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In the February 2016 Issue
Global Melting Pot
Winternational Showcases Food, Culture from Dozens of Countries
by Larru Luxner
Tiny cups of strong Turkish coffee. Coconut slices from Fiji. Hand-painting by artists from Bangladesh. Delicate Ukrainian embroidery, just in time for the holidays.
The fourth annual Winternational Embassy Showcase offered all that and more.
The Dec. 9 event took place at the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center (RRB/ITC), which at 3.1 million square feet ranks as the largest federal building in Washington. It attracted 2,500 visitors for a colorful midday celebration of culture, travel and tourism, organized by Trade Center Management Associates (TCMA).
As Azerbaijani-born violinist Rafael Javadov entertained the crowds with his classical, jazz and klezmer music, people browsed the exhibitions organized and staffed by a record 34 embassies including the African Union (which represents 54 countries); the 28-member European Union; and the 22-member League of Arab States.
In the January 2016 Issue
Crafty 'Pathmakers'
Women Found Alternative Ways to Leave Mark on Midcentury Modernism
by Kate Oczypok
In the "Mad Men" era of the 1950s and '60s, painting, sculpture and architecture were dominated by men. So women turned to alternative avenues and materials like furniture, textiles, ceramics and metals to leave their artistic stamp.
"Pathmakers: Women in Art, Craft, and Design, Midcentury and Today" at the National Museum of Women in the Arts (NMWA) examines the impact these women artists and designers had on midcentury modernism.
"For these mid-20th-century women, architecture and industrial design were essentially closed male societies," said NMWA Director Susan Fisher Sterling. "So they had to create their own professional pathways through ceramics, textiles and metals. They also found freedoms in academia, where their ideas helped inspire the next generation. The resulting serious, conceptually crafted objects helped define midcentury modernism in the U.S."
In the December 2015 Issue
Picture-Perfect Milestones
National Gallery of Art Toasts Its Photographic Legacy
by Gary Tischler
The National Gallery of Art is marking several major milestones in one huge exhibit. "Celebrating Photography at the National Gallery of Art: Recent Gifts" pays tribute to the culmination of a yearlong celebration as well as a three-year initiative showcasing photographing at the museum. It features 200 works acquired in honor of the 25th anniversary of the gallery's photography program — some of the photos dating to the 1840s.
But the impressive numbers belie the even more striking imagery and history on display.
The exhibition itself — culled from actual or promised gifts that total over 1,300 works since a massive undertaking to expand the photography collection was launched three years ago — is a remarkable survey of not just the gallery's holdings, but how the contemporary world views photography, how it has changed in focus and approach, what it means in terms of art and what it means in terms of documentation.
In the November 2015 Issue
Swiss Go Big
Modern Masterworks Echo Duncan Phillips's Collecting Habits
by Gary Tischler and Anna Gawel
In size, Switzerland is small — California is about 10 times bigger. But in other areas, the pristine Alpine country punches above its weight. Its 8.2 million inhabitants enjoy a GDP of nearly $690 billion thanks in large part to the country's reputation as a banking hub. But the Swiss excel in another domain: art.
The city of Basel bills itself as the cultural capital of Switzerland. It was also the longtime home of Dorothy Kosinski, a Swiss citizen and director of the Phillips Collection.
Duncan Phillips, the D.C.-based art collector who founded the museum, played a pivotal role in introducing American audiences to modern art. Apparently, he also had two kindred spirits in Switzerland.
In the October 2015 Issue
Hot Ticket
'Latin Heat' Expands Washington Ballet's Diverse Repertoire
by Karin Sun
With the exception of Spanish soap operas, tango classes and musicians ranging from rapper Pitbull to 1950s Cuban-American television icon Ricky Ricardo, most average Americans' exposure to Latin culture is spotty, at best.
Just as he's spent years trying to change the perception of ballet in Washington, Septime Webre, artistic director of the Washington Ballet, is hoping to broaden the city's appreciation of Latin culture with the launch of "PROJECT GLOBAL," the dance troupe's multiyear initiative that aims to highlight and celebrate different cultures around the world. This year's inaugural festival focuses on Latin dance and music, running from late September to the middle of November. A centerpiece of the event will be "Latin Heat," a five-act extravaganza that combines classical ballet with a variety of Latin dance styles including salsa, flamenco and tango.
In the September 2015 Issue
Stylish 'Ingenue'
History Is Seen Through Wardrobe of a Washington Socialite
by Lauren Hodges
When most Washingtonians hear the name Merriweather Post, they likely think of the namesake concert venue in Maryland where they spent the summer lifting their phone screens to the live performances of Mumford & Sons, Sam Smith and Florence and the Machine.
Yet Marjorie Merriweather Post was hardly one to don a concert t-shirt. One of the tastemakers of the early 20th century, the heiress to the Post cereal empire and founder of General Foods was followed relentlessly by the press, who were desperate to snap photos of her high fashion wardrobe.
"They would show what she wore to every event," said Kate Markert, executive director of Hillwood Estate, Museum and Gardens. "There were even sketches of new outfits."
In the August 2015 Issue
Iran In Your Face
Exiled Shirin Neshat Offers Compelling Insights Into Homeland
by Lauren Hodges
Summer headlines are abuzz with updates and analysis of the recent nuclear agreement in Vienna. Open any major media outlet and Iran is likely to have a comfortable place somewhere in front. Yet many American readers are comfortably removed enough to either absorb the news or flip right past it in search of last night's game or the latest think piece about online dating.
But for those born in Iran, there is no distance. Tehran is their daily think piece. They cannot just turn the page.
"Every Iranian artist is, in one way or another, political," said Shirin Neshat. "Politics has defined our lives."
Neshat is the artist behind the lens at the Hirshhorn Museum's exhibit "Facing History," a film and photography collection on identity and power in Iran, Neshat's home country.
In the July 2015 Issue
Mutually Beneficial Merger
Textile Museum, George Washington University Combine Forces
by Stephanie Kanowitz
At first blush, it doesn't really make sense. Merging a textile museum that focuses on non-Western pieces with a private collection of hyper-local Washington memorabilia sounds as mixable as oil and water.
But a closer look reveals a juxtaposition that is quite representative of D.C. — a combination of cultures and history uniting in one capital.
That's the underlying message of the new $33 million George Washington University Museum and the Textile Museum, which opened March 21 after three years of planning. It joins works from the formerly private Albert H. Small Washingtoniana Collection and the Textile Museum, a 90-year-old institution whose prestigious collection spans six continents and five millennia.
In the June 2015 Issue
Not So Little Lady
Elaine de Kooning, Eclipsed by Husband, Shines in Portrait Show
by Gary Tischler
We get lost in the thick paint, the whirls, the faceless men, their splayed lower bodies and the gestural essence of portraits that loom large in life and personality. But a small part of our hypnotic fascination, and admiration, may lie in the fact that the exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery is called "Elaine de Kooning: Portraits," and not "Elaine Fried: Portraits."
That is to say that Elaine de Kooning was married, with interruptions for a lengthy separation, to Willem de Kooning, one of the supernovas of American abstract expressionism, which shifted the balance of cutting-edge and contemporary art from Paris to New York beginning in the 1940s. The de Koonings lived and loved and fought as part of a scintillating New York art and cultural scene, and de Kooning was by all accounts a mentor to the young Elaine, whom the Dutch-born painter took under his wing in 1938.
In the May 2015 Issue
'Divine' Reflections
African Artists Embark on Afterlife in 'Heaven, Purgatory, and Hell'
by Michael Coleman
If you've visited the National Museum of African Art and been impressed, it's time to go again and be transported.
The museum's new exhibition "The Divine Comedy: Heaven, Purgatory, and Hell Revisited by Contemporary African Artists" is a sprawling but compelling collection of mixed media that transforms the dramatic, subterranean space into reflections on heaven, purgatory and hell.
Featuring works from over 40 African artists representing 18 countries as well as the African diaspora, the exhibition is inspired by Dante's 1320 poem, a masterpiece of Italian literature. The art includes paintings, videos, sculptures, textiles, photography, prints and collages, some pieces specially commissioned for the exhibition. "The Divine Comedy" is the first African art showcase to encompass all four floors of the striking museum, which descends from its first floor off the National Mall to several subfloors below centered by a spiral staircase.
In the April 2015 Issue
Sisterly Bonds
Sister Cities International Embodies Citizen Diplomacy
by Karin Zeitvogel
Eleven years after the end of World War II, the world was still roiled by conflict. The Cold War was in full swing. The Korean Peninsula was seething. Kenya was four years into the Mau Mau rebellion against colonial power Britain. Algerians were fighting for independence from France. Sudan's first civil war had broken out.
That's not even a complete list of the conflicts that flared up in the 1950s. It seemed that the lessons World War II should have taught governments and military leaders had fallen on deaf ears, or maybe the students weren't paying attention in class. Amidst all of the tensions, U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower decided to take a different approach to peacemaking. Why not, he thought, kick world leaders out of the classroom and replace them with grassroots citizens? He convened a meeting at the White House and called on ordinary Americans to do something that smacked of insurrectionism.
"If we are going to ... take advantage of the assumption that all people want peace, then the problem is for people to get together, to leap governments, if necessary; to evade governments; work out not one method but thousands of methods by which people can gradually learn a little bit more of each other," Eisenhower said in a speech at a citizen diplomacy summit on Sept. 11, 1956.
In the March 2015 Issue
Iberian Influx
Kennedy Center Spotlights Spanish- and Portuguese-Speaking Worlds
by Molly McCluskey
This spring, the Kennedy Center will open its stages to a full range of performances highlighting culture from Portuguese- and Spanish-speaking countries from around the world.
More than 600 artists will participate in "Iberian Suite: global arts remix," an international festival running from March 3 to 24. The festival's opening performance will be held on March 3 in the Eisenhower Theatre and will include singers Carminho (Portugal) and Eugenia León (Mexico); dance company Grupo Corpo (Brazil); Arakaendar Choir and Orchestra (Bolivia); jazz saxophonist Moreira Chonguiça (Mozambique); D.C.'s own experimental orchestra PostClassical Ensemble; and ballet dancers Ángel and Carmen Corella (Spain) in their only festival appearance. The festival is presented in cooperation with the governments of Portugal and Spain.
"Iberian Suite will offer an extensive and vibrant panorama of contemporary cultural traditions whose roots trace back to more than a millennium," said festival curator Alicia Adams, the Kennedy Center's vice president of international programming and dance. "The intersections of arts across continents show the movement and metaphor, the quality, plurality and creativeness of the various genres and trends that have emerged from contact and encounters between artists that share the Spanish and Portuguese languages."
In the February 2015 Issue
Multifaceted Mary
Landmark Exhibit Pictures Virgin Mary as Woman, Mother, Idea
by Michael Coleman
When curators at the National Museum of Women in the Arts began planning a comprehensive exhibition representing the Virgin Mary last year, they had plenty of material from which to choose.
After all, the mother of Jesus — arguably the second most-important person in the Bible — is one of the most popular subjects in Western art, and has been for centuries. "Picturing Mary: Woman, Mother, Idea" at the National Museum of Women in the Arts (NMWA) is not just an inspired idea for an exhibition that is sure to draw large crowds, but a particularly impressive collection of iconic pieces.
The tightly focused but comprehensive exhibition combines more than 60 paintings, sculptures and textiles from the Vatican, major museums, churches and private collections throughout Europe and the United States. Well-known Renaissance and Baroque artists, including Botticelli, Dürer, Michelangelo, Pontormo, Gentileschi and Sirani, are represented in an array of immaculately preserved masterworks.
In the January 2015 Issue
Postcards From Asia
'The Traveler's Eye' Memorializes a Continent's Worth of Journeys
by Vanessa H. Larson
For many people, travel becomes most meaningful when we are able to capture the experience — through postcards, photos or a blog — to remember it later and share it with others. But the urge to document and memorialize our travels is not just a modern phenomenon. As a major exhibit currently on view at the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery makes clear, travel has long been a theme in art, just as art has frequently served as a medium for recording travel.
