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How We Work: An Interview With Sara Drake
December 4, 2013 · Print This Article
Guest post by A.Martinez
I was introduced to the work of Sara Drake at my first Brain Frame event, March 2012. Brain Frame is an event series that invites comic artists to explore the performative side of their work. That night, Sara's shadow puppet performance "The Romance of the Tiger Ladyâ€Â  truly blew me away. I try to avoid using the word 'magic' to describe work, but the kind of child-like captivation I felt in response to this piece was both unexpected and incredibly moving.
Bad At Sports last spoke to Sara just before her two-month teaching venture in Cambodia. It was this trip that inspired "The Romance of the Tiger Ladyâ€, and it was also this trip that inspired her (most impressive) self-taught movement towards shadow puppetry. You can find Sara's work online at http://saradrake.info/;  she is also the  comics writer for Bad At Sports.
A.Martinez:Â How did you get from making comics into performing shadow puppetry?
Sara Drake: Estrangement. I had just returned to the US from Cambodia where I had been teaching comics, and every way I knew how to articulate myself became erroneous. I needed to communicate in a mode which wouldn't come off as abrasive or didactic within an insular arts community in Chicago. I wasn't ready to process my experiences abroad with other people yet. It takes me a long time to process anything, including my new found political awareness.
Shadow puppets signaled tedious, meditative sessions alone in the dark and allowed me to find a voice I was aware of in the back of my mind but wasn't sure how to wield.  So much of my creative life is prefaced with writing and asserting justification for making things. When I'm speaking in shadows, I am literally fumbling around in the dark trying to find bits and pieces to a story.
Martinez:Â So to begin talking about your piece, The Romance of the Tiger Lady, I want to start with your trip to Cambodia to teach comics to a group of young women. When were you there and for how long?
Drake:Â I was there for two months in 2011 through an initiative called Independent Youth Driven Media Production in Cambodia. My former teacher, Anne Elizabeth Moore, was looking for creative responses to issues relevant to young women in Phnom Penh. I applied with a gendered comics and self-publishing workshop.
Martinez:Â How did living in a completely different country teaching comics influence your work?
Drake: I was there for such a short time! I wouldn't exactly consider two months "living†in a foreign country. It did completely shift my life. As for my work I attribute it most to an entangling and dispossession of my morality, which I'm only just beginning to explore through comics.
I am definitely an advocate for travel if you have the means or opportunity to do so, but hesitant to encourage others to pursue a project like mine. There are unique risks and potentially hidden power structures at play. To walk into a community as an outsider with limited understanding could be devastating, despite how well-intentioned an artist may be.
Martinez:Â Did you watch much shadow puppetry there?
Drake:Â Only as a tourist. Not as someone who has the ability to talk about the medium affluently or with respect to a long, and important cultural tradition.
Martinez:Â Of all the comics you read while you were over there, what made you decide to choose this story to work with?
Drake: That's the thing. I did not speak or was literate in Khmer. I had to find comics in the market places and through word of mouth, typically through western expats. Cambodia is still rebuilding from and coming to terms with decades of illegal American bombing, the Khmer Rouge regime, civil war, and persistent corruption. Comics, like all artistic production during the regime, were completely wiped out. The Romance of The Tiger Lady, by Im Sokha, is a horror comics from the 1980s about a were-tiger lady who falls smitten for a hunter. Aside from it being a good story, it was one of the comics that was well liked and looked at often among the women that came to my workshops.
Martinez:Â So, you made a decision to make this into a shadow puppet performance, and then how did you begin this process?
Drake:Â I spend a lot of time writing and collecting fragments of ideas until I internalize and visualize moods and feelings. Then I have to somehow translate them into puppets. I am still a bit mystified as to how that happens.
Martinez:Â The piece is 17 minutes long. About how long did it take you to just cut out all the scenes?
Drake: For Tiger Lady, I wasn't just cutting out the puppets, I was also teaching myself how to make shadow puppets. The show took about three months to physically cut out. A clumsy, one foot after the other sort of business.
Martinez:Â Did you work mostly by yourself?
Drake: Yes and no! When I'm starting to work on a show there is a germination period of a few months, where I'm working solo on scripting out the story and making all the puppets. Then I get together with a group of puppeteers and a musician to figure out the rest.
Martinez:Â How did you decide to use an overhead projector for your performances?
Drake:Â They are the staple, it seems, for shadow puppet shows. The puppet community in Chicago is incredibly supportive. Julia Miller of Manual Cinema, another shadow puppet group, gave me a lot of pointers in the beginning. Knowing about their work was an invaluable resource in the beginning and their work is mind-blowingly gorgeous.
Martinez:Â Comics are usually a very solitary act, so was it difficult for you to switch to an art that is so collaborative both in its making and its viewing?
Drake: I see this logic posed often to cartoonists and frankly, it's missing the point. Comics are solitary as a process sure! but similar to other art forms, communities have formed up around and about it all over the place. It would seem odd to ask a writer this question. Chicago is not as lonely as my cartoon predecessors would have most believe, yet certainly alienating at times. It bores me when artists use this paradigm as an excuse.
But to answer your question, there was never a time when I haven't been collaborating. Maybe the result isn't always a visual one or one whose end goal is something tangibly producible.  For me, cultural production necessitates community involvement and being exposed to as many voices and encouraging access to as many voices as possible.
Martinez:Â When did PUPhouse form?
Drake:Â During the production of Saltwater Weather. Early on I realized that the project was going to be ambitiously technical and require a deeper commitment from the artists who stepped up to be puppeteers. Each of us had been collaborating in some form or another outside of shadow puppets. The range of mediums each of us is coming from is pretty protean: textiles, animation, comics, music, filmmaking, theater. PUPhouse, or giving our time together a name, became a way to reinforce what we were building together.
Martinez: Do you like working with a crew  of people like that?
Drake: As with any group of humans, you can expect drama. I wouldn't have it any other way.
I mean, I couldn't have it any other way.
Martinez:Â What's the strangest or coolest thing that's happened to you while working together?
Drake:Â Being around other artists is strange and cool in general.
One of the perks of being in an experimental puppet company, is that no matter what event or show you are at, if it's going badly or is boring, I always have seven weirdos who I adore to hang out with on the sidelines. Eternal friendship lifestyle.
Martinez:Â How often do you meet and rehearse for shows?
Drake:Â When a show is in the works once a week. Sometimes two, three times a week.
It takes longer time than one would think to show someone how to move a small piece of paper from point a to b. . .
Martinez:Â What is the most difficult thing for you about shadow puppetry?
The physical and emotional labor that goes into it. Shadow puppetry may look effortless from the front but there is a flurry of movement, sweat, and awkward body positions happening backstage. It takes an exceptional group of people to be able to maintain strong friendships after tense long hours of being told their fingers need to act more like animals.
Sometimes puppets catch on fire . . . which, is definitely difficult.
Martinez:Â What are you currently working on?
Drake: I'm taking a break from puppets for a moment to make a new comic – but I don't want to share all my magic tricks just yet. On top of that, I'm heading out of Chicago for a bit to do an artist residency in Colombia.
Martinez: It seems like you like to travel to new places. Do you work while you're traveling? Or mostly just collect ideas?
Drake: I have a long-term, co-dependent relationship with wanderlust. I intentionally do not go to any place wanting to make work about it. I've found that traveling with a purpose in mind, mediates my experiences. It is however, important that all of the materials I work with are portable. This does two things. I like culture that is definitely small – that's human sized and encourages people to relate to it. And of course, it's practical!
Martinez:Â Do you keep/have a collection?
Drake: I'm always leaving places. I do not like/enjoy owning things, maybe that's why I work in ephemera and experiences. Although, I am a compulsive autobiographer. I keep a dated record of every book, movie, and art show I've ever read or seen since I was a teenager. I keep meticulous word lists of all sorts of things: new compound words I create, overheard conversations, turns of phrases that sound off, mood words, fragments.
Martinez: What is the most distracting thing for you while you're working?
Drake:Â Exhaustion. Or not feeling lucid and the feedback loop frustration that comes with that.
Martinez: What's the biggest revelation you've had about the way you work?
Drake: The puppeteers always note that I exclaim "do you hate it?†when I show new work or scenes to them. I have a parasite known to many as self-depreciation.
Martinez:Â Is there a certain time of day that you feel especially inspired to work, or when ideas come to you?
Drake:Â I do most of my writing and scripting when I am on my bike. Most days this tends to be the only alone time I have. And of course, shadows are more dramatic after dark. . .
Martinez:Â Does your cat hang out with you while you work?
Drake:Â Of course! We have a symbiotic working relationship. I cannot stress enough, how crucial a creative life in the company of other animals is to a human psyche.
Martinez:Â Is there a piece of advice, art related or not that you think of often?
Drake: When I was small, my dad always used to say, "What makes a good animal, a good animal?â€
This was meant to be soothing after some brutal animal world fact on television, a pet death, watching viruses destroy human cells on bring your daughter to work day, etc. It meant, what ensures that animal survives? Is being brutal or dark, something that a human animal might consider bad, a part of what defines that animal?  "What makes a good human, good at being human?†This is how I move around in the world ad. infinitum.
All photos courtesy of Gillian Fry and Sara Drake.
A.Martinez is a freelance art and music organizer living in Chicago, IL.
