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It's amazing to me how we humans can be so incredibly innovative that we invent and discover new things every day, while at the same time are so adamantly resistant to new ideas and change.
This is especially evident in nearly any type of scientific discovery. Examples include everything from Newton's Universal Law of Gravitation (1686) to Alfred Wegener's theory of continental drift in the 1900s, and, in more recent times, Linus Pauling's advocacy of vitamin C to Prof. Jim Oschman's work on energy medicine.
Granted, a certain measure of skepticism can be healthy. We can't latch onto every new idea that pops out of someone's head or makes headlines in the National Enquirer. But, we can't shut our minds so tightly we refuse to even consider the possibility that maybe – just maybe – we don't know everything or that our long-held beliefs are wrong.
Yet, I see this attitude every day. People rail against a new movie, even though it hasn't been released yet and they haven't seen it. They argue the validity of the ideas presented in a new book but, when pressed, admit they haven't read it. How many times have you heard "I don't have to read it to know it's just crap"?
When it involves a book or film, it doesn't really matter much. The worst that will happen is that we'll miss something we might have liked.
But when it comes to scientific exploration – and particularly to health and wellness issues – we risk imprisoning ourselves in outmoded and potentially harmful mindsets and denying ourselves and society the benefits of true progress.
As a doctor of chiropractic, I've witnessed this resistance to new thinking firsthand for decades. It doesn't matter how much research is conducted that shows chiropractic to be safe and effective for all people (and NOT just for low back pain in adults!), a portion of the population still labels it "quackery."
Most of these people have never been to a chiropractor or even known anybody who has (other than the apocryphal story of Uncle Charley's friend Joe whose wife went to a DC one time and was hurt). I doesn't matter. They refuse to open their minds even a crack to allow in new ideas. They're the same ones who believed the world was flat despite the curved horizon or who ridicule acupuncture as "voodoo" medicine.
What's even more mind-boggling – and unsettling – is that so many medical professionals fall into that same "flat earth" category. Unless research promises a "cure" by drugs or surgery, it isn't worthy of scientific consideration.
It's not surprising that part of the resistance is rooted in economics. Thirty years ago, Dr. Robert Forman of the University of Toledo noted: "Treatment modalities that are not interesting theoretically or that do not offer promise of prestige for the physician-researcher or profits to corporations are not likely to be extensively promoted in the medical world… One wonders how many potentially valuable medical discoveries are being overlooked because they are too simple and not profitable enough." (Medical Hypotheses, Volume 7, Number 8, 1981, pp. 1009-1017).
To me, though, what's most disturbing is that chiropractors and other alternative health care practitioners aren't immune to this closed-minded attitude. When new ideas of energy healing or the neurological impact of subluxations are brought up, some DCs from both the extreme right and left of the profession act as though they're being personally attacked. They can't (or won't) even examine the ideas to see if they might have validity. Instead, they'd rather barricade themselves behind what they already "know" to be true. They don't even seem to recognize that this is exactly the same thing MDs and other critics have been doing to chiropractic for the past century.
French scientist Jules Henri Poincaré, who worked on everything from the theory of relativity to pure mathematics, nailed it when he stated: "Doubt everything or believe everything: these are two equally convenient strategies. With either we dispense with the need for reflection."
If we're ever going to be true innovators, we need to take time for reflection. If we're willing to do that, we may discover new and better ideas or, at the very least, reinforce the strength of our existing beliefs. Either way, we'll learn something and that's never a waste of time.


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The Four Pillars of Effective Skincare
Our skin provides many important functions for us. The most obvious one is that our skin acts as first barrier to fight against environmental factors, helps regulate internal temperature of our bodies and it is important indicator of our internal health condition. Ideal nutrition should provide adequate amount of nutrients and water to skin for it to function at its best. Skin care products are helpful additions in assisting the skin to perform at it's peak and to address visible blemishes and signs of aging.
Skin care regimes should cover the four pillars of effective skin care. Those pillar are Cleansing, Moisturizing, Nourishing and Protecting. Selecting a proper skin care is not an easy task. The first rule of thumb is to read all the ingredients and if you need a chemical dictionary or PHD in Chemistry to understand what you are about to put on your skin, then leave that product alone.
The key point here is to look for products using natural, organic or certified organic ingredients as those are in the form your skin cell can recognize and use.
Cleansing is the first step in any skin care routine. Select products with neutral or slight acidic ph as those are gentler on your skin. It is highly recommended to use clay masks bi-weekly to achieve deeper cleansing. Use warm water during the washing to open up pores and allows deeper cleansing. Some people love to use cold water at the end of the cleansing process to close pores down and lock the moisture in, but application of any skin care following cold water wash will reduce penetration ratio of the selected skin care product.
Moisturizing the skin can be achieved by a proper drinking regime during the day as well as having multiple showers. Using products containing popular ingredients like hyaluronic acid or the new star on the moisturizing block… snow mushroom, "captures and locks in the water" your body already has. Hoping that moisturizers will add enough water to your skin is just not right. Moisturizers add very little water to our skin. They just help to lock in existing water in the tissues.
Nourishing your skin comes by two separate avenues. Firstly, you are what you eat and your skin will reflect your dietary choices. Secondly skin care formulations with small, bioavailable, unprocessed natural ingredients can and will affect your skins appearance. Look for products containing Probiotic ingredients, superfood ingredients with GRASS principles and keep in mind that celebrity endorsement or million dollars marketing budgets are not guarantee of quality products.
Once you cleanse, moisturize and nourish your skin you should protect your investment into your skin care. I do not mean only to use sunscreens and limit your exposure to sun rays or environmental pollutants, but to apply products containing oils. Face, hand and body oils had been used for centuries as a main skin care tools. Selecting proper oil serums or just plain oil mixture is simple. Look for oils that are easily penetrable in to second or third level of your skin. Examples of those oils are rose hip, meadowfoam, marula, moringa, argan, jojoba, some cold press olive oils and others. Oils are crucial for proper maintenance of your skin cells walls and are essential for many biological processes.
To conclude, in order to give your skin all the tools it needs, spend some time researching the brands, educate yourself on the ingredients and remember simple routine do not need to include ten or more products. Eat well, drink sufficient amounts of water, use simple product ingredients and get that beauty sleep we all need.

