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South African Journal of Education
versión On-line ISSN 2076-3433
versión impresa ISSN 0256-0100
S. Afr. j. educ. vol.32 no.4 Pretoria ene. 2012
"We grew as we grew": visual methods, social change and collective learning over time
Shannon Walsh
Post-Doctoral Fellow, South African Research Chair in Social Change, University of Johannesburg firstname.lastname@example.com
Educational research using visual methods has the power to transform the society in which we live and the communities in which we work. We must not naively imagine that having the desire to make change in people's lives will mean that it will happen, as sometimes there may be surprising, unintended negative repercussions as well. Other constraints, such as structural violence and institutional racism, can also intersect with the possibility of making tangible change through educational research using visual methods. Qualitative assessment with a longitudinal approach is one approach that can reveal both the impact, and the limitations, of educational research on social change. I discuss these issues through grounded examples from an HIV educational project that used visual methodologies with a group of youths in Cape Town, South Africa over a number of years. Almost ten years later we interviewed three of theformer participants about what impact the work has had on their lives. Each has travelled a differentjourney and been faced with different constraints that have implications for the effectiveness of such work. Where are they now, and as adults, what do they have to say about the visual methodologies, memory, and social change?
Keywords: AIDS, Atlantis, HIV prevention, Khayelitsha, longitudinal research, memory, participation, Rondebosch, social change, South Africa, visual methods
As Bren Neale writes, "time is a complex and endlessly fascinating phenomenon, not simply the medium through which we do research, but an important topic of enquiry in its own right" (Neale, 3:2010). Indeed, we often do not have a chance to gain insight over time on the educational research we have undertaken. Time is a significant marker of change, and looking at the elements of what remains allows research to take on an entirely new form. Longitudinal assessment itself can pose problems, as questions of memory, perception, and the continual rewriting of our own biographies come into play. Of course, it is impossible to precisely isolate the impacts of a particular educational project from the multitude of factors that shape any one person's life. These are significant obstacles in assessing effects through the lifespan of participants. Yet, questions remain: In what ways do experiences with educational, visual research for social change remain with participants over the course of their lives? What can we learn from taking a longitudinal approach to educational research? These questions form the basis for a preliminary investigation into the longitudinal impact of educational research using visual methodologies conducted with a group of young people from Cape Town, South Africa.
Whilst a small project like the one I outline below cannot make any definitive claims, I hope these reflections provide some insight into the impact over time of visual and educational research that takes a participant-led approach. Longitudinal viewpoints that focus on life stories also highlight the political nature of educational research and how race, gender, class and other structural factors are critical considerations (Shirani & Weller, 2010; Neale, 2010). The balance must be maintained between an understanding that individual change is not alone sufficient, while at the same time valuing the wider transformative potential of educational work in people's lives and communities.
Background of the Soft Cover Project
The background of this project begins 10 years ago. In 2002 Professor Claudia Mitchell and I ran a series of visual, educational and creative workshops with a small group of young South Africans aimed at understanding their perceptions about HIV and AIDS, beginning with a youth-centred conference at the Centre for the Book in Cape Town.1 The project was called "Soft Cover" and brought together young people with known visual artists, people living with AIDS, health practitioners, educators, graffiti artists and writers, in an attempt to enliven HIV prevention efforts and to break the stigma of AIDS. It was the beginning of work with a group of around 50 racially diverse young people from Atlantis, Khayelitsha, Retreat and Rondebosch, and it included creative writing workshops, participatory film-making projects, poetry, painting, interviews, ethnographic and qualitative visual research which continued over the next decade.2 The project was most active between 2002-2005, and at the core were 15-20 young people who participated actively in all the various projects throughout the first three years. The group would meet on a weekly basis at first, and later on, particular projects initiated by the young people would run for a number of weeks once a year.3 Of the core group, around eight participants continued to keep in touch with each other on a semi-regular basis on their own initiative. Over this period my research methods incorporated formal and informal interviews, ethnographic observation, and visual methods such as drawing, painting, creative writing and filmmaking. For this article I draw on data that were collected in one-on-one interviews I conducted with three of the original participants in 2011, as well as text from writing workshops done in 2003 and video-taped interviews from 2004.
The initial hunger with which young people wanted to tell their stories, to speak from their experiences, perceptions, curiosities, and fears about AIDS were intense. Their desire to speak to each other over race, gender and class lines was inspiring, as it was to watch how much they learned from each other. In those initial sessions, workshops and interviews, they explored questions of sexuality, gender, politics, community, friendship, race, privilege and poverty as related to their perceptions about HIV and AIDS. The narratives they wrote in writing workshops attested to an unshakable hope - even in the face of grim realities and growing HIV infection rates and deaths. As Thozamile Vanto wrote in the published text "In My Life", which was created as part of writing workshops we conducted in 2003:
I grew up in the township called Gugulethu in the 1980s. That time was during the Apartheid era, and there was a lot of criminal activity in my life ... I didn't stop my criminal activities when we moved away from Gugs and went to Khayelitsha. I continued to have street fights, and sometimes we stole goods.
Then something happened to change my life completely. My best friend told me she was HIV-positive .
It was a time of change, and something changed about me. She made me understand life and about HIV and AIDS, and other issues ... I quit lots of things, and I took a big step in my life and quit being in a gang.
Since that day I never looked back again. I'm still supporting her all the way through giving her love, care, understanding, openness, acceptance (Schuster, 2003:63).
Our goals, back in 2002, were quite modest, but as the relationships, commitment and excitement around the project grew we found ourselves watching a process unfold over a much longer period of time. The idea of tracing the lives of the participants was one that emerged organically. The Soft Cover Project, at first meant as a one-off series of workshops, quickly took on a life of its own as the experience of learning together continued to be exciting for everyone involved, and became increasingly more collaborative and participant led. As time passed, promising parts of our earlier assessments had to be rethought and placed in context as the economic, political and social environments in which the young people lived took their toll. Not only had the white and more privileged learners stopped attending because of their own busy lives and other commitments, but violence and illness in the home lives of a few of the participants in Khayelitsha forced them to drop out as well.
As some of these changes were happening, the Soft Cover Project became more and more a political project. We came to the debates and the workshops with an eye to critical thinking. As the young people shaped the agenda more we found ourselves facilitating video projects, for example, that challenged perceptions of race and AIDS in private and public schools, or helping the Atlantis group do teach-in writing and drawing workshops with younger learners in their secondary school. It became clear to the group that for every educational project that might be able to give strength, knowledge and power there must also be real challenges to the larger systems of oppression and injustice that surrounded them. Throughout it all, we had an excitement that what we were doing could really be part of an agenda for social change, not only around HIV and AIDS, but also more broadly in the communities in which these young people lived.
Method: Looking back over time with three participants
Looking at educational projects using visual methodologies over time has a great deal to offer in terms of situating the broader life stories of individuals into the social, historical and political frames of which they are part. In the realm of visual and educational research, there is a growing body of work that seeks to investigate aspects of memory and social change in education (Mitchell & Weber, 1999; Mitchell & Reid-Walsh, 2002; Weber & Mitchell, 2004; Mitchell, Strong-Wilson, Pithouse & Allnutt, 2011; Cole & McIntrye, 2006; Mitchell, 2008). Still, much of this work uses memory as a methodological tool, rather than tracing relationships between educational research and participants longitudinally. At Leeds University, Professor Neale leads an exciting longitudinal research project, "Timescapes" which uses qualitative and visual approaches to explore "how personal and family relationships develop and change over time" (Neale, 2010:4). As Neale explains,
there is a concern with how the life chances of young people are forged, enabled or constrained over time, both biographically - in terms of personal and relational factors, and historically - through wider structural processes, including shifting socio-economic and policy environments, and the structures of gender, generation, and locality (Neale, 2010:4).
The connection between biography and structural process has been critical to thinking through how the Soft Cover group have changed and grown. Mapping the trajectory and histories of the project participants is part of a larger project to look at how these structural elements have affected their lives, as well as how participants themselves view the impact of this kind of work, given that "as we live in the ever-shifting present, we continually reinterpret the past, overwrite our biographies, and reframe our orientations to the future" (Neale, 2010:5).
In 2011 some of the core group got together over two different reunion events in Cape Town, the second of which included a conference presentation where former participants reflected on their experiences on an academic panel. I took the opportunity to do a series of open-ended, one-on-one interviews with three particularly active participants nearly ten years after the start of the project - Tebogo, Abigail and Christopher - asking the question "What, if anything, have you retained from the Soft Cover Project in your life now?"4 The themes discussed below emerged from their reflections during the interviews. The central aspects they discussed can be categorized into three themes: direction and pursuit of life goals, self-actualization, agency and identity formation, and friendship and social belonging.
