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SNSD Reveals “I Got a Boy” MV + Album Highlight Medley
SM Entertainment just revealed the full music video of Girls’ Generation‘s “I Got a Boy” as well as the highlight medley of the tracks of entire fourth album. After the release of the teasers of their music video for the title track “I Got a Boy” as well as a series of comeback story videos from each of the nine members, we get to hear all the tracks from the group’s upcoming album and the music video too.
The album came out earlier today January 2, 2013. Check out the tracklist highlight medley from the album as well as the music video for “I Got a Boy”. What do you think of their comeback?
Album Highlight Medley
“I Got a Boy” MV
“I Got a Boy” Track listing:
1. “I Got a Boy”
2. “Dancing Queen”
3. “Baby Maybe”
4. “말해봐” (Talk Talk)
5. “Promise”
6. “Express 999″
7. “유리아이” (Lost in Love)
8. “Look at Me”
9. “XYZ”
10. “낭만길” (Romantic St.)
“Dragon Ball Z: Battle...
Posted on Dec - 17 - 2012
“Arang and the Magistrate”...
Hatsune Miku Real-Time Avatar...
Psy’s “Gangnam Style” M/V...
Japanese Film “Nobou No...
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Amigdalatheatre
Information About Sports
James Harden returned to enjoying basketball
76ers dominated Miami Heat at Wells
Best Croatian player of all time history
Conor McGregor Wins again ? (UFC)
Denmark’s best player of all time
Tag: Enzo
The Son of a Football Legend Trying to Walk in His Father’s Footsteps
Following in the footsteps of his father who became a football legend. Here are 7 children of legendary players who started selling their feet in the realm of football.
Kai Rooney (11 Years)
Former Manchester United player Wayne Rooney is happy. The son, Kai Rooney, has the potential to follow his brilliant footsteps on the football scene.
Kai recently signed a youth contract at Manchester United. The talent of this 11 year old boy turned out to captivate the hearts of MU talent scouts.
Wayne Rooney’s eldest son will hone his skills at the MU academy, which gave birth to players such as David Beckham, Gary Neville, and Paul Scholes.
If his abilities are special, Kai has a chance to follow in his father’s footsteps to play for Manchester United’s first team.
Wayne Rooney and Manchester United have a strong emotional bond. He played for 13 years at Old Trafford, and holds the status as the top scorer in the club’s history.
“Yes, I am a proud father. He has worked hard. Kai Rooney has been monitored by a Manchester United scout. He impressed the coaches. He signed his contract yesterday, so I’m happy for him,” said Wayne Rooney.
Not only Kai Rooney who wants to follow in the footsteps of his father who is a football legend. Following are some of the legendary children who also chose to take part in the green field, as reported by The Sun.
Joe van der Sar (22 Years)
Joe van der Sar is the son of the legendary goalkeeper of Manchester United and the Dutch national team, Edwin van der Saar.
Joe started his career at Manchester United. He then moved to Noordwijk before signing for Ajax in 2013, where Edwin was CEO at the club.
It is not easy for Joe to continue his father’s shiny trail, and there are high hopes that accompany his steps. He has now returned to Noordwijk with the goal of tapping his path to the top of his career.
Maxim Gullit (19 Years)
Maxim Gullit is the son of Dutch legend Ruud Gullit and nephew of Johan Cruyff. Maxim couldn’t have expected better genes than that.
Maxim played for the AZ U-19 team in 2018/2019, then leveled up. He is now playing regularly for the AZ U-21 team this season, and made his debut for the first team in the Europa League against NHK Rijeka in October 2020.
Zidane (Luca, Enzo & Theo)
Zinedine Zidane one of football legend has three sons who aim to follow in his glorious footsteps.
Enzo played as a midfielder (25 years) the last time he played at Almeria and is now without a club. Theo (18 years) is studying at the Real Madrid academy.
Goalkeeper Luca (22 years old) made two appearances for Los Blancos, but then left to find minutes. Now he’s in the Division 2 team, Rayo Vallecano.
Daniel Maldini (19 years)
The Maldini dynasty continued, with Daniel following in the footsteps of his father Paolo and grandfather, Cesare, at AC Milan. Daniel played in the opposite position to his father.
If Paolo Maldini is known as a tough defender, Daniel prefers to play as a second striker.
The talented teenager made his first-team debut against Hellas Verona in Serie A, becoming the third generation Maldini to play for Milan.
Erling Haaland (20 Years)
Erling Haaland, son of former Manchester City player Alf-Inge. Alf-Inge’s career ended after being hit by a horror tackle by Manchester United legend Roy Keane.
Erling Haaland was mentored by Ole Gunnar Solskjaer at Molde, before drawing attention for her brilliant performance at RB Salzburg.
He refused an offer to move to Manchester United and chose to move to Borussia Dortmund, and has not stopped scoring goals until now.
Giovanni Simeone (25 Years)
The son of Atletico Madrid coach Diego Simeone is one among those on this list who has found a strong career footing.
Usually acting as a second striker, he has entered the Argentina national team, bagging five caps. Giovanni Simeone joined Cagliari this summer after having served a successful season on loan there, scoring five goals in six Serie A matches.
Posted on December 30, 2020 December 21, 2020 Categories Football, Soccer, SportsTags Alf-Inge, Daniel Maldini, Diego Simeone, Edwin van der Saar, Enzo, Enzo & Theo, Erling Haaland, football legend, Giovanni Simeone, Joe van der Sar, Kai Rooney, Luca, Maxim Gullit, Paolo Maldini, Ruud Gullit, Theo, Wayne Rooney, zinedine zidaneLeave a comment on The Son of a Football Legend Trying to Walk in His Father’s Footsteps
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Jennifer Moses is currently National Official for Equality and Training at the NASUWT Teachers’ Union.
Jennifer has worked at NASUWT in the fields of equality and education policy for over 20 years and is head of the team that delivers the Union’s national training programme and equalities policy. Jennifer also leads the Union’s anti-bullying work at national and international levels which includes developing policies for schools on tackling prejudice related bullying of both pupils and staff. Jennifer is a key player in the Union’s global solidarity programme of work and has been a stalwart and passionate campaigner for equalities, social justice and human/trade union rights for many years.
I am delighted to be given the honour of participating in the work of the ABA advisory group. Bullying blights the lives of children and young people on an everyday basis. It requires the concerted efforts of the whole school community to tackle this growing problem. I look forward to contributing to the strategic development of this essential anti bullying work by bringing in the expertise of the NASUWT and the voices of teachers and headteachers.
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Weapons Of Mass Destruction Agreement
A PAROS treaty would build on the efforts of the 1967 Space Treaty to preserve the space of peaceful use, by requiring States Parties not to put objects carrying any type of weapon into orbit, to sow weapons on celestial bodies and to threaten to use violence against objects in space. The treaty requires the parties to use Antarctica only for peaceful purposes. Military activities are prohibited, including weapons testing, nuclear explosions and radioactive waste management in Antarctica. The CPPNM is the only legally binding international agreement that focuses on the physical protection of peacefully used nuclear materials. START I has limited the number of strategic vehicles and nuclear warheads. Start II completed the START I program by trying to set additional limits for strategic nuclear weapons for each party. The treaty prevents the placement of ABC weapons on the seabed and seabed in order to eliminate the possibility of an underwater arms race and to promote peaceful exploration of the waters. The Open Skies Treaty is an international agreement in which States Parties are allowed to conduct unarmed observation flights on the territory of other States Parties. The Non-Proliferation Treaty is a treaty that aims to limit the proliferation of nuclear weapons by the three pillars of non-proliferation, disarmament and the peaceful use of nuclear energy. The CFE Treaty concluded an agreement to reduce the possibility of larger offensive deployments in Europe by reducing troops and armaments in Central Europe. The treaty requires the United States and Russia to reduce and mutually limit strategic nuclear weapons, with each side reserving the right to determine the structure of its strategic offensive weapons. The CAC requires States Parties not to develop, manufacture, acquire, store or store, transfer, use or not to set up chemical weapons. It came into force in 1997.
Below is information on the disarmament, arms control and non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction treaties, organizations and regimes. Information on each contract or organization includes relevant full text documents, country affiliations, an analytical chart and timeline that follow ongoing work and related developments. All entries are updated regularly, as the events warrant. This material was prepared by the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies for the NTI website. The treaty prohibits the development, production, stockpiling or purchase of biological weapons and toxins and imposes the elimination of existing weapons, weapons production equipment and means of delivery. The Mendoza Agreement, signed in 1991, was an agreement between Argentina, Brazil and Chile, which never entered into force.
Zone Of Possible Agreement Template
Withdrawal Agreement Citizens Rights
White Shipping Agreement Upsc
What Is The Second-Largest Common-Market Agreement In The Americas After Nafta
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AMERICA FERRERA MOVES MOUNTAINS WITH THE NORTH FACE
April 2018 – New York City – The North Face launched a massive and first-ever global initiative focused on women, celebrating and sharing the stories of adventurous and courageous female explorers.
To celebrate the launch, The North Face hosted an intimate media panel in New York City featuring actress, director, and women’s empowerment activist America Ferrera and former Girl Scout.
“We know better than anyone that there are plenty of women out there who are already accomplishing incredible, inspiring things every day. Yet women and girls don’t see themselves represented as ‘explorers’,” said Tom Herbst, global vice president of marketing at The North Face. “We had a simple theory that if women and girls see more role models in exploration, it will create more female role models for future generations.”
Watch the short films to learn more about Moves Mountains visit www.thenorthface.com/shemovesmountains or follow the conversation with #SheMovesMountains.
SHE MOVES MOUNTAINS: The cornerstone of Moves Mountains is celebrating stories of women who are pushing boundaries, including The North Face athletes, alpinist Hilaree Nelson, climbing phenoms Ashima Shiraishi and Margo Hayes, and ultrarunner and activist Fernanda Maciel, in a series of short films narrated by fellow role models who admire them. The North Face is also featuring women who are explorers beyond physical exploration, like women’s empowerment advocate America Ferrera, NASA scientist Tierra Guinn Fletcher, and musician and activist Madame Gandhi.
In an effort to canvas the world with female explorers who are artists, athletes, educators and scientists, The North Face is making a commitment to equal representation of women in all advertising, social media and content moving forward.
LEVELING THE PLAYING FIELD: To help enable the next generation of women to push boundaries and move mountains, The North Face is announcing a multi-year outdoor adventure partnership with GSUSA that includes 12 new outdoor adventure badges with programming ranging from mountaineering and climbing, to backpacking, hiking and trail running.
To launch the partnership, The North Face is joining with America Ferrera, Girl Scout alum and women’s empowerment advocate, to increase visibility of role models for girls and encourage them to explore – both outdoors and beyond – in their everyday lives.
“The time is now to begin leveling the playing field so that young women and girls grow up seeing women who are already out doing incredible things in the world,” said Ferrera. “I have no doubt women have been doing it for generations, but those stories don’t tend to get told. Which is why I am proud to partner with an iconic brand like The North Face, to bring resources and increased visibility of female role models to young women and help the next generation see what’s possible.”
A RENEWED FOCUS: The North Face is also applying the spirit of Moves Mountains to its internal business – with an increased investment in women’s product design, renewed focus on employee development through partnerships with Camber Outdoors and Paradigm for Parity Coalition, and ensured closure of the gender pay gap on the athlete team.
Additionally, The North Face will grow its annual $500,000 Explore Fund to include an additional $250,000 grant program focused specifically on enabling exploration for women. Details on the new grant will be announced later this year. The Explore Fund was founded in 2010 and has since given $2.75 million to over 500 nonprofits in support of furthering outdoor exploration.
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Republicans Will Try to Pretend Like Trump Never...
Report: U.S. Right-Wing Extremists Killed 330 People In Last Decade
A new Anti-Defamation League report also finds that an anti-Latino massacre at a Walmart made 2019 the sixth-deadliest for extremist-related violence since 1970.
Afrostaff Feb 27, 2020 11:15 647 0
Domestic right-wing extremists have killed over 300 people in the United States in the last 10 years, a new study finds, with a deadly attack at a Walmart in El Paso, Texas, closing out a decade marked by white nationalist terror.
There were 42 murders in the U.S. committed by extremists in 2019, according to the Anti-Defamation League’s annual “Murder and Extremism” report published Wednesday. Of those murders, 38 were committed by people subscribing to far-right ideologies.
The bulk of last year’s domestic extremist murders occurred during the August massacre at a Walmart in El Paso, when a 21-year-old white man — who allegedly posted a racist screed online about the white nationalist “great replacement” conspiracy theory — shot and killed 22 people in one of the deadliest anti-Latino hate crimes in American history.
There was also the April 2019 shooting at a synagogue in Poway, California, when a 20-year-old man opened fire on a crowd of about 100 parishioners. He killed one woman and injured three others before his gun jammed. He later called 911 and reportedly told the dispatcher that Jews were trying to “destroy all white people.”
These murders, according to the ADL’s report, helped make 2019 the sixth-deadliest year for extremist-related violence since 1970. The four preceding years, from 2015 to 2018, were four of the five deadliest years on record for extremist violence in the U.S.
All told, domestic right-wing extremists murdered 330 people from 2010 to 2019. According to the ADL, that number accounts for 76% of the 435 domestic extremist murders during that time.
The ADL’s report underscores growing concern over far-right violence in the U.S. In the month after the El Paso attack, HuffPost found that authorities had arrested about a dozen potential mass shooters with links to the far right. On Tuesday, federal authorities arrested five alleged members of the Atomwaffen Division, a neo-Nazi group connected to multiple murders across the country, for intimidating and threatening journalists.
“Over the last decade, right-wing extremists have been responsible for more than 75 percent of extremist-related murders in this country,” ADL CEO Jonathan A. Greenblatt said in a statement Wednesday. “This should no longer come as a shock to anyone. Lawmakers, law enforcement and the public need to recognize the grave and dangerous threat posed by violent white supremacy. We cannot begin to defeat this deadly form of hatred if we fail to even recognize it.”
The ADL report also includes the murders of a police officer and three people inside a Kosher supermarket in Jersey City, New Jersey. These murders are classified in the report as being committed by “other/miscellaneous” extremists. That’s because the two alleged shooters had ties to the Black Hebrew Israelite movement, which the ADL says “defies a simple ‘left-right’ classification scheme.”
Some murders in the report were also described as non-ideological, having stemmed from gang activity, domestic violence and robberies.
The ADL report notes that 2019 also marked the first year since 2012 that there were no murders linked to domestic Islamist extremism.
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American Anthrax: A Media Roots Film Production
Abby Tue, 01/28/2014 - 6:43pm
Media Roots presents American Anthrax, a documentary comprised of news footage that establishes, by history’s own narration, how everything you’ve been told about the Anthrax Attacks is a lie. Conceptualized, edited and produced by Robbie Martin, co-host of Media Roots Radio.
September 11, 2001, shook the United States to the core, a country that had been nearly untouchable since its democratic inception. However, immediately following this horrific tragedy, another equally as impactful ‘terrorist attack’ occurred when weaponized anthrax was sent to multiple Congressman and journalists through the U.S. Postal Service. The attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon were both one-time events that happened in two prominent cities. Unlike 9/11, the Anthrax Attacks localized terrorism and spread fear to every corner of American life, where the simple act of getting your mail could prove to be fatal. Five people died as a result of breathing in the deadly anthrax spores, including postal workers and one NY Post reporter. Countless others were infected.
The Bush administration initially tried to link this ‘second wave of terrorism’ to al-Qaeda with zero proof. Once that talking point out-lived its usefulness, the official narrative began leaning towards Saddam Hussein and his mythological biological weapons program. Establishment propagandists like John McCain and ABC news reporters intentionally spread disinformation to plant the seed in the public mind that the anthrax came from Iraq, which eventually lead to Colin Powell’s infamous 2003 WMD speech at the UN. All the while, the U.S. government was fully aware that the anthrax did not come from an external source, because the strain showed tell-tale signs of being a specific anthrax strain that was weaponized and manufactured by the U.S. military.
Regardless, the idea of the Anthrax Attacks being executed by an external terrorist organization remained conventional wisdom the public was conditioned into believing in the aftermath of 9/11. Eventually, two men were accused of being the perpetrators behind the attacks, yet no charges were ever brought to either of them. The first accused individual, Steven Hatfill, ended up being rewarded a multimillion dollar settlement from the government for being wrongly accused before any evidence was presented against him. The subsequent accused individual, Bruce Ivins, allegedly committed suicide while the FBI was trying to break him into confessing.
Ultimately, the FBI asked the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) to verify its evidence pointing to Ivins as the main suspect. Instead, the NAS concluded that the DNA in the anthrax sent in the mail was in fact not a match to the anthrax Ivins worked with. Before the National Academy of Sciences finished their independent investigation, the FBI rushed its pre-established conclusions about Ivins’s guilt to the press, and the case was closed. To this day, the FBI has never commented on the many glaring contradictions in the official government narrative about the Anthrax Attacks.
Follow Robbie on twitter at @fluorescentgrey
http://www.mediaroots.org/mr-documentary-american-anthrax/
hazmat_1004.jpg 61.44 KB
More on the mailings
The text at the beginning says that the anthrax letters were 'delivered' on September 18. To be precise, they were postmarked the 18th, not actually delivered until days later. Time also passed between their being delivered and actually opened, and from there to the appearance of the symptoms of infection, and finally to their being diagnosed as anthrax infection. And the resultant panic.
There were also some hoax anthrax letters (enclosed with powder that turned out be harmless) around this time, postmarked in St. Petersburg, Florida--after the actual anthrax-contaminated letters had been mailed, but before they had made news headlines. Why is this significant? Since the actual attack letters--postmarked in New Jersey--weren't yet news, the hoax mailings could not be attributed to a 'copycat' crime. And while the FBI would ultimately try to pin everything on Bruce Ivins--allegedly doing everything on his own, including dropping them off at the New Jersey mailbox--how could he have carried out these near simultaneous hoax mailings from Florida? In other words, even if one were to accept the claim of Ivins' guilt (which I do not), how big a coincidence theorist does one have to be not to see a conspiracy here, rather than the work of a 'lone nut' (or a 'spore loser,' as the NY Post dubbed him)?
Of course, many other considerations lead to that same rhetorical question. And of course, when they thought the finger of guilt pointed towards Iraq or Al Qaeda, the media didn't hesitate to spin theories of conspiracy. Only when it's known to be a non-Muslim U.S. source do they fall back on the lone-nut-and-everything-else-is-a-coincidence theory.
Something puzzling: While journalist Robert Stevens--of the tabloid The Sun, in Florida--was the first fatality of the anthrax attacks; and while his workplace was found to be contaminated; there is some reason to doubt whether his infection was actually by means of a contaminated letter, though this is often assumed to be so.
