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David Sedaris Reads From His 'Santaland Diaries'
David Sedaris Reads From His 'Santaland Diaries'
You might not expect "Santa's Helper" to be a career-altering gig, but for David Sedaris, it changed everything. The writer and humorist spent a season working at Macy's as a department store elf. He described his short tenure as Crumpet the Elf in "The Santaland Diaries," an essay that he read on Morning Edition in 1992.
Instantly, a classic was born. Sedaris' reading has become an NPR holiday tradition. Click the "Listen" link above to hear Sedaris read his tale.
Kind of hard to believe but it's been 20 years since we first met Crumpet the Elf. Crumpet is the alter-ego of writer and humorist David Sedaris. In 1992, right here on MORNING EDITION, Sedaris read excerpts from his "Santaland Diaries," an unusual Christmastime story told from the perspective of a Macy's Department Store elf. That essay helped launch David Sedaris' career as a playwright and humorist.
It was also the beginning of a MORNING EDITION holiday tradition. So here, once again, let's have it: David Sedaris as Crumpet the Elf.
DAVID SEDARIS: I wear green velvet knickers, a forest green velvet smock and a perky little hat decorated with spangles. This is my work uniform.
SEDARIS: I've spent the last several days sitting in a crowded, windowless Macy's classroom, undergoing the first phases of elf training. You can be an entrance elf, a water-cooler elf, a bridge elf, train elf, maze elf, island elf, magic-window elf, usher elf, cash-register elf or exit elf.
We were given a demonstration of various positions in action, acted out by returning elves, who were so onstage and goofy that it made me a little sick to my stomach. I don't know that I could look anyone in the eye and exclaim: Oh, my goodness, I think I see Santa. Or: can you close your eyes and make a very special Christmas wish?
Everything these elves say seems to have an exclamation point on the end of it. It makes one's mouth hurt to speak with such forced merriment. It embarrasses me to hear people talk this way. I think I'll be a low-key sort of elf.
SEDARIS: Twenty-two thousand people came to see Santa today and not all of them were well-behaved. Today, I witnessed fistfights and vomiting and magnificent tantrums. The back hallway was jammed with people. There was a line for Santa and a line for the women's bathroom. And one woman, after asking me a thousand questions already, asked: Which is the line for the women's bathroom? And I shouted that I thought it was the line with all the women in it. And she said: I'm going to have you fired.
I had two people say that to me today: I'm going to have you fired. Go ahead, be my guest. I'm wearing a green velvet costume. It doesn't get any worse than this. Who do these people think they are? I'm going to have you fired, and I want to lean over and say: I'm going to have you killed.
SEDARIS: The overall cutest elf is a fellow from Queens named Ritchie. His elf name is Snowball and he tends to ham it up with the children, sometimes tumbling down the path to Santa's house. I generally gag when elves get that cute, but Snowball is hands-down adorable. You want to put him in your pocket.
Yesterday, Snowball and I worked as Santa elves, and I got excited when he started saying things like: I'd follow you to Santa's house any day, Crumpet. It made me dizzy, this flirtation. By mid-afternoon, I was running into walls. By late afternoon, Snowball had cooled down.
By the end of our shift, we were in the bathroom changing our clothes, and all a sudden we were surrounded by five Santas and three other elves. All of them were guys that Snowball had been flirting with. Snowball just leads elves on - elves and Santas.
SEDARIS: This morning, I worked as an exit elf, telling people in a loud voice: This way out of Santaland.
A woman was standing at one of the cash registers, paying for her pictures while her son lay beneath her, kicking and heaving, having a tantrum. The woman said: Riley, if you don't start behaving yourself, Santa is not going to bring you any of those toys you asked for.
The child said: He is too going to bring me toys, liar. He already told me.
The woman grabbed my arm and said: You there, elf. Tell Riley here that if he doesn't start behaving immediately, then Santa's going to change his mind and bring him coal for Christmas.
I said that Santa changed his policy and no longer traffics in coal. Instead, if you're bad, he comes to your house and steals things. I told Riley that if he didn't behave himself, Santa was going to take away his TV and all his electrical appliances and leave him in the dark.
The woman got a worried look on her face and said: All right. That's enough. I said, he's going to take your car and your furniture, and all of your towels and blankets and leave you with nothing. The mother said, No, that's enough - really.
SEDARIS: This afternoon, I was stuck being a photo elf for Santa-Santa. Santa-Santa has an elaborate little act for the children. He'll talk to them and give a hearty chuckle and ring his bells. And then he asks them to name their favorite Christmas carol. Santa then asked if they'll sing it for him.
The children are shy and don't want to sing out loud. So Santa-Santa says: Oh, little elf, little elf, help young Brenda here sing that favorite carol of hers.
Late in the afternoon, a child said she didn't know what her favorite Christmas carol was. Santa-Santa suggested "Away in a Manger." The girl agreed to it, but didn't want to sing because she didn't know the words. Santa-Santa said: Oh, little elf, little elf, come sing "Away in a Manger" for us.
It didn't seem fair that I should have to solo, so I sang it the way Billie Holiday might have sang if she'd put out a Christmas album.