subset: commoncrawl


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When you purchase DRM-free downloadable content, that content is available for you to download on any computer and save to a disk whenever you like. You can also download to multiple computers. There is no timeframe associated with your purchase and the content will not expire.
Running Time: 17 minutes
Released: 02/2019
Studio Name: SkynMen
Director: Nick Moretti
Categories: Muscles Bareback Anal High Definition
Description: Best buddies Brandon and Michael wake up to the sound of sex in the next room. Immediately they heat up the sheets.
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Settings: Bedroom
Studio: SkynMen
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The Best Betting Apps UK
We've done a definitive ranking of the best betting apps for UK punters. We've considered a range of key factors including free bets and bonuses, app features, usability and speed.
In the end though, our criteria to reach this list was how good the app is overall. Some have better odds, offers or markets on specific sports but we've combined all the important factors to pick the best betting app across the board.
|SBO's Choice
|Other Good Options
888 Sports
Bet £10 get £40
£30 in Free Bets
£100 in Bet Credits
|Easy-to-use app
|Easy-to-use app
|Free bet
|Free bet
|24 hour customer support
|24 hour customer support
What Makes a Good Betting App?
Most UK bookmakers offer apps to their customers, but which features separate the best sports betting apps from the rest? Our team considers some key factors when looking at a new app, they include:
Reliable and Fast
Nobody wants an app that is glitchy, full of bugs or that crashes. Equally, you don't want to have to wait ages for an app to load or bring up the odds you are looking for.
Usability and Design
As with any website or app, it's important to be able to navigate easily and find what you're looking for. It's also a big plus for us when an app looks cool and it makes using it more enjoyable.
Plenty of In-play
In-play and football betting apps go hand in hand but what makes a good betting app great is a big selection of in-play available on multiple sports.
Great Bonuses and Free Bets
Bookies that have betting app offers are winners in our eyes. Everyone loves a betting bonus or free bets but there's nothing worse than the offer only being available in a shop or on the main site.
Cash Out
Betting apps with cash out give you freedom that wasn't possible before online betting. Every punter has bets that simply don't go their way but cashing out allows you to save crucial funds. Apps are the best place to use cash out due to convenience and ease.
Stats and Live Streaming
Up to date stats are a key part of any bettor's arsenal and apps are a great way to stay up to speed. Also, the best betting apps provide you with the chance to get closer to the action with live streaming.
Betting Apps for Android
Betting apps for Android phones are hugely popular and new UK bookmakers release apps every day. If you're looking to find the best android betting app, you can't go wrong in considering the key features that make good betting apps.
There's only usually a very small difference between Android and IOS apps and sports betting apps are no different. Look for apps that are reliable, easy to use, have in-play, cash out and some brilliant offers.
The main difference between using an Android and iPhone betting app is the way you download the app itself. If you are an Android user, download your preferred betting app in Google Play. When the download is complete, you can use the app in a very similar way to the desktop version of your favourite bookmaker.
If you're signing up for a new account, make a deposit, enter any code you have for a bonus and then you can start making bets as normal. Take a few minutes to familiarise yourself with the app as usually the only major difference between desktop and app versions is layout and design.
Withdrawing your funds from an Android betting app is also really simple and works in exactly the same way as a desktop site.
Betting Apps for iPhone
All betting apps for iPhone need to be accessed through the App Store. If you know which betting app you want to download, simply search in the App Store to get started. After that, it's pretty much plain sailing and there won't be any big surprises.
Depositing, withdrawals, banking options and placing bets will all work in exactly the same way as if you were on a desktop site. However, make sure you check the latest bonuses and free bets section of your new app to check on exclusive offers for app users.
Betting Apps with Free Bets
One of the great benefits of betting online is the free bets and bonuses that are offered by UK bookies. Luckily for us, these offers are often extended and even enhanced for app users. All of the betting apps we have researched offer users some sort of bonus, however, there are a select few that offer something extra.
Here are our picks of the best betting apps with bonuses:
Mobile Betting on Different Devices
It wasn't that long ago that betting on mobile was a fairly new idea. But now there are plenty of new and intriguing ways to bet on different devices other than your mobile.
Tablet Betting Apps
One great option is the tablet. For the casual bettor, in particular, this can be the ideal device on which to bet.
It's large enough that you can get good, high definition visuals – perfect for watching live streams – but convenient enough that you can pick up and play in a few taps without having to fire up a desktop computer.
Gambling Apps on Apple Watch
Apple Watches do much more than just tell the time: users can send messages, talk to Siri, track their fitness, and access a range of apps, including ones for betting.
Imagine being halfway through an intense gym workout and realising you've forgotten to back a winner in the big match, with just moments until kick-off. A few taps of the watch and you're back in the game.
The Best Betting Apps for Different Sports
Everyone has their favourite sports to bet on and some apps specialise in specific sports. Most specialist sport betting apps are dedicated to 1 of the 2 big boys when it comes to UK sports betting – football and horse racing.
Football Betting Apps
Football betting apps are the most common and allow football fans to follow matches in-play, stream live and of course, to place ever popular accumulators.
'Accas' are a focus point for many betting apps. UK punters in particular love placing multiple bets on football and bookmakers provide apps that make that easy. Because of the emphasis on accumulators, cashouts, in-play and bonus offers are common.
Our team has researched a lot of the different football betting apps that are available and in our opinion, the best football betting app overall is Bet365.
|Betting Site
|No. of Markets on average
|Special Features
|888 Sports
|22 Bet
Horse Racing Betting Apps
Unsurprisingly, as horse racing is the 2nd most popular sport to bet on in the UK, there are also lots of apps that specialise in it. There's nothing quite like the excitement of watching a horse race that you have money on, particularly if it's a major event like Cheltenham or Royal Ascot, but it's not always possible to be there.
Many betting apps give horse racing fans a chance to enjoy the race with live streaming. Like football betting apps, horse betting apps also offer plenty of special offers for punters. These include welcome offers, extra places paid or even boosted odds if your horse wins by a big margin.
After researching all major bookmakers, our pick of the best betting app for horse racing is Black Type.
|Betting Site
|Best odds guaranteed?
|Special Features
The Benefits of Using Betting Apps
Sports betting online changed the game for punters and apps are an extension of that. There are loads of perks to using gambling apps, including:
Nearly everyone has a smart phone these days. And if you're serious about sports betting, it's pretty crucial. The best bookmakers know this, and every big betting site provides an app. This means it's easier than ever to place bets and stay up to speed with your favourite sports.
Physical bookmakers can be inconvenient to get to or even intimidating for newbies. Betting from the convenience of your phone is simple and easy, and the best betting apps make it a hugely enjoyable experience.
Special Offers
Bonuses and free bets are a major part of modern betting. By using betting apps, you can access deals that are available to normal punters as well as some exclusives. Nobody wants to miss out on a great deal but that's exactly what could happen if you don't have an app downloaded.
The importance of in-play betting can't be overstated and 9 times out of 10, in-play is better on a mobile device. This is especially true if you attend the event you're betting on or meet for a social gathering to watch it. For this reason, in-play betting has had a key role in boosting the popularity of betting apps.
Betting Apps vs Mobile Betting
There are two main ways to bet on a smartphone. The first is by accessing a bookmaker through your regular browser e.g Safari or Google Chrome. The second is by downloading an app. Is there any real difference? Is one better than the other?
There are pros and cons to both but overall, we recommend downloading a betting app if you are intending to make regular bets. If you use a browser to visit your favourite sports betting site you could run into the following issues:
- Unable to access all features
- Slower loading time
- Mobile optimisation issues
If you're only intending to use a bookie one time, it makes sense to access it through a browser. There's not much point in downloading an iPhone betting app only to delete it a few minutes later – unless you're doing so to access a specific bonus.
So, in these cases, it's often prudent to visit a betting site via a browser. For instance, let's say you see a welcome offer for a bookie you don't really like. You may want to sign up just to take advantage of the bonus. This is the perfect time to access the bookies via your mobile browser.
Another consideration is the amount of storage on your smartphone. For models which only offer 16gb or 32gb, squeezing all your apps, photos and videos onto one device can be tricky. This is a very real concern for some users, and one possible reason against using bookmakers' apps when they have a perfectly good mobile site which serves the same purpose.
There are some significant cons to using a browser to visit iPhone sports betting sites too. If you're in a hurry – for, say, a live in-play bet on the footie – it's much quicker to fire up an existing app than it is to visit a website. Most bookies have mobile-optimised websites, but not all. If your one doesn't, it could be tricky navigating the site. And you might not even have access to all of the same features you would on the app.
Making deposits and withdrawals is also much easier on an app. This is one area which can be particularly fiddly using a browser – and certainly an area where an incorrect click could be costly. When using an app, generally these features are made bigger so it's easy for you to click through.
Frequently Asked Questions
There are lots of great betting apps available and it really depends on what you are looking for, however after considering a range of factors, our no.1 ranked betting app is 888 Sport.
Yes, most apps have the same offers as the main website, however occasionally there are exclusive offers for app users.
Mostly yes. There may be a few small differences in this like display and design however all the important things like bonuses, odds and cash out will be the same.
Every betting app offers odds and markets on football, but our favourite is Bet365. Their odds are consistently good, the welcome offer is excellent, and the app is easy to use.


text: As it turns out my example and my attempt to explain my problem were bothpretty bad. Thanks to those who replied and we're able to read my mind andfigure out the problem. My salvation was the variable section sweep andthe x-trajectory. What I wanted to model was how the angle of a toolrelative to a rotating piece of stock would effect the finished piece.I was going to make a summary with some pics to illustrate the solution butthat would probably be just as confusing. So I'm passing along thismock-up part that will hopefully give everyone that is not familiar withVSSs a little insight as to how they work.Many thanks to everyone that replied,SamSam SnivelySteam Turbine Develop EngineerElliott Company901 North Fourth StreetJeannette, Pa 15644


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| 10.9°C Dublin
THERE's nothing like a visit from the most powerful man in the world to get a village spruced up in record time.
A few months ago, Moneygall was an ordinary dot on the map on the main road to Limerick.
Today, it's transformed as the locals prepare to roll out the red carpet for the US president.
Flags blew in the wind, trucks pulled up, builders plastered frantically, gardai peered down manholes, council workers checked flag poles and the US Secret Service paced around the village as last-minute meetings were held.
Amidst all the excitement, Moira Sheppard (66) just about had a chance to watch the Queen of England on her TV. But she was interrupted when a radio crew stopped by for a 'cupan tae'.
"I've never in my life seen anything like this, nor will I ever again," she said excitedly. "You have no idea what this visit has done for Moneygall. It has lifted all of our spirits and we'll never be the same again."
Around the corner from Mrs Sheppard's home, children were filing into Moneygall's primary school. The school has been championing Barack Obama on this side of the Atlantic since he was a barely known black senator in 2007.
Yesterday, the children of principal Eugene Ryan's sixth class were more than happy to share their ideas about where Mr Obama should visit during his whistlestop tour of the village.
"I think he should go down to Templeharry Church," said 12-year-old Orlaith Murray, who was interrupted briefly by a classmate who informed Orlaith that the "Secret Service wouldn't allow that".
"Well maybe he could come to the school then," another boy said, before Mark Fanning (11) mentioned his uncle Paul's 'Siopa Beag', where souvenirs are being sold to commemorate the visit.
Everyone in Moneygall -- even the children -- are getting in on the action and enjoying an economic boost from the US presidential visit.
The children are aware of Mr Obama's influence in the world with one boy, Daniel Quinlan (13), mentioning his uncle, Philip.
"He lives in Chicago," he exclaimed before Mark Fanning chipped in, "I have loads of cousins in America".
In Busherstown, on the outskirts of Moneygall, local entrepreneur Jason Austin, who made a name for himself after he painted an American flag and a tricolour on his bungalow, is preparing to open a car park to facilitate up to 2,000 cars.
"It's a half-a-kilometre from the inner barrier on the main Roscrea to Moneygall Road. We're after cutting silage to clear the field off so we're ready now.
"We hope the gardai will come on stream with us as the field is ideally located. People can come to our village and walk in, we're open for business," he said.
Another farmer, Timmy Talbot, welcomed a new arrival to Moneygall at the weekend.
There is currently a dispute in the village on whether to call the little calf Cowbama or Barack Obama.
However, Timmy believes the name Barack will stick as the black and white calf is a natural leader who was on his feet within minutes of being born in the early hours of last Saturday morning.
Irish Independent


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The crew riff on the short "Alphabet Antics" before watching Daddy-O (1958), a film about a group of teenage beatniks who spend their free time drag-racing. Joel is inspired to write the song "Hike Your Pants Up" and the Bots reenact a drag race scene from the movie.
In Part 1 of MST3K's only true two-parter, our hero Ken becomes a fugitive from his planet Valnastar after accidentally killing his friend. He joins up with an Earth starship, the Bacchus 3, but his troubles have only just begun. So have ours.
Joel and the Bots get tips on public speaking from the short "Speech: Using Your Voice" and watch a spider devour a town in Earth vs the Spider (1958). Crow forces the guy to read his screenplay "Earth vs. Soup" and Joel sets up a rehearsal for his rock band Spidorr.
And lo, Tsuburaya Productions begat the 1968 Japanese television series Maitei Jyakku; and Maitei Jyakku begat the TV movie Mighty Jack; and Mighty Jack did know Sandy Frank Productions and begat in its own likeness an English-dubbed adaptation for American television; and the American version di...


