text:
Note to David Streitfeld: see what Margaret Sullivan did? Being a competent reporter, she researched the situation and presented both sides of the story. That means quotes from authors representing both sides, and quotes from the very source (you) she was critical of.
She's an excellent, smart, fair journalist, Mr. Streitfeld. Put your hat in your hand and go thank her. After you have, ask her for some pointers.
As well done as the piece was, Ms. Sullivan did write something that I didn't agree with.
"A pro-Amazon author (Barry Eisler) charges that the paper is spewing propaganda..."propaganda" is a stretch..."
Is it really a stretch? Let's dig a little deeper.
According to Wikipedia:
Propaganda is information that is not impartial and used primarily to influence an audience and further an agenda, often by presenting facts selectively (thus possibly lying by omission) to encourage a particular synthesis, or using loaded messages to produce an emotional rather than rational response to the information presented.
Hyperlinked in that definition is "impartial" which leads to a wiki about journalistic objectivity:
Journalistic objectivity can refer to fairness, disinterestedness, factuality, and nonpartisanship, but most often encompasses all of these qualities.
Also linked is "lying by omission":
Also known as a continuing misrepresentation, a lie by omission occurs when an important fact is left out in order to foster a misconception. Lying by omission includes failures to correct pre-existing misconceptions.
And "loaded messages":
In rhetoric, loaded language (also known as loaded terms or emotive language) is wording that attempts to influence an audience by using appeal to emotion or stereotypes.
Mr. Streitfeld says his stories have been driven by one value: "newsworthiness". Back to Wikipedia:
Newsworthiness does not only depend on the topic, but also the presentation of the topic and the selection of information from that topic.
Is Streitfeld presenting his topics well? What information is he selecting about the topic? Does it err to the side of journalistic objectivity?
Let's go back to May when the Amazon/Hachette story broke and Streitfeld wrote this piece. Looking at the definitions above, do these quotes from Streitfeld's piece qualify as propaganda?
Streitfeld: Among Amazon's tactics against Hachette, some of which it has been employing for months, are charging more for its books and suggesting that readers might enjoy instead a book from another author.
Joe sez: Amazon "charging more for its books" actually means Amazon is charging Hachette's suggested retail price. Amazon suggesting that readers might enjoy a book from another author "instead" is unproven. Amazon advertises other authors' books on every book page. This isn't unique to Hachette. Amazon also offers used books for considerably less than the price of the new version, on the very same page. (buy Whiskey Sour for only $0.01!) But where has Amazon said "Buy this instead of this"?The word "instead" is loaded.
Streitfeld: The scorched-earth tactics arose
Joe sez: Scorched-earth? Misrepresentation, and loaded.
Streitfeld: "Outliers" was selling Friday for $15.29, a mere 10 percent discount. On Barnes & Noble, the book was $12.74.
Joe sez: See how the word "mere" is not impartial? No mention that many indie bookstores don't discount at all.
Streitfeld: Amazon raised the price of her book by $8. Then it ran a banner recommending other less expensive diet books.
Joe sez: Instead, how about: "Amazon raised her price to the one her publisher printed on the jacket." But that's not nearly as newsworthy, is it? And pay no attention to the banners recommending other things to buy on every single other product page on Amazon.
Streitfeld: "If you're a monopolist, you get to be a bully," said Richard Russo, the Pulitzer-winning novelist and Authors Guild vice president. "
"Like all repressive regimes, Amazon wants to completely control your access to books," Sherman Alexie said in a Twitter post.
"Given AMZN's near-monopoly position I think it's an antitrust violation, but the U.S. antitrust regulators are broken," Charlie Stross said, also on Twitter.
Joe sez: Yes, Streitfeld is quoting Twitter and not using this rhetoric himself. But where are the Twitter posts from the opposing viewpoint?
I can imagine Streitfeld replying: I didn't write the propaganda posters! I just hung them up where they could be read by millions of people!
Sure, Mr. Streitfeld. Way to be objective. Your piece is loaded with the hot-button words and statements like "monopolist, bully, antitrust, violation, repressive regime, and completely control your access to book", all in reference to Amazon.
Where are the critical quotes about Hachette? Where is the balance?
Let's move on to his next article.
Streitfeld: For months now, Amazon has been trying to put the screws on Hachette, the smallest of the Big Five publishers, by discouraging people from buying its printed books. Amazon's goal: force Hachette to give it better terms on e-books.
Joe sez: That's the opening sentence. Amazon is putting the screws to the smallest of the big five. Amazon's goal is to force Hachette.
Or, in fairer words, Amazon is negotiating with a company worth ten billion dollars... a company trying to control Amazon's ability to discount ebooks.
See how the truth makes it sound a lot different than Streitfeld made it sound?
Streitfeld: If the 4,000 tweets on my two stories on the topic late last week are anything to go by, Amazon might need to worry more.
Joe sez: How many of those tweets were calling your story biased nonsense?
Maybe he needs to Google "no one I knew voted for Nixon."
Streitfeld has five quotes supporting Hachette. And 13 words from Hugh Howey, offering an opposing viewpoint.
Streitfeld: Independent bookstores broke with tradition in 2012 and decided not to sell books published by Amazon. That was their choice. And if customers chose as a result not to shop there, that was their choice. It's a free country.
But Amazon is not saying it is dropping all Hachette books.
Joe sez: WTF?
So other bookstores can decide they don't want to sell certain titles, and that's free choice. But Amazon, which is still selling Hachette titles, is behaving worse? How can this be?
Streitfeld: Amazon wants to have it both ways, telling customers it has the book while discouraging them from buying it. This is why some Internet commentators are saying the real issue here is deception as defined by the FTC – "a representation, omission or practice that is likely to mislead the consumer acting reasonably in the circumstances, to the consumer's detriment."
That sounds like bait and switch, something the Federal Trade Commission frowns on as deceptive.
Joe sez: So Streitfeld is suggesting Amazon is using "bait and switch" fraud.
Did Streitfeld look up the definition of bait and switch?
However, no cause of action will exist if the purveyor is capable of actually selling the goods advertised, but aggressively pushes a competing product.
Amazon is still selling Hachette titles. Ergo this cannot be bait and switch.
And let's not even bring up that if a customer found Amazon's shipping times unacceptable, it would take ten seconds and three clicks to buy that same book from another website.
Moving along to the next Streitfeld article.
Streitfeld: "I am a big fan of Amazon and spend as much as $5,000 per year there (not just books)," Ms. Cowie, a Connecticut investor and landlord, wrote me. "But this treatment of Hachette is completely unacceptable. I called Amazon today to let them know that I will boycott them until this Hachette dispute is resolved."
Joe sez: This entire article is about a landlord boycotting Amazon. Seven hundred words devoted to this single topic, with no mention that Amazon's approval rating has never been higher.
And this qualifies as newsworthiness? This isn't propaganda?
Onto the next one.
Streitfeld: Hachette is holding fast to the traditional publishing system that underpins modern culture.
Joe sez: Who wants Amazon to destroy modern culture? No one, so we must side with Hachette... even though there is no proof Amazon is destroying modern culture.
How things are worded matters so much, doesn't it?
Streitfeld: Authors published by the traditional houses, including Hachette, argue that their livelihood is at stake, and that the world where Amazon is the only gatekeeper would be a deeply problematic one. There have been vows of boycotts.
Joe sez: The first sentence is an appeal to pity fallacy. Their livelihood is at stake! Somebody help them!
The second sentence is just plain shitty journalism. Vows of boycotts? You mean that landlord you wrote about? She's representative of an entire "boycott Amazon" movement? Proof?
I've heard "rumors of bigfoot." Maybe I should mention that in a NYT article and give it some real credibility.
But then Streitfeld immediately lets the other side have some column inches as well, right?
Streitfeld: But Amazon is content to play the long game, as usual, and seems confident that Hachette authors will ultimately grow restive and blame the publisher.
Joe sez: So rather than quote some Amazon supporters, and mention how many author livelihoods Amazon has fostered, Streitfeld avoids the opposing viewpoint altogether.
Streitfeld: When Amazon felt threatened then by publishers demanding a different pricing system for e-books, it had two responses: It removed the "buy" buttons from one publisher, and sent a letter to the Federal Trade Commission with accusations of illegal behavior. The buttons were soon restored, but the publishers were hit by a government antitrust suit whose consequences are still being felt.
Joe sez: Sneezing Jesus with an asthma attack! Amazon "felt threatened"? You mean when five publishers illegally colluded to fix prices and force Amazon to accept the agency model? Why would Amazon feel threatened by that?
And where is the mention that Hachette lost the antitrust suit? You know, the one where Hachette was found guilty of collusion and price fixing?
Streitfeld: "I'm shocked that Amazon would do anything to fuel the speculation that once they grow big enough, authors will suffer," wrote Hugh Howey, an author who is usually a champion of Amazon's way of doing things.
Joe sez: Way to cherry pick, David.
Howey, like many blogging activists, is pro-author. Saying he is "usually a champion of Amazon's way of doing things" is a cute and sleazy way of calling Howey a sycophant who finally got upset with his lord and master because they did something so heinous.
Of course, anyone who read the Howey piece that Streitfeld quoted would know that isn't the case. But Streitfeld didn't link to that post. He made it seem like Howey gave him that quote directly.
Is that what good reporters do?
Moving on.
Streitfeld: So when Amazon took the rare step of explaining why it decided to hold 5,000 Hachette books hostage
Joe sez: Hostage, huh? Can Wikipedia help?
(A hostage is) someone who is seized by a criminal abductor in order to compel another party such as a relative, employer, law enforcement, or government to act, or refrain from acting, in a particular way, often under threat of serious physical harm to the hostage(s) after expiration of an ultimatum.
Such a serious, hot-button, polarizing word. I had no idea Amazon had a ticking clock ultimatum, or that Amazon was forcing Hachette authors to sell their titles on its website. I thought Amazon was using leverage during a contract negotiation--a negotiation that both parties are willingly entering into--by flexing its retail power.
But to Streitfeld, it is an actual hostage situation. Can't Hachette compel the government to send in a SEAL team to rescue all those poor hostages?
Streitfeld: "The use of its market position to purposely delay delivery of books from selected publishers in order to pressure them to accept their demands for conditions is not only a threatening sign for the book industry, but a clear affront to those who read and buy books," wrote a group of some 880 independent booksellers and publishers, members of a loose organization that calls itself the Booksellersmeeting in protest against Amazon's action.
Joe sez: Wait... indie bookstores are criticizing Amazon? And publishers don't like the fact that Amazon is a fierce negotiator? Amazon, who built the world's largest bookstore and invented the ereading device that the majority of readers are using?
My only question is: why wasn't this front page headline news?
Next on the Streitfeld Report: 880 bananas sign a petition accusing monkeys of "trying to eat them". Hold the presses.
And more.
Streitfeld: Amazon has been heavily criticized for using writers as pawns, although it also has its defenders.
Joe sez: And that's the only line about Amazon's defenders in this entire post. The rest of it presents a case against Amazon with no opposing views.
Balanced coverage? Really?
Streitfeld's next journalistic endeavor on this issue (Barry Eisler calls it stenography, not journalism) is simply recounting Stephen Colbert's incorrect stance. No opposing viewpoint at all. The newsworthiness of his story is that Colbert is angry with Amazon.
Why isn't it newsworthy that Colbert is wrong?
Can't this be a story about a rich and famous celebrity media personality with his own TV show who uses it to expose truths about the government and society but is actually using his platform for ill-informed, selfish purposes that are illogical?
More newsworthiness: Amazon Stops Taking Orders for Time Warner Videos.
Both Amazon and Warner declined to comment on what is simply a negotiation between two businesses. But Streitfeld managed to write 600 words about it, fanning the anti-Amazon sentiment fire he's been building.
But wait! Maybe Streitfeld actually had a reason to call this newsworthy.
Streitfeld: "Considering all the press regarding Hachette it seems strange that no one is reporting this," one commentator wrote on the Amazon forum.
Joe sez: Now I see! An anonymous commenter on an Amazon forum wanted this reported, so the NYT devoted a whole column to it.
I can imagine Streitfeld pitching this story.
A serious looking David Streitfeld speaks to his editor, Suzanne Spector.
Streitfeld: The haven't been any developments in the Amazon/Hachette dispute in a few days. But I've got a new angle.
Spector: Do tell.
Streitfeld: Lego.
Spector: I'm not even touching you.
Streitfeld: No, not "let go". I mean The Lego Movie. Huge hit, but Amazon isn't selling any pre-orders of the movie. In fact, it isn't taking advance orders on any Warner movies.
Spector: So Amazon not selling something that isn't available is news?
Streitfeld: When you say it that way you make me sound stupid.
Spector: I'm sorry. I know you don't need help in that area.
Streitfeld: Don't you get it? Amazon is doing the same thing that they did to Hachette.
Spector: Sounds like two businesses in negotiation.
Streitfeld: It is. That's what Warner said, before declining to comment.
Spector: So what's the spin? You're all about authors being harmed by Amazon in the Hachette dispute. Are you thinking Lego Batman is being harmed by Amazon now?
Streitfeld: No. That would be silly. Lego Batman is too busy fighting Lego crime to care.
Spector: So who does care, exactly?
Streitfeld: A lone anonymous commenter on an Amazon forum.
Spector: Run it!
And Streitfeld's next article.
Streitfeld: For more than six months, Amazon has been trying to wring better e-book terms out of Hachette. The publisher, which is the fourth largest in the United States and whose imprints include Little Brown and Grand Central Publishing, is energetically resisting.
Joe sez: Have those reading this caught on to what Streitfeld is doing?
Amazon is trying to wring better terms. Hachette is resisting.
But all evidence points to Hachette wanting to prevent Amazon from discounting ebooks in order to control its paper oligopoly, and Amazon wanting to keep ebook prices low.
Why is Hachette above reproach, and Amazon the enemy?
The above article is about Amazon offering to compensate authors during the negotiation period. A good thing, right? It's a response to critics, and a move to help authors.
Streitfeld: The proposal "has several real benefits — to motivate us and Hachette to reach an agreement sooner rather than later and to insulate the authors," said Russ Grandinetti, Amazon's senior vice president for Kindle content. "It would make things better for readers, too," he added.
But Roxana Robinson, president of the Authors Guild, dismissed the proposal.
"If Amazon wants to have a constructive conversation about this, we're ready to have one at any time," she said in an email. "But this seems like a short-term solution that encourages authors to take sides against their publishers. It doesn't get authors out of the middle of this — we're still in the middle."
Joe sez: As I said in my last blog post, what sort of reporter wouldn't call Robinson on her blatant stupidity?
Actually, Roxana, Amazon's offer DOES get authors out of the middle of this. And authors SHOULD be taking sides against Hachette, for not only getting them into this mess, but also refusing to compensate them as Amazon offered.
But Streitfeld gives Robinson's ridiculous dismissal equal weight to Amazon's proposal. Apparently because the Authors Guild bending over for Hachette isn't newsworthy.
Streitfeld: (Robinson) added. "From our publishers we want a fairer share of e-book revenues; from Amazon we want an end to predatory practices that unfairly threaten their competitors, as well as the continued existence of the printed book."
Joe sez: So the Authors Guild wants a fairer share of ebook revenues, but Streitfeld doesn't ask what the Guild is doing to reach that objective. Streitfeld also doesn't ask Robinson how Amazon is supposed to negotiate with Hachette without using any leverage. Or how it is Amazon's job to encourage competition. Or how or why Amazon has to ensure that the paper market continues.
This kind of Streitfeldian reporting is ridiculous. What's next?
Today Unicef trucked 25,000 pounds of supplies to Hurricane Schlomo victims in Laurelstan to help with reconstruction efforts.
Opposing this humanitarian effort is the group FuelIsEvil. President Harry Nuts said, "Unicef is using trucks that operate on fossil fuels, which is greatly impacting global warming. If we continue to support massive efforts to help those in need, we'll destroy the earth."
I can't be the only one who sees how silly that is.
Did Streitfeld try to ask any Hachette authors if perhaps they'd like to be compensated monetarily? Is that not a story? Is "Hachette Refuses to Help Its Authors" not a good headline for some reason?
Streitfeld's next article is Amazon, A Friendly Giant as Long as It's Fed.
The point of this blog post is to show that Streitfeld is a propagandist on this Amazon/Hachette dispute. He's clearly anti-Amazon.
But he isn't in this post. He's pretty even-handed, and gives roughly equal time to both sides of the issue.
I'm a blogger, not a reporter. I don't get paid for this. My personality and opinions are supposed to shine through in my posts, so it serves me no purpose to give Streitfeld props when I'm trying to excoriate him. But I will, because I try to be fair.
So nice work, David Streitfeld, on this article. Why aren't they all like that?
Streitfeld returns to anticipated form here. This Streitfeld article was so one-sided, so biased, that Eisler and I fisked it in-depth.
David Steitfeld - An Embarassment to the New York Times
We weren't the only ones that lambasted Streitfeld. Somewhere else on the internet, someone coined the phrase "whale math" to make fun of Streitfeld's ridiculous suggestion that 906 signatures is greater than 7650.
"The petition has 7,650 signatures. By comparison, a 2012 Change.org petition calling on Amazon to ban the sale of whale and dolphin meat drew over 200,000 signatures."
Streitfeld's article was front page. He devoted it almost entirely to Douglas Preston's petition, and dismissed the opposing petition with 8x as many signatories as a "rambling love letter" to Amazon.
Streitfeld recently defended his whale math to Margaret Sullivan.
When established authors band together against the largest bookseller, he says, "it's just a great story, period." And he says that 900 of their signatures mean much more than "a petition that's open to anyone on the Internet." To treat them as equal would be false equivalency, he says.
As for his own viewpoint, he says: "I am on no side here. I view my role as opening up these questions."
Barry Eisler refuted this nonsense in his recent blog post. Go read it.
It's worth noting that one of the earmarks of propaganda is dehumanizing the enemy and creating false images.
So 900 established authors mean much more than 8600 authors and readers. Makes no difference that some of the 8600 signatories on the anti-Hachette petition were authors who outsell many of the 900 signatories. Makes no difference that the anti-Hachette petition included readers, whose opinions don't seem to matter even though the anti-Amazon petition purported to be on behalf of readers.
Instead, Streitfeld points out that more people care about dolphins than books, but somehow doesn't think that's a false equivalency.
Then he says he's "on no side here".
You dismissed a petition with whale math, Streitfeld. Of course you're taking sides.
Next came Streitfeld's Orwell pieces. Hugh Howey obliterates them here and shows Streitfeld was being purposefully disingenuous here.
Have I made my point yet? Is calling Streitfeld a propagandist really stretching it? Or is he clearly spewing propaganda? What's next? How could he possibly raise the anti-Amazon sentiment he's propagating?
Amazon Takes Muppets off the Shelf - by David Streitfeld
That's not a joke. That's an actual Streitfeld newsworthy article.
Streitfeld: Eliminating the preorder button is thus a potent weapon for Amazon. It declined to take orders for Warner Home Video for several weeks at the beginning of the summer. And it has been engaged in a pitched battle with Hachette for months, causing some of the publisher's authors to see their sales on the site drop by half.
Joe sez: Sweet Jesus on a Cinnamon Roll! Amazon is engaged in nefarious acts of capitalism!
I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall during that pitch meeting.
A serious looking David Streitfeld speaks to his editor, Suzanne Spector.
Streitfeld: It's happening again.
Spector: What is? Obama killing people in drone attacks without the approval of Congress? Snowden and Greenwald revealing more about the NSA's illegal surveillance? Greater depth about the CIA enhanced interrogation report?
Streitfeld: Bezos is targeting Muppets.
Spector: Hot damn! You know I submitted your Lego Batman piece to the Pulitzer committee for consideration. This sounds even more newsworthy.
Streitfeld: I'm thinking we run a picture of Jeff Bezos, Photoshopped to look like Bin Laden, shooting a crying Kermit the Frog in the face.
Spector: I like it. Or maybe Fozzy being waterboarded. Or some other enhanced interrogation technique.
Streitfeld: Remember; it's okay to call it torture from now on.
Spector: Oops, yeah. Forgot.
Joe sez: I could go on. Streitfeld harping on Amazon's Fire Phone, covering the non-story of Authors United sending a Fed Ex to Amazon's board of directors, Amazon's super-secret Campfire, devoting a full article to the nonsense spouted by Wylie and Le Guin, Amazon's treatment of Paul Ryan...
At what point does the NYT have to admit that this is indeed anti-Amazon propaganda?
Let's get back to the definition of "newsworthiness".
More recently, the focus similarly remains on political and local issues; however, the news mass media now comes under criticism for over-emphasis on "non-news" and "gossip" such as celebrities' personal social issues, local issues of little merit, as well as biased sensationalism of political topics such as terrorism and the economy. The dominance of celebrity and social news, the blurring of the boundary between news and reality shows and other popular culture, and the advent of citizen journalism may suggest that the nature of 'news' and news values are evolving and that traditional models of the news process are now only partially relevant.
I'll opine that's clearly what is happening in this case.
Amazon is newsworthy in that it is a big, successful corporation, and everyone wants to read dirt about celebrities. When the NYT keeps quoting anti-Amazon morons without fair time for opposing common sense, devotes inches to Amazon's negotiations that harm Legos and Muppets, and throws journalistic integrity out the window, it is behaving more like TMZ than the Grey Lady.
Perhaps that's why the influence the NYT once had to sway opinion is diminishing. Citizen journalists--bloggers--are the ones who are truly reporting on the Amazon/Hachette dispute. Bloggers are the ones digging for truths, exposing nonsense, taking authorities to task.
There are no good guys and bad guys in any of this. Only individuals, groups, and companies, acting out of self-interest.
But self-interest can be enlightened. While benefiting yourself, you can also benefit others.
The Authors Guild, Authors United, and Hachette benefit some people, but harm others. The few they do benefit, benefit greatly. But they harm more than they help.
Amazon has helped more authors earn money than any other company in history. Right now it could be argued that they are harming authors (even though I think the better argument is that Hachette is the company harming authors in this dispute.) The thousands of authors having their pre-order buttons removed is still a long way from the tens of thousands of authors making money via Amazon, many who never made money before (but still not as many people as those who care about whales).
The NYT could be taking Amazon's side occasionally, and it would still sell papers. The story is still compelling when told from the opposite side. Or from both sides equally.
Instead, they have been siding with the status quo old school establishment. Hugh Howey just did a terrific post about how odd this is, compared to how the NYT reports fairly on other topics.
I suppose that why I, and many others, get our publishing news from Howey, and Eisler, and Milan, and Penn, and Gaughran, and Passive Guy, and Mayer, rather than the New York Times.
But if reporters and editors listened to Sullivan, maybe that would change.


