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 second-round series to the Atlanta Hawks in six games. 2015–16 season

After starting the 2015–16 season with six wins over the first 10 games, the Wizards went on a four-game losing streak between November 24 and November 28.<mask> averaged 15.0 points, 5.5 assists and 2.3 steals per game over that losing stretch, and shot just 33.3% from the field. On December 1, <mask> recorded a then season-high 35 points, 10 assists and 5 steals in a 97–85 win over the Cleveland Cavaliers, breaking the Cavaliers 9–0 unbeaten streak at home to begin the season, and broke the Wizards' four-game losing streak. Following the win over the Cavaliers, <mask> stated "Every team is trying to make me make jump shots this year, so I was just being aggressive and getting to the basket. I got into a rhythm early and it helped us get going." <mask>'s shooting percentage over the first 14 games of the season was a career worst (.390), as was his 16.1 point average. The next day, in a loss to the Los Angeles Lakers, <mask> recorded his first career back-to-back 30-point, 10-assist game, finishing the game with 34 points and 11 assists. On December 21, <mask> recorded 12 points and a career-high 19 assists in a 113–99 win over the Sacramento Kings.On December 30, in a loss to the Toronto Raptors, <mask> recorded his seventh straight double-double and 17th of the season. He averaged 22.6 points and 11.7 assists in 16 December games. He subsequently earned NBA Eastern Conference Player of the Month honors for December. On January 16, he recorded a season-high 36 points, 13 assists and 7 steals against the Boston Celtics, but missed a potential tying layup at the buzzer, as the Wizards were defeated 119–117. He topped his season-high mark on February 3, scoring 41 points in a 134–121 loss to the Golden State Warriors. Two days later, he recorded his fourth career triple-double with 18 points, a career-high 13 rebounds and 10 assists in a 106–94 win over the Philadelphia 76ers. On February 23, he recorded his second triple-double of the season and fifth of his career with 16 points, 12 rebounds and 11 assists in a 109–89 win over the New Orleans Pelicans.On March 16, he recorded his third triple-double of the season with 29 points, 12 assists and 10 rebounds in a 117–96 win over the Chicago Bulls. The next day, he recorded his second straight triple-double with 16 points, 14 assists and 13 rebounds in a 99–94 win over the Philadelphia 76ers. 2016–17 season

Following off-season surgery on both knees, <mask> was rested in the second of back-to-back night games early on in the 2016–17 season, as a way of limiting his minutes. With eight assists against the Houston Rockets on November 7, <mask> broke Wes Unseld's franchise record (3,822) for career assists. On November 21, he recorded 18 points, a then season-high 15 assists and three blocked shots in a 106–101 win over the Phoenix Suns. By late November, his minutes restriction was lifted. On December 6, he scored a career-high 52 points in a 124–116 loss to the Orlando Magic.He made 18-of-31 from the field and added eight assists. With seven steals against the Charlotte Hornets on December 14, <mask> became Washington's franchise leader in steals, surpassing Greg Ballard (762). On December 26, he had 18 points and a then season-high 16 assists in a 107–102 win over the Milwaukee Bucks. On January 2, 2017, he was named Eastern Conference Player of the Week for games played Monday, December 26 through Sunday, January 1. He led the Wizards to a 3–0 week while averaging 24.3 points (eighth in the East), an NBA-leading 13.0 assists, 5.3 rebounds and 2.67 steals (second in the East). A day later, he was named Eastern Conference Player of the Month for December. On January 6, 2017, <mask> recorded 18 points and a season-high 18 assists in a 112–105 win over the Minnesota Timberwolves.Later that month, he was named an Eastern Conference All-Star reserve for the 2017 NBA All-Star Game. On February 28, 2017, he tied his career high with 19 assists in a 112–108 win over the Golden State Warriors. On March 11, 2017, he scored 39 points in a 125–124 overtime win over the Portland Trail Blazers. Two days later, he was named Eastern Conference Player of the Week for games played Monday, March 6 through Sunday, March 12. <mask> led the Wizards to a 4–0 week, with all of Washington's wins coming on the road. He paced the East in scoring (29.8 ppg) and assists (11.3 apg) while adding 3.3 rebounds and 1.5 steals. On March 17, he set a new career high with 20 assists to go with 14 points in a 112–107 win over the Chicago Bulls.On April 2, <mask> had 15 points and 11 assists in a 139–115 loss to Golden State. As a result, he set the single-season franchise assists record with No. 802 in the third quarter, topping Rod Strickland's 1997–98 record of 801. On April 16, <mask> scored a playoff career-high 32 points in a 114–107 win over the Atlanta Hawks in Game 1 of their first-round series. In Game 6 of the series on April 28, <mask> set a new playoff career with 42 points to help the Wizards eliminate the Hawks with a 115–99 victory, capturing the opening-round series 4–2. On May 12, he helped the Wizards avoid elimination and force a Game 7 in their second-round series against the Boston Celtics after hitting the game-winning 3-pointer with 3.5 seconds left in Game 6, lifting the Wizards to a 92–91 win. He finished the game with 26 points.The Wizards went on to lose Game 7 despite <mask>'s 18 points and 11 assists, as they bowed out of the playoffs with a 4–3 defeat. 2017–18 season
On July 26, 2017, <mask> signed a four-year, $170 million contract extension with the Wizards. <mask> missed nine games in late November and early December with a knee injury; the Wizards went 4–5 in that time. On January 6, he recorded 16 points and a season-high 16 assists against the Milwaukee Bucks. On January 12, he scored 30 points in a 125–119 win over the Orlando Magic, becoming the youngest player (27 years, 128 days) in franchise history to reach 10,000 points for his career. The next day, he scored 17 of his 23 points in the second half and overtime, and tied a season high with 16 assists in the Wizards' 119–113 victory over the Brooklyn Nets. On January 30, 2018, he was sidelined for the next six-to-eight weeks due to his troublesome left knee requiring surgery.He missed two months with the injury, returning to action on March 31 against the Charlotte Hornets and recording 15 points and 14 assists in a 107–93 win. On April 10, he recorded 29 points and 12 assists in a 113–101 win over the Boston Celtics, thus surpassing 5,000 career assists. In Game 3 of the Wizards' first-round playoff series against the Toronto Raptors, <mask> recorded 28 points and 14 assists, as the Wizards cut the series deficit to 2–1 with a 122–103 win. In Game 4, <mask> recorded 27 points and 14 assists in a 106–98 win, helping the Wizards tie the series at 2–2. The Wizards went on to lose the series in six games despite <mask>'s 23 points and eight assists in a 102–92 loss in Game 6. 2018–19 season
On November 26, 2018, in a 135–131 overtime win over the Houston Rockets, <mask> passed Wes Unseld for third place on the franchise career scoring list. On December 16, he recorded 40 points and 14 assists in a 128–110 win over the Los Angeles Lakers.On December 29, he was ruled out for the rest of the season with a left heel injury. After initially undergoing season-ending surgery on his left heel in January 2019, <mask> developed an infection in the incision from that surgery, then suffered a ruptured left Achilles tendon when he slipped and fell in his home. He was subsequently ruled out for 12 months. 2019–20 season
On March 11, 2020, the 2019–20 NBA season was suspended as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite the season resuming in July at the NBA Bubble in Orlando, Florida, which exceeded <mask>'s 12-month timetable of recovery, he did not travel with the Wizards, officially ending his season. Houston Rockets (2020–present)
On December 2, 2020, <mask>, along with a 2023 lottery-protected first-round pick, were traded to the Houston Rockets for Russell Westbrook. On March 22, 2021, <mask> logged his eighth career triple-double with 19 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists in a 117–99 win over the Toronto Raptors, ending the team's 20-game losing streak.It was his first triple-double since 2016. On April 26, <mask> was ruled out for the remainder of the season after suffering a grade 2 hamstring strain. National team career
In July 2014, <mask> was selected as a member of the United States camp roster to compete for the 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup team. Due to off-season knee surgery, <mask> withdrew his name from consideration for USA Basketball's 2016 Rio Olympics team. Player profile

<mask> is known for being one of the NBA's fastest players. His results at the draft combine of 10.84 seconds in the lane agility drill (combine best that year) and 3.14 seconds in the 3/4 court sprint (second-best that year), demonstrating horizontal and vertical quickness. Despite only being a point guard-average  listed height in shoes and  barefoot, <mask> has a  wingspan, slightly larger than the average for a point guard.Relying on his speed, <mask> focuses on driving to the basket and sparking fast transition play. He is also a skilled passer, averaging over 10 assists a game for the 2014 through 2017 seasons, and 9.2 overall for his career. In the earlier stages of his time in the NBA, <mask> was criticized for the amount of turnovers he committed, being dubbed "very turnover prone". While increasing his assist to turnover ratio in later years, <mask>'s TOPG has increased to 4.1, his mark at the conclusion of the 2017 season. Despite <mask>'s shooting percentages hovering slightly below league average except for free throw shooting (League average is .458/.364/.765 while <mask> shoots .433/.321/.790), he has seen his shooting largely improve throughout his NBA career. Personal life

In 2013, after signing a five-year contract with the Wizards, <mask> purchased a home in Potomac for $4.9 million. The two-acre property, which has eight bedrooms, six garages, and 17,980 square feet, was selected to accommodate <mask>'s mother, siblings, and guests.In 2016, <mask> received the Stewart B. McKinney Award for his work to end homelessness after he donated $400,000 to Bright Beginnings. <mask> signed a five-year endorsement deal worth $25 million with Reebok in 2010, then moved to Reebok's parent company Adidas in 2013. He signed another five-year deal with Adidas in 2018. In May 2017, <mask> signed on as a brand ambassador for New Era caps. <mask> and his wife have one son. <mask> said in 2018 that he was pursuing a bachelor's degree in business administration. <mask>'s mother, Frances Pulley, died of breast cancer on December

