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Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries (LDWF) Secretary Robert Barham announced the following opening to recreational and commercial fishing in portions of inside waters and the territorial seas east of the Mississippi River in St. Bernard Parish effective immediately, today June 15. This area was originally closed due to precautionary measures. The most recent information from shoreline cleanup assessment teams indicates no oil in these areas.
Fishing Opening
The portion of Breton and Chandeleur Sounds as described by the double rig line in LA R.S.56 495.1 and state outside waters seaward of the inside/outside shrimp line north of 29 degrees 37 minutes 54 seconds north latitude will open to recreational and commercial fishing with the exception of the following areas which shall remain closed to recreational and commercial fishing:
- those inside and outside state waters bounded on the north by 30 degrees 01 minutes 00 seconds north latitude and on the south by 29 degrees 43 minutes 58 seconds north latitude from the Louisiana territorial sea boundary westward to 88 degrees 55 minutes 14.6 seconds west longitude.
the portion of inside waters extending north of Martin Island at 29 degrees 57 minutes 29.6 seconds north latitude and south of Isle au Pitre at 30 degrees 09 minutes 20.5 seconds north latitude from 89 degrees 7 minutes 00 seconds west longitude westward to 89 degrees 15 minutes 30 seconds west longitude.
Portions of the Breton National Wildlife Refuge may lie within the open area and fishermen are advised to contact the US Fish and Wildlife Service at (985)882-2000 for information concerning refuge regulations and/or refuge closures.
Precautionary closures of recreational and commercial fishing have been implemented based on the best information the Secretary of the department receives from field biologists, staff and trajectory models from NOAA.
Once reports of oil are received, LDWF initiates a field survey and immediate seafood testing in the suspected areas. Closures are subsequently made with the intent to be as safe as possible, while not closing any fishing areas unnecessarily. As test results come back clearing the area, effected waters are then reopened.
LDWF continues to work closely with DHH in an effort to assess all opportunities to resume normal fishing activities on Louisiana's coast and guarantee the safety of Louisiana's seafood.
For more information related to the oil spill, visit http://www.emergency.louisiana.gov [3]. Connect with us on www.facebook.com/GOHSEP [4] and on Twitter as @GOHSEP. View photos from the state's response efforts at http://www.flickr.com/photos/lagohsep [5].
For more information contact Marianne Burke, 225-765-2917 or email@example.com [6]


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|Bonnie Vance Hall
7 lbs 11 oz
20 inches
Born April 5, 2015 10:38 pm
Bonnie Vance Hall was born on her due date, April 5, 2015 (Easter!). Her birth was a wonderful event that went better than I had hoped. It was conference Sunday and Easter so we had a very relaxing day with the kids finding eggs and Jon making a steak dinner. I had been feeling different for the past week, so although I wasn't quite due I was in a state of expectation at all times. I was really hoping to start labor on Saturday because my doctor was on call, but it didn't happen. I had my usual spell of gloom that happens with each child before labor begins, although looking back now I realize Saturday was my crazy nesting day where I was getting everything ready. On Sunday I started having painless contractions more regularly after conference ended but I mostly ignored them as I had this happen a couple times in the past week. They continued to be about ten minutes apart and after we put the kids to bed around seven thirty we settled on the couch with some homemade chocolate ice cream and episodes of a show. I was highly content and hoping that my contractions would eventually disappear, as I didn't feel like being in labor all night and not sleeping. I had this dream of having a mid morning (after commute traffic, of course) birth that had always eluded me. I decided that I would start tracking my contractions at 8:00 pm, to see if they were still regular or if it was false labor again. Exactly at 8:00 I started the timer and my contractions started being 2-3 minutes apart, and a little painful. I told Jon with disdain that this was likely labor. He didn't quite believe me, but after 15 minutes of contractions two minutes aparp growing in intensity I suddenly felt the need to get to the hospital. Meaning, I needed to actually pack my hospital bag. I finished throwing all my stuff in there (packing a hospital bag is so simple, I don't understand how people do it weeks ahead--it's just me throwing a bunch of toiletries and a change of clothes in there) and called the doctor who agreed I needed to go to the hospital right away. We called Nina to come stay with the kids, who weren't even asleep yet but climbing on the window sill and being crazy, and I paced by the door ready to run out to the car. I guess my internal knowledge that I was progressing quickly didn't quite register outward because Jon asked me several times if I thought I was actually in labor or if it was false labor. But when it's real, you know. I hate traveling in the car while getting contractions (who does) so I mentally told myself that I was going to slow things down to about five minutes between contractions. I guess it worked because I had about three in the 18-20 minute ride. It was about 9:00 pm when we got to the hospital. I started asking everyone to start filling the tub because I knew with Margot I got to the hospital dilated to an eight and this didn't feel too different. But they waited until after being monitored, asked all the questions, IV etc. I was an eight when they checked me and I got into the tub as soon as I could, even though it wasn't very full. I couldn't really find a good position for my contractions—everything felt awkward and I was feeling some aches in my back. Dr Williams who was on call (and I hadn't met of course) made some comments about the baby's position and I started to ask which way she was facing, and inwardly checking my mildly flat looking belly, remembering my paranoid questions to my doctor about what to look for if your baby is posterior--one of them being your bump having a little plateau at the top. Dr Williams stated that she looked like she was trying to turn a corner, as my birth canal is apparently made up of a few hairpin turns. I started to mildly panic, but since we didn't know for sure and I was about to start pushing, I realized there wasn't much I could do. I hit the contraction where I almost felt her crown, and it really felt more intense than anything I had remembered with my other two. I flipped on my back and the doctor stated she would be born on the next contraction. I reached down and caught her as she was born, which was a mixture of instinct and with the intensity the need to make sure that she was really going to be out on this next push, because I had no intent on another. She was placed in my arms and there she had her first breath. She was chubbier than everyone expected and born with a full head of dark hair! I was in a bit of shock about that. Then the doctor informed me that she was born fully posterior (face up instead of down), and I was so glad she kept that fact from me! I was so grateful and amazed that she was born so quickly (10:38 pm) in one push, posterior, with a water birth, and no damage done to me. Jon was amazed we were done already. I knew it was fast but I would not have wanted anything any longer! Jon was the perfect partner, offering me water constantly, which is about my only need in labor. I love seeing the doctor hand Bonnie to Jon for the first time as they cut the cord and move me from the tub to the bed. It's such a special moment and he looked so happy. She latched and nursed amazingly right away. I couldn't sleep much that night due to my delivery high and those crazy uterine contractions that really do get worse with each child.
Most of my time in the hospital was spent quietly looking at Bonnie and trying to catch up on some sleep. Theo and Margot came to visit with my parents and they were so sweet and just loved her immediately. Margot was content to eat a cookie instead of hold her at first, however.
I was so glad my parents came for two weeks. Watching the kids is such a big task and while my recovery was overall great I had some bad mastitis that hit and I was so glad hey were both there to help me get to extra appointments and take care of everything. And weed my yard. So amazing! My mom hardly had help with twins and a toddler of her own, and instead of passing on a "I did it with little help, you should too" mentality, she helps in every way she can and it was truly needed!
Bonnie is a cute little girl with the best chubby cheeks. We love her so much. She might be our most temperamental baby, and after two weeks has colicky episodes in the evening. I'm glad to have Jon help so much when he can. I might be sending Theo off to his preschool carpool in a bathrobe most mornings, but we are all slowly adjusting to this life with three children and love our little Bonnie. Or "Bon Bon," as the kids call her. Jon was the champion of her name, as usual. She was almost named something else but he always felt like her name would be Bonnie, and when it comes to names, he's always right! I chose Vance as her middle name as my grandma Naylor and all the wonderful loving memories of her have been with me throughout this pregnancy, and Vance is her maiden name.

subset: commoncrawl


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dlfrsilver wrote:The Doctor Doom's Revenge US version was a sealed copy i bought in USA, it was a leftover from a software shop. I have unwrapped/unsealed myself the game, and i never try to deprotect the game.
I just help checking those dumps and I don't know/care it is sealed or not.
In this case, I would say that software shop is problematical.
dlfrsilver wrote:Prehistorik 2 is perfectly working. Both original disks are OK. So i don't know why you've found these errors.
In your dumps, the 5 files are bad : GLACE.TRK, LEVEL4.SQZ, LEVEL5.SQZ, LEVEL8.SQZ, LEVELE.SQZ
You can use Hxc to extract and compare them with any working cracked version from abandonware sites.
After replace those files, your copy works fine for me, too.
Since you said it works perfectly (on a real machine ?). Can you redump this game again (in both index and splice mode) ?
Thank you very much.


