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And to see the empirical brush strokes that paint the picture of Willy Wonka Urbanism and the Generalization of Gentrification click here, from Richard Florida himself. Must be in the air.
30 Wednesday Jan 2013
And to see the empirical brush strokes that paint the picture of Willy Wonka Urbanism and the Generalization of Gentrification click here, from Richard Florida himself. Must be in the air.
29 Tuesday Jan 2013
Posted Uncategorizedin
"It took a bit of wind out of my sails, watching what happened in this neighborhood, watching how it happened…I don't know how to beat this [gentrification]. I don't know how anyone can beat this machine."—From the article The Ins and Outs
The Generalization of Gentrification
The forces of gentrification are taking hold in America's alpha cities. You can check the numbers or see the maps, but to get a good idea of its unprecedented rapidity, I'd suggest the blog Vanishing New York. There, you will see nearly each day the announcement of yet another old-school establishment losing the rent battle: Lenox Lounge in Harlem, Suzies Chinese Restaurant on Bleeker St., the Central Iron and Metal scrap yard below the High Line. And with the small-business soul of the city goes the regulars that gave places like New York City its identity before its global city branding.
For instance, speaking about the closing of the Big Apple meat market in Hell's Kitchen, writer Jeremiah Moss vents on the city's whitewashing:
The [Big Apple] exterior is wonderfully dreary, covered in graffiti and pigeon shit. Standing here, you could dream yourself into a lost New York. But not for long. It's all coming down for more glass, more chain stores.
A couple of years ago, the Times did a piece on Big Apple. The article includes a wonderful slideshow of photos, featuring the sort of person who shops at Big Apple, the sort of person that is also vanishing from New York, replaced by the svelte and distracted, the hollow men and women, tapping away at iPhones in sterilized Whole Foods aisles.
This is not a localized thing, as cities everywhere are grappling with the abruptness and consequences of such change. And while gentrification has been occurring here and there for decades, with community capital unwound on a street-by-street basis for higher returns and bigger tax receipts, the sheer push from above, like meat through a grinder, is now so systematic—and no longer personified by the Robert Moses's of the world but by a kind of faceless force blowing a current of yield and tidiness in—that it has just become what is, with the late scholar Neil Smith referring to this latest iteration as the "generalization of gentrification".
In his article "New Globalism, New Urbanism: Gentrification as Global Urban Strategy", Smith examines how gentrification has morphed from an unfortunate effect to an outright aim. One explanation for this relates to the ever-morphing private-public partnership in cities in which elected officials have forgone governing for investing, with policy no longer aspiring to guide economic growth but rather being crafted to "fit in the grooves" of market forces, particularly in the realm of real estate.
Why real estate?
Part of the reason is that economic leaders now primarily see Americans as consumers as opposed to producers, and so cities—particularly alpha dog global cities—have shifted their focus from payrolls to price per square feet, making real estate an increasingly important productive engine of cities as opposed to the productive capacity of the citizen. Enter, then, the volitional push of attracting as many creative class gentry as possible into the confines of a place, with real estate gimmicks—such as Mayor Bloomberg's recent microapartment push—aimed at further squeezing blood from areas with far more density than available space.
Does such wealth-packing inject capital into a given space? Yes. Is it a viable economic growth model? Wrote Aaron Renn in a recent New Geography piece:
Indeed, all too much urbanism amounts to a sort of trickle down economics of the left, in which a "favored quarter" of artists, high end businesses, and the intelligentsia are plied with favors and subsidies while precious little ever makes it to those at the bottom rungs of society.
This is not to disown the fact that global cities are economic engines in their own right. They are. It is only to state that their long-term economic growth prospects are being sold down the river at an exorbitant price. After all, people develop, not places.
Gentrification of the Mind
Allocating supply is one thing, but stoking the psychogeography of the creative class to want and squeeze into high-priced real estate is another. Historically, the common desire to move to an alpha dog city is to be where the action is. Moreover, NYC, Chicago and the like can graduate you. They can defang your limits while toiling the mind to the experiencing of new people and ideas. Said John Lennon:
I regret profoundly that I was not an American and not born in Greenwich Village. It might be dying, and there might be a lot of dirt in the air you breathe, but this is where it's happening.
Yet this "if you can make it here you can make it anywhere" pull is arguably not what's driving the generalization of gentrification. Rather, it is the idea of big city suburbanization, or more exactly: the hybridization of city "vitality" with the comforts of suburbanization, creating for a kind of third place called "sub-urbanity".
In many respects, this is not surprising, as the most recent "return-to-city" movement is largely fueled by younger suburbanites who are tired of missing out on big city action. Not the action per se of Charles Bukowski's L.A. or Patti Smith's New York, but the action of, well, Chandler, Kramer, and Carrie. Said Alan Ehrenhalt, author of The Great Inversion and the Future of American Cities:
This is the generation, don't forget, that watched Seinfeld and Sex and the City and Friends – usually from sofas safe in the confines of the suburbs. I think they find suburban life less exciting than urban life. While they are in a single or childless situation, they're particularly eager to try it.
And try it they should: varied experiences make varied lives make more richly contextualized societies. But the rub here is that the mentality sewn from "the confines of the suburbs" is not being sacrificed for the beautifully unnerving experience that is "the real" of city life, but rather that creative class enclaves are increasingly being appropriated into the domesticated lifestyle embodied by traditional suburbia.
Of course John Lennon's Greenwich Village this is not. And this bodes ill for alpha dog cities in that vanilla-ing a people and a place is a death knell to collective urgency, if only because comfort puts to sleep the burn that has traditionally sparked the next generation of ideas. Writes Sarah Schulman, author of The Gentrification of the Mind: Witness to a Lost Imagination:
Gentrification is a replacement process. So it is where diversity is replaced by homogeneity, and this, I believe, undermines urbanity and changes the way we think because we have much less access to a wide variety of points of view. We are diminished by it. So literally, the range of our mind's reach is much more limited because of gentrification.
But again: lest we think this is all a mistake, or simply the byproducts of shifting demographics or economic and cultural change. Rather, it is the point. It is today's path toward urban renaissance. And it's a path creating for a "sub-urbanity" that is emerging when the generalization of gentrification meets the gentrification of the mind.
So, what does this mean for the future of urban development? My guess is that there will be a growing unhappiness with sub-urbanity that's going to create for a lot of people left wanting, be they young suburbanites longing for urban authenticity or indigenous urbanites who are tired of the schtick. As such, cities would do well to prepare for the "return-of-the-city movement", which means prioritizing urban integrity and community capital against the temptations of the gentrifying machine.
24 Thursday Jan 2013
Connie Schultz, the Pulitzer Prize-Winning columnist and wife of Sen. Sherrod Brown, gets it. She gets the power of a city telling its own story so as to develop from its own DNA, not the DNA of another city's so-called "success". That is, Ms. Schultz gets Rust Belt Chic. Here she is in a recent Cleveland Magazine piece:
By the week's end, all I could think about was the power of story and the need for more of us — "us" being everyone who lives and works in Northeast Ohio — to contribute to the greater narrative of Cleveland.
When is the last time you told someone why you live here? Have you ever?
I don't mean to suggest that we should cast a greeting-card glow to life in this challenging region. But honestly, despite the rocky terrain, you and I are still here. There are reasons for that. There's the narrative we should be sharing, one story at a time.
The book talk in Oberlin was a gathering of writers who'd contributed to Rust Belt Chic: The Cleveland Anthology. It is not a chirpy book, but it does have a happy back-story. It started when writer and editor Anne Trubek sent this message: "I'm pulling together, quick and dirty, an anthology about Rust Belt Chic — trying to get ahead of the curve on what is quickly a trending topic. I'd love to talk with you about getting involved in some way• ."
She and co-editor Richey Piiparinen asked, and more than 30 writers, and several photographers, agreed to contribute. In record time. For free.
The book is a jumble of mixed emotions. We were not building a yellow brick road. In one of the darker pieces, titled "Not a Love Letter," Jimi Izrael writes: "I love Cleveland — she holds everything that is dear to me. But I avoid her, if I can." Still, Izrael had to write about her. He can't quite let her go, and we're better for it.
In its entirety, Rust Belt Chic is a love story, the moody kind, with accusations of betrayal and evidence of forgiveness. We show up for book talks, in various configurations, because there's just so much to say about our Cleveland. No matter our grievances and heartbreak, none of us is willing to give up. If we're still talking, the marriage counselors like to say, there's hope for reconciliation.
Read the entirety of the piece here.
17 Thursday Jan 2013
2013 Promises to be a big year for the Rust Belt Chic movement. On a local level, talks are ongoing with various organizations and individuals to set up Rust Belt Chic messaging beyond the written form–such as was the case with Rust Belt Chic: The Cleveland Anthology–and into various other mediums, including video, audio, long-form journalism, and event programming. (For an Introduction into Rust Belt Chic, the concept, click here. It is the first chapter of the book). We should have more on this front to communicate shortly. For the hell of it, check out a concept map of what it is we are trying to get at with all of this below.
Also, my colleague, Jim Russell, and myself will be writing an economic development book called Rust Belt Nation. We will lay out our vision for the new economy, with the history of the Rust Belt's decline teeing up what we believe is a new path forward toward urban revitalization. Consider it an alternative to the Creative Classification of America. Again, you will be hearing more on this as the new year gets old.
Now, get busy brothers and sisters. We have work to do.
–Richey Piiparinen
10 Thursday Jan 2013
Given its legacy of shrinking, the Rust Belt has issues. The issues arose naturally, and relate to the fact things leave, or that so much has left. Particularly, when things leave, the mind—both the individual and the collective city mind—can get protective and restrictive. Neediness arises. The smell of desperation ensues like a pall that can tend to hang over cities, influencing decision making on all levels.
Enter "brain drain", or that term coined to refer to the outmigration of an area's educated citizens, particularly it's young. You know the drill: Johnny goes to State college, comes back home for a spell, but then leaves Cleveland, Ohio for Chicago or New York. That is brain drain. And city leaders hate it, spending billions of dollars to stop it—often at the cost of coming off ridiculous, lame.
For instance, in Pittsburgh, there was a civic booster campaign thought up to keep educated folks from going. It was called "Boarder Guard Bob". According to researcher Chris Briem, "Bob" was a Smokey-the-Bear-type of public service announcement made into a Barney Fife character, with the billboard-size messaging of "Bob" intended to "stop young people at Western Pennsylvania's borders before they had a chance to leave for other cities". And while this particular retention strategy (luckily) never went to print, various "plug the brain drain" strategies persist in one form or another at exorbitant cost to taxpayers.
But beyond the near-pitiful messaging, there are major problems with the brain drain approach, especially from an economic development perspective. For example, when, as a community, you are intentionally telling your citizen's not to go, you are asking them to sacrifice personal development for the benefit of a place. To this point, my colleague, Jim Russell—a leading thinker in brain drain boondoggles and blogger at Burgh Diaspora—says it best, stating: "Discouraging geographic mobility is the same as restricting access to higher education". In other words, it's like telling Johnny to stick with his high school diploma so as to forego leaving the community for a 4-year degree.
What's more, getting people to stay put does little to grow a local economy. In fact it hurts it. Because leaving home is often a rite of passage. It develops a person. I mean, can you imagine if there was no odyssey in the epic Odyssey? If so, Odysseus wouldn't be the changed man with perspective and experience as he was when he returned back to his homeland, and so there'd be no "there" there. In this sense, the Rust Belt needs to engage their young to embark on their own "Hero Journey" if only to gain skills and broaden geographic connections. This is international economics 101 (see China, India, Brazil, etc.). It should be a domestic economic priority for the Rust Belt, and it would be if only the Cleveland's of the world could let go of the protectionism that defines their longstanding existential fears of shrinking into one big pile of ruin porn.
Of course confidently encouraging outmigration is part and parcel with an understanding that many expats will "boomerang" back. But many are, and at a faster rate. To wit: as the alpha cities of the America like NYC get too expensive or creatively-class cute, many Rust Belt refugees are pivoting back from a certain left-wanting lifestyle if only for the opportunity, tradition, and honest-to-god reality that is "Rust Belt Chic". And when they do, they often become "economic ass kickers", which is term Russell uses to exemplify the fruits of the Hero Journey that is not only individually experienced, but felt in the local economy as well.
Take Sean Watterson, the co-proprietor of the wildly successful restaurant the Happy Dog on Cleveland's Near West Side. He moved back from D.C. because, according to a recent Plain Dealer article, "Cleveland-ness is like Polish-ness or Irish-ness. It's an ethnicity". Here, Watterson not only runs a great hot dog business, but uses his establishment to advance a circulation of ideas by hosting a variety of events like "Life, the Universe, and Hot Dogs", which is a series hosted by researchers from the Institute for the Society of Origins. Another big hit is the live performances by members of the Cleveland Orchestra called Classical Revolutions.
Cool sounding events, sure. But there is more to it than that, as such happenings spark cross-fertilization between parts of Cleveland—the blue collar West Side and the intelligentsia of the East Side—that have long been divided, often at the cost of Cleveland as a place of cultural and economic innovation. And how exactly does Watterson's own "Hero Journey" come into play in his self-stated goal to break down barriers "between east and west and between high culture and low culture"? It likely relates to the fact he experienced experience outside of a legacy city bubble that enabled him to see and cross bridges that others have difficulty envisioning.
Now, does this mean that cities simply need to let people leave to prosper? Obviously not. If the place expats are boomeranging back to is stagnant and disparate, with openness and connection disabled by a collective insular mentality that: "that's just the way things are done around here", well, the boomeranging effect won't hold. And the economic ass-kickers won't ass-kick.
The goal, then, of cities should be on fostering return migrant connections, or to know who they are, why they are there, and to help get them together so that their collective unchained perspective can pop bubbles of inert status quo. This need is real. For instance, take this first-hand return migrant account published in Rust Belt Chic by Dana Marie Textoris:
Funny how your location-based identity, your physical and mental place in the world, can flip like a switch: Before I was a Clevelander managing to make it in San Francisco….right now I feel a lot like a San Franciscan stuck in Cleveland. In either place, I felt just a little bit Other. A bit of a novelty. Just a tad on the outside looking in. Where does that leave me? Where is home? As I type this, I realize, with sort of an internal groan, that the place I'm left in, the guide to what I'm searching for, is probably just right here, inside me, where my two lives — West Coast and Midwest — are now combined. I'm not really a true Clevelander anymore…I've picked up way too much San Francisco for that. The balance I've become, a little of this and that, is just what I'm hoping I'll find, one day.
So, to all Rust Belt cities—this is where your attention must be turned: not on the ones who are leaving for good reason, but on those returning who have not left for good. They have brought the path of their self-discovery back to your doorstep.
Don't close the door by screaming at the backs of others.


