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There's a problem somewhere caught between the girl I grew up being and the woman I've turned into. I grew up with all boys. I've got three younger brothers, and I had mostly guy friends. My mother was a tomboy, and I always have been as well. As a result, I grew up somewhere inside a guy's mindset of going after what you want. This made me absurd and brave when it came to love. I lived by the motto that only the one willing to be a fool for love deserved love. I learned a guy, adored him, and then went for him with everything I had. It didn't end well often, but it meant I resolved feelings. It was messy and heartbreaking and chaotic, but I was reckless and willing to risk all for the hope that the guy I was pursuing would recognize the romantic, caring, hilarious bundle that I was. That I was exactly what he'd been looking for. It didn't work. As I got older, my mom sat me down and told me that as a woman I was meant to be pursued and not to do the pursuing. I didn't understand it. Parts of me still don't because it feels like such a waste at times, but truth be told, she was right. If a guy has any interest in you, he'll come after you. You can get in his way all you want, but unless he's decided you're what he wants, it's not going to matter. I have spent the past nine and a half years alone as a result. I can't deny that I've expressed interest in guys during that time and been open and vulnerable, but it's never changed anything. I guess I still believe that you've gotta be willing to be a fool for love in order to be worthy of love, but at the same time, I no longer know how to find the only thing I ever feel like I'm searching for. After nearly ten years of solitude, I feel like I'm wasting my youth, but I'm a woman and I deserve to be pursued like I should be. How do I resolve this particular paradox? Especially since I am beginning to think I was born in the wrong decade since I just want to meet someone in real life and not through a dating site. I guess I wait. Trusting this to God is consistently the hardest choice I make. I am still not terribly good at waiting.

Jonathan Swift in Karachi Our Lady of Alice Bhatti by Mohammed Hanif A FEW CHAPTERS into Our Lady of Alice Bhatti, the titular protagonist relaxes on a stretcher between shifts at the chaotic Karachi hospital where she is employed as a nurse. On the wall behind her, a torn poster reads, Bhai, your blood will bring a revolution. Someone has scribbled under it with a marker: And that revolution will bring more blood. Someone else has added Insha’Allah, in an attempt to introduce divine intervention to the proceedings. Some more down-to-earth soul has tried to give this revolution a direction, and drawn an arrow underneath and scribbled, Bhai, the Blood Bank is in Block C. One could reasonably suspect that this “more down-to-earth soul” is the author Mohammed Hanif, making a Hitchcockian cameo appearance, for it seems to be just this gift for applying logic to absurdity that has allowed him to compose a comical love story out of a frothing, roiling sea of rage in an extravagantly dysfunctional society. And this is not one of those uplifting, life-affirming stories of love, salvation, and the innate dignity of the human condition amidst suffering and degradation, either. No, here the ceremony of innocence is officially drowned. Drowned? People are wading through the water trying not to get electrocuted. Hanif’s new novel, which follows on his wonderful debut, A Case of Exploding Mangoes, centers on Alice Bhatti, a janitor’s daughter and a Christian in a country increasingly consumed with fanatical bigotry. (Last year Pakistan witnessed the assassinations of the Governor of the Punjab, and the Minister for Minority Affairs, for daring to speak up on behalf of Pakistan’s beleaguered Christian community.) Alice is a Pakistani “untouchable,” if not formally by caste as in India, then by default. With hypocrisy being religious zealotry’s most natural ally, she is not quite untouchable enough; the pious Muslim men who refuse on principal to share a drinking vessel with her have no such qualms about trying to cop a feel on the bus. Hers is not a piteous tale of victimhood, though. By the time we meet the twenty-seven-year-old Alice, she has already done time at a juvenile correctional facility for assault, and later, when sexual favors are demanded of her at gunpoint, she takes a razor blade to her attacker’s favorite appendage. Not that she deliberately puts herself in these situations, mind you. Street-smart and self-possessed, she makes every effort to keep her head down, having spent “not a single day” working in Accidents & Emergencies, “when she didn’t see a woman shot or hacked, strangled or suffocated, poisoned or burnt, hanged or buried alive.” Even without following the news, “it seemed the city was full of serial killers.” She knows better than to have expectations of legal recourse, observing that “nobody was surprised; there were no police detectives sitting around matching clues, no parliamentary subcommittees discussing ways of saving this endangered species.” Hanif’s magnificently acerbic critique of the sorry state of women’s rights in Pakistan is possessed by a Swiftian spirit. Alice “looks at these battered bodies on the floor of the A&E and tries to figure out the rules of this sport.” She “thinks she’s identified the type of woman who attracts the wrong kind of attention, who stumbles from one man who wants to slap her to another man who wants to chop off her nose…” As a result, she “tries to maintain a nondescript exterior,” avoiding eye-contact and conversation, along with precautions such as walking around rather than leaping over puddles as “any act that involves stretching her legs may send the wrong signal.” In addition she “never eats in public. Putting something in your mouth is surely an invitation for someone to shove something horrible down your throat. If you show your hunger, you are obviously asking for something.” But she does accept a proposal of marriage—throwing caution to the wind, as marriage has been known to be a leading cause of grievous bodily harm and death among Pakistani women. While the Muslim groom, Teddy Butt, seems to make for an unlikely beau—he falls on the somewhat unreconstructed, not to mention mildly deranged, side—he is an oddly endearing man, in fact the novel’s most endearing character. While we see plenty of Alice, she is a surefooted heroine who can sometimes be so sensible as to verge on the remote. We get Teddy warts and all. He is a body builder (“Junior Mr. Faisalabad”) and a police informant. The job options that he has rejected include bodyguard to rich kids and fitness trainer, which seem to him “a bit effeminate.” With “almost no flair for physical violence,” he himself is not a killer, merely one who provides “valet parking for the angels of death”; his experience of escorting one such victim to his grave makes for one of the novel’s high points. Teddy is made flesh and blood by his vulnerability, by his almost constant air of mild bewilderment. Alice, at the bottom of the food chain, is able to take a coldly analytical view of society. Teddy has so far not felt any great need to do so. He has formed his code of conduct, his understanding of human nature, in particular of sexual relationships, from what is considered the norm for a Muslim man in his position. His worldview is an amalgam of snippets he can retain from newspapers and dodgy advice administered by his police squad colleagues. And so he is deeply bewildered. His experiences with “romantic love” are so barbaric as to induce pity for him along with the women in question. “Twice he has come close to conceding love. Once he gave a fifty-rupee tip to a prostitute” and another time he “only pretended to take his turn” with a prisoner offered to him after being gang-raped by the police. During his courtship of Alice, hopped up on love—an inexplicable new emotion—Teddy fires a bullet into the air, which causes a car accident, mobilizes a lynch mob, and manages to set off a three day riot leaving scores dead. Its telling is as amusing as it is tragic for being an entirely plausible scenario in a city where countless numbers are routinely lost to utterly random violence, a city where everyone seems pent up enough to eternally be a hair’s breadth away from erupting. As for Pakistan’s upper classes, they make only rare appearances in this novel, and always as vile sexual predators, insulating themselves from Alice Bhatti’s life with small battalions of private guards, hidden away on the other side of doors that close with “a discreet, expensive VIP click.” Our Lady of Alice Bhatti inhabits a world where “I found a baby in the main drain at the Ideal Housing Society” is an acceptable opening gambit over a meal. It is a world where a fading, cancer-ridden woman’s son is asked by the hospital to check if his mother’s dead yet, as the bed is needed. All the animals that wander into the story are maimed, bloodied, and mad with hunger, with half-torn ears and protruding ribs. This is no place for those who rely on the goodness of human nature, or indeed, the humanness of human nature. Hanif’s disgust is evident throughout, “Beggars were trying new tricks every day, pretending to be white-collar workers fallen on bad times … to soften hearts that had hardened in the face of the bottomless greed of half-naked children and droopy, blind old women.” Innovatively structured, in loose, almost episodic chapters, every section of the book has its own self-contained narrative. While Hanif’s humorous colloquial tone and his deftness at juxtaposing brutality and farce are his biggest gifts, the jokes are occasionally piled on too thick. There are moments when the temptation to apply a mallet to a nail already hit on the head would have been better resisted. But these are quibbles. In the hands of a lesser writer, a novel dealing with these themes would run the risk of turning didactic and self-righteous. But Hanif’s skewering wit and his acute journalistic sense of observation consistently shine through. This is a brisk, biting narrative, entirely shorn of sentimentality and exoticism, and fuelled by an anger born of deep compassion. Faiza S. Khan is a Karachi-based columnist and literary critic, and editor-in-chief of The Life’s Too Short Literary Review: The Magazine of New Writing From Pakistan.

17 Thus says the Lord, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel:I am the Lord your God, who teaches you for your own good, who leads you in the way you should go. 18 O that you had paid attention to my commandments! Then your prosperity would have been like a river, and your success like the waves of the sea; (Isaiah 47:17-18) This is from the first reading at Mass yesterday. Don't you love that the Lord teaches us for our own good and leads us in the way we should go? I was very surprised last week while talking to a sidewalk counselor outside of a Chicago abortion facility. This woman is extremely faithful to her calling to be there before and after women visit the facility. Our own group goes to this clinic one Saturday a month, and to another in the suburbs one Saturday a month. This woman goes to this clinic every single Saturday morning. Not just for an hour and a half, as our group does, but from 6:45 a.m. to 11:00 a.m or later. Last Saturday was really super cold. I could not feel my feet past the arch. My toes were still there, but I could no longer feel them. This woman dressed more intelligently than me. She knew about "smart wool" socks that kept your toes from going numb. |St. John Cantius Church, Chicago| He had said, "It isn't a teaching of the Church, but a doctor of the Church, St. Thomas Aquinas, said the suffering of purgatory is greater than any suffering that can be endured on this earth." That isn't actually a correct quote by the way. I'll have that in a moment for you. But geez, that is scary isn't it? I had come to think of purgatory along the lines of what St. Catherine of Genoa spoke of, that the real knowledge of the love of God and his holiness purified her with moans and groans and led her to do penances, but I no longer thought of it as "fire" after reading her account. Still there is passage from The Way of Love by Sr. Josefa Menendez, a personal revelation--again not a teaching of the church that describe it more of a place. I am not scared of my personal judgment. Are you? I know I am a sinner, I know that I do not resemble Jesus, meek and humble of heart, rich in compassion. But for some reason, I trust that he has me, that he has grasped me, and he has made me his own. (see Philippians 3:12) Do you pray when you read the Bible? Do you believe that the Holy Spirit uses Scripture to "teach you for your own good"? One of the objectives I feel is impressed on me most, by the Holy Spirit, while preparing and teaching my 1st and 2nd grade Religion School class, is to teach them that reading the Bible can be like reading a love letter from God to us. I really try to get the kids hooked on reading the Bible, that they will learn things about God's Glory and Power and Love and Mercy in its words that are actually purposely hidden from them in the things they will hear in the world. I teach them that there is a difference between a person that goes to church or tries to be a good person, and a person that faithfully turns to the Bible to be taught and loved by God in its words. There are people that go to church but don't understand the commandments to love and to forgive and to pray for our enemies. There are people that go to church but don't understand that we are forbidden to indulge in horoscopes or fortune telling. There are people that go to church and don't understand the clear warnings of St. Paul on drunkenness and fornication. (see Ephesians 5:3) Of course it doesn't help when we get this reading at church and the priest squirms while it is proclaimed and then doesn't touch it with a 100 foot pole during the homily. There are people that have been brought up Catholic or Protestant or Jewish and then personally use the Lord's name in vain, including the Lord Jesus Christ's name in vain repeatedly during the day. You know what? I've never heard a priest mention why this is sinful, shameful and sad in a homily at Mass? I've heard a priest speak powerfully on how powerful the name of Jesus is, but not to mention how horrific it is that someone "who has been given much" (see Luke 12:47-49) i.e. the gift of faith and knowledge of Christ's sacrifice, could then routinely use the name of Jesus Christ in place of a curse word when they are angry. How many parents model this behavior for their children? One of the first things that I think is impressed on someone that reads Scripture is that the holiness of God and his name are connected. When I hear people say "Jesus Christ" like other people use the f-bomb, it hurts. I pray for them. I pray the Divine Praises after Communion in reparation for their blasphemy. There seems to be quite a bit of this at my current job. During the third week we were doing a production conversion and a Chinese woman that probably knows very little about Jesus Christ, kept saying his name as a swear with a very think Chinese accent. Then another project manager consultant was put in a room with me. She seems to have gone to Catholic high school and she too was regularly saying Jesus Christ in anger throughout the day. This seems to have dropped off since I let her know I get over to the Daily Mass at Old St. Patrick's a couple times a week. Sorry for the rant there. Back to my point . . . the Lord does teach us and guide us on our path. Is he doing this for you? He has undeniably been doing this for me in abundance since as long as I can remember. Truly the cup of my understanding, my faith, my love for Him has been growing as a result of what he began teaching me through Holy Scripture, through the saints, through people pursuing holiness and greater love of God and neighbor, and through prayer throughout my life. (see Psalm 23:5) When you read passages like the following, you know he is telling you, "come closer. I want to hold you close to my heart. I love you more than you can understand. Trust in me! It hurts me when you don't trust in me!" The Lord called me before I was born, while I was in my mother’s womb he named me. (Isaiah 49:1) 14 But Zion said, ‘The Lord has forsaken me, my Lord has forgotten me.’ 15 Can a woman forget her nursing-child, or show no compassion for the child of her womb?Even these may forget, yet I will not forget you. 16 See, I have inscribed you on the palms of my hands; (Isaiah 49:14-16) Besides scripture, two saints in particular teach us what it means to trust God and to trust him wholeheartedly for our salvation because his mercy, his Divine Mercy, which gushed from his pierced side in the form of his Precious blood and water. He is our mediator before the justice of God. These two saints are St. Faustina and St. Therese of the Child Jesus and of the Holy Face. St. Therese's Offering to Merciful Love (long version) focuses on the fact that there is nothing we can do to merit heaven, instead we rely on the love of God who spared not his only beloved Son (John 3:16), and on the merits of Jesus, on his heart burning with Love. Since You loved me so much as to give me Your only Son as my Savior and my Spouse, the infinite treasures of His merits are mine. I offer them to You with gladness, begging You to look upon me only in the Face of Jesus and in His heart burning with Love. We should all realize that God's condescension to save us, his Mercy is greater than we can imagine. How quickly we in our humanity are to overlook a coldness or slight from a friend we love. How quickly I grab my own child in my arms when he looks at me with pleading eyes, and is yelling through tears, "Mom, I am sorry," looking for forgiveness and a hug. God is Pure Love. God is Kindness. God is Compassion. God is Mercy. Why would I fear him when he has already led me in the path I should go. And what is that path? It is to follow the Good Shepherd by reading, knowing, and following his teaching and example. By asking him to hold us close to his heart that we might be transformed by his love and mercy. I told this woman that I don't think it will be as fearful as she imagines. I think she will experience different emotions than fear. We have the hope and assurance that we will see Jesus Christ face to face when we die. He will be shining in glory, brighter than the sun, his clothes brighter than the snow as was described in the Gospel accounts of the Transfiguration. His eyes will be full of love and mercy toward us. We may be filled with deep regret, that we may even experience viscerally like St. Catherine of Genoa writes, that we were anything less than adoring, loving and seeking after his will and following his commandments faithfully in life. But how will we not be ecstatically happy, filled with joy beyond this life's comprehension, as one priest said, "take the happiest you've been in your life and multiply it by infinity", to have the privilege of being in front of him, and knowing that he has given us the gift of eternal life with him? This is what St. Thomas Aquinas actually said about purgatory: St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologia, Two Notes on Purgatory It seems that the pains of purgatory are greater than all pains of this life. The pain of loss (that is, the pain of delay in coming to the beatific vision) is the greater of the two types of pain in purgatory. The lesser is the pain of sense.

HIDDEN ERROR: Usage of "spouse" is not recognized Kelly Willis (born October 2, 1968) is an American country music singer-songwriter, whose music has been described as alternative country and new traditionalist. Born in Lawton, Oklahoma, United States, Willis was the youngest of three children. While her father was a U.S. Army colonel, Willis's mother had a strong interest in music and sang and acted in amateur musicals. Willis began singing when she was nine as a way to comfort herself after her parents divorced. After the divorce, Willis and her siblings lived with her father and moved around the country to accommodate her father's military job. She spent her middle school years in North Carolina and her high school years in Annandale, Virginia. Heavily influenced by her mother, who used to sing in local musicals, Kelly became interested in music. One day during a high school visit to the beach, she entered a nearby pay recording booth and sang her own version of Elvis Presley's "Teddy Bear." With the demo in hand, Willis impressed her then boyfriend, drummer Mas Palermo, and joined his rockabilly band at the age of 16. The band took her on as the lead vocalist and soon rechristened the band Kelly Willis & the Fireballs. After Willis's high school graduation, the band decided to move to Austin, Texas, to participate in the vibrant Austin music scene. After a few months in Austin, however, the band broke up. Willis and Palermo, married in 1989, formed a new band called Radio Ranch. In Austin, Willis attracted the notice of several influential Texas singer-songwriters including Nanci Griffith and Lyle Lovett. Griffith introduced MCA producer Tony Brown to Willis. Brown was very impressed with Willis's vocal abilities and signed her to the MCA label in 1989. MCA embarked on a big marketing campaign to tout Willis after she recorded her first album on the label, the 1990 album Well Travelled Love. MCA ensured that Willis was interviewed by several national magazines including unusual venues like Vogue and Mademoiselle. Her voice appeared in the 1991 Ridley Scott-produced movie Thelma and Louise, singing "Little Honey." Willis also had a small part in Tim Robbins' 1992 film Bob Roberts. Willis appears as the young woman standing in a shallow stream in Dwight Yoakam's video of "A Thousand Miles from Nowhere". Despite of all the publicity and positive reviews from most reviewers, Well Travelled Love and Willis's subsequent albums for MCA (Bang Bang in 1991 and Kelly Willis in 1993) sold modestly and received very little radio play. During this time, Willis felt uncomfortable with the way she was marketed by MCA. In 1994, MCA released Willis from her contract. In 1995, Willis collaborated with Jay Farrar on the song "Rex's Blues", which appeared on the AIDS benefit album Red Hot + Bothered produced by the Red Hot Organization. Willis continued to pursue her music career after leaving MCA. In 1996, she recorded an EP for A&M Records entitled Fading Fast. However, her relationship with A&M was short-lived; after working with two major labels, Willis decided to record her next album on her own. Her efforts resulted in the 1999 album What I Deserve, which Willis sold to Rykodisc after finishing the album. What I Deserve received quite a bit of press after the album's release. It was commonly seen as Willis's response to her history with MCA, and was uniformly praised by critics, becoming a hit for Willis. Willis was also a judge for the 2nd annual Independent Music Awards to support independent artists' careers. In 2003, Willis and Bruce Robison, her husband and fellow country musician, released the record Happy Holidays, a cover album of Christmas songs. Starting in 2005, Willis and Robison appeared in television and radio commercials for the anti-allergy product Claritin. In Fall 2007, Willis released Translated From Love. It was recorded at Robison's studio, Premium Recording Services, in Austin, TX. and produced by Chuck Prophet, formerly of the band Green On Red. The album is co-written by Willis, Prophet and notable songwriter Jules Shear, and includes a cover version of Iggy Pop's "Success." In early 2008, Willis announced she would take an indefinite hiatus from live performances due to family obligations. Said Willis in a website announcement, "Being a traveling musician with four kids may not make an extremely compelling reality TV show but it is kicking my butt. I plan to continue making records. And I may do the occasional holiday show/song swap/benefit here and there.... Happy trails...until we meet again." Her winter / spring 2008 scheduled dates continued as planned until the final show May 2, 2008. Willis has recently begun to tour outside of Texas again; first she headlined the Northern Rockies Folk Festival in Hailey, Idaho on August 7, 2010. Next up, she performed at the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival at Speedway Meadow in Golden Gate Park in San Francisco on October 2, 2010. In 2011, Willis toured the United States with her husband Bruce Robison, performing new songs in preparation for an album with Robison. The album, Cheater's Game, was released on February 12, 2013. Willis and Robison began to tour to support the release on February 13, 2013 in New York City. Willis married high school boyfriend Mas Palermo in 1989, but they divorced in 1991. In 1992, Willis met Austin singer-songwriter Bruce Robison. After several years of dating, Willis and Robison married in 1996. After spending years on working, Willis turned to her family. She went through in vitro fertilization treatments, and gave birth to son Deral Otis in January 2001. Willis's experience with raising a child led to a different sort of album than the earlier What I Deserve. In 2002, Willis released Easy. The album expresses Willis's contentment with her new life through songs with a relaxed, mellow vibe. After the album's release, Willis became pregnant again and gave birth to twins Abigail Esme and Benjamin James on March 24, 2003 On January 10, 2006 Kelly welcomed 4th child Joseph Willis Robison; he weighed 8 pounds, 14 ounces was 19.75 inches long.

An unvarnished look at the emotional havoc that ensues when middle-class housewife Kira (Stine Stengade) returns home after a lengthy stay in a mental hospital, anchored by devastating performances. Kira hasn't been home an hour before she's accusing the bewildered housekeeper of sleeping with her husband, Mads (Lars Mikkelsen) who's actually been having an affair with Kira's sister, Charlotte (Camilla Bendix) and his welcome-home party throws her into a tailspin. The following day, a trip to the public pool with their two small sons ends in disaster: Flouting the rules, Kira joins the boys in splashing around the children's pool, frightening the other youngsters and prompting the lifeguards to intervene. Kira refuses to get out and resists their attempts to remove her with such manic violence that both Mads and the police are summoned. She drowns her restlessness in alcohol and winds up on an all-night bender that ends in a strange man's bed; again, Mads must collect Kira. Director/co-writer Ole Christian Madsen's portrait of a deteriorating marriage in which husband and wife love each other not wisely but too well was made according to austere Dogme 95 principles (it's the 21st Dogma film to date), giving it an unpolished look that mirrors the characters' emotional rawness. The film parcels out information about Kira and Mads almost entirely through dialogue, resisting pop-psychological prattle terms like "co-dependent," "enabler" and "dysfunctional family" are conspicuous by their absence and allowing the actors to inhabit characters who are painfully contradictory, frustrating, flawed, vulnerable and bound to each other. Kira's desperate neediness is off-putting but clearly rooted in her brittle sense of inadequacy; her vivaciousness, which must once have been alluring, now has a frightening edge. Mads is devoted to material success (he's the first in his family to own a house) and neglects his home life for work, but he also puts up with Kira's antics in the apparent hope that the woman he married will some day return from the grip of madness. A late-night visit to Kira's father (Sven Wolter) speaks volumes about her insecurities and instability he abandoned his family because he couldn't deal with his wife's emotional outbursts without laying the blame for her troubles at his feet. It also foreshadows an ambiguous ending whose superficially hopeful air is undermined by the darker suspicion that Kira is dragging Mads into the thicket of her tortured derangement. Cast & Details See all » - Released: 2002 - Rating: NR - Review: An unvarnished look at the emotional havoc that ensues when middle-class housewife Kira (Stine Stengade) returns home after a lengthy stay in a mental hospital, anchored by devastating performances. Kira hasn't been home an hour before she's accusing the b… (more)

By: Kelly Robinson On a Saturday afternoon, just a few hours before I had to be at work, I found myself climbing the narrow stairs leading up to belly dancing studio. I was about to take a sex writing class. Specifically, I was about to take a class called “How to Write About Sex for Fun and Profit.” While the choice of venue was probably due mostly to the logistics of finding empty studio space on a Saturday afternoon, the decor in our room was almost alarmingly literal for our purposes. The smell of incense had worked its way into the wood. There were soft cushions flung about, something that might be a pair of adult-sized wings in a corner, and a lit candle flickering on a low table. It was impossible for me to ignore the unintentional symbolism of a red lantern. I moved a guitar out of the way and settled in on a plush love seat. I had no idea what to expect. I had spent an hour debating about what to even wear. (“What do you wear to a sex writing class?” I asked my Facebook friends. “Emily Post is strangely silent on the matter.”) There were two reasons I decided to take this workshop, and one of them is Kali Meister. She’s an actress, a writer, a teacher, a filmmaker, and about a dozen other things. She’s hilarious and smart. My effusiveness is going to make it sound like I’m doing a plug for a pal, so I’ll be clear about the fact that I’ve only met her twice, but I definitely keep up with what she’s doing –which seems to be everything. I wouldn’t be shocked to learn she can also rebuild carburetors or can play classical music on wine glasses. I do know this: if she wanted to do either of those things, she would. And she’d be damned good at them, too. The other reason is that, while I don’t feel like I have a problem writing about sex … I have a problem writing about sex. I have a short story that has stalled because I feel like something’s missing, and a novel project with a crucial sex scene that I’ve managed to write completely around. I’ve been telling myself that I’m saving it for last because it won’t be difficult, when in all honesty, I’m saving it for last because I don’t want to actually have to write it. I went into the workshop looking for the fast fix. I was hoping for a list of tips, like the writer’s equivalent of an article in Cosmo — something I could scan, pick and choose from, finding the ones that are right for me in the midst of all the goofy stuff. A part of me was also hoping for a magic formula. The setting sure seemed right for it, with the heady smells and the Oriental rugs. I half expected Kali to crook a finger, move us in more closely, and begin in a whispery voice: “Here’s what you do ….” Spoiler alert: I wasn’t given a magic formula. And, while I did glean some useful tips, they weren’t in the form of a checklist called “100 Brand New Tricks for Super-Hot Sex Scenes You Can Write This Weekend.” Though focused on sex writing in particular, the class wasn’t specifically about erotica, and it certainly wasn’t about writing the next 50 Shades of Grey. Kali was quick to point out the sexual content in all kinds of literature, reading excerpts from Bastard Out of Carolina and The Bell Jar. Neither were scenes meant to titillate, especially in the Dorothy Allison reading, which dealt with child abuse. It’s a disturbing bit of writing with a distinct literary voice. It’s haunting. But, most importantly for the purposes of the class, it’s also sexual. Sex is not just about what is sexy alone, we were told, and the book excerpts made that clear. Its not even just about the act itself. “You can have a sexual experience eating a cupcake,” Kali laughed. She also talked about the fact that every person is a sexual being — something to remember when developing characters. “Even virgins can write good erotica,” Kali said. In case we doubted the fact, she asked us to remember what it was like to be one, and the kinds of thoughts and fantasies we had. Point taken. Who else is capable of writing good sex scenes? Really bad lovers. Sex scenes don’t have to be about perfect experiences any more than sex itself is always a good experience. Kali asked us as a group, “Every time you have sex, is it a great experience?” Everyone shook their heads (with one woman alarmingly quick to shout “Noooooooooooo! I won’t detail everything covered, partly because I feel like the content of an instructor’s workshop ought to belong to her, it’s her work, but I also know that each writer gleans something different in a class. What was important for me to learn may not have been what the other people in the class took with them. I do hope that everyone took Kali’s advice to try to write what shames you. “Write it,” she said, practically begging us. “Write it, write it, write it!” What I ultimately learned is useful for any kind of writing. Between the readings and the discussions and the free-writing exercises, I took copious notes, but if I were to reduce them all to their essence, it comes down to two things. 1) Break down your boundaries. 2) Be authentic. Fast fixes don’t work for writing good scenes any better than Cosmo lists can give you a fulfilling sex life. I made some steps toward breaking down some boundaries by going to the workshop in the first place, and I’m now armed with some ideas for next steps. Take a sex writing class, if you can find one in your area. As Kali might say: Take it, take it, take it! © Kelly Robinson, 2013.

INDIAN WELLS, Calif. — A year after a self-inflicted storm swept up this desert oasis, the dust has settled at the BNP Paribas Open. On the morning of last year’s finals, the tournament director, Raymond Moore, remarked on the debt of gratitude that he believed female players owed male players, whose “coattails,” he said, they were riding. “They are very, very lucky,” Moore said. “If I was a lady player, I’d go down every night on my knees and thank God that Roger Federer and Rafa Nadal were born, because they have carried this sport. They really have.” Caroline Wozniacki, who was eliminated from this year’s tournament on Thursday, said she felt that Moore’s remarks were no longer an issue. “Everyone loves coming back here, so I really think that last year’s comments are kind of forgotten now, and we just move on,” she said. Tommy Haas, a German-American player who competes sporadically on tour when not restricted by injuries, has filled the breach left by Moore’s resignation, becoming the tournament’s new director in June. Moore submitted his resignation to the event’s billionaire owner, Larry Ellison, 36 hours after his statements. Those remarks drew the outrage of Serena Williams, the runner-up last year, and her reaction was quickly echoed by others around women’s tennis. When the WTA and ATP tours shifted to Key Biscayne, Fla., conversation lingered on Moore and the topic of equal prize money, but only for a few days. “I think it was a really stressful situation, or just a situation that was talked about a lot, and then sort of just disappeared,” said Andrea Petkovic, often one of the WTA’s more outspoken players. In May, the tournament spokesman, Matt Van Tuinen, clarified to The Desert Sun that Moore had resigned from only two of his positions, and had remained chief executive of the Indian Wells Tennis Garden, the venue that hosts the tournament. Van Tuinen and the chief operating officer, Steve Birdwell, both said last week that Moore had since stepped down from that role and that his lone remaining title was “consultant to Mr. Ellison.” Neither Moore nor Ellison was made available for comment by the tournament. The unorthodox choice of an active player, Haas, was praised by the WTA’s chief executive, Steve Simon, who was the Indian Wells tournament director before Moore. “He’ll learn, and he’ll do fine,” Simon said. “He’s a great guy.” Wozniacki said, “I think they did the right thing by hiring Tommy Haas to be the tournament director.” Haas plans to play in the Miami Open this week, and on Friday, after Nick Kyrgios withdrew a few hours before his quarterfinal against Roger Federer, Haas stepped in and played an exhibition against Vasek Pospisil on the main court. Haas, 38, said his office at the tournament was the first of any kind he had ever had. “Coming to somewhere you can call your office, I really like it,” he said. “And you can leave your tennis stuff here, because you have courts around the corner, and one of the best facilities in the world to actually go out and hit some balls every once in a while. I’m really liking it.” Haas had planned to play in the tournament this year until ATP officials informed him during the Australian Open that rules prohibit directors from competing in their own events. Haas became friendly with Ellison during his playing career, staying at Ellison’s Porcupine Creek estate near the tournament, where Nadal has also stayed. Haas, who lives with his family in Los Angeles, said he had first inquired about the director position when Simon vacated it in 2015. “I’m so excited to be part of a team as well, because being a tennis player you’re always in charge of your own destiny,” Haas said. Haas said he had gained a greater appreciation for the complexities of running a tennis tournament. “In my early 20s, I wish I would have known a little bit more,” he said. “You take it for granted. ‘I’m landing, pick me up! Take me to the hotel! Why can’t I stay at this hotel? Give me another extra room!’ Things are now starting to make more sense.” Petkovic said that she had heard positive feedback from WTA officials about Haas, but that she would have preferred a different direction after Moore’s unceremonious exit. “If it was me, I would have put in a woman as tournament director,” she said. Haas did not dwell on Moore’s exit. “All I can say is it was unfortunate,” he said. “I think we were all in shock a little bit, but that’s in the past. We’re going to move forwards. “I think for me,” he continued, “the position was really all about moving forward, talking positively about the game of tennis, looking at all the upgrades we had. It truly is my responsibility: the fans, the players and the sponsors. I want to connect them more together.” Venus Williams, a leader for the equal treatment of women’s players throughout her career, spoke glowingly of the tournament and how it had handled the transition. “The women love playing here,” she said. “I was happy that the tournament did stand for equality and low tolerance of inequality. I think sometimes people make mistakes.” Williams, who boycotted the tournament from 2002 to 2015 after an abusive crowd jeered her family following her withdrawal from a semifinal match, said she was not holding on to Moore’s remarks. “If I wasn’t willing to move on, I wouldn’t be back in Indian Wells,” she said. “It’s no good to hang on to things.”

Man this new year is kicking off fast. Here are the dates and links for tickets for my January events: 1/12 - 'Barry' Screening with Adam Mansbach, Berkeley, CA 7:30 pm PST Join us for a screening of "Barry," a new biopic portraying a young Obama in his formative years at Columbia University, torn between the world of his white girlfriend and the African-American community. 1/16 - Stand-Up TV Taping for United Shades of America Season 2, Oakland, CA 6:00 pm PST United Shades of America is a documentary show that takes a humorous look at different cultures in the US. Kamau will be highlighting his unique take on America, its varied cultures-- the good, the bad, the beautiful and the ugly. Be part of a very intimate audience and help him launch the second season of his award-winning show. We will be filming all of the standup aspects of the show at the filming so come ready to laugh. 1/17 - Stand-Up TV Taping for United Shades of America Season 2, Oakland, CA 7:00 pm PST United Shades of America is a documentary show that takes a humorous look at different cultures in the US. Kamau will be highlighting his unique take on America, its varied cultures-- the good, the bad, the beautiful and the ugly. Be part of a very intimate audience and help him launch the second season of his award-winning show. We will be filming all of the standup aspects of the show at the filming so come ready to laugh. On January 19th (inauguration eve), Kamau and friends will take stage at Laney College's Odell Johnson Theater. Helping Kamau examine this very terrifying, but hopefully unifying point in our history will be Professor Ian Haney López, Pastor Michael McBride, and Feminist Muslim, Iranian-American comedian Zahra Noorbakhsh. Odell Johnson Performing Arts Center. 900 Fallon St, Oakland, CA 94607 1/24 - Sketchfest, 'Hollywood Shuffle' 30th Anniversary: Tribute to Robert Townsend and Keenen Ivory Wayans', San Francisco, CA 7:30 pm PST Kamau will moderate a conversation between comedy and filmmaking icons Robert Townsend and Keenen Ivory Wayans as they reunite to celebrate the 30th anniversary of their classic film "Hollywood Shuffle," a beloved satirical comedy about the racial stereotypes of African-Americans in film and television Alamo Drafthouse at the New Mission. 2550 Mission St, San Francisco, CA 94110 The audio from my Showtime comedy special, Semi-Prominent Negro, has been released as an album of the same name! The album was released on September 30th by Kill Rock Stars, and you can get it at any of the links below! She’s the Boss by W. Kamau Bell DOC MCSTUFFINS is one of the best shows on television. It’s also one of the most important shows in the history of television. And if you don’t know what I’m talking about, then you probably don’t have a child under the age of six living in your home. Doc McStuffins is a children’s show on Disney Jr. And Disney Jr. is ethering the game right now. (That’s probably not a sentence that’s written that often.) From Doc McStuffins to Sheriff Callie to Octonauts, they are dominating the two-to-five-year-old demographic. And they are doing it with music and good times, while also dropping knowledge on those preschool noggins. These shows are the kids’ show equivalent of Shonda Rimes’s Thursday night three-hour block, and Doc McStuffins is the Olivia Pope of children’s television. My family and I have been down with this show since the beginning. I feel like all those annoying Mad Men fans who’ve been clogging up my Twitter for the last five years. Like those fans, whenever I run into parents with preschoolers who aren’t down with Doc McStuffins, I look at them dismissively, as if to say, “Oh, I feel so sorry for you. Is it that you just don’t like joy?” Think I’m overselling the greatness of Doc McStuffins? Well, the FLOTUS herself, Michelle Obama, was a guest this week, on Monday, October 5th. Take that Don Draper . . . and Dora. I believe he is the greatest actor of all time period. "Best ever"??? COME ON! And over the last year of the podcast, myself and my co-host Kevin Avery have found that we are not the only ones. While our mission is to review all of Denzel's movies, we find the conversation often turns to diversity (of all kinds) in Hollywood. And often this conversation happens with the people who are trying to make Hollywood a more diverse place. Well now, we have the immediately legendary, director of Selma, Ava DuVernay. She had some thoughts about Denzel, diversity in Hollywood, Viola Davis's (also immediately legendary) Emmy speech, buying your own milk, and Denzel's sexiest movie, Mo' Better Blues. Wanna check that out? If not, them we may not be good for each other anymore. *Or they just came on the show because it sounded fun. Me and my new best friend Matt Martin, the program director at San Francisco public radio station, KALW, have decided to come together and work on a LIVE RADIO TALK SHOW EVENT. We're calling it "KAMAU RIGHT NOW!" The idea is a radio talk show based around what is going on right now, big and small, personal and political, real and imagined. We want to cut through the noise and sit in the lap pf the cultural zeitgeist and see if we can make sense of it all. Also there will be jokes shared, conversations, respectful disagreements, edutainment, and hugs... lots of hugs. And you can see it all if you get your tickets to the debut event, October 29th at The Freight & Salvage in Berkeley or you can listen LIVE at KALW.org. Here's the press release and a shareable image below... W. Kamau Bell is teaming up with KALW to create KAMAU RIGHT NOW! a live radio and social media event that will transform the political and cultural conversation of the moment into what Kamau calls “a three-ring circus of relevance.” Tune in for KAMAU RIGHT NOW! at 7pm on Thursday, October 29th – or be part of the live experience at The Freight and Salvage in Berkeley. Tickets are available at TheFreight.org. So please tune in and share the news so that we can all come together on October 29th at 7pm (PST) and figure out what is happening right now... then. So Tuesday my 1st piece debuted on CNN. CNN is the home of my upcoming race and culture travel series, The United Shades of America. And since I'm not Bourdain-level famous, they're going to be sending me out in the field to help build up some steam and momentum for the show. This first piece is on the Iowa State Fair. Check it out... Now that is one of the softest and fluffiest pieces I've ever done on TV. That ending is positively adorable. But that isn't stopping the Right Wingnuts from filling up my Twitter feed with accusations of me being racist. Most of the tweets coming from an article from Newsbusters who apparently think I'm still on Totally Biased... because apparently their Googlator is broken. The funny thing is that I was actually worried that people would think that the piece was too soft. If this piece was racist then I can't wait to see how people take the actual show, because it goes way harder than "Ku Klux Lambs". Waaaaaaaaaay harder. On second thought. I can wait. The Marsh Berkeley Arts Center 2120 Allston Way, Berkeley, CA 94704 So the first 6 shows of my Berkeley stand-up comedy residency, Home By 10, at The Marsh Cabaret are SOLD OUT. So we've added 6 more shows. And as an added benefit, these are all Fridays and Saturdays! So far, the shows have all been really fun and free and easy. It's been great working on the new (hopefully) classics, ripping apart the news, talking about my new life in Berkeley, kidding my kids, and getting to meet the people. But mostly it's been awesome being out of the house. One of the main reasons that I am happy to live in Berkeley is that is a city that is so legendary for it's inclusiveness and progressiveness that it is the go to punchline for jokes about those ideas. Even San Francisco, in it's liberal heyday of the aughts, could make fun of Berkeley for being too far left. Berkeley even voted against the war in Iraq WHEN IT HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH THE WAR IN IRAQ! Well, if Berkeley wants to keep that lefty reputation then it had better make sure it protects the rights of all of it's people. And homeless people are also Berkeley's people. There are many ways to approach homelessness. And reasonable people can have reasonable debates as to how to approach it. But if we take the simple actions of having a blanket, lying down, and holding a sign and turn those into criminal acts then we will lose the right to the reputation that Berkeley lives and thrives on. And it is a major disservice to people who are already in need of our help and support, because we all know that once you enter the criminal justice system --- no matter how minor the initial offense -- it can become nearly impossible to get out. These anti-homeless laws that the city council is proposing tomorrow night, June 30th, send a message about who is and who is not welcome in our public spaces. And if you know me, then you know I think we should all be able to go wherever we want on the streets of Berkeley. We should ALL be able to enjoy the sidewalks, parks, and occasionally even the cafes of our fine city. Here's what you can do... 1) Email Berkeley Mayor Tom Bates -- [email protected] --- and ask him to reconsider his support of these laws. (He voted for the original version of these, which was milder than the current version). You can do this even if you don't live in Berkeley. I don't have to tell you that it will work better if you are nice and persuasive. And if we don't do help support all of Berkeley's people, well then we might as well change the name of the city because Berkeley won't be Berkeley anymore. How about Unberkeley... or Notberkeley... or Modesto.* *Apologies to Modesto. I'm sure it's a lovely town. I just had a bad gig there one time, every time I had a gig there. Hey all, I'm back in NYC in May. I'm doing WNYC's Death, Sex, & Money show LIVE IN BROOKLYN! And I'll be there with a special guest, my wife, Melissa Hudson Bell Ph.D!!! If you can't be there, there will eb a podcast of the show afterwards. Details below and a link to tickets. Hope to see you there!* Death, Sex & Money is a show about the big questions and hard choices that are often left out of polite conversation. Host Anna Sale—dubbed “the Queen of the Awkward Pause” by Fast Company—-talks to people about relationships, money, family and work. This special live staging of Death Sex & Money will feature conversations with comedian and TV host W. Kamau Bell and Melissa Hudson Bell, Ph.D, Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Tracy K. Smith, and fashion tastemaker Simon Doonan and home décor guru Jonathan Adler. Luscious Jackson will bring the beats as Death, Sex & Money’s house band for the night. So many of you have asked me when the public conversation with the owner of the Elmwood Cafe is going to be. Well, I can finally announce that it will be next Friday, March 13th at 7pm at Willard Middle School on 2425 Stuart St, Berkeley, CA. That's the short of it. The long of it is below in the press release. Hope to see you there. Comedian W. Kamau Bell and The Elmwood Cafe, jointly invite you to a community forum on implicit bias and microaggression experiences in the East Bay Berkeley residents, W. Kamau Bell and his wife Dr. Melissa Hudson Bell, posted a blog on his website describing an incident that happened to them on January 26th at the Elmwood Cafe. It occurred between them and an employee of the café. Very quickly, the blog spread around the Bay Area and eventually all over the country. It was the kind of story mainstream media couldn’t resist: a local TV personality, accusations of racism, and the backdrop Berkeley reportedly the most liberal place in America. And usually that is where a story like that ends. But not this time. Soon after the incident Michael Pearce, an advocate for social justice and owner of the café reached out to the Bell family and immediately apologized. He said he wanted to know what he could do to make sure that this kind of incident never happened again. Melissa and Kamau said all they wanted was a conversation with him, and they wanted to invite the community to come participate. March 13th that conversation is happening. And thanks to the Berkeley Unified School District, it will be at Willard Middle School. The Bells and Michael Pearce will participate on a panel that will be facilitated by Berkeley’s own, Pamela Harrison-Small former Executive Director of the Berkeley Alliance. And just so it is clear that this is not just the story of the Bells struggles but how an unfortunate incident can be turned into positive change for the Berkeley community. The panel will also feature Berkeley High School Senior and President of the Berkeley High Black Student Union, Kadijah Means, ACLU-Northern California Staff Attorney, Novella Coleman, and other panelists TBA. After the panel, the floor will be opened up to members of the community who are in attendance for their comments and questions. The hope is that we will all leave with a broader understanding of the complex racial issues facing our community and have greater practice addressing them through conversation. Friday, March 13 Willard Middle School 2425 Stuart St, Berkeley, CA 94705 Follow up on Kamau Bell's highly publicized incident at Elmwood Café and to create an educational conversation about ways that implicit bias and microaggressions impact residents of the East Bay and offer concrete solutions and resources for fostering a culture of inclusivity. *To allow audience members to feel comfortable, news cameras will not be allowed into the community forum but reporters will. We will be recording the event and will kindly offer video clips from the event. UPDATE: My wife & I just talked to Michael Pearce, the owner of Elmwood Cafe & we've decided to have a public conversation about this. Details soon. Me & my wife are not calling for anyone to be fired, not asking for a boycott. We are going to have a public conversation. #SoYouCanComeToo You don’t know me. I know that for sure now. It’s not that I would expect you to know me, although many people in the Bay Area do, because of the work I’ve done as a stand-up comedian locally and on television. I’m known for something that The New Yorker called “intersectional progressivism.” That basically means I use jokes to fight for the people who don’t get a fair shake in the world. For the last several years, I have tried to learn as much as I can about oppression in all forms so that I can help make the world slightly more bearable with a few jokes. But that’s just my career. In my life, I am a person who loves The Bay Area. LOVE IT! I lived in San Francisco for 13 years and in Oakland for two. And even though I lived in SF mostly, I spent A LOT of time in The East Bay. I have done my own headlining shows at The New Parish, La Pena, The East Bay JCC, and Marga Gomez’s comedy nights at The Marsh. I love these audiences. The Bay Area is a place where all sorts of different people live together, explore new ideas and strive to uphold the idea made famous by children singer Raffi, “The more we get together the happier we’ll be!” To be honest though, my most fervent love is for Oakland. Which is why I was so excited recently when the people at Oaklandish gave me a hoodie. They just GAVE IT TO ME! I was walking past their pop-up shop at The Oakland Airport and one of their employees saw me, recognized me (I told you that people around here know me), and she awesomely and very generously gave me a hoodie. I love it. I wear it a lot. I was wearing it this past Monday, January 26, when I went to the Elmwood Cafe. It was my birthday. My wife, Melissa, wanted to take me out for a birthday breakfast after we had dropped our three and a half year old daughter, Sami, at school down the street. Melissa picked the Elmwood Cafe. She loves you. She loved you back when you were the old school soda fountain, Ozzie’s. And she loves you more now that you have been turned into a beautiful all day brunch spot. Melissa is a sucker for runny eggs, scones, and lemon curd. I blame Downton Abbey. So yes, we had breakfast there. But I know you don’t remember that, Elmwood Cafe. I know you don’t remember that because later that same day my wife went back to eat lunch with some new friends of hers. (I told you that she loves you. TWICE IN ONE DAY!) These are friends because, after two years in New York City, we moved back to the Bay Area last summer. My wife was pregnant and we wanted to have our second daughter back home. Our daughter, Juno, is now 13 weeks old. (I know. It’s crazy that her name is Juno considering that storm back east.) My wife’s new friends are all moms with new babies. When I heard that she had gone back to the Elmwood Cafe, I was happy she would get to have more of your food and ambiance. I was happy that you made her happy. While she was eating with her new friends, I was down the street at Espresso Roma Cafe working on my Macbook Air. I suppose I could have stayed at the Elmwood Cafe and worked after breakfast, but you are relatively small establishment and I didn’t want to take up a table. When I was done working I walked back down College Avenue to rejoin her and meet her new friends. I was just carrying my laptop with no bag because I knew I wouldn’t be out for long. On my way back I stopped at Mrs. Dalloway’s, the bookstore, and I bought a children’s book about the Lovings, the couple who went to the Supreme Court and successfully argued for the striking down of laws that banned interracial marriage in 17 states. This is relevant to me because I’m black and my wife is white. That part I know that you know. Because of the series of events that followed me buying this book. They are as follows: 1. After buying the book and deciding not to get a bag for the book, I walk to the Elmwood Cafe. 2. I see my wife and her new mom friends all happily chatting and holding their babies while sitting at an outside table. It struck me how well my wife fit in with these new friends. (And not just because they were all white… although I think that may have made a difference to you.) 3. I walk over to them. My wife introduces me to them. 4. One of them asks about the book I am holding. 5. I show her the book. 6. Seconds later there is a loud series of knocks on the window of the Elmwood Cafe. They are coming from the inside of the restaurant. 7. I look up and see one of your employees staring daggers at me. 8. The employee then jerks her head to her left aggressively and I see her mouth say something to the effect of… Seriously. That is what happened. OK. Maybe it wasn’t exactly, “SCRAM!” Maybe it was, “GIT!” Or maybe it was, “GO!” Whatever it was, it was certainly directed at me. And it was certainly the kind of direction you should only give to a dog… a dog that you, yourself, own. Or maybe you could yell that at a dog that you don’t own, but a dog that you are afraid is going to attack a group of moms and their babies. I was stunned. Caught totally flatfooted. My wife saw the look on my face. Later she told me that what I heard was in fact the second round of knocks on the window. My wife apparently thought it was a person who recognized me from my work who was excited to see me. (Look, Elmwood Cafe, I know you don’t know who I am but it does actually happen sometimes that people who know my work are excited to see me.) But when my wife saw the hurt expression on my face, she knew it wasn’t a fan. It was… something really shitty happening to her husband at her (soon to be formerly) favorite breakfast spot. I told her (which meant I had to awkwardly tell these other women I just met) what just happened. I wanted to run away. I was actually strangely embarrassed, as if I had done something wrong. (Through my reading I have learned that’s one way oppression also works, from the inside.) I felt numb, like I was going to pass out. And then an employee — maybe the same one — walked out of the cafe to once again deliver the “Get out of here!” message. I guess since I was still standing there you figured that I hadn’t heard it the first time. But then your employee hesitated and looked around. And I guess she realized that no one at the table was bothered by my presence. We were in fact only bothered by her presence. We were bothered by the fact that we we currently standing in Berkeley, California, a city so allegedly liberal that even the most progress-y progressives make fun of it, and yet thanks to you, it is where I as a black man was being told to “GIT!” like it was 1963, Selma, Alabama, and I was crashing a meeting of The New Moms of the Confederacy. In that moment, your employee delivered the line that has become an instant classic in our family: “Oh, we thought you were selling something.” What the hell was that supposed to mean? You thought I was selling something so you thought you’d tell me to “GIT!” without first walking outside to find what was going on? And is “selling something” enough for you to bark at me through a plate glass window? And is the equivalent of “Oops!” enough to get you off the hook? The answer to the last two questions is, “No.” At this point Melissa couldn’t take it anymore. Melissa: “He is my husband.” Your employee: “I’m sorry.” Me: “This is my wife. That is my daughter. I just ate here earlier today.” Your employee, not even looking at me: “I’m sorry.” Me: “I bet you are.” Quickly Melissa gathered herself and our daughter and we left. Much sooner than we would have wanted to in a perfect world… or even in just . Melissa talked to your employee. Melissa explained that although we had eaten there twice that day and even though she loved the Elmwood Cafe that we would not be back after the racism that we had just experienced. That’s when your employee told my wife, “I don’t think it was a race thing.” Ummm… actually a black man being told to leave a restaurant because the restaurant believes that his presence is harassing four white women and their kids, even though there is literally to support that is TEXT BOOK racism. It is so old school it has a wing in the racism museum, right between the sit-ins at lunch counters and a southern redneck telling a black man on a business trip, “You ain’t from around here, are ya, boy?” My wife told your employee in no uncertain terms that we ABSOLUTELY knew it WAS a race thing, because . Full disclosure, I heard about this exchange after it happened when we were headed home. While my wife was talking to your employee, I was cooing at my daughter in the car, for two reasons. 1) I love my daughter’s fat cheeks and big hazel eyes. And 2) I knew if I stood over my wife with my 6’4”, 250lb frame that it could very easily be spun that I was standing over your employee, and maybe that I was trying to intimidate her, or even worse that I was getting aggressive. I didn’t want to end up a hashtag. Again, we live with this shit everyday. And look I understand that on College Avenue in “Berserkeley” that you might get some characters coming through your establishment that you might not want to serve. And it is your right to refuse service. For example, when we had breakfast that morning, there was a white guy with dreadlocks sitting directly across from your doorway spare change-ing everyone who went into and out of your restaurant. And I could understand if a business thought he was bothering people and if that business had asked him to leave. But he was there we had breakfast, at least an hour, and I didn't see anyone tell him to, “SCRAM!” But when I stood amicably talking to my wife for a few minutes, it was a different story. I think me and that white guy were both even wearing hoodies, so it can’t be how I was dressed. Plus mine was a super cool Oaklandish one. I guess in his hoodie he had a more than me. So Elmwood Cafe, we won’t be back, and that sucks, because my wife really, really liked you. And she’s one of those people who really talks a lot about the things she likes. And I haven’t been impressed with your response to this situation. Your employee’s apology was weak. One of my wife’s new (and hopefully future) friends even tried to talk to someone in the restaurant after we left, and that person apparently still believed . CAN YOU BELIEVE THAT? I promise you I’m not selling my Macbook Air to anyone. I love it too much. And since I had just bought that book about the Loving couple, that’s not going anywhere either. That’s for my daughters. And later that day I posted a picture of myself in the same clothes to your Facebook fanpage. I suggested that you Google me since you clearly didn’t know who I was. I don’t blame you for not knowing me. But I did hope that maybe you would look me up and discover how ridiculous that whole situation was. And how it was so mishandled by you from start to finish. I thought you might reach out to me. But you haven’t. Despite everything, I do believe in peoples’ ability to learn new things and in a business’ abilities to conduct better practices. It’s a key component to my intersectional progressivism. But that doesn’t mean you get have to have my family’s patronage as you go about your learning curve. And you definitely don’t deserve my silence. Because I believe if you told me to scram then you have probably done that or something equally dehumanizing (or worse) to another innocent person. And I definitely believe it will happen again if I don’t say something. And as much as it would be “easier” to let it go, if I did that I wouldn’t be fulfilling my duties as a member of the advisory Board of Race Forward, a racial justice organization, and I certainly wouldn’t be living up to my responsibilities as The ACLU’s Racial Justice Ambassador. Yup, thankfully I have little bit of a platform to try and prevent this from happening to anyone else. Anyway, the waffles were still delicious, but I’ll be down the street at Espresso Roma Cafe from now on. And my wife will have to find runny eggs, scones, and lemon curd elsewhere. W. Kamau Bell (And Dr. Melissa Hudson Bell, Ph.D… She co-wrote and cosigns this.) Yesterday, I went to two birthday parties for four year olds. Two in one day. Separated by enough time to go home take a deep breath and head back out again. Now, I’m not a creep. I had an a reason to be there. I was with my 3 and a half year old daughter. I’m happy that my daughter’s social schedule is so packed. It helps validate why me and the family returned to the Bay Area. But normally I wouldn’t be at both parties. Me and my wife would have roshambo’ed for who went to which party. Or we would’ve picked out parties based on the activities at the parties. (My wife would’ve loved the second one. It was at a gymnastics school.) We didn’t split the duties this time because our new daughter is two weeks old and my wife is currently embedded in breastfeeding. Which brings me to why I’m writing. I am canceling some dates on the tour. I have no idea what I was thinking in booking such an aggressive schedule so soon after the birth of my second child. (Oh wait. I remember. I had no idea how hard this would be.) I guess I thought two kids would only be twice as hard. Two kids isn’t twice as hard anymore than getting hit by a second train right after the first train is twice as hard. So sorry, Kansas City, Des Moines, Omaha, Ferndale, and Cincinnati. I’ll be back soon when we have time to figure this all out. And when I’m (hopefully) going on more than five hours of sleep a night. I talked about this recently on the Pete Holmes podcast. I said when you are a comic and a parent, parenting takes up like 80% of your brain whereas before comedy could pretty much get all of it. Well with this second kid so far parenting has taken up 99%. She’s a greedy one, being all newly born and all. Also — and this doesn’t sound cool or funny I know — but I like my family and this seems like an important time to be there. Going nearly three weeks without being home seems more than crazy. It seems dumb. So please forgive me Kansas City, Des Moines, Omaha, Ferndale, and Cincinnati. I fucked up and I need to scale back some. I still love you. I just love my family more. W. KAMAU BELL ANNOUNCES OH, EVERYTHING! TOURFan Presale Starts Thursday Sept 18, 10am PT Time Tickets Onsale Friday Sept 19, 11am Local Time W. Kamau Bell announces dates for his Oh, Everything! Stand-up Comedy winter tour, which kicks off in November and runs through the end of January 2015, taking the comedian from coast to coast and everywhere in between. A fanclub presale begins today, Thursday, September 18th at 10am PT time www.wkamaubell.com. General public presale starts tomorrow, Friday September 19th at 11am local time. VIP Packages are also available at $50 to benefit Race Forward. These packages will include a post-show meet and greet with W. Kamau Bell and an autographed, personalized tour poster. Dates below. All tickets are available at www.wkamaubell.com. Socio-political comedian W. Kamau Bell’s Oh, Everything! promises to be a comedic attack on everything he can’t stop thinking about, including but not limited to homophobia, the ’N” word, gentrification, President Obama, why the borders should be opened, his mixed race kids, your “friends”, your “followers”, why he could never be an atheist, why his God looks like Denzel Washington with dreadlocks, guns, guns, guns, and of course Kamau’s old buddy racism! The title of Kamau’s tour dates back to his days on Totally Biased. Kamau and the writers would often sit back and find gallows humor in the dark subject matter they tackled. At the end of a big laugh about a difficult subject, someone would sit back and say, “Oh, George Zimmerman!” OR “Oh, The GOP’s War on Women!” OR “Oh, Donald Trump!” And eventually these recurring expressions just morphed into, “Oh, Everything!” Kamau has emerged as the post-modern voice of comedy, hailed by the New York Times as “the most promising new talent in political comedy in many years,” and voted San Francisco’s best comedian by the SF Weekly, the SF Bay Guardian, and 7×7 Magazine. Kamau may be most recognizable for his critically acclaimed FX/FXX comedy series Totally Biased with W. Kamau Bell. Kamau was creator, writer and host of the show, which was executive produced by Chris Rock who became a fan of Kamau’s after seeing his one man show, The W. Kamau Bell Curve: Ending Racism in About an Hour. Totally Biased was nominated for “Best Talk Series” at the 2012 NAACP Image Awards and Salon.com listed Kamau on their “Sexiest Men of 2012” list, calling the series “surreptitiously revolutionary in its effortless diversity and humanism.” The San Francisco Chronicle raved, “it makes The Daily Show seem like something your dad watches.” Kamau’s writing has appeared on Salon.com, Buzzfeed, and colorlines.com. His recent Buzzfeed article on the lack of diversity in mainstream late night talk show hosts was quoted (and misquoted) all over the Internet, including in The Hollywood Reporter. Kamau’s TV, radio and podcast appearances include HBO’s Real Time with Bill Maher, Conan on TBS, WTF with Marc Maron, The View, NPR’s Fresh Air with Terry Gross, and Comedy Central’ s @midnight and John Oliver’s New York Stand-Up Show. Race Forward advocates for racial justice, focusing on issues such as immigration, LGBT liberation, and economic equity. Race Forward accomplishes its impactful work through leadership development, research, and via its award-winning daily news site, Colorlines. For more information visit: www.raceforward.org. W KAMAU BELL’S “OH, EVERYTHING!” COMEDY TOUR 9/21 – Tempe, AZ @ The Tempe Improv 9/22 – San Diego, CA @ Mad House Comedy Club 9/23 – Los Angeles, CA @ Largo 11/4 – Kansas City, MO @ Record Bar 11/5 – Columbia, MO @ Mojo’s 11/6 – Oklahoma City, OK @ Oklahoma Contemporary Arts Center 11/8 – Austin, TX @ Fun Fun Fun Fest 11/9 – Houston, TX @ Warehouse Live 11/11 – Des Moines, IA @ Wooly’s 11/12 – Omaha, NE @ The Waiting Room 11/13 – Iowa City, IA @ The Mill 11/14 – St. Paul, MN @ The Turf Club 11/15 – Madison, WI @ High Noon Saloon 11/16 – Milwaukee, WI @ Shank Hall 11/19 – Ferndale, MI @ Magic Bag 11/20 – Cincinnati, OH @ Taft Theatre 11/21 – Pittsburgh, PA @ Garfield Artworks 11/22 – Washington, DC @ Sixth & I 11/23 – Philadelphia, PA @ Underground Arts 12/3 – Manchester, NH @ Shaskeen Pub 12/4 – Burlington, VT @ Nectars 12/5 – Portland, ME @ Port City Music Hall 12/6 – Providence, RI @ Fete Lounge 12/7 – New York, NY @ SubCulture 1/6 – New Orleans, LA @ Tipitina’s 1/7 – Little Rock, AR @ Juanita’s Cantina 1/8 – Jackson, MS @ Duling Hall 1/9 – Memphis, TN @ Minglewood Hall – 1884 Lounge 1/10- Nashville, TN @ Exit In 1/14 – Athens, GA @ The Melting Point 1/15 – Knoxville, TN @ The Pilot Light 1/16 – Birmingham, AL @ Zydeco 1/17 – Atlanta, GA @ Vinyl 1/21 – Portland, OR @ Hollywood Theatre 1/22 – Eugene, OR @ WOW Hall 1/23 – Spokane, WA @ The Bartlett 1/24 – Seattle, WA @ Langston Hughes Performing Arts Institute Press requests to Sheila Kenny at Right On! PR [email protected] // o. 512-487-5005 // c. 917-847-9977 I was having one of those great stand-up comedy nights. And this was about four years ago, when I didn't have that many great stand-up comedy nights. At that point I was a San Francisco comedian whose options were not necessarily running out but they were limited. So I was happy knowing that going in it was gong to be a great night. I was already scheduled that night to feature for Bill Burr at Cobb’s Comedy Club in SF. This was at the point that Bill was really taking off. His audiences were big and knew they were the cool kids for knowing who he was before everybody else. I knew in advance it was going to be good. But before I was scheduled to go on at Cobb’s that night, I had to do a five minute set at a benefit for Glide Memorial Church, a church with a truly progressive social justice agenda. Forget about “What Would Jesus Do?” Glide was about “What Jesus Actually Did.” Helping the poor, the sick, the disenfranchised. The benefit was a huge deal. It was at The Warfield, a 2000 seat theater. It was filled with the movers and shakers of SF. And the show that night featured, singers, musicians, choirs, and a few comedians. Those comedians were me, Johnny Steele, Selene Luna, Steven Pearl, and Robin Williams. I had met Robin kinda, sorta before. As an SF comedian we were all accustomed those nights he would just show up around town. He had a home here. And he was sort of still looked at as local, just the most famous one. It wasn’t often that he showed up on the scene. It wasn’t regular. But when it happened. It happened in streaks. You’d show up at Cobb’s on a showcase night and on the line-up behind the desk where you’d look to see what time you were on, you’d read the name of a comic that you’d never heard off… AND THAT COMIC WAS HEADLINING??? Eventually somebody would let it slip that the name was just a sneaky way to say, “Robin Williams” without having everybody freakout. Because that’s what people did when even the hint of Robin was around, they freaked out. When Robin was on these runs around town, it would start at Cobb’s, then maybe the Punch Line, and then suddenly you’d see him at a full on open mic. He showed up often at The Mock Cafe in the Mission. The Mock was so small I think it was shut down in order to turn it into an elevator. (I’m not kidding.) Robin would show up at The Mock and a room that felt full with fifteen people — and packed to the gills with 20 — would have 50 people struggling to see around the pillar that went right down the center of the “room”, blocking the view of Robin Williams on a stage the size of a twin mattress. People would just be walking by the “club” on their way to dinner or to do laundry or on their way to nothing, and they would see — or hear — that Robin was in there, and suddenly all plans were canceled. No one was turning down a chance to see Robin Williams doing exactly what you wanted him to be doing — BEING ROBIN WILLIAMS! Once the owner of The Mock — who also owned The Marsh — realized what was going on in her C room, she had strict instructions for her to be called the minute he entered the building, so she could get down there right away. I was there many of those evenings. I got to see him be him at Cobb’s and I got to see him at The Mock Cafe. It was always electric. It was always overwhelming. It was always hilarious. And I always felt lucky to be there. Joe Klocek pointed out to me that Robin regularly got a standing ovation on his way up to the stage, before he’d even said anything. This was before cameraphones were ubiquitous, and yet when he hit the stage suddenly everybody had a camera. He would usually do an hour. The first five was just him responding to people responding to him. And then he would get to work and just be a comic working on bits. Much of which ended up in his “Live on Broadway” HBO special. I’m sure I met him on one of those nights. Maybe I even talked to him. I’m sure he didn’t remember. But he was very approachable. He always hung out with the comics before he went on, even if those comics were the open mikers whose biggest credits were, “I got to hang out with Robin Williams one night.” That night at The Glide Benefit I actually met him for reals. I was a comic who was on the show with him. And since it was this “big wig” show, all the comics took a picture together. And then the show started. I wanted to do well for a bunch of reasons. 1) Because I always want to do well. 2) Because there’s nothing worse than bombing at a benefit. Trust me. I’ve done it… recently. 3) ROBIN WAS WATCHING. And although I followed a full-on gospel choir, I had a good set. It felt good. I didn’t drop the ball. I got the crowd refocused from choir to jokes. And then I said good night, and immediately I hopped in my wife’s car with her. And we beat it over to Cobb’s where I featured for Bill Burr minutes later. It was a great stand-up comedy night. And it was made better by the fact that I later heard that Robin had thought I was funny, and he had spent time looking for me at The Benefit after I had left. And he had asked one of the organizers if he could have my contact info. (I told her that he could because… YES!) And then one day out of the blue I got an email from an email address that didn’t have the words “Robin” or “Williams” anywhere in it, but it was him. And he told me that my stand-up was a “revelation” and “you got the spark.” Robin had no idea how often I thought of the fact that HE thought I had “the spark.” He had no idea that those simple words helped dig me out of my own dark corners and emotional dead ends. Even now I spend more time offstage wondering if this career makes any sense for me than I spend onstage doing it. And his simple words have often made a difference in me getting up and getting at it again and again. And I’m not the only comic by a longshot who he reached out to and “bonafide.” He was obviously still a fan of stand-up, and he also understood that kind words from him meant a lot. He just had a generous spirit, which people in positions even close to his position don’t always have. He was generous in one more way too. He donated money to a film project I was working on without even being asked really. He just heard about it and wanted to help. My wife cried last night when she saw the still from the movie Aladdin that Evan Rachel Wood tweeted of The Genie hugging Aladdin. That’s who he was to her. And that’s when it really hit her that he was gone. But I’m a little older than my wife, for me he will always be Mork. And I’m not being condescending. When I was a little kid, Mork was my hero as much as Spider-Man and The Hulk. As far as I was concerned they all had superpowers. They all seemed bigger than life. To me Robin had more in common with greatest athletes than other entertainers. He had all the tools. His standard was so high the rest of us comics won’t even have to worry about being compared to him. You can still be in the NBA but still be miles away from being Michael Jordan. When I was thinking about how amazing it is to see so many people show so much love in Robin’s death, one thing struck me. For so many of us, Robin first got us when we were kids. You don’t forget those entertainers who got you back then. But then Robin did near the impossible. He circled back and got us again when were adults. It’s kinda like if Steve from Blues Clues grew up to be Richard Pryor. And yes, Robin was a complicated human with a complicated history, much of which he covered in his very open interview with Marc Maron. And now he's gone. I already miss him. I know you just heard from me a week ago, but now that I'm back in the Bay Area for good (READ MORE ABOUT THAT HERE.) and we've found a new home... and a new pre-school... and a new mid-wife... and most excitingly... A NEW TRADER JOES(!) I'm ready to get back to work! Last week, I told you about my residency in San Francisco at The Cynic Cave (It's almost sold out). I also told you about my return to Largo in Los Angeles. (Get your tickets here.) And today I am adding two more cities to this growing "tour." SHOWS ADDED IN TEMPE, AZ AND SAN DIEGO, CA Today at 11am PT, advance tickets will go on sale on my site for shows in Tempe, AZ on 9/21 and in San Diego, CA on 9/22. And both of these shows will be for just 15 bucks. THAT'S A 2014 SHOW AT 2004 PRICES! I'm practically giving the comedy away! As I add more shows, I'm really trying to keep the ticket prices low in my effort to be stand-up comedy Fugazi. (Now there's a musical reference worth Googling.) Get your PRESALE TICKETS HERE for one day only (and then they will be on sale to the public tomorrow at 11am PT): MY MOM'S NEW BOOK! Also please continue to support my mom's Kickstarter for her new book, like you've been doing. There are only five days left and we are still a good ways off from hitting our goal. Even a dollar will help, and/or just spreading the word on your social media Internetic platforms and devices. And in case you didn't know, I'm a huuuuuuge basketball fan, so I wrote a blog recently about Team USA and Paul George's broken leg. If that means something to you then check it out here. If that doesn't well there are still a lot of things for us to talk about. "And that's why I kept my half-black ass at home." - Blake Griffin — W. Kamau Bell (@wkamaubell) August 2, 2014 That was a tweet I sent out yesterday shortly after hearing the news about Paul George’s horrific injury at a scrimmage in preparation for the World Cup of Basketball. I’m using the word horrific because that is the word that was used in the Deadspin article about his injury. Now at first I thought, “Oh boy. Here comes another sensationalistic, click bait-alistic Internet headline.” And then I clicked on the link to the article, saw the still photo, threw up all over myself, cleaned myself up, accidentally looked at the still picture again, threw up all over myself again, cleaned myself up again, accidentally looked at my computer screen again, threw up one more time… Anyway, I repeated this process about nineteen more times until I finally realized that I had to just let that computer go for good, and go buy a new one that didn’t have that picture on it. Deadspin was right. It is horrific. If you don’t believe me, go Google it yourself. I’m not embedding it here, because I don’t want to be responsible for buying you a new computer too. It was so bad that ESPN only replayed it once. ONCE??? That means in TV terms they determined it was more offensive to the at home viewer than the many replays they did of the Challenger exploding, more offensive than the 9/11 footage being rerun every ummm… 9/11, and more “offensive” than that time every “news” outlet showed Michael Sam giving his boyfriend a grandma kiss on the lips. It was actually deemed so horrific by the people who run Team USA they immediately cancelled the rest of the game. So horrific that the commissioner of the NBA took time away from praying for Donald Sterling’s quick and painful death to make a statement about Paul George’s injury. In that still photo Paul George’s leg looks like something from a fight scene from an early 90’s Steven Seagal flick. Now, I meant no disrespect to Paul George with that tweet. Though I was not surprised when somebody tweeted back at me, “Too soon.” And although I am a comedian the only part I was joking about in the tweet was the “half-black” part. Blake Griffin is black. He has to be. He’s been on the Neal Brennan and Moshe Kasher’s The Champs podcast twice. I’m not even black enough to get on there once. And I guess I was joking about the fact Blake Griffin said it. I don’t know him. I don’t know if he did say it. But I bet he thought it. Now they may have good reasons for not wanting to go, but they shouldn’t need good reasons. Because one thing none of them wanted to do this summer is risk a career threatening injury during games that don’t matter at all. Not even a little bit. Paul George was injured during a scrimmage for the FIBA World Cup. A SCRIMMAGE! So a fake game for a thing that’s not a thing. The World Cup of Basketball sounds like something invented by Vince McMahon. It sounds instantly corny and second rate, like the Xtreme Football League. It sounds like a bad video game from one of those home game systems that didn’t take off in the 80’s like ColecoVision Jr. What it doesn’t sound like is a reason for a professional athlete like Paul George to skip out on a summer of being young, gifted, and black. We have to stop sending pros to these things. And I’m including The Olympics in these things. I remember the Dream Team. It was, and still is awesome. Twelve players, eleven Hall of Famers. (Woulda been twelve Hall of Famers if they I had taken Shaquille O’Neal instead of taking the player Michael Jordan still refers to as “the college kid.” #NotAGoodSign) But I have no memory of any of the dream-ish team-ishes that followed them. I know they happened. I know one of them lost. But the fact remains, we should have just sent the Dream Team once and then returned world basketball to the amateurs. This stuff should be for the people who have the most to prove and the most to gain. Send the players who if they have a good showing it helps their draft status. Send the players who will be excited to go to Spain, not the guys who can go to Spain anytime they want and would rather be at home. Send the players who might actually be excited to win a gold medal at the World Cup of Basketball. (Is it a gold medal? Again, I have no idea.) Send the players who if they break a leg then they at least do it trying to prove themselves and better their circumstance. Don’t send the players who have little to prove and much to lose. Whenever a player withdraws from The Galaxy Classic... I mean, The World Cup... somebody somewhere talks about them not being patriotic. Stop it! We all know even “amateur athletics” is big business. And the reason they make the pros go is that it is good for business. Well, it’s not good for these pros’ business. Don’t believe me. Watch the clip. I dare you. I don’t exactly know how to wrap my head around everything going on in the world right now. Everyday thing seem to be getting worse and worse or spinning more out of control and I’m feeling combination of scared and crazy about everything. (Scrazy, anyone?) And I haven’t even mentioned Iggy Azalea. (If you don’t know who that is, don’t Google. Trust me.) And in the middle of all that me and my family (my growing family) have just packed up everything and returned to The Bay Area. (As in San Francisco Bay Area in case you were thinking Tampa.) CYNIC CAVE SHOWS, San Francisco And as a way to try to get a handle on this big, scrazy world — and also as a way celebrate commemorate mark the occasion of my return, I am doing a residency at The Cynic Cave, a cool underground (literally) comedy space in the basement (I told you.) of Lost Weekend Video in the Mission District of San Francisco. It’s going to be every Saturday in September with shows at 6pm and 8pm. This is all for the (hopefully) reasonable price of $15! Come see me comedically wrestle with everything (including the impending birth of my second child - YIPES!) in a space that is the very definition of intimate. Don’t believe me? It only holds 35 people. Seriously. The Cynic Cave opened after I left for NYC, but whenever I came back I tried to perform there. It is one of the most fun rooms I’ve ever performed in. It feels like it would have fit in nicely during heyday of The Hungry i. Seems like the kinda place Lenny Bruce woulda been arrested. I’ll be in there trying to discover the new classics. So get your tickets now before they aren’t as easily get-able. I have a limited number of PRESALE tickets available to you directly on my site today, and then they will be on sale to the public tomorrow at 11am PT. LARGO SHOW, Los Angeles For my Los Angeles people who have been asking when I’ll be back, I’ll be doing a very special show at the legendary Largo on September 23rd. You can get your tickets NOW from me. The show is $25 but TODAY ONLY I have a few for $20. Because I love you. They will be on sale for regular non-special folk tomorrow at 11am PT. And for the rest of you, there are more dates to come this fall/winter. Lots, lots, (gulp) lots more. Stay tuned. MY MOM'S NEW BOOK! And for everybody who is reading this, my mom has a new book coming out. It’s entitled, “Not All Poor People Are Black: and other things we should think more about.” If you like what I do, then you’ll LOVE my mom and her writing. Currently she is in the middle of a Kickstarter campaign, because she is self-publishing it by choice. My mom has had several books published by many major publishers, but she wants to do it herself like she did back in the day. (That day was the mid 80’s.) Check out her page and video, and help a 77 year old recovering academic’s dream come true. (I know she doesn’t look 77, but as they say, “Good black, don’t crack…" They being “me.”) The video features my mom, me, and a shout out from Henry Louis Gates, Jr, who in a recent email to me called my mom one of his heroes. If each of you on this list gave just a buck we could wrap up this Kickstarter today easily, and for only $15 you get a digital copy of her new book. There are lots of other awards. Check it out, please. I know this plug has gone on awhile, but my mom is more than worth it. If you a friends with her on Facebook then you know this already. She will wade into any controversy and set all fools straight. Friend her. You’ve been warned. :-) I always wanted a concert tee of me, and now I have one! The image that Dima Djurchin created for the tour was too good to just let disappear into the ether, so now it is immortalized in cotton. Also there is another t-shirt available that some of you more intrepid watchers of me may remember. They are both 20 bucks and available...NOW! AND if you buy a ticket AND an "Oh Everything" tee together, you'll get $5 off! And for anyone who didn't get the "More Kamau Bell" tee already - I only have a handful left and have marked them down to a mere $5 - I won't be printing anymore, so if you wanted one, go get 'em! So I live in the Bay Area now (again). Yup. after two-ish years of living in New York City, we are back. I say “we” because the main reason I moved back is because we, as a family, knew it was best for us. My wife is very pregnant with our second child, a daughter. (YAY! Maybe some of the credits I earned from my first daughter will transfer over!) And our O.D. (Original Daughter) is now three years old, which means it’s time for school to begin. The kind of school with book learnin’, propaganda about 2+2, and the white-man’s sentence structure. So the next few months are going to be hectic for me and my family for lots and lots (and lots) of reasons, and the idea of having a kid in NYC just started driving us crazy. In our two years in NYC we hadn’t had the time (or opportunity) to dig our roots down deep enough to have a community of family and friends large enough for us to feel good about having a second kid there. Whereas in The Bay, my wife’s entire immediate family and 90% of her closest friends are within 2 hours. And after living in The Bay for 15 years, many of my best friends are here. All of whom are in part responsible (and continue to be so) for the adultification of W. Kamau Bell.* I could only imagine what it might have been like for us to live in NYC and have a baby. Calling one of our handful of friends to come over to help and hearing, “Ummm… I’d love to but I’m way out in Brooklyn and I don’t think the G Train is running today.” Not to mention that when we went to an obstetrician in NYC and my wife mentioned some of the natural childbirth methods she used during her first pregnancy, the doctor had a look on her face like she had sucked on a dozen lemons while my wife tried to sell her on Jesus Christ as her personal lord and savior.** Also, as I’ve said many times, in print, on audio, and in the flesh, The Bay Area is my happy place. And after two years (three if you count the lead-up) of being picked-up, chewed up, swallowed up, and ultimately spit up by Totally Biased, I could use some happy place in my life. Now, I know The Bay Area has changed in dramatic ways in just those two years. (The lights on The Bay Bridge… Even hipsters are mad about gentrification… The entire country knows Oakland is cool now… Google bought MUNI and now it’s free. — Am I getting that right?) But I still feel like it is the best place for me to feel like myself again. I have no idea how The Bay will feel (or if it will even care) about my return, but to me — not to get all Lebron James-y on ya — it’s home. Which is incredibly weird because when I moved to The Bay in 1997 it was just supposed to be a stop gap (a place to hone my craft) on my way fame and fortune in LA. (Oops.) And yes, I love NYC as much as any t-shirt does, but honestly it got tainted by the show. For me, everything in NYC was due to, because of, and ultimately the fault of the show. It was hard to see having a life there that wasn’t a spinoff of the show. And to the many friends I made in NYC, sorry about springing this on you. I've never been good at goodbyes. And also sorry if I've been hard to reach. It's been crazypants*** around these parts. And I'll be back your way often. So, now I’m back in The Bay being another one of those weirdos who think you can make things happen from here.**** But mostly I think I wrote this, just in case my Bay Area people see me in the streets more often than they are accustomed to they can know I’m not lost; I’m home.***** * Please don’t sue me Lauryn Hill. ** OK, I may be overselling this slightly. *** My fingers are circling around my head. **** Looking at you, Boots Riley! ***** Cue that song the ESPN played over and over (and over) again for Lebron. After watching Leslie Jones’ Weekend Update appearance on Saturday Night Live, one thing remains crystal clear. From Garrett Morris to Leslie Jones, it never gets easier being black on SNL. Hundreds of thousands of words have been written about SNL’s black problem. Usually it’s that SNL doesn’t have enough black people… OR they don’t know how to use the ones they have. But this is different. Much of the outrage surrounding her appearance (We really need a better word for being mad on the Internet than “outrage”.) has focused on the bit itself, either it being funny or not funny. It happens every week, in real time, during SNL, on social media. That is totally fair. (Although some of the outrage has used words like “coonery” which is totally fucked up.) But I would say that the real sticking point with this bit is the audience. The challenge that I had when I watched Leslie’s bit wasn’t about the bit itself. I laughed several times. Sometimes it was that “Ouch!” laughter. But I’m a fan of that. My real challenge was the old black trope of, “Uh oh! White folks are seeing her do this!” When I watched the bit I kept thinking about white people. And thinking about white people doesn’t make any activity better, unless your activity is “Thinking About White People”. I was thinking about the white people who (I’m sure) make up the vast majority of SNL’s studio audience, the white people who (definitely) make up the vast majority of the TV audience, and the white person (Colin Jost) who was literally sitting next to Leslie during the bit. I took a scientific poll of myself, and I determined that it just felt like too many white people were watching her bit. Especially for a bit as potentially (and actually) incendiary as the one Leslie did. I didn’t trust that those white people understood the historic context behind the bit. I didn't trust that it wouldn’t lead to frat boys walking up to black women with Afros and saying, “I’d totally do you over Lupita Nyong’o!... Hwey! Where you going?” IMHO, context is what made Leslie Jones’ bit seem weird to some (like me) and offensive to others. Imagine, just for a second, that instead of Chris Rock taping his classic (CLASSSSSSSSSSIC!) bit, “Niggas vs Black People”, in Washington, DC, in front of what appears to be a mostly black audience, that he had taped that bit on SNL… at the Weekend Update desk…. next to Norm MacDonald… right after another Norm joke referencing Frank Stallone. Would it have been as immediately heralded as a new high in cultural criticism and satire? Or would Norm’s awkward laughter and the studio audience’s “whiteness” have made it harder to focus on the brilliance? In fact, I vote that Rock’s bit is better on HBO because we can see through all the audience reaction shots that black people are fully (FULLY!) onboard. (I do think the bit would have killed with SNL’s audience too, but the laughter would’ve been more “REEEEEALLY?” instead of the black audience’s laughter of, “YES!!!” There’s an interesting thing that happens when POC experience entertainment. We feel like if we are the only ones “in the room” — whether that “room” is an actual room like a comedy club, OR a TV taping, OR just the “room” that exists when the majority of the TV viewing audience is black. (See: Fox’s 90’s sitcom “Living Single”.) When we feel like we are the only ones privy to the material AND the person onstage is one of us, then we will laugh harder, celebrate louder, and applaud more ferociously than if we feel like we are being watched by white folks. Why is that? Well actually it has to do with that whole slavery thing and how white people were LITERALLY watching us all the time and us feeling like we couldn’t relax. No, most of of black Americans today aren’t slaves, but slavery is like phantom limb syndrome. Even though it’s gone, we can still feel it. The laughter that POC have when we are amongst ourselves is like the drive home after you have Thanksgiving dinner with your relatives. When you get in the car you can finally say, “What the fuck is up with grandma?” But Leslie basically said, "What the fuck is up with grandma?" in front of grandma! (Colin Jost makes a great grandma.) And if you don’t believe me that black people react bigger when we are “alone”? Watch any episode of “Showtime At The Apollo” from the late 80’s/early 90’s. If you don’t see that black woman in the front row get up less than four times, I’ll eat Pharrell’s hat. And we (black people) love to give ourselves the luxury of feeling like we are the only ones watching — even if we EMPIRICALLY KNOW IT IS NOT TRUE! And I believe if Leslie Jones had done her bit on “Comic View” or “Def Comedy Jam” or at a random Sunday on Hannibal Buress’ night at The Knitting Factory in Brooklyn — where there are a TON of white people, but the lens through which they watch is BLAAAAAACK! — she would have killed! And she may have been heralded as one of our (black people’s) favorite types of comedians, one who goes there! But because of the venue and the audience, it felt weird. Well, here’s hoping that Leslie Jones continues to make it weird at 30 Rock, because I certainly prefer this take on a black woman and all the "ouch" she brings to Kenan Thompson's take in assorted wigs and dresses. #TeamLeslie

So, here I am again discussing another Disney reading – or rather a conspiracy theory. This one concerns Mulan and was proffered by newly-minted Vice Presidential candidate Mike Pence when he was a conservative talk show host in Indiana. On his show’s site he penned an op-ed which postulated that Mulan was liberal propaganda, and, in his mind, proof that women should not serve in the armed forces. The approach I will take to examining this claim is a mostly film theory based. He’s politicizing the apolitical and therefore I will keep most of my discussion focused on his assessments and whether they are truly contextualizing plot and themes correctly. So let’s begin. It starts with the title of the piece (pictured at the bottom of this post): “Women in the Mulan Military.” It’s objectively nonsensical. In the film Mulan there is one woman in the military. She is not allowed to be in the military and poses as male. Or is the lack of proper italicizing to indicate that allowing women to serve “Mulans” our military? Which also makes no sense. Lack of coherence in titling already paves the way for flawed reasoning. In a not-so-minor grammatical note he writes “Fathers Day.” Sorry. It’s Father’s Day. If you are a father it’s your day rather than the day of all fathers. Possessives are important. Already he’s not even made his point and I’m less likely to give any credence to his arguments. Then he claims the popularity of the film was all induced by McDonald’s. This gives you a sense of his understanding of the film industry. Disney animated films were on a hot-streak at the time, they always appeal to kids, and McDonald’s tie-in is the work of Disney Marketing not some insidious McDonald’s agenda. Furthermore, it shows his bias from the start. He’s not even synopsized the film yet. In a film with an anthropomorphized dragon, a fictional creature to begin with, and a cricket in the same vein, he critiques the likelihood of Mulan’s military prowess: Despite her delicate features and voice, Disney expects us to believe that Mulan’s ingenuity and courage were enough to carry her to military success on an equal basis with her cloddish cohorts. It’s uncertain how one can read that sentence any thing other than sexist. Apparently, Pence can suspend disbelief on common Disney tropes but a pretty girl who can fight is crazy. Not to mention the fact that this film establishes her as accident prone, and then does a traditional training montage to show the improvement of her martial skills. To Pence’s mind she has to look like G.I. Jane or a butch lesbian to be able to fight. If anything in this piece almost holds water it’s this next passage, but even that misses the mark: Obviously, this is Walt Disney’s attempt to add childhood expectation to the cultural debate over the role of women in the military. I suspect that some mischievous liberal at Disney assumes that Mulan’s story will cause a quiet change in the next generation’s attitude about women in combat and they just might be right. (Just think about how often we think of Bambi every time the subject of deer hunting comes into the mainstream media debate.) This is another case of vastly overrating the influence of media on reality. Apparently the integration of women in combat roles during the Gulf War or on combat ships in 1993 or flying combat missions during operation Desert Fox in 1998 doesn’t set-up a childhood expectation just movie about a Imperial Era Chinese girl, who goes only to protect her father and promptly quits when the war is over. That’ll get girls wanting to be in 21st Century wars they “shouldn’t be in.” As for Bambi, I don’t know anything about deer hunting debates. I didn’t know they existed. I know there is a season for it and regulations around it. Maybe that’s an Indiana thing. Bambi, however, I do know. It was the first movie I remember seeing at the movies. Bambi’s mother’s death is scarring because it’s his mother not because it’s a deer taken down by a hunter. Hunters shoot deer. That’s a fact. In anthropomorphizing forest animals a logical assumption, divorced of political leanings, is that animals would fear hunters. If you think Walt Disney knowingly put liberal propaganda in his films, you don’t know enough about Walt Disney – which he probably doesn’t because even though this piece is from the late ’90s he refers to Walt Disney, the man who was dead more than 30 years, and not Disney, the company that bears his name. Lastly, people twist things up over time. Like the fact that the name Bambi is used almost exclusively for girls in real life even though Bambi in the film is a buck. From there Pence goes on a tangent about scandals like Tailhook and the Aberdeen Proving Grounds. His assessment: men and women stuff will happen. It’s classic victim blaming. It’s like saying “Well, if they weren’t in the military they wouldn’t have been raped and molested.” Try weeding out the rapists and molesters instead. When he ties it back to Mulan he states, in closing: It is instructive that even in the Disney film, young Ms. Mulan falls in love with her superior officer! Me thinks the politically correct Disney types completely missed the irony of this part of the story. They likely added it because it added realism with which the viewer could identify with the characters. You see, now stay with me on this, many young men find many young women to be attractive sexually. Many young women find many young men to be attractive sexually. Put them together, in close quarters, for long periods of time, and things will get interesting. Just like they eventually did for young Mulan. Moral of story: women in military, bad idea. Methinks methinks is a compound word. As for the supposed irony, it’s irony that is informed by Pence’s sexist viewpoint. The subtext of that sentence is: a woman in the military either falls in love with her superior officer or is raped. Yes, there’s Disneyfication like the addition of animal sidekicks, and yes there is a romantic interest; however, that builds additional conflict (the key to drama) as to show one’s feelings could betray her gender, which she is hiding after all. The film is actually one of the earliest feminist characters in the Disney pantheon. She takes matters into her own hands, is a non-conformist, and almost never allows herself to fall to the mercy of a patriarchal society. Pence’s oversimplified statement would make sense if we lived in a bygone era, but we don’t. Politics aside he misses the moral entirely. Mulan doesn’t join the military because she really wants to behead some Huns nor does it caution us about our daughters running off to fight wars incognito. Mulan pleads for her father to be excused as he is aging and injured. This plea is rebuked. She runs off and takes her father’s place. She risks her freedom and life to protect him. It’s a story about courage, sacrifice, and the family value of honoring elders. The story is set when it was first written in a poem in about the 5th century. It was a far more impressively progressive statement then than it is now. Apparently, some aren’t ready to come out of the 600s.

