text:
Dunn:Education/Biophysics Education Blog
<owwmenu font="calibri, helvetica, sans-serif" bold="1" color="black" bgcolor="white" hovercolor="white" bghovercolor="DodgerBlue" topFontSize="11.5" fontSize="9" pagewidth="800" image="Dunnminimenu.PNG" lab=""> Home=#, Home=Dunn, Recent Updates=Dunn:Recent Updates People=#, People=Dunn:People Projects=#, Projects=Dunn:Projects, Publications=Dunn:Publications, Support=Dunn:Projects/Support Blog=#, Blog=Dunn:Education/Biophysics Education Blog Education=#, Education=Dunn:Education, Teaching=Dunn:Education/Teaching, Outreach=Dunn:Education/Outreach, Tools=#, Tools=Dunn:Tools, Wiki Tutorial=Dunn:Tools/Wiki Tutorial, Protocols=Dunn:Tools/Protocols, Calendar=Dunn:Tools/Calendars, Contact=#, Contact=Dunn:Contact, Openings=Dunn:Contact/Openings

4/14/10: Testing out embedded wordpress blog
Sorry for the long delay between posts, lots of stuff occurred since the end of the last quarter and this one, but we'll have to explain in the next post. For now, we're just trying to see what the blog will look like with a wordpress interface embedded inside our OWW homepage. I think it works because we can have the best of both worlds:
- Lab toolbar up top to continue navigating OWW
- Wordpress interface that has a calendar, tag list, search bar
For now, this will only be a test, but look out for newer posts as we test out the wordpress page. --Ramalldf 06:27, 14 April 2010 (EDT)
2/10/10: Nerding out over hair cells
Sorry about the delay in updates, but everyone in lab has been quite busy with lab work and classes. Next week we go to the Biophys. Conference, so we're trying to run our final experiments before then since we won't have many chances to perform them during that week.
Today I wanted to post about some material from a class that I am currently taking called "Biology by the Numbers" (BIOC236). One thing that drew me to biophysics as an undergrad was the curiosity and wonder that overtook me whenever I saw something like this cochlear hair cell in action:
In case you have never learned about how hearing works in humans, here is a very general explanation. Sound consists of vibrations that travel through some medium (like air), and when these sound waves run into a barrier, they are able to apply some pressure on it. In our case, the barrier is the very elegant auditory system which then transduces and amplifies the pressure as waves from the eardrum all the way to the cochlea. Here the pressure waves stimulate hair cells that respond to this mechanical stimulus by "firing" to generate an electric signal that propagates to other neurons in your brain. Thus, a conversion of mechanical energy to electrical energy occurs thanks to these hair cells.
You can learn more about the system on wikipedia if you want, but the video above focuses on these little guys called outer hair cells that sit at the end of the system. Unlike other hair cells this cell is able to take electrical energy (notice the electrode that is poking it and providing the electrical stimulus in the video?) and convert it back to chemical energy while changing its length in the process. Anyways, when Professor Theriot showed this to us in class, I had a good chuckle and thought that it would be perfect for the blog.
As someone who likes to dance, it is good to know that everyone has some part of themselves dancing when the music is playing. This video has given me ideas for ways to encourage others to learn to dance. None of which involve tasing a person of course. --Ramalldf 00:57, 11 February 2010 (EST)
1/22/10: One month until Biophysical Society Meeting
There's less than a month to go before this year's meeting and the Dunn lab is very excited about attending. I've only gone once (Long Beach) when I was working in the Koch lab, but I had such a great time that it made me want to return every year. Though the poster presentations were very interesting, it was great to be able to meet student scientists from all over the world that were interested in your work. Since you don't often find people that are experts on your topic within your own campus, it is refreshing to meet another(s) that understands
your frustration what papers you are referring to and who may give you insight about how the system studied may work (one may also get good tips about a problem or find a collaborator while networking). This year the meeting is in San Francisco, so luckily it will be cheap for us to attend since it is only a 45 min ride from the Stanford campus. Professor Dunn will be giving a talk about his work on myosin V so you should check it out if you find yourself at the meeting. The program (Abstract list) is now available online and is fairly simple to use to search for talks or poster presentations.
This year, the National Lecture will be given by Roger Tsien, winner of last year's Nobel Prize in Chemistry. You've probably seen his work somewhere (hint: fluorescent proteins). If not, here's a good intro into it:
Lastly, if you want a chance to see thousands of drunk nerds dancing, the conference gives you that option too (party during one of the last few days). --Ramalldf 06:16, 23 January 2010 (EST)
1/15/10: Stretching λ DNA with flow
This is by no means a new achievement, but here's the Dunn lab's go at stretching tethered DNA molecules with flow courtesy of Arjun:
You can learn a lot of great stuff about Bacteriophage λ from its wikipedia page, but the relevant piece of information is that it possesses very long DNA. When stained with a fluorescent dye, single-molecules of it can easily be seen with epifluorescence microscopy. Here, Arjun tethered the molecules to the surface of a glass slide in a microfluidic chamber and recorded what he observed once fluid passed through the chamber.
If you are interested, the Koch lab has a good protocol for tethering single-molecules of DNA in a microfluidic chamber and observing the attached microspheres. The Green lab also has some great movies of "DNA curtains" being stretched. --Ramalldf 01:30, 16 January 2010 (EST)
- Steve Koch 00:16, 20 January 2010 (EST)Awesome! And thanks for the KochLab shoutout! Seeing this here, I realize that wiki is not ideal for a blog. I feel guilty leaving this comment here and screwing up your blog. Are you going to switch to something better? I'm on blogger, but wish I were on wordpress. Others I talked to, though, think Blogger is fine, so maybe it's a grass is greener thing. As for lambda DNA stretching, it is so fun to watch with your own eyes. We have a cool protocol that makes it very easy to see what you showed using HIV reverse transcriptase. I stumbled upon this in grad school, and Pat Jurney repeated it here a couple years ago. I'm not sure the utility, except that it's easy to do on untreated glass (RT sticks to ends preferentially...just mix RT with lambda DNA & dye and flow onto glass). How did you make your tethers?
Ramalldf 05:35, 20 January 2010 (EST):Hey! Our first reader! :) I think that you're right for the most part. I follow a couple of blogs and one of the most common trends that I see is that an entry will often continue "after the fold" in its own page (this makes the main page easier to read if you have lengthy entries, particularly if readers' comments are allowed for each entry). Though possible to do this by just creating a new page for each entry, I could see it getting ugly as the blog increases in size. That being said, I like the fact that I have the OWW navigation bar along with the lab's mini menu all on the same screen. Since I'm the only one using the blog at the moment, I think that I'll keep the blog here for now to encourage our members to use OWW if/when they want to make contributions (in an ideal world I'd hope to have a design like the Molecular modeling blog for our blog). As far as the tethering goes, your approach is very clever. I don't think we have any RT at the moment but I imagine that we could do the same with a restriction enzyme that doesn't have any free metal ions floating around right? I think that what Arjun did was to just ligate a biotinylated oligo to λ DNA and add it to some neutravidin that had been flowed into the cell right before the passivation step.
1/14/10: Using Mediawiki for a blog
Although OWW has an option for blogging, I thought that we should start by using one of the pages on the main site to see how well it works as a blogging tool first. I know that we have the ability to tag pages. However, I am not sure how well the entries can be categorized if they're on the same page. Anyways I'll give it a shot, and if it doesn't work I'll just transfer the blog over to an OWW blog or use blogger or wordpress. I'll start by posting some things that you would normally see on a somewhat entertaining blog:
Embedded videos:
Slide shows:
So, does it look good or does it look good? I like it, I'll have to try a few more things with it in the next couple of weeks, but for now I'm happy. --Ramalldf 04:54, 14 January 2010 (EST)
1/13/10: We're officially blogging now
Warning: As far as I know, noone in this lab has started their own blog before. If you're looking for top-notch writing, this may not be the first place to look......yet. Our goal is to educate our readers (novices and experts) about our scientific field and to show that biophysics, and science in general, has tremendously exciting topics going on today. Since we are amateurs at this, we ask you to be patient with any choppy writing, but to please feel free to correct us if we make any mistakes. The point is to educate you about our field, not mislead you with inaccurate mumbo jumbo. Finally, although we hope to be able to include as many topics in biophysics as possible, there will be some preference for the areas of single-molecule methods and force-dependent biological systems (sorry crystallographers). Lastly (really), most of these entries will be contributions from the grad students in Professor Dunn's lab so don't blame him for any problems that you may have with the contents of our entries. I think that is all, enjoy. --Ramalldf 04:19, 14 January 2010 (EST)


