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Skip to comments.Chris Cillizza Finds Decline In Americans' Trust In Government 'Depressing'
Posted on 02/07/2013 6:49:10 AM PST by governsleastgovernsbest
Conservatives might take heart from a recent poll showing a decline in Americans' trust in government. But Chris Cillizza sees it as a "depressing reality."
So wrote Cillizza in his "Fix" column in today's Washington Post. Let's consider what Thomas Jefferson's had to say about the need for a healthy distrust of government, and speculate as to why Cillizza is bummed out by the polling news.
More here.
(Excerpt) Read more at newsbusters.org ...
Love Newsbusters!
I find Chris Cillizza depressing...
As MSMers go, I find Cillizza among the fairer ones. But why is he depressed by a decline in Americans' trust in government? Ping to Today show list.
It has to do with the assumptions that go along with being a Humanist.
Those who get elected, according to the humanist worldview, are the "best and brightest" and have the best benevolent intentions in mind for the country, and therefore need to be given as much power as possible to implement their superior vision for the country.
To lack "trust" or, more accurately, "faith", in government and the people in it is a direct attack on their religion and worldview.
The only time a government is trusted, is when it does what a person wants it to.
"To lack trust or, more accurately, faith, in government and the people in it is a direct attack on their religion and worldview."
Excellent point.
And even though Americans don't trust the government, they keep voting for the same people.
Our trust in it is plummeting, yet we keep asking it to do more and more. That indeed is depressing.
How in the hell can you trust a government that has proven inself to be as corrupt as this one. Ignoring the constitution is only one of the instances. How many times do we have to be lied to before they deserve to be thrown out or better yet prosecuted.
Our nation was founded with a distrust in government. The founders and early figures have a litany of quotes why. This is why America succeeded until today. We have to re-teach America why government is not the solution to any problem.
Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826)
The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government.
Was the government to prescribe to us our medicine and diet, our bodies would be in such keeping as our souls are now.
I would rather be exposed to the inconveniences attending too much liberty than to those attending too small a degree of it.
Laws that forbid the carrying of arms...disarm only those who are neither inclined nor determined to commit crimes... Such laws make things worse for the assaulted and better for the assailants; they serve rather to encourage than to prevent homicides, for an unarmed man may be attacked with greater confidence than an armed man. (Quoting Cesare Beccaria)
The beauty of the Second Amendment is that it will not be needed until they try to take it.
The policy of the American government is to leave their citizens free, neither restraining nor aiding them in their pursuits.
No man has a natural right to commit aggression on the equal rights of another, and this is all from which the laws ought to restrain him.
To take from one because it is thought that his own industry and that of his fathers has acquired too much, in order to spare to others, who, or whose fathers, have not exercised equal industry and skill, is to violate arbitrarily the first principle of associationthe guarantee to every one of a free exercise of his industry and the fruits acquired by it.
I think myself that we have more machinery of government than is necessary, too many parasites living on the labor of the industrious. (Back then!)
When the people fear their government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty.
I am not a friend to a very energetic government. It is always oppressive.
Shake off all the fears of servile prejudices, under which weak minds are servilely crouched. Fix reason firmly in her seat, and call on her tribunal for every fact, every opinion. Question with boldness even the existence of a God; because, if there be one, he must more approve of the homage of reason than that of blindfolded fear.
The god who gave us life, gave us liberty at the same time: the hand of force may destroy, but cannot disjoin them.
And the day will come, when the mystical generation of Jesus, by the Supreme Being as His Father, in the womb of a virgin, will be classed with the fable of the generation of Minerva, in the brain of Jupiter.
In matters of style, swim with the current;
In matters of principle, stand like a rock.
What country can preserve its liberties if its rulers are not warned from time to time that their people preserve the spirit of resistance?
The spirit of resistance to government is so valuable on certain occasions that I wish it to be always kept alive. It will often be exercised when wrong, but better so than not to be exercised at all.
The majority, oppressing an individual, is guilty of a crime, abuses its strength, and by acting on the law of the strongest breaks up the foundations of society.
When wrongs are pressed because it is believed they will be borne, resistance becomes morality.
Were we directed from Washington when to sow and when to reap, we should soon want bread.
The legitimate powers of government extend to such acts only as are injurious to others. But it does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are twenty gods, or no God. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg.
The price of freedom is eternal vigilance.
God forbid we should ever be twenty years without such a rebellion. The people cannot be all, and always, well informed. The part which is wrong will be discontented, in proportion to the importance of the facts they misconceive. If they remain quiet under such misconceptions, it is lethargy, the forerunner of death to the public liberty.... And what country can preserve its liberties, if its rulers are not warned from time to time, that this people preserve the spirit of resistance? Let them take arms. The remedy is to set them right as to the facts, pardon and pacify them. What signify a few lives lost in a century or two? The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time, with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is its natural manure.
Of liberty I would say that, in the whole plenitude of its extent, it is unobstructed action according to our will. But rightful liberty is unobstructed action according to our will within limits drawn around us by the equal rights of others. I do not add within the limits of the law, because law is often but the tyrants will, and always so when it violates the right of an individual.
It is strangely absurd to suppose that a million of human beings, collected together, are not under the same moral laws which bind each of them separately.
Liberty is the great parent of science and of virtue; and a nation will be great in both in proportion as it is free.
He who knows nothing is closer to the truth than he whose mind is filled with falsehoods and errors.
I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them.
I have sworn on the altar of God eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man.
I have never been able to conceive how any rational being could propose happiness to himself from the exercise of power over others.
To compel a man to furnish funds for the propagation of ideas he disbelieves and abhors is sinful and tyrannical.
In a government bottomed on the will of all, the...liberty of every individual citizen becomes interesting to all.
Im a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work the more I have of it.
Say nothing of my religion. It is known to God and myself alone. Its evidence before the world is to be sought in my life: if it has been honest and dutiful to society the religion which has regulated it cannot be a bad one.
The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not.
Most bad government has grown out of too much government.
Timid men prefer the calm of despotism to the tempestuous sea of liberty.
The two enemies of the people are criminals and government, so let us tie the second down with the chains of the Constitution so the second will not become the legalized version of the first.
A wise and frugal government, which shall restrain men from injuring one another, which shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor and bread it has earned. This is the sum of good government.
I never will, by any word or act, bow to the shrine of intolerance or admit a right of inquiry into the religious opinions of others.
Sometimes it is said that man cannot be trusted with the government of himself. Can he, then, be trusted with the government of others?
A free people [claim] their rights as derived from the laws of nature, and not as the gift of their chief magistrate.
The right of self-government does not comprehend the government of others.
An elective despotism was not the government we fought for.
History, in general, only informs us what bad government is.
If there is one principle more deeply rooted in the mind of every American, it is that we should have nothing to do with conquest.
It is better to tolerate that rare instance of a parents refusing to let his child be educated, than to shock the common feelings by a forcible transportation and education of the infant against the will of his father.
The natural progress of things is for liberty to yield and government to gain ground.
I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just.
The man who reads nothing at all is better than educated than the man who reads nothing but newspapers.
I do not find in orthodox Christianity one redeeming feature.
In every country and every age, the priest has been hostile to Liberty.
You lie to the government, you go to prison.
Government lies to the people and that's politics.
Why should I trust a government that doesn't trust it's citizens.
"Why did it have to be guns"...
The litmus test for a "trustworthy" politician.
Anyone with a negative view of the government is in touch with reality. People who think we should revere the government are just plain stupid, and are the problem.
Government is the Humanists' God.
ZirconEncrustedTweezers finds decline in American government's trustworthiness depressing...
Exactly, and in the eyes of a liberal anyone who distrusts government is commiting an act of blasphemy.
"That's a shame" Jerry Seinfeld.
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We are pleased to present you with the Annual Education Report (AER) which provides key information on the 2014-2015 educational progress for Creative Montessori Academy. The AER addresses the complex reporting information required by federal and state laws. The school's report contains information about student assessment, Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) and teacher quality. If you have any questions about the AER, please contact Carol Hutton for assistance.
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Designs on Film: A Century of Hollywood Art Direction Hardcover – November 30, 2010
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"[Designs on Film] traces the art of building pretend worlds. Starting back in the pre-talkie years, and moving through Hollywood's golden age and the epic-crazy '60s, right up to contemporary Hollywood, the book is packed with insider tidbits about the wildly inventive—and improvisational—business of movie-making." (Wall Street Journal)
"Whitlock makes a major contribution to movie literature by saluting undersung production designers, set decorators and art directors." (Los Angeles Times)
"An amazing glimpse into art direction." (The New Yorker)
"This lush book of pictures and drawings showcases big-screen glamour over the decades, from the opulence of Cleopatra to the more modern majesty of Batman. (Entertainment Weekly)
"A compendium of images celebrating iconic interiors and architecture….[Whitlock] sifted through decades of archival photographs to assemble this rare glimpse into the world of Hollywood art direction and set design. " (Dwell)
From the Back Cover
Who can forget the over-the-top, white-on-white, high-gloss interiors through which Fred Astaire danced in Top Hat? The modernist high-rise architecture, inspired by the work of Frank Lloyd Wright, in the adaptation of Ayn Rand's The Fountainhead? The lavish, opulent drawing rooms of Martin Scorsese's The Age of Innocence? Through the use of film design—called both art direction and production design in the film industry—movies can transport us to new worlds of luxury, highlight the ornament of the everyday, offer a vision of the future, or evoke the realities of a distant era. In Designs on Film, journalist and interior designer Cathy Whitlock illuminates the often undercelebrated role of the production designer in the creation of the most memorable moments in film history. Through a lush collection of rare archival photographs, Whitlock narrates the evolving story of art direction over the course of a century—from the massive Roman architecture of Ben-Hur to the infamous Dakota apartment in Rosemary's Baby to the digital CGI wonders of Avatar's Pandora.
