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The '00s were a turbulent time for the comic-book business, as mainstream publishers like DC and Marvel suffered the sales declines affecting nearly all print-purveyors, while publishers of what used to be known as "alternative" comics saw some of their products hitting bestseller lists and turning up on the front page of The New York Times Book Review. Superheroes were more popular at the multiplex, but in terms of readership and buzz, the story of the decade was how a handful of high-profile non-genre books helped advance the medium's standing in literary society. And there were other big stories over the past 10 years: the inroads made by online comics, the ascendancy of writers at "the big two," the proliferation of outstanding archival collections of classic comics, and so on. Below, The A.V. Club's regular Comics Panel team tries to touch on all the above, via our picks for the 25 best comics of the decade and the five best archival projects. These lists are presented alphabetically, and contain a mix of graphic novels, ongoing series, comic strips, and single issues. Limiting ourselves to 25 meant reluctantly leaving out a lot of our favorite titles (no Hernandez brothers, no Walking Dead, no Scott Pilgrim, no Astro City), so as always, we invite you to advocate for your absent favorites in the comments.
The Top 25
Achewood, Chris Onstad (achewood.com, 2001-present)
This was the decade when webcomics tried to step up and prove they deserve a place alongside the great newspaper strips of the past, but Chris Onstad's Achewood is one of the few that's proven worthy of the challenge. Hiding some powerfully good storytelling behind simple art, Achewood quickly evolved from a reliably funny gag strip to a still funny but surprisingly deep character-driven comedy that's stayed sharp no matter what bizarre direction it's veered in. Ray and Roast Beef, the central funny-animal protagonists—human-like in their bad behavior, if nothing else—form the strip's spine, and Onstad has found humor and meaning in their enjoyably quirky argot and exploration of the meaning of adult friendships. When he wants to go for more broad or surreal humor, he's been able to draw on a bench of supporting characters as deep as any great sitcom's.
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The Acme Novelty Library, Chris Ware (Pantheon, 2005)
In 2000, Random House imprint Pantheon Books published Chris Ware's Jimmy Corrigan, The Smartest Kid On Earth, bringing a story that Ware wrote and drew in the '90s more critical attention and prestige than any comic book had seen since Art Spiegelman's Maus. Since completing Jimmy Corrigan, Ware has been busy with the as-yet-uncompleted Rusty Brown and Building Stories novels, as well as with scattered strips in The New Yorker and elsewhere. Strictly speaking, the most influential and acclaimed comics creator of the '00s doesn't have a single completed work to hold up as one of the decade's best. But Pantheon's 2005 hardcover collection of Ware's full-page strips, fake ads, and archaic bluster (sometimes referred to as The Acme Novelty Library Annual Report To Shareholders And Rainy Day Saturday Afternoon Fun Book) suits as both an intro to Ware and a representative sample of his '00s work. Though about half the strips were drawn in the '90s, Pantheon's Acme Novelty Library has been packaged in such a way that it traces Ware's evolution from the darkly humorous gags of "Rocket Sam" and "Big Tex" to the more poignant and despairing "Tales Of Tomorrow" and "Chalky White." Between the jokes, Ware weaves in stunning formal experiments that attempt—through design alone—to map out the recurring cycles of life and art. Funny, sad, ingenious, and beautiful, Pantheon's Acme Novelty Library provides ample evidence of Ware's unique brilliance.
All-Star Superman, Grant Morrison & Frank Quitely (DC, 2006-08)
Many of the best superhero comics of the '00s spent time exploring what made us fall in love with superheroes in the first place. After the grimy, gritty, highly muscled '90s, writers like Mark Waid, Geoff Johns, and others put a modern spin on the story-driven '50s and '60s Silver Age. Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely's All-Star Superman takes the notion to an extreme, dropping the emotionally fragile Superman from the early-'60s stories of Jerry Siegel and Otto Binder into the body of a friendly god. Given a year to live in the first issue, Superman spends the rest of the series' 12-issue run trying to set his life in order. In the process, Morrison puts a fresh spin on old Superman ideas—Bizarro, Jimmy Olsen's monstrous transformations—and introduces some of his own, including a story in which Superman is secretly responsible for the world you're living in right now. It's enough to send even the most jaded comics fan outside to look up in the sky.
American Elf, James Kochalka (americanelf.com/Top Shelf, 1998-present)
Billed as "James Kochalka's Collected Sketchbook Diaries," the three volumes (and counting) of American Elf offer far more than the solipsistic scribbling of yet another autobiographical cartoonist. Limiting himself to a maximum of four panels per day of his life, Kochalka distills oceans of poignancy into tidy, even Zen-like teacups. Kochalka's strips, as always, possess a deceptively innocuous virtuosity, and his prosaic yet dreamlike anecdotes about daily life, fatherhood, and videogames controlled by erect penises deserve multiple readings—not to mention recognition for making a seamless crossover between webcomic and graphic novel. Above all, though, American Elf is drop-dead funny, and Kochalka's organic, semisweet humor skims self-deprecation without plunging into self-loathing.
Asterios Polyp, David Mazzucchelli (Pantheon, 2009)
Few creators have followed a career arc as complicated as that of former superhero-book penciler turned European-style avant-gardist David Mazzucchelli. With the publication this year of his first solo graphic novel, Asterios Polyp, Mazzucchelli proved that it was worth the long wait for him to take possession of his own voice. The book follows a middle-aged architect whose fate seems governed by ancient urges and forces he can barely perceive. His story is rich and evocative, and made all the more astonishing by how carefully the art matches the plot: Mazzucchelli's confident visuals illustrate every divergence and digression of the clever, funny narrative just so. Asterios Polyp represents one of the best-ever fusions of art and story, in a medium where such fusions are supposed to the very reason the medium exists. This book is the rare example of something that feels like an enduring classic the moment it appears.
Black Hole (Pantheon, 2005)
There's a lot of darkness in Charles Burns' Black Hole, and not just of the emotional kind, although there's plenty of that, too. No, what's striking about this graphic novel—which tells the story of a group of sexually active teenagers in 1970s Seattle who fall prey to a mutating STD known as "The Bug"—is how much ink is spread across the panels. Sometimes the blackness dominates the landscapes and throws characters into sharp focus; at other times, it merely lurks in the background, ominous and omnipresent. Burns wrote and drew Black Hole over the course of 10 years, and the end result is a work of haunting, nauseating loneliness, using "The Bug" as a metaphor for the transitional period between adolescence and adulthood, a time when the need for companionship is as strong as the inability to grasp it. The darkness, then, is inevitable. Plenty of indie comics explored alienation and despair in the 2000s, but few did so with Burns' unflinching, unsparing compassion.
Blankets, Craig Thompson (Top Shelf, 2003)
Craig Thompson announced himself as a creator of note with his 1999 debut graphic novel, Good-Bye, Chunky Rice, a strange, poetic, but deeply felt and meticulously illustrated book about love, loss, and moving on. Then he disappeared for four years and re-emerged with a staggering sophomore effort that considerably upped the stakes: Blankets, an autobiographical, gorgeously lyrical book about first loves and religious obsessions. The story, about a young Christian man coming of age and struggling with an oppressive but comforting faith, delves into different forms of manufactured security, from relationships to religion; along the way, Thompson's on-the-page avatar lets his imagination carry him out of his suffocating world of bullies and repression. Even more so than Good-Bye, Chunky Rice, this is a painful book, but it carries a sweetness that borders on profundity. It's essentially Elliott Smith's music in autobiographical-comic form.
Box Office Poison, Alex Robinson (Top Shelf, 2001)
Alex Robinson's terrific black-and-white series Box Office Poison was first published in single-issue form from 1996 to 2000, via indie Antarctic Press. But it gained a whole new level of awareness when Top Shelf published all 21 issues in a single mighty tome in 2001. And the graphic-novel version is a better format for such an intricately executed story, which develops a core cast of interrelated New York twentysomethings, but spirals off in all sorts of ambitious but microdetailed directions, turning bit players and background characters into real people with complicated backstories. Half the genius of Box Office Poison is that Robinson makes his New York a fantastically detailed, lived-in place; the other half is that he doesn't take it painfully seriously. He periodically steps outside his narrative to pose questions directly to his characters, and to let their answers to random queries further characterize them. The results are rich and realistic, yet surprisingly puckish and just plain funny.
Criminal, Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips (Icon, 2006-present)
Ed Brubaker is best known for his groundbreaking, wildly popular work with mainstream superheroes such as Daredevil, Batman, The X-Men, Iron Fist, and most infamously, Captain America. But he clearly put an extra shot of heart and soul into Criminal. The ongoing series, which debuted in 2006 (and won the Eisner Award for Best New Series the next year), updates hardboiled crime and noir tropes with jagged emotion, beautiful pacing, and a stark atmosphere that leaves plenty of room for gray—both graphically and morally. Like Sin City minus the steroids, Criminal proves that the decades-old genre of crime comics still has plenty of bang left in it.
Daredevil, Brian Michael Bendis & Alex Maleev (Marvel, 2002-06)