text:
Entry from Taternuggets and myself for the Mexico derby. The Little Matador
And shirt number two... Jawapeno Peppers.
My current entry into the Mexico derby is a Resplendent Quetzal.
I've got a few this derby, if anyone likes em!
I like all 3 Jasneko. Here is the Taternuggets/Ignorant entry this week.
just one from me. kinda quirky.
An Orchid for the Letter O derby.
Another week, another Taternuggets & Ignorant collaboration. Hope you like it
Tacopalypse on the way! run for your lives!
This seems to be doing pretty poorly, but anyway if you like it...
Soprano, Alto, Tenor, Bass.
Hey, PWs! I have this submitted at Threadless; could use yer votes (scores, actually: 5 is best, 0 is worst). If you mark "I'd buy this", they'll send you an email when it prints (though mine is prolly not gonna). You WON'T have to buy it.
anyway, I'd appreciate it.
detail of paint strokes:
This might be a little late (since there is only 10 minutes of voting left), but my design appears to have stayed in the fog this derby so if you like it please give a vote! First time in a while... Thanks!!
Re: School for Cats
I seem to recall some dog lovers round these parts...maybe?
Dog Dreams
Would appreciate your votes! If you like it of course.
jasneko wrote:I seem to recall some dog lovers in this bunch...maybe?
Would appreciate your votes! If you like it of course.
Looks good, glad you went with blue.
This weeks entry from Taternuggets and me: DOGtor Who
After weeks of inactivity, a new derby entry from me!
Two weeks in a row!
Haven't posted here in a while... but in case anyone likes it...
Josephus wrote:Two weeks in a row!
Rejections? yep.
You know better, why do you taunt the rejectionator?
Third week, hoping not to get rejected!
x2 this week!
This is in the fog and generating lots of black cat discussion, if anyone wants to vote. Thanks!
jasneko wrote:This is in the fog and generating lots of black cat discussion, if anyone wants to vote. Thanks!
It is also very adorable.
inkycatz wrote:It is also very adorable.
Aww why thank you inkycatz!
Hi folks! My first entry in almost three weeks. Been a rough month for my family, so to have an entry is rather special, as I have had time to design.
Who got caught in the shade? BOO got caught!
Taternuggets and I are back for this derby with a couple entries, but I'll just put the one here as we aren't too proud of the other :P
I didn't know this thread existed. o_O Check out my design in my signature, and if you like it, please vote.
I really want to wear this design I submitted this derby, lol. So if you do, please vote
A new week, a new shirt from Taternuggets and me. Hope you like it.
My newest derby design- late, but I think it's adorable...
Looks like this might have a chance to print, so if you like it, please vote=)
This could be the last pucker entry, and thus your last opportunity to propel me to greatness and immortality in the wootiverse.
Thank you and have a nice day!
Might as well post here...
Josephus wrote:Might as well post here...
your enthusiasm is infectious!
no1 wrote:your enthusiasm is infectious!
He's a resigned realist.
j5 wrote:He's a resigned realist.
mostly disgusted.
I hate to see threads die, so I'm bringing this one back to the top.
The latest shirt by taternuggets and me
Remember Pi Day is just around the corner.
Wait, wrong thread...
ignorant wrote:A new week, a new shirt from Taternuggets and me. Hope you like it.
I absolutely LOVE this shirt. It predates my discovery of Shirt!Woot. I see it didn't win, awww ... stamps foot petulantly, squeaks because of previously sprained ankle, stamps other foot more gently.
We used to call Cholula, Cthulhu Hot Sauce, use too much and you will fail your sanity check!
Okay, I'm such a geek.
I once made a garnish-art Cthulhu out of lemons when we hosted a feast for a Con, where are those pictures? I put it in the fridge to keep it fresh, yes, folks, Cthulhu lived in my refrigerator.
Zuul let him sublet.
Seriously, if you own the rights can I order 10 or 15 of these? I would have bought blanks last week if I had seen this!
Even if it didn't win, congrats on the great design. In addition to the great idea, I like the marbled feel of the brown label and the contrasting piping of the green. Very nice job.
Here's my design for this week. I love it. Was going to be a daily, but the swag on this week's derby is too good to pass up.
View All →

subset: commoncrawl


text:
American Physical Society Sites|APS|Journals|PhysicsCentral|Physics
- American Physical Society Sites
- Publications
- Meetings & Events
- Programs
- Membership
- Policy & Advocacy
- Careers In Physics
- Newsroom
- About APS
- Become a Member
My family lives in Trinity, Alabama though I was raised and still spend much of my time in Dallas, Texas, where I went to Bishop Lynch High School. From an earlier age, my parents instilled in me a great interest and admiration for science. As I grew older, Mr. Spock and the exhilarating adventures and discoveries of the USS Enterprise on Star Trek stimulated my interest in physics. Though I always had a great love of learning and insatiable curiosity about the world, by watching the crew of the Enterprise study and employ exotic particles like Tachyons and Neutrinos I discovered that I wanted to direct this curiosity toward understanding the fundamental nature of our universe. As I embarked on my own journey of discovery, I found a world which continues to amaze me and reveal its inner beauty whether exhibited through the elegant explanation of heat flow using Fourier series or the shear awe inspiring beauty of seeing the plane of the Milky Way in the clear skies of West Texas. Through the work of many educators and programs such as QuarkNet and ISEF my interests were channeled and refined. I further gained scientific experience through research on Cosmic Rays, which helped me to deepen both my love of science and my respect for inquiry. I have continued this research through work on Project GRAND and SNOLAB. I now attend the University of Notre Dame, where I study Physics and Classical Languages.


text:
Group adds Sebena to fallen officers memorial
A nonprofit group voted Wednesday to add the name of a Milwaukee-area police officer to a national memorial honoring officers killed in the line of duty.
Responding to pressure from Wisconsin's governor and others, the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund agreed to add Wauwatosa police Officer Jennifer Sebena to the memorial in Washington, D.C. The 30-year-old officer was shot in the head multiple times on Christmas Eve as she conducted a routine solo patrol.
The memorial board initially ruled in March that Sebena would not be honored because her death appeared to be a case of domestic violence.
Gov. Scott Walker, the Wisconsin Professional Police Association and more than 16,000 signatures on an online petition helped persuade the group to reverse its decision in a vote Wednesday, said WPPA spokesman Jim Palmer, who cast one of the 15 votes.
"I would like to thank Chairman Floyd and the board for considering our request and making the decision to add Officer Sebena to the memorial wall," Walker said Wednesday.
WISN 12 News' Mike Anderson was with Palmer, who said the vote to add Sebena's name was unanimous.
"Very good news," Palmer said.
Wauwatosa Police Chief Barry Weber said he and the department are pleased with the group's decision.
"I believe the correct decision was made," he said in a statement. "Jennifer Sebena's name belongs on the memorial wall in Washington, D.C. Her sacrifice should not be forgotten and will not be forgotten."
Wisconsin Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen echoed Weber's sentiments.
"I believed from the start there was no intention by the Fund to deprecate Officer Sebena's sacrifice but rather the initial decision to deny her this honor was an oversight," Van Hollen said. "Officer Sebena is deserving of this and her presence on the memorial will honor her colleagues who have lost their lives and in the line of duty as well as those who continue to put their lives on the line every day."
Sebena's husband, 30-year-old Benjamin G. Sebena, is charged with first-degree intentional homicide in her death. He has pleaded not guilty by reason of mental disease or defect, and his trial is scheduled to start in three months.
The National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund is a private nonprofit group that maintains a memorial in honor of law enforcement officers who died in the line of duty.
The names of more than 19,000 officers are carved on a pair of 300-foot-long curving marble walls, according to the group's website.
Weber said that in his mind, Sebena's name belonged on the memorial without question.
"I was confident the right decision would ultimately be made. And it was," he said.
Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett has been outspoken about this issue. He released a statement saying, "Jennifer Sebena earned the recognition she will receive on the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial. Her service to our region, her willingness to face danger, and, ultimately, her violent death are all factors that make her a hero."


text:
Monroe Man Arrested In Theft Of Used Cooking Oil
FARMERVILLE, La. (AP) — A 51-year-old man has been was arrested in the theft of used cooking oil from a fried chicken restaurant in Farmerville.
Sheriff Bob Buckley told The News-Star Michael Sanderson, of Monroe, was booked Monday into the Union Parish Detention Center for felony theft of more than $1,500. He posted a $3,500 bond and was released.
Buckley says Crime Stoppers of Union Parish received an immediate response when a photograph of the truck used in the thefts was released.
Deputies say Sanderson admitted to pumping oil from vats at Southern Classic Fried Chicken for the past year. The amount of oil taken from the restaurant totaled $3,600.
It was unclear whether Sanderson has an attorney.


text:
HAWTHORNE, Calif. (AP) — Three police officers have been pulled from street duty for their safety in Southern California after a widely circulated video showed an officer fatally shooting a Rottweiler and drew numerous death threats.
Hawthorne police spokesman Lt. Scott Swain told the Daily Breeze (http://bit.ly/14OwxK8 ) the decision is for the officers' safety after the uniformed officer shot the dog four times on Sunday.
A cellphone video that had more than 3.7 million views on YouTube by Thursday morning shows the dog, named Max, being shot after scrambling out of a car's back seat through a window and lunging at officers who had handcuffed its master.
Witnesses can be heard crying out in distress after watching the dog's grisly death.
The dog's owner, Leon Rosby, said police needlessly killed his dog. His lawyer, Michael Gulden, said Rosby's complaint will be added to an existing lawsuit Rosby has against police.
"I understand that people have been affected by this video. Anyone would be," Swain told the Breeze. "The police officers involved are affected by this incident and having to kill a dog.
"I don't understand how it translates into an eye for an eye: 'We are going to kill you and your family because of this incident,'" he said of the threats to the officers.
Chief Robert Fager has called for calm and urged people to be patient as police investigate the shooting, and also avoid information being circulated through social media because "fallacies are being perpetuated."
Officers in the field have been told to be vigilant against any possible retaliation.
"You'd like to believe that maybe some of the people are just venting, but then you've got to be realistic. There are crazy people out there," Swain said.
Information from: Daily Breeze, http://www.dailybreeze.com


text:
Back in the day when the patch was first released, it required a hacked Gtk+, which made the patch a little daunting for many people. It was also rather buggy at times, and you couldn't really rely on it too much. Well, I am happy to inform you all that that has really, really changed. The patch has become more than a patch - it's a simple panel applet now. And it no longer requires a hacked Gtk+. They also have a fancy website now.
The panel applet, once installed, can be added to any GNOME panel as you would any other applet. Once it's in there, right click on it, open its preferences window, and activate it. That's it. THey even have a nice repository at Launchpad, so installation is a breeze. Add the PPA to your
sources.list, install the relevant package, et voila. The current package has an error in it, so some users may need to run the linked commands to make it work properly. The next packaged build should solve this.
Once installed, it works beautifully. They've added several convenient options to configure the applet, so you can tweak it to your needs. For the rest, it works exactly as you would expect: the menubars in your windows disappear, and are placed in your GNOME panel of choice in Mac OS X fashion. The only downside is that it doesn't work for non-Gtk+ applications such as Firefox or OpenOffice.org. Qt+ applications are also not supported, but there have been talks in the KDE community to standardise their upcoming global menubar implementation on the Gtk+ one, making it all cross-platform.
I'm totally addicted again. I prefer a global menubar, and I know a lot of you agree with me that it's a better solution. It is strictly a matter of taste though, so the fact that it's implemented as a panel applet is just perfect. It can be included in GNOME, as an optional applet, and those who prefer it can use it.
I would like to, once again, urge the GNOME team to finally accept this applet into the default GNOME distribution (by lack of a better word). This is a feature requested by quite a number of people, and its inclusion as an optional, turned-off-by-default panel applet poses no threat whatsoever to GNOME's policies and goals regarding interface design. We can have swimming fish and moving eyes in our GNOME panel by default, but a much more interesting and useful feature gets the boot.
If GNOME fails to address this issue (it's their project after all), then maybe Ubuntu can step in and include this option. It would make it so much easier if it finally received what it deserves: blessing from the GNOME and/or Ubuntu community. Now that KDE is also looking at this specific implementation to serve as the cornerstone for a cross-DE implementation of the global menu bar, there is simply no excuse to hinder this process.


