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Anthony Charles Williams II has never had a comfortable relationship with the industry that made him famous. Fans know him as Tonéx. "Pronounced Toe-Nay" was the name of his breakthrough album, a decade ago, and it marked the arrival of a major new voice in gospel music. Tonéx's eccentric style and vertiginous high notes helped make him one of the most acclaimed praise singers of the past decade and, for a time, one of the most successful. He had a certain hip-hop swagger, and he cultivated a coy, teasing sensibility; he had the status of a sex symbol, while portraying himself as a righteous alternative to the decadent mainstream. One early song, "Waiting," sounded a lot like a breathy slow jam, though the lyrics were about "waiting" for divine guidance. ("Now that I listen back to it, I cannot believe I got away with it," he says, chuckling proudly. "That's where I got a lot of my female fan base from.") In his music videos, he flirted with raunchiness: he couldn't thrust his hips, but he could undulate his torso and snap his knees open and shut. A boisterous live double CD, "Out the Box," won him six trophies at the 2005 Stellar Awards, gospel's most prestigious event, and sold more than half a million copies. His success was proof of the continued popularity of gospel music, a vibrant genre with its own infrastructure and star-making machinery; he was a welcome guest at all the biggest black churches, a regular presence on BET's gospel shows, and a headliner at the gospel festivals that fill theatres and arenas nationwide. But then Tonéx fell from grace—or, depending on your point of view, was pushed.
He is only thirty-four years old, a young veteran. He has released dozens of CDs, which contain some of the strangest and most seductive Christian pop music since the glory days of James Cleveland; his most evident musical forebears are adventurous pop stars such as Stevie Wonder, Janet Jackson, and Erykah Badu. He knows his way around an old-fashioned spiritual, but from the start he delighted in embracing the cultural signifiers of the nonchurch world: Indian incense, hip-hop slang, Rastafarian head wraps, slim-fitting European suits, trunk-rattling bass. He also made a habit of tweaking old-fashioned, upstanding churchgoers, though not always intentionally. For gospel stars, as for other black church leaders, there remains something slightly scandalous about divorce, and in 2005 Tonéx was divorced, after four years of marriage to Yvette Graham, a singer who had sometimes recorded as Ms. Tonéx. Since then, he has made a series of inflammatory statements in which he denounced the industry and questioned church doctrine.
This past September, the television host known as Lexi broadcast an interview with Tonéx on the Word Network, a gospel channel, in which the singer made his clearest public statements so far about his sexual orientation, which had long been a subject of speculation and debate. In the interview, Tonéx sits on a pale-green couch, quietly but confidently answering questions that he had been avoiding for years.
Lexi asks, "Have you struggled with homosexuality?"
"Not 'struggled,' " Tonéx says, cagily. "It wasn't a struggle."
Lexi perseveres. "Is being attracted to men under control?"
Tonéx repeats the phrase, weighing it. " 'Under control.' "
"You said you were attracted to men, at one point."
" 'Am'?"
"So. Do you practice?"
"Like, piano?"
Tonéx laughs, clearly enjoying Lexi's discomfort. Later in the interview, he says he believes that God honors "same-sex covenants," and implies that churches should, too. Lexi asks whether he is waiting for God to deliver him from his attraction to men. "I'm not sure that's something I have to be delivered from," he says.
The interview was an immediate sensation. Tonéx is an unlikely activist, and in the video he declined to label himself gay, or to advocate gay marriage. (He told Lexi that he believed the term "marriage" was "set aside for man and woman.") Even so, Tonéx is the first high-profile gospel singer in history to come out of the closet. Many of his fans wondered what took him so long. Maybe some of them wondered, too, what took gospel music so long, because the question that Tonéx finally answered has been haunting the genre for the better part of a century.
Within hours, Tonéx started to realize what he had done. "The next day, like, six things just cancelled," he says. "Like, 'Oh, no.' " Upcoming concerts melted away. His relationship, however strained, with the mainstream gospel industry—an interconnected world of radio stations and publications and promoters, built on the fractured but sturdy foundation of the black church in America—was effectively over. For Tonéx, there will be no Pentecostal-convention appearances, no religious-radio hits, and no grand (and remunerative) gestures from sympathetic and well-connected megapreachers—at least, not any time soon. He had been singing tenor in a local choir, but he quit, because he was afraid that his reputation would damage its legacy. He says that he got a surge of e-mails, from friends and strangers, but in public his fellow gospel stars remained silent, or worse. (The gospel singer Deitrick Haddon declared, via Twitter, "I don't have a sissy bone in my body," although he claimed that the post wasn't aimed at Tonéx.) And pastors began to use his life as a parable about what can happen when a Christian strays from Biblical truth.
Tonéx is hopeful that the attention generated by his announcement, and the righteousness of his message, will make him more successful than ever. The Bible says, "The glory of this latter house shall be greater than of the former," and Tonéx adds, "Either I'm about to run into that latter greatness or I've done something incredibly wrong." In the meantime, he is starting over, equipped with little more than a music studio and a small but eager band of devotees. On a recent Thursday afternoon, the man who used to be called the future of gospel music could be found in his studio, in a small business suite in Lemon Grove, a suburb of San Diego, where he was teaching a lanky kid named Eric how to sing.
Tonéx was dressed in cheerful hip-hop chic: a black-collared shirt with polka dots, halfway-baggy jeans, maroon high-top sneakers. In the past, he was known for outlandish hair (he had a mohawk phase) and wigs, but nowadays his appearance is anti-theatrical. And although his various public rants and recantations have sometimes suggested that he is impulsive to a fault, he has a sober manner that seems calibrated to foster the opposite impression. He is muscular but slight, with a mellow speaking voice, soft enough to draw an interlocutor toward him.
His studio is decorated with an image of himself in a samurai pose, against the backdrop of a Japanese flag (when he is giving singing lessons, he calls himself Vocal Sensei); a moody photograph of a shirtless man embracing a naked woman; a poster of Johnny Depp in "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory"; reproductions of Afrocentric paintings. "Star Guitar," a dreamy electronic track by the Chemical Brothers, came through the speakers, and Tonéx led Eric in a rhyme: "I never, ever, ever do a thing about the weather / 'Cause the weather never ever does a thing for me." The exercise was designed to improve enunciation and breath control. After a few minutes, he moved on to the subject of vocal runs—the ostentatious embellishments that gospel singers use to demonstrate the strength of their anointing, and their lungs. He sang a wordless phrase, full of wild swoops and yodels, and then disaggregated it, showing Eric how to build a big flourish out of small ones. Tonéx turned to an open laptop and addressed its built-in video camera. "If you want to be a track star, and run real well, then you've got to break down that sequence of notes, and make sure you're hitting every one," he said. He paused. "Y'all there? Can we move on to the next one?" A few dozen people had logged in to watch the lesson live on the Web; this session was free, but Tonéx hopes to turn online vocal instruction into a business, charging fifty dollars per session. Later, when the camera was off, he did a quick calculation. "A forty-student class? That's rent!"