Abigail: The pursuit of life goals
The connection between aspirations, life goals and the impact of visual methods and educational research projects is certainly not easy to untangle. Yet as these young people discuss their current life pursuits, they make connections to lessons and understandings of themselves and the world around them that emerged in those early workshops. Abigail was 26 when we did the following interview in December, 2011. She is now a government social worker, currently working in her hometown of Atlantis, a coloured township 40 km outside Cape Town. Abigail reflected on how the educational experiences in Soft Cover that began for her as a teenager, shaped her career choices later in life. Feeling defeated after secondary school, working as a cashier, her options felt like they were running out. Miserable, she quit her job and started to look for a path out of her situation. She explains:
I started to really research what it is that happens in social work, what job a social worker does and what otherfields they go into. And I started to see a big co-relation [sic] between that and what we were busy doing [with Soft Cover] and Ifigured, ok, I really liked what we were busy doing, that made mefeel free ... I didn'tfeel so claustrophobic and so tied up, because my personality is one where I don't like to feel tied up. And so I decided I would go and study. [Her emphasis]
Abigail looks back on her own life now as a series of almost fated encounters, and she sees the Soft Cover Project as a key aspect of how her aspirations developed. She admits that
being a part of the project changed my life dramatically. In a way that I would never have planned. So, maybe it was my destiny to be part of the project. When I look at the short [film] clip that we did, it's really a self-fulfilling prophecy. I mean, back then I didn't know what social work was, I didn't know it was something I would enjoy going into, or, you know, helping people or helping the community.
The clip she refers to is part of a short film "Fire & Hope" I made with the group in 2004 in which they talk about their experiences as peer educators around HIV and AIDS. In that clip, seven years earlier, Abigail had said,
I've realized I can't change the past but I can change the future and I can help other people change their mindsets, and I think I've done that in some way. You know, just talking to people about these things, AIDS, and stuff like that, it makes a difference. Even if you can convince just one person, 'it's out there, watch out' then that is enough for me.
As much as she is surprised at 26 years old about where she has ended up, she also speaks about how she stayed true to her own early aspirations,
When I look back... I was about 16, just when we started the Soft Cover Project... I wrote down ten goals in my life that I wanted to achieve. There are two left on the list. I still have the list. And I have achieved eight of those goals. So to me it is a big thing. It shows me that I have within myself the potential to do that.
The Timescales Project had similar findings around the projections young people had made into their futures, which "hint at some realistic correlations between the forging of young people's future aspirations, and their socio-economic backgrounds and circumstances, while allowing also for the role of human agency in confounding such correlations" (Neale, 2010:4). For Abigail, the idea that it is people's experience as experts in their lives as a basis for social change is something she carries with her everyday as a social worker.
There is never a day when I meet a client and I have this attitude of 'I know it all, I know all the answers, I know what we are going to do.' I always have this notion of 'I know that you know what you want in life so let's speak about that, let's try to explore that and see how to make that a reality. That's what I want for you.' That's what I tell all my clients, as well. 'I don't go home with you, I leave.' I don't know what it's like to live with a husband who beats you every day. I don't know what it's like to come to bed hungry. I don't know what it's like to not have money in my pockets, even though I do come from it, I can't say I could walk the walk ... I always have in the back of my mind that, were I not a part of the Soft Cover Project I would never been able to have done this. So I owe it to myself because I know I should do better now. Especially in my way of treating people. When it comes to policies, structuring, developing, those kinds of things, keeping in mind, people, their circumstances, themselves . it is so important. That is really the essence, because from the project that is really what I got. I, as an individual, developed myself in the project. Not vice versa.
Christopher/Eva: Self-actualization, agency and identity formation Like Abigail, Christopher also speaks about his self-development. He was 26 when I interviewed him in December 2011, working for his father as a car mechanic, finishing his biochemistry degree by correspondence, and performing as his cross-dressing alter ego, "Eva". Eva has been competing successfully in a number of local gay beauty pageants, as well as doing work at cabarets and lip-synching events in Cape Town. After a very rocky patch in his early twenties in which he lost a number of family members to violence in Atlantis, Christopher reconnected to his activist side, and chose to conduct the interview we did in 2011 in drag as Eva.
At 17, Christopher was not publically 'out', but during the video interviews we did in 2004 he discussed what sexuality meant for him, and the need for a safe space.
I think one of the biggest challenges is this whole thing about sexuality, who you are? When am I ready for sex? Should I do it? Shouldn't I? They've thrown, like, the whole subject of sex in our face and now we have to deal with it. And in between that we still have to find out who we are too, so, it's like, kind of complicated. It just complicates life!
As the years went by, the confidence around his ability to express himself, his sense of agency, and his desire to be politically active, allowed him to develop his identity as Eva. In our interview in 2011, he explains the link for him between his identity in drag and the creative work we did in the Soft Cover Project that allowed him to find his own way of self-expression and activism.
I think coming out in drag and being out in drag, is really a tool for expressing myself, and in that way, also showing that it's okay to be yourself and to express yourself in a way that might not be a social norm ... where Soft Cover fits into that is that I came to understand that process led to [this expression]. I can see it as a platform, because of the way that we took things, ... [like] the writing about everyday life experience. The Soft Cover Project showed that we can, [and that] it actually means something to some other people. The stories we wrote, other people could relate to. I think that is the biggest thing that I take from the Soft Cover Project is coming to feel comfortable with working with different mediums, and not just thinking that standing on a pedestal and saying a speech is the sum total of activism or doing your bit...there is a whole creative process. I am not a painter or poet, but [drag] is my creative outlet.
Christopher understands the visual and creative aspects explored during the project as helping him actualize his own identity and value his own experience, leading him to help other people do the same.
Tebogo: Friendship and belonging
For Tebogo it was the sense of belonging and the strengths of the personal relationships that stuck with him over the years. Tebogo was 34 when I conducted the interview in August 2011. He was still living in Khayelitsha, but now working as a successful IT specialist. At the beginning of the Soft Cover Project he had been one of the paid co-facilitators, but over time became as much a participant as a facilitator. He says:
I got to learn quite a lot of things, and one of the lessons that came out is that ... sometimes we just have to do things because it is the right thing to do. Whether what happens to the future of what we did, time will tell us, and as things stand now, it turns out to be an awesome thing, because, here we are .That says a lot about the character of the people who we are.
This idea of 'character' and a sense of belonging to the group was an aspect present in all the interviews. Friendship, support and community were key parts of what remained from the project work. It was also clear that these elements developed over time, and were only possible through the long-term dedication from the project participants. While this was not part of our original goals for the project, it highlights the fact that personal transformation develops through connections and commitments, some of which are the direct result of trust that develops slowly. As Tebogo explains:
... I think the friendship part, I think it came a little bit later in life. Because in the beginning it was really about work. It was about work, it was about accomplishing the project and it's goals, and I didn't even know what was going to happen after the project has finished . it was a big surprise when it actually, when we moved on, and we kept in touch, and we continued talking along the years. So, one thing that stands out the most out of everything that we did, I think it is the connections that we have built, and in the ability to trust in each other in everything we did, the encouragement..!mean we differ in many different ways, but we manage, in a way, to build ourselves to become a unit, or a circle.
For Tebogo, the theme of friendship developing over time continued to emerge during his interview. He argues:
Right there at the bottom [ofthe Freedom Charter] it says that "there shall be friendship" and I have never heard anyone in this country talking aboutfriendship. It is there. It's part of the declaration. There should be... There is going to be friendship. And we are talking about wealth, we are talking about peace, we are talking about democracy, we are talking about all these things, and no one is saying anything about friendship. Maybe that is the problem. We aren't building friendships. We are building yards, we are building houses, we aren't building friendships ... There must be, there should be friendships. I mean what kind ofperson can we be if we don't build friendships?
For Tebogo, the project offered a space in which he felt he belonged, beyond the difficulties of the world around him. He recalls:
The project came at a time where everybody was looking for something to fall back to. You know. We have had this big problem with unemployment, with HIV and AIDS, with the politics of Thabo Mbeki and his government, with high prices, with education, I mean everything was really in chaos, they still are ... so everyone was looking for somewhere to belong. So I think one of the strengths of the project was that ability, was to give us a place where we can belong.
Tebogo saw the project as tangible work, which existed beyond the realm of 'activism'. While we understood our project as part of instigating the possibility of political activism around HIV and AIDS for young people, Tegobo saw it as a way out of traditional activism:
