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Francis Marion Crawford was a prolific and popular author of fiction on both sides of the Atlantic at the turn of the last century, producing countless novels and short stories as well as several plays and a number of historical works about Italy. Crawford was an American citizen, but was widely travelled, having been born to an artistic American family in Italy and attending school in India. Today, he is perhaps best known for his supernatural fiction, his reputation resting largely on this collection of tales published in 1903.
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Table of Contents
First digital edition 2018 by Fabio De Angelis
Sir Hugh Ockram smiled as he sat by the open window of his study, in the late August afternoon; and just then a curiously yellow cloud obscured the low sun, and the clear summer light turned lurid, as if it had been suddenly poisoned and polluted by the foul vapours of a plague. Sir Hugh's face seemed, at best, to be made of fine parchment drawn skin-tight over a wooden mask, in which two eyes were sunk out of sight, and peered from far within through crevices under the slanting, wrinkled lids, alive and watchful like two toads in their holes, side by side and exactly alike. But as the light changed, then a little yellow glare flashed in each. Nurse Macdonald said once that when Sir Hugh smiled he saw the faces of two women in hell, two dead women he had betrayed. (Nurse Macdonald was a hundred years old.) And the smile widened, stretching the pale lips across the discolored teeth in an expression of profound self-satisfaction, blended with the most unforgiving hatred and contempt for the human doll. The hideous disease of which he was dying had touched his brain. His son stood beside him, tall, white and delicate as an angel in a primitive picture; and though there was deep distress in his violet eyes as he looked at his father's face, he felt the shadow of that sickening smile stealing across his own lips and parting them and drawing them against his will. And it was like a bad dream, for he tried not to smile and smiled the more. Beside him, strangely like him in her wan, angelic beauty, with the same shadowy golden hair, the same sad violet eyes, the same luminously pale face, Evelyn Warburton rested one hand upon his arm. And as she looked into her uncle's eyes, and could not turn her own away, she knew that the deathly smile was hovering on her own red lips, drawing them tightly across her little teeth, while two bright tears ran down her cheeks to her mouth, and dropped from the upper to the lower lip while she smiled and the smile was like the shadow of death and the seal of damnation upon her pure, young face.
"Of course," said Sir Hugh very slowly, and still looking out at the trees, "if you have made up your mind to be married, I cannot hinder you, and I don't suppose you attach the smallest importance to my consent"
"Father!" exclaimed Gabriel reproachfully.
"No; I do not deceive myself," continued the old man, smiling terribly. "You will marry when I am dead, though there is a very good reason why you had better not why you had better not," he repeated very emphatically, and he slowly turned his toad eyes upon the lovers.
"What reason?" asked Evelyn in a frightened voice.
"Never mind the reason, my dear. You will marry just as if it did not exist." There was a long pause. "Two gone," he said, his voice lowering strangely, "and two more will be four, all together, for ever and ever, burning, burning, burning bright."
At the last words, his head sank slowly back, and the little glare of the toad eyes disappeared under the swollen lids; and the lurid cloud passed from the westering sun, so that the earth was green again and the light pure. Sir Hugh had fallen asleep, as he often did in his last illness, even while speaking.
Gabriel Ockram drew Evelyn away, and from the study they went out into the dim hall, softly closing the door behind them, and each audibly drew breath, as though some sudden danger had been passed. They laid their hands each in the other's, and their strangely-like eyes met in a long look, in which love and perfect understanding were darkened by the secret terror of an unknown thing. Their pale faces reflected each other's fear.
"It is his secret," said Evelyn at last. "He will never tell us what it is."
"If he dies with it," answered Gabriel, "let it be on his own head!"
"On his head!" echoed the dim hall. It was a strange echo, and some were frightened by it, for they said that if it were a real echo it should repeat everything and not give back a phrase here and there, now speaking, now silent. But Nurse Macdonald said that the great hall would never echo a prayer when an Ockram was to die, though it would give back curses ten for one.
"On his head!" it repeated quite softly, and Evelyn started and looked round.
"It is only the echo," said Gabriel, leading her away.
They went out into the late afternoon light, and sat upon a stone seat behind the chapel, which was built across the end of the east wing. It was very still, not a breath stirred, and there was no sound near them. Only far off in the park a song-bird was whistling the high prelude to the evening chorus.
"It is very lonely here," said Evelyn, taking Gabriel's hand nervously, and speaking as if she dreaded to disturb the silence. "If it were dark, I should be afraid."
"Of what? Of me?" Gabriel's sad eyes turned to her.
"Oh no! How could I be afraid of you? But of the old Ockrams they say they are just under our feet here in the north vault outside the chapel, all in their shrouds, with no coffins, as they used to bury them."
"As they always will, as they will bury my father, and me. They say an Ockram will not lie in a coffin."
"But it cannot be true, these are fairy tales, ghost stories!" Evelyn nestled nearer to her companion, grasping his hand more tightly, and the sun began to go down.
"Of course, But there is the story of old Sir Vernon, who was beheaded for treason under James II. The family brought his body back from the scaffold in an iron coffin with heavy locks, and they put it in the north vault. But ever afterwards, whenever the vault was opened to bury another of the family, they found the coffin wide open, and the body standing upright against the wall, and the head rolled away in a corner, smiling at it."
"As Uncle Hugh smiles?" Evelyn shivered.
"Yes, I suppose so," answered Gabriel, thought fully. "Of course, I never saw it, and the vault has not been opened for thirty years, none of us have died since then."
"And if, if Uncle Hugh dies, shall you" Evelyn stopped, and her beautiful thin face was quite white.
"Yes. I shall see him laid there too, with his secret, whatever it is." Gabriel sighed and pressed the girl's little hand.
"I do not like to think of it," she said unsteadily. "O Gabriel, what can the secret be? He said we had better not marry, not that he forbade it, but he said it so strangely, and he smiled, ugh!" Her small white teeth chattered with fear, and she looked over her shoulder while drawing still closer to Gabriel. "And, somehow, I felt it in my own face"
"So, did I," answered Gabriel in a low, nervous voice. "Nurse Macdonald" He stopped abruptly.
"What? What did she say?"
"Oh, nothing. She has told me things, they would frighten you, dear. Come, it is growing chilly." He rose, but Evelyn held his hand in both of hers, still sitting and looking up into his face.
"But we shall be married, just the same, Gabriel! Say that we shall!"
"Of course, darling, of course. But while my father is so very ill, it is impossible"
"O Gabriel, Gabriel, dear! I wish we were married now!" cried Evelyn in sudden distress. "I know that something will prevent it and keep us apart."
"Nothing shall!"
"Nothing human," said Gabriel Ockram, as she drew him down to her.
And their faces, that were so strangely alike, met and touched and Gabriel knew that the kiss had a marvellous savour of evil, but on Evelyn's lips it was like the cool breath of a sweet and mortal fear. And neither of them understood, for they were innocent and young. Yet she drew him to her by her lightest touch, as a sensitive plant shivers and waves its thin leaves, and bends and closes softly upon what it wants; and he let himself be drawn to her willingly, as he would if her touch had been deadly and poisonous; for she strangely loved that half voluptuous breath of fear, and he passionately desired the nameless evil something that lurked in her maiden lips.
"It is as if we loved in a strange dream, "she said.
"I fear the waking," he murmured.
"We shall not wake, dear, when the dream is over it will have already turned into death, so softly that we shall not know it. But until then"
She paused, and her eyes sought his, and their faces slowly came nearer. It was as if they had thoughts in their red lips that foresaw and foreknew the deep kiss of each other.
"Until then" she said again, very low, and her mouth was nearer to his.
"Dream, till then," murmured his breath.
Nurse Macdonald was a hundred years old. She used to sleep sitting all bent together in a great old leathern arm-chair with wings, her feet in a bag footstool lined with sheepskin, and many warm blankets wrapped about her, even in summer. Beside her a little lamp always burned at night by an old silver cup, in which there was something to drink.
Her face was very wrinkled, but the wrinkles were so small and fine and near together that they made shadows instead of lines. Two thin locks of hair, that was turning from white to a smoky yellow again, were drawn over her temples from under her starched white cap. Every now and then she woke, and her eyelids were drawn up in tiny folds like little pink silk curtains, and her queer blue eyes looked straight before her through doors and walls and worlds to a far place beyond. Then she slept again, and her hands lay one upon the other on the edge of the blanket; the thumbs had grown longer than the fingers with age, and the joints shone in the low lamplight like polished crab-apples.
It was nearly one o'clock in the night, and the summer breeze was blowing the ivy branch against the panes of the window with a hushing caress. In the small room, beyond, with the door ajar, the girl-maid who took care of Nurse Macdonald was fast asleep. All was very quiet. The old woman breathed regularly, and her indrawn lips trembled each time as the breath went out, and her eyes were shut.
But outside the closed window there was a face, and violet eyes were looking steadily at the ancient sleeper, for it was like the face of Evelyn Warburton, though there were eighty feet from the sill of the window to the foot of the tower. Yet the cheeks were thinner than Evelyn's, and as white as a gleam, and the eyes stared, and the lips were not red with life; they were dead, and painted with new blood.
Slowly Nurse Macdonald's wrinkled eyelids folded themselves back, and she looked straight at the face at the window while one might count ten.
"Is it time?" she asked in her little old, faraway voice.
While she looked the face at the window changed, for the eyes opened wider and wider till the white glare dall-round the bright violet, and the bloody lips opened over gleaming teeth, and stretched and widened and stretched again, and the shadowy golden hair rose and streamed against the window in the night breeze. And in answer to Nurse Macdonald's question came the sound that freezes the living flesh.
That low-moaning voice that rises suddenly, like the scream of storm, from a moan to a wail, from a wail to a howl, from a howl to the fear-shriek of the tortured dead, he who has heard knows, and he can bear witness that the cry of the banshee is an evil cry to hear alone in the deep night. When it was over and the face was gone, Nurse Macdonald shook a little in her great chair, and still she looked at the black square of the window, but there was nothing more there, nothing but the night, and the whispering ivy branch. She turned her head to the door that was ajar, and there stood the girl in her white gown, her teeth chattering with fright.
"It is time, child," said Nurse Macdonald. "I must go to him, for it is the end."
She rose slowly, leaning her withered hands upon the arms of the chair, and the girl brought her a woollen gown and a great mantle, and her crutch-stick, and made her ready. But very often the girl looked at the window and was unjointed with fear, and often Nurse Macdonald shook her head and said words which the maid could not understand.
"It was like the face of Miss Evelyn," said the girl at last, trembling.
But the ancient woman looked up sharply and angrily, and her queer blue eyes glared. She held herself by the arm of the great chair with her left hand, and lifted up her crutch-stick to strike the maid with all her might. But she did not.
"You are a good girl," she said, "but you are a fool. Pray for wit, child, pray for wit-or else find service in another house than Ockram Hall. Bring the lamp and help me under my left arm."
The crutch-stick clacked on the wooden floor, and the low heels of the woman's slippers clappered after her in slow triplets, as Nurse Macdonald got toward the door. And down the stairs each step she took was a labour in itself, and by the clacking noise the waking servants knew that she was coming, very long before they saw her.
No one was sleeping now, and there were lights, and whisperings, and pale faces in the corridors near Sir Hugh's bedroom, and now someone went in, and now someone came out, but everyone made way for Nurse Macdonald, who had nursed Sir Hugh's father more than eighty years ago.
The light was soft and clear in the room. There stood Gabriel Ockram by his father's bedside, and there knelt Evelyn Warburton, her hair lying like a golden shadow down her shoulders, and her hands clasped nervously together. And opposite Gabriel, a nurse was trying to make Sir Hugh drink. But he would not, and though his lips were parted, his teeth were set. He was very, very thin and yellow now, and his eyes caught the light sideways and were as yellow coals.
"Do not torment him," said Nurse Macdonald to the woman who held the cup. "Let me speak to him, for his hour is come."
"Let her speak to him," said Gabriel in a dull voice.
So, the ancient woman leaned to the pillow and laid the feather-weight of her withered hand, that was like a brown moth, upon Sir Hugh's yellow fingers, and she spoke to him earnestly, while only Gabriel and Evelyn were left in the room to hear.
"Hugh Ockram," she said, "this is the end of your life; and as I saw you born, and saw your father born before you, I am come to see you die. Hugh Ockram, will you tell me the truth?"
The dying man recognized the little faraway voice he had known all his life, and he very slowly turned his yellow face to Nurse Macdonald; but he said nothing. Then she spoke again.
"Hugh Ockram, you will never see the daylight again. Will you tell the truth?"
His toad-like eyes were not yet dull. They fastened themselves on her face.
"What do you want of me?" he asked, and each word struck hollow upon the last. "I have no secrets. I have lived a good life."
Nurse Macdonald laughed a tiny, cracked laugh, that made her old head bob and tremble a little, as if her neck were on a steel spring. But Sir Hugh's eyes grew red, and his pale lips began to twist.
"Let me die in peace," he said slowly.
But Nurse Macdonald shook her head, and her brown, moth-like hand left his and fluttered to his forehead.
"By the mother that bore you and died of grief for the sins you did, tell me the truth!"
Sir Hugh's lips tightened on his discolored teeth.
"Not on earth," he answered slowly.