Tag Archives: Roni Loren As part of my To Be Read Challenge, I included a (signed – squeee!) copy of Crash Into You by erotic romance author, Roni Loren (@RoniLoren). I met Roni at DFWcon 3 years ago and have attended her sessions on writing realistic romance scenes. She is fabulous. So are her books. Crash Into You Sometimes the past can bring you to your knees… Brynn LeBreck has dedicated herself to helping women in crisis, but she never imagined how personal her work would get, or where it would take her. Her younger sister is missing, suspected to be hiding from cops and criminals alike at a highly secretive BDSM retreat—a place where the elite escape to play out their most extreme sexual fantasies. To find her Brynn must go undercover as a sexual submissive. Unfortunately, The Ranch is invitation only. And the one Master who can get her in is from the darkest corner of Brynn’s past… I am very pleased to welcome Roni to the Happiness Project! Describe yourself in three words. Perfectionistic, Introverted, Curious What drew you to writing erotica? What do you love about your genre? It was a genre I loved to read, of course. But I was really drawn to the fact that it had very few boundaries. Like I could write suspense in my story but it didn’t have to fit the restrictions of a romantic suspense. And it could be contemporary but the romance didn’t have to be light and airy. All I needed to make sure I had was a happy ending and a lot of steam (which is fun to write.) So it allows for a lot of freedom in my stories, which makes my muse happy. 🙂 That’s awesome! What are you reading right now? I just finished Outlining Your Novel by K.M. Weiland because I’m a pantser with plotter envy (and am obsessed with writing craft books.) But fiction wise, I’m reading Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare (YA Steampunk Paranormal) and rereading The Shining by Stephen King. I read Fifty Shades of Gray, and hated it. The main character is pretty flat – quite literally, actually, she’s tied down and having sex so much. Your lead female in Crash Into You (Brynn) is really 3-dimensional. Her mother works in the sex industry, Brynn is a sexual assault survivor, she works in a social work setting with other domestic violence victims, and she struggles to claim her own sexual identity despite her past. In what ways do you think Brynn is a champion for women, and what do you think are her shortcomings? It’s important to me to write really strong women, particularly because of the power dynamic I use between the hero and heroine. In Brynn’s case, I wanted to show how tough and smart she is because even though she has this urge to be sexually submissive in the bedroom, she’s an independent, brave woman in her every day life. She’s driven to help others, and ultimately, she learns to help herself. The theme in all my books usually comes back to healing and self-acceptance, so I think Brynn is a prime example of that. No one fixes her problems for her. She has to learn to move through her fear, heal, and then embrace who she is. I’m getting married in 2 months. What’s your advice for keeping the passion alive? What’s next for you? What can readers watch out for? In August, I’m releasing a novella called BLURRING THE LINES that is separate from my Berkley series. It will be sexy contemporary romance with a paranormal twist and is part of a multi-author continuity series called Invitation to Eden. (I’m thinking of it like the show Lost but with more sex and happily ever afters, lol.) Then in September I’m releasing a novella, FOREVER STARTS TONIGHT, and in November, my serial novel, NOT UNTIL YOU, is being put into an omnibus edition. So lots of things coming up! (In other news, I won’t be sleeping until next February, lol.) We’ll be watching! Thanks Roni for joining us. Always a pleasure learning from you and I love your advice (and characters) about being strong, independent women with PASSION! Roni wrote her first romance novel at age fifteen when she discovered writing about boys was way easier than actually talking to them. Since then, her flirting skills haven’t improved, but she likes to think her storytelling ability has. Though she’ll forever be a New Orleans girl at heart, she now lives in Dallas with her husband and son. If she’s not working on her latest sexy story, you can find her reading, watching reality television, or indulging in her unhealthy addiction to rockstars, er, rock concerts. Yeah, that’s it. She is the New York Times and USA Today Bestselling Author of The Loving on the Edge series from Berkley Heat. Website: www.roniloren.com One lucky commenter will be receiving an e-copy (Nook or Kindle U.S.) of Roni’s book Still Into You! Random drawing will be held on Wednesday @ 5pm CST, winner announced on Thursday’s blog!

Stuck at 6cm... While I haven’t attended any births in the past few years, I see women get stuck at 6 cm all the time as a Website Doula. It goes like this: Susie the Doula starts out feeling super confident about writing website content and building her site. A month later, she still hasn’t sent me the draft of her about page, let alone a description of her services. She’s stuck and the important task of content creation for her new website ends up at the very bottom of the to do list where it is easily avoided. Here’s the problem. When we get stuck in our writing it means all that is wonderful about what you have to share with the world is Stuck as well. As a result, either your website creation will be delayed by months, or you will go with more standard (i.e. less personal) content that doesn’t sell your services as effectively. Sadly, the families who would love your care are not able to find you online and/or recognize you as a great fit. In another blog post I mused on the vulnerability of sharing your work online when writing website content. Today we’ll explore some of the more practical reasons that we often get Stuck when writing content. So I call myself the Website Doula for a reason. With over 20 years as a birth pro myself, like most of you I am really really good at finding birth imagery in just about any situation. When it comes to writing website content, there are some pretty fantastic parallels to what happens at a birth when mama is stuck at 6 cm. Why We Get Stuck Writing Website Content Honestly, the reasons we get stuck writing content are all too similar to what we see happen in births of actual babies (not websites!). Sometimes it’s as simple as feeling tired, overwhelmed, or perhaps undernourished or dehydrated. Other times, we’re trying to write something from the wrong angle (i.e. baby’s in a funky position!) and we need to change our focus. Perhaps you’re trying to include too much (big baby!) and need to simplify a bit… More personal reasons can come into play as well, such as vulnerability and self-judgment. We’ve all seen these factors impact client births over and over again, and we each have our own bag of tricks to work around them, but when it comes to writing content it can be difficult to see the way through. As your website doula, I figure the best place to start is to remember that: What Works to Get Unstuck in Labor, Works for Website Content How can we possibly write heartfelt original content when we’re hungry and tired? Don’t sit down to write your content at the end of a long day! Just as laboring women thrive with good rest and nourishment, your writing will flow more easily when you are feeling energized and clear. Create Your Happy Place Let’s face it - writing original content on a table covered with bills to pay is inherently challenging. Clear your “labor space” - whether you create a special writing nook in your home, or head out to a favorite cafe or park. By clearing your environment of distractions, you can better maintain your inner focus. Choose your Technology Wisely Sometimes we do best when we set aside the computer and grab a notebook and favorite pen. A lot of my best writing happens when on a train or long bus ride. I end up with pages of scribbled notes to transcribe, but I find that the ideas flow more freely. If you write best on your laptop, try turning off the internet or blocking social media sites (link to antisocial) to help you maintain your focus. Remember the difference it makes for a woman in labor when she goes for a walk or steps into the tub! Sometimes we just need a bit of fresh perspective. If you feel like you’ve looked at a segment of content over and over again and it just isn’t quite right, set it aside! Try a new segment and come back to it later, or change the perspective you’re writing from. If you’ve set aside an afternoon to write and you’re feeling stuck, change locations or take a movement break. No Self-Judgment Allowed Perhaps the most challenging aspect of writing content is the inner voice of self-judgment that can keep us from letting the words flow. I think of it as having “one too many people in the room.” Remember that client whose uninvited and rather stressful mother-in-law showed up at the hospital and her labor almost stopped? Your inner voice of self-judgment is that mother-in-law. Do what you’d do as a doula: Thank her for her efforts to protect you, and then ask her politely and clearly to LEAVE. You deserve the chance to write without interruption - even if it's coming from within your own head! Get a Second Opinion While vulnerable, it is often incredibly helpful to invite a trusted friend, family member, or professional to offer feedback on your writing. I love hearing clients breathe that deep sigh of relief when I affirm that they’re on the right track, or offer key tips to help them get back into the flow. We’re not meant to birth alone - why should you write alone? Much like labor, getting unstuck writing website content can be as simple as following one or two of these tips. Sometimes, however, it requires a bit more love and attention. If you’re stuck at 6cm, I encourage you to contact me for a free website consult as your Website Doula. You can share your process, ask for feedback and ideas, and consider the possibility of inviting me to be part of your website birth journey. Also be sure to check out my Website Birth Plan ebook below! WEBSITE BIRTH PLAN eBOOK Creating a website is no small task, and perhaps one of the most unexpected challenges of website design is writing your content. The Website Birth Plan eBook takes you page-by-page as you craft your new website, or revise your existing site, offering helpful tips every step of the way for your content and design. Includes your home page, about page, services pages, resource page, contact page, tips for choosing colors, images, and fonts, and guidance on writing content. > learn more...

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Also known as Christmas Truce and The Christmas Truce. An American soldier and a Belgian woman fall in love during a brief holiday truce amid the Battle of the Bulge. When fighting resumes, they promise to reunite on the first Christmas after the war ends if they’re both alive. Is it available to purchase or rent? 2022 Dates, Times, and Channels Not airing this week Craig Olejnik (John Myers), Ali Liebert (Alina Hammond), Kate Vernon (Helena Hammond), Mike Dopud (Pierre Dubois), Eli Goree (Jensen), Josh Blacker (Josef Braun), Mackenzie Gray (Peter), Elise Gatien (Lilly Braun), Primo Allon (Jean Lefevere), Billy Wickman (Mahler)

The title of this film initially was Mental Hai Kya before they changed it to Judgementall Hai Kya. This was done to pacify and be political correct after the Psychiatrists took offence. So I shall follow the latter title and be Judgy as hell, which I am usually is!! This film is about a little girl Bobby (Kangana Ranaut) who loses her parents to freak accident and thereby develops a mental condition, so I am made to infer by the filmmakers. She grows up to become a dubbing artist, a wannabe actress with her own mental issues. A pair of young couple comes to live with as tenants in her house and in which eventually the wife is burned and killed. The suspect is both the Bobby and the victims husband (Rajkumar Rao) and they both accuse each other for this crime, however both eventually gets the clean chit from the cops. Post interval Bobby meets this guy again who is now married to her cousin living in London and what follows is the doubts and accusations towards each other. They both are wary of each other and try gathering dirt from each ones past to strengthen their case. This being a murder and a Psychological thriller I am not going to reveal anything more. So being Judgemental AF this is what I think: - The Brilliant Kangana Ranaut, she aces at playing these roles. Unhinged and unafraid to play such a character. - Some of the jokes and the characters work in the first half, especially the cops and her doormat of a boyfriend. - Rajkumar Rao is again someone who always lifts up any character he plays. - I like the take on Sita ji and the use of chaupai from Ramcharita Manas. - Despite it being just 121 minutes long, it feels long which means sometimes it is not going anywhere. - The second half is such a slog just wanted to fast-forward to the end. - The climax is overlong and it takes forever to come. - I do not really understand the symptoms of Bobby’s mental illness wish they could have elaborated that to, maybe know her better. To deliver my closing remarks in the Judgement of this film: The Ayes get drowned in the din of the Nos. समझे ?? नहीं ?? 400 शब्दों की एक बात इस को आप मेरे हिसाब से skip कर सकते हैं !! I remember seeing the first look of this movie ages back in which Rajkumar Rao is seen wearing a wedding turban and I thought this movie is going to be similar to the films being based in small town India. Well I was right about that one but the movie was nothing like what I had seen earlier. This film is about a small town – Chanderi that is haunted by a witch who abducts and kills men during an annual four day festival leaving behind just the clothes of the victim. The only remedy to this problem is to stay indoors in the night with a message for the STREE i.e. The Witch written on the walls of each house of this town. Like all the small town movies there is this protagonist played by Rajkumar Rao, his buddies, some unusual characters thrown in mouthing hilarious dialogues and then there is this mystery woman played by Shradha Kapoor for whom our hero is besotted by. The film is scary and also left me splits in most parts especially the scenes when the village’s Mr. Know-it-all played brilliantly by Pankaj Tripathi is trying to find ways to get rid of that witch. We also have a friend of the hero who gets possessed by the witch and how he is being contained. The movie belongs to Rajkumar Rao who has graduated from being a Saree salesman in Bariely Ki Barfi to a Ladies Tailor in this film and whose clientele is spread across nearby 3-4 towns so we are told. Only he has the skill set to play this small town simpleton with such earnest. He is cocky, goofy and funny in the film. He nails it when he is asked to show love towards STREE and despite being shit scared he looks into her eyes and tries to woo her in Shahrukh’s trademark style. There is this another scene in which his father tries talking to him about the adulthood and rising hormones. STREE is brilliant example how clever and funny writing and brilliant ensemble cast can lift a plot that may seem wafer thin but when put all together delivers a great film watching experience. TRIVIA – We were seated in a row where there were a couple on both sides of our seats. One was busy clicking selfies and holding each other’s hands (No, I didn’t witness anything more) and the other couple made me feel as if I was in an echo chamber as they were repeating / pre-empting all the brilliant dialogues. This so reminded me of the good old days of single screen theatres in Udaipur, only thing missing was the company of cats/rats and the samosas.

I would love to introduce to you today! I think they already feel at home here..dont you. It was such a pleasure working with Michelle, the woman behind these beautiful creations. Oh the sweet extras! My two pillows arrived each adorned with one of these medals. I chose the slip cover pillows because I had two exsisting red pillows from my red sofa. They fit perfect! Now because Michelle is such a sweetie, she has allowed me to give one pillow just like mine away. If you would love to see more of Michelles beautiful pillows you can visit her here Petit Coterie. To be eligible for the giveaway just leave a comment here. Comments are now closed. Thanks for playing ya'll! The winner will be announced soon~

Return to home page. Navigate: Click each title to display the article. Click again to collapse the article. If you are having difficulty viewing these articles, e-mail Louis. This book is by a man who wouldn't let experts discourage him from long-distance running, in spite of his injuries and his physical build. Caught at the crossroads of medical warnings and anecdotal evidence of aborted running careers, on one side, and the growing awareness that most mammals and some people manage to run most of their lives without significant injury, Christopher McDougall embarks on a journey to learn to run without injury. His book Born to Run has a dual focus, the smaller emphasis being on his personal journey, the majority of the book on explaining the relationship between the Tarahumara people of Mexico and the larger world of running, including its commercial and technological mis-steps. The writing style of this book, like my running style, suffers from excesses and omissions that frequently work against its intentions. As one might hope for a running style, the prose in the book improves with time, so that by the middle or so, the prose often reaches that remarkable standard described by George Orwell where it no longer draws attention to itself. So my caution to potential readers is not to be discouraged by the hyperbole, mixed metaphors, and apparently unnecessary delays during the first fourth of the book. Perhaps those pages suffer from some of the habits of "sports writing," when it engages in a flamboyant style comprised of unlikely comparisons and forced exclamations. There is nothing, however, necessary or universal about sports requiring those writing habits, as several later chapters in Born to Run illustrate. As McDougall sets out to discover the Tarahumara runners, he is leery of neighboring drug gangs, one of which made "five heads" roll "onto the dance floor of a crowded nightclub" (2). Five people dying and five heads rolling are not identical situations, the latter suffering from Hollywood imagery. Going to great lengths to describe the Tarahumara as a people who have deliberately avoided the crass commercialism of the West, the author uses the unfortunate comparison of a good looking Tarahumara being "Hollywood handsome." Again, in describing a Tarahumara, the language draws attention away from the man, Arnulfo, to a conglomerate of a cinematic pirate and a robocop: " . . . a thigh-length skirt and a fiery red tunic as billowing as a pirate's blouse. Every time he moved, the muscles in his legs shifted and reformed like molten steel" (27). In one final example, a young Tarahumara named Marcelino, " . . . looked like the Human Torch . . . he looked as if he'd burst straight out of the Steve Prefontaine poster on the bedroom wall of every high school track star in America" (41). This kind of prose is the heel striking sort, and if that sounds good, it isn't in light of the book's excellent, short history of the running shoe. In Chapter 25, it traces the history of the shoe over the last forty years, and how the shoe helped hijack the natural ability of humans to run long and to run for fun. Being from Los Alamos, I'm more tolerant of one more grand comparison that summarizes the effect of the shoe industry as McDougall assesses it: "Asics spent three million dollars and eight years--three more than it took the Manhattan Project to create the first atomic bomb--to invent the awe-inspiring Kinsei, a shoe that boasts, 'multi-angled forefoot gel pods,' a 'midfoot thrust enhancer,' and an 'infinitely adaptable heel component that isolates and absorbs impact to reduce pronation and aid in forward propulsion'" (170). The chapter traces the history of the running shoe in terms primarily of Nike, showing that well-intentioned technologies had serious negative consequences, and that various research continued to question these technologies. Not an expert except concerning my own experience, I was completely taken in by that chapter. Earlier on, the book achieves a similar cogency after narrating the forays of the Tarahumara into the challenges of the Leadville Trail 100 in Colorado. While the Leadville narrative is interesting, it is after that, in Chapter 15, that McDougall--at his best--questions the recent trends in running. Using Coach Vigil, noted running instructor from southern Colorado, as a touchstone for the vision of running as a form of love and joy, the discussion notes that in the 70s, runners such as Frank Shorter made great advances. Soon after, shoes became more developed and endorsements became more lucrative, while long distance running achievements in the western world lagged behind the achievements of their forbearers. While there is likely some counter-evidence that should be sifted through, the book offers a challenging thesis, that there's an inverse relationship between commercialization/civilization and successful long distance running. It is this realization that began to inform various training approaches, including Chi running and the POSE method, approaches that illustrate an almost spontaneous appearance of thoughtful antidotes to the excesses of heel-striking, jogging, and other inefficient movements (206). While this book could have become perhaps another method book--which might not be a bad thing, given that the expository chapters such as 15 and 25 are so good--it chose to remain a narrative. And it is the last quarter of the book that ties together so many loose ends, bringing a handful of ultramarathoners to Mexico to join the Tarahumara (also known as the Rarámuri) for a rigorous run through the Mexican canyons, competitive but not commercial, a run most likely forgotten except for the memorializing effort provided by this book. last updated: 2011/03/29 When I reviewed Christopher McDougall's Born to Run, I ignored two major characters in his book that have belatedly come into my field of vision. One is Caballo Blanco, also known as Micah True. He plays a large role in McDougall's book, and has now passed on to what might be hoped to be longer trails and wider canyons, having died this year. The other character is Scott Jurek, who is—as was Caballo Blanco—a resident of Boulder, Colorado. It was in Boulder that I heard Scott speak after a local fun run, and shortly after that I read his book, surprised that I had not taken more notice of him in McDougall's book. Eat & Run is a book I highly recommend to anyone who is interested in either long-distance running or stories of tough beginnings leading to real successes later in life. The book would also would be of interest to any vegan, particularly one who wanted a response for critics who think a balanced, high-protein, high-energy vegan diet is impractical. Scott has given the lie to such thinking, proving time after time that he is able to maintain his stamina and speed over long distances covering tortuous terrain. Skimming his "Ultramarathon Race History" at the end of the book, I see pages of runs that range between 50k and 160k, punctuated by the U.S. record for a 24-hour distance of 267k (165.7 miles) in 2010. The last feat, being a test of the mental capacity to resist boredom as well as the physical capacity to keep moving, might make one question the psychology of the runner, which is something Scott himself does in various ways through the book. Whatever the motivations for running are, it is toward the end of the book that he takes a journey through trails in the Grand Canyon to once again find the joy that gets lost along the professional way (a liability in any sport, probably). Outside of some necessary biographical chapters, each chapter follows a simple structure. It narrates an especially memorable or educational ultra marathon. The chapters usually conclude with a few paragraphs of carefully selected running tips, followed by one of his favorite vegan recipes. This structure makes the book eminently readable and, at the same time, helpful to the novice runner or vegan (or both). The books appears to maintain quite an honest account of Scott's career. The following examples assured me of this fidelity: his difficulties as the son of a harsh and stubborn father his friendship with Dusty, who may be at times faithful, inspiring, and also irritatingly crass accusations of Scott's failure to make wise decisions when he was pacing Brian Morrison in the 2006 Western States 100 the loss of his first wife who told him frankly that he wasn't funny and he wasn't interesting (193) the recognition of greater runners: "The greatest Spartathlon champion was—and probably always will be—home-grown. Twenty-six-year-old Yiannis Kouros . . ." whose award for the Spartathlon was withheld for several days because of suspicions he could have arrived with such an early finish only by cheating This book is inspirational, in that it shows that sometimes pain is something to be greeted and endured. It might not convert the reader to ultramarathons nor to veganism. It isn't attempting either. But it can help the amateur runner push a little harder on the next run or the pescatarian add a few more vegetables to the next meal. last updated: 2012/09/28 Among the reviews on this site, this one is least like a book review, and instead primarily provides a sample of quotations. The book promises to focus on the lives of the physicists whose work led to the field of nuclear physics, the starting point which is attributed to the "Miracle Year" of 1932. In that year the existence of the photon and neutron had been established, and these discoveries made the annual meeting of the Copenhagen circle even more momentous. Segrè nominates seven physicists as comprising the core that provided the Copenhagen interpretation of quantum mechanics. Four of the seven—Niels Bohr, Paul Dirac, Werner Heisenberg, and Wolfgang Pauli—would be placed in most physicists' selection of the century's top ten physicists. Lise Meitner, the only woman in the group, ranks high on anyone's list of the century's most important experimentalists. Another of the seven, Max Delbrück, changed fields soon after the meeting, though he never stopped defining himself as a physicist. He went on to become one of the founding fathers of modern molecular biology and ranks as one of that discipline's top ten. All of them taught and mentored a generation of future scientists. The last of the seven, Paul Ehrenfest, was perhaps the greatest teacher of them all. (1) It's Niels Bohr who carries the focus and celebratory spirit of the book, but it's Ehrenfest who perhaps explains best the title and subtitle of the book. It became a practice at these annual meetings for the younger physicists to put on a skit that poked fun at the older physicists. Accordingly, in 1932, the skit was a parody of Goethe's Faust. The unfortunate Ehrenfest was both cast as Dr. Faustus and, soon after the meeting in 1932, was subject to deep depression and committed suicide. Segrè writes, "In light of the suicide, it seems almost ghoulish to go back to the 1932 Faust parody and read into it further parallels flowing from the association of Doctor Faust with Ehrenfest" (252-53). Nevertheless, the author does hint at a few parallels. While the skit based on Faust seems more relevant to the book as a result of Ehrenfest's suicide, the references to the skit throughout the book often seemed to interrupt the less speculative, ultimately better material of the history. Using the skit provides an angle for Segrè that most likely differentiates his account from any other, but for me it was unnecessary. Perhaps a long footnote or an appendix would have done more for my appreciation of the skit's role. Of course, the book's title would have to change (perhaps to Physicists in Copenhagen). The subtitle, however, could remain, with a dual focus on the search for the soul of physics (is it a quantum or a classical soul?) and on the search by each person for his or her soul. It is Niels Bohr, the man with a heart for both science and the welfare of others, who brings the brightest moments to the book: Bohr also encouraged invitees to bring along particularly bright students. Ehrenfest took him up on the offer and arrived in Copenhagen with twenty-year-old Hendrik Casimir. . . . As their train approached Warnemünde, where they caught the old ferry across the Baltic to Denmark, Ehrenfest suddenly fell silent. Turning to Casimir, he said, "now you are going to know Niels Bohr and that is the most important thing to happen in the life of a young physicist. . . ." After arriving in Copenhagen, Casimir is allowed to extend his stay from a matter of days to two years. Casimir's parents worried about this unexpected separation from their son until they learned that they could send letters to him with speedy delivery, simply by addressing them, c/o Niels Bohr In a similar vein of generosity and appreciation of younger physicists, Bohr met George Gamow, on leave from the Soviet Union. Gamow's schedule allowed him only one day to visit Niels, but after spending a few hours together discussing alpha particle emission, Niels "said to him, 'My secretary tells me you have only enough money for one day. If I arrange for you a Carlsberg fellowship at the Royal Danish Academy of Sciences, would you stay here for one year?'" (187) Stories such as these provide sufficient background for the work Bohr performed helping Danish scientists escape to Sweden during the Nazi occupation. The scientific discussions do not require a knowledge of mathematics or physics, only an interest in the outlines of the theories developed in the 1920s-30s. Many pages involve Heisenberg, who, though much younger than Bohr, thought inventively like Bohr, and ultimately took some of the greatest risks to conceptualize the nature of atomic structure. Pauli formed a theoretical third with them, offering scathing critiques of everyone's work. Dirac did with pure mathematics what these three did with an amalgam of analysis, conjecture, and equations. Einstein, in America, and Schrödinger, in Switzerland, are paired off as two of the leading physicists who remained suspicious of the Copenhagen interpretation. Einstein in particular never subscribed to the loss of causality implied by the uncertainty principle, stating that if there were no causality, he'd rather be employed in a gaming house than a scientific institute. The book credits all the scientists with significant and often astonishing discoveries or explanations. Heisenberg's uncertainty principle and Bohr's principle of complementarity are presented as the culmination of the Copenhagen interpretation, also perhaps to be considered the soul of that kind of physics. The author, by the way, is a physicist and astronomer, who handles the scientific discussions with more authority and finesse than one would guess by reading these scant notes. last updated: 2012/07/21 This book portrays one man in North Carolina whose consciousness is split between enjoying nature through immersion and reforming society through example and precept. Reflecting on the man's family, including his unaccepting father, his supportive mother, and his disciplinarian grandfather, the author suggests how much easier it is for a man to leave civilization than to leave his family's influence. True to its title ("Last" and "American"), the book provides a historical dimension, fitting Eustace Conway into a lineage of true American men, including Daniel Boone, Kit Carson, Lewis, and Clark. The historical lines suggest that the traits that make for this American man are also traits that lead to frustration and alienation. Or is it the reverse?. As I read, I wished the narrator of The Last American Man could have remained distinct from the character she was describing. Increasingly, though, the two merge, making the narration colloquial and clichéd. Referring to Eustace's search for food while on a long hike, she concludes a paragraph with the statement that he was "starving to death." He certainly wasn't, although he might have felt that way. He might, elsewhere, have used words such as "bullshit" and "goddam," but there was nothing to indicate why the narrator relies on the same language, although she does. About half way through the book, I decided to declare a moratorium on referring to people "hanging around" or two people "sticking together." Perhaps I've been reading too many 19th century writings lately, but, for whatever reason, I expected a narration that drew less attention to itself and its own kinship to the culture being described. In spite of this objection, I recall some events are told quite well, including a series of failed relationships that Eustace had embarked upon, each obtaining about a paragraph to trace the rising and falling action (Valerie, Mandy, Marcia, Dale, Jenny, Amy, Tonya, and Carla) (140-143). Eustace's relationships with his two brothers and one sister are described memorably, showing that the siblings are both interested in and—at the same time—unable to be close to Eustace (236-239). Perhaps it is more than a coincidence that some of the best narration involves the relational side of Eustace's life, because that is the side where the narrator was forced to keep her distance from her subject, the side that Eustace had not mastered and for which Eustace could not begin to provide an adequate explanation. last updated: 2012/12/30 Like Naked (1997), Me Talk Pretty One Day is another collection of short stories from David Sedaris. For some reason, I enjoyed Me Talk more than the earlier collection. Perhaps one reason is because it contains several stories that I consider perfect. They are perfect in that I cannot think of anything that should be added, removed, or changed from them. The first example would be the first story, "Go Carolina," which describes the experience of being identified as a grade school student in need of speech therapy, and then receiving it. In the margins of the story lie dual recognitions: his teacher identifies him as being unable to pronounce his sibilants well; he, himself, identifies himself as a member of a minority of male students who are neither popular nor steadfastly heterosexual: I started keeping watch over the speech therapy door, taking note of who came and went. Had I seen one popular student leaving the office, I could have believed my mother and viewed my lisp as the sort of thing that might happen to anyone. Unfortunately, I saw no popular students. Chuck Coggins, Sam Shelton, Luis Delucca: obviously, there was some connection between a sibilate 's' and a complete lack of interest in the State versus Carolina issue. (9) Remove the stereotypical assumptions about the lisp from the story and it still stands as a remarkable record of how demoralizing and discouraging speech therapy can be for a grade-schooler. Everything is restricted to the point of view of the fifth grader, including the similarities between how detectives pursue and arrest suspects and how "Agent Sampson," the therapist, hones in on the speech problems, with the result that Sedaris learns to avoid using plurals altogether in order to avoid further scrutiny. Ironically, years later when he lives in France, he is perplexed by the gender of French nouns and learns that the only safe way to speak is to use the plural, which means the typical shopping trip results in two of everything, including things like blenders. Capturing and maintaining a specific point of view, allowing that point of view to provide the humor, is a major strength in Sedarus' writing. Later in the book, a story takes him to France where he enrolls in a French class. This single sentence proves the helplessness he feels as he struggles to stay above the water line, when the ruthless teacher attempts to weed out the incompetent students: "If you have not meimslsxp or lgpdmurct by this time, then you should not be in this room. Has everyone apzkiubjxow? Everyone? Good, we shall begin." (167) Another perfect story is "The Youth in Asia." While providing the history of pets in the Sedaris family, it sketches well the family itself. The story captures many of the moments of pet keeping, from the affection a first pet inspires to the insipidness of that pet's replacement, from the struggle to keep pets alive at all costs to the moment of surrender to the youth in Asia who says you must put your pet down, because, "'It is required.'" At first pets are brought in the home to entertain the children, but as the children grow up, pets are maintained to replace the children. Finally, "When my mother died and was cremated herself . . . my father and Melina [Great Dane] had each other all to themselves" (80-81). The stories often take the side of the person who doesn't fit into current trends or fashions. This part appeals to me because I share several of Sedaris' preferences. the American offering of only newly released movies in theaters—, and the habit of eating voraciously during the movie ("The City of the Dark Lights") restaurant dishes that contain unusual ingredients and are presented in a way that disguises the entrèe as a new type of architecture ("Today's Special") the lust for the newest technology with a consequent disdain for older technologies ("Nutcracker.com") Concerning this last item and in conclusion to this review, I will quote one episode in "Nutcracker.com": When forced to leave my house for an extended period of time, I take my typewriter with me, and together we endure the wretchedness of passing through the X-ray scanner. The laptops roll merrily down the belt, while I'm instructed to stand aside and open my bag. To me it seems like a normal enough thing to be carrying, but the typewriter's declining popularity arouses suspicion and I wind up eliciting the sort of reaction one might expect when traveling with a cannon. Another perfect story is "The Youth in Asia." While providing the history of pets in the Sedaris family, it sketches well the family itself. The story captures many of the moments of pet keeping, from the affection a first pet inspires to the insipidness of that pet's replacement, from the struggle to keep pets alive at all costs to the moment of surrender to the youth in Asia who says you must put your pet down, because, "'It is required.'" At first pets are brought in the home to entertain the children, but as the children grow up, pets are maintained to replace the children. Finally, "When my mother died and was cremated herself . . . my father and Melina [Great Dane] had each other all to themselves" (80-81). The stories often take the side of the person who doesn't fit into current trends or fashions. This part appeals to me because I share several of Sedaris' preferences. the American offering of only newly released movies in theaters—, and the habit of eating voraciously during the movie ("The City of the Dark Lights") restaurant dishes that contain unusual ingredients and are presented in a way that disguises the entrèe as a new type of architecture ("Today's Special") the lust for the newest technology with a consequent disdain for older technologies ("Nutcracker.com") Concerning this last item and in conclusion to this review, I will quote one episode in "Nutcracker.com": When forced to leave my house for an extended period of time, I take my typewriter with me, and together we endure the wretchedness of passing through the X-ray scanner. The laptops roll merrily down the belt, while I'm instructed to stand aside and open my bag. To me it seems like a normal enough thing to be carrying, but the typewriter's declining popularity arouses suspicion and I wind up eliciting the sort of reaction one might expect when traveling with a cannon. "It's a typewriter," I say. "You use it to write angry letters to airport authorities." The keys are then slapped and pounded, and I'm forced to explain that if you want the words to appear, you first have to plug it in and insert a sheet of paper. The goons shake their heads and tell me I really should be using a computer. That's their job, to stand around in an ill-fitting uniform and tell you how you should lead your life. . . ." (147) last updated: 2012/09/23 If you are considering becoming a public health worker, a doctor without borders, and/or someone who cares for the poor, read this book. It is going in the same direction and will be a good companion. The book narrates parts of the life, and the life's work, of Paul Farmer, MD, who grew up in the United States, sometimes on a used school bus and sometimes on a house boat. Unlike many who grow up under what may be considered impoverished conditions, Paul continues to embrace them in his adult life instead of taking refuge in cleaner, safer environments. Once he discovered the Central Plateau of Haiti, and began to establish a free clinic in Cange, he could never leave for long. He is a doctor who is refreshed and vitalized by his patients, and he is never at a loss for patients in the clinic, Zanmi Lasante (Creole for "Partners In Health." The scope of the book goes far beyond Haiti, and follows Paul to Peru and Siberia (among other places) in his crusade to treat the poor who have Tuberculosis (TB), a poor person's disease by and large. The strain of TB he sought to cure was multi-resistant (MDR). His goal is to provide treatment that reflects a preferential option for the poor, fully independent of economic, geographic, political, or social considerations. The author sums up the attitude that pervades Paul's efforts in the following sentence: He's still going to make these hikes, he'd insist, because if you say that seven hours is too long to walk for two families of patients, you're saying that their lives matter less than some others', and the idea that some lives matter less is the root of all that's wrong with the world. (294) The friend who recommended the book to me wrote, ". . . it is so amazing and important (and well-written) . . . ." The good writing arises not only from Tracey Kidder's prose, but from Paul's extemporaneous speech. When he is quoted, one often hears a good aphorism, with epigrammatic irony and often a bid for the underdog. Following is a (nearly) random sampling from Paul: I would read stuff from scholarly texts and know they were wrong. Living in Haiti, I realized that a minor error in one setting of power and privilege could have an enormous impact on the poor in another. (78) "Surely someone is witnessing this horror show? . . . I was taken with the idea that in an ostensibly godless world that worshiped money and power, or more seductively, a sense of personal efficacy and advancement, like at Duke and Harvard, there was still a place to look for God, and that was in the suffering of the poor. You want to talk crucifixion? I'll show you crucifixion, you bastards. (85) One thing that comes back to me, with all this cost-efficacy crap, if I saved one patient in my whole life, that wouldn't be too bad. What did you do with your life? I saved Michela, got a guy out of jail. . . . To have a chance to save a zillion of them, I dig that. (187) And there's the preemie who worried me because she's no bigger than a peanut. But she looked fine. . . . For a tadpole. (188) The book, published in 2003, ends on an optimistic trajectory. The Gates Foundation endows several organizations with money to fight MDR TB. Other donors help expand the work of Partners in Health in the Central Plateau. However, after the book's publication, President Jean-Bertrand Aristide (an acquaintance of Paul's) was ousted by a military coup, in 2004. It is always worth noting when a democratically elected leader who has found favor with a humanitarian such as Paul Farmer is removed from his country. The ousting of someone who understands the poor probably fits into Paul's concept of the uphill battle that he fights, "the long defeat" that he finds so worthwhile. last updated: 2009/02/21 Not having read him extensively, I've always thought Abraham Heschel (1907-1972) a writer who could be appreciated by followers of the Torah and of Jesus, alike. A Jewish philosopher, he wrote with great respect for the Torah and the rabbinical traditions. He also marched next to Martin Luther King, Jr. in one of the Selma civil rights marches (1965). And in this book, he echoes Jesus, writing, ". . . the Sabbath was a union that no one could disjoin. What God put together could not be set apart" (52). The central concept of the book is that the first six days of the week allow humans to build and achieve things in space, whereas the seventh day is set aside to allow humans to appreciate time. The difference between the two modes of being is great. Space, and all its belongings, are temporary—easy to engage in, being visible and tangible, and easier, therefore, to be misled by. Time, by contrast and by Heschel's definition, is eternal and is the palace where we meet God. It is also the palace where rest and celebration replace ambition and labor. Not the rituals, but the psychology and the spirituality of the Sabbath are the primary concerns of the book. I recommend the book for anyone who, independent of their attraction or rejection of ritual and tradition, seeks for a calmer, more meaningful life that is not governed by pace but by a balanced rhythm. It is fairly short, and even brief if one chooses to skip the middle chapters on the allegorical meaning of Rabbi Shimeon's life. This allegory is carefully explicated, but for those who do not savor that way of thinking, the conclusions in the final chapters are compelling apart from the allegory that leads up to them. Following are a few of Heschel's memorable aphorisms: Man is not a beast of burden, and the Sabbath is not for the purpose of enhancing the efficiency of his work. . . . The Sabbath is not for the sake of the weekdays; the weekdays are for the sake of the Sabbath. (14) The faith of the Jew is not a way out of this world, but a way of being within and above this world; not to reject but to surpass civilization. (27) If God is everywhere, He cannot be just somewhere. (81) One good hour may be worth a lifetime; an instant of returning o God may restore what has been lost in years of escaping from Him. (98) The book offers a bridge between the drive for occupying space and the necessity of allowing time to be an end in itself. When we control space we are bound to things, and time evaporates; when we submit ourselves to time, we are courted by eternity, and space becomes silent. "To men alone time is elusive; to men with God time is eternity in disguise" (101). The Sabbath, being defined as a day that is not only good but holy, provides a portal to eternity. Each individual occupies space exclusively, with the result the human relations are rivalrous, and our attention becomes frozen on what (and who) is—and is not—ours. In contrast, the entire race can share the same time, with the result that everyone can share will all their praise. While many of us are not committed to the Sabbath with either the rigor or the eagerness extolled by this book, we all find ourselves stalked by time. But it is not time that stalks us; it is the lack of time. Each effort to buy time, whether through another finished task or another, faster electronic communication—each effort uses up the time for which we increasingly thirst. The book invites us to let go of time, to stop seeking to control it, and thereby to finally appreciate it and the eternity that stands behind it. last updated: 2009/09/27 If you have read The Shack, the following quote may echo your reading experience: But the reader should be warned neither to expect a story nor to judge the book as such. Basically . . . the narrative outline advances the argument by providing the leads and transitional matter in the schematic conduct of the discourse. The voices in this enquiry are for the most part undifferentiated tonally, and bear labels chiefly in order to give a semblance of dramatic interchange to rational demonstration, and thus to lighten proofs. That description was written 49 years before The Shack was published, and is part of Bertand H. Bronson's introduction to Samuel Johnson's The History of Rasselas, Prince of Abissinia. The point is that The Shack shares something in common with other fictional works concerned more about certain ideas than about creating a fully nuanced world in which the actors might take control of the plot and lead it where they will. A kind of "dream vision," The Shack may disappoint any reader who is not in the mood for the priority of sentiment over ideas, as well as of ideas over character and phrasing. It does not have, alas, the quotability of Rasselas with its Johnsonian eloquence such as, "Marriage has many pains, but celibacy has no pleasures." What The Shack does offer is an imaginative detour from the rutted pathway of traditional Christian discourse to a fresher expression of (mostly) traditional discourse, landscaped with terminology that would not have been fashionable prior to the nineties. At times the words "relationship" and "relational" permeate the dialogue therapeutically. But that form of therapy became popular for a generation of westerners who were acutely aware of their inability to maintain relationships. And, similarly, The Shack addresses the root question of our inability to know our Creator, something that is seemingly either so basic as to not need instruction, or so far-fetched as to not merit discussion. And, yet, the need persists. Readers may find themselves disagreeing with the book's theology. In fact, it seems that many readers feel a need to state that they did not agree on all points (although who would think they had?). But few readers who finish the book--except by assignment--will disagree with the importance of the quest the book portrays. Why, otherwise, finish the book? The book offers a vision of a kinder, gentler God than the one often preached in many Catholic or Protestant circles, at least wherever the concept of the final judgment is conveyed. In a less elegant manner than CS Lewis' The Great Divorce, The Shack invites the reader to consider that the distance between humans and God is a specifically human orientation and that there is nothing in the divine promoting that distance. This concept of an unfathomable love is something worth exploring, whether one does it through The Shack or in his or her own imaginary journey. If it is a valid concept, it is an absolutely important one in the long run. At this point, my review ends, and what is left is a biographical note with its own imaginative turn. Prior to reading The Shack, I read an article that quoted various readers' reactions, among whom was a prominent Pastor of a prominent "church" that I had thought was an organization that would have welcomed a book like The Shack. Far from it, this Pastor denounced the book for being dangerous and something to be avoided. Of course denunciations like that get movies and books higher on the best-seller lists, which is probably not what this Pastor intended. At any rate, I mentioned to one of my friends that I was quite surprised this Pastor had denounced the book, and I was curious to read the book to find out what was so repugnant. At that point something like The Great Misunderstanding crept into our dialogue. Although my friend claims he did not say this (and I believe him, since he should know), what I heard was, "That's because the book puts that Pastor in hell." Accordingly, I bought the book and read it, wondering how this easy going God was going to put the Pastor in hell. Toward the end of the book, I realized my expectations were skewed. But on reflection, I think the book could have afforded such an ending. I think this because whether or not we believe that the concept of hell that Jesus described applies to this life only or also to the next, it is a concept tied closely into how much grace we offer others. In this ending--not that I'd want to wish this fate upon anyone--the main character would have returned from the shack and attended a popular fellowship, one where he could meet with the Elders and share his experience, somewhat as Paul did when he eventually met Peter and John. During this meeting, not the book, but the main character would suffer complete castigation and rejection from the Elders, finding himself fully invalidated by the Christian leaders, and in a position worse than his initial state. Not only had he disclosed the secret of his miserable state, the culmination of years of guilt and months of grief, but he was left now without the only hope he had ever encountered. And then the secret of heaven would be revealed, that heaven welcomes those who welcome others, excluding only the exclusive. The narrative would zoom out on this character, Mack, as he was being expelled by the Elders. The reader would see Mack, collapsing to the ground beneath the weight of his discouragement. Across an expanse, perhaps a large parking lot, inside a building, would be the Elders, conferring with each other, affirming their response to Mack. But the temperature in the building would rise, and rise. They would find themselves in an unbearable heat, and would finally realize that this was more than a heating and ventilation problem. This was their judgment day. They could open the door and ask Mack for a second chance, or they could not. The word "church" should be voluntarily banned in English since it has lost its ties to the original Greek word, "ekklesia." The Greek word refers to the "called out" ones who have left the institutional system of false authorities for the intangible leading of the spirit. The word "church" refers to the "called in" ones who are finding security within an institutional structure. last updated: 2009/04/05 Only a note on this book. By the author of Doctor on Everest (2000), this newer book extends Dr. Kamler's unique viewpoint as a medically trained, physically able adventurer to several other climates and terrains (including desert, jungle, and ocean). The technique of the book is to begin narrating a harrowing experience (sometimes the author's) and to analyze the factors of survival at work from a medical point of view. One can learn how the bends occur underwater, as well as how pulmonary edema occurs at high altitude (to name a few maladies). At times mental laziness caused me to breeze past the anatomical discussions, although they dip no further into technical details than a non-medical reader like myself could follow. My interest was more on the situations themselves—the things movies are made of. One element that grew tiresome to me, although it probably would be unnoticed by many readers, is the recurrent reliance on "natural selection." While I do not care to explicate the patterns—and feel no need to persuade others of these—it struck me that "natural selection" explained everything and was explained by everything. Particular mechanisms and physical attributes gave evidence to the role of natural selection, and the theory of natural selection explained why those mechanisms were either present or not present in a particular instance. My quarrel is not with the theory but with its exclusiveness. The book allots some room for mysticism (life-giving chants and inexplicable alternative medicines), but one imagines that if more were known, these, too, could be fitted into the naturalistic thesis. Perhaps this is all one should expect these days. But the recurrence seemed ultimately dogmatic and didn't allow for a universe with a creative intelligence guiding at least some of its development. last updated: 2009/01/17 (Frank Furedi, Routledge, 2004) This sociological study of the influence the practice and reliance on psychotherapy has had on Anglo-American culture stakes its subject matter on a data-rich field. Somewhere between the 1980s and the publication of the book, therapy has become institutionalized with our culture to the point where the therapists, their organizations, the popular media, and a large sector of the population recognizes therapy as the answer to nearly every unpleasant event, from birth to death. With the continuous (if unwilling) retreat of religious and moral "absolutes" in our society, therapy now fills the need for guidance and purpose. The peculiarity of therapy, in contrast to religious and moral codes, is that it is, on one hand, dependent upon an external authority (the therapist), and, on the other, free from external imperatives. The individual is the measure of all things, the goal of therapy being the harmonizing of emotions and thoughts so that the individual feels whole. When necessary, this process may require the cultivation of--or deliverance from--various emotions. At its best, the book focuses not on the efficacy of therapy, but of the efficacy of the cultural patterns that derive from therapy. When it treats therapy as a metaphor, the book is most persuasive. In that context, therapy is a placeholder for this culture's dual trajectory: it searches for meaning and at the same time avoids reliance on external systems of belief. Therapy understood as a metaphor is appropriated by politics and commerce to lead the populace into easily manageable paths. The appropriation damages the reputation of counseling and has the capacity to turn entire nations into citizens who, in their search for self-esteem, learn that they really do not have that much within them worth esteeming. Furedi is quick to point out various paradoxes, the most memorable being: While the inner life of the individual is the premium value to be protected and nourished through therapy, the process of therapy itself publicizes this life through a confessional mode that requires at least that the therapist become privy to the inner life, and at most that a group (or a nation, in the case of celebrities) becomes privy (My name is Everyman, and I am an addict of Everything). While the therapeutic agenda empowers the individual with a sense of significance, of being heard, it does so at the cost of endowing the individual with a sense of frailty. This point is best summarized by the final sentences of the book, "[Individuals] are far more likely to be instructed to acknowledge their problems than to transcend them. Therapy, like the wider culture of which it is a part, teaches people to know their place. In return it offers the dubious blessings of affirmation and recognition" (204). Developed to heal society, therapeutic claims show a steady course of creep and expansion. The claims extend the meaning of "trauma" from a life-threatening event to other less threatening events and finally to states of anxiety. Similarly, the identification of groups with some form of victimization extends from war syndromes that arise from highly violent circumstances, to other instances of victimization, whereby for significant segments of society, being able to claim that one is diseased is seen as an advantage, as a desirable status. Branches of the British and American government increasingly offer counseling as a remedy to losses that are not specifically psychic in nature, such as unemployment. This trend raises the question of whether more funding may be directed toward free counseling than toward job relocation during layoffs or toward the repair of housing following a natural catastrophe. Some criticisms that arose in the reading of the book: "The lady protests too much, methinks" (Hamlet, Act III) is hard to forget when Furedi consistently discounts and at times ridicules the need for some kind of therapy among certain individuals. One wonders if there is something the author does not want to expose in counseling, with the result that the critique of counseling remains one-sidedly negative. When I wasn't wondering whether or not some actual denial was behind the discourse, the book made me doubt that the author had ever known closely someone who had been truly traumatized, with the fragility and danger that such trauma entails. When the book abandons its focus on the metaphorical nature of therapy and gets inside the therapist's office, it is at its weakest. By criticizing in a broad and vague way the curative power of therapy, the book makes one wonder about the individuals whose lives may be saved through counseling, even if it is a small minority of the clientele. Finally, the book suffers frequently from being written within the jargon of sociology. If there were a corresponding term to "psycho-babble" I'd apply it to this book. How many sentences like these would a keen reader want to endure: "The process of medicalisation has been inseparable from that of professionalization" (100), or "The readiness with which the pathologisation of human behaviour is embraced indicates that the medicalisation of life has become an accomplished fact" (101)? This sociologisation of language has more than an aesthetic drawback. It deadens the discussion over the course of two-hundred pages. It invites the slightly suspicious reader to long for something concrete, for a description of modern life that is more nuanced, more lively, than the polarization of sociology and psychology. It may encourage the reader to put down the book and do something much more enjoyable. Having said that, I would still recommend the book, or parts of it, to anyone who hasn't taken full stock of the structuring role of the therapeutic metaphor in our daily lives. last updated: 2008/07/06 About the titles: as the "Author's Note" (ix-x) explains in greater detail, the initial title, Racing the Antelope, was changed because of not one, but two other books published at nearly the same time, each also bearing a form of "run" and "antelope" in the title. The likelihood of confusion was too great. About the author: Bernd Heinrich loves both animals and running, being qualified, by training and certification, to write about the two together. A few decisions as he reached adulthood hint at the kind of person he became (disciplined, courageous, and independent). He distinguished himself from his father (an entomologist) by choosing to be, instead, a zoologist who studies beetles (15). The fact that such a marginal difference is recalled by Bernd as a fairly radical step suggests how rigid his father's thinking was. His notable rebellion against his father occurred around that time when—against his father's advice—Bernd enlisted as a paratrooper for the Vietnam War (a fate he never experienced). Born in 1940, he earned his Ph.D. two years before the Olympic marathon was won by Frank Shorter (whom he references several times in the book), placing Bernd in that generation of long-distance American runners who celebrated long-distance running before the activity became more fashionable, as it is today. The only endorsement Bernd ever sought or received was from Ocean Spray, as a result of his reliance on cranberry juice during his 100 kilometer run. About the book: this book is written by a scientist for readers who care about nature, non-technical science, and running. Being a zoologist, the author has both an eye for nature and a technical vocabulary for describing it. His writing will most easily engage those who are already intimate with the world of insects, birds, and various mammals, as is illustrated by this passage, which culminates with a poetic jingle: "Tiger beetles stay in sunshine to maintain a high body temperature by basking, and if they are hot enough they may fly instead of run . . . . The wood pigeons coo, a jay screams raucously, a raven croaks. The chaffinches and the chiffchaffs sing" (32). His chapter "Ultramarathoners of the Sky," lucidly describes the flight patterns of birds who migrate annually from the Arctic nearly to Antarctica and back. Even readers with no interest in running could easily be absorbed by the astonishing feats and survival mechanisms this chapter reveals. So also is the case with his description of how camels manage to prolong their travel in the desert with minimal water in maximal heat. In "The Camel's Keys to Ultraendurance," we find one asset is their ability to urinate saltier fluid than can humans, thus not requiring as much water to eliminate toxic byproducts. Another aid for camels is their hump, which provides concentrated food (not water), and life-saving shade, much as the human head, with its hair, helps protect humans. Most chapters provide a mixture of a bit of Bernd's running biography combined with longer segments of natural description, inferences, and analogies. By the end of the book, every major element of running, including respiration, metabolism, fast and slow twitch muscles, stride, gait, temperature regulation, and motivation, is analyzed relative to the way other animals successfully manage one or more of these elements. Along the way, Bernd weaves some of these anatomical observations together into an evolutionary biological hypothesis of why humans are well suited for both short and long distance running. The short distances can of course be explained as a defense mechanism against predators. These distances require the fast twitch muscles powered anaerobically. The long distance running—given the running habits of other animals that might have been the motivation behind the run—is explained best as a predatory habit of humans, one that allows man to outlast faster animals with the result of ultimately killing and eating them. A long distance race is, to Bernd, a modern hunting expedition, the prey being the finish line, which grows more valuable the longer the race and/or the faster the pace, relative to the individual runner. The discussion of diet emphasizes, among other things, the merits of meat as a food for long distance running, one paragraph concluding, "And the more I ran, the more I craved greasy pork chops" (209). Meat is presented as both a source of calories and a source of many other nutrients, including fats, minerals, and vitamins. Bernd does admit, "This is not to say that we absolutely need meat. We can also get the same nutrients from vegetable sources or pills, but proper eating then takes much greater effort" (209). This effort has been realized and documented since the publication of Why We Run with Scott Jurek's Eat and Run. It may be with some relief that the scientist in Bernd forced the omnivore in Bernd to make this concession to vegetarianism. The book culminates with the 100 kilometer race in Chicago (1981), Bernd's antelope. That race is hinted at from the beginning of the book, when, during a 50 kilometer race, the author passes the "then-current U.S. National 100-kilometer record holder" (ix). Upon passing him, the author wondered "if, just possibly, I had the potential to race well at long distances." Not only does he run well at long distances, but he writes well about those runs. The final chapter, "The Race," is worth waiting for. It substantiates, at least in part, the meditations and musings about the animal kingdom that precede it. And it provides a few philosophical reflections. At one point in the run, Bernd writes, I'm still passing people on successive loops who are miles behind me in the race. Bystanders can't tell who is up front from who is way back in the pack. Just as in real life. (257) Finally, he is elated by one thing, an expectation that looks back to the recent death of his friend with cancer and ahead to this own inescapable mortality, "This will end soon" (258). Bernd Heinrich and Scott Jurek share on culinary experiment in common: they have both relied on olive oil as a primary food source during a long run (and they both have determined to never do that again). My copy of Why We Run was a gift from Dee, of Dee's Coffee Company, Puerto Vallarta. last updated: 2013/01/29 This book offers an antidote to all those who have been poisoned by a pessimistic view of God's interest in—and ability to redeem—every human being, no matter where or when that person lived. It puts the "good" back into the news about Jesus, who is represented as the clearest representation of the God who in all times and places beckons people to follow the light they have been given. "Sinners are not in the hands of an angry God" (177) the book concludes, after showing multiple ways to meet your Maker whether or not you have been exposed to an adequate portrayal of Christ. Where there is wrath, it is the anger of a loving Creator who sees his creation ignoring what is best for them and instead destroying each other. A person who seeks to do right and to honor God apart from the Christian tradition(s) is in a far better place than a person labeled as a Christian who eschews the opportunity to seek the Creator. In times past, it was perhaps not so troublesome to think narrowly about Christianity, in exclusion of the merits of other religions. But, as the world is shrinking as a result of global communication, it is absurd to ignore the claims and values of other religions. This book urges Christians to open up dialogues with members of other religions, to look for grace and truth wherever they occur, and to openly share what is so appealing about the life of Jesus. In this way, Christians may be delivered from bigotry and those in other religions may be exposed to something truly worthwhile in the gospels. Neither a universalist, nor a restrictivist, the author seeks to show that from the beginning God planned for the salvation of humankind. In executing this plan, God spoke to various people and nations in whatever way possible, and that these intentions were furthered, not countered, by the coming of Jesus into the world. When the purpose of God is understood in this way, then hell is logically understood as "not the prison from which people are longing to be freed, but [as] a sit-in where sinners have barricaded themselves in to keep God out" (180). In addition to undoing the damage of overly pessimistic, conservative evangelical thinking, the book also insists that religious pluralism ignores important differences between religions. Not all religions are equally true or noble. Even if God has spoken to various people in various cultures, it does not follow that the voice was as clear or as final as it was when it declared Jesus the "son in whom I am well pleased." Just as there is nothing arbitrarily exclusive about the salvation offered by Jesus, there is also nothing arbitrarily dispensable about his role in the human future. It is fashionable and politically correct to preach a loving God who cares infinitely about every human being, independent of that person's lifestyle or beliefs. This concept thrives on an ethical sensibility that is shared by many of us who have no patience for bigotry or pettiness projected on a divine plane. However, the book suggests (but doesn't develop) the assertion that this appealing portrayal of God arises from the Christian revelation: Ironically, the proposal of theological pluralism, which would undercut the normativeness of Jesus Christ, removes . . . at the same time the very basis for knowing God as personal and gracious, loving and forgiving. The paradox lies in the fact that the universality of God's love is known through the particular event of the Incarnation. One can only be sure there exists a gracious and loving God if it is the case that Jesus Christ is Lord (45). While I recognize that this assertion is not beyond dispute, it strikes me as a worthwhile inquiry. Before Jesus there was talk about a just and loving [if not personal] God, but the signal-to-noise ratio was usually pretty low. One does not always see the source of light itself but what the light illuminates. Similarly, our conception of a truly loving God (if there is a God at all), may be much more indebted to the words and actions attributed to Jesus in the gospels than to any other single source. Think about how God or the gods come off in ancient creation myths; in Greek and Roman myth, religion, and tragedy; or in the other ancient eastern and African faiths. Do not we gain something from the Sermon on the Mount, something that establishes a perfect Father who does not reciprocate evil for evil, who causes the sun to shine on the righteous and the unrighteous? I think we do. last updated: 2009/05/30 This is a story by a woman who was raised without a reliable father, who, at the age of twenty-two, lost her mother to cancer, who compensated for the lack of a father's love through promiscuity, who destroyed an outwardly good marriage through acts of adultery, who became involved in heroin use, who had an abortion without apparent grief, and who attempted to break away from these darker elements of life by hiking over eleven hundred miles. The miles lie along the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT). Both the life that the author had lived and the trail that she hiked were difficult. The interest in the book lies in the authenticity it achieves. The prose infrequently seems masterful, but it never sinks below being clear and serviceable. One of the finest statements of the book occurs toward the end, where Cheryl writes, "I had arrived. I'd done it. It seemed like such a small thing and such a tremendous thing at once . . . " (309). The antecedent for "it" is the completion of her long hike, but "it" could also apply to the writing of the book. Wild lacks the humor and elegance of Bill Bryson's 1998 A Walk in the Woods, about his adventure on the Appalachian Trail, but Wild also lacks the meanness of Bryson's book, which pokes fun at others about as frequently as he and his hiking partner decide to take a break from the trail. The tone of Wild is anything but judgemental, and this humility may endear readers to the book. While the book is a story about Cheryl's salvation, it rarely touches on anything transcendental. There are some prayers that could be as easily construed as curses, and there are a few encounters with new age mysticism that is neither affirmed nor discredited. But on the whole, the form of salvation offered depends on subjecting oneself to the right types of pain and enduring that pain until new pleasures arise. To those interested in the Pacific Crest Trail, quite a few anecdotes are offered. Certain parts of the trail, as well as some jeep roads leading one off the snowy parts of the trail, are described in detail. The year during which Cheryl hiked the trail, 1995, was a year during which accumulated snow shut down the High Sierras for all but the hardiest of hikers. Not only did she bypass the most snowy parts, but she had always planned to start the trail north of the Mexican border and to end it at the Washington border. There is no pretense, ever, about hiking the entire trail, "A world that measured two feet wide and 2,663 miles long" (4). The author echoes many other through hikers of America's long trails in noting that natural beauty along with any philosophical reflection frequently fades next to thoughts about either the next grocery store miles up the trail or the immediate pain of taking the next step. For Cheryl, it was often the thought of the next bottle of Snapple that both distracted her from her environment and encouraged her to endure it. Apparently, she carried a backpack that was disproportionately heavy for her body, heavier than any other pack encountered on the trail, and ultimately addressed by her as "Monster." Her feet suffered unusual pain, perhaps a result of the weight she carried and the fit of her boots, which, incidentally, REI replaced in the middle of her journey (and in one size larger, at her request). A memorable piece of dialogue occurs when she is hitchhiking back toward the trail and is interviewed on the side of the highway by a journalist. He is interviewing hobos, he says, and insists on interviewing her although she insists more and more vehemently that she is not a hobo. At the end of the comical interview, he hands her a "Standard-issue hobo care package," (181) which contains a can of beer and some snacks. "'But I'm not a hobo,' I echoed for the last time, with less fervor than I had before, afraid he'd finally believe me and take the standard-issue hobo care package away." The ultimate pain behind Cheryl's drive to hike the Pacific Crest Trail was the death of her mother, at age forty-five. Toward the end of the hike, her mother's birth date arrives, and, along with it, an internal psychodrama, during which the daughter finally accuses the (highly devoted) mother of her failings. This passage is well written, convincing, and makes the end of the book more credible. While the end of the hike is perfectly credible (she sits down at an ice cream store in Cascade Locks, Oregon, and eats a chocolate-vanilla twist cone), the end of the book projects life changes that implicitly arose from the long hike, but which cannot be attributed to the narration of the hike itself. These auspicious changes include a marriage and family that strongly contrast with Cheryl's previous life style. But they are credible, not only because she confronted her conflict and grief toward her mother, but also because over fifteen years transpired between the time she hiked the trail and published the story of the hike. This retrospectivity lends her the luxury of authority: she can tell us not what she hoped would unfold, but what unfolded in the years to follow. And there is no reason for the reader to doubt that she gives a reliable outline of the trajectory her life has taken. last updated: 2012/11/14 Created 2008/06/07, Last updated 2013/01/29© Return to home page.

From Tiger Woods and Alex Rodriguez to Arnold Schwarzenegger, John Edwards and Anthony Weiner, cheating has almost become a norm among today's public figures. These over-the-top scandals have occupied dinner table conversations around the country, and have forced us to re-evaluate the state of marriage. Why do people cheat? What can you do to prevent it? And how can you move on if it happens to you? We spoke with M. Gary Neuman, rabbi, marriage counselor and author of "The Truth About Cheating," who, through his research, gave insight on how to keep a healthy marriage. So why do men cheat? I can tell you why men don't cheat. It's usually not because of sex: Only 8 percent of men who cheat said it was because of sexual dissatisfaction. Rather, 48 percent of men who have cheated said it was because of emotional dissatisfaction. Men's egos are not as strong as they think, and therefore, they are highly susceptible to someone serving them up admiration outside the marriage, especially when the man is not properly connected with his wife. It often starts as emotional infidelity, where he will use a relationship outside the marriage to satisfy an emotional void. How can you tell if your husband is being unfaithful? If you ask him and he is extremely defensive and tries to make you feel like you're crazy for suspecting anything, then that's a key indicator. The cheating man does more than lie, he will then try to turn it around and make the woman feel like she's out of line. A man who has not cheated is usually more understanding and shocked. A tremendous push back on his part is an indicator. If he denies it, don't put your head in the sand; start checking his phone. Are there other signs? Yes, there are a few: decrease in sex and eye contact. If you hear a lot about one particular person — usually someone from his work, which is the number one place where people begin affairs — this could also send up a red flag. Being cheated on can be devastating. Why do we see so many women stay in their marriages after their husbands have cheated? Women are conditioned to believe that men cheat, and they seem to be willing to hang in there. Women tend to think first about the family, thinking, "If he will stop, I can get through this." And if it works out, then she will have saved her family. The disadvantage is that it causes women to just accept lame apologies or shallow remorse, which makes them highly susceptible to being cheated on again. So how can you approach the situation if you have suspicions? First, you need to ask. However, most men will lie repeatedly and only about 7 percent will tell you without being asked. Even worse, about 86 percent of men will lie even after being questioned with evidence. But you can persist. You can approach it by saying, "If anything is going on, we can handle this if we work through it, but we won't be able to if you continue to lie, so this is your opportunity to be honest." Suppose you do find out that he has been unfaithful. How can you work together to repair the relationship? A few things need to happen: 1. He has to be remorseful. 2. He has to understand what he has done wrong on his part. 3. He needs to dig deep and understand how he got there. For instance, 77 percent of men who cheat say their best friends have been cheaters. 4. You both need to look at the relationship. Is there physical and/or emotional distance between you? There is often too much fighting and not enough nurturing. Put time and energy into the marriage. The average American married couple spends 12 to 18 minutes talking per week. You should have a weekly date night without other couples, during which you can't talk about money, work or children. None of those subjects got you to where you are today with your spouse, so go back and find what initially connected you to each other. You have to be honest with yourself about the relationship. Many women are convinced that you are building a life together and you are "not supposed" to be close when your kids are young, thinking, "When they are older, we'll be closer." This is a recipe for disaster. You are supposed to be in love. Sure, you can argue, but there is supposed to be a consistency, and you should want to spend time together. You need to put your marriage first, next to children and money.Comment

Marriage counselor Gary Neuman explains why men cheat (it’s not about being a prettier woman), and offers tips on building a strong relationship. He also says women have a great deal of power in their marriages and relationships. First, here are two interesting statistics about marital affairs, from Neuman’s book The Truth About Cheating: - 1 in 2.7 men will cheat, and most of their wives will never find about it. - 92% of men say that affairs aren’t primarily about sex. Below is a summary of what Neuman told Oprah Winfrey about why men cheat. For more detailed information on physical and emotional affairs in marriage, read The Truth about Cheating: Why Men Stray and What You Can Do to Prevent It. Why Men Cheat – Insights From a Marriage Counselor Neuman says men cheat because of: - Loneliness in their relationship or marriage. - Affirmation from “the other woman.” - Not enough attention at home. The women men cheat with make them feel valued, secure, and appreciated. “Men love to win,” says Neuman. “If you want to make men feel secure, make them feel like they’re winning.” The husbands who had affairs said that they felt like they couldn’t win at home or in their marriage. In The Truth About Cheating, Neuman reports the results of a survey of marriage, marital affairs, and cheating spouses. He surveyed hundreds of husbands and wives to determine the real reasons men cheat. Neuman wrote the book because he saw the overwhelming devastation that happens in families, children, and relatives when men cheat on their wives. If your husband cheated on you, you may find How to Trust Your Husband After an Affair – From Mourning to Healing helpful. The Controversy in The Truth about Cheating Oprah points out the controversy in this book: a lot of the onus for marital affairs seems to be on the women. “How come we have to be the ones to work it out or fix it?” she asks. Neuman stresses that it’s not the wives’ fault and it’s not a blame game. He says that The Truth About Cheating is a book is about empowering women. “If you do certain things, you can lead your relationship to better place.” Women think if they appreciate their partners or husbands too much, the men will stop doing wonderful or helpful things around the house or in the relationship. It’s just the opposite, says Neuman. Here’s more marriage advice from Neuman: the more you appreciate your husband, the more he’ll want to please you. In fact, some marriage counselors believe that you should stay with a cheating husband. If you’re not sure what to do, read Is Your Marriage Over? 7 Signs Your Spouse is Leaving. How Many Men Leave Their Wives For Prettier Women? “I had a ton of mistresses, and none were prettier than my wife,” said one husband who cheated on his wife. Neuman said that 88% of the men said that the other woman wasn’t better looking or in better shape than their wives. Remember that cheating on your spouse is NOT about sex. Why Do Men Cheat on Women? The number one reason why men cheat is that there’s an emotional disconnection in the relationship. Husbands or partners feel underappreciated, and report a lack of thoughtful gestures. They’re lonely in their marriages. Men who cheat find women who make them feel alive, admired, and respected. “Men are very emotional beings,” says Neuman. The stereotype is that men are unemotional beings, but Neuman says men are very emotional beings, they just express it differently. Men want to feel like they’re pleasing their wives. If they get the message that they’re messing up, they feel insecure – and more likely to stray. Here’s Neuman’s marital advice to help you achieve your personal relationship goals: express how much you appreciate your spouse. Most people find people to cheat with at work. A friendship or emotional relationship develops. Some Husbands Will Cheat on Their Wives No Matter What Neuman says that 12% of men will cheat no matter what the wife does. Neuman says that you know those cheating spouses because they have a lack of remorse, if he’s cavalier about it, there’s no way to heal the marriage. Do Men Confess Their Affairs? Only 7% told their wives without being asked that they had an affair. Neuman said that 55% of the men in his study still hadn’t told their wives about their affairs. When wives do find out that men are having a marital affair, they know who the partner was cheating with. Usually, people talk about their romantic interests. Signs to Look for Before He Cheats Marriage cheating signs include: - Spend more time away from home - Less sex - Avoidance of contact (eg, he doesn’t answer his cell phone). - More critical of you These signs of cheating in marriage are the same when he’s about to cheat, or when he’s already involved in a marital affair. Take Neuman’s marital advice if you want to achieve your personal relationship goals, and watch for these signs of cheating. Do You Think Your Man is Cheating? If you think he’s cheating, here are three ways to investigate… “Go to cell phone records to find out whether he’s very involved with somebody,” says Neuman. “Put a GPS magnet on the bottom of his car, so you can see where his car has been. And, if you think he’s cheating but don’t believe what he says, ask him to take a lie detector test.” “Lying in a relationship can be more hurtful than the affair itself – and it takes a lot to move past it,” said one woman whose husband cheated on her. A final bit of marriage advice for men who cheat: “It’s best to come clean as early as possible,” says Neuman. “Be honest with your wife when you’re just beginning to get interested in someone else.” Did your husband or boyfriend cheat on you? Read Can Trust Him After He Cheated? 5 Ways to Tell. 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The Old Man and the Spree The ancient YAK-42 Cubana de Aviación jet lumbered loudly through heavy gray clouds on its way from Nassau to Havana. Belted into a worn seat in the chilly cabin, Fred Baldasare was already planning the press conference he would call when he arrived in Cuba late one afternoon this past October. "It's going to be picked up by all the media," he predicted matter-of-factly, unwrapping a hard candy distributed by a flight attendant. "This is going to be all over the international news." Baldasare's thinning white hair is combed straight back from a lean, photogenic face that, after years immersed in sun and water, is crisscrossed with fine wrinkles. That is about all that hints at his age, 75 years old. He's six feet tall and trim, neither skinny nor overly muscled, and wears a black T-shirt and black jeans. Rarely does he dress in any other color. When standing, he strikes deliberate and stately poses, his gray eyes squinting into the distance. Baldasare wasn't intimidated by his near-total ignorance of the Spanish language and of Cuba, where he intended to meet with government officials -- which ones, where, and how he didn't yet know. The fact is he didn't have a clue how to call a press conference in Havana. He'd made no plans at all. It was only a few hours earlier, with the help of a Nassau travel agent, that he bought a plane ticket to Cuba and reserved a hotel room. But after 35 years in pursuit of a singular dream, Baldasare has been brushed off and turned down often enough to simply have stopped listening to reason. If he really put any stock in accepted wisdom, he'd be sitting around his Palm Harbor living room watching game shows and polishing his trophies. He'd give up this ridiculous notion of swimming underwater, nonstop, 250 miles from Havana to Miami Beach. Baldasare is sane enough to appreciate how insane that sounds, and probably is. No one, not even a very young man, has ever completed a 250-mile underwater swim. The generally accepted world record is 66 miles. Baldasare, however, feels no obligation to abandon his goal. He always had his doubters, as far back as the early Sixties, when he first conceived the idea of following the Gulf Stream from Cuba across the Florida Straits. That was when Baldasare was riding the crest, so to speak, of a series of record-setting swims. His most notable feat remains in some record books (and is a Trivial Pursuit answer): On July 11, 1962, Baldasare was the first person to swim the English Channel underwater without surfacing. The next day a photograph of him adorned the front pages of newspapers all over the world. As he emerges, scuba-suited, from the English surf, his German baroness fiancée rushes to his arms and lingers in a giddy embrace, one knee bent as in a ballroom dance. In the next few years he would make more headlines with unprecedented underwater crossings. He appeared on popular American television shows of the Sixties: What's My Line?, I've Got a Secret, the Steve Allen Show, Today. The Guinness Book of World Records added Baldasare to its pages, and he joined the gallery of wonders in Ripley's Believe It or Not. He never cashed in big on his celebrity; this was long before endorsement deals and promotion packages could create instant superhero millionaires. It was usually enough, in those simpler times, just to attract plenty of sponsors and to bask in the attention of the press and pretty women. Baldasare wasn't alone in wanting to conquer the warm, shark-infested waters between Cuba and Florida. The grueling course (it's 90 miles between Havana and Key West, though the current naturally flows toward points farther north) calls irresistibly to marathoners. But the early Sixties was when relations between Cuba and the United States were at their most hostile and volatile: the Bay of Pigs, the missile crisis, the trade embargo, the assassination attempts on Castro. Baldasare figured he'd wait until things calmed down between the two nations. Years went by, the world evolved, the Cold War ended, Baldasare grew old. "Just about every year since 1963 I tried to do that swim," he muses today. He never did attempt it, though he tried time after time to secure permission from the U.S. government (because of the embargo, contact with the totalitarian state by private U.S. citizens is almost always prohibited) and to sign up sponsors and a support team. In 1990 Baldasare filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Postal Service alleging the government had been confiscating his mail in an attempt to deter him from the project. The suit was dismissed in 1991. Then early the following year, the U.S. Treasury Department notified him of its "final determination." Referring a bit testily to Baldasare's frequent letters, Foreign Assets Control Office director R. Richard Newcomb wrote, "If you can arrange the swim with absolutely no payments to Cuba ... there would be no prohibited transactions ..., and Treasury approval would not be required." As recently as 1997, it looked as though the Campbell Soup Company was going to sponsor a Cuba-Miami swim (Baldasare's primary nourishment during swims was soup sucked out of a plastic bottle), but Campbell's dropped him. Baldasare never learned exactly why. Then he got the idea of going to Havana. If he couldn't drum up enough support here, he might as well try the Cuban side. Fidel Castro would probably love the idea of some white-haired American, even older than he, valiantly bridging the watery gap between their two countries. It would be like The Old Man and the Sea. Only months earlier Fidel himself had wined, dined, and had a shark cage built for Australian marathon swimmer Susie Maroney. In September 1999 she swam from Jamaica to Cuba enclosed in that shark cage. Earlier she set records from Mexico to Cuba and from Havana to the Florida Keys, near Marathon. Although she is a surface swimmer and Baldasare navigates underwater in scuba gear, he considers Maroney's feats undeserving of the laudatory attention they received, mainly because a shark cage creates a draft that increases a swimmer's speed. (With fins his speed has been clocked in the vicinity of one mile per hour, but Maroney, without fins and in a shark cage, averaged almost five miles per hour on her Cuba-Florida trek.) Baldasare was approached by fearsome sharks during a 1963 swim, but he's never used a cage and he never would. "Hordes of newsmen are busily recording Fred Baldasare as he prepares for his epic swim.... This man is considered by rational experts as the greatest athlete of all time, although almost totally unknown." That is Baldasare writing about his Havana-Miami Beach swim as if it were really happening. It's promotional/biographical material he churns out on his computer, all written in a high-flown third person and brimming with superlatives that, despite the pretentious tone, are mostly not overstatements. "With the signal for the start of the swim, to catch the outgoing tide, he puts on his personalized fins," the imaginary scenario continues. "Then he pulls on a strange-looking hood. Only two large, slanted eye openings are seen, with slits to accommodate the nose and mouth, giving him the appearance of a space alien. The last of his attire is his mask. While it is still dry, he spits on the inside of the lens, rubs it vigorously, then rinses it twice, quickly, in a pail of salt water. He places the mask over the eye slits. "The mask, too, is strange. Projecting out six inches from the mask lens, from top to bottom, is a thin band of steel. Affixed to the band is a watch and a compass. Media cameras are busily taking pictures. Premier Fidel Castro shakes Fred's hand and surprisingly says, 'Good fortune, amigo.' They walk together to the edge of the dock. Baldasare turns his body awkwardly because of the weight of the tank on his chest [he prefers this unorthodox placement of the tank]. He waves to the crowd as they cheer loudly. As he jumps in he wonders if this crowd of onlookers is thinking of the sharks and other perceived dangers ahead. He notices some of them are crossing themselves, as had onlookers during his Strait of Messina swim. Too, he wonders why the many years of communism have failed to dissuade the religious few." A bus from Havanatur, Cuba's state travel agency, met Baldasare that October afternoon when he disembarked at the shiny new José Martí International Airport. He and other tourists were dropped off at their hotels; Baldasare had reservations at the Copacabana overlooking the ocean. First thing the next morning he found a hotel secretary who spoke English. "I asked her for Fidel Castro's phone number," Baldasare recounts. "She said she didn't know it, but she did give me a number for something called the central committee." That would be Communist Party headquarters. Then Baldasare asked the secretary's advice about who might be able to help him arrange a press conference. After puzzling for a few seconds, she looked up a number for the offices of Granma, the party's daily newspaper. "Well, I called them," Baldasare continues, "and they passed me around all over the place, and I never found anyone who spoke English. So I said I'm not getting anywhere on the phone. I need to do this in person." He walked outside to the queue of taxis waiting at the hotel entrance and showed his hastily jotted phone numbers to a driver, who assured Baldasare he could take him right over to the central committee offices at the Plaza de la Revolución. "He was a great guy," Baldasare says of the taxista, who like most Havana cab drivers these days was a university-educated professional who abandoned his career to earn dollars. "He told me he had family in the States. He went inside [the central committee offices] with me and we talked to someone at an information desk or something. They called around and finally found someone who spoke passable English, a man named Orlando Brito. He was -- " Baldasare consults his notepad " -- someplace called Minrex." That would be the foreign ministry. "We spoke for about four hours," Baldasare recounts. "He had two secretaries there who helped interpret. He was very interested, but he had two concerns. He didn't want to offend the U.S. government by helping me out. And he was worried about what would happen once the boat got into the twelve-mile limit. Then he gave me the name of the guy who's in charge of Hemingway Marina, and I went over there." That visit, according to Baldasare, was a waste of time. "The man wanted money in exchange for his help," he says. "I did meet some divers while I was there, and they said they were interested in being part of my team. But then they'd have to get permission from the government, so I wasn't very optimistic." The current distance record holder for underwater swimming (66 miles from Islamorada to Miami in 1978) is Neal Watson of Fort Lauderdale. Watson is on the board of directors of the Dive Equipment Marketing Association (DEMA), a scuba-diving umbrella organization. Recently he's been giving shark-diving lessons (swimming with nonaggressive sharks) to high-profile students, including Sarah Ferguson and Geraldo Rivera's brother Greg. Watson met Baldasare back in the late Sixties, when both were living in the Bahamas. "He's an incredible diver," Watson says now, adding he hasn't had any contact with Baldasare for the past twenty years. "I didn't know he was still alive. He was kind of my hero and mentor. I've been diving for about 40 years, and I've never known a better diver. He was a pioneer in the diving industry. He was breaking records with equipment far inferior to what we have now." From Baldasare's imaginary log as he nears the end of his journey: "7 AM, FOURTH DAY, 76th HOUR. Two hundred and thirty miles have been traveled, and the vessel and swimmer have already turned westward, departing from the center of the 40-mile-wide Gulf Stream and heading directly toward the shores of the mainland of the U.S. Copters and boats are dropping men into the waters for 'exclusive' underwater footage. The Coast Guard soon puts a stop to it. Great care must be taken not to get too close to the Largo Keys with their tidal currents. Once past the Keys, only the great inlet going into the heart of Miami must be avoided because of the tidal waters.... A landing on Miami Beach may be the target. A great deal depends on the time of coming ashore, and the way the swimmer feels. It is estimated that the swimmer will come ashore about 11 a.m. on the fourth day of swimming." When Neal Watson learns that Baldasare is estimating his Havana-to-Miami Beach time at 80 hours, without surfacing, he pauses in surprise. "It certainly would be a kind of Mount Everest of swims," he observes finally. "I mean, God bless him. If there was anybody 75 years old who could do it, it'd probably be Fred. I was under 40 when I [made the 66-mile swim] and it took all my strength. It took me around nineteen hours, and I went through a series of cramps and hallucinations and convulsions and everything else. Just to be in the water for that period of time, just to stay awake and maintain your buoyancy -- just having a mask on your face six or seven hours, much less two days, you'd be experiencing agony you can't even imagine, much less keeping your fins kicking for two days. You even experience space sickness, because it's like you're suspended in space. I'm not saying he can't do it, but it seems Fred could do many things less challenging and still break records." Fred Baldasare was born in Wellsville, Ohio, in 1924 but moved to Long Island several years later with his parents, older sister Maxine, and younger brother Raymond. His father made gold-plated costume jewelry for a living. Fred enlisted in the army before finishing high school and never earned a diploma. It was in the army that he first learned to swim underwater using "rebreather" tanks filled with oxygen, a kind of precursor to scuba diving, which he took up fifteen years later. (Even as a child he recalls diving into a pond by his house and trying to breathe underwater using a homemade garden-hose apparatus.) He was a paratrooper during World War II but never went overseas. Discharged in 1945, Baldasare moved to Los Angeles and for the next five years studied acting at a community college on the GI Bill. He appeared in plays, performed a nightclub act, and worked as a photographer's model. "My brother was the handsomest guy," says Maxine Baldasare Miller. A vivacious, blond 78-year-old with a penchant for bright colors and pistachio ice cream, Maxine shares a four-bedroom trailer north of Tampa with Fred, their 97-year-old mother Essie, and Maxine's granddaughter. "He was the first male model on the cover of Two Stories magazine," Maxine notes. "He was even in Brylcreem ads." Baldasare moved back to New York in 1950 to work for the army as part of a civilian crew producing military training films. He married Jane Lisle in 1952. He and his wife were enthusiastic divers, and in 1959, on a lark, Jane entered an underwater endurance contest being held in Pensacola. This involved wiling away the hours on display in a transparent water tank. "I trained her, and she easily beat out everyone else, men and women," Baldasare boasts. "After 50 hours [underwater] your hands shrivel up so bad it cuts off your circulation, and that's what causes people to quit. So I figured out a way she could blow air through a mouthpiece into a bucket that we inserted underwater, and then stick her hands in, which kept the shriveling to a minimum. In fact I'll be using that same principle to force air in under my gloves when I do the swim from Cuba." Jane, who looked very good in a bathing suit, won two subsequent endurance contests and became a momentary media darling. When a reporter jokingly asked if her next feat would be to swim the English Channel, Baldasare got to thinking. "I figured why not," he says. "I could train her, and with all the publicity she'd been getting we didn't have any trouble finding good sponsors. So we went over there, but she couldn't finish the swim. That's when I thought of doing it myself." The pair divorced soon after Jane's Channel attempt. Baldasare moved to Cocoa, Florida, where his parents were operating a motel, and began arranging for his own Channel crossing in July 1961. Several French divers and one British diver were to form the core of his support team. They would carry fresh air tanks to him during the swim; communicate times, distances, and any other information necessary to keep him oriented and on course; and generally serve as his lifeline to the boat above monitoring his movements. Baldasare is convinced the English diver sabotaged him by poisoning his food six weeks before the swim, drugging him the night before, and filling some of his air tanks with water. "He was an English spy," Baldasare insists, asserting that the British dive club that had agreed to assist him wanted one of their own to set the Channel record and thus was actually working against him. He arrived dockside the morning of the swim, disoriented and weak from vomiting the night before. He dived in anyway, and even continued to vomit underwater. On the first tank exchange, he was given one filled with water. Shortly afterward divers hauled him onto the deck of the monitoring boat. English police, Baldasare adds, found tampered air tanks at the home of the mother of the British diver (who had mysteriously disappeared). Baldasare, declaring he wanted only to get the hell out of England, declined to press charges. His French friends urged him to make another attempt, and a short time later he began weeks of training in France and in Italy. One day in Italy, while making his way down the aisle of a train, a beautiful woman stuck out a dainty foot and tripped him. The playful eighteen-year-old German Baroness Fredericka von Bernhardi thought that would be a good way to meet the handsome diver. Soon they became engaged, and she was immortalized in photographs as Baldasare's joyful greeting party at the end of his successful Channel swim. (She evaporated from his life only months later, as quickly as she'd entered.) As a tune-up for the Channel, Baldasare was determined to swim the Strait of Messina, which runs between Sicily and Italy's boot. He never realized until he stepped into the eddying water why the people in his entourage thought he was about to die: The Strait of Messina, which Greek myth portrays as a hellish passage between the sailor-devouring monster Scylla and the deadly whirlpool Charybdis, is seven miles of violent vortices. Baldasare amazed onlookers by maneuvering among the wild currents and successfully crossing. On to the English Channel. "There was excitement in the air on July 10, 1962," Baldasare writes in one of his promotional flyers. "In Europe, Fred Baldasare was already known as a great athlete, and was regarded much as champion baseball players and boxers are thought of in the U.S.A. Accompanied by the Club des Chasseurs et Explorateurs Sous-Marins de France, the most experienced divers in the world, he entered the waters of the Channel at Cap Griz Nez, France. He pitted his superbly conditioned strength against the sea and Mother Nature, and won.... Nineteen hours and one minute later, Fred Baldasare became the first person in history to swim the English Channel underwater, covering an incredible total distance of 42 miles. Following these successes, Fred toured Europe, and incredibly, made a swim almost every two weeks, all underwater, and never a failure." His sister Maxine was living in Tennessee at the time. "I didn't know anything about Fred's swim," Maxine says, "until a newspaper reporter came out to our house. It happened on the same day Telstar [the world's first telecommunications satellite] was launched, though, so he did have to share the front page with that." In October 1962 Baldasare crossed the Oresund Sound from Denmark to Sweden. Less than a month later, he swam the Bosporus Strait between the Black Sea and the Sea of Marmara. And before the year was up, he twice swam the Strait of Gibraltar from different points. After his Gibraltar swims, he retreated to Cocoa. He got work directing athletic activities at a Ramada Inn resort on Cocoa Beach. In the fall of 1963, scientists at the Naval Ordnance Laboratory at Fort Lauderdale recruited Baldasare for a study of the effects of underwater exertion on body systems. Swimming from Key Largo to Fort Lauderdale, accompanied by two navy ships, Baldasare was visited by several curious but nonthreatening sharks (including a great white). He still speaks longingly of gliding through schools of fish and of remoras riding harmlessly on his back as he made his way along the coast. A tropical storm, however, cut short what would have been a record-setting swim. Around that same time Baldasare began dating a woman he met at the Ramada Inn. "Eventually I found out she was the mistress of a man who owned a hotel in Miami," he recalls. "He had her all set up in the hotel where I worked. Well, she was getting restless, so we decided to take off on a road trip. Just like that. I had an old two-door blue Coupe de Ville. We drove to Washington, D.C., New York, California, and all the while she's wiring her boyfriend for money. I remember JFK was assassinated when we were going through D.C. I remember listening to the news on the radio. The town was at a standstill. I later found out I was investigated for the assassination, being as I'd suddenly disappeared from Cocoa and was in Washington when it happened." By the time he and the rich man's mistress got to California, Baldasare recounts, he was tired of their picaresque, Route 66-ish existence. He may also have been wondering how long it might take for the boyfriend to catch up with them. "I realized the futility of it all and decided to go to Mexico," he sighs. "I had a friend at a place called Las Brisas. She wanted to go too, but I said no, I want to be alone." Baldasare stayed at the Las Brisas Hilton in Acapulco for six months. He quickly became Scuba Instructor to the Stars, among them actors Stefanie Powers, Hugh O'Brian, and Albert Finney. Also while in Acapulco, Baldasare got into a conversation with a hotel guest who turned out to be a sales representative for U.S. Divers, a major scuba equipment manufacturing company. "He said, 'We got a great line coming out,' and showed me the brochure," Baldasare remembers. "And there was my invention; it was a composite swim fin with a detachable blade." About a year and a half earlier, Baldasare says, he had met the legendary ocean explorer Jacques Cousteau in Monaco. They had spoken about some ideas Baldasare had for streamlining scuba gear, and Cousteau had invited Baldasare to send him drawings of his designs. "He said, 'Send it to my firm in California. [Cousteau was chairman of the board of U.S. Divers until 1996.] So I did send blueprints by registered mail to U.S. Divers," Baldasare recalls. "I never heard from him again. Then after that time in Acapulco, I saw on TV another of my inventions used by the Calypso dive team; this was a rear-view mirror that snapped on to the mask." He never took any action against Cousteau or his company, and acknowledges it would be impossible, especially with Cousteau dead for three years, to prove his designs were stolen. "But I never forgot it, and I never had anything to do with U.S. Divers after that." Until this month, that is. He's just sent off a letter soliciting the company's sponsorship for his July swim. Baldasare came back to Florida after six months in Mexico. He got a job at Sears as a carpet installer and then as a men's clothing salesman. Soon, though, he was on his way to the Bahamas to work in a glass-bottom tour-boat business. Over the next fifteen years, he operated a series of dive-related businesses, conducting tours and leading dive parties. Soon after his arrival in Freeport, he met Kitty Geisler, a vacationing German model. She never went back to Munich, and she and Baldasare married about five years later. Baldasare (along with Neal Watson) coached Kitty to a women's diving depth record of 325 feet, which she defended for several years. They divorced about fourteen years ago, after almost two decades together. Although Baldasare says he has remained on good terms with his ex-wives, both now remarried, he didn't want them to be contacted for this story. Baldasare's divorce came around the same time as his sister Maxine's divorce. Eleven years ago they and their mother moved into a trailer home in Palm Harbor's rustic Lone Pine subdivision, some twenty miles north of Tampa. Following his less-than-fruitful meetings in Havana, Baldasare used the Hotel Copacabana's fax machine to send an urgent appeal to Florida Gov. Jeb Bush. Since the Minrex official had expressed concerns about offending the U.S. government by supporting Baldasare's project, he thought it would help if he could show the Cubans some proof of American approval. "Would you, could you, fax or e-mail an official letter from Governor Bush stating that he has no objection in me receiving Cuban help for this swim for July of next year?" Baldasare printed laboriously on Copacabana stationery. "This last swim of my career can only be possible with Cuban government or/and Bush's help. Otherwise I will arrange a press conference before I leave, announcing my retirement from swimming. Sincerely, Fred Baldasare." (A Cuban foreign ministry spokesman said recently he couldn't envision any objection by the Cuban government to Baldasare's plan. "The only question is how would it be financed," the official explained. "And the only problem would be if the American government wanted to cause problems.") Baldasare had run out of ideas. He left the Copacabana a week earlier than he'd planned, and he called no press conferences. It wasn't until early November, after he was back home in Palm Harbor, that he received a phone call from Tallahassee. "Our legal department spoke with him," says Dick Kane, who works in the Bush press office. "We had to tell him we just don't do things like that." Baldasare prefers a different spin on the conversation, one in which the governor's people express great interest in his project. By that time, however, he didn't need them anymore. He had found a sponsor. It had all come together like a charm: Upon his return from Cuba, Baldasare called a distant relative, Liz Collier-Ortiz, who is a long-time employee of Diversified Environmental Services in Tampa. The company's founder and president, Gerry McCormick, owns a fleet of boats. "When Fred found out I worked in a company that had a lot of boats and barges, he saw an opportunity," Collier-Ortiz relates. (McCormick declined to speak with New Times.) "So," Collier-Ortiz goes on, "Fred asked if he could have a meeting with Mr. McCormick, which I arranged, and we went over the specifics of what Fred would need. Gary's got a barge that could hold a lot of equipment, also a 90-foot and a 65-foot yacht that could run alongside the barge. This would be something newsworthy, so Mr. McCormick sees it might be of interest just for the sake of being part of that, and once he realized he could basically provide most of what Fred needs, he was really positive about it." Now Baldasare is advertising for a dozen divers. He says half that many so far have volunteered to accompany him for two weeks in July. He doesn't have the money to pay them, but he hopes that will come after the proposed expedition attracts more sponsors and press coverage. Collier-Ortiz is contacting the local media. Baldasare stays at his computer for hours, writing letters and promotional summaries, and working on his autobiography. A Bally Total Fitness facility recently offered him the use of its pool and indoor track. Soon he'll begin six hours of daily training, which will consist mainly of "an unusual kind of walk I developed when I was training in Italy; it uses the same muscle group as swimming, and one hour of this walking is the same as five hours of swimming." As Baldasare goes on about his plans, sister Maxine, smartly attired in a lustrous persimmon-orange tunic and black pants, steps through the back door toting a few bags of groceries (among them a new carton of pistachio ice cream). Lately she looks forward to running errands in her brand-new Honda Civic, the apple of her eye. It's parked outside in the carport right behind Baldasare's shiny black Yamaha V Max motorcycle, on which he traveled to Canada and back last year. Of course nothing will make up for the loss of both of Maxine's children, who died young from cancer, just months apart, about five years ago. Her granddaughter, who's working and going to school, doesn't spend much time at home any longer. But Maxine has been able to catch up on all the years she never saw her brother Fred, while he was gallivanting with beautiful blondes and swimming with sharks. Now they have all the time they need. "He coulda been rich today," she opines without bitterness or nostalgia, just flat certainty. She leans back into the plush mauve sofa in their living room, reaching for a cell phone on the end table and clicking her tongue. "He knows so many people, and look how he ended up." Get the Weekly Newsletter Our weekly feature stories, movie reviews, calendar picks and more - minus the newsprint and sent directly to your inbox. - Poll: Floridians Chill With Gay Marriage, Almost Ready for Medical Marijuana - Miami-Dade Gained 21,000 New Residents Last Year, but Broward and Palm Beach Are... - Artist Posts Flyers Around Wynwood For "Lost Art," but Gallery Says He's Full Of It - Miami Skyline Featured on Jacksonville Jaguars' Draft Hat