(Singing) Away in a manger, no crib for a bed, the little Lord Jesus lay down his sweet head.
Santa-Santa did not allow me to finish.
SEDARIS: This evening, I was sent to be a photo elf. Once a child starts crying, it's all over. The parents had planned to send these pictures as cards or store them away until the child has grown and can lie, claiming to remember the experience.
Tonight, I saw a woman slap and shake her crying child. She yelled: Rachel, get on that man's lap and smile or I'll give you something to cry about. Then she sat Rachel on Santa's lap and I took the picture, which supposedly means on paper, that everything is exactly the way it's supposed to be - that everything is snowy and wonderful.
It's not about the child or Santa or Christmas or anything, but the parents' idea of a world they cannot make work for them.
GREENE: David Sedaris reading from his essay "The Santaland Diaries," first heard on this program 20 years ago.
Holiday wishes from all of us at MORNING EDITION. It is MORNING EDITION from NPR News. I'm David Greene.
Copyright © 2012 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR's programming is the audio record.


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Submitted by: Sue in NJ
Recipe By :Adapted from Pasta East to West: A Vegetarian World Tour by Nava Atlas
Serving Size : 4
To keep this McDougall-legal I use whole wheat pasta. It can also be made MWLP legal by eliminating the raisins and pasta and serving with brown rice or barley.
8 ounces pasta — penne or ziti
1 medium onion — chopped
2 cloves garlic — minced
1/2 medium green bell pepper — finely diced
4 cups cauliflower flowerets — cut in bite-sized pieces
28 ounces diced tomatoes
2 teaspoons curry powder
1/2 teaspoon dried basil
16 ounces chickpeas, canned — drained & rinsed
1/2 cup raisins, seedless
2 tablespoons fresh cilantro leaves — or parsley
salt and pepper — to taste
Cook the pasta in plenty of rapidly simmering water until al dente, then drain.
Meanwhile, heat water or broth in a skillet and add the onion and garlic and sauté over medium heat until golden.
Add the cauliflower, bell pepper, tomatoes, curry powder and basil. Bring to a simmer, then cover and simmer gently for about 15 to 20 minutes, or until the cauliflower is just tender. Add the chickpeas and raisins and simmer for 5 minutes longer.
In a large serving bowl, combine the cooked pasta with the cauliflower mixture. Stir in the cilantro or parsley, then season to taste with salt and pepper and serve.
NOTES : 4 to 6 servings

subset: commoncrawl


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Among other new features, the new version introduces the 'Run Report', the Parameter Template, and a new protocol.
Now it is possible to view a dynamic report, instead of the numeric data graph, while a run test is carried out with modular systems or on a treadmill, focusing on the asymmetric aspect of the right and left foot. Of course, the report can be viewed also under Results and in the print report. To view the report, click on the link highlighted in the figure (click to zoom) and toggle between Run Data, Gait Data, and Run Report.
If doing a 'Compare' of two run tests, the report is configured to display the data of the two tests on two columns and spot the differences immediately:
When printing, an illustrative graph shows an example of a 'run cycle' highlighting the various phases and the terminology used:
The protocol 'Single Leg 3 Hops' has been added, which is useful for assessing the recovery of the anterior cruciate ligament. Click on the link for further information.
The concept of Parameters Template has been introduced, which allows setting a certain number of secondary test parameters based upon common usage cases. Let's suppose, for example, that a gait test is carried out on a modular system, with the athlete/patient performing very short strides (typical of the elderly), or shuffling the tip of the advancing foot. Instead of trying to change the parameters striving to find the best filter setting, you can choose one of the existing templates (i.e. 'shuffling gait') with parameters set automatically on the basis of our experience.
At present, the templates apply only to the run/gait tests with modular systems, but in the future the concept will be extended to all test types and it will be possible to extend the template library via software upgrades.
The parameters changed by these first templates are those highlighted in the figure on the side of the page.
Copyright © 2010-2012 Microgate Corporation. All rights reserved. P.Iva 00709780217


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NOT REAL NEWS: Trump promotes false video of Rep. Omar
President Donald Trump on Wednesday used Twitter to share an edited video made by a conservative comedian that falsely accused Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar of dancing and partying last week on the 18th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
The inaccurate video provoked new Twitter criticism of the Muslim congresswoman from Minnesota, who has regularly faced accusations from her critics that she is unpatriotic. Omar's supporters, meanwhile, rallied around her. Some called for Twitter to scrub the misleading content from its site, fearing the video could lead to attacks against the congresswoman.
"The President of the United States is continuing to spread lies that put my life at risk," Omar wrote on Twitter. "What is Twitter doing to combat this misinformation?"
She was the second well-known politician in recent weeks to demand the tech giant stop the spread of misinformation. Earlier this month, Democratic presidential candidate Beto O'Rourke's campaign criticized Twitter for failing to act after social media users promoted a baseless claim that a mass shooter was among the former congressman's supporters.