text:
Please select your meditation time
Start Meditating
Conclude Meditation
St Paul
The teaching of Jesus, St John and Meister Eckhart we have looked at the last few episodes of the 'Weekly Teaching' brings out the importance of recognizing the two sides of our human nature.
Clement of Alexandria
How the early Church Fathers see this connection between our Martha and our Mary, between the 'ego' and the 'self', our Divine spark, is best illustrated in the teaching by Clement of Alexandria (150-215).
The active and the contemplative life in Origen's Mystical Theology
As I explain in my introduction to the Chapter on Origen in 'Journey to the Heart': "Origen was a native Alexandrian, highly educated in Greek, Jewish and Christian wisdom. At the young age of 17, Bishop Demetrius of Alexandria appointed him Head of the Catechetical School as successor to Clement.
The nature of the Divine
Early Christian Fathers stressed that we could not know God with our rational mind. No image, concept, or name could ever do justice. In fact, they saw it as blasphemy to attach a name to God, because that would limit the limitlessness or name the unnameable.
The three vows that are taken by Benedictine monks and nuns and Benedictine Oblates, who are committing themselves to live their lives according to the 'Rule of St Benedict', are 'Obedience, Conversion and Stability'.
Benedict conceived of conversion as a continual process. We need to constantly turn our attention towards the Higher Reality in prayer/meditation and in our day to day dealings with others.
Closely linked to the Benedictine vow of 'Conversion' is the vow of 'Stability'. Benedict was very aware that the continual conversion, the constant turning to the Divine in prayer and in life required on the spiritual path, was a difficult and often discouraging process.
Achievement or Grace?
In the third letter we met the 'Demon of Acedia'. As we have seen one of the ways we can defeat this 'Demon' is through perseverance in meditation/prayer regardless, but this is difficult.
Work and Pray
To work and pray was the way for the Desert Fathers and Mothers to arrive at ceaseless prayer: "He prays unceasingly who combines prayer with necessary duties and necessary duties with prayer.
The first of the Benedictine vows is 'obedience'. The root of this word is the Latin ob-audiens, meaning 'to listen intently'.