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<mask> (February 29, 1924 – March 13, 2015), nicknamed "Flip" and "The Hebrew Hammer", was an American baseball third baseman and right-handed slugger for the Cleveland Indians of Major League Baseball for ten seasons in the 1940s and 1950s. After serving for four years in the U.S. Navy during World War II, <mask> played his entire ten-year career (–) with the Cleveland Indians in the American League (AL). A stand-out on both offense and defense, he drove in 100 or more runs five consecutive years, was a four-time All-Star, twice led the league in home runs and twice in runs batted in (RBIs), and was an AL Most Valuable Player. <mask> was a .285 career hitter, with 192 home runs and 717 RBIs in 1,044 games. He was selected for the All-Star Game from 1952 to 1955. <mask> appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated in 1955. Following two decades as a stockbroker upon retirement from baseball, <mask> returned to the game as a top front office executive in the late 1970s, serving the New York Yankees, Houston Astros, and San Francisco Giants variously as president, CEO, and general manager.Regarded as a GM who still thought like a player, he became the only former MVP to also earn baseball's Executive of the Year award. Early life
<mask> was born in Spartanburg, South Carolina to Louis and Rose (née Levin) <mask>. His father left the family shortly thereafter, and <mask>'s mother and grandmother moved the family to Miami, Florida, when he was 18 months old. <mask> suffered from asthma as a child, which prompted his family to move further south. While growing up, his two favorite baseball players were Lou Gehrig and Hank Greenberg. He attended Riverside Elementary School, Ada Merritt Junior High School, and then Miami Senior High School for a year before attending Florida Military Academy in St. Petersburg, Florida, on a boxing scholarship. After graduating from Florida Military Academy, <mask> enrolled in the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida.He left the university after a semester to play minor league baseball in North Carolina. <mask> enlisted in 1942, and spent four years in the U.S. Navy fighting in the Pacific during World War II, delaying his professional baseball career. He navigated an assault boat in the initial landing on Okinawa in the bitter battle for the island. In 1946, he left the Navy as a lieutenant and returned to his emerging baseball career. Minor league career
<mask> played for the  Pittsfield Electrics, where he was initially given a back-up role. Upon leading the Canadian–American League in home runs (16) and RBIs (86), while batting .323, however, he was bestowed his idol Hank Greenberg's nickname, the "Hebrew Hammer". <mask> played for the Oklahoma City Indians of the Texas League in , and had one of the finest individual seasons in league history.He led all hitters in average (.349), hits (186), doubles (47), extra-base hits (83), RBIs (141), total bases (330), slugging percentage (.619), and on-base percentage (.437). He won the Texas League Player of the Year Award. <mask> played for the New York Yankees' Kansas City Blues farm team in 1948. He was loaned to the Blues for the duration of the team's American Association season as part of a deal that sent reliever Charley Wensloff from the Yankees to the Indians. <mask> was named Rookie of the Year in the American Association for his play with the Blues. Major League Baseball career
<mask> made his first appearance in the major leagues in  at the age of 23. In 1948, <mask> played most of the year in minor leagues with the Kansas City Blues, before joining the Indians in September.He played in the 1948 World Series as a reserve behind regular third baseman Ken Keltner despite only playing five games during the season after the Indians requested his inclusion on the World Series roster. When Keltner was traded in , <mask> took over as the Indians' third baseman, leading the American League in home runs with 37, hitting more than any previous American League rookie. It stood as the AL rookie record until Mark McGwire surpassed it in 1987. He homered in four straight games in June, a feat unmatched by an Indians rookie until Jason Kipnis in 2011. <mask> averaged a league-best homer every 15.0 at bats, and led the league as well in HBP (10). He batted .287 and had 116 runs batted in, while finishing fifth in the league with 100 walks and a .543 slugging percentage. His 100 walks remained a team rookie record for a right-handed batter, through 2014.He also remained the most recent AL rookie to record at least 100 walks until Aaron Judge in 2017. Despite his home run title, he finished 17th in the American League MVP Award voting. In  <mask> led the league in games played, and was fifth in the league in RBIs (102), extra-base hits (55), and walks (85). He batted .265, with 24 home runs. <mask> hit four grand slams, a team season record that was not broken until Travis Hafner hit five in 2006. <mask> led the American League with 105 RBIs and 297 total bases in . He also was third in the league in runs (101) and slugging percentage (.524), fifth in hits (171) and doubles (32), sixth in home runs (28), and seventh in batting average (.302).On April 29, he matched the then team record of three home runs in one game, which was surpassed only when Rocky Colavito tied the Major League single-game record with four home runs on June 10, 1959. <mask> came in tenth in the American League MVP Award voting. In , <mask> led the American League in home runs (43), runs batted in (145), runs (115), slugging percentage (.613), and total bases (367). He also came in second in OBP, and third in hits (201), and tied for eighth in stolen bases. He also had a 20-game hitting streak. Defensively, he had the best range factor of all third basemen in the league (3.32), and led it in assists (338) and double plays (38). His RBI total is still the most for an Indians third baseman, through 2017, and is fourth most for any Indian in a season.He batted .336, and missed winning the batting title – and with it the Triple Crown – on the last day of the season, by just over one percentage point. He was elected American League MVP by a unanimous vote, the first to be elected unanimously since the original "Hebrew Hammer", Hank Greenberg. In Bill James' New Historical Baseball Abstract, <mask>'s 1953 season is called the greatest ever by a third baseman. It is ranked 164th overall, and 48th best by a position player by Baseball-Reference.com as of <mask>'s passing. In  he hit an even .300, led the league in sacrifice flies with 11, was fourth in SLG (.506), and fifth in home runs (24), RBI (102), and OBP (.404). He also hit consecutive home runs in the All-Star game despite a broken finger, earning him the game MVP. His five RBI in the game matched the record set by Ted Williams five years earlier, which still stood through the 2011 season.Hall of Fame manager Casey Stengel said of him: "That young feller, that feller's a ball player. He'll give you the works every time. Gets all the hits, gives you the hard tag in the field. That feller's a real competitor, you bet your sweet curse life." Cleveland won the pennant, but lost the World Series. In spite of <mask>'s 5th straight year with 100 or more RBIs Cleveland cut his $42,500 ($ today) salary to $37,500 ($ today) for 1955. In  <mask> finished in the top ten in the league in at-bats per home run, walks, and sacrifice flies.By 1956, back problems and leg injuries caught up with <mask> and he retired at age 32 at the end of the season. Stockbroker
After retiring in  <mask> became a stockbroker, an occupation he pursued for the next 22 years. Baseball executive
In 1978 <mask> became President/CEO of the Yankees. They won the 1978 World Series, but <mask> quit in July 1979. Tommy John thought he left because owner George Steinbrenner had replaced Bob Lemon, a friend of <mask>'s, with Billy Martin as the team manager a month before. <mask> then served as President/CEO of the Astros (1980–85), then president and general manager of the Giants (1985–92). His maneuvering brought San Francisco from last place in  to the NL West title in  and the NL pennant in , earning him the National League Executive of the Year honors.Regarded as a GM who still thought like a player, he became the only MVP in history to also earn the top executive award. In 1979, <mask> appeared with Spec Richardson (general manager of the San Francisco Giants in a television commercial entitled "Baseball Executives" for Miller Lite, as one of the commercials in the legendary "Great Taste, Less Filling" advertising campaign. The idea was two major league high-level baseball executives are discussing a big trade in a formal, stuffy members only club, only to reveal that they are actually trading baseball cards much like a couple of children, ending on a throw-down of a bunch of baseball cards on the polished wooden table. The commercial ran heavily during the summer of 1979 along with every game of the World Series that year. Personal life
<mask>'s wife of 19 years, the former Teresa Ann Blumberg, died on May 3, 1971. He remarried, to second wife, Rita (née Kallman), several years later. He had three sons, and a stepson and stepdaughter.<mask> occasionally consulted for baseball teams, including a stint with the Yankees as special assistant to the general manager in 2001 and 2002. He was featured in the 2010 movie narrated by Dustin Hoffman, Jews and Baseball: An American Love Story. <mask> died on March 13, 2015 in Rancho Mirage, California. Jewish heritage
<mask> was Jewish. He was tough, an amateur boxer, and had a reputation for standing up to anyone who dared insult his ancestry. While some reports have him commenting that, as a minor leaguer, he wished his name were something less obviously Jewish, he is later known to have remarked that he wished it were more Jewish—something like <mask>. When Ed Sullivan, himself a Catholic with a Jewish wife, suggested that <mask> might be Catholic, pointing to his habit of drawing a "cross" in the dirt with his bat, <mask> said the mark was an "x" and told Sullivan he wished his name were more Jewish so he wouldn't be mistaken for Catholic.Once a White Sox opponent called him a "Jew bastard". Sox pitcher Saul Rogovin, also Jewish, remembered an angry <mask> striding belligerently to the dugout and challenging the "son of a bitch" to a fight. The player backed down. <mask> challenged another opposing player who had "slurred [his] religion" to fight him under the stands. And during a game, when Red Sox bench player Matt Batts taunted <mask> with anti-Semitic names, <mask> called time and left his position on the field to confront Batts. Hank Greenberg recalled that <mask> "want[ed] to go into the stands and murder" fans who hurled anti-Semitic insults at him. A 2010 documentary, Jews and Baseball: An American Love Story, highlighted <mask>, who in it is frank about how he dealt with anti-Semitism: "There's a time that you let it be known that enough is enough. . . .  You flatten [them]."During his career, <mask> refused to play on the High Holy Days, as would baseball Hall of Famer Sandy Koufax, arguably the most famous American Jewish baseball player. In a 1976 Esquire magazine article, sportswriter Harry Stein published an "All Time All-Star Argument Starter", consisting of five ethnic baseball teams. <mask> was the third baseman on Stein's Jewish team. Through 2014, he was fifth in career home runs (behind Sid Gordon), seventh in RBIs (behind Ryan Braun), and tenth in hits (behind Mike Lieberthal) among all-time Jewish major league baseball players. Quotes
"The greatest thrill in the world is to end the game with a home run and watch everybody else walk off the field while you're running the bases on air." "Oh no, <mask> hits a home run and I gotta miss it!" — Bob Hope (for many years a minority owner of the Cleveland Indians) on I Love Lucy, aired October 1, 1956
"People think Mickey Mantle is the toughest hitter in the league, but I can usually get him out if I don't make a mistake.The real toughest clutch hitter is Berra. As you change speeds and move around, Berra moves right with you. <mask> does the same thing, but fortunately he's playing third behind me so I don't have to pitch to him. Believe me, the two best clutch hitters in the game are Berra and <mask>. Most of us pitchers wish to hell they'd switch to golf." — Early Wynn, speaking with Roger Kahn