If someone had told me that someday I would fall in love with one of my patients, I would have recommended that he or she become one of my patients. Now I have to admit that this most improbable event has occurred at my own clinic. It got so I couldn't wait to get there every morning. It was as if I had found that the doorway to paradise was always right in front of me. I quickly discovered that when you're with someone you love, the most mundane things suddenly become wonderful. I suppose I'll never forget the day your mother arrived, Willow. She and I often talked about it, first as part of her therapy, and then, as time passed and our relationship grew into something I'm sure neither of us had expected, we were actually able to laugh about it. You know how people often discuss what they were doing when some major historical event occurred. My father used to talk about where he was when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, for example, and I often think about what I was doing the day President Kennedy was shot. Events like those are so imprinted on your mind it is as if life went on pause for a while and then began again. Shall I tell you that when I first looked at your mother and she looked at me, my heart paused and then went on again? Shall I tell you that during those moments it felt as if there was no one else in the world but us? Does all this sound too romantic, perhaps more like the words in a love song than the words of a psychiatrist? As a psychiatrist, I am too analytical, I know. I have a sort of love-hate relationship with my work. I don't really like to dissect people's emotions like some pathologist in a lab, but it is what I have been trained to do. Forgive me for how often I do that while writing this to you, Willow. The truth is I remember everything about that day your mother arrived. It was unseasonably warm. Ordinarily I don't pay very much attention to the weather. I spend so much of my time indoors at the clinic, I don't care whether it's raining or not, whether it's cloudy or sunny, but for some reason (I hesitate to call it Fate or anything similar -- it wouldn't be very professional of me) I remember sitting at my desk and looking out the window and admiring the soft, lithe look of a cloud moving lazily over the tops of the trees in front of my clinic. I don't daydream very often. I simply didn't have time for it with my patient load at the clinic, but that day it struck me that this was the only cloud in the eastern sky and I thought it looked lonely. I could even see a sad face in its fluffy surface and told myself something my mother used to tell me when I was a little boy: Rain, she said, was merely the teardrops of sad clouds, and when it stopped raining, we knew the clouds were happy again, sunshine lighting up their smiles. "All smiles have to have sunshine behind them, Claude," she told me, "otherwise, they are not smiles; they are masks." Perhaps that was my first lesson in psychiatry. I laughed at myself for remembering such things and having such a thought -- a cloud, lonely -- but it brought back that wonderfully pure feeling of innocence. And then, suddenly there was your mother and grandmother's limousine coming in the front entrance and approaching the clinic. I had a number of patients from well-to-do families, so I didn't think all that much of the fact that someone was bringing me a new patient in a fancy, luxurious limousine. Even though I don't have any hard and fast studies on the matter, I suppose I should tell you that I do believe wealthy people are more embarrassed by their mentally ill relatives, especially, unfortunately, parents who are embarrassed by their own children. They can't wait to drop them off here and pretend they are somewhere else. Later, I discovered that was exactly what your grandmother had done. She told people in Palm Beach, for that's where your mother and grandmother lived, that her daughter Grace was off again to college, only now out of state. Palm Beach, according to what your mother told me later, was one of those places where people can tell each other lies and feel confident they will be accepted as truth, at least on the surface. In her words, "It's just courteous to believe in someone else's fantasies. The richer they are, the more they believe in Santa Claus." How clever she could be, don't you agree? I watched her and your grandmother emerge from the long black limousine. Your grandmother wore a very stylish pink and white hat and indeed looked as if she was going to some ritzy charity event. Her teardrop earrings caught the sunlight and twinkled like tiny stars she might have plucked out of the Florida night sky. Even from my office window I could see she was an attractive woman, tall and stately with a runway model's posture when she walked. If she felt any shame, she wasn't about to let the world know it. Your mother was difficult to evaluate from any distance, but especially difficult that day because she kept her head down, her shoulders turned inward, and her arms very close to her body, her hands crossed. This was not an unusual demeanor for me to see in one of my patients. People don't exactly come here because they are full of self-confidence. Your mother and grandmother disappeared from my view when they walked to the front entrance. The driver followed with your mother's suitcases, and I sat back and continued to read her medical history, sent to me by her doctor in Palm Beach, a friend of mine, Dr. Anderson. I won't bore you with the medical terminology, the analysis and whatever. Suffice it to say, your mother was coming to me after having attempted suicide, but there were factors that told me she might very well not have realized the significance of what she was doing. I'll explain that later, and I promise, I won't be too technical. While your mother was admitted, a process that involved some physical examination, recording of medications, etc., your grandmother was brought to my office. I usually meet with someone from the immediate family as soon as possible and preferably before I meet with the patient. Getting to know the parents, brothers, sisters, aunts, whoever, of a patient helps me understand what possible social and environmental factors are impacting on that patient. Forgive me for writing about my work so seriously. I am trying not to be the doctor now, but your father instead, and, I suppose you have realized by now, I am not writing as your stepfather. I am writing as your biological father. I am your father, Willow, in every sense of the word. Your mother wasn't raped by some attendant as you were told too often by your stepmother, and I didn't bring you home because I felt guilty that such a thing happened at my clinic. I have already told you how I was in love with one of my patients, your mother. I must now tell you how such a thing happened to a man who prided himself all his professional life in being objective, properly aloof, the doctor first and foremost. Your mother taught me that was not necessarily the best way for me to be, the best way for me to help my patients. In fact, dear Willow, everything gradually became reversed here between your mother and me. Many times toward the end, I felt more like the patient and your mother spoke to me with more wisdom than I had imagined she possessed. But let me stop talking about what happened and talk about how it came to happen. Into my office walked Jackie Lee Montgomery, your grandmother. I should say burst in, for she had that sort of confident, domineering presence. She was looking at everything like someone who was thinking about buying the clinic. It brought a smile to my face, but a smile I've learned to hide well under what you used to call my "doctor mask." There was just a slight quivering at the corners of my mouth as I told myself, Claude De Beers, you'd better dot your i's and cross all your t's when you speak to this woman. My receptionist, Edith Hamilton, brought her to my office and announced her at the door. "This is Mrs. Montgomery, Dr. De Beers," she said and stepped back, closing the door softly behind her. I rose quickly to greet your grandmother, and she held out her hand like a queen who expected it to be kissed. "Jackie Lee Montgomery," she said, holding her head high, her eyes fixed on mine. "Please have a seat," I said, pulling a chair a little farther from the desk the way a gentleman would pull out a chair for his lady at a dining table. It made no sense for me to do that, but your grandmother had that sort of an effect on me. Later, I laughed about it with Grace. She told me her mother had become Palm Beachified. That was her term for it, for all the changes in her personality the wealth and the social life had caused. "It breaks my heart to be bringing my daughter here, despite the wonderful references and recommendations I have received concerning you and this mental clinic, and despite how beautiful your building and location are," your grandmother Jackie Lee began. "I understand, Mrs. Montgomery," I said, taking my seat. "I'm sure you're wondering why I didn't return to my first married name or even my maiden name. My daughter was very fond of my second husband, Winston Montgomery. He adopted her and gave her his name, and I thought for the sake of simplicity, to avoid confusion..." "I thought I should tell you that right away," she said. "I understand completely," I said. "You made a wise decision." "I would never keep my third husband's name," she said, pursing her lips so hard, it brought little spots of white at the corners of her mouth. "Dr. Anderson told me he has given you everything, so you are familiar with all that horror, I expect." "I am, somewhat, yes." She opened her purse and took out a frilled silk handkerchief and brought it to her eyes even though I didn't see any tears. "I've done the best I can dealing with this. What can anyone expect when a woman learns her husband has seduced, really raped her daughter in their own home, right under her very eyes practically?" "It is quite overwhelming," I agreed. "And Grace," she said, shaking her head and sighing, "hiding her pregnancy from me all that time until it was far too late to do anything about it." She paused and focused sharply on me as she leaned a bit forward. "Can you explain that to me? I never had a sensible explanation from Dr. Anderson for her behavior." "Well, of course without speaking with Grace and exploring her troubles, it's difficult, Mrs. Montgomery. I can give you some classic reasons, which might very well be her reasons." "What? What reason could anyone have for such behavior?" she practically pounced. "First, of course, there's guilt. Too often women assume full or most of the responsibility for such things. To alleviate their own guilt and responsibility, some men often make them feel that way." "He would," she said, spitting the words disdainfully at the floor. "And if you have an impressionable young woman who has been through some additional mental crisis, she is more vulnerable to such chicanery." "Chicanery. Exactly," she said, nodding, her eyes brightening with the way I sympathized with her situation. "So keeping all that in mind, it wouldn't be all that unexpected for her not to hide her pregnancy so much as to go into complete self-denial." "What do you mean by complete self-denial?" "Try to convince herself it wasn't true, ignore the symptoms, and succeed enough at that to justify not telling you for a long time, as hard as it is for you to understand, Mrs. Montgomery." "Jackie Lee, please." "Jackie Lee. It's possible your daughter in all sense of the word actually believed she wasn't pregnant." "Madness, utter madness. She does belong here." "I saw from a note in her records that afterward you encouraged this in a way by pretending the child was yours. Am I correct that you actually simulated a pregnancy to persuade people it was so?" She looked surprised that I knew that, but it was something that stood out in Dr. Anderson's report. "I did what I did for her," she snapped back at me. "I was protecting her. You don't know how cruel and biting people are there. It was difficult enough trying to find her a decent man with whom she could develop a relationship. Imagine what this sort of sordid news would have done. I might as well have shipped her off to Somalia or some such godforsaken place." I just nodded. Some people take that for agreement, and for the moment I could see it was better she assumed I approved of all she had done. In my experience, if you don't let parents, especially parents, come to their own conclusions as to their responsibility for the child's illnesses and problems, they will resent you and refuse to accept. Acceptance is the beginning of recovery. There I go again, being the doctor. Sorry. After I read the references to Jackie Lee's behavior, I had spoken with Dr. Anderson, of course, and he went into some detail about this cover-up Jackie Lee had created. He told me she became so absorbed in her own efforts to fool the public that, he thought, she had fooled herself as well. At least for a little while. He believed it contributed significantly to Grace's current depression and introversion. The truth is that the way he described your grandmother's behavior made it sound as if she should have been brought here as the patient and not your mother. Now he was worried about the child, the little boy named Linden, growing up believing his grandmother was his mother. Dr. Anderson hoped I would help return Grace to a balanced enough state of mind so she could return and recapture her own child for both their sakes. It added pressure to my efforts, of course, and a solid reason for my letting her go. Neither of us could be selfish enough to see Linden without his mother. (It brings tears to my eyes just to write this, to write the words, let her go, for as you will see, that was just what I had to do.) "Yes," I replied after a moment. "I'm sure what you did, you did for good reason, Jackie Lee." She liked that and obviously liked I had stopped calling her Mrs. Montgomery. "Exactly." She paused, dabbed her eyes again, and looked at me, her face turning dark and serious. "You don't think that it had a lot to do with what she...what she attempted to do to herself, do you?" "It's best to wait for me to begin my examinations before we come to any conclusions about anything. I would be doing you a disservice to shoot from the hip, Jackie Lee. Give me some time." "I know Dr. Anderson believes that it did. I could see it in his face whenever he spoke to me about it," she said, smirking. Then she sighed so deeply, I thought she had cracked her heart. "She was such a happy child once. When her father was alive, before his terrible helicopter accident, he doted on her and she practically worshiped the ground he walked upon. I was always warning him that he was spoiling her, not so much with gifts as with love. You can give someone too much love, you know. "'Grace will never be able to love any man because she will always compare him to you and find fault with him,' I warned him, but he didn't listen and that's exactly what happened." She leaned toward me. "You know she's not had one satisfactory romance and she's in her twenties!" "It's not so unusual, Jackie." "I'm sorry. Jackie Lee. Not unusual at all, especially these days," I said softly. "It is for Grace. Wait until you see her. She's a very attractive young woman when she wants to be. Right now she looks like something the cat dragged home, but when she's had her hair fixed, especially by my stylists, and she puts on one of her designer dresses and has her makeup done properly, she's a little movie star. I saw the way men looked at her at charity events and parties. "But she was always pushing them off for one reason or another," she said sadly. She nodded and then she stared at me a moment. "You know what she believes, don't you? I imagine it's down there in that report Dr. Anderson sent you," she said, nodding at the folder on my lap as though it were a criminal record instead of a doctor's file. I didn't reply. I didn't want to reveal anything in Dr. Anderson's report. "You don't have to read it. I'll tell you. She believes she carries a Jonah curse, that everyone or anyone who loves her or whom she loves will have something terrible happen to him or her. She'll tell you all about it, I'm sure, about all of them, her victims," she said, throwing her head back and rolling her eyes dramatically. "We'll try to get her to think differently about herself," I said. She sucked in her breath and sat straighter. "Yes. Well, what do you think? Can you cure her? Will she ever be a normal woman and marry and have a family and a home?" she demanded. "I hope so, Jackie Lee. It's my intention to make that a reality, yes. She does have a son to care for and raise, of course." "Care for and raise," she muttered. "Well, I can't just toss him out there to be at the mercy of those sharks, now can I? For now, I'll continue being his mother." "That might do him some harm in time, Jackie Lee. Perhaps you should think of how you can gradually get him to understand the truth," I suggested softly. "Yes, well, we'll see. I don't want to make promises to him that will never be fulfilled. I know how mentally ill people can be, how their recoveries can be false or only temporary, especially someone in her condition. I've read a number of magazine articles about it." "There is a lot of misinformation about that, Jackie Lee. Perhaps the old adage, 'A little knowledge is a dangerous thing' applies to this more than anything. Just be patient and give it all some time," I told her. "Time. Exactly. How often should I come here?" she asked, rather demanded, I thought. "Not for a while," I said. "Let's see how it goes and I'll call you." She looked satisfied with that answer. "I thought Grace was going to put up a fight or an argument about coming here, but she didn't so much as utter a little reluctance." "That's good," I said. "Good? Who would want to come here? How can that be something good?" "Perhaps she realizes she needs help. That's what good, Jackie Lee. You have to recognize you have a problem before you can solve it." "Um," she said. "Maybe. You know what she did, don't you? You know about her jumping off the dock in the middle of the night and then telling us she was getting on a ship with her dead father. She would have just let herself drown if we hadn't realized what she had done!" "When people are so troubled, they lose their hold on what's real and what isn't. We all live in a little bit of illusion," I said, "but the difference is we know when to come back to reality." "She doesn't," she said sharply. "She will," I replied, now holding my eyes on her. "I hope so," she relented. "Should I go back to say goodbye to her?" "Maybe not. Maybe it's best you just leave quietly. She's in good hands. As you know, I have a wonderful staff here, and we don't like to see the families make the patients feel abandoned in any way." "I'm not doing that," she retorted sharply. "No, of course not, but someone who is already suffering with misconceptions, self-deprecation, loss of identity..." "Yes, well, I suppose you are right. You do know more than I do," she said, standing. "I'll walk you out," I said. "It's a very pretty place. I mean, where it's located, those willow trees, the river nearby, the grounds." "Nature is a true healer," I said. "If that were true, you'd think the ocean would have been that for her. We lived right on the beach." "It held other connotations, other meanings for her, perhaps." "Her father crashed in the ocean, but we never talked about that," she said, nodding. "Oh, this is all so complicated. It makes me spin." "Don't worry. We'll sort it out," I said. "Did you want to see the rest of the clinic, our facilities?" "No," she said quickly. "I'm sorry. I don't mean to sound disinterested, but seeing all these disturbed people, especially the younger ones, depresses me. I don't know how you do this sort of work, Doctor. How do you do it?" "You think about helping them, seeing them walk out of here to be productive people again, and that's how you do it," I said. I walked out with her to the waiting limousine. The moment the driver saw her, he jumped and rushed around to open the door for her. She had that sort of aura about her continuously, commanding. "This isn't easy for me," she said at the car, looking back at the clinic and taking a deep breath. "She's my only child. Aside from poor Linden, of course." "I understand," I said. "I keep thinking about how happy we all were when our lives were chaotic, when we were moving from naval base to naval base, following my husband in his career, never really having any roots. They used to salute each other, you know," she said. "With two fingers. She did it when she was only two, and he thought it was so funny and cute that he never forgot and always did it the same way." She was really crying now, and I thought that under the shell she had created for herself in order, perhaps, to survive in the world she had found herself living in now, she still had a very warm, loving other self, desperately trying to be heard. When we're honest about our own emotions, we have the best chance for happiness, Willow. Always remember that. I squeezed her hand gently. She looked at me one more time and in a whisper said, "Take care of my baby." Then she got into that luxurious, shiny black limousine with its tinted windows. I actually felt sorry for her. She looked shut up, locked away in there. The windows reflected me and the clinic. I no longer saw her, and moments later she was driven away. I watched her go, and then I turned back to my clinic and walked with determined steps to attack whatever monster resided in your mother's troubled mind. Copyright © 2003 by the Vanda General Partnership Dark Seed © 2001 by the Vanda General Partnership A fter the tragic death of her adoptive father, Willow De Beers receives an unexpected gift: a family diary that unlocks all the secrets of her world -- and shatters the life she's known in glitzy Palm Beach, Florida. At last, Willow learns the identity of her real father, and unearths his secret love affair with her real mother. She discovers the reasons for her adoptive mother's cruelty...and the truth about the mysterious woman who couldn't keep her, but would love her forever. Look inside for the original e-book prequel Dark Seed -- first time in print! Also inside...a preview of the thrilling Broken Wings series -- coming soon from Pocket Star Books

Perhaps you recall Neil "Style" Strauss as the author as such works as Motley Crue: The Dirt, How to Make Love Like a Porn Star, and The Game. Get used to it - he's the future. You've probably heard about the massive blood-letting at Harper-Collins and the general sturm und drang currently rattling the publishing industry. =According to today's Wall Street Journal, the industry's knight in shining armor just might come in the unlikely package of nebbish-turned-pick-up-artist Neil Strauss and his new Harper-Collins imprint It Books/Igniter. So far, Strauss' baby has signed "The World According to Bozo the Clown" by the late Larry Harmon, and a tome on modern day gangsters from Hoffa to (Paris) Hilton," and Strauss plans to be intimately involved in every aspect of production. Make of this what you will - the article makes the point that, financially, the Harper isn't allocating resources to the new project that would otherwise have gone into retaining employees - it marks a distinct agenda for a house that very publicly fired polarizing editor Judith Regan over her perceived vulgarity and commercialism. Of course, it's not that simple - Regan's decision to run O.J. Simpson's (sort-of) tell-all was the excuse, and the powerful editor was never short of enemies - but as Sara Nelson notes, there was always a sense that the sort of commercial, vulgarly successful titles ReganBooks pushed were unbecoming. "But even amid all the enmity, there was a sense among some both at the company and outside of it that Regan's real problem was less the O.J. book — even if it was a bad call — than her personal style; not her low-brow proclivities, but her bad PR." It would be naive to suggest that Regan was found unpalatable purely because she's a woman - Regan was, by any standard, a difficult personality, and this economy doesn't leave room for gentlemanly qualms - but it's also true that in a world filled with successful writers and editors, they've chosen to pass the mantle to a man who made himself famous writing about the way to get a woman into bed. Strauss' forte, thus far, has been shmucks redeeming themselves - yet still relishing and profiting from their bad behavior. In the tradition of pulp, his bestsellers have been juicy but couched in just enough traditional morality to make them acceptable reading. In this way, his literary m.o. doesn't differ much from his pick-up-artist tactics: the tricks and negging and peacocking are, at the end of the day, always justified as a way to find love. Regan, it's true, never provided an "aww" moment, and Strauss is adept at it. But it's a little grimy to think of publishing, an industry famously well-populated with powerful women, being taken in by a PUA, even a "master" one. Reganomics, Or How To Publish Like A Porn Star [Wall Street Journal]

2009 has been better than 2008 around the Reasoner house, if for no other reason than it’s been calmer. Livia and I have been able to keep our writing careers rolling along, our daughters are doing well in their second year of teaching, and we added a couple of min/pin puppies named Nicki and Nora to the family who have provided much hilarity and adorability. Now, it’s on to my annual recap of how the writing, reading, and watching movies went this year. As I mentioned earlier this month I topped a million words again this year, with a final total of somewhere around 1.1 million. That added up to 16 books, rounding a little since I was in the middle of a manuscript when the year started and am also in the middle of one now. Somewhat coincidentally, because it doesn’t always work out the same, there were also 16 of my books published this year, under eight different names including my own, sort of, that being the Gabriel Hunt book. As I’ve probably mentioned until you’re all sick of it, that Gabriel Hunt book got a starred review in Publishers Weekly and very nice reviews in many other places, and the reception it’s received has been one of the most gratifying events in my career. It was great fun to write and I’m glad it’s been fun for most of the readers. I also wrote several short stories, one of which has already appeared on the excellent BEAT TO A PULP website and others that will show up in various places in due time. I continue to have a fine time writing and plan to keep at it for as long as anybody will buy my books. I read 113 books this year, slightly up from 2008, and there were so many good ones that picking a Top Ten was extremely difficult. But for what it’s worth, here are the books I most enjoyed this year, in alphabetical order by author, with some brief comments: BURY ME DEEP, Megan Abbott – while QUEENPIN is still my favorite of her books, this one is a vivid, beautifully written fever dream of a novel, and very compelling reading. LOSERS LIVE LONGER, Russell Atwood – a deliberately old-fashioned private eye novel, and great fun. HELL TO PAY, J. Lee Butts – as noirish a Western as you’ll ever find, as bleak as anything by Jim Thompson or H.A. DeRosso, and a tale told in a wonderfully distinctive voice. THE GRAVEYARD BOOK, Neil Gaiman – the first Gaiman novel I’ve read, and the winner of the Newbery Award for best juvenile novel, it’s a great, spooky, suspenseful yarn. SPADE & ARCHER, Joe Gores – a pastiche that truly reads like Hammett could have written it, if I didn’t know better, I’d swear that this collection of linked novelettes really was published in BLACK MASK in 1928. THE NICK ADAMS STORIES, Ernest Hemingway – a reread of a classic. Some of the all-time great short stories by any author are here. HOLMES ON THE RANGE, Steve Hockensmith – the most entertaining classical detective novel I’ve read in a long time. I have the others in the series and have to get to them soon. HIRED LOVER, Fred Martin (probably Orrie Hitt) – Hitt in James M. Cain mode, with a fast-paced story and a real gut-punch of an ending that I didn’t see coming until the last minute. OTHER SPACES, OTHER TIMES, Robert Silverberg – a collection of autobiographical essays about Silverberg’s life as a writer, illustrated with hundreds of photos and wrapped up with an exhaustive bibliography of his SF. FAKE I.D., Jason Starr – about as effective a depiction of an anti-hero as you’ll ever find, with a great final line. Read this back-to-back with Butts’ HELL TO PAY if you want to overdose on bleak. There were a number of other books very close to the same level, such as Orrie Hitt’s TABOO THRILLS, Gaiman’s graphic novel MARVEL 1602, Leigh Redhead’s stripper/private eye yarn PEEPSHOW, Silverberg’s early SF novel CONQUERORS FROM THE DARKNESS, Ed Gorman’s latest novel TICKET TO RIDE, and Jason Starr’s most recent book PANIC ATTACK, not to mention numerous collections of Silver Age comics I really enjoyed. If I had to pick a favorite from that Top Ten list, it would probably be Gores’ SPADE & ARCHER, which made me feel like I was reading actual pulp stories. This may well be the only such list posted on the Internet that includes books by both Ernest Hemingway and Orrie Hitt, but what can I say? I like what I like, and I think that’s the way it should be for all of us. I didn’t keep a list of all the movies we watched this year (I really need to start doing that) or even blog about a lot of them, so I can’t do a Top Ten for them. We watched a lot of romantic comedies, a considerable number of raunchy college comedies, some superhero stuff, quite a bit of action/adventure where Stuff Blows Up Real Good, the occasional inspirational, based-on-a-true-story drama, some movies based on plays by Tennessee Williams (when Livia was writing her Tennessee Williams book), the very occasional horror movie, and some Westerns both old and spaghetti. I like movies, and I’m sure we watched well over a hundred of them. We’ll probably watch that many next year, too. So that wraps it up for 2009. Thank you all for continuing to be part of this blog, and I’ll see you next year. “I found your blog, posted January, 2009, about the ACE paperback book title, "Odds Against Linda." I was very pleased to read what you had to say. Steve Ward was a pseudonym for Norman Rosenthal, who also wrote "Silenced Witness." They are the same person and that I know because it is my dad. He loved to write and wrote on the side while holding down a regular job. Unfortunately he had no other books published. He was working on several, but died before any could be completed.” And here’s some information from a follow-up email: “If you would like, here's some biographical information on my father. During WWII my dad was a bombardier on a B-24. He flew out of Italy and while on a mission over Vienna was shot down and became a POW. He spent his time in the famous Stalag Luft III until General Patton liberated the camp at the end of the war. In 1947, he graduated with a degree in journalism from the University of Missouri. He and my mother lived in California for almost 20 years where he worked as a general manager for an established newspaper publisher. While in California he belonged to the Northern California Chapter of the Mystery Writers of America and at one time held an officers position in the chapter. Such people as Lenore Glen Offord and Anthony Boucher also belonged at that time. My parents then moved to Ohio where he became Advertising and Marketing Director for Jacobs, Visconsi & Jacobs, a shopping center developer. (Yes, the same Jacobs that owned the Cleveland Indians, but not until several years after my dad retired). My dad not only loved to write, but to read and listen to music. He had a very extensive library and record collection. Writing was a passion of his, but it's hard to support a family on writing alone. "Silenced Witness" was published in 1955. He then wrote "Odds Against Linda" under the name of Steve Ward which was published in 1960. Both were written while living in California. Over the years he had worked on several novels but because of work, was never ever able to finish any of them to his satisfaction. However, after his retirement, he did have two short stories published in the Sunday magazine section of the "Cleveland Plain Dealer." He retired in the late 1980s and really started to delve into his writing. Unfortunately shortly afterwards he became ill with Alzheimer's and it progressed rather rapidly before he could finish any other books. He died in November, 1998.” I really enjoyed ODDS AGAINST LINDA and did a Forgotten Books post about it earlier this year. I’ve ordered Norman Rosenthal’s other book, SILENCED WITNESS, and I’m sure I’ll have some comments on it in due time. I think it’s great that members of his family know there are still people out here reading and appreciating his work, and I always enjoy finding out more about the writers whose work has entertained me. It’s a shame Rosenthal wasn’t able to publish any more books. From what I’ve read, he was a pretty good writer. I know the critics don't like these movies, but the humor in them is so bizarre and over-the-top, and there are so many movie trivia in-jokes (watch for Clint Howard in a cameo role), that I find them pretty funny. But the best part of this one is Amy Adams as Amelia Earhart. Dressed in an aviator's outfit and spouting goofy Thirties slang almost like a female version of Dan Turner, she's really swell and definitely easy on the optics. It was 33 years ago today that I made my first professional fiction sale, a bright, sunny day like this one, as I recall, although a bit warmer than it is today. I've written about that sale, and other things about my early writing career, here and here, and if you haven't read those posts before, I invite you to go take a look at them. There have been peaks and valleys in my career since then (mostly peaks, for which I am profoundly grateful), but I can honestly say that I've had a great time being a writer and hope to continue at this crazy business for a long time to come, despite all the recent upheavals in the publishing industry. It's the only job I know of where you can sit around in your pajamas drinking coffee and eating doughnuts and tell people that you're working . . . and they'll believe you. This is one of the Christmas movies we watched yesterday, and it turned out to be pretty good. It’s set in 1931 and is about a girl from Pittsburgh whose father has to send her to live with her “aunt” (really an old girlfriend) in a small town that has a local ordinance against dogs. Naturally the girl winds up with an adorable dog and makes friends with a family that provides a “dog orphanage” just outside the town limits. The mayor’s brother is the dogcatcher and rides around in a motorcycle sidecar while his assistant drives the motorcycle. There’s a lot of mild danger and adventure and plenty of cute little kids and dogs. This is a family-friendly movie, very sweet and heart-warming and inspirational, but the Depression-era setting is portrayed in an appropriately dark and gritty manner. The cast, all of whom were unfamiliar to me except for character actors John Billingsley and Richard Riehle, does a good job, and the period detail is good with one exception: I don’t think the football term “Hail Mary pass” had been coined in 1931. That’s a pretty minor quibble, though. Since Christmas is over, you probably won’t want to run out and find a copy of THE 12 DOGS OF CHRISTMAS. But next year, if you want to watch a decent little holiday movie you probably haven’t seen before, you should keep it in mind. I don't know what the official snowfall was around here, but we had five or six inches in our front yard, making this the whitest White Christmas in my memory. Most of it melted off the roads during the day, but there's still quite a bit in the pastures. Some of the drifts were several feet deep, something we don't get around here very often. It was a quiet, peaceful day. We opened presents, ate some good food, watched TV (the Mythbusters Christmas Special on DVD, as well as some made-for-TV Christmas movies), ate some more, napped, just generally took it easy and enjoyed the day. I like calendars and usually get at least a couple for Christmas. This year I got a wall calendar with cover reproductions from assorted science fiction pulps (PLANET STORIES, THRILLING WONDER STORIES, etc.), a GET FUZZY desk calendar for upstairs in my writing room, and a PEARLS BEFORE SWINE desk calendar for downstairs. There were some CDs, a DVD history of the Dallas Cowboys (apologies to all of you who dislike the Cowboys, but they've been my team for more than forty years and it's too late for me to stop rooting for them now), and an excellent stack of books: Robert Lesser's PULP ART, the coffee table book from a few years back that I've never owned until now; a couple of Spider reprint volumes by Norvell Page, CITY OF DOOM, the mass-market paperback from Baen, and THE SPIDER VS. THE EMPIRE STATE from Age of Aces Books, each of which reprints three novels; THE COMPLETE ADVENTURES OF THE SECRET 6, from Altus Press, which reprints all four novels from the short-lived pulp series by Robert J. Hogan; THE ADVENTURES OF SMOKE WADE, VOL. 1, pulp aviation stories also by Robert J. Hogan, published by Age of Aces; SWORDS FROM THE WEST, the latest Bison Books collection of Harold Lamb stories from the pulp ADVENTURE; and finally HONEY IN HIS MOUTH, the Hard Case Crime novel by the great Lester Dent, creator of Doc Savage. If you're counting, that's more than 2500 pages of pure pulp goodness! It may take me a while to work my way through all those books, but I know I'll enjoy them tremendously. Christmas Day is always a time of reflection for me, rather than New Year's. I always look back on what's happened since last Christmas and wonder what will happen between now and next Christmas. It's also a reminder of how truly blessed I am to have a wonderful family and great friends and the opportunity to do work that I enjoy and that brings pleasure to other people. I hope it was a wonderful holiday for each and every one of you. It's snowing lightly outside, we're supposed to have three to five inches by tomorrow morning (White Christmases are rare around here, but not unheard of; I can remember several in my lifetime), both girls are here, I have all my present-wrapping done (except for one that I forgot about), and I've been to the store to pick up a few last things we needed. In other words . . . Okay, Christmas, bring it on. (Seriously, Merry Christmas to all of you, and thank you for being part of this blog.) The Thirties gangster movie is another film genre for which I’m a sucker. Give me a movie about guys in fedoras and trenchcoats who use tommy guns to rob banks and speed around in roadsters, and I’m a happy viewer. It’s even better when there are other guys with fedoras and trenchcoats and tommy guns (the FBI, in other words) trying to catch them. So you know I had to watch Michael Mann’s PUBLIC ENEMIES. The center of this film is John Dillinger, played by Johnny Depp, but almost of equal importance is FBI agent Melvin Purvis (Christian Bale). The cat-and-mouse game they play as Purvis tries to capture Dillinger and Dillinger continues robbing banks and eluding arrest (for the most part) is very suspenseful. I don’t know how historically accurate all the details are (I have the Bryan Burrough non-fiction book on which the film is based but haven’t read it yet), but I do know enough about Dillinger so that I was aware all through the film of how it had to end. I don’t think that knowledge took away anything from my enjoyment of the movie, though, and I enjoyed it a lot. PUBLIC ENEMIES got mixed reviews when it was released, but I thought it was excellent. It’s a determinedly old-fashioned movie and looks great, despite the fact that it was shot on high-definition video rather than film, or maybe because of that. A cinematographer I ain’t. All I know is that I really enjoyed the look and style of the film. Depp, as usual, disappears into his role and is really believable as Dillinger (except for one moment when he’s running through the woods and flapping his hands like Captain Jack Sparrow), and Bale is pretty good as Melvin Purvis. Character actor Stephen Lang turns in a fine performance as a grizzled special agent. There’s a lot of action, mostly gun battles, and for the most part they’re well-staged and easy to follow. The period detail looked good. I kept hoping Dillinger would walk past a newsstand full of pulps, but if he did, I missed it. The only magazines I spotted were copies of LIBERTY, LADIES HOME JOURNAL, and (appropriately enough) TRUE DETECTIVE. Even the music is good, with a recurring bluegrass theme during the bank robberies and chases reminiscent of the music from BONNIE AND CLYDE. Maybe a little too reminiscent, but I won’t quibble. I won’t guarantee that you’ll like this film, but if you’re a fan of gangster movies and haven’t seen it, you really ought to give it a try. I thought it was one of the best films I’ve seen recently, and it’s one of the rare movies I wouldn’t even mind watching again. Highly recommended. (One last note: in watching the scenes at the Biograph Theater, I realized that I’ve never seen the Clark Gable/William Powell movie that was playing there on that fateful night, MANHATTAN MELODRAMA. It’s now on my Netflix list.) For those of you who don’t know, prolific Western author and occasional commenter on this blog Chap O’Keefe is really Keith Chapman, who’s been writing and editing a wide variety of genre fiction in comics, magazines, and books for many years now, in addition to his work as a journalist. Recently he’s established his own publishing imprint for Western fiction, BHE Books, providing the first two novels himself, brand-new entries in two long-running series: MISFIT LIL CHEATS THE HANGROPE and the latest one, LIBERTY AND A LAW BADGE, another adventure of range detective Joshua Dillard, a former Pinkerton’s operative with tragedy in his past that drives him to fight outlaws of all stripes. LIBERTY AND A LAW BADGE is the first Chap O’Keefe novel I’ve read, but it certainly won’t be the last. As the book opens, Dillard is on his way to his latest assignment, stopping a range war in Montana and finding out who’s been rustling cattle from his employer’s ranch. Pretty standard stuff, you say? Well, maybe at first glance, but not by the time Chapman gets through throwing twist after twist into the complex plot. The Liberty of the title is actually a young woman who’s been blackmailed into a sordid affair with a crooked sheriff, who’s the brother-in-law of the cattle baron who hired Dillard, who owns the cattle that Liberty’s husband is accused of stealing. Got that? Then there’s the cattle baron’s sister, who’s married to the crooked sheriff, and she goes on a rampage when she finds out about her husband’s adulterous affair with Liberty (said affair really being nothing more than a series of rapes). Add in a brutal deputy with an agenda of his own, and there’s a whole lot for Dillard to untangle before he can straighten everything out. Naturally, that untangling involves a number of fistfights and shootouts. This book is a lot of fun, pulpish but with a sharp, contemporary edge. The dark, complex plot, the emotional angst, and the gritty storytelling remind me very much of many Westerns published in the Fifties by Gold Medal, by authors such as Lewis B. Patten, Dean Owen, and William Heuman. The pace is very fast, the action scenes are handled well, and Joshua Dillard is a very likable hero, tough and competent enough to handle just about any situation, despite his occasional self-doubts, but not a superman by any means. I’m ready to read more about him right now. You can order LIBERTY AND A LAW BADGE here or at Amazon, and if you’re a fan of hardboiled action Westerns, I definitely think you’ll enjoy it. In the spirit of full disclosure, I’ve never read any of Dan Brown’s books, and it’s entirely possible I never will. (“Sour grapes, anyone?” asked the writer whose books have sold a tiny, tiny fraction of what Brown’s have.) And I didn’t like the movie version of THE DA VINCI CODE. So why did I watch the movie version of Brown’s novel ANGELS & DEMONS? Well, you gotta have something to do on a Saturday night. However, movies will often surprise you, and I found quite a bit to like about ANGELS & DEMONS. To get my major complaint out of the way first, in the end the entire plot of this movie hinges on something so far-fetched that it seriously stretched my willing suspension of disbelief. It almost snapped, in fact. But I finally decided to just say, “Okay, whatever, sure that could happen,” and went along with it. Tom Hanks is back as Professor Robert Langdon, who is actually sort of an appealing hero, obviously in over his head where the action stuff is concerned but still willing to try. That everyman quality may be one of the keys to the popularity of Brown’s work. He’s called in by the Vatican to help follow a trail of historical clues centered around various statues in Rome. The Pope is dead, four cardinals have been kidnapped and are scheduled to be executed by their captors every hour for four hours, and then, oh, yeah, there’s an antimatter bomb hidden somewhere around the Vatican that will destroy most of Rome when it goes off. Unless, of course, Langdon can follow the clues and save the day. I think the fact that the action takes place in a short period of time, only a few hours, and is confined to Rome really helps the pace and sense of urgency in this film. I don’t remember much about THE DA VINCI CODE, but I do recall that it really plodded along. Not so with this one, which never slows down for very long. The action scenes are well-done, and the acting is okay all around. I have no idea if all the art history and Church history spouted by various characters is accurate, but hey, ignorance is bliss, or in this case, a fairly entertaining couple of hours. As mentioned above, it does have that “Oh, come on!” moment late in the game, but other than that the plot seems to make sense. So, somewhat surprisingly, I have no trouble recommending this one, and I’m not trying to damn it with faint praise, either. I enjoyed it and think it’s worth watching. This is a World War II movie that I hadn’t heard of, although the background of it is certainly familiar. It’s about the British prisoners of war who were forced by their Japanese captors to build a railroad through the jungles of Thailand. Yep, it’s THE BRIDGE ON THE RIVER KWAI, although that was a fictionalized version of the historical situation and TO END ALL WARS is based on a memoir by Ernest Gordon, who was actually one of those prisoners. And even though it covers some of the same ground, it’s also an excellent movie in its own right. Not surprisingly given the subject matter, this is a pretty grim and harrowing movie, and kind of tough to watch at times as the prisoners are subjected to all sorts of torture and general mistreatment at the hands of the Japanese. Robert Carlyle plays one of the officers who thinks it’s his duty to lead an escape, Kiefer Sutherland is an American merchant marine who got swept up with the British when Shanghai fell, and a Scottish actor I’d never heard of, Cieran McMenamin, plays the young Ernest Gordon, who is indeed pretty earnest. There are two main Japanese actors, one who plays the brutal sergeant of the guard who seems to be tormented by secrets of his own, and a young translator who befriends the prisoners. The photography and the scenery are beautiful, and that provides a pretty striking contrast to the ugliness going on in much of the film. This is one of those movies about the triumph of the human spirit, and it has a lot to triumph over in this one. But in the end it does, and the film concludes with some touching footage of a reunion between the real Ernest Gordon and the Japanese translator fifty years after the war. TO END ALL WARS is a fine film. I wouldn’t say that you’ll have a good time watching it, but you might well wind up being moved by it. Imagine, if you will, a new TV detective series debuting in the fall of 1960, probably on ABC, definitely produced in glorious black-and-white by Warner Brothers, and called GRANDSTAND or maybe WINNER’S CIRCLE, something like that. The narrator/hero is Mack Gaul, troubleshooter for a popular Florida horseracing track, who every week solves murders and deals with all the colorful characters who show up at the track. Mack is played by, say, Darren McGavin. Tonight’s episode . . . “A Slice of Death!” If you’re old enough to imagine all that, then you’ve got a pretty good idea of what Bob McKnight’s 1960 Ace Double novel A SLICE OF DEATH is like. Actually, calling it a novel is being generous, since it probably doesn’t have more than 30,000 words packed into its 102 pages. Which is not a bad thing, because that’s just about the right length to adapt into an hour-long episode of our imaginary TV drama GRANDSTAND. It opens with a beautiful redhead with a slide rule (remember slide rules?) informing Mack that the payoff listed on the track’s tote board is wrong. According to her, the holders of winning tickets are being shorted forty cents. That doesn’t sound like much, but Mack knows it could add up to a lot of money, so he starts investigating and trying to find out if it’s an honest mistake or if somebody who works for the racetrack is crooked. I think you can probably guess what the answer to that question turns out to be. It also won’t come as any surprise that the guy operating the tote board turns up dead, and Mack is the leading suspect. The manager of the racetrack is missing, too, and his beautiful blond secretary can’t find him. Throw in some Cuban gangsters, assorted racetrack employees and hangers-on, and a few action scenes, and you’ve got a fast-paced mystery that takes place in only a few hours. The prose is strictly functional and there’s nothing jaw-dropping about the plot, including the identity of the criminal mastermind. But it’s all good fun anyway, and a nice little snapshot of an era and the sort of books published then. I’ve read a number of Bob McKnight’s Ace Doubles in the past, and while none of them have risen above the level of competent entertainment, none of them have fallen below that level, either. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I think I’ll go imagine some more TV shows that never existed but should have. Throughout my career, my general pattern has been to start each day's work by editing, polishing, and revising what I wrote the day before. I can't argue with the way it's turned out. On occasion, when deadlines were tight, I've been known to just start typing where I left off the day before and rely on Livia to fix any mistakes I make. It certainly helps to have a fine editor in the same house, so that she can say "What happened to the other dead body?" or "This sentence doesn't make any sense" or "You're not going to have the hero get hit on the head and knocked out again, are you?" I've also, at times, written something straight through and then gone back to the first and edited the whole thing, and I'm wondering if that might not actually be the best way to approach it. I think when you read the whole book in a relatively short period of time, you might see things you'd miss if you were just rereading small chunks every day. But I don't know. When it comes to writing, my rule is whatever works is what works, if that makes sense. I'm curious anyway about what you writer-types out there think. Is it better to revise every day, or wait until you're finished and revise the whole thing? I heard about the movie DETOUR and its director, Edgar G. Ulmer, for years, and when I finally got around to watching it, I liked it a lot. Now I’ve watched another Ulmer film, the much more obscure CLUB HAVANA, and it’s . . . interesting. CLUB HAVANA is basically a Grand Hotel sort of movie, introducing the viewer to a number of different characters who show up at the opulent Miami nightclub of the title. There’s the idealistic young doctor, the married couple on the verge of breaking up, the middle-aged society woman with three very creepy grown children, the gangster who’s suspected of murder, the piano player, assorted other musicians, the somewhat shady switchboard operator . . . You get the idea. Ulmer gives each of these characters a little time in the spotlight, so to speak, and then lets them interact and their storylines intertwine. The biggest problem with this movie is that at 62 minutes, it’s just too short to do justice to all the plot that Ulmer tries to cram into it. Watching it you get the sense that if it had been thirty or forty minutes longer, it would have been a much better movie. As it is, it’s really rushed, and the fact that at least ten minutes get taken up by a couple of musical numbers doesn’t help matters. Still, there are some striking scenes and genuinely suspenseful moments. The big ending, which takes place in the club’s parking lot, is marred by photography that’s too dark and murky to tell what’s going on most of the time. Tom Neal, one of the stars of DETOUR, plays the young doctor, and while Neal’s tragic personal life later on inevitably resonates for the modern viewer in these early roles, he’s not given much to do here. Marc Lawrence as the gangster turns in the best performance and the movie would have benefited if his role had been bigger. Overall, CLUB HAVANA would have been better if it had been longer and had better production values . . . but if it had had those things, then it wouldn’t really be an Ulmer film, now would it? This one’s hard to find, but if you come across a copy it’s worth watching, as a curiosity if nothing else. DUPLICITY – This was a movie I felt like I should enjoy a lot more than I did. I’m not much of a Julia Roberts fan, but I like Clive Owen and Paul Giamatti (who is seemingly in even more movies than Jane Lynch is in TV shows, if that’s humanly possible), and I usually enjoy intricately plotted movies where nothing is what it seems. For some reason, though, this one just didn’t work for me. I found keeping up with all the plot convolutions more boring than intriguing, and in the end I just didn’t care what happened. Maybe I just wasn’t in the right mood to watch it. NOVEL ROMANCE – This one had what should have been an okay premise for a romantic comedy: single female magazine editor wants a baby, so she offers to publish the work of an aspiring writer in return for his sperm. Unfortunately, with the exception of a nice line here and there about the writing business, the script just isn’t funny, and Traci Lords is terribly miscast as the editor. The movie also makes the same mistake so many movies do and would have us believe that novel manuscripts are thin things bound in plastic covers. The great Paul Johansson does his best as the writer and delivers the movie’s best line (the profound “Most writers are full of shit.”), but he can’t save the film overall. The only other thing the movie has going for it is a supporting turn by Mariette Hartley, who is still beautiful after all these years. I’m not exactly what you’d call a Scrooge, but I’m generally not as filled with the Christmas spirit as some people are. So I thought maybe it would help me get in a holiday mood if I read a sweet, heartwarming, inspirational Christmas novel. What did I pick? NORTH COUNTRY CUTTHROATS. This entry in the long-running Trailsman series was published a couple of years ago and is definitely a Christmas novel, taking place on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day as Skye Fargo finds himself in Dakota Territory, riding shotgun on a stagecoach driven by his old friend Grizzly Olaffson. Fargo would rather be wintering some place warm and tropical, but that’s not how things have worked out. And of course, getting caught in a blizzard is almost the least of Fargo’s troubles, since the stage is carrying a strongbox full of army payroll money that’s bound to attract outlaws, and one of the passengers is a beautiful Russian woman with a secret in her past that may prove deadly to Fargo. The author behind the Jon Sharpe house-name on this novel is the always dependable Peter Brandvold. As usual in Pete’s work, there’s plenty of gritty action and colorful characters, a few touches of dark humor, and a vividly described setting. NORTH COUNTRY CUTTHROATS may not be exactly what you’d call sweet and heartwarming, but I thought it was a lot of fun and thoroughly enjoyed it. If you’re a Trailsman fan, you’ll want to read this one, and if you haven’t tried that series yet, this would be a good place to start, especially given the time of year. I decided to look up the original cover of FLIGHT TO DARKNESS from its 1952 Gold Medal edition (the only edition until the New Pulp Press reprint). The art on this one is by Barye Phillips and is okay, but I don't think it's one of his better covers. My favorite Phillips covers are probably on some of the Shell Scott novels, although I'm far from an expert on his work. The first Gil Brewer book I read was WILD, and I didn’t much care for it. But since then I’ve tried his work again, most recently THE VENGEFUL VIRGIN (the Hard Case Crime reprint with the great cover) and LOVE ME AND DIE, published under Day Keene’s name but actually a ghosted expansion by Brewer of a Keene pulp novelette. I’ve become a confirmed Gil Brewer fan, like a lot of you are, I’m sure. One of his rarer novels, FLIGHT TO DARKNESS, is about to be reprinted by New Pulp Press, and it’s a very good one verging on greatness. FLIGHT TO DARKNESS is the story of Eric Garth, a sculptor from an old, fairly well-to-do Florida family who is wounded in the Korean War. The book opens with him about to be released from the psychiatric ward of a VA hospital in California. His physical wounds have healed, but he’s been troubled by a recurring dream in which he murders his brother. Eric has fallen in love with one of his nurses at the hospital and plans to marry her, but first they’re going to drive cross-country to return to his family home in Florida. I’ll bet you can guess that doesn’t turn out to be a good idea. Actually, they make it all the way to Alabama before trouble crops up, but when it does, it lands Eric in a sanitarium, and then his girlfriend disappears, and then he escapes, and when he does finally make it to Florida . . . well, you guessed it. Things get worse. And looming over the whole thing are Eric’s doubts about his own sanity, so always in the back of his mind (and the reader’s mind) is the possibility that he really is crazy, and when he’s framed for murder, well, maybe he wasn’t framed after all. Before the book is over, Eric can’t fully trust anything or anybody, including himself. Murder, madness, swamps, gators, a savagely beautiful woman . . . it doesn’t get much better than this for noir fans, and the last fifty pages or so are about as crazed and breakneck as anything you’ll find in the genre. I couldn’t turn the pages fast enough. Throw in the fact that New Pulp Press has produced a top-notch trade paperback reprint with a very evocative cover, and you’ve got a book that I don’t hesitate to recommend very highly. I think the official publication date is tomorrow, but I’ll bet you can go to Amazon or NPP’s website and order a copy right now. Here's the new cover scan from the WesternPulps group: SPEED WESTERN, August 1944. Another good lineup of authors: E. Hoffman Price, James P. Olsen, James A. Lawson (who was really James P. Olsen as well), and Larry Dunn, who was really Laurence Donovan. SPEED WESTERN was the slightly tamer successor to SPICY WESTERN. All of the Spicy titles were converted to Speed titles during the Forties. It almost slipped past me that this book came out this month. I think I did forget to say anything last month when THE TRAILSMAN #337: SILVER SHOWDOWN was published. Both should still be readily available if you're in the mood for a good Western or need some stocking stuffers. No, not me. Livia has a nice guest blog about Christmas mysteries posted at the excellent Mayhem and Magic site. Check it out. (By the way, the mass market edition of THE CHRISTMAS COOKIE KILLER is out now, in case you're looking for an almost-last-minute gift for someone who enjoys mysteries.) I think I’ve mentioned before that when I was a kid, the bookmobile came out to our little town from the Fort Worth Public Library and parked under a shade tree on Main Street every Saturday morning. It was about the size of a UPS truck and packed full of books. That was my introduction to the world of libraries. From the age of six, I was there nearly every Saturday, checking out an armload of books that I would read during the week and return the next Saturday so I could get more. Among the books I discovered in those early years was a series of juvenile novels by Walter R. Brooks about some talking animals who lived on a farm in upstate New York. If I remember correctly, the animals had always been able to talk. It’s just that up until a certain point, humans had never bothered to ask them any questions. The unofficial leader of the animals was Freddy the Pig, who could read and write and had a decidedly adventurous nature for a pig. He fancied himself a detective and sometimes wore a deerstalker cap and carried a magnifying glass for examining clues. He generally solved the mysteries that came up on the farm and the ones involving the circus with which the animals traveled from time to time. He also started a bank for the animals, learned how to fly a plane, wrote poetry, and even became an explorer and went on expeditions to other countries. Quite a pig, in other words. He was surrounded by a colorful and entertaining supporting cast of animals and humans, including Jinx the Cat, who was often the comedy relief, and the wise old cow Mrs. Wiggins, who acted as the voice of reason for the impulsive and occasionally reckless Freddy. I seem to recall that there was also a human who functioned as a recurring villain, although he was never really too villainous. These are kids’ books, after all, so Freddy never wound up as bacon. I loved these books and read all of them I could get my hands on. Some of them I probably reread several times. The series was originally published from the Thirties up through the mid-Fifties, and some of the titles have been reprinted in recent years. To give you an idea of the series’ deadpan humor, here’s a brief passage from FREDDY AND THE PERILOUS ADVENTURE (1942): “Back at home, in what Freddy called his library, which was really just a shed built on to the back of the pigpen, were dozens of disguises, all neatly hung on hangers, which he used in his detective work. In any one of these he felt sure he could walk straight down the road without the slightest danger of being recognized. But without a disguise he was just a stray pig, and if the police were really looking for him, any stray pig was bound to be stopped and questioned.” I imagine most kids today would find these books much too gentle and whimsical for their tastes, but for me they were an introduction to mystery fiction (I read them even before I discovered the Hardy Boys), and in rereading them today, I find that I appreciate the humor in them even more than I did when I was eight years old. If you read these in your childhood but haven’t revisited them since, they’re well worth a look. And if you’ve never gotten to know Freddy, well, then, maybe you should. As I’ve mentioned before, I’m a sucker for World War II movies, which is probably one reason I had so much fun writing the books in the Last Good War series a few years ago. DEFIANCE is definitely a World War II movie, but a bit different than most. It’s about a group of Belorussian Jews who take to the woods and hide when the Nazis come in and take over in 1939. A couple of brothers (played by Daniel Craig and Liev Schrieber) who are former smugglers put their criminal background to good use as they become the leaders of the group and turn it into a resistance unit to fight the Germans. DEFIANCE is based on a true story (though I have no idea how historically accurate it really is) and is an old-fashioned and very good film. There’s a lot of action that’s staged and shot so that you can tell what’s going on, and there are also well-developed characters, a compelling story, and a very satisfying ending. I didn’t even come close to nodding off, which is a rarity for me when I watch a movie. Now, it is almost unrelentingly grim, which you’d expect from the subject matter, but there are a few small touches of humor here and there, as well as the occasional stand-up-and-cheer moment. Craig and Schrieber are good as the leads, but really the whole cast is excellent. I wasn’t sure what to expect from this one, but turns out it’s a fine film, one of the best I’ve seen recently. Highly recommended. I was looking for something completely different to read the other day and picked up this book more or less at random. I like a good romantic suspense novel now and then, so I decided to give it a chance. It had a couple of things going for it: it’s set in Alaska, a setting I usually enjoy, even though I’ve never been there and almost certainly never will be; and it’s a nice, brisk 65,000 words or so in length, maybe even a little shorter than that. A lot of the bestselling romantic suspense novels suffer from the same malady as many other bestsellers: they’re too blasted long. COLD CASE AFFAIR starts off with a bang, literally. In a flashback set twenty years in the past, a mysterious someone plants a bomb in a mine, and when it goes off, the blast kills a dozen miners. Jump ahead twenty years, and the daughter of one of those murdered miners is returning to her hometown to take over the newspaper she inherited from her recently deceased grandfather. It’ll come as no surprise to mystery readers that she tries to find out who was responsible for that never-solved bombing, and wouldn’t you know it, it turns out that the circumstances of her grandfather’s death are pretty sinister, too. At the same time, the heroine has a lot of emotional baggage involving a handsome bush pilot to deal with. This is a romance, after all. A lot of times, at least in my experience reading them, which is admittedly limited, romantic suspense novels skimp on the mystery and suspense. That’s not the case here, as Loreth Anne White, an author I’d never read before, blends the two elements just about evenly and does a fine job with both. Some of the mystery is pretty easy to figure out, but the plot also takes an unexpected and almost noirish turn late in the book, leading to an action-packed ending. Most importantly, White is a good storyteller and possesses that indefinable knack of making the reader keep turning the pages. I enjoyed this one quite a bit and think it’s well worth reading. I may try some of the other books in this line. Usually the sleaze publishers were pretty serious about everything, but this house ad in the back of Orrie Hitt's TEASER (Beacon, 1956) displays a little touch of whimsy. You may have to click on the image in order to read it. I don’t recall hearing much about this near-future thriller when it came out, so when we sat down to watch the DVD, I commented that I didn’t know if the movie would be any good or not. Shayna said, “It’s a Vin Diesel movie. He probably kills people.” To which Livia added, “And things blow up.” That’s a pretty good description of BABYLON A.D. Diesel (who is about halfway between Bald Vin and Hairy Vin in this one) plays a mercenary with the unwieldy name of Toorop (which everybody in the movie seems to pronounce slightly differently). He’s hired to transport a young woman from a mysterious convent in Central Asia to New York. (Transport? Did somebody say transport? Where’s Jason Statham, speaking of bald guys?) The young woman is accompanied by an ass-kickin’, philosophy-spoutin’ warrior nun. Who else would you get to play that part except Michelle Yeoh? Various bad guys (or are they?) try to kidnap the girl along the way, and/or kill Diesel and Yeoh. Potential double-crosses loom. Things get metaphysical. Finally you get to an ending that makes the viewer go “Huh?” At least I did. All that said, I thought BABYLON A.D. was a pretty entertaining movie. There are a lot of striking images and plenty of action, some of which could have been better-edited, as far as I’m concerned. Yes, it’s that old complaint again, but this movie isn’t too bad an offender in that respect. Diesel is Diesel, and I suspect most viewers either like him or don’t. I do. I like Michelle Yeoh, too, but she isn’t given much to do here. I asked at one point, “Is this movie based on a video game?” Turns out it’s not; it’s based on a novel I’d never heard of instead. But it plays a lot like a video game movie, which is not necessarily a bad thing. This one’s worth watching, although I wouldn’t rush right out to grab a copy of it if I were you. I'm trying to get back in the habit of posting a new cover scan on the WesternPulps website every Sunday, and when I do, I'll post it here, too. This week it's the February 1941 issue of SPICY WESTERN. Larry Dunn, the author of the cover-featured story "Six-Gun Wedding" was really prolific pulpster Laurence Donovan. This issue also featured a Simon Bolivar Grimes story by E. Hoffmann Price. I hasten to add that I don't own this issue. The scan comes from the invaluable Fictionmags Index. In the spirit of fairness, here's a clip featuring the other leading singing cowboy from that era and his most frequent sidekick. Now, I never liked Gene and Frog as much as I did Roy and Gabby, but I'll admit they made some decent movies for Republic in the Thirties. This clip also includes the credits from ROOTIN' TOOTIN' RHYTHM, and it's interesting to note the the script was based on a story by Johnston McCulley, the prolific pulp author and creator of Zorro. I need a little inspiration before I get to work this morning, and who better to provide it than the King of the Cowboys and the Greatest Sidekick of All Time? By the way, I love the fact that one of Fred Rogers' first jobs in television was working on The Gabby Hayes Show. "Boys and girls . . . can you say whippersnapper?" I don't know if this is the same edition as the one Max Allan Collins mentions in his comment on the previous post, but it's a good cover and worth posting. "A guy -- a girl -- a highway motel" . . . As Ron says in his comment, I love motel noir, too. There's an anthology idea for somebody: MOTEL NOIR. I guess ROADSIDE NIGHT qualifies as a Forgotten Book. In forty-plus years of reading and collecting books like this, I’d never heard of this novel or its authors, Erwin N. Nistler and Gerry P. Broderick. As far as I’ve been able to discover, this is the only book they ever published. When you see the phrase “strange love” on a paperback from this era (1951), it’s usually code for a lesbian novel. Not in this case. The relationships here are strictly heterosexual. The narrator, Buck Randall, is an ex-G.I., a World War II vet who fought on Guadalcanal. He owns a tavern and a small motel on the Pacific coast in California. He’s having a minor romance with the beautiful teenage daughter of the man who owns a restaurant down the coast highway from the motel. He’s not particularly ambitious. Then a gorgeous blonde in an expensive car stops at the tavern for a drink as she’s passing through the area, and Buck falls hard for her. He pines away until she comes back by. They start getting to know each other. She’s interested in him, too, and after they begin sleeping together, he finds out that she’s not as well-to-do as he thought at first. In fact, she’s in sort of a desperate situation, but she knows a way out, if only she can find somebody to help her . . . Yep, you’ve read it before, starting with James M. Cain and going right on through the Fifties in the work of dozens of paperbackers like Charles Williams, Day Keene, Gil Brewer, and Orrie Hitt. The femme fatale, the likable but not-too-bright hero, the scheme that will make them both rich if only nothing goes wrong . . . but it always does. The first half of ROADSIDE NIGHT doesn’t blaze any new ground, but at least it’s a fairly early example of that standard plot. What makes it worth reading is the prose, which is bleak and fast-paced, and the sweaty air of doom and desperation that hangs over the book like fog rolling in from the sea. Then the second half of the novel throws in just enough plot twists so that everything doesn’t work out quite the way you might expect it, and ROADSIDE NIGHT turns into a really nice little noir novel. I think the ending could have been stronger – Nistler and Broderick pull back just a little when maybe they shouldn’t have – but it’s still very effective. This isn’t some lost masterpiece of crime fiction, but it’s well worth reading and would make a good candidate for reprinting. It’s too short for Hard Case Crime, probably not much more than 35,000 words, but it would work just fine in, say, a Stark House collection with a couple of other short novels. I’m really glad I ran across it, and if you happen to do likewise, I think you should grab it and read it. Evan (Dave) Lewis tagged me with this meme, which involves naming five favorite Internet stores other than Amazon. I don't do much shopping on the Internet other than for old books, so my top spot definitely has to go to ABE. But I also buy pulp reprints from various publishers who sell through Lulu, and VCI Entertainment has some great obscure DVDs, and we buy more current stuff through Half.com and Deep Discount. That's five, isn't it? It’s starting to look like Lee Goldberg Week here on the ol’ blog. After reading his latest Monk novel, MR. MONK IN TROUBLE, we’ve also watched FAST TRACK: NO LIMITS, the movie he wrote and produced in Germany last year that’s now out on DVD. It’s set in Germany, as well, but two of the four main characters are Americans. Katie Reed is a beautiful mechanic who owns a garage where she builds street racers. Mike Cassidy is a pizza deliveryman who putters around town on a moped, disguising the fact that he’s actually a former getaway driver who’s wanted in the States for his part in a bank robbery. In a nice little plot twist, there’s no romance between them. Katie’s boyfriend is a young German cop who’s also an expert driver, and Mike falls for the wife of a rich businessman whose car he “borrows” to take part in a street race. Katie needs money to save her garage, and her only real hope is to win a series of races with her cars. (She doesn’t drive herself, just provides the cars and takes part of the purses when they win.) Throw in more cops, some gangsters, a nasty villain, assorted bank robberies, beautiful women in skimpy outfits, several races, and a handful of really spectacular stunts, and you’ve got a highly entertaining action/adventure movie. Most of the cast is European, but the two leads are American (Erin Cahill as Katie) and Canadian (Andrew Walker as Mike). Everybody does a good job, the script has some funny lines and several very effective dramatic moments, and the stunt drivers really steal the show. I don’t know if Lee has any more of these in the works, but if he does, I’ll watch ’em, you can count on that. I'm sure a lot of you have already seen snow this season, but not us. Not until this morning, when big flakes were coming down hard and heavy for a while, covering cars and turning the ground white. December 2 is pretty early for that around here. It's not cold enough to stick on the road, thank goodness, and while I'm not a huge fan of winter weather in general, I have to admit that some snow on the ground and in the trees looks pretty. I'm not longing for it like Bing and his buddies in this clip, though. Around the middle of the day today, I passed the million-word mark for this year. That makes five years in a row I've written at least a million words. I don't say that to brag. I've been extraordinarily lucky to have had the opportunity to write that much, and I owe it to the readers who buy the books and the editors who've had faith in me, and I want to thank all of them for making it possible. Still . . . a million words a year . . . five years in a row . . . I'd be lying if I didn't say I think that's pretty cool. (And no, before you ask, that's not Livia and me in the picture.) Bill Crider posted about this book earlier today and said just about everything I could say about it, only better. You can read Bill's comments here, if you haven't already. The only thing I can add is that this is probably my favorite Monk novel so far, and that's saying a lot. It comes out tomorrow, I believe, so you'll have plenty of time to pick up some as Christmas presents for your friends and family who are Monk fans. They'll love you for it. This novel, a 1961 release from Kozy Books, is a typical Orrie Hitt yarn in some respects, but not in others. It’s a backwoods book, as you can probably tell from the cover, and sort of reminds me of some of Harry Whittington’s novels. It’s about the lives and loves of several people who come from a poor area in upstate New York known as Shanty Road. (There is, in fact, a sleaze novel by Whittington called SHANTY ROAD, published by Original Novels in 1954 under the Whit Harrison name. It would have made a good title for this book, too.) Unlike the usual male protagonist you find in Hitt’s novels, the main character in WILD LOVERS is a young woman, Joy Gordon, who was orphaned at sixteen when a fire burned down the farm house where she lived with her parents, killing her mother and father. Left on her own, Joy moves into a shed that remains standing on the property and supports herself by selling eggs from the flock of chickens that’s almost her only possession of any value. Almost, but not quite, because the property she inherited from her parents includes the only easy access to a lake which some developers want to turn into a hunting and fishing resort (another interest of Hitt’s). As the novel opens, though, the real estate agent in charge of the negotiations won’t meet Joy’s price. Actually, the agent is just trying to get her to go to bed with him, because in the five years since she was orphaned, she has grown up into a virginal, twenty-one-year-old beauty. Helping out Joy is her neighbor, mechanic Pug Stark, who does meet the usual description of a big, burly Hitt hero. Pug comes from a real white trash family: his father refuses to work, and his sister is pregnant and has no idea who the father is. (Ah, the unwanted, unwed pregnancy, another favorite theme of Hitt’s.) Then a stranger shows up, an artist from New York City whose family owns one of the properties along Shanty Road. He’s come up there to work and brought his beautiful mistress with him, and he’s a big, brawny guy, too. When he sees Joy, he immediately wants to paint a portrait of her – nude, of course – and his arrival changes everything, as Joy winds up juggling the three men who are interested in her, a neat reversal of the standard Hitt plot where the hero has to decide between three women. That’s not the only twist that Hitt throws into the plot, as characters do things that take the reader by surprise and turn out not to be exactly what they appear to be at first. The ending won’t be any huge shock for Hitt fans, but it is pretty satisfying. The writing is good in this one, too, not quite as terse and hardboiled as in some of Hitt’s other books but with quite a few good lines. WILD LOVERS is a good solid Orrie Hitt novel and very entertaining. If you haven’t read his work before, it would be a decent place to start, and if you have, you’ll want to read this one, too. Since yesterday was Thanksgiving, I thought it would be appropriate to take a look at a novel that has a connection to the Pilgrims, although it’s set somewhat later. WHITE INDIAN is the first book in what started out as the Colonization of America series. It opens in 1685, several generations after the founding of the first English colony in North America. Settlers from the Massachusetts Bay Colony have established an outpost known as Fort Springfield in the valley of the Connecticut River, but they have to worry constantly about Indian attacks, and with good reason. During one such raid by Seneca warriors, a young couple named Jed and Minnie Harper are killed, and their infant son is carried off by the Seneca chief Ghonka, who adopts the boy, names him Renno, and raises him to be a great warrior. That’s just the beginning of this novel, which follows Renno to manhood. Like Tarzan, he comes to realize that he’s different from those who have raised him. Also like Tarzan, he’s the biggest, fastest, strongest bad-ass in the jungle – I mean forest – and eventually allies himself with the English while still maintaining his ties to the Seneca. He fights on the side of the English during clashes with the French, who are also trying to establish colonies in North America, and starts a long-running feud with a Frenchman who’s so evil he practically twirls his mustache. Like most of the historical fiction produced by the book packaging company Book Creations Inc., WHITE INDIAN and its sequels contain a heaping helping of soap opera to go along with plenty of colorful and sweeping action. Sometimes the historical accuracy was less than rigorous, but the editorial policy at BCI was “Never let history get in the way of a good story.” And BCI was definitely in the business of turning out good stories. Now here’s the background of this series, for those of you who are interested. “Donald Clayton Porter”, the author of this book, was actually Noel Gerson, who was also the original “Dana Fuller Ross”. Gerson wrote a number of historical novels over the years, under his own names and those two house-names, as well as the pseudonym Bruce Lancaster and possibly others. His style is pretty unmistakable, no matter what name is on the book. His prose is a little clunky in places and sometimes he skimped on the action scenes, but he possessed the true storyteller’s knack of getting the reader to keep turning the pages. There’s also a mild edge of sexual kinkiness in many of his books, and it shows up in the White Indian novels as well. Renno has a habit of deflowering most of the beautiful English virgins he meets, and then his sidekicks among the colonists marry them and everybody is happy. When the series began in 1979, following on the success of John Jakes’ Kent Family Chronicles and Gerson’s Wagons West novels as Dana Fuller Ross (both BCI series), it was known as the Colonization of America series, as noted above. But within three or four books, it became the White Indian series, and subsequent reprints of the early books carried that name instead. I suspect this was because someone at BCI or the publisher, Bantam, realized that readers were asking for more of those White Indian books, rather than using the more cumbersome original title. The series ran for 28 books, most of them featuring descendants of the original Renno (the longest-lasting hero in the series was also named Renno), and the books continued to appear until the mid-Nineties. Gerson wrote the first twelve, Hugh Zachary wrote #13 through #26, and BCI editor Paul Block authored the final two books in the series, which are collectible now because the series had pretty low print runs by that time. Zachary took over at least two other BCI series in mid-stream, THE AUSTRALIANS under the name William Stuart Long (originated by Vivian Long) and CHILDREN OF THE LION, published under the house-name Peter Danielson (originally George Warren). The Donald Clayton Porter name was also used on the stand-alone novel PONY EXPRESS, which I believe was by Gerson, and the short-lived Winning the West series, written probably by Gene Shelton, although Zachary may have contributed to it, as well. As for my own connection with all this, I worked for BCI, too, and while I wrote six books as Dana Fuller Ross (the Wagons West prequels known as The Frontier Trilogy and The Empire Trilogy), I was never Donald Clayton Porter. I did one book as Peter Danielson, the final book in the Children of the Lion series. At its high point, BCI was a great place to work, with excellent editors, and the company turned out a tremendous amount of top-notch historical and Western yarns during the Seventies, Eighties, and early Nineties. If you’ve never sampled any of their series, WHITE INDIAN would be a fine place to start. Happy Thanksgiving to all of you who celebrate it today. I'm very thankful for many things, including the fact that this will be our first Thanksgiving in the new house and all four of us will be here. I have to get pages done today, but there'll also be time for plenty of good food, maybe the dog show on TV, and visiting with the family. Then I'll be back tomorrow with a Forgotten Books post. Enjoy the day, everyone! We never watched this movie when it came out a few years ago, but we’ve gotten around to it now, and as it turns out, it’s a pretty good one. FINDING NEVERLAND, not surprisingly, is about British playwright J.M. Barrie, the author of PETER PAN, and tells the story of how Barrie was inspired to write that play by his friendship with a young widow and her four rambunctious sons. There’s a little romance between Barrie (who was married at the time) and the widow, but it’s all very chaste and proper, as you’d expect from upper-class Brits in the early Twentieth Century. Mostly, though, it’s a story about the power of the imagination, and while I have no idea how historically accurate the movie is, it works very well for what it’s trying to do. The photography is beautiful, all drenched in rich, lush colors. The pace is a little slow, but not enough to bother me. This is really a movie where the actors have to shine, and Johnny Depp and Kate Winslet in the leads do so. (You can't watch Depp pretending to be a pirate without thinking about Captain Jack Sparrow, or at least I can't.) The supporting cast is good, too, even the little kids for the most part. Clearly, this isn’t the sort of movie I normally watch – nothing blows up real good and there’s no nudity – but everybody needs a change of pace, I guess. It probably helps that I was a big fan of the TV version of PETER PAN starring Mary Martin that ran just about every year when I was a kid. I enjoyed FINDING NEVERLAND quite a bit and think that it’s well worth watching. As I’ve mentioned here many times, Ed Gorman is an old friend of mine, so what you’re getting here isn’t an unbiased review. It is, however, an honest one. TICKET TO RIDE is the latest in Ed’s long-running series about Sam McCain, lawyer and private eye from the medium-sized town of Black River Falls, Iowa. Time has proceeded at almost the same pace as real life in this series. It was 1958 in the first Sam McCain novel, THE DAY THE MUSIC DIED, which came out ten years ago (hard to believe it’s been that long), and in TICKET TO RIDE the year is 1965, just as opposition to the Vietnam War is starting to increase. Sam has organized a rally to protest the war, which has attracted the attention of the mostly conservative citizens of Black River Falls. One of them, a powerful local businessman, shows up at the rally and gets into a scuffle with one of the speakers, a noted anti-war activist from out of town. When the businessman turns up dead later that night, the activist is the leading suspect in the murder and winds up in jail. Sam, of course, sets out to clear his name. Also of course, since this is a Gorman novel, nothing is exactly what it seems, and as it turns out, nearly everyone involved in the case has something to hide, as Sam finds out when murder crops up again. This is a finely-plotted mystery novel with a number of suspects and a surprising but logical ending. As always, one of the main attractions of Ed’s work is that there is very little that’s black-and-white. None of the characters are all-noble or all-villainous, including Sam himself, who’s a very likable narrator because he’s honest about his own flaws. And I don’t think there’s any author who has broken my heart more with poignant little moments of humanity than Ed Gorman. In every book, it seems like there’s at least one powerfully understated passage that speaks directly to the fear and sadness and joy that makes us who we are, and that’s certainly true in TICKET TO RIDE. It’s what makes Ed not just one of the best mystery novelists, but one of the best novelists, period, working today. TICKET TO RIDE will be out soon, and I recommend it highly. I haven't posted a pulp cover here in a long time, so since I just put one up on the WesternPulps group, I thought I'd upload it here, too. The actual author of the Jim Hatfield novel in this issue is Walker A. Tompkins. I read it years ago, and it's a good one. I wasn’t expecting much from this direct-to-DVD action movie, but it turned out to be fairly entertaining. It’s the story of a Navy SEAL team sent into the jungles of Colombia on a recon mission as a favor to the Colombian government because of a tip that Colombian insurgents are up to something big and no good. When they get there, they find themselves in the middle of a whole series of double- and triple-crosses. There’s an abundance of running and shooting, the occasional knife fight, and lots of stuff blows up real good. It all plays like a slightly bigger budget episode of THE UNIT, minus the soap opera stuff back home but complete with the gruff, bend-the-rules colonel in the control center running things. The leads are Joe Manganiello (also known as “Hey, it’s that guy who used to be on ONE TREE HILL. You know, he played Brooke’s boyfriend for, like, half a season.”) and somebody from the WWE who’s billed as Mr. Kennedy (a.k.a. “Who?” “I dunno, I can’t keep up with any o’ them rasslers since The Rock left.”) Snarky comments aside, Manganiello and Kennedy both make pretty solid action heroes and turn in decent performances. The production values are good, the action scenes are edited so that you can tell what’s happening most of the time, and the script at least tries to throw in a few plot twists, although you’ll probably see most of them coming. The movie is only an hour and a half and seemed to move even faster, and I enjoyed it. If you’re action/adventure fan, I think it’s worth watching. Here I am, late as usual, writing about a movie all of you saw months ago in the theaters. But what the heck. That never shut me up before. Like it was yesterday, I remember sitting down to watch the premiere of STAR TREK in 1967. (If it wasn’t 1967, don’t blame me. I don’t fact-check these things, you know.) I was a big science-fiction fan and was really looking forward to it, and it didn’t disappoint me. Sure, the original series looks a little cheesy now, but I never noticed that then. I loved the show, watched all the episodes as they aired, watched the reruns, watched the syndicated reruns, watched the cartoon show, and read all the books based on both. Gradually, though, the enthusiasm waned. When the movies started coming out, I watched them and liked them all right. I didn’t catch up on STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION until after it had ended its run, but then I saw all the episodes in reruns and became a fan of that one, too. Then I watched all the other spin-off series (gave up on VOYAGER before it ended, though). Read some of the tie-in novels here and there along the way. So I consider myself a Star Trek fan, although not an obsessive one by any means. Which brings us to the new STAR TREK movie. Of course I had to watch it. Several years ago, before there was even any discussion about this one, I read a comment from someone, sorry I don’t remember who, that said, “You’ll know you’re really old when you see different actors playing Kirk and Spock in the movies.” So I guess I’m really old, which comes as no surprise. And as such, I was prepared to be cantankerous and find fault with the new movie. For about two-thirds of it, I still was. I kept thinking, “Yeah, the special effects are good, and the actors are okay, and the story’s pretty interesting, but . . . but . . . but this isn’t right! And that over there’s wrong! And that’s not the way it was!” But then the movie springs its nice little plot twist that makes everything okay. I won’t go into the details of it, in consideration for the two or three of you who haven’t seen the film already, but it put a grin on my face, I can tell you that. And the overall effect is to make me say that I liked this movie quite a bit and will certainly watch any sequels they’d like to make. I don’t think the magic of the original is quite there, at least not for me, but the movie comes close to capturing it here and there. It also makes me want to go and read some of the tie-in novels. There are plenty of them out there I’ve never read. Whether or not I’ll ever get around to it is another question. But I might. UPDATE: The quote about different actors playing Kirk and Spock comes from my friend Don Herron. Here's another group I like that I'd never heard of until I found them while poking around YouTube. Evidently the band has something of a tragic history, the lead singer having died of a heart attack on stage during a performance. My musical tastes tend toward jazz, movie soundtracks, rock oldies, and classic country. But I heard this group on the radio the other day and liked their songs, so here's some music for your Saturday. The sound quality in this clip isn't very good, but you can get an idea of the group's enthusiasm and sense of fun. Does anybody read Ernest Hemingway anymore? Is his work still taught in school, or has he gone the way of so many other Dead White Males? I read “Big Two-Hearted River” (which is in this collection) and THE SUN ALSO RISES for high school classes back in the Sixties, but I was already a Hemingway fan and eventually read just about everything he wrote. And even though I’d read some of the stories separately, I read this collection when it came out in 1972. Like Robert E. Howard’s Conan stories, Hemingway’s stories about his sort-of alter ego Nick Adams weren’t written and published in chronological order, so whoever put together THE NICK ADAMS STORIES set out to rearrange them and include some material that wasn’t published in Hemingway’s lifetime to form a somewhat coherent narrative of Nick’s life. While in general I’m not sure that sort of thing is a good idea (L. Sprague De Camp did the same thing with the Conan stories, which as it turns out are much more effective if read in the order in which Howard wrote them, as the recent Del Rey editions have proven), the end result here is to make the stories read more like an episodic novel, and it works very well. Some of them, as the preface points out, make a lot more sense this way. Of course, the stories are good anyway, no matter in which order you read them. Included are classics like “The Light of the World” (which has one of the all-time great opening paragraphs), “The Killers”, and “Big Two-Hearted River”. The previously unpublished material includes the novella-length “The Last Good Country”, which unfortunately ends in the middle of the action, as if Hemingway couldn’t figure out where to go from there. What we have of the story is really good, though, and it’s a shame he never finished it because it could have been a classic hardboiled adventure yarn. I had a good time rereading this book, although I did notice one thing. It may be better not to read too many Hemingway stories back to back, because his style is so distinctive that after a while it starts to seem a little like a parody of itself. That’s a minor complaint, though. THE NICK ADAMS STORIES is one of the best books I’ve read this year and one that I highly recommend.