A collaborative effort among seven curators, "The Traveler's Eye: Scenes of Asia" explores representations of travel at different times and places in Asia throughout the last five centuries. The diverse works range from 16th- and 17th-century Chinese and Japanese scrolls depicting traveling merchants, to vintage postcards of the Middle East and Asia, to photographs of people taking everyday modes of transport in late-20th-century India. In all, more than 100 pieces chronicle different travels across the continent, from tourist trips to trade expeditions to pilgrimages.
It's a lot to take in, but the beauty of such an eclectic array of works is that visitors can approach the exhibit as a personal journey, from which everyone will take away something different.
In the December 2014 Issue
A Captain's Eye
Linnaeus Tripe Offered British a Picture of India and Burma
by Stephanie Kanowitz
When Linnaeus Tripe first visited India and Burma (now Myanmar) in 1839, he was a member of the British military. When he returned in 1854, he was armed with something more: a camera.
Photography had just emerged when Tripe, a Devonport, England, native, visited the Great Exhibition in London in 1851 while on leave from the army. He embraced the new technology and his success with it is the subject of "Captain Linnaeus Tripe: Photographer of India and Burma, 1852-1860," on view at the National Gallery of Art.
The exhibit displays about 60 of his photographs in a chronological retrospective that aims to acquaint American audiences with Tripe and his pioneering work. (The exhibition travels next to the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.) The images show peaceful landscapes and religious and secular sites in India and Burma, several of which are now destroyed. Many of the pictures are the first taken of important monuments, shrines and temples there, said Sarah Greenough, senior curator and head of the Department of Photographs at the National Gallery.
"Photography was just bursting on the scene in India when he began to work," Greenough said.
In the November 2014 Issue
Adventures in Archeology
Sackler Goes in Search of a Legend in 'Unearthing Arabia'
by Vanessa H. Larson
The story of the Queen of Sheba, who is known in both the Biblical and Koranic traditions for visiting King Solomon in Jerusalem bearing spices, jewels and other riches from the distant lands where she reigned, is shrouded in legend. In 1949, that legend, along with visions of the famed "incense routes" of antiquity, brought an adventurous American paleontologist named Wendell Phillips to South Arabia — modern-day Yemen — on a reconnaissance trip.
Phillips found a land where the "husks of ancient civilizations were buried in deep sand," as he later wrote. "The land looked forbidding, but it was rich with the spoils of time, and I wanted to unearth some of those riches."
Over the next couple of years, Phillips, then only in his late 20s, organized some of the first large-scale archaeological expeditions to the remote region. He and his team excavated several ancient sites — including Marib, the purported capital of the Sabaean kingdom ruled by Bilqis, as the Queen of Sheba is known in Arabic — making a number of important discoveries before being forced to leave due to local political tensions.
In the October 2014 Issue
Kafkaesque Tribute
Czech Mutual Inspirations Festival Exposes Different Sides to Kafka
by Lisa Troshinsky
Prague-born Franz Kafka, unassuming during his lifetime despite his literary genius, would feel honored by this year's Mutual Inspirations Festival, organized by the Embassy of the Czech Republic. It's all about him, after all.
The multidisciplinary festival, now in its fifth year, highlights how Czechs and Americans have inspired each other. It features concerts, exhibitions, films, lectures and theater performances taking place at various cultural, religious and educational community venues around D.C.
Each year spotlights a different Czech personality who has influenced others through his/her work; past festivals have showcased composer Antonín Dvořák (2011), director Miloš Forman (2012) and former Czech President Václav Havel (2013).
In the September 2014 Issue
Telling Their Stories
Newseum Explores How Minorities Discovered Power of Press
by Sarah Alaoui
While the Pledge of Allegiance does not directly mention a democratic press, the Newseum has consecrated a new exhibition around the notion of "One Nation With News for All." Representing the first partnership between the Newseum and the Smithsonian Institution, "News for All" showcases the stories of immigrant and minority groups who strived to personalize and share their American experience through media.
"We wanted people to walk away with a better understanding of how their various ethnic communities contributed to the American experience," said Sharon Shahid, the exhibit's lead writer.
In the August 2014 Issue
Art in War
National Gallery Documents WWII Preservation of Cultural Treasures
by Miranda Katz
World War II caused innumerable losses for nations around the globe, but a new exhibition at the National Gallery of Art seeks to draw attention to an oft-overlooked area of destruction: the art and architecture damaged in the war. Hidden in the study center of the East Building, "In the Library: Preservation and Loss during World War II" details efforts to preserve and recover art during and after the fighting. The timely exhibition, coming on the heels of the 70th anniversary of the D-Day invasion in Normandy, also pays homage to works that were rendered irreparable by war.
In the July 2014 Issue
Shining Past
National Geographic Strikes Gold with Ancient Peruvian Artifacts
by Gail Scott
The Inca Empire, the largest empire of the pre-Columbian era, arose in the Peruvian highlands in the early 13th century and continues to fascinate historians and archeologists today.
But Peru was also home to a wealth of culture and civilization long before the Inca, and the remnants of that golden past have been dug up in archeological finds over the past half-century.
Now, a remarkable collection of ancient gold and silver artifacts excavated from Peru's legendary royal tombs has made its way to D.C. for "Peruvian Gold: Ancient Treasures Unearthed." The dazzling new exhibit at the National Geographic Museum shines a light on extraordinary objects from Peru's pre-Inca heritage — spanning 1250 B.C. to A.D. 1450 — and includes gold ceremonial and funerary masks, beakers, textiles, ceremonial ornaments, ceramics and jewelry.
In the June 2014 Issue
Preparing for the Worst
'Designing for Disaster' Shows How People Can Protect Themselves
by Stephanie Kanowitz
As hurricane season officially begins June 1, media reports reminding residents of the Eastern Seaboard to stock up on water and duct tape start to appear. The National Building Museum wants people to be ready with more than that.
"Designing for Disaster" is a new exhibit that looks at past natural disasters for lessons learned and showcases new innovations that could help keep people safer in the future. The target audience includes building planners, government officials, homeowners, renters and kids — everyone who would play a role in building a disaster mitigation plan from the ground up, both figuratively and literally.
"Statistics show that civilians are generally the first to respond in emergencies, so the more each of us knows about what to do, the better off we'll all be," said Chrysanthe Broikos, exhibit curator.
In the May 2014 Issue
Defying Convention
PostClassical Celebrates 10 Years of Putting Music in Context
by Kate Oczypok
For any fledging arts organization, finding the audience — and funding — to endure is a perennial challenge. And it can be especially daunting for groups trying to challenge convention, as PostClassical Ensemble does with its brand of "experimental musical laboratory."
But this spring, PostClassical celebrates 10 years of defying both convention and expectation to not only survive, but thrive in Washington's competitive artistic arena.
Founded by Angel Gil-Ordóñez and Joseph Horowitz, PostClassical is marking the decade milestone with a series of events on the Mexican Revolution, featuring the group's signature blend of thematic, cross-disciplinary programming that intertwines music with dance, discussion, theater and film.
The Mexican Revolution program was made possible in part by a $200,000, three-year grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to support the ensemble's ongoing partnerships with Strathmore, Georgetown University and the National Gallery of Art — proof of PostClassical's staying power. (Altos Hornos de México, one of Mexico's largest steel and mining companies, also supported the endeavor with a gift of $100,000 toward the production of a DVD recording.)
In the April 2014 Issue
It's All French
Francophonie Cultural Festival Brings Joie de Vivre to D.C.
by Sarah Alaoui
Francophiles of all breeds, do not fret — now is your time to shine. Once again, just as spring is slowly starting to grace D.C. with its presence, the annual Francophonie Cultural Festival will be held across the city. The event, now in its 14th year, is the largest Francophone festival in the world and includes more than six weeks' worth of concerts, theater, film, literary salons, children's activities and of course cuisine from the world's French-speaking countries.
And it's a big world, encompassing dozens of nations throughout Europe, Africa, Asia, the Middle East and the Americas. The International Organization of La Francophonie, which represents one of the largest linguistic zones on the planet, has 75 member states and governments that together represent a population of more than 890 million people, including 220 million French speakers. In fact, since 2001, more than 40 countries have collaborated each year to showcase their Francophone culture and language in the nation's capital.
In the March 2014 Issue
Dramatic Undertaking
With International Theater Festival, All the Kennedy Center's a Stage
by Stephanie Kanowitz
Shakespeare was onto something when he said, "All the world's a stage," but it's the Kennedy Center that's bringing the world to the stage.
"World Stages: International Theater Festival 2014" is a three-week event (March 10-30) that will offer 13 fully staged productions, four theater-focused installations, three readings of new works, and two forums featuring pieces from countries such as Australia, Canada, Chile, China, England, France, Iceland, Iraq, Israel, Japan, Kuwait, Mexico, Pakistan, Palestine, Scotland, South Africa, Sudan, Syria and the United States.
"While we present international theater on an annual basis as part of the festivals and the theater season, we decided that rather than focus the international festival on a country or region, that we would focus on international theater from around the world," said Alicia Adams, the event's curator and vice president of international programming at the Kennedy Center (and the brainchild behind many of the center's ambitious globe-spanning festivals). "This would nuance our international festivals by focusing on a single discipline while complementing the Kennedy Center's American theater season."
In the February 2014 Issue
Constructive Destruction
'Damage Control' at Hirshhorn Surveys Ruins of Artistic Creation
by Michael Coleman
For most people, art is creation, but an unorthodox exhibition at the Hirshhorn Museum presents art as exactly the opposite.
"Damage Control: Art and Destruction Since 1950" delves into destruction and reminds us of its important place in the world of contemporary art. Featuring approximately 90 works by more than 40 international artists, the exhibition includes paintings, sculpture, drawings, printmaking, photography, film, video, installation and performance art.
The exhibition occupies most of the Hirshhorn's second-floor gallery and begins with the biggest bang of all — a nuclear explosion.
In the 1950s, Harold Edgerton, along with his colleagues Kenneth Germeshausen and Herbert Grier, produced the film "Photography of Nuclear Detonations," which captured a number of test explosions at the behest of the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission. One of their films, a 16-minute nuclear testing film, depicts a hydrogen bomb detonated in all its fury over the parched desert of southern New Mexico. The roiling intensity of the nuclear inferno and the velocity of the smoke rising to form a dreaded mushroom cloud wasn't intended as art, but projected here on a wide screen in the Hirshhorn, it is nothing short of mesmerizing.
In the January 2014 Issue
Byzantine Riches
Masterpieces from Enduring Empire in D.C. for First Time
by Molly McCluskey
Evidence of the Byzantine Empire has long existed in pockets in Washington, D.C. In Saint Sophia Greek Orthodox Cathedral, icons venerate the altar. At Dumbarton Oaks, the Byzantine collection includes Greek, Roman and western medieval art. But for the first time at the National Gallery of Art, a vast, almost impassively expansive exhibit showcases 170 pieces of Byzantine art from 13 museums located throughout mainland Greece and the islands, spanning the fourth to the 15th centuries.
The exhibit, "Heaven and Earth: Art of Byzantium from Greek Collections," features icons, coins, jewelry, sculptures, mosaics, glass, ceramics and embroideries crafted in Egypt, Asia Minor, Syria, Cyprus and Constantinople, now Istanbul.
Ambassador to Greece Christos Panagopoulos said "Heaven and Earth" is "the first exhibition on Byzantine art of such magnitude to ever be shown in Washington, D.C. It is an excellent opportunity for Greece to showcase the invaluable treasures, many of them for the first time, that are a significant and integral part of our cultural and historical heritage."
In the December 2013 Issue
Exercise in Enlightenment
Landmark 'Yoga' Exhibit Is a Spiritual Stretch Back in Time
by Sarah Alaoui