The next morning, Tonéx arrived at his office later than he'd planned, and he seemed subdued. He was wearing a turquoise-and-white striped American Eagle polo shirt with the collar up, and he was holding a duffelbag that contained Boston, his white Maltese. He said, "When I got up to see you, man, I woke up to a disconnected cell phone, on the verge of being evicted, living with my mom—to take care of her—and thinking, How the hell did I end up here?" Along one wall, there was a rack of polyester dresses and gowns in SweeTart colors, which he sells to churchgoing women of a certain age. ("Church jumpsuits," he calls them.) Next door is a boutique he owns, the Ink Spot, a shag-carpeted place that sells affordable bohemian clothes, many of which seem to have come straight from Tonéx's personal collection, along with designer sunglasses of uncertain provenance; it was closed, and stayed that way all weekend.
He was sitting at his computer, and he pulled up a recent unsolicited e-mail:
If you're running from something, remember, you're only running from yourself. Reevaluate yourself, your life, and spirit, and ask yourself, "Is it all worth it?" You know your charge and your calling, but it's up to you to pick up the mantle. I'm praying for you, and supporting you. No matter what you do, you will always have me in your corner, God bless.
He laughed without smiling and said, "Well, obviously not." He still seems wounded when confronted with evidence that some old fans feel betrayed; he can conceive of no good reason that people everywhere shouldn't love him. "Usually, I just delete," he said, as he scanned the e-mail one last time. Because he thinks of himself as a brave and often misunderstood artist, he eschews false modesty. He is given to grand pronouncements—at one point, he held forth on "all the wonderful things that I've accomplished in a short period of time, and all that I've endured in a short period of time." But it doesn't take much to make him crumple. When asked whether any of his friends in the industry had stood by him, he took a deep breath, and his eyes filled. "In their hearts," he said, barely keeping his composure. "They want to, but they can't. And I understand that."
Tonéx calls the church world "the hyper-bubble," and he was brought up entirely within it. His father, who was known as A. C. Williams, followed a love of music out of the church and into the secular world, where he found some success as an R. & B. saxophone player—he backslid, and did so happily. Then, one Sunday in 1970, he went to church and heard an aunt sing "The Blood Will Never Lose Its Power," and he was saved all over again, which inspired his wife, Betty, Tonéx's mother, to get saved, too. Williams had considerable personal charm—Tonéx remembers his "grand-piano smile"—and he put it in the service of salvation. In 1993, after working as a schoolteacher, he founded Truth Apostolic Community Church, in the San Diego suburb of Spring Valley. He died in 2004, and Tonéx has led the church ever since, although he tries to keep his gospel stardom out of the pulpit; visitors are often surprised to find that in a typical service there is lots of talking and not much singing. Tonéx's church follows an experimental philosophy: the chairs were replaced by couches for a while, to create a student-friendly coffeehouse environment, and he has sometimes preached lying down, holding the Bible the way a kid might hold a coloring book. But these days attendance is low, and for Tonéx the church is more a liability than an asset; its mortgage is one more monthly bill that he has to figure out how to pay.
Tonéx grew up in an unpretentious San Diego neighborhood called Oak Park, in a tidy one-story house that he still likes to visit, with an eye toward buying it back someday. (One suspects that if the city offered to buy it, name it a historical site, and convert it into a museum, he would not object.) He stopped by on the way to lunch, and squinted at the lawn through the car window. "It was way plusher than this," he said. "They screwed all this up." In the context of gospel music, Tonéx has always seemed unusually streetwise, or tried to. (He once delivered a Christian boast in hip-hop form: "I be poppin' caps in demons' aspirin / I know you're drooling off my beats—here's a napkin.") But, as he tells it, he wasn't the kind of boy who tended to inspire fear: he was studious and curious and slightly freaked out by neighborhood violence. He remembers that his grandmother lived on "one of the scariest streets ever." The family stereo was devoted strictly to gospel music, and he spent hours in the living room leading an imaginary gospel choir. "The record-player was the lead vocalist," he said, seeing himself back inside. "The bookcases were tenors, the couches were the altos—because they were usually stout." But he had five older brothers, and a different atmosphere prevailed in the basement, where they hung out; their tastes ran more to Rick James, Bootsy Collins, and Prince. He remembers hearing "Let the Sunshine In," from "Hair," and having a revelation that he can now describe in precise musical terms. "It was a minor and a major chord working together," he says. "I didn't know that that sound could be accomplished outside of gospel."
The Williams family belonged to the Pentecostal Assemblies of the World; like most Pentecostal denominations, the P.A.W. traces its roots to Azusa Street, in Los Angeles, where, in 1906, a half-blind preacher from Louisiana named William Joseph Seymour led a series of revival meetings that grew into a worldwide movement. The name comes from Acts 2, which describes the gathering of the apostles, soon after Christ's ascension, on the day of the Pentecost: "They were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance." (Peter had to explain to a skeptical crowd that, appearances notwithstanding, the apostles weren't drunk—they were saved.) The Pentecostal Church aimed at nurturing and spreading the jubilant atmosphere of that worship service, including the practice of speaking in tongues.
Depending on his mood, Tonéx can describe his childhood among devout Pentecostals—who call themselves "saints"—in comic or tragic terms. In his office, he had told a story about films he had seen in church when he was five or six that featured lurid visions of the apocalypse, complete with suggestions that bar codes might be the mark of the beast. He said, "Practically all my life, I walked around on eggshells, homey—like, 'Is this the end of the world, today?' " He paused for a long time and looked away; when he started talking again, his voice was breaking. "Any time I couldn't find my parents, or they didn't come home on time, or didn't answer their phone, I'm thinking, It's the Rapture," he said, in a whisper. "That shit used to scare me to death."
