 2017 and 2024
Global anti-rheumatics revenue of top pharmaceutical companies 2017 and 2024
Top worldwide anti-rheumatics by revenue 2017 and 2024
Worldwide top diseases 2019, by number of active drugs
Diabetes in the U.S.
Everything On "Diabetes in the U.S." in One Document: Edited and Divided into Handy Chapters. Including Detailed References.
Statistics on "Arthritis and rheumatic diseases in the U.S."
Global overview
Arthritis prevalence
Connection with other conditions
Burden of arthritis
Medication and treatment
Other rheumatic diseases
Top 10 diseases worldwide by number of active drugs in 2019*Worldwide top diseases 2019, by number of active drugs
Top anti-rheumatic products based on global market share in 2017 and 2024Top worldwide anti-rheumatics by market share 2017 and 2024
Top anti-rheumatic products based on global revenue in 2017 and 2024 (in million U.S. dollars)Top worldwide anti-rheumatics by revenue 2017 and 2024
Top 10 pharmaceutical companies based on global anti-rheumatics revenue in 2017 and 2024 (in million U.S. dollars)Global anti-rheumatics revenue of top pharmaceutical companies 2017 and 2024
Percentage of adults worldwide who had select misconceptions about lupus as of 2016Lack of knowledge and misconceptions about lupus worldwide 2016
Percentage of adults worldwide who felt uncomfortable with select interactions with those with lupus because they thought the disease was contagious as of 2016Stigma associated with lupus resulting from misconceptions worldwide 2016
Percentage of U.S. adults who stated they were concerned they may develop the following diseases in their lifetime as of 2018Diseases U.S. adults were concerned about developing as of 2018
Percentage of adults in the U.S. who had been diagnosed with selected medical conditions as of 2017Medical conditions U.S. adults had been diagnosed with as of 2017
Prevalence of doctor-diagnosed arthritis among U.S. adults in 2013-2015, by gender*Share of doctor-diagnosed arthritis in US adults by gender 2013-2015
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Percentage of obese adults in the United States with doctor-diagnosed arthritis as of 2015Prevalence of arthritis among obese adults U.S. 2015
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Percentage of adults in the U.S. who had been diagnosed with selected medical conditions as of 2017
Prevalence of doctor-diagnosed arthritis among U.S. adults in 2013-2015, by gender*
Prevalence of doctor-diagnosed arthritis among U.S. adults in 2017, by ethnicity
Percentage of adults in the U.S. with arthritis in 2017, by state
Prevalence of doctor-diagnosed arthritis among U.S. adults by body mass index in 2013-2015*
Percentage of obese adults in the United States with doctor-diagnosed arthritis as of 2015
Prevalence of doctor-diagnosed arthritis among U.S. adults with and without heart disease in 2013-2015
Percentage of adults with diabetes in the United States who also had doctor-diagnosed arthritis as of 2015
Percentage of physically inactive adults in the United States with doctor-diagnosed arthritis as of 2015
Percentage of adults with arthritis in the U.S. who had arthritis-attributable severe joint pain in 2017, by state
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Projected number of adults in the U.S. with arthritis and arthritis-attributable activity limitation from 2015 to 2040 (in millions)
Projected percentage of adults in the U.S. with arthritis and arthritis-attributable activity limitation from 2015 to 2040
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Number of medicines in development for Autoimmune Diseases in the United States as of 2016, by all types*
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Percentage of patients for which a certain drug is ineffective, by therapy class
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Percentage of adults in the U.S. with Sjögren’s syndrome who experienced select symptoms weekly or more frequently as of 2016
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Percentage of adults in the U.S. with Sjögren’s syndrome who had to make select changes at work as of 2016
Percentage of adults in the U.S. with gout who also had select health conditions from 2012 to 2014, by gender
Percentage of adults diagnosed with diabetes who had an influenza vaccine in the past year in the U.S. as of 2015, by income
Percentage of adults diagnosed with diabetes who ever had a pneumococcal vaccine in the U.S. as of 2015, by gender
Percentage of adults diagnosed with diabetes who had an influenza vaccine in the past year in the U.S. as of 2015, by ethnicity
Number of adults with diabetes in the Southern Caribbean in 2017, by selected country (in 1,000s)
Percentage of adults diagnosed with diabetes who had the 3-dose hepatitis B vaccination schedule in the U.S. as of 2015, by age
Percentage of adults diagnosed with diabetes who had an influenza vaccine in the past year in the U.S. as of 2015, by age
Prevalence of diagnosed diabetes among adults in the U.S. from 2013 to 2015, by gender and education
Prevalence of diagnosed and undiagnosed diabetes among adults in the U.S. from 2011 to 2014, by education
Percentage of adults diagnosed with diabetes who had the 3-dose hepatitis B vaccination schedule in the U.S. as of 2015, by ethnicity
Percentage of adults diagnosed with diabetes who had an influenza vaccine in the past year in the U.S. as of 2015, by gender
Percentage of adults diagnosed with diabetes who ever had a pneumococcal vaccine in the U.S. as of 2015, by ethnicity
Percentage of adults diagnosed with diabetes who ever had a pneumococcal vaccine in the U.S. as of 2015, by age
Prevalence of doctor-diagnosed arthritis among U.S. adults in 2017, by age
Prevalence of doctor-diagnosed arthritis among U.S. adults in 2017, by gender
Prevalence of doctor-diagnosed arthritis among U.S. adults in 2017, by education level
Number of deaths due to rheumatoid arthritis and osteoarthrosis in Catalonia from 2005 to 2015
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Percentage of U.S. adults who had cost problems related to healthcare between 2003 and 2018*
Percentage of U.S. adults using selected strategies to reduce prescription drug costs in 2013, by age group*
Estimated average revenue per user of eHealth solutions for Diabetes by subsegment in Spain from 2016 to 2022 (in U.S. dollars)
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Teaching Democracy: How One School Network Has Baked Civics & Activism Into Its DNA — and Produced Graduates Who Are More Likely to Vote
By Kevin Mahnken | April 10, 2019
By Kevin MahnkenApril 10, 2019
Can schools save our fractured nation? Backed by groundbreaking research, Democracy Prep is putting civics — and active political participation — at the heart of its educational mission
Work hard. Go to college. Change the world!
When Democracy Prep students stream into their classrooms each morning, their school motto follows them. It’s written on the blue and gold banners slung in their hallways, alongside packets of graded student work and on rows of university pennants. It peeks up from school-issued planners. And it’s occasionally found on pieces of the school uniform, a variegated ensemble that makes room for branded button-downs, sweatpants, ties, cardigans and vests.
Not every school can boast a mantra, but Democracy Prep chose one that leaves no ambiguity about its mission. Students (referred to as scholars) encounter all the hallmarks of the urban charter school: high expectations, a long school day, stringent disciplinary policies.
But as it has expanded from one Harlem middle school to more than 20 locations across five states, the 13-year-old network has always kept the exclamation point at the end of that third imperative clause. Unique among both charter and district schools, Democracy Prep’s institutional focus lies in preparing kids not just for the rigors of college, but also for the demands of citizenship. Through an emphasis on government and social change, as well as a heavy dose of extracurricular civic involvement, the schools seek to transform K-12 students into future voters, volunteers and activists.
In short, adults who could — and might see it as their duty to — change the world.
“Democracy Prep gives you its coursework so it can prepare you, and you can have the ambition to change the world,” said Herman Amevor, a senior at Democracy Prep Charter High School in Harlem. “We do have an obligation as scholars to be involved in our community, to make our voices heard and make a change.”
Students walk the halls of Democracy Prep Charter High School. (Emmeline Zhao)
Measured by traditional metrics of school quality, the results have been striking. Extensive research released between 2012 and 2015 showed that students at Democracy Prep’s New York schools achieved significant gains in math and literacy comparable to those of students at other high-performing charters. But the schools’ most touted impact has been felt on an entirely non-academic outcome: political participation.
Last spring, the research group Mathematica released a study finding that attending Democracy Prep made students significantly more likely to vote.
At a time when polling shows that most adults can’t name the three branches of government, the study provided hopeful evidence that schools have a role to play in shaping better citizens. Particularly impressive is the fact that Democracy Prep’s exclusively young (its oldest graduates are still in their early 20s) and predominantly minority and low-income student demographic is generally the least likely to participate in elections.
David Campbell, chair of the political science department at Notre Dame, called the Mathematica study “top-notch.”
“It’s big,” he said. “And as these interventions go, on a scale of what we’ve seen other things do — not only in education, but just in general — trying to move the needle on voter turnout is actually a pretty hard thing to do. That’s a big effect.”
Contributing to a ‘More Perfect Union’: Mathematica Study of Civic Engagement of Students at Democracy Prep Is Encouraging but Only a Beginning
The Democracy Prep study offered a ray of hope in an era rife with disheartening news about the fragility of democracy. Americans’ demonstrated ignorance of their political leaders and founding documents is already well-known. Their trust, both in their institutions and in one another, is in free fall. Particularly since President Donald Trump’s election, partisan polarization has grown from a peculiar infirmity of Washington to a cantankerous lifestyle practiced across most of the country. Already low, participation in America’s huge network of voluntary organizations, from Rotary Clubs to the Boy Scouts, has entered a stage of potentially terminal decline.
While policymakers turn to civics education as a cure for democracy’s ills, Democracy Prep offers a singular model of a school that places civics knowledge and public activism at the core of its educational mission.
“Democracy Prep is not ‘Generic Prep.’ It’s specifically Democracy Prep for a reason,” said Seth Andrew, the network’s founder. “The reason we have public schools is to educate citizens for democracy. I think every school should have a civic purpose; ours is just more explicit about it than most.”
Seth Andrew, founder of Democracy Prep. (James Fields)
Though it hasn’t won the same notoriety as other “no excuses” schools, Democracy Prep has enjoyed a decade of impressive results and widespread praise within the education reform community. With the aid of $21.8 million in grants from the U.S. Department of Education, it launched a nationwide expansion that increased its enrollment fifty-fold since its opening in 2006. It now educates 6,500 students in New York, New Jersey, Louisiana, Texas, and Nevada.
But the halcyon era may be dimming.
Democracy Prep experienced its first major failure in Washington, D.C., where it posted four years of dismal performance before pulling up stakes ahead of an imminent school closure. Newly opened schools in San Antonio and Las Vegas have had to fend off fierce pushback from teachers unions and angry families. And this year, financial shortfalls led to network-wide austerity measures to restore fiscal balance.
The setbacks raise tough questions about whether the network can replicate its heralded approach to civics instruction outside of New York.
Democracy Prep’s Expansion Woes Raise Questions About Whether Civics Education Can Be Brought to Scale
Even as the organization he founded works to regain its footing, Andrew — who left Democracy Prep in 2013 but retains an informal advisory role — warns of the need to initiate more students into the responsibilities of democratic thought and action. The consequences of ignorance, he argues, could be dire.
“I think one of the only potential backstops or safety nets we have in our democracy is our public education system,” he said. “If democracy is not taught, it’s not a natural thing. It’s something that needs to be refreshed every generation. And right now I really do worry that democracy is deeply at risk.”
Chapter 1: ‘Change the world’
Andrew is not alone in his doubts — a fretful chorus of academics and lawmakers has spent the past few years pointing to the darkening state of our political culture.
Some of the blame has been laid at the feet of K-12 schools. Like Andrew, many consider civics education the raison d’être of public schooling, a core responsibility that has been discarded as our national focus drifted to preparation for higher education and the workforce. Particularly in the wake of federal education laws like No Child Left Behind, they argue, precious instructional time has been siphoned from social studies and devoted to more frequently tested core subjects like English and math.
“It’s this myopic focus on standardized testing in only two subject areas,” said Joel Westheimer, an expert in civics education at the University of Ottawa. “Not only have things like social studies and science and theater and the arts been pushed off the table, but people have stopped thinking about schooling, public schooling, as a way to create a … democratic public.”
In contrast, he added, Democracy Prep’s approach “is the exact kind of direction we need to be going, which is [that] people have to understand what their role is as citizens in a democratic society.”
Beginning in the elementary grades, Democracy Prep students participate in discussions of social issues and current events — but they also spend fall afternoons helping to register new voters and encourage existing ones to turn out. Classes participate in regular acts of community service and make trips to their state capitals and Washington, D.C., to contact legislators. And scholars young and old participate in get-out-the-vote drives each Election Day, donning matching yellow T-shirts that bear the message, “I can’t vote, but you can!”
The final proving ground is high school, where every senior receives two year-long courses of civics content — one explicitly focusing on American democracy, the other covering sociology and economics. The civics push culminates in capstone assignments, known as Change the World projects, aimed at rectifying community problems that students identify.
T74 Documentary: Meet the Educators Leading the Civics-Oriented Network Democracy Prep, and the Students Working to ‘Change the World’
Samantha Hernandez, a senior at Democracy Prep Charter High School in Harlem, is focusing her project on the hygienic needs of women living on the streets.
Samantha lives in Soundview, a working-class corner of the Bronx hemmed in and crisscrossed by highways. The neighborhood is eclectic but accomplished: Its three most famous residents, hip hop pioneers KRS-One and Afrika Bambaataa and Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, all rub shoulders on a recently completed mural.
Sotomayor has written fondly of her outer borough childhood, and the public housing complex where she grew up was renamed for her in 2010. But the Catholic school she attended, which she credits for providing the rigor and discipline that led to her successes later in life, was one of many shuttered across New York in the past few years.
Samantha had to petition her mother to let her transfer to Democracy Prep when she felt herself stagnating at her locally zoned district school. That choice has led to three years of hour-long subway rides to and from Harlem. But she says the commutes are worth it because Democracy Prep leads her to perceive the world differently.
Samantha Hernandez, a senior at Democracy Prep Charter High School. (Emmeline Zhao)
“Everything that we learn in [the seminar in American democracy] or sociology is not just about the Constitution or when we go to college. For me, I take it very personal,” she said. “It makes me think about the bigger picture in terms of, how do I contribute to society, and what piece do I play in society. … It makes me think about these things, like how can I change that, and how can I live my life not leading onto the path of least resistance?”
Though she’s mulling over the big questions, Samantha has chosen to act locally. She regularly sees homeless women in her neighborhood but only recently wondered how they access the sanitary products most of society takes for granted.
“When you think about homelessness, you only think about one single story. And that’s the — I don’t want to [use] the term, but that one bum on the train, and you think, ‘Oh, he has mental health issues.’ But then there’s other types of homelessness, and I feel like woman homelessness is a topic that’s taboo to talk about.”
Though she hadn’t yet settled on a means of raising funds, she had identified and contacted two nonprofits — the nationally active PERIOD, and the New York City-based Care for the Homeless — that she was hoping to partner with in distributing tampons, pads and condoms to needy women.
How Democracy Prep Is Drawing Upon Civics to Challenge Its Students to ‘Change the World’ — Before They Graduate
Over the years, students across the network have designed and completed hundreds of Change the World projects, spanning countless subjects. Democracy Prep scholars have addressed mental health awareness, gentrification, the achievement gap, early education and gender stereotypes in dance, just to name a few. One organized a march through Harlem to protest police brutality. Another traveled to the Dominican Republic to distribute supplies to rural schools.
Chapter 2: Academic success
Though the network has only recently won acclaim for its impact on alumni voting, it has a track record of achieving academic success in New York, sometimes in adverse circumstances.
Temple University professor Sarah Cordes and NYU professor Sean Corcoran conducted a study on student achievement gains at the fast-growing network. The results, published in a 2015 paper, were quite strong.
The analysis found evidence of significant test score growth in English and especially math, even as Democracy Prep’s enrollment increased by a factor of 20. That timing was especially noteworthy because high-performing charter schools have not always been able to replicate their strong results at scale.
To complicate matters further, the network took over a failing charter for the first time in 2011. The school, Harlem Day, was one of New York’s oldest charters. Despite years of close attention and generous donations, it had persistently underperformed for over a decade and was at risk of closure when Democracy Prep took the reins.
Future CEO Katie Duffy, then the organization’s chief of staff, led the transition — the first instance in New York of one charter operator taking over from another that had failed. Scaling up can be a complicated endeavor, but school turnarounds have been one of the toughest roads in education. The task of replacing staff and instituting a new school culture, all while communicating constantly with families about ongoing changes, has proved so challenging that some experts believe it shouldn’t even be attempted.
“A lot of the successful CMOs are not in the business of converting schools or turning around traditional schools, but Democracy Prep stepped in in a couple of cases,” said Corcoran.
The school, now called Harlem Prep Charter School, serves grades K-12 and performs well by New York City’s metrics of school quality and safety. Its performance hasn’t hit the highs of the original Democracy Prep middle school, which gained a reputation for top academic marks and crowded admission lottery nights within a few years of its founding, but it’s a far cry from the scuffling that nearly shuttered Harlem Day permanently.
According to Cordes, Democracy Prep’s success in leading that turnaround was especially impressive.
“Replicating your model from the ground up is a totally different animal than replicating your model at an existing school, and the fact that they were able to do both is pretty remarkable.”
But it was in the area of civics where the research proved most extraordinary.
In the first-ever study of an individual school network’s impact on democratic outcomes, Mathematica recently conducted a randomized controlled trial — considered the gold standard of research — to examine the impact of Democracy Prep’s methods on voting, the most obvious means of civic participation. The experiment showed that attending Democracy Prep made students 16 percentage points more likely to be registered to vote and 12 percentage points more likely to vote in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.
One of the Mathematica study’s authors, Emilyn Whitesell, said that Democracy Prep’s results compared favorably to other interventions designed to boost voter turnout, such as same-day voter registration and text message reminders. She called the network a “proof point” demonstrating that public schools can produce more engaged citizens.
“This is especially heartening and shows that certainly schools have a role to play here,” Whitesell said. “That we’re seeing these types of impacts at Democracy Prep, that’s very encouraging.”
Chapter 3: Democracy Prep Year One: ‘deep trauma’
But in its first year, such accolades seemed far off.
In 2006, the year the first Democracy Prep middle school opened, Seth Andrew was a 28-year-old leader with an appealing pitch and big plans. He had surprised himself by hiring a full staff, locating a suitable facility and signing up about 130 students to make up the inaugural sixth-grade class. He’d also recruited an accomplished board of directors, including Noah Millman, who worked in financial derivatives at a Wall Street bank, and Robert North, a pediatric dentist and respected figure in New York philanthropy.
Bringing the students aboard was a particular thrill. In retrospect, Andrew said, it “blew [my] mind” that parents were willing to opt for his unproven school over their locally zoned option.
“They would ask, ‘Where is it?’ and I’d say, ‘I don’t know,’” he said. “And they’d ask, ‘Who’s going to teach there?’ And I said, ‘They’re going to be great.’ And, ‘What are your results?’ ‘We don’t have any yet, but trust me, it’s going to be great.’”
Actor Neil Patrick Harris visits Democracy Prep in 2016. (Democracy Prep)
But it wasn’t long before Andrew became frustrated with operations issues that weren’t being attended to. Classrooms and copiers weren’t ready for the first week of classes in August, and expense reports began to fall behind.
Millman said Andrew reminded him of young entrepreneurs he’d encountered in the business world: intensely dedicated and hard on his employees — and on himself.
“Seth, like a lot of entrepreneurs and a lot of young people in a hurry, did not have a lot of time for consensus building,” said Millman, who now works as a writer and filmmaker. “He was really sort of a ‘my way or the highway’ type of manager, and I think that created a lot of problems in the very first year with staff.”
At the end of the year, a significant number of employees resigned. The board voted to remove Andrew as Democracy Prep’s executive director and replace him with North. As the interim executive director, his first move was to hire Andrew back to serve as principal while North oversaw operational and financial responsibilities. Millman, who took over as board chair after the shakeup, strongly supported reappointing Andrew but said the removal had been warranted.
“You had a young guy with essentially no management experience, who was an aggressive, demanding boss and didn’t take criticism very well,” he said. “He got himself into a situation that he couldn’t handle, and didn’t want to admit that it was a situation he couldn’t handle, and it escalated … to the point where he lost most of his staff. That caused him to lose his job temporarily, and he needed to be placed under tutelage to learn some management.”
North began with an accounting of where things had gone wrong the previous year. In short order, he concluded that the financial and operations teams hadn’t served Andrew well. The finances were “upside down”: Copies of invoices were stored haphazardly. The school kept receiving bills for a student trip to Washington that was supposed to be entirely free. A deal for portable air conditioners ended up costing far more than the machines were worth.
The network’s then-finance director, Peter Croncota, declined to comment for this article.
“As a young school leader, I had a lot to learn,” Andrew acknowledged. “Part of the lessons of the charter school movement is that this work is really hard, and that idealism and effort are not sufficient to run a great school. You need to have expertise in lots of areas. … Sometimes the alchemy doesn’t work, and sometimes you’ve got to rebuild a team.”
Though the process was trying, the school emerged for the better in its second year, with North returning to the board and Andrew resuming his role as head of school. North, who still chairs the board overseeing all Democracy Prep schools in New York, said it was easy to see that despite the difficulties he’d faced, Andrew was a “capable” leader who had succeeded in instilling a strong school culture.
“I thought he was running a great school,” North added.
Chapter 4: Civics in the DNA
But the effect was a “deep trauma” for Andrew, whose personal story is imprinted into many facets of Democracy Prep’s identity. He’d been carrying around the idea for a school for nearly a decade by that time; his fascination with civics education dated back even earlier — to his own school years, when he served as a congressional page in Washington.
The now-defunct House page program shuttled a few dozen promising students (Andrew was sponsored by a longtimer, Rep. Charlie Rangel, a Harlem Democrat who represented the area where several Democracy Prep schools are now located) to the nation’s capital each semester to learn the ins and outs of U.S. politics as gofers for members of the House of Representatives. In the mornings, Andrew absorbed a civics-heavy curriculum in a classroom at the Library of Congress. Later in the day, he would operate telephones in the party cloakrooms and carry messages from the floor of the House to various members’ offices.
Before it was discontinued in 2011, the program was a one-of-a-kind apprenticeship in American government, with alumni ranging from Bill Gates to the recently deceased Rep. John Dingell, a giant of the House who served for 59 years as a Democratic congressman from Michigan. For Andrew, though, his junior year in Washington was something more than a nerd’s holiday: It was a sorely needed respite from the New York City public schools he attended in the 1980s and ’90s, where he said he was violently bullied so often that he once pressed criminal charges against an assailant.
“Recess wasn’t a point of freedom and liberation, it was a point of petrification and true anxiety,” said Andrew, 40. “Recess was the most dangerous part of my day.”
As one of only a few white students at his elementary and middle schools — and a bookish one, at that — he now says it was instructive to have experienced K-12 education in an urban school among mostly minority classmates; he believes that too few of his fellow education reformers have shared that perspective.
Even as a high schooler, having won a coveted spot at the Bronx High School of Science, he didn’t feel engaged in his coursework. So when given the option to stay on as a page for a few extra months in the fall of 1994 — Republicans had unexpectedly gained a House majority for the first time in 40 years — he leaped at the chance.
“I basically moved from being a Charlie Rangel page to a Newt Gingrich page — which, as far as a political shift, is a pretty substantial swing. Everything changed, it was fascinating. And I just caught the bug.”
The bug went with him to Brown University, where he had an unusual opportunity to influence public policy as an undergraduate. Working with the Rhode Island Secretary of State’s office, Andrew co-authored a contentious report alleging that the legislature had committed massive violations of the state’s open meetings laws.
It was his first taste of notoriety, and Andrew decided to seek out more. Rhode Island passed legislation allowing for the creation of charter schools in 1995, but only one had been formed by 1998. Andrew felt state lawmakers were too slow to exploit the new model’s possibilities. Before long, he was challenging his district’s incumbent state representative in the Democratic primary.
Pakistani activist Malala Yousafzai visits Democracy Prep in 2013. (Democracy Prep)
He had just finished his sophomore year in college.
The campaign was a long shot. Andrew was an unknown, barely out of his teens, and his natural pool of volunteers and potential voters — fellow college students — were mostly away while he was campaigning over the summer.
But the biggest problem went deeper than that. When the fresh-faced candidate was on the campaign trail, he was confronted with a pervasive ignorance of government. Particularly in low-income areas of Providence, he said, he would have to explain that he wasn’t running to clean up Congress or the notoriously graft-ridden City Hall. It seemed many voters had concluded that the vagaries of state politics weren’t material to their lives.
“I was giving impromptu civics lessons to people at the door — who were, in many cases, good people who just had no civic knowledge whatsoever.”
Andrew put up a game effort but lost the primary by 79 votes. After the defeat, he was convinced that civic education needed to start sooner than election season. As a junior, he switched his major to education and began writing his own charter school application.
“I was now a washed-up politician at the age of 21,” he said. “So I decided to work on building a school from scratch.”
Chapter 5: ‘Empire builder’
By 2009, as its first class of students prepared to graduate from eighth grade, Democracy Prep was being feted as a stellar performer in one of America’s most saturated charter school sectors. It received top grades in its progress report from the New York City Department of Education and was soon being proclaimed the top middle school not just in Harlem, but the entire city.
That fall, Andrew opened a high school to receive matriculating ninth-graders; Democracy Prep Charter High School produced its first class of graduates in 2013. It was the first of three new network schools to open in the span of four years. By 2013, one program with 130 students had grown to seven schools serving more than 2,000 children.
“Expansion … was sort of built into the DNA of the school,” said Millman. “Seth was an empire builder. He believed that there was a huge amount of need all around the country for better schools generally and for his special brand particularly.”
That instinct was a good fit for the moment. Democracy Prep’s initial phase of growth within Harlem, from 2006 to 2012, coincided with a flowering of new charter schools throughout New York City. Success Academy, Uncommon Schools and Achievement First were all opening campuses across the five boroughs, with powerful friends in former New York Schools chancellor Joel Klein and then-Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
At the same time, leaders of the nascent campaign for school choice understood that the salad days wouldn’t last forever. Bloomberg’s time in office would eventually end, and charter school foes — most prominently the city’s United Federations of Teachers — were waging a counterrevolution to deny charters space within district buildings, where they are often co-located against the wishes of incumbent schools.
“There was no clarity of what was going to happen with the public charter school sector in New York City,” said Andrew. “That was one of the many reasons that we needed to activate parents as a constituency.”
Basil Smikle, a Harlem-based political consultant, came across Democracy Prep while organizing charter school parents for the New York City Center for Charter School Excellence. In Andrew, he saw a young leader trying to educate students to become involved future citizens while drawing their families into a more immediate effort. For the young founder’s creation to succeed, he would have to graduate the leaders of tomorrow; but for it to survive, he would have to engage their parents as activists.
“There was an early recognition of the fact that charters did not sit well with everybody in the neighborhood,” Smikle said. “So even though he wanted to build the next generation of activists [through Democracy Prep], there was also this sense that activists needed to be produced to be able to fight for the schools to continue to exist.”
Smikle, who made an unsuccessful run against incumbent (and noted education reform skeptic) state Sen. Bill Perkins in 2010, chronicled the campaign to build a political force for charters in his Columbia Ph.D. dissertation. Andrew plays a significant role in the narrative, as does Democracy Builders, the advocacy group he built to fight for charters’ access to school funding and facilities. Andrew began, Smikle said, with parents at Democracy Prep.
“What Seth did early on was say, ‘OK, as soon as you become a parent, we want to get you into our mix. We’re going to text-message you, we’re going to call you, we’re going to come visit you, we’re going to invite you to community-wide events,’” Smikle said. “This is the key point: I think Seth had the philosophy that he and his school were going to be community institutions. They were going to be part of the fabric of the neighborhood.”
When Democracy Prep needed room to grow, Andrew found an option that anchored the school in Harlem’s history: Starting in 2008, he began leasing space from St. Philip’s Protestant Episcopal Church, home to a centuries-old black congregation that once counted Thurgood Marshall and Duke Ellington among its members.
But the broader movement for school choice was mostly built through old-fashioned organizing. With Democracy Builders Executive Director Jeremiah Kittredge, Andrew reached out to charters across New York City to recruit parents, who were trained in political activism. According to a 2014 report from the conservative American Enterprise Institute, Democracy Builders counted 50,000 parents on its membership list, with 1,000 “very engaged parents” who could be counted on to lobby their representatives and show up to public meetings.
Seth Andrew speaks at the 2016 Democracy Prep Gala. (Democracy Prep)
One of those parents was Leda Nereida, a Brooklyn mother whose sons attended an Achievement First school. Identified early on as a powerful advocate for school choice, she was brought on part-time with Democracy Builders in the fall of 2010.
In an interview, she said the organization provided extensive training in the kinds of organizing tactics necessary to propel a broad-based movement and effect political change. Though she wasn’t a Democracy Prep parent and said she rarely interacted with Andrew, the civics skills she was picking up were some of the same that the network fosters in its students.
“We learned how to do all of it: how to set up elected official meetings, how to develop relationships with elected officials, how to do it at community-based organizations, how to do it with faith-based organizations. How to organize,” she said.
When a new organization, Families for Excellent Schools, emerged in 2011, Nereida joined as a full-time staffer. Though the group disbanded in 2018 after its leader, Kittredge, was embroiled in a sexual harassment scandal, it was perhaps the most important player in New York City’s charter wars of the 2010s. Nereida remembered those years, when she was working closely with parents and winning concessions from elected officials, as “a very fulfilling time.”
As a leader of both a school and a movement, she said, Andrew was an indispensable figure.
“Seth was the one that basically rallied everyone together and said, ‘Hey, we need to do this, and what better way to do it than get our families to do it together?’”
Chapter 6: ‘This is yours’
While Democracy Builders worked to hone the political muscles of an older generation, Democracy Prep was planting the seeds of civic engagement within the voters of the future. In the case of some of its older students, in fact, some of those seeds have already sprouted.
Cheikh Fall, a senior at Democracy Prep Charter High. (Emmeline Zhao)
Cheikh Fall, a senior at Charter High, voted for the first time last year. The process was much easier than he expected, just 20 minutes at a polling station after school. But he said it felt extra meaningful after all it took to reach that moment.
Cheikh started at Democracy Prep Harlem Middle School as a sixth-grader in 2012, having just emigrated from Senegal knowing almost no English. Even as he picked up a new language and adjusted to American culture, he was being sent out to canvass Harlem for potential voters to register. The repetition — he has participated in at least four get-out-the-vote drives — became a kind of “conditioning,” he told The 74.
“They tell you, ‘You have to vote,’ so even if you leave DP, you’re still going to think about political issues,” he said. “I’ve learned about MLK since middle school, about … how hard people fought for people like us to be able to vote. And it means something to be able to go in there and participate in democracy. It shows me how far society has come in terms of where we stand now versus where we stood 50, 60 years in the past, where people had to go through tough times just to get on the line to vote.”
Students at all Democracy Prep high schools must satisfy a battery of civic requirements in order to graduate. In addition to completing a Change the World project, they take a yearlong seminar in American democracy, in which they discuss knotty issues like gerrymandering and the #MeToo movement. Every senior must pass the U.S. citizenship test and demonstrate competence in 10 civic skills, from lobbying politicians to canvassing for a social cause.
These curricular choices prefigured a more recent national movement toward greater civic content — and assessment — in the classroom. Since 2014, nearly 20 states have adopted a requirement that high schoolers take a civics assessment as a graduation requirement, while a number of others have mandated additional coursework in government.
Democracy Prep Founder Seth Andrew (center) and CEO Katie Duffy (right),with Executive Vice President Linda Jones Easton (left) at a 2016 gala. (Democracy Prep)
Democracy Prep’s method has been described as a hybrid approach, pairing active community engagement with classroom lessons meant to inform it — and not just in the obvious subjects.
Viviana Perez, Democracy Prep’s civics program director, works with staff in each of the network’s 21 schools to weave content throughout the wider curriculum. In literature classes, students might read from texts with pronounced historical and political themes, such as Elie Wiesel’s Night or Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart. In math class, students sometimes calculate voter turnout statistics.
“We always think about the students as being change agents,” she said. “So whenever there’s something relatable in the subject material, we always talk about how can you impact change in this.”
Duffy, who became the network’s CEO after Andrew left in 2013, said that pushing kids to see themselves as vested actors in the broader democratic system is more important than imparting the kind of civics knowledge that would help them pass AP Government. Take, for instance, the number of voting members in the U.S. House of Representatives (435), a fact that is tested on the citizenship exam.
“When do I use that number in my life?” she asked. “Never. Am I civically engaged? Abso-freaking-lutely. And if we teach our kids that that is the meat of civic engagement, we’re dead.”
In February, after initiating a series of cutbacks to address financial problems at the network, Democracy Prep announced that Duffy would be taking an extended medical leave; no return date has been scheduled. But in an interview conducted weeks before the announcement, she said that civics education should, above all else, impart to students a sense of ownership over their communities, their democracy and their lives.
“What we’re trying to teach our kids is that this is yours” — she gestured to the room around her — “not, ‘This is how old you have to be to be president.’ Our kids need to know that this is theirs, that 42nd Street is theirs, 96th Street is theirs, Washington is theirs.”
This article was produced with support from the Education Writers Association Reporting Fellowship program.
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.@DemocracyPrep, a charter school network operating in five states, puts citizenship at the heart of its educational mission #civics
Since opening its first school in Harlem in 2006, @DemocracyPrep has spread to 21 charters from New York City to Las Vegas. Its mission: to prepare students to participate in democracy #civics
According to research released last year, students at @DemocracyPrep charter schools are significantly more likely to vote than their peers. What are they doing right? #civics
‘Change the world’
‘Deep Trauma’
Civics in the DNA
‘Empire builder’
‘This is yours’
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Brighton actress Samantha Womack takes on daunting stage role
Samantha Womack appears in The Girl on the Train
By Jamie Walker @walker_this_way Entertainment reporter
Theatre Royal, Brighton
Monday, June 17 to Saturday, June 22
BEST known for her role as Ronnie Mitchell in EastEnders, Brighton-born Samantha Womack is captivating audiences as Rachel Watson in the stage adaptation of The Girl on the Train. Jamie Walker spoke to her about her south coast upbringing and her most challenging role to date.
Hi Samantha, how much are you looking forward to bringing The Girl on the Train to Brighton?
It’s mad, Brighton is my birthplace.
I’ve moved around a lot in my life, I’ve been quite nomadic, so Brighton is probably the only place I’ve ever called home because my formative years were there.
It’s connected to my dad too, who is no longer in my life. I always expect him to walk round the corner.
I’ve had my goddaughter coming to spend time with me there so she will be the same age I was, going along Brighton beach.
It will be nice going back and re-treading my footsteps with her. It’s a very cool place, I love it.
And you have a few dates here which makes it a lot easier to enjoy the city.
Yeah and we’re here at a good time of year too. The whole cast are looking forward to it, it’s going to be amazing.
And how has the tour been going so far?
We’ve been on tour now for three months, which means we’ve been all over the place.
It’s a difficult one, I toured with Addams Family musical last year and it’s very different. The play is one of the best I have been involved in, the audiences have just gone nuts for it.
That’s why we extended the dates into Christmas time. The social media has been buzzing with it as well.
It’s quite dark but it caters to all age groups because it’s got some weird laughs in it too.
I couldn’t say I fully enjoy doing the show because Rachel is just a nutcase. I feel so knackered by the end of it.
I’ll go out and chill with the cast but I don’t feel like that puts me in the place I need to be in for the show.
This tour has been a lot more solitary for me – it’s like waiting to have an argument. But then you look at the audience and they’re loving it which is brilliant.
And this is a show where you’re on stage throughout, you don’t get much time to break between acts?
No there’s no time really. I get the interval but that’s when I’m changing and it’s all over before it’s begun. It’s a two hour mad journey. It is quite violent too.
I can’t imagine that’s like anything you’ve done before?
No I haven’t done anything like this before. But I’ve worked the hardest on this character. She’s drunk – but not a comic drunk – she’s dark and vulnerable and kind of fragmented.
I certainly feel like it’s one of the most interesting parts I’ve ever played. My husband [Mark Womack] is an actor too. He came to see it a while ago and said it was really interesting.
He said it was one of the things he’s enjoyed seeing me in the most. Twitter has gone crazy for it so it’s hard but it’s definitely been worthwhile.
And it must be interesting for you to be doing something you’ve never done before in terms of acting?
Yeah, I try to make my choices based on that. I did the same with EastEnders. I did nine years there and then I’d come away for a while and do a musical or film or directing.
I get bored very easily and when I get bored I get depressed. The repetition of something has never sat well with me.
It helps if I change each character, it’s helpful to play diverse characters. It also stops you from being typecast.
So talk to me about the show’s concept, it seems like a subject which , at its base, a lot of people can relate to?
Yeah this is a woman living in the modern world. She feels quite isolated and alone so she’s looking into people’s lives and imagining them to be perfect.
But sometimes the life that seems the most perfect can be the darkest. The writer Paula Hawkins really taps into the psyche and minds of people.
Humans are in a weird place because we feel like we’re progressing, because we have everything at our fingertips, but I think humans are actually starting to feel more and more isolated from each other.
That lends itself to mental illness and all that stuff. We look through windows and screens to get our fix. So I think people identify with the show and with Rachel.
She drinks because she is trying to escape, she has this whole secret world in her head too so what she is on the outside is different to inside.
People like her when she’s badly behaved. At the start I thought people would hate her but you have to commit to that. She’s very violent and unpredictable but the audience are on the edge of their seats because of that.
We all would love to not be able to have a filter and she has that. You’re almost exorcising your own frustrations through the character.
Do you have those feelings that you are wanting to get off your chest in those moments?
There is always an element of that. I spoke to my husband the other day and told him I felt quite weird on tour, a bit out of it. He said it was just infectious playing that character – so the lines between your feelings and the character’s feeling become quite blurred.
I’m not extremely method but it happens naturally. I use a slightly different voice as Rachel and so that’s having an impact on my normal voice – I’m starting to sound like an old drunk.
In terms of the difference between stage and screen, how much do the two differ in terms of how you perform?
They’re all different. Soap is very different because it’s slightly heightened and not really believable so you have to drop the questions you’d have about a character.
You work crazy busy but it’s all back to front and out of order. Sometimes in a day on EastEnders you’d shoot scenes from six different episodes.
Then theatre is the story from start to finish and you are completely in control. I enjoy the immediacy of theatre. And as a night owl the hours really suit me. It suits my lifestyle better.
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Rashōmon Comes to Hong Kong: 3 Ways of Viewing the Latest News
China is doing better, doing worse, and staying the same. Discuss.
The Japanese warrior Watanabe no Tsuna, fighting at RashōmonWikimedia Commons
Yes, yes, I am aware that Rashōmon is a Japanese reference, and we're talking about events in China. But bear with me—at the moment it's a convenient shorthand for the contradictory possibilities, and the unknowable underlying reality, of events that are important but not fully understood. If you'd prefer, you could think of this as Heisenberg Comes to Hong Kong.
Two days ago I mentioned some of the downbeat political and economic news out of China, mainly involving challenges for the economy and the continued tightening of political controls under the hoped-for reform leader Xi Jinping. Now three representative reactions from readers in and around China:
1) “Stop being such a downer.” From a reader based in the U.S. who often does business in China:
Please don't do this if you can help it. For years, you were the guy bringing out ideas. Now, not so much.
I know how many bad stories there are. My family provides them. I see them. There are plenty of folks to point out the obvious.
It is only stories that everyone knows. You're reinforcing ideas already in peoples heads.
There's no lack of forecasters predicting doom for China. It's the story Westerners like best.
There are better and more interesting stories.
The stories that get written are the ones already in Westerners heads. Everything is viewed thru the Western lens. No one is writing from a Chinese view. I understand why. It's anathema. One would be outcast.
Folks think it's a billion people yearning to be free. It's more like a billion people wanting clean air, an apartment, a retirement home that's not a shithole, fashionable clothes.
But those are stories that run counter to Western canon on China.
I recently did a trip across Hubei and Hunan that was (sort of) like your trip across the US. The overall vibe was positive. It's a different picture of China than folks in the US get.
Poster for the Kurosawa film
version of Rashōmon from 1950.
2) “The reality is downcast right now, and you might as well say so.” From a foreigner who has lived in China for the past 10+ years and has been involved in the music business there:
I've spent more time in Hong Kong of late, as my wife and I are planning to return to the US after many years in China, and we're organizing our affairs in Hong Kong as an intermediate on our way back to the US.
The situation for music became so dismal in China that I finally decided to give up the endeavor altogether. Our last several live shows were tampered with in a very heavy-handed way by the gov't: we were forbidden from performing certain songs at the last minute and not permitted to substitute others for them, our show times were moved around at the last minute, and our appearances even spliced out of videos of the events. I concluded that it was no use trying to fight these (invisible) forces, and we decided that it would be best for us to move back to the US and focus on a future there.
It's a sad day. I remember the overwhelming sense of optimism among my Chinese friends when I first moved to China [more than ten years ago]. The sense then was that the genuine opening up of China was inevitable, and everyone (I'm speaking of my Chinese friends and colleagues and not expats) had the sense that the heavy hand that had been upon them for so long was finally lifting.
Now my sense is that optimism is all but gone. The strident nationalism is no substitute; it brings a certain angry determination but almost none of the spontaneous optimism that was so evident a decade ago. I feel so sorry for China's artists and scientists, who are not only very talented, but who will suffer both in career and in reputation because of forces in the country that are beyond their control
On the bright side, things are looking up for the US, and my (uninformed) guess is that roughly speaking as China spirals into more and more economic peril because of its dubious policy choices, it will be much to the benefit of the US economy, as people from China and elsewhere flock toward the West generally and the US in particular in search of the optimism that they can no longer find in China.
The pre-Walter White Heisenberg
3) “Things are good and bad at the same time.” From someone formerly of Hong Kong, now in the U.S.:
As an ex-Hongkonger, I am of course as disappointed and frustrated as many are at Beijing's decision not to allow direct election of our Chief Executive. However, being a determined optimist, I see this as a cup half-full.
First , let's remember that the British government has never allowed any sort of elections for the CEO (Governor) of Hong Kong, or India, or any of its former colonies (including the United States) in its long and shameful history of colonialism either, as every Chinese mainlander will tirelessly remind you. So no one can deny that indirect election as now proposed is definitely a step forward.
Second, I propose we should view the CEO of Hongkong not as equivalent to the US President, but as a US Supreme Court Justice, who is also nominated by the party in power and not elected by the people. What this means is that as long as the CEO candidates nominated by China maintain their independence after the elections, we are in good shape.
Hongkongers need to find an Earl Warren, who seemed to toe the party line before nomination but who turned out to be a defender of civil rights. Whether such a candidate can be found is a test of the moral integrity and courage of Hongkong's elites. Whether Beijing will acquiesce in his/her subsequent independence will be a test of its good faith. But as things stand right now, a bad outcome is not a foregone conclusion.
All these accounts are true. After the jump, a quote from China Airborne on the necessity and difficulty of accepting such contradictions.
From the first chapter of China Airborne:
The plainest fact about modern China for most people on the scene often seems the hardest to grasp from afar. That is simply how varied, diverse, contradictory, and quickly changing conditions within the country are.
Any large country is diverse and contradictory, but China’s variations are of a scale demanding special note. What is true in one province is false in the next. What was the exception last week is the rule today. A policy that is applied strictly in Beijing may be ignored or completely unknown in Kunming or Changsha. Millions of Chinese people are now very rich, and hundreds of millions are still very poor. Their country is a success and a failure, an opportunity and a threat, an inspiring model to the world and a nightmarish cautionary example. It is tightly controlled and it is out of control; it is futuristic and it is backward; its system is both robust and shaky....
Such observations may sound banal—China, land of contrasts!—but I have come to think that really absorbing them is one of the greatest challenges for the outside world in reckoning with China and its rise.
James Fallows is a staff writer for The Atlantic and has written for the magazine since the late 1970s. He has reported extensively from outside the United States and once worked as President Carter's chief speechwriter. He and his wife, Deborah Fallows, are the authors of the 2018 book Our Towns: A 100,000-Mile Journey Into the Heart of America, which was a national best seller and is the basis of a forthcoming HBO documentary.
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Afghanistan: The Challenges Ahead
Chair: Dr John Hemmings, Director, Asia Studies, the Henry Jackson Society
Know more.
About the seminar
A seminar titled 'Afghanistan: The Challenges Ahead' was held at The Lecture Theatre, Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, 17 Russell Square, London on 13th September 2018 from 2:00-5.30pm.
Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, 17 Russell Square, London WC1B 5DR
2:00 pm - 5:30 pm PST
Dr Barnett Rubin
Associate Director, Center of International Cooperation,New York University
Dr Emily Winterbotham
Senior Research Fellow, Royal United Services Institute (RUSI)
Dr Antonio Giustozzi
Visiting Professor, King’s College, London
Dr C Christine Fair
Associate Professor, Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University
Seminar - Afghanistan: The Challenges Ahead
A seminar titled 'Afghanistan: The Challenges Ahead' was held at The Lecture Theatre, Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, 17 Russell Square, London on 13th September 2018 from 14:00-17:30 pm.
Seminar Report: ‘Afghanistan – the challenges ahead’ Institute of Advanced Legal Studies – September 13th.
A recent seminar hosted by The Democracy Forum at London University addressed the challenges facing Afghanistan as it navigates the complex road to peace. Lord Bruce, President of The Democracy Forum, opened by thanking H.E. Ambassador ...
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The Democracy Forum was jointly founded in 2009 by Baroness Emma Nicholson and Mr Ajit Sat-Bhambra. The organisation works to promote democracy, peace and the rule of law, in order to eliminate religious fundamentalism and terrorism from our global communities... View More Gallery
Home » Seminar Archives » Afghanistan: The Challenges Ahead
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STICKER SHOCK: Average Deductible for O-Care Bronze Plan is Over $5,000 a Year
by Jim Hoft December 9, 2013
Higher Deductibles Fueling Obamacare ‘Sticker Shock’
Why have insurance?
Via the Senate Republicans:
“…many people with modest incomes are encountering a troubling element of the federal health law: deductibles so steep they may not be able to afford the portion of medical expenses that insurance doesn’t cover.” (“High Deductibles Fuel New Worries Of Health-Law Sticker Shock,” The Wall Street Journal, 12/8/13)
“…as consumers dig into the details, they are finding that the deductibles and other out-of-pocket costs are often much higher than what is typical in employer-sponsored health plans.” (“On Health Exchanges, Premiums May Be Low, But Other Costs Can Be High,” The New York Times, 12/9/13)
“The average individual deductible for what is called a bronze plan on the exchange—the lowest-priced coverage—is $5,081 a year… That is 42% higher than the average deductible of $3,589 for an individually purchased plan in 2013 before much of the federal law took effect, according to HealthPocket Inc., a company that compares health-insurance plans for consumers.” (“High Deductibles Fuel New Worries Of Health-Law Sticker Shock,” The Wall Street Journal, 12/8/13)
ID Man: ‘the deductibles were so high — $4,000 to $6,000 a year — that it defeats the purpose of having insurance’ “Mark A. York, a 60-year-old freelance writer in Hailey, Idaho, said he began shopping after he received a letter saying that his current insurance policy would be canceled because it did not meet the requirements of the health care law. In the exchange, he said, he found policies with premiums similar to what he is now paying, $440 a month, but ‘the deductibles were so high — $4,000 to $6,000 a year — that it defeats the purpose of having insurance.’” (“On Health Exchanges, Premiums May Be Low, But Other Costs Can Be High,” The New York Times, 12/9/13)
CA Woman: Deductible is ‘nearly double’ “‘However you look at it, the son of a gun lied to us,’ said Janette Ramsey, a Bakersfield business owner with a weekend home in Ventura. She’s losing her current coverage and expects to pay $50 more a month for a policy with nearly double the deductible.” (“Many In Middle Class Say They’re Squeezed By Health Reform,” Ventura County Star [CA], 12/7/13)
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Mar 8 Competent Government: TARP 70% Repaid
Spandan Chakrabarti
"Barack Obama", "Financial rescue", "Geithner", "TARP"
The Troubled Asset Relief Program to rescue the nation's banking industry has been a punching bag for both extremes of the ideological spectrum: if the far Right saw it as a chance to charge the president with taking over the banks, the Left puritans saw it as an outrage precisely because it didn't nationalize the banks. The risk was significant: $700 billion in taxpayer funds. If the Right complained about the President "interfering in the business" of the banks by blocking their corporate jet purchases while they were still on the taxpayer dole, the purity Left failed to see the controls the President did put in place, including compensation restrictions for executives of the banks that were being helped out by taxpayers. Banks needed to be completely nationalized or else, they said.
Either way, both groups - Teabaggers and Firebaggers - argued that it was a big waste of money, and we ain't nevah gettin' it back. Well, I reported in October that the Treasury had by then lowered their cost estimate to $30 billion. Many then argued - especially the all-knowing forces of the Obama-hating ideological left - that Treasury was pulling these numbers out of their rear end, and that it's too optimistic an estimate. They said we'll know when the funds actually are given back.
Well, to that end, the Los Angeles Times is reporting that the Department of Treasury has just with a near $7 billion repayment from AIG, TARP is now 70% repaid.
The Treasury Department has recovered 70% of the money distributed under the $700-billion bailout fund after American International Group paid back $6.9 billion of the money it owed [...]
AIG's repayment brings to $287 billion the total TARP money recovered, the Treasury Department said. Although Congress put $700 billion into the fund, the department disbursed only $411 billion.
And given that, the estimate of the actual cost of TARP has also been modified, by both the Congressional Budget Office and the White House.
The Congressional Budget Office estimated in November that TARP would lose $25 billion. The White House has estimated a $48-billion loss. But with potential profit from the AIG stock, which will be sold over time, the projected loss drops to $28 billion.
Hmm. Now could it be that it actually takes good regulations, good oversight and good management to have a secure financial system and even to rescue the world financial system from the edge of disaster? It sure seems that way. But both ideological extremes have a problem conceding this point: the Tea Party right would have to admit that major government intervention and public regulations are required to keep a free market from becoming a wild one. The purity Left would have to admit that something short of full nationalization has worked.
Since the day President Obama took office, he made the financial rescue program work for the American people - not just the big banks. I have said it before, and I will say it again - the Wall Street rescue did not happen for its sake but because if it disappeared, it would have disappeared along with billions or trillions of dollars in retirement and other investment assets for ordinary Americans - the whole nest eggs for a whole lot of our fellow citizens.
The truth is that the Democratic Congress wrote a bill with accountability, and Barack Obama, after becoming president, carried it out. He subjected banks to stress tests and blocked many of their luxuries until taxpayers were fully compensated. It was not perfect, but it was enacted as an emergency measure. As such, under President Obama's and Secretary Geithner's management, it has worked beyond the wildest dreams of anyone staring down the barrel in September 2008.
This is competent government. This is a job well done. Thank you, Secretary Geithner. Thank you, Mr. President!
Mar 9 Morning Open Thread: Scott Walker Starts Walkback
Mar 8 Laurence Lewis (of Daily Kos), Who's Looking for the Tooth Fairy?
Dec 23 They Said It Couldn't Be Done: An Improbable Presidency and Unlikely Triumphs
Oct 19 Treasury's Financial Rescue Cost Down to $30 Billion
Dec 26 No one told the "sellout" crowd that "bailout" cost less. A LOT less.
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Arthur Maurice Hocart Prize and RAI Student Essay Prize
Annual - Deadline 30 June - Prize £250
The Council of the RAI has decided that, from 2006, two student essay prizes will be awarded annually. The value of each prize is £250.
The Arthur Maurice Hocart Prize, established in 1948 under the will of the Mrs E.G. Hocart in memory of her husband, will be awarded for the best essay on an anthropological subject by a student of any nationality registered for a postgraduate degree in any branch of anthropology at a British or Irish institution.
While the prize is intended primarily for those working for a first postgraduate degree, an outstanding essay by an undergraduate student of anthropology in an eligible department will also be considered. Entries may also be submitted on behalf of doctoral students; in assessing these, the student's academic level will be taken into account. Entries must be submitted through the head of a department teaching anthropology at an eligible institution.
The RAI Student Essay Prize is a new award, open only to students of any nationality registered for a first degree at a British or Irish institution. It will be awarded for the best essay on an anthropological subject. Entries must be submitted through the head of a department teaching courses with a recognizable anthropological component, at an eligible institution.
For both prizes the following will apply:
Essays must not exceed 10,000 words excluding notes and references. They must be well presented, and include a word count and page numbers. Both regular coursework essays and those written specially for the prize competition are eligible for submission. Essays must be dated by the writer. The department submitting the entry is asked to confirm the academic standing of the writer as at the date of entry. If the submitting department should wish, they may also include the names of the student’s supervisors. The supervisor and student’s name will then be published in the case of the winning entry.
Judges are appointed by the Council of the Institute, and reserve the right not to make an award in any year should no entry of sufficient quality be received. Entries for both prizes are now invited from eligible departments on behalf of their students. Four copies of the entries should be sent in by 30 June to the Office Manager, Royal Anthropological Institute, 50 Fitzroy Street, London W1T 5BT (email to the Office Manager).
It is helpful if they can be sent as both hard copy and email attachments. Entries will not be returned.
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Taking on the system: ‘Dreamers’…
NewsBreaking News
Taking on the system: ‘Dreamers’ are getting law degrees
In this May 3, 2018 photo, Denia Perez, a student at Quinnipiac University School of Law, poses for a photo on the school’s North Haven, Conn., campus. Connecticut’s Judicial Branch is in the process of changing its rules to allow law students who don’t have legal residency in the U.S to become practicing lawyers in the state. Perez, who was brought illegally to the United States from Mexico when she was 11 months old and who graduated this month, proposed the change. – Lauren Takores — Record-Journal via AP
By The Associated Press and Pat Eaton-Robb |
HARTFORD, Conn. >> Denia Perez’s parents brought her from Mexico to the United States illegally when she was 11 months old. Last month, she became among the first of the so-called “Dreamers” to earn a law degree. And now, she and others are using their lawyerly know-how to take on the system so they can legally practice.
The Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which allows young immigrants who entered the U.S. before 2007 and before their 16th birthday to go to school under temporary renewable work permits, became law in 2012. That means the first beneficiaries have now had just enough time to graduate from high school, get a bachelor’s degree and now, in some cases, a law degree.
The problem: Most states require that practicing lawyers be U.S. citizens or have legal residency status.
Relatively few “Dreamers” have completed law degrees, said Sheila Hayre, a visiting law professor at Quinnipiac University, from whose law school Perez graduated this month. Perez is the only one currently seeking admission to Connecticut’s bar. But she and peers who are also getting law degrees are positioning themselves for a fight.
“It’s just become normal for me to take all these things into consideration when I’m planning what to do with my life,” said Perez, who plans to take the bar exam in July. “But part of me is frustrated and tired of having to jump though all these hoops to continue to live and contribute to this country.”
She testified this month, three days after graduating, before a committee of the Connecticut bar, seeking a rule change that would allow her to practice law. Several other states, including California, Florida, New York and New Jersey, have already approved similar changes to open their bars to DACA students.
And the American Bar Association, after hearing from DACA students seeking admission to the bar in several states, adopted a resolution in August that urges Congress to amend federal law, adding language that bar admission should never be denied based solely on immigration status.
“We have invested in these kids,” Hayre said. “So it makes sense to have them contributing to the economy and society as productive members of the community. In a way, it’s a no-brainer.”
But there is opposition. Hans von Spakovsky, a senior legal fellow with the Heritage Foundation, said he finds it inconceivable that anyone who is not a legal resident could be permitted to take an oath to uphold the laws of the United States and join the bar.
“They are in fact in the country illegally and violating federal law,” said Spakovsky, who is a lawyer. “I wouldn’t want someone who is in the country illegally to defend me, because the Department of Homeland Security could swoop in at any time and remove my lawyer from the country, and then where would I be?”
Perez has three younger brothers who were born in the U.S. and are citizens. Her parents have green cards. She is the only member of the family who is not a legal resident.
The rule she wrote would allow admission to the bar for anyone “authorized to work lawfully in the United States.” That would include those on DACA permits.
“I was very impressed with (Perez’s) diligence, her intellect and her commitment to not only her legal studies, but what she envisioned for herself in being helpful to people who are underserved in our community,” said Anne Dranginis, a former state Appellate Court judge who now chairs the Connecticut Bar Examining committee.
Connecticut’s proposed change will get another review in June at a meeting of state judges. If affirmed, it could go into effect as early as July, Hayre said, noting that in most states the process has been adversarial and taken several years.
But in Connecticut, so far there has been no public opposition. Perez’s proposal is supported by the deans of law schools at Quinnipiac, Yale University, the University of Connecticut and the Connecticut Bar Association.
Perez, who grew up in northern California and has a degree from San Francisco State University in women’s and gender studies, also plans to apply to the bar in New York. She is beginning a two-year fellowship with an organization called Make The Road New York, working with people facing deportation.
She said she feels it’s her responsibility to expand on the work other DACA students have done securing privileges in Connecticut, such as in-state tuition. This year, they successfully lobbied lawmakers for access to public financial aid.
Other DACA students have also tried to change educational policies, with varying degrees of success.
Thomas Kim, a DACA student who pushed for the American Bar Association resolution before graduating with honors from Arizona State University’s law school this spring, said he’s still waiting for confirmation from Oregon’s bar that there will no problem with his admission there, should he pass the bar exam in July.
Kim, 26, chairs the American Bar Association’s law student division and said the group plans to wait until Congress deals with the larger issue of renewing DACA before pushing for a national policy on law students.
“I think we will have to wait until the political climate transforms and changes completely,” he said, “so perhaps until the next presidential election, that’s my personal feeling.”
This story has been corrected to update that Denia Perez was 11 months old when she came to the United States, not 11 years old.
”California” extended at Scott Hill Gallery
Humboldt County has state’s 2nd-highest homicide rate. Why?
Pat Eaton-Robb
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Actors’ care home ‘mismanaged’ prescriptions
Actors' care home Denville Hall, which has been criticised by the Care Quality Commission.
by Matthew Hemley - Nov 6, 2014
Actors’ care home Denville Hall has been criticised for mismanaging the drug prescriptions for many of its residents, in a report that states “safe and effective arrangements” have not been in place regarding medicines.
The home, in the north-west London suburbs, whose residents have included Richard Attenborough and Dulcie Gray, has been accused of failing to administer drugs as prescribed. It has also been accused of neglecting to protect people from the “risks associated with medicines because the provider did not have the appropriate arrangements in place for recording, handling, dispensing and safe administration”.
According to the Care Quality Commission, which is the regulator tasked with checking whether hospitals and care homes are meeting standards and which conducted the investigation, Denville Hall must now provide a report into what action it will take to address the concerns raised. Following this, the CQC will check that improvements have been made. If they have not, a formal warning would be served on the home.
The CQC carried out an inspection of the home in September, following an investigation in July that identified issues with the way medicines were managed. It found that “safe and effective arrangements were not in place to ensure that people were receiving their medicines
as prescribed”.
Denville Hall responded to the July visit by stating it had since taken action and made improvements, but the CQC’s inspection last month – which looked at the recording and storage of medicines – found there were “omissions in records” and problems with record accuracy.
The report revealed that, although previous concerns had been addressed, several residents were being given incorrect dosages and that “people were not always receiving medicines as prescribed”, something the home put down to agency staff.
Despite this, the CQC found that medicines were given out with “patience and gentle encouragement”.
Lalla Ward, chair of Denville Hall, said the CQC had been “fantastically supportive” and that the inspection had coincided with a day which saw agency staff working at the home. She added: “We realised we did have a fairly minor medication error, but that is what the CQC is for. Everything else we were compliant on.”
Mark Shenton's theatre picks: November 6
An intensive music course could help land your next acting job
Matthew Hemley
Matt is news editor for The Stage, having started as the newspaper’s broadcast reporter. He covers all areas of the industry in his role, but has a particular interest in musical theatre. Matt studied acting at Bretton Hall and presents a monthly theatre news round up on BBC London Radio.
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Gabriel Winkle: He enjoys that 'it's always something different'
Helping others, especially those in smaller communities, has always been a passion for Gabriel Winkle.
Gabriel Winkle: He enjoys that 'it's always something different' Helping others, especially those in smaller communities, has always been a passion for Gabriel Winkle. Check out this story on thestarpress.com: https://tspne.ws/2DfIN2A
Mary Freda, mfreda@muncie.gannett.com Published 8:28 a.m. ET Sept. 20, 2018 | Updated 2:28 p.m. ET Sept. 20, 2018
Twenty award recipients were honored for their achievements during the annual 20 Under 40 banquet at Cornerstone Thursday evening. Jordan Kartholl / Star Press,
Gabriel Winkle. 20 under 40 2018. (Photo: Jordan Kartholl / Star Press, )Buy Photo
In 2013, the Winchester native graduated from Butler University with a bachelor’s degree in political science and history. In 2016, he graduated from the University of Dayton’s two-year law program with his Juris Doctor Degree.