Many Washingtonians flock to yoga classes to escape the stress of daily life, but few know about the roots of this trendy yet ancient discipline. That's partly why the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery recently unveiled the world's first yogic art exhibition, "Yoga: The Art of Transformation," to showcase the origins and evolution of the practice over the past 2,000 years.
"This exhibition looks at yoga's ancient roots, and how people have been trying to master body and spirit for millennia," said Julian Raby, the Dame Jillian Sackler director of the Sackler and Freer Gallery of Art. "By applying new scholarship to both rarely seen artworks and recognized masterpieces, we're able to shed light on practices that evolved over time — from yoga's ancient origins to its more modern emergence in India, which set the stage for today's global phenomenon."
In the November 2013 Issue
All the Right Moves
International Dancers Find Expressive Home at Washington Ballet
by Lisa Troshinsky
The Washington Ballet (TWB) has always had an international bent, but Artistic Director Septime Webre recently decided to ramp up this endeavor considerably. This season is no different, with several new company members who hail from other countries. TWB's percentage of international dancers is now 40 percent, with dancers from 14 different countries and six continents.
"I am thrilled to welcome such a diverse group of new dancers to TWB," said Webre. "About five to six years ago, we started purposefully recruiting internationally and accepting invitations to judge international ballet competitions around the world," Webre, who is Cuban American, told The Washington Diplomat.
In the October 2013 Issue
Compelling Storytellers
NMWA Highlights Racial Inequality and Fantastical Musings
by Gary Tischler
There are probably few museum exhibitions occupying one floor that appear at first glance to be so dramatically different from each other than "American People, Black Light: Faith Ringgold's Paintings of the 1960s" and "Awake in the Dream World: The Art of Audrey Niffenegger," both at the National Museum of Women in the Arts (NMWA).
Ringgold's paintings are boldly political, an unapologetic mirror on America's racially divided history that echoes particularly loudly this year — the 50th anniversary of the 1963 March on Washington, the murder of four young African American girls in a church bombing in Birmingham, Ala., and the political assassinations of John F. Kennedy and Medgar Evers.
In contrast, the Niffenegger exhibit inhabits a more fantastical, lyrical world, one that ponders universal themes — death and decay, love, jealousy, redemption and the inevitability of change — but from a surreal, internal place of the intellect, imagination and heart.
In the September 2013 Issue
Totality of War
Corcoran Surveys Mankind's Penchant for Destruction
by Gary Tischler
As I'm writing this, I can hear John Wayne bellowing orders to his troops in the 1962 film "The Longest Day," which depicts the D-Day invasion of Normandy that would turn the tide of World War II.
You won't find John Wayne in "War/Photography: Images of Armed Conflict and Its Aftermath," the vast, ambitious exhibition at the Corcoran Gallery of Art that seeks to generate a new and larger understanding of war in all its guises, whether it's the clash of empires in the 19th-century Crimean War, or America's modern-day war on terrorism — a high-tech campaign that in many ways resembles the old-fashioned guerilla wars of yesteryear.
The scope of the exhibit speaks to mankind's timeless appetite to pick a fight — documented by 185 photographers representing more than 25 nationalities, covering 165 years' worth of battles. It took organizers of the exhibition, the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston, 10 years to cull through a staggering 1 million photographs and collections in 17 countries.
In the August 2013 Issue
Collector and Cubist
Duncan Phillips's Veneration of Georges Braque on Display
by Kat Lucero
At the turn of the 20th century, technological advances in electricity and communications altered societies and art. The Cubist movement emerged from this period in response to the rapid innovation the world was experiencing and a desire by artists to move past established norms and find new ways to interpret the chaotic world around them.
Enter Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque, the men who pioneered the first style of abstract, avant-garde art. Together in the early 1900s in Paris, the Spaniard and the Frenchmen radicalized the art world by rejecting the traditional forms of techniques, perspective and modeling. Instead, they broke down and reassembled objects using angular geometric forms that became a hallmark of Cubism, fragmenting the subject yet lending it three-dimensional depth.
To Duncan Phillips, founder of the Phillips Collection, Braque was the apple of his eye. The collector was first appalled by Cubism in its early stages, led by Picasso. However, he credits his later understanding of the style in the late 1920s largely to Braque's work.
In the July 2013 Issue
Down to Earth
African Artists Dig Deep in 'Land as Material and Metaphor'
by Audrey Hoffer
In a spacious, high-ceilinged gallery two levels below ground in the beautifully designed National Museum of African Art, a grand multimedia exhibit of paintings, ceramics, sculptures, photography and film takes on no less than the entire planet itself — and man's relationship to it.
"Earth Matters: Land as Material and Metaphor in the Arts of Africa" showcases the primacy of land as an element of African life — a fitting examination given that the continent is the cradle of humanity. In fact, "Earth Matters" is the first major exhibition to explore the ways in which African artists and communities navigate their relationship with the land on which they live, work and draw their inspiration.
Another first is "Earth Works," the first installation of land art by three artists to be assembled outside in the Smithsonian Gardens and on the National Mall.
Inside the museum, there is a lot of terrain to uncover in the 100 works from 24 countries by more than 40 artists that span the 19th to 21st centuries. They are arranged thematically around five categories: Material Earth, Power of the Earth, Imagining the Underground, Strategies of the Surface, and Art as Environmental Action.
In the June 2013 Issue
Toying with War
Levinthal's Images Humanize Conflict Through Action Figures
by Michael Coleman
Union Army Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman famously declared that "war is hell," but for almost as long as armed conflict has existed, there have been figurines, or toy soldiers, that depict war as noble and courageous — glamorous, even.
A compelling and unusual exhibition at the Corcoran Gallery of Art explores these disparate notions of war through the use of antique and modern-day toy soldiers and other props. "David Levinthal: War Games" is a vivid study of the acclaimed New York photographer's surprising — and sometimes shocking — ability to explore the boundaries between simulated reality and historical truth.
Levinthal's earliest work in this medium, titled "Hitler Moves East," dates to 1972, as the Vietnam War was coming to an end. As a young student at the Yale School of Art, Levinthal met Garry Trudeau, who went on to fame as the creator of the popular comic strip "Doonesbury." The two young art students collaborated on a book that documented the infamous and rarely photographed Nazi invasion of Russia, known in history books as Operation Barbarossa. Using a classic written document of the account that included no photographs (also called "Hitler Moves East"), the men painstakingly recreated the military movements of the epic conflict using traditional plastic toy soldiers, others small materials and cameras.
In the May 2013 Issue
Trusty Travel Companion
New Cultural Tourism Chief Ready to Take Flight with Passport DC
by Stephanie Kanowitz
Steven Shulman returned to Washington, D.C., in part so he could travel the world. The new executive director of Cultural Tourism DC kicks off his tenure with the organization's sixth annual Passport DC celebration, a month-long series of international programming in May that includes dozens of embassy open houses.
"One of my great disappointments was that I was in Hollywood when this incredible event was going on, and I loved the international aspect of Washington," Shulman said, referring to the city in Florida where he spent the past six years improving culture as president of the Greater Hollywood Arts Foundation Inc. "It's really thrilling to not only be leading the organization that presents it, but to be here and be participating throughout the month."
Shulman isn't new to Cultural Tourism DC, an independent nonprofit coalition of more than 230 organizations aimed at promoting the District's arts, culture and heritage. Between 2001 and 2007, he served on its board of directors and executive committee.
In the April 2013 Issue
Built by Design
First-Ever Festival Showcases Innovation of Industrial Design
by Stephanie Kanowitz
Have you ever considered why a doorknob is shaped a certain way or why drawers open in only one direction? Douglas Burton thinks you should. That's why he curated the first-ever Washington, DC International Design Festival highlighting achievements in contemporary industrial design.
"I think many people don't know what industrial design is," said Burton, co-owner of Apartment Zero, a Washington-based design studio, retail space and gallery that helps industrial designers worldwide showcase their works and concepts through collaborations with area embassies, museums and universities. "When I heard the words 'industrial design,' I thought of something that was made in industry, something that was made out of metal or glass, but it encompasses so many of the things we use and touch and see every single day."
Industrial design applies to everything from toothbrushes to cars. It combines science and aesthetics to improve these everyday products and entice people to use, keep and admire them.
In the March 2013 Issue
Italy's Charm Offensive
Yearlong Cultural Festival Showcases All Country Has to Offer
by Sean Lyngaas
Rome has declared 2013 to be "The Year of Italian Culture," but its embassy in Washington understands that simply coining the phrase will not give the year cultural imprimatur among Americans. So the Italian Embassy is busy coordinating a cultural charm offensive that is unfolding across the United States, from art exhibitions in Boston to robotics demonstrations in San Francisco.
The Italian term for this charm offensive is sistema paese, roughly translated as "the country as a whole," or "the country seen systematically." It is the belief that Italian culture should be presented holistically rather than in isolation. The goal is to showcase the breadth of the culture, from Michelangelo to modern science. "The idea is not to have a single, specific event, but events as a trampoline for cooperation," between the United States and Italy, Antonio Bartoli, head of the Italian Embassy's cultural office, told The Washington Diplomat recently.
Just two years ago, the Italians had a similar cultural blitz in honor of the 150th anniversary of the country's unification (also see "Venetian Views: Canaletto and Company Capture Landmark City on the Water" and "Philip Guston: A 'Roma' Retreat at the Phillips Collection" in the April 2011 issue of The Diplomat). But that initiative was more nostalgic, highlighting Renaissance art and other things one reflexively associates with Italian culture.
In the February 2013 Issue
Chills and Thrills
Kennedy Center Expects Warm Reception for Nordic Cool
by Stephanie Kanowitz
This year, the Kennedy Center is going north for the winter with Nordic Cool 2013, its first festival devoted to Nordic culture. The event boasts dozens of theater and dance performances, concerts, art and history exhibits, food tastings and films with the purpose of increasing awareness about this distinct region in Europe.
"This festival encompasses an experience for all the senses," said Danish Ambassador Peter Taksøe. "Over the course of a month you will see, hear, smell and feel all good things Nordic."
Past festivals of this scale at the Kennedy Center have highlighted China, India and the Arab world. Nordic Cool runs from Feb. 19 to March 17 and will include more than 700 artists from Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden as well as Greenland, the Faroe Islands and the Áland Islands — a part of the world not well known here, said Alicia Adams, festival curator and vice president of international programming and dance at the Kennedy Center.
In the January 2013 Issue
Shifting Sands
'Roads' Digs Up Wide-Ranging History of Ancient Arabia
by Gail Sullivan
Artifacts unearthed from the shifting sands of the Arabian desert in the past 40 years have radically transformed our understanding of this ancient region. Some 300 objects now on display at the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery illuminate Saudi Arabia's pre-Islamic heritage and its rise to prominence as a cultural and religious center.
Organized in conjunction with the Saudi Commission for Tourism and Antiquities, "Roads of Arabia: Archaeology and History of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia" features objects, some dating as far back as 7,000 years ago, from more than 10 archeological sites throughout the Arabian Peninsula. The exhibit opened in the summer of 2010 at the Louvre in Paris and traveled to Barcelona, St. Petersburg and Berlin before making its American debut at the Smithsonian's Sackler Gallery.
The exhibit is organized geographically and historically in three parts, which chronicle the cross-cultural exchange of ancient trade routes, the rise of Islam as seen in the pilgrimage trails that led to Mecca, and finally the unification of the modern Saudi kingdom in 1932.
In the December 2012 Issue
Spain's New Space
Iberian Avant-Garde Finds Home in New Cultural Center