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TUCO, or 'The University Catering Organisation' needed something both informative and creative to come from 4 pieces of research that it had commissioned for a conference.
These Eco-Bannerstands were the perfect fit for their exhibition and were which were printed on to cardboard that is 100% recyclable at the end of its life via a cardboard recycling bin. The displays are made from at least 75% recycled content.

subset: commoncrawl


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The Embassy of Hungary and the Embassy Series would like to invite you and your friends to our upcoming event: Concert of Barnabás Kelemen – violin; Péter Bársony – viola and Melvin Chen – piano. The concert is an event of the European Month of culture.
Tickets for the event cost: $75. For further information please check: www.embassyseries.org
"...I was surprised to find that the Hungarian violin virtuoso Jeno Hubay 1858-1937) also played and composed for the viola...It is an enjoyable work...better than many of the other viola concertos I have heard...Barsony is fully up to the technical and tonal demands of the piece, and the Erkel Chamber Orchestra is a polished group that produces a satisfyingly full sound...Peter Barsony is a good violist with consistently good intonation and an even vibrato in every register..."
Joseph Magil, American Record Guide Jan/Feb 2011
"Bársony plays with confidence and ample technique. The recording reproduce faithfully Bársony's highly personal tone"
Carlos Maria Solare, The Strad
"The piano part, filled with leaping chords and quicksilver runs, is virtuosic, but the dynamic Mr. Chen was its master."
"a pianist whose playing is powerful and driven"
The New York Times
"His [Chen's] Diabelli easily qualifies for that rarefied niche of performances that can be termed 'classic'."
American Record Guide
Péter Bársony was the founding member of the Akadémia and Somogyi String Quartets, was member of the Keller String Quartet and he has been solo viola player of the Concerto Budapest since 2000. He has been invited as a guest principal violist to several great orchestras like Budapest Festival Orchestra, Osaka Century Orchestra. In 2004-2005 he was holder of the Annie Fischer Grant. He has been teaching since 2004. Between 2004-2006 he taught compulsory viola at Franz Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest. Since 2007 he has been member of the UMZE (Chamber Ensemble for Contemporary Music). He holds masterclass frequently, he has been invited to Trinity College, London, Pécs Summer Masterclass, Hungary, Hotchkiss, Lakeville or Bard College, New York. In 2012 Mr. Bársony was awarded the prestigious Liszt Ferenc Prize by the Hungarian Government.In addition to winning the Gold Medal at the 2002 International Violin Competition of Indianapolis and six of the eight special prizes and also the loan of the 1683 Ex-Gingold Stradivari violin and Tourte bow for four years.
Melvin Chen's performances have been featured on radio and television stations around the globe, including KBS television and radio in Korea, NHK television in Japan, and NPR in the United States. Solo recordings include Beethoven's Diabelli Variations on the Bridge label, praised as "a classic" by the American Record Guide, and a recording of Joan Tower's piano music on the Naxos label. Recent recordings of the Shostakovich piano sonatas and Gordon's Orpheus and Euridice were released to critical acclaim.
Barnabás Kelemen has won prizes at many international competitions including Second Prize at the 1997 Szigeti Competition, First Prizes at the 1999 Mozart Competition in Salzburg, the International Piano Trio Competition in Kuhmo, and Third Prize at the 2001 Queen Elisabeth Competition. In 2007 he was awarded Grand Prize at the Central European Classical Music Festival.
Venue: Embassy of Hungary, 2950 Spring of Freedom Street, NW, Washington DC
Date: Monday, May 6th at 7:30 pm
To reserve tickets please click here
www.embassyseries.org or call 202-625-2361 or contact György Rétházi – cultural attaché – tqhHycu3cjYZ3lyZXRoYXppQG1mYS5nb3YuaHU=