Here's just a bit of the info to supplement that in the Media Roots film.
http://www.historycommons.org/entity.jsp?entity=bob_stevens_1
http://www.historycommons.org/timeline.jsp?timeline=anthraxattacks&anthraxattacks_other=anthraxattacks_anthrax_letters___h...
rm on Thu, 01/30/2014 - 2:32am.
Good points. The anthrax attacks got a lot better reporting by the corporate media. Graeme MacQueen makes the point that the anthrax attacks are a very effective way to engage skeptics in a discussion of 9/11. Even Senator Leahy didn't buy the FBI story. Obama threatened a veto if more investigative funds were allocated. Dangerous territory. Incredulity is the 'safe ground'.
AConfederacyofDunces on Thu, 01/30/2014 - 3:20pm.
'American Anthrax' Exposes Attacks as Inside Job
Interview with Robbie Martin:
http://youtu.be/MzcUE2Cqlbc
Abby Martin speaks with journalist and co-host of Media Roots Radio, Robbie Martin, about his new documentary 'American Anthrax' which attempts to piece together the unresolved aspects of the 2001 Anthrax Attacks that localized terror and placed fear in nearly every corner of American life.
Orangutan. on Thu, 01/30/2014 - 10:52pm.
other films made by the same person ;)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vaGRvggcLF8
(film in a similar lineage all about Obama's war on terror)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-1-EAnV6-58
(full film 'American Bisque' spanning american war crimes since Nixon and ending with the false narrative of the war on terror during Obama)
I posted the youtube links above as well.
especially after the first 40 minutes of the whole American Bisque should be a 'greatest hits' for classic 9/11 truthers who've been around here since the beginning. It goes through the propaganda of United 93, Zacarias Moussaoui, the agit-prop of the dancing Palestinian footage aired at 12pm on 9/11, etc, etc.
note: I am not a TV fakery guy, the name is incidental
Robbie Martin on Fri, 01/31/2014 - 10:06pm.
Anthrax perps will likely point us towards the 9/11 planners.
Coming in the immediate aftermath of 9/11, the American public, in a state of psychological "shock and awe", were individually and collectively in a mentally fragile, highly susceptible state. Not only was it easy to instantly associate "anthrax with al Qaeda, but that is what they knew we wanted to believe.
The two agents, one chemical and the other biological, that played a major part in the 9/11 and anthrax attacks respectively, have several characteristics in common:
* Both substances originated from secure US government/military run laboratories. The nano-thermite likely used (in part) to destroy the Twin Towers and WTC7 of the World Trade Center was developed by the Los Alamos and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratories, while the anthrax originated from the Ft. Detrick, MD, biological weapons facility.
* Both substances are manufactured by state of the art industrial procedures, in laboratories equipped with the latest, most modern equipment, which is (presumably) expensive to manufacture and only obtainable by organizations with specific permits.
* Both materials were manufactured in facilities with the tightest security, on account of the potential danger and military applications.
* Both attacks were initially blamed on Muslims and Arabs, prior to any investigation taking place, and the US corporate media were on it like wasps around the proverbial jam jar. Significantly, news and discussion of anthrax attacks went from an intense "all anthrax, all the time" degree of coverage to a "roaring silence" when it was discovered that "Muslims, or "al Qaeda" had nothing to do with it. (!)
* One can very safely assume that both materials were not accessible to non-credentialed people with middle eastern names, most especially especially anyone "residing in a cave in Afghanistan".
If we can find the real perps of the anthrax attacks via a full, no-holds barred investigation with full subpoena power, THAT will likely lead us to the real 9/11 terrorists. It's hardly a wonder that Obama and the powers-that-be scrambled desperately to put a lid on this.
Dr. Ivins was clearly railroaded. http://www.counterpunch.org/2008/08/06/the-anthrax-cover-up
FBI director Mueller was clearly complicit as well http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2009/11/01/fbis-robert-mueller-still-engaging-in-an-anthrax-cover-up/
Throw the lot of them under the train if you ask me.
bloggulator on Fri, 01/31/2014 - 1:22am.
Ivins's DNA doesn't match
At 34:25 of American Anthrax documentary:
"The National Academy of Sciences determined that the DNA connecting the anthrax letters to Bruce Ivins was not a match.... The FBI never publicly commented on this contradiction."
I agree with Professor Graeme MacQueen (as mentioned above) that the anthrax attacks are a good topic for engaging people in a 9/11 conversation. 9/11 is huge and often labyrinthine, whereas the claims made by the FBI about Ivins and the anthrax are simpler and can be seen to fall apart very fast. The quote in my previous paragraph, from the documentary, exemplifies this.
Satyakaama on Fri, 01/31/2014 - 1:58am.
The Army Did It?
Since it has been determined that the Anthrax attacks came from within the United States, obviating any foreign actors, we hold up the mirror of accountability and as the visages of Hatfill and Ivins fade from this reflective portal all we are left with is the reflection of the corpus of the Army itself, in sum or in total, in clear and focused propinquity because it is their stuff.
Peter ORourke on Fri, 01/31/2014 - 9:41pm.
the National Academy of
the National Academy of Sciences also spoke of the 'fast mutating' characteristics of the weaponized Anthrax spores they examined. If the spores were intentionally designed to mutate, so as to be un-matchable for a DNA test (so it couldn't be traced back truly to the source) the FBI decided to go ahead with the false evidence anyways. Clearly they rushed their press conference before the NAS had a chance to announce their own (factual) conclusions about the DNA evidence. It's also said that some of the subsequent letters after the initial few contained different grades of anthrax. Whoever launched the attack initially was trying to cover their tracks by muddying the waters of identifying one particular anthrax strain, possibly even down to choosing a strain which mutated enough to fail a DNA match in any scenario.
For me Richard Perle remains one of the ones most closely linked to the attacks, since he was heavily advising the Bush administration when he made the prediction on September 16th, 2001 that the next attack could be 'biological'. Of course Bush himself is cleverly wording his assertions linking Al-Qaeda to the attacks, and is probably guilty of some kind of crime for simply withholding the 'take Cipro' warning to the american public, hell even Richard Cohen (washington post) was told to get on Cipro and he's not even in the government.
I think overall one of the biggest stumbling blocks for the average person to get into 9/11 truth is the magnitude and multi-faceted nature of it. With Anthrax you don't have this issue, for someone high up in the government to be able to pull off such a feat would have been far easier than 9/11.
Robbie Martin on Sat, 02/01/2014 - 3:14am.
Henry S. Heine
Here's more about Ivins. I'm uncertain about what Heine says about the DNA, but he, as a fellow worker of Ivins's, "considered it impossible that Ivins could have produced the anthrax used in the attacks without detection."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bruce_Edwards_Ivins#Statement_by_Henry_S._Heine
Satyakaama on Sat, 02/01/2014 - 5:02pm.
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Evidence That 9/11 Terrorists Cased Logan's Poor Security
bandbsull Wed, 09/14/2016 - 3:26pm
As another anniversary of 9/11 passes, we would be well served to examine information which has come to light since the 9/11 Commission Report was first published. That report erroneously assumed that, despite security problems at Boston's Logan Airport, no evidence suggests that such issues entered into the terrorists targeting. We now know that to be a false assumption and that such evidence does exist.
The Motley Rice law firm, in court documents supporting wrongful death claims, stated that lax security caused or contributed to the hijackers' selection of Boston's Logan Airport. As evidence they cited the following:
* The hijackers took a number of test flights (dry runs) in the lead up to 9/11. One of these was a flight from Logan Airport to Los Angeles six weeks prior to the attacks. This was the flight on which actor James Woods reported four suspicious Middle Eastern passengers. He later learned from the FBI that two of the men were Hamza al Ghamdi and Khalid Almihdhar, who were among the 19 terrorists responsible for the 9/11 attacks. When Hamza and Khalid traveled through the terminal and screening checkpoints are we supposed to assume that they wore blinders to preclude them from observing security at Logan?
* Terrorist cells are organized into three basic functional entities - planning, observation/surveillance and execution. To assume that the 9/11 hijackers selected their targets (Logan, Dulles and Newark) and then failed to insure that security wouldn't upset their plan is simply ludicrous. Sure, security at our nation's airports was a systemic problem, but it is incredulous to believe the hijackers would have simply assumed this to be so, as versus validating security, or the lack thereof, at the targeted airports, particularly in view of their penchant for meticulous planning.
* Massport and the airlines had been warned by the FAA that Al Qaeda terrorists typically conduct surveillance in preparation for an attack, yet on May 11, 2001 American Airlines mechanic, Stephen Wallace, observed Mohamed Atta videotaping security checkpoints at Logan and reported it to the Massachusetts State Police. No action was taken. Wallace's report was corroborated by two airport witnesses - Theresa Spagnuola and James Miller. ATF agent Jeff Kerr, who interviewed both Spagnuola and Wallace for the FBI, has attested to Wallace's credibility. This was four months prior to the attacks.
* Janice Shineman, a marketing manager for Hewlett Packard at the time, observed Atta at Logan Airport on September 9, 2001 involved in suspicious activity. That, coincidently, was the same day hijacker Waleed al Shehri wired money from Logan Airport to alleged terrorist financier Mustafa al Hawsawi. Isn't it a bit more than a coincidence that there is evidence that both Waleed and Atta were at Logan that day? It has been reported that Waleed was also at Logan on July 31, 2001 purchasing an airline ticket.
* During the early part of September 2001, a rental car used by the Al Qaeda terrorists, was reported to have been in and out of Logan's central parking garage several times in the week or so leading up to the 9/11 attack.
All of the above helps substantiate Motley Rice's claim that the terrorists conducted surveillance and considered Logan's poor security in preparation for their attack. It amounts to evidence and suggests that the 9/11 Commission simply got it wrong in this regard.
bandbsull's blog
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The Journal of Laryngology & Otology (10)
Malaysian Society of Otorhinolaryngologists Head and Neck Surgeons (6)
The Australian Society of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery (4)
Q fever seroprevalence in Australia suggests one in twenty people have been exposed
H. F. Gidding, C. Q. Peng, S. Graves, P. D. Massey, C. Nguyen, J. Stenos, H. E. Quinn, P. B. McIntyre, D. N. Durrheim, N. Wood
Journal: Epidemiology & Infection / Volume 148 / 2020
Q fever (caused by Coxiella burnetii) is thought to have an almost world-wide distribution, but few countries have conducted national serosurveys. We measured Q fever seroprevalence using residual sera from diagnostic laboratories across Australia. Individuals aged 1–79 years in 2012–2013 were sampled to be proportional to the population distribution by region, distance from metropolitan areas and gender. A 1/50 serum dilution was tested for the Phase II IgG antibody against C. burnetii by indirect immunofluorescence. We calculated crude seroprevalence estimates by age group and gender, as well as age standardised national and metropolitan/non-metropolitan seroprevalence estimates. Of 2785 sera, 99 tested positive. Age standardised seroprevalence was 5.6% (95% confidence interval (CI 4.5%–6.8%), and similar in metropolitan (5.5%; 95% CI 4.1%–6.9%) and non-metropolitan regions (6.0%; 95%CI 4.0%–8.0%). More males were seropositive (6.9%; 95% CI 5.2%–8.6%) than females (4.2%; 95% CI 2.9%–5.5%) with peak seroprevalence at 50–59 years (9.2%; 95% CI 5.2%–13.3%). Q fever seroprevalence for Australia was higher than expected (especially in metropolitan regions) and higher than estimates from the Netherlands (2.4%; pre-outbreak) and US (3.1%), but lower than for Northern Ireland (12.8%). Robust country-specific seroprevalence estimates, with detailed exposure data, are required to better understand who is at risk and the need for preventive measures.
Do demographics and tumour-related factors affect nodal yield at neck dissection? A retrospective cohort study
R S Lim, L Evans, A P George, N de Alwis, P Stimpson, S Merriel, C E B Giddings, B Billah, J A Smith, A Safdar, E Sigston
Journal: The Journal of Laryngology & Otology / Volume 131 / Issue S1 / January 2017
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 27 October 2016, pp. S36-S40
Nodal metastasis is an important prognostic factor in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma. This study aimed to determine the average nodal basin yield per level of neck dissection, and to investigate if age, gender, body mass index, tumour size, depth of tumour invasion and p16 status influence nodal yield.
A retrospective review of 185 patients with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma generated 240 neck dissection specimens.
The respective mean nodal yields for levels I, II, III, IV and V were 5.27, 9.43, 8.49, 7.43 and 9.02 in non-cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma patients, and 4.2, 7.57, 9.65, 4.33 and 12.29 in cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma patients. Multiple regression analysis revealed that p16-positive patients with mucosal squamous cell carcinoma yielded, on average, 2.4 more nodes than their p16-negative peers (p = 0.04, 95 per cent confidence interval = 0.116 to 4.693). This figure was 3.84 (p = 0.008, 95 per cent confidence interval = 1.070 to 6.605) for p16-positive patients with oral cavity squamous cell carcinoma.
In mucosal squamous cell carcinoma, p16-positive status significantly influenced nodal yield, with the impact being more pronounced in oral cavity squamous cell carcinoma patients.
Chevalier Jackson: pioneer and protector of children
C E B Giddings, J Rimmer, N Weir
Journal: The Journal of Laryngology & Otology / Volume 127 / Issue 7 / July 2013
Chevalier Jackson was one of the greatest pioneers of otolaryngology. He was a pioneer of oesophagoscopy, bronchoscopy and the removal of foreign bodies. He changed the mortality rate for an airway foreign body from 98 per cent to a survival rate of 98 per cent. He became distressed by the number of preventable injuries in children from the ingestion of caustic substances, most commonly household lye. His experiences of children with oesophageal stricturing secondary to caustic ingestion moved him to start a campaign to force manufacturers to label all poisonous substances as such. This took him from the American Senate to the House of Representatives and back again; the Federal Caustic Poisons Act (1927) is still enforced today. In a career with over 400 publications, written during exacerbations of his pulmonary tuberculosis, his life story is a remarkable one, only part of which is widely known.
Management of vascular complications of head and neck cancer
J Rimmer, C E B Giddings, F Vaz, J Brooks, C Hopper
Journal: The Journal of Laryngology & Otology / Volume 126 / Issue 2 / February 2012
Major vascular complications in patients with head and neck cancer have previously been thought of as terminal events. However, it is now possible to intervene in many situations, with benefits for quality of life as well as survival. Endovascular techniques have reduced morbidity and mortality in many situations, both emergency and elective.
We describe the techniques that can be employed in such situations, and present illustrative case reports. Life-threatening haemorrhage, carotid compression and radiation-induced carotid stenosis are all discussed.
It is possible to predict where complications may arise, and to take prophylactic steps to allow treatment to continue. Early intervention can reduce both morbidity and mortality in this high-risk patient group.
History of parathyroid gland surgery: an historical case series
Journal: The Journal of Laryngology & Otology / Volume 123 / Issue 10 / October 2009
The history of the parathyroid glands is a fascinating one full of famous medical names. The discovery of the glands was followed by laborious research into their anatomy, embryology and pathology and into the physiology of calcium metabolism; this led to the manufacture of hormone substitutes and, finally, to the refinement of surgical techniques. The glands were first identified in 1850 by Sir Richard Owen, conservator of the Hunterian Museum, but it was not until 1880 that the term ‘glandulae parathyroideae’ was first used. The physiology of parathyroid hormone and calcium metabolism eluded physicians and the forefathers of thyroid surgery alike for several decades more. Patients were treated as curiosities and were documented as untreatable medical patients or as inexplicable thyroid surgery complications. Halsted noticed the ‘disastrous results from the loss of the glands’ and the resulting tetany, as did Billroth. It is the patients, however, who best illustrate the journey of discovery. In this review, we discuss three cases, highlighting their contributions.
History of myringotomy and grommets
J Rimmer, C E B Giddings, N Weir
The first recorded myringotomy was in 1649. Astley Cooper presented two papers to the Royal Society in 1801, based on his observation that myringotomy could improve hearing. Widespread inappropriate use of the procedure followed, with no benefit to patients; this led to it falling from favour for many decades. Hermann Schwartze reintroduced myringotomy later in the nineteenth century. It had been realised earlier that the tympanic membrane heals spontaneously, and much experimentation took place in attempting to keep the perforation open. The first described grommet was made of gold foil. Other materials were tried, including Politzer's attempts with rubber. Armstrong's vinyl tube effectively reintroduced grommets into current practice last century. There have been many eponymous variants, but the underlying principle of creating a perforation and maintaining it with a ventilation tube has remained unchanged. Recent studies have cast doubt over the long-term benefits of grommet insertion; is this the end of the third era?
Leiomyosarcoma of the larynx
J Rimmer, C E B Giddings, S Mady
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 14 December 2005, pp. 1-2
Smooth muscle tumours of the head and neck are rare. An unusual case of laryngeal leiomyosarcoma in a 69-year-old man is presented. Histological diagnosis of this tumour is difficult, and immunohistochemical studies are vital. Treatment is discussed, and should include local control with debulking, radiotherapy and long term follow up.
Epistaxis: Are temperature and seasonal variations true factors in incidence?
D Bray, C E B Giddings, P Monnery, N Eze, S Lo, AG Toma
Journal: The Journal of Laryngology & Otology / Volume 119 / Issue 9 / September 2005
Objective: To investigate the previously documented inverse association between ambient temperature and presentation rates for patients with epistaxis and seasonal variation of emergency presentation rates for patients with epistaxis.
Study design: A retrospective analysis of all consecutive emergency patients with epistaxis presenting to hospital from the community over a five-year period, 1997–2002 (1830 days), including those who required admission to hospital with epistaxis over the same period. Patients in whom there was a clear aetiology for the epistaxis (traumatic, recurrent, iatrogenic, coagulopathic and hypertensive) were excluded.
Setting: A tertiary referral centre in south-west London serving a population in excess of 2.8 million.
Method: A retrospective analysis of all patients presenting or admitted to St George’s Hospital with epistaxis over a five-year period. Daily ambient temperature readings from London Heathrow airport were recorded for the same period. Presentations were correlated with monthly temperature variations and the month itself. Statistical analysis with Pearson’s correlation coefficient was performed.
Results: 1373 patients with epistaxis presented to our department, of whom 386 (28.1 per cent) were admitted to hospital. No correlation is seen between ambient temperature and presentation rate for patients with epistaxis. No seasonal preponderance is noted for presentation rate (Pearson r = 0.160, p = 0.221) in this series.
Conclusion: To our knowledge, this is the largest study to date examining ambient temperature association and epistaxis, and the first to investigate presentation rate in place of admission rate. We feel that the exclusion of all patients with epistaxis not admitted to hospital introduces a bias. In this series, there is no correlation between ambient temperature, seasonal preponderance, presentation rate or admission rate for patients with epistaxis. This is contrary to previously reported findings. We do not support the view that there is a relationship between epistaxis and temperature or seasonal variation. This contradicts the current belief that incidence of epistaxis displays seasonality, and has implications for the allocation of resources for healthcare provision within ENT departments.