text:
President To Pardon Turkeys
WASHINGTON (AP) - President Barack Obama throws his support behind Liberty...
Category: Religious News
Tibet - China
BEIJING (AP) — A human rights group says a Tibetan man set himself on fire and died at a prominent monastery in northwestern China in the latest such protest against Chinese rule over the Himalayan region.
London-based Free Tibet said the man identified as Dhondup set fire to himself near the prayer hall at the remote Labrang Monastery in Gansu province Monday.
The official Xinhua News Agency quoted a provincial government official as saying a 63-year-old herdsman set himself ablaze at the monastery Monday morning. The report did not give the man's name or say whether he survived.
The monastery is one of the most important outside of Tibet and was the site of numerous protests by monks following deadly ethnic riots in Tibet in 2008 that were the most sustained Tibetan uprising against Chinese rule in decades.
Free Tibet said Monday's self-immolation was the first to take place there.


text:
2152 Bay Road Route 1
Milford, DE 19963
New 2018 Keystone RV Bullet 243BHSA FANTASTIC ADDITION TO THE BUNK HOUSE LINE UP
Keystone Bullet travel trailer 243BHS highlights:
- Double Beds
- Outside Kitchen
- U-Dinette
- Rear Bathroom
Load up your family of eight and set out to your favorite campground with this single slide out Bullet 243BHS travel trailer. Mom and dad will enjoy the private front bedroom with sliding doors along either side of the entertainment center. More sleeping space can be found at the u-dinette and the rear set of double over double bunk beds. The kitchen features an L-shaped counter with a large sink, and outside you will find another kitchen with a refrigerator and a two burner range plus so much more!
Get ready to embark on a camping trip of a lifetime with the Keystone Bullet travel trailers. These models are easy to tow behind most crossovers, cars, and trucks. The exterior is sleek and smooth and features aluminum framed front, rear, and side walls, a Darco moisture barrier, plus a one piece TPO roof. There is also a 1/4" ABS enclosed underbelly. Inside each model you will find residential style furniture, night shades in the living area, and LED lights. In the bedroom there is an upgraded foam mattress, mirrored wardrobes, under bed storage, plus full blackout window treatments. You will also enjoy the following packages: Exterior Camping Package, Interior Camping Package, and the Thermal Package.
THANK YOU!THANK YOU! Just signed the paperwork on our new toy . . . Can't wait to play in our new happy place. Thanks to Dave Conard and Tim Waters at HItch RV for going above and beyond to make getting our new RV even possible. Can't thank you enough for a great experience. ~ Megan - Megan from Odessa , DE
You Save: $9,097
Sale Price: $20,999
Stock# 19056
Interior Color: GUN METAL
|28 ft 4 in
|Ext Width
|0 ft
|Ext Height
|10 ft 8 in
|Interior Color
|Hitch Weight
|580 lbs
|Dry Weight
|4880 lbs
|Cargo Weight
|1620 lbs
|Fresh Water Capacity
|43 gals
|Grey Water Capacity
|30 gals
|Black Water Capacity
|30 gals
|Tire Size
|Furnace BTU
|30000 btu
|Number Of Bunks
|Available Beds
|Refrigerator Type
|Double Door
|Refrigerator Size
|6 cu ft
|Cooktop Burners
|Number of Awnings
|LP Tank Capacity
|40 lbs.
|Water Heater Capacity
|6 gal.
|Water Heater Type
|DSI Gas/Electric
|13500 btu
|TV Info
|Awning Info
|Axle Count
|Shower Type
|Tub/Shower Combo
When Cole Davis founded Keystone RV in 1996 his vision was clear: Build a quality RV loaded with features priced thousands less than other RVs on the market. To accomplish his goal, Cole would recruit and build a strong team, focus on keeping overhead low, and empower the people closest to the customer to make decisions.
Within a few short months after opening the doors, Keystone produced its very first camper. Delivering big on quality, features and value, the public fell in love with it. A star was born! As the appetite for the camper increased, new Keystone models were added to satisfy growing customer demand. Along with this tremendous growth came the need for expanded production. To meet this need more manufacturing plants were built and staffed.
From new floor plan designs to patented inventions, Keystone leads the way in product innovation. One reason is our mission to stay close to the customer. When talking with campers or visiting dealerships, our sales, product development, and service teams, are always looking for ways to improve the camping experience. And we don't stop there.
Every member of the Keystone family is encouraged to contribute to making our campers absolutely the best possible. Through something we call Kamp Keystone, our employees camp free of charge at local campgrounds in the Keystone trailers we supply. Each year hundreds of our production workers, administrative staff and service team enjoy a day (or a week) at Kamp Keystone. Their evaluation of the experience and the feedback they provide results in continued product improvements. Ask us if we use our RVs...the answer is YES!


