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40 may be homeless as fire rips through Coram apartment complex
A fire ripped through a 16-unit apartment complex in Coram Sunday afternoon, leaving as many as 40 people homeless, officials said.
The fire at 24 El Camino Ct. was first reported at 1:27 p.m., Suffolk police said. Coram firefighters, joined by four other departments, battled the blaze, which was under control by 3:30 p.m., according to the Coram fire dispatcher.
Police said no one appeared to be injured in the fire. Fire officials did not respond to requests for further comment about the fire Sunday evening.
Melissa Card, 36, a retail manager who lives in the complex, said she had arrived home early Sunday afternoon to find her apartment filled with smoke and burn marks on her bathroom ceiling.
Card said she ran downstairs to alert a neighbor before everyone fled from the building.
"After we were all outside, the whole roof was engulfed in flames," Card said.
Card said she doesn't expect anything to be salvageable from her apartment.
"It's only stuff," she said. "Everything can be replaced."
Craig Cooper, a spokesman for the American Red Cross on Long Island, said the agency provided temporary housing at hotels for six of the 16 families. The other 10 families found places to stay on their own, he said.
All but two of the families received financial assistance for clothing and other personal items.
The Red Cross also provided a disaster mental-health specialist for the families.

subset: commoncrawl


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Phoenix Dawn from Jake Kotze on Vimeo.
Ill update, arrange and explain the stills and video a bit over the next few days, so check back in if you want to learn more...
This video was requested by Andras Jones to accompany his Radio8Ball show and guest appearance with Rae Dawn Chong.
Here is the Facebook events page for this particular show.
And here is Rae Dawns warm REsponse. Such kind words.
Radio8Ball - Rae Dawn Chong pt. 1 from the archiver on Vimeo.
Radio8Ball - Rae Dawn Chong pt. 2 from the archiver on Vimeo.
When I made the Phoenix Dawn video I imagined I was talking directly to her. I feel like the part of me that creates - the silent mystery - was heard by the part inside her that creates.
Julie Andrews runs through a patch of Yellow Flowers a personal sync favorite and strange attractor to themes of Jupiter.
Julie is a form of Julius meaning youthful and Son of Jupiter/Jove. Jupiter is the Jovian sphere thus the planet of Joy.
We see a breakdancer doing a backspin on the Twin Towers on the poster for Beat Street. The WTC is significant as their destruction - the symbolic collapse of the external Holy Temple - mark the beginning of our rapid transformation into Conscious facets of the greater Being WE/ME are. The collapse of the Twins or 2 (I-I) signifies the destruction of duality and collective movement towards unified awareness.
That the WTC structure strange attracts a dancer shows how the tragedy is also a reason to party. Just like any death, it veils a rebirth. In this case the Phoenix that rises from the WTC's ashes worth dancing/celebrating is Your own awareness of existing a.k.a Cosmic Consciousness.
This transformation of unconscious violent act of destruction into the very substance of awareness is a miracle if I could ever point at one.
Rae Dawn stars in another WTC featuring film The Squeeze. It's poster is fascinating to say the least. We see Batman Micheal Keaton being compressed between the holy of holies of the cracking Twin Pillars by a giant hand. I have ran across this image before but as I can't find a torrent online, nor a DVD in stores (possibly no such thing has been pressed yet..) its mysteries remain sealed to us, for now..
In Beat Street we meet Breakdancer Lee Kirkland and his older brother DJ Kenny 'Double K' Kirkland.
Lee looks at himself in the mirror and sees the Tiger, animal of 2010 and similarly striped resonator of Jupiter. This is the union of Jupiter and Moon as mirrors are resonators of the moon.
Jupiter Moon to be explored at length in the next 'biggish' post Scarlet Dragon 3.
That this is happening in the room of Double K shows how the Jupiter/Tiger is central to the realization of K2 (11:11) or Kosmic Konsciousness.
Above is Double K performing at his tragically deceased friend Ramo's wake party. The WTC crowns 'Double K' as a birthday cake with sparklers moves into shot. Perfectly susynct as 911 was WE/ME's Birthday, intimately connected with Death. The real death is the change in collective identity. Moving away from being just a limited individual self into the greater Being of I AM.
We have seen the symbol of Kosmic Konsciousness, Double K, strange attracted to the Twins before. This is the neon lightning bolt - bolts are from Zeus/Jupiter, same story over and over, dig? - K's of King Kupa being held by blue hands decorating the side of one of the Twin Towers in the 1993 Super Mario Bros. movie.
Lee and Double K live in the the mid eighties South Bronx where blossoming Hip-Hop, DJ, Graffiti and Breakdancing culture is the order of the day.
The below syncs from Commando I just forgot to put in the video. Its a shame as they are strong.
Schwarzenegger gets a clue, a key the the Sunspot hotel.
He and Rae Dawn arrive at the Sunspot in a beat up yellow Porsche. Yellow cars are resonators of the sun gods chariot. I had to surrender a bit to not be upset at neglecting to include this one.
Tales From The Dark Side: The Movie
Rae Dawn passes five Rider Waite Tarot cards, stuck up on the wall of an artists studio. The're tiny but if you look carefully you can just make out The High Priestess at the top. Eventually this work will be done with higher rez material..
Later at an art gallery the camera has jast panned from left, where stands Rae Dawn, to this dude who moves just so that the words AR or RA, the sun god, appears. A good one but tricky to justify putting in the video as other Rae Dawn sun syncs are so overt and many folks are still worming to this sync logic we take for granted.


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A PIN or LID is a unique code that is permanently assigned to a single physical location and is required to purchase official animal identification tags. Each State administers PIN or LID registration. Learn more.
Hungry pests are invasive species that threaten to harm our crops and trees. Left unchecked, they can devastate entire agricultural industries, eliminating jobs, threatening our food supplies and costing billions.
African swine fever is a highly contagious and deadly viral disease affecting both domestic and wild pigs of all ages. ASF is not a threat to human health and cannot be transmitted from pigs to humans. It is not a food safety issue. Learn More.
Feral swine (Sus scrofa) are a rapidly expanding invasive species in the United States damaging agriculture, natural resources, property, cultural sites, and are a disease risk to people, pets, and livestock. Manage the damage and stop feral swine!
Are you travelling to or from another country and bringing along Fluffy or Fido? You'll need to meet the animal health requirements of the country you are visiting. Learn more about Pet Travel.


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On Monday night, "Dancing With the Stars" returned to a two-hour show, allowing time for the remaining couples to perform two dances each: one ballroom dance, and one Latin dance set in a particular era. And what did we learn from seeing everyone do two dances instead of one? Mostly that the same differences that exist among the couples looked twice as large.
Niecy Nash had the toughest night of anyone. Her Viennese waltz was pretty, but the judges weren't wild about her arm movements. Carrie Ann Inaba insisted that there was something wrong with the actress' "transitions."
It's interesting to note that the difference between good judges and bad judges is often the ability to put criticism in terms that both the contestant and the audience can understand. Carrie Ann's repetition of the word "transitions" — which is a perfectly good dance word, but undoubtedly means almost nothing to many of the show's viewers — would have benefited from a little more explanation.
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Niecy's second performance was a paso doble inspired by the 1970s. The criticism here was even less specific than the criticism of her waltz, with Len Goodman assuring her that the dance simply didn't suit her, whatever that means. Niecy managed to outlast Pamela Anderson last week, but she's unlikely to survive a brush with Chad Ochocinco when it comes to popularity.
Chad is only two points ahead of Niecy, having flopped with a tango and then rallied a little with a '60s-inspired jive. The judges' comments were again difficult to parse, as they reacted to his jive by calling the kicks — a very fundamental element — "terrible," but then scoring the dance fairly high anyway. Indeed, Chad's performance in the jive showed almost none of the light-footed energy that the dance typically requires, but the judges seemed to be eager to give him points for attitude, and they went very easy on him.
Two couples wound up in a tie. Erin Andrews and Maksim Chmerkovskiy really impressed the judges with their Argentine tango, and then not so much with a rumba that seemed inspired by the aerobics craze of the '80s (complete with leg warmers). Evan Lysacek and Anna Trebunskaya were more even, with a waltz and a cha-cha from the future that got good — but not great — marks. Both of these couples ended the night with a total of 53 points each.
Way out in the lead, fully six points ahead of Erin and Evan (not to mention 16 points ahead of Niecy) were Nicole Scherzinger and Derek Hough, whose technical superiority only becomes more conspicuous as the competition continues and the judges feel less obligated to pretend that a trained dancer like Nicole is playing on the same field as people like Chad and Erin.
Two dances — a foxtrot and a paso doble from the '50s — earned them a total of 59 points, one point short of perfect scores for both. Ironically, as there's less and less of a pretense that she can be held back from getting pretty much nothing but 10s, the Nicole story continues to grow duller. Sure, she's a great dancer, but it becomes more evident by the week that the only question in the finals will be whether Nicole's scoring advantage with the judges can be overcome by the advantage anyone else is likely to have over her in the viewer voting.
It's still true that Evan probably has the best chance to beat Nicole, but the judges aren't doing him any favors with vague, unhelpful critiques like Carrie Ann's insistence that he had to "lose himself" — a criticism she backed up with nothing he could actually incorporate into his training.
Nicole's built-in advantages — those things that make her, to fans of the show, a "ringer" — continue to be obvious enough that she may have a hard time actually winning viewers over. But these final weeks in which she's romping all over the competition from a technical standpoint are getting pretty dull.
Linda Holmes is a writer in Washington.