Frank Miller's classic run on Daredevil in the 1980s has proven tough to follow, but for four years, writer Brian Michael Bendis and artist Alex Maleev (with some occasional assistance) delivered another string of all-time-great stories starring the long-suffering defender of Hell's Kitchen. Bendis didn't ignore Matt Murdock's past, but his run on the series seldom depended on what had come before. He also found new ways to pull the ground out from under the hero, whether by forcing him to deal with being unmasked by the press, or making him cope with the unforeseen problems of winning a seemingly decisive battle with the Kingpin. With Maleev, Bendis indulged a taste for noir-inspired urban dramas and drew in a lot of viable second-stringers—Luke Cage, Bendis' own Jessica Jones—to fill out the supporting cast for stories that made superheroics again feel at home in back rooms and rain-soaked alleys, where none but the brave and the wicked dare set foot.
DC: The New Frontier, Darwyn Cooke (DC, 2003-04)
With The New Frontier, writer-artist Darwyn Cooke returned the heroes of DC's Silver Age into the jet-age Cold War era that forged them, and charged them with saving the world while figuring out what it means to be heroes in a time of tremendous change. While acknowledging the real-world historical problems that the comics of the era happily ignored, Cooke's series works like an anti-Watchmen, reassembling the superhero mythologies Alan Moore spent much of the '80s picking apart. (That's no slant against Moore, whose America's Best Comics line engaged in a similar project.) It's a smartly written series and an even better looking one, thanks to Cooke's clean, animation-inspired art, which makes characters like Wonder Woman and Green Lantern look classically iconic, yet startlingly new.
Eightball #23 ("The Death Ray"), Daniel Clowes (Fantagraphics, 2004)
Cartoonist Daniel Clowes spent much of the '00s working on screenplays and the occasional short strip for national magazines (amid a prolonged health crisis), so he only had time to deliver two lengthy comics: "Ice Haven" and "The Death Ray," which appeared in Eightball #22 and #23, respectively. Both are broken up into one- or two-page chapters, drawn in a range of styles from simple cartoons to naturalistic sketches to full-scale, dynamic action layouts. But while both stories are excellent, "The Death Ray" is a straight-up masterpiece, using comic-book staples like superpowers, teen angst, and fight scenes to comment on how the petty grudges of young adulthood resolve into a system of values, subtly guiding the way the world is run. The story follows Andy, a tense, middle-aged loner who recalls his high-school years in the late '70s, when he took up smoking and acquired superhuman strength, along with a death ray capable of disintegrating its targets. "The Death Ray" could be read as a critique of American foreign policy, or a kiss-off to superheroes, or just another of Clowes' keen dissections of teen ennui, with the details of a young man's first cigarette and his first punk-rock album serving as more than just coming-of-age signifiers.
Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic, Alison Bechdel (Houghton Mifflin, 2006)
Buoyed by the success of Persepolis (see below), Houghton Mifflin took a chance on another autobiographical graphic novel by a female artist. Alison Bechdel honed her chops for more than two decades on the wonderful strip Dykes To Watch Out For, but Fun Home—her amusing, difficult account of childhood and her relationship with her academic father—was a massive leap forward. The art is far and away the best Bechdel has ever done, with her usually strong, simple, expressive ink lines bolstered by successful use of color wash and framing. Incredibly detailed, intricate, and allusive, Fun Home puts its intellectual and densely referential tone to work in a story saturated with real human drama, such that it never seems affected or dry. Unsurprisingly, the book was a critical success; more unusually, it became a bestseller, helping discredit the belief that there's no audience for sophisticated comics storytelling in America.
George Sprott, 1894-1975, Seth (D&Q, 2009)
Of all the alternative cartoonists who broke through in the '90s, few were as productive in the '00s as Seth. Though production on his regular series Palookaville slowed to a crawl (hampering the long-gestating graphic novel Clyde Fans), he's been active designing archival collections, doing commercial illustration, and knocking out short graphic novels in his sketchbook. This year's George Sprott, 1894-1975 is sort of an amalgam of Seth's work this decade; it's an oversized, hardbound graphic novella that expands on a series of serialized one-pagers Seth drew for The New York Times Magazine, all about the last days of an arctic adventurer turned TV host. Some of the book looks simple and sketchy, other parts look far more detailed, and the book as a whole is handsomely designed. More importantly, George Sprott continues Seth's career-long obsession with constructing worlds for readers to get lost in, built from fictional places and characters that feel realer than real.
The Golem's Mighty Swing, James Sturm (D&Q, 2000)
James Sturm has quietly become one of the most reliably excellent comics artists in the country. His period pieces are crammed with historical detail and powerful dramatic scenes, though the best of them is the one with the oddest premise: The Golem's Mighty Swing, about a barnstorming 1920s Jewish baseball team that tempts fate by engaging in a seemingly absurd promotional gimmick. Sturm lets the tension mount and mount, portraying the personal stories of compelling individuals against a bigger backdrop of racial prejudice and class issues. With his focused depiction of motion and his keen eye for detail and expression, Sturm creates one of the most thrilling sports stories in American comics history. The Golem's Mighty Swing features a somewhat bewildering coda, but every other page delivers a reading experience as deep as the comics experience can get.
The Goon, Eric Powell (Dark Horse, 1999-present)
It may be wrong to use the word "delicate" to describe a series in which an ugly bruiser does battle with the undead in a whiskey-soaked town full of crumb-bums and femmes fatale. But it's really the only word that applies to the delicate balance between horror, pathos, and lowbrow humor Eric Powell brings to The Goon. Though, thankfully, still not above some well-executed scatological humor, Powell's stories have grown more complex and the drama deeper as the series has progressed and the mythology behind our hard-hitting hero has deepened. Powell's Lonely Street has become an increasingly rewarding place to hang out. (Just look be careful not to take a knife to the eye.)
Louis Riel: A Comic-Strip Biography, Chester Brown (D&Q, 1999-2003)
With a body of work that spans detached autobiography, biblical interpretation, and sheer, nightmarish absurdism, Chester Brown has never failed to surprise. In 1999, his delicate yet substantial artwork and epic sense of space were brought to bear on the least expected of subjects: Louis Riel, the 19th-century Canadian resistance leader and folk hero. Collected in 2003, Louis Riel: A Comic-Strip Biography showed just how far journalism can stray into subjectivity, even when the biographer himself can't seem to decide how he feels about his subject. Brown made his name as one of underground comics' daring, endearing weirdoes, but Louis Riel is his most culturally relevant work to date, in spite of its edge of unsettling surrealism.
The Mystery Of Mary Rogers, Rick Geary (NBM, 2001)
Roughly once a year throughout the '00s, Rick Geary delivered another of his carefully researched, beautifully drawn "Treasury Of Victorian Murder" books (or lately, "Treasury Of XXth-Century Murder"). All are essential reading for comics fans and history buffs alike, but The Mystery Of Mary Rogers is especially fine, turning the real-life case that inspired Edgar Allen Poe's "The Mystery Of Marie Roget" into a thoughtful meditation on the origins of stories. Geary's style—which combines portrait-style illustrations, detailed graphs, and deadpan narration—suits the tale of a woman whose body washed ashore in New Jersey in 1841, sparking rampant, lurid press speculation about whether she was raped and murdered, or whether she was the victim of a botched abortion, or whether something even more appalling happened to her. Geary portrays the culture of New York in the mid-19th century as a hybrid of European sophistication and frontier barbarism, and as he muses on how a case can scandalize a community yet remain an utter mystery, he shows how fiction is born from our unceasing fascination with the lurid.
One Hundred Demons, Lynda Barry (Sasquath, 2002)
Dubbed "autobifictionalography" by cartoonist Lynda Barry, the book One Hundred Demons takes an art-school exercise ("paint your demon") as the jumping-off point for 17 stories about growing up as the funny-looking, lower-middle-class daughter of an abusive Filipino mother and an absentee father. As always with Barry, the art in One Hundred Demons is minimal but rarely cutesy, the dialogue pinpoints the inarticulate but meaningful grunts of children, and the captions vividly recall the minutiae of the past, from the sensations of falling out with a close friend to the textures and smells of a discarded toy. But Barry also makes a real leap forward with One Hundred Demons, incorporating some of her philosophies of creativity into a book that combines found objects, obsessive filigree, and unflinching examination of past failures.
Persepolis, Marjane Satrapi (Pantheon, 2000)
One of the most unlikely comics success stories of the decade was the warm reception given to a pair of graphic novels about a young girl growing up in post-revolutionary Iran. Persepolis made Marjane Satrapi's reputation as an artist to watch, and spawned an acclaimed animated adaptation. Some critics have taken the book to task for Satrapi's self-flattering depiction of her own experiences, and for its negative views of Iranian religious society, but close reading reveals Persepolis to be a painfully honest, warts-and-all portrayal of its author, who owns her occasional bouts of egotistical selfishness and prejudicial thinking as much as she does the more positive aspects of her character. From her holy-terror childhood to her haltingly rebellious adolescence to her deeply troubled college years, Satrapi portrays herself as a complex figure, neither pure nor damned. This deep self-evaluation, along with the lovely art (which owes more than a little debt to Charles Schultz), is what makes Persepolis a classic.