text: Pubdate: Thu, 13 Mar 2014 Source: Rolling Stone (US) Copyright: 2014 Rolling Stone Contact: http://www.rollingstone.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/373 Author: Sabrina Rubin Erdely THE ENTRAPMENT OF JESSE SNODGRASS He was a friendless high school loner struggling with autism. So why did an undercover cop target him as a drug dealer? Jesse Snodgrass plodded around yet another stucco corner, searching for Room 254 in time for the second-period bell, only to find he was lost yet again. Jesse felt a familiar surge of panic. He was new to Chaparral High School and still hadn't figured out how to navigate the sprawling Southern California campus with its outdoor maze of identical courtyards studded with baby palm trees. Gripping his backpack straps, the 17-year-old took some deep breaths. Gliding all around him were his new peers, chatting as they walked in slouchy pairs and in packs. Many of their mouths were turned up, baring teeth, which Jesse recognized as smiles, a signal that they were happy. Once he regained his composure, he followed the spray-painted Chaparral Puma paw prints on the ground, his gait stiff and soldierly, and prayed that his classroom would materialize. He was already prepared to declare his third day of school a disaster. Check out the top 10 weed myths and facts At last, Jesse found his art class, where students were milling about in the final moments before the bell. He had resigned himself to maintaining a dignified silence when a slightly stocky kid with light-brown hair ambled over and said, "Hi." "Hi," Jesse answered cautiously. Nearly six feet tall, Jesse glanced down to scan the kid's heart-shaped face, and seeing the corners of his mouth were turned up, Jesse relaxed a bit. The kid introduced himself as Daniel Briggs. Daniel told Jesse that he, too, was new to Chaparral - he'd just moved from Redlands, an hour away, to the suburb of Temecula - and, like Jesse, who'd recently relocated from the other side of town, was starting his senior year. Jesse squinted and took a long moment to mull over Daniel's words. Meanwhile, Daniel sized up Jesse, taking in his muscular build and clenched jaw that topped off Jesse's skater-tough look: Metal Mulisha T-shirt, calf-length Dickies, buzz-cut hair and a stiff-brimmed baseball hat. A classic suburban thug. Lowering his voice, Daniel asked if Jesse knew where he might be able to get some weed. "Yeah, man, I can get you some," Jesse answered in his slow monotone, every word stretched out and articulated with odd precision. Daniel asked for his phone number, and Jesse obliged, his insides roiling with both triumph and anxiety. On one hand, Jesse could hardly believe his good fortune: His conversation with Daniel would stand as the only meaningful interaction he'd have with another kid all day. On the other hand, Jesse had no idea where to get marijuana. All Jesse knew in August 2012 was that he had somehow made a friend. The Great Marijuana Experiment: A Tale of Two Drug Wars Though it smacks of suburban myth or TV make-believe, undercover drug stings occur in high schools with surprising frequency, with self-consciously dopey names like "Operation D-Minus" and, naturally, "Operation Jump Street." They're elaborate stings in which adult undercover officers go to great lengths to pass as authentic teens: turning in homework, enduring detention, attending house parties and using current slang, having Googled the terms beforehand to ensure their correctness. In Tennessee last year, a 22-year-old policewoman emerging from 10 months undercover credited her mom's job as an acting coach as key to her performance as a drug-seeking-student, which was convincing enough to have 14 people arrested. Other operations go even further to establish veracity, like a San Diego-area sting last year that practically elevated policing to performance art, in which three undercover deputies had "parents" who attended back-to-school nights; announcing the first of the sting's 19 arrests, Sheriff Bill Gore boasted this method of snaring teens was "almost too easy." The practice was first pioneered in 1974 by the LAPD, which soon staged annual undercover busts that most years arrested scores of high schoolers; by the Eighties, it had spread as a favored strategy in the War on Drugs. Communities loved it: Each bust generated headlines and reassured citizens that police were proactively combating drugs. Cops loved the stings, too, which not only served as a major morale boost but could also be lucrative. "Any increase in narcotics arrests is good for police departments. It's all about numbers," says former LAPD Deputy Chief Stephen Downing, who now works with the advocacy group Law Enforcement Against Prohibition and views these operations with scorn. "This is not about public safety - the public is no safer, and the school grounds are no safer. The more arrests you have, the more funding you can get through federal grants and overtime." Yet despite the busts' popularity, their inner workings were shrouded in secrecy, with few details publicly released about their tactics and overall effectiveness. And as time went on, officers and school administrators became alarmed by the results they saw: large numbers of kids arrested for small quantities of drugs - and who, due to "zero tolerance" policies, were usually expelled from school. No studies appear to exist on the efficacy of high school drug stings, but the data on undercover operations in general isn't encouraging. A 2007 Department of Justice-funded meta-analysis slammed the practice of police sting operations, finding that they reduce crime for a limited time - three months to a year - if at all. "At best, they are a stopgap measure," and at worst, an expensive waste of police resources, which "may prevent the use of other, more effective problem-solving techniques." The federal study concludes that sting operations reap little more than one consistent benefit: "favorable publicity" for police. To be sure, public-relations speed bumps have appeared now and again, like when a female LAPD narc allegedly romanced a high school football player, which surfaced via her steamy love letters, or when a developmentally disabled child was swept up in another L.A. bust after selling $9 worth of marijuana to an undercover. But until now, no department seems to have gone so far as to lay a trap for an autistic kid. From his seat at a worktable in the art room, Deputy Daniel Zipperstein observed his target and tablemate, Jesse Snodgrass. Like all the other students, Deputy Zipperstein was busily working on the day's class assignment, building a sculpture using cardboard, paper and wire, but Jesse was clearly flummoxed by the project's complexity. Their ponytailed teacher, James Taylor, paused by the boys' table. "Jesse, OK," Taylor instructed, holding up a piece of cardboard. "Today's task will be to cut out six cardboard squares of this size." Taylor took pains to pare down each assignment into bite-size chunks for Jesse, but even so, he'd need to keep circling back to remind Jesse to stay on his single small task. Zipperstein watched Jesse slowly pick up the scissors and get to work. No one at Chaparral High School knew that transfer student "Daniel Briggs" was in fact a cop in his mid-twenties; as is typical in such an investigation, only a few top district administrators were aware of the operation. With Daniel's Billabong T-shirts, camo shorts and Vans, "he looked just like an average kid," remembers student Jessica Flores, then 17. Handsome and quick to smile, Daniel was meeting new friends with remarkable ease, though some students remained wary, due to his habit of interrupting strangers' conversations whenever the subject of drugs came up - for which he quickly acquired the nickname "Deputy Dan." Madalyn Dunn, then 17, was startled while she chatted with friends during shop class, and the new kid leapt right in: "Are you talking about ketamine?" Dan said, then asked if she'd sell him some, which she declined. Nonetheless, the two wound up walking to fourth period together, bonding over their fondness for pot. After that, Madalyn says, Daniel wouldn't stop asking her for drugs. "Oh, come on," he'd pester. Deputy Dan was just as aggressive with Jesse Snodgrass, pursuing the friendless boy outside the confines of school. Jesse's mom, Catherine, and his dad, Doug, an engineer, had been delighted when Jesse had come home talking about his new friend from art class; they'd been even more surprised when Daniel had started buzzing Jesse's otherwise-silent phone with texts. Jesse had only ever had one friend before, another special-ed kid who'd recently moved to Alabama, leaving Jesse bereft. And now that Jesse had switched to a new school - a move foisted upon the Snodgrasses when their old house had gone into foreclosure - he had been especially agitated lately. It was only the latest distress in a lifetime of everyday struggles, which Catherine and Doug did their best to help Jesse navigate, fighting the constant battles waged by the parents of children on the autism spectrum: sticking up for him when he was ostracized from playgrounds or asked to leave restaurants as a child; standing up to school districts to secure Jesse equal access to education. Though the Snodgrasses also had two younger children at home, Jesse's needs had long made him a focal point. They were ready for his life to get easier and were thrilled with the calming prospect of this new friendship. "Why don't you tell Daniel to come over?" Catherine urged. "OK." Jesse hunched over his phone as his mom drove him home through the clean streets of Temecula - a planned suburban community northeast of San Diego, population 100,000 - past the big-box strip malls and into their neighborhood of Mediterranean-style homes, where a man-made duck pond sparkled and joggers bounced past. Jesse's phone vibrated. "He can't do it today, he's grounded," Jesse recited. Made sense to him. Daniel had already told Jesse that he was always in trouble with his strict mom, a conflict that left him superstressed - which was why Daniel "really needed" Jesse to hook him up with some pot. "Maybe another time. You guys could order pizza, play video games, just hang out," Catherine said. Forging friendships was normally so hard for Jesse, who had the cognitive skills of an 11-year-old and was nearly oblivious to the facial expressions, body language, vocal tones and other contextual cues that make up basic social interactions. He was slow to draw inferences or interpret the casual idioms other kids used, like "catch you later," a phrase Jesse had initially found startling, since it turned out to involve no catching whatsoever. As a toddler, he'd once been terrified for days after his preschool teacher told him, "I'll keep my eye on you." Jesse had seemed typical enough until age two. Then words started disappearing from his vocabulary, and he spoke in a sporadic, garbled language. His parents grew worried: Their young son made no eye contact and scarcely registered the presence of other people, but drew hundreds of pictures of their vacuum cleaner and would spend hours waving a crayon in front of his face, entranced by the fan of color it etched in the air. When Jesse was five, a neurologist diagnosed him with Asperger's syndrome, a variant of autism; over the years, Jesse's diagnoses would expand to include Tourette's, bipolar disorder and depression. An evaluator prepared the Snodgrasses for the possibility that Jesse might never speak again. Catherine quit her advertising job to plunge Jesse into intensive autism therapies. Amazingly, the interventions got him back on track enough that he was able to attend regular school, taking special-ed classes and mainstream electives, with a counseling team to help him manage. But Jesse's difficulties were hardly over. He was bullied throughout middle school, mocked as a "retard." He lashed out at his tormentors and, in doing so, developed a discipline record, with suspensions for fighting and many a day penalized in "lunch club," scraping gum from under desks. Jesse rarely complained about his mistreatment; he was a boy who didn't think to ask for help. Instead, he vented his frustrations with episodes of headbanging, scratching and punching himself, violent and bloody bursts of self-injury. It took Jesse years of therapy to wean himself from those self-injurious impulses and soothe himself instead with benign motor tics like wringing his hands or snapping his fingers when he felt anxious. He also found another way to cope. During his sophomore year of high school, Jesse shaved his head, began lifting weights and developed a new persona his therapist Jason Agnetti came to call his "bro identity." Dressed in wife-beaters that showed off his biceps, saggy jeans and baseball caps, Jesse would stomp around school, dropping f-bombs and calling other kids "retards." He talked about extreme sports like motocross, off-roading and skateboarding, even though in reality he couldn't ride a bike or even tie his own shoelaces. In his junior year, Jesse drew a bong on his notebook and called himself "Jesse Smokegrass," despite his inexperience with pot. By emulating the bad-boy swagger of his own bullies, Jesse was putting on a suit of armor. Though his parents were a little concerned - and irritated with all his unnecessary posing - they saw it as a phase and, in that regard, not unlike other powerful antagonistic personae Jesse had identified with in the past. "There was a period of time when he was really obsessed with the Undertaker, the wrestler," says Doug. "And in fourth grade, he was obsessed with Bowser in Super Mario." To some extent, the bro disguise worked, making Jesse less approachable and even, from a distance, menacing. Anyone who took a closer look, however, could see past the facade. As he strode the halls of Chaparral, with his robot walk and compulsive finger-snapping, it was clear that something was amiss. "You could see right away that there's something off about him," says Perry Pickett, who at the time was a Chaparral junior. And as soon as Jesse spoke with his flat affect, slow response time and inability to follow any but the simplest instructions - his impairment was obvious. And yet Deputy Dan was unrelenting. As the weeks went by and Jesse continued to stall, Daniel sent Jesse 60 text messages,- hounding him to deliver on his promise to get marijuana. "He was pretty much stalking me," remembers Jesse. "With the begging for the drugs and everything, it was kind of a drag." Already anxious about his new home and new school, Jesse was conflicted. He knew he didn't really want to get marijuana for Daniel - not that he even knew how - and that the drug requests were ratcheting up his anxiety to an intolerable level. But Jesse also desperately wanted Daniel to like him and didn't want to fail his new friend. Daniel's oft-stated plight that his home life made him so unhappy that he needed to self-medicate struck a certain chord with Jesse, who also needed pharmaceuticals in order to function. "I take medication for my own issues," Jesse confessed to Daniel, rattling them off: Depakote, Lamictal, Clonazepam. Burdened by his sense of obligation, frightened and helpless, the pressure was too much for Jesse to handle. One day the turmoil had been so great that after art class, Jesse fled to the boys' bathroom and burned his arm with a lighter. Three weeks into the school year, Doug and Catherine Snodgrass held a meeting with Jesse's educational-support team, in light of Jesse's self-inflicted burn, to discuss their son's transition to Chaparral. "They were concerned about him building friendships at the school," attendee Delfina Gomez, Jesse's behavioral-health specialist, would later testify. Unaware that Jesse was being befriended by a narc, the team assured the Snodgrasses that overseeing Jesse was a priority for them, including-finding him "a classroom buddy, peer buddy or peer leader." Elsewhere in the building that same day, Daniel pressed $20 into Jesse's hand. "I'll see what I can get you," Jesse told him. "I'm gonna meet Daniel before class," Jesse told his father five days later while on the drive to school. He bent to read the screen of his phone. "Take me to the Outback Steakhouse." Jesse was jumpy. He'd asked Daniel to come over to his house for the marijuana handoff, but Daniel was insisting on meeting at a strip mall adjacent to Chaparral's ball fields. Daniel's car was already parked in the empty lot when Doug and Jesse arrived at 7:10 a.m. Jesse leapt out of the station wagon. "Stay here," Jesse instructed his father. Doug, proud of his son's social accomplishment, contented himself with a friendly wave at the young fellow before driving off. Daniel waved back. The previous weekend, saddled with Daniel's $20 bill, Jesse had agonized over how to get his hands on some pot. At last, the answer hit him. The medical-marijuana dispensary in downtown Temecula sold marijuana! Jesse congratulated himself on his logic. He and his family often spent leisurely afternoons browsing downtown's pedestrian thoroughfare, where Jesse would branch off for an hour of solo exploration before reconnecting at the Root Beer Company for sodas. Sure enough, that weekend Jesse wandered toward the dispensary and approached a pale man with bad skin and longish hair - "he kind of had that look of a junkie," Jesse says - who took his $20 and, to Jesse's infinite relief, handed him a clear sandwich baggie with weed inside. Now, standing with Daniel beside his car and in a hurry to get this nerve-racking errand over with, Jesse thrust the precious stash into his hands. Daniel glanced at it. It was a pathetic half-gram of dried-up flakes - about five dollars' worth of marijuana, maybe enough to roll a single skinny joint. Still, Daniel seemed satisfied. He threw it in his glove compartment and suggested they get to class. Later that day, Deputy Zipperstein handed off the baggie to another deputy, who transported it to a police station, where the drugs were field-tested by yet another officer, then ceremoniously weighed, photographed and tagged as evidence: SUS - SNODGRASS, JESSE $20/.6 GRAM MARIJUANA BUY #1. The picture was transferred onto CD for posterity. The Riverside County Sheriff's Department was becoming expert at this sort of thing. Over the previous two years, it had staged two stings in other school districts, arresting 14 students at Palm Desert High School in 2010, and 24 students from Moreno Valley and Wildomar high schools in 2011; in both cases, undercovers had bought marijuana, Ecstasy and cocaine. So when in July 2012 the sheriff's department had approached the Temecula Valley Unified School District to report a suspicion of drug sales in two high schools, Superintendent Timothy Ritter had granted permission for Operation Glasshouse. (All TVUSD personnel declined comment, citing litigation.) His compliance seemed natural in conservative Temecula, a former tiny ranching town whose population had exploded over the past 20 years as people seeking affordable homes moved inland - many of them military families from Camp Pendleton - and where police maintained an aggressive presence, intent on keeping it an oasis of order. Two young, attractive deputies were chosen for Operation Glasshouse. Deputy Yesenia Hernandez was enrolled in Temecula Valley High School. Petite and outgoing, she was an instant hit, especially with the boys, who misread her attentions. Deputy Daniel Zipperstein was dispatched to Chaparral, where, as the new kid constantly talking about drugs, he had to overcome some initial skepticism. "Ask him for his badge number!" some kids playfully called out, when at lunchtime he asked to sit with a bunch of self-described "happy stoners." Daniel laughed along, joking back in a goofy voice, "Yeah, OK, you're all under arrest." But Zipperstein disarmed kids with his frank approach, explaining, "I'm new, I don't have any friends here yet." He was quick to open up about his pretend personal life, telling kids he'd had to move from his dad's in Redlands to live with his irritating mother. "It's so hard to deal with my mom and shit," he said. "She's always bitching." To escape her tyranny, all he wanted to do was lock himself in his room and get high. Remembers student Perry Pickett, "I dunno, I felt bad for the kid." Girls thought it charming when Daniel said he still traveled to Redlands each weekend to visit his girlfriend - whose favorite activity, incidentally, was getting high together. "We were like, 'OK, that's romantic, I guess,'" says Jessica Flores, who sold him a gram or so of marijuana a half-dozen times. But although Daniel was in a relationship, that didn't stop him from admiring other girls, like when, during one lunch period with a view into the dance room, Daniel exhorted about a 15-year-old in spandex, "Dang, look at the ass on that one!" Before long, kids accepted Daniel as one of their own, enough that his unusual persistence in ferreting out drugs stopped raising red flags, as well as his notably indiscriminate appetite. "If you mentioned weed, he wanted weed," says Madalyn, who sold him some of her marijuana, LSD and molly. "If I brought up acid, that's what he wanted. He said he wanted to get coke. He had no limitation." Students also overlooked how odd it was for a high schooler to have so much cash, giving it out with such abandon. Once, when he handed Perry $15, asking for weed, and Perry came back empty-handed, Daniel told him to keep the money. "I felt like I owed him something," says Perry, who, due to his learning difficulties, was a special-needs student with an individualized learning plan. He had felt especially bad because Daniel had been so open and vulnerable about his lousy family situation. So when Perry heard that a kid in his third-period class was selling Vicodin swiped from his parents' medicine cabinet, he offered to introduce Daniel. Strangely enough, he says, Daniel demurred, but instead handed Perry $14, instructed him to buy $10 worth of pills on his behalf - thus creating the transaction necessary for a bust - and to keep the change. "I was like, 'All right, four bucks! That's a couple chicken sandwiches right there!'" says Perry. Meanwhile, Perry's 16-year-old friend Sebastian Eppinger, seeing how careless Daniel was with his money, thought he recognized an opportunity and agreed to act as a middleman. "I ripped him off superbad," says Sebastian. "I sold him 20 bucks' worth of weed for $80." Any skepticism about Daniel being a narc evaporated after Perry delivered him his Vicodin. Grinning and thanking him profusely, Daniel informed Perry and Sebastian he didn't swallow Vicodin, he smoked it. The boys were dubious, so Daniel described how he'd rub off the pill's coating, grind it to powder, then freebase it off tinfoil. To demonstrate, Daniel popped the pill into his mouth and sucked it, then spat it out and rubbed it on his shirt, explaining that it was now ready for crushing and smoking. "I heard you can do the same thing with heroin," Daniel said, dropping a hint about his next drug target. The boys didn't pick up on the bait; they were agog, having learned a new drug-taking technique. As autumn drew to a close, Daniel had little contact with Jesse Snodgrass anymore. He'd managed to give Jesse another $20, two weeks after the first sale - - and, in return, got an even skimpier amount of marijuana than the first time, under a half-gram. But then Daniel had asked Jesse to sell him some Clonazepam, Jesse's anxiety medication. Jesse was adamant in his refusal: That was his medicine - he needed it. When Jesse wouldn't budge, Daniel completely lost interest in their friendship. The rejection stung. Jesse's parents would inquire about Daniel, and he'd shrug it off. He tried to forget about it and focus on the things that mattered, like passing algebra. Against all odds, Jesse was inching his way toward a high school diploma. On the morning of December 11th, the door to Jesse's art classroom burst open, and five armed police officers in bulletproof vests rushed in, calling his name. Jesse was handcuffed in front of his classmates. He thought maybe he was asleep and dreaming. "I was confused," he remembers. "I didn't know what was going on," and he didn't connect the events back to Daniel. Neither did Madalyn or Jessica, who also were arrested in their classrooms; the three of them, along with two other boys, were paraded in handcuffs out of Chaparral and into a police van. At the same time, in a classroom at nearby Rancho Vista continuation high school, Perry - who'd transferred to get better one-on-one special-needs attention - was being shackled; and Sebastian, sick at home, awoke to find his bedroom filled with cops. Fifteen students from Temecula Valley High School were also rounded up, bringing the number of students arrested in Operation Glasshouse to an impressive 22. The scale of the takedown operation was enormous, from the swarming officers in tactical gear to the police helicopter hovering overhead. Authorities announced they had seized marijuana, Ecstasy, LSD, heroin, cocaine, meth and prescription drugs. Though it declined to divulge the quantities, the sheriff's office insisted that the amounts collected were beside the point: "The program is not designed to recover large amounts of drugs," it said in a statement to RS. "The program is designed to quell hand-to-hand narcotics transactions on campus." That evening, the big drug bust would be the talk of Southern California, with newscasts leading with the story - prominently featuring a dramatic photograph of a tall boy dressed in a gray hoodie and black Dickies, his hands cuffed behind his back, flanked by armed officers. Jesse Snodgrass had just become Operation Glasshouse's unlikely poster child. "Why do you think you're here?" "I don't know," Jesse answered. "I was just called up and that's why I'm wondering." In a plain-walled interrogation room at the Perris police station, near Temecula, Jesse sat stiffly in a chair, hands clenched. Across the table, hunched over a clipboard, sat a lean man with stringy blond hair, a plaid shirt and a police badge hanging from his neck. Jesse was anxious to clear up this whole misunderstanding and go home. For more than an hour, he'd been waiting in a common area in tense silence with 21 other kids, the vast majority of them Mexican-American boys, desperately studying their downcast faces for clues. None had been told the reason for their arrests and were forbidden to talk. Any time they'd made a sound, officers barked, "You better shut your mouth." Jesse had watched as one by one they'd been called into this little room, although one key nuance had eluded him: Each had emerged looking shocked and terrified; one girl had a full-blown panic attack. "All right," said the deputy from the Riverside County Sheriff's Special Investigations Bureau, looking up from his clipboard. "Have you ever sold drugs?" "No." Jesse was resolute. "You sure?" "Yeah, I'm sure," answered Jesse. He'd been as compliant as possible with his answers, having waived his Miranda rights - though he hadn't entirely understood what he was agreeing to, he had said "yes" anyway to demonstrate his cooperation - but he could tell he was bombing this quiz. In his nervousness, Jesse already had been unable to recall his mom's phone number and his home address. He was, however, forthcoming when the officer asked if he'd ever used drugs, truthfully admitting that he'd once smoked pot, but that he just wasn't into it. "Have you ever sold drugs at Chaparral High School?" the deputy asked. "Nope." "You never sold drugs to any students there?" "No, sir," Jesse said respectfully. "Mm-kay." Then, in a theatrical flourish that would be performed 22 times that day, the deputy crossed the interrogation room to open the door. "Do you know who this is?" he asked, as a uniformed police officer with short, neat hair walked in. Jesse did a double take. "Daniel?" he asked the officer uncertainly. Deputy Daniel Zipperstein didn't answer but simply stood with his feet planted apart and his hands clasped in front of him, staring straight ahead. Jesse marveled at how different his friend appeared, nearly unrecognizable in these clothes and in this pose, so proud and tall. It was as though Daniel had grown up overnight, looking so markedly different that when he made his dramatic entrance into Perry's interrogation, Perry exclaimed, "Do you have a younger brother at Chaparral?" making the officers guffaw. And yet even with Daniel standing over him like a statue and the interrogator looking amused from across the table, Jesse's mind struggled to knit the bits of information into a cohesive narrative. "Am I getting in any trouble?" Jesse asked. "Well, what do you think?" answered the deputy, snickering. With that, the criminal-justice system intractably moved Jesse Snodgrass forward - even though, before leaving the interrogation room, the deputy had to walk the still-uncomprehending Jesse through the logic at play behind his crime: that Jesse had not merely given Daniel drugs; because Daniel had paid him, Jesse had, in fact, sold drugs. So confused was Jesse that upon leaving the station, he found himself loaded into a van with a half-dozen kids who'd admitted to having done drugs within the past 24 hours, en route to the hospital to have their vitals monitored. "Are you mentally retarded?" a cop at the hospital cautiously asked after Jesse droned down his list of psychiatric meds. When Jesse answered, "I have Asperger's," the officer groaned. Nonetheless, protocol being protocol, Jesse was shuttled onward to Southwest Juvenile Hall, where he was placed in a holding cell to await booking - and where, by late afternoon, his distraught mother was on the phone with an officer, trying to reach her son. "My son is self-injurious," Catherine pleaded. "If he hangs himself on your watch, it is your fault." Incredibly, Jesse's parents were never notified of their son's arrest, but learned of it when he didn't surface after school; a cascade of calls had finally put Doug in touch with the school principal, who informed him in a businesslike way that Jesse had been arrested hours earlier. Both parents had been shocked, but like Jesse himself, they assumed this was some sort of fixable error. And yet to their horror, they'd come to discover that their son - a boy who scarcely left home - would now be detained for at least the next two days. "You know, Mama, the kids here love it," a female officer told Catherine when she called the juvenile hall that first evening to make arrangements to drop off Jesse's meds. "They get three square meals and a bed. They love it here, and they keep coming back." The implication stung Catherine: that the kids locked inside - including her son - were already criminals, headed for a life of incarceration. That was also the message of the district attorney's office in the courthouse two days later. According to Doug and Catherine, as all of the families somberly gathered to see their children for the first time since the arrest, Senior Deputy District Attorney Blaine Hopp strode into the center of the crowd. "This should be a wake-up call to all of you. Your children are drug dealers," he announced. "But this is an opportunity to save them," he added, inviting parents to speak with him before the proceedings began. To the Snodgrasses' surprise, many did. That didn't stop Hopp from arguing to the judge that each child posed a danger to the community and should therefore stay in custody longer - a frightening prospect to parents and kids alike. When Jesse's turn came, he was charged with two felonies, one for each marijuana sale. Hopp argued that Jesse should remain locked up for an additional month, until his next court date - even though the probation department, having reviewed his history, had recommended his release. From their seats, the Snodgrasses listened aghast as Hopp lambasted their son as a menace to society, and got their first glimpse of Jesse in his prison-issued orange jumpsuit. He didn't return their gaze. Jesse had regressed after spending three days and two nights in the juvenile prison system. And while incarcerated, he'd struggled to process Daniel's betrayal. "I thought we were really good friends," he kept mumbling to his fellow inmates, who had to explain the situation to him. When Jesse had finally been escorted into court, his expression was blank. Although desperate to see his parents, his eyes skipped right over them without recognition, a behavior they hadn't seen since his childhood. When the judge announced his immediate release, Jesse showed no sign that he had heard or understood. At home, Jesse unraveled. For six weeks, he could barely summon language to speak and simply sat motionless, sometimes waving a hand in front of his face, much like when he was three years old. "I want to die," he managed to tell his parents at Christmastime, his face buried in his pillow. There were emergency therapy sessions and adjustments to his medication. His parents stayed up all night to keep watch. And in the midst of everything, the Snodgrasses received a letter from the Temecula Valley Unified School District, notifying them that in light of the allegations against Jesse and that he had sold drugs near campus, it was suspending him, and moving forward with his expulsion. Few families in the Snodgrasses' situation fight back. Even fewer speak out. "There's a lot of shame for the family, for your kid to be involved with a drug case," says Lynne Lyman, California state director of the Drug Policy Alliance. "The stigma is tremendous." But Catherine and Doug Snodgrass were atypical parents. They'd been fighting with school districts Jesse's entire life; in their younger days, they'd been union organizers. And the Snodgrasses were convinced they had no reason to hide. "We have nothing to be ashamed of, Jesse has nothing to be ashamed of," says Doug. "The people who do this, they're the ones who should be ashamed." The criminal judge seemed inclined to agree, noting that Jesse's autism amounted to "unusual and exceptional circumstances." Jesse was sentenced to "informal probation," wherein if he kept out of trouble for six months and did 20 hours of community service, his record would be wiped clean. The Snodgrasses accepted the quickie plea deal rather than put Jesse through the stress of a trial - and because they were already waging a battle on a second front. In an effort to stop the Temecula Valley Unified School District from expelling Jesse, the Snodgrasses appealed to the state's Office of Administrative Hearings. During a six-day hearing in February 2013, the school district dug in its heels on its right to expel Jesse for his crime, presenting a parade of witnesses - including members of Jesse's trusted school support team - to insist that despite Jesse's autism, the boy knew right from wrong, and therefore should have been able to resist the undercover cop's entreaties. The district's director of Child Welfare and Attendance, Michael Hubbard, who was one of only three district administrators with foreknowledge of the sting, further testified that his faith in Operation Glasshouse was so complete that he'd felt fine about Jesse's arrest. "I didn't believe it was coercion or entrapment for any of the kids," Hubbard testified. In March last year, Judge Marian Tully's 19-page ruling excoriated the school district for setting Jesse up to fail. "The district placed Student in an extremely difficult social-problem scenario that would have been difficult even for typical high school students," she wrote, much less a special-needs kid. Chastising the district for "leaving Student to fend for himself, anxious and alone, against an undercover police officer," she ordered that Jesse be returned to school immediately. Yet Jesse's victories did little to ease his frayed mental state as he headed back to Chaparral High School. He shook with anxiety in the car on the drive there and hadn't yet overcome his new habit of crumpling to the floor anytime they passed a police car. During the three-month suspension since his arrest, Jesse had been overwhelmed by paranoia so great that once when their doorbell rang, he tackled his mother to the floor, begging, "Don't answer!" Plagued by panic attacks and nightmares - the back of his left hand was gouged by a deep groove where he'd anxiously scratched himself raw - Jesse had been diagnosed with PTSD. He was frightened to be back at Chaparral, where the other kids stared and counselors who'd testified against him now smiled at him, and where, to his parents' disbelief, the school district had filed an appeal of the administrative ruling - it was still fighting to expel him. Despite all that, Jesse was dimly aware that he had it pretty good compared to his fellow arrestees: Of the 22 kids arrested, he's apparently the only one still getting a traditional education. "Every one of us got expelled," says Perry, who now attends a reform school, along with most of the others caught in the sting. Others took their expulsion as a cue to drop out, like Madalyn, who now lives in L.A., working as a receptionist for an HVAC company. She was only three classes shy of a high school diploma. "So close," she says wistfully. But while less than thrilled about their day-to-day lives, they're grateful to have escaped worse fates, since Perry, Sebastian, Jessica and Madalyn, like many of the kids, pleaded guilty in exchange for no further jail time; their juvenile criminal records will be sealed. That puts them in a luckier boat than the two students who happened to have been 18 at the time of their crimes and were treated as adults: One, charged with selling marijuana and meth, spent 30 days in a men's jail, at which point he threw himself upon the mercy of the court and was sentenced to residential rehab; the second boy, charged with three marijuana sales, was sentenced to two years in county jail. Stings like these can have a long-term impact on kids, sometimes in devastating ways. Research shows that juvenile arrests predict brushes with the law as adults. "These kinds of practices push students out of school and toward the criminal-justice system," says state director Lyman, noting that minority, special-needs and poor children are particularly at risk. "It's known as the school-to-prison pipeline." Persuaded by the high potential for bad outcomes for kids, and by the lack of evidence of good results for communities, the National Association of School Safety and Law Enforcement Officials has concluded that undercover high school operations are usually a poor strategy. "We're more interested in getting kids help that need it, rather than targeting kids to be locked up," says former police chief Larry Johnson, president-elect of NASSLEO. Even the birthplace of these stings, Los Angeles, has backed off the tactic; after the school district began openly questioning its efficacy in 2004, the LAPD abruptly shut down its 30-year-old undercover School Buy program. Nevertheless, Riverside County is undeterred. This past December - one year after the raid that arrested Jesse Snodgrass - the sheriff's department announced yet another successful undercover operation: a semester-long sting that nabbed 25 high school students in the nearby cities of Perris and Meniffee, most for small amounts of marijuana. Among the arrestees was reportedly a 15-year-old special-ed student who reads at a third-grade level, arrested for selling a single Vicodin pill for $3, which he used to buy snacks. Perris Superintendent Jonathan Greenberg has called the operation "an unqualified success." The Snodgrasses don't want their experience to be in vain and are now suing the Temecula Valley Unified School District, accusing it of negligence for allowing their son to be targeted despite his disabilities. "We think that we can make these operations stop," says Doug. "We want to use this to send a message to administrators everywhere. When they're approached by police departments about having an undercover operation at their school, they'll remember a district got sued." Reflecting on his experience as the target of an undercover drug sting, Jesse still doesn't know quite what to make of it. "They were actually out to get us," Jesse says, sounding mystified as he swigs a protein shake; because of his PTSD, he still sometimes finds himself unable to eat and wants to regain some of the weight he's lost. He managed to graduate this past December and has started a job in construction. In the meantime, he has gleaned a few important lessons from the ordeal: "To not trust everyone you see," he says thoughtfully. Through his friend's harsh betrayal, he has come to understand that people aren't always what they appear to be, a cruel but necessary lesson that all children must learn sometime. He has realized that even adults are capable of acting with terrible unkindness and duplicity. Jesse's insights have made him wary of meeting new people, fearful of hidden motives, which, as he now knows, his disabilities make him powerless to detect. And Jesse learned one more valuable lesson. "I mean, the Riverside County Sheriff's Department, they taught me how to buy pot," he says, and breaks into a grin. This story is from the March 13th, 2014 issue of Rolling Stone. - --- MAP posted-by: Matt