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How The California Drought Can Affect Honeybee Colonies
Honeybees and plants rely on each other for different reasons. Honeybees use the pollen and nectar from plants for nourishment; plants use honeybees to transfer pollen from the male anther of a flower to a female stigma. This allows for plants to make seeds to produce offspring (other plants of the same kind). However, in order for the plant to grow and produce pollen to be spread with other flowers, another factor must be readily available: Water.
As we know it, water is vital to sustain life for all living things. Without rainfall, plants will eventually wilt and die – leaving no nourishment for bees to collect and bring back to the hive.
California's water deficit has affected the vegetation in the area and deprived honeybees from their normal supply of flowers. The recent storms in southern California gave a healthy amount of precipitation, but it was not enough to get out of the drought.
The diets of domesticated hives in California are being supplemented by beekeepers to keep the hives alive, but the nourishments offered do not compare to the natural pollen from flowers. The malnourishment can deplete a large portion of the colony. In a normal year about 30 percent of the hives need to be replaced.
The cost to supplement the hive becomes too expensive and many beekeepers are forced to discontinue maintaining the hives.
Aside from the drought impacting the population of honeybees, a phenomenon known as Colony Collapse Disorder has also plagued beekeepers' hives.
It is difficult to determine if the wild bee population is decreasing at the same rate (or even at all) as domesticated hives. The latter is contained and monitored for accurate reporting. However, bee relocation specialists continue to stay busy extracting unwanted hives from homes and transporting them to local apiaries.
Proper nourishment is not the only effect cause by severe droughts. During extreme heat in summer months, the temperature inside the hive must be maintained. Worker bees will initially increase air circulation by making more room inside. To do this they will move to the outside of the hive and rest on the outer surface – this process is known as bearding.
Honeybees bearding to keep hive cool during extreme heat by offering more space inside for better air circulation.
When this act does not keep the hive at ideal temperatures (95 degrees Fahrenheit), worker bees will attempt to cool the hive by fanning drops of water inside the hive. If water is difficult to find, foragers searching for food resources will abandon their task to focus on finding water. Since bee larvae cannot withstand extreme heat, the hive will decide to shift their priority on finding water to cool the hive instead so that they may survive.
Another threat bees face from droughts is the need to focus more of their resources on defending the hive. Honeybees from desperate bee colonies and even wasps will rob weaker hives of their honey. Since all their resources can be stolen in a short amount of time, the colony will devote more bees that would usually be finding food and water to protecting their goods.
Limited food supply and devoting a colony's workforce to other tasks other than collecting food and water are all things to consider during a drought. These factors have a major impact of the population of honeybee colonies.
Although weather and the amount of rainfall is not a factor we can control, preservation of honeybees can be achieved by choosing to relocate unwanted hives instead of extermination when a wild colony invades a structure.News Archives »


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Tonbridge Music Club 2018-9 Season
Classical Concerts 2018-9
musicians right here
in West Kent
Tonbridge Music Club
Saturday 20 October 2018 7.30pm
Chineke! Chamber Ensemble
with Chi-chi Nwanoku OBE
Beethoven Septet and more!
Saturday 1 December at 6pm
Ruth Wall, Graham Fitkin
The Three Harps of Christmas
Saturday 9 February 2019 at 7.30pm
Septura Brass Ensemble
Re-casting Brass
Saturday 16 March 2019 at 7.30pm
Maxwell String Quartet
Haydn, Schubert, Fauré
Saturday 4 May 2019 at 7.30pm
Big School, Tonbridge School
Tasmin Little (violin)
Andrey Gugnin (piano)
Vaughan Williams 'The Lark Ascending'
Brahms, Prokofiev, Szymanowski
Download the brochure with more details
Concerts at Tonbridge Parish Church
Except 4 May 2019 – Big School, Tonbridge School
TMC will do its best to deliver the programme as advertised but we reserve the right to
make changes in the event of unforeseen circumstances
Tonbridge Music Club is a registered Charity No. 264447


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Finding Similarities Between Resources and Life
Benefits of Taking Paid Surveys – Increase your Income
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Having a flexible approach on tackling these paid surveys will be the best way to it, you need to adjust in the ways that you want it to be. Be positive and work on the paid surveys with proper time management. Avoid creating long explanations in the survey, it is just a waste of time. You should know that companies would only want honest opinions on their surveys, they do not need any other thing written on the survey. If you want a lot of paid surveys, make sure to have a flexible approach in answering them.
Looking for paid surveys will be easy if you make use of the internet. Paid surveys are actually getting a lot of attention in the radar, a lot of people are getting paid for surveys.
If you want to get paid to take surveys, always remember that your honest opinion will be the only thing that you need to put there and never waste time with making long explanations. There are different options to get paid for surveys, online paid surveys is one option.
If you are interested in knowing more about paid survey reviews, you can easily look them up on paid surveys at home review. Make sure to check surveys for money reviews and paid surveys at home review and paid surveys reviews.
A lot of people have been checking online paid survey reviews and have seen the truth about paid surveys, it is actually one of the easiest ways to earn extra money right now.
Your best option in getting additional cash will have to be paid surveys.