Promethea, Alan Moore & J.H. Williams III (America's Best Comics/Wildstorm, 1999-2005)
Comics fans learned a long time ago not to count out Alan Moore, so it's no surprise that the man considered by many to be the greatest writer in the history of the medium was responsible for an ongoing comics series of exceptional quality this decade. What is surprising is how the series developed. Originally intended as Moore's sophisticated riff on Wonder Woman, Promethea was an exceptional superhero comic from the start, but Moore grew bored with it. So rather than continuing to crank out stories in a more-or-less traditional format—or abandoning the book altogether—Moore decided to turn Promethea into a freewheeling exegesis on magic, philosophy, transcendental spirituality, and the nature of fiction. Moore's scripts grew ever more discursive, and artist J.H. Williams III shadowed him every step of the way, providing innovative, experimental visuals that helped turn the stories into something much more symbolic and meaningful than some didactic lecture on mysticism. Like the best of Moore's work, Promethea began somewhere familiar, and landed somewhere far stranger.
Pyongyang: A Journey In North Korea, Guy Delisle (D&Q, 2006)
Joe Sacco pioneered comics-as-journalism with books like Palestine and Safe Area Gorazde. Quebec's Guy Delisle carried on the tradition in the '00s with Shenzen and Pyongyang, the latter of which chronicles the time he spent working for a low-budget animation studio in North Korea. It's simultaneously funny, chilling, and enlightening, providing a rare, detailed look at life behind the last Iron Curtain and its forbidding capital: the closest thing to a real dystopia anyone could hope to find on Earth.
Tales Designed To Thrizzle, Michael Kupperman (Fantagraphics, 2005-present)
Alt-comics publishers used to pump out cheap magazines filled with off-color jokes and offbeat short stories, but in the '00s, with the single-issue market drying up, only a few cartoonists have upheld the tradition of underground comics as a bastion for the quick-and-dirty. Johnny Ryan was one, with his eye-poppingly scatological Angry Youth Comix. And for those who prefer slightly more elevated absurdity, Michael Kupperman's Tales Designed To Thrizzle has offered twisted homages to kiddie comics and clip-art, recombined into strips that make the whole medium seem inherently silly. No one does giddy surrealism quite like Kupperman, who hops happily from stories about Mark Twain and Albert Einstein as rogue cops to tales of Sam Spread: Sandwich Spread-Obsessed Detective, all between bizarre prose pieces and fake ads ("Gay Yokels: Fine dining for the hillbilly homosexual!") Tales Designed To Thrizzle is like Acme Novelty Library for those who which Chris Ware would be less fussy and more funny.
Why Are You Doing This?, Jason (Fantagraphics, 2004)
John Arne Sæterøy—the Norwegian cartoonist known around the world as "Jason"—has developed a unique style over the past 10 years, combining the visual simplicity of the Eurocomics tradition with the pop-culture obsessiveness of an American, all wrapped up in a blackly comic deadpan. Why Are You Doing This? marked Jason's first attempt at a full-color graphic novella, and it's quintessentially Jason both in its story—a Hitchcockian "wrong man" thriller about a lovesick slacker framed for the murder of his best friend—and in its style, which alternates taut action sequences and idle scenes of nothingness. Typically for a Jason book, Why Are You Doing This? builds to a gut-punch ending that attempts to answer the titular question. Why do people fall in love, chase each other, kill each other? Because this is a story, and stories need to be interesting.
Y: The Last Man, Brian K. Vaughan (Vertigo, 2002-2008)
Over six years and 60 issues, Brian K. Vaughan and, for the bulk of the run, artist and co-creator Pia Guerra used the idea of a world without men—almost—to examine society and humanity. His high-concept plot saw a killer plague eradicating every male human and animal on Earth except two: a callow would-be escape artist named Yorick Brown, and the capuchin monkey he's training as a helper animal. As the series progressed, Yorick and various associates travelled across the States and to other countries, observing how the loss of men changes societies—or in some regrettable cases, doesn't really change them much at all. While the series occasionally got repetitive and episodic, particularly as various organizations vied for ownership of Yorick and his monkey, its single long plot arc rarely failed to be gripping, and in its well-considered speculative look at which parts of culture are caught up in gender and which are just basic humanity, it was detailed enough to stand as political and social commentary rather than just a meandering adventure. Neophytes should be warned that readers were never given one definitive answer for what caused the plague—instead, the series as a whole offers a number of explanations, and leaves fans to decide which is most plausible. That freewheeling attitude toward conclusive answers may explain how Vaughan wound up as one of the head writers of Lost.
The Archives
Bone one-volume edition, Jeff Smith (Cartoon Books, 2004)
The advantage to having all 55 issues of Bone collected in one edition isn't just a reduction in storage space. Jeff Smith's magnum opus reads more like a novel than a comic, and Bone: One Volume Edition is the story's ideal state: a huge, afternoon-killing volume that will dominate any bookshelf it calls home. Bone starts small, with the three Bone cousins, Fone, Phoncible, and Smiley, exiled from Boneville and uncertain about their future. Things get considerably more complicated from there, as the three leads face off against rat creatures and the Lord of Locusts, and get entangled in the lives of humans living in a nearby valley. Smith's plotting sticks to basic fantasy tropes, but his careful attention to character is what makes the book work so well. The Bone family, inspired by Walt Kelly's Pogo, are well-realized and endearing, and Smith's art captures each mood and sight-gag perfectly, with a cartoony style that carries a surprising emotional weight. It's a grand tale well told, presented in the best possible way.
The Complete Peanuts, Charles M. Schulz (Fantagraphics, 2004-present)
Specialty publishers like Fantagraphics and Kitchen Sink had released scholarly collections of vintage comic strips before, but when Fantagraphics got the rights to reprint the most popular comic strip of all time, the success of the books cleared the way for more classics of American popular art to receive the prestige treatment they deserve. From the tidy Seth-designed covers to the introductions and indices (as in "Charlie Brown, insults to, re: size & shape of head"), The Complete Peanuts has framed Charles Schulz's enduring masterpiece about as well any lifelong fan could've hoped.
The EC Archives, various (Gemstone, 2006-present)
EC's masterful, trailblazing comics of the '50s and '60s have been reprinted in myriad incarnations over the years—including disappointing hardcovers and cheaply produced (though economically accessible) newsprint. But in 2006, Gemstone finally started giving the EC catalogue its due: The EC Archives, while fairly pricey, is worth every penny, featuring gorgeously colored hardcover restorations of the imprint's legendary and controversial crime, war, horror, and science-fiction tales. From Weird Science to Tales From The Crypt, the series is a fitting showcase for the highly influential—and still gripping—work by some of the comics medium's greatest creators, including Wally Wood, Frank Frazetta, Harvey Kurtzman, Al Feldstein, and EC's mastermind himself, William Gaines.
Krazy & Ignatz, George Herriman (Fantagraphics, 2002-present)
George Herriman's Krazy Kat is easy to describe but almost impossible to explain. It was a comic strip published in newspapers for three decades (starting in 1913), with a simple premise: Krazy Kat loves Ingatz the mouse, who doesn't like Krazy much, and shows his irritation by throwing bricks at the poor infatuated feline. Officer Pup loves Krazy, and he expresses his love by trying to prevent Ignatz from brick-throwing, but Krazy interprets Ignatz's abuse as a sign of affection, and is constantly undermining Pup's efforts. Herriman uses this triangle of perpetually thwarted desires as a framework for an endless series of puns, philosophical gags, and slapstick, set against the starkly surreal Coconino County. The strip is influential (Calvin And Hobbes' Bill Watterson is a big fan, for one), but had been difficult to find until Fantagraphics set about continuing Eclipse Comics' defunct reprint series. The Krazy & Ignatz books have been a godsend to comics fans, with each volume repackaging two years' worth of Sunday strips in attractive, Chris Ware-designed softcovers. Each book is bizarre, sweetly amusing, and blissfully continuity-free.
Sundays With Walt & Skeezix, Frank King (Sunday Press, 2007)
It's hard to decide which post-Complete Peanuts comic-strip-reprint project has been the most revelatory, but a strong case could be made for Drawn & Quarterly's Walt & Skeezix books, which have gone back to the early days of Gasoline Alley (starting with the arrival of the foundling Skeezix in 1921) and have showcased the gentle humor, graphic mastery, and deep human insight of the strip's creator, Frank King. The daily strips collected in Walt & Skeezix tend toward the subtle, while the 200 full-page Gasoline Alley Sunday strips in Sundays With Walt & Skeezix are more astonishing in their artistry and imagination. By the mid-'20s, King had begun to experiment with his art, working with silhouettes, shadows, close-ups, and even some light surrealism. In the Sunday strips—especially in the weeks when Walt and his young ward took a long walk or a drive in the country—King used the limited color palette of the comics page to render the outside world as though it existed in a perpetual state of autumnal twilight. For Sundays With Walt & Skeezix, Sunday Press employed the regular Walt & Skeezix design team of Chris Ware and Jeet Heer to package an assortment of King's best Sundays into a handsome 16" by 21" hardcover. The book makes a nice companion piece to Ware's own oversized book collections Quimby The Mouse and Acme Novelty Library, showing a little of Ware's inspiration for pages that practically engulf readers in their precise, heartrending detail.