text:
Police officers placed hoods and earmuffs on protesters while cutting 'sleeping dragons'
PORTLAND, Ore. – Police said they placed hoods and earmuffs on protesters at Portland's Immigration and Customs enforcement (ICE) building Wednesday to protect them while officers cut off the "sleeping dragons" they used to link themselves together.
Portland Police Bureau officers responded to 4310 Southwest Macadam Avenue at 2:44 p.m. Wednesday to find 20 to 30 protesters blocking the entrance and exit to the ICE building.
The Federal Protective Service told officers that there were more than 50 people inside the building and in their cars who needed to leave for the day and others who needed to enter the building.
RELATED | Nearly 500 people arrested nationwide during ICE's 'Safe City' operation, 33 in Portland
However, the protesters, linked together with sleeping dragons, blocked access to the building.
Protesters use the devices to link themselves together to block a particular area.
In this case, police said they were blocking the building's entrance and exit and its driveway.
To use sleeping dragons, people place their hands inside a pipe and lock their arms and wrists together using handcuffs, chains, carabiners, or other methods. Police said the pipe is often wrapped in materials that make it extremely difficult to cut.
Often, sleeping dragons are made of cast iron, metal or plastic pipes, concrete, tar, chicken wire, duct tape, feces and chains.
Officers don't know what's in the sleeping dragons until they begin cutting and disassembling them.
Police often need to use power tools to cut off the sleeping dragons. They say this puts protesters at risk because the metal could create sparks.
Because of this, officers put hoods and earmuffs on the protesters Wednesday to protect them during the cutting process.
The sleeping dragons at the protest Wednesday were made of plastic pipe, yarn, fabric, chicken wire, steel bolts, and chains. The protesters connected their arms inside the pipes with chain.
As officers removed additional layers of the sleeping dragons, they determined they would not require power cutting tools.
Once they finished cutting them, they took the hoods and earmuffs off the protesters.
After officers removed the protesters, people could leave the ICE building. Police said some people had been waiting in their cars for an hour and a half.
Officers arrested 37-year-old Eli Richey at the protest for violating his court-ordered restrictions.
Portland police said the sleeping dragon training comes from the Center for Domestic Preparedness, which is operated by FEMA.


