text:
30 September 2011
n.d.p. in piemonte: capella di sol lewitt, la morra
One advantage of traveling through wine regions with people who are totally uninterested in wine is that sometimes in bored desperation they will propose visiting obscure local landmarks that turn out, in the end, to be very cool indeed.
Such was the case with J's architect wife C, who on our way back from a desultory Sunday traipse through the mediocre churches of Alba at baking midday proposed visiting something called the Capella di Sol Lewitt, located on a ridge overlooking the famed Brunate vineyard between Barolo and La Morra. We weren't sure what to expect of a chapel painted by the pioneering conceptualist creator of such presumably non-devotional works as Inverted Six Towers and Isometric Projection #13.
In the end it looked for all the world like amid the strict rows of cascading cru vineyard, someone had installed a really cheery taqueria.
contemporary art,
not drinking at all,
28 September 2011
balancing act: l'entrée des artistes, 75011
I'm continually making idle chatter about the prospect of one day opening up a wine bar in Paris. The idea is very far from realisation for me, chiefly because I'm hell-bent on becoming a (more) published author before returning to the restaurant industry, but also because I'm not even sure I'd want to do it then. It's not an easy life.
It's thus with a sense of wistful admiration that I encounter a cracking great new bar like the 11ème's L'Entrée des Artistes, a bar à manger that, along with La Retro'Bottega on the other side of the same arrondissement, stands as one of the only places in Paris that approach this wine-bar ideal I have rattling around in my head.
L'Entrée des Artistes even goes farther than I ever would, and offers, alongside a boldly curated natural wine list, a list of cocktails that is the equal of any in the city. If "natural wine + food + perfect cocktails" sounds too good to be true, well, my fear that it might shortly prove to be is what has me returning as often as possible before that happens.
26 September 2011
n.d.p. in piemonte: osteria la salita, monforte d'alba
I had been concerned, when agreeing to vacation in Italy in August, that we'd encounter nothing but summer closures wherever we went. My general take on August is that it is the month Europeans use to cleverly evade neighboring cultures, by abandoning their native capital and visiting the capitals of other nations, whose native populations have simultaneously decamped, like a large-scale apartment swap. Paris shuts resolutely in August; by and large the only things left open during this time are mercenary tourist traps.
It didn't bode well that the acclaimed restaurant linked with the hotel / residence where we stayed, Da Felicin, was closed during our stay. Upon arrival we had a slightly grim noncommunicative interaction with the older fellow at the desk at Da Felicin, brightened only at the end by the unrequested receipt of several of his endorsements of good restaurants open in Monforte in August. In the end we wound up visiting all his recommendations that week, less because so much was closed than because Monforte is a very small town.
The first place, Osteria La Salita, was all of twenty paces from our doorstep, and it was in any final reckoning probably the best. The cuisine was fresh, and the wine, like almost everywhere we went, was magnificent and cheap - but it was the buoyant, over-the-top hospitality that pretty much gilded the entire meal. It was evidently infectious: towards the end of our meal, an adjacent table of visiting Ligurians spontaneously presented us with a fresh black truffle, and then another, when they saw how delighted we were with the first one.
italian wine,
stupendous service,
23 September 2011
rien à voir avec le vin nature: la compagnie des vins surnaturels, 75006
Because one of my favorite chefs and fellow natural wine afficionados requested it, here is an attempt at a summary in French of my recent post about "La Compagnie des Vins Surnaturels," the misleadingly-named new wine bar from owners of Experimental Cocktail Club :
Voici une tentative de sommaire en français de mon récent article sur "La Compagnie des Vins Surnaturels," le nouveau bar à vin au nom trompeur, ouvert par les propriétaires de l'Experimental Cocktail Club :
Ce jeudi dernier j'était présent à l'ouverture du nouveau bar à vin des propriétaires de ECC. On me dit que c'est le résultat d'une collaboration avec quelqu'un d'un grand domaine Bordelais, et cela se ressent sur la carte du vin, qui comprend environs 200 références, dont 50% sont des Bordeaux. Bon, rien de grave jusque là - ce bar à vin est implanté dans le 6ème arrondissement, le territoire des touristes, des étudiants gâtés, et de la bourgeoisie "chichi" de Paris qui aime la ville principalement pour ses plaisirs chers et luxueux, donc il est logique de trouver une carte de vin pleine de bouteilles recherchées pour le standing qu'elles donnent à ceux qui les consomment en public. Mais pour cet endroit de luxe conventionel, qui n'offre presque que des vins conventionels, les propriétaires ont choisi le nom de "La Compagnie des Vins Surnaturels."
Sauf ignorance massive de leurs parts, il n'est pas possible de comprendre ce nom autrement que ce qu'il semble être: un essai malhonnête d'abuser des principes et des idéaux du monde du vin nature.
damning screeds,
french translations,
not natural at all
21 September 2011
somm needed: le chatomat, 75020
The second-most curious thing about the inconsistently ambitious new 20ème bistro Le Chatomat is the name, which in American English sounds unavoidably like "laundromat." I have some French familiarity, of course, but even this only led me to imagine an unappetizing cross between a cat and a tomato. It was only towards the end of my meal there that I was reliably informed by a friend of chef-owners Alice di Cagno and Victor Gaillard that the restaurant's name is intended as a punning tweak on the name of a more famous Paris restaurant, Le Chateaubriand: Chateau + (sounds like) Brillante vs. (sounds like) Chateau + (sounds like) Matte.
If that sounds like astonishingly obscure, insidery, borderline nonsensical reasoning, suggestive that the proprietors live at least part-time in a closed internal dream world, we may still forgive them because the food is terrific. What I am less likely to forgive, and what implies a similar weird naïveté regarding contemporary dining convention, is the most curious thing about the place: that accompanying the marvelous and underpriced Michelin-lineage (Le Gavroche, Ledoyen, L'Arpège), globally inspired (Brazilian / Italian / French) cuisine on offer at Le Chatomat, is a pokey loser wine list containing nothing of any interest, clearly put together by a mediocre caviste seeking to unload some vacuous backstock.
C'mon, you want to say. You couldn't find a single well-informed somm in this city?
not necessarily natural,
19 September 2011
n.d.p. in piemonte: solativo vinosteria, ivrea
My first reaction upon walking into Solativo Vinosteria, a wine bar in Ivrea until recently co-owned by the Ferrando family, was one of exasperation: I take two steps in Ivrea, pop.: 24k, I reflected, and already I encounter a wine bar plainly superior to any that presently exist in Paris.
I suppose I can't pronounce that with total certainty, as I never saw Solativo in full swing. We'd driven over in the afternoon with manager Ivan Zanovello after tasting together with Luigi Ferrando in the latter's nearby tasting room, and the bar was not yet open. But all the ingredients for a lively, inspiring wine bar were in place: a terrace, a long bar, a spacious, informal interior, fridges stuffed with excellent native and local wines, even a chalkboard cocktail / aperitivo list that looked refreshing, if not fancy by any means.* There's frequent live music. Meanwhile, the bar shares an entrance with Luigi Ferrando's son Andrea's wine shop, where a bottle of Carema Ettiquette Bianca can be had for 14€. (Compared to $60 on stateside wine lists.)
If we hadn't all been so knackered from the tasting, with several hours of driving ahead, it might have been nice to share a bottle with the heaping meat and cheese plates Ivan kindly fixed for us. As it was, we stuck with Chinotti, and I sat there trying to envision some reason to return to Ivrea one day.
not drinking at all,
strange local habits,
wine bars
16 September 2011
ups & downs: avant comptoir, 75006
After fleeing from the malevolent fraudulence on parade at last week's opening of "La Compagnie des Vins Surnaturels," my friends and I found ourselves in the 6ème arrondissement on a Thursday night in desperate need of an actual glass of true natural wine. It was this desperation that impelled us to elbow our way into Paris' least comfortable dining experience, Avant Comptoir, a place I wasn't exceptionally keen on revisiting after having a middling lunch there a few months ago.
Perhaps it was in part the sheer relief of once again being in an establishment that knows, understands, and cares for natural wine, but I had a surprisingly lovely experience at Avant Comptoir that evening. No wait, no undue shoving. A screaming fresh octopus carpaccio, a faintly oriental salade d'oreilles de cochon (pigs' ears), and a bottle of Georges Descombes 2008 Brouilly, kindly fetched from nextdoor for us after a brief back and forth with the manager - all of this was sublime, and the memory is only lightly marred, in retrospect, by the fact that I returned two days later and had a totally abysmal experience, one that regretfully confirmed my initial diagnosis of the place as being a good concept executed with neither grace nor consistency.
literary references,
sloppy restaurateurism
14 September 2011
n.d.p. in piemonte: luigi ferrando, ivrea
I'm not yet so established as a wine writer that I don't still feel a residual bit of outsidery shame at contacting estates and asking busy winemakers to make time for someone with no purchasing power. Writing about wine estates can do them a valuable service - I wouldn't do it if I didn't believe this - but the estates that interest me most are rarely those that need much promotion. As such, in preparing for our Piedmont sojourn, I just sent a carpetbomb of emails to the region's most interesting winemakers, explaining that I was a wine writer traveling with my friend J, an actual wine buyer, and asking could we perhaps pop in for a visit?
To my disappointment, I received no response from the Luigi Ferrando estate, by whom we were to pass on our car journey from Sierre to Monforte. Ferrando produce arguably the greatest Nebbiolo outside of Barolo or Barbaresco, under an appellation called Carema in the Canavese, a psychotically steep alpine region abutting the Valle d'Aosta. Both J and I had previously had notable success selling these wines in California, where they're distributed by Neal Rosenthal.
It was a good thing J had the good sense to just phone up the estate with almost zero notice from where we stayed in Switzerland, non parlo italiano be damned. We wound up with an appointment the next day, not with current winemaker Roberto Ferrando, who had just left for vacation, but with his father, the man himself, Luigi Ferrando.
12 September 2011
what's in a name: la compagnie des vins surnaturels, 75006
This past Thursday I attended the opening of a sharp nightclubby wine bar in the 6ème off the Marché Saint Germain, the new project of the enterprising folks responsible for a trio of Paris' best cocktail bars (Experimental Cocktail Club, Curio Parlour, and Prescription). Befitting the location, and what I perceive to be the increasingly profit-minded priorities of the owners, the new wine bar offers a substantial list of conventional expense-account wines: established greats, obvious classics, show-off bottles. The list contains perhaps ten recognizeably "natural" wines,* but is fully 50% Bordeaux, reflecting a partnership (I'm told) with someone involved with an esteemed Bordeaux portfolio.**
Ordinarily I would decline to post anything on this. It is not a natural wine bar, for one thing, and additionally the Native Companion presently works for the company, creating the potential for a conflict of interest.*** But, in what I can only presume is not an error, but rather an outrageously hubristic thumb-in-the-eye to anyone who cares about or works with or understands natural wine, the owners have christened the bold new not-especially-natural wine venture "La Compagnie des Vins Surnaturels."
It would be remiss to let this pass without comment. They seem to be asking for it.
not natural at all,
wine bars
09 September 2011
neither: frenchie bar à vin, 75002
I finally got around to popping into Frenchie Bar à Vin the other day. I was meeting a friend of a friend (now just friend) called T who was passing through Paris. My somewhat perverse original idea was not to have a meal, but rather to patronise the new establishment in a manner appropriate to an archetypal wine bar, as it is popularly conceived: a meeting place, somewhere to pop in and have an informal splash.
A doomed effort, doomed from the get-go. I did initial research on wait times, something one doesn't do for the Archetypal Wine Bar In The Sky, and was informed that to guarantee no wait the best thing is to arrive smack at opening hour, 7pm. This was, for once, convenient for me, so I did. Upon arrival I joined the ranks of perhaps five other people, holding twelve seats between us. By the time T arrived, a few minutes late, several of us earlybirds were reading paperbacks, which activity, you can imagine, did nothing to create a convivial atmosphere.
There wasn't such an atmosphere the night I went, and I ruefully suspect there's slim chance of drumming one up in a place that ranks this insensibly high on tourists' must-visit lists, a place where your seat real estate is actively coveted by bespectacled native businessmen with pursed lips, holding full glasses like access passes, peeved at having to wait. As a wine bar, it's draggy. It was just lucky that T and I got along swimmingly. And that, despite the misnomer, Frenchie Bar à Vin still manages to be an enjoyable experience on its own terms, which is to say as a terrific small plates restaurant at 7pm sharp.
greek wine,
not their fault,
overinflated hype,
serbian wine,
wine bars
08 September 2011
n.d.p. en suisse: raclette dinner
My first introduction to raclette service came shortly after my arrival in Paris, in the apartment of a colleague who had one of those spacecrafty tabletop grills where you sautée meat and vegetable accompaniments on top while the cheese roasts in tiny trays in the middle. I've always found the experience fun and communal, if deadly; the lakefuls of molten cheese tend to render me unable to eat for days at a stretch.
Swiss mountain folk seem to have a higher tolerance for such things. (At least, higher than half-Japanese Pennsylvanians.) Apparently in the Valais, where my friend C's brother N lives, raclette was at one point such an integral part of the diet that homes were built with a basement room dedicated specifically to raclette consumption, which clever arrangement kept the odors of bubbling cheese from permeating the rest of the house, the laundry, the drapes, etc. N's house contains one of these raclette-dens, and it was there that we all shared a meal of the famous cheese, this time paired with local Valais wines and prepared using an arguably more authentic gizmo.
swiss wine,
06 September 2011
n.d.p. en suisse: chateau de villa, sierre
On the way to Monforte d'Alba, where the Native Companion and I had booked a flat for a week with our friends J and C, we all spent a night in Sierre, in Switzerland, where C's brother N lives in a narrow multistoried wooden house with something like six decks that clings to a steep hillside crammed with vines.
Sierre, I only realised upon arrival,* is smack in the Valais, Switzerland's biggest and most dizzyingly diverse wine-producing region. "Biggest" here should be taken relative to Switzerland's overall wine output, which in 2009 was a tiny 1.1 million hectolitres**, almost none of it exported. (For comparison, French wine production in the same year was over 48 million hectolitres.***) The Valais is, however, ampelographically diverse by any standard, home to a panoply of regional oddities, ranging from refreshing white Fendants to the rich oak-aged red Cornalins. Many, for all practical purposes, cannot be tasted elsewhere, because both the incorrigible strength of the Swiss economy and the generally feather-light character of the wines make the product uniquely unsuited to the global marketplace.
I was accordingly over-the-moon when N suggested we all take an apero at a local wine destination, a bar / restaurant / cave / museum called Chateau de Villa.
01 September 2011
let this not be the future: le floreal, 75010
I wouldn't consider myself assimilated by a long shot. But I've been in Paris long enough by now that there are times I don't feel worlds apart from my adoptive society. From the street markets to the Velib system to the ready availability of natural wines, the place suits me fine - I often pass uninterrupted weeks under the sunny impression that I share some priorities and perspective with Parisians-at-large.
There is accordingly a great rupturing sense of alienation when I get dragged to a wrenchingly misguided but seemingly popular place like Le Floreal, a new-ish nonstop service restaurant opened near Goncourt by the folks behind 10ème bistro hangout Chez Jeanette. Le Floreal, with its huge menu, Mondrian-in-Vegas paneling, and incongruous chandeliers, fairly drips with investment money and ambition - all apparently in service of importing the worst American restaurant trends for ready consumption by credulous Parisians.
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I went to Old Trafford on Tuesday 12 April knowing that I had to leave the ground at least 10 minutes before the final whistle. I had agreed to meet an important client for dinner in Manchester city centre and could not be late. As Drogba scored for Chelsea, I looked at my watch: I had to leave in three minutes. Fortunately, however, Park Ji-Sung fired in the winner less than 30 seconds later, meaning that I could leave early with a clear conscience.
As I waited in the restaurant for my host and his other guests to arrive, I took the opportunity to review the wine list. Mr Wing is more famous for the quantity of Cristal Champagne that he sells to Premiership footballers and local entrepreneurs than he is for his food, which is distinctly average. Sure enough, the first thing my client ordered was a bottle of Cristal Rose 2002 (£495): salmon pink colour; intense, complex nose full of red fruit, citrus and sweet spices; a crisp, zesty palate layered with concentrated, candied fruits; and a long finish. Each time I returned to the glass something new emerged from it as if to challenge any doubt in my mind as to the wine's perfection.
Cristal Rose 2002 is a tough act to follow but Lafite Rothschild 2006 (£500) is more than capable of meeting the challenge: deep ruby, purple colour; astonishing nose combining crème de cassis, pencil shavings, cedar and black truffle; a concentrated palate; silky tannins; and an exceptional length. The fact that a wine capable of ageing for more than half a century or more can be drunk now is a testament to the skill of the wine maker and the quality of Lafite Rothschild's vineyards. I can safely say that this is one of my top ten wines of all time.
There was a short debate about whether the next wine should be another bottle of Lafite Rothschild 2006 or instead Lafite Rothschild 2002 (£500). As it's not every day that one has the opportunity to taste two vintages of Lafite Rothschild, we opted for the 2002. There was a lot of similarity between the 2002 and 2006 but just as with Manchester United and Chelsea there has to a winner and a loser. By comparison with the 2006, the 2002 seemed to lack structure. I should add, however, that this is about the only criticism I could think of as like its brother the 2002 is one the best wines I have ever tasted. I now understand why Lafite Rothschild is the wine of choice for Chinese billionaires.