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According to the campaign finance tracking website Maplight, supporters of Proposition 32 have raised more than $45-million.
Opponents have raised more than $58-million.
The measure on November's ballot would ban direct campaign contributions from unions and corporations and ban automatic paycheck deductions for political purposes.
Charles Munger Junior has contributed the most to the Yes campaign, giving more than $22-million.
A Phoenix-based group called Americans for Responsible Leadership has given $11-million.
The biggest contributions from groups opposing Proposition 32 include $20-million from the California Teachers Association and $11-million from the Service Employees International Union.

subset: commoncrawl


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Chicken-Filled Enchiladas with Tangy Tomatillo Sauce
Rick Bayless
Authentic Mexican 20th Anniversary Ed: Regional Cooking from the Heart of Mexico
Published by William Morrow
Here is a recipe for the classic Mexican enchiladas, the ones that combine a flavor that is traditionally tart and piquant with the mealy meatiness of corn tortillas, the tenderness of chicken and a sharp, salty adornment of aged Mexican cheese. They're rolled up and sauced in cafeterías (especially the new, bright chain restaurants) everywhere—and with above-average fervor in the heartland sections of Central and West-Central Mexico. They're simple to make, easy to enjoy and attractively filling.
Serves4 to 6 servings
Cooking MethodBaking
Kid FriendlyYes
OccasionBuffet, Casual Dinner Party
Recipe CourseMain Course
Dietary ConsiderationEgg-free, Gluten-free, Peanut Free, Soy Free, Tree Nut Free
EquipmentBaking/gratin Dish
Taste and TextureCheesy, Creamy, Savory, Tangy, Tart
Type of DishCasserole
- About 2¾ cups (1 recipe) Quick-Cooked Tomatillo Sauce
- 1 large (1¼-pound), whole chicken breast, cooked, skinned, boned and shredded
- ¼ cup Thick Cream or commercial sour cream
- 1 tablespoon finely chopped onion
- Salt, about ¼ teaspoon
- 12 corn tortillas, preferably store-bought
- ¼ cup vegetable oil, plus a little more if needed
- 1/3 cup (about 1½ ounces) Mexican queso anejo (see Notes) or other cheese like feta or mild Parmesan cheese
- 2 slices onion, broken into rings, for garnish
- Several radish slices or roses, for garnish
The sauce and the filling: Heat the tomatillo sauce in a small, covered pan over low. Warm up the chicken in a separate pan over low heat (sprinkled with a little water so it won't dry out), then stir in the cream or sour cream, onion and salt; set aside off the fire, covered.
The tortillas: If the tortillas are moist, let them dry out for a few minutes in a single layer. Heat the oil in a small skillet over medium-high. When sizzlingly hot, quick-fry the tortillas to soften them, one at a time, for 2 to 3 seconds on each side. Drain on paper towels.
Assembling the enchiladas: About 20 minutes before serving, preheat the oven to 350°. Pour a cup of the warm sauce into a plate. Lay a tortilla in the sauce, flip it over, lay a scant 2 tablespoons of the filling across the center and roll it up (fingertips are most efficient here). Transfer to a baking dish, then continue filling and rolling the rest of the tortillas. Pour the remaining sauce over the enchiladas, being careful to cover the ends.
4. Baking: Immediately cover the dish with foil and bake just long enough to heat through, about 10 minutes. Sprinkle the enchiladas with the crumbled cheese, decorate with onion rings and radishes, and serve right away.
Traditional Variations
Enchiladas Suizas: Prepare the recipe as directed, adding 1 cup Thick Cream or whipping cream to the tomatillo sauce. Top the enchiladas with 6 ounces (1½ cups) grated melting cheese like mild cheddar or Monterey Jack (see Notes) and bake 10 minutes uncovered at 400°. Omit the other garnishes.
Seafood Enchiladas: In the northwest, they frequently replace the chicken with 1¼ cups flaked, poached, boneless fish (like sea bass, halibut, cod—even chopped shrimp or shredded crab). Complete the recipe as directed.
Traditional North American Variations
Cheese Enchiladas: Use 1 pound grated mild cheddar or Monterey Jack in place of the chicken filling (grated onion may be added, but no cream). Complete the recipe as directed, baking the enchiladas until the cheese melts. A little cheese may be sprinkled on the enchiladas before baking.
Notes :
Timing and Advance Preparation
With the tomatillo sauce and chicken on hand, the enchiladas can be ready in about ½ hour. Though not really sanctioned, these enchiladas can be partially made ahead: Quickfry the tortillas, but don't dip them in the sauce; fill and roll them, then cover and refrigerate; bring to room temperature, cover with foil and bake 10 minutes at 350°; cover with hot sauce and bake 5 minutes longer, then garnish and serve.
Fresh or Aged Crumbling Cheese (Queso Fresco/Queso Anejo): In Mexico, this white cheese is available in nearly all markets; it ranges in size from huge blocks to tiny cakes, and in texture from fine (almost smooth on the tongue) to coarse and spongy; all of it breaks apart or crumbles readily when pressed between the fingers (like the dry fresh farmer's cheese). Most of it softens when heated (often exuding whey), but it usually will not melt. Most is made from skimmed (usually unpasteurized) milk, is sold within a day or two of making (so it is often still draining whey), and has a high water content (so it may spoil if not stored properly). Some versions are specially made for aging (they seem to dehydrate more than ripen, perhaps because of the high salt content). Most Mexican fresh cheeses taste fresh and milky (rather than cheesy) and they have a good amount of acid and salt. An aged cheese retains some of that milkiness (though it's sharper) and it doesn't have the nutty, developed-cheese flavor of a Parmesan—a cheese you'd think it would resemble. Other names for queso fresco are simply queso, queso ranchero ("ranch Cheese"), and, occasionally, queso de metate (if its curds Have been smoothed on the metate); names for queso anejo include queso Cotija, queso oreado (literally "aired cheese"), and queso ("dry cheese"), plus the more distinct varieties like sierra and morral, which fill the same function.
In the United States, the queso fresco available from most of the cheese companies that specialize in Mexican cheese (Cacique and Supremo, among others) often tastes cheesy (like a Muenster) or bland; the only exception I can recommend is the 5-ounce round of "queso fresco/Mexican-style cheese" made by Supremo in Chicago. When that's not available, I usually use the creamier feta cheese to replace either queso fresco or queso añejo, though it is more strongly flavored. To tame its brininess, soak it in water for an hour or two; to give it a more authentic texture, let it dry out at room temperature, turning occasionally, for a day or two. Some other substitutes for queso fresco are: dry (pressed), fresh farmer's cheese, usually available in pear-shaped slabs (this doesn't have the acidity or saltiness of queso fresco; crumble and add salt); dry-curd cottage cheese (this has a high moisture content, so press it between paper towels, then crumble and add salt); a mild, domestic, fresh goat cheese, like the small rounds made in California, New York or New Jersey (these are tangier and creamier than queso fresco, but they have a similar fresh quality). In addition to feta, some other substitutes for queso añejo are: a mild Parmesan, Romano or-Sardo (they all lack that milkiness and are more cheesy-flavored, though they can be crumbled/grated appropriately) or the dry ricotta (not the soft variety packed in tubs) available in some specialty cheese stores (look for salted ricottal ricotta salata or aged ricotta).
Read NextPoached Chicken Thighs
1987, 2007 Rick Bayless and Deann Groen Bayless
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kara 2098528
Mar 04, 2016
Hi @mlenas1132: You don't add the cream to the sauce, but to the chicken in step one: "Warm up the chicken in a separate pan over low heat (sprinkled with a little water so it won't dry out), then stir in the cream or sour cream, onion and salt; set aside off the fire, covered." In step 3, you want both sides of the tortilla to have been exposed to the sauce when you place the filling in. All best! Kara Rota Editorial Director
mlenas1132 8735068
Mar 04, 2016
When making Enchilada Suizas: At what point do I add the cream to the sauce? Before dipping the tortilla's in the sauce or before adding the remaining sauce to the rolled tortilla's? Also, when I lay the tortilla's in the sauce and flip over, am I'm flipping the other side into the sauce or I'm just putting the filling onto the dipped side of the tortilla?
Atacat 9231994
Jul 08, 2013
I made the enchiladas suizas variation of this recipe, and it turned out fantastic. The verde sauce is easy to make from scratch and well worth the effort. I used poached chicken for the filling (cooked in a spiced beer broth), white corn tortillas, and queso quesadilla for topping. Will definitely be making these again.
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Running expert explains how to stay injury free
Dedicated runners have come to expect running-related injuries. In any given year, up to 70 percent of runners sustain an injury serious enough to stop them from running. According to running expert Sam Murphy, those problems are often caused by errors in training and technique and can be avoided. Simple mistakes, including wearing the wrong shoes, increasing mileage too quickly, or not varying sessions enough, are responsible for 60 percent of running injuries.
"By learning the difference between training and straining and honing your technique, you can minimize the risk of injury and the training setbacks it inevitably brings," Murphy says.
In Running Well, Murphy teams up with physiotherapist Sarah Connors to explain what she calls the seven deadly sins of running technique. To prevent injury, Murphy says runners should avoid these practices:
- Overstriding. Trying to make a stride too big puts the muscles in an inefficient lengthened position, causing the foot to land in front of the knee and creating a braking effect. "Overstriding usually happens when you are trying too hard to run faster," Murphy explains.
- Wasteful movement. Runners waste energy by incorporating too much up-and-down movement instead of focusing on forward motion. "A common cause of a bobbing action is lifting the knees too high up in front and pushing off the toes," Murphy says. A very short stride can also be to blame.
- Overpronation. Overpronation results from pushing off on a foot with a collapsed arch. This foot position puts extra stress on the muscles supporting the arch, which in turn pull on their attachments to the inside of the shin bone.
- Sitting in the bucket. Also referred to as sitting on the hips, this happens when the pelvis tilts forward and the hips push back. "This posture reduces the power of the hip extensors, stresses the lower back, and shortens your stride," Murphy says. "This posture is responsible for a lot of runners' back and hip problems."
- Excessive supination. Oversupination occurs when the foot doesn't roll in enough and remains on the outside edge. This action reduces the foot's ability to absorb the shock of impact and increases the risk of stress fractures, especially along the outside edge of the foot and shin.
- Poor hip drive. Relying too much on the quads and hip flexors rather than using the hamstrings and gluteals to extend the hips reduces the power and length of the stride. Strengthening glutes and hamstrings can improve running technique.
- Hip drop (Trendelenburg gait). A Trendelenburg gait occurs when the pelvis shifts too far from side to side. "As a result of weak adductors and abductors, the hip of the swing leg drops and the hip of the stance leg pops out to the side because the muscles aren't able to hold the pelvis level," Murphy explains.
The color-illustrated Running Well offers a comprehensive plan for maximizing training without injury and includes a guide to more than 30 specific running injuries. For more information, see Running Well.