The video of Omar dancing to popstar singer Lizzo's "Truth Hurts" was taken Friday at an event celebrating Omar and four other congresswomen, according to Adam Green, co-founder of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, who originally shared the clip to his Twitter account that evening. Omar also shared the video that day to her Twitter account.
"I never thought that a video taken on 9/13 would be linked to 9/11 and used as one more racist smear" against Omar, Green said of the false tweet that followed.
In the video retweeted by Trump, comedian Terrence K. Williams showed the clip of Omar dancing and added: "I need to talk to Omar. Girl, what in the world were you celebrating on the anniversary of 9/11?" Williams did not respond to The Associated Press' request for comment through his official website.
When Trump shared the video with his 64 million Twitter followers, he tweeted, in part, "The new face of the Democrat Party!"
Social media users quickly pointed out that the video had been taken on Friday, two days after the anniversary, while Omar was attending events related to the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation Legislative Conference in Washington. Others called for Twitter to remove the tweet or suspend Williams' account.
Hours after Trump retweeted Williams' video, the original tweet was removed. The video was deleted by the user, and Twitter did not take action on the tweet, the tech company said in an email. The president's tweet remains live, although without the video, and users have continued to respond.
Trump has used his Twitter account to spread misinformation from Williams before. In August, Trump shared another one of Williams' videos, which disputed, without evidence, that the late financier Jeffrey Epstein committed suicide while in federal custody.


text: A new study published in the journal Applied Physiology, Nutrition, and Metabolism (APNM) reaffirms the crucial role exercise along with good nutrition play in maintaining health and fighting disease. "Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the fifth most frequent cancer worldwide, ranking third among all cancer-related deaths. Clinical and experimental studies have shown that physical exercise helps to prevent cancer and improving quality of life," says Dr. Luís Fernando Barbisan, a coauthor of this study and a researcher in the Department of Morphology at the Institute of Biosciences of São Paulo State University in Brazil. "This study is the first to demonstrate that there is a beneficial effect of exercise training against progression of liver carcinogenesis in rats fed a low-fat diet, but not in rats fed a high-fat diet. That high-fat diet regimen mimics the food habits of humans living in Western countries." Dr. Terry Graham, editor of APNM, says, "The authors' findings are an important illustration of how both nutrition and activity levels impact on health issues. We often think that these lifestyle factors only influence good health but this work demonstrates that the quality of nutrition and the degree of activity both influence ill health in terms of the progression of liver cancer. This investigation highlights that we can dramatically alter our health status via exercise and nutrition."


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by Gwendolyn Cease
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Tour Organizer: N K Author Services
Laira Marshall had to admit—getting kidnapped wasn't something she'd expected. Discovering her kidnappers were aliens who planned on selling her into sexual slavery, definitely tipped the scales into the truly bizarre. But she's determined to fight her way through this—until their slave ship is attacked, and Laira's faced with an entirely new problem.
Rakin and Dev were the leaders of the Sandaki—a race genetically engineered to fight. Using their enhanced traits, they've freed their people and have devoted their lives to seeking out those who enslaved them. They never considered the concept of love—or that one woman could bring them to their knees.
With unknown enemies working against them, the three lovers must come together not only to save themselves, but the Sandaki race itself.
Gwendolyn Cease has been writing ever since she was old enough to pick up a pen. From the very beginning, her stories involved handsome heroes, tough heroines, and happily ever after. Even as she slogged through two undergraduate degrees and a master's in education, writing remained top priority.
Currently, Gwendolyn lives in Kentucky with her sister and their 4 incredibly spoiled cats. If you'd like to contact her, she'd love to hear from you. She loves to hear from anyone who enjoys a good book, especially the ones she's written. You can email her at firstname.lastname@example.com.
Website – http://www.gwendolyncease.com
Blog – http://gwendolyncease.blogspot.com
Twitter - @GwendolynCease
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/gwendolyn.cease?fref=ts
Tumblr – http://gwendolyncease.tumblr.com/


text:
- Admissions
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Advising Resources and to schedule appointments.
The CVPA Student Services office is dedicated to helping students accomplish academic goals by providing Winthrop's College of Visual & Performing Arts undergraduates with information and advisement related to course and program requirements; curricular offerings; and college/university procedures, regulations, and policies. You can review the opportunities and services available to Winthrop students provided by our various departments by following the links on this page. Many answers to your general questions may be found on our website at your convenience, but please visit our office if you need additional assistance. The CVPA Student Services office is committed to helping students live, learn, and lead.


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Exome sequencing of serous endometrial tumors shows recurrent somatic mutations in chromatin-remodeling and ubiquitin ligase complex genes
Reporter and Curator: Dr. Sudipta Saha, Ph.D
Endometrial cancer is the sixth most commonly diagnosed cancer in women worldwide, causing ~74,000 deaths annually. Serous endometrial cancers are a clinically aggressive subtype with a poorly defined genetic etiology2–4. Whole-exome sequencing was used to comprehensively search for somatic mutations within ~22,000 protein-encoding genes in 13 primary serous endometrial tumors. Subsequently 18 genes were resequenced, which were mutated in more than 1 tumor and/or were components of an enriched functional grouping, from 40 additional serous tumors.