I mean, even with the project that we did... I think I went to it, not because it was a good project, or one of the best projects... in a way, it was a way out for me. It was a way out. It was a good way out in a sense that it brought material benefit to me. Because at the end of it, or my involvement with it, kind of helped me to live. So in a way it was a way out, and maybe I felt a little bit good about it, when you actually get appreciated, and rewarded for the hard work that you do, rather than simply thank you.
While Abigail and Christopher both integrate activism into their everyday lives, Tebogo feels disappointed about the possibilities of activism in light of his own economic hardship, and lived experience. Tebogo is more cynical about what change we are able to make, and states quite bluntly:
I mean the reality of the matter is that I need money to live on. And activism is not going to give me this. I mean, not now. Like, here we are fighting for the future, but I'm hungry now, I'm starving now. So I kind of needed a solution to that. So I think for me, for me the change started to happen there, is like, now I'm empowered enough, I understand things and I understand, the vigour that I had to change things, that was not going to happen overnight. It was kind of defeating really when you actually see what you have been working hard for. It didn't make any difference. I mean, just a very small difference, but you would have hoped that people would have understood things the way that you do, and changed things the way you want things to change for all of us. So it's kind of defeating to see, actually, things are getting worse. So all the knowledge, all the education, the workshops, kind of went to waste. It was a drop in the ocean.
Tebogo, unlike the others, was facing harder economic conditions, and had already been involved in activist work for much longer. Tebogo's reflections in hindsight also point to "discerning how one has fared in relation to one's own innermost standards and ideals" (Freeman, 2010:35). Nonetheless, structural obstacles in young people's lives became a central part of how the project developed over time.
Many of the young people we lost along the way were consumed with the everyday realities that surrounded them, from violence, HIV infection, to difficulties based on race or class. As time went on there was a clear distinction around the limitations forced on the lear- ners from more economically fragile homes, which were plagued with ongoing crises. Even though during the project there was little distinction between the learning, commitment and possibilities between participants in the group, by the end of secondary school none of the young people in Khayelitsha were able to continue their studies, while almost all of the young people from Atlantis were able to find some means to do so. This has meant very different life possibilities over time. Given the fact that we were working with almost no funding after the first couple of years, maintaining contact and following up where people's lives had gone was difficult. As Christopher says,
I think that was what made the Soft Cover Project such as success in my eyes, and that it was such a great experience because it was not just one snapshot we worked at, and it was something that developed over time. We grew as we grew. We grew together, and.... we grew together but apart at the same time, so it was all good ... I think more people could have had the opportunities that we had, and the experiences... more attention could have been made to those who fell to the wayside.
I agree with Christopher's criticism that finding ways to maintain contact on a more sustainable level over time is a central part of how work like this might make real impact in young people's lives, and also that it was time itself as a factor that enabled many of the positive aspects that carried through. As Tebogo also maintained, support, trust and friendship activated a space that was important for him in retrospect.
Discussion and conclusion
Certainly, one of the methodological issues of a small project such as this, which developed personal relationships between participants, project leaders, and researchers, is that the divisions between those roles becomes blurred with time. As the project progressed, those who remained invested in the Soft Cover group became part of what Tebogo called a 'unit' or 'circle'. I was also transformed over time in many ways as I witnessed young people subjected to violence, racism, deep poverty, poor schooling and damaged communities. The reciprocity that emerged within the project breaks down some of the hierarchy of the traditional research relationship, yet it is difficult to deal with neatly in assessing the data years later as the lines are even less distinct. Christopher is quite right when he says, "we grew as we grew". Indeed each of us has narratives and reflections to add to what a process like this can tell us about our goals around community participation and social transformation.
Tebogo, Abigail, and Christopher point to ways that long-term, collective learning can be part of an emancipatory project of education. Christopher and Abigail as adults find themselves working towards social change at the community level. Even while there is much criticism of a model of participation that focuses on the individual and not the broader structural processes necessary to make lasting social change, I would argue that the dichotomy between the individual and the collective is often too stark. As Glyn Williams (2004: 557) points out,
celebrations of 'individual liberation' and critiques of 'subjection to the system' both oversimplify participation's power effects. To re-politicise participation, empowerment must be re-imagined as an open-end and ongoing process of building political projects at a range of spatial scales.
It is important at the same time not to romanticize the impacts of personal change, or its broader reach. I tend to agree with Kysa Nygreen (2010), who is wary of writing too much into small-scale education projects like Soft Cover. She discusses how she resolved her dilemma of scale:
by imagining the true impact of the project was not to be found in our collective action, but in the project's 'ripple effects' as students took what they learned into other areas of their lives. Given the intensive resources that went into [the project] - time, money, energy, and otherwise - this strikes me as a rather inefficient strategy for the kind of movement building that I assume to be necessary for achieving deep structural change (Nygreen, 2010:24).
Nygreen goes on to argue that we must take the issue of scale seriously if we are committed to structural social change that goes beyond the individual. With these criticisms in mind, longitudinal approaches to visual and educational research still have great insights to give into both the actual lasting impact aimed at social change, as well as the structural processes that intersect with the lives of participants.
While the testimonies from these respondents held that the visual educational research had real and lasting impact, their life stories also attested to how the economic and social factors that surrounded them played a significant role in their development that the project alone was not able to address. Nonetheless, from our interviews and reflections over the years, there were lasting effects around a sense of confidence built from friendship and support, life direction, and personal transformation. Clearly more work needs to be done, and methodological tools developed, to understand better about how we can map social change through time and scale in educational research using visual methods, in both quantitative and qualitative ways. This study is a preliminary reflection pointing to some of the unexpected results that remain with project participants. From these reflections we can see that the length and commitment to the project, as well as the trust that develops through personal relationships, are significant factors in transformative potential, and thus should be built into project design when possible. This might mean allowing time and space to let friendships and goals develop outside the boundaries of the project's specific objectives. We can also see how using participant-led visual methods empowers young people creatively in relation to self-actualization, identity formation and pursuit of personal life goals. All of these aspects can positively contribute to social change in relation to HIV prevention and leaderships amongst South African young people. Developing further protocols to trace longitudinal impacts through the life span of participants will help us to critically assess how individual and collective social transformation happens in relation to visual methodologies.
The South African Research Chair in Social Change (funded by the DST, administered by the NRF, and hosted by the Faculty of Humanities at the University of Johannesburg) and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada supported this research. I acknowledge the contribution of Claudia Mitchell to this project over its duration.
1 This research was initiated by Professor Claudia Mitchell as part of a small grant through CHIR/CIDA. As time unfolded the research took on a life of its own, forming the basis for my Master's dissertation, and subsequent research, much of which did not have formal funding.
2 I have written about the project in a number of articles and chapters: Walsh S & Mitchell C 2008. I'm too young to die: HIV, masculinity, danger and desire in urban South Africa. In A Welbourn & J Hoare (eds). HIV and AIDS. Oxford: Oxfam; Walsh S 2007. Power, Race and Agency: 'Facing the Truth' with Visual Methodology. In N De Lange, C Mitchell & J Stuart (eds). Putting People in the Picture: Visual methodologies for social change. Rotterdam: Sense Publishers; Walsh S & Mitchell C 2004. Artfully Engaged: Arts Activism and HIV/AIDS work with youth in South Africa. In G Knowles, L Neilsen, A Cole & T Luciani (eds). Provoked by Art: Theorizing Arts-informed Inquiry. Toronto: Backalong Books; Walsh S, Mitchell C & Smith A 2002. The Soft Cover project: youth participation in HIV/AIDS interventions. Agenda: Empowering women for gender equity, 17(53): 106-112.
3 Unfortunately, the first young people to drop away as early as 2003 were the white youth from Rondebosch, who claimed that their other extra-curricular school and home commitments made it too difficult to continue attending our workshops. This was one of the first indications of the ways that economic factors affected the work we did.
4 In addition, ethics in a project like this are always complicated. As the young people saw themselves as activists and not only informants, they wished to be represented in films and in writing under their real names, which was a challenge to the traditional practice of protecting identities used in academic research. For this article, given that it will circulate primarily in academic circles and not necessarily part of grassroots educational efforts, I have chosen to change participants' names.
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Weber S & Mitchell C (eds) 2004. Not Just Any Dress: Narratives of Memory, Body, and Identity. New York: Peter Lang. [ Links ]
Williams G 2004. Evaluating participatory development: Tyranny, power and (re)politicization. Third World Quarterly, 25:557-578. [ Links ]