Now, after visiting his old house, he was thinking of his childhood differently: as an elaborate game, with rules he didn't really understand until he had stopped playing. He drove to a favorite Mexican restaurant and, over enchiladas, cheerfully swapped P.A.W. war stories with his assistant, who was also reared in the P.A.W. "I didn't even think that there'd be white people in Heaven, because there were only black people in our congregation," Tonéx said, and the assistant nodded vigorously. Tonéx looked at the other diners, most of whom were middle-aged and casually dressed. "I'll give you a mind-set from 1982," he said. "None of the people in here are saints—even me, because this shirt calls attention to the flesh." (It did look a little snug.) Instead of taking vacations, the Williams family went to P.A.W. conventions, which were, in a sense, more exciting. "From a sexuality point of view, it's bananas, because now you've got all these closeted freaks in the same place," Tonéx said. "The adult-channel audience goes up sixty per cent. We're so repressed that when we do wrong we don't even do wrong the right way!"
The biggest black Pentecostal denomination is the Church of God in Christ, whose faithful are often known as COGICs. While COGICs baptize believers "in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost" (as prescribed in Matthew 28:19), the P.A.W. follows Acts 2:38, in which Peter tells the disciples, "Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ." Tonéx remembers advocating oneness theology—"bangin' Acts," in church slang—when he was as young as ten, and when he was a teen-ager he had "Acts 2:38" tattooed on his right biceps. Though he takes great pleasure in mocking the old sectarian disputes, he holds fast to much P.A.W. doctrine, including the importance of baptism in Jesus' name.
This seemingly obscure theological dispute helped inspire an ecclesiastical split that became a cultural divide. "COGIC is really tall and very wide and very bright and very flamboyant—they wore makeup in the eighties," Tonéx said, with mock horror. "We thought we were more righteous: 'Honey, that's why they dress like that—because they don't have the fullness.' " Nearly all the Pentecostal gospel stars were COGIC; Andraé Crouch, who wrote "The Blood Will Never Lose Its Power," got his start with a singing group called the COGICs. Still, the P.A.W. had a strong enough musical tradition for Tonéx, who had a spiritual awakening at the age of seven, drawn in by the vague idea that being saved would make him more powerful ("like the Bionic Man"), and by the church drum set, which could be played only by a saint. So he tarried for the Lord, which means shouting "Thank you, Jesus!" and "Hallelujah!" until you receive the gift of tongues. "It's the most intense joy I've ever felt in my life," he says. He was a saved soul, but also, he freely admits, a poor sport: "Other kids hadn't got it yet, and I remember grabbing the Communion and looking at them like"—he smiled, and cocked his head—"Sorry!"
For most of its history, gospel music has had two missions: to smuggle secular thrills into church, and to smuggle spiritual fervor out of it. Three missions, really, since the first two often turned out to be quite lucrative. America's first gospel stars were the Fisk Jubilee Singers, who were recruited in the late eighteen-sixties, from the campus of Fisk University, by George Leonard White, a Civil War veteran who served as the school's music teacher and also its treasurer. The first Fisk Jubilee concerts were held in order to plug a hole in the school's budget. Audiences were soon praising the group for bringing an authentic taste of plantation life to the concert stage (never mind that these were college students, singing modern arrangements of old melodies and lyrics); they sang for President Grant in 1872, and, the next year, for Queen Victoria. In the early twentieth century, black vernacular hymns got tangled up with the sound of the blues, and by the nineteen-twenties a new style was emerging, guided by the Baptist singer and songwriter Thomas A. Dorsey, who split his early career between the sacred and the profane. His extraordinary catalogue includes "Take My Hand, Precious Lord," which became, in Mahalia Jackson's rendition, a staple of the civil-rights movement, alongside such smutty masterpieces as "It's Tight Like That" and "Somebody's Been Using That Thing." As the industry thrived, fans came to expect gospel singers to praise the Lord full time, but the genre remained ambiguous, because it found expression in praise songs that echoed (or influenced) pop songs, and praise singers who sounded (and, sometimes, acted) like pop stars.
Gospel was a sound, but it was also a process: the ongoing combination of African-American sacred music with whatever was on the radio. By the early nineteen-nineties, that often meant hip-hop, or hip-hop-inflected R. & B., and so Tonéx taught himself how to use drum machines and sequencers, and he put together a singing group, ATACC, which stood for "Anointed Truth Apostolic Contemporary Chorale." He says that in churches "it was not common to see lasers and fog and strobes and signs outside that say 'It's going to be a very loud event.' " The first ATACC concert was held at Truth Apostolic, which was starting to thrive. Tonéx's fame was growing along with his father's. For the second concert, the group booked a bigger church, down the street, and soon it was crossing over to non-Pentecostal congregations. Tonéx was signed by a local Christian label called Rescue, and then by Jive Records, the home of Britney Spears and R. Kelly, which also operates a gospel subsidiary, called Verity.
Jive issued "Pronounced Toe-Nay" in 2000. The album contained Tonéx's first breakthrough song, "Personal Jesus," which borrowed its title from the British New Wave band Depeche Mode. Tonéx's "Personal Jesus" had a spaced-out funk groove that recalled Sly & the Family Stone, and a simple declaration: "You are my personal Jesus / I love you more and more." Tonéx now suspects that the song, with its drawled vocals and strutting beat, might never have found a home on gospel radio, or in church-choir repertoires, without the prophylactic power of Jesus' name. "As long as you have 'Jesus' in every other lyric, you're safe," he says. Pious listeners probably heard the title as a playful exercise in spiritual tautology—Jesus is my Jesus. But perhaps a person's "personal Jesus" could be, for better or worse, something else altogether: a spirit, a drug, a woman, a man.
By 2003, Tonéx was eager to be more than an outlier, so he booked himself into the San Diego Civic Center and recorded "Out the Box," a live album that is his most traditional gospel release. Backed by a proper gospel choir (albeit one called the Peculiar People), he sang and preached and hollered, sounding like a cross between a Broadway actor and a tent revivalist. The album spawned his signature song, "Make Me Over," which is an earnest plea for redemption, despite the cheerful title. (One verse begins, "Time after time I failed you / Pierced your side, when they already nailed you.") It quickly graduated from a live favorite to a gospel-radio hit and then to an African-American church staple. Even now, it is one of those songs which everyone in the pews seems to know, and YouTube is full of renditions by local choirs, soloists, saxophonists, and a few Christian mime troupes. In January of 2004, Tonéx travelled to the Stellar Awards, in Houston, where he performed with Sheila E.; although "Out the Box" hadn't arrived in stores yet, the performance was a kind of coronation.