Aneurysmal bone cyst of the spine
C E B Giddings, D Bray, S Stapleton, H Daya
Journal: The Journal of Laryngology & Otology / Volume 119 / Issue 6 / June 2005
The authors present the case of an 11-year-old boy with a painful, rapidly expanding lesion in the posterior triangle of the neck. There was no history of cervical trauma. Computerized tomography of the neck revealed a unicameral (single-chambered) aneurysmal bone cyst involving the C3 vertebra. Treatment was by open resection and curettage; no recurrence was seen at six months. We discuss the natural history, differential diagnosis, radiographic appearance and treatment modalities for this unusual, benign, expanding, osteolytic lesion containing blood-filled cystic cavities.
Pleomorphic adenoma and severe obstructive sleep apnoea
C E B Giddings, D Bray, J Rimmer, P Williamson
Journal: The Journal of Laryngology & Otology / Volume 119 / Issue 3 / March 2005
Two cases of deep lobe parotid tumours extending into the parapharyngeal space and causing obstructive sleep apnoea are described. Post-operatively, marked improvements in nocturnal hypoxic episodes and the symptoms of obstructive sleep apnoea were seen. Although minor salivary gland pleomorphic adenomas have been described as a cause of airway compromise, pleomorphic adenomata arising from the deep lobe of the parotid, causing proven obstructive sleep apnoea, have not previously been documented. The anatomy and common pathologies of the parapharyngeal space are discussed.
Management of lateral cystic swellings of the neck, in the over 40s’ age group
P. J. Andrews, C. E. B. Giddings, A. P. Su
Journal: The Journal of Laryngology & Otology / Volume 117 / Issue 4 / April 2003
We present a series of three case reports of patients over the age of 40 with cystic swellings in the lateral neck. Clinically they masqueraded as branchial cysts, but subsequently were diagnosed as being squamous cell carcinoma cystic lymph node metastasis arising from an occult tonsillar primary.
Currently there is an absence of national guidelines for the treatment of lateral neck cysts in the over 40s’ age group that subsequently prove to be cystic metastases from occult tonsillar primaries. This disease process is more common than thought, with up to 80 per cent of so-called branchial cysts in the over 40s’ age group being malignant.
We recommend that patients over the age of 40 presenting with lateral cystic swellings in the neck should have a high suspicion of malignancy and require a panendoscopy, ipsilateral tonsillectomy and blind biopsies of Waldeyer’s ring. This avoids inadvertent excision of a possible cystic lymph node metastasis. If the panendoscopy histology proves to be benign, then proceed to excision of the cyst with frozen section analysis of it. If this confirms it to be benign then that is all that is necessary; if the frozen section is however positive for carcinoma then the surgeon can proceed at that time to a formal neck dissection and therefore avoid a further procedure. In the event of an occult tonsillar malignancy, excision of the cyst as part of a neck dissection with post-operative radiotherapy is recommended.
It is our aim to treat a cystic lymph node metastasis as you would a solid lymph node metastasis.
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Issue Index
British Art Studies
A joint publication by
The Kitchen Sink Too
Cover Collaboration by Abi Shapiro
Margaret Mellis, Woman and Fish II (detail), 1957, oil on board, 76.2 x 54.6 cm. Collection of Jerwood Collection (JF 217).
Digital image courtesy of the estate of Margaret Mellis. Photo courtesy of Jerwood Collection (All rights reserved).
Cite...
The Kitchen Sink Too: British Art 1945–1975 is a project led by Research Curator, Abi Shapiro at Museums Sheffield. The project undertakes research into Sheffield’s post-war visual art holdings to improve public access to the collection through a range of activities and events including the exhibition, “This Life is So Everyday”: The Home in British Art 1950–1980, on display at the Graves Gallery in Sheffield (30 March 2019–6 July 2019). In this Cover Collaboration, Abi Shapiro reflects on the invisibility of women’s perspectives of domesticity in early post-war art, and the process of working with community groups to develop research towards the exhibition’s theme of “home”.
The home and domesticity were the main subjects of “kitchen sink” painting, a short-lived style of realism active in London between 1952 and 1957. The four artists typically associated with this genre are Jack Smith, Edward Middleditch, Derrick Greaves, and John Bratby. Unlike other “schools” or movements in early twentieth-century British art, the four did not group themselves based on mutually agreed principles, but were linked by critics, curators, and their dealer, Helen Lessore at the Beaux Art Gallery, for a perceived commonality in style and their preference for domestic subject matter. From 1952, they were known as the Beaux Arts Quartet, until the critic David Sylvester colloquially described them in 1954 as painters of “the kitchen sink” and the name stuck.1
In the histories of post-war British art, it remains widely unchallenged that these four men are the only “kitchen sink” artists.2 Their works from the 1950s are considered as central in discourses of post-war representations of the home and labour, with critics and historians often locating “kitchen sink” painting’s legacy as a precursor to British pop art’s focus on everyday domestic objects.3 Yet despite the many “kitchen sink” works depicting women undertaking domestic labour, there is a lack of awareness of, and scholarship about, artworks made by women in the 1950s depicting the home. This has not only led to biased perspectives of representations of the home in post-war art, but it has also affected the way issues of gendered subjectivity and labour are (or aren’t) implicated in art-historical discourses of domesticity, as well as highlighting the fact that many women artists still remain absent from art’s histories.
In what can be considered a classic “kitchen sink” painting because of its mundane breakfast setting, in Jean and Table Top (Girl in a Yellow Jumper), John Bratby depicts his new wife gazing blankly across their kitchen (Fig. 1). With hands clasped at her lap and head tilted, Jean appears small next to the cluttered table of cereal boxes, washing powder, dirty bowls, empty teacups, and glass milk bottles left over from breakfast. The scene does not suggest Jean’s domestic bliss, but bears witness to her disengaged affect in this everyday reality.
John Bratby, Jean and Table top (Girl in Yellow Jumper), 1953-1954, oil on board, 122.1 x 101.2 cm. Collection of Museums Sheffield (VIS.4712).
Digital image courtesy of the artist's estate and Bridgeman Images. Photo courtesy of Museums Sheffield (All rights reserved).
John Bratby repeatedly painted the home he shared with Jean Bratby (Cooke) throughout the 1950s and 1960s, recording the mundane details of their kitchen, bedroom, and living room (even twice painting their toilet).4 In these paintings Jean is often portrayed by John as despondent and passive. In his numerous self-portraits, John Bratby depicts himself within the domestic space but not necessarily engaged with it (or with Jean). This can be seen in Kitchen Interior where John stands removed from the scene with his hands in his suit pockets as Jean washes dishes (Fig. 2). By documenting the interior of his material (and by extension, psychical) world for decades, Bratby honed a visual language that spoke not only of an unremarkable and everyday domesticity, but of a constructed and masculine domesticity that characterised his career and the genre of “kitchen sink” painting.5
John Bratby, Kitchen Interior, 1955-1956, oil on board, 119.3 x 86.3 cm. Collection of Williamson Art Gallery & Museum (BIKGM:3355).
Digital image courtesy of the artist's estate and Bridgeman Images. Photo courtesy of Williamson Art Gallery & Museum (All rights reserved).
Jack Smith, Mother Bathing Child, 1953, oil on board, 182.9 x 121.9 cm. Collection of Tate (T00005).
Digital image courtesy of the estate of Jack Smith (All rights reserved).
Edward Middleditch, Flowers, Chairs and Bedsprings, 1956, oil on board, 112.7 x 175 cm. Collection of Tate (T06460).
Digital image courtesy of the estate of Edward Middleditch and James Hyman Gallery, London (All rights reserved).
Using a thick impasto application of paint, usually in muted hues on large canvases, the four young male “kitchen sink” artists depict images of children and mothers in sparse and dingy kitchens (Smith) (Fig. 3), still lifes of stove tops or upturned mattresses (Middleditch) (Fig. 4), street scenes of children playing and Northern industrial cityscapes (Greaves) (Fig. 5), and a cluttered family home and its inhabitants (Bratby).
Derrick Greaves, Sheffield, 1953, oil on canvas, 93.6 x 210.5 cm. Collection of Museums Sheffield (VIS.4586).
Digital image courtesy of Derrick Greaves and James Hyman Gallery, London. Photo courtesy of Museums Sheffield (All rights reserved).
These unflinching images of daily life led to wider disagreements over realism as a politically motivated style. The artists denied this kind of intent with Smith nonchalantly stating, “I just painted the objects around me.”6 But “kitchen sink” painting was deployed as a pawn by critics debating the role of politics in art. In 1952, the socialist art critic John Berger insisted realism offered “a sharper meaning” to working-class reality.7 Yet for David Sylvester domesticity and realism were jointly rooted in art-historical traditions of painting interior space; subject was only a pretext for style.8 These debates brought attention to the young artists’ works, which reached a peak in 1956 when the four artists were chosen to represent Britain at the Venice Biennale (Fig. 6). This was, however, a short-lived moment of notoriety. While this international exposure provided each artist with a degree of fame, and recognised “kitchen sink” painting as a celebrated trend, the genre’s popularity soon fell out of favour. By 1957 “kitchen sink” painting was more or less over.9
The British Pavilion at the Venice Biennale, 1956, photograph.
Digital image courtesy of James Hyman Gallery (All rights reserved).
As these debates about realism played out on national and international stages, the “kitchen sink” painters’ version of domesticity became synonymous with post-war social realism. Yet in terms of how we understand early post-war depictions of domesticity in British art and cultural history, this has served to foreground “home” as seen from the perspectives of young, white, straight men in a heteronormative framework. Research by Greg Salter usefully explores the presentation of masculinity and domesticity in 1950s paintings by male artists (including Bratby) offering an analysis of the way selfhood, masculinity, and home were negotiated according to post-war social values.10 Yet what other domestic narratives and subjectivities might appear by expanding the remit of “kitchen sink” realism beyond these four accepted artists?
This question is part of a wider research project at Museums Sheffield. The project, The Kitchen Sink Too: British Art 1945–1975, looks at Sheffield’s expansive modern British art collection of over 1,400 works of art to examine lesser-told stories both in the collection and in the history of British art more generally. The project aims to use research to improve public access and engagement with the collection through activities and events including an exhibition titled “This Life is So Everyday”: The Home in British Art 1950–1980 at the Graves Gallery in Sheffield (30 March 2019–6 July 2019).
To focus the project towards developing an exhibition, the theme of home was chosen to trace a domestic trajectory across this thirty-year period in Sheffield’s collection. The project tracked approximately 150 artworks that relate to this theme from 1950s “kitchen sink” paintings, through to 1960s and 1970s pop art domestic objects, and feminist art in the 1970s. One aim was to undertake collection research and exhibition development that did not issue solely from the research curator’s viewpoint. As such, we sought input from the local community by working with groups with different domestic experiences during the period in question in order to explore various perspectives of “home”. This directed the sub-themes of the research as well as what would be included in the show and how it would be interpreted.
The first two groups we worked with were adults aged between 65 and 96 living in assisted accommodation in the Park Hill (Fig. 7) and Manor Top areas located in the east of Sheffield.11
Sheffield City Centre, showing Parkhill flats under refurbishment, aerial view, 7 June 2011.
Digital image courtesy of Chris Mattison and Alamy Stock Photo (All rights reserved).
Crucially, most of the residents grew up and lived in South Yorkshire during the timeline of the project (1945–1975) and therefore we used museum collection objects to stimulate memories in a series of reminiscence sessions. A range of domestic issues materialised that we would not have otherwise considered. For example, there were stories about living in makeshift bomb shelters in the Sheffield blitz and stories of several families’ excitement about acquiring a first television set. People also described the mental and physical challenges of requiring extra support at home in later life, which offered a key perspective on how home changes over a lifetime. As many participants were women, gendered domestic roles and the physical labour of home maintenance were also common themes. In terms of collection research, this encouraged questions about why “kitchen sink” paintings that often depicted women’s domestic labour were all made by men. The absence of women representing their own experiences directed a search for works in Sheffield’s collection made by women. These were, however, harder to find as they had a more subtle relationship to domesticity in the 1950s and 1960s and entered the collections at different times to other “kitchen sink” works. For example, Margaret Mellis (Fig. 8) and Anne Redpath created still life compositions staged in their homes using their own domestic objects, and Mary Potter (Fig. 9) and Winifred Nicholson painted the views from their home windows.
We also worked with people living in Sheffield who attend the Conversation Club, a community-run group designed for refugees and asylum seekers to practise English and socialise. The activities we ran focused on writing personal responses to collection objects that related to the theme of home. Works that solicited strong aesthetic and emotional reactions were selected for inclusion in the exhibition with individuals’ corresponding responses put on display. This encouraged more expansive ways of researching by thinking about what “home” means as Britain negotiates its national and international identity and borders for Brexit. For those (including myself) who have migrated to Britain, we discussed how “home” is often multiple places and identities at once, which can sometimes feel in conflict. This invited an exploration of artists in Sheffield’s collection who had made Britain their home, as well as acknowledging the collection’s lack of representation of artwork by some of the post-war migrant communities specific to the region.12 This led to researching prints by Avinash Chandra, an Indian-born British artist (Fig. 10), and Josef Herman, a Polish-born British artist, both of whom explored their cross-cultural heritage in their practices during the 1950s and 1960s. As is the case in most public British art collections, artists of colour, especially women of colour, are poorly represented in this period of Sheffield’s collection.13 This stimulated research into BAME artists working in the early post-war period and making suggestions for future displays and acquisitions.
Avinash Chandra, Drawing 3, 1963, watercolour, 57.1 x 66 cm. Collection of Museums Sheffield (VIS.3419).
Digital image courtesy of the estate of Avinash Chandra. Photo courtesy of Museums Sheffield (All rights reserved).
With both groups, “home” materialised as a mutable and complex concept that could not be pinned down to even a small group of issues. Yet it was clear that domesticity has played a powerful role in people’s lives and the way their social and cultural subjectivities are shaped. For women in particular, domesticity has been a framework in the formation of private and public identities. Feminist historians and cultural theorists have shown the many ways women have been (and still are) politically, socially, and economically disenfranchised because of the presumed correlation between their reproductive capabilities and suitability to do domestic work (including home maintenance and child care).
In recent decades, scholars have tracked “a domestic turn” in the twenty-first century driven by the upheavals of traditional gender roles in post-war society. Bearing witness to this turn, contemporary art and feminist scholarship continues to explore how our configurations of home shape our understanding of the world. Common issues raised include the distinction between public and private space, the politics of labour, nationalism and globalism, bodily rights and subjectivities, and how our relationships to objects construct our material lives.14
As a research curator, my interest in the home and my methods in this project are indebted to these scholarly discourses and linked to recent discussions in feminist and queer art histories of “new domesticities”. This refers to approaches to material culture that consider domesticity as not only a theme or content for art but also as a critical lens through which to re-examine networks of cultural production and revise canons that privilege certain versions of domesticity (and domestic subjectivities) over others.15
These methodologies of “new domesticities” have wide-reaching implications for revisiting and rethinking “kitchen sink” painting and domestic narratives in post-war social realism. For example, when exploring works of art that address key domestic concepts such as the normative family or gendered divisions of domestic labour, we need to account for whose artistic perspectives are shaping these representations of home. This is not to say that we must insist on knowing the artistic intention of depicting domestic life, but instead it means resisting the replication of domesticity in art galleries from the same privileged points of view, and also taking into account what or who is not represented.
Margaret Mellis, Woman and Fish II, 1957, oil on board, 76.2 x 54.6 cm. Collection of Jerwood Collection (JF 217).
Researching Margaret Mellis’ still life Red Flower (Fig. 8) in Sheffield’s collection led me to examine her early works from the 1950s, including one particular image, Woman and Fish II (Fig. 11). The painting depicts a woman in an apron standing over a series of kitchen objects, including a fish in a frying pan, a plate of sausages, a vase of flowers, and a basket. The woman does not appear to be actively engaged with these items but instead ambivalently presides over them.
Jean Cooke, Early Portrait of John Bratby, R.A., 1954, oil on canvas, 122 x 91.4 cm. Collection of Royal Academy of Arts (03/850).
Digital image courtesy of Royal Academy of Arts, London (All rights reserved).
It is highly likely that Mellis knew about the “kitchen sink” painters.16 Her depiction of the domestic scene in Woman and Fish II with the use of an awkward perspective (as Bratby often did) and her loose painterly brushwork surely puts this work in proximity to the genre of “kitchen sink” painting—if not as a part of it, then as a later reaction to it. Given that women at work in the home was a common subject in “kitchen sink” painting (unusually, so was depicting babies), it is important that Woman and Fish II is marked as an underrepresented interpretation of domestic experience. To make this point, Woman and Fish II has been borrowed for the exhibition in Sheffield from the Jerwood Collection and placed near Bratby’s Jean and Table Top (Fig. 1).
Further research into Bratby’s painting, Jean and Table Top in Sheffield’s collection, revealed another story: Bratby’s wife, Jean, who was also a painter, painted interior scenes at the same time as her husband in the 1950s. In a striking work, Early Portrait of John Bratby (1954) (Fig. 12), Jean painted John with an almost an identical composition to the image he made of her in Jean and Table Top earlier that same year—but there are differences. In her work, John appears comfortable at their breakfast table with his legs crossed and the arrangement of two plates implies Jean’s recent company for their meal. It is a far more relaxed and companionable image of domesticity than Jean and Table Top, with John presented as an unassuming and casual subject. Greg Salter has speculated that Jean’s depiction undermined how John saw himself according to his many self-portraits. For Salter, John Bratby negotiated his unstable masculinity within paintings of a domestic sphere with which he couldn’t connect. Jean’s painting can be read as a remedial interpretation of John’s unease at home, but also as a powerful reimagining of her husband in the same pose she once assumed in his painting.
Jean and John were known to have a tempestuous relationship with several sources indicating that he physically abused Jean.17 A close friend of Bratby has suggested that this was due to Jean’s artistic success in the early 1950s, before John’s career was aligned to “kitchen sink” painting’s ascending fame. Jean’s painting of John in many ways then seems a riposte to the painting her husband made of her as a dull subject. Bratby once said, “I sometimes painted my wife Jean Cooke as a particular person, not with affection. She was someone to paint”.18 In Early Portrait of John Bratby, we see a rare moment in art history, with a corrective visual statement issuing from the objectified artist’s muse. Here, Jean assumes authority by placing John into the position he put her in, but softens his affect into a version she chose to present to the viewer. Jean and Table Top will be in the Sheffield exhibition side-by-side with a reproduction of Jean’s painting of John accompanied by interpretation that compares these two paintings in order to—quite literally—address another perspective of John Bratby’s “kitchen sink” domesticity.