subset: commoncrawl


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Christ Is Risen!
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BTW, not all heterodox are new calendar: Ukrainian Catholics in Ukraine and parts of Canada are all Old Calendar! :-)
Quote from: hecma925 on December 30, 2019, 07:25:46 PMOCnet is KGB.I hail Mor Ephrem as our Secretary General.
OCnet is KGB.
Oh you Greeks, you are all dumb!An Athonite
Funny how you guys call us heterodox. :smiley6:
New calendar, but would prefer it on the Old.
7) That whoever does not follow the customs of the Church as the Seven Holy Ecumenical Councils decreed, and Holy Pascha, and the Menologion with which they did well in making it a law that we should follow it, and wishes to follow the newly-invented Paschalion and the New Menologion of the atheist astronomers of the Pope, and opposes all those things and wishes to overthrow and destroy the dogmas and customs of the Church which have been handed down by our fathers, let him suffer anathema and be put out of the Church of Christ and out of the Congregation of the Faithful.Signed by:Jeremiah of ConstantinopleSilvester of AlexandriaSophronius of Jerusalem In the presence of the rest of the prelates at the Council.
Yeah, let's throw out the fathers when they are inconvient!
By placing faith in the intelligence and discernment of our bishop...
Well, I'm certainly willing to throw out the opinions of those who engage in cheap slurs such as "the Pope's atheist astronomers". I don't notice the fathers throwing out Ptolemy, when it comes to that.
But, Greg, not being Protestants, don't we have to recognize that those chiefly responsible for interpreting the Fathers and applying them to the modern circumstances of the Church, are the bishops, to whom we owe obedience?
Certainly, we need to read the Fathers, too, but, if my interpretation of the Fathers does not reach the same conclusion as my Bishop's, don't I still need to give him the benefit of the doubt?
But can this be so easily dismissed because you do not like the language used? Keble, you seem to always make it a point to hold fast to the church you are in, to accept the teaching of one's bishop, elders, etc. As an Anglican, I am sure your bishops have said, perhaps not "cheap slurs", but things very questionable concerning the Faith. Are you now willing to throw out their opinions?
Well, for an Anglican layman, the question is very easy. The calendar is a matter of discipline, not of faith.
Anglicans are not bound to agree with every fool thing their bishops say.
Okay, but how do they [the bishops] respond to this?
Fair enough for you and the West. But for the East the Calendar is much more bound up with the Faith (if this is a good thing is another question, but for the time being...).
Again, aside from the language used, what are your thoughts concerning the anathama of the Sigillon?
How can you separate it from its language?
As for the rest of the year, the point of a Church's calendar, as has been noted before now, is to redeem the civil one with which it is supposed to correspond.
Well, I have to agree with Greg, that one cannot "throw out" the opinions of the fathers, just because they happen to have used intemperate language. St. Jerome was notorious for it, but I doubt either Keble or Ebor are prepared to dismiss him, in general. On the other hand, his opinions expressed in highly intemperate language, when they involves, e.g., rabid anti-semitism, are widely ignored even by faithful Orthodox theologians.
But the Church has never stricly followed the secular calendar. Midnight (i.e the start of the new day) begins at sundown and thus the new day opposed to starting at 12:00 AM secular time.
The first day of the new year in the Church is September 1st - the frist day of the secular year is January 1st. And the fact remains that even in our modern society the vast majority of Orthodox Christians still use the Church Calendar, not the secular one for the dating of feasts.
Nektarios, since this portion was posted in English, how are we to know what it is in another language?
The two have little to do with each other. What I do find a bit odd (and tedious) is having to explain to someone that their New Year's Day -- what they call January first -- is "in reality" December 20th! Or that "September first" -- what they would suppose would be our liturgical New Year's -- is actually "August 20th."
How can you understand it when it was written in a language that (I pressume) you are not overly faimilar with? From my guess at the wording of this "ungodly" would be a better translation that athiest.
But why a couple of prots so ardently defend a calendar that has done nothing but bring schisms into the Church, is intersting.
But the Church has never strictly followed the secular calendar.
The first day of the new year in the Church is September 1st - the first day of the secular year is January 1st.
Well, no-- the first day of the church year is 1 Advent. And the first day of the calendar year has moved around quite a bit.
Broken record time: Could we please not use "prots"? Ebor
You know, Nectarios, when you are reduced to having to pick at the details of the translation, you've conceded my point about the language. Whatever word they originally used, the intent was a slur upon the religion of those astronomers. But you know, that's a false standard. Astronomy is a science, and as a science is indifferent to the morals and religion of its practitioners when done properly. The use of such language is an indication that those who use it aren't entitled to opinions about astronomy.
What is the Julian calendar, if not a secular calendar? The Dionysian paschalion was specifically arranged to fit the secular calendar of its day.
Sorry I didn't catch that, Ebor. I agree, do NOT use that term. First of all it is rude. Second of all all my family and half of Mor Ephrem's family is Protestant and we would be highly embarassed if one of them signed onto this site and saw that term and thought we approved of it.anastasios
It might just be better to admit you have no idea what you are talking about than to continue making a fool of yourself. The Menaia begin at September 1st in Orthodoxy.
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I Feel Pretty PG-13
play trailer
Play Trailer
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In I FEEL PRETTY a woman who struggles with feelings of deep insecurity and low self-esteem, that hold her back everyday, wakes from a brutal fall in an exercise class believing she is suddenly a supermodel. With this newfound confidence she is empowered to live her life fearlessly and flawlessly, but what will happen when she realizes her appearance never changed?
1 hr. 50 min.
Opened April 20th, 2018
Rated PG-13 for sexual content, some partial nudity, and languageCastAmy Schumer, Michelle Williams, Rory Scovel, Emily Ratajkowski, Aidy BryantDirectorAbby Kohn
Marc SilversteinWriterAbby Kohn
Marc Silverstein


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Bad Blood
Explore T-Bone's story through 10 new missions set in new, unique locations throughout Chicago. Watch_Dogs Bad Blood also grants players access to "Street Sweep" contracts, a dynamic new system of side missions that offers players endless hours of challenge. All Street Sweep contracts are playable in coop mode (friend or public sessions), a first for Watch_Dogs, allowing two players to work together to combat Chicago's criminal groups.
The popular online 'Hacking' and 'Tailing' modes as well as the ctOS Companion App are also fully playable as T-Bone in the Watch_Dogs Bad Blood. In addition, Watch_Dogs Bad Blood features exclusive weapons, perks and outfits, including the remote-controlled car "Eugene," T-Bone's latest creation that can be upgraded with both offensive and defensive perks.


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>Obstruction of the small bowel refers to the intestinal blockage due to adhesions (external bands), scarring, external compression, twisting or entrapment of the bowel within a hernia. Vomiting and abdominal pain are symptoms.
>Almost all individuals with bowel obstruction will be hospitalized. Because of possible over-distension and rupture, those with such an obstruction should avoid diving until the underlying problem has been corrected.


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An algae outbreak in the Taihu Lake has affected the drinking water of about two million residents in east China. As a result, local authorities have pledged to put more of an investment in sewage treatment and threaten polluting factories with closure.
Liu Hongzhi, vice mayor of Wuxi city in Jiangsu Province reported to The Ministry of Water Resources that the city will monitor 22 key polluting companies and another 502 factories will need to be licensed to discharge waste.
A bloom of algae in Taihu Lake caused the tap water supply to the city with a population of two million to be cut for days. The algae resulted from persistent water pollution stemming from industrial and household sewage.
Liu also stated that new projects in the chemical, printing and dyeing and melting sectors in the downtown of Wuxi will no longer be allowed, and pledged that treatment of water pollution in Taihu Lake would account for three percent of the city's gross domestic product in 2010.
In Changzhou city, which has two rivers leading into Taihu Lake, 82 printing and dyeing, pharmaceutical and chemical plants have been ordered to halt the discharge of waste and limits on the amounts of waste were imposed on 18 other factories.
The dyeing and pharmaceutical plants who can not meet the waste discharge standards will be asked to cut their capacity by half, according to an emergency meeting of the Wujin District of Changzhou.
The Ministry of Water Resources reports that the tap water supply for Wuxi city was halted on May 22, when its major source, Taihu Lake, started to stink from a blue-green algae bloom. About 259 million cubic meters of water were diverted from the Yangtze River to dilute the lake.