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A green movement of all stripes
Can conservatives and environmentalists get along again?
Activists around the country are giving it a try.
Story Continued Below
In Appalachia, greens are banding together with the Tennessee Conservative Union to oppose mountaintop mining. In Georgia, the Sierra Club and Atlanta's tea party have formed a Green Tea Coalition that is demanding a bigger role for solar power in the state's energy market. Elsewhere, veterans of the George W. Bush administration are working with the Environmental Defense Fund on market-based ideas for protecting endangered species.
It's not yet a broad national trend, and may not be enough to begin dampening Washington's bitter left-right split over President Barack Obama's environmental policies. But some activists — particularly outside the Beltway — see potential for the kinds of coalitions that used to get big things done, back in the days when Theodore Roosevelt was creating national parks and George H.W. Bush's administration was taking on acid rain.
"I do think there's a big schism there, but there are some things we can all agree on," said Lloyd Daugherty, chairman of the Tennessee Conservative Union.
Daugherty's group — and its roughly 15,000 members — joined an effort with environmentalists last spring against mountaintop mining. While Daugherty and his organization had long privately objected to the mining because of its effect on property rights, hunting and fishing, he decided to fight publicly after a Chinese company bought mineral rights in Tennessee.
"We're proud that Tennessee is a red state. But just how red are we willing to go?" asked a 30-second ad that Daugherty's group ran, which shows Tennessee's state flag morphing into the Chinese flag.
The ad was put together by Shelby White, a senior campaigner at Catapult, an environmental strategy firm that looks to build unusual coalitions on issues like climate change and logging.
"We're looking to find more of those issues that can bring conservatives, businesses and other unusual bedfellows together," said Glenn Hurowitz, a senior member of Catapult and a senior fellow at the Center for International Policy. Catapult has also recruited rock stars like Mick Jagger to combat guitars made from illegally logged wood and elite frequent fliers to lobby United Airlines to reduce pollution.
Catapult is an offshoot of Climate Advisers, a consulting shop founded by Nigel Purvis, a former senior climate adviser to President Barack Obama's 2008 campaign and a Clinton administration climate diplomat.
Conservatives and eco-activists have mainly been at odds for the past decade or so. Daugherty and some environmentalists blame that on a newer generation of Republicans who have allowed a drive for limited government to overshadow everything else.
"Most of them now are influenced by talk shows," said Daugherty, a radio talk show host himself and former Southern field director for Ronald Reagan's 1980 presidential campaign. "It's become too easy for conservatives to label anybody who cares about conservation as tree huggers."
But fault can lay in the other direction too, the Environmental Defense Fund's Tony Kreindler acknowledged.
"For so long, conservatives and Republicans in particular when they do the right thing for the environment, they rarely get the credit they deserve and are often dismissed by the environmental community," he said.
EDF's political arm — the Environmental Defense Action Fund — is in the early stages of an effort to give possible direct donations, independent expenditures and other help for Republicans vying for safe red seats in 2014 who could be future partners.
"This is not about taking out the bad guys. This is about helping the good guys and creating a deeper bench of environmental champions in both parties," Kreindler said. "We're going to be actively engaged in this electoral cycle building allies with conservatives in the Republican Party."
It's a part of a larger effort by EDF to foster a new agenda with the help of conservatives. EDF and some George W. Bush administration environmental officials, led by former Interior Secretary Gale Norton, co-formed the Conservation Leadership Council "to find environmental solutions that are based on conservative principles of freedom, liberty and choice," Kreindler said. The result so far has been several roundtable talks and a dozen policy papers advocating market-based ways to update the Endangered Species Act and address issues like clean energy financing.
Conservatives like Daugherty are more influenced by the likes of Barry Goldwater and Ronald Reagan than upstart tea partiers like Sens. Ted Cruz and Rand Paul.


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This is a digital download product. You will be sent an email within 2 working days which contains your activation key and download link.
ClaroRead Standard is a literacy support tool for PC. The software helps users of all ages and abilities to read and write, and is especially useful for those with dyslexia and other literacy difficulties. ClaroRead software is a toolbar that contains numerous features to support students, employees and individuals' literacy skills.
The software has an easy-to-use toolbar that will read any on-screen text out loud in Microsoft Word, Adobe Reader, Internet Explorer, emails and many other applications. Claro Voice Setup, which is part of the ClaroRead software, allows the user to download up to 80 high-quality voices, including different accents and genders of English, plus French, German, Spanish and many other voices. This is extremely helpful for users where English is a second language (ESL).
ClaroRead also has the option to turn on highlighting which can help users follow the text as it is spoken by a high-quality human sounding voice. You can edit the highlighting option to highlight by word or sentence, and in any colour you like. ClaroRead's word prediction feature suggests words as the user types, supporting their spelling and writing. With a wide choice of high-frequency and many subject-specific dictionaries, the software provides phonetic prediction. For example, when a user types 'n', they will see 'knowledge' suggested. The ability to have your written work read aloud helps users hear their mistakes, which are often hard to spot when reading alone. ClaroRead's homophone checker allows users to correct easily-confused words such as 'there', 'they're' and 'their', including images to help select the correct word. It also features a speaking dictionary for any word in any application with over 300,000 English definitions.
ClaroRead allows users to change fonts, text and screen colours to reduce contrast and make reading more comfortable. It also allows the user to be able to save their text as an audio or video file to listen whilst on the go, for example, on your smartphone or whilst studying. ClaroRead Standard includes: ClaroIdeas (mind mapping and idea capturing tool), ScreenRuler (reading ruler and screen colour tinter), ClaroCapture (capture images and text from web pages and documents to help write essays and organise references), Claro AudioNote (record lectures straight into your handouts, make voice notes and listen back to recordings made on popular devices), Claro Voice Setup (download and install any of 80 voice in 30 languages).
Download a free 15 day trial for PC (this will be an executable file)
Read more on the Dyslexic.com Blog
- Latest Assistive Technology (featuring ClaroRead 7)
- Rachel Ingham: How does ClaroRead benefit dyslexic learners?
- Dyslexia Awareness Week: Text-to-Speech Software (Featuring ClaroRead)
- Brand new: ClaroRead Version 7
The ClaroRead Comparison Chart explains the differences between different versions of ClaroRead – Pro, Plus and SE.
This is a digital download product. You will be sent an email within 2 working days which contains your activation key and download link.