"By the wife who bore your son and died heartbroken, tell me the truth!"
"Neither to you in life, nor to her in eternal death."
His lips writhed, as if the words were coals between them, and a great drop of sweat rolled across the parchment of his forehead. Gabriel Ockram bit his hand as he watched his father die. But Nurse Macdonald spoke a third time.
"By the woman whom you betrayed, and who waits for you this night, Hugh Ockram, tell me the truth!"
"It is too late. Let me die in peace."
The writhing lips began to smile across the set yellow teeth, and the toad eyes glowed like evil jewels in his head.
"There is time," said the ancient woman. "Tell me the name of Evelyn Warburton's father. Then I will let you die in peace."
Evelyn started back, kneeling as she was, and stared at Nurse Macdonald, and then at her uncle.
"The name of Evelyn's father?" he repeated slowly, while the awful smile spread upon his dying face.
The light was growing strangely dim in the great room. As Evelyn looked, Nurse Macdonald's crooked shadow on the wall grew gigantic. Sir Hugh's breath came thick, rattling in his throat, as death crept in like a snake and choked it back. Evelyn prayed aloud, high and clear.
Then something rapped at the window, and she felt her hair rise upon her head in a cool breeze, as she looked around in spite of herself. And when she saw her own white face looking in at the window, and her own eyes staring at her through the glass, wide and fearful, and her own hair streaming against the pane, and her own lips dashed with blood, she rose slowly from the floor and stood rigid for one moment, till she screamed once and fell straight back into Gabriel's arms. But the shriek that answered hers was the fear-shriek of the tormented corpse, out of which the soul cannot pass for shame of deadly sins, though the devils fight in it with corruption, each for their due share.
Sir Hugh Ockram sat upright in his deathbed, and saw and cried aloud:
"Evelyn!" His harsh voice broke and rattled in his chest as he sank down. But still Nurse Macdonald tortured him, for there was a little life left in him still.
"You have seen the mother as she waits for you, Hugh Ockram. Who was this girl Evelyn's father? What was his name?"
For the last time, the dreadful smile came upon the twisted lips, very slowly, very surely now, and the toad eyes glared red, and the parchment face glowed a little in the flickering light. For the last time words came.
"They know it in hell."
Then the glowing eyes went out quickly, the yellow face turned waxen pale, and a great shiver ran through the thin body as Hugh Ockram died.
But in death he still smiled, for he knew his secret and kept it still, on the other side, and he would take it with him, to lie with him forever in the north vault of the chapel where the Ockrams lie uncoffined in their shrouds, all but one. Though he was dead, he smiled, for he had kept his treasure of evil truth to the end, and there was none left to tell the name he had spoken, but there was all the evil he had not undone left to bear fruit.
As they watched, Nurse Macdonald and Gabriel, who held Evelyn still unconscious in his arms while he looked at the father, they felt the dead smile crawling along their own lips, the ancient crone and the youth with the angel's face. Then they shivered a little, and both looked at Evelyn as she lay with her head on his shoulder, and, though she was very beautiful, the same sickening smile was twisting her young mouth too, and it was like the foreshadowing of a great evil which they could not understand.
But by and by they carried Evelyn out, and she opened her eyes and the smile was gone. From far away in the great house the sound of weeping and crooning came up the stairs and echoed along the dismal corridors, for the women had begun to mourn the dead master, after the Irish fashion, and the hall had echoes of its own all that night, like the far-off wail of the banshee among forest trees.
When the time was come, they took Sir Hugh in his winding-sheet on a trestle bier, and bore him to the chapel and through the iron door and down the long descent to the north vault, with tapers, to lay him by his father. And two men went in first to prepare the place, and came back staggering like drunken men, and white, leaving their lights behind them.
But Gabriel Ockram was not afraid, for he knew. And he went in alone and saw that the body of Sir Vernon Ockram was leaning upright against the stone wall, and that its head lay on the ground near by with the face turned up, and the dried leathern lips smiled horribly at the dried-up corpse, while the iron coffin, lined with black velvet, stood open on the floor.
Then Gabriel took the thing in his hands, for it was very light, being quite dried by the air of the vault, and those who peeped in from the door saw him lay it in the coffin again, and it rustled a little, like a bundle of reeds, and sounded hollow as it touched the sides and the bottom. He also placed the head upon the shoulders and shut down the lid, which fell to with a rusty spring that snapped.
After that they laid Sir Hugh beside his father, with the trestle bier on which they had brought him, and they went back to the chapel.
But when they saw one another's faces, master and men, they were all smiling with the dead smile of the corpse they had left in the vault, so that they could not bear to look at one another until it had faded away.
Gabriel Ockram became Sir Gabriel, inheriting the baronetcy with the half-ruined fortune left by his father, and still Evelyn Warburton lived at Ockram Hall, in the south room that had been hers ever since she could remember anything. She could not go away, for there were no relatives to whom she could have gone, and, besides, there seemed to be no reason why she should not stay. The world would never trouble itself to care what the Ockrams did on their Irish estates, and it was long since the Ockrams had asked anything of the world.
So Sir Gabriel took his father's place at the dark old table in the dining-room, and Evelyn sat opposite to him, until such time as their mourning should be over, and they might be married at last. And meanwhile their lives went on as before, since Sir Hugh had been a hopeless invalid during the last year of his life, and they had seen him but once a day for a little while, spending most of their time together in a strangely perfect companionship.
But though the late summer saddened into autumn, and autumn darkened into winter, and storm followed storm, and rain poured on rain through the short days and the long nights, yet Ockram Hall seemed less gloomy since Sir Hugh had been laid in the north vault beside his father. And at Christmastide Evelyn decked the great hall with holly and green boughs, and huge fires blazed on every hearth. Then the tenants were all bidden to a New Year's dinner, and they ate and drank well, while Sir Gabriel sat at the head of the table. Evelyn came in when the port wine was brought, and the most respected of the tenants made a speech to propose her health.
It was long, he said, since there had been a Lady Ockram. Sir Gabriel shaded his eyes with his hand and looked down at the table, but a faint colour came into Evelyn's transparent cheeks. But, said the grey-haired farmer, it was longer still since there had been a Lady Ockram so fair as the next was to be, and he gave the health of Evelyn Warburton.
Then the tenants all stood up and shouted for her, and Sir Gabriel stood up likewise, beside Evelyn. And when the men gave the last and loudest cheer of all there was a voice not theirs, above them all, higher, fiercer, louder, a scream not earthly, shrieking for the bride of Ockram Hall. And the holly and the green boughs over the great chimney-piece shook and slowly waved as if a cool breeze were blowing over them. But the men turned very pale, and many of them set down their glasses, but others let them fall upon the floor for fear. And looking into one another's faces, they were all smiling strangely, a dead smile, like dead Sir Hugh's. One cried out words in Irish, and the fear of death was suddenly upon them all, so that they fled in panic, falling over one another like wild beasts in the burning forest, when the thick smoke runs along before the flame; and the tables were over-set, and drinking glasses and bottles were broken in heaps, and the dark red wine crawled like blood upon the polished floor.
Sir Gabriel and Evelyn stood alone at the head of the table before the wreck of the feast, not daring to turn to see each other, for each knew that the other smiled. But his right arm held her and his left hand clasped her right as they stared before them; and but for the shadows of her hair one might not have told their two faces apart. They listened long, but the cry came not again, and the dead smile faded from their lips, while each remembered that Sir Hugh Ockram lay in the north vault, smiling in his winding-sheet, in the dark, because he had died with his secret.
So, ended the tenants 'New Year's dinner. But from that time on Sir Gabriel grew more and more silent, and his face grew even paler and thinner than before. Often, without warning and without words, he would rise from his seat, as if something moved him against his will, and he would go out into the rain or the sunshine to the north side of the chapel, and sit on the stone bench, staring at the ground as if he could see through it, and through the vault below, and through the white winding-sheet in the dark, to the dead smile that would not die.
Always when he went out in that way Evelyn came out presently and sat beside him. Once, too, as in summer, their beautiful faces came suddenly near, and their lids drooped, and their red lips were almost joined together. But as their eyes met, they grew wide and wild, so that the white showed in a ring all-round the deep violet, and their teeth chattered, and their hands were like hands of corpses, each in the other's, for the terror of what was under their feet, and of what they knew but could not see.
Once, also, Evelyn found Sir Gabriel in the chapel alone, standing before the iron door that led down to the place of death, and in his hand, there was the key to the door; but he had not put it into the lock. Evelyn drew him away, shivering, for she had also been driven in waking dreams to see that terrible thing again, and to find out whether it had changed since it had lain there.
"I'm going mad," said Sir Gabriel, covering his eyes with his hand as he went with her. "I see it in my sleep, I see it when I am awake, it draws me to it, day and night, and unless I see it I shall die!"
"I know," answered Evelyn, "I know. It is as if threads were spun from it, like a spider's, drawing us down to it." She was silent for a moment, and then she started violently and grasped his arm with a man's strength, and almost screamed the words she spoke. "But we must not go there!" she cried. "We must not go!"
Sir Gabriel's eyes were half shut, and he was not moved by the agony of her face.
"I shall die, unless I see it again," he said, in a quiet voice not like his own. And all that day and that evening he scarcely spoke, thinking of it, always thinking, while Evelyn Warburton quivered from head to foot with a terror she had never known.
She went alone, on a grey winter's morning, to Nurse Macdonald's room in the tower, and sat down beside the great leathern easy-chair, laying her thin white hand upon the withered fingers.
"Nurse," she said, "what was it that Uncle Hugh should have told you, that night before he died? It must have been an awful secret and yet, though you asked him, I feel somehow that you know it, and that you know why he used to smile so dreadfully."
The old woman's head moved slowly from side to side.
"I only guess, I shall never know," she answered slowly in her cracked little voice.
"But what do you guess? Who am I? Why did you ask who my father was? You know I am Colonel Warburton's daughter, and my mother was Lady Ockram's sister, so that Gabriel and I are cousins. My father was killed in Afghanistan. What secret can there be?"
"I do not know. I can only guess."
"Guess what?" asked Evelyn imploringly, and pressing the soft withered hands, as she leaned forward. But Nurse Macdonald's wrinkled lids dropped suddenly over her queer blue eyes, and her lips shook a little with her breath, as if she were asleep.
Evelyn waited. By the fire the Irish maid was knitting fast, and the needles clicked like three or four clocks ticking against each other. And the real clock on the wall solemnly ticked alone, checking off the seconds of the woman who was a hundred years old, and had not many days left. Outside the ivy branch beat the window in the wintry blast, as it had beaten against the glass a hundred years ago.
Then as Evelyn sat there she felt again the waking of a horrible desire, the sickening wish to go down, down to the thing in the north vault, and to open the winding-sheet, and see whether it had changed; and she held Nurse Macdonald's hands as if to keep herself in her place and fight against the appalling attraction of the evil dead.
But the old cat that kept Nurse Macdonald's feet warm, lying always on the bag footstool, got up and stretched itself, and looked up into Evelyn's eyes, while its back arched, and its tail thickened and bristled, and its ugly pink lips drew back in a devilish grin, showing its sharp teeth. Evelyn stared at it, half fascinated by its ugliness. Then the creature suddenly put out one paw with all its claws spread, and spat at the girl, and all at once the grinning cat was like the smiling corpse far down below, so that Evelyn shivered down to her small feet, and covered her face with her free hand, lest Nurse Macdonald should wake and see the dead smile there, for she could feel it.
The old woman had already opened her eyes again, and she touched her cat with the end of her crutch-stick, whereupon its back went down and its tail shrunk, and it sidled back to its place on the bag footstool. But its yellow eyes looked up sideways at Evelyn, between the slits of its lids.
"What is it that you guess, nurse?" asked the young girl again.
"A bad thing, a wicked thing. But I dare not tell you, lest it might not be true, and the very thought should blast your life. For if I guess right, he meant that you should not know, and that you two should marry, and pay for his old sin with your souls."
"He used to tell us that we ought not to marry"
"Yes, he told you that, perhaps, but it was as if a man put poisoned meat before a starving beast, and said 'do not eat, 'but never raised his hand to take the meat away. And if he told you that you should not marry, it was because he hoped you would; for of all men living or dead, Hugh Ockram was the falsest man that ever told a cowardly lie, and the cruelest that ever hurt a weak woman, and the worst that ever loved a sin."
"But Gabriel and I love each other," said Evelyn very sadly.
Nurse Macdonald's old eyes looked far away, at sights seen long ago, and that rose in the grey winter air amid the mists of an ancient youth.
"If you love, you can die together," she said, very slowly. "Why should you live, if it is true? I am a hundred years old. What has life given me? The beginning is fire; the end is a heap of ashes; and between the end and the beginning lies all the pain of the world. Let me sleep, since I cannot die."
Then the old woman's eyes closed again, and her head sank a little lower upon her breast.