by Audrey Hoffer
A Beaux-Arts mansion sits majestically on the corner of 16th Street, the city's Embassy Row of the early 19th century and today's direct thoroughfare to the White House.
This former residence of the ambassador of Spain and now the Spanish Cultural Center is hosting two photography exhibits from renowned and emerging artists of the Iberian countries — Spain, Portugal, Latin America and the Spanish-speaking Caribbean.
Presented as part of FotoWeekDC 2012, an annual citywide photography festival now in its fourth year, the exhibits mark the official launch of the building's transformation to a cultural space.
In the November 2012 Issue
Abstract Evolution
Dane Taps His Inner Geologist to Evolve Artistically
by Michael Coleman
If a visitor to the Phillips Collection was unaware of Per Kirkeby's formal training as a geologist, they might find clues simply by viewing the gallery's comprehensive new exhibition of the acclaimed Danish artist's work.
Earthen vitality infuses many of the 26 paintings and 11 sculptures featured in "Per Kirkeby: Paintings and Sculpture," the first major exhibition of Kirkeby's art in the United States. The viewing experience at the Phillips is sometimes akin to tripping around an abstract forest splashed with autumnal rusts, icy blues and sunny yellow hues. The artist, who is still creating, seems deeply interested in time, space and the relationship of natural objects to each other and to human beings. The cycle of life is threaded throughout his art, which he says is constantly in flux, like science itself.
In the October 2012 Issue
Wanderers with Aim
'Nomads and Networks' Traces Sophisticated Unsettled Society
by Gail Sullivan
At the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, transient and well-connected denizens of the District can meet their ancient counterparts: the nomadic tribes of Iron Age Kazakhstan.
"Nomads and Networks: The Ancient Art and Culture of Kazakhstan" is the first U.S. exhibition devoted entirely to the nomadic culture of ancient Kazakhstan. It includes more than 150 recently excavated objects of gold, horn, precious gems and organic materials from the eighth to third centuries BC.
The term "nomad" implies a lack of direction, or even arrested development. It's a word you might use to describe a kid bumming around Europe after college instead of applying to grad school, or the friend who always seems to be trading one job or city for another.
In the September 2012 Issue
Complex Creatures
Dutch Artist Captures and Humanizes Inner Lives of Animals
by Gail Sullivan
Resolute, conflicted, expectant, discerning, resigned. These aren't words often used to describe animals. A dog is "good" or "bad." A puppy is "playful," and a steed "noble." Dutch photographer Charlotte Dumas defies conventional vocabulary; her formal portraits of animals suggest a more complex inner life, inviting viewers to reconsider the relationship between mankind and animals.
From the stray dogs of Palermo, Italy, to search and recovery dogs of 9/11, Dumas has photographed animals in various contexts and in countries around the world. She typically works in series, creating portraits of groups of animals characterized by their utility, social function or relationship to people.
In the August 2012 Issue
Trailblazing Trio
'Modern American Genius' Showcased at Three Museums
by Suzanne Kurtz
Three popular art museums around D.C. are collaborating on a three-artist retrospective that celebrates the achievements of the "Modern American Genius."
Throughout the summer, the cutting-edge contributions to the art world of Richard Diebenkorn, Jasper Johns and Barnett Newman will be on display at the Corcoran Gallery of Art, the Phillips Collection and the National Gallery of Art, respectively. Each museum will be hosting an exhibition dedicated to a seminal body of work from one of these major trailblazers, each of whom helped to elevate the stature of modern American art on the international stage.
In the July 2012 Issue
Maya Unearthed
Mexican Institute Eschews Doomsday Predictions for Real Relics
by Michael Coleman
When conversations turn to the ancient Mayans of Mexico these days, they often center on the alleged demise of civilization when the Mayan calendar runs out in December 2012.
Thankfully, the Mexican Cultural Institute in Washington has given us something a bit more substantial — and certainly less stressful — to ponder than Mayan doomsday scenarios. "Hina/Jaina: On the Threshold of the Mayan Underworld (600-900 AD)" showcases a rich array of Mayan figurines excavated from burial sites on the man-made island of Jaina, a vital ritual and religious site off the northern coast of the Yucatan Peninsula.
The exhibition features more than 50 small-scale "Jaina style" figurines that represent Mayan religious themes, cosmology and elements of society.
In the June 2012 Issue
Revolutionary Miró
Joan Miró's Multifaceted Art Reflected Turbulent World
by Gary Tischler
The life and work of the great Spanish artist Joan Miró (1893-1983) is almost swamped in every artistic "ism" of the 20th century — surrealism, magical realism, cubism, primitivism, expressionism, Fauvism, to name a few.
Yet the Barcelona-born painter, sculptor and ceramicist insisted he was a "self-taught amateur" to express his contempt for convention, constantly experimenting and innovating in what he famously described as an "assassination of painting" to upend the establishment.
"Joan Miró: The Ladder of Escape," the new and comprehensive exhibition at the National Gallery of Art, alongside a smaller exhibition at the Kreeger Museum, showcase Miró's most fundamental and important "ism": his humanism.
In the May 2012 Issue
Renewed Passport
Passport DC Still Opening Doors — And Not Just to Embassies
by Stephanie Kanowitz
Passport DC is not just about embassies anymore. Although the open house tours remain the highlight of the month-long cultural celebration, its popularity has helped Passport expand beyond its first iteration to include museum exhibits, street festivals and children's activities. Still, the original goal is far from forgotten with record participation from about 70 of Washington's 170 embassies.
In addition, the wide-ranging culture that is showcased is anything but formulaic.
"There's this really fun juxtaposition of what we think about as international oftentimes being traditional or folk, but what we see with all of this is a lot of the exhibits and concerts and so forth are bringing forward very contemporary art and new trends and new activities," said Linda Donavan Harper, executive director of Cultural Tourism DC, which puts together Passport DC. "You shouldn't think about it as what a country has been, but what a country is becoming or doing now as well."
In the April 2012 Issue
Unmasking a Society
'A Thousand and One Faces' Profiles Mexican Expression
by Michael Coleman
In the realm of Washington embassies and art, few places have as much fun as the Mexican Cultural Institute.
Housed in a magnificent mansion with a spiral staircase, soaring ceilings and intricate tile and murals, the institute routinely puts on fascinating cultural events from cooking demonstrations to concerts to seminars.
A high-tone exhibition that showcased the lowbrow work of Mexican street artists a few years back was brilliantly whimsical. The institute's recent partnership with National Geographic to showcase 50 years of the magazine's Mexican photography mesmerized viewers and made us want to jump on the first plane headed south of the border.
In the March 2012 Issue
Cherry Centennial
Festival Celebrates 100th Year of Bridge-Building Pink Blossoms
by Stephanie Kanowitz
Although temperatures have been spring-like for months, officially the season is almost here, bringing the coveted annual National Cherry Blossom Festival with it — and this year's popular pink extravaganza will really be bursting with pride.
That's because 2012 marks the centennial of Tokyo Mayor Yukio Ozaki's gift of 3,000 cherry trees to Washington. Running March 20 to April 27, the festival celebrates not only the enduring legacy of that gift, but Japanese culture as well. To that end, as the tiny pink blossoms flourish around the D.C. metro region, so too will various art exhibits and events commemorating their 100th bloom in our area. Here is a look at four of them.
In the February 2012 Issue
Otherworldly Snapshot
Ancient Ruins of the Americas Seen in Ethereal New Light
by Dave Seminara
Two years ago, photographer Arthur Drooker was sitting beside the majestic ruins of Saint-Pierre, a city in Martinique that was devastated by a volcano in 1902, waiting for a fickle wind to blow some puffy clouds into the frame of a photo he hoped to take. Drooker was prepared to wait all day to get the shot and when his girlfriend, Ivy, agreed to wait with him, he decided that she was the woman he would marry.
Visitors who venture to see "Lost Worlds: Ruins of the Americas" will experience that labor of love in this stunning collection of haunting, ethereal black-and-white photographs shot with a special infrared camera that helps capture especially dramatic contrast and light.
In the January 2012 Issue
Thought-Provoking '30'
African American Artists Ponder Full Spectrum of American Experience
by Stephanie Kanowitz
Individually, each work in the newest exhibition at the Corcoran Gallery of Art freezes moments of not only African American history but of U.S. history into single modern interpretations. Together, the pieces show how those histories continue to evolve and interact as emerging artists learn from seasoned ones and offer fresh viewpoints on racial, sexual and historical identity in contemporary culture.
"The art history there has not been concluded; it's still being written," Henry Thaggert, chairman of the museum's advisory committee, said of "30 Americans," on display through next February. "That's very, very exciting."
Selected from the Rubell Family Collection, the group of 76 photographs, paintings, drawings, sculptures and videos represents the work of 31 of the most influential African American artists of the past 30 years and is linked by a common theme: identity.
In the December 2011 Issue
Quite A Ride
Horse-Human Bond Strengthens American Indian History
by Kaitlin Kovach
Some relationships seem like they have always existed. The one between Native American Indians and horses is among those. But as visitors to the National Museum of the American Indian's newest exhibition, "A Song for the Horse Nation," will discover, that relationship is only about as old as European contact with native tribes.
Despite the animal's origins in the Americas about 40 million years ago, horses had become extinct here because of migrations to Europe and Asia. It wasn't until Christopher Columbus' second voyage to the Americas in 1493, when he left behind a herd of 25 horses, that the animals returned for good.
In the November 2011 Issue
Warhol Makes News
Man Behind '15 Minutes of Fame' Skewers Media That Riveted Him
Michael Coleman
Perhaps no American artist of the 20th century stirred as much passion and ambivalence as Andy Warhol.
To his devotees, Warhol was a visionary who transcended abstract expressionism, offered brilliant artistic commentary on the issues of the day, and made the world of high art more accessible to the masses. To his detractors, Warhol was overrated and derivative, pilfering ideas about pop art from groundbreakers like Jasper Johns and Roy Lichtenstein while convincing the world that his own works said more than they really did.
Regardless of your own view of Warhol, one element of the Pittsburgh native's work is indisputable: He had an uncanny understanding of pop culture and the media and used it to smartly skewer tabloid notions of "news." The guy who coined the now ubiquitous expression that "in the future everyone will be world-famous for 15 minutes" was unparalleled in his intelligent exploration of the intersection of media, fame and art.
In the October 2011 Issue
Katzen's Creative Canopy
Hodgepodge of Life, from Subterra Australia to 1940s D.C.
by Gary Tischler
There are times when you go to the American University Museum at the Katzen Arts Center and what you find are scattered little leaflets containing a bold smattering of ideas for art exhibitions that seemed to have dropped out of the sky and were picked up at random by museum director and curator Jack Rasmussen.
Ever since the Katzen Arts Center arose by Ward Circle, Rasmussen seems to have plunged himself into an almost subversive process of creating and assembling a panoply of exhibitions that don't readily connect to one another, but together make up some of the most fascinating, cutting-edge shows in town. The museum space, three floors plus an outdoor sculpture garden, is ready-made for this kind of eclectic approach, aided with a flood of natural light and an expansive curatorial vision.
In the September 2011 Issue
Delectable Diplomacy
Embassies Cleverly Offer Taste of Culture With Cuisine
by Stephanie Kanowitz
The way to cultural understanding may be through our stomachs. Indeed, Washington's melting pot of foreign embassies stirs up gastronomic opportunities to travel and taste the world without leaving the city's 100-square-mile radius.
"Food is different in that it appeals to all of the senses, including taste and smell, and is a participatory as well as personal experience," said Alejandra de la Paz, director of the Mexican Cultural Institute. "This inclusive, engaging aspect of food works to create bridges of understanding."
That's why more and more embassies are reaching out through their kitchens — spicing up traditional public diplomacy efforts with what's always been a key ingredient in any culture: food. After all, viewing a piece of art or listening to a lecture is one thing; sampling a home-cooked meal or exotic delicacy is quite another. Embassies have realized that showcasing their native cuisines — and tapping into the growing foodie phenomenon across America — is an irresistible and clever strategy to highlight their national cultures.