Drawing on insights from the most prominent Hollywood production designers and the historical knowledge of the venerable Art Directors Guild, Whitlock delves into the detailed process of how sets are imagined, drawn, built, and decorated. Designs on Film is the must-have look book for film lovers, movie buffs, and anyone looking to draw interior design inspiration from the constructions and confections of Hollywood. Whitlock lifts the curtain on movie magic and celebrates the many ways in which art direction and set design allow us to lose ourselves in the diverse worlds showcased on the big screen.
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The Talk (One Shot)
In Breaking Dawn, Edward told Bella that he and Carlisle had had a talk about physical love. Given how gentlemanly both men are, I've often wondered what that conversation was like.
1. Chapter 1
Rating 4.5/5 Word Count 4981 Review this Chapter
I heard them whispering as I entered the house, but I didn't catch what they were saying. They were being very careful to be quiet, which seemed like a waste of time to me, since I could read their thoughts no matter how quietly they spoke.
…worried, Carlisle , though I am so happy…
Carlisle's deep voice answered softly, and I pulled back my mental attention, trying to give them some privacy, trying to think of something else and wishing I had more control over this gift. I heard Esme giggle, which surprised me, since she wasn't the giggling type, and Carlisle laughed softly in response. Because I was trying not to pay attention as I walked up the steps to my room, I only got impressions, but they were impressions of me, and of Bella, of Esme's tenderness and deep happiness at my happiness.
Carlisle, too, was thinking of me, with a mixture of anxiety and love and pride. I tried to leave them alone, even with thoughts of me, but a moment later words started to break through, and I couldn't turn my attention away.
It will be all right, Esme. He wouldn't hurt her. He loves her so much.
That's not what I'm talking about, and you know it. He knows the mechanics of it, Carlisle . He has almost as many medical degrees as you do. But the feelings are so new to him, they still confuse and overwhelm him, and he's going to think himself crazy if you don't help him.
He already thinks he's crazy for even considering it.
Carlisle ! I mean, he's going to think it to death until he drives himself crazy. He hasn't had to deal with this kind of wanting, not in all this time.
You mean he hasn't wanted sex before.
I was shocked to hear Carlisle speak so bluntly, but now it was impossible to give them privacy. They were talking about me and Bella and our…our love life! And I needed to know what they were thinking about it, because I certainly didn't know what I myself was thinking. All I knew was that I wanted Bella, my Bella…her skin, her taste, her body, the way a man wants a woman. I thought about it all the time. I was chagrined to find that with Bella in my life, I was no different from any other 17-year-old boy.
Except that I was also terrified of killing her.
Well, no, he hasn't. He did the same thing as a vampire that he did as a human…bury those feelings, suppress them first behind dreams of being a soldier, then behind his music and his studies. But he's also never been in love before, and he's never had this blood craving before. I don't know why it all has to be centered in one person for him, but I'm sure she's the only one he'll ever want.
Esme knew me so well. I supposed that most mothers had an instinct for their children's emotional states, but it was Esme's gift, like mine was reading thoughts. I was overwhelmed, trying to both figure out my feelings and control them, when all I wanted was to give in to them. Only my love for Bella was stronger than my desire for her…all my desires for her. Esme understood all that about me.
What do you think I should do, then?
Talk to him, Carlisle . Let him ask his questions, give him the information he needs to sort out his feelings. Tell him how it can be between a husband and wife, how it should be.
I breathed a sigh of relief that they could probably hear two floors below, but I didn't care. Esme knew what I needed before I did. I did have questions, and there were several things I was unsure about. A wave of love for her flooded me and I was glad that Jasper wasn't home, or I'd have to explain all the extra filial affection that was rolling through the house.
Carlisle's voice was suddenly an octave lower than it usually was, even in a whisper.
And how should it be between a husband and wife, my love?
Through Carlisle's eyes, I saw Esme smile slowly, and I could hear her breath coming quicker.
Why don't you show me?
Yes, it was definitely time to give them some privacy.
Carlisle's actual physical voice, warm with satisfaction, broke through my playing, the only thing I could think of to do so that both kinds of my hearing were numbed. It was too hard, knowing that they were up there enjoying each others' bodies, knowing that I wanted so badly to be with my Bella in the same way. So I played my piano loudly, pouring all my concentration on excruciatingly difficult passages by Rachmaninov, Bach, and some that I'd written myself.
I was embarrassed to look at Carlisle right now, which had never happened before. But I knew where my thoughts had been, even if Carlisle didn't. I'd wanted to listen to Carlisle and Esme making love, wanted even to peek through each of their eyes. I was so aware of those feelings in myself these days, feelings I'd gone without for a hundred years. I couldn't imagine turning them off now; it was like they added a new layer of color to everything.
And, embarrassing as it was to admit, it seemed to me that if I aspired to be like Carlisle in everything else, perhaps I should aspire to be like him in this, as well. After all, Esme seemed happy. At the moment, she seemed very happy, and I turned my head away slightly, as if I could block out those thoughts.
My own curiosity notwithstanding, it just seemed so wrong to intrude on them that way. Not that I didn't do it accidentally often enough, but this would have been deliberate, and that was different. So, the piano it was.
I let the piece I was playing, Bella's Lullaby, drift to a close, then carefully pulled the cover down over the keys.
"This may be our last chance for a good hunting trip before your wedding," he said. He was still speaking out loud, something he seldom bothered to do when we were alone together. I assumed that Esme was listening, to make sure Carlisle kept his promise. As if Carlisle had ever broken a promise.
I nodded. "Shall we go then, Carlisle? Just the two of us?"
Yess! I heard Esme's exultant hiss from upstairs. Go, Edward. You need this.
Carlisle flicked a wry glance at the ceiling, then returned his gaze to me. "Yes, just the two of us. It has been a long time since we've gone out together."
And in a split second, he hurtled himself through the open glass doors, bounded across the yard, and disappeared into the trees. I gave a joyful yell and sprinted after him, across the yard in less than a second, following Carlisle's scent, but still near enough to hear Esme roll her eyes and mutter, "Men!"
We ran for a few hundred miles, to the northeast as we usually did. Carlisle, like me, was partial to big cats, so we delved deeply into the Canadian wilderness looking for their hidden lairs. The Canadian Rockies were especially good for that, though we didn't go too deeply into them this time. I didn't want to be gone from Bella that long, and Carlisle and I both knew that Esme would be anxious until we returned.
The hunting was good, and the speed was just what I needed to channel some of this anxiety. For every shudder of fear in me, I answered back with a growl, a snarl, something that reminded me that I was strong enough to take control of this. Of course, I ignored the voice in my head that reminded me that I was demonstrating exactly why I would be bad for Bella. Well, not me so much, but this…letting the monster loose. Losing control.
I pounced on my prey, rolling down the mountainside as I quickly, easily, snapped her neck. My teeth found the driving pulse beneath the muscles, and I bit in, tearing as I drank. When I was done, sated with the blood of a beautiful innocent creature, I knelt back and looked at her.
I could imagine Bella looking like this, throat ripped out, drained of blood, all too easily.
Dammit. I sank back onto my heels and lowered my head as I listened to Carlisle approach from a few miles away. By the time he arrived, I had moved away from my prey and sat on the top of a cliff, dangling my legs over the side and looking out over a craggy valley.
Carlisle came and sat beside me. Like me, he ate neatly, and his expensive shirt was no worse for the wear. Do you want me just to start talking, or do you want to ask specific questions?
I had a million questions. I opened my mouth, intending to choose one, but instead blurted out, "I'm so scared, Carlisle."
Carlisle waited patiently. I took a deep breath and tried to gather my thoughts and feelings together, something I'd never had this much trouble with before Bella. I could hardly remember having feelings before Bella.
Somehow, though, the thought of my Bella calmed me down. I could do this for her. I could do anything if it was for her. I started again. "She wants to be human for this, because she's afraid of not having these feelings again after the change. She's afraid she'll be too thirsty and wild to want me for a few years."
She's not entirely wrong about that, if you remember.
"I know," I said. "And to be honest, the thought of waiting another few years kills me, Carlisle. I want her more all the time. I think about being with her like that now the way I used to think about having her blood."
But you would forego your own pleasure to keep her safe.
He wasn't asking, he was just stating a fact.
"Obviously not," I said, my voice filling with disgust, "since I am even considering trying this."
Carlisle's eyebrows rose. Trying?
"I told her…that we would try, but she knows how anxious I am." I smiled. "No matter how I try, I can't really hide anything from her."
Now you know how it feels!
I laughed a little, then picked up a rock and threw it over the cliff. I heard the impact a few minutes later, miles away.
He waited wordlessly, his mind humming with affection and concern.
"Does anyone…" I swallowed and physically turned away from the image in my mind. I had to force myself to ask the question. "Does anyone survive this?"
You mean do humans ever survive making love with vampires?
Yes, they do, Edward. You know the stories of the incubus and succubus, of course, and those matings didn't always end in death.
"Not always, but usually," I said, shaking my head.
Yes, usually, Carlisle agreed. But closer at hand, our Denali cousins have been known to take up with human men, and they don't kill them. He frowned. At least, not anymore.
"Not anymore?" I snapped. "So, they had a trial and error period, while they perfected their technique? I don't get one of those, Carlisle!"
No, he agreed solemnly. You don't.
One thing I deeply respected about Carlisle was that he was always honest. He wouldn't downplay my fears or the dangerous facts of our reality. "It would help if I knew what to expect."
Ah, Edward. Carlisle's sigh was mental, but no less vivid for it. I hope I can explain it to you well enough to prepare you for what you'll need to know.
"Please try," I said, my voice catching on a note of desperation. I wished for the millionth time that I wasn't the only one who had to verbalize things.