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March 29, 2018. On Wednesday, March 21, 2018, we were honoured to judge a specialty prize, the "Listen To This" Award, which comes with a $25 prize, at the PEI Science Fair. This is presented annually to a student whose project best demonstrates awareness of hearing loss and associated issues, in an effort to encourage young scientists in the making to consider issues of concern to the hard of hearing.
This year, the award went to Grade 10 Bluefield High School student Ahnais Young, of Bonshaw, for her project "Auditory and Cerebral Hemispheric Lateralization in Relation to Handedness". Ahnais's project tested whether 'auditory dominance is related to cerebral hemispheric lateralization'. What does this mean? Basically, the right side of your brain controls the movements of the left side of your body, and vice versa.
Ahnais wanted to see if this held true for hearing as well. She wondered whether, if the right side of the brain controls the left side of your hearing, and vice versa, you would hear better from one side of your ear than the other. She also wondered if auditory dominance was determined by brain dominance.
The project testing phase was in two parts. Participants were first given a Brain Dominance Test, where they had to answer questions on a variety of topics, quickly and without thinking. This showed which side of the brain was most dominant. (Try the test yourself at: http://www.ipn.at/ipn.asp?BHX) See the chart below to show what functions are controlled by the right and left sides of our brains.
Next, participants took a hearing test, where they listened to sound files of different frequencies. This examined the sensitivity of hearing at different frequencies ranging from 250 Hz to 8000 Hz. Want to try the test yourself? Here is the link: https://hearingtest.online/
The result? Brain dominance does NOT determine auditory dominance. In her sample size of 135 participants, these were the results:
- 67/135 participants were right ear dominant – 49.63%
- 53/135 participants were left ear dominant – 39.26%
- 13/135 participants were equally dominant in either ear – 11.11%
The participants who were equally dominant in either ear tended to be left-handed or ambidextrous. Right ear dominance is believed to be due to the left side of the brain having the advantage for processing verbal information.
In her conclusion, Ahnais noted that research has proven that hearing is processed in the left side of the brain. "This is where the primary and secondary processing centres are located for speech, comprehension, hearing, and language. Our right ear has a more direct route to the processing centres because the left side of the brain is connected to the right side of our body."
Involved in the PEI Science Fair since Grade 4, her parents are supportive of her projects, telling Ahnais that "It's not about winning, just try your best." This was an excellent presentation, well researched, and held our interest. Perhaps one day this project could be enlarged upon and studied further. Ahnais explained that she is looking at being either a veterinarian or a neurologist, but neurology is getting the edge. We certainly hope so!
Do you have a tip or story to share about hearing loss? Let us know! Comments can be made on this blog, or you can email us at firstname.lastname@example.com. Don't forget to check the upcoming events listing below! You won't miss out on events of interest to you.
© Daria Valkenburg
Next Chapter meeting: Tuesday, April 10, 2018 at 9:30 am at North Tryon Presbyterian Church.
Speechreading Classes begin in April and run for 10 weeks: Two sessions are offered this spring: Monday evenings from 7-9 pm beginning April 2, 2018, or Tuesday afternoons from 1:30-3:30 pm beginning April 3rd."
Upcoming Seminar: "THERE IS HOPE: Understanding and Managing Your Tinnitus", with audiologist Dr. Heidi Eaton, Saturday, May 12, 2018 at Seniors Active Living Centre in Charlottetown. Watch for more details and registration information.
Upcoming Seminar: "So You're On The Road To A Cochlear Implant" with Jodi Ostroff, Ph.D., Clinical Account Manager, MED-EL Medical Electronics,, Wednesday, May 23, 2018 at the Farm Centre in Charlottetown. Watch for more details and registration information.
Upcoming Seminar: "What's In The Box?" with Jodi Ostroff, Ph.D., Clinical Account Manager, MED-EL Medical Electronics, Wednesday, May 23, 2018 at the Farm Centre in Charlottetown. Open to those with MED-EL Cochlear Implants. Watch for more details and registration information.
Upcoming Seminar: "New Technology and Cochlear Implant Candidacy" with Jodi Ostroff, Ph.D., Clinical Account Manager, MED-EL Medical Electronics,, Wednesday, May 23, 2018 at the Farm Centre in Charlottetown. Open to Audiologists. Watch for more details and registration information.
Upcoming Ceilidh Fundraiser you won't want to miss: Sunday, May 27, 2018 at 2:00 pm at Bonshaw Hall. Half of the proceeds to benefit our Chapter!


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Resolved, the House of_______________ concurring, that the 78th General Convention acknowledge with thanks to God for the Brotherhood of St. Andrew and 132 years of ministry to men and boys and be it further
Resolved that the 78th General Convention encourage and support dioceses and congregations in their efforts to develop and expand Ministry to Men throughout the Episcopal Church, and to mentor and raise up the next generation of young men throughout the Episcopal Church.
A hundred and thirty-two years ago, in November, 1883, twelve men, led by James L. Houghteling, changed a prayer and study group at St. James Church, Chicago, into a national organization for Episcopal men. It is called the Brotherhood of St. Andrew, and in the summer of 1983 (Aug. 3-7) the Brotherhood of St Andrew celebrated its Centennial year of service to men and boys.
The Brotherhood began its outreach by ministering to lonely and destitute men in downtown Chicago. From this sprang the fellowship's objective: "the spread of Christ's kingdom among men and boys."
The idea spread and soon there were Brotherhood chapters in Episcopal churches across the nation, and beyond. By 1904 there were 2,500 chapters and about 50,000 members. Of these, 1,800 chapters and 36,000 members were in the United States. Others were in Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, the British Isles, Ghana, Jamaica, Japan, Korea, Central America, South Africa, Uganda and the Philippines.
Over the years the Brotherhood has had an interesting and enduring influence in the life of the Episcopal Church. In 1885 it developed the Lay Reader program which was adopted by the National Church. It sponsored the Forward Movement and sent four missionaries to the Philippines, leading to the establishment of the Episcopal Church there. The Brotherhood also established numerous training camps for young men and boys. During both World Wars, the Brotherhood was an active presence for men away from home. Many colleges had chapters. A member of the Brotherhood, Paul Rusch, started the Kiyosato Educational Experiment Program (KEEP) in Japan to be a model for progressive farming. The Brotherhood has developed numerous home study and Bible courses, many of which are still in use in the Church.
Today members of the Brotherhood sponsor boy scout troops, participate in prison ministries, lead Veteran Friendly Congregational Ministries, men's bible study groups, discipleship training, ministry to fatherless and homeless boys, and a wide variety of programs designed to bring men and youth to Christ. But we are falling behind- "We are not a healthy culture for boys and men. One reason is that we are no longer a culture of elders who know how to pass on wisdom, identity and boundaries to the next generation. …The patterns of failure among our young men are frightening; the levels of depression, suicide, drug abuse, alcoholism, and violence among young males today are exponential. Over 94% of all inmates are male, 80% of all suicides are men, and males commit suicide almost six times as often as women….Men are hurting. (Fr. Richard Rohr-Adams Return)
There are many state of the art ministries to men. The National Coalition of Ministries to Men, Lutheran Men in Mission, United Methodist Men's Ministry, Man in the Mirror Ministries, Christian Mentors Network, and many more. The Episcopal Church needs to play catch up, before we lose a whole generation of young men. Dr. Patrick Morley, founder of Man in the Mirror Ministries, defines discipleship as being, "called to live in Christ, equipped to live like Christ, and sent to live for Christ." Our goal as men's ministry specialists, is to see that every congregation develops or expands its Ministry to Men, with a focus on "leaving no man behind."
We are here to assist any congregation in the establishment of a Ministry to Men. We would appreciate your support on Diocesan web sites, and on individual congregation web sites. Let's all work together to build strong Christian men in every congregation.


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The thrill of the huntI've found all kinds of treasures at these places. And I visit them regularly, always on the prowl for something that fits in with the look I want for my home -- probably best described as Quirky Eclectic with a touch of Shabby Chic .
So when my friend Pat lured me away from the studio recently with the suggestion that we go check out a new architectural salvage company in Marietta, I could hardly contain my excitement. I positively adore architectural salvage companies (oh, the many uses for all those magnificent old doors, corbels, pediments and light fixtures...!!!)
Salvage Salivation SyndromeWhen we walked through the door of Marietta Reclamation, I thought I had died and gone to heaven. Before I could remove my sunglasses I had spotted at least half a dozen items that would look sensational in my house and on my porch. Unless I exercised extreme self-control, I was in danger of impoverishing myself in under 10 minutes.
A massive pine drafting table immediately caught my eye. Good thing my studio is too small to accommodate such a substantial piece, but oh, how readily I envisioned myself as its new owner. Dozens of marble slabs, many of which had gorgeous colors and patterns, also grabbed my attention. Now I know where to get a slab to use as the top for the potting bench I've always wanted.
Had I been looking for old doors, I'd have had plenty to choose from, in every size and style. Old doors can be turned into so many useful things -- tables, room dividers, headboards. Oh yes, I will definitely consider turning one of them into a headboard for the bed in the guest room. Beyond the doors I saw columns that would have been gracious additions to my entryway. Heck, just standing one up in a corner of the living room would be such an eye-catching accent...! And that planter made with salvaged wood? I could just see it on the corner of my front porch, spilling over with cheerful red geraniums.
Yes indeed, my brain is constantly whirling with images straight from the pages of This Old House, Southern Living and HGTV Magazine. My home isn't big enough to contain all the projects I want to do, but that doesn't stop me from dreaming and drooling over what I see in these magazines. I want it all. I want my house to look like all of those houses. I think I might need an intervention.
Uh-oh, there goes my willpower
|These shutters from Marietta Reclamation will soon become a part of my home's decor. To the right are a garden topiary and an old wrought iron patio table, both thrift store finds. Image ©2014 Lynn Edwards