DON BAUM IT: Money And Relevance In Art In Chicago
December 3, 2013 · Print This Article
Guest Post by Britton Bertran
The art economy in Chicago – specific to the visual art market – is busted. It doesn't work and hasn't worked for a long time. Yes, this a provincial observation as we are in a global society, but ask any commercial gallery owner in Chicago that's not one of the Mighty 5, and they'll tell you the same.  Yes, more and more people who aren't in Chicago are paying attention to us as a viable location. Chicago is a place that has artists who make (and made) great work and some non-Chicagoans are even buying art from here (good luck in Miami y'all!). But when it comes to a localized presence, we are somewhere near the bottom of the attention totem pole. Where would you place visual art on the Chicago matrix of culture that includes Theater, Music, Dance, and yes, Food?
There are several ingredients that make up this pie: artists (check-plus), galleries (check), arts administrators (check), art critics (check-minus) and collectors (check-minus-minus). One could also add art schools, art jobs and art conversation to this pie. As well, we have venues in which to look at art which is obviously important for this mixture: fancy/academic/contemporary museums, commercial galleries with varying levels of artist representation, medium-sized and smaller not-for-profits, artist-run apartments/storefronts/garages, city-sanctioned public spaces and galleries AND, lest we forget, our computers.  These are all parts of this economy and much of its success is reliant on the flow if information that reaches non-art world people and what happens when those people react to what they see. The trouble is that most of those non-artworlders are either taking what they see for granted.  In general, they are not really looking, seeing or reacting.
Chicago has a landscape and art is very much in it.  So what's missing?  Why is it broke and how can we fix it?
Money helps.  Money helps a lot.  Yes, I know it's gauche to talk about especially in the realm of aesthetics, but the majority of artworlders here are sadly not flush for reasons beyond their control.  And yes, I also realize that many artists choose to ignore the money part of their equation as it interferes with the thinking about their work and its discourse. But it still needs to be discussed as it's a part of the system we live within.
I place much of the blame of a lot of the troubles the Chicago art world has on the lack of collectors.  There are collectors in Chicago – both with a little c and a big C – but there are just not enough. I'm going to ignore the Collector portion of this equation and focus on the Lil' c's, with the knowledge that one often becomes the other due to the pure pleasure they receive from the act itself.
Who are they? Where are they? Why won't they come out and play? I know they're here: they sit on non-profit auxiliary Boards, they go to First Friday, they eat out three nights a week, they buy condos in the West Loop, they have scooters as alternative transportation devices, they bring their visiting parents to the Art Institute and they could probably tell you at least ten contemporary artists they've heard of.
Since they are here, we have solved part of the problem and this is important because the Lil' c's need to be localized in order for this to work.  Next is the hard part: they need to understand that collecting art is a good thing, it's healthy, it's fun and it's really addictive.  They need to understand that they don't need to spend a lot of money.  They would be helping out this economy from a small business point of view, for both artists and gallerists.  They could say, "Hey I'm young, why don't I collect some emerging artists that are the same age as me and we could grow together!†Or they could say, "Hey, if a New York Giants linebacker collects art, why shouldn't I?†Or "I heard that Leo DiCaprio was lurking in the corner of the some art auction last week?† This is a thing that people do! This is something that you, o' Lil' c, would be great at!
Sadly, the majority of the Lil' c's also need to be told what to buy, at least in the beginning.  As such, they need the lecture about aesthetics vs. investments, to buy with your eyes and not your ears, that it's more than filling in the space over your couch in that new condo and, if they so desire, art collecting brings with it a whole new set of social structures that can be horrifyingly awesome.  An additional secret: Lil' c's don't need Leo money to buy art they just need to be educated.
Is there anyone out there that's taking up this challenge and whisper in the ears of these Lil' c's?  There are, but there aren't enough and there aren't enough that are doing it right.  Two examples that are doing it right: The Chicago Artist Coalition and Threewalls. The CAC's tagline is "Building a Creative Marketplaceâ€.  They've re-booted the organization in the last couple of years and are making real strides to make connections between artists and collectors.  Threewalls has their CSA Initiative (Community Supported Art) that makes a kind of implied statement on the relationship between non-profit-ness, artists, art-making and the joy of owning artwork. These are also sustainable examples.  One-off events (aka Art Fairs) may provide convenience and atmosphere but do little for long term development of collecting as a functionary system beyond good and services. Relationships need to be built which is also part of the fun.
Beyond the money – there is relevance.  These are two concepts inextricably associated with each other. In the context of Chicago, with its persistent inferiority complex, relevance especially applies in ways that will always be in flux. Some choose to ignore it, others choose to whole-heartedly embrace it and there are others whose mission in life is to better it.
There used to be individuals who developed a way of thinking and talking about art in Chicago that directly translated into success for a number of artists, both critically and monetarily. Two that come to mind are Don Baum (circa Monster Roster in the late 1960's) and Judith Russi Kirshner (circa Chicago-neo-conceptualism of the late 1980's).  The artists that they worked with are well represented in our local art institutions as well as the collections of many Collectors.  This is artwork that was disseminated in a way that clever, deft and meaningful within Chicago and then beyond.
This is still happening today in a way that could amount to something bigger. The current Whitney Biennial may provide a stopgap for this situation with near 1/5th of its artists currently working in Chicago, or at least with very close ties. Hopefully, the deserved exposure for those lucky artists will translate into more than a sentence or two in a reputable purveyor of art criticism. There is also a handful of local curators ensconced at our museums who do their part by creating scholarly looks at the recent art history of Chicago artists as well as develop vehicles for showcasing some of our emerging and mid-career artists. But is this enough? When the #WhiBi is over, how many of those artists will have some sort of local gallery representation? How many times will we see the same Tony Tasset/Robert Smithson photo at the MCA?
A surefire way of gaining some sort of relevance in the art world used to be simply having someone write about your work. In Chicago this used to be a little harder than other cities, but it was still there. I used to think that a certain level of professional art criticality and good old fashion art journalism was a part of this puzzle, and I still think it is, but when it comes to creating a sense of relevance – it's a downward spiral.  This is something I have no idea how to fix. The state of journalism (online or offline or whatever) is a sad state at this point because there simply isn't enough of it happening on a higher level. At the same time, if someone where to start consistently writing about Art in Chicago in a serious and engaging way, who would be there to read it?  Is there anybody reading this that isn't already in some way trying to make a living within the local art scene, or at least attempting to become more relevant in some meaningful way? Writing about art, critically or journalistically, needs an infusion that is less about navel gazing and more about starting a conversation that is extroverted.
Thankfully, there aren't anymore "Chicago schoolsâ€. Or at least no one (that's not a gallery developing a marketing ploy) has decided to wrangle our artists into any sort of synthesized concrete definition in order to look at them easier. And, if someone where to, what would it look like? Would it be too transparent an attempt at selling?  Or does that simply not matter anymore? Being an artist in Chicago might just have to be enough, but it can't be because there is too much at stake. I don't think there is room for another Don Baum in Chicago, but there is room to recognize that there are more questions than answers in this essay.
Bio: Britton Bertran ran 40000 from 2005 to 2008. He currently is an Instructor at SAIC in the Arts Administration and Policy department and the Educational Programs Manager at Urban Gateways. An occasional guest-curator, he has organized exhibitions for the Hyde Park Art Center, the Loyola Museum of Art and several galleries. You can find him trying to be less cranky about the art world on twitter @br_tton. Stay tuned for another guest post about looking forward to 2014 (and maybe a top 10 list of sorts too.)
"I'd be safe and warm if I was in LA…"
November 22, 2013 · Print This Article
Guest post by Jacob Wick.
Towards the end of The Function of Criticism, Terry Eagleton suggests that the "role of the contemporary critic," which is of course a different thing than the function of criticism - right? a role and a function are different things, but of course the function of something might be to provide a role, or a role might be to serve a function, in both cases it seems like function is greater than, trumps or possibly dictates, role – is to reconnect "the symbolic to the political," by which he means "engaging through both discourse and practice with the process by which repressed needs, interests, and desires may assume the cultural forms which could weld them into a collective political force." He is emphatic in pointing out that this role, this idea, is not new at all, but – like many ideas around a libertory role for art, theory, etc – harks back to an earlier historical moment. Eagleton tracks the formulation of what would eventually become criticism to 17th and 18th centuries and the publication of pamphlets like The Spectator or The Tatler or the slightly later Rambler, and posits the function of this publications as the creation of publics against authoritarian rule. It was these publications, Eagleton argues, that began to bind together the bourgeois public sphere as such, and that would later provide foment for this public to assert its hegemony over autocratic rule. It is worthwhile pointing out here that the focus of The Function of Criticism is very, very narrowly trained on England; although in the colonies, I'm sure the publication of the Federalist papers and the myriad pamphlets that fluttered up and down the Atlantic coast would be a decent analogue. In any case, Eagleton's estimation of publication meaning the creation of the public jogs handsomely alongside Matthew Stadler's estimation of publication (Stadler is, of course, a former BaS star, on an interview that I was privy to in a relatively non-participatory, hungover fashion). The function of criticism, though, is slightly more pointed than the formation of a public around a text; it is the formation of a demos around an intertext or series of intertexts that weave(s) through contemporary cultural production. In my view, this amounts to provoking and/or fostering the articulation of a local discourse in relation to a larger discourse that supersedes it, for it is around this localized discourse that a public or counterpublic might begin to recognize itself in context.