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Israeli soldiers raiding a house in Hebron.
On Thursday night, three Israeli boys aged between 16 and 19 were travelling home from their Jewish religious schools, based in the illegal settlements of Gush Etzion and Kiryat Arba in the southern West Bank. The teenagers, Gilad Shaer, Naftali Frenkel and Eyal Ifrach, were reportedly hitchhiking. They didn't make it home.
In the early hours Friday morning, they were reported missing; that afternoon, assumed kidnapped. As the weekend progressed the Israeli government announced that the teenagers had been captured by "Hamas terrorists", and launched a full-scale operation dubbed #BringBackOurBoys.
Now, Palestinians are facing the brutality of a search operation that's wreaking havoc across the West Bank. Hebron is a city under siege. Homes are being raided with apparently indiscriminate force, and so far over 160 Palestinians have been arrested by Israeli authorities.
In what is so far the campaign's only fatality, Ahmad Sabareen was shot dead by IDF forces in Jalazon last night. The 20-year-old was struck in the chest as Israeli troops conducted house-to-house searches in the refugee camp close to Ramallah, and according to medics died from his wounds shortly after arriving at the hospital. He had been released from prison just one week ago.
Targeted strategy, widespread suffering
Among the lenghty list of those detained in the past four days are Abdel Aziz Dweik, the speaker of the Palestinian Legislative Council, and 9 PLC members, one of whom has since been released. Arrests have primarily targeted Hamas, along with some members of Islamic Jihad: last night alone, around 40 members were arrested across the occupied West Bank.
"This is very obviously targeting Hamas," Gavan Kelly, Advocacy Coordinator at Addameer, told Palestine Monitor. "It's quite clear that Hamas is the enemy of Israel, and this is the perfect pretext for a crackdown. There is also concern that they are going to target Hamas members inside the prisons."
In Hebron, however, home raids continue to confine, injure and traumatise the whole community, not just the politically active. Throughout last night, the doors of homes were blown open as soldier forced their way inside; photographs show family kitchens turned upside down, with smashed crockery and damaged groceries littering the floor. "The situation is very tense," Hisham Sharabati, a local human rights fieldworker, told Palestine Monitor. "In some places they are simply raiding all of the houses in the village, targeting everybody."
In one of the most serious home incursions 8-year-old Mohammed Akram Qawasami was hit in the chest with shrapnel after the doors of his home in Khawlet al Majhabi were blasted open. "He was stuck in the house with shrapnel in his chest for 35 minutes," Sharabati said. "His mother carried him out of the house, and Israeli soldiers were pointing their guns at her, telling her to go back inside, but she refused. Eventually they took him to Hadassah hospital."
In another reported incident, Youfri Jamal, a former Reuters cameraman, woke up to see military in the living room as he slept in bed. He quickly shut the door, asking for a moment so he and his wife could get dressed, but says the soldiers forced their way in. "Afterwards, he was blindfolded and cuffed, and kept in the same place for some time, because they wanted to arrest his brother," Sharabati explained. Youfri himself was not wanted by police.
"This is more than just arresting suspects," Sharabati said. "This is collective punishment, and collective punishment is a war crime."
A political opportunity
Hamas spokespeople have denied responsibility for the kidnappings – with one official, Abu Zuhri, even going so far as to call Netanyahu's accusation "stupid." But some have also praised the incident, calling for similar actions in order to exact leverage on the Israeli government. IDF officials, in turn, have focused tough PR talk on those they deem responsible for the disappearance.
"Palestinian terrorists will not feel safe," IDF Spokesman Lt. Col. Peter Lerner stated in an IDF blog. "They will not be able to hide and will feel the heavy arm of Israel's military capabilities."
Netanyahu, too, issued uncompromising, and sometimes incendiary, statements not just to Hamas but to the Palestinian Authority itself. "Those who carried out the kidnapping of our youngsters are Hamas people," he said. "The same Hamas with whom Abu Mazen has forged a unity government, which has very serious implications." The Israeli Prime Minister has made it clear that he holds the Palestinian Authority and its officials responsible for Thursday's incident, despite the fact that the teenagers were hitchhiking in Area C and from Gush Etzion, both areas under total Israeli control.
Neither verbal attacks nor violent crackdowns, however, have dissuaded Abbas from cooperating with Israeli authorities in the search for the missing settlers. On Monday, in the first conversation in more than a year, Netanyahu reportedly told the Palestinian President that he expected his help in finding the boys. Abbas released on a statement on Monday pledging assistance. The PA, however, has refused to accept responsibility for the disappearance.
Worse to come?
As the West Bank anticipates another night of raids and arrests, Israel has enlisted reservists for action and is considering its options for further crackdown on Hamas members. According to Haaretz, possibilities include expelling top Hamas operatives to Gaza, demolishing their homes and imposing sanctions on Hamas inmates in Israeli prisons.
The legal legitimacy of such moves is shaky, and the consequences, particularly for the newly formed unity government, could be profound. Addameer's Gavan Kelly, however, believes even Israel's stronger threats could be enacted in the near future. "We're looking toward elections, which are planned, at least, to take place in the next six months," he explained. "Israel has been watching the consequences of those elections, and the potential gains of Hamas, very carefully."
In the West Bank, meanwhile, the crackdown continues to exert an unbearably heavy toll on the lives of ordinary Palestinians. "People are very tense and anxious," Sharabati said, as the people of Hebron anticipate another night of violence. "Everyone is expecting their house to get raided. The children are now on summer vacation: my wife and I have to go to work, and my twelve year old son is at home. Earlier today he called me to say there is an Israeli jeep in the street. People are expecting the worst."
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"The Voice" is about to do it live.
NBC's hit singing competition returned Tuesday night for week three of battles – with one more battle round left before the show kicks into live competition mode. Last week the celebrity coaches were mostly united on which hopefuls should advance. This time it often seemed no one wanted to send anyone home. Here's how it all went down:
Team Christina
For the first battle of the night, Christina Aguilera paired up 16-year-old Raquel "Little Mama" Castro with Julia Eason, the soccer player who'd rather be a pop star. During mentoring scenes, Christina revealed that ahead of her own performances she gets so nervous she fears she might throw up or pee her pants. Okay then. After the hopefuls sang Rihanna's "Only Girl (In the World)," Cee Lo Green gave the nod to Raquel, while country star Blake Shelton threw his support to Julia. Adam Levine called both performers "dead even vocally" but acknowledged that Raquel had "this thing." Christina said it was a hard choice for her but agreed Raquel had "worked it." The youngster moves on.
U.S. & World
Team Blake
Next up, children's book author Dia Frampton squared off against Serabee, a southern preacher's daughter. After Blake Shelton told the pair to sing "You Can't Hurry Love" by The Supremes, Dia voiced concerns about stage fright while Serabee confidently proclaimed this was her moment to "do what I was born to do." Blake warned Serabee not to "overdo it," but judging by the verbal acrobatics that followed she didn't take the advice to heart. Cee Lo called both performances "bizarre," though he gave Dia the edge based solely on her voice. Adam said Serabee was "carefree" in her duet, making Dia look "timid" by comparison. Blake telegraphed his decision by telling Serabee, "Just because you can sing certain notes doesn't mean you have to do it all the time."
Team Adam
This week Adam paired up Rebecca Loebe with Devon Barley, the medical student who took time off from his studies to pursue his singing dreams. The pair was told to sing "Creep," which would seem to benefit Rebecca since Radiohead was one of her favorite bands, and put Devon at a disadvantage because he didn't know the song. Black said he couldn't choose a winner, but Christina said Devon "stole the choruses." Cee Lo said he liked Devon since his voice sounded nothing like the straight-laced man on stage. Adam said he was "split down the middle." Pressed to pick a winner, the Maroon 5 frontman advanced Devon based on "performance alone." Before the show moved on to the next pairing, Adam was caught on tape telling Rebecca not to give up playing music.
Team Cee Lo
Last week, the vocal duo Elenowen got the boot from Team Blake. This week, Cee Lo chose the duo Tori & Taylor Thompson to go up against Kelsey Ray. The performers were told to sing Natasha Bedingfield's "Unwritten," aka the theme from MTV's "The Hills." Once again, Adam said he couldn't choose a winner since everyone looked "too cute." Blake said he'd pick Kelsey since she seemed the more "seasoned" singer. Christina chose Tori & Taylor, and ultimately Cee Lo did too – reversing a pledge not be "swept away by their innocence."
Next week, celebrity coaches will solidify their four person teams in a final battle round.