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A contemporary of Elvis Presley in the Memphis scene of the mid-'50s, Johnny Burnette played a similar brand of fiery, spare wildman rockabilly. With his brother Dorsey (on bass) and guitarist Paul Burlison forming his Rock 'n' Roll Trio, he recorded a clutch of singles for Decca in 1956 and 1957 that achieved nothing more than regional success. Featuring the groundbreaking fuzzy tone of Burlison's guitar, Johnny's energetic vocals, and Dorsey's slapping bass, these recordings — highlighted by the first rock & roll version of "Train Kept A-Rollin'" — compare well to the classic Sun rockabilly of the same era. The trio disbanded in 1957, and Johnny found pop success as a teen idol in the early '60s with hits like "You're Sixteen" and "Dreamin'." Burnette died in a boating accident in 1964. His brother Dorsey achieved modest success as a solo act in the early '60s, and Burlison resurfaced as a member of the Sun Rhythm Section. ~ Richie Unterberger
Composer, Lyricist, Guitar, Vocals
Composer, Lyricist


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Front Range Community College Students Honor Seniors with Narrative Jewelry
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LONGMONT -- Jewelry can have meaning to its wearer, but it's not often a piece of jewelry can tell its wearer's story.
But jewelry students at Front Range Community College recently designed and made what's called narrative jewelry that tells the personal stories of 11 women who live at Sunrise Assisted Living in Boulder.
While visiting her uncle there, jewelry instructor Camille Rendal met several women who, she was sure, had compelling stories to tell.
"I thought it would be really interesting to figure out a way to commemorate their lives," Rendal said.
With the community college's directive to add service learning to classes in mind, she realized her students could share the stories through jewelry.
What: "Reconstructing the Past" exhibit opens with a reception
When: 6 p.m. Friday, April 12
Where: Firehouse Art Center, 667 Fourth Ave., Longmont
More information: The exhibit will be at the Firehouse Art Center through May 12. Firehouse is open from noon to 5 p.m., Wednesdays through Sundays. Call 303-651-2787 or see firehouseart.org.
That jewelry -- along with pictures of the women who inspired the pieces -- make up the exhibit, "Reconstructing the Past," at the Firehouse Art Center beginning Friday through May 12.
Last August, Rendal began working with Catlyn Kennan, who teaches Women's Sexuality, and Mary Ann Grim, who teaches Women in U.S. History, to design a project involving all three classes.
After receiving short biographies from the women's families, students prepared to interview them.
"It was just a page in the book that meant, really, nothing," said Linda Parks, 55, who lives in Boulder. For Rosanne Morris, Parks made a necklace featuring a cross-stitch patterned heart and charms representing her dog, her love of travel and her family members.
Although students used the provided biographies to create interview questions, Krystle Aaraas had to improvise when no one showed up to interview Marjorie Richards.
Students went in to the interviews with pre-conceived ideas of what the women would say, said Aaraas, 25, of Longmont. History students asked about the challenges of discrimination in the workplace, for example, but the women didn't think much about those problems, she said.
They would answer, "No, we just did it," Aaraas said. "These women were very easygoing."
Melissa Ferguson, 24, who has compiled oral histories for other projects, helped compile the questions to interview Clare Goodrich, who lived in Okinawa, Japan, for 15 years.
While the students were more interested in asking about that time, Goodrich wanted to talk about other times in her life, Parks said.
The students from Kennan's and Grim's classes wrote reports about the women they interviewed. Those reports are on display with the student-made jewelry in the Firehouse Arts Center exhibit.
The jewelry students also benefited from the interviews.
"You walked in with an image, ... and walked out with a clearer vision," said Karen Edgerly, 51, of Boulder.
After the group interview, Parks spent an additional 90 minutes with Morris, getting to know her even better.
Making a piece of narrative jewelry was more intense than making jewelry for herself, Parks said.
"This piece became very personal because there was a connection with someone else," Parks said. "When you have a challenge of interpreting someone's life, it's very personal. ... As the designer, it gave me a lot of joy."
Victoria Camron can be reached at 303-684-5226 or email@example.com.


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Poll: Do You Use Pre-Ground or Fresh Nutmeg?
It's never fun to read about food recalls, especially when they involve spices that make you think warmly of egg nog, holiday cookies, and seasonal cocktail garnishes. I'm talking about nutmeg. Yesterday, the FDA recalled nutmeg sold under the Frontier Bulk and Whole Foods Market brands from Mincing Overseas Spice Company in South Brunswick, New Jersey. At first the news sounded sad (should I fear nutmeg all December?) but really it's just more inspiration to grate the fresh kind. The pre-ground shakable dust loses flavor and aroma quickly, and nothing beats scraping it along a microplane. Do you buy it pre-ground or grate fresh nutmeg? Take the poll! »
All products linked here have been independently selected by our editors. We may earn a commission on purchases, as described in our affiliate policy.


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Woman convicted of abducting, killing pregnant woman sentenced
Annette Morales-Rodriguez will spend life in prison
A Milwaukee woman convicted of abducting and killing a pregnant woman was sentenced on Thursday to life in prison without possibility of parole.
Fourteen months ago, police said Maritza Ramirez Cruz was lured to the south side home of 34-year-old Annette Morales-Rodriguez, who tied her up, suffocated her and cut out her full-term baby boy.
The mother and baby both died.
"It was the most selfish act that anyone could ever conceive of, and the fact that she was cognizant enough to try to cover it up afterward and lie to police and try to get out of this, shows she knew right from wrong," Assistant District Attorney Mark Williams said.
Prosecutors used Morales-Rodriguez's own words to convict her. She told police she lied to her boyfriend about being pregnant, and as her supposed due date neared, concocted the plan to kill a woman and steal a baby.
Through a translator, Morales-Rodriguez said she was sorry.
"For what I've done. I regret it very much," she said.
It was an apology Judge David Borowski called half-hearted.
"This was a violent, vicious, horrific offense. In my view, this was the defendant engaging in premeditated evil," Borowski said.
"We're glad this whole journey has come to an end. And we have some closure, as far as this whole situation. She deserves what she deserves," said Juan Cruz, the victim's uncle.
Fetal abductions are rare. Milwaukee police said this was a first for the city.
According to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, there have only been 14 cases of fetal abductions since 1987.
Similar cases were reported in Massachusetts and Oregon in 2009, in Pennsylvania in 2007 and in Illinois in 2006.