The not-so-recent hullaballoo over the use or misuse of English in e-flux press releases, which started with the dubious assertion that a language separate from English was being used in the online listserv/journal in Triple Canopy and fizzled out with an entire issue of e-flux journal dedicated to half-assed rebuttals of that thesis provides some useful fodder. e-flux is a listserv that serves some 90,000 readers across the world, and to which are submitted press releases from everywhere, all of them in English, some of them in better English than others. These press releases are generally written in a similar tone and register, a tone and register that is relatively uniform throughout early 21st-century art writing in English. These press releases, because they strive to make sense with and to each other, constitute a discourse. This is not in itself a problem. Neither is the quality of English in use, nor whether this use constitutes a separate language – which of course it doesn't, that's ridiculous, if anything it might constitute a sociolect (unless we are going to start talking about International Baseball English or something) – or even that English is being used (lingua francas are important if a global discourse is to be established, right?).
The problem is twofold: first, that this global discourse is directed, at least in part, by the e-flux journal, a monthly publication usually consisting of around 7 articles generally written by a relatively small pool of artists, curators, etc that are recognized by the selfsame global discourse as important, and who are in general from a relatively narrow geographical context. This journal responds generally to the global discourse that is in part produced and supported by the e-flux listserv. The views of this journal, which are not necessarily bad, but generally do not address specific local contexts in any way; to do so in a monthly publication of 7 or so articles would be impossible. Because this extremely limited journal exists in a feedback loop with the global listserv, however, a rather distressing situation arises whereby the narrow view of the journal is regurgitated unproblematically into local contexts, without a consideration for whether or not this discourse is pertinent, or even relevant, to said context. Thus, an informal contemporary art space in Shenzhen might feel the need to publish a press release, in English, on e-flux, in order to participate in a global discourse, but in order to participate in this global discourse it might also feel the need to articulate itself using the tone and register, even the current relevant topics, of that discourse, set by the e-flux journal. The local tone, register, and topics of Shenzhen would then be reoriented in some way towards this strangely narrow global discourse in such a way that what is happening at the informal contemporary art space in Shenzhen reads exactly like what is happening at, say, the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam. This does not make sense.
A global discourse does not make sense without the existence of local discourses that challenge or at least interact with that discourse. If New York used to be the center of the art world, the Internet is the center of the art world now. This is not an oxymoron; we should drop the tired hat of insisting that the Internet will make us free, is devoid of hierarchy, and so on. Packets of information float horizontally across a non-hierarchical field for a while, yes, but in order for them to be legible they are converted via Internet Protocal (IP) into the hierarchal tree of the Domain Name System (DNS). If you'd like to read an entire book about this, please consider Alexander Galloway's Protocol. If you wouldn't, read this 7 or 9 page gem by Deleuze, "Postscript on the Societies of Control." In societies of control, power exists in the form of internal and/or internalized functions that corral anarchic forms of life into easily-policed norms. One of these norms might be the notion of "our global society," the general assumption that we live in a world where we are all flying to Mumbai or Vancouver or Philadelphia whenever the latest investigation of you know, whatever, that we are all part of an abstracted society of global travelers (for more about this, check out Lane Relyea's book Your Everyday Art World, which I haven't finished at all, in fact I've barely started it, but he writes about this stuff immediately and in a very engaging manner, like in the first chapter or possibly even the introduction). The problem with "our global society," of course, is that it doesn't exist, or that it only exists to those who have tremendous wealth or privileged access to tremendous wealth. I live in Los Angeles, for instance, and occasionally am able to access wealth in the form of grants, paid travel by host organizations, etc. I may have been "global" from 2006ish – 2009ish, while I was living in New York and playing relatively regularly with a trio I had with two Irish musicians. My residence in our global society ended abruptly with the crash of the Celtic Tiger. Anyway, the point is that our global society doesn't actually exist, and by endlessly repeating how it exists, and how great it is, how revolutionary for all of us, local contexts lose the ability to recognize themselves.
For instance, Southern California! The California-Pacific Triennial, which closed recently at the Orange County Museum of Art, made an attempt to at least slightly narrow California's global context to the Pacific Ocean, rather than across the continent to New York or across a continent and an ocean to Europe. This seems exciting and it probably is, but to be honest the show generally seemed directed at the nonexistent global public I have discussed above, not towards a discourse that exists between or among Pacific art scenes, probably because that discourse doesn't actually exist. This discourse also does not appear to exist – at least not to me, and I am certainly new, but isn't that at least sort of the point of this series of blog posts? – in the City or County of Los Angeles.
Last month, I went to an opening at Honor Fraser for Dawn Kasper's THE ABSURD show. The opening featured a gospel choir of that sang and danced in the space between the PA, pictured, and the two platforms, also pictured, leaving almost no space for an audience. The choir was incredible, really, it reminded me of Andrew Hill's gospel music, it reminded me of Don Byron saying in 2008 or 2006 or whenever that was that gospel music is the most interesting improvised music happening, the room – an art gallery, seriously – a huge mass of people feeling very intensely, sweating and confused, rich collectors baffled at why they couldn't see better, everybody looking very confused and happy, some dancing or trying to dance, the singers occasionally falling down from the Spirit. The whole thing felt to me a bit like a gag in the sense that I described in my last post, the gospel choir wrecking the scene of the art opening in a positively heroic fashion. At the post-opening reception a man next to me gushed to the man next to him that he tries to visit New York City once a month for inspiration.
The County of Los Angeles sprawls across 4000 square miles and holds 9.8 million people in fifteen cities speaking something like 200 different languages. In my neighborhood, I hear Tagalog, Spanish, Korean, and Bengali regularly: what are they talking about? What is their discourse? According to the listing at LA Art Resource, there exist at least 50 artist-run (maybe 85) initiatives in the City of Los Angeles (one of the fifteen cities in the county), located in phone lines, apartments, the Internet, lofts, and so on. What are they talking about? What is their discourse? Are artist-run initiatives speaking Tagalog or Korean, Bengali or Thai? Are they speaking to each other, in English, or in Spanish, about their local contexts? What the hell is going on in Burbank or Lancaster, Pasadena or San Gabriel? Surely not nothing. And if nothing is happening, then shame on us allowing that narrative, that public, to disappear from our discourse.
The setup, or lack of setup, of the City of Los Angeles, a setup that Brecht derided in the early 20th century as a collection of culturally vacant suburbs haphazardly roped together under a dubious civic entity (a situation only slightly ameliorated by the Interstate system) might prove actually beneficial to the development of a sort of critical ecosystem, a local discourse that might operate as the conglomerate of a series of hyperlocal discourses. Perhaps it is beside the point to fret about what Los Angeles's unified cultural identity is, and instead ask what the cultural identity of Koreatown is, and how that relates to neighboring Mid-Wilshire or Historic Filipinotown. What is happening in Los Angeles is not what is happening in New York, but it shouldn't be, namely because Los Angeles is not in New York. But what is happening in Los Angeles surely has the potential to be absolutely fascinating and exciting, if – maybe only if – we can get a little critical.
Jacob Wick is a conceptual artist living in Los Angeles, CA. For more information, please visit jacobwick.info.
Guest Post by Autumn HaysÂ
Let us start off by acknowledging that there is a distinct difference between Queer and Transgender subjects. It's important not to lump these two together. Though related and often overlapping, these are not interchangeable terms. Queer being a reclaimed pejorative for gay, and transgender being a person whose self-identity does not conform unambiguously to conventional notions of male or female gender. (see more.) With that in mind what I would like to look into a reoccurring concern in the discussions that take place around both queer and transgender performance art.
In the last month I have seen multiple panels touching on the subject of new Queer and or Transgender works. There was a definitive connection between all panels: and attempt to shake up current the definitions, and what some define as new codified zones of safety. When I say zones of safety, I am referring a kind of identity politics that sits safely in a form of expression that is confortable enough for new standards of acceptance. Artworks that sit in this comfort zone fail to realize the full potentiality of the subjects and often begging to forum it's own predictable cliché. The challenging of the formulation of a tamed queerness or transgender performance is an often-highlighted theme appearing in new works. The formulation of a safely circumscribed zone undermines the attempt to reconsider the subject due to an inadequate scope.
Queer and or transgender arts panels often attempt to define the new wave of artists making work in these areas. Today many artists are attempting to define a new direction that departs from the identity work that came out the 80s and 90s. Often these earlier works are ascribed the quality of crying out for recognition. Much of the work being produced today is looking for finer definitions, as opposed to this preliminary awareness.
We could go on to talk about the subject of the word Queer as discussed during the roundtable "New Queer Aesthetics†in late October. Queer New York International Arts Festival (QNYI)  had come to Chicago to exhibit a Queer Fest as an extension of the one in New York at Defibrillator Performance Art Gallery . The Chicago show featured artists Suka Off, Bruno Isakovic, Gabreiela Mureb, and Keijaun Thomas. Queer fest distinctly pulls itself away from other Queer festivals which they feel are accepted ideas of the term Queer. As one of the festivals curators, Zvonimir Dobrović, explained, the festival seeks to redefine and challenge preconceived notions of the term Queer. Not all work is made by the LGBT community and instead is defined loosely by a sort of norm-challenging ascetic. After struggling through various definitions, redefinitions, embracing, rejections, fears of washing out the word of meaning completely, and other post-modern linguistic dilemmas an audience member mentions queerness in regards to race, specifically the colored queer. Why is this important? Because the conversations began to progress from the semanticlogical, what is Queer, to what are current Queer issues are concerned about, who are we dealing with the queer female of color in art today.