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"Those Old Memories" will include stories, photographs, genealogy, scrapbooking, recipes, and interesting history of my family. Some family surnames: Troyer, Gardner, Moore, Hopkins, Allen, Amsberry, McPherson, Wyatt, Godfrey, Lee, Henley, Cutbirth, Tudor, Gustafsson, Larson, Hellgren, Farley, Harshbarger, Harvey, McComsey, Johnston, Hyndman, and Buchanan.
Thursday, March 18, 2010
Four "MOORE" Generations
During the summer of 2008, the You Go Genealogy Girls took a short trip to eastern Nebraska to visit the graves of Joel Moore, his wife Adaline, and their son Thomas.They are buried in the pretty cemetery at Blue Springs, Nebraska. Remembering this family was our honor and standing before their final resting places made this great four generation picture even more meaningful.
Joel Moore who was my great, great grandfather is the older man on the left side of the photo. He was ordained as a Baptist minister in 1863 while living in Illinois. In 1867 the family moved from Illinois to Johnson Co., Nebraska where they lived for several years before moving on to Blue Springs, Nebraska in Gage County. Joel's son, Thomas who was my great grandfather served in the Civil War while living near Springfield, Illinois. The four generations are rounded out with
Ella Moore Clayton who was the daughter of Thomas and she is holding her son, Harry.
Another short story about this family, "Looking for Adaline" can be found here.
Labels: Blue Springs, Joel Moore, Moore, Ne., Thomas Moore
Saturday, March 13, 2010
Jessie's Boots
Friday's Featured Foto this week, stars two of our handsome ancestors and their BOOTS! What great boots! The more I look at this great photo, the more I have to wonder about those boots. Jesse Silas Hopkins, pictured on the right, is shown with his two sisters: Theresa "Rettie" Ann and Jane Eliza. They are pictured with their cousin, Aronah Hopkins on the left. The photo was taken in Stephenville, Texas around the year 1895. These boys were very obviously proud of their boots! A new research project is in the making to try and find out more about their prized foot ware. One is lured into the thought of exciting days in the old west, but sadly, the reality of life steps back in.
Jesse Silas was born at Ripley, Tippah Co., Mississippi and first went to Texas between 1882 and 1885 with his father and mother and settled around the Stephenville area. In August of 1897, Jesse Silas Hopkins was united in marriage to Flora Virginia McPherson while still in Texas. For a short time in the early 1900's he homesteaded near Kenna, New Mexico but eventually returned to the Stephenville area. Most of his life was spent building road and railroad grades using teams of horses and mules to pull the heavy construction equipment in the early years. Jesse took his wife and four surviving children and began to move northward through Colorado and into Wyoming, building irrigation ditches and grades. The work was hard and both Jesse and Flora put in long, arduous hours working and taking care of crew and family.They eventually ended up in Scottsbluff, Nebraska and remained there for the rest of their lives. Jesse's children graduated from school in Scottsbluff and eventually migrated back to the state of Wyoming. Jesse and Flora are both buried in Scottsbluff, Nebraska- far from the state of Texas and the seemingly romantic western setting of the photo with the young men and their new boots.
The beautiful 1880's style boots that "the boys" wore in the picture were typical of the style of boot that evolved after the civil war. They were often designed after European riding boots and served the cowboys and working men in this country. I would love to know more about their boots and wonder if they both purchased the same style and maker boots or if they were studio props for the photo? I am willing to think they were the proud owners as they sure did make a point to "show" the boots off for the photo. One can make out part of the name on them as ____Banner boots. Needless to say, we love the photo and cherish the memory of our Great Grandfather Jesse and our other Hopkins ancestors.
Our cousin, Gene Hopkins had a photocopy which he generously shared with us and Melissa McCoy Bell found one of the original prints that she also gave us a copy of. Thank you to them both!
Labels: Hopkins, Jesse Silas Hopkins, Texas, Wyoming
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
Grandpa's History Lesson
When I was a small boy, my grandfather, Wick Hopkins, took me on a fishing trip to Wendover Junction on the North Platte River near Guernsey, Wyoming. The day had turned cold and rainy by the time we arrived at the fishing spot. Grandpa and I boarded an old cable trolley car that was to take us over the river to the north side. It was hand operated by pulling the car along with a lever that was attached to the cable that the car hung from. A man was there to operate the lever while grandpa and I sat and watched the Wyoming scenery as we crossed the North Platte River. When we arrived on the other side we then walked down the river to a spot where grandpa often liked to fish and we started casting out. I soon got cold and gave up on the fishing so grandpa Wick told me to go and gather up a bunch of the dried buffalo (cow) chips which were abundant around the area. Of course, being a boy, if it was doing something to get dirty... then all the better! He piled a few of the chips up and lit them with a match, growing up in Texas and Wyoming, he knew they would instantly burn. As they burned slow and hot, they put off enough heat to keep me warm. I was fascinated by the way they burned and I entertained myself gathering and keeping chips stoked on the fire for most of the rest of the day. He told me there was little wood to burn in the prairie states during the 1800's and the plains were nearly treeless at that time, finding fuel for fires was a constant chore for the pioneers and emigrants heading west but there were plenty of buffalo chips and the homesteaders used them for cooking and heating as they crossed the plains in wagons. They also gathered and dried them for use as fuel when they began to build sod houses and cabins on the prairie. He told me that the homesteaders had used everything available to them to live and survive.
My grandpa passed this knowledge down to me in a unique and special way, We had a fun day together, despite the in-climate weather, one that I will always cherish and remember. Grandpa Wick didn't catch any fish that day and because the burning prairie "fuel" had kept me warm, I did not catch a cold!
by: Geoff Hopkins, AKA "Go Hubby", number one fan of The You Go Genealogy Girls. You might also enjoy reading the recent posting on their blog: "Buffalo Chips, Cow Patties...and Such"
Labels: Dueward Hopkins, historical, Hopkins, Wyoming
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Recently, I've seen a spate of posts about WordPress plugins and focused on a variety of different areas, particularly after the release of WordPress 2.7. These plugins are important pieces of software which add specific functionality to the self hosted WordPress platform. They are also one of the key reasons that WordPress, for me, continues to offer greatest opportunities for bloggers and their businesses going forward.
Do these opportunities come from the fact that it's good to have the latest flashy, whizzy things (technical term) on your blog? No, simply that if you have software which automatically promotes, distributes and encourages people to read your posts then, as a consequence, that allows you to settle down to the real key task of blogging – writing content that people want to read.
What makes a good Plugin?
I get asked quite frequently which are the best WordPress plugins to use and, for me, it's a question that I find impossible to give a simple answer to. The trouble I have is that selecting the "best" WordPress plugins is not only totally subjective but is also approaching the issue from the wrong direction.
Plugins are designed to offer additional functionality to the blog. Rather than focusing on the plugins, I believe that it should be a case of looking at the business goals of the blog and then identifying which plugins best achieve and support these.
In addition, since my aim is to make sure that the companies I work which are as self sufficient as possible, so it's good to ensure that the plugins are not only robust but also likely to be updated to ensure compatibility with future software releases. This saves having to potentially change the plugins should an upgrade to WordPress make them redundant.
Plugins offering general business functionality
Having said that, there are certain features that I feel are particularly useful for the majority of business blogs because of their generic value and utility, and so I have decided to focus in one those here. With that in mind, what I have done is outline the plugins that best support those features and which hopefully follow their development.
Are these the only ones I recommend? No, not at all. There are very many excellent plugins lovingly created and distributed by their developers which I use but are not mentioned here because I consider them specific to particular needs and purposes. However, these put down a good framework which will help support your content and your blogging:
1. Facilitating content sharing
- WP-Email: gives you "email a friend" opportunities to include with your posts and hence a easy way for readers to share or recommend your content
- Social bookmarking: There are a number of options covering the social bookmarking sites rom SEM Bookmark to Social Bookmarks. There is also a plugin available for the increasingly popular Share This service. Alternatively, there are plugins which focus in on one of the larger communities such as Digg and offer greater functionality dedicated to that platform
- WP Print: don't forget that many still share content in printed format (not to mention for our own consumption) and this helps ensure that the article is printed cleanly and in full
2. Search Engine optimisation
- All in One SEO: gives the ability and flexibility to add a custom title tag and meta tags to each post or page. It also lets you set a better automated structure for these tags across the blog and exclude indexing on certain areas. Nice functionality – to help you with SEO, not optimise it for you! [See also Title Tag SEO]
- Meta Robots: For full control, you might also like to include a Robot.txt function allowing page level control of what is indexed and not. Useful to control the flow of Page Rank value
- Simple Tags: allows a great deal of control and automation of tags and their use – very useful in conjunction with the categories and posts.
3. Onsite Functions
- Dagon Design Formmailer: it's important to have a minimum of a contact page on your blog and this allows you to include a contact form too – highly flexible for other purposes, signups etc.
- Related Posts: an important addition to help readers to navigate your blog and for you to introduce other relevant information you have written to them
- Search Everything: while the standard search function focuses on the content of the posts, you'd now want to include tags and various other useful elements. This plugin allows you to achieve that.
- Page Numbers: allowing your readers to quickly navigate around your blog helps their experience of it and allows them to browse your content as they wish. This allows them to delve more easily into your archives.
4. Back Office
- Database Backup: backing up your database is a key element of your blog admin. With this plugin, you can do it automatically and there's no need to even know what PHPMyAdmin stands for, let alone how to use it.
- Google Analytics: this is about plugins so here is a good one to help include Google Analytics – however, you could also add the code to your footer. What is key for your blog is that you do track your visitors.
- Akismet Spam Control: comment spam is an ineviatble result of a successful blog. CAPTCHA methods are good but my preferred version puts no onus on the commenters and that is Akismet as a Spam control method.
5. Comments
- Subscribe to Comments: comments are the lifeblood of a blog based community. Being informed of new replies is important and this plugin does just that. It gets people returning to your blog too.
- Get Related Comments: bit of a reward to those who have commented and also a way to encourage others to do so and to read your blog. Very versatile!
Are these the only plugins that I use on blogs? Absolutely not! On the contrary, there are a vast number of excellent ones which I use to achieve certain business requirements – the ones mentioned here are just those that I believe all business blogs can benefit from? I would love to hear which others you would include in yours!


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Comics Club with Neill Cameron
Saturday 4th May - Saturday 4th May
Key facts
11:00 – 12:30
Tickets can be purchased by clicking book now (above), by calling 01865 807 600, or directly from The Story Museum in our café and shop.
Ticket policy
Children may be left unattended at this workshop, provided that we have a completed registration form. Please read our workshop information before booking.
For further details about our pricing and ticketing click here
About the event
Neill Cameron's Comics Club
Develop your comic-making skills and share ideas with like-minded enthusiasts. Awesome comic artist Neill Cameron will be on hand to offer helpful advice and tips.
Dates for 2018 – 2019
1 December, 12 January, 2 February, 2 March, 6 April, 4 May, 1 June, 6 July, 7 September, 5 October, 2 November, 7 December
Click on the book now link and choose your date
8 – 12 only.
Adults are not required to accompany children to this workshop.
About Neill
Neill Cameron is a cartoonist and writer, creator of the young adult graphic novels Mo-Bot High and the instructional How To Make Awesome Comics. Since 2011 his work has appeared in the weekly children's comic The Phoenix, where he produces – amongst other things – the dinosaur adventure serial The Pirates of Pangaea (with co-writer Daniel Hartwell), the robotic soap opera comedy Mega Robo Bros, and (with artist Kate Brown) the Cornish-set fantasy drama Tamsin and the Deep. Neill frequently travels the country giving workshops in schools, libraries and at festivals, and is a passionate advocate for the role comics can play in fostering literacy and encouraging children's creativity.
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Picture: Eleanor Calder - Eleanor Calder, girlfriend of One Direction's Louis Tomlinson, watches on as her boyfriend makes his Doncaster Rovers football debut at Keepmoat Stadium...
One Direction's Louis Tomlinson drew massive crowds on Wednesday (26Feb14) when he fulfilled his dream of playing for British soccer team Doncaster Rovers.
Last year (13), the What Makes You Beautiful singer accepted a non-contract position on the team's reserve squad and was due to make his first appearance for the team in a match in September (13), but was forced to drop out due to injury.
However he finally made his debut with the team in a game against rivals Rotherham United at Doncaster's Keepmoat Stadium, much to the delight of the 5,333 fans who attended the game and the hundreds waiting outside the venue, who were mostly there to see Tomlinson on the field.
Fans of the teen heartthrob came from all across England, and he even drew international fans as well, from as far from Denmark, France, Italy and the U.S., according to Bbc.com.
However attendees had to wait until the 65th minute of the game to see the 22 year old make his turn as a soccer pro, and by the 89th minute, he fell on his bottom when attempting a pass. Unfortunately, the game came to a 0-0 draw, but it did not dampen his spirits following his soccer debut.
After the game, he took to Twitter.com and wrote, "Wow what an incredible experience . Can't put into words how I feel I will never forget pulling on my own Doncaster Rovers shirt !! Really can't thank the team, the gaffer and every single person involved at Doncaster Rovers enough! I feel like a 10 year old again!
"And obviously a huge huge thank you to everyone who came down. a real credit to our fans. hope it was a good day out!"
Proceeds from the game went to local Bluebell Wood Children's Hospice.
Niall Horan, Zayn Malik, Liam Payne, Harry Styles and Louis Tomlinson may make up the...
They're the biggest boyband in the world since coming third in the seventh series of...