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There's no avoiding it -- creating a lasting and loving marriage takes a lot of work. That's just the way it is. Marriage demands a lot and gives a lot. If you want the benefits of a deeply committed and loving relationship, then you have to be willing to put in the effort to make it happen.
It's not mystical.
It's as simple as preparing for a marathon. If you don't follow a daily training regimen, you won't finish the race. And if you don't train for marriage by working on your communication skills, by learning to give to your partner, by building trust, by expressing your love in word and deed, then you'll have what too many married couples have -- unhappiness.
I am an unabashed supporter of marriage. Not because I have any illusions about it -- I make my living treating problematic relationships. But I have never found any other relationship that has the potential to create such a deep connection and that offers such an opportunity for personal and spiritual growth. The challenge of marriage is directly proportional to its potential.
The test for true soul mates is to learn how to create a love that succeeds in breaking down the barriers of ego and selfishness enabling one another to reach genuine intimacy.
To succeed, however, we must make a very clear distinction between the simplistic definition of love that we've been brainwashed to accept and the deeper meaning of love that forms the basis of a true intimate connection.
The Language of Love
Much of our misperception of love is based on how we use it in our everyday speech. For example, take the expression:"We fall in love." Fall means to stumble, to trip, to lose one's balance -- to be out of control. Is love then an accident, an unconscious descent into the unknown? Is love something that bypasses conscious choice and rationality? From our use of language you would have no concept of love as a creative act. Too many of us think that love just happens.
Contemporary language views love not just as an accident; it's madness.
Yet, contemporary language takes us far beyond the falling metaphor to describe the experience of love. It's not just an accident; it's madness. Look how we describe being in love: "I'm crazy about you." "She's mad about him." "He's gone absolutely nuts over her." "I can't live without you."
You would think from these descriptions that love is a temporary state of madness, a delusion, a psychotic episode. One would assume from this process of love that first you have an accidental experience and "fall in love" followed by a condition of temporary insanity called "being in love" in which there is a deep sense that I am nothing without you.
We might also believe that as mysterious as it is to fall into love, it's equally as irrational to fall out of love. Does a person suddenly reach a euphoric state and then, just as quickly, feel it wear off, only to return to a state of emptiness and despair? If this is what love is, then it's not surprising that relationships have such trouble. How can you possibly succeed at something over which you have no control or for which you take no responsibility?
What Love Is and Isn't
We need to come up with a better definition of what love is, one which will help us to understand what relationships are and how we can succeed at love.
First, let me tell you what love is not. It's not a dreamy, blissful state where all fears, doubts, and worries melt away as we merge into one flesh. And it's not those glorious first moments when you were swept away on a wave of ecstasy, though I know that's what the music industry and Hollywood would like us to believe.
Real love is not synonymous with losing control or going crazy. It's not an obsessive state in which another's spirit takes possession over you. In real love you don't lose yourself and in real love you can live without the other person. This mistaken form of obsessive love may serve as a temporary antidote to loneliness, depression and insecurity, but it's not true love.
So what is love?
Love is the constant choice to give to another.
The answer to that question can be found in the ancient language of Hebrew. In Hebrew the word for love is "ahava." Every Hebrew word has its root word from which its meaning is derived. The root word of ahava is hav, which means to give. In other words, loving is synonymous with giving. Love is the constant choice to give to another. You don't fall in love; you create love. You act lovingly, by giving to your partner. As a function of giving, we create love. The more of yourself you invest in anything or anybody, the more attached you feel to that other thing or other person. A house you build with your hands is a house that you love.
Most of us wait passively to let love act upon us. We erroneously define love as need fulfillment, as the experience of being filled up by another. We often evaluate relationships based on how it benefits us, the expectation being that our partner is here to give to us.
This is not love. Love is about taking a quantum leap from being self-centered to other-centered.
The great challenge for each of us -- to borrow a concept from John F. Kennedy -- is "to ask not what my partner can do for me but ask what I can do for my partner." This is how we create genuine, deep love.


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Cheesy leek & potato pie
Nutrition and extra info
- Freezable
- Vegetarian
Nutrition: per serving
- kcal555
- fat34g
- saturates17g
- carbs52g
- sugars2g
- fibre4g
- protein14g
- salt0.83g
- 3 leeks, cut into chunks
Like garlic and onion, leeks are a member of the allium family, but have their own distinct…
- small knob butter
Butter is a dairy product made from separating whole milk or cream into fat and…
- pinch dried rosemary or thyme
Rosemary's intense, fragrant aroma has traditionally been paired with lamb, chicken and game…
- 450g potato (1 very large baking potato is perfect), chopped into thick slices
The world's favourite root vegetable, the potato comes in innumerable varieties. A member of…
- 140g melting cheese, such as cheddar, cut into small chunks
- 500g pack shortcrust pastry
- 1 egg, beaten
The ultimate convenience food, eggs are powerhouses of nutrition packed with protein and a…
Put the leeks, butter and herbs in a pan, cover and cook over a low heat for about 20 mins until very soft, stirring occasionally. While the leeks are cooking, put the potatoes in a pan of cold water, bring to the boil and simmer for 4-5 mins until just cooked. Drain the potatoes and stir into the cooked leeks. Leave to cool, stir in the cheese and season with plenty of pepper and salt if you want. The filling can now be chilled for use the following day, if you like.
Heat oven to 200C/fan 180C/gas 6. Divide the pastry in two and roll one of the pieces to the size of a dinner plate. Transfer this to a baking sheet and roll the remaining pastry and any trimmings to a round about 5cm bigger than the first. Pile the filling into the middle of the round on the baking sheet, leaving a 4cm border. Brush the border with the beaten egg, then drape over the larger piece of pastry. Trim the edges to neaten, then press the sides together with your thumb. Brush the tart all over with egg. Bake for 35-40 mins until golden. Leave to rest for 10 mins before cutting into wedges and serving with beans or greens.


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Was She Pretty?
A dreamy exploration of relationships and jealousy . . . pithy and deadpan . . . It's no self-help book." --Salon
What's left when a relationship ends? Where does jealousy come from? Delicately and sensitively, Leanne Shapton (Swimming Studies) ruminates on ex-lovers, and our lovers' ex-lovers. A few expressive pencil lines outline a long-abandoned winter coat here, an ineffably alluring Mona Lisa smile there. Each double page describes the way all exes are captured: as impossible to live up to as a Polaroid taken at a flattering angle.
This new paperback edition of Was She Pretty? brings the reader deep into a circle of phantoms: its intimate liaisons, embarrassing secrets, and sardonic anecdotes. Shapton introduces the obsessives and the dilettantes, the poets and the actresses, the people with great hair and the people with idiosyncratic clothes. As funny as it is insightful, Was She Pretty? speaks to a central human concern: How do we compare? Elegantly drawn and perfectly narrated, the pages of Was She Pretty? are a testimonial to the power of observation and misapprehension.
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About the Author
"Shapton's Was She Pretty? explores that painful behavior that we just can't seem to quit with thoughtful sketches that cut right to the heart of how we love."--XO Jane
"Deceptively complex and uncommonly elegant, Was She Pretty? is a series of gorgeous line drawings, most of men and women...Together, these brief encounters with the other tell a story about the difficulty of accepting that those we love have loved before -- and of recognizing the ugly truth that they may love again."--Jacob Brogan, Washington Post
"It is exactly as devastating as when it was originally published. In as little as three sentences, Shapton can tell us everything a current lover thinks they know about the former."--Haley Mlotek, National Post
"In just a handful of words or a flick of the pen, Shapton stabs you in the gut, bleeding out the pettiness that pulses below the surface of the skin typically hidden behind a thin membrane of decorum." - Fashion
"... timeless, cosmopolitan art and elegant ... prose"--Jonathon Sturgeon, Flavorwire
"Was She Pretty? is a great read if you want a voyeuristic tour of other people's exes, and it may even help you through your own jealousy."--Madeline Raynor, Bust
"Shapton quietly plumbs all the familiar trappings of the guilty fascinations we develop with those who came before."--Lauren Oyler, Broadly


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Chief Keef - No Tomorrow (In Studio Performance)
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Chief Keef's "Finally Rich" album in stores December 18th
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Much like a first date, on a work blog you should never talk about politics, religion or eat an entire rack of BBQ ribs (unless it's a delicious meat blog). So this week, I'm not going to bury the lead. When doing a large statistical analysis of any dataset, it's important to check your work. When examining language, tone and intent to make statistical projections about belief, it's doubly important to make sure the work is done properly—to dig deeper than just the numbers. This is paramount when trying to appear as a trusted news source. On Tuesday, my Twitter feed was blowing up over a screenshot from MSNBC and then later an article called Social media analysis: At the keyboard, Americans slightly prefer Romney. Apparently, a Twitter parody account with over 32,000 followers is one of biggest positive influencers for Mitt Romney.
NBCPolitics.com examined over 2 million tweets and Facebook posts in an effort to analyze a wide number of people who take to their keyboards to share their political beliefs with the world between bags of Cheetos and reruns of Law and Order. As they explained, "Social media analysis is interested in capturing and reporting that structural divide, while controlled national polls have a different mission: capturing a representative sample that proportionally reflects all opinions." As festive as that sounds, the intent is to look at what people are saying outside the structured polling environment to get another angle for understanding the presidential campaign. The results were interesting; where Obama may be leading in the national polls, Romney was found to be leading the positive sentiment charge on the Internet. From there, NBCPolitics.com provided a topic and keyword chart to help visualize the massive amount of data into bite sized chunks resembling a couple of Smurf everything bagels, and this is where things started to get really intriguing.
You don't even need to look closely at either the Obama or Romney charts to see some odd results which begin with an "RT" (for the Twitter-uninitiated, RT means retweet or sharing of a tweet) and end with a twitter username. This means there are a high number of retweets for a small number of people who might be skewing the overall results—especially if one of those accounts is providing comedic value. In this case, one of the largest Romney topics is the TeaPartyCat political parody account from Twitter.
NBCPolitics.com doesn't really get into an explanation of some of the topics displayed in the chart other than the very cursory "this candidate is smart," or "I think they are electable," or "I'm voting for cheese," so they don't give us a rationale why these oddball topics were uncovered. I suspect the rush to get the article out allowed for some freedom to ignore the topics they didn't understand, much to my excitement because it gives me something to blog about. The mere fact that they describe their work by saying, "NBCPolitics.com's analysis, by contrast, explores the actual content of what is being said, providing a glimpse at what issues are specifically driving people's opinions," is most ironic. Their social media analysis is a glimpse into the political discussion, but potentially a false one, since it fails to explain the anomalies in the data. As explorers of the social media frontier, no one is going to confuse them with Magellan. The amazing Nate Silver at FiveThirtyEight does a much more thorough analysis of political statistics with a lot less total data, but more importantly he tries to explain the outliers when looking at polls and results. While Silver may be dealing with more traditional political polls, the point holds. Often times the outliers are just as telling as the information you expected to see.
Here is some speculation as to what is going on:
1. So many people are tweeting the words TeaPartyCat unrelated to the parody account that the results are accurate.
2. There are enough positive Romney statements in reply to TeaPartyCat that the replies outweigh the initial tweets.
3. People who feel positively about Romney are retweeting TeaPartyCat without realizing it's a parody Account.
4. NBCPolitics.com didn't spot-check the results.
While there are many people who associate with the Tea Party and find LOL Cats adorable, I don't suspect the first two options are viable. We are all familiar with The Onion effect, where individuals share a story as true from the comedy newspaper, but I believe that impact is also minimal. I'd hazard a guess that NBC just has a glaring failure to review their work. If you go to the article and look at the positive discussion of Romney's electability there are some expected keyword results like "moderate," "smart" and "Romney2012." All three of these terms make absolute sense when doing an analysis of this type. However, when you produce a chart of this size and one of the major results is "RT TeaPartyCat" and that term has no contextual relevance, one would expect them to dig a little deeper or at minimum explain why the topic appears as a major result. Especially when you look at the result from a political perspective and understand that Romney is unlikely the preferred candidate for the Tea Party, although he might be polling well for cats.
In my mind, these results don't make sense. However, with a little spot checking on their part, they could have provided some really useful information. As we say around our office, 'we need to make it easy to get right, and hard to get wrong." However, when trying to formulate statistical arguments around language usage this mantra can be a challenge. Or as Bill Livingston, a favorite sports writer of mine said, "Empiricism, my friends, is a drag."
Now if you'll excuse me, I need to see if my wife is going to finish that rack of ribs.
Joel Ingersoll