Carlisle was silent for a long time. Anyone hiking by would have thought he was a statue of a young god carved on this mountainside and dressed in clothes. I settled in and waited, allowing my thoughts to drift to Bella, thinking about being with her the way Carlisle had been with Esme this afternoon. I could still smell the sex on Carlisle's skin, and I imaged being wrapped in that scent while I was wrapped in Bella's lovely, warm body.
We are very much alike, you and I.
I snorted and shook my head to clear away the fantasy. Only in my highest aspirations, on my very best days, could I ever be considered remotely like Carlisle. And even then, only with Bella's help.
It's true. It's especially true in this regard, you know. You've waited for over a hundred years to claim your mate physically. For me, it was closer to three hundred, but I waited as well. Perhaps you will understand what I mean when I say that it was no hardship to wait.
"Yes," I nodded, knowing exactly what he meant. "Before Bella, I wasn't exerting this monumental self-control; I just wasn't interested in anyone else."
Curious, but not really tempted, Carlisle agreed.
It was the same for me, thought Carlisle. Until Esme…
They sat silently, looking out across the mountains, remembering Esme, remembering how Carlisle had taken one look at her broken body in the hospital morgue and his heart had broken for her pain. They had taken her home and begun the transformation, and Carlisle had fretted and worried, all his medical knowledge taking second place to his fear that she would leave him, when he had only just found her.
Edward laughed. "And you still had to wait two years after that."
Carlisle laughed, too. "Yes, and it wasn't her best two years, what with the newborn thirst. But we spent that time talking and learning about each other, and by the time she was better controlled, we were ready to marry."
"I remember," I said, smiling at the memory of the dance that had gone on between my parents, how Esme was a picture of growing love and carnivorous appetite, and Carlisle had to be so patient while his impatience to be with her grew every day.
"Changing her changed me, Edward," Carlisle said. "We're so unchanging, our kind, that when changes do happen, they are irrevocable."
"Yes, I think you're right about that," I said thoughtfully. I had heard Carlisle's theory on this before, but now I tried to apply it specifically to Carlisle and Esme, to Bella and me.
The sun broke through the clouds, throwing rainbow reflections off our skin. Even that simplest of characteristics now reminded me of Bella, and the delight she took in seeing my skin sparkle in the sun.
Carlisle lapsed back into thought. She's already changed you so much, Edward. She's like the sun to you; you were beautiful before, but now you're so much more your real self.
I looked away, embarrassed as I always was by my father's undeserved praise.
Don't be modest, Carlisle said, and it was a command. Look at yourself, Edward, really look. Remember how you were before…intelligent and strong and talented, but less than you are now. Or think about…here I felt his mind seem to expand as he latched on to the idea he was searching for…think about your music, and how it has changed since Bella came into your life.
I took a moment to ponder that. I had always been a gifted musician, could always hit the right notes. I had long fingers and a talent for matching melody and harmony, but my best pieces--with one exception, the piece I wrote for Esme--had all been written since I met Bella. Even the angst-filled minor-key compositions were some of the best I'd ever done, but the true masterpieces were the ones where I tried to express my joy and awe and sheer boundless love for Bella. The ones where I tried to tell her the things there were no words for.
Carlisle was right. That was what my whole life had been like…decent on the surface, but not much deeper. But not anymore. Now it was full of emotion, now things mattered, really mattered. Now I was more deeply happy, more deeply grateful, than I knew anyone could be. Now I laughed spontaneously and did silly things just to make Bella laugh. On the other side of the coin, of course, now the fear wracked me and the doubt haunted me more than I ever could have imagined.
Now, like with my music, there was another whole dimension to me that had been missing before.
"Hmmm…" I said inadequately, pushing out a breath. "Wow."
"Ready for a second course?" Carlisle asked, springing to his feet quicker than the blink of an eye. "I think if we go lower there will be moose."
I smiled, still a bit dazzled by his image of my life. "Right behind you."
We both laughed and I followed my father as he jumped off the mountaintop.
Moose can certainly get upset, can't they?
Carlisle's mental laughter made me smile in response. It was true that an aggravated bull moose was a fairly dangerous animal, and the one Carlisle had cornered had been more adept than some at using those massive antlers. It was a pleasure for me to watch my father use his strength and cunning, to watch the civilization melt off him and see some of the animal reveal itself.
His patients would be shocked. Esme would be…aroused.
I grimaced, trying not to think of that, but of course now that the thought had entered into my mind, there was no displacing it. Was sex like that, like giving oneself over to the primal creature inside? Did the lowering of boundaries in one area result in their lowering everywhere else?
I tried to make the connection, but I was out of my depth. This was what I really needed to know, what it was like, what I would feel.
Carlisle lay back against the hillside, and this time there was in fact a smear of blood on his collar. Alice would be delighted; it would mean she would have to buy him a new shirt to replace it. We were both sated from a two course meal of bobcat and moose, and the physical satisfaction of stalking, fighting, and defeating our prey. We sprawled in a rather ungentlemanlike fashion, and I was reminded of Charlie sprawled in front of the television after one of Bella's meals, top button of his trousers surreptitiously undone.
"Is it like…hunting?" I asked hesitantly. "I mean, the loss of control?"
Carlisle was silent for a long moment, and I could hear words coming together and falling apart in his head as he searched for the best, most precise, and most positive way to answer me.
Yes…he finally thought. In a way. Then he laughed. If you were giving as much pleasure to the moose as you were getting from it.
I frowned, not finding the comparison funny. My Bella was so backward in her thinking, that if I did kill her during lovemaking, she would only think of the pleasure, and forgive me for the pain. I groaned and clutched my hands in my hair. What was I going to do with her?
Of course, that was the question. What was I going to—what could I—do with her?
Carlisle saw that I was still serious and let his smile fade slowly, though a good bit of his amusement remained. I could see that it wasn't at my expense, though, so I didn't say anything.
There are many hungers, Edward, he said. Esme is hungry to care for her family, and I am hungry to make life better for others. Alice is hungry to leave every inch of her world more beautiful than she found it. Jasper is hungry to prove himself to be the man he wants to be.
He was more serious now, though the images of Rosalie and Emmett drifted through his mind, keeping his amusement alive a moment longer.
You have been hungry to earn my good opinion, to protect your family, to put music into the world, to know more, and to redeem yourself for those few years when you went your own way.
I looked away, knowing that I would blush like Bella if I were human. How could I not have known how deeply Carlisle saw into me?
And you have been hungry for love, Edward, he thought calmly. You have told yourself that the love of family was enough, but it's not. There's no shame in that, son. Your family and your mate are two different kinds of love. You needed both, but your mate wasn't yet born, so you went hungry for a very long time.
"As you did," I reminded him. "You didn't even have a family."
"True," he said sitting up and stretching. "Let's walk off some of this dinner before we look for dessert."
He turned and walked up the hillside, slowly for him, but more quickly and smoothly than any human could have. The silence stretched out around us on every side; any creature with any survival instinct had long since fled our presence.
We walked companionably, listening to the sounds, smelling the scents of the forest. Birds overhead shrieked and flew off, leaving nests empty in their terror. The breeze blew softly through the leaves, and I enjoyed the sounds of a million individual leaves brushing against each other.
But with all those hungers, Carlisle continued, all those desires, all those needs, all the things that give our lives meaning and our character substance, what is the one hunger that overwhelms them all for our kind?
I hesitated, wondering if this was a trick question, but Carlisle's thoughts were only of patient waiting. I gave him the obvious answer. "The hunger for blood."
He nodded. Yes. No matter what else we do or want to do, at some point that hunger overrules everything, and it must be tended to. It is pressing, consuming, burning, violent in its demand to be assuaged. It will not be ignored, and none of the other elements in our life can receive any attention unless that need is met.
I nodded this time, waiting for him to go on.
And it gives us pleasure to meet that need. Not just to relieve the pain, but the pleasure of the hunt, the kill, the conquest. The satisfaction of the victory.
He thought of Emmett, daring giant grizzlies to come after him. I smiled; Emmett, indeed, was a man who found pleasure in the hunger.
Carlisle looked over at me and raised an eyebrow. I am guessing that you have discovered another hunger, son, one that burns more hotly than your thirst.
I closed my eyes briefly and thought of my Bella. "Yes."
That was an understatement. I needed her, craved her, so much that the blood craving that had always dominated my life was more of an inconvenience, something that kept me away from her when all I wanted was to be with her.
When we find our mates, Edward, there are now two hungers that dominate our life. The hunger for blood that all of our kind experience, and the hunger for our mate herself. And the ecstasy of that mating…is more powerful, more consuming, more meaningful than the best, most perfect blood meal.
I grimaced uncertainly. "So, you're saying that for me, having Bella's body would be even better than having her blood."
Carlisle smiled kindly. So it would seem.
I forced myself to think back to those moments in Phoenix, when Bella's extraordinary blood flowed between my lips and down my throat. There were no superlatives to describe it…it was heavenly, blissful, miraculous…
"That's a tall order," I said shakily. "I've tasted her blood."
"Yes, exactly!" Carlisle said, and he beamed at me as though I were his star pupil. "You'd never had a better experience, but you stopped yourself for her sake. Your hunger for her, for Bella herself, outweighed your thirst for her blood."
"But, Carlisle!" I exploded. "It was so close! Why won't anyone believe how very near I came to destroying her? And if it's more intense than that, how will I ever control myself?"
"The same way you did before, Edward," Carlisle said calmly. "Out of love for her."
I growled in frustration, then turned and wrapped my arms around a birch tree growing in the hillside and ripped it out by the roots. I threw it violently down the hill, watching in grim satisfaction as it tore off other trees' branches as it went. I stood, seething, watching it carve its destructive path down the hill, and I felt that I was the same way, carving a destructive path through the lives of those I loved wherever I went.
Feel better? Carlisle asked sardonically.
"Not really," I said childishly. I crossed my arms in front of me and refused to look at him.
"That will do, Edward," he said, and there was a sharpness to his voice that I seldom heard directed at me. "You are not a blight on the lives of all around you, and you have enough control not to hurt Bella."