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Buy a car from the
safety of your home.
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E-Transaction Purchase, trade-ins, and/or financing can be completed electronically and remotely.
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Enhanced Sanitization Dealers will go the extra mile to ensure their vehicles and premises are clean and safe.
The Suzuki SX4 was launched as an all-new hatchback for 2007. For 2008, a four-door sedan version called the SX4 Sport has joined the lineup. The SX4 hatchback, now called the SX4 Crossover, uses all-wheel drive, while the SX4 Sport has front-wheel drive. Both are motivated by a 143-horsepower 2.0-liter four-cylinder engine.
The SX4 Crossover offers cargo versatility and looks like a cute mini-SUV. It's good for all seasons as it comes standard with all-wheel drive for effective all-weather capability. The Crossover is a reasonably sporty hatchback when equipped with a manual transmission, but it's also available with an automatic.
The SX4 Sport is sportier yet, with sharper steering and more nimble handling. However, the ride may be too stiff for some drivers.
Both SX4 versions offer pleasant cabins with controls that are easy to use and interior materials appropriate for the price. The front seats are spacious.
The rear seat in the hatchback is roomy but the back seat in the sedan is cramped for tall riders. The sedan has a large trunk, but the back seat doesn't fold.
Both body styles are keenly priced, making them worthy candidates for shoppers looking for small cars that are more than just basic transportation.
The Crossover is the lowest-priced new car in America with all-wheel drive, making this hatchback an excellent choice for budget-minded buyers who drive in snowy areas. The SX4 Crossover's all-wheel-drive system is meant mostly for on-road use, but it does have a locking feature that sends 30 to 50 percent of the available power to the rear wheels, giving it some off-road capability and better traction in deeper snow.
The 2008 Suzuki SX4 comes in two body styles, the SX4 Sport ($14,770) four-door sedan and the SX4 Crossover ($15,270) four-door hatchback. A 143-hp 2.0-liter four-cylinder is the only engine. It comes mated to a five-speed manual transmission or and optional four-speed automatic ($1,100).
Standard features for SX4 Sport include cloth upholstery; air conditioning; power windows, locks and mirrors; remote keyless entry; AM/FM/CD/MP3 audio system with four speakers; tilt steering wheel; and P205/50R17 all-season tires on alloy wheels.
The SX4 Crossover adds all-wheel drive, 60/40 split folding rear seats and roof rails. The Crossover is fitted with P205/60R16 all-season tires on 16-inch alloy wheels.
Options include a Convenience Package ($500) with cruise control and a leather-wrapped steering wheel with integrated audio controls. The Touring Package for the Crossover ($1,600) and Sport ($1,500) includes the Convenience Package items plus antilock brakes with electronic brake-force distribution, traction control, electronic stability control, SmartPass keyless starting, automatic climate control, four tweeters and a subwoofer, sport pedals (Sport only), fog lamps, heated outside mirrors and a rear spoiler.
Safety features include six airbags: front driver and passenger airbags, torso-protecting driver and passenger side-impact airbags and head-protecting side curtain airbags, all standard. Also standard are a tire-pressure monitor and LATCH child seat anchors. As mentioned, four-wheel ABS with electronic brake-force distribution, traction control, and antiskid control are optional, therefore we strongly recommend opting for the Touring Package. All-wheel drive is also an excellent safety feature.
If you like the tall look of modern compact hatchbacks you'll love the lines of the Suzuki SX4 Crossover. From the side, its profile has an uncanny resemblance to the Mercedes-Benz ML-Class SUV. That's not bad considering the ML has a much sleeker look to it than most SUVs.
It seems strange to talk about the SX4 Crossover in the same breath as an SUV, but it is exactly how Suzuki describes it in the U.S. It seems more like a hatchback than a crossover, but like most crossover SUVs it has a tailgate, fold-down rear seats for added cargo space and all-wheel drive. In Europe, where the car was designed and has been well received, it's described as a hatchback. Nothing wrong with that in Europe where hatchbacks are considered smart and practical. Hatchbacks are less welcome in the U.S., which we think is a shame because they are practical and make a lot of sense.
It's also a bit strange to talk about the SX4 Sport as being sporty. While there is a definite wedge shape running front to rear, the SX4 Sport's tall greenhouse makes it look more like an economy car than a sporty runabout. In fact, the SX4 Sport is really an economy car with a small dash of sports appeal.
Both versions have a large windshield that slopes down to a hood that curves over large headlight/turn signal units. The curve of bodywork from the front of the distinctive front fenders extends down to the lower lip of the front bumper with its large air intake. The look is similar for the two body styles, but the front fascias differ. The Sport has differently shaped pods for the available fog lights and a lower aero add-on that is carried over into the body sides. The Crossover has flat-black caps along the rocker panels and over the fender flares.
One of the most unusual design cues of both body styles is the large quarter windows set in front of the front doors. At their base, these windows dip down from front to back, flowing into a rising line that leads to the back of the rear windows.
The Crossover's roof remains high all the way to the rear, and has wraparound glass at the rear behind the C-pillars. The Sport's roof turns down into a short trunk. The Sport sits 10 millimeters lower than the Crossover, befitting their purposes: The Sport is intended to grip the pavement a bit better in corners. The Crossover is better equipped for snow and unpaved roads. For the same reasons, the Sport gets 17-inch wheels with lower profile tires while the Crossover is fitted with 16-inch wheels and tires with slightly taller sidewalls. Each setup has its advantages and disadvantages, but the differences are not dramatic.
All in all, we found both body styles to be pleasing, though not swoopy or cutting edge. Neither car looks like it's too small, and they both have a modern stance.
Climbing inside the Suzuki SX4 we discovered a pleasant cockpit with no gimmicks. Everything is well placed and the brushed aluminum trim seems to be well finished. The radio controls are found on the same plane as the center of the steering wheel, with three easy-to-use climate control knobs located just below them. The interior materials include sturdy plastics on par with those of the Honda Fit, meaning they are among the best in a class of cars notorious for cost-cutting.
Four gauges are found in three dials that fill the instrument pod. They are located in front of the steering wheel, not in a gimmicky central-mounted pod like that of the Toyota Yaris. The large speedometer is mounted in the central position slightly overlapping both the smaller tachometer and a circle that houses the fuel gauge and water temperature gauge.
Head room in either body style is excellent up front. Leg room is adequate for most, though tall drivers will want more. Visibility is good to the rear, but the split front pillars can block the driver's view to the sides at intersections.
Storage space is merely adequate, however. Unfortunately, a center console does not come standard. One can be ordered as a dealer accessory, but it is more of an armrest than a storage bin. Two cup holders are provided in front of the shifter where they don't get in the way while shifting a manual-equipped SX4. A decent-sized cubby is located below the climate controls, and large map pockets are provided in the front and rear doors.
Rear-seat leg room is pretty good in the Crossover, more than sufficient for a six-footer. Rear-seat legroom is not quite as generous as in the similar-sized Nissan Versa but to put it in perspective it's about the same as in the much larger Mercedes-Benz E-Class. Rear-seat head room in the hatchback is generous.
The Sport has less head room and leg room, with its sedan body style, but it is still usefully sized. Ingress and egress to the back seats is fine because the rear wheels are pushed toward the rear of the vehicle and the wheel wells do not intrude much.
Cargo space is sufficient in both models. The specifications for the Crossover say there is only 10 cubic feet of luggage space behind the back seats. However, it seems much larger primarily because it is fully useable with little intrusion from the wheelwells. The wide track and low-mounted rear suspension components allow for a flat floor, a feature the Nissan Versa can't claim and more comparable to that of the relatively expensive Honda Fit. The rear seats are split 60/40 and fold and tumble forward, opening up a generous 54.3 cubic feet of cargo space. Getting stuff in and out is a breeze thanks to the full-width one-piece tailgate.
The trunk of the sedan offers 14.3 cubic feet of space, which is as much as some midsize cars. Be aware that the hinges do intrude on the cargo room, so you won't want to put anything that can be crushed beneath them. And while the trunk's cargo volume is generous, the rear seats do not fold down or offer a pass-through. This can be a deal breaker for some customers.
The Suzuki SX4 offers the most powerful engine in its class. It has a wide track for good handling and it seems to have a solid body. The downside is that it's relatively heavy, and weight is the enemy of which performance and fuel economy. So the SX4 is not much faster than its competitors, on dry pavement, that is, and fuel consumption is not quite as good.
The Suzuki SX4 Crossover comes with all-wheel drive and that distinguishes it among the herd of compacts. The world's top rally cars use all-wheel drive for its superior traction and Suzuki will be competing in the spectacularly fast World Rally Championship in 2008 with a high-performance version of the SX4. This is a roundabout way of saying that the SX4 has the basic ingredients for a solid performance car.
The Crossover model's all-wheel-drive system, called i-AWD, operates in three modes via a console-mounted switch. The 2WD mode is for maximum fuel economy on dry pavement, the AWD Auto mode controls the drive power distribution ratio to the rear wheels from zero to 50 percent, depending on available traction, and the AWD Lock mode is designed to facilitate traction in case of snow or mud. When in the lock mode, power is distributed to the rear wheels in the range of 30 to 50 percent. When the vehicle reaches 36 mph in AWD Lock mode, the system automatically switches to AWD Auto mode.
Honestly we don't see the point in the 2WD mode as the fuel savings have to be minimal and it means the driving feel changes when you switch to or from the automatic mode. It seems much more sensible to have the benefits available at all times so that in an emergency situation one has all four wheels doing the work. The lock mode is useful for really adverse conditions at slow speeds.
We found both body styles fun to drive with the manual transmission, though the gearshift throws are a little long and rubbery. The SX4 could do with a sixth gear as we found ourselves wanting to up shift several times as we drove on straight highways and freeways. Around the twisty bits, however, just shifting through the gate between second, third and fourth gear was fine. Zero to 60 mph times are in the 10-second range, so the SX4 is not quick.
We only tried an automatic for a short distance and the shifting seemed smooth. The SX4 Sport achieves a slightly better EPA-estimated fuel economy rating with the automatic than it does with the manual, 23 mpg City and 31 Highway, compared to 22/30. In the Crossover, the fuel economy numbers are the same 21/28 no matter what transmission is chosen.
In the Crossover, the power-assisted rack-and-pinion steering feels fine with virtually no sign of torque steer. It might not be quite crisp enough for a racer but it's far from being sloppy. The steering in the Sport is a little sharper, and some minor torque steer can arise if you stomp on the throttle in the middle of a turn. We never had the chance to try the brakes in a panic but we have no reason to doubt they work fine, especially in cars equipped with ABS and electronic brake-force distribution.
Overall handling is competent in both body styles, thanks in part to a long wheelbase and a wide track. With standard AWD, the Crossover grips much better on slippery surfaces and the AWD system can even help on a dry road. The Sport lacks AWD, but its lower ride height and tauter suspension make it more nimble than the Crossover. Both body styles have a relatively high seating position, which makes the SX4's moderate body lean more pronounced. However, once the SX4 shifts its weight in a corner, it takes a nice set and tracks nicely through the turn.
Those who like a soft cushy ride might like the Crossover but find the Sport a little too stiff for their liking. Broken pavement can cause the Sport to jiggle, while a series of larger humps can create some bounding motions. Still, the Sport is not uncomfortable; it's just stiffer than most of its competitors.
The 2008 Suzuki SX4 is an ideal small car for anyone looking for something other than just the cheapest, most basic car. All modelas are bargain priced and they deliver a lot of content. The SX4 Crossover is a versatile hatchback body style with the advantage of all-season all-wheel drive. The SX4 Sport offers a taste of sportiness in a sub $15,000 package. As an added bonus, there's Suzuki's 100,000-mile, seven-year, fully transferable, zero-deductible powertrain limited warranty.
NewCarTestDrive.com correspondent John Rettie test drove the Suzuki SX4 Crossover near San Diego, with Kirk Bell reporting on the SX4 Sport from Traverse City, Michigan.