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TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – The moment came late. The session, near the end of a long day – the first of many long days – was almost over. The speaker had raced through a presentation entitled "Avoiding Distractions and Dangerous Decisions," illustrated with photos and videos, accompanied by music and even a dance-off.
But then came something no one expected. On the big screen at the front of the theater-style meeting room at the University of Alabama, a young man in an orange jumpsuit stood in court and listened to a judge's sentence, then slumped to the ground. In the next clip, he was on his feet again, but obviously distressed. As he looked back over his shoulder, the video froze.
"Who do you think he's looking at?" the speaker asked, and then Tyrone White repeated himself: "Who do you think he's looking at?"
And as the song played – "A mother's love," the lyrics went, "I'm talking 'bout a mother's love" – every head in the room turned, too. As players and coaches from college football's current dynasty looked toward the back of the room, a woman, softly crying, made her way down an aisle.
"Pretty powerful," Alabama coach Nick Saban said a few minutes later.
This was Friday night, inside the Crimson Tide's newly renovated and expanded football facility. The woman was Michele Farmer, mother of Tony Farmer, the young man in the video. He was a budding high-school basketball star before going to prison for assaulting his ex-girlfriend in April 2012. It is unlikely any of the assembled Alabama players knew his story, or hers. But on the first day of practice – and with the freshmen yet to go through their first session – the hope was that in that moment, perhaps, the message might have gotten through.
"Sometimes," Saban continued, "these guys don't realize how what they do affects their family. I thought that was really good."
As the Alabama players got a brief glimpse into the detoured life of a peer and his family, USA TODAY Sports got a glimpse into the inner workings of one facet of Saban's all-encompassing philosophy known as "the Process."
The presentation, part of what the coach describes as "peer intervention program," was only the first in a long string of similar sessions the Crimson Tide players are scheduled to hear each night during training camp. Also on the schedule in the next few days and weeks: Joe Girardi, Herm Edwards and Ray Lewis.
In addition to motivational talks, the lecture topics, according to Saban, include "drugs and alcohol, agents, gambling, how to treat the opposite sex, macho man stuff, getting in fights, academics, respecting other people."
They aren't new topics, and Alabama is not unique in bringing in speakers, celebrity or otherwise, to motivate and educate players. Other college programs have similar processes and emphasis.
"We try to create a structure of guys understanding the consequences of good and bad behavior," Saban said, adding: "When they understand the consequences, it gives them a better chance to do the right thing."
And although the goals are certainly altruistic, they're also pragmatic. Though in recent years Alabama hasn't had some of the high-profile issues that have popped up elsewhere, Saban did dismiss four players last winter, a few weeks after the BCS national championship game, after they were charged with crimes – two for second-degree robbery, two for credit-card fraud.
Saban calls problem players "blinking lights," because they stand out from the rest of the team like malfunctioning bulbs on a Christmas tree. Ultimately, as constant irritants, they also reduce the efficiency of the operation.
"We don't want to have the blinking light," Saban said. "We don't want them to be a blinking light – but we try to do our part to keep them from blinking."
That's where speakers like White come in, or rather, are brought in. White, who played briefly at West Virginia (during the presentation, he pointed out that he was a freshman linebacker when Saban was the Mountaineers' defensive backs coach), is a high school coach from the Cleveland area who speaks regularly to groups in that region. Calling himself "Coach Ty," his presentations cover wide-ranging topics, though he said he tailors them to fit the audience.
For Alabama, White opened with a short, video interview of former Alabama running back Trent Richardson, who told the players: "Listen to Coach Ty." The half-hour talk – an Alabama staff member stood to the side and occasionally flashed a countdown with her fingers – touched on a variety of topics. As illustrations, White used recent, well-known examples of athletes who found trouble.
Among them: The 911 calls in the aftermath of the car crash last year involving former Dallas Cowboys defensive lineman Josh Brent, who was charged with intoxication manslaughter when his friend and teammate Jerry Brown died in the crash. Video of teenagers from Steubenville, Ohio, joking about the rape of a unconscious high-school student (as the video played on, many players shifted in their seats, apparently uncomfortable with the topic). Video of LSU running back Jeremy Hill in a fight outside a bar, and then a clip of Hill leaving the courthouse.
And then White got closer to home. To start the presentation, he had asked for an offensive player to face off with a defensive player. Everyone laughed as two freshmen, offensive lineman Brandon Hill and defensive lineman Dee Liner, showed off their best dance moves, with coaches voting (Hill won). "That was a first," senior linebacker C.J. Mosley said later, noting they'd never had a dance-off before.
But a few minutes later, Liner was referenced again, sort of, in a more unflattering light.
A few days ago, an Instagram photo of Liner posing with a couple of buddies with wads of cash went viral. Suddenly, the photo was on the big screen in the meeting room. Or part of it was. During a dry run of his presentation, Alabama staff members asked White to remove Liner's photograph. When his buddies were shown, it was obvious from the chuckles and knowing glances that players were familiar with the situation. White asked: "If I'm a predator out there, guess what I'm gonna entice you with? Material stuff."
White also brought levity. He closed the session by asking junior wide receiver Christion Jones to do his impression of Saban while announcing the winner (Hill). Jones had everyone laughing, including Saban, who later noted wryly: "He does a really good impression of me. I've seen better, but he really can do a good one."
Of White's presentation, Saban added: "I thought he did a great job. We're looking for guys that can move the needle with (the players)."
Until April 2012, Tony Farmer was a rising basketball star at Garfield Heights (Ohio) High School, ranked in the top 100 byRivals.com, with scholarship offers from several Big Ten schools. He was looking forward to summer ball and his senior season and from there, well, who really knows? The possibilities seemed endless for an 18-year-old with size and abundant skills. But today, Farmer is serving three years in prison for felonious assault, kidnapping, robbery and intimidating a victim after an argument with his ex-girlfriend turned violent.
White did not describe the details to the Crimson Tide, but the message was clear, and it came with this advisory: "This call is originating from an Ohio correctional institution and may be recorded or monitored."
And then: "I'm Tony Farmer. Hey Alabama, I just want to wish you good luck in the season, and I hope you learn from my mistakes. Don't let your parents down."
At one point, White had planned to have Farmer speak briefly to the players by phone from prison. Technical issues prevented it. The Crimson Tide's tight schedule prevented him from going deeper into the story, but as he sketched the outline, Farmer's mother stood watching in the back of the room. Hands clasped and covering her mouth, she waited.
As White asked the question – "Who do you think he's looking at?" – an Alabama staffer gently nudged her, pointing toward the front of the room. As she slowly descended the stairs, heads turned in unconscious mimicry of the scene that had just played on the screen.
White helped her to a seat. "Ms. Farmer," he asked, "when your child made this destructive decision, how did it impact you?" When she didn't answer – she was crying – White continued: "And it still troubles you."
After a pause, he resumed: "Tell me about how it impacted you."
She said, "To go from visiting colleges to visiting your son in jail, there's no words to describe it. In a matter of months. I wouldn't wish it on any parent."
Farmer said her son had promised her as a boy he "wouldn't hit a female … he wouldn't go to jail … and he would go to college." And when asked what advice she would give to the Tide, she said: "Just understand, just think about who you're hurting. (Tony) has younger brothers who looked up to him, as well. Think about it's not only you."
The segment lasted less than two minutes. And yet, when the meeting ended a few minutes later, a couple of assistant coaches embraced Farmer. Saban spoke briefly with her, then suggested they pose together for one photograph, and then another. And as players filed out of the room a few minutes later, several stopped to talk with her.
In one moment, White might have moved the needle.
"You can have a whole bunch of slides and you can tell guys what not to do," senior quarterback A.J. McCarron said, "but when you bring in a real-life situation, when you bring somebody that's a part of it to relay that message, it takes it to a whole 'nother level. I think it really grabbed the attention of the guys in the room."