Now, he practices at English and Prinkey, in Union City, Ind., where he serves as a public defender.
“It’s always something different every day, which I enjoy,” he said. “Technically it's a desk job, but I’m always in court or meeting with clients, and it’s always something different.”
Winkle was one of 20 people to be recognized by The Star Press and M Magazine in this year’s 20 Under 40 program, which honors people under the age of 40 making a difference in the community.
Although Winkle, 27, left Winchester for college, he said he always wanted to come back and bring his newfound skills to the community.
“I wanted to be one of the people that came back and actually changed our community, help make it better, rather than talk about, ‘Oh, my hometown this, my hometown that,’” Winkle said. “I wanted to be a part of the solution and make my hometown a better place.”
Our 2018 20 Under 40 recipients answer the question, "why do you love Muncie?" Muncie Star Press
So, he got involved. Currently, he is president of the Randolph County Bar Association and a member of the Randolph County Comprehensive Planning Committee, Randolph County Economic Development Commission and Winchester City Council, where he serves on various subcommittees.
“Our (Randolph County Economic Development Commission’s) big push right now is to help a lot of our smaller towns and communities because Randolph County is made up of a lot of small towns,” Winkle said. “So, we’re helping our smaller communities work together to make ourselves better … if one town or one community succeeds, we all succeed.”
Through his work in the community, Winkle said his big goal is making his hometown better for his child growing up and leaving a legacy for the next generation.
“I’m still so young, I feel like my legacy I want to leave changes every day,” he said. “I just want to be productive in general, I suppose. I think it's important to be flexible. I think aspirations and things can change sometimes, but I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing.”
Though he’s always taken initiative, he said his wife, Jaelyn, has helped him stay goal-oriented. The pair officially met in kindergarten and were best friends throughout school.
“My wife has a lot of goals as well, we push each other,” Winkle said. “It’s nice to have a spouse like that, I feel like we’re a really great team … she’s a big reason why I feel like I’ve accomplished so much.”
What he says:
What is your favorite spot in Winchester: “I would probably say the courthouse because I spend so much time there. It’s a beautifully restored building, they just redid it, I believe in 2010. So, I spend a lot of time there. The courthouse square has such a great look into all the businesses on the square. There's always people coming in and out of shops and businesses, and it’s always just a happening place to be.”
How would you describe yourself: “I guess I would describe myself as humble, if I can't really think of anything that I can say about myself. I would say that I'm passionate about my community, and I'm passionate about people in my community, my family.”
Where are we most likely to find you on a Saturday morning: “Saturdays are a good time for me to relax with my family, my wife and my son (Benjamin) on Saturday morning. Sometimes we’ll go uptown to the farmers market on the square, kind of take it easy, relax, decompress from the week.”
What is one unusual thing you keep in your work space: “I have this really old map of Union City in my office. I think it came with the law firm so many years ago, but it’s well over probably 100 years old.”
Who has been a big influencer in your life: “My wife definitely because she does always push me to be a better person. I mean just as much as I'm very goal-oriented and motivated, she's even more goal-oriented and motivated, so that always pushes me to be a better person.”
Read or Share this story: https://tspne.ws/2DfIN2A
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British groups vie for Iraq oil and gas contracts
Alice Fordham in Beirut
December 11 2009, 12:01am, The Times
More than 40 international oil companies will gather in Baghdad today to bid for contracts to work on the world’s third-largest reserves.
The auction, which will take place over two days, offers service contracts to work on ten oilfields, groups of oilfields and one gasfield in the country, including the “supergiants” of East Baghdad, West Qurna-2 and Majnoon, which have reserves of 8.1 billion, 12.9 billion and 12.6 billion barrels of oil, respectively.
Three British companies — BP, Cairn Energy and BG Group — are among the bidders, alongside companies such as Royal Dutch Shell, Total and Gazprom. Competition is expected to be fierce and the groups were reluctant to reveal which fields they wanted.
The enthusiasm and number of bidders is high, despite enormous…
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Former director of failed lender lands job as chairman of Barclays UK
Martin Waller
February 27 2017, 12:01am, The Times
Sir Ian Cheshire spent five years on the board of Bradford & Bingley, the mortgage lender that had to be bailed out in 2008Denis Balibouse/Reuters
Sir Ian Cheshire, the former chief executive of B&Q’s owner Kingfisher, is poised to become chairman of the UK division of Barclays Bank, the part of the lender being ring-fenced to protect taxpayers from any future banking crisis.
The move has been cleared by the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA), the part of the Bank of England that oversees senior appointments. It could be announced today.
Sir Ian was revealed as the frontrunner for the job in December. This caused surprise because he spent five years on the board of Bradford & Bingley, the high street mortgage lender that had to be bailed out in 2008 at the start of the banking crisis.
Barclays is required, along with other large banks, to hive off its UK…
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Catholic Bishops Conclude Synod on Young People, Faith, and Vocational Discernment
From October 3-28, the Catholic Church hosted a synod of bishops in Vatican City. Their focus: young people, faith, and vocational discernment.
According to Religion News Service, Millennials played a significant role in the summit, and while they were not given a vote on decisions before the bishops, they were pleasantly surprised by the humility of the Catholic hierarchy, the questions they asked, and their emphasis on listening. Pope Francis took an active role in encouraging the enthusiasm of the young people, who responded to several of the bishop’s remarks with applause.
David Gibson reports:
The churchmen themselves, from Pope Francis on down, seemed just as surprised, and delighted, by the effect of the young delegates. The young people sometimes whooped or cheered the brief speeches that each of the more than 300 participants delivered, grading them according to a “clap-o-meter” they developed.
Francis at one point walked up into the youth section in the theater-seating lecture hall where the closed-door meeting is held to encourage them to keep making noise.
In his homily during closing Mass, Pope Francis addressed the young people who attended the summit, saying, “As Christ’s Church, we want to listen to you with love, certain of two things: that your lives are precious in God’s eyes, because God is young and loves young people, and that your lives are precious in our eyes too, and indeed necessary for moving forward.”
Crux reports that the bishops also had a message for the young people of Catholic Church, and issued a letter following the closing Mass. In the letter, the bishops urged young people to remain steadfast in faith despite the failings of their leaders, to companion those who are suffering and poor, and to continue to pursue their dreams with enthusiasm. The bishops wrote, “You are the present; be a brighter future.”
Crux also reports that the young delegates responded with a letter of their own, expressing thanks to Pope Francis and optimism regarding the church’s future.
One of the more intriguing exhortations from Pope Francis that emerged from the synod was the call to an “apostolate of the ear,” a way of leadership among the bishops and clergy to listen more closely to those that they serve within the church and also within the broader community.
The Catholic Church is well known for its hierarchical structure, one that is at times criticized for its top-down style of leadership. In this synod, that model of leadership held. But the bishops made space to listen carefully across the generational divide, in some instances stretching established rules of decorum or ignoring precedent in order for young people to be heard. Though the young people did not have a vote, they did feel as though they had been given voice. And while they now expect to see action, they were encouraged by the leadership’s efforts to listen.
This model is instructive, as are the results. Churches that create space for young people to voice their criticisms, concerns, and ideas foster connection and a shared sense of purpose. Leaders who listen demonstrate that they care.
But once the listening sessions are over and the conversations conclude, emerging generations will continue to look for action, results, for fruit. They will continue to measure the church’s witness by whether or not their words and deeds align.
Church LifeBen Simpson November 6, 2018 Catholic Church, Young People, MassComment
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Generation ZBen Simpson November 8, 2018 Apps, Phone App, Phone, Technology
Millennials Are Staying Married, and That's Good
Millennial FamiliesBen Simpson October 31, 2018 Marriage, Divorce, Millennial Marriage, Family
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Products Home / Technical Resources / Raman Spectroscopy
Raman Tutorial
Raman Spectroscopy: The Approach
Raman spectroscopy is a spectroscopic technique that detects photons that have undergone Raman scattering. Since Raman scattering is relatively weak compared to Rayleigh scattering, one of the main historical problems with Raman spectroscopy had been separating out the weak Raman signal from the strong Rayleigh signal. Today, this problem is easily remedied with notch or edgepass filters. Similarly, recording the Raman spectrum has been aided greatly by the advent of CCD spectrometers. The image below shows a Raman Spectrometer system constructed using Thorlabs components designed for 780 nm light, including a retired TLK-780M Tunable Laser Kit fed into a retired Tapered Amplifier.
In this side-scattering configuration, the polarization of the laser was set vertically with respect to the table (horizontally polarized light cannot scatter horizontally). Isopropyl alcohol, contained in a cuvette and mounted in a CVH100 Cuvette Holder, was used as a sample. The cuvette holder allowed optical access to all four sides of the cuvette, making it ideal for a Raman spectrometer. The scattered light was collected by a fiber and fed into Thorlabs' CCS200 spectrometer. The Raman spectra for isopropyl alcohol, measured with this 780 nm Raman spectrometer, is presented to the lower right.
A Raman spectrometer constructed from Thorlabs components.
Raman spectrum for isopropyl alcohol, measured with the 780 nm Raman spectrometer discussed above.
Power in Raman Spectroscopy
Power is important in Raman measurements. Raman scattering is a weak, low-probability event with a 1/λ4 wavelength-dependent efficiency. Sensitivity and integration time for data accumulation improve with increasing power, as long as the notch or edgepass filter can sufficiently attenuate the strong Rayleigh signal and the power is below the damage/saturation thresholds of the devices. To address this need, Thorlabs offers several laser diode packages for 785 nm that have output powers on the order of several hundred milliwatts, such as the LD785-SE400 or LD785-SEV300, capable of delivering 400 mW and 300 mW of power, respectively.
&tapenbsp;
Laser Sources for Raman Spectroscopy
When using a laser to produce Raman scattering in a sample, sufficient power is important to improve the sensitivity and integration time of measurements. Thorlabs has invested in developing our GaAs material design and processing capabilities in order to produce reliable devices while improving the output power and available wavelengths.
A selection of Thorlabs' laser sources useful for Raman spectroscopy is outlined below.
GaAs-Based Fabry-Perot and DFB Semiconductor Laser Diodes
Our line of GaAs-based gain chips and diode lasers offers the possibility to improve the signal quality of an instrument by dropping in a higher power replacement or to design a new instrument around a customized diode. Traditionally, many Raman spectrometers have been built around 785 nm chips. Thorlabs offers two Ø9 mm TO can laser diodes at 785 nm, with one diode providing 400 mW of power (LD785-SE400), and the other, a wavelength-stabilized laser diode, providing 300 mW of power (LD785-SEV300).
For some applications, other wavelengths may be desired to balance the 1/λ4 Raman signal dependence with the background fluorescence of a particular sample. The GaAs material system can be designed to produce wavelengths from 630 nm up to about 1050 nm. In these cases, Thorlabs' OEM manufacturing capabilities may be able to develop a solution to suit a particular application. Please contact Sales-TQE@thorlabs.com for more information or to discuss an application.
Delivering Light to the Sample
The Raman spectroscopy experiment described above was constructed using components from Thorlabs' extensive line of optomechanical components, optic mounts, and optics. The setup was built on a breadboard using our SM1 lens tube and 30 mm cage systems. Components were mounted using our Ø1/2" and Ø1" post assemblies and bases. Alternatively, our extensive line of optical rails provides another option for building a support structure for your experiment. In addition to our standard line of optic mounts, Polaris™ low-drift kinematic mirror mounts are available for mounting optics in the system that require long-term alignment stability, particularly in conditions where the temperature may cycle in between experimental runs.
Thorlabs offers a wide range of mirrors which can be used to guide light through the system. Besides our plano broadband-dielectric- and metallic-coated mirrors, we also offer concave and off-axis parabolic mirrors that can be used to focus or collimate light within the system without introducing chromatic aberration.
Raman scattering produces a relatively weak signal compared to optical signals produced by other mechanisms, such Rayleigh scattering or fluorescence from the sample. Filters that can remove unwanted signals are an important part of a Raman spectroscopy system. Thorlabs' line of premium hard-coated edgepass filters and bandpass filters provide a solution. Our line includes longpass filters with cutoff wavelengths between 400 nm and 1500 nm and bandpass filters with center wavelengths between 400 nm and 1064 nm.
Fiber patch cables can be a convenient way to simplify light introduction or collection in Raman spectroscopy applications. They are available with a variety of fiber core sizes, connector types, and cable lengths. If you cannot find a patch cable suitable for your application, you can design your own custom patch cable using our custom cable configurator.
Protecting the Laser from Back Reflections
Back reflections from the optics in a setup can re-enter the cavity of a laser, potentially causing mode-hopping, amplitude modulation, frequency shifts, or even damage to the laser source. Optical isolators are passive magneto-optic devices that only allow light to travel in one direction, protecting the laser source from back reflections or other signals that may occur in the system after the isolator. Thorlabs' optical isolators are available in fiber coupled and free-space configurations with center wavelengths ranging from the UV to the IR. While our most popular isolators are shipped from stock to provide faster service, custom isolators are also available. Visit the Custom Isolator page for more information or to request a quote.
Thorlabs' CVH100 cuvette holder was used to integrate sample solutions into the Raman spectrometer described above. The holder can be used with both macro and micro cuvettes and features four light ports. A filter can be added via a filter holder that fits into a slot on the top of the CVH100. The cuvette holder also comes with a fiber adapter that includes a collimating lens, allowing output light to be fiber coupled into a detector.
Thorlabs offers a line of CCD spectrometers that can be used to record the spectrum produced by a Raman spectroscopy setup. These compact spectrometers feature an SMA connectorized input and come with an SMA-to-SMA connectorized fiber patch cable. Each spectrometer is wavelength and amplitude calibrated. The spectrometers are controlled via a software package that includes a graphical user interface and extensive set of drivers for data acquisition and analysis.
Raman Spectroscopy: The Basics
Discovered by Krishna and Raman in 1928, Raman spectroscopy has given rise to a multitude of specific techniques, from Linear Raman Spectroscopy to Coherent Anti-Stokes Raman Spectroscopy, and proven itself to be a powerful tool for spectroscopic analysis. One of the most common applications of Raman spectroscopy is to measure vibrational, rotational, and other low-frequency modes of a system (e.g., molecules).
In molecules, photons (from a laser) undergo Raman scattering from the molecules. This is a form of inelastic scattering in which the final energy state, Ef, is different from the initial energy state, Ei. This type of scattering is in contrast to Rayleigh scattering, which is an elastic scattering event in which the final and initial energy states are the same. Both Rayleigh and Raman scattering are dependent upon the polarizability of a molecule: the stronger the polarizability of a molecule, the larger the scattering cross section. While both Rayleigh and Raman scattering are second order processes that scale as 1/λ4, the scattering rate for Rayleigh scattering is on the order of 103 times greater than that for Raman scattering [1]. Typically in Raman spectroscopy, the stronger Rayleigh signal must be extricated since it carries little pertinent information on vibrational modes.
Since Raman spectroscopy requires that the polarizability change as a function of normal coordinate, one of its limitations is that it cannot measure direct dipole transitions. Because of this, Raman spectroscopy is sometimes utilized with other techniques to fully measure the vibrational and rotational states of a molecule. For example, in the CO2 molecule, of the three vibrational states depicted in the figure to the right, only ν1 (symmetric stretching) is Raman active. The other two vibrational states (bending and anti-symmetric streching) are infrared active [2]; thus Raman and infrared spectroscopy comprise complementary measurements.
Raman spectrum for Acetone, measured with a 532 nm Raman Spectrometer (bottom), and compared to published results (top).
Raman scattering is a two-photon process where the incident photon (hνi) is absorbed by the molecule, and the molecule is excited to a "virtual" level (not necessarily a stationary Eigenstate). Once promoted to this virtual level, the molecule will decay to an excited state and emit a "scattered" photon (hνs). In general, the molecule begins in the ground state, and thus, the energy of the scattered photon is less than that of the incident photon. The energy difference is related to the vibrational, rotational, or electronic energy of the molecule [2]. The emission of a scattered photon possessing less energy than the incident photon is called Stokes radiation, whereas the emission of a scattered photon possessing more energy than the incident photon is known as anti-Stokes radiation. The figure to the left depicts Stokes and anti-Stokes radiation. Since anti-Stokes radiation requires that the molecule already be in the excited state before scattering, the peak intensity of the anti-Stokes signal is lower than of the Stokes signal.
The graphs to the right show the results of a typical Raman spectrum for acetone taken with Thorlabs' DJ532-40 laser diode compared to published results. For standard linear Raman spectroscopy, information about the molecule is obtained through several measurements. The linewidth of the scattered radiation can yield a plethora of diverse information about the system. For example, in a gas sample, the linewidth can represent Doppler width, collisional broadening, natural linewidth, etc. Polarization analysis of the Raman spectrum also yields additional information about anisotropy and the polarizability tensor. Additionally, information about molecular orientation or vibrational symmetry can be extracted from polarization analysis. Finally, the intensity of the Raman lines relates to the scattering cross section and population density of molecules in the initial state.
[1] D. W. Ball, Spectroscopy 16(2), 28 - 30 (2001)
[2] W. Demtroder: Laser Spectroscopy Volume 2, 4th Edition (Springer-Verlag, Berlin, Heidelberg, 2008)
[3] G. Dent and E. Smith: Modern Raman Spectroscopy: A Practical Approach, (Wiley, Chichester, United Kingdom, 2005)
[4] I. R. Lewis and H. Edwards: Handbook of Raman Spactroscopy, (CRC Press, 2001)
[5] R. L. McCreery: Raman Spectroscopy for Chemical Analysis, (John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2000)
Discovered by Krishna and Raman in 1928, Raman spectroscopy has given rise to a multitude of specific techniques, from Linear Raman Spectroscopy to Coherent Anti-Stokes Raman Spectroscopy, and proves itself to be a powerful tool for spectroscopic analysis. One of the most common applications of Raman spectroscopy is to measure vibrational, rotational, and other low-frequency modes of a system (e.g., molecules).
Raman scattering by molecules is a type of inelastic scattering, in which the final and initial energy states are different, resulting in the molecules being in a different quantum state. Raman scattering is in contrast to Rayleigh scattering, an elastic scattering event, in which the final and initial energy states are the same (i.e., energy is conserved), and the molecules remain in the same quantum state. Both Rayleigh and Raman scattering are dependent upon the polarizability of a molecule: the stronger the polarizability of a molecule, the larger the scattering cross section. While both Rayleigh and Raman scattering are second order processes that scale as 1/λ4, the scattering rate for Rayleigh scattering is on the order of 103 times greater than that for Raman scattering [1]. Typically, in Raman spectroscopy, the stronger Rayleigh signal must be extricated since it carries little pertinent information about the vibrational modes.
Since Raman spectroscopy requires the polarizability change to be a function of normal coordinates, one of its limitations is that it cannot measure direct dipole transitions. Because of this, Raman spectroscopy is sometimes utilized with other techniques to fully measure the vibrational and rotational states of a molecule. For example, in the CO2 molecule, of the three vibrational states depicted in the figure to the right, only ν1 (symmetric stretching) is Raman active. The other two vibrational states (bending and anti-symmetric stretching) are infrared active [2]; thus, Raman and infrared spectroscopy comprise complementary measurements.
Raman scattering is a two-photon process, wherein the incident photon (hνi) is absorbed by the molecule, and the molecule is excited to a "virtual" level (not necessarily a stationary Eigenstate). Once promoted to this virtual level, the molecule will decay to an excited state and emit a "scattered" photon (hνs). In general, the molecule begins in the ground state, and thus, the energy of the scattered photon is less than that of the incident photon. The energy difference is related to the vibrational, rotational, or electronic energy of the molecule [2]. The emission of a scattered photon possessing less energy than the incident photon is called Stokes radiation, whereas the emission of a scattered photon possessing more energy than the incident photon is known as anti-Stokes radiation. The figure to the left depicts Stokes and anti-Stokes radiation. Since anti-Stokes radiation requires that the molecule already be in the excited state before scattering, the peak intensity of the anti-Stokes signal is lower than peak intensity of the Stokes signal.
The graphs to the right show the results of a typical Raman spectrum for acetone, taken with Thorlabs' DJ532-40 laser diode, compared to published results. For standard linear Raman spectroscopy, information about the molecule is obtained through several measurements. The linewidth of the scattered radiation can yield a plethora of diverse information about the system. For example, in a gas sample, the linewidth can represent Doppler width, collisional broadening, natural linewidth, etc. Polarization analysis of the Raman spectrum also yields additional information about anisotropy and the polarizability tensor. Additionally, information about molecular orientation or vibrational symmetry can be extracted from polarization analysis. Finally, the intensity of the Raman lines relates to the scattering cross section and population density of molecules in the initial state.
Wisan Charee (posted 2019-07-15 06:53:20.11)
I would like to know the price of Raman Spectroscopy set, please contact me E-Mail: wisan.ch@rmuti.ac.th.
YLohia (posted 2019-07-15 12:33:27.0)
Hello, thank you for contacting Thorlabs. Unfortunately, many of the key components shown in this setup have been obsoleted with no direct replacements (as of 07/2019). I will reach out to you directly to discuss your application.
user (posted 2019-05-13 10:31:38.73)
Hello, last summer for my internship I bought products through ThorLabs to build a homemade Raman Spectrometer. I was curious if you could send me the products used for this ThorLabs constructed Spectrometer with the quotes for each? Thank you!
chertopalovs (posted 2017-10-24 22:43:16.72)
Dear Sir, I'm a researcher from Missouri University of Science and Technology and I'm interested in UV Raman spectrometer. Could you please send me quotations? Thank you! Kind regards, Sergii.
tfrisch (posted 2017-11-15 11:43:05.0)
Hello, thank you for contacting Thorlabs. I will reach out to you to discuss your application and a quote.
mojtaba.zamani.a (posted 2017-06-20 14:20:15.643)
Is there any manual to find out which one of your products should be choose to assemble a raman spectroscopy system?
Hello, thank you for contacting Thorlabs. I will reach out to you directly about your application and its requirements.
brookwork (posted 2017-03-27 12:28:23.743)
We are an academic research team at Tennessee Tech, and we are interested in purchasing Raman spectrometers at various excitation wavelengths including 785nm, 532nm and UV excitation ranges. Could you please send us their quotations via e-mail. Thank you!
Hello, thank you for contacting Thorlabs. While we don't have preconfigured systems, I will reach out to you with some details on setups we have put together in the past.
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How MTV Handled Accusations of Racism and Became More Inclusive
Understanding Race & Racism
The U. S. Government
U.S. Liberal Politics
U.S. Conservative Politics
Humanities › Issues
Frank Micelotta Archive/Getty Images
by Nadra Kareem Nittle
Nadra Kareem Nittle has written about education, race, and cultural issues for a variety of publications including the Robert C. Maynard Institute for Journalism Education and Change.org.
When MTV launched in 1981, viewers struggled to find videos featuring black artists. The network so sparingly showcased African Americans in its early days that Rick James and David Bowie publicly took it to task. Despite the channel's embrace of black musicians such as Beyonce, Jay-Z and Kanye West today, there's no denying MTV's rocky history with black music.
So, how did MTV shift from shutting African American musicians out in the early 1980s to routinely spotlighting their contributions decades later? A brief history of the channel’s progress regarding race helps to answer that question.
Did MTV Exclude Black Videos?
When MTV debuted on Aug. 1, 1981, at least one black face on the network was a mainstay. It belonged to J.J. Jackson, the sole African American on MTV's roster of video jockeys, or VJs as they became known.
Despite Jackson’s presence on MTV through 1986, the network faced allegations of racism for giving scant airtime to videos featuring people of color. MTV executives have denied that racism was at the root of the network’s “blackout,” saying that black artists received little airplay because their music didn’t fit the channel’s rock-based format.
“MTV was originally designed to be a rock music channel,” said Buzz Brindle, MTV’s former director of music programming, to Jet magazine in 2006. “It was difficult for MTV to find African American artists whose music fit the channel’s format that leaned toward rock at the outset.”
With so few black rockers, adding African Americans to MTV’s roster proved difficult, according to the network’s co-founder Les Garland, whom Jet also interviewed.
“We had nothing to pick from,” Garland explained. “Fifty percent of my time was spent in the early days of MTV convincing artists to make music videos and convincing record labels to put up money to make those videos…”
One artist needed no convincing. He’d even made a video for “Don't Stop ’Til You Get Enough,” a cut from his 1979 album Off the Wall. But when approached by Michael Jackson’s record label, would MTV agree to play his music videos?
How the King of Pop Changed MTV
It took major prodding to get MTV to play “Billie Jean,” the second track from Jackson’s 1982 album Thriller. Released Jan. 2, 1983, the single would go on to top the Billboard 100 chart for seven weeks, but Walter Yetnikoff, president of CBS Records Group, reportedly had to threaten to remove all other CBS videos from MTV before the network agreed to air the video for “Billie Jean.”
Garland denied such a confrontation occurred, telling Jet that the network began playing the video on its own. “There was never any hesitation. No fret,” he said. Based on his account, MTV aired the video the same day that executives screened it.
However “Billie Jean” ended up on the network, there’s little doubt that it changed the course of MTV. The first video by a black artist to receive heavy rotation on the network, “Billie Jean” opened up the door for other artists of color to be featured on MTV.
“Billie Jean” also paved the way for Michael Jackson to star in the 14-minute music video “Thriller,” the most expensive music video ever made at the time. “Thriller” debuted Dec. 2, 1983. It proved so popular that it was released as a home video that went on to become a record-breaking bestseller.
Rock Music Takes a Backseat
Black recording artists such as Michael Jackson, Prince and Whitney Houston dominated the pop and R&B charts in the 1980s. During the same period, however, another urban art form was commanding the music industry’s attention—hip-hop.
The films "Beat Street" and "Krush Groove" paid homage to hip-hop in the first half of the decade. By the second half, MTV had taken notice. It debuted its hip-hop-centered program “Yo! MTV Raps” on Aug. 6, 1988.
According to USA Today, the show was the first ever to exclusively focus on hip-hop. (BET's "Rap City" premiered the following year.)
“Yo! MTV Raps” aired on MTV for seven years. The program opened the door for “MTV Jams,” a program with an urban music focus that premiered in 1996.
Although MTV began with a rock format in mind, the popularity of pop music, hip-hop, and R&B among the general public left the network no choice but to diversify its playlists. By the late 1990s, rock music received increasingly less airplay on the channel as boy bands, Disney starlets, and rappers gained ground with audiences, and rock music recovered from the death of grunge.
Black VJs
MTV may have been criticized for failing to showcase black recording artists from the outset, but it has always included African American VJs among its staff, starting with the late J.J. Jackson. Other notable MTV VJs of color include Downtown Julie Brown, Daisy Fuentes, Idalis, Bill Bellamy, and Ananda Lewis. On shows such as the long-running “Real World,” MTV makes a point to showcase cast members from diverse backgrounds, albeit often stereotypically.
Cartoon Controversy
Although MTV has made considerable gains in diversity over the decades, the network has suffered race-related controversies in the 21st century. In 2006, it drew backlash for airing a cartoon that featured black women as canines — tethered, squatting on all fours, and defecating. The network's then-president, Christina Norman, defended the cartoon, calling it a parody of an appearance rapper Snoop Dogg had made with two black women wearing neck collars and chains.
Black activists found this response unacceptable. But as they lobbed their accusations of racism and misogyny at the network, they had to take into account one major development at MTV: A woman of color ran the channel. That’s right; Christina Norman is black. She served as president of MTV from 2005 to 2008.
The cartoon controversy reveals that during Norman’s tenure, MTV still had much-needed lessons to learn about race. But her rise to the top also indicated that the network accused of shutting out black recording artists now welcomed diversity both on its airwaves and in its boardroom.
Programming That Challenges Racial Bias
In 2014, through a partnership with David Binder Research, MTV conducted a study of bias among the millennial generation. Soon after, it launched the website Look Different, a resource for young people wishing to fight for greater equality among marginalized peoples.
A year later, MTV's vice president of public affairs, Ronnie Cho, announced that MTV would create and sponsor ongoing programming designed to change attitudes and behaviors around racial bias. Included in that programming was MTV's July 22, 2015, premier of the documentary White People, in which Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Jose Antonio Vargas traveled across the country speaking to white millennials about topics like privilege and race relations.
Everything You Need to Know About Michael Jackson's Thriller
A Look at Some Underrated, Old-School R and B/Soul Artists of the '80s
How Did Hip Hop Culture Begin?
African-American History Moments: 1980 to 1989
Cultural Appropriation in Music: From Madonna to Miley Cyrus
Important Events of the Asian American Civil Rights Movement
From Colorism to Microaggressions, Look at 4 Types of Racism
Why was the National Council of Negro Women established?
How to Understand What Racism Is
6 Pandora Stations With Lyric-Free Music for Studying
Which 10 Pop Artists of the '80s Had the Most Hits?
How Did Color TV Come to Be?
4 Ways Racism in Health Care Is Still a Problem Today
11 Black Scholars and Intellectuals Who Influenced Sociology
Downloading German Songs from iTunes
Biography of Controversial Rap Group Public Enemy
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Hardworking Families
Glistening Examples Release Three New Albums
Glistening Example has released a new batch of records. The first comes from Hardworking Families and is entitled Emergency Window. The album contains five tracks which feature field recordings taken in numerous locations including Krakow, London, and Berlin. Its first track is a realization of a score by James Saunders. You can download and purchase the album here.
The second new album to come out from Glistening Examples is from Matthew Azevedo under his Retribution Body name. The album is called Self Destruction and is comprised of expansive, long-form drone pieces. You can download and purchase the album here.
The final album to be released from Glistening Examples is a reissue of a limited 2017 tour cassette from Jason Lescalleet. The album is entitled Almost Is Almost Good Enough. This reissue features a bonus track that was taken from a live recording in June 2017. You can download and purchase the album here.
Tagged: Glistening Examples, Hardworking Families, Retribution Body, Jason Lescalleet
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Top Movies of 2018
Photo Courtesy/Youtube Infinite Verse, Photo Courtesy/Youtube Heart of Champions, Photo Courtesy/Youtube CSmoke365, Photo Courtesy/Youtube WatchMojo.com, Photos Courtesy/Youtube Warner Bros. Pictures, Photo Courtesy/Youtube Sony Pictures Entertainment, Photo Courtesy/Youtube Movieclips Trailers, Photo Courtesy/Youtube Paramount Pictures
Torch Design/ Jenna Woo
Priyanka Gera, Assistant Culture Editor
Filed under Culture
The Horror Film
“A Quiet Place” is the most unique film of its genre for 2018. This mostly-silent horror film was a step in the right direction for deaf actors (and nightmares of monsters with acute hearing for others). Directed by (and starring) John Krasinski and his wife, Emily Blunt, this film intriguingly incorporates American Sign Language within the horror genre, and this thrilling experience not only gives you the chills, but also raises awareness about ASL and opens doors for other deaf actors in the industry. It is a silent-but-deadly film that will have you holding your breath until the very end.
The Animated Film
This movie wins the “Most Anticipated Film of the Year” award. Millennials waited 14 years for this sequel to be produced. The first movie ended with the Mole surfacing and threatening the city; now, Elastigirl is a fulltime superhero while Bob is a stay-at-home dad. The iconic red suit is replaced in “Incredibles 2” with a gray/black suit for Elastigirl, which radiated a cold and distant vibe. (Red definitely suits the family better.) I loved how cookies were the only thing that would calm Jack-Jack down and bring him back to the current dimension/prevent him from turning into the scary purple monster. The dangerous villain this time around is Screen Slaver who hypnotizes his/her victims and represents all the electronics that we constantly have in our face. Portraying social media/electronics in a negative light was a prevalent theme throughout movies produced in 2018, and “Incredibles 2” had a unique twist to this societal obsession.
The Potterhead Film
“Fantastic Beasts and the Crimes of Grindelwald”
To be honest, I felt obligated to put this movie on my list since I am a Potterhead (Slytherin to be exact). I was unconditionally and irrevocably confused with the plot of this film. So many details were left out and some things just did not add up; it was an unsubstantiated and disconnected plot. However, the design and action of the film was stunning. Special effects always gets a round of applause for the visually pleasing magic effects, such as the scene eradicating the blue flames of Grindelwald. It earned about $650 million on the box office, but it had the potential to be more successful, had the plot holes been sealed. The third installment in this series has a lot of explaining to do, and hopefully it will not disappoint.
The Action Spy Film
“Mission Impossible Fallout”
Tom Cruise is back as Ethan Hunt in MI6 with this fast-paced, plot twisting, action-packed installment that did not disappoint. Each of Hunt’s adventures are unique and exciting. This series does not have the “plot-dragging” issue that many movies face when they have reached a certain number sequels. The 56 year old actor still performs his own stunts, and it seems as though the older he gets, the more dangerous and outrageous stunts become. For example, the Paris motorcycle chase in the movie was Cruise free-riding at 100 mph! I’m too to scared drive faster than 45 mph (that too on an empty road.) Ethan Hunt is always five steps ahead of everyone else in the movie, and trying to keep up with him and his team is mind-boggling, but their plans are always creative and spontaneous, which is what is keeping this franchise alive. This movie is definitely worth the watch.
Asian Representation
What are the chances that your partner turns out to be “Prince Harry” of Singapore? For most of us it is 0 percent, but for Rachel Chu (played by Constance Wu) it is 100 percent. This much needed, heartwarming film has the first all-Asian cast since “The Joy Luck Club” in 1993. It is a romantic comedy that has you living and breathing in the beautiful sights of Singapore without ever leaving your seat. This movie tackles many issues Asian-Americans and other immigrants face, and plays a crucial role in encouraging representation in Hollywood. Immigrants often struggle with their sense of belonging in America and in their home country. As Awkwafina sums it up in the movie, “She just thinks you’re some like, unrefined banana. Yellow on the outside, and white on the inside.” This relatable story (except the rich part) is a must-see.
This modern-day missing person case is every parent’s worst fear. Social media has its pros and cons, as it connects people from all over the world while also linking you to strangers with fake identities. Presented entirely through/on computer screens, “Searching” adds a new spin to the classic whodunit mystery. This thriller was directed by 27 year old Indian-American filmmaker, Aneesh Chaganty, and also casts Asian- Americans in lead roles. This film plays a crucial part in Asian representation in Hollywood both behind and on camera. It received critical acclaim in the U.S., but was more success on an international level.
Marvel’s New Additions
“Black Panther” and “Avenger’s Infinity War”
The reaction to both of these films dramatically contradicted each other. On one hand, people loved “Black Panther” and had everyone saying “Wakanda Forever” by the end of it. Meanwhile, “Infinity War’s” audience is crying and shouting at the screen (and at Marvel) for killing off their beloved heroes, the most heinous crime yet. However, “Infinity War” is the third most expensive film of all time and made over $2 billion in the box office. Nevertheless it was 200 minutes of glory, because it unified 10 years of MCU stories. Similarly, “Black Panther,” MCU’s first black superhero, did very well at the box office; it earned $430 million in the first two weeks and was even nominated for seven Oscars. I loved the character Shuri, King T’challa’s sister. She is a strong, resourceful and intelligent young woman who is not only a Disney Princess, but also a formidable opponent in the tech world.
The Remake
Since its debut at the Toronto International Film Festival, “A Star Is Born” has provoked the kind of mania rarely seen in even the feverish realm of a film festival. It’s been hailed as “a transcendent Hollywood movie” (per Variety) and “damned near perfect” (per Rolling Stone). The fact that the songs in the film were performed live makes it even more special. It was amazing to see Lady Gaga (Stefani Germanotta), without the extravagant, statement-making outfits in her first leading role in a film. This was the perfect script for Bradley Cooper to make his debut as a director. It has just the right amount of emotion, complexity and inspiration that the audience can hold onto until the very last minute!
The Ultimate Heist
“Ocean’s 8”
Eight strong, confident and talented women replace the decade old Danny Ocean (played by George Clooney), adding a very much needed 21st century twist to this genre. Sandra Bullock plays Debbie Ocean, who has been planning the most expensive and public heist yet, recruits experts in their fields played by Rihanna, Cate Blanchett, Sarah Paulson, Mindy Kaling, Helena Carter, Awkwafina and Anne Hathaway. Although such a heist is unlikely to carry through, the MET was an interesting institution to intend to rob. These women managed to steal more than $150 million worth of diamonds — more than any thieving man could ever imagine stealing. They are also much smarter than any male counterpart in this genre; they know what they are doing and no one can challenge that. Hathaway’s character was not initially involved in the heist, and I loved when the twist was revealed, along with the other half of the plan that no one was cued into — that the rest of the diamonds on display at the MET were also part of the heist. This all-female crew thriller was entertaining and certainly, surpassed the expectations of a remake.
“Spiderman into the Spider-Verse”
NOT YET SEEN
Tags: culture, Top movies 2018
Netflix’s “Murder Mystery”
Tribeca Film Festival Presents “A Day in the Life of America”
St. John’s Grad “Veldor” Makes The Billboard Music Charts
Tribeca Film Festival Presents “Crown Vic”
Tribeca Film Festival Presents “Blow the Man Down”
Tribeca Film Festival Presents “Come to Daddy”
Tribeca Film Festival Presents “Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile”
Tribeca Film Festival Presents “Flawless”
Tribeca Film Festival Presents “For They Know Not What They Do”
Tribeca Film Festival Presents “Goldie”
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At a glance: Yemen
Humanitarian appeals
In Yemen, a mother’s determination keeps her children in school
© UNICEF Yemen/2016/Madhok
A child peers through a hole caused by damage to a wall of the Al Hussein primary school. UNICEF has determined that there are at least 174 schools across the city that need either minor or major repairs.
By Rajat Madhok
In Yemen, approximately 2 million children are currently out of school, due in large part to the ongoing conflict in the country. Hear how one mother’s perseverance has kept her sons enroled in classes.
SANA'A, Yemen, 3 October 2016 – Meet Um Osama, a fighter in Yemen but with a different kind of cause. Armed with nothing but hope for a brighter and safer future for her children, the mother of two is determined that her children continue their education in spite of the ongoing fighting.
“My sons were studying in a private school, all was well but now because of the fighting, we have had to make severe financial cuts. I can’t afford to send my children to the private school anymore,” she says. “So here I am at this government school to enrol my sons in grade 2 and 7.” She herself only studied until grade 6.
Al Hussein primary school, partially damaged due to the ongoing conflict. Approximately 2 million Yemeni children are out of school, oftentimes because of major damage to school buildings.
Um Osama is not alone in this fight – hundreds of thousands of parents are worried about their children’s education. UNICEF estimates that presently at least 350,000 children are unable to go to schools across Yemen, either because the schools have been damaged by the fighting, are occupied by fighters, or are doubling as shelters for the millions who have been displaced. This is in addition to more than 1.6 million children who were already out of school during the 2015–2016 school year.
Even the school where Um Osama wants to admit her sons has been scarred by the conflict. It was partially damaged when three bombs hit one of the buildings last year. Luckily no students were in the school at that time. The airstrikes destroyed parts of the roof and the science laboratory, making some of the classrooms unsafe for children and teachers to use. But that didn’t deter the gritty mother from enroling her children.
“Absolutely, I am scared, very scared that my children might get caught or hurt in the conflict,” she said. “But I am more concerned about them missing out on their crucial years of education.”
Major repairs underway
Ahmad Al Tashi, UNICEF’s Construction Engineer, is responsible for the repair of damaged schools in Sana’a and in the adjoining governorates. “UNICEF has so far assessed that there are at least 174 schools across the city that need either minor, or like in this case, major repairs,” he says. “We are working with the education department so that repairs can be done before children come back to school.”
He then points at a gaping hole in the roof caused by an airstrike. “Of course major repairs such as these will take a long time.”
>> Read the UNICEF report: Children on the Brink
Um Osama (centre) enrols her son at Al Hussein primary school. Her children previously attended private school, but she can no longer afford the school fees.
At the entrance of the school, the line of parents and children waiting to enrol for the new calendar year is now slowly but steadily growing. UNICEF’s Communication for Development Officer Abdulkhalek Zainah is there, talking to them, reassuring them as much as he can.
He knows and relates to their worries because he is a parent too. “As part of our Back to School campaign, we want children to return to school and not miss out on their studies, otherwise my fear is that we may have a generation of children who will have lost out on their education,” he said.
Back at the registration center, Um Osama has completed the enrolment process for her children. She is happy that her two sons will continue their studies, but their safety weighs heavily on her. When asked if she had a message for the world, she responds, “Please spare our children and think about their future. We are humans first and it is our duty to provide our children with a secure and healthy environment where they can complete their education and pursue their dreams.”
Thanks to generous funding from The German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), the KfW Development Bank, Educate A Child (EAC), Japan and Global Partnership for Education, UNICEF is supporting the Department of Education with the rehabilitation of at least 728 schools across the country.
Where schools have been damaged or are being used as shelters for displaced families, UNICEF has made temporary learning spaces by providing school authorities with tents. These tents work as ad-hoc classrooms and students attend classes in morning and afternoon shifts.
UNICEF Photography: Education in emergencies
From sitting on the floor to the top of the class in Yemen
Back to school after fighting in Yemen’s conflict
Mobile health teams help save children’s lives in Yemen
Yemen conflict: A devastating toll for children
Discuss: Blog posts about Yemen
Connect: UNICEF Yemen Facebook
Join the conversation: #YemenChildren
Follow: @UNICEF_Yemen
Appeal for children, Yemen
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Best 5 Game Titles for Android TV Users
Everyone loves Android TVs. They bring the flexibility and power of Android OS into users’ televisions, and knowing that these technologies are set to become mainstream because of the developments of Mi TVs from Xiaomi and the likes, there’s no time better than now to bring an Android TV to your home.
5 Best Android TV Games to Download Now
What’s even better is that there are loads of games and content to choose from. We’ve dedicated this post to the best Android TV games out there. Whether you’re an avid gamer or you’re looking for Amazon Prime and Netflix alternatives, the following picks should keep you engaged:
1. Crossy Road
This fun game has a lot to offer. You just have to cross various roads, and avoid getting smashed by the two-way traffic. You also need to avoid taking the player out of the screen, as the camera pan forward frequently. What makes this game special is the vibe saying I’m easy to complete. In reality, it requires you to adopt a fast pace, from start till end. Going through the traffic is challenging, but later the game switches to streams that need to be crossed by navigating forest leaves, logs, etc.
This game is free to download and offers in-app purchases. It’s best for people who possess an Android TV remote, rather than a gamepad.
2. Asphalt 8: Airborne
This game is delightful, and even includes a multiplayer mode which further adds to the experience. The title is available on the Play Store for Android TV, and functions fine on the Mi Box as well. Users can also connect a gamepad (Bluetooth enabled) and Asphalt captures it automatically for Android TV. With a controller added to the mix, you can expect to have a lot of fun while racing on a big LCD in your living room.
The game is free to download and comes with in-app purchases. P.S. You still need to wait for Asphalt 9: Legends to arrive on Android TV.
See Also: Best Live TV Apps for Android TV
3. Dead Trigger 2
This is a first person survival game, with an environment that boasts a zombie apocalypse. Its graphic quality and open world gameplay makes for an enticing experience. Though it does require a bit of setup, you can customize the controls before the game starts, so you’ll know exactly where to begin, and how to finish each objective. You’ll also be armed with a handgun and a melee weapon. More weapons are unlocked as you progress, and give you the ability to experience the gameplay in a variety of ways.
Dead Trigger 2 is free to download as well and includes in-app purchases.
4. Into the Dead
Into the Dead is another title that Android users love to play on their screens. It offers users a much deeper perspective, delivering real horror in a field where you’re running along with obstacles and zombies. The game can be easily played using a gamepad, and tells about the controls during the gameplay. Running happens automatically, with players able to turn right or left to avoid zombies, as well as shoot out from randomly dropped crates. It’s basically an endless runner game.
You can download the game for free and also make in-app purchases.
See Also: Best VPN Services for Android TV
5. Badland
This is another fun title available for Android TV. The game has gotten over 1 million ratings, and has an average score of 4.5 out of 5. The minimal graphics and colors stand out on the television. The game can be played using the Android TV remote control as well as the gamepad, and it somewhat feels like the Flappy Bird kind tap-to-fly expect it’s much less irritating. In this game, you can hit obstacles and walls ass many times as you like; just don’t get stuck. The mission is to go beyond the level while collecting power-ups and dodging levels.
The game is free to download and comes with in-app purchases.
Play Your Favorite Games on Android TV
There are several titles that you can play using Android TV, but these 5 are out personal picks. These games range from adventure to endless runners, so you can be sure to find something that aligns with your needs. So, regardless of the title you’re interested in, it’s pretty likely you’d end up playing for hours.
As always, we’d like to know your thoughts. And if you think any other game deserves to be present on this list, feel free to let us know. Follow us on Facebook and YouTube for additional Android and iOS related content.
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The 714 Area Code (or Area Code 714) is located in the state of CA. Area Code 714 is one of the 269 3-digit telephone area codes in the USA. It covers roughly 3.05 million unique phone numbers and 10.5 million individuals near the city of Santa Ana
Area code 714 was put into service. Area code 714 was created from a split of area code 213. In 1982 area code 714 was split to form area code 619. In 1992 area code 714 was split to form area code 909. In 1998 area code 714 was split to form area code 949. In 1999 area code 714 was overlaid with area code 657.
Brea, CA>Buena Park, CA>Cypress, CA>Fountain Valley, CA>Fullerton, CA>Garden Grove, CA>Huntington Beach, CA>Orange, CA>Placentia, CA>Santa Ana, CA>Stanton, CA>Tustin, CA>Tustin Foothills, CA>Westminster, CA>Yorba Linda, CA
California - CA Population
Latitude: 32°32′ N to 42° N Longitude: 114°8′ W to 124°26′ W
Pacific 13:28:26
Time zone in Area Code 714: Pacific 13:28:26.
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Transfer from Sperlonga to Rome Ciampino Airport
From Sperlonga to Rome Ciampino Airport
Ciampino Airport is the second airport of Rome in terms of size and traffic, we carry out many transfers to and from this airport every day.
Our private transfer from Sperlonga to Rome Ciampino airport is high quality but at a low price and a fixed, carried out with high-end vehicles and professional drivers.
The distance between the Sperlonga and Rome Ciampino Airport is about 140 km, the approximate travel time is about 1 hour and 45 minutes, depending on traffic.
Our drivers will wait you at hotel reception or address request by you.
Our drivers will help you for move your luggage and they will leave at the entrance of your terminal at Rome Ciampino Airport.
From Rome Airports to Sperlonga
From Rome City to Sperlonga
From Sperlonga to Rome Airports
From Sperlonga to Rome City
From Civitavecchia Cruise Port to Sperlonga
From Sperlonga to Civitavecchia Cruise Port
To Sperlonga
SelectTo Rome Fiumicino AirportTo Rome Ciampino Airport
SelectFrom Rome Fiumicino AirportFrom Rome Ciampino Airport
N.Passengers*
See also : From Rome Ciampino Airport to Sperlonga
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Great Lakes Grand Discovery
Sailing Date: Aug 11, 2019
Other Sailing Dates • Cruise Overview
9 Nights on the M/V Victory I
Now $5,389
Was $6,389
pp + port charges
Double occupancy
Port Charges $429 / Gratuities $15.50 per day
Category E deck plan
Was $6,389Now $5,389
(pp + port charges)
Ocean view stateroom, queen bed, armoire, chest of drawers. (Deck 1 / 160 sq ft avg.)
Category D deck plan
Ocean view stateroom, two twins or one queen bed, armoire, chest of drawers. (Deck 1 / 158 sq ft avg.)
Category C deck plan
Ocean view stateroom, two twins or one queen bed, armoire, chest of drawers. (Deck 2 & 3 / 152 sq ft avg.)
Category B deck plan
Category A deck plan
Ocean view stateroom, two twins or one queen bed, armoire and chest of drawers. (Deck 3 / 185 sq ft avg.)
Category AA deck plan
Ocean view with direct access to the open-air promenade. Two twins or one queen bed, armoire and chest of drawers and mini fridge. (Deck 4 / 161 sq ft avg.)
Owners Suite deck plan
Ocean view suite boasting sweeping views, interior and exterior entrances, a private terrace, one queen bed and one sofa bed, sitting area, armoire and chest of drawers, complimentary minibar (restocked daily), in-room safe, evening canapés, complimentary laundry service & fresh fruit daily. (Deck 3 / 335 sq ft avg)
Day-by-Day Itinerary
Welcome to Toronto, the most multicultural diverse city on the planet: over 140 languages are spoken. It's estimated that over half of Toronto's residents were born outside Canada, and despite its complex makeup, Torontonians generally get along. Toronto is a vibrant, big-time city abuzz with activity. Some of the world's finest restaurants are found here, alongside happening bars and clubs and eclectic festivals.
> Learn more about Toronto, ON
Niagara Falls / Welland Canal
After a leisurely morning on board, we'll disembark the ship at Port Colbourne on the southern end of the Welland Canal. The original Welland Canal was opened in 1829 and was extended to reach Lake Erie in 1833. The current canal was completed in 1932 and boasts eight locks. As the M/V Victory I awaits its turn to transit the locks, we'll drive through the Niagara Wine Region, home to 25 vineyards and over 50 wineries. At Niagara Falls, we'll embark on the famous Hornblower "Voyage of the Falls" for a cruise into the misty spray of Horseshoe Falls. Back on shore, we'll drive along scenic Niagara Parkway to a charming local restaurant followed by a special visit to a local winery for a fabulous tasting before rejoining the ship at Port Weller.
> Learn more about Niagara Falls
Cleveland's landmarks date to its days as a turn-of-the-20th-century manufacturing center, including the Steamship William G. Mather, now part of the Great Lakes Science Center. It is also known for the stately Cleveland Museum of Art, the I.M. Pei-designed Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Museum and its famous West Side Market-Cleveland's oldest publicly owned market-which opened to the public in 1912. Today the market is home to over 100 vendors and hosts a million visitors a year.
> Learn more about Cleveland, OH
Sailing from Lake Erie to Lake Huron, the M/V Victory I will call on Windsor, Ontario, known as The City of Roses, or Detroit, Michigan, known as the "Motor City", depending on port schedules. Your shore excursions will be the same, regardless of the city in which the M/V Victory I docks. Just outside of Detroit, we'll visit the Henry Ford Museum, created to document the genius of ordinary people. Housed in a sweeping, nine-acre, single-floor space with soaring 40-foot ceilings, the design and sheer scope of the museum is as grand as the vision that inspired it. Local expert docents will escort guests to see the museum's highlights that include: the limousine that carried President John F. Kennedy on that fateful day in Texas, the bus in which Rosa Parks stood her ground and sparked the Civil Rights movement, and the chair from the Ford Theatre in which Abraham Lincoln was sitting when he was shot.
> Learn more about Detroit, MI
The second largest of the Great Lakes, Lake Huron boasts a surface area of 23,000 square miles. Like the other Great Lakes, it was formed at the end of the last ice age as the glaciers retreated. With over 30,000 islands, Lake Huron has more shoreline than any of the other Great Lakes. After a scenic day of cruising, we'll gather in the ship's main dining room for a gourmet dinner.
Little Current, Manitoulin Islands
This morning, we'll cruise though the rugged beauty of Georgian Bay, sometimes called the sixth Great Lake. Our destination is Manitoulin Island, the world's largest freshwater island and home of the Ojibwa people, part of the First Nation of Anishinaabe. Also known by the anglicized name Chippewa, the Ojibwe are the largest population of First Nations people in continental North America. They speak the Anishinaabe language and live mostly in the Great Lakes region of Canada. They are known for their birch bark canoes, their cultivation of wild rice, the creation of dreamcatchers, and their historic use of pictographic birch bark scrolls.
> Learn more about Little Current, Manitoulin Islands
Today, we'll transit the Soo Locks from Lake Huron into Lake Superior at Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan. Our guided excursion includes a tour of the Valley Camp Museum Ship, a stop at the Soo Locks viewing platform, and a walk through the visitor's center to learn about the four parallel locks - MacArthur (1943), Poe (1895), Davis (1914), and Sabin (1919) - which pass an average of 10,000 ships per year.
> Learn more about Sault Saint Marie
Mackinac Island, Lake Michigan
We'll awaken in the Straits of Mackinac, which connect Lake Michigan to Lake Huron. After breakfast, we'll go ashore for a narrated horse-drawn carriage tour of Mackinac Island, including the Victorian-era Grand Hotel, where the movie Somewhere in Time was filmed. During our tour, we'll visit Fort Mackinac, which was constructed by the British in 1780, taken by the Americans in 1796, and reclaimed by the British at the start of the War of 1812. This evening, the cocktail hour in the outdoor lounge features a captivating presentation by our onboard historian.
> Learn more about Mackinac Island, Lake Michigan
Scenic Sailing of Lake Michigan
The only Great Lake located entirely within the United States, Lake Michigan has a surface area of more than 22,000 square miles, making it the sixth largest lake in the world. The name Michigan is believed to come from the native Ojibwe word mishigami, which translates to "great water". After a scenic day of cruising, we'll gather for a festive welcome reception, followed by dinner in the ship's main dining room.
Your cruise ends in the "Windy City". Situated at the mouth of the Chicago River, on the southern coast of Lake Michigan, Chicago is a city of art, music, and industry. Visit the Michigan Mile or get to know the city's rich architectural history with a riverboat tour. With shopping, museums, dining, music and theater, there's something for every taste in this iconic American city.
> Learn more about Chicago, IL
Important reminder: Embracing the unexpected is part of the fun of travelling. Programs and schedules may change due to weather, tides, local circumstances and venue changes. A measure of flexibility is something all of us must bring to a voyage.
More about Cruising with Victory…
Victory Cruise Lines is your first choice for immersive and all-inclusive coastal cruising. Our shore excursions are led by knowledgeable local guides and provide meaningful opportunities to uncover the rich history and fascinating cultures of the destinations you visit. Our remarkable itineraries include time to explore lovely towns where you can enjoy shopping, stroll along the docks, or relax in waterfront parks. We go all out to give you the opportunity to see and experience it all, at a pace that suites your needs and tastes
*Our standard terms and conditions apply. View complete terms and conditions.
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Services and Activities Fee Committee
SAF Bylaws
Wokshops & groups
Counseling Center staff
Self-Help Library
Intimate partner violence, & sexual assault resources
Medical & psychiatric services
Off campus counseling clinics
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Parent/Family Resources
supervisor-bio
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(DACA) Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals
FAQ about HB 1079
Director of the ARC
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DRS Mission Statement - Extended
Getting Started (Current Students)
Services Request Timeline
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Getting Started (Prospective Students)
Documentation Guidelines (DRS)
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For Parents and Families of UW Bothell First Gen Students
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Orientation and Transition Programs
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Schedule & Important Dates
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Contingency Proposals
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Student Technology Fee Committee
2011-2012-records
2014-2015-meeting-minutes
Husky Pantry
Affordable Health Care and Washington State Exchange
Policies Against Sexual Harassment and Discrimination
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Services and Activities Fees Committee
Guidelines and Operating Procedures
(Word Version)
Section 1. Services and Activities Fees
A. Services and Activities Fees are defined in RCW 28B.15.041 to mean “fees, other than tuition fees, charged to all students registering at the . . . state universities . . . The legislature also recognizes that Services and Activities Fees are paid by students for the express purpose of funding student activities and programs” of their particular institution.
B. “It is the intent of the legislature that the governing boards ensure that students have a strong voice in recommending budgets for Services and Activities Fees” (RCW 28B.15.045), and that Services and Activities Fees expenditures for programs devoted to political or economic philosophies shall result in the presentation of a spectrum of ideas (RCW 28.15.044).
C. The level of the Services and Activities Fees is recommended by the Services and Activities Fee Committee pursuant to RCW 28B.15.045 and approved by the Office of the Chancellor and authorized by the Board of Regents. Increases in the fee are subject to limitations set by the state legislature.
D. The Board of Regents shall adhere to the principle that the desires of the Services and Activities Fee Committee be given priority consideration for funding items that do not fall into the categories of pre-existing contractual obligations, bond covenant agreements, or stability of programs affecting students (RCW 28B.15.045(2)). Expenditures of Services and Activities Fees, however, are permitted for the construction, equipping, and betterment of buildings and facilities for student activities and services (RCW 28B.10.300).
E. The Services and Activities Fee long-term fund shall consist of all unallocated revenue (refer to sections 9 and 10) derived from the collection of Services and Activities Fees and accrued interest.
F. Services and Activities Fees and revenues generated by programs and activities funded by such fees shall be deposited and expended through the Office of Finance and Administration and will be reduced, unless otherwise stipulated by the Services and Activities Fee Committee, from the allocation awarded for that program or activity. The expenditure of Services and Activities Fees and associated revenues are subject to all applicable University policies, regulations, and procedures and to the Budget and Accounting Act of the State of Washington (RCW 43.88).
G. In addition to the regulations governing the use of Services and Activities Fees, provisions of the State Constitution prohibit the use of public funds (Services and Activities Fees are considered public funds) with regard to making gifts or loans of money or property.
H. With the exception of any funds needed for bond covenant obligations, once the budget for expending Service and Activities Fees is approved by the Board of Regents, funds shall not be shifted from funds allocated by the Services and Activities Fee Committee until the administration provides written justification to the Committee and the Regents, and the Regents and the Committee give their express approval. In the event of a fund-transfer dispute among the Committee, the administration, or the Regents, said dispute shall be resolved pursuant to Section 6 of these Guidelines (RCW 28B.15.045 (12)).
Section 2. Committee Membership
A. The intent of this Committee is to be comprised of at least seven (7) and no more than nine (9) voting members who are currently matriculated students at UW Bothell and not elected or appointed officers of the ASUWB GOVERNMENT (with the exception the appointed ASUWB member as written in section 2 subsection D)
B. Ex-officio, non-voting members of the Committee should include a representative from Planning and Administration, and a representative from the Division of Student Affairs. The Chair of the Committee, with approval of the Chancellor, may appoint any other ex-officio member. The role of the representatives from Planning and Administration and the Division of Student Affairs is to provide information and orientation, background materials, and general support and guidance to the Committee.
C. Voting members will generally serve for one term, and each term is for a period of one year (from July 1 to June 30). A voting member may be reappointed for a second and third term, and up to two members may be allowed to serve for a fourth term; such reappointments are subject to the procedures described in Section 2.D. Majority of voting members should be selected before June 1st while leaving two open spots for incoming fall quarter students. The Committee may replace any of its voting members only for reasons spelled out in these Guidelines and Operating Procedures. Members who resign during their term(s) will submit a written resignation to the Committee Chair. Vacancies will be replaced in the same manner as provided for new appointments and for the un-expired term of the original appointment.
D. ASUWB and the Division of Student Affairs are responsible for recruiting potential members, following an application process. ASUWB confirms members of the Services and Activities Fee Committee. The ASUWB president shall appoint, in accordance with ASUWB bylaws, a member of ASUWB to serve as one of the voting members. The Chancellor makes the final appointment for all members sans the ASUWB representative.
E. The chairperson of the Services and Activities Fee Committee shall be selected by the members of that Committee (RCW 28B.15.045 (3)) at its first business meeting. The composition of the committee would be comprised of;
Chair: The chairperson shall call and preside over Committee meetings, prepare agendas, and serve as liaison to the broader University community where appropriate. It is ideal that the Chair attends weekly meetings with the Services and Activities Fee Committee Advisor.
Vice Chair- Fulfill the duties of the Chairperson in the event of absence, resignations, or forfeiture of the SAF Chair and other duties assigned. Recommended that the Vice Chair attends weekly meeting with the Chair and the Advisor. Responsible for documenting weekly minutes and publishing to the SAF website. Sharing drafts of minutes for SAF preview prior to the SAF meeting.
The Chair and Vice Chair share responsibility to facilitate communication between students, faculty, and staff within the UW Bothell campus community.
F. Voting members are expected to attend all meetings unless excused in advance by the Chair; develop and maintain effective communication within the Committee and across the campus community, demonstrate a willingness to engage in constructive dialogue on any issue being considered by the Committee, actively participate in the deliberations of the Committee, and adhere to the rules and regulations governing the Committee. Members may request the resignation of a particular member if absences or conduct are deemed detrimental to the work of the Committee. A request for removing a member from the Committee requires a unanimous vote by all voting members of the Committee, except for the party whose resignation is being requested, and concurrence by the Chancellor. Grounds for removal would include 3 or more unexcused absences per academic quarter. Unexcused absences will be evaluated by the Chair on a case by case basis.
G. Minutes shall be taken at all meetings of the Committee and shall be publicly posted no later than five-calendar days after the meeting minutes are approved. Said minutes shall include the results of every action item taken by the Committee.
Section 3. Committee Meetings
A. Regular meetings shall be held at least three times per quarter (Autumn, Winter, and Spring) and more frequently as needed. During the winter and spring quarter, meetings will be held at least two (2) to three (3) times per month. All business, other than those items appropriate for consideration during executive session, will be conducted during open session and in full compliance with the Open Public Meetings Act (RCW 42.30.110).