subset: commoncrawl


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Rob Diaz de Villegas WFSU-TV
I saw this photo over the weekend when the family and I visited the Florida Aquarium in Tampa. We had known that we were going to be going for several weeks (my son Maximus loves watching marine life in tanks), yet it was only on the drive there that I remembered that I had given two photos to the Aquarium to use for an oyster reef/ toadfish exhibit (the one in the photo to the right was taken by WFSU web producer Trisha Moynihan). Polly Perkins, an exhibit developer for the Aquarium, saw some of the photos on this blog and figured that we might have some images of the habitat. I directed her to our flickr page, where we have hundreds of photographs documenting the research of Dr. David Kimbro and Dr. Randall Hughes of the FSU Coastal & Marine Lab, as well of the coastal ecosystems they work in. In recent months, our In the Grass, On the Reef flickr collection has reflected our expanded interest in ecosystems further inland and in ecotourism. The slideshow below offers a taste of the images we're collecting on our flickr page (if you look hard enough on our page, you can see the image we had in the FSU promotional spot that aired during sporting events in this academic year).
Browse the In the Grass, On the Reef photo collection.
The day after we visited the Aquarium, we took an Easter visit to River Hills Park along the Hillsborough River. When we got there, I was delighted to see a Great Florida Birding and Wildlife Trail sign in the parking lot. It was a great day for bird watching, as blue heron, ibis, and a good variety of ducks and ducklings were frolicking on the riverbank right in front of the boardwalk:
I also noticed a plentitude of apple snails. Last December we paddled the Wacissa River looking for limpkins, and while we saw a lot of cool things, it was a little late in the year and we didn't see limpkins. So when I saw the apple snails, I was hopeful. And then I saw this bird, and I thought, this looks a lot like a limpkin. I checked it in my father-in-law's bird guide, and I'm 99% sure that this is was. If anyone knows that I'm wrong, let me know in the comments section:
You can watch our EcoAdventure along the Apalachicola, where we hit some Birding Trail sites, here. We saw birds, but it was winter and many species had migrated south. With that in mind, we'll be heading to the Saint Marks Wildlife Refuge to catch all the birds heading back into our area. Look for that in May.