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I am trying to track down an Xlobby Media Player playback issue. Certain ripped DVD's that used to play fine with Xlobby media player on my old system now cause the media player to hang on my updated Win 7 system.
I recently upgraded from Vista to Win 7 on my Xlobby box (clean install - no hardware changes - just the OS upgrade). After loading Xlobby, I loaded FFDShow from the Xlobby page (same as what I did on my Vista set-up). I also configued my Alt-F2 media player (and other) settings in the same manner as i did with Vista. Now however, during ripped movie playback, I only see the FFDShow AUDIO decoder being used, not BOTH audio and video decoders from FFDSHOW.
I am thinking that my system is using some other non-ffshow video decoder and this decoder is causing the media player to freeze in certain (repeatable) spots on my ripped DVD's
Any sugestsions?


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Beautiful vintage fairground carousel themed Poncho.
Not just fun to wear and play in, Ponchos are waterproof and durable garments designed to keep your little ones dry and protected outdoors. Ponchos are perfect for rainy days in the park or garden, family outings and camping trips.
Lightweight and portable, Ponchos pack away small in a handy drawstring carry bag making it easy to carry around in case of rain.
▲ Recommended Age Range: 4 - 11 years
▲ Waterproof Materials
▲ Durable PU Coated Polyester
▲ Lightweight & Portable
▲ Matching Carry Bag
▲ Made in England
Lightweight Waterproof Fabric
The Poncho is made from waterproof, 150 gram, PU Coated Polyester fabric. We only use the highest quality materials that are fire retardant, durable yet comfortably lightweight.
UV Printed Design
The design is printed using our state-of-the-art UV printing process, this ensures superior print quality, vibrant colours and a design that doesn't fade in the sun.
Asymmetrical Design
Longer in the back, the Poncho is designed to be as practical as possible and this particular design feature ensures protection when sitting on the ground or on wet seats.
Press Stud Closures
Press Stud closures are located at both sides of the poncho, which can be closed to keep the Poncho secure in the wind. Sleeves are created when the press-studs are closed, which arms can be placed through.
Reinforced Hem
The edges of the Poncho are finished with an attractive reinforced hem in a Red binding which complements the design of the Poncho.
Handy Carry Bag
Lightweight and portable, the Poncho is so easy to take out and about that even children won't mind carrying it around. Simply the Poncho fold away in the matching design drawstring carry bag, which is small enough to fit in most bags.
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Front Length: 55cm (22in)
Back Length: 75cm (30in)
Width: 110cm (43in)
Hood: 25cm x 25cm (10in)
Height / Width: 10cm (4in)
Length: 25cm (10in)
300g (11oz)
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FieldCandy is a fun lifestyle brand of creative leisure and recreational goods.We exist to revitalise the outdoors with a range of unexpected designs.Our aim is to delight our customers and excite everyone who sees our products.
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BRUSSELS (Reuters) - European Union countries and the bloc's parliament agreed on Tuesday to introduce limited controls on credit ratings agencies after their judgment was called into question in the debt crisis.
Michel Barnier, the European commissioner in charge of regulation who helped broker a deal on the new law, said it aimed to reduce the over-reliance on ratings and establish a civil liability regime.
The new rules should make it easier to sue the agencies if they are judged to have made errors when, for example, ranking the creditworthiness of debt.
The agencies came under fire for giving top-notch AAA credit scores to debt that later unraveled and they provoked more criticism by downgrading countries at sensitive moments of the crisis.
"Credit rating agencies will have to be more transparent when rating sovereign states, respect timing rules on sovereign ratings and justify the timing of publication of unsolicited ratings of sovereign debt," Barnier said in a statement.
"They will have to follow stricter rules which will make them more accountable for mistakes in case of negligence or intent."
Others said the limited reform would do little to alter the agencies' behavior.
"This reform is no big breakthrough in changing the rating agency market," said Sven Giegold, a German member of parliament who was involved in the negotiations. "It's a step towards better supervision but there are no big structural changes."
Banks currently rely on the credit ratings of assets, such as packages of loans, to decide how risky they are and how much capital should be set aside to cover this risk. The reform is designed to weaken these connections.
The deal between the EU parliament and countries attempts to inject momentum into a regulatory drive to change the way the big three credit rating agencies - Fitch, Moody's, and Standard & Poor's - work.
But the law has been softened during negotiations.
"I think that the significance of this reform is limited because the political ambition has been scaled back," said Nicolas Veron of Brussels-based think tank Bruegel.
"In any event, the behavior of rating agencies such as we saw with U.S. securitized products before the crisis has changed."
Under the law, the agencies will set up a calendar indicating when they will rate countries, publishing ratings only after close of business and at least one hour before the opening of trading in the EU.
All ratings will be published on a European platform to improve visibility.
The EU's executive said that the new rules ensured that a rating agency could be held liable in cases of negligence or intent that damaged an investor. The rules will also encourage competition by introducing rules to rotate agencies although these will be limited to complex structured finance instruments.
An earlier idea for temporary "blackouts" on some sovereign ratings when bailouts are being organized for them was dropped.
A proposal to force debt issuers, such as companies, to rotate the agency they use to rank their bonds was also weakened. It will now apply only to resecuritised debt, a market that is largely dead.
Rating agencies are already subject to stricter policing, since the establishment of ESMA as their chief European supervisor.
A spokesman for Standard & Poor's said it would work with regulators to implement the rules when they are introduced, which one EU official said would be as soon as next year.
The reform follows a recent landmark judgment by Australia's Federal court that Standard & Poor's misled investors by giving its highest rating to derivatives that lost almost all their value in the run-up to the 2008 global economic crisis.
The Australian case marked the first time a ratings agency had faced trial over the complex financial products and could set a precedent for future litigation.
Reporting by John O'Donnell; editing by Robert Woodward


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If I had to choose a theme for last night, it would have to be flight. Despite feeling under the weather (still), I rallied, headed downtown, and met up with my aunt and uncle at the Ahmanson Theatre, where we saw "Bring It On: The Musical," a new show based on the Kirsten Dunst movie from about 10 years ago. "Based on" is being generous – the musical has an entirely new set of characters and a new plot, and the only resemblance it bears to the film is that they're both about rival high school cheerleading squads. But I digress – "Bring It On" is an incredibly enthusiastic, high-energy show, and boy, do those actors fly! The show is heavy on dance, and in all the big numbers, people are tumbling and flipping and sent twirling 20 feet in the air. Here's the commercial that's been airing in LA:
I can't imagine how many calories those performers burn during each performance! Los Angeles is the first stop of a coast-to-coast tour – you can find if it's coming to your town on the website. It's a really fun show: big, colorful, and at times, clever. Don't expect intricate characters, nuance, or subtle storytelling – every element in this show is as simple and in-your-face as it can be.
After watching cheerleaders take flight for two and a half hours, I headed to the subway station to catch a train home (Yep, L.A. has a subway – it's called the Metro). The Civic Center station, the closest one to the theater, has an art installation that I've never much paid attention to before – a series of life-sized figures flying above the platform:
According to the information I found on the Metro's website, the figures are "an interpretation of the artist's [Jonathan Borofsky] dreams of soaring above ground:
"I've had quite a few flying dreams in my lifetime. Many other people I've spoken to have had similar dreams. Sometimes I fly above it all, serene and rather enlightened…other times my flying dreams seem more like an escape from earthly concerns."
I've had flying dreams before. I had one a couple weeks ago, in fact. I can't remember many of the details now, except for that it was cloudy, and I was up amongst those clouds, and every time the clouds parted, I could see some place from my past: my back patio at my grandparents' house, the little lake where we used to have a motorboat when I was a kid, the stoop of the building where I had a majority of my college classes. There were other people in the dream, but I can't recall who, or what the tone of our interactions were.
My time on the train was spent thinking about what I would need to take flight. I'd need the ability to fly, obviously, but what else? I'd need courage. There'd be many inherent dangers, so courage would definitely be needed. I'd also need determination. It wouldn't be easy to fly (I presume), but if I were determined, than I could brush off any trials and attempts as part of the process. Lastly, I'd need momentum. Even at my greatly-reduced weight of 236 pounds, it'd take some propulsion and thrust to get my body airborne. There's a reason why runways are a mile long (and, no, I'm not comparing myself to an airplane).
Courage. Determination. Momentum.
The keys to so many things, aren't they? None of them are easy to come by, and all of them can be even harder to hold on to. I wrote those three words on a post-it, and that post-it is now stuck on my bathroom mirror, where I'll see it every morning. It'll be a daily reminder that if I work on building and harnessing those three attributes, what I think is impossible may soon come within reach.
Keep it up, David.