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Music, Retail and Tech Leaders to Offer "slotMusic™": High Quality, DRM-Free MP3 Music on microSD™ Cards
(Los Angeles, CA, New York, NY, Milpitas, CA - September 22, 2008) - Leaders in music, retail and flash memory technology today announced they're bringing consumers an innovative, new physical music format, dubbed "slotMusic™." microSD™ cards will soon be made available with pre-loaded, high quality, DRM-free MP3 music of top artists from EMI Music, SONY BMG, Universal Music Group, and Warner Music Group. A selection of slotMusic cards will first be available at brick-and-mortar and online stores throughout the U.S., including Best Buy and Wal-Mart, with Europe to follow. A complete list of slotMusic albums, availability and pricing will be announced in time for the coming holiday season. SanDisk Corporation (NASDAQ: SNDK), inventor of the ubiquitous microSD format, is leading the technology development behind slotMusic.
slotMusic cards enable consumers to instantly and easily enjoy music from their favorite artists without being dependent on a PC or internet connection. Users simply insert the slotMusic card into their microSD-enabled mobile phone or MP3 player to hear the music - without passwords, downloading or digital-rights-management interfering with their personal use.
"slotMusic offers consumers an immediate, tangible, and high quality alternative to CDs and digital delivery," said Danielle Levitas, vice president, Consumer, Broadband & New Media, IDC. "This year, more than 1.2 billion mobile phones will ship globally, outstripping portable media players by nearly an order of magnitude - and this trend is accelerating."
slotMusic cards will be packaged with a tiny USB sleeve ensuring seamless interoperability with all computers - Windows, Linux and Mac. The upshot is that slotMusic will enjoy an unparalleled, pre-existing installed base at launch: hundreds of millions of multimedia-phones, virtually any computer with a USB connector and a growing number of in-car sound systems will be able to play slotMusic cards.
The MP3-based music tracks will be played back at up to 320 kilobytes per second (kbps), offering a high quality music experience for the MP3 format.
Musicians will find slotMusic cards offer a compelling new way to express themselves to their fans. With 1GB1 (gigabyte) of capacity, slotMusic cards can hold songs, as well as liner notes, album art, videos, and other creative content that an artist may choose. Consumers can also add their own content to a slotMusic card, creating a personal plug-and-play media library.
For photos, a quote sheet and other press material regarding today's announcement, please visit www.slotmusic.org.
About EMI Music
EMI Music is the recorded music division of EMI Group Limited, one of the world's leading music companies. EMI Music represents artists spanning all musical tastes and genres. Its record labels include Angel, Astralwerks, Blue Note, Capitol, Capitol Nashville, EMI Classics, EMI CMG, EMI Records, EMI Televisa Music, Manhattan, Mute, Parlophone and Virgin. Artists on EMI labels include Lily Allen, The Beatles, Coldplay, Corinne Bailey Rae, Gorillaz, Hot Chip, Norah Jones, The Kooks, Korn, Kylie Minogue, Katy Perry, Pink Floyd, Joss Stone, KT Tunstall, Keith Urban and Robbie Williams.
About SanDisk
SanDisk Corporation, the inventor and world's largest supplier of flash storage cards, is a global leader in flash memory - from research, manufacturing and product design to consumer branding and retail distribution. SanDisk's product portfolio includes flash memory cards for mobile phones, digital cameras and camcorders; digital audio/video players; USB flash drives for consumers and the enterprise; embedded memory for mobile devices; and solid state drives for computers. SanDisk (www.sandisk.com/corporate) is a Silicon Valley-based S&P 500 company, with more than half its sales outside the United States.
About SONY BMG MUSIC ENTERTAINMENT
SONY BMG MUSIC ENTERTAINMENT is a global recorded music joint venture with a roster of current artists that includes a broad array of both local artists and international superstars, as well as a vast catalog that comprises some of the most important recordings in history. Sony BMG Music Entertainment is 50% owned by Bertelsmann A.G. and 50% owned by Sony Corporation of America.
About Universal Music Group
Universal Music Group is the world's leading music company with wholly owned record operations or licensees in 77 countries. Its businesses also include Universal Music Publishing Group, the industry's leading global music publishing operation.
Universal Music Group's record labels include Decca, Deutsche Grammophon, Disa, Emarcy, Fonovisa, Interscope Geffen A&M Records, Island Def Jam Music Group, Lost Highway Records, Machete Music, MCA Nashville, Mercury Nashville, Mercury Records, Philips, Polydor Records, Universal Motown Republic Group, Universal Music Latino, Universal Records South, and Verve Music Group as well as a multitude of record labels owned or distributed by its record company subsidiaries around the world. The Universal Music Group owns the most extensive catalog of music in the industry, which includes the last 100 years of the world\'s most popular artists and their recordings. UMG's catalog is marketed through two distinct divisions, Universal Music Enterprises (in the U.S.) and Universal Strategic Marketing (outside the U.S.). Universal Music Group also includes eLabs, its new media and technologies division; Bravado, its merchandising company; Twenty-First Artists, its full service management division; and Helter Skelter, its live music agency. Universal Music Group is a unit of Vivendi, a global media and communications company.
About Warner Music Group
Warner Music Group became the only stand-alone music company to be publicly traded in the United States in May 2005. With its broad roster of new stars and legendary artists, Warner Music Group is home to a collection of the best-known record labels in the music industry including Asylum, Atlantic, Bad Boy, Cordless, East West, Elektra, Lava, Nonesuch, Reprise, Rhino, Roadrunner, Rykodisc, Sire, Warner Bros. and Word. Warner Music International, a leading company in national and international repertoire, operates through numerous international affiliates and licensees in more than 50 countries. Warner Music Group also includes Warner/Chappell Music, one of the world's leading music publishers.
1 1 gigabyte (GB) = 1 billion bytes.
SanDisk's product and executive images can be downloaded from http://www.sandisk.com/corporate/media.asp
SanDisk and the SanDisk logo are trademarks of SanDisk Corporation, registered in the United States and other countries. slotMusic is a trademark of SanDisk Corporation. microSD and SDHC are trademarks. Other brand names mentioned herein are for identification purposes only and may be the trademarks of their respective holder (s).
This press release contains certain forward-looking statements, including expectations for new product introductions, applications, markets, and customers that are based on our current expectations and involve numerous risks and uncertainties that may cause these forward-looking statements to be inaccurate. Risks that may cause these forward-looking statements to be inaccurate include among others: there may be a slower adoption rate for these products in new markets that we are targeting or market demand for these products may grow more slowly than our expectations, these products may not perform as expected, these products may not be available when expected, and the other risks detailed from time-to-time in our Securities and Exchange Commission filings and reports, including, but not limited to, our Form 10-K and our quarterly reports on Form 10-Q. We do not intend to update the information contained in this press release.
EMI Music: Jeanne Meyer, 212 786 8850
SanDisk: Carm Lyman, Lyman Public Relations, 707 256-3834 or email@example.com
SONY BMG: Claire Von Schilling, 212 833-8082 or email@example.com
Universal Music Group: Peter LoFrumento, 212 331-2585 or email@example.com
Warner Music Group: Amanda Collins, 201 275-2213 or email@example.com


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Robert L. Stocksdale, a real estate attorney who served several state commissions and committees on issues of mortgage financing, died from a brain hemorrhage July 7 at Sinai Hospital. The Mays Chapel resident was 85.
Born in Baltimore, he lived on Roland Avenue and Keswick Road in Hampden as a child. The son of a father who was an attorney and a homemaker mother, he spent summers on the Chesapeake Bay on the family's Calvert County tobacco farm. He was a 1946 graduate of Baltimore Polytechnic Institute.
He earned a bachelor's degree at the University of Maryland College Park, where he was a member of the Alpha Tau Omega fraternity. He was goalie for the school's lacrosse team and was named to the Maryland Lacrosse Hall of Fame in 1984. He was also named to the 1949 All-American team. He was later a Maryland Lacrosse Club coach.
Mr. Stocksdale was a graduate of the University of Maryland Law School and was admitted to the Maryland Bar in 1954, the year he began service in the Maryland National Guard. He played trumpet in the National Guard Band.
He initially practiced in the law offices of Edward Dobihal. He specialized in real estate law and joined the boards of Madison Bradford Savings and Loan and Northeastern Bohemian Savings and Loan.
Mr. Stocksdale represented Bohemian American Federal Savings and Loan Association, Ellwood Permanent Building and Loan, and Columbia Savings and Loan. He was also a settlement attorney for Odenton Federal Savings and Loan Association and Heritage Savings Bank and was associated with the Security Title Guaranty of Baltimore.
"My father was a very humble and modest man," said his daughter, Robin L. Stocksdale of Towson. "Friends remembered him as one who went out of his way to advocate for clients who were seeking mortgages, settlements and refinancing. He was always ready to help family and friends. He was admired for his kind and gentle personality and impeccable ethics."
He was a partner in the firm of Stocksdale, Russell and Jarrell, and then Stocksdale, Jarrell, Cvach and Simms. At the time of his death, he practiced at a Forest Hill office. He was a member of the Maryland State Bar Association and the Baltimore City Bar Association.
From 1955 to 1963 he was the executive secretary of the Maryland League of Building, Savings and Loan Associations. In November 1962, Maryland Gov. J. Millard Tawes named Mr. Stocksdale to the state Savings and Loan Commission, where he worked on legislation to supervise thrift institutions.
He was a past president of Building Association Lawyers of Maryland and a former director as well as a member for 25 years of the Legislative Committee of the Maryland Savings and Loan League.
Mr. Stocksdale was named to the House Economic Matters Committee staff in 1979 to help rewrite state laws regulating savings and loan institutions. He had been a member of the Attorneys Committee of United States Savings and Loan League.
While living on Murdock Road in Rodgers Forge, he became president of the Rodgers Forge community association. He later lived in Stoneleigh and became president of that neighborhood's association. At his death, Mr. Stocksdale was the president of Plumbridge Condominiums in Mays Chapel.
He was also a past first vice president and director of the Baltimore Junior Association of Commerce. He was a board member of the former Wesley Methodist Home in Mount Washington.
Family members said he enjoyed golf, bridge, bowling and poker with a large group of longtime friends. He was a founding member of the Towson Golf and Country Club and was later a member of Country Club of Maryland. He also gardened and collected model trains and coins. He was an avid Orioles, Baltimore Colts, Ravens and Maryland Terrapins fan.
He also enjoyed listening to the music of Glenn Miller and Benny Goodman. He was a member of Mays Chapel United Methodist Church.
A life celebration will be held at 10 a.m. Saturday at Timonium United Methodist Church, 2300 Pot Springs Road in Timonium.
In addition to his daughter, survivors include a son, Bart Stocksdale of Riderwood; another daughter, Betsy L. Stocksdale of Idlewylde; a brother, Alan Hance Stocksdale of Timonium; a stepson, Robert Inman of Reisterstown; a stepdaughter, Lee Inman Armstrong of Timonium; two grandchildren; and many step grandchildren.
His wife of 34 years, Coralie Brittingham Stocksdale, died in 1984. In 2003 he married Mary Inman. She died in January.