While the project at Sheffield will continue to undertake research into the collection, the exhibition showcases how working with local groups can impact on collections’ research and curatorial practice. By reflecting on the personal and collective themes that materialised during the collaborations, a valuable dialogic process emerged. In the exhibition, this is evident in the interpretation where the groups’ comments are prominently displayed on the artworks’ labels, showing the diversity of responses generated. A video area in the gallery also features one of the groups of older adults sharing anecdotes in a series of interviews about their memories of home in the post-war period. Adjacent to the video is a display of the social history collection objects that were used to stimulate their recollections. These items also correspond to objects that feature in the works of art in the exhibition, especially in the pop art works, including branded products and domestic appliances. The groups were later invited to the gallery to see all of the different communities’ contributions to the exhibition.
This opportunity provided an alternative means for local Sheffield residents who did not typically engage with the museum or fine art to both access the collection in a focused way and to develop a sense of ownership over the cultural landscape of their city. The responses from the groups was overwhelmingly positive in this regard with almost all participants suggesting they would return to the museum again. From an institutional perspective, this collaborative approach proved key in decentring traditional curatorial authority as we developed the exhibition. It also enabled new research into Sheffield’s post-war British art collection and new ways of engaging with post-war British art history to showcase the missing stories embedded in its public collections.
“The Kitchen Sink Too: British Art 1945–1975” is a two-year project based at Museums Sheffield, funded by a Curatorial Research Grant from the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art, Sheffield Town Trust, The H. and L. Cantor Trust, Arts Council England, Sheffield City Council, and Museums Sheffield.
The exhibition is supported by The Finnis Scott Foundation with the engagement programme supported by Freshgate Foundation, and further research development support from a Jonathan Ruffer Curatorial Research Grant from Artfund.
Abi Shapiro is a curator, writer, and researcher, who specialises in the legacies of art made by women in Western post-war art history. She holds a PhD from McGill University in Canada where her thesis explored the practice and legacy of the American sculptor and installation artist Ree Morton. She has previously worked as Lecturer of Art Histories at City & Guilds of London Art School and as Research Curator: British Art 1945–1975 at Museums Sheffield. She is currently Assistant Curator at The Hepworth Wakefield.
David Sylvester first used the term “kitchen sink” painting after seeing John Bratby’s work in 1953. He wrote, “the post war generation takes us back from the studio to the kitchen … an inventory which includes every kind of food and drink, and even the babies nappies on the line. Everything but the kitchen sink? The kitchen sink too.” David Sylvester, “The Kitchen Sink”, Encounter, December 1954.
Only two exhibitions considered Peter Coker as a fifth artist in the group. See, Frances Spalding, The Kitchen Sink Painters (London: Mayor Gallery in association with Julian Hartnoll, at the Mayor Gallery, March–April 1991, and The Kitchen Sink Painters: John Bratby, Peter Coker, Derrick Greaves, Edward Middleditch, Jack Smith, Galerie Michael Haas, Berlin, March–April 1995. Key publications which assume that the group consists only of the four male artists include: James Hyman, The Battle For Realism: Figurative Art in Britain During the Cold War 1945–1960 (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2001) and Lynda Nead, The Tiger in the Smoke: Art and Culture in Post-War Britain (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, for the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art, 2017).
Tim Hilton said “Was there a link between Kitchen Sink and RCA Pop? I think so.” See Tim Hilton (1988), as quoted by James Hyman in Derrick Greaves: From Kitchen Sink To Shangri-La (London: Lund Humphries, 2007), 165.
Jean took Bratby’s surname when they were married in 1953 and used his surname on her works of art mostly in the 1950s until reverting to her unmarried name of “Cooke” on her husband’s insistence, so that their work would not be confused. Jean Cooke is the name by which her work is known today. See, Andrew Lambirth, “Jean Cooke: Painter of Wit and Subtlety”, The Independent, 11 August 2008, https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/jean-cooke-painter-of-wit-and-subtlety-890262.html.
I am indebted to the scholarship of Greg Salter for examining this topic in depth. See Greg Salter, Domesticity and Masculinity in 1950s British Painting, unpublished PhD thesis, School of Art History and World Art Studies, University of East Anglia, 2013.
Jack Smith, Ark [1960] as cited by Nead in The Tiger in the Smoke, 368.
John Berger, “For the Future”, New Statesman and Nation, 19 January 1952, 64.
See David Sylvester, “The Kitchen Sink”, Encounter, December, 1954.
With the exception of John Bratby, the artists changed technique and subject matter after 1956, moving towards more abstract styles (Smith) or pop (Greaves). For a more detailed history of the last few years of the Kitchen Sink artists, see Hyman, The Battle For Realism, 178–186.
See Salter, Domesticity and Masculinity in 1950s British Painting.
We are grateful to the residents of Gilbert Court and Applegarth Close and the Guinness Partnership staff for their collaboration on this project.
According to the 2011 census, the largest post-war migrant group in Sheffield is the Pakistani community. Sheffield also has large Caribbean, Indian, Bangladeshi, Somali, Yemeni, and Chinese communities. See “Sheffield’s Population”, Sheffield City Council, 2011 Census, https://www.sheffield.gov.uk/home/your-city-council/population-in-sheffield.
For a database of twentieth-century BAME artists’ works of art in UK public collections, see “BAM National Collections Audit”, led by Dr Anjalie Dalal-Clayton, Black Artists and Modernism, http://www.blackartistsmodernism.co.uk/black-artists-in-public-collections/.
For just a few examples of this scholarship see, Alexandra Kokoli, The Feminist Uncanny in Theory and Art Practice (London: Bloomsbury Academic, 2016); Angela Dimitrakaki, Gender, ArtWork and the Global Imperative: A Materialist Feminist Critique (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2013); Marsha Meskimmon, Contemporary Art and the Global Imagination (London: Routledge, 2011).
For a fuller discussion of the kind of scholarship this approach encompasses, see the Special Issue of Oxford Art Journal “Feminist Domesticities”, 40, no. 1 (March 2017) including the “Introduction: Feminist Domesticities”, by Jo Applin and Francesca Berry, “Introduction: Feminist Domesticities”, Oxford Art Journal 40, no. 1 (March 2017): 1–5. doi:10.1093/oxartj/kcx007.
Mellis’ husband at the time, Adrian Stokes, was close friends with the critic David Sylvester.
For more on this issue, see Salter, Domesticity and Masculinity in 1950s British Painting, 57.
John Bratby, as quoted by Greg Salter, Domesticity and Masculinity in 1950s British Painting, 45.
Applin, Jo and Berry, Francesca (2017) “Introduction: Feminist Domesticities”. Oxford Art Journal 40, no. 1 (March): 1–5.
Berger, John (1952) “For the Future”. New Statesman and Nation, 19 January.
Dalal-Clayton, Anjalie (n.d.) “BAM National Collections Audit”. Black Artists and Modernism, http://www.blackartistsmodernism.co.uk/black-artists-in-public-collections/.
Dimitrakaki, Angela (2013) Gender, Art Work and the Global Imperative: A Materialist Feminist Critique. Manchester: Manchester University Press.
Galerie Michael Haas (1995) The Kitchen Sink Painters: John Bratby, Peter Coker, Derrick Greaves, Edward Middleditch, Jack Smith. Berlin, March–April 1995.
Hyman, James (2001) The Battle For Realism: Figurative Art in Britain During the Cold War 1945–1960. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
Hyman, James (2007) Derrick Greaves: From Kitchen Sink To Shangri-La. London: Lund Humphries.
Kokoli, Alexandra (2016) The Feminist Uncanny in Theory and Art Practice. London: Bloomsbury Academic.
Lambirth, Andrew (2008) “Jean Cooke: Painter of Wit and Subtlety”. The Independent, 11 August, https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/jean-cooke-painter-of-wit-and-subtlety-890262.html.
Nead, Lynda (2017) The Tiger in the Smoke: Art and Culture in Post-War Britain. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, for the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art.
Meskimmon, Marsha (2011) Contemporary Art and the Global Imagination. London: Routledge.
Salter, Greg (2013) Domesticity and Masculinity in 1950s British Painting, unpublished PhD thesis, School of Art History and World Art Studies University of East Anglia.
Spalding, Frances (1991) The Kitchen Sink Painters. London: Mayor Gallery in association with Julian Hartnoll.
Sylvester, David (1954) “The Kitchen Sink”. Encounter, December.
Abi Shapiro
Cover Collaboration
Peer Reviewed (Editorial Group)
CC BY-NC International 4.0
Article DOI
https://doi.org/10.17658/issn.2058-5462/issue-12/cover
Abi Shapiro, "The Kitchen Sink Too", British Art Studies, Issue 12, https://doi.org/10.17658/issn.2058-5462/issue-12/cover
Next Gardening the Archive:
A Conversation between David Alesworth and Hammad Nasar
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Dan Tobin Delves into his Poetry
By Cathleen Twardzik
Dan Tobin sits at his desk, amid his books, which are piled high upon it --- with some space for writing. Behind him, Starry Night watches over the Emerson professor’s two bookshelves, sporting volumes, bound of every color of the rainbow.
When it comes to what makes writing work for Tobin, who has brown hair and glasses, and wears a black vest with medium-wash jeans, drawing the reader in is paramount.
According to Tobin, Chair of Writing Literature and Publishing at Emerson College, and author of four poetry books, “John Gardner said that a good piece of fiction draws the reader into a continuous fictional dream, a completely believable alternate reality. A poem that “works” accomplishes the same, though perhaps in a somewhat more multivalent way, since poems by the simple fact of being written in lines establish a vertical dimension to the writing. That means a poem needs to satisfy musically and formally, in a way that is not as urgently required of prose.”
On November 22 at 7 p.m., Tobin will give a poetry reading at The Somerville News Writers’ Festival VI at 371 Summer Street in Davis Square.
Born and raised in Brooklyn, New York, Tobin’s mother worked as a bank clerk, and his father on the docks in New York.
Never having been encouraged to write by his parents, the teenager started writing poetry in a notebook, with topics, about which Tobin currently writes, ranging from History to Mythology to love poems --- “like every adolescent,” says Tobin. “I liked playing with the sounds of language.”
“They [Tobin’s parents] were not particularly inclined to poetry. So, there wasn’t a particularly educational foothold in the house,” says Tobin, with a laugh. “They didn’t have any background, in the area that I grew inclined to pursue, myself.”
However, “[My parents] didn’t discourage me either. They pretty much went with what I wanted to do,” Tobin continues.
The poet earned his higher education at the following institutions: “B.A., Iona College; M.T.S., Harvard University; M.F.A., Warren Wilson College; Ph.D., University of Virginia.”
Where did Tobin snatch his first job? He was a Term Faculty Member at Carthage College in Kenosha, Wisconsin.
For Tobin, the writing process fluctuates. “I try to draft a poem as quickly as possible, with as great intensity as I can. Then, I just keep going back and going back,” says Tobin. “Others, go through many drafts to get where they’re going.”
The length of time Tobin requires for the composition of each poem varies considerably. “I will come back to a poem after years and revise it again. I’ve had poems that went through a minimal number of drafts and I was satisfied with them,” says Tobin. “Usually, things have to go through quite a number of drafts, and who knows how many hours of me mulling.”
In case Tobin feels stuck at any given time, he simply directs his attention to another poem-in-progress --- for he has a list of topics --- with any of which he could begin to tinker.
However, “I try to work on things as well as I can, even when I don’t feel inclined to make a poem,” says Tobin.
According to Tobin, it is always difficult for him to simply begin scribbling away, with his pen, on a new masterpiece. Of course, the poet wishes beginning the writing process came more effortlessly to him.
Tobin prefers to write in a standard-size, bound notebook in his study at home or his office at Emerson. When the opportunity arises, he enjoys writing in mid-morning, and continuing for a large chunk of the day.
“I’ve written just about anywhere. I have also jotted ideas or lines down, on the “T”, coming into work and going back from work,” says Tobin. “If I have to write on a napkin, or a piece of tissue, I’ll do that, too,” he says, with a hearty laugh.
Obviously, finding a poem’s tone and voice is not an instant wave of a wand. Instead, “A poem really doesn’t find its proper voice until it finds the proper cadence of its lines. And that’s a matter of discovery and revision and reworking,” says Tobin.
A poem must grab a reader from the first line. Conversely, “An ending, in a way, has to choose you,” Tobin says, with a laugh. “It needs to evolve from the experience of writing the poem. Good endings don’t close the poem down.”
Tobin has composed countless Free Verse poems. “I don’t see myself in any particular camp, or any particular school,” he says.
“I did write one short story in my life, which I have thrown away,” says Tobin. However, he enjoys writing critical and personal essays.
Surprisingly, “at one point, I did feel like I had to make a choice between poetry and visual art. I wanted to draw and paint, for a long time, but I didn’t think I could do both,” says Tobin. Currently, Tobin is still interested in both poetry and painting.
After Tobin believes that enough poems have been compiled, he “just spread[s] them all out on the floor. Gradually, I try to find the shape of the thing.”
Besides writing, Tobin reveals his other interests. “I’m interested, recently, in Physics. I continue to be interested in history, and music…and baseball,” says Tobin, with enthusiasm.
Poetry brings Tobin much joy. “The most rewarding part is probably eventually producing a piece that you believe in and are satisfied with,” says Tobin.
To date, Tobin has four published books of poems, which are entitled, Where the World is Made (1999), Double Life (2004), The Narrows (2005) and Second Things (Four Way Books, 2008). His fifth book of poetry, Belated Heavens, will hit the shelves in 2010.
Tobin advises writers who are just starting out to, “Read, read, read. Read everything and read deeply. The most important thing is to find those poets to whom you have a seemingly innate connection.”
Tobin looks to the future with the intent to continue writing poetry. “I would like to be like Yeats, in the sense that Yates kept writing, pretty much until the day he died.”
* Catherine Twardzik is a student at Emerson College in Boston and a reporter for The Somerville News.
Posted by Doug Holder at 5:32 PM 1 comment:
Labels: Twardzik on Tobin
GARY METRAS: FOUNDER OF THE ADASTRA PRESS
( a very young Gary Metras)
Gary Metras is the editor, publisher, and printer of the Adastra Press which specializes in handcrafted chapbooks of poetry. The American Book Review said of Adastra: “As long as fine literary presses continue to handcraft handsome books like these from Adastra, serious readers can rest assured that the book is alive and well.” Metras has worked with such renowned poets as: Thomas Lux and Ed Ochester, but has published many debut collections as well.
Metras is a well-regarded poet in his own right. Recently the Pudding House Press released his collection “Greatest Hits: 1980-2006.” He has been widely published in the small press, and is a featured poet in current issue of the literary magazine: “Ibbetson Street.” Metras has read at the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts, and he teaches writing at Springfield College in Springfield, Mass. I talked with him on my Somerville Community Access TV show: “Poet to Poet: Writer to Writer”
Doug Holder: You specialize in chapbooks. Why chaps as opposed to perfect bound books?
Gary Metras: I guess because my first two books were chapbooks done by small presses during the Mimeograph Revolution. One of the books was published by the Samizdat Press and the other was self published. The production quality was so shoddy; I thought there had to be a better way to do it. I thought poetry deserves to look better on the page. But still, I was very happy to have them out there in print. When the opportunity came about I took a night course at a local vocational school in printing and graphic arts. I wanted to learn letterpress printing.
DH: Define letterpress printing.
GM: It is relief type. The actual type is pressed against the paper to be printed—it leaves the image, as opposed to offset—the printing plate never touches the paper. The printed plate transfers the image to a rubber roller and the roller touches the paper. Letterpress goes back to Gutenberg.
DH: And what is a chapbook? Where does the name derive from?
GM: The chapbook comes from the pushcart salesman in old London. That is where the name of the small press literary award the Pushcart Prize comes from. So the pushcart street vendors used to carry these little tracts. They were cheaply done on paper with a soft cover. They were all paperback formats. They were all sewn back then because stapling wasn’t around and neither was glue binding. They were cheap books, or chapbooks—they mean the same thing.
The length of a chapbook can vary according to the publisher. The standard length is 24 pages. Most chapbooks don’t have a spine, they are stapled or sewn. I do mine with a spine, it looks more elegant. And it is a better marketing tool in bookstores. The spine makes a huge difference. My chapbooks look like real books, just slimmer. I know the American Poetry Society is publishing four poetry chapbooks a year now.
DH: Did you apprentice with any printers?
GM: No. I am self-taught. But I use a couple of other publishers as my models. I have taken books apart to see how they are put together. I read the old texts like Blumenthal’s “The Art of Printing.”
DH: You have a number of poetry collections to your credit. Do you hold your poetry to the same standards as your publishing?
GM: This is something that I began to realize. I was subconsciously writing my own poems, based on the poems I accepted to publish. I found similar techniques: line breaks, use of metaphor, etc… And I was finding, and I don’t mean to be immodest, that I was better than most of the poets I was publishing, at least during the early years. I have been well published, so I use my own poetry as the standard.
DH: You said in an interview that a manuscript has to present a “graphic challenge”
GM: As a book publisher, as a person who uses metal type, when I am reading a manuscript of poems, I have to find something that challenges me to extend my own skills. This is in terms of designing and laying out the pages in a book.
For instance: I want to know if the title interacts with the body of the poem, or the stanza formats. It took me years to realize that to be challenged graphically was part of my selection process. Two years ago I did a book from the poet Leonard Cirino from Oregon. He had submitted to me for 10 years in a row. He came close and finally I picked a long poem of his. The reason I chose it was that individual lines of his poem presented visual images of what they looked like on the page. Since I can only publish one or two titles a year, I want the books to make a graphic statement as well.
GM: Name some of your favorite small press poets?
DH: Alan Catlin, Michael Casey (from Lowell, Mass.), D.W. Earhart, and others. They all have a tremendous working class sensibility.
GM: You are a son of a bricklayer. What did your father think of your poetry publishing?
DH: He thought it was wonderful. I worked with him on weekends when I was growing up. He admired the sensibilities of working with your hands. We used to drive around Western, Mass. and he would point out buildings and projects he worked on. That impressed me as a young boy. Partly it was my desire to do it with books. The writer who wrote my profile in Poets and Writers magazine was amazed at my bookshelf—three feet of Adastra Press books, representing over 29 years.
DH: How big are your press runs?
GM: We average 250 books per press run.
DH: It is a badge of honor to be published by Adastra.
GM: A young woman, a graduate student at Emerson College in Boston, asked her professor Bill Knott, about having a book done by Adastra. Knott said: “If you want to publish a book do it with Adastra.” She did. It is very satisfying to help young poets. You know yourself, as writers, we work really hard in our loneliness to get our poems down.
DH: You were an English teacher for many years. Why the need for a press?