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A day after Christie Brinkely tearfully spoke to Matt Lauer about her messy divorce battle with ex-husband Peter Cook, Cook sat down with TODAY's Savannah Guthrie call out Brinkley's "crocodile tears," and defend himself.
Cook, 53, claimed he hasn't had a conversation with the former supermodel, 58, in close to four years and called her allegations of harassment and bullying "nonsense."
"The entire content of her interview was a lie," Cook said. "You don't hear about Peter Cook until Christie Brinkley dredges something up from the past to make herself relevant in the media again."
U.S. & World
Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
In Brinkley's first TV interview since her dispute with Cook began four years ago, she accused Cook of "character assassination," and claimed Cook wouldn't leave her and her children alone.
Cook responded to Brinkley's allegations with a statement, claiming that Brinkley was dishonest about the circumstances surrounding their court battle, and that she was inflicting further harm to their children by continuing with the "public battling."
"[She] does not want peace, she wants attention," Cook wrote in a terse statement. "I wish she would find a way to move on."
Brinkley and Cook share a 13-year old daughter, Sailor. He also adopted Brinkley's 17-year-old son, Jack, from her previous marriage to Richard Taubman.
Selected Reading: Us, MSNBC, NY Daily News


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Beverly Hills Times Magazine Oct 2010 Column
"I have interviewed over 80 authors of beauty books, and this book makes the best gift for health and beauty addicts. It's filled with really easy to buy ingredients at your local grocery store. Elizabeth knows her stuff and makes it really easy for anyone to whip up these amazing anti-aging recipes. Yummy too." —Teri Struck, Host of Beauty Now
Read More Reviews


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Elves prefer a holiday of beautiful, enchanting places complete with ethereal woodlands, dewy native forests and sparkling waterfalls. Explore the real Middle‑earth™ from 'Rivendell' to the glittering Waitomo Caves and let our lands refresh you.
It's been a remarkable journey... and who knows, I might end up living in New Zealand one day because it's such a remarkable place.
Enjoy ancient native forests, delicate ferns and alpine tussock in New Zealand's scenic national parks. Be revived beneath waterfalls or picnic besides mirror-smooth lakes and imagine you're in Rivendell. With more than 14 national parks to choose from covering more than 30,000 square kilomentres, this natural scenery will keep you busy for days.
A glistening coastal city of islands and harbours, Auckland is known for its beautiful scenery and an international hub. Start your Middle‑earth™ journey by heading to Waiheke Island – one of the world's most exclusive and luxurious wine growing regions. Explore more than 27 boutique vineyards and wineries, enjoy beautiful local produce and soak in views of Auckland's skyline from afar.
Twinkling glow-worms light up the darkness in a labyrinth known as Waitomo Caves. Beneath the rolling green hills of Middle‑earth™ you can explore the depths of the underground while being guided by the glittering rooftops. Nearby filming locations include Hobbiton, Trollshaw Forest & Staddle Farm.
Learn more about the Waitomo Caves in the Waikato Region.
Pelorus River's crystal clear waters cut through a rocky gorge shrouded in the subtle green layers of native New Zealand forest - an ethereal protected wilderness inhabited by giant trees and native birds. This is arguably one of New Zealand's most beautiful rivers and the filming location for the 'Barrel Run' scene in The Hobbit Trilogy. Join a fully guided eco-adventure down the river and explore by kayaks or comfortable inflatable canoes.
Settle into a slower pace of life at one of New Zealand's many spas and thermal pools. Sink into these Onsen Hot Pools and take in the beauty of your natural surroundings, with uninterrupted panoramic views. Alternatively, seek out one of the many natural hot springs dotted throughout remote locations across the North Island and feel your worries melt away.
Discover things to do in Queenstown.
Your journey through the real Middle‑earth™ wouldn't be complete without a trip to Milford Sound – one of the country's most stunning regions. Capture the stunning beauty of the surrounding lakes and fiords, inhale the smells of lush native rainforest, and feel the fine mist of nearby waterfalls as you explore this wonderland. Nearby filming locations include Takaro Rd (Fangorn Forest), Norwest Lakes (South of Rivendell), Waiau River and the Kepler Track (River Anduin).
Learn more about Fiordland
You're at the end of your journey, but not at the end of your quest. Learn more about New Zealand's journey as Middle‑earth™ here. Or look here to discover more film locations throughout the country.


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Crying children: Johnson hears 'em everywhere
It's been a long time since R.A. Johnson became the pastor at Zion Hill Baptist Church– exactly 50 years. But on October 30, the Albemarle county native celebrated his retirement. Now, he'll focus his efforts on another charge, Pilgrim Baptist Church.
"I'll be able to give more," says Johnson. "It's time for a younger pastor with more energy to take my place. And now I can focus on Pilgrim Baptist.
Johnson's time at Zion Hill has been marked by social movements that led to cataclysmic change in Charlottesville and the nation. During the civil rights movement, Johnson, who also worked with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., helped manage demonstrations like sit-ins at theaters and restaurants.
But in recent years, his focus has shifted– to community activism on the part of children.
Over the last decade or so, Johnson has become something of a fixture at school board and City Council meetings. The pastor knows exactly what he wants to see in Charlottesville– a better relationship between the black and white communities– and he hopes others will want the same.
"I'd like to see those fences mended by rational people sitting down together," he says, "not talking at each other, but to each other."
Johnson's dream for Charlottesville is to close the student achievement gap, a goal he has worked toward through educational programs for young people in the congregations of both his churches.
In pressing that agenda, Johnson has become legendary for his comments at local government meetings that often begin, "I hear the children crying." For Johnson, this unique approach isn't a remembered bad dream or foggy recollection.
"I hear the children crying when I hear them say, 'I'm in a classroom and I'm never called upon' or 'I feel like I'm separated from the other students in the class,'" he says earnestly.
While he's no doubt well-intentioned, even he wonders about his effect on community education.
"I think it's a spotlight on some of the inequities in our school system," he says, "but only some people have tried to change."
So Johnson plans to keep going to the meetings because he has faith in the Charlottesville community. In fact, he holds the same beliefs he had 40 years ago.
"I don't want his mind thinking, I want his heart feeling," he says of his listeners, both in church and in his community pulpit. "If you can change a man's heart, you don't have to worry about his mind."
Age: You can assume [my age], I've worked at a church for 50 years, but I'd rather not say– age is just a number!
Why here? I wanted to come back to my home community and make a difference.
Worst about living here? People are in denial about what is real.
Favorite hangout? Well, I do like the Wood Grill.
Most overrated virtue? When people feel they're beyond reproach.
People would be surprised to know: I'm still an optimist and have hope for Charlottesville.
What would you change about yourself? I'd would wake up tomorrow and be young again.
Proudest accomplishment? That I can make a change in this community
People find most annoying about you: When I'm right, I'm right.
Whom do you admire? My father, more than any person I've ever met
Favorite book? The Bible– it's a bestseller
Subject that causes you to rant? I'm a stickler for keeping my word. To me, that's the most important thing in our lives– sticking to our word.
Biggest 21st-century thrill? I'm healthy and have a nice family, a nice church. I think I've made some of my dearest friends in the 21st century.
Biggest 21st-century creep out? Not sure. But when things happen that are a total surprise to me, that really creeps me out.
What do you drive? Blue Cadillac
In your car CD player right now: Nothing in my car, but I'm listening to a lot of gospel music.
Next journey? To Kingston, Jamaica for a vacation with my wife. Everybody needs a break– it's our turn!
Most trouble you've ever gotten in? Well, whenever I don't follow my better judgment...
Regret: I guess it's that I didn't have but two children, and I always wanted more.
Favorite comfort food: Chicken Noodle Soup. That's always a good cure for what ails you.
Always in your refrigerator: Apples!
Must-see TV: CNN, especially Larry King Live
Favorite cartoon: No answer
Describe a perfect day: When I can wake up in the morning and not have any pain in my body. The first thing I think is, "How am I feeling?" If I have no pain, I say, "Thank you, Lord," and I have a good day. I'm a pretty happy-go-lucky fella. You have to smile and think of the good things and thank the Lord.
Walter Mitty fantasy: I'd be an entertainer, a singer. I'd want to perform in a nightclub, singing jazz.
Who'd play you in the movie? Hmm, I don't quite know.
Most embarrassing moment? One of my most embarrassing was when I went through customs on the way to Israel. They were just patting me down over and over. Everybody was looking at me. It took a good couple of minutes, and every time we went through they did the same thing.
Best advice you ever got? Be honest, forthright, and be a realist. That's the best advice I've ever had in my life from a seminary professor.
Favorite bumper sticker? Virginia is for Lovers
R.A. Johnson