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Indie workers: Is self-employment the new norm?
Facing a sluggish economy where jobs aren't as secure, A growing number of US workers are foregoing traditional employment to strike out on their own. Some left the workforce for more flexibility, while others were forced into self-employment by an uncertain job market.
Attorney Laurie Gray quit the prosecutor's office two years ago and joined the ranks of those leaving secure work behind. Now, the Fort Wayne, Ind., mother of one has more time for her family and professional activities, including writing, teaching, serving as a bilingual interpreter, and running SocraticParenting.com, which she founded to teach parents how to model behaviors their children should adopt.
More people are trying to create their own work," she says. "They want to follow their passion and work on their own schedule."
Even at a time when a sluggish economy is causing many Americans to look for more job security, a large number of workers are striking out on their own. By one estimate, there are 16 million "career independent workers."
Although experts disagree on the size of the cohort, their numbers do appear to be increasing. The move seems to be a confluence of three trends: workers, especially professionals, seeking more flexibility; technology that makes it easier for them to set up shop; and corporations looking to avoid hiring full-time employees at a time when business cycles are shorter than normal.
"Executives want to be able to ratchet [operations] up and down" in step with "real-time changes in the economy," says Carl Camden, president and chief executive officer of Kelly Services, a large temporary staffing company based in Troy, Mich.
That can require "adjustments to employment, as well as inventory and acquisition of raw materials," he says.
About 44 percent of workers in the United States are already "free agents" – people working on their own behalf, he estimates. By the end of this decade, he says they'll represent about 50 percent of the workforce. Mr. Camden predicts that newly minted independent workers will most likely be from areas like IT – information technology.
In turn, more people are seeking greater work-life flexibility. They also want more say in their work and a greater variety of assignments, and through technology and social media, they can access more opportunities.
"Technology has accelerated people's ability to work independently," says Gene Zaino, CEO of MBO Partners, a provider of back-office support to independent consultants.
Most of the existing 16 million independent workers are experts or knowledge workers, and include people who work through temporary staffing agencies or those who own a business with fewer than five employees, says MBO Partners, based in Herndon, Va. It projects that the ranks of such workers will hit some 20 million next year and 70 million by 2020 – or about half the private, nongovernment workforce.
Not everyone believes such forecasts.
"The trend seems likely to grow, but I don't believe the magnitude of it is anything close" to what some reports suggest, says Barry Hirsch, economics professor at Georgia State University in Atlanta. "Workers do want flexibility," but many "hate risk and instability" and want a stable income.
In turn, companies need employees who understand their business. While "employers can use temporary workers for generic tasks, such as developing a website," Professor Hirsch says, "they also need staffers with knowledge and skills applicable specifically to their firm. In this case, companies want long-term employees who will stay with them."
Another reason for staying with a company: health benefits. Many people "don't want to shoulder the burden of health care," says Dawn Rasmussen, owner of Pathfinder Writing & Career Services, a Portland, Ore., firm specializing in career management services. Thus, while many project and temporary workers are independent for now, they will prefer full-time jobs with benefits when hiring picks up. Many of today's temporary workers "are waiting to see when the hiring will occur," she adds.
For temps aiming to get a full-time job, Ms. Rasmussen offers several tips:
•Think and act like an employee. Ask to be part of the communications distribution list and share your knowledge and suggestions that could benefit the company. If possible, request additional tasks, which will underscore your interest in the organization.
•Provide timely, concise status reports on your work to managers and co-workers.
•Ask to be hired full time, and, once you grasp the company's needs and financial state, propose a full-time job if a suitable one isn't already available.
•Use your résumé skillfully. To avoid looking like a job hopper, list your self-employment as one header on the résumé with your various projects underneath it, rather than listing each assignment separately.


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The fine folks at jstationery.com sent along the Pilot Hi-Tec-C Maica for review (a fun surprise!). When I opened the package and took a look at the branding, I said (and I quote), "Oooooo, nice!" I have plenty of the basic Hi-Tec-Cs floating around, but not a single Maica. A a blue-black Maica, no less! How did they know that I'm on a blue-black kick lately?
Because I'm so familiar with the normal (basic) Hi-Tec-C (who isn't?!), I was interested in comparing the Maica to that base model, and here's what I found.
Top: Maica (blue-black); Bottom: Basic (black)
As you can see in the side-by-side comparison, the Maica pen body is longer, just a bit thicker, and I can tell you that it's slightly heavier. Though still plastic, the Maica feels more substantial. Whereas the basic model is clear plastic and faceted, the Maica is round and colored to match the ink. Having a colored pen body makes it easier to select the ink color you want, and who doesn't need a little color added to their day? (Should I say "color" again?) Because of the "upgraded" body, I like holding and using the Maica model over the basic model. One point for the Maica.
The hue of the transparent Maica cap also mirrors the ink color, and sports an embellished jewel-shaped "crown" on its end. The basic cap is no-nonsense, and makes the pen brand and tip size very clear as that information is printed on the cap's clip. The Maica cap doesn't have a clip, but instead, sports a little plastic loop that's for…ummm…what IS it for? A lanyard? Not sure. Truth be told, I'd prefer a clip over the molded loopy thing. One point for the basic.
Grips: Maica on the left, basic on the right
As far as the grips go, I'd call it a wash. Though they differ in design, neither is particularly grippy. I don't have a problem holding onto either model, though, and really don't have a preference either way. The writing tips (and refills) are identical. Both are needle-like and lay down the ultra-crisp line that is so well loved by Hi-Tec-C enthusiasts. So let's give each model a point here.
So what's the score? Ah yes, two points apiece.
Time for a tie-breaker, and that tie-breaker is PRICE! Surprisingly, the more substantial feeling, nicely colored and slightly embellished Maica costs a mere $2.25, whereas the basic Hi-Tec-C runs $0.55 MORE at $2.80. That may not sound like much, but if you buy all twelve Maica colors, that's a savings of $6.60 (math whiz!). I can't quite figure out why the upgraded model costs less than the stripped down version, but I'll take it.
So, folks, we have ourselves a winner.


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NEW YORK, N.Y. — On the surface, Burning Love is eerily identical to The Bachelor.
All of the hallmarks of the ABC reality series are here: the steady, melodramatic winnowing of suitors, the shallowness masquerading as romance, the cheesy uplighting on a remote mansion.
But while Burning Love, a new web series currently streaming on Yahoo, adheres to many traditions of The Bachelor, it greatly inflates others. The vacant bachelor is a firefighter who cheerfully introduces himself in front of a burning building. Instead of roses, he awards women hoses. One contestant is so outrageously trampy, she goes through the entire show without pants and her lower half graphically blurred.
"I'm looking for someone who can make me laugh but isn't afraid of robots," says the firefighter Mark Orlando (Ken Marino). "Maybe somebody ethnic."
Burning Love — created by Erica Oyama, directed by Marino and produced by Ben Stiller's production company, Red Hour — is one of the funnier Web series to come along. Its 14 episodes, nine minutes each (new episodes are released weekly on Mondays), bear obvious affection for The Bachelor while satirizing it mercilessly.
The female contestants include an elderly woman, a pregnant woman (who gives birth on the show) and a homeless woman. Jennifer Aniston (in a panda suit) and Kristen Bell make cameos, as does Adam Scott, playing a therapist. Stiller makes a guest appearance and Michael Ian Black plays the overly-dramatic host, who's full of insincere remarks, ("Good luck, brother").
"What's funny, we noticed during screenings of our show, people became invested in these characters as ridiculous as they are," Oyama says.
Burning Love was initially conceived by Oyama, who became infatuated with The Bachelor and its sister show, The Bachelorette, while caring for her then-infant son. She and Marino are married with two young children.
Marino, a co-founding member of the 1990s sketch group The State who's grown into co-writing comedies like Role Models and Wanderlust while steadily working as an actor (the cultishly adored Starz series Party Down), says there are two kinds of viewers of The Bachelor, those who watch ironically and those who get swept up into it.
"Actually, there are three types of people," Marino says. "I'm the third, which is a hybrid. I know how ridiculous it is, but I can't help but watch."
For Oyama, who's previously written episodes of the web series Wainy Days and Children's Hospital, Burning Love is her first project all her own. (She hopes to make a Bachelorette-style second season.)
For Marino, it's another example of his particular gifts as a comic actor. He plays Orlando (as he did his striving but luckless caterer Ron Donald on Party Down) totally straight, without a wink and with total commitment.
Marino seems to have great sympathy for his characters, even if they aren't the sharpest guys around. Stiller says he's got a knack for playing "incredibly stupid," a harder task than it appears. Black calls his Orlando "a perfect idiot" and Marino's performance "next-level funny."
In the last few years, many of the more notable comic web series have been products of The State alumni. David Wain created Wainy Days and helped develop Rob Corddry's Childrens Hospital, which co-starred Marino. Michael Showalter made The Showalter Showalter, and Black starred in Backwash. The various online projects may not pay their bills, but provide creative freedom to exercise their old sketch comedy muscles.
"This really ages us, but we were creating our own little YouTube shorts before there was YouTube," says Marino, recalling the videos they made for the short-lived MTV sketch show You Wrote It, You Watch It, that led to the troupe getting The State on the network.
Black says the spirit of these digital series (Burning Love was shot in just nine days) is "almost identical" to that of The State.
"There's such an anarchic spirit to these online series, largely as a function that there's no money in them yet," he says. "Once the money gets involved — which it will eventually — you'll start to see the clamps come down a little bit. Right now, people are throwing just enough money at it to allow people like me and Ken to go out and make something and have it look good and do it the way they want to do it."
Stiller, whose company has mainly produced films, got interested in digital work because so many of his friends and collaborators want to experiment with such series, bypassing the development process that comes with a TV network.
"For me, it's kind of an unknown world," he confesses. "I don't really quite understand it — what the platforms are and where the audiences are. But I do feel like if something is funny and feels original and it's something people can tap into, it's kind of a great format. There's a lot of funny stuff being made, but it's about the access to the audience."
Burning Love has found that thanks to Yahoo, which has linked to the show from its home page, exposing its considerable search audience to the kind of absurdity that rarely makes it onto television.
Says Stiller: "Don't tell them."