subset: commoncrawl


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On Tuesday, NFL.com's Albert Breer released his first mock draft of the offseason (of which I suppose there will be many) and had California wide receiver Keenan Allen going to the Dolphins with the No. 12 overall selection.
Today, ESPN draft guru Mel Kiper will conduct a conference call with media from around the country. On Sunday and Monday, NFL personnel people and coaches will begin their trek to Mobile, Alabama for the annual practices leading up to the Senior Bowl.
Yes, draft season has begun.
And I will be as excited as always to see what the every team does. This will be a seminal draft for the Dolphins as they have five picks in the first three rounds and those will determine the direction of the franchise for years to come. So this draft needs to be a home run for Miami.
But ...
This draft is only part of a strategy I believe the Dolphins must use. I continue to advocate and indeed demand that the Dolphins be major players in free agency, particularly as it applies to the wide receiver position.
Draft Keenan Allen if you like, Jeff Ireland. Draft Jason Allen or Armando Allen for all I care. But when you get to draft day, you better have a playmaking wide receiver or two or three (three is best) that was signed via free agency on the roster already.
- The Dolphins have sucked at drafting wide receivers under Bill Parcells/Jeff Ireland. Patrick Turner. Bust. Clyde Gates. Bust. B.J. Cunningham. Bust. Rishard Matthews. No idea but not a star. Brian Hartline. Good player coming off a breakout year. So one drafted wide receiver out of five has found success in Miami. Not a good percentage.
- Rookie wide receivers take a while to develop. And for a team that has failed to even identify good receivers, it is a leap of faith to believe this year's crop will not only buck the trend but develop instantly.
- I'm tired of covering a loser. You're tired of cheering for a loser. The Dolphins are on a losing skid, having four consecutive seasons in which they have lost more than they won -- 7-9, 7-9, 6-10, 7-9. That represents the four worst years in franchise history. I know you've read that last line before. I intend to write it over, and over, and over again, until it sinks in because it is unacceptable. And yet, not addressing the biggest position of need until the draft where I've already shown you this team apparently has trouble identifying talent, and furthermore doing it for a position that takes time to develop anyway, is a message that 2013 will likely be another year of waiting for better days. That is a loser approach. Not acceptable.
The winner approach is the one proven over time by multiple teams. The approach to take is if you have a young quarterback, you are better off giving him experienced, talented receivers to ease the sting of his growth.
This season, three rookie quarterbacks had greater success than Miami rookie quarterback Ryan Tannehill. You can argue they were simply better. Part of that is correct. But they also had experienced receivers that helped them. And not just experienced receivers but outstanding experienced receivers.
Andrew Luck did very well in directing seven last minute comeback victories for the Colts. He has Reggie Wayne he can throw to and Wayne is nothing less than a future Hall of Fame candidate.
Robert Griffin III took the Redskins to the playoffs. And he had experienced and outstanding Pierre Garcon and Santana Moss, another experienced and very solid playmaker to throw to. Moss is a former Pro Bowl player.
Russell Wilson is another rookie who was also better than Tannehill. He had Sidney Rice, a former Pro Bowl and 1,000-yard receiver and Golden Tate, who is in his third year and coming into his own. Rice and Tate combined for 14 touchdown catches. That's one more TD through the air than the entire Dolphins team managed in 2012. They also both averaged over 15 yards per catch, which is better than any Dolphins receiver had in 2012.
The point is young quarterbacks have a difficult job. But successful teams try to make that job easier by giving those QBs very good, experienced receivers.
This is not a new approach.
When Peyton Manning came into the league, he had Marvin Harrison as a three-year veteran. When Matt Ryan came into the league, the Falcons went out and got him future Hall of Fame tight end Tony Gonzalez to throw to. Phillip Rivers had more receiver talent around him than he knew what to do with and that included Antonio Gates. Ben Roethlisberger had Hines Ward, another borderline Hall of Fame candidate. Tom Brady's first-year as a starter he had Terry Glenn and Troy Brown. The Giants got Plaxico Burress in free agency for Eli Manning's first full year as a starter.
Sure, there are examples of quarterbacks and receivers coming up together bursting on the scene like a lightning bolt. Dan Marino, Mark Duper and Mark Clayton. But that is the exception rather than the rule. That is a once-a-generation thing.
You have a young QB and you expect him to succeed, get him a wide receiver who is very good and very experienced.
That is the reason I say adding the wide receiver in free agency is vital. If the Dolphins do it, they'll have a young QB but he'll be throwing to ready-made guys such as Mike Wallace and Greg Jennings and Brian Hartline -- hopefully all three! -- and have a choice of open, reliable, proven, big-time receivers.
Go through the draft and Tannehill will be throwing to guys who aren't sure about the speed of the game, are learning NFL defenses for the first time, are cross-eyed about playing 16 games and might hit the wall, and are unschoold about the veteran tricks of the trade. Worst of all, he may be throwing to guys that we eventually identify as busts.
Are the proven vets going to cost a lot? Heck yes. But it will cost less than 2009 when Miami put an offensive line on the field that cost $154 million in total contracts and that group scored, let's see, zero touchdowns.
The built from the inside out approach failed. NFL teams today don't pay the grunts. They pay the playmakers.
The Dolphins need playmakers. Wide receivers are playmakers. Wide receivers make their biggest impact when they have experience. The Dolphins have failed to identify receivers in the draft. Young quarterbacks are usually more apt to succeed if they have experienced wide receivers. The Dolphins have a young quarterback.
Is the puzzle coming together for you?
The Dolphins need to address the wide receiver position in free agency to maximize their chances of success. Period.