B. An agenda and a copy of all funding requests to be considered by the Committee shall be sent to members and be publicly posted at least three-business days in advance of all regular meetings and shall specify the time and place of the meeting as well as the business to be transacted.
C. A special meeting of the Committee may be called at any time by the chair, by a simple majority of the voting members of the Committee, or by the Chancellor by delivering personally or by mail written notice to each member of the Committee at least 24-hours before the time of such meeting as specified in the notice. The time and place shall be decided by simple majority and absence(s) may be excused by the chair. The call and notice shall specify the time and place of the special meeting and the business to be transacted; final disposition shall not be taken on any other matter at such meetings.
D. The Committee may hold an executive session during a regular or special meeting only to consider matters permitted under the Open Public Meetings Act (RCW 42.30.110).
E. A quorum shall consist of a simple majority (50% + 1) of the current voting membership of the Committee. The chairperson shall be included as a voting member. Proxies shall not be considered for voting purposes.
F. All meetings shall be conducted in accordance with Robert’s Rules of Order, Newly Revised. Deviations from such procedures will be at the discretion of the Chair with a simple-majority approval of the Committee present and voting.
G. Minutes shall be taken at all meetings of the Committee and shall be publicly posted no later than five-business days after the meeting minutes are approved. Said minutes shall include the results of every action item taken by the Committee.
Section 4: Budgeting Process
A. The Services and Activities Fee Committee shall notify the campus community of the opportunity to submit requests for annual funding no later than December 1:
The Committee shall establish the format and related deadlines for receiving budget requests in advance of notifying the campus community of the opportunity to apply for funding. At least 15- calendar days including the day of notification must be provided to members of the campus community for preparing their requests.
Any member of the University of Washington Bothell campus community may submit a request for annual funding.
The intent of the annual operating budget is to support on-going student activities, services, and programs. It is the intent that the funds deemed “long-term” shall be used to purchase capital (non-recurring) equipment, fixtures and furnishings, lease and/or bond obligations, and other related expenditures.
B. A contingency fund shall be established by the Committee as part of its annual budget and should represent approximately 5% of the projected fee revenue. The purpose of this money is to fund proposals throughout the following fiscal year. The Chancellor or his or her designate shall review and approve all such recommendations from the Committee.
The Committee shall establish the format, priorities for funding, and related deadlines for receiving contingency requests. At least 7-calendar days including the day of notification must be provided to students for preparing their requests.
The intent of the contingency award is to fund student-initiated activities, events, projects, and services that were not proposed during the annual budgeting cycle. Contingency requests should represent new ideas for building and sustaining community on campus. As such, these requests are to be generated by student groups, committees, and boards. Other entities of the campus community are invited to submit requests during the annual budgeting cycle.
C. All proposals for either annual or contingency funding must contain adequate information about how a program will serve currently enrolled UWB students as well as a detailed breakdown of proposed expenditures and anticipated revenues.
D. The Committee shall review all requests for support from the Services and Activities Fees, serving in an advisory capacity to the Chancellor and the Board of Regents.
E. At the Committee’s discretion, a hearing may be required for those requests that lack sufficient detail or justification. The Committee should provide at least 10-business days’ notice of a hearing to those individuals requested to be in attendance.
F. The Committee shall organize and publicize at least one open forum on its proposed annual funding allocations at least 10-calendar days prior to adopting a final budget.
G. The Chancellor may meet with the Committee at appropriate intervals in its budget formation process to respond to emergent ideas and issues and to apprise it of the general position of the Regents. The Chancellor may respond in writing to specific written proposals submitted by the Committee and take other actions as needed to assure that the lines of communication to the Committee remain open. The Chancellor may delegate these duties to another senior administrator.
H. The Committee shall send its final recommendations for an annual operating budget and long-term capital expenditures along with supporting documentation to the Chancellor on or about May 1 of each year. Within 10-calendar days after receiving the Committee’s annual budget recommendations, the Chancellor will provide a written response to the Committee. In formulating his or her response, the Chancellor may seek the view of other affected University groups and senior administrators as to the final recommendations of the Committee prior to making his or her recommendation to the Board of Regents. In the event the Chancellor disagrees with any of the Committee’s recommendations, the dispute resolution process described in Section 7 will be invoked.
I. At the time the Chancellor submits his or her proposed budget recommendations to the Board of Regents for the expenditure of services and activities fees, he or she shall also submit a copy of the Committee’s recommendations and supporting documents along with any response from the administration.
J. Members of the Service and Activities Fee Committee shall have an opportunity to address the Board of Regents before the Regent’s decisions on Services and Activities Fee budgets and dispute resolution actions are made (RCW 28B.15.045 (1)).
K. If, during the year, there are unanticipated non-recurring expenses, and if there are sufficient long-term funds to not only fund the expenditures but also other long-term commitments, the Committee can request that the necessary funds be transferred from the long-term account to the current operating account.
Section 5. Guidelines for Funding
A. Operating expenditures may be proposed in support of bona fide school-related, student led, curricular or extracurricular functions, activities, or programs participated in by UWB students in the furtherance of their education:
Ordinary supplies, purchased services or equipment necessary to conduct the student function, activity, or program.
Compensation is defined as salary and benefits for students or other University employees engaged in activities or services that directly involve or support currently enrolled UWB students. Compensation shall not be requested or funded during the contingency cycle.
Necessary and reasonable fees, meals, lodging, and transportation expenses for entertainers, lecturers, guest speakers and others who provide personal services on a contractual basis.
Trophies, plaques or medals, certificates of award or articles of personal property that are of nominal value ($50 or less) given to currently enrolled UWB students as recognition for participation, achievement, or excellence as part of the functions of student organizations, activities, or programs.
Promotional Items are designed to promote any student organization, group, or funded project or service and are limited to a total value of $800 per year unless expressly stated otherwise by the Services and Activities Fee Committee at the time of allocation. Food and publicity (for specific events) are not considered a promotional item. Articles of clothing may be purchased with the guidance and approval of the Division of Student Affairs and the Club Council. Promotional items must be purchased in compliance with University policies and procedures.
Cost of childcare for children of currently enrolled UW Bothell students who are participating in UW Bothell programs held on the UW Bothell campus.
Travel Awards can only be granted to currently enrolled UW Bothell students and their advisor(s), who shall be UW faculty or staff, to participate in approved student functions, activities, or programs. Awards are limited to paying accommodations, transportation, registration fees, and incidental expenses as outlined by the SAF Committee. All travel must comply with established UW travel policies and procedures. Approved travel awards are reimbursed only when receipts are presented. Travel must benefit the broader student community by bringing back experiential and educational value upon return from the trip. Maximum reimbursement will be $500 per student and $2,500 per group unless expressly stated otherwise by the SAF Committee upon awarding of funds.
Food and refreshments may be purchased for UW Bothell-student functions as outlined by the UW food policy, which includes award receptions, training, activities, or programs. Such funds are intended to support activities and programs open to the general student body. Funds are not intended to support routine meetings associated with student organizations and groups (student government, campus events board, SAF, etc.). Services and Activities Fees may not be used to purchase or serve alcoholic beverages.
B. Consistent with state law, any expenditure of Services and Activities Fees, including loans, is considered a prohibited gift when made for the direct benefit of private individuals or groups. State law also prohibits contributions of Services and Activities Fees or property to a political candidate or cause in connection with any local, state, or federal election.
C. Services and Activities Fees shall not be used as fundraising contributions; matching funds for fundraising purposes; or for any expenses related to a meetings, event, or activities of which the principal purpose is fundraising.
D. When making allocations, the Committee may place stipulations on the use of funds or recommend guidelines in the operations of a program, or both. The approved budget and stipulations, not the original request, shall be binding on the program.
E. Any program may move up to 5% of their annual or contingency budget between line items at the discretion of the Division of Student Affairs. Other changes to the approved budget and amounts above 5% require the approval of the Committee.
Section 6. General Criteria for Evaluating Funding Requests
A. Requests for funding are evaluated by:
The degree to which the request supports a UWB student program or activity or provides a direct service that is of general interest to currently enrolled UWB students;
How well the proposed program, activity, or service is conceived and organized and, if previously funded, its track record for success;
The likelihood of collaboration opportunities and co-partnerships with other sources or the probability that alternative funding (full or partial) is available from another source (e.g. permanent structures receiving university dollars);
The number and diversity of currently enrolled UWB students likely to benefit from the program, activity, or service in proportion to the level of proposed funding; and
All other criteria approved in advance by the Committee and the Chancellor or his or her designate.
Section 7. Budget Disputes
A. The Chancellor or his or her designate shall respond to the Committee recommendations in writing, outlining areas of agreement and potential areas of disagreement, allowing reasonable time for response, and clearly setting forth the next step in the review process. In the event of a dispute(s) involving the Committee recommendations, the administration shall meet with the Committee in a good faith effort to resolve such dispute(s) prior to submission of final recommendations to the Board of Regents (RCW 28B.15.045(5)).
B. If the dispute is not resolved within fourteen-calendar days, a dispute resolution committee shall be convened by the chair of the Committee within fourteen-calendar days (RCW 28B.15.045(6b)).
C. The dispute resolution committee shall be selected as follows: The administration shall appoint two nonvoting advisory members; the Board of Regents shall appoint three voting members; and the Committee chairperson shall appoint three student members of the Committee who will have a vote, and one student representing the Committee who will chair the dispute resolution committee and be nonvoting except in the case of a tie vote. The dispute resolution committee shall meet in good faith and settle by vote any and all disputes. (RCW 28B.15.045(7))
D. The Board of Regents may take action on those portions of the Services and Activities Fees budget not in dispute and shall consider the results, if any, of the dispute resolution committee and shall take action (RCW 28B.15.045(8)).
Section 8. Review of Budget Allocations
A. The Committee may choose to review the status of the current Annual Budget at any time during the year. The purpose of these reviews is to assess the status of awards and to have current budget information available for reference during future funding cycles.
B. The Committee may choose to conduct discretionary reviews of funded programs at any time during the year. Recipients of funding may be asked to provide the committee with spending records and projections inclusive of, but not limited to: budget request forms, receipts, and food request forms.
C. If the review finds that a program or organization is not spending in alignment with its allocation, is not in accordance with these Guidelines and Operating Procedures, or is failing to report information as stated in Section B, the Committee may freeze the remaining unexpended portion of that program or organization’s budget. Until the freeze is removed, no further expenditures may be incurred against the budget. A freeze may remain in effect until the Committee is satisfied with the program’s progress. Therefore, it is in the best interest of all organizations funded by the Services and Activities Fee to keep up to date records of their expenditures.
Section 9. Long Term Funds
A. The Long Term Fund will maintain 30% of the projected annual Services and Activities Fee revenue and any additional funds designated for future projects or expenditures.
Section 10. Excess Funds
A. Excess funds are defined as unallocated or unspent annual or contingency dollars in any given academic year.
B. A sufficient portion of the excess funds must be returned to the Long Term Fund to restore it to the 30% minimum annual projection should it fall below that level.
C. Additional excess funds collected over the course of the academic year may be allocated in the contingency process or the annual process in the following academic year at the discretion of the Committee.
Section 11. Budget Spending and Reconciliation
A. Groups receiving SAF funds are responsible for following all guidelines, procedures and reconciliation of funds as set forth by the SAF Committee, Division of Student Affairs and University policy and procedures.
Section 12. Compensation
A. 0.25% of the SAF annual budget will be withheld for operational costs of the committee.Operational costs include printing, supplies, marketing, and compensation for the Chair and Vice Chair.
B. The Chair and Vice Chair will be compensated quarterly via student fixed fee at an amount to be determined by the prior year’s committee and approved by the Chancellor.
i. The SAF Guidelines and Operating Procedures were originally authorized by the Board of Regents on September 27, 1991 and later amended by the Regents on June 12, 1998.
ii. Revised SAF Guidelines and Operating Procedures were adopted by the SAF Committee on April 8, 2005, approved by the Chancellor on May 22, 2005, and authorized by the Board of Regents on June 9, 2005.
iii. Further revisions to the SAF Guidelines and Operating Procedures were adopted by the SAF Committee on April 7, 2006, approved by the Chancellor on May 22, 2006, and authorized by the Board of Regents on June 8, 2006.
iv. Additional revisions to the SAF Guidelines and Operating Procedures were adopted by the SAF Committee on April 27, 2007, approved by the Chancellor on May 1, 2007, and authorized by the Board of Regents on June 7, 2007.
v. Additional revisions to the SAF Guidelines and Operating Procedures were adopted by the SAF Committee on April 11, 2008, approved by the Chancellor on April 14, 2008, and authorized by the Board of Regents on June 12, 2008.
vi. Additional revisions to the SAF Guidelines and Operating Procedures were adopted by the SAF Committee on May 23, 2011, approved by the Chancellor on May 23, 2011, and authorized by the Board of Regents on June 9, 2011.
vii. Additional revisions to the SAF Guidelines and Operating Procedures were adopted by the SAF Committee on May 18, 2012, approved by the Chancellor on May 23, 2012, and authorized by the Board of Regents on June 7, 2012
viii. Additional revisions to the SAF Guidelines and Operating Procedures were adopted by the SAF Committee on May 16, 2014, approved by the Chancellor on May 28, 2014, and authorized by the Board of Regents on June 12, 2014
ix. Additional revisions to the SAF Guidelines and Operation Procedures were adopted by the SAF Committee on May 18, 2018, approved by the Chancellor on May 22, 2018, and authorized by the Board of Regents on June 8, 2018.
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Valorie Hubbard
Valorie started acting at the age of three when she dramatically threw herself down a staircase.
When her mother discovered she was still alive she enrolled her in creative dramatics class where she has been acting ever since. She attended The Goodman School of Drama and migrated to New York where she spent the next 20 years.
Some of her favorite credits in New York include The Crucible at The Roundabout Theatre, The Country Boy at Irish Rep, The Sweepers at Urban Stages and The Queen Bee's Last Stand also at Urban Stages.
Regionally Valorie worked at NJ Shakespeare Festival, Delaware Theatre Co., The Wilma Theatre, Weston Playhouse, Missouri Rep and The Lab Theatre in Poland. Valorie was asked to be a member of the last international company to work at the Lab Theatre. She has also collaborated with an amazing range of acting professionals including John Guare, Joseph Chaiken, Toni Kotite, Neel Keller, Terry Schreiber and Zbigniew Cynkutis.
Valorie decided to give LA a try the last 10 years and this what she has been up to:
Film credits include Sex, Death and Bowling written and directed by Ally Walker,Trigger starring Scott Glen and Chris Coy, A Better Life directed by Chris Weitz, An American Christmas Carol with Beverly D’Angelo, Divorce Invitation where she plays Richard Kind’s cougar wife, The Hannah Montana Movie, Smell of Success starring Billy Bob Thornton and Tea Leoni, Pennance starring Michael Rooker, Resident Evil: Extinction, Parasomnia directed by William Malone and starring Crispin Glover, Henry Fool directed by Hal Hartley, Wrestling with Alligators starring Adrienne Shelley and Joely Richardson, Gameday starring Richard Lewis and recent Hallmark Christmas movie, Help for the Holidays with Summer Glau.
TV Credits include roles on Castle, Agent's of S.H.I.E.L.D, How I Met Your Mother, Glee, American Horror Story, Workaholics, True Blood, 90210, ER, Desperate Housewives, The Middle, Zeke and Luther, Good Luck Charlie, I’m In the Band, a recurring role on Kickin It, and General Hospital, HUGE, The Job, Missing Persons and Comedy Central's American Body Shop and Chocolate News. She also plays the “hot” Rhonda in the recent release of video game Dead Rising 3.
VALORIE IS A PROFESSIONAL SPEAKER AND THE CEO OF ACTOR'S FAST TRACK:
Valorie is CEO of the prestigious Actor's Fast Track, a program which, as the name suggests, accelerates the careers of actors looking to make their mark on their own terms. Valorie's approach puts the power back into actors' hands, and arms them with the knowledge and tools to navigate the entertainment industry.
She also speaks at events across the nation, including her fantastic business seminars she hosts in Los Angeles and New York City.
She also has books: The Actors Workbook, published by Allyn & Bacon Publishers, co-written with Lea Tolub-Brandenberg. Her recent release is Rule Breakers: Changing the Way Actors Do Business. You can get your copy here.
Interested in working with Valorie? Check out Actor's Fast Track, or book her as a speaker here.
ACTRESS • CEO ACTOR'S FAST TRACK • SPEAKER
Check out Actor's Fast Track
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VMP Rising: Arthur Moon
On July 12th 2019 » By Michael Penn II
VMP Rising is our series where we partner with up-and-coming artists to press their music to vinyl and highlight artists we think are going to be the Next Big Thing. Today we’re featuring Arthur Moon, the self-titled debut from Arthur Moon.
VMP Rising
Arthur Moon
Arthur Moon is the project of Lora-Faye Åshuvud: a composer and budding electronic pop star raised in Park Slope, Brooklyn, who can’t read music and doesn’t care for your structures. While she often finds herself seeped into the noise of everything, she uses Arthur Moon as a vessel for unraveling the world by arranging sounds with a fluidity that easily evades the oversimplification of genre. Arthur Moon is where Åshuvud becomes unhinged: any individual piece threatens to become many movements of its own, leaping across time signatures and melodic layers as some thoughts remain looping, fixed in their power. There are many tricks embedded within Arthur Moon’s efforts at queering music: even as Åshuvud’s vocoder gleans with optimism over upbeat synths and sparse backing drums, her writing reveals the complete opposite: a figure at once content with the bliss of normalcy, and purely terrified by the prospect of a narrow escape from a broken world at the expense of someone else.
If one’s already overwhelmed by such prospects, rest assured: Arthur’s creator struggles through all the above, and eagerly invites one to struggle together in her audible playground of electric uncertainty. Aided by her four bandmates — and on the contrary, some desert solitude — Åshuvud’s on the verge of releasing her self-titled debut: a gently unnerving 10-track trip through Arthur Moon’s self-interrogation of how to move and exist. It’s consistently breathtaking, often haunting, and lets no one leave easily; it’s the theory of Incorrect Music, elevated to a pop ethos that’s accessible enough to allow the listener to be challenged. A digital glossiness gives Arthur Moon a warm, distant glow, the music often untangling itself from predictability as she untangles herself from expectation. The listener may often be left unsure whether to dance, thrash, or spill their sadness into the street; the answer is “Yes, and…”
How does such a mindfuck translate into a record with dazzling orchestral heights and such barren lows, leaving Arthur’s voice to ponder in a near-weightless state? Åshuvud’s as curious and surprised as I, and has no shame in surrendering her ego to become an instrument to the process rather than a sole mind dictating the process. Our phone conversation proves her thoughtfulness gives back as much as it extracts from her precious moments; though I took the “queering music” term at face value, she too grows tired of having her sexuality entangled in every piece she releases to the point where no one discusses the work itself. That said, she’s a white queer woman from Park Slope with a partner and a dog… she’s not convinced of herself, and Arthur Moon remains a fluid canvas for her to workshop her self-skepticism and weaponize her privileges to destabilize the ills of this world. Chances are, she’ll sing a Thom Yorke tune as she does so.
This interview has been condensed and edited for clarity.
VMP: From the jump, like, first song, “Too High,” you’re talking about all the things you can change, or wondering if you can change them: those questions that are rhetorical, literal, you’re speaking of the universe, of your family history, etc. At one point you even say, “Cut me open and let me out,” and you speak of whether or not you can keep your heart closed. From what I gather from that song, how overwhelmed do you feel by existing, if at all?
Lora-Faye Åshuvud: (laughs) Oh man, you see me. (laughs) Yeah, I definitely feel overwhelmed by existing, particularly in the rigid structures of our society, sometimes. And the rigid structures of that society as they manifest in being a musician and figuring out this industry, and being queer and figuring out how to talk about that. So, yeah, it’s definitely overwhelming, and I think when I was writing that song I was sort of trying to strike a balance between letting myself be overwhelmed and see all that stuff, but also kind of be meditating and quiet. I wrote it while I was on an artist residency in the desert, so I was alone, and sleeping in a single bed in a windowless room and really, just, going for it.
There’s like a thread of folks that I’ve talked to in the past who end up writing songs like that on residencies, where it’s like a desert or a ship, or, just somewhere really distant in the Catskills or something. You just get this really insular sort of feeling, but you’re pulling something beautiful out of it.
Yeah, sometimes I think it’s getting away from your life which makes you be able to represent it more, somehow.
Speaking to your earlier point, I think every press piece I’ve read about you has emphasized how you’re queering music. And, the one-two punch of “Homonormo” into “Reverse Conversion Therapy,” like, even when I just looked at the tracklist, I’m like, “What in the fuck is about to happen here?” And I just wanted to ask, what does your effort for queering music look like in an album-length format like this? How did it feel to translate it into a bigger statement?
It felt cool: There’s something about the full-length that allows space for more texture and more complexity, because you just have more time to flesh out some of the intricacies of whatever it is you’re trying to say. I was intimidated by the form, but also really excited to be able to have that time and space. And I think, yeah, the (laughs) one-two punch of “Homonormo” to “Reverse Conversion Therapy” really pushes it home, for sure. I think queering music — you know, those aren’t my words — but, queering music is not necessarily about just being a queer person who happens to make music , but rather engaging in this effort to make music that’s deviant from a norm. So, not necessarily following whatever rules or structures we think are like the proper [or normal] structures, but rather interrogating: “OK, like, why does a song have to be verse, verse, chorus, verse, bridge, whatever? Why can’t it be a different structure?”
And thinking about that more broadly, in terms of harmony and melody, there are a lot of rhythmic elements in particular which I feel sort of speak to my queering of music, which is just about making people feel disoriented in whatever it is that they expect to hear, and turning music on its head, and giving people the feeling of being outside of whatever it is they’re expecting to hear.
Right, cuz when I first was reading into that idea, I didn’t even know that you had identified as queer at all; I took it on its face for what it literally meant. Especially since we’re hyperaware of a lot of things, and a lot of dialogue is happening at once, but it’s virtually impossible for a queer artist to just exhale, and not have someone be like, “That’s the queerest breath you’ve ever taken,” especially in the music industry. How have you navigated that so far?
I was just thinking about this before you called me; I was like, “How am I?” Obviously, this album is intentionally queer, right? It’s sort of like a coming-of-age story about this Arthur Moon character, who both is and is not me, right? (laughs) But I also was thinking before you called, like, “Oh man, I hope that when this record comes out that people are able to find a way to write about it that’s not just about that, but also just about the actual music.” Because, I think it’s a lot easier to write about identity politics than it is to describe sound. (laughs)
So, I think that often people will just write about this thing that feels a little bit more comfortable. But, sometimes it can be a little bit frustrating to have folks just focus on that and not be like, “Oh, interesting use of the vocoder,” or “Wow, there are four time signatures happening at once here, that’s cool” (laughs) But at the same time, I think I’m certainly positioning the music that way, and it is something that I very much do want to talk about in relation to the music.
Word, and in speaking of it and intentionally doing that, how do you intend to use [your whiteness] and your position in the world to play a role most effectively to shine light and push dialogues forward?
I think that’s something that has kind of worked its way into the content of this music a little bit. “Homonormo,” for example, feels like a kind of self-critique in a way; it sort of represents a lot of the fears I have about what would happen if I got lazy, or what would happen if the work were perceived the wrong way. Which is to say: I’m a white person, I’m in this kind of normative relationship with a woman, we’re about to get married, we have a dog, and we’re doing a kind of normative thing. And my fear is that by sort of passing in that way, I’ll be taking advantage of my whiteness and my perceived cis-ness to exclude many of the narratives that really are the most important for the queer community, and for our society in general. Which include: talking about intersectionality, and what it means to be a person of color who’s queer, who’s living through a lot more difficult spaces than I’ve had to move through because of my privilege. So, I think the self-criticism is an important thing, but I also think that action is more important, and that comes with who I choose to collaborate with and how I’m talking about the work.
To your earlier point again about how you wish folks would describe the sound: I’m a very lyric-driven person, so a lot of the lyrics jump out to me, even as they’re like scattered or intentionally nonsensical. I’ve read about the condition that you suffer from where you think a certain way and your words come out one way; sometimes it’s like the writing is more focused on mood, even if there’s no direct throughline. But I can feel and empathize with what you’re saying, so, how did you make the decision to be more direct or more abstract, depending on which mood you want to communicate?
That’s a really good question. Do you know when Esperanza Spalding wrote a whole record in [77 hours] last year? She didn’t sleep, and just made this whole record and live-streamed it on Facebook.
Yeah, I remember that.
It was amazing, I watched a lot of it. And she kept saying this thing, which really resonated with me: she would be writing something, and then be working out a section of it, and instead of being like, “What did I say?” she would be like, “What did it say?” As if the song was talking to her, and she was just writing it down, you know? It was almost like she was transcribing someone else’s work. It was so beautiful. (laughs) That’s how it feels to me. I guess I’m obviously intentionally making a lot of decisions, but when it comes to making decisions around when to allow for abstraction and when to be more didactic, it feels like the music says what it needs to say and I write it down, as opposed to being more involved in those particular decisions.
The character in the music… sometimes just paying attention, it felt like you were dragging yourself but dragging me in with you. Like, when I heard you say, “You don’t fool me, you’re lonely…” Even on “I Feel Better,” you were talking about feeling like you’re getting ready to make yourself an enemy. All these darker, tense moments or acknowledgments of self, they happen on very bright pieces of music. Even the music’s not always just responding darkly, it’s like a bright push. How do you handle that sort of ironic juxtaposition, where you put stuff like that on happier sounds, or the inverse?
“I Feel Better” is a good example of that: I remember I brought that to the band the first time, played it for them, and everyone was sort of quiet for a minute, and I was like, “Clearly I don’t feel better.” (laughs) And everyone was like, “Yeah.” I think that balance is something that’s always a goal for me, so often, when I write sort of a bright piece of music, it immediately takes me to sort of creepy circus vibes. I’m automatically hearing it as some sort of cover for something that’s much darker. Happy music is cool, but even the most straightforward, saccharine pop music that’s all about joy and love — in my opinion — is there to mask or cope with something darker. And for me, the thing that becomes interesting is sort of acknowledging that within the space of the song, as opposed to having people put it on when they’re feeling bummed, or having a fight with someone, or trying to work out, or whatever (laughs). I think subverting it within the song actually can sometimes be more interesting.
It makes me think of the intro song, where you’re questioning how can you shift your performance, what can you do to be different intentionally. So, to hear you describe Arthur Moon that way… I don’t know, maybe I don’t have a question.
No, I mean, that’s actually something that I was thinking a lot about when I wrote that song, which is choice in representation and performance. In some ways, I can choose to hide or not to hide; the pain is probably there either way, right, but my sexuality, gender identity, and all [my identities] are things which I get to choose who sees them. That’s a very different experience from being a person of color. While perhaps there are relationships between being on the margins of something or being oppressed in certain ways, it’s also an extremely different set of concerns and an extremely different experience. It’s like, “What is the privilege of being able to choose?”
Hearing you talk through that gave me the question back: What agency does Arthur Moon the character give you, Lora-Faye?
Oh my gosh, so much agency. I’m sure you experience this, too, as someone who performs — maybe not — but sometimes just being up on stage, and all of the energy and adrenaline and fear of that can sometimes just create this permission to just, like… (laughs) to fuck up in the ways that you’re afraid you’ll fuck up and own it. To be wrong and be incorrect and, like, sing the wrong note or play the wrong thing, and just take joy in that and do it anyway.
Michael Penn II
Michael Penn II (aka CRASHprez) is a rapper and a Vinyl Me, Please staff writer. He's known for his Twitter fingers.
Read More Interview Rising
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VMP Rising: Dua Saleh
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Virtro Featured in Business in Vancouver
New immigration program nets 2,000 foreign workers since June
Uncertain about the prospects of gay marriage in Australia a year ago, Jordan and Lee Brighton were determined to find a new country in which to settle with their two children and launch their third startup.
“Canada is a beautiful bubble, and we love it,” said Jordan, CEO and co-founder of Vancouver-based virtual reality firm Virtro Entertainment Inc.
After doing some reconnaissance in Vancouver and Toronto, the couple applied to get into Canada in December 2016 through the Start-up Visa pilot.
The program targets immigrant entrepreneurs with the promise of permanent residency if they get support from a venture capital group, an angel investor group or a business incubator to launch a startup in Canada.
The Start-up Visa pilot was introduced in April 2013.
It delivered 117 visas to applicants over four years before the federal government announced in July it would make the program permanent next year. As of September 30, another 21 applicants have been approved.
There’s no precise data on the number of immigrants who have founded tech startups in Canada but a 2016 study from the National Foundation for American Policy determined immigrants founded 44 out of 87 U.S. startups valued at US$1 billion or more.
Next month will mark the launch of Virtro’s first product: Run Dorothy Run, a VR game following players as they zip through fantasy worlds inspired by The Wizard of Oz.
The quick turnaround comes even after the Brightons had to sit out of business operations as they awaited permanent residency while on visitor visas.
“The business employed people, but I wasn’t an active participant in the first few months,” Jordan Brighton said. “It’s tricky doing an immigration process and a business process at the same time because they’re a little at odds with each other.”
Virtro employs five full-time and five part-time workers, and Jordan expects to ramp up hiring in January. Read the entire article in Business in Vancouver
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HomeNews Women in Rail announces 20 most inspirational women in rail
Women in Rail announces 20 most inspirational women in rail
The Women in Rail organisation have named Hollie Woodard, project manager at VolkerRail, as one of its 20 most inspirational women in rail.
Launched by the organisation in February, the survey is the first of its kind; celebrating women in the UK railway sector who have positively influenced others over the course of their railway career and are an inspiration to peers, colleagues and those interested in joining the rail industry.
Women in Rail received nearly 200 nominations, from men and women across the industry, and Women in Rail’s steering committee chose the top 20.
Adeline Ginn, founder of Women in Rail said, “We had a fantastic response to the survey. The UK railway industry employs many amazing women who need to be recognised for their outstanding contribution to our sector and the impact they have on our day-to-day lives. Narrowing the list to 20 was extremely challenging and difficult but it was crucial for us to showcase the 20 women from across the industry who have made a big difference to their managers, peers, colleagues and customers.”
Commenting on the accolade Hollie said: “I was extremely humbled and honoured to receive this award. What makes it all the more special, for me, is the fact that I have been nominated by my colleagues.”
Alongside carrying out her role as project manager, Hollie has also been involved in a number of industry initiatives designed to promote young children to enter into a STEM career, including Go4Set and Teentech; as well as visiting local schools to help support and promote careers in the railway industry.
Hollie also mentors young women across the business who are keen to develop their roles as engineers and project managers, providing guidance and support in their studies.
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HomeProjects Lea Valley viaduct reconstruction
Lea Valley viaduct reconstruction
The project to reconstruct the Lea Valley viaduct was an integral part of Network Rail’s southern region programme of works.
Lee Valley viaduct is a 12 span structure carrying a 2-track, non-electrified railway over Thames Water’s reservoir. The works involved the strengthening of ten of the viaduct’s spans using a light weight foam concrete infill material and reconstruction of the remaining two spans as open steel structures. Other works included demolishing the existing metal decks and replacing them with ballasted track for the full length of the viaduct.
The viaduct’s railway line was in regular use throughout the works, therefore the deck replacement works had to be delivered during two pre-booked possessions. One of which was planned for the Christmas period. Through a process of value engineering and effective programming of resources, we were able to install all four steel deck spans during a single weekend possession lasting only 52 hours. This was welcomed by the client as it delivered this key aspect of the works earlier than originally programmed.
The piling and infill works were carried out in a high street environment, reducing the construction safety risks to our workforce. Track settlement was actively monitored throughout the construction period, ensuring the safety of trains running on these operational lines.
Work to install new track between Lea Bridge and the new Meridian Water station 80%...
Work to install a new track on the West Anglia main line as part of Network Rail’s £170m Lee Valley Rail programme...
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terrible ideas Sept. 18, 2017
Pablo Escobar’s Brother Suggests Netflix Hire Literal Hit Men to Handle Security for Narcos
By Jordan Crucchiola@jorcru
Photo: Juan Pablo Gutierrez/NETFLIX
Over the weekend, a man named Carlos Munoz Portal was killed outside of Mexico City while scouting shooting locations for the Netflix show Narcos. The exact circumstances of his death are unknown, but his body was found in his car with multiple gunshot wounds, and Netflix says that authorities are investigating the matter. Today, The Hollywood Reporter ran an interview with the brother of Pablo Escobar, Roberto De Jesus Escobar Gaviria, who was both Escobar’s head accountant as well as the “chief of the hit men” for the Medellin cartel. In addition to asking Gaviria about his ongoing legal battle with Netflix — as the head of Escobar Inc., he asserts that he owns the rights to the Escobar name and brand, and as such the streaming service owes him $1 billion for unauthorized use of his family’s name — THR also asked the 71-year-old about what he thinks Netflix should do to increase security around the show. The entire interview is worth reading, but here are some of the extremely chilling highlights.
• On what should be done to increase safety for cast and crew: “If you have the intellect, you don’t need to use weapons. If not, you have to. In this case, Netflix should provide hitmen to their people as security.”
• On whether or not Netflix should even film on location: “I don’t want Netflix or any other film production company to film any movies in Medellin or Colombia that relates to me or my brother Pablo without authorization from Escobar Inc. It is very dangerous. Especially without our blessing. This is my country.”
• On the legal battle between Escobar Gaviria and Netflix: “They don’t know life and would never dare to survive in the jungle of Medellin or Colombia. I have done that. Their mothers should have left them in the womb. That is what we tell people like this if they come to Colombia.”
All right. There has to be somewhere outside of Latin and South America that can serve as a substitute for Mexico and Colombia. Because Escobar Gaviria, who is partially blind and deaf thanks to a letter bomb he received when he was in jail, does not seem like a flexible man.
roberto de jesus escobar gaviria
terrible ideas
Pablo Escobar’s Brother Suggests Netflix Hire Actual Hit Men
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AU seeks to continue stirring turnaround
By - The Washington Times - Saturday, March 2, 2002
With a cast of holdovers from the previous coaching staff and a host of transfers, American University and coach Jeff Jones brushed aside years of men's basketball futility this season by winning the Patriot League regular-season title.
Now the Eagles, in the unfamiliar position of being the hunted team, can make a run at their first NCAA tournament appearance in more than 40 years by winning the Patriot League tournament that begins today at Show Place Arena in Upper Marlboro.
AU captured the regular-season crown, but the 2001-02 Patriot season was replete with competition. Save for bottom seeds Lehigh, which opposes American today, and Navy, just four games separate the first-place and sixth-place teams.
"Anything can happen in the men's tournament there's so much parity," said Army assistant coach Marty Coyne.
Much has happened this season for AU, most of it in the way of success. Jones has molded a roster with 10 players in their first year with the program into a cohesive and confident group that does not dwell on previous shortcomings. Jones wanted to change the culture of losing at AU, which went 7-20 last season, by bringing in players who would have a better understanding of the game and a greater commitment to winning.
Players like starting point guard Glenn Stokes, a 25-year-old junior college transfer, and starting two-guard Andres Rodriguez, a transfer from Louisville, have proved valuable additions. And mainstays like forwards Patrick Doctor (yesterday named the league's Player of the Year) and Keith Gray, the two players who have spent four years as Eagles, also have provided stability. The result yielded a 16-11 record, the Eagles' most victories in 12 seasons and one of the biggest one-year turnarounds in Division I.
All this is uncharted territory for the coaches and players, who are dealing with sudden success at the school.
"A program like AU hasn't experienced a great deal of success," Jones said. "They've had more than their experience of bad things. Now we have to handle the good and focus on the next challenge."
That is the Patriot tournament, which features four quarterfinal games today and two semifinals tomorrow. The semifinal winner with the highest-remaining seed will play host to the championship game Friday.
Navy enters the tournament as the No.7 seed after losing seven of its last eight games, with its only victory against Lehigh. The Midshipmen (10-19, 5-9) finished second in the Patriot last season and started league play 3-1 this season, but their porous defense brought on a quick fade from the top. The Mids face 2001 Patriot tournament champion Holy Cross, the No.2 seed, in the first round.
"I'm really hopeful to play better basketball," Navy coach Don DeVoe said. "We started and finished the season losing. In between, we had some good stretches. We haven't beaten a good team all year."
American has had some notable wins, the largest a late December upset at Florida State, which players said became a game the team could point to as a measure of their potential. The Eagles come into the tournament on a bit of a down note after losing to Holy Cross by 24 points in the season finale. That doesn't faze this team.
"Nobody has their heads down everybody's trying to bounce back real quick," Stokes said. "There's a real team chemistry. That's what I hear last year's team didn't have."
Said Doctor: "When we play at our best, we're hard to beat."
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Concert Hall of Zheng Daoxing
Post, Pause
Ink City
Whose Utopia
One Day (Guangzhou)
4 Aug (Fri),8:00pm
Concert Hall of Zheng Daoxing (2002-2004)
18 min, Putonghua with Chinese and English subtitles, Digital, China
Charismatic singer-songwriter Zheng Daoxing hails from Yangjiang. Forced to abandon his job as a truck driver during the 1997 Asian economic crisis, sixty-year-old Zheng has reinvented himself as a travelling musician and performer, playing a hand-constructed electric guitar and singing songs that tell a convoluted story about his former working life as a farmer, soldier, and trucker. Part biography and part contemporary folklore, Concert Hall of Zheng Daoxing captures personal tales from an ordinary man, reframed as alternative national histories.
Xu Tan (Chinese, b.1957) was a member of the Big Tail Elephant Group, an experimental artist collective that actively addressed problems arising from the rapid urbanisation of Guangzhou. Today, he is an internationally-recognised artist whose practice intersects with social theory. His works have been shown at the 50th and 53rd Venice Biennials, the 2nd Berlin Biennial, the 2nd Guangzhou Triennial, and the 4th Gwangju Biennial.
Courtesy the artist
Post, Pause (2004)
9 min, Digital, China
Filmed in the artist’s previous home city of Shenzhen, Post, Pause presents a series of fantastical vignettes in urban spaces. Inspired by the surreal scenes that play out on the city’s streets every day, the video pays tribute to China’s working poor, the desperate and determined ‘dreamers’ who flock to Shenzhen seeking to change their fortune. Motivated by consumerist desire, Jiang’s characters crawl their way over a towering flyover, symbolically edging their way closer to the Chinese Dream.
Jiang Zhi (Chinese, b.1971) is a prolific multidisciplinary artist long engaged with writing and video art. From 1995 to 2005, he worked as a journalist, an experience that deeply influenced the language and context of his art practice. With work that treads a fine line between brutal reality and poetic imagination, Jiang uses gesture and theatricality to explore the body, gender and identity, all within the context of China’s rapid social transformation.
Courtesy of the Artist
Ink City (2005)
Ink City presents memories of urban change that are both personal and collective. Bringing together more than 300 ink drawings based on personal photographs and images culled from the internet, the seemingly continuous journey in Ink City jumbles together multiple skylines, transportation systems, and architectures. Shanghai and Guangzhou landmarks are seamlessly interwoven in a monochromatic ink wash, creating fictions and omissions that characterise our own unreliable memory processes.
Chen Shaoxiong (Chinese, 1962–2016) was a member of the Big Tail Elephant Group, an experimental artist collective that actively addressed problems arising from the rapid urbanisation of Guangzhou. His conceptual art crossed many mediums, including painting, video, animation, photography and drawing. Chen was interested in new perceptions and realities that circulated in the global information age, and the perpetuation of historical and media fictions.
Courtesy the artist and Pékin Fine Arts Gallery
Whose Utopia (2006)
20 min, Digital, China
Whose Utopia was produced during the artist’s residency at a lighting factory in Foshan, in the Pearl River Delta region. She began by giving factory workers—migrants with modest means and limited education—a questionnaire, asking them about their backgrounds and prospects for the future. She later invited her collaborators to break away from their work routines and perform their secret aspirations alongside their production lines. By juxtaposing shots of modern machinery with theatrical scenes of personal dreams, Whose Utopia interrogates personal ideals in an age of economic reform and globalisation.
Cao Fei (Chinese, b.1978) is a Beijing-based visual artist and filmmaker. She works within a range of mediums including film, performance, and installation to create works that often meld fictional scenarios with contemporary Chinese realities.
M+ Collection
One Day (Guangzhou) (2007)
Over the course of one day, Zhou Tao performed his domestic routine in a local supermarket, mobilising subtle and humorous interactions between himself and anonymous onlookers. One Day (Guangzhou) explores the collapse of the private sphere into the public, and the increasing tendency to live out our personal lives in very impersonal arenas.
Zhou Tao (Chinese, b.1976) finds visual and narrative materials in the everyday places and communities he encounters. As well as documenting Guangzhou, where he lives and works, he has made videos about New York, Paris, Bangkok, and Barcelona. Fascinated by oft-ignored sites, actions and situations that shape our cities, Zhou’s work opens up new ways of seeing.
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NBC News, Megyn Kelly reach separation agreement
Megyn Kelly poses on the set of "Megyn Kelly Today" at NBC Studios on Thursday, Sept, 21, 2017, in New York. (Photo by Charles Sykes/Invision/AP) (Source: Invision)
January 11, 2019 at 11:10 PM EST - Updated January 11 at 11:14 PM
NEW YORK (AP) — NBC News announced its professional divorce agreement with Megyn Kelly late Friday, ending an association with the former Fox News Channel star whose attempt to become a network morning television star as part of the “Today” show floundered.
Terms were not disclosed. Kelly was in the second of a three-year contract that reportedly paid her more than $20 million a year.
She's been off the air since October after creating a furor by suggesting that it was OK for white people to wear blackface on Halloween, and exit negotiations had dragged for two months over the holidays. Even before the controversial commentary, her future was considered limited at NBC News.
"The parties have resolved their differences, and Megyn Kelly is no longer an employee of NBC," the network said in a statement Friday night.
NBC says she'll be replaced in the third hour of the "Today" show by anchors Craig Melvin, Al Roker, Dylan Dreyer and Sheinelle Jones.
Her tenure was also a failure for NBC News Chairman Andrew Lack, who lured her from Fox News Channel with the type of big-money contract that was once standard in television news but now is less so with financial constrictions and less viewership. In a sense, Kelly was caught in a no-woman's land: some at NBC were suspicious of her because of the Fox News background, while her former audience at Fox resented her for tough questioning of Donald Trump on the presidential campaign trail.
While at Fox, her accusations of unwanted sexual advances by the network's late chief executive, Roger Ailes, helped lead to his firing.
She made news at NBC when interviewing women who accused Trump of inappropriate behavior and s poke with accusers of Harvey Weinstein, Bill O'Reilly, Roy Moore and others, as well as women who say they were harassed on Capitol Hill. The episode with Trump accusers had more than 2.9 million viewers, one of her biggest audiences on the network.
Time magazine, which honored "The Silence Breakers" as its Person of the Year in 2017, cited Kelly as the group's leader in the entertainment field.
But tough segments on accusations against former NBC anchor Matt Lauer didn't win her friends internally, as did her public call for Lack to appoint outside investigators to look into why the network didn't air Ronan Farrow's stories about Harvey Weinstein and allowed Farrow to take his story to The New Yorker.
When those stories began to fade, Kelly had trouble attracting an audience in the soft-focus world of morning television. She also briefly hosted an evening newsmagazine that didn't catch on with viewers.
Kelly made a tearful apology to viewers following her blackface comments, but it proved to be her last appearance on NBC News.
"What is racist?" she said on the show. "Truly, you do get in trouble if you are a white person who puts on blackface on Halloween or a black person who puts on whiteface for Halloween. Back when I was a kid, that was OK, as long as you were dressing up as a character."
Critics accused her of ignoring the ugly history of minstrel shows and movies in which whites applied blackface to mock blacks.
It's not immediately clear what's next for Kelly. NBC would not comment Friday on whether the separation agreement allows her to write about her experiences at the network.
There's no non-compete clause, meaning Kelly is free to seek other television work if she wants to.
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Much needed new coat of paint
10 classic Xbox games we'd love to see remastered
Seeing these classic titles brought to a modern standard would be incredible.
The industry behind gaming is always coming up with new and impressive ways to impress players, but a lot of the time, gamers enjoy looking toward the classics. The legendary titles of the past have inspired creators and players alike, and seeing them reborn with modern visuals and sound is a treat.
Here are 10 Xbox games we would love to see receive the remaster treatment.
Read: 5 Xbox games that deserve sequels
MechAssault
Mech games have always been fan favorites, but there hasn't been anything quite like MechAssault since its debut on the original Xbox. It offered an unparalleled sense of power that other titles only wished they could achieve, and to this day, many say it's one of the best Xbox games ever made.
When you ask the question, "What is the best dogfighting game ever?," a common answer will be Crimson Skies for the original Xbox. Between the sound mechanics, engaging story, and likable characters, Crimson Skies rightfully holds a special place in the hearts of many.
It seems wrong that the first two Halo games got remastered, but Halo 3 did not. The title's impact on Xbox Live cannot be overstated. Dominating the online landscape for over three years, Halo 3 was one of Xbox's strongest console sellers ever. Maybe one day a remastered version will be added to the Master Chief Collection.
Considering Halo 3: ODST uses a huge amount of assets from Halo 3, it would be possible for it to be remastered alongside its big brother. Featuring a moody atmosphere and a gripping tale of how an ODST squad fights for its life during a Covenant invasion, seeing Halo 3: ODST powered by modern tech would be amazing.
Credited as the game that brought the Fallout role-playing series to the third dimension, Fallout 3 is undeniably a classic. Between the solid gameplay, great writing and interesting lore, Fallout 3 offers seemingly endless fun.
With Fallout: New Vegas, Obsidian Entertainment took Bethesda's success with Fallout 3 and expanded on it, creating an open world experience that many consider the best ever made. A remaster would also help iron out the issues with the title's notorious bugs.
Ninja Gaiden Black
Featuring a steep learning curve, challenging enemies and a focus on melee fighting, Ninja Gaiden Black was in many ways the Dark Souls of yesteryear. In today's market where titles like these flourish, it would be great to see Ninja Gaiden Black make a return in glorious new graphics.
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic is often regarded as one of the best RPGs of all time, and with good reason; between the clever turn-based fighting, incredible writing, and beautiful music and art direction, it ticks all the boxes.
Getting to play the role of a one-alien army trying to slaughter all of humanity in Destroy All Humans! is an unforgettable experience. Whether you're leveling entire cities with your UFO or zapping individual people with an electric rifle, the game is loads of fun ... and I'd love to do it again with new graphics and audio.
Jet Set Radio Future
Skating games can often feel boring, but Jet Set Radio Future for the original Xbox was a fan-favorite experience thanks to the stylized art direction, excellent music, and wacky gameplay mechanics.
What do you think of our choices? Are there Xbox games you want remastered? Let us know in the comments.
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F. Hoffmann-La Roche AG v. nithya devi
The Complainant is F. Hoffmann-La Roche AG of Basel, Switzerland, represented internally.
The Respondent is nithya devi of Tiruppur, Tamil Nadu, India.
The disputed domain name <1stxenicalprescription.com> (the “Domain Name”) is registered with GoDaddy.com, LLC (the “Registrar”).
The Complaint was filed with the WIPO Arbitration and Mediation Center (the “Center”) on June 19, 2013. On June 19, 2013, the Center transmitted by email to the Registrar a request for registrar verification in connection with the Domain Name. On June 19, 2013, the Registrar transmitted by email to the Center its verification response confirming that the Respondent is listed as the registrant and providing the contact details.
In accordance with the Rules, paragraphs 2(a) and 4(a), the Center formally notified the Respondent of the Complaint, and the proceedings commenced on June 28, 2013. In accordance with the Rules, paragraph 5(a), the due date for Response was July 18, 2013. The Respondent did not submit any response. Accordingly, the Center notified the Respondent’s default on July 19, 2013.
The Center appointed Gabriela Paiva Hantke as the sole panelist in this matter on August 7, 2013. The Panel finds that it was properly constituted. The Panel has submitted the Statement of Acceptance and Declaration of Impartiality and Independence, as required by the Center to ensure compliance with the Rules, paragraph 7.
The Complainant, F. Hoffmann-La Roche AG, is a company duly organized under the laws of Switzerland.
And together with its affiliate group of companies is one of the world’s leading research groups in the field of pharmaceuticals, with global operation in more than 100 countries. The expression XENICAL is protected as trademark in multiple countries. As an example the Complainant provided a copy of registration in Annex 3 to the Complaint, been the priority date for the mark XENICAL August 5, 1993.
The XENICAL mark designates an oral prescription weight lost medication used to help obese people.
The Domain Name was registered on June 7, 2013.
The Complainant is requesting the Domain Name to be transferred to it in view of the rights over trademark XENICAL. The Complainant is the owner of the trademark and has multiple registrations over the world. In the case file, Annex 3 to the Complaint, the Complainant has provided copy of one of the XENICAL trademark registration, and the priority date for the trademark is August 5, 1993.
The Complainant has provided relevant submissions regarding the three elements of the Policy.
The Respondent did not reply to the Complainant’s contentions.
The Domain Name <1stxenicalprescription.com> includes the trademark XENICAL in the middle of other alphanumeric expressions as “1 st” and “prescription”. Those alphanumeric expressions are descriptive of pharmaceutical products, and pharmaceutical products are those products for which the Complainant uses and has registered the trademark XENICAL, so in this Panel’s view the Domain Name does not sufficiently distinguished of the trademark XENICAL. In view of composition of the Domain Name, been no more than the registered trademark plus some descriptive alphanumeric expression makes the Domain Name confusingly similar to the mark XENICAL in which the Complainant has rights.
The Panel finds that the Complainant has therefore satisfied the first element of the Policy.
The Complainant has provided evidence of the ownership of the trademark XENICAL according to copy of certificate of registration in the case file (Annex 3 to the Complaint) and it has also show that its area of business if pharmaceutical and health research.
In addition, the Complainant has provided evidence in the case, that the Domain Name is used as a kind of a pharmacy on-line, according to Annex 5 and Annex 5.1. to the Complaint, and it is clear then that the Respondent alludes to the Complainant by selling pharmaceuticals on the website associated with the Domain Name, according to Annexes 6 and 7 to the Complaint. The Respondent did not show any right or legitimate interest in the Domain Name.
The Panel finds that the Complainant has therefore satisfied the second element of the Policy.
It is evident to the Panel, in view of the use of the Domain Name as a kind of on-line pharmacy and the alphanumeric descriptive words plus the trademark XENICAL that the Domain Name was registered in bad faith by the Respondent, and that the Respondent knew about the Complainant’s well-know trademark.
The Domain Name is also used in bad faith because the Respondent is using the website to attract Internet users for commercial gain, this is for commercial purpose, as can be seen in Annex 5 to the Complaint, a kind of on-line pharmacy by creating a likelihood of confusion with the Complainant’s well known trademark.
For the foregoing reasons, in accordance with paragraphs 4(i) of the Policy and 15 of the Rules, the Panel orders that the Domain Name <1stxenicalprescription.com> be transferred to the Complainant.
Gabriela Paiva Hantke
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Jason Segel, the Unlikely Hero Behind the New Muppet Movie
Author: Andrew GoldmanAndrew Goldman
Segel says he shed a tear or two when he saw Kermit read his lines for the first time.
Photo: Art Streiber; styling by Kasey Blue Wicker/artistsunited.com; grooming by Cheri Keating for Lab Series at The Wall Group
Jason Segel has a filthy sewer of a mind. What other possible conclusion could one reasonably draw from the 31-year-old's body of work? Since appearing in the lone season of NBC's cult high school series Freaks and Geeks, Segel has become closely associated with its executive producer Judd Apatow's profane juvenilia. It was Segel in Knocked Up earnestly asking Seth Rogen for his blessing to plow Rogen's unborn daughter once she reached legal age. It was Segel in the Apatow-esque bromantic comedy I Love You, Man proudly displaying his "jerk-off station" to a new friend. And, most unforgettably, it was Segel in Forgetting Sarah Marshall—which he cowrote—shooting a breakup scene totally nude, his flaccid Segelness on display for a full 73 frames. He's a dude who goes there.
So when it was announced that the actor had been anointed to breathe life into the moribund Muppet movie franchise as star and screenwriter, gasps from the peanut gallery were understandable. Consider the other players: Segel's cowriter on the project, Nicholas Stoller, wrote and directed Get Him to the Greek, in which the protagonist is forced to ferry a rock star's heroin through airline security, Papillon-style; the film's director, James Bobin, was directing HBO's Da Ali G Show when Borat led a barroom crowd in a rousing refrain of "throw the Jew down the well." These men were to be entrusted with Jim Henson's most beloved and famous creations? The Muppet faithful trembled, imagining the worst: Miss Piggy working a donkey show; Dr. Teeth and Fozzie on a meth bender. The possibilities were endless—and endlessly horrifying.
But tonight, on a chilly January evening on the set of The Muppets, Segel's junk is safely hidden inside a pair of jeans. And far from readying an infusion of raunch for the franchise, he's sounding like a Muppet Moses, delivering his felt buddies from an Egypt of crappy sequels and development hell. "I'm not saying I'm the guy who's going to swoop in and fix it," he says, "but I sure thought I'd try." He's well aware that his fitness as a guardian of Henson's legacy is in question—"People thought, 'Hey now, watch them dirty up the Muppets'"—but in truth, it's hard to imagine a more vigilant champion of the Muppets than Segel. Ever since starting work on their big-screen comeback, he's been hewing closely, almost obsessively, to what he sees as sacred Muppet orthodoxy.
Of course, because Henson died of a bacterial infection in May 1990, this divining of intent presents a quandary of its own. There's no question about who owns the trademark and tons of felt that are Kermit, Miss Piggy, Fozzie, Gonzo, and the rest of the gang; Disney acquired them from the Jim Henson Company in 2004. But one existential question remains: Do Muppets have a soul, and if so, who owns that? Is it Segel and the nostalgia-mongering arrivistes? The aging puppeteers who have dedicated their lives to Henson's felt creations? Or is it Henson's five children, who have been maintaining his legacy in the 21 years since his death? To those of us of a certain age, the Muppets—like The Lord of the Rings and Doctor Who—are that rare fictional universe so pervasively influential as to implant itself in our DNA. (And the granddaddy of the generation's touchstones, Star Wars? Even a Muppet of its own it has, in Yoda.) We naturally think the Muppets are ours. So can Kermit survive getting pulled in so many different directions?
Segel is seated at a French café table—or, rather, at a table on a French café set on the Universal lot. A few dozen feet away, Kermit, Fozzie, and Animal are being tinkered with by Muppet wranglers inside a Rolls-Royce. It's a shock at first; seeing them carted around by their fuzzy necks between takes feels a bit like watching a dead relative being dragged through the funeral home by the hair. Segel, who has said that he shed a tear or two when he first saw Kermit deliver his lines at a table read—yes, the Muppets go to table reads—has been around lifeless Muppets long enough now that he doesn't give them a second glance. Or it could just be that he's too exhausted to notice; to complete his leading role in the movie, he's had to work seven-day weeks for much of the shoot, dividing his time between the set of his CBS show How I Met Your Mother and The Muppets locations and sets here at Universal.
By Hollywood standards, it's a low-key production. Whereas The Amazing Spider-Man, Sony's summer 2012 tent pole also filming on the studio's lot, is rumored to have a $220 million budget, The Muppets will cost Disney less than $50 million. And sure, $50 million is still a considerable sum—until you realize that Sony was willing to pony up $110 million for a dusty children's franchise as patently lame as The Smurfs. "It's thought of as a movie for children," says Steve Saklad, the film's production designer, who had to scrap almost all of his elaborate set designs when he realized the budget. "You and I know that it's a much richer thing than that, but in the Disney paradigm it's basically a movie for kids and whichever adults will come with them."
Fans questioned Segel's fitness as the guardian of Beaker and the rest of the Muppets.
Photo: Art Streiber
Fixing the Muppets, for Segel, is a restorative act, bringing back the creative purity that was the hallmark of The Muppet Show's five seasons on television and the three Muppet movies Jim Henson had a hand in between 1979 and 1984: The Muppet Movie, The Great Muppet Caper, and The Muppets Take Manhattan. Segel calls them "the pantheon"; he hadn't even been born when the first one was released, but he wore out the VHS copies of the films in his Pacific Palisades childhood home. "I feel like there was a singular vision for the Muppets in the initial three," Segel says, "but it wasn't corporate. It was driven by the idea of how special the Muppets were." And after that? Well, the last time the Muppets appeared together on a big screen was in the 1999 turkey Muppets From Space—a concept that wasn't exactly driven by how special the Muppets were. With a measly $24 million budget, which it didn't even recoup (the film made less than $17 million), the failure certainly seemed a death sentence for Muppets as movie stars—and the aughts found the gang relegated to decidedly nonpantheon works like 2002's made-for-video prequel Kermit's Swamp Years and videogame shovelware. (2003's Spy Muppets: License to Croak? Really?)
Segel's career wasn't faring much better in the early 2000s. Following the cancellation of Freaks and Geeks, Apatow tried to cast him as the lead in his Fox show Undeclared and then in a prominent role in 2005's The 40 Year Old Virgin; both times, Segel was nixed by executives. Big galoots, the 6'4" and decidedly non-willowy Segel was finding, aren't exactly in demand in Hollywood. On a suggestion from Apatow, he began writing material for himself, but he also started buying soft puppets at a toy store and casting them in homemade movies. His magnum opus was a musical version of Dracula, a song from which he performed for Apatow. "You can't ever play this for anyone ever," Segel's mentor told him. "You're getting weird."
Of course, that unintentionally funny Dracula became a major set piece in his script for Forgetting Sarah Marshall, produced by Apatow and directed by fellow Apatow acolyte Nicholas Stoller—after getting dumped by his TV-star girlfriend, Segel's character copes by completing an all-puppet extravaganza. When it came time to find someone to build said puppets for the movie, Segel and Stoller ended up at the Jim Henson Company in a meeting with Lisa Henson, Jim's daughter, who has been CEO since 2004 (originally co-CEO with her brother Brian) and as such also heads up the Creature Shop, the separate Burbank outfit that makes puppets and animatronics for various productions. Though it's capable of producing state-of-the-art visual effects, the Creature Shop is perhaps best known for its soft Muppet-esque creations—Spike Jonze, seeking a low tech feel for his 2009 Where the Wild Things Are, hired the company to create his monsters.
At that initial meeting between Segel, Stoller, and the Henson Company, puppets were distributed to the attendants. "Everyone just laughed and had the puppet in their lap," Stoller says. "But Jason was playing with the puppet the whole time during this business meeting—it was looking at people, looking at him as he was talking. It was truly insane." After the meeting, Segel asked the Henson people if he could see Kermit and Miss Piggy. Unfortunately not, he was told. Although Henson's death had scuttled a deal with then-chair Michael Eisner to sell Henson's company to Disney for about $100 million, Disney finally bought the Muppets in 2004. As such, it took everything except Big Bird, Elmo, and the rest of the Sesame Street puppets, which are now owned by the Sesame Workshop.
Soon after, Disney invited Segel to meet with Kristin Burr, an executive who works primarily on smaller-budget comedies for the studio. "I want to do a Muppet movie," he told her. He couldn't understand why the company had owned the property for years already and seemed to have no big plans for it. The Muppets Studio, as the Disney group was called, had done some small-bore projects—there were a few Muppets interstitials for the Disney Channel, and Kermit got a few thankless gigs, like singing "You've Got a Friend" as a duet with a ventriloquist on America's Got Talent. But nothing major was in the works, and certainly nothing on the scale that Segel envisioned.
Afterward, Burr called Segel's agent to make sure he hadn't been pulling her leg. She quickly found out he wasn't. Segel felt like things weren't moving quickly enough; well before there was any sign that a new Muppet movie would even happen, he took his campaign public, first and most notably on Craig Ferguson's Late Late Show. "It was a dirty strategy," he admits. "But I was so hungry to make this movie that I started talking about it publicly just so someone had to say either 'We're not doing this, stop talking about it' or 'We're gonna do it.'"
As it turned out, all the project needed was a change of Disney administration. Several months after chair Dick Cook was replaced by Rich Ross, The Muppets was greenlit. Hired to direct was James Bobin, a Brit who began his career in England with Sacha Baron Cohen, helping create Borat and Ali G and then directing Da Ali G Show stateside for HBO. But it was his subsequent work as cocreator of HBO's Flight of the Conchords which showed Segel that the Muppets would be in safe hands. "The thing about the Muppets is they're kind, sweet underdogs who never say a mean thing about anyone," he says. "That's exactly what Flight of the Conchords is. You never hear Bret or Jemaine say anything bad about someone in those episodes."