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The Cambridge Writers' Workshop Spring in Portland Writing Retreat will take place from April 22-24, 2017. While you're in the home of writers Cheryl Strayed and Ursula K. Le Guin, feel free to go bicycling and explore the terrain, hike, or relax at local cafes for people watching—no matter how you choose to spend your time, this city is full inspiration. We will be staying in the Alberta Arts District during the retreat, an area that is sure to inspire our participants and help them create. The retreat offers multi-genre workshops, as well as craft seminars and time to write. The faculty includes award-winning writers Adam Reid Sexton, Kerry Cohen, Rita Banerjee, and Diana Norma Szokolyai. Genres include fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. The deadline to apply is March 25th, 2017.
Schedule of Classes:
Writing in the Lyric Register (with Diana Norma Szokolyai)
In this writing workshop, we will practice writing in the lyric register, expanding our writing into descriptive, poetic prose. We will look intensively at writing "the moment," slowing down and unpacking a single moment. After examining some examples in literature, we will take to writing and revising our own pieces to unlock the lyrical qualities of a single moment. Our aim will be to pull our readers into the emotionally charged and poetic world of our narratives.
Structuring Your Short Story or Novel (with Adam Reid Sexton)
From the time of Homer to the present day, writers have provided stories with the same basic shape – narrative structure, it's called. Regardless of content, the result of that structure is a kind of reading machine that people feel compelled to experience from start to finish. In this course we learn the elements of classic story structure, as well as how much those elements can be varied without damage to your short-story, novel, or memoir. Learn how to structure stories so potential readers of your work become actual readers.
Writing Memoir Honestly (with Kerry Cohen)
Annie Lamott famously wrote, "You own everything that happened to you. Tell your stories. If people wanted you to write warmly about them, they should have behaved better." If only it were that easy! In this course we will examine the many challenges of writing about other people in memoir. We will discuss some anecdotes from memoir authors, address students' concerns about their own memoirs, and we will complete writing exercises that will allow for practice in writing about ourselves and others honestly and ethically.
Science: Fiction – Building Literary Worlds (with Rita Banerjee)
In this class, we will explore how the fabric and rules of literary worlds in realist and speculative fiction are created. By examining the parameters of social and behavioral codes, human interactions and psychology, and the materiality of worlds, we'll explore that volatile space where truth and lie meet, where conflicts crystallize, and where storytelling disturbs and delights.
Writing the Personal Essay (with Kerry Cohen)
Personal essays allow us to understand one another as fellow humans, to see ourselves in each other. They give us ways to know something in a new way, thereby expanding our understandings of ourselves. They are, in my mind, a key to living a self-examined life; and who wants to live another way? In this course, we will examine select essays by authors for their craft, their purpose, and their effect. Students will brainstorm ideas, write, workshop, and share their own personal essays, resulting in a polished piece by the end.
Playing with Point of View (with Adam Reid Sexton)
What's the best point-of-view strategy to use when writing a particular work of fiction or creative nonfiction – first-person central, or third omniscient? Second-person ("you") – or even first person plural ("we")? This course breaks down the complicated, challenging topic of POV in storytelling, employing mini-lectures, in-class exercises, and short readings by contemporary masters like Jeffrey Eugenides and Lorrie Moore, to turn point of view from an obligation into an opportunity. POV can be fun!
Featured Faculty:
Kerry Cohen is the author of 10 books, including the bestselling Loose Girl: A Memoir of Promiscuity and Girl Trouble: An Illustrated Memoir, her most recent book, which came out October 2016. Kerry is faculty at the Red Earth Low Residency MFA program and is a practicing counselor. She lives with her family in Portland, Oregon.
Adam Reid Sexton teaches writing at Yale University, where he is a Lecturer in the English Department, a Critic on the faculty of Yale's School of Art, and a Silliman Residential College Fellow. He has taught writing at Columbia University and the New School, and he has lectured at the Folger Shakespeare Library, the University of Pennsylvania's Kelly Writers House, and the University of Alabama, where he delivered the Hudson Strode Lecture in the Age of Shakespeare. Sexton is the author of Master Class in Fiction Writing: Techniques from Austen, Hemingway and Other Greats, and with a team of graphic artists, he has adapted four of Shakespeare's tragedies as manga (Japanese-style graphic novels). His anthology Rap on Rap was acquired by Harvard's W.E.B. Dubois Institute for African and African American Research, while Desperately Seeking Madonna is in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Library and Archive. Sexton's fiction, essays, and reviews have been published in the Bellevue Literary Review, the Mississippi Review, and Off Assignment, as well as the Boston Phoenix, the New York Times, and the Village Voice. For four years Sexton curated a reading series at KGB Bar in New York City. He has been interviewed on writing and literature by the New York Times, the Washington Post, Time, and npr.com, and one of his classes was broadcast on BBC Radio.
Rita Banerjee is the Executive Creative Director of the Cambridge Writers' Workshop and teaches at Rutgers University. She received her doctorate in Comparative Literature from Harvard and her MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Washington, and her writing appears in Poets & Writers, The Rumpus, Painted Bride Quarterly, Mass Poetry, Hyphen Magazine, Los Angeles Review of Books, Electric Literature, VIDA: Women in Literary Arts, AWP WC&C Quarterly, Queen Mob's Tea House, Riot Grrrl Magazine, The Fiction Project, Objet d'Art, KBOO Radio's APA Compass, and elsewhere. Her first collection of poems, Cracklers at Night (Finishing Line Press), received First Honorable Mention for Best Poetry Book of 2011-2012 at the Los Angeles Book Festival, and her novella, A Night with Kali, in Approaching Footsteps (Spider Road Press), released in November 2016. Finalist for the 2015 Red Hen Press Benjamin Saltman Award and the 2016 Aquarius Press Willow Books Literature Award, she is currently working on a novel, a book on South Asian literary modernisms, and a collection of lyric essays.
Diana Norma Szokolyai is a writer and Executive Artistic Director of Cambridge Writers' Workshop. She is author of the poetry collections Parallel Sparrows (honorable mention for Best Poetry Book in the 2014 Paris Book Festival) and Roses in the Snow (first runner-up Best Poetry Book at the 2009 DIY Book Festival). She also records her poetry with musicians and has collaborated with several composers. Her poetry-music collaboration with Flux Without Pause led to their collaboration "Space Mothlight" hitting #16 on the Creative Commons Hot 100 list in 2015, and can be found in the curated WFMU Free Music Archive. Szokolyai's work has been recently reviewed by The London Grip and published in Quail Bell Magazine, Lyre Lyre, The Fiction Project, The Boston Globe, Dr. Hurley's Snake Oil Cure, The Dudley Review and Up the Staircase Quarterly, as well as anthologized in The Highwaymen NYC #2, Other Countries: Contemporary Poets Rewiring History, Always Wondering and Teachers as Writers. Szokolyai earned her Ed.M. in Arts in Education from Harvard University and her M.A. in French Literature from the University of Connecticut, while she completed coursework at the Sorbonne and research on Romani writers in Paris. She is currently at work on three books and recording an album of poetry & music.
Deadline: March 25, 2017
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text:
Hurricanes Katrina and Rita may have caused up to half of recorded stillbirths in worst hit areas
Hurricanes Katrina and Rita may have been responsible for up to half of all recorded stillbirths in the worst hit areas, suggests research published online in the Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health.
And the true fetal death toll may even be higher, because of the displacement of people whose homes and way of life were destroyed, suggest the authors.
Hurricane Katrina struck the state of Louisiana, USA, on August 29 2005, followed by Hurricane Rita a month later on September 24. Katrina was the costliest natural disaster in American history, while Rita was the fourth most intense hurricane ever recorded.
Both hurricanes caused widespread damage to property and infrastructure and left a trail of injury, death, and trauma in their wake.
The researchers used composite figures from several government agencies, showing that the hurricanes caused damage in 38 out of 64 areas (parishes) in the state, with almost 205, 000 housing units affected.
In four parishes, more than half of the local housing stock was damaged; in three others, between 10% and 50% was damaged. Elsewhere, the level of damage to housing stock was categorised as 1%-10%, or less than 1%.
The researchers then calculated the odds of a pregnancy resulting in a stillbirth in damaged and undamaged areas (less than 1% damage) in the 20 months before, and the 28 months after, Katrina struck.
But they also looked at all birth data between 1999 and 2009 in Louisiana to gauge usual patterns: during this period, 5194 stillbirths were recorded.
They then used space-time models to assess whether the extent of damage wrought by the hurricanes was linked to the risk of stillbirths in a given area.
Their calculations indicated that the risk of a pregnancy ending in a stillbirth was 40% higher in parishes where 10-50% of housing stock had been damaged, and more than twice as high in areas where over 50% of the housing stock had taken a hit.
After taking account of known risk factors, every 1% increase in the extent of damage to housing stock was associated with a corresponding 7% rise in the number of stillbirths.
Based on these figures, the researchers calculated that of the 410 stillbirths officially recorded in extensively damaged parishes, up to half (117-205) may have been directly caused by the hurricanes and the subsequent devastation.
Their estimates suggest that stillbirths made up around 17.5% to 30.5% of the total death toll in the wake of the hurricanes.
But the risk of stillbirth may have been even higher, suggest the researchers. In the hardest hit areas, the number of live births was more than 40% lower in 2007 than it was in 2004. And in parishes with more half of the housing stock damaged, the live birth rate fell by 79% in the three months following Katrina.
This "precipitous decline" is likely to reflect the well documented exodus of residents from the coastal parishes of Louisiana into other areas, they suggest.
They point to previously published research, showing a link between maternal stress, depression, and trauma and birth complications, including stillbirths.
And they warn that climate change scientists have predicted an increase in the frequency, intensity, and duration of North Atlantic tropical cyclones like Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.
"Insofar as our empirical findings meaningfully generalise in time, the health risks to the unborn and their perinatal development will likely increase with more frequent and intense hurricanes," they write.
More information: Maternal exposure to hurricane destruction and fetal mortality, Online First, DOI: 10.1136/jech-2014-203807