This November I attended a panel at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Transgender / Arts : A roundtable on the future of transgender cultural production, which  included panelists Trish Salah, Jules Rosskam, Julian Carter, David Getsy, and Micha Cárdenas. During the panel many valid points were made about Transgender art. Micha Cárdenas presented important question to the panel, "Where are the trans women of color in art?†Many of the panelist themselves who specialize in Transgender arts could in fact not think of a single artist. The panel began to discus a kind of film festival, performance and art transgender normative narrative. A washed down version, where you began to see something constrained, not quite all the way there. Sitting in a place somewhere in academia where it is comfortable and safe.
How does performance readjust and challenge Queer and Trans identity without losing site of the community in general? There is something that happens to us when we are about to fully realize the other; we find a way to compromise, to only go so far. Many Queer or Trans artist today are attempting to push at the boundaries of a newly accepted normative narrative and point at the things we are forgetting, those who still don't have a voice. The Art world, the world, is still white male dominated. In a way the lull of sleep we put ourselves in this supposedly post-feminism, post-racism, post- sexism, post-gender issues world that we keep referring to as better than it was before is more dangerous. Because hiding under that comfort is the fact we haven't changed all that much, we should be forging new grounds and making sure it doesn't fall asleep.
If I was asked where the new queer or trans aesthetic is headed today, I would say somewhere within the struggle of continuous disturbance, in the understanding that things aren't there yet and we have to keep shaking it up, shaking ourselves up, so we don't become our own worse enemies, the perpetuators of a normative Queer of Trans identity. As performance art specifically keeps pushing on with another panel at the Hemispheric Institute for Performing Arts, this week discussing "Race & the Colonial Impulse: Queer Performance Practices", I look forward t a continued discussion that bridges gaps in the dialogue between racial queer and transgender issues in the arts.
Autumn Hays is an Artist, Curator, Teacher and Writer. She graduated the School of the Art Institute of Chicago with an MFA in Performance where she received the John Quincy Adams Fellowship. She received her BA in Visual Arts at UCSD. Hays was the recipient of numerous scholarships, grants and awards including two major Jack Kent Cooke association scholarships.Currently she is assistant curator at Defibrillator and Directing Coordinator of the Rapid Pulse International Performance Art Festival. www.autumnhays.com
Instigated in conjunction with "The Locational Turn? Reflections from Chicago on documenta in Kassel, Alexandria, Banff and Kabul" panel discussion held November 13 (2013) at the Block Museum on Northwestern University.
by Daniel Tucker
Anyone who tries to generalize about "the art world" owes you an explanation about which world they are describing. While there is undoubtedly overlap between major institutions, mid-sized institutions, high-end commercial galleries, universities, art schools, community colleges, apprenticeships, auctions, internships, craft galleries, non-profit galleries, informal and community-based cultural centers, residency programs, private philanthropists, collectors, public grants, magazines, theoretical journals, blogs, public art commissions, street art, artist collectives and individual artists – they can still seem worlds apart.
One world that can seem worlds apart is that of the Documenta exhibition, founded in 1955 by Arnold Bode, to occur every 5 years and reconnect post-war Germany to the contemporary art conversations and practices developing internationally. Produced by the documenta and Fridericianum Museum Event Company which provide the ongoing organizational infrastructure to keep the project going, the exhibition is largely guided by a curator. This position is akin to "being the mayor of a small city," according to Michael Rakowitz, a Chicago artist exhibiting in this years show (1). In 2008 the search committee arrived on Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev as the curator, and she began her work on January 1st, 2009 re-inventing what has become over the last 13 incarnations, a crucial node in the intellectual and critical discourse of art around the world – itself producing conversations, catalyzing careers, and generally generating trends that will be talked about in years to come (in Chicago over the last year at the MCA, SAIC's Sullivan Galleries and U of C's Logan Center Exhibitions there have already been three exhibits of re-worked pieces shown at documenta13). In the summer for 100 days, from June 9th to September 16th of 2012, over 300 artists, writers, and thinkers participated in documenta13 in Kassel, Germany.
In 2012 a remarkable number of Chicago artists were invited as participants. Theaster Gates (with John Preus and Rebuild Foundation), Claire Pentecost, Michael Rakowitz, and Lori Waxman are all exhibiting works. A number of Chicago-based authors produced texts for the 100 Days 100 Books portion of the programs including Brian Holmes, WJT Mitchell, David Nirenberg and Jane Taylor. To have this many participants from one city would be unusual, but for it to be a city so detached from the commercial facets of art selling (gallerists, collectors, auction houses, etc) and so oriented towards political, community, and socially-engaged art is what makes the decision stand out.
Locally there has been a thriving art community in Chicago that is focused on strong social bonds, engagement with concerns and disciplines that exceed the focus of art, and political and ethical commitments around themes ranging from war and labor to housing and food. This has a long history in the city, dating back to the 1960s in terms of direct lineages with existing practices. It has developed in a particular and regionally-specific way, while art since the 1980s more generally in the United States has experienced a gradual engagement with political and social life. All over the country, but particularly on the coasts, there are art schools and universities initiating "Social Practice" focus areas for students interested in art that deals with social forms as a material in place of traditional art materials and mediums that have come to include clay, video, performance, paint, photography, sculpture, murals, and interactive websites, among many others.
Through my study of Chicago, I have observed that this turn towards "the social" is less of a turn, and more of a ever-present fascination. It has also been observed today, as well as in reflections on history that the work in Chicago has always been more serious than elsewhere. In a dialogue held at the South Side Community Arts Center, respected photographer from the Black Arts Movement Bob Crawford spoke to his experience doing a photo show in New York City, where he observed that "the Chicago photographers' work was usually more political. And the New York photographers' work was a little more "art,†narrowly."(2)
Deeply familiar with the Chicago artists and authors participating in documenta13, I traveled to Kassel last summer to see their work and consider my hometown art scene in relationship to this massive global event. Below are a few scenes from that trip.
Jorg Doerig's friends and family have joined him to go have his art critiqued. They pack into a small self-contained room, a sleek writers cottage of sorts, where Jorg unpacks his paintings of flowers, and a self portrait, and layes them out on some shelves and leaning against the wall along the floor. It was time for his appointment with the Chicago Tribune art critic and art historian Lori Waxman, who had been taking half-hour appointments with local artists in Kassel three days a week all summer. Over the visit she asks some questions, but mainly gives her attention to interpretation of the art.
"Why Paint?," she writes in response to Jorg's work. "For love of certain subjects." She concludes.
To watch her type (a mirror of her laptop monitor is displayed on a screen facing the artist and a steady-stream of passer-bys) is akin to watching a live poetry reading. Nothing else can compare to the experience of watching someone invest herself in the creative practice of another. While art criticism has become a game so detached from the making and the maker, Waxman reinvests herself in people and their artistic output. And she herself is on display, revealing the writing process, her process.
Most artists Waxman critiques in this project, titled "60 WRD/MIN Art Critic," have never had their art written about. For the most part she has executed this project in smaller towns throughout the United States with the support of a writers grant from the Andy Warhol Foundation. In these settings, her presence incites tremendous excitement.
She consults an online thesaurus. What is a synonym for "Lovingly"? Jorg stirs, he smiles and looks around at his friends. What a strange experience, to have someone craft language before your eyes about your heartfelt and time-consuming creative activities.
In "What Dust Will Rise?" Michael Rakowitz presents an entire room of enclosed vitrines and display tables immediately conjuring the space of a museum, a special collection or an archive. Upon closer look, you notice handwritten notes in thin black marker ink on the glass panes of the display shelving. Like many artists in this installment of documenta, Rakowitz engages in the legacy of the Nazi presence in Germany and in the present military operations and occupation of Afghanistan. The building in which his installation is presented, the Fridericianum, was a library when it was bombed in 1941 and all but 15% of the books were destroyed. The artist elegantly draws a parallel between that sited history, infusing it in the present, with the interrelated history of Taliban destruction of cultural artifacts in Afghanistan – most notably the Buddha statues in Bamiyan.
Presented on the tables I encounter replicas of books destroyed in that bombing, carved out of stone quarried in Bamiyan by artisans Rakowitz commissioned in Italy. Proceeding through the space, books from other bombings, fires, and cultural assassination appear. Many of the books were original printings with intricate woven and printed cover art, shown here in rich three dimensional carvings of the cover, spine, and worn pages – all beautifully carved with precise details. Other books take the form of an open spread, drawing attention to the content through subtle and surprising connections with the form or the act of destruction that inspired the installation. Others, like the oldest lexicon of classical medieval abbreviations, are just devastating because of what they contain, and what knowledge and culture was lost.
Surprise is the crucial word for this experience. As I proceed from case to case and book to book, I keep thinking that I have comprehended the scope of the artistic gesture. And then the next object or collection startles me. He did what? I think. He really brought some building fragments from dismantled public housing in St. Louis, the Twin Towers, and the Berlin Wall? Yes. Stone carving chisels from Bamiyan made from the remnants of exploded cars and abandoned tanks belonging to the occupying forces? Yes. Surprise after wonderful surprise, the installation unfolds with linkages and nuances that dispel an attempt at easy summary, but provoke curiosity in an unwritten narrative about our ongoing human projects of creation and destruction, war, imperialism, pre-modern and modern.