text:
Florence Clutch
Color: please select a color
Size: please select a size
Style # KAYUU30095
Need Assistance? Contact Us Now
- Fabric: Straw
- Hardshell
- Removable tassel accent
- Gold-tone chain strap
- Magnetic closure at top
- Shoulder straps
- Lined
- Dust bag included
- Weight: 12oz / 0.34kg
- Imported, Philippines
Height: 4in / 10cm
Length: 7.5in / 19cm
Depth: 2.25in / 6cm
Strap drop: 22.5in / 57cm
Shipping & Returns
Free Shipping Worldwide: No matter where you are sending your order, we offer free express shipping across the globe. Shipping Details
Easy Returns: Because we understand that not every purchase is exactly right, we've made returns easy. With the return form and return shipping label included with every order, customer service calls aren't necessary. And if you're in the USA, returns are free. Return Details
Shipping Available: Shipping Within USA Only: For Amazon Prime members, free two-day shipping is available for all Shopbop & East Dane products.
About the Designer
The Kayu label, founded by California-based designer Jamie Lim, offers clutch bags crafted with unexpected, earthen materials like macramé, shell, and polished wood. Lim preserves traditional southeastern Asian folk arts, including basket weaving and woodcarving, with each of her in-demand designs. Since its 2009 debut, the upstart label has gained attention for its handcrafted fabrication and natural looks. Kayu has since graced the pages of Vogue, InStyle, Elle, and Harper's Bazaar.
Danielle Kane
Such a great clutch! Perfect for the beach and the colors look so great together. Very excited to use this all summer
report inappropriate content