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End Unfolds Itself
"Wouldn't it be a betrayal, a sort of", she doubts.
Moments which have been denied its fair share of joy and happiness in the past?
If I'm going to forget those memories, then I would never be able to accept you in this life?
She catches her breath again.
She seems to be like two different persons with one heart and two minds in a single body.
Anita: There is not much to choose how I react.
She has done enough to make sure that the conversation is heading in one direction- past, not future anytime soon.
Ketan: You know me better.
Anita: I'm going to do what I do the best.
I'm going to jump straight into past and put this in perspective when we could have taken this relationship to some place.
But it never happened, and so would this moment.
I'm not going to fall for this meeting-here-today because we happen to meet, out of unexpectedness.
She is pretty clear in her head. It is like holding a crystal ball with her future not only tied to the past but kept hostage there.
She begins with her heart set on fire.
"It is destiny playing us again".
Where were the signs?
She is shouting. But whom is she shouting at.
She is standing alone. There is no one around. She has let herself out, exact to how her thoughts have let themselves.
She has encountered a strange creature. It is a puzzle. Her persistent efforts to demystify the object are causing excessive damage, in unspoken ways. She is getting pulled off from her own body with a view to pacify the situation.
In the war of heart and mind, she is going to lose it.
Anita: Us standing here: without a clue, willing to make a fool of oneself only once the other person is done doing so, afraid of showing the scars, the same ones which are our best bet to gain.
Anita: We have again been played here. The Anita in you and the Ketan in me have long dealt with it.
This meeting is a rehearsal of a) what the future should look alike b) how our past was. Holding two people, with and against their wishes
Anita: The pain of knowing what you want and not making it happen- what do you have to say about it.
How many times do you expect me to lose over a lost thing?
The constant state of denial is making it difficult for Ketan to believe whether she is really denying it or she doubts the origin of this meeting.
He is certain that Anita has reached a point in her life, or maybe in the series of meetings- where the thought of keeping something, be it painful memories of yet-to-be finished past is meaningful than a faint hope of turning them into reality.
He remembers what she said at the beginning: Rewind and refresh the memory cycle.
Anita: The last time we met, there was no such impetus. This is going to be another great escape we are going to perform.
I'm not concerned how this is going to end. I'm a bit worried about maintaining a level of sanity after what happened last time.
I kept on looking like the human definition of beer can sucked of every ounce of life.
My presence was taken for an invisible ghost in the town. I was afraid of approaching the strangers, even the ones who had not been asked since their great grandfathers went out on deer hunting.
The steam is off. Her thoughts have poured down like any other rainy day. A rainy day you would not remember for long.
End Unfolds Itself!
"When you meet someone unplanned, you run into the risk of showing them the ugly side of how terribly the presence was missed. And self-damaging too!
We wish for one such meeting where we want to ask every single question ever occurred to the human mind of ours, in a polite way. Did we forget to mention we want this meeting to be planned"?
"We could have run only this far where we come falling back into one another's arms".
(Both the characters are meeting after a couple of years).
Ketan: Guess, we both have met again.
"This is weird", he chuckles.
Anita: Super weird.
She continues.
It seems though our eyes have recognized us at the first sight, mind is still working on 'rewind and refresh the memory cycle' section.
I can see a lot of questions coming our way, unapologetic behavior awaiting us.
You won't mind me being rude or showing little inclination towards interesting theories you have in mind.
Her voice is carrying anger. She cannot understand how her heart is opening up to him. She is felling uneasy at the thought of being asked to forget everything- the way her heart is functioning now.
Some people cannot put a strong case in defense. They have a clear vision in the head but the moment they start talking it all goes boom boom boom. There are a couple of misfired shots, targets missed, causalities suffered etc.
The best you can do is to present a fair account of yourself.
Ketan: I'm not denying that things were meant to be better last time and other times we had met before.
The 'I' in we- was just what the other 'I' was for.
Both of us have this horrifying belief in the notion: We are not afraid of losing someone because we know whenever we want them they would be standing there, forever.
The sentence was not even completed, when he reacts suddenly and hugs her. He is holding her in his arms tightly. His arms are not even letting the air pass through it.
She was not prepared.
Rather none of them were!
It was difficult to say what possibly could have pushed such a response through the pipe.
Ketan: This meeting, today, has happened out of the growing, impounding desire, silently working in our hearts, without taking us into confidence, to meet.
Since we were not aware, we are acting like strangers.
Ketan: You've been critical of this meeting- for it not being planned.
This is an unplanned meeting. Yes, but not everything is beyond our control.
"Your memory has impaired the vision skills of eyes" he knew what he was talking about.
He, at last, has brought the point.
To make sure we do not repeat ourselves: one has to forget the past and the other to forsake the future.
He does not know where all he is getting this 'stuff to talk about' from. He knows that whatever he has said points out towards one thing: an unplanned meeting could not have been planned better.
The difficult bit is that he has not been able to say it directly and in straight words.
What if she was looking for a formal acceptance of love?
He was also sure saying "I love you" would have only damaged things, today.
Ketan: I know, she would not let me go off the hook.
He was dying to hear something from her. She would probably not like to say anything, he was aware of her state of mind.
Anita: I've dearly kept the memory of old days. It has grown bigger than any reason why things didn't work, what went wrong. I would only give up on these memories for a chance to plan the last meeting, to say a perfect little good-bye. The last chance of planning the meeting, or else, I may not be able to let you enter my life, with pending moments, 1-2-3 before you reach here (to the present meeting), and provide assurance of doing something.
She was always worried of reaching this point in conversation.
She had to put this piece of information on the table. There was no way it could have been missed or done some other time. Both of them were waiting for this moment.
There was a certain anxiousness in their behavior and that of surroundings too. They have played their parts knowing where it was taking them. They knew this was the end. The thing which none of them was sure how does it feel.
How end unfolds itself?
They have gambled their lives, risked their hearts and gave-up on happiness to get a glimpse of it.
Once you reach an end, it unfolds itself.
You would be able to pick-up the directions. Some would like to say it has moved from backwards to upwards. The ending has justified how they have been living life for years now.
Others take it to be always moving in one direction- up and ahead.
The end unfolds itself and you get to choose the directions for future.
Ketan: I believe if something is not working, something which has always looked obvious, then you should consider yourself lucky of knowing what you want in life.
Please do not take the blank nature of meeting to be a negative. Whatever is written on it, we are going to write it today. We are already here.
You would be able to make sense, make something out of every single meeting we had in the past. But not this one! This meeting would not make sense to anybody who has met the person they want to spend the rest of life with, kept on missing the chances, only numbers know how many times, till they meet here again.
May be, it is nature's way of telling us: You had confidence in destiny, but not in us.
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Phone: (512) 337-0925
Fax: (512) 233-2842
Phone: (512) 337-0925
Branch Manager
Enriqueta "Que" B. Reyes
Enriqueta "Que" B. Reyes has been in the title business since 1987. She began her career in title as a copy shooter, then moving over to company courier and then company receptionist for a small independent title company in Southern California.
She moved back home to El Paso where she began her career as an Escrow Assistant. She had wonderful mentors in El Paso that had great confidence in her as she had no idea what an Escrow Assistant did but learned from some of the best Escrow Officers in El Paso.
Escrow Staff
Jason Squyres
Jason joined Texas National Title in August 2017. With just under two decades of experience in the title industry, Jason prides himself on proactive communication with an attention to detail, enabling clients to find the escrow process enjoyable and for transactions to close smoothly and successfully. His knowledge and experience in the residential, commercial and acreage markets equips him to provide a diverse portfolio of services to his clients.
Sales Staff
Whitney Hauser
A native of Portland, Oregon, Whitney moved to Austin in 2003. Whitney started in the title business in 2011 after several successful years as the Stylist Manager at Nordstrom. She has had the pleasure of working with a wide variety of clients, from builders and lenders to commercial and residential Realtors. Whitney enjoys helping her clients grow their business by developing creative marketing strategies and motivating them to achieve their goals.
When she's not working, Whitney enjoys spending time with her kids, traveling, food and wine, being outdoors and running.


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New home mortgages rise as dollar declines
Local real estate experts are noting a rise in new residential construction as the local currency weakens against the United States dollar, but say there is a pass-through effect on the size of mortgages sought by prospective homebuyers.
The observation is in sync with data produced at mid-year by the Planning Institute of Jamaica which indicates that on average borrowers are seeking larger loans for home purchases.
Top mortgage seller Jamaica National Building Society (JNBS) says its experience mirrors the planning agency's analysis.
"An assessment of our loan portfolio shows that mortgages have increased in Jamaican dollar value, although the actual number of loans has remained essentially flat over the last three years," said Earl Samuels, JNBS' assistant general mana-ger for Group Finance and Mortgage Operations.
Samuels attributed the increase in the movement to the value of the Jamaican currency.
"We have seen where new house prices denominated in Jamaican currency have risen, relative to the depreciation of the Jamaican dollar against the US dollar and other currencies. During the past two years, the Jamaican currency has lost more than 25 per cent of its value against the US dollar; and, at the same time, the cost of the imported inputs required in housing construction has increased," he said.
Jamaica National is the largest private provider of mortgages, with a residential mortgage portfolio of about $48 billion as at March 2014. In total, the building societies sector had $94 billion in mortgages on their books for the period.
Samuels cited Coolshade Patio Homes at Richmond in St Ann, whose units were being sold for US$195,000 when they came on the market about four years ago. "They have remained at the same price in US dollars; however, in Jamaican dollar terms, the price has moved from $14.6 million to more than $20 million," he said.
Carlene Sinclair, president of the Real Estate Association of Jamaica (RAJ), said that for older homes, the effect of devaluation was not as great and, in fact, some owners were switching price back from US dollar pricing to Jamaican dollars.
"We checked our MLS [Online Multiple Listing Service] data and find that not many new developments are currently listed in US dollars. We have found that a few months ago more units intended for the domestic market were listed in the US currency, but with the rapid movements in the exchange rate, during that time, the USD-listed prices were not an attractive feature in moving the units," said Sinclair.
"Most developers are listening and are now pricing in JMD in order to sell the units, considering the time value of money."
Some new developments retain US dollar pricing, but those are mainly targeted at Jamaicans in the diaspora and expatriates, the realtor said.
"On the other hand, there are some new developments designed for luxury living in the north coast tourist belt that are listed in US currency. These are not necessarily on the MLS but may be listed exclusively with individual realtors," the RAJ president said.
RAJ's multiple listing system is automatically fed into Realtor.com International. Jamaica was the second most searched country on Realtor.com's website in the month of June, while Italy was the most searched outside of the United States, said Sinclair.
"This is a phenomenal achievement for the real estate industry in Jamaica. We have found that the diaspora are some of our most loyal customers, as each wants to own a piece of Jamaica's real estate to come home to," she said.


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History of The Lower Fan Walking Tour
- October 7, 2017 | 10:00 am
Named for its distinctive shape, the fashionable Fan District boasts beautiful homes and churches that all thrive in this community today. Learn about the luminaries who have called it home and the architectural details that make it unique and timeless. Meet in front of the Pace Center, 700 West Franklin Street, at the corner of West Franklin and Pine streets.
$15 per person
$5 for Valentine Members
Walk-ups welcome.
Cash or check.
On-street parking.
This tour is presented as part of the Richmond History Tours program, a service of the Valentine. We offer a full schedule of walking and bus tours of city neighborhoods, waterways, parks, retail districts, historic sites and battlefields. Led by a master guide, a Richmond History Tour is the best way to experience the city's rich past, present and future.