"How do you know?" I snarled. "How can I be sure?"
Carlisle smiled more gently. "Which question are you asking?"
"I don't care," I grumbled, stomping away from him up the hill.
"Edward," he said, catching up to me immediately. "You do me a grave disservice by claiming that I would hold in high esteem a person such as the one you describe."
I opened my mouth to object, but a wave of shame flooded me. How could I insult Carlisle, of all people?
"Further, you do your beloved a worse disservice."
I stopped in my tracks, carving ruts into the forest floor. I looked at Carlisle, aghast at the thought of saying anything against my love.
She is pure and good, so there must be something pure and good in you that calls to her.
I nearly snorted, but changed it to a sigh at the last minute. I didn't want to offend Carlisle again.
"She doesn't see things clearly."
This time Carlisle snorted. She thinks it's you who doesn't see clearly. I agree with Bella in this case.
"Of course you do."
He put a hand on my shoulder. "You love her. You've touched her every day for two years and never hurt her. You've tasted her blood and turned away from it. You can do this. You can love her without hurting her."
"I wish I had your confidence, Carlisle," I said, shaking my head doubtfully.
"What choice do you have?" he answered simply.
I thought of my Bella, my love, and how she pressed herself against me every time we were together, how she seemed to get so much pleasure from running her hands over my cold skin. I thought of her flushed face, her hot kisses, her impatient sounds, her quickened breathing, and my breathing quickened, too. She not only loved me, she wanted me, as I wanted her.
Could I deny her that? Could I deny her any part of me that would make her happy, even if she asked for something against my better judgment?
That answer was easy, I thought as I jogged away from Carlisle toward the southwest. He stayed a few steps behind me and let me think. I had never been able to deny Bella anything, and I was sure I never would be able to. And I didn't really want to deny either of us, anyway.
I thought of Bella's blood again, and that moment of concentrated bliss.
"It's that good?" I asked incredulously.
Carlisle chuckled behind me. Better. Thoughts of Esme's secret smile danced through his mind, but he didn't let his fantasies progress any further. There's nothing else like it in the world. And...he laughed out loud...you get to do it repeatedly.
"And Carlisle…" I was embarrassed to ask this again, but I needed the reassurance. "You really think I can do it?"
Carlisle rolled his eyes mentally, but indulged my insecurity. Yes, I really think you can do it. I also think Bella will kill you if you don't give it your best effort.
I thought of that, of the tigress temper in the kitten's body, and smiled.
"Then I guess I'd better try," I said, and despite all my misgivings, a wave of joy and hungry anticipation rolled through me. I shook my head to clear it of the images of Bella that I would pull out later, when I was alone.
Excellent. Now, what shall we have for dessert?
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- Strider
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text:
14Casey Read
Golden Eagles Hold NCAA Open Practice Thursday
Volleyball practiced at the Sports Pavilion
Golden Eagles Sweep Milwaukee 25-15, 25-11, 25-22
MU picked up its 13th sweep of the season
Experience Has Golden Eagles Poised to Reach New Heights
Volleyball returns a wealth of experience in 2012
Volleyball Goes 2-1 in Spring Opener
MU beats Green Bay and Loyola, falls to UW
MU Volleyball 2012 Highlights
2012 Marquette women's volleyball season highlights
Fans help send off the MU volleyball team
Honors and Awards
2012: Played 14 sets in 11 matches as a junior ...Saw action vs. NIU (Nov. 24) and tallied a kill ...Picked up four kills and a dig in MU's sweep of Milwaukee (Oct. 30) ... Saw action in two sets against Tennessee Tech (Aug. 31), recording three kills and a dig.
2011: Played in one set in the BIG EAST regular season finale against DePaul (Nov. 13).
2010:Recorded a season-high 10 kills and six blocks in second career start at Georgetown (Sept. 26)...Notched eight kills and nine digs in the first start of her career at USF (Sept. 24)...Saw first career action against Charlotte (Sept. 18) in the Wildcat Classic and recorded an assisted block, along with Carol Henney ...BIG EAST Academic All-Star.
High School: Read was named to the PrepVolleyball.com Top 250 Senior Aces list and was ranked by the website throughout her tenure at Chatham High School..As a freshman, Read was named as one of 10 finalists for the national freshman of the year award in addition to being ranked as one of the nation's top players as both a freshman and a sophomore..Named the Newark Star-Ledger Freshman of the Year after her initial campaign at Chatham...Garnered first-team all-conference honors all four years and was named first team all-county and all-area each year...Helped the Cougars compile a 98-11 record during her tenure...Three time all-state selection and named the squad's most valuable player as a sophomore and senior...A National Honor Society and National French Honor Society member, Read played her club volleyball with the Synergy Volleyball Club in King of Prussia, Pa., a two hour drive from her home in New Jersey.
Personal: Read is the youngest of four children to Joel and Lori Read...Born in Tokyo, Japan... majors in exercise science...Mother was a swimmer at Georgia and father played rugby at Clemson.


text:
June 3, 2009
"Why Sonia Sotomayor Came Out Okay Despite the Height of the Building She Grew Up In."
27 comments:
- EnigmatiCore said...
I'm not finding the discomfort here.
- traditionalguy said...
People who have to get up and go to work in order to eat also do well at learning the basc human interractions necessary to living successfully People who just get a check and sit around all day find excitement by hunting prey. And why not self medicate with drugs to pass the boring days. Having a job is the answer. Sonia Sotomayor had a job: getting educated at the Catholic School, that her mother demanded from her kids. The black moms did not care about their kids, it is that simple.
- Treacle said...
She came out already? A little late para nuestra zorrita.
- ricpic said...
When I worked as a caseworker for the NYC Welfare Department back in the day my tongue would hang out at the magnificence, that's right, the magnificence of some of the apartments in the projects I would visit on my field days. I sure as heck couldn't afford any such amenities. Large eat in kitchens, nice ample room dimensions, wood floors; the two and three bedroom apartments often had three exposures, as close to detached house living as you can get in an apartment. The fact that their tenants in most cases had turned them into shit was a reflection on the tenants, not the housing stock the city had practically gifted them with.
- Aaron said...
Then i suppose he is ready to say her infamous comments don't even raise a reasonable question to her impartiality, because otherwise, there are alot of cases she would have to disqualify herself from. Starting with Ricci.
Ricci itself is an embarrassment. The lower court judge said that there was no racial classification in that case, despite the undisputed fact that if more black people had passed the test, they would have certified the results and granted these ment the promotion. So because of their color they were not promoted.
the lower court said there was no discrimination, because the city didn't certify the results for anyone, so everyone is treated the same. That is flat out wrong.
And not only was that ridiculous ruling affirmed, but the opinion was endorsed by the 2nd circuit panel, described was well reasoned.
The correct answer is that there was discrimination, but it might be justified under strict scrutiny. Of course it is not easy to win under the strict scrutiny standard, but that is the standard.
So, according to the precedent set down by Soto, a city can have a test for promotion and then if too many black people do well, the city can say, "n---ers are too stupid to do that well. there had to be something wrong with the test. throw it out." And by the logic of the lower court, there would be no attention paid to that decision at all, however clearly the inaction was motivated by racial animus.
Its ludicrous, and frankly as a person who has faced discrimination, i am furious at the so-called advocates of equality endorsing this approach. i have to think a percentage of them do so because of an ideological committment to support sotomayor, right or wrong.
So sotomayor was wrong, in a mannor that harmed a man belonging to the same demographics that she said was inferior to her. That raises a serious question about her impartiality.
- Aaron said...
Btw, legal insurrection has a reprint of alot of what O'Connor said that Soto was responding to in her famous white male comment. Its serves as a prebuttal to Soto's silliness, demonstrating how it very perniciously promotes old stereotypes about women.
And let us notice something else. Soto said that she had no idea whether O'Connor said it. But in fact not only did O'Connor say it (in the sense that she quoted another and endorsed the sentiment), but it was said in a periodical that was almost certainly in the westlaw/lexis database on the day Sotomayor said she wasn't sure if O'Connor said it, so Soto either wasn't curious about actually finding out, or she stank as a researcher.
But, to be fair, if memory serves, Soto went to law school at about the time i was born, and most people in my generation don't know how to construct intelligent searches, even. i am better at this than most because i am unusual among lawyers as being equally left brained and right brained. most lawyers are actually right brained. (and that is unusual among people generally, because most people are either left or right brained.) understanding computers is a very left brained thing.
- Fen said...
The fact that their tenants in most cases had turned them into shit was a reflection on the tenants, not the housing stock the city had practically gifted them with.
Oh, its even more "fun" with a Section 8 living next door to you. Rap music blarring, young men loitering about with nothing to do, police in and out once a week. Broken pane syndrome. Trash littered all over the commons. Homeowners escaping by renting thier own out and making it all worse. The whole neighborhood has gone to crap over one ghetto "family" who brought all their bad habits with them.
Good thing Edwards is toast. He would have brought this to every neighborhood with his plan.
- TosaGuy said...
If you want to gain some insight on project living then read There are no Children Here
- Fred4Pres said...
The architecture does contribute to it. Centralizing the core and having people come and go from it only works if it is maintained, safe and clean. Ever been in one of those projects? Anything but.
Tenaments are of a much smaller scale and there a collection of families that can enforce some order on their own in the building. You lose that when you have hundreds of families sharing a couple of stairwells and an elevator core.
But the social programs that started around the same time made things far worse.
- Fred4Pres said...
The "coming out" comment caught my eye too.
- Bissage said...
(1) It would be hackneyed for me to mention that story about how removing the bull elephants from the game preserve resulted in the younger elephants killing the rhinoceroses and fighting with each other.
So I won't mention it.
(2) The vocabulary word of the day is "apophasis."
- BJK said...
So, according to the precedent set down by Soto...