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HANG TIME HEADQUARTERS — You want to talk Washington politics, go somewhere else.
But if you want to talk Washington basketball, everything from the Dallas Mavericks' visit to the White House to whether or not John Wall and the Wizards can keep Flip Saunders from getting stuck on the hot seat, you have come to the right place.
Episode 64 of the Hang Time Podcast has a decidedly Washington flavor, courtesy of two of our guests:
— Our main man Earl K. Sneed of Mavs.com joins us to talk about the reigning world champions and their recent visit to the home and workplace of President Barack Obama, among other things. (He comes on after our debate about what the Magic need to do with Dwight Howard and what the Chicago Bulls could have to do with it, courtesy of our guy Shaun Powell from NBA.com)
— Michael Lee of The Washington Post put the finishing touches on this episode, helping us break down what's gone wrong with the Wizards, who still have issues to sort through after winning their first game of the season.
— Sandwiched between those two is an entertaining stint with Denver Nuggets strength and conditioning coach Steve Hess, who is a must-follow on Twitter (and who is trying to get to 10K followers — help the man out!). Hess gives us the scoop on the challenges teams are facing in regards to keeping their players healthy and energized on a nightly basis during this abbreviated season with the compressed schedule.
There is also a new item on the agenda (you need to listen to find out) that we'll need your help with. So make sure to share your feedback with everybody in the comments section and on Twitter.
As always, we welcome your feedback. You can follow the entire crew, including the Hang Time Podcast, co-hosts Lang Whitaker of SLAM Magazine and Sekou Smith of NBA.com, as well as our superproducer Micah Hart of NBA.com's All Ball Blog.
– To download the podcast, click here. To subscribe via iTunes, click here, or get the xml feed if you want to subscribe some other, less iTunes-y way.