Awards
 Member of the Cleveland Indians Hall of Fame (). Member of the National Jewish Sports Hall of Fame (1980).Member of the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame. Member of the Texas League Hall of Fame (). See also

Cleveland Indians all-time roster
List of Florida Gators baseball players
List of New York Yankees owners and executives
List of select Jewish baseball players
List of Major League Baseball players who spent their entire career with one franchise

References

Further reading
  This chapter in Ruttman's history, based on a January 14, 2009 interview with <mask> conducted for the book, discusses <mask>'s American, Jewish, baseball, and life experiences from youth to the present. External links

1924 births
2015 deaths
American League All-Stars
American League home run champions
American League Most Valuable Player Award winners
American League RBI champions
United States Navy personnel of World War II
Jewish American military personnel
United States Navy officers
American stockbrokers
Baseball players from Miami
Baseball players from South Carolina
Cleveland Indians players
Houston Astros executives
Jewish American baseball managers
Jewish American baseball players
Jewish Major League Baseball players
Kansas City Blues (baseball) players
Major League Baseball general managers
Major League Baseball team presidents
Major League Baseball third basemen
New York Yankees executives
Oklahoma City Indians players
Pittsfield Electrics players
San Diego Padres (minor league) players
San Francisco Giants executives
Sports coaches from Miami
Sportspeople from Spartanburg, South Carolina
Thomasville Tommies players
Miami Senior High School alumni
21st-century American Jews

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<mask> (May 24, 1920 – May 20, 2009) was a State Senator from the U.S. state of Iowa, a former City Council Member representing the city of Des Moines, Iowa and a retired hearing and speech specialist, counselor, and administrator for the Iowa Department of Vocational Rehabilitation. Szymoniak, an elected Democrat, served in the Iowa State Senate from 1988 to 2000 (when she chose to retire and did not seek re-election) representing the northwest area of Greater Des Moines, Iowa (serving both 42nd and 36th Districts during her tenure). Her main areas of concern while serving in public office were in health, education, and human resources. She earned degrees from both the University of Wisconsin and Iowa State University. Biography

Early life and education
<mask> was born on May 24, 1920 to Hugo and Pauline Eisfelder in Boscobel, Wisconsin. Both her mother and father were deaf and this led to her interest in the science of audiology and later to pursue a career in speech therapy and in speech and hearing rehabilitation. She had two older brothers.One of these brothers was challenged with cerebral palsy and the other brother died during military service in World War II. In 1941, Szymoniak earned a bachelor's degree in education and speech pathology from the University of Wisconsin. She married Casimir (Chuck) D<mask> on December 7, 1943. Together they were to raise five children. Career
She worked in public school systems in the states of Wisconsin, New York and Kansas before moving to Iowa in the 1950s after her husband's military service came to an end. She also put her skills to use in the medical field, at one point working at Army Hospital Aural Rehabilitation Center in Oklahoma. <mask> was a speech and hearing specialist, counselor, and administrator for the Iowa Department of Vocational Rehabilitation from 1957 to 1988 and she was dedicated to working for the benefit of those with disabilities.She actively worked with the deaf community and at one time was the state's sole rehab counselor for the deaf. In 1977, <mask> earned her master's degree in family environment from Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa. Purportedly, an avid outdoor enthusiast, <mask> canoed and whitewater rafted throughout the West with a group of women called the River Spirits. She loved sleeping outside under the stars, walking in the woods, and learned to pilot a whitewater raft when she was 77. Political life
She served on the Des Moines City Council from 1977 to 1988 representing the First Ward. Szymoniak won a seat on her first attempt by defeating a twelve-year incumbent. She was the second woman to ever serve on the City Council and the only woman serving during her time on the council.As a member of the Des Moines City Council she worked to meet the needs of her constituents with a special emphasis in economic development, equality, and justice. She unsuccessfully campaigned to become the mayor of Des Moines in 1979 and again in 1987. Following eleven consecutive years on the Des Moines City Council, Szymoniak set her goals on a different political office and started campaigning for the State Senate. In the Iowa State Senate from 1988 to 2000, Szymoniak has represented both the forty-second and thirty-sixth districts. Szymoniak’s main areas of concern while serving in public office were in health, education and human resources. This is reflected in the committees she served on in the Senate: Appropriations Committee on Human Services (vice-chair), Education, Human Resources (chair), Judiciary, Local Government and the Ways and Means Committee Many of the bills that she authored and sponsored concerned education, family welfare, or care of the elderly and disabled. Szymoniak played a key role in revamping Iowa's Welfare System in the early 1990s.Reported on the Iowa State University website is the following information:

"One of her more significant events as a State Senator was to shepherd through the Senate Iowa's Welfare Reform efforts of 1993. In her typical fashion, she read about an idea and decided Iowa was the place to attempt such a reform. She organized a process to design a program based upon the needs and expectations of Iowans. She played an active role in keeping all parties at the table and in finally passing the Iowa Human Investment Act with no dissenting votes in the Senate." <mask> was known for her significant public service including crafting the legislation that funded and brought the World Food Prize to Iowa. She served on many nonprofit boards of directors or was a member of The Chrysalis Foundation, Iowa Council for International Understanding, United Way, Girl Scouts, the Nexus Executive Women's Alliance, and the Task Force for Iowa's Responsible Fathers program. She received numerous honors including the YWCA Woman of Achievement and she was inducted into the Iowa Women's Hall of Fame in 1999.While acknowledging anguish on the issue, Szymoniak, a devout Roman Catholic, believed that abortion was a matter that should be left up to the conscience of the individual woman. A parental notification bill on abortion passed in the Iowa House of Representatives in 1994 and Szymoniak kept the bill in committee once it reached the Senate. A few lauded her for political savvy, but most criticized the move as an attempt of three committee members to forestall legislation by denying the Senate an opportunity to vote for or against the bill. At the end of her legislative term in 2000, Szymoniak did not seek re-election. Additional information

A 1992 Des Moines Register editorial endorsing her re-election summed up Szymoniak's political service: "Szymoniak has been an extremely hardworking, dedicated and conscientious lawmaker who is regarded at the Statehouse as one of the more effective legislators." "She is a woman who has done it all — she has been a wonderful, successful mother; has had a career; has been a dedicated volunteer and public servant; and has been a mentor and a role model. She is a woman who has truly made a difference."—Connie Wimer, 1991

Recreational interests: Travel, Camping, Canoeing, Whitewater rafting, Reading. Former/Recent Organizations and Affiliations: The Chrysalis Foundation, Iowa Council of International Understanding, The United Way Foundation, Girl Scouts of the USA, Nexus Executive Women's Alliance, and the Task Force for Iowa's Responsible Fathers Program, Holy Trinity Catholic Church (Des Moines), YWCA Board, House of Mercy, Coalition for the Homeless, Planned Parenthood, National Organization of Women

References

External links
 The Iowa Legislature

1920 births
2009 deaths
Iowa city council members
Iowa state senators
Women state legislators in Iowa
Iowa Democrats
Politicians from Des Moines, Iowa
People from Boscobel, Wisconsin
Iowa State University alumni
Educators from Iowa
American women educators
20th-century American politicians
Women city councillors in Iowa
20th-century American women politicians
University of Wisconsin–Madison School of Education alumni
21st-century American women

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<mask> (; born 1955) is a Chinese artist who served as vice-president of the Central Academy of Fine Arts. He is known for his printmaking skills and installation art, as well as his creative artistic use of language, words, and text and how they have affected our understanding of the world. He is an A.D. White Professor-at-Large at Cornell University. He was awarded the MacArthur Fellows Program in 1999 and the Fukuoka Prize in 2003. Biography
Born in Chongqing in 1955, <mask> grew up in Beijing. His father was the head of the history department at Peking University. In 1975, near the end of the Cultural Revolution, he was relocated to the countryside for two years as part of Mao Zedong's "re-education" policy.Returning to Beijing in 1977, he enrolled at the Central Academy of Fine Arts (CAFA) in Beijing, where he joined the printmaking department and also worked during a short period of time as a teacher, receiving his master's degree in Fine Art in 1987. After the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests, his recent work came under scrutiny from the government and received harsh criticism for what was perceived as a critique of the Chinese government. Due to the political pressure and artistic restrictions of the post-Tiananmen period in China, <mask>, like many of his contemporaries, moved to the United States in 1990 where he was invited by the University of Wisconsin–Madison. He then resided to the United States until his appointment as vice-president of the Beijing CAFA in 2008. In 1990–91, <mask> had his first exhibition in the United States at the University of Wisconsin–Madison's Elvehjem Museum of Art (now Chazen Museum of Art) including his installations A Book from the Sky and Ghosts Pounding the Wall. In Book from the Sky, the artist invented 4,000 characters and hand-carved them into wood blocks, then used them as movable type to print volumes and scrolls, which are displayed laid out on the floor and hung from the ceiling. The vast planes of text seem to convey ancient wisdom, but are in fact unintelligible.The Glassy Surface of a Lake, a site-specific installation for the Elvehjem, was on view in 2004–05. In this work, a net of cast aluminum letters forming a passage from Henry David Thoreau's Walden stretches across the museum's atrium and pours down into an illegible pile of letters on the floor below. Working in a wide range of media, <mask> creates installations that question the idea of communicating meaning through language, demonstrating how both meanings and written words can be easily manipulated. He received a MacArthur Foundation grant in July 1999, presented to him for "originality, creativity, self-direction, and capacity to contribute importantly to society, particularly in printmaking and calligraphy." In 2003 he exhibited at the then new Chinese Arts centre in Manchester, and in 2004 he won the inaugural "Artes Mundi" prize in Wales for Where does the dust collect itself?, an installation using dust he collected in New York City on the day after the destruction of the World Trade Center. He won also a half year of free work and study at the American Academy in Berlin 2004. <mask> was appointed the new vice president of the Central Academy of Fine Arts, March 2008.Art

