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We smile at Yogi Berra's oft quoted aphorism, amused at the obvious mismatch of situation and choice.
Then, with a bit of reflection, we realize that our personal and collective journeys are filled with forks in the road that have a significant effect on our destinies.
This school or that one, this job offer or that one, this or that place of service – our choices create our futures, with consequences small and large. Yogi would be pleased – we do in fact take the fork in the road.
A more poetic reflection on this reality is Robert Frost's familiar poem about life's choices:
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, ... I could not travel both. ...
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I – I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
Our national journey is bringing us to one of those forks in the road that will make a profound difference in the short and longer range of our future.
Portrayed by the pundits as a clear choice between two different visions of what America can be, the options of the fork in the road offer us two sets of values by which we will choose to live.
Carefully designed appeals encourage us to take each one, extolling the virtues of the one and castigating the dangers of the other.
Like the beloved poet, we can stand and look as far as we can down each road before choosing. But, once we take the fork in the road, "knowing how way leads on to way," we doubt if we "should ever come back."
What we see as we look down the two roads is one that's well trodden. It seems preoccupied with money – how to get it and keep it, how to use its power to guide people's thinking in directions that are profitable for those who control it, how to ease restrictions on how to obtain it, all under the banner of restoring freedoms perceived to be lost at the hands of wealth's enemies. Many seem to have liked and chosen this road.
The other road doesn't look quite as worn. It understands and values money, but doesn't seem as preoccupied with it.
There are signs along this road that speak of freedoms of other kinds, of support for many levels of human need, of concern for the environment, of educational opportunity for all, of hospitality to the stranger.
Many seem to like this road, too. However, it seems less worn, perhaps because many of its travelers are carrying others.
Both roads promise a better future – one with a promise of greater prosperity; the other with a promise of greater justice. Nothing really wrong with either one, so how does one – how does a nation – choose?
It is hard to face this dilemma without recalling the admonition of Joshua as the covenant people are settling into the land that they understood to be the Promised Land:
"Choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living; but as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord" (Joshua 24:15).
A three-way fork in the road: the gods of a nostalgic past beyond a river now crossed, the gods of the culture in which they now live, who promise agricultural success and prosperity, or the Lord of their wilderness journey, who simply promised, "I will be with you."
Do we get the feeling we've been this way before?
It is also hard not to recall the remembered words of Jesus recorded by Matthew and Luke: "No one can serve two masters; for a slave will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon [translated "wealth" or "money"]" (Matthew 6:24; Luke 16:13).
Given the fork before us in the road, it is not difficult personally for me to choose one.
Friends will choose the other with equal ease. Still I struggle with the either-or of it, because another image than winning and losing seems to be more apt for who we are called to be as a people of faith and as fellow citizens of a diverse nation.
Perhaps that image could be the rails of a train, bearing its passengers across the landscape of history on the pilgrimage toward the future.
Clearly at different places in the roadbed, the rails move in the same direction, in a consistent parallel partnership, without which they simply could not function.
Neither one alone can support the train, nor can they do so if they don't cooperate by embracing the same goal and remembering what their job is and whom they serve.
We will definitely take the fork in the road. Maybe we can also hope for a time when those who part company at the fork will find their way back together to help each other along the journey.
Colin Harris is professor of religious studies at Mercer University and a member of Smoke Rise Baptist Church in Stone Mountain, Ga.
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If you're new here, you may want to check out what this site is about, subscribe to updates via e-mail or RSS, contact me or read the newest posts. Thanks for visiting and have a nice day!
The day after coming back from our trip to Paris, we were reviewing it with my girlfriend's parents. Showing them the goods from our shopping trips (shoes for the lady, of course) and telling them about the delicious mussels at the brasseries (restaurants).
Jessie, one of the six cats of my 'mother-in-law' (not yet) was of course also looking and nosing at the souvenirs. Cats, curious and being present all the time. Jessie is a silver shaded persian cat (exotic longhair) with a great hungarian bloodline. Sweet but sometimes a bit annoying. Especially together with his five hairy, meowing companions.
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Eve is an open source Python REST API framework designed for human beings. It allows to effortlessly build and deploy highly customizable, fully featured RESTful Web Services.
Eve is powered by Flask, Cerberus, Events and MongoDB. Support for SQL-Alchemy, Elasticsearch and Neo4js as alternate backends is provided by community extensions.
The codebase is thoroughly tested under Python 2.6, 2.7, 3.3, 3.4, 3.5, 3.6 and PyPy.
from eve import Eve
app = Eve()
The API is now live, ready to be consumed:
$ curl -i http://example.com/people
All you need to bring your API online is a database, a configuration file (defaults to settings.py) and a launch script. Overall, you will find that configuring and fine-tuning your API is a very simple process.
Check out the live demo. If using a browser you will get XML back. For JSON in the browser, you might want to install Postman or similar extension and then set the Accept request header to application/json. If you are a CLI user (and you should), curl is your friend. The source code will show you how easy it is to run an API with Eve. You will also find usage examples for all common use cases (GET, POST, PATCH, DELETE and more). There is also a simple client app available.
If you are on python-eve.org then you are looking at the documentation of the development version. Looking for last release docs? Follow this link.
This documentation is under constant development. Please refer to the links on the sidebar for more information.


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How wonderful it has been to worship the Lord with our new small community on Saturday nights. We have several new people joining us on a regular basis and we have visitors most Saturdays.
One of our hopes for the church is that it will naturally be a place to develop leaders. To that end, we are privileged to have two of our students at the BSC on our leadership team. Both are heavily involved in the planning and administration of our Saturday Night worship service and in our strategic plans for growing the church. They also fulfill many pastoral functions which include regular preaching and teaching, discipleship and visitations. We are so grateful for their commitment to the Lord and for taking on the responsibilities for co-leading our new church plant.


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All Entries Tagged With: "James Clapper"
Trump's political suicide
By Eddie Celaya Donald Trump is back at it with the spying. Kellyanne Conway is worried about your microwaves Go-Go-Gadgeting into G-men. And all the while, Vladimir Putin has done a decent job infiltrating and running the country. Let's recap the month. National Security Adviser Michael Flynn resigned for lying about meetings with Russian Ambassador […]
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Construction at Arts Court is so delayed that we have to move the Gala to next year.
Mark the date: Saturday, February 24th in Arts Court! With that we have also moved the nomination deadline back: the very absolutely final deadline is now midnight on November 1, 2017!
We are celebrating independent movie-making in the Ottawa-Gatineau region and are looking for your nominations! Know a local independent video artist that you think deserves some praise? Have you been working with a director who merits recognition? Nominate them for SAW Video's 2nd Ottawa Independent Video Awards (OIVA) and help us celebrate the best and brightest in our region's independent video and film community!
The 2nd edition of OIVA will be accepting nominations for 8 awards:
Best Director - Fiction
Best Director - Experimental
Best Director - Documentary
Best Director Under 25
Best Cinematography
Best Sound Design
Best Editing
Rob Thompson Video Award
Nominations are open to any resident of the Ottawa-Gatineau region.


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|Oregon Magazine
| The Ascent
of Man
(Edit/revise 1/6/12)
1//1/2012 -- Life is the universe experiencing itself.
Do your bones know that their atoms were made in an exploding star? Do they have a will of their own? No, they are like the limbs of a tree, only reacting to external forces as their DNA instructs -- different from a stone in but that one single way, which in itself is one step above that stone's reaction to volcanic heat or rain. The first DNA is the physical laws of nature. Heat, cold, wind and the various characteristics of each kind of molecule were all created by that first DNA -- the fundamental laws.
Science knows when they were forged, but not why they appeared.
Stones, exploding suns, rain and life. How did the last come out of the first three? And how did you, the strangest creation of the Cosmos, evolve out of them? Well, to get answers, you must ask questions. What difference, for example, is there between the tube worms that live on volcanic vents at the bottoms of oceans, and you? Often, what seems to be a big difference isn't. A whale's genetics, or gene sequence, is strikingly similar to yours. And the tube worms? The worms have bacteria in their guts which transform clouds of liquid volcanic sulfur into compounds which fuel the animal. Some say the the animals and plants in these places break an accepted rule of life. Water and sun. They do not have sun.
These bio-chemical processes use matter and energy. They are formed and shaped by a genetic code. Gravity, Electromagnetism, the Strong nuclear force and the Weak nuclear force (GESW) were the first instructions. Biology's double helix was created by them. Its genius makes ocean trench tube worms, professional sumo wrestlers and you.
GESW led to the ACTG helix. Helix number two.
DNA Two
The carbon in your body did not exist in the Cosmos for a long time. When the hydrogen gas clouds after the Big Bang began to condense into smaller clouds, and those clouds condensed into stars, then the first stars turned on, the table was set for life. While burning, then eventually exploding, those first stars and their nuclear forces made new elements. All the elements in the famous chemical table were made from the original hydrogen, and possibly some original helium. As the suns burned, they made heavier and heavier elements until they came to iron. To make an element heavier than iron, a standard explosion, a nova, won't cut the mustard. You need at least a super-nova. Gold is made in such titanic explosions inside later generation stars. That is also where we get elements, like uranium.