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Right-Wing Media Baselessly Attack Obama For Not Supporting Israel ... Again
Research ››› ››› ANDY NEWBOLD
The right-wing media have launched another round of attacks on President Obama for supposedly being anti-Israel. However, Obama has regularly supported Israel, and according to a recent poll, the majority of Israeli Jews support him.
Right-Wing Media Continue To Claim That Obama Holds Contempt For Israel
Bill Kristol: Obama Is "Acting To Weaken The Security Of The State Of Israel." A Weekly Standard blog post, titled "Blaming Israel First," quoted a statement by Bill Kristol, the editor and founder of the magazine, saying that Obama thinks "the world would be a safer, simpler, and more peaceful place if not for the troublesome Jewish state." From the statement:
"Nobody believes President Obama when he claims, as he did last week, that he 'has done more for the security of the state of Israel than any previous administration.' That's because he hasn't -- and because President Obama and his administration keeps acting to weaken the security of the state of Israel.
"Just about the only thing in the Middle East that President Obama hasn't blamed Israel for is the Iranian nuclear program. But when it comes to this, too, instead of supporting crippling sanctions or preparing military strikes, the White House seems to spend more time deterring Israel from acting than deterring Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons in the first place. And the administration's energy seems more focused on undermining Israel and those members of Congress pushing for a tougher approach to Iran, than in undermining the Iranian regime.
"The Obama message is loud and clear: the world would be a safer, simpler, and more peaceful place if not for the troublesome Jewish state. [The Weekly Standard, 12/3/11]
American Thinker: "You Can't Be Pro-Obama And Pro-Israel." In a December 4 American Thinker article, Neil Snyder wrote, "Since the day he took office, President Obama has been anti-Israel":
Since the day he took office, President Obama has been anti-Israel.
Barack Obama has failed to achieve the bipartisan results that he promised to seek while running for office. In fact, he has created a chasm between the political left and right in this country that is wider than it has ever been.
President Obama's Israel policy is just as incoherent. At one point, Obama summoned Prime Minister Netanyahu to the White House for a tongue-lashing and a well-publicized, deliberate snub. After some political upheaval in the United States because of his Israel policies and rapidly changing events in the Middle East, Mr. Obama wasn't so sure about the Israel situation any longer, but he did hear something about the 1967 borders that sounded like a winner politically. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said that Israel's 1967 border should be her permanent border, and so did Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
Now more than ever before Israel needs a friend in the White House, and Barack Obama is not that person. After examining the facts, I am forced to conclude that you can't be pro-Obama and pro-Israel. The facts are presented succinctly in this short YouTube video: Obama - the Anti-Israel President. Watching it would be well worth your time. [American Thinker, 12/4/11]
Pamela Geller Blames Obama For "Jew-Haters" In His Administration And Claims He Has "Judeophobia." In a December 3 post on her blog Atlas Shrugs, right-wing blogger Pamela Geller pointed to comments by the U.S. ambassador to Belgium, Howard Gutman, as an example of Obama enabling "Jew-hatred or a complete ignorance of vicious Islamic Antisemitism." From the post:
Once again, it is either pure Jew-hatred or a complete ignorance of vicious Islamic Antisemitism as commanded in the quran. The gutless Gutman displays a stunning case of both, but understand: this is who Obama picks to represent America. Oh yes, I blame Obama. Jew-haters abound; you don't appoint them to your administration.
I meticulously documented Obama's judeophobia in The Post-American Presidency: The Obama Administration's War on America.
Obama Fundraiser and Ambassador Blames Israel for Anti-Semitism By DANIEL HALPER
The U.S. ambassador to Belgium, Howard Gutman, recently told a conference hosted by the European Jewish Union that Israel is to blame for growing anti-Semitism harbored by people of Muslim faith.
"A distinction should be made between traditional anti-Semitism, which should be condemned and Muslim hatred for Jews, which stems from the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinians," Gutman reportedly said, according to the Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth. "He also argued that an Israeli-Palestinian peace treaty will significantly diminish Muslim anti-Semitism." [Atlas Shrugs, 12/3/11]
But Polling Shows The Majority Of Israeli Jews Support Obama
Brookings: "A Majority (54%) Of Israeli Jews Polled In 2011 Expressed A Favorable View Of [Obama]." A "2011 Public Opinion Poll of Jewish and Arab Citizens of Israel" by the Brookings Institution's Saban Center for Middle East Policy, found that a "majority" of Israeli Jews support Obama:
Key Findings: Poll Results Among Jewish Israelis
Attitudes toward the United States
- In contrast with 2010, when majorities of Israeli Jews expressed unfavorable views of President Obama, a majority (54%) of Israeli Jews polled in 2011 expressed a favorable view of the U.S. President while 39% expressed negative views. [Brookings, 12/1/11]
Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu Has Repeatedly Praised Obama
Netanyahu On Obama's Opposition To A Unilaterally-Declared Palestinian State: "I Think This Is A Badge Of Honor And I Want To Thank You For Wearing That Badge Of Honor." From a statement by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu:
I want to thank you, Mr. President, for standing with Israel and supporting peace through direct negotiations. We both agree this is the only way to achieve peace. We both agree that Palestinians and the Israelis should sit down together and negotiate an agreement of mutual recognition and security. I think this is the only way to get to a stable and durable peace. You've also made it clear that the Palestinians deserve a state, but it's a state that has to make that peace with Israel, and therefore their attempt to shortcut this process, not negotiate peace -- that attempt to get state membership in the United Nations will not succeed. I think the Palestinians want to achieve a state in the international community, but they're not prepared yet to give peace to Israel in return.
I think that standing your ground, taking this position of principle, which is also, I think, the right position to achieve peace -- I think this is a badge of honor and I want to thank you for wearing that badge of honor, and also to express my hope that others will follow your example, Mr. President. So I want to thank you. [Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 9/21/11]
Netanyahu "Offered A Special Thank You" To Obama For Helping To Free Israelis Detained In Cairo. From a Jerusalem Post article:
Israel will continue to adhere to the peace treaty with Egypt, which serves the interest of both countries, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said on Saturday night, at the end of a dramatic 24-hours during which an Egyptian mob laid siege to Israel's embassy in Cairo.
All of Israel's emissaries to Cairo -- including six security guards who were holed up behind a metal door in the embassy and extracted by Egyptian commandos -- returned to Israel on Saturday, with the exception of one diplomat who will remain to represent Israel in the Egyptian capital.
Netanyahu, in a televised announcement on Saturday night, offered a special thank you to US President Barack Obama who "said he would do everything he could" to extricate the six security guards, "and did."
"He used all the means and influence of the US, which are significant, and I think we owe him a special thank you. This testifies to the strong alliance between Israel and the US. This alliance is critical, especially during these days of great storms buffeting the Middle East," the prime minister said. [Jerusalem Post, 9/11/11]
Netanyahu "Expressed His Deep Appreciation" For U.S. Funding For Missile Defense System For Israel. From an April 18 Agence France-Presse article:
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on April 18 thanked U.S. President Barack Obama for helping fund a missile defense system protecting the Jewish state from Palestinian rockets, the White House said.
Netanyahu "expressed his deep appreciation for U.S. funding for the 'Iron Dome' rocket and mortar defense system, which he noted has successfully intercepted several rockets aimed at Israeli communities," the White House said in a readout of the phone call. [Agence France-Presse, 4/18/11, via DefenseNews.com]
Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak: "I Can Hardly Remember A Better Period Of ... American Support" For Israel Than "Right Now." From the August 3 edition of Fox News' On the Record with Greta Van Susteren:
GRETA VAN SUSTEREN (host): I know that we're good friends. Our two countries are good friends. But are Israelis disenchanted a little bit with the Obama administration?
BARAK: No. Our countries are good friends, and I'm the minister of defense. I can tell you that I can hardly remember -- I was in uniform for decades. I can hardly remember a better period of both support -- American support and backing and Israel cooperation and similar strategic understanding of events around us than what we have right now. [Fox News, On the Record, 8/3/11, via Media Matters]
Right-Wing Media Have A History Of Baselessly Attacking Obama On Israel
Right-Wing Media Baseless Claim: Obama "Sided With Terrorists," Condoned "Potential Genocide" In Speech Outlining Vision For An Israeli-Palestinian Peace Deal. [Media Matters, 5/27/11]
Fact: Obama's Statement Is In Line With Past U.S. Remarks On Israel And Former Israeli Leaders. [Media Matters, 5/27/11]
Right-Wing Media Baseless Claim: Obama Will "Threaten Use Of U.S. Military Forces" Against Israel Based On Policy in Libya. [Media Matters, 5/27/11]
Fact: Obama Administration Has Promised "Unwavering ... Support" For Israel. President Obama said "the United States is going to be unwavering in its support of Israel's security." Furthermore, the U.S. vetoed a Security Council resolution condemning Israeli settlements, and acted on shared Israeli concerns over Iranian weapons threat. [Media Matters, 5/27/11]
Right-Wing Media Baseless Claim: Obama Is Supporting "Intifada" Against Israel By Restating U.S. Policy Regarding Israeli Settlements. [Media Matters, 5/27/11]
Fact: The U.S. Has A Long-Standing Policy Of Opposing New Israeli Settlements. President George W. Bush and his administration argued against Israeli settlements several times during his presidency. [Media Matters, 5/27/11]
For more information about right-wing attacks on Obama regarding Israel, please click here and here
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Colin Brady, professional animator and graduate of the California Institute of the Arts (CalArts), has worked as lead animator, animation director, supervising animator and co-director with animated film powerhouses Pixar and ILM (Industrial Light + Magic, a George Lucas company).
His credits have included Toy Story, Toy Story 2, A Bug's Life, Men in Black 2, Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events, and many others.
When did your interest in animation and filmmaking first develop?
The movie Star Wars came out when I was 7 years old; I saw it, and I said this is what I want to do. In third grade, I made my first animated film with clay figures, all in Super-8 film; I'd show my class my progress for show and tell. I did that type of thing all through junior high, and then in high school, I got involved in the theater program, working on the lighting and effects for our theater program's stage productions.
Tell us about your film industry education. How did you decide to pursue an education in filmmaking? How did you find a school?
I always wanted to get into the film industry, but I didn't know a lot about how to get there. When I was looking into the industry in high school, there wasn't any Internet, and there was not a lot of information available. But I knew had to get out of the Midwest and go to California.
I read George Lucas' bio, and I learned he attended University of Southern California, so I thought that would be a good place to go to school. I visited USC when I was 16, and thought the film program was really cool, but also that it seemed kind of tough to get a job. I was kind of brainwashed that it wasn't real or something. So as a compromise with my parents, I went to USC on a Mechanical Engineering scholarship, knowing I would be able to take classes in film, too. I went there for two years. I loved my animation courses, and that's all I wanted to do; I was going nuts because I couldn't stand engineering. My animation instructor told me about the animation and film programs at Disney-founded California Institute of the Arts (CalArts). I went there to visit, checked out a catalog and I fell in love with the school .That week, without even having been accepted, I dropped all my USC courses. My parents thought I had freaked out.
I got my admittance interview set up, and I brought in the pictures of the creature sculptures I had done through high school. I was very fortunate to be accepted on the spot, which was wonderful and the most pivotal moment in my desire to get into cinematography!
I had to wait until the next CalArts semester started, and then I was finally in school.
I just loved it, especially the creative atmosphere and the give and take atmosphere. CalArts puts all of the arts disciplines together – film, theatre, dance – it was like going to the school in Fame! In high school, I was always creating stuff, and I'd come up with these ideas. Don't get me wrong, I had great friends in high school, but I'd say, "Hey, I came up with this idea," and I'd tell them about it, and they'd be like, "That's nice…you're so weird!"
Anyway, only a few of my credits from two years of engineering at USC transferred, so I went to CalArts for three and a half years and earned my Bachelor's of Fine Arts degree in 1992. I took animation and film classes, made some student films, and took a lot of art history classes. For a while, I was drawing nudes eight hours a week. I started taking dance and dance history classes as electives because that's where the cute girls were, and by the end, I found that animation and dance are kind of one and the same.
The whole time I was at CalArts, my parents were still skeptical.
What did you enjoy about your education in film animation?
One of the cool things about CalArts was that the instructors were almost all professionals from the industry. CalArts is the No. 1 school for animation. A lot of companies go there to recruit, and most of the Pixar people come from there.
Quite often, after one year of school, you'd have the contacts you needed to get started in the industry. You don't necessarily need a four-year degree to get in this field if you have talent. I knew a 17-year-old CalArts student from Detroit who was going to school, and left after one year to design for Saturday morning cartoons. He was making $1,000 a week and sending money back home to Detroit. The same guy later designed characters for Madagascar.
What advice can you give to prospective students thinking about an education and career in the film industry?
Having a video camera and a computer are the most important things you can do to get into the film industry. Don't get caught up in having to take a class, or even going to art school. In film classes, a teacher will say watch the film, now watch it without sound, and you'll keep breaking the movie down into things like "how many frames per shot."
Start making movies now. If you make one movie a week, as a high school kid you can essentially teach yourself how to create films.
Each week, you should try a different style, such as kung fu, comedy or drama. Study films of each style. There's no shame in borrowing ideas from them, because they borrowed many of their techniques from those that came before them.
The editing and animation software you can get on computers today is incredible. If you've got a $300 video camera and a $500 computer program, you can make whatever film you want. Don't get too caught up with all the bells and whistles, like fancy cross dissolves, fire effects, tornados, etc.
Practice setting shots, making the idea of the film clear to the viewer. Peter Jackson, who directed Lord of the Rings, said, "Every shot tells one idea, you as director decide how to tell that point of view."
Shooting a character from a low angle makes them appear dominant or powerful; high angles make the character look submissive; horizontal is passive. Lighting and color also are very important; for instance, reds will make a scene more active. When regular people shoot video, they don't care about lighting. Shooting video of people on a sunny day is generally not very successful unless you have a strong fill light to reduce the harsh shadows.
Chuck Jones, who drew Bugs Bunny, once said that, "Everyone has 200,000 bad drawings in them, the sooner you get them out the better." It's the same thing with film and animation.
What tips can you offer to novice animators?
Oftentimes, first films are too ambitious. As a director, what I look for is someone who can take a stick figure man and animate him and make him look realistic. You can make the stick figure man do anything, change a bicycle tire or chase a butterfly. Take the stick figure man, have him walk to the counter, pour himself a drink of milk, then, "uh-oh, it's spoiled." One shot, done well, will get you a job as an animator.
Recently there was a contest, and I was really impressed with what a high school student did with animating Legos. It was crude, but it had clever dialogue; this kid was thinking like a film director with staging and timing of simple Lego people.
The trick to good animation is good acting. Act it out yourself. Often I'd act a scene 50 times in a row until the choreography became second nature; animation is all a careful study of real life. Videotape yourself acting, and don't overact. In real life, if you're sad, your eyes don't droop. My job is to make sure the animated characters look real, not like something out of vaudeville.
Part II: Colin Brady's Career >>