Early works
While at the Central Academy of Fine Arts <mask> mastered the Socialist Realism style of art so predominant during the Maoist era. After graduating with his degree in printmaking, the artist veered away and created simple but dramatic woodcuts, such as Shattered Jade (1977) and Bustling Village on the Water (1980–81, 繁忙的水乡). In 1987, <mask> returned to his training in printmaking to create large and elaborate installation pieces like Book from the Sky (1987) and Ghosts Pounding the Wall (1990). Installation pieces

A Book from the Sky
<mask>'s Tianshu ("Book From the Sky") is a large installation featuring precisely laid out rows of books and hanging scrolls with written "Chinese" texts. Even so, this work challenges our very approach to language because of the unique nature of the text written on the paper. First presented in Beijing in 1988, the learned élite felt slighted by the artists' bold move to design and print over 4,000 characters that looked Chinese but were completely meaningless according to standard Mandarin. <mask> infuses his work with meaning by stirring confusion and discomfort in his audience, mostly due to the fact that the Chinese characters used in these texts are not "real" characters.This piece was well received in China until 1989, whereupon the social and political drama of the Tiananmen Square protests led the government to look askance at <mask>'s Tianshu. Leaving China in 1991 for the political and artistic freedom of the United States, <mask> continued to explore and express his thoughts on deconstructing language to challenge our most "natural" cultural assumptions. His thought-provoking work enticed Western audiences, and he soon became one of the leading artists in the modern Chinese art scene. Ghosts Pounding the Wall
Using his background in print-making, in May and June 1990 <mask> and a team of art students and help from local residents began a monumental project: creating a rubbing from a section of the Great Wall at Jinshanling. In order to create the rubbings, <mask> used entirely traditional Chinese methods and materials for stone rubbing, including  rice paper and ink. Measuring 32m x 15m, the resulting installation piece consists of 29 rubbings of different sections of the Great Wall. As in the case of many of his works, <mask> directly related his colossal piece, Ghosts Pounding the Wall, to the political situation in China.While surveying his work while installed at Elvehjem Museum of Art, <mask> said that his Great Wall represents "a kind of thinking that makes no sense and is very conservative, a really closed-in thinking that symbolizes the isolationism of Chinese politics." The prints of the Great Wall rise up on either side of the exhibit, making the viewer seem small and insignificant in comparison to the massive, looming representations of solid stone walls. Square Word Calligraphy

From 1994 he began writing Chinese characters which were nonsensical to Chinese people but understandable to English speakers because they were one-block words made of English letters bent to the shape of hanzi. He called this New English Calligraphy, and gave lessons in how to write the characters. Background Story
In his series Background Story, <mask> uses unusual materials in order to create a deceptively typical Chinese Scroll Painting. From the front, the piece very much resembles a traditional Shan Shui (Landscape) scroll painting, with images of mountains, trees, and rivers. However, when seen from behind, the viewer is surprised to find that the beautiful "painting" is in fact created by using the shapes and shadows of random natural plant debris.Once again, <mask> challenges his audience's basic assumptions and shows them that everything is not always as it first seems. Phoenix project
In 2008, after returning to China to take the position at the Central Academy of Fine Arts, <mask> was asked to create a sculpture for the atrium of the World Financial Center, which was then being developed in Beijing. He was shocked by primitive working conditions he saw at the construction site, later saying that they "made my skin quiver." He was inspired to construct two large sculptures in the form of birds that are made largely out of construction debris and tools that he salvaged from the site. The larger sculpture, 100 feet (30 meters) long, is identified as a male and named Feng in accordance with the Chinese phoenix tradition. The smaller one is 90 feet (27 meters) long and is a female named Huang. Originally planned to take four months, the sculptures ultimately took two years to build; by that time the developers of the complex had decided the sculptures did not meet their needs.They were displayed at the Today Art Museum in Beijing and at the Shanghai World Expo before coming to the United States in 2012. After a year at the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art, they were then moved to the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York City, where they were unveiled to the public on 1 March 2014. They were suspended from the ceiling of the nave, where they are now expected to spend about a year. The Phoenix sculpture is the subject of the documentary <mask> Bing: Phoenix by Daniel Traub. Later mediums
<mask>'s art medium has evolved over the years, morphing from one style to the next: print-making and wood-block carving, installation art, live installation art, metalwork and sculpture, landscaping, and even virtual and digital mediums. Taking installation art a step further, <mask> focused on live installation art by using animals in his exhibits, such as in the case of the Silkworm Series and a Case Study of Transference (using silkworms and pigs, respectively) in 1994, or by showcasing sheep in The Net (1997). Later he explored the combination of modern and traditional mediums, as in the case of Background Story (2004–present) where his work imitates a traditional Chinese brush and ink scroll from the front, but is in fact designed by means of the projected shadows of plants and sticks.Even more recently, <mask> has delved into sculpture and metalworking, as seen in Monkeys Grasping the Moon (2001) and the Phoenix Project (2010). Influences and themes
<mask>'s art mostly reflects cultural issues which raged during his early life in China. Most notably, the cultural and linguistic reforms enacted by the Communist Party in China under Mao Zedong's leadership weigh heavily on modern Chinese artists who lived through this period. Similarly, the Cultural Revolution (1966–1976) also rankles the modern Chinese artistic consciousness even though different artists have focused on different angles. <mask> in particular plays with the notion of the paradox between the power and fickleness of language, of what it means to be human, and of how our perceptions color our worldview. <mask> plays incessantly with the role, purpose, and reality of language. Early in his life his father would make him write a page of characters a day, encouraging him to not only copy their form to perfection, but also to capture their spirit, their essence.During Mao's cultural reformations and the reorganization of the standard Chinese language, <mask> experienced the constant reformation of words. This constant linguistic change influenced his art: <mask> emphasizes the immortality of the essence of language while vividly illustrating the impermanence and capriciousness of words themselves. In this way language becomes malleable and it can be fashioned to either liberate or control. Just as it is nigh impossible to detangle life from politics during the Cultural Revolution era (and its ramifications in decades to follow), <mask> also intertwines political messages into his art. It was not until 2008 that <mask> set aside his post-Maoist reactionary art and invested in other topics. For example, he took on environmental projects such as Forest Project, which encouraged the "uninterrupted flow of funds from developed countries to Kenya, earmarked for the planting of new trees." Even so, his focus is always on the effect that environmental issues have on people, such as the villages in Kenya, not necessarily the effects on the landscape or on the political situation.At the turn of the millennium, a new defining social pattern emerged after the terrorist attacks in the United States on 9/11, 2001. Tension grew between the West and the Middle East, finally exploding into what was labeled as "the War on Terror." This situation gave rise to social themes of anxiety and hopelessness, which eventually have seeped into the realm of the arts. Even so, some artists like <mask> chose to explore the serenity found in the midst of chaos, as illustrated in his work Where does the Dust Itself Collect? (2004, 2011). For this piece, the artist gathered dust from the aftermath of the collapse of the Twin Towers in New York after September 11, 2001, and uses it to recreate the gray film that covered Manhattan in the weeks following the attacks. Stenciled in the dust, a Buddhist poem reads, "As there is nothing from the first, where does the dust itself collect?"Using this tragedy as an expression of the human narrative, <mask> contemplates the relationship between the material and the spiritual, and he explores "the complicated circumstances created by different world perspectives." Awards and honors

 Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters, Columbia University, New York (2010)
 Southern Graphics Council Lifetime Achievement Award (2006)
 International Association of Art Critics Award for "Best Installation or Single Work of Art in a Museum, New England" (2006)
 The Youth Friends Award, New York (2005)
 Artes Mundi Prize (2004)
 American Academy in Berlin Coca-Cola Fellowship (2004)
 Fukuoka Asian Culture Prize (2003)
 MacArthur Award (1999)
 Pollack Krasner Foundation Prize (1998)

Partial list of works
 Lanman Shanhua (Brilliant Mountain Flowers) Magazine (1975–1976)
 A Book from the Sky (1987–1991)
 Ghosts Pounding the Wall (1990–1991)
 A.B.C.... (1991–1994)
 Post Testament (1992–1993)
 Brailliterate (1993)
 A Case Study in Transference (1994)
 Introduction to Square-Word Calligraphy (1994–1996)
 Oxford Dictionary: Bird Definition (1994–1996)
 Silkworm Book (1995)
 Lost Letters (1997)
 Landscript Postcards (1999–2000)
 Red Book (Tobacco Project) (2000)
 Book from the Ground (2003-2012)
 Ten Thousand Trees (2004)
 Monkeys Grasping for the Moon (2008-ongoing)
 Book from the Ground: from point to point (2013)

Bibliography

 Book from the Sky to Book from the Ground (2020). Acc Art Books. . The Character of Characters: An Animation By <mask> (2012). Asian Art Museum of San Francisco. .
 <mask>: Phoenix (2016). Thircuir. . In popular culture
On film
 2013 - The Enduring Passion for Ink by Britta Erickson

References

External links

 Interview with Ellen Pearlman in Brooklyn Rail from September 2007
Cornell University Andrew Dickson White Professors-at-Large Biography
 Interviewed by Alan Macfarlane and Li Shuo 28 April 2015 (video)

1955 births
Living people
Chinese contemporary artists
MacArthur Fellows
People's Republic of China calligraphers
Artists from Chongqing
Central Academy of Fine Arts alumni
Chinese expatriates in the United States
Central Academy of Fine Arts faculty
Cornell University faculty