text:
Growing up in Minnesota I acquired a healthy respect for Hubert Humphrey. He established the modern state Democratic Party in a death struggle with the Communists and persevered to make his reputation with a devotion to the cause of civil rights when civil rights meant colorblindness.
The great victory of the civil rights movement was one of moral persuasion. Leaders such as Humphrey and Martin Luther King, Jr., persuaded Americans that it was wrong and deeply un-American to treat people differently based on the color of their skin. That victory of moral persuasion was translated into the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the law that prohibited discrimination on the basis of race, ethnicity, or sex in employment, public accommodations, and federally funded programs (including colleges and universities).
Professor Edward Erler has commented: "No more powerful expression of a commitment to equal opportunity can be found in the annals of modern legislation anywhere in the world."
As Judge Alex Kosinski recalls, strong opposition to the bill arose from senators who suggested it would be interpreted so as to call for quotas and preferences, and that it would be used to overturn union seniority systems. Then Senator Humphrey, the bill's principal sponsor, made numerous statements flatly contradicting those suggestions: "Title VII prohibits discrimination. In effect, it says that race, religion, and national origin are not to be used as the basis for hiring and firing. Title VII is designed to encourage hiring on the basis of ability and qualifications, not race or religion."
On the floor of the United States Senate in the summer of 1964 Humphrey famously promised to eat the bill if it required racial preferences. Responding to one of his colleagues in debate on the bill, Humphrey said: "It the Senator can find in Title VII … any language which provides that an employer will have to hire on the basis of percentage or quota related to color, race, religion, or national origin, I will start eating the pages one after another, because it is not in there."
The defense of racial preferences in the name of "affirmative action" and "diversity" has nevertheless become part of contemporary civil rights orthodoxy and many purportedly sophisticated arguments have been advanced to justify the practice. In 2003, for example, in express disagreement with Martin Luther King's great 1963 speech on the Washington Mall, Hillary Clinton stated: "If we don't take race as part of our character, then we are kidding ourselves."
The depth of the racial discrimination practiced in the university setting became evident in the two University of Michigan cases decided by the Supreme Court in 2003. In the undergraduate school, applicants for admission were simply sorted into different pools with lower admission standards if they identified themselves as African-American, Hispanic, or Native American, and higher standards if they identified themselves as white or members of non-preferred minority groups. In the law school, the university rigged its standards year after year to achieve a minimum 10 percent quota of students from designated "underrepresented" minority groups (African American, Mexican American and Native American).
For years the university covered up the existence of the racial discrimination that it practiced. Once exposed, the university defended what it could not conceal in the name of "affirmative action" and "diversity." In reality these terms are extremely misleading euphemisms for the practice of racial discrimination.
According to the Supreme Court in the two University of Michigan decisions, the euphemistic practice of racial discrimination is good enough to pass constitutional and legal muster just so long as it isn't too bald. Indeed, before the ink was dry on the Civil Rights Act of 1964 liberals were retreating on the principle of equal treatment and touting "affirmative action" if not racial preferences in their own name.
Did Humphrey ever oppose them? Having been persuaded by Humphrey and King that equal treatment was the correct principle, I kept looking for Humphrey to say that he did. I may be mistaken, but I don't recall his having done so.
Rick Perlstein strongly suggests that Humphrey did. Yesterday was the centennial anniversary of the birth of Hubert Humphrey. Perlstein took the occasion to celebrate Humphrey as "America's forgotten liberal." Perlstein implies that Humphrey opposed the use of "affirmative action" (i.e., racial preferences) when liberals openly supported it:
At a time when other liberals were besotted with affirmative action as a strategy to undo the cruel injustices of American history, Humphrey pointed out that race-based remedies could only prove divisive when good jobs were disappearing for everyone. Liberal policy, he said, must stress "common denominators — mutual needs, mutual wants, common hopes, the same fears."
Perlstein's quotation of Humphrey does not state opposition to the use of racial preferences in principle. Rather, the quotation suggests that the open support of racial preferences is politically unwise. Could it be that Humphrey never forthrightly opposed racial preferences in principle after the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964?
Perlstein's quotation of Humphrey appears to derive from a speech given by Humphrey in a symposium on civil rights at the LBJ Library in December 1972. Timothy Thurber quotes the speech on page 231 of The Politics of Equality: Hubert H. Humphrey and the African-American Freedom Struggle. Thurber quotes the sentence fragment that Perlstein quotes and then quotes one full paragraph from Humphrey's speech that concludes with this observation:
. . .I would argue that the civil rights movement got into trouble when more and more people came to see it as an effort to give blacks a special break that was afforded no other group in American society. We know this perception is wrong. But it exists, whether we like it or not.
(Emphasis added.) So Humphrey denied the proposition that racial preferences had been implemented ("we know this perception is wrong"). So far as I can tell Humphrey did not state that they were wrong in principle. Humphrey seems to be saying that the advocacy of racial preferences was politically problematic for the civil rights movement and the Democratic Party. And we know now that the practice of racial preference is massive, whatever the truth was at the time Humphrey spoke in 1972.
Perlstein to the contrary notwithstanding, the Humphrey quote is not exactly the clarion call to equal treatment with which Humphrey had advocated the passage of the civil rights bill. Indeed, Humphrey's retreat on this point is representative of what has happened to liberal orthodoxy in the years since 1964.