text:
Trade News
- First South Korean synthetic natural gas (SNG) plant
- Plant performance will set the standard for future SNG plants
Lyngby, Denmark, and Munich, Germany, 5 October 2010 – The technology group The Linde Group and Haldor Topsøe, a market leading provider of integrated catalyst solutions, today announced they have been selected as technology suppliers for the syngas treatment and methanation unit of POSCO's synthetic natural gas (SNG) plant. The new plant will be erected in Gwangyang, South Korea, producing SNG from coal and/or petcoke.
The POSCO SNG plant, with a nominal capacity of 500,000 metric tons per year (MTPY) of pipeline-ready SNG, will be brought into operation by end of 2013. It will be the first SNG plant in South Korea.
The Linde Group's Engineering Division will supply the complete technology chain of syngas treatment and conditioning, including sour shift, acid gas removal – featuring Linde Rectisol® – and sulphur recovery. Haldor Topsøe will supply the complete methanation technology, TREMP™, including conditioning of the product gas, to deliver SNG with a methane purity in excess of 98 percent.
"Given the strategic significance of the POSCO SNG project for the diversification of the energy supply in South Korea, the selection of TREMP™ for POSCO SNG is a milestone of utmost importance for the implementation of our SNG technology in the worldwide market. We are proud of this success, which is the result of a strong and effective collaborative effort among all parties involved," said Niels Kegel Sørensen, CEO of Haldor Topsøe A/S.
"As a world leading gases and engineering company we are proud to participate in this ground-breaking project to produce synthetic natural gas from coal," said Dr Aldo Belloni, Member of the Executive Board of Linde AG. "The SNG technology offers benefits in the conversion of energy, especially in coal-rich regions. Our technical solutions for syngas treatment are part of our comprehensive engineering expertise in the field of alternative fuel generation."
The project is owned by POSCO of South Korea, one of the largest steel producers in the world, and is executed by POSCO Engineering and Construction, a premier and global general construction and engineering company. The plant, which will feature ConocoPhillips' E-gas gasification technology, will be adjacent to the steel works of Gwangyang, where site preparation is already initiated.
"With the selection of Linde and Topsøe, the POSCO SNG plant has acquired a state-of-the-art technology, the performance of which will set the standard for future SNG plants worldwide," said Changdae Byun, SNG Project Director of POSCO, at the signature ceremony at POSCO Center in Seoul.
About The Linde Group
The Linde Group is a world leading gases and engineering company with almost 48,000 employees working in more than 100 countries worldwide. In the 2009 financial year it achieved sales of EUR 11.2 billion. The strategy of The Linde Group is geared towards sustainable earnings-based growth and focuses on the expansion of its international business with forward-looking products and services. Linde acts responsibly towards its shareholders, business partners, employees, society and the environment – in every one of its business areas, regions and locations across the globe. Linde is committed to technologies and products that unite the goals of customer value and sustainable development.
For more information, see The Linde Group online at http://www.linde.com
About Haldor Topsøe
Haldor Topsøe is market leading in the field of heterogeneous catalysis. Haldor Topsøe supply catalysts and technologies for chemical and environmental processes in a broad range of industries, including fertiliser, oil and gas, energy, bulk chemicals manufacture and automotive. In 2009 the turnover totalled EUR 572 million generated by 2,100 employees around the world. Read more at www.topsoe.com
About POSCO
POSCO is one the largest steel producers in the world. POSCO had approximately 30,000 employees worldwide and USD 31.6 billion of revenues in 2009.
For more information, go to POSCO online at http://www.posco.com
For additional information:
The Linde Group
Haldor Topsøe