Water is made from two atoms -- the hydrogen that was there first, and the much heavier atom, oxygen, which was made in the stars.
H2O. No form of life ever discovered exists without the presence of water.
So, it was GESW that created water, and somehow as a result of that, ACTG appeared, guaranteeing that Charles Darwin's life wouldn't consist entirely of collecting dead insects. What I'm calling the first DNA somehow created the second DNA, then the second DNA, God Knows Why, created every plant, then animal, on the planet.
Nobody knows how that happened, Probably I should say "or why." But it happened, and every living thing on the Earth, most of which are gone,now, appeared.. Some were like this for a while, then changed into one of those, and then changed back. Whales were once a kind of land mammal, but for reasons of their own went back to the sea. DNA two spent many millions of years making life, including the mold-covered stromatolites -- mushroom-shaped things in shallow seawater which exhaled oxygen as a waste product (like trees do), turning the seas and the skies from green to blue and opening the door for life forms that live both in water and on land. It ended up giving dinosaurs something to breathe while chasing their dinner.
So, the earliest forms of life were plants. They reproduced by cell division, which still goes on inside you. (Skin cells divide constantly or you'd look Eighty by the time you reached the age of Five.) Then came sexual reproduction. Flowers use bees to do it. Coral reef life forms use a particular and specific moon for an egg timer as part of the same process. As I see it, animals, have improved the methodology from a Darwinian standpoint. After a while, both types moved onshore. Finally, came the apes, some varieties of which closely resemble modern humans.
Arthur C. Clarke
And, that is where my third DNA comes in. This is the DNA of humanity. Science says it's a genetic accident, a lucky, if logical, reaction to stress or opportunity. They don't see the progression from stage to stage as pre-ordained. They might take inevitable, but pre-ordained, never.
Man is like the design of a great sculptor shaping a big rock into a beautiful statue. In 2001: A Space Odyssey, scientist and science fiction author, A.C. Clark opens with some apes at a waterhole. They are chased away by larger apes, who claim the water hole for their own. During the night, a rectangular stone with the dimensions of one by four by nine (the squares of the numbers 1,2 and 3, appeared in their midst, and when the thirsty apes touched it, something happened. One of them looked at a large animal leg bone on the ground, then picked it up and began to pound on other bones with it. That, my friends, is the use of a tool to magnify the impact of a blow.
The next day, armed with such weapons, the thirsty apes retook the water hole from their bully relatives. Clearly, Clarke is implying that that was the moment. The point of change. The breakthrough instant of the departure from ape to human. The beginning of the species branching that would lead to beings who can build ships to set out from Earth, heading for the final frontier that is space.
Was it just a statistical biological DNA accident?
The change, according to the most recent genetic science, had to do with portions of the Ape-family (certain monkey species) that experienced something previously unknown. It has to do with "switches," or segments of the human DNA code which were once thought archaic and inoperable, but which now are known to be timers, activators which control when and how-long specific active genes for various physical components like brains, fingers, vocal chords and so forth operate during the early stages in the womb. (They paint the final living picture that emerges. As a foetus, you had the potential to have gills, but those switches controlled the creation of that area, turning it into a body part near your ear.)
We'll set aside the obvious fact, ignored by most scientists, that Clarke's stone monolith is clearly evidence of interference by "Intelligent Design." (A metaphor for God.) My point here is that the change in behavior exhibited in his story does not represent the change to human intelligence. It represents the last and highest "animal" stage. Apes and sea otters can do it.
Here is where Man began
To me, what we call God invented the whole thing, in the beginning, Man included.
I don't need a monolith to get around God because, as I see it, each stage of matter from clouds of hydrogen gas to one-celled life to us evolved from the original structure. (The first DNA, or the laws of physics.) All stages of life from stromatolites to Einstein can be described as inevitable developments arising from the initial design. If that isn't true, then the First Cause, the Big Bang and the Primordial Ylem it came from, is the only effect in the history of the Cosmos that didn't have a cause.
How scientists -- whose entire lives are about discovering causes -- can reject God and leave Original Cause as the only event in the history of the Universe without a cause is beyond me.
Here is the truth. It has to do with a gate that only your species passed through. A miraculous departure from all other things and life forms ever to appear on this planet.
The key difference between you, a tube worm and a blue whale is that you have the ability to learn that these things exist and how these things are accomplished. A monkey makes a tool from a stout stalk of grass, and pokes it in a hole in a tree to spear the grub hidden in the bark. A California Sea Otter puts a stone on its stomach while floating upside-down on the surface and strikes shells on the stone to get at the soft tissue inside.
But, primitive Man was born with the ability to evaluate and imagine. Not just to use, but to improve. His brain allowed him to test which was the best tool for the job and if necessary, invent a tool.
The difference between Man and all other animals -- the instant the two paths diverged -- if you wish to take the secular path -- was when Man put a handle on the spear point and the axe. That was the first thing in history that what we call nature did not create. Stones cannot use. Animals can use, even shape a tool. But, it took the brain of Man to construct a tool made of more than one part. (A match for Clarke's one, two and three?) The handle, the blade or spear point and the sinew that combined them into a device. God or secular accident, that represented the moment of departure. Awareness, symbolic abstraction, the beginning of invention. No wonder Steve Jobs used an apple with a bite out of it for his corporate symbol.
That is why I have long disagreed with the PhD's. Any ape can make a tool. Only Man can imagine a way to make a task easier, then make a device that can do it.
Man is not the tool maker. He is the device maker -- the predecessor of Homo Agricolae, the farmer, who invented irrigation and the plow -- and from there took over the entire planet.
Inanimate matter, life and Man. Stages one, two and three, the inevitable evolutions of the Architect's original design.
The Genesis of the Universe and Science and Creation Myth
© 2012 Oregon Magazine


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"To-Do" Lists: Waste of Time or Productivity Boon?
If you don't use a to-do list, you may wonder if you should. Would keeping one make you more efficient? Better at meeting deadlines? More productive? More...effective?
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Balancing workplace, home, and holiday stress
Balancing workplace, home, and holiday stress
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It's a given: Nobody gets more than 24 hours in a day. How you spend your waking hours, and how well you fill the number of hours you work, will determine how successful and accomplished you feel at the end of the day. If your to-do list never seems to get done, if you feel like your day is a constant string of interruptions and redirections, it's time to get down to business. How can you take back your time and use it to its best advantage?
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"To Resolve or Not to Resolve"
Making a decision to change just because it's New Year's Day isn't enough to keep you motivated for long. Lasting change means being prepared to make sacrifices. Are you truly willing to make the effort to kick a bad habit and start a healthy one? If so, you'll need to develop a plan of action and make that plan a priority.
It's About Balance: 9 Ways to Reduce Stress at Work
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Some thoughts on Wesley Willis and his lasting impressions...
i only met him once,
during an actionman interview here in chicago, but i was blown away by
his kindness and generosity both toward us and all his fans (as well as
the lump that was on my forehead for the next 3 days from all his
affectionate head butts).
To everyone at A.T. -
I just heard the news about Wesley and I know how highly you thought of him, so I wanted to send my sincerest condolences. After you told me about his music I looked into it and was extremely impressed by the profound truthfulness of his work, and his creative passion. His death is a great loss - his artistic vision and bald humanity shone brightly enough to touch more people than he could have known. He was a genius, a poet, and a madman.
wesley willis was my favorite. anytime I was in a dark mood I could always count on his music to make me happy. every time. I feel really terrible....I've never felt this sad about a musician, but he wasn't any ordinary musician. thanks so much for putting out his music. it's allright because he's finally on a joyride again. hope you all are all right over there
after recording a bunch, and then driving to some shows, Wesley was exhasted, so was i. we got up late one day and his medication wore off, he was haveing a hard time. i had to try to drive while holding his hand while he switched from crying, to trying to hit his head, to yelling at those awfull demons, there was no joy ride for the whole ride back to the studio, a few hour ride. i was exhasted, he couldnt be reassured, at least not for long. we get back to the studio i finally got him in bed, he always asked me to tuck him in, so he finally gets in bed, i am so tired, its like 3 or 4 am, i get into the booth at the studio (wes slept on the bed) i lay down on the floor ready for some alone time and rest, and then i hear this noise, like wesley yelling through the glass in the booth's windows, i think, oh shit, he woke up, he is probely yelling at the demons, anyway i get up, trying to be sypathetic, but i am totaly tired and annoyed, i open the door to the studio where wes was still tucked in, facing straight up, not eving listening to what he was saying, i interupt his outburst, and say "wes, its time to sleep!" he turns his head over twards me with a big huge smile, and says "dont be mad zespy, im just singing my favorite loverboy song!" " the kid is hot tonight, oh so hot tonight!" , over and over we sang, lauging our asses off at how silly it was, and forgiving each other for a hard day. we sang and i ran around the studio belting out the lyrics as he lay in bed singing over and over. it was a great realese. we both slept well that night, the hell ride was over. the joy ride had been just around the corner, we just didnt see it. wes tought me patience, and hope, an how to work your fucking ass off. anway i am rambling. i have many stories as does everyone that had him in their life. Zespy
I wrote this in marker on my arm and wore it for a day (in reference, of
course, to one of Wesley's songs, the first one I heard that, literally,
as this verse began, knocked me to the floor in laughter):
Dear Jello,
[to Jello] just wanted to thank you for the wesley song last night. i
actually thought the whole service was touching and appropriate. i had
known wes for about 12 years. i was a good friend of pat from the fiasco
and i did t-shirts for the band as well as wes's daddy of rock-n-roll
shirts. chicago will not be the same without him.