The study provides new insights into the somatic mutations present in serous endometrial cancer exomes. However, it is important that the discovery screen is underpowered to detect all somatically mutated genes that drive serous tumors. For example, PIK3R1, which was previously found to be somatically mutated in 8% of serous endometrial tumors, was not somatically mutated in the tumors that formed the discovery screen. It was estimated that, for genes that are mutated in 8% of all serous endometrial cancers, a discovery screen of 12 tumors has 25% power to detect 2 mutated tumors and 63% power to detect 1 mutated tumor; for genes that are mutated in 20% of all serous endometrial cancers, the discovery screen had an estimated 72.5% power to detect 2 mutated tumors and 93% power to detect 1 mutated tumor. Massively parallel sequencing of additional cases will undoubtedly yield deeper insights into the mutational landscape of serous endometrial cancer.
Thus, it was reported as one of the first exome sequencing analyses of serous endometrial cancers, which are clinically aggressive tumors that have been poorly characterized genomically. These findings implicate the disruption of chromatin-remodeling and ubiquitin ligase complex genes in 50% of serous endometrial tumors and 35% of clear-cell endometrial tumors. High frequencies of somatic mutations in CHD4 (17%), EP300 (8%), ARID1A (6%), TSPYL2 (6%), FBXW7 (29%), SPOP (8%), MAP3K4 (6%) and ABCC9 (6%) were identified. The high frequency and specific distributions of mutations in CHD4, FBXW7 and SPOP strongly suggest that these are likely to be driver events in serous endometrial cancer. Overall, 36.5% of serous tumors had a mutated chromatin-remodeling gene, and 35% had a mutated ubiquitin ligase complex gene, implicating frequent mutational disruption of these processes in the molecular pathogenesis of one of the deadliest forms of endometrial cancer.
Source References:


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Friday, April 1, 2011
PhotoHunt - Closed
I've been told that the door is always closed and is usually opened every twenty-five years during the Holy Year. It remains open throughout the year as pilgrims enter the church and it will be closed by the Pope himself at the end of the Holy Year.
The door is sealed shut with concrete from the inside until the next year of Jubilee, that will come in the year 2025.
34 comments:
- AnonymousFriday, April 01, 2011 9:17:00 PM
Wow...you're reminding me of just one more thing I didn't have the time to see when we were over there! It was so crowded and they were just pushing the wall of a crowd through- couldn't see anything!ReplyDelete
Reminds me of the temple on Godaido Island. It's only open once every 33 years. :)ReplyDelete
Beautiful photos and report !!!ReplyDelete
I'm glad to love the travels , like us !
That sure is a long time to be closed! Very interesting pics for the theme :)ReplyDelete
Great photos and an excellent take on the theme. That's a cool tradition to keep it closed for so long and then open it.ReplyDelete
Interesting shots and information. Boom & Gary of the Vermilon River, Canada.ReplyDelete
It's an imposing door.ReplyDelete
Thank you for sharing this pictures.
Wow...why 25 years? So one can only witness it like 2 to 3 times? :pReplyDelete
- AnonymousSaturday, April 02, 2011 12:35:00 AM
A lovely capture and so very informative.ReplyDelete
- AnonymousSaturday, April 02, 2011 12:57:00 AM
That really is a gorgeous door.ReplyDelete
Really good photos and discriptions. I can't wait for 2025.ReplyDelete
What a beautiful capture. Thanks for sharing.ReplyDelete
Have a fabulous weekend!
nice shotsReplyDelete
Yes I remember that. It was open one year I was there.ReplyDelete
Happy weekend to you.
Who breaks up the concrete so the door can be opened? :-).ReplyDelete
That's a beautiful door and great take on the theme. Happy weekend.ReplyDelete
I wonder if they ever secretly open them just to make sure they work.ReplyDelete
It is interesting..Happy PH!ReplyDelete
Mine is here
Now you've got me intrigued to know the story -- there must be one! -- behind this practice with regards to the (usually) closed door(s)! :bReplyDelete
I'm loving all the new things I'm learning visiting all the blogs tonight. The door is beautiful.ReplyDelete
And I bet he gets a huge audience for doing that too. Nice door though.ReplyDelete
this is very interesting, and a beautiful door, too. i wonder why it's only open on the Holy Year--i must read up on it!:pReplyDelete
I guess people still have to wait for a few more years for that door to open :)ReplyDelete
My PH:
Well. I had no idea. But when they close that door, they certainly mean for it to stay closed until they really want it open, don't they? No one will open it by accident, that's for sure! Great pair of images.ReplyDelete
2025!? I hope I have a chance to see it open. :)ReplyDelete
- AnonymousSaturday, April 02, 2011 7:52:00 PM
Great shot for this week's theme - I have seen that door many times but never thought about it for this week's theme. Perfect!ReplyDelete
Have a good weekend.
Dear friends,ReplyDelete
i too wonder what is behind the door, and why is it kept closed for that long. All I can say is that the Holy door is very Biblical! The concept of the Jubilee is a special year of remission of sins and universal pardon. i'm not sure how true this is but traditional Catholics believe that passage through the door brings them closer to eternal life.