Segel had found a kindred soul in Bobin. The director grew up near Oxford watching The Muppet Show every Sunday on his grandmother's TV and later became steeped in Muppet arcana while working on Conchords; during breaks, he and the show's stars would entertain themselves by pulling up old Muppet Show sketches on YouTube. His breadth of knowledge dwarfed even Segel's: Not only did he propose including lesser-known characters Marvin Suggs and his Muppaphones in a scene, but he insisted on incorporating Uncle Deadly, a reptilian-like creature who haunted the Muppet Theater in the original show.
This particular evening, Kermit is shooting a surprisingly adult-themed scene with Miss Piggy—not Sarah Marshall adult-themed, more Brontë sisters adult-themed—on the streets of Paris. According to the Muppets script, they were part of a group of animals that once starred in The Muppet Show, a variety production shot at the Muppet Theater in Hollywood. They've long since gone their separate ways. When we meet them again, decades later, Kermit has become a Hollywood recluse and Miss Piggy is the plus-size editor of Vogue Paris. The whole gang is wrangled back together by a new Muppet, Walter, who with his human stepbrother and best friend, Gary (Segel), tries to reunite the gang to save the Muppet Theater, which is threatened with destruction by unscrupulous oil baron Tex Richman (played by Chris Cooper).
In the scene being shot tonight, Kermit, in a suave turtleneck-and-overcoat look that Bobin calls "Liam Neeson Kermit," tries to convince Miss Piggy—in beret and blond blowout—to come back to LA to help the cause. At Bobin's direction, they do about 15 takes. It's painful work to watch. The two puppeteers—Steve Whitmire, who took over Kermit from Jim Henson, and Eric Jacobson, who took over Piggy and Frank Oz's other characters when Oz retired from voicing a decade ago—lie supine on metal wheeled carts, watching their performances in real time on small video monitors to optimize Muppet interplay, their backs cushioned by nothing more than a small pile of rug remnants. It looks like an incredibly uncomfortable way to make a living. Dave Goelz, the voice of Gonzo, held up his arm for such long periods that he recently needed to have his shoulder surgically reconstructed.
Despite rumblings within certain corridors of Disney that 2011 visual technology could go a long way toward updating the Muppets, Bobin and Segel were both insistent on sticking with the same tech that was used for the first three movies. "When I came onto this job," Bobin says, "I said that I'd only consider doing it if we could stay with the simple idea that Jim Henson had in 1954 of having a camera, a puppet, and a monitor. When you see Kermit onscreen, you want to be able to see this beautiful bright green felt." For Segel, it was a question of the founder's intent; in his opinion, Henson wouldn't have wanted his Muppets sullied by computer graphics. "I have nothing against CGI," he says. "I think it's a new toy that people are having a really fun time playing with. But a kid can never meet Shrek. You can touch Kermit. He'll talk to you."
It's true, he'll talk, but there are certain questions he'll have trouble answering. This becomes evident when Kermit—attached to Whitmire—arrives for an interview. True to everything anyone ever tells you about the experience, once confronted with a Muppet, there is almost no temptation to speak to the puppeteer. A disconnect arises, however, when I ask Kermit if he remembers the period in the early 2000s when European entertainment conglomerate EM.TV owned him and the other Muppets. (EM .TV bought the Jim Henson Company in 2000—only to slide to penny-stock status and sell off many of the Sesame Street Muppets before the Henson children were able to buy the company back in 2003.) For this, Whitmire breaks character and says, "It's hard for Kermit to answer, you know? The corporate stuff, it's as though it didn't happen for us." At one point, I remark on the pristine condition of the Kermit puppet, and Whitmire shrugs, seemingly exasperated. "Talking about the puppet as though he's an object ... ," he says, trailing off. I find myself, a 39-year-old man, apologizing to a 53-year-old man for disrespecting the fabric he's wearing on his hand.
In the post-Henson era, the Muppets' self-awareness has become a sticking point. In an early draft of their script, Segel and Stoller included a number of "felt" puns; the old guard told them that Muppets never acknowledge that they're made of fabric. Segel also included a bit where he made money on the street by pretending to operate Walter like a puppet. Never, he was told, would a Muppet even vaguely allude to his puppethood. Nor do Muppets age, eat, or drink (save for notable exception Cookie Monster over at PBS). Muppets, it seemed, were more ascetic and humorless than expected.
Segel might very well be the sweetest, least affected guy in Hollywood. But he's not a particularly good Muppet historian. Henson saw the Muppets for what they were—a business, and one that wasn't what it used it to be. He had walked away from The Muppet Show after five seasons, while it was still a ratings juggernaut, but wasn't shy about pulling Kermit and gang out for projects that kept the lights on at the Jim Henson Company.
Across town from the Universal lot, in the Jim Henson Company's La Brea Avenue offices, son Brian Henson narrows his eyes and ponders the question of how it feels to have a new Muppets movie in production. With his longish hair and beard, he quite resembles his father. "My dad loved the Muppets," Brian says, "but I think he started feeling like 'I'm in danger of repeating myself; I need to do something else.'"
In fact, an argument could be made that Henson didn't feel remotely sentimental about the Muppets. He made The Great Muppet Caper only because Universal insisted on getting a Muppet movie if it was going to foot the bill for the 1982 puppet-driven (and much more adult) fantasy movie The Dark Crystal, a project Henson was truly passionate about. Lisa Henson howls when she hears Segel's implication that there had been a cynical cheapening of the characters since her father's death. "Talk about cynical exercises," she says. "Is Muppet Babies not a branding thing? It was done by Jim."
Far from feeling dread about the Muppets' future, Henson felt eager to unburden himself of them—especially after NBC canceled his 1989 Muppets vehicle, The Jim Henson Hour, nine episodes in because of abysmal ratings. "He was like, 'I don't know how many times we can keep trying to make another movie or another TV series,'" Brian says. "He wanted the Muppets in the theme parks. He thought that's the way the Muppets could live forever in a meaningful way."
The pious feeling that pervaded the Muppets set, that Kermit's essential puppetness must not be acknowledged and that there are distinct Muppet rules that must be abided, likely wouldn't have been observed by Henson either. "He was disrespectful of the puppets in a very healthy way," Oz—who was literally and figuratively Bert to Henson's Ernie—said in 1994. "He was not precious about them. That always made us gag." In an episode of The Jim Henson Hour that NBC never aired (though it surfaced later on Nickelodeon), Henson seems to take great pleasure in reducing Gonzo to his component parts. "Gonzo doesn't have real hands," Henson says at one point. "They're just little bits of fur fabric that are controlled by arm wires." Gonzo interjects: "This man is deranged! Of course I have real hands!" Then footage is shown in which Gonzo's arm wires are visible. "Ah," the puppet says. "Never mind."
The need for Muppets to maintain a low tech purity can seem similarly absurd. Henson devoted the last eight years of his life to pushing the envelope on puppetry and animatronics in The Dark Crystal and Labyrinth, both of which seemed to rely more on tech wizardry than soul. "The technical stuff," Henson said not long before his death "is more interesting to me than to a lot of the audience."
He was right. Labyrinth tanked at the box office; Universal executives, after watching The Dark Crystal for the first time, left the screening room without saying a word to him. When he was thinking about Muppets, he was thinking about how to push the technology in a 3-D ride at Disneyland. "It's really amazing to think that in 1989 his twin obsessions were CG animation and 3-D stereoscopic," Lisa says. She remembers how giddy her father looked emerging from a screening of Tron in 1982, even contacting CG innovator John Whitney to learn how it was done. Not long ago, Lisa met Sean Bailey, Disney's head of production, for the first time. "If anyone tells you the Muppets can't be digital," she said to him, "it's not true." Now she says that the Jim Henson Company's PBS show Sid the Science Kid, in which the movements of human puppeteers are converted to digital animation, is a direct outgrowth of what her father did at Disneyland.
She's convinced that, used sparingly, digital fur could be a great substitute for the tactile stuff. "If Tobey Maguire can be digital in Spider-Man, why not Kermit?" she says. "It's easily achievable." Her father, she guesses, would approve, "but I imagine I'm waging some kind of virtual debate with the purists." Who knows whether there would even need to be Muppet purists if Henson were still alive. But if there were, they'd likely be disappointed. "I get excited sometimes thinking about what he would have come up with," she says. "But I know pretty much for sure that if he were alive today, he wouldn't be doing a Muppet movie."
Of course Jim Henson wouldn't be doing another Muppet movie. The $100 million or so he stood to make from selling them to Disney was great, but the freedom to let someone else handle them for a change was the real appeal. And for those of us who grew up watching the weekly vaudeville show and wearing out tapes of the pantheon, that's fine. But the change of ownership can't mean the end of the Muppets. These characters hold a rare and sacred place in our childhoods; we feel compelled to drag them into our own kids' childhoods, to inoculate our progeny against the ills of the world with a test tube of Dr. Bunsen Honeydew's Kool-Aid. Henson may have needed some space from the gang, but like us he also wanted the Muppets to live. And if he were alive, he'd have to agree that there are fates far worse than ending up in the hands of a pervert with a pure heart.
Andrew Goldman (@andrewrgoldman) is The New York Times Magazine's "Talk" interviewer.
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The F-35 Fighter Jet Is Finally Ready for Combat
Author: Jordan GolsonJordan Golson
Lance Cpl. Remington Hall/USMC
The first squadron of F-35B Lightning II fighter jets have been declared operational, Reuters reports ahead of an expected official announcement later today.
It's a big moment for the long-delayed, over-budget F-35, perhaps the most expensive weapon ever developed. The F-35B model is a short takeoff and vertical landing (STOVL) variant of the aircraft, using fancy hardware to aim engine thrust down, allowing the plane to take off and land at much slower airspeeds or even land vertically, helicopter-style.
The first squadron of F-35s, part of the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing out of Yuma, Arizona, could be deployed to Japan as soon as January 2017. But, with the planes now deemed combat-ready, they could be sent to any conflict in the world.
The Marines plan to eventually acquire a total of 420 F-35B and C class (carrier-equipped) jets, along with hundreds more by the Air Force and Navy. The planes have been in the works for a decade-and-a-half—at least now we have something to show for our billions and billions and billions of dollars.
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Paolo Marchetti
Paolo Marchetti is a freelance photojournalist, based in Italy. He has been working for about 13 years in the cinematographic and commercial industry, and began in the meantime his photographic studies with particular attention to political and anthropological issues.
He has told stories in Brazil, Central America, Cuba, eastern Europe, India, United States, Lebanon, Haiti, China, central Africa, Colombia, Thailand, and more.
Marchetti publishes his works in Italian weekly magazines such as L'Espresso (for which he is a regular contributor), Vanity Fair, Marie Claire, 6MOIS, Sunday Times, British Journal of Photojournalism, The Guardian, Geo, Spiegel, Newsweek, CNN, International New York Times, International Herald Tribune, Time and many others.
In the last years, Marchetti has received several awards and grants such as The International Photography Award twice, the Grand Prix de Paris seven times, short listed at Louis Valtuena Award, four times the NPPA - Best of Photojournalism, four times PDN’s Award, Sony WPO Award, the Getty Images Editorial Photography 2012, finalist at Leica Oskar Barnack Award 2013, winner of four awards at the POY - Picture of the Year. He has also been awarded in Perpignan with the ANI Pix-Palace Award 2013, won the Leica Photographer Award 2013, the Moscow Photo Award, and was a finalist at Lens Culture. In 2015, Marchetti won a World Press Photo award in the nature category with the first chapter of his new long-term project on intensive breeding farms all around the world, a project for telling the sacrifice hidden behind the ruthless values of the high-fashion market and its trend dominated by remorseless standards of beauty.
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World's Top Most
Top & Most Around The World
Top 10 Richest Zambian Footballers
by Worlds Top Most
Zambia has some talented fellows when it comes to football. The football scene is celebrated and some of the most celebrated sportsmen come from Zambia. One name that has brought a lot of pride to Zambia in the field of football is Kalusha Bwalya who was once nominated for the 1996 Fifa World player of the year award. Joseph Musonda has also managed to wave the flag of Zambia up high by being a top achiever internationally in the game most loved all around the world. Here are the top 10 richest Zambian footballers in 2018 who are finest soccer players as well.
10. Joseph Musonda
The fit lad plays for the Nkana FC team in Zambia. He is a secure defender and he has been exceptional in carrying the national team of Zambia to success. Fifa describe Joseph Mukonda as the most capped Zambian player and the father figure in the team because of his great leadership skills and his ability to mentor his team. He is said to earn an average of 60,000$ annually.
9. Hichani Himoonde
Hichani Himoonde plays for the Zambian national team as well as Power Dynamos FC. He plays in the positon of defender. He was born in Ndola in Zambia and he has been able to rise through the ranks by executing his talent on the field in a consistent and disciplined way. He roughly takes home $84000 every year.
8. Kennedy Mweene
This is the man with the magic hands. He plays for a South African team known as Mamelodi Sundowns FC. On many occasions he has lead the national team of Zambia. He has been described as one of the world’s best footballers because of his ability to secure the goalposts. He is very good with penalty catching and as a result he was awarded the PSL Goalkeeper of the Season award. He bags $120,000 every year.
7. Felix Katongo
This football star plays for an Egyptian premier league known as Al Ittihad. He plays as the midfielder in his team. He has played for teams in countries such as France, Libya, South Africa, Angola nor forgetting his home country Zambia. He is currently working on a three year contact with the Egyptian team. He reportedly earns $180,000 annually.
6. Nathan Sinkala
This talented sportsman is an international footballer. He currently plays for a Congolese team known as TP Mazembe in DRC Congo. He was among the 23 man squad that played for the 2013 Africa cup of nations. He has also played for Swiss team Grasshopper-club Zurich as well as the Green Buffaloes in Zambia. He earns $180,000 every year.
5. Rainford Kalaba
Rainford Kabala is a professional soccer player who currently plays for Congolese club TP Mazembe. The Zambian superstar has played in numerous continental and international football matches and his prowess has made him an invaluable personality in the Zambian football field. He earns a remarkable $240,000 every year.
4. Stoppila Sunzu
This superstar is responsible for scoring the winning penalty shot during the 2012 Africa Cup of nations match against the Ivory Coast national team. He also goes by the name Stophira Sunzu. He has played for teams all across the country. He has also represented his country in important tournaments such as the Under 20 world cup tournament in the year 2007. The player takes home $270,000 every year.
3. Emmanuel Mayuka
Born in November 1990, this young man has been able to do wonders in the world of football because of his exemplary talent. He plays in the capacity of striker. He has played for teams such as FC Metz which is a French team in France and Southampton before settling for Zamalek which is an Egyptian team where he was offered and 3 year deal. He earns an average of $300,000 per annum.
2. Isaac Chansa
He also goes by the nick name “Zife.” He has done exceptionally well in football and has managed to play for South African team Orlando Pirates and another Swedish team known as Helsingborgs before moving to his current team Shillong Lajong FC in India. He is said to earn an approximate of $360,000 every year.
1. Christopher Katongo
Christopher Katongo is arguably Zambia’s highest paid footballer. He plays for Zambian premier league team Green Buffaloes as the striker. Noteworthy is that he has been named by BBC as the African Footballer of the year in 2012. The player portrays a high level of discipline probably because he has been a member of the Zambian Army. This talented footballer takes home an impressive $458,000 per year.
These above are the Richest Zambian Footballers as of 2018. These are the golden boys of Zambia in the football field. They earn remarkably well as they do play well too. Zambian football has been progressive over the years and most years they have managed to qualify for the Africa cup of Nations.
Joakim daka namuswa says:
It only takes the intrest,not taking sport as source of income.
Eto’o and Drogba from Zambia?
WEATHER B says:
their networth were not suppose to be rated in dollars,they were suppose to rate them in kwacha.
joe nasilele says:
Comment*guyz these are real zambians indeed!
Maibwe C says:
Does It Mean That These People Have Failled To Rate Zambian Footballers?
mvula moses says:
All top ten given are are not Zambia
Davies says:
they are not zambian
dejon says:
Actually this is bulshit.
Comment*ar this names from zambia or what ?
no there not zambians
Musenge Dereck says:
No Zambian is among this top 10 list.
Gilges Musumali says:
I am not a football fan,but there is a football discussion on our National TV right now, and iut got me interested in their discussion, and went online. Is it true that the names and people published on this site as footballers of Zambia, a true report? I can cite Eto’o and Drogba as not being from Zambia. Please, clarify the report.
Leave a Reply to Gilges Musumali Cancel reply
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Home / Interviews / Walter Coffey Interview – The Reconstruction Years Book
Walter Coffey Interview – The Reconstruction Years Book
Walter Coffey is an author who has published four works of fiction and two works of non-fiction. He was born in Joliet, Illinois and graduated from Joliet Junior College and Loyola University of Chicago. The Reconstruction Years, a non-fiction book about the years following the Civil War, is his latest work.
He has won the following awards for his various works:
The Reconstruction Years:
2014 Book of the Year Finalist from ForeWord Reviews’ INDIEFAB
The Civil War Months:
Gold Medalist in Historical Fiction from ReadersFavorite.com
Book of the Year Finalist from ForeWord Reviews
Book of the Year Finalist from Indie Excellence
The Liberty Legion:
Honorable Mention for 2004 Book of the Year in Historical Fiction from ForeWord Magazine
Redemption in the Field:
Finalist for 2005 Book of the Year in Historical Fiction from ForeWord Magazine
What inspired you to start writing?
I started out drawing pictures as a child, but I was never a very good artist, so then I started putting words to the pictures. As I slowly realized that I could write much better than I could draw, I got rid of the pictures and just stuck with the words. I started writing short stories in the 3rd grade and have been writing ever since.
What did you like to read when you were a boy?
I liked science-fiction. Also, having grown up during the Cold War, I read anything that had to do with the end of the world. In my teen years I became more fascinated with literature. Only when I went to college did reading about the Civil War become my passion.
What is the greatest challenge in writing a book?
Actually starting the work! For me, sometimes I tend to think about an idea too much and consequently it never gets to the page. I have to force myself to sit down in front of my computer and actually type what comes to mind. To me, this is the hardest part. Editing is the easiest part; I enjoy editing my work once it’s finally written down in a first draft.
How much research do you do before writing the book?
It depends on the work. For instance, my first four novels are set during the Civil War, and after I work out the storyline, plot, and characters, I then set about researching everything necessary to make these aspects of the novel historically accurate.
The research was much more extensive for my two non-fiction books. The Civil War Months is a compilation of all my research done for all my novels as well as everything I had read about the war since I started studying it (nearly 25 years). The Reconstruction Years includes parts of research I had already done, plus an additional three years of research through books, archives, newspapers, and first-hand accounts.
What motivated you to write the book “The Reconstruction Years”?
When I finished The Civil War Months, I realized that the story of this era was not over. There are thousands of books about the war itself, but there are relatively few about the tragic years after the war. This was the story I wanted to tell; I wanted to make this a companion to the first book, and in this way tell the story of the war and its aftermath in total.
Can you tell us more about your latest book “The Reconstruction Years”?
The Reconstruction Years illustrates the years following the Civil War in which the South was re-assimilated into the United States. The book reveals that this re-assimilation took much longer and produced much more tragedy than anyone had anticipated.
The book shows some of the unintended and tragic consequences that were produced by excessive government intervention into people’s daily and personal lives. It also shows the beginning of America’s transformation from the constitutional republic it had been before the war into the centralized world power that it is today.
Some of the key events that shaped both the Reconstruction era and subsequent American history are explored, including:
The permanent shift in the American economy from an agricultural to an industrial base
The subjugation of former Confederates by military forces, followed by the subjugation of former slaves by Jim Crow laws
The new alliance between business and government, which introduced the dubious economic system that flourishes in America today
The rise of organized labor, women’s suffrage, and other special interest groups seeking recognition for the first time
The political intrigues and scandals that undermined the people’s trust in government
The westward expansion that encroached on the land of Native Americans and virtually ended their way of life
How did you come up with the idea of writing historical genre book?
I started out by writing fiction, and then when my novels were completed, I realized that I had hundreds of pages of research for them. I wanted to turn them into a non-fiction account of the Civil War, but since there are already thousands of those types of works available, I wanted to do something unique. That’s how I came up with The Civil War Months, in which each month is a chapter in the book and the story is told chronologically but generally enough to appeal to a casual reader, not just history buffs.
I did the same format for The Reconstruction Years, in which each of the 12 post-war years is a chapter in the book, and the events of each year chronicled in those chapters.
Who are your favourite authors?
As I child, I read H.G. Wells, and I tried emulating him with short stories centered around visitors from outer space, or the future. As I got older, George Orwell became a big influence, and then in my teen years, I started appreciating literary types such as F. Scott Fitzgerald, Frank Norris, and Upton Sinclair.
As I began studying the Civil War, my favorite authors became James McPherson, David McCulloch, and Jay Winik, among others, for non-fiction. Fiction writers would include authors like John Jakes and Owen Parry.
How much time do you dedicate for writing on a daily basis?
Since the sales from my books don’t pay the bills yet, I work a full-time job in addition to writing. Even so, on weekdays I generally dedicate three or four hours a night after work to researching and writing my blog (CivilWarMonths.com). I usually try writing anywhere from six to eight hours on Saturdays and Sundays.
What words of wisdom would you like to give to aspiring writers?
I would say never stop trying to learn your craft. There are always new ways to learn, new and innovative ways to write, and new ways to improve upon yourself. Writing is a process, and it’s very important to be familiar and comfortable with all aspects of the process to be a success. And the most important thing is to always remain self-motivated because most writers don’t have a boss to force them to write, which can be a very good thing!
You can buy his book:
Walter Coffey 2016-08-05
About Nikhil Narkhede
He likes to read inspirational books. He is a Professional Blogger, Entrepreneur and a power networker. By education he is a Computer Engineer and by profession he is an Online Marketer.
@niktalk
Previous Niekita Tak Interview – If I Had A Last Wish Book
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Grant Gillespie is currently writing a novel, Forsaking All Others, a ghost story set just ...
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Trump-Kim summit: What North Korean defectors think will happen
CNN's Paula Hancocks speaks to three North Korean defectors and asks their opinions on North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's upcoming summit with President Donald Trump.
Posted By: CNN
Arguably no group is more surprised by the rapidly changing image of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un than the 30,000 people who successfully escaped his country for a new life in the south.
As Kim prepares for his second summit with US President Donald Trump, these defectors provide a unique insight into life in Pyongyang.
What do they think of Kim's standing in the world? Has their view of him been affected by recent events? And will he agree to denuclearization for the sake of economic benefits?
Quotes have been slightly edited for clarity and condensed
What about human rights?
Everything is ridiculous. What's happening here is Kim Jong Un and his younger sister became like top celebrities.
I mean these are dictators. So people seem to have forgot about what he's done to his own people.
And the big problem is ever since he (Kim) visited Panmunjom (the Joint Security Area between North and South Korea) nobody wants to talk about human rights. It's so absurd.
Human rights vocabulary had disappeared long ago after the new government (in South Korea). But it seems even in the US, it is kind of disappearing.
When President Trump met us, it was last year.
The focus was human rights issues. So during 50 minutes he only talked about North Korean human rights issues. I was so grateful for that. He was the only leader in the world who focused on the human rights issue. All the world was watching him but during the Singapore summit, I never heard him mention human rights.
What about denuclearization?
What I'm really concerned about is in the last few months ... the issue of a nuclear weapons list is slightly disappearing from the American's agenda. President Trump is only talking about the stop of nuclear provocations by Kim Jong Un or the stopping of any nuclear missile launches.
I think if Trump goes on that kind of partial nuclear disarmament process instead of denuclearization process, there is no hope for South Korea or America to reach the final denuclearization of North Korea. I'd like to advise President Trump to stay on denuclearization.
If he fails in nuclear disarmament process with Kim Jong Un and agrees to something like partially destroying North Korea's nuclear capability while allowing North Korea to keep its capability to attack with nuclear weapons, then I think North Korea would be easily accepted as a nuclear state in this region.
I don't trust Kim Jong Un, and it is wishful thinking that Kim Jong Un would abandon his nuclear program. Kim Jong Un will never give up his nuclear program.
What about the economy?
North Korea ambitiously declared that it'll develop the economy, but the system of monopoly which the country owns and controls everything will not be able to bring economic development.
We learned the lesson from Russia and China when they opened their labor markets and lifted travel bans, the economic development was realized.
It's the same for Mongolia. When it reformed and opened the market, people voluntarily went abroad and sent money back home to their families.
North Korea sends out labor workers abroad but the regime takes about 80% of the income. The regime cannot efficiently allocate the money as government officials are corrupt. If regular North Koreans can keep more money, most of it will end up helping the domestic economy.
As far as I know, North Koreans are getting everything they need from the jangmadang (local markets in North Korea).
The markets are dominating the North Korean economy but there is no system that protects assets of these players. Their property can be seized any time for any reasons by the regime. Even though the markets are run based on the demand and supply, it is still functions at the individual level.
For example, a person who prints out calendars gets orders and sells them, but production of those calendars in government-owned factories is not decided by demand.
That is why I don't think Kim Jong Un's economic policy cannot succeed without opening its labor market and conducting reform measures.
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Wandsworth projects awarded more than £120k by BBC Children in Need
BBC Children in Need grants Wandsworth projects new funding
Pudsey the Bear
New grants totalling more than £120,000 have been awarded to two projects in Wandsworth which work with disadvantaged children and young people in the borough.
The new funding will help support initiative to provide the services as the investment from BBC Children in Need has now eclipsed £774,000.
It’s the first allocation of funding for this year, with additional grants going to be awarded to project across the UK throughout 2019.
Oily Cart Tours, which is a series of multi-sensory theatre productions delivered to special schools and arts venues, has received a three-year grant of £92,324.
The funding will “help make a positive difference to the lives of children, young people and their families who can be excluded from cultural activity because of the barriers they face through disability.”
And Carney’s Community, receiving a three-year grant of £35,432 to provide an expanding range of activities.
These include business development counselling, fitness sessions to help young people gain self-confidence and mentoring.
It will enable resources to be provided for young people up to the age of 25 and their families in the community, including organised educational and physical programmes.
The grants total to £127,756 over respective three-year periods.
George Turner, chief executive at Carney’s Community, said: “This is our first funding from BBC Children in Need – new funding will allow us to continue to provide mentoring for young people and encourage them to take part in fitness and develop themselves.
“Funding will help to provide a place for young people to get away from a negative lifestyle, gain skills and learn discipline and self-respect.”
Clare Cannock, regional head of south at BBC Children in Need, said: “The public’s generosity towards BBC Children in Need never ceases to amaze me.
“The money donated means we can go on to fund projects that support children and young people.
“We want organisations in the local area that support children and young people to reach out to us about funding opportunities and tell us about new projects that will make a difference to the community.”
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Jon Moxley On If AEW Blocked Him From NJPW G1 Show In Dallas
By Erich Pilcher | July 11, 2019
Jon Moxley has been a busy man since he left WWE in April. He has debuted for AEW, won the IWGP United States title in his first match for NJPW and will be a participant in the G1 Climax tournament. Moxley sat down with the Store Horseman and discussed how his NJPW deal came about.
"That was one of the first things on my bucket list sort of thing," Moxley said. "I have been over there a bunch of times, but like one real little run, however big or small with one of the traditional Japanese companies. I have always been a fan of Japanese wrestling; I had the VHS tapes back in the day. It was just one of those got to scratch that off the list things. Luckily New Japan just called me, I was already looking that way, but I didn't have to try and get a number or anything, they just called me. I was like, 'Sweet, let's do it, put me on a plane babe, let's go.'
Last weekend, NJPW hosted the first night of the G1 Climax in Dallas. Even though his block was not competing in tournament matches, some fans were surprised that he wasn't on the card, especially since Moxley is the U.S. Champion. There were reports that AEW had blocked him from competing on the show, however Moxley claims that he had a prior engagement.
"I wasn't booked on that to begin with," Moxley stated. "That is nothing. I was previously engaged when this happened. So, I will start on July 13th."
With Moxley having much more freedom over his career, he can have dream matches with people that it was once thought he would never share a ring with. Moxley noted that those dream matches will happen in time.
"Every possible opponent I could want is on the table," Moxley exclaimed. "It's all going to happen, so I do not need to be in a rush."
If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit the Store Horseman with an h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.
WWE SummerSlam Plans Reportedly Subject To Change Due To Paul Heyman And Eric Bischoff
Daniel Cormier Talks With Triple H About Coming To WWE To Fight Brock Lesnar
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بخش 85
کتاب: چگونه ذهنیت خود را تغییر دهید / فصل 85
چگونه ذهنیت خود را تغییر دهید
104 فصل
1. بخش 01
10. بخش 10
100. بخش 100
زمان مطالعه 8 دقیقه
CHAPTER SIX THE TRIP TREATMENT Psychedelics in Psychotherapy One: Dying
AT NEW YORK UNIVERSITY, psilocybin trips take place in a treatment room carefully decorated to look more like a cozy den than a hospital suite. The effect almost works, but not entirely, for the stainless steel and plastic fittings of modern medicine peek through the domestic scrim here and there, chilly reminders that the room you are tripping in is still in the belly of a big city hospital complex.
Against one wall is a comfortable couch long enough for a patient to stretch out on during a session. An abstract painting—or is it a cubist landscape?—hangs on the opposite wall, and on the bookshelves large-format books about art and mythology share space with native craft items and spiritual knickknacks—a large glazed ceramic mushroom, a Buddha, a crystal. This could be the apartment of a well-traveled shrink of a certain age, one with an interest in Eastern religions and the art of what used to be called primitive cultures. Yet the illusion crumbles as soon as you lift your gaze to the ceiling, where the tracks that would ordinarily support the curtains dividing one hospital bed from another traverse the white acoustic tiles. And then there is the supersized bathroom, ablaze with fluorescent light and outfitted with the requisite grab bars and pedals.
It was here in this room that I first heard the story of Patrick Mettes, a volunteer in NYU’s psilocybin cancer trial who, in the course of a turbulent six-hour psilocybin journey on the couch where I now sat, had a life-changing—or perhaps I should say death-changing—experience. I had come to interview Tony Bossis, the palliative care psychologist who guided Mettes that day, and his colleague Stephen Ross, the Bellevue psychiatrist who directed the trial, which sought to determine whether a single high dose of psilocybin could alleviate the anxiety and depression that often follow a life-threatening cancer diagnosis.
While Bossis, hirsute and bearish, looks the part of a fifty-something Manhattan shrink with an interest in alternative therapies, Ross, who is in his forties, comes across as more of a straight arrow; neatly trimmed in a suit and tie, he could pass for a Wall Street banker. A bookish teenager growing up in L.A., Ross says he had no personal experience of psychedelics and knew next to nothing about them before a colleague happened to mention that LSD had been used successfully to treat alcoholics in the 1950s and 1960s. This being his psychiatric specialty, Ross did some research and was astonished to discover a “completely buried body of knowledge.” By the 1990s, when he began his residency in psychiatry at Columbia and the New York State Psychiatric Institute, the history of psychedelic therapy had been erased from the field, never to be mentioned.
The trial at NYU, along with a sister study conducted in Roland Griffiths’s lab at Johns Hopkins, represents one of a handful of efforts to pick up the thread of inquiry that got dropped in the 1970s when sanctioned psychedelic therapy ended. While the NYU and Hopkins trials are assessing the potential of psychedelics to help the dying, other trials now under way are exploring the possibility that psychedelics (usually psilocybin rather than LSD, because, as Ross explained, it “carries none of the political baggage of those three letters”) could be used to lift depression and break addictions—to alcohol, cocaine, and tobacco.
None of this work is exactly new: to delve into the history of clinical research with psychedelics is to realize that most of this ground has already been tilled. Charles Grob, the UCLA psychiatrist whose 2011 pilot study of psilocybin for cancer anxiety cleared the path for the NYU and Hopkins trials, acknowledges that “in a lot of ways we are simply picking up the torch from earlier generations of researchers who had to put it down because of cultural pressures.” But if psychedelics are ever to find acceptance in modern medicine, all this buried knowledge will need to be excavated and the experiments that produced it reprised according to the prevailing scientific standards.
Yet even as psychedelic therapies are being tested by modern science, the very strangeness of these molecules and their actions upon the mind is at the same time testing whether Western medicine can deal with the implicit challenges they pose. To cite one obvious example, conventional drug trials of psychedelics are difficult if not impossible to blind: most participants can tell whether they’ve received psilocybin or a placebo, and so can their guides. Also, in testing these drugs, how can researchers hope to tease out the chemical’s effect from the critical influence of set and setting? Western science and modern drug testing depend on the ability to isolate a single variable, but it isn’t clear that the effects of a psychedelic drug can ever be isolated, whether from the context in which it is administered, the presence of the therapists involved, or the volunteer’s expectations. Any of these factors can muddy the waters of causality. And how is Western medicine to evaluate a psychiatric drug that appears to work not by means of any strictly pharmacological effect but by administering a certain kind of experience in the minds of the people who take it?
Add to this the fact that the kind of experience these drugs sponsor often goes under the heading of “spiritual,” and you have, with psychedelic therapy, a very large pill for modern medicine to swallow. Charles Grob well appreciates the challenge but is also refreshingly unapologetic about it: he describes psychedelic therapy as a form of “applied mysticism.” This is surely an odd phrase to hear on the lips of a scientist, and to many ears it sounds dangerously unscientific.
“For me that is not a medical concept,” Franz Vollenweider, the pioneering psychedelic researcher, told Science magazine, when asked to comment on the role of mysticism in psychedelic therapy. “It’s more like an interesting shamanic concept.” But other researchers working on psychedelics don’t run from the idea that elements of shamanism might have a role to play in psychedelic therapy—as indeed it has probably done for several thousand years before there was such a thing as science. “If we are to develop optimal research designs for evaluating the therapeutic utility of hallucinogens,” Grob has written, “it will not be sufficient to adhere to strict standards of scientific methodology alone. We must also pay heed to the examples provided us by such successful applications of the shamanic paradigm.” Under that paradigm, the shaman/therapist carefully orchestrates “extrapharmacological variables” such as set and setting in order to put the “hyper-suggestible properties” of these medicines to best use. This is precisely where psychedelic therapy seems to be operating: on a frontier between spirituality and science that is as provocative as it is uncomfortable.
Yet the new research into psychedelics comes along at a time when mental health treatment in this country is so “broken”—to use the word of Tom Insel, who until 2015 was director of the National Institute of Mental Health—that the field’s willingness to entertain radical new approaches is perhaps greater than it has been in a generation. The pharmacological toolbox for treating depression—which afflicts nearly a tenth of all Americans and, worldwide, is the leading cause of disability—has little in it today, with antidepressants losing their effectiveness* and the pipeline for new psychiatric drugs drying up. Pharmaceutical companies are no longer investing in the development of so-called CNS drugs—medicines targeted at the central nervous system. The mental health system reaches only a fraction of the people suffering from mental disorders, most of whom are discouraged from seeking treatment by its cost, social stigma, or ineffectiveness. There are almost forty-three thousand suicides every year in America (more than the number of deaths from either breast cancer or auto accidents), yet only about half of the people who take their lives have ever received mental health treatment. “Broken” does not seem too harsh a characterization of such a system.
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After a lovestruck summer, Ariana Grande and Pete Davidson’s relationship ended as abruptly as it started. The two called off their engagement this week and have no plans to reunite. Grande, 25, began dating the little-known Saturday Night Live performer in May, shortly after breaking up with fellow musician Mac Miller. “I’ll marry you tomorrow,” Davidson, 24, says he told Grande upon meeting her, and soon she was photographed wearing a $93,000 engagement ring. The couple got joint tattoos to celebrate their love. Yet Miller’s recent death from a drug overdose “devastated” Grande, reports the New York Post, and when she felt Davidson wasn’t there for her, it led to their breakup.
Melania Trump has finally revealed why she wore a jacket with giant letters declaring, “I really don’t care, do u?” In June, the first lady caused a stir when she wore the jacket as she headed off to visit migrant kids in a shelter in Texas amid the controversy over child separations at the border; her aides insisted that the jacket had “no hidden message.” But in an interview with ABC News last week, Trump said that her inflammatory fashion statement was directed at “the left-wing media who are criticizing me. I want to show them that I don’t care.” She called herself “the most bullied person in the world.” Addressing for the first time President Trump’s alleged affairs with a porn star and a Playboy model, the first lady said the reports are “not a concern and focus of mine.” Friction between the first couple has been the subject of incessant rumors, but Trump said of their relationship, “We are fine.”
Selena Gomez entered a mental health facility last week after suffering an emotional breakdown, People reports. The 26-year-old pop star received a kidney transplant in September 2017 and was hospitalized twice recently over complications from lupus. Health-related stress has been compounded by the engagement of ex-boyfriend Justin Bieber, sources told the New York Post. Gomez’s time in treatment will be “open ended,” sources said, and will include wellness programs in addition to dialectical behavior therapy, an intense treatment for suicidal, self-destructive thinking and behavior. ■
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Harry Kane Named England’s 2018 World Cup Captain
admin May 22, 2018 Headlines, Soccer No Comments on Harry Kane Named England’s 2018 World Cup Captain
On Tuesday, the Football Association announced that Harry Kane will be England’s captain at the World Cup in Russia.
“Harry has some outstanding personal qualities,” Gareth Southgate said. “He is a meticulous professional and one of the most important things for a captain is that they set the standard every day.
“He has belief and high standards and it is a great message for the team to have a captain who has shown that it is possible to be one of the best in the world over a consistent period of time and that has been his drive.
“My feeling is that over the last 18 months in the camps that he’s been with us he has shown that he has got the desire to take that into a team environment and he recognises the importance of bringing others with him.”
Kane, who has scored 12 goals from 23 appearances, first captained England during last summer’s World Cup qualifier in Scotland before going on to wear the armband on a further three occasions.
He was picked ahead of Jordan Henderson and Eric Dier, both of whom have captained England under Southgate. Asked about his long-term prospects of keeping the captaincy, Kane replied:
“I have said before I would love to be England captain [on a permanent basis]. We have got leaders in the team and it is just the case that I am wearing the armband. I still play the same way. I still talk, I still shout in the same way.”
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A British School for Automotive Journalists
Mike Duff
This article first appeared in Car and Driver in September 2011 and is reproduced by kind permission of the publisher, Hearst Communications, Inc.
School of Engine Knocks: A university in England churns out the next generation of automotive journalists.
For those who love cars, a career in automotive journalism promises access to the latest and greatest vehicles on the market, the opportunity to meet the people who design and engineer them, and heaping mounds of chilled shrimp. Who wouldn’t want to be a car journalist? Not surprisingly, we’re often asked, “How do I get your job?”
Of course, we’re professionally bound to point out that the reality can be considerably less glamorous. There are long hours, endless weeks of suitcase living, and the occasional night spent in a drafty castle.
Ah, who are we kidding? It’s great. And enough people see the appeal of a life spent writing about cars that a school in England actually offers a degree in the subject. Since 2004, Coventry University has offered a one-year M.A. program in automotive journalism, with about 40 students—including seven in the current crop—having taken the course. Intrigued by the prospect of a room full of wannabe Clarksons and Altermans [Guys, let’s up Duff’s rate—EA], we decided to attend a class to find out more.
Uncomfortable chairs, the aroma of floor polish, and graffiti carved into desks by generations of bored students—the college classroom hasn’t changed much in the 15 years since I last had to pay attention to a projection screen. But this lesson isn’t like any of the dozens I snoozed through. Today’s subject is the magazine production process, complete with an elaborate flowchart.
The man at the front of the class is Andrew Noakes, who combines the careers of car writer and lead lecturer. Chatting before the students arrive, he’s friendly and personable, but once installed behind the lectern, he projects a professorial vibe. “What’s copy tasting?” he asks the class. “Come on, somebody must remember.” I avoid eye contact, not wanting to be called upon to admit that, despite my decade at the blunt end of motoring journalism, I don’t know.
The students seem brighter and more focused than I remember myself being in college. We’ve got six from this year’s class here this morning—the seventh is on assignment—and all are conscious, don’t appear hungover, and are sitting upright and taking notes. But then, they are paying a considerable sum to be here. Tuition fees for the one-year program cost students from the EU about $7900; others pay $15,700. On top of that, you’d have to budget at least another $10,000 for living expenses.
For their investment, the students get educated on the way the industry works, media law, and how to spot the honeyed lies auto-company public-relations agents will tell them. They also get practical experience by putting together their own automotive magazine and, thanks to close connections with a U.K. publisher, several weeks of experience working on various titles. The course’s co-founder, Steve Cropley, is editor-in-chief of Autocar magazine and takes a close interest. According to Noakes, more than half of the former students are now working on car-related magazines or websites.
Talking after the lesson, it’s clear the students are confident. Do they think the course is worth the time and money?
“Absolutely,” says Jonathan Tan, who has come from Singapore to attend. “It’s a hugely competitive industry, and you have to stand out. This gives us the edge over lots of other aspiring journalists.”
“I know my writing has improved immeasurably since I’ve been here,” says James Richardson, a former historian, “and I was always told I was quite a good writer.”
“All of us want to do something with cars,” says Tim Kendall, who spent six years as a corporate lawyer before deciding to follow his dream. “We’d do whatever it takes to get into the automotive industry.”
They’re bright, cocky, and enthusiastic and probably even cheaper than I am, too. Damn.
Our cars: Jaguar XJS
Alasdair Campbell
Warm-up engine fault is an irritation in Ally's Jaguar XJS
Like a maturing cask of Talisker, the 21 year old XJS has had to weather the elements of a highland winter, waiting for the day it can roll again. The garage in which it is normally parked is packed full of building materials so, for the first time in over ten years, it has spent the wet and wild months out in the open.
In the summer months of 2014 it served as my daily driver and had a minor engine tweak in August to resolve an oil leak. Its last outing was a 2000 mile round trip to Birmingham in November for the Classic Car Show, where it was pressed into service, giving passenger rides for charity.
The 4.0 litre straight six is running smoother than ever, with the exception of a curious little fault which even a Jaguar dealership, in Coventry, couldn’t diagnose.
The journey down to Birmingham and back was an effortless waft, once the engine anomaly had gone through its little ritual
About ten minutes into every journey there is a subtle dip in performance – enough to cut the engine if the car is idling – lasting for about two or three seconds. This slight hesitation is followed by a noticeable kick as performance returns to normal and the Engine Management warning light illuminates.
From that point on, the Jag runs beautifully. Even the journey down to Birmingham and back was an effortless waft, once the engine anomaly had gone through its little ritual. A small strip of black insulation tape on the dashboard hides the bright orange warning light which remains illuminated until the engine is turned off.
Something tells me the fault lies with the automatic ‘choke’ system but, these days, no one can do anything without the right diagnostic equipment.
I had hoped 2015 would be all about the paintwork as some scuffs and paint chips – on the car when I bought it – are due some attention. But this engine fault might prove to be more troublesome and, to me, is more important.
At 62,300 miles, the XJS is still in fine fettle but I suspect it’ll not get as much use in 2015 as I’d like. Hopefully, I’ll find some indoor storage for it by the end of the year as the all-steel grand tourer will not take kindly to another highland winter.
My first experience of a Formula 1 race
James RIchardson
Strange contrasts, and some great racing, at the Chinese GP
Shanghai Despite being a Formula One fanatic for as long as I can remember, I have never actually got around to going to see a race. So I arrive in China, just three hours travelling away from the Shanghai Circuit; I think “Why not?”.
The cab ride from ZUMC to Hangzhou train station was, let’s say ‘eventful’; driving on the pavement, weaving through seemingly impossibly tight gaps, taking a sharp left turn across three lanes of moving traffic; it was a mixture between a roller coaster and some sort of religious experience. Thankfully we arrived at Hangzhou station (mostly) unscathed, sweating profusely and thanking our lucky stars that we arrived safely.
We set off on the Bullet Train towards Shanghai, reaching speeds of around 220 mph (352 km/h), faster than any of the Formula One drivers would manage that day. Taking a cab from Shanghai to the circuit, Sean and I arrived at one of the entrances to this enormous complex and attempted to find a ticket office. A long time, several offers of various dubious goods and what seemed like many miles later, we located what was presumably the sole ticket office. Yes, one office for a Grand Prix with a capacity of at least 100,000. By this time we were thirsty, our feet were sore and we were desperately in need of a nice sit down so we discovered our seats and settled down to watch the race.
The noise, oh the noise it was awe inspiring; even when taking the cars slowly to the grid the engines screamed, the gear changes banged; everything reverberating around the enormous concrete arena in which we were seated. The race started, Sebastian Vettel immediately lost two places to the British drivers from McLaren, we screamed, we roared and the race was on. As the pack expanded, the gaps between the all encompassing noise lessened until there was no gap in between the screaming engines and the seemingly exploding gear changes and the visceral noise was ceaseless.
It was a fascinating race, we were watching from the main overtaking spot and we saw some spine-tingling action, many daring overtakes and an awful lot of close racing ensued. At one point Vitaly Petrov tried to overtake two cars at the same time, in doing so, he locked both his front brakes and slid straight on, immediately losing the two places he had won so daringly but the action was well appreciated by the crowd.
It was not only racecraft that made this such an interesting race to watch but also the tactical battles between the two main protagonists, McLaren and Red Bull meant that the race was tense and full of intrigue as well. Eventually, the three stop strategy of the McLarens prevailed against the two stopping Red Bulls (although Mark Webber did exceptionally well to climb from 18th on the grid to finish third.
And so, a Brit won the first ever Grand Prix I have been to see and it just happened to be in China, a country of juxtapositions: high-tech buildings being constructed using bamboo scaffolding, expensive electronics being transported by overloaded scooter; the way this country combines and contrasts the old and new is wonderful and also a little frightening. I have mentioned in a previous post on this blog that the scale of this country is simply overwhelming and this adventure was no exception. It does not look a long way to Shanghai from Hangzhou but it is still a three hour journey encompassing taxi, train and metro to make our way to and from the circuit.
It was a visceral experience, full of noise, excitement and action. Who said Formula 1 was boring?
Show Me The Money: Frosty Reception at Bentley Hangzhou
Daljinder 'DJ' Nagra
Our reporter's visit to a Chinese Bentley dealer does not go well
A trip to Hangzhou seemed the ideal opportunity to do some research into Chinese automotive culture, particularly with regards to foreign marques. As it turns out the language barrier was the least of my problems.
China is the fourth biggest market for Bentley – a fact that seems odd in the world’s largest communist country. What was that about some of the animals being more equal than others? An interview was arranged with the Hangzhou showroom sales manager, to find out the secret behind Bentley’s rapid growth in the People’s Republic.
Things turned sour as soon as I walked through the door. The staff who had been all sweetness and light on the phone, turned into sour faced “computer says no” types as soon as they realised I wasn’t there to buy a car. The manager was apparently no longer available, the two cars on display were swiftly locked and my photographer almost assaulted for trying to take pictures.
It seems dealerships in China need to see the colour of your money before they will even be civil with you. Journalists seeking information are not viewed as potential sources of free PR, but nuisances to be treated with suspicion. Even parting with “I’ve been asked to leave classier places than this” lost its edge when relayed through a translator.
Backstage at the Shanghai Grand Prix
Alex Kersten
Qualifying at Shanghai allowed an access all areas day of Chinese hospitality and F1 interviews.
Strolling down the Shanghai paddock on a sun kissed day of qualifying may sound like bliss, but in reality it really isn’t. It’s much, much better than that.
As we arrive in the BMW Sauber HQ, food, biscuits and drinks are thrown at us with as much pace as an F1 car on the home straight. Naturally with more than a week of Chinese food under our slimming belts, chocolate is a sight for sore eyes and satisfied nicotine-like cravings.
Being at the back of the pit lane, qualifying was watched from a television; hearing the cars tearing around, but watching them on a small screen is quite a surreal experience, if a little frustrating.
With qualifying finished and Vettel firmly on poll, a canter around the paddock is now in order to track down some VIPs. First though, we’re treated to a tour of the Sauber team garage by our host Sven Schäfer.
Looking down the paddock, a pack of hungry journalists and snappers suggests that the drivers are due to make an appearance, so we we’re sure to get in on the action. Although unable to speak to them directly, their very presence proved an awe inspiring experience, reflected by the haze of camera flashes and admiring glances.
As we slowly leave through electronic barriers manned by Chinese guards, a final glance back to the paddock is in order. Luckily for us, this wasn’t to be our last visit.
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Electronic, optoelectronic devices, and nanotechnology
$112.00 (P)
Emmanuel Rosencher, Ecole Polytechnique, Paris
Borge Vinter, Université de Nice, Sophia Antipolis
Translator: P. G. Piva
$ 112.00 (P)
Optoelectronics is a practical and self-contained graduate-level text on the subject. The authors include such topics as quantum mechanics of electron-photon interaction, quantization of the electro-magnetic field, semiconductor properties, quantum theory of heterostructures and nonlinear optics. They build on these concepts to describe the physics, properties and performances of light-emitting diodes, quantum well lasers, photodetectors, optical parametric oscillators and waveguides. The emphasis is on the unifying theoretical analogies of optoelectronics, such as equivalence of quantization in heterostructure wells and waveguide modes, entanglement of blackbody radiation and semiconductor statistics.
Self-contained textbook written for graduate students and engineers
Includes coverage of the latest optoelectronic devices
Rosencher and Vinter are highly regarded scientists
"So who will buy this book? Well, our PhD students for a start. I've told them all to buy their own copy; at less than L40 for more than 700 pages it's an absolute snip. Also, in the three weeks I've had my free copy I've consulted it four times, all to fruitful effect, in discussions with colleagues, so I'd suggest they get their own as well. As a reference text for course writers it could be invaluable, and device researchers writing papers, theses, proposals or reports may well wear it out completely." C. C. Phillips, Contemporary Physics
contains: 290 b/w illus. 10 tables
1. Quantum mechanics of the electron
2. Quantum mechanics of the photon
3. Quantum mechanics of the electron-photon interaction
4. Laser oscillations
5. Band structures of semiconductors
6. Electronic properties of semiconductors
7. Optical properties of semiconductors
8. Semiconductor heterostructures and quantum wells
9. Waveguides
10. A few building blocks for semiconductor devices
11. Semiconductor photodetectors
12. Optical frequency conversion in semiconductors
13. Light emitting diodes and laser diodes
Emmanuel Rosencher is a highly regarded scientist in the field of optoelectronics. Formerly head of the physics laboratory at the Central Research Laboratory of Thomson-CSF, he is now Research Director at the Physics Branch of ONERA (the French National Aerospace Research Agency) and an Associate Professor at the Ecole Polytechnique, Palaiseau, France. Rosencher is a Fellow of the Institute of Physics and a Senior Member of the IEEE.
Borge Vinter is also a highly regarded scientist in the field of optoelectonics. He is a Senior Scientist at the Corporate Research Laboratory of the THALES Group (formerly Thomson-CSF). He teaches semiconductor physics for graduate students at the Versailles-Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines University. Vinter is a Member of the Société Française de Physique and of the American Physical Society.
P. G. Piva
Photonic Devices
Principles of Photonics
Fiber Optical Parametric Amplifiers, Oscillators and Related Devices
Fundamentals of Guided-Wave Optoelectronic Devices
Circuits and systems
Communications, information theory and signal processing
Control systems and optimization
Engineering design, kinematics, and robotics
Engineering mathematics and programming
Image processing and machine vision
Industrial manufacturing, and operations engineering
Polymer science and engineering
RF and microwave engineering
Solid mechanics and materials
Thermal-fluids engineering
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Yeha- The ancient settlement in the Abyssinian highlands 27/10/2018
30 km Asphalted road east of Axum through Adwa –Adigrat (signboard to Yeha) and 5km gravsl road from the main road.
The small town Yeha is situated in a fertile valley surrounded by beautiful chains of mountains and it is the birth place of ancient civilization in the Horn Africa. It is one of the oldest cultural heritage centers in the Horn of Africa. Yeha’s origin as a political and cultural center of the old state of Da’amat and as an urban center goes back to 800 BC. It has been cross- cultural center between western Africa and the Middle East and between the Mediterranean world and Indian Ocean, which served as a link with Far East. As a result, this area enjoyed the experience of diversified cultures. Yeha was a place where small-scale industries that resulted in the production of tools, weapons and utensils needed by its people flourished. Among other attractions, Yeha preserves of ruins of monumental structures including a palace at Grat Beal Gebr, a temple and a group of seventeen rock hewn tombs at one site and two other tombs, recently identified.
Yeha – The Great Temple
The Great Temple is the best preserved ancient monument of Yeha. The 14m high temple was dedicated to the then venerated traditional god Almouqah (the sun and moon god) who was also worshipped in south Arabia. This building was constructed from volcanic-material, which was quarried some 200m east of the temple where we can still find machine-split rock pieces. Some of the building stones measure up to 3 meters and are beautifully dressed by skilled craftsmanship and perfectly fitted to each other without any trace of mortar. The temple is clear manifestation of geometrical perfection and craftsmanship. In the eastern corner of the ground floor of the temple, there is a small compartment probably used for animal sacrifice with drainage and an outlet directed to the southern wall. The temple had 12 pillars that supposed the ceiling of the single-storey building. The people responsible for the foundation of the capital and the construction of the temple were the descendants of Semitic South Arabians and the Cushitic Agews indigenous in the region long after their intermarriage had created a common identity. The area of the remains of the temple measures, 18.5m by 15m wide. It can be dated to the 7th century BC.
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Fredric Jameson
Literary critic and Marxist theorist Fredric Jameson (1934 - ) is known for his analysis of contemporary political and cultural movements. In Postmodernism, or, The Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism(1990), Jameson theorized postmodernism as the cataclysmic absorption of aesthetic creation by commodity production. Jameson has written numerous theoretical texts, including The Political Unconscious (1981) and Marxism and Form (1971). His work has been recognized with Guggenheim fellowships, the 2008 Holberg Prize, and the 2011 MLA Lifetime Achievement Award. Jameson spoke at The Kitchen in 1980 on technological reproduction and mass communication through television for the panel series "Society, Television, and Art."
Television Society Art
Amy Taubin, Annette Michelson, Benjamin Buchloh, Bertell Ollman, David Antin, David Cooper, Donald Burgy, Douglas Kellner, Emile de Antonio, Fredric Jameson, Hans Haacke, Herb Dordick, Jack Willis, James MacBean, Jean-Luc Godard, Jean-Pierre Gorin, John Berger, John Hanhardt, Jon Alpert, Julia Kristeva, Julia Lesage, Julianne Burton, Keith Sonnier, Laura Mulvey, Lawrence Weiner, Martha Rosler, Michael Snow, Peter Wollen, Philip Glass, Richard Foreman, Richard Serra, Robert Ashley, Ron Clark, Rosalind Krauss, Susan Sontag, Sylvere Lotringer, Terry Eagleton, Trisha Brown, Umberto Eco, Vito Acconci, Yvonne Rainer, Lecture, 1980s
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20.1Prototype and script.aculo.us
Prototype (http://www.prototypejs.org) is a free, open-source JavaScript framework, that aims to ease JavaScript programming. The framework was created by Sam Stephenson and enhances the JavaScript experience with utilities to perform AJAX requests and to do DOM manipulations without having to worry about web browser incompatibilities. Although the framework is called Prototype (a reference to JavaScript’s prototype-based inheritance model), it implements its features in a traditional class-based model.
Many of Prototype’s extensions to JavaScript are inspired by Smalltalk and Ruby. For example, after loading the Prototype library, a JavaScript Array is extended with methods that have familiar Smalltalk names: select, reject, collect, and detect. Up until recently, these similarities make Prototype the framework of choice to integrate with Seaside and Smalltalk. Nowadays the JQuery (http://www.jquery.com/) framework described in Chapter 21 is a nice alternative to the Prototype library.
The Prototype framework aims to make JavaScript programming simpler, and it does not have any features to make the user interface richer. script.aculo.us (http://script.aculo.us) is a free, open-source JavaScript framework, built on top of Prototype, providing visual effects, drag and drop and several ready-made user interface controls. The author of script.aculo.us Thomas Fuchs summarizes: “It’s about the user interface, baby!”
Seaside provides a complete integration of Prototype and script.aculo.us called “Scriptaculous”. This means that you can access all aspects of these frameworks from Smalltalk by writing Smalltalk code only. Every JavaScript class has a counterpart in the Smalltalk world and can be used without having to know the details of the underlying JavaScript implementation. The key feature is that Scriptaculous lets you write Smalltalk code that will generate JavaScript snippets embedded in the XHTML stream created by Seaside.
Figure 135: Scriptaculous Demo and Functional Test Suite.
Dynamic Content with Scriptaculous
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The DOJ’s Baltimore Police Report Contributes to a Hostile Environment for Law Enforcement
As long as police are vilified, more black lives will be lost in high-crime areas.
By Heather Mac Donald — August 11, 2016
Vanita Gupta, left, head of the Justice Department's civil rights division, with Atty. Gen. Loretta Lynch. (Evan Vucci / Associated Press)
In early May 2016, a 90-year-old woman in northwest Baltimore was severely beaten during a home invasion. Police found her barely conscious on the floor, unable to move or call for help. This was the second time in two months that she had been the victim of a burglary. She was hospitalized for three weeks following the beating and died in the hospital. Police concluded that the suspect in the May assault was familiar with the neighborhood.
On May 31, 2016, a 71-year-old woman in northwest Baltimore was raped and robbed in her home. The assailant took jewelry and cash from the victim’s purse, then stole her car and crashed it. A bystander helped the rapist out of the crashed car; the thug fled.
These heinous crimes occurred as Baltimore was experiencing the bloodiest year in its history, measured on a per capita basis. Shootings, homicides, and robberies surged after the April 2015 riots triggered by the accidental death of drug dealer Freddie Gray following an arrest. Nearly two dozen children were killed in 2015. Baltimore’s homicide count matched that of New York City’s, a city 13 and a half times Baltimore’s size.
Unfortunately, such crime merits but a few passing references in the 163-page report on the Baltimore Police Department released yesterday by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ). The Justice Department accuses the Baltimore police of a pattern or practice of violating blacks’ civil rights. Justice’s methodology for reaching that conclusion is by now drearily familiar: Because blacks are stopped and arrested by the Baltimore police at a higher rate than their representation in the Baltimore population, the police are guilty of racial bias.
This use of a population benchmark to analyze police activity is preposterously misguided, given the large disparities in rates of criminal victimization and crime commission. In 2015, more than 90 percent of Balimore’s homicide victims were black, even though blacks are only 63 percent of the city’s population. Though the police department does not report the race of criminals, it is certain that at least 90 percent of homicide and shootings suspects in Baltimore are also black. To expect police activity to match population ratios when crime commission is not evenly spread throughout the population is either disingenuous or disqualifyingly ignorant.
Yet it’s hard to place exclusive blame on assistant attorney general for civil rights, Vanita Gupta, for this travesty of common sense and sound methodology. President Barack Obama routinely blasts the nation’s police for their alleged systemic bias, because blacks are overrepresented in police activity. Just hours before five officers were assassinated in Dallas, Obama was at it again, lambasting the police for the fact that blacks are arrested nationally at twice the rate of whites. Obama was silent as usual about the reality that blacks commit homicide at eight times the rate of whites and Hispanics combined; their robbery and shooting rates are even more disproportionate.
The Justice Department’s latest sally against proactive policing has been ecstatically received by the mainstream media, which have dwelt lovingly on the policing disparities highlighted in the report: 44 percent of the stops made by the Baltimore police between 2010 and 2015 occurred in two small, predominantly black districts containing only 11 percent of the city’s population; blacks accounted for 86 percent of all criminal offenses charged by the police; blacks are arrested for drug possession at five times the rate of whites.
The report claims that the arrest data are particularly skewed for more discretionary types of enforcement, thus allegedly revealing police bias in its most exposed and overt form. Blacks accounted for 87 percent of resisting-arrest charges; 89 percent of charges for making a false statement to an officer; 84 percent of failing-to-obey-an-order charges; 86 percent of hindering or obstruction charges; 83 percent of disorderly conduct arrests; and 88 percent of trespassing-on-posted-property arrests.
In fact, those numbers are not skewed at all compared to blacks’ 86 percent portion of all arrests, which include property and violent crimes. Low-level-misdemeanor enforcement simply tracks felony crime, and is not racially driven.
Never asked in the report is what those numbers represent. What, for example, goes on in those two districts accounting for 44 percent of all stops? Might they contain a vastly disproportionate number of criminal victimizations? Is open-air drug trafficking terrorizing the law-abiding residents there? We never learn. The report presents such data as prima facie evidence of arbitrary, bias-driven policing. But if stops are so concentrated in those two districts, the police are not in fact indiscriminately stopping every black person, but are presumably targeting the highest-crime areas — unless DOJ thinks that cops in those two districts are for some mysterious reason even more racist than those in other districts.