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<mask> (born April 27, 1987) is an American humanitarian worker and a professional mixed martial artist, currently competing in the heavyweight division of Bellator MMA. A professional competitor since 2006, <mask> has also formerly competed for the UFC, and was a cast member of SpikeTV's The Ultimate Fighter: Heavyweights. Amateur wrestling career
<mask> enjoyed a highly successful and decorated wrestling career before venturing into MMA. He was a standout at Texas wrestling powerhouse Bishop Lynch High School, where he was coached by Olympic Gold Medalists Kenny Monday and Kendall Cross. During that time, he was a two time Prep State Champion (2004, 2005) and a two time Prep all-American, winning the Prep National Championship his senior year in Lehigh, Pennsylvania. While he was indeed a standout collegiate-style wrestler, <mask>'s greatest success came in the Greco Roman style. He was a two time All-American in that discipline, winning the national championship in Fargo, ND the summer after his senior year in high school ('05).This championship gained him national attention and earned him a scholarship to the U.S. Olympic Education Center at Northern Michigan University to train for the Olympics to compete in Greco Roman wrestling. Mixed martial arts
Wanting to try his hand at Division I college wrestling, <mask> attended Iowa State University to compete for then coach Cael Sanderson, however, he sustained an injury training before he could join the team. To stay active, <mask> entered local fights around Iowa and began his MMA career. <mask> won his first three fights by knockout before taking his first loss. His opponent was Matt Thompson. <mask> then won five more fights and was ten and one before appearing on TUF. Heading into the tenth installment of The Ultimate Fighter, <mask> had trained all over the world but found his permanent home in Denver, CO with TUF 10 coach Trevor Wittman.The Ultimate Fighter
<mask> was on the tenth season of The Ultimate Fighter fighting for Team Rashad. He was picked third for his team and fifth overall. On episode five, <mask> fought UFC veteran Wes Sims, defeating him via first round technical submission from an arm triangle. <mask> then moved on to the quarter-finals and fought Roy Nelson in a controversial two round majority decision loss that many spectators at ring side, including Dana White, felt should have gone to a third round. Ultimate Fighting Championship
<mask> would go on make his UFC debut at The Ultimate Finale 10, against Ultimate Fighter 10 castmate, Jon Madsen, to whom he lost via split decision. <mask> was later released from the UFC. Post-UFC
On Jan. 23, 2010 <mask> announced he had signed a deal with an unnamed promotion.Then on Jan. 26, the promotion was named as Ring of Fire MMA, based in Colorado. He fought and defeated Josh Henry in his debut for Ring of Fire by TKO in the first round. After injuring his back from a slam in his victory over Josh Robertson, <mask> underwent a corrective procedure to repair six or seven discs in his back. Bellator MMA
In July 2015, <mask> signed a five-fight contract with Bellator MMA. After five years away from the sport, <mask> made his promotional debut against Josh Burns at Bellator 141 on August 28, 2015. He won the fight by unanimous decision. He won his second Bellator bout against Juan Torres on February 19, 2016, also by unanimous decision.<mask> faced Roman Pizzolato at Bellator 174 on March 3, 2017. He won via submission due to an arm-triangle choke in the first round. He published an account of his life (co-authored by Loretta Hunt) and work with Mbuti pygmy tribes, also entitled 'Fight for the Forgotten', in September 2015. <mask> has used a portion of his earnings from MMA to buy land and build fresh water wells for the Mbuti pygmy people in the Democratic Republic of Congo. His solution uses local workforce and can be walked into areas otherwise inaccessible to well drilling machinery; initially they find well locations using a vertical electrical sounding machine. Personal life
<mask> is a Christian. See also
 List of current Bellator fighters

References

External links

1987 births
Living people
Sportspeople from Dallas
American male mixed martial artists
Heavyweight mixed martial artists
Mixed martial artists utilizing collegiate wrestling
Mixed martial artists utilizing Greco-Roman wrestling
Mixed martial artists utilizing Brazilian jiu-jitsu
Mixed martial artists from Texas
American male sport wrestlers
American practitioners of Brazilian jiu-jitsu
Christians from Texas

masks:
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<mask> (29 September 1943 – 18 August 1989) was a Colombian liberal politician and journalist who ran for the Presidency of Colombia on two occasions, the first time for the political movement New Liberalism that he founded in 1979. The movement was an offspring of the mainstream Colombian Liberal Party, and with mediation of former Liberal president Julio César Turbay Ayala, <mask> returned to the Liberal party in 1989 and sought the nomination for the 1990 presidential election. <mask> declared himself an enemy of the drug cartels and the influence of the mafia in Colombian politics, in this case the main drug cartel being the Medellin Cartel led by Pablo Escobar and who unsuccessfully tried to become a member of the New Liberalism Movement in his bid to become a member of the Colombian House of Representatives. <mask> denounced Pablo Escobar in a public rally, and supported the extradition treaty with the U.S, contrary to the wishes of the Colombian cartels that feared extradition to the U.S.  After receiving several death threats, on 18 August 1989, <mask> was shot to death by hitmen hired by the drug cartels during a campaign rally in the town of Soacha, Cundinamarca. At the time, <mask> was comfortably leading the polls with 60 percent favourable ratings for the forthcoming 1990 presidential election. The investigation into his assassination remains unsolved. Biography

Early life
<mask> was born on 29 September 1943 in the city of Bucaramanga, Santander, northeastern Colombia.He had a happy childhood, with strong family bonds, affectionate and sometimes austere, as he had 12 siblings. His father moved with the whole family to Bogotá in 1949. In Bogotá, <mask> attended middle school in the Colegio Americano in 1950. While a student there and only 8 years old, he joined a rally against Conservative president Laureano Gómez and intended to support the Liberal guerrillas. Two years later he was transferred to another school, the Colegio Antonio Nariño. When he was only a 14-year-old, <mask> participated in the students protests of 1957 against the dictatorial regime of Gustavo Rojas getting arrested and spending the night in a jail despite his age. In 1960 <mask> graduated from high school with honors and began studies of law and economics in the Pontifical Xavierian University in Bogotá, it was then that his liberal radicalism cooled off.While a student in 1963, <mask> founded Vértice, a university focused magazine to express his Liberal tendencies in a university that was predominantly Conservative and also became his first experience with journalism. He was able to meet prominent Colombian leaders like former Liberal president <mask> (who, delighted with <mask>'s work, decided to write articles for Vértice Magazine) and Colombia's main circulation newspaper El Tiempo owner and also former Liberal president of Colombia Eduardo Santos during an interview in which Santos was impressed by <mask>'s journalist qualities. <mask> began working for the Colombian newspaper El Tiempo in 1965 after graduating from university the same year. Journalism
In El Tiempo Galán turned himself into a well known journalist and columnist, effort that earned him the director's assistant position and later the membership of the Executive Directorate in the newspaper with the support of Eduardo Santos and then director Roberto García Peña. He was also active with the Nueva Frontera weekly magazine founded by former president <mask>, which he directed in 1976 after arriving from Italy. As a journalist <mask> wrote no less than 150 editorial articles, followed by other 150 during his time in El Tiempo newspaper. In 1977 <mask> wrote in one of Nueva Frontera's editorial an article denouncing the existence of narcotics trafficking mafias and that they were influencing the social structure of Colombia.He also denounced the clientelist politics, moral values corruption and collective values loss, this seen as a premonition for Colombia's future. It was during an interview with the then recently elected president Misael Pastrana that he was surprised by the president in the middle of the interview who told <mask> that he was going to be his Minister of Education. In 1986 as an anecdote, <mask> wrote his autobiography under the pseudonym "Cleo Tilde", but it was only until 1994 that the identity was revealed. He described detailed facts, events and encounters with prominent figures as well as an approach to his personal point of view and thoughts. Political career
In 1970 <mask> was appointed Minister of National Education during the presidency of Misael Pastrana. His time as minister was marked by his progressive and social policies, but was not considered successful. In 1972 <mask> was appointed Ambassador of Colombia to Italy and later in 1974 while still ambassador, was appointed Colombian representative to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).Under the influence of former president Lleras and after directing the Nueva Frontera Magazine for seven years, in 1976 <mask> ran for councilman in the small town of Oiba in the northeastern department of Santander. In 1977 and 1978 <mask> became very active and supportive of <mask> reelection as president of Colombia while he ran for the Senate. The reelection never occurred, however, he got elected as Senator of Colombia representing the Santander Department. On 30 November 1979 <mask> founded a party with the name Nuevo Liberalismo and within the Liberal Party. During the 1980s Colombia went under critical siege by violent drug cartels, specially the Medellín Cartel that had gained a great amount of influence by bribing or killing officials. <mask> saw this as disastrous for Colombia and its society. In 1980 <mask> was elected as councilman for the capital, Bogotá to be named the following year, in 1981 as possible candidate for the presidency of Colombia amid divisions in the Liberal Party that intended to challenge the majorities of the party led by Alfonso López Michelsen and then president Julio César Turbay, but voters leaned for the conservative candidate Belisario Betancur.For <mask> it had been a positive outcome despite losing, his party Nuevo Liberalismo had gained a 10% of the total votes winning 21 of the 23 Department Assemblies and getting reelected as Senator but he had been criticised by the Liberal Party for creating divisions among them and indeed losing the Presidency. In 1982 Medellin cartel boss Pablo Escobar tried to infiltrate <mask>'s Nuevo Liberalismo Party. <mask> publicly rejected him in front of thousands of his fellow men from Antioquia and Colombia. <mask> continued with his ascendant career, absenting himself from the 1986 presidential race to prevent Liberal Party divisions and running his party as an offspring he was reelected once again as a Senator. This allowed the Liberal Party to regain the Presidency with the election of Virgilio Barco but at a terrible cost for his party that lost 50% of the votes gained in the previous election. It was only until the mediation of former president Julio César Turbay that <mask> returned to the party in 1987 and intended to win the party nomination for official candidate. <mask> was growing impatient with the violence and the corruption the drug cartels led by Pablo Escobar and Gonzalo Rodríguez were imposing in Colombia, which encouraged him to try to support the weakening government by shifting the balance of power away from his dangerous enemies.The Nuevo Liberalism joined the government and was given the Ministry of Agriculture headed by Gabriel Rosas Vega and the Liberal Party gained a solid union that consolidated further when <mask> won the Liberal Party's popular nomination to be the presidential frontrunner. <mask> was becoming popular for his open criticism and denunciation of drug cartel violence, he had promised to extradite drug dealers to the United States. He announced he would run for office on 4 July 1989 in the Tequendama Hotel in Bogotá. His popularity rating skyrocketed to 60%. Meanwhile, Escobar found some support in Tolima's political chief Alberto Santofimio affiliated also with a faction of the Liberal Party led by Alfonso López Michelsen and with a movement called Movimiento de Renovación Liberal (Liberal Renovation Movement) getting himself elected to the Chamber of Representatives as second runner up for Santofimios' congress candidate Jairo Rojas. Assassination
According to accounts the first assassination threats were calls made to <mask>'s home telephone number after the Liberal Party convention to nominate an official candidate. Flyers were left in the mailbox threatening to kill or kidnap his children.An attempt to kill <mask> with an RPG was thwarted while visiting Medellín on 4 August 1989. The assassination attempt was prevented by men working for Waldemar Franklin Quintero, the commander of the Colombian National Police in Antioquia. Accompanying Quintero and <mask> was the mayor of Medellín, Pedro Pablo Paláez; both Paláez and Quintero would be killed within a few weeks of the assassination attempt. After these assassinations, <mask> and his family restricted their travels, especially at night. Later on, <mask>'s staff received information from the Colombian intelligence services advising him of the presence in Bogotá of a group of hitmen with the intention to kill him. His staff advised him not to travel to the town of Soacha and that the trip to Valledupar was more suitable since he was also scheduled to attend a football match in nearby Barranquilla for a 1990 FIFA World Cup qualification match in which the Colombian team was going to play. At the last moment, <mask> changed his mind and ordered his staff to prepare to go to Soacha.On August 18, 1989, <mask>, who was being protected by eighteen armed bodyguards, was killed as he walked onto the stage to give a speech in front of 10,000 people in Soacha. At least ten others were wounded in the gunfire. This created a war that both sides did not want, one side being the Colombian Government and the other The Extraditables. Both sides saw deaths at a record toll. The Colombian drug cartels were worried about the possible approval in congress of an extradition treaty with the United States, and political enemies feared <mask>'s increasing power would isolate many of them from the voters. According to John Jairo Velásquez a.k.a. "Popeye" and <mask> Aguilar a.k.a."El Mugre", former hitmen of Pablo Escobar, the assassination was planned in a farm by Escobar, Gonzalo Rodríguez a.k.a. "El Mexicano", Liberal political leader Alberto Santofimio and others. Velásquez affirmed that Santofimio had certain influence over Escobar's decision making, and he had heard Santofimio say "kill him Pablo, kill him!". Santofimio told Escobar that if Galan became President, he would extradite Escobar to the United States. Other potential perpetrators were mentioned by a demobilized member of the AUC paramilitary group, "Ernesto Baez", who testified that the murder of <mask> was organized by the Colombian mafia with the participation of corrupt members of the military and the DAS. After death
César Gaviria, who had been Galán's debate chief ("Jefe de Debate") during the campaign, was proclaimed as his successor by <mask>'s family and his supporters inside the Liberal party. He was elected president in 1990.In 2004, new information in a letter written by one of the hitmen who had infiltrated his escort suggested that <mask>'s assassination was executed with help of corrupt Colombian policemen and some of his own bodyguards, who had been bought off by the drug cartels, including Pablo Escobar and other drug lords. Most of the arrested presumed hitmen were killed in jail or shortly after their release, allegedly to silence them. On 13 May 2005, a former Justice minister (1974) and congressman of the Colombian Liberal Party, Alberto Santofimio, known for his open connections to Pablo Escobar during the 1980s (Escobar joined Santofimio's political movement), was arrested and accused of being the intellectual author of <mask>'s murder. According to the newly extended confession of Escobar's former top hitman, John Jairo Velasquez (also known as "Popeye"), Santofimio would have openly suggested <mask>'s murder during a secret meeting, in order to eliminate a political rival and, should <mask> ever be elected president, also prevent Escobar's likely extradition. Santofimio had been previously questioned and mentioned during the investigation and his involvement was widely rumored, but apparently no direct testimonies of his role had been acquired until recently. Velásquez, currently serving a jail sentence, told the Colombian press that he had initially denied Santofimio's participation due to his existing political power at the time. Other new and unspecified evidences would also have contributed to building the case against Santofimio.On 11 October 2007, Alberto Santofimio was convicted to 24 years in prison. He was later released on appeal, but in August 2011 the Supreme Court reinstated the conviction and he surrendered himself. On 25 November 2010 Colombian prosecutors issued an arrest warrant for the ex-director of the Colombian security agency (DAS), Retired Gen. Miguel Maza Márquez, for involvement in <mask>'s murder. The prosecutors claimed that Maza intentionally lightened <mask>'s bodyguard contingent to enable 18 August 1989 assassination. The Supreme Court convicted Maza in 2016 and sentenced him to 30 years in prison. Family
Son of <mask> Gómez and Cecilia Sarmiento Suárez, <mask> was one of their 12 children, the others being: María Lucía, Gabriel, Cecilia, Helena, Elsa, Gloria, Antonio, Juan Daniel, Mario Augusto, Francisco Alberto and María Victoria <mask> Sarmiento. He was cousin of former Attorney General of Colombia Alfonso Valdivieso Sarmiento.In 1971 he married journalist Gloria Pachón Castro and had three children Juan Manuel, Claudio Mario and <mask>. Quotes
<mask> was largely influenced by Pierre Teilhard de Chardin's ideas and Nikos Kazantzakis's books. His father Mario described him as a person fascinated with spirituality, a man with integrity, an individual struggle for knowing one's self between good and evil and that the effort to achieve it consisted in the main objective in life, not only individually, but collectively. «La sensibilidad social del autor, el hombre integral que buscaba y la lucha interna que Kazantzakis padeció y soportó a través de su vida entre el ángel y la bestia, entre la naturaleza interior y superior del hombre, entre el mundo pasional y el espíritu, lo fascinaban dice su padre- la búsqueda de esa trascendencia espiritual y el esfuerzo para realizarlo constituía para <mask> el objetivo de la vida, no solamente en lo individual sino también en lo colectivo». - <mask> <mask> – Revista Vértice, May 1964. -Galán's campaign slogan