Serial rapist former cop jailed for 263 years says he feels 'no remorse' for his victims as he pleads his innocence from behind bars - Daniel Hotzclaw, 29, was convicted last December of rape and sex assault - He maintained his innocence throughout and continues to do so inside jail - Despite GPS data, DNA and witness testimony, he says he is being framed - Claims witnesses were led by detectives into testifying against him - Added that he feels 'no remorse' because he didn't commit the crimes The rapist cop jailed for 263 years for attacking black women while on patrol has said he feels no remorse for his victims as he continues to deny his guilt from behind bars. Daniel Holtzclaw, 29, said he 'didn't do anything of a sexual nature' to any of the women involved, and accused investigators of leading witnesses on during questioning and convincing them to lie. Despite DNA evidence. GPS records and testimony from 13 women, the former Oklahoma City cop insists he is being punished in an elaborate setup for being a tough officer. Daniel Holtzclaw, 29 (left behind bars, and right as he was found guilty), said he feels 'no remorse' for his victims and claimed he is being set up for being a tough cop Holtzclaw spoke to NBC affiliate KFOR from inside an unnamed Oklahoma jail where he is living under an alias for his own protection. Asked if he felt remorse, he replied: 'Absolutely not. I will not feel remorse for something I did not do. 'I am not guilty for any of these crimes, I did not do anything of a sexual nature. I did not come on to any of these women.' 'I did my job to the fullest of my ability which I gave an oath, sworn to protect and serve, and that's what I did.' In December last year, Holtzclaw was found guilty on 18 counts including rape, sexual battery and forcible oral sodomy against eight of the women who testified against him. The former cop, who had refused to testify throughout his trial, broke down in tears as the guilty verdicts were read out, shouting 'I didn't do it' as he was lead away. Among his victims were several teenagers and a grandmother in her fifties. Prosecutors said during Holtzclaw's three years on the job he mostly preyed on women who had been in trouble with the law, hoping their word would not hold up against his in court. Holtzclaw maintains his innocence, saying witnesses were led into testifying against him by detectives and that if he were guilty he would have confessed to his family, which he has not done Holtzclaw insists that if he were guilty he would have told his family to give up on him and leave him alone to serve his sentence, which he has not done. Instead, relatives have set up a website entitled The Making of a 'Serial Rapist', deliberately echoing Netflix documentary Making a Murderer, in order to cast doubt on victims and key evidence. In another echo of the TV series, in which defendant Brendan Dassey is apparently led by his own defense into falsely pleading guilty, Holtzclaw is attempting to claim that detectives in his case also led victims into giving false statements. He added: 'The detectives, they kinda led them to it. They basically gave them a lottery ticket. 'The investigation as far as approaching these women saying we have a tip you've been sexually assaulted by an Oklahoma City police officer. You know. 'You're opening the floodgates. You're opening the door. All they had to do was say yes.' Following Holzclaw's sentence, video has emerged of his two-hour interrogation at the hands of detectives in which he is caught out by a lie over his girlfriend. Perhaps in an attempt to explain how female DNA ended up on his uniform pants, Holtzclaw told investigators he 'almost' had sex with his partner when he arrived home from work the previous day. CCTV of Holtzclaw's two-hour interrogation by police has now been released, showing him getting caught in a lie about his girlfriend while speaking with investigators As the detective leaves the room to call the girlfriend and verify the story, Holtzclaw can be seen getting his phone out in an apparent attempt to intervene. As the investigator returns she orders the officer to put his cell away before telling him his story did not match up with his partner. Detective Kim Davis tells him: 'I just talked to [her]. She said she was asleep when you got home, and you did not try to have sex.' Holtzclaw hits back: 'I tried to have sex with her while she was asleep.' But Davis responds: 'I don't believe you. I don't know what to say, because it looks like I just caught you in a lie.' Holtzclaw argues: 'I'm sorry, but it's just not true. I've never been in trouble like this before. I've never been accused of anything like this.' 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As the league’s only female general manager, Gray Brannon has learned not to mix business with pleasure. And yet even this tough, talented career woman can’t help breaking her own rules as she gives Ryker everything she’s got. She hopes their hot streak will last forever, but with Ryker’s conniving ex plotting to reclaim her man, the pressure’s on Gray to step up and save a tender new love before it’s too late. Though their lives were vastly different, Ryker & Gray had a few things in common: a love of hockey, a mutual attraction and feeling the pressure to perform when everyone expected them to fail. As a single dad of two girls, Ryker isn't looking to be tied down again but he also isn't about to have a plethora of women either, not when he has to be both mom and dad to his daughters. So when he meets his new boss, Gray, he can't help the attraction he feels not only to her body but her mind as well. Unable to stay away, their illicit affair begins and immediately will have you flipping the pages for more! Their chemistry and interactions were off the charts: Super Hot. You've been warned. Despite the necessary drama of dating one's boss, trying to juggle raising 2 girls on his own and with his nasty ex rearing her head, there's a certain levity to Ryker's story than previous installments. I definitely found myself laughing a bit more with this story and I know you will too! This book tackled so many topics: chauvinism, abuse, affairs, abandonment and sacrifice but where this book really wins is in it's well-rounded characters and progressive approach to a new controversial subject: a woman in power. Eschewing the traditional mold of a woman in power, Ms. Bennett writes Gray as extremely well-rounded. She is both intellectually and emotionally intelligent, she handles her business at all times, comes across approachable, relatable and sincere all while never coming across as a bitch. Definitely a plus for this reader. In addition, we have Ryker, a strong male role model who is raising two little girls and despite having every reason to be angry with women after the way his ex behaved, is intelligent enough to instantly grasp Gray's concept for the team and supports Gray even when it's not a popular opinion among his teammates. Is it because he is raising two little girls and would love for them to grow up like Gray? Probably, but either way this doting dad wins for this reader when he not only goes to bat for his daughters but for Gray as well. His athletic prowess, sensitive nature, funny and witty banter and undeniable sex appeal in and out of the bedroom left this reader wanting more and you will too!

Fifty people were killed and 53 injured after a gunman opened fire at the Pulse gay nightclub in the early hours of Sunday morning. By Sunday afternoon, the city of Orlando, Florida, began to release the names of the victims on its website. Here is what we know about them so far. This post will update as we receive more information. Edward Sotomayor Jr., 34 Edward Sotomayor Jr. was a well-known and beloved member of the community of Sarasota, Florida, according to multiple posts on social media. Sotomayor worked as the brand manager for Al and Chuck Travel, a company that specializes in vacations for those in the gay community. The owner of the company, Al Ferguson, wrote he was at the hospital with Sotomayor's family and felt "empty" upon hearing the news. "One of the saddest days of my life," he wrote on Facebook. "I will try to start to find the good in all of this." Many friends took to Facebook to pay tribute to Sotomayor, who one person called "TopHat Eddie." "I'm so sad and my heart is broken," friend Christian Wilson Cservak wrote. "The [world] lost an amazing guy. So full of life and love. [May] he rest in peace always." Another friend shared a photo and wrote, "When will enough be enough! I love you my friend I miss you." Ferguson also shared a video he said Sotomayor sent him shortly before the shooting. He said Sotomayor said his "people were here." "I didn't come over from his urging because of impromptu outdoor foam dance party at Sawmill," Ferguson wrote. "I could have been there with them and done something. Something." Stanley Almodovar III, 23 Almodovar was originally from Massachusetts but was living in Clermont, Florida, when he was killed, according to his online profiles. He worked as a pharmacy technician, writing on Instagram "pharmacy is my talent, drug life chose me." Many friends flooded Almodovar's Facebook page after his death was announced, with one friend writing that he was "always bubbly and super down to earth and such a sweet guy." "You was an amazing person and friend. RIP. Heaven gained another amazing angel," another wrote. Rina Vasquez, who identified herself as Almodovar's sister, told BuzzFeed News that he was "an extreme light" in their family. She said he always tried to help people with even the smallest things, and was a smart and caring person. "He was loveable, funny, overprotective brother, friend and son," she said. "One thing about Stanley he always kept a smile even through the worst patches in our lives." She added that the family is committed to keeping his spirit alive. "He was truly a loving spirit and we miss him dearly," she said. Luis Omar Ocasio-Capo, 20 Friends and family identified Ocasio-Capo as "Omar" on Facebook, and flooded social media with disbelief and tributes to the young man. One relative, Robert, asked his friends to pray for his family in light of Ocasio-Capo's death. "God bless us all and give us strength in our time of need," he wrote. "Lord guide us with your light so we don't live in fear of the darkness evil brings." One woman, Carla Ocasio, identified Ocasio-Capo as her "dear nephew," and shared a photo of him that said, "Dance freely in the heavens." Those who knew Ocasio-Capo, from former teachers to co-workers, described him as a ray of sunshine and a pleasure to be around. One woman, Claudia Mason, wrote that she worked with Ocasio-Capo at Target in Kissimmee and he was a joy. "He lit up any area he worked in, especially Starbucks," she wrote. "So sad that his life was cut so short by such an evil person." One friend, Abrianna Lawrence, wrote that she was in shock over Ocasio-Capo's death. "This senseless act took this loving caring funny man away," she said. "Two weeks ago we spoke. You told me you were doing well. I wanted to come visit. I can't even deal with this right now." Juan Ramon Guerrero, 22 Guerrero was at the club with his boyfriend, Drew Leinonen, who is also known as Christopher, according to multiple reports on social media. Zachary Young, who said he had been friends with Guerrero for about a year, told BuzzFeed News Guerroro had been studying at the University of Central Florida. Young said Guerrero was a big fitness buff who also liked to play video games. He said the three of them, himself, Guerrero, and Leinonen, liked to go clubbing with other friends. Friends flooded Guerrero's Instagram account with tributes, saying they couldn't believe he had been taken so soon. "I'm so messed up about this," one friend wrote. "You didn't deserve to have your life taken away. This hate needs to stop. Rest in peace." Christopher “Drew” Leinonen, 32 Leinonen was at Pulse with his boyfriend, Juan Ramon Guerrero. On Sunday, Leinonen's mother, Christine, was featured on several news programs on Sunday, pleading for her son's safe return. On Monday, Orlando officials confirmed the 32-year-old man had died. The families of Leinonen and Guerrero said they will have a joint funeral for the couple, instead of the wedding they had hoped for. Eric Ivan Ortiz-Rivera, 36 Ortiz originally hailed from Puerto Rico and was living in Florida, according to his Facebook page. He studied at Universidad Central de Bayamon in Puerto Rico. A friend on Facebook wrote, "I have no words to describe this great friend and human being, and above all, my brother. Everyone who knows us knows what a great friendship we shared and what a great man he was. I adore you. You'll always be in my heart. How empty you've left us. Wow, Eric Ortiz. May God hold you in his glory." Ortiz had been married to his husband for about a year, his cousin, Orlando Gonzalez, told the New York Times. Ortiz worked at a Party City and a Sunglasses Hut, Gonzalez said, describing his cousin as "artistic" and a "goofball" who liked to dance. A co-worker wrote on Facebook, "R.I.P. Eric. your cousin Joey and I will always remember you. I know you can't hear me but it was great to share time with you at work and be your friend even for a short time." Peter O. Gonzalez-Cruz, 22 Peter Ommy Gonzalez-Cruz worked at UPS and went to a high school in New Jersey, according to his Facebook page. Friends and family mourned him on social media. One friend wrote, "R.I.P. Peter Ommy. A great person with a beautiful smile. I will always remember you, friend." In a Facebook post, his mother thanked everyone for their sympathy and condolences for her son. "Again, I thank you from the bottom of my heart for all the love that you have shown me regarding my son," she wrote. "I will keep you informed. As a mother, I feel a deep and immense pain as everyone else who's going through this." Luis Vielma, 22 Vielma was a student at Seminole State College of Florida, according to his Facebook page. He also worked at Universal Orlando Resort, operating the ride Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey. J.K. Rowling tweeted her grief over his death: "He was 22 years old. I can't stop crying." Many of his co-workers at the park posted on social media that they were horrified to hear what had happened. "I may have not known you personally, but we both worked at the same castle we considered home and that my friend is enough," one woman wrote. Vielma's friends described him as a great and fun person. "Luis Vielma had such a positive attitude," friend Jonathon Timpanelli wrote. "Always happy and a joy to be around. His family is in my prayers. This is all so surreal still. It breaks my heart." K.J. Morris, 37 K.J. Morris was working as a bouncer at Pulse on the night of the shooting, and officials on Sunday evening confirmed Morris had died. Friends remembered Morris's dancing and smile. "You always lit up a room with your smile," friend Latricia Brown wrote on Facebook. "That beautiful smile will forever be engraved in my mind," friend Ashley Ann Matthews wrote in another post. Morris previously lived in Massachusetts. Eddie Jamoldroy Justice, 30 Eddie Jamoldroy Justice died in the shooting, authorities confirmed Sunday night. In the chaos of early Sunday morning, Justice texted his mother. He told her he loved her and asked her to call the police — there were gunshots in the club, and lots of people were hurt. "Hurry. He's in the bathroom with us," Justice texted his mother, Mina Justice. Her son was an accountant, and he loved to make people laugh, she said. She wouldn't know for sure what happened to him for hours. But she had a bad feeling, she told the Associated Press. Anthony Luis Laureano Disla, 25 Laureano lived in Orlando, Florida, but was originally from San Juan in Puerto Rico. He studied education at the University of the Sacred Heart in Santurce, Puerto Rico, and graduated in 2010. On Facebook, his cousin Lucas Daniel Acosta D'oleo said he woke up to hear the news: "What I have is pain beyond repair. I love you cousin." Laureano performed as drag artist Alanis Laurell within the LGBT community in Orlando. Friend Cindy J. Ross D'Austin posted a tribute on her Facebook page: "And this is not a goodbye but a see you later. I love you, I will love you forever. Sad reality but you're in our hearts. You know more than anyone like we love you." As did friend Jamesphyll Pinåles Gonzalez: Jean Carlos Mendez Perez, 35, and Luis Daniel Wilson-Leon, 37 Mendez (left) and Wilson (right) Mendez was at Pulse with his partner, Wilson, when the shooting happened. They were both killed. In the hours following the shooting, friends of the pair posted messages to social media searching for them. On Monday, the city of Orlando confirmed they were among the dead. Amanda Alvear, 25 Alvear was at Pulse with friends, including Mercedez Flores, who was also killed, when the shooting began. Many of her friends only discovered she had been at Pulse during the shooting when they saw a Snapchat video she posted from the club. In the video, Alvear and her friends are dancing and enjoying themselves before she later begins filming her face as gunshots are heard in the background. After her death was confirmed her sister Ashley Velez posted several tributes on Facebook: "The best godmother anyone could ever ask for. RIP Amanda Alvear. You will be missed my angel. I love you." Mercedez Marisol Flores, 26 Flores was at the club with friends, including Amanda Alvear. She lived in Davenport in Florida but was originally from Queens in New York. She worked at Target and had previously studied at Valencia Community College. Josean Garcia, who knew both Flores and Alvear, posted that he had lost his "best friends." Martin Benitez Torres, 33 Benitez was from San Juan in Puerto Rico. He studied at the Ana G. Méndez University System in San Juan. He was in Orlando with family. On Facebook, his friend Arlene J. Cruz Torres posted: "I am heartbroken that a beloved friend got killed in this tragedy. Beautiful soul you definitely will be missed." Franky Jimmy Dejesus Velazquez, 50 Dejesus lived in Orlando, Florida, and was originally from San Juan in Puerto Rico. He worked at Forever 21 as a visual merchandizer and studied at Inter American University of Puerto Rico. After the shooting, relatives flooded social media with appeals to find Dejesus. After his death was confirmed, his niece Kendra Santana posted: "My heart is in the greatest pain, I feel numb to have lost you, this hurts my soul." Another family member Mahya Veray posted a heartbreaking tribute where she said: "What happened in Orlando affects all of us because it is an act of hate against the freedom to be who you are. "I'm trying not to fall pray to hate, at the person who killed you, at the gringos, at Trump, at the terrorists ... because then I would be part of the vicious circle of judge and jury. They killed you out of hate for the freedom to be who you are and it makes me hurt inside because if there was anyone who always had a smile, who helped me, who was caring with me, my music and my madnesses, it was you. "Rest in peace. Strength to your family, I hope you are an infinite light." Xavier Emmanuel Serrano Rosado, 35 Serrano was a dancer and had previously worked as an entertainer at Splash Bar at Panama City Beach in Florida. Serrano had a young son. In a statement on Facebook, the bar said: "It's with a heavy heart we must confirm the passing of Eman Valentino (Xavier E. Serrano) after being shot at the Orlando nightclub Pulse by a madman. He was part of Splash's extended family and leaves a small son behind. "He took his time to work with Flagpole, Grant, Vadim and some of the other dancers to improve their moves and was quick with a smile. He most recently appeared as a male entertainer at Splash as well as a go go dancer. Our prayers are with your family, my friend." His friend Matt Molandes also paid tribute to him: "I writhed in bed for hours in my head wrapped in all of this. Sleep was nearly impossible and waking up to the news that Xavier E. Serrano has passed, it's soul crushing. My heart aches for his family and Wilma Lozano and their beautiful baby boy. I'm am so happy you are no longer in pain, but this entire world feels the impact of you not being here. Look over us, watch over us, we live in your name." Simon Adrian Carrillo Fernandez, 31, and Oscar A. Aracena-Montero, 26 Carrillo (left) and Aracena (right). Carrillo was at Pulse with his boyfriend Aracena. They were both killed during the shooting. Friend Norkis Fernandez-Valdez posted on her Facebook that she was "heartbroken." Another friend of the couple, Kimbu Garcia, 26, said he was devastated when he heard they had been killed. When left his native Puerto Rico to live in Orlando in search of economic opportunities and the chance to live more openly as a gay man the pair offered up a room in the home they bought. "It's heartbreaking because they gave me a home, food, and a family," Garcia told BuzzFeed News. "They became my family and it's been very difficult to process all of this. I'm still in shock." Garcia said he was also sad because it looks like Carrillo, who was from Venezuela, and Aracena, who was from the Dominican Republic, will likely be buried separately in their home countries. "I know that's not what they would've wanted, they would've wanted to be buried together," Garcia said. Another friend, Kimbu Garcia, posted: "I lost them. Beautiful princes, Oscar Aracena & Simon A. Carrillo. They were taken from me and a piece of me went with them. "I never imagined that something like this could affect me, I always watched the news and lamented the tragedies, but today it happened to me. I was hit with a low blow because of the stupid ideologies. How much pain, how much weeping. I can't recover. I love you with all my heart. Till eternity." Gilberto Ramon Silva Menendez, 25 Silva was originally from Manati, Puerto Rico. He had studied health care management at Ana G. Mendez University, Orlando, and was working as a sales associate at Speedway. Marimar Gonzalez Rivera wrote on Facebook that she "would never forget him," as other friends also paid tribute. "My great friend Gil," wrote Alvin Manuel, "may you rest in peace." Enrique L. Rios Jr., 25 Rios was from Brooklyn, where he studied social work at St. Francis College and had been working as a coordinator at True Care Home Health Care. He was on vacation in Orlando at the time of the attack. His mother, Gertrude Merced, writing in an appeal for her son's body to be returned to New York, said her family had been "torn apart." "My son was a good kid," Merced said. "He was just having a great time on his vacation." His cousin Christine Jimenez said Rios was "a great person with a heart of gold." Writing on Facebook, she said "he touched so many lives and now he is gone forever." Miguel Angel Honorato, 30 Honorato was from Apopka in Florida and worked for FajitaMex Mexican Catering. On Facebook, Enrique Ezequiel Honorato posted: "R.I.P Brother Miguel Honorato, man I would've never thought this would happen to you. "I remember the good old times when we went to Mexico and the days we went to Tennessee. I can't face the fact that my blood brother is gone. May your soul rest in peace Brother🙏 I love you so much." Javier Jorge-Reyes, 40 Jorge-Reyes lived in Orlando and worked at Gucci as a supervisor. He was originally from Guayama in Puerto Rico and studied at the Universidad del Sagrado Corazón. Jorge-Reyes was known by the name Harvey George Kings on Facebook. His friend Ellen Taaffe wrote: "Today I woke up to the news I spent all night hoping not to hear! An old and dear friend lost his precious life in the completely senseless act of yesterday that I will never be able to comprehend. Harvey George Kings, your smile was contagious and your sass always entertaining! "You made me feel like a beautiful woman and mother even on days I couldn't see it, and you had an uncanny knack for making my baby kick on demand when I was pregnant! You are so very loved and never forgotten. 💔 I hope you get to spend all your days dancing and laughing until we see you again!" Cory Connell, 21 Connell, who was studying sports journalism and broadcasting at Valencia Community College, was among the younger victims of the attack. The 21-year-old worked as a stocker at Publix, having graduated from Edgewater High School in 2013. Vonda Fields, the mother of a former classmate, described Connell as "the nicest young man," who "always [had] a smile." It is understood Connell was at Pulse with his girlfriend, who was injured in the attack. She is now believed to be recovering in hospital, according to social media posts. Writing beneath a photograph of Connell as a young child, his brother Ryan wrote his family had lost their "superhero." "The world lost an amazing soul," he continued. "God just got the best of angels." He later told BuzzFeed News that "Cory was the kind of man that loved to live." "Cory lived to help others," he said. Ryan continued that his brother had aspired to be a firefighter or EMT. "We all called him our superman." Another friend wrote: "Simply put, he was one of the nicest guys I ever had the pleasure to meet." Jason Benjamin Josaphat, 19 One of the youngest victims of the attack formally identified so far, Josaphat, who lived in Orlando, had studied at Skyline High in Mesa, Arizona. He is believed to have been a student at Southern Technical Institute in the city. Online, friends described him a "bright and happy young man." Jessica Ortiz wrote: "You made everyone laugh and smile when you came around. You were there for everyone. You were a friend to whomever needed one." Shane Evan Tomlinson, 33 Tomlinson was a singer who performed with the Frequency Band. After his death was announced, many fans flooded the page with condolences. "He was so crazy talented and everyone knew all of the love he put into Frequency Band and every other music outlet he was involved in," one woman, Rebekkah Joy Rosado, wrote. Tomlinson was a graduate of Northwest Cabarrus High School in North Carolina, WSOC reported. He went on to East Carolina University, where he graduated in 2003 with a degree in communication with a minor in business administration. The university said in a statement that Tomlinson was known around campus as a talented singer with a "high intensity personality." Tomlinson participated in the school's gospel choir while on campus, and the choir's adviser Tarrick Cox said in a statement he was loved for his "contagious personality." "He was gifted and creative. He was a go-getter who did well academically. He always looked at people as individuals and never categorized them," said Cox. The university said that Tomlinson leaves behind a close-knit family consisting of a mom, dad, sister and a nephew he "adored." Juan Chevez-Martinez, 25 A friend described Juan Chavez Martinez as someone who always gave the best of himself and his artistic talents to others, without expecting anything in return. His friend Ahtysl Urdaneta Contreras remembered his attention to detail who would scour the internet for the best hair, makeup, and decorating techniques online. “Juan left his mark in everything he did,” wrote Urdaneta Contreras on Facebook. “We had a great young man among us - a treasure.” Juan P. Rivera Velazquez, 37, and Luis Conde, 39 Originally from Barceloneta, Puerto Rico, Rivera was in the nightclub with his partner, Luis Conde, from Puerto Rico's San Lorenzo, when the attack occurred. Both men, who were there to celebrate a friend's birthday, were killed. Rivera, who according to his brother Baron Serrano was well-known about Orlando, worked as a hairstylist. On social media, many mourned the loss of the happy couple of 13 years. "You will always be together in heaven and in our heahorts," Nelia Bauza wrote. Another friend paid tribute to the pair, writing: "You were both a bright light in this community, and were taken way too soon." Darryl Roman Burt II, 29 Darryl Roman Burt III worked as a financial aid officer for Keiser University. "Darryl was a highly respected employee and friend, and his contributions to our students and his colleagues will not be forgotten," Vice Chancellor Kelli Lane said to the Orlando Sentinel. "We extend our condolences to Darryl's friends, family, Keiser University team members, and to all of those impacted by this tragic act of violence." He was also a member of the Jacksonville Jaycees, a young professionals group in Jacksonville. "We Stand with Orlando as we mourn the loss of our own Darryl Roman Burt II," the group posted on its Facebook page. "We are all deeply saddened by this tragic event and the loss of our Jaycee brother Darryl. Please join us at our meeting tonight as we have a moment of silence and discuss ideas for a fundraiser benefitting the loved ones Darryl has left behind." Deonka Deidra Drayton, 32 Deokona "Dee Dee" Drayton was working at the nightclub during the attack. Her aunt, Patricia Drayton Banks, posted on Facebook about the "senseless" tragedy. "You know this auntie will miss you," she said. Alejandro Barrios Martinez, 21 Among the youngest victims, little information around Martinez has emerged. It is believed that he was born in Cuba, with friends and family telling the Cubanos Por El Mundo newspaper he was always positive. Jerald Arthur Wright, 31 Jerry Wright was mourned by his co-workers at Walt Disney World on Monday, after they discovered his name was on the list of those killed at Pulse nightclub. "Jerry was a great guy to work with," Scott Dickison, a former co-worker, said to the Orlando Sentinel. "He was quiet but really wonderful with all the guests. He always had a smile on his face." Dickison said Wright worked most recently in merchandising on Main Street in the Magic Kingdom and had previously worked in Tomorrowland. "He was one of the kindest people you could meet," said former co-worker Kenneth Berrios. "We had students from the London program … and Jerry was always willing to give rides to them and show them around town." He reportedly went to Pulse to help Cory James Connell celebrate his 21st birthday. Connell was also killed in the shootings Sunday. Wright attended Westminster Christian School, before going to college at Florida International University. Jonathan Antonio Camuy Vega, 24 Jonathan Camuy worked in Orlando for the Spanish-language Telemundo network as an assistant producer on the hit show La Voz Kids. He was also a member of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists, which wrote a blog post in his memory. The NAHJ said he was formerly active in one of its chapters in Puerto Rico. He studied at the island's Universidad de Puerto Rico, Arecibo, according to his Facebook page. City officials listed his age as 24, but the NAHJ and NBC Universal Telemundo Enterprises said he was 25. "We want to extend our thoughts, prayers and deepest condolences to Jonathan's family and friends," NBC Universal Telemundo Enterprises Chair Cesar Conde wrote. "Jonathan will be missed dearly." "We are mourning their loss, along with the other 47 victims, and praying for their families," NBC Universal Careers wrote in a Facebook post in memory of Camuy and his fellow slain co-worker Luis Vielma. Jean C. Nives Rodriguez, 27 Leroy Valentin Fernandez, 25 Leroy Valentin Fernandez was at Pulse with his partner, Xavier Serrano, who also died. "We are extremely [devastated] to say that our friend, Leroy Valentin and his partner Xavier Serrano have passed away in the senseless shooting in Orlando yesterday morning," his friend Yolanda Quiñones wrote on Facebook. One of his friends posted a Snapchat video of him dancing at the club hours before the attack. Tevin Crosby, 25 Tevin Crosby was the director of operations for a marketing firm based out of Saginaw, Michigan. Crosby was a native of Statesville, North Carolina, and his brother, Chavis, told the Orlando Sentinel he had flown to Orlando after visiting family in North Carolina. Rodolfo Ayala-Ayala, 33 Rodolfo Ayala worked for OneBlood, the Florida-based blood bank that took donations Sunday afternoon following the shooting at Pulse. Ayala was living in Kissimmee, Florida, and was originally from San Germán, Puerto Rico. "He was very close with many people in the Biologics department," a OneBlood spokesperson told BuzzFeed News. "Needless to say, it's a tough day at the blood bank." Co-workers said Ayala was unafraid to be himself. He helped support his family in Puerto Rico, and he was dedicated to helping save lives through his work. Brenda McCool, 49 Yilmary Rodriguez Solivan, 24 Angel Candelario, 28 Akyra Monet Murray, 18 Akyra Murray recently graduated from West Catholic Prep School in Philadelphia, where she played basketball and scored more than 1,000 points. Her basketball accomplishments granted her a full ride at Mercyhurst College, according to NBC. Murray reportedly went to Orlando on vacation to celebrate her high school graduation. "Akyra was a model scholar-athlete and as a school community we pray for Akyra's family and friends at this time," the school posted on its Facebook page. Her father also confirmed the news on Facebook, adding, "Thanks for all the prayers for my family we truly appreciate it. I stand on my ancestors and God. I know she is in a safer place then America. Shit you can't even go on vacation." Christopher Joseph Sanfeliz, 24 Christopher Sanfeliz, 24, died from injuries he sustained in the shooting, his brother said on Monday. "He was so strong, and was my rock through everything we ever went through," Junior Sanfeliz, his older brother, wrote on Facebook. "He was the light of my family and I know that he will continue to bless us and his light will be radiating down from a better place." Christopher had graduated from Gaither High School in Tampa, where he was active in the marching band. A GoFundMe page was set up to raise money for his funeral expenses as well as to fund inclusive programs at his former school. Other friends remembered him for his love of salsa dancing, his kindness, and his dedication to family and friends. Antonio Davon Brown, 29 Antonio Davon Brown, 29, was a 2008 graduate of Florida A&M University. The university confirmed his death Monday afternoon. The Cocoa Beach native studied criminal justice at the university and also served in the ROTC. He went on to become a captain in the U.S. Army Reserves. Frank Hernandez Escalante, 27 Frank Escalante, who was from Texas's Rio Grande Valley, died in the shooting, organizers with Aquí Estamos RGV wrote on Facebook. Family members told KRGV that Escalante had moved to Orlando two years ago for work. "Frank H. Escalante was just an absolute incredible person inside and out," said a GoFundMe page set up to raise money for his funeral expenses. He was at Pulse with his partner on Sunday, KRGV reported. The two became separated in the crowd, and Escalante was killed. Paul Terrell Henry, 41 Henry, originally from Chicago, loved to dance and was visiting Pulse when the gunman struck. He leaves behind two children, one of whom — Alexia — recently graduated high school. His boyfriend, Francisco Hernandez, said although Henry was a private man who kept parts of his life separate, his priority was always his children. "Such a loving spirit," he told the Orlando Sentinel. "I'll always have him in my heart." Writing on Facebook, a friend described Henry as a "true gentleman" who "will be missed." Joel Rayon Paniagua, 32 Joel Rayon was remembered as hardworking and dedicated to his family. Rayon was from Veracruz, Mexico, Mileno reported, and had moved to Florida as a child. He returned to Mexico to be with family, then moved back to Florida recently, the Orlando Sentinel reported. "He worked day and night to send all his money to his family," friend Norman Joel wrote on Facebook. Geraldo A. Ortiz-Jimenez, 25 Known as "Drake Ortiz" to his friends, Ortiz-Jimenez was originally from Santa Domingo in the Dominican Republic. According to his Facebook, he studied law at the Universidad Del Este in Carolina, Puerto Rico. On his profile page, many of his friends expressed their grief over the loss. "You are with the glory of God now," one wrote. He was one of the last victims to be formally named. This is a developing story. Check back for updates and follow BuzzFeed News on Twitter. Some of the surnames of the victims have been altered on second reference in this story to reflect their preferred names.

In our current culture, people often talk about the loss of meaning and importance to special times, days and rituals. Whether it be the Peace and Kindness message of Christmas, True Love at Valentine’s Day, or loving our mother on Mother’s Day, there is a shared ownership of special days between the stores, Hallmark and Pinterest (search any event and find out how you can make your special day better with table decorations and a DIY wreath). I think about this often : like : every time one of these special days comes up. Most of them, including Mother’s Day, we don’t celebrate at all in our house. Choosing to live an integrated life of Rhythm means special days with arbitrary dates just don’t do it for me. I don’t seek a new pair of slippers or “time to myself” for one day a year. That doesn’t actually mean we have no special occasions. We have developed our own versions over time, perhaps not quite as passionately as Captain Fantastic (no Noam Chomsky Day here, although maybe it’s not such a bad idea…) In a world of Self Crafting, my celebrations revolve around the Rhythm of Life. The juicy meaning of special occasions are worked into the fabric of our lives. We removed Easter a long time ago, because there’s this time in the Rhythm called Spring instead. We have changed Xmas and we do our own special thing at Midwinter. It’s one of my many fuck-yous to the superficial mainstream, and I call it creating a life that sets me free. The seasons are a reflection of the individual inner shamanic world : the Rhythm of Life is more than my life, your life; it’s All Life. Longer or shorter days remind us to hold both halves of ourSelf equally. We travel in and out of an ever changing cycle. In summer there is more energy, more intensity, more Outer space. As there is an outer focus, so too must there be an Inner world that pulls us deeply within (winter). There’s no more or less “time” at any stage of the year. We still have 24 hours each “day” yet the way we use that time requires a different focus depending on the light and darkness. So at the time of the year that our culture calls ‘Mother’s Day’ (here in the Southern Hemisphere), winter has begun to draw us inward, inviting us to revel in the dark, to find space for deep self care in ways that don’t include late night celebrations and early morning exercise programs. As we come closer to midwinter I personally find the shorter days make balancing mama/wife/bizlady life more difficult. Not only are there less hours of daylight, the hours of the mornings are ice-covered – and my chooks reflect this truth with a zero egg policy! In all ways, the time into winter is the opposite of the emergence of spring. Living with the wellness principles of “what did the ancestors do?” means when there is less light, some things simply require letting go, stepping inward, holding in the darkness. Now, like Koré in the equinox myth, we are invited to re-member the deep wisdom of body and soul, invited to take our place next to the Heka Wise Woman, and know thyself in the dark. In a culture that still lived under the guidance of the “what would the ancestors do?” wellness principles, a culture that understood and lived by the Rhythm of Life, humans developed an internal pathway of being The One Who Emerges From The Dark. This would have been a foundational building block in the herstory of a life that was lived through Rites of Passage and the work of holding all parts, all seasons of the Self equal. In our own indigenous culture, however far back that existed, our ancestors knew how to live with these shamanic principles, and knew that to live in this way was to be a part of All Life. Rites of Passage occur at many times throughout our lives. Perhaps we recognise the most obvious for a woman as those that centralise menarche/menstruation, childbirth, menopause and death. There are many in between – starting school or a job, retirement, breaking down of relationships… a Rite of Passage is what happens when an individual dies to the Self they know, in order to become the One that they have always known they be, though have not yet been. It’s okay. Go back and read that line a few times if you need to. I learned the concept from Petra Lentz-Snow, and every time I frame Rites of Passage thus, it opens deeper layers of my own awareness. Here’s the thing with Mother’s Day. Our culture has this arbitrary day for celebrating mothers, without yet celebrating the woman she first became, and in doing so we have some very dysfunctional relationships. In our ancestors’ time, a girl became a woman when she received her first blood. She went from standing amongst the children, advised and directed, and part of the growing ones, to entering the Mysteries in order to stand alongside the adults (and her own parents), with her own Vision, own Wisdom and own Journey. With the acknowledgement of her blood and the acceptance of her community, she became Woman. She became The One Who Emerges From The Dark. She was celebrated for understanding the Rhythms, she received the wisdom of Self Care and nurture; how to hold all of her parts equally. In our modern culture, we have forgotten how to welcome and accept young people as the Ones Who Become/Emerge. Instead, we call them adolescents, and use words like “hormones” and “puberty” and worry about them being “depressed.” Our culture does not welcome the dark, and our young people miss out on learning it’s Wisdom. Girls rarely visit the Heka wisdom as Kore was able to do. Instead of growing up to be women who can hold all seasons of Self equally; Women Unto Self, our girls often grow up to be mothers who use phrases such as “incomplete,” “overwhelmed,” and “never have time for myself.” Relationships between mothers and daughters suffer symptoms too. Without a meaningful shift between the worlds of child/adult, our children do not know when/how to take their own Wisdom Unto Self. We witness young people rebelling with a need to “show them I’m me” while parents do not know how to let go of playing the advisor role. Young people choose risk taking activities as a role-play of breaking away, while parents play the role of too much : too much advice, too much soccer mumming, too much giving, too much “no time for myself.” As I heard Gretchen Rubin’s dad quoted : there’s a time as a parent when we have to move from being the advisor to the cheer leader. Without the ancient signals that our species have practiced for ever (Rites of Passage), it’s difficult for most parents to know that time. Many adult women carry a loss and pain that there are no words for, yet is always there. It manifests in various ways that I call “wounds of woman”. In one woman the wounds are shown in her relationships with other women (competition, aggression). In another it will be health related (PMS, endometriosis, etc.) and yet, another will show up in the way she does or doesn’t appear in the world (body image, eating disorders etc.), or how she creates for the rest of her life (childbirth, projects, career). It will be apparent in her successes and ‘failures.’ It will be everywhere she goes and the world will simply call it ‘normal.’ It’s my vision that the ‘wounds’ that are carried at this time by women in our culture do not get named ‘normal.’ It is my vision that we call them out for what they are : traumas that have been holding women in the place of child, (infantilising in body, mind and soul) never allowing her to stand as one who is wise, holding her back for judgment and oppression, in a space of loss that she cannot name, because she has never known any other. How do we heal this great chasm in our Woman Soul Journey? How do we become the woman who knows the wisdom of emergence from the dark and the light? How do we foster the Woman Unto HerSelf? As adult women, far into our journeys as grown-ups, whether we are mothers or career women or whatever other label we have picked up along the way, we cannot go back in time. There is no way to return to the time of Menarche and live our Rites of Passage. I do believe however, that there is a way to heal the loss we have embodied due to not experiencing a guided Rite of Passage when we came of age. I call the work Woman Soul, and it is the work of learning to hold and emerge from the light and the dark within Self, equally. The Woman Soul event is scheduled for the time of the year when the winter is becoming. It is a work of individual processing and community integration. It is a work of visiting with the Self, letting go, stepping inward, holding in the dark, and emerging… You might think of it as a work of Mother’s Day. Where the honouring of “Mother” is ritualised by the moving away and emergence from under her apron, becoming One Who Emerges, to embody the holding of all our parts equally, Unto Self. In so doing, we honour our selves and the adults who raised us by taking up our own mantle of responsibility, coming to know the Wisdom of the passages of the Rhythm of Life, the stories that are told through the seasons by the mother of us all; Earth, our grandmother; Moon, and our great grandma; Sun. Now then, with that frame, I am able to find meaning in a special day for Mothers. Beyond the superficiality of a pair of slippers and “time to myself” is now a story of owning our own reality, of emerging from the family unit and re-membering Self in order to honour where we have once been. When we have experienced the ritualisation of standing alongside the adults, it becomes natural to acknowledge not only who we are, but who they are in their own unique Self too. With that frame, perhaps Mother’s Day has a reason for existing afterall. Perhaps I’ll go plant some white carnations… The article Emerging equally for Mother’s Day was published by Hollie B., for the Institute for Self Crafting. Feel free to share this article with your friends, by using the url : https://instituteforselfcrafting.com/mothersday/. Where to next?

I’ve been waiting anxiously for this show. Obviously, it’s been done before … an inside look at polygamist families … the women with their long hair in their long dresses with no make-up and lots and lots of kids. The older, ridiculous and demanding men who use religion as the reason to take on wife after wife after wife. Let me say something right now. There’s no polygamist that is actually, legally married to all these wives. They may be legally married to the first one, but the rest are just living with them in the eyes of the law. But now here comes the “Sister Wives.” No long dresses here. Make-up everywhere. They wear jeans! They just want their children to be happy and don’t really care if they live the “lifestyle.” They want to raise moral, ethical, contributing members of society. They want their children to marry who they love. What? A modern-thinking polygamist family? Kody Brown is the long-haired patriarch of this brood, the father of 12, the advertising salesman, the man with the three wives … Meri (wife No. 1 and mother of one), Janelle (wife No. 2 and mother of six) and Christine (wife No. 3 and mother of five with one on the way). Surprisingly, he married them all many years ago and they’ve been living happily in polygamy ever after for many years … but change is going to come in the form of a cute little brunette. More on that later. During the show, it’s annoying that Kody and the wives and the kids always talk to the camera rather than the camera just following them around. I’m hoping that will change. Kody is full of wit and wisdom on living the “lifestyle.” For example, “love should be multiplied, not divided.” What? That doesn’t even make sense. And, another one of his funnies — “I’m a repeat offender.” Conventional wisdom in polygamy world is that if you have one successful marriage, then you will be good with two, then four. Hmmm … In the real world, that’s called divorce and remarriage. It doesn’t mean you are good at marriage, it means you are tired of the first one. Anyway, according to Kody, he couldn’t help all these marriages. He fell in love once, then in fell in love again, then in fell in love AGAIN. Kody and the wives spend much of the show explaining polygamy to us outsiders. The kids are raised together and the whole group eats together about three times a week. Each wife has her own apartment in the house so — in a way —they live separate lives. Christine raises the kids while Meri and Janelle work. Janelle doesn’t want to be a housewife; she likes her job. Meri is going back to school … studying psychology. Kody, Meri and Christine all come from polygamous families so now I get it. This is why this all makes sense to them. It’s the way they were raised. Janelle, although Mormon, was not raised in a polygamous household. They consider themselves fundamentalist Mormons. The kids all go to a private school with other kids from polygamous families. I’m not sure where this family lives, but Kody was raised in Wyoming. So, how does Kody divide his time between the wives? He keeps a schedule! So that every wife gets their fair share of him. That’s sweet. The wives want the public to know that these are three separate relationships, three separate marriages. Nothing funny going on here. “We don’t go weird,” says Meri. Really? I would disagree. Each wife says she wants to have a good relationship with the other wives. According to Meri, if you think of it like … “What can I do to help you? What can you do to help me? … the lifestyle works. Kody tells us that Meri was a friend to both wife No. 2 and wife No. 3 before he fell in love with them. He calls her “the bait.” I bet she liked that. Janelle softens the blow by saying that Meri was in charge of “mergers and acquisitions.” Christine, the stay-at-home wife, doesn’t have a toaster because “more people die from toasters than sharks.” Even Kody shakes his head at this one. Christine tells us that three people died from shark attacks last year while 257 people were, I guess, electrocuted by a toaster. So what do I think of all of this? Surprisingly, I think I could be a friend to Janelle. We are both working moms and prefer that lifestyle rather than being a stay-at-home mom. Meri seems accepting of it all; it’s all she’s ever known. I don’t get Christine … she wanted to be a third wife as it “sounded the easiest.” Whatever. I don’t dislike them, and I don’t feel sorry for them. This is the life they chose. Do they seem happy? I think so. That’s how I feel about them as people. What do I think of this lifestyle choice? I don’t get it at all. I think you would have to have a screw loose to see this as a real marriage. In these "marriages," each wife is the other woman 67 percent of the time. In a real marriage, you are devoted to one person, you spend your life with that person, you share your secrets, you share every day … you do not share him. The real true intimacy of a relationship does not exist in a plural "marriage." I do not believe you can be really, completely in love with your “husband” or “significant other” and be willing to share him (or her) with another person or two or 10. I just don’t believe it. That’s not love. It’s convenience. It’s compromise. It’s crazy. It’s not love. Anyway, back to the show. If Kody is in love with these three wives, why is he not satisfied? Why is he still looking? A happy, satisfied, loving husband isn’t always looking for something new and better, something differint, someone else to fall in love with … it just doesn’t work that way. When you are in love, you are in love. You don’t need anyone else. Or maybe I just haven't met the right guy with three wives. So, I don’t think Kody is in love with anyone … I think this is just the life he leads. He likes having three women. It is what was modeled for him. And, now, after all these years … he is a little bored. So … meet Robin … soon to be the newest wife of the “Sister Wives.” She’s a pretty, petite 30-year-old with long, brown hair and three children. And, Kody, is “in love” again. More on “Sister Wives” next time.

General Hospital on 7/27/2015 – Goodbye Luke Spencer, Madeline vs Maxie, Nathan vs Ric and more! There’s an intruder on the docks and Sonny’s men bring him Luke Spencer! He tells them to let him go, and shoos the guards away – Luke tells him he’s waiting for a boat as he’s leaving Port Charles.. for good! He needs to go away and get himself together, find out who he’s going to be for the rest of his life, the demons keep swirling. Sonny understands, personally he needs the people he loves to help him deal with it. Sonny asks if this is goodbye.. and the two men smile. Luke says never say never and they reminisce about Frank Smith – they never would have met if it weren’t for him. Luke hands over the gun he used to kill Frank to Sonny, he has to find something else and different while there is still time. He looks out at the water.. he won’t know where he’s going until he gets there. Sonny wishes him luck and gives him a hug, asking him to watch Lulu and Rocco for him. He asks Sonny to tell lulu he loves hers, when Lulu interrupts them.. why don’t you tell her yourself?? She tells him she loves him and will be thinking of him wherever he is. He always knew when she needed him, he tells her she is smart enough to handle anything on her own.. she’s a Spencer after all! They hug and say they love each other. Dillon meets Morgan Morgan waits for Kiki at the Floating Rib, when Dillon offers to buy him a drink as a favor. He needs help with script dialogue.. and introduces himself, they laugh and say they should have known each other. Morgan mentions he’s waiting for his girlfriend Kiki, Julian Jerome’s niece.. but neither of them have anything to do with the mob. Dillon says he was seeing a woman in L.A., but now is single after being cheated on. Morgan says maybe it was an accident, and starts to read the script, which was marked up by Lulu. Dillon praises Lulu as funny, smart and beautiful when Morgan asks if he realizes she is married to his other brother?? Dillon says she is committed to her marriage, they just go back a long way. Kiki knocks on Denise’s door, while Ava begs Franco not to say anything about Morgan – she doesn’t want to hurt her, and she promises to stop seeing Morgan! He lets her in and Franco tells her relationships are never what they appear to be.. he says Silas had nothing to do with pretending to be his fake girlfriend. Kiki says she knows what it’s about, and tells Franco not to give her that bull about Morgan and Denise again. She knows he would never act on it – neither of them would do that to her. Franco starts to sheepishly laugh and sarcastically apologizes.. he thanks Denise for helping him get back together with Nina. Kiki tells her once again she’s sorry she couldn’t get Michael to change Sonny’s mind about allowing her to see Avery. She wanted to make sure Denise was okay before leaving for the bachelorette party.. Denise tells her to have a great time and Kiki tells Franco not to con her aunt while she’s away! Nathan questions Nina Nathan finds Avery’s blanket and asks Nina where it came from? He needs answers – the blanket could be evidence in Avery’s kidnapping. Ric says she isn’t under any obligation to talk to him, but Nathan says he’s only here because he cares about her. He doesn’t want to believe what Madeline told him.. and wants to have the blanket tested, to put Nina’s mind at ease. Ric tells him they’re finished here, he needs to leave. He says fine, but he’s taking his sister with him. Ric convinces her this is what cops do, they twist your words – she doesn’t think Nathan would do that to her, but Ric strongly advises her against it, or she will end up in jail! She tells Nathan to go. Madeline vs Maxie Madeline asks Maxie why she thinks she’s good enough for Nathan?? Maxie talks about Georgie, and that she is head over heels in love with her son. Madeline insults her.. she is one neighborhood away from being trailer park trash! Maxie defends herself then snaps when she sees Valerie, looking for a lost earring.. dives under the table and hands her the earring. She introduces Madeline to Valerie. who asks why Maxie thinks she’s a home wrecking bitch?? Maxie tells Val she’s just standing up for her best friend after SHE kissed her husband.. she knows Valerie’s official story, and asks for the whole truth?? She forgot to mention Nathan and Maxie stopping by that night. Val thanks her for finding the earring and leaves. Madeline points out she was bullying her, but Valerie took the high road.. Maxie tells her to take her judgey-judgmements and go straight to hell! Nathan arrives to hear Maxie say she was only being nice to her as she is her boyfriends mother.. she is petty, cruel and a pretentious hypocrite. And disses her “hideous” outfit.. like her soul. Nathan tells Madeline he’s handling Nina and to stay out of it – Madeline says Maxie was horrible to her when he was away. Nathan replies she must have been provoked, and knows how to stand up for herself - it’s one of the things he loves about her! They leave while Madeline looks annoyed. Dante makes an effort Dante tells Lulu he’s going to be the best husband he can be – she tells him she doesn’t want gifts, she needs time to get over the fact that he kissed Valerie. She can’t stop seeing it in her head. He asks what he can do? She says she needs time.. not a lot as it was just one kiss. It’s not as if they slept together! Laura interrupts them, she apologizes for interrupting.. but it’s about her dad. He is leaving town tonight, and she thought Lulu might want to see him. Dante tells Lulu to go ahead.. she hugs Laura and leaves to find Luke. Laura turns to Dante and suggests they talk about him and Valerie. She knows about the kiss, and knows how much he loves Lulu – hearts get broken, and sometimes love takes an unexpected detour. Valerie arrives at the Floating Rib for a drink, and Dillon asks if she’s okay? He admits it’s his and Lulu’s own fault Dante jumped to conclusions, but Valerie wishes there was a way she could prove to people she isn’t trying to come between the couple? Ric tells Nina he is the ONLY person she can trust right now. Franco tells Ava she has to help him get Nina back – she has to step up her game. If she doesn’t help, she won’t get her hands on the recording, walk away from the murder charge, or see Avery ever again. Nina gets a call from Denise, and invites her for breakfast! She wants to talk about Franco. Kiki arrives at the Floating Rib to see Morgan, and tells him Denise is distracted, trying to help Franco – he’s annoyed, but wants to think about them, it’s her last night. Dillon suggest Valerie go out with him.. and they make a date! Dante thanks Lulu for understanding, he wants to get back to the place they were at.. she hugs him and tells him to do his best. Lulu returns in tears, she just said goodbye the her dad! She gives Laura a letter from Luke. Luke tells Sonny to take care, and to take care of Port Charles! Sonny wishes him luck.. Luke looks over the water, throws his bag over his shoulder, and says goodby Port Charles.. good luck to you. Luke walks off into the fog, turns around for a last smile… then he is gone.

Born Marie Godebska, daughter of a Polish sculptor living in France, Misia was brought up in Brussels and Paris where she became a pupil of Gabriel Fauré and a noted concert pianist. In 1893 she married Thadée Natanson owner of ‘La Revue Blanche’ an important art magazine which featured the work of Bonnard, Vuillard, and Toulouse –Lautrec all of whom painted and drew the beautiful and talented Misia Natanson. Renoir painted her portrait while declaring his love for her, as did Edouard Vuillard and during the 1890’s the Natansons were at the centre of the Paris art world. Misia’s life changed when her husband lost his money which led to the breakdown of her marriage. She met and married a rich industrialist Alfred Edwards and Misia enjoyed her role as a wealthy patron of artists and musicians. Maurice Ravel dedicated ‘La Cygne’ and ‘La Valse’ to Misia who also accompanied Caruso on the piano. In 1909 the marriage ended when Edwards fell for the young actress Genevieve Lantelme. Misia soon met and married José-Maria Sert a highly successful Spanish painter of extravagant murals. 1908 Misia saw a production of ‘Boris Godunov’ designed by Serge Diaghilev thus starting a close relationship with Diaghilev and the Ballets Russes. Misia helped finance the company and took a keen interest in the new music by Stravinsky, Satie and others. She was with Diaghilev when he died in Venice in 1929. In 1917 Misia met Coco Chanel and admired “her genius, lethal wit, sarcasm and maniacal destructiveness, which intrigued and appalled everyone”: these two extraordinary women were inseparable in their later years. This is an extraordinary and fascinating story of a talented and beautiful woman who was muse and patron of the arts who has been described as ‘The Queen of Paris’.

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The Originals recap: 'No Quarter' The Mikaelsons are determined to rescue Klaus. Thanks to Hayley’s relentless efforts to procure all of the ingredients she needs to wake up the Mikaelsons, the whole gang is vertical, ready, and willing to save the one brother who has sacrificed the most. Klaus has been suffering long enough. And we all know that a Tunde-daggered Klaus is a boring Klaus. In the immortal words of Elijah, “Let’s go get him.” Rescue Mission #1 Before anyone can run off and save the day, certain vampires in this particular rescue team have to replenish their fluids. Now more than ever, the siblings need their strength. Luckily, there’s a prison transport unit that serves as a handy buffet. Come and get it! Freya complains that the death rattles (read: Kol’s dinner is screaming his head off) are too distracting for her to sense where Klaus is located, although she knows he’s somewhere in New Orleans. A sophisticated Elijah wipes his bloody mouth with his handkerchief and barks for Kol to take care of his victim once and for all. We hear a neck break and then silence. Kol wanders up to the group, irritated that they are actually considering entering a city that is crawling with vampires who hate them. He wants to buy some time so Hayley can mix up more antidotes for Marcel’s vampire bite. Until then, they are all in permanent danger. Elijah: “We free Niklaus today even if we have to burn the city to the ground.” While the Mikaelsons book it from Texas to New Orleans, Marcel’s right-hand woman, Sofya, reports that some of her lackeys who were tailing Hayley followed her to Austin, where Keelin happens to live. Sofya’s done a little digging and she discovered that Keelin is the last in her pack. It looks like Hayley has found a cure for Marcel’s werewolf bite. We barely know who Sofya is, but she has proven to be very useful in season 4. You know who else is useful? Josh. It’s no surprise that Rebekah and Elijah totally interrupt his date to use Josh’s resources to find out what Marcel is up to. You see, Rebekah has a plan. She’s going to be the distraction her siblings need so they have time to break Klaus out of his personal hell. She is confident Marcel won’t kill her. Romantic history trumps family hatred, right? Let’s do a quick Mikaelson roll call: Rebekah is going after Marcel. Elijah promises to not eat Josh, thereby persuading him to let the rescue team commandeer Rousseau’s underground entrance so Elijah, Freya, and Hayley can search the tunnels for Klaus, whom Freya found using a bloody locator spell. Kol stays above ground to drink bourbon and babysit Josh in case he has the audacity to try and call one of his vampire buddies. And then there’s poor Klaus. Camille shows up as a figment of his imagination to help him through the pain the Tunde blade conjures. Since Klaus is practically horizontal, as if on a therapist’s couch, Figment Cami takes this time to lecture Klaus about his fears and bad choices. She also encourages him to “feel” his family. Can’t he tell they’ve woken up? The link is broken! Help is on the way! Let’s get out of this joint! But Klaus doesn’t move. Even Figment Cami isn’t a dummy. Klaus is scared. Cami prattles on about how his daughter is waiting for him and he’s afraid that she will see him as a monster. Down here, he can’t hurt her. He’s just a great man who made a great sacrifice. Joseph Morgan slowly turns toward Figment Cami and gives her a look that would break your heart. “She will run into my arms. She will look at me and know that I love her and would do anything for her.” I love emotional Klaus. Of course, he also says he will kill anyone who will harms her, but that’s understandable when you’re an Original. Cami presses a little more, and Klaus finally admits out loud that maybe he’s better off as a myth. Back in the graveyard, Rebekah has a little chat with Marcel. He’s annoyed that Rebekah thought she could sweet talk her way into his life again. He likes being in charge. He wants Klaus’ blood in case of an emergency. P.S.: Klaus deserves to suffer for what he’s done. Rebekah reminds Marcel that this is war and blood is sometimes shed. Mistakes are made. The man she knows wouldn’t hold Klaus hostage. Marcel explodes. He’s not the man she once knew. At that revelation, Rebekah pulls out the same blade with the hex on it that infected her own arm. Marcel clues in. The only way Rebekah would pull out that blade is if she’s supposed to detain him. The Mikalesons must be on the move. Rebekah is ready for a fight. Naturally, Sofya is there to save the day with a few arrows to Rebekah’s back. Is it me, or is Sofya always lurking? How did she know Marcel was there? Did he tell her before he left to be on standby? Or do we not trust her? I’m going with the latter. While Marcel runs off to kill Originals, Elijah finds Klaus. Freya begins to undo the protection spell around him. She uses Hayley to channel enough power to break through. Figment Cami shouts for Klaus to fight to pull the blade from his chest. The women on this show are total badasses. Upstairs, Kol and Josh have a bro moment about losing loves of their lives. Josh encourages Kol by telling him that even though Davina is gone, he will feel normal again one day. Kol is suspicious. Why is Josh being so nice? Answer: Because Davina would have wanted him to be. Enter buzz kill. Josh’s phone vibrates, and Kol reads a message from Marcel: TEUTOBURG. Come again? Josh says that it code for, “The bad guys caught the good guys off guard.” Kol snaps Josh’s neck and runs off to save his sister, arriving just in time to pull out the heart of one of Sofya’s hit men. She speeds off. Kol wants to speed off too, but Rebekah makes him stay. They have to wait for the others to join them. That might be a problem. Marcel heads to the old Mikaelson estate and finds Elijah there to greet him. They get into an epic fight. I worry about Marcel biting Elijah again, as well as blood getting on Elijah’s fabulous green tie. Just as I fear the worst, Hayley jumps between them and pulls the Hope card. Does Marcel want to be responsible for her daughter being an orphan? Marcel makes the biggest mistake in this particular moment: He begins to monologue. He all of the transgressions that have been done to him by both Klaus and the Mikaelson clan. When he declares that justice must be done, the Tunde knife is shoved into his chest. Elijah, Freya, Hayley, and Klaus scurry out of the courtyard through the drainage pipes and reunite on the other side with Kol and Rebekah. Oh, and Marcel is there too. Whoopsie. I guess we didn’t shove that dagger in all the way. Let’s tighten up on the details next time, okay guys? Klaus steps up and offers Marcel a chance at peace. However, if Marcel attempts to kill them, it will be a big mistake. Moreover, if he kills Klaus, Hope will come after him. And her daughter after that. It’s the circle of the Original life. Does he want to take that on? Marcel makes sure the family knows that he beat them without turning into the violent people they are. The only reason they exist is because he is showing them mercy. Klaus nods and the Mikaelsons pile into the luxury SUV. They arrive at the house at nightfall. I wanted Klaus to shower before seeing his daughter — after five years of being tortured in prison, I thought he might want to clean up. Perhaps change his bloody shirt? No. Instead, he peeks in at his sleeping daughter with the affection of a thousand fathers. Once again, Joseph Morgan conveys so much without a single word. That gaze was everything. I am looking forward to seeing Klaus and Hope’s relationship unfold. Rescue Mission #2 Remember Maxine? The woman Vincent is crushing on? Her son Adam is missing, and Vincent is determined to find him. He heard about some funny stuff going on in an abandoned part of town, so he’s going to check it out. Maxine gives him Adam’s protection charm since Vincent insists she NOT join him. Vincent creeps into the creepy house they use in every horror movie. The wind blows, a door closes, and Vincent is tossed up onto the wall as a floating orb comes closer and closer. But he pulls out the charm, and it saves him. A normal person would hightail it out of there. Apparently Vincent is not normal. He wonders aloud what he’s fighting, and then the serpent sigil forms on the wall, and the next thing we know, Vincent is cleansing himself from some bad juju. He knows this is dark magic. How does he know? Because he’s seen it before, in a journal he stores in a safe under some boards in the church. It’s clear that New Orleans isn’t safe. Something wicked this way comes. And I bet Marcel, Vincent, and the Mikaelsons will have to band together to fight it.

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Letters, April 14, 2011, part one A storybook tale SIR – Once upon a time, in a far away land, there was a small kingdom, ruled over by sapient men whose only concern, day and night, was to make the lives of their citizens better. One day, these men were given a pot of money by the rulers next door, and although they hated the rulers next door with a hatred so strong it could have powered the entire lighting and heating system of their kingdom and of several other kingdoms in the immediate vicinity too, nevertheless a pot of money was a pot of money. And so they grabbed it with both hands, and resolved in their minds how to use it advantageously, to make their citizens love them even more. And thus after much debate, a decree was sent out to all corners of the kingdom inviting the citizens to submit projects and plans to make their area better, for as the very sapient mayor said, ‘We all know people living locally have the best knowledge of an area and know what needs to be done to improve it.’ And they called the scheme Voice Your Choice. Now there was living in that kingdom at that time, a small group of people who read the decree and decided to submit a project, for lo!, they inhabited a poor area, and they wanted to make it a nice place with allotments and an orchard and a better playing space for their children. So they wrote up their ideas, and they called it the Westfield Transformation Scheme and they sent it in. But when the sapient men received the project and read what the people wanted to do, they waxed exceedingly wrath, for they had other plans for part of the land that the community wanted to improve. They desired to sell this bit of land for much silver and gold, and to build upon it many houses, for they had friends who built houses and sold houses, and these people had much silver and gold and so they were important to the sapient men, while the people in the small community, who did not possess these riches, were not. And so they told the people that they could not submit their project, because selling the land and building houses upon it was an incontrovertable fact (they liked to use big words like incontrovertable because it made them appear even more sapient). But the people protested, and said, ‘You told us we knew best what would improve our area. Now you are saying we cannot do what we want. So we believe you have moved the goalposts. This is not a scheme but a scam!’ - 1 Suspected loan sharks arrested in Hemel Hempstead - 2 See inside this loft style apartment in a former hat factory - 3 Train timetable shakeup due in St Albans and Watford from May 15 - 4 Woman found in canal near M25 in Hertfordshire - 5 Nearly 100 motorway cameras upgraded to catch drivers who flout red X rules - 6 Harpenden neighbours condemn plans for builders merchant next to residential properties - 7 St Albans shop showcasing small independents by renting out shelves - 8 Revealed: Most popular Deliveroo takeaway dishes in St Albans - 9 Tomorrow's lunar eclipse: How and when to see it - 10 Missing 25-year-old last seen in Coreys Mill Lane found in Stevenage But the sapient men ignored them, and they re-wrote the words of the project so that it said what they wanted it to say, and they called it the Westfield Recreational Area, which was not its real name, and they put it into their shiny magazine along with the other projects – that they had not re-written. Then they invited all the citizens of the kingdom to rank the projects in order from the first to the fourth, so that they could give the best ones the money. And all the citizens voiced their choice, and the sapient men gave the favoured projects the money, and lo! it was good, and all were exceedingly happy – except for the small community, but hey, who cared about them. But the scribe of the community wrote down the story, and everybody who read it learned important things. And what they learned was this: That although the sapient men had failed to grasp the meaning of the word hypocrisy, they had shown to all the citizens a completely new way to choose things. And the citizens declared with one voice that the new way was clearly the best and they would use it from that day forth and for evermore, because if it worked for the sapient men, it worked for them. And they named it the AV system. And lo! it was good. The End. Coldharbour Lane, Harpenden The Crescent move is defended SIR – We are writing in response to your article ‘St Albans HIV clinic to relocate to Ware’ (Herts Advertiser, March 31) as we are concerned about the misinformation that it contains and we wish to clarify a few points regarding the future of sexual health and HIV services in Hertfordshire. Recent media interviews and newspaper articles, linked to the Friends of The Crescent’s Save the Crescent campaign, have included misinformation, specifically relating to the location of services, alleging that there will be no services in West Hertfordshire, and that service users from that part of the county will be required to travel to Ware. We are mindful that such negative, incorrect press will have a detrimental effect on their service users. The most important thing is to ensure that service users remain supported and Herts Aid is conscious of ensuring equity of access for all service users to services across Hertfordshire. It is important to stress that the change in contractual arrangements for services will not reduce the services currently available to service users under the Hertfordshire County Council contract and that service users are able to receive seamless services. To facilitate a smooth transfer of provision commissioned by Hertfordshire County Council for HIV services, a transition plan was agreed with the joint commissioning team of The Crescent and Herts Aid on February 14. The transition plan includes consultation with staff, service users and stakeholders, and events have taken place to facilitate this on March 17, 22, 24 and 29, with further events planned. There has also been a survey in the form of a questionnaire sent to all service users of both The Crescent and Herts Aid to enable them to put forward their views in a variety of ways. In addition Herts Aid has written a letter to all service users of The Crescent encouraging them to use this opportunity to influence the structure and delivery of the new countywide services, and to contact them directly if they wish to discuss any areas of concern. Although Herts Aid is located in Ware, and for an interim period will continue to maintain its head office in Ware, it is envisaged that new service delivery points will be secured in various locations across the county, that may include the current building occupied by The Crescent, and in addition, support workers will be able to meet service users in the community, at their homes or at the agreed new service delivery points. It is very important that we listen to views, thoughts and concerns of all those who use HIV services in Hertfordshire and to those of the people who work in them. We would strongly urge people to get involved in the discussions that are taking place and that will continue to take place while we establish this new service for Hertfordshire. Former chair of Trustees, The Crescent Chair of Trustees, Herts Aid SIR – We are writing in response to your article ‘Stephen Fry joins in fight to save Crescent’ (Herts Advertiser, March 31) to clarify a few points regarding the future of sexual health and HIV services in Hertfordshire. Hertfordshire County Council and NHS Hertfordshire have undertaken a review of all voluntary and community services in the county that we fund. We encouraged organisations to work with us to find ways of improving services and delivering value for money. Six events were held and representatives and users were offered the opportunity to attend to explore ways of improving access and service delivery. In line with previously agreed strategy, we have been seeking to provide integrated Herts-wide services. This would offer fairer access to care for all as well as reducing the amount spent on management. This has been taking place over the last year or two, and has led to one provider taking a lead role in developing a single integrated service for Hertfordshire. NHS Hertfordshire gave The Crescent formal notification in February that its contract would come to an end in June. HertsAid and The Crescent were asked to work together to develop a plan so that service users, their families and carers, together with staff and volunteers were supported during the transition period. It is important to emphasise that HIV support services will continue to be available in St Albans and across west Hertfordshire. Our aim is to make services more accessible by delivering them closer to where people live. HertsAid is working with service users to listen to what they have to say about the best place to locate services to make it easier for them to use. It is vital that we listen to the views, thoughts and concerns of all those who use HIV services in Hertfordshire as well as those of the people who work in them. We would strongly urge those people to get involved in the discussions that are taking place and that will continue to take place while we establish this new service for Hertfordshire. You can do this by writing to: HertsAid, York House, 45 Baldock Street, Ware, Herts SG12 9DH, tel: 01920 484784, or by sending an email via the website www.hertsaid.co.uk All enquiries and correspondence will be treated in the strictest confidence. Director of Health and Community Services at Hertfordshire County Council DR JANE HALPIN Chief Executive NHS Hertfordshire Season ticket chaos SIR – May I through your paper express my disgust at NCP. In February I was informed that unless I paid for my senior citizens season ticket by direct debit, I would be charged an extra �5. I set up a direct debit in February for March 15, ticket due March 31. On receiving my bank statement on March 31, I see they have taken �2.50 instead of �45. On phoning them, after a 20 minute wait, I was informed they had had trouble with St Albans and Harpenden’s senior citizens season tickets and now direct debits. Why were we not told? They had two weeks and now I have to send a cheque and wait for my season ticket. In the meantime my parking season ticket has run out. Their business methods leave a lot to be desired. MRS S BURNS Porters Hill, Harpenden

I wanted to create something that had such deep, impactful meaning, but from a outside viewer's perspective, looked "simple." Butterflies, to me, have always represented life as a whole and the changes and transitions we go through to spiritually heighten ourselves. I chose to make the butterflies shades of red, as red symbolizes love and intense passion and I decided to make the woman nude because in our purest, wholesome form before we learn or experience life, we enter this world with nothing on. The butterflies physically surround the woman's body, serving as a representation of feeling that deep love and passion for yourself, your body and your spirit always regardless of your flaws or outside negative perceptions of you. Transcedent love is a love that extends beyond the limitations of this world. It's a feeling and emotion that knows no fear of the past, present or future. It's pure, timeless and sacred. Never forget to love yourself, ALL of yourself.

Saturday, March 31, 2012 That's where I'm headed in approximately six hours! I'm such a worrier, I get this unshakeable feeling of uneasy anticipation in the hours ahead of a trip to somewhere I've never been... the older you get, the more you replay unlikely and scary scenarios in your head. What if the left falangee on the plane isn't working? What if I get robbed and I have no money and no identification and no phone and no friends and no idea where I am? What if it's really, really cold and I can't have fun because I'm succumbing to frostbite? The scenarios get stupider and stupider -- What if I can't find free Wi-fi anywhere? What if I eat too many pastries, I can't fit into my clothes at the end of the trip? Anyway, I'm sure my fears will be allayed once the first pastry is spotted. Earlier, I said to Loretta, "We have to eat reindeer in Helsinki." She replied, "Will Santa get mad?" Images: here, here and here. Friday, March 30, 2012 Thursday, March 29, 2012 Geez, Zara footwear is looking really freaking good this season. Really regretting not indulging more when I was in Spain -- those plexi-heeled sandals were like, 70 Euros (so practically 60 after detaxing) and they're HK$999 here. Exchange rate is so good, too! But patience will pay off, because I'm Paris-bound this weekend! EEEEEK! Wednesday, March 28, 2012 Apparently, Main St Deli at The Langham, Hong Kong, has become known for its big meals. Or so they say in their press release. I haven't been, so I can't confirm. But I'm a girl who likes it big. Size does matter. Big is always better. And now the New York deli is pandering to its reputation, and offering not just big dishes, but monstrous, gargantuan, ridiculously large portions: a 20-inch hot dog, a 12-inch burger, a 1kg reuben sandwich and a crazy huge lox & bagel. Obviously, these are made for sharing... but I feel a strong urge to challenge one on my own... They're available until the end of April, with 24 hours notice. For enquiries or reservations, please call 2132 7898. Tuesday, March 27, 2012 We complain about the lack of good vintage stores in Hong Kong... but it's not really "vintage" we care about (well, maybe only a little bit...), it's the prospect of acquiring fabulous designer goods at dirt-cheap prices. And then showing off to our friends about it. I have long had the bad, bad habit of buying things that don't fit. You may think I'm crazy, but it's one of the hazards of attending press sales, time-short windows of opportunity that include ridiculous limited-edition items at super discounts. Well, now you'll have that opportunity this coming April. Come April 21, the Geeks and some of our super-stylish pals (including fellow blogger Elle Lee!) will be taking part in Preloved Fashion Hong Kong, a pop-up sale of goodies culled from our closets. Vintage? This is better than vintage. Check out the Facebook page here for images of just some of the goodies you'll find -- including a brand-new pristine white Hermes Birkin, a few new Chanel 2.55s, a Bottega Veneta knot clutch, a tri-colour Celine Luggage tote... and that's just the bags! From the shoe archives of your own ShoeGeek (yes, I'm referring to myself in the third person, how very douchey, I'm sorry): the Loubies worn here, the Sergio Rossis worn here, the Balenciaga boots worn by Sea of Shoes' Jane Aldridge here and more! Go check out the Facebook page, and "Like" it for updates because we'll be adding more stuff as we photograph it (and collect it from friends!) Disclosure: SEVVA is a client of FashionGeek’s day job. All views are presented by guest blogger LifestyleGeek What is Canadian cuisine? Maple syrup, smoked salmon, and that artery-clogging poutine! But thankfully Vancouver chef David Hawksworth takes a more refined route when it comes to Canadian, or more precisely, west coast cuisine. And you can sample his creative offerings at SEVVA until Friday March 30. Set lunch tasting menus start at HK$460, dinner at HK$1,500. Hawksworth made a name for himself at West restaurant in Vancouver and then last year struck out on his own with a place named after him where the former Hotel Georgia is located. The hostess with the mostess Bonnie Gokson met Hawksworth when she attended a wedding in Vancouver last year. That led to her bringing him and his team here to present some dishes for Hong Kong diners to try. The results are nothing short of amazing. So if you have a chance, check out Hawksworth and his culinary prowess at SEVVA -- before Friday! Your tastebuds will thank you. 25/F, Prince's Building 10 Chater Road Monday, March 26, 2012 Ozone on the 118th floor of the Ritz-Carlton Hong Kong is a great venue to impress guests in the evening with its jaw-dropping view, and now it also serves up gourmet brunch on Sundays from noon to 3pm. For HK$888 with free-flowing Veuve Clicquot Champagne (or HK$1,888 with free-flowing vintage 2002 Dom Perignon Champagne and 10g of Hybrid caviar) you can enjoy an extensive selection of appetisers, select a main course and then sample a variety of desserts all while enjoying the amazing view, subject to weather conditions of course. The day we went was overcast from the ground floor, but when we got up to the highest floor in Hong Kong, all we could see were clouds below us and Hong Kong island was shrouded in the fog, kind of like a modern Chinese painting. Meanwhile we were surrounded by an amazing clear blue sky. But surely our stomachs were calling for a panoramic taste of the brunch and so we promptly checked out the goods. Then we went to the other side of the dining area where the desserts and other starters were. If you must be decadent -- and why not -- you're at the Ritz -- you can have pan-fried foie gras cooked right in front of you at the cooking station, as well as savoury beef cubes teppanyaki style that were melt-in-the-mouth juicy. And this was all before the main course. Oh did we mention cocktails? We chose the black cod and were not disappointed. The fish was cooked perfectly, flaking off the fork and was very tasty with the ponzu caramel sauce. It came with a grilled cherry tomato, carrots and asparagus as well as rice. But you can't be too full yet -- there's still some desserts to go through! For some opulence for your skin, try the vanilla creme with bird's nest, or how about the mini mango pudding, baked warm chocolate tart, pandan creme brulee, blueberry cheesecake or mini lemon and lime tartlets. Did we mention there's also a cheese selection too? There's many to choose from, ranging from hard to soft, including cow and goat cheeses. And when you have brunch at Ozone you can get 15 percent off a treatment at The Ritz-Carlton Spa by ESPA. So the next time you have brunch there, schedule a spa treatment in the afternoon and your Sunday will definitely end on a high note. 118/F, The Ritz-Carlton Hong Kong International Commerce Centre 1 Austin Road West All these weddings exploding like land mines around me.... it's just that age, you know. The same hotel ballrooms, the same guestlists, the same music (hello, Bruno!) and even the same fake cake. If you're getting married soon, or have friends who are, then at least customize the five-layer sweet treat with an unusual cake topper. Not that I'm headed altar-wards in the near future, but I've already picked mine out... either the corgi bride and groom, or Superman meets Wonder Woman (Lois Lane will be pissed, but whatevs.) More after the jump! Other panda topper. sloth topper. She loves sloths (see this vid). bride and groom. Customisable letter topper -- write your names or a simple Mr and Mrs. Puzzle people cake topper. Sunday, March 25, 2012 Katy Perry was spotted in a pair of these babies a while back, and even though they're a bit gimmicky for the average office lady, you have to admit, there's something kind of cute about that whole Minnie Mouse kind of sensibility. What's also kind of jazzy is that the shoe comes with an interchangeable lipstick colour, and the colours include purple, blue, gold and a chic understated black. Get them at Alberto Guardiani. Friday, March 23, 2012 I hear you ask which bag did I get? I got the amazing Beiruti clutch featured above. I love the contrast between the soft leather and the hard metal plate. And yes, even though I frequently lament that I don't have a use for clutches, this bag is just too amazing not to get. Stay tuned for a Geek Peek with Dareen coming soon! Thursday, March 22, 2012 Having been fully converted to ebooks with the Kindle, there are few books that I want to buy these days. The only exception are coffee table books which given the fact that my coffee table is actually a vintage wooden trunk from the 1950s, it doesn’t really have much space for books on top of it. However, that doesn’t deter me from lusting after Chanel’s latest coffee table book offering- The Little Black Jacket: Chanel’s classic revisited by Karl Lagerfeld and Carine Roitfeld. Created during the 1950s by Coco, this jacket has been reinvented by Karl Lagerfeld since 1983. Check out the behind the scenes video which features numerous celebrities wearing the jacket in different ways. Images were shot in Cannes and then in New York, before finishing up in Paris in Karl Lagerfeld’s studio. Celebrities featured includes Sarah Jessica Parker, Georgia May Jagger, Alice Dellal, Maïwenn, Laetitia Casta, Virginie Ledoyen and Akuol de Mabior. Interested in how the little black jacket is made? Be sure to watch the second video. And if you happen to be in Tokyo, there is an opening exhibition dedicated to the little black jacket from 24th March until 15th April 2012 at G-Bldg, Minami Aoyama, Minami Aoyama 5-4-48, Minato Ku, Tokyo The Little Black Jacket: Chanel's classic revisited by Karl Lagerfeld and Carine Roitfeld, Steidl, Göttingen, 2012, 232 pages. Available in bookstores from autumn 2012. Wednesday, March 21, 2012 For the past year or so, I’ve been a tad sick of Mr Louboutin’s red soles feeling that it’s gotten a bit passé. Of course, just as I’m thinking this, along comes the capsule collection celebrating the 20th anniversary of the brand and I realize why I fell in love in the first place. From the Pensee to the La Pluminette, 20 iconic styles were revisited along with six one of a kind bags. I particularly loved that we were shown the sketches of the shoes along with the actual products. The collection launched in Hong Kong next Thursday and I can’t wait to check it out in person. Must remind myself though that I’m on a shoe embargo!

Children whose parents don't get and stay married have increased risk of mental illness that extends long into adulthood, even after controlling for pre-divorce marital conflict. Getting Married in Vermont Questions and Answers to Help you Plan your Vermont Wedding Who can get married in Vermont? A man and a woman who are each at least 18 years old can marry in Vermont. Getting married in Kentucky - what do you need to know? Getting married in Kentucky - what do you need to know Applying for a Marriage License. Before getting married in West Virginia or Jefferson County, Couples must obtain a marriage license together, in person from the County Clerk's office—Here’s How: Funding for this publication provided by: Reproductive Science Center of New England 877-379-8783 www.GayIVF.com Canadian Marriage FAQ What DoINeedto Know AboutGetting Married in Canada? World Health Organization & United Nations Population Fund 2 WHO Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data Married adolescents : no place of safety. FY2179 So You are Getting Married in Florida! 1 Donna Peacock and Heidi Radunovich 2 1. This document is FCS2179, one of a series of the Department of Family, Youth and Community Sciences, Florida Cooperative Extension Service, IFAS, introduction 1 the basics 3 same-sex couples who are already married or havea civil union or domestic partnership 10 ... I Married Wyatt Earp Suggested in part by the book "I Married Wyatt Earp" by Glenn G. Boyer Book by Sheilah Rae and Thomas Edward West Lyrics by Sheilah Rae Music by Michele Brourman This "creative nonfiction" musical is based on the historical events of the American West, and boasts an all ... 2 personal or even important encounter between spouses. In this view, being responsible about sex simply means limiting its consequences—avoiding disease and using contraceptives to prevent pregnancy.

Read all about it! BeautyStat‘s very own Ron Robinson is featured in Allure Magazine‘s October issue! The Allure staff got together its A-Team of cosmetic advisors to give their readership the lowdown on some of the year’s most innovative and “revolutionary” products in the categories of skincare, cosmetic and hair for their ‘The Big Breakthroughs’ piece. Read on to see which two products Ron talks about, and why they deserve recognition! Talking about Olay‘s Smooth Finish Facial Hair Removal Duo for Medium to Coarse Hair in ‘What An Expert Says’: “When Olay … You know I love Bobbi Brown makeup… Well, this collection is no exception. The Miami Collection is right on trend with pinky corals and shimmery cheeks. And let’s not forget about her signature summertime fragrance: Beach! Left to Right: Nude Beach, Copper and Candlelight First new products for the season are extensions of the amazing Long-Wear Cream Shadows ($24.00). Four new shades that are soft and pretty. I love using the Candlelight and Nude Beach as eye primers. My eyeshadow doesn’t budge. The other two new shades are Copper and Bronze Sugar. … I’m always up for a challenge to try to tan my pasty Irish skin. I have tried St. Tropez products in the past, and have not used it for years. I stopped tanning, however, I was excited to give it a try when I received a goody box from St. Tropez. First, I wanted to try the Self Tan Bronzing Spray ($35.00). My number one complaint always is that I can’t reach my back. Well kids… problem solved! This spray has a 360-degree angle! So, you can get every crease, your … Our loyal BeautyStat writer Nicole Gordon Levine — with the best-looking nails, ever! — continues her review series of the Sephora brands showcasing some of their new products for the summer from the first-ever Sephora Summer Beauty Fair. Nicole attended the event to keep all of us beautynistas up-to-date with the latest and greatest products soon to hit the shelves! Read on to see what Nicole had to learn about some of the new products St. Tropez is launching: As always, tanning is synonymous with the summertime, but, us ladies are smart … So, I want to create a I <3 Sephora t-shirt because they are launching so many wonderful products this season. Who’s with me? I want the world to know I would rent space there if I could. Every time I visit a Sephora location, something new strikes me. Not only did they completely redesign their site, they have also renovated quite a few stores and even carry some of my favorite products once only found in department stores now. I have been shopping there for years, yet I still love … Laura Mercier is one of the most in-demand makeup artists around. She of course has worked on some of the most beautiful faces in entertainment: she is responsible for Madonna’s makeup looks in Evita as well as in her Ray of Light album and video look. Laura Mercier is known for her ‘flawless face’ — the ‘the concept that making skin look perfect is the first and foremost important thing a woman can do to achieve a great look.’ Her line encompasses everything you need for a perfect face and body. … Healthy, radiant skin is not just reserved for lovers of The French Riviera lifestyle. When winter weather comes, the first thing on its way out (apart from light outwear) is your tan. But healthy, believable color is not a wish that’s hard to fulfill, especially in our day; if you’ve wanted a tan that not only lasts but also has a refreshing, healthy quality to it, we’ve found THE tanning line for you. St. Tropez Tan offers superior quality products that allow you to become your own self tan expert. The comprehensive, … You all watch the show Dancing With The Stars right? Well the celebrities on the show use a great new self-tanning product called St. Tropez Tan. That fabulous product makes their limbs look lean and toned and helps their skin glow. We’re looking for all types of women to try those self-tanning products, and record a 2 minute video where they talk about their impression of the product. You would make the video using your laptop/digital camera, and upload it to us through a private YouTube channel. We might use your … From plus-sized beauty to “heroin chic,” a recent article in the New York Post about model Crystal Renn exposes the modeling industries pressures to stay thin. Highly regarded as one of the most successful plus-sized models, friends and fans alike have come forward with their concern for Renn and her recent rapid weight loss. The speculation began after Renn walked the runway for Chanel in St. Tropez back in May where she looked two sizes smaller than she claims to be, a size 10. Her agency, Ford Models, also … Each year, the Makeup Show in New York brings together the best and brightest of makeup artists and makeup products under one terrific roof. This year, the quality of the participants was beyond stellar, with brands that included Mac Pro, Temptu, Alison Raffaele Cosmetics, Mehron, Obsessive Compulsive Cosmetics and Makeup Forever. As we expected, Makeup Forever’s new waterproof Aqua Creams stole the show. These are versatile WATERPROOF colors that are so multipurpose that they’ll transform your entire face single handedly. We’re talking color for the eyes, lips and cheeks! The pigments are …

Watch Scary or Die: The creation of filmmaker Michael Emanuel, SCARY OR DIE tells five interwoven horror stories that take place in and around the "City of Angels". A flesh-eating clown desperately trying to protect the person he craves the most, A dirty cop and a hit gone wrong with a vengeful Necromancer, a beautiful but mysterious woman and a lonely man looking for love in all the wrong places, a gruesome blood splattered uprising of Illegal Mexican Zombies, and a Cajun conjure grandfather whose gift of never ending love goes terribly awry...SCARY OR DIE is unique experience in horror filmmaking certain to fulfill all your twisted horror film experience needs. |Released:||September 11, 2012| |Directors:||Michael Emanuel Bob Badway Igor Meglic| |Actors:||PaSean Wilson Christopher Darga Bob Bouchard Shawn-Caulin Young Domiziano Arcangeli Shannon Bobo David Reivers Elizabeth Di Prinzio Derrick Jones Charles Rahi Chun Chon Lee Corbin Bleu Andrew Caldwell John Moran Alexandra Choi| Scary or Die (2012) LetMeWatchThis Links |= Low Quality||= Medium Quality||= High Quality| Watch LetMeWatchThis Featured Movies Scary or Die (2012) Keywords Join the site, it's free! I can't watch movies! Help! Watch / Download Movies OakDragon : I first saw this film soon after it was released. I was so taken by it I... terrylee34 : this was a good movie...kinda slow, but still good. worth a watch and yep...i...