A highlight of the exhibition, this surprise echoes the best parts of documenta13, an exhibit without an overarching theme – forcing each work to be viewed for what it is.
Entering from the garden into the narrow glass doors on the side of the Ottoneum, I am excited to see the work of Claire Pentecost in such an ideal location. Prominently and symbolically located in the the first theater built in Germany, now serving as the Museum of Natural History, the installation is the entrypoint for an entire building full of works about seeds, science and ecology – one of the most coherent sub-themes within this massive and themeless exhibition.
Pentecost produced this work in residence at The University of Kassel Faculty of Organic Agricultural Science in Witzenhausen and following her participation in a soil workshop at the Rodale Institute in Pennsylvania.
The outcome is a multi-modal installation all centered around a proposed currency called Soil-Erg. She made dozens of drawings with pencil and mud, illustrating a heterogeneous paper money version of Soil-Erg, each depicting a different ecological scene or significant activist and research figures working with food and science. Above the two walls of paper currency, are differently sized medallions of soil. The elaborate tables at the center of the room are piled up with ingots of soil, reminiscent of fantastical gold stashes from Indiana Jones or Fort Knox.
Along the back wall is an intervention into the museum's collection – a move made by a number of artists who found inspiration in the specificity of the temporary exhibition venues. On the left there is a glass display unit from the collection of the Otteneum that shows slices of soil from different depths of the earths crust. To the right, Pentecost fabricated a similar companion unit that serves as a compost pile that will accumulate over time. The insides are equipped with microphones and through use of a headset you can literally hear the energy, heat and process of the decomposition of organic waste. On one wall of the unit, a hand-written chart depicts the phenomenon of corporate land-grabbing in the global south where North American and European companies are buying up massive farm land and even creating "soil farms" throughout Africa and Latin America.
Pentecost's participation in documenta13 is itself heterogeneous. She is one of the few exhibiting artists who also made a book for the 100 Books 100 Days project, she gave a number of lectures and workshops, made a video for the website dealing with the importance of seeds to culture, and was an instructor at the summer retreat on the theme of "retreat" at the Banff artists residency in Canada.
The immersive "12 Ballads For Huguenot House" is spearheaded by Theaster Gates along with his design collaborator John Preus, studio manager Theo Boggs, and a rotating cast of staff from his non-profit Rebuild Foundation. Walking into the house, I immediately feel a complex social energy. People buzzing around, up and down the stairs, posting schedules for the day's activities and consulting with one another about what the morning has in store. The video and audio pieces scattered throughout the 2nd and 3rd floors of the building are still being switched on, and some people just waking from bed. Art tourist's are poking their heads into the sleeping quarters, asking the people clearly in bed, "do you sleep here"? The Huguenot House is undoubtedly alive with real humans and the art pieces themselves were just a small component of the overall project. It may have one artist's name attributed to it, but something this alive is the work of many.
Mobilizing people to invest in places and buildings is one of Gates' strengths. The building at 25 Friedrichsstrasse in Kassel had been empty since World War 2. Under very different historical forces, there are homes in Gates' neighborhood in Chicago, Grand Crossing, that have also been abandoned for decades (though not quite as long as in Germany). As a crucial facet of his participation in documenta13, a deal was made where a house in Chicago would be purchased and its wooden and metal guts would be converted into objects to repopulate the building in Kassel and at a later date visa versa, forming a kind of architectural material exchange. This insistence that elite cultural institutions should subsidize projects in the places where he lives and works (which has now grown to include a number of Black communities throughout the midwest through the work of Rebuild Foundation) is something Gates unabashedly names in his public presentations.
And in the case of Hugenot House, this subsidy to Chicago cultural possibilities that lie in the future of that local project, have been reciprocated with real life-force being breathed back into the long abandoned building. Throughout documenta, it has been the site of performances, daily yoga classes, community meals and what are said to be the best parties in Kassel every Wednesday night throughout the four months of the exhibition.
Conclusion: The Rematerialization of the Art Object?
As Paul Chan, another participating artist with Chicago ties, commented in a recent interview during documenta, "It is a funny time in art when making something quiet is seen as radical."(3) The expectation has been implicitly fostered through curation and critical writing that new art needs to be participatory. It is not dissimilar from trends in governance and commerce – participation is the key to the hearts and minds!
As a counterpoint to this trend, these four projects start from complex social problems and engaged in the social processes necessary to activate and engage those problems, and then they made art objects and forms. Finding material resolutions to distill the complexity of the world into a form is one of the contributions artists have historically made to the societies in which they live. The work presented at documenta13 by Chicago artists produces a productive challenge for the debates around socially-engaged art practice and its treatment in educational and art presenting institutions. Formalist reactionaries now commonly antagonize participatory art with the same odium as was applied to performance artists in the decades past while Social Practice fundamentalists claim that objects are dead and process is the new vanguard. Perhaps these artists show a third way, a marriage between the qualities artists have long attempted to capture with material forms and the complex social processes necessary to engage the complex social world in a meaningful way.
1) Rakowitz, Michael – Conversation with the author (7/5/12)
2) Crawford, Bob – AREA Chicago (2008), http://areachicago.org/bob-crawford-and-margo-natalie-crawford/
3) Chan, Paul – Bad at Sports (2012), http://badatsports.com/2012/episode-358-paul-chan-with-john-preus/
[Special thanks to Judith Russi Kirshner, Marcia Lausen, Jennifer Reeder, Lisa Yun Lee, Carolina Ariza, Ayreen Anastas, Rene Gabri, and Scott Berzofsky]


text:
The Michigan Department of Natural Resources reminds residents and travelers that fire prevention is especially important during periods of increased wildfire danger, which weather forecasts predict for Memorial Day weekend.
To prevent the risk of fires escaping, the DNR suggests people never leave a fire unattended. Keep campfires small, and have water close at hand.
When putting out a campfire, drown it with water then stir until it is cold to the touch. Dispose of charcoal by dunking pieces in water and placing into a metal container. Only use fireworks in driveways or parking lots, on gravel or in dirt-covered areas.
So far this fire season, the DNR has responded to 80 wildfires that have burned 407 acres, according to a news release. Through fire-suppression efforts, 72 structures have been saved.
For information: michigan.gov/preventwildfires.
Location, ST | website.com

subset: commoncrawl


text:
- Customer Reviews
Customer Reviews149 Reviews for Blemish Banisher Kit
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text: Cincinnati: Li vs. Williams Li Na takes on Venus Williams in the semifinals of the Western & Southern Open. Published August 18, 2012 11:54 Embed x Width: px Height: px Embedded code: Topics: 2012, tournaments, singles, photos or videos, venus williams, na li, cincinnati Share this page! Print Email Related videos WTA Live Fan Access Best Episodes: No.10 November 30, 2015 All season long, WTA Live Fan Access has been serving up unforgettable behind-the-scenes moments featuring all your favorite stars. We're counting down the best episodes of 2015, starting with No.10 from Cincinnati. Cincinnati: Shot Of The Day (Sunday) August 23, 2015 Serena Williams has Sunday's shot of the day at the Western & Southern Open. Cincinnati: Williams vs Halep August 23, 2015 Serena Williams takes on Simona Halep in the final of the Western & Southern Open. To The Top 3


text:
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U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu has announced more than $30 million to train engineering students in manufacturing efficiency to usher in the next generation of industrial energy efficiency experts.
Through the Industrial Assessment Center program, university teams will gain skills that will enable them to conduct energy assessments at a wide variety of facilities. These student engineers will focus on reducing energy waste, saving money, and becoming economically competitive in the global marketplace.
Through this industrial efficiency training program, students will gain hands-on experience and training for jobs in a growing global sector, while at the same time, reducing energy waste for American businesses and helping to make our manufacturing facilities more competitive," says Secretary Chu. "This program will make sure that the next-generation of American workers has the education and skills they need to further our transition to a clean energy economy."
Engineering students will undergo extensive training in industrial processes, energy assessment procedures, and energy management principles, which will be put to use working directly with small and medium-sized industrial and manufacturing facilities around their communities.
Under this funding, each Industrial Assessment Center will be expected to train at least 10 to 15 students per year, conduct approximately 20 energy assessments annually, and perform extensive follow-on reporting, tracking, implementation, and management-improvement activities.
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text:
Clinical-Style Validation, Regulation, and Quality Control...
Keep the Opportunities, Lose the Opportunists
Loss of Lives in Clinical Trials...
Co-Sourcing Improves Pharmaceutical Laboratory Productivity
Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS) and Simcere have expanded an existing drug development partnership to include co-development of BMS' cardiovascular disease candidate, BMS-79531, a preclinical-stage small molecule inhibitor of the cholesteryl ester transfer protein (CETP) . Under terms of the deal, Simcere will receive an exclusive license to develop and market the drug in China, with BMS retaining exclusive rights in all other markets. The firms will work together to define a development plan for BMS in the treatment and prevention of cardiovascular disease. Simcere will run and fund initial development work.
The nuts and bolts of the agreement for BMS-79531 essentially mirror those of the partners' existing agreement, signed in November 2010, covering co-development of the anticancer candidate BMS-817378, a preclinical small molecule MET/VEGFR-2 inhibitor. Both deals are designed to expedite development of the drugs through Phase II proof-of-concept studies by exploiting Simcere's expertise in its home country, with BMS' global development muscle.