Wesley was great in the best ways - honest, thoughtful, and funny as
shit. I am sincerely saddened that I'll never have a chance rock one out
on stage with him.
I was real upset to hear of Wesley's passing. He had actually spent a
week in my dorm in Buffalo in December 2001 and left a big impact on
everyone here. Beyond Wesley's joy and humor and witnessing the
suffering of demon attacks, I saw so many people moved by the simple
love that Wes gave total strangers. He was probably the most sincerely
warm person that I have ever known.
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Triplet's Experiment on Social Facilitation By: Alexandra Buckley What is Social Facilitation? Triplett's Experiment Triplett's Experiment Final Results Triplett's Result to the Application of Modern Life Sports Psychology Works Cited List -Norman Triplet, a cyclist fan, had been reviewing the records of the "League of American Wheelmen" and discovered that when the cyclist were paced or in competition they rode better
-Triplett analyzed the results of many races and found that those with pacemakers covered the mile five seconds quicker then those with out(on average)
-Norman wanted to test his ideas by conducting an experiment - In 1898, Triplett conducted an experiment where children were to wind thread on a reel - Norman Triplett, a Psychology Professor in the late 1800s, published his studies called "Dynamogenic Factors in Pacemaking and Competition" after the experiments in the American Journal of Psychology - Triplett's reports on the experiment with the children said that they performed the same or worse with co-actors then alone If a person is working out, and another person walks into the room, the person who is working out will have better results then he had before -the improvement of one's performance when another person is present - Social Facilitation occurs in the presence of a co-action (in the incident where the task performance increases due to the presence of others doing the same task) and a passive spectator ( in an incident where an audience is present it increases the task performance) -Scientists who studied the co-action effects are Chen(1937) and Platt, Yaksh, and Darby(1967) -Scientists who studied the audience effect are Dashiell(1935), Travis(1925), and Pessin(1933) - There were two conditions, one where the children were working alone and the the other where children were in pairs, but worked alone - What he saw confirmed his hunch, the children worked faster while there was competition - This experiment displayed the co-action effect - These studies were the first in Psychology to be written explaining why group change is important to the athletic performance - This was the foundation to sports Psychology research for future studies as well as the first social Psychology experiment - Triplett's results affected other experiments showing that the presence of a person can affect one differently - Co-action was the key to Triplett's observations and explanation, but was later proved that it was unimportant for social facilitation effects - Only the presence of others was necessary in the end "Cancer Drug Shows Promise against MS, but with Some Risks - USATODAY.com." Cancer Drug Shows Promise against MS, but with Some Risks - USATODAY.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 04 Jan. 2013.
"Historical Figures in Social Psychology." Historical Figures in Social Psychology. N.p., n.d. Web. 04 Jan. 2013.
"PSI CHI: The International Honor Society in Psychology." Eye on Psi Chi: Fall 2007. N.p., n.d. Web. 04 Jan. 2013.
"Social" Facilitation" As Challenge and Threat. | Wendy Berry Mendes - Academia.edu." Social" Facilitation" As Challenge and Threat. | Wendy Berry Mendes - Academia.edu. N.p., n.d. Web. 04 Jan. 2013.
"Social Facilitation: How and When Audiences Improve Performance." PsyBlog RSS. N.p., n.d. Web. 04 Jan. 2013.
"Social Facilitation." Social Facilitation. N.p., n.d. Web. 04 Jan. 2013.
"Sport Psychology Process." Donna Perry Consulting. N.p., n.d. Web. 04 Jan. 2013. Norman Triplett - a psychologist who studied at the Indian University - born in 1861 - he wrote the first published study in the field of social psychology - died in 1931
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Quality Bedroom
The Quality bedrooms are provided with sumptuous balconies boasting breathtaking views over the Lake.
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text: The Soluxe Courtyard Hotel Beijing is your best choice for experiencing traditional oriental culture and Chinese folk custom. LocationLocated in Gulou Street of Xicheng District and with a subway station nearby, this hotel is convenient for both business and leisure activity. RoomsThe 156 rooms offer the guests superior staying environment and immersed sense of Ming Dynasty. Each room features LCD television and is well equipped with modern amenities.


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Grasping the Reinforcing Elements of Motor Accidents
According to statistics, over 1.2 million individuals die and around 50 million get wounded annually due to vehicular collisions. This makes every tenth bed in a hospital occupied by a road traffic accident casualty, based on surveys. Even if it is a motorcycle or a semi truck involved, researches present related factors that normally generate traffic crashes. Through data collected from accident reports in the U.S. and U.K., three major factors were determined to be behind auto accidents: humans, road design, and vehicle condition.
Humans include beyond 50 percent of the causes of motor accidents. Additionally, about 95 percent of the accidents under this classification are because of driving while intoxicated. When a motorist is drunk, his ability to drive becomes reduced. A car accident is considered by the United States National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) as alcohol-related if the driver had an estimated blood alcohol content (BAC) of a minimum of 0.01 g/dl.
There are also other cases considered as driver problems, like poor eyesight, sleep deprivation, and disturbance. Many legal systems require applicants for a driving license to pass particular eye assessments, while others allow appropriate vehicle modifications as alternative to eye exams. Sleep deprivation that results in weariness is also a significant source of collisions; it can make a driver feel weak and he can lose control over the steering wheel. On the other hand, car collisions can also happen due to preoccupations while driving. Popular instances include texting while driving and tuning in to loud music.
Auto wreck attorneys also point at road design as a probable source of road traffic accidents. For example, if a road curve is not adequately raised, it might cause a car to crash into the sideway fence. An experienced Utah auto wreck attorney can use this premise to prove his client is not to be blamed for the accident.
On the other hand, a super-elevated curve may not be appropriate for a semi truck driving at an average speed due to its cargo. This circumstance may result in a rollover, where a Utah semi truck accident lawyer must verify that the origin of the accident is faulty road layout.
Occasionally, the driver of a semi truck may lose control of the tires because of second-rate upkeep, leading to badly-configured tires. A legal counsel recommended by a reputable Utah semi truck accident law firm can suggest automobile condition as the source of a vehicular collision.
Ethan Rehman - About Author:
For more informations, please search "Utah auto wreck attorney, Utah semi truck accident lawyer and Utah semi truck accident law firm" in Google.
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Budget cuts bring changes to FDL Library services
In anticipation of reductions in funding, the Fond du Lac Public Library will be changing automation systems in November. Removing the library from the shared Winnefox cataloging system will change to the way library patrons can request materials not found on the Fond du Lac shelves.
Starting August 1, card holders will be able to place holds only on materials that the Fond du Lac Library owns. Materials owned by other libraries will be accessible only through holds made by library Help or Reference desks staff. "Hold" is library shorthand for when a patron requests a specific book, movie or other item that the library finds and holds for later pickup.
Changing automation systems will save the library about $60,000 annually, said library Director Ken Hall. Hall said public funding cuts forced the library to choose from a short list of alternatives: eliminating the shared catalog, reducing the budget for new materials or reducing hours of service.
"We took the option that we believe, in the long term, will have the least-negative impact possible," Hall said. "We believe that, over time, service to our customers will be stronger and better because of this decision."
A vast majority of the library's circulation involves new materials – items a year or two old. Hall said he wanted to preserve funding for new materials so patrons can "get what they want when they want it."
At the same time, use of the main library has shown substantial annual increases since the 2004 building expansion. Use in May 2011 set a record for that month with more than 63,000 items circulated, a 10 percent increase over May 2010. Each year, about 400,000 people visit the main library. Cutting hours flew in the face of customer demand, Hall said.
In fact, the library expects the new Express branch, to open this fall in Johnson Crossing Shopping Center, will alleviate pressure on the main library. The branch, which will replace the current bookmobile parked outside Festival Foods, will be open twice as many hours with a materials collection about three times what the bookmobile holds. The library is opening the branch to better serve city customers in an area of high need. To do so, the bookmobile in Rosendale also will close; its final day of operation will be Friday, August 19.
Even though Fond du Lac is leaving the shared Winnefox catalog system, those materials – as well as materials from libraries across the country – still will be available to patrons, just in a different manner than they've been accustomed to. The materials in question amount to less than 10 percent of the total library circulation.