It is simply beyond the ken of the attorneys in DOJ’s Civil Rights Division that perhaps blacks make up 87 percent of resisting-arrest charges because they resist arrest at a higher rate than their population ratios, but consistent with their crime rates. Ed Norris served as deputy commissioner in the New York Police Department and as the Baltimore police commissioner from 2000 to 2002. The “level of violence in the streets here [in Baltimore] and the willingness to fight with the police is much worse than what I experienced in NYC,” he says. “It really does need to be seen to understand what it’s like here.”
The media have endlessly recycled the DOJ finding that between 2010 and 2015, 34 blacks were stopped at least 20 times and seven blacks stopped at least 30 times. One man in his 50s was stopped 30 times in four years, mostly for loitering and trespassing. By contrast, no other person of any other race was stopped more than twelve times in those five years, according to the report.
Might it be relevant to know something about those stop subjects? An infamous gang-banger whose gang is engaged in tit-for-tat retaliatory shootings against rival gangs might easily be stopped four times a year; that only 34 suspects had that stop record in a city with the sixth highest violent-crime rate in the country and a population of 620,000 hardly shows racial bias. Seven blacks were stopped six times a year and one black man stopped seven times a year. What were their criminal histories and behavior on the street? We are not let in on the secret. Until we do, no inference of bias is valid.
The report makes much of drug arrests. The DOJ lawyers trot out the usual national surveys that show that blacks report using drugs at a slightly higher rate than whites (without accounting for frequency of use over the previous month). If blacks in Baltimore are arrested for drug possession at five times the rate of whites, the lawyers conclude, it can only be because the police are vindictively harassing them. But drug enforcement follows community calls for service. The police enforce drug laws where residents ask them to, and that is overwhelmingly in minority areas plagued by open-air drug markets. If residents of white neighborhoods lived in the thrall of the drug trade, they would be demanding enforcement and enforcement would follow. Police bring possession charges as stand-ins for trafficking charges, which members of street drug rings are careful to avoid through a tight choreography of facially lawful transactions.
The report is assiduously blind to, and silent about, the burdens faced by residents of high-crime neighborhoods. It complains about racial and economic segregation, then proceeds as if street behavior and street crime are identical across Baltimore. The authors are shocked by evidence that suggests that “trespassing enforcement is focused on public housing.” One can only conclude that the civil-rights lawyers are unaware of the shootings and muggings that characterize public housing, as well as of the relationship between trespassing and more serious forms of crime. The authors likely do not rely on the police to keep trespassers away from their homes and can count on informal social controls like parents to maintain public order. They are offended by the police practice of trying to disperse large groups of people hanging out. Yet the most frequent complaint made in police–community meetings in high-crime areas concerns just those congregating throngs of youth, because law-abiding residents know from experience that it is out of those knots of loiterers that assaults and shootings emerge. Those same law-abiding residents do not understand why the police can’t simply arrest everyone for loitering or truancy. The report cites a Facebook post from a sergeant as evidence of racism and brutality: “Do not treat criminal[s] like citizens; citizens want that corner cleared.” I have never been to a police–community meeting in the inner city where residents are not begging for the corners to be cleared.
The report contemptuously bandies around the phrase “zero-tolerance policing” to try to stigmatize proactive policing. (That is a phrase used almost exclusively by police critics and almost never by police departments.) But it is the residents of high-crime areas who have zero tolerance for street disorder. Do the police look to make stops following a gang shooting to try to deter retaliation? You bet. And when they back off from proactive policing, crime explodes. After the Freddie Gray riots, drug arrests dropped and shootings soared 75 percent over the course of 2015.
It is unclear how the DOJ lawyers think the police should respond to the high levels of street disorder in high-crime areas. Proactive policing is an attempt to regain control of the streets, on behalf of the law-abiding. If trespass stops and loitering summons are illegitimate, what are the police to do? Yet the report also cites complaints about a lack of police response in “poor, minority areas” and allegations that the police do not take crime seriously there — a calumny. Hard-working detectives could solve every crime in the inner city if they could find witnesses and victims willing to cooperate; they usually can’t. The report faults the police for allegedly leaving black neighborhoods “unguarded” during the Freddie Gray riots — this from the same White House that criticizes the police for an over-aggressive response to the wanton destruction of livelihoods and property.
This ignorant analysis is just one more reckless attack on police legitimacy. On Wednesday, when the media were not trumpeting this latest Obama administration finding of systemic police bias, they were denouncing Donald Trump’s thoughtless sally on Tuesday about Hillary Clinton and the power of Second Amendment advocates to stop her alleged court-packing schemes. Fair enough. But almost no attention was paid to the far more credible threat against police officers in Chicago from gang-bangers hoping to kill more cops in revenge for alleged police racism. While the Baltimore DOJ report is far from an overt invitation to attack officers, it belongs to a mendacious narrative about policing that is contributing to an environment of virulent hatred against cops and that is obstinately blind to the realities of crime. As long as that narrative is dominant, more black lives will be lost, and probably also more blue ones.
— Heather Mac Donald is the Thomas W. Smith Fellow at the Manhattan Institute and the author of The War on Cops, released in June.
RELATED: Freddie Gray Case: The War on Cops … in the Courtroom
EDITORIAL: Justice in Baltimore
RELATED: The Police Shooting Debate: Misleading Arguments Obscure Sobering Truth
Labels: Crime and Punishment, Race
How Global Elites Forsake Their Countrymen
Those in power see people at the bottom as aliens whose bizarre emotions they must try to manage.
http://www.wsj.com/
Heidenau Mayor Juergen Opitz, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Saxony State Prime Minister Stanislaw Tillich (L to R) arrive for statements after their visit to an asylum seekers accommodation facility, Aug. 26, 2015. (Reuters)
This is about distance, and detachment, and a kind of historic decoupling between the top and the bottom in the West that did not, in more moderate recent times, exist.
Recently I spoke with an acquaintance of Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, and the conversation quickly turned, as conversations about Ms. Merkel now always do, to her decisions on immigration. Last summer when Europe was engulfed with increasing waves of migrants and refugees from Muslim countries, Ms. Merkel, moving unilaterally, announced that Germany would take in an astounding 800,000. Naturally this was taken as an invitation, and more than a million came. The result has been widespread public furor over crime, cultural dissimilation and fears of terrorism. From such a sturdy, grounded character as Ms. Merkel the decision was puzzling—uncharacteristically romantic about people, how they live their lives, and history itself, which is more charnel house than settlement house.
Ms. Merkel’s acquaintance sighed and agreed. It’s one thing to be overwhelmed by an unexpected force, quite another to invite your invaders in! But, the acquaintance said, he believed the chancellor was operating in pursuit of ideals. As the daughter of a Lutheran minister, someone who grew up in East Germany, Ms. Merkel would have natural sympathy for those who feel marginalized and displaced. Moreover she is attempting to provide a kind of counter-statement, in the 21st century, to Germany’s great sin of the 20th. The historical stain of Nazism, the murder and abuse of the minority, will be followed by the moral triumph of open arms toward the dispossessed. That’s what’s driving it, said the acquaintance.
It was as good an explanation as I’d heard. But there was a fundamental problem with the decision that you can see rippling now throughout the West. Ms. Merkel had put the entire burden of a huge cultural change not on herself and those like her but on regular people who live closer to the edge, who do not have the resources to meet the burden, who have no particular protection or money or connections. Ms. Merkel, her cabinet and government, the media and cultural apparatus that lauded her decision were not in the least affected by it and likely never would be.
Nothing in their lives will get worse. The challenge of integrating different cultures, negotiating daily tensions, dealing with crime and extremism and fearfulness on the street—that was put on those with comparatively little, whom I’ve called the unprotected. They were left to struggle, not gradually and over the years but suddenly and in an air of ongoing crisis that shows no signs of ending—because nobody cares about them enough to stop it.
The powerful show no particular sign of worrying about any of this. When the working and middle class pushed back in shocked indignation, the people on top called them “xenophobic,” “narrow-minded,” “racist.” The detached, who made the decisions and bore none of the costs, got to be called “humanist,” “compassionate,” and “hero of human rights.”
And so the great separating incident at Cologne last New Year’s, and the hundreds of sexual assaults by mostly young migrant men who were brought up in societies where women are veiled—who think they should be veiled—and who chose to see women in short skirts and high heels as asking for it.
Cologne of course was followed by other crimes.
The journalist Chris Caldwell reports in the Weekly Standard on Ms. Merkel’s statement a few weeks ago, in which she told Germans that history was asking them to “master the flip side, the shadow side, of all the positive effects of globalization.”
Caldwell: “This was the chancellor’s . . . way of acknowledging that various newcomers to the national household had begun to attack and kill her voters at an alarming rate.” Soon after her remarks, more horrific crimes followed, including in Munich (nine killed in a McDonald’s) Reutlingen (a knife attack) and Ansbach (a suicide bomber).
The larger point is that this is something we are seeing all over, the top detaching itself from the bottom, feeling little loyalty to it or affiliation with it. It is a theme I see working its way throughout the West’s power centers. At its heart it is not only a detachment from, but a lack of interest in, the lives of your countrymen, of those who are not at the table, and who understand that they’ve been abandoned by their leaders’ selfishness and mad virtue-signalling.
On Wall Street, where they used to make statesmen, they now barely make citizens. CEOs are consumed with short-term thinking, stock prices, quarterly profits. They don’t really believe that they have to be involved with “America” now; they see their job as thinking globally and meeting shareholder expectations.
In Silicon Valley the idea of “the national interest” is not much discussed. They adhere to higher, more abstract, more global values. They’re not about America, they’re about . . . well, I suppose they’d say the future.
In Hollywood the wealthy protect their own children from cultural decay, from the sick images they create for all the screens, but they don’t mind if poor, unparented children from broken-up families get those messages and, in the way of things, act on them down the road.
From what I’ve seen of those in power throughout business and politics now, the people of your country are not your countrymen, they’re aliens whose bizarre emotions you must attempt occasionally to anticipate and manage.
In Manhattan, my little island off the continent, I see the children of the global business elite marry each other and settle in London or New York or Mumbai. They send their children to the same schools and are alert to all class markers. And those elites, of Mumbai and Manhattan, do not often identify with, or see a connection to or an obligation toward, the rough, struggling people who live at the bottom in their countries. In fact, they fear them, and often devise ways, when home, of not having their wealth and worldly success fully noticed.
Affluence detaches, power adds distance to experience. I don’t have it fully right in my mind but something big is happening here with this division between the leaders and the led. It is very much a feature of our age. But it is odd that our elites have abandoned or are abandoning the idea that they belong to a country, that they have ties that bring responsibilities, that they should feel loyalty to their people or, at the very least, a grounded respect.
I close with a story that I haven’t seen in the mainstream press. This week the Daily Caller’s Peter Hasson reported that recent Syrian refugees being resettled in Virginia, were sent to the state’s poorest communities. Data from the State Department showed that almost all Virginia’s refugees since October “have been placed in towns with lower incomes and higher poverty rates, hours away from the wealthy suburbs outside of Washington, D.C.” Of 121 refugees, 112 were placed in communities at least 100 miles from the nation’s capital. The suburban counties of Fairfax, Loudoun and Arlington—among the wealthiest in the nation, and home to high concentrations of those who create, and populate, government and the media—have received only nine refugees.
Some of the detachment isn’t unconscious. Some of it is sheer and clever self-protection. At least on some level they can take care of their own.
Labels: Economics, Europe, Politics
Obama, Clinton and the power of mendacity
By CAROLINE B. GLICK
http://www.jpost.com/Opinion/
HOW MUCH more money from the ‘Great Satan’ for Iran? ‘Since the Iranians received their payment, they have taken three more American citizens hostage, as well as several other Westerners,’ notes the author.. (photo credit:REUTERS)
Over the weekend the Iranian regime unexpectedly announced it executed its former nuclear scientist Shahram Amiri. As reports of Amiri’s demise make clear, former secretary of state Hillary Clinton may very well be partially to blame for his death. Amiri spent several months in the US between 2009 and 2010, when he returned to Iran. Then-secretary of state Hillary Clinton claimed at the time that Amiri came to the US willingly.
US government sources told the media that Amiri, who worked on Iran’s nuclear program, was a longstanding US intelligence agent. Amiri, they said, received $5 million for his information. He left the funds in the US when he returned to Iran.
For his part, Amiri claimed he was kidnapped by US officials during a religious pilgrimage to Medina and brought to the US against his will. Amiri alleged that he was tortured during his time in the US, but that he refused to betray his country.
During his time in the US, the regime reportedly threatened to harm Amiri’s young son, who remained behind in Iran with Amiri’s wife. In July 2010, Amiri went to the Iranian interest section of the Pakistani embassy in Washington and asked to be repatriated. Amiri received a hero’s welcome upon arriving in Iran. He was later sentenced to 10 years in prison for traveling to the US.
He had served five years of his sentence when he was charged in a secret trial for espionage, found guilty and hanged.
It is impossible to know what caused the Iranians to suddenly execute Amiri.
But if the Iranians had harbored doubts regarding whether Amiri or Clinton were telling the truth about his arrival in the US, those doubts were dispelled last summer with the publication of Clinton’s emails.
Two of those emails outed Amiri as a US agent. In one, sent to Clinton nine days before Amiri turned himself over to Iranian authorities, Richard Morningstar, a former State Department special envoy informed Clinton, “We have a diplomatic, ‘psychological’ issue, not a legal one. Our friend has to be given a way out. Our person won’t be able to do anything anyway. If he has to leave so be it.”
The second email was sent to Clinton by Jake Sullivan, her deputy chief of staff. Sullivan warned her that Amiri’s decision to turn himself in would embarrass the US. He wrote, “The gentleman… has apparently gone to his country’s interests section because he is unhappy with how much time it has taken to facilitate his departure. This could lead to problematic news stories in the next 24 hours.”
Had Clinton been using a government server, both those communications would have been classified and secured.
According to the FBI, Clinton’s private server was less secure than a Gmail account. According to intelligence experts, there is every reason to believe that Clinton’s email server was hacked by hostile foreign intelligence services.
The best excuse that Clinton was able to come up with to defend her reckless behavior was that she did it for the sake of convenience. In a 2010 email to her senior staff, Clinton explained that the true purpose of the server was to prevent her correspondence from becoming public.
Although deeply significant, Amiri’s execution was “the other Iran story” this week. The main story was Wall Street Journal’s revelation that on January 17, the day the US’s nuclear deal with Iran came into force, the US sent an unmarked cargo plane to Tehran loaded with $400 million in cash.
Five US citizens held hostage by Iran were released that day.
In a press conference last Thursday, Obama dismissed the clear implication that the cash payment was ransom. But his statements were exposed as a lie by former hostage Pastor Saeed Abedini.
Abedini told the media that the hostages waited for hours at the airport before being permitted to board their flight to freedom while the Iranians were waiting for another plane to land.
US law prohibits the payment of ransom for hostages because it is widely acknowledged that paying ransom merely encourages America’s foes to take still more Americans hostage. Since the Iranians received their payment, they have taken three more American citizens hostage, as well as several other Westerners.
Obama’s lies and the plight of the hostages is an additional reminder that critics of his Iran policy were correct to criticize him. A year after Obama agreed to the nuclear deal with the Iranian regime, and six months after it formally entered into force despite the fact that the Iranians never formally accepted its provisions, Iran is more dangerous than it was before.
The hundreds of billions of dollars it has received from sanctions relief have enabled it to vastly expand its support for terrorist organizations and fund and direct insurgencies against US allies. Iran sponsored the overthrow of the Yemini regime. It is the engine behind the war in Syria. It controls the Lebanese government and the Iraqi regime.
Its terrorists are on the ground in Europe. The terrorist who committed the massacre last month in Munich was trained in Iran.
As for the deal’s purported limitations on Iran’s nuclear capabilities, over the past year we learned that Obama lied when he promised the nuclear deal would stem Iran’s nuclear advance. The unprecedented inspections regime he promised was a lie. The one-year nuclear breakout time was a lie. Even the limitations on centrifuge development were a lie.
In defending his miserable agreement with the mullahs last Thursday, Obama continued to lie.
He went so far as to say that Israel now supports the deal. This of course, is also a lie, as both the Defense Ministry and Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu were quick to note.
Obama and Clinton choose lying as a strategy because it works for them. The influential media outlets barely cover their lies. Indeed, they often go out of their way to cover up their misdeeds.
The New York Times for instance, sufficed with a wire story to report that Israel rejected Obama’s claim that it now supports his nuclear deal with Iran.
The Washington Post insisted that Clinton’s email couldn’t possibly have influenced Amiri’s fate because six years ago Clinton had already announced that he was a US agent. As for Clinton’s email server, the New York Times failed to report that Clinton lied last Sunday when she told Fox News the FBI concluded that she had spoken truthfully about its use. She then repeated the lie twice and the New York Times continued to ignore her dissimulation.
The media cover for Clinton and Obama because they care more about advancing the Left’s policy goals than about reporting the dire, dangerous consequences of those policies. That is, they are propagandists rather than journalists.
Over the years, many commentators and observers have argued that Clinton is less dangerous than Obama. Obama they say is an ideologue whereas Clinton is driven by a simple lust for power and, of course, her own convenience. Consequently, she causes damage in little ways – like endangering the lives of US agents – while Obama clears a path for Iran to rise as a regional hegemon and nuclear state.
The problem with this assessment is that it ignores their symbiotic relationship. Clinton has decided that her interests lie with acting like a loyal Democrat and implementing Obama’s policies.
Like Obama, she doesn’t need to worry about the consequences of those policies for the US and the world. Because like Obama, she is sheltered from criticism by a loyal media.
Amiri is dead. Iran is building nuclear plants with Russia. But as the New York Times explained on Monday, “Nobody knows better than President Obama how easy it would be for Donald J. Trump to reverse the policies of the past eight years if he defeats Hillary Clinton this fall.”
Nobody, that is, other than the New York Times, and the Washington Post and CNN and Clinton.
And so they will continue to work together with Obama, to ensure that the public is kept in the dark about the nature of those policies and their horrible consequences for the US and the rest of the world.
Labels: Barack Obama, Bill/Hillary Clinton, Iran
The Real Reason the Mainstream Media Hates Trump
https://pjmedia.com/
In a much talked about August 7 piece—“Trump Is Testing the Norms of Objectivity in Journalism”—New York Times "mediator" Jim Rutenberg takes the mainstream media out of the closet and publicly declares them in the tank for Trump.
As front page news this is not exactly man bites dog, but he goes further actually to excuse this bias because, after all, Trump is Trump:
If you’re a working journalist and you believe that Donald J. Trump is a demagogue playing to the nation’s worst racist and nationalistic tendencies, that he cozies up to anti-American dictators and that he would be dangerous with control of the United States nuclear codes, how the heck are you supposed to cover him?
How're you supposed to cover a woman whose family foundation helped Putin corner the uranium market? Oh, never mind. Rutenberg's point is that the barbarian Trump has put those Fourth Estate idealists in a quandary as never before. The poor dears always try to be neutral, but The Donald is just too many bridges too far. They just can't be even-handed anymore. (Please stay clear of your computer screen if you start to sputter.)
But the truth is that—although he can be a loudmouthed blowhard with poor impulse control—Trump is not remotely what they say he is: a racist, sexist demagogue. In fact, if you bother to look it up, he was more than a decade ahead of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton on one of the most "sainted" of all liberal issues—gay marriage. But don't expect to see that covered by Gutenberg, et al.
The real reason the MSM disdains, even loathes, Trump is that he threatens what I call The Big Wink, which means he threatens them.
Qu'est-ce que c'est The Big Wink?
We saw it writ large during the (media pronounced) highly successful Democratic National Convention—the key topic of which, beside the excoriation of Donald Trump, was the rescue of the middle class, a middle class, no one admitted, that has done surpassingly poorly during the Obama administration. Improving the situation of minorities was also, as always, invoked, even though minorities, particularly blacks, have done even more wretchedly over the last eight years.
Unspoken, not surprisingly, was a truly uncomfortable truth—the people who have done best under the Obama administration are the rich. No one said or did anything for eight years as the labor participation rate declined to new lows and stocks rose to new highs. The rich profited at the expense of the poor (somewhat) and the middle class (a lot). The Democrats have become the secret—or not so secret—party of the rich.
The media are, for the most part, those rich people, the most successful of them ensconced well up into the higher reaches of the one percent. They also are people who like to think good of themselves, that they are "doing good." For the older ones, now in control, this comes from their "fight the power" college days, only now they are the power. How do you resolve such a contradiction? By making morally narcissistic pronouncements on behalf of the disadvantaged while privately hoping for, even working for, the status quo.
No more perfect candidate of the status quo has ever come along than Hillary Clinton. She personifies the status quo. Nothing will change under Hillary—for the country or the media. It's all downhill from here.
Her lifetime reputation as a serial liar and crony capitalist only amplifies this. It's hard to believe she really means it when she makes such outrageous proposals as her confiscatory capital gains plan that could cause a Depression. Wink, wink, she's a Wall Street girl—and everybody, especially the media, knows it. She won't do anything the slightest bit extreme.
And they like it that way, even if they don't admit it to themselves. Better for the old 401K and property values in the Meatpacking District. No one really believes Hillary will follow through with those dopey leftwing proposals—not that she has anything else to offer, but that doesn't matter. Nor will she put more than a slight delay in the TPP trade agreement. It's all a Big Wink, designed to fool the Sanders supporters and, of course, the always handy minorities. Power and money are everything.
Donald Trump is a wholly different matter. No one, especially the media, knows what he really intends to do. The media doesn't like this because if there's one thing they don't like, no matter what they profess, it is change. Or loss of control.
No wonder they don't like Donald and seize on his every miscue or aside as if he were the second coming of Attila bent on overrunning our nation and quite possibly the world. (Compare that to how they shrug their shoulders at Hillary's actual misdeeds.) What they hate most of all is the temerity of the vulgar Queens billionaire in exposing the haute bourgeois lifestyle of the Upper West Side for what it is—fake and self-serving. The way things look now, they won't let him survive it.
Roger L. Simon is a prize-winning novelist, Academy Award-nominated screenwriter and co-founder of PJ Media. His book—I Know Best: How Moral Narcissism Is Destroying Our Republic, If It Hasn't Already—is just published by Encounter. You can read an excerpt here. You can see a brief interview about the book with the Wall Street Journal’s Opinion Journal here. You can hear an interview about the book with Mark Levin here. You can order the book here.
Labels: Donald Trump
The Romanovs: fascinating, odd and odious
By Greg King, May 13
https://www.washingtonpost.com/
Greg King’s books include “The Fate of the Romanovs,” “The Court of the Last Tsar,” and the forthcoming “Mayerling.”
In the months before the Russian revolution, the notorious Grigori Rasputin haunted Petrograd’s exclusive Hotel Astoria, clapping along with gypsy bands and dancing wildly. “Like a beast,” he demolished the cook Spiridon’s carefully prepared dishes, grabbing food with “talon-like fingers” as all watched in horror. Rasputin exemplified the imperial regime at its worst: the “mad monk,” a favorite of Czar Nicholas II and his unbalanced wife, Alexandra, corrupted by power and acting his malevolent role in a fatal ménage à trois.
“It was hard to be a tsar,” writes British historian Simon Sebag Montefiore in his erudite and entertaining “The Romanovs: 1613-1918.” Drawing on a wide array of Russian sources, Sebag Montefiore paints an unforgettable portrait of characters fascinating and charismatic, odd and odious. Magnificent palaces, elaborate balls, and a culture that produced Pushkin, Tchaikovsky and Tolstoy existed alongside pogroms, torture and murder (of the last dozen Romanov sovereigns, half were assassinated). Romanovs both capable and insane struggled with what the author calls “the distorting effect of absolute power.” Monarchs over one-sixth of the globe, they played at Western niceties while clinging to Byzantine notions of absolute rule.
An undercurrent of violence and sexual depravity runs through the vibrant narrative, but the poignant stories of two teenage boys open this chronicle. One, Michael, reluctantly takes the chaotic Russian throne in 1613 and founds the dynasty amid dangerous power struggles; the other, Alexei, frail with hemophilia, enters a Siberian cellar in 1918, where Bolshevik bullets will bring the dynasty to its bloody end. Tackling the 20 reigns between these bookends, Sebag Montefiore arranges chapters as connected scenes in a larger drama. Beyond the three sovereigns who have become household names — Peter the Great, Catherine the Great and Nicholas II — are vivid portraits of other Romanovs. The cruel Empress Anna, who dressed courtiers as chickens, clapped as dwarves fought the maimed and presided over hair-pulling contests between her ladies-in-waiting, stands in contrast to Abraham Lincoln’s contemporary Alexander II, who not only ended serfdom and instituted judicial reforms but also carried on a blush-worthy correspondence with mistress Ekaterina Dolgorukaya. He wanted her “four times” a day, “on every piece of furniture” and in “every room.” He married her a month after his wife’s death, only to perish himself nine months later, victim of a nihilist’s bomb.
The dynasty, Sebag Montefiore concedes, produced only two “political geniuses,” Peter the Great and the famous Catherine. Rebelling against the intrigues and backward ideas characterizing Muscovite rule, Peter turned Russia to the West, visiting Europe and building his new capital, St. Petersburg. Western clothing and manners were forced on a reluctant court as Peter dragged Russia into the 18th century. Modernization marked his tumultuous reign, yet Peter couldn’t escape the grotesque: Dwarves and giants paraded through his court; he drunkenly — and lewdly — mocked the Orthodox Church; and he had his own son tortured to death for opposing his reforms. Anatomy fascinated him: He once had a former mistress decapitated, then held up her severed head, kissing the lips before lecturing stunned onlookers about the function of her windpipe.
Catherine the Great had little taste for violence. The former German princess came to Russia and wed Empress Elizabeth’s demented nephew Peter. Her husband played with tin soldiers; Catherine cultivated the real thing, taking lovers from elite regiments. Peter despised Russia; Catherine became conspicuously Russian in all things. Ascending the throne as Peter III, he had so alienated the court and military that most readily supported the coup d’état that left him strangled and crowned his wife. “My glory is spoilt!” Catherine lamented. “Posterity will never forgive me.” But it did, and she went on to enlarge her empire while wrapping it in a veneer of enlightened autocracy. Catherine read Diderot, corresponded with Voltaire and engaged in myriad romances, including a long, volatile relationship with Prince Grigori Potemkin. Through it all, she understood the essential dichotomy of her rule: “One must do things,” Catherine explained, “in such a way that people think they themselves want it to be done.”
The Romanovs who followed successfully repelled Napoleon and exulted in the splendor of their court — until 1894, when Nicholas II came to the throne with his wife, Alexandra. It’s hard to imagine two people more unsuited to their roles. Sentimental nostalgia surrounds them with an uncritical legend focused entirely on their love affair and domestic lives. Yet Sebag Montefiore treats them “as both intimate and political figures . . . without the burden of pungent romance, Soviet disgust or liberal contempt.”
Nicholas II emerges as “the least capable and most narrow-minded” of Romanov sovereigns. Having inherited his father’s virulent anti-Semitism, he witnessed horrific pogroms during his reign, and violence was common: With “careless arrogance,” the czar foolishly propelled Russia into wars and revolutions. Not that Alexandra escapes unscathed. “Obsessive piety [and] sanctimonious prudery,” combined with a belief in her own superiority, drove her to isolate her husband and tie him to a world of petty domestic concerns. Her only son’s hemophilia, inherited through her grandmother Queen Victoria, left the empress ripe for the ministrations of a stunning succession of holy fools, ending with Rasputin.
“It is unlikely,” Sebag Montefiore concludes, “that even Peter or Catherine could have solved the predicaments of revolution and world war faced by Nicholas II.” Perhaps — but they possessed will and vision, two qualities Nicholas II lacked. The storm that swept Russia in 1917 carried away millions in its wake: Only the cagey managed to survive, among them Spiridon, the poor cook who had watched Rasputin dip into his exquisite dishes with dirty fingers. Abandoning the old regime, Spiridon went on to work for Lenin and then Stalin. It’s tempting to ponder the warnings against weakness and the lessons of ruthless power he passed to his grandson Vladimir Putin, who seems intent on restoring Russia’s prestige, resurrecting the lost empire and enshrining himself as a modern czar, every bit as autocratic and ruthless as the fallen Romanovs.
THE ROMANOVS, 1613-1918
By Simon Sebag Montefiore
Knopf. 744 pp. $35
Labels: Books and Things, Russia/Soviet Union
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Today's Tune: Bob Dylan - I Could Have Told You (Audio)
Labels: Bob Dylan, Today's Tune
Bob Dylan live review – the master of reinvention shakes it up again
Opening his Australian tour, Dylan reimagines and contemporises his canon, finding different wounds – and new sweet spots – to tap into
By Bob Gordon
https://www.theguardian.com/music/2018/aug/09/bob-dylan-review-
Bob Dylan isn’t like most iconic artists of his vintage: he never will – and infamously never has – pandered to expectations of audience or to nostalgia. You don’t get what you want; you get what he needs.
This has always led to the requisite complaints about set lists, Dylan’s interpretations of his oldest classics and his onstage demeanour towards audiences. All up, the Perth Arena crowd, at about three-quarter capacity, mostly seemed up for the challenge.
Although a Bob Dylan concert is a bucket list item for many, he hasn’t made it too difficult for Australian fans: his current tour is his third visit in seven years. Since his last in 2014, Dylan has released several albums that paid heed to the Great American Songbook: Shadows in the Night (2015), Fallen Angels (2016) and last year’s Triplicate, itself a three-CD opus.
Dylan’s reinterpretations of many swing and big-band standards is canny and well-received, and with his voice seemingly stronger than on past tours, it seems to have played a part in the reimaginings of his own material. Moodily easing into Things Have Changed – a chugging, dark number that featured in the 2000 film Wonder Boys – Dylan and his long-time band settle in like fingers in a glove. Followed by It Ain’t Me, Babe – a heart-string tugger as it was – and Highway 61 Revisited, the blurred lines between old and new begin to indicate it will again all be delivered via his own contemporary filter.
Even songs from Dylan’s most recent album of original compositions, 2012’sTempest, are reconstructed, just like the tunes from way back when. The Fats Waller-inspired Duquesne Whistle opens up as a swinging ramble, drummer George Receli playing around the beat with six-stringers Charlie Sexton (a heartthrob rocker back at the time of his 1986 hit, Beats So Lonely, and one-time Jimmy Barnes band guitarist) and Stu Kimball trading licks over an extended workout in a completely different key. Pay in Blood pays little heed to its original, tighter structure in favour of looser climes, and later on Early Roman Kings delves into a rawer blues.
Picking new sweet spots and different wounds in his material has always been Dylan’s way, but these days those reawakenings dig deeper and perhaps more sentimentally. There are instances on those aforementioned “American standards” albums where Dylan’s croak elicits a new break in the heart of already heartbreaking songs – check out Some Enchanted Evening, for starters – and he now finds these moments inside his own well-known songs. It’s quite something to hear the audience cheer when a trademark phrase or song title is sung, these hitherto unrecognisable, winsome gems being revealed as Tangled Up in Blue, Desolation Row and Don’t Think Twice, It’s Alright. In 2018, they all benefit from the treatment.
Perhaps the old man who wrote these versions is answering the young man who birthed them. Sometimes it seems that Dylan – who these days is behind a piano at all times, sometimes sitting, sometimes standing – occasionally roams a little instrumentally, with the band going along, perhaps unsure who should take the next solo. Yet someone does, and the last verse or chord rains down after that possibly off-the-rails end-troduction. It’s real musicians really playing in and of the moment, and Dylan’s chops on the keyboard complement and contrast Kimball’s rhythm guitar quite intriguingly. When he ventures forth on harmonica, it’s as familiar as his own voice and applauded as such – like a singular, brief postcard from the 60s.
The band surrounds Dylan as if in a lounge room scenario, accentuated beautifully by the five vintage Hollywood 5K studio lights hung from above, themselves occasionally lit to emphasise their presence. The band are dimly lamp-lit around the stage confines and the resultant effect speaks to the music, as the band plays for, but never quite to, the audience.
2006’s Thunder on the Mountain turns out to be quite the rock’n’roll romp, with a drum breakdown that references the Surfaris’ hit Wipeout. Following up, Dylan teams his 70s song of faith, Gotta Serve Somebody, with, seemingly, the guitar riff from Henry Mancini’s Peter Gunn theme – and yes, it works. Blowin’ in the Wind and Ballad of a Thin Man then brought this wet August night to a close, the latter more faithful than the former.
If you appreciate the reinventor that Bob Dylan has always been, you’ll be entranced by this show. If not, recall that it’s 52 years since an audience member at the Manchester Free Trade Hall screamed “Judas!” at Dylan because he was holding an electric guitar. As his opening number noted, Things Have Changed – but then again, they’ve always been a-changin’.
• Bob Dylan’s tour of Australia and New Zealand continues through August
Labels: Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan: rock poet’s way with words helped to change our times
By Peter Craven
https://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/inquirer/bob-dylan-rock-poets-way-with-words-helped-to-change-our-times/news-story/e7cc5f5a769334549fec9bc4a0cc0ba1
For a lot of people who were young in the 1960s and starting to think of themselves as adults, Bob Dylan was a kind of god. And the funny thing is that this image of him as a sort of dynamised genius, a cross between Shakespeare and Marlon Brando, has never really gone away. We thought of him as a great songwriter who was also a great performer and, in a thrilling way, a great poet. And somehow this atmosphere of awe remains.
Dylan released what is probably his greatest album, Blonde on Blonde, in mid-1966 — 52 years ago — yet on his present Australian tour (his first was, you guessed it, in 1966) a lot of bright young kids, millennials aged 22 or so, who are a bit bored with Shakespeare and a bit vague about Brando, will be there along with contingents of their parents or grandparents.
Rock music is partly a domain of classic fashion and no one is going to shift Dylan’s status because, in its contemporary aspect, Dylan created it. As he said to Keith Richards, that old villain of the Rolling Stones, “I could’ve written Satisfaction but you couldn’t have written Desolation Row.” Is that why they gave him the Nobel Prize in Literature two years ago? The fact he could write a 12-minute rock song that could include lines such as:
And Ezra Pound and TS Eliot Fighting in the captain’s tower
While calypso singers laugh at them
And fishermen hold flowers
Between the windows of the sea
Where lovely mermaids flow
And nobody has to think too much
About Desolation Row
Is it that with Dylan, and especially the Dylan of those great records when the singer went electric (though Desolation Row is plucked out on an acoustic guitar with only the lamentation of the harmonica by way of accompaniment), rock music had thrown up a figure with the courage to trail the greatest artistic pretensions like a cloak?
Think of those mermaids in this long, deliberate monstrosity of a song, so lame with the limitations of musical talent and so grand and sepulchral in the way it overcomes them. Do the mermaids deliberately invoke TS Eliot’s Prufrock (“I have heard the mermaids singing, each to each. / I do not think that they will sing to me.”)?
Who knows? You could almost say who cares, as the logic of Desolation Row is annihilating because — whether by design or accident — it’s a pop-art replica of Eliot’s The Waste Land. It’s as if Dylan has revised and rewritten Eliot’s poem and turned it into his own.
All of which is weird beyond belief. Dylan is the singer-songwriter with the highest reputation in the history of rock music, if not the whole of popular music, yet this reputation depends pretty absolutely on a few hours of music that he wrote in the 60s — between his second LP, The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan, in 1963 and John Wesley Harding in 1967, where he is already tending towards lean meditations on the bare bones of country music.
The only other album for which the very highest claims continue to be made is Blood on the Tracks,which dates from 1975 and is venerated by many enthusiasts, but which to the diehards sounds a bit like Dylan imitating himself, whatever claims you make for songs such as Tangled Up in Blue and Idiot Wind, and however endearing it is to hear Dylan throw off lines like “Relationships have all been bad / Mine’ve been like Verlaine’s and Rimbaud”.
You can make a case that Dylan is very like Rimbaud — the French teenager who wrote some of the greatest poetry of the later 19th century — not in his relationships but in his relation to language. Like the French adolescent prodigy he took the poetic diction of our tradition — in its further reach, Western civilisation — and remade it in his own image.
So, in one way he’s like Rimbaud because he blazed so young, so briefly and so brilliantly, and lived to outlive his genius. Though it’s odd in a way to think that with Dylan, as with the casualties of rock 50 years ago (such as Jim Morrison, Janis Joplin and Jimi Hendrix), the reputation depends on the early work.
Then again, that’s some kind of norm, isn’t it? Think of how much the Rolling Stones trade on the vigour of what they wrote 50 or more years ago.
The 60s were when popular music upped its ante. Philosopher Raimond Gaita said to me once that before Dylan, anyone at a university was expected to educate themselves in classical music, according to their limits, but afterwards not. It helped of course that Dylan burst on the world in the early 60s with songs such as Blowin’ in the Wind, so that he’s still sometimes thought of as a folk singer and a protest singer.
Poet Robert Lowell, who thought Dylan wrote some great lines though not sustained poems, said he had “a Caruso voice”, and it’s true that he had a voice — and in some sense still does — of such overpowering individuality that it haunts or harrows the soul.
He created his early music by sounding the depths of what he could learn from Woody Guthrie and the blues, but he gave it a grave monumentality that was at the same time radically individual — it sounded like nothing on earth, it didn’t sound like anything that was ordinarily called singing — yet it seemed, too, to speak for the folk, so that when he says in With God on Our Side “The country I come from / Is called the Midwest”, you believe him.
In fact, as “the unwashed phenomenon, the original vagabond” — as Joan Baez, his one-time lover and very beautiful vocal interpreter once called him — Dylan crisscrosses the US. But in his work from the mid-60s — in particular in the great songs on Blonde on Blonde such as Visions of Johanna(“Ain’t it just like the night to play tricks when you’re tryin’ to be so quiet? / We sit here stranded, though we’re all doin’ our best to deny it”) — he sings in a New York accent.
It’s the voice of the greatest of urban metropolises that enunciates that great line from Just Like a Woman — “I was hungry and it was your world”.
How could he dare to write with that kind of plainness and that kind of grandeur? And how could he create such an opalescent, allusive and elusive thing as the side-long, 11-minute Sad-Eyed Lady of the Lowlands? Perhaps it’s an image of the eternally mourning woman, widowed by life: “And your magazine-husband who one day just had to go” — as much a transcendence of the popular culture it plays on as the very greatest of Warhol.
And that’s the trick with Dylan: he inhabits the form of an idiom he is re-creating. He sounds grounded in the deepest folk tradition yet the inimitable voice is the voice of something that a lifetime ago was a form of rock ’n’ roll. Think of the stately ravaged opening of Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues: “When you’re lost in the rain in Juarez / And it’s Easter time, too / And your gravity fails / And negativity don’t pull you through …” It sounds pretentious to say this sounds like Baudelaire, but it does.
Dylan’s idiom — a language that was at once streetwise and capable of literary reference — also had extraordinary emotional range. Think of the blistering invective of Positively 4th Street and then place it against the lyricism of Love Minus Zero/No Limit (“My love she speaks like silence / Without ideals or violence / She doesn’t have to say she’s faithful / Yet she’s true, like ice, like fire …”) There’s a dazzling simplicity in that but the juxtaposition of “ideals” and “violence” is completely new in the world of popular music.
The times were a-changing and there’s a symbolic sense in which Dylan changed them. Quite early on he could write a song such as The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll that had as its refrain “But you who philosophise disgrace and criticise all fears” where “philosophise” is used in the sense of rationalise but the upshot has a Shakespearean effect; it’s as if Dylan bypasses ordinary literary language to create a kind of sung poetry shorn of artifice.
And it’s there in the most lushly romantic and dreamy of Dylan’s songs, Mr Tambourine Man, perhaps the clearest example of why he is such a great songwriter, why he was once such a dazzling singer and why he is a poet.
In Ballad of a Thin Man Dylan derides someone who has been through all of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s books and is described as having discussed lepers and crooks with great lawyers.
I once discussed Dylan with one of the world’s great literary critics, Christopher Ricks — the man who did the knockout edition of Laurence Sterne’s Tristram Shandy and who wrote the knockdown defence of Milton against his modernist critics. Ricks is one of Dylan’s most formidable admirers. He believes that when you put Dylan’s words together with music, he is an extraordinary maker of worlds out of words.
Dylan created for the rock music of the baby boomer generation a poetic language equal to its hubris in thinking it could discover a new heaven and a new earth, that it could encompass a radical new politics and some kind of derangement of the senses that might open up a new spirituality.
It may be that all these things were delusions or potential traps, but the language he used to shape and shade them has outlasted its occasion. That’s why it speaks to the millennials. That’s why they’ll be there in droves to see the grand old man of rock who is also so much more.
Dylan changed the language in which we think and feel.
Decades ago I gave up rock music and tried my way with classical music. But Dylan’s words and music have never left my mind.
When we shore up the ruins of what we have made Western civilisation, how could he not have a high and mighty place? Who do we think could compare with him?
Robert Spencer's 'History of Jihad' Opens Eyes
By Amil Imani
https://admin.americanthinker.com/articles/2018/07/robert_spencers_emhistory_of_jihadem_opens_eyes.html
When I read Robert Spencer's new masterpiece, The History of Jihad: From Muhammad to ISIS, it was as though George Orwell had summed up Robert Spencer and uttered his famous words: "In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act."
Before starting to tell you about this unique documentary book about the history of jihad, I must tell you I have firsthand experience with this ideology. I confess, there are not many people able to put this into words so accurately and so eloquently and so easy to read and understand as does Robert Spencer. In the history of jihad, from cradle to grave, Spencer has outlined – irrespective of what the term in "Islam" may mean – the facts on the ground and conclusively demonstrated Islam's violent nature from its very beginnings. No need for us to go back to the time of Muhammad and re-examine the historical records; Spencer has already done it and provided us with many anecdotal insights.
It is true: Islam has been imposing its oppressive, intolerant, and deathly dogma without let-up. This archaic, primitive belief of over 1,400 years' duration has been and continues to be at war with valiant people the world over who refuse to bend their necks to its yoke. What Spencer has done is turn on the lights brightly for all to see.
Spencer is one the most erudite American authors who understands Islam, perhaps better than 90% of Muslims around the world. He has constantly faced the vilest of attacks from both liberals and Muslims for simply telling the truth. I'll add a footnote here: "When one hears the truth, one can only be silent or join the cause."
There are few Islamic scholars out there who are able to write such convoluted subject matter with such clarity. The History of Jihad: From Muhammad to ISIS clarifies how it happened, why it happened, and what the civilized world should do in order to survive this ongoing jihad. Spencer gets to the root of jihad and beautifully explains why and how a jihadist surrenders totally to the religion of surrender in exchange for blanket security.
In The History of Jihad, Spencer delves into why the great majority of jihadists emanate from the ranks of those born into the religion of Islam, and why they are the ones who are most thoroughly indoctrinated and influenced by Islamic dogma in their most receptive early years. He also has perfectly detailed the earlier Islamic wars and conquests, including the prophet Muhammad's participation. This book clearly explains that Islam is tantamount to violence. Violence is the lifeblood of Islam, and it has been ever since the time of Muhammad in Medina, by Muhammad's own edict and conduct.
The History of Jihad is a one-of-a-kind book that discusses how Islamic jihad took over country by country and started forced conversion. It discusses the Jews, Christians, and Zoroastrians (who have almost been eradicated), as well as the Hindus and others. The prophet Muhammad, during his Mecca years, was ridiculed for his confused sayings by his own tribe of Quraysh. He was called "shaeron majnoon" – crazed poet.
The death of his first wife and wealthy employer Khadija left Muhammad even more vulnerable to the ridicule and harassment of the Meccans. He fled from Mecca to Medina and, in the relative safety of that city, with a large tolerant Jewish community, Muhammad found more people willing to join his clique.
Once in Medina, Muhammad hit on a most powerful formula for success. He justified everything by claiming that Allah wanted it this way. And Allah was nothing to trifle with. He held the key to the most magnificent paradise, as well as to a dreadful Hell. The duty of every good Muslim became unquestioning obedience to everything that Muhammad said and wished. Muhammad became Allah's gatekeeper to paradise and Hell.
Muhammad's formula worked magic with the Bedouins of Arabia, who thrived on robbery and killing. His religion spread like a pandemic in no time at all, via jihad against the infidel.
Notably, as Muhammad gathered more and more followers, he turned on the Jewish community of Medina, killed the men, plundered their belongings, and captured their women and children as slaves. That was the birth of "jihad." Be meek and deceptive first, until you gather enough power, then unsheathe the sword. It worked then and it is working today.
In no time at all, the barbarians of Arabia, fascinated by the win-win promise of Muhammad – you kill, you get the booty from your victims in this world (you get killed, and your abode will be the unimaginably glorious sensuous paradise of Allah), sword in hand, sallied forth to lands near and far.
I highly recommend this book for everyone who wants to know the history of Islam and its conquests through jihad. Order two or more, and send one to your elected representative. You owe it to your yourself, your children and your country.
Labels: Books and Things, Islam and Terrorism, Robert Spencer
Dianne Feinstein was an easy mark for China’s spy
By Paul Sperry
https://nypost.com/2018/08/08/dianne-feinstein-was-an-easy-mark-for-chinas-spy/
As vice chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee and a ranking member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) has been investigating allegations of President Trump’s “collusion” with Russia.
But now we learn Feinstein may be the one compromised by a foreign power.
Turns out that Communist China had a spy in her office. A 20-year employee of Feinstein’s, the agent had been reporting back to China’s Ministry of State Security for well over a decade before he was caught in 2013, according to the FBI.
A Chinese-American who doubled as both an office staffer and Feinstein’s personal driver, the agent reportedly was handled by officials based out of the People’s Republic of China’s consulate in San Francisco, which Feinstein helped set up when she was mayor of that city. He even attended consulate functions for the senator.
Feinstein says she took the staffer off her payroll “immediately” after the FBI informed her five years ago that her office had been infiltrated by Chinese intelligence, and agents had identified the mole in a briefing. In a statement, the Democratic senator insisted he had “no access to sensitive information” and that he was never charged with espionage.
In June 1996 — after the staffer had begun working for Feinstein — the FBI detected that the Chinese government was attempting to seek favor with the senator, who at the time sat on the East Asian and Pacific affairs subcommittee of the Foreign Relations Committee, which oversees US-China relations. Investigators warned her in a classified briefing that Beijing might try to influence her through illegal campaign contributions laundered through front corporations and other cutouts.
The warning proved prescient.
One Chinese bagman, Nanping-born John Huang, showed up at Feinstein’s San Francisco home for a fundraising dinner with a Beijing official tied to the People’s Bank of China and the Communist Party Committee. As a foreign national, the official wasn’t legally qualified to make the $50,000-a-plate donation to dine at the banquet.
After a Justice Department task force investigated widespread illegal fundraising during the 1996 Clinton re-election campaign, Feinstein returned more than $12,000 in contributions from donors associated with Huang, who was later convicted of campaign-finance fraud along with other Beijing bagmen. The DNC and the Clinton campaign had to return millions in ill-gotten cash.
Still, Beijing got its favored trade status extended — thanks in part to Feinstein. In speeches on the Senate floor and newspaper op-eds, she shamelessly spun China’s human-rights violations, as when in 1997 she compared Beijing’s 1989 massacre of hundreds of young demonstrators to the 1970 Kent State shootings, calling for the presidents of China and America to appoint a human-rights commission “charting the evolution of human rights in both countries over the last 20 to 30 years,” that “would point out the successes and failures — both Tiananmen Square and Kent State — and make recommendations for goals for the future.”
Feinstein also led efforts to bring China into the World Trade Organization in 1999, which gave Beijing permanent normal trade relations status and removed the annual congressional review of its human-rights and weapons-proliferation records.
Feinstein, still among the Senate’s most influential China doves, travels to China each year. Joining her on those trips is her mega-millionaire investor husband, Richard C. Blum, who has seemingly benefited greatly from the relationship.
Starting in 1996, as China was aggressively currying favor with his wife, Blum was able to take large stakes in Chinese state-run steel and food companies, and has brokered over $100 million in deals in China since then — with the help of partners who sit on the boards of Chinese military front companies like COSCO and CITIC.
China investments have helped make Feinstein, who lives in a $17 million mansion in San Francisco and keeps a $5 million vacation home in Hawaii, one of the richest members in Congress.
Feinstein has insinuated that Trump is compromised by a foreign power. But it’s clear Feinstein has an alarming blind spot when it comes to China and national security.
Labels: Bill/Hillary Clinton, Far East
FATHER OF NEW MEXICO ISLAMIST COMPOUND LEADER IS LINDA SARSOUR'S 'MENTOR'
Training camp for child terrorists has chilling connection to top Democratic Party operative.
Leo Hohmann
https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/270991/father-new-mexico-islamist-compound-leader-linda-leo-hohmann
Siraj Ibn Wahhaj Jr., 40, of Clayton County, Georgia (bottom, center), was arrested along with his two sisters and two other adults last Friday in New Mexico on charges of felony child abuse for holding 11 starving children in an underground trailer hidden from view in a compound described as "overflowing" with weapons and ammunition.
But there is more to this story that is not appearing in the nightly news accounts we've all been following.
Nobody is talking about Wahhaj's well-connected father, Siraj Wahhaj Sr., a radical Brooklyn imam who is the spiritual adviser to Democratic Socialist and Bernie Sanders supporter Linda Sarsour.
The elder Wahhaj also has ties to the two most prominent U.S. Muslim organizations -- the Council on American-Islamic Relations, or CAIR, and the Islamic Society of North America, or ISNA -- and he was an unindicted co-conspirator in the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center.
Sarsour, co-chair of the Women's March on Washington, has become the face of ISNA. She spoke at an ISNA conference in Chicago last summer in which she praised Wahhaj Sr. as her "favorite person" and called on U.S. Muslims to wage political jihad against the Trump administration. Since that time she has been working to elect far-left Democrats to public office such as Dr. Abdul El-Sayed in Michigan, Alexandria Ocasia-Cortez in New York, and Stacy Abrams in Georgia.
Siraj Wahhaj Jr., according to court documents, was training the malnourished kids to carry out school shootings. Essentially, it was a jihad training camp for child terrorists.
Clothed in rags and reduced to skeletons, the children were living with five adults at the compound in Taos County, a remote area of northern New Mexico. Police found the body of a toddler on the grounds which they believe to be that of Abdul-Ghani Wahhaj, the 3-year-old son of Wahhaj Jr. and grandson of Wahhaj Sr. According to court documents, Wahhaj Jr. also faces abduction charges for allegedly kidnapping his son from his mother's home in Georgia. While focused on the boys' military training, he neglected their basic needs while leaving them malnourished and living in horrific conditions described by police as "Third World."
But the media seems reticent to bring up this Muslim "extremist's" family's ties to Sarsour, a darling and rising star in the Democrat Party, as it tilts more to the extreme left to placate its base in the age of Trump. Nor are they posing the question: If Wahhaj Jr. holds "extremist" views, where did he get them from? Could it have been from his imam father?
Father schooled in Wahhabi Islam in Saudi Arabia
The 40-year-old Wahhaj Jr. is the son of Siraj Wahhaj Sr., 68, a black Muslim convert who went on to become a well-known and politically-connected Saudi-trained imam. Wahhaj Sr. was an honored guest at the Clinton State Department and the Obama White House. He was the first Muslim to lead prayer at the U.S. House of Representatives in 1991. He once predicted in a widely available sermon that U.S. democracy would "crumble" and be conquered from within by Islam, and also said it is "our duty as Muslims to replace the U.S. Constitution with the Quran."
Wahhaj has called for death to all homosexuals and lesbians, citing Islamic law.
Wahhaj Sr., speaking at a fundraiser for the Benevolence International Foundation, said:
I pray Allah will bless us to raise an Army, and I'm serious about this. We were very close, recently. We had made intention to raise an army of 10,000 men in New York City. Muslim men to fight in the way of subhanahu wa ta'ala. And this is serious.
So this is the father of the guy who has a compound stocked with military-grade weapons and floor-to-ceiling ammunition in the remote New Mexico desert, where he was training young boys to fight in the way of Allah.
Wahhaj Jr. had lived near Atlanta in Clayton County and none of the information that led to his capture would have come to light were it not for the fact that one of his wives, Hakima Ramzi, filed a missing child report late last year regarding her 3-year-old son. Ramzi said her husband, Wahhaj Jr., took the boy to the park in Clayton County and never came back.
The local sheriff told New Mexico media his department had "suspicions" that Wahhaj and the boy were present at the compound in Taos, but they did not have enough evidence to get a warrant.
That didn't happen until last week, when someone inside the New Mexico compound got word to police that they were starving.
If Siraj Wahhaj Sr. is not already being investigated by the FBI for any possible knowledge of his son's criminal activities, we can only hope that such an investigation will be forthcoming.
It's not as if Wahhaj Sr. has a pristine reputation. He has already been linked in court documents to the 1993 World Trade Center bombing and testified on behalf of the notorious "Blind Sheikh" Omar Abdel-Rahman, who was convicted for masterminding the bombing.
Wahhaj Sr. also serves as the leading spiritual mentor to Sarsour, who last year called on Muslims to wage jihad against the Trump administration and exhorted them not to assimilate into U.S. society.
Sarsour last summer addressed the annual convention of the Islamic Society of North America or ISNA. She had glowing words for her "mentor," Siraj Wahhaj Sr., who was sitting in the audience:
And to my favorite person in this room, that’s mutual, is Imam Siraj Wahhaj, who has been a mentor, motivator, and encourager of mine. Someone who has taught me to speak truth to power, and not worry about the consequences. Someone who has taught me that we are on this earth to please Allah and only Allah, and that we are not here to please any man or woman on this earth. So I am grateful to you Imam Siraj, and you might think this is weird, but every once in a while, when I get into that deep dark place, Imam Siraj comes and talks to me. And he helps me to emerge out of those places, so I’m grateful to you Imam Siraj, and may Allah bless you and protect you for a long time for our community, because we need you now more than ever.
Wahhaj Sr. is known for his stridently anti-American views, a theme that Sarsour has parroted in her speeches, though the politicians who openly cavort with her are rarely called into question for associating with her.
"In time this so-called democracy will crumble and there will be nothing, and the only thing that will remain will be Islam," Wahhaj Sr. said, according to a 2003 Wall Street Journal article.
Sarsour posted to her Facebook page (above) on March 5 a picture of herself with Siraj Wahhaj Sr. and CAIR leaders Dawud Walid and Nihad Awad, among others, at an anti-Trump protest rally in Washington, D.C.
Sarsour was known as the de facto campaign manager for Dr. Abdul El-Sayed, who finished second in the Democrat gubernatorial primary Tuesday, Aug. 7, in Michigan.
Sarsour has also endorsed the candidacy of Democrat primary winner Stacy Abrams for governor of Georgia, who had her picture made with Sarsour in January and tweeted "Proud to stand with activist organizer and @womensmarch national co-chair LSarsour."
Mideast scholar Daniel Pipes wrote in his book Militant Islam Reaches America that Wahhaj Sr. represents Muslims who both despise the United States and ultimately wish to transform it into a Muslim country."
Wahhaj Sr. grew up Jeffrey Kearse in a Baptist family. He converted to the Nation of Islam as a young man and later converted to orthodox Sunni Islam. In 1978, he attended a class in Naperville, Illinois, with 50 African-American Muslims consisting of 40 days of intense training on the Quran. He later traveled to Mecca for more training. He returned to the U.S. and started his own mosque in 1981 and has been, since the early 1990s, one of the most popular circuit-riding imams in the U.S., traveling around the country preaching hatred against America and Israel.
One of his more telling quotes, from a sermon, is as follows:
Islam is better than Democracy. Allah will cause his deen, Islam, to prevail over every kind of system. And you know what? It will happen.
Philip Haney, a retired Homeland Security investigator and author of the book "See Something, Say Nothing," said he wonders if the FBI has been tracking Wahhaj Jr. given the notorious activities of his father. And if there were, why didn't they raid the compound in New Mexico sooner?
Haney said he has been following the preaching career of Wahhaj Sr. closely for years.
"His father is definitely connected to the Muslim Brotherhood. ... This has been going on way too long when Siraj Wahhaj goes around the country preaching hatred and sharia law in our mosques," Haney said. "I've been tracking his career for some time and it's well past time that this information gets laid out on the table."
Haney said Wahhaj Sr. has known ties to the radical ADAMS Center mosque in northern Virginia, and Dar al Hijra mosque in Washington, D.C., as well as past affiliations with Anwar Al-Awlaki, and the "Blind Sheikh."
"Now that this has come out, it shows the American people were really smart not to nominate Dr. Abdul El-Sayed for governor of Michigan," he said. "Imagine if you had nominated this guy with all this new information coming out about CAIR and ISNA, the face of whom is his buddy Linda Sarsour."
Labels: Islam and Terrorism
Why the Left Is So Afraid of Jordan Peterson
The Canadian psychology professor’s stardom is evidence that leftism is on the decline—and deeply vulnerable.
CAITLIN FLANAGAN
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2018/08/why-the-left-is-so-afraid-of-jordan-peterson/567110/
Two years ago, I walked downstairs and saw one of my teenage sons watching a strange YouTube video on the television.
“What is that?” I asked.
He turned to me earnestly and explained, “It’s a psychology professor at the University of Toronto talking about Canadian law.”
“Huh?” I said, but he had already turned back to the screen. I figured he had finally gotten to the end of the internet, and this was the very last thing on it.
That night, my son tried to explain the thing to me, but it was a buzzing in my ear, and I wanted to talk about something more interesting. It didn’t matter; it turned out a number of his friends—all of them like him: progressive Democrats, with the full range of social positions you would expect of adolescents growing up in liberal households in blue-bubble Los Angeles—had watched the video as well, and they talked about it to one another.
The boys graduated from high school and went off to colleges where they were exposed to the kind of policed discourse that dominates American campuses. They did not make waves; they did not confront the students who were raging about cultural appropriation and violent speech; in fact, they forged close friendships with many of them. They studied and wrote essays and—in their dorm rooms, on the bus to away games, while they were working out—began listening to more and more podcasts and lectures by this man, Jordan Peterson.
The young men voted for Hillary, they called home in shock when Trump won, they talked about flipping the House, and they followed Peterson to other podcasts—to Sam Harris and Dave Rubin and Joe Rogan. What they were getting from these lectures and discussions, often lengthy and often on arcane subjects, was perhaps the only sustained argument against identity politics they had heard in their lives.
That might seem like a small thing, but it’s not. With identity politics off the table, it was possible to talk about all kinds of things—religion, philosophy, history, myth—in a different way. They could have a direct experience with ideas, not one mediated by ideology. All of these young people, without quite realizing it, were joining a huge group of American college students who were pursuing a parallel curriculum, right under the noses of the people who were delivering their official educations.
Because all of this was happening silently, called down from satellites and poured in through earbuds—and not on campus free-speech zones where it could be monitored, shouted down, and reported to the appropriate authorities—the left was late in realizing what an enormous problem it was becoming for it. It was like the 1960s, when kids were getting radicalized before their parents realized they’d quit glee club. And it was not just college students. Not by a long shot.
Around the country, all sorts of people were listening to these podcasts. Joe Rogan’s sui generis show, with its surpassingly eclectic mix of guests and subjects, was a frequent locus of Peterson’s ideas, whether advanced by the man himself, or by the thinkers with whom he is loosely affiliated. Rogan’s podcast is downloaded many millions of times each month. Whatever was happening, it was happening on a scale and with a rapidity that was beyond the ability of the traditional culture keepers to grasp. When the left finally realized what was happening, all it could do was try to bail out the Pacific Ocean with a spoon.
The alarms sounded when Peterson published what quickly became a massive bestseller, 12 Rules for Life, because books are something that the left recognizes as drivers of culture. The book became the occasion for vicious profiles and editorials, but it was difficult to attack the work on ideological grounds, because it was an apolitical self-help book that was at once more literary and more helpful that most, and that was moreover a commercial success. All of this frustrated the critics. It’s just common sense! they would say, in one arch way or another, and that in itself was telling: Why were they so angry about common sense?
The critics knew the book was a bestseller, but they couldn’t really grasp its reach because people like them weren’t reading it, and because it did not originally appear on The New York Times’s list, as it was first published in Canada. However, it is often the bestselling nonfiction book on Amazon, and—perhaps more important—its audiobook has been a massive seller. As with Peterson’s podcasts and videos, the audience is made up of people who are busy with their lives—folding laundry, driving commercial trucks on long hauls, sitting in traffic from cubicle to home, exercising. This book was putting words to deeply held feelings that many of them had not been able to express before.