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Crowdfunding a Collaborative Film/
By Audrey Ewell
2012 is going to be the year of truly free filmmaker experimentation. 2012 is going to be the year of cross-platform collaboration. And 2012 is going to be the year of filmmaker to filmmaker collaboration. I don't know how much of this will be true, but I know I wish all of it will be, and so far, there is no clearer indicator that all will be true than The 99% Film. We've heard from Audrey Ewell, one of the film's collaborators, and we know she always has progressive and provocative ideas, so why should this time be any different. Today Audrey shares with other some of the new ways she and her team are making use of some of the plethora of options that are out there to enable us to truly build it better together.
Crowdfunding a Collaborative Film: Repurposing a Distribution Platform into A New Fundraising Tool.
99% - The Occupy Wall Street Collaborative Film began as a spontaneous project, and thus it began with no funding at all. While it might seem like a poster-child for crowdfunding opportunity, this film actually has some unique obstacles: for starters, many people who support us also support the Occupy Movement, and their spare dollars go straight to them. Our film is not part of OWS; although some of our 75+ filmmakers identify as part of it, we are a separate, independent project, and we receive no Occupy funding.
Additionally, donations to OWS itself dropped off markedly after the first heady days (when it seemed as though time had stopped at the moment in Sidney Lumet's 1976 film Network when Peter Finch's Howard Beale led the city in a chorus of "I'm mad as hell, and I'm not going to take this anymore!" only to resume in reality 35 years later at Zuccotti Park). Plus, with the otherwise lovely Christmas season turning potential funding into slippers and iPads, crowdfunding has been no picnic. We now emerge from the holidays with about two weeks left to hit our goal of $17,500. Two critical weeks, because make no mistake: we need those funds to keep going.
Before I get to the new tool we're test-driving, let me back up for a second to talk about our overall strategy. First, we put together an outreach team: Stephen Dotson and Kari Collins on Twitter, Laura Alexander on Facebook, Annie Riordan doing direct outreach to influencers and organizations who might help spread the word, Ginger Liu on newswires, blog and social (non fb & twitter) outreach, and me on press releases, blog outreach, and traditional press.
But really, nobody wants to write about your damn Kickstarter campaign, so you have to find ways to make it newsworthy. I set this up as a five-week campaign (with the expected week of Christmas drop-off in the middle). Week one outreach was about the film itself; the collaborative nature and the way our process mirrors OWS got us some press that might be difficult for a more standard doc to achieve.
For week two, Billy Miller (one of our filmmakers, also a curator) gathered our first round of rewards: artworks by 12 contemporary artists. We contacted and posted to hundreds of art blogs. Then we added a fresh round of artists/works (a lot had already been nabbed) and let that slide over Christmas into week 3: when Aaron Aites, my film partner and also the main man behind the band Iran, worked with Kyp Malone (of Iran, TV on the Radio, and Rain Machine) to put together a slew of music rewards. Signed records and artworks from Conor Oberst (Bright Eyes), John Dwyer (Thee Oh Sees), Wayne Coyne (Flaming Lips) and many more fueled a new round of targeted outreach, but still, so much ground to cover by Jan 13th!
So when Darcy at Constellation got in touch to propose a new venture, combining their social screening platform with our Kickstarter campaign, I had to wonder if this might be a peanut butter and chocolate crowdfunding moment. I'd checked out Constellation when they launched; they mix classics (Grey Gardens, Rashomon) with newer and noteworthy indie films (Food Fight, Trouble The Water, Marwencol) and there's a social element to the screenings: pre-set times to make it a group experience, Q & A's with filmmakers, and chats with the audience. In their words:
"Constellation is your online movie theater. Just like a traditional theater, users purchase tickets to attend scheduled showtimes of films, or create their own showtimes. However unlike other online platforms, watching movies on Constellation is a social experience. Users can invite friends to showtimes they're attending and watch together. Many movies are presented by VIP hosts, such as the films' directors, actors, or other notables, who appear live in the online theater to answer questions from the audience during and after the film. "
So Constellation's interested in working with Kickstarter (and presumably other crowdfunding sites) projects, and we're interested in reaching our goal; we agreed to be the first to try it out. Although reluctant to divert our attention while in the thick of making the film, we think there's a place for this in our fundraising strategy.
So this January 7th at 7:30 pm EST we're holding a screening of 45 minutes of footage that's been shot for our film, on Constellation.TV. It's not a work-in-progress, and Constellation have been respectful of our need to not use that language, but it is a chance for our backers and others to see some of the material we're working with, and to talk to us as we're shaping the film. (They also let us lower the ticket price, and gave us half-off codes for our Kickstarter backers, plus free codes so all 75 of our filmmakers can be present – woo-hoo!) It's a chance for us to get some feedback, build our audience, and possibly even meet new backers.
I don't know how well this platform is working for finished films, but that also depends on each filmmaker's goal with it (as with any distribution outlet). But it's good to know that Constellation is open to this sort of fundraising event. I learned, while theatrically distributing my last film, Until The Light Takes Us, that event-izing really helps. So if you're interested, this is the direct link to the screening: www.constellation.tv/99percent. Or if you need a reminder like I do, here is the Facebook invite. (Oh! And proceeds go toward our Kickstarter campaign!)
If this is successful, it could be a new tool in the indie filmmaker's funding kit. So wish us luck; better yet, check out the screening, ask questions, and by all means, please invite a friend.
Audrey Ewell is a filmmaker living in Brooklyn, NY with her film partner Aaron Aites. They recently made the award-winning film Until The Light Takes Us, and they're now working on a thriller called Dark Places. The 99% Kickstarter page is here.


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Gadget gift ideas for Father's DayStory highlights
With Father's Day approaching on June 16, here are some gadgets gifts to consider
Instead of obvious tablets and phones, we're mostly showcasing lesser-known tech
Let's face it: In 2013, the words "dad" and "tech" don't clash like they used to.
Plenty of today's fathers have spent their entire adult lives, if not part of their youth, in the digital age. And as to the others, well, isn't it our job to drag them kicking and screaming into our brave new world of smartphones and tablets, e-readers and apps?
So, whether you're shopping for a plugged-in dad or one who just figured out that disc-drive thing on the buy sarees online computer isn't a cup holder, tech gadgets should probably be on your list of potential Father's Day gifts.
There are the obvious smartphones, tablets and laptops, of course. But we'd like to showcase some less-obvious gadgets that might make dad forget all that money you borrowed in college.
From wearable workout helpers to advanced beer-chilling tech, hopefully one of these offerings will have some appeal.
And, yes, just http://tradeshows.tradeindia.com/fashionjewelleryshow/ because we think cliches are awesome, there's a necktie.
Happy Dad Day shopping, folks. And if you have any gadget gift ideas of your own, let us know in the comments. We may add them to the gallery.


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The Private Equity Group (PEG) has a long-tenured history of investing in secondary investments, dating back to 1985. Since that time, the PEG has over $2 billion1 in secondary assets under management. We view secondary investments as opportunistic return-enhancers to our client's portfolios. Our due diligence process for secondary investments is extremely thorough and disciplined. We employ a bottom-up, company-by-company analysis for all underlying investments using realistic assumptions for growth, debt pay down, exit multiples and timing of exit.
In seeking secondary opportunities, we employ our information and assignment advantages - derived from our investment relationships with, and oversight, of more than 675 partnerships - to generate favorable negotiations.


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A report by a market analysis firm expects video game revenues to hit $64.9 billion by the end of 2013. That would be a growth of 40 percent over what they were at the end of 2009.
The report, Global Video Game Market Forecast, was written by Strategy Analytics and reported yesterday at Edge Online. It predicts increased spending on retail games, but sees the most growth in the digital marketplace: downloadable titles, online subscriptions and virtual item sales. In-game advertising also figures in.
Further, Strategy Analytics expects that revenue from online games will hit $24.8 billion by 2013, accounting for more than 38 percent of all software revenue.
That's serious business, folks. It's not 64.9 geeks spending a billion dollars each. Although that would be an exciting market to cover.
Games Biz To Hit $64.9 Billion In 2013 - Report [Edge Online]


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NEW ORLEANS, Dec. 27 (UPI) -- Drew Brees threw for 307 yards Monday, setting a single-season NFL passing-yardage mark and leading New Orleans to a division title in a 45-16 rout of Atlanta.
Brees racked up four touchdowns in the performance, which gave him 5,087 passing yards for the season -- 3 more than the previous record, set by the Miami Dolphins' Dan Marino in 1984.
Brees will have a chance to add to the record next week as the Saints (12-3) finish their regular season schedule against Carolina -- after clinching the NFC South with Monday's shellacking of the Falcons.
The New Orleans signal-caller hooked up with Darren Sproles, Marques Colston, Jimmy Graham and Robert Meachem on TD passes as the Saints notched a seventh straight win.
Sproles (233 all-purpose yards) hauled down the record-setting pass.
Atlanta (9-6), the defending division champs, lost for only the second time in six games.
Matt Ryan went 34-of-52 through the air for 373 yards with a touchdown for the Falcons, who dropped both of their games against the Saints this season.