A few hours after the show, Tonéx learned that his father had had a stroke. Tonéx took over the family business, although his father continued to preach occasionally. That July, Pastor Williams had a heart attack, and Tonéx's temporary assignment became permanent, more because he felt he couldn't refuse it than because he wanted it. "I felt like I'd be letting him down—my dad didn't raise a quitter," he says. But he was angry, because he felt that his father's single-minded devotion to the church had taken him away from his family and, ultimately, contributed to his death. His apocalyptic childhood nightmare had come true: his father had disappeared forever, and the church was to blame. As the services grew more idiosyncratic, formerly loyal members started to leave, including most of his father's side of the family.
One of the people who left was T. L. Carter, a former yeoman in the Navy who had been an armor bearer for Pastor Williams—a personal assistant who travelled with him, protected him, prayed for him. Carter is a tall, animated man, with closely cropped hair set off by a rakish gray goatee, and he says that he was prepared to be Tonéx's armor bearer, too, but was troubled by his unorthodox style. One Sunday, Tonéx called himself Prophet N8tion. Carter says, "My daughter came up and asked me, 'Dad, what are you going to change your name to?' That's when I decided I had to get out of there."
A few years later, Carter started his own congregation. Tonéx's church, Truth Apostolic, lies halfway up a hill; from the parking lot, you can see past homes and shops to the serrated peaks of San Miguel Mountain. In a scruffy shopping center down the road about a quarter mile, jammed between the Veteran's Thrift Store and Hector's Taco Shop, sits Pastor Carter's three-year-old venture, Mt. Calvary Pentecostal Church. Beyond a humble storefront, there is a large sanctuary, with space for about two hundred worshippers. Mt. Calvary was mostly empty on Saturday morning, except for a worshipper who stopped by to purchase a Treasure Box—a carton of groceries that the church sells to bargain-hungry members. Carter speaks fondly of Truth Apostolic, but he said that some of Tonéx's teachings are "unfounded in Scripture."
When Carter talks about "the sin of homosexuality," he is speaking for the Pentecostal mainstream, and probably the broader Christian mainstream, too. "It is an abomination," he said, pressing his palms together for emphasis. "God hates it. But I do not treat it any different than the sin of fornication, than the sin of adultery, than somebody who drinks, smokes, cusses—it's all sin. So do I have homosexuals in my church? Yes. On both sides, male and female. Do I treat them any different than the liar I have walking in my church? No."
Tonéx sensed early on that he was attracted to other boys, and he spent the better part of three decades trying to figure out what that might mean for him. One day when he was eighteen, he told his parents that he thought he was bisexual. His father said, "You need to go listen to some gospel records," and his mother just cried. Not long afterward, Pastor Williams preached a sermon in which he decried "faggots." (The next week, Pastor Williams apologized to the congregation for his choice of words.) Tonéx says, "Perhaps he thought that by speaking on it so harshly it would make me turn the other way." When Tonéx started preaching, he occasionally denounced homosexuality, too, partly because such denunciations work so well. "You can talk about a slut, a hussy, a heifer, a player, any other subject—you are not going to get the response you get when you start talking about fags, or gays," he says. "It's like a football game!"
Decades of evasion, followed by the sudden shock of disclosure and its consequences, have underscored Tonéx's habitual seriousness; the result is that he tends to talk about sexuality in abstract terms. In the face of a church culture that views homosexuality as a form of decadence, he has deëmphasized lust and joy, at least during interviews. (When one blogger asked him if he was single, he said, "It's more about energy and love and an understanding of oneself. Right now I'm dating me.") And he won't say much about his marriage to Yvette Graham, except to insist that they had a "wonderful sexual relationship." But, in his music, a slightly different sensibility emerges, more playful and more disquieting. "Feelings," from the double album "Oak Park: 92105," is a diaphanous ballad—it sounds like Michael Jackson at his gentlest—about sexual addiction, coiled around an unexpected Karen Carpenter sample. And in a spoken introduction to a song on "The London Letters" he teases listeners with an introduction that sounds like a bombshell: "So I'm digging this guy, right. And I dig him for who he was. But I'm really digging him for who he almost is. To me, that's the epitome of sexy." The dénouement arrives immediately—"As a matter of fact, that guy is me. I like me!"—but it doesn't quite cancel out the illicit thrill of those opening words.
The provocation got sharper in 2007, when Tonéx, feeling frustrated with his record label (which still hadn't released a follow-up to "Out the Box"), and beset by rumors, released a song called "The Naked Truth," which circulated widely, and in which he proclaimed, "I did it, I made it / The genius, the faggot, the weirdo, the homo, the hobo, the magnet." This was, he explained, a statement of defiance, not a declaration of identity, but it hardly quelled the curiosity about his personal life. (He later apologized on his MySpace page to his church family and to the P.A.W. hierarchy, asking forgiveness for the "pain and embarrassment" he had caused.)
It's not only gospel purists who might be bewildered by Tonéx's discography. In the years since "Out the Box," he has given his fans almost nothing but sketchbooks—self-released albums, freewheeling mixtapes, remixes, and miscellaneous singles—and yet along the way he has honed a style of his own, a sly but ecstatic form of electronic pop. (As much as any singer alive, he could use a greatest-hits-and-misses album, or a few of them.) Early last year, he made a major-label comeback with "Unspoken," which was propelled by quirky electronic percussion and elusive lyrics. It was, in retrospect, a final, halfhearted attempt to succeed in the gospel mainstream. Despite positive reviews, the album was largely ignored by the gospel industry, although the secular world was slightly more receptive. The lead single, "Blend," was a moody, rock-inspired ballad, and it earned Tonéx a Grammy nomination, in a suitably open-ended category: "urban/alternative."
Tonéx taped his interview with Lexi in Nashville in April, during the networking exercise known as Gospel Music Week, where he was promoting "Unspoken"; he says now that being there reminded him of everything he hates about the gospel industry, which may help explain why he answered Lexi's questions with unusual candor and a minimum of filibustering. Torrence Glenn, who blogs about gospel music for BET, says that fans had long made their own assumptions about Tonéx, adding, "There's certain things that you assume or that you even know, that as long as it doesn't become real, you're fine with it." By going public, and by suggesting that a homosexual relationship can be as godly (or ungodly) as a heterosexual one, Tonéx went from being just another sinner to being a high-profile heretic. Glenn remains a fan of Tonéx but says, "He would have to definitely seek or claim some kind of deliverance, in order to be accepted in gospel."