Aaron, the Ricci decision authored by the 2nd Cir. was unpublished, meaning it didn't create actual precedent.
Think back to the YouTube clip about Judges "making policy." Now listen to the rest of the clip, where Judge Sotomayor talks about cases creating precedent, and how Appellate Judges focus more on the precedent than the facts of the individual case. That's the part of the clip that people should focus on, and explanatory of what took place in the Ricci case.
Judge Sotomayor did not want the reverse discrimination ruling to become precedent, given her own opinions as to where the case law should go, and disposed of a "bad facts" case without creating precedent. I don't know if that's another topic that's public knowledge within the halls of law schools nowadays, but it was fairly shocking for me to see it in practice.
- Aaron said...
Not only is ricci not unpublished, it is published... by the second circuit website!
Everyone in the world is told that the lower court reasoning which is wrongheaded, is "well-reasoned."
and yes, the courts should always be concerned with the precedent they are setting--which is exactly what is wrong in this case. they have set a precedent for explicitly racist action triggering absolutely no scrutiny under the 14th A. Anyone who cares about combatting discrimination should hope and pray that the supreme court corrects the error somehow.
- David said...
The high rise projects were a disaster and no doubt the architecture was a contributing factor. An enabling factor, if you will.
But the social mess that the tenants were in was the major cause. Daniel Patrick Moynihan saw it coming, wrote eloquently about it, made fighting the social issues part of his life's work and died with things worse than when he started.
We can debate the causes of this disaster endlessly, but it won't change the current situation. I believe the situation is so bad that only a revolution in attitude in the African American community can change it. Get away from blame, despair and excuses, even though there are many to blame, much reason to despair and valid excuses. Sucking it up is the only way out of this.
Is this fair? Well, probably not, but fairness is pretty much irrelevant.
As to high rises: many of the same problems that developed in the projects also developed in the small, low rise neighborhoods of South Carolina cities, towns and rural areas. And this was in a state where the African American community had strong churches and deep multi generational family ties. It's heart breaking, really.
Note to Trad Guy: the black moms care about their kids just like most moms do. Exceptions? Sure. But the problem is that the challenges overwhelm the skills and resources of the moms. One of these challenges is the despairing acceptance of the problems. That has to change.
- William said...
I grew up in a housing project. There was always heat and hot water. This was a big improvement on my family's previous housing. Still, when the state chooses to gift the poor they seldom gift wrap the present. The projects were ugly. It was all cinder block and cement....For the white kids there was a terrible sense of shame in living there. Your family was a government certified failure if you lived in the projects. I'm not sure if the black kids had that same sense of shame about living there. It showed that their parents had figured out a way to play the system to their advantage....At any rate, it was a crappy place to live. Most of the families were broken and most of the kids had angers and resentments that they took out on each other. I think most of the kids figured out a way to climb the ladder, but it was despite rather than because of their experiences in the projects. The difficult feat for a child of the projects was not to climb the ladder but to discover that a ladder even existed.
- muddimo said...
"The difficult feat for a child of the projects was not to climb the ladder but to discover that a ladder even existed."
Best comment so far. If kids cannot visualize a different life, that a way out is within reach or even exists, many will grow up to model what they do know.
Christo Rey schools, now 22 throughout the country, accept only inner city high school kids (and only the poorest of the poor)and put them in offices one day a week where they are expected to dress and act like professionals. And they do. And they see what life not only could be like for them but WILL be like if only they follow the advice given by the school and their mentors and use the resources offered. The vast majority go on to college and much better lives than their public school peers.
If you really care, find your nearest Christo Rey school and offer a donation and/or your time. You will personally make an immediate substantial impact on our future.
- Aaron said...
The tragedy of the commons teaches us that when you make something a commons, it ends up being tragic.
Now, to be fair, some people when given free stuff still nonetheless take care of it, but when free stuff from the government ends up being a disaster, you have to think that neglect by the recipients is a factor.
- former law student said...
Demographics and building height both play a part.
The most tranquil public housing in Chicago is the two-story rowhouses, separated from each other by lawns and playgrounds. The crime-ridden hellholes were all high density projects of 15 stories and higher. The designers of the high rises attempted to generate feelings of neighborliness by creating "galleries" on each floor; a common space for all units along each wall, screened from the precipice by chain-link fencing. The galleries became escape routes for gang bangers, as well as a gravity-enabled means of getting rid of troublemakers.
In the case of Sonia Sotomayor, she grew up first in the Bronxdale Houses, a public housing development of seven-story buildings, thus neither as cozy as row houses nor as isolating as high rises. In high school, the Sotomayors moved to the newly built Co-Op City, privately built affordable housing including high rise building from 24 to 33 stories. (Government encouraged such building by providing low cost land that they had seized by eminent domain, and providing tax abatements.)
So why was the much higher rise Co-op City not a festering, crime-ridden hellhole? Likely because the residents were financially secure enough to buy a share of the co-op which entitled them to live there. Public housing had to take everyone, including those living solely on public aid.
- bearbee said...
Family, family, family,
With regard to White House site photo spread of Sotomayor I found those few family photos far more interesting than the 'knee' photo.Those photos struck me as fairly urban middle -class-ish for the era. and to the extent I was able, I saw reflected strong family values, pride and unity.
Although my own upbringing was chaotic, fragmented and hardly middle-class, it still had a strong family quality.
In those Sotomayor photos I sensed a similar strong influence of family, family, family.
- Jeff with one 'f' said...
This reminds me of a dake comic book ad that Chris Ware drew in an issue of Acme Comics back in the 90's. The ads were patterned after old comic book ads for things like x-ray spex; his were for items like a sense of approaching death, self esteem, etc. The ad offering to build high rise public housing referred to the buildings as "Negro Storage Boxes". (Ware was a Chicagoan so I assume his concept was informed by Cabrini-Green).
- bearbee said...
Hong Kong Storage Boxes
Concept doesn't die, it just get recycled somewhere else.
Hope roaches don't establish a beachhead.
BTW didn't the Soviets have similar although less 'attractive' storage boxes?
- BJK said...
Not only is ricci not unpublished, it is published... by the second circuit website!
I should have been more clear. The case has been published, to the extent that copies of the decision are available for general consumption. To lawyers, however, a "published" decision means one which has been published in an official Reporter (volumes upon volumes of court decisions, in bound form), which can be cited as precedent.
It is my understanding that the Ricci decision penned by Judge Sotomayor is unpublished in the legal sense. Further, it is my own contention that the opinion was written with the intent that it not be published, in an attempt to prevent a bad facts case from becoming 'published' precedent.
In hindsight, we know that such an attempt was futile, as the Supreme Court has already heard the oral arguments on the case. It is the attempt to bury a fact-pattern that does not conform to the precedent that the judge wants (this isn't what a race discrimination is supposed to look like, because the Plaintiffs are white) which draws my ire.
- Aaron said...
If its unpublished, the ordinary practice is to say so upfront. so it probably isn't "legally" unpublished either.
and even being so, let me say bluntly that unpublished opinions are cited alot anyway.
Of course you are stepping into what is increasingly a controversial practice in the courts and there are some cases challenging the idea of declaring an opinion to lack precedent.
As for whether the Ricci case will be upheld, I think it is a tough row to hoe. But i have no doubt at all that they will say it is discrimination. This is a passage from grutter v. bollinger dealing with affirmative action:
> We have held that all racial classifications imposed by government "must be analyzed by a reviewing court under strict scrutiny." Ibid. This means that such classifications are constitutional only if they are narrowly tailored to further compelling governmental interests. "Absent searching judicial inquiry into the justification for such race-based measures," we have no way to determine what "classifications are 'benign' or 'remedial' and what classifications are in fact motivated by illegitimate notions of racial inferiority or simple racial politics." Richmond v. J. A. Croson Co., 488 U.S. 469, 493 (1989) (plurality opinion). We apply strict scrutiny to all racial classifications to " 'smoke out' illegitimate uses of race by assuring that [government] is pursuing a goal important enough to warrant use of a highly suspect tool." Ibid.
There is good reason to suspect that racial politics was involved here, although i can't say for sure, and the court will not be interested in giving NH a pass without a very thorough looking over.
imho, i think you can't decide the case without a full trial on the facts. so i expect the case to be overturned, for it to go to trial and then maybe we will fight a little more after the end of it. but to me it is clear that the plaintiffs have put enough into play to establish that they have a right to their full day in court and not to have this dismissed on summary judgment.
- former law student said...
it is my own contention that the opinion was written with the intent that it not be published, in an attempt to prevent a bad facts case from becoming 'published' precedent
Or maybe they didn't think it deserved any more effort. The 11th Circuit disposed of a gun rights case by affirming the district court without any opinion, at
894 F.2d 412 (11th Cir 1990). But the district court judge basically just adopted the recommendation of a magistrate judge: Gilbert Equipment Co., Inc. v. Higgins
This case is notable because the magistrate ruled that "the right to keep and bear arms
does not extend to and include the right to import arms."
- DenisEugeneSullivan said...
I grew up in the Bronx a little bit before Judge Sotomayor. I'm still ambivalent about her nomination and forthcoming elevation to the US Supreme Court. Much has been reported about her experience as a "Latina" women, but what i would like to ask her about is what does she think happened, and why, to the Bronx in the late '60s and '70s. In case you and your readers are unaware, large parts of what were to be called "the South Bronx" were given a Dresden-lite treatment in which a viable housing stock was, bit by bit, put to the torch and subsequently depopulated. I can't imagine that anyone who grew up in the Bronx in that time was unaffected by that disaster.
- Ralph said...
The first time I saw much of NYC, after going to the World's Fair as a child, was in 1982. My great aunt's funeral was in Queens but she was buried in that big cemetery in Brooklyn. We drove past block after block of boarded up old tenements, while just over the river, most rents were sky high (so we thought). Everyone seemed to be deliberately driving the city into the ground.