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Halloween is probably the most entertaining time of year. When else is it completely acceptable to discuss serious software issues while wearing a pirate costume? Or to dress up as the Pillsbury Dough Boy (er...guy) and bring chocolate-chip muffins?
Halloween may be on Sunday this year, but we're celebrating at the Watsonville office. We know how to have fun and dress up. Check out the team last Halloween.
We're having a costume contest again this year. We also plan on eating way too much candy and maybe watching scary movies. We'll probably get some work done sometime in there too, cause we know how to multitask.
I'll post pictures of all of our costumes on our P&G Facebook page. You can see more pictures from years past there as well. And don't forget to enter our trick-or-treat contest or our Manga Man contest, which both end on Halloween night! Have a safe and spooky Halloween weekend!


text:
Tag: Craft
To read and write creatively is to live in a dreamstate, or so many would
Rising Star
Escape the Bear and Fall to the Lion
[1] *actively resists the urge to crest said ad on photoshop*
[2] One reason why I love poetry so much is that the subconscious is permitted to reveal itself in a less convoluted way in fragments and images without any need for context.
[3] FYI, your Moon sign is the second most important influence in your chart after the Sun and represents your emotions and inner mood.
I am not ashamed to tell you that I periodically look at job listings posted by all of the major publishing houses. This is a habit I started back in 2012, after graduating from college.
Despite being a massive cliche, I always wanted to be that young snappy bookworm in the Big Apple, drinking lattes at her desk and sifting through the manuscript slush pile for hidden gems. I still fantasize about this sometimes, and that is how I make my way to the career sections of publishing houses who will never take a second look at me.
Even when I was a magazine editor, I couldn't get the likes of Simon & Schuster or Hachette Book Group to return my calls and emails about featuring their Naomi Judd books in our nationally syndicated publication (I'm almost over it guys, I swear.). So you can understand why I have never held out hope of actually getting a job at one of these places.
Even if such a prospect were to come to fruition, it wouldn't be affordable or feasible in any way. Since 2012, every time I have checked these listings, the salary is the same: $40,000/year as an Associate Editor/Editorial Assistant living in New York City. I mean who in the H-E-double-hockey-sticks could survive off of that in a city with one of the highest costs of living? It's pretty laughable, although not that shocking for a position in literary publishing. Funnier still are the job descriptions themselves, which toss around words like "managing" and other skills that are anything but entry-level.
But when I actually applied for several of these jobs after graduate school with both a master's in creative writing and editorial experience at a literary press, communication was radio silent. Not even a thanks-but-no-thanks? Not gonna lie, that hurt my feelings a little bit. And, like a glutton for punishment, I still find myself perusing these job boards from time to time, which is how I came across something very unexpected (see image below).
I must have laughed for a solid 10 minutes at this. I mean, I'm just trying to picture my life as James Patterson's editor (which, admittedly, is way too presumptuous). Like all I do, day in and day out, is read James Patterson while making line edits and coaching him through his manuscripts. After a good belly laugh, I began wondering what happened to the last editor? Seems like a pretty sweet gig so I can't imagine they just up and left. There's also something extremely meta about the mystery of James Patterson's missing editor, don't you think?
Part of me wonders if this has anything to do with the rumors swirling around Patterson's writing technique, which allegedly involves a team of writers who formulaically churn out books like factory assembly lines. I have no idea if there is any truth to this gossip, but part of me wonders how anyone is capable of producing that much copy, going through the editing process, book design/layout, and having it out on the shelves so quickly ("up to 10 books a year"), but it's certainly not impossible. I have witnessed as much on the production side of things.
Even though the listing came as a bit of shock, this is actually a great opportunity for any experienced mystery and/or thriller editors out there. What's the weirdest job posting you've come across?
Something I'm asked fairly often is: "Why don't you self-publish?"
In the moments following this question, I usually mumble some quick excuse and shrug the idea off because the truth is that my aversion to self-publishing is complicated. It's not like I haven't thought about uploading an e-Collection of work onto Amazon.com before.
I mean, why not, right? It's modern, convenient, affordable, and you don't need anyone's permission or approval to do it. Nor do you have to fight through a massive slush pile to be noticed by publishers. Heck, you can bypass the publisher altogether, avoid book contest fees and months of waiting to hear back, and maintain creative control over your work.
As someone who has built a career in publishing as both an editor and as a writer, I believe my perspective diverges wildly from the majority of my peers, at least when it comes to legitimizing yourself as an author and legitimizing the work itself (both of which important are incredibly important to me).
So what exactly makes an author or a book "legitimate"?
If you've never sat down and thought about your own definition to this question, you should do so asap, and try not to overthink it either. Like snowflakes, no two responses are the same, and there is no right or wrong answer. Your beliefs and the standards you impose on yourself are completely subjective.
My personal journey through publishing and my lifelong academic pursuit in the field of creative writing have both come to define my somewhat high standards.
The truth is that anyone can publish an eBook, and I mean anyone. In fact, the first thing that comes to mind when I think about self-publishing is the endless wave of YA paranormal romance novels and sci-fi books with mediocre, redundant vocabulary as well as completely predictable story arcs, characters, and narratives, which began popping up after "50 Shades of Grey". For writers in these genres, self-publishing makes absolute sense, and might even be the most optimal method of publication. What better way to get your work directly into the hands of readers in this incredibly competitive market?
Also, I don't mean to knock these genres as a whole. I'm just not a paranormal romance novelist or much for sci-fi in my day-to-day writing. More importantly, for me to be taken seriously in the writing community I've built my life in, self-publishing just isn't an option. Other people have to recognize your skill before you earn your place in the sun.
Industry & Incest
The circles I am referring to here are chiefly comprised of two main groups:
1) Higher Education
This includes a) insular MFA communities which are somehow still connected on a national level that often feels downright incestuous and cult-like; b) overall holier-than-thou ivory tower poets, fiction writers, essayists, professors and intellectuals; and c) university presses.
2) Small Press
Anything other than the five or so major publishing houses like Penguin, Random House, and HarperCollins is considered "small" press. Even if the press makes millions of dollars a year, it's not considered a major publisher. This leaves a pretty wide range of presses. Many though, don't make much in the way of profit and are run by professors and/or well-to-do writers that supplement the press with their income.
The kind of publications that come out of these circles are the kind of publications that have limited prints, big community and award prestige, as well as zero financial return. This is this type of work that is created out of love and is often the most rewarding to read.
Only a douchebag would self-publish in such circles. However, it's perfectly acceptable to start your own press to publish work from other writers you enjoy but never for the purposes of packaging and distributing your own work.
One benefit of small press is creative freedom. Editors rarely try to push the work in any way. Manuscripts are, for the most part, published as-is. This is also a space where you can push the boundaries of genre hybridity, which is awesome. However, you pay between $15-30 in reading fees every time you enter a book contest. While 99% of these fees go directly toward producing the winning book(s), most can't help but feel like they just bought into a pyramid scheme, one which they have no hope of reaching upper echelons of.
Given the unspoken rule about self-publishing, insular community, and competitiveness of it all, an insidious type of nepotism results, despite the best efforts of the community to prevent such conflicts of interest. You scratch my back; I'll scratch yours (i.e., you publish my book; I'll publish yours). This is something I quickly grew tired of in graduate school. When you begin to notice how those who are published are connected to one another and who the heads of these presses are, it's a little disheartening. But, in a way, it's not much different from the highest form of publishing.
"No one said life would be fair."
In grad school, it was insulting if you were dubbed a "career poet", which implied that you were a brown noser intent on schmoozing your way to the top because your writing couldn't stand on its own.
The serious academics in my program didn't really care about this insult though because, unlike the rest of us, they knew that anyone who wanted to get ahead in this industry, like it or not, had to network; also, that this practice was critical to becoming a successfully published author. And yes, of course, there are exceptions to this statement, but not many.
This is a fact I never much cared for. I grew up with this grand fantasy of some freckle-faced editor at a major publishing house randomly picking up my manuscript from the slush pile and, within a few lines of reading, them exclaiming to everyone within earshot that they'd just struck 14ct gold, thus propelling me into my new life as the next J.K. Rowling.
Unfortunately, publishing is neither fantasy or based on merit. It's based on sales. If you're an optimist, maybe it's a little of both.
You and I may look at a book like "50 Shades of Grey" and balk or wonder how the hell so many people enjoyed a book that was intentionally written as "Twilight" fanfiction. But here we are in 2018 the year of our lord still talking about it. After growing in popularity, it was picked up by a subdivision of Random House, not because it's a good book but because it's popular. 50 Shades was a smart business decision that drove sales through the roof and led to a three-part movie deal.
And I'm reminded of this shit-eating lesson every time I open up my HBO GO app and see the image of Christian Grey teasing a blind-folded and tethered Anastasia Steele.
What can we learn about publishing from pop fiction?
Over the years, I have done my research on some of my favorite and relatively popular authors and discovered that most of them were not classically trained in writing. Many of these writers didn't bother with the slush pile, not in small press and not in any of the major publishing houses. Instead, most of these people grew an internet following, publishing their work online for free initially, then releasing eBooks that actually made money, which is damn hard when your book costs $0.99.
The first real-life example I saw of this was both unforgettable and way too close to home.
As part of earning our master's degrees, we had to teach at least one 'Intro to Creative Writing' course per semester, and we often discussed our trials and tribulations in the MFA lounge. One day, a classmate, who was already well-established in the small press fiction community, told me she had a young student in her class who'd electronically published one of those YA paranormal romance novels on Amazon.com.
I rolled my eyes at this. But when we went to look at the book profile, we were both shocked to see that the student's book had been purchased and downloaded thousands upon thousands of times. There's a metaphor buried somewhere in this anecdote that I don't care to parcel out. Just know that it stung.
While part of me feels against self-publishing and also that it is the downfall of literary quality and integrity, as it allows the market to be shaped by popularity, I can also see the appeal of it. Moreover, the act of self-publishing feels like a reflection of my generation, a generation characterized by instant gratification and ADHD (which I have btw). However, if you take a closer look at us millennials, we aren't just a bunch of tech-hungry, selfish, pick-me jerks. We are brilliant entrepreneurs who constantly find new ways around a system that benefits from our mindless complicity and financial participation, like weeds refusing to be left under concrete to wither and die, always finding a way to the light. Perhaps, self-publishing is merely an extension of this resilience as well as a refusal to be buried.
It's that time of year again, folks — National Novel Writing Month! Of course, I didn't remember this fact until today with a third of November already underway. Pretty standard for me though if I'm being honest.
For those who are unfamiliar with National Novel Writing Month, more commonly referred to as NaNoWriMo, this is an annual event held during the month of November that encourages creative writers to complete a 50,000-word manuscript in exactly 30 days, the equivalent of 1,667 words per day.
Now is when I confess to you that I have never participated in NaNoWriMo in any official capacity. The organization website has determined rules, deadlines, achievement badges, and so on. I merely adopted the concept some years ago and have since adapted it for my own creative purposes. However, if you struggle to write everyday and need that extra level of accountability, it may be useful to register with the site.
I tend to personalize my restrictions for the month of November around my desired goals with realistic expectations. As a full-time editor and part-time poet, it is not always feasible for me to write an extra 1,667 words per day. Sometimes I come home late too mentally exhausted to do anything other than stare into the abyss that is Netflix. Sometimes my partner wants to spend quality time with me and talk about the day. Sometimes I have to make dinner or go to roller derby practice or run out to the store or walk my dogs, etc. I think most of us lead incredibly busy lives, which is why many of us don't write regularly or as often as we would like to in the first place.
To make matters worse, I am the type of person who will stop trying altogether if my goals are ridiculously unobtainable. It's just who I am as a woman living with diagnosed ADHD and almost no free time. Sometimes I expect too much of myself. I am also in the habit of pushing the limits of my physical and mental capabilities. At my core though, I am my writing therefore this is one area of my life I refuse to ruin through exhaustion.