So, Evelyn went away and left her asleep, with the cat asleep on the bag footstool; and the young girl tried to forget Nurse Macdonald's words, but she could not, for she heard them over and over again in the wind, and behind her on the stairs. And as she grew sick with fear of the frightful unknown evil to which her soul was bound, she felt a bodily something pressing her, and pushing her, and forcing her on, and from the other side she felt the threads that drew her mysteriously: and when she shut her eyes, she saw in the chapel behind the altar, the low iron door through which she must pass to go to the thing.
And as she lay awake at night, she drew the sheet over her face, lest she should see shadows on the wall beckoning to her; and the sound of her own warm breath made whisperings in her ears, while she held the mattress with her hands, to keep from getting up and going to the chapel. It would have been easier if there had not been a way thither through the library, by a door which was never locked. It would be fearfully easy to take her candle and go softly through the sleeping house. And the key of the vault lay under the altar behind a stone that turned. She knew the little secret. She could go alone and see.
But when she thought of it, she felt her hair rise on her head, and first she shivered so that the bed shook, and then the horror went through her in a cold thrill that was agony again, like myriads of icy needles boring into her nerves.
The old clock in Nurse Macdonald's tower struck midnight. From her room she could hear the creaking chains and weights in their box in the corner of the staircase, and overhead the jarring of the rusty lever that lifted the hammer. She had heard it all her life. It struck eleven strokes clearly, and then came the twelfth, with a dull half stroke, as though the hammer were too weary to go on, and had fallen asleep against the bell.
The old cat got up from the bag footstool and stretched itself, and Nurse Macdonald opened her ancient eyes and looked slowly round the room by the dim light of the night lamp. She touched the cat with her crutch-stick, and it lay down upon her feet. She drank a few drops from her cup and went to sleep again.
But downstairs Sir Gabriel sat straight up as the clock struck, for he had dreamed a fearful dream of horror, and his heart stood still, till he awoke at its stopping, and it beat again furiously with his breath, like a wild thing set free. No Ockram had ever known fear waking, but sometimes it came to Sir Gabriel in his sleep.
He pressed his hands to his temples as he sat up in bed, and his hands were icy cold, but his head was hot. The dream faded far, and in its place, there came the master thought that racked his life; with the thought also came the sick twisting of his lips in the dark that would have been a smile. Far off, Evelyn Warburton dreamed that the dead smile was on her mouth, and awoke, starting with a little moan, her face in her hands, shivering.
But Sir Gabriel struck a light and got up and began to walk up and down his great room. It was midnight, and he had barely slept an hour, and in the north of Ireland the winter nights are long.
"I shall go mad," he said to himself, holding his forehead. He knew that it was true. For weeks and months, the possession of the thing had grown upon him like a disease, till he could think of nothing without thinking first of that. And now all at once it outgrew his strength, and he knew that he must be its instrument or lose his mind, that he must do the deed he hated and feared, if he could fear anything, or that something would snap in his brain and divide him from life while he was yet alive. He took the candlestick in his hand, the old-fashioned heavy candlestick that had always been used by the head of the house. He did not think of dressing, but went as he was, in his silk night clothes and his slippers, and he opened the door. Everything was very still in the great old house. He shut the door behind him and walked noiselessly on the carpet through the long corridor. A cool breeze blew over his shoulder and blew the flame of his candle straight out from him. Instinctively he stopped and looked round, but all was still, and the upright flame burned steadily. He walked on, and instantly a strong draught was behind him, almost extinguishing the light. It seemed to blow him on his way, ceasing whenever he turned, coming again when he went on invisible, icy.
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text:
United States
|National and Worldwide
|June 19, 1926
|The more you know
Launch date
|Radio: November 15, 1926
Television: April 30, 1939
Picture format
(downscaled to
The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an
Founded in 1926 by the
In 1986, control of NBC passed back to
In 2003, French media company
NBC has thirteen
This section needs additional citations for
During a period of early broadcast business consolidation, radio manufacturer
WEAF acted as a laboratory for AT&T's manufacturing and supply outlet
New parent RCA saw an advantage in sharing programming, and after getting a license for radio station
In 1925, AT&T decided that WEAF and its embryonic network were incompatible with the company's primary goal of providing a telephone service. AT&T offered to sell the station to RCA in a deal that included the right to lease AT&T's phone lines for network transmission.[6]
RCA spent $1 million to purchase WEAF and Washington sister station WCAP, shut down the latter station, and merged its facilities with surviving station WRC; in late 1926, it subsequently announced the creation of a new division known as the National Broadcasting Company.[7] The division's ownership was split among RCA (a majority partner at 50%), its founding corporate parent
WEAF and WJZ, the flagships of the two earlier networks, were operated side-by-side for about a year as part of the new NBC. On January 1, 1927, NBC formally divided their respective marketing strategies: the "
On April 5, 1927, NBC expanded to the West Coast with the launch of the NBC Orange Network, also known as the Pacific Coast Network. This was followed by the debut of the NBC Gold Network, also known as the Pacific Gold Network, on October 18, 1931. The Orange Network carried Red Network programming, and the Gold Network carried programming from the Blue Network. Initially, the Orange Network recreated Eastern Red Network programming for West Coast stations at
In the 1930s, NBC also developed a network for
In 1927, NBC moved its operations to 711 Fifth Avenue in
In 1930, General Electric was charged with
The iconic three-note
A variant sequence with an additional note, G-E'-C'-G, known as "the fourth chime", was used during significant events of extreme urgency (including during World War II, especially in the wake of the December 1941
In 1934, the
After Mutual's appeals were rejected by the FCC, RCA filed its own appeal to overturn the divestiture order. However, in 1941, the company decided to sell NBC Blue in the event its appeal was denied. The Blue Network was formally named NBC Blue Network, Inc. and NBC Red became NBC Red Network, Inc. for corporate purposes. Both networks formally divorced their operations on January 8, 1942,[13] with the Blue Network being referred to on-air as either "Blue" or "Blue Network", and Blue Network Company, Inc. serving as its official corporate name. NBC Red, meanwhile, became known on-air as simply "NBC".[14] Investment firm
After losing on final appeal before the
NBC became home to many of the most popular performers and programs on the air.
In the late 1940s, rival CBS gained ground by allowing radio stars to use their own production companies to produce programs, which became a profitable move for much of its talent. In the early years of radio, stars and programs commonly hopped between networks when their short-term contracts expired. During 1948 and 1949, beginning with the nation's top radio star, Jack Benny, many NBC performers – including Edgar Bergen and
In addition, NBC stars began migrating to television, including comedian
Aiming to keep classic radio alive as television matured, and to challenge CBS's Sunday night radio lineup, which featured much of the programs and talent that had moved to that network following the defection of Jack Benny to CBS, NBC launched
NBC's last major radio programming push, beginning on June 12, 1955, was
On June 18, 1975, NBC launched the NBC News and Information Service (NIS), which provided up to 55 minutes of news per hour around the clock to local stations that wanted to adopt an
The NBC Radio Network also pioneered personal advice call-in national
General Electric acquired RCA in 1986, and with it NBC, signaling the beginning of the end of NBC Radio. Three factors led to the radio division's demise: GE decided that radio did not fit its strategy, while the radio division had not been profitable for many years. In addition, FCC ownership rules at the time prevented companies acquiring broadcast properties from owning both a radio and television division. In the summer of 1987, GE sold NBC Radio's network operations to
GE's divestiture of NBC's entire radio division was the first cannon shot of what would play out in the national broadcast media, as each of the Big Three broadcast networks were soon acquired by other corporate entities. NBC was a particularly noteworthy case in that it was the first to be acquired – and was bought by a conglomerate outside the broadcast industry as GE otherwise primarily served as a manufacturing company. Prior to the GE acquisition, NBC operated its radio division partly out of tradition, and partly to meet its then-FCC-mandated requirement to distribute programming for the public good (the broadcast airwaves are owned by the public; as that broadcast spectrum is limited and only so many broadcast stations existed, this served as the basis for government regulation requiring broadcasters to provide certain content that meets the needs of the public). Syndicators such as Westwood One were not subject to such rules as they did not own any stations. GE's divestiture of NBC Radio – known as "America's First Network" – in many ways marked the "beginning of the end" of the old era of regulated broadcasting and the ushering in of the new, largely unregulated industry that is present today.
By the late 1990s, Westwood One was producing NBC Radio-branded newscasts on weekday mornings. These were discontinued in 1999 (along with Mutual branded newscasts), and the few remaining NBC Radio Network affiliates became affiliates of
On March 1, 2012,
For many years, NBC was closely identified with David Sarnoff, who used it as a vehicle to sell consumer electronics. RCA and Sarnoff had captured the spotlight by introducing all-electronic television to the public at the 1939–40
The following day (May 1), four models of RCA television sets went on sale to the general public in various department stores around New York City, which were promoted in a series of splashy newspaper ads.[20]
Reportedly, the first NBC Television "network" program was broadcast on January 12, 1940, when a play titled Meet The Wife was originated at the W2XBS studios at Rockefeller Center and rebroadcast by W2XB/W2XAF (now
Television's experimental period ended, as the FCC allowed full-fledged commercial television broadcasts to begin on July 1, 1941. NBC station W2XBS in New York City received the first commercial license, adopting the call letters WNBT. The first official, paid television advertisement broadcast by any U.S. station was for watch manufacturer
Prior to the first commercial television broadcasts and paid advertisements on WNBT, non-paid television advertising existed on an experimental basis dating back to 1930. NBC's earliest non-paid television commercials may have been those seen during the first
The NBC television network grew from its initial post-war lineup of four stations. The
The post-war 1940s and early 1950s brought success for NBC in the new medium. Television's first major star, Milton Berle, whose Texaco Star Theatre began in June 1948, drew the first large audiences to NBC Television. Under its innovative president, Sylvester "Pat" Weaver, the network launched Today and The Tonight Show, which would bookend the broadcast day for over 50 years, and which still lead their competitors. Weaver, who also launched the genre of periodic 90-minute network "spectaculars",
In 1951, NBC commissioned Italian-American composer
While rival
In 1955, NBC broadcast a live production in color of
In 1956, NBC started a subsidiary,
During a
In 1961, NBC approached Walt Disney about acquiring the rights to his
By 1963, much of NBC's
NBC contracted with
In 1967, NBC reached a deal with
The late 1960s brought big changes in the programming practices of the major television networks. As
The 1970s started strongly for NBC thanks to hits like
In 1974, under new president Herb Schlosser, the network tried to attract younger viewers with a series of costly movies,
In 1978, Schlosser was promoted to executive vice president at RCA,[31] and a desperate NBC lured
During this time, several longtime affiliates also defected from NBC in markets such as
After President
The press was merciless towards Silverman, but the two most savage attacks on his leadership came from within the network. The company that composed the promotional theme for NBC's "
Fred Silverman resigned as entertainment president in the summer of 1981.
In February 1982, NBC canceled
In 1984, the huge success of
In the fall of 1987, NBC conceived a syndication package for its owned-and-operated stations, under the brand "Prime Time Begins at 7:30", consisting of five sitcoms that each aired once a week, and were produced by various production companies contracted by NBC. The series included
The package was aimed at attracting viewers to NBC stations in the half-hour preceding prime time (8:00 p.m. in the
NBC aired the first of eight consecutive
In 1991, Tartikoff left his role as NBC's President of Entertainment to take an executive position at
One of Tartikoff's late acquisitions,
By the mid-1990s,
Littlefield left NBC in 1998 to pursue a career as a television and film producer,[42] with the network subsequently going through three entertainment presidents in three years. Littlefield was replaced as president of NBC Entertainment by
At the start of the 2000s, NBC's fortunes started to take a rapid turn for the worse. That year, NBC's longstanding ratings lead ended as CBS (which had languished in the ratings after losing the NFL) overtook it for first place. In 2001, CBS chose to move its hit reality series
On the other hand, NBC was stripped of the broadcast rights to two other major sports leagues: it lost Major League Baseball to
In October 2001, NBC acquired Spanish-language network
In 2003, French entertainment conglomerate
In 2004, NBC experienced a
In December 2005, NBC began its first week-long primetime game show event,
However, NBC did experience success with its summer schedule, despite its declining ratings during the main broadcast season.
Following the unexpected termination of Kevin Reilly, in 2007,
On December 3, 2009,
NBC's broadcast of the
On September 24, 2010, Jeff Zucker announced that he would step down as NBC Universal's CEO once the company's merger with Comcast was completed at the end of the year.[65][66] After the deal was finalized, Steve Burke was named CEO of NBCUniversal[67] and
The 2011–12 season was another tough season for NBC. On the upside, the network's broadcast of
In the fall of 2012, NBC greatly expanded its sitcom roster, with eight comedy series airing on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday nights. NBC bounced back to first place network in adults 18–49 that fall, boosted by the new season of The Voice, the initial success of freshman drama
In 2013, NBC Sports migrated its business and production operations (including