Starting in November, when the Fond du Lac Library in essence stands alone, patrons will see a much different online catalog. Eventually, Hall said, he wants to improve the automation services available to patrons, who now are used to being able to perform many library service tasks themselves online.
"In the mean time, we know that there will be a transition period," said Support Services Coordinator Lori Burgess. "We hope our customers will have patience with us as we work through the changes."
Because library staff is devoted to providing high-quality customer service, Burgess announced that September will be Patron Appreciation Month: all month the library will offer "Food for Fines." Donating one nonperishable food item will equal $1 of forgiven extended use fees. Replacement charges and referral fees still will apply.
The Fond du Lac Public Library, located at 32 Sheboygan St., supports a high quality of life in Fond du Lac through reading, lifelong learning and community involvement.
For more information, call the library's Help Desk, 920 929 7080, ext. 131; Reference Desk, ext. 118; and detailed information is available in this Q&A.
Waste of Money
I bet that "Express" branch costs at least $10-15,000 per month in rent alone. I now have to go to the Oshkosh website (which is better organized BTW) and have holds sent to the North FDL library to get Winnefox materials. I also go to the West Bend library's website and have holds sent to the Brownsville library to get materials. This extra branch is stupid. If people from the county can't drive an extra two miles to get materials when they are in town for other things as well why bother wasting my tax money on their laziness? Oshkosh is a larger community and only has ONE library and not THREE! How can a government run library (fDL) break away from the others? Who gave permission? I want names and ranks. I stopped in and talked with other libraries in the Fox Valley and they are confused and wondering who is running the FDL library/circus down here and why is it happening.
Leaving the WPL
Why was the patrons who use the FdLPL not asked or surveyed about the decision to leave the WPL before the decision was made?
Needless to say I wish I had paid more attention. Do to family needs my time is very limited, however periodically I do find the time to follow a subject I am interested in. I often found the need for ordering books. I would rather have traded Winnefox for the new branch. That's my two cents.
Should have surveyed the users
I too use the assets of the FDL Library quite a bit. I certainly would have traded Winnefox for the New Branch with no hesitation. It is not like we here in FDL live in a large Metro area where one has to drive miles to get to the library. Not a smart choice in my book. When budget cuts need to be made, why not make use of this wonderful website and poll the actual uses of the library and see what they want?
A fact that should been emphasized
In the July 27 Reporter, I read for the first time the information that the FdL library is paying more for the Winnefox system than similar libraries are. No one likes to feel cheated, and this information casts a different light on the issue, at least for me. Why is this fact not stated in this particular article? I don't see any mention here of the discrepancy in Winnefox costs for FdL as opposed to for other libraries and how you tried for 18 months to get a better deal for FdL before leaving Winnefox. This is pretty significant information, IMO, and if you had stated it earlier, I think it would have really helped library patrons to understand why the decision to leave was made. As it was, we were initially given only some of the reasons that did not totally make sense to a lot of us. Better communication on your part from the start would have helped a lot.
Questions that need to be answered by Library!
My co-workers & myself were discussing the decision made by the director & have come up with some questions that we strongly feel need to be addressed by Hall himself or whoever is in charge of answering questions on this blog & not to be ignored like most questions on here.
1) Why is the Festival Branch named as such? That is free advertising for Festival where the mini mall is NOT owned by Festival.
2) Oshkosh is a larger city than FdL, yet FdL has 4 branches compared to the 1 at Oshkosh. Is there really a need for 4 branches? Assuming having 4 branches is upping the cost paid to be in the Winnefox system. Guessing the cost to FdL would be 4 times as much as the cities that have only 1 branch. Now in this economy, would it not make sense to go down to one branch, pay less to Winnefox & save money all around. You cannot tell us that it is not going to cost money to the FdL library to change all this over.
3) Why will another branch be going in at the East Johnson street mini mall? (Notice it was not stated Festival branch because that is wrong in the calling it that & will be addressed at community meetings.) What about the West side of town, by Pick N Save, Menards? Now why isn't there a Pick N Save branch, a Menards branch? Give these businesses who also employ people & have been a business in FdL a lot longer.
Myself & my co-workers will be watching these blogs to see if the questions here are answered. We are all tax payers & thus the decision made here out tax dollars are being put to poor use in our opinion. Where the decision was made without our input along with the input of the majority of the patrons of the library. We are curious who is actually going to benefit from this change?
The majority of us have children who do utilize the library, not for movies but for reading material. Where in discussing it we are in agreement that the majority of our kids reading material is coming from outside libraries seeing it is not available at the FdL library.
Also in our discussion it was noted that the majority of us do donate to the FdL library. Thus our donations will not be given anymore. We will support the NFdL library who is in the Winnefox system & who we have contacted & were told that we are welcome to utilize the library & the Winnefox system.
It is really sad that a POOR decision was made to benefit a very few with no thought or consideration to the majority of the patrons.
Will be looking for the answers to these questions. Seeing according to the article a lot of thought was put into this decision thus meaning it that is so, than these questions were all considered & it should take no thought to answer them.
Questions that need to be answered:
In answer to your questions:
1. The name of the branch is "FDLPL Express Branch". Festival is not in the name. It is often referred to as being at Festival because the location is recognizable and we have had a parked bookmobile there for about 3 years.
2. We do not have four branches. When the Express Branch opens we will have the Main Library, one Express Branch and a satellite at St. Agnes. There is no cost to operating from St. Agnes except for the cost of the books. You would have to ask OPL why they don't have branches. I can't speak for them.
3. The location of Johnson Crossing was picked because of the high traffic and the fact that it is easily reached by residents of the Holy Land. About 65% of the use of the parked bookmobile is by northeast County residents who have no other library access. We would like to put express branches in the places you mentioned, but obviously can't afford so many.
As been said before, there was never any discussion of leaving the shared catalog in order to pay for an express branch. I understand that you believe that this is a poor decision, and naturally you have a right to your opinion. I hope that in November when all the facts are in, we will be in agreement.
Ken Hall
Outside libraries
In a previous comment you stated that eventually books in other libraries throughout the US will be available. So thus I am assuming that the patrons will be able to put the books on hold & the FdL Library will get them in? So pray tell, how much is that going to cost the library? Now say I want a book that is only available in California - are you telling me that FdL will get such book in for me from that location?
Talk about censoring the replies on here! Too funny! Guess if someone states something that is against the decision or asks a question that you cannot answer block the comment. Just like a survey was taken regarding this change!
Accounting for the savings
I would like to see the breakdown of the $60,000 cost savings calculation. Is there new WALS software Winnefox was requiring? Is it in savings of the FdL Library reimbursement costs to the rural FdL Cty libraries? How does the hours open $ reimbursement factor in?
How about increasing late book fees to raise extra funds - that way no one loses service and no one is required to pay more out of pocket (unless you chose to be late!)
I have some questions. In another page on this site where comments cannot be left, it says: "During an August to November transition time, the catalog will show all Winnefox materials, but patrons will be able to place holds on only materials owned by FDLPL. Holds on non-FDLPL materials will have to be placed by staff (in person, over the phone or by email - [email protected]).
In November, our catalog will show only materials owned by FDLPL, but it will include new and improve features."
Does this mean that beginning in November, we will no longer be able to "hold" materials from other libraries?
And if we are actually able to still place such holds from November on, how will we be able to tell if the other libraries have this material when your catalog no longer tells us whether they do? Are we supposed to guess if the material is available? Do we have to ask a librarian to manually look up every single thing we are interested in that the FdL library does not carry?
As for these "new and improve" features, what might they be that could possibly begin to compensate for what is being taken away?
Winnefox Decision
I am a very heavy user of "Winnefox holds" and would have been happy to pay $1.00 per hold to help this program along.
Charging for holds is not
Charging for holds is not legal under Wisconsin law.
Ken Hall
I do find it hard to believe that cutting hours of service would be that big of an issue. Is it necessary to be open Monday thru Friday at 9 AM & except Friday open until 8 PM? I have looked at other libraries & have seen none yet that have hours of operation that FdL does.
So instead of cutting back on hours penalize the people using the library who have found that FdL does not have many of the selections that they are looking for & are thankful for the Winnefox system.
Also, according to the article in the Reporter the branch office, quote from the article: will alleviate pressure on the main library. Okay, but above it is stated that there will be no new hires for the branch office. So if the pressure is so great at the main location & moving employees to the branch office, thus shorting people at the main location, I still fail to see how it will 'alleviate pressue'. Unless.... There will be no new hires but there will be increased hours for the staff, thus costing the library more money.
Also, did Hall or anyone else look into why FdL was paying so much more for the Winnefox library system than the other locations?
Quote from this article: Cutting hours flew in the face of customer demand, Hall said.
I would like to know which customers Hall surveyed to make such a statement seeing my email is registered with the library & I did not receive a 'survey' asking my opinion on the issue. And know others did not either.
I honestly feel that this move by Hall is going to effect FdL library. I know for one that I will be transferring to NFdL who is in the Winnefox library system & I have emailed them & they will welcome my patronage & support!