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For 50 years Celita S. Kwan faithfully participated in elections in her native Brazil, but since moving to the U.S. in 2001, she is not eligible for that same right. "I can't vote," Ms. Kwan said, during a break in the citizenship class she is attending at the Cleghorn Neighborhood Center. "This is very important, no? In Brazil, all years I vote and now I can't vote."
FITCHBURG — For 50 years Celita S. Kwan faithfully participated in elections in her native Brazil, but since moving to the U.S. in 2001, she is not eligible for that same right.
"I can't vote," Ms. Kwan said, during a break in the citizenship class she is attending at the Cleghorn Neighborhood Center. "This is very important, no? In Brazil, all years I vote and now I can't vote."
With the encouragement of her husband of three years, the 63-year-old said she plans to apply for citizenship next month after she finishes the class.
She is currently a permanent U.S. resident, but in addition to voting, there are strong incentives for her to become a citizen including obtaining a U.S. passport to make travel to her native country easier, and helping her daughters, 32 and 27, also came here from Brazil.
Yamila Pastorino, who is teaching the citizenship class and is also a paralegal student, said U.S. citizens have access to an unlimited amount of visa petitions, which means they can petition for as many people to come to the U.S. as they want. Permanent residents only have access to a certain number of visa petitions, and they are granted on a first-come, first-serve basis, she said.
"If you want to petition someone, it is better to be a citizen, otherwise it is going to take a lot of time," Ms. Pastorino said. "We see a lot of people from Haiti and the Dominican Republic wanting to do citizenship right away so they can bring their kids here."
She said one woman in her class waited 10 years to come to the U.S. because she was petitioned for by a permanent resident.
Another, 49-year-old Pelagea Mateo from the Dominican Republic, waited 11 years. Her parents, who are permanent residents, petitioned for her to come to the U.S.
"My mother and father brought me here — they are not citizens," Ms. Mateo said through classmate Alba A. Sepulubda, also from the Dominican Republic, who was translating for her.
"For me to vote, it is important," she said. "There are thousands more opportunities here than back home."
After living here five years and working as a personal care attendant, she does not want to go back to her native country, she said.
She is fortunate her two sons, 23 and 9, are here in the U.S., she said.
Ms. Sepulubda, 46, is looking for work. She has lived in the U.S. 15 years and has family in Pennsylvania. "I love my country, but it is sad because there are not too many opportunities there," she said. "A lot of people are hungry. This country can give me more than my country can give to me. When I am a citizen, if this country needs me for some reason, I'll be ready. Here I feel good. I like it."
She said she tried to take citizenship classes before, but could not get the time off from work.
"Writing is the hardest part," she said. "I never took a class for English. I can read more than write."
Ms. Pastorino asked the class to write down several sentences including: "I want to be an American citizen."
Ms. Sepulubda did well, only missing the word "an."
"There are a lot of questions that ask about a lot of history of the U.S.," Ms. Pastorino said of the class. "Even some of my coworkers who were born here have difficulty answering the questions."
There are 100 civics questions they must study for the test, she said. Applicants must answer 10 of those that are chosen randomly for the test and must also be able to read and write in English.
"You don't have to speak fluent English," Ms. Pastorino said. "The most important thing is you need to be able to communicate, and the immigration officer has to understand what you are saying. They don't really care writing or about spelling mistakes or when you read or speak and have an accent."
Additionally, immigrants who have been in the U.S. for 15 or more years and are at least 55 can take the test and interview in Spanish, she said.
Ms. Pastorino said she has heard stories of officers treating applicants harshly.
"One student in my last class said she had a friend who walked into the office and sat down, and the officer said, 'I didn't tell you to sit down. You failed your test,'" she said.
There is a $680 application fee to take the test, and immigrants get a second chance if they do not pass, she said. If they fail the second time, they must pay again, she said.
Waivers are available, however, for those on public assistance or struggling financially who wish to become U.S. citizens, she said. Additionally, the Cleghorn Neighborhood Center partnered with a local bank to help finance the fee for those who qualify, and the CNC offers free help in filling out the 21-page application.
"If you have limited English, you don't understand the questions being asked," she said. "You have to answer correctly or jeopardize getting approved. People tend to get overwhelmed."
Waivers for actually having to take the test are also given at the discretion of the immigration officer to those with any mental or physical disability or impairment to learn, she said, when documentation of the impairment is provided by a doctor.
Ironically, though she has taught the class twice, Ms. Pastorino is not eligible to take the citizenship test herself. The 22-year-old was brought here illegally from Uruguay by her parents when she was only 9.
She obtained a two-year employment authorization card under the Obama administration's deferred action program that gives a reprieve from deportation to some immigrants who are here illegally because they were brought to the U.S. as minors. However, there is currently no path to citizenship offered under the program.
"I hope one day I will be able to do it," she said.
Contact Paula Owen at firstname.lastname@example.com. Follow her on Twitter @PaulaOwenTG.


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Once upon a time there was a world full of meaning, focused by exemplary figures in the form of gods and heroes, saints and sinners. How did we lose them, or, might they still be around, in the form of modern day masters, in fields like sports, music, craft and cooking. Are these masters able to inspire us and bring back a sense of wonder, possibly even of the sacred?
To Rent or Buy the film, please visit HERE


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FDA: Beware Buying Prescription Drugs Online
(WASHINGTON) -- A moving target of as many as 40,000 active online pharmacies, a huge majority of them fly-by-night start-ups, may sell products at a cut-rate price but they may also deliver expired, contaminated and fake drugs that can harm consumers, the FDA said Friday.
"You have no guarantee of the safety, efficacy or quality of those products," Dr. Margaret Hamburg, commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, told ABC News. "You want to go to an online pharmacy that is licensed, located in the United States, [and] importantly, that will ask for a prescription from a doctor."
On Friday, the FDA launched BeSafeRx, a national campaign to alert consumers to the possible dangers of buying pharmaceuticals online.
"This a real problem. In fact, it is a growing problem, it is a problem that we are doing everything we can ... to try and protect the safety and security of the drug supply chain," Hamburg said. "The consumers have a role to play, as well, and that's why we want them to be informed about how to recognize a safe and legal online pharmacy so they can get those drugs that they really do need."
In May, the FDA surveyed more than 6,000 adults and found that almost a quarter of Internet shoppers bought prescription drugs online, and three in 10 said they weren't confident they could do so safely.
What many consumers don't realize is they are more likely online to get fake drugs that are contaminated or past their expiration date, or contain no active ingredient, the wrong amount of active ingredient or even toxic substances such as arsenic and rat poison.
They could sicken or kill people, cause them to develop a resistance to their real medicine, cause new side effects or trigger harmful interactions with other medications being taken.
Just how easy is it to set up an online pharmacy?
Two University of California, San Diego medical researchers showed ABC News how they set up their own fake drug store using search engines, Facebook and Twitter to draw potential buyers, and no pharmaceutical degree or any medical license, is required to set up any of these websites.
Timothy Mackey, a doctoral student in the joint doctoral program between San Diego State University and the University of California, San Diego created a fake pharmacy in less than 15 minutes and for less than $80.
"We basically created a Web app which is very descriptive and has a medical professional, a picture of a person that we just purchased, and we were able to post it online without any verification or requirements at all," Mackey said.
A hit-and-run pharmacy is lightning fast to start and even faster to disappear -- all before authorities can catch up.
"The bad guys know when they're getting chased, so they just shut down with a minute, and then literally within another hour they've set themselves right back up again," said Brian Liang, head of the Center for Patient Safety at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine. "What it's telling us is that there's clearly no enforcement, and Facebook and others in this space are making money off of illicit drug sales."
Liang and Mackey said their mock sites saw more than 1,000 unique users in the 10 months they were active. The outgoing links they included went to a "dead page," and they did not actually sell any pharmaceuticals.
While there are some legitimate online pharmacies, about two percent according to the Alliance for Safe Online Pharmacies, how can you tell which are legitimate and which are fake?
According to the FDA, watch out for sites that ...
1. ... allow you to buy drugs without a prescription;
2. ... offer deep discounts that seem too good to be true;
3. ... send unsolicited emails offering cheap drugs;
4. ... are located outside of the United States, beyond the reach of regulators.
"If you find out about the website because of spam or unsolicited email, be very, very careful," Hamburg said. "If the price is bedrock cheap and it seems too good to be true, it probably is too good to be true. And if it is not located in the United States and it's offering to ship drugs worldwide, another red flag; don't go there."
Liang added that when they were searching for online pharmacies, the first 10 pages of hits was comprised entirely of fake pharmacies, and they did not come to a legitimate site until page 10 in the Google search results.
The new "BeSafeRx" website allows consumers to check a pharmacy's license through state boards of pharmacy, as well as providing tips for shopping online and seeing the signs of a fake pharmacy.
"We want consumers to be able to get safe, effective, high-quality drugs," Hamburg said. "And if they want to order them online that is terrific, but use a safe and legal online pharmacy."
"The important messages," Hamburg added, "are have a prescription, know your online pharmacy, make sure it is safe and take your medication as directed."
The National Association of Boards of Pharmacy also recommends only using Internet pharmacies accredited through Verified Internet Pharmacy Practice Sites or Vet-VIPPS program. It also provides a listing of "Not Recommended Sites."
Copyright 2012 ABC News Radio


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Cholesterol plays a major role in a person's heart health. High blood cholesterol is a major risk factor forcoronary heart disease and stroke.
That's why it's important to know yourcholesterol levels. You should also learn about other risk factors for heart disease and stroke.
A cholesterol screening measures your level of high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol and triglycerides. A small sample of blood will be drawn from your arm. If your doctor orders other tests to be run at the same time as your cholesterol test, all the samples are usually taken at the same time. Your blood sample is then analyzed in a laboratory.
Your doctor will tell you if you should fast (avoid consuming food, beverages and medications, usually for nine to 12 hours) before your blood test. If you aren't fasting when the blood sample is drawn, only the values for total cholesterol and HDL cholesterol will be usable. That's because the amount of LDL (bad) cholesterol level and triglycerides can be affected by what you've recently consumed.
Your test report will show your cholesterol level in milligrams per deciliter of blood (mg/dL). Your doctor will interpret your cholesterol numbers based on other risk factors such as age, family history, smoking and high blood pressure.
What do your cholesterol levels mean?
If you are age 20 or older and have not been diagnosed with cardiovascular disease, the American Heart Association recommends having your cholesterol levels checked every four to six years as part of a cardiovascular risk assessment.
You may need to have your cholesterol and other risk factors assessed more often if your risk is elevated.
Your healthcare provider will talk with you about what your results mean and discuss appropriate treatment options based on your cardiovascular risk and overall health.
It's best to have your primary care doctor run your cholesterol test. Other risk factors such as your age, family history smoking history and blood pressure must be considered when interpreting your results and your primary care doctor is most likely to have all that information. Once you know your numbers, your doctor can recommend a treatment and prevention plan, as well as follow-up testing.
If you have your cholesterol checked at public screenings, make sure a reputable company does the screening. Remember that your cholesterol level is just part of your overall cardiovascular risk profile, and your other risk factors must be considered. You should share the screening results with your healthcare professional so your tests can be properly interpreted, and an appropriate treatment and prevention plan developed.
The American Heart Association hasn't taken a position on cholesterol home testing devices. Several devices are on the market. Some measure only total cholesterol. Others measure total cholesterol and HDL (good) cholesterol. One measures LDL (bad) cholesterol, HDL cholesterol and triglycerides (blood fats).