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View the city's tree ordinance.
Show All Answers
Homeowners wishing to plant a tree in the city right of way at their property should first contact the Street Department. While the city is happy to allow residents to plant trees, there are certain species that are not ideal for planting along city streets. The street superintendent will work with the homeowner to select the proper species and once the trees are on site, the street department will plant the trees for the resident to ensure safety of underground utilities and proper placement in the right of way. Minimum diameter is two inches for trees planted in the right of way.
The arborist will conduct a thorough inspection and determine whether the tree in fact should be removed or will recommend a course of action to take with the tree.
Only trees that are dead, dying, or pose an immediate danger to life or property will be removed. The city does not remove live trees


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DIY decorating with books
If you need a cheap decorating idea that will make you look smarter, check out these tutorials using books as wall art. You probably have a million books sitting around already. If not, hit up your nearest garage sale, rescue some from a dumpster, or take some from the stacks on the floor at my house.
Bookshelf made of books by McJulie-O (scroll down for how-to)
Upside down trick bookshelf by Fungus Amungus
Invisible bookshelf by May December Home that doesn't sacrifice any books, or one that does at Lifehacker
Book wall art at Paper n Stitch


text: Is a chocolate shortage imminent? Why are Fair Trade and Organic chocolate so important? Chocolate does not have caffeine. Most people don't know what chocolate tastes like. Milk chocolate is candy. The happy results of the Chocolate war. Should i worry about eating Chocolate harvested by slaves? My list of over 100 real chocolate bars!


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450 g
Not a programming expert, but you have the talent to build a great user interface? Don't worry! Visual TFT will do the hard job for you. You just focus on the design of you TFT GUIs, and the software will handle the rest.
This product is no longer in stock
Availability date:
Kit includes:
Architecture | ARM (32-bit) |
Category | Bundles-Kits-Sheilds |
Plastic Pen for TouchPanel
Smart programmable touch 2.8'' display, packed with features. Mikromedia can be used for controlling a wide range of applications: from simple hobby projects, up to entire machine installations. It is powered by STM32F407VGT6 microcontroller unit, it gives you true power to build GUI-centric embedded applications.
Need a mass storage in your device? With our class 4 microSD card you have 2GB of memory and additional adapter for full compatibility with your devices. It is suitable for usage with microSD and MMC/SD slots on mikroElektronika development boards and add-on boards.
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Lifelong friends Wilf (Billy Connolly) and Reggie (Tom Courtenay), together with former colleague Cissy (Pauline Collins), are residents of Beecham House, a home for retired opera singers. Every year on Giuseppe Verdi's birthday, the residents unite to give a concert to raise funds for their home. But when Jean Horton (Maggie Smith), a former grande dame of the opera fallen on hard times, also Reggie's ex-wife and the fourth and most celebrated member of their former quartet, moves into the home to everyone's surprise, the plans for this year's concert start to unravel. As old grudges threaten to undermine past glories and theatrical temperaments play havoc with the rehearsal schedule, it becomes apparent that having four of the finest singers in English operatic history under one roof offers no guarantee that the show will go on. Quartet is a joyous and entertaining film about redefining old age and growing old with hope, demonstrating how art illuminates life and the human spirit remains undimmed even as the brightest stars start to fade.
Maggie Smith, Tom Courtenay, Billy Connolly
Dustin Hoffman


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Help search engines to better understand your website with an XML sitemap.
Help search engines understand your website structure and know which pages to crawl by implementing an XML sitemap.
What is an XML Sitemap?
An XML sitemap is a structured list of the pages on your website that you'd like search engines to crawl and index. It's a useful tool to help search engine crawlers understand your website structure, know which pages to crawl, their relative importance and when they were last updated.
XML is a markup language much like HTML. The sitemap file is commonly stored as sitemap.xml in the root directory of your web server.
Note: A robots.txt file is a file on your site you can use to tell search engine crawlers which pages not to index, such as the confirmation page for your contact form or your shopping cart page. It's important to be consistent between your XML sitemap and robots.txt file and not have conflicting information about a page.
While not essential for SEO, an XML sitemap is a good idea for a number of reasons:
A sitemap presents a clear structure.
A sitemap helps search engine crawlers understand the structure of your website and helps them prioritize the most important pages to crawl initially.
A sitemap provides temporal information.
Including the <lastmod> and <changefreq> tags in your xml sitemap tells search engines when a page was last modified and how often it's likely to change. Updating and improving content on a regular basis is good SEO practice and including these tags is a reminder for search engines to update their version of the page.
A sitemap helps crawlers to index pages with no internal links.
Some of your pages may not have internal links pointing to them, making it difficult for search engines to crawl them. A sitemap helps search engines to find all of the important pages on your site. The flip side of this is that a well constructed sitemap can disguise poor on-site navigation so it's important to pay attention to how both search engine crawlers and humans navigate to your site.
XML Sitemap Generators
The task of creating and maintaining an XML sitemap will depend greatly on the size of your website. Luckily there are some great XML sitemap generator tools that do a lot of the heavy lifting and automatically update your sitemap as you make changes to your website. Here are a few of the most popular tools:
XML Sitemap Example
A little knowledge of the structure of an XML sitemap can be valuable whether you a rolling your own or using one of the sitemap generator tools mentioned above.
Here's a basic example of an XML sitemap that includes just two website pages for illustration purposes. Each <url> tag contains a number of tags that help describe the page to search engine crawlers.
<loc> contains the full location of your page and should begin with the protocol (e.g. http:// or https://)
<lastmod> contains the date the page was last modified. Time can optionally be included here using the W3C Date and Time Format.
<changefreq> contains the frequency with which you expect the page to be update. Values can include always, hourly, daily, weekly, monthly, yearly, and never.
<priority> contains a value between 0.0 and 1.0 and signals to search engines how important pages are on your site relative to each other. The default value is 0.5. Assigning a higher value to a page indicates to search engines that you place more importance on that page in terms of crawl priority.
Learn more about the XML sitemap format
Making Your Sitemap Available
Once you have uploaded your sitemap to your website or used a third party tool to generate it for you, it should be available at a url like this: https://mywebsite.com/sitemap.xml
Placing the following line in your robots.txt file will let search engine crawlers know about it:
Sitemap: https://mywebsite.com/sitemap.xml
Submitting Your XML Sitemap to Google
You can also submit your sitemap directly to Google using their Search Console Sitemaps tool.


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- Home
- Government
- Departments
- Police
- Crime Prevention Tips
Crime Prevention Tips
Vacation Watch
If you are out of town for any reason and need the Argyle Police Department to make extra checks on your residence, please fill out the Security Check Form and email it to us at firstname.lastname@example.com or bring it to the police department.Community-Oriented Policing & Problem Solving
Community policing is a philosophy, management style, and organizational strategy that promotes pro-active problem-solving and police-community partnerships to address the causes of crime and fear as well as other community issues.Community watch is a crime prevention program that involves citizens working with each other and with law enforcement agencies to reduce crime and victimization in their communities. It involves:
- Citizens protecting themselves and their property by using common sense crime prevention practices.
- Neighbors getting to know each other, watching out for each other and acting on or reporting suspicious activities.
- Citizens working with groups, community leaders, and more importantly, law enforcement agencies to make entire communities safe and free from crime.
- Neighbors looking out for each other
- Remember. Criminals gravitate to places where they feel safe and secure. They avoid neighborhoods where they are likely to get caught. When they are neither wanted nor welcome, they go someplace else.
Community Watch Security Tips
- Make your home look occupied: Leave some lights and a radio on when you are out.
- Lock your doors: Never leave your house open for "just a moment," always lock your doors.
- Use deadbolt locks: A deadbolt lock is a good deterrent to burglars.
- Don't hide a key outside: Burglars know all the secret hiding places.
- Drill and pin your windows: Window locks can be jimmied; pins cannot.
- Brace sliding glass doors: If the door is braced, the only way a burglar can get through it is to break it.
- Install good exterior lighting: Motion sensor lights and other good lights don't let a burglar hide in the dark.
- Keep bushes and shrubs trimmed: If bushes are too high, someone hiding near your windows and doors cannot be seen.
- Stop mail and paper deliveries: If you go on vacation, stop deliveries or have one of your neighbors collect them.
- Get a dog: Even a small dog may be a deterrent to a burglar.
- Install an alarm system: Houses with alarms are avoided by burglars most of the time.