How do you keep up with the news of the Jewish world? Sometimes it can seem as if “the Jewish world” consists of my own little Jewish community plus whatever is in the news about Israel. In the summer of 2014, if you believed the television, the only things going on anywhere were war in Gaza and a terrifying rise in anti-Semitism in Europe. Granted, it was not a happy summer for Jews, but if you were tuned in to Jewish news sources, you (1) had a more complete picture of the bad things and (2) knew what other things were happening with Jews globally. My favorite Jewish news source is JTA.org. The long form of its name will give you a clue how long it has been serving the community: Jewish Telegraphic Agency. One of the things I love about the JTA is the depth of its archive: they will give you the current story, then background on the issue. For instance, today there is an article about the history of tension around the Temple Mount. Less savvy news services might give you the idea that trouble at the Temple Mount is a current development, but the JTA article gives you the background. Sometimes stories read a little differently when you know the history. You can sign up for daily news from the service. Sometimes I only have time to skim that email, but it gives me the headlines for the Jewish world. I know that JTA.org is not the only source for Jewish news: do you have a favorite? Tell us about it in the comments! • Synagogues run on membership subscriptions because that allows for predictable cash flow and budgeting. Every synagogue has its own formula for setting dues. • Costs vary by the cost of living in an area, by the size of the staff (salaries are usually the biggest single budget item) and by the services offered. A small synagogue that rents a room in a local strip mall one day a week and has no rabbi can operate very cheaply, and it will have low dues. It may be a wonderful Jewish community, but it will not be able to offer many things that people want from a synagogue. • IMPORTANT: Most synagogues offer “dues relief” when needed. If you want to join a synagogue with dues of $2000 a year, and you can’t afford it, say so! Please do not assume that you are not wanted, or that it is a synagogue only for “rich people.” Explain that you want to belong to the synagogue, but that that amount will not fit into your budget. They will usually have a way to meet you at a level you can afford. • Sometimes people ask why they should pay for services they don’t personally use. For instance, why should I pay the full membership rate when I don’t have children in religious school? Educating the children of our community about Torah is a basic Jewish value, and it is the responsibility not just of the parents, but of the whole community. If you think the synagogue is spending your dues on something foolish or unfair, talk with a member of the board and learn about who uses that program and why it is a priority. If you still think it foolish, you can talk to more board members about examining those priorities. • They call it a “membership” because you become a member. Once you join, at whatever dues level, you are not merely a consumer. Look for ways to keep expenses low by being a good member: cleaning up your messes, helping with set up and clean up, serving on committees, volunteering, and participating in events like congregational meetings and fundraising. I have a bias on this subject: I don’t work for one, but I’ve been a member of a synagogue for twenty years. When there’s trouble, I call the rabbis; when I have good news, I share it with friends there. My beloved and I were married there. It is my Jewish family, my first and primary tie to the larger Jewish world. Don’t let sticker shock drive you away! There are ways to make it work. Synagogue membership is one of the great bargains around. There are three days of the year when synagogues are weird. Services are not typical. The crowd attending the synagogue is not typical. Even the clergy may not be their usual selves. In other words, those are bad days to “shul-shop,” to visit a prospective synagogue. Here they are: Purim is fun, if you are a member of the community. But it is an evening when people wear masks, get rowdy, and may be a little tipsy. There may be a play, a “Purim Shpiel,” with lots of inside jokes that won’t make any sense to you. In the daytime, there will be a children’s carnival, with hordes of sugar-crazed little ones. Don’t visit for the first time on Purim – it could be the nicest shul in the world but you will want to flee screaming. 2. Rosh HaShanah Rosh HaShanah (Jewish New Year) services are beautiful. However, they are also very long.The rabbi’s sermon will be longer, too. Like a church at Easter, every member is there and more dressed up than usual. The service, and the music, are different from regular services. Tickets are usually required. Don’t visit for the first time on Rosh HaShanah – it may be pretty, but it just isn’t typical. and now, for the VERY WORST DAY TO VISIT A SYNAGOGUE: 1. Yom Kippur Yom Kippur is the worst possible day to visit a new synagogue. Nothing is normal. The evening service, Kol Nidre, is much like Rosh HaShanah: everyone dressed up, solemn music, lengthy sermon, a huge crowd. And in the morning service, it is all that but even more so: no one has had any coffee. If you are already part of the community, then misery has company. We do the work of the day (praying), we kvetch about our caffeine headaches, services go on and on and on. The music is still beautiful. But it is no place or time to take the temperature of a synagogue, because the singers are hired, the clergy is tired, and no one has had any coffee. When is a good time to shop for a shul? Any day but those three days! That said, many people these days don’t find rabbis through the synagogue. Moreover, there is nothing preventing a person from putting “Rabbi” in front of their name and simply setting up a website and some business cards. While there are laws against practicing medicine or law without a license, pretty much anyone can go online and get “ordained” for a fee. There’s also nothing preventing someone from setting up an online “rabbinical school” that requires little of their students. You may be wondering, why does this matter? If you are looking for someone to stand up front for a ceremony and read a service, maybe it doesn’t matter. But maybe then you’re just as well off asking a cousin or a friend – why worry about the title “rabbi” at all? If on the other hand, you want a real rabbi: someone qualified to do premarital counseling, or someone who can be a resource in making Jewish choices, or someone to guide you through a conversion process, then perhaps you will want to choose more carefully. Particularly where conversion is concerned, the rabbi’s credentials will determine not only how and where you are accepted as a Jew, but how your descendants will be accepted. An ethical rabbi will be honest with you about exactly what conversion with them will mean to other Jews, and they will not charge money for the conversion. So what is a layperson to do, especially one who is new to the Jewish community? Three things will tell you a lot about any rabbi: ask about their Education, Affiliation, and Experience. Education. Where did this rabbi study? How many years of study were required? For comparison, I can tell you that Hebrew Union College (the Reform rabbinical school) as well as the Jewish Theological Seminary and the Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies in Los Angeles (both Conservative rabbinical schools) require five years or more of graduate study (meaning, incoming students already have a B.A.). All three require students to live for a year in Israel, studying texts and immersed in the Hebrew language. Their coursework includes not only Jewish text learning, but training in counseling, education, and professional ethics. The Orthodox world has a lot more variety, as does the nondenominational Jewish world, but the same question applies: how many years did you study before you got the title, Rabbi? Were you ordained by a single individual, or by a faculty of learned Jews? This relates to more than just academics. What was this person willing to invest in becoming a rabbi? How many years, how much inconvenience? It is not only a question of money (although trust me, five years of grad school is expensive) but also a question about dedication to the Jewish People. Affiliation.To what professional organizations does this rabbi belong? The reason you ask this question is that a rabbi who belongs to the Central Conference of American Rabbis (Reform) or the Rabbinical Assembly (Conservative) or the Rabbinical Council of America (Orthodox) has agreed to maintain certain ethical standards, and is answerable to the association if there are questions about his or her behavior. You can ask if they are members of their local Board of Rabbis, or other professional organizations. The idea is, how connected is this rabbi to colleagues? To whom, if anyone, is this person answerable? Rabbis who are connected to other rabbis also can tap a deep well of resources for you. As a CCAR member, I can ask a quick question by leaving a message online for other rabbis to chime in. If I am concerned about how best to handle a tricky situation, I can pick up the phone and call a mentor or a more experienced senior rabbi. I participate in continuing education, and my colleagues challenge me to do my best. Experience. Have they ever served in a congregation? Been a Jewish chaplain? Lived in Israel? Worked with Jewish youth? Done prison chaplaincy? Served the Jewish community overseas? Of course, not every rabbi has done all those things, but by asking you will get a better idea of who this person is, and what depth of experience they will bring to you. A rabbi who has solid credentials and experience will be glad to answer these questions and proud of the answers. Be wary of anyone who seems to want you to feel bad about asking. No rabbi is perfect. No rabbi is knowledgeable about everything, and perfectly trained in every respect. We’re fallible human beings. But asking about Education, Affiliation, and Experience can give you a better idea of who this rabbi is than you can get from a nice website or a well written marketing blurb. I have to be honest about my bias on this topic. One of the fixed items in our household budget is synagogue membership. Our children are grown. We don’t need religious school. No one is studying for a bar mitzvah. But to borrow a phrase from Moses – excuse me, Charlton Heston! – I’ll let go of my synagogue membership when they take it out of my cold, dead hands. Why is synagogue membership important to me? Let me count the pros: 1. I have a rabbi (actually, two rabbis) on call should we need them. I like knowing that if I have a big decision to make, there’s someone grounded in the tradition with whom I can talk it through. I like knowing that if something bad happens, all members of my family will be free to call on the rabbi for support and guidance. I don’t want to be looking for a rabbi at a crisis in my life. 2. I have a community. I don’t love everything about that community, or everyone in that community, but it is my community, people who know who I am and with whom I navigate life. If I am looking for a plumber, or a doctor, or a real estate agent, everyone has a recommendation. If I have something to celebrate, they will care. If something bad happens, they’ll care. I am not anonymous there. 3. I benefit from the Caring Community, or Committee, or whatever it is we’re calling it now. When my kids were still in school, and I fell and smashed my knee, someone picked up my kids from the bus, someone brought dinner, and someone was on the other end of the phone to help me figure out how I was going to deal with life while my leg was immobilized. As an aging woman with some disabilities, this is not a small thing. 4. I have somewhere to develop and use my talents as a volunteer. This goes for small stuff, like bringing food to potlucks, and to larger things as well. Currently I don’t work for a congregation, but I volunteer some of my professional skills for my congregation. If I had the time, I could sing in the choir (I wish I had the time.) I get appreciation for the things I do from time to time, and that’s nice too. I also learn about social justice action opportunities, and have a ready-made group of people with whom to pursue those. 5. I have a minyan with whom to pray. Jews engage in private prayer, but there are some kinds of prayer for which we need a minyan of at least ten Jewish adults. 6. I have people with whom to learn. There is no substitute for a community when doing Jewish learning: it just does not work alone. And even though I went to rabbinical school, I still have lots to learn: learning is a lifelong activity for a Jew. 7. When there is truly a crisis, I have a community and a rabbi. Much of my work is with unaffiliated Jews, and I have to tell you that that more than anything has convinced me of the benefits of belonging. I do my best for families who are grieving, but they’ve turned to me because someone gave them my name after disaster struck. I’m essentially a nice stranger with a set of skills they need. How much better it would be for them to have a rabbi they know, that they can call the minute trouble looms, and who already knows their story? That is what I want for myself and my family. 8. I know that by supporting this synagogue, I am contributing to the future of Judaism in my area. Even after my kids are grown, children will be learning about Judaism at that synagogue. Couples will get married. Funerals will be held. Celebrations will happen, holidays and fasts will be observed. By being a part of a synagogue, I keep Judaism going. Now for the “cons” of synagogue membership: 1. Yes, it costs money. Having that rabbi on call, and a secretary and whatever else (a building, a janitor, teachers, etc) costs a lot of money. If money is tight, then you have two options: talk with the synagogue about reduced rates, or opt not to belong for now. 2. As I said above, not everyone at my congregation is my best friend. Sometimes there is conflict. There are some people who drive me a little nuts. I probably drive them a little nuts, too. Comes with the territory. As the old joke goes, sometimes it is easier to love Judaism than it is to love real live Jews. 3. Yes, they bug me to give and to do stuff. Linda and I get periodic appeals for financial and volunteer participation. I also feel free to say “no” when I really can’t or don’t want to do something. 4. I don’t agree with the way everything is done by the synagogue. Policy is up to the board, and they call those shots. I get to state my opinion, but I am not the boss. If it’s the only synagogue in town and the disagreement is about something serious, then maybe it isn’t worth it. For example, I am not sure I could be a happy member of a congregation that wanted me to be closeted, or that did not count women for a minyan. 5. Paying dues is just the beginning. To really get the benefits of synagogue membership, you have to invest time and heart. Synagogue membership is not cheap. It costs money, time, and heart. Sometimes it is aggravating. But for me, it’s worth it. If you are Jewish and not a member of a congregation it can be difficult to navigate milestones in Jewish life. I’m starting a new category of blog entry for such occasions, and I am going to make at least one post weekly on “Jewish Consumer” topics. I will confess right up front to some mixed feelings about this. It seems very odd and borderline inappropriate to talk about “consumerism” and Judaism, but I am asked often enough about these matters that I think it is worth doing. I have a rather strong bias, and I’m going to deal with it in my first post, “Choosing Synagogue Membership.”

Appellate Judge Mac McEntire can think of a lot more interesting things you can do while naked. Like Parcheesi. "What's in the box? A dead body?" A woman relaxes in her bathtub, only to have a gloved killer sneak into the room and strangle her to death. Her still-wet body is stuffed into a trunk and mailed to an expensive, exclusive all-girls school in the middle of nowhere. There, the murders continue. Jill (Sally Smith) is a troublemaker who longs to write a spy novel someday. She sets out to solve the crime. Lucille (Eleonora Brown, Two Women) is in the midst of an illicit romance with a hunky teacher (Mark Damon, Johnny Yuma), and all of her secrecy and sneaking around makes the police suspect her as the killer. 1968's Naked You Die, a.k.a. The Young, The Evil and the Savage, a.k.a. The Miniskirt Murders, a.k.a. School Girl Killer, a.k.a. Cry Nightmare, is the brainchild of Italian horror-meisters Mario Bava (Blood and Black Lace) and Antonio Margheriti (Cannibal Apocalypse). It's a "scary things happening under the surface of a posh boarding school" film, the type for which Dario Argento would achieve great fame a few years later. Naked You Die isn't quite up there with Argento's best, though. The dark and gloomy scenes are appropriately dark and gloomy, but you should prepare yourself for a lot of sitting and talking in between. Many of these dialogue-heavy scenes are spent on establishing Jill's obnoxious "cry wolf" behavior, as well as Lucille's fairly creepy love affair with her teacher. There's also generous talky time spent on getting to know the other suspects, such as a beefy swimming instructor, the stern headmistress, the bitchy girl no one likes, and the pervy peeping tom groundskeeper. The scare scenes are similarly subdued, with a sinister atmosphere filling in for intense sex or violence. This is a mostly bloodless thriller, with the killer sticking to the shadows, and remarkably fast strangulations as the M.O. For all you horndogs out there, know that despite this movie's title, the nudity is of the "blink and you'll miss it" quality. On the plus side, the writers play it straight with the murder mystery plot, which, although implausible, has all the pieces fitting together at the end. At this point, I can almost hear thousands of movie lovers out there yelling at me, "It's a product of its time!" You're correct, of course. This movie's biggest novelty is the basic setup of a killer picking off a select group of victims one by one in a remote setting. This was still fairly new at the time, and made for an exciting show at the movies. These days, though, we've already seen so much stuff like this that Naked You Die will come across as mostly tame. And hey, how about the music in this one? The opening "Nightmare" song is a real toe-tapper, and deserves to be played at Halloween parties everywhere. The score, meanwhile, brings to mind stuff like the Batman and Hawaii Five-O '60s TV show themes, with a peppy combination of keyboards and bongos. When we first meet the girls as they lounge around by the pool in matching white swimsuits, the score suddenly goes into full-on "happy music" mode, suitable for the most saccharine Saturday morning cartoon you could ever imagine. Yes, the music is sometimes incongruous to the action on screen, but it's still like another character in the film. Fans of this film have two big reasons to celebrate this DVD. First is that this is the original 98-minute version, never before released in North America—when it debuted in theaters, Naked You Die was mercilessly cut down to 83 minutes so it could be shown as part of a double feature. Second is the picture restoration. The movie looks like it could have been made this year, with sharp detail, vivid colors, and deep, rich blacks. There are a few scratches seen during the opening credits, but otherwise, this is a pristine visual transfer. The 2.0 sound, in Italian with English subtitles, is a little less impressive, but sound effects and the bizarre score still come through clearly. For extras, the theatrical trailer practically retells the entire story, and the still gallery features several of the movie's original posters. Naked You Die doesn't have the adrenaline rush feel of other movies of its kind, which will likely frustrate some viewers. For horror/thriller fans with an interest in exploring the history of the genre, there will be a lot to enjoy here, as it has a lot of ideas that other filmmakers would explore with great success in the years that followed. Now, if you'll excuse me, it's 3 a.m., so I'm going to go take a shower in front of an open window. Give us your feedback! What's "fair"? Whether positive or negative, our reviews should be unbiased, informative, and critique the material on its own merits. Scales of Justice Studio: Dark Sky Films Review content copyright © 2007 Mac McEntire; Site design and review layout copyright © 2016 Verdict Partners LLC. All rights reserved.

Movie- Geneticist couple Elsa and Clive have successfully spliced together the DNA of different living animal organisms and created a pair of hybrids named Fred and Ginger, a scientific breakthrough that promises to yield great medical benefits. However, they are not satisfied, and wish to create creatures with human genetics. Against the wishes of their employer, they clandestinely create a human hybrid with DNA from all kinds of animals. Elsa treats the creature like a daughter, putting it in dresses, teaching it language, and naming it Dren. As Dren begins to get older (and more aggressive), Elsa and Clive move her to Elsa’s abandoned childhood home, a farmhouse and barn with plenty of room to hide Dren. Meanwhile, the Fred and Ginger experiment goes horribly, publicly wrong, with disturbing implications for Dren that earn this movie’s R rating. Dren’s character design resides squarely in the uncanny valley, by turns beautiful and ineffably creepy. Without spoiling anything, the relationships among the characters in this film are really twisted and the movie’s end is quite graphic. I enjoyed the suspense and quiet build-up of the earlier half of the film more than the series of increasingly unpleasant events that make up the latter half of the film, though I suspect many who typically enjoy films in the horror genre will relish the ending. Splice will appeal to fans of other films with genetic experiments gone wrong, such as Jurassic Park and The Fly. Book – One of last year’s Bluestem Book Award Nominated children’s selections was Susan E. Goodman’s How Do You Burp in Space?: and Other Tips Every Space Tourist Needs to Know. Mary Roach could easily have used the same title for her endlessly entertaining adult nonfiction offering, but she instead chose Packing for Mars: The Curious Science of Life in the Void. Packing for Mars (also available as an audiobook, digital or on CD) is in many ways the opposite of most stories about space travel. Expect none of the rose-tinted romanticism of Space-as-Manifest-Destiny narratives that glamorize the patriotic thrill of being first among the stars, or any white-knuckled moments facing down the many terrors of space. Roach’s down-to-earth focus on the humbler details of space exploration may not justify a John Williams soundtrack, but it makes for a hilarious, fascinating read. As Roach points out, “To the rocket scientist, you are a problem.” Humans are the most fallible component in the precise and delicate machinery of space travel, and Packing for Mars examines the many measures that NASA and other space agencies have taken to address our physical and psychological needs in the harsh environment of space. From an expedition into the remote and otherworldly Canadian arctic where personnel and equipment are tested for moon missions, to the hospital ward where “terranauts” are paid to lie in bed for months to simulate the effects of zero-gravity on bone density, to a parabolic (“vomit-comet”) flight in the upper atmosphere in search of a cure for space-sickness, Mary Roach traveled all over this planet learning how space agencies meticulously plan to reach the next one. The resulting book provides answers to all the questions about space travel that you never thought of or wouldn’t have dared to ask, conveyed with an irreverent wit that makes reading a pleasure. Book – Imagine waking up in the wrong body. Lying in a hospital bed with strangers gathered round–a man who claims to be your husband. Life As I Know It by Melanie Rose explores this unique scenario, in which Jessica wakes to a nightmare, trapped in the wrong body. The last thing she can remember is talking to the cute guy at the dog park and lightning striking her. She wakes up in the body of Lauren Richardson, mother and wife. The doctors insist this is who she is and she is simply suffering memory loss from the accident. But Jessica knows in her heart that this woman is not her. Against what she knows to be true, Jessica goes home with the Lauren Richardson’s husband. When her head hits the pillow at her unfamiliar “home,” Jessica wakes up again in the hospital, but this time back in her own body, where the cute guy from the dog park has been waiting for her. She is so relieved to find that it was all just a dream. However, as she goes to sleep after the exhausting day, once again Jessica wakes up in the body of Lauren Richardson. Each time she falls asleep, Jessica switches lives, from her own to the rich high life of Lauren, husband to Graham, and mother to three young children. Caught between two worlds–the one that is her life to live, and the one of obligations to a young family that relies on her support–will life ever return to normal for poor Jessica? Book– In the vein of The House of Silk by Anthony Horowitz (which uses Conan Doyle’s characters), Sophie Hannah has set out to write a new Hercule Poirot novel, with the permission of Agatha Christie’s estate. When a contemporary author sets out to reanimate the legendary characters of a deceased author’s canon, she has a tall task ahead of her and a lot of expectations to meet that do not apply to a wholly original novel, but I tried to be fair when I read her attempt. Hannah does not do a great job of imitating Christie’s characters. For example, bumbling police inspector narrator, Catchpool (an original character), who exists as a reader surrogate for Poirot to be smart at, is afraid of dead bodies due to an apparently traumatic incident at his grandfather’s funeral. Barring how silly it is for a police inspector to fear murder victims, Catchpool is also gratingly incompetent and has all kinds of tiresome (if justifiable) doubts about his fitness for police work. Poirot is not rendered pitch perfect either. He overuses some typically Poirot-esque mannerisms, such as “little grey cells” and gratuitous French, but for reasons I cannot pinpoint, does not hit the mark. Despite these complaints, I would still recommend this book. The mystery itself is elegantly constructed, with plenty of red herrings, and a beautiful resolution at the end. I did not correctly guess the murderer early on, which I typically do, and actually needed the scene at the end where Poirot explains the plot to everybody to wrap my head around how the murders went down. The Monogram Murders was a much better experience once I decided to read just for the plot, which is excellent, rather than the characters, which were not. Book – Tara Abernathy is a contract lawyer. Wait, no, don’t run away – I swear this is a fantasy novel, and a really good one, too. In Gladstone’s post-war fantasy world, contracts regulate and control the use of magic, called Craft. In recent history, Craftsmen (and women) overthrew the gods, shifting control of magical power into mortal hands. But remnants of the old religions still exist. And the old gods do, too – so long as they abide by their contracts. That’s what Tara and her boss are investigating: Kos Everburning, a god of the city of Alt Coulomb, has died and defaulted on his contract. In order to keep the power on, and to forestall political upheaval, they have to prove that Kos was murdered. Three Parts Dead isn’t always the easiest book to read (Gladstone subscribes to the “throw them in the deep end and see if they can swim” school of worldbuilding), but it’s never boring. This is the first in Gladstone’s ongoing Craft series. The sequel, Two Serpents Rise, features an entirely different cast of characters in a city halfway around the world from Alt Coulomb, but as the series goes on, the storylines begin to converge. It’s deep, fascinating, twisty stuff, and totally worth the effort it can sometimes take. Book – There are various times in one’s life where the discussion of death, and God, and the afterlife happen. When love ones pass, health issues arise, or in lectures with professors. In Calculating God the story centers on Thomas Jericho, a paleontologist from Toronto who is dying from lung cancer. Two alien species from different planets, Forhilnors and Wreeds, have come to Earth to speak with paleontologists about evolution, science, and religion. Tom, being a scientist does not believe in God and is surprised both alien species firmly believe in a God. This makes for interesting dialogue between all parties. On the one hand there are aliens on Earth and want to learn about the evolution of our planet and species; but on the other hand both alien species believe in what we call God. Tom has a hard time grasping this even knowing his fate. The writing is a little slower in pace and gives the reader points where reflection of one’s life may happen. There is a plot line that includes creationists and I did not understand why it was being included until it climaxed. Science fiction readers or anyone who may want to reflect on why illness happens or question if a higher power exists may find this book interesting. Readers who enjoy a book with minimal, but more developed characters will also like this book. It took me two years to finish this book. This does not speak of the quality of writing, because Robert Sawyer does a great job of keeping the reader intrigued. I am a firm believer of the notion that sometimes you are not ready for a book. At the time I started it, I was not ready for it. I found it again and was bolstered by the ending. Books – Vlad is an Easterner (a human, to us), but he’s lived his whole life in the strictly regimented, caste-based Dragaeran Empire, among Dragaerans (whom his grandfather calls Elves). Most Dragaeran Houses are a matter of birth, but Vlad’s father bought his family into the House of the Jhereg, best known for putting the “organized” into organized crime. He lives a little in both worlds, rising in the ranks of the Jhereg while learning Eastern witchcraft from his grandfather – which is how he came by his long-time companion Loiosh, who is also a jhereg. All the Dragaeran Houses are named after animals, you see – a jhereg is a small flying lizard, about the size of a housecat. No, they don’t breathe fire. They’re not usually telepathic, either, but Loiosh is a witch’s familiar, after all. The Vlad Taltos series – part of Steven Brust’s larger Dragaeran universe, which also includes a five-book trilogy and a stand-alone novel set in the East – is really something different; I don’t know of any other fantasy novels like them. They’re all narrated by Vlad in the first person, and Vlad’s voice is one of the most delightful things about them. Think something of a cross between Sam Spade and Strider (who becomes Aragorn). And each book is also about a different Dragaeran House and what that House stands for in Dragaeran society – Jhereg, the first in the series, is about Vlad’s life in the Organization; Dragon, another good starting point, is about war. You learn a little more about the universe with every book. There are fourteen books so far, with five (and lots of questions) left to go. Book –Check out Find Her by Lisa Gardner for a murder mystery you can’t put down. For 472 days, Flora Danes was held captive in a wooden coffin. On the occasions that she was released, Flora was raped and tormented by her kidnapper. But she is a survivor. Five years later, Flora is still trying to find a sense of normalcy in her life. She has the support of her mother, and her FBI victim advocate, Samuel Keynes. But Flora is caught in the past, actively searching out other girls like her that have gone missing, dedicated to hunting down their perpetrators. Detective D.D. Warren arrives at a crime scene where a young women was left bound, naked, yet was somehow able to kill her attacker. Because Flora is no ordinary victim. After learning of Flora’s traumatic history, Detective Warren grows suspicious of the intentions of this possible vigilante. When Flora herself ends up missing, Detective Warren must team up with the famed Samuel Keynes to find Flora against all odds. I found Find Her to be reminiscent of author Gillian Flynn: an intense, driven thriller with a strong female lead. I thought the details of Flora’s captivity were terrifying, especially as someone who’s claustrophobic. It was an unsettling read, which for me constitutes the makings of a great murder mystery. Book – This sweeping saga explores family dynamics, loyalty, love, and loss. It is the story of two brothers growing up in India. Totally inseparable, yet very different. With only 15 months between them, the older one Subhash is serious, reserved, and reliable, while Udayan is impulsive, a risk taker, and rebellious. In college both excel academically. Subhash studies chemistry, Udayan physics. It is the late 1960’s and India is experiencing political turbulence. Subhash decides to go to America for his PhD, while Udayan stays and becomes increasingly involved with radical militant groups. He even defies his family by foregoing tradition and marrying, Gauri, chosen for love. The brothers lose touch leading their separate lives. Due to unforeseen circumstances, Gauri and Subhash form their own unique relationship, so that he can make sense of Udayan’s actions and because his parents shunned Guari as their daughter-in-law. Subhash acts with integrity and tries to do the right thing, but will he be a victim of his own goodness? This sweeping saga spans four decades and explores family dynamics, loyalty, love, and loss. I highly recommend this wonderful book along with Jhumpa Lahiri’s other works – Interpreter of Maladies, In Other Words, The Namesake, and Unaccustomed Earth. Movie – I went to see How to Be Single because 1. I love romantic comedies, and 2. I am a huge of Rebel Wilson. For the first time in her life, Alice (Dakota Johnson) is single. She had hoped that taking a break from her long-time boyfriend, Josh would give her the chance to find herself, but instead she feels completely lost in the world. Everything changes when she meets her new coworker, Robin (Rebel Wilson), who throws Alice into the wild world of hookups and partying. Along with a cast of fellow love-seekers in a hook-up world, Alice learns to embrace the freedom of single life. This film is hilarious. There are so many great moments, both funny and those verging on serious. While it mainly centers on the life of Alice, viewers also get a look into the lives of Alice’s sister Meg, Robin, and the hopelessly romantic Lucy; four women learning how to be single in bustling New York city. The title really says it all. For a romantic comedy, I thought How to Be Single was actually pretty honest and relatable. As far as unrealistic love stories go, there was a lot of truth to this film about what it’s like to be single in a society obsessed with searching for your soul mate. How to Be Single provides a glimpse into the reality of singlehood, while still making you laugh.

Although it's been almost two decades since apartheid ended, South Africans still feel the pangs of racial tension, and a poster depicting an interracial couple proves just how deep the issue goes. The political ad created by the student wing of the Democratic Alliance party, shows a white man and a black woman embracing with the tagline "In OUR future, you wouldn't look twice." While the students might be right about the future, in the present the poster has incited a heated debate among the local media and politicians, the Washington Post reports. While some have supported the ad for its progressive message of tolerance, others were outraged. For example, one commenter left a positive message under a photo of the poster on the group's Facebook page: Love the DA! This campaign image is exactly what South Africa needs, now all the irrelevant racist "boers" can F off to their tiny irrelevant parties and the rest of us can stand together as one post-apartheid nation where race, religion or sexual preference doesn't mean anything, we're all human! Go DA! You have my vote. :-) Other users, however, had much harsher things to say, condemning the poster for immorality and calling it an "abomination." According to the Washington Post, one commenter posted a photo of an all-white, blonde family, saying "Now that's how it should be!" Still others were angry for the ad's depiction of white male dominance over black women, The Globe and Mail reports. "The poster says, 'Join the DA to have an affair with a white person,'" provincial secretary of the Congress of South African Trade Unions, Zet Luzipo, told the South African news service. "It entrenches the white supremacy that we fought against during the liberation struggle. We will not be excited with having an affair with a white person; we will not be enticed by that." Despite the mixed reactions, the DA said they have accomplished their goal. "With all the comments, good and bad," said the DA youth wing's federal chairperson, Mbali Ntuli. "We have achieved our goal of engaging South Africans in a frank debate about one of the most defining issues in our country today--tolerance." Check out the full ad below. SUBSCRIBE AND FOLLOW Get top stories and blog posts emailed to me each day. Newsletters may offer personalized content or advertisements.Learn more

If summer vacations are meant to realize in part one`s dreams, the June issue of California offers some ultimate, and bizarre, reveries. The Los Angeles-based monthly asks some favorite Californians to pick a place to take a special visitor. Where do you go? Whom do you meet? Julia Child craves to take French singer-actor Yves Montand around her beloved Santa Barbara. She`d have a drink on the terrace of a local hotel, then stop by the marina, drive over the Santa Ynez mountains and end with a trek to a winery and a fine restaurant. ``It`s so nice to have the ocean at your front door.`` Comic Billy Crystal would, with the help of his friend Fernando, take Dodger manager Tommy Lasorda to the most romantic spots of old Hollywood, starting at the Beverly Hills Hotel, then going to a Johnny Carson taping, Mann`s Chinese Theater to put Tommy`s spike prints in cement right next to Sinatra`s footprint and finally to Sammy Davis` house so Crystal could scream into the intercom, ``It`s Frank, let me in, damn it!`` Newscaster Christine Craft, who had no luck with the U.S. Supreme Court in her sex discrimination case, would take Justice Sandra Day O`Connor surfing in Santa Barbara, have an off-the-record discussion on coastal oil drilling, camp overnight and drive to Sacramento for a power lunch at the Sutter Club, a male-only bastion. Wine baron Robert Mondavi would take French counterpart Baron Philippe de Rothschild for a nice Napa Valley lunch at Mustards Grill (the baron sleeps late, so no breakfast), ride around the valley in a hot air balloon, take a nap, retire to Mondavi`s home for a dip in the pool, watch the stars, drink champagne and then retire for the night. Then, there`s Joan Rivers. She`d take New York`s loudmouth Mayor Edward Koch to a charity event she and Ken Kragen are sponsoring for Imelda Marcos, called ``Shoes Across America.`` Since Koch is a bachelor, she`d find him a ``virgin who`s not interested in marrying a man for his body or his money.`` But that being the mandate, she wonders ``if he`s ever been to Kansas?`` ($3.50, 11601 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles, Ca., 90025) -- National Geographic (June)--Peter Jaret and fabled Swedish photographer Lennart Nilsson combine for a fine, visually enthralling look at ``The Wars Within,`` or how our bodies guard against disease via awesomely complex immune systems. To get a sense of the enormity of it all, be apprised that the virus that causes AIDS is so small that about 230 million could fit within the period at the end of this sentence. Besides the detailing of cell wars that rage inside us, focusing in large part on the fight against AIDS, stunning color photos, magnified as many as 18,000 times, show the likes of malaria protozoa multiplying, bursting and releasing parasites, which infect other cells. -- Washington Monthly (May)--What a Newsweek cover just tagged ``the new greed`` is explored in a profile of Steven Rattner, 33, a once fast-rising New York Times reporter who split for investment banking, where he`s said to earn $1 million a year putting together big media deals, including Tribune Company`s $510 million purchase of a Los Angeles TV station. Was he an idealistic muckraker out to help the world? Not quite. Is he now an amoral creep? Not entirely, either, though writer Philip Weiss finds troubling Rattner`s recognition ``that no profession is inherently moral`` at the same time ``he also seems to have given up on the idea that individuals should strive to be useful to society.`` ($3, 1711 Connecticut Ave., N.W., Washington, D.C., 20009) -- New Woman (June)--The potentially amorous side of throwing a woman out a four-story building is revealed via winners in its ``meeting that changed my life`` contest. One lucky Lynn, Mass., couple met when he, a fireman, saved her life during an encounter in her burning apartment. For those females unable or unwilling to find male affection under any circumstances, there`s an essay on the ``surprising source of joy`` offered by celibacy. -- Art & Auction (May)--Art theft is rising worldwide, with few culprits ever caught, and current trends in bigtime skulduggery are outlined. Theft for hire by wealthy collectors is less prevalent than one might assume, with the most common thief said to be ``the smart thief who steals lesser known works of art and has a fence buy the loot.`` Elsewhere, Victoria Lautman crafts a nice overview of the history and present state of collecting in Chicago, profiling top artists and collectors, and lauding developments like the 1979 start of the annual International Art Exposition as instilling a greater degree of confidence in the city`s standing. ( $4, 250 W. 57th St., New York, N.Y., 10019)

Believe it or not, some men think they don’t need to deal with their occasional episodes of premature ejaculation. They tell themselves that suffering from the condition every so often is just the new normal and that if there was a problem, their girlfriend would let them know. They believe that as long as their girlfriends aren’t saying anything, they don’t even realise there’s a problem. They couldn’t be more wrong. Women know what’s up when it comes to their man’s sexual performance. No matter how much you try and hide the problem or disguise the issue, if things aren’t working the way they should, she knows. So if she knows, then why doesn’t she say anything? Maybe she is – but you’re not picking up on her cues. She’s Pissed Off … All the Time Sure there are lots of jokes about women being angry all the time, but there’s a big difference joking around and actually having someone snapping at you all the time. If your girl seems extra irritated, ask yourself why. Sometimes it’s easy to come up with a possible reason but if you’re stumped, it’s time to be on the lookout for any more of these common red flags. She Doesn’t Initiate Sex When a woman isn’t getting what she wants from sex, she’s obviously going to be less likely initiating it. When you are dealing with premature ejaculation, she’s probably never getting satisfied. So why would she initiate sex? Even if your girl was never big on taking the first step before, she likely sent you certain signals during the course of the day or evening. Maybe she would be more likely to send you a dirty text during the day, pick up a bottle of wine to share over dinner or wear THAT shirt. Whatever the cues were, if they’ve dropped off or disappeared completely, it’s a red flag. When It’s Done, She’s Done Not every woman goes for long cuddled up conversations after sex, but most of them don’t run right for the bathroom or turn over and start reading their kindle. When sex ends, it shouldn’t be the end of interaction completely. Unless she’s once again having to go to bed sexually frustrated, disappointed and even a little bit worried. After all it’s natural for women to wonder if the problem is with them and that kind of doubt would gnaw at the back of anyone’s mind. Sex Isn’t On Her Radar We’ve all been there. You’re watching something on TV and an erotic scene or something sexy comes on and the energy changes in the room. You both feel it, even if you don’t fully act on it. Maybe you exchange a look and a grin, a short kiss or something more depending on the day. But if that energy change doesn’t come when you know it should or you feel a tension that just isn’t right, that means sex is making her put up her defences or that it just isn’t even something she’s thinking about these days. Either way, it signals a pretty significant problem. Things Are Just Off At the end of the day, men aren’t the only ones who deal with premature ejaculation when the condition strikes. Their girlfriends knows what’s up – but they usually don’t feel as though they can talk about it. This makes them feel isolated and alone. Add to that the fact that it’s just human nature to wonder if you’re contributing to the problem and it’s the perfect storm for plenty of stress and anxiety. That will make her pull away and be less outgoing, less honest, less interested. Sometimes it isn’t something you can describe, but more like a feeling and you know – you just KNOW – something isn’t right. The good news here is that all of these problems are 100% absolutely fixable. All you have to do is open your mouth and TALK TO HER.Is talking about premature ejaculation embarrassing? You bet! But once you get past that initial awkward phase, you’ll find that you have a happy, supportive and eager ally when it comes to finding new ways to treat the condition and improve your sex life in the meantime. So what’s holding you back?

A Widow’s Tale Podcast: Donna Marie’s Story On September 21, 2015 March 30, 2017 2 Comments Every widow has a story. Hear Donna Marie’s surprising widow’s tale. Listen here: Share this:Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)Click to share on Google+ (Opens in new window) Related 2 Comments for “A Widow’s Tale Podcast: Donna Marie’s Story” Judy Helfer says: I’ve attended a widow’s retreat with Donna Marie. It was so touching and meaningfull to me. I look forward to being in another event with her at my church in Nashville. This woman has a gift that is worth sharing and must be. Judy in Nashville Reply Linda Goodman says: Your voice, both speaking and singing, is hypnotic and enchanting. Thank God, as that makes your story all the more accessible. It is a hard story to listen to, and yet it is one we must hear. Thank you for sharing this. I am not a widow, but I have lost loved ones. You have captured the horror, the grief, and the overwhelming love perfectly. Reply Leave a Reply Cancel reply Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked * Comment Name * Email * Website Notify me of follow-up comments by email. Notify me of new posts by email.

Cathrine ran as fast as she ever thought she could. She had never realized it, but she had begun to hate Tian. In the early days, she loved him and longed for his embrace, but whatever embrace she had gotten from him had always been colder than a dead fish. Now after the three years of mystery, she was sick of it. She decided that when she got there she was going to take him up on his offer ... never see him again, ever. Cathrine slowed to a walk at human speed when she figured she was getting close, but as she looked around at her surroundings, she had no idea where she was. Then she sensed it the whisper of the dart as it flew through the air propelled. Nevertheless, it was too late, by the time she had summoned enough energy into herself the only thing she could do was feel the Dart slowly pierce through the skin layer by layer. The prick it should have been a second lasted what felt like an eternity. The tranquilizer on the dart worked even faster in her now that she was tranced. She crumbled to the pavement in a heap. Sheryl walked out of the shadows, followed by four men in combat gear, and Adam, who looked exactly like a child does when he gets what he wanted. "Grab her, oh and don't be gentle.” He snickered as he walked to his car. Tristan had been a young man of simple tastes. He liked to drink beer, watch Nascar and work on his engine. He went to church every Sunday his entire life. It was here that things started to change for him. It seemed so natural looking back at it now. One Sunday the topic of the sermon was slightly different then it had been before. Slightly more animated. The topic was the second coming of Christ and with it Armageddon. The priest would talk about the state of the world. He said it was in what he called disrepair. The congregation would nod their heads in agreement; being spoon fed exactly what they wanted to hear. The next week the service would take a more heated tone and get that little bit louder. The audience would agree even more whole-heartedly. This continued for weeks, until what had been a quiet worship was now a zealous rant about the state of the world, and the worshipers were enthralled. With the added excitement, the congregation grew. The people loved the screaming sweating priest as he called out the iniquities of the modern world. This had not been a completely smooth transition from small service to huge sermon. There was what the priest had called premature crusaders, which had taken the fight to the wicked before being called upon by the return of the son of god. “The time isn’t right, we must consolidate our forces. We must prepare for our liberation from the oppressors of the cancerous infectious society full of evil doers and naysayers. However the Christ shall return and his loyal and faithful will be Chosen and rewarded with unlimited power to dethrone the wicked and tainted in his name.” The sermon ended with a cheer. That day after the sermon and Tristan was saying his goodbyes to everyone The priest pulled him aside. “You are a man of strong faith in the lord aren’t you?” “Yes of course, he is my lord, my god, my personal savior and my best friend.” Tristan replied. “Good my son, I’ve got a study group we meet on Wednesdays and I’d love for you to join us. You interested?” “Sure that sounds like fun, where? Let me know I’ll be there in a heartbeat. The address was written on plain cardstock. It was handed over with a firm handshake and an excited grin. Wednesday could not come fast enough for Tristan. There was something he felt about it that excited him. He read the bible a little longer every night just so that he would be ready for the meeting. No matter what he would have done he wouldn’t have been prepared for what those meetings did to him. There was probably about twenty people in the room when Tristan arrived. He was cutting it close to the start time. He recognized a couple people from his own congregation but there majority of faces he didn’t know. No one was saying anything. There was a feeling in the room a quiet tension that Tristan felt if he talked, he would ruin, and everyone felt that any noise would destroy the quiet peace that everyone was feeling. It just made Tristan feel as if he were intruding, he felt out of place, strangely uncomfortable. He turned to leave and was blocked by a man that came in behind him. Tristan was sure he had never seen the mad before. He would have remembered. The man standing in from of him was the most impressive man he had ever seen. The man was perfect, he had the perfect physique with nothing extra. He was muscled but had the look that those muscles would be used, and regularly were. His face was symmetrical, no visible flaws what so ever. The man was perfect, no excess, just the right amount of everything. “Hi there you must be Tristan, I’ve looked forward to meeting you for a long, long time.” Tristan still feeling a little out of place and not wanting to offend replied, with a simple, “thank you.” “My apologies, have a seat Tristan and we will get started.” Tristan sat and what happened next will be engrained into his mind for the rest of his life. It was the beginning of the new Life he was going to live. “Hello everyone and thank you for coming. Anyone want to lead us in an opening prayer?” A young woman volunteered and gave a different prayer then Tristan was used to hearing, but would become common in the weeks to come. “Our father, Lord my god, I ask you to watch over us as we study and learn to be your chosen; Your children that will stand by your son’s side on that day of days. Amen.” As the young lady finished she adjusted her shirt ever so slightly looked at the man, smiled, and then licked her lips just the tiniest bit. “Thank you, child, that was a good prayer, but you must purge the lust from your heart before that request could possibly become the truth.” The young ladies face went white, and she instantly turned her eyes to the floor and murmered some sort of apology. “Do not worry my child, the temptations for the flesh are the hardest to resist. The devil will fight for you the hardest now.” The man then turned to the rest of the group. “Shall we have some introductions we have alot of new people here. My name is Jay, and I’m leading this little study group. Let’s start the other introductions with you.”, as he pointed to the young woman that was still staring at the floor. “My name is Abby, I’m here to purify myself and be made ready and worthy to be one of the Chosen.” Next to her was a very young man of about the age of fourteen. “ I’m AJ, i’m here to prepare myself for when I’m older so that I may also be one of the chosen.” The Man laughed a little “Oh AJ, there is no minimum age to be a spiritual warrior for your god.” The young man’s face brightened immediately. The introductions continued around the room everyone wanting to be a part of these chosen. Tristan had heard the term used in the Sunday sermons but had always thought that the word was synonym for the faithful. He had been thinking about the past Sunday’s sermon and was not paying attention when all of a sudden it was his turn. “Hi, i’m Tristan and i’m here to become a more spiritual person, and to have my faith grow.” “You don’t want to be one of the chosen, to stand by His side when he comes?” asked Abby. Before Tristan could respond Jay said “On the contrary Abby, I think his lack of greed and pride is exactly what most people lack on the quest to be one of the chosen.” Tristan could feel his face turning bright red at the attention. “Modesty is a virtue Tristan. I think you are far more spiritual then you may think.” The introductions continued around the room every response was very similar to Tristan’s, no aspirations other then to become a better Christian. The rest of the study group went as expected. Most of the meeting was focused on studying the book of revelation, and the second coming of Christ. A lot of debate as to the signs of the arrival, whether they were literal or metaphorical. Some time was spent on discussing whether the words in the bible were the literal words of god or man’s interpretations. Someone even brought up the possibilities of mistranslations and lost meanings when crossing languages. Tristan ended up leaving the meeting with his head spinning, and looked forward to the next week’s group discussion. He vowed to spend a lot of time studying. That Sunday at church the sermon was about accuracy in the bible, it was odd the switch over from the bible being exact and literal like the church used to say. The priest was saying that in the modern world the bible has to be taken as a metaphor because there was no way that when it was written the men would be able to comprehend the modern world. Prophecy in the past would have been really confusing, even if they did see the way the world would turn out they wouldn’t have had words to show it. The sermon closed with the priest saying that maybe it is a mystery on purpose, god is said to work in mysterious ways after all. The next couple study groups were different then the first. It seemed a little stange for Tristan but who was he to make a judgement, he was just there to learn. The meetings were spent doing meditation, and praying. Jay was teaching them that in order to have their prayers answered they had to be open to god. He was teaching them to open their minds to the universe, to feel the energy around them. Only when they could fully embrace the world around them could they ever hope to be in true connection with god. Most importantly he pointed out that in order to be one of the Chosen, one would have to be a conduit for the power of the lord. Tristan felt amazing after leaving each meeting; he could feel himself looking at the world differently. Every Sunday seemed to have the same focus. It seemed a little odd to Tristan that there was so much attention being put on the second coming and punishing the wicked. Again who was he to judge right; he would just trust in his faith. The cycle of debate, study, and preparing to be used as a tool of the lord continued for a while. Tristan looked forward to every meeting, even if he didn’t learn anything at all he just wanted to feel that same serenity that he felt every week, he loved the feeling of peace that came over him. That serenity was gone all of a sudden at one of the weekly Wednesday night meetings. When Tristan arrived, Jay wasn’t there. The meeting went poorly, Tempers were hot and flared heavy during the debate. Abby and a couple others were adamant that the faithful should do anything to purge the world of the wicked before Christ arrived at the second coming. “The wicked should not be allowed to continue to thrive while the righteous stand idly by. The faithful should unite and punish the wicked.” Tristan was appalled and couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “Christians don’t do that. We are taught to turn the other cheek. The meek shall inherit the earth.” “Christians are supposed to turn the other cheek yes, not a blind eye. Modern apathy has allowed too many indiscretions of evil people to go unpunished.” “That may be Abby, but we are supposed to love our fellow man, no matter what.” This brought Abby to her feet, pacing back and forth. The room was completely silent, filled with just the heavy breathing and footfalls of Abby’s pacing. Tristan was following this steady beat when the calm peace and serenity that had been missing filled the air and everyone sighed at the same time, even Abby sat back down. “The emotions of mankind are the exact reason why they must wait for the leadership of the son of god” said Jay from the door where he was leaning on the jam. “However Abby is correct about one thing, the wicked do need to be punished. The kingdom of God will be carved out of this world. However that is only when the time is right. Go home everyone see you next week. I will be on time.” That Sundays sermon seemed demure by comparison to the past Sundays the priest called patience and steadfastness in faith. “Time of the Lord is nigh” was the last whisper of the day said to a spellbound and silent congregation. The next Wednesday’s meeting was the last meeting Tristan ever went to, it changed his life. Up until that week Tristan was still the average guy, sure he had stopped drinking, he didn’t have his weekly cigar after the nascar race. He was still just a guy that liked cars, he still had a regular job that he hated. That all changed at the study group. The meeting room had been cleared of all the chairs and Jay was just sitting with his back to the wall opposite the entrance as everyone came in. The normal serenity that Tristan normally felt in the presence of Jay was there, but it was different. It felt almost lethal. It had a definite tension to it. Everyone else could feel it too cause everyone went silent as they entered the room. They would walk slowly to a space in the floor and just sit. They all sat in complete silence afraid to breathe until Jay broke the silence. “It starts today.” Jay said as he rose to stand on his feet. The door to the room slammed shut giving the statement its exclamation point. “I Am That I Am” The sound of Jay’s voice reverberated through Tristan’s body, “and I am NOT pleased. I have come to exact my father’s vengeance upon the wicked and you my children are my chosen this is the beginning of the end. I take your allegiance and because of it, I grant you the use of my everlasting and eternal power. I will teach you to use my power, as it has never been felt on this earth. It starts now.” Jay rose off the ground and light shone from him that burned the eyes to look at, Tristan tried to look away but it was already too late. He was blind.

Contributors to the new trend of Student Confessions pages, which have taken universities across the nation by storm, have been warned of the dangers to future job prospects. Some of the pages have been shut down by universities disgusted at the content, while students in Wales are being told they could be slapped with a disciplinary offence if they continue. At Swansea University, both student union and university condemned the Students Confessions craze, student paper The Waterfront reported. One post on the Swansea Uni Confessions page said: "In first year my flat mate invited round a girl to our flat for some sexual relations, after he told us about this meeting me and a couple of the other flat mates decided hiding in the room was a good idea. "We had a code word of 'mumbles' which when mentioned we were going to jump out. "With one in the cupboard, one under the desk and one on the window sill it was a very uncomfortable experience but when mumbles was shouted twice half way through a blow job we were too scared to jump out... after my mate finished up having sex with her i text him from the cupboard telling him to remove the girl." Registar Raymond Ciborowski released a joint statement along with SU president Tom Upton which read: "University regulations clearly state that it is a disciplinary offence to engage in behaviour which could bring the university into disrepute – this includes social media activity. "Students are sharing personal information (including explicit content) with an anonymous page administrator, who has no accountability. There is no evidence that the page administrator is even a fellow student. As a result, participants’ personal details could potentially be made publicly available – for viewing by fellow students, staff, public, press, potential employers, etc. "Companies are increasingly searching for information on job applicants and the organisations they are connected to – already 30% of UK HR Directors use social media to recruit candidates, and 22% check candidates’ online activity. "The Internet and social media are governed by laws relating to defamation and public order, and as a result, there is no such thing as absolute freedom of speech." Upton and Ciborowski added they had received complaints from current and former students about the potential damage the Students Confessions page could do to their employability, as a result of damage to the university’s reputation. Another post on the confessions page, by one man visiting a friend who is a student at Swansea, said: "...this one girl. She was at best a 2/10, and that's with beer goggles on.. when this fine example of a woman offered [my friend] a "quickie" he accepted with no hesitation. When we realised he was missing we went looking for him, but the girls room was locked... one of the lads suggested we try the window, and luckily it was open. I was the first man "over the trench", I turned the light on to find he was still inside her, both of them fully clothed, with her riding him in the pitch black. We filmed it and to this day the video is legend." The author then continues to say his friends "raped me with a pear (seriously)" and boasts about being banned from Swansea University property after defecating out of a third floor window onto another student's flat. Although the stories are supposed to be anonymous, one Greg Phillips claims to be the author of the post, uploading a picture of "the pear that did all the damage" and adding: "How can people still be liking the bulls**t comments? I provided photographic evidence." A comment underneath the post condemned the story, saying: "That's just sick. And shame on you for filming people having sex. That's seriously just a sick and worrying story." NUS Wales women’s officer Rhiannon Hedge also expressed her outrage at the confessions pages: “There is a dangerous underbelly to the campus ‘lad culture’ of rape jokes and banter. All it does is contribute to a student community where victims of sexual violence almost never report what happens to them. Who wants to be the butt of a joke?”

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Boundtree online dating Under the plan, she was not allowed to be alone with him.Although the plan is no longer in place, there is still a social worker assigned to her son's case, which will likely remain open for several months, she said."They took the wrong precautions with the situation, and that's why my son got hurt," the mother said of the police and hospital staff. " Perhaps plainclothes officers, instead of those in uniform, should have been sent in to assess the situation, Couper said.Perhaps officers should have taken a wait-and-see approach, following Hendricks to the parking lot instead of attempting to arrest him inside the hospital.As police questioned Hendricks, he grew increasingly nervous, according to a criminal complaint charging Hendricks with multiple felonies, including physical abuse of a child, due to the baby's head injury.Hendricks, who was holding the baby, repeatedly asked Milwaukee Police Officer Alexis Acosta to take the child, the complaint says. They also told her the state would take custody of her son unless she said she knew Hendricks had a gun, she said.Police initially went to the hospital because they got a call from a woman worried that the baby's father, a wanted felon who was possibly armed, might harm the mother or the baby, according to a law enforcement source and dispatch records obtained by the Journal Sentinel.They didn't anticipate a violent confrontation. During the phone call, which came from a home on the northwest side, the tipster told police she was concerned because Hendricks had a history of mistreating the mother and baby, according to a law enforcement source.21 stated that while officers were subduing Hendricks, a nurse found the infant lying face up on the floor, about three to four feet from the futon where Hendricks had been holding him.A scan showed the infant had suffered a skull fracture consistent with a short fall, according to the complaint. It was totally wrong." She's not the only one who has questioned the police response.

Angels are purely spiritual creatures with intelligence and will. According to the Bible, angels have appeared to people on Earth during both Old Testament and New Testament times. In this article, Pope Francis tells us to listen to our guardian angels. Link to the Catechism’s description of angels. St. Michael the Archangel (in Rome) In 591 A.D., Saint Michael the Archangel was seen by Pope Gregory and by hundreds of pilgrims in procession in Rome. As a plague ravaged Rome, Pope Gregory I (Gregory the Great) led the people in prayer and penance to convince God to lift the suffering. Finally, the pope led a procession to atone for sins and beg for forgiveness. The pope carried a painting of the Virgin Mary believed to be the work of Saint Luke. That’s when the pope and many followers saw an apparition of the Archangel holding a sword. The pope correctly surmised that the angel's appearance signified the end of the plague. The archangel stood atop the tomb of Emperor Hadrian. The pope added a chapel to the tomb and renamed the building "Castel Sant’Angelo" after the angel. A statue of the archangel stands atop the fortress. The castle sits on the banks of the Tiber River and was once the tallest building in Rome. Many tourists walk across this bridge on their way to St. Peter's Square. Catholic Encyclopedia: “As the plague still continued unabated, Gregory called upon the people to join in a vast seven-fold procession which was to start from each of the seven regions of the city and meet at the Basilica of the Blessed Virgin, all praying the while for pardon and the withdrawal of the pestilence … the memory of the event is still preserved by the name ‘Sant' Angelo’ given to the mausoleum of Hadrian from the legend that the Archangel St. Michael was seen upon its summit in the act of sheathing his sword as a sign that the plague was over” (Catholic Encyclopedia). Brittanica Encyclopedia: “According to tradition, Gregory led a penitential procession to Santa Maria Maggiore during that plague; a vision of the archangel Michael atop Hadrian’s Tomb (now the Castel Sant’Angelo) convinced him that Rome would be spared. Today a statue on the Castel Sant’Angelo depicts Michael replacing his sword in its scabbard” (Brittanica Encyclopedia). Abbot Orsini: “The Abbot Orsini wrote: “On this day, in the year 591, St. Gergory the Great, having had the picture of Our Lady, which was painted by St. Luke, carried in procession, the plague ceased at Rome” (Source: Plague in Rome) Mark Weil: “Pope Gregory organized a procession in which the people of Rome marched from S. Maria Maggiore to St. Peter’s, carrying the image of the Madonna thought to have been painted by St. Luke and singing hymns imploring the Madonna to intercede with Christ to end the plague. On approaching the Pons Aelius, Pope Gregory and his followers witness an apparition of the Archangel Michael standing atop the mausoleum and sheathing his bloody sword as a signal that the plague had ended” (Source: The History and Decoration of Pont S Angelo, Mark Weil, 1974, The Pennsylvania State University Press) Plague in Rome The History and Decoration of the Ponte S. Angelo Painting of the Archangel’s Apparition Painting: The Miracle of Sant’Angelo (Philadelphia Art Museum) St. Michael: Guardian of the Church St. Michael the Archangel Photo 1 Photo 2 Photo 3 Vision of Pope Leo St. Michael the Archangel seen on 9/11. . . Saint Michael and other winged angels were seen in 2001 by Lillie Leonardi, of the Federal Bureau of Investigations, at the Flight 93 crash site in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. In her book, In the Shadow of a Badge, Leonardo states that in an open area to the left of the crash site, there were hundreds of angels that formed in the mist, taking full shape and lining up “row after row after row.” Radiant light surrounded each angel, and each had a different face. “They were Archangels with their wings arched up toward the sky. Each of them appeared to be dressed in warrior garments. They were dressed like a legion of Roman Centurions from times past.” According to Leonardo, the angels “clearly had a leader. He stood majestically in front of them all.” (p. 38-39). The angelic leader was Saint Michael. Book: In the Shadow of a Badge Lillie Leonardi At a later time, Leonardi had a dream of the crash site. In one scene, she observed red colorations began to violently swirl until forming a shape. The shape was the evil face of a demon who “twisted in great fury and gave a mighty roar.” She called on St. Michael and saw a vision of Jesus rising from his tomb and moving towards the demon. Find out on p. 154 and 155 what a voice told her when she was fully awake. J.R.R. Tolkien – A vision of his guardian angel was given to the author of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings as Tolkien was praying before the Blessed Sacrament (which is Jesus himself) and this angel was not interposed between himself and God but rather “God’s very attention itself.” Tolkein wrote, “I perceived or thought of the Light of God and in it suspended one small mote (or millions of motes to only one of which was my small mind directed), glittering white because of the individual ray from the Light which both held and lit it...And the ray was the Guardian Angel of the mote: not a thing interposed between God and the creature, but God's very attention itself, personalized...This is a finite parallel to the Infinite. As the love of the Father and Son (who are infinite and equal) is a Person, so the love and attention of the Light to the Mote is a person (that is both with us and in Heaven): finite but divine, i.e. angelic” (Tolkien, The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien). Tolkien loved the Eucharist and went to Mass not only Sundays but as many weekdays as he could. On the question of why he believed the Catholic Church was the True Church, Tolkien said he was convinced by the Church’s papal succession going back to Saint Peter and that, if one believes Christianity is true, then “does there seem much doubt which … is the True Church.” (See these quotes by Tolkien on One True Church, the Eucharist and the Blessed Mother) J.R.R. Tolkien: Truth and Myth JRR Tolkien (EWTN) Articles on Tolkien Angel guiding car. A man driving in his car recalls an incident from 25 years ago. An inner voice kept telling him to look up while he was driving. “ . . . so I did and above the car was an Angel just plain as ever. Every time I looked up the Angel was still there for about two minutes and then disappeared.” The man told his best friend about the incident the same evening but then never mentioned the story ever again until he shared it on the forums of Catholic Answers on Christmas Eve of 2010 after he noticed someone had asked if anyone had ever seen their guardian angel. (Source: scroll to forums member fegbdf) Story about his grandpa: When his grandfather was a child, he ran out in front of a milk truck while playing ball and should have been hit, but he saw a “tall, shining person” grab him and throw him backwards. His siblings did not see the angel but saw him “spring backward as if he hit a rubber wall.” (Source: scroll to forums member jfallaw) Guardian Angel on Motorcycle: This student was almost late for an exam at school due to becoming lost in prayer at Eucharistic Adoration. But a man on a motorcycle gave him a ride and said, “I always see you adoring Him. I’m always beside you.” This was odd since the student had never seen him at church. The motorcyclist dropped off the student, and then vanished into thin air after driving a few meters away. (Source: Scroll to “FraLeones.”) Gracie sees angels: This woman has a little daughter named Gracie who sees angels. “Once at morning Mass, she said, ‘Momma, did you see that?’ She told me that when the priest extended his arms in prayer, he bumped an angel. I let her tell Father after Mass. He asked her if the angel was alright and she looked sad and said, ‘So you don’t see them either? Neither does Momma.'" When she was five, Gracie learned from angels that “every time Father breaks the bread at Mass, Jesus splashes out on the people . . .” Once Gracie told her mother to call a friend because “she has wet eyes.” The friend’s husband had died unexpectedly. (Source - Scroll to Suslar) Angel escorts four-year-old girl to heaven: This woman reports two stories: 1) Her husband’s cousin had a four-year-old daughter who was seriously ill in the hospital with a system-wide bacterial infection. “Shortly before she died, she looked at her parents and said something like . . . ‘My new friend says you will both be OK. She says I have to go with her pretty soon, though.’” 2) Her husband’s grandmother was sitting by her father’s side when “it suddenly got VERY light inside the room. Her dad said, ‘Mary I am coming.’ He died right after that.” (Source - Scroll to Catholic90) Saint Camilla Battista da Varano (1458-1524). This rich Italian princess gave up wealth and joined a monastery of the Poor Clares. The princess had many visions, including visions of angels. In her autobiography, The Spiritual Life, she writes: “Two angels came to me, dressed in resplendent white garments which I have seen only worn by Jesus. They had wings of gold. One of them took my soul from the right side, the other from the left side, and they elevated it in the air, laying it down near the crucified feet of the Son of God made Man. This state lasted about two months almost continually; I seem to walk, to speak, and do what I wished, deprived however of my soul. It remained there where the two Angels had placed it but they never abandoned it.” “...They declare to me that they were so intimate with God that God is not ever separated from them. They also explained to me that the seraphim were likewise united to the cherubim in that none of them could ever go without the other to a soul.” Saint Gemma Galgani(1878-1903) often saw her guardian angel and spoke to him like a friend. To read about her many experiences with angels, see these links: gemma1 gemma2 gemma3 gemma4 gemma5 gemma6 St. Gemma Galgani and her Guardian Angel Her doctor told her she had miscarried After giving her the bad news that she had suffered a miscarriage, the doctor told her she needed a medical procedure. The woman did not feel right going through with the procedure. Just then, “I felt the presence of an angel with my son and I had instantly the knowledge that he was in a better place now.” She also understood she should undergo the procedure since nothing could hurt her baby now (Source: scroll to Rafaela). Book on angels: Angels (and Demons): What Do We Really Know About Them? by Peter Kreeft Angel sightings in the Bible 1) An angel appeared to Zecharias and told him that his elderly wife would conceive a son who would be called John. Zecharias did not believe and was punished by not being able to speak until Baby John the Baptist was born. 2) The Angel Gabriel appeared to the Virgin Mary and told her she would conceive a Son and that the Holy Spirit would come upon her. 3) The angel Gabriel appeared to Joseph in a dream, telling him it was okay to marry Mary. (The chaste and holy Joseph was going to back out because she was pregnant) 4) An angel appeared and pointed out a source of water to Hagar 5) Tobias met an angel who was in human form. The angel told him what to do with the big fish he caught. 6) An angel let St. Peter out of jail. During the Korean War, an American soldier named Michael faced sure death as he marched towards the waiting enemy. Fortunately, the solider had been praying the St. Michael prayer each day. An unknown soldier who claimed his name was Michael (and who turned out to be the archangel Michael) began marching beside the human Michael. The angel pulled out a sword that "shined with a million lights." Although the angel was sprayed by bullets, he did not flinch. The angel set the soldier down gently on the ground. There's much more to the story so read it here. The incredible story was publicly told by a military priest who spoke to both Michael and his mother, and interviewed his military sergeant in charge of the patrol to confirm the details. The priest was Navy Captain Fr. Walter Muldy who revealed the story in the form of a letter from Michael to his mother. He read the letter in 1955 to an audience of 5,000 Marines in San Diego at the Marine Corps recruit depot at which time it was recorded by radio personality Ed Harding. The recording of Fr. Muldy was also aired on several radio stations. One radio show, which aired in 1964, can be heard here. The text of the letter can be read here or here. The story is also mentioned in the book Weapons Training for Spiritual Warfare and Frontline Ministry. The prayer that the soldier prayed each morning was: “Michael, Michael, of the morning,Fresh chord of Heaven adorning, keep me safe today, and in time of temptation, drive the devil away.”

|About Heather Marie Fleck| |Birth||September 30, 1980| |Spouse||PJ Fleck 2016-Present| |Children||Gavin, Carter, Paisley, Harper| |Parents||Amy Malena, Greg Muck| P.J. Fleck has breathed new life into the University of Minnesota’s Golden Gophers football team since he was appointed coach in 2017. And his wife has supported him as his career soars. P.J. Fleck is married to Heather Fleck, who is just as big a presence on the field as the coach is. She Was Previously Married Before marrying former football player Philip John Fleck, she was Heather Marie Jackson. Details about Heather are mostly obscure. Born on September 30, 1980 to Amy Malena and Greg Muck, she’s 38 years old. She was previously married and has a son named Gavin Jackson (born December 11, 2007) from the marriage. Details about her relationship before Fleck are not known. P.J. Fleck was also previously married to Tracie Striebel, whom he wed in 2004. They welcomed four children during their marriage: Carter, Colt, Paisley, and Harper. Colt was born with a heart condition and died a few days after his birth. Fleck and Striebel divorced in 2015. While details of their split are under wraps, there are rumors that Striebel left Fleck over allegations that he’d had an affair. They are, however, unfounded. Striebel has apparently moved on, with her Facebook pictures showing a new man in her life. She’s a mental health counselor and works at the Center for Women in Transition in Missouri. They Were Set up by a Friend Heather apparently worked at a Harold Zeigler car dealership in Kalamazoo, Michigan. She met then-Western Michigan University football coach P.J. Fleck in the city located in southwest Michigan. A mutual friend set them up, and they hit it off right away. “It was one of those deals where we went to dinner and it was a love at first sight. I recruited him a bit. He’s my best recruit!” Heather shared about their first date. They’ve been together at least since 2013, while he was in the process of divorcing ex-wife Striebel. Heather has been sharing Fleck’s catchphrase, “Row The Boat,” in her Facebook posts as early as 2013 as well. They Married in Maui They were engaged in 2015, and tied the knot on February 11, 2016, in the exact same spot he proposed in Maui. Heather shared pictures of their beach wedding in Maui. Their respective children adore each other and their stepparents. Heather has often demonstrated how P.J. is a father figure to Gavin and how much she adores P.J.’s children, especially his youngest child, Harper. Fleck’s children spend time with Striebel, and Gavin also visits his father in Kalamazoo. Heather often travels between Michigan, Missouri, and Minnesota with the kids. She’s also good friends with Striebel, while P.J. and her ex-husband became friends, too. She Defended Fleck against a Reporter’s Comments Heather no longer works at the car dealership and moved with Fleck when he took over the coaching position at the University of Minnesota. The family settled in a 6,000 sq.ft. home in Edina. It’s unclear what her current job status is, though she was featured in a Cadillac commercial in 2017. She’s fiercely supportive of him as well as the Gophers team. In his docuseries, Being P.J. Fleck, he says that his coaching record has improved since Heather came into his life. Sure enough, not only did he have a stellar record at WMU, but the Gophers are making big strides in the Big 10 under his leadership. And Heather won’t allow any critic to dampen the hard work of her husband and his team. When Minnesota-based sports reporter Patrick Reusse took a jab at the Gophers and their new coach, Heather jumped to their defense. — Reusse (@Patrick_Reusse) April 19, 2018 Reusse is infamous for his negative remarks, but Heather slammed him for being “negative” and “awful” in a tweet. The columnist responded with a single word, “Balance.” With a strong woman like Heather Fleck in his corner, coach P.J. Fleck is sure to see many more wins in his future.

Hi everyone – I’m back from a National Lampoons vacation with the family- if you’ve seen the movie then you know I definitely need a holiday! Only (half) kidding! It was a lovely couple of weeks but its time to get back to my blog cause I know your day just isn’t the same without it – right? *sounds of crickets* So today I’m revisiting an article I wrote a little while back which kind of sums up my obsession interest in all things celebrity. Hope you enjoy… I knew something wasn’t right with Kris and Danni months ago. They just weren’t themselves. Whenever we’d have coffee there was this awkward silence between them. (By having coffee I mean at the same café, and yes usually at different tables). And when they did communicate (by Twitter) it wasn’t with loving words like they used to. Sad to say, but I saw it coming. (Kris and Danni update: apparently he has now moved on and is dating some barmaid which he was seen with publicly over the weekend. Whatever! She’s no Danni that’s for sure!) Danni and I go way back – I’ve been friendly with her, well known her, okay stalking her, since her YTT (Young Talent Time) days. So of course we’re tight. And this is where the problem lies. I quote and talk about celebrities like they’re my friends. It’s beginning to drive my non-celebrity friends crazy. As a good friend of mine Mehran Farhat said “The other day someone called me delusional, I nearly fell off my unicorn!” I ride my unicorn often. I’ve known Mehran for a few years now. We met through Tori. Or “T” as she likes to be called. He’s her gay husband and absolutely adores her kids Liam, Stella and Hattie. I always look forward to our catch-ups and love seeing all the new vintage stock she’s bought for her store in LA. I’m a bit worried about “T” though – she’s been looking a bit frazzled and tired with this pregnancy – baby number 4! (Tori update: baby Finn was born a few months ago….awww.) See this is what I do. “T” (Tori Spelling) and Mehran are weaved into my normal, daily conversations that you would swear I was talking about my BFF. Why am I concerned about these people? I’m not sure. But I do know that I invest so much of my time following them, through their good times and bad, that it would be rude to suddenly cut them off. Don’t you agree? Take Lourdes for example, or Lola as I like to affectionately call her. I remember the day she was born like it was yesterday. I’ve watched her grow into the most gorgeous and stylish young woman. She and her mum Madonna have started a clothing range aptly named Material Girl. I’ve practically grown up with her mother so to me she’s just part of my celebrity family. So special is she to me that Lola is one of my secret girl’s names and naturally I named my poodle Rocco (after Lola’s brother). Don’t get me wrong – just as I’m choosy with my real life friends – I’m also picky with which celebs I care about. Some I have a nostalgic attachment to. Madonna, I will always care about you. I remember taping your songs on cassettes from the radio, or staying up late to watch the premiere of your music videos. I was so young when Like a Virgin (1984) came out, that I was totally confused about what a virgin was and what that had to do with a lion in Venice. Dear George (Michael). You provided many backing tracks to my life. And I must admit, inspired my love for blonde tips and fluoro midriff t-shirts. Prince. You and I had a moment many years ago at the Metro. A crowded room, stolen glances, your burly bodyguard. Others like the Housewives of NY, NJ or BH are new friends. Being a housewife myself I thought we’d have a lot in common. You know, share tips on child rearing, exchange recipes and moan about all the washing. But…no…these housewives do no housework, have drivers, personal chefs and spend $25,000 on a pair of sunglasses. I do all the housework, use public transport, cook for family and buy fake Ray Bans from Bali. You can tell a lot about a person by who they follow on Twitter. Here’s just a little sample of my friends…Bethenny Frankel, Scott Baio, Alyssa Milano, Soleil Moon Frye (Punky Brewster), Dolce and Gabbana, Simon Le Bon, Dannii Minogue, Oprah Winfrey, George Michael, Barack Obama, Nicole Richie…and the list goes on. What does this say about me? That I’m a celebrity obsessed child of the 80’s, fashion loving woman that follows a couple of non-celebrities to not look like a total teenager. Oh, I also follow Kevin Rudd, but only since he started using his rap name – K Rudd.

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It’s Monday, March 12th! Do you know what that means? Tomorrow Froi of the Exiles (by Melina Marchetta) will be released here in North America! If you’ve stopped by the blog before you may have noticed that we absolutely love Melina Marchetta. We love her to itty bitty, how-is-one-person-so-awesome bits. And we wanted to do something super special for the release of Froi. And we thought we’d showcase all of her, awesome, amazing, wonderful books! And we’ll be giving away a copy of Froi! And the week will end with a super special interview with Melina where she answered all of our questions and was just a lovely, classy lady. We’re starting the week with our thoughts on Finnikin of the Rock! The first book in the Lumatere Chronicles. I think for a lot of us here at the blog, Finnikin of the Rock was the first book by Melina Marchetta that we ever read. And even if we like some of her other books better, it will always hold a very special place in our hearts. I can’t remember the exact point that I fell in love with Finnikin. What I remember most clearly about this book is turning that last page and wishing, more desperately than I ever had before, that I could forget the whole book and read it for the first time again. As much as I love rereading books, there’s nothing like that first time you meet a character or a setting or a writing style and just fall completely in love. In this case it was all three and it was all at once. Or slowly. I don’t remember. Finnikin himself is so caring and intelligent and is obviously such a scholar even though he works hard at being a warrior just so he can be like his father. I love how much he respects and loves the women in his life. I love how many mother figures he adopts. A lot of time in fiction you see young males who have been separated from their parents adopt a lot of father figures, and Finnikin does that as well, but he has such positive female role models as well. It’s no wonder he ends up falling in love with such a brash, clever, strong woman himself. One person who I gave this book to couldn’t finish it because, as she claims, she figured out the ending too easily and it wasn’t interesting to her. Now, almost everyone I talk to has figured out the ending rather easily. But…to me…it just doesn’t matter. The mysteries in the plot are minuscule in importance when compared with the relationships of the character. That’s what I care about. Finnikin and his father. Finnikin and Sir Topher. Finnikin and Evanjalin. Finnikin and Beatrice. Beatrice and Trevanion. Trevanion and Evanjalin. Their interactions and the slow forming of a family is what makes this book for me. I love each and every one of the characters. I’ll admit, I wasn’t too sure about Finnikin when Caitlin first recommended it to me. It was my first Melina book and I’m not one for high fantasy/adventure books. I was intrigued with the male POV from a woman writer, though, so I gave it a shot. Honestly, I’m not sure exactly when it happened, but once I was into the story, I couldn’t put it down. Melina has the incredible ability to make even the most mundane things a person can do seem fascinating and somehow subtly work in deeper meaning when you least expect it. When I finished Finnikin, I wanted to bow at altar of Melina Marchetta. It blew me away. While reading it I remember questioning some of her plot choices, but it all came together in the end. The characters, Finnikin especially, are rich in details and texture, even the secondary characters. I remember more about Sir Topher as a secondary character than I do a lot of main characters from books I’ve read. That’s how fleshed out these people are in this book. Seriously, it’s a wonderful book. You should read it. I actually read two of Ms. Marchetta’s contemporary novels, Saving Francesca and Jellicoe Road, before Finnikin. I was blown away by her ability to transition from writing “break my heart in a million pieces, why don’t you?” contemporary fiction to creating such an intriguing fantasy world with this book. Even with the genre shift, you still feel that “Marchettaness” with Finnikin that is present in her contemporary work. She just knows how to write really interesting people and share them with her readers in such a way that you can’t help feeling connected to them, whether they are in modern-day Sydney or in a mythical land. While Finnikin is like the plots of Ms. Marchetta’s other books—primarily character driven—it is also an epic adventure. I really enjoyed watching the characters grow, but also the amazing tale that was unfolding. There is everything in this book: romance, treachery, mystery, battles, family and identity struggles, and I could go on and on. It’s a wonderful beginning to what I can only imagine will be a long-loved trilogy. Finnikin, for me, was one of those books that left me spellbound for weeks when I’d finished it. I spent what seemed like an age after I had finally flipped the last page thinking about it, completely unable to even conceive of trying to read another book. And, to this day, I think it is probably the most perfect YA fantasy novel that anyone has ever even dreamed of dreaming. This book just felt so masterfully planned and still so totally effortless, mainly because of the world building and the characters. Lumatere was so beautifully crafted that it was like a character on its own – it felt real – and the entire world that surrounded it was rich in detail (seriously, the words in this book are like a painting). The characters felt completely natural, both on their own and for their universe. I feel like I could meet Finnikin walking down my own street, and Isaboe too, but they also were a perfect product of this world that they inhabit. And then there’s the fact that I’ve never been so sure that two characters could conquer the world together as I am about those two. But it wasn’t just Finnikin and Isaboe (and I have rhapsodized about my love for the pair of them before). The entire supporting cast, from Froi to Sir Topherto Trevanion made this novel feel full of life and love and loss and sorrow and it made me feel pretty much all the feelings in the entire world. That’s the hardest thing to do in any fantasy novel, and Melina Marchetta made it seem like she could do it in her sleep. And then she went and did it again with Froi and there just aren’t words for how beautifully Finnikin set the groundwork for the series that follows it. I think (and every time I re-read one of her novels I change my mind, but for now I’m going with this particular moment and this particular think), that Finnikin may be my favorite of Melina Marchetta’s books. That’s saying something for me because I’m pretty sure she could write a grocery list that would leave me a sobbing puddle of goo by the end. But what sets Finnikin apart for me is the hope it has . All of Marchetta’s books are an emotional roller coaster, and they all leave you a little wrecked by the end, but I think Finnikin put my pieces back together the best. Stay tuned tomorrow for our review of Froi of the Exiles and how you can enter to win a copy.

Tuesday, May 24, 2011 Rolling Out the Red Carpet We live in a culture that rolls out the red carpet for celebrities. We (me included) just love watching people that have starred in favorite movies, get all dressed up and parade around for us to see (and have opinions on their outfits). Somehow I have found myself as a spokesperson for including special ed. students in Catholic education. It wasn't anything I set out to do, I just wanted Rojo to have the same opportunities that Woohoo has. It has morphed into meetings and visits around the area (and beyond) "selling" the idea that special ed. students, while not necessarily college bound, are an asset to education, not a liability, and that by serving them it's not just a matter of social justice (which it is, and not enough can be made of this), but that it's a win-win for everyone, when done right. In some faith-based schools and communities/cities the red carpet is rolled out for different learners and/or those with different physical abilities. Happily, this has been the case and will continue to be the case for Rojo and our friend J. We've been blessed by being in the right place at the right time with the right people that get it, and the right network of friends and connections. Sadly, this is not the case for all our friends, and certainly not all special ed. students seeking a faith-based option. I am meeting with a woman next week that wants me to answer the question, "If the sky were the limit, what would you want to see faith-based schools have in place for kids with learning and/or physical differences?" I'm starting the list with red carpets in every school. Photo from http://www.anarpartyrentals.com

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how to get rid of father in law who controls my wife! I think you should let your wife decide. Do you want your father or do you want me? If you think she would say you then ask her. But if not then start looking for another independent woman that has lost her father when she was young! You might be better off. Trust me, less stress, more time for you and your wife, and more importantly, more privacy. it should be a good time for you and your wife to live a happy life. But if you really love her, then grow some balls and talk to her dad whether she like it or not.

How to look good in lingerie If in doubt go for black Black is flattering on most skin tones, slimming and classically seductive. If you're nervous about colour, you can't fail with black. White on the other hand can be difficult to wear. Remember – your breasts should be two separate plump lumps, not smushed together into one superboob. There is such a thing as too much cleavage. Mix and match Matching your bra and knickers is not as essential as you think. As supermodel Helena Christensen explains, "Look for lingerie sets that would be good to mix and match, rather than wearing designer pieces from top to toe, which can feel quite strict and corporate." Confidence is key We'll leave this one to Victoria's Secret model, Cara Delevingne, "The thing is about being sexy, I think, no matter if you're in lingerie [or] if you're not, it's all about confidence in yourself," she explains. "And I know that's hard, because I know everyone has insecurities, and everyone feels inadequate at certain times, but that's the thing: When men see a woman being confident, no matter what they're doing, it's a very amazing thing to see, and that's what I think brings sexiness for sure." Do your legs, sort out your bikini line and smooth on some moisturiser to make your skin look healthy and radiant. It's not all about the pants. Nothing wrong with being comfortable Lingerie isn't supposed to be painful and restrictive. The more uncomfortable you are, the more uncomfortable you'll look. Pick designs which flatter your figure and are easy to wear, it will boost your confidence and make you feel amazing. Why do you have to go make things so complicated? If corsets, stockings and garters bring you out in a panic - just keep it simple. Some cute knickers and a nice bra in a soft pastel colour will do wonders. When it comes down to it, most men would be intimidated by a lot of kinky lingerie - think sensual and playful instead of forcing 'sexy'. BEAUTIFUL & SEXY BRIDAL LINGERIE WHAT MEN LOVE MOST ABOUT WOMEN'S BODIES REAL MEN IN PANTS ADVERTS MORE LIFE ADVICE

When I first heard that Yahoo had been sued because they refused to remove a page created by the ex-boyfriend of a woman named Cecilia Barnes to impersonate her -- portraying her as a slut looking for sex with strangers (who obliged by hounding her office with phone calls and e-mails) -- I thought Yahoo's conduct was indefensible. Even though, as the court ruled, they may have been exempt from liability under the Communication Decency Act of 1996, what possible excuse could Yahoo have had for the way they handled the situation, exposing Barnes to months of harassment, when it would have taken them only seconds to review the page, see that it was obviously causing harm, and remove it? Then I thought more about the consequences of the rule that I was implicitly advocating by making that argument. Obviously, if an ISP has a policy of removing a user's page if some third party merely complains that the page is impersonating them, then one of your enemies could get your page removed by filing a complaint saying that they were really "you", and that your page was impersonating them. But if the ISP has a policy of not acting on such complaints, then someone could create a user account pretending to be you, and you wouldn't be able to get it removed. In both cases, there are two problems. One is the fact that the ISP has to have a way to figure out who is telling the truth. The second is that the solution has to scale well, even for a company like Yahoo that probably gets so many complaints about user conduct every day that it would be impossible to read them all. It should be possible for genuine complaints about impostors, to reach the attention of the right people and get an account closed, without accounts being shut down because of (a) people who file complaints about 'rude behavior' that get unintentionally mixed in with 'impostor' complaints by someone who is too overworked to read them all very carefully; or (b) people who file outright false complaints that a given account is an 'impostor', just to get it shut down; or (c) people who are really sneaky, and file complaints about things like rude behavior, but who craft the complaints in a way that is deliberately designed to get them mixed in with the 'impostor' reports, in order to get the account shut down (this way, if the complainer ever sued or otherwise confronted about the complaint that they filed, they can say that they "didn't lie"!). It's hard to think of a solution that covers all of these bases. For example, John Morris of the Center for Democracy and Technology explained how many ISPs use faxed driver's licenses to decide impersonation complaints: In many cases involving real people, the challenged site (whether it is a legit site or a bogus site) contains one or more photographs of the person involved. What service providers do in this case is to get the person to submit a copy of their driver's license, and the provider decides whether the person submitting the license is the same person depicted in the photos. And if so, that person is the one who can control whether the site stays up or not. This works in lots of cases (because pictures are often, but certainly not always, involved). The problem is that even this could be abused when used against a company like Yahoo that handles an extremely high volume of complaints. Suppose that Yahoo publishes a standard procedure for submitting complaints about impersonation, that includes the requirement of a faxed driver's license. Abusers of the system would figure this out, and they could start filing "complaints" against users and websites by faxing in complaint letters along with a copy of their driver's license, where the letters were not complaints about impersonation at all, but just bogus complaints about other things like "This guy was mean to me". Because the driver's license accompanying the letter is real and the statements in the letter are true (or at least a matter of opinion), the complainer can't be accused of lying or forging government documents. And if anyone ever challenged them and asked, "Why did you send your driver's license with the complaint letter? Weren't you trying to trick the ISP into thinking that this was an impersonation complaint so they would take it seriously?", the complainer could play dumb and say, "Well, I heard that if you file a complaint against someone, you're supposed to fax your driver's license with it." But if Yahoo is still getting too many messages to sort through them carefully, some of these crank complaints could still get users' accounts shut down. So now you have an interesting, non-trivial problem. Before reading further, it's worth thinking about how you would solve this. What's a good policy that would honor legitimate complaints, without giving cranks a way to get their enemies' pages shut down for no reason, and that would scale well for large companies like Yahoo? There are really two questions here: (1) What would you do if you were drafting an ISP policy and trying to balance the interests of all parties? and (2) What would you do if you were drafting a law requiring ISPs to implement certain policies, also while balancing the interests of all parties? (The best solution may be no law at all, but I think you would have to argue that position, rather than taking the default libertarian stance and simply assuming that. After all, the "no law" status quo didn't do much good for people like Cecilia Barnes who had a legitimate grievance and couldn't get anybody to listen.) The non-verifiability of complaints is the same problem that I've posed to hard-core anti-spam advocates who have said that ISPs should have a zero-tolerance policy towards spam and cancel any account that is generating spam complaints. The problem with that is that unless the ISP has logs of all mail sent out by a customer (and if the customer is leasing a dedicated server, this would usually not be the case), the ISP can't tell for sure if a spam complaint is real or not. If they adopt a policy of removing a site in response to a complaint (or three or ten complaints), then someone could easily get one of their enemies' sites shut down by filing phony spam complaints sent from multiple Hotmail or Gmail accounts. (You would have to forge some e-mail headers to make it look convincingly like the spam came from the site in question, but this is not very difficult.) If the hosting company has a policy of kicking customers off in response to some threshold number of spam complaints, then a dedicated adversary could just file that many complaints until the customer was terminated. On the other hand, if the hosting company won't kick off customers for any number of spam complaints, then they have no deterrent against their customers spamming. (This is mostly an academic question, because I tried filing complaints against all the dozens of spammers who spammed me in a given one-day period a few years ago, and none of the hosting companies terminated any of the sites I complained about. I wouldn't have expected any of them to terminate a customer based on one complaint, but I assume that some of the hosting companies were getting spam complaints about those customers from other people as well.) The big difference between spam incidents and impersonation incidents, is that while there may be no reliable record of whether a piece of mail was sent in the past or not, the fact of whether the Yahoo user "bennetthaselton" really is Bennett Haselton is something that can be determined with evidence that still exists in the present day. Some kinds of evidence are more readily available than others. If I were drafting an internal policy for an ISP on when to remove pages in response to an impersonation complaint, I would take care of the low-hanging-fruit cases first: If the page directs people to contact the page owner at an e-mail address or phone number (as the page created by Barnes' ex-boyfriend did), and you e-mail the address or call the number and someone answers by saying, "No, I didn't create that page, it's a fake", then you don't need to do any checking of the real-world identities of the parties involved -- all you need to know is that the page purports to be created by the owner of that phone number, but it isn't, so it's a fake and should be removed. This would take care of the most vicious cases of goading visitors into harassing someone directly. (Although I'd make clear in the policy that this wouldn't apply to consumer pages about companies, telling visitors to call such-and-such a company to complain about their conduct. Encouraging people to air their grievances is legitimate as long as the page owner isn't claiming to actually represent the company. I'm ducking the question of whether this should apply to pages about individuals -- if I make a page saying, "My ex is a skank, call her at this number for a 'good time'," am I infringing on her rights? But since I'm not claiming to be her, the situation wouldn't be covered by a policy about impersonation pages.) If the page is created by a paid user, then you can check if the real name on file with their credit card information, matches the name on the site. If it doesn't, that doesn't necessarily mean the page is a fake (possibly one person paid for the account while another one created the content), but if it does match, the page owner is probably not guilty of impersonating anyone. (Here I'm ducking the question of what to do if someone shares their name with a celebrity -- for example, if your name really is Julia Roberts and you create a page saying "Hi, I'm Julia Roberts", that's probably not enough to count as impersonation. But what if you talk about your interest in film and your exploits as an actress in local community theater, how much are you allowed to let people think that you might be "the Julia Roberts?) If the page violates the hosting company's Terms of Service in other ways, then it can be removed without determining whether the page owner is guilty of impersonation or not. The Yahoo Terms of Service doesn't actually mention sexual content (they used to allow users to post "adult profiles" in their Yahoo Profiles accounts as long as the profile owner flagged them as such), but the document prohibits content that is "vulgar" or "...otherwise objectionable". I haven't seen the page created by Barnes's ex-boyfriend soliciting strangers for sex, but it probably violated the Terms of Service in itself. And there may be other low-hanging-fruit options that I'm not thinking of. But what if there is no easy call, because none of these simplifying factors apply? A user creates a profile on a free site claiming to be Mr. X. A third party complains that they are the real Mr. X and that the profile is fake. What should the ISP do, if they don't want to spend money verifying the real-world identities of the parties involved, every time they get a crank complaint about any users on their system? This is essentially an economics problem. Cecilia Barnes wasn't asking Yahoo to do anything that would have been too burdensome for them -- the "labor" required to look at a faxed copy of her driver's license probably wouldn't have cost more than $5, at which point Yahoo could have initiated the process of shutting the page down, which they already have built-in procedures for. The benefit to her of getting the page shut down could have been valued in the hundreds or thousands of dollars. Normally, when you need someone else to do something that costs them $5 worth of effort and brings you $1,000 worth of benefit, the natural arrangement is to pay them, but Yahoo doesn't offer this as an option. In fact, I assume the real cost to Yahoo here would not have been actually reviewing Barnes's complaint, but actually finding it buried among all the bogus complaints that they receive, and noticing that it had real merit. Again, including a $5 payment would be one way to ensure that your complaint gets taken more seriously than all the others. But while the $5 fee might have helped in this specific situation, it's easy to imagine how that could set a bad precedent -- ISPs charging exhorbitant fees for users to submit abuse complaints to them, or users not filing complaints because they didn't want to share their payment information or pay money at all. So, rather than paying a small fee directly, a better approach might be to require complainants to post some sort of "bond" -- which may not be something financial, as some examples will show -- in order to get their complaint to the front of the queue. Recall the example of submitting your driver's license along with an impersonation complaint. It's important to understand the subtle reason why this procedure actually works. It's not because someone couldn't still file a bogus complaint with a phony ID. (While it's somewhat hard to create a fake driver's license that you can hold in your hand, creating a fake faxed driver's license would be easy.) It's because if the complainant is lying, now they can be prosecuting for forging government documents. Essentially the complainant is posting their freedom as a "bond", going out on a limb and saying: "I can't prove to you that I'm telling the truth. But now you know that if I'm lying, I'll go to jail. Bet you the other guy won't be willing to make a binding promise like that." So naturally I'd put that in the ISP's policy as well: If someone sends in a complaint about our user impersonating them, and they're willing to fax in a copy of their government ID proving that they are who they say they are, and we can verify that the page owner is claiming to actually be that person (and not merely complaining about that person or their business), then we would remove the page unless the account owner can submit even more compelling evidence that they are who they say they are. This addresses the problem of the impersonation complaints that are completely fake. However, you still have the problem of what to do about people who fax in their driver's license along with letters saying "This guy is a jerk", hoping to get someone's account closed down. If a company like Yahoo is too big to read through all the complaints carefully, then it becomes hard to sort through the complaints to see which ones are really about impersonation and which ones are about other behavior that doesn't violate their TOS. What might be a solution would be to borrow some of the non-terrible aspects of the Digital Millenium Copyright Act. The two most controversial provision of the DMCA are (1) a ban on software that enables the user to circumvent copyright restrictions, and (2) a requirement that ISPs have to respond to copyright-violation "takedown" notices in a certain manner. As I've said before about the DMCA, I'm opposed to #1 in principle because I think software should be protected by the First Amendment; I'm not against #2 in principle, but just concerned about how it could be abused in practice. But one thing the DMCA does is solve the "sorting problem" -- how to get complaints about copyright violations to the top of the pile. Service provides often have a procedure for handling DMCA complaints that is separate from the regular complaint channels. The DMCA also provides protection for users against phony complaints, by stipulating that anyone who files a false complaint can be sued for statutory damages and attorney's fees, as in a case where Diebold, Inc. agreed to pay $125,000 as a penalty for sending false "takedown" notices. In other words, the DMCA solves the "bonding" problem too -- by sending a DMCA complaint, a user is effectively saying, "I agree to pay big money if I'm lying. So, I'm probably telling the truth." So, a law addressing how ISPs should handle "impersonation" pages, modeled after the DMCA to solve the "top of the pile" problem and the "binding promise" problem, might go something like this: - For a user to file a complaint, the complaint should cite the name of the anti-impersonation law, as in, "This complaint is being filed under the Anti-Impersonation Act of 2009". This gives ISPs an easy way to sort these complaints to the top of the pile, the same way that they have specialized channels for handling DMCA complaints. - In the complaint, the user has to assert unambiguously that the page they are complaining about is impersonating them, and is not merely posting gripes about them or their business. - The complaint should include a copy of a government-issued ID. (Again, this is not because this is hard to forge, but because now the complainant is promising, "If this is fake, I'll go to jail.") - If the impersonation page is directing visitors to call a phone number or e-mail an e-mail address, and the takedown notification to the ISP includes a request to call that number or e-mail that address to verify that it doesn't actually belong to the page owner, then the ISP should follow up on that within a given time period of receiving the complaint. (And once they call that number or e-mail that address and get a response saying, "No, that page is definitely not mine", then the ISP should shut the page down.) - Anyone who files a phony complaint citing that statute, can be held liable for statutory damages and attorney's fees, and if they faxed a phony government ID, then they can be prosecuted for that as well. The problem-solver in me says that this is one way to ensure that legitimate complaints will be acted on, while making phony complaints much harder and riskier. It also seems to me that this is a minimal solution, in the sense that if you remove any part of it, it no longer solves the problem. For example, if you remove the part about complaints having to cite the anti-impersonation law, then you no longer have an effective means for these complaints to get to the top of the pile. And if you remove the part about civil penalties for filing phony complaints, then you no longer have any disincentive for people to tie up the system with crank complaints trying to get their enemies' accounts cancelled. Perhaps others can come up with an alternative solution that meets the logical requirements of enabling real complaints while discouraging fake ones. Meanwhile, the civil libertarian in me doesn't get a queasy feeling from it right away. It seems that it could only be used to stop cases of actual impersonation, and even as a free speech advocate I don't think that you have the moral right to impersonate someone else in a non-satirical manner for the purpose of actually deceiving or harassing people. But even the absence of such a law is hardly an excuse for what Yahoo did. All they had to do is go to the page, look at the phone number, call the number and hear her say, "Yes, this is me and no that's not my page", and shut it down. The fact that they couldn't do this, shows a contempt for the process of handling legitimate complaints. Apart from the harm caused to Cecilia Barnes directly, incidents such as these might lead to Congress narrowing the scope of the immunity given to providers for hosting content posted by their users. Of course I'm technically suggesting a law that would narrow the scope of that immunity too, but only in a very narrowly prescribed way. If, on the other hand, Congress or the courts ever adopt the vague principle that providers can be held "jointly responsible" for whatever their users say once they've been "made aware" of it, it's going to get a lot harder for people to find Web hosting who have anything controversial to say.