"Simcere was the first company with which BMS created a partnership under our Oyster Strategy to seed companies in key markets with promising investigational medicines of continued interest from our early pipeline," remarks Francis Cuss, M.D., svp for research at BMS. "By working together we are building on the strengths of both organizations to develop potential medicines and help patients."
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MDMA (commonly known as the empathogen "ecstasy") is classified as a Schedule 1 drug, which is reserved for compounds with no accepted medical use and a high abuse potential. Two researchers from Stanford, however, call for a rigorous scientific exploration of MDMA's effects to identify precisely how the drug works, the data from which could be used to develop therapeutic compounds.Do you agree that ecstasy should be studied for its potential therapeutic benefits?
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text:
Given the following two strings:
Dim str1() As String = {"123", "456", "789", "0"}
Dim str2() As String = {"123", "456", "1"}
How do I perform a full outer join of str1 and str2 and end up having a structure like this:
{Nothing, "1"}
{"0", Nothing}
{"123", "123"}
{"456", "456"}
{"789", Nothing}
Based on several discussions on SO and other websites, I tried using LINQ:
Dim v = From a In str1 Join b In str2 On a Equals b Group By a Into g = Group
From o In g.DefaultIfEmpty()
But it does not produce the desired result, which is exactly the same as this (regular INNER JOIN):
Dim v = From a In str1 Join b In str2 On a Equals b
The last example I've been looking at is here (C#).
And here is Another article, but it seems too complicated to be the shortest possible solution (I've seen much more simple C# examples and hope VB can be as efficient).
Why this question is useful
For example, one can have a file structure, where file path is a key. By doing full outer join of the keys, you can compare folders, find which files are missing on which side and show difference to the user. Any kind of synchronization task could use this approach.


text:
LEECHBURG, Pa. (AP) — Police have charged a 58-year-old western Pennsylvania woman with stealing newspapers in bulk because she wanted the coupons in the papers.
Online court records don't list an attorney for 58-year-old Linda Altman, of Vandergrift, who did not immediately return a call for comment to her home phone today.
Police in Allegheny Township, Westmoreland County, charged Altman on Wednesday with burglary, theft and related charges for allegedly stealing the papers from a storage shed where the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette drops off papers for a local carrier. They believe she's stolen about $2,700 worth of newspapers in the last 17 months.
Police say they caught Altman just after she grabbed two bundles of 100 newspapers each on Wednesday morning.
Police Chief John Fontaine says Altman told them "she was after the coupons. I've heard of extreme couponing, but not like this."
What an idiot.Sorry there are no get out of jail coupons available.
They are in this weekend edition LOL
I think Gains is handing some out in front of the courthouse


text:
Conway, Ark. – Sam Houston State used a huge second half to pick up tits 19th victory of the season with a 71-55 win Saturday night over Central Arkansas.
The Bearkats (19-5, 7-4 SLC) trailed by one at the half, but came storming out of the gates in the final 20 minutes. They opened the second half with a 19-4 run to build a 14-point lead, just seven minutes in.
The Bears were able to make one run at the Kats in the second half, cutting the SHSU lead to four with 10 minutes to play. But the Kats quickly got the lead back to 10 and never looked back.
"We talked about defending their guards and keep them down tonight," said assistant coach Scott Gernander. "We didn't want to let the crown get into it, because they have won some games late because of that."
John Gardner was the leading scorer for the Kats with 15points, including 13 in the second half. Ryan Bright led the way for SHSU with 14 rebounds and also scored 14 points. Ashton Mitchell and DeLuis Ramirez each scored 11 points.
The Kats were very active on the defensive end of the floor, limiting the Bears to 34 percent shooting, also wiping out seven shots with blocks. Josten Crow and Bright each had a pair of blocks while Shamir McDaniel, Gardner and Mitchell all had one.
"We reversed the roles on them," Gernander said. "They are one of the best shot blocking teams in the league and we were able to put it on them tonight."
For the game, SHSU shot 47 percent, including a 58 percent clip in the second half.
The win keeps the Kats two games back of West Division leader Stephen F. Austin. The Bearkats and Lumberjacks will meet Wednesday night in Nacogdoches.


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Conflict with WooCommerce version 2.0.10. the woocommerce setting not showing up. if i deactivate the optin revolution the woocommerce settings will come up again.
how to resolve this please let me know cuz my client had a plan to go on pro version but we need to make it sure that everythings okay with the other plugin.


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Becky's Peanut Butter Fudge
Total Time
Prep 10 mins
Cook 15 mins
The first time I had this at my Cousin Becky's house I knew I had to have the recipe. She received it from a woman many years ago at her parent's church. Definite holiday tradition.
Ingredients Nutrition
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 1 cup sugar
- 1⁄4 cup butter
- 1⁄2 cup evaporated milk
- 1⁄8 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup marshmallow creme
- 1 cup peanut butter
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- Cook first five ingredients to soft ball stage.
- Stir in marshmallow, peanut butter, and vanilla.
- Pour into an 8x8 pan.
- Cool and cut into squares.
Most Helpful
Excellent fudge...As pretty to look at as it was to eat! I used a candy thermometer and removed it from the heat at 230 degrees, which produced a perfect, creamy, NON-GRITTY consistency. The entire batch disappeared on Christmas Eve, with numerous recipe requests.
I just made your peanut butter fudge for my son on his birthday. I couldn't buy him a gift but I did have the ingredients to make this recipe. God bless you for shareing such a wonderful recipe for others to enjoy. This is the best peanut butter fudge I've ever had. I know my son will love it. Thank you.
This was creamy and didn't last long in our house.


text:
Quotes & Info
|HTM > SEC Filings for HTM > Form 10-Q on 14-Nov-2012
|All Recent SEC Filings
Quarterly Report
This document contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements involve a number of risks and uncertainties. We caution readers that any forward-looking statement is not a guarantee of future performance and that actual results could differ materially from those contained in the forward-looking statement. These statements are based on current expectations of future events. You can find many of these statements by looking for words like "believes," "expects," "anticipates," "intend," "estimates," "may," "should," "will," "could," "plan," "predict," "potential," or similar expressions in this document or in documents incorporated by reference in this document. Examples of these forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to:
º our business and growth strategies;
º our future results of operations;
º anticipated trends in our business;
º the capacity and utilization of our geothermal resources;
º our ability to successfully and economically explore for and develop geothermal resources;
º our exploration and development prospects, projects and programs, including timing and cost of construction of new projects and expansion of existing projects;
º availability and costs of drilling rigs and field services;
º our liquidity and ability to finance our exploration and development activities;
º our working capital requirements and availability;
º our illustrative plant economics;
º market conditions in the geothermal energy industry; and
º the impact of environmental and other governmental regulation.
These forward-looking statements are based on the current beliefs and expectations of our management and are subject to significant risks and uncertainties. If underlying assumptions prove inaccurate or unknown risks or uncertainties materialize, actual results may differ materially from current expectations and projections. The following factors, among others, could cause actual results to differ from those set forth in the forward-looking statements:
º the failure to obtain sufficient capital resources to fund our operations;
º unsuccessful construction and expansion activities, including delays or cancellations;
º incorrect estimates of required capital expenditures;
º increases in the cost of drilling and completion, or other costs of production and operations;
º the enforceability of the power purchase agreements for our projects;
º impact of environmental and other governmental regulation, including delays in obtaining permits;
º hazardous and risky operations relating to the development of geothermal energy;
º our ability to successfully identify and integrate acquisitions;
º our dependence on key personnel;
º the potential for claims arising from geothermal plant operations;
º general competitive conditions within the geothermal energy industry; and
º financial market conditions.
All subsequent written or oral forward-looking statements attributable to us or any person acting on our behalf are expressly qualified in their entirety by the cautionary statements contained or referred to in this section. We do not undertake any obligation to release publicly any revisions to these forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date of this document or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events, except as may be required under applicable U.S. securities law. If we do update one or more forward-looking statements, no inference should be drawn that we will make additional updates with respect to those or other forward-looking statements.
The U.S. dollar is the Company's functional currency; however some transactions have involved the Canadian dollar. All references to "dollars" or "$" are to United States dollars and all references to $ CDN are to Canadian dollars.
General Background and Discussion
The following discussion should be read in conjunction with our unaudited consolidated financial statements for the periods ended September 30, 2012 and notes thereto included in this report.
U.S. Geothermal Inc. ("the Company") is a Delaware corporation. The Company's common stock trades on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbol "GTH" and on the NYSE MKT LLC under the trade symbol "HTM."
For the quarter ended September 30, 2012, the Company was focused on:
1) Commissioning and operation of the new San Emidio Unit 1 power plant in
2) Construction and commissioning the Neal Hot Springs power plant in Oregon;
3) Operating the Raft River Unit I power plant;
4) Negotiating long term financing for the San Emidio Unit 1 power plant and for a potential future Phase II, and discussing development funding for Phase III;
5) Conducting negotiations on a power purchase agreement and discussions with potential equity partners for the El Ceibillo project in Guatemala; and
6) The evaluation of potential new geothermal projects.