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Leaked Internal Memo: The NYPD Is Ready For #F29
Posted 12 years ago on Feb. 28, 2012, 7:08 p.m. EST by OccupyWallSt
We'd heard that corporations in the vicinity of Bryant Park—where tomorrow's Shut Down the Corporations demonstration will commence at 9:00 a.m.—were warning their employees not to engage protesters in the area. But we are pleasantly surprised to learn that the New York Police Department is expecting us: as evidenced by the department-wide memo they've issued (see below), the NYPD's Counterterrorism Bureau Terrorism Threat Analysis Group (glad to know they're on top of the important stuff) knows where/when the day's activities will start, how/when the call went out, why we're marching and who we're targeting (B of A+907-5225&ll=40.753792,-73.978651&spn=0.008014,0.017831&oe=utf-8&client=firefox-a&fb=1&gl=us&hq=Bank+of+America+56+East+42nd+Street,+New+York,+NY+(212)+907-5225&cid=0,0,5144071383814236390&t=m&z=16&iwloc=A), Pfizer and Koch Industries). So that's where all of our page views are coming from! They even pasted our #F29 poster into the document!
Their ultimate assessment, however, is pretty tame:
"At this time, there does not appear to be a concrete tactical plan for this demonstration, however the event's main website recommends a number of non-violent tactics, including: "sit-ins, strikes, blockades, boycotts, banner drops, culture jamming, and performance."
Culture jamming? Wikipedia, help me out:
"Culture jamming, coined in 1984, denotes a tactic used by many anti-consumerist social movements to disrupt or subvert mainstream cultural institutions, including corporate advertising. Guerrilla semiotics and night discourse are sometimes used synonymously with the term culture jamming."
Subvert corporate advertising? Not unless Poster Boy is back. The memo concludes:
"There have been no specific references to violence in any of the public materials, online comments, or forum posts associated with this upcoming event; nevertheless, the institutions listed are likely locations for upcoming public demonstrations by groups associated with the Occupy Wall Street movement, which may result in disruptive activity."
"No specific references to violence"? Great. So how 'bout you not randomly pick peaceful protesters out of the crowd and slam them to the ground tomorrow? Also, please don't pepper spray us. Thanks.
Here's the memo (it pays to have friends in high places):
Download: f29-nypd-report.pdf
Source: Occupied Wall Street Journal


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I just wanted to give a quick shout out to my newest blog sponsors. Simon Says Stamp
Scrapbook Chicks & Goshery. They all have such great things to offer. Check them out!!
We have a GREAT giveaway today from Simon Says Stamp
Simon Says Stamp was founded in 2002 and offers over 100,000 paper art supplies. We are located in Ohio, the heart of it all. Our customers are the heart of our business. With happy customers and one stopping shopping our goal, we work really hard to find the best products in the world. USA & Canada orders over $70 ship for free. International orders over $200 ship for free with excellent International shipping rates for smaller orders too.
They would like to give away a $50 Gift Certificate to one lucky winner. Leave a comment and we will randomly pick a winner Tuesday Night.
Check out their blog as well. They have some really great things going on over there with tons of Inspiration.
Happy Monday!!


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Model Comparison
Review and merge changes in models, display original models, filter and save comparison results. For more information, watch Using Projects to Collaborate, Track, and Merge Changes and Perform Code Reviews (4 min, 50 sec).
visdiff | Compare two files or folders |
- About Simulink Model Comparison
Learn about selecting Simulink® models to compare, how to explore the differences, view the changes highlighted in the original models, and merge differences using three-way model merge or two-way merge.
- Compare Simulink Models
Review and merge changes between models, display original models, filter and save comparison results.
- Display Differences in Original Models
Control highlighting of differences in original models, and view changes in model configuration parameters.
- Merge Simulink Models from the Comparison Report
Resolve conflicts using three-way model merge, two-way merge, and by merging MATLAB® Function block code.
- Export, Print, and Save Model Comparison Results
Archive comparison reports in printable reports or zip files, or export results to the workspace.
- Comparing Models with Identical Names
Understand how Simulink creates temporary copies to have two models of the same name in memory at the same time, and how to control prompts to close files.
- Work with Referenced Models and Library Links
The comparison report does not include changes to any referenced models or linked libraries. To examine your whole hierarchy, use a project instead.
- Compare Project or Model Templates
Compare model or project templates (SLTX files) and create a comparison report.
- Simulink Model Comparison for GitHub Pull Requests
Automatically attach the comparison reports to the pull request or push event using GitHub® Actions.


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The sci-fi procedural Torchwood ended its second season by knocking off two members of its crack alien-investigating team. The survivors are still reeling in the show's third season, which comes in the unusual form of a five-hour miniseries called Children of Earth. Shorter than a full season (by eight hours) and longer than any story the series has yet attempted, Children of Earth takes on an epic quality in its scale of doomsday import and its personal character dramas. It's a case of good news, bad news for fans, who will have to face seeing the show's "universe" even more in shambles by the end of the five hours than it was at the end of Season Two.
Children of Earth baits its hook with imagery that pays homage to the British science-fiction classic Village of the Damned. All around the world, children simultaneously stop in their tracks. Soon, they're channeling the message of a threatening alien race designated the 456 by the British government (456 being the frequency of their communication). The 456, we learn, has been here before and has colluded with the British government (and immortal Torchwood agent Captain Jack Harkness) in dark dealings. The sins of the past have come home to roost, and the 456 are demanding the unthinkable: unless the Earth delivers ten percent of the population of pre-pubescent children, the 456 will destroy the planet.
This unthinkable scenario establishes stratospheric stakes (literally, and beyond) and sets the stage for a series of moral and ethical dilemmas for government officials and Captain Jack (John Barrowman). As a shadowy conspiracy plays out between Permanent Secretary to the Home Office John Frobisher (Peter Capaldi of In the Loop) and craven Prime Minister Brian Green (Nicholas Farrell of Amazing Grace), Torchwood itself is targeted when the alien hunters seemingly could do the most good. The bad timing extends to the personal lives of Jack and his co-worker/lover Ianto Jones (Gareth David-Lloyd), bisexuals who are coming to terms with the scary designation "couple," as well as their work partner Gwen Cooper (Eve Myles) and her husband Rhys, who get life-changing news.
The theme of family ties helps to fill out the miniseries, as we meet heretofore unseen relatives of both Ianto and Jack. The latter are especially intriguing, keeping in mind that the ageless Jack must stand still as his loved ones grow old. The miniseries also toys with the notion of replacement members of Torchwood to fill Season Two's vacancies, particularly in the case of Lois Habiba (Cush Jumbo), who fills the story function of an unavailable Martha Jones (Freema Agyeman, booked for Law & Order: UK may yet return one day), said to be on honeymoon. (At least Gwen's old pal PC Andy, played by Tom Price, puts in time in Children of Earth.)
It's difficult to discuss Children of Earth without spoiling it, but Davies and co-writers John Fay and James Moran load it up with enough surprises to keep jaws dropped and minds racing. Davies shows humanity at its best and worst in this dark tale, which poses nasty dilemmas for the politicians and especially Captain Jack, whose redemption for past sins comes in the harrowing form of yet another sin. Davies once more poses that eternal moral question: can the greater good justify a horrible action? The high ratings and international attention for Children of Earth would seem to make a fourth season inevitable, and Davies has said it's "ready to go." One thing is certain: it'll be a "rebuilding year" for an emotionally devastated Captain Jack Harkness.
Fans will be pleasantly surprised when they get a load of Torchwood: Children of Earth on Blu-ray. Though the transfer is encoded at 1080i, the picture quality is positively stunning, especially in comparison with previous seasons of the show on Blu-ray. Torchwood is at its sharpest here, with spot-on color and contrast and strong depth. The DTS-HD 5.1 Surround mix likewise packs a wallop with pulse-pounding, wraparound action effects and music.
The two-disc set features a segment of the fan-favorite Torchwood Declassified behind-the-scenes series. Given the length of the mini-series, this entry seems a bit short, but it provides a nice summary of Davies' thinking behind "Series Three," reflections by the cast, and some of the production hurdles overcome by the crew. "Torchwood Declassified" (31:46, SD) features interviews with executive producer Russell T. Davies, director Euros Lyn, John Barrowman, Eve Myles, Gareth David-Lloyd, Nick Briggs, assistant location manager Gareth Skelding, prosthetics designer Neill Gorton, and special effects technician Danny Hargreaves.
Science-fiction buffs should definitely check out this exciting miniseries, though they'd do well to begin at the beginning with Torchwood: The Complete First Season.
Review gear: |
Panasonic Viera TC-P55VT30 55" Plasma 1080p 3D HDTV
Oppo BDP-93 Universal Network 3D Blu-ray Disc Player
Denon AVR2112CI Integrated Network A/V Surround Receiver
Pioneer SP-BS41-LR Bookshelf Speaker (2)
Pioneer SP-C21 Center Speaker
Pioneer SW-8 Subwoofer