On previous occasions, the Pope would use special ceremonial hammer to break the seal on the Holy Door. you can probably watch the opening ceremony of the door on TV if you can wait for the next jubilee year which begins in 2025. :S
Interesting shots and informationReplyDelete
Beautiful. I have not been to the Vatican in over 25 years and I would love to visit again.ReplyDelete
My 'Closed' post
Beautiful doors and such interesting information. I had not ever read about these doors before. Happy weekend!ReplyDelete
morning LR! wow i guess vatican city is very interesting and well worth a look.. :)ReplyDelete
By 2025, I will be dead.ReplyDelete
Very interesting story re that door. I'm now curious if what's really behind that closed door. Love the photos.ReplyDelete
Beautiful carvings on the door!ReplyDelete


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Among the most obvious appeals to conservative white voters here is the nostalgic evocation of the Independent (White) Cowboy Myth. If you say "cowboy" to most white Americans, they'll immediately think of a hat-wearing, horse-riding white man. And yet, as Mel at BroadSnark explains (in a post on "White America's Existential Identity Crisis"), real cowboys weren't actually all that white, nor all that independent:
There is a certain segment of the American population that really believes in the American foundational myths. They identify with them. They believe that America was built by a handful of white, Christian, men with exceptional morals. Their America is the country that showed the world democracy, saved the Jews in World War II, and tore down the Berlin wall.
These people have always fought changes to their mythology. They have always resented those of us who pushed to complicate those myths with the realities of slavery, Native American genocide, imperial war in the Philippines, invasions of Latin American countries, and secret arms deals.
And we have been so busy fighting them to have our stories and histories included in the American story that we sometimes forget why the myths were invented in the first place.
No myth illustrates the slight of hand behind our national mythology quite like the myth of the cowboy. In this mythology, the cowboy is a white man. He is a crusty frontiersman taming the west and paving the way for civilization. He is the good guy fighting the dangerous Indian. He is free and independent. He is in charge of his own destiny.
Peterson's follow-up ad is even, um . . . better?
As Mel goes on to explain,
Read Richard Slatta's Cowboys of the Americas and you will get a very different picture. In reality, the first American cowboys were indigenous people trained by the Spanish missionaries. In reality, more than 30% of the cowboys on Texas trail drives were African American, Mexican, or Mexican-American.
And cowboys were not so free.
Cowboys were itinerant workers who, while paid fairly well when they had work, spent much of the year begging for odd jobs. Many did not even own the horse they rode. Frequently, they worked for large cattle companies owned by stockholders from the Northeast and Europe, not for small family operations (a la "Bonanza"). The few times cowboys tried to organize, they were brutally oppressed by ranchers.
I think Dale Peterson (or rather, his handlers) may also be consciously echoing Ronald Reagan's cowboy persona. In turn, Reagan may have been consciously echoing another rough-and-tumble political poser, Teddy Roosevelt. In all three cases, a white male politician evokes a myth that seems even more "white male" than the man himself. And a crucial part of that white myth is the direct exclusion and erasure of non-white people.
In her book-length study of Roosevelt's self-fashionings (Rough Rider in the White House), Sarah Watts explains the political reasons for periodically dusting off and deploying this hoary white-male myth -- it's a recognition of, and pandering to, ordinary white-male American anxieties, anxieties that still exist today:
Roosevelt emerged as a central purveyor of the cowboy-soldier hero model because he more than any man of his age harnessed the tantalizing freedom of cowboys to address the social and psychological needs that arose from deep personal sources of frustration, anxiety, and fear. More than any other he sensed that ordinary men needed a clearly recognizable and easily appropriated hero who enacted themes about the body; the need for extremity, pain, and sacrifice; and the desire to exclude some men and bond with others. In one seamless cowboy-soldier-statesman-hero life, Roosevelt crafted the cowboy ethos consciously and lived it zealously, providing men an image and a fantasy enlisted in service to the race-nation.
In keeping with changing models of masculinity . . . mass-circulation magazines began to feature a Napoleonic "idol of power," a man of action who used iron will and "animal magnetism" to crush his rivals and dominate nature. Biographers of plutocrats and robber barons encouraged readers to envision themselves in a social Darwinist world of ruthless competition where character alone appeared effeminate and sentimentalism dangerous. Earlier notions of manliness had counseled reason over passion; now the hero must unleash his "forcefulness."
Enter a new type of charismatic male personality after 1870, a cowboy-soldier operating in the new venue of the American West on sheer strength of will and physicality. Eastern readers instantly recognized him as more masculine precisely because he met the psychological desires in their imagination, making them into masters of their own fate, propelling them into violent adventure and comradeship, believing them at home in nature, not in the hothouse interiors of office buildings or middle-class homes.
Writers pitched the cowboy ethos against Christian values of mercy, empathy, love, and forgiveness, against domestic responsibility and the job demands that complicated men's lives and dissolved their masculine will. The cowboy was not interested in saving souls or finding spiritual purity or assigning meaning to death. His code of conduct arose as he struggled against the overwhelming wildness of men and beasts and carved out a prairie existence with guns, ropes, and barbed wire. Readers suspended ordinary morality as they fantasized about life at the margins of civilization and sampled forbidden pleasures of taming, busting, subduing, shooting, hanging, and killing.