GM: Teaching is a mental job. I just felt a lack in my life because I wasn’t working with my hands. It was my heritage.
DH: You published Tom Sexton’s “Clock with No Hands,” It deals with the city of Lowell, Mass. Lowell has a rich literary heritage. It is the birthplace of Kerouac; Anne Sexton attended school there, etc… Why did this down-at-the heels- old mill city inspire the literary imagination?
GM: I think the idea of physical sweat when you work for someone else to make a product, accumulates, and steals from the soul. And because it can be so draining of the human spirit, those who have the sensibility to write about it—write about it.
--Doug Holder/Ibbetson Update/ Nov. 2008/Somerville, Mass.
Posted by Doug Holder at 9:34 AM 5 comments:
Labels: Adastra Press, Doug Holder, Gary Metras
Why The Long Face? Stories by Ron MacLean
Why The Long Face? Stories by Ron MacLean (Swank Books POBOX 30016 Jamaica Plain, Ma. 02130) $15.
Somerville writer Pagan Kennedy emailed me about a new book "Why The Long Face?" of short stories by local writer Ron MacLean, who used to direct Grub Street. (A writing school now located in Boston). MacLean reminds me of the well-regarded fiction writer Timothy Gager, whose work deals with the ying and yang of relationships, existential crises of men in their early middle age, with liberal use of the Boston-area environs for a backdrop for his fiction.
The lead story “Aerialist” deals with a man who recently lost his wife due to illness, and how he and his young daughter deal with this tragedy. The daughter takes to walking a tightrope, much to her dad’s bemusement. The father learns from the girl’s aerial alchemy to let go of the past and move on, and to let his daughter stand on her own two small feet:
“Kate, turned, her back to me. Took three steps away and hurled her herself backward, into air, into sky, legs gently propelling, upside down, floating, above the rope, my body resisting the urge to leap forward, to catch her, her feet spinning back to earth…Katie’s face a big, blurry grin. In her element. Where did this come from? Where will it lead? I can’t answer these questions. What I can do is wait for Katie land, and hold her while she’s here.”
There is a lot of local color in this book. Characters drink at Bukowski’s, a watering hole in Inman Square. They hang in my favorite barbecue joint Redbone’s, in Davis Square, etc… In this selection, we have a right on description of Bukowski’s, a bar whose patrons might have driven “the dirty old man” of letters to even more libations:
“The bar is called Bukowski’s, which is unfortunate, and it is populated by young men—late twenties—early thirties. You wouldn’t believe the goatees. Excuse me, Van Dykes. Most of these guys are in advertising and already lost.”
As in most collections, some stories are strong and others less so. MacLean can obviously spin a story. You may have the nagging feeling you have read stuff like this before—but, hey—a little more won’t hurt you.
Doug Holder/ Ibbetson Update
Labels: Mass., Ron MacLean Doug Holder Swank Books Somerville
Afaa Michael Weaver to be Awarded Ibbetson Street Lifetime Achievement Award Nov. 22
Afaa Michael Weaver, winner of this year's PUSHCART PRIZE for POETRY will be awarded the Ibbetson Street Press Lifetime Achievement Award Nov 22, 2008, at The Somerville News Writers Festival. Previous winners have been Robert Pinsky, Robert K. Johnson, Jack Powers, Louisa Solano, and David Godine, Jr. for more info go to:
http://somervillenewswritersfestival.com
For full Interview with Weaver go to: http://poesy.org/mags/37/interviews.html or click on title above....
Labels: Afaa Michael Weaver, Doug Holder, Koronas on Poesy
Afaa Michael Weaver to be Awarded Ibbetson Street ...
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The Dreadnought Project:Privacy policy
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Home ⁄ Tag Archives: videotaped arrest
L.A. woman in videotaped arrest files excessive force lawsuit
LOS ANGELES – A Sunland woman who accused two Los Angeles police officers of using excessive force during a videotaped arrest at a fast food restaurant parking lot last year has filed a lawsuit against the city.
Michelle Jordan brought the suit Wednesday in Los Angeles Superior Court. She alleges excessive force, assault and battery, false imprisonment and negligent hiring, training and retention. She also names as defendants the two officers, Christopher Hajduk and Christopher Carr, and Capt. Joseph Hiltner, who at the time was commander of the Foothill Division.
The suit states that Hajduk is believed to be “one of the officers present during the LAPD’s beating of Rodney King in 1991.”
Jordan is seeking unspecified damages. An LAPD spokesman today declined to comment on the lawsuit.
The registered nurse, then 34, was stopped in a Del Taco parking lot near Foothill Boulevard and Saluda Avenue in Tujunga around 11:15 a.m. last Aug. 21 for allegedly using a cellphone while driving.
Police said Jordan got out of her car and was taken to the ground and handcuffed. After she was handcuffed, she was taken to the ground a second time. The video shows one of the officers landing on top of her during the second takedown.
Jordan was arrested and booked on suspicion of interfering and resisting arrest, and then released on her own recognizance, police said.
According to her lawsuit, Jordan was on her way to pick up her grandmother from a nearby hospital. She never threatened either officer, according to her suit.
“Without cause or justification, the officers grabbed Ms. Jordan and slammed her to the pavement,” her suit states. “The officers then laid on top of Ms. Jordan, forced her arms behind her and handcuffed her. After she was handcuffed, (the) officers picked Ms. Jordan up off the ground and shoved her against the side of their police car.”
After Jordan complained about the treatment, the officers then slammed her down to the pavement again, this time head first, according to her lawsuit. They used such force that skin was “torn off her face, neck and shoulders, and she sustained internal injuries to her abdomen and spine,” the suit states.
“Ms. Jordan was terrified for her life and in a state of utter shock,” the suit states.
After a bloodied Jordan was placed in the back of the patrol car, the officers “engaged in a jovial fist bump celebrating their beating of a defenseless young woman,” the suit states.
Unknown to the patrolmen, their acts were recorded by a parking lot security camera, according to the suit.
Jordan was later held for 6 1/2 hours, but never prosecuted, the suit states.
Jordan now has bulging discs in her spinal column and facial scars, the suit states.
“She experiences recurring nightmares about the beating and has fear and anxiety about her safety,” according to the suit. “The mere sight of police or police vehicles now creates such anxiety for Mr. Jordan that she suffers panic attacks.”
Last September, LAPD Chief Charlie Beck removed Hiltner from command of the Foothill Division and initiated a process to demote him.
“Proper steps were not taken, including appropriate notifications and the removal of the involved officers from the field,” Beck said.
Hiltner’s attorney said the demotion was in response to his involvement in an earlier, unrelated harassment case against another LAPD captain who was eventually exonerated.
Hiltner later filed a complaint with the state Department of Fair Employment and Housing.
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ECA Staff
Registered Land Surveyors
Daryl Burgis - Executive Vice-President & Treasurer
Dexter Lundy - Executive Vice-President & Secretary
Danny Ross - Field Crew Supervisor
Registered Engineers
Dean Burgis - President
Management, Coordination & Technical Staff
CADD Department
Clerical Staff
Field Crews
Daryl E. W. Burgis, PLS became employed by Emerald Coast Associates Inc. in 1992 as Surveying Director. In 1997 he was promoted to Vice President. Mr. Burgis has been responsible for field crew supervision and technical instruction, project management, marketing, project cost proposals and estimating, and client interaction. He is especially experienced in private subdivision platting and roadway design surveys. Mr. Burgis has personally filed over 185 certified section corner records with the F.D.E.P. and been responsible for over 1.5 million dollars of F.D.O.T. design surveys, right of way surveys and right of way mapping. In 2005 Mr. Burgis was promoted to Executive Vice President / Treasurer and became one of three principal owners in 2007. Mr. Burgis was awarded a BS in Surveying and mapping from the University of Florida in 1987.
Dexter L. Lundy, PSM has been employed by Emerald Coast Associates, Inc. since 1995. Mr. Lundy is our primary, in-house computer specialist and responsible for the administration of our computer hardware and software systems. He is especially experienced in private subdivision platting, roadway design surveys, condominium platting, and cadastral topographic surveys. In recent years, Mr. Lundy has become well versed with engineering design. In 2005, Mr. Lundy was promoted to Executive Vice President / Secretary and became one of the three principal owners in 2007.
Daniel Ross is proficient with photogrammetric control surveys, plane table topographic surveys, G.L.O. retracement surveys, and pipeline route surveys. He also possesses extensive experience in F.D.O.T. design and right-of-way surveys to Location Survey Manual. Mr. Ross is proficient in EFB/CAiCE.
Dean A.F. Burgis, PE joined Emerald Coast Associates, Inc. in January 2001 to expand our services to include environmental and civil engineering. Since this time, Mr. Burgis has been personally responsible for the production and certification of over $5 million of engineering design plans in both the private and public sector. His expertise includes but is not limited to subdivision design and land planning, drainage, roadway, and utility engineering, permitting through state and county agencies, project representation, and extensive knowledge of the land development codes within Okaloosa, Walton, Bay, Washington, and Santa Rosa counties. Mr. Burgis was awarded a BS in Chemical Engineering from the University of Florida in 1989. Mr. Burgis was promoted to President of Emerald Coast Associates, Inc. in 2005 and became one of the three principal owners in 2007.
Our company is comprised of approximately 21 employees between office staff and field crews and includes 5 licensed professionals in land surveying and engineering.
CADD Department - Experienced personnel and up-to-date software and hardware give Emerald Coast Associates’ computer aided drafting department the best competitive edge to serve our clients. Our CADD team assures projects are completed on a timely basis without sacrifice to accuracy. Within the CADD department, field surveys and collections are transformed into final survey products such as record plats, condominium plats, boundary, topographic, and specific purpose surveys. Our technicians also provide computation and coordinate geometry support for all field crews.
Our surveys are structured to integrate flawlessly into our civil engineering design files and CADD scheme to offer our clients a cost effective product.
Clerical Staff - The courteous customer service and professional administrative skills of our clerical staff provide Emerald Coast Associates with the organization, tracking and processing needed to operate smoothly and efficiently. Computer data entry, survey requests, a variety of certificates and submittals, as well as maintaining job and project files, plats, and subdivision files are among many other duties included in the clerical and administrative support that aids in the day to day operation of Emerald Coast Associates, Inc.
Field Crews - We currently have five field survey crews, with vehicle and equipment capacity for six crews, working primarily within Escambia, Santa Rosa, Okaloosa, Walton, Bay, and Washington County areas. We have in the past performed projects also in Jackson, Calhoun, Gulf, Gadsden, Franklin, Leon, Wakulla, St. Lucie, and Jefferson counties as well as other areas. This number of crews allows us to provide our clients with swift professional surveying services, whether the project is large or small.
Copyright © Emerald Coast Associates 2008
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Luce Jacovella (pictured) is a very important person in British politics. Based in London, she is at the hub of an international network, working with a multi-million budget on developing aspects of policy which will decide the actions of our next government. They will have significant effects on our lives and most likely cost taxpayers and businesses hundreds of millions.
Yet Luce will never stand for election. She is not a politician. She does not work for any political party. She is not even a civil servant. She is not even British.
Dr Jacovella is an academic, a trained project manager who took her PhD studies at Florence University, in the country where she was born. Her specialism is agricultural science but she now works for the European Research and Development Office (ERDO) at the University College London.
She qualified in 2000 and has been at ERDO since 2004, where she assisted in the project management of two large EU funded projects led by UCL. One was EUROLIMPACS, a €19 million, five-year extravaganza of which the EU paid €12.6 million. This was to evaluate the impacts of climate change on "European freshwater ecosystems" and it finished last year.
The second was I-IMAS, a completely unrelated project worth a mere €3.17 million on "intelligent imaging sensors", which finished in 2007.
Having cut her teeth on these two, Dr Jacovella is now project manager for naother EU-funded project - REFRESH. It started this month and is set to last four years at a cost of €10.02 million, with the EU contributing €7 million. Once again, it is climate change related, focussing on: "Adaptive strategies to mitigate the impacts of climate change on European freshwater ecosystems."
Now the point is that REFRESH, like EUROLIMPACS before it – the pair costing the best part of €30 million – is not an academic study. Its objectives are political, executed by a multi-national team. They will feed into the policy maw in Brussels where they will be used to guide and shape amendments to the Water Framework Directive, the Habitats Directive and sundry others.
In due course, the core findings will be incorporated into a number of "COM finals" and be incorporated into the text of several proposed amendment directives. Being "environment", they will be approved by qualified majority voting – perhaps with some amendments by the EU parliament. Once finalised, their requirements will be transposed, unaltered, into UK law, almost certainly by Statutory Instrument, which cannot be changed and will be approved – as it must be - by Parliament, without a vote.
In terms of input to these new laws, Dr Jacovella will have far more influence – albeit as one of a huge, international team of academics – than any MP, minister, secretary of state or even the prime minister of the day.
When we were still an independent country, it was not like this. If it was felt that the law need changing in such an important area – with the considerable economic and administrative consequences that it might involve – all sorts of procedures could apply.
Crucially, the process would be initiated by our government, which would retain control of the process throughout. Possibly, in the early stages, it might have set up a working party, or refer the matter to a Royal Commission. If research was needed, it would be commissioned, the terms of reference decided by the government and the reports fed into the system.
Should, by whatever means it be decided that new law was required, this could well be announced in the Queen's Speech. That would be debated.
A White Paper might then be produced, which most often would be debated. A Bill would be prepared. Through all the stages it would be scrutinised and debated, and only approved after a number of votes. Nothing would happen without the full approval and control of Parliament.
Then, if it was controversial, failed to work or needed further amendment, it could be changed – or even repealed. Such an option might even find its way into party manifestos.
All this we have now lost. Policy-making is no longer the province of our government. Our political parties are not involved - so nothing ever goes on the manifestos. Our MPs are brought in only after the procedures are completed when nothing can be changed, to rubber-stamp something in which they have no input and over which they have no control.
Instead, the procedure, repeated hundreds of times, across dozens of policy areas - starts with an international team of "scientists", paid for partly by us as taxpayers. But they feed a system in Brussels to which they are responsible. Academia has been bought and paid-for by the EU and is more part of the policy-making process than our own legislators. It is not working for us – it is working for the enemy.
COMMENT THREAD - GETTING ANGRY
Labels: British politics
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Home EN/ NL
Except Integrated Sustainability
Except Integrated sustainability.
Flourish in a changing world.
Multi-disciplinary consulting, innovation and development organization working on advanced sustainability projects around the globe.
het Rotterdam Collectief (RoCo)
Project > Ondernemers met een sociaal-maatschappelijke missie
The Rotterdam Collective (Ro-Co) is a real world laboratory of a radically new business model for sustainable development. It’s been operational and successful in working towards its goals since December 2009, in the center of Rotterdam.
Ro-Co currently hosts more than 25 entrepreneurs in a collective building, who are focused on environmentally and socially innovative projects. Except initiated and developed the collective from scratch with game studio Sparpweed, and continues to be involved in the operation and management of Ro-Co
We are currently investigating possibilities for similar projects in other cities in the US and the Netherlands.
A new paradigm for entrepreneuship
Ro-Co is the materialization of a “new way of working” that is mostly theorized about but rarely executed. Ro-Co is both an empowered network and a single, physical entity. It harnesses the power of collaboration, resource sharing, multi-disciplinary work, and open source development.
Ro-Co experiments with new ways to move forward faster and more efficiently. As a collective, Ro-Co operates collaboratively, socially responsibly and sustainably, while maintaining complete transparency. It progressively engages the city of Rotterdam, the streets, its people, and other local initiatives.
We call these new business models 'Innovation Communities', and have set up a service to support minicipalities and companies to take advantage of the incredible power of collective entrepreneurship. Read more about the service here.
Ro-Co was started by Except and Sparpweed in 2009, after several years of plotting, planning, scheming and building searches. In December 2009, we found the perfect place to execute our dreams. We renovated the place, together with the community, with only the most sustainable materials and equipment we could find. Most of it was built by our own hands with just scrap material. In March of 2010, Ro-Co officially opened.
Joint principles
The collective operates under a set of jointly-agreed principles, drafted by Except, that encompass some of the organization’s key philosophies: a commitment to sustainability, a belief in social responsibility, the use of open source technologies and knowledge sharing, and the recognition of values beyond just profit.
These principles have also been used in one of the first joint projects: the creation of the physical space used by the collective, which had previously stood empty for over a decade. Only the eco-friendliest materials and techniques available were used, making the Rotterdam Collective an example for innovative, sustainable office design.
Enabling the network generation
Ro-Co is the physical embodiment of the network generation. Through the shared effort of its individuals, Ro-Co generates a force of positive energy and change within its home city. Ro-Co believes that together, we can contribute to making the world at large a more beautiful and inspiring place.
Visit the Ro-Co website for more information about its current projects and activities. Read more about Innovation Communities such as Ro-Co here.
Activating the Network Era
When interesting people work together, interesting things happen. Many inspired and entrepreneurial people work alone, in small groups or as freelancers. Ro-Co combines the freedom of independent entrepreneurship with the benefits of a large organization. By actively managing the diversity and quality of its members, a large number of disciplines is jointly managed to collaboratively develop large, innovative projects.
The collective draws on both the freedom and personal drive of its members as well as the joint responsibility they share to create fast and efficient development.
Not a flex-space
Ro-Co shapes a new joint work environment that is based on a long-term vision of the future and an understanding the changing role of individuals in organizations. The collective is a network organization as well as a real place with real people. People rent fixed places and are therefore not as transient as in flexhubs and similar work environments. Individual committment to a single space creates opportunities for long-term collaboration.
All members retain their autonomy in addition to becoming members of the collective. The collective is a central point of reference for potential clients, and can invest in searching for assignments that can be jointly executed by members of the collective. Together the members can complete larger projects, increase their visibility and share resources to cut operating costs. In this way the collective can work in a truly interdisciplinary and integrated way.
The collective is managed by Tom Bosschaert and Richard Boeser, themselves part of the collective with their respective companies (Except Integrated Sustainability and the game studio, Sparpweed).
The collective is effectively a non-profit organization, registered in December 2009. Its business model allows it to be financially independent. The physical office officially opened on March 1st, 2010. Except continues to participate in and evaluate the project. Our goal is to document successes and failures, and evolve the concept in order to potentially deploy it in other cities around the world.
The building:
The Stadhuisplein Gebouw is located a few minutes away from Rotterdam’s central train station. It looks out onto City Hall Square and flanks the historic, modernist Lijnbaan shopping district. After having stood empty for over 10 years, it is now an inviting and engaging space. The building was renovated by Ro-Co members using only waste materials and ecogocially friendly products.
The collective shares facilities and equipment to save on unnecessary overhead, as well as to save energy and materials. As an expression of Ro-Co’s principles, only waste materials were used in constructing the building’s furniture. The space has primarily LED lighting and has been outfitted with only natural paints and materials.