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£55m of transformational growth projects in pipeline for Leeds City Region
One year on from the announcement of the £1 billion-plus Growth Deal for Leeds City Region, 14 projects are being developed.
Between them they are expected to create over 5,000 jobs and more than 1,700 homes. They have also attracted almost £350m private sector investment.
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Hide AdAll of these Leeds City Region Growth Deal projects have been designed to support the LEP and Combined Authority's priorities to improve local transport links, accelerate housing growth and town centre regeneration, develop a skilled and flexible workforce, support growing businesses and build a resource efficient city region.
They have each been subjected to a rigorous appraisal process to ensure they fit with the ambition set out in the region's Strategic Economic Plan and deliver jobs and growth for businesses and residents.
Councillor Peter Box, and Wakefield Council Leader and Chair of West Yorkshire Combined Authority said: "West Yorkshire Combined Authority is committed to creating an environment that encourages businesses to grow, that creates 62,000 new, good quality jobs, enables all young people to find job and training opportunities and supports the building of 65,000 new homes in the next five years.
"These 14 projects, which are in various stages of development, will all help to make those ambitions a reality for people across the City Region.
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide AdRoger Marsh OBE, Chair of the LEP said: "One momentous year after our Growth Deal announcement we have made real progress on delivering, at scale, the projects and programmes to achieve transformational economic growth.
"Having been through a thorough appraisal process, we are confident these projects will bring maximum benefits to businesses and residents across the region, further cementing Leeds City Region as a great place to do business and creating an environment for enterprise to thrive."
Among the agreed schemes are four skills capital projects, supporting colleges in the region to create a world class learning environment for young people - the first of which starts on site later this week in Kirklees.
The LEP's successful grant support programme for small and medium sized businesses, has secured a further £18m for the next three years to continue supporting businesses to grow, innovate new products and expand their workforce.
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Hide AdOver £16m has been committed to housing and regeneration projects across the region to deliver the infrastructure for growth.
Additionally, £30m a year for major transport projects in the region was secured as part of the historic Growth Deal, with the first project already underway in Wakefield.
This £55m approval of projects forms part of the wider £627m Growth Deal funding secured for 2015-2021.


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His "Blurred Lines" single has ruled the Billboard Hot 100 all summer. Now Robin Thicke, 36, is dropping Blurred Lines the album on July 30. The R&B crooner—and son of Growing Pains actor Alan Thicke—chats with TIME.
ROBIN THICKE: Sorry I'm late. I was in the steam room and I'm looking at the clock and I go, okay, it's 5:00—and I'm like 'holy sh*t! I've got an interview!'
TIME: I'm sorry to interrupt your steam!
How dare you? [laughs]
Congratulations on the three MTA Video Music Award nominations for "Blurred Lines." The response to the video has been incredible.
We're very excited. I just wanted to make a fun, silly video because I hadn't made one of those. And [ director] Diane Martel, who I've known for 10 years, she knew me more than almost any other director I could have picked. She just kind of wanted to show a different side of me than I had shown, which is exactly what I wanted to do, and I just put my trust in her hands and she knocked it out of the park.
(MORE: The 11 Best Music Videos of 2013 So Far)
There are a lot of buzzed-about moments in the video—the half-naked-model dance, the balloon message about your manhood, etc. Did you argue over who would do what?
We all followed [Martel's] lead. She would just yell out, "Sausages! Grab the sausages! Robin! Get in there!" And we just shot all day. I don't think she took a lunch break. It was manic because she knew she had to make two videos so it became kind of manic, but it was a blast.
So it was all impromptu? You didn't sit down before and say, 'T.I., you're going to brush the hair'?
We really didn't. I'm sure she had some ideas in her head. The good thing is you know there's an editing room, so you're up for anything when you're shooting because you know you can always take it out later. She'd say, 'I want to do this thing with balloons that say Robin Thicke has a big…' and I'd say 'I don't think that's going to work, but you know what, just shoot it.'
What was your favorite moment on set?
Definitely Pharrell [Williams] holding the lamb. I don't think he's held a lot of farm animals.
What was it like the first time you saw the final version?
I loved the clothed version, and the nude version I thought maybe was a little too much. The gentleman in me wasn't sure that it was necessary. Then I showed it to my wife and all of her friends and everyone's immediate response seemed to be 'This is amazing. You have to put this out.'
People have criticized the song's lyrics—like "You're a good girl/ I know you want it"—for being "rape-y." How do you respond to that?
It's natural. Art is supposed to create conversation so we knew there would be conversation and that I don't mind. It was only the one article that the lady wrote where she was implying that the lyrics of the song suggested rape or something, and I was like now wait a second, that's not fair. I thought that that was irresponsible. But what art is supposed to do is make us talk about what's going on in the world, and where we are as men and women and all those kinds of the things. I don't mind having that conversation.
(MORE: Kanye West Premieres New Interactive Video For "Black Skinhead")
What's your take on saying the word hashtag—yea or nay?
Right now it's pretty funny. It'll go away quickly.
It'll get #old?
Yeah, it'll get #used.
You co-wrote a song for this album with your dad. What was that like?
My dad has always been one of my best friends and Mr. Cool. He never stops creating and writing and stuff like that, so he was working with my production partner on just a couple song ideas he was trying to flesh out for a musical that he's helping write, and I happened to be finishing a couple songs there that day. I came to the studio and I was, like, hold on Dad, I have to put a couple ideas down for this song I'm writing. And then he started throwing out some words to me, and I was, like, that's really good, Dad, I'm going to use that. After a while, we ended up writing pretty much all the verses together.
It's impressive that you guys rhymed obstreperous with "a cost to us."
That's obviously my father. That's someone with a college degree.
(MORE: Timberlake, Macklemore Lead with 6 MTV VMA Nods)
How are you gonna top the "Blurred Lines" video?
I have no idea.
We definitely don't want to go further. I have a feeling Diane Martel wants to go further, but that's because she's standing behind the camera. I haven't seen the lightbulb go off yet on the perfect idea but we're still trying to find it.


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Show All Answers
Contact Schertz EMS
See Fire Marshal Office page
Fire pits are permitted when used at least 10 feet from any structures and is a contained fire pit (must have a screen to control flying embers). Fire pits are not allowed to be used on porches or balconies in apartments and duplexes. No burning of trash is allowed.
City codes reference
Section 308.1.4 Open-flame cooking devices. Charcoal burners and other open-flame cooking devices shall not be operated on combustible balconies or within 10 feet (3048 mm) of combustible construction.
1. One- and two- family dwellings.
Section 308.5 Fire Hazard Prohibited. In Group R, Division 1 & 2 occupancies, a person shall not construct, erect, install, maintain or use any incinerator or barbecue pit or so burn any combustible material as to constitute or occasion a fire hazard by the use or burning thereof or as to endanger the life or property of any person thereof.
The use or burning of any such devices under the following conditions shall constitute a fire hazard and is strictly prohibited:
1. Within 10 linear feet of any combustible surface, including but not limited to decks, porches, balconies, walls, or verandas.
2. Beneath any balcony, porch, roof overhang, deck, or veranda.
The following are general requirements for residential sheds or accessory buildings. For a full list of all requirements please review Unified Development Code Sec.21.8.2 Accessory Buildings, Uses and Structures.
Residential Shed and Accessory Structure Flyer
Click here for info on emergency notifications
Fire extinguishers still under pressure can be disposed of at the City sponsored fall and spring clean up event or by contacting a fire extinguisher company for drop off. Extinguishers that have no pressure or have been discharged can be put into your everyday trash can.
Inspection and recharge
For inspection and/or recharge contact an authorized fire extinguisher company for assistance
Your Schertz firefighters are always ready to respond! Our firefighters work 48 hour shifts and they spend a lot of time together. We encourage our firefighters to spend time together sharing a meal as a way to build camaraderie. The fire crews put their own money together into a food fund when making a trip to the grocery store to purchase food for the shift. They go as a group to the store so that then can quickly respond to any incident that comes in at a moments notice.