subset: commoncrawl


text:
PROs demand
Attention to detail is important. You strive for smooth brush strokes and the perfect coat. And we strive for the long-lasting, handmade quality that you've come to rely on. You see, when the quality of our craft affects yours, everything has to be perfect. That's why we've been paying attention to the smallest details for more than 80 years. Explore Purdy ® paint brushes.
PURDY delivers.


text:
Thanks for the replies. I am in Bakersfield. Hope to be leaving CA soon, but prepping now. Good to know there are a few like minded nearby.
New to this site, not to prepping! It's good to see that there are other are prioritizing their prepping efforts. Good luck to everyone, the good guys should stick together! Feel free to stop by my blog http://economicalsurvivalinfo.blogspot.com or http://www.freesurvivalinfo.com I am always interested in communicating and sharing info with other preppers, especially those that are in my area, thanks.
CERT Academy 5 starting soon! (San Bernardino,CA)
The next CERT course (Academy 5) starts April 16, 2011.
Class length: 24 hours (over the course of 3 days)
Yes, I'm in Vista. Tell me about you and I will receprocate
Just checking. I left California many years ago. No interest in returning. I like what I see on your threads. Glad to see some real people still there. Best of luck to you all.
Goobermint = Gooverment = Government
It's a slang term of derision for the "goobers" that seem to be running the show... or rather, goobering up the works while pretending they know what they're doing.
Pretty standard slang on these types of board. Most folks figure it out from context, but if not - there you go.
ETA: Just realized I got necro-trolled - trolled myself not noticing the thread was 5 years old LOL.
Last edited by bruss01; 12-16-2016 at 12:03 PM.
"The thing about smart people is they seem like crazy people to dumb people" - Stephen Hawking


text:
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
EDC Schwartz Awards
Posted by Florida Photonics Cluster at 11:13 AM
No comments:
Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)
The mission of the Florida Photonics Cluster (FPC) is to support the growth and profitability of the photonics industry through the strength of a unified voice. The driving forces of the FPC are networking opportunities with industry peers, an expansive resource base, and an educational community focused on industry input for curriculum development. The FPC is a 501c(6) not-for-profit corporation.


text:
Findmypast issued the following press release and included some fascinating new data:
- The 'infirmities' column is released online for the first time, detailing people's health conditions
- 'Lunatic' and 'imbecile' popularly used, reflecting a different kind of society
- Unusual entries: 'old age', 'voteless', 'bald' and 'short of cash'
The final, missing column of data from the 1911 census, which details individuals' infirmities is released for the very first time at www.findmypast.co.uk and www.1911census.co.uk, the family history websites which first launched the 1911 census three years ago in 2009 in association with The National Archives.
The infirmity column details wide-ranging descriptions of peoples' health conditions as perceived and hand-written by the head of the household on the night of Sunday 2 April 1911. Under data protection regulations, this sensitive information has remained closed until now.
A less 'politically correct' society
'Lunatic', 'imbecile' and 'feeble-minded' are some of the most commonly used entries reflecting an era before such terminology was deemed unacceptable. The census in fact prompts the respondent to record if a person is 'totally deaf', 'deaf and dumb', 'totally blind', 'lunatic', 'imbecile' or 'feeble-minded.'
5 most common 'infirmities' recorded in 1911: Lunatic, Feeble-minded, Imbecile, Deaf and dumb, Blind
1911 humour
However, not all the entries are negative or insensitive. The 1911 records also reflect the humour and curious family dynamics from a century ago – not too dissimilar to what we know now in 2012. One extraordinary record details a Mr John Underwood from Hastings recording his children as 'quarrelsome', 'stubborn', 'greedy', 'vain' and 'noisy'. He even records himself as 'bad-tempered' and his wife as suffering from a 'long tongue'.
Another unusual entry is from Thomas Wallace Young, who was described as being 'bald and toothless', helping us picture exactly what he looked like. William Robert Arnold from Yorkshire commented on his financial status in 1911 by recording his infirmity as being 'short of cash'.
Suffragette labels 'voteless' as her infirmity
The cause of the suffragettes is also illustrated within the new records, with some women listing their infirmities as not having the vote or not being enfranchised. For example, four women living in the same household recorded their infirmities as 'voteless, therefore classed with idiots and children'.
Infirmities? 'None, thank God'
Some chose to make a note of their good health instead of the health problems the form enquired about, such as 'well', 'healthy', 'sane', 'alright' and even 'perfect'. Evelyn Baker and her family from Leeds were recorded in the census by their father Addiman Parkin Barker as simply being 'alive'. Seventy-two entries simply say 'none, thank God'.
10 unusual infirmities in the records:
Voteless, bald and toothless, greedy, Vain, Short of cash, Noisy, Quarrelsome, Bad tempered Stubborn Long tongue
Connections between infirmity and profession
A correlation between infirmity and occupation can also be identified in some cases. The biggest source of employment for blind men and women was basket-weaving. Other trades for blind men were musicians or musical instrument makers. Women who were 'deaf and dumb' were often employed within the textile or garment trades, or in domestic service, while men were most likely to be labourers.
Debra Chatfield, family historian at findmypast.co.uk, said: "The infirmities column is the last piece of the jigsaw completing the 1911 census. This column alone provides a fascinating insight into life a hundred years ago. It not only reflects health conditions, but also a time before society became aware of political-correctness and certain terminology was deemed acceptable. In the more unusual entries we also get a wonderful sense of post-Edwardian humour, society and family dynamics at this time.
"Researching your family history is a fascinating way to learn about your ancestors. The 1911 census records include detail about occupations, housing arrangements and social status and you are also able to see a copy of the handwritten record itself."
Audrey Collins, Family History records specialist at The National Archives, said: "The information in the 'infirmities' column being released today helps add an extra dimension to the picture of our ancestors' lives in 1911. We have to remember that the census returns were completed by relatives living in the same house who for the most part had no specialist medical knowledge. Their descriptions provide us with a clue as to how each individual was viewed by other family members, although many would have been reluctant to admit that their relatives suffered from any defect."
Related articles
- Being bald and toothless among health complaints listed in 1911 census (mirror.co.uk)
- 'Noisy, bald and long in the tongue': Britain's 'ailments' in 1911 (dailymail.co.uk)
- 1911 medical conditions: wife's long tongue and childnre's quarrelsome stubbornness (telegraph.co.uk)
- Historical Street Archive at the National Archives (cumpstonresearch.wordpress.com)


text:
The STS-113
crew will perform three spacewalks while at the International Space
Station. The main focus of these extravehicular activities, or EVAs,
is the installation, outfitting and activation of the P1 (P-One)
Truss. All three spacewalks will be based out of the station's Quest
Astronauts and Suit ID
Michael Lopez-Alegria (EV1): solid red stripes
John Herrington (EV2): solid white spacesuit
Station Robot Arm Operators
Peggy Whitson
Ken Bowersox
Don Pettit
Shuttle Robot Arm Operator
Jim Wetherbee
Paul Lockhart
Herrington Time:
6 hours, 45 minutes
Start Time: 1:49 p.m. CST (1949 GMT) Nov. 26, 2002
End Time (approximate): 8:35 p.m. CST Nov. 26, 2002 (0235 GMT Nov.
27, 2002)
After the P1
was attached to the station, Lopez-Alegria and Herrington exited
the station Quest Airlock. Lopez-Alegria began making connections
between the P1 and the S0 (S-Zero) Truss as Herrington released
launch restraints on the Crew and Equipment Translation Aid, or
CETA, cart. Lopez-Alegria then installed Spool Positioning Devices,
or SPDs, onto the station. Both spacewalkers removed a drag link
on the P1 that served as a launch restraint. The final major task
scheduled during the spacewalk was the installation of a Wireless
video system External Transceiver Assembly, which will be used to
support spacewalkers' helmet cameras, onto the Unity Node.
Herrington Time:
6 hours, 10 minutes
Start Time: 12:36 p.m. CST (1836 GMT) Nov. 28, 2002
End Time: 6:46 p.m. CST Nov. 28, 2002 (0046 GMT Nov. 29, 2002)
The first major
task scheduled for STS-113's Thanksgiving spacewalk was the installation
of the fluid jumpers where the S0 and the P1 are attached to each
other. The jumpers were installed by both spacewalkers. The next
task was the removal of the P1's starboard keel pin. Before removing
the port keel pin, Lopez-Alegria and Herrington installed another
Wireless video system External Transceiver Assembly onto the P1.
The final major task of the spacewalk was the relocation of the
CETA cart from the P1 to the S1 Truss, which will allow the Mobile
Transporter to move along the P1 to assist in upcoming assembly
Herrington Time:
7 hours
Start Time: 1:25 p.m. CST (1925 GMT) Nov. 30, 2002
End Time: 8:25 p.m. CST Nov. 30, 2002 (0225 GMT Dec. 1, 2002)
the spacewalk, Herrington and Lopez-Alegria installed more SPDs,
which brings the total to more than 40 installed during the mission's
three excursions. Also, Lopez-Alegria reconfigured electrical harnesses
that route power through the Main Bus Switching Units, and Herrington
attached Ammonia Tank Assembly lines.
Curator: Kim
Dismukes | Responsible NASA Official: John Ira Petty | Updated: 12/10/2002Web Accessibility and Policy Notices


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Snippet Name: Fake Union
Description: Alternate code for versions of mySQL that don't have the UNION function.
Comment: (none)
Language: SQL
Highlight Mode: MYSQL
Last Modified: February 26th, 2009
Description: Alternate code for versions of mySQL that don't have the UNION function.
CREATE TEMPORARY TABLE temp_union
SELECT * FROM table_1;
INSERT INTO temp_union
SELECT * FROM table_2;
SELECT * FROM temp_union;
DROP TABLE temp_union;
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If you're getting delivery, your pizza already comes pre-sliced. But if you're making it at home, when cutting up that pie you'd better make sure everyone gets the same-sized slice lest you start a family feud that could go on for generations. And since nobody wants that, ThinkGeek created this brilliant laser-guided pizza cutter that keeps your slices on target.
Its built-in Class II laser pointer creates an easy to follow bright red line across your pizza, while the three-and-a-half-inch stainless steel blade makes short work of a mountain of toppings or even an extra-thick crust. For $30 it also comes with a built-in flashlight so you can keep on slicing even if the lights go out. Next to pineapple, it could be the best thing to happen to pizza in the past 30 years. [ThinkGeek]