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Mapping Shepard: A conversation with Fran Gercke, "Geography of a Horse Dreamer" staged reading director
"The great thing about a Sam Shepard play is that you don't know where you're going or where you're going to end up. You just know that you took a wild ride."
Fran Gercke, director of Monday evening's staged reading of Geography of a Horse Dreamer at the Encinitas Library, pauses a moment before he adds, "And if it's done well, you want to go again."
It's hard to imagine that anything wouldn't be done well in this reading, with such a formidable cast assembled under Fran's leadership. Brian Mackey, Tom Stephenson, Tom Hall, Eric Poppick, Jon Sachs, and Jake Rosko will be bringing to life the story of the horse dreamer, whose winning predictions capture the interest of some local mobsters keen on exploiting his talents for big payoffs.
"It's the story of a wonderfully wacked out, incoherent group of people who get together to solve a problem," says Fran. "Shepard calls it a 'mystery,' but there is no Poirot in this story."
But there is more here than just your run-of-the-mill struggle for power, says Fran. Although it has been described as a riff on DH Lawrence's story "The Rocking Horse Winner," Geography of a Horse Dreamer could also be seen as an unpacking of American culture, as well as an exploration of hope and…dreaming.
"We're all chasing the 'American dream,' but whose dream is that?" Fran says, pointing out one of the most pervasive notes in Shepard's anthology. "Our quest for authenticity is always based on an image we saw somewhere, or what our grandparents told us about our cultural heritage. When we distort ourselves to match the image we are chasing, we find we don't like the distortion. It doesn't feel real."
However, this struggle for achievement is also part of our cultural landscape, he continues, part of our own "geography" of dreaming. Our only hope lies with the artists, who take on almost shamanic powers in Shepard's plays.
"In Shepard's landscape, if you are referred to as an artist, watch out," says Fran. "You have magical powers, and ones that you probably can't control yet."
In Geography, the artist is the dreamer.
"It's not a perfect play," says Fran, but it is perhaps the first play where Shepard begins to define his voice. We see the beginning notes of his later, more iconic plays like True West and Curse of the Starving Class.
"Shepard has a really wonderful and goofy sense of humor," Fran says, mentioning that during rehearsals this week, one of the actors described the play as an amalgamation of Quentin Tarantino, David Lynch, and John Waters.
"Basically he says, let's have a lot of fun and put people on stage you would never want to run into in real life."
— Tiffany Tang
Geography of a Horse Dreamer by Sam Shepard – a staged reading, will be held at the Encinitas Library, 540 Cornish Drive. Monday, July 22. 6:30 pm complimentary wine and appetizer reception. 7:00 pm reading. Please rsvp to email@example.com and pay with cash/check at the door or purchase tickets in advance. $15.


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Itzel Guerrero can't imagine her life without the Wooden Floor. She tries to picture it sometimes, but fails. Most likely, she doesn't want to.
So many experiences during her 18 years have taken root in the nonprofit's Santa Ana campus, she admits.
Growing up in a household where her older sister Elideth was a gymnast — an expensive undertaking — Guerrero recalls there being no resources for her extracurricular activities.
When she was 9, her parents took their friend's advice, introducing their daughter to the world of dance with a hunch that she might enjoy it. Turns out, they were right.
For the past nine years, Guerrero has spent, on average, six hours per week training — a number that has increased to 20 with performances at Irvine Barclay Theatre, Roy and Edna Disney/CalArts Concert Hall (REDCAT) and the group's own Studio Theatre.
"Less than being a dancer, being a part of the Wooden Floor has impacted me," said Guerrero, who lives in Orange. "It has opened doors to so many opportunities, as cheesy as that sounds."
The Wooden Floor, which is in its 30th year, works with 375 youths ages 8 through 18 in the hope of using dance to transform low-income communities across Orange County.
According to Dawn Reese, executive director and co-chief executive officer, Sister Beth Burns, a Catholic nun and trained ballerina, founded the Wooden Floor as a healthy and safe environment to keep kids off the streets. Initiated as a summer pilot project, it quickly gained traction when Burns homed in on the power of dance and joined it with academic and social services support.
The new name of the organization, which was called the St. Joseph Ballet Company until 2009, reflects the "foundation provided to each student as a launching pad for [his or her] success," Reese said.
Now, 53 classes per week run for 42 weeks of the year, exposing students to classical ballet and modern choreography, improvisation, composition and more. An estimated 3,000 elementary students are also offered Dance Free Weeks — a community engagement program with public schools in September and October.
"We set high expectations for the students in the studio, in the classroom and in life," Reese said. "The teaching style is nurturing and at the same time rigorous. Our goal is to provide hope, opportunity, life skills and mentoring to help economically disadvantaged students realize their potential."
Leading classes limited to 25 dancers allows faculty members to "develop a meaningful relationship with each student," she said.
Guerrero, who was recently accepted to UC Irvine — news that merited jumping and dancing around her room — knows that her path to college was paved with help from her "family" at the Wooden Floor, which provides free help with college research, financial aid, scholarships and even SAT preparation.
"I got help with my SAT prep, which, if I hadn't come here, my family would have had to pay for," said Guerrero, who now plans to study civil engineering. "I probably wouldn't have been able to take the course."
The Wooden Floor's five faculty members and four accompanists guide youths from Westminster, Huntington Beach, Orange, Anaheim Hills and even Riverside. Santa Ana and Tustin constitute 82% of the student body, Reese said.
With the help of private, individual, corporate and foundation support, the Wooden Floor is represented at 132 colleges nationwide, including New York University, Cornell University and Southern Methodist University, as well as those that fall under the UC and Cal State systems.
"We believe that dance really has the ability to shape and change the way students think about themselves and the world around them," Reese said, adding "positive self-image," "critical thinking" and "team work" to the list of benefits they gain.
Guerrero will be cheered on by family and friends when she graduates from Sage Hill School in Newport Beach on Friday with a GPA probably over 4.0. She received a scholarship to attend Sage since the eighth grade.
She is also looking forward to a ceremony at the Wooden Floor on June 14, a chance to be surrounded by several dancemates whom she counts among her closest friends.
One such example is Edith Delgado, who, like Guerrero, received a scholarship from UCI and the Wooden Floor.
Delgado, 18, from Santa Ana, remembers hearing about the Wooden Floor at Dance Free Weeks when she was in the fourth grade at Herbert Hoover Elementary School. After that, there was no turning back.
"Earlier, I was sort of a tomboy — I played soccer in the Little League," she said. "When I got here, it changed who I was. I was also very shy, and then I opened up as a person."
In the years since, she has been forced into a balancing act with classes, homework and dance, and not one could be dropped.
"Time management is a primary skill I've gained here," she said. "It's a really good asset to carry into college because I know I'm going to have to do the same there."
The soon-to-be Santa Ana High School graduate will pursue environmental engineering beginning in September. She stumbled across this interest early on, since her mother often said, "Hurry up, the water is going to run out," when she showered. Now a fan of conserving water, she wants to educate herself and solve global water issues.
She is also toying with the idea of minoring in dance.
Delgado is excited to be a freshman amid a diverse student body and experience the transition to college life. She knows she can't take anything for granted, though.
"Around my neighborhood, people usually go to high school and drop out," she said. "I didn't do that. Being at the Wooden Floor kept me grounded and away from bad influences and crowds. I'd leave school and come to my home here."


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Bookmark This: New Hampshire Birth Records, Early to 1900
Bookmark This: New Hampshire Birth Records, Early to 1900 (Free)
Created by FamilySearch - the online site for the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, Utah.
This collection contains the digital images of the index/abstract of 500,000 early New Hampshire birth records.
The records consist of index cards that give the town and date of the event and often much more information. With the town and date, the original records can usually be located. Normally there is only one index card per child, but occasionally there is a corrected card before or after the original card.
Nice graphics too.


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There's no finer fight than a good, old-fashioned sibling rivalry. That's exactly what Subaru has brewed up between the 2015 WRX and STI. With it's all-new direct-injection turbo 2.0-liter four, the WRX boasts a far more sophisticated heart compared to the STI's old 2.5-liter lump.
But which is the brawnier brother? We stuck them both on a dyno to find out. Read the full story, complete with numerous power graphs, here.
Oh, and we also put the plain WRX trunk on the STI. Because you know, boredom.


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Black Lace, Leather, Velvet & Ribbon Chokers
Lace & Ribbon Chokers are fully Customizable. In most cases we can add beads to lace designs if your interested or if you need a measurement or dimension of any of thing you see, just ask!!!
Scroll to bottom of page to select another color or style of choker
Reorganize Your Search of our chokers at BeadCreation.
Simply click on the direct link below to view the specific choker style.


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Is It Wise for an Athlete to Test the Free-Agent Market? — Sports Survey of the Day
As a professional athlete approaches free agency, he has two choices: sign a contract with his current team, or wait to offer his services to the highest bidder. Most choose the latter. Is this smart?
In the eyes of the athlete, of course this is a good move. He only has so many chances to ink a big deal, so whoever makes the best offer usually wins out, regardless of whether that offer comes from the player's original (or long-term) team. Wes Welker, for example, has been a big part of the New England Patriots since 2007; he says he will test the free agent market.
To fans, it hurts to see a player they've rooted for for years suddenly depart for another team. And sometimes, the process turns ugly. Dwight Howard left a sour taste in many NBA fans' mouths after his public battle with Orlando ended with his being traded to the Lakers. And how can we forget about LeBron James and "The Decision"?