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Previously on KIZITO SPEAKS…
Boring journey. Boring city. Boring Dan?
Oh well. I was just happy to be in a new place. New experience. I would enjoy this place. I had to na.
I arrived PH; big city, with lots of Rumu(s). Dan wasn't quite straightforward with the directions he gave, but I got to him anyway, after going around Rumu-this and Rumu-that.
Dan. With his rough face and eccentric accent. Oh, he's been cycling – bigger, firmer butt. Skin tone was perfect. I was hot inside. But I just couldn't do away with the attitude. I always gave him attitude, because I wasn't completely in love with him.
So it was lust then?
I was welcomed. It was a very small apartment. But I was OK. Dan was OK.
I settled, ate something. All the while Dan kept staring at me with a rather sheepish expression on his face. Like one of those silly girls in Game of Thrones.
I like Dan. Dan is horny. I like Dan. Dan is in love. All memories of Owerri and Kene and school-ish was out of my mind. My parents called. I'm fine. I'm studying. I'm doing OK.
Lord knows I was in a man's house in Port Harcourt. He would fuck me tonight. I wouldn't mind because he was my boyfriend (whom I can't seem to LOVE). I would enjoy the sex even, because it was not Kene.
"I've missed you," Dan said.
I knew that. We were worlds apart. I was like a monster eclipse that occurs once in hundreds of years. Who knew when he'd see me again?
He kept staring. Like a little girl who was hoping her uncle is a pedophile and would come do her. His blood was hot, I could feel it.
Should there be any tension? I mean, he was my boyfriend anyway. The room was unbearably hot!
Minutes passed. OK. He stepped out, he'd be back soon. Settle down well, Kizito.
Power came on.
Dan was back.
We chitchatted.
Night fell.
So the room was cool. He put the light out. We talked in the cool dark room; touchy stuff. I got teary. He loved me much. He knew I didn't love him as much as I should. I didn't know what to do; I gave him that same nasty attitude. I was angry at him for no good reason.
Then he hugged me. I melted into him. Touchy-feely stuff.
"Please. Please," he said. "I don't know why you treat me like this. Why don't you love me?"
"Maybe it's not you. The problem is me."
"We can work things out. Please…"
I sobbed then.
"I love you," he told me.
"I love you, too," I responded.
I had to. I would try to.
The sex that followed was passionate. Sweaty and passionate. With power going off and coming back on.
The night was peaceful. Morning came. Bright. Dan headed to work. I stayed in the room, trying to read, to study. Meh. I was in all day. (I can be in all day. Like Rapunzel up in that tower) Dan was back at night.
It was like a husband and housewife thing. With me being home and all that. I didn't know anyone else in PH, and it wasn't like the place had the beautiful effect of dragging and calling you out on its own to enjoy yourself. And the high cost of living sef. Ptueh! I'd rather remain inside. Peace.
But ah! If them find out say I dey man house! Chei.
The night before I left PH was a beautiful one. We went for a stroll. Something like a short tour round the Rumu communities. It was nice. I never wanted it to end. But it had to end. We were going to end.
Somehow I knew immediately I left Port Harcourt that my relationship with Dan was going to suffer.
It did.
Oh, it did.
Written by Kizito
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34 Comments
There's no way a relationship of unrequited affection survives. No way at all. Add to that long distance, and it can't even really be called a relationship.
This series has become whack jhor, "like a little girl hoping her uncle is a paedophile and will come do her", I bet that was supposed to be humorous.
Mandy is always first to comment why.
I think I now know Dan and Kizito
Love unrequited tsk tsk tsk, can't handle it.
I can do e-relationship and did anyone else notice the RUMU-comunity?-
Ehen? What did Rumu do to you? ???
Well! Well!! Well!!!
I've been hearing things about RUMU communities and It is not appealing to the ear, don't think I can ever visit PH, no hate.
Use ur coma's! …..its hard to read with…full stops everywhere!
But sir, even your comment didn't measure up to the grammar standards you are screaming for na.
Okay, I stopped reading when it got to "the little girl who was hoping her uncle is a pedophile and would come do her"
Good morning.
Why would pink panther even publish this story?
Who is this kizito?
I thought this is where everyone is supposed to learn how to have sense?
Nonsense, come after this post is you don't have home training.
Be calm django.
You could comment only when you don't like things. You sound like a feisty one but you need to be pacific.
Just my opinion.-
I should be calm
I need to be Pacific
Because that's what you think I should be?
Am I here to make you comfortable?
Who are you again? ?
If you look anything like your avatar, it would explain alot of unnecessary outburst you display here periodically.
Unnecessary? With you sperm filled brain, how will it be necessary?
You think everyone must be as weak as you are, right? I must laugh out loud to win your approval, abi?
Abasha jatijati, when you see nothing wrong with the entry. Iranu oshi
Do I blame you?
all this coming from a mentally unstable silly girl. I don't feel offended at all.
Get the help you need. Goodluck finding a good shrink in Nigeria.
*singing in drag* This Gurl is on fire, fire, fire….
Lol, Django biko suffry with my kizito abeg. I know you probably want him to be a literary genius but I don't think he is that. His writings have always been So random. I am just happy to be reading about someone else's life. Bear with us please.
I used to be a fan but this is just so annoying.
You end up using people and you think it is fun. If you don't like someone, why would you travel to visit? Why would you ask for help or money? You remind me of a lot of guys I have had encounters with. You know you don't like someone, what stops you from letting the person know?
I kinda agree with Django…this piece is neither here nor there. Not entertaining or even educative. It is just a piece of crap.
I like this post.
I like the way kizito writes. It's beautiful in my opinion. The honesty is there. He isn't trying to paint himself in a good light. He tells it all as he's thinking it. I understand that it'd offend a lot of people and he has often left me exasperated by his stories but reading them has always been a delight.
Kizito, listen to the critics (the ones that come with bile and those that offer actual constructive criticism). Sift through what you're hearing.. Decide the ones to keep and discard the rest but art is at its most beautiful and satisfying when you're staying true to yourself. Everybody can't understand you but the ones that will will.
Alright thanks, Kizito's spokesperson
"…the ones that come with bile…"
I know your kind and you shouldn't be allowed near children, how much more have one.
You suddenly think you're wise and superior because of a certain KitoDiaries somewhere on the World Wide Web.
Misinterpret this post however you want. That is your own cup of tea.
But hey, I come in peace. ?
Abegi calm down.
What have I said now that you think you should come at me with the children bit. Did I support his attempt at making pedophilia funny?Really though you need to calm down. The way you get into fits of rage like a headless chicken is getting unbecoming.
The paedophile joke wasn't nice, but everything else was. But you know instead of sleeping with all these men in different cities, why don't you settle down and start a family with one? All I'm saying
I understand that you're an ashewo, but using people is a whole ball game altogether. I know you're trying to be sincere in your story telling, but maybe you should take a break and work on your personality, becuase you my dear is someone I would never want to meet.
These students and using older men for money. Just make sure you don't get STDs
What child ever dreams her Uncle should do her? You thot that up or you actually lived it? Its quite sickening!!!
Is this one BF abi someone you just holding on to to scratch your itch until something better comes along? -
Most Nigerian gay men and their online stupidity.
Kizito, If there is anything I have truly admired about ur stories since its inception, is how it is always honest and not designed to put you in the running for Miss Congeniality on KD. I may not be the biggest fan of ur life's choices (going by ur stories), but I'd rather swallow the painful truth about how you live(d) and the lessons that came with it than be served a spiced out story of elite state of perfection.
Kitodiaries is suppose to be a place where we tell our stories and not feel a single drop of shame about it. I'm sure like everyone else, you learn ur lesson(s) along the way.That pedophile joke is a tad offensive. Going by the reaction its garnered so far, ppl aren't having it…today. Not that I approve, but for some weird reason, I seem to recall a couple of KDians publicly announcing that they nursed fantasies of an adult member of their family or a neighbour having their way with them. Some have boldly announced how they led the charge in the war of seduction and no one said anything. For some weird reason, some of us are on Saint mode today. #ItIsWell
Kizito biko don't tweak the story o, I will read, cring, pray for you (even if u don't need it) and move on.
Finally someone said it. No need to waste extra data.
Best comment I've read so far.
You've said it all@ peak……
The pedophilia line made me uncomfortable…
I don't want to write that people should calm down so that some will not think that I support pedophilia but I know for sure there there are a couple of us who have fantasized about an uncle or parents cousin taking us. I know I had a great crush on one of my mum's cousins. And I have had a discussion with a few friends about it and they had similar experiences. I think it is normal that we crushed on some of the older male entities we were close to when we were younger, when we didn't really understand what being gay was and what we truly wanted. I know some people who seduced their uncles before age 18. They knew what they wanted and went all out to get it.
Dear Kizito, pls be as random as you can be, telling the truth and nothing but the truth.