Popular culture
 Galán is portrayed by actor Nicolás Montero in the Colombian TV series Escobar, el Patrón del Mal. Montero also portrays <mask> in TV Series Football Dreams, a world of passion.In TV series Tres Caínes, <mask> is portrayed in a minor role by the colombian actor Walter Luengas. <mask> is portrayed by actor Juan Pablo Espinosa on the 2015 Netflix drama/action series Narcos. The show is a serialized take on drug kingpin Pablo Escobar (played by Brazilian actor Wagner Moura) and the Medellín Cartel. Galan appears as a prominent figure in Ingrid Rojas Contreras's debut novel Fruit of the Drunken Tree. The protagonist, observant Chula Santiago, is seven years old when her mother Alma takes her and her sister to the fateful Galan rally. Alma was a frevent supporter of Galan, and the assasination is the first interaction Chula has with death, and it touches her deeply. See also
Jorge Eliecer Gaitán, a similar Colombian Liberal Party candidate assassinated in 1948.List of unsolved murders

References and notes

External links
 Spanish Language News Report on the hitman letter

 Another video of the assassination (Requires QuickTime)

1943 births
1989 deaths
20th-century journalists
Ambassadors of Colombia to Italy
Assassinated Colombian politicians
Burials at Central Cemetery of Bogotá
Colombian journalists
Colombian Liberal Party politicians
Colombian Ministers of National Education
Deaths by firearm in Colombia
Filmed assassinations
Male journalists
Male murder victims
Members of the Senate of Colombia
Murder in 1989
New Liberalism (Colombia) politicians
People from Bucaramanga
People murdered by Colombian organized crime
People murdered in Colombia
Unsolved murders

masks:
Luis Carlos Galán Sarmiento
Galán
Galán
Galán
Galán
Galán
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Galán
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Galán
Carlos Lleras
Galán
Galán
Galán
Carlos Lleras
Galán
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Galán
Galán
Galán
Galán
Galán
Carlos Lleras
Galán
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Luis Carlos
Galán
Galán
Galán
Galán
Galán
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Galán
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Mario Galán
Galán
Galán
Carlos Fernando
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Luis Carlos
Luis Carlos
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<mask> (born July 16, 1992) is a Russian professional ice hockey forward, who is currently playing for the Aalborg Pirates in the Metal Ligaen (DEN). He played ten games with HC Spartak Moscow of the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) before moving to North America. <mask> also played for the Russian junior team at the 2009 IIHF World U18 Championships where he won a silver medal. <mask> was selected 65th overall by the New York Islanders in the 2010 NHL Entry Draft. Playing career
In 2007, 15-year-old <mask> was signed to a five-year contract with HC Spartak Moscow, a deal negotiated by his father and included an escape clause that would allow him to leave the contract to play in the National Hockey League (NHL). When the Russian Super League was disbanded in favour of the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) in 2008, he signed a new four-year contract to replace the original deal that also had an NHL escape clause. He joined Spartak in 2008–09 as the youngest player in the KHL and appeared in ten regular season and playoff games.During the season, the KHL unilaterally revoked his NHL escape clause. His playing rights were sold to Salavat Yulaev Ufa, which required a new contract be signed under KHL rules. Ufa refused to grant him another escape clause, and <mask> refused to sign a new contract. In the meantime, he was selected by the Moncton Wildcats of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (QMJHL) with the seventh overall selection in the Canadian Hockey League Import Draft. Faced with an ultimatum by Ufa to sign a contract or risk being disqualified from playing hockey in Russia for three years, <mask> instead flew to Moncton and petitioned the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) to allow him to play in Canada. He expressed a strong desire to play junior hockey, stating that it didn't matter how much money he was offered in the KHL. He missed the first ten games of the 2009–10 QMJHL season while the Moncton and Ufa battled over his rights before the IIHF ruled in favour of the Wildcats, allowing <mask> to join his new team.At one point considered a potential first overall selection for the 2010 NHL Entry Draft, Eventually <mask> would be selected 65th overall by the New York Islanders in the 2010 NHL Entry Draft. Internationally, <mask> played with the Russian junior team at the 2009 IIHF World U18 Championships. He finished eighth in tournament scoring with eleven points, and helped the Russians win a silver medal. He was unable to participate in the 2010 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships due to a wrist injury. The injury required surgery, leaving <mask> out of the Moncton lineup until February 2010. Late in the season, <mask> would become a regular healthy scratch and fall out of favor with the Wildcats. Being a scratch for the entire first round of the playoffs, Moncton released <mask> of his obligations, allowing him to play in the 2010 U18 tournament.There, he would become the center of controversy after being rejected by the Russian squad for disciplinary reasons. "I removed him from the team because [although] we thought [he] would help us, but he brought only confusion to the team," Vasiliev told Sovietsky Sport. "Kabanov came and thought 'Here I am, a star from Canada, who will save all.' But it's the team that wins rather than an individual player." On June 6, 2010 agent JP Barry parted ways with Kabanov, stating "it just wasn't a fit." Ilya Moliver, one of the previous Kabanov's agents, says that the main problem with Kabanov is his father, who is "hard to find common language with." On October 28, 2010 <mask> was traded from the Wildcats to the Lewiston Maineiacs.On July 1, 2011 <mask> signed a three-year entry level contract with the New York Islanders of the National Hockey League (NHL) and participated in the team's training camp. However, he was soon assigned to Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (QMJHL) affiliate Blainville-Boisbriand Armada before the start of the season. Having played no games with the Islanders nor Armada, <mask> was loaned to the Swedish Elitserien (SEL) team Färjestads BK early in the season, on October 13, 2011. However, a day later he was traded to the Shawinigan Cataractes, and on October 15 it was confirmed that he would stay in North America for the 2011–12 season. After a successful 2011–12 campaign in which he scored 21 goals and notched 34 assists (both personal records), <mask> made the jump up to the professional American Hockey League (AHL) for the 2012–13 season. with Islanders affiliate, the Bridgeport Sound Tigers. In his second year of his entry level deal, unable to solidify a position within the Sound Tigers, he was reassigned to ECHL affiliate, the Stockton Thunder.He was then loaned to Modo Hockey in the Swedish Hockey League for the remainder of the season. On July 15, 2014, <mask> was placed on conditional waivers in order to mutually terminate the final year of his contract with the Islanders. On July 30, 2014, <mask> opted to continue his career in the SHL, declining Modo interest to sign with League champions Skellefteå AIK on a one-year contract. After two season in the Swedish League, <mask> returned to North America as a free agent, accepting a try-out offer to attend the New York Rangers training camp on September 17, 2015. He was released from his try-out on September 24, 2015. <mask> returned to the KHL for limited action hampered by injury through two years before spending the 2017–18 season in Denmark with the Aalborg Pirates of the Metal Ligaen. As a free agent, <mask> continued his career in Europe by signing as a free agent to a one-year contract with German club, Krefeld Pinguine of the Deutsche Eishockey Liga, on June 15, 2018.In the 2018–19 season, <mask> as a regular top nine forward, contributed with 3 goals and 19 points in 49 games. Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