- bearbee said...
@DenisEugeneSullivan, Wiki has some interesting historical comments about the South Bronx area including Robert Moses's urban renewal project and rent control as among contributing factors in the South Bronx decay.
Similarly starting after WW2 and into the 70's Chicago underwent urban renewal.


text:
The Story 2014: A Counterpoint
Years ago, the University of Michigan's football team was in supposed turmoil. It had been years since Michigan won a national championship, and years since a Big Ten championship. The head coach was effectively a replacement for the legitimate guy, exiled in a media firestorm.
Coming into the season, Michigan seemed to be a distant third behind two conference juggernauts, and that embattled new coach was on the hot seat, to the point of the athletic director getting asked whether or not this guy was good enough, on a live pregame show. That AD defended the coach by saying he's set up to have a great year, and then we'll see.
That embattled coach, of course, was Lloyd Carr. That year was 1997. Michigan was coming off of some 4-loss seasons, and hadn't won a conference title in five years. Carr, who bcame the head coach after Gary Moeller's public meltdown, was seen to potentially be just a transitional guy.
I'm not joking. That clip is below.
At the 5:28 mark, Don Shane questions the future of Lloyd Carr as Michigan coach. At the 3:22 mark, Michigan State head coach Nick Saban spouts generic platitudes about systems and preparation while looking shifty. And at the 13:10 mark, Keith Jackson welcomes you to an afternoon at Michigan Stadium, mentioning Michigan's star defender Charles Woodson, and officially beginning The Greatest Season In Recent Michigan History.
This year, the atmosphere is the same. Michigan is in chaos, according to most of the die-hards. Last year was the worst offense ever, and the team is taking a step back! Devin Gardner had a bad year, and he's the starter again! The offensive line! Michigan State is legitimately good now! It's been X long since Michigan won this thing, or did that thing! Records! Everything off the field! We'll be fine. In fact, we'll be better than fine. Michigan will be good this season. For that matter, Michigan will be borderline great this season. Michigan will do the things that will bring all the national critics around, only this time, they'll be back with a team built upon a foundation.
Michigan football has not been the most fun, record-wise, since 2005 or so. Individual years can be debated, and some games were legitimately exciting. But for what seems to be the tenth season now, Michigan football isn't what we thought it was.
Here's the thing, though: all the pieces are there for Michigan to have a great year. All of the on-field pieces are there for Michigan to be a great team. All of the attrition and injuries to our rivals are there for Michigan to have a great year. Everything within the schedule sets up for Michigan to have a great year.
Michigan returns Devin Gardner, a senior quarterback who was incredibly injured for most of last season, a season that basically ended when this one player was beaten down to the point of not being able to go. Michigan returns a defense that held the team in games last year, and continues to improve. Across the board, Michigan's roster is improving with the maturity of existing players and an incoming recruiting class that includes one star playmaker and a ton of depth. And, the two most glaring problems of last season are gone, personnel-wise. Everything sets up nicely. The pieces are there to have a great team.
Which brings all of us to the upcoming schedule. Appalachian State, Miami, Utah, Maryland, Indiana, Rutgers - all wins. Six wins. Northwestern just lost their top player, win #7. Michigan blew out Minnesota last year, that's win #8 this year.
Is Notre Dame winnable? Absolutely. The Fighting Irish just lost a notable number of starters in an academic scandal, their quarterback situation is worse than ours, and they are always worse than expected. Win #9.
Is Penn State winnable? Of course. Penn State has a new coach who is talking a big game, but that roster still has more structural problems than Michigan's. Penn State will end up coming down a notch from the hype, they will struggle a little over the course of the season, and that will be win #10.
Can Michigan win in Columbus? Sure. This isn't the Rich Rod years, where Ohio State would come out and simply outscore an overmatched Michigan squad. This isn't another game where Michigan will lose in Columbus, because that's just how things are now. MIchigan beat Ohio State in 2011, lost in 2012 due to field-goal kicking and a bad offensive half, and was a two-point conversion away from winning in 2013. Now, Braxton Miller is out for Ohio State, and things are looking grim in Columbus. Is this win #11?
Can Michigan win in East Lansing? Sure. Michigan State had a great defense propel them to a conference title last year, but they've lost some playmakers. Can Michigan's defense rise up to reduce the defensive advantage? Maybe. On the other side of the ball, can a Nussmeier/Gardner offense outduel Connor Cook? Probably. Look, this game isn't a likely win. But it's not hopeless to the point of the Rich Rod years or anything. It could be win #11, win #12, or simply a close-fought loss. All of those options are in play.
It's an optimistic look at the season, but it's not unrealistic. All of those things stand a better chance at happening than a repeat of 2013, where the offense was built around a strong offensive lineman and quarterback, the lineman was an ass, leading to the quarterback getting injured and the offensive coordinator's utter hopelessness. This isn't that. This won't be that.
Right now, our biggest problem seems to be that the general attitude towards the whole team is that of a dismissively negative one. Once a closer look is taken, all of the pieces seem to be potentially great, with everything coming together. Just going by realistic on-field expectations, Michigan will go, barring chaos, at least 10-2, with those two losses being close. That biggest problem is simply the scars of the recent past.
And to reference recent history, the worst case scenario is 2011 with more optimism for next year. Optimism in guys like Morris and Peppers, optimism in having all of our rivals at home, optimism for what is to come.
Here's where the negativity comes in. The only two things against Michigan having a great year is idiotic off-field moves and a steady stream of national pessimism that leads to a third thing: local dread. All of these things are easily removed, and will be removed as time passes.
Once football kicks off, everything else will be forgotten. That means you, Dave Brandon, proverbially standing on a highway off-ramp into Ann Arbor, hoping that the incoming traffic will roll their windows down to buy tickets. That means you, memories of 2013, those of the infinite stream of rushes into the middle of an unblocking line. That means you, Arizona bowl game that literally doesn't exist anymore. All of you, gone once actual football starts up.
The reason why these kinds of things become spectres that haunt places like this, is that the college football season is so brief, and the summers so long, that these kinds of things become bigger than they are. There's literally nothing going on, but the appetite for Michigan discussion (or any team, for that matter) never goes away. When easy discussion bait comes up, like Dave Brandon, everyone hops to get it on it, because we're starving to talk about something. Once the game starts, we'll all move on.
It's the same as the sputtering end to 2013. Last season, from the Penn State game on, was almost entirely terrible. Terrible in every possible way, leading to a whole summer with that taste in our mouths. Once the games begin, and we see what the 2014 Michigan team can do, that 2013 team will fade. It will fade into a rough collage of barely beating Ohio State, that field goal against Northwestern, and that horrendous Nebraska home game.
(Playing the games will also cause another unfortunate discussion topic to fade away - Michigan's terrible home schedule. Yeah, we all agree, there are no standout games at home this year. Penn State is not Michigan State, on many levels. No big names are coming in as random highlights on the non-conference schedule. Everyone understands. But once the games begin...that home schedule will be somewhat of an afterthought.)
This leads to the second mark against Michigan, that stream of national pessimism that comes over the course of the summer, cresting in an August of overreaction. The two preseason polls came out, Michigan was unranked in both. The rest of the country, which casually looks at Ann Arbor and sees the faintest glimpse of a rebuilding project, tosses some votes for us sparingly. Which leads to worry and panic, because Michigan isn't ranked.
That ranking, with wins, will come. As someone who tracks the polls more than most, I'd say Michigan gets an official ranking after a win against Notre Dame at the earliest. Michigan is 37th in the AP poll, and 32nd in the coaches' poll, and will inevitably rise with wins and opposing attrition.
Once that happens, of course, everyone will be in town to write/speak/yell about how Michigan Is Back. Michigan's undefeated through their first six games, and Penn State comes to town this week! Michigan just beat Penn State, they're 7-0! Doug Nussmeier is the real deal, so is Brady Hoke! Devin Gardner for Heisman! This team could go to the playoffs! Anyone reading this can see these headlines coming. It happened from 2009-2011. Denard was gonna win the Heisman, remember?
In case you doubt this will happen, look at Notre Dame. Notre Dame flailed their way to an undefeated season in 2012, and everyone was stumbling to write a paean to Notre Dame's return to greatness. Despite a team that wasn't actually that good, the story of the 2012 college football season was ND, from November until January.
If Michigan starts undefeated, that national tide of positivity will come our way. All the momentum of the old days will be back again, as Michigan will be back in the eyes of the national media. It's an easy story, one that would be covered extensively, especially in the Big Ten with Ohio State going down in Miller's injury. Someone will be the media darling towards the end of the season, and it will be the winner of the Michigan-Michigan State game. However, if Michigan is the winner...we'd be the story of the year going into the Ohio State game.
Once all of that starts to happen, and it will, the pessimism of the Michigan fanbase will go away. It will go away until some sort of collapse, pop back up again, and disappear. Michigan football might not have the same offseason aura as the '90s, but it will certainly feel like the summer of 2012, when anything seemed possible after a season that restarted everything.
That leads to the best case scenario for this time next year. We all know what the worst case scenario that is, in whatever little permutation that would be. The best case scenario is a full winter and fall of positive energy coming out of Ann Arbor, with a solid season going into a stacked schedule towards next season.
The last thing that a great season will dismiss is the dread. The fear of another season of getting proverbially kicked in the ribs, of dealing with another offseason of low self-esteem brought on by bad memories. If Michigan has a great year, 2015 will begin in optimism. A high ranking to start the season. A schedule that features two rivalry games at home, a transition out of mid-majors in the preseason, and the return of true/high expectations. All will be well. We just have to get there first.
Goodbye & Good Riddance To 2012 Big Ten FB
As I start this, the clock has just expired on one of the worst seasons ever for Big Ten football.