The hours of service for
The hours of service for FDLPL -- about 65 hours per week -- are in line with other libraries in communities our size. Take a look at Oshkosh, Neenah, Appleton, for example.
We absolutely looked into why FDL was paying more than other libraries of our size. We took many suggestions and requests for cost savings to Winnefox over the last 18 months. All were rejected.
No, we did not survey customers whether to cut hours. When use of the building continues to rise, I think it is fare to say it flew in the face of customer demand.
Ken Hall
Customer Demand
You have stated that the main building use has risen.
What is the use at the other branches - Rosendale, St Agnes, Festival?
Upon opening the Festival branch will the St Agnes branch close?
Also, seeing holds for outside libraries will need to go through the staff, that will get quite busy for them, wouldn't you say? Seeing as many have commented that they use the Winnefox system quite often. (Can just imagine the waiting line with this...)
WI Public Library Consortium
Will this affect patrons who utilize the WPLC? Since we currently have to log in under the Winnefox Branch?
I am shocked at the negative comments being made about this. People, remember that you have a library to use. I am one of the patrons that will use the Festival area library and have spoken with others that are very happy about the DONATION made to help with the funding. I cannot believe how irrated these messages are. Look at some other reason to get mad. The library should bring you happiness. Think back to when the Winnefox wasn't even an option. This is just temporary. I guess you can't please everyone, but I am a true library patron. I guess the ones that are complaing should start to buy all their materials that they get for free at the library and then see how they like it. Thank you to the library as I for one enjoy.
Fond du Lac Express Branch
The decision to open a FDL Express Branch next to Festival Foods is not needed. One "benefit" in the Reporter was that the rural/East side patrons will have closer access. It is a short drive from Festival to the library. Let's keep the downtown alive.
Also, what about the West side of town patrons. Seems to me they have the same drive the current library as the East side patrons. Why are they less deserving of a more convenient library site??
Keep up the great work at the library we currently have. It is wonderful and we enjoy it!
East Side Patron
What about the St Agnes
What about the St Agnes location? There will thus be 2 locations on the East side & how many on the West side?
As you have said - let's keep downtown alive!
While I am not a fan of leaving the Winnefox system, the simple fact of the matter is when the money isn't there, it isn't there. It is the same reason companies are laying people off, cutting benefits and salaries, or closing down. It is the same reason people are dropping cable, vacations and going out to eat. Tough choices have to be made and I don't think we should hate on the library for being forced to make them. I for one know that I do not have the same info that the library staff does, so I won't judge their desision and will keep using the valuable services that they offer. The library staff has several times found resources for me that were not in the Winnefox system, and I am sure they will continue to get me what I need regardless of if it is in Winnefox or not. No, I don't work for or am not married/dating anyone who does work for, the library system.
Well, this totally stinks. Sure, open a branch way over at Festival Foods that will cost a lot to maintain over the coming months/years and serve only a tiny number of people, but shortchange the main branch and make things inconvenient for the vast majority of users. I'll never donate anything to the library, because I don't like the decisions it makes that have no benefit to me and in fact detract from my use of the library.
Disappointing News
We are actually Neenah patrons who use the Winnefox System. Fond du Lac has been one of our favorite libraries because of their nice selection of Christian and Amish fiction. In fact, because we have an employer who offers matching gifts, we were seriously considering making a donation to Fond du Lac in appreciation for being able to borrow their books. This is disappointing news and I wish you could have found a different way to save money. Perhaps if the library would get out of the business of movie rentals, there would have been money for books and audio-books. Good luck in your new venture.
Winnefox Withdrawal
This decision saddens and concerns me. I can only imagine the extra burden on library staff to accommodate requests for materials not owned by the FdL Public Library. Maybe I am unique in this situation, but a majority of my library holds have been from other libraries in the Winnefox system.
I don't recall seeing an official poll, but I, for one, would have been glad to pay a small fee for items requested, but not held by the Fond du Lac Library, in order to stay in the Winnefox system.
Adding a branch on the east side that serves just a portion of library patrons while severely restricting the choices of ALL library patrons doesn't make sense to me. The Festival branch is just MINUTES from the main branch. People can't drive 5 extra minutes to get to the main library? How much is it going to cost to pay rent, utilities, buy materials and pay staff at the branch per year? Drop the branch; KEEP the Winnefox system for EVERYONE.
I agree with everything this
I agree with everything this patron said. I, too, would've paid a small fee for non fdl books. Opening up a branch by Festival is ridiculous! How much IS that going to cost?
Also Agree
I too agree! You cannot tell me that it will cost less than $60,000 a year for this other branch that will make convenient for a few?
How many patrons of the library would not be willing to pay a small fee for non FdL items?
How many patrons would be willing to pay a fee just for a library card? I for one would not have a problem at all!
Guess someone whose word means more than ours decided it was too far for them to drive to the downtown location. Sad where a decision is made to benefit a few select people!
cutting the patrons from the winne-fox system
Just another bad decision to benefit a select few, We had no vote when they built the library , and as usual we have no vote and no voice in how it would benefit the patrons . They are more then happy to spend taxpayers dollars, they just don't want to hear what the taxpayer has to say. So much for accountablity.
Winnifox vs Branch
I'm very disappointed to learn of the leaving the Winnifox system! I was just considering donating to the branch when I learned of this. That defeats the purpose for me. As a homeschooling Mother of young children, I don't often get to go in the library or upstairs. I so heavily rely on the internet catalog for holds, that not being able to use it will cut down on our usage tremendously! How much is the branch office going to cost to run? More or less than $60,000? I will donate that $100 to keep the Winnifox system running! Stop the branch and keep Winnifox!
Will the ongoing utility
Will the ongoing utility bills and rent be paid by these private donors, too?
What happens if the $40,000 in donations is not met? By my calculations you are short $11,000.
What about next year & the years after? What happens if donations are not sufficient to run that branch?
Has it occurred to you that you will be losing donations by leaving the Winnefox system just to satisfy the whims of a few?
FDL book selection
I certainly hope you plan to pump some money in to your book selection. I have no choice but to use the winnefox system due to the lack of selection, or the many old/outdated books you have on hand at the FDL location. This is definitely going to be a huge disservice to the community. Let me get this straight, the library is having budget issues, so decides to open another branch, in an expensive price per foot shopping center?
Have to suggest whoever is in charge of purchasing books needs to do some research. Have found the series by authors that FdL has one of the books in a series & never the first or last one! If a person is interested in reading a series, yes, they depended on Winnefox, where the other libraries used common sense to make all books in a series available.
Leaving Winnefox is a huge mistake
I think leaving the Winnefox system is a poor decision. Opening a new branch on the east side of the city, another poor decision, only accomodates those who are in that area. Winnefox accomodates all of the people, especially those in rural areas and their community libraries. Connecting small communitty libraries with FDL is a huge benefit to public users. Taking that away is a huge mistake.
Acting independently?
I wonder what you mean by the FDLPL being able to "act independently." Does being a member of Winnefox somehow constrain your operations?
I have to say, this decision does disappoint, as I use the system on a regular basis. I will hold severe criticism in order to allow you the time you request, but it seems that in dire economic times, libraries should work more together, since there is no way that any single one can meet all patron needs.
Thank you for the services you continue to provide.


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Some Law Firms Cut Salaries of Associates; Primate Institute Seeks Developer Executive
Cutting Back
In a rare move, several law firms are rolling back starting salaries for their first-year associates.
Gray, Cary, Ware & Freidenrich LLP recently announced a $10,000 pay cut for its 59 first-year associates. These attorneys, who earned $135,000 a year when they joined last fall, will receive their reduced salaries until June. The Palo Alto, Calif., law firm will re-evaluate their pay in the meantime. "I think the...


text:
You are viewing a story from harrypotterfanfiction.com
Coming Back a Swan by Ginny_RED_Potter
Format: Novel
Chapter 18: Surprises; Part Three
(I am not even going to try and make excuses about my long absence. I'm just going to hope that this long chapter make up for it. It is a very belated birthday present to roseweasley_03. It was originally going to be even longer but I realized that it probably wouldn't all fit. So, next chapter the games begin! Ha Ha! Also, make sure to check out the bottom of this. Until then, enjoy!)
Chapter 18~ Surprises; Part Three
Seventeen, I was living life
Chasing dreams and my hopes were high
Trying to get around my fear of
When and where do I go from here ~ Seventeen, Simon Webbe
The torture continued as the slideshow of my life played out in chronological order. He'd even gotten hold of the video of me singing at age three, giving my own little concert. And the one when I was eleven singing with little Rosaire. The sentimental music even cut out during these video clips so that everyone could hear what we were singing.
What had I done to deserve this?
My pimply preteen face changed at an agonizingly slow pace to my young teenage (and still pimple riddled) face. And then the soft tear-jerker of a song ended on a sickeningly sweet piano note.
My heart lifted, because- as if to assure me everything would be alright and restore the confidence I was struggling to maintain a firm grip on- my fourteen year old self appeared on the screen.