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#32 wrote:But I dunno if he'll be as big a shot blocker as you think, migya. On paper, his arms reach 7'4". But he doesn't appear to try swatting taller players (and, in the NBA, more than half of his competition will be taller). While he's not quite Troy Murphy, in the sense that shot-blocking seems like a skill he lacks, he wont ever be the kind of forward who'll average 2 or 3 (like Elton Brand or Jermaine O'Neal)... at least, not in his first 3 years. My prediction would be 1, maybe 1.5, a game.
He was touted as being a great shot blocker and I think he will at least be decent. At first he might not, but in a month or so I reckon he will excite with his defense as well as his offense


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After over a year in the making, CIA : Operation Ajax, an ambitious interactive graphic novel brought to you by Cognito Comics, is finally out on the App Store. Designed specifically for the iPad, Operation Ajax tells the story of the Iranian Coup (backed by the CIA) during the early 50's, and it's based on the book All the Shah's Men: An American Coup and the Roots of Middle East Terror by Stephen Kinzer. The graphic novel is 210 pages long and features moving animations, ambient sound effect, bonus content (character dossiers, historial newsreels, authentic declassified docs from the CIA etc) and even its own original musical score. This is certainly not your typical comic book in the form of an app. Best of all, Operation Ajax is currently free for the next two week, after which the $7.99 price tag kicks in. If you have an iPad, this is defintely worth checking out, especially now that it's a freebie. Video demo after the break.
Cognito Comics, CIA : Operation Ajax, – Free


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Sioux Falls Good Shepherd Center Needs Your Support
Somewhere in Sioux Falls, a family is coming to town. Desperately short on money. Maybe with no money at all. Their road has been long, but somehow it lead them here. Hungry, tired from the road and in need of a quick shower. For just a moment put yourself in their shoes and think, 'what would I do?'
If you spent a little time in church this weekend chances are you heard something in the message about shepherding. In many churches it's Good Shepard Sunday which brings me to a wonderful place here in Sioux Falls that helps people. The Good Shepard Center.
According to Good Shepard Director Maria Krell,
The Good Shepherd Ministry Center a non-profit, ecumenical ministry, provides daytime shelter and services for people who are homeless, poor or newly arrived in our community. For many, these services make the difference to getting a new start – and rebirth in confidence and hope that leads to a happy ending.
Last year alone, we had a total of 32,000 guest visits that included men, women and children. They come to us to find a place to shower, do laundry and use our phone to search for jobs and housing. Adults find respect and dignity, and kids spend precious moments just being kids.
It's been said that without a sense of caring, there cannot be a sense of community. For the sake of the men, women and children that use our services, the Good Shepherd Ministry Center calls upon you to help keep our welcoming doors open.
I'm thinking it might take you about 4 minutes to put a bag together. Here's how it could help. Grab an empty plastic bag from the grocery store, (I'm sure you have a load of them around the house) and put a few items together. Most people have a pretty good stock in the bathroom. Items we're talking about include: Coffee, #10 cans of fruits and vegetables,Laundry Soap,Shampoo, Conditioner.
If you don't have extra around the house, put an empty bag with your shopping list for the week and put some of the items in while you shop. Then you can drop them off at the Good Shepherd Center at 300 N. Main Avenue, Sioux Falls.
As part of The Good Shepherd Center in Sioux Falls, The Kateri Center offers daytime shelter for men and women, shower facilities for men, a phone for job and housing searches and refreshments. On average we serve 120 people a day.
Lunches are served Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday at 11:30 for all who want a free meal!
And that brings me to my final point. If it's easier and you're able, they would graciously accept monetary donations as well.
Think about it today from your warm home. From your soft easy recliner. Gather a few things up and take them down, or click and donate. Someone out there right now, could use our help.


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Developing with the newest of the new packages is always a bit tricky. Every now and then they break in interesting ways. Sometimes they corrupt the system so much that downgrading becomes impossible. Extreme circumstances may corrupt the system's package database and so on. Traditionally fixing this has meant reinstalling the entire system, which is unpleasant and time consuming. Fortunately there is now a better way: snapshotting the system with btrfs.
The following guide assumes that you are running btrfs as your root file system. Newest quantal can boot off of btrfs root, but there may be issues, so please read the documentation in the wiki.
The basic concept in snapshotting your system is called a subvolume. It is kind of like a subpartition inside the main btrfs partition. By default Ubuntu's installer creates a btrfs root partition with two subvolumes called @ and @home. The first one of these is mounted as root and the latter as the home directory.
Suppose you are going to do something really risky, and want to preserve your system. First you mount the raw btrfs partition somewhere:
sudo mkdir /mnt/root sudo mount /dev/sda1 /mnt/root cd /mnt/root
Here /dev/sda1 is your root partition. You can mount it like this even though the subvolumes are already mounted. If you do an ls, you see two subdirectories, @ and @home. Snapshotting is simple:
sudo btrfs subvolume snapshot @ @snapshot-XXXX
This takes maybe on second and when the command returns the system is secured. You are now free to trash your system in whatever way you want, though you might want to unmount /mnt/root so you don't accidentally destroy your snapshots.
Restoring the snapshot is just as simple. Mount /mnt/root again and do:
sudo mv @ @broken sudo subvolume snapshot @snapshot-XXXX @
If you are sure you don't need @snapshot-XXX any more, you can just rename it @. You can do this even if you are booted in the system, i.e. are using @ as your current system root fs.
Reboot your machine and your system has been restored to the state it was when running the snapshot command. As an added bonus your home directory does not rollback, but retains all changes made during the trashing, which is what you want most of the time. If you want to rollback home as well, just snapshot it at the same time as the root directory.
You can get rid of useless and broken snapshots with this command:
sudo btrfs subvolume delete @useless-snapshot
You can't remove subvolumes with rm -r, even if run with sudo.


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It's amazing what a neon dress can do for your look! The prints in this one are wild, so its a good thing that it came in the simplest of cuts. I didn't want to look like a highlighter exploded on me, so I stuck with a single black bracelet and clean black booties- thats it! The perks of wearing a heavy print in bright colors is not having to pile on the bling, and still looking like you made an effort!
Another plus about this dress? You can score one for yourself! That's right, ANOTHER GIVEAWAY! YAAAAY! (Sorry to my international readers, but this give-away is only for Philippine residents 🙁 ) 10 of my readers can get a chance to win pieces for PILL CLOTHING which include shoes and apparel. All you have to do is:
1. Like Pill Clothing and Thirstythought on FB
2. Follow Pill Clothing and @kryzzie on twitter
3. Follow this blog on BLOGLOVIN'
4. Leave a comment below with your Name, email address, FB and Twitter URLs.
Please only leave a comment ONCE. Winners will be chosen via RANDOM.ORG and notified via Twitter. Contest runs from now until Dec 29 at 11.59PM. Goodluck to everyone!
Pill dress, FFAQ boots, Trendphile bracelet
hype this look on lookbook and chictopia!