Being a poet is a factor in my self-imposed month of writing as well. For instance, 1,667 words per day is doable for most fiction writers, novelists, essayists, and those who write long-form pieces, but for poets — who tend to focus almost exclusively on the quality of words versus quantity and who spend hours agonizing over every single word choice/pairing — this can be excruciatingly difficult or even impossible to achieve.
Still, cultivating the impetus to write every day for an entire month, come hell or high water, is useful in creating new habits and making the follow through on deadlines less intimidating. "One day, I'll finish that novel," transforms into, "Today, I will finish that novel," and this monumental shift in thinking is crucial to manifesting your dreams no matter who you are or what you write.
For poets, this may become an exercise in letting go. It is easier to edit/whittle down pages and pages of lines than it is to pull the perfect sequential line out of thin air while writing a poem.
A few years ago, after a particularly bad case of writer's block, I decided to try writing from stream of consciousness during the month of November. The goal was to write as quickly as possible without pausing — the opposite of my writing practice at the time. The biggest problem I had then was my inability to forget the reader/audience while writing, which led to the belief that everything I put down on paper was garbage; if it wasn't ready to be published the moment I wrote it down, I tossed it. This is why I decided to try something new, something that would help me bypass the part of my brain intent on shouting, "This sucks!"
I got the idea from Gertrude Stein who, early in her career, performed experiments on "normal motor automatism" — the practice of simultaneously dividing one's attention between two intelligent activities, such as writing and speaking — which was theorized to reveal one's subconscious in a literal "stream of consciousness."
In the end, Stein didn't believe "automatic writing" was possible, but her work often reflects a sort of primitivism in the repetition of phrases, unique linguistic patterns and experimental forms she chose that feels reminiscent of a stream of consciousness.
I thought about how Stein might have come up with "Tender Buttons" (one of my favorite works) and concluded that I couldn't allow myself to stop and analyze what I wrote down under any circumstances. The result was a 70-page collection of poems that became key to my final thesis. In this way, NaNoWriMo can be utilized as more than just a way to create consistent writing habits or to finish that long-put-off novel; it can also be used as a period of exploration and evolution. I encourage anyone who missed the beginning of November to participate anyway. It's never too late to begin a new writing practice.
Did I ever tell you about the time I did a writing workshop in Oaxaca? It was the week of Halloween, roughly two weeks after the students missing and the atmosphere was wild.
Oaxaca is a big destination for Dia de los Muertos to begin with. On top of that, the political unrest grew each day I was there. Near the end of the trip, I received an email from the US embassy saying Americans were being evacuated 7-8 hours away in Acapulco. When I woke up the next day, the building across the street was covered ingraffiti about the students. As the Day of the Dead drew closer, there seemed to be more and more police presence, and, consequently, more and more human-sized guns.
But before that, Oaxaca took my breath away. There were old churches, colorful buildings, and mountains everywhere. The food tasted like nothing I've ever had. Not once did I come across anything with preservatives. Juice was nourishing and fresh squeezed. Raw tomato was practically orgasmic. Yes, I did get a touch of Montezuma's revenge, but it wasn't anything a few shots of Mezcal couldn't fix. Best of all, it wasn't overpopulated with Westerners, and I ended up gaining some Spanish by the end of it.
The workshop (U.S. Poets in Mexico) itself was extremely valuable. I enjoyed working with Anselm Berrigan and Catherine Wagner the most. Wagner, in particular, had completely unconventional writing practices that shook the foundation of how I conceptualized craft at the time. This experience begged many questions I still ask myself today.
1) How many of us actually use our environment to write?
I'd say that most people write inside with their heads down. We cram our bodies into uncomfortable positions and rigidly pull on the depths of our imagination. Even if you sit outside to write or go to a different location, this stiffness is often still with us.
2) Now out of those of us that deviate from standard writing practices, how many of us use, really use, our bodies or movement to write?
It might sound counterintuitive, but that was the entire focus of Wagner's workshop. Although it made me uncomfortable initially, this redirection opened up something in my writing I had never experienced before.
This came at a point in grad school when I felt myself repeating the same things over and over again in my work. I was at a standstill, and I wasn't sure how I was going to write for another year.
A lot of grad-level worshiping involves crafting in private until you're ready to show it to your peers who then evicerate it, which is valuable in many ways. But after a while, can make it impossible to forget about the audience during the writing process and make you lose touch with your love for it altogether. That changed for me after the workshop.
The first thing we did was engage each other by siting in a circle and playing word games. Someone would say a word and the next person would have to pick out the middle sound to begin anew. This is where I got my thesis title, "Louisiana Alchemy." Later, we walked around the courtyard describing what we saw in our perspective notebooks.
My favorite exercise though went a little further when Wagner asked each of us to write a sonnet (14 lines). However, we had to incorporate a number, a color, a piece of architecture, and we could only write one line for every block we walked, and we were all sent in different directions.
Something about the timing of the block and being in this foreign landscape brought forth a well of inspiration. I stopped caring about the reader and felt that spark I used to get when I first started writing poetry in college. Some of my favorite poems (see 2 at the end of this post) came out of this experience.
Being a big fan of Wagner, it was also interesting to glean up-close insight into her writing practices. I had always wondered how she came up with such unique, phonetic verse. Everything for her was about movement.
This is also why I recommend finding a workshop where one of your favorite writers will be teaching or one that is put on by a press you love. Not only is it a great way to network, but it's also a great way to learn exactly what you want to learn from the people you admire most.
Make it a goal to go somewhere you've never been before for this as well. As a writer, life experience is necessary for you to do what you do.
Although I went on this trip with a classmate and met up with an old friend who lived nearby, plenty of people go it alone and are ready to meet new writers. A friend may not have the same interests and may want to go to different workshops during this as well. You will also have the advantage of dedicating your time to the writers you came to see.
Where are your favorite writing workshops and what techniques do you still practice from them?
2 poems from the workshop:
Plenty of people have written about the use of New Orleans as a dystopian setting over the last decade, which hits a little too close to home—literally. Yet, I cannot deny that my city does in fact make the perfect backdrop for political commentary. In the context of Hurricane Katrina, this statement makes sense, but does it still hold up?
From a local perspective, I would argue that it does for the following reasons:
1. Unwavering Weather Deathtraps
It's hard to believe that a little over 12 years ago, Hurricane Katrina left 80% of the city flooded, at least 1,833 dead, and hundreds of thousands homeless—myself included.
While this event destroyed my 15-year-old world, it captivated the rest of the country through the national news circuit as the ultimate disaster porn for months, maybe even years.
The question on everyone's mind—How could this level of devastation occur in 2005 in one of the most powerful countries in the world?
The images, more reminiscent of a third world country than that of a modern US city, forever shook the country's self-view. People waiting on their roofs for days with rescue signs, houses upon houses filled with water, stragglers swimming in what was once a street, security footage of looters, the cajun navy out in their personal boats, the 27-mile-long Lake Pontchartrain Bridge in ruins, my childhood theme park (Six Flags New Orleans, formerly named Jazzland) becoming a lake instead of just having one.
Unfortunately, I wasn't able to dissociate myself from these images the way the rest of the country did. I distinctly remember the people around me as well as the anchors on TV referring to us IDP's (Internally Displaced People) as "refugees"—people who by definition have been forced to leave their country in order to escape war, persecution, or natural disaster.
This semantic discrepancy spoke volumes and reflected the cognitive dissonance between what people were witnessing on television and what they believed possible in their own country.
The use of "refugee" framed the black bodies appearing on millions of white American screens as foreign. The media also fanned fears of looting and crime through exaggeration, bias, and racial stereotypes: Whites borrowed for survival, while blacks doing the same thing stole. But I digress.
Between August 29 and September 17, directly after Hurricane Katrina made landfall, "dystopia" spiked worldwide on Google trends. If you look at this search trend between January 2004 all the way through September 2017, there is no other spike of this magnitude. In fact, when you look at this graph, dystopian YA is just beginning to surpass that spike in terms of popularity. That almost feels wrong, given the wave of Hunger Games, Maze Runners, and Divergents dominating publishing and film.
But if a world-ending event were to occur in America, people already picture it in our backyard thanks to Katrina, the Louisiana Floods of 2016, and even the occasional two-hour thunderstorms.
In 2017, we've had the strongest recorded tornado in LA since the 1950s, a biblical thunderstorm (that consequently trapped me in my car for five hours), and, at one point, there were three active hurricanes in the Gulf of Mexico simultaneously, which, scared the absolute crap out of me. I've never witnessed such a thing in my lifetime, and, frankly, my list of close encounters with supposedly once-in-a-lifetime weather events is much too long for my liking.
To my surprise, New Orleans has resembled Seattle more than a Gulf Coast city this year. With newly formed tropical storms and hurricane upgrades every day, I finally muted my weather alerts before hurricane season ended. I won't even get into to the daily tornado/waterspout watches I recieved while driving across the longest bridge in the world (not hyperbole) to get to and from work.
All of this is to say, we're never far off from apocalyptic weather or an ecodisaster down here.
2. Refusal to Put the Past to Rest
Another reason New Orleans serves as a popular dystopian backdrop is because our residents don't just live in the past, they also glorify it.
Until I left the south, I never realized just how bizarre, let alone common, it is for a classmate to receive a scholarship from the United Daughters of the Confederacy (UDC). My mind is still boggled by the self-proclaimed American patriots around me who tote the flag of the losing side.
The confederate flag is so prevalent here, you would think it's the state flag. I may be desensitized to this symbol now, but, as a child, I knew exactly what it meant without any verbal explanation and felt anxious every time I saw it. Children are perceptive enough to notice the commonality between flag-wielders, some of whom's ancestors never fought in the Civil War.
While the confederate monuments have come down, this continues to be a hot-button issue among residents. The statues are permanently gone and never coming back, but people here refuse to move on, blaming any and every issue from flooding to poor fund management on metal and stone.
Class and racial tensions aren't going anywhere, which provides a great backdrop for political unrest, injustice, war, primitivism, violence, corruption, and all the things that makeup dystopian works.
Baton Rouge, the state capital located less than an hour way, has the highest wage gap between men and women in the entire country. Baton Rouge and New Orleans also have the highest rates of HIV in the country. With one out of every 55 people in Louisiana is behind bars, we are the prison capital of the world. Oh and don't forget that we dance in and out of the top 10 murder capitals on a regular basis.
Throw in the fact that the majority of these prisoners are black men performing prison labor, and you can see a new form of slavery that isn't far off from plantation days. Actually, some of this labor is performed in plantations.
3. Decrepitude and Corruption
A lot of people (aka tourists) find New Orleans' infrastructure to be "charming." However, I'm well aware that the abandoned hospital around corner still has flood water from Katrina filling the bottom floor and parking garage. The roads and foundations are sinking faster than we can fix them. Black mold and asbestus run rampant in schools, homes, and public spaces.
Because we rely almost exclusively on tourism, the French Quarter is the only area that keeps up with preservation and maintenance, while the areas populated by local residents continue to show scars from Hurricane Katrina. The job market is almost exclusively service industry for the same reason.
Corruption is also notorious in New Orleans. Show me a politician that hasn't blatantly embezzled money from taxpayers, and I'll show you a unicorn. The worst part it though, is that the entire country knows this about us.
Yes, parts of this city are lovely and interesting because of their history, but tourists shouldn't be the only people in the city who experience upkeep. But, all of this just makes Nola a better candidate for said dystopia.
Bottom line: There are a million reasons to love New Orleans, but this city still reflects past atrocities and what is still broken in modern society. Hurricane Katrina was the catalyst for this view on a national scale. However, the ingredients were there well before the storm and remain here today.
These are things we accept in New Orleans, and maybe that is in fact part of our charm. This is a city full of history, heartache, violence, ghosts, and tragedy. But it is also a place of love and magic, a place where people can express themselves without judgement.
There are things I would like to change, but the reality is that this colonial city is set in her ways. So, for now, you can either take it or leave it or just accept that nothing, including this crime-riddled city, is solely good or bad. Either way, no one in the US knows dystopia better than New Orleanians.