Hair curled to perfection (no doubt by Bee), wearing a V-neck blue dress and no make up, her eyes danced in the artificial light of Grandmere's château sitting room. An electric guitar began to play the opening rift to another familiar- but far less sappy- song and then she spoke.
"Hello ladies and gentlemen, you wanted Allie?" the younger me gave a come-hither look to the camera. "Well you got her."
The song morphed into something new and then took off with a smash and so did the embarrassing pictures. In their place were video of my friends and I dancing (okay, so some of that was a bit embarrassing as well), pictures of the Angels from years past, pictures of the lot of us playing on the beach I so loved at Beauxbatons, and even more of us at various formal events the school held, dancing like maniacs once more. I noticed that a good portion of these had been filched from the room we Angels shared in the château and made a mental note to investigate everyone who had contributed to this embarrassing (if slightly funny) display.
Even though I still loathed surprises, I couldn't help but smile as the sixteen year old Archer threw the fourteen year old me over his shoulder, interrupting whatever conversation I was having with one of the seventh year girls and ran with me kicking and screaming into the salty sea water. Or the fifteen year old versions of Tre and I danced like we'd had far too much sugar in our formal wear at the annual Christmas ball. There was a video at the beach of me on Tre's shoulders and Lynnie on Adam's, we were playing chicken in the water; I knock Lynnie into the water and threw my arms up in victory as Tre spun me around. There was a picture of Andre and me by one of the many bonfires and another of us waltzing at some ball or other. There were several of Henri and me making goofy faces or being ridiculous in general together. There were even pictures of me alone, either posing like some sort of model or making funny faces at the camera. In one of these, I looked over my shoulder at the camera mischievously flirtatious in my Beauxbatons uniform. And there was even one that I wasn't even looking at the camera for; instead I was staring into the distance at something with a slight smile playing on my lips (I had absolutely no recollection of this being taken). Even my family got in on the action with summer pictures of the lot of us here at the château. There were clips of me playing with my little cousins and singing at the top of my lungs into hair brushes with the older ones. There were a ton of pictures of Brigitte and me laughing and posing. And even several of me with my siblings (taken over Christmas and Summer holidays).
It was encouraging to see the vibrant girl in the pictures and videos, so completely happy with life. In the recent chaotic frenzy of family drama I'd lost my grip on her a bit. It was like she had come to remind me of who I was now and to tell me to stop being so melodramatic. The scenes of myself dancing, laughing, singing, playing, and just being happy seemed to truly remind me of why I had left England to begin with. I found myself smiling for real now, instead of forcing it.
When the video ended, everyone clapped and marveled about how good, sweet, adorable and "kick ass" (Adam's words, not mine) it was. What a wonderful birthday present from my friends.
I went to hug Henri and whisper in his ear. "You are so lucky that I'm not about to kick your ass right now."
Tre chuckled, "I told you, man."
"You liked it though, right?" he grinned.
I sighed in a resigned sort of way. "Yes, I liked it."
My friends laughed at my martyred expression.
"But, I mean it, no more surprises!" I warned them severely.
"Um, Allie?" Brigitte was at my elbow. "You'd better come here."
I looked at her face and my anxiety immediately returned, as if it had been waiting in the wings all along. Something was very wrong; I knew it without even having to be told. I followed her and didn't even bulk when I realized where she was taking me. We were heading towards our family's table, which was currently surrounded by Hogwarts people at neighboring tables. Whatever Brigitte had to show me was urgent and I trusted that she wouldn't lead me into the lions' den if it wasn't an absolute necessity.
We stopped in front of a table with many Hogwarts Alumni from my brother's class, and it was a few moments before I realized that my brother was sitting at the center with his are slung around a blonde girl I vaguely remembered him dating at Hogwarts. Marianna something.
He had a cocky smile on his face that I didn't like at all. I barely recognized him as he lounged lazily in his chair as the blonde hung on him like a love-starved lap dog. He was bathing arrogantly in the attention both she and the rest of his former schoolmates were showering upon him. This was not my brother. This was some twisted, distorted version.
Michael had never been cocky or smug with his popularity. But now, it was radiating from every pore in his body. I felt nausea roll through my stomach as I watched the blonde whisper something in his ear.
I now had an idea about why Leah had disappeared in the middle of my party and was struck with the urgent need to find her. What I would be able to do for her in her time of need was uncertain but I knew that I had to be there for her anyway. I didn't bother catching my brother's eye to glower at him. I didn't bother marching up to him and smacking that smug smirk off of his face like I wanted to. I didn't even go yell at him for his audacity, for the utter nerve he had bringing another girl to my party when he knew without a single speck of doubt that Leah would be here and would be even more heartbroken when she saw them together. I wanted to do these things but I put them off for later because my main concern was finding my broken friend immediately and doing everything I could to piece her back together again, at least for tonight. I would deal with my dear brother later.
"C'mon," I muttered, grabbing Bee's hand. "We have to go find Lay."
We set off together, determination in each of our steps. But before we'd gotten barely five of those steps towards the opening of the tent, someone called my name.
It seemed the members of my family were feeling particularly brave tonight. Though I had embarrassed my mother as thoroughly as possible earlier in the night and made my distaste for her friends and their spawn known, she still called me over to her at this most inopportune moment.
I was about to turn around and continue on my quest as if I'd neither seen nor hear her when a cool hand closed around the one that wasn't clutching Brigitte's. I looked to my right to see my Tanti Ingrid.
"Come on, sweetheart." She murmured to me in what I guessed was supposed to be a soothing voice. "Might as well get this over with now." Her firm grip told me that this was not a topic open for debate. I was going to have to surrender and suffer through this before I could dart off to find my best friend and commiserate with her.
I clutched Brigitte's hand even more tightly as my Tanti led me towards the place where my parents stood, surrounded by their friends. We reached them and I stood, most unwillingly, next to my mother as she introduced me to boys I'd already known at Hogwarts and their parents.
"This is Duncan Frenzel," she simpered. "He's in your year at Hogwarts and these are his parents. Mrs. Frenzel works with me in my Department."
"It's nice to see you again," Duncan Frenzel smiled charmingly.
I held in a very unladylike snort. She forgot that I'd gone to that hell of a school? Not likely. I was disgusted at how pleasantly fake all of these introductions were. Drowning in my own disdainful thoughts, I failed to notice the boy a few people to the left in the little circle. He stood with his parents, like the rest of them; a familiar redhead on the arm of an even more familiar man with hauntingly emerald green eyes.
"And, of course, you know James and his parents as well," my mother practically purred to me. It was all for show. I knew, in that moment, exactly where Saundra had gotten her uncanny ability from. My mother was all warmth and politeness as she reintroduced me to the most famous family in the Magical World. She knew exactly what she was doing and she knew exactly how to pretend that she had no clue whatsoever.
"It's lovely to see you again, Allie," said James's mother.
"You as well," I told her, not meeting her son's eye. It wasn't a lie. I did like to see her again. It was her son that I wished would drop off the face of the Earth.
"Happy Birthday," Harry Potter grinned at me.
I blinked. It was very bizarre that the Chosen One was at my birthday party to begin with. But it was a whole other kind of surreal being wished a happy birthday by him personally. I couldn't think of anything to say until my mother stepped on my foot beneath our elegant gowns.
"Ouch!" I shot her a look of severe annoyance. Then turned back to the famous Harry Potter and stammered, "Th-thanks."
To my mortification, as I looked at the floor evasively, I spotted Mrs. Potter stepping on her own child's foot and heard James exclaim in pain, as I had. Then he spoke in a very unenthusiastic tone for the first time since my mother had dragged me over to this not-so-cozy little social circle.
"Happy Birthday," he muttered begrudgingly, as if he wished me nothing of the sort. Which, I am sure, he didn't.
"Thank you," I replied even more grudgingly, trying more to avoid my mother's three inch spike heels than to be polite.
"I have a marvelous idea!" My mother declared and I immediately knew that I would not agree with her definition of 'marvelous'. "Why don't you and James dance and get reacquainted?" She said to me as if this had just occurred to her. I glowered at her, not even bothering to hide it. I knew better than to believe her act, she'd planned this. Why? I had absolutely no idea, except that maybe she harbored some sick dream of having one of her daughters marry into the Potter family (in which case she'd have much more luck with Saundra). "Alexa, loves to dance," she told the Potter's.
I saw Ginny Potter subtly step on her son's foot again. He sighed heavily, looking as if he'd rather be locked in a broom closet with a dementor, before offering his arm to me. I stared in utter horror for a long moment. Then, my own mother pushed me towards him and I was forced to catch his arm for balance.
I cursed my reflexes as he led me out to the dance floor. I would rather have fallen flat on my face in front of all of these people and ripped my gorgeous dress in the process than dance with James Potter.