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A wolf pack in eastern Washington state has been targeted for elimination by the state's Department of Fish and Wildlife. KING's Gary Chittim reports.
Updated at 9:50 p.m. ET: Two gray wolves in Washington state were killed from a state helicopter Tuesday afternoon after officials decided the entire pack -- believed to be at least eight wolves -- needed to be killed because of repeated attacks on cattle, officials said.
An airborne marksman with the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife killed the two wolves about seven miles from the Canadian border -- a week after marksmen and wildlife biologists spent days looking for the pack.
A major conservation group working with Washington state to manage its gray wolves agreed that the pack should be culled but also blamed a rancher in the area for not doing more to protect his cattle.
Gray wolves are listed as endangered under state law because they were nearly wiped out a century ago by settlers.
In the last decade, however, gray wolves have started to re-establish themselves in Washington due to recovery efforts in nearby states and dispersal from Canada.
At least eight packs are now established in the eastern half of Washington, which also has a conservation plan in place — one that aims to restore wolves in the wild without those same wolves preying on livestock. The state compensates ranchers who lose livestock to wolves, but that hasn't ended the tension.
"Wolves are recolonizing our state relatively quickly," Dave Ware, a Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife spokesman, told NBC News. "Managing conflicts is one of the most important objectives for recovery so that people don't take things into their own hands."
Officials last July killed one pack member to see if that would have an impact. The decision to kill the entire pack came after the pack's attacks on cattle continued. Since July, wolves are believed to have killed or injured at least 17 calves and cows despite non-lethal measures to deter them, according to the state wildlife office.
Conservation Northwest, a group working with the state, agreed that killing the pack was best for long-term recovery of gray wolves in the wild.
But director Mitch Friedman told NBC station KING 5 that rancher Bill McIrvine, who lost part of his herd to the pack, "has total responsibility for the problem" for not being as cooperative as other ranchers with programs aimed at keeping cattle and wolves apart.
The wildlife department, for its part, "has not been as firm as it needed to be," Friedman added, especially since McIrvine's cattle graze on public land.
McIrvine, for his part, earlier told KING 5 that he believes groups with "a radical environmental agenda" are conspiring to introduce gray wolves in order "to take our (grazing) lease from us."
"We have the right to protect our property," McIrvine said, adding that he considered the wildlife department "a rogue government agency" that was essentially saying "we got to sit back and do nothing while the wolves kill our livestock."
Ware said efforts to get rancher cooperation for "non-lethal methods of preventing conflicts" have improved in recent weeks. Several agreements with ranchers should be in place for next year that will hopefully "avoid a repeat of the Wedge Pack situation," he said.
One obvious question is why not just move the wolves to a wilderness area away from livestock?
"Experience from other states with recently recovered wolf populations indicates that survival of relocated wolves is not very high, especially if there are other wolf packs in the area where they are moved, which appears to be the case in most of northeast Washington," Ware said.
On top of that, "once a pack becomes habituated to eating livestock, moving them only moves the conflict" since wolf territories are larger than any wilderness area the state could ship them to, he said.
"Lethal removal is being conducted in every" state with gray wolves, Ware added, while acknowledging that since wolf recovery efforts are new in Washington "the concept of killing an endangered species to promote recovery is difficult to understand or accept."
"As wolf recovery has progressed across the West, lethal removal has been an important part of that recovery and it has obviously not impacted wolf numbers or expansion of their range," Ware said. "We don't expect it to be an impediment in Washington's wolf recovery either."
"The Wedge area is good habitat, so wolves will likely recolonize relatively quickly over the next year or two," Ware said.
A department wildlife veterinarian will perform necropsies on the wolves later this week. Their hides and skulls will be used for educational purposes, according to a statement on the state's wildlife management website.
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Tuesday, July 3, 2007
Goodman on The Transformation of Justice Ginsburg
Ellen Goodman had a column this week in the Boston Globe on "The Transformation of Justice Ginsburg." Hat tip. Goodman writes: NOW, in the season of her discontent, it is well to remember that Ruth Bader Ginsburg was always called a moderate. The word dangled from her wrist like an ID bracelet. In fact, when she was nominated to be the second woman on the Supreme Court, there were feminists who added another adjective to that word: too moderate. I always thought that was a bad rap. Ginsburg went to law school when textbooks still read: "Land, like woman, was meant to be possessed." Her dean asked the nine women in her class of 500 why they were taking a man's seat. She was accepted for a clerkship only after the judge found an understudy in case she couldn't hack it. It's not surprising that Ginsburg often refers to herself as a "way-paver." At the same time, the legal strategy that she devised in the 1970s to upend the idea that men and women live in different legal spheres was a careful, incremental bit of roadwork. Her plaintiffs in a series of successful sex discrimination suits were often men -- such as a widowed father ineligible for Social Security -- chosen to appeal to male judges. After her confirmation by a margin of 97-3, Ginsburg was still called "a partisan of judicial restraint."...But this year we are witnessing -- what shall we call it? -- the radicalization of Ruth Bader Ginsburg? For the rest, click here.
Posted by Mary L. Dudziak at 9:28 AM
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You've seen the light so don't leave your clients in the dark, this Swiss Force emergency promotional flashlight tool is the perfect token of appreciation.
If you ever find yourself in a bind, this Swiss Force custom emergency safety is the one tool you would not want to be without.
The Swiss Force double-wall stainless steel vacuum custom bottle is the only vacuum bottle you will ever need.


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Campbell O. Webb
Research Associate, Arnold Arboretum
Kotak Pos 2, Sukadana, Kab. Kayong Utara
Kalimantan Barat 78852, Indonesia
Phone: +62-813-9917-7663 (GMT+7)
PhD Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Dartmouth College (advisor: David R. Peart; external advisor: Stephen P. Hubbell)
BA (Hons) Pure and Applied Biology, Oxford University, UK
Research interests
I spend my days collecting, trying to understand, teaching about, and restoring the beautiful and threatened plant diversity of Indonesia—probably the best job in the world! I am driven by a desire to see evolutionary and ecological patterns in the green riot of tropical plant biodiversity—patterns which will help us understand the complex biogeographic history of the Southeast Asian region, and that should also give us new insights into the processes of speciation and adaptation. To perceive these patterns, I have helped develop theory about the evolutionary relationships we expect to find among organisms in local communities and in biogeographic regions, and I continue to co-develop related software tools (e.g., phylocom).
I also believe that simply collecting and sharing data on the composition of these forests is vital for their conservation. Sharing our knowledge and developing an awareness of the sheer complexity, uniqueness, and beauty of these forests is one of the most powerful influences for conservation that biologists can offer. To this end, we are collecting plants from some of the most underexplored areas in Indonesia, and developing local capacity in biodiversity informatics to help share these data within the region and globally. We are optimistic that current technological tools, including DNA barcoding, new approaches to image matching, and semantic web applications, can be used to speed up the process of documentation and organization of raw biodiversity inventories to help fill the gap between the remaining biodiversity on the planet and our ability to process it.
I am very fortunate to live in the region (Borneo at Sukadana, West Kalimantan), where we are just beginning a three-year, NSF-funded project (with co-PI Sarah Mathews) on the ecology, biogeography, and biodiversity informatics of trees that ties together many of these interests. I also manage a forest restoration program in the nearby Gunung Palung National Park, drawing on biodiversity data collected during my 20 years of research in the park to restore diverse, native lowland forest on barren grass-dominated landscapes. Finally, one of my great joys is teaching field biology courses, such as the 'Biodiversity of Borneo' Harvard Summer School course, and bringing students face-to-face with the forest's biodiversity.
Recent and Representative Publications
- Webb, C.O., J.W.F. Slik, and T. Triono. 2010. Biodiversity inventory and informatics in Southeast Asia. Biodiversity and Conservation 19(4): 955–972.
- Vamosi, S.M., S.B. Heard, J.C. Vamosi, and C.O. Webb. 2009. Emerging patterns in the comparative analysis of phylogenetic community structure. Molecular Ecology 18: 572–592.
- Webb, C.O., D.D. Ackerly, and S.W. Kembel. 2008. Phylocom: software for the analysis of phylogenetic community structure and trait evolution. Bioinformatics 24: 2098–2100.
- Gilbert, G.S. and C.O. Webb. 2007. Phylogenetic signal in plant pathogen-host range. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA 104(12): 4979–4983.
- Kraft, N.J.B., W.K. Cornwell, C.O. Webb, and D.D. Ackerly. 2007. Trait evolution, community assembly, and the phylogenetic structure of ecological communities. American Naturalist 170: 271–283.
- Webb, C.O., G.S. Gilbert, and M.J. Donoghue. 2006. Phylodiversity-dependent seedling mortality, size structure, and disease in a Bornean rain forest. Ecology 87(7 Suppl): S123–S131.
- Strauss, S.Y., C.O. Webb, and N. Salamin. 2006. Exotic taxa less related to native species are more invasive. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA 103(15): 5841–5845.
- Moles, A.T., D.D. Ackerly, C.O. Webb, J.C. Tweddle, J.B. Dickie, and M. Westoby. 2005. A brief history of seed size. Science 307(5709): 576–580.
- Webb, C.O., D.D. Ackerly, M.A. McPeek, and M.J. Donoghue. 2002. Phylogenies and community ecology. Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics 33: 475–505.
- Webb, C.O. 2000. Exploring the phylogenetic structure of ecological communities: an example for rain forest trees. American Naturalist 156(2): 145–155.
View the full list of publications here.
Current Grants
- NSF Grant, 2010-2013, ʽBiogeographic and ecological diversification of trees across the Indonesian archipelago: developing indigenous leadership in biodiversity informatics;' PI: C. Webb, co-PI: S. Mathews; award number: 1020868
Chuck Cannon, Greg Gilbert, James Macklin, I Made Wiryana, Sarah Mathews, Bob Morris, Gary Paoli, Toby Pennington, Rick Ree, Susanne Renner, Michael Sanderson, Endro Setiawan, Peter Stevens, Teguh Triono, Hery Yanto, Amy Zanne


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It's Politically Incorrect So It Must Be Funny
It's Politically Incorrect, so it Must be Funny is the motto of militant twits who try their damndest not to be Politically Correct. What they don't realize, though, is that by hailing something as good simply for the fact that it's politically incorrect, they're just being as correct as a person who would be offended by the same thing.
The first instance of It's Politically Incorrect, so it Must be Funny occurred when Greek Philosophers Chrysippus and Frank were walking around and saw a donkey eating figs. At the time, a donkey eating figs was considered to be a harsh satire on snooty uptight Philosophers. Frank contended that it wasn't really that funny. Chrysippus derided Frank for being so easily offended, and then to prove his point laughed so hard at the donkey eating figs that he died.
Frank would continue telling people "it's a donkey eating figs, what the fuck's so funny?" even to his deathbed, and every time he would, surely there'd be some Politically Correct douchebag next to him telling him to ease up and not be offended so easily.
At the same time in Asia, Pene y Pelotas, the famous historian and revolutionary, was studying balls when Marco Polo reared his Iti ass. Marco Polo laughed at Pene's tiny penis and Pene said that it was politacally incorrect to laugh at an Asian for having a small dick. Therefore, this is funny.
Boom of Popularity in the 2000's[edit]
With the sudden explosion in the PC-Fag population, soon followed an equally large explosion in the Un-PC-Fag population. The PC-Fags would insist that a comedian like Larry the Cable Guy was offensive to minorities. Un-PC-Fags would insist that the PC-Fags stop being so offended, and then hail Larry the Cable Guy as the comedic mastermind of our generation. Meanwhile, all the sensible people came to a quiet conclusion that he wasn't really all that funny, though they guess some of his material was all right, and that if anything they were offended that the Un-PC-Fags made him so goddamn popular when he has no fucking right to be popular. I mean seriously, he's just a stupid fucking shock comedian, does Mike Birbiglia really not deserve the attention Larry the Cable Guy gets? Mitch Hedberg had to fucking die before he got half that recognition! And Mitch Hedberg is ten times as funny as Larry the Cable Guy, it's not even a debate, it's just true. Seriously, all of you can fucking bite me, I hate you.
While PC-Fags and Un-PC-Fags would at first appear to be polar opposites, they're actually the same exact thing. PC-Fags immediately call something worthless due to its possibly offensive nature, and un-PC-Fags immediately call something awesome due to its possible offensive nature. But neither actually thinks about whether or not the actual content of it is funny. So they both suck.