text:
It is no longer expected that wedding costs will be assigned according to tradition. Every bride and groom should discuss their plan and budget for the wedding with their families to determine whether to follow a traditional division of financial responsibility for the wedding costs. If circumstances don't allow the families to follow tradition, the proper rationale in deciding who pays for what portion is basic: whoever is most willing and most able to pay for a wedding.
Click here to print and keep track of expenses with our 4 page PB Budget Planner Pdf
Groom's wedding ring
Wedding gift for groom
Gifts for maid/matron of honor & bridesmaids
Gift for parents (optional)
Gowns for maid/matron of honor & bridesmaids (optional)
Accommodations for out-of-town attendants (optional)
Luncheon for bridal party
Informal stationery
Bride's engagement & wedding rings
Bride's bouquet & going-away corsage
Boutonnieres for men in wedding party
Mothers' corsages
Wedding gift for bride
Gifts for best man, groomsman & ushers
Gift for parents (optional)
Formal wear for best man & groomsmen (optional)
Accommodations for out-of-town attendants (optional)
Marriage license
Fee for officiant
Bride's Family
Engagement party
Bride's wedding attire & trousseau
Bride's parents' wedding attire
Wedding gift for newlyweds
Invitations, announcements, thank you notes, postage
Engagement & wedding photographs
Wedding ceremony site fee & decorations
Wedding ceremony programs
Wedding reception
Flowers for ceremony & reception
Bridal party bouquets & flowers for flower girl
Transportation for wedding party to ceremony & reception
Security & insurance for gifts
Welcome party for out-of-town guests (optional)
Groom's Family
Engagement party (optional; following party by bride's parents)
Groom's wedding attire
Groom's parents' wedding attire
Wedding gift for newlyweds
Groom's informal stationery & thank you notes
Rehearsal dinner
Shipment of wedding gifts to couple's new home
Welcome party for out-of-town guests (optional)
Related articles
- We Love Wedding Wednesday – Cost of Being in a Bridal Party (intouchsocialevents.wordpress.com)
- How To Be A Good Wedding Guest (reflectivebride.com)
- Groom surprises bride with wedding (timesunion.com)


text:
Summer In Our Hearts
Was stuck somewhere I would rather have not been earlier in the week, the upside was that I got to catch up on some reading – including the latest issue of When Saturday Comes. Highlight of the current issue was a wonderful match report from Taylor Parkes with just the loveliest final paragraph I've read in a good while.
As a Norwich City fan today is probably not the best day to blog about football but it's only a game eh?
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Tags: Football, Norwich City FC, Taylor Parkes, When Saturday Comes
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Katy Perry Fan Club | Beverly Hills in association with Warner Home Video, a unit of Warner Bros. Pictures of Burbank, California is proud to announce today the 1st WINNER in our "ARTHUR | Blu-ray DVD Contest!".
Ms. Anna Weitmann, 19, of Sao Paulo, Brazil has won a Blu-ray DVD Combo Pack from Warner Home Video of the just released to DVD "Arthur", a new comedy starring British comedian and actor RUSSELL BRAND!
We will be giving away FOUR MORE Blu-ray DVD Combo Packs from Warner Bros. in the coming weeks, so you DON'T want to get left out of our FREE contest! Sign up TODAY right here on our website!
Here are a few words from our young winner Anna after she learned the news today!


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Hi Kamlesh,
One thing you have to bear in mind is that orchids are very slow growing plants so not seeing any significant growth in 4 weeks is not necessarily a cause for concern.
It certainly looks healthy in the flask so I wouldn't be in a hurry to deflask it until it is bigger as it will then be stronger and have a better chance of survival.
However it all becomes a judgment call and it would probably be fine to deflask it now as well. It all comes down to experience and you only gain experience by taking decisions and seeing what happens.
Good luck with your deflasking.


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It's a beautiful winter wonderland today in Kelowna. The schools are closed, the first snow day closure in 35 years! I know Christmas is over, but I LOVE it so it seems like a perfect time to share this gorgeous winter wedding design by Adrienne […]
All posts filed under: Christmas
Christmas Decor at Okanagan Golf Club – Kelowna Okanagan Wedding Photographer
One more Christmas post! Last one I promise!! Another beautiful set at Okanagan Golf Course designed by the talented Adrienne. I got to enjoy a glass of Christmas Cheer ( Wayne Gretzky's Pinot Grigio) which was absolutely delicious!! Venue: Okanagan Golf Club