The Kobal Collection, Hammer The first thing you have to do to study 4,000-year-old DNA is take off your clothes. I am standing with Oddný Ósk Sverrisdóttir in the airlock room next to the ancient-DNA laboratory at Uppsala University, in Sweden, preparing to see how she and her colleagues examine the bones of human beings and the animals they domesticated thousands of years ago. These scientists are looking for signs of changes in the genes that allow us to consume dairy products past the age of weaning, when all other mammals lose the ability to digest lactose, the sugar present in milk. After that time, dairy products can cause stomach upsets. But in some groups of humans, particularly those from Northern Europe and parts of Africa, lactase—the enzyme that breaks down lactose—lingers throughout life, allowing them to take advantage of a previously unusable food source. Sverrisdóttir and her Ph.D. supervisor, Anders Götherström, study how and when this development occurred, and how it is related to the domestication of cows for their meat and milk. They examine minute changes in genes obtained from radiocarbon-dated bones from archaeological sites around Europe. The first step is to extract the DNA from the bones. But when examining genes from other humans, you must avoid contaminating the samples with your own genetic material. Sverrisdóttir, a tall, blond Icelandic woman who looks like my image of a Valkyrie, at least if Valkyries are given to cigarette breaks and bouts of cheerful profanity, has brought a clean set of clothes for me to put on under the disposable spacesuitlike outfit I need to wear in the lab. I have to remove everything except my underwear, including my jewelry. Götherström says it is the only time he ever takes off his wedding ring. I don the clean outfit, followed by the white papery suit, a face mask that includes a transparent plastic visor over my eyes, latex gloves, and a pair of slip-on rubber shoes from a pile kept in the neverland between the lab and the outside world. Anything else that goes into the lab—a flash drive for the computer, say—cannot go back in once it has gone out, to prevent secondary contamination of the facility. Finally, I put on a hairnet and tuck my hair underneath. We enter the lab, where the first thing we do is stretch another pair of gloves over the ones we just put on. Sverrisdóttir takes out a plastic bin of bone samples, each in its own zip-top bag. The bones themselves have been bleached and then irradiated with ultraviolet light to remove surface contamination. Before setting the bin on the counter, she wipes the surface with ethanol, followed by a weak bleach solution, and then with more ethanol. Apparently the saying that one can't be too careful is taken literally in this lab. "We all have to be kind of OCD to do this work," says Sverrisdóttir, smiling. Or at least I think she is smiling under her mask. To obtain the DNA, the bones are drilled and the powder from the interior is processed so that the genetic sequences inside are amplified—that is, replicated to yield a larger amount of material for easier analysis. Some bones are more likely to be fruitful than others. Most of the samples are about 4,000 years old, but one of them is around 16,000 years old. It has already been rendered into powder, and I look at it closely, but it doesn't seem any different from the others. One of the pieces is a flat section of skull, while others are sections of leg or arm bones, or a bit of pelvis. Sverrisdóttir and I wonder briefly who all these people were, and what their lives were like. The details of their experiences, of course, are lost forever. But the signature of what they were able to eat and drink, and how their diet differed from that of their—our—ancestors, is forever recorded in their DNA. Other than simple curiosity about our ancestors, why do we care whether an adult from 4,000 years ago could drink milk without getting a stomachache? The answer is that these samples are revolutionizing our ideas about the speed at which our evolution has occurred, and this knowledge, in turn, has made us question the idea that we are stuck with ancient genes, and ancient bodies, in a modern environment. We can use this ancient DNA to show that we are not shackled by it. Because we often think about evolution over the great sweep of time, in terms of minuscule changes over millions of years, when we went from fin to scaly paw to opposable-thumbed hand, it is easy to assume that evolution requires eons. That assumption makes us feel that humans, who have gone from savanna to asphalt in a mere few thousand years, must be caught out by the pace of modern life, when we'd be much better suited to something more familiar in our history. We're fat and unfit, we have high blood pressure, and we suffer from ailments that we suspect our ancestors never worried about, like post-traumatic-stress disorder and AIDS. Julie Holland, a psychiatrist writing in Glamour magazine, counsels that if you "feel less than human," constantly stressed and run-down, you need to remember that "the way so many of us are living now goes against our nature. Biologically, we modern Homo sapiens are a lot like our cave woman ancestors: We're animals. Primates, in fact. And we have many primal needs that get ignored. That's why the prescription for good health may be as simple as asking, What would a cave woman do?" Engine Collective for The Chronicle Review, original image from Gianni Dagli Orti, Corbis "Our bodies evolved over hundreds of thousands of years, and they're perfectly suited to the life we led for 99 percent of that time living in small hunting and gathering bands," writes a commenter on the New York Times health blog Well. It's hard to escape the recurring conviction that somewhere, somehow, things have gone wrong. In a time with unprecedented ability to transform the environment, to make deserts bloom and turn intercontinental travel into the work of a few hours, we are suffering from diseases our ancestors of a few thousand years ago, much less our prehuman selves, never knew: diabetes, hypertension, rheumatoid arthritis. Recent data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention suggest that for the first time in history, the current generation of children will not live as long as their parents, probably because obesity and associated maladies are curtailing the promise of modern medicine. Some of our nostalgia for a simpler past is just the same old amnesia that every generation has about the good old days. The ancient Romans fretted about the young and their callous disregard for the hard-won wisdom of their elders. Several 16th- and 17th-century writers and philosophers famously idealized the Noble Savage, a being who lived in harmony with nature and did not destroy his surroundings. Now we worry about our kids as "digital natives," who grow up surrounded by electronics and can't settle their brains sufficiently to concentrate on walking the dog without simultaneously texting and listening to their iPods. To think of ourselves as misfits in our own time and of our own making flatly contradicts what we now understand about the way evolution works. Another part of the feeling that the modern human is misplaced in urban society comes from the realization that people are still genetically close not only to the Romans and the 17th-century Europeans, but also to Neanderthals, to the ape ancestors Holland mentions, and to the small bands of early hominids who populated Africa hundreds of thousands of years ago. It is indeed during the blink of an eye, relatively speaking, that people settled down from nomadism to permanent settlements, developed agriculture, lived in towns and then cities, and acquired the ability to fly to the moon, create embryos in the lab, and store enormous amounts of information in a space the size of our handily opposable thumbs. Given this whiplash-inducing rate of recent change, it's reasonable to conclude that we aren't suited to our modern lives, and that our health, our family lives, and perhaps our sanity would all be improved if we could live the way early humans did. Our bodies and minds evolved under a particular set of circumstances, the reasoning goes, and in changing those circumstances without allowing our bodies time to evolve in response, we have wreaked the havoc that is modern life. In short, we have what the anthropologist Leslie Aiello, president of the renowned Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research, called "paleofantasies." She was referring to stories about human evolution based on limited fossil evidence, but the term applies just as well to the idea that our modern lives are out of touch with the way human beings evolved and that we need to redress the imbalance. Newspaper articles, morning TV, dozens of books, and self-help advocates promoting slow-food or no-cook diets, barefoot running, sleeping with our infants, and other measures large and small claim that it would be more natural, and healthier, to live more like our ancestors. A corollary to this notion is that we are good at things we had to do back in the Pleistocene, like keeping an eye out for cheaters in our small groups, and bad at things we didn't, like negotiating with people we can't see and have never met. I am all for examining human health and behavior in an evolutionary context, and part of that context requires understanding the environment in which we evolved. At the same time, discoveries like those from Sverrisdóttir's lab in Sweden make it clear that we cannot assume that evolution has stopped for humans, or that it can take place only ploddingly, with tiny steps over hundreds of thousands of years. In just the last few years we have added the ability to function at high altitudes and resistance to malaria to the list of rapidly evolved human characteristics, and the stage is set for many more. We can even screen the entire genome, in great gulps of DNA, looking for the signature of rapid selection in our genes. To think of ourselves as misfits in our own time and of our own making flatly contradicts what we now understand about the way evolution works—namely, that rate matters. That evolution can be fast, slow, or in-between, and understanding what makes the difference is far more enlightening, and exciting, than holding our flabby modern selves up against a vision—accurate or not—of our well-muscled and harmoniously adapted ancestors. The paleofantasy is a fantasy in part because it supposes that we humans, or at least our protohuman forebears, were at some point perfectly adapted to our environments. We apply this erroneous idea of evolution's producing the ideal mesh between organism and surroundings to other life forms, too, not just to people. We seem to have a vague idea that long long ago, when organisms were emerging from the primordial slime, they were rough-hewn approximations of their eventual shape, like toys hastily carved from wood, or an artist's first rendition of a portrait, with holes where the eyes and mouth eventually will be. Then, the thinking goes, the animals were subject to the forces of nature. Those in the desert got better at resisting the sun, while those in the cold evolved fur or blubber or the ability to use fire. Once those traits had appeared and spread in the population, we had not a kind of sketch, but a fully realized organism, a fait accompli, with all of the lovely details executed, the anatomical t's crossed and i's dotted. But of course that isn't true. Although we can admire a stick insect that seems to flawlessly imitate a leafy twig in every detail, down to the marks of faux bird droppings on its wings, or a sled dog with legs that can withstand subzero temperatures because of the exquisite heat exchange among its blood vessels, both are full of compromises, jury-rigged like all other organisms. The mantid has to resist disease as well as blend into its background; the dog must run and find food as well as stay warm. The pigment used to form those dark specks on the mantid is also useful in the insect immune system, and using it in one place means it can't be used in another. For the dog, having long legs for running can make it harder to keep the cold at bay, since more heat is lost from narrow limbs than from wider ones. These often conflicting needs mean automatic trade-offs in every system, so that each may be good enough but is rarely if ever perfect. Engine Collective for The Chronicle Review, original image from Gianni Dagli Orti, Corbis Neither we nor any other species have ever been a seamless match with the environment. Instead, our adaptation is more like a broken zipper, with some teeth that align and others that gape apart. Except that it looks broken only to our unrealistically perfectionist eyes—eyes that themselves contain oddly looped vessels as a holdover from their past. Wanting to be more like our ancestors just means wanting a slightly different set of compromises. Recognizing the continuity of evolution also makes clear the futility of selecting any particular time period for human harmony. Why would we be any more likely to feel out of sync than those who came before us? Did we really spend hundreds of thousands of years in stasis, perfectly adapted to our environments? When during the past did we attain this adaptation, and how did we know when to stop? If they had known about evolution, would our cave-dwelling forebears have felt nostalgia for the days before they were bipedal, when life was good and the trees were a comfort zone? Scavenging prey from more-formidable predators, similar to what modern hyenas do, is thought to have preceded, or at least accompanied, actual hunting in human history. Were, then, those early hunter-gatherers convinced that swiping a gazelle from the lion that caught it was superior to that newfangled business of running it down yourself? And why stop there? Why not long to be aquatic, since life arose in the sea? In some ways, our lungs are still ill suited to breathing air. For that matter, it might be nice to be unicellular: After all, cancer arises because our differentiated tissues run amok. Single cells don't get cancer. If we do not look to a mythical past utopia for clues to a way forward, what next? The answer is that we start asking different questions. Instead of bemoaning our unsuitability to modern life, we can wonder why some traits evolve quickly and some slowly. How do we know what we do about the rate at which evolution occurs? If lactose tolerance can become established in a population over just a handful of generations, what about an ability to digest and thrive on refined grains, the bugaboo of the paleo diet? Breakthroughs in genomics (the study of the entire set of genes in an organism) and other genetic technologies now allow us to determine how quickly individual genes and gene blocs have been altered in response to natural selection. Evidence is mounting that numerous human genes have changed over just the last few thousand years—a blink of an eye, evolutionarily speaking—while others are the same as they have been for millions of years, relatively unchanged from the form we share with ancestors as distant as worms and yeast. What's more, a new field called experimental evolution is showing us that sometimes evolution occurs before our eyes, with rapid adaptations happening in 100, 50, or even a dozen or fewer generations. Depending on the life span of the organism, that could mean less than a year, or perhaps a quarter-century. It is most easily demonstrated in the laboratory, but increasingly, now that we know what to look for, we are seeing it in the wild. And although humans are evolving all the time, it is often easier to see the process in other kinds of organisms. Humans are not the only species whose environment has changed dramatically over the last few hundred years, or even the last few decades. Some of the work my students and I have been doing on crickets found in the Hawaiian islands and in the rest of the Pacific shows that a completely new trait, a wing mutation that renders males silent, spread in just five years, fewer than 20 generations. It is the equivalent of humans' becoming involuntarily mute during the time between the publication of the Gutenberg Bible and On the Origin of Species. This and similar research on animals is shedding light on which traits are likely to evolve quickly and under what circumstances, because we can test our ideas in real time under controlled conditions. It's common for people to talk about how we were "meant" to be, in areas ranging from diet to exercise to sex and family. Yet these notions are often flawed, making us unnecessarily wary of new foods and, in the long run, new ideas. I would not dream of denying the evolutionary heritage present in our bodies—and our minds. And it is clear that a life of sloth with a diet of junk food isn't doing us any favors. But to assume that we evolved until we reached a particular point and now are unlikely to change for the rest of history, or to view ourselves as relics hampered by a self-inflicted mismatch between our environment and our genes, is to miss out on some of the most exciting new developments in evolutionary biology. At the same time that we wistfully hold to our paleofantasy of a world where we were in sync with our environment, we are proud of ourselves for being so different from our apelike ancestors. Animals like crocodiles and sharks are often referred to as "living fossils" because their appearance is eerily similar to that of their ancestors from millions of years earlier, preserved in stone. But there is sometimes a tone of disparagement in the term; it is as though we pity them for not keeping up with trends, as if they are embarrassing us by walking (or swimming) around in the evolutionary equivalent of mullet haircuts and suspenders. Evolving more recently, so that no one would mistake a human for our predecessors of even a couple of million years back, seems like a virtue, as if we improved ourselves while other organisms stuck with the same old styles their parents wore. Regardless of the shaky ground on which that impression lies, we don't win the prize for even most recent evolution; in fact, we lose by a wide margin. Strictly speaking, according to the textbook definition of evolution as a change in gene frequencies in a population, many of the most rapidly evolving species, hence those with the most recent changes, are not primates but pathogens, the disease-causing organisms like viruses and bacteria. Because of their rapid generation times, viruses can produce offspring in short order, which means that viral gene frequencies can become altered in a fraction of the time it would take to do the same thing in a population of humans, zebras, or any other vertebrate. Evolution being what it is—without any purpose or intent—evolving quickly is not necessarily a good thing. Often the impetus behind rapid evolution in nonhuman organisms is a strong and novel selective agent: A crop is sprayed with a new insecticide, or a new disease is introduced to a population by a few individuals who stray into its boundaries. Those who are resistant, sometimes an extremely tiny minority, survive and reproduce, while the others perish. These events are not confined to crops, or even to nonhumans. Some estimates of death rates from the medieval outbreak of bubonic plague called the Black Death in Europe have gone as high as 95 percent. Natural selection thus produces a bottleneck, through which only the individuals with the genes necessary for survival can pass. The problem is, that bottleneck also affects a lot of other genetic variation along with the genes for susceptibility to the insecticide or the ailment. Suppose that genes for eye color or heat tolerance or musical ability happen to be located near the susceptibility genes on the chromosome. During the production of sex cells, as the chromosomes line up and the sperm and egg cells each get their share of reshuffled genes, those other genes will end up being disproportionately likely to be swept away when their bearer is struck down early in life by the selective force—the poison or pathogen. The net result is a winnowing out of genetic variants overall, not just those that are detrimental in the face of the current selection regime. The evolutionary biologist Jerry Coyne, author of Why Evolution Is True, says that the one question he always gets from public audiences is whether the human race is still evolving. On the one hand, modern medical care and birth control have altered the way in which genes are passed on to succeeding generations; most of us recognize that we wouldn't stand a chance against a rampaging saber-toothed tiger without our running shoes, contact lenses, GPS, and childhood vaccinations. Natural selection seems to have taken a pretty big detour when it comes to humans, even if it hasn't completely hit the wall. At the same time, new diseases like AIDS impose new selection on our genomes, by favoring those who happen to be born with resistance to the virus and striking down those who are more susceptible. Steve Jones, a University College London geneticist and author of several popular books, has argued for years that human evolution has been "repealed" because our technology allows us to avoid many natural dangers. But many anthropologists believe instead that the documented changes over the last 5,000 to 10,000 years in some traits, such as the frequency of blue eyes, means that we are still evolving in ways large and small. Blue eyes were virtually unknown as little as 6,000 to 10,000 years ago, when they apparently arose through one of those random genetic changes that pop up in our chromosomes. Now, of course, they are common—an example of only one such recently evolved characteristic. Gregory Cochran and Henry Harpending even suggest that human evolution as a whole has, on the contrary, accelerated over the last several thousand years, and they also believe that relatively isolated groups of people, such as Africans and North Americans, are subject to differing selection. That leads to the somewhat uncomfortable suggestion that such groups might be evolving in different directions—a controversial notion to say the least. The "fish out of water" theme is common in TV and movies: City slickers go to the ranch, Crocodile Dundee turns up in Manhattan, witches try to live like suburban housewives. Misunderstandings and hilarity ensue, and eventually the misfits either go back where they belong or learn that they are not so different from everyone else after all. Watching people flounder in unfamiliar surroundings seems to be endlessly entertaining. But in a larger sense, we all sometimes feel like fish out of water, out of sync with the environment we were meant to live in. If gnawing on that rib or jogging barefoot through the mud is therapeutic, enjoy. But know that should you wish to join us, the scientific evidence will gladly welcome you to the 21st century, in all its inevitable anxious uncertainty.

I've watched 1 summer league highlights of this Cherry guy and he's already impressed me more then Buycks gotta love that even the 15th man is a serious player. For still frame photograph of me reading the DeRozan thread please refer to my avatar i was hoping we coulda picked up Robert Sacre for dwight byucks... Lakers have a serious hole in the PG slot and Dwight Byucks woulda expanded even more but o well. Sad to see him not waste a roster spot on another team. Pound The Cherry! Already looking more NBA ready and has a cooler name then Shabazz Napier People can do some good things when they are motivated and looking for a contract. I dont see it as much of an upgrade , although it doesn't really matter with the point guard lineup we already have. she is a woman who i think is sexier with clothes on though. i wanted kraft or someone else young and cherry is young so i am happy. as far as cherry/buycks. buycks had a year to show the coaching staff he was worth investing in. guy got paid well, thanks and moving on. masai wants young talent the team can develop at the end of the bench and cherry has a year to show he is worth it. i like the movement at the end of the bench because it shows that the front office won't be happy with status quo anywhere. a gm could have looked at buycks' deal and said "he knows the system and we aren't capped out, fuck it." and who would have cared, that player gets garbage time and is a practice body, but he didn't. he thought cherry has more chance to either improve himself or the others he practices against. buycks didn't play great defense in game so who knows how he played in practice. Boys boys, stop whining. She got her clothes on. Everything by the book. There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)

Mother of murdered woman targets sexual violence Alexandra Zapp murdered by Paul Leahy, a repeat sex offender It has been 10 years since Alexandra "Ally" Zapp was brutally murdered at a Bridgewater, Mass., rest stop. "I just remember her," said her mother Andrea Casanova. "Beautiful, funny, intelligent, great smile. Very strong moral compass. Just a good person. Just a really special person who really wanted to give back to the world." In fact, in July 2002, Zapp was on her way home to Newport, R.I., from a charity event in Boston, when she was murdered inside the women's restroom along Route 24. Paul Leahy, a repeat sex offender, stabbed the 30-year-old Zapp 27 times. It was a crime shocking not only for its brutality, but for highlighting loopholes in the state's sex offender laws. In the days and months after the brutal murder, Zapp's mother began to focus on the bigger picture of how this could happen. In 2004, Casanova successfully fought to close a loophole in the state's sexually dangerous persons law. Now the Ally Foundation has set its sights on improving the national approach to sex offenders through a partnership with the Rand Corporation to establish a think tank dedicated to preventing sexual violence "What the institute will do is gather all the research on sexual violence and sexual offenses and what works and what doesn't work," Casanova said. The Ally Foundation is launching a major fundraising initiative in Boston with a goal of raising $300,000 to establish the ALLY Institute at Rand. "Alexandra was just a very caring person and I know we can't look back to the past. We can't change that," said Casanova. "But we can approach the future much more intelligently and that's what our mission is. Not just for tougher laws, because tougher laws don't always make sense, but more intelligent laws. She left us with a huge legacy and a lot to do." Copyright 2012 by WCVB.com All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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Bobby Fischer (left) and John Collins. |Full name||Robert James Fischer| |Country||United States, Iceland| |Born||March 9 1943 Chicago, Illinois, United States |Died||January 17 2008 (aged 64) |World Champion||1972–1975 (FIDE)| |Peak rating||2785 (July 1972)| Robert James "Bobby" Fischer (March 9, 1943 – January 17, 2008) was an American-born chess Grandmaster, and the eleventh World Chess Champion. Fischer became famous as a teenager as a chess prodigy. In 1972, he became the first, and so far the only, American to win the official World Chess Championship, defeating defending champion Boris Spassky in a match held in Reykjavík, Iceland. The match was widely publicized as a Cold War battle. He is often referred to as one of the greatest chess players of all time. Iceland subsequently awarded Fischer citizenship in recognition of a 30-year-old match that put the country "on the map." In 1975, Fischer failed to defend his title when he could not come to agreement with the international chess federation FIDE over the conditions for the match. He became more reclusive and played no more competitive chess until 1992, when he had a rematch with Spassky. The competition was held in Yugoslavia, which was then under a strict United Nations embargo.This led to a conflict with the United States government, and he never returned to his native country. In his later years, Fischer lived in Hungary, Germany, the Philippines, and Japan. During this time he made increasingly anti-American and antisemitic statements. During the 2004–2005 time period, after his U.S. passport was revoked, he was detained by Japanese authorities for nine months under threat of extradition. He was then granted Icelandic citizenship and released to Iceland by the Japanese authorities. He lived in Iceland from 2005 until his death in 2008. Fischer's reclusive lifestyle made him an enigma to many. Robert James Fischer was born at Michael Reese Hospital in Chicago, Illinois on March 9, 1943. His mother, Regina Wender, was a naturalized American citizen of Polish Jewish descent, born in Switzerland but raised in St. Louis, Missouri. She later became a teacher, a registered nurse, and a physician. Fischer's birth certificate listed Wender's husband, Hans-Gerhardt Fischer, a German biophysicist, as Fischer's father. The couple married in 1933 in Moscow, USSR, where Wender was studying medicine at the First Moscow Medical Institute. They divorced in 1945 when Bobby was two years old, and he grew up with his mother and older sister, Joan. In 1948, the family moved to Mobile, Arizona, where Regina taught in an elementary school. The following year they moved to Brooklyn, New York, where Regina worked as an elementary school teacher and nurse. A 2002 article by Peter Nicholas and Clea Benson of The Philadelphia Inquirer suggests that Paul Nemenyi, a Hungarian Jewish physicist, may have been Fischer's biological father. The article quotes an FBI report that states that Regina Fischer returned to the United States in 1939, while Hans-Gerhardt Fischer never entered the United States, having been refused admission by U.S. immigration officials because of alleged Communist sympathies. Regina and Nemenyi had an affair in 1942, and he made monthly child support payments to Regina. Nemenyi died in March, 1952. In May 1949, the six-year-old Fischer learned how to play chess along with his sister in instructions found in a chess set that was bought at a candy store below their Brooklyn apartment. He saw his first chess book a month later. For over a year he played chess on his own. At age seven, he began to play chess seriously, joining the Brooklyn Chess Club and receiving instruction from its president, Carmine Nigro. He later joined the Manhattan Chess Club, one of the strongest in the world, in June, 1955. Other important early influences were provided by Master and chess journalist Hermann Helms and Grandmaster Arnold Denker. Denker served as a mentor to young Bobby, often taking him to watch professional hockey games at Madison Square Garden, to cheer the New York Rangers. Denker wrote that Bobby enjoyed those treats and never forgot them; the two became lifelong friends. When Fischer was 13, his mother asked the Master John W. Collins to be his chess tutor. Collins had coached several top players, including future grandmasters Robert Byrne and William Lombardy. Fischer spent much time at Collins' house, and some have described Collins as a father figure for Fischer. The Hawthorne Chess Club was the name for the group which Collins coached. Fischer also was involved with the Log Cabin Chess Club. Another mentor and friend during those years was the broadcaster and author Dick Schaap, who often took Fischer to basketball games of the New York Knicks. Bobby Fischer attended Erasmus Hall High School at the same time as Barbra Streisand and Neil Diamond. The student council of Erasmus Hall awarded him a gold medal for his chess achievements. Fischer dropped out of Erasmus in 1959 at age 16, the minimum age for doing so, saying that school had little more to offer him. When Fischer was 16, his mother moved out of their apartment to pursue medical training. Her friend Joan Rodker, who had met Regina when the two were "idealistic communists" living in Moscow in the 1930s, believes that Fischer resented his mother for being mostly absent as a mother, a communist activist and an admirer of the Soviet Union, and that this led to his hatred for the Soviet Union. In letters to Rodker, Fischer's mother states her desire to pursue her own "obsession" of training in medicine and writes that her son would have to live in their Brooklyn apartment without her: "It sounds terrible to leave a 16-year-old to his own devices, but he is probably happier that way." Fischer's first real triumph was winning the United States Junior Chess Championship in July 1956. He scored 8.5/10 at Philadelphia to become the youngest-ever junior champion at age 13, a record that has yet to be eclipsed. In the 1956 U.S. Open Chess Championship at Oklahoma City, Fischer scored 8.5/12 to tie for 4-8th places, with Arthur Bisguier winning. He then played in the first Canadian Open Chess Championship at Montreal 1956, scoring 7/10 to tie for 8-12th places, with Larry Evans winning. Fischer's famous game from the 3rd Rosenwald Trophy tournament at New York 1956, against Donald Byrne, who later became an International Master, was called "The Game of the Century" by Hans Kmoch. At the age of 12, he was awarded the U.S. title of National Master, then the youngest ever. In 1957, Fischer played a two-game match against former World Champion Max Euwe at New York, losing 0.5-1.5. He then successfully defended his U.S. Junior title, scoring 8.5/9 at San Francisco. Next, he won the U.S. Open Chess Championship at Cleveland on tie-breaking points over Arthur Bisguier, scoring 10/12. Fischer defeated the young Filipino Master Rodolfo Tan Cardoso by 6-2 in a match in New York. He next won the New Jersey Open Championship. From these triumphs, Fischer was given entry into the invitational U.S. Chess Championship at New York. He won, with 10.5/13, becoming in January 1958, at age 14, the youngest U.S. champion ever (this record still stands). He earned the title of International Master with this victory, becoming the youngest player ever to achieve this level (a record since broken). Fischer's victory in the U.S. Championship qualified him to participate in the 1958 Portorož Interzonal, the next step toward challenging the World Champion. The top six finishers in the Interzonal would qualify for the Candidates Tournament. Fischer surprised the pundits, tying for 5th and 6th places at the Interzonal, with 12/20, after a strong finish. This made Fischer the youngest person ever to qualify for the Candidates, a record which stood until 2005 (it was broken under a different setup by Magnus Carlsen). It also earned him the title of Grandmaster, making him the youngest grandmaster in history at 15 years and six months. This record stood until 1991 when it was broken by Judit Polgar. Fischer remained the youngest grandmaster in the world until Florin Gheorghiu earned the title in 1965. Before the Candidates' tournament, Fischer competed in the 1958-1959 U.S. Championship (winning 8.5/11) and then in international tournaments at Mar del Plata, Santiago, and Zurich. He played unevenly in the two South American tournaments. At Mar del Plata he finished tied for third with Borislav Ivkov, half a point behind tournament winners Ludek Pachman and Miguel Najdorf. At Santiago, he tied for fourth through sixth places, behind Ivkov, Pachman, and Herman Pilnik. He did better at the strong Zurich event, finishing a point behind world-champion-to-be Mikhail Tal and half a point behind Svetozar Gligoric. Fischer had, up to this point, dressed like a normal teenager, in jeans and casual shirts, at chess tournaments, but was influenced by veteran Grandmaster Miguel Najdorf, whom he met at Mar del Plata, to improve his appearance. Najdorf dressed well in fine suits. Fischer's strong performances increased his income, and he soon became known for his elegant dress at major events, built up an extensive wardrobe of custom-made suits, and took considerable pride in his image as a young professional. At the age of 16, Fischer finished a creditable equal fifth out of eight, the top non-Soviet player, at the Candidates Tournament held in Bled/Zagreb/Belgrade, Yugoslavia in 1959. He scored 12.5/28 but was outclassed by tournament winner Tal, who won all four of their individual games. In 1960, Fischer tied for first place with the young Soviet star Boris Spassky at the strong Mar del Plata tournament in Argentina, with the two well ahead of the rest of the field, scoring 13.5/15. Fischer lost only to Spassky, and this was the start of their relationship, which began on a friendly basis and stayed that way, in spite of Fischer's troubles on the board against him. Fischer struggled in the subsequent Buenos Aires tournament, finishing with 8.5/19 (won by Viktor Korchnoi and Samuel Reshevsky on 13/19). This was the only real failure of Fischer's competitive career. In 1961, Fischer started a 16-game match with Reshevsky, split between New York and Los Angeles. Despite Fischer's meteoric rise, the veteran Reshevsky (born in 1911, 32 years older than Fischer) was considered the favorite, since he had far more match experience and had never lost a set match. After 11 games and a tie score (two wins apiece with seven draws), the match ended prematurely due to a scheduling dispute between Fischer and match organizer and sponsor Jacqueline Piatigorsky. The hard-fought struggle, with many games being adjourned, had delayed the original match schedule, causing some logistical challenges for site bookings. Reshevsky received the winner's share of the prizes. Fischer later made up with Mrs. Piatigorsky by accepting an invitation to the second Piatigorsky Cup, Santa Monica 1966, which she helped to sponsor. In the next World Championship cycle, Fischer won the 1962 Stockholm Interzonal by 2.5 points, scoring 17.5/22, making him one of the favorites for the Candidates Tournament in Curaçao, which began soon afterwards. He finished fourth out of eight with 14/27, the best result by a non-Soviet player but well behind Tigran Petrosian (17.5/27), Efim Geller, and Paul Keres (both 17/27). When Tal fell very ill during the tournament, and had to withdraw before completion, Fischer was the only player who visited him in the hospital.. Following his failure in the 1962 Candidates (at which five of the eight players were from the Soviet Union), Fischer asserted, in an article entitled "The Russians Have Fixed World Chess" which was published in Sports Illustrated magazine, August 1962, that three of the Soviet players (Tigran Petrosian, Paul Keres, and Efim Geller) had a pre-arranged agreement to draw their games against each other, in order to save energy and to concentrate on playing against Fischer, and also that a fourth, Victor Korchnoi, had been forced to deliberately lose games to ensure that a Soviet player won the tournament. It is generally thought that the former accusation is correct, but not the latter. (This is discussed further at the World Chess Championship 1963 article). Fischer also stated that he would never again participate in a Candidates' tournament, since the format, combined with the alleged collusion, made it impossible for a non-Soviet player to win. Following Fischer's article, FIDE in late 1962 voted a radical reform of the playoff system, replacing the Candidates' tournament with a format of knockout matches. In an interview in the January, 1962 issue of Harper's Magazine, Fischer was quoted as saying, "I read a book lately by Nietzsche and he says religion is just to dull the senses of the people. I agree." Nonetheless, Fischer said in 1962 that he had "personal problems" and began to listen to various radio ministers in a search for answers. This is how he first came to listen to The World Tomorrow radio program with Herbert W. Armstrong and his son Garner Ted Armstrong. The Armstrongs' denomination, The Worldwide Church of God (then under its original name, the Radio Church of God), predicted an imminent apocalypse. In late 1963, Fischer began tithing to the church. According to Fischer, he lived a bifurcated life, with a rational chess component and an enthusiastic religious component. At the 1967 Sousse Interzonal his religious observances led to problems with the organizers (see below). Fischer gave the Worldwide Church of God $61,200 of his 1972 world championship prize money. However, 1972 was a disastrous year for the church, as prophecies by Herbert W. Armstrong were unfulfilled, and the church was rocked by revelations of a series of sex scandals involving Garner Ted Armstrong. Fischer, who felt betrayed and swindled by the Worldwide Church of God, left the church and publicly denounced it. In 1970, Fischer started a new effort to become World Champion. As he became a viable contender, much positive publicity for chess arose. In 1972, he succeeded in his quest, but forfeited his title a few years later. The 1969 U.S. Championship was also a zonal qualifier, with the top three finishers advancing to the Interzonal. Fischer, however, had sat out the US Championship because of disagreements about the tournament's format and prize fund. To enable Fischer to compete for the title, Grandmaster Pal Benko gave up his Interzonal place. This unusual arrangement was the work of Ed Edmondson, then the USCF's Executive Director. Before the Interzonal, in March and April 1970, the world's best players competed in the USSR vs. Rest of the World match in Belgrade, Yugoslavia, often referred to as "the Match of the Century." Fischer agreed to allow Bent Larsen of Denmark to play first board for the Rest of the World team in light of Larsen's recent outstanding tournament results, even though Fischer had the higher Elo rating. The USSR team won the match (20.5-19.5), but on second board, Fischer beat Tigran Petrosian, whom Boris Spassky had dethroned as world champion the previous year, 3-1, winning the first two games and drawing the last two. Following the Match of the Century, the unofficial World Championship of Lightning Chess (5-minute games) was held at Herceg Novi. Fischer annihilated the super-class field with 19/22(+17=4-1), 4.5 points ahead of Tal. Later in 1970, Fischer won tournaments at Rovinj/Zagreb with 13/17 (+10=6-1), and Buenos Aires, where he crushed the field of mostly Grandmasters with no losses: 15/17 (+13=4). Fischer had taken his game to a new level. He defeated Ulf Andersson in an exhibition game for the Swedish newspaper 'Expressen' at Siegen 1970. The Interzonal was held in Palma de Mallorca in November and December 1970. Fischer won it with a remarkable 18.5-4.5 score (+15=7-1), 3.5 points ahead of Larsen, Efim Geller, and Robert Hübner, who tied for second at 15-8. Fischer finished the tournament with seven consecutive wins. Fischer continued his domination in the 1971 Candidates matches. First, he beat Mark Taimanov of the USSR at Vancouver by 6-0. A couple of months later, he repeated the shutout against Larsen at Denver, again by 6-0. Just a year before, Larsen had played first board for the Rest of the World team ahead of Fischer, and had handed Fischer his only loss at the Interzonal. "The record books showed that the only comparable achievement to the 6-0 score against Taimanov was Wilhelm Steinitz's 7-0 win against Joseph Henry Blackburne in 1876 in an era of more primitive defensive technique." Fischer won a strong lightning event in New York in August 1971 with an overwhelming score of 21.5/22. Only former World Champion Petrosian, Fischer's final opponent in the Candidates matches, was able to offer resistance in their match played at Buenos Aires. Petrosian unleashed a strong theoretical novelty in the first game and had Fischer on the ropes, but Fischer defended with his customary aplomb and won the game. This gave Fischer a streak of 20 consecutive wins against the world's top players (in the Interzonal and Candidates matches), the second longest winning streak in chess history after Steinitz's 25-game streak from 1873 to 1882. Petrosian won decisively in the second game, finally snapping Fischer's winning streak. After three consecutive draws, Fischer swept the next four games to win the match 6.5-2.5 (+5=3−1). The final match victory allowed Fischer to challenge World Champion Boris Spassky, whom he had never beaten before (+0=2−3). Fischer's career-long stubbornness about match and tournament conditions was again seen in the run-up to his match with Spassky. Of the possible sites, Fischer preferred Yugoslavia, while Spassky wanted Iceland. For a time it appeared that the dispute would be resolved by splitting the match between the two locations, but that arrangement fell through. After that issue was resolved, Fischer refused to play unless the prize fund, which he considered inadequate, was doubled. London financier Jim Slater responded by donating an additional $125,000, which brought the prize fund to an unprecedented $250,000. Fischer finally agreed to play. The match took place in Reykjavík, Iceland, from July through September 1972. Fischer lost the first two games in strange fashion: the first when he played a risky pawn-grab in a drawn endgame, the second by forfeit when he refused to play the game in a dispute over playing conditions. Fischer would likely have forfeited the entire match, but Spassky, not wanting to win by default, yielded to Fischer's demands to move the next game to a back room, away from the cameras whose presence had upset Fischer. The rest of the match proceeded without serious incident. Fischer won seven of the next 19 games, losing only one and drawing 11, to win the match 12.5-8.5 and become the 11th World Chess Champion. The Cold War trappings helped serve to make the result somewhat of a media sensation. This was an American victory in a field that Soviet players had dominated for the past quarter-century, players closely identified with, and subsidized by, the Soviet state. The match was called "The Match of the Century," and received front-page media coverage in the United States and around the world. With his victory, Fischer became an instant celebrity. Upon his return to New York, a Bobby Fischer Day was held, and he was cheered by thousands of fans, a unique display in American chess. He received numerous product endorsement offers (all of which he declined) and appeared on the covers of LIFE and Sports Illustrated. With American Olympic swimming champion Mark Spitz, he also appeared on a Bob Hope TV special. Membership in the United States Chess Federation doubled in 1972 and peaked in 1974; in American chess, these years are commonly referred to as the "Fischer Boom," according to Spassky, referring to professional chess. Fischer won the 'Chess Oscar' award for 1970, 1971, and 1972. This award, started in 1967, is determined through votes from chess media and leading players. Fischer was also the (then) highest-rated player in history according to the Elo rating system. He had a rating of 2780 after beating Spassky, which was actually a slight decline from the record 2785 rating he had achieved after routing Taimanov, Larsen, and Petrosian the previous year. Because of his accomplishments up to this point in his life as a pioneer of professional chess, some leading players and some of his biographers rank him as the greatest player who ever lived.Leonard Barden wrote, "Most experts place him the second or third best ever, behind Kasparov but probably ahead of Karpov." Fischer was scheduled to defend his title in 1975. Anatoly Karpov eventually emerged as his challenger, having defeated Spassky in an earlier Candidates match. Fischer, who had played no competitive games since his World Championship match with Spassky, laid out a proposal for the match in September 1973, in consultation with a FIDE official, Fred Cramer. He made the following three principal demands: A FIDE Congress was held in Nice in June 1974, headed by FIDE president Max Euwe and consisting of both US and USSR representatives. It ruled that the match should continue until six wins, not 10. However, Fischer replied that he would resign his crown and not participate in the match. Instead of accepting Fischer's forfeit, FIDE agreed to allow the match to continue until 10 wins, but ruled it should not last longer than 36 games and rejected the 9-9 clause. In response, Fischer sent a cable to Euwe on June 27, 1974: As I made clear in my telegram to the FIDE delegates, the match conditions I proposed were non-negotiable. Mr. Cramer informs me that the rules of the winner being the first player to win ten games, draws not counting, unlimited number of games and if nine wins to nine match is drawn with champion regaining title and prize fund split equally were rejected by the FIDE delegates. By so doing FIDE has decided against my participating in the 1975 world chess championship. I therefore resign my FIDE world chess champion title. Sincerely, Bobby Fischer. In a letter to Larry Evans, published in Chess Life in November 1974, Fischer claimed the usual system (24 games with the first player to get 12.5 points winning, or the champion retaining his title in the event of a 12-12 tie) encouraged the player in the lead to draw games, which he regarded as bad for chess. Not counting draws would be "an accurate test of who is the world's best player." Former U.S. Champion Arnold Denker, who was in contact with Fischer during the negotiations with FIDE, claimed that Fischer wanted a long match to be able to play himself into shape after a three-year layoff. Due to the continued efforts of U.S. Chess Association officials, a special FIDE Congress was held in March 1975 in Bergen, North Holland in which it was accepted that the match should be of unlimited duration, but the 9:9 clause was once again rejected by a narrow margin of 35 votes to 32. After no reply was received from Fischer, Karpov officially became World Champion by default in April 1975. In his 1991 autobiography, Karpov expressed profound regret that the match did not take place, and claimed that the lost opportunity to challenge Fischer held back his own chess development. Karpov met with Fischer several times after 1975, in friendly but ultimately unsuccessful attempts to arrange a match. Garry Kasparov has argued that Karpov would have had a good chance to defeat Fischer in 1975. After the World Championship, Fischer did not play another serious game in public for nearly 20 years. He did not defend his title and public perception was reflected in the decline of interest in chess in the West in the following years. After 20 years, Fischer emerged from isolation to challenge Spassky (then placed 96-102 on the rating list) to a "Revenge Match of the 20th century" in 1992. This match took place in Sveti Stefan and Belgrade, FR Yugoslavia, in spite of a United Nations embargo that included sanctions on sporting events. Fischer demanded that the organizers bill the match as "The World Chess Championship," although Garry Kasparov was the recognized FIDE World Champion. Fischer had only ever mentioned resigning his "FIDE" title. He insisted he was still the true world chess champion, and that for all the games in the FIDE-sanctioned World Championship matches, involving Karpov, Korchnoi and Kasparov, the outcomes had been pre-arranged. In a 2005 interview he explained his attitude toward Kasparov: "Anyone who prepares matches in advance and, especially, who plays contractual games, is a liar and a dealer. I just call Kasparov a criminal." The purse for Fischer's re-match with Spassky was reported to be US$5,000,000 with two-thirds to go to the winner. Fischer won the match, 10 wins to 5 losses, with 15 draws. Many grandmasters observing the match said that Fischer was past his prime. In the book Mortal Games, Kasparov is quoted: "Bobby is playing OK, nothing more. Maybe his strength is around 2600 or 2650. It wouldn't be close between us." Fischer never played any competitive games afterwards. The US Department of the Treasury had warned Fischer beforehand that his participation was illegal as it violated President George H. W. Bush's Executive Order 12810 that implemented United Nations sanctions against engaging in economic activities in Yugoslavia. In front of the international press, Fischer was filmed spitting on the US order forbidding him to play. Following the match, the Department obtained an arrest warrant for him. Fischer remained wanted by the United States government for the rest of his life and never returned to the United States again. Fischer again slid into relative obscurity. With his new status as fugitive from American justice, his rhetoric and vitriol against the U.S. intensified. For some of these years Fischer lived in Budapest, Hungary allegedly having a relationship with young Hungarian chess master Zita Rajcsanyi. He claimed to find standard chess stale and he played varieties such as Chess960 blitz games. He visited with the Polgár family in Budapest and analyzed many games with Judit Polgár, Zsuzsa, and Zsófia Polgár. From 2000 to 2002, Fischer lived in Baguio City in the Philippines in the same compound as the Filipino grandmaster Eugenio Torre, a close friend who acted as his second during his matches with Spassky. Fischer played tennis at the Baguio Country Club. Torre introduced Fischer to a 22-year-old woman named Justine Ong (or Marilyn Young). Together, they had a daughter named Jinky Ong, born in 2002 (or 2001) at the Saint Louis University, Baguio City, Sacred Heart Hospital. In 1961 Fischer "made his first public statements despising Jews." In 1984 Fischer sent an open letter to Encyclopedia Judaica, in which he vehemently denied being a Jew and denounced Judaism. In recent years, Fischer's primary means of communicating with the public was via sometimes-outrageous radio interviews. Fischer participated in at least 34 such broadcasts between 1999 and 2006, mostly with radio stations in the Philippines, but also with stations in Hungary, Iceland, Colombia, and Russia. Fischer, whose mother was Jewish, made occasional hostile comments toward Jews from at least the early 1960s. From the 1980s his hatred for Jews was a major theme of his public and private remarks. He denied the "Holocaust of the Jews," announced his desire to make "expos[ing] the Jews for the criminals they are […] the murderers they are" his lifework, and argued that the United States is "a farce controlled by dirty, hook-nosed, circumcised Jew bastards." In one of his radio interviews, Fischer said that it became clear to him in 1977, after reading The Secret World Government by Arthur Cherep-Spiridovich, that the Jews were targeting him.. Hours after the September 11, 2001, attacks Fischer was interviewed live by Pablo Mercado on a Baguio City station shortly after midnight September 12, 2001 Philippines local time (or shortly after noon on September 11, 2001, New York time). Fischer commented on U.S. and Israeli foreign policy that "nobody cares … [that] the U.S. and Israel have been slaughtering the Palestinians for years." Chess columnist Shelby Lyman, who in 1972 had hosted the PBS broadcast of that year's Championship, said after Fischer's death that "the anti-American stuff is explained by the fact that … he spent the rest of his life [after the game in Yugoslavia] fleeing from the U.S., because he was afraid of being extradited". Fischer lived briefly in Japan. Seeking ways to evade deportation to the United States, Fischer wrote a letter to the government of Iceland in early January 2005 and asked for Icelandic citizenship. Sympathetic to Fischer's plight, but reluctant to grant him the full benefits of citizenship, Icelandic authorities granted him an alien's passport. When this proved insufficient for the Japanese authorities, the Althing agreed unanimously to grant Fischer full citizenship in late March for humanitarian reasons, as they felt he was being unjustly treated by the U.S. and Japanese governments. Fischer unsuccessfully requested German citizenship on the grounds that his late father, Hans Gerhardt Fischer, had been a lifelong German citizen. The U.S. government filed charges of tax evasion against Fischer in an effort to prevent him from traveling to Iceland. Shortly before his departure to Iceland, on March 23 2005, Fischer and Bosnitch appeared briefly on the BBC World Service, via a telephone link to the Tokyo airport. Bosnitch stated that Fischer would never play traditional chess again. Fischer denounced President Bush as a criminal and Japan as a puppet of the United States. He also stated that he would appeal his case to the US Supreme Court and said that he would not return to the U.S. while Bush was in power. Fischer lived a reclusive life in Iceland. Fischer was suffering from degenerative renal failure. This had been a problem for some years, but became acute in October 2007, when Fischer was admitted to a Reykjavík Landspítali hospital for stationary treatment. He stayed there for about seven weeks, but was released in a somewhat improved condition in the middle of November. He returned home gravely ill in December apparently rejecting any further Western medicine. Fischer stayed in an apartment in the same building as his closest friend and spokesman, Garðar Sverrisson, whose wife Krisín happens to be a nurse and looked after the terminally ill patient. Garðar's two children, especially his son, were very close to Fischer. They were his only close friends and contacts during the last two years of his life. In the middle of January his condition deteriorated and he was returned to hospital, where elevated levels of serum creatinine were found in his blood. He died on January 17, 2008, at home in his apartment in Reykjavík. Fischer's estate was estimated at 140 million ISK (about one million GBP or US$2,000,000) and quickly became the object of a legal battle between Fischer's Japanese wife Miyoko Watai and a presumed Filipina heir, Marilyn Young. The dispute seems to have been settled amicably in the Icelandic courts. Fischer was renowned for his opening preparation, and made numerous contributions to chess opening theory. He was considered the greatest practitioner of the White side of the Ruy Lopez; a line of the Exchange Variation (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Bxc6 dxc6 5.0-0) is sometimes called the "Fischer variation" after he successfully resurrected it at the 1966 Havana Olympiad. He was a recognized expert in the Black side of the Najdorf Sicilian and the King's Indian Defense. He demonstrated several important improvements in the Grünfeld Defense. In the Nimzo-Indian Defense, the line beginning with 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e3 b6 5.Ne2 Ba6 is named for him. Fischer established the viability of the so-called "Poisoned Pawn" variation of the Najdorf Sicilian (1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Bg5 e6 7. f4 Qb6). Although this bold queen sortie, snatching a pawn at the expense of development, had been considered dubious, Fischer succeeded in proving its soundness. He won many games with it, losing only to Spassky in the 11th game of their 1972 match. Today, the Poisoned Pawn is played by the world's leading players, Indeed, 6.Bg5 is seldom seen at the highest level because 7...Qb6 is considered so strong. On the White side of the Sicilian, Fischer made advances to the theory of the line beginning 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 (or e6) 6. Bc4, which is now called the Fischer-Sozin Attack. In 1960, prompted by a loss to Spassky, Fischer wrote an article entitled "A Bust to the King's Gambit" for the first issue of Larry Evans' American Chess Quarterly, in which he recommended 1.e4 e5 2.f4 exf4 3.Nf3 d6. This variation has since become known as the Fischer Defense to the King's Gambit. After Fischer's article was published, the King's Gambit was seen even less frequently in master-level games, although Fischer took up the White side of it in three games (preferring 3.Bc4 to 3.Nf3), winning them all. International Master Jeremy Silman listed Fischer as one of the five best endgame players. Silman called him a "master of bishop endings". The endgame of a rook and bishop versus a rook and knight (both sides with pawns) has sometimes been called the "Fischer Endgame" because of three instructive wins by Fischer in 1970 and 1971. In 1988, Fischer filed for U.S. Patent 4,884,255 for a new type of digital chess clock. Fischer's clock gave each player a fixed period of time at the start of the game and then added a small increment after each completed move. The Fischer clock soon became standard in most major chess tournaments. The patent expired in November 2001 because of overdue maintenance fees. Fischer's historical ratings from chessmetrics.com are very impressive. Although international ratings were only introduced in 1970, chessmetrics uses modern algorithms to rank performances retrospectively and uniformly throughout chess history. Fischer's peak rating was 2895 in October 1971. His one-year peak average was 2881, in 1971, and this is the highest of all time. His three-year peak average was 2867, from January 1971 to December 1973–the second highest ever, just behind Garry Kasparov. Chessmetrics ranks Fischer as the #1 player in the world for a total of 109 different months, running (not consecutively) from February 1964 until July 1974. Fischer's great rival Mikhail Tal praised him as "the greatest genius to have descended from the chess heavens." American rival Grandmaster Arthur Bisguier, who could win just one of the 15 tournament games he contested against Fischer, wrote "Robert James Fischer is one of the few people in any sphere of endeavour who has been accorded the accolade of being called a legend in his own time." Speaking after Fischer's death, Serbian Grandmaster Ljubomir Ljubojevic said, "A man without frontiers. He didn't divide the East and the West, he brought them together in their admiration of him." In a sympathetic mention of Fischer while promoting his recent book, Kasparov wrote "he became the detonator of an avalanche of new chess ideas, a revolutionary whose revolution is still in progress." 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Some years ago I was watching the film "Boogie Nights" with Mark Wahlberg & Burt Reynolds, when elements of the story seemed a little familiar to me. I then realised that this film was loosely based on the life of porno star John Holmes. A number of events in the film were true but just what is the truth about Holmes himself. There have been a good few tales circulating about his life before he got into the porn film business. One of these stories was that as a boy of about fifteen, he was the sex slave to a madam in a brothel in Germany, as his family lived there for a few years. He was also said to have been in demand from women everywhere due to his fame of having a huge penis. Alas, these stories, which incidentally, were spread by Holmes himself, were simply untrue. It transpired that Holmes was an exceedingly shy young man and was therefore a very late starter, sexually, despite his huge tackle. He did get a start in porn films and quickly became in demand for porn makers, and he eventually made around three thousand films, mainly short films, though he did make some towards feature length. he did play a cop or secret agent in a series of films; in "Boogie Nights" Dirk Diggler played Brock Landers, a play on the character Holmes played. He also was in demand as a gigolo and it is claimed, as a stud for gay men. Inevitably, Holmes went on the downward slope. He was a very heavy user of cocaine and became chronically addicted to it, doing absolutely anything to get his hands on money for drugs, and betraying constantly, the people whom were desperately trying to help him. He did get involved in an incident, a robbery at a house(as portrayed in the film) that went wrong. Eventually, Holmes had no friends and even his loyal girlfriend had her patience pushed to the absolute limit. But, his lifestyle caught up with him and he was found to have contracted AIDS. This signalled the death of his career as an adult performer. His girlfriend did marry him but they were unable to have sex. I remember a feature on this in the newspapers, and Holmes looked pale and gaunt, a mere shadow of his former self. He died from the disease, and debate raged about whether he caught it from a porn actress, a woman client, or one of the men he occasionally serviced. His death was used as a warning over very casual sex or getting involved in porn but it has not made one ounce of difference. Any stories you hear about Holmes, about incredible adventures he supposedly had, take it with a pinch of salt, as Holmes constantly lied about everything, and he lied so much, he lied to cover lies, which were lies covering lies! What is not in dispute are the films he made.

Tag time, people! My thanks go to The Orangutan Librarian for tagging me for this one… Goes without saying- please take a moment to check out the lovely fellow book blogger! Then again, I highly doubt you don’t already know The Mighty Orangutan who deals out the fairest and juiciest and healthiest bananas for books! Name a cartoon that you love Uh… first ‘question’ and I’m already short of an answer. Of course I watched cartoons as a child (mostly Russian ones) and the latest ones I watched were with my very immature metal guy friends/housemates about 11 years ago (Metalocalypse and another ‘cartoon’ that I rather not name here XD ). But thinking about the Russian cartoons, my favorite was Black and White Dog. My folks are still teasing me that I always cried when the cartoon ended… pfft- I was a child! Of course I cried when the cartoon ended! 🙂 The below episode is actually a pretty good demonstration about the addiction that is reading. What is your favorite song right now? Different tunes for different days. Here are the three songs that I keep going back to… Leo does fantastic metal/acoustic covers of pop songs and I’m a huge fan because he’s so talented with instruments and my very picky ears love his metal voice. Seal’s Kiss from a Rose cover is just so good… and all his other stuff is very good as well… I love this instrumental so much… the minute I put this song on, I’m energized! It also makes me want to sit behind my drums… it makes me want to go back in time about 9 years… to a specific room, with those gigantic speakers, good company and just feel the drums and bass reverberate through me! Ahhhh… And then I can’t get past Slipknot for another energy boost… the video is quite graphic but I ❤ this song! What could you do for hours that isn’t reading? If I did have the time, I would spend it hiking and camping. Alas my personal adult life is balls and sometimes the ‘nice to do‘ just doesn’t happen because there’s a whole pile of ‘have to do‘. I’d just want to spend all my days walking through forests and sitting on moss and swimming in bog lakes… What is something that you love to do that your followers would be surprised by? Surprised by? I’m hardly that interesting… I do love the rural life… so, picking berries, mowing grass, chopping wood, raking leaves, shoveling snow. The physical outside stuff that makes my limbs tired. End the day with a hot sauna and a cold beer and I’m happy. What is your favorite unnecessarily specific thing to learn about? Pah.. no learning experience is unnecessary, I think. I was going to say that I like to read up about all sorts of human experiments that have happened… but it’s not unnecessary.. it’s being informed. By the way, have you heard about The Stanford Prison Experiment? Check it out… What is something unusual that you know how to do? Gosh, what are these questions? I feel like I can hardly ever live up to these questions… I’m just a really average Jane Soap normal human being, doing normal human being shit every darned day… 😀 I know what roots to eat in the wilderness should I ever get lost. Does that count? I know how to filter water with rocks and gravel and I know how to catch fish with a plastic bottle! That’s hardly unusual though!? I know how to chop wood so that it’s quick and efficient (meaning- steer clear of the knots because otherwise you’ll end up hacking for a while, branch knots are the most stubborn areas of timber). My favorite, however- I know how to do my grocery shopping without loitering in the way of every other shop visitor! *looking at you, you slow, indecisive, path blocking human being! you can daydream at home!* Name something that you made last year and show us if you can. (It’s official, this tag is making me feel like a complete waste of space!) 😀 What is your most recent personal project? Again- quite everyday things: take my driving test (finally, because I’ve been ignoring it), I’m currently in the process of redecorating the living room and bedroom (floor to ceiling) and then there’s the lifelong personal project- staying alive! har-har-har Tell us something that you think about often? You sure you wanna know? The below answer is one of the most personal things I have revealed other than my family and husband… I don’t like to talk about those things to people who I don’t know entirely well, because these topics can’t just be served as snippets.. there’s a whole lot more thought process behind them and debates to be had so… sure, you can call me naive afterwards, you can call me bitter, you can call me weird. Alas, the question demands an answer and I feel like purging! Proceed at your own risk! 🙂 Quite often I think about how the ever loving fuck did we manage to mess up our planet and society so badly?! Do you not think some days that, hang on there, why is it that on a very sustainable environment we let ourselves be ruled by money? Or, why is it that we care more about the latest technology gadgets/handbags/shoes/watches/houses/cars than we do about connecting with nature? Or, why is it that we are finding all sorts of ‘systems’ (financial, religious, political) hard to cope with and yet we can’t seem to come to a consensus that we all deserve equal rights, equal measures, equal respect and actually bring about a drastic change to make things better for everyone? And, how can some people live all their lives without doing a day’s worth of hard work but spend every single day of their lives moaning about chipped nail polish and plastic asses? How can a 16 year old girl not know that a cow’s baby is called a ‘calf’? How does a 30 year old woman not know where potatoes come from? When did we reach the point in humanity that we’ve become so disconnected that we think food comes from supermarkets? Why does the politician who royally screwed up still gets a substantial amount for a pension? What, pray tell me, did they work so HARD on (and don’t tell me responsibility matters as well, because they’re never freaking held accountable!) to deserve it? Don’t you find it funny that they pay money to already rich celebrities to send them on holidays so that they can make a TV show out of it and then show it to the middle class folks sitting at home at the end of a hard day’s work while they’re eating their beans on toast because payday is another 2 weeks away? Why is it that when a civilian breaks the law they get prison but when someone important breaks the law they get a fine? Now I know, some of these questions can be simply answered with a simple fact that every human being walking on this planet is different, with different aims, goals, aspirations and agendas and I actually know that there is NO middle ground that would find a solution to make everyone happy… anyway.. I feel this answer is dragging on and I’;m far from making my point but you can kind of see why these kind of topics need to be discussed in length to be able to really elaborate on a POV… simple fact giving can piss off a lot of people sometimes because they take away the message from any statement that fits their beliefs, motives and POVs… Give us something that is your favorite, but make it oddly specific. 5:30am. Random day in July. A big deep lake in a bog. Silence. Sun rise. Cold air, warm water. Birds, spiders, bugs. Heather under bare feet. Cobwebs covered in dew. Freshest of fresh air. Eye as far as can see. Not a single soul in sight- solitude, peace and silence! Say the first thing that pops into your head. TAG- YOU’RE IT!

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A look at fashionable women's 1950s hairstyles, as well as influences on hair fashion and the common hair accessories. 11 Best skin Whitening Creams, fairness Creams in India: 2018 reviews "A critical review of the couvade syndrome: the pregnant male". (Andersom is minder het geval overigens.). "Het zijn kleine gebaren van masca solidariteit die een grote betekenis hebben voor de mensen die met overprikkeling na hersenletsel leven aldus Ariana van Schaaijk. #14: going All Natural Whether we are talking about boho waves or any kind of natural hairstyle, we saw it all on the runway shows during the different Fashion weeks. (PR pitches sent to this address will be ignored.). expectant Thai fathers". (1 fbk-pharma GmbH (1). ( mannelijke ) haargroei. #10: All at the top While the ponytail from the nape of the neck was a huge hair trend for the fall and winter seasons, we were also treated to some incredibly awesome sky-high 1960s hairstyles. #16: Luxurious Blow-Outs Blow-drying your hair need not be a daunting experience to do on your own at all, at least that is how we feel about the subject. "As far as cuts go, i think people are going to really stick with long hair styles or a nice clean bob polko predicts. "A qualitative exploration of the couvade syndrome in expectant fathers". Aveda Dry remedy hair #2: Bohemian waves, the prettiest hairstyle trends for the spring and summer seasons were indeed the simplest as well. "Taxonomy of the Sheitel". (noroc ca imi creste totusi destul de greu). (St.) deutscher Titel Originaltitel Erstausstrahlung usa deutschsprachige Erstausstrahlung (D) Regie drehbuch d"n 178 1 Sehr erfreut, walden Schmidt Nice to meet you, walden Schmidt. "We gaan lean implementeren! "Astronaut cuts her hair in space for charity". #6: chi keratin leave-in Conditioner — salon quality leave-in with Keratin The chi brand is synonymous with quality, luxurious ingredients, and delicious fragrances and this Keratin leave-in Conditioner is no exception. #9: Bring it total Half Up, leave it Half Down The half up and half down look is a common one from our childhoods when our mothers wanted our pretty locks to fall free while keeping the tendrils far away from the face. 'bodystress' ontstaat doordat het lichaam, door overbelasting, spierspanning vasthoudt. "The couvade syndrome: Background variables". (De cand imi fac masti cu ulei de ricin parca a crescut totusi mai rapid). "The bob will be the biggest trend they tell me, pointing out that the cut's malleability is the reason it never really goes out of style. (38 patiënten) - aanwezige patiënten op afdeling E2va op (26 patiënten) Totale onderzoekspopulatie 64 patiënten Survey onderzoek: - stellingen - open vraag Inclusie en exclusie criteria literatuurstudie 22 artikelen op basis van inclusie en exclusie criteria - complementaire zorg algemeen: diagnose van kanker is niet. "Sympathetic Pregnancy: Is couvade syndrome real?". (February 8, 2002 "The irritable male syndrome reproduction, fertility and development, 13 (8 567576, doi :.1071/RD0109307 motluk, alison. #3: Sexy hair soy-tri-Wheat leave in Conditioner — best Option for Color Treated hair This leave-in conditioner by sexy hair is fortified with a soy-tri-Wheat complex and proteins to penetrate hair and give it the strength and moisture its been lacking. "Splitting hairs: History and the politics of daily life in Nineteenth-Century japan". (50mL spread a few drops in your palm, then apply to wet or dry hair. "In general, people have really been liking the consistent texture and beach wave style, just like the 'victoria secret wave' that everyone loves she says. #21: going for the Braids we do find a few braids here and there but they are nowhere near as popular as we would like them. (St.) deutscher Titel Originaltitel Erstausstrahlung usa deutschsprachige Erstausstrahlung (D/A/CH) Regie drehbuch 116 1 Das Wunschkind Taterhead Is Our love child. "Disease mongering of age-associated declines in testosterone and growth hormone levels". "Bright or artificial-looking hair colors will be a blast from the past next year. "Himba tribe hairdos created using goat hair and mud". "Waarschijnlijk is dit dieet het gezondste dat er is, het menselijk lichaam is gemaakt voor dit menu, " aldus Dewailly.". (Bukhari muslim Ibne maja, masnade Ahmed). "Things That go bump: a brief overview of couvade syndrome". . "Women Getting their hair Done at the Chez marie beauty Shop". (zoals sport ) op vaste dagen. "This might mean using different products, such as learning to use diffusers or using different sets to air dry. 10 Tips voor fijn haar#18: Soft Crimps While it wasnt as common a trend as many others, we did see models with crimps in their hair appearing on the runways, including the vanessa seward ladies with the cherry lips. "Het onderzoek wijst uit dat de Eskimo's een hoge graad van lichamelijke bescherming hebben tegen kanker en hart - en vaatziekten, " zegt Dewailly, onderzoeker van de universiteit van Lasalle. (Note:- pregnant woman are not allowed to take this medicine. ) If you have soft, and naturally wavy hair then you can go for a short, layered hair style. "I dont think people are doing much of the in-between anymore. (m/japanese- hair- straightening - thermal -reconditioning. (nyse: jill ) today announced that paula bennett will retire as President and ceo and Director. #6: deep Side partings, you can have a side part or a center part and both tablet are seen during the whole of 2015; it appears, however, that we see a lot of the deeper side parts which look really great with the thicker brows. (2) m/science/article/pii/S (3) (4). (More good news: you dont have to give up your go-to style completely; there are even a few ponytail updates in the mix.). ( Masca de păr cu teveel ulei de cocos si miere pentru orice tip de păr) Îl aplic inclusiv pe scalp ( am auzit că este eficient şi împotriva mătreţii, eu mă confrunt cu problema asta doar când folosesc produse prea agresive pentru pielea capului. (Slechte)koolhydraten vind u voornamelijk in de volgende voedingsstoffen: suikers, zetmeel, granen, alcohol, lactose, vezels, pasta, rijst, brood, noedels, soep, koek en sauzen. #22: hair Tucked into Clothes we became aware of one look that was rather intriguing, as if the hair was being protected from the elements by being tucked into the nape of the jacket, a manner by which the back of the neck could. "Low t shampoo the triumph of marketing over science « Science-based Medicine". (St.) deutscher Titel Originaltitel Erstausstrahlung usa deutschsprachige Erstausstrahlung (A/D) Regie drehbuch 73 1 Ich arbeite für Caligula working for Caligula. "Maar het is cruciaal dat hier in brede kring aandacht voor komt. (Food, cosmetics, body care, etc.) This black seed powder Ethiopia is a practical product for various. "They are really embracing their faces and face structures with the contour trend and major focus on eye makeup. "In 2016, we'll be taking out our braids she said. "Consider a look with a perfectly centered middle part or extreme side part. 3 veel Gemaakte fouten SportTips (September 2011) Studies have shown that the male partner cohabitating with a pregnant female will experience hormonal shifts in his prolactin, cortisol, estradiol, and testosterone levels, typically starting at the end of the first trimester and continuing through several weeks post-partum. #7: Center Parts From the 70s While the deep side parts did appear often enough, we were treated to those well-loved center parts as well. "The couvade syndrome—some further observations". #13: Big Bangs All Around we like bangs. #19: Retro hairstyles Come to the future some retro looks have long been considered the staple of the futuristic designs, which is where the rolls of the Christophe guillarme retro hair makes for an interesting option that may be taken into account come the 25th. #5: Pin Straight hair, whether the hair is bound or not, we see a lot of pin straight hairstyles, from the pretty designed low pony by Erin Fetherston to the long dior tresses and the simple nicole miller looks. (Körper-)Haarentfernung: Lästige härchen an beinen, Achseln oder in der bikinizone können ganz einfach mit Hilfe von verschiedenen Geräten wie epilierern, körperrasierern oder ipl-geräten entfernt werden. "Women veiling what is the hijab and Why do women wear it? (m/ niaserum -12-Topical- niacinam ide-serum/dp/B009xsw. #4: Garnier Fructis Sleek shine leave-in Cream — the best haar Inexpensive leave-in Garnier has been our favorite mass market brand for years, and this product is one of the best products theyve ever made. "The couvade syndrome: An Epidemiologic Study". #12: The ponytails It might do to give the ponytails their own heading for surely we say they appear at the nape and at the side, up high or down around the middle. (12mm-25mm) diameter using the welding tip of an oxy-acetylene torch. (St.) deutscher Titel Originaltitel Erstausstrahlung usa deutschsprachige Erstausstrahlung (D) Regie drehbuch 49 1 Vergiss den Techniker weekend in Bangkok with Two Olympic Gymnasts. (Pijn )klachten verdwijnen en gezondheid keert terug. (Meningen en eisen van) mensen en energiezuigers. "Enhancing and embracing natural hair texture with curls and waves solano predicts. "say goodbye to colors like hot pink and kelly green for 2016 she says. "International Space Station Imagery iss016-E-014192 verliefd (1 Dec. "Journal of Sunita williams". "Astronaut Cuts Her hair in Space for Charity". "The gift of Dastar sikhNet". #23: faux Bob hairstyles Short hairstyles are still hot, however, not everyone has the courage to chop their tresses just to look trendy that specific season. 12, best leave -in Conditioners for 2018, leave -in (Sprechrolle) 2012: She wants me 2012: Charlies Welt wirklich nichts ist wirklich (A Glimpse Inside the mind of gevoelig Charles Swan iii) 20122014: Anger Management (Fernsehserie, 100 Folgen) 2013: Scary movie 5 2013: Machete kills 2015: die goldbergs (Fernsehserie, folge barry goldbergs day off ) 2017. #20: Lots of Twists we have everything from the French twists to the knots on the runways, but we also have twists made on long hair that look positively amazing and something that might have come out of a the 100 or Hunger Games science. #1: The Classic French Twist with a modern makeover. (en nog wat andere dingen) maar over die specifieke. #11: Slick to Sleek do the slicked hair is a common enough sight when it comes to the fall/ winter hairstyles presented on the fashion week runways around the world, from New York to paris, milan and London. "Camping makes you richer in mind, body and soul " - researchers from the liverpool John moores University. "Selena gomez, chrissy teigen, tina fey, emma Stone, madonna, lauren Conrad, taylor Swift, lady gaga, and First Lady michelle Obama have all been spotted rocking and now talking about extensions. #17: The 60s bouffants we saw some designers take to the 60s like the majority took to the 70s era and it was a rather interesting combination when they decided to mix both into a single collection. #4: bound at the nape, one of the biggest fall 2015 hair trends seen on the fashion week runways was the use of a low profile so to say, with the ponytails and different styling techniques tied low on the nape. #1: Its a 10 Miracle leave-in Plus Keratin — the right hairstyles Choice, when it comes to the best drugstore leave-in conditioner, look no further than Its a 10 Miracle leave-in Plus Keratin. (St.) deutscher Titel Originaltitel Erstausstrahlung usa deutschsprachige Erstausstrahlung (A/D) Regie drehbuch d"n 11 a"n Tubensahne Three girls and a guy named Bud.

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For up-and-comer Valorie Curry, a career in acting wasn’t exactly a choice; it was something closer to a calling. “It’s all I’ve ever wanted to do,” says the twenty-eight-year-old California native, whose passion for the form was influenced most readily by a childhood spent in creative and collaborate spaces. In fact, it’s her mother who has the distinct honor of serving as the catalyst for Curry’s passions. “She was actually a high school drama teacher and she was going to college,” Curry recalls, “and growing up, I was dragged along to rehearsals, so as soon as I could walk and talk at the same time, if they needed a kid, they would use me.” Once she learned about her great-grandmother’s passion for acting, Curry’s drive went into full swing. “She was from this small town in Idaho and she ended up going to Hollywood in the 1920s to be an actress, but there was a tuberculosis outbreak and she died at 26,” Curry says. “I always remember that, and I carry a picture of her on location with me and when I’m working.” Curry broke into the industry at just nineteen years old, landing a recurring role on television’s cult classic Veronica Mars. “I was terrified almost every day,” Curry says. She took the job in the middle of a “rigorous acting program” at California State University, Fullerton, shuttling between the set and the classroom. Yet the challenge proved to be exactly what she needed. “It was a very good learning experience.” Curry looks back fondly on all of her learning experiences, both in and outside of the classroom, and credits them for cumulatively enriching the actor’s growing repertoire. “They’re tools that are incorporated into who you are as an actor and your entire perspective. The tools that are most useful are the tools you don’t have to think about.” Curry has come a long way since then, having been featured in a number of high-profile projects including, most notably, the second chapter of the blockbuster Twilight franchise, New Moon. Curry is also featured in the Kevin Bacon television thriller The Following, where she plays the right-hand woman of the show’s nefarious cult leader. And while her television career is in full swing, Curry isn’t one to count out a potential return to theatre, which she considers worthy of equal passion and practice as her work on the screen. “Film and theater are a shared DNA,” she says. “The motivations and inner thoughts of the character might remain more mysterious to the audience. Television, on the other hand, has to be more accessible to people… It’s important to relate to characters on TV because they’re characters that are coming into people’s homes every week.” That intimacy makes for an added obligation in the acting process. “As an actor, you have to let the audience and the camera in a little bit more on the process of what’s happening with the character.” For Curry, television is proving to be the medium pushing boundaries, most readily, creating a creatively exhilarating space for actors to play around in. “These are complex worlds with complex characters,” she says. “They are stories and shows that are challenging to the audiences. They’re not dumbing things down, and I get so excited to see audiences wanting that complexity, wanting that challenge.” According to Curry, this desire for more grounded and nuanced writing is what’s prompting a golden age in television. “I think that’s why the market is being flooded with wonderful material, and wonderful material for actors to work with.” She lives by an easy rule. “I remind myself to do what I love and follow my bliss, because I have to remember that time is limited.” Curry recently got picked up for season 4 of the Showtime hit, House Of Lies, which airs on 1/11/15. In the meantime check out The Untitled Magazine‘s full interview with Valorie Curry and pick up a copy of The Untitled Magazine‘s “Legendary” Issue 7 or download the free “Legendary” Issue App on iTunes now! Indira Cesarine: How long have you been performing? Valorie Curry: I grew up acting; I grew up doing theater. My mom was actually a high-school drama teacher, and she was going to college at the time. Growing up, I was dragged along to rehearsals. So as soon as I could walk and talk at the same time, when they needed a kid, they would use me. It’s what I always wanted to do. Growing up outside of LA, my parents were very protective and wanted me to have a normal childhood, so they wanted me to wait until I was eighteen to pursue film and TV. I went to college for theater at Fullerton and while I was there, I got my first TV job on Veronica Mars. It was actually one of those actor dreams that I didn’t even know I’d hoped for. It was small, a five lines co-star, and they ended up liking me and they brought the character into a recurring excerpt. I had never been in front of a camera before. Pretty terrified every day and just trying to act and find my feelings and figure out what everyone did, because I was terrified almost every day. It was a very good learning experience doing that while I was in school. I’ve been really fortunate. IC: What was your reaction when they told you that they were spinning the character into a larger role? VC: I had no expectation of that, so obviously I was thrilled! And being nineteen years old in school, for me, it was the same as being thrilled about things like getting my car, and being able to pay for school. It was all those very preliminary steps for me. It was opening up doors. I didn’t really realize what kind of doors they were opening; I was still in school at that point. IC: How much more schooling did you have in order to get your degree? VC: I kind of took the scenic route, because I left and then went back to school. I was in a rigorous acting program, and after my third year, I was really burned out, and I wasn’t happy. I decided that I was going to take some time out of school and try to work more in LA. Within a month, came the 2000 strike. Everything came to a screeching halt. I went back to school, but I took a semester off during this intense accelerated time. Instead of going back to my acting program in my final year, I went back to study set design, which was a wonderful time for me. It was really a creative way that I hadn’t really experienced beforehand. I was moving creatively with no wrong answers and it was exactly what I needed. I finished school quickly, and then I moved to Los Angeles. It was a couple of years before I was acting again. I wasn’t sure if I was going to do it. I was out of school and I was burned for taking that time off, everything with the strike, but then [acting] is all I ever wanted to do. I needed to give myself a minute to consider what I wanted, and if something else would make me happy. So I did a lot of things, a lot of odd jobs. It was a weird time, and I didn’t really know the industry. I was just getting started, so I didn’t know what was normal at that point. There were a great couple of years in LA where I did a lot of different things. Odd jobs to get by, like being a nanny. Some of the other jobs were things I was passionate about; I worked as an organizer for Peace Action West, which was an anti-nuclear, anti-war organization. That was incredible, and I did that for a while. I worked in a restaurant, I did waiting. I did a lot. After a couple of years, I went back into acting just to get my tail in the water to see if I liked it anymore. I did a short film for a grad student at UCLA. A short film called I Love You Like Crazy. It was eight days. It was a big deal to take eight days from waiting tables. I did that and I loved it in a way I hadn’t known before. IC: You also worked with Sex and the City, right? VC: Yes, one of the teachers came to Fullerton and taught a Master’s class. I did a summer intensive with him in 2007. And I loved it. It was comedy writing and improvisation. It was kind of, in a way, doing set design. It was so freeing, after coming from such a rigid program, to be in an environment where there were no wrong answers, and to really find my voice as a person and a performer. It instilled a confidence that I hadn’t had at that point. IC: Do you still draw on that kind of training when you’re on set? VC: I think with any kind of training, at least for me, it’s not necessarily something you look back and have that same approach. They’re tools that are incorporated into who you are as an actor and your entire perspective. The tools that are most useful are the tools you don’t have to think about. But the basics of it are absolutely the basis of acting. Another thing I loved about the teacher from Sex and the City was that there wasn’t a pressure to be funny. It was about being honest and listening and reacting on the moment—those are good acting tools in general. IC: Is there an actor or actress working now whose career that you are most taken by? Or whom you want to emulate the most? VC: Absolutely. I have actors who are heroes for me. Whose work do I admire the most? Cate Blanchett, Miriam Margolyes. That’s kind of it for me. Particularly Miriam, both of them have the effortlessness and total commitment to their characters. And they are so natural. I love them. I also know that Cate Blanchett used to work in theater in Australia. And what she does, that’s fantastic. In terms of young actresses and actors, I admire Brit Marling. I think she’s an incredible performer coming from the world of finance. I think all the strength, confidence, and intellect she brings comes from that world and makes her singular as an actress. IC: Would you say that sort of effortlessness is a key factor in making someone a legend or an iconic artist? VC: I think people react differently to different actors. Not every actress has that effortlessness. Some just have a grandeur to them. That’s one of the things about Meryl Streep. It’s so different from that delicacy, and she’s obviously one of the greatest legends of actors working right now. I think that’s one of the brilliant things about acting. People can relate and empathize with other actors. IC: How would you explain the difference between being on film, being on television, and being on stage, aside from the obvious differences from the space itself? VC: Film and theater are a shared DNA. They are creative and challenging. TV is a different approach, and so different from anything that I’ve been trained to do. When you’re training [for film or theater], it’s about the art and knowing your objective and knowing what the character wants, and you can’t necessarily do that in TV. You can’t create a story for yourself, because the next week, the writers could change it all into something completely different. It’s more about the person than it is the story. At the same time, I think that it’s important to relate to characters on TV because they are characters that are coming into people’s homes every week, so as an actor, you have to let the audience and the camera in a little bit more on the process of what’s happening with the character. IC: Do you think the rules for actors are changing in television? VC: I think that the content on television has risen exponentially in the past few years. They talk about it being the golden age of TV. It’s such challenging material, the characters aren’t so easily accessible and they’re not falling into these categories of good and evil. The story that audiences are watching week after week—The Following, Breaking Bad, Boardwalk Empire—all of those have complex worlds with complex characters. They are stories and shows that are challenging to the audiences. They’re not dumbing things down, and I get so excited to see audiences wanting that complexity; wanting that challenge, and I think that’s why the market is being flooded with wonderful material. It really is wonderful material for actors to work with. The budgets are so big now. IC: Is there a director with whom you want to collaborate most? VC: People always ask that. I love Kelly Reichardt. I love Sarah Polley; they make such wonderful characters. I’m also a huge Guillermo del Toro fan. His work is all so great. What names am I not thinking of? Those are the people that I love. I also love independent films, which you can probably see from the names I’m saying. I think there is good content across the board. IC: Did you have a mentor growing up, or is there one you have now? VC: You know, it’s weird to say that there isn’t. I think it’s a conversation that I’ve had with a lot of actors. Frankly, a lot of young women who are actors are wanting to find someone to be that mentor. You hope for that, and I think that it sometimes takes a long time to find somebody to look up to. It’s one of the unfortunate side effects of being in an industry that is so competitive. Finding somebody who is not only relating to you as an actor, but with whom you also don’t have that sense of competition. I’ve been fortunate enough to work with incredible actors and directors in the past couple of years and I take every opportunity that I’ve spent with them as an opportunity to learn. But, no, I haven’t yet found that person to look up to. I’m open to it; I’m accepting applications! IC: What is your favorite project that you’ve worked on so far? VC: Favorite project so far? They’re so different that choosing would be impossible. Obviously, The Following is always going to have a precious place in my heart for how much it’s changed my life. Frankly, it was the first high-profile role that I’ve had. It’s been a once in a lifetime opportunity. I’ve worked with incredible people and I’ve learned so much. I also did an independent film, Out of Darkness, where I worked with Kyra Sedgwick, and it was completely different; twenty-five days in a house in Nashville making this already immersive film. It was very method and when you were on set, you were expected to be in character, because you never knew when they were going to just pick up a camera and start filming whatever it was that you were doing, and that’s an actor’s dream, it’s amazing. Sitting up at night and talking, it’s kind of like school again. I’ve had some amazing opportunities. A group of friends and I started a company in Los Angeles that’s now going into it’s fifth season and I haven’t been able to do as many projects as I’d like because I’ve been busy working. It’s impossible for me to choose my favorite project at this point. IC: Are there any words of wisdom that you live by? VC: I mean, there are a lot of different ways of describing what I hold myself to and what I try to remind myself to do, and I can put this in terms of a story that I always remember. My great grandmother wanted to be an actress in the 1920s. She was from this small town in Idaho. She ended up going to Hollywood to be an actress, and she died young. There was a tuberculosis outbreak and she died at twenty-six. I always remember that, and I carry a picture of her on locations when I’m working. I remind myself to do what I love and follow my bliss, because I have to remember that time is limited. That’s what I live by. Interview by Indira Cesarine Photography by Jonathan Bookallil Fashion Editor: Indira Cesarine Fashion Assistant: Chris Kim Hair by Katsumi Matsuo Make-up by Cheyenne @ Artmix Beauty This article originally appeared in The Legendary Issue of The Untitled Magazine (2014).