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Time to start thinking about NANO 2017!
I'm ML (Municipal Liaison) for Cornwall, UK.
Wherever you live, if you want to join me for the ride, click here to join my NaNo2017 FaceBook group. I'll keep you posted with news of what's happening in the run up to NaNo and hold your hand in November (and beyond).
Just like last year, I'll be hosting a series of webinars, especially for those of you who cannot get along to the live events with your local ML.
Here's my schedule of webinars.
Click on each date link, and then choose your time, to register your place. Places are limited so please book early.
Each webinar lasts about an hour. There is time for a brief presentation on what NANO is all about, a walk-through of the NANO site, and an opportunity for all questions to be answered.
In addition, I will be posting a series of blogs in the run up period, helping you to master Scrivener ahead of the 1 November start date. Here are the links to those blog posts:
5 Sept: Ready to Rock?
11 Sept: 10 reasons why I'll write my NaNo2017 novel using Scrivener
12 Sept: NaNo2017: First foot forward
19 Sept: NaNo2017: The casting couch
25 Sept: NaNo2017: Setting the scene
3 Oct: NaNo2017: time to sign up!
23 Oct: NaNo2017: Time for the Kick-Off!
30 Oct: NaNo2017: All tooled up!
Any questions? Post them in the NaNo2017 Facebook group.


text: Hey, I have been searching around for awhile and haven't been able to find anyone with any interest in porting the good ol' fashioned 2-d Metroid (SNES - Super Metroid) to the NDS. Not sure if it is even a plausible thought, but thats why I am creating this topic. Anyone who has an idea if this is possible/information on this I'd love to know. Haven't found an emulator to work it just right yet and still waiting on that as well, but with all of the SNES emulators still very glitchy for graphics, I figured I would just see about this route. The only reason I would rather try to get it ported is that it would be cool to utilize the top screen for a map/stats screen for Samus, much like the NDS Castlevania (Portrait of Ruin/Dawn of Sorrow). I also was thinking that I haven't seen many games ported from systems such as NES, SNES, Genesis, ect... Is that even a plausible though..... Oh well good luck on answering all of these vague questions! *crosses fingers*


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Cutman Sheldon
Welcome To Cutman Sheldon Specialist in Professional Boxing and MMA cut management and hand wrapping. A large number of bouts get stopped simply because nobody in the corner is in a position to prevent a straightforward cut from becoming worse. Do not allow it be your fight. Get yourself a expert Cutman on your side The cutman's work starts prior to the bout with preparation of the kit used throughout the fight and excellent hand wrapping. Correctly applied hand wrapping safeguards every area of your hand and reduces the possibility of injury. The main focus for a Cutman throughout a fight is to stop bleeding and reduce any swelling especially about the eyes which might hinder sight and get the fight stopped. Getting the best corner personnel lets you focus fully on winning your fight and provides you the greatest chance in the ring.


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Marin Millennials Get Their First Vote in Strangest of Elections
The reactions of Marin's young first-time voters in this year's presidential election are all over the map: "Confused." "Empowered." "Scared." "Excited." And who could blame them?
Not surprisingly, all said they were put off by the vitriolic character of this year's election. But that didn't stop them from making a choice.
Like many adult voters in heavily Democratic Marin — and other millennials in national polls — half of those interviewed said they favored Hillary Clinton. And, also in line with national polls, others said they favored third-party candidate Gary Johnson of the Libertarian Party.
Share this
Posted October 23rd, 2016 | Debate 2016 | General


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Escape Room Mehlville
Escape Room Mehlville. Mastermind Room Escape is excited to offer Mehlville residents with the most exclusive and exciting selection of escape room games. With choices that include Diamond Heist, DaVinci's Workshop, Secret Society and more, our escape room games cant be beaten by the local competition. Local Mehlville residents select our escape rooms because they provide family, friends, and businesses with exceptionally fun and recreational team building activities. While our escape rooms are challenging, they can be completed through teamwork and communication. If your family, team or business needs an exciting and challenging event or team building opportunity, choose one of our escape room games near Mehlville. Call or Contact Mastermind Room Escape today to schedule your event.
Escape Room Mehlville
Escape Room Games give Mehlville residents the ability to test their analytic thinking and teamwork. We provide such a unique and amazing experience that TripAdvisor rated Mastermind Escape Rooms as the #1 Rated Escape Room in St. Louis. Our Escape Rooms are challenging, and require thought and planning to defeat, and if you know that you and your friends, family or co-workers have what it takes to conquer our escape room games in 60 minutes or less, then call or contact Mastermind Room Escape to book your room now.
Mastermind offers escape room games in the following areas:


text: I went to my local Big Box pet store a couple weeks ago to pick up some dog food. I couldn't help myself and wound up perusing the aquatic area. It was there I noticed a tank with about 3 powder blue dwarf gouramis covered, and I mean COVERED in ICH. Those poor babies were shivering and twitching and so obviously suffering that I couldn't contain myself. I literally RAN frantically (with pooch in tow) for the first employee I could find. I found a manager who I'm sure was thinking it was I who needed medical attention. He tried to assure me that they knew they received a shipment of DG with Ich and they were being treated -as if that should be a sufficient and adequate explanation to relieve me (and the poor fish.) I pointed out to him that there was NO sign on the tank warning customers of this and if some little child came in and asked Mommy for the pretty blue fish it would lead to heart break. I refused to shut up. I KEPT blabbing on and on about all the possible scenarios until someone came to isolate and treat the poor fish. (My husband refuses to go to the pet store with me any more.) Now I cannot bash all large pet stores, because many have hardworking, kind and knowledgeable employees who take great care of their fish. But be careful when purchasing fish from these stores. AND ALWAYS put your new fish in an isolation tank for a couple weeks before adding to your aquarium. Ok. I feel better already.


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Paddings are amongst those factors that people never ever before think about till they do not have one or they rise from a bad nights remainder. A pillow is a pad or flooring covering that is loaded for sustaining to either lie or hinge on. Words stems from an Arabic word that recommends "to throw" or "flooring covering or extra padding". Europeans reproduced the Arabians by throwing cushions on the floor covering along with hing on them. In the future, pillows were made after that frameworks were being created to increase the bed cushion off the ground. If you remain in the marketplace for obtaining a new Memory foam cushion, take a look at in addition to discover some outstanding tips in uncovering the optimal padding for you.
Paddings are loaded with some type of item to sustain it in addition to make it soft. You can have blow up bed, water beds along with pillows that were made with plumes and straw. Numerous usually, bed cushion are made with added cushioning as well as coils. To find a premium padding with optimal support and toughness, you'll need a padding with a high range of coils. The larger the number, the better help it's probably to offer and it's probably to last a lot longer. For a full measurement bed, get a bed cushion that has no a lot less compared with 600 coils. The added cushioning is furthermore similarly as important as the range of coils. The much better premium quality of supporting along with the a lot more layers of supporting will absolutely assure strength and will definitely aid the bed cushion preserve its type for longer.
Situating the very best pillow is a lot worrying benefit. Know your ease levels before you obtain! Some comfort levels are strong, cushion firm, extravagant, padding top in addition to ultra luxurious. Altitude along with weight are furthermore developing aspects when selecting the benefit level you prefer. A larger installed person would definitely find a pillow a lot softer as compared to a smaller sized, tiny person. If you wish to hinge on your back, you would absolutely prefer a more powerful bed cushion. If you like to hinge on your sides, you would absolutely want a far more softer, sustained padding. Check out http://www.sleepjunkie.org/how-to-find-the-best-adjustable-bed/ to know more about mattress.
In your goal with situating the very best padding for you, make sure you presume top-notch of remainder along with not dollars. Obtain one you can take care of, nonetheless remember you will absolutely be spending a minimum of a 3rd of your life in this bed. You want bed cushion to last a long time, so do not fail to remember to get an assurance. You would absolutely acquire one for your new tv or probably your DVD player, so you would absolutely want one for your bed cushion.