The collective works on a variety of projects for both businesses and governments. In addition to client projects, Ro-Co hosts discussions and movie nights, organizes conferences and field trips, gives workshops on a wide variety of subjects, and creates books, designs, and products. If you are interested in working with Ro-Co, please inquire on the collective’s website http://www.ro-co.nl
Plant shopping
Bright space
Tom Bosschaert
Utrecht Community (UCo)
Nationaal centrum voor duurzaam ondernemerschap
Gerelateerde Diensten
Innovatie Communities en -motoren (ICS)
Slimme nieuwe businesmodellen voor samenwerking
Richard Boeser
Sparpweed
RSS voeden
Alles op deze website is © 2012 Behalve Integrated Sustainability,met officiële vergunning Creative Commons BY-NC-ND , tenzij anders aangegeven.
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Truck Simulation 19 - the ultimate mobile Truck simulator is now available for iOS and Android
(Katowice, Poland | November 14, 2018) The highly anticipated mobile Truck simulator developed by Jujubee and published by Astragon Entertainment is now available in the App Store and Google Play!
Truck Simulation 19 will have its premiere on November 14, 2018 on the iPhone® and iPad® in the Apple® App Store® at the price of 3.99 Euro / 2.99 USD / 2.99 GBP (RRP). The game for smartphones and tablets with the Android system on Google play will be available for free in a limited version. The full version can be unlocked for the price of 3.99 Euro / 2.99 USD / 2.99 GBP (RRP).
"Truck Simulation 19 is another fruit of our perfect cooperation with Astragon. The title collects very good reviews and is certainly a great proposition for fans of this type of simulation." - said Michał Stępień, CEO of Jujubee. "Of course, we do not forget about KURSK, which has been released only a week ago. We are updating the game on a regular basis and in the coming weeks we will introduce many significant changes."
Truck Simulation 19 in the Apple® App Store®:
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/truck-simulation-19/id1173441705?l=de&ls=1&mt=8
Truck Simulation 19 on Google Play®:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.astragon.trucksimtwo
Website: https://www.trucksimulation19.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TruckSimulationMobile/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/TruckSimulation
Pressroom: https://news.cision.com/astragon-entertainment-gmbh
Follow Jujubee on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/Jujubee-267210603352542/
Follow Jujubee on Twitter: https://twitter.com/JujubeeGames
Official site: http://jujubee.pl
GAME INFORMATION:
Platform: iOS, Android
Publisher: Astragon Entertainment
Developer: Jujubee S.A.
ABOUT JUJUBEE:
Jujubee S.A. is a game development studio that has released titles like "FLASHOUT 3D," "Suspect in Sight," "Take Off – The Flight Simulator," the real-time strategy game "Realpolitiks," and the documentary-adventure game "KURSK". The company's goal is to create inspiring and unconventional games for all significant device platforms, such as iOS (iPhone, iPod, iPad), Android, Mac, PC and consoles. Jujubee is a publicly traded company on NewConnect (JJB).
To learn more about Jujubee and its products, visit the official site: http://jujubee.pl. Also follows us on Facebook, Google+, Instagram, and Twitter!
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More opportunities for Africa
This week’s Africa-Russia Summit chaired by Egypt and Russia in Sochi on the Black Sea marks the return of Russian investment to the African continent, writes Attiya Essawi
Attiya Essawi, Tuesday 22 Oct 2019
Since Egypt became president of the African Union (AU) in February this year, Cairo has said that its priorities at the helm of this pan-African organisation are socio-economic development through providing jobs for African young people and improving the industrial and agricultural systems on the continent to achieve food security and bolster cooperation between the AU and international, regional and local partners for peace and development.
Egypt will work on building cultural and civilisational bridges between the peoples of Africa and on the AU’s institutional and financial reform.
In April, President Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi told Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov that Egypt’s priorities in Africa were development, improving infrastructure, and regional and economic integration by implementing the AU’s 2063 Development Agenda. At the Tokyo International Conference on Africa’s Development (TICAD) in August, he also stressed the importance of technology transfer and support for programmes to enhance Africa’s capabilities, develop its human resources, and provide it with the tools to reach the goals of the Development Agenda and the 2030 Sustainable Development Plan.
Al-Sisi called for further scientific and development cooperation to take advantage of the continent’s natural resources and diversify its energy sources by supporting renewable and new energy projects that would help to alleviate some of the environmental effects of climate change.
He called for a focus on three fundamentals to expedite transforming Africa into the economic partner we all want to see. The first is to develop Africa’s infrastructure through trans-border projects such as connecting Cairo and Cape Town in South Africa by land and an electrical grid between the north and south of the continent. He mentioned connecting the Mediterranean Sea with Lake Victoria and other rail, road, and renewable energy projects.
The second is to activate all parts of the African Free-Trade Zone, which will slash the prices of many commodities and increase the continent’s competitiveness on the global stage, as well as attract investments in industry and the modernisation of the continent’s economies. The third is the top priority of providing more jobs and labour-intensive work opportunities, especially for young people. This would require mobilising national and international investments, attracting capital and localising technology.
Al-Sisi called on the private sector and multinational firms to invest in Africa with its open markets and rich opportunities and wealth. He also asked international, African and regional financial institutions to provide financial guarantees to build the continent’s capabilities and provide the best conditions to fund development efforts while keeping in mind the particularities of the African countries.
The first Africa-Russia Summit, held in Sochi on the Black Sea from 23-24 October and co-chaired by President Al-Sisi and Russian President Vladimir Putin, is another step on the road to the international support that Egypt has called and worked for with various donor countries in order to secure assistance to the African countries in achieving the desired economic development and raising the living standards of their peoples.
Russia is a technologically developed country, and it has decided to boost its influence in Africa and open new markets for its products. This will open the door for the African countries to ask for more assistance, similar to what China, Japan, France, the EU, India, Turkey and the US are already providing, as they compete for the vast markets of the continent representing some 1.2 billion consumers and its abundant raw materials representing 40 per cent of the world’s natural resources.
If the African countries are truly able to take advantage of these things, they will reap immense benefits for their peoples.
FIRST AFRICA-RUSSIA SUMMIT: This is the first summit of its kind btween Russia and the African countries, and it was attended by more than 40 African leaders and more than 300 Russian and African businessmen attending the Economic Forum held at the same time.
The latter is expected to see the signature of several key trade, economic and investment agreements in a variety of vital sectors. Moscow abandoned most of its projects in Africa and stopped its aid programmes in the 1990s after the collapse of the former Soviet Union, and it is now looking for new partners to revive old ties. It has proposed an initiative for cooperation with the African countries in specific fields that will benefit both sides, especially in managing natural resources, opening energy markets, investing in African oil and gas fields, mining and mineral production, and other projects.
Russia is also helping to promote the nuclear industries and the peaceful use of nuclear energy and nuclear cooperation with some 20 African countries, including Egypt. The latter has signed an agreement with Russia to build a nuclear plant, representing an investment of some $29 billion. Russia’s need for African commodities will also be met by the new cooperation agreements, including for rubber, marine products, cocoa, coffee and tea. These will help to boost security and military cooperation, which will help the African countries to keep their citizens safe while boosting Russia’s weapons industry.
When Putin came to power in Russia in 1999, he restored diplomatic, economic and military relations with the country’s former allies and sought to build new political alliances. He visited Algeria, South Africa and Morocco, while then Russian prime minister Dmitry Medvedev toured Angola, Namibia and Nigeria to promote trade projects. Moscow also provided weapons and military trainers to the Central African Republic and Cameroon and signed military agreements with Congo-Kinshasa, Burkina Faso, Uganda and Angola, while cooperating with Sudan on nuclear energy and working with Zimbabwe and Guinea in the mining industries. However, its investments and assistance still remain small compared with the Chinese, European, US and Japanese footprint on the continent.
Russia sends some $400 million in aid annually to Africa, 60 per cent of which goes through international organisations such as the World Food Programme and the UN High Commission for Refugees, with the remaining 40 per cent being in the form of bilateral cooperation including assistance in the sectors of education, healthcare, agriculture, environment and energy. It has large investments in South Africa’s gold mines, gas and diamonds in Namibia and Angola, coal in Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana, and oil and gas in Algeria. It increased its trade with Africa by 17 per cent last year to reach $20 billion, 30 per cent of which was with Egypt alone.
Africa is in dire need of economic and development aid to develop its economies, which cannot sustain its growing populations at present despite their immense natural wealth that it still exports too cheaply because it does not have the resources or the technology to take proper advantage of them. This is why it is so important for the African countries to cooperate with Russia and other world powers to propel the continent’s economies forward and to transform them from being chiefly reliant on agriculture to being more reliant on industry and technology. This will change the lives of millions of poor people on the African continent, provide jobs for millions of the unemployed, and improve the sometimes still deplorable education, health and other services on the continent.
According to the World Bank’s bi-annual report “Africa Pulse”, issued on 9 October, Africa will likely be home to 90 per cent of the world’s poorest people by 2030, and the continent does not have enough funds to invest in its own poverty reduction programmes. The World Bank revealed in its earlier annual Africa poverty report, issued on 19 March, that half of the population of Sub-Saharan Africa lives below the poverty line, and the poorest countries in the world are African, with one exception.
More than one quarter of the world’s hungry now live in Africa, where one fifth of the population suffers from malnutrition. Some 25 million people are believed to be infected with HIV, and they are in urgent need of proper health facilities and the medicine needed for treatment. The World Bank adds that since the early 1990s the world has made great progress in reducing overall hunger rates from 36 per cent to 10 per cent, but Africa’s population has climbed from 278 million to 461 million during the same period.
Experts at the US Melinda and Bill Gates Foundation, which funds many development and healthcare projects in Africa, have predicted that 44 per cent of the world’s hungry in 2050 will reside in only two African countries: Nigeria and the Democratic Republic of Congo. This is despite the fact that these are the two richest African countries in terms of natural resources.
The World Bank has explained the rise in poverty, despite economic growth, on the continent, as being due to several factors. First, fast population growth is expected to double the continent’s population by 2050, and second, wars and armed conflicts in Africa now account for half the conflicts in the world, frustrating agriculture, increasing the number of refugees, and impacting the environment and encouraging flooding and drought that leads to crop loss. Third, disease spreads quickly in Africa because of the lack of basic healthcare facilities, and this leads to fewer workers and drops in food production. The continent also has defective agricultural infrastructure, including roads, irrigation systems, storage facilities, and agricultural supplies.
According to the World Bank, the lack of political stability in Africa is a main reason why many development plans have failed. Africa will need four or five decades before its political systems are stable enough to reap the rewards of economic growth and broaden their benefits in a sustainable fashion, it says.
CHALLENGES AHEAD: Other reports indicate that Africa suffers from some of the greatest poverty rates in the world, with some 47 per cent of the total population living in poverty and 30 per cent suffering from hunger and malnutrition. Some 70 per cent of people are unemployed or not formally employed in the Sub-Saharan African countries.
Africa’s debts have reached more than $400 billion, and servicing these takes up between 35 and 60 per cent of GDP, while most of the African countries’ citizens live on as little as $1.25 per day. Unemployment among African young people stands at around 60 per cent, only 25 per cent of the population have permanent jobs, 70 per cent live without electricity, 65 per cent without potable water, and 200 million suffer from malnutrition. Africa’s labour force will also increase from 180 million in 2006 to 300 million by 2050. These things will require a new Marshal Plan to prevent a brain drain from the continent, since 56 per cent of those qualified and needed for development projects emigrate to Europe, the US and Canada because job opportunities at home are limited.
Thousands of Africans die of hunger even though the continent is home to 60 per cent of the world’s agricultural land, with much of this not being used due to a lack of resources. For example, the plains extending from Senegal in the north to Angola in the south (1.5 billion feddans) could produce enough food to meet the world’s needs twice over, but only 10 per cent of this land is currently being used. In South Sudan, only five per cent of 75 million feddans are being used, while only 30 per cent of Uganda’s 35 million feddans, and even more in Sudan and Ethiopia, is being used.
If the developed countries were to cooperate with the governments of these countries to grow food on even part of this land, not a single African would starve, and it could provide food for millions of people in other parts of the world.
The World Bank has warned that 43 million Africans will be subject to extreme poverty in the coming 15 years due to drought and the rising cost of food if some $16 billion in aid is not sent to them to assist in facing the effects of climate change that will impact Africa. This is so even though the continent only produces three per cent of global greenhouse emissions.
Although 40 per cent of the world’s natural resources are found in Africa, according to the Royal Institute for International Affairs (Chatham House) in London, the lack of local investments, representing no more than 15 per cent of the GDP of the African countries, do not take advantage of these resources in ways that can achieve the needed economic and human-resource development.
There needs to be more outside investments, financial assistance and technology. Africa is sitting on $124 billion barrels of oil, or 12 per cent of the world’s reserves, and 500 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, or 10 per cent of the world’s reserves. It produces 90 per cent of the world’s platinum, 50 per cent of its gold, and 40 per cent of its diamonds. However, it only receives 1.2 per cent of global investments worth $650 billion compared to 19 per cent of global investments in Southeast Asia and 28 per cent to the developing countries in general.
Africa receives direct assistance, loans and investments worth $134 billion annually, producing an output of $192 billion, but $35 billion of these investments are believed to be lost in corrupt deals. The continent only benefits from 1.6 per cent of its potential water resources despite deficiencies in agricultural production and the need to import the majority of its food, since it incurs $48 billion in crop losses due to the bad condition of roads and the lack of storage facilities and inability to reach markets.
According to reports by specialised organisations, Africa needs sustainable development plans worth $2.5 trillion annually, $150 billion of which is for infrastructure alone, to address the expected population growth to 2.5 billion people by 2050, the majority of whom will be young people. These plans will not be possible without partnering with the private sector and international financial institutions, and if they are not financed those who are left behind may protest or even resort to violence.
Only seven per cent of the potential 300,000 Megawatts of electricity needed for African development is currently available, which means large investments are needed. Only 25 per cent of the 800 million people in Sub-Saharan Africa have mains electricity, and at present the electricity production of these countries combined is no more than that of Spain, which has a population of 46 million.
Regarding the agriculture that will be needed to end the famines that have killed millions of Africans and still threaten the lives of 70 million Africans today, the US aid agency USAID has said that 60 per cent of the world’s agricultural land lies unused in Africa, which also only uses 1.6 per cent of its water resources, compared to Asia’s use of 14 per cent. The UN Food and Agricultural Organisation has said that Africa has great potential to achieve development if its farmers are given more assistance in growing and marketing their crops.
OBSTACLES: There are many obstacles to investing in the African countries, most notably poor or non-existent infrastructure.
Rampant corruption in some countries allows corrupt officials, particularly those working in the investment sector, to pocket sums that sometimes reach 25 per cent of the total capital cost of a given project. This causes foreign investors to hesitate before taking such risks. Many African countries also have laws that obstruct investment and limitations on transferring profits overseas, along with rudimentary banking systems, inflated tariffs on imported equipment, a lack of security, and an absence of the genuine democracy needed for stability to take root. There are also ethnic, tribal and religious wars within some countries or across borders with others, causing investments to be unsafe.
A report by African and British civil-society groups has revealed that Africa receives some $134 billion in aid, loans and direct foreign investment annually, including the $35 billion siphoned off by corrupt officials. A survey published in 2004 showed that the African countries also possess more than $200 billion in overseas investments that their governments have been unable to retrieve. According to a UN report, corruption costs the African peoples some $60 billion annually, even as the number of African millionaires has increased by 145 per cent over the past 15 years compared to global rates of 73 per cent, according to New World Wealth, an organisation which gauges the number of wealthy people around the world.
All this must change if Africans are serious about achieving the desired development with worthwhile foreign assistance. In order for conferences on the continent’s development to be fruitful, the goals of these gatherings must be acted upon and African governments must take coordinated and serious steps to create the necessary climate to implement what needs to be done. If the investment-hostile environment in many African countries does not change, these conferences, together with official visits and the pleas of humanitarian-aid groups, will be futile.
The investment climate will only improve if African governments work diligently to end corruption, reform economic structures, implement real development plans that create jobs for the millions of the unemployed, and convince the brains needed for development not to leave the country. They must also respect human rights and stop harassing the opposition and stirring up ethnic conflicts in countries teeming with tribes and ethnicities. They must not allow cronyism to persist to the benefit of a ruler’s tribe or ethnic group at the expense of others or start wars with the outside to distract people from difficult lives.
Yet, there are success stories in Africa. Some countries have succeeded in capitalising on international competition to their advantage, even if the majority have not due to domestic instability, frequent military coups, various conflicts, a lack of the clear vision needed for development, a lack of natural resources, and corruption that discourages foreign and local investors. Donors’ national interests and policies may also act as obstacles to African development.
Egypt is one of the lucky countries on the African continent that has succeeded in capitalising on the available opportunities. It has received $6 billion in Russian investments, $15.1 billion from Europe, $7 billion from China, $2.25 billion from the US, $3 billion from India, and $880 million from Japan.
Ethiopia and Angola have achieved an economic growth rate of over 10 per cent of GDP with the help of China, which has established itself on the African continent since the start of the new millennium through its products, investments, companies, and work on 4,000 projects in the race for economic development. In Ethiopia, China is building dams, roads and railways, and it has just finished the Addis Ababa underground network at a cost of $475 million. It is also building a railway between Djibouti and the Ethiopian capital at a cost of $3 billion. It has established a cell-phone network in the country that has raised the number of users from 900,000 to 20 million.
In Kenya, China has built railway systems worth billions of dollars, the second phase of which was opened a few days ago. Angola is by far China’s largest African investment, however, where Chinese companies are building railways and 70 per cent of government buildings in the capital Luanda, together with rebuilding the infrastructure destroyed by the civil war. China has also signed a deal with Nigeria to connect its cities through a railway network at a cost of $15.5 billion, also building three oil refineries and a fuel complex at a cost of $23 billion.
It has signed 26 agreements with South Africa worth $6.5 million, mostly for infrastructure projects. In addition to these Chinese investments, many other African countries will likely receive significant new investments once Russia re-enters the scene after the Sochi Summit.
*A version of this article appears in print in the 24 October, 2019 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly.
Attiya Essawi
Russian investment
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Steve at the Movies Aug 26 2005
Cronicas, The Cave, 9 Songs & � Tout de Suite
Next Cubs GM: Me!