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Gilda and Bob Kurtzman" email@example.com
On June 17, 2002, an organized group of Israelis set out for a visit to Vohlynia in Ukraine. Most of our group of 19 people, (which includes the Israeli guide) were survivors of the Holocaust. Bob and one woman were children of people who had lived in Ukraine but had left Ukraine earlier. The Israeli guide's parents were survivors.Vohlynia, Ukraine is both beautiful and ugly. The two major towns we visited were Kiev (the only city to which El Al flies) and Rovne. Kiev is a composition of older style architecture mixed together with the typical Soviet style block buildings. Rovne is just ugly and dirty. There is no awareness of tourism and the hotel rooms were not of the standards to which we are accustomed. The hotel in Kiev had a luxurious lobby but the rooms we were given, as a group, would be rated here as two-star. I would rate the hotel room in Rovne as minus-one star. The sheets and towels were clean. The bathtub was stained, the plumbing old, and there was no hot water after 10 p.m. until 6.30 a.m.
But the countryside is magnificent. There are miles and miles of rolling green expanses, large and lush forests, and many farms with large plots of all kinds of vegetables and grains. Hiding in the thick forests is what saved many of the few Jews who managed to escape the horrors of the Holocaust.The collective farms were the property of the Soviet regime until Ukraine's independence ten years ago. Now they are leased to individuals and the land has not yet been privatized. Much of the equipment was stolen so the farmers work manually with primitive methods because there is no credit system with which to purchase new equipment. There is a movement to privatize in a few years by which all members of the community will get equal shares – and which, most likely, many of the shares will be sold to big conglomerates. In the meantime, the people are poor and their sustenance comes from what they grow. So, one sees in their yards, the cattle for milk products, chickens, geese, turkeys and even pigs, which will be a dinner for them in the future.
Arrival in Kiev late at night. We went straight to our rooms.
We began the day by leaving Kiev on our way to Rovne. Kiev is the capital city of Ukraine, with a population of 350,000 plus another 100,000 in the suburbs. Today there are about 12,000 Jews in Kiev. It is the most modern city and the greenest in Europe with many beautiful parks. But, the people are poor and the average monthly income is $100. In the villages people earn about 55 grivna and live mostly from what they grow.Our first stop was Zhitomer which has a Jewish population of 1,500. We visited the Chabad (Lubavitch) synagogue that was built at the beginning of the century. Only in the recent past was it taken over by the Lubavitch movement. We also stopped at a house where Chaim Nachman Bialik (the prominent Hebrew writer) once lived but it was completely remodeled and only a plaque hangs on the wall to commemorate the fact.We arrived in Rovne in the afternoon.
Rovne is a large town in Vohlynia. We visited the paltry remains of the Jewish cemetery, now a public park. About three stones are standing, only one of which was still readable. Others were used for paving the path. From there we went to the old Jewish area and saw the outside of the present synagogue plus an older one, which is now a sports center and music conservatory. In the evening there was a short discussion of anti-Semitism, given by the guide that Bob and I hired privately and afterwards someone from the Rovne Jewish community spoke but we went to discuss some things with our private guide.
A few months ago we retained the services of a researcher in Ukraine by the name of Alexander Dunai. He had come highly recommended by Sallyann Amdur Sack, the editor of Avotaynu (the International Journal of Jewish Genealogy). Alex is also a tour guide. This trip was privately organized by a group of people who were going to one specific area in Vohlynia. Since Bob's family came from Vohlynia but in a totally opposite direction from this area which is where their families originated or, about 250 kilometers away, we decided break away from the group and tour on our own with Alex as our guide for two days. Although not Jewish, Alex is probably the foremost authority on Jewish genealogy in Ukraine. He received a BA degree in history and at some point someone asked him to do some research on a Jewish family which stirred his interest in this field. He is a charming man, highly cultured and extremely knowledgeable. We enjoyed his company very much.
We started our tour south to the towns of Kusmin where Bob's father was born and raised and to Nicholeyev (Mickoleyev in Russian), the hometown of Bob's mother. Our first stop on the way was at a roadside memorial to the Jews of Slavuta, just outside that town. It is in the shape of a menorah and the inscription reads "Here in this forest, Lysa Hill, in six graves [mass graves] are buried the remnants of 800 peaceful citizens of Jewish nationality of the town of Slavuta who were murdered by the German Fascist invaders in July 1941." This monument was erected jointly by the Ukrainian government and the survivors of Slavuta.
Our next stop was at Staraconstantinova, where we had been told there was an exhibition of Jewish items in the museum. When we arrived at the museum, we were told that these things had been put away but a worker who had done some indexing of the Jewish families from the town insisted on going with us to the Jewish cemetery. There are a few older graves and many new ones from after the war. Regina, the lady who accompanied us told us that friends of the family tend the graves and when she saw one of someone she had known, she began to pull out the weeds around it. There is also a mass grave, a long, long row of a small heap of dirt surrounded by a white fence. At the end of the fence is a monument to the 5,000 Jews buried in the grave. This was also erected by the city together with the survivors.
At one time there were 20,000 Jews in the Staraconstantinova County with five Jewish schools. At present there is a community of 100 in the town. Bob said a prayer at the gravesite and I had tears in my eyes. The lovely Ukrainian lady, who was sighing the entire time, put some flowers on the monument. Although we had been told to bring new dollar bills to give to the people in appreciation for their generosity, she refused to take the tip we wanted to give her.Our last stop that day was at Kusmin. This was very exciting for both of us, but naturally more so for Bob.
When we entered the town we found a young woman with a child who took us to an old lady. The young woman said her mother had told her that Jews lived in the town before the war; in the center because they were mainly merchants. Unfortunately, the old lady has lost her memory and did not remember anything. However, she did not refuse our gift. The young woman did refuse to take anything although Alex told her to accept it to buy something for the child. From there we went to the Town Hall. The mayor was ill but the bookkeeper, who is 64, received us and told us a little more about the Jews of the town. She remembered they had been marched out of town, to a spot about one kilometer away and been shot. Kusmin was at least half, if not more, Jewish before the war. There are no Jews left there today and the total population of the village is 1,200.
Then she showed us a book, in Ukrainian, of the history of the village. She asked us to pay her for it, which was less than $4.00. Alex was kind enough to translate the explanations of the photos in the book plus some of the statistics. We will have to find someone who reads Ukrainian to translate the rest of the book. I doubt that is going to be possible. Nevertheless, we were delighted to get it, if only for the photographs.
Then we went to the lake, Lake Sluch. This was another high spot of the day. Bob had heard so much about it from his father and his aunt, Bessie, who used to make fishing nets for the fishermen. He had pictured it as a small river but it is a very large expanse of water, which borders on three sides of the town. The last place we visited in Kusmin was the former cemetery. Today it is a grassy hill with no evidence of any burials. There is a small mound at the bottom of the hill with trees growing on it. This is the place of the mass grave of the Jews of Kusmin. This night was spent in a lovely hotel in Krasilov, which is close to both Kusmin and Nicolayev. There are hotels in Ukraine that are comfortable with modern amenities!!!
This day was devoted to Nicolayev. From the moment we entered the village I was enchanted. I had the impression that Nicoleyev has not changed much in 100 years. One can get the feeling of how our ancestors lived before they immigrated to the United States. The horse and cart are still being used as transport, although there are cars and the animals are moving freely in the streets. Today's population is 500 souls but before the war it was 1,500, half of whom were Jewish.
We began by asking a lady where the older people in the village lived and she directed us to the home of a 94 year-old man. We asked him if he remembered a number of names but the only name that he said sounded familiar was Kurtzman. He then let us come into his home and I could envision what a house looked like at the turn of the century even thought this particular home was built in the 30s. It was small; the rather primitive kitchen was immediately in front of us. To the right side as we entered was a ladder which led up to a loft in which corn was being dried. He told us that Jews owned the two houses next to his. They are now abandoned.
Across from these homes an older lady came out to speak to us. She remembers the tannery (Bob's grandfather was a tanner) and that one Jew, who was the manager of the tannery, was saved by a family in the town. (The tannery no longer exists.) Afterwards he became the mayor of the town and even though he could not save the synagogue from destruction, he was able to save the church. The women seemed to be appreciative of this fact and she also remembered having Jewish neighbors with whom she was very friendly.
From there we went to the Town Hall where the mayor received us. Although a newcomer to the town, he was able to give us some information. The current pharmacy and school (80 children) stand where there were Jewish homes. We asked the fate of the Jews in this town and, like the stories we had been hearing everywhere, they were marched to Proskerov where they were shot at the Gunpowder Storages. The Nazis did not take the Jews to concentration camps in Ukraine. They killed them in their own hometowns.
Perhaps I am wrong but from the lack of animosity and even willingness to help us, I felt that the Ukrainians were more or less passive when it came to the extermination of the Jews, although some of the survivors said they did cooperate. Perhaps there was a different reaction in larger towns where there was not as much interaction between the Christians and the Jews and the smaller villages where they lived together in harmony. What Alex told us was that they did think the Nazis were going to liberate them from the hated Soviet rule, so the Ukrainians did not actively stop them.Our last stop for the day was at the Jewish cemetery in Nicolayev.
We drove to the site and I was sure that we had been given the wrong instructions, although Alex kept saying that it had to be there since the Jewish cemetery was always next to the Christian one. Alex started to fight his way through the grove of trees, with heavy brush, nearly waist high at times. He went further and further into the grove until we could no longer see him. We heard his voice calling us and then we started to try to make our way through. Alex was standing at one grave. When we began to read the tombstone, it was for Nechama, daughter of Yehuda the Levi. This was a find! Bob's grandfather was Edel. Edel is the Jewish name for Yehuda. Bob's grandfather was a levi (The levis were the priest's assistants in the Temple in Jerusalem.). Although we know that Bob's mother had no sister by the name of Nechama, this could have been a cousin (i.e., two first cousins could have been named for a common ancestor by the name of Yehuda (Edel).
There were three other tombstones in this cemetery. Perhaps there are more but the trees and brush were too thick to even attempt to try to find them. We then wended our way back to Rovne. In the evening about half of our group went to an outdoor coffeehouse where Bob and I drank Coca-Cola and just talked. Then a group of people came in and began singing Ukrainian songs. We then decided to sing Israeli songs. First they would sing, then we sang. It was a nice way to end a wonderful day.
I feel that this day was wasted. We spent an hour in the museum of Rovne, which has some artifacts from the war plus one small showcase of Jewish items. Then we drove for three hours to the grave of the Baal Shem Tov (the founder of Hassidism) in Medzhibozh. I thought it very commercialized. The grave itself is plastered over with a tremendous white box and there are charity boxes all around. There is a dining room there in which we ate a lunch of potato soup with small pieces of potatoes in it followed by French-fried potatoes. Then we traveled again for another three hours to Kiev where we spent Shabbat. We went to the Chabad synagogue for services and then had a nice dinner in the synagogue.
We went to the synagogue for morning services and then lunch in the same place. The synagogue Shalom Aleichem. Although there are some nice stores and a beautiful monument to Liberty with wonderful fountains around it, the city did not appeal to me.
The morning was spent with a short bus trip around the city of Kiev (founded in the 5th century) that included stops at two beautiful churches (some people did not enter) and ended at Babi Yar. I am at a loss to describe the site. Babi Yar is a forest in which there are two separate monuments to the victims of the Holocaust.
The first one is the general memorial, with steps leading up to a statue of people falling into the ravine as they are being shot. This is for the general population (e.g., Ukrainians, gypsies, etc.) who were exterminated by the Nazis). Although there is no mention of the Jews there is a plaque in Yiddish.
The second, smaller memorial is in the shape of a menorah with about ten steps that lead up to it. We said some prayers there and then heard how the Jews were stripped of their clothing, lined up in groups of 30 with their faces to the ravine, and shot so their bodies would fall into the deep ravine. If the first shot did not kill them, they would be shot at again while lying in the ravine. Afterwards their bodies were burned. When the Germans realized that this was going to be discovered, they covered up the remains with dirt. Today natural vegetation covers the pit. Thirty-three thousand Jews were exterminated there between September 20-30, 1941. Afterwards, others that were found were added.
From there we ate a late lunch at the synagogue and went to our hotel to rest up for the evening activity.
This evening, at 7 p.m. we went to the Kiev ballet. This was another high spot of the trip. The ballet was "The Corsair". The dancers were wonderful, the costumes outstanding, and the music by Delibes beautiful. We all enjoyed it tremendously.
On this day we traveled to Uman, the site of the grave of Rabbi Nachman from Breslov, the founder of a hassidic dynasty whose philosophy is based on joy. The Breslov hassidim have erected a complex consisting of a synagogue around the tomb, a dining room, a mikveh (ritual bath), a hotel for the hassidim who come to pray at the tomb of their leader and even an apartment building for those who want to spend their vacations in this village. Prayers were said, the Torah was taken out and read, and then the men danced around the synagogue. I found it all quite unusual and interesting.
From there we went to a large park but did not have much time to walk around. We ate our picnic lunch there and returned to Kiev for dinner in the synagogue and then to the airport for our return home to Israel.
During the entire trip we heard stories of how these people managed to survive. It was not easy. We can by no means describe this as a pleasure trip or vacation. It was a journey – a journey to the past, with some of the joys but more of the pain. One lady found the house of her aunt, with some of the furniture still in it. Another man visited the people who helped save him. Others were disappointed by not finding their homes and wished they had more time to wander around the towns.
Only Bob and I were with a private guide for two days and another woman had a private guide for an afternoon. Many of the people would like to go back and investigate further. I have no desire to return to Ukraine but perhaps Bob will take his sons one day. For them it would be a ray of light on the curtain of the past.