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Who says kids are the only ones who know how to play? With a lot of our work being shipped overseas, a large number of empty factories are being left in their wake. So, what better solution than to take these dangerous eyesores and turn them into giant places to play?
That's exactly what a group known as the Cassilly Crew, a tribe of 20 artists who worked with the now-deceased artist and sculptor Bob Cassilly has done, taking the former home of the 10-story International Shoe Company in St. Louis and turning it into, quite possibly, the world's coolest urban playground. Named City Museum, Cassilly opened it in 1997, but it has since grown to epic (and epically beautiful) proportions as the group continues to work on it year after year.
So what can you find there? Oh, just a few things like a rooftop Ferris wheel (and a cantilevered school bus pushing off of that roof) subterranean caves, a sky-high jungle gym (that makes use of two repurposed airplanes), numerous multi-floor slides, two of which are 10-story (!!), a pipe organ, an aquarium, a circus arts facility, ball pits, a shoe lace factory, restaurants, and yes, even a bar. And all of it is connected by tunnels that wind from floor to floor throughout the 600,000 square-foot mega-playground.
As if it couldn't get any cooler, all of the materials used are recycled — these include bridges, cranes and airplanes the city would've otherwise disposed of, and even the tiles used for the miles of pathways throughout are locally sourced, making this a very green project. Take a look for yourself and try (just try!) not to be bowled over.


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Maternity. As a mother of three, I understand the need of getting moments captured and save a little where you can. I recommend all expecting parents to book their session between 32 and 36 weeks to ensure the glowing momma has a beautiful, round bump to showcase.
Newborns. Every newborn is different, you have some that are calm and easily flexible, others that are full of smiles but fight their sleep. It is best for baby to be between 5-14 days as they are the most flexible and sleepier at that age.
Can also view past sessions here: Maternity+Newborn|Maternity|Newborns
Every session comes with a blog post on my website that you can easily share with family and friends via email, social media or text message.
There is a deposit required for all bundles.
I accept PayPal, all debit/credit cards and cash. All sessions are held in my Belleville, NJ studio.
*all sessions are non-refundable*
*If you're interested please contact me as soon as possible to ensure the date you want is available!
Sign up to stay connected!


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Hypnobirthing Gloucestershire - Teachers' Directory
'I feel so very fortunate to have trained in the KGHypnobirthing Royal College of Midwives accredited course, inspired to support birthing mothers and their partners in achieving empowerment in their births' Lauren Kiddell – KghMybirth
My name is Lauren Kiddell, a mother of two (one of each!) a committed friend to many, a wife and someone who likes to be busy.
I have been blown away by the responsibilities becoming parents affords and the impact we have in this role, not only in terms of our own lives but by way of the powerful choices and decisions we make before our children are even born, shaping not only the start but their entire lives.
I am not ashamed to say, in my professional life and even after our decision to become parents, I have always preferred to be the one in control and within a role where I can lead, influence and support others in their choices.
Becoming a KgHypnobirthing Teacher gave me the chance to do this, as well as expand my knowledge and professional interest in childbirth.
My aspiration to become a midwife will be pursed with earnest when my children are older, more independent and less in need of their mum!
I feel so very fortunate to have benefited from attending a Hypnobirthing course myself, prior to the birth of my first child, as well as enjoying the empowerment of Hypnobirthing during my second birth too.
You can read about my two contrasting birth stories, both amazing experiences in very different environments. (www.kghMybirth.co.uk)
YOU are in charge of your own mind and I believe whole heartedly in the phrase: 'where the mind leads the body follows'
Birth is a partnership between mother, father/partner and the medical caregivers. Information gives YOU the chance of discussion amongst equals, allowing YOU to focus on achieving the best possible birth.
With so much to take into account when giving birth, I am passionately driven to support mothers/couples in making these informed choices/decisions.
If you would like to know more and start your journey towards an empowering birth, please do get in touch, I am always happy to discuss the course in more detail, either over the phone or perhaps over a cuppa.
I am currently a practising Midwife working at Southmead hospital, with experience in a variety of different birth settings. Throughout all the births I have had the pleasure to be a part of, it has become very clear that education can make a massive difference to women's birth experience. I strongly believe that the techniques learnt as part of the KG hypnobirthing course can empower women to have calm and serene birth. I am passionate about changing the way women look at birth, building confidence, positivity and better birth experiences.
I was a midwife from 2011 until November 2017 where I am now able to dedicate my full attention to hypnobirthing and hypnotherapy. I was a midwife for 6 years on the community for the NHS and also as an Independent Midwife working for a Social enterprise. This was my passion knowing I could offer the 1:1 care to all parents. I will return as a midwife in time however for now I can concentrate on empowering parents to achieve the birth they so wish.
Previously I was a police officer in Merseyside I have transferable skills to offer each parent I come into contact with and to know you are in good hands is going to increase your enthusiasm to know more about the ways in which Hypnobirthing can empower you.
Now concentrating on the holistic path my aim is to offer parents the opportunity to experience the amazing techniques that come with Hypnobirthing.
The experience and expertise I can offer will empower you to make those all important decisions about the care pathway you wish to include for your own birth experience. To offer the time to a parent and their birth companion, to listen to their needs and to make them aware of the choices they are able to make is all incorporated within the KG Method.
I am a practising midwife with a wealth of experience in all birth settings (home, birth centre and obstetric units).
Whilst I have had the privilege of attending hundreds of births, what strikes me most is the difference I observe in women who have practised hypnobirthing compared to those who haven't. These women tend to have calmer, quicker and more comfortable experiences, whether the method of birth is a caesarean, instrumental or a normal delivery.
I want to help bring these positive experiences to women and in 2017 went on to complete the Katherine Graves hypnobirthing course (accredited by the Royal College of Midwives). I provide these antenatal courses in the South Gloucestershire area, surrounding Wotton-Under-Edge.
I would love to teach you Hypnobirthing!
I work as a Doula, assisting mothers and their partner during birth. I have years of experience helping mothers have the best birth possible. I will also be training as a midwife.
I have experienced Hypnobirthing first hand as I birthed both my children at home in water using Hypnobirthing. I can show you how it works!
I trained at the University of Westminster (Nutrition – Complementary Therapies Degree, 2004). I later trained with Elena Tonetti, founder of 'Birth into Being,' a pioneer of waterbirthing promoting trauma-free birthing worldwide. I have since worked in health, specialising in HypnoBirthing.
Message from Stina
Firstly, congratulations! Growing a sparkle of life inside you is nothing short of a miracle (a cliche but then most truths are). My job is to remind you of how capable you are and to support you in your journey.
About me – I'm half English half Norwegian. I love being with my 6 year old boy, Bluey and my 2 year old girl. Watching a child evolve, becoming self-aware and conscious, is fascinating. They are so funny. More on Bluey's birth later…
I love nature.The ultimate for me is being in my cottage in Norway. I grew up visiting it every summer by the sea. It is made of red wood, has no hot water and the toilet was a hut in the bushes! Being there without doubt, taught me to be resourceful. I remember fishing for crabs, swims before breakfast and peeling potatoes by the sea with my grandmother.
I love the switch from thinking to being – to be reclaimed by nature. The relief of being part of something greater – like during birth.
I think this connection with nature helped me during Bluey's birth. I trusted that if we can grow this baby inside us without conscious effort, then that instinct must birth it too!
Bluey's Birth – September 2011
I birthed Bluey at home, in water, assisted by two wonderful independent midwives (Phoenix Independent Midwives).
Bluey took 19 hours to say hello. When he was born we tried to make the transition as gentle as possible. We rubbed his chest and feet to stimulate his first breath – no tube stuck down his throat or harsh towel rubbing. He then suckled immediately and my goodness what a beautiful, bizarre feeling that was. It felt like "oh – that's what my boobs are meant for!" – and wow did he guzzle!
Having Independent Midwives meant I didn't have to stress about unnecessary protocols. I could take my time and, like having a doula, I thrived in knowing they would be with me throughout. Continuity is essential during birth. Knowing you have a familiar face with you through one of the most profound events of your life is invaluable.
One word about the Epi-No – (short for 'Episiotomy – No thank you!)' Its a small, deflated rubber balloon that you gently inflate inside you to stretch the tissues – and help reduce tearing. You start after 37 weeks. This and massaging a simple, fragrance-free oil (like sweet almond oil) in and around the perineum can make such a difference to its suppleness. Although using it in the days up to my due date – (me: "oh I can't do this – I need to get to 10cm and I can only get to 8!), his head was 14cm (off the chart) and weighed a whopping 9 1/2 lbs / 4.3kg, it MUST have worked because I didn't tear. I still can't believe it. It definitely works. Look it up online. Its worth every penny if you want to buy it, otherwise I offer it as part of my doula package (Milton sterilizing tables included!!).
I am a full time accredited hypnotherapist specialising in womens health and wellbeing including fertility and childbirth.
Before training as a hypnotherapist I lived and worked in Singapore where both my babies were born, and while living there I worked as a doula and childbirth educator, helping many couples through the life changing experience of becoming parents.
I offer a choice of group classes in a comfortable location in Bourton on the Water, private classes in the comfort of your own home, or one day intensives.
I am passionate about all things birth and parenting. I truly believe it is possible for women to have a better birth experience and that they should be given proper support and informed choice in their pregnancy and birth.
I am a fomer Product Development Manager for a blue chip company and I found Hypnobirthing after the birth of my first child. I recieved a post dates induction at the end of my otherwise healthy pregnancy which resulted in a highly drugged and medicalised birth. I was left feeling particularly traumatised and reached out to a hypnobirthing teacher for support. When I fell pregnant with my second child I vowed to be fully informed and well prepared for my birth so I completed the course practice and this time approached the birth with confidence and calm. Unfortunately I developed a rare condition of the placenta which resulted in a C section at 35 weeks. However my Hypnobirthing practice was invaluable, it helped me approach my surgery without fear, know how to make the best of my situation and bond with my son after birth. I bounced back quickly and harboured none of the ill feelings I had towards my first birth expereince. I was exactly the way it neede to be and I call it my 'beautiful c section'.
I want couples to know that their birth does not need to fit a certain mold to be a wonderful experience. I will support them regardless of their birth plan, but I often find that after they complete the course and dealt with their fears they do achieve a comfotable and natural birth.
Please contact me to book your free consultation.
Kate and Beth are both practising midwives working in Gloucester Hospital. They are also cousins and come from a large Gloucestershire based family. Between them they have 6 children ageing from 16 years to 6 months. They are both trained in KG Hypnobirthing, which is a hypnobirthing course that has been accredited by The Royal College of Midwives.
Kate is a lover of anything stripey and anything floral. She has this thing with stationery and also bakes a mean Victoria Sandwich. Before Kate became a midwife she was an antenatal educator.
Beths favourite season is Autumn and she is slightly Christmas obsessed. She is a lover of all things salted caramel, and is always well caffeinated whether that be from a flat white or an espresso martini on a weekend. Before Beth became a midwife she completed a course in Swedish massage.
My name is Kate, and I am a practising midwife working in Gloucester Hospital where I had all three of my children. I originally trained as an antenatal educator and then went on to complete the KG Hypnobirthing training which is a hypnobirthing course accredited by The Royal College of Midwives.
My name is Mary Harris and I trained with Katherine Graves in London. I came to hypnobirthing through Yoga; having specialised in teaching pregnancy yoga for over 25 years I wanted to take this work further. I originally trained as a nurse (SRN) which included some midwifery. I have always felt a great affinity with pregnant women and babies, and have been fortunate enough to experience giving birth to my own three children which included two home births. I now have the joy of six wonderful grandchildren. Since working with KGHypnobirthing I feel I have so much more to offer women in the field of pregnancy and birthing, and I have seen what a difference KGHypnobirthing makes to parents and their babies.
My name is Mary Harris and I trained with Katherine Graves in London. I came to Hypnobirthing through Yoga; having specialized in teaching pregnancy yoga for over 25 years I wanted to take this work further. I originally trained as a nurse (SRN) which included some midwifery. I have always felt a great affinity with pregnant women and babies, and have been fortunate enough to experience giving birth to my own three children which included two home births. I now have the joy of six wonderful grandchildren. Since working with Hypnobirthing I feel I have so much more to offer women in the field of pregnancy and birthing, and I have seen what a difference Hypnobirthing makes to parents and their babies.
As a practicing midwife, I use Hypnobirthing as a powerful and practical tool for supporting positive birth. I believe passionately that birth makes a huge difference to women, babies, families and communities. I know that women have the capacity to birth well, on their own terms and in their own way.
I decided to complete Katharine Graves' hypnobirthing training after attending women who had wonderful hypno-births, and hearing other midwives' tales of beautiful, calm births where women were using hypnobirthing.
"My name is Fiona Maynard and I trained in KG Hypnobirthing with Katharine Graves at the HypnoBirthing Centre in London. Over many years I have built a reputation as a skilled Hypnobirthing practitioner. My greatest joy is empowering mothers and fathers to reach their goals by helping them conquer fear and develop confidence. Many of my couples have found that KG Hypnobirthing relaxation techniques are so powerful that they can become life skills long after the birthing experience!
Hypnobirthing Gloucestershire
All our teachers have trained and been assessed in the KG Hypnobirthing Teacher Training comprehensive course. As well as being tested on the training they have received, we look at how they perform using these skills, the amount of experience they have subsequently built up, and, finally, the level of professionalism they demonstrate. These factors are essential to promoting good practice within the field of natural birthing techniques and hypnobirthing particularly. We also ask our teachers to sign up to our code of best practice to demonstrate professionalism and ethical behaviour at all times.
Hypnobirthing, which helps create a more stress-free and therefore more relaxed birth for mother and baby, is a growing area within the field of natural birthing methods, as understanding increases with regard to its effectiveness and organisations such as ourselves advocate its use.