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Sanilac District Library
Loan Periods For Materials
Audio books and books in print may be borrowed for 2 weeks.
Magazines circulate for 1 week.
Hot Movies may be rented for one day for $1. All other Movies may be rented for $1 for 3 days. Rental fees are used to purchase new movies.
Grace Period: All materials, except movies, are granted a grace period of 24 hours after the due date where overdue fines are not charged.
Renew Materials
*Movies and materials that are reserved or in high demand may not be renewed.
Extended Borrowing Fees
Life happens and sometimes you just can't make it to the library to return the items you have borrowed. SDL tries to be understanding but other patrons are deprived of using those materials when they are kept past their due date.
If a patron chooses to keep a material past its due date, an extended borrowing fee will be charged. Audio books, books in print and magazines are charged 10 cents per item per day overdue. Movies are charged $1 per day per item. Materials returned to the drop box after the library is closed are considered to be overdue. Fines will not accrue on days the library is closed. The maximum fine is the replacement cost of the material. Movies do not have a maximum fine.


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Razor's edge: Presley trail trial postponed
Charlottesville's code violation case against Shirley Presley, the woman accused of stringing razor wire across a smidgen of her property to keep Rivanna Trail hikers off, has been postponed until August 31.
Originally scheduled for June 29, the case was moved because Charlottesville General District Court Judge Bob Downer had to leave town for a medical emergency involving a family member.
A substitute, retired federal judge Jackson Kiser, is handling Downer's caseload in his absence, but both the prosecution and defense opted to wait until Downer returns to town.
"Both of us decided this is one of those cases appropriate for the city judge to hear," says Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Ron Huber.
Presley's lawyer, Fred Payne, rankled the city by issuing 13 subpoenas for the misdemeanor case. On June 21, Downer heard– and denied– the city's motion to quash nine of those issued to city employees, including City Manager Gary O'Connell, Police Chief Tim Longo, and City Councilor Kevin Lynch.
Also ordered to appear in court was Hook reporter Courteney Stuart, who reported on the story in 2002 and 2003. And Presley's Bland Circle neighbor, Carolyn Reilly, also on the subpoena list, flew in from an Indian reservation in South Dakota where she's a missionary.
Payne says Reilly will be back again in August.
Perhaps most disappointed by the delay is city code official Jerry Tomlin, who charged Presley with failure to comply with the ordinance. "August 31 is a long time to wait," he says.
Tomlin is worried someone will be hurt on the concertina wire this summer. "I was down there yesterday," he says. "Someone is maintaining it to keep the vegetation away."
The city has surveyed the brush pile and razor wire to make sure it belongs to Presley. "We know it's hers," says Tomlin.
That the Rivanna Trail used a bit of land owned by Presley without her permission is beside the point to Tomlin. "To me it's not a trail issue," he says. "It's a violation of the ordinance put in place for the safety of people and animals."
Tomlin says he's wanted the razor wire down since February. "I'm angered that justice can't come any sooner," he declares.
Is the use of razor wire on Shirley Presley's land a property rights issue or a code violation that's just plain unsafe? It'll be August 31 before a judge decides.


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SOUTH AFRICA, Race Attacks and Underlying Tensions Remain
By Lee Jay Walker
Tokyo Correspondent – SEOUL TIMES – SOUTH KOREA
|Handshakes for the new South Africa.
The old South Africa was blighted by racial politics and the African National Congress was meant to usher in a "new dawn," whereby society would be based on equality. However, events in the middle of this year clearly showed that a "new dawn" had not arrived. Instead you had mass hatred of different African foreign nationals and many people were killed or forced to flee. Of course if these deaths had been done by the Boers, then the world would have said that it was predictable. However, this is black South African nationalism, therefore, the world appears to be indifferent and the response was rather tame. So what went wrong in the new South Africa?
Firstly, these inter ethnic disputes are not unique to South Africa because we have seen similar events throughout Africa and other parts of the world. For example you have major ethnic tensions in Algeria, Burundi, Kenya, Nigeria, Rwanda, Sudan, and other nations in Africa. Meanwhile, Europe also remains blighted by ethnic tensions in the Balkans, the Caucasus region, and racial tensions remain in many nations despite positive policies.
However, the new South Africa was meant to be "colour blind" but clearly it isn`t when it comes to ethnicity, is it? Therefore, mass immigration from nations like Zimbabwe have upset the applecart too much and ethnic disputes are clearly potent. So why did the South African government get it wrong? Or were they too naive to notice the changing face of society?
Maybe the current leaders of South Africa are more focused on power politics rather than bread and butter issues? But these past killings are based on bread and butter issues and many South Africans are fed up with the current economic situation. Therefore, grinding poverty, inequality, a breakdown in certain sectors, alongside mass immigration, is a very potent mix and sadly it proved to be too potent.
Given this, the rainbow country, like it was dubbed, is not so much a rainbow but more like a patchwork of different ethnic groups and these ethnic groups do not pander to easy sayings based on so-called unity. Instead, the majority of South Africans want to share the apple pie, however, the apple pie is being cut open by small elites. Therefore, social tensions are based on isolation, poverty, and growing discontent within the political system.
Ex-President, Thabo Mbeki, called recent attacks "a disgrace" but the real disgrace is the failure of his own political party. He, and other members of the ruling party, allowed mass immigration while doing little about crime, poverty, inequality, and offering hope. So while these attacks may be "a disgrace" this should not cloud the real reasons behind these past massacres. Also, even today many immigrants reside in refugee camps and they are too scared to mix openly in parts of South Africa.
Therefore, recent events are a clear reminder that ethnic politics must not be ignored and "the rainbow nation" is nothing more than a society based on inequality. Until the leaders of South Africa admit this, then little will change. Also, once ethnic hatred turns into major bloodshed then it is hard to contain forces which have been unleashed. Yes, these troubles may lie dormant for a while, however, it is difficult to turn the clock back, and this is the problem. So how will the new leaders respond to their own failure and to the plight of immigrants who reside in fear?
Lee Jay Walker Dip BA MA


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AEGIS Program: Summer in New York City
For 33 doctoral students who make up two cohorts of the AEGIS (Adult Education Guided Intensive Study) program, at least part of their summer vacation is being spent in a rigorous learning experience at Teachers College. One cohort of 16 is just completing their tenure while the other cohort of 17 is just beginning theirs.
AEGIS, a doctoral program in adult education, was started in the early 1980s based on a design by Professor Emeritus Jack Mezirow on transformative learning, according to Lyle Yorks, Associate Professor of Adult and Continuing Education and Associate Professor of Education at Teachers College. Yorks is the current coordinator of the AEGIS program at the College.
The design was based on getting the participants to be critically reflective of assumptions, including their own, and to challenge and discuss those assumptions with others in order to open up to new points of view. "That took into account that learning is primarily social, interactive and that the idea of creating a community of learners was highly self-directed," Yorks said. "That each person in it does self-directed learning."
Douglas Schur, a member of the new cohort who is also a business consultant, summarized the course as intense, saying that a lot of independent work had been done in advance of the summer session. "There are some things you do on your own, but the major work is in groups," he said. "We were working on an easy project and it was five hours of preparation."
The kinds of people who participate in AEGIS, Yorks said, tend to be from three general categories. They are people from the world of workplace learning, executive development or staff development. The second grouping is people who work in higher education but are working with adults in some form of continuing education. And the third group is more diverse, consisting of people working in social action or community development. There may also be a few participants from religious education or from university faculties who have basic professional credentials and are teaching in their professional schools.
"AEGIS only takes people who have a wide range of experience," Yorks explained. "Those who get into the program normally have already had several years of practice. They have to transfer in 40 graduate credits and then AEGIS gets them the additional 50 credits they need for their Ed.D."
Since the students in this program have already begun their careers, some of whom are in business for themselves, the design for more independent study is important. Kevin Scully, a member of the outgoing cohort who teaches marketing and management at Rochester Institute of Technology, noted, "It gave me the flexibility I needed. I couldn't afford to quit my job and live on a campus."
Ginna Hamilton Crowe, an outgoing student, agrees with Scully. "It was the best formal learning experience I have ever had," she said. "And, I have gone to ten different colleges."
The entire coursework for the program is done over the period of three, three-week summer sessions, and one weekend a month during the regular academic year. Participants take three courses per semester, one of which is a practice-oriented workshop, one a theory course, and one a research-oriented course, according to Yorks. In between, while they are away from campus, they are reading and writing papers for their courses. After they complete their third summer session, students begin to work on writing their dissertations.
Yorks added, "If [a participant misses] a weekend or a course, they have to step out until the next cohort and then pick up where they left off," he explained. This is an important consideration for many of the participants who come from great distances, even for the weekend sessions throughout the year.
In the outgoing cohort, Debra France, a program manager of leadership development with the Dell Corporation, said that in spite of challenges with commuting from Austin, Texas, "It is a commitment you make and nothing gets in the way," adding that she had to fly in one month from a trip to Singapore to make the class.
"For several years, the program participants attended for two summers, ending in May of their second year," Yorks said. "We now have three summers, with two academic years in between. The additional summer is to really give them a head start, to debrief their learning experience, and to provide them with more opportunity to work concretely with their dissertation proposals."
As is the case this year, two cohorts are overlapping-one in its third summer session and an incoming one in its first. When this new group leaves at the end of June, Yorks said, they will already have the syllabus for September and have assignments they will have to work on.
"One thing AEGIS does is to have a student-oriented approach," said Thomas Coyne, an independent consultant in the new cohort. "You can see you are valued as a student. Not a lot of universities do that."
Published Wednesday, Jun. 25, 2003