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Throughout the Bush administration, NASA had been given the goal of preparing for long-duration missions in space, first to the Moon and then eventually Mars. Upon reaching office, the Obama administration performed a detailed analysis of NASA's priorities and budget, which revealed some ugly truths: NASA didn't have the money to build the systems needed to accomplish any of this, and even if it were to get a budget infusion, the schedule was unworkable. The report recommended we give up on Mars, skip the Moon, and focus on developing the technology to enable long-duration space travel.
The cancellations that accompanied this change of direction have not gone over well with either space enthusiasts or those who represent the districts in which some of the hardware would be built. But the plan does have a significant risk, in that NASA would be ordered to do technology development without having a clear goal that it would use that technology to reach. A group of US House members now aims to rectify that by, in part, reversing a portion of Obama's directive: they want NASA to build a permanent Moon base.
Most of the bill they have sponsored is spent providing justification for a strong US presence in space, with military (space is called the "ultimate high ground"), economic, and educational reasons highlighted. The meat of the bill, however, states, "the National Aeronautics and Space Administration shall plan to return to the Moon by 2022 and develop a sustained human presence on the Moon, in order to promote exploration, commerce, science, and United States preeminence in space as a stepping stone for the future exploration of Mars and other destinations. The budget requests and expenditures of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration shall be consistent with achieving this goal." Currently, it has four sponsors.
Overall, the bill is roughly in keeping with Obama's priorities, which involve developing the ability to construct and fuel a long-distance mission in orbit; those abilities could apply equally to sending construction materials to the Moon. It would also avoid one of the problems with the lack of an obvious focus in Obama's plan, which could be viewed as "maybe an asteroid, some day."
Even assuming that the bill could clear the full House and Senate (and survive an Obama veto), the impact may be much less than its supporters hope. As its text notes, a return to the Moon has been a Congressional priority several times before; that didn't stop Obama from dismissing it with "We've been there." And, more significantly, it clearly didn't ensure that the NASA budget was sufficient to actually accomplish that goal. Simply stating that NASA's budget will be "consistent" with achieving it by 2020 leaves open a lot of room for different definitions of consistent, and allows the current Congress to shift the burden of finding money onto future ones, which may not be inclined to do so.
Thus, on its own, the bill would accomplish nearly nothing and is sufficiently vague that it probably won't even be viewed as providing direction to NASA, at least within NASA. And, given how contentious budget issues have been in the current Congress, any attempt to turn it into something concrete would probably make it a non-starter.
Listing image by NASA


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Security researchers have identified an unpatched vulnerability in Windows. The flaw - which affects all supported versions of Windows bar Windows 2003 - resides in a security bug in Microsoft XML Core Services, specifically an unspecified security bug in the XMLHTTP 4.0 ActiveX Control.
The flaw creates a means for hackers to inject malware onto the PCs of surfers running IE who visit a website hosting malicious code that attempts to harness the security bug. Security notification firm Secunia says that the vulnerability is being actively exploited by hackers.
Microsoft has posted an advisory conceding the problem and suggesting possible workarounds, which basically involve disabling the affected ActiveX control, ahead of the arrival of a patch. ®


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Paintings galleries
- Drawings
Paintings / drawings on paper
- The Last Picture Show
From the last exhibiton at the Bargate Monument Gallery with 'a space' after their 7 years there.
- Things
various paintings
- whispers and trails
monoprints sprawling with zine
- murals
paintings on walls in public and private buildings.
- some people
various portraits
- radicals and eccentrics
work to do with the eccentric - off centre and the radical- deep rooted...
- dress making pattern pieces
To do with clothing manufacture and the patterns themselves.
- swords and ploughshares, vines and fig trees
work to do with the prophecy/ mandate of swords into ploughshares.
Search tags
Featured image
mums hands
Latest news
- Arches Open Studios 2020
Fri, 19 Jun 2020
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Mon, 21 Jan 2019
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Thu, 15 Oct 2015
paintings on walls in public and private buildings.Back to Paintings
portswood church childrens room
portswood church childrens room
portswood church childrens room


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"Color Coded Label, ""M"", Light Green, 100 Labels Per Pack"
"Alphabetical labels come in 13 colors (26 variations: although all characters A-M and N-Z, are white with colored background, N-Z labels also include white strip in background) Labels are 1"" x 1 5/8"" and self-adhesive Self adhessive will adhere to most surfaces"
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4737 N. Kickapoo St.
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Hunger in Plain Sight
There are hungry people out there, actually; they're just largely invisible to the rest of us, or they look so much like us that it's hard to tell. The Supplemental Assistance Nutrition Program, better known as SNAP and even better known as food stamps, currently has around 46 million participants, a record high. That's one in eight Americans — 10 people in your subway car, one or two on every line at Walmart.
We wouldn't wish that on anyone, but as it stands, the numbershould be higher[1]: many people are unaware that they're eligible for SNAP, and thus the participation rate is probably around three-quarters of what it should be.
Food stamps allow you to shop more or less normally, but on an extremely tight budget, around $130 a month. It's tough to feed a family on food stamps (and even tougher without them), and that's where food banks — a network of nonprofit, nongovernment agencies, centrally located clearing houses for donated or purchased food that is sent to local affiliated agencies or "pantries" — come in. Food banks may cover an entire state or part of one: the Regional Food Bank of Oklahoma, for example, serves 53 counties and provides enough food to feed 48,000 square miles and feeds 90,000 people a week — in a state with fewer than four million people.


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Mogreet Services & API
MMS and SMS Messaging API
Power your application with SMS and MMS messaging starting at 0.75¢ per messageHow it works
Video Transcoding
Let Mogreet's technology do the heavy lifting to transcode video, image, and audio filesLearn More
User and Handset Data Lookup
Get information on mobile carrier, handset make and model, geographic region, and moreMore Details
No frills, get started in minutes, and no contract.
Who Codes with the Mogreet API?
The MMS capability is handled by Mogreet which has a nice way to do SMS (with MMS)... If you follow my hacks I'm a big fan of Twilio but this time they let me down by not offering MMS capabilities."
- Noel Portugal, Oracle Technologist
When you start thinking about which killer features will emerge in our mobile apps this year…the majority will depend on photos or videos, making MMS a pretty critical API resources to have in your developers toolbox. I predict we will see [Mogreet] fueling the next crop of meaningful mobile apps"
- Kin Lane, API Evangelist
Use MemeBro to create a quick and easy MMS image via text messaging!
Send photographs through the mail with just a text message.
Easily share your location to someone's mobile phone.


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Michael Jackson's final performances are coming out on DVD next month.
The King of Pop's "This is It" documentary will be released on Jan. 26, The Associated Press reports.
The popular film culled from the late singer's rehearsals for a 50 concert run at London's O2 Arena has already taken in more than $70 million at the Box Office, according to the AP.
U.S. & World
Two companion documentaries, "Staging the Return: Beyond the Show" and "Staging the Return: The Adventure Begins," will reportedly be included with the film's DVD release.
Jackson's death on June 25 has been ruled a homicide.


text: Governor Andrew Cuomo's girlfriend, Food Network chef Sandra Lee, gave an interview in the November issue of Harper's Bazaar in which she discussed her relationship with the Governor and why she's glad not to be New York's First Lady. Ms. Lee also dished about beef with Anthony Bourdain, her philosophy on cooking and how she overdoes it during the holidays. Read More