The most forceful response came from Donnie McClurkin, a Long Island pastor and singer, who for the past decade has been one of gospel's biggest names. (He performed at the 2004 Republican National Convention, and, in 2008, at a gospel concert organized by the Obama campaign.) This past November, at the youth meeting of the annual COGIC Holy Convocation, in Memphis, he delivered a sermon on the dangers of homosexuality. McClurkin was weeping before he even started preaching, and, between sobs, he said, "I can't condemn Tonéx. I got to love Tonéx! But I got to tell him the truth: this is not the will of God." The jeremiad eventually morphed into a message of healing:
Right now, every one of you young people that say, "I need this, and I can't leave out of here acting like this, I've got to be right, I don't want to be an effeminate man, I don't want to be a hard woman, I don't want to be in homosexuality, bisexuality, trisexuality—I'm not a lesbian, I'm a holy woman of God! I'm not gay, I'm born again!" Come now. Run now! Run, run young people! Get up! Get up! Get up! GET UP! I said run!
In the video, which was posted on YouTube, blurry teen-agers stream toward the stage, and McClurkin, speaking in tongues, lays hands on them. He also makes a personal appeal. "If it hadn't been for this Jesus, I would be homosexual to this day," he says, or, rather, roars, and his knees buckle as if someone had slugged him.
In his memoir "Eternal Victim/Eternal Victor" (2001), McClurkin told the story of his life. He was raped when he was a boy, and says that, as a result, feelings of "homosexual lust and desire" grew in him, and nearly consumed him. (Tonéx, too, has talked openly about being sexually assaulted—at three, by a relative, and again, at six, by a preacher—but he is careful to say that he doesn't "blame" those experiences for his orientation.) Eventually, through prayer and practice, McClurkin says, he reoriented himself, defeating a proclivity that is, in his account, as tenacious, and as conquerable, as any addiction. Tonéx has known McClurkin for years, and he was deeply offended to hear himself named in McClurkin's sermon. Tonéx said, "He owes me an apology, and he owes me a private phone call."
When lifelong heterosexuals denounce homosexuality, they often speak in terms of disgust, but McClurkin speaks about desire. In his view, same-sex attraction isn't natural, but it isn't unusual, either. He takes it for granted that heterosexual manhood is both an identity and a project. In one of the most moving passages in his book, McClurkin explains that he was tutored in masculinity by some of the older women in his church. "If you held your hand up in a feminine way," he writes, "they'd hit your hand and tell you to 'Put your hands at your side. Men don't hold their hands like that!' " This instruction extended to music, too: "When you wanted to sing soprano, you'd hear them say things like 'Get some bass in your voice!!' or 'Men don't sing soprano!' "
To anyone who associates gospel music with whooping and hollering, this last injunction—"Men don't sing soprano!"—might come as a surprise. In fact, gospel's falsetto yawp, sometimes known as the "high who," was popularized in the late nineteen-forties, by the Ward Singers, an all-female group known for their flamboyant vocal embellishments, and for the wigs and the dazzling gowns they wore onstage. Their innovations helped inspire "Professor" Alex Bradford, a world-class whooper in the forties and fifties who was also gospel's first great provocateur. He made the "high who" one of his signatures (it was also adopted by Little Richard, who, in turn, transmitted it to the Beatles); like the Ward Sisters, Bradford saw no reason that God and glamour should be incompatible. In "The Gospel Sound," Anthony Heilbut's spirited history of the genre, Bradford recounts a trip he took with his group, the Bradford Singers, to Georgia. "We were wearing black robes, each fellow had a different-colored pastel stole," he said. "Child, those country women died laughing, they thought it was dresses." Later in the book, a gospel fan from Detroit praises Bradford, saying, "That man can do the most ridiculous things, but I want to tell you, Professor can sing, do you hear me?"
Bradford's spiritual mentor was Prophet Jones, a Pentecostal preacher from Detroit, who was sometimes called the Messiah in Mink. (As the historian Tim Retzloff has written, there was a "homosexual subtext" to Jones's rise, and he was eventually brought low by a gay sex scandal.) But, even more than preachers, gospel singers have always been allowed a certain amount of "ridiculous" behavior; many have discovered that theatrical excess is, in fact, a job requirement. "Since gospel is theatrical, and theater is the paradigm for much of gay life," Heilbut writes, "gospel has a special allure for gays." The explanation may not be satisfying, but the affinity is indisputable. As a stock character in African-American folklore, the gay choir director probably predates gospel music, and by the time Heilbut published the first edition of his book, in 1971, he had no trouble amassing evidence that the gayness of gospel was an open secret. One gospel singer tells him, "There's more sissies and bull daggers in the Sanctified churches, and they all think they're the only ones going to Heaven." Decades later, the cultural anthropologist William G. Hawkeswood described the "flirtatious" atmosphere in the choir dressing room at a large Harlem church. One singer told him, "They all carry on, even the straight ones. But as long as it's kept in the family nobody's gonna say nothing."
The open secret got less secretive with the rise of disco, which fused roaring, churchy vocals with a hard dance-floor pulse. Gospel singers and groups found themselves embraced by the free-spirited culture of night clubs. In 1977, Carl Bean, a former member of the Bradford Singers, scored a hit with "I Was Born This Way," which became a gay-rights anthem and a disco classic. (Bean later founded Unity Fellowship Church, which serves African-American gay and lesbian communities in Los Angeles.) Sylvester, the most outré of all the disco divas, was also a regular worshipper at the Love Center Church, in Oakland, an inclusive COGIC congregation led by Walter Hawkins, of the famous Hawkins family. (He was a member of his brother's group, the Edwin Hawkins Singers, which recorded the 1968 smash "Oh Happy Day.") Hawkins played piano on one of Sylvester's last singles, and when Sylvester died, in 1988, of AIDS-related causes, Hawkins delivered the eulogy at his funeral, which was held at the Love Center.
For many listeners, the golden age of gospel ended on February 9, 1991, with the death of the Reverend James Cleveland. He was beloved for his warm, granular voice, and for the precise way that he combined huge choirs with muscular rhythm sections; he did as much as anyone to give gospel music its funk and its swing. A year later, in March, the magazine Jet complicated Cleveland's legacy with a one-page article that bore the headline "James Cleveland Infected L.A. Youth with HIV, $9 Mil. Lawsuit Claims." The plaintiff was a man who said that he had had sexual encounters with Cleveland for three years, starting when he was a teen-ager, and the suit was settled quietly out of court. The allegation didn't undermine Cleveland's popularity—his fans had long since learned to ignore the whispers. One of those fans was Tonéx's father. "He just loved anything James Cleveland," Tonéx says. And the rumors? "He just blocked that out of his mind." It was only a few years later that Tonéx told his father he might be bisexual; apparently, Pastor Williams didn't register the irony of prescribing gospel records to his son in the hope of straightening him out.