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Exclusion of Intra-Atrial Thrombus Diagnosis Using D-Dimer Assay Before Catheter Ablation of Atrial Fibrillation
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Author + information
- Received May 17, 2018
- Revision received August 20, 2018
- Accepted September 11, 2018
- Published online February 18, 2019.
Article Versions
- previous version (October 31, 2018 - 11:00).
- You are viewing the most recent version of this article.
Author Information
- Antoine Milhem, MDa,∗ (antoine.milhem{at}ch-larochelle.fr),
- Pierre Ingrand, MD, PhDb,
- Frédéric Tréguer, MDc,
- Olivier Cesari, MDd,
- Antoine Da Costa, MDe,
- Dominique Pavin, MDf,
- Philippe Rivat, MDg,
- Nicolas Badenco, MDh,
- Sélim Abbey, MDi,
- Noura Zannad, MDj,
- Pierre François Winum, MDk,
- Jacques Mansourati, MDl,
- Philippe Maury, MDm,
- Hugues Bader, MDn,
- Arnaud Savouré, MDo,
- Frédéric Sacher, MDp,
- Marius Andronache, MDq,
- Caroline Allix-Béguec, PhDa,
- Christian De Chillou, MD, PhDq,r,
- Frédéric Anselme, MD, PhDo,
- for the ATE Study Group
- aGroupe Hospitalier de la Rochelle Ré Aunis, La Rochelle, France
- bEpidemiology and Biostatistics, INSERM CIC 1402 Université de Poitiers, CHU Poitiers, Poitiers, France
- cClinique St-Joseph, Trélazé, France
- dClinique Saint Gatien, Tours, France
- eCHU Saint-Etienne, Saint-Etienne, France
- fCHU Rennes, Rennes, France
- gPolyclinique Vauban, Valenciennes, France
- hAPHP, Hôpital Pitié Salpêtrière, Paris, France
- iNouvelles Cliniques Nantaises, Groupe Confluent, Nantes, France
- jCHR Metz-Thionville, Metz, France
- kCHU Nîmes, Nîmes, France
- lCHU Brest, Brest, France
- mCHU Toulouse, Toulouse, France
- nCH Pau, Pau, France
- oCHU Rouen, Rouen, France
- pCHU Bordeaux, Bordeaux, France
- qCHU Nancy, Vandœuvre lès-Nancy, France
- rINSERM-IADI U1254, Vandœuvre lès-Nancy, France
- ↵∗Address for correspondence:
Dr. Antoine Milhem, Service de Cardiologie, Groupe Hospitalier de la Rochelle Ré Aunis, rue du Dr. Schweitzer, 17019 La Rochelle, France.
Graphical abstract
Objectives This study hypothesized that the association of D-dimer blood level and several clinical items in a new risk score could predict the absence of atrial thrombus.
Background Symptomatic and drug resistant atrial fibrillation (AF) can be treated by catheter ablation. The procedure-related risk of thromboembolism is limited by the pre-operative use of transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) to detect atrial thrombi.
Methods Patients admitted for catheter ablation of AF (n = 2,494) were prospectively included in a multicenter study. TEE was systematically performed before the procedure to search for atrial thrombus (primary endpoint). D-dimer level, CHADS2 score, left ventricular ejection fraction, pre-operative anticoagulation regimen, and medical history were collected. A logistic regression model was used to identify factors associated with the presence of atrial thrombus (hypertension, history of stroke, heart failure, D-dimer level >270 ng/ml). These factors were aggregated in a new score called atrial thrombus exclusion (ATE).
Results The incidence of atrial thrombus was 1.92%. CHADS2 score and D-dimer level were significantly associated with atrial thrombus (p < 0.0001 and p < 0.0001, respectively). A zero CHADS2 score failed to exclude all atrial thrombi (5 false negatives; sensitivity: 89.58%, specificity: 52.2%). No false negative was found with a zero ATE score, which had a specificity of 37% and a higher sensitivity (100%) than the CHADS2 score (p < 0.031) to predict the absence of intra-atrial thrombi on TEE. Conversely, the positive predictive value was poor, and the ATE score should not be used to conclude a positive diagnosis of thrombus.
Conclusions An ATE score of zero was strongly associated with the absence of atrial thrombus. This new score could be useful to rule out a diagnosis of atrial thrombus before catheter ablation of AF.
This study was supported by a grant from Medtronic. Dr. de Chillou has been a consultant for Biosense Webster, Abbott, Boston Scientific, and Stereotaxis. All other authors have reported that they have no relationships relevant to the contents of this paper to disclose.
All authors attest they are in compliance with human studies committees and animal welfare regulations of the authors' institutions and Food and Drug Administration guidelines, including patient consent where appropriate. For more information, visit the JACC: Clinical Electrophysiology author instructions page.
- Received May 17, 2018.
- Revision received August 20, 2018.
- Accepted September 11, 2018.
- 2019 American College of Cardiology Foundation
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text:
WOODLAND HILLS, Calif. — WoodRocket has announced the release of its "Dragon Ball Z" porn parody, "Dragon Boob Z."
"Get ready to stroke your Piccolos and rub your Vegetas! One of the most popular Anime series of all time is about to get a sexy live-action version," says a studio spokesperson. "When a strange breast-shaped space ship attacks the Earth, it is up to Gokooze, Vageata, Prickolo, and Ballma to take on the horny pink alien, Vagin Buu."
Featuring alien-on-alien sex action, "Dragon Boob Z" premieres today on WoodRocket and Pornhub for free, along with a very special DBZXXX bonus sex scene, "Bulma Strokes Her Prickolo," exclusively on Pornhub Premium.
"Dragon Boob Z" features Brenna Sparks, Missy Martinez, Daisy Ducati, Casey Kisses, and AJ. The story was co-written by Vuko ("Dick and Morty") and Brandon Graham ("John Wank"), co-directed by April O'Neil ("Fap To The Future") and Vuko, and produced by Seth's Beard ("Ten Inch Mutant Ninja Turtles") and Lee Roy Myers ("Strokemon").
For more information, click here.