Introducing: Cubs in Five
It's really easy to be a fan of John Leguizamo. His energy and comic timing are as reliable as those of any actor working today, but he doesn't always select roles that allow him to really show off his goods as a serious actor. Strangely enough, the first few times I ever saw him on screen, he was tackling some fairly heavy material, in films like Casualties of War, Poison and Carlito's Way (in two of those films, he worked alongside the king of serious actors, Sean Penn). Leguizamo is not above picking a part for cash (Super Mario Bros., anyone?), but more often than not the guy takes worthy chances (To Wong Foo, Romeo + Juliet, Spawn, Moulin Rouge, King of the Jungle). His latest U.S. releases (Assault on Precinct 13 and Land of the Dead) have allowed him to flex his action muscles a bit, but nothing can quite prepare you for the deeply disturbing Latin production Cronicas, an all-too-rare opportunity to see Leguizamo in a lead role, doing by far the best work of his career.
Leguizamo plays Miami-based tabloid television reporter Manolo Bonilla, who has a knack for turning in gripping reports from all over Latin America to the home office in the U.S. But the story that fascinates him to the point of obsession is that of a serial killer in Ecuador, whom Manolo has dubbed "The Monster of Babahoyo." While Manolo and his cameraman Ivan (José Maria Yazpik) and his producer Marisa (Leonor Watling, best known for playing the comatose women in Almodovar's Talk To Her) are in Babahoyo, Ecuador following clues, a traveling salesman (Damián Alcázar) accidentally runs over a small child in the street and the crowd of witnesses turns into a mob intent on brutally killing him. Manolo saves the man's life, although he is arrested for the killing. As thanks for saving his life, the salesman tells Manolo he has information about "The Monster" and will share it with him if he interviews him about his unjustified arrest.
What follows is a slow chipping away at Manolo's journalistic integrity. He investigates a few of the clues the salesman gives him and finds them to be reliable, but he decides to keep all of his evidence from the local authorities investigating, even though the police make it clear that doing so will land him in jail. Manolo's secret agenda is to produce a piece so compelling that it will land him a coveted anchor slot. But as Manolo digs deeper, he soon realizes that it may, in fact, be the salesman who is manipulating the situation. Cronicas asks some serious questions about the influence and power of the media, and how sometimes the reporter makes himself the story at the expense of the truth.
John Leguizamo is on fire here. The man crackles with power as he sure-handedly moves from situation to situation as if he's indestructible (which, as he finds out, he isn't). Leguizamo has never been more clearly at the top of his game, while writer-director Sebastian Cordero (this is his second film) has constructed a collection of solid performances and dizzying consequences, particularly from Leguizamo and Alcázar. This is a film about one bad choice after another, where both the good and bad pay the price. Cronicas opens today at the Landmark Century Center Cinema.
A famous filmmaker (I can't remember which one) once advised a peer, "Don't borrow, steal," in reference to taking elements of your favorite films and placing them in your own. If this is indeed sound counsel, then first-time feature director Bruce Hunt is a master thief and The Cave is his booty. Hunt (a second- and third-unit director on all three Matrix films) has stolen visual elements and plot points from Alien (the Ground Zero of all recent monster movies), Jaws, Cliffhanger, Anaconda and 50 other offspring of those films to create the purest specimen of cookie-cutter horror filmmaking in recent memory. Good lord, people. Can't anyone create a monster that doesn't look like a rejected alien suit from H.R. Giger's basement workshop?
Cole Hauser (the poor man's Josh Lucas, who in turn is the poor man's Thomas Jane) leads a team of cave divers into a unexplored (or so they think) cave in the Carpathian Mountains in search of what some believe is hidden treasure. The team ignores the extensive and detailed mosaics and cave paintings at the entrance that appear to spell out the fact that there are demon-like creatures prowling the dark tunnels below. They dismiss them as quaint folklore drawings. Idiots! Once the decision to go below is made, the audience can pretty much close its collective eyes and wait for the swelling music, screeching monsters, and screaming victims. Yawn.
The visual effects look cheap, the editing and cinematography are too quick and fuzzy to really get a sense of what's going on during the attacks (I guarantee the inevitable "Unrated Edition" DVD will shed no light in this department), and not a single character is developed past the point of simply knowing what their specialty as a climber, diver or scientist is. True, when you cast the likes of Morris Chestnut, Lena Headey or Piper Perabo, acting isn't a top priority of your film, but at least give us someone to like enough that we hope they don't die. When one of the leads is infected by a parasite that is apparently the source of The Cave-dwelling monsters, no one in the cast seemed to even care and neither did I. And the filmmakers never make it clear whether the monsters are swiping victims to eat or to simply infect them and make more monsters or both.
In the end, I didn't give a shit, and I'm guessing that right now you're asking yourself, "Does The Cave really deserve this level of dissection?" Of course not. The film blows, you know that going in, but sometimes it's fun to just rant. Let's just pretend The Cave never happened.
One of my favorite directors to keep track of is the UK's Michael Winterbottom, who was "Filmmaker in Focus" when I made my jaunt to Bermuda earlier this year for that country's International Film Festival (BIFF). The only disappointment of my entire time in Bermuda is that I couldn't quite work out an interview with Winterbottom, but I did get to spend about 30 minutes chatting with the prolific filmmaker informally at a lunch gathering. Works like Wonderland, Jude, Welcome to Sarajevo, Go Now, I Want You and Code 46 are in my pantheon of cool movies, and since the guy works like a maniac and manages to put out about a film a year; he's already got his next film (The Adaptation-like A Cock and Bull Story) in the can and premiering at festival's this fall. He's a real spirited, fun guy to talk to about music and his own films. Maybe one day in the future I'll be able to really sit down with the guy and pick his brain about his uncanny ability to never repeat himself. It's almost difficult to believe that the same guy made such films as The Claim, In This World and 24 Hour Party People, all in the last five years.
Winterbottom's latest release, 9 Songs (without a doubt the most talked about film at BIFF), is a must-see, despite (or because of) its extremely graphic sex scenes. Half love story/porn film, half concert film, 9 Songs reminded me a little too much of my high school and college years. My recollections of that time have little to do with scholarly pursuits. My most vivid memories of that era revolve around the concerts that I went to and the woman I romanced (or attempted to). With no backstory and limited character development, Winterbottom gives us a passionate love affair that is destined to burn out as quickly as it catches fire.
Matt (Kieran O'Brien) and Lisa (Margo Stilley) are an attractive young couple who go to concerts by such bands as Franz Ferdinand, The Dandy Warhols, Elbow, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, The Von Bondies, Primal Scream and Super Furry Animals, all of which are featured live (there are nine altogether, thus the movie's title). In addition to this killer soundtrack, Winterbottom shows us the couple in bed... a lot. As the 65-minute film goes on, the level of explicitness increases. At first the couple's most intimate anatomical areas are hidden in shadow. But as their relationship begins to fall apart, their sex life (and sex scenes) becomes more intense. We're talking very visible oral sex, full penetration, money shots, the whole deal.
Granted, this level of graphic sexual content has been coming to art houses near us with more frequency lately, but 9 Songs isn't just a sex film. The drama here comes when the couple realizes that outside of the bedroom and the concert hall, they don't have much in common. There's no denying that there's a degree of love here, but more than that, there's a fierce, destructive passion. Winterbottom has dealt with the dangerous side of love before in I Want You, but 9 Songs is more raw (thanks in part to his hand-held DV filmmaking). This is a sexy, scary, realistic film that may not be for everybody, but it's impossible not to have a reaction to it. My reaction was based on my familiarity with the subject matter; yours may be closer to revulsion. A third option might be just close your eyes during the naughty bits and just enjoy the concert footage. Whatever your preference, you will be unable to deny 9 Songs. The film opens today at the Music Box Theatre.
� Tout de Suite
Set in 1970s Paris and based on the memoirs of a then-19-year-old Elisabeth Fanger, � Tout de Suite recounts the reckless and passionate life of Lili (Isild Le Besco, one of France's finest young actresses, first seen by American audiences fending off the Marquis de Sade in 2000's Sade). Bored with her upper-class life and university classes, and knowing full well her parents never keep track of her whereabouts, Lili frequently spends her evenings at clubs with friends, brings strange men home, and sleeps through classes in the morning. One night at a club, she meets Bada (Ouassini Embarek), a handsome Moroccan man, and the two spend an awful lot of time in bed.
Not long after their affair begins, Lili deduces that Bada was involved in a bank robbery in which one man was killed. Shortly after this revelation, Bada calls her, and he and his partner Alain (Nicolas Duvauchelle) arrive at her doorstep and hide out in her room. Soon joined by Alain's girlfriend (Laurence Cordier), the four embark on a journey across Europe, hoping to stay ahead of the police and keep tension down enough so they don't end up killing each other. During one particularly perilous escape, Lili is left behind in Morocco, and the film takes her on an unexpected journey of her own. � Tout de Suite has the feel of a classic road movie, only Lili has no idea where her road is taking her.
Director Benoit Jacquot (who has featured Le Besco in his last three films, including Sade) has a tremendous flare for capturing the random quality and unstable emotions of youth. Lili isn't a particularly likeable young woman, but we don't ever want harm to come to her. (We all know how much more tragic it is when bad things happen to pretty people.) And when her well-being is threatened (always by men, of course), her fear is genuine. The plot takes a series of unexpected turns, and we are as anxious about where they will take Lili as she is. The lack of any morally sound characters may place a wedge between the film and its audience, but I found it honest and refreshing. Most people live in the grey areas of life, where good and bad aren't a regular part of their daily events. Lili is absolutely a tragic character who is as flawed as they come, but that doesn't make her unsympathetic or the film unlikable. The movie opens today at the Landmark Century Center Cinema.
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Steve at the Movies Mar 07 2008
Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day, 10,000 B.C., The Bank Job, The Band's Visit, Girls Rock! and the European Union Film Festival
The GB Podcast
Podcast #13: Southern Bound
Fighting for a Spot
By the time you read this I'll already be in Austin beginning my all too brief stay for the SXSW Film Festival. Last week, my wife and I finally moved back into our condo six months (almost to the day) after we were blown out of it by a tornado-like microburst. Today, most of the boxes are unpacked and a busy month of traveling begins. As a result, the reviews might be a short (I'm sure some of you are applauding wildly) or not available because I'll be missing the press screenings (those of you who aren't applauding are probably crying because I won't have an opening-day review of Horton Hears a Who next week). So here's the short but sweet version of this week's offerings.
Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day
My favorite film opening this week (one that has quite a few decent flicks to choose from) is the story of the titular failed British governess (played with full quirky glory by Frances McDormand) who can't get a job in proper society and through a bit a trickery ends up being the social secretary to rising young redheaded bombshell actress Delysia Lafosse (Enchanted's Amy Adams) in London, circa 1939. War is about to take over the lives of the country, but that doesn't stop high society from acting just as decadent as they please. The dowdy Miss Pettigrew must keep all her young charge's boyfriends (including a dirt-poor piano player played by "Pushing Daisies'" Lee Pace, a club owner played by Mark Strong and a young playboy played by Tom Payne) from bumping into each other, while giving Delysia life lessons on following her heart and not relying on rich men to make her happy and stable. McDormand is absolutely perfect as the overwhelmed, out-of-her-element Pettigrew, but it's Adams who steals every scene, primarily because she's partially undressed most of the time. Adams has never been sexier, clearly drawing influence from Marilyn Monroe, but creating a wholly unique persona that every straight (and a few not-so-straight) man in the audience will fall in love with.
The entire film takes place in about a 24-hour period, and things never stop moving. Additional supporting players Shirley Henderson and the always-reliable Ciaran Hinds as a disintegrating couple just add to the wonder that is Miss Pettigrew. The film is loaded with great period music, expertly choreographed physical humor, rapid-fire dialogue and costumes so sparkly that you might have spots before your eyes after watching the film. Director Bharat Nalluri (whose last work was the exceptional HBO film Tsunami: The Aftermath) has put together a masterful combination of giddy antics and emotionally solid themes about being yourself and loving someone who brings out your greatest passion. The film is colorful, joyous, and, above all, funny. This movie has made me laugh the hardest so far in 2008, and I'm going to have to insist you check it out. The film opens today at the Landmark Century Centre Cinema.
10,000 B.C.
We don't need a big number like 10,000 to explain the potential impact of this film about a primitive white tribal leader (Steven Straight of The Covenant) who unites and leads the other tribes of Africa in an attempt to free slaves taken by the more advanced Egyptians to build their pyramids. Let me pick a number like 50; I might even go as high as 60. My numbers represent the number of years 10,000 B.C. could potentially set back cinematic race relations in this country with its tale of a white savior of the black people. To add insult to the mountains of injury this film inflicted upon me, another facet of the plot involves a prophecy featuring a blue-eyed child (who grows up to be the comically hot Camilla Belle, who is about as convincing as a prehistoric woman as Linda Harrison or Estella Warren in either version of Planet of the Apes.
But even forgetting the racial implications of this bloated, self-important joke of a film, its most glaring crime is that it's horribly boring. Weighted down with a useless narration by Omar Sharif (!), the movies tries to convince us that it's about something deep and spiritual with its lengthy discussions of the gods and spirits and demons and warriors. Bring on the saber tooth tigers, and shut the fuck up! I hate to sound like a Neanderthal moviegoer, but if you're going to load up your action film with so much talk, have it mean something and spend a little time on making the dialogue interesting.
Director Roland Emmerich (Stargate; Independence Day; the U.S. version of Godzilla; The Day After Tomorrow) manages to put together a few nice special effects sequences involving wooly mammoths, the aforementioned tigers and these strange predators that look like a cross between velociraptors and ostriches. The best scenes are the two involving mammoth stampedes, but even those seem strikingly similar to what Peter Jackson did in both Return of the King and King Kong. The scale of the film once we get to Egypt (I assume it's Egypt; the film doesn't make that clear) is impressive. The images of the pyramids and other monuments under construction are pretty cool, but the sense of awe wears off quickly once people start to talk again. But like most Emmerich films, the characters are more like sketches of human beings, the story is laughable and the emotions ring false at every turn. But he goes a step further into banality by setting his film (which he co-wrote) in the cradle of civilization and trivializing humankind's very existence. This film isn't just dull; it's insulting. I don't expect historical accuracy or good science from a Roland Emmerich movie, but at least he's managed to entertain me on a so-bad-it's-good level. But 10,000 B.C. doesn't even manage that.
I'm a Jason Statham apologist, even though I don't think I should have to be. There's something about the little guy with the bald head and muscular build that I just find commanding on screen. He can hold together a B-movie action film like nobody's business and deliver one liners with as much authority as Arnold or Bruce or Sly (maybe even better than Sly). He doesn't get too many opportunities to flex his acting muscle, which is why I was especially excited to see him in Roger Donaldson's The Bank Job, a top-notch, '70s-era heist film that bothers to develop an army of characters to such a degree that I actually cared about them. Go figure. Based on the infamous Lloyds Bank robbery of 1971, which, in addition to cash and jewels, netted its perpetrators some pretty scandalous photos of high-ranking government officials and even a member of the royal family. In addition to showing us the haphazard way the job was carried out by a group of smalltime crooks, the film extends its story to show us the levels of power that were involved in solving the crime and catching (in some cases killing) those that pulled it off.
Statham plays the leader of the criminal gang, who is tipped off by a former flame (Saffron Burrows) to a bank vault whose alarm is turned off temporarily. Leading a colorful team of specialists, Statham is fascinating to watch as he navigates between his team members in the first half of the film and later as a master negotiator who is trying to keep his part of the loot, while keeping the British secret police from killing him and his gang. Director Donaldson (Thirteen Days; The Recruit; Species; and a person favorite, No Way Out) is absolutely in his element in a complex, layered story such as this. He takes us through the twists and turns and dirty deals and nasty events, giving us a crackling great story with personality to spare. He even borrows heavily from the style of such films made in the 1970s, to add an extra level of winking authenticity to the proceedings. The Bank Job is a smart film about not-so-smart people doing incredibly dumb things with unfathomable results. Oh, you'll get a kick out of this one, I promise. Piece of advice if you do see it: I wouldn't recommend going to the bathroom during this movie, or you'll miss about six plot turns.
In a classic example of an odd story told so beautifully that it rises to the level of magical, The Band's Visit (which for a time was Israel's Best Foreign Language Oscar contender until the academy decided it had too much English in it) is a warm-hearted, slice-of-life piece about an Egyptian police orchestra that lands in Israel to play at the opening ceremony of a Arab Cultural Center. When the straight-laced band members end up on the wrong bus and travel to a remote part of the country, they must rely on the kindness of strangers for a night before they get on the right bus for the ceremony the next day. Not much happens in the film but I don't mean to imply that the film isn't wildly entertaining. The rural Israelis give the band members food and lodging for the night, and what results is a series of conversations, moving moments, amusing episodes and even small-scale romance that pass the time and bring a bit of much-needed understanding to this small corner of the world. There are no bad guys in the film, but that doesn't stop the story from having occasional moments of unease and tension. But the clear point of the film is to build bridges between people not destroy them. Staying away from most obvious avenues of sentimentality, The Band's Visit is more about getting to know the unfamiliar to alleviate fear and actual form the basis for friendships. The film's small and quiet nature is used to perfection, and the performances (especially those of Sasson Gabei as the band's leader and the lovely Ronit Elkabetz as the Israeli woman who encourages the town to take these men into their homes) are suitably understated. In the end, neither people nor places have changed drastically, but it's fun to watch them get just a little better. The film opens today at the Landmark Century Centre Cinema.
Girls Rock!
What I thought was going to be a whimsical, all-female version of Rock School turned out to be one of the most harrowing portraits of the pressures on and struggles of girls and young women that I've ever seen. While the boys and girls in Rock School were all musicians before taking classes on how to play like rock gods, many of the girls at this Girls Rock! summer camp in Oregon have never picked up an instrument before arriving. The goal of the weeklong outing is to form a band with four or five other girls, learn the basics of one's chosen instrument, write a song together, rehearse and play at the camp's final-day concert. On the surface, part of what the camp promotes is women in rock, of which there are few. But just below the surface, this is an exercise in communication, confidence-building, self-image (especially body image) and just being around strong female role models in the instructors (called band managers). And while there are some girls in the camp who are genuinely amusing to watch, many of them have fairly tragic backgrounds (at least the ones on which filmmakers Arne Johnson and Shane King focus) and personality disorders. What's fun, however, is watching them emerge from debilitating shyness and confrontational behavior to something far more functional and less self-loathing. For some, it's a slow and painful process, but learning about the societal and peer pressures placed on these girls from an absurdly young age was a real eye-opener for a 40-year-old dude like me. The film kind of sneaks up on you that way, and provides an unexpected squeeze on the old heart muscle. And, of course, the final concert is so much more than a collection of songs; it's an explosive, sometimes angry, outpouring of self discovery and self worth. And it will pretty much push you over the edge of whatever emotional barriers you think you have to protect yourself from weeping openly. The film opens today at the Music Box Theatre.