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We check over 450 stores daily and we last saw this product for £98.00 at J.Crew.Go to J.Crew
Apolis (whose name means "global citizen") was founded in 2004 by raan and shea parton, two socal born-and-bred brothers who believe everyone should support local industry. In this spirit, they joined forces with a california factory that's been making swimwear for lifeguards and watermen since the 1960s to produce this surf-worthy swim trunk, constructed from forever-classic cotton chambray. Accented with a drawstring waistband, a velcro® cargo pocket and a button fly opening, it's finished with a crisp stripe that stands out on any beach. Cotton. Button fly. Colour: blue


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If This JP Morgan Thing Doesn't Work Out, There's Probably a Job for You at Crazy Apple Rumors
Sucks to be Kevin Chang. The JP Morgan analyst who earlier this week predicted a forthcoming iPhone nano was thrown under the bus for doing so yesterday. By his own colleagues.
"We believe that iPod Nano will be converted into a phone because it's probably the only way for Apple to launch a lower-end phone without severely cannibalizing iPod Nano," Chang told Reuters. The new device would have "rather limited functionality," he added, but at a price of around $300, would be attractive to millions of people who want a snazzy new phone but who wince at the idea of spending $500 to $600 on one.
Now, leaving aside for a moment the probable impossibility of compressing the iPhone's robust technology into a nano-sized form factor, don't you think a lower-end iPhone based on the nano design would, you know, defeat the purpose of having an iPhone? Certainly, it would render the device's Web browsing and video features useless.
Little wonder, then, that a trio of Chang's New York-based colleagues issued a note yesterday warning clients against putting much faith in his report. "One of our colleagues in Asia, Kevin Chang, published a note discussing his expectations for a low-end 'Nano' version of the iPhone," the note reads. "We caution that the potential for a low-end, subsidized phone from Apple seems unlikely in the near term. Perhaps Apple will choose to eventually replace its iPod family with phones over time, but it would be premature to assume this will happen in volume anytime soon. Our view is that the next iPhone will be 3G and remain a high-priced, nonsubsidized model."


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Gourmet Cooking FAQs
What would you use citruas oils with?
Olivelle's Blood Orange Extra Virgin Olive Oil is Delicious for: dressing salads with fruit & nuts, drizzling over chicken and seafood dishes, and finishing wild rice, pasta and quinoa. For a special treat, use when baking cakes, muffins, and brownies. This sweet and fruity olive oil wins the award for versatility.
Combine with: (when making dressings, marinades,and dipping with bread)
Tart Cherry Balsamic Vinegar
Tangy Tangerine White Balsamic Vinegar
Cassis Balsamic Vinegar
What is a great sauce to use when barbecuing?
Olivelle's Smoked Maple Sauce will inspire anyone to use their barbecue! Delicious for: -Marinating chicken -Sauteing vegetables -Grilling salmon -Basting pork -Finishing ribs.
Looking for additives for cooking pasta?
Olivelle's Pasta Rocks™
Himalayan Salt
A new, innovative way for perfectly salted pasta water! Found deep within the Himalayan Mountains from ancient seas, this salt has many health benefits due to its high mineral content. Use to salt water for pasta, rice, or steamed vegetables.


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NBC 5 and the Greater Dallas Asian American Chamber of Commerce invite you to the 22nd Asian Festival on Saturday, May 12, at Main Street Garden in Dallas.
The Asian Festival is a FREE family event presenting authentic Asian cuisine, cultural performances, live bands, children's activities, health fair, games and much more.
For more information, visit www.asianfestivaldallas.com.
Connecting NBC 5 to the community we serve.
22nd Asian Festival
Saturday, May 12
11 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Main Street Garden
1950 Main Street
Dallas, TX 75201
Admission is FREE!


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THIS IS OVER 2 Weeks 20 June & 26 -27 June 19.
Our open course per person cost is £195.00.
For competitive group prices call the office on (028) 9122 8101
Please feel free to check out our 5 STAR reviews on Facebook. This is a recognised 3 day First Aid at Work (FAW) course which is suitable for anyone who has been nominated or who has been volunteered to fulfil the statuary duty of care as laid down in accordance with the Health and Safety (First Aid) Regulations (NI) 1982 (as amended)
If the assessment of First Aid needs highlights the need for qualified First Aiders, then this course will provide suitable trained personnel. This course covers a wide variety of medical topics enabling the participants to deal with emergency situations with confidence in a safe, prompt and effective way.
The syllabus of the course is:-
- Roles & Responsibilities of the First Aider
- Managing & Assement of an Incident
- Management of an unresponsive casualty Breathing normally
- Management of an unresponsive casualty not Breathing normally
- Safe use of an AED
- Management of a Casualty having a seizure
- Recognition & assist a Choking casualty
- Manage a casualty who is wounded & Bleeding
- Manage a casualty who is in shock
- Management of a minor injury
- How to conduct a secondary assessment
- Administer First Aid to a casualty with injuries to bones, muscles & joints
- Administer First Aid to a casualty with suspected Head & Spinal injury
- Administer First Aid to a casualty with a suspected chest injury
- Administer First Aid to a casualty with burns & scalds
- Administer First Aid to a casualty with an Eye injury
- Administer First Aid to a casualty with sudden poisoning
- Administer First Aid to a casualty with Anaphylaxis
- Administer First Aid to a casualty suffering a Major illness
This is a approved workplace First Aid course. There is a TQUK Workbook that must be completed at the end of the course along with continuous evaluation throughout by the trainer.
Each learner will be independently assessed over the duration of the course. Those learners deemed to have reached the required standard will be issued with a First Aid at Work certificate which is valid for 3 years.
The HSE has strongly recommended that those attending this course attend annual refresher training lasting 2-3 hours. This is not compulsory but it is strongly RECOMMENDED by the HSE.
There is a need for this to be renewed by attending a 2 day refresher course before the 3 years have expired. Any delegate attending refresher training must have an in-date FAW Certificate to attend this course. If this has expired they will have to attend the initial FAW 3 day course.
A maximum of 12 can be accommodated on this course and must be aged 16 and above


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As an academic medical center, many physicians at Emory not only take care of patients on a daily basis, but also partake in research and teaching/training the future generations of physicians.
It's through discovery that happens during clinical trials and research that allows for new advancements in medicine to be made. Providing the standard of care of is not always enough. New treatment therapies, technology and care delivery techniques must be developed, tested and perfected in order to keep advancing health care.
Not sure what clinical trials are? Check out our blog post that explains Clinical Trails>>
Currently happening at Emory is the first-in-man clinical trial, testing a newly developed drug for a rare genetic condition called mucopolysaccharidosis type II (MPS II) or Hunter syndrome.
Hunter syndrome is a hereditary disease in which a critical enzyme is either missing, or there is not enough of it. Without enough of this enzyme, long chains of sugar molecules do not break down properly in the body and accumulate in the organs and tissues and become toxic.
To treat most cases of Hunter syndrome, an enzyme replacement medication is used, but this regimen does not cross into the brain to treat the most severe cases of Hunter syndrome. In this particular trial, Emory researchers are testing whether a man-made enzyme fused with an antibody and injected into the bloodstream will deliver the enzyme therapy into the brain. This is the first time this medication combination has been tested in a human.
The video below features Emory patient, Chris Dutcher. "By testing this new medication for the first time in a human, my hope is to help children with severe Hunter syndrome," says Dutcher, whose younger brother also has the same disorder.
Chris has the mild version of Hunter syndrome, but his symptoms are still quite serious and involve the lining of the brain and spinal cord, which are not treated by existing medications. He is the first patient to receive the new treatment therapy.
More information about Hunter syndrome and this clinical trial can be found in the Emory News Center. Learn more about clinical trials at Emory Healthcare.
Related Resources
- Clinical Trials at Emory Healthcare
- National Institutes of Health
- What Questions Should You Ask Before Enrolling in a Clinical Trial
- What are the Phases of Clinical Trials
- Clinical Trials: Leading the Way to Better Health Care
Tags: benefits of clinical trials, can i participate in a clinical trial, clinical trials, clinical trials FAQ, hunter syndrome, hunter syndrome clinical trial, medical advances, new drugs, new medicine, participate in a clinical trial