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My video A Broadcast Called Life was made for this book/DVD collection.  Compiled and edited by Suzie Silver, the Institute of Extraterrestrial Sexuality, and Encyclopedia Destructica, Strange Attractors includes the work of 70 artists, writers, and filmmakers. It is currently on tour at exhibitions, screenings, and small press expos across the United States.
Strange Attractors: Investigations in Non-Humanoid Extraterrestrial Sexualities
According to recent scientific reports, there may be between 8 billion and 13 billion life bearing planets in our galaxy alone. With numbers like that we will certainly encounter living beings from outer space someday. When we do, what will they look like? What special parts will they have, and how will they "do it?" Will we find what they do sexy, incomprehensible or just plain gross? You can find the answers to these questions and more in Strange Attractors: Investigations in Non-Humanoid Extraterrestrial Sexualities, an extraordinary 288 page, full color, book and 120 minute DVD encompassing art, writing and film.
Strange Attractors includes the work of 70 artists, writers and filmmakers who have created remarkable explorations of possible extraterrestrial life forms and their multifarious sexual desires. A joint publication of Encyclopedia Destructica and The Institute of Extraterrestrial Sexuality, Strange Attractors straddles the line between speculative scientific exploration and artistic imagination.
Contributors include: Amy Gerstler, David Horvitz, Shana Moulton, Anselm Berrigan, Peggy Ahwesh, Thomas Scioli, Suzanne Wright, Jacob Ciocci and many more. For example, Andrew Negrey's collages illustrate a variety of couplings including a "Green Diver" lusting after buoyant "Glo-balls" on unregistered planet 311OPEL, Adam Atkinson's prose explores "The Sexual Habits of Extra-Terrestrials as Observed by Jules Verne;" and in Shana Moulton's humorous video, "Green Portal 43," extraterrestrials create an erotic film based on observed human behaviors that arouse them during a visit to Earth. Click here for a full list of contributors.
While science fiction literature and film have often touched on extraterrestrial sexuality, these encounters are frequently represented as between a human and a humanoid extraterrestrial. Gender is often portrayed as binary even when it is homosexual. Sexual encounters consist primarily of engagements between two beings. Inspired by Kepler, NASA's first mission capable of finding Earth-size planets around other stars, Suzie Silver of The Institute of Extraterrestrial Sexuality says, "this project has gone beyond male and female, beyond queer, beyond any notion of gender, beyond the anthropomorphic to erotic possibilities as vastly varied as the Milky Way itself."


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S. Korea Prime Minister Offers Resignation Over Ferry Sinking
South Korea's prime minister says he will resign over the ferry disaster that left more than 300 people dead or missing — and left the victims' families in anguish for days, as fruitless rescue attempts were made.
Chung Hong-won also apologized to a country increasingly angry over the handling of the sinking and for lax regulatory enforcement that authorities say contributed to the accident.
The New York Times reported:
"A somber-looking Mr. Chung accepted the criticism on Sunday when he offered 'an apology to the people' during a nationally televised news conference. 'When I saw the people's sadness and fury, I thought it was natural for me to step down with an apology,' he said."
"During the search process, the government took inadequate measures and disappointed the public," Chung said, according to CNN. "I should take responsibility for everything as the prime minister, but the government can assume no more. So I will resign as prime minister."
Power in the South Korean political system is held mainly by the president, Park Geun-hye, so this resignation is more symbolic, the Associated Press reported. The AP reports a presidential spokesperson has said Park will accept the resignation.
"Chung was heckled by relatives and his car was blocked when he visited a shelter on an island near the site of the sinking a week ago," the AP said.
The ferry Sewol sank off the southwest coast of the Korean peninsula on April 16. Most of the 476 people on board were high school students on their way to a resort island. The cause of the disaster is still under investigation.
Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.


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The webcast for Dr. Alley's presentation is now up, so I recommend watching the video. It is concerning the role of CO2 on climate over geologic time.
As my own side note, Alley is one of my favorite scientists…he's pretty much "the guy" when it comes to ice core work and has done a lot with paleoclimate (over the ice core record especially), abrupt climate change, glaciology, and sea level rise. He's a very interesting character who always puts things in a nice perspective, and often humorous ways of teaching (e.g., his Johnny Cash geology lesson).


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GoSkydive is the UK's only specialist first-time tandem skydive centre. Located in Salisbury on the central south coast just 2 hours from Brighton, GoSkydive is your closest tandem skydiving centre. If you are travelling to us from Brighton by car our centre is easily accessible by the M27.
If you're travelling from Brighton and are not up to an early start and would like a later check-in time do let the team know and they'll do all they can to accommodate you.
So if you have never done a parachute jump before and are looking to tandem skydive near Brighton, GoSkydive is the closest specialist centre.
With over 700 positive Trip Advisor reviews and over 30k Facebook followers we are the UK's Best Rated Tandem Skydive Centre.
Incredible experience
Reveiwed 21 March 2023
I done a 10,000ft skydive for my 30th and it was awesome! My instructor Steve was amazing and made me feel so at ease. Roman the camera guy was great as well. I honestly had the best time and haven't...
Read full review
Rating: 5.0 | 1213 Reviews
Making your day run smoothly
At GoSkydive, customers from Brighton and across the UK are taken through a customer journey that cannot be matched by any other skydiving centre in the UK.
We are the only centre that specializes in parachute jumps for first time skydivers. But what does that mean? It means that we only do tandem skydives – you won't be competing for time and space with sports jumpers – the whole day is built around you and other first-time skydivers.
We'll consider your travel time and try and get you booked in later in the day, we'll keep you updated with weather reports to, where possible, avoid unnecessary delays. There will be a briefing within 30 minutes of your arrival, you'll receive full training in a simulated environment and there will be a whole team of people on hand to support you at all times.
Training and Safety
GoSkydive is the only dropzone in the UK to offer all customers specialist training on the body positions for tandem skydiving in a simulated tandem skydive training environment. Our centre is fully approved by the British Parachute Association.
The view to Brighton
The view from the skydive in Salisbury to Brighton is visible on clear days. If you can follow the coastline east, you'll just about be able to see Brighton – though you may not be able to make out the piers! The green South Downs sit in the foreground of the view towards the city.
Why choose a tandem skydive with GoSkydive?
A tandem sky diving experience is the safest and least stressful form of Skydiving for the first timer. You are secured to a highly qualified tandem instructor who will control the freefall, deploy the parachute and bring you into land.
There are very few limitations to participation in a tandem skydive.
If you're thinking of a way to raise money for a good cause, tandem skydiving for charity is a great way to do it.
Not only do people admire your courage in jumping out of a plane from 10 or 15,000ft and give generously to your cause – but you get to have the most amazing life enhancing experience. GoSkydive works with hundreds of charities across the UK doing thousands of Charity Skydives each year and here is just one of them – Take a look at Zoe Ball's jump for MNDA here.
If you do decide to do a tandem skydive for charity – you'll be taking part in a life changing activity guaranteed to draw people to sponsorship for charity. GoSkydive works with more affiliated charities in the UK than any other skydiving company and in 2015 helped to raise a staggering half a million pounds for good causes.
Call Gaby in the charity team 01722 568755 or email firstname.lastname@example.com for more info on a charity affiliations.
Find out more about skydiving for charity.
Among the charities that we work with in Brighton are:
Travel times to Go Skydive
Book Your Skydive Online Today
Booking is simple, just select your date and pay the £50 booking fee today.


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The holidays are "the most wonderful time of the year" for a lot of people, but what about the post-holiday season when all the hype has died down? While many settle back into normal routines, there are a few people that find this time of year to be even more difficult.
After weeks of being in the spotlight, they're suddenly erased from the minds of the public for another 11 long months. Needless to say, a round of therapy is in order.
Patient Name: Little Drummer Boy
Session Notes: Possible abandonment issues coupled with concern over money has manifested itself into OCD, as LDB sat on the couch "pa rum pum pum pum-ing" on the table with a pencil throughout the entire session.
Talked of his willingness to follow three "wise" men without parental guidance. Expressed concern over lack of money and having no gifts to bring and asked to put his name on the card of the wise man who brought gold because he "had no idea what Frankincense or Myrrh are."
Interested in starting a boy band like One Direction and naming it North Star. We're working through this one.
Patient Name: Rudolph
Session Notes: Self-esteem issues evident by eagerness to guide the sleigh of seasonal employer (who was initially freaked out by his "abnormal" nose) after being told he would never join the flying reindeer team (a team that teased him mercilessly and refused to let him join in any reindeer games.)
This, combined with the fact his own father forced him to cover his nose in black dirt, has also led to a slight alcohol dependence evidenced by a bright red nose in clear weather and a strong smell of Jack Daniels.
Suggested finding a new crowd to hang out with — Blitzen and Vixen are no help—and perhaps seeking employment with Hermey to open a thriving dental practice on the Island of Misfit Toys.
Patient Name: Frosty the Snowman
Session Notes: A bit bipolar, no pun intended. Wavers between overconfidence—"I'll be back again some day!" with a tendency to hit on married women, "I can do the job while I'm in town!"— and anxiety over the threat of global warming, not to mention the fact that he basically lets children dress him in produce and trash.
Feels people forget about him once it gets warm, which is a valid concern, and tends to overcompensate with streaks of merry mania. Suggested moving to a permanently colder climate and finding a job as an ice cream truck driver. Given his appeal to children, it seems like a natural fit.
Patient Name: Grinch
Session Notes: Physician-ordered session after patient's heart "grew three sizes" and raised cardiac concerns. Also had a brief charge of theft by police. Seems anxiety has been plaguing patient since whole town has taken to ostracizing him for bad behavior.
Cited a song created about him in which various parts are likened to "a greasy black peel, a three decker sauerkraut and toadstool sandwich," that his heart's "a dead tomato splotched" and that he has "garlic in his soul."
To be honest, I tuned him out after "garlic in your soul," as that sounds delicious. And living on top of a mountain away from the town with only his dog? Seems like a good plan to me. I don't really see much of an issue.
And now I'm hungry.
I think that my work here is done.
Like the blog? Buy the books and cool things!


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Hey dude! I missed your message and just saw it now! I'm good; been busy with school. I've actually been living in Portland, OR for the last ~3 years. How have you been, man?
Happy Birthday!
Thanks for the rep!
Happy birthday!
Happy Birthday, dude.
Yep. And as usual, put one hell of a performance last night at Extreme Rules.
Hope and Change.
Hai. You're about to ban me. BAIIII
Thank you for the rep.
Thanks for the rep. I still have that background, btw.
Loves Lori Bazzil!
Sega's Schnitzel
Proud 16-bit War Veteran
YM3438 Master!
Angry Liberal Arts Major
Level 6 Rocket Knight


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text: 6ix9ine Tekashi69 sex tape and nudes photos leaks online. In a 2015 case in New York, Tekashi69 was sentenced to probation for his involvement in a sexually explicit video of a 13-year-old girl, Now Tekashi 6ix9ine Faces Potential Life Sentence, Denied Bail For Armed Robbery, Racketeering, Drug Trafficking. WATCH ALL HER >>> NUDES HERE!