International

References

External links

<mask> <mask>'s profile at RussianProspect.com

1992 births
AaB Ishockey players
Bridgeport Sound Tigers players
Krefeld Pinguine players
Lewiston Maineiacs players
Living people
HC Spartak Moscow players
Memorial Cup winners
Modo Hockey players
Moncton Wildcats players
HC Neftekhimik Nizhnekamsk players
New York Islanders draft picks
Russian ice hockey left wingers
Salavat Yulaev Ufa players
Shawinigan Cataractes players
Skellefteå AIK players
Stockton Thunder players

masks:
Kirill Kabanov
Kabanov
Kabanov
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Kirill
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<mask> (, ) (fl. 16th century) was a Malayalam devotional poet, translator and linguist from Kerala, south India. He has been called the "Father of Modern Malayalam", or, alternatively, the "Father of Malayalam Literature", or the "Primal Poet in Malayalam". He was one of the pioneers of a major shift in Kerala literary production (the domesticated religious textuality associated with the Bhakti movement). The number and circulation of his texts far outdo that of any other poet of premodern Kerala. <mask> was born in the Thunchaththu home at present-day Tirur, northern Kerala, in a traditional Hindu family. Little is known with certainty about his life.His success even in his own lifetime seems to have been great. Later he or his followers shifted to a village near Palakkad, further east into the Kerala, and established a hermitage (the "Ramananda ashrama") and a Brahmin residence there. This institution probably housed both Brahmin and Sudra literary students. The school eventually pioneered the "Ezhuthachan movement", associated with the concept of popular Bhakti, in Kerala. Ezhuthachan's ideas have been variously linked by scholars either with philosopher Ramananda, who founded the Ramanandi sect, or Ramanuja, the single most influential thinker of devotional Hinduism. For centuries before Ezhuthachan, Kerala people had been producing literary texts in Malayalam and in the Grantha script. However, he is celebrated as the "Primal Poet" or the "Father of Malayalam Proper" for his Malayalam recomposition of the Sanskrit epic Ramayana.This work rapidly circulated around Kerala middle-caste homes as a popular devotional text. It can be said that Ezhuthachan brought the then unknown Sanskrit-Puranic literature to the level of common understanding (domesticated religious textuality). His other major contribution has been in mainstreaming the current Malayalam alphabet. Sources
The first Western scholar to take an interest in Ezhuthachan was Arthur C. Burnell (1871). The following two texts are the standard sources on Ezhuthachan. "Eluttaccan and His Age" (1940) by C. Achyuta Menon (Madras: University of Madras). "Adhyatma Ramayanam" (1969) edited by A. D. Harisharma (Kottayam: Sahitya Pravarthaka Co-operative).Historical Ezhuthachan
There is no completely firm historical evidence for <mask> the author. Main historical sources of <mask> and his life are

 Quasi-historical verses referring to <mask> (from Chittur Madhom). An institutional line of masters or gurus, beginning with one Thunchaththu Sri Guru, is mentioned in one oral verse from Chittur Madhom. This lineage can be historically verified. An inscription giving the details of the founding of the residence (agraharam), hermitage (mathom), and temples in Chittur. This was under the direction of Suryanarayanan <mask> (with support of the local chieftain). This locale can be historically verified.Period

Ezhuthachan is generally believed to have lived around the sixteenth or seventeenth century. Arthur C. Burnell (1871) dates Ezhuthachan to seventeenth century. He discovered the date from a title deed (found in a manuscript collection preserved in Chittur). The deed relates to the date of the founding of the Gurumadhom of Chittur. William Logan (1887) dates Ezuthachan to the seventeenth century (he supports the dates given by Burnell). Hermann Gundert dates Ezuthachan to the seventeenth century. Kovunni Nedungadi dates Ezuthachan to the fifteenth century.Govinda Pillai dates Ezuthachan to the fifteenth or sixteenth century. He cites the Kali chronogram 'ayurarogyaa saukhyam' that appears at end of the Narayaneeyam of Melpathur Narayana Bhattathiri (a possible senior contemporary of <mask>). A. R. Kattayattu Govindra Menon cites the Kali chronogram 'pavitramparam saukhyam' as a reference to the date of Ezuthachan 's samadhi. Chittur Gurumadhom authorities also cites the chronogram 'pavitramparam saukhyam' as a reference to the date of Ezuthachan 's samadhi. The word 'surya' is sometimes suffixed to the chronogram. R. Narayana Panikkar supports Govinda Pillai's date (the fifteenth or sixteenth century). The date is based on <mask>'s contemporaneity with Melpathur Narayana Bhattathiri (whom he dates to c. 1531 – c. 1637 AD).He also mentions certain Nilakantan "Nambudiri ", a possible senior contemporary of <mask> (fl. c. 1565 and c. 1601 AD). P. K. Narayana Pillai cites a Kali chronogram 'nakasyanyunasaukhyam' or 1555 AD (from a verse relating to the founding of the matham of Chittur) on the date of <mask>. He dates Nilakanthan, the possible master of <mask>, to c. 1502 AD. Poet-turned-historian Ulloor S. Parameshwara Iyer has argued that <mask> was born in 1495 AD and lived up to 1575 AD
 A time frame similar to Ulloor was proposed by scholar C. Radhakrishnan. Scholar Sheldon Pollock dates Ezuthachan to the sixteenth century. Rich Freeman dates Ezhuthachan to late sixteenth-early seventeenth century.Life and career

Biography
Little is known with certainty about <mask>'s life. <mask> was born at Trikkandiyoor, near the modern-day town of Tirur, in northern Kerala. It is known that his lineage home was "Thunchaththu". His parents' names are not known, and there are disputes about his given name as well. The name <mask>, meaning Father of Letters, was a generic title for any village schoolteacher in premodern Kerala. As a boy he seems to have exhibited uncommon intelligence. He was probably educated by his elder brother (early in his life).After his early education he is believed to have travelled in the other parts of India (outside Kerala) and learned Sanskrit and some other Dravidian languages. It is believed that <mask> on his way back from Tamil Nadu had a stopover at Chittur (in Palakkad) and in due course settled down at Thekke Gramam near Anikkode with his disciples. A hermitage (the "Ramananda ashrama") and a Brahmin residence (agraharam), at a site now known as the Chittur Gurumadhom, were established by him (on a piece of land bought from the landlord of Chittur). The institution was flanked by temples of gods Rama and Siva. It probably housed both Brahmin and Sudra students. The street still has an array of agraharas (where the twelve Brahmin families migrated along with Ezhuthachan live). <mask> was eventually associated with an institutional line of masters (gurus).The locale and lineage of these masters can be historically verified. He and his disciples seem to have ignited a whole new literary movement in Kerala. Its style and content nearly overshadowed the earlier Sanskrit poetry. He is believed to have attained samadhi at the Gurumadhom at Chittur. A verse chanted by the ascetics of the mathom during their daily prayers makes a reference to the following line of masters. Thunchaththu Sri Guru
 Sri Karunakaran
 Sri Suryanarayanan
 Sri Deva Guru
 Sri Gopala Guru

Myths and legends
 Legends consider Ezhuthachan as a "gandharva" (divine being) who in his previous birth was a witness to the Great War in the Mahabharata. As a young boy Ezhuthachan corrected the Brahmins at Trikkandiyoor Temple.The Brahmins grew uneasy and gave the boy some plantains to eat, and as a resulting inebriety the boy lost his speech. To counteract this <mask>'s father gave him palm beverage and the boy had his speech restored. <mask> remained addicted to intoxicants. Saraswati, the Goddess of Learning and Arts, is believed to have helped him to complete the Devi Mahatmya. <mask> is credited with endowing a monkey with the gift of speech. It is believed that the Raja of Ambalappuzha requested him to decipher a Telugu manuscript on Adhyatma Ramayanam. It is also said that <mask> had a young daughter, who copied his works for the first time.<mask> or his follower Suryanarayanan predicted the downfall of zamorin's family (the then rulers of Calicut). And the zamorin sought his help to perform a Sakteya Puja. It is said that Melpathur Narayana Bhattathiri sought the advice of <mask> on how to start his Narayaneeyam. Contributions