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Summer Bucket List
Tuesday is the first official day of summer and it's finally matching up to the forecast. We had the rainiest week here and the kids acted like they were in jail - Winnie had a handful of tears because the "peene" (trampoline) was too wet to jump, and Bellamy decided that she'd take up scissors out of boredom. Thankfully her hair survived, however her middle finger wasn't as lucky. #howconvenient
Our summer plans aren't too aggressive over here, considering we're adding a new member to the family in a matter of weeks - which seems like enough excitement to last the entire YEAR. However, we do have a few things on the list, so I'd thought I'd share.
The kids and I discussed this list over breakfast, and a few honorable mentions that didn't make the list: visit the toy store, target, and the party store (#kidsofthesuburbs) and of course, the go to the pumpkin patch - find yourself a son who can speak your love language ;)
All of these seem fairly attainable, and other than the above, most of our summer will be spent outside, in swimsuits, playing from sun up to sun down (with a hearty dose of naps, of course!)
What's on your Summer Bucket List?


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WATCH: Teacher threatens student on camera
Posted: Nov 7, 2017 6:14 PM EST
ROCKFORDALE, Ga. – A video is going viral of a teacher threatening a student in class.
Paul Hagan, a physics teacher at Rockdale Career Academy, was caught on camera ranting to a black student.
You can hear Hagan telling the student, "Don't smile at me, man. That's how people like you get shot. I got a bet by the time you're 21 somebody's gonna put a bullet right through your head. Okay? And it might be me the one who does it."
Now the kid's mom wants the teacher to be fired.
She started a petition and filed a police report to press charges.
The school is now investigating.
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Byrnes High coach Chris Miller has been named an assistant coach for this year's North-South All-Star football game. It is his first all-star game in football.
Byrnes coach Chris Miller has been selected as an assistant coach for this year's South Carolina Automobile Dealers Association North-South All-Star Football Game.
The game will take place on Dec. 10 at Doug Shaw Memorial Stadium in Myrtle Beach.
It is the first all-star football game that Miller has coached in. He was selected as an all-star wrestling coach during his tenure at Broome.
"Anytime you get something from your peers it's an honor," Miller said. "I feel without this program (at Byrnes) and my coaches it wouldn't have happened. I credit them for this."
Miller led the Rebels to a 12-3 record and the 4A Division I state championship this past season. It was the 10th title in school history.
He said participating as a coach in the North-South game will be a fun experience.
"I think it will be a great time. I always go anyway to watch it," Miller said. "It's a week after the state championship, so my goal will be to be there and then go to the beach."
Blackville Hilda coach David Berry will be the North head coach. His other assistants include Andy Hallman (Wade Hampton), Paul Sutherland (Pendleton), Mike Biddix (Northwestern) and Justin Gentry (Chapin).
Jeff Cruz (Cane Bay) will coach the South squad.