It's hard to think of a best-selling self-help book whose author has not appeared on the classic morning shows; these programs—Today and Good Morning America and CBS This Morning—are almost entirely devoted to the subject of self-help. But the producers did their part, and Peterson did not go to their studios to sit among the lifestyle celebrities and talk for a few minutes about the psychological benefits of simple interventions in one’s daily life. This should have stopped progress, except Peterson was by then engaged in something that can only be compared to a conventional book tour if conventional book tours routinely put authors in front of live audiences well in excess of 2,500 people, in addition to the untold millions more listening to podcasts and watching videos. (Videos on Peterson’s YouTube channel have been viewed, overall, tens of millions of times.) It seemed that the book did not need the anointing oils of the Today show.
The left has an obvious and pressing need to unperson him; what he and the other members of the so-called “intellectual dark web” are offering is kryptonite to identity politics. There is an eagerness to attach reputation-destroying ideas to him, such as that he is a supporter of something called “enforced monogamy,” an anthropological concept referring to the social pressures that exist in certain cultures that serve to encourage marriage. He mentioned the term during a wide-ranging interview with a New York Timesreporter, which led to the endlessly repeated falsehood that he believes that the government should be in the business of arranging marriages. There is also the inaccurate belief that he refuses to refer to transgender people by the gendered pronoun conforming to their identity. What he refuses to do is to abide by any laws that could require compelled speech.
There are plenty of reasons for individual readers to dislike Jordan Peterson. He’s a Jungian and that isn’t your cup of tea; he is, by his own admission, a very serious person and you think he should lighten up now and then; you find him boring; you’re not interested in either identity politics or in the arguments against it. There are many legitimate reasons to disagree with him on a number of subjects, and many people of good will do. But there is no coherent reason for the left’s obliterating and irrational hatred of Jordan Peterson. What, then, accounts for it?
It is because the left, while it currently seems ascendant in our houses of culture and art, has in fact entered its decadent late phase, and it is deeply vulnerable. The left is afraid not of Peterson, but of the ideas he promotes, which are completely inconsistent with identity politics of any kind. When the poetry editors of The Nation virtuously publish an amateurish but super-woke poem, only to discover that the poem stumbled across several trip wires of political correctness; when these editors (one of them a full professor in the Harvard English department) then jointly write a letter oozing bathos and career anxiety and begging forgiveness from their critics; when the poet himself publishes a statement of his own—a missive falling somewhere between an apology, a Hail Mary pass, and a suicide note; and when all of this is accepted in the houses of the holy as one of the regrettable but minor incidents that take place along the path toward greater justice, something is dying.
When the top man at The New York Times publishes a sober statement about a meeting he had with the president in which he describes instructing Trump about the problem of his “deeply troubling anti-press rhetoric,” and then three days later the paper announces that it has hired a writer who has tweeted about her hatred of white people, of Republicans, of cops, of the president, of the need to stop certain female writers and journalists from “existing,” and when this new hire will not be a beat reporter, but will sit on the paper’s editorial board—having a hand in shaping the opinions the paper presents to the world—then it is no mystery that a parallel culture of ideas has emerged to replace a corrupted system. When even Barack Obama, the poet laureate of identity politics, is moved to issue a message to the faithful, hinting that that they could be tipping their hand on all of this—saying duringa speech he delivered in South Africa that a culture is at a dead end when it decides someone has no “standing to speak” if he is a white man—and when even this mayday is ignored, the doomsday clock ticks ever closer to the end.
In the midst of this death rattle has come a group of thinkers, Peterson foremost among them, offering an alternative means of understanding the world to a very large group of people who have been starved for one. His audience is huge and ever more diverse, but a significant number of his fans are white men. The automatic assumption of the left is that this is therefore a red-pilled army, but the opposite is true. The alt-right venerates identity politics just as fervently as the left, as the title of a recent essay reproduced on the alt-right website Counter-Currents reveals: “Jordan Peterson’s Rejection of Identity Politics Allows White Ethnocide.”
If you think that a backlash to the kind of philosophy that resulted in The Nation’s poetry implosion; the Times’ hire; and Obama’s distress call isn’t at least partly responsible for the election of Donald Trump, you’re dreaming. And if you think the only kind of people who would reject such madness are Republicans, you are similarly deluded. All across the country, there are people as repelled by the current White House as they are by the countless and increasingly baroque expressions of identity politics that dominate so much of the culture. These are people who aren’t looking for an ideology; they are looking for ideas. And many of them are getting much better at discerning the good from the bad. The Democratic Party reviles them at its peril; the Republican Party takes them for granted in folly.
Perhaps, then, the most dangerous piece of “common sense” in Peterson’s new book comes at the very beginning, when he imparts the essential piece of wisdom for anyone interested in fighting a powerful, existing order. “Stand up straight,” begins Rule No. 1, “with your shoulders back.”
CAITLIN FLANAGAN is a contributing editor at The Atlantic. She is the author of Girl Land and To Hell With All That.
Labels: Jordan Peterson
Blackhawks legend Stan Mikita was a lesson in greatness
By Steve Rosenbloom
http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/hockey/blackhawks/ct-spt-blackhawks-stan-mikita-steve-rosenbloom-20180807-story.html
Stan Mikita in 1967 (Neil Leifer/SI)
A legend died Tuesday.
Stan Mikita suffered from dementia for several years, so his death at 78 was not unexpected, just delayed.
But the imprint the wondrously talented Blackhawks center left on hockey as a player and an innovator will live forever.
The curved stick. Mikita invented that.
The helmet. Mikita became the first superstar to wear it proudly and didn’t care what anyone in a vicious game said or thought.
The ability to change his style six years into the NHL and extend his glorious career to a 21-year run that landed him deservedly in the Hockey Hall of Fame.
He was a lesson in greatness.
A member of the 1961 Hawks team that produced the organization’s last Stanley Cup until Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews decided enough already, Mikita still reigns as the Hawks’ all-time scoring leader. His 1,467 points, for perspective, are 639 more than Kane. He finished with more than double Toews’ career total so far.
Mikita also reigns as the franchise’s all-time leader in assists with 926 , more than Kane has points. Like Kane, Mikita was a magical stickhandler. He could bring the old Stadium to a roar with those slick hands, deftly dishing the puck to a linemate who might not have known he was open.
He also scored 541 goals when he wasn’t looking for his teammates.
And speaking of those hands, the 5-foot-9, 169-pound Mikita used to be a fierce and willing fighter. Three times in his first six full seasons, Mikita rang up at least 119 penalty minutes and recorded 97 and 94 in two of the others.
And then it stopped. He stopped fighting. He stopped the stick-swinging. He just stopped the nonsense.
After a season of 154 penalty minutes, he went down to 58 and then 12 and 14. In those last two seasons, he played hockey and played it so well that he won the Hart Trophy awarded the league’s MVP, the Art Ross Trophy that goes to the leading scorer and the Lady Byng Trophy that is given to the most gentlemanly player, the kind of magnificent hat trick that not even Wayne Gretzky could match.
It was during that time that Mikita changed the game with the curved stick and the helmet.
Wearing the helmet was an act of survival. He was only 5-9, after all, and he wasn’t dropping the gloves much anymore. Helmets became mandatory less than two decades later.
The curved stick was an accident. Mikita told the story that he broke his blade slightly during a practice and didn’t feel like going to the bench to swap it out. He continued practicing, and suddenly the puck was flying everywhere, most notably at Hall of Fame goalie Glenn Hall’s head. This was different. Something was happening.
Afterward, Mikita jammed one of his new straight sticks under a door, shoved some books under the blade to bend it, and came back the next day to find it a weapon that would alter the game’s look forever.
He brought the stick to practice, and now the puck was really ammunition. Bobby Hull wanted in on whatever the little Czech kid had going. It was so crazy, Mikita told me, that Hall left the ice one time.
The whole league got in on it, and man, you should’ve seen some of those banana blades. The NHL finally put a limit on the size of the curve, but the curve wasn’t leaving, and still hasn’t.
Another thing about the man: He had a mouth as sharp as his shot. During the unveiling of a sculpture celebrating the Hawks, Mikita saw me walking to the ceremony and, knowing I’d written some hard words about the franchise and its ownership, said, “They let you in here?’’
Years before his death, Mikita was recognized with a statue of his own, the captain’s C on his sweater, the puck on his stick, his head up, his body ready to make a move. The sculpture captures Mikita. And it doesn’t. A sculpture couldn’t possibly capture all of that man.
srosenbloom@chicagotribune.com
Twitter @steverosenbloom
READ MORE: Blackhawks great Stan Mikita dies at 78: 'He was hard-working. He was unselfish. He was a superstar.' »
For Stan Mikita, all the Blackhawks memories are gone »
Special place of honor for Stan Mikita at All-Star weekend »
Labels: Hockey, Obituaries
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In the middle of the rush hour yesterday afternoon, a train derailed in Princes Street Gardens in Edinburgh. Thankfully there were no passengers on board and nobody was hurt. However, the ensuing chaos which continues to envelop Scotland's rail network is causing misery for commuters in Central Scotland.
Princes Street Gardens is one of the busiest stretches of track in Scotland, carrying every commuter train to and from the west and north - that's everyone to and from Glasgow, Stirling, Perth, Aberdeen, West Lothian. A whole load of people. 23 million passengers use Edinburgh's stations every year. You get the picture.
I've written about First Scotrail's incompetence at the first sign of trouble on many occasions before and, unsurprisingly, they have fallen to their usual standards.
Last night my husband didn't get home until 8 pm - and that was only because he got a bus to the west of Edinburgh (first time using his new bus pass) and I went to pick him up. He told me that it was the usual story - Waverley thronged with commuters wanting to go home and absolutely no information being provided to them by First Scotrail about what was going on. A friend of mine was also similarly stranded and said on her Facebook page that she'd been told that there was no replacement bus service because it was Network Rail's fault, not Scotrail's. Well, nice to know that in the midst of a crisis everyone's playing the blame game first. Would it not be better, more satisfying, to work together to try to help out customers?
In these situations, you could be forgiven for thinking that Scotrail actually enjoy putting their passengers through hell. I've been told to walk to the other end of the station to catch a train and when I've got there, been told that it's changed and I have to go back to where I've just been. This morning at Livingston North railway station, the website told passengers to go up to the road and wait for a replacement bus service to Edinburgh, while the information boards said there would be a train at 8:36 and people should wait at the platform. When people used the information service to question this contradiction, they were told in no uncertain terms that there would be no trains before 9am, only to say just a few minutes later that there would be a train at 8:36 after all.
These are just exactly the sorts of issues that arose during the snow - you would think that the company would have learned lessons from that debacle.
Instead, it seems to think that if the Glasgow - Edinburgh line is working, then they don't need to bother themselves about anyone else. That was a common theme on my Facebook and Twitter feeds last night and one that's been noticed in today's Scotsman.
You would think that they would have some sort of business continuity plan in the event of a disruption in Princes Street Gardens that would be all ready to implement, with someone being given responsibility for empathetic, clear and precise communications to passengers. Instead, it seems to the passengers that Scotrail use the Decapitated Poultry method of crisis management.
And everyone's being very quiet about this derailment. I want to know what caused it, I want to see the inspection records for that part of the track and I want it explained in detail why there is still this level of disruption 15 hours later
But, most of all, I want ScotFail to raise its game. Surely not too much to ask.
Labels: First Scotrail
You really have to laugh at this , poor hubby (a grown man ) doesnt get home until after 8 because a train derails , thsy should have put on a train especially for him ,why didnt they just lift the train back onto the track ,surely they are not that heavy !!!!
I would rather be happy that nobody got injured or even worse killed by a train derailing rather than moaning about hubby getting home late.
Caron said...
Perhaps you might like to read the first line of my post again in which I say exactly how thankful I was that nobody was hurt.
This was yet another example of Scotrail being pretty rubbish. They need to up their game on so many levels.
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CN Perspectives Archive
Catholic quarter to revitalise Parramatta CBD
The Diocese of Parramatta has announced plans for a major project around the St Patrick’s Cathedral precinct that will revitalise and renew the northern end of the Parramatta business district, Parramatta Sun reports.
The project, known as St Patrick’s Quarter, will provide more opportunities for Catholic services including pastoral outreach, education, and community support within the Diocese of Parramatta, which includes Western Sydney and as far the Blue Mountains.
With the population of Parramatta projected to grow over the next 10 years, the Church is committed to using its presence in the Parramatta CBD to do more and be more for the local community.
St Patrick’s Quarter will include a new CBD school to be known as St Patrick’s Cathedral College. The new school will eventually cater for local primary and secondary students and is scheduled to open in 2020. To meet the needs of local families, the new school will operate from 6am-6pm and include a preschool and out-of-school-hours-care facilities.
A new Church administration building, to be located next to St Patrick’s Cathedral on a currently unused section of St Patrick’s Cathedral grounds, will also be a component of the reimagined precinct. The administration building will accommodate staff from the various Catholic agencies and ministries. A modest commercial/residential hub on the corner of O’Connell Street and Victoria Road will also be part of the project.
Diocese of Parramatta Bishop Vincent Long OFM Conv. said that St Patrick’s Quarter will energise the area and ensure that the Church in Parramatta will continue to provide services and support to local families and the most disadvantaged and vulnerable in the community.
“The Catholic Church has a proud history of contributing to the Parramatta community going back almost 200 years,” Bishop Long said.
“Our mission is best served when we have the parishes, churches, schools and other physical infrastructure in place to meet community need, wherever that is.” St Patrick’s Quarter will provide an exciting opportunity to bring many of our Catholic entities under the one roof, so that we can do more and be more together. Entities such as CatholicCare, Catholic Youth Parramatta and Catholic Education Diocese of Parramatta provide wonderful services to the community.”
Diocese of Parramatta unveils revitalisation plans for St Patrick’s Cathedral precinct (Parramatta Sun)
Revitalised Catholic Quarter proposed for North Parramatta (Parramatta Diocese)
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Share 'Exhibition: A L Henderson's 1904 Holiday Snaps from Athens / Athens: Benaki Museum, until 5 May 2019'
Alexander Lamont Henderson (1838-1907) was a photographer who was distinguished for his services by Queen Victoria of Britain and a member of the Royal Photographic Society. The information related to his life and work is poor as his "royal" images were destroyed after the death of Queen Victoria and his "commercial" work which was donated to the library of the London Guildhall Museum in 1907 was…
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Articles by: jdavis15
Voice of the Patriots
Sports October 24, 2011 at 8:15 pm Comments are Disabled
For George Mason University’s men’s basketball radio announcer Bill Rohland, the game is his life. Rohland started his radio career working for WGMU radio as a student in 1989 and has been in the business ever since. “I had friends from high school who were older than me who were working at the campus radio station and they were calling the men’s games for the campus radio station,” Rohland said. “I said I wanted to get involved, but of course it’s kind of a hierarchy thing. The upperclassmen were doing it and freshman and sophomores weren’t really allowed. So I said, ‘Well, what about women’s games?’ So I started doing those.” Rohland began calling games for the women’s basketball team on the campus radio station. They played their home games in the old Linn Gym before moving to the Patriot Center. “It was one of those things where if someone was shooting a free throw, you couldn’t talk because there was maybe 50 people in the place and everyone could hear you talking.” Through calling women’s games, Rohland gained the experience and the connections needed to call men’s basketball games. His passion for sports and writing were also influential in […]
Capital Challenge Cup
The stage was set. More than 150 fans piled into the bleachers and two teams, the Rams and the Patriots, were ready to compete in the inaugural Capital Cup challenge in Prince William. The cup was to serve as the equivalent to the Little Brown Jug, fought for between Minnesota and Michigan, in one of the oldest rivalries in college football. It was to promote a quality match between two teams that seemingly always produce close, hard-fought performances. “We play [VCU] once a year and it has always been a one or two goal game,” said Steve Hyjek, the ice hockey team’s coach for the last two seasons. “They seemed like a logical choice, so we decided to go with it.” Hyjek and his team put together the event, inviting the Rams into the Prince William Ice Center to kick off the inaugural match. VCU came out strong, jumping ahead 4-2 after just one period. Mason, however, responded with a dominating second period performance and tied the game just before the zamboni took the ice to prepare for the final 20 minutes. “We had them on their heels heading into the final period,” Hyjek said. “We got a couple of […]
Patriots Playoff Hopes Hang in the Balance
Around this time of year, things start to change. The air gets colder, trees change colors and holiday shopping begins. On the Mason women’s soccer team, Head Coach Diane Drake saw some changes unfold with her team as well. Sophomore goalkeeper Lyndse Hokanson was the first to turn her season around. Playing the Old Dominion Monarchs in Norfolk, Va. for the first game of the conference schedule, senior goalkeeper Alex Bodenschatz allowed three first half goals. When Hokanson came in, she allowed one late in the second half, but with a 4-save performance as her minutes increased in overtime, Hokanson solidified a starting job without a split in minutes. Over the next nine games, she only allowed eight goals, compiling four clean sheets along the way. “Everybody makes her look better and she makes other people look better,” Drake said. “It has been very good, very positive, peaking all at the right times.” The Patriots needed some strong goalkeeping down the stretch. After allowing seven goals in the first two conference games — four at Old Dominion and three at conference leader William & Mary — Mason allowed a mere three goals over the next seven games. “It’s just much […]
Editorials October 24, 2011 at 7:52 pm Comments are Disabled
I wear a lot of hats on campus. I’m a senior studying English and journalism. I’m president of our school’s chapter of Circle K International and I’m the opinion editor here at Broadside. I love everything I do, but the truth is sometimes I wonder if I’ve undertaken more than I can handle. I’m not here to start complaining about the weight of the world and all that stuff, trying to claim that my life is hard. I’m sure that my daily struggles and dealings pale in comparison to what many of you face on a daily basis. Bare with me though, if I don’t get all this out I might explode. I transferred to George Mason University in the fall of last year. Since that time I have been enrolled in classes every semester — including each of the summer ones. My class schedule is always packed and, as is the case with everyone else, all of my professors convene weekly to ensure that my assignments are always due within 24 hours of each other, and that they’re all exceptionally in-depth and long. I’ve been sitting right around a 3.0 GPA since the spring and I’m not happy with […]
Western Powers Would Do Well to Examine the Past
Muammar Gaddafi is no more. And that’s all well and good; now Libya has one of its many barriers to democracy out of the way. It’s certainly a step forward for Libya, but I have to restrict myself from celebrating. There’s a quote by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. that reads: “Returning hate for hate multiplies hate, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.” And with that quote in mind, I’m sure we can all remember Osama bin Laden’s death and the gross overreaction in front of the White House that followed. These leaders were thugs and, possibly, the world is a better place without them, but how does that give you the right to celebrate their death? Better yet, do you know why I’m contesting that right? Let’s go further into the discussion by recalling the single most influential cause of violence in the Arab world: colonialism. The British and the French colonized the Middle East — at least what has been determined to be the Middle East — and created false unity by drawing states’ […]
U.S. House of Representatives passes the “Protect Life Act.”
Editorials October 24, 2011 at 7:51 pm 1 comment
Last Thursday, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the “Protect Life Act.” By doing so, they limited the subsidies that health care previously provided for abortion costs. The religious, personal health and economic aspects of the bill are now facing each other head on. The House showed an overwhelming support for the bill, while Obama and others, concerned with job opportunity and women’s health, took a solid stand against it. House Minority Leader, Nancy Pelosi publicly expressed her disgust with the passage of the bill. “[House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer] made a point and I want to emphasize it. Under this bill, when the Republicans vote for this bill today, they will be voting to say that women can die on the floor and health care providers do not have to intervene if this bill is passed. It’s just appalling.” Had she not sounded slightly deranged, her point could have attracted more positive attention and concern from her audience. However, regardless of the ridicule Pelosi’s extreme depiction in her strongly worded sentiment received, her concern is valid. The “Protect Life Act” inhibits health-care providers from assisting a woman with a health risk — that could be resolved by the termination […]
When One is Worth More Than a Million
The death of Apple billionaire Steve Jobs earlier this month garnered attention from people all around the world. Millions mourned his passing and paid respect to his life’s work, calling him an inspiration and genius to technology and innovation. A similar thing happens with most celebrities and others in the spotlight — Michael Jackson, anyone? When someone of public recognition dies, the media is all over it, and continues the coverage well after his death because he is “important.” Granted, most of the time it’s well deserved coverage. These members of the spotlight have made enormous contributions to society through things like the arts, technology and leadership. If this is the case, however, then why do other prominent figures of society seem to be left out of this “death coverage?” When a Supreme Court justice dies, you don’t see reporters in a frenzy over the details of his death, or similarly with the passing of government leaders, Nobel Prize winners, etc. Something is out of balance. Even if these types of public figures were covered more after their death, problematic issues would still exist. According to the Population Reference Bureau’s 2010 World Population Data Sheet, about 156,000 people die each […]
The Death of a Dictator is Not a Victory for America
“In this case, America spent $2 billion total and didn’t lose a single life. This is more of the prescription for how to deal with the world as we go forward than it has been in the past.” Vice President Joe Biden spoke these words soon after the death of Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi was confirmed last week. If you listen close enough, you can almost hear the slow beat of the war drums as you read Biden’s victory call. You need not be clairvoyant to see these words as fanciful language for more perpetual war. The newspaper headlines will ring out in triumph over the death of a human being in a far off land instead of focusing on the death and starvation of Americans at home or the impending debt crisis threatening to destroy Social Security and Medicare. So when Biden says, “America didn’t lose a single life”, he is absolutely right. But his inability to acknowledge another life as being just as valuable as one that happens to be born an American is simply intolerable. There is no doubt Gaddafi was an evil dictator, but regardless of his own lack of respect for human life, he was […]
With Season Fast Approaching, Paul Hewitt Begins Filling Void Left by Jim Larranaga’s Offseason Departure
(AP) — A few days before the start of practice, there was still bubble wrap in Paul Hewitt’s office. Art work that would eventually go on the wall was still on the floor, including prints of “Skins and Shirts” by Ernie Barnes and “Short Stories” by Joseph Holston. It had been five months since Hewitt took the job as coach at George Mason University, but a nonstop summer of moving, recruiting and settling into new surroundings had put office decor way down on the priority list. It’s still a bit jarring to walk in and not be welcomed by Jim Larranaga, whose smiling face sat behind the desk for 14 seasons. “Coach L” became a local legend and a national mid-major hero, taking the Patriots to the Final Four in 2006 and winning a school-record 273 games. But Larranaga is gone, having made the jump to Miami of the Atlantic Coast Conference. Taking his place is Hewitt, who made the reverse trip, having been fired by Georgia Tech of the ACC before Mason hired him in May. Whoever the new coach happened to be, he would be standing squarely on Larranaga’s shoulders. Hewitt is no exception. When Hewitt was invited […]
Steve Jobs, Occupy Wall Street, and the Virtues of Capitalism
This past week, America lost one of the most prolific entrepreneurs of our time. A rarity is the person whose life was not in some way transformed by the creative ingenuity, keen business acumen and computer engineering genius of Steve Jobs. To quote President Obama, “The world has lost a visionary. And there may be no greater tribute to Steve’s success than the fact that much of the world learned of his passing on a device he invented.” Jobs is the embodiment of the American dream. He started a small company in his parents’ garage and, within a decade, transformed it into a multibillion-dollar corporation with thousands of employees. Steve Jobs wasn’t born with a silver spoon in his mouth, but he was born with a brilliant mind and a disposition toward hard work. Steve Jobs sought to channel these talents into a successful business and, in so doing, changed the way we live and, to again quote the president, “the way each of us sees the world.” But Jobs embodies much more than the American dream. He embodies the virtues of the economic system that makes the American dream possible. This economic system is currently being affronted by growing […]
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We're doing a fundraiser to help one of our kids to continue attending an English-speaking school. This includes raising money for this month, June 2012, through next June 2013. See below for details and a link.
Junior is a seventeen-year-old young man with a heart of gold. Most who have had the privilege of meeting him know within a few minutes that God has placed a special calling on his life. His heart for the Lord inspires both his peers and the spiritually mature. Many of the kids nicknamed him "Pastor Junior" because of his dedication and diligence to studying and preaching God's Word.
Although it is difficult to imagine, Junior used to beg on the streets of Delmas Blvd. in Port-au-Prince with many other young kids. He was ushered from the streets into living in the MDL Boys' Home through a friend’s street ministry. Shortly after coming into the safely of MDL, his mother was murdered in Cite Soleil and then his father later passed away in the countryside. Today, Junior, this once timid child, boldly preaches the Gospel, having put his faith and hope in Christ more than four years ago. He often teaches at devotionals and even partnered with other children from MDL two summers ago in doing an evangelistic outreach for their extended family members and community in the village where they grew up.
Junior has long expressed his hope of becoming an evangelist. Ranch Church in Santa Ynez, California has expressed a desire to come alongside Junior’s calling and financially support him at Calvary Chapel Bible College in Murrieta, California. Needing an American high-school equivalent education to apply, Junior is currently enrolled in an American school in Haiti called Morning Star Christian Academy. We are praying that more people would come alongside to support his tuition fees until he finishes in 2014. To help Junior to continue to prepare for the work God is calling him to do we need to raise $475.00 a month for tuition and lunch money. Please prayerfully consider whether you would like to become involved in helping Junior by committing to financially sponsor him for half a month's tuition, one month, or multiple months of school.
Please pray for Junior, that he would continue to thrive in every aspect of his life, and that he'd keep Christ at the center of everything he does. If you'd like to sponsor school for Junior, please click here and scroll to the bottom of the page for payment options.
Mesi Anpil!
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Byron quoted
The Arnold Schoenberg Center in Vienna decided to give Avior Byron the Avenir Foundation Research Grant for a one month research trip in Vienna in order to work on two books that he is writing.
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Huberman Communicating with Bach: reviews from Australia
by Avior Byron
H. Brewster Jones of The Advertiser, Adelaide, Australia wrote on 4 August 1937: ‘Huberman seemed detached, aloof, in his playing of the Bach ‘Chaconne’. His beauty of tone and phrasing was something to revere at a distance rather then enter into. It had a classical purity and spiritual exaltation. It was as if Huberman was communicating with, in intimate fashion, the very innermost thoughts and feelings of the great composer, Bach; without making any concession whatsoever to what might be termed popular appeal.’
The Daily News from Perth, Australia wrote on 12 August 1937 an article on Huberman. They dedicated almost half of it to a concert incident were he had to stop the concert due to noise of motor cars that came from the street. He complained that there was only one set of doors that separated the concert hall from the street. A subtitle in the article was entitled: ‘Beware of the Gods’. At this part Huberman told the reporter about a similar incident in Kursaal Theater in Cairo. He claimed that although the Egyptian Government tried to take care of the problem, the theater was burned down. "So beware of the wrath of the Gods of music!" said Huberman to the reporter. Perhaps Huberman was half joking. Nevertheless, his demand for silence during performance (including his complementing the audience for not coughing during the concert) and his reference to ‘the Gods of music’ is telling.
Howard Ashton of The Sunday Sun and Guardian Magazine (Australia) wrote on 4 July 1937 that Huberman said that ‘Art… is the philosophy of the soul.’ To make music like Beethoven, Huberman argued, it is not sufficient to have talent; ‘A man must devote himself, must sacrifice himself. To be a musician one must be a prophet.’ He suggested that ‘great music’ lasted from Bach to Brahms’ and that ‘An age which is suspicious of emotion and romance and sacrifice is not an age fertile in great art. Plenty of clever art, but little great. But I think that there are signs that the people are beginning to get tired of it, and wish to go back to something that springs more from the heart and soul.’ Then Huberman reveals to which target he pointed his arrows: ‘Machine made art can never really satisfy.’
Ashton wrote that Huberman approaches music ‘as Gerardi once told me he approached the Haydn ‘Cello Concerto, "with fasting and prayer." His bow is a sward in the eternal crusade for that which is true and beautiful, his violin an instrument for voicing the thoughts and emotions of the great men who have created beauty for his expression. He dedicates his artistic powers to something more austere and more moving than dazzling effects and specious appeals to wonder and admiration.
Posted in Music, Performance, Research, Reviews, Concert reviews, Resources, Interviews | No Comments »
Interview with David Shemer - The Performance of Early Music - Part II
This is the second part of the interview with David Shemer. Click here in order to read the first part of the interview with David Shemer on the performance of early music.
Could you please tell us about some of the difficulties of forming the Jerusalem Baroque Orchestra?
How much cyberspace do you have? The difficulties were prodigious, and I only wish I could say that they are all overcome by now. Twenty years ago, when I decided to start a baroque orchestra, it was not much more than an adventure - let’s try and see what happens. There was practically no infrastructure for a baroque orchestra: hardly any period instruments, very few trained baroque performers, and no money whatsoever to buy the former, to train the latter, to rent rehearsal spaces, to buy or rent orchestra material - let alone to pay anybody any kind of fee. There was a good will of a small group of people who were involved in the orchestra’s first steps, and that good will proved to be sufficient to pull through the incredibly difficult starting period, to solve at least some of the problems that seemed insurmountable. The development was slow, but promising. My hope was that if we’d manage to survive the initial stage and to prove our viability, the continuation would be easier: there will be plenty of people who would want to help. After all, a baroque orchestra is something that this country’s musical culture really needs, right? Well, lots of people seemed to agree, in principal, but there was preciously little practical help other than friendly “way-to-go!” pats on my shoulder. I think that this reflected an ambiguous attitude of the Israeli musical establishment to the very idea of historical performance and to musical authenticity. Things did change somewhat in more resent years, but for a long time - much longer than in most places in Europe - HIP [Historical Musical Performance, A.B.] was considered here as something for "freaks" only. Typically, many people, both individuals and representatives of the musical establishment, found it a lot more convenient "to sit on the fence" [not to take any stance, A.B.] and to observe our desperate efforts without committing themselves too much - perhaps, even musing, how long it would take us to give up… In the due course we joined the very crowded list of orchestras supported by the Ministry of Education and Culture, and to this day this is our main source of income, other than selling tickets to concerts. We wouldn’t survive without this subsidy, and yet, it doesn’t amount to much more than mere survival.
How would you define the current artistic and economic situation of the Jerusalem Baroque Orchestra (JBO)?
When I think 20 years back, I feel both a very big pride and an equally big frustration. We started, as I already told you, practically from zero. And now it is an orchestra of a substantial public standing, with subscription series in Jerusalem and Tel-Aviv, with constantly growing audience, with successful appearances abroad and invitations for further tours (including the prestigious Bach Festival in Annsbach, Germany, in 2011). We have a very impressive list of guest conductors and soloists - starting with our Honorary conductor, Maestro Andrew Parrott, and including such world leading figures in the early music field as James Bowman, Peter Harvey, Emily van Evera, Walter Reiter, John Holloway, Maggie Faultless, Catherine Mackintosh, Roberto Gini, Michael Schneider, Alberto and Paolo Grazzi and many others. So many of them are happy to be invited back, in spite of the fact that the financial remuneration we can offer them is long way below their standard. But most importantly, I am proud that among our players are now some of this country’s finest musicians. Quite a few talented young string players have been attracted to the orchestra as the best option for them to get exposed to the period playing, and we are constantly training and preparing new "baroquenics" who eventually join the orchestra’s ranks.
Why, then, big frustration? Because to some extent it still is as a nearly impossible uphill struggle as it has been from the outset. All this growing and pretty sophisticated operation called JBO, with all these many wonderful programs (and I truly think that our programs really are wonderful), is managed by a tiny team of people working crazy hours for fees that barely cover our expenses, and without even a little office or telephone line to its name; I, personally, have to spend totally disproportional amounts of time on administration issues, rather than on being, actually, the orchestra’s musical director. The best of our players can only commit themselves to JBO’s projects when there are no conflicting offers from elsewhere. And as they really are great players, there often are conflicting offers, and JBO’s fees are not really competitive. Thus, nothing can be taken for granted, and every project often feels as if the orchestra has to be reinvented from scratch… We have a fantastic field record of training next generations of Baroque players who then find themselves in key positions of the early music scene in the world - most notably, Kati Debretzeni, one of the central HIP names in Europe, who did her first steps in period playing with JBO in the early 1990s… I certainly do not blame them: the early music field in Israel cannot offer them enough opportunity of professional development – or, indeed, of financially supporting themselves. By the way, most of these people stay in close touch with JBO, which they consider as kind of their Alma Mater, and come here to perform with us on every possible opportunity.
To sum it all up, as I said before - a baroque orchestra is something that this country’s musical culture really needs, right? I, actually, do strongly believe in it, and not only me; so do my colleagues at JBO. So, we go on…
Taruskin had argued that much of the early music performance practice was highly influenced by the performance practice of Stravinsky. Do you agree with this claim? Taruskin and others argue against the concept of ‘authenticity’ in performance of early music. What is your opinion concerning the issue of ’authenticity’?
I think that Taruskin’s claim is absolutely right, insofar as HIP and Stravinsky’s performance practice having common roots. But what Taruskin makes of it has nothing to do with what early music today stands for. Remarkably, if you read Taruskin carefully, you cannot but notice that he is aware of that, too! Taruskin is a towering figure in the field of musicology and musical criticism, and yet, he fails to avoid the same very trap that many much lesser critics and musicologists fall into. Time and again, one reads in reviews of an early music performance phrases like "performances on historical instruments often sound dry, detached and "correct", but in this concert there was nothing of it: N’s playing was vivid and highly emotional", etc. And one cannot help wondering - where did critics hear all these "dry and detached" performances? And if they did, how could they know that "dryness and detachment" stem from use of period instruments and performance practices? Of course, some historical performances are more interesting and exciting than the others. Surprise, surprise: so are "mainstream" performances! But did anyone ever say that X’s playing was emotionally charged, even though he/she played on a Steinway? Sure enough, HIP people usually aspire to know what they are doing - but why should that rule out their emotional involvement? Indeed, it doesn’t; Taruskin never tries to hide his admiration for performers like Bylsma, Leonhardt (hardly fringe figures of the early music movement!) and quite a few others. So, the question might be, isn’t this a case of putting theory before practice? Here is the theory: HIP is a load of "do" and "do not", it is all full of rules which must infringe on performers’ intuition, rendering their playing or singing dry and cerebral. And if so many actual performances do not, in fact, sound at all dry and cerebral - well, too bad. These must be exceptions - and thus Taruskin turns Leonhardt and Bylsma into such exceptions, and every time a music critic (in spite himself?) likes an HIP concert, he labels it "an exception". Mind you, a really good concert, just as a really good work of any art, IS an exception, but this has nothing to do with the above mentioned theory…
How, then, are HIP and Stravinsky connected? Stravinsky often expressed his views on musical performance in an extreme and provocative way, but they boil down to one basic thing: a performer is not alone in the process of music making. He or she is the part - albeit an important part - of a process that begins with the composer and ends with the listener. One of the prominent characteristics of late Romanticism (which, to a certain extent, is still with us today) is the cult of artistic freedom, which included also a practically unlimited freedom of the musical performer. Why otherwise would composers mark their scores so scrupulously? Monteverdi and Bach didn’t need to resort to such detailed markings: they had no reason to assume that their performers would try to do anything other than realize, in the best possible way, the composers’ intentions. And, as the performers lived, generally, just around the corner, these intentions were for them not really anything mysterious. Stravinsky’s attitude, shared in various ways by quite a few musicians of the early 20th century, is marked by his unwillingness to accept the mentioned above total freedom. For centuries, there was little or no difference between the composer and the performer. Both made music (often it was one and the same person), and their activity was interdependent, symbiotic. Stravinsky - the Neo-Classicist! - felt nostalgia for this symbiosis. So does HIP. However, HIP does not need to go Neo-Classic. Its subject-matter is the kind of music that has this symbiosis in it, and one of HIPs’ goals is discovering this symbiosis and bringing it back to life and to musical practice…
"Authenticity" seems to be another example of shooting first and then marking the goal. It is easy to say that playing music today exactly like it was played 300 or 400 years ago would barely be possible, and even if, in the unlikely eventuality, we succeeded it this endeavor, how would we know that we did? Ergo, Taruskin is right in his objection to authenticity in the performance of early music? Well, only if the claim of authenticity is based on "doing exactly as They did" - and nobody ever seriously made this claim! Authenticity, to quote Bruce Haynes’ wonderful recent book The End of Early Music, is "a statement of intent". Haynes argues that "what produces interesting results is the attempt to be historically accurate, that is, authentic".
Personally, I don’t use the word "authenticity" much - partly, because of its bad PR, to which Taruskin’s writings contributed quite a bit. But I certainly don’t object to it - particularly, if it is used in its "Haynesian" context of pursuing historical accuracy, to the best of our ability. I think, though, that HIP - Historically Informed (or better still - to quote Bruce Haynes again, Historically Inspired) Performance - better reflects what we do in early music.
First part of the interview with David Shemer on the performance of early music.
Telemann, Hogwood and the listener/composer/performer relationship
Richard Taruskin: Text and Act
Igor Stravinsky: The Poetics of Music
Bruce Haynes: The End of Early Music
Posted in Music, Performance, Interviews | No Comments »
An Interview with David Shemer: The Performance of Early Music - Part I
David Shemer: The Performance of Early Music - Part I
David Shemer is one of the most importrant figuers in the Israeli early music scene. He graduated in theory, conducting and harpsichord at the Jerusalem Academy of Music. He holds a DMA (Doctor of Musical Arts) from the State University of New York at Stony Brook . He plays the Harpsichord and conducts. He is the founder of the Jerusalem Baroque Orchestra. Shemer is a teacher at the Jerusalem Academy of Music.
I would like to thank David Shemer for agreeing to be interviewed for my blog. Note that you will find here only the first part of the interview (which is still in progress). So if you wish to ask David Shemer questions, you may add them as comments (in the form below), and they might be included in this interview. I have included here several videos that might help the reader understand and appreciate whom Shemer is speaking about.
Avior Byron: When did you first hear early music? What do you remember from that experience?
David Shemer: This is something that I remember very clearly. Can almost put a date on it. What is surprising is how late it happened in my life! I have been playing harpsichord for some years, graduated from the Jerusalem Academy, and then got an Artist diploma form the Tel Aviv academy - both as a harpsichordist and as a choral and orchestral conductor. After that, I got a British Council scholarship, to study harpsichord and conducting in London, and yet, I didn’t have any clear idea what I was going to do there. I loved Baroque music for as long as I can remember myself, but knew next to nothing about period instruments or HIP (historically informed performance). In Israel, in the late 70s, there was hardly a chance to properly hear it. At that time, one could occasionally hear a harpsichord (mostly, a non-historical version of it), here and there some recorders, but that was it. I was 28 when I came to London. It was September 1980. One morning, at the very beginning of my career as a student of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, I woke up and switched on the radio. What I heard was unbelievably beautiful. It wasn’t difficult to recognize the music, the 2nd movement of Bach 5th Brandenburg concerto. But never before have I heard this music played with such a profound expression and such flexibility. It was sublime! I kept on listening to the rest of the piece, eager to know who these magicians were. The magicians were The English Concert, directed by Trevor Pinnock (who also played harpsichord solo, of course), with Steven Preston on traverso and Simon Standage on Baroque violin.
Emmanuel Pahud & Trevor Pinnock & Jonathan Manson Recording Scene
Byron: What made you decide to devote yourself to working with early music?
Shemer: Right there and then. The music sounded on this recording like nothing I have heard before. It spoke to me so directly, so overwhelmingly, that I knew immediately that this is what I want to do for the rest of my life. A risky statement, I know, but so far, nearly 30 years later, it proved to be correct. For the next two years, while I was living in England, I tried not to miss any reasonably important performance of early music on period instruments - and there were millions of these in London - and the more I heard, the more I got convinced that this is how this music wants to sound.
Byron: It is very interesting that your first significant experience of hearing a HIP performance was that of hearing a recording and not a live concert. Do you think that there is any significant difference between how HIP performances sound on recordings and how they sound in live concerts?
Shemer: I don’t think the difference is any bigger than with any other kind of music. It might be the most "modern" thing about HIP: in the older times, there were no recordings… But as far as HIP being, as I strongly believe, a modern musical activity, recorded sound is very much a part of it.
Byron: How long did you stay in London? Did you hear during that time also HIP performances in other places? Was there any difference? What were the significant performers and ensembles that you heard during that period? Did you make any important contacts that you wish to mention?
Shemer: I stayed in London for just over two years. In those days (as also today, I believe), there was no need to go to other places, in order to hear non-British Baroque groups. Many came to England. Thus, I heard Musica Antiqua Köln, Gustav Leonhardt, Paul O’Dette, Bob van Asperen, Franz Brüggen and his (at that time) ensemble and many others. And then, of course, I’ve heard all the most important British Baroque musicians: The English Concert with Trevor Pinnock (tried not to have missed any of their concerts; later, I also studied with Trevor and remained on friendly terms with him); Academy of Ancient Music, with Christopher Hogwood; Consort of Musick; The New London Consort with Philip Picket (whom I also studied with), and others. The person, whom I consider the most important person in my development as a harpsichordist is Jill Severs; she hasn’t been active as a performer, but is a fenomenal teacher. Through Jill, I’ve met many of my generation’s leading English harpsichordist - most notably, Maggie Cole, with whom we became very close friends.
The best dance scenes from "Le Roi Danse." Music by Lully, Cond. Reinhard Goebel, Musica Antiqua Köln
Dieterich Buxtehude, g minor prelude, Gustav Leonhardt plays
Lute Virtuoso Paul Odette - 1984 SOUNDBOARD TV Series DVD
Händel - Messiah "But who may abide", Emma Kirkby, Christopher Hogwood: Cond., The Academy of Ancient Music
Byron: Concerning you sentence ‘the more I heard, the more I got convinced that this is how this music wants to sound.’: do you still feel this way? Did HIP performance change since the 1980s with relation to how is sounds?
Shemer: I most certainly do. Of course, HIP has changed. This is part of its beauty. After all, HIP means "historically informed" - and we always become better informed than before. But it is much more than that. The HIP movement becomes more mature, more "at ease" with what it is doing, not afraid of making mistakes. The sound of the best HIP ensembles is nowadays mellower, warmer, richer than it used to be in the 70s and 80s, when early musicians were as much interested in the historical truth, in their HIP ideology, as in sounding different than mainstream. Also, HIP musicians’ technical proficiency improved dramatically, over these years. Nobody in their right mind would say any longer that one only plays Baroque violin because one wasn’t good enough in the modern one! Not after we have heard Andrew Manze, Monica Hugget, Maggie Faultless, Simon Standage or our own Kati Debretzeni. This change of attitude is not necessarily always good news, though. By becoming part of the mainstream itself (and it has, in many places; although, so far not in Israel!), HIP is in a constant danger of loosing some of its own integrity, some of its, as Anthony Rooley put it, cutting edge. Finding the right proportion between a fanatical proselitism and a too-comfortable being a part of musical establishment isn’t always easy.
BAROKKANERNE & KATI DEBRETZENI play CORELLI
Byron: Could you say a few words about Jill Severs? What made her such a good teacher and such an important figure in your life?
Shemer: Jill was the first person in my life as a harpsichordist, not just to talk about the importance of touch in playing the harpsichord, but actually to show me how it is done. People often refer to the harpsichord as an instrument that plonks away, without any difference as to how it is played. Without mentioning any names, I have heard several highly respectable musicians saying things like "there is no possibility of interpretation on the harpsichord", or "it has no soul", or "if Bach only knew the grand piano!…", etc. I’m sure that other harpsichordists had similar experiences. This is funny, of course, bearing in mind the huge popularity of this instrument with some of the best musicians of all times, such as Bach, Scarlatti, Handel, Rameau, Couperin - to name but a few. Incidentally, the highly influential little book by F. Couperin is called "L’Art de toucher le clavecin" - and Couperin certainly wouldn’t bother to write a book on a non-existent subject. To put it shortly, Jill Severs taught us what Couperin’s title (and the book itself) suggests: the art of touch upon the harpsichord. I’ve always liked this instrument, but never so passionately until I had the good fortune of studying with Jill. She opened the soul of the instrument for me. To a very great extent, she shaped what I have been thinking and persuing about playing and teaching the harpsichord to this very day.
Byron: If you would have to recommend only 5 CDs of early performances, which would you choose? Could you recommend another list of 5 CDs for starting listeners of early music?
Shemer: Oh, dear, not one of these desert island questions! Frankly, I don’t listen to very many CD’s, always preferring live performances. And when I do listen to CD’s, my preferences shift too often, to give a serious answer to this question. As for the second part of your question, I would suggest to starting listeners to EM to strive for a widest possible variety of listening experience. Listen to good opera recordings (with Les Arts Florissants, for instance), to good orchestras - there are many, and choosing a few won’t be fair to the others; Gustav Leonhardt, a fabulous harpsichordist, comes across his recordings in a less favorable way than in his unforgettable live concerts, but still he’d be my No 1 choice; probably, Andrew Manze on the violin - but what about Monica Hugget and, again, many others? The same would go for other instruments/ensembles. Sorry for not being too helpful here… Perhaps one more useful suggestion might be - pay close attention to the Italians: Alessandrini, Bernardini, Gini, the Grazzi brothers…
Rameau - Motet, In convertendo, William Christie, Les Arts Florissants
Byron: Where are the biggest centers of early music in the world? Are there any important websites that are a must for early music lovers?
Shemer: Just as 20-30 years before, Amsterdam (Holland, in general) and London are still hugely important. To that, one must add France and - as I already mentioned in the previous answer - Italy. But, of course, Germany mustn’t be discarded - what with Musica Antiqua Köln, the Freiberg orchestra, Academy of ancient music Berlin… In general, interesting things happen in many places, but these seem to be the most important centers. As for websites - yes, I’m sure there are, but - again, I must confess, I’m quite cybernetically challenged, and don’t use the net much. If there is a bit of free time, I prefer to practice or do something completely different, not necessarily (early) music-related…
Byron: I agree that HIP is a modern activity, yet this might sound strange to some people. After all the ideal, might seem at first sight, is to go back to the past. What makes HIP a modern activity in your eyes?
Shemer: This is a very serious issue. Of course, HIP is also about going to the past. The thing is, the very act of going to the past - certainly, on such a massive scale - is something that has never been done in the past. This is what is so utterly modern. When people in the 18th century London established "the Academy of Ancient Music" (after which a very well known Baroque orchestra was named in the 1970s), they were talking about performance of music of 1-2 generations ago. There was precious little interest in music that was REALLY early. But this is not at all about music only. How much your average 18th century English gentleman really cared about, say, Indian culture? (Never mind the fact that India might be part of the British Empire!). Or Chinese? Or African? Listen to Mozart’s "Turkish" music - can you find a Turk that would embrace it as his own? Of course not, and Mozart never intended it to be - in fact, he couldn’t care less about the real Turkish music. Looking straight into the eyes of any "foreign" culture - whether geographically or historically removed from the spectator - is a profoundly modern phenomenon. The point of HIP, unlike the musical mainstream (although the mainstream has also changed a great deal, in this respect, during the last few decades) is not approaching the early music with the condescending: "they wrote some really nice tunes, but we, of course, can play them much better". Rather, HIP strives to be informed and inspired by this foreign culture - and it is a foreign culture to us - in all its aspects: composition, performance, instrument making, acoustics… Inasmuch as consciously cultivating respect for the Other culture is a modern (postmodern, as some might say) thing, HIP is very definitely modern.
Here the interview continues: Interview with David Shemer - The Performance of Early Music - Part II
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Email interview with Schoenberg’s Children
June – August 2008
There are very few people living today who knew Arnold Schoenberg during his life. While doing my PhD I tried to contact Leonard Stein in order to interview him on how Schoenberg conducted his own music. Unfortunately, Stein died several days after I have sent him an email so the interview did not take place. I was lucky to Interview Dika Newlin here: Dika Newlin on Schoenberg conducting Pierrot lunaire.
Schoenberg was married twice. He married his second wife, Gertrud Bertha Kolisch, on 28 Aug 1924, in Mödling, Austria. Their three children: Nuria Dorothea, born 7 May 1932, Barcelona, Spain, age: 76; Ronald Rudolf, born 26 May 1937, Santa Monica, California, USA, age: 70; and Lawrence Adam, born 27 Jan 1941, Los Angeles, California, USA, age: 66, agreed to be interviewed. I assumed that their memories might be affected by the many years that passed and their experiences since their childhood. On 4 June 2008 I wrote an email to Nuria, Ronald and Lawrence, asking the following:
Would you agree to be interviewed via email about your father as you remember him and other issues (contemporary performance and promotion of his music, etc.)?
I thought it would be interesting if I could email the questions to all of you, but receive separate answers (that will not be coordinated).
At the end of the interview I will show you the results for confirmation.
The reactions to the email interview idea were positive. I grouped the questions by subject: childhood, On performance, Religion and customs, How you knew him as a father, Moving the Schoenberg Nachlass to Vienna, and Your mother and children. Not all of Schoenberg’s children answered all of the questions. One of the results of the fact that the interview was not coordinated is that some of the answers are very short, while others are very long. This was usually affected by how important and interesting the subject was for each person, but in some case probably also according to how much information each of them was willing to reveal.
Larry wrote the following disclaimer:
‘I must state that I was born in 1941 my father died in 1951. Most of my recollections are from the ages of 4 through 10 when he was near the end of his life. He was quite ill the last few years. My age now is approximately the same as his age when I was born and my mother’s age when she died!
They must have done something right or the three of us would not be so completely involved in preserving his legacy. We were fortunate not to be seduced by Hollywood’s glorification of immediate gratification. We were not materialistic and we grew up considering morality and ethics as the most important characteristics to admire
My memories have been “infected” by photographs, stories by my older brother and sister and commentaries written by others.’
Here is the result of the interview (I divided the interview to five parts so that it will be easier to read in a web format):
Part I: Childhood
Part II: On performance
Part III: Religion and customs
Part IV: How you knew him as a father and Moving the Schoenberg Nachlass to Vienna
Part V: Your mother and children and Appendix 1: Larry’s list of works that ‘would not “frighten the audiences”’
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Part V: Schoenberg’s Children on their mother and children
Could you say something about how your mother supported you father’s music during his life and after he passed away?
Nuria: Mother was an exceptional woman and a great support to my father. She had a very active, positive character and believed in my father and in his music 100%. She did a thousand jobs for the family, housekeeping and nursing and gardening and chauffeuring and many other activities which she had never done in Europe and had a great sense of humour. After his death she took over all the business with publishers and managed to keep us from realizing how bad our financial situation actually was. She helped the scholars who wanted to transcribe and publish my father’s German texts. She founded Belmont Music Publishers with Larry.
Larry: She devoted herself to his life and to his works. I know personally how, after he died, she initiated project after project to preserve his manuscripts, to secure performances for his works. These include her work with Leonard Stein preparing an inventory of the music and text manuscripts, then creating microfilms and microfiche facsimiles, with both Josef Rufer and Jan Maegaard identifying and creating microfilm or microfiche facsimiles producing catalogs of his vast legacy including all of the music and text manuscripts, the extensive library and other artifacts. She tirelessly negotiated with publishers (Gauner) fighting for his rights. She established what is now Belmont Music Publishers. She was intimately involved with the word premieres of Moses and Aron and Die Jakobsleiter. She helped establish the Schott Gesamtausgabe.
Are your children interested in their grandfather’s music?
Nuria: They are not musicians but they listen to and enjoy his music. I keep them informed about the activities of the ASC.
Larry: It is sad for me to acknowledge that none of my three children have shown any significant interest in their grandfather. My oldest son, Arnie, teaches anthropology. He is very musical and has even written an extensive thesis on ‘Music and leadership among adolescents in Salvador da Bahia, Brazil.’ Of course, I am very proud of my nephew, Randol, who has, in addition to his other skills, become a genuine Schoenberg authority and scholar.
Appendix 1: Larry’s list of works that ‘would not “frighten the audiences”’
Gurrelieder Fanfare – I better be careful with this work*
Suite for String Orchestra
Monn Cello Concerto
Verklaerte Nacht
Pelleas
Op.8 Orchestral Songs
Op 10. for Orchestra
Brahms and Bach arrangements
Windband variations for Orchestra
Within the same constraints (supple and friendly) local choral society could include:
Friede auf Erden
German Folksongs
The Chamber groups could perform:
Ein Stelldichein
1897 Quartet
Cabaret Songs for Chamber Orchestra
Preston for String Quartet
Scherzo for String Quartet
Lied der Waldtaube (chamber)
Nachtwandler
The Ojai Music Festival near Los Angeles prides itself in programming “modern and contemporary” music. Schoenberg is rarely on the schedule. Usually the program is devoted to a particular composer (this year it was Reich). If I were in charge of programming a Schoenberg Festival I would arrange the following events:
Schoenberg for Children – Morning Concert:
Ten Early Waltzes
Arrangements: Funiculi, Weil I …, Staenchen
Suite for Piano Op. 25
Six Pieces for 2 pianos
Iron Brigade (with animal sounds)
Die Prinzessin - multi media presentation
Evening Concerts:
1. Pierrot Lunaire in English with projected text, preceded by a short discussion of the work.
Cabaret Songs for Ensemble
2. Ode to Napoleon with projected text, preceded by a short discussion of the work.
3. Gurrelieder (for reduced ensembles)
Orchestral Interludes (Webern 2 piano 8 hands)
Songs (Berg reductions)
Lied der Waldtaube Chamber reduction
Finale (recorded version)
Afternoon Concerts:
1. Chamber Symphony Op. 9 for 2 pianos
2. Serenade
My War Years
My Evolution
Moses and Aron
Email interview with Schoenberg’s Children - introduction
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Part IV: Schoenberg’s Children on How you knew him as a father
Did you view of your father change after reading his writings and hearing his music?
Nuria: I learned a great deal about him when I read all of his writings and his letters and those of his colleagues and friends while I was preparing the “Lebensgeschichte in Begegnungen”. But the respect and love for him only became greater with more knowledge.
Is there a side in your father that you knew as children and think that if other people knew it, it would change the way his music is being perceived?
Nuria: I believe that the multimedia exhibition Larry and I curated in the ‘90’s has made a change in the attitude of a lot of people who saw and heard it. I am hoping the new one at the Schoenberg Center in Vienna will do the same. They both attempt to show Schoenberg in a many-faceted presentation: as a composer, a teacher, a writer and as a family man with a sense of humour. Making people familiar with him as a person seems to make it easier to approach his music with an open mind.
Did your perspective of your father and his music change during the years?
Nuria: No
Larry: I have also learned much about him by reading what others who knew him have written. I have been interested especially in the writings of those who studied with him or visited him here in Los Angeles. Recently I read an article in the American Organist in which the author described an afternoon at our Rockingham house. It is interesting for me to see how those normal for me events at home are filtered through others.
I must comment on what I consider to be the many false characterizations of my father:
He was stern, autocratic, demanding.
He composed mathematically using formulas.
He forced his students to compose as he did.
Moving the Schoenberg Nachlass to Vienna
I have heard a few Americans and Israelis who think that it was wrong to move the Nachlass to Vienna. They mention various reasons: Vienna treated Schoenberg badly; it should have stayed in America or should have moved to Israel; the move to Vienna supports a certain perspective of Schoenberg, etc. What is you opinion on this? Looking back at the move from California to Vienna, was it a good one?
Nuria: It was very fortunate for us that we could move the Nachlass to Vienna where it is appreciated so much more and is accessible to so many more people. In Los Angeles the Institute did a very good job of conserving the materials, but there was less and less interest in the study of the sources and ultimately almost no public activities. When the University requested that we should remove the Nachlass from the Arnold Schoenberg Institute and we made it known that it was available to be moved elsewhere, there was practically no reaction in Los Angeles in favor of keeping this Archive in California. My brothers will be more specific on this subject, I am sure.
When people say we should not have returned it to Vienna, I always answer: Schoenberg belongs in Vienna (because of the musical tradition of this city) and it is the Nazis that should not have been in Vienna. We have been treated extremely well by the authorities and by the large numbers of people who frequent the Center.
Larry: The history of the disposition of the legacy goes back to the 1950’s when my father was approached by the Library of Congress. He did decide to give his entire correspondence to the Library. I was involved with my mother in selecting, packing and shipping the items that were sent their each year. After my mother died we decided to transfer all of the remaining correspondence to the Library. While my mother was still alive there were some very serious attempts by various institutions to acquire the full legacy – the City of Darmstadt, the Academy in Berlin, Robert Owen Lehman (who intended to locate the materials in Lincoln Center) and the University of California in Los Angeles. When my mother died in 1967 we then became entrusted to secure the future location for the legacy. The University of Michigan proved to be the most serious among the many Universities who desired to house the collection. We had established a very good relationship with the representatives from the Music Department and had already signed a provisional agreement when a consortium of “local” universities requested that they give us a few months to see if they could develop an alternative that would allow for us to keep the materials in Los Angeles. The history of the Arnold Schoenberg Institute at the University of Southern California is well documented.
In 1995, after being formally evicted from the University, we once again had the opportunity to find a new home. Among the serious possibilities were the Getty Center for the History of Art and the Humanities in Los Angeles, the Peter Treistman Fine Arts Center for New Media at the University of Arizona, The Library of Congress (Music Division) in Washington, D.C., The Stanford University Libraries, Harvard University, the Paul Sacher Stiftung in Basel, Pepperdine University in Malibu as well as the University of Rochester/Eastman School of Music. None of these proved satisfactory in meeting our goals.
We were fortunate to have four excellent choices from among which to select the new home: a consortium made up of the Juilliard School of Music, Lincoln Center and the New York Public Library; The Hague; The Academy of Arts in Berlin and the City of Vienna.
We eliminated the consortium and concentrated on the other three. Each of us had our favorite always for different reasons: Ronny – The Hague, Nuria – Berlin and I — Vienna. We discussed the advantages and disadvantages of each location for months. We traveled together to each possible site and compared and contrasted the tree superb options. In the end we decided upon Vienna. We felt then and feel even more so now that it was the RIGHT choice.
The internet site – the ability for students and scholars to easily access the materials including facsimiles, transcriptions and translations of the correspondence and writings, the educational projects, the preservation of the materials, the China Project, the safe storage of the paintings and drawings, the Avenir scholarships, the cooperation with the Gesamtausgabe, the conferences, symposia and master classes, the new Multi-Media exhibition, the special exhibitions, the new recording projects, the superb facility for scholars and students, the international activities, the guaranteed funding, the excellent staff, the re-furbishing of the Schoenberg House in Moedling and the establishment of a museum there, the Journals, the Newsletters, the YouTube videos, the Jukebox, the active and enthusiastic Board and Beirat …. Am I satisfied? YES!
Vienna treated Schoenberg badly, Berlin treated Schoenberg badly, Los Angeles treated Schoenberg badly.
The University was throwing us out. There was no clamor in Los Angeles to stop that. The New York Times wrote very negative things about the family indicating that we were too restrictive and infringed on academic freedom! No University in the United States presented us a serious offer. The Library of Congress Music Division was in disarray. The Getty Center was not interested. The consortium in New York was disorganized. Stanford University, Pepperdine University, Arizona State all were either not serious or did not offer anything comparable to what we were offered in The Hague, Vienna or Berlin. Correspondence from Israel only came well after we had already made our preliminary decision and was very vague. I, for selfish reasons, wanted the Institute to remain in the States – hopefully in California.
I feel very fortunate that the Center is established in Vienna and I especially look forward to the upcoming exchanges with China.
Ronald: The best answer to those that criticize our move to Vienna is to ask the Complainer, “Where else.” We realized that we had only one opportunity to choose a place, that if we now for any reason failed or if our choice failed, it would be almost impossible to later find more than a repository. After USC made clear that it did not want the Archives there any longer, or at least that it would not accept any restrictions on what they could or couldn’t do with the Archives or the Archival Building, there was only one semi-serious offer from the United States which came too late with too little. That “offer” came at a time when we could not afford to keep the three main contenders waiting any longer while we looked into the new prospect. Moreover, it came from one very energetic and influential person. So we had to consider, what if that one person is no longer interested or around. Finally, it was clearly inferior to our three main offers: Vienna, The Hague and Berlin. Although for sentimental reasons, we favored the United States, what interest we found there amounted to mainly storing the materials and one rather ambitious computerized archival program with little music qualifications. This was probably largely because of the misinformation and bad publicity that USC was spreading about us to further their lawsuit. There was no offer from Israel. As for Germany, the objections to that country would be largely the same as to Austria. The Academy of Art had a very good proposal, placing the Archives on one floor of a new Academy Building. However, plans for that building were not yet funded, were projected far in the future and Berlin was undergoing serious financial problems. Accepting Berlin’s generous offer meant depositing the Materials there and then having to hope that funding plans succeeded. Furthermore, as a part of the Academy’s rather rigid Archival System, we felt that there would be considerably less chance of our achieving the open access and modern computer techniques that we have been able to put into use in Vienna. The Hague proposed a very attractive plan which we came much closer to accepting than anyone realized. It came from a love of Schoenberg and his music not stemmed from any nationalistic connections. The choice of Vienna was finally because it was the best offer from the best location where there was the best chance of success. We did not overlook Austria’s (and Germany’s) past. And we do not pretend that Anti-Semitism is completely dead there. However, one cannot exclude a country forever. We consider the Center as a part of Austria’s coming to terms with its past. In supporting the Center, Austria has answered the question: Who belongs in Austria, Hitler’s Nazis or the Jews. From our bad experience at USC, we found it easy to be distrustful of the Austrian’s promises. But Austria has more than lived up to its contractual obligations with respect to the Center. It has proudly encouraged, embraced and funded the Center as its own jewel. Anyone who sees, either in person or on the internet, the many varied Center projects, must acknowledge the correctness of our choice.