Part of the job of a gospel singer, nowadays, is to reinterpret the genre's perilous history, translating it for listeners who may have come to love the music while ignoring the context in which it was born, and the lives of the people who created it. The provocative tradition of Alex Bradford lives on in singers like Ricky Dillard, a brazen Chicago showman who got his start in the city's house-music scene; his swooping, twirling conducting style sometimes scandalizes the worshippers. (A performance at the 2008 Stellar Awards, during which he kept dropping to a squat, was particularly controversial online, though it received a standing ovation from the audience.) Others have taken a more confrontational approach. The gospel hip-hop star Kirk Franklin, who was, for a time, one of Tonéx's closest friends in the industry, once wrote that homosexuality is "a problem today in gospel music—a major concern—and everybody knows it." And Tye Tribbett, a frenetic beanpole who puts on one of gospel's most exciting live shows, blends fierce dance moves with messages of deliverance, shouting, "Come out of lesbianism! Come out of homosexuality!"
Bishop Yvette Flunder is a same-gender-loving pastor and singer who grew up COGIC, and worked alongside Walter Hawkins as an assistant pastor at the Love Center Church, which was, as she puts it, "quasi-affirming": all people were welcome, but not all relationships were celebrated. Flunder is one of the founders of City of Refuge, in San Francisco, which is part of the United Church of Christ, and which explicitly affirms same-sex relationships, and, more recently, of the Fellowship, a nationwide network of like-minded congregations. In her view, gospel music is gay music, with vanishingly few exceptions; she estimates that the proportion of gospel performers who are, or have been, same-gender-loving might be as high as ninety per cent. "And I'm being conservative," she says. She thinks Tonéx could be a harbinger of the next Christianity, one that is "radically inclusive of the same-gender-loving community." Maybe that's unlikely, but it's clear that the old arrangement can't last forever. Gospel music has offered generations of same-gender-loving singers a place to call home, in exchange for their obedience, or their silence. This tricky and sometimes hard bargain shaped the genre, guiding its transfigured love songs, its expressions of praise and sorrow, its twinning of the orthodox and the outrageous. And there's no telling what gospel will sound like when that tacit arrangement no longer holds.
It was Sunday morning at Mt. Calvary Pentecostal Church, and Pastor Carter, having sweated through his undershirt and his striped dress shirt, was getting to work on his gray suit jacket. A woman in a white skirt, white tights, and white flats handed him a small white facecloth that seemed entirely inadequate. It was time for the sermon, and Carter was waxing accusatory. "In church, we like to act like we know the Lord—like, buddy-buddy," he said. He was preaching on the reality of human suffering, and its impermanence; the vastness of God's grace, and its mystery. He found his way to an old favorite, Psalm 23: "The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures." A violent exposition followed, to balance the peaceful imagery. Carter was finding his rhythm:
I want to cuss somebody!
But the Lord says, "Lie down!"
I want to slap somebody in the mouth!
But the Lord says, "Lie down!"
He maketh me to lie down!
Soon, the choir had started singing, and congregants were approaching the altar to pray, to be prayed for, to be touched, to collapse. New members were invited up, and some of the older members formed a line, hugging each newcomer in turn.
Around the time that Pastor Carter was wrapping up and announcing the evening-service preacher ("Elder John Black—he used to be a musician in the Gap Band"), Tonéx was getting ready for his sermon, up the hill, at Truth Apostolic. The apse was painted black, like a theatre stage, and a lava lamp, from an earlier era, sat unplugged, near the small bandstand. There were perhaps fifty worshippers, virtually all African-American, and overwhelmingly female, and Tonéx stood before them in a black cassock, buttoned from ankle to neck. A woman made an announcement about the upcoming fright night, a Halloween alternative, which had been scaled back (there was no money for it) but not cancelled. Tonéx smiled. "God has not given us the spirit of fear, yet we're having fright night—the irony of the Cross," he said.
"What Do I Do When My Faith Needs Faith?"—that was the sermon for the day. Tonéx said, "This is for the saint that says, 'I hate my life and it sucks,' " and he built gradually from explication to exclamation. There was prerecorded gospel music, with a drummer and an organist playing along, and Tonéx, carrying a cordless microphone, went back to the sound board, where he fiddled with the mix while delivering a repeated exhortation: "I know that God is able!" He returned to the pulpit, shouting now, and singing praise, and worshippers were starting to weep or collapse or dance; a woman in a long jean skirt was running laps, and ushers moved swiftly to prevent mid-aisle collisions. "This church has been in need of a breakthrough," Tonéx said. He was pleased by the response, and perhaps also by the timing of it—he certainly knew that there was a reporter in the house. But, even as he hugged the saints and watched them crumple to the floor, he held something in reserve, as if he were still trying to figure out how it all worked, and whether it did.
The day's real message was not, in fact, about how faith conquers all but, rather, a consideration of faith's limits. "This is the season you are authorized to say no," he said. He offered a prediction, and a dispensation: "Between now and February, it will be the time when you need to pour into yourself." A few people nodded. "The churches are in a drought right now," he said. The saints were shouting their assent, but Tonéx wasn't really talking to them. In fact, he might have been talking about leaving them. "You only have enough oil in your lamp to keep yourself saved," he said. Later, he asked, "If this word blessed you, can you sow again?" The response was slow, so he tried again. "Come on, everybody, sow at least five dollars," he said. "Last Sunday, we raised five hundred dollars, so that might have kept this row of lights on."
Tonéx's rival, Pastor Carter, suggests that Tonéx might have done better, and done more good, as a travelling evangelist, touring and spreading the word, churchless. The congregation at Truth Apostolic has dangerously few of the financially secure seniors whose loyal tithes help keep a lot of churches afloat; many weeks, Tonéx, too, wonders if it's worth it. Asked if he would keep pastoring, he made eye contact and said, "You're here right now in the middle of I-don't-know-ville." In his ministry, as in his music, Tonéx offers only a promise to be true to himself. And listeners can't ask for much more than that—but perhaps worshippers can.