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I had felt the Irish marriage equality campaign, while successful and well meaning, did tend to make queer people very palatable for the straighter masses.
In a move to counteract such visibility and the new wave of commercial queer representation, I created this campaign to shed light on what makes the LGBTQ+ community unique and to celebrate difference and variety as opposed to the notion that "we are just like everyone else".
Using contemporary typefaces merged with a grungy black and white photographic aesthetic, I hoped to bridge the fighting spirit of queer people with modern design sensibility.
The #rethink logo is a nod to the iconic Silence = Death AIDS awareness campaign and the many queer people who fought for us to be able to live as openly as we can today.


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Daily Harvest is a smoothie subscription service. You choose your smoothies and they're delivered right to your doorstep, ready to dump in a blender and enjoy. You choose from 6 or 12 smoothies weekly, or 24 smoothies monthly, with the option to skip at any time. No commitments. The smoothies are developed by nutritionists, with ORGANIC ingredients that are seriously amazing. At first, I was like, "how do they stay frozen en route to my doorstep?" The answer is dry ice. So you simply transfer them from the box to the freezer and dispose of the box quickly before your baby touches it.
These smoothies are so good AND you can use the code letterstoever to get 3 free smoothies with your first order!
Warning: if you let your baby hold the straw she will pull it out and throw smoothie everywhere.


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My Favorite Fall Memory
Fall has always been my favorite season and a big reason for that is how I grew up. I was raised in Brooklyn and spent so much of the season outdoors with my grandparents.
We would go to parks, playgrounds, and were rarely indoors. My grandma and I always would walk hand-in-hand through the fallen leaves to hear the crisp, crunchy sounds of fall.
It's always my favorite time of the year because my grandparents have all passed, so the season is a nice reminder of them.
Down below are some pictures from my childhood that my mom found a few weeks ago!
Look at my fun little leg pop lol
My grandma and I on New Year's Eve
Yours truly as a baby with both of my grandparents
My grandma and I in NYC during the holidays
I wanted to share these few on my blog so you guys can get a glimpse of my life in a different way.
Hope you enjoyed! x


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It's a new year, and there's no time like the present to step outside your comfort zone. Take a solo day trip, cook a recipe from a foreign country, and ask for that well-deserved promotion. This is only the beginning, so watch the video above to discover how you can push yourself even further.
We partnered with Dunkin' Donuts at Home to help you step outside your comfort zone in 2017.


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By Kelly
Every time we ring in the new year, people everywhere make resolutions. Some say resolutions are made to be broken. They last for about a week and then are forgotten about as we go back to our regular lifestyle. This year, we have come up with 5 resolutions parents should make... and stick to! Pick one, or all 5 and have a happier new year... fair warning though, none of them are easy!
1. I will not feel guilty about my decisions. Mummy wars are a mean and nasty thing - they make it so that decisions we are already a little insecure about eat away at us. Mums can start feeling like the decision they've made is the absolute worst and she may begin to wonder exactly what was going through her head when she made that choice. Don't. We are all making mistakes as parents. What's important is that you made the best decision you could at the time you made it. If you get more information that makes you feel like it wasn't the best choice, change things up and move on! But don't waste time beating yourself up and feeling guilty about the decision you originally made.
2. I will not yell. Parenting can be frustrating, but it's important to help your children learn how to properly handle their emotions. Getting frustrated and raising your voice to yell only teaches them to yell back at you when they are frustrated or upset. This might be one of the hardest resolutions as it truly is difficult to control our emotions. For tips and support, check out The Orange Rhino Challenge.
3. I will enjoy every moment. Even the bad ones. Changing nappies stinks (literally!), but before you know it your little baby will be walking out your front door with the keys to the car and you'll miss the days they depended on you for everything. Parenting isn't always fun, but enjoy it because all too soon this stage (whatever stage it may be) will be over.
4. I will make memories. Do something fun. Spend time as a family, smile, laugh, and just enjoy life with your kids. Sometimes even a situation that wasn't quite what you had hoped for can turn into a fantastic memory. Make memories, be happy, and just enjoy your child's childhood.
5. I will not engage in drama. As we mentioned in our first resolution, Mummy wars are happening and they are MEAN and NASTY! The only way to make them stop is to stop engaging in and perpetuating them. Stay out of the drama and just be respectful of other parents. Even if you don't agree with the decision other parents have made, acknowledge that it's their decision to make and they (just like you) are doing the best they can with the information and circumstances they have access to.
What other resolutions (parenting related or not) are you making this year?


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NEFL Premier Division
Mulvenna's screamer secures comeback win for Muirhevna Mor
OMP United 2 Muirhevna Mor 3
Tiarnan Mulvenna. (Pic: Ciarán Culligan)
OMP United 2 Muirhevna Mor 3
Tiarnan Mulvenna's sizzling half-volley secured Muirhevna Mor a priceless three-points as they kept the pressure up on the
The former Dundalk FC man, on as a second-half substitute, rifled to the
Having started the match well, the Blues took the lead with a wonderful team move. The ball was worked out to Ben McLaughlin on the right whose cross found Brendan Hughes at the back post and, unselfishly, the winger played across goal where Micky O'Kane was able to tap home.
OMP levelled from the penalty spot; a goal which signalled the home side's best spell of the outing. And they capitalised on this period of dominance by taking a lead to half-time.
Seán Maguire's men reverted to a 3-5-2 for the second-half and it worked a treat as the visitors once again began to exert pressure on the OMP rear-guard, with the pressure eventually telling as Billy Smith equalised from the penalty spot.
And having poured forward, the 'Mor claiming a winning goal when Mulvenna caught a breaking ball sweetly to hammer home from 20-yards.
Muirhevna Mor: Jimmy Cooney; Brian Begley, Chris Caulfield, Adrian Rafferty, Nathan Murphy; Ben McLaughlin, Colin Hoey, Philip Duffy, Brendan Hughes; Micky O'Kane, Billy Smith
Subs: Tiarnan Mulvenna, Stephen Smith, Conor Gorman, Paudie Hearty


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THE BEST pizza IN WALES
Ieuan & Jez aka Ffwrnes, voted the best pizza in Wales, share with us their Classic Neapolitan Recipe.
Makes approx 8 10 inch pizzas
The Base:
1kg '00' flour with a high gluten content
2g fresh baker's yeast
600ml cold water
30g table salt
400g tin of plum tomatoes (the best quality the better)
Pinch of sea salt
250g Buffalo Mozzarella (DOP - the supermarkets are really good these days to pick up high quality registerd ingredients)
50g Parmigiano Reggiano
Fresh Basil
The Base
Tip the flour onto your work service and make a well in the centre. Dissolve the yeast in the water and pour into the middle of the well, a little at a time, whilst using your hands to bring the walls of the flour in so that the water begins to thicken. Once you have reached the consistency of custard, add the salt and bring in the rest of the flour until it comes together as a dough. Knead for 10-15 minutes.
Cover and leave to rest for 10 minutes before kneading again quickly for 10 seconds – this helps to develop the flavour and the gluten.
Divide the dough into 200g balls and leave to rest overnight or for at least 8 hours, preferably 24 hours, in a sealed container or a deep baking dish. Sprinkled with flour and covered in cling film. Remember to leave space for each of the dough balls because, as the will roughly double in size.
Preparing the Base
Scrape a dough ball out of its container using a spatula and as much flour as you need to ensure it dose not stick. The rounder the dough ball comes out, the rounder the final pizza base.
Put the dough ball onto a well-floured surface (honestly, if you are going to get serious about pizza making, get used to having flour play a large part in your life).
Using your fingertips, press out the dough ball firmly, starting at the centre and working out to the edge. Ensure you leave a centimetre around the rim of the pizza untouched.
Turn the dough ball over and repeat the pressing out process on the other side.
Using the palm of your hand, do one firm push in the centre of the dough ball to ensure the thickness of the base is consistent (not counting the raised edges).
Take the newly flattened dough ball on the back of your hands, ensuring the weight is on your knuckles and that your fingertips and nails are not going to poke a hole in the dough.
Using the back of your hands, stretch the dough out as far as you can without tearing it.. Turn the dough through 90 degrees and repeat this stretching. Do this a few times.
You should now have a disc of dough around 10 inches in diameter, consistently thin but with a slightly thicker rim. If so, you are ready to cook.
The Sauce:
Crush the tomatoes by hand and season with the salt
Cooking the Neapolitan Pizza
Pre-heat the grill to its highest setting
Heat a non-stick frying pan to high
Take one of your stretched dough balls and lay it flat in the frying pan
Spread a thin layer of creamy leek sauce onto the dough, leaving a couple of centimetres around the edge for the crust. Add the remainder of the toppings and drizzle with olive oil.
Once the base of the pizza has browned (about 1-2 minutes), take the frying pan and place it on the highest shelf, under the grill.
Once the crust has taken on some colour (again about 1-2 minutes), the pizza is ready to go.
Four years ago childhood friends Ieuan Harry, a Geographical Analyst and Fitness Instructor Jez Phillips gave up their nine to fives and started Ffwrnes (Welsh for furnace) Pizza, learning all they could about the art of traditional Pizza making. With this knowledge and their natural flair, the 35 year olds are now in hot demand, bringing the taste of Napoli to the weddings of Charlotte Church and Geraint Thomas, winning national awards, and soon embarking on a road trip in the quirky three wheeler named 'Smokey Pete' to the home of Pizza and the World Championship for an S4C programme.