Continue to read the interview here:
Part III: Schoenberg’s Children on Religion and customs
Did your father mention anything about Judaism at home? Did you celebrate or mention any holiday? Did he speak about the bible? What was your father’s approach to Christianity at the time that you were children?
Nuria: My father did not talk about religion when I was a child. I do remember when I we drove past a synagogue and he told me: this is the temple where Jews go to pray. When I was in primary school some classmates of mine told me not to associate with one of the little boys in the class because he was a Catholic. I remember thinking: I think I am a Catholic. So I asked my parents what a Catholic is and Mother and my father explained to me that there are many different religions: Jewish, Catholic, Protestant and I remember something about Egyptians (!) and that the important thing is to believe in God. One must respect them all. He did not speak about the Bible. Of course I was aware of the texts he used when he composed the choral pieces Op. 50. My mother was Catholic and when they married my father had agreed to bring us up in that Faith, I think. I did not have any religious training until my brothers went to a Catholic school. Then I was sent to catechism and had Holy Communion and Confirmation. But I was already about 12 years old and had gone to public schools.
Ronald: Whatever our Father thought about religion while we were children was not transmitted to us– at least not directly. I didn’t even know what a Jewish holiday was. When I was still quite young, 6 or 7, (Nuria was 13 or 14; Larry 4 or 5 ) we were baptized Roman Catholic. Larry and I went to Catholic school and Nuria continued in the public school but took some religious instructions. I think this occurred mostly because of our Mother’s preference and our Father’s realization that he had not long to live and that we would soon be totally in her care. Larry remained a practicing Catholic at least through high school and I through college—I attended the University of Notre Dame. If I was at all aware of my Jewishness, I must have suppressed it. Looking back, I think everyone except me considered me Jewish.
I don’t recall any discussion of religious topics or God in the home, certainly not of Judaism. I never thought Mother was serious about her Catholicism until, when she was dying, she became very Catholic.
Larry: My father never discussed any formal religion yet he did stress ethical behavior. My formal religious training came from the Irish Catholic nuns at my elementary schools. I attended a local Catholic school from Kindergarten through grade 8. We celebrated a very secular Christmas at home, though we sang what could be considered religious Christmas Carols. He would play them on the Harmonium. There was never any direct discussion regarding Catholicism or Judaism in the home as far as I was concerned. I had heard from my mother that at one time he wanted to write a Mass but I do not think that this was for “religious” reasons.
Part II: Schoenberg’s Children On performance
What are your favorite recordings of your father’s music?
Nuria: Pierrot lunaire conducted by my father. (I remember listening to the rehearsals at home: it was an unforgettable experience even though I was just 8 years old!) The quartets and the trio and Verklaerte Nacht by the LaSalle Quartet. There are several very good Moses und Aron recordings: Gielen, Solti; Abbado’s Gurrelieder.
Larry: I always waited for the next installment of the Columbia Records Robert Craft Schoenberg series. This series included the Glenn Gould recordings, performances of the Brahms and Bach arrangements, the one act operas and most of the chamber music. In most cases it was the first time that I was able to hear a work. Later I especially appreciated all of the Arditti recordings, the Ozawa Gurrelieder, the Boulez Moses and Aron (from Amsterdam) and very recently the Hilary Hahn Violin Concerto. My experience with the Hahn recording reminded me of when I first really heard a performance of the Wind Quintet. It was in Vienna, probably around 1974, when the wind players of the Vienna Philharmonic performed the work in a way that I had never imagined. The performance enabled me to really appreciate the work. Up until then it never made much sense to me – most likely because it was played without any feeling. There is a video recording on YouTube of the Survivor with Hermann Prey which I think is excellent.
What advice would you give performers who approach your father’s music?
Nuria: It is not really up to me to give advice but I think I would tell them to find the emotions my father was trying to convey, because if they only play the right notes and do not feel the emotions, they will not communicate the music to the audience.
Larry: I would advise performers of my father’s music to listen to as many “earlier” Schoenberg works and to commit themselves to the performance of the work in question in the same way that he committed himself to the compositions. I would advise them to prepare the work until they felt that everything is “comprehensible” and then to perform it as though they were passing on their discovery of that comprehensibility.
Is his music performed frequently enough?
Nuria: It is different in different countries. Of course we would wish it were performed more often, because the more you hear a work the more familiar you become with it and the more you will love it. I purposely do not use the word: understand. Musicologists and composers understand music, but it is important to FEEL the music and what it has to say. Most of us do not understand traditional music either, but we have heard enough of it to react emotionally to it and to know what to expect.
Is it performed well enough?
Nuria: There are many performers nowadays who interpret Schoenberg’s music really well and the positive reaction of the audiences is the result of this. Examples: Pollini, Levine, Abbado, and many young pianists, among others
Larry: I have attended horrible under-rehearsed performance of almost all of his works. This includes Gurrelieder by the Los Angeles Philharmonic and Moses and Aron in Bremen. I can understand the difficulty of performing the orchestral works when they are allowed only 2 or at most 3 rehearsals. But I am sure that one could say the same about any contemporary work.
Are there certain musical establishments that promote Schoenberg and others who avoid his music?
Nuria: Yes. The people who make up concert programs are often much more conservative than the audiences. But things have changed very much in recent years and it is not so risky – at least in Europe – to put a work of Schoenberg’s on the program. The important thing is that although his works are 115 to 57 years old, they are still “new” to a lot of people and often need quite a bit of rehearsing before they can be played well. Bad performances are counter-productive and induce the audience to believe that the composer meant the work to be what they are hearing. Another problem is that there is an attitude which I think is partly the fault of Schoenberg’s pupils who, after the war, (for instance in Darmstadt) promoted the idea that his music was esoteric, difficult to understand and that only they and a very few initiated people could really appreciate it. Even when a concert is a great success the reviews seem to always begin with a negative phrase like: why don’t audiences like Schoenberg’s music; he is a controversial figure, difficult to listen to etc.
Larry: I have been particularly saddened by the lack of good performances of my father’s works here in Los Angeles. The Los Angeles Philharmonic rarely performs a work, the local chamber groups, with maybe one exception, never do, the local choral groups have excluded his works from their programs, the Los Angeles Opera has never staged a Schoenberg Opera (a single non-staged performance of Moses and Aron was imported from Germany many years ago), the local Universities never program his music, the single classical music station includes only Verklaerte Nacht (during the Nacht). When a visiting group to Los Angeles schedules a Schoenberg work there would be a disclaimer stating that “the work is an early work before he started composing those unharmonius, atonal, 12-tone composition”.
It has been a sinusoidal ride. My experiences with the music of my father in Los Angeles have been both positive and negative.
I think that now with a broader spectrum of critics due to the facility of publishing on the internet (blogs, websites), I encounter regularly extreme opinions based on strongly expressed personal feelings.
I have had and still do have opportunities to influence the public with respect to my father. Belmont Music Publishers was the first, followed by the establishment of study centers in Los Angeles and Vienna and the production of multi-media and art exhibitions.
Belmont grew out of the necessity to provide printed scores and performance materials in the United States. Its goal was to make the music easily available. It also took over the re-publication of works that no longer were available from other publishers. In addition it allowed us to publish works posthumously. Belmont has been able to influence Universal Edition with respect to keeping scores in print and correcting performing materials. Their new Gurrelieder production based on the Gesamtausgabe – score and parts - is an important example.
Leonard Stein, assistant to my father at UCLA, family friend and the first director of the Arnold Schoenberg Institute assisted and advised in the Belmont productions - in Los Angeles he was the one who performed Schoenberg. There were regular concerts of his music at the Museum and Monday Evening Concerts. One could expect performances of Pierrot, the Serenade even the Suite. Visiting quartets offered the first and second quartets. Verklaerte Nacht was performed regularly. He began his own Piano Spheres series where he and other performed Schoenberg. Pierre Boulez visited Los Angeles and regularly conducted Schoenberg in excellent performances.
Zubin Mehta, a student of Hans Swarowsky programmed some works including the Chamber Symphony Op. 9, Verklaerte Nacht, Gurrelieder and even the Variations for Orchestra.
From 1973 for about 20 years the Arnold Schoenberg Institute at the University of Southern California survived. There were some exceptional events.
For the last 10 to 15 years things have changed dramatically. It is rare that any visiting group would perform any Schoenberg in Los Angeles even though they have works in their repertoire and even though they may be scheduling Schoenberg works in other cities. Local groups, other than Southwest Chamber Society, never perform a note of Schoenberg.
I am not sure why. It might have something to do with the dominant Hollywood theme of measuring the value of an event by how entertaining it is. It is also because of a larger problem seen also in education and medicine – namely that the business model has taken over the arts. Of course one needs financial security but it is the degree to which this drives the organization, school or hospital that has changed. I believe that Schoenberg’s music is just one tiny consequence of this change. And, of course, Los Angeles’s culture is no longer dominated by European immigrants.
The justifications for not programming Schoenberg have been that, while the conductor appreciates the works, the audience doesn’t.
It is a fact that the audiences in Los Angeles dislike his music and are willing to express that fact. The orchestra managers naturally do not want to alienate their audiences. Visiting conductors are not permitted to play Schoenberg.
Zubin Mehta tried a little to perform some works: Chamber Symphony Op. 9, Verklaerte Nacht, Gurrelieder even Variations. Esa-Pekka Salonen first performed some works but rarely, if ever, in the recent past. He has commented publicly that he does not consider Schoenberg relevant anymore. A visiting Berlin Opera Company presented a single concert performance of Moses and Aron but there has never been a production of any Schoenberg work by the Los Angeles Opera. The Los Angeles Master Choral’s director Grant Gershon has never performed a work by Schoenberg. I was told that he was not even aware that Schoenberg wrote choral music. I was also told that when Martin Hasselbock wanted to perform the Organ Variations in his recital at Disney Hall the management (Debora Borda) refused to allow him to include the Schoenberg in the program. Neither of the local Universities, UCLA nor USC, schedule any Schoenberg works by their performing organizations. The single local classical radio station, KUSC, other than occasionally on a late night broadcast, does not include Schoenberg on its play list.
While I can understand the reluctance to perform or play the Wind Quintet, I am amazed that even such works as the arrangement of the Brahms Piano Quartet is considered taboo. (I was once told that the Brahms-Schoenberg [arrangement] had to be cancelled (San Francisco Symphony) due to the fact that one Schoenberg work had already been scheduled for the season and that the subscribers would complain.)
I could make a list of works that would not need to be call “thorny”, that would not “frighten the audiences” including: [see appendix 1]. But then again I am not in charge of the Festival.
Part I - Schoenberg’s children on their childhood
Schoenberg’s children on their childhood
What is your very first memory of your father?
Nuria: It is hard to say. Some “memories” might be from photographs, but I think it is going for a walk with him when I was about 4.
Larry: I now have a new “very first memory” since I recently received an email from the brother of the architect Richard Neutra who mentioned that his Aunt Regula Thorston delivered me!
Could you please share with us a memory of your father that you treasure?
Nuria: There are so many.
One of the lessons I received from him which has influenced my behavior in many situations is the following: On his 75th birthday there was a large birthday party planned at our house. It happened that it was also the day on which I had to sign up for my first year at the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA). When I reached the University campus I found about 2000 other students waiting to register and I realized that I would be too late for the birthday celebration if I waited in line. So I decided to ask a professor in the administration whom I knew from the time my father taught there if he could help me to register more quickly. When he heard the reason for my request he gave me a note so that I could go to the head of the line and in no time I had registered and was on my way home. When I got there I told my father how lucky I had been and how nice Prof. Lazier had been to help me. But my father said: You used my name to gain an advantage. You must never do that again; you must earn your advantages yourself. I think it was an exaggerated response to that situation: I had done it for him, not just for myself, but the ethical lesson has always stayed in my mind.
Ronald: We had a Gentlemen’s Club for which my Father composed an anthem which we sang while he accompanied us on the piano. The family would often play games in the evening: he constructed a roulette board and chips .He also liked to play solitaire and I would kibbitz.
Larry: I am quite certain that one my earliest memories of my father is related to my attempt to open a can of peaches using a wall can opener. After opening the top lid part way I, as maybe a foolish 3 or 4 year old might do, attempted to pull out the tin lid. My thumb got caught between the cut lid and the circumference of the top of the can and the lid cut though my thumb on my left hand. I screamed and my father came to the rescue. He unfortunately turned the opener the wrong way (though I am not sure that there was a "right" way) such that the lid continued to sever more deeply into my thumb. The doctor was able to sew the thumb back together and healed perfectly preventing me from following my uncle Rudi in becoming a left-handed violinist. I recall vividly how distressed my father was after this encounter with me and the can opener and the peaches in bright red sugary syrup.
Also among the earliest memories that I had was when I discovered my father sitting in a chair in the living room crying uncontrollably. This would have been when he discovered that his daughter Gertrud had died.
One memory that I treasure must have taken place when I was 4 or 5 years old in Kindergarten. I recall watching him make little axes and lanterns from “silver paper”, cardboard, dog food cans and various other materials for my classroom play: Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. I recall the after dinner walks.
Recently I was asked to record the answer to the same question. I responded as follows:
Early Memories:
I must have been about 4 years old when I clearly remember my father collecting “silver paper” from cigarette packages. He also saved some empty dog food cans. What could this be for?
Then, one evening, I saw him with my mother arranging the cans, the silver paper and some cardboard on our large dinner table. I was told that tomorrow morning I would find out what they were doing.
In the morning my mother took me to my Kindergarten class and brought along a large bag. I still had no idea what was in the bag. It was a very exciting time for me in Kindergarten since we were preparing a production of “Snow White” and I was to play the character “bashful”.
In the classroom she gave the bag to the teacher who opened it and there it was:
Seven, I assume now, beautiful bright silver hatchets and seven little lanterns.
I was very proud of my father!
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We often took automobile trips to a nearby village, Westwood. When we were there we would stop by the Gas Company office. The Gas Company sponsored an evening concert program on the radio. The two-hour program only played classical music. Each week they would issue a new printed program listing the radio concerts for the next week. When we got the program I was given the opportunity to search through it to find out if there were any works by “Schoenberg” to be broadcast. I would get a dime, 10 cents for each one I could find. I didn’t get rich but once in a while I’d find one – usually “Transfigured Night”.
I learned the importance of reading early on in my life.
Family automobile trips up the Pacific Coast Highway were always special for me. We, my sister, brother and I would often stop a roadside stand that served fresh orange juice. One summer in 1947 on our way to the Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara, we made our usual detour to the SANTA CLAUS LANE ORANGE JUICE STAND. The stand had a large Santa Claus and outdoor speaker that would play Christmas songs. But this time something very special happened. When we drove up, my mother and father were alerted to something different. Then we found out what was happening – instead of “Jingle Bells” blaring over the loudspeaker it was Verklaerte Nacht!
We had a great time and never had any trouble convincing my father that we should stop there in the future.
I only learned well after my father died why I was not allowed to join the “cub scouts”. It was, of course, because of the uniforms.
On the Saturday before his classes that he taught at home I was allowed to make staff lines on the butcher paper that he used for his music examples. He had made a device that would inscribe all five lines simultaneously using 5 black crayons.
I loved Christmas when he would play Holiday Songs on the harmonium.
I was learning to play the violin. I had very little talent and knew, even at a very early age, that this was not going to be my career. I recall practicing – screeching when I heard my father call out – falsch! It was comical because I did at least have a good ear and knew that it was falsch.
We always kissed our parents “good night”, every evening, without exception. During the night that he died – or perhaps it was in the morning, my mother told me to kiss him “good bye”. I was confused since I though that I had already kissed him good night.
We went out shopping on day. My mother would always do the driving; my father would sit in the front passenger seat. She would always spend a great deal of time shopping while he would remain the car. When my mother and I returned to the car after completing the shopping she pushed the starter button to engage the engine. There was a terribly loud noise from the engine. She turned the key off and then on and again pushed the starter button – the noise again appeared. My father seemed unconcerned and continued to work in his sketchbook. After this kept happening a few times some strangers came to help out. Someone discovered that my father’s left foot was fully depressing the accelerator!
Your father is famous as being an excellent teacher. Was this also evident in family life?
Nuria: I remember when he explained to me the movement of the earth around the sun and the moon around the earth, using the living room uplighter lamp and objects from the furnishings. He loved to teach.
Ronald: While Nuria was getting her braces tightened, he would take us to a hot dog stand. He told us that the hot dog vendor was a Master of the hot dog.
Larry: I am probably more aware of his capacity as a teacher vis-à-vis others. I knew how much he prepared for his Sunday classes at home. I later was told by Leonard Stein how my father would design separate exams for each student in his University classes based on each student’s ability. I read the book Schoenberg Remembered by his student Dika Newlin. And I have seen and heard the many who have testified to his teaching ability.
I don’t recall any specific times when he was explicitly teaching me something though I suspect that our after dinner games of roulette and cards had an educational purpose. And of course I learned a little French = Rien ne va plus! (I actually thought that it meant that you are going to get your hand slapped). I know that he was proud of my mathematical ability as evidenced by his famous composition Larry got an A in Arithmetic. Too bad that he only had the text by Max Blonda (Jolly Joker)!
Were your friends at School aware that you are children of a very important composer? Did anyone bother you or admire you because of this?
Nuria: I seriously doubt it
Ronald: Very few friends were aware of who my Father was. I myself was barely aware of that. After all, he certainly wasn’t famous in Los Angeles, and he didn’t fit the criteria for stardom—wealth, nor did he have any hit songs or compose for the movies.
Larry: If they were, I didn’t know about it. The most that I can recall is that a teacher mentioned that he was a famous “conductor”. I should add that most of the kids and teachers considered conductor and composer synonyms.
I am not an objective observer. And I don’t pretend to be. When I was very young there was always the conflict between “great composer – very famous father” and “who .. shonburg”. I recall asking my mother and later my cousin Richard Hoffmann regarding his fame.
I have never been able to differentiate clearly between the serious admirers and the superficial detractors. Their words always spoke softer than their actions.
Did your father invest time with you or was he too busy?
Nuria: When I was very young I think he spent quite a lot of time with me. In Los Angeles we had meals together and he would tell us stories and ask about school. But he did not have too much time because he had to teach at the University and private lessons and needed time to compose.
Larry: I never felt that he was “too busy”. My relationship to him was defined by what was happening. There was never any comparison with what should be happening. Again, I was 10 years old when he died and he was ill the last few years of his life.
Was it possible to approach him while he was composing?
Nuria: His study was closed off to us and I went in only to call him for meals or if he called me to show me something.
Larry: I never felt any constraints though I am now told that I was not allowed to go into the work room when he was working. That was “news to me” now.
What music did you hear at home?
Nuria: We had very few recordings, but there were some of his works on LPs. Mostly, we listened to a radio program that broadcast classical music every evening from 8-10 PM. One of my happiest memories is listening to the radio and looking over my father’s shoulder as he followed the music in the score. On his birthdays they often played Gurrelieder. That was a special occasion, since we had no possibility of hearing it live.
Larry: Nuria and Ronny had phonograph records with, as best as I can recall, patriotic songs. We sat in the living room listening to the classical radio station music though I can’t imagine that I would have been up that late (8-10PM) very often.
Performers and performing groups would visit my father and often perform in the living room. (Kolisch Quartet, Steuermann, Feuermann)
Did you go and/or participate in any other cultural activities with your father or were encouraged by him?
Nuria: Not really. He considered the Los Angeles Philharmonic and its conductor mediocre and did not encourage me to go to concerts. I did go to concerts of modern music at the famous “Evenings on the Roof” and special events like the Kolisch Quartet or Arthur Schnabel at UCLA.
Larry: None that I can recall. I would like to remark on how he instilled the importance of work ethic. For us the milkman, Mr. Kirby, or the occasional repairman that came to the house were characterized as “heroes” – they performed their work admirably. It did not matter what they were doing it was always a question of how well they did it.
Dika Newlin on Schoenberg conducting Pierrot lunaire
Dika Newlin was a student of Schoenberg during the years 1936 and 1938. Newlin is a pianist, critic, musicologist, composer, and rock/punk singer. She is one of the few people who are still alive and were present in the rehearsals and test pressing sessions of the commercial recording of Pierrot lunaire in 1940. She was involved in choosing the takes for the recordings and she heard the broadcast of this composition that was made by Schoenberg at the same year (click to read on Schoenberg as conductor). During 2005 I made several unsuccessful attempts to contact Dika Newlin by phone and by mail. Sabine Feisst, from Arizona State University, who is an expert for almost anything connected with Schoenberg in America, wrote to me that ‘Dika is virtually blind, that is why she does not have e-mail. Also she broke her hip some months ago and barely gets around with a walker (that is why she does not answer the phone). The best way to get in touch with her is through film maker Michael D. Moore (not to be confused with the film maker of Fahrenheit 9/11).’ Moore was very helpful with making the contact with Newlin. After 65 years the memories of people tends to change. In spite of the long period of time that had passed and the age of Dika Newlin, it seems that her mind is clear and that her answers are credible. This can be deduced from her detailed answers, and especially from her honesty in admitting that she does not remember certain issues. This interview is included here with the kind permission of Michael D. Moore (see endnote 1). Michael D. Moore: Our first question from Avior is ‘Could you tell me something about how Schoenberg worked with Erika Wagner-Stiedry? What kind of remarks did he give her? What was he concerned about? And do you think he was happy with her performance of Sprechstimme?’
DN: Oh yes. I think he was very happy with her performance. They have been working together for a long time, in fact she was part of the Pierrot ensemble in Europe as where some of the other players and so there were people there, he knew what they could do, he knew what they could accomplish. The important thing about the recitation in Pierrot is, and some people don’t realize, that the vocalist is not a solo vocalist. In other words, this is not a vocalist being accompanied by instruments, but this is a part of the ensemble. And in fact, sometimes the instruments are even more important than the voice. Often, this is not understood, but Mrs. Wagner-Stiedry, Stiedry-Wagner, had learned this over the years – and so indeed she did fulfill that very very well.
MDM: What was Schoenberg’s…, what was his major concern in working with Erika?
DN: I think that the voice be placed properly, that it’d be placed in relation to the other instruments, that it’ll not be too prominent or not prominent enough. Of course, the text has to be very clearly heard. And, it’s interesting, you know, to realize that Schoenberg thought, in later times, Pierrot lunaire is always to be performed in the language of the country that it is being performed in, which is why earlier I had prepared a complete performable translation of the Pierrot lunaire text. Which I have performed myself later on, but that’s another story. Obviously, in this case, since German was Erika’s native language it would be performed in German and this she did. Certainly, her diction was very clear at all times. The text is important and she brought it out very well indeed.
MDM: Number 2, Mr. Byron asks: ‘how was the atmosphere in the recording studio?’
DN: Rather tense at times. In the rehearsals too, of course there were tensions between players, tensions with Schoenberg, who obviously was very concerned that everything be just right. So it wasn’t, shall we say, relaxed and chummy. It was tense, but not unbearably tense. See, we had two kinds of performers in this performance. Number one, were the people who had performed it for years. People like, for instance, Edward Steuermann the pianist. And then there were people who were Hollywood musician, in other words, studio musicians, who are used to performing all kinds of music on very short notice and can play almost anything very well. They could get into this, but maybe it took them a little more time because maybe they have not performed something like this before. So there were tensions that happened at times. I recall one occasion when Mr. Stephan Auber, who was the cellist, and had an important cello solo in one of the pieces, he might have questioned something and Schoenberg immediately became furious and said: ‘Sie sind … [unintelligible]’, in other words, ‘you’re being rude, this is bad, I’m not going to put up with this’ and he stormed out of the rehearsal. Leonard Stein, Schoenberg’s assistant at the time, had to go upstairs and smooth Schoenberg down and get him back to the rehearsal and then the rehearsal continued pleasantly enough.
MDM: Were you at all the rehearsals?
DN: I think at most of them. There might have been one or two when I wasn’t present. As far as I remember, I attended certainly three or four rehearsals, which were usually about two hours long, sometimes a little bit longer. And, of course, this was very important to me, to be present; this was a statement of confidence in me, of interest in my opinion. This was in my third year of studying with Schoenberg, by this time I was, more or less, one of the family and I felt very very honored to be allowed to be present at this. I had never, of course, had the opportunity to hear a Pierrot before, because it hadn’t been performed that often in this country, in places where I could hear it. So I was looking forward to getting acquainted with the work.
MDM: As a side note, he asks: ‘Was the atmosphere different in the rehearsals than it was when they finally went into the recording studio?’ DN: No, I would say it was about the same. Maybe a little more relaxed in the recording studio because, by this time, a lot of the major problems have been discussed at the rehearsals so it wasn’t necessary to bring it up again.
MDM: This is question number 3: ‘How was the broadcast in September 1940?’ Are you acquainted with that broadcast?
DN: Yes I am.
MDM: ‘Was it different from the recording?’
DN: No, substantially no. I would say, of course, any two successful performances are not going to be exactly the same. There are always going to be little differences that happen, otherwise it would be so totally mechanical. So, they were not note for note identical. Not totally identical in expression. It would be always, each performance instead, should be recreated new, and I felt that happened.
MDM: Ok, and another question on that: ‘How did people react to it?’ On this you could elaborate how did the fellow musicians react to the broadcast and how did Schoenberg react to it?
DN: I think they were very happy with it, on the whole. They felt they had achieved what they had set out to achieve. Schoenberg was basically happy with it, as far as I remember now. And the musicians, well… I think they would say, ‘we got through it, we did it, we made it’. So, musicians are always happy when that occurs.
MDM: How about the critics? Do you remember any critical comments at the time, one way or the other?
DN: No, I don’t remember the reviews, I’m sure there were some, but I don’t remember those at this time.
MDM: Number 4: ‘Could you tell me any more information about the recording sessions that you were present in? And was Dr. Stiedry really interfering as Schoenberg wrote in one of his letters?’
DN: Ok, I don’t remember that specifically, for Schoenberg said that in one of his letters. I’m sure that’s what he felt, of course, Dr. Steidry, as Erika’s husband was very concerned that she be well presented, that she be well heard, and perhaps he wanted her to be a little more prominent than Schoenberg thought should be the case. So, I don’t remember that specifically, but that would be a reasonable supposition. I just don’t remember that particular dialogue.
MDM: Ok, well perhaps you could elaborate on something that you just now mentioned. And, in addition, give us any more information about the recording sessions – it says ’session’ here in the question, but also any additional sessions you were present in. Perhaps you should mention how Schoenberg felt the voice should act, react, in relation to the music? Maybe that’s what caused her husband to question him?
DN: Yes, I think, as I mentioned before, the voice is really just one of the instruments. The voice is not an accompanying soloist. Of course, there’s a lot about the performance practice which is misleading in Schoenberg’s preface to Pierrot lunaire. For instance, he says that the printed notes, of course, are not printed as notes but are printed as x’s in the score, and that you touch that pitch and then you slide your way from it. This is not what happens in a performance, this is not what’s supposed to happen in performance. So, actually, what happens is, that one follows the line and you go up or go down as the placement of the notes on the staff suggests. And, of course, you keep the strict rhythm. But the pitches are not going to be the same as those you see on the printed page. And this particular notation has caused a lot of misunderstanding. Singers see this and see notes, and say: ‘Ah, we want to sing’. This is not to be sung, except for when Schoenberg specifically says so. And in fact, many of the first performances have not been by singers but have been by actors. The very first performance was by an actress. This type of misunderstanding I think was why in Schoenberg’s later work with Sprechstimme he gave up using notes at all and simply used a horizontal line which represented middle pitch and shows pitches above or below that, shows us the exact rhythm but does not show pitches. I think that’s much more realistic. So, I think he learned from some of the problems about Pierrot.
MDM: ‘How long was the recording session?’
DN: I believe it was about three hours, as I recall. And of course that’s because of a number of retakes. There were not too many retakes necessary at this point because people knew what they were doing.
MDM: ‘Who decided how many times to record each piece?’
DN: Schoenberg.
MDM: ‘On what basis?’
DN: On whether he felt that it has successfully achieved what he wanted to. In other words, the proper valves [?], the accuracy of notes, of course, had a lot of consideration because we knew that everybody was going to play the right notes. There were some questions of ensemble, which happened at times. I’ll mention one of those a little bit later, which I think happened. I think most people would have discarded that particular take, Schoenberg didn’t want to and I’ll explain that a little bit later on.
MDM: Alright, ‘how many people were there at these recordings?’ Did they happen on one day or on the course of several days?
DN: As I recall, it was all done in one day [Byron: see endnote 2]. The people who be present were of course the technicians who had to be there, and I was present, and I believe Leonard Stein (Schoenberg’s assistant) was present. There may have been a couple of others, but I don’t recall them.
MDM: Ok, so four, five people maximum?
DN: Yes.
MDM: And that includes the engineers?
MDM: Alright, number 5: ‘You wrote that you were active in choosing takes from the test pressings for the commercial recordings. On what basis were the takes chosen?’ And please elaborate on that and then I’ll ask some more.
DN: Alright. As I said, on basis of accuracy, on basis of following what Schoenberg had wanted to have happen, on the basis of balance, on basis of atmosphere. And here I want to mention one piece in particular where one might be surprised by the choice which was made. In the recitation called Madonna, there’s a certain moment when three instruments are playing in three-part harmony. And ordinarily, one would expect a three part harmony to be played with the three instruments playing precisely at the same time, which was how Schoenberg wrote it. However, for whatever reason, they weren’t quite precise in doing it together. So instead of hearing chord, chord, chord you heard ta-da-da, ta-da-da, ta-da-da. In other words, it was not quite together. I heard this and I thought: well, you know, we really don’t want to have this, we shouldn’t take that take. However, Schoenberg wanted that particular take. He wanted that insecurity, if you will, in the harmony. And so he chose. Finally, when I thought about it, I did agree with him that it, perhaps, reflected the tense atmosphere of that particular piece. So, the chords didn’t need to be exactly together. So that was an unusual choice.
MDM: So they weren’t rhythmically displayed in unison, that’s what you’re saying.
DN: That’s right.
MDM: On what basis were the takes chosen? What were people talking about when or after listening to the takes?
DN: Again, the same considerations I’ve been mentioning. Does this take reflect the atmosphere of the piece? Is this take correct? Is the balance between instruments good? Did everybody do what we had agreed upon in performance? All of these things. In other words, had many rehearsals borne fruit? And I think we all would agree that they had.
MDM: Alright, ‘Who was the most active in the choosing? Were people listening with or without scores?’ Maybe you could elaborate on that.
DN: Yes. My recollection is we were listening without scores. We were listening in a way, in other words, the person who goes on and buys this recordings is not going to have a score. They’re going to have a musical experience. Are they having this musical experience when they’re listening to this recording? We tried to put ourselves, at least I’ve tried to put myself, in the place of a listener, somebody who has never heard the work before. What will they get out of this? Because, this recording should not be just for musicians to listen to, just for professionals to listen to. It should be something that a musical public can enjoy. And I think this recording is.
MDM: Very good. ‘How many people were present when choosing from the press recordings?’ I know you and Schoenberg were there, but who else was involved in this choice process?
DN: Again, Leonard Stein probably. And the performers. Certainly Erika was there. And sure Steidry was there. Steuermann. Probably, the group of the four of us as a whole. Maybe some of the studio musicians, the Hollywood musicians, were not. But the old-timers were present.
MDM: Ok, the old-timers, meaning the old-timers that were associated with the composer? The old-timers who were associates with the studio?
DN: The old-timers that were associated with the composer. Yes, and there would have been some studio people present also.
MDM: Yes, I’m sure there would’ve. Studio engineers playing and replaying the test pressings.
DN: Exactly.
MDM: Right. So you’re talking about several other people, maybe somewhere between half a dozen and ten people, would you think?
DN: Yes. Something like that.
MDM: Ok. Very good. ‘What did Schoenberg think about the recording after it was made?’
DN: He was very very happy about the recording. However, here I think I should tell the story about my translation because this has a bearing on how the recording was received or was not received by the public. Obviously, with a piece like this it is very very important that the listener knew exactly what is going on and not just in a general way. Schoenberg suggested sometime back that I make a translation of Pierrot and I made it, in fact, in such a way that one could perform it in English, since that I had twice recorded one of those recordings. Well, we wanted to have this printed, the translation printed, with the album, just like musicians print the lyrics of songs, for example. So we sent it along with the test pressings, a copy of my translation. And, in due course, we got a letter back from a Mr. Wagner Liberstein, who was, at that time, a rather minor figure at Columbia, later on he became a major person there you may know about. And, so, he basically said we can’t use a translation from the German. Remember, this was at the time we were at war with Germany. There may be all kinds of copyright problems and so forth. He said that we should go back to the original French text, that the German text was a translation of, and adapt it from the French text, that we could use that. So, I told Schoenberg this and he said: ‘I forbid this!’ in his usual commanding voice. The problem being that the German was a very free translation of the French in the first place and in some places quite different. So a translation from the French would have absolutely been not proper. Se we compromised that there was a brief summary with the album of what each of the songs was about. Of course, Schoenberg was not happy with that and needless to say, I was not happy with that.
MDM: Because you had spent a lot of time working on these translations and getting them accurate to Schoenberg’s specifications.
DN: Yes, yes, exactly. Well. This is why I was happy – because at a later time, once at Northern Texas State University and once at Texas Tech I had the opportunity of performing my, in my English translation. And, by the way, Erika was a great inspiration to me, as trying to learn how to do the recitation. I remember, in California, my mother and I, we had sometimes used to go out to Palm Springs for a weekend and I would go into the desert and practice doing like Erika’s vocals. So I consider, that in obessensive [?], she was my vocal coach for what I do today. Now, what I do today is quite different, but the idea is the same.
MDM: This is a question from me personally, this work that you were doing in the desert, is that how you learned about projection of your voice, how to contrast between the softness and the strength that were necessary for the performance?
DN: Yes. That is part of it. The interesting thing is, and of course again this is in accordance with what I told you about the kind of person who usually performs or who usually should perform, this is not for singers. This is for actors. Actually, I’ve never had vocal training as an actress either. This is something I’ve learned on my own, by working with this, by seeing what other people did and projecting it. I didn’t have voice lessons. I have never had any voice lessons and in light of what that score actually is, I’m glad that I didn’t. I think round, pear-shaped tones are not what Schoenberg was looking for.
MDM: Do you think, do you know, ‘what he had thought about it when he heard it again? When it was released to the public?’ In other words, when he heard the test pressings and when he heard the final release? I think, perhaps, the question is more addressing the release to the public. And ‘did he change his mind about these recordings at any time?’
DN: Number one, here I’ll try to go into his mind, I know, I feel that I know, that he was happy with the recording as it went out. He was not happy that he could not have the translations. And, to my knowledge, later on, of course, I did not see Schoenberg very much after I graduated from UCLA, I was in New York, I was studying at Columbia.
MDM: What year did you last work with him at UCLA?
DN: 1941. And then I was at Columbia University working on my book, ‘Bruckner, Mahler, Schoenberg’, as my doctoral dissertation. By the way, that’s an interesting story. That was the first time that a musicology dissertation had been accepted who’s dealing with a still living person. That was something unusual. And I was very happy to be able to do that. I was in touch by letter with Schoenberg during this time and I would see him during the summers. I went to California in the summers and visited with him on a number of occasions. He’ll hear my latest work and so forth and so on. So we were in touch pretty much until his death.
MDM: And more on the aspect of ‘did he ever change his mind about the recordings at any time?’
DN: That I didn’t know because that wasn’t something that came up after the business of recording, it was all over with. I’ve never discussed it with him, for instance, in the summers when I was visiting because we were discussing other things.
MDM: New things.
DN: New things. Like my new works.
MDM: That’s right. And what did you tell me yesterday when we were speaking on the phone? That Schoenberg, when he made up his mind about something he liked or didn’t like, and it wouldn’t really change that much. Is that true?
DN: Yes. I think that was true. I believe that to be true. I remember, to my knowledge, my memory is that he didn’t change on this. But again, you can’t say he was completely rigid because sometimes he did change his mind. And wasn’t it Emerson who said ‘Consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds’?
MDM: Correct. Number seven: ‘how was Schoenberg as a conductor?’
DN: Ok. Not the virtuoso type of conductor, not the show off type of conductor as Bernstein, for instance, or Toscanini, or somebody like that. I think he was successful in putting across his own ideas of his music. I saw him conduct a number of times, specifically in a very interesting group that we had in Los Angeles at that time called The rehearsal orchestra, and this was for Hollywood musicians who got tired playing some of the stuff that they were playing in film and wanted to have more challenging material. So they would invite, for instance, Stravinsky to come in and conduct them on Sunday or Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco or whoever was around, and they invited Schoenberg and so he conducted quite a few of the studio musicians in various works in one of these rehearsals. So he was effective, I think, in putting it across, his ideas. I don’t know if he’s the person I would want to hear conduct Beethoven’s ninth. Well, he did do that. Not in my hearing. For the needs of what he was doing with conducting his own music, certainly he was the right man in the right place at the right time.
MDM: What was his relation to the score and how was his conducting of tempo?
DN: He had rather free ideas about tempo, and if you look to the scores one could see he never replaced one tempo heading at the beginning. It would be ca circa about say 51 to 65. He gives people a choice. So sometimes it might be done a little bit slower, sometimes it might be done a little bit faster. And that would depend, in some cases, in the nature of the hall in which it was being done. Is this a more resonant place? Is this a less resonant place? It might depend on the capacity of the performer, on the feeling of the performer. So, he was not rigid about tempo. Flexible about tempo.
MDM: ‘Did the performers follow his conducting?’
DN: Yes…, they’d better [laughter]. He had a quick temper you know.
MDM: Avior Byron here, concludes his letter: ‘If there is anything else that you could tell me considering the recording, broadcast and rehearsals of Pierrot lunaire, please do not hesitate to do that’. Now, you’ve got half and hour to tell us everything that you know about Pierrot lunaire.
DN: Everything I know. Ok. Well, are some of the things that I’ve mentioned already are the ones are they ones you’d like me to expand on a little bit more, that you’d like to hear more about?
MDM: Well, What I particularly would like to hear more about is the recording studio. Where it was located? The size of the studio? How many musicians were used and also I’d like to know more about the phraseology of the work itself. How Erika Wagner-Stiedry came up with the phrasing with Schoenberg. And I’d also like to know a little bit more about how it actually came to being there for the performance.
DN: Ok. Within the studio itself, and this was a fair sized studio, I don’t recall which studio building was used, this was whatever space Columbia Records were using at that time. It wasn’t a huge room. I’d say it was sort of a middle-sized performance space. And within that, of course, as I mentioned before, there were several listeners, there were several engineers. Of course this was very different from contemporary technology, obviously, se we had whoever we needed at that time. As far as phrasing is concerned, this kind of thing, this particularly with the vocals, this depends on the character, the words, what words you want to emphasize, etc. And that, of course, was thoroughly discussed with Schoenberg. Let me mention this, I go back to the famous preface to Pierrot, which I think is misleading. He claims that he wasn’t really going for tone-painting. What I mean by tone-painting, the idea that the music describes exactly what is going on in the text, or exactly what is going on in the text if it’s a tone poem, for instance, the orchestra does, the music reflects that exactly. Schoenberg liked to think that he wasn’t doing that much tone-painting. And, in fact, sometimes he did the opposite of tone painting in the piece. For instance, uses the solo cello when the text talks about a Bratsche, a viola [in German]. He would have had a viola at his disposal, because the thing is so orchestrated that at some place the violin turns into a viola. However, he deliberately didn’t choose the viola, he used a cello. So that’s exactly the opposite of tone-painting. However, about two or there years ago at my university, which is the Virginia Commonwealth University, I presented a special seminar on Pierrot lunaire and one of the things we did at the class was to take the text word-by-word and see where the music specifically illustrates the words, does it or does it not? And we found out that there’s much more tone-painting, there’s much more illustration than Schoenberg probably wanted to admit to. And the class has been taught by other teachers ready to consider Schoenberg as a radical who wanted to go away totally from romanticism. That kind of thing. And as they worked through what we have realized together, which I already knew, of course, and I came to know even more – Schoenberg, to the end of his life, whatever medium he was using, whether he was using tonality, whether he was using extended tonality or going away from a tonal center, whether he was using twelve-tone-music, he was always a full-blown romantic. And a lot of people don’t know that or don’t admit that. But it is true. There are all kinds of tone-painting which are going on in his music.
MDM: May I ask you a question? How many musicians were present at each one, there are seven pieces, right? Twenty one pieces in all? Three times seven.
DN: Twenty one pieces, three parts. Ok. Well, all of the musicians are present throughout, there are more musicians playing in some of the pieces than there are in others. Some of the musicians double on instruments, for instance, the violinist played the viola, the clarinetist played the bass-clarinet, so forth. Those who had doubled, do double.
MDM: How many musicians are necessary, for say, the minimal requirement, similar to the requirement they set in the medium studio at Columbia in 1940? How many musicians do you suppose were in the room with you guys?
DN: Ok. Five.
MDM: Five musicians? And they would have been?
DN: Violinist, doubling on viola. Pianist, of course, on piano. Cello. And who else? Clarinet.
MDM: Yes, you mentioned clarinet.
DN: And bass-clarinet.
MDM: And would you have had someone playing a bass run? Or would that have been done on a cello?
DN: No. No percussion.
MDM: Ok. How about the…, another question that I had was, about the choosing of the thing. How many takes, cause I never did get, it was kind of included in the other questions, question number five from Avior Byron. How many takes would they have done on each piece and were they done in a row from beginning to end? For the whole piece? Or was each piece done separately? And you can also elaborate on the recording process. Did everyone play together in a large room and each one had their own microphone? No one came back in for over dubs or anything, did they?
DN: Well, no, not at that time. This was a direct recording. I don’t recall whether the pieces were recorded in the order that they are in the score or not. Probably not, because there were certain pieces that required only certain people and those people would have to be present, otherwise, if all the people were needed we would have all the people there. That’s my recollection of it but I don’t remember that much detail. That would have been a logical way to do it.
MDM: So it was probably done over a day or two of recording sessions?
MDM: And, one? Two? Three? How many takes of each one?
DN: It depended on the problems which came up. I don’t think we did anything in only one take. But maybe two or three, sometimes. I don’t recall more than three.
MDM: Ok. Cause I know you were famous for doing your songs, that we’ve recorded in the productions, in either one or two takes. You’re just famous for that. And so many of the songs that we have used on your albums have been one-take songs that you’ve performed live. So it wasn’t unheard of with these professional musicians and they were well-rehearsed to do this in one, two, three takes?
MDM: Ok, what else would you like to tell us about Pierrot lunaire, and something that could perhaps tie us, tie you, to this production and to the other two productions thay you’ve done in Texas and here, and explain some of the variations that you’ve incorporated.
DN: Alright. As I’ve said, I was fascinated with what Erika was doing and I used to go out and do this, try this out and see how it worked. And I’ve always dreamed of being able to perform this with an ensemble. Well, the opportunity came when one of my students at North Texas State, this was the last year I believe that I was there – 1965, wanted to do the Pierrot as her senior project, to get players together to do that, Oh, my goodness, I’ve forgot to name the flute.
MDM: Yeah, that was what I was going to say, when we talked about the musicians incorporated. We forgot about the importance of the flute.
DN: The flute is very important and, of course, the flute has a wonderful piece alone with the voice – ‘like this taken to death’, and the flute plays this as ‘The Sick moon’. And it’s just for flute and voice. And at my time in North Texas we had a wonderful flute department, the flutists liked to play that piece and liked to have it recited with them. So that often showed up at flute recitals. But I really was anxious, at North Texas, to play… to do the voice part, as part of a whole performance. And, of course, when they were getting that together, they thought of me as the pianist. I said: ‘Oh, no. you have other pianists, I would like to do the voice’. So that worked out and I was able to do that. And I did it in English and we recorded that at the time. I don’t know if that recording had been kept or not. Did I give you my own copy of that recording?
MDM: I don’t know if I had a copy of that recording. But I do have a copy of the recording you did recently in Texas, several years ago. And I would also like for you, at this time, we have enough time on our Question and Answer tape here. If you could elaborate on the person of the speaker, or the reciter, not the singer, since she is not singing. Can you talk about who that person I sand what is that importance to the piece?
DN: Oh, yes, that’s very important. In the very first performance that ever took place, in Berlin, the reciter appeared in a costume and that has happened in a number of performances. Not in my performances because Pierrot in not the narrator. The narrator is talking about Pierrot. So you have to be somebody else. In the performances that I did, in the first performance I did in Texas I believe I’ve used some kind of harlequin costume. In the second performance in Texas, I had another type of costume which the wife of the conductor had specially designed for me. A sort of futuristic costume, but it was not a Pierrot costume because we are talking about Pierrot, and, of course, in preparing for the recordings, there was not any costuming for these performances. Obviously.
MDM: Ok. What else would you like to tell us about, that will help Avior Byron in conducting this piece, in performing this piece. What else would you like to tell him and also what else would you like to discuss with our audience today about the piece before we wrap it up?
DN: How much time do I have?
MDM: You have 15 minutes.
DN: Oh. Very good. I would say, first of all, listen to the Schoenberg recording, listen to other recordings as well. There are a number of very interesting recordings. One with Bethany Beardslee who was trained as a singer but does a very good job as a reciter [Byron: see endnote 3]. One, very unusual, by the popular singer Cleo Laine, who does do it in English. And there are probably a number of others that don’t cross my mind at the moment, but it’s interesting to hear different recordings and hear how different they were. By the way, there was a study done on this by a writer in the 1920s, I forget the name of the writer, but this was in German, and this was in Austria or Germany. Someone who was very struck by the fact that performances of Pierrot differ greatly from one to another. In other words, there seems to be no unanimity about what should be done, in particularly with the voice. And I think this shows, this became rather a criticism of the way it was written down. In other words, Schoenberg wrote one thing and yet everyone does something different. Which I think is what convinced Schoenberg later to use a more flexible notation. As he does in Ode to Napoleon, for example, and in other works which used to speak so. The questions of how notated this kind of music becomes important. But there’s a lot of variety between performances and I think there should be, so long as the atmosphere of the work is portrayed. And the people I’ve mentioned, I think, all did that very successfully. So, listen to a lot of recordings, look at the score from your own stand point – what do you get out of this? What personally, to you, is important in the score? Why do you devote yourself to this score? What is it that you would like the audience to hear in the score? And I think that is always of importance. In presenting this to an audience in Texas, twice, I think that was rather unusual, because, certainly, you wouldn’t think Schoenberg will be a household word in Texas. So, it was interesting to me to see what reaction was, especially in Texas Tech. We had fun with this. Those articles published about it in the local magazine, and they were talking about all the different aspects of this. And finally, I came up with jokes like ‘Two gun Texas piece’ and I came on the scene with a couple of bottles of Texas Pea Hot Sauce, I did not do that in the performance.
MDM: That was more to put the musicians at ease.
DN: Yes, definitely. And I think we discussed this, in the magazine article, but there wasn’t a picture. We had private pictures of that, so we wanted people to have fun with this concept and I think they did. Certainly the audience there was very enthusiastic, they were cheering for it. The thing is, I suggest again, keep in mind Schoenberg was a romanticist all the way. He was not this very turbidly intellectual person, that is often presented. People have this notion of him as a cerebral composer who always composed by system, who composed in a very strict manner, who was not interested in romanticism, who was not interested in expression and so forth. And that was not the case. One bit of reading he might like to do, or several essays you might like to read out of his book titled Style and Idea, of which I made the initial translation, on the very first edition of it that came out in 1951 or 1952. Later on, a larger edition was made by Leonard Stein. And in this a number of interesting articles. One that I like is ‘Heart and Brain in Music’, where he deals with this very problem. There seems to be a feeling of a conflict there between heart and brain and Schoenberg felt the two should work together. If you didn’t have any brain, you’d have a really poor heart. So, you use your mind, but also, you let your emotions take over. And another very good one is ‘On Revient Toujour, one always come back’. People had a huge tale of abandoning tonality, they had no interest in tonality anymore, they’ve thrown it out of the window. Not so, he came back in later years to tonal music. And even when he was writing non-tonally-centered works, this was because he wanted to expand the possibilities of music. He did not want to throw out tonality, and he never did, in fact. And then, of course, expanding it still more with his method of composition with twelve tones. But what he said in ‘On Revient Toujour’, he said you always come back to earlier things, there is nothing wrong in doing that. He said: ‘I like all my works, because I liked them when I wrote them’. Which I tell my students. Sometimes they feel ‘I’ve gone beyond this now, I mustn’t do this anymore’. And I say: ‘No. You do what is appropriate to what you are feeling at the time’. And I think this is important. So a conductor should not be doctrinaire about what he or she wants to conduct or how it should be conducted. Look at the past, see how you felt about it in the past, how you feel about it now, can you put those things together and come up with something which is valid for you? And I think that is extremely important to be able to do. Another Schoenberg essay in Style and Idea, its title is ‘This is my fault’ and there he talks about people who write, who compose absolutely contrary to the text and he admits that he might sometimes had done this, but it was not his habit. What one really should do is, one should consider the text, one should relate well to the text. He has a whole argument about relations to the text, which should be studied as well by composers and, I think, conductors. Conducting text, one should realize what the relationship of the orchestra or small ensemble is to the text and direct the performance accordingly.
MDM: Would you like to make one final summation about this whole piece, now that you have thought about it and recorded it. We have enough time for you to make a summation paragraph before we wrap up our show today.
DN: Ok. In my life, I think Schoenberg, or I know Schoenberg in my life had a predominant influence that leads up to the present day. In my later years, I’ve had the opportunity to go back over the past, while doing this or other interviews and other situations as well, and pass on that heritage. And a very important part of my work has been to be able to teach all of these years. I’ve taught for fifty years, so I’ve had fifty years to be able to pass this on to students. Some people don’t entirely appreciate this, I must say, even within my own university, Virginia Commonwealth University at this time, as I have been teaching there. There were some people who diDN’t quite approve of this. Who felt whether I should be using this textbook or that textbook? Why I use Schoenberg’s textbooks? And, by the way, Schoenberg’s textbooks are terribly important, a marvelous resource for young students who want to learn more about the past, through a master of the present day. A wonderful counterpoint textbook, a wonderful harmony textbook. Got two wonderful harmony textbooks that everybody who is studying composition should have that exposure. I hope that will be true in many cases. I’ve made it, in my teaching here at the Virginia Commonwealth University, as true as I can. I’d like to be true to the tradition and I hope in things I am doing and saying now and in summing up my own life, what my relationship to Schoenberg has been, and summing up what my pupils have done, I feel that the heritage goes on and on and on. Maybe we have Vienna on the [unintelligible] now and I’ve had some wonderful students, I have some wonderful students now, who carry on the tradition and learn to be themselves. Schoenberg’s students were not all just clones of each other, they learned a lot of basics, learned a lot of fundamentals, each one was his or her own person. They learned to become who they were like Berg and Webern who took it different. I think the latest example of two people who were certainly as different as they could be, and totally different than Berg and Webern, I think myself and John Cage, a very unlikely combination. 1 2005 copyrighted material owned by Michael D. Moore T/A
MDM Productions, P.O. Box 5703, Richmond, Virginia 23220-0703 USA 2 The test-pressing sessions took three days. Newlin was probably only in one of those sessions (her diary records that she was present in the recording session of 25 of September) or her memory failed her here. Note that later in the interview she confirms that the sessions were ‘probably done over a day or two’. 3 Bethany Beardslee, soprano; Columbia Chamber Ensemble (Murray Panitz, flute & piccolo; Ernest Bright, clarinet & bass clarinet; Isidore Cohen, violin & viola; Charles McCracken, violoncello; Robert Helps, piano) Robert Craft, conductor, various issues, among them CBS Sony SOCL 267/68 (pre 1978) LP.
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Copyright Avior Byron 2019 .
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WATCH: TED CRUZ SAYS IDIOTS RIOTING IN THE STREET ALSO DEMANDED TRUMP ACCEPT RESULTS
Posted by Blazing Press | Nov 18, 2016 | Donald Trump | 1
During an appearance on Fox & Friends this morning, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) took shots at protesters who have taken to the streets in response to President-elect Donald Trump’s victory over Hillary Clinton last week. Noting that prior to the election many on the left were crying out that they wanted Trump to come out and say that he would accept the results of the election, Cruz called those protesting hypocrites.
“We have seen hypocrisy on rank display from the left,” Cruz told the hosts. “All of the folks who jumped on their high horse and were lecturing to President-elect Trump ‘You’ve got to accept the results of the election.’”
“Look, these are the idiots now protesting by laying down in front of cars and disrupting traffic,” Cruz continued. “We had an election. The people spoke. Democracy is a powerful, powerful way of choosing.”
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) dismissed media reports – including by the New York Times – that President-elect Donald Trump’s transition team is in disarray. Cruz, who met with his former GOP primary rival at Trump Tower, said on Fox & Friends today that the reports are “complete silliness,” adding that it’s not surprising that media critics are “throwing rocks” at the new president.
“They don’t want the president to succeed,” said Cruz, explaining that he observed many men and women working hard to accomplish the “enormous task” of setting up a new administration.
He said he is “eager” to work with Trump in whatever capacity in which he can have the greatest impact defending the “principles of freedom and the Constitution.”
“We’ve got to to deliver. It’s put up or shut up,” said Cruz.
The senator said after Trump’s surprise victory, we’re now seeing “rank hypocrisy” from the left, which “lectured” Trump about promising to accept the election results when they assumed he would lose.
“These are now the idiots who are protesting in the street, laying their bodies down in front of cars and obstructing traffic. Look, we had an election. The people spoke,” he said.
Cruz said he believes the American people are “excited” by the new administration trying to bring back jobs and protecting our rights.
Watch the full interview below.
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Miss Holmes
Drama – 2 acts – 4 women, 5 men
Based on the collected novels and short stories of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. In a time and place where gender roles are rigidly defined, Dr. Dorothy Watson and Miss Sherlock Holmes dare to challenge societal norms by providing a necessary, if unconventional, service. Inspired by the works of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, this theatrical “fan fiction” re-examines the world of Holmes and Watson, exploring the added challenges and risks faced by these two iconic characters if they were women. Rights available through Dramatic Publishing. Click here for More information.
Music and Lyrics by Christopher Kriz
Musical – 2 acts – 5 women, 4 men
Adapted from the novel by Austin Grossman. Fatale: Cyborg super-soldier. Newest member of the world’s most elite team of superheroes, the Champions. She has enhanced vision, super strength, and a tactical computer hardwired to her brain. Also, awkward in social situations, and can’t use a chair if it isn’t steel-reinforced. Doctor Impossible: Supervillain. Smartest man in the world. Suffers from a condition known as Malign Hypercognition Disorder, better known as Evil Genius Syndrome. He’s tried to take over the world twelve times… and counting. More information.
Drama – 2 acts – 6 men, 4 women
Adapted from the novel by Charles Dickens. Set against the backdrop of the French Revolution, A Tale of Two Cities follows the lives of Charles Darnay, a virtuous French ex-patriot who falls victim to the indiscriminate wrath of the revolution; and Sydney Carton, a dissolute English barrister who struggles to redeem his ill-spent life through his unrequited love for Darnay’s wife. It ranks among the most famous works in the history of English literature. More information.
Adapted from the novel by China Miéville. In a place where seeing what is right in front of you can be a serious crime, Inspector Tyador Borlú of the Besźel Extreme Crime Squad must solve the mystery of a young woman’s murder. His investigation will bring him face to face with the fringe groups who simmer with hatred for each other beneath the surface of Besźel and her sister city, Ul Qoma, all the while risking retribution from the secretive entity that maintains the border between the two. More information.
The Count of Monte Cristo
Adapted from the novel by Alexandre Dumas. The lives of three powerful families are thrown into chaos with the arrival of the mysterious Count of Monte Cristo, a man of untold wealth who carries with him secrets from the past which may destroy them all. More information.
One-Act
Drama/Horror – 15 minutes – 4 actors
Ghost hunters Leslie and Richard are out of their depth when they arrive to investigate the strange history of “Motel 666.” More information.
Items of a Certain Value
An unexplainable vision causes a down-on-his-luck father to second-guess his decision to sell a family heirloom.
Fracture Zone
After an unexpected discovery on the ocean floor causes all hell to break loose on board a submarine, a pair of sailors hurry to record one last warning before it’s too late. More information.
Comparing Notes at the End of the World
Three survivors discuss their experiences after the laws of the universe abruptly change, bringing about a bizarre sort of apocalypse. More information.
Does This Look Infected?
Returning from a weekend in the woods, Jenna asks a co-worker to take a look at a bug bite on her back. At least, she hopes it’s just a bug bite.
A doomed sailor hallucinates a vision of a lost love to help him through his last few minutes aboard a sinking submarine.
Miss Holmes Returns
The Player King (A Horror Adaptation of William Shakespeare’s Hamlet)
Playwriting Resume
Scripts for sale:
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Director: Aki Kaurismäki
Part two of Kaurismäki's "Proletariat" trilogy once again reveals miserable working-class conditions in Finland and ends in the same way as Shadows in Paradise: getting a slow boat out of town. A gruff blue collar worker (Turo Pajala, who looks a bit like Colin Ferrell) seeks a better life for himself, so he takes his money out of the bank and sets out for adventure, but he suffers indignity after indignity: he gets mugged and has his money stolen, he can't afford shelter, he gets arrested for beating a man who deserved to be beaten. What saves this from being too dour is the performance by Pajala - no matter what happens, he picks himself up, lights a cigarette and forges on. He doesn't register misery; he doesn't feel sorry for himself. He just clobbers a prison guard (in the most simple jail break I've probably seen in the movies), robs a bank, shoots two gangsters and goes to Mexico. And why the hell shouldn't he?
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Catholic France
William and Mary. November 4, 1677.
Marisa Ollero 30 October, 2018 No Comments 196 views
Mary, born at St James’s Palace in London on 30 April 1662, was the eldest daughter of the Duke of York (the future King James II & VII), and his first wife, Anne Hyde. Mary’s uncle was King Charles II, who ruled the three kingdoms of England, Scotland and Ireland. She was baptised into the Anglican faith in the Chapel Royal at St James’s, and was named after her ancestor, Mary, Queen of Scots. Although her mother bore eight children, all except Mary and her younger sister Anne died very young, and King Charles II had no legitimate children. Consequently, for most of her childhood, Mary was second in line to the throne after her father. The Duke of York converted to Roman Catholicism in 1668 or 1669 and the Duchess about eight years earlier, but Mary and Anne were bro...
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sort of, you know, and I think he started it, I think Woody started that unless Joe Hill, if you wanna get back to that part – now those were good songs that Joe Hill wrote, he wrote some real good songs, but that was... in those days martyrs were easy to find and, er... things were pretty simple like it was, you know, like which side are you on? It was down to, you know, this or that. Now, you can’t have that point of view anymore because any, you know, person in their right mind just can’t, you know, just can’t more than choose the right any sides, you know.
MR: Yeah. Right. Again it’s like if you get enough sides together, it makes just a circle... you can’t differentiate. Also, I mean, I think, that yours – especially the songs that have been written lately are more really attuned to emotions which tend to something that anybody can identify with more than, you know, than a song like Ochs, you know, We’re Not Marching Anymore. That’s, you know, that speaks specifically...
BD: That was a good song. Er, maybe he did change some peoples minds on that. I don’t know. He could have. You know, someone could be sitting on a fence and hear a song like that and might just get a little courage to go out and get off that fence one way or another. So... it’s possible.
MR: How do you like living in Los Angeles? BD: This year I’ve been on the road about, getting on a little, about six months... seven months – I can’t see it, this part of my life that I’m not really living anywhere. I don’t feel that I’ve found a, you know, place to live, yet. I’ve lived in a lot of different places and I just sort of move around. But, um, you know, L.A. is not as high energy as, as... it is, actually, it is. It’s not as er... California’s different, San Francisco’s a different type of city than L.A. But, er, there’s a lot of restless energy in L. A. which is... which is... which can’t be put to use.
MR: Like static electricity? BD: Yeah. Yeah. And you can’t put it to use because you’ve got nothing to hit it, you know, nothing to hit against. And, er, I mean there’s too much space, you know, or something... I don’t know what it is.
MR: Yeah. That’s why I asked. It seemed kind of incongruous actually, knowing you from your music, you know.
BD: Well, it’s easy, you know, it’s, it’s sunny all the time, you know what I mean? I know, it’s... it’s, erm... you know, it’s... it’s not too crowded... but as far as night-life and... er... being rooted in something out there, I’m not.