It was past midnight in Lemon Grove, and Tonéx was in the studio, getting ready to record his vocals over a booming funk beat, with a snare roll inspired by Southern hip-hop. The song was an updated version of "Twelve Gates to the City," a gospel standard based on a description of Jerusalem from Revelations 21. The song was both a nod to gospel history and a reproach to critics who have accused Tonéx of abandoning the genre. Boston was asleep in one corner, and his assistant came and went—there was no soundproofing, and Tonéx didn't seem too worried about background noise. Sitting at the mixing board, he leaned into the microphone and sang, "Shaka-laka, shaka-laka, shaka-laka, boom." Working quickly, he moved the blinking cursor back and sang the phrase again and again, each time with a different tune. After a few minutes, he played back what he had created: a rich and precise gospel harmony. He could almost have been back in that Oak Park living room, conducting a choir of one.
Tonéx has a new mixtape on the way, a tribute to Janet and Michael Jackson, and he is trying to make a name for himself as a pop songwriter and producer. He also has a new album that he has promised to release early this year; it's called "A Brilliant Catastrophe," and he says it's his most ambitious work since "Out the Box," though he doesn't yet know what record label, if any, will release it. (One of the songs on the album is called "The Details"; it's a tense and sensual—though not quite gender-specific—monologue sung in the voice of a suspicious lover.) He wants to turn his life story into a musical (he got strong reviews for a recent turn in a San Diego production of "Dreamgirls"), he has signed on with a modelling agency, and he is figuring out how to cultivate his growing contingent of same-gender-loving fans. By talking plainly about his sexual identity, Tonéx has scrambled his professional identity. Almost since the day he got saved, he has been a preacher, a gospel singer, a testifier. Now he is merely a musical prodigy with lots of options, none easy. And, on December 28th, his mother died; she was his strongest connection to the old Pentecostal world, which was once the only world he knew.
In the studio, Tonéx works fast and alone—in the course of three hours, he never looked puzzled, and he hardly ever erased anything. He laid down a multitracked chorus, a couple of short verses about Heaven, and some ad-libs; the end result was a quirky and profoundly funky gospel song, complete with nineteen tracks of overdubbed vocals, all of them his. There were lyrics about an aspiring gospel songwriter ("Wrote a song about Heaven / But he just couldn't get that big break") and, near the end, a beautiful yodelling interlude. "This is a good low-rider song—like, top down," Tonéx said. He played it through one last time, at top volume, and then dashed into his office, where he slapped together a record cover, using a photograph from a fashion magazine of a white man in a Calvin Klein suit. He called the song "12," uploaded it to his MySpace page, e-mailed it to a few gospel-radio d.j.s who still support him, and sent out an exuberant message to his followers on Twitter: "New Joint hot off the press from TON3X™." ♦


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Did you know that you can use the location bar of your browser for more than just web addresses?
The sections below provide instructions on increasing the utility of the Firefox location bar.
Goal: Simplified Searching and Browsing
Merge your Firefox location bar and quick search box into one powerful, customized location bar (sometimes called the "awesome bar" in Firefox 3).
Firefox allows users to create and perform highly tailored keyword searches from the address/location bar (no, not the search engine box in the top right, but the location bar containing "http://…"). I prefer to use just the location bar, since I get a little distracted with too many text boxes. With a little effort, you can consolidate search and location entry.
Higher Web Productivity
The "awesome bar" will allow you to zip through the web using personal keyboards. Just jump to the location bar, type in a location or any number of quick searches you add (see below), and you may be impressed just how quickly you can pull up on-demand info using this approach. Teach your fingers at least one shortcut to get to the location bar; the following keyboard shortcuts will work (within Firefox):
- Ctrl/Cmd+L
- Alt+D
- Ctrl/Cmd+T, which opens a new tab and places your cursor at the location bar
- (See Lifehacker for more Firefox keyboard shortcuts.)
Remove the Search Engine Box
The first thing I do to simplify my browsing experience in Firefox is get rid of the search engine box next to the location bar, so that I can focus on my own searches which use the location bar. To remove it, right-click on the menu bar, click "Customize …," then drag the search engine box into the newly opened window.
Import Useful Quick Searches
I used a Lifehacker post (Geek to Live: Fifteen Firefox Quick Searches) to help get me started. I tailored it to my taste; you should do the same. You can check out the Lifehacker post for their version, or continue here with my version. Open the target bookmark files in your browser to see the difference.
- Right-click on the link (here) my quick search bookmarks file, choose "Save Link As…," and make a note of where you save the file on your computer.
- Go to the Firefox Bookmarks menu, and choose "Organize Bookmarks…" or "Manage Bookmarks…" (depending on your version of Firefox).
- From the Library or Bookmarks Manager menu, choose import from either the "Import and Backup" menu or the file menu (depending on your version). Import the HTML file you saved in step 1. You can safely delete this file after import.
Note that if you already have keyword searches defined, you may need to check that no two bookmarks expect the same keyword; this may cause conflict.
Quick Google Searches
By default, Firefox performs a Google search if you type into the location bar terms which are not possible web locations (e.g. "example.com") and do not match your keyword searches (e.g. "lh firefox"). You can rely on that, but you will get more consistent results if you explicitly define a Google quick search with a keyword (I use "go" or "google").
Easily Add Any Search
You can easily expand your keyword searching while you browse the web. Whenever you see a search box on a web page,
- right-click within the search box, select "Add a Keyword for this Search …"
- add a name and a keyword
- designate the "Create in" folder to be Quick Searches -> Personal or your favorite folder for personal quick searches.
- (See Mozilla's explanation for more details.)
Video Tutorial
Video Source: www.mob3.co.uk
Version Details
I have used these tips with both Firefox version 2 and version 3.
Further Reading
- Many of the links in this post will have more details on managing keyword searches in Firefox.
- Lifehacker: Four Extensions That Tweak Firefox 3's "AwesomeBar"

subset: commoncrawl


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Public Comment
Obama's Israel/Palestine Speak Falls Short
I am writing this email to several friends of mine who I spoke with this morning about Obama's speech on Israeli-Palestinian relations. I am also sending this email to others who I think would be interested in the discussion.
Because the President rhetorically urges Israelis to make a strong effort for peace, my friends were very pleased since it presumably represents a step forward in US policy toward Israel. But actually, the speech was a step backward. A very critical issue for the Palestinians is that Israel is currently constructing settlements for Jews in Palestinian territories.
What is the President's position on this issue? He urged the Palestinians to return to the bargaining table even though Israel is going ahead with the construction. What does he advise Israel to do? Formerly he had advised Israel against infringing on Palestinian property. But he has clearly changed his mind. Instead, as Friday's New York Times states, "President Drops His Stance on a HALT to Israeli Settlements". Since this is no longer an expectation by the President, it is absolutely certain that Israel will not back off. How then can there be a peace settlement if Israel remains free to construct settlements on lands that don't belong to Israel!