In addition, and more to the ("swpd") point, the falsified racial identity of this ideal cowboy-soldier effectively erased the fact that demographically disproportionate numbers of "cowboys" were not white.
At the same time, the cowboy myth was imagined in opposition to darker, dehumanized Others. Whitened cowboys of yesteryear were lauded in Roosevelt's time for having helped to vanquish Indians, of course. However, as Watts explains, a growing nostalgia for antebellum Southern plantation life, including the racial control it represented, also helped fuel the collective desire for such a virile, specifically white ideal:
Northerners adopted a more sympathetic view of Southern white manhood, one in which Southern elites came to be admired for their racial acumen. Northerners abandoned critical views of slavery for nostalgic reminiscences of plantation life in which white Southern men had effectively managed a racial society, keeping blacks where they belonged and protecting white women's virtue. In the theaters, novels, and traveling shows of the 1890s, popular themes of happy plantation slaves reflected Northern acceptance of the Southern white view of race and the Jim Crow limitations on suffrage, mobility, education, and economic life.
Even if many, though not all, Northerners drew the line at excusing lynching, Silber observes, they nevertheless accepted the idea that Southern white men lynched black "rapists" in the attempt to prove themselves men. Concerns about protecting Southern womanhood reflected Northern men's anxieties about promiscuous sexual behavior and the preservation of women's proper sphere. Finding a common ground of white manliness among former enemies . . . helped Northern whites to "cast African-Americans outside the boundaries of their Anglo-Saxon nation," to romanticize Southern notions of chivalry, and to justify turning Southern race relations over to Southern whites entirely.
Born into a wealthy Eastern family, Teddy Roosevelt was a physically weak and asthmatic child. When he joined the New York state assembly at the age of twenty-three, Roosevelt struck others as "unmanly." As Watts also writes, "newspapers and his fellow assemblymen ridiculed his 'squeaky' voice and dandified clothing, referring to him as 'Jane-Dandy,' 'Punkin-Lily,' and 'our own Oscar Wilde.' . . . Duly insulted, he began to construct a new physical image around appropriately virile Western decorations and settings, foregrounding the bodily attributes of a robust outdoorsman that were becoming new features in the nation's political iconography."
In a move reminsicent of George W. Bush's brush-clearing photo-ops on his own "ranch," the young Roosevelt moved to the Western frontier, in order to "harden" his body, but also to wear a series of conspicuous, meticulously detailed frontier costumes. Like the younger Bush, Roosevelt also bought a ranch, apparently for similar self-staging purposes (it's worth noting that the retired George W. Bush now spends most of his time in a suburban home outside of Dallas; he rarely visits his ranch anymore, and if the New York Times is right, when he does, he spends most of his time there riding a mountain bike instead of a horse).
As Watts writes of this photo,
In 1885, returning East after a bighorn hunting trip to Montana, Roosevelt had another studio photo made. This time he appeared as a self-consciously overdressed yet recognizable Western cowboy posed as bold and determined, armed and ready for action. "You would be amused to see me," he wrote to Henry Cabot Lodge in 1884, in my "broad sombrero hat, fringed and beaded buckskin shirt, horse hide chaparajos or riding trousers, and cowhide boots, with braided bridle and silver spurs." To his sister Bamie, he boasted, "I now look like a regular cowboy dandy, with all my equipments finished in the most expensive style." Only the fringed buckskin shirt remained from his Leatherstocking outfit.
Buckskin, he said, represented America's "most picturesque and distinctively national dress," attire worn by Daniel Boone and Davy Crockett and by the "reckless, dauntless Indian fighters" who led the "white advance throughout all our Western lands." Buckskin and whiteness notwithstanding, this 1885 image still seems forced, and his attention focused on the costs, accoutrements, and style of cowboy life. He does not even wear his glasses, without which he could see only poorly.
All of which makes me wonder just what kind of man Alabama's Dale Peterson really is, behind the pose of that everlasting, gunslinging, and white cowboy myth. The pose he's striking in cowboy drag just seems so obviously that -- a pose, and a mighty forced one at that.
Nevertheless, claims are now being made that Peterson actually is that cowboy. As Ladd Ehlinger, Jr., the writer/director of Peterson's ads, explains,
"I decided to stick him on a horse, give him a gun, and make it a John Wayne movie. . . . Some jerks are saying, 'Oh, it makes us look like rednecks!' Well, maybe in New York you wouldn't make an ad like that, but this is Alabama, and here, people ride horses and shoot guns."
When Peterson saw the ad, he "loved it," Ehlinger says.
"Because I was basically doing a portrait of him," he explains. "Not a campaign ad, but a portrait."
To which I can only say . . . O RLY?