The season ended with another embarrassment for the conference, summing up a season of negative momentum and catastrophe. The 7-5 Wisconsin Badgers, 4-4 in the conference, are your 2012 Big Ten champions. Your Big Ten champions won the conference by showing up in the title game, and getting grouped in with two ineligible teams. Hurrah.
This game, one where the Badgers blew out the scoreboard and blew away a national television audience to other games, seemed like an appropriate end to it all. Sloppy football, in the most generic of settings, with every other option more attractive.
How did we get this way? A couple of reasons, all of which can be turned around.
First, there's Ohio State and Penn State's ineligibility. With these two banned teams doing so well, they essentially knocked off all the legitimate schools on their way to useless records. Since neither school counts in the BCS standings, the Buckeyes and Nittany Lions created a scenario where the talking point was constantly 'the Big Ten has no schools in the top 10/15/20...but would have one if Ohio State was eligible!'
Looking at the week-to-week polls, Ohio State's victories knocked Big Ten contenders out of the polls, and out of the national discussion in the process. In week 5, a Michigan State team that had dropped from 10 to 20 after a loss to Notre Dame faced Ohio State, and the Buckeyes' 1-point win dropped Sparty out for good.
The next week, Ohio State beat a 21st-ranked Nebraska team, knocking them out of polls for a month or so.
Meanwhile, Penn State struggled early (taking them out of any polls), but lit up the Big Ten schedule. Their 3-0 start inside the conference included Northwestern's first loss, a crippling blow in the rankings for the Wildcats.
If these two teams came out struggling in 2012, the perception of the conference is that of a strong conference with traditional winners and new blood, plus two longtime powers that will come back soon. But with their success this year, Ohio State and Penn State created wins that couldn't really be celebrated and losses that really made an impact.
Second, Notre Dame. The Fighting Irish are 12-0, with two early wins over Michigan and Michigan State. Typically, both of our in-state teams can beat up on the Fighting Irish in at least one of the two games, and get a momentum-building win on a national stage. That didn't happen this year.
On top of that, both Michigan and Michigan State lost to Notre Dame before they became the nation's darlings. Notre Dame won in East Lansing as the underdogs, with a #20 ranking against the #10 Spartans. The Fighting Irish beat Michigan as the #11 team in the country two weeks later, just out of top-10 status. No honor to be gained at the time with those losses.
Third, all out-of-conference play killed the Big Ten.
It wasn't Michigan losing badly to Alabama. It was Michigan losing to Alabama after Wisconsin barely beat Northern Iowa. It was Wisconsin getting upset by Oregon State, despite that unranked Oregon State team going 6-0 to start the year. It was Penn State starting 0-2, Iowa dropping a couple early, and the week-to-week consistency of a surprisingly tough schedule beating the dregs of the conference.
Even though Louisiana Tech finished 9-3 and Illinois finished 2-10, it still looks bad for the conference at the time.
Even though Wisconsin lost to Oregon State and barely beat Utah State, two opponents who ended with great seasons, it looked bad in the national dialogue.
And having the flagship program, Michigan, start 2-2 seems to be a bad sign of things to come.
There aren't that many great games in September, so any kind of storyline gets beaten into the ground. And by the time conference play began, the Big Ten had a rough month through a stretch of shockingly tough opponents, with the effects showing all year.
Lastly, legitimate scheduling hurt the conference.
The vast majority of the nation's football fans only look at the top 25. When there's no Big Ten teams in the top 10, and barely any outside of the bottom, there's a bad perception. Sure, it's only perception, but that really is the only thing keeping this sport together.
By having a tradition-based conference where so many good teams play each other, teams are bound to drop a game or two. Of the top conference teams, here's who they lost to:
Nebraska - Ohio State
Michigan - Nebraska, Ohio State
Northwestern - Penn State, Nebraska, Michigan
Ohio State - None, but they're ineligible, so are always mentioned with a verbal asterisk
Penn State - Ohio State, Nebraska
Wisconsin - Nebraska, Michigan State, Ohio State, Penn State
Of the top six teams, only one lost to a team outside this group, Wisconsin to Michigan State.
It was the same in the SEC, where the top three teams in each division went undefeated against everyone else.
Problem is, a loss in the Big Ten means that you're not as good as you thought. But a loss in the SEC means that the SEC is just a great conference that's so tough to win in. Perception, perception, perception.
Once again, when looking back, Big Ten teams played the toughest schedule. At the time though, it just looked like a weak conference.
All of these problems can easily be fixed next year.
It starts by taking care of business in September, and getting that momentum going for the conference schedule. In the second week of the season, Michigan hosts Notre Dame. One week later, Nebraska hosts UCLA. Those two potential wins, over 2012's most talked-about comeback teams, could set the tone for the season.
Next, having Ohio State come off probation is huge. The Big Ten needs to get teams in that BCS discussion when the time comes around, and the obvious candidates are Michigan, Nebraska, and either Ohio State or Wisconsin. The either/or is due to those two teams playing in late-September, knocking one out of the national championship discussion.
In a perfect world for the Big Ten, Michigan and Nebraska go undefeated for two months, both open up in the top 10 of the BCS, play a game with national implications, then end the season with Michigan aiming to knock off Ohio State, and Nebraska awaiting their potential shot after that. That's the best case scenario for the Big Ten, and it only happens when Ohio State is eligible.
Last (or first), the conference has to win some bowl games. If Wisconsin can upset Stanford like they upset Nebraska, it's good for the conference. If Michigan can take out Johnny Football, it's good for the conference.
Since everything comes down to perception, those wins to end the year can start some positive talk for the conference, or at least shut up the naysayers for eight months of offseason chatter.
This was a rough year for the Big Ten. Conclusively 4th out of the major conferences. Shut out of national title discussion. It was a perfect storm of suck.
But hey, next year starts tomorrow. And there's always basketball.
Stat Dump - Hypothetical Big Ten division championships and title games, 1969-2011
Now that the Big Ten is in full meltdown expansion mode, a lot of people are asking about The Game and its impact on the Big Ten championship game, now and in the future. How often both teams appear, how The Game affects the division champions for better and for worse, and everything affliated with it.
The biggest complaint has been a schedule that has Michigan and Ohio State playing each other every year, with weaker teams having guaranteed rivalries against each other. As it turns out, due to regularly dominant teams...Michigan and Ohio State typically come out on top anyway.
I looked at the Big Ten standings and results from 1969-2011. 1969 is the arrival of Bo Schembechler, the start of the modern M/O rivalry. And in 2012, Ohio State is ineligible to win the division, the first time that's happened as the game was being played.
The standings are from the regular Big Ten schedule, without it being weighted for divisional matchups. Division winners were the two teams that finished highest in the Big Ten standings, as divided up by the current divisions. (If a 4th place team was the highest of a current division's teams, they were the appointed division champions.) Ties were broken with head-to-head matchups, and if the teams did not play each other, I split the division title.
First off, here's how the Big Ten championship games would have looked like, under the current divisions.
With that in mind, let's first look at the potential for rematches.
Going by the eventual matchups, 20 seasons would have featured Michigan/Ohio State rematches for the Big Ten title, or about 47% of the time. 16 of those, or 38% of the time, were outright victories with no tiebreakers.
Those seasons are as follows: 1969, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1979, 1980, 1982, 1986, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1998, 2003, 2006, 2007
Michigan would have won the Legends division title in 28 seasons, with 27 of those outright. Michigan won more division titles than any other team, pulling ahead of Ohio State for two reasons. The first is that Nebraska, a division rival, does not factor into these seasons at all, winning zero titles in their one eligible year. The second is that Minnesota, a longtime doormat, also won zero division titles over 43 seasons. In comparison, every team in the Leaders division won a division title, with five of the six (all but Indiana) winning at least three titles.
Michigan's division titles are as follows: 1969, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1979, 1980, 1982, 1983, 1986, 1988, 1989, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1997, 1998, 2001, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007
Ohio State won a division title in 26 seasons, with 23 of those outright. The Buckeyes had a much stronger division to contend with, but much of their faults were somewhat of their own doing, from timely losses over the years.
Ohio State's division titles are as follows: 1969, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1984, 1986, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1995, 1996, 1998, 2002, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009
In only 9 seasons, the Big Ten championship game would not feature either Michigan or Ohio State, with 8 of those without any tiebreakers. In only 19% of the time, a Big Ten championship game did not feature either Michigan or Ohio State. Those seasons, with a matchup, are below.
B1G's Major OOC Games For 2013 - A Primer
Since there's been a lot of discussion in various threads about conference strength, where the Big Ten can improve, voter perception of the conference affecting all of the teams...here's the quick guide to the major out-of-conference games coming up for the 2013 season. Some teams still have open dates, and some games are bigger than others, but this should do.
Here are the relatively big games for 2013. No gametimes have been announced, nothing but dates and matchups.
I realize this is very early, but this kind of thing will come in handy once further discussion of conference comparison and the Big Ten's relatively disappointing 2012 rears its ugly head again.
August 31st - Penn State at Syracuse (in MetLife Stadium, NY)
The first significant Big Ten game of 2013 features a surprisingly good Penn State team against an alright Syracuse team. Given the big-time venue (chosen because Syracuse wants to take hold of the NYC market), this game could get some attention. If Penn State wins, it's a small boost to the conference, while a loss would be pretty bad, yet not disastrous.
September 7th - Notre Dame at Michigan
Big for a variety of reasons, this would be Notre Dame's first major game of 2013, where they could be defending a national championship. (Michigan opens with Central Michigan, Notre Dame opens with Temple.) It's the last scheduled Mich-ND matchup in Michigan Stadium, and this will be on the national radar all summer.
This one has an outside chance of becoming a featured game of the week, with College GameDay, ESPN, and all of that. This one will be anticipated all summer, and it will turn into one of the year's great games.
Notre Dame will play at Purdue on September 14th and against Michigan State on the 21st, for their only games against Big Ten opponents.