Hugh Hefner had a mansion filled with models and actresses. Donald Trump is married to a supermodel. How do they attract women like that? You need to think like an alpha male. Evolutionary psychology has provided mountains of data on why women choose the mates they do… and it all boils down to one thing:. What man can give her babies the best chance of survival? Remember Darwin? Survival of the fittest is alive and well in the realm of online dating. David Buss, Ph. Best online dating profiles for men Here are 4 of the biggest red flags of online dating. Part of learning how to write a good online dating profile is learning what not to write. Their profiles are full of rookie mistakes:. At first glance, he seems like a good guy. 1. “Be honest from the beginning! · 2. “Don’t just say hi, personalize your message at least a little. · 3. “When you take a picture for your profile. As any serial dater will tell you, dating is almost a full-time job — and it can quickly descend into tedium. Here’s how to change things up. In romantic comedies and soap operas, relationships and love affairs just happen, but as any serial dater will tell you, dating is almost a full-time job — and it can quickly descend into tedium. So delete the lot, go back to basics. Pick really random things. Then get a third opinion. Dating in is upfront and direct; nobody is messing about. Charming is sexy. It is. You probably have a favourite bar or restaurant to meet your dates — a failsafe locale that always helps the night go well. 4 Huge Mistakes Guys Make in Their Online Dating Profiles If you are 40ish and beyond and brand new to online dating, you are probably incapable of truly comprehending the depths of the insanity. You think you know. But this is one of those experiences that you cannot fully appreciate until you are immersed in it. My hope is that this story answers some basics for those contemplating jumping into the increasingly murky online dating waters! One of the reasons that online dating, in particular, is ridiculously confusing is that so few people men and women are honest. If you like her, ask her out. Brooke Lewis. As a single gal in Los Angeles who has been online dating for over 10 years, I have earned my stripes as a dating expert and a dating drama queen. I have experienced and survived all the dramas of online dating and still remain a hopeful romantic. I am here to share some coaching advice and guide and support you on your online dating journey:. Some dating sites are known and respected for finding love and some are notorious for attracting singles looking for action or a quick hookup. There are no judgements here, as people are coming from different places in their love lives. Do your homework and choose the site s that are right for you. You do not want to create a false perception of yourself, in either a positive or negative way. Have a trusted friend or co-worker look over your profile and allow them the space to be honest. If you have children, be honest about it. If you have pets, be honest about it. Online dating: Aim high, keep it brief, and be patient Online dating can sometimes feel soul sucking. A time sink. A crap shoot. It can even feel demoralizing and frustrating…. The world of online dating is filled with guys who are desperately seeking out any attractive girl. These guys provide no challenge to women and as a result women. I look back and wince at how often I allowed men to make me their email pal or phone pal. You see, I figured they picked me out of every other woman to speak with. So in return, it was my female duty to let them yak for hours about themselves and their days. But guess what… no date ever came out of a single one of those nighttime talkers. I had to learn the hard way how to set boundaries and move interesting men through the process to get first and second dates with them. Where is that guy? This happens because you paint a picture in your mind of who someone might be based on a couple of paragraphs and a small profile picture. I usually recommend you let men contact you. I always found it fizzled when I was the first to get the ball rolling. Now that being said, I know of two very good relationships where the woman contacted the man first. Keep emails to a minimum of three to five each between you. Beyond that, you are becoming his pen pal. Seven Game-Changing Tips to Mastering Online Dating It can be a real eye-opener,” says Jakovljevic. The number one mistake guys make is writing about their traits rather than demonstrating their traits, Jakovljevic says. Steer clear of eliminating prospective dates, e. Keep it positive. Imagine a shot of you in action playing pool, focusing on making a shot,” he says. You want your prospective match to wonder, “How did he pull that off? Personalize your greeting. The rules of dating have changed. Forget that stuff about playing hard to get, expecting the man to pay, and never having sex on a first date. Read on to discover the new rules of engagement. The writers are doing themselves no favours. Confidence is sexy; arrogance is not. The aim of the online dating game is to catch the eye of someone you have lots in common with. You do this by being original and, above all, specific about your interests. State which tracks you enjoy, and your favourite place to see your friends. Specific information does more than make you sound interesting — it also gives potential dates something to write to you about. Identifying The Best Dating Sites and Apps For You Please refresh the page and retry. M odern dating is far less rule-based than it used to be. Fifty years ago, it was expected that the man would make the first move, pick up the bill, and generally be in the driving seat. By its very nature, dating is a little bit nerve-racking and risky. All wanting to find that special someone they can go out for drinks with on a Saturday, and curl up with UberEats and Netflix on a Sunday. This may be shocking news given the commitment-phobic reputation my fellow XY chromosome brood have acquired. There are tips out there that will work wonders for one guy but do absolutely nothing for the other. So make sure that the advice makes sense to you and aligns your personality. After all, your date will know! Be wary that some of the information you come across may hinder your dating progress as opposed to improving it. After some heavy research and a boat load of feminine contributions, I have compiled a collection of essential dating tips men need to use. Like all new things, it takes time to get comfortable and become somewhat good at it. So, understandably at the beginning of this dating journey, you might be feeling discouraged, unmotivated, closed-off or even wondering why you’re bothering. That slightly faded, sort of ripped jumper or sweater as you North Americans say you consider lucky might want to stay at home when it comes to meeting your date for the first time. Or wear it but wear it with confidence – you can look good in anything if you wear it with swagger. Show the girl that you care about yourself.

As the evenings start to get lighter and daffodils emerge from the sodden ground, we know that the British spring is approaching. However, other than the Welsh celebration of St. David’s Day, festivals in March are few and far between in the UK. Luckily for us, this spring month is jam-packed with festivals around the world. On 1st March, Romanians celebrate the coming of spring by giving (female) friends and family members brooches attached to red and white string as tokens of friendship and respect. People say these marțișoare bring luck and health for the rest of the year, with the red string representing the heat of summer and the white the cold of winter. Some believe that the colours originated from the legend of Baba Dochia. This old woman was angry with her son for marrying his love without her permission. As punishment, she set her new daughter-in-law the impossible task of washing black sheep’s wool until it turned white. While she struggled, a mysterious man appeared and gave the girl a red flower which turned the wool white when she put it in the water. Baba Dochia, seeing the red flower and believing that spring had come, set off up the mountain. As she climbed, she took off her twelve coats – before freezing to death at the top. Another tradition is for women to choose a day between 1st and 9th March as their baba. The weather on that day represents what their fortunes will be for the rest of the year. With the celebration of International Women’s Day following a week later, March can be a lucky month for some! If you’re in Poland on 21st March, don’t be alarmed to see groups of children burning and drowning dolls straw whilst singing traditional witch-burning songs. These dolls represent the witch Marzanna, the Slavic goddess of winter, plague and death. This pagan tradition signals the banishing of winter and the coming of spring. Fans of scrambled eggs, head to Zenica in Bosnia on 21st March for all your dreams to come true. Symbolising birth and new life, eggs are scrambled in huge quantities – reports state 1500 eggs! The whole town gathers to eat eggs, and a barbecue and party follows for the rest of the day. Some daring people even decide to jump into the river for the first swim of the season. Sounds eggs-iting! Possibly the loudest March festival around the world takes place in Valencia between 1st-19th March. Las Fallas originates from an old carpenters’ tradition of burning wooden parots, used to prop up lights during winter. Gradually, carpenters started adding to the bonfires, or fallas, including giant dolls called ninots on the top. Nowadays, neighbourhood groups construct over 750 fallas and parties take place in the streets. People throw firecrackers known as masclets, eat paella and wear traditional dress. Stick around long enough to practise your Spanish and to see the incredible final spectacle of the burning of the fallas. If you’re looking for a quieter festival around the world, head to Bali for the Hindu lunar new year. On the eve of Nyepi Day, papier-maché giants called ogoh-ogoh parade the streets before being burned to banish evil spirits. Nyepi Day itself is a day of silence, fasting and meditation. No one goes to work, everything is closed (including the beaches) and electricity use is minimal. The only people you would see in the streets are security and emergency services. Nowruz is the Iranian new year which is celebrated around the world on or around 21st March. In the days beforehand, spring cleaning takes place in earnest to prepare for the new year. Families prepare a haft-sin for Nowruz, which symbolises their hopes for the year to come. Traditionally, this includes the Seven S: grass, dried fruit, apples, garlic, sweet pudding, vinegar and sumac. The tradition of including a goldfish and releasing it into the wild at the end of the holidays, although popular, is controversial. Animal rights activists have asked people to replace the goldfish with a plastic version or an orange. Another tradition is to build and jump over public bonfires, repeating, ‘Give me your beautiful red colour, and take back my sickly pallour!’. In addition, children bang on pots and pans with wooden spoons until people fill them with sweets! With FlashAcademy® you can learn English from 39 home languages, including Farsi, Indonesian, Spanish, Polish and Romanian, with more languages from around the world coming soon. We’d love to hear from you if you celebrate these spring festivals or any others! Let's Stay in Touch Sign up to our newsletter and we'll send you free resources, exclusive discounts and language learning tips. Just add your email below.

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Depth Psychology: The moon is a symbol of femininity and eroticism; also of a woman’s buttocks—particularly in mens dreams. Upright Moon Meaning. (Also see Astrologer; Crescent; Eclipse; Night)... Islamic Dream Interpretation. The moon in a dream also represents one’s bosom friend, an unjust governor, his chief minister, his assistant, a gambler, an oath, recovering from an illness or suffering from eye irritation. Moonlight in english language. A full moon: your love for another person is becoming intense, and beautiful experiences await you. The moon is an interesting symbol that connotes feminine energy; it is associated with the irrational and the intuitive. To dream of seeing the moon with the aspect of the heavens remaining normal, prognosticates success in love and business affairs. You have to work in the moonlight because there aren’t enough hours in the day. To see a blood red moon, indicates war and strife, and she will see her lover march away in defence of his country. Vision: Seeing a frill moon in your dream: your affairs are proceeding well … The magnitude of her beauty will depend on the magnitude of the moon’s beauty. Get live advice today from Moonlight Goddess in Love & Relationships at KEEN. The waxing crescent symbolizes new beginnings and growth. By Robert Johnson Many years ago a wise friend gave me a name for human love. If someone dreams of the Moon being in his or her lap while he or she is holding it, it is a glad tiding that he or she will be blessed with a boy who will be of much benefit to him... Islamic Dream Interpretation, Divinely inspired with wisdom to enlighten others... Dream Dictionary Unlimited. Again, his Beauty will depend on the beauty of the moon.... Islamic Dream Interpretation, Copyright © dreamencyclopedia.net - 2020 To dream of moonlight is generally a good omen. The condition or fact of being related; connection or association. I knew I shouldn't have left it out here overnight. The sun and the moon in a dream represent one’s father and mother. To see a normal moon in a normal sky resplendent with stars denotes that you will have success with love or money but if the moon is peculiar or weird then you will meet with many disappointments and a cheating spouse. The Relationship of Life. (National Dream Book). Check out Relationship Hero a site where highly trained relationship coaches get you, get your situation, and help you accomplish what you want. An astrological symbol relating to the emotions. To the degree that the moon is not full, one’s life is not full. There’s not a lot of promotion around the film; few know what it’s about. 3. (See also moon) Lookup dream dictionary, dream … This phrase is often used in the negative to emphasize difficulties in a romantic relationship. In Pagan times, it was suggested that she ruled men’s emotions and guarded women’s intuition. A New Moon is fortunate for business; a Full Moon for love affairs. It may therefore symbolize (the possibility of) personal growth.... A Dictionary of Dream Symbols. The great mother, the darker, unknown side of self, is symbolized by the moon. has grown into a teenager. : luck in the marriage, - a happy family. “Everything we did was in real locations, which was important for us to create that authentic sensibility that Moonlight is supported by. Moonlight, in many ways, is a meditation on the wounds inflicted upon Chiron by his mother, his classmates, and the largely disinterested institutions of the state. Ali Gatie’s “Moonlight” has found a strong audience with more than 18 million Spotify streams to date. It is one of those rare pieces of filmmaking that stays completely focused on its characters while also Avoidance of responsibilities, obligations, possibly bad behavior, To dream you are on your honeymoon means there is going to be a “rude awakening’ coming to you in the very near future. Holding the moon in a dream means receiving a gift from a ruler or a rich person. Chasing moonlight: The True Story of field of Dreams' Doc Graham The study explores the dynamics of moonlighting , demographics, human capital and association of occupations between primary and … It is a coming-of-age story and youth romance set during 19th-century Joseon Dynasty based on the novel Moonlight Drawn by Clouds which was first serialized on Naver in 2013 and consequently published as a five-part series of books in 2015. To be very enjoyable and pleasant, especially of a romantic situation. Dreaming of the moon evokes the ancient symbol of the stages of the feminine—maiden, maid, and crone. Its constant changing shape and wandering across the sky establishes the moon as a symbol of the cyclical nature of life. The full moon is a symbol of hope when times are difficult; a waxing crescent moon may symbolize gestation or new ideas; a waning crescent moon, ambivalence or a life force that is weakening; the black or invisible moon, death; and the new moon, rebirth. If a rich person sees clouds covering the moon in a dream, it means losing his wealth. Tags: Moonlight meaning in English. A dream of the new moon indicates harmony and congeniality for lovers. Mystic Dream Book. Moonlight Drawn by Clouds) is a South Korean television series starring Park Bo-gum and Kim Yoo-jung with Jinyoung, Chae Soo-bin and Kwak Dong-yeon. Moonlight exceeded my expectations: Jenkins, with his superb eye for detail, can pack a small universe of meaning into just a second or two. If the Moon is clouded over, it shows ill-health, or some other interruption to your comfort and enjoyment. If a pregnant woman sees herself trying to reach the moon with her hand but to no avail in a dream, it means that she is wishing to have a son. Moon’s changes: life, death, rebirth; the tides in our affairs. Seeing the moon in the position of Sagittarius in a dream means bad time for planting or seedling. This is the selfsame individual who, earlier in their relationship, Grace was enamored by her liveliness. Seeing the moon in the position of Aries in a dream means benefits for someone who desires to meet with high ranking people, though it could also have a negative connotation for someone who works in construction. Parent and offspring. For example, seeing a full moon means that you are closely in touch with your instincts and inner emotions. Moonlight is moving and mysterious: a dance to the music of time, in its way. you are my moonlight meaning. Sometimes it also symbolizes a woman or a handsome lad.... Islamic Dream Interpretation. Examples « moonlight is the smuggler's enemy » « the moon was bright enough to read by » Famous quotes « A truly great book should be read in youth, again in maturity and once more in old age, as a fine building should be seen by morning light, at noon and by moonlight. Dream Moonlight Dream Meaning Moonlight Dream Interpretation Moonlight in Dream Islam. If the Moon is new or in the crescent phase, you may not be aware of your own feelings with regard to specific circumstances. 2. To thieves, murderers, etc., it denotes justice; to invalids danger of death or shipwreck. There are always several meanings of each word in Hindi. The moonlight reflects the power of love and loyalty. If the moon turns into a sun in a dream, it means receiving honor and wealth from either one’s father or wife. No man is an island. The Fabric of Dream, According to Freud, the symbol of the buttocks (particularly a woman’s buttocks). 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(Guest post by Izzy Kamikaze) This is part of a longer (maybe much longer) work in progress about #coponcomrades – a recent social media kerfuffle here in Ireland, that seems quite instructive and worth spending more time on. I was writing Part One and Part Two at the same time, but Part Two finished itself first and so they are being published out of sequence. The story so far is basically that a young-to-me (35ish) very effective working class male activist has published a piece in a national newspaper, decrying “identity politics” and the notion that “a straight, white male” can carry any privilege if he is also working class. Amongst other responses, a group of feminist women have signed up to a joint statement, acknowledging the disadvantage of working class men, but otherwise disagreeing. The usual social media handbags at dawn has ensued. Two days ago, a male left wing poet has weighed in with a poem depicting 350 crazed neoliberal harpies and Part Two is my response to that poem. If you haven’t read the poem, you can find it here (and this contribution may not make much sense without it,) but if you’ve already seen it, meh…why give it any more clicks… Part 2: Plutonium Pants Suit I was pretty surprised yesterday to find myself a target of your satire. I’m Capitalism’s Handmaiden now, part of a chorus of “350 identical voices.” As feminist voices are indistinguishable to your ear and presumed to be the voices of privilege and neoliberalism, I thought I’d write, in a spirit of comradeship, to help you distinguish one voice from what you apparently see as a fem-bot army, raining death and destruction on the world from the weaponised genitals inside our “plutonium pants suits.” An appealing image, perhaps Kevin, but a false one. I’m writing to tell you it ain’t necessarily so. You don’t know me, but you usually tag me when you share your poems and I like that. Well-aimed political satire is one of the most subversive things we can do. I’ve often shared your poems and commented kindly on them – one about the Jobstown protest is a particular favourite and another about Clare Daly. Thank you for those. The words we handmaidens of capitalism sent out into the world were all about privilege, so that’s what I thought I’d write to you about now. My granny didn’t have a piano, stolen from a refugee or otherwise, but if she had one, she’d have been able to tune it. Her father tuned pianos for a living and she had learned from him. He also played the organ in the local cathedral, which came with a little social standing, but no cash. My Granny lived in poverty most of her lifetime, but was better educated than her neighbours in the council estate and was acutely aware of this privilege. There was a book on her few shelves called “Law for the Millions” and from this she dispensed legal advice to neighbours who couldn’t afford a solicitor. The “Button A, Button B” payphone in her front room was the only one in the estate and that’s where the neighbours came to keep in touch with their emigrant children, or to call a doctor when somebody had an accident. My Granny never had money in her whole lifetime. She scraped by on a widow’s pension for 30-odd years. I remember going to the coal merchant with my Granny just before Christmas. She paid for her own delivery, then handed him a few bob to bring coal to somebody who couldn’t afford it. My Granny’s voice is one of 350 voices, entirely distinguishable from each other, that pop into my head on any average day. My Granny was no intersectional feminist, but she wanted us to remember “there is always somebody worse off than yourself.” There is no plutonium pants suit in my wardrobe, Kevin. Just my leather jackets, faded jeans and the shirts and ties that still sometimes get me mocked in the streets by people you presumably feel have no privilege worth speaking about. When I was 24, I found myself living in Fatima Mansions. If you haven’t heard of it, it was a notoriously deprived council estate in Dublin’s South Inner City. I stayed more than 15 years and for most of that time, homophobic abuse was a daily part of my life. For a few months in the early 90s, I cared for a friend and former lover who was terminally ill. She died in the front room there, Kevin. She was tired of the hospitals and clinics, so she chose to die at home, but she had to go to the methadone clinic daily, so I used to scrub the piss and shit off the stairs so we could get down to the waiting taxi. I was afraid she might fall there. We had no money, so our lives were pretty limited, but one night she went out for a drink with a friend. She hadn’t been out for a long time and was very excited and I was pleased too, because I really needed a rest. When she came back that night, I opened the door and she was stood there on the doorstep, with spit running down her face onto her leather jacket. Her voice is another of the entirely distinguishable voices in my head. She left me all her papers to “write the true story of women living with HIV” and I hear that voice quite often because I haven’t kept that promise, but I got out of that place by getting a job and a mortgage that I’m still paying. So time is short and I only manage it in snatches like this one to you. The young men who did this were amongst the least privileged in our society and I stand squarely by their side whenever justice demands it. But did they enjoy straight white male privilege when they broke all my windows, wrote graffiti on my door or shoved shit through my letterbox? I say they did. And they had privilege too when they spat in the face of a dying woman, 32 years old, on her way home from her last ever night in the pub? I say they did, Kevin. And did I enjoy white privilege when they eventually bored with me and moved on to harass the black people who had started to move into our neighbourhood? It didn’t feel like much of a privilege, but yes I did. It was eight years before I had the money to bring her ashes to India as she’d asked me to. I went for six weeks and it’s still the only time I’ve been outside Europe. It’s interesting you should mention Union Carbide in your depiction of us, because I spent one of those six weeks volunteering at a centre for victims of the Bhopal gas disaster. That week was a small thing, Kevin and I’m looking for no medals for it. It was a drop in the ocean, but still, an act of comradeship rather than the unthinking rampage of one of capitalism’s handmaidens, in my entirely discountable opinion. The left has always had an issue with what it calls “identity politics” but I’m old enough and around both struggles long enough to remember that it used to have another name. When I was young and desperate to be accepted on the left, the term used was bourgeois individualism. The fight for individual human rights as basic as choosing who to live and love with was a manifestation of greed, not need, they told us. Depending on who you talked to, either all our problems would be solved after the revolution, or else we ourselves would cease to exist as our sexuality was nothing more than a symptom of bourgeois decadence. We were an unsightly pimple on capitalism’s arse. Either way, we needed to subsume our struggle to that of the huddled masses, until the glorious revolution came to grant us luxuries like not having to perpetually wipe spit from our faces (or else until it imprisoned us in the gulags, whichever turned out to be the case.) Identity politics needed to happen, Kevin, and still needs to happen. I was a teenager then and I have a grandchild now. The magical revolution that wipes all problems away is no more assured in her lifetime than it was in mine. I hope as a comrade you see why we couldn’t just wait. Sure, there were people who were assimilationist, who didn’t care at all if others remained without privilege, as long as they got some themselves. But that was never me, Kevin, and there were plenty more like me. I do try to live in solidarity with others. I know it’s never enough, but I know I try. I don’t know all the other voices you characterise as “identical,” but I do know they’re not identical and I’m pretty sure that they try too. In your poem, even my poor innocent genitals are reimagined as weapons of war, raining down horror on the Middle East. I feel as helpless as most comrades in the times we live in, but I’ve always been against war and struggled for peace. My enthusiasm for your poem about Jobstown isn’t just to do with that case. I’ve fought for the right to protest all my life. I’ve been arrested twice in my life, both times for anti-war protest – nothing compared to what homeless young working class men now face when they get treated like criminals for just trying to find someplace to sleep or rest or to use the drugs they can’t get through a day without, but still a mark that I’ve not lived my life entirely as a handmaiden to the military industrial complex. One of those arrests was as specious in its way as the arrest of the Jobstown defendants, as we never did find out under what law it was made. That protest was against American foreign policy, as obnoxious 33 years ago as it is today. The other sought the release of a pregnant woman activist, arrested in the USSR on false charges of assaulting a KGB officer. She was a target because of her involvement in the disarmament movement and her husband was frantic because he couldn’t find out where she was. Their plight would have meant little to one of the warmongering fem-bots of your imagination, but not being one of those, I did the little bit I could. Myself and four friends left the party celebrating my 21st birthday and we chained ourselves to the gates of the ambassador’s residence. We were there for a number of hours before we were cut off the gate and nobody could get in or out, during that time. No doubt we’d be charged with “false imprisonment” today, but luckily we weren’t and we made the papers. We helped to secure the release of that woman and I’d do it again in a heartbeat, if I happened again to be one of the first people to hear news of an unjust incarceration. I understand your instinct in writing the poem, Kevin. Word reached you of something you thought an injustice and you sat down to write in the same spirit as I chained myself to that gate. I know you heard our voices as a hate-filled chorus, but I also know you didn’t hear what we actually said. My feminism has nothing to do with Golda Meir or Indira Gandhi, nor the Hillary Clinton implied in the line about plutonium pants suits that must have seemed so very clever at the time. I’m rooting for Jeremy Corbyn, not for Teresa May. I’m no friend of power, but while it exists, may compassionate people hold it regardless of gender, not the clowns and tyrants that give me so many sleepless nights. I’m rooting for Corbyn, though the slogan “For the Many” gives me the heebie-jeebies. Sometimes the few-in-number are not the oppressors, but the tide turns against them anyway and they end up in the camps. Even the kindest ideology contains within it the seeds of oppression. We have to be watchful of ourselves all the time. There are intolerant versions of feminism and I’m happy to stand against them, but so far there’ve been no feminist gulags, where people are imprisoned for minor irregularities of thought or for having a little more than their neighbour has. Within a year of the much needed revolution in Russia, once the bright hope of working people around the world, the first forced labour camp opened. The dreams of freedom often end up dashed on the rocks below. The seeds of oppression are in everything that once stood for justice, but as yet no feminist bombs have rained on children in their beds. There are no piles of corpses to shame our talk of equality. It was somebody else’s dream of equality that went very bad. I promise to keep an eye out for injustice, Kevin. I promise to speak out where I see it and I hope you keep doing the same – will you join me in being as willing to listen as to speak out? Will we listen to each other’s voices first, before rushing to condemn? The focus on the assumed privilege of our 350 voices is something that puzzles me. It might make more sense if we’d claimed we didn’t have any privilege, but we didn’t say that. It definitely would make sense if we’d said “even the most underprivileged working class man on the street has more privilege than we have” but we didn’t say that either. What we tried to say was “everyone has privilege sometimes. That’s OK, it’s what you do with it that counts.” I hope you might hear this more distinctly when it’s one voice saying it, but I’m sure each of the others is on her own journey with the privilege she was born with and the privilege she was born without. I don’t know the circumstances of all the others. I’m sure some are middle class, but what of it? Eva Gore-Booth, born into the splendour of Lissadell House in Sligo, did more for the female mill workers of Lancashire than most male trade union leaders of less exalted origins. Her better known sister, Constance Markievicz, was the victim of many a sneer about her origins, but was so loved by the slum-dwellers of Dublin that they queued the full length of O’Connell St to file past her coffin. The Rebel Countess’s voice is often in my ear. In her youth, you might recall, she felt so strongly for the poor she “put [her] jewels in the bank and [bought] a revolver.” By the time she died at 59, she had nothing left to give away. Emma Goldman’s voice is another one that sometimes visits me. Nobody was more committed to class struggle than she was, but if she couldn’t dance, she didn’t want to be part of your revolution. Nobody thinks of her as an intersectional feminist, but she said this: “The history of progress is written in the blood of men and women who have dared to espouse an unpopular cause, as, for instance, the black man’s right to his body, or woman’s right to her soul.” The right to speak freely on matters of conscience is of vital importance and is not extended equally to everyone. We all have to grab whatever opportunity we can find. I’m glad we live in a country where, all of us in this story have been able to speak up as we see fit, even if we don’t all get the same platform and even if we find the criticism of others hard to take. I’m glad a working class man is free to say he can’t possibly enjoy any privilege, even though he’s saying it in the pages of a national newspaper whilst taking a PhD in Trinity College. I’m glad a bunch of feminists can disagree, singly or together, and share their feelings through a humble Facebook post that nevertheless gets a lot of exposure. I’m glad that people who disagree with us can have conniptions on social media about “search and destroy” missions, as if feminazis were training binoculars on their house prior to dragging them off to break rocks in the re-education camp of their paranoid fantasies. I’m glad that you are free to write a spectacularly ill-conceived poem about the whole affair and to publish it in an outlet that only a few weeks ago was equally free to share for clicks the footage of the shamefully heavy-handed arrest of a naked woman, the late Dara Quigley, another writer and activist, just like you and me. They ignored for hours the pleas of their contributors and readers to take it down, but I’m still glad there were no official censors kicking their door down (and I’m glad they eventually listened and took it down.) I see they’ve changed the picture above your poem and I’m betting they made less of a big deal about doing so, but I’m sure that doesn’t reflect any kind of privilege at work… I’m glad that I can respond to you as I’ve done here, even though my platform’s smaller and I’m glad you’re at liberty to pen further speculation about my alleged neoliberal sympathies and the fantasised misdeeds of my blameless grandparents. None of us is going to be dragged from our beds in the middle of the night for what we’ve said and I’m grateful. The worst that will happen to any of us is that other people might disagree with us and might say so, singly or in groups and I know from sweet experience (I try not to be bitter) that is totally survivable. It isn’t always that way in the world we live in. There are writers and activists in the world whose heads rest uneasy on their pillows tonight and it befits us all to recall that when we meet with some pretty civilised resistance to what we say. Let’s keep them in mind before accusing each other of censorship and war crimes. Let’s turn our attention together to real threats to our own speech. They are out there, Kevin and it’s not you or me. It would be good also to remember that feminism has always emphasised the importance of the individual’s voice – “the personal is political” – while socialism all too often demanded that the individual’s welfare and small voice be sacrificed for an allegedly greater good. Everybody has some privilege sometimes, Kevin. I would say that, even if they did come now to kick down my door. None of us is so lacking in privilege that we can be excused the necessity of listening to other people’s voices. None of us. The voices I’ve shared with you so far have all been women’s voices. I’m concerned that you might find them hard to tell apart. James Connolly is not usually thought of as an intersectional feminist, but perhaps his voice will land more easily on your ear than mine does. He put it this way: “The worker is the slave of capitalist society, the female worker is the slave of that slave.” I’m with Connolly on that one, Kevin. None of us is so lacking in privilege that we have not at some time benefitted from somebody else’s lack of privilege. Keep sending me your poems, please Kevin. Mostly I enjoy them. Yours in Comradeship, Izzy.

. Back in 1970 NYC marathon was a boring four-lap race in Central Park. Struggling for attention, it was re-planned in 1976 to cover all five boroughs of the city - Staten Island, Brooklyn, Queens, Bronx and Manhattan. It made it more exciting, for sure, but not any easier. In fact, all the bridges and hills made it even tougher, as it seems to go up and down the. TCS NYC Marathon RUNCENTER Donate Feedback Help New York Road Runners serves nearly 600,000 runners of all ages and abilities annually through hundreds of races, community open runs, walks, training sessions, and other running-related programming, with nearly 250,000 youth participating in free fitness programs and events nationallly, including 125,000 in New York City's five boroughs.. Virtual Assistant Helps at TCS NYC Marathon For New York Road Runners, 50,000+ runners means answering many questions. Client New York Road Runners . Industry Nonprofit . Services TCS Interactive Conversational Agent. Challenge. Enhancing the TCS New York City Marathon Race Week experience for runners and fans. The New York City Marathon, conceived and organized by the venerable New York Road. Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube Streakers and 15+ Marathoners will not receive credit for the canceled 2020 TCS New York City Marathon, but their streak will remain intact. Runners who would reach 15 marathon finishes if 2020 were run can reach out to Runner Services when the 2021 TCS New York City Marathon application opens Running everyday day 902 In september I said out loud that all I wanted for my birthday this year was to run the NYC Marathon and not even a week later the t.. TCS New York City Marathon - Virtual 26.2M Gagnez une place pour le marathon de New York 2020 ! Challenge terminé : 3 novembre 2019 Courez le marathon de New York en course virtuelle ! Cette année, vous pouvez participer de quatre manières différentes. Selon le niveau que vous choisissez, vous pouvez gagner une place pour le marathon de New York de 2020 ou une médaille de finisseur, ou. The NYC Marathon, along with its fellow U.S.-based marathon majors and the Berlin and Tokyo majors have been canceled in 2020. The only major that has not yet been canceled is the London Marathon. New York City Marathon 2020 / 2021 (TCS NYC) a 1 433 membres. This is the support group for the First Sunday of November 2020 also known as the New York City Marathon! Post Questions and Concerns here! Before posting, please use the search tool to search a couple words in the group before posting to help sort topic out All posts are considered. ABOUT TCS NYC MARATHON 2020. TCS NYC Marathon 2020. Non-NYRR time qualifiers: Entries for the 2020 TCS New York City Marathon have reached capacity. Pl... See More. Community See All. 171 people like this. 171 people follow this. About See All. Contact TCS NYC Marathon 2020 on Messenger. bit.ly/2PHjfzT . Sports Event. Page Transparency See More. Facebook is showing information to help you. I'll be attending my first NYC Marathon this Sunday, November 6th. As a spectator of course. The ING New York City Marathon is a yearly event, and is attended by people from all over the world. TCS NYC Marathon 2020. Event Info; Register; Donate $ Teams and Runners. Select A Team: Top Runners Holly Hurda $91,260 Russell Ernst $32,176 Eric Tostrud $15,000 Derek Hayes $6,095 Joyce Chu $4,205; Top Teams Kobers for the Cure $26,335 Peloton4Parkinsons $15,000 TEAM. Pour les femmes, le soutien-gorge Marathon Q Speed Run est également disponible pour 65$. Enfin, le gilet NYC Radiant Heat est disponible sous de nouvelles couleurs et est disponible pour 120$. Collection des Chaussures TCS NYC 2019. Pour cette collection, New Balance propose quatre modèles de performance populaires. Le modèle FuelCell Echo. TCS New York City Marathon - 320 West 57th Street, New York, État de New York, États-Unis 10019 - Note de 5 sur la base de 282 avis «Excellent experience.. ROCKLEIGH, N.J. (September 9, 2020) As this year's TCS New York City Marathon goes virtual, Volvo Car USA has announced Run for Volvo Cars Sweepstakes, where runners can enter t Jusqu'à 50 000 personnes courront, tandis que des millions de personnes les soutiendront. La semaine de la course apporte beaucoup d'autres événements connexes, y compris l'Abbott Dash à la ligne d'arrivée 5K, le TCS NYC Marathon Expo et le TCS NYC Marathon Pavilion à Tavern on the Green . Download TCS NYC Marathon and enjoy it on your iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. The TCS New York City Marathon App Powered by Tata Consultancy Services is an indispensable tool for connecting with the 2019 TCS New York City Marathon! New this year, check out incredible augmented-reality. 2e inscription pour moi au TCS New York City Marathon, édition 2020 ! Malheureusement le tirage au sort n'a pas été en ma faveur, j'ai dû trouver une autre solution.. 2019 TCS NYC Marathon debuts its new augmented reality app for runners with interactive bibs. Spectators can use cell phones to view an AR mural as well. In their sixth year of sponsoring, Tata Consultancy Services is debuting its TCS NYC Marathon app, available both in the App Store and on Google Play. It's an augmented reality app for runners and spectators to get the most out of the. TCS NYC MARATHON SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 1, 2020 The Cystic Fibrosis Foundation is once again a Silver Level Charity Partner of the TCS New York City Marathon which takes runners 26.2 miles through New York City! This year, we are not only celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the NYC Marathon, but we are also celebrating the 65th Anniversary of the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. Join the Breathe Team and. Guaranteed entry to the 2020 TCS NYC Marathon (runner pays entrance fee) Custom T2T NYC Marathon Gear; Personal fundraising link; Dedicated staff to support fundraising; Online training support (coaching) Custom training plans for runners of all abilities; Two (2) complimentary registrations for the Tunnel to Towers 5K Run & Walk NYC on September 27th ; Fundraising Requirements . A $50 team. Get to know the TCS New York City Marathon course as you prepare to run or watch the race. #tcsnycmaratho It's time, runners! Assignments for your start corral, wave start, and bib are NOW available for all registered marathoners! Please note: If you have run the ING New York City Marathon before, your.. Run the 2020 TCS NYC Marathon® with Vanessa's Team 11/1/20. Be part of Vanessa's Team this November 1st and celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the TCS NYC Marathon®. $5,000 fundraising minimum for applicants seeking a charity bib . $1,500 fundraising minimum for applicants with their own bib . RUNNERS WILL RECEIVE: An official entry into the 2020 TCS New York City Marathon. Custom team. NEW YORK (WCBS 880) -- Technology will play a big role in the runner and spectator experience in this year's TCS New York City Marathon. Gone are the days of simply tracking your runner's progress TCS NYC Marathon November 1, 2020. Be a part of the TCS NYC Marathon's 50th year celebration! Run the largest marathon in the world, through all five NYC boroughs. Starting off in Staten Island, running over the Verranzzano-Narrows Bridge that takes runners through Brooklyn, then up into Queens, before entering Manhattan. After a trip up into Bronx, runners head back down into Manhattan and. An official entry into the 2020 TCS New York City Marathon celebrating the 50 th Anniversary of the race. Custom team swag; 20 week marathon training plan and support from CharityTeams.com and TB12 for fundraising and training. Apply Here. Contact TB12 Foundation. The TB12 Foundation is represented by Goodwin Consulting. If you have a media request, please contact our team at (617) 650-2644. We challenge you to Dance for a Cause. Join the Choose Love Dance Club during the month of October so you can be part of the Reach Within Dance Marathon!. Choose Love Dance Club is challenging all members to dance for 30 days straight while raising funds for Reach Within rhythm-based programs.. For a reasonable monthly registration fee you will have access to daily online dance classes in a. Téléchargez TCS NYC Marathon et utilisez-le sur votre iPhone, iPad ou iPod touch. The TCS New York City Marathon App Powered by Tata Consultancy Services is an indispensable tool for connecting with the 2019 TCS New York City Marathon tcs nyc marathon by asics free download - TCS NYC Marathon, TCS NYC Marathon NonUS, ASICS Greater Manchester Marathon by ASICS, and many more program TCS NYC Marathon. Register Donate Why Join? The health and well-being of our patients is our top priority. We want to let you know that we have been monitoring the Coronavirus (COVID-19) situation closely and will provide any updates to you as soon as possible. We advise that everyone must make their own decisions with regard to managing their risk of exposure. We encourage anyone exhibiting. . Can't wait to do it again next year. #GoTheExtraMile . #GoTheExtraMile #TCSNYCMarathon #large. 5 years ago / 2 notes. c. z. @andinstitch: @andadapt you've finished your race, but your story has left a lasting impression of strength and determination. Airbnb + TCS NYC Marathon; Meet Simon; #GoTheExtraMile; Be A Host; Events; Stay in NYC; Derrick Hossain on Twitter: shoutout to @andadapt and his inspiring journey to the finish line!! We are with you Simon as you #GoTheExtraMile. #GoTheExtraMile #WhereIsSimon #NYCMarathon. 5 years ago. c. z. Once a New Yorker, always a New Yorker. Thomas & Frank, NY. 45 years here, there's only one. 383 Main Avenue, 5th Floor Norwalk, CT 06851 1-203-229-0464 The MMRF is a registered 501(c)(3) non-profit. Tax ID:06-150441 — TCS New York City Marathon (@nycmarathon) November 3, 2019 Gebre didn't receive an elite bib, but as a result of the men's slow pace through the first half, he was able to keep up The 50 th Anniversary of the TCS New York City Marathon is CANCELED due to COVID19. Apply to Race! Race and Registration Details: Date: November 1, 2020. Location: New York, NY. Join #TeamNDSS for the 50 th Anniversary of the TCS NYC Marathon! NDSS has been chosen as an official charity partner for the second time and we are thrilled to be part of the world's largest marathon Most recently, NYRR has made the difficult decision to cancel the 2020 New York City Marathon, which was scheduled to take place on Sunday, November 1, 2020. The 50 th running of the TCS New York City Marathon will take place on November 7, 2021. We hope you will consider joining Team Stop the Clot in 2021 Help support PAWS Chicago today Le Marathon de New York Tous les premiers dimanche du mois de novembre l'un des plus grand rendez-vous sportif à lieu. Il s'agit du prestigieux marathon de New York, dont la première édition a eu lieu en 1970, qui a compté près de 50 000 participants et 2,5 millions de spectateurs en 2017. Cette course pédestre de 42,195 Km emprunte chaque année depuis 1970 les rues de New York pour. TCS NYC Marathon. Nadia Jas Course, Running marathon, NYC Marathon, running, TCS 11 commentaires . Ou l'histoire d'une parisienne à NYC. Bientôt. En 2014, allongée et à bout de force, j'avais dit à mon entourage : « un jour, je ferai le Marathon de NYC ». Tout d'abord parce que j'adore cette ville et l'énergie qu'elle dégage, voir et revoir la famille et les amis. Aussi. Guaranteed Charity Entry into the 2020 TCS New York City Marathon After you register with TEAM PAWS Chicago, staff will enter you into the marathon. Official TEAM PAWS Chicago Singlet All TEAM PAWS Chicago members receive a TEAM PAWS Navy singlet. Official TEAM PAWS Chicago Top Fundraiser Singlet Once members reach their $3,000 minimum, they will receive their Top Fundraiser Singlet (color TBA. Race Results: TCS NYC Marathon, November 4, 2018 Race Results: TCS NYC Marathon, November 4, 2018 Race Results: George Wodicka Hook Mountain Half Marathon and 5K. Distance: 13.1 miles & 5 kilometers Date/Time: May 5, 2019, 8:00 AM Location: Rockland Lake. Posted in: Race Results. April 7, 2019 Race Results: Bill Fortune 10K & 5K - April 6, 2019 . Posted in: Race Results. November 26. Unfortunately this year, the NYC TCS Marathon has been canceled due to COVID but we're not gonna let that stop us. Our team of fundraisers will take part in a virtual marathon on November 1st in support of our poet-athlete in a safe and socially-distant manner. By running in support of America SCORES New York, the marathon team will help fund our unique soccer, poetry and service learning. COMPLET. Joyeux Anniversaire TCS NYC Marathon, 50 ans déjà !!! 13 septembre 1970, Central Park : 1ère édition du marathon de New York. Le prix du dossard atteignait alors la somme folle de 1 dollar et pour la petite histoire, le marathon comptait 127 inscrits dont 55 finishers.. Welcome to my blog! I feel that a race report on the NYC Marathon would be a great way to start this off. So lets dive right in! It has been over a week since my first go at the New York City Marathon. I love reading race reports from the perspective of fellow runners, so here is the 2017 TCS New York City Marathon from my viewpoint 2019 NYC Marathon. Des: Always Learning, Always Thinking, Even After 19 Marathons. By Sarah Lorge Butler Geoffrey Kamworor Wins NYC Marathon With Late Push. By Roger Robinson The Latest NYC. Télécharger TCS NYC Marathon sur PC . Publié par Tata Consultancy Services. Licence: Gratuit Langue: Français Catégorie: Sports Dernière mise à jour: 2019-10-25 Taille du fichier: 86.87 MB Compatibility: Requis Windows XP, Vista, 7, 8, 8.1 et Windows 1 RIOTING YES, RUNNING NO: The 2020 TCS NYC Marathon has been cancelled, four months in advance but with fears of coronavirus still in mind. The race was scheduled for Nov. 1. — NYC Scanner. Your registration remains valid for the TCS Amsterdam Marathon 2021 on Sunday 17 October. Check the FAQ here. Why you simply can't miss the TCS Amsterdam Marathon. Many different nationalities. On Sunday 18 October, runners from more than 140 countries will flock to Amsterdam for the TCS Amsterdam Marathon. Start and finish in the Olympic Stadium . The start of the marathon and the finish of. The TCS NYC Marathon app update will innovate the 48-year-old race Spectators at this year's NYC Marathon can see real-time race winners in the app and meet Pepper the Robot 2020 TCS NYC Marathon Join us on November 1, 2020 Donate To This Event. November 1, 2020. The stories of our athletes can be as unique as the stories of our kids. Each one comes to us with a desire to make a difference in their own lives and also in the lives of homeless youth. But no matter how they got to us, they will each take their own journey to the finish line. Covenant House is. TCS Marathon de New York Cityt - NYC - Inscription & Informations Pratiques contrastes 2 2016-12-06T11:00:59+00:00 Contrastes est depuis plus de 30 ans, le spécialiste des destinations d'exception, des itinéraires personnalisés et des grands évènements de course à pied Cerca de 50 mil pessoas correrão a maratona, que é observada por milhões de espectadores. A semana da corrida traz muitos outros eventos relacionados, incluindo a Abbott Dash para a linha de acabamento 5K, a TCS NYC Marathon Expo e o TCS NYC Marathon Pavilion em Tavern on the Green — TCS New York City Marathon (@nycmarathon) November 3, 2019 From the start of the race, I was feeling okay, Kamworor said in a news release. I was comfortable Thanks to TCS, title sponsor for NYC marathon for selecting me as one of the few TCS runners for TCS NYC marathon this year. TCS didn't leave any opportunity to make sure this marathons experience stay best for TCS runners. We had most of the invited client and few TCS associates, including our CEO N. Chandra in Team TCS. TCS planed travel from Central Park to Staten Island where marathon. Ou l'histoire d'une parisienne à NYC. Bientôt. En 2014, allongée et à bout de force, j'avais dit à mon entourage : un jour, je ferai le Marathon de NYC. Tout d'abord parce que j'adore cette ville et l'énergie qu'elle dégage, voir et revoir la famille et les amis. Aussi parce qu Tickets and RSVP information for Dan DelVecchio's upcoming concert at TCS NYC Marathon in New York on août 15, 2020 The 2019 TCS NYC Marathon will kick off on Sunday, Nov. 3, and MTA New York City Transit's subways and buses will get you to the event from all parts of the city. Marathon revelers can use the MTA. 11-1-15 TCS NYC Marathon; my 9th marathon was unlike any other. I suddenly lost my sister 3 days prior to the marathon and decided to run it in memory of her. In the months leading up to race day; I was soo excited that she was planning to be there at the finish line tha Celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the TCS NYC Marathon and being part of the first 15-40 Connection TCS NYC Marathon team! Runners will receive: An official entry into the 2020 TCS New York City Marathon $5,000 fundraising minimum for applicants seeking a charity bib; $1,500 fundraising minimum for applicants with their own bib ; Custom team swag; 20 week marathon training plan and support. . A paid entry fee and guaranteed number for the 2020 TCS New York City Marathon, valued at $295-358. Fundraising support to help you surpass your goal, including help setting up your online fundraising page . An invitation to a dedicated Strava group with the Free to Run NYC Marathon team (this group will be available for questions, training tips, fundraising support, and event logistics) A pre. Meet Our 2020 TCS NYC Marathon Team: Frank Pizzo. June 16, 2020 | News By Rachel Trotta. Frank Pizzo is running his third marathon, second in NYC, and first as a member of the Answer the Call team. In recent years, Frank has utilized running (and all other forms of exercise) as a means of fulfillment both physically and mentally, to always remember that pushing yourself to sweat is a privilege. TCS NYC Marathon. The TCS New York City Marathon course runs 26.2 miles through the five boroughs of NYC and is a model for big-city marathons around the world. On November, 2020, it will move you! Register for TCS NYC Marathon Step 1. Purchase annual membership. Annual Team Membership. 99.00 . Add To Cart. Step 2. Read TCS NYC Marathon and JAR of Hope terms and conditions. Register for TCS. TCS NYC Marathon; Run the TCS NYC Marathon. Again this year, East Side House was selected as an Official Charity Partner in the TCS New York City Marathon, one of the largest, most renowned racing events in the world. On November 1st, 2020, runners from all over the planet will run 26.2 miles across New York's five boroughs. We're giving a team of runners the opportunity to participate in. 2020 NYC Marathon Team Lustgarten. Lace Up Your Sneakers and Join Team Lustgarten! The Lustgarten Foundation is honored to be an official Charity Partner for the 2020 TCS New York City Marathon on Sunday, November 1, 2020. By joining Team Lustgarten, you will help us increase awareness of pancreatic cancer and fund critical research that will lead to new breakthroughs in treatment and early. . 2020 TCS NYC Marathon Duchenne doesn't rest and neither will we. Make a Donation; Volunteer; Become a Fundraiser; JAR of Hope will be participating in its 7th marathon this year. We are a proud NYC Marathon Charity Partner. JAR of hope has been running this marathon to raise funds to help fight Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy. You can join our team and fight to beat this 100% fatal pediatric. TCS NYC Marathon - Project Purple Team . With over 50,000 finishers in 2019, the New York City Marathon has grown from 55 finishers racing in Central Park, to the world's largest and most popular marathon. 2020 marks the 50th anniversary of the marathon running in NYC- you don't want to miss this one! We're excited to continue making history with this incredible race while supporting. TCS NYC Marathon Runners! Any planned 20 miles + group training runs this weekend? Question. Pretty self explanatory! Any NYC runners know of a planned group long run this weekend?? 8 comments. share. save hide report. 65% Upvoted. This thread is archived. New comments cannot be posted and votes cannot be cast. Sort by. best . level 1. 3 points · 2 years ago. Check in with r/runnyc too. I. Learn more about Krysten, one of our runners on team Tell Every Amazing Lady® for the 2019 TCS NYC Marathon! My mom was diagnosed with Stage 3C ovarian cancer at 49 years old in February of 2017. My goal for the TCS NYC Marathon is to raise $2,500 on behalf of T.E.A.L.®, finish injury free, and, of [ Unlike speed work, for the TCS NYC Marathon, hill work should definitely be part of your training! There are 5 bridges to overcome on this 26.2 mile trek in addition to other hills (more on those at a later date). Make sure that your training plan implements hill repeats thru out! If you live in the NYC area, I strongly suggest working out on any and all of the bridges that are part of the. The TCS New York City Marathon will forever hold a special place in all of our hearts as it is the ultimate test of grit, passion and togetherness. There truly is no environment quite like the course of the NYC Marathon and we feel that it is a great metaphor for what GJ went through during his 25 month battle On November 3, about 50,000 runners (and millions of spectators) will take to the streets for the 2019 TCS New York City Marathon.. Furthermore spoke with eight Equinox runners ahead of race day to learn about the mantras (pizza), core exercises (including plank variations), and drama (sprained ankles and bee stings, among others) that got them to the start line Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2020 TCS New York City Marathon has been canceled. Please contact Robby Olson at [email protected] with any questions.For the third time, the ACLU and the NYCLU, are joining the 2020 TCS New York City Marathon as a Charity Partner. Help us run the distance in our tireless defense of civil liberties and civil rights for all New Yorkers Join us as we #RuntoRestore in the 2021 TCS New York City Marathon to raise funds and spread awareness for the hundreds of women Restore NYC serves each year. Is this the right opportunity for you? 1. By running with us as your Official Charity Partner, you are committing to raising a minimum of $3,000. This is a non-negotiable minimum set by New York Road Runners in order for Restore to hold. Mary Wittenberg has a long, unique relationship with Central Park. As former President and Chief Executive Officer of New York Road Runners, she became the first woman to serve as Race Director of a major international marathon.In addition to leading 10 TCS New York City Marathons, she's worked on countless more races in the Park.. Mary also raised her kids near Central Park, getting to know. 2020 TCS NYC Marathon supporting Boomer Esiason Foundation. About 2020 TCS NYC Marathon. November 1, 2020. New York City, NY Fundraising Minimum - $3,000. Join Team Boomer and run 26.2 miles through all five boroughs of New York City to raise funds and awareness for the cystic fibrosis community. It's a day packed with fun, competition, and a giving community spirit. We welcome everyone to run. TCS NYC marathon. Bernard Lagat, 43, to run TCS New York City Marathon Anne Francis August 23, 2018. The five-time Olympian and five-time world champion holds the American records in the 1,500m, 3. ISCRIZIONE GARANTITA ALLA TCS NYC MARATHON 2019 Incluse spese di prenotazione, gestione pratica e materiale informativo ASSICURAZIONE BAGAGLIO PERNOTTAMENTI PRESSO LA STRUTTURA FREEDOM PRESCELTA ASSICURAZIONE MEDICA Massimale € 10.000,00 a persona Massimale € 1.500,00 a persona PER I RUNNER separatamente voli, optionals, assicurazioni e servizi extra. SISTEMAZIONE 3 NOTTI NOTTE IN NO VOLI. Il percorso della TCS NYC Marathon, raccontato. di Lorenzo Maria Dell'Uva. Ago 13, 2019. Facebook. Twitter. Pinterest. WhatsApp. Articoli correlati. Consigli L'allenamento efficace e divertente per il running . Paolo Barbera-Ott 6, 2020 0. Il divertimento, nella corsa e durante gli allenamenti, è un ingrediente fondamentale anche per il miglioramento delle nostre prestazioni. Tutto sta nel. 260.3k Followers, 131 Following, 3,498 Posts - See Instagram photos and videos from TCS New York City Marathon (@nycmarathon 2020 TCS New York City Marathon. 11.01.20. Join Team DKMS Donate Get Started. Every three minutes, an American is diagnosed with blood cancer. Now, you can be part of the change—one mile at a time. Join Team DKMS on November 01, 2020, in the 50th anniversary of the iconic TCS NYC Marathon. Through your race you can take down blood cancer by raising crucial funds and awareness to give blood. Since this was my first time running NYC (or any marathon at all), I didn't know what to expect. Much to my surprise, I was blown away by cheers, shouts, signs, high-fives, people yelling out my name. It was nothing like I've ever experienced, and I was drunk on the support. I only barely looked at my watch to make sure I was on pace, but otherwise, these few miles went by so fast. Found my. TCS 2020 NYC Marathon Apply - TCS 2020 NYC Marathon Where We Work. The Zambezi Valley Gallery Latest Updates Connect. Contact Us Meet our Team MEET OUR TRUSTEES JOIN US Meet the Elephants of the Zambezi Media Archive. Articles traitant de TCS NYC Marathon écrits par runsooshirun. runsooshirun Du #rün avec un ü pour le smile ! Navigation. Aller au contenu principal. Accueil; About; Pourquoi ce blog ? Archives de Tag: TCS NYC Marathon Navigation des articles Un jour j'ai couru à New-York avec toi. Publié le décembre 23, 2016 par runsooshirun. Nous sommes le 14 novembre ah non on est le 23 décembre. Tag Archives: TCS NYC Marathon. March 23, 2015 by Run Shelley Run Leave a comment. Paleoesque diet and the empty wine shelf . Recently I have made two big changes to my diet in preparation for the increase in training I have this spring. I drastically reduced my carbohydrates, while not entirely adopting a paleo diet. This is not because it is difficult, I actually enjoy eating cleanly and. Get inspired by the amazing runners who will be participating in the TCS NYC Marathon on behalf of PAWS NY! First up in our Runner Spotlight series: Christopher! Christopher is a PAWS volunteer who lives in Brooklyn and specializes in running long-distance races. Here in NYC, Christopher likes to run the Manhattan Bridge and along the East River and Hudson River waterfronts, but he also once. registration and pay the entry fee by August 17, 2020 , to confirm your participation in the TCS NYC Marathon. What happens if I withdraw from the race? If you withdraw for any reason or cannot fulfill your fundraising pledge, you will be responsible for paying the balance of your $4,000 goal. How will the American Heart Association use the funds that I raise? Money raised will help us build. The Children's Heart Foundation is proud to be a Bronze Level Charity Partner of the 2020 TCS New York City Marathon through our partnership with New York Road Runners! Celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, the TCS New York City Marathon is the world's biggest and most popular marathon with more than 53,640 finishers in 2019. The race spans 26.2 miles and takes runners over bridges and. Run the 2020 TCS NYC Marathon on behalf of Soccer Without Borders! Sign Up. DONATE NOW. HOME. ABOUT. COVID-19. WHAT WE DO. CORE PROGRAMS. GLOBAL IMPACT. GET INVOLVED . More MARATHON TEAM. For the fifth time, Soccer Without Borders will have a charity team in the 2020 TCS New York City Marathon! Whether you are a seasoned marathoner, or setting your sights on your first one, we are looking for. The TCS NYC Marathon was broadcast live on Channel 7. Flanagan crossed the finish line in a time of 2:26:53 - the second fastest ever by a U.S. woman - to defeat Mary Keitany, the 35-year-old. Next: Maratona Del Riso 2021 - NYC Marathon 2021. Top. Dodo Aspirante Ultramaratoneta Messaggi: 885 Iscritto il: 2 mar 2011, 19:39. Re: TCS NYC Marathon - New York (US) - 01/11/2020. Messaggio da Dodo » 22 giu 2020, 11:30. Assolutamente si. Quello che temo purtroppo è che difficilmente si potranno correre maratone prima del 2021, mica godo di questo, cosa avete capito, anche per me è dura. Find and follow posts tagged tcs nyc marathon on Tumblr. Log in Sign up. outlanderamerica. #Sam Heughan #TCS NYC Marathon #11/1/20. 74 notes. stupidrunner. just got my bib number, corral number, and start time for the NYC Marathon. omgomgomgomgomg. Blue Wave 3 Corral A 10:40am start time. AH! #NYRR #NYC Marathon #TCS NYC Marathon #TCS New York City Marathon #rcoctober2016 #running #distance. The Virtual NYC Marathon unveiled an all-star lineup of runners, including Tiki Barber and James Blake. athletes and luminaries will compete in the 2020 Virtual TCS New York City Marathon. Why have a running coach? Testimonials Coaching Inquir In New York, TCS received an 81 percent unaided brand recall as the title partner to the iconic NYC Marathon. More importantly, they helped create a sense of community. In 2018, 3,300 of TCS' clients and 10,400 of its employees participated in these events, thereby setting a new high. These events have also served as a vital platform to demonstrate TCS' digital capabilities and technology. Tag Archives: TCS NYC marathon. Move ( running & autres sports) Voyages. Finisher du marathon de New-York 2018 . By Mathildedrg on jeudi, novembre 8, 2018. Hello ! Je vous retrouve sur le blog pour cet article que vous êtes, je crois, nombreux à attendre : le compte-rendu de mon marathon, la semaine précédente comprise, ainsi que l'organisation avec Thomas Cook Marathon. Avant de me. The 2020 NYC Marathon, scheduled for November, has been canceled because of the novel coronavirus pandemic 2020 NYC Marathon Canceled Due To COVID-19. Jun 24, 2020 FloTrack Staff. Create a free account to unlock this article! Get Started Already a subscriber? Log In. NYRR Press Release: 2020 TCS New. TCS NYC Marathon Training Series (12M) - Aug. 09; 2020 TCS NYC Marathon - Nov. 01; Posting Schedule. Mondays: Workout, training, and/or race recaps. Tuesdays (or Wednesdays): Life recaps. Thursdays: Completely random. Fridays: Food Pic of the Week; Tag Cloud. blog blogging central park Crunch fitness diet exercise fitbit fitness food foodie General half-marathon health life marathon. Fall marathon racing season is usually a magical time because I'm coaching hundreds of runners, says Jes Woods, manager of NYC's treadmill studio Mile High Run Club and Nike coach. On.

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Recently another SR release saw the light of day: September Nights. Is it worth buying? With Elvis in 1970 you can’t go wrong with cover art, one might think. Well, SR records nearly could… nothing wrong with the front, great picture, stylish title and info. On the inside they mess up… a collage of three black and white pictures, two of them with a kind of pink feel, and one plain white. And there is something wrong with the intensity… on second look it seems they wanted to create an effect with a word (I guess Elvis), but that doesn’t work at all. The same goes for the picture behind the CD… it is very dark and again messed up with their logo. The back is much better again…. Unfortunately they don’t know how to write song titles, very annoying. I used to love audience recordings in the 80s and early 90s, but nowadays I hardly can listen to them. Still one of the few audience recordings that I give a spin every now and then is from this engagement: Double Dynamite. Therefore I was a kind of looking forward to play this CD when I got it. I got over that feeling very quickly. The first show (September 4, D.S.) is sounding like it is recorded through a telephone, and not a modern one, but Mr. Bell’s first proto type. I managed to listen to it for exactly 20 seconds and then I got the urge to turn off the CD completely. Still I found the power somewhere to press the skip button a few times hoping for improvement, but every track sounded as poor. Sorry, but I get no listening pleasure from this quality at all. Since the second show (September 7, Closing show) looked to be more complete (but still isn't), and I am hard headed I skipped to track 16. Indeed this source turned out to be slightly better, at least you can really recognize Elvis now, and not just guess it’s him. Still for me no listening pleasure at all, so I stuck with listening to I Walk The Line once again, a part of I Just Can’t Help Believin’ (without the G), You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin’ (again no Gs and no capital V- even the capital for That can be discussed ;-)), Polk Salad Annie and Bridge Over Troubled Water. Those songs make you wish the show was in above very mediocre sound quality… on the other hand they are not as strong as earlier that season, and soon we will have 6 complete shows in top notch quality (as promised)… Music lovers probably want to skip this completely; collectors might think otherwise… anyway, it will not find its way to my player again. 01. Opening Vamp 0.38 02. That's All Right Mama 1.37 03. I Got A Woman 2.31 04. I Walk The Line (exc) 0.11 05. Monologue/Love Me Tender 6.53 06. I’ve Lost You 2.29 07. You’ve Lost That Loving Feelin’ 4.09 08. Polk Salad Annie 4.12 09. Band Intro 2.34 10. Hound Dog (exc) 0.05 11. Johnny B.Goode 1.37 12. Band Intro 1.49 13. The Wonder Of You 3.07 14. One Night 1.37 15. Opening Vamp 0.31 16. That's All Right Mama 2.20 17. I Got A Woman 2.36 18. I Walk The Line (exc)1.54 19. Monologue 3.07 20. I’ve Lost You 2.33 21. I Just Can’t Help Believin’ 4.37 22. You’ve Lost That Loving Feelin’ 4.44 23. Polk Salad Annie 4.46 24. Introductions 8.05 25. Blue Suede Shoes 1.50 26. All Shook Up (inc.) 1.21 27. Hound Dog 2.01 28. Bridge Over Troubled Water 4.59 29. Can't Help Falling In Love 1.55 30. Closing Vamp. (inc.) 0.14

They have nothing to say And I do mean nothing. I married young, so when my marriage ended after 21 years, I found myself dating more or less for the first time. And for whatever reason, young men (10 to 14 years younger) landed on me like a tiger pounces on a T-bone steak. With rare exception, I quickly learned these young studs had nothing to talk about. Their dialogue consisted of who is being traded in sports and last Friday and Saturday’s party stories. Snore. Like Demi, I had spent decades in a marriage and raising kids. I had nothing to contribute to the conversation. What did these young men know of chicken pox, playing chauffeur, and sleepless nights? While Demi’s 26-year-old art dealer beau Vito Schnabel may be more worldly, Ms. Moore really needs to date someone her own age who can relate to her life experiences. Better yet, if she hooks up with someone older, she gets to be the arm candy rather than the other way around. Flattering, but fake When those young boys took an interest in me, it went to my head. I had been traded out by a woman 10 years younger than me, who had never given birth. So when mid-20-somethings who looked like they could bench-press a VW paid attention to me, I was flattered. I was a cougar! (Lord, how I love to hate that word!) If I were Demi’s best friend, I’d tell her — just because you can, doesn’t mean you should. After being dumped and humiliated by Ashton Kutcher, dating a 26-year-old is a real shot in the arm. And there’s a good chance that Demi is doing it just to stick it to Ashton, sending him the non-verbal message that she can still put a**es in the seats. If revenge is her strategy, she’s entitled. In these situations however, we can’t let flattery or an ego-boost make us believe a relationship is something it’s not. Very different goals Another valuable lesson I learned about young bucks (that Demi seems to have a hard time grasping) is that a 26-year-old has very different goals than a 50-year-old. I knew those boys would eventually seek marriage (something I have absolutely no interest in at my age) and babies (uh, double the no interest, plus I’m pretty sure my eggs are mostly dust at this point). Those two things are deal breakers. Demi likely will have more money than a 26-year-old, so pretty soon she’ll find herself in one of those tacky Jennifer Lopez/kept-man relationships that make the woman look foolish and make the man look like his testicles are being kept under lock and key by the aforementioned woman. Probably the most crucial truth that Demi’s best friend should be telling her is that a man in his 20s or 30s has not been through a midlife crisis. Any woman who has survived one of these will run for her life from a man who is a midlife time bomb. Men who go through a midlife crisis become unrecognizable and sadly, mow down everyone in their path. Dating a man who is in his mid-40s or older, especially since Demi is 50, will spare her the God-awful fallout of a midlife crisis. All of us girls need to remember if something is not working, then stop doing it. Obviously, the much-younger-man thing didn’t really pan out for Demi, so her best friend needs to swoop in and save her from herself! Image courtesy WENN.com

September 2008 Archives A friend sent me the news that a Louisiana state Representative (John LaBruzzo) wants to "pay poor women $1000 to have their tubes tide" while at the same time give "tax incentives for college-educated, higher-income people to have more children."Paying the poor to not have children rather than helping their children get into schools is very twisted. There are many wealthy men and woman that came from poor families. Where none of LaBruzzo's ancestors poor? If so there may have been no John LaBruzzo. The mindset that we should sterilize the poor is really a call to sterilize minorities. Let's face it - that's what they want. It's the same premise behind the documentary Demographic Winter. Greg Siskind reports, in a post titled How To Lose The Hispanic Vote In 20 Seconds, that the communications director of the Las Vegas Republican Party stated: "We don't want (Hispanics) to become the new African-American community," Lima told The Associated Press. "And that's what the Democratic Party is going to do to them, create more programs and give them handouts, food stamps and checks for this and checks for that. We don't want that." When people are allowed to be dehumanized and forced into the shadows that's where they'll live. Many undocumented migrants fail to report crime and are therefore taken advantage of. The video is set in a refugee camp in an unspecified country, as Niia has a few fleeting moments in an interview to convince an unsympathetic border official not to deport her. It's something I've never experienced myself directly, but I've watched it close up with clients many times. Often, thankfully, the interview goes well. But when the officer (or judge) has already made his mind up before you sit down, has a quota to fill, or just wants a blow job for a favorable decision (I had cases with this fucker before he was arrested) the sense of powerlessness is overwhelming, followed by a wave of anger. The news of DHS's hold on deportations to Haiti a week and a half ago was so softly announced that I don't even know if the policy is still in place. Almost certainly, the government will not trumpet the end of the hold, they'll just fire up the engines and move the planes down the runway to their waterlogged destination. But in light of the recent renewal of Temporary Protected Status for Nicaraguans, Salvadorans, and Hondurans, I hope that FIAC and other advocacy groups are successful in finally getting TPS for Haitians. It is long overdue. As day laborers are used to clean up Houston after Ike nobody seems to be complaining. With so many in need of getting their roofs prepared, lest their homes be destroyed by the next rain, they need things done quick so I guess it's the 'convenient' thing to do. Republicans and right wing talk show hosts, including Bill O'Reilly, Michael Savage, and Anne Coulter, advocate racism, intolerance, and violence every day. So we shouldn't be surprised when racism, anti-Semitism, intolerance and violence increase in our society. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't see too many nativists or anti-migrant organization pushing for the real solutions to our immigration issue which has a lot to do with the way our companies and country treats these people abroad. Rather than promoting fair labor and sustainability in other countries these angry groups only seek to build walls and terror tactics to keep them from coming here. With this thought I bring you the video titled "The Story of Stuff" which explains how American greed and consumerism is aiding the destruction of economies and environment abroad. "Our enormously productive economy demands that we make consumption our way of life. That we convert the buying and use of goods into rituals. That we seek our spiritual satisfaction, our ego satisfaction in consumption. We need things consumed, burned up, replaced and discarded at an ever accelerated rate. Aquifermedia's videos show very simply how to call your Congressperson and Senator in support of these bills, which might be useful for people that haven't done it before. The first bill is H.R. 1176, or the "Child Citizen Protection Act". Call your Congressperson in support of this bill. Aquifermedia video on how to call your Congressperson: The second bill is S. 3594, or the "Protect Citizens and Residents from Unlawful Raids and Detention Act". Call your Senator in support of this bill. Aquifermedia video on how to call your Senator. There is more below on each of this bills and why you should support them. No To Borders and Binaries provides a good breakdown of the financial meltdown. May have been predicting this day for some time and as we all know there's been no oversight. Even after the devastating collapse of Enron, and other companies, the government's done nothing to protect the American people from the greed of corporations who seem to make money out of thin air. No need to plant a tree in the back yard when you can just wiggle your nose. DNC08: Beer and Loathing (The Pollatix of Grain and Periphery) from nezua on Vimeo. $700 Billion Bailout + $400 Million Border Wall = You do the Math. This is a great title given the fact that the border wall is representative of the same US greed that's gotten us into this crisis. While it's not a greed that everyone is a part of it does exist within those that have the power to manipulate money and build walls. Are we building a fence to keep people out or just to keep them from seeing the country crumble? Immigrants in the USA Blog always provides positive stories on immigrants learning and becoming part of America. In this post we learn of teachers from Holland, MI who travelled to Mexico to place themselves in a situation similar to that which migrants face when they come to the USA. Also read the story of a child whose father came to the US as an undocumented migrant. Apparently even if you're a decorated Army vet you can't travel if you also happen to be Hispanic and live near the US/Mexico border. Of América reports on this story. Texas native David Hernandez, a decorated Army veteran who served his country in different parts of the world, can no longer see the world after his country denied him a passport. Hernandez and other residents living in and around the U.S.-Mexico border are plaintiffs in a class-action lawsuit alleging that, in denying them passports, the U.S. State Department is engaging in a new kind of racial discrimination: non-citizen profiling. Ike ravaged all areas from Galveston through Houston leaving many with nothing. For those that own homes they're lucky if they have insurance and if that insurance will actually cover the damage. At the end of the day, it is the immigrant community who will be cleaning up after Ike. Mark Krikorian found Obama's answers to our questionnaire on The Sanctuary. For a little history on Mark Krikorian, he came to Boston University some time ago with Lou Barletta where he was beaten badly in a debate about U.S. migration policy. Give Me Your Tired, Your Poor, Your Same-Sex Couples [Mark Krikorian] Obama's answers to a questionnaire on immigration from a hard-left group are mostly unremarkable -- he backs the procedure supporters call "comprehensive immigration reform," does not necessarily oppose raids and detention of illegals so long as they're done humanely, etc. (h/t Jennifer McFadyen) But one thing that I suppose I should have known but didn't is that he supports the "Uniting American Families Act," which would extend spousal immigration rights to same-sex couples. So now McCain has two extreme Obama positions on immigration to attack: driver's licenses for illegals and immigration for gay couples. Will McCain ever use them to criticize Obama? No -- he'll just keep criticizing Obama for being too weak in support of amnesty.Mark Krikorian - The Corner (23 September 2008) With registration deadlines fast approaching, I encourage everyone to check out a new site set up by the Obama campaign: Vote For Change. It's a one stop shop where you can register to vote, check if you're registered, change the address you'll be voting from, order an absentee ballot, find your polling location, all in a matter of minutes. As far as McCain's response . . . still waiting for that . . . and waiting . . . and waiting . . . Does anyone know what a McCain administration immigration policy would look like? There is a lot of speculation, but nobody seems to know for sure. Meanwhile, the McCain campaign continues its blackout of discussion of immigration in the English-language press, while telling Jorge Ramos of Univision that he didn't vote for the border wall (false!) and that Obama opposed comprehensive reform (mentira!). McCain seems to be hoping to keep the voting public in the dark about his plans long enough to get elected. Then, who knows! Here is Josh Marshall's breakdown of the reaction of the Spanish press: In Spain, there seem to be two lines of thinking. The great majority appear to think the McCain was simply confused and didn't know who Zapatero was -- something you might bone up on if you were about to do an interview with the Spanish press. The assumption seems to be that since he'd already been asked about Castro and Chavez that McCain assumed Zapatero must be some other Latin American bad guy. A small minority though think that McCain is simply committed to an anti-Spanish foreign policy since he's still angry about Spain pulling it's troops out of Iraq. Finally, a few of those who lean toward the first view speculate that McCain may have confused Zapatero with the Zapatista rebel group in Mexico.My money is on the Zapatero/Zapatista confusion. McCain doesn't speak Spanish, his mind had already been focused on suspicious, indigenous Latin American revolutionary types like Evo Morales and Hugo Chavez (who once called George Bush the devil!), and he heard "Zapat___" and that was all he needed to know to form his response. Let me clarify for John McCain: Subcomandante Marcos is not the elected leader of the European country that colonized most of Latin America. He does not have a seat at the table at NATO. He does wear a ski mask and tattered revolutionary cap in all his public photos. Let's hope that John McCain can figure this out before taking office this coming January. I didn't want to get to know another person who's only sin was the pursuit of life, liberty, and happiness, and have them die before my eyes. I finally did it, but I honestly don't want to write about it. Instead I'll point you to the people that already have. The Unapologetic Mexican Read these and more to learn of another tragedy, another disgrace to the human condition. Most importantly though, sign this petition to ask for answers. Go to anaromero.org for more information. The Sanctuary has already endorsed the petition. I did a translation for a friend, regarding this Talking Points Memo post by Josh Marshall, and I thought I'd go ahead and post it on Citizen Orange. It appears that before Spanish media, McCain evaded the question of whether or not he would meet with the Prime Minister of Spain José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero. It's hard to tell without the audio, since I can't really read McCain's tone, but it seems as if he doesn't know who the Prime Minister of Spain is. Immigration Talk With A Mexican American tells us the antis are losing the argument. It seems that some anti sites and Minutemen groups are seeing their suns set. In this post Dee looks over a paper written by a 'patriot' and asks "who is your target audience?" This is, I believe, where the antis are losing ground. Their anger and yelling basically scares people away from their cause. Of course, the anger and yelling is due to their cause being based on hatred and exemption. Thankfully most people do not buy into this. Many antis applaud Eisenhower's "Operation Wetback" as a successful venture even with its cruel name and the deportation of many citizens who 'fit the description.' PBS's POV ran the story "Calvera Highway" last night about a family working through the mystery of family members lost in those deportations. (Thanks to Immigration Prof Blog for the link) Yave has started a new segment at Citizen Orange called Musical Mondays. Check out his latest post features Manu Chao's "Me Llamen Calle." In these posts yave brings song together with the issues the song addresses. Here we're asked to call our representatives and promote H.R. 3061, the William Wilberforce Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2008. Update: I missed this excellent NYTimes editorial on the McCain ad from yesterday, more below. (end update) Both the Washington Post and the NYTimes picked up the story of McCain's Spanish-language ad directed to key Western swing states with large Latin@ populations in which the McCain campaign accuses Obama of sabotaging comprehensive immigration reform. While both articles introduced useful information about the story, the Post's discussion was ultimately more informative. Check out this post and video on the "Hold Their Feet To The Fire" rally held in Washington by FAIR. The video goes in to the rhetoric of FAIR and McCain's loss of 'friends' on the anti-migrant side while solidifying the fact that anti-migrant groups love saying "we the people." I actually like that they call this the "Hold Their Feet To The Fire" rally because I see "the fire" as hell and FAIR (so obviously wrongly named) is asking us to promote Hell on Earth. A few days ago the Washington Post reported that Dobbs was promoting the hate group FAIR and participated at its "Hold Their Feet To The Fire." Now it seems he's enamored by a Aunt Jemima type characterization of Obama affixed to a fictitious brand of Waffles called "Obama Waffles." "calle sufrida, calle tristeza" Me llaman calle - "they call me 'street.'" This is a powerful song with a simple but effective video, and you can see here the charisma in Manu's performance that can be heard in his music. Manu is that rare combination of talent and informed political commentary that only comes around maybe once every decade. I am cursing myself right now for missing two of his rare North American performances in recent years right in my old backyard at Prospect Park in Brooklyn. This song, about the denigration that sex workers face in machista societies (whether north or south of the U.S./Mexico border), raises one of the rare issues where migrant advocates and DHS are mostly on the same page: human trafficking. According to the Department of State, 600,000 to 800,000 people are trafficked internationally every year, and between 14,500 and 17,500 of them are trafficked into or within the United States. Half of these victims are estimated to be children. Many of the victims end up in forced prostitution. More information can be found in the State Department's annual Trafficking in Persons Report. Soy Indio y Euro, soy mestizo, soy Latino. I am the conqueror and the conquered, I am the field and the worker and the hungry consumer; I am all these things, but my heritage is and will always be la lucha. And that is why I am here many days. For mi gente are still in the fields.Nezua - The Unapologetic Mexican (15 September 2008) In case John McCain's misleading Spanish-language ad got lost in the weekend shuffle (perhaps accounting for its release late last week), here is the SF Chronicle's Joe Garofoli's take on it, with bonus quote from former INS Commissioner Doris Meissner. The 30-second spot states that "Obama and his Congressional allies say they are on the side of immigrants. But are they? The press reports that their efforts were 'poison pills' that made immigration reform fail." Not exactly. It was the lack of Republican support that killed immigration reform last time around. Comrade Tyche Hendricks, who has written extensively on the U.S.-Mexico border for The Chronicle and (for an upcoming book), contacted Doris Meissner, who is a senior fellow at the non-partisan Migration Policy Institute in Washington, D.C. "I don't know that you can say 'poison pill' because things hadn't gotten far enough so that anything would actually rise to that level (of poisoning the bill's chances)," Meissner said. "I know there were people who were disappointed by the amendment that Obama put in," Meissner said. "But it's disengenuous because at that point McCain had backed away from the bill, which he had sponsored the year before, and he was not to be found in the debate because it was dividing the Republican party in the Senate. It was the lack of Republican votes that sank the bill." Indeed, McCain said at this GOP debate in January that he wouldn't vote for his own immigration bill: With the hurricane and September 11 I didn't give it enough attention, but Isabel Garcia was not removed from her post in Pima County. Many of the bloggers here wrote to defend her against Jon Justice's verbal and physical (through use of effigy) assault on Garcia. While unfortunately Justice is still on the air everyone is to be congratulated for the work they did to help Garcia. Make sure and check out Derechos Humanos website and support their continued campaign to get hate speech off the air. For Hispanic Heritage month The Latin Americanist, in conjunction with Hachette Book Group USA, is holding a writing contest. One prize will be random and the larger prize will be awarded for the best essay (300 word max) on your favorite Hispanic author. Anyone that's interested in pro-migrant blogging or in new media should be following the goings on in Prince William County, where new media has intensified the debate about U.S. migration policy at the local level. For a some time it seemed as if the nativist movement, lead by Greg Letiecq through his blog Black Velvet Bruce Li, and his extremist Help Save Manassas, had the upper hand. But there's has been backlash. The good and decent people of Prince William County are standing up to Letiecq's hate. Mamita Mala is asking for help in Haiti. There many ways to donate on-line through Global Giving, but for those in New York you can drop of dry goods and supplies at the Haitian Women For Haitian Refugees center in Brooklyn. XP updates on Ike. The storm has passed through, but many have a lot or repair and rebuilding to do. What is FAIR? We know that FAIR is not a fair name for a group labeled by the Southern Poverty Law Center as a hate group. Nezua brings us some commentary and videos about this group. Why does the media continue to call this groups experts on immigration? [Cross-posted at the Sanctuary.] Given that the mainstream press is picking up on McCain's pattern of misrepresentations and false assertions in this election campaign, will they notice this one? McCain is now claiming that comprehensive reform died in the Senate last year because Obama killed it. Even the restrictionist-leaning Washington Times (which published a series of articles linking recent immigrants to the spread of disease) found this claim to be a bridge too far. McCain is trying to attract the Latino vote that he needs to win in several key states. He must be hoping that the English-language press ignores the falsehoods found in this Spanish-language ad. But by opening discussion on a topic on which he is particularly vulnerable to charges of flip-floppery, he has inspired unlikely bedfellows like the WaTimes and America's Voice, one of the best-funded organizations pushing for comprehensive reform, which links to the WaTimes story on its front page. And it looks like the mainstream blogosphere, from which the mainstream press takes many of its cues, may not let this one slip by unnoticed--I saw this story originally on TalkingPointsMemo, linking to a McClatchy story pointing out that Obama and McCain voted on the same side in the key votes of the comprehensive reform battle in Congress. Now I see Hilzoy at Obsidian Wings has picked it up. America's Voice (via Greg Siskind) has an effective rebuttal of the McCain ad: An Ike update from Para Justicia y Libertad. My family is also riding out the storm and I'll be getting updates from them. They're actually in Pasadena which is a little south of Houston. Thankfully, even during Hurricane Alicia (which I experienced as a child) we were ok. A nativist is set to be appointed to the Strategic Task Force for Prince William Country. He doesn't believe the immigration issue is about economics - it's about an "invasion." Obama blasts McCain on his abandonment of immigration reform stating "So, you've got to ask yourself: if Sen. McCain won't stand up to opponents of reform at his own convention, how can you trust him to stand up for change in Washington?" I really didn't do much to reflect on 9/11 yesterday and so I didn't watch the documentaries or read the various blog posts from those here. However, reading Nezua's post from 2001 this morning I have to include the quote from a photo of graffiti he took: Now that we have been attacked as one can we finally act as brothers and sisters? This is an interesting question and a rather pertinent one. In a microcosm of the days after 9/11 the company I work for spent a few days in a cloud of shock and mourning. After remaining home on 9/12 I had to go back to work on 9/13 and begin the process of rebuilding my department. At the same time we had to rebuild the company. Computers were imaged while faxes and printers were ordered as quickly as possible. As colleagues waited to be assigned to their new areas they hugged each other and spoke in solidarity. This lasted up until the equipment started to arrive. Once we actually began the process of getting the company running again fighting over equipment ensued. "Don't use our fax", "that's our printer" and other statements of disunity could be heard as each department fought to get their segment of the company back on line. Now there are few hugs, no community, just business as usual. In a broader context I believe the country went through this same thing. I really wish we could have learned. Yave writes on memories of 9/11 linking to many of the other stories from bloggers in the pro-migrant world. El Loco at Latinopundit remembers 9/11/01 and 9/11/73, and the tragedies that occurred on the U.S. Eastern Seaboard and in Allende's Chile on those dates. Karima Bennoune at IntLawGrrls says that both our contemporary human rights and security discourses on terrorism need to be broadened and renewed. This renewal should be informed by the understanding that international human rights law protects the individual both from terrorism and the excesses of counterterrorism, like torture.She reminds us that Counterterrorist policies that violate international law clearly undermine the endeavors of people like Sifaoui and Kheddar. But a human rights response that focuses solely on the impact of counterterrorism, and not of terrorism itself, hinders their work as well. Instead, international lawyers need to develop what Gita Sahgal has called a "human rights account" of terrorism. Perhaps that could be our best contribution to commemorating the terrible events of September 11, 2001.Duke at Migra Matters recounts the tragic events of 9/11 and then the tragic two weeks that followed during which the Bush administration began preparations for the war in Iraq. This war has led to the death and displacement of a far greater number of people than the 9/11 attacks. Nezua provides a very personal look into his world on 9/11 and the subsequent days and weeks. Tracing his ideological and emotional trajectory will hit close to home to many readers, myself included. And here are my scattered recollections of that day in lower Manhattan, recorded two years ago. I've probably grown even more skeptical since then of those who claim to lead us and of U.S. claims of the efficacy and good faith of its actions abroad. It is a strange experience--I feel at once more cynical and more hopeful than I have felt before. Cynical when I think of our upcoming election and the ways I feel the U.S. will be stuck in the status quo regardless of who wins the presidency. Hopeful in the potential I see for transnational organizing and a youth movement that knows no borders. Bacon is emphasizing the need to frame the immigration debate in this country within its larger context (economic globalization). It's globalization that is the cause of so many people having to migrate in the first place. If earlier migrants (i.e. people already here in the U.S. whose families migrated in previous generations) understand the reason why people in other countries are having to come here now, I think we will be able to have a more rational debate about how to create more humane policies and reduce human suffering all around. Globalization and immigration are different parts of the same story. To speak of one without the other is to give only a partial telling of that story. Today is a day of sadness for many. Many of us were affected by the acts of a few so many years ago today. I worked in Tower 2 and was there. Each year my company has a memorial service to those we lost. Some have chosen to use this day as fuel to claim migrants are terrorists and that we must hurt others in the name of national security. Others have chosen to see this as a reason why we must continue to help one another. Will we let the evil of the world keep us on the defense or will we bring an offense of good? I believe, in this case, a good offense is the best defense. Changeseeker speaks about Haiti, the personal connection and the issues. Many don't want to know the truth. Do you? The best part is that we beat out the nativists in a letter writing campaign. Ah it feels good to write about something good for a change. Kia Alexander, originally from Oakland, CA, is a good friend of mine from college. Instead of following the herd of undergraduates that go into finance, she decided to go her own way and has ended up in Ghana. She sent me an email update from there and I asked her if I could publish it on Citizen Orange. The only way to solve the problems associated with is through a global perspective and Kia certainly provides that. Below is the email. This first piece is a poem by a local activist in Arkansas, Michael Ogelsby. I met Ogelsby through email and another important migrant rights activist, Dorinda Moreno. Instead of introducing Michael Ogelsby, I'll just lead off with his poem, which was the first I knew of him. Still the summaries of the report that are available give a good overview of global migration, and the fact that it's being studied suggest that the world is finally accepting migration as a global phenomenon that has to be dealt with in a comprehensive manner: XP has two important posts on Hurricane Ike, one where he's updating with recent developments, and another entitled "As Hurricane Ike Looms Closer, Immigrants Refuse To Leave." Don't we wish the U.S. were as good as Cuba is at evacuating people out of harms way in the face of hurricanes. Do 'patriots' think it's acceptable that many will have to be reincarnated to realize citizenship? Looks like wait times for citizenship are sometimes approaching infinity which is a little long to wait if you ask me. The Large Hadron Collider scares me, but maybe some DREAMers can come up with a time machine based on this technology - or maybe we can just pass Comprehensive Immigration Reform. Truth.org has a report on the real story of the Mississippi raids and Standing FIRM gives us the link. This article discusses the media's desire to paint a picture of undocumented versus citizens at the plant. I haven't read the report, but I did buy into this myself. It should have occured to me that division is a tool and it's used quite often and effectively by the government to deflect a unity that can bring about change. What you'll notice if you read the chart carefully is that for a large number of potential immigrants--certainly the majority of undocumented immigrants already here--there are simply no legal channels to immigrate. Wait times are irrelevant; such workers could wait till they're gray and still not get a visa because it is simply impossible. Calling All Hatewatchers: Introducing the Dobbsy at Hatewatch Blog. A Dobbsy sounds like a Dundee, but it's "a new tongue-in-cheek award, to be given to "mainstream" figures -- politicians, pundits, preachers and pedants -- who make utterly false or misleading statements that have the effect of denigrating or defaming an entire group of people." Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes! Only Time Can Change Me, But YOU Can´t THIS TIME!! at Immigration Talk With A Mexican American. We Americans are turning into sheep. We follow along with the Administration´s political bidding. We fear what they say to fear. We believe what they say to believe. These changes reminded me of the pre-Civil Rights days. I thought we were beyond racial anger. Sure there has been some discrimination but that is not the norm nor the mainstream. I have to tell you here and now. I do not like these changes and neither do any of the minorities I know. This is the reason many of us have gone to the internet and created blogs and joined the PRO Blogosphere. Now the current candidates for President are talking about Change.Also ICE RAIDs Update: Laurel, MS and Postville, IA. ACT NOW: Latinos and Other Minorities Being Disenfranchised at Eristic Ragemail. In recent national elections there have been some pretty blatant disenfranchisement of minority voters. When the Republicans cannot win by using wedge issues to divide and conquer they resort to dirty tricks. POSTVILLE, Iowa - Postville's police chief says he's trying to add another officer to his staff as crime has risen in the city after an Immigration raid in May. The Agriprocessors meatpacking plant was raided May 12, when 389 people were charged with being in the country illegally. Most were also charged criminally. Postville Police Chief Michael Halse says the workers who have come to replace those picked up in the raid are temporary. He says he doesn't know their backgrounds or where they came from. Halse says he hopes life will return to the way it was before the raid, but predicted that normalcy could be years away.Associated Press (7 September 2008) Then again, nativists don't like to listen to local police chiefs when they say they shouldn't be enforcing broken federal immigration law, so I can't imagine they'd care about this. I'd like to introduce a new feature here called "Musical Monday" - at least until I think of another name. Some of the music I like ties in to migration in one way or another, and I've been wanting to share it more widely. As information, goods, and (sometimes) people flow more freely than ever before across borders, musicians are writing about it. In remembrance of those who've died in Haiti in recent weeks, and in the hope that those who need help can be reached in time, the first Musical Monday is Arcade Fire's Black Wave / Bad Vibrations. Arcade Fire co-founder Régine Chassagne's family migrated from Haiti to Canada to escape the Duvaliers, like some of my former clients. She has sung about her family's homeland on the band's first album, Funeral, and on last year's Neon Bible. This song is very meaningful to me now that I've gotten to know some Haitians who went through some truly horrific experiences before coming to the U.S. Today, the thoughts and prayers of all Americans are with those in the path of Hurricane Gustav -- and many of you are asking what you can do to help. We do not yet know what the impact of Hurricane Gustav will be, and we hope with all our hearts that the damage will not be as great as it was three years ago. But we know there will be damage, and there is something you can do right now. Your financial support will strengthen organizations like the American Red Cross that are evacuating Gulf Coast residents and planning to help communities get back on their feet. Make a donation to support the American Red Cross today.Barack Obama (1 September 2008) Now, according to an editorial from the New York Times, it does not look as if the Red Cross did the best it could evacuating unauthorized migrants from the area and assuaging their fears. WP: Facing a Court Hearing, Man Begins Removing Pro-Immigrant Billboard at Anti-BVBL. Sarah Palin : A lipsticked pitbull that's a scaredy cat with the press at Culture Kitchen. And Pat Buchanan is Barack Obama's latest fanboi. The Front Line is Everywhere - RNC 08 at The Unapologetic Mexican. The GOP actually needs an army now, to make itself evident and dare celebrate anything in public. They have lied, killed, they laugh while we suffer with health problems or bemoan the loss of life and humanity. They bring their army to protect them from the voice of the People they supposedly serve. The Miami Herald reports from the small town of Caberet in Haiti: Haitian town hit hard by ike: bodies on every street corner CABARET, HAITI -- In this tiny Haitian town flooded by Hurricane Ike, the grim reality set in Sunday morning as the bodies of a dozen children lay dead on a concrete slab. Mothers wailed, fathers screamed, an entire town was shaken as they tried to count the dead - many of them children and old women swept up by the river. So far, 22 are believed to have died, but the number would likely rise. As a little girl in Paraguay she prayed that one day she could travel far away to help people. Eventually she came to the United States and now, she said "this is my home." She then shared her belief that this country is a wonderful place which which has given her the opportunity to help others. Now, for the fifth year in a row, she'll be traveling back to her country of birth which, no longer her home, is now that far away place. When you meet people like this it is an awesome experience. I'm sure there are many people like this who visit this site. To those helping others, both near or far, I say thank you. I've come to expect figures like William Gheen of ALIPAC to completely strip an entire subset of people from their humanity with their words. It becomes grating to my ears when an elected official does so. Even more so when they dehumanize the very people they were elected to represent. Watch the video above to see Republican incumbent Virgil Goode (VA-5th District) debate Democrat challenger Tom Perriello on the "anchor baby situation". I've transcribed much of the video below. There is so much wrong with what Goode says, but I'm going to try and cut to the heart of it. "What America Do You Want to Live In?" at Immigration Prof Blog. A new online ad released by America's Voice presents two different visions of America. One vision recognizes our country's long tradition of welcoming immigrants and being supportive of all individuals in our nation who are seeking a better life. The second vision describes America as a nation that preaches intolerance and hate and relies on fear-mongering instead of facts.Also Post-Postville: Agriprocessors has a Hard Time Keeping Workers, The Latest Word on the "Nexus" Requirement for Asylum and The War on Terror Continues. The Associated Press reports (sombrero tip to the Latin Americanist): Many of the illegal immigrants who have been rebuilding New Orleans since Hurricane Katrina stayed behind when Gustav struck because they were afraid of being arrested if they boarded the buses and trains arranged by emergency officials. "We know that people died during Katrina, but we had no choice but to stay here," said Carlos Mendoza, a 21-year-old illegal immigrant from Honduras who rode out the storm with seven other people. They took shelter in an apartment that is close to a street corner where day laborers congregate. "Many stayed because of fear," Mendoza said. "I would say at least 50 percent of us." Peter Prengaman - Associated Press (3 September 2008) UPDATE: Angela Kelley of the Immigration Policy Center just put up a piece about this at Huffington Post. (They also have a new pro-migrant blog, Immigration Impact) It seems as if Sarah Palin is all over the internet. The media has gone wild with analysis of her. Here's one perspective you've probably missed. Manuel Guzman at Latino Politico and Roberto Lovato at Of America have brought to light hilarious irony. While nativists swipe at the fantasm that is Aztlan and the Reconquista, the supposed plan by Mexican migrants to take over the southwest portion of the United States, it appears that Sarah Palin has legitimate connections to Alaska's version of the Reconquista. Republican Platform Opposes Comprehensive Immigration Reform at Greg Siskind's Blog. Despite the fact that the platform starts out with the promising statement that the US can have a strong immigration system without sacrificing the rule of law, the text focuses almost entirely on enforcement. Until We Are All Free, We Are None Free at Why Am I Not Surprised. Frederick Douglas was an exceptional man. Read a bit about him and a poem in his honor. ACTION: Prayer Vigil in Ohio at Standing Firm. This prayer vigil will be held to ask for an end to immigration raids. Also Paying the Price for not Having the Money on the difficulty of obtaining legal representation for migrants, Laurel: A Humanitarian Disaster - "Yesterday, a powerful editorial Gabino Zavala, bishop of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, appeared in the UK's Guardian." and Both Sides of the Immigration Plank. Cold Snap Legal is staying on top of what is happening to protesters at the RNC. Among some of the latest updates: #ICE agents are entering jail and pulling out arrestees with "foreign-sounding names! #Men in jail have been on 23 hour lockdown, They are on hunger strike until this ends and they are either charged or released. #f you've been released from jail and have NOT had your property returned, please call the Coldsnap hotline (651.356.8635). We can help out! brownfemipower - La Chola (3 September 2008) This after "raids" were conducted on protestor's homes in advance of the Republican National Convention. It's what pro-migrant bloggers have been saying for a long time now. The U.S. migration debate affects everyone residing in the U.S. If you think it just affects migrants, you'll get your answer when the government bashes your front door in. South Texas Civil Rights Project Needs Your Help at Vivir Latino. The South Texas Civil Rights Project is a non-profit public interest organization which provides free legal services to those in the Valley's low-income community whose civil rights have been violated. Over thirty years ago the South Texas Civil Rights Project (STCRP) was formed to offer free education, advocacy, and legal services for low-income and under-served persons of the Valley.Also Mexicans March Against Violence. What part of legal immigration don't you understand? at American Wetback. Picture: Ariana Cubillos / AP Photo Thank God. It looks as if our prayers for the Gulf Coast came through. But we forgot to pray for the Caribbean. (For those of you that can't read all the way through this post, skip to the end. Haiti needs help.) According to the latest report I could find from Bloomberg, it appears as if Hurricane Gustav was nowhere near the disaster that Katrina was. This probably had a lot to do with the fact that Gustav hit the U.S. with a lot less force than was expected. With the federal, state, and local governments in the area mobilizing effectively to oversee efforts in the aftermath of the disaster, and the two major presidential candidates taking significant actions for the relief efforts, I'm starting to realize that an entire populations of the people affected by Gustav are being forgotten. The U.S. media and politicans seem to have completely forgotten about the Caribbean, where hundreds have died and entire communities have been wiped out. While U.S. politicians are patting themselves on the back, Haiti is suffering from it's own Katrina. (Sombrero tip to Peruanista) A Labor Day Salute to All Resident Workers at Smart Borders. This September 1st, it is only fitting to laud the accomplishments of the unnoticed and disenfranchised of America's workforce - the Immigrant. In a nation that is still bent on building a wall and has popular public figures campaigning for mass deportation, immigrants still managed to excel in 33 of the spots on the American Olympic team. Foucault on Geography and Population at No Borders and Binaries. Foucault also lays out a population/people distinction in Security, Territory and Population that is worthy of further exploration. Population has two meanings -- one denotes a group of subjects with rights or subjects to a sovereign etc. but the one we are interested in is population as a process that needs regulation and managementAlso Welcome to America - Here We Make 'Criminals' Out of Jet-Skiers. I traveled out to Shenandoah over the weekend to witness an anti-"illegal" immigrant rally, but ended up at the more positive Unity Rally. Here's my post at American Humanity - Rallies In Shenandoah, PA - Unity and Anti-"Illegal" Immigrant.