Project Overview
The following is a list of projects that are in operation, under development or under exploration. Projects in operation have producing geothermal power plants. Projects under development have a geothermal resource discovery or may have wells in place, but require the drilling of new or additional production and injection wells in order to supply enough geothermal fluid sufficient to operate a commercial power plant. Projects under exploration do not have a geothermal resource discovery occurrence yet, but have significant thermal and other physical evidence that warrants the expenditure of capital in search of the discovery of a geothermal resource. Due to inflation and marketplace increases in the costs of labor and construction materials, previous estimates of property development costs may be low.
Projects in Operation Generating Capacity Contract Project Location Ownership (megawatts)(1) Power Purchaser Expiration Raft River Idaho JV(2) 13.0 Idaho Power 2032 (Unit I) Company San Emidio (New Nevada 100% 9.0 Sierra Pacific 2038 Phase I) Power Corp.
(1) Based on the designed annual average net output. The actual output of the
Raft River Unit I plant currently varies between 7.1 and 10.0 megawatts.
(2) As part of the financing package for Unit I of the Raft River project, we have contributed $16.5 million in cash and approximately $1.5 million in property to Raft River Energy I LLC, the Unit I project joint venture company. Raft River I Holdings, LLC, a subsidiary of The Goldman Sachs Group, contributed $34 million to finance the construction of the project. Additional investment may be required for Unit I to operate at design capacity.
Projects Under Development Estimated Target Projected Capital Development Commercial Required Project Location Ownership (Megawatts) Operation Date ($million) Power Purchaser San Emidio Phase II Nevada 100% 8.6 TBD (2) $50 NV Energy (Expansion) San Emidio Phase III Nevada 100% 17.2 TBD (2) $100 TBD Neal Hot Springs I Oregon JV(1) 22 4th Quarter 2012 $143 Idaho Power Neal Hot Springs II Oregon 100% 28 TBD TBD TBD El Ceibillo Guatemala 100% 25 4th Quarter 2015 $118 TBD Raft River (Unit II) Idaho 100% 26 TBD $134 TBD Raft River (Unit III) Idaho 100% 32 TBD $166 TBD
(1) In September 2010, the Company's wholly owned subsidiary (Oregon USG Holdings LLC) entered into agreements that formulated a strategic partnership with Enbridge (U.S.) Inc. ("Enbridge"). As of September 30, 2012, Enbridge has contributed approximately $32.8 million to the Neal Hot Springs geothermal project. The Company and Enbridge have not yet determined Enbridge's current equity interest in the project, but current estimates show that Enbridge could own up to 44% of the project.
(2) Due to the delays experienced with bringing San Emidio Phase I on line, development dates for Phase II and Phase III at San Emidio have been affected and will be determined after Phase I has reached final completion.
Additional Properties Project Location Ownership Target Development (Megawatts) Gerlach Nevada 60% To be determined Granite Creek Nevada 100% To be determined -40- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Resource Details Resource Property Size Temperature Potential Property (square miles) (°F) (Megawatts) Depth (Ft) Technology Raft River 10.8(1) 275-302 (2) 127.0(1) 4,500-6,000 Binary San Emidio 35.8 289-305 (2) 64.0(4) 1,500-2,000 Binary Neal Hot Springs 9.6 311-347 (3) 50.0(5) 2,500-3,000 Binary Gerlach 5.6 338-352 (3) 18.0 TBD Binary Granite Creek 8.5 TBD TBD TBD Binary El Ceibillo 38.6 410-446 (3) 25.0(6) TBD Steam
(1) A third party's assessment of 94 megawatts was based on 6.0 square miles.
The Company has since acquired additional acreage. The resource estimate of
127.0 megawatts was provided by a third party.
(2) Actual production temperatures for existing wells.
(3) Probable reservoir temperature as measured with a chemical geothermometer calculation.
(4) A third party resource estimate with respect to 44.0 megawatts, remainder is an internal estimate.
(5) A third party resource estimate with respect to 22.0 megawatts, remainder is an internal estimate.
(6) Internal estimate.
Neal Hot Springs Update
Neal Hot Springs is located in Eastern Oregon near the town of Vale, the county seat of Malheur County. A commercial geothermal resource has been defined at the site, and a 22 net megawatt power plant, consisting of three separate modules, has been constructed. The facility is scheduled to begin selling electricity on a commercial basis before the end of 2012. On February 26, 2009, the Company submitted a loan application for the Neal Hot Springs project to the DOE's Energy Efficiency, Renewable Energy and Advanced Transmission and Distribution Solicitation loan guarantee program under Title XVII of the Energy Policy Act of 2005. The financial closing for the DOE loan guarantee took place on February 23, 2011 which secured a $96.8 million loan guarantee from the Department of Energy and a direct loan from the U.S. Treasury's Federal Financing Bank. The $96.8 million loan represents 67% of the total project cost which is now estimated to be $143.6 million for the project, a $14.6 million increase from the previous estimate. The DOE loan is a combined construction and 22 year term loan. The interest rate on the loan is set at 37.5 basis points over the current average yield on outstanding marketable obligations of the United States of comparable maturity as determined on each date that a draw is made on the loan. As of September 30, 2012, nine draws totaling $71.87 million have been taken on the DOE loan, which have a combined annual interest rate of 2.622%. The project qualified for, is currently preparing its application for and expects to receive an estimated $34 million cash grant under Section 1603 Specified Energy Property in Lieu of Tax Credits. Subject to certain DOE loan covenants, the planned use of the grant proceeds is to: 1) fund an $8.5 million cash reserve at the project level, 2) pay down approximately $14 million on the DOE loan and 3) the balance to reimburse equity investors.
In July 2010, the Company applied to the Oregon Department of Energy for the Business Energy Tax Credit ("BETC"), which allows an income tax credit for up to $20 million in qualifying expenditures for a renewable energy project. The Neal Hot Springs project has qualified for the credit which can be sold to a pass-through partner and monetized at a cash value of $7.36 million. It is anticipated that the BETC cash will be available within the first six months of 2013.
After a long term flow test was completed in January 2011, a computerized numerical reservoir model was constructed on March 24, 2011 by the Company's consulting reservoir engineer, and after review, the DOE's independent reservoir engineer issued a reservoir certificate on March 31, 2011. The final reservoir report and certificate confirmed that the reservoir is able to sustain the production necessary for the planned 22 megawatt project from the existing four production wells.
Over the course of the ongoing construction, the budget was increased by $14.6 million in equity contributions by the partners. The first increase of $7.0 million was to cover additional drilling costs and modifications in plant controls and the cooling mechanism. Enbridge Inc., our partner at Neal Hot Springs, provided the additional investment in exchange for increased ownership interest in the project from 20% to approximately 27%. A second increase of $6 million was a contingency fund established for potential additional drilling program to complete the wellfield. Enbridge Inc. also provided this additional investment in exchange for increased ownership interest in the project from 27% to approximately up to 44% depending on the final calculations to be made upon the project achieving commercial operation. Only $2.0 million of the $6.0 million contingency fund was used and the balance may be returned to Enbridge thereby adjusting the final Enbridge ownership accordingly. The project now has 100% of the required production and injection capacity drilled and proven.
On May 27, 2012, the Company was notified by the EPC contractor that mechanical completion was achieved on the first of the three units. On June 28, 2012, the construction contractor provided notice of mechanical completion for the second of the three modules and on July 31, 2012 notice of mechanical completion was received for the third 7.3 net megawatt, air cooled power plant module. Units 1 and 2 have undergone commissioning operations over the past 3 months and have been synchronized to the grid on numerous occasions. Additionally, all three modules have received upgraded bearings in the turbine gearbox, swirl brakes have been installed behind each of the three module's turbine wheels, and each module's silencers have been replaced. These modifications were identified at the Company's San Emidio project to address unwanted vibration. Unit 3 was the last unit to be retrofitted and begin commissioning in early November. Continuous operation of the units has not been achieved due to control system programming issues with the air cooled condenser fans and because fine debris material left behind from construction in the system has plugged protective screens in front of the high pressure refrigerant pumps on several occasions. All production and injection pipelines are complete. Four production pumps are installed and tested, and are supplying fluid to the plant during commissioning of the units. Injection wells are operational and accepting fluid during the commissioning process.
Six large diameter injection wells (NHS-3, NHS-4, NHS-9, NHS-11, NHS-12, and NHS-13) and four slim hole injectors (NHS-10, T/G 16b, NHS-14 and T/G 3) have been completed. NHS-11 and NHS-12, both planned as deep injectors, did not find the capacity that was expected when they were drilled. NHS-14 encountered modest permeability and has not been connected to the facility. Additional reservoir testing is scheduled after all three modules are operating on a continuous basis. Colorimetric tracer will be introduced into three injection wells to map the flow of the geothermal fluid through the reservoir. Data from the test will be incorporated into the numerical reservoir model.
The Company received a Conditional Use Permit from the Malheur County Planning Commission for construction of the 22 net megawatt power plant on October 28, 2009 after unanimous approval from the Planning Commission at a September 24, 2009 meeting. All of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission ("FERC") mandated transmission studies were completed by the Idaho Power Company. An interconnection agreement was signed with the Idaho Power Company in February 2009. Idaho Power completed the transmission line and substation during the first quarter ended June 30, 2012 and has taken power deliveries as test energy from the plant during commissioning.