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In one of the first decisions to apply the Supreme Court's recent ruling on proper venue in patent litigation, a federal district court in Stuebing Automatic Machine Co. v. Gravonsky granted a defendant's motion to transfer a patent dispute from the Southern District of Ohio to the Southern District of Texas.
The Supreme Court's recent decision in TC Heartland LLC v. Kraft Foods Group Brands LLC, published on May 22, 2017, held that 28 U.S.C. § 1400(b) provides the exclusive standard for venue in patent litigation, and that as a result venue in patent cases is only proper "in the judicial district where the defendant resides, or where the defendant has committed acts of infringement and has a regular and established place of business." TC Heartland is widely viewed as severely limiting forum shopping in patent cases. (Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer provided an analysis of TC Heartland in its June 1, 2017, Advisory.)
Applying TC Heartland, the court in Stuebing first held that the defendants did not reside in the judicial district (the Western Division of the Southern District of Ohio), notwithstanding that one defendant owned a vacant piece of land there. The court reasoned that both defendants primarily kept homes in Texas, and that in any event the vacant piece of land owned by one defendant could only even potentially establish that defendant's residency in the Western Division.
The case for venue in the Western Division did not fare any better under the second prong of § 1400(b). First, the plaintiff only offered unsupported allegations of sales of infringing goods in the Western Division, which the court found insufficient to establish that the defendants had "committed acts of infringement" there. Second, the court found that the defendants operated their business in Texas, and that their only contacts with the Western Division were in the nature of emails to customers and shipping products to customers in the area. Without more—such as a permanent employee based in the judicial district—the court ruled that the defendants did not have a "regular and established place of business" in the Western Division.
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.


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21 July 2017
On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century by Timothy Snyder
Category: New publications, Editorial notes, XXw, Research projects, News, Social history, Economic history, Cultural history, Memory studies
New book by Timothy Snyder about tyranny has become #1 on the New York Times bestseller list.
An historian of fascism offers a guide for surviving and resisting America's turn towards authoritarianism.
The Founding Fathers tried to protect us from the threat they knew, the tyranny that overcame ancient democracy. Today, our political order faces new threats, not unlike the totalitarianism of the twentieth century. We are no wiser than the Europeans who saw democracy yield to fascism, Nazism, or communism. The American advantage is that we might learn from their experience.
Timothy Snyder is the Levin Professor of History at Yale University. He is the author of Bloodlands: Europe Between Hitler and Stalin and Black Earth: The Holocaust as History and Warning. Snyder is a member of the Committee on Conscience of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum and a permanent fellow of the Institute for Human Sciences in Vienna.
"We are rapidly ripening for fascism. This American writer leaves us with no illusions about ourselves." —Svetlana Alexievich, Winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature
"Timothy Snyder reasons with unparalleled clarity, throwing the past and future into sharp relief. He has written the rare kind of book that can be read in one sitting but will keep you coming back to help regain your bearings. Put a copy in your pocket and one on your bedside table, and it will help you keep going for the next four years or however long it takes." —Masha Gessen
"Please read this book. So smart, so timely." —George Saunders
Publisher: Penguin Random House
Year of publication: 2017