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The art of fine dining requires the careful selection and display of eye-catching dinner candles. The understated elegance of Root Dinner Candles will grace any table setting with unique character. Whether you set your table with Root Aristas, Dipped Tapers, Collenettes, Dillars or our newer Root Legacy 100% beeswax dinner candles, there's no better way to say "Bon Appetit!".


text: Haute shoe brand, Stuart Weitzman, continues its spring concept of featuring model Natalia Vodianova in just her "Stuarts." The black-and-white photos were shot by Mario Testino and showcase the label's feminine boots and stilettos. According the press release, "The imagery plays on the fact that Stuart Weitzmans are the first thing you put on in the morning and the last thing you take off at night. In the Stuart Weitzman world, sexy doesn't mean uncomfortable; it's being comfortable and confident in your own skin." Check out the images below.


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CVS Caremark study addresses correlation between out-of-pocket co-pay, Rx abandonment
WOONSOCKET, R.I. — There is a direct correlation between the amount of a patient's out-of-pocket co-pay and prescription abandonment, according to the findings of a CVS Caremark-sponsored study published this week in the Annals of Internal Medicine. The study also found that e-prescriptions are more likely to be abandoned at retail compared with handwritten prescriptions.
The new study by Harvard, Brigham and Women's Hospital and CVS Caremark researchers found a direct correlation between the amount of a patient's out-of-pocket co-pay and likely abandonment of the prescription, with patients having a co-pay of $50 almost four times more likely to abandon a prescription at a pharmacy than those paying $10. The study also found that e-prescriptions are 65% more likely to be left abandoned at a retail pharmacy by patients than are handwritten prescriptions.
"Sticker shock is an important driver of prescription abandonment," stated lead author of the study William Shrank of Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard. Shrank said the study also outlined and validated a simple prediction rule that pharmacists can apply to help them assess whether patients are at risk to abandon their prescriptions.
"This research gives us new insight into an area of nonadherence that we did not have before, and shows we have opportunities to change patient behavior," added Larry Merlo, president and COO of CVS Caremark. "We need to be more attentive to reasons why patients may be abandoning prescriptions and work to help them stay on their medications. We continue to be a strong proponent of e-prescribing because we recognize the benefits it can provide, such as improving the accuracy and quality of prescription delivery and reducing paperwork to make pharmacy care more efficient."
Researchers reviewed all prescriptions dispensed at CVS/pharmacy locations between July 1 and Sept. 30, 2008. Of the prescriptions that were abandoned, more than half were never filled at any pharmacy, while some were filled at other pharmacies at a later date. The team concluded that the pharmacy industry would benefit from learning more about prescription abandonment, which the team said is an addressable factor impacting patients' adherence to their medications.
The researchers said the higher rate of abandonment for e-prescriptions appeared to occur because patients with written prescriptions must proactively brought the request for medications to the pharmacy, while patients with e-prescriptions are not required to take any step to begin the prescription-filling process. In addition, the rate of e-prescription abandonment appeared high because pharmacies are able to track the prescriptions as abandoned versus paper prescriptions that never actually are brought to a pharmacy.
The researchers said that if the 3.27% abandonment rate observed during the study period was applied to the 3.6 billion prescriptions filled at pharmacies in 2008, approximately 110 million prescriptions would be abandoned.
Furthermore, researchers outlined a predictive model for pharmacists to apply to help them recognize likely candidates for abandonment that includes:
- Reviewing the individual's benefit plan and tiered co-pays. The study said cost is the strongest predictor of abandonment. The data showed a 1.4% prescription abandonment rate for patients with co-pays of $10 or less, a 3.4% rate for patients with co-pays between $30 and $40, and a 4.7% rate for patients with co-pays of $50;
- Understanding past pharmacy behavior. Patients with first-fill prescriptions are three times more likely to abandon prescriptions than those who are refilling their medication;
- Identifying the age of the patient. Younger patients are more likely than older patients to abandon their medications; and
- Reviewing the drug class. The study found that opiates, antiplatelets and statins were the least likely to be abandoned, while insulin and proton-pump inhibitors were more likely to be abandoned.
The study is the work of CVS Caremark's previously announced three-year collaboration with Harvard University and Brigham and Women's Hospital to research pharmacy claims data to better understand patient behavior around medication adherence.
Past industry studies showed one-quarter of people receiving prescriptions never filled their first prescriptions, and patients with such chronic diseases as diabetes and coronary artery disease adhere to their ongoing medication regimen about half of the time. Nonadherence to essential medications is a frequent cause of preventable hospitalizations and patient illness, with costs to the U.S. healthcare system estimated at about $300 billion annually.


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LONDON (MarketWatch)—London's benchmark stock index rose on Thursday, with shares of Next PLC rising after a trading update, while gains for oil firms provided support.
The FTSE 100 index UKX, -0.46% rose 0.3% to close at 6,047.34, extending gains after racing past the 6,000-level for the first time since July 2011 on Wednesday.
The benchmark erased earlier losses in afternoon action, after payrolls processor ADP said the U.S. added 215,000 private-sector jobs in December, topping analysts expectations of a 149,000 rise. See: ADP: U.S. private-sector job growth for December easily exceeds forecast.
Oil shares supported the FTSE 100, tracking a soft gain for oil prices. See: Oil gives back some cliff-deal gains, under $93
Shares of BP PLC UK:BP BP, -0.10% climbed 2.4%. Transocean Ltd. RIG, +1.20%, which was leasing the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig that exploded in 2010 to BP, was expected to announce a $1.4 billion settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice over the oil-spill disaster. A representative from Transocean wasn't immediately available to comment. See: Transocean up on $1.4 bln settlement report
Royal Dutch Shell PLC RDSB, -0.20% RDS.B, +0.03% BG Group PLC UK:BG both put on 0.8%.
Miners, however, put the most pressure on the London index, a reversal after they ranked among Wednesday's strongest performers in the wake of a last-minute U.S. budget deal to avert the so-called fiscal cliff.
Shares of Rio Tinto PLC RIO, -2.24% RIO, -1.46% RIO, +2.16% fell 0.9% and BHP Billiton PLC UK:BLT BHP, -1.75% BHP, +1.98% slipped 0.4%. Metals prices were mostly lower. See: Gold futures pull back after cliff-rally
Shares of CRH PLC CRH, +1.00% CRH, +1.16% were also lower in London, off 1.3%. The building-materials firm said it made 18 acquisition and investment initiatives in the second half of 2012 worth 375 million euros ($494.44 million). See: CRH spent €375m on investing initiatives in 2H
Most banks dropped, with shares of Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC RBS, -1.42% RBS, -1.99% and HSBC Holdings PLC HSBA, -0.02% US:HBC 5, +1.70% both 0.5% lower.
On a more upbeat note in the U.K., shares of Next NXT, +1.95% gained 2.7%, after the firm said sales growth in fourth quarter has been in line with forecasts. Further, underlying earning-per-share growth for the full year should come in between 14% and 17%, the fashion retailer said.
Shares of department-store firm Debenhams PLC UK:DEB tracked Next higher and gained 1.8%.
Outside the main index in London, shares of Chemring Group PLC CMGMY, +0.00% jumped 6.4% as the aerospace and defense firm appointed Steve Bowers as group finance director effective Jan. 7.
Balfour Beatty PLC BBY, +0.98% picked up 0.5%. The infrastructure group said it has acquired Subsurface Group Inc. to expand Parson Brinckerhoff's Energy Storage Services business in the U.S.