A new leader takes the State Bar helm By Nancy McCarthy |Joe Dunn took over as the State Bar's executive director last month, vowing to focus on public protection. PHOTO BY DARRYL BUSH As a veteran plaintiff’s lawyer and two-term state senator, Joe Dunn possesses the legal skills and political acumen indispensable for smoothing the waters between the State Bar and California’s legislative and executive branches. With the agency in Sacramento’s crosshairs, the new executive director leaves no doubt he’ll put public protection at the forefront of its regulatory activities. “Among our many challenges going forward,” Dunn said, “I share the belief of the legislative and executive branches and our governing board that public protection is first and foremost for the State Bar.” Dunn is taking over the bar’s top job, succeeding Judy Johnson, who will step down Feb. 1 after 10 years as executive director. Acknowledging that the post brings with it a steep learning curve, the 52-year-old lifelong Democrat knows he must master “the intricacies of our internal operations.” He’ll spend the early part of his tenure familiarizing himself with the bar’s budget, discipline system, services to members and governance — all issues that arise in predictable cycles. Dunn already has a lock on how the political branches connect, and where the regulatory bar fits in. Although it falls under the Supreme Court’s jurisdiction, Dunn said, it is “closely intertwined” with the executive and legislative branches, not only for approval of lawyer dues but for policy matters relating to the practice of law. “As such,” he said, “understanding how the political branches work in practice versus in theory is critical in keeping our State Bar at the forefront of regulating the legal profession.” When Gov. Schwarzenegger vetoed the bar’s dues bill last year, he criticized the agency for a state audit that found inefficiencies in the discipline operation, a former employee’s embezzlement and the unauthorized disclosure of the rating of a candidate for the appellate bench. Schwarzenegger said he would not sign dues measure “because the State Bar cannot continue with business as usual.” When the legislature approved the 2011 dues, it included a requirement that a governance task force be created to improve the bar’s public protection efforts. The provision was included, according to an analysis by the Senate Judiciary Committee, in response to “concerns that recent actions taken by the State Bar Board of Governors have not sufficiently taken into account the protection of the public.” The task force now meets regularly to address those concerns. The backlog of disciplinary cases in particular has raised lawmakers’ concerns that the bar “may not be as focused on our public protection responsibility as we are on other aspects of the legal profession,” Dunn said. “We must wrestle this issue to the ground immediately. If I find there are deficiencies in how we approach the discipline process, addressing those deficiencies will be my number one priority going forward.” Dunn said he doesn’t know at this point if dues are too high, too low or just right, but he plans to study the issue quickly. And he’s looking at the perceived tension between the bar’s regulatory and member service roles. “In my view, the two are not at odds, provided we all recognize that our number one priority is public protection,” he said. “While that mission can never be compromised, I believe it is appropriate for our State Bar to support the legal profession to insure the delivery of high quality legal services.” To that end, he expressed worry about the future of lawyers in uncertain economic times, predicting that the practice of law will be different as the result of changing economics. Although the bar cannot control the direction of the marketplace, he said it has a responsibility to ensure that the profession remains healthy and able to provide excellent legal services. “The question is whether our State Bar can help lead that economic evolution of the law practice or watch as our profession gets swallowed up by such changes,” he said. Born and raised in Minnesota, Dunn said it was difficult to grow up in the home state of Hubert Humphrey and Walter Mondale without a keen interest in politics. After graduating from the University of Minnesota Law School, he worked for Robins Kaplan Miller & Ciresi, a Minneapolis-based firm that offered him a spot in its Newport Beach office in the mid-1980s. Already involved in politics, it was something of an eye opener for the Democrat to adjust to life in conservative Republican Orange County. But after years of handling mass tort work, almost exclusively for medical device and pharmaceutical plaintiffs, Dunn ran for the state Senate and won by a 5,000-vote margin. He credits his victory to a unique campaign strategy that featured delivery, the weekend before election day, of 25,000 chrysanthemums to every woman over 60 in the district. Dunn says he’s most proud of his leadership of the Senate Investigation Committee’s three-year examination of Enron’s involvement in the 2000-01 energy crisis, when the legislature utilized its contempt power for the first time in 75 years. He also cites an almost 10-year effort to create a law school at the University of California, Irvine, which already enjoys an excellent reputation with just first- and second-year students enrolled. After being termed out of the Senate in 2006, Dunn decided to run for attorney general, but withdrew when Jerry Brown announced his candidacy. He ran instead for state controller, losing to John Chiang. “John and I ran perhaps the only all-positive competitive campaign that year,” Dunn recalled. “It was an honor to lose to John and he’s been a great controller.” He then spent three years as CEO of the California Medical Association, founded a law firm with former Sen. Martha Escutia — The Senators Firm (Ret.) — and launched Voice of OC, a nonprofit investigative news agency in Orange County. Acknowledging the challenges of running a complex 230,000-plus member mandatory agency, Dunn said he looks forward to leading the bar. “This is a wonderful opportunity to bring my legal, political and CEO experience to the organization that is at the pinnacle of the profession I love — the law.”

“Once a successful businessman went to work in one of Mother Teresa’s shelters for the poor in India. His frustration at not finding the little woman there was overturned on the day before his departure when she returned. He was moved to tears of joyous surprise when, on admitting that his whole life was self-concerned, instead of being like hers, she held his shoulders and looked deep into his eyes saying: ‘Know that God appreciates you are doing the best you can.’” And He says the same to you today: “Know that God appreciates you are doing the best you can.” “There is nothing so perfect in the world as to be quite above objection and criticism. The very sun which gives us light and warmth is not free from spots, yet notwithstanding these defects it does not desist from its regular duty. It behoves us in like manner to carry on to the best of our ability what has been entrusted to us . . .” (Sundar Singh) In the matter of we have got to be This is the way it is, with love, for instance, and with any other deep down, visceral persuasion. We go beyond reason, we do not trust All surface indications to the contrary we have got to believe that God is good, unfailingly good to us. Even in the thick in moments of dire tragedy, God is being good. This is illogical, it is nonsense but it is true. one whit diminished, Monsignor James Turro “For you it is who took me and led me out of strange ways and darknesses years ago. You it is who takes me by the hand now day by day. Only you would not grow tired of the like of me–of anyone so sinful, ungrateful, selfish . . . The thought of my sins smites me down so that if there were not you I think I would fall into despair. And when I try to reason why you should continue to protect me I end in confusion. I can only throw myself on your love. I can only kneel and cry out: ‘I don’t deserve anything. Not even the greeting of a stranger. But, Mother, without you what am I going to do?’ This is mad, isn’t it? This is unreasonable. But I am helpless in my weakness. I, cowardly, feebly, selfishly, give the weight of my sins to you . . . .Never was there a worse sinner, and never was God kinder to one. Mother, it’s true. You know how true it is. You are the only explanation of God’s kindness to me.” (From Mr. Blue by Myles Connolly) This is the love of God the Father for you: Pope Francis among the little ones It’s been awhile since I’ve posted anything from my old friend, Amy Carmichael. I hope you find encouragement here: Ps 37.31 None of his steps shall slide. Ps 18.36 Thou hast enlarged my steps under me, that my ankles did not slip. Luke 21.16-18 You shall be betrayed . . . and some of you shall they cause to be put to death . . . . But there shall not a hair of your head perish. These words of our God are most gloriously trustful. Our Lord was speaking to some who were to die by martyrdom and He said in effect: “I trust you not to misunderstand when your ankles do slip and every hair of your head does perish. I trust you never to be offended in Me.” There is a delightful “though” in Psalm 37.24 which goes to the core of the matter. Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down: for the Lord upholds him with His hand. Kay translates it, He shall not be prostrated, for the Lord supports His hand; and Rotherham, with enchanting vigor: Though he fall, he shall not be hurled headlong, for the Lord is holding his hand. What do falls matter if the Lord is holding us up? He will keep us safe; we shall be more than conquerors through Him who loves us. The Mystery of Mary She is our Mother But she is also our daughter. A little girl and the Queen of Heaven. The Queen of the Angels– and yet she is still a little girl!

Friday, August 18, 2006 The Anxiety of the Influence of Medieval Identity Machines My favorite book of Prof. Cohen's is Medieval Identity Machines [2nd favorite--Of Giants: Sex, Monsters, and the Middle Ages]. When I had my students at Southern Illinois University [enrolled in my Masculinity, Violence, and the Medieval Romance course] read the chapters "Chevalrie" and "Masoch/Lancelotism," let's just say they were, um . . . kind of blown away. Those who weren't blown away were really, really discomfited [which I always think is a good thing]; i.e., they were "disturbed." I guess I always assumed that it has been broadly read [and taught?], and when JJC mentioned in a blog posting not very long ago that it was his least reviewed [and by implication, least understood?] book, I thought . . . whaaaaaa? But then again, why am I surprised? In any case, I thought I would share here a short paper I delivered last fall at Notre Dame that was greatly influenced by MIM [and to a certain extent, also, by Of Giants], to show how JJC's thought impacted my teaching of Chretien de Troyes and also helped me connect that [reading/thinking/teaching] experience with current events in the war in Iraq. honour desires the body's pain: The Posthuman Circuits of Chivalric Desire in Chretien's Yvain and the Iraq War In the famous medieval story of the renowned knight and doomed lover Tristan, retold by Gottfried von Strassburg in the early thirteenth century, when Tristan is seventeen his uncle, King Mark of Cornwall, asks him how he would feel about being knighted. Tristan responds that he “would love to be a knight, to train my idle youth and wean it to worldly honours,” but he also reproaches himself bitterly for not having yet exercised his “untried youth”—by which he means, he has never engaged in combat—and he tells Mark and the rest of Mark’s court that he has “read that honour desires the body’s pain, and comfort is death to honour.” Indeed, it could be argued that, although the term “chivalry,” in the Middle Ages, denoted a whole set of fluctuating and highly-localized yet also transcultural social practices and quasi-religious beliefs, that physical violence—most often in the form of battlefield or single combat—represented the primary experience through which aristocratic men, fictional or otherwise, proved and shaped their knightliness, and also their masculinity. In his book, Medieval Identity Machines, Jeffrey Cohen has written that medieval chivalry represented a “rigorous training of subjectivity and body,” and further, the word “chivalry” itself “denotes both a powerful cultural fantasy and a catalyst to the formation of a specific kind of European Christian aristocratic male subject. Chivalry aroused and then shaped the desires of an elite fighting class, delineating the contours of socially acceptable expressions of force and passion. Intimately connected in its genesis to the necessity of producing a sufficient supply of men capable of keeping the nation safe from attack and of furthering imperial interests abroad, chivalry aimed to create a body at once deadly in its sanctioned violence and docile in its comportment at home.” One result of all this was the creation of a tension between acceptable social conduct and sexual and violent excesses that “formed chivalry’s conflicted heart,” and to make matters worse, the “impossible perfection of knighthood was [always] limned by nightmares of its own self-dissolution.” Nothing was more instrumental for the maintenance of chivalric identity, I would argue, than medieval romance, a genre well-suited to solicit the passions of its young, male readers with its tales of lone adventuring, jousting with the boys, killing giants, rescuing virgins, and fighting in large-scale wars. As Tristan, a character in a romance, states in his own story, he has read that “honour desires the body’s pain.” This point is worth re-emphasizing: Tristan, himself a fictional character in a fictional romance, is familiar with the very literature through which he has been created as a heroic figure. As Johan Huizinga once wrote of medieval knights, “They wear the mask of Lancelot and Tristan. It is an amazing self-deception.” But it is a self-deception absolutely necessary in martial culture, for, as Cohen has also written, “in order for battles to be fought and won, young men must be made willing to sacrifice their own bodies to ensure the endurance of the structure of power that their activity undergirds.” Perhaps ironically, the knight is made to believe, through the genre of romance and other politico-ideological means, that his assumption of a chivalric identity—at the moment, let’s say, he decides to take up arms—is a freely-willed form of self-fashioning, whereas in reality, he lives his life exactly the way he has been socially conditioned to live it. Chivalry appears, on the surface, to offer a type of freedom—the freedom to leave home, for example, and the freedom to create one’s self through various acts of personal techne, while in actuality, the community of chivalry is the very antithesis of freedom. The function of medieval romances, such as Strassburg’s Tristan, Wolfram von Eschenbach’s Parzival, and Chretien de Troyes’ Arthurian Romances, according to Cohen, is to provide the “hypnotic glimmer” and “cannibal poetics” of the chivalric, heroic self, and to offer men “in mythic form everything that they [actually] cannot have: freedom of movement, freedom of desire, freedom from the constraints of history and time.” And what each potential knight-soldier is finally drawn into is not a literary romance or heroic life, but the defining, Freudian romance of history itself, a romance, according to Cohen, “written by a father, with a father’s wished-for ending. The possibility of rebellion is itself sentenced to death, and the good son[, once sacrificed] joins the body of patriarchs. The story is [always] set to repeat.” And I would add that chivalry is ultimately a form of ghost-writing upon the skin and body of the knight: the instrument of his legibility is the sword of his enemy. And the knight’s blood, spilled on the ground, is the sum of his parts and meaning. If we were to number all the leaves of all the medieval manuscripts that contained romance stories, they would fill Chartres Cathedral to the rafters and then some, and I can not even begin to do justice here to the barest description of the entire corpus or even to the most spare description of the shared features of the generic plots, but what I would like to do is briefly focus on one particular romance by the twelfth-century French author Chretien de Troyes, “The Knight with the Lion” (typically referred to as the story of Yvain), and even more particularly, on a portion of that story that involves Yvain’s association and friendship with a lion, whom he rescues from the clutches of a dragon after determining that “he would take the lion’s part, since a venomous and wicked creature deserves only harm: the dragon was venomous and fire leapt from its mouth because it was so full of wickedness.” And further, “Pity summoned and urged him to aid and succour the noble and honorable beast.” [And it goes without saying that the dragon, historically, is symbolically associated with everything that is not “noble” and masculine: it is feminine, variable in its sexuality, Asiatic, Muslim, chthonic, etc.] After Yvain slays the dragon by hacking it into tiny pieces—a typical day in the park for a medieval knight—the lion is so grateful that, uncharacteristically for a lion, “it stood up on its hind paws, bowed its head, joined its forepaws and extended them towards Yvain, in an act of total submission,” and from that day on the lion never leaves Yvain’s side. In fact, from that point forward in the story Yvain is known only as “One who they say is never without a lion.” Yvain’s larger story actually begins prior to his encounter with the lion—with his already established renown as one of Arthur’s best knights, as well as a particular adventure he undertakes that leads to his marriage with a woman whose husband he has killed in single combat. But when he meets the lion, Yvain has been wandering by himself through wild terrain and various towns, partly because he broke a promise to his wife to return to her within one year and one day after leaving her shortly after their wedding to go tourneying, which is really “code” for: hang out with the boys, fight, hunt, and kill some things. When one of his wife’s female servants, Lunete, tracks him down and demands back her lady’s ring, since Yvain has broken his promise, he is stunned and Lunete has to forcibly pull the ring from his finger, at which point Yvain literally goes “mad,” strips off all of his clothing, flees into the woods, and lives “in the forest like a madman and a savage.” Clothing and manners are everything in this world, and by entering the forest in this manner, Yvain signifies his complete abdication of everything his aristocratic culture stands for—he is no longer a husband, or even a knight, but is just an animal. Yvain’s real, naked body, no matter how well-trained and “hard,” cannot, by itself, denote knighthood, or any kind of recognizable social identity, since, in the world of chivalry, identity—human and otherwise—is inextricably bound up with what might be called the technology of soldiery: knives, swords, shields, armor, pennants, spurs and horses. Yvain’s entry into the woods—a landscape, moreover, that in chivalric romance always denotes ahistorical and wild time—represents his reduction to a kind of particulate, atomized being. The rest of the story is taken up with his slow progress back to his supposedly more coherent chivalric self, and the lion plays a critical role in the “second act” of Yvain’s self-fashioning as a knight, but also, as a man. Everywhere he travels, the lion travels with him, and each time Yvain meets an opponent, he tells the lion to sit by and not interfere, yet at just the right moment, the lion always pounces and helps Yvain defeat his enemies. It is clearly important to Yvain to always let his opponents know that he does not require the lion’s help, yet at the same time, when he is overmatched (as he almost always is), the lion flies in, literally, to decide the matter with one deadly swipe of the paw, demonstrating that the chivalric self always “fights clean” and “honorably,” yet also requires, for the decisive moment, a ferocious, unthinking violence. In one extraordinary moment, when the lion believes Yvain is dead after Yvain has accidentally fallen on his own sword in a fit of swooning grief (primarily because he misses his wife so desperately), the lion attempts suicide by propping the same sword against a stone and throwing himself at it. Clearly, the lion lives for and through Yvain, and the two become inseparable halves of the same person. There is a certain fluidity of identity between Yvain and the lion that creates what the French philosophers Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guttari have called an “inhuman circuit”—an “amalgam of force, materiality, and motion” as well as a “network of meaning that decomposes human bodies and intercuts them with the inanimate, [the animal, and] the inhuman.” The lion, of course, is also an allegory for Yvain’s warrior ferocity, which is simultaneously “noble,” like the lion’s bearing (meaning upright, supple, and “hard” in his body, but also “rational” and “moral” in mind), and mortally brutal, like the lion’s sharp claws. Together, they make perfect house guests as well as a beautiful killing machine. Ultimately, it is not discretion that is the better part of valor, but terror—here seen, not only as an object of awe, but also of beauty. Young medieval men became knights, I would argue, primarily through a process of wounding, and Yvain’s story demonstrates this over and over again, as he and the lion wound and receive wounds together along each step of their adventures. They are even healed together, in order to wound and be wounded again. Typically, knights in medieval romance literature fight under the strain of wounds that would kill “ordinary men,” and phrases like “they fought as the blood rose to their ankles and knees” (as if the battlefields were closed containers) are stock commonplaces. Also typical is the knight who fights too soon after his wounds have only just begun to heal, so that while new wounds are being inflicted, the old wounds simultaneously open and the knight almost drowns in his own blood. The knight’s own blood, shed and re-shed, is the true métier of his existence—the reason he knows he’s really alive, even when dying. I have been thinking a lot recently about the connections between the ethos of medieval chivalry and the contemporary cultural beliefs of young soldiers, such as Capt. David Rozelle of the Third Armored Calvary Regiment, who became an amputee in June 2003 when an anti-tank mine destroyed part of his right leg and foot. In his recent memoir, Back In Action: An American Soldier’s Story of Courage, Faith, and Fortitude—itself a species of romance narrative—Rozelle writes of his observation of his injuries shortly after his armored vehicle was blown up (his Humvee actually lifted off the ground and a door and tire were launched 300 meters away): “My leg was straight and my foot was misshapen and slumped over to the right, lifeless. It wasn’t just limp, but was grotesquely contorted at a severe angle well beyond ninety degrees. . . . Whenever I tried to move it, pain would run up my leg as if someone were shooting me in the foot again and again. The only thing holding my foot onto my body was my boot. The blood was now pouring down the inside of the cargo wall. It was thick and dark, and carried fragments of bone and tissue with it. . . . I worried about being litter-carried in front of my men. Fuck, they never even saw me sleep, and now they would see me carried in like the dead.” Ultimately, Rozelle was less angry about his injuries (which would result in the amputation of the lower portion of his right leg), than he was about what he termed the loss of his command. In his memoir, he writes, “I was so angry. My command was over, and the war, for me, was over. I had lost everything in an instant.” Somewhat amazingly, Rozelle has become the first amputee soldier in the history of the U.S. Army to successfully petition to be returned to active combat duty, and this petition was partly successful because of the advances that have been made in prosthetic technology. But it was also successful because of Rozelle’s passionate resolve to return to Iraq only as a commander on the ground, where, previously, his code name was “Killer 6,” and the evening before heading out on specific missions, he would rouse his men by shouting, “Killers on the Warpath!” Most relevant to the discussion here is Chapter 4 of Rozelle’s memoir, “My Life as a Texan,” where Rozelle begins by telling his reader that when he thinks about “making a name for myself as a warrior, I think about mythological heroes,” and since many mythological heroes, such as Gilgamesh, Romulus and Remus, had uncertain parentage, and he himself is adopted, Rozelle places himself within the pseudo-historical lineage of heroic myth. The fact that he is originally from Texas where, as he puts it, the colors of the Texas flag represent “bravery, purity, and loyalty,” and everything is bigger than it is anywhere else, provides further evidence of an heroic provenance. He also lets us know in this chapter that, after many conversations with a teacher who was a Vietnam veteran, and who ran a tank division there, he chose to be a “cavalryman” in an armored division, in order to never be one of the “poor bastards” who make up the infantry. In other words, Rozelle sees himself as having chosen the more “elite” military path, one with definite associations with the images and symbolism of the medieval chevalier. Later in the book, in Chapter 15, “Fit for Duty,” we get the story of the grueling physical therapy Rozelle puts himself through in order to place under erasure his official Army status as “Recovering From Traumatic Injury.” In his letter of “Self-Recommendation and Fitness for Duty,” written in January of 2004, Rozelle wrote, “I am already considering my prosthesis an adaptive part of my body, which has no limits on me personally or professionally,” and somewhat extraordinarily, in March of 2004, the Army’s Medical Evaluation Board evaluated Rozelle as “fit for duty.” As Rozelle defines himself primarily as a commander of battle troops, and would clearly have a difficult time existing outside of that identity, he made a decision that he would take nothing less than active command of active combat troops. Setting an unusual historical precedent, the Army granted that request, and in July 2004, Rozelle returned to Iraq. In Rozelle’s statement in his letter that his prosthesis is an “adaptive” part of his body—a part, moreover, he wishes to train for combat—we can see, as Cohen has written, what might be called the chivalric, Deleuzian assemblage of the soldier (part human, part “other than human”), which “necessarily acknowledges that a body is not a singular, essential thing but an inhuman circuit full of unrealized possibility for rethinking identity.” But this is an identity, too, in both Yvain’s and Rozelle’s case, which is a consummate figure of war, a figure that is predicated upon the desire for muscular, yet-also machine-like, proficient might. It tilts toward destruction. Perhaps we should not view Rozelle through too negative of a lens, for from one perspective, he has demonstrated that his disability does not define nor limit his identity as a soldier, and even as a servant of the state, and his return to Iraq can be viewed, in that sense, as a kind of progressive triumph, both personally and culturally. And while I can see some of the sense in this argument, I do not think we are always aware of the powerful stories and cultural narratives that write our identities upon our bodies. And I am worried, too, about the larger question of whether or not the maiming and deaths of men and women in the war in Iraq is justified by the supposed causes of this war, however we might define them. As Michael Walzer argued convincingly in Just and Unjust Wars, human society is such that war will likely always be unavoidable, and therefore, it is critical that we insist on war having a moral structure, and we must likewise insist on the vigilant maintenance of that moral structure. As regards Capt. Rozelle and his desire to return to combat duty in Iraq, I keep returning to that moment in Shakespeare’s Henry V when, the evening before the bloody battle of Agincourt, Henry disguises himself and walks through the camp in order to sound out the morale of his troops. To a small group of soldiers who are clearly worried about the outcome of the next day’s battle, Henry says, “Methinks I could not die anywhere so contented as in the King’s company, his cause being just and his quarrel honorable” (IV.i.126-28), to which one of his soldiers replies, “But if the cause be not good, the King himself hath a heavy reckoning to make, when all those legs and arms and heads, chopped off in battle, shall join together at the latter day and cry all, ‘We died at such a place,’ some swearing, some crying for a surgeon, some upon their wives left poor behind them, some upon the debts they owe, some upon their children rawly left. I am afear’d there are few die well that die in battle; for how can they charitably dispose of anything when blood is their argument?” (IV.i.134-43). 1. Gottfried von Strassburg, Tristan, trans. A.T. Hatto (1960; reprint New York: Penguin Books, 1982), 101. 2. Jeffrey Jerome Cohen, Medieval Identity Machines (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2004), 46-47. 3. Ibid., 47. 4. Johan Huizinga, The Waning of the Middle Ages, trans. F. Hopman (1924; reprint New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1984), 69. 5. Jeffrey Jerome Cohen, Of Giants: Sex, Monsters, and the Middle Ages (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1999), 82. 6. Cohen, Medieval Identity Machines, 71. 7. Ibid., 85. 8. Chretien de Troyes, “The Knight With the Lion (Yvain),” Arthurian Romances, trans. William W. Kibler (New York: Penguin Books, 1991), 337. 11. Ibid., 357. 12. Ibid., 330. 13. Cohen, Medieval Identity Machines, 37-38, 76. 14. Rozelle, David, Back in Action: An American Soldier’s Story of Courage, Faith, and Fortitude (Washington, DC: Regnery Publishing, 2005), 143. 15. Ibid., 145. 16. Ibid., 11. 17. Ibid., 31. 18. Ibid., 212. 19. Ibid., 214. 20. Ibid., 218. 21. Cohen, Medieval Identity Machines, 76. 22. Citations of Shakespeare’s Henry V are taken from The Riverside Shakespeare, ed. G. Blakemore Evans (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1974).

"When a game is ready to finally go to the replicators and get printed onto millions of disks — that is when the game has gone gold. That is, we have gold master disks ready to send off to replication. For consoles like Xbox 360 and PS3, going gold means we’ve passed certification and Microsoft/Sony has sent the gold master disk to the replicators." -Bethesda Softworks, makers of Oblivion and Fallout 3 We anticipate Duke Nukem Forever will be going gold two or three weeks after the final trump during the Biblical Apocalypse. We do not expect DNF to have an ESRB rating since all of the reviewers will have been raptured up to heaven by then. 作者 Karl "the Pagan" 2009年3月02日 The moment in which a man realizes that after all his hard work, money spent and time vested, he is finally going to be a able to have sex with the hottest woman he's ever seen. "After a long chat about vegetarians and animal rights, Rob knew that he was finally going gold." 作者 BrazzleDazzle 2009年2月23日

Dear Rosie & Sherry, I'm a 25-year-old woman who has been dating a 26-year-old man for the past six months. I recently became certified as a nurse-midwife, and Danny is a software designer. We were introduced by mutual friends, and I liked Danny from the very start. However, I really wasn't so focused on the dynamics between us, because I was concentrating on finding a job in my field and getting acclimated to a new hospital. I just knew that I liked spending time with Danny. It seems like before I could catch my breath, we'd been dating for only four months, and I started to hear different versions of, "It's time to get engaged. What are you waiting for?" from friend, relatives, and even Danny himself. I really like Danny, and I can see the possibility of marrying him… But right now I'm not ready to make that decision. I feel like we need to date longer, especially now that I don't have the job-related pressures to preoccupy me. Danny has told me that I'm the "One" for him, and he can't understand why I'm hesitating. I'm afraid to tell him that I need more time, because everyone says that if I do, I'll lose him. I don't want that to happen, but I'm not ready to get engaged yet, either. Please help! From the volume of letters we receive, it appears that yours is a common dilemma. It often happens that one dating partner is ready to move forward to engagement and marriage while the other is “not yet ready.” Each person is different, and people become emotionally invested in their relationships at different rates. Sometimes, the one who wants to more forward becomes concerned over what appears to be the other’s lack of commitment. However, they don’t realize how normal this is, and it does not reflect upon either the quality of the relationship, whether the partners are right for each other, or even if the other person will feel ready to become engaged in the future. What’s usually needed is a bit more time. Unfortunately, many times the one who wants to move forward can begin to pressure the other to make a decision. Family and friends may also begin to "strongly suggest" engagement, and simply cannot understand what they’re waiting for! (You are only in your 20s, but for those in their 30s and above, this “time pressure” is much more pronounced.) They may feel that the couple is right for each other, and their own internal timetable tells them that after this certain period of time, the couple "must" be ready to get married. They don’t understand that often, all that's needed is a bit more time to feel ready to make such an important decision. Occasionally, a dater wants more time because she’s trying to resolve an issue in the relationship (such as different goals) or come to terms with something that's really bothering her about the person she’s dating (such as something in his background or a personality trait or behavior). Experience has shown that these issues usually get resolved within the first few months of dating, or not at all. In fact, some couples struggle for many months without coming to terms with a serious issue, and belatedly realize that they're not right for each other. In situations like these, more time is not helpful. Speak It Out This doesn't seem to be your situation. It sounds to us that you simply need more time to focus on your relationship, delve into certain issues, and see each other in different circumstances and surroundings. And you simply need more time to process what you are experiencing, and feel ready to switch from being a single woman to a married one. These are good reasons for dating longer and waiting to make a decision. Many times, once a person knows that she can take this time, she relaxes and everything proceeds more quickly. If she continues to feel pressure from other people, however, she'll have a harder time reaching that point of decision. We've seen what can happen when someone succumbs to pressure and says "Yes" before she feels ready. True, often the person they've agreed to marry really is right for them, and the marriage turns out to be a good one. However, the engagement period is tortuous. She can repeatedly agonize over whether she's made the right decision and vacillate between going forward with the wedding and calling off the engagement. She may have bouts of anguished crying and run to therapists or rabbis for advice about what to do. The guy winds up suffering, too, because instead of spending the engagement period harmoniously planning the wedding and their lives together, he winds up worrying over the fact that his bride is emotionally drained and stressed. A pressured decision often leads to a broken engagement. Sometimes, following a “pressured decision,” the engagement ends. This is tragic in two ways. In some instances, they were truly right for each other, but the undo pressure caused one (or both) of them to make an irrational decision to break it off. Alternatively, they were indeed not right for each other, and they could have been spared a lot of agony if they would have broken up before this pressured decision to get engaged. We suggest that you talk to the man you are dating, and explain your feelings in a way he can accept. You could say, "I enjoy going out with you and I really think our relationship is moving forward. I believe we have a lot of potential. But up until a few weeks ago, I had so much going on, on the outside, that I couldn't devote enough energy to building our relationship. I feel that I need a little more time to go through the process, and I hope that you will be patient enough to let me do that.” How much time will you need? You will need to gauge how much time the man you are dating can go without losing confidence in the future. It can take a number of weeks, or less, but we don't recommend stretching this out much longer when your dating partner feels so ready. One of the dangers of taking longer is that your relationship can deteriorate due to the build-up of frustration. At the very least, the conversation you have with him will tell you a lot about his ability to be sensitive to your needs. And it will serve as a good test case for how well you can problem-solve together which, after all, is a foundation of any good marriage. We wish you success in navigating the dating maze. Rosie & Sherry

Barbara Stanwyck stars in the title role of this 1930s western inspired by the life of the famous female sharpshooter. When her skills land her a part in Buffalo Bill (Moroni Olsen)s Wild West show Annie becomes acquain... For three-and-a-half years, the small Suffolk town of Market Wetherby has been doggedly getting on with the war - a time of ration books, shortages and making do, of war office telegrams and barrage balloons, or Digging for Victory and identity cards, and of BBC news on the wireless. A time, in fact, of all our yesterdays. Into this quiet corner of England arrives the 525th Bomb Group of the US Shampooheads Awesome Annie Fuzz Free Detangler has built in heat protection for blow drying and all those other girls styking tools. Creates silky manageable hair- easy to comb and style. Pump action spray to give maximum coverage in each spray. Tropical fruit smell leaving you hair fresh and fruity all day. 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Hazel put her cup of coffee down and headed for the door. "Alright, I'm coming." she called out as she walked down the hallway to answer the loud knocking. It was only eight thirty so Hazel thought it must be the post man. She squinted through the spy hole and was surprised to see her neighbour, Mike standing there. "Good morning, Mike," she said, opening the door, "what brings you round so early?" "Do you have a minute Hazel?" he replied, seeming strangely nervous, "I want to show you something." Opening the door a little wider, Hazel invited him in, "Yes Mike come in, coffee's made if you want one." Coffee was the last thing on Mike's mind at that moment as she stood aside and he stepped through the doorway. As he followed her down the hallway he couldn't take his eyes off her mature arse as it swayed along infront of him and he felt his cock get even harder at the thought of seeing it in the flesh! For the past week, since he'd found her pictures on line, Mike had had a permanent hard-on and this morning, if things worked the way he hoped they would, Hazel would be taking care of that for him. Sitting down at the kitchen table, Mike dropped an envelope on the table. "Hazel," he said, "have a look at these will you and tell me what you think." Hazel casually picked up envelope and opened it. As she pulled out the contents, her heart jumped into her mouth. The envelope contained pictures of her, pictures that had been taken by an ex-boyfriend, intimate pictures. "W-w-where did you get these Mike?" she stammered, her face growing redder by the second. Mike smiled. "They're online for anyone to see Hazel," he said, then added with a hint of menace in his voice,"that is if you know where to look for them." "P-p-please Mike,"she stammered again, "destroy them or give them to me, no-one else must ever see them." Mike smiled. "Yes of course you can have them Hazel but they're online, so I can always get more and just think what your friends will think if I sent them a link to the site." "Please Mike, don't do that, the pictures were taken years ago I'd forgotten all about them." The pictures were old ones, taken ten years previously but Hazel was still recognisable in them. They'd been taken by her boyfriend of the time trying out a new camera and as far as she was concerned they'd been destroyed straight away so she was shocked to find out they were online for anyone to see. They were mainly just glamour type shots, pictures of her nude or in various sexy outfits but a few of them showed her masturbating and some close ups of her pussy. "M-M-Mike," she stammered, "I-I-I thought we were friends. Why would you do this to me?" Mike smiled at her again. "How long have we known each other Hazel?" he asked. Hazel thought for a moment. "About three years, ever since you moved here." "Right," Mike replied, "And you've never noticed the way I've looked at you?" "I don't know understand Mike," Hazel said, "What do you mean, the way you've looked at me." Mike sighed. "Hazel," he said softly, "ever since I first saw you I've imagined you just the way you are in the pictures. I've fantasised about you almost every night of those three years. But you've just ignored me. I know you've had boyfriends in here and I've lain at night imagining what you were doing with them and when I found those pictures, well, I just thought..." "You thought you'd use them to blackmail me?" Hazel snapped, "well it won't work Mike, I'm not interested in you that way. We're just friends, well we were, and that's as far as it goes. So just destroy these pictures and forget you ever saw them." Hazel's face was flushed and her hands were shaking as she waited for Mike's reply. "Look Hazel," he said in a low measured tone. "I know where to access the pictures and I all I have to do is let your friends and family know too and well ... you know ... they'd raise a few eyebrows." Hazel bowed her head, she knew he was right. Hazel was in her late sixties now but ten years ago, when the pictures were taken she'd had very active and varied sex life with a string of boyfriends that satisfied her carnal needs. "Well..." Mike said as he picked up the pictures and turned towards the door, "if that's the way you want it..." Hazel reached out and grabbed his arm. "Wait! Okay Mike, what do you want?" Mike smiled, he knew he had her just where he wanted her now. As he sat back down he said, "Well for a start, you can stand up and let me take a good look at you." Hazel did as he asked and stood up. She shuddered as she felt his eyes running over her body, mentally undressing her. "Beautiful," Mike breathed, "absolutely beautiful. You're a amazingly, sexy woman Hazel. Now unbutton your blouse." Hazel knew she had to do as he asked, she couldn't risk her friends and family seeing the pictures. She started unbuttoning her blouse, her hands trembling as she did. When she finished, she stood there with it hanging open, just the inner edges of her bra and her cleavage on view to him. "Now take it off," Mike said, "let me see you properly." Again Hazel did as he asked and let the blouse slip off her shoulders. "Oh yes," Mike groaned as she stood there in her thin, white cotton bra. Strangely she felt her nipples start to harden under the thin lace, a reaction that didn't go un-noticed by Mike. "You're enjoying this aren't you Hazel?" he said, almost gleefully. Hazel glared at him. "No I'm not," she snapped. "Well that's not what these are saying," he said and before she could react Mike had reached out and stroked his finger over one, now almost fully erect nipple. "These say you are enjoying it Hazel." Hazel tried to step back, but Mike moved his other hand to the small of her back, preventing her. "You don't know how long I've imagined doing this Hazel," he said, as he switched his finger to the vacant nipple. Both nipples were now fully erect and Hazel could feel them pressing against the inside of her bra, not only that but there was a definite moistening of her panties where they covered her pussy. Hazel's sex had been in limbo for the past five years, and it had been a long time since she'd been touched so intimately and Mike's attention to her nipples was really turning her on. She felt Mike's hand move up from the small of her back then felt him fumbling with the clip at the back of her bra, seconds before the pressure on her 36B breasts relaxed and they dropped down out of the lacy cups. Mike groaned again and reached up and took one of her hard nipples between a thumb and forefinger and pinched it. "Oh God yes Hazel," he groaned, "just as I'd imagined." Now the crotch of Hazel's panties wasn't just moist, it was wet, really wet, as her body reacted to Mike's assault on her nipple and she gasped as he moved his head forwards and took the vacant one between his lips. As Mike alternated his mouth between her nipples, Hazel felt his hand move down her back then the sound of her zip being lowered and before she knew it, her skirt was on the floor around her ankles and Mike groaned again as she sat there and he slid his hand down and ran it over her pantie covered mound. He looked into up her eyes as he pulled the straps of her bra down over her shoulders. At that moment, Hazel could have backed away, but something prevented her and that something wasn't physical, she didn't want to. Whether she liked it or not, Mike had control over her and her body was reacting in a way she'd never expected. Hazel took a small step backwards as Mike got up out of the chair and stood up infront of her. She couldn't fail to notice the bulge in his slacks and didn't resist when he took hold of her wrist and guided her hand onto it. She gasped as she felt it jerk and without even realising she was doing it, her hand pressed against it eliciting another groan from Mike. "Do you like that Hazel?" he said, "do you like what you've done to my cock?" As he spoke, he reached down and unclipped the top of his slacks, pushing them down along with his boxers. Hazel gasped even louder as she saw for the first time his naked seven inch cock. She could actually see the blood pulsing through the veins on the thick shaft but she didn't resist as Mike reached out and guided her hand back onto it. "It's big Mike," she groaned, looking up at him, "I never realised." Mike smiled. "I'm glad you think so Hazel, now you can see what you've been missing," he said, "but from now on when ever you want it you know where it is." Hazel looked back at him and instinctively started stroking her hand up and down it. As she did a bead of pre-cum oozed from the tip of his knob and Hazel looked into his eyes. "You know what to do Hazel," Mike said, as he placed a hand on her shoulders and pushed her down to her knees. Now, looking up at him, she lowered her head and licked the salty bead off his knob and Mike groaned. "Oh God, yes Hazel," he said breathlessly, "that feels good suck it." He held his breath as he watched her lips part and slide down over the tip of his knob as it disappeared into her mouth. Still keeping her eyes locked on his, she began to suck as she stroked her fingers up and down his rock hard cock, forcing more pre-cum from it. Mike felt this balls begin to tighten and knew it wouldn't be long before he emptied them into her mouth. Hazel felt it too and tensed as she felt his cock jerk in her mouth and the first warm jet of cumm hitting her the back of her throat. "Oh fuck yes," Mike groaned, "that's it Hazel, take it, swallow it!" Again, Hazel did as she was told and swallowed hard as wad after wad of his thick cumm filled her mouth. Mike moved his hands to the back of her head and began sliding his cock in and out between her lips, fucking her mouth until his climax faded. .... There is more of this story ...

This is my 427th post. What a great number…427. Entertainment: I never tire of holiday music. But I always cry no matter who sings “Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas” This makes for some awkward moments at work. “No no – don’t mind me – I’m ok – just a little teary over here again…” Kids Are Awesome: Avery told me the other day that she didn’t want to meet “some fake Santa in a costume” that she wanted to meet the real guy. She didn’t buy my story about the fake Santas being Authorized Reps for the real guy. Same night, Aiden told us he wanted to put on a show. He directed us to sit on the floor. He got the ukulele and stood in front of us. Then he said he needed a stool. So he went and got a stool, sat in front of us, lightly strummed the guitar and watched all of us watch him. I just wish I’d taken a picture. Watch for this kid to hit the stage in 20 years. Men (and women): http://www.salon.com/2013/02/17/why_are_men_so_foolish/. I learned that science shows that men take more risks then women generally because they are less apt to consider the downside, whereas women are far more calculating about risk. “When the odds are actually good, women will compete (by entering the race) more than men. They just refuse to waste time with losing.” “Men tend to focus on the reward. The larger the reward, the more they ignore the odds. Women are the opposite: they tend to focus on the risk, and larger rewards are less relevant.” “The bottom line is, if you have a girl, I would put her in the best school as possible and have her around the smartest peers possible,” Jackson summarized. “If you have a son, you should put them in the school with the brightest teachers, but you should be wary of putting him in a hypercompetitive environment. Being a small fish in a big pond is particularly bad for boys,” Jackson added. Goodness is contagious: The other day a woman walked onto the subway train I was on. She asked for food. This is a pretty common sight. She wasn’t having a lot of success. I had a box of raisins so I gave it to her. And then another woman gave her money, and another, and another. It was like a yawn that everyone caught. That was all it took – a first step. Hope Springs Eternal: This almost needs no explanation. As a dedicated Knicks fan, all it seems we have at times is hope. But then something good actually happens (not to the Knicks). Something good like a dear friend calls and says “please come to dinner…I’ve met someone.” And you learn that she had maybe not totally given up hope but was literally on the verge of checking out of the dating scene and there was a moment – a brief fated moment that stopped her. And that was the turning point…several weeks later it seems she has met someone wonderful and I don’t know when I’ve seen her so happy. Grief and Joy – which is which: I cannot recall what prompted this thought but at some point in the last few days I felt the need to list the most wonderful days of my life. And the usual suspects were there – the day I got a fat envelope from a grad school (good day), our wedding day, my sister’s wedding day, the weekend I spent with my mom cleaning the loft at her house (long story), the days our kids were born, and at last…the day of my father’s wake. Yes there it was. Right up there with all the others. In our house, friends arrived from years past. People came to sit in his chair. To look at his books and CDs. To open his desk drawers and see his handwritten notes. I surprised myself thinking about this and realizing “Wow, that was a wonderful day.” There is no other way to describe it. And Finally a Poem to Sum it up: To live in this world you must be able to do three things: to love what is mortal; to hold it against your bones knowing your own life depends on it; and, when the time comes to let it go, to let it go. ~ Mary Oliver

After 36 years in business, Lodi's RISE nightclub is shutting its doors. The South Main Street club was born in 1982 as Chicago Night Club and changed its name in 1997 to Soundgarden. The club held legendary Saturday night parties with live band entertainment. After 11 years of Soundgarden and during a fast-changing industry, Soundgarden became RISE -- an ultimate nightlife destination. The name described what would come for decades at the S. Main Street club -- only to come to an end in May 2018. The club provided escape for people across North Jersey for decades, shaping bartenders and deejays along the way. "It was the place where I started as a 23-year-old girl with a toxic lifestyle who grew into a 32-year-old woman with a dental hygiene career and a newfound respect for herself and others," Susana Nunez wrote on Facebook. "For me it was the place that showed me genuine love and support when I lost my mother... it was the place I really grew up in.... the place where our boss wasn’t JUST our boss but an actual friend and father figure to all of us who treated us all as if we were his own. "For me it wasn’t just 'another club' ... it was my home." Former employee Omar Gomez said Introna was like a father to him. "This man is more than stand up, more than iconic, more than a mentor, father figure, role model, and words cannot describe the individual that is Eugene," he said. "He gave everyone that walked into his business an opportunity not only to work for him and make money, but be a part of a family that was like no other...this man literally saw a person in me that I at times didn’t see in myself." Click here to sign up for Daily Voice's free daily emails and news alerts.

Spring and Autumn period (eighteen) Xia Ji rebellion2016-07-21 03:26:04 499 ℃ (in Chinese history of the spring and Autumn period, there is a beautiful woman, her name is Xia Ji, her startling beauty beauty, but see Xia Ji man, almost all of which were impressed by her appearance. Because of her, a country collapse, even a hero generation overlord almost Chuzhuang Wang, threw himself at her feet. And her existence, even affected the historical process of the spring and autumn period. So, what kind of woman is Xia Ji? Does she really have the magic that can influence the process of history?. Xia Ji, Ji should be female, from Zheng Guo. First married to a Mr. Chen's husband, Royal uncle, gave birth to a son, called Shu shu. Results, Royal uncle old premature death, because Xia Ji is very beautiful, Royal uncle anyway is to marry a cost of a beautiful woman, is live for several years. So the Xia Ji beautiful to what extent?? some books of Han Dynasty, said she has "nip technology", her life in her own holds a Kung Fu, is the operation of Fangji is rejuvenated. What the data say? She said three times again. We usually adolescent girls eighteen, 20, 20, a second adolescence, people twice eighteen times eighteen, so the technology lost, regret. So today, if anyone had to dig it out, it's going to be a big one. Also said that she is three for the queen, seven for the lady. Say what? Three queen, seven for the lady, married people, three times to marry him, died three months, seven times to marry a doctor, died seven months, this is a killer, she kind of erotic power, to the man bloodshed. This means that the people of the Han Dynasty is the point of life, is a bit too much imagination. However, "Zuozhuan" records, she had a lot of dead people around. Widow's door is I-@ J. Chen linggong, king father and instrument line hole Ning also took a fancy to her. She received a single charge. Three day and night to her home run. In the daytime, the two cavalry king of one of the hands of a private gift of her underwear. This reminds us of this woman, tall, three people holding a gift show. This is the Lords declared prostitution. Where there is such a thing? Said the doctor, this like anything? Groups like Xuan prostitution, let people look at how? Chen linggong listens, heart is non or some, just not our own desires. Quickly accept, change. And, the relief Ye told Kong Ning and instrument for father. Two people began to plan and kill the man. Confucius said, "the people of the monarch, no independent monarch, the discharge of the rule that" this thing is said to be the rule of the rule, there is no curse three people, three people are not ashamed of. Say if the silence is a good thing. Now that they are not worth it. Vent ye were killed, three people on the day of her home run to become aggravated. Ming said find Xia Zhengshu and discuss things. However, people have sharp eyes and on poetry irony, the poem called "Zhulin": "Hu Zhu Lin, from Nan Xia, Mo he is not going to Zhulin; and from the southern summer, drive me to ride a horse, said to wild strains. Take me by Colt, towards the food in the plant. Ze PO by the shores of that marsh, PU and lotus. There was a beautiful man, injuries such as what! "To find summer south is Xiazheng Shu, not to Zhulin, is indeed to find Xiazheng Shu. It is a confession. This is folk, sarcastic to you. To expose your cleverness. Then said the drive from the carriage to go there and have a rest, Zhu Lin, dinner. Eat with men and women of the matter. By eating nannvzhishi, shisexingye. This is a mapping. This is "poetry" in the rare ability of poetry. Chen linggong three people abandoned the national policy, at this time, Zhou royal family single male secretary to song country travel, after the state of Chu, channelled through to Chen, away from the state of Chen, come back to King Zhou to say this, said "Chen Hou do not have big blame, the country will perish". Don't change, will. This single male under the prophecies, to be destroyed. Chen linggong one with the father, the well hole instrument for summer drink, people do not say, say something. Chen linggong, Xiazheng Shu like you, they like you said. This annoyed Xiazheng shu. Results drinking boy lit let this Xia Zhengshu sixteen, has begun to move, after the end of the party, three people go outside, go to the stables, an arrow to the key parts, Chen linggong died. (Chu responded, account of King Zhuang of Chu people into the state of Chen, destroy the Chan Kwok, but soon, re established the Chan Kwok, destroy a stand ask what happened?) Chen's people are not satisfied with the choudant Xiazheng monarch. Chuzhuang Wang issued an order for small West, refers to Xiazheng Shu jia. Everyone has the right to punish. Chen people do not move, so out of the Chen country, prepared after the elimination of the regime, at the time, the side on it. The nations also hasten to congratulate. However, a person does not speak, this is the sage Shen Shushi. Shen Shushi came back from Qi, just out of Chen Guo. Shen Shushi just to explain the situation, turned to go. This is a prestigious ministers, Chu Zhuangwang wonder, how do you like others to congratulate? Shen Shushi stopped. This, also allow I speak? Of course, you can swing. Shen Shushi said, "to the fields through the morning glory, and the capture of cattle". Shen Shushi said this "no but too heavy almost? King Zhuang of Chu didn't think, now Crusade princes follow, you have discussed is excessive and excessively, it is a moral act, has now become a greedy, and cattle, let princes to see how? Points out, under the system of the nations to princes followed, do not particularly. Out of the country, other states will want to have a day is me. This will say what the disunity, this is also the history of the spring and autumn and the Warring States period? History is not the same, to speak the truth. There is no time for pure recognition. Chuzhuang Wang smart, listen to, immediately understand that I did not expect. How to do? "Shushi said, take out from the bosom, in his hands. "To take up all the arms and also to the hands, for the more or less". To restore the state of Chen is over. So, he began to establish a new monarch, so that the country to restore the original. Confucius reading, "said Chu Zhuangwang is not simple, heavy and light in a country". This man is a man of Dali. Actual Confucius also has a sweat for chen. This show is the wise king. Chuzhuang Wang Chen in each village move a person he Chu composition summer 30 l, Xia Ji Ping chaos formed a 30 l that commemorate. (out Youjian Chen Chen Chu, Chu Zhuangwang also has the curiosity of Xia Ji, what will happen after the meeting. Chuzhuang Wang Chen Youfu out Chen, Chen Xia Ji? The chaos is from her heart, Chu Zhuangwang despise Chen linggong. To meet Xia Ji, Chen, even have a curious look, look out, the woman also gripped his heart. He's just like electricity. I thought, unexpectedly, Chen linggong died worth it. This woman is really good, offered to marry her, ready as concubines, if so, I am afraid more disgraceful than from chen. Minister Shen Gong Wu Chen stood up, said the Lord, the crusade against Hall of Chen Guotang is positive and finally marry the she, let the nations say you? Chuzhuang Wang really listened to, not simple. Not easy, than Chuzhuang Wang promised, Chen is not easy to abandon. Is defeated, cut off the root of lust, is a man. Chuzhuang Wang listened, another big servant - (Sima) stood out, said the monarch is not married, I married, fancy. This is the delicious beauty you feel the same. Shen Gong Wu minister and stop. This is not a morally, say the woman is not auspicious, make how many people died? Speak, can imagine Shen Gong Wu Chen seize the anti fear psychology. Later, Xia Ji presented even Yin Xiang old, then he was shot dead, the son of black with the stepmother is not clear so. Then Xia Ji quit the stage of history. (she let the side of men have lost, but it happened that some people know her story, still insist on marrying her wife, which is it? Shen Gong Wu Chen to marry her, this is fantastic. I think what he is beginning to persuade and reverse thinking of Chu, is worth considering. He has persuaded others not to convince himself. This is probably the love. Whole life to love a person, is worthy of admiration. "Poem": "by the shores of that marsh, rushes and lotus, there was a beautiful man, hurt, waking or sleeping, I do nothing; and a flood of tears!" to describe his very appropriate. At this time, Xia Ji husband even Yin Xiang old, on the battlefield was shot dead, Shen Gong Wu Chen to her letters, she Zheng back in to find her husband's body, she promised. Then, the public servants from Shen Zheng Guo letter to Xia Ji, said her husband found a corpse. Xia Ji proposed to even Yin Xiang old burial. Xia Ji came to Zheng Guo from chu. Before you leave with Chu said, if you can't find it, don't come back, stay at Zheng Guo. Shen Gong Wu Chen proposed to marry her. Zheng Guole had to, so "air" got married. Shen Gong Wu Chenlai can't wait. After ten years, and had to go to war, a chance to come out with Qi to pull, Shen Chen was sent to the public the. Left the state of Chu, first mission to Qi, come back again, came to Zheng, deputy to let him return to the state, his not to walk, after a number of years Xia Ji officially married Shen Gong Wu Chen. Shen Gong Wu finally meet their own requirements. At this time, the summer Ji more than and 50, the return of youth, no?. And Shen Gong Wu Chen, to their families are still walking the, spread to the state of Chu in the news of Zheng of marriage, when the king of Chu is small, the son is still alive, which proposed joint, CO produced by two people, kill Shen Gong Wu Chen family, dividing family III} production. This is Xia Ji did not. There are still murder occurred. Sub sub two weight and anti slaughter in the state of Chu, Wu Shen Gong is Chen Jin, want to go last fall in the state of Jin Qi. I am writing to them, and you have made your work far too far, and I will give you no peace. And to the king of Jin ideas, Chu challenged us to, because there is no enemy, we should cultivate his opponents, United Nations Wu, Jin and Wu in the two hit it off, rapidly rising, constant harassment from the state of Chu. This is a manifestation of the strength of Xia Ji, change the situation at that time, causing the historical center of the south to advance, causing the Wu Yue hegemony. Especially Wu, a woman changed throughout the history of the situation, to reflect today, may for official historian ingenious means of historical explanation. As the Xia Ji is not so big power? Today can only see "Zuo Zhuan", Wu Yue hegemony to an explanation, historians put it the literary interpretation. This theme is a good performance. We'll come back alive. Speak Chuzhuang Wang. Guess you like - 2019-08-07The Jade Emperor’s banquet will eat the dragon liver. Why does the Dragon King not resist? Xiao Bailong unveiled the answer - 2019-04-25The different landscapes of Sochi, a Soviet resort in 1988 - 2019-04-01The only person who was framed by Cao Cao and Liu Bei, the two great warlords, did not know whether it was glory or sorrow. - 2019-03-01"The Queen of Solitary Solitude" is broadcasting the real solitary Gallo in history. - 2019-02-18The first time that the Forbidden City opened its ticketing website to the public in the evening collapsed at zero! - 2019-01-31Okamura Ningci's most headached Eighth Route Army generals used axes to chop down the emperor's cousin - 2019-01-13The first injustice case of the National College Entrance Examination in China: the first champion was killed, the examiner was exiled, and the top 51 scores were all abolished. - 2018-12-04"Huguang Governor" and "Governor Governor", who is higher? Which one is more powerful? - 2018-11-18Is there a possible treasure map in Jin Yong's martial arts? - 2018-11-14Why are the more powerful military generals unable to gain the trust of Chiang Kai-shek? - Why are the 2500 islands of the Aegean Sea mostly Greek and rarely Turkish? - "The Queen of Solitary Solitude" is broadcasting the real solitary Gallo in history. - The U.S. Army fired 1.9 million shells but could not destroy the volunteer line in Shangganling - Why is it so easy for Zhao Kuangxu to launch Chen Qiao Mutiny? - Does the Lantern Festival Palace Museum open this year? See you tomorrow. - How do the Gulf people evaluate the Communist Party? You can't imagine the answer! - Is there a possible treasure map in Jin Yong's martial arts? - Why are the more powerful military generals unable to gain the trust of Chiang Kai-shek? - Old photos of Japanese invasion of China: Hell empty demons in Nanjing - Which of the governors of Shaanxi and Gansu and the governor of Shandong is even more powerful?

Rawring with love!Read More Happy April- Happy Fresh Start- Happy New Year? Happy New Year seems so appropriate as i’ve had my head down working like a mad woman for the first quarter of 2019! Feels like its been F O R E V E R since I last checked in and soo many amazing things have transpired since then! One main thing is I AM MARRIED! Yes- i jumped the broom with the love of my life and newly wed bliss is still in full effect. We are quickly approaching our 6 month mark as Husband and Wife and I cannot believe how fast time is flying! I have heard from a few of you asking me to blog about my most perfect day and that will be coming soon! Another super exciting thing for me- I have been working more and more in the beauty realm of things and have partnered with some AMAZING makeup artist to bring more editorial works to you all. Lastly- I am just humbled and honored that you all are choosing me to photograph your most precious moments and that I get to share in on your love story. THANK YOU! Here’s to another RADIANT year! Two years ago when I first began my journey in to photography as a business and not just a hobby I set out to execute a Styled Shoot. My good friend Elena from Belle Imagery Portraits was in the midst of hosting her very first one and invited me to tag along. I was amazed! Watching her behind the scenes inspired me to begin planning my own. I thought long and hard about what I wanted to do and after months and months of thinking I finally knew decided on the concept. As a bride to be myself, I know that featuring a woman of color was the highest priority for this styled shoot. Diversity and inclusion in the wedding industry is ever growing and I wanted to highlight more of the couples that are underrepresented in various forms (size, race, ethnicity, gender, and sexual orientation to name a few). From there I decided that I wanted to play off the richness of the color Emerald as green is my favorite color and BOOM! there was my plan. As the brilliant Issa Rae stated, we need to work with our colleagues who are in lateral positions to us; not the ones above- so I called on some vendors who are slightly seasoned in the industry to be bring the full vision to life. I am so in love with this first shoot and I am so thankful for those who believed and supported this dream of mine. We were so fortunate to even have a mini feature on Souther Noir Weddings Blog. Huge thank you to all the vendors Bridal gown: K & B Bridals http://www.kandbbridals.com Cake: Cakes by Kakes https://www.instagram.com/cakesbykakes/ Venue location : The Liriodendron Mansion http://www.liriodendron.com Flowers: Roni’s Roses http://www.ronisroses.com Make Up: Lashing Out Glam by Shayla Reeves https://www.instagram.com/lashingoutglam/ Veil/Accessories/Jewelry: Faye Daniel Design http://www.fayedanieldesigns.com Rentals: Party Plus Tents and Rentals https://tenting.com Linen: Nuage http://nuagedesigns.com Model: Charlyn Nater https://www.instagram.com/iamcharlynnater/ Here are some of my favorite images below! When Charlyn discovered that she was being blessed with a baby boy after her two princesses, she decided to have an intimate in-home maternity session with a little extra! We worked together to develop a mood board that would capture all the things she would want (Gotta love Pinterest!) We came across such gorgeous images and then we saw stunning Milk Bath Maternity images. Charlyn fell in love! With a little help from Google we found a simple way to get the perfect recipe! - Fill the tub up with warm water to your desired level - water gets displaced when you step into it. (make sure it is warm enough for the client and that it can balance out the coolness of the milk) - Add a gallon of whole milk. - Add coffee creamer or powder milk for you desired color and opacity. Whisk it around to remove the chunks. - Step into the tub. - Have the photographer strategically place real flowers of your choice around you. It's important to have real flowers because they float in the milky water. - Last step, be flawless and enjoy this nourishing bath like the Goddess you are :) Here are some of favorite images of her session and of course featuring her milk bath It's Gemini Season! So this past Thursday was my birthday and I'm so blessed to see another year! Birthdays are such a big deal to me because it's an opportunity for a rebirth or rebranding and a celebration of your journey from the year before. I actually love my birthdate (6/1) because it's smack dab in the middle of the year, so I get to evaluate the previous months and make a plan for the ones ahead. And did i mention that I share my special say with two iconic American figures: Marilyn Monroe and Morgan Freeman! For my birthday this year I took off from my 9-5, participated in a boot camp class and spent time with my beautiful family; but I also took a moment to reflect on the year. In 2016, 3 Major moments happened to me. In 2016 I celebrated being a mom for a full year-that in itself is major. People always say parenting will change your life and if totally has! It's been a challenging and eye opening experience with much reward. I have learned so much from my little guy and I'm truly blessed by his presence The love of my life and my best friend, proposed to me and asked for my hand in marriage! It was such an an intimate and meaningful experience and yes, planning has commenced! (I'd love to hear what you all are planning for your big day) Last but definitely not least, I started Radiant Imagery by Jocelyn Renae! This moment was a giant step in fulfilling the desires of my heart. Photography has been a passion of mine for a loooonnnggg time and having the courage and the support of my family pushed me to follow my dreams. In this short time in business I have met some amazing people who have given me a chance and trusted me with the magical moments in their life and I'm so appreciative of them. I indulged myself with a couple of self portraits and yummy macaroons ! Hi Love bugs! I’m Jocelyn Renae. The photo-chic behind Radiant Imagery. I have a tiny secret... I’m blogging for the first time ever y'all (this is such a big step). Funny thing is I’m not a writer by far. However, I’m trying new things. I am so excited to share with you. I’m a Jersey Native but call Baltimore my home now. I've been living in the Maryland/Virginia area for a while- I attended an all girls boarding school in Northern Virginia and have a degree in Sociology from a small liberal arts school in Maryland. I have found my passion in serving others through photography. What I love most about photography is meeting new people! It gives me a sense of connection. I’m engaged to my best friend and he’s my biggest supporter. We are parents to a super smart and fun loving 1 ½ year old baby boy. He is our world. We enjoy DYI projects; taking family road trips (just the three of us), eating delicious food, and loving on our family and friends. I truly value family, love, and experiences. You should know that Hazelnut iced coffee is my favorite. Call me! Let’s have a coffee date. S’mores and Oreos are some of my beloved treats. Photography captured my heart long ago. I held my first camera in the 4th grade. It was a Kodak disposable, (wow I am dating myself). As I got older my love for the art of photography grew immensely. I enjoy encapsulating timeless moments of love and life that can be forever preserved for a generation to come. You know…. the ones that make your heart sing. Above all, I love to celebrate the beauty of love. As a wedding photographer and creative my goal is to help guide you through your photographic experience as a friend and supporter. And of course create beautiful pictures of your engagement and the best day of your life…..your wedding day. The purpose of this blog is to inspire, motivate, and educate. Each week I’ll share a recent photo session (because I love to share my client’s beautiful art work), or an inspirational posts to inspire you, or happenings from my life. I’ll be kicking things off with my bridal experiences. I’m getting married next year and I want to share all that I have learned thus far, in the hopes to help you amazing brides though an exciting time in your life. In the meantime, join me on Instagram for recent happenings. Radiate love and positivity,

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For rent lowell sun Please contact one of our Multimedia Executives, or if I can assist you in any way, please do not hesitate to call me directly. Bricklayer, Plumber and Electrician During all of the Twentieth Century except for the years of the Great Depression, Lowell had spurts of financial renewal requiring the labor of specialists such as bricklayers, plumbers and electricians. This was a man with no trade, but someone willing to do almost any job. An operative could be trained in an hour. In the early Twentieth Center in Lowellmost immigrants of all ethnic groups were offered employment in the most active industry of all, the textile mills. Certainly, a laborer would need more training so the comparison might not hold. Where and when did a sense of privacy come prostitutes in waterbury city play? Best regards. 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Sermon Notes - "Master Over Illness" Intro - We come to another story of Jesus’ healing miracles. A synagogue ruler by the name of Jairus has a daughter near to death. He comes to Jesus and begs him to come to heal his daughter. Jesus agrees and goes with him. Along the way another woman, full of faith, touches the hem of Jesus’ garment and she is immediately healed of a bleeding disorder she has had for 12 years. This passage is often talked about from the woman’s viewpoint, from the disciples’ viewpoint or even from Jesus. Today we'd like to talk about Jairus' point of view. Why? Simply this. He was a father looking out for the health of his child. Today is Father’s Day. So we can learn much from the little we see here of Jairus that can inform us about what it takes to be a great Christian dad. Secondarily we can also learn much about having a sick person (child, spouse, parent, good friend or patient) in our charge. On Fathers Day we are reminded that Great Dads… #1 - ________________ without shame. “A man named Jairus, a synagogue leader, came and fell at Jesus’ feet…” Luke 8:41a NIV All the things that make for a great dad - providing a good home, spending time with children, teaching them the important lessons of life - are made better when dads seek Jesus without shame. Like Jairus, we will come to a place in our life as a parent when we are confronted by something we cannot fix ourselves. And like Jairus, we will want to have Jesus in our corner! What about you? Later in this gospel Jesus tells us this - “Whoever is ashamed of me and my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of them when he comes in his glory.” Luke 9:26 NIV Becoming a dad and caring for another life brings honesty and humility into one’s life. When we’re honest with ourselves, we know we cannot do this thing alone. We need help. We need strength. We need wisdom. #2 -________________ into their homes. “Jairus… pleaded with [Jesus] to come to his house because his only daughter, a girl of about twelve, was dying.” Luke 8:41b-42 NIV We don’t know exactly what illness caused Jairus’ daughter to be so sick. But we do know the battle was almost over. She was dying. There was only one thing that could be done - bring Jesus into the home. Let the Master Physician have a look. The truth is that the best thing we can do - Dads - is to bring Jesus into our homes early and often. No need to wait until someone is dying. Jesus shouldn’t be our final act of desperation but our first act of daily invitation. Our daily prayers should be, “Jesus help me today be the best dad I can be. Help me to teach my kids about you!” “Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.” Ephesians 6:4NIV Have you ever been exasperated? A feeling of intense frustration, rage, anger, unfairness? Dads - the more you have felt exasperated yourself as a child, the more likely you are to exasperate your own children! Doesn’t make a lot of sense. You’d think we’d remember what it was like - when the one man in our life - so much bigger, so much more powerful, in control of everything - lays down the final word, the final decision, the final punishment with no appeal. How do we break that cycle from one generation to the next? By bringing Jesus into our homes. How do we do that? Ephesians 6:4 lays it out for us - in the training and instruction of the Lord. That means we need to be gentle teachers for our kiddos all the time, not just when they mess up. Gentleness, meekness - Dads that means power under control. That comes from knowing… #3 - _____________ (and it’s not them). Here we involve the third person in the story - the woman with the bleeding illness - who comes to Jesus to find healing for herself… “She came up behind him and touched the edge of his cloak, and immediately her bleeding stopped.” Luke 8:44 NIV Usually at this point in the sermon, the attention changes to the woman and the dialogue she has with Jesus. We’re told that the healing power in him went out. He immediately knew it. Jesus wants to know who it was that touched him. Peter gets involved. “Who touched you? In this crowd? Are you kidding?” Peter is always good for comic relief. The woman comes forward and falls to Jesus’ feet and admits it was her. Jesus tells her that her faith has healed her. Bring the attention back to Jairus. Let’s look at these events through his eyes. His daughter is dying. Timing is critical. He is rushing Jesus back to his house. Then everything stops for this woman who touches Jesus. Can you imagine his panic? His sense of worry for his own daughter? And then someone from his house shows up and says the most insensitive two words - “Don’t bother.” His daughter had already died. He may have been the master in his own home and even the leader of his synagogue, but here he was just a spectator. Dads - the hardest thing to admit in tough family situations - especially in life and death circumstances - is that we are not in control. Also tough to admit is that even when we turn things over to our Master Jesus, is that He is also the Master Jesus to many others. People say, “My Jesus,” and usually it’s intimate and affectionate. But the truth is that he doesn’t belong to me or to you alone. Sometimes Jesus moves in directions that are the opposite of the direction we would have Him move, as he did here with this woman. Jairus doesn't say one word of complaint to Jesus, even though his heart had to be broken. It is Jesus who tells him not to be afraid. And it’s Jairus who faithfully follows Jesus - the Master - back to his house, even when the situation seems hopeless. This leads us to the question of who really is the master of this relationship? You or Jesus? Paul reminds us… “Let every detail in your lives - words, actions, whatever - be done in the name of the Master, Jesus, thanking God the Father every step of the way.” Colossians 3:10 MSG Underline “every detail.” Surely that means even those details of our lives when things don’t go the way we expect. When our best to take care of our children (or our patients) is not good enough. Even when we have prayed and come to Jesus for help, and it appears that he has helped someone else instead of us. So what do we do? #4 - _______________ to Jesus’ care. “Someone came from the house of Jairus. ‘Your daughter is dead,’ he said. ‘Don’t bother the teacher anymore.’ Hearing this, Jesus said to Jairus, ‘Don’t be afraid; just believe, and she will be healed.’” Luke 8:49-50 NIV How do we trust children to Jesus’ care? 2 instructions were given to Jairus. (1) Don’t be afraid. (2) Believe. Two opposites of the same coin. Believe means to trust in spite of the circumstances, and in spite of the fear. It’s not hard to believe when everything is going your way. It’s hard when everything is going against you. The more you can trust, the less afraid you can be. They go hand in hand. How do we really trust our children to Jesus’ care? By understanding that we are not the only ones who love our kids. Jesus loves them too. And we’re told that he puts his power behind his love. “Be careful. Don’t think these little children are worth nothing. I tell you that they have angels in heaven who are always with my Father in heaven.” Matthew 18:19 NCV This is the only reference in the NT to guardian angels! Every place else the angels are associated with protection of Jesus or the strength or messenger of God. But in Matthew 18, Jesus tells us that children - who in 1st century Palestine were considered worth less than even a slave - was so valuable, so precious to God that they each have angels in heaven. The concept of the angel's protection is so different than we usually think. We usually think of our angels being unseen, invisible warriors and protectors that keep us safe from harm. But where does Jesus tell us they are located? (1) in heaven. (2) with God the Father. It’s like they are each keeping their eyes on your child(ren) and letting God Himself know when your child(ren) have a need! They are angel prayer warriors! That’s how much Jesus cares for your children!!! So what’s left for us to do? #5 - _______________________. “Her spirit returned, and at once she stood up. Then Jesus told them to give her something to eat.” Luke 8:55 NIV We come to the end of the story and see the miracle take place. The daughter everyone said was dead is now alive, healed miraculously by Jesus. Luke tells us how much she is healed. “At once she stood up.” No swaying. No just opening her eyes. She’s not just barely alive. She’s all the way healed! Then, like any good doctor, Jesus gives them a prescription for her follow-up treatment: “Feed the girl!” Sometimes we don’t have options. We don’t know what to do. But then sometimes the command from Jesus isn’t something theological or even spiritual. Sometimes it is simple and physical. “Feed the girl.” Sometimes the most faithful thing we can do is simply to do what we can do. Maybe that doesn’t solve everything. Maybe it only gets us to tomorrow with no firm knowledge about the day after. But we do what we can do. Sometimes simple actions are the best evidence we have of our true faith in Christ. “So it is with faith: if it is alone and includes no actions, then it is dead.” James 2:17 GNT

Mom-to-Be Shares What Third Trimester Feels Like During COVID-19 May 15, 2020 After a nauseating first trimester and a “hey, this isn’t so bad” second trimester, I was ready to kick off my third trimester at a Cher concert in Las Vegas with a friend. But what seemed like a brilliant idea quickly became regrettable, as everything in Sin City seemed to be an affront to my pregnant body. The kicker? As we approached the theater after an exhausting trek down the smoky Vegas Strip, in the rain, in HEELS, I saw that the concert was cancelled. All I could do was cry—and it seems like those tears haven’t stopped. Because less than three weeks after that trainwreck of a trip, life as I knew it crumbled as the spread of COVID-19 crescendoed to a crisis. For weeks, I had been watching the coronavirus headlines spread around the world like a slow-moving tsunami. And then suddenly, the virus was here, in my state, in my county. How I wish my biggest stress right now was a cancelled Cher show during an epic fail of a Vegas weekend. As any pregnant woman will tell you, hormones are raging in the third trimester, and everything is felt more deeply. For that reason, I wanted to keep my emotions in check when COVID-19 hit Orange County, California, with just a couple identified cases. “That’s a very small number.” “That’s basically no risk.” “There’s no way it’ll spread like it has in Italy.” These were the things I would say to myself and were echoed by rational loved ones. And then the tides turned, and everyone seemed to view the virus for what it was—an unstoppable force to be reckoned with. It began with the CDC issuing a recommendation for elderly and anyone with preexisting health conditions to not fly. My dad was planning on coming out from Boston for my baby shower at the end of the month. As disappointing as it would be to not have him there, it seemed like a no-brainer to play it safe and cancel his flights. And then a few days later… the NBA shut down? Broadway shut down? No St. Patty’s Day parades? What is happening? Soon I was wondering if I should even be having a baby shower. The thought seemed dramatic and irrational, so I called close friends for advice. The consensus was unanimous: “It’s not necessary to cancel,” they said. “Just put some hand sanitizer out on the tables.” I exhaled relief at hearing the voices of sanity. And then two days later, on March 13, everything changed again. School districts across California, including my own, declared shutdowns and sent students home with backpacks full of materials and minds full of uncertainty, and teachers (such as myself) weren’t given any clarity about what was happening. Nobody knew. Did it really make sense to go forward with this shower? I called my best friend who had been organizing my baby shower, and without missing a beat she said, “I think we should postpone.” That weekend, everything seemed to escalate quickly. My husband and I emailed guests a sad message, telling them that there would be no baby shower at the end of the month and that we hoped everyone remained safe and healthy. The following day, the CDC issued the recommendation of no gatherings of 50 or more people, and the day after that, the federal government said to avoid groups of 10 or more. We had made the right decision, calling off the shower, but it was hard; I couldn’t stop crying. I realized the baby shower meant so much more to me than just a party. It was a chance to celebrate this momentous milestone with all our loved ones. Friends and family were planning on traveling from all over the state and country to surround us with love and support. And now, it wouldn’t happen. Neither would our babymoon trip to Palm Springs, or all the childbirth and infant care classes I eagerly awaited as a first-time mom. Everything would be indefinitely on hold. Beyond those initial disappointments, deeper fears and sadness have begun to feel oppressive. I have logistical fears about having basic necessities for the baby, as empty grocery store shelves and “out of stock” Amazon inventory have become the new normal. I have safety fears that going to the hospital for recommended nonstress tests will potentially increase my exposure to COVID-19. And I have an overwhelming fear of what the world will be like five weeks from now, when my baby is due to arrive. What will the hospital be like when it’s time for me to deliver my baby boy? The “what ifs” and the fears can be suffocating. But I know I’m not alone in this. There are thousands of women navigating COVID-19 fears on top of normal pregnancy discomforts, raging hormones and anxiety. In a way, this pandemic is a lesson in trust—trusting in the medical professionals, trusting in the support from loved ones and trusting the strength within ourselves. Life is always going to throw curveballs, and I know this isn’t the only time I’m going to need to dig deep and be brave for my child. I can’t wait to tell my son about how strong we both were on the day he made his world debut. Beth Cunningham Murray earned her MS in elementary instruction from California State University, Fullerton, and has been working as a teacher for the past 10 years. She and her husband, Jake, live in Orange County, California. They are expecting their first child in May 2020. Please note: The Bump and the materials and information it contains are not intended to, and do not constitute, medical or other health advice or diagnosis and should not be used as such. You should always consult with a qualified physician or health professional about your specific circumstances.