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Mental health services are supposed to help. But sometimes psychiatric professionals cause damage by denting the credibility of individuals, a legacy which can last a lifetime. This is a particular problem for women who have experienced trauma, and get placed into what many see as the dustbin diagnosis of 'Borderline Personality Disorder'. The relatively new notion of 'Epistemic Injustice' may help us understand why.
Epistemic Injustice, a concept developed by philosopher Miranda Fricker, is when wrong is done to someone in their capacity as a knower. A subtype – Testimonial Injustice – refers to how the levels of credibility we give one another can be inflated or deflated owing to prejudices about groups which swirl in the social atmosphere. These prejudices can be overt and pre-emptive, for example excluding patients from meetings where their care is being discussed, thus cementing the skewed power dynamic between professional and patient. Or they may be more subtle. For example, if a patient discloses a piece of their personal history as potentially significant, a clinician may appear empathic but offer no follow-up question, or send out cues like picking up notes to block further conversation. Some of these responses are to do with the ever increasing lack of time in the NHS for meaningful connection. But most are to do with unconscious negative prejudices about particular groups.
No group in mental health is subject to as much prejudice as those given a diagnosis of 'Emotionally Unstable Personality Disorder' or 'Borderline Personality Disorder' (BPD). 'BPD' is storied as a syndrome characterised by experiences such as fear of abandonment, extreme mood lability, an unstable sense of self, and self-harm. Women – for it is 75% women – with this diagnosis are labelled as 'manipulative' and 'attention seeking'. This kind of language use, which would be seen as pejorative elsewhere, situates professionals as knowing something about the complicated nature of personality disturbance attributed to such women; it boosts membership of the in-group 'professional'. But these hermeneutical claims just do not fit the evidence. 'BPD' is so dubious a category scientifically that it was almost dumped from the latest version of the biggest international diagnostic bible. It clusters women who dissent, who disobey, who resist together, as if these reactions were signs of pathology rather than spirit against the odds.
Yet 'BPD' as a category remains, serving as a kind of shorthand between professionals that there is something difficult about someone, that this particular patient might produce strong feelings like rage or desire in the clinician, that a distance needs to be kept. Staff who like women with this diagnosis are seen as procuring 'splitting' between team members, and are forced themselves to toe the line of being equally distant to show professional competence. A&E staff, reading this label in notes, take suicide attempts less seriously. GP receptionists act with hostility, the prejudice against women with 'BPD' being that they are time-wasting yet again for attention, undeserving somehow. These reactions imply connecting with women with this diagnosis is what Fricker calls an 'ethically bad affective investment'. These deny women the kind of relationships that could help heal. This discursive disenfranchisement kills.


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Save It
Refine | Sustain
Heartwarming Christmas Ads
Fantastic Lights & Where to Find Them
I'm not counting, but Christmas is just twenty days away! To get in the Christmas spirit, I would suggest going out and immersing yourself in Christmas, and an easy way to do that is it visit spots with incredible Christmas light displays. This year, we've assembled the top five places within three hours of campus to go and get in the Christmas spirit.
Thanks, MC
I have found that it becomes easier and easier to forget how thankful we are for the things and people in our daily lives. Of course we're thankful for our friends and family, but we don't always say that actively. The same goes for Mississippi College. I spend the majority of the year here, and I'm definitely caught in the day to day grind of classes, work, and social events. But at the Choctawk, we want to take the time to say thank you to Mississippi College. I think I speak for all of us when I say that MC has changed our lives for the better.
Give Thanks
Let's Talk About It: Differences
Over the past few months, the Choctawk team has been having some pretty serious discussions on religion, politics, personal tragedies, and the need we see in the world. When you come to college, you'll come across people who believe differently than you, and you'll wrestle with your own beliefs and what they truly mean for your life. We feel as if these conversations are necessary to life, necessary to find the common humanity in others. Thus, we have decided to begin a series to discuss the hard things we've encountered; this is part one.
How to Not Be a Freshman
How to Study
Get To Know Your Professors
Before coming to college, I assumed that my professors would be too busy to invest in my life, to hear my ideas, or to care about my future. However, this idea changed my Freshman year when my professors gave up their time to help me work through problems or to listen to my ideas for a paper. Now that I'm in my Senior year, it's hard to me to imagine what these past four years would have been like without the support and guidance of my professors.
The semester is a month in, and it seems as if all of the projects, parties, and papers are coming in one huge wave. With midterms right around the corner (Yes, they are happening sooner than you think), it's easy to feel overwhelmed by school, work, and personal events; however, you don't have to let this stress overtake your life.


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The bathroom effect: a trigger for social awareness
An interesting concept: the bathroom effect (via):
(...) Pixar's CEO, Steve Jobs. "He thought it was really important that there only be one bathroom in the building, for all 700 people who work here," Greenberg says.(...) Here's the "bathroom effect" theory, as Greenberg explains it: "If you have bathrooms that are scattered throughout the building, you use the bathroom nearest to where you're sitting. If there was one bathroom, all kinds of people would come together and talk with one another all the time […]. It would enhance communication […]. The atrium also [aside from eight restrooms] boasts [a café], break rooms with an unusual number of toasters, the mailroom, conference rooms, pool and foosball tables, and an open area for the occasional concert or lecture. (Pixar University, the department where Greenberg works, arranges talks and classes for employees to broaden their expertise.)
Why do I blog this? because it's a relevant example of the use of third places, a trigger for social awareness in companies, as coffee/vending machines.


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ADDONS > pelisalacarta ui
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Performance Incentive
The women who use the Performance Zone at Pulse 8 have a message for other ladies out there. It's an emphatic one – "Don't be afraid and go for it – the results are worth it!
We recently surveyed female members who use the Performance Zone regularly. They said that overcoming the slightly intimidating idea of being in a place where bodybuilders hang out has some great benefits! It's the perfect place for active women who are doing their thing no matter how they look or how red their face gets.
The stereotype is understandable. There is potential in there to lift some serious iron and, yes, you will find our muscle builders in there – the equipment lends itself to their exercise goals. But those ladies who brave the unfamiliar setting say they have "more confidence in their body shape and appearance" and that they feel like "stronger versions of themselves".
We discovered that the ladies regularly using the Performance Zone think it's a great space with a "nice community of members" and they're really keen to see more women join them. They prefer the machines and the volume of specific kit (such as squat racks) with their main goals to strengthen, tone and shape their bodies. They said they see better results as the machines in their target specific areas of the body are more relevant to their everyday activities/lifestyle.
We asked "What advice would you give to other ladies wanting to use the Performance Zone?" and had varied feedback with lots of valid points including:
- Train with a friend – even just to get you started as it's a great confidence booster to be with someone else.
- Have a plan of what you are trying to achieve and what areas you are looking to improve.
- Speak to the fitness team for advice and exercise technique – book in a fitness Passport Session to take you through the equipment and your form.
Case in point
Pulse 8 member, Kasia is a Performance Zone fanatic and with good reason. With a family history of osteoporosis she knows just what's coming if she doesn't take evasive action. She firmly believes that all women will benefit from a strength based programme, as weight bearing exercises play a huge part in protecting and strengthening bones. Kasia's enthusiasm for the Performance Zone doesn't stop with the health benefits. She knows that it improves her body shape and takes great confidence from her toned and fit profile. Her favourite exercise is a Bulgarian Squat and she says she feels fantastic after her workouts!
Myth Buster
You will not get "bulky" from weight training! Lower levels of testosterone in women, means that instead of "bulking" you'll gain muscle tone, definition and actually appear leaner!
Truth telling
Strength training builds bone density and helps to prevent conditions such as osteoporosis. It can help with posture improvements.
Muscle burns more calories than fat! For each pound of muscle you gain, you burn 35-50 more calories each day just by sitting still! A win-win!
The Performance Zone is for everyone, including you ladies, and can help achieve some striking results in body shaping – we'll show you how.


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Karmazin Commits To Merger Conditions
Sirius CEO Mel Karmazin told regulators Tuesday that satellite companies XM and Sirius are prepared to agree to make lower prices, more choice and rebates for blocked adult content conditions on approval of their proposed merger.
We are prepared at the appropriate time to discuss each of the issues with regulators and to guarantee these benefits as a condition of our merger approval, he told the Senate Commerce Committee according to prepared testimony.
"These commitments are more than just words offered to appease regulators," he said. "We view each of these benefits as a "win-win" that will make good business sense."
Karmazin has made regular trips to the hill in the past several weeks, pitching the merger as good for consumers and the satellite radio business.
Karmazin made the argument that the merger would still leave a competitive audio market and said that terrestrial radio, a business he was in for almost 40 years, is still the dominant audio deliver system. He also pointed out that "much of the content available over terrestrial radio mirroring that provided by satellite radio."
At about the same time Karmazin was testifying Tuesday in Washington, broadcasters in Las Vegas for their annual convention were arguing that the merger would be a monopoly. In an interview with FCC Commissioner Michael Copps, NAB President David Rehr asked Copps' what he thought of the merger's prospects. Copps said he would not prejudge the merger since it was currently before the commission, but he did point out that FCC Chairman Kevin Martin had said the merger was "a significant climb" for him, and that it was a "pretty steep climb" for Copps as well.
That was music to Rehr's ears. He has been hammering hard on the merger, saying at an NAB opening session Monday that it would be a government-sanctioned monopoly that "lined the pockets of financiers and corporate executives." Copps said that there seemed to be some disconnect between NAB's argument that broadcasters did not compete with satellite radio when it came to this merger, and the argument that it was "one big happy competitive family" when it came to seeking media ownership rule changes.
Rehr pointed out that the NAB's stance on the merger competition issue was that while satellite radio competed with local radio, it was not a two-way street, with the local station unable to compete with a national, bundled service.