text:
First distinctive feature: the 24-hour planetarium
Astralis boasts a planetarium at 6 o'clock containing not one but four highly-polished rare meteorites – Dhofar 459, Itqiy, Sahara 99555 and Jiddat al Harasis 479 – respectively denoting the Moon, the Sun and the planets Mercury and Mars. Sahara 99555 it is the oldest known rock in the entire Solar System, estimated at 4 billion 566 million years, earning it the nickname the «Rosetta Stone» of our Solar System (though we are not certain it originates from Mecury). The Sun is symbolised in the planetarium by a sliver of Itqiy, a beautiful meteorite whose origins remain mysterious. All four of these fragments of extra-terrestrial rocks are unique and mounted on a finely-cut aventurine disk, evoking a starry sky making a one revolution per day.
Second distinctive feature: Four unique timepieces
To celebrate the exploits of Curiosity, Louis Moinet has decided to present a unique set of four unique Astralis timepieces, with the dark brown, silver, dark blue and diamond-speckled black dials. The presentation case for each watch is a work of art in itself: A planetoidal sphere 21 cm in diameter created by sculptor Jean-Yves Kervevan, representing Mars, the Moon, Mercury and the Sun.
Third distinctive feature: combination of 3 complications
These four collection watches have a combination of complications never seen before: In addition to the 24-hour planetarium there is an astral tourbillon and split-second, column-wheel chronograph. Signature Louis Moinet "Côtes du Jura" engraving embellishes the dial and "Gouttes de Rosée" hands accompany the splitsecond chronograph hand decorated with a shooting star, which activate by pushing the pusher carefully integrated
into the crown. A sapphire glass caseback enables the viewer to admire the exclusive movement LM27, fully redeveloped based on a vintage Venus calibre. The chronograph column wheel and split-second 'scorpion' clamps provide ultrasmooth functionality and can be glimpsed through the display back along with a plate engraved with planets which, together with the gold chaton and blued screws, evoke a beautiful night sky.
Technical specifications
Features and functions:
Hours, minutes and seconds
Split-second, column-wheel chronograph with seconds, split seconds and 30-minute counter
24-hour planetarium
Astral tourbillon
Movement and finishing:
Louis Moinet Calibre LM27
Tourbillon cage: 1 turn/minute
Jewels: 31
Winding: Hand-winding
Oscillations: 21,600vph
Frequency: 3 Hz
Lines: 14.5
Power reserve: 48 hours
Escapement: Side lever
Oscillator: CuBe two-arm balance wheel, moment of inertia: 10.5 mg/cm2, lever angle 52°
Split-second mechanism: Blued steel column-wheel with monobloc split-second 'scorpion' clamps
Hand-engraved plate
Polished jewel sinks
Grained brass
Blued steel screws
Planetarium containing fragments of exclusive meteorites: Dhofar 459 (symbolising the Moon), Itqiy (symbolising the Sun), Sahara 99555 (symbolising the Sun), and Jiddat
al Harasis 479 (symbolising Mars)
Côtes du Jura guilloche Colours: Moon – black; Mercury – silver; Sun - midnight blue; Mars - Havana
Facetted applied hour-markers/hour indices
Diameter: 46.50mm
Height: 17.62mm
Material: 18K rose gold (Mars and Mercury), 18K white gold (Sun), 18K white gold and 66 Top Wesselton baguette diamonds (3.38 cts) (Moon)
Comprising 50 elements that are meticulously assembled
Facets softened by the work of the master polisher
Sapphire crystals with anti-reflective treatment
Case diameter: 46.50mm
Case thickness: 17.62mm
Water resistance: 50m
Caseback: Secured with 7 screws, engraved with the individual number and Louis Moinet symbols
Crown guard: patent pending
Pusher inside crown activates split-second chronograph
Champagne cork chronograph pushers with compass rose motif
«Gouttes de Rosée» hour and minute hands
«Shooting star» split-second chronograph hand
Louisiana alligator leather, hand-stitched
Colours: Moon – black; Mercury - Havana brown; Sun - midnight blue; Mars – Havana brown
Buckle: 18k gold and black titanium double folding clasp
Presentation box:
Presented in a resin-cast, planetoidal box handcrafted by artist Jean-Yves Kervévan. All four unique pieces – Mars, Mercury, Moon and Sun – are, in turn, presented in a leather-bound wooden cabinet.
Louis Moinet Press


text:
peace, love and joyFriday, December 14, 2007
Everything over here is in pretty much the same state. The half completed state.
Half of the cards, half of the shopping, half of the sewing, one glove to be knit, one hat to be knit, half of the wrapping, half of the tree decorating, even Libby's craft, half way finished. She has joy written, and I noticed a heart on one side this morning. I guess we are just looking for a little peace.
Have a wonderful weekend.
27 comments
We made oranges with cloves in them one year when we were kids. My mom left them out to dry and had them for years after. The wonderful scent lasted a long time.ReplyDelete
Good luck finishing the other half of everything!