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Fall is definitely in the air and this beautiful mirror will bring a touch of beauty to your home.
Measure the size of the mirror and adjust the file as needed.
Supplies used:
Pazzles Vinyl or Wall Vinyl large enough to fit your mirror surface in the color of your choice
Round Framed Mirror – such as one from a 5-piece set similar to this 5-piece mirror set
Lens cleaner wipe
Become a Member!By becoming a subscriber to Pazzles Craft Room you will have access to this project as well as hundreds of other projects, thousands of cutting files, and so much more!
Get Pazzles Craft Room!
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Don't we all love mason jars? I'm always looking for recipes that I can individualize and put in a pretty jar! I think it makes food more special. So when I found that the lid of these beloved jars could be used as little tart pans my heart skipped a beat! I just had to share my very first MASON JAR LID TART with you. They are soooooo easy to make and turned out to be scrumptious, indeed!
I can't wait for you to try these!!!!
Here are a couple of tips that will help your achieve tart perfection!
Use wide-mouthed jar lids. Put the metal lid into the metal screw rim so the rubber banding is facing down. Give them a little spritz with a Baker's Joy or Pam.
Use refrigerated ready-made pie crust. I used a very large circle cookie cutter to cut out the dough. You can also cut around a saucer or other dish or glass to make the dough circles to fit into the mason jar lids.
Use your imagination and fill each baked pie shell with something wonderful! I used a little raspberry jam to line the bottom of the baked pie shell before I added chocolate ganache. Oh, YUMMY!
When the chocolate ganache has totally set you can push up on the bottom of the lid while holding on to the metal rim and carefully take the tarts out of the mason jar lid tart pan. Don't forget to give the tarts a little dusting of confectioner's sugar… or a dollop of fresh whipped cream!
I hope you will try these easy-to-make little tarts and fill them with your favorite kind of flavors!
- 1 package refrigerated pre-made pie crust
- pam or bakers joy cooking spray
- raspberry jam
- 3/4 cup heavy cream
- 9 oz. semi sweet chocolate chips
- 1/2 tsp vanilla
- fresh, firm raspberries, washed and set out to dry
- confectioner's sugar
- Preheat oven according to pie crust directions.
- Place 8 large mouth mason jar lids with the rubber strip facing down in their rims on a parchment lined baking sheet. Spray with cooking spray.
- Cut out 8 pie crust rounds large enough to cover the the mason jar lid bottom, side and with a little hanging over the top edge. Prick with a fork. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.
- Bake for 10-12 minutes until the edges of the crust are golden brown. Let cool. Do not remove from the mason jar lids.
- Meanwhile, bring the heavy cream to a simmer in a small pot on the stove. Put chocolate chips into a seperate bowl and add the simmering cream to them, whisking constantly, until the chocolate chips are all melted. Add the vanilla and stir in.
- When the tart shells are completely cool add about 1/2-1 tsp raspberry jam to the bottom of the tart. Spread as evenly as you can.
- Fill the tart with the chocolate ganache.
- Add 3 raspberries to the top of each little tart.
- Refrigerate for about an hour to firm everything up. Take the tarts out of the mason jar lids and
- dust with confectioner's sugar before serving.
- You can also add fresh whipped cream before adding the raspberries.
- Lemon curd would be a delicious alternative to the chocolate.
Remember to pin this to your Pinterest RECIPE or FOOD boards. You can follow me on Pinterest and see all the mason jar things I'm finding to pin HERE!


text: I've been looking at purchasing a dedicated macro lens for my 60D and noticed that most of Sigma's options now include optical stabilizers and HSM focus, at a significant price increase over the old models. Are these features useful enough to warrant buying the new lens or should I go used? I used to have a Sigma 70mm macro and was a bit annoyed at the autofocus speed for portraiture (used manual for macro work), as well as the extending lens barrel. Anyone used the new lenses?


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Weekly Update: November 26th, 2018
Latest Happenings
More Small Companies Avoid I.P.O.s, Sapping U.S. Economy's Vitality
New York Times 11-27-18
"Small and midsize companies are fading from stock markets, leaving far fewer publicly traded companies. Many of the smaller companies are bought by larger organizations or are enticed to stay private by the sharp rise in venture capital money, both of which allow them to avoid the volatility and scrutiny that come with going public. The number of listed companies peaked in the late-1990s, before the dot-com bust, plummeting 52 percent by 2016."
Ryan Smith spent years planning to sell shares of his software company, Qualtrics, on the stock market, meeting with bankers, carefully auditing financials and shaping a Wall Street-friendly narrative about the company's prospects. Two weeks ago, the finish line was close, with a listing on the Nasdaq just a few days away.
But shortly before a staff meeting to update Qualtrics' employees about the public listing, Mr. Smith received a phone call from Bill McDermott, chief executive of SAP. "It's on," Mr. McDermott told Mr. Smith.
Mr. Smith then stunned Qualtrics' workers with a totally different message: SAP had agreed to buy the company for $8 billion in cash, nearly double the valuation bankers had set for the company's public listing. It was a decision, Mr. Smith said in an interview, that he did not second-guess one bit.
See complete report and video
Trickle Research Earnings Update 11-13-18
Command Center, Inc. (CCNI)
12-24 Month Target Price $8.75
We have been covering CCNI for some time now, and we must admit, we seem to have a hard time nailing down the numbers one quarter to the next. After last quarter, we noted that we were "paring back some of our estimates just to try to get them more in line with the results over the past few quarters where revenue comps have been flat". However, as it turned out, they reported revenues of $26.3 million which was just over $760,000 or about 3% higher than our revised estimate. The $26.3 million was about ½ way between the Q1 estimate we revised down, and the new number we revised down to.
Click Here for Report
11-7-18 Trickle Research Initiates Research of
Alvopetro Energy, Ltd., TSXV (ALV.V) OTC (ALVOF)
12-24 Month Price Target $1.10
Alvopetro Energy Ltd. ("Alvo") is engaged in the exploration for and the acquisition, development and production of, hydrocarbons in the Recôncavo basin onshore northeast Brazil. Alvopetro holds interests in three production areas and 11 exploration blocks comprising 73,473 gross acres (63,460 net acres) onshore Brazil. The first two of these fields
are referred to as Caburé and Gomo and are the subject of much of the near and intermediate term focus respectively. The third is referred to as their "conventional exploration inventory" and is located north of the other two properties. Caburé and Gomo are largely natural gas plays while the third is a blend of convention oil and natural gas prospects.
Read Complete Report
Canbiola, Inc. (CANB)
Canbiola, Inc. Uplists to OTCQB Venture Market
November 15, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) --via NEWMEDIAWIRE -- Canbiola, Inc. (OTCQB: CANB), is pleased to announce the Company has been approved for up-listing its common shares for trading on the OTCQB Venture Market, a US trading platform that is operated by the OTC Markets Group in New York.
Read Complete Press Release
11-02-18 Greenbridge Global Research updates
Guangdong Land Holdings, Limited. (HK 124)
Price Target $4.75
Portfolio Projects Continue Developing On Schedule
Q3:18 Results Moved By Impact of Acquisitions. GDL reported third quarter Revenue of HK$ 20.7 million from sales at the Baohuaxuan Project. Other notable items were the recognition of HK$ 297 million as Gain on Bargain Purchase from the July 2018 acquisitions, which was higher than the figure we had estimated. GDL also recorded a HK$ 111 million income tax expense related to income previously received as demolition compensation. Net Profit for the third quarter was roughly HK$ 130.4 million.
Project Portfolio Updates. The Buxin Project continues to move on track, with the four NW Land buildings constructed up to between 25 and 35 floors. Pre-sale activities are still expected before year-end, as is the start of construction of the Southern and Northern Land buildings. Construction has been completed on the Zhuguanglu Project and sales are expected to start before the end of 2018. Sales have continued at the Baohuaxuan Project, which ended September with 79.2% of the GFA sold.
Model Update. Other than the items noted above in the third quarter results, the only change to our model was pushing out Revenue from Zhuguanglu from H2:18 to H1:19.
Maintaining Rating & Target. GDL's growing portfolio continues to see projects developing on schedule and units selling as originally expected. Having positive operational momentum we are reiterating our Buy rating and HK$4.75 target price on Guangdong Land. Our target price is based on our DCF model that covers GDL's project portfolio.
Read Complete Report
New Distribution Partner for SMM
In addition to our ongoing growth in distribution we have added a new very important distribution partner in Quote Media.
They are the premier provider of quote and news services to the financial Industry in North America. They current have some 675 subscribers and publishers of their quote and news feeds including major stock exchanges like NASDAQ and the Toronto Stock Exchange and an extensive list of portfolio managers both in North America and abroad.
All Research updates, releases and news articles will automatically be uploaded from SMM to Quote Media through our RSS feed and will be then ticker tagged and distributed across the Quote Media network in real Time.
This will begin next week and is provided by SMM at no additional charge.
If you have any questions, please feel free to email or give me a call.
(listing, quotes, news, research)
Aethlon Medical, Inc. (AEMD)
Alvopetro Energy, Ltd. (ALVOF)
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2019-2020 Staff
JJ Bullock
Hi, I'm JJ Bullock and I am the editor-in-chief of the Daily Eastern News. I am a senior journalism major. Previously I have served as the sports editor, assistant sports editor...
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News Editor
I'm the 2019-2020 News Editor for The Daily Eastern News.
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Sports Editor
Howdy! I'm Dillan, I am currently the Sports Editor at The Daily Eastern News. I have played and loved sports my whole life, so why not cover them right? When I'm not inte...
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Opinions Editor
Hi, I'm Andrew Paisley and I am the Opinions Editor for The Daily Eastern News. I previously served as a Copy Editor during the Fall 2017 semester and as a columnist and Camp...
Logan Raschke
I'm the 2019-2020 Managing Editor for The Daily Eastern News. I'm a senior journalism major with a concentration in design who loves visual communication. Thank you for supporti...
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Hello! I am Blake Faith, I am currently a Sports Reporter and work on the Sports Desk at The Daily Eastern News. I am a senior journalism major from Decatur, Illinois. I have p...
Hannah Shillo
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Hi, I am Hannah Shillo and I am a junior journalism major. I am a staff reporter for The Daily Eastern News. I enjoy reading in my free time and I'm looking forward to repor...