The PPA for the project was signed on December 11, 2009 with the Idaho Power Company. The PPA has a 25 year term with a starting price of $96.00 per megawatt-hour and escalates at a variable percentage annually. On May 20, 2010, the Idaho Public Utilities Commission approved the PPA with no changes to the terms and conditions. Test energy delivered prior to declaration of commercial operation is paid for at 90% of the monthly average, non-firm, Dow Jones Mid-Columbia Index. Once commercial operation is declared, the full price of $96.00 per megawatt-hour will be paid.
San Emidio, Nevada Update
The new Phase I power plant at San Emidio achieved commercial operation on May 25, 2012. The plant produced 4,340 megawatt-hours in July, zero power generation in August, and 3,940 megawatt-hours in September. During the quarter, the plant operated at 47.6% availability due to commissioning activities and averaged 7.97 net megawatts per hour.
The San Emidio expansion is planned to take place in three phases. Phase I is the completed Unit I repower, and Phases II and III are planned to be expansions. Phase I utilizes the existing production and injection wells with installation of a new, more efficient 9.0 MW net power plant which achieved commercial operation on May 25, 2012. Phase II is a planned expansion within the bounds of the existing San Emidio geothermal reservoir and is subject to the successful development of additional production wells through exploration and drilling activities. Phase III is planned as a further expansion for 17.2 MW net utilizing two additional power modules similar to Phases I and II.
On November 9, 2011, the Company's wholly owned subsidiary, USG Nevada LLC, entered into a bridge loan agreement with Ares Capital Corporation. The bridge loan monetized the Section 1603 ITC cash grant associated with the new Phase I power plant at San Emidio. The loan agreement provides for borrowing of up to 90% of the total expected cash grant and consisted of an initial funding of $7.5 million which has been received by the Company. No additional borrowings are expected at this time. The funds were drawn from a loan facility that includes commercial terms for the payment of interest and associated fees. An application for an $11.7 million ITC cash grant was submitted to the United States Department of the Treasury on July 17, 2012. Subsequent to the end of the quarter, the United States Department of Treasury notified the Company that it will allow $10.65 million in cash grant and is processing the payment. An additional $1.05 million of cash grant items are under review. The cash grant proceeds will be used to repay the Ares Capital bridge loan facility, with the remaining balance payable to USG Nevada LLC.
The Phase I repower began construction in the third calendar quarter of 2010 and was delayed in the startup due to EPC contractor's delay in completing Unit I and certain technical issues related to the new plant. The Phase II expansion is delayed due to the extended time it has taken to get Phase I online, and we are not able to accurately determine when Phase II will be completed at this time. Due to the EPC contractor's delay in completing the Unit I repower plant and the impact the delay has on future Phases, the Company expects to utilize the ITC cash grant in lieu of the Production Tax Credit only in connection with the Phase I repower, unless Congress extends the incentive to allow inclusion of Phase II. The Phase II expansion is still dependent on successful development of additional production well capacity.
The capital cost of the Phase I repower is estimated at approximately $32 million, with Phase II at approximately $50 million and Phase III approximately $100 million. We expect that approximately 75% of the Phase I and Phase II development may be funded by project loans, with the remainder funded through equity financing.
Phase I achieved mechanical completion in December 2011, and following performance testing of the power plant which began in early May, and Phase I and achieved commercial operation on May 25, 2012. Commissioning was extended due to a series of mechanical issues that include defective capacitors, the mechanical failure of the 2,500 horsepower process pump, excessive vibration in the turbine gear box, and failure of the silencer. The EPC contractor is providing its services under a fixed price contract that includes financial guarantees for the original completion date and power output of the plant. Discussions with the EPC contractor are underway to determine the final settlement for the contractual delay issues and to close out the construction loan.
The Company entered into agreements with Science Applications International Corporation ("SAIC") for a project loan and an engineering procurement and construction contract for the San Emidio Phase I power plant. SAIC's design-build subsidiary, SAIC Energy, Environment & Infrastructure LLC, constructed the 9.0 net megawatt power plant at San Emidio, Nevada. TAS Energy of Houston, Texas supplied a modular power plant to the project. The financing agreement calls for the contractor to provide a non-recourse project loan for the estimated $32 million dollar project. The construction loan is expected to be repaid with a long term project loan. A long term permanent loan is currently under negotiations with a lender and is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2012. The long term loan proceeds will be used to repay the SAIC construction loan.
Two System Feasibility Studies were initiated in July 2008 with Sierra Pacific Power Company to begin the FERC mandated transmission study process for the development of the San Emidio resource. The studies examined two levels of power generation; 15 megawatts and 45 megawatts, several transmission routes and the cost associated with each level of generation. The 15 megawatt study, which was directed at providing transmission for the Phase I and Phase II plants, completed the study process and resulted in an increase of available transmission to 16 megawatts. A Small Generator Interconnection Agreement for 16 megawatts of transmission capacity was executed with Sierra Pacific Power Company on December 28, 2010.
An additional System Impact Study was initiated on September 8, 2011 for an additional 3.9 megawatts of transmission to increase the transmission capacity to match the maximum limit of the new PPA. The 3.9 megawatt System Impact Study was completed in April 2012. Both the 3.9 megawatt study and the 45 megawatt study have been withdrawn until future transmission needs are identified.
On October 30, 2009, the Company was awarded $3.77 million in Recovery Act funding for the exploration and development of its San Emidio geothermal power project using advanced geophysical exploration techniques. This award was categorized under the "Innovative Exploration and Drilling Projects" section of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The project at San Emidio has applied innovative, seismic and satellite imagery techniques along with state-of-the-art structural modeling, to locate large aperture fractures that represent high-productivity geothermal drilling targets. Two zones along the 4.5 mile long San Emidio fault structure were identified as high quality targets for drilling during the first phase of the DOE program.
The second stage of the DOE program is a cost shared drilling plan that follows up on the targets identified in the first stage. In order to meet construction targets for Phase II plant construction, the drilling stage of the program commenced prior to DOE approval, and two observation wells were completed by the Company. The proposed drilling program was approved by the DOE in early November . . .


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Are You Getting a Flu Shot This Year?
Published: Wednesday, September 4, 2013 at 11:07 p.m.
Last Modified: Wednesday, September 4, 2013 at 11:08 p.m.
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International Journal of Biometeorology
, Volume 56, Issue 6, pp 1103-1111
First online:
The phenology of Rubus fruticosus in Ireland: herbarium specimens provide evidence for the response of phenophases to temperature, with implications for climate warming
- E. DiskinAffiliated withDepartment of Botany and Centre for the Environment, Trinity College Dublin Email author
- , H. ProctorAffiliated withDepartment of Botany and Centre for the Environment, Trinity College Dublin
- , M. JebbAffiliated withNational Botanic Gardens
- , T. SparksAffiliated withInstitute of Zoology, Poznań University of Life SciencesSigma, Faculty of Engineering and Computing, Coventry University
- , A. DonnellyAffiliated withDepartment of Botany and Centre for the Environment, Trinity College Dublin
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To date, phenological research has provided evidence that climate warming is impacting both animals and plants, evidenced by the altered timing of phenophases. Much of the evidence supporting these findings has been provided by analysis of historic records and present-day fieldwork; herbaria have been identified recently as an alternative source of phenological data. Here, we used Rubus specimens to evaluate herbaria as potential sources of phenological data for use in climate change research and to develop the methodology for using herbaria specimens in phenological studies. Data relevant to phenology (collection date) were recorded from the information cards of over 600 herbarium specimens at Ireland's National Herbarium in Dublin. Each specimen was assigned a score (0–5) corresponding to its phenophase. Temperature data for the study period (1852 – 2007) were obtained from the University of East Anglia's Climate Research Unit (CRU); relationships between temperature and the dates of first flower, full flower, first fruit and full fruit were assessed using weighted linear regression. Of the five species of Rubus examined in this study, specimens of only one (R. fruticosus) were sufficiently abundant to yield statistically significant relationships with temperature. The results revealed a trend towards earlier dates of first flower, full flower and first fruit phenophases with increasing temperature. Through its multi-phenophase approach, this research serves to extend the most recent work—which validated the use of herbaria through use of a single phenophase—to confirm herbarium-based research as a robust methodology for use in future phenological studies.
KeywordsClimate warming Flowering Fruiting Herbarium specimen Ireland Phenology Rubus
Reference tools
- Title
- The phenology of Rubus fruticosus in Ireland: herbarium specimens provide evidence for the response of phenophases to temperature, with implications for climate warming
- Journal
International Journal of Biometeorology
Volume 56, Issue 6 , pp 1103-1111
- Cover Date
- 2012-11
- 10.1007/s00484-012-0524-z
- Print ISSN
- 0020-7128
- Online ISSN
- 1432-1254
- Publisher
- Springer-Verlag
- Additional Links
- Topics
- Keywords
- Climate warming
- Flowering
- Fruiting
- Herbarium specimen
- Ireland
- Phenology
- Rubus
- Industry Sectors
- Authors
- E. Diskin (1)
- H. Proctor (1)
- M. Jebb (2)
- T. Sparks (3) (4)
- A. Donnelly (1)
- Author Affiliations
- 1. Department of Botany and Centre for the Environment, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin 2, Ireland
- 2. National Botanic Gardens, Glasnevin, Dublin 9, Ireland
- 3. Institute of Zoology, Poznań University of Life Sciences, Wojska Polskiego 71C, 60-625, Poznań, Poland
- 4. Sigma, Faculty of Engineering and Computing, Coventry University, Coventry, CV1 5ED, UK