text:
How do I convince him to use a condom when he says we don't need one?
Heather Corinna replies:I'm 14. There is this guy I knew for a couple of years now. We are very good, close friends. As the months went by, we started to get sexually attracted to each other. About 2-3 weeks ago we had oral sex (I sucked his penis only). Now we want to do even more. We both want to actually have sex. I'm really attracted to him sexually. After sexual intercourse has occurred between the two of us, there's no way I can ever forget him. I will have to live my life knowing he was the one who took my virginity, and that's fine. But the only problem is...he feels that there is no need for a condom. He says "there is a feeling he gets that lets him know when the sperm is coming." Should I believe what he says is true or should I convince him that a condom is definitely needed?
Frankly, if I had a partner -- at any age -- who, from the onset, was trying to talk his way out of cooperating with managing risks, risks that I would bear the greatest burden of, I wouldn't just insist on a condom.
I would insist on not being sexual with that person at all.
I -- and you -- deserve better than that. I don't want to be someone's Mom in bed. Yuck! I want an equal partner, a partner who is my equal.
You may or may not -- earnestly, first-time sex isn't something everyone finds as memorable as young people often expect it to be -- find the first person you had sex with memorable ten, twenty or thirty years from now, but it's a lot more likely they will be if you're looking at the kid you had due to their irresponsibility, or living with the HPV they landed you with. It's a lot more likely if and when you realize -- and you likely will, perhaps even right when you're having sex -- that someone put you at big risks for a whole lot of nothing special.
When we're choosing a sexual partner, it's sound to have more criteria to base that choice on than just if we're attracted to that person, and if they want to have sex with us. We are usually going to find a lot of people attractive in our lives, but we're unlikely to have sex with all, or even most, of them, for a whole bunch of different reasons. Many people may also want to have sex with us: we aren't going to say yes to all of them just because that's what they want. Some other criteria I suggest considering in these choices are things like how that person treats you and others in terms of the respect and real consideration they afford you, how self-aware that person is as far as what they are ready for, what that person's primary motivations are, how informed that person is about sex in general, and absolutely how ready that person is to have sex in a way which is safe and responsible.
Many men certainly can feel when they are about to ejaculate, but it's also just as common for things to happen very fast in that regard, which is why withdrawal -- "pulling out," as he is suggesting -- is one of the two least effective methods of contraception in typical use. It's also why I'm sitting before you to answer this question at all: it's what my parents tried to use as birth control. Obviously, it didn't work out very well for them. Pre-ejaculate, a fluid which men emit from their penises when they are aroused, before ejaculation, not only isn't something guys can usually feel, especially when their penis is inside a vagina, it may also contain traces of sperm from a previous ejaculation which may have the possibility of creating a pregnancy. As well, even when a guy does feel himself starting to ejaculate, some won't be good on their word to withdraw, and will simply choose not to, even if they promised they would. It's really dicey, when you're the one who could become pregnant, to put a partner in complete charge of any kind of birth control, especially someone you haven't been with for quite some time (more than a couple months), and don't have a very good idea about how they behave in a crisis when it comes to standing by you. In fact, so far with this guy, it sounds to me like he's already given you a good idea about if he can put you first or consider you equally: he can't.
Withdrawal also offers you no protection against sexually transmitted infections, which are just as much of a risk -- in some cases more so -- as unwanted pregnancy is.
Since he says a condom isn't needed for intercourse, I'm guessing that you haven't been using them when giving him oral sex, either. Be aware that you have taken risks of sexually transmitted infections with that alone, then, already. Maybe you didn't know better, maybe he didn't know better, but if you found this site now, that tells me that at least you, and probably both of you, have the skills and the tools to look this stuff up to help you inform your choices. So, either one or both of you didn't care enough about yourself or the other to do that, or did it and are taking risks regardless. That's just not smart, and it's also not in the interest of a healthy sexuality for life. Teens and young adults are only about 25% of the population in the United States, and yet, about half of all new sexually transmitted infections every year are in you guys. That tells us a lot about how important both safer sex in your age group is -- and how many young people are blowing it off -- and how important it is to only choose to have sex when it's really worth it, and when it's with someone who cares about you and your health enough to care about these risks.
At 14, chances are that it's pretty hard for you to get sexual healthcare: you probably aren't getting it yet if you're like a lot of 14-year olds. As a young guy, if he's like lots of other young guys, he's probably never had testing for sexually transmitted infections. He may not even have ever bothered to find out what both of your risks are. At your age, a pregnancy is probably something you don't want yet, and aren't likely ready to handle, practically, financially, emotionally or interpersonally. And becoming pregnant at your age poses health risks to you (and a child) that are far higher than they are even for women just a couple years older.
Here's what I think you deserve.
I think, for starters, you deserve a sexual partner, now and at any time in your life, who doesn't try and shirk responsibility for, literally, a few minutes of his own pleasure (and probably not yours: the majority of women won't reach orgasm from intercourse alone), which could change the landscape of your whole life. You deserve a partner who, rather than trying to talk his way out of being safe with sex -- especially when you're the one who will pay the biggest price if things go wrong -- is totally invested in cooperating with you to be sure that you're both being as safe as you can. You deserve a partner who not only doesn't try to ditch condoms, but who comes with his own and is going to put one on without you even having to ask him to. You deserve a partner who has the maturity are care for you to easily recognize that unprotected sex puts you at some high risks, and could have a huge impact on the rest of your life. You deserve a partner who you don't ever have to convince needs to treat you with basic care and respect, and sexual responsibility is all about care and respect in my book.
You deserve to only have sex -- of any kind, including oral sex -- at a time and space in your life when you feel capable and confident when it comes to advocating for your own well-being, and in the context of healthy relationships you know how to choose and to know if they're sound or not pretty easily.
I also think you deserve a partner, and to have sex at a point in your life and a relationships, where you don't see having any kind of sex as "giving" them something, but as sharing something together.
The idea that a partner "takes" virginity is really pretty telling. If it seems like that, feels like that, that says to me that you're probably not yet in a place where you understand or have experienced your sexuality as reciprocal and really about both of you giving and taking, not just one of you. You deserve a partner who tries to keep your sex life balanced, rather than just pursing the sexual activities which are most likely to get him off and not you.
I'll be plain: without this and all those other things up there, intercourse or other kinds of sex are just not likely to be worth the risks you take for it. You're probably not going to be even enjoying yourself very much during that sex, let alone how you may feel about it afterwards. It just doesn't make sense, when we're choosing to take any kind of risk, sexual or otherwise, to risk lots of unwanted or bad stuff when it's not likely we're going to get much out of it or having taking those risks be worth our while. This is likely what, in economic theory, is referred to as a "zero-sum" gain. That means that at best -- if nothing goes wrong -- you're still not likely to gain anything: not a lot of pleasure, not an orgasm, not love, not more friendship, not a magnificent experience you'll fondly remember for life. That at best, nothing bad will happen, but nothing great will probably happen either, which makes only risking the bad stuff a bit of a losing proposition.
If this guy really is a good, close friend, I also think you deserve to be treated like a friend. We don't put out friends at huge risks because we want a few seconds of what we think might be increased pleasure. Let's say I really liked driving insanely fast, and got a charge from it. I liked the risk involved. My trying to convince you to drive like a suicidal maniac with me would not demonstrate my being a friend to you: it would show that I want to have fun and care more about that then putting you in harm's way. That's no way to treat someone we don't even know, let alone a good friend.
What I posit is that you take a few steps back right now.
Take a break -- at least for a bit -- from having any kind of sex with this guy. Do some research (I'll give you some links when I'm done here to help you do that). Think about what you really want in terms of your sexual life and a sexual partner: think about what you really deserve. If your esteem is low, then maybe think about what you think your mother, your sister, your best friend deserves. have a good look about what you two are like together besides with sex, and what the sex you have had so far -- and oral sex is "actual" sex -- has been like for you.
If you still want to be sexually active, start with a visit to your regular doctor, a gynecologist or a sexual health clinic and both get started on your sexual healthcare and talk about safer sex and birth control. If you can't even find a way to do that yet, it's probably not a good idea to be sexual with others yet: you've got to have a way to take care of yourself in this regard to protect your health. Explore your own sexuality first, by yourself, with masturbation and find out about more of what YOU like, by yourself, so you can bring that to a partner. Then, if this guy still seems like someone you want to be involved with that way, have a couple serious talks about all of this, and make clear that what's gone on already (again, if you haven't been safe about the oral sex), and what he's proposing just isn't acceptable when it comes to the bar you have for someone who is worthy of being sexual with you. Make clear that you deserve better than that and refuse to accept anything less. Show him the research you've done. Make clear you expect him to have the same tests you had done with your sexual healthcare done for himself. Make clear that -- if you do still feel ready, and able to really take care of all you need to to actually be ready -- you expect a sexual partner who, if he wants to do grownup things, can be a freaking grownup. Again: you're not his Mom, so you shouldn't need to tell him to wash his hands before dinner or wear a condom with sex.
If he really is up for all of that (though it sounds clear he's not there yet), take your time getting to intercourse. So far, you've given him oral sex. Now you're talking about intercourse: both of these activities are really primarily about his pleasure, not yours. If you two are going to be sexual and step it up to activities with more risks, be sure it's worth those risks, both sexually and emotionally. Try doing some activities which are also about you: is he a good partner in that respect? Can he practice safer sex without argument or attempts at manipulation with other activities you're doing? Does it all feel good to you, not just for him, so far, physically and emotionally? Is he good at listening to what feels good for you and responding to that, and do you feel able yet to communicate openly about it all with him so he CAN listen and be responsive? Do you two get along well after sex is over? Is he handling your sex life together well when it comes to respecting your privacy, rather than telling the whole world you two are having sex? If all of that goes well over some time, the two of you also do well together outside of sex, AND he is totally ready, willing and able to step up to the plate with real care and responsibility, then it makes it a lot more sensible to consider intercourse with him if that's something you want.
Do just be aware that at 14, chances are good that it's not legal yet for you to be having intercourse and possibly other kinds of sex. If you're the one under the age of consent in your state, province or country, it's not you who would get into trouble: if he's over it, especially if he's well over it, he's the one for whom sex with you would be criminal. Now, it's not your job to be responsible for him:: he should be the one addressing issues like this and making this choice for himself. But statutory rape charges would probably hurt both of you: even though you wouldn't be charged with a crime, having a legal case or crime as part of your sex life is not the way to a sound sex life that can be healthy and drama-free. Being dragged into court to talk about your sex life is a really invasive, humiliating thing to go through. And everyone deserves a sex life that doesn't even remotely resemble a Jerry Springer show episode. So, I'm always going to suggest that anyone underage consider those laws -- whether or not I agree with them -- in their sexual decision-making.
Okay? Really, think about what you deserve. Don't settle or rush in. Raise a high bar for sexual partners, and don't accept anything less. Doing that not only makes it a lot more likely that you will have a sex life you both enjoy and which is as healthy for you as possible, but a lot more likely that you feel good about yourself as a whole, now and later on.
Here is that extra information I told you I'd pass on for you to look at:
- Ready or Not? The Scarleteen Sex Readiness Checklist
- Safe, Sound & Sexy: A Safer Sex How-To
- Withdrawal
- Yield for Pleasure
- The Great No-Orgasm-from-Intercourse Conundrum
- Safer Sex...for Your Heart
- Potholes & Dead Ends: Relationship Roadblocks to Look Out For
- Is THAT All There Is?
- How could she become pregnant when I withdraw perfectly?
- He was going to pull out...but he didn't, and I feel bad taking Plan B.
- 10 of the Best Things You Can Do for Your Sexual Self (at Any Age)