I've got a bowl of oranges pricked with cloves on my coffee table as well. We used to make them with my mom when I was little and the holidays just don't seem the same without them!ReplyDelete
sounds so much like my house! enjoy your weekend, leslie.ReplyDelete
hello there! we used to do thins with my mom when i was young! i love it, and I ofund the best orange and clove candle recently!ReplyDelete
I'm in the same boat, so I appreciate Libby's message.ReplyDelete
Half done? Well, you're way ahead of me. I remember making the cloved oranges with my mom. Ah, memories... Yes, peace would be nice.ReplyDelete
Oh, i can smell the spice from here. Now that is what the holidays smell like.ReplyDelete
Your half sounds a lot better than my quarter! Happy finishing!ReplyDelete
Joy is so appropriate for right now!ReplyDelete
Well it sounds like you have the love and joy covered, so yes, a little peace is due. Good luck with all of the half finished items! If it makes you feel better, I have only shopped for one person (bff Moe). There's still time!ReplyDelete
In the same spirit, I wish you more joy! Enjoy your weekend L.ReplyDelete
I'm in a half-state too!! When will the madness end, I ask you...ReplyDelete
Peace, Love and Joy! That is exactly right.....Can't say anything more, thank you for the reminder during this busy time! I really needed to hear it, to calm my soul and remember that THAT is what this season is all about. Thank you!ReplyDelete
i hope your weekend is filled with joy.ReplyDelete
lots of it!
Such a lovely little clementine with a sweet little message...ReplyDelete
what a great post....I guess we are just looking for a little peace....(boy, aren't we all right now?) good luck with your remaining half of things. :)ReplyDelete
I love cloves in oranges.. I need to go do that right now!ReplyDelete
Thanks for sharing the cable blanket.. I've seen that pattern and wondered how it would turn out.
I hear ya on the half way point!ReplyDelete
Have a wonderful, productive weekend!
- Anonymous12/15/2007
That is exactly how I feel! Presents wrapped but not mailed, half the lights on the tree, half the Christmas letters signed and mailed. I hope we both get our things done!ReplyDelete
this is the time of the holiday season where i am tempted to freak out and go crazy and stress myself...and every year i remember to slow down and actually ENJOY the season...ReplyDelete
the orange is lovely..i used to make them for my teachers!
I too am having the feeling of the halves. I hope this weekend was productive for you. I need to get off the computer so it is more productive for me! Have a Joy filled day!ReplyDelete
I love the Cobblestone sweater on your son and it makes me want to knit one for my nephew...but...I must point out ..... he is wearing a wool sweater and he is barefoot! LOLReplyDelete
Wishing you a joy-filled day!
I love pomanders. I make them each year around the holidays but haven't gotten to it this year. Seeing your joyful one makes me want to buy some cloves.ReplyDelete
Hi Leslie, did you get my email back about my email address? I hope you're still not having trouble emailing me?ReplyDelete
I'm pretty much ready for Christmas, didn't do much gift knitting this year, but I hope to next year now that I'm very much in to knitting :-)
Hugs Denise
leslie, i sent oyu an email, but i am not sure if you got it. when you get a chance send me your address! (firstname.lastname@example.com) i can't wait to get your goodies out to you!ReplyDelete
I read the pattern for the throw you made your mother in law. I am going to try it. it sounded pretty easy. I just can't decide if i should make it in chocolate brown, or the linen color they show with the pattern....
Very cool craft idea. I am adding that to the growing list of great ideas I am stealing from you. And if it makes you feel any better, we don't have a tree, our Christmas cards went to our old house (I am sure of it, even though we had our mail forwarded), I am still not finished gift buying, we are hosting dinner Christmas eve and we are still not all unpacked. You are likely much further ahead of the game. I am pulling for you.ReplyDelete


text:
I have taken to showering only every other day.
On the alternate days, I wash my face and shave with 2 cups of water I heat in the microwave for 5 minutes (to near boiling).
This costs 2 cents and uses 0.125 KW/hrs worth of electricity.
I mix a little cold water in with it to bring it down to a tolerable temperature, wash my face, shave, and I'm done.
I find that I really don't need to shower every day and that the face washing and shaving ritual makes me feel just as good as a shower.
If you don't have hot water, you could use the same trick but with a quart or so of hot water from the microwave in a washtub and have an excellent hot sponge bath. Add a small tupperware container to scoop up the hot water and you can even shampoo your hair and rinse it.
This new "habit" has saved me a lot of time in the mornings and has cut my hot water usage just about in half.\
When I do use the shower, I leave the water in the tub all day so the heat doesn't get wasted, then I scoop the water out and use it to flush the toilet. If people really want to get going on saving water too! If you live with roommates this won't work unless you have a container to store the hot water in.


text:
The European Economic and Social Committee organized with the distretto urbano del commercio of Como a hearing as part of its follow-up work on its opinion on ''A European retail sector fit for the 21st century'', which was adopted in December 2018. The event took place on March 28 2019 in Como, Italy. It is part of a series of follow-up hearings to be held in several EU Member States.
The main objective of the hearing was to discuss the effectiveness and efficiency of EU retail policies and to collect valuable input and feedback from Italian stakeholders on the issue in order to find ways to improve these policies.
Particular emphasis was placed on the recommendations presented in the EESC opinion with a view to their implementation at national level.
For more information please contact the INT Section Secretariat