I gritted my teeth, fighting the urge to hit him as he put one hand dangerously low on my back. My stomach turned sickeningly, a side effect of being touched by a loathsome git. My heart slammed against my chest bewilderingly, though I suppose it had something to do with the angry adrenaline rushing furiously through my veins. To make matters worse, one of my absolute favorite slow songs began to play. I fought a grimace; I would never be able to listen to this song again without this unpleasant memory intruding. I leaned in close- closer than I ever wanted to be to Potter (though he smelled surprisingly good for a foul wanker) - and put my lips near his ear (well, as near as I could get them seeing as he was a head taller than me). To anyone watching, it would probably look like I was whispering sweet nothings to him (ew).
"If you want to keep that hand, Potter," I warned him in a threateningly cheerful voice, "I suggest that you move it higher."
He pulled back and looked at me with an infuriating grin. "I like my hand where it is, thanks."
I locked my jaw, gritting my teeth again to keep a stream of very unladylike curse words from escaping my lips. I was fairly certain that at least three couples near by us on the dance floor were listening intently, hoping to catch a juicy bit of conversation between the birthday girl and little prince of the wizarding world. I was absolutely determined not to be provoked by him. I was going to show him just how blasé I could be. I was going to show him he couldn't get to me anymore.
"Quite the party you throw, Crow."
I ignored him, counting how many choruses and verses were left in the song before I was free again.
"Though, I have to admit, I've never really fancied French food."
I glowered at nothing in particular. I didn't like agreeing with Potter. Even if he wasn't aware that I wasn't very fond of French food either, it made me feel dirty…almost violated.
"The slideshow was… interesting," he continued persistently.
I sighed in an annoyed sort of way and he chuckled.
"Though I have to say that song you sang was my fa-"
That did it.
"You seem to be under the delusion that I actually want to make small talk, Pothead. So let me set you straight. I do not want to talk to you. I do not want to get 'reacquainted'" I sneered at my mother's choice word, "with you in any way. All I want is to finish this dance and get as far away from you and your friends as humanly possible. I didn't invite you, my mother did. And, had I known you and the rest of your cronies and admirers were going to crash my birthday party, I probably wouldn't have even shown up."
He opened his mouth to reply with a strange expression on his face. However, before he got out even one syllable, someone was taping on his shoulder.
A delighted grin spread on my lips as my rescuer said, "May I cut in?"
And, just like that, James Potter stepped aside and Archer was taking his place as my dance partner. Without another word he began to whirled me around the dance floor and away from Potter.
"You're an angel," I laughed gratefully.
"No, that would be you, Ange," he corrected slyly.
I rolled my eyes. "You know what I mean. You saved me. You're my hero," I amended cheerfully.
He grinned, "I dunno, it looked like you were handling yourself pretty well. But I reckoned you weren't too keen on finishing the dance with James Potter."
"You reckoned right," I grinned back.
He twirled me around and I laughed playfully, incredibly relieved to be away from my old enemy. I was elated for a few minutes more, riding on the high of telling Potter off and then being saved before he had a chance to retaliate, joking and laughing with Archer. Until Brigitte found me again and the quest I'd been on before my mother had derailed me came flooding back.
"Oh!" I gasped, astonished that I'd forgotten.
"What's wrong?" Archer asked.
"I- I have to go. Something important," I answered breathlessly. "I owe you another dance later though, okay?" I didn't wait for his reply. Instead, I ran to my cousin and Lynnie and we set off towards the château.
As expected, we found Leah in the château, shut away in our room. She sat on the floor, at the edge of one of the beds, her pretty gown flared out elegantly around her. Her face was in her hands, muffling the quiet sobs that shook her shoulders. My heart ached at the sight of her.
She jumped at the sound of my voice and hastily tried to wipe away all signs of tears.
"H-Hey guys," she said in a nearly chipper tone.
I felt a pitying look, identical to those that Brigitte and Jocelyn were wearing, on my face.
"Oh, Leah," I repeated, rushing to her side there on the floor, my dress poofing out around me, too. Bee and Lynnie followed suit. All four angels sat on the floor in a pool of colorful fabrics. "I'm so sorry about my brother," I told her earnestly. "If I could kick him out, I'd do it in half of a heartbeat but my batty mother has this delusional notion that he deserves to be here." My tone made it abundantly clear that I did not agree.
Her spluttering laugh told me that I'd said the right thing. But it died quickly and her face became pained as she said, "He does, Angelique." The sorrow in her voice was unmistakable. "I broke up with him and he is your brother."
I scoffed, "He doesn't deserve to be here. He's a- wait, you broke up with him?" I blinked in surprise as her words processed.
Leah nodded sadly, looking shamefully down at her perfectly manicured fingernails.
"But…why?" asked Brigitte, sounding as baffled as I felt.
"He- he," she took a deep breath, trying to control her trembling voice. "He just made me so angry."
"How?" Jocelyn prodded.
Leah closed her eyes tightly for a moment, evidently fighting an internal struggle. She took a deep breath and then told us, "I asked him what your row had been about and he said 'Saundra'. I asked him why you were rowing about Saundra and he told me. Then he told me what he said and what he was going to say before you stormed off. And I- I dunno…I just snapped." Her eyes were wide as she recalled the tumultuous night at my parents' house. "I started shouting at him about all you'd been through and telling him Saundra needs to grow up and be happy for you like a real sister. And he told me that Saundra is your real sister. Your only real sister, no matter what anyone else might think. I told him that a real sister would actually spend time with you and jump at the opportunity to get to know your friends instead of just sticking her nose up every time we're around. And then, he said that you barely gave Saundra the chance and you'd gotten so wrapped up in the 'Angels' that- well, that was the last straw," her lips puckered sourly at the memory. "So, before I knew what I was doing, I told him that- if he disliked les Anges so much- perhaps he shouldn't be dating one. And then," her voice shook as she remembered, "I heard myself tell him we were finished and I slammed the door in his face."
"Oh, Leah," I groaned, with a dreadful sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach. It was my fault after all. "I'm so sorry."
She blinked at me blankly. "What are you sorry for?"
"For coming between you and Michael. I never dreamed you two would split over me. I-I-"
"Alexa Diabolique Swan," she looked at me, suddenly stern. "Not everything is about you."
It was my turn to blink, not only at the use of my full name, but also at her harsh words. She sounded like Saundra.
"I'll have you know that it was entirely my decision to break up with your brother. You couldn't have broken us up, even if you wanted to, and- don't lie- you know you thought about it in the beginning."
"Well, the two of you were rather disgusting," Lynnie interjected.
"Yes, I broke up with Michael largely because of how he treated you that night," she continued, ignoring Lynnie. "But, the fact remains, I broke it off, not you."
"Yeah, okay Lay," Brigitte sighed in slight exasperation. "We get it; you're a big girl who makes her own decisions. But do you want to be broken up with Michael?"
Leah was silent for a moment, her bottom lip quivering. She sobbed, the flood gates finally bursting. "NO!"
We converged into a group hug around her, each of us making soothing sympathetic noises. When we had finally got her tears to subside I told her.
"There is really only one thing left to do then."
She looked at me with a befuddled expression. "What?"
"Fight back," Brigitte and I answered intensely in unison. If it hadn't been such a tense sort of moment we probably would have laughed as we usually did when this unintentional synchronization took place. But none of us did.
"How?" She asked in a defeated voice.
"Well that's easy," Lynnie shrugged. "Make him jealous. Let him see you with a fit bloke. It drives them mad."
Brigitte looked like she might explode with pride at Lynnie's love saaviness. "That's brilliant, Lyn!"
Jocelyn shrugged again. "It's what he did, isn't it? He brought some slag to make Leah jealous and it worked."
"I dunno," Leah and I said together reluctantly.
I was all for Leah fighting to win my big brother back but I wasn't sure that both this was the way to do it. Fighting fire with fire usually tended to leave both parties burned.
"Desperate times," was all Bee had to say in response before she began to fix Leah's disheveled hair and make up. She didn't even scold her or complain about having to redo it.
I sighed and, knowing I would lose the battle anyway, decided to drop it.
The four of us reentered the party fifteen minutes later, radiating confidence and fully versed on the plan. It was beyond convenient that Leah had the perfect guy to make my brother jealous right at her fingertips. Both Leah and I voiced our apprehension at using Derrill in such a manner. But Lynnie and Bee quickly reminded us that he would be a more than willing participant and he wasn't exactly innocent.
So, with the air of four girls who knew that they had the entire world at their fingertips, we sauntered back to our table.
"Where the hell have you lot been?" Roxanne asked with a suspicious look when she saw us.
"Just freshening up," I answered with a cool smile.
She rolled her eyes at us. "Yeah, like you four really ever need to 'freshen up'," I could hear the air quotes in her tone and smiled for real. She and Lynnie may have both been tomboys but they'd both proved tonight that they were just as intuitive as any girly girl.
We stepped easily back into the circle, mingling and laughing and dancing like nothing was wrong. I glanced towards my brother surreptitiously and instead locked eyes with a pair of icy blues.
Saundra was looking directly at me from her spot at my brother's table. Her expression was blank but I could read it perfectly all the same. With a pang of discomfort, I realized I was acting a bit like her, sitting here pretending the world was perfect when it most certainly wasn't. I was pretending Leah was flirting with Derrill because she wanted to, pretending that there weren't any people here who I hadn't invited, pretending I wasn't fighting with every single member of my immediate family. Maybe it was a genetic trait.