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Source: Washington Post
By Maggie Fazeli Fard, Published: May 27
Growing up in a family of 11 children, Charity Tillemann-Dick accumulated what she calls "a lovely collection of scars": pinched skin from the time one of her brothers accidentally twisted her right arm in a playground swing; a teenage shaving nick on her right shin; a pockmark, also on her right leg, from tripping in a pothole in Russia.
But the masterpiece of her collection is hidden from view: Splitting the chest of this 29-year-old opera singer is a long, narrow ridge beneath her breasts that marks not one but two double-lung transplants.For an opera singer, lungs are a musical instrument — like a Steinway to a pianist or a Stradivarius to a violinist. They expand and contract, carefully expelling air to create beautiful arias and emotional duets. Singers spend years training their lungs. To lose them is to face losing one's dream, and, of course, one's life.
"I always loved the heroines in opera. They were these beautiful, strong women in impossible situations," Tillemann-Dick says. "When I got sick, it felt like I knew these stories and now I was living one, music and all. The question," she says, "was how to outsmart the tragedy."
Today Tillemann-Dick continues to perform — better than ever, she says — thanks to the lungs of a middle-aged Honduran woman.
Tillemann-Dick's troubles stem from pulmonary hypertension, a rare, potentially fatal condition that affects the heart and lungs. She was 19 when she first noticed some classic symptoms of the disease: shortness of breath and fainting spells. But as a new college grad who had been offered a chance to study at the renowned Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest, she wasn't about to let a little trouble breathing stand in her way.
A politics major in college, the Denver native had assumed she would end up in government, following in the footsteps of her grandfather Tom Lantos, a Holocaust survivor who represented California for nearly 30 years in the House of Representatives, and older brother Tomicah Tillemann, a former speechwriter for Hillary Clinton and now a senior adviser at the State Department.
But she'd been drawn to music and, in Budapest, she found her niche as a coloratura soprano — "one of those rare big voices that can hit really high notes in rapid succession," says Tillemann-Dick, who had performed with the Colorado Children's Choir and minored in music as an undergrad. Vocal coaches were eager to work with her and producers were eager to cast her. She dismissed the fainting spells as a byproduct of low blood pressure, and sang on.
It wasn't until Tillemann-Dick returned to the United States in 2004 to visit family and have a routine physical that she found an explanation for the mysterious fainting: "Idiopathic pulmonary hypertension. Stage 4."
The diagnosis was gibberish to her. Pulmonary hypertension, the doctor explained, is a type of high blood pressure. Tiny arteries in the lungs harden, restricting blood flow, which forces the heart's right ventricle to work harder and harder, eventually exhausting it.The condition has been linked to emphysema, AIDS, stimulant drugs such as cocaine and the diet drug fen-phen, which was pulled from the market in 1997. But "idiopathic" meant that, in Tillemann-Dick's case, there was no known cause.
"Stage 4" meant her disease was quite advanced. The lower right chamber of Tillemann-Dick's heart was 31 / 2 times larger than normal. The average life expectancy for people with advanced forms of the disease is two to five years. The American Lung Association estimates that one in 100,000 to 1 million people have idiopathic pulmonary hypertension. It is most common among women in their mid-30s.Tillemann-Dick saw specialist after specialist, and all of them delivered bad news: She could never have children. She should never live in Denver because the Mile High City's elevation would aggravate her condition. And she would never be an opera singer, which required too much lung power.
To that, Tillemann-Dick had only one reply: "Screw this. I'm going to keep singing."
Tillemann-Dick moved to Washington, where her grandparents and several siblings lived. She knew that a lung transplant was a possibility in the future, and turned to Reda Girgis, then the associate medical director of lung transplantation at Johns Hopkins Hospital, for her care.
Girgis prescribed Flolan, a liquid medication delivered 24 hours a day directly to the heart through a tube in her chest. Some people function for years on Flolan, giving Tillemann-Dick a chance at life without a transplant. It wasn't pretty and it wasn't a cure, but Flolan provided relief by relaxing the muscles and hardened arteries in her lungs.
Girgis also encouraged Tillemann-Dick not to give up her opera dream. "He understood the difference between being alive and living," she says.
So Tillemann-Dick returned to Europe, resuming voice lessons and performing in several operas, taking on the role of Titania in "A Midsummer Night's Dream," Gilda in "Rigoletto" and Violetta in "La Traviata." All the while, she hid her condition by concealing the bulky Flolan pack, about the size of a purse, by strapping it to her upper thigh. "I would stuff it into my girdle before going onstage," she says.
Her illness seemed to be in check. In early 2008, though, her grandfather passed away at age 80 and, weeks later, her father died as a result of a car crash.
Tillemann-Dick had been fighting pneumonia, but she flew to Washington for her grandfather's funeral and to Colorado for her father's. Within days of arriving in Denver, she began showing signs of "outright heart failure," she says. The pneumonia, the altitude and the emotional distress took their toll.
"I was coming up on five years," she says. "The disease was progressing as anticipated."
Her meds now failing, Tillemann-Dick's cardiac output — the amount of blood her heart could pump — dropped, leaving her exhausted and out of breath. Her legs were swelling as a result of her poor circulation, and she was suffering from intense nausea. And, of course, her lungs were too feeble to power her voice.It was now clear, she said, that "keeping my own lungs just wasn't an option anymore."
In September 2009, just one day after being listed on the organ transplant registry, Tillemann-Dick flew from Washington to the Cleveland Clinic, where two lungs waited. Her one request as she was wheeled into the operating room: "Save my vocal cords."Her vocal cords turned out to be the least of her problems. Tillemann-Dick's kidneys and liver had been seriously damaged by her illness. She flat-lined twice during the 13-hour surgery as doctors removed her lungs, put two new lungs in and repaired a damaged heart valve, says her surgeon, Kenneth McCurry.
Lung transplants are difficult, says Marie Budev, the medical director of Cleveland Clinic's lung transplantation program. "They're the most delicate organ, like tissue paper strung between Christmas lights." According to the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, about 1,800 lung transplants are performed each year in the United States.
Doctors left Tillemann-Dick's chest open for about two weeks — a precaution that gave them easy access to her organs in case of complications. Her kidneys and liver began to recover. She remained in a medically induced coma for 34 days.
Her surgeon did not forget Tillemann-Dick's single request. McCurry knew that if anything would damage her vocal cords, it would be the breathing tube stuck down her throat. The alternative was a tracheostomy, cutting a hole in her throat to put the breathing tube directly into her windpipe.
A throat specialist declined to perform the procedure, afraid that the patient might not survive it. McCurry did it himself, ultimately saving Tillemann-Dick's voice.
"When I woke up, it didn't matter that I couldn't move, that I couldn't breathe," says Tillemann-Dick, whose muscles — including those of her diaphragm, which controls breathing — had severely atrophied during the coma. "None of it mattered. I was alive."
Tillemann-Dick spent three months in the hospital. At her first visit after being released, she hopped onto an exam table and tested out her pipes.
"All the doors in the hallway opened," Budev recalls. "The other patients wanted to know what was going on. For them, singing equals lung function. Charity was an inspiration."
Tillemann-Dick says, "My voice was hoarse. But there was something there."
On average, transplanted lungs last up to five years. But after just a few months, Tillemann-Dick's were failing. Despite taking anti-rejection drugs, she was succumbing to chronic rejection, a slow deterioration that McCurry describes as the "Achilles' heel of lung transplantations. It's one of the most common reasons that patients die."
In the summer of 2011, Tillemann-Dick's name was again added to the organ registry. This time, it would take more than a day to find a match.
While she waited, she sang. In September, pumped full of steroids, antibiotics and oxygen from a machine, Tillemann-Dick made her Lincoln Center debut in a concert with the Juilliard Philharmonic and violinist Joshua Bell, among other performers. Tillemann-Dick sang the aria "Sempre Libera" from "La Traviata," which is "not for the faint of heart or the faint of lung," she says."That night, I did some of the best singing of my entire life. I don't know if it was the adrenaline or the steroids, but I was tingling all night," she says.
She ended the aria on a high note — a high E-flat. "When I hit that note, it was a huge relief," she says. "I thought of everything I'd gone through, and I knew it was a miracle."In October, she married Yonatan Doron, who had been by her side throughout her ordeal. She walked down the aisle but was too breathless to stand for her vows. Within weeks, just days before Christmas, Tillemann-Dick returned to the Cleveland Clinic. There was still no match, but she was so sick that doctors knew her only chance at survival was to continue the wait in a hospital.
Tillemann-Dick was put on an advanced form of life support that fully took control from her lungs and heart. To keep up her strength, she pedaled on a mini stationary bike and did arm exercises. Still, as weeks passed, Tillemann-Dick could feel herself sinking. "I was dying," she says. "It's a strange emotional experience, hoping for a match but knowing it means tragedy for someone else."
On Jan. 24, 2012, after more than six months of waiting, she had a match, a 48-year-old Honduran woman who had died of a stroke and was a registered organ donor.
A second transplant is more difficult than a first. There are more antibodies in the bloodstream, and the body is more vulnerable to infection. According to McCurry, scar tissue from the first transplant makes it harder to get the old lungs out.
But in Tillemann-Dick's case, the second transplant was remarkably smooth. There were no complications and she was discharged after just three weeks. Within a couple of months, she began training her voice again and made her post-op debut in a recital with the Indianapolis Opera; accompanied by a pianist, she sang a selection of arias and show tunes.
"It was not my best singing, but the lungs . . . they fit better," Tillemann-Dick says. "The first ones were too big. I never felt like I could get a full breath. Singing is much easier now. It sounds better."
Today, Tillemann-Dick takes 14 different medications, about 20 pills daily, including anti-rejection drugs. They must be taken on a very precise schedule and her husband has cellphone alarms set for each one.
"We're like an old married couple," she says. "We have the pills. We've had the death scares. We're 29 and 30 going on 90."
Tillemann-Dick sings and speaks at events, including an appearance in April at the Kennedy Center, to raise awareness of her disease and to promote organ donation. She takes voice lessons, composes music and travels to singing gigs. She is recording a CD, due out this summer. She loves to cook and play hostess to family and friends. An impeccable dresser, her signature accessory is a necklace that perfectly conceals the tracheostomy scar in the hollow of her throat.
Still, there are signs that she's not in perfect health. Tillemann-Dick doesn't shake hands with strangers. Her nieces and nephews hug her legs instead of her neck. Infection would only hasten the inevitable decline of her lungs.
"The reason I'm alive today is because two different people decided to be organ donors," she says. "I don't think I would qualify for a third [transplant]," she says, because of internal scarring and other issues that make multiple transplants increasingly complicated.
"You could. You don't know," interrupts Doron, quickly grabbing her hand.
"I could," Tillemann-Dick says in a brief moment of concession. "But I probably won't."


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Although the Browns tried to avoid publicly tipping their hand about trading up to the second overall pick, they were interested: And they attempted to work a deal out with the Rams on Friday night, only to have the Redskins beat them to the punch.
ESPN's Adam Schefter reports that before the Redskins-Rams deal was reported, the Browns tried to make a last-minute push to acquire the Rams' No. 2 overall pick for themselves. But the Browns weren't able to get it done.
The fact that the Browns were in the mix indicates that they do have an interest in drafting someone to push Colt McCoy aside and become the franchise quarterback. The only question, now that we know they won't get Andrew Luck or Robert Griffin III, is whether the Browns are still looking to draft a quarterback.
If they are, their focus would then be on Texas A&M quarterback Ryan Tannehill. Browns head coach Pat Shurmur talked up Tannehill recently, and if the Browns like Tannehill as much as Shurmur suggested they do, they could take him with the fourth overall pick.
The Browns may also decide to take care of the quarterback position before the draft by signing a free agent. They're not in the Peyton Manning sweepstakes, but Matt Flynn is a possibility.
Or the Browns could be ready and willing to give McCoy another year. All we know for sure is they won't be drafting Griffin, after the Redskins beat them to him.