MR: Uh, huh. What, doesn’t seem like there’s roots? BD: No. I don’t feel that out there. It’s okay place to be for the time you’re there. Like I said, been on the road a lot this year and it’s, er, it’s all right to start from there.
MR: Uh, huh. Yeah. What were you saying? Do you have, I mean is there a place that you can call home or do you still feel that you’re basically on the road?
BD: I do feel that I’m on the road. Sometimes I feel more at home on the road than I do anywhere I’ve been which scares me. You know, after a period of time, after you’ve done it long enough, you just get it down, you know, and, er...
MR: That’s strange. In a way that’s strange that, I mean, you come from a, er, from a tradition that’s really, I mean, from the beginning it really does have strong roots, I mean, the whole folk tradition is based on that and I don’t really, you know, want to bring in a personal thing but you are a father, you know, you have five kids...
BD: That’s right. I don’t know how to reason that one out. My kids understand me; they know what I have to do and, er, they know that this is what I must be doing.
MR: That’s the most important thing, I guess. Where do you see yourself going from here? BD: Ah, I really can’t say. I’ll be on the road next year too, probably just as much as this year. It’s just what I do, you know, always done my whole life and that’s what I know how to do best.
Assistant enters and says “fifteen, Bob”. 685
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KL: In the Sixties, there was feeling that this society really was changing. Looking back, do you feel it changed that much?
BD: I think it did. A lot of times people forget. These modern days that we know now, where you can get on an airplane and fly anywhere you want non-stop, direct, and be there – that’s recent That’s since what, 1940? Not even that – after the war, it was. And telephones? Forget it. I mean, when I was growin’ up, I remember we had a phone in the house, but you had to dial it; and I also remember there was a party line of maybe six other people. And no matter when you got on the phone, you know, there might be somebody else on it. And I never grew up with television. When television first came in, it came on at like four in the afternoon, and it was off the air by seven at night. So you had more time to... I guess, to think. It can never go back to the way it was, but it was all changing in the Fifties and Sixties. My kids, they know television, they know telephones. They don’t think about that stuff, you know? Even airplanes: I never rode on an airplane until 1964 or somethin’. Up till that time, if you wanted to go across the country, you took a train or a Greyhound bus, or you hitchhiked. I don’t know. I don’t think of myself as that old, or having seen that much, but...
KL: Do you have MTV at home? BD: No, I don’t get that. I have to go to the city to see MTV. And then, once I do find a set that has it, I’ll just watch it for, you know, as long as my eyes can stay open. Until they pop out, I’ll just watch it.
KL: What do you make of video? Do you think it’s all that important? BD: Uh, to sell records, yeah. But videos have always been around. David Bowie’s been makin’’em since he started. There was one thing I saw on a video, and I thought it was great. Then I heard the record on the radio, and it was nothin’, you know? But video does give you something to hook on to. I was just talkin’ to Ronnie Wood the other night. He went to the Duran Duran show at the Garden, and he said it was really funny, because they had a great big screen up over the stage with huge close-ups of the band members. And every time they showed a close-up of somebody in the band, the audience would just go crazy – they’d go mad, you know? So while they were showing a close-up of somebody in the band the guitar player’d be playing a lick. So he’d think they were doing it for him. Then he’d play the same lick again to get the same response – and get nothing.
KL: I remember you were trying to get together with Ronnie and Keith [Richards] the other night. How’d it go?
BD: It was pretty subdued actually. But I always like to see Keith or Woody or Eric or... There’s a few people I like to see whenever I can. People who play like that. It has to do with a style of music, you know?
KL: Do you ever collaborate? BD: Yeah, but usually it never happens. It’s, “Okay, that’s great, we’ll pick that up later and finish it.” But nothin’ ever really gets finished.
KL: Are your best friends mostly musicians? BD: My best friends? Jeez, let me try to think of one [laughs]. KL: There must be a few. BD: Best friends? Jesus, I mean, that’s... KL: You’ve got to have a best friend. BD: Whew! Boy, there’s a question that’ll really make you think. Best friend? Jesus, I think I’d go into a deep, dark depression if I were to think about who’s my best friend.
KL: There have to be one or two, don’t there? BD: Well, there has to be... there must be... there’s gotta be. But hey, you know, a best friend is someone who’s gonna die for you. I mean, that’s your best friend, really. I’d be miserable trying to think who my best friend is.
KL: What do you do with your year, aside from doing an album and maybe a tour? BD: Well I’m happy doin’ nothin’ [laughs].
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Lorne Balfe scores ‘The Florida Project’
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NMSU Takes on #17/18 LSU This Weekend
Courtesy of NMSU & LSU
LAS CRUCES, N.M. – The New Mexico State football team heads to Baton Rouge, La., Saturday, Sept. 27 to face off against No. 17/18 Louisiana State (LSU). The Aggies fell to 2-2 after suffering a 38-34 loss to Rio Grande rival New Mexico the previous weekend as LSU moved to 3-1 on the season after being upset by Mississippi State, 34-29, the same night.
The Tigers have been ranked in the top 25 teams in the nation for most of the last decade, having won the BCS National Championship in 2003 and 2007. 2012 was the last time the team played in the championship, losing to Alabama 21-0.
LSU Head Coach Les Miles Press Conference Transcript
LSU Game Notes
CLICK FOR TICKETS
NM State Football on the Radio
The New Mexico State flagship radio station for football and men’s basketball is changing from 103.9 FM to 98.7 FM in Las Cruces. All football and men’s basketball games will be aired live and in their entirety.
This move took effect for the first home football game on Thursday, August 28 at 6 p.m. (MT). The pre-game show will begin at 5 p.m. with Jack Nixon and Preston Williams.
The flagship station this year will be 98.7 FM of the NM State Sports Network, which extends across the state of New Mexico. Other stations in the network carry all football and men’s basketball games and include:
· KNMZ 107.1FM Alamogordo
· ESPN 101.7 The Team Albuquerque/Rio Rancho
· KSVP 990AM Artesia
· KAMQ 1240AM Carlsbad
Aggies on Social Media
The Aggies Athletic Department has a Twitter account at www.twitter.com/nmstateaggies where fans and media can get all their in-game scores. The Aggies also have a Facebook page at www.facebook.com/NMSUathletics. Don’t forget to follow us on Instagram at nmstateaggies for all the behind the scene info on your team.
Crowd of 24.651
The Aggies fell to 2-2 on the season after suffering a loss to the New Mexico Lobos Saturday, Sept. 20, at Aggie Memorial Stadium. The Lobos moved to 1-2 on the season with the win.
NM running back Crusoe Gongbay led all rushers with 139 yards on 16 carries with one touchdown. NM State’s Xavier Hall finished the game with 15 carries for 61 yards, recording a career high two touchdowns.
Aggie receiver Teldrick Morgan had another standout performance, catching nine passes for 122 yards. Joesph Matthews added 79 yards and a touchdown for the Aggies as well. The Lobo’s Jeric Magnant led NM with four catches for 42 yards, recording one touchdown.
Aggie quarterback Tyler Rogers went 32-47 on the night, recording a career high 333 yards and two touchdowns. The lobos went 8-14 overall, throwing for 67 yards and two touchdowns.
The Aggies defense struggled to contain the Lobos ground game, recording 432 yards on 52 carries overall. The same could be said about the NM secondary, as the Aggies had 333 yards through the air. The total yards for both teams was almost dead even, with NM recording 499 yards of total offense while the Aggies had 498.
Turnovers played a role for both teams, with the Aggies throwing two interceptions and the Lobos fumbling twice, turning it over once. The Aggies were 13-of-20 on third down conversions and two of three on fourth down conversions. The lobos were a perfect 4-of-4 in the redzone, while the Aggies went 5-of-6.
Click For BIO
Tyler Rogers Steps in as Aggie QB
Tyler Rogers has been named as the starting quarterback for the NM State Aggies for the 2014-15 season.
The Aggies are now 2-2 on the season, having dropped the last two games against UTEP and New Mexico. Rogers has recorded 1,056 yards on 97-of-158 passing, with nine touchdowns and six interceptions. Rogers has also scrambled for 40 yards this year.
In his debut behind center, the sophomore quarterback went 18-27 for 158 yards and two touchdowns. With a pass completion rating off 66.7 percent and only one interception, Rogers had an efficiency rating of 132.86 against Cal Poly.
Rogers is a transfer sophomore who played one year at Western Arizona. He played one season with Arizona Western as the team’s starting quarterback. He threw for 1,832 yards and 14 touchdowns with only seven interceptions. Rogers also ran for 364 yards and a team-best 10 touchdowns. Rogers missed two and a half games down the final stretch of the season, but was able to dress for the Matadors third straight appearance in the Fisher Automotive El Toro Bowl.
In high school Rogers was the starting quarterback at Liberty High School for four years, leading his team to three league championships. He threw for 5,903 yards during his high school career, including 76 touchdown passes. Rogers also ran for 1,691 yards and 26 scores. As a senior, Rogers was the league and district player of the year, while also being selected as a first team all-section and second team all-state. He was one of two quarterbacks from Arizona selected to play in the California vs. Arizona All-Star game.
WR Teldrick Morgan Comes Up Big for Aggies
Redshirt sophomore wide receiver Teldrick Morgan has been recording some big numbers for the Aggies, leading NM State in receptions, yards and touchdowns. With 31 catches, 464 yards and four touchdowns, Morgan has become an integral art of the Aggies passing game.
With a career high 202 receiving yards against UTEP, Morgan made his way into the record books with his performance. After the New Mexico game, where Morgan recorded 122 yards on nine receptions, Morgan’s 100+ yard streak is at two games and puts him just shy of the record books.
Morgan is on pace to be No. 1 on the receptions in a single season, averaging 7.75 catches per game. If he keeps this pace up, he will end the season with 93 catches, placing him at the top of the rankings. Morgan will also sit atop the single season receiving yards list as well.
Meet the NM State Backfield
The Aggies continue to look for production from their running backs, with high expectations for the ground game in the 2014-15 season. Headlining the backfield will be sophomore back Xavier Hall and senior Brandon Betancourt, assisted by true freshman Larry Rose III.
Rose leads the way for the Aggie backfield, recording 269 yards on 62 carries and scoring one touchdown. Rose also has five receptions for 36 yards and another touchdown. Hall has 37 carries for 146 yards and three touchdowns, while Bettencourt ran 34 times for 159 yards.
Hall and Betancourt are Las Cruces natives; both having successful careers at Las Cruces High and Mayfield High respectively. Rose is coming off of his senior season at Fairfield High in Fairfield, Texas, where he rushed for 2,924 yards on 237 carries and recorded 49 touchdowns.
Last year Betancourt played in eight games for the Aggies, rushing for 415 yards and two touchdowns, averaging 4.5 yards a carry. He also caught 13 receptions for 106 yards and one touchdown, averaging 8.2 yards per catch. Betancourt rushed for a career-high 139 yards against I-25 rival New Mexico (Oct. 5). He followed that performance with 103 yards rushing on 17 carries against Rice (Oct. 19). Versus No. 13 UCLA (Sept. 21) he rushed for 95 yards and one touchdown.
Hall ran for 247 yards on 48 carries and two touchdowns during the 2013 season and recorded seven receptions for 47 yards in 11 games. He averaged 5.1 yards a rush and 6.7 yards a catch, starting the final four games of the year. His best game came against Boston College (Nov. 9), where Hall recorded career-high 95 yards on 14 carries and one touchdown. He also recorded four receptions for 32 yards in the same game.
NM State rushed for 1,701 yards last season on 444 carries. Averaging 3.8 yards a carry and 141.8 yards a game, the Aggies scored 14 touchdowns on the ground last season.
Return of the Lefty
In the 2013-14 season, NM State was one of only two schools in the nation that boasted left footed kickers starting at both punter and place kicker. While punter Cayle Chapman-Brown has left the Aggies, kicker Maxwell Johnson is returning for his senior year.
In his 2014 season debut, Johnson went 4-4 in PATs for a total of four points against the Cal Poly Mustangs on Aug. 28.
On the season, Johnson is 16-16 on PATs and 3-4 on field-goals, with a long of 41 yards against Georgia State Sept. 6.
Johnson played in 12 games for the Aggies in 2013 as a place kicker, kicking 29-of-32 PATs, 10-of-12 field goal and 20 kickoffs. He was 2-of-2 on field goals attempts three times in the season against Rice (Oct. 19), Abilene Christian (Oct. 26) and Boston College (Nov. 9). Johnson recorded his longest field goal of his career, against Rice, a 49-yard kick. Over the last six games of the season, Johnson made 18 straight extra point attempts, including a 5-of-5 performance against Louisiana (Nov. 2).
Johnson on Lou Groza Award Watch List
New Mexico State's Maxwell Johnson was named to the thirty-player Watch List for the 2014 Lou Groza Collegiate Place-Kicker Award, as announced by the Palm Beach County Sports Commission.
Johnson returns after he was NMSU's leading scorer in 2013. His 10 field goals came in the span of the final eight games, including a pair in the 4th quarter of a 34-29 victory over Abilene Christian.
On the season, Johnson is 16-16 on PATs and 3-4 on field-goals, with a long of 41 yards against Georgia State on Sept. 6.
Accomplishments are tabulated throughout the season and the Lou Groza Collegiate Place-Kicker Award will announce its 20 semifinalists on Thursday, November 6th. From this list, a panel of more than 300 FBS head coaches, SIDs, media members, and former Groza finalists selects the top three finalists for the award by Monday, November 24th. That same group then selects the national winner, who will be announced on Thursday, December 11th during the Home Depot College Football Awards, broadcast live from Orlando, Fla.
Valerian Ume-Ezeoke named to Rimington Trophy Watch List
The Rimington Trophy Committee has released its 2014 Fall Watch List, which features 66 of the best centers in Division I football, including three centers from the Sun Belt Conference. Valerian Ume-Ezeoke was listed among the preseason candidates for the award that annually goes to the nation's best center.
Ume has played all 163 offensive downs for the Aggies while recorded three pancakes and a team high 12 knockdowns on the season.
Ume-Ezeoke started at center for the Aggies offensive line during the 2013 season, recording 56.5 knockdowns, second highest on the team. He had a season-high 10 knockdowns against Louisiana (Nov. 2). Ume-Ezeoke’s play helped the Aggies’ leading rusher Germi Morrison rush for an average of 4.1 yards a rush on 109 carries for 451 yards and a team-high four rushing touchdowns. His blocking ability also allowed quarterback Andrew McDonald lead the Aggies in passing, throwing for 2,497 yards and 15 touchdowns, averaging 208.1 yards a game. Ume-Ezeoke was also named to the Remington Trophy Watch List last season as well.
While more than a dozen All-America teams are selected annually, the Rimington Trophy committee uses the Walter Camp Foundation, Sporting News and Football Writers Association of America teams to determine a winner. The winner will be recognized at the Rimington Trophy Presentation at the Rococo Theatre in Lincoln, Neb., on Saturday, Jan. 17, 2015.
New Mexico Talent on Display in 2014
The 2014 NM State football team is filled with local players from N.M. The team boasts 17 players from the land of enchantment, with six from the Las Cruces area and nine from the Albuquerque area.
Some of the local players returning from last year are wide receivers Adam Shapiro and Joshua Bowen, running backs Xavier Hall and Brandon Betancourt and linemen Abram Holland and Matt Ramondo.
Hall and Bettencourt have combined for 305-yards and five touchdowns on 71 carries on the season thus far, while Bowen has seven receptions for 60 yards and one touchdown.
Las Cruces Aggies in the Backfield
Sophomore Xavier Hall and senior Brandon Bettencourt both hail from Las Cruces, N.M., and are a just a few of the local talent playing a big role for the Aggies this season.
Hall has 37 carries for 146 yards and three touchdowns, while Bettencourt has run for 159 yards on 34 carries.
In their most recent outing against New Mexico, Hall recorded 61 yards and two touchdowns on 15 carries while Betancourt recorded 19 yards on seven carries.
In the season opener against Cal Poly, Bettencourt, who played for Mayfield HS, had seven carries for 42 yards, with an average of six yards a carry and a long of 17 yards. Hall, who played for Las Cruces HS, had six carries for 22 yards, with a 3.7 yard-average, one touchdown and a long of 13 yards. The two Aggie running backs combined for almost one-fifth of NM State’s total offense against the Mustangs.
Aggie Walk On Awarded Scholarship
Sophomore Rayvean Moore was awarded with a football scholarship after playing the 2013 season as a walk on. Head coach Doug Martin said Moore earned the scholarship because of his hard work on the field and in the class room.
Moore played in nine games during the 2013 season at wide receiver and on special teams. He had one reception for two yards against San Diego State Sept. 28. Moore redshirted as a freshman.
NM State RB Named to Award Watch List
Aggie freshman running back Larry Rose III was named to the Earl Campbell Tyler Rose Award Watch List Aug. 20, one of 43 players and one of only two freshman named to the list.
The Earl Campbell Tyler Rose award recognizes the top offensive player in Div. 1 football who also exhibits the enduring characteristics that define Earl Campbell: integrity, performance, teamwork, sportsmanship, drive, community and tenacity. More specifically the tenacity to overcome adversity and injury in pursuit of reaching goals.
In addition to those attributes, the athlete must be born in Texas and/or graduated from a Texas high school and/or played at a Texas-based junior college or four year college.
Rose is from Fairfield, Texas, where he attended Fairfield High School. Playing running back and defensive back, as a senior Rose was named the Associated Press Sports Editor Class 3A Offensive Player of the Year and a first team all-state selection.
He rushed for 2,924 yards on 237 carries and 49 touchdowns his senior year. He also caught nine passes for 114 yards and three touchdowns. His season high was six scores in one game. Rose helped his team to a 15-1 record, the state championship game, and the No. 19 ranking in the state of Texas. Defensively Rose recorded seven tackles, six pass breakups and one interception.
Of the 43 players to be named to the watch list, there are nine conferences represented as well as three independent schools. By position, 17 wide receivers, 12 running backs, eight quarterbacks, three tight ends, two fullbacks and one halfback were selected for the watch list.
In the season opener against Cal Poly on Aug. 28, Rose had 30 carries for 149 yards and one rushing touchdown, with a long of 24 yards. Rose also had four receptions for 13 yards and a receiving touchdown.
Aggies in the Sun Belt
After playing an independent schedule in the 2013-14 season, the Aggies are now members of the Sun Belt Conference for the 2014-15 season.
After a win against Georgia State on Sept. 6 (34-31), the Aggies are tied with UL Monroe and Georgia Southern for first place in the conference, all three sitting at 1-0 in the conference.
Only three conference games have been played in the Sun Belt thus far. UL Monroe has the best overall record at 2-1, with Georgia Southern and the Aggies both having 2-2 overall records. Arkansas State is 2-2 on the season but has yet to play a conference game.
Founded in 1976, the Sun Belt has adapted and evolved in its nearly 40 year existence. The Sun Belt Conference has a permanent seat on the NCAA’s 18-member Board of Directors. With the 2014-15 year marking the debut of the College Football Playoff (CFP) the Sun Belt continues to find itself among the 10 premier college football conferences and the new system is guaranteed universal access based on performance – there are no automatic qualifiers for the playoff system. Additionally, the CFP will mean that a spot among the premier bowl games of college football will be guaranteed to the highest-ranked champion from the other “Group of Five” conferences: the Sun Belt Conference, American Athletic Conference, Mountain West Conference, Mid-American Conference and Conference USA.
With the College Football Playoff included with the league’s other bowl arrangements, the Sun Belt Conference is tied to seven total bowl games. The R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl, the GoDaddy Bowl, the Raycom Media Camellia Bowl, the Cure Bowl (debuting in 2015) all guarantee a home for a bowl eligible Sun Belt Conference team each year. And beginning with the2016 season, the Sun Belt is also part of a rotation of conferences that will send a team to the Bahamas Bowl and the Miami Beach Bowl.
The Sun Belt’s 21 non-conference football wins in the 2013 season was a new record for the league - eclipsing the mark of 19 set the year prior. Additionally of note for the league’s non-conference win total was that the Sun Belt fared well against its peer opponents in the non-AQ BCS ranks. The Sun Belt finished a combined 8-1 against members of Conference-USA (4-1), the Mid-American Conference (3-0) and the Mountain West Conference (1-0). The Sun Belt also had the best overall non-conference win percentage when comparing the four non-AQ conferences.
Quick Hits - Players
No. 18 Tyler Rogers, QB
• Rogers has thrown for 1,056 yards through the first four games of the season
• Rogers has gone 97-158 in passing with nine touchdowns
• Efficiency rating of 128.7 with a 61.4 completion percentage
• Currently averaging 264 passing yards per game
• Season long pass completion of 57 yards on the season
No. 12 Larry Rose III, RB
• Rose leads the Aggies in attempt and rushing yards
• Single game season-high rushing yards of 149 against Cal Poly (Aug. 28)
• Rose is third on the team in rushing touchdowns scored with one on the season
• Rose has 269 rushing yards and one rushing touchdown with 62 attempts
• Rose did not play in the loss against UTEP (Sept.13)
• Season long rush of 24 yards
No. 21 Brandon Betancourt, RB
• Betancourt has played in all four games for the Aggies this season
• Finished second on the team last year with 415 rushing yards
• Currently has two rushing touchdowns and one receiving touchdown as an Aggie
• Rushed for 63 yards against Georgia State this season
• Has a season long rush of 23 yards and a career long rush of 36 yards
No. 22 Xavier Hall, RB
• Has appeared in all four games this season
• Leads the team with three rushing touchdowns
• Has five rushing touchdowns for his career
• Season long rush of 17 yards and career long rush of 24 yards
• Led the team a year ago with 5.1 yards per carry among players with 20 or more attempts
No. 17 Jerrel Brown, WR
• Leading returning receiver from last year with 935 career receiving yards
• Was second on the team last year with 484 receiving yards and two receiving touchdowns
• Currently has four receiving touchdowns for his career
• Has appeared in every game this season
• Brown has recorded 12 receptions for 122 yards with 10.2 average yards per catch
No. 6 Joshua Bowen, WR
• Bowen has appeared in 3 games this year for the Aggies
• His first touchdown of this season came against New Mexico (Sept. 20)
• Last year Bowen finished second on the team with 39 receptions
• He also caught two touchdowns last year
No. 5 Joseph Matthews, WR
• Second on the team in receptions (17), receiving yards (195) and receiving touchdowns (3) this season
• Has played in all four games this season
• Recorded his first touchdown reception against Georgia State (Sept. 6)
• Has 641 receiving yards for his career
• Currently averaging 11.5 yards per catch this season
No. 19 Teldrick Morgan, WR
• Morgan has 31 catches for 464 yards and four touchdowns, with a long catch of 57 yards
• He is the leading receiver for the Aggies in every receiving category
• Morgan is averaging 116 receiving yards per game this season
• Season high of 202 yards on eight receptions against UTEP (Sept. 13)
• Redshirted last year, this is Morgan’s first year on the field for the Aggies
No. 7 Adam Shapiro, WR
• Has recorded 11 receptions for 93 yards, with a long of 23 yards.
• Played in all 12 games in 2013, averaging 12.3 yards a catch.
• He recorded 35 receptions for 331 yards and two touchdowns in 2013, ranking second on the team.
• Lead in the team in all-purpose yards as the Aggies No. 1 kick returner, with 975 all-purpose yards.
No. 89 Andrew Dean, TE
• Dean had 11 receptions for 101 yards and one touchdown during the 2013 season.
• Played in all 12 games last season and has started at tight end for both of the
• Aggies games this season.
• Career high in receptions against No. 15 Texas (Aug. 31) and 33 receiving yards against Louisiana (Nov. 2) in 2013.
No. 52 Jay Eakins, DE
• 27 total tackles on the year, 10 solo and 17 assisted.
• Has recorded 3.5 tackles for a loss of 16 yards.
• Recorded 29 tackles and one sack last year
• Has recorded one sack on the season
No. 48 Kalei Auelau, DT
• Recorded nine tackles on the year, one solo and eight assisted
• Has recorded .5 tackles for a loss of three yards.
• 0.5 sacks for a loss of three yards.
No. 95 Stody Bradley, DT
• Has recorded two tackles on the season, both assisted.
No. 13 Clint Barnard, DE
• Has played in three of four games this season
• Currently has a total of four tackles on the year
• Leading returning tackler from a season ago
• Was fourth on the team with 67 tackles as a Junior
No. 53 Rodney Butler, LB
• Played and started all three games this season
• Leads the Sun Belt Conference in tackles with 40
• Has an average of 13.3 tackles per game
• Recorded an interception and 40-yard touchdown against Georgia State (Sept.6)
No. 3 Derek Ibekwe, LB
• Ibekwe has appeared in all three games this season
• Second in tackling on the team with 32 tackles
• Has one tackle for loss that totaled two yards
No. 31 Dalton Herrington, LB
• Has appeared in all three games this season
• Has a total of 16 tackles on the season
• Recorded one interception this season and one broken up pass
No. 29 Lewis Hill, DB
• Hill has played a total of 14 games with the Aggies on defense
• Hill recorded his first interception of the year UTEP (Sept.13)
• Hill has a total of 11 unassisted and three assisted tackles
• Leads the team pass break ups with two
No. 16 Kawe Johnson, DB
• With three games played in the season, Johnson has a total of 27 tackles
• Johnson has two tackles for loss, totaling four yards
• Career-high of 12 tackles against Abilene Christian (Oct. 26)
No. 9 Cassius Corley, DB
• Has played two games with the Aggies in the season
• Tied for second on the team with 1 broken up pass
No. 4 Winston Rose, DB
• Has played in all three games with the Aggies this season
• One of the four Aggies with an interception of the year.
• Ten yard return on the interception
• Only played in two games last year as an Aggie
No. 14 Jaden Wright, DB
• Recorded a career high five tackles against Cal Poly (Aug. 28)
• Total of five tackles so far in his freshman year as an Aggie
No. 6 King Davis III, DB
• Davis has played in two games this season as an Aggie.
• A total of 14 tackles on the year
• Davis passed for 371 yards and two touchdowns as a quarterback last year for the Aggies
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Cuckmere Churches
The 5 Churches
St Andrew’s, Alfriston
The Good Shepherd, Lullington
St Michael the Archangel, Litlington
All Saints’, West Dean
St Peter ad Vincula, Folkington
Forms for weddings
There but not There
Hiring St Andrew’s
St Andrew’s Restoration
Choir – St Andrew’s
Sunday School – St Andrew’s
Bell-ringers – St Andrew’s
Flower Guild – St Andrew’s
Friends Of St Andrew’s
Church Guides – St Andrew’s
Cuckmere News
How To Find Our Churches
Privacy Policy & Safeguarding
The Church of the Good Shepherd, Lullington stands on the side of the South Downs above the Cuckmere Valley, almost hidden amongst a clump of trees. Its white weather-boarded belfry peeps above the foliage, and there are magnificent views.
It is the smallest church in Sussex, and one of the smallest churches in the country, being 16 feet square, and seating only about 20. There is no electricity and evening services are conducted by candlelight. The building is the remains of the chancel of a larger church, which is believed to have been razed by fire in Cromwellian times.
The church dates from the 13th century, and is of Early English style, with the list of vicars extending back to 1356. The original dedication is not known for sure, but may be to St Zita (a saint canonised not because of miraculous powers, but because of simple devotion and hard work). More latterly, and after a decision by the local community, the church was rededicated in 2000 to the Good Shepherd (one of the earliest Christian titles for Jesus), in keeping with agricultural practices of the area.
The location of this unique church, its history, and the atmosphere created by its beautiful location make it popular with visitors throughout the year.
More recently, the church was the inspiration for the popular song, “The Smallest Church in Sussex”, by the nationally acclaimed band British Sea Power. The organ music featured on that song was made using the harmonium inside the actual church here.
Throughout the year the church is used for worship, and all are very welcome. An atmospheric Lantern Service by candlelight occurs every Advent Sunday at 4.30 pm, and an Easter Sunday Sunrise Service takes place at 6.30 am. In the warmer months (following Easter) a service of Evensong takes place at 3.00 pm on the second Sunday of each month, culminating in Harvest Festival. You can see the services for the year here.
Weddings and baptisms are conducted from time to time in the church, and any inquiries should be made to the Rector here.
The churchyard is closed for burials, but permission has been given to inter the ashes of loved ones. No plaques are permitted, but the remains are buried below a Yew tree, the symbol of eternity. Such interment requires some tangible connection with the local area, and inquiries should be made to the Rector.
The church is open every day of the year.
If you click once on a gallery photo below, it will open to a full size image.
Benefice Office
St Andrew’s Church,
The Tye,
Alfriston, BN26 5TL
NB this website does not use cookies.
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Céad Mile Fáilte!
In Irish, Céad Mile Fáilte means ‘one hundred thousand welcomes’! Welcome to our website! The Culkin School of Irish Dance was founded i n 1997 by Sean and Denise Culkin. At the start, Sean taught classes out of a church basement in Bethesda. Since then, the school has expanded and we now have locations in Silver Spring, Bethesda, Rockville, Kensington, and Glen Echo Park, Maryland with nearly 350 students.
The school prides itself on it’s sense of community and has been able to foster relationships that last a life time through the ties of Irish culture and the interest in Irish dance.
For many years, Sean has been a Branch Officer of Comhaltas Ceoltóiri Éireann (CCE), part of a global organization devoted to Irish traditional music and culture in the Washington, DC area. Sean’s involvement in CCE has led to tremendous opportunities for Culkin dancers. Our dancers have danced to the accompaniment of world renown Irish musicians at Strathmore, Kennedy Center, Wolftrap, BlackRock Center for the Arts, the Irish Embassy and The White House.
At the Culkin School of Irish Dance, we teach the tradition of Irish dance and music. If your dancer is interested in competing, we will prepare them to compete with confidence and pride. The school has had many successes competitively at the local, regional, national and international level. In 2015 we had ten dancers qualify for the 2016 World Championships in Glasgow, Scotland, an 85% recall rate as well as five top five solo dancers and two figure team champions at the 2015 Regional Championships (Oireachtas)!
If you’re interested in learning more about Irish dancing, music and culture it is time for you to join the Culkin School! Visit our site to find out more about our programs. Just go to the “Prospective Students” tab to see all of our offerings!
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Awards Grants Honors
Philosophers Among The New Canada Research Chairs
. April 13, 2015 at 11:39 pm 2
The Canadian Minister of State recently announced the recipients of 150 new and renewed “Canada Research Chairs.” Two new Canada chairs have been awarded to philosophers: Travis Dumsday (Concordia U. College of Alberta), who works in philosophy of science, metaphysics, philosophy of religion, and medieval, and Gregoire Webber (Queen’s University), who works on questions on human rights, public law, and the philosophy of law. Additionally, the Canada Research chair of Nicholas Griffin (McMaster), who works on Bertrand Russell, philosophical logic, epistemology, and 19th and 20th Century intellectual history, has been renewed.
The Canada Research Chairs Program was created in 2000 to help “attract and retain some of the world’s most accomplished and promising minds.” The full list of 2015 winners is here.
Categories Awards Grants Honors
Tags Canada research chairs
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David Lyth
Physics and fiddling
Irish fiddle music
Welcome to my website. I’m a supposedly retired academic. I also play Irish fiddle music, and have three volumes of transcriptions of noteable exponents of that genre.
I was born on June 21st 1940, in Whitby which is a resort and fishing town on the North-East coast.
By the time I was 17 I was studying maths, physics and chemistry at school, and playing the fiddle in a country dance band. A year later I was off to Manchester for a three-year physics degree and that’s where I met my wife Margaret. After Manchester we went to Oxford and London for three years, during which time we married and I got a PhD in theoretical particle physics. After a year as a postdoc in Copenhagen and another year in Birmingham I joined the physics department of Lancaster University as a lecturer. I retired in 2006 as a Professor of Astroparticle Physics.
Please look here for my academic activity and here for the Irish fiddle activity.
Please like and share:
© David Lyth 2017. Powered by WordPress.
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D.C. Home Rule
Download the Home Rule Act
The Council of the District of Columbia is the legislative branch of local government established by the “District of Columbia Home Rule Act of 1973”, enacted by Congress and ratified by District voters. The Council is composed of a Chairman elected at large and twelve Members–four of whom are elected at large, and one from each of the District’s eight wards. A Member is elected to serve a four-year term.
The Home Rule Act is the result of the ongoing push by District residents for control of their own local affairs. The existing local government is the most expanded form of self-government since the establishment of the District as the seat of the federal government. In 1790 when the District was established on land ceded by Maryland and Virginia to the federal government only about 3,000 citizens lived in the area–far less than the 50,000 required to be a state. The people living in the federal district continued to vote in Maryland and Virginia respectively.
President George Washington took a personal interest in developing the new capital and he appointed three commissioners to govern temporarily. The Commissioners called the new city “The City of Washington”. During the next ten years, the city of Washington was developed, and, in 1800, though the Capitol was not completely constructed, the federal government moved from Philadelphia to Washington.
The form of government for the federal district which consisted of five separate units–Washington City, Georgetown, Washington County in Maryland, and Alexandria and the County of Alexandria in Virginia–was debated in Congress. One bill gave residents no self-government while another provided a territorial legislature and partial home rule. In 1801, Congress passed emergency legislation dividing the District into two counties, Washington County where Maryland laws would apply, and Alexandria County where Virginia laws would apply (The Virginia part of the District was returned to Virginia in 1846).
Citizens in Washington City favoring self-government organized protests and meetings, and in 1802, petitioned Congress for a municipal charter. The Charter granted by Congress made Washington an incorporated city and gave voters the right to elect a local legislature (called a Council) that could pass laws and levy a tax on real estate to pay for city services. The local government also included a mayor appointed by the President.
Nearly seventy years later, Georgetown, Washington City, and Washington County were absorbed into a new territory governed by a governor and a council appointed by the President, a popularly-elected house of delegates, and a non-voting delegate to Congress. The territorial government lasted about three years until replaced by a temporary board of three commissioners appointed by the President.
During this period, District residents and Congressional supporters continued to press for self-government and representation in Congress. The Senate passed bills providing some form of home rule six times between 1948 and 1966, but, each time a similar bill died in the House District of Columbia Committee. The commissioner form of government was replaced in 1967 by a mayor-commissioner and a nine-member city council appointed by the President.
In 1963, District residents won the right to vote for President and Vice-President of the United States with the ratification of the 23rd Amendment to the Constitution. Four years later, citizens won the authority to elect a School Board. In 1970, the District gained a nonvoting delegate to the House of Representatives. While the fight for local autonomy proceeded step by step, Congress, particularly the House Committee on the District of Columbia, continued to exercise great authority over the local affairs of the District.
Finally, in 1973, the Home Rule Act passed in Congress, and District residents approved it in a special referendum the next year. In a historic leap for greater self-determination, District citizens elected a Mayor and Council in the fall of 1974. Voters also approved the election of Advisory Neighborhood Commissioners who represent every 2,000 residents to advise the Council on neighborhood concerns.
Citizens embraced the new Home Rule government as more representative of the local citizenry and more responsive to their needs. The powers and duties of the Council are comparable to those held by state, county and city legislatures, including the authority to adopt laws and to approve the District’s annual budget submitted by the Mayor. As the legislature, the Council is a co-equal branch of government and is part of a system of checks and balances similar to any other state government. When the Office of Mayor is vacant, the Chairman of the Council becomes the Acting Mayor.
Under the Home Rule government, however, Congress reviews all legislation passed by the Council before it can become law and retains authority over the District’s budget. Also, the President appoints the District’s judges, and the District still has no voting representation in Congress. Because of these and other limitations on local government, citizens continue to lobby for the authority held by all 50 states.
In 1978, Congress passed the Voting Rights Amendment giving the District voting representation in Congress. However, the Amendment died in 1985, after failing to be ratified by 38 states. In 1980, voters approved an initiative calling for a state constitutional convention to write a constitution, and, two years later, approved the constitution for the state of New Columbia.
Since then, bills to admit New Columbia as the 51st State of the Union and other bills to expand the authority of the local government are regularly introduced in both the House and Senate, but have failed to pass Congress. In November 1990, as mandated by the Constitutional Convention, District voters elected two Statehood senators and one representative to lobby Congress. The push for local autonomy continues.
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Difficult Meeting Yields to Recess; Pace, not Intensity, To Slacken Slightly
Local legislatures take summer recesses. The DC Council does triple duty, with responsibilities of a state legislature, county council, and city council. But from an operational standpoint, it is a bit more like the latter two in that it runs year-round. While wags and cynics would have you believe that the Council’s summer recess is really a vacation, that is not the case. Work continues, just the pace is different. While the rest of the year is a series of interlinked sprints, the recess is more like a purposeful, scenic hike–with a known destination, but a bit of room for wandering. We should all strive for a fast, competitive pace most of the time, but stepping off the treadmill while keeping your eye on the prize once in a while can yield real benefits.
That is the context any other year. But coming out of the most recent Legislative Meeting, an additional element will be present this summer. At the meeting, the Council voted to remove Councilmember Jack Evans as Chair of the Finance and Revenue Committee, eliminate the committee, and distribute its oversight and legislative responsibilities to other existing committees. Additionally, the Council voted to hire a law firm to conduct an investigation into possible violations of the Council’s code of conduct by Councilmember Evans, and subsequently agreed to create an ad hoc Council committee to consider the Evans matter. The goal is to have the law firm’s investigation wrap up by the end of the recess, with the ad hoc committee coming into existence soon after the Council’s mid-September return.
In other action at the most recent meeting, the Council approved the sole-source contract tied to the sports gaming bill approved by the Council earlier this year. An effort to dedicate sports gaming revenue to violence prevention and birth-to-three services fell short of the supermajority vote needed to pass the bill on an emergency basis.
The Council also approved, in the first of two needed votes, the Comprehensive Plan Amendment Act. This document addresses the “big picture” Framework Element of the Comprehensive Plan, and acts as a prelude to the Council’s subsequent consideration of theme-specific chapters of the Plan. The Council brought an intense affordable housing emphasis to the draft version of the Plan that had been absent in what it had originally been presented by the Administration.
Earlier in the day, the Council presented a Ceremonial Resolution to Lonnie Bunch, the newly-serving Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution and founding director of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History & Culture. In addition to working in the District, he lives here, and did both his undergraduate and graduate university schooling in DC.
Bills introduced at the most recent Legislative Meeting, if eventually passed, would:
Change urban farming soil testing rules to specify they only apply if farming will apply in the ground itself, and not pots/hydroponics
Express the Sense of the Council in opposition to the Trump Administration’s inhumane treatment of migrant adults and children
Forbid subcontractors being held responsible for damages caused by contractors
Create a task force to oversee the recently planned and funded rehabilitation of public housing
Require and regulate home/hospital education plans for students by local education agencies during periods of extended leave due to physical or psychological conditions
Expand safe passage to school legislation
Provide an omnibus package of reforms to the Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs, including creation of licensure standards, requiring tenants as well as owners be notified of violations, etc.
Create a points preference in the police and fire academies for the children of first responder parents who died in the line of duty
Further tighten lead-free and lead-safe restrictions from 2011 levels
Provide an omnibus package of waterways reform legislation
Require the creation of a master public safety facilities modernization plan
Create a tax liability reduction plan for seniors and the disabled
Clarify the law to state that small child-run businesses, such as the sale of lemonade or water, are legal and do not require a Basic Business License
Support and reinforce the O Street Wall in Ward 7
Allow participants in the Marion S. Barry Summer Youth Employment Program to count their time in the program towards government retirement creditable service numbers
Create a “Clean Slate Act” in the District that would eliminate barriers to expungement of criminal records for returning citizens
For a full list of all votes taken at the most recent meeting, please click here.
The Council’s next Legislative Meeting will be held after the recess, on September 17.
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45 mayors charged with failing to put up anti-drug councils: 1/3 from Bicol
The Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) has filed a complaint against 45 mayors before the Office of the Ombudsman for their alleged failure or refusal to create Anti-Illegal Drugs Abuse Council (ADAC) in their areas.
DILG Secretary Eduardo Año said the complaint was filed against the second batch of 25 mayors on Wednesday afternoon. The first batch of complaints against 20 mayors were filed last March 14.
“Despite several directives from the DILG and the Dangerous Drugs Board (DDB), the concerned mayors still failed or refused to comply with the said orders and their towns are among those that are without an organized and functional ADAC,” Año said in a statement.
Of the 45 mayors, 15 are in the Bicol region, particularly in Albay, Camarines Sur, Catanduanes, Masbate, and Sorsogon provinces.
Seven are in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM), specifically in Basilan, Tawi-Tawi, and Lanao del Sur provinces.
Five are from Abra and Ifugao provinces, and five from Palawan province.
In Central Visayas, four mayors are in Cebu province. In Caraga, all three mayors are from Agusan del Norte province. There are three in Calabarzon — from Laguna and Quezon provinces; two in Cagayan Valley – one in Cagayan and one in Nueva Vizcaya; and one in Eastern Samar province.
Earlier, Año said they intend to institutionalize the ADAC program by urging Congress to pass a legislation on it.
He said the war against drugs is a “whole-of-government approach” and can only be won when everyone “chips in” their contribution.
The local governments in the barangay, municipal, and provincial levels are mandated to convene their ADACs to address first-hand drug issues in areas of their jurisdiction. (PNA)
Anti-Illegal Drugs Abuse Council (ADAC)Bicol RegionDangerous Drugs Board (DDB)Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG)DILG Secretary Eduardo AñoSorsogon provinces
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The GMC: Fit to Practice?alan2015-03-05T11:16:56+00:00
The General Medical Council:Fit to Practise?
Hilarie Williams, Christoph Lees & Magnus Boyd
The GMC: Fit to Practise?
www.civitas.org.uk
Authors Hilarie Williams has a special interest in the social history of medicine and the development of health policy. She graduated in medicine in 1978 and, in 1987, joined the fledgling AIDS unit at the (then) DHSS. Over the next 16 years, Hilarie worked in various health policy areas and she was Senior Medical Adviser to the Department for Education and Employment from 1994 to 2000. She currently combines part time work in medical research with being a carer and she is active in voluntary sector support for people with learning disabilities and autism. Hilarie has studied humanities with the Open University and was awarded an MSc (distinction) in the History and Philosophy of Medicine, Science and Society by Birkbeck College (University of London) in 2011. She continues to enjoy exploring historical perspectives of medicine, the medical profession and health policy.
Christoph Lees has taken an interest in medical regulation, healthcare funding and access to high cost treatments. He was a founder member of Doctors for Reform (2002-2012) and the Civitas Doctors’ Policy Research Group (2013), and was Chairman of the Local Negotiating Committee at Addenbrooke’s Hospital, Cambridge, 2011-2013.
He has informally and formally mentored many doctors who underwent disciplinary and other procedures and assessments.
Christoph is a Consultant in Obstetrics & Fetal – Maternal Medicine in London and Visiting Professor at KU Leuven, Belgium. He trained at Guy’s, King’s College and St George’s Hospitals in London and obtained subspecialty accreditation at the Harris
Birthright Centre for Fetal Medicine. He has authored Pregnancy Questions and Answers (Dorling Kindersley 1997, 2001 & 2007), Making Sense of Obstetric Doppler (Arnold 2002) and has 120+ research papers in prenatal diagnosis and
ultrasound. He runs practical and theory courses in ultrasound and fetal medicine in the UK and abroad in locations such as Peru, El Salvador and India.
Magnus Boyd is a partner at Hill Dickinson LLP who has developed a niche practice in protecting the privacy and reputations of surgeons, doctors, Hospital Trusts and their Chief Executives, and others in the medical sphere. Clinicians consult Magnus over potential libel claims involving professional colleagues, staff, ratings websites, and other fora on which patients and competitors may defame them. In 2013 Magnus was behind the first reinvestigation into a serious untoward incident report that was defamatory. Magnus frequently litigates against broadcasters and national newspapers on behalf of doctors and surgeons to
vindicate damage to their reputations. Magnus has also successfully represented a number of GPs and consultants in ‘fitness to practice’ proceedings before the GMC. He is frequently asked to advise on internal complaint processes and grievance procedures between consultants and their hospital trusts. Magnus is the approved solicitor for the British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons and his medical reputation protection work has been recognised by his peers, and Chambers and Partners since 2007.
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14th Regiment or 14th Infantry Regiment may refer to:
2nd/14th Light Horse Regiment, a unit of the Australian Army
14th Air Defence Artillery Regiment (Belgium), a unit of the Belgian Army
14th Alpini Regiment, a unit of the Italian Army
14th Infantry Regiment (Philippine Commonwealth), a unit of the Philippine Commonwealth Army
14th Regiment Royal Artillery, a unit of the British Army
14th Infantry Regiment (USAFIP-NL), a unit of the United States Armed Forces in the Philippines - Northern Luzon or USAFIP-NL
14th Infantry Regiment (United States), a unit of the United States Army
14th Armored Cavalry Regiment (United States), a unit of the United States Army
14th Marine Regiment (United States), a unit of the United States Marine Corps
American Revolutionary War regiments[]
14th Continental Regiment, a unit which fought for succession from the British Empire
American Civil War regiments[]
14th Regiment Alabama Infantry, a unit of the Confederate (South) Army during the American Civil War
14th Indiana Infantry Regiment, a unit of the Union (North) Army during the American Civil War
14th Illinois Volunteer Infantry Regiment, a unit of the Union (North) Army during the American Civil War
14th Regiment Illinois Volunteer Cavalry, a unit of the Union (North) Army during the American Civil War
14th Iowa Volunteer Infantry Regiment, a unit of the Union (North) Army during the American Civil War
14th Maine Volunteer Infantry Regiment, a unit of the Union (North) Army during the American Civil War
14th Michigan Volunteer Infantry Regiment, a unit of the Union (North) Army during the American Civil War
14th Michigan Volunteer Mounted Infantry Regiment, a unit of the Union (North) Army during the American Civil War
14th Regiment (New York State Militia), a unit of the Union (North) Army during the American Civil War
14th West Virginia Volunteer Infantry Regiment, a unit of the Union (North) Army during the American Civil War
14th Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry Regiment, a unit of the Union (North) Army during the American Civil War
14th Brigade (disambiguation)
14th Division (disambiguation)
This disambiguation page lists articles about military units and formations which are associated with the same title.
If an internal link referred you to this page, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article.
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A tradition of 28 years.
For three days the campus is transformed into a platform for an exchange of thoughts and ideas between leaders and interested students. In doing so, new approaches for the challenges of tomorrow are created.
The congress consists of four main parts: Speeches and discussions, workshops and presentations, our Career Fair as well as entertainment. Furthermore, our Innovation Fair offers opportunities for individuals to exchange and interact.
Around 50 well-known and high-profile representatives from the world of business, politics, and the general community speak on relevant issues.
More than 1,000 selected students, graduates and young professionals from Germany and abroad attend the EBS Symposium.
How it all Started.
The EBS Symposium connects the traditions of the two oldest and largest student initiatives of the EBS University for Business and Law; the “Wirtschaftssymposium” and the “Bankenforum”.
The “Wirtschaftssymposium” evolved from a merger of three already existing student projects in 1990 under the name “Pro 90”. The idea and the aim of this symposium was to bring together personalities from the world of politics, economics, and science with interested students from all over Germany. As a consequence, a platform to discuss issues of economic and political relevance was created.
“Made in Germany – a term to be redefined” was the topic of the first “Wirtschaftssymposium” and received fantastic response. The merger of the two events in 2003, however, has kick-started a series of even more successful events, the first joint conference being the 15th EBS Symposium on “Business meets Banking” in 2004.
The NSA already takes care of our social media profiles. For everyone else who wants to get connected with us regularly, do not hesitate, we are waiting for you!
Get your Seat!
Book for your seat before it's too late. We provide various ticket options.
Get your ticket!
Pictures of past EBS Symposiums
© Copyright EBS-Symposium e. V. 2017
Imprint | About
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let the video speak a thousand words of wisdom
Heartless people in that shanty town called Dwarka are killing puppies. Hope Karma gets to them fast.
https://www.dnaindia.com/delhi/report-seven-dogs-found-dead-in-dwarka-2652554
new case of brutality against animals came to light on Monday with as many as seven dogs killed mercilessly after being tortured in the Dwarka area. The police are trying to zero in on the culprits by scanning footage of CCTVs installed in the area. A case under relevant sections of Animal Cruelty has been registered.
According to the police, an animal activist in Kargil Apartments, Sector 18, Dwarka made a call to the control room regard the dogs' killings.
"A police team reached the spot and called the veterinary van. Thereafter, all dogs were sent to Dabri Veterinary Hospital where the doctor declared them dead. The canines were allegedly subjected to inhuman torture before being killed. The police are probing whether it was the handiwork of single person or group of fanatic individuals are behind the incident," said DCP (Dwarka) Anto Alphonse.
Police said that the bodies of the dogs have been sent for autopsy in order to determine the extent of cruelty and to know if the animals were put to sedation prior to being killed.
"A case under section 429 of the Indian Penal Code and 11L Animal cruelty Act is being registered as per post mortem reports and further investigation is underway," the senior cop further said.
Earlier this month, another such case of animal cruelty was reported when a drunkard mercilessly butchered five puppies and threw them in the garbage after they barked at him. One of the five puppies was brutally flayed and then beheaded. The killer could not be caught as the CCTV cameras installed in the area were out of order.
Four more dogs found 'poisoned' in Dwarka
Read more at:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/65569229.cms?utm_source=contentofinterest&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=cppst
You reap what you sow : Kerala floods
You reap what you sow, your karma comes back and bites you in the ass...it does for everyone. I have seen this happen to me as well. Kerala as a state is one of the cruelest states in India to animals. To top that the govt. has also been wiping out ecologically fragile areas of Kerala to make resorts and buildings. This was to happen. Here is a small excerpt from a hindustan times report.
https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/what-is-behind-the-kerala-monsoon-fury/story-2NxvHfTDAmS10k9hHofiiO.html
Kerala is among the states that receive the highest monsoon rainfall, but sustained low-pressure conditions over India’s western coast this year have caused the flooding in the state, India Meteorological Department officials said. Different studies, however, have found that climate change and deforestation were the main causes of an increase in rainfall.
Environmental scientist Dr VS Vijayan, a member of the expert panel on the Western Ghats, said Kerala was going through a man-made disaster. He said the impact should have been limited if the Gadgil committee report, aimed at protecting ecologically-fragile mountain ranges, was implemented.
He attributed the floods to human incursions and unscientific developmental activities in ecologically-sensitive areas.
“This was waiting to happen. Insensible use of land, soil and rocks led to this deluge. Landslips and flash floods happened in areas that witnessed widespread human incursions. I hope everyone will learn a lesson from this. Due to climate change, such tragedies are bound to increase. Nobody can stop rains or control floods. But we can take measures to lower the intensity of such impacts,” he said.
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FinsFeed
Retired Engineer Turns Abandoned Plane Into Dream Home!
Mackenzie Freeman
Bruce Campbell isn’t just the name of an iconic horror actor! In fact, the Bruce Campbell we are going to be introducing you today did something even wilder than star in Evil Dead. Campbell is a retired electrical engineer who transported an ancient Boeing 727 to the middle of the woods in Hillsboro, OR. His goal was simple: to transform the plane into an exotic home that he could live out of. Let’s dig into Campbell’s journey so that you can see exactly how he managed to accomplish this amazing renovation!
Bruce Campbell: A Man With Imagination.
You don’t simply stumble into the world of electrical engineering without a passion for crafting and creating. Campbell loved working with tools from his childhood and he continued throughout his adult career. His fascination with tinkering would inform his dream of designing his own exotic home and that’s exactly what he would do!
Purchasing His Boeing
Originally Campbell had considered turning an old freight van into a special mobile home but when he read about Joanne Ussery, he had a change of heart. Ussery is a hairdresser who bought her own Boeing 727 after her home burned down. She decided to renovate the plane into a functional home which she ended up parking next to an idyllic lake. Campbell was not just inspired, he was motivated by Ussery!
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From Greece With Love
Campbell owned ten acres of property so he had the perfect landing spot for his new plane/home renovation. Unfortunately, Campbell had to purchase his plane from overseas. Transporting his Boeing 727 from Athens, Greece would take months of planning as well as nearly $220,000 dollars. This was not a simple or inexpensive move by any measure. The plane had to be disassembled in certain areas in order for it to be properly and safely transported.
For Campbell, the decision to renovate this plane was driven by more than just pure entertainment. Campbell believes that it is incredibly wasteful to simply send these old planes to scrapyards when they can be used for so much more. Campbell strongly believes that old jetliners can be re-purposed for housing and he has led the way with his work.
Time To Get Started
Deciding to live in the woods was tough, but Campbell knew that he couldn’t put it off if he wanted to complete the project. He started by getting his permit to work on the plane before working to clean the exterior of the vehicle. Campbell claims that it took him four rigorous days simply to pressure was the exterior of the plane!
Ready For The Long Haul
After cleaning the exterior of the plane, Campbell had the entire vessel placed on giant concrete blocks. His goal was to get the plane off of the ground while making it a more permanent fixture. Campbell also put in a driveway leading up to the plane itself. It was clear from the beginning that Campbell was designing a home that he could live in for years and years.
The Front Door
Don’t worry about ringing any doorbells! If you want to visit Mr. Campbell, you’ll have to get onboard the same way as everyone else. Campbell decided to keep the folding stairwell in order to honor how the plane was once used. He tried to incorporate as many of the original aspects of the plane as possible.
Stripping The Vehicle
Just because Campbell wanted to keep the plane as intact as possible doesn’t mean that he left it completely alone. As you can see here, Campbell decided to strip out much of the interior of the plane before moving himself into the property. You’ll also notice that he laid down special plexiglass flooring throughout the structure.
Water & Electric Included
While Campbell is trying to live a relatively modest life, he doesn’t want to go without all of the comforts of conventional life. Here, you can see Campbell proudly standing next to his homemade shower. Campbell dug a trench and routed both water and electricity to the facility. He has hot water on command!
A View Of The Living Quarters
Here we can get a good view of the living section of the Boeing 727. While Campbell has spent at least half of a million dollars on this project, he still likes to live in relative modesty. He sleeps on a futon and cooks with a simple microwave and portable skillet. He has refrigeration available and room for all of his prized possessions.
Crowning Jewel Of The Home
Campbell knew that he wanted to leave the cockpit completely as it was. All of the original instruments and tools sit exactly where they were when the plane was functional. Campbell says that many of the mechanisms still work as he can trigger hatches and doors from his pilot seat. Campbell calls the plane ‘nirvana’ due to how fun it is to play with all of the ‘little toys’ in the craft.
Quite The Sight
Finding a plane in the woods is pretty impressive on its own but Campbell wanted to go a step further. Here we see how Campbell decked out the entire exterior with special lighting. You can also see how well-lit the interior of the plane is at night which showcases how well his engineering works!
An Engineer At Heart
Campbell may be retired but that doesn’t mean that he’s ready to give up on his work. Campbell has a dedicated space for working on his engineering projects, including the craft itself. Here we can see Campbell’s workstation where he claims to spend the vast majority of his time.
Belief In Upscaling Aircraft
Campbell believes that scrapping a Boeing 727 is a ‘failure of the imagination’. Campbell points out that these crafts are able to withstand storms and earthquakes while also being durable enough to last for generations. Campbell points to the pressure canisters as one of the reasons why more planes need to be upscaled into living quarters. Campbell says, “They could last for centuries.”
Still Gotta Mow The Lawn
Living alone in the forest doesn’t mean that you get to slack off with your chores. When Campbell isn’t cleaning up the interior of his craft, he is taking care of the exterior. Campbell says that he has to mow the lawn and work with weeds at least once a week in order to keep the yard looking fresh.
Original Section Of The Plane
While Campbell has stripped the vast majority of the plane, he decided to keep at least one section of the vehicle in its original form. Here we can see a row of seats as they would have appeared while the plane was in operation.
Want A Bite To Eat
Campbell keeps a fully stocked kitchen on hand at all times. After all, when you live in the heart of the wilderness you probably don’t want to make too many grocery trips. His kitchen has running water, electricity, and all of the tools required in order to make a healthy meal. Campbell isn’t a cook though, as he mostly likes to eat simple foods while working on his dream.
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Bathroom Also Included
Don’t worry, there aren’t going to be any lines for this lavatory. Campbell made sure that the original bathroom remained completely functional. You don’t really have room to stretch your legs but you ARE in a plane.
Aircraft Fleet Recycling Association
As it turns out, Campbell isn’t alone in the world of recycled Boeing 727 living. According to the Aircraft Fleet Recycling Association (AFRA), more than 1800 aircraft will be dismantled within the next couple of years. Of these dismantled crafts, at least a handful of them will be renovated into new living quarters.
For Campbell, his Boeing 727 home was a dream come true. He managed to combine his love of engineering with his fascination with technology in order to create a unique home in the heart of his home state.
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Take A Exclusive Tour of Oprah’s $90 Million Dollar Mansion!
Lea Lomas
Oprah Winfrey is one of the biggest names in Hollywood history. Known primarily for her media empire, Oprah has still managed to keep her private life out of the public atmosphere. Despite her constant exposure to the media world, fans rarely get a chance to peek inside of the world that Oprah lives off of the cameras. Having said that, fans got a rare look into Oprah’s private world when her famous $90 Million mansion in Montecito was revealed to the world. If you are ready to see what it’s like to live as one of the biggest names in entertainment history, keep on reading!
Waitress Gets A Confusing Phone Call After Regular Customer Stops Showing Up
Sherry Rucherman
There are many reasons why people go out to eat which range from not wanting to do dishes to the desire to try new food. Unfortunately, those who have spent time working as a waiter or a waitress will say that the job is far from easy. One of the most challenging parts of the job is taking care of customers who are grumpy. There was one waitress in particular at a Luby’s restaurant in Texas who was known for her friendly service and her kind demeanor, even in the face of less than polite customers.
Melina Salazar was working as a waitress at a restaurant called Luby’s. Located in Texas, she was known for her smile as well as her service. Furthermore, she also had a reputation for being the only server who was able to adequately take care of one regular.
Struggling To Feed Her Kids, Mom Gets The Chance Of A Lifetime
Tanna Marino was a struggling mother, trying to make ends meet while living in Cypress, TX. Alongside her husband, Tanna would work 40-hours per week while trying to take care of her four kids. Life was tough and times were hard. As a local handyman for a company named Mr. Appliance, Tanna was already working her tail off in order to make ends meet. Everything changed one day after getting called into the bosses’ office. What happened? Keep on reading in order to find out!
A Hard Working Mom
Every story starts out with a beginning. For Tanna, her beginning was working full-time at a local appliance repair company. It was pretty notable that she even worked there, due to the fact that appliance repair is typically a male-dominated field. Still, Tanna proved early on that she was great at her job. Her husband was already working full-time as a firefighter which meant that their family home was always busy.
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With only 6 Satellites in orbit, Pakistan expresses concern' over Space Debris created by ASAT
By: Defence News
Our little bankrupt Islamic neighbor has till date launched only 6 satellites in the past 72 years since independence and not a single one using Pakistani Launch Vehicles because they just don't have the capability to put a small object in space.
Pakistan's space agency SUPARCO (Space and Upper Atmosphere Research Commission) was founded on the 16th of September 1961. India's Space Agency ISRO (Indian Space Research Organisation) on the other hand was founded 8 years later on the 15th of August 1969. Inspite of the 8 years head-start SUPARCO received, today it is technologically 50 years behind ISRO.
Pakistan has a total of only 6 satellites in orbit that too launched by other countries and is expressing 'deep concern' over space debris created by India's ASAT test. It said that, as such, this ASAT test should be "a matter of grave concern" for the international community not only in terms of generation of space debris but also because of its ramifications for long term sustainability of peaceful space activities.
Pakistan's 6 Lonely Satellites ::
Pakistan has launched a total of 6 satellites named BADR-1, BADR-B,PakSAT-1R,iCube-1 and two recently launched satellites called PRSS-1 and PakTES-1A.
NOTE - None of them using Pakistani Launch Vehicles.
India's Network of 104 Satellites ::
India has a total of 104 satellites that are orbiting the Earth. India has been successfully launching satellites of many types since 1975. Between 2013 and 2015, India launched 528 foreign satellites for 13 different countries earning a total revenue of US$801 million. ISRO successfully launched 104 satellites by a single rocket on 15 February 2017, of which 3 satellites are Indian while the remaining are foreign commercial satellites.
Bottom Line ::
With a practical non-existent Space Agency / Launch Capability and Space Technology, Pakistan should refrain from passing statements that are way above its caliber. The Islamic Republic does not have the resources and scientific manpower to even be considered to be a Space Faring Nation.
It seems they seriously got confused between the term 'Launching Satellites' with 'Launching Terrorists' from PoK.
Article written by Darshil Patel exclusively for www.DefenceNews.in
Bsc. in CASFX.
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