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Jerome Schneider, Pimco managing director, and Ben Mandel, J.P Morgan executive director and global strategist, discuss the market rally despite the ongoing trade war with China.
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You May Also Like
Monika E. Kolodziej, PhD, is the director of Psychological Services at the Ambulatory Treatment Center at Naukeag, a residential treatment program in the Substance Use Disorders Division at McLean Hospital. Her clinical, research, and program evaluation activities focus on services for persons diagnosed with co-occurring psychiatric and substance use disorders, both of which are often accompanied by chronic medical conditions. She is especially interested in implementing effective tools to track and improve treatment outcomes, and in exploring means to increase collaboration between multidisciplinary providers, patients, and their families.
Dr. Kolodziej has been part of National Institutes of Health trials to develop treatment approaches for substance use and co-occurring disorders. In addition, she has worked on federal and state-funded implementation projects including integrated medical and behavioral care for persons with chronic mental illness, comprehensive services for veterans with trauma history, and substance abuse interventions for medically hospitalized patients.
PubMed search for Dr. Kolodziej
Fernside campus - 162 Mountain Road, Princeton, MA


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Founded in 1880, Drouet Freres is one of the oldest and largest negociant firms in the Loire. They produce a large range of wines from the Nantais and further east up the river, from Muscadet to Sancerre, Anjou and Vouvray. We work with a selection from their extensive portfolio, representing several classic Loire styles.
The Wines
Privelege de Drouet Sauvignon Blanc (100% Sauv Blanc)
Privelege de Drouet Rose (100% Cabernet Franc), dry & full-bodied
Anjou Rose (100% Cabernet Franc, demisec and very fruity)
Vouvray (100% Chenin Blanc, demisec)


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March 22, 2017
Ananth Rani, Azuga Co-Founder and CEO
These startling numbers are a wake-up call for employers to take distracted driving prevention seriously. The level of cost and disruption to both the business and the people involved with vehicle collisions—and the increasing frequency of them due to cell phone use while driving—are putting many companies on a dangerous path.
It is not enough to tell your team not to use their cell phone while driving and to obey all laws. The pressures of work and life and the convenience of communicating on the fly are too great. In order to minimize risk, employers should create and have each worker sign a policy statement regarding cell phone use while driving. An effective policy:
New technologies, like the DriveSafe feature in Azuga Fleet, allow employers to monitor cell phone use in the vehicle. The Azuga Fleet Mobile App records drivers' phone when the vehicle is in motion. A specific report in the administrative portal gives managers the data needed to understand who is in compliance and who isn't.For Android devices, Azuga's DriveSafe feature can be configured to block the use of the phone while the vehicle is moving (Apple doesn't allow this).
As important as it is to have the right policies and tools in place, the most important thing is to make driving safety a key component of the way you manage your workforce behind the wheel. Frequent conversations about safety help set the tone. Azuga fleet tracking systems uses gamification, with driver scores and rewards to help make safety and compliance an engaging and mutually beneficial pursuit. When drivers compete, everyone wins!
At Azuga, we're committed to empowering both drivers and fleet managers through fleet management software to practice and encourage safe driving. To learn how we can help your fleet prevent distracted driving, click here. Don't forget to follow #JustDrive throughout April for more safe driving tips!


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Doctors refuse space to group fighting drug company influenceBMJ 2005; 331 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.331.7518.653-a (Published 22 September 2005) Cite this as: BMJ 2005;331:653
Article usage
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They say opportunities come when you least expect it. This summer has really shown that for myself and my team. I've met and worked with so many great people this summer and have been given great opportunities I would have never thought would happen.
A couple of weeks ago I was sitting in a book store with our newest writer Snook and sitting right next to me was American Idol finalist Ju'Not. Of course I didn't know this because I never watch the show. Toward the end of my meeting with Snook, Ju'Not leaned over and asked if I was a photographer. I showed him my website and some of my work and he loved it and asked if I'd be interested in directing his music video for his song that will be in BET's mixtape for their "Wrap It Up" campaign. Of course I said yes.
Fast forward to last weekend we held the casting call for the video. It went great and the crew working with us did a fantastic job and I want to thank them again for coming out. I'll be sure to show what's going on with this project as it unfolds and be sure to look out for some UxU in the video.
But after the work was done for the day we were all outside and started to have a freestyle cipher. I ran inside and grabbed my camera and started shooting. Check out the video below.


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Volunteering is all about making a difference to other people's lives. Getting off your sofa and taking time out to change things for the better can be great fun.
From conservation to youth work to fundraising for your favourite charity or caring for animals, there's an endless list of the types of projects you can get involved in, so have a chat with Mr Lambert and other people in your community to find out what's on offer, what needs doing and who needs help!
If you can't find a project you want to get involved in, why not set up a new one that will help your community? This can be on your own, with a couple of friends or even with your whole DofE group – Mr Lambert can help you do this and may be able to act as your Assessor.
- DofE Bronze - Volunteering - Assessor Report
- DofE Silver - Volunteering - Assessor Report
- DofE Gold - Volunteering - Assessor Report
- DofE Volunteering - Activity Log
- DofE Volunteering - Programme Ideas
- DofE Volunteering - A-Z of Volunteering Opportunities
- DofE Website - Volunteering Resources


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TAJI, Iraq – Over 2,000 U.S. Army Soldiers and Airmen traveled to the Middle East in recent weeks to begin their deployment in support of Operation Inherent Resolve (OIR) and Operation Spartan Shield (OSS).
The 35th Combat Aviation Brigade's (CAB) mission here is to provide aviation support to the ground forces throughout the OIR and OSS areas of operations by using several mixed-design aircrafts such as, Black Hawks, Chinooks, and Apaches.
These three separate body styles translate to completely different mechanical and operational abilities. Often times, the units train independently of one another. However, once together, the brigade staff had to facilitate command and control and proper communication across the brigade to ensure the aircrews maintained safe flying procedures.
"There are differences between aircraft," said U.S. Army Col. Charles Hausman, Commander of the 35th CAB, headquartered in Sedalia, Missouri. "They fly at different speeds. They all have different missions. To be able to support one another, they have to understand the other person's mission."
In order to facilitate such an understanding, the units began preparing for this deployment over a year ago. The CAB's Headquarters and Headquarters Company (HHC), from Sedalia, Missouri, and 935th Aviation Support Battalion (ASB), from Springfield, Missouri, completed a "Warfighter" training exercise at Camp Atterbury, Indiana, in June of 2017. Since then they have completed multiple command post exercises, which provide training on the planning, coordination, command and control facets, and communication exercises, which test the unit's communication abilities over a great distance, said Hausman.
The training and preparation led to a culminating training event (CTE), completed at Fort Hood, Texas on July 26, 2018. The CTE brought together subordinate units that would be assigned to the CAB throughout the deployment.
Early June 2018, Soldiers assigned to HHC, 35th CAB; 935th ASB; the 2-211th General Aviation Support Battalion (GSAB), from West Jordan, Utah; and the 1-108th Assault Helicopter Battalion, from Topeka, Kansas, arrived at Fort Hood. Their time there provided Soldiers and Airmen from 15 different states an opportunity to establish a foundation and develop working relationships required to build successful team cohesion.
Generally, a combat aviation brigade is made up of an assault helicopter battalion, a general support aviation battalion, an aviation support battalion, an attack reconnaissance battalion, and a headquarters company, which provides command and control assets. While the mission is to provide aviation support, it takes more than pilots and crewmembers to fly a helicopter. The behind-the-scenes support personnel safeguard the operational abilities of the air crew and equipment.
Within the 35th CAB you'll find many different trades and skillsets, which all have separate, but necessary roles to support the organization. Some examples include: fuelers, truck drivers, logisticians, mechanics, and aviation operations specialists.
Another supporting role within the CAB is the legal department. U.S. Army National Guard paralegal, Spc. Joseph Christensen, with Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 2-211th GSAB, first spoke with individuals whom would become his supervisors during a short phone call just mere weeks before meeting them at Fort Hood. He was then reassigned from his organic unit to work with other paralegals and lawyers, which make up the Judge Advocate General (JAG) section.
"It was a little interesting leaving the GSAB and coming in with all new people," said Christensen. "That was one of the harder things, I guess, was trying to figure out how I fit in with the 35th CAB people because a lot of them were from the same place."
Currently, the section is made up of two lawyers and four paralegals. Four of the six-person section are from Missouri.
Christensen graduated from Advanced Individual Training mid-June 2017, earning him the military occupational specialty (MOS) of 27D, or paralegal specialist. Prior to this deployment, he had not had many opportunities to work with other service members in his field.
"As soon as we got there, we got to do a lot of training, specifically for 27D that we don't often times get at home," he said. "So, being around other paralegals and around JAG officers was really nice for me to get some good training on my MOS and what we would be doing."
While the atmosphere was reserved and formal at first, it did not take long for everyone to get to know each other, said Christensen. They were quickly able to figure out how to get the job done.
"When we first got here, again bringing folks together from all across the United States, everybody was very comfortable with what they did at their local location," said Hausman. "They were very comfortable communicating with each other. But they were not so good at reaching out and talking to counterparts from other areas. Over time and experience, and getting to work with one another we were able to break down those walls, if you will, and get folks to open their eyes to the opportunities and the experience that is resident in this formation, just maybe not from their small corner of the organization."
Establishing this foundation prior to arrival was pivotal, because now, the 35th CAB is supporting two separate higher headquarters, one for OIR and the other for OSS. In addition, the brigade is spread out over two major locations, which consist of several smaller satellite locations. The teamwork and comradery they built while at Fort Hood is essential to accomplishing their missions here.
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