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Four more boys have been freed from the cave in Thailand, leaving the remaining four and the coach still trapped. The operation to rescue the football team of 12 and their coach has stopped for the day, according to reports by CNN.
At a press conference on Monday afternoon, Narongsak Osattanakorn, Governor of Chiang Rai province and the head of the joint command center co-ordinating the operation, said rescue teams re-entered the cave system at 11am local time on Monday (2pm Sydney time).
Despite the many challenges ahead, and the death of one diver days ago, he struck an upbeat note: "I expect in the next hours we will have good news."
Mr Osottanakorn said some of the boys could emerge around 10.30pm AEST. The boys most up to the challenge of diving in the murky waters would be the next to be retrieved.
He said the "water level is not worrisome" even though heavy rains have fallen on the Tham Luang cave system in the country's north.
Thai authorities have also revealed what food the rescued boys craved most once they emerged.
Mr Osattanakorn said the rescued boys were in good spirits. They were hungry this morning and had requested pad kra pao — a popular dish of spicy basil chicken with rice.
But with the four being kept in isolation, they still won't be able to embrace their parents — the closest they will get is a wave through a glass screen.
"We are considering to let the parents see the boys. Perhaps visiting him outside the (transparent) glass room," Mr Osottanakorn was reported as saying.
The perilous journey to rescue the remaining nine could be even more dangerous the second time around, with rescuers today waking to gloomy skies as another thunderstorm looms, following a night of heavy monsoonal rains lashing the mountainous region. There are concerns that rising floodwaters in the cave complex will complicate rescue efforts and affect the evacuation.
Officials have said storms forecast for Chiang Rai province in Thailand's far north had factored into their decision to go ahead with a complicated and dangerous plan for the boys aged between 11 and 16 and their coach to dive out of the cave.
Four of the boys were rescued on Sunday, but nine remain underground including their 25-year-old soccer coach, Ekkapol Chantawong. The second leg of the risky operation was placed on hold overnight as air canisters were today replenished along the underwater route to where the boys and their coach have been trapped for almost two weeks. Defibrillators were also put in place should the rescue take a bad turn. There were reports the divers re-entered the cave around 10am local time (AEST 1pm) Monday.
Thailand's Interior Minister Anupong Paojinda revealed the same divers who rescued the four boys were conducting subsequent operations because of their knowledge of the terrain. The announcement came after officials met Monday morning to discuss how to get the remaining nine people out of the cave.
Foreign Minister Julie Bishop this morning said lessons from the initial effort would be applied as two more groups of four are brought out of the cave.
"The fact that it took so many hours underscores how precarious this whole mission is," she said.
Mr Osottanakorn described the first rescue as "our masterpiece work" and claimed the four rescued boys were in "perfect" health — despite earlier reports that one was being "closely monitored". Contrary to initial reports it's now believed the weakest boys were selected to come out first, following an assessment by Adelaide cave diver and anaesthetist Dr Richard Harris.
Upon exiting the cave, they were evacuated by helicopter and ambulance to hospital in Chiang Rai province, where they remain.
According to CNN, the boys will spend a day or two in isolation, inside a sterilised isolation unit, as a health precaution. This means they'll have no physical contact with their parents until the isolation period is over.
Authorities have so far refused to release the identities or conditions of the four who have escaped.
"Don't ask these kinds of questions. Not wise questions to ask," Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha told reporters in Bangkok on Monday morning when asked about the conditions of the four.
Source: news.com.au


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By Melissa Dedina
Photo credit: Ed Yourdon
Language classes are fantastic. I know I could never have learned my second language without a textbook and a teacher to go through it with me, because that's just how my brain works.
However, I did eventually get to the point where the classroom setting couldn't teach me much more, and more importantly, if I had to memorize another list of words (and make example sentences from them!) I was going to poke my eyes out.
I have known people who were disciplined enough to literally sit down with the dictionary and memorize vocabulary from it, but along my language journey I made an essential discovery: I am a slacker.
What follows is a list of some of the things I did next, all of which I found more entertaining than sitting down with my arch-enemy, the dictionary. They helped me leave the entry-hall of "intermediate" and actually join the (in my case) Czech-speaking world.
Many of these suggestions aim to increase cultural competency as well as language competency. It's hard to fully appreciate one without having the other – no matter how well you know the words and structures of the language, if all your cultural references are to your home culture, people will still have trouble understanding you! Plus, no matter how much you know about the culture, if you don't speak the language well, you won't understand its heart.
This series of articles will appear on Multilingual Living every other week in conjunction with Language Refresh 101, which is all about how to strengthen a faltering language.
Below is the second in this series of posts on how to improve a second language, this time using popular culture.
1. Read books. Novels are entertaining, plus you get a massive sense of accomplishment from finishing one. Not literature for the ages, not at first. Find the equivalent of John Grisham or J.K. Rowling and read that. In fact, at first you might want to read the actual John Grisham or J.K. Rowling (or whatever interests you) in translation, since you already know the story going in.
This was essential for me as a very beginning reader, but eventually I found it helpful to limit translations and try to concentrate on books originally written in the language (though I still indulge in the occasional translation).
2. I would note that children's books, which seem like they should be easy, can actually be pretty difficult because they contain lots of very specific vocabulary that you often don't run across in adult life. For instance, motion words like wiggle, wobble, writhe, hop, crawl, skip, slither, sneak, trot, gallop, and scoot, not to mention nonsense words like heebie jeebies.
As an intermediate speaker I was happy to know your basic walk, run and jump. I was able to discuss complex points of politics and religion long before I could have a proper conversation about children's topics! I'm not saying it's not worth the effort; just don't fall into a depression when you can't understand "even" a book for kids!
3. If you can handle it, join a book club! If not, find reviews or criticism of the book to read through.
If you are very ambitious and less of a slacker than me, write your own book review or refutation of a review you read. Just mentioning that was a bit too much like homework for me, though.
4. If you don't have the stamina for whole novels, read newspaper articles. There is a wide range of vocabulary, not too difficult, plus you learn what's going on in the world.
I didn't get much mileage out of newspapers myself because at first it would have taken me a week or more to get much use out of a single newspaper, and it's really only socially acceptable to read a newspaper in public the day it's published! Online newspapers can be a gold mine, though.
5. Listen to music. Listen to what's popular today, but just as importantly, listen to OLD music. Find out what was popular in the 1960's to 1980's, for example, because those are the songs everybody remembers from their childhood.
If you're lucky you can raid your in-laws' music collection to find some treasures. Otherwise, ask around or just turn on a classics radio station (if not available in your area, find some streaming stations online – you might be surprised what is available).
6. Multilingual Mania wrote a piece on the benefits and pitfalls of learning a language through music. She listened to songs over and over and kept a notebook with words she learned from them. And check out this post by Susanna Zaraysky on how music can make you multilingual.
I did the same with songs and also with my Harry Potter book that was my constant companion for the five months it took me to read through! If you are diligent like Melanie, or like me the first year or two, you will write the words down and look them up in the dictionary (a much more tolerable method for me than straight up vocabulary lists).
If you can't quite be bothered, like me since I embraced my inner slacker, you will get excellent practice learning to infer from context.
7. Watch movies: same as with music, focus on classics. Also TV shows, new and old. Find out what people watched in childhood and watch that. (It's useful even just to know titles and summaries.)
8. Like with books, if movies are too difficult or time-consuming, start with the evening news, or, even better, commercials! Commercials are actually great because they repeat often enough for you to catch what you missed the first time and they have catchy, easy-to-remember slogans and simple stories.
9. Quote from movies, TV shows, commercials. Again, figure out what other people quote from and watch that (i.e. in an English context it is more useful to quote from The Godfather or The Princess Bride as popularly quoted movies, rather than movies less well remembered).
10. While watching current or classic shows/movies, read about the actors, what else they've starred in, etc. Does your language have its own IMDB?
I also found the entertainment section of the newspaper, with its interviews with celebrities and articles on aspects of daily life to be a rich source of cultural information, presented in easy-to-digest segments.
11. I slightly cringe to admit this, but reality TV is actually pretty informative. I watched the national version of American Idol and a Big-Brother type show when they first came out, and both were full of different kinds of people in ordinary circumstances, using all the informal language and slang that that implies. Reality TV kills your brain, but sometimes in a useful way.
12. My husband tells about sitting in front of the television in the early 90's, watching Dallas with the original English soundtrack turned on, repeating every line the characters said exactly as they said it. His parents thought he was possessed, but he speaks top-notch English now!
I hope you enjoyed these 12 tips for how to improve your second language with popular culture. Stay tune for the next post in this series!
Have you implemented any of the suggestions listed in this post? How did they work for you? Do you have additional tips and suggestions for how we can improve our languages with the help of popular media? Share it in the comments section!
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Fit4Life is here to help you learn how to make health, fitness, love, and wellness a lifestyle. Living a healthy lifestyle is about having FUN! It is about living life. Being Fit4Life involves learning to love yourself, others, and life. So many people live life not only physically unhealthy but without respect for self, and so many people end up using drugs (illicit and prescription), people, and food in attempts to fill voids. Fit4Life is here to show you that you can be healthy, it really is easy, and still have peace, joy, and love.
About Fit4Life: Fit4Life was started as a way for Stephanie, creator, to remind herself that her behaviors were a lifestyle. Fit4Life became Stephanie's self-affirmation. Stephanie learned that a healthy lifestyle consisted of building strength physically, emotionally, spiritually, and relationally. Fit4Life is now a self-affirmation for all to use. This is too good of a secret to keep so now Fit4Life strives to reach others that are looking to have fun, learn, live, and love. Fit4Life is an online health coaching service to help show others how to have fun and love through fitness, diet, mental health, and wellness.
About Stephanie: Stephanie is a reformed party girl that had tons of extra weight, anxiety, and stress. The old party girl Stephanie would rather drink beer, take shots, and eat fast food then learn to cook balanced meals, drink water, and sweat at the gym.
When Stephanie learned to slow down, self-reflect, and learn to love herself, she found balance, health, love, and a life worth living!
Here Stephanie shares her journey to wellness and provides tips so that others can too. If Stephanie can learn to be Fit4Life anyone CAN!
Stephanie obtained her Master of Arts in Psychology in Chicago, Illinois and works as a Licensed Professional Counselor. Stephanie is also working on completing her Dissertation to obtain a PhD in Health Psychology from Walden University. Stephanie's research is focused on stress and how stress can sabotage health and self-esteem.
Stephanie has helped hundreds of people overcome trauma and adversity to find love, healing, and confidence. Stephanie teaches others how health, the mind and the body are connected, and how reducing stress can help improve health and help others feel able to take on the world!
Stephanie is also a fitness instructor and likes to show her Group Exercise Classes that working out IS like a PARTY. Stephanie teaches classes to improve strength, focus, resistance, endurance, and self-esteem. Stephanie uses fitness and healthy eating to help others find others see how health and exercise are fun and exciting. If Stephanie can find health, you can too! This blog is to help you find the balance and confidence you need to be Fit4Life!
Stephanie also offers online health coaching, counseling, and support. Please contact us for any additional information. Stephanie wants this blog to be about YOU! So let us know what you want to know more about and how we can help you be Fit4Life!