I was consoled by reminding myself that I hadn't been in the hospital hours before this party. Nothing was seriously wrong with me, it was just teenage drama. My best friend and brother trying to make each other jealous and my family finding ways to infuriate me were not equal to a hospitalization.
I stuck my chin out in a look of defiance at my sister and the accusations of hypocrisy I could feel her hurling at me mentally, then turned back to my friends just in time to see Derrill lead Leah to the dance floor for a slow song. From the corner of my eye, I saw Michael stiffen ever so slightly. If I hadn't been waiting for it I would never have noticed.
Here we go, I thought. There was no turning back now. I looked at Bee and could tell she was thinking the exact same thing.
I watched my brother's expression with baited breath as Derrill twirled Leah around and then held her close. He whispered something in her ear and an utterly effortless laugh rang like a bell over the music. I could practically feel my brother's jealousy seething underneath his carefully cool expression from across the room.
Good, I thought, trying to reassure myself. That means its working.
I looked over to get a better view of Michael's expression, unable to resist, and saw something else instead. Saundra was no longer watching me gravely but talking animatedly and laughing with James Potter. My stomach did a sickening flip and I fought back the wave of nausea it brought. It took me a moment longer than it should have to realize that, not only was Potter flirting with my unstable little sister, but there was a small blonde boy on his back looking beyond thrilled to be there. I looked a bit closer and realized it was one of the twins that I saw run to him at the wedding. The scene was so strange that I had to look away; Potter was a sleaze, not someone who played with kids. People who played with kids were funny and kind-hearted, Potter wasn't.
I didn't look away fast enough. Potter slid the little boy off his back and the two did some sort of secret handshake before the boy ran off. Once he was gone, Saundra got up and began to lead him from the tent.
I couldn't watch anymore. I tore my eyes away and fought the dreadful feelings in my chest. I would not go after her. My sister had made it very clear that she neither wanted nor need me. When my mother came to ask me where she was later, I would tell her I didn't know. When she cried over this horrible mistake of a fling, I wouldn't be here to hold her this time. My sister was on her own. I felt a pang of sadness as my heart had hardened but refused to worry a second longer about it.
I looked at Bee instead and saw that she'd gone rigid and was looking at the dance floor with wide, dumbstruck eyes. My head whipped around to see that Leah and Derrill had stopped dancing. Instead, they were snogging passionately for everyone at the party to see. Everyone, including my brother.
The sunlight peaked through the curtains knowing it was unwelcome and my head pounded a steady rhythm. My lips felt swollen and my eyes ached under thin lids.
"Uuuuungggh," I groaned, and then asked in a fading, raspy voice, "can pizza give you a hangover?"
"Yes," Leah replied her voice cracking on the word. I opened my eyes a fraction and could see her sprawled out on the bed next to mine, next to Lynnie. I noticed that her lips were also swollen- though I suspected it wasn't a pizza hangover, in her case.
"It was the bacon," rasped Bee.
"No, it was the olives," Lynnie moaned.
"Lynnie, it was the bacon."
"Olives. Definitely the olives."
Leah made a noise between a laugh and a groan, "Maybe it was the champagne."
" No, I still think it was the olives."
I felt Bee lift herself slightly and heard a thump as the pillow she'd thrown hit Lynnie in the face.
"It was the bacon."
The next day, I sat at the breakfast table with Bee, Lynnie and Leah discussing whether or not to go shopping in Paris today or take the Floo Network to Tre's family's summer house on the beach. We were in the middle of setting up a Pro-Con list when a low swooshing sound interrupted us. The family owl dropped a letter into my lap before going to Grandmere for a treat.
I stared down at the familiar handwriting suspiciously. Why would my father be writing me?
I glanced apprehensively up at Bee, Lynnie, and Leah.
"Qui est-ce à partir, Angélique?" asked Bee.
"My dad," I answered in a dazed voice.
Even Grandmere turned around to gape at me.
"Eh bien, c'est ouvert!" Lynnie exclaimed.
So, I did. I opened it.
It was the biggest mistake of my life.
(There are certain songs that I imagine to be playing during the slide show thing that Henri makes for Allie. Specifically during the part where the song changes to a rock song and her Post-Hogwarts pictures and video come up. I thought I'd share a few with you lovely readers....
Ça Plane Pour Moi – Plastic Bertrand
The Great Escape- BoysLikeGirls
Just Can't Get Enough- Sam Walker
Love Like Woe- The Ready Set
Get Out of London- Intaferon
Firework- Katy Perry
Dog Days Are Over- Florence and the Machine
Animal- Neon Trees
Kids in Love- Mayday Parade
Around My Head- Cage the Elephant
Grace Kelly- MIKA


text:
PORTLAND, Ore. -- Asked before the season about Kevin Durant's chances to claim the NBA's Most Valuable Player trophy, Steve Kerr had a glib answer.
"He is kind of like Gary Johnson, a third-party guy who might come in and take a few votes from Steph (Curry), take some votes from LeBron (James)," the Golden State coach said. "Then Damian Lillard wins the election. That's my forecast."
Kerr has a reason to have a high opinion of Lillard, who will lead the Portland Trail Blazers into action against the Warriors Tuesday night at the Moda Center.
Portland Trail Blazers (2-1) vs. Golden State Warriors (2-1)
At Moda Center, Portland, Oregon
Time: 7 p.m.
Radio: 620 AM
When Portland beat Golden State 137-105 on Feb. 19, handing the Warriors their most one-sided defeat in four years, Lillard had a career-high 51 points on 18-for-28 shooting, including 9-for-12 on 3-pointers.
WATCH: Highlights of Lillard's 51-point outing against the Warriors
Portland's All-Star point guard averaged 36.5 points in four regular-season games against Golden State last season, then 31.8 points as the Warriors eliminated the Blazers in five games in the Western Conference semifinals. Lillard is off to a sizzling start to this season, averaging 35.0 points, 8.0 rebounds and 5.3 assists in the first three games while shooting .549 from the field, .444 from 3-point range and .905 from the foul line.
Lillard had 37 points and seven assists and scored the game-winning shot on a runner with .3 of a second in overtime as Portland won at Denver 115-113 Saturday night. The Blazers rallied from an eight-point deficit in the final 1:15 of regulation.
"We would have lost this game last year," said Lillard, who has helped the Blazers to a 2-1 start. "This game felt like the game last year in Milwaukee, where we were in position to win and they took over the game and we couldn't figure it out (in a 90-88 loss). Tonight, we actually got over the hump. That was good. That showed growth.
"We didn't just get lucky. We made plays. We got stops. We executed. We competed. We did all the things that give us a chance to win the game. It's like, this is what good teams do. You find a way to win it."
Golden State found a way to win Sunday night at Phoenix, though it took the Warriors nearly all of 48 minutes to dispose of the Suns 106-100. Durant scored 37 points, hitting 10 of 16 shots from the field, 2 of 4 from 3-point range and 15 of 16 from the line.
"I was just taking what the defense was giving me," Durant said after his best performance in a Warrior uniform. "If you play me straight up, I like my chances. I try to get (to the line) as much as possible."
Curry scored 28 points, making 9 of 17 shots from the field, 5 of 8 on 3-pointers and 5 of 5 foul shots, and Draymond Green had nine points, 13 rebounds and nine assists for the Warriors, who are 2-1 but still not in a groove as Durant assimilates into their system.
"We are not clicking," Kerr said. "Everyone can see that. It will come, but the main thing while we are going through this process is to continue to compete and try to pick up wins."
Game notes
- Last season, the Warriors were 3-1 (.750) against the Trail Blazers and averaged 124.3 points per game in those four games. This was the second-highest scoring output by one team versus any other team (minimum four games played) in the NBA last season (Warriors vs. Suns, 124.5).
- The Blazers won in Denver, 115-113, on Saturday thanks to Damian Lillard's game-winning basket with less than a second left in overtime. Last season, Portland went 2-3 in overtime games.
- The Warriors defeated the Suns 106-100 in Phoenix on Sunday despite shooting just 27.6 percent from downtown. On the year, the Warriors are shooting 26.7 percent from the three-point arc but have made up for it by averaging 20.0 points per game on fast breaks (third in NBA).
- Despite the team's struggles from distance, Steph Curry is still shooting .429 from distance (12-for-28). In his eight-year career, Curry has a 44.4 three-point percentage -- second highest of any player in NBA history with at least 300 threes made, trailing only his current head coach, Steve Kerr (45.4 percent).
- Damian Lillard is averaging 35.0 points per game this season (tied for third in the NBA) and his 23.7 field-goal attempts per game ranks fourth. He also has 16.0 points in the paint per game thus far, third most in the NBA.
- Through three games thus far, Kevin Durant is averaging career highs in field-goal percentage (56.6 percent), free-throw attempts (11.0), rebounds (10.3), steals (2.67), and blocks (1.67).