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Josh Vitters entered the 2007 Draft as one of the best bats in the class. Matt Wieters was considered the best college bat in the country and scouts debated whether Mike Moustakas or Josh Vitters was the best high school bat. Some scouts even said Vitters had the best bat in the draft. David Price would be selected 1st and Mike Moustakas next. Then the Cubs picked and took Josh Vitters. Wieters fell to 5th because of contract demands. The Cubs would sign Vitters for $3.2 million.
Moustakas made his big league debut last year and Vitters is waiting for a call-up. At the time of the draft, Vitters was very nearly a full year younger than Moustakas. Vitters was very young for the draft (just 17). Both of the two played only a minimal amount in 2007, but Moustakas hit well in 47 PA while Vitters struggled in 55 PA. Moustakas entered 2008 as the 18th best prospect in baseball while Vitters was 43rd.
At the time of the draft, Baseball America offered this scouting report for Vitters:
Vitters' older brother Christian was a solid prospect who had an excellent career at Fresno State. While Christian was a 10th-round pick, Josh figures to go nine rounds higher. He entered last summer as one of the top hitters in the class, then blew to the top of the heap while dominating at the Area Code Games, doubling three times at the Aflac Classic and earning MVP honors at the Cape Cod Classic. While Vitters has solid defensive and running tools, that's not what earned him such accolades–his bat did. He has tremendous feel for getting the fat part of the bat to the ball, and with his tremendous bat speed and barrel awareness, he drives the ball more consistently than any hitter in the class. Scouts describe him as the rare righthanded hitter with a pretty swing, and he's shown the ability to handle different velocities and different styles of pitching with ease. Vitters' his hand-eye coordination and ability to make contact are almost too good, because at times he swings at pitches he should let pass, rather than waiting for one he can punish with his all-fields power. While his hands and footwork at third are sound, he tends to misread hops, and defense doesn't come easy to him. His bat should play at any position, however. His only speed-bump this spring was a bout with pneumonia that caused him to miss two weeks, but he was still considered a near-lock to be picked in the first five spots overall.
Still young in 2008, just 18, Vitters stayed behind at extended spring training and waited for the short season leagues to open. He began that season in Boise and in 277 PA he hit .328/.365/.498. He was bumped to full season Peoria for the final 4 games of the season. Vitters career had taken off. His defense was a concern, which we expected. His patience was also a concern. His NIBB%* was just 5.2%.
*NIBB% excludes intentional walks from both the numerator and denominator, but includes hit by pitch. It's actually (NIBB+HBP)%, but NIBB% is easier.
A 5.2% rate in short-season A ball isn't all that impressive. The numbers will likely get worse as he plays in more difficult leagues. That's just how it works. The concern the scouts had that he swings at too many pitches was becoming much more of a concern. Still young though, there was no time to panic.
In part because of the low walk rate, Vitters dropped from the 43rd ranked prospect down to 51st the following year. Vitters was still only 19 and he would begin his first season in a full season league. He returned to Peoria where he had played only 4 games the year before and hit .316/.351/.535, which was good for a .402 wOBA and 148 wRC+. After 70 games and 288 plate appearances he was moved up to High A Daytona and he struggled a bit. He hit just .238/.260/..344 (.277 wOBA, 71 wRC+).
2009 was a mixed bag for Vitters. He crushed the ball in Peoria and was still young for the level, but was eaten up in High A. What became even more of a concern was his inability to draw walks. His NIBB% in Peoria was somewhat decent (6%), but it included 9 HBP. His actual walk percentage was under 3%. On the year his NIBB% was 4.8%. As expected, the numbers were going down and he was only in High A.
As far as hitting though, Vitters was doing pretty damn well.
He had a .372 wOBA, 133 wRC+ the following partial season back at High A (120 PA). He was promoted to AA Tennesse and like the year before after a promotion, he struggled. Despite the struggles in AA, he improves his NIBB% to 9.2% in 2010.
He spent all of 2011 in AA and hit just .283/.322/..448, which was good for a league average wOBA of .334 (99 wRC+). His NIBB% slumped to 6.5%.
While that's not a fantastic rate, it has been an improvement on what he did early in his career, but despite that the hitting kind of went south for him. Now you had concerns about his ability to stay at 3rd base, his ability to hit well enough and his rather poor plate discipline.
Vitters was unranked by Baseball America entering 2011 and 2012. He went to Iowa this year where he's been hitting pretty well. At just the age of 22 he's hit .303/.353/.511. His wOBA is .369 (116 wRC+). He's also hit 15 home run, which tied his career high at any one level (2009 Peoria), but he did hit 18 overall in 2009.
Vitters doesn't have much speed. He had only 8 triples in his career that has spanned 6 seasons and nearly 2100 plate appearances. He has 20 stolen bases and has managed to be caught 18 times. If you know nothing about a player's defense, which as fans we really don't, speed is a good proxy for defensive talent. Vitters has never been known as a good fielder and it's been questionable if he can stick at 3rd base.
At the MLB level, only Pedro Alvarez, Chris Johnson and Brett Lawrie have made more than 9 errors at 3rd base. Vitters, in the same number of games, has made 19 for AAA Iowa. The average number of assists for those 3 is 169. Vitters has 148. Pedro Alvarez and Chris Johnson each have a .937 fielding percentage, which is the worst among all qualified 3B. Alex Rodriguez and Hanley Ramirez are 3rd worst at .951. Vitters' fielding percentage is .913 and just .924 in his career. The only years Vitters has played in 100 games or more has ben in 2009 (104) and 2011 (100). He made 21 errors each of those seasons.
I'll be the first to admit that it's very difficult to compare defense in the minors to the big leagues, but that's really all the information I have so it's the best I can do. Considering we know he's a below average 3rd baseman, those numbers just illustrate that fact. By no means do I think he's going to be the worst fielder. I just don't know. It's definitely a possibility.
He's not a good fielder and he is definitely slow. He's terrible at stealing bases and based on the few number of triples he's had it might be safe to say that he's not going to excel at taking extra bases on hits. He could end up being a good baserunner, but I'd say the odds of that are pretty slim. Instead, it's likely he's a below average baserunner.
But he can hit. He's always been able to hit and he's doing it at the highest level in the minor leagues. I entered this season thinking Vitters had little chance to become much of anything at the big league level, but he's hit well enough, shown enough ability to get on base without getting a hit that I'm definitely more optimistic than I was. Do think he'll be a superstar? No. There are way too many flaws in his game for that to happen. He doesn't hit for enough power, he doesn't play good enough defense, run the bases well enough and he's not going to be getting on base without a hit enough for that to happen.
He doesn't have to become a superstar to become valuable and I think that's where I am now. Whether he ends up being a platoon partner or a decent everyday 3rd baseman remains to be seen, but there's value in both. There's obviously more value in being an everyday player, but Vitters has crushed lefties in his career. This season he's hiting .331/.381/.621 vs lefties in over 125 PA. He's hit lefties well prior to this season too.
The Cubs have nobody at 3rd base so I'm anxious to see Josh Vitters get called up and be given a chance to play everyday. I'm more optimistic now than I was a year ago that he might actually be able to hold the position down, but I don't think Vitters will be making any all-star teams. If Vitters has to move to the outfield or across the infield, which is definitely a possibility, the likelihood of him becoming productive drops considerably.


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March 29, 2010
I think these bags from Peace4U are beyond rad. I love all the straps and pockets! Better yet, they're made from upcycled/recycled/reclaimed material!
I found these in their etsy store:
But my favorite one is found on their website:
Ahhh too rad for words!
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Nitrogen Know-How
The use of chemical fertilizers on lawns is becoming increasingly controversial, even creating tension among neighbors in many residential areas. The potential for nitrogen leaching from applied fertilizers to pollute drinking water and harm the environment is frequently reported by mass media. While many studies have shown turf to be an effective nitrogen filter, homeowners are still concerned about the use of fertilizers on their lawns and some even are exploring alternatives to traditional turf lawns. For example, The Florida Yards and Neighborhoods Program, a University of Florida Extension initiative, began in the 1990s promoting reduced turf use in favor of trees, shrubs and other plants that grow naturally in Florida. Conflicting reports about nitrogen leaching have left many homeowners and landscape professionals wondering what the appropriate landscape model should be for minimizing nitrogen pollution.
When applying fertilizer nitrogen to plants, your goal is to incorporate nitrogen into the plants that need it for growth or into the soil where the nitrogen can then remain available to the plants over time. Unfortunately, losses of applied fertilizer nitrogen to the atmosphere or through runoff and leaching generally occur as unintended consequences of fertilization. Nitrogen leaching is the result when mobile forms of nitrogen in soil drainage water are transported below the vegetation roots and ultimately find their way to groundwater or neighboring water bodies such as lakes, rivers and ponds. Environmental conditions favorable for nitrogen leaching include coarse-textured soils, abundant precipitation, saturated soils and warm temperatures. Vegetation demand and ability to acquire nitrogen over a given ground area also can strongly influence nitrogen leaching. As a result, the type of vegetation you choose to plant in lawns is an important consideration for reducing nitrogen pollution via leaching.
You should base the development of appropriate landscape models in part on scientific research. Recently, the University of Florida conducted a study comparing nitrogen pollution from newly established replicate residential landscapes. The main objective of the study was to compare fertilizer nitrogen leaching between a St. Augustinegrass landscape and an alternative landscape covered with eucalyptus mulch and a diverse collection of 12 different ornamental species including trees, shrubs and ground covers (e.g., Everglades palm, wax myrtle, firebush and trailing lantana). St. Augustinegrass is a warm-season moderate- to high-fertility turfgrass and is the most common lawn turf used in Florida. Many of the ornamental species were native or common to Florida. The hypothesis behind using native landscape materials is that they would require less applied fertilizer relative to turf because they grow naturally in an area. In addition, a multispecies design can possess a greater range of rooting depths, which could possibly scavenge nitrogen more effectively.
Researchers established four plots (60 square yards) of each of the two landscape types used in the study were on a 10 percent slope of sandy soil approximately 30 inches deep. They used a conventional fertilization program on both landscapes as they applied 1 pound of Nitrogen/1,000 square feet to the turf in bimonthly applications and to the ornamentals every four months. The nitrogen sources were predominantly urea (58 percent) and sulfur-coated urea (38 percent) as part of a blended (N-P
Rainfall was seasonally abundant and often intense as 81 inches of rainfall were received during the 12-month study period in addition to 37 inches of applied irrigation on the turf and 34 inches on the ornamentals. We observed no significant runoff from either landscape, despite abundant precipitation. In contrast, we measured a substantial amount of soil drainage, especially following heavy rainfall events. In total, 82 inches of soil drainage was measured from the St. Augustinegrass and 88 inches from the ornamentals. Water use was initially greater by the turf, but no difference in water use was seen at the end of the study when the ornamental species had become better established and increased in size.
Less than 2 percent of the fertilizer nitrogen applied to the St. Augustinegrass was lost through leaching. While the percent of nitrogen lost was relatively low, the amount of nitrogen lost through leaching was related to timing of fertilization and abundance of rainfall.
More than 30 percent of the fertilizer nitrogen applied to the ornamental landscape was lost through leaching. Nitrogen losses were fairly consistent over time and were strongly related to fertilization and rainfall events.
The turf was established from sod, completely covering the plot and allowing it to quickly form dense roots into the soil. The demand for nitrogen by the vegetation and the relatively dense and extensive root system, along with well-known fertility requirements, led to low overall nitrogen leaching on the St. Augustinegrass even with the coarse-textured soil and abundant rainfall. In fact, the turf was surprisingly effective at nitrogen uptake given the rainfall received and appreciable soluble nitrogen in the fertilizer, suggesting that a healthy turfgrass landscape can be both aesthetic and provide environmental services.
The ornamental landscape, on the other hand, provided a sparse vegetation canopy and a relatively low rooting density as it was designed to allow for growth and expansion of the species over time. Because some characteristics of nitrogen deficiency such as yellowing leaves and stunted growth were seen on several of the ornamental species, it seems as if there was plant demand for nitrogen, but that the landscape vegetation with its sparse rooting was unable to sequester the nitrogen before it was leached from the soil. As a result, it is likely that a more complex fertilization protocol is needed, especially during establishment, to increase plant nitrogen uptake and vigor while reducing the observed nitrogen leaching. Such a complex protocol might include targeted fertilization of individual landscape plants with a better understanding of individual nitrogen requirements, grouping landscape plants by nitrogen requirements and fertilizing at lower rates with a greater frequency.
The answer to reducing nitrogen pollution from residential land use does not seem to be as simple as just changing the landscape materials. The data presented here, corroborated by numerous other studies, demonstrate that conventional turfgrass lawns are quite effective at using applied nitrogen and the use of turf in residential lawns is not mutually exclusive with respect to the goal of reducing nitrogen pollution. The concern over environmental pollution, however, is only one factor homeowners consider when choosing landscape materials for their lawns. Other considerations such as aesthetic value, cost, functional uses and ability to attract wildlife are also important. Regardless of landscape vegetation, the study emphasized the need to follow management practices that help to reduce nitrogen leaching.
Determine your customers' expectations with respect to vegetation performance and then fertilize accordingly considering soil type, landscape species and irrigation practices. Fertilization may not be required at all if you are satisfied with the appearance of the plants. When fertilization is justified, keep in mind that no single fertilizer program is right for all situations, and thus apply nitrogen accordingly at rates as low as is compatible for your vegetation use and conditions. Use slow-release nitrogen sources wherever possible. They are less likely to leach, although they can still leach under some conditions, including abundant precipitation. Avoid fertilizing if heavy rainfall is expected. Healthy plants have a greater demand for nitrogen and are better at using applied nitrogen, so always control diseases and pests to keep plants healthy. Finally, use irrigation judiciously to minimize the percolation of water beyond the rootzone of the plants.
John Erickson, Ph.D. candidate, works in plant physiology in the Department of Forestry Ecology and Management at the University of Wisconsin (Madison, Wis.).
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Author Profile
Kurt Vonnegut
Kurt Vonnegut, the legendary author, WWII veteran, humanist, artist and smoker, was an In These Times senior editor until his death in April 2007. His classic works include Slaughterhouse-Five, Breakfast of Champions and Cat's Cradle, among many others. The last book by him published before his death, A Man Without a Country (2005), collects many of the articles he wrote for this magazine.
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I am just loving these origami cranes! And more importantly, the history of them is so awe inspiring as well! Check it out:
'The crane is a mystical, holy creature in Japan - it represents luck, good fortune, and long-life. The act of folding cranes, specifically, 1000 cranes, is said to make the folder's wish come true.
Strings of one thousand paper cranes are often sent to places where tragedy has struck as a symbol of hope & healing. Sometimes groups will fold 1000 cranes for an ailing friend in hopes of speeding their recovery.
Whether you believe in the power of the crane, or simply in the gentle act of beauty and kindness, there is something uplifting about this tradition.' (1000 Cranes for Japan-Flickr)
I really wanted to do a picture tutorial for you, but when it comes right down to it, I think a video how-to in this case would be much easier for you to handle. So here you go (tutorial courtesy of Origamifun):
A bit more inspiration (stay tuned for the tutorial on how to string these sweet little things below):
How about on a cake?
Or even cupcakes . . .
How about on a cake?
Or even cupcakes . . .
And on to stringing them:
Supplies You Will Need:
~ cranes
~ needle
~ cord/string
~ hot glue
~ ruler
1. Fold your cranes.
2. Decide how many cranes you'll need per strand. Do this by dividing the number of strands by your total number of cranes.
To decide how long the strand should be as a fixed length:
(Divide the length of the strand by the number of cranes you'll be putting on it. This is your length per crane.
Subtract the height of the body of each crane from the length per crane to determine the length of the empty space above it.
Find a measuring device the exact length you need or cut one out of a heavy piece of cardboard that you'll be able to use as a guide. I used a ruler for this tutorial.)
3. On the underside of each crane is a small hole. We're going to run a needle up this hole to hang the cranes.
4. I used gold crafter's string to hang the cranes on.
5. Use the thinnest possible needle with a large enough hole to run the thread through (remember, no thicker than necessary as it will tear the paper as it comes out of the top of the crane.)
6. Run the needle into the hole.
7. A wider view of the needle going in with the thread attached.
8. This is what the needle should look like coming out through the top of the body section.
9. And the thread pulled through.
10. Put as many cranes as needed onto the strand of cord. You are going to begin gluing them into place from the bottom up so you will need to know the exact length each piece of cord has be.
11. Cut the cord.
12. The needle will be at the top of the cord and the cranes all piled around the bottom. Add a small drop of hot glue to the bottom, cut end of the cord.
13. Slide the bottom crane onto the bead of hot glue keeping it as level as possible.
14. Now measure the distance needed between the two cranes to set the next crane into place with a bead of hot glue. I'll be adding the second crane from above the blue one pictured here.
15. Whatever your set measurement will be between each crane you can use a guide or make one out of a cut piece of cardboard to set the placement of each crane.
16. Set the bead of hot glue slightly above where you want the crane to sit so you can slide it down the cord a bit, sealing the glue into the hole and onto the cord.
17. Repeat this process for each crane.
18. It doesn't matter if there are five cranes or fifty per strand, the process is the same.
19. If there are small glue threads that come off the hot glue gently remove them without disturbing the glue holding the crane in place.
Stringing crane tutorial courtesy of The Flirty Guide.
The problem was, I just couldn't find a theme to go around it that I loved. I mean, Japanese Cherry Blossoms are amazing, and since the Fortune Cookie originated in Japan, this would be perfect if you knew you were having a girl. But these origami cranes would work for either gender, don't you think?
(above photos by LillyTyll on ETSY)
And even these amazing baby booties would work perfectly for your Origami Gender Reveal, no?
Oh no, I am starting to get carried away again. That is all for today:)
Oh no, I am starting to get carried away again. That is all for today:)