text:
A year-and-a-half removed from taking his final snap at UF, John Brantley is working at his dad's annual quarterback camp in Ocala.
OCALA — Long before he threw for 4,750 yards and 30 touchdowns as a Florida Gator quarterback, John Brantley IV was doing all he could to become the best prep passer possible.
There were extra hours spent throwing to his Ocala Trinity Catholic teammates. There were combines. There were film sessions with his father, John Brantley III, himself a former Gator and now the Celtics' head coach.
And there were camps. Lots of camps.
Now, a year-and-a-half removed from taking his final snap at UF, the younger Brantley is working with his dad to help provide high school quarterbacks with many of the same opportunities for growth he had en route to becoming the 2006 Gatorade National Player of the Year.
"Our goals are to give back, not just to Trinity or Ocala, though we'd like to do that also," Brantley said soon after finishing lunch in Trinity Catholic's weight room at Saturday's Brantley Quarterback Camp. "But we mainly want to give back to any kid who is willing to learn and want to try to get better.
"It doesn't matter if they're a 1-star or a 5-star (prospect) — if they're willing to get better, we're more than happy to give back, using our years of experience to help them achieve their goals."
The session began at 9 a.m. as the 12 quarterbacks (and the two receivers each brought with them) from as far south as Lakeland and north as Jacksonville worked through sometimes ugly weather and received on-field tutelage from numerous coaches, including the Brantleys and former UF and Tampa Bay Buccaneers wideout Reidel Anthony.
"Mostly, I've worked with receivers on fundamentals, and then we got them with the quarterbacks and ran some routes," said Anthony, an assistant for the Celtics in 2009 and '10 who now heads up the Reidel Anthony Wide Receiver Academy out of the Performance Compound training center in the Tampa area. "Like with all football practices, you want to take what the groups have done individually and mesh them together."
And the players looked at it as an opportunity to improve in areas they might be lacking.
"I'm definitely hoping to get better in my footwork because I'm getting a little lazy there," said David Atwood, a left-handed rising junior who recently transferred to West Orange High School from Foundation Academy in Orlando. "I want to get better with that and create a friendship with my receivers."
Following the morning session and lunch, former Gator coach Ron Zook spoke to the athletes about recruiting and what they need to do to make themselves as attractive as possible to college programs.
He stressed that, in order, one needs to be a good person, a good student and then, a good football player. Now an analyst for CBS, Zook said that while recruiting he wasn't just going to ask high school coaches, guidance counselors, teachers and teammates about a prospective signee.
"I'm going to talk to everyone," said Zook, who lives in Lake Weir and also works for Gateway Bank in Ocala. "I'm going to talk to the school janitor, anyone who knows you and can offer some insight.
"If you are doing anything wrong, it won't stay hidden. We're going to find out about it."
Following Zook's speech, the players returned to the field until the camp concluded at 3 p.m.
"It's gone well," said Brantley, who will host a second camp with his father on July 27. "It's great to see these kids still want to learn, even if they have to travel two hours. I know my dad and I would go to camps in places like Georgia and South Carolina, and it's nice to see players with the same type of drive.
"With electronics and everything, they can get all of these lessons online. But to see them here, out on the field doing the physical work in the heat and the rain to bust their butts to get better, that excites me and makes me want to give all I can to help them."


text:
Search terms
Enjoy the ultimate viewing experience
Take your components to optimum performance. This top of the line cable offers the best connection for transferring video signals between components. See all benefits
Unfortunately this product is no longer available
24 carat gold-plated connectors ensure the best signal quality for your components.
99.97% Oxygen-free copper (OFC) cable core provides optimum signal quality.
High-bandwidth Digital Content Protection (HDCP) allows you to play protected content media such as movies and concerts. It checks the signal to prevent piracy, allowing only legal copies of content to display.
This protective layer of aluminum guards against electromagnetic interference for improved signal quality.
This protective layer of copper blocks radio frequency interference for improved signal quality.
Foam Polyethlene (FPE) dielectric is a superior insulation material that protects against signal loss.
This non-slip grip makes connecting your components easy and ergonomically comfortable.
Plug and play offers easy installation of components without time-consuming installations.
The heavy-duty brass shell protects the internal connection of the cable. It ensures durability and the reliability of your connection.
Super pliable PVC jackets are abrasion-resistant for outstanding flexibility and protection against everyday wear and tear.
Full metal connector ensures extended durability by preventing damage during use and installation.


text:
Please choose your class below. You will be prompted to complete a dog registration form and choose your class day and time after payment. Please complete this form prior to the start of your class so that we can hold your spot. Otherwise, we will not know what class you plan to attend and therefore, you may not be included in that class.
If you are registering an adopted dog, you are eligible for a $10 discount. Please use the discount code "adoptedboston" (case sensitive) to receive your discount. You must enter this code prior to entering billing information by clicking "Enter Discount Code Here."
Class size is limited, so you and your dog will get lots of personal attention. How to enroll:


text:
Rusty Scupper's Shrimp Scampi
Serves 4
Rusty Scupper's Shrimp Scampi
Serves 4
28 oz. Fedelini pasta
4 oz. tomato coulis
8 oz. diced tomatoes
8 oz. herbed butter
4 tbsp. capers
2 tsp. chopped garlic
Salt & pepper to taste
16 oz. white wine
4 tsp. basil chiffonade
4 tbsp. parmesan cheese
4 tsp. chopped parsley
4 oz. olive oil.
28 large shrimp, peeled and deveined
1. Cook pasta in large pot according to directions.
2. In sauté pan, heat oil to smoking point.
3. Add shrimp and cook one minute.
4. Add the rest of the ingredients except the tomato coulis, parmesan and cooked pasta.
5. Place 1 oz. of tomato coulis to each bowl (each serving).
6. Remove shrimp from pan and divide pasta in the 4 bowls.
7. Place shrimp on top of pasta and garnish with cheese.
8. Serve.


text:
* Pop event draws eclectic crowd
* Unlike last time, star able to plug in
(Adds name of local disc jockey)
By Alina Selyukh
WASHINGTON, Jan 20 (Reuters) - All across Washington this
weekend, the wealthy, the politically connected and the curious
are putting on tuxedos and ball gowns and crowding into fancy
galas to celebrate President Barack Obama's second inauguration.
This was not one of those parties.
At an inaugural celebration at Washington's U Street Music
Hall late Saturday and early Sunday, a man in a black blazer
accompanied a young woman who was in a midriff-baring,
sequin-covered bra. Another couple danced while wearing matching
track suits.
Many partiers were in T-shirts; some brought the glitter -
on sneakers, party dresses and more.
It was called the Blisspop Inauguration Party, and the star
attraction was Moby, the electronic music legend.
The crowd was as diverse as any in town this weekend:
several generations of self-described Democrats, Republicans and
apolitical types - including many who didn't realize the event
was related to Obama's inauguration.
"I came here for Moby" and "I just found out this was an
inauguration celebration yesterday," were common comments by
attendees of the party, which was thrown by a group of local
disc jockeys.
The U Street Music Hall is a venue that symbolizes
Washington's rejuvenation in an area that was scarred by rioting
in the U Street corridor nearly 45 years ago, after the
assassination of civil-rights leader Martin Luther King Jr and
is now Washington's party central.
Inside the music hall, mirrored disco balls spun to music by
local DJ and the venue's owner Will Eastman, bartenders with red
flowers in their hair poured beer and mixed cocktails and the
sold-out crowd warmed up their dancing feet for Moby's
appearance. And in typical D.C. style, most everyone was willing
to talk about politics and Obama's second four-year term.
"I think it'll be same old, same old for the next two
years," said Mike Mizerak, 26, a psychology student from
Virginia who came wearing a pirate hat and said he did not vote
for Obama in the Nov. 6 election.
"He needs to get more aggressive," said Lauren Reliford, 27,
who works in health advocacy in Washington. "That's the Obama I
voted for."
Many spoke of hope for more bipartisanship and compromise
between Obama and the politically divided Congress, where
Obama's Democrats control the Senate and Republicans lead the
House of Representatives.
Moby himself, bald and goateed, appeared without fanfare, in
a hoodie and glasses.
The hoodie and glasses quickly came off, and the DJ,
grinning occasionally, raised his hands as he glowed under a red
spotlight. He filled the room with thumping and swooshing
electronic music for some two hours.
The show avoided the fate of Moby's 2009 inaugural
performance, when a power outage left the star and Eastman
drumming on trash cans and otherwise improvising to produce
sound for more than an hour.
Moby's support of Obama is no secret. The musician actively
posts in his online journal and Facebook page, often sharing his
views on hot political topics.
This month, Moby weighed in on the heated debate over gun
control. He criticized Republicans and the National Rifle
Association, the nation's largest gun-rights group, over
arguments they have made in opposing stricter gun ownership
Moby's fans, regardless of their political leanings, did not
seem bothered by the DJ's political activity.
"If you have that powerful platform and you use it to
inspire people, I think it's spectacular," said art manager John
Herlig, 48, who said he was registered as an independent voter.
About 2 a.m. Sunday, the crowd roared as Moby started
playing parts of some tunes from the 1990s, when he was
particularly popular.
Perhaps in a nod to the inauguration spirit, Moby rolled
through a verse from a piece by fellow English DJ Fatboy Slim:
"We've come a long long way together, through the hard times
and the good. I have to celebrate you, baby, I have to praise
you like I should."
(Editing by David Lindsey and Cynthia Osterman)


text:
Byron Thomas was just another anonymous Senate intern until his co-workers started making fun of his earnest plea that they all show the American flag more respect and recite the Pledge of Allegiance every day. "Now I've only been here for 8 days but I can tell that something is wrong, (in my opinion)," Thomas, an intern for Sen. Tim Scott, wrote in an email to colleagues. "We have American flags in front of every room, but I've never seen anyone take the time to proudly say the Pledge of Allegiance." The email got forwarded around. Someone sent it to the Huffington Post. Gawker found his Facebook and Twitter accounts, plus an old interview in which he expresses his love of the Confederate flag. Now, Thomas is famous.
Now, I would love to say the pledge with the different offices before 9am (because that's when I start work). All I want is for our generation to show that we're united and that we're going to stand together. We'll always be One Nation, Under God. I hope you'll see my words as kind and respectful because I'm truly not attacking anybody. I just truly care about this country and I want to work with everybody. Overwhelm People with Kindness and May God Bless the United States of America.
We can see where Thomas went astray. His email is the product of many conflicting pressures put on ambitious interns. How do you prove that you're a go-getter and love serving your country when you also have no power at all? Like, you might not yet be trusted to get the senator's coffee?