EUROPEAN UNION FILM FESTIVAL
I'm not sure I should say this, but my absolute favorite film festival in Chicago is this one. The Gene Siskel Film Center's EU Film Fest is pretty much the best of the best of what European filmmakers have to offer. It's almost impossible to find a bad film in the bunch, and if you catch even a fraction of what is offered during the month of March, you'll be ahead of the game on what gets released in the U.S. from Europe over the next year or so. Sixty-one features will be screening (the biggest ever in the Film Center's 11-year history with this festival), representing 26 nations from Austria to the United Kingdom. I'm desperately trying to keep up with some of the highlights and will preview a few of the coming week's offerings. Check www.siskelfilmcenter.com for updates, showtimes and to pre-order tickets (which I highly recommend you do).
Battle for Haditha
Director Nick Broomfield is best know for his controversial and borderline shady documentaries (Biggie and Tupac; Kurt & Courtney; Heidi Fleiss: Hollywood Madam), but he's also capable of great filmmaking, such as his two-part series on serial killer Aileen Wuornos. His latest work proves that Broomfield is able to make a feature film just as inflammatory as his non-fiction efforts. Taking his cue from the real-life 2005 Iraqi civilian massacre by U.S. Marines, Broomfield sets out to tell what he believes to be an accurate account of the incident from three sides of the story—the Marines, the victims and the insurgents, who planted an IED in the road that killed Americans and then ran through nearby houses to escape. Angry and scared, the Marines grabbed men, women and children in the homes and wiped them out. Broomfield acknowledges the confusion and complexity surrounding the event and isn't interested in assigning blame (he doesn't have to in order to make his point). He's there to tell this story in which the only innocents are those who are dead. The director goes a step deeper into realism by casting real combat vets and Iraqi refugees in all the roles (the film was shot in Jordan). For the first 15 minutes or so, I thought this was a documentary because it's shot like an embedded journalist made it. The backstory on all of those involved is just as fascinating as the tale's bloody climax. This is a tough film to watch, especially since you hate to see soldiers cast in this light, but Broomfield is surprisingly even-handed in his approach. I dare you not to be moved or outraged by this film. It screens Saturday, March 8 at 7pm, and Monday, March 10 at 6pm.
Boarding Gate
French director Olivier Assayas has made some of my favorite films in the last few years, including his masterpiece Clean, as well as Demon Lover and Irma Vep. But his latest to hit these shores, Boarding Gate, is just flat-out insanity with uber-skank Asia Argento at the center of the action. I can't exactly tell you what the story of Boarding Gate is, but it involves international business-related intrigue and murder. As if things weren't kooky enough, Michael Madsen is on hand as Argento's one-time sex partner who employed her as a sort of corporate hooker/spy. What really matters is the explosive energy that fires up whenever these two get in a room together. She can't seem to keep her clothes on; he can't stop treating her like the dirty little skank that she is. Argento spends 75 percent of this movie in and out of her underwear, which is nothing to cry about, and by the time the film's setting moves to Hong Kong in the second half, I stopped caring what the plot involved and just turned myself over to the screaming and shooting and sex talk. This isn't Assayas' best work, but, in a way, he's outdone himself with exquisite cinematography and pure sensuality. I didn't find the industrial intrigue all that intriguing, but it's enough of a shell to keep the rest of the film's elements together in interesting ways. The film plays Saturday, March 8 at 9pm, and Wednesday, March 12 at 8pm.
I'd forgotten how stunning Audrey Tatou (Amélie; The Da Vinci Code) truly is. I don't just mean pretty; I mean drop-dead, knock me over with a feather beautiful. And she looks great in just about every outfit, which seems to be director Pierre Salvadori's theme in Priceless, in which Tatou plays Irene, a money-hungry party girl who targets older rich men and gets as many gifts as she can from them before she moves on to someone with even more money. While shacked up with one of her sugar daddies at a fancy Riviera hotel, she meets hotel worker Jean (Gad Elmaleh) whom she mistakes for a younger model of her favorite ride. He pretends to be a young tycoon, but when his scam is revealed quite publicly, he finds himself out of a job and without the woman with whom he is falling in love. Playing off his good looks and natural charm, Jean also becomes something of a male escort for an older woman. Taking tips from Irene about how to stretch out the affair as long as possible to accumulate more expensive gifts, Jean takes to the lifestyle and even begins to outperform Irene. Sneaking around behind their respective partners' backs, the young couple begin to fall for each other, even though doing so almost guarantees a life without any prospects or much cash. There aren't too many surprises in Priceless, but the laughs come fast and furious. Director Pierre Salvadori (Après vous...) keeps things light, but still manages to have a few things to say about the shallow behavior of the leads. But more importantly, he puts Tatou in a new dress or undergarment in every scene, and that's enough to peak my interest even when the film feels conventional. The film screens Sunday, March 9 at 3pm.
From the bowels of Austria comes this extraordinary and shocking work from director Ulrich Seidl (Dog Days; Jesus, You Know; Animal Love) about the ugly human trade that is imported and exported from Austria to other parts of Eastern Europe. His stark and haunting films have no boundaries or safe word. He shows us characters that give up their dreary and often-dangerous lives in one place only to relocate somewhere that doesn't seem much better. Olga (Ekateryna Rak) is a Ukrainian nurse who decides against a life of selling her body to move to Austria and be a cleaning woman in a dank and dreary elderly care facility. Her humiliation never ends as her petty bosses berate her for taking time to talk to patients. Pauli (Paul Hofmann) is a deep-in-debt, out-of-work actor who leaves Vienna with his scumbag stepfather to work unloading trucks throughout Eastern Europe. Seidl has always excelled at making films about the kind of people that films simply are not made about in polite society. These are the marginalized and un-beautiful. Sometimes, he gets non-actors to play versions of themselves. I'm fairly certain the elderly patients in that facility where Olga works are the real deal. The very fact that we're watching these people is enough to make it interesting. And while I wouldn't exactly call it "entertaining," it is compelling stuff from a filmmaker who never shies away from the truth and the honest nature of human behavior in all its ugly packages. The movie plays Saturday, March 8 at 2:30pm, and Tuesday, March 11 at 6pm.
The Wedding Director
From the richly talented Italian director Marco Bellocchio (My Mother's Smile) comes this chaotic and darkly funny story of a film director (Mostly Martha's Sergio Castellitto) whose struggling career has forced him to turn to directing avant-garde wedding videos for wealthy clients. While he's booking wedding gigs, he's also auditioning women for characters in what he hopes will be his next film, and coming on to them in weird and inappropriate ways. The director is a fidgety, socially retarded man who still garners a great deal of respect among his clients and other wedding videographers. The Wedding Director has a frenzied pace to it that, in any five minutes, could involve the director fending off sexual harassment suits, meeting with another director who is pretending to be dead so his latest film will win an award and trying not to be killed at the hands of his latest subject, a Sicilian princess with whom he falls in love. The film is filled with insider movie jokes, self-loathing and even some romance to spice things up. Castellitto is phenomenal as a man who is already quite famous and influential in his own mind; now if only the rest of the world would realize it. The beautiful settings (beaches, ornate churches, country manors) only add to the list of things to love about this movie, which screens Saturday, March 8 at 5pm, and Monday, March 10 at 7:45pm.
A Windy City resident for nearly 20 years, Steve writes about everything but movies at his day job for a trade journal publishing company. Using the alias Capone, he has been the Chicago Editor for Ain't It Cool News since 1998, and has been writing film reviews since he was a wee lad of 14, growing up in Maryland. Direct your questions or comments to steve@steveatthemovies.com.
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More Jews!!!
Shavei Israel sending first ever emissary to Nigerian Jews
Brian Blum of Shavei Israel
Capers Funnye, Cousin of Michelle Obama and a Reform Rabbi in New York, has worked with Igbo who wish to formally convert to Judaism.
are seeking a return to their ancient roots. Like
In 2012, Daniel Limor was invited to a royal audience with an African village king – a member of the Igbo tribe, the second largest ethnic group in Nigeria. The Igbo are one of the most fascinating possible “lost” Jewish tribes to be found anywhere in the world – many of them claim some sort of descent from the Israelite tribe of Gad, which was exiled by the Assyrians more than 27 centuries ago.
Limor had been meeting with Igbo communities in Africa for several years after he learned about them through his decades long work with Ethiopian Jews, first as an officer in the Israel Defense Forces, and later in the Israeli defense establishment.
The king, whose full name was Eze Chukwuemeka Eri Ezeora the 34th, “had heard there was this white guy hanging out with the Jewish community in Nigeria and he wanted to meet me,” Limor recalls. The king didn’t identify as Jewish himself, but during the meeting, Limor noticed that the king was wearing a robe with a Star of David on it.
“I asked him if he put that on especially for me,” Limor says. “No,” the king told Limor. “I’m Christian, but I know that originally I’m Jewish. All of the Igbo know that!”
While the overwhelming majority of Igbo in Nigeria identify as Christian, an estimated 2,000-3,500 have embraced their tribal backstory and today practice a fairly modern form of Judaism, complete with synagogues (26 in the country), Torah scrolls, kashrut (keeping the kosher laws), the wearing of Tefillin (phylacteries) and tallit (prayer shawls), and circumcision. Local tradition holds that the word “Igbo” (it’s pronounced “ee-bow” – the “g” is silent) is a local variation of “Hebrew,” although Jewish Igbo’s call themselves the Benei-Yisrael.
Now Shavei Israel has gotten involved with the Igbo Jews. We are sending our first official emissary to the community, to teach as well as to learn. Gadi Bentley, 22, who recently completed his service in the IDF, leaves next week for a two-month stint. He will report back on what’s really happening in this distant hinterland on the African continent.
The Western world’s knowledge and interest in the Igbo dates back more than 500 years when Portuguese missionaries sailed to West Africa. They sent written reports back home about a tribe of Africans who were keeping the Jewish Sabbath and kosher laws. Most significant, though, was circumcision. With a large Muslim influence, circumcision was common among other Africans. But the Igbo were observing the tradition specifically on the eighth day, as Jewish practice stipulates.
The Igbo, the missionaries concluded, were practicing a basic Judaism based solely on the 613 commandments in the Torah since, according to their tradition, the Igbo’s ancestors left the Land of Israel long before the Talmud was codified and so their Jewish practice was Biblical rather than rabbinic in nature. (Some historians say the Igbo Jews migrated from Syria, Portugal and Libya into West Africa as late as 740 C.E. and were from several Israelite tribes – Gad, Asher, Dan and Naphtali. Later they were joined by more Jewish immigrants from Portugal and Libya in 1484 and 1667 respectively. You can read our full history of the Igbo Jews in theOther Communities section of our website.)
The missionaries successfully converted most of the Igbo, and the world forgot about Nigeria’s Jewish connection. But in the last several decades, the Igbo – like other “lost” Jewish tribes around the world – have begun reconnecting with their heritage. Rabbis and Jewish leaders began to visit them and bring more knowledge. Limor himself sent a crate containing 13talitot (prayer shawls) and 13 pairs of Tefillin in 2013. The Igbo are keeping Shabbat and kashrut again, not to mention brit mila (circumcision on the eighth day), which was observed consistently even when other practices faded away.
And then of course there’s the Internet. “Most of the Igbo’s knowledge, when it comes to practicing mitzvot (commandments), comes from the Internet,” Limor says. “On Shabbat, you can hear them singing Hassidic melodies from Avraham Fried or those from Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach – there, in the middle of Africa!”
The Igbo primarily have “a thirst for knowledge,” Limor says. They’re not a particularly downtrodden people – “they are well-educated and many are studying in university,” Limor adds. Aliyah is far from the agenda at the moment. More important is learning and acting on the rabbinic traditions the Igbo never had. For example, the Igbo have started to celebrate the post-Biblical holiday of Hanukah, as well as Purim.
Most of the Igbo Jews live in Anambra state, the ancestral Nigerian region of the Igbos. A smaller number of Igbo Jews live in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital, where they have three synagogues.
Shai Afsai visited the Igbo in 2013 and reported on his trip in The Times of Israel. “To Igbo Jews, the Jewish practices they have begun embracing in the past few decades are not those of a foreign religion or culture, but rather their own. They see themselves as ba’ale teshuvah: Jews returning to Judaism and to the traditional observances of their ancestors, which were lost due to the Igbos’ long exile from the Land of Israel and due to the introduction of Christianity to Igboland.”
Limor connected with Shavei Israel through its educational director Rabbi Eliyahu Birnbaum. Both Rabbi Birnbaum and Limor are originally from Uruguay and they formed an immediate (and Spanish-speaking) bond. In December 2014, Limor led a fact-finding mission to Nigeria with Rabbi Birnbaum and Shavei Israel Chairman Michael Freund.
It was very much a matter of seeing is believing. “I can tell you stories and show you video clips, but until you see it with your own eyes, you don’t understand the power of this community,” Limor says. The decision to send a longer-term emissary was made and Bentley was selected. “We wanted someone who is religious, who can teach, but who is also not afraid of different situations,” Limor adds.
Bentley served as a paratrooper in the IDF and was a graduate of a hesderyeshiva (that combines yeshiva study with army service). He also speaks English fluently – a language spoken by many among the Igbo Jewish community.
Bentley will spend his two months in Africa visiting the largest of the 26 Igbo Jewish communities. He’ll be bringing a variety of materials – including prayer books and machzorim for the High Holy Days (which will be high on his list of subjects to teach). Of the 26 communities, 5-6 already have Sifrei Torah (Torah scrolls) to read from during synagogue services. Bentley will also teach Hebrew.
As important as his teaching is what Bentley will report back to Shavei Israel. “Gadi won’t be able to reach every community in those two months, but he’ll do his best to map out the situation as a whole,” says Limor, who plans another visit to the Igbo about a month into Bentley’s stay.
What will Bentley be able to eat while in Africa? Do the Igbo keep kosher to his Israeli standards? Before taking up the post, Bentley asked Rabbi Birnbaum, who explained that the Igbo are strict vegetarians. That’s due in part because they have no trained shochet (ritual slaughterer) in Nigeria. “You can eat the food,” Rabbi Birnbaum assured Bentley.
What about safety? When one reads about Nigeria, the terrorist group Boko Haram is quick to come up. “Nigeria is a huge country,” Limor says. “Boko Haram is in the far northeast. The Igbo Jews are in the south. Moreover, there is no local incitement against the Igbo Jews,” Limor continues. “They live amongst Christians of the same tribe. Most are 7th Day Adventists, which means that Saturday is their Sabbath too. It’s probably safer for a Jew there than in Paris or London.”
Limor has a vision for what he would like to see happen with Nigeria’s Jews. “My dream is to open a school in Jerusalem that every year will take 30-40 young Igbo Jews who have just finished high school in Nigeria. They’ll come to Israel to study Judaism for a year. They can officially convert if possible. Then they’ll go back to Africa to teach the next generation.”
Bringing Jewish content to the Igbo is an ambitious and potentially enormous project. When Limor, Rabbi Birnbaum and Freund were at the airport in Abuja, a police officer approached them. “He had a face that said, ‘I’m going to eat you alive,’” recalls Limor. All three of the Israelis were wearing kippot; Rabbi Birnbaum has a long beard. The police officer “turns to Michael and he asks, ‘are you a Jew?’ Michael answers, calmly, ‘yes,’ then adds, ‘are you also a Jew?’ And the officer lights up. ‘Yes I am!’ he says.”
We have several videos taken of the Igbo Jewish community to share with you:
As Bentley files his reports from Nigeria, we’ll keep you posted on Shavei Israel’s latest undertaking.
Tags: Capers Funnye, Funnye, Race relations
Posted 10 Jun 2015 by theaveeditor in Jews, Misc.
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Documents relating to: Allergy Overview
For Kids: How to Use a Metered-Dose Inhaler (Closed-Mouth)
For Kids: How to Use a Metered-Dose Inhaler (Open-Mouth)
For Kids: How to Use a Metered-Dose Inhaler with a Spacer
For Kids: How to Use a Metered-Dose Inhaler with a Spacer and a Mask
For Teens: How to Use an Asthma Action Plan
How to Use a Metered-Dose Inhaler with a Spacer
How to Use a Metered-Dose Inhaler with a Spacer and a Mask
How to Use a Metered-Dose Inhaler Without a Spacer (Closed- and Open-Mouth)
Step-by-Step: Using a Dry-Powder Diskus Inhaler
Step-by-Step: Using a Dry-Powder Twist Inhaler
Step-by-Step: Using a Nebulizer
Step-by-Step: Using a Nebulizer (Child)
Step-by-Step: Using a Nebulizer with a Mouthpiece
Step-by-Step: Using a Peak Flow Meter
Step-by-Step: Using an Inhaler in Mouth
Step-by-Step: Using an Inhaler with a Spacer
Step-by-Step: Using an Inhaler: Open Mouth
Step-by-Step: Using Nasal Spray
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Barony of the Flaming Gryphon
We bid you welcome!
The Barony of the Flaming Gryphon is the west-central Ohio branch of the Society for Creative Anachronism, Incorporated (SCA). Founded in 1979, the Barony is held in fief from the Crown of the Middle Kingdom by Their Excellencies Master Edward Foxley and Baroness Allegra Ginevra Soave da Napoli. The Barony serves several modern counties in Ohio, and is composed of six branches of the SCA. Our newsletter is The Gryphon's Tale , and The Gryphon Pages is the Baronial directory.
"No, no! The adventures first," said the Gryphon in an impatient tone: "explanations take such a dreadful time."
- Lewis Carroll, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
Baronial Transition
The Crown of the Middle Kingdom wishes the widest possible counsel on matters relating to the Kingdom; thus, it is requested that all members respond to this baronial poll for the Barony of Flaming Gryphon.
New to Our Group?
Wed, 03/21/2018 - 19:28 — Lancelin
Whether you are brand new to the SCA or a long-time member just moving into the area, we're glad you came!
You may wish to join our Baronial mailing list, the Ermine Spot, to keep up with news about events, meetings and workshops. See the mailing lists page to find out how to subscribe.
We have more information on the Society for Creative Anachronism on this page, including an introductory booklet.
This is the recognized web site for the Barony of the Flaming Gryphon of the Society for Creative Anachronism, Inc. and is maintained by Lancelin Peregrinus / Grant Root. This site may contain electronic versions of the group's governing documents. Any discrepancies between the electronic version of any information on this site and the printed version that is available from the originating office will be decided in favor of the printed version. For information on using photographs, articles, or artwork from this web site, please contact the Webminister at lancelin@rootcentral.org. He or she will assist you in contacting the original creator of the piece. Please respect the legal rights of our contributors.
Copyright © 2016 Barony of the Flaming Gryphon. The original contributors retain the copyright of certain portions of this site.
All external links are not part of the Barony of the Flaming Gryphon web site. Inclusion of a page or site here is neither implicit nor explicit endorsement of the site. Further, SCA, Inc. is not responsible for content outside of http://www.midrealm.org/gryphony/.
For assistance with this page, please contact Grant Root at lancelin@rootcentral.org.
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