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Red Velvet Brownie Bites With Cream Cheese Frosting
(Printable Recipe)
Preparation time: 25mins | Baking time : 35mins | Yield: 50 brownie bites
You Need:
For the red velvet brownies
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter
- 3 oz./85gm bittersweet chocolate chopped
- 1-1/2 cups / 230gm powdered sugar
- 3 large eggs
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/4 tsp salt * see notes
- 1 oz./30ml liquid red food colour
- 1 cup /115gm all purpose flour (maida)
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
Additional items
- 9″x9″ square baking tin
- two strips of aluminium foil 9″x16″ each
- oil spray or oil to grease the tin
Cream Cheese Frosting
- 8 oz. /227gm cream cheese at room temperature
- 4 tbsp butter at room temperature
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1-1/2 cups /230gm sifted powdered sugar
- silver dragee, edible sparkles/sprinkles – optional
2. After the brownie has cooled completely, slather it with the frosting only when you are ready to serve as it may dribble down the sides (as you see in my pictures). Alternatively you can prepare the frosting and refrigerate the cake until you are ready to serve. However, brownies taste best at room temperature.
3. Always use fresh cream cheese to avoid a sour taste to the frosting. If it is a bit sour you can add a little extra sugar to it


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A centre of expertise and research serves as a meeting point for students and researchers as well as representatives from the commercial, industrial and public sectors. Centres of expertise and research are cross-disciplinary and may include several academic subjects, faculty areas and higher education institutions.
The purpose of these centres is to manage areas and topics of interest that by nature span across several academic disciplines. There are approximately 30 centres of expertise and research at the University of Gothenburg. There are also other collaboration and networking groups.


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Temperatures are high and the exciting summer spirit was captured at the Partners for Youth with Disabilities (PYD) Field Day that Huskies for Sport in Society hosted at the Little League field in the Boston Commons last Saturday. PYD is an organization that matches disabled youth with a mentor. Matches meet monthly and do all sorts of things as a team. We, Safaa and Suzanne, met Steve, the Mentor Match specialist at PYD, at a networking event in April. We've been planning and mapping out the activities for the day, together with volunteers Kelsey, Margaret, Chloe and Anna from the NU Girls Rowing team. The aim for the day was for the matches to meet with other matches and, most important, to find out that, regardless of their abilities or disabilities, they have many things in common.
The day started with ice-breakers. We had a great start with the "Categories" game, where the group mingles and after a category is announced, quickly organizes itself into smaller groups based on the category to which they identify with, for example music taste, nationality or favorite ice-cream flavor! We now know that Boston is the participants' favorite city that only one person likes pop music, and that vanilla, strawberry and chocolate are the most desirable ice cream flavors.
Since the day was full of sports activities, it was important to stretch our muscles and the rowing crew did a great job leading this. All loosened up, the group split up and formed 5 groups, each group for each fun-station, including Soccer Challenge, Kite decorating and flying, Frisbee golf, Red light – Green light, and the Oreo-challenge. Throughout the day participants rotated around the fun-stations, learning new skills and more about each other and, most importantly, practicing being the leaders they all are.
Kelsey and Suzanne facilitated the soccer challenge. Our first group consisted of a visually impaired, really into sports couple. The mentee is a soccer-fan and his mission for the day was to get his mentor, into the sport as well. After some basic dribbling games, we started a World Cup tournament. It was Serbia against the US, against Regina (PYD's co-founder and CEO) who represented Italy just because of her love for the country, against Suzanne who represented the Netherlands. Serbia won by 2-0-0-0, but we were even happier that all participants enjoyed playing the game.
The next group played a 2-against-2 game. Although it was a tied game, they were all winners. They cheered on their team mates and each other showing great sportsmanship.
All participants showed leadership skills. One member of each group was responsible for a smooth transition between stations, which required awareness of time and initiative. Other members were leaders in their own way. One felt comfortable explaining an activity, while another would rather demonstrate an activity with one of the facilitators. Towards the end of the morning, two mentees even initiated and energized the others to play a game of kick-ball.
To conclude the day, we gathered at the stands and recognized these leadership skills with a certificate to each of the mentees. Leadership exists in small actions, whether it is encouraging team mates to play or guiding them so they can participate fully. It was great to see new friendships emerge through sport and to find out commonalities that lie below the surface.
This was our first time organizing an event on behalf of Huskies for Sport in Society. The whole process, from the initial meeting to recruiting volunteers and actually hosting the event, was a great learning experience and something to build on for the future of H4SIS. A big thanks to the NU Rowing crew, we hope we can work together in the future! Here's to Field Day becoming a regular, seasonal event. Watch this space for the next Sport in Society and Partners for Youth with Disabilities collaboration!
Saf & Sue