September 14th - UCLA at Nebraska
One of the biggest out-of-conference games, this one could feature the defending Big Ten champion against a highly ranked Pac-12 team. This game will likely go on a prime television timeslot, maybe even College GameDay. Nebraska's result here would be the focal point of any conference recap for the rest of the season, so the Cornhuskers have to win this for everyone else.
September 14th - Ohio State at California
Ohio State could be coming off of an undefeated season, and this is their first big game of 2013. The Buckeyes should win this game, and should win it big. Obviously, I hope they do not, but this should be a conference win.
Cal will also play Northwestern to open 2013, making the Golden Bears a weird litmus test for the Big Ten next year. If California has a great season, and the Big Ten beats them twice, we must have a great conference. And vice versa.
September 14th - Wisconsin at Arizona State
Another Big Ten/Pac12 matchup, but this one should go to Wisconsin, even on the road. If the Badgers lay another egg in a Pac12 stadium, this season could feature even more "what happened to the Big Ten?" columns.
September 14th - Washington at Illinois (in Soldier Field)
Illinois is having a terrible season, and Washington is on the upswing, but this one is only important if Washington starts the season with some hyped momentum.
September 21st - Missouri at Indiana
While both of these teams are around the 6-win mark, this is still an SEC/Big Ten matchup in a Big Ten stadium. It doesn't come around too often, and an Indiana win would be huge for that program and the conference. It's the only Big Ten/SEC game of 2013, and might have even been scheduled back when it was a Big Ten/Big 12 game.
November 9th - BYU at Wisconsin
It's a late-seaosn game designed to keep Wisconsin humming on all cylinders as the season comes to a close, and a relevant Badgers team will be making the last case for the Big Ten before bowl season. With another catastrophe like this season, the game becomes the last chance for the conference to salvage itself within the polls. With an improved season, this becomes a great day to showcase how we've "turned things around".
That's pretty much it. September 14th could be D-Day for the Big Ten, shaping the conference for the rest of the season.
A full, team-by-team, out-of-conference schedule is below. Teams in capitals are from auto-qualifier conferences (and ND), teams in italics are anything below FBS. Therefore, a win over a capitalized team is a good one, and a loss to an italicized team is a disaster that clearly means we aren't as good as the SEC, or something like that.
Michigan's Lost Classics - Michigan at Penn State, 1999
There's been some complaints recently on the message board about how BTN always shows the same cycle of classic Michigan games. Last year's games against Notre Dame, Nebraska, and Ohio. A game from the 1997 season. An old Rose Bowl. Some original programming to top it off.
Someone speculated that lots of people go into the decision-making process for these games, from network execs to AD's. Obviously, some games are probably off the list to be shown.
This is one of those games.
Going into the tail end of the 1999 season, Michigan was looking like a team for the ages. Despite two mid-season losses, the Wolverines were in the process of ending the season strong, at 4-2 in the conference and 8-2 overall. Senior quarterback Tom Brady and Anthony Thomas led the offense, with Dhani Jones and Rob Renes on D.
Penn State, on the other hand, was going into their final home game reeling. After starting the season 9-0, Minnesota upset the Nittany Lions on the last play of their game, leaving Happy Valley with a huge upset. Still, Penn State was in the hunt for a Big Ten championship, making their game against Michigan one of 1999's last big matchups. Penn State and Wisconsin were the Big Ten's leaders, with Michigan closely behind. This game would essentially knock someone out of the race for a championship, and possibly a BCS appearance as well.
Of course, despite all of these circumstances surrounding the game, there was another subplot that factored heavily into ABC's coverage. This game was Penn State defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky's last home game, making the TV coverage Jerry Sandusky-themed. That's right. It's a Jerry Sandusky-themed broadcast.
Needless to say, the Big Ten won't be taking this game for a visual victory lap any time soon.
Watch and enjoy. The first half is in the first link, the second half is in the second. And as always, go Blue.
What Should We All Have Had From 2001-10?
One of the pressing topics around the whole implosion of Ohio State University Football is how that team dominated the Big Ten illegally. The team won games they shouldn't, with the most obvious being the 2011 Sugar Bowl. Ohio State shouldn't have played as well in that game, and frankly shouldn't have been in it at all.
Everyone seems to be talking about what Ohio State's record books will look like when all this is done. Seasons getting voided, players getting wiped out, all of that.
With that in mind, I'd like to take a look back at what truly should have been. What seasons should have gone differently for the various schools tormented by Tressel? What teams got screwed out of bowl games, out of national championships, out of huge victories? There's many victims of Ohio State's illegal run besides us here in Ann Arbor.
Let's take a look back, year-by-year. Here are the basic ground rules to keep in mind:
- Ohio State wouldn't have realistically lost every game. At worst, they'd have been a version of the 2009-10 Wolverines: losing many games, but not completely out of it. So, close games in Columbus will now tip towards the visitor, and fairly close by the Buckeyes will also go towards their opponents. I'd assume that Ohio State would still be pretty good, just not great. Or, if they were amazing, simply great.
- I'm not going to go back to look for specific players, instead the entire team will be downgraded. Specifically, i don't want to wade through Ohio State game logs to figure out how much of an effect a replacement RB would have had over Maurice Clarett, for example.
- Except when it ties into Michigan, no frivolous extraneous circumstances. So, no jobs will be saved by a miracle win over the Buckeyes that leads to a random Big Ten coach keeping his job. I don't want to open up too much alternate history.
- I'm mainly focusing on the Big Ten championship race, and the national championship race, when applicable. No September non-conference wins that led to some opponent winning another conference.
- No recruiting alternate histories. The only players that would be added to different games are the guys that picked the school in the first place. This opens up one scenario later on. Existing transfers can still happen though. Ohio State gets the same general recruits they had before, only they are universally downgraded. The assumption is that Ohio State, even in bad times, would still get some great players, as they are Ohio State.
- Things in bold are major changes.
Okay, on to the games...
(More To Come tomorrow, as I do 2006-2010 then.)


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Littman elected to National Board of Archaeological Institute of AmericaUniversity of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa
Robert Littman, (808) 956-4173
Prof, Classics, Languages and Literature of Europe and Americas
Prof, Classics, Languages and Literature of Europe and Americas
Posted: Jan 19, 2010
Dr. Robert J. Littman, professor of Classics in the UH Mānoa Department of Languages and Literatures of Europe and the Americas, has been elected a Trustee of the Archaeological Institute of America (AIA). The AIA is a national organization of 220,000 archaeologists and lay members, headquartered in Boston.
Educated at Oxford and Columbia Universities, Littman has been at UH Mānoa for 38 years. He is a world renowned scholar in the areas of Greek history and literature, ancient medicine, Septuagint studies, and archaeology. The author of numerous scholarly books and articles, Littman has excavated in Israel and Egypt, and is currently the Director of the Tell Timai Excavation in Egypt, where he also runs an archaeological field school in the summer.
Littman has been President of the Archaeological Institute of America, Hawaiʻi Society since 1997, and involved with the national Archaeological Institute of America for 20 years.


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Men's golf adds three
Head golf coach Jared Baszler announced Thursday that the men's golf team has added three student athletes, all signing national letters of intent, with plans to enroll at South Dakota State and compete for the Jackrabbits on the course in the fall of 2013.
The new golfers include:
-Ian Rinken, Sioux Falls, S.D. (Washington High School)
-Trevor Tobin, Brandon, S.D. (Brandon Valley High School)
-Grant Smith, Johnston, Iowa (Johnston High School)
"We couldn't be more proud and excited about the three men in our 2013 class. This was a critical recruiting class, as we will be graduating three important seniors in the spring. We are confident this class will come in right away and fill some big shoes for us," Baszler said.
Rinken is a three-time all-state selection (2010-12) and was the 2011 SDGA Junior Player of the Year and finished in 2nd at the 2011 SDGA Junior Amateur. In 2010 and 2011, Rinken was selected to both the SDHS academic all-state team and the class AA all-tournament team after back-to-back fourth place finishes at the state tournament.
Rinken also finished tied for 14th and was the low junior at the 2012 SDGA Men's Amateur Championship. He was also 3rd at the 2012 Brandon Open, which is a professional event. He is undecided about his major.
Baszler on Rinken:
"Ian is a perfect fit for the Jackrabbit golf program and we are excited he has chosen to join our program. Ian has proven time and time again he's one of the best players in South Dakota and we are happy he chose to stay close to home."
Ranked the number one 2013 recruit in South Dakota by National Junior Golf Scoreboard, Tobin comes to SDSU as a four-time all-state team selection (2009-2012). He's had great success at the state meet, with three top-10 finishes (2009-2011) which helped him garner a selection on the class AA all-tournament team in 2010 and 2011.
Tobin was the low junior at the 2011 SDGA Men's Amateur Championship and finished tied for 14th at the same event in 2012. He also notched a third place finish at the 2011 SDGA Junior Championship.
Tobin had a busy summer, finishing in 14th and 22nd at AJGA events and also the low medalist at AJGA qualifier in Wisconsin (71). He plans to major in business economics.
Baszler on Tobin:
"Trevor is another South Dakota kid that is an important addition for us. Trevor had a strong summer in 2012 and we expect that his improvement will continue well into his college career. He has the ability to shoot some low scores and proved himself this summer at the highest level."
Last but not least, Smith is ranked as the number one recruit in Iowa according to National Junior Golf Scoreboard. After two second team all-state selections, Smith was named first team all-state in 2012 after posting four wins and tying for second at the class 4A state tournament. He was also named to the all-tournament team in 2012 and was a four-time academic all-conference selection (2009-2012).
Smith finished tied for 11th and 10th at two AJGA events in 2012. He plans to major in mathematics or engineering.
Baszler on Smith:
"Grant is a model-student athlete that will be a great fit for our program. He is one of the best out of Iowa and we look forward to him having a very strong Jackrabbit career."