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Hey welcome to india...
Going to India for a month on 21st Jan.
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Tamaam shehar ke raste saja diye jayen
ham aa rahe hain kante bichha diye jayen
Hey welcome to india...
That's nice brijinder, have a safe journey =)
I am US citizen, not Indian origin. I married an Indian man a few years ago and we have a 1 year old daughter. However, last year my husband unexpectedly died. His parents live in India and are still very depressed after their son's death. Now they want me and my daughter to travel to India this summer to stay a few months with them.


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Yacht & Smith Women's Solid Colored Fuzzy Socks Assorted Colors, Size 9-11 at low wholesale prices. Socksinbulk.com offers Womens Fuzzy Socks at bulk discounted prices.
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NATAL, Brazil >> The skies might clear by Monday night, when the United States plays Ghana in the World Cup opener.
No matter the weather, the formula for advancing to the second round is evident: get at least a point from the first game.
"It's pretty much like a knockout game," U.S. coach Jurgen Klinsmann told fans at a send-off pep rally last month in New York's Times Square.
The Americans have never advanced from the group stage after failing to get at least a point in their opener. They reached the knockout phase after winning their first games in 1930 and 2002, and following draws in 1994 and 2010.
"Statistically, the chances of advancing go way up now if you're able to get a point or three from the first game," midfielder Michael Bradley said, "and so we've certainly made no secret of the fact that all the focus at this point is about Ghana, and making sure that we do everything we can, so that on June 16, we step on the field and are ready to leave it all out there, knowing that a good result puts us in a really good spot."
Twenty-four years ago, when the Americans returned to the World Cup after a 40-year absence, midfielder Tab Ramos put charts up at the U.S. team's training camp in Italy trying to figure outs the odds of advancing. Ramos is now an assistant coach, and in the computer age tons of data are readily available.
Since the World Cup went to a 32-team format in 1998, 85 percent of teams that won their openers advanced to the group stage, according to STATS. That dropped to 58 percent for teams that drew their first games and to 9 percent for those that started with losses.
And the quality of opponent figures to get only more difficult for the U.S. After playing the 37th-ranked Black Stars, the Americans face No. 4 Portugal and close the first round against second-ranked Germany.
"If we can get the win, then we can refocus and go for Portugal," U.S. goalkeeper Tim Howard said. "There's no sense in looking beyond the first game. It's important, I think, that we can get three points in the bag."
Ghana knocked the Americans out of the last two World Cups with 2-1 victories, beating the Americans in group play in the 2006 tournament and in extra time during the round of 16 four years ago. The Black Stars failed in their bid to become the first African semifinalist, losing to Uruguay in a shootout after Luis Suarez used his hands to block what would have been a go-ahead goal in extra time, and Asamoah Gyan sent his penalty kick clanking off the crossbar.
Only four Americans who appeared in the 2010 match are likely to start: Howard, Bradley and forwards Clint Dempsey and Jozy Altidore. Based on their starting lineup in Monday's 4-0 exhibition win over South Korea, Ghana could return defender Jonathan Mensah, midfielders Kwadwo Asamoah and Andre Ayew, and forwards Kevin-Prince Boateng and Gyan.
"It's a team full of individual talent with players, certain players that can hurt you in a split second if you're not alert, if you're not awake," Klinsmann said.
After training for four days in the temperate late-autumn weather of Sao Paulo, the Americans traveled northeast Friday to Natal, a tropical beach city just 400 miles from the equator. They were to work out Saturday at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte, then again today at the Arena das Dunas, a Populas-designed stadium whose outside structure with 20 curving segments emulates the local sand dunes.
Mexico's 1-0 win over Cameroon in Natal on Friday was played in a downpour, and it rained again Saturday. The forecast called for more heavy rain today and clearing Monday with the possibility of occasional showers.
"For us everything is ideal," Klinsmann said. "Whatever the temperature is, whatever the conditions are — rain, no rain, hot, humid, whatever — we are prepared."


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Introduction | Planning Guide | Party Pack | Sponsors | Official Rules
Thanks to the generosity of our sponsors, we're giving away FREE stuff!
Tell us about your Reportero Premiere Party by January 21st at 5 p.m. ET for a chance to win a Party Pack filled with special film memorabilia and everything you need to host your next Premiere Party!
Party Packs Include...
Autographed Reportero DVD (signed by director Bernardo Ruiz)
For Doc Lovers: DVDs, Books, and More!
Arts Engine: Belief Matters OR Media that Matters 11 DVD
Belief Matters DVD
Compassion and understanding are tenets of all faiths. In today's world, there is a universal call for tolerance, justice and charity. In other words ... Belief Matters. Part of the Media that Matters™ collection, these documentary shorts showcase issues surrounding interfaith respect, human rights, and the environment. The subjects of these short films express belief in the future, belief in others and belief in themselves. It is the hope of Hartley Film Foundation and Arts Engine that by viewing these films you are inspired to believe in the possibilities of change.
Media that Matters 11 : Now you can own and share thirteen innovative shorts from independent and youth filmmakers across the globe. Find inspiration, motivate your students, galvanize your community--there are hundreds of ways to SCREEN, ACT & IMPACT all year long!
Center for Social Media Documentary Film: A Very Short Introduction, by Patricia Aufderheide
Beginning with an overview of the central issues of documentary filmmaking--its definitions and purposes, its forms and founders--Aufderheide focuses on several of its key subgenres, including public affairs films, government propaganda (particularly the works produced during World War II), historical documentaries, and nature films. Her thematic approach allows readers to enter the subject matter through the kinds of films that first attracted them to documentaries, and it permits her to make connections between eras, as well as revealing the ongoing nature of documentary's core controversies involving objectivity, advocacy, and bias.
Interwoven throughout are discussions of the ethical and practical considerations that arise with every aspect of documentary production. A particularly useful feature of the book is an appended list of "100 great documentaries" that anyone with a serious interest in the genre should see.
Drawing on the author's four decades of experience as a film scholar and critic, this book is the perfect introduction not just for teachers and students but also for all thoughtful filmgoers and for those who aspire to make documentaries themselves.
The Kartemquin Films Collection: The Early Years - Vol. 1, 2, or 3 DVD
For over 40 years, Kartemquin Films has produced documentaries that examine and critique society through the stories of real people. Now, for the first time in history, you can own this three-part series and experience six of the classic films that marked the early years of Kartemquin Films!
StoryCorps: Animated Shorts DVD
StoryCorps' original animated shorts series features some of our best-loved radio stories. Now they are available on DVD! The series includes conversations between a boy with Asperger's syndrome and his mom; a feisty grandmother regaling her family with tales from her youth; two Brooklyn characters remembering how they fell in love and learned how to let go, and so much more. Plus bonus material from the animators!
POV Bulletin Bag PET Folding Sling Tote Bag
Made from recycled post-consumer PET, this customized POV folding, sling-style tote bag features a sewn-in attached pouch with rope closure for easy storage.
Food and Drink
Brooklyn Roasting Company's Bespoke Blend Coffee (6oz)
Bespoke blend was originally created in homage to cycling and named Bespoke for artisanal craftmanship, which is fitting for the nature of POV's films. The coffee is a blend of a bright, lemony Guatemalan from Finca Ceylan and a classic Colombian with buttery notes from the Santa Barbara Estate.
Divine Chocolate's 70% Dark Chocolate, Raspberry &/or Mint Medallions
Divine Chocolate's Raspberry Medallions feature Divine's acclaimed 70% dark chocolate with the fruity tartness of real raspberries.
Divine Chocolate's Mint Medallions feature Divine's rich dark chocolate with crispy mint pieces and natural peppermint oil.
Each medallion is imprinted with one of Divine's signature Adinkra symbols.
Newman's Own Organics' Organic Light Butter Flavor Pop's Corn Microwave Popcorn
Each box contains three packets and is easily identifiable with the eye-catching design used on all the company's products, an American Gothic "Pa" Newman and daughter Nell with accompanying tongue-in-cheek legend. Pop's Corn features organic corn and organic palm oil. Consumers concerned about fat consumption will appreciate that no partially hydrogenated oils or trans fatty acids are used.
Numi Organic Tea: Numi's Collection offers an assortment of select Organic and Fair Trade Numi teas and herbal teasans from around the world. It includes Green, Black, Pu-erh, While and Herbal Teasans that have soothed, roused, healed and been shared for centuries and can be purchased in retail outlets across the U.S. or online at www.NumiTea.com.
Grand Prize!
All entries will be eligible for the Grand Prize, which will include all of the gifts plus a Sony SLT-A77VQ camera and lens (Retail value: $1,999). The Grand Prize winner will be announced on January 29, 2013, on pov.org.