<mask>—although he lived around sixteenth century AD—has been called the "father of modern Malayalam", or, alternatively, the "father of Malayalam literature". His success even in his own lifetime seems to have been great. No original compositions are attributed to <mask>. His main works generally are based on Sanskrit compositions.Linguists are unanimous in assigning Adhyatma Ramayanam and Sri Mahabharatam to <mask>. The Ramayanam—the most popular work—depicts the hero, Rama, an ideal figure both as man and god. Sri Mahabharatam omits all episodes not strictly relevant to the story of the Pandavas and is generally considered as a work of greater literary merit than the Ramayanam. However, there is no unanimity among the scholars about the authorship of certain other works generally ascribed to him. These include the Brahmanda Puranam, Uttara Ramayanam, Devi Mahatmyam, and Harinama Kirtanam. <mask>'s other major contribution has been in mainstreaming (the

masks:
Thunchaththu Ramanujan Ezhuthachan
Ezhuthachan
Ezhuthachan
Ezhuthachan
Ezhuthachan
Ezhuthachan
Ezhuthachan
Ezhuthachan
Ezhuthachan
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 current) Malayalam alphabet (derived chiefly from the Sanskrit Grantha, or the Arya Script) as the replacement for the old Vattezhuthu (the then-30-letter script of Malayalam). The Arya script permitted the free use of Sanskrit in Malayalam writing.Ezhuthachan movement

Ezhuthachan introduced a movement of domesticated religious textuality in Kerala. He was a significant voice of the Bhakti movement in south India. The Bhakti movement was a collective opposition to Brahmanical excesses and the moral and political decadence of the then-Kerala society. The shift of literary production in Kerala to a largely Sanskritic, puranic religiosity is attributed this movement. <mask>'s school promoted popular and non-Brahman (Bhakti) literary production. His works were also a general opposition against the moral decadence of the 16th century Kerala society. Father of Modern Malayalam
The Middle Malayalam (Madhyakaala Malayalam) was succeeded by Modern Malayalam (Aadhunika Malayalam) by 15th century CE.The poem Krishnagatha written by Cherusseri Namboothiri, who was the court poet of the king Udaya Varman Kolathiri (1446 – 1475) of Kolathunadu, is written in modern Malayalam. The language used in Krishnagatha is the modern spoken form of Malayalam. During the 16th century CE, <mask> <mask> from the Kingdom of Tanur and Poonthanam Nambudiri from the Kingdom of Valluvanad followed the new trend initiated by Cherussery in their poems. The Adhyathmaramayanam Kilippattu and Mahabharatham Kilippattu written by <mask> and Jnanappana written by Poonthanam are also included in the earliest form of Modern Malayalam. It is <mask> <mask> who is also credited with the development of Malayalam script into the current form through the intermixing and modification of the erstwhile scripts of Vatteluttu, Kolezhuthu, and Grantha script, which were used to write the inscriptions and literary works of Old and Middle Malayalam. He further eliminated excess and unnecessary letters from the modified script. Hence, <mask> is also known as The Father of modern Malayalam.The development of modern Malayalam script was also heavily influenced by the Tigalari script, which was used to write the Tulu language, due to the influence of Tuluva Brahmins in Kerala. The language used in the Arabi Malayalam works of 16th-17th century CE is a mixture of Modern Malayalam and Arabic. They follow the syntax of modern Malayalam, though written in a modified form of Arabic script, which is known as Arabi Malayalam script. P. Shungunny Menon ascribes the authorship of the medieval work Keralolpathi, which describes the Parashurama legend and the departure of the final Cheraman Perumal king to Mecca, to Thunchaththu Ramanujan Ezhuthachan. Adhyatma Ramayanam

Adhyatma Ramayanam, written in the parrot-song style, is Ezhuthachan's principle work. It is not an adaptation from the original Valmiki Ramayana, but a translation of the Adhyatma Ramayana, a Sanskrit text connected with the Ramanandi sect. The poem is composed in nearly-modern Malayalam.It depicts Rama, the prince of Ayodhya, as an ideal figure (both as man and god-incarnate, the Bhakti interpretation). The text spread with phenomenal popularity throughout Kerala middle-caste homes as a material for domestic devotional recitation. Throughout the Malayalam month of Karkkidakam, Adhyatma Ramayanam is still recited—as a devotional practice—in the middle-caste homes of Kerala. According to critic K. Ayyappa Panicker, those who see Adhyatma Ramayanam merely as a devotional work "belittle" Ezhuthachan. Style

Parrot-song style
 Known in Malayalam as the Kilippattu genre. A convention Ezhuthachan adapted from Old Tamil. Recited to a poet by a parrot (the frame of the parrot-narrator).Thematic focus: epic or Puranic traditions. Intended for recitation or singing. Lexicon and grammar
 Heavily Sanskritic lexicon with many Sanskrit nominal terminations (lexical distinctions between Manipravalam and the Pattu styles are not visible). No Sanskrit verbal forms or long compounds. Most of the grammatical structures are in Malayalam (the frame of the parrot-narrator and the constituent meters). Assembled in an array of Dravidian meters (in simple metrical couplets). "Keka" for Bala Kandha and Aranya Kandha
 "Kakali" for Ayodhya, Kishkindha and Yuddha Kandha
 "Kalakanchi" for Sundara Kandha

Caste
Thunchaththu Ezhuthachan's caste is arguable.It is only known that he belonged to a lower caste (Shudra or Shudra-grade). The two most popular opinions are Ezhuthachan and Nair, with Kaniyar being less popular. Ezhuthachan
Ezhuthachan caste is a socio-economic caste of village school teachers. According to Arthur C. Burnell, Thunchaththu Ezhuthachan belonged to the Ezhuthachan or "school master" caste. Writer K. Balakrishna Kurup also reports the same, in his book Viswasathinte Kanappurangal. E. P. Bhaskara Guptan, a writer and independent researcher of local history from Kadampazhipuram; supports Kurup's conclusion. Historian Velayudhan Panikkassery expresses the same opinion.Nair
The Chakkala Nair caste had the rights to enter brahmanical temples and to participate in worships. The Malayalam poet and historian Ulloor S. Parameswara Iyer agree that <mask> belonged to this caste and conclude that he could be Vattekattu Nair because he visited brahmanical temples and engaged in worship, which is not allowed for the Ezuthacan caste. William Logan, officer of the Madras Civil Service under the English India Company Government, expresses a similar opinion in his Malabar Manual and states that <mask> Ezuthachan was "a man of Sudra (Nayar) caste". Kottarathil Shankunni wrote in his Aithihyamala that the term Ezhuthachan is nothing but a title taken up by school teachers belonging to several castes mainly by Nairs in Northern kerala indicating that <mask> was a Nair. Kaniyar
Some sources consider him to be Kaniyar. This community of traditional astrologers were well versed in Sanskrit and Malayalam. During the medieval period, when non-Brahmins were not permitted to learn Sanskrit, only the Kaniyar community had been traditionally enjoying the privilege for accessing and acquiring knowledge in Sanskrit, through their hereditary system of pedagogy.They were learned people and had knowledge in astrology, mathematics, mythology and Ayurveda. They were generally assigned as preceptors of martial art and literacy. In addition to the common title Panicker, the members of Kaniyar from the South Travancore and Malabar region were known as Aasaan, Ezhuthu Aasans, or Ezhuthachans (Father of Letters), by virtue of their traditional avocational function as village school masters to non-Brahmin pupils. Legacy

The parrot-song genre, pioneered by <mask>, inaugurated the production of many similar works in Malayalam. The highest literary honour awarded by the Government of Kerala is known as the "Ezhuthachan Puraskaram". Sooranad Kunjan Pillai was the first recipient of the honour (1993). The Malayalam University, established by Kerala Government in 2012, is named after <mask>.Initiation to Letters
The sand from the compound where the house of Ezhuthachan stood once is considered as sacred. It is a tradition in north Kerala to practise the art of writing in the beginning on the sand with the first finger. Monuments

 <mask> was born at Trikkandiyoor in northern Kerala. His birthplace is now known as Thunchan Parambu. Chittur Gurumadhom is located near present-day Palakkad. The madhom is flanked by temples of gods Rama and Siva. The street has an array of agraharas (where the twelve Brahmin families who migrated along with Ezhuthachan live).<mask>'s samadhi is also situated at Chittur (in Palakkad). Relics

 Some relics of Ezhuthachan or his age were sacredly preserved at the Chittur madhom. This included the original manuscripts and the clogs used by him. These artifacts were destroyed in a fire 30 or 40 years before William Logan. Only the Bhagavatam was saved from the fire. Scholar A. C. Burnell examined this Bhagavatam (and a stool, clogs and a staff) in the late 19th century. These objects probably belongd to one of the first followers of Ezhuthachan.Stool, clog and the staff (seen by Burnell) were destroyed in a second fire. This fire destroyed the original Bhagavatam also. Copies of a sri chakra and the idols worshipped by Ezhuthachan, the stylus, the wooden slippers, and a few old manuscripts are exhibited for visitors at Chittur madhom. See also
 Cherusseri
 Kunchan Nambiar

References

External links
 "Eluttaccan and His Age" (1940) by C. Achyuta Menon (Madras: University of Madras). "Adhyatma Ramayanam Kilippattu", "Sri Mahabharatam Kilippattu" University of Tubingen, Germany (a manuscript of 1870)

16th-century Indian poets
Indian male poets
Malayali people
Hindu poets
Translators of the Ramayana
Malayalam-language writers
Malayalam poets
Poets from Kerala
People from Malappuram district
Bhakti movement
History of Kerala
Malayali Hindu

masks: Ezhuthachan Thunchaththu Ezhuthachan Ezhuthachan Thunchaththu Ezhuthachan Ezhuthachan Ezhuthachan Thunchaththu Ezhuthachan Ezhuthachan Ezhuthachan Ezhuthachan Ezhuthachan