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The National Theatre's acclaimed production of War Horse will make a welcome return to the Alhambra Theatre, Bradford from Wednesday 14 February to Saturday 10 March 2018, where it played to sell-out houses on its first tour in 2014.
On Tuesday 20 June, 2017 at 10.30am, Joey, the life-size equine puppet from War Horse will make a special appearance in Bradford's City Park and will meet real horses from the West Yorkshire Police Mounted Section. One of the police horses is also called Joey (AKA Joseph), and there will be an opportunity to film and photograph puppet-horse and real horses meeting.
Chief Inspector Chris Bowen, who oversees the West Yorkshire Police's Mounted Section said:
"War Horse highlights the bond and friendship between Joey and Albert, and as officers in the Mounted Section we feel we have the same unique bonds with our own horses. Whilst not out on a battle field during WW1, the horses and officers in our mounted section are often deployed to the front line of policing where they detect crimes, make arrests and help locate vulnerable people.
We are delighted to be invited to take part in today's launch and bring our own Joey along to meet the equine puppet from the show. We regularly bring the team to Bradford on patrol and hope that people will come down and say hello whilst we're in the City Centre."
This extraordinary meeting will be followed by an on stage launch at The Studio Venue (adjacent to the Alhambra Theatre) at 12pm. Matthew Forbes War Horse's Puppetry Director will lead a puppetry demonstration and talk about the history of the show alongside Joey.
Based at Carr Gate, the Mounted Section offer support to West Yorkshire Police in all manner of policing work, from policing football matches, demonstrations to community reassurance patrols and ceremonial events. The section has ten horses and works with a team of nine mounted officers. The horses in the section are called: Breeze, Connor, Coley, Clifton, Ledston, Ilkley, Joey (AKA Joseph), Marley, Otley and Seth. Joey is nine years old and has been on the section since 2011.
War Horse, which has been seen by over seven million people worldwide, and completed its recordbreaking eight year London run at the New London Theatre on 12 March 2016, has won 25 awards including the Tony Award for Best Play on Broadway. Directed by Marianne Elliott and Tom Morris, Nick Stafford's adaptation of Michael Morpurgo's remarkable story of courage, loyalty and friendship, about a young boy called Albert and his horse Joey, set against the backdrop of the First World War is the most successful play in the National Theatre's history. It features ground-breaking puppetry work by South Africa's Handspring Puppet Company, which brings breathing, galloping horses to life on stage.
Michael Morpurgo said: "After a few months rest, out at pasture, Joey, the War Horse and his great team from the National Theatre, will be touring the UK again, from 2017 through to 2018 and the centenary of the end of the First World War. The NT will be taking their show all over the country, to towns and cities, many of them places War Horse has not been seen before. I am so pleased this is happening; that so many more people will have the chance to enjoy this unique theatrical event. Steady boy, steady Joey. Trot on!"
War Horse is produced by the National Theatre - www.warhorseonstage.com
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A top US nutritionist these days claimed which vegetarian as well as vegan mother and father are harmful their kid's health through denying all of them meat.
UNITED KINGDOM experts instantly contested the actual findings associated with Professor She Allen, from the University associated with California from Davis, and Mister Paul McCartney informed the BBC how the claims had been "rubbish".
Prof Allen conducted research of impoverished kids in Kenya, and discovered that adding less than two spoonfuls associated with meat each day to their own starch-based diet programs dramatically enhanced muscle improvement and psychological skills.
Speaking in the annual meeting from the American Association for that Advancement associated with Science, within Washington DC, your woman said: "Animal supply foods possess some nutrients that are not found elsewhere.
"If you're referring to feeding young kids and women that are pregnant and lactating ladies, I might go so far as to say it's unethical in order to withhold these food types during that amount of life. There's lots of empirical research which will show the adverse results on kid development to do that. inch
Prof Allen had been especially crucial of mother and father who enforced a vegan lifestyle on the children, denying all of them milk, parmesan cheese, eggs as well as butter, in addition to meat. "There's simply no question it's unethical with regard to parents to create up their own children because strict vegans, inch she stated.
Sir John, a vegetarian for two decades, telephoned the actual BBC in order to dismiss the actual claims because "rubbish", informing the BBC Stereo 2 Jeremy Grape vine show: "I do think this really is rubbish. I believe the healthcare profession by itself, apart out of this one individual, come towards the conclusion that the veggie diet will work for you and may help along with colon most cancers and things, so We suspect this stuff are designed by livestock those who have seen product sales fall away.
"From my very own perspective, it is a good thing personally and my personal children, who're no smaller than additional children. inch
However, the Uk Dietetic Organization said the research looked from impoverished, rural children having a poor history diet lower in essential nutrients for example zinc, B12 as well as iron, and it is findings weren't applicable in order to vegan children within the developed globe.
"There isn't any evidence our vegan as well as vegetarian children with this country endure impaired improvement, " the spokeswoman for that association stated.
She stated Prof Allen's declaration that a few nutrients might only be from animal resources was wrong. Even supplement B12, that is only present in animal items, was accustomed to fortify vegan alternatives for example Marmite.
Vegetarians might obtain adequate calcium through sesame seed products, nuts as well as fortified soya whole milk, and metal from dried out fruit as well as fortified breakfast every day cereals, the actual spokeswoman additional.
The Africa study included 544 kids in Kenya, usually aged close to seven, whose diet plan mainly contains starchy, low-nutrition hammer toe and bean staples missing these micronutrients. On the period of 2 yrs, one number of the children was handed a every day supplement associated with two oz . of beef - equal to roughly 2 spoonfuls associated with mince.
Two additional groups received whether cup associated with milk each day or a good oil health supplement containing exactly the same amount of one's. The diet of the fourth team was remaining unaltered.
The changes observed in the kids given the actual meat, and also to a lower extent the actual milk or even oil, had been dramatic.
Prof Allen, the director from the US Farming Research Service's Traditional western Human Nourishment Research Center at Davis, stated: "It had been found which, compared along with controls which had absolutely no intervention, the beef group experienced 80% much more increase in muscle tissue over both years from the study, and also the milk as well as energy team had 40% much more increase in muscle tissue.
"In conditions of cognitive perform, the team that obtained the beef supplement showed the largest improvement within fluid intelligence within the two many years, and people who had possibly milk or even energy dietary supplements were much better than the regulates. The team that obtained the beef supplements had been more mixed up in playground, much more talkative as well as playful, as well as showed much more leadership abilities, " your woman said.
Test ratings for psychological skills enhanced by thirty-five points for that meat team and 14 for that milk, while leftover unchanged for that children that received absolutely no supplements, your woman said. Adding possibly meat or even milk towards the diets additionally almost totally eliminated the high prices of supplement B12 insufficiency previously observed in the kids.
"It's vital that you know these important advantages to human being function as well as human funds were observed in just 2 yrs, " Prof Allen additional. "Had these types of children received these food types earlier within life, or their own mothers obtained them once they had already been pregnant, or even people might receive all of them throughout their own lives, we believe that the enhancements in human being capital development will be even much more dramatic. inch
She stated that, even though study have been conducted inside a poor Africa community, its information was relevant to people within developed nations. Studies associated with vegetarians in both US as well as Europe experienced shown that missing meat and milk products could completely impair the child's improvement.
Liz O'Neill, the top of communications in the Vegetarian Culture, is 7 months expecting with the woman's first kid, and stated nothing within Prof Allen's investigation had dissuaded her in the intention associated with raising the woman's baby like a vegetarian.
"This study shouldn't scare any kind of parents with this country. It's simply not relevant, inch Ms O'Neill stated. "Certainly the balanced vegetarian diet is going to be much healthier compared to average meat-eater's diet plan. As soon while you take something from your diet, it enables you to stop and consider how to change what is actually missing. inch
However, Doctor Alastair Sutcliffe, the senior lecturer within paediatrics from University University London, said human being ancestry demonstrated that organic diet consists of meat which a diet including meat had been likely to make a taller, more powerful child.
"Whilst We respect an individual's ethical decision to consume a vegan diet being an adult, it ought to be very very carefully considered if that's the right decision for any child, inch Dr Sutcliffe stated. He stated he thought a vegetarian diet plan including milk products would oftimes be fine with regard to children.
The Uk Dietetic Organization spokeswoman said the research raised the key point which pregnant as well as breastfeeding ladies and young kids were susceptible as vegans, which parents ought to carefully evaluation their kid's diet to make sure they had been eating the well-balanced diet plan.
However, your woman dismissed because "extreme" Prof Allen's declaration that giving children the vegan diet plan was dishonest, and suggested parents browse the nutrition instructions available in the Vegetarian Society to assist them strategy a well balanced diet.


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A powerful magnitude 6.9 earthquake occurred near the east coast of Honshu, Japan, early Tuesday local time, the U.S. Geological Survey reported. The quake was given a magnitude of 7.3 by the Japan Meteorological Agency.
The National Weather Service's Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said there was a possible tsunami hazard for areas of Japan's coast that are within 186 miles (300km) of the epicenter. Tsunami waves with a height of 10 feet (3 meters) are possible, according to the Associated Press.
There is no tsunami threat for the west coast of the U.S.
The quake occurred shortly before 6 a.m. JST (4 p.m. EST) and had a depth of 6 miles (10 km). At least four aftershocks have already been reported, according to the USGS.
The temblor hit about 57 miles east-southeast of Fukushima prefecture, which is where the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant was destroyed by a tsunami in 2011.
Shaking was felt in the capital of Tokyo, which is about 166 miles from the city of Namie, located in the Fukushima prefecture and about 23 miles (37 km) from the quake's epicenter.
There were no immediate reports of damage or injury, according to the AP.


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