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It is great to see the industry growing and more people becoming aware of the importance of organics. The Organic Trade Association (OTA), which is the membership-based business association for the organic industry in North America. The OTA represents over 6,500 organic businesses across 49 states and has become the leading voice for organic trade in the United States. For more news, articles and insight into the organics industry, visit the Organic Trade Association website HERE.
"U.S. families are increasingly embracing organic products in a wide range of categories, with 81 percent now reporting they purchase organic at least sometimes. This finding is one of many contained in the Organic Trade Association's (OTA's) newly released 2013 U.S. Families' Organic Attitudes and Beliefs Study, conducted Jan. 18-24, 2013."More and more parents choose organic foods primarily because of their desire to provide healthful options for their children," said Christine Bushway, OTA's CEO and Executive Director. Not only are more consumers choosing organic products at least sometimes, but the majority of those buying organic foods are purchasing more items than a year earlier. New entrants to buying organic now represent 41 percent of all families – demonstrating interest in the benefits of organic food and farming is on the rise. Produce continues to be the leading category of organic purchases, with 97 percent of organic buyers saying they had purchased organic fruits or vegetables in the past six months. Breads and grains, dairy and packaged foods were also frequently cited (all scoring above 85 percent) among those who purchase organic. Families choosing organic foods are increasingly important to retailers of all types, with organic buyers reporting spending more per shopping trip, and shopping more frequently than those who never purchase organic food. Consistent with findings from previous studies, nearly half (48 percent) of those who purchase organic foods said they do so because they are "healthier for me and my children." Additionally, parents' desire to avoid toxic and persistent pesticides and fertilizers (30 percent), antibiotics and growth hormones (29 percent), and genetically modified organisms (22 percent) ranked high among the reasons cited for buying organic products. Awareness of the USDA Organic seal has also grown, with more consumers more likely to look for the seal when shopping for organic products. Moreover, over four in ten parents (42 percent) say their trust in organic products has increased, versus 32 percent who indicated this point of view a year ago. In fact, younger, new-to-organic parents are significantly more likely to report improved levels of trust in organic products."
OTA Reports 8 in 10 U.S. Parents Purchase Organic Products
Check out this article from the Organic Trade Association:


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An editorial from the Guardian:
After many more deaths we are likely to see the partition of Libya – why has there been such a consensus for this military action?
The House of Commons is debating the government stance on UN resolution 1973, having been invited to give its approval or withhold it. It's a bit late, as the prime minister made a statement to the Commons on Friday and within 24 hours the bombing had started. We are presented with a fait accompli.
The debate, however, takes place against a background of growing concerns about the nature of the military operation, the intensity of the air strikes, the implications for the whole region, and the real motive behind the Arab League in calling for this in the first place. India is the first country to publicly call for a cessation of air strikes. Others are likely to follow.
UN security council resolution 1973 was heavily trailed as a no-fly-zone resolution. Like most UN resolutions it is very long. It specifically welcomed the appointment of the UN special envoy Abdel-Elah Mohamed Al-Khatib and in its proposals under chapter 7 of the UN charter (mandatory for all member states) demanded a ceasefire, stressed the need to find a solution to the conflict through the UN special envoy, and demanded that the Libyan authorities fulfil their international obligations under humanitarian law.
It's not until one reaches point 6 of the resolution that the no-fly zone is mentioned, and even then it requests the secretary general to inform the security council of any actions taken in support of the no-fly zone. The rest of the resolution talks of the arms embargo, the asset freeze and the appointment of a panel of experts to consider the operation of this resolution and the implications for international law. The attacks on Libya take place with no assurance that depleted uranium weapons will be banned from the operation and come only a few weeks after Britain stopped trading with Libya and training Libyan security officials.
I welcome the popular demands all across the region, including Libya, for accountable government and an economic strategy that provides full employment for the burgeoning young populations. But abuses of human rights by Gaddafi's government didn't start three weeks ago, as any one of the Libyan opposition will attest, and a blind eye was turned to this when Libya said it was no longer developing weapons of mass destruction and British oil companies were encouraged by Tony Blair to strike long-term agreements.
The most likely outcome of this ghastly period is many more deaths, the long-term effects of depleted uranium (if it is being used), and the partition of Libya. With this strategy it is quite conceivable that the east of Libya will be partitioned into a client state centred upon Benghazi, and the west will be a pariah state led by Gaddafi.
One can't help but be struck by the rush to military involvement by politicians of all countries and all persuasions. The contrast with the western treatment of the rest of the region could not be more stark. The Palestinian people have lived with occupation for 60 years, well over 1,000 died in Gaza during Operation Cast Lead, settlements abound and Israel possesses nuclear weapons. I can't remember anyone calling for a no-fly zone in Gaza in winter 2008-09 when phosphorous bombs were used against a largely unarmed and defenceless civilian population.
Saudi Arabia is the world's biggest oil exporter, and the biggest importer of arms from Britain and other countries. The importance of Saudi Arabia to western economic interests cannot be overstated, otherwise why would Blair take such an extraordinary decision as to suspend the Serious Fraud Office investigation into the BAE contracts with Saudi Arabia? Britain is up to its neck in supporting the Saudi monarchy with all the denial of human rights and aggression that the regime has shown toward its opponents. Saudi armed forces have crossed into Yemen in recent times, and last week entered Bahrain to support the king in his suppression of democratic protest.
News today of huge demonstrations and growing isolation of the Yemeni president, Ali Abdullah Saleh, looks like almost a replay of what happened in Tunisia. I asked a young activist in Tunis just a few weeks ago if their revolution was asking for western help, his reply was: "No, we will do it ourselves; the problem with the west is, it never knows when to leave."
Categories: Anti-War, Britain, France, Government, Imperialism, Imperialist War, International, Libya, U.S. News, United Kingdom


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John Maeda Moves On
Almost six years after accepting the position of president at RISD, John Maeda announced earlier this month that he is leaving to pursue his ongoing passion for design and technology in Silicon Valley. In January he will become a design partner at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, a venture capital firm in Menlo Park, CA specializing in digital, green tech and life sciences startups. In addition, he will serve as chair of eBay Inc.'s Design Advisory Board.
In his new role at KPCB, Maeda will work with entrepreneurs and portfolio companies to "help them build design DNA into their company cultures," according to the firm. He will lead KPCB's Design Council, a group of preeminent designers across the industry, and will support the KPCB Design Fellows program, an internship that helps students like Amrit Mazumder 15 GD better understand the importance of design to the success of tech startups.
"I firmly believe that art and design will transform our economy in the 21st century the way that science and technology did in the last century," Maeda says. "Joining KPCB was an irresistible opportunity to work alongside talented investment professionals and entrepreneurs to elevate design to the forefront of leadership and innovation."
In making the announcement, KPCB Partner John Doerr noted, "John is a genius – a pioneer at the intersection of design, computing, art and education. [He] is again breaking new ground as KPCB's first design partner. We're excited by the expertise and insights he will offer entrepreneurs and ventures."
As Maeda prepares to leave, RISD Board of Trustees Chair Michael Spalter is pleased that "he will continue to be an advocate for creativity and a leader at the intersection of design, technology and business." The Board chair has also expressed his appreciation for the president's good work during his tenure here, noting, "President Maeda has been a visionary and passionate leader for RISD over the past six years, advancing not only our cherished, 136-year-old institution but also the role of art and design in the 21st century global economy."
At the same time, the Board is confident in its appointment of Provost Rosanne Somerson – whom Spalter describes as "an inspiring, passionate and dedicated leader for RISD" – as interim president, effective January 1, 2014, when a search for the 17th president will begin.
Significant accomplishments
In his pivotal role at RISD, Maeda has strengthened RISD's operational foundations and elevated its reputation worldwide. As longtime Professor Mike Fink noted in his comments at RISD's annual holiday celebration yesterday, one of several occasions at which the president has bid farewell to the campus community, despite a tenure that began with a global financial crisis, Maeda may ultimately be remembered for his many accomplishments – and for his "caring and compassion," as Fink noted.
Under Maeda's leadership, RISD was ranked #1 in Business Insider's 2012 survey of The World's 25 Best Design Schools. Applications increased by 9.4% in 2012 and are up another 3.5% in 2013. From the get-go, the president has consistently placed a high priority on fundraising for scholarships and, beginning with his family's own six-figure scholarship gift, more than doubled the amount raised for scholarships compared to the previous five-year period. As a result, RISD has enrolled the most diverse undergraduate classes in its history, thanks in part to increases in financial aid (this year nearly three-quarters of accepted freshmen with a proven need were offered financial aid compared with just one-third two years ago).
Fundraising in support of academic initiatives also increased significantly under Maeda's leadership, with RISD receiving the largest gift ever from an international donor and funding for the first endowed faculty chair. In addition, long-deferred renovations to the historic Illustration Studies Building, which houses RISD's largest and most interdisciplinary department, are now underway thanks to the generosity of lead donors.
Maeda is also credited with helping to spur a national movement to turn STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) into STEAM, urging legislators to integrate the arts into a national education agenda focused on STEM. These advocacy efforts, along with funding from new partners like the National Science Foundation, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (which funded the Make It Better initiative) and Maharam, helped RISD advance longtime connections between art, science and innovation.
Maeda also championed the growing connection between art, design and entrepreneurship, coining the word "artrepreneurship" to get at the type of businesses artists and designers tend to found. RISD was among the first schools to partner with organizations like Upstart, Etsy, Quirky, Behance and Square, and now offers increased Career Center programming to support entrepreneurship, including the annual Mindshare event.
Transformative leadership
"Maeda was transformative in allowing the Providence business community to look at the city and our assets through a different lens, and see the great potential that is here at the nexus of advanced manufacturing, design and creativity," notes Laurie White, president of the Greater Providence Chamber of Commerce.
The outgoing president has long bridged the worlds of technology, design and business, serving as a professor and associate director of research at the MIT Media Lab before coming to RISD. He also serves on the boards of wireless HiFi company Sonos, global advertising firm Wieden+Kennedy and the World Economic Forum's Global Agenda Council on New Models of Leadership.
In the video farewell message he made for the campus community, Maeda noted that he's "so proud to have been part of this community – to have led it, to have built an amazing academic and operational team, and to have represented it in the world. I know that I leave RISD as the best art and design school in the world and with the opportunity that it will be even better in the years to come."
In other leadership transition news, incoming Interim President Somerson has appointed Dean of Architecture + Design Pradeep Sharma to step up to the role of interim provost, noting that after welcoming recommendations from dozens of faculty, Sharma emerged "as a clear frontrunner." As one faculty member put it and Somerson agrees, he offers "the right balance of intelligence, sensitivity, integrity, creativity and criticality to continue the good work that we have started."