Obama not only prefers the rhetorical approach. What he says and doesn't say in this instance is decidedly to the advantage of the Israeli government. So the speech doesn't deserve applause. Instead, President Obama signaled to the Israeli government that it can do what it pleases even though it violates the integrity and well being of the Palestinians.


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When Vikings defensive coordinator Leslie Frazier interviewed for the Seattle Seahawks' head coaching job earlier this year, it was a poorly kept secret that Seattle was all but locked in to hire Pete Carroll as their next head coach.
At the time, Frazier diplomatically sidestepped any suggestion that he was interviewed as a token minority candidate, but now he hints to John Shipley at the Pioneer Press that he suspected pretty much the same thing everyone else was suspecting.
"I can't answer for ownership, you know, what they were looking for and what they wanted out of the interviews. But I went into it believing each one would be a legitimate interview."
And did he come out feeling they were legitimate interviews?
"Um, I don't want to say which team, but one of them I was a little concerned about, and we went right down to the wire about whether I should even do the interview," he said. "On one of them, I left just wondering."
It doesn't take a genius to know that Frazier is referring to the Seahawks. For his part, Frazier still believes in the usefulness of the Rooney Rule, which has good intentions but can sometimes lead to awkward situations where one team has its heart set on a certain coach and has to put a black coach through the paces just to be compliant.
There are currently six black head coaches in the NFL right now. It's a decent sized number. It's not fantastic, but it's decent. You might think it's time to retire the Rooney Rule as a result, but I'd argue against that.
Progress isn't always an absolute upward curve. Just because there are six black coaches now, doesn't mean it'll always stay that way. In fact, I guarantee you it won't, because Lovie Smith is soooo fired by December. Without the rule in place, the league could easily revert back to an all-white coaching environment. You only need to take a look at the disgraceful number of black head coaches in college football (four of 119 teams). Trust me, it can all go backwards.
The Rooney Rule has its faults, particularly when it creates a situation like the one Frazier went through. But it's needed precisely because of that. Frazier is a better NFL coach than Pete Carroll. I promise you, whenever Frazier gets hired (and he will), he'll have a better record than Carroll will with Seattle. The fact that he never even had a chance with them is why the rule still has value. Because if we live in a world where Leslie Frazier can lose out on a job to Pete Carroll and Chan Gailey, something is still sorely amiss.


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Items where Author is "Venter, Christine"
|Up a level
Group by: Item Type | Uncontrolled Keywords | No Grouping
Number of items: 1.
Oldewage-Theron, Wilna H., Salami, Lilian, Zotor, Francis and Venter, Christine (2008) Health status of an elderly population in Sharpeville, South Africa. Health SA Gesondheid: Journal of Interdisciplinary Health Sciences, 13 (3). pp. 3-17. ISSN 1025-9848 (Print), 2071-9736 (Online)


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Las Vegas Hotels - Best casino hotels in Las Vegas
Las Vegas is a popular tourist destination and home to countless casinos and hotels. The city once known as Sin City is now much more than a place to gamble; it is a destination that offers fun for the entire family. It is true that there still is a lot of gambling going on, but today there are also a lot of activities for the entire family to enjoy including the 33 acre theme park at the MGM Grand, all the shopping at the Venetian, the view from the stratosphere, a large selection of shows, and the aquarium at The Mirage.
Las Vegas offers accommodation in all price ranges and even though it is possible to spend a fortune it is also possible to get by on a rather small budget. This is especially true if you are willing to accept a Las Vegas hotel off the strip, but it can be done on the strip as well. It is important to consider all costs when choosing a hotel if you are on a budget. A more expensive hotel on the strip can be better for your budget than a cheaper hotel off the strip if you factor in the cost of taking you where you need to go. With a well located hotel there is a no need for a taxi; you simply walk to most attractions on the strip within minutes. A hotel off strip might require a taxi ride whenever you leave the hotel. Of course, if you think you will spend most of your time in Downtown Las Vegas or perhaps on the Boulder Strip, a hotel in Downtown Las Vegas or on the Boulder strip is to be preferred. There are good, cheap hotels to be found in all of the Las Vegas city centers and you can therefore always choose to live near the venues you plan to visit and save on travel time and expenses without having to give up comfort or breaking the bank.
The four different tourist/gambling zones in Las vegas and the large quantities of hotels can make it hard to find the right hotel to stay at. This website is here to help you find the perfect hotel for your needs. Here you will find reviews of different hotels all over Las Vegas. However, before you start reading them we recommend you ask your self a few question that will help you find the right hotel more easily:
In which part of Las Vegas are you planning to spend the most time?
Are you going to rent a car or is location and communications near the hotel important?
What standard do you want?
What are you willing to pay?
Which services such as WiFi do you want included in the price?
What if any casino do you intend to play at? (Staying at the hotel you play at increases the chance of upgrades and other perks.)
Do you want breakfast? What about lunch or dinner buffet?
Do you want just a hotel or a complete resort?
These where just a few questions to ask yourself. The more you know about what you want, the better. It will make it easier to find the right hotel and make our reviews more useful to you. When you feel you have a good idea about what you want, I recommend that you start browsing our hotel reviews in the Menu. Good luck on your quest to find the perfect hotel!


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- ESPN Sports Personality - No. 1
Andy Murray - Stepping out of Perry's shadowJo Carter December 21, 2012
The past 12 months have thrown up a catalogue of memorable sporting performances, including golden Olympic moments, acts of golfing greatness and more than the odd piece of heroism on a bike. Leading up to Christmas, ESPN will name its top 10 sports personalities of the year in ascending order...
Andy Murray's US Open victory was not just a personal triumph; it was an historic sporting conquest for Britain. In the year that the London 2012 Olympics captured the nation's imagination, Murray extended the glorious sporting summer into September when he at long last captured his maiden grand slam in New York.
It was Murray's fifth grand slam final, having fallen at the final hurdle on four previous occasions. Another defeat would have seen him pass coach Ivan Lendl for the unwelcome record of having lost his first five major finals. But, like former world No. 1 Lendl, who went onto win eight grand slams, Murray made it fifth time lucky.
Except it was not about luck. This was a triumph of hard work, dedication and sheer single-mindedness - the downright determination to achieve a life's dream.
To win a grand slam is no mean feat, not least in what is arguably the strongest era in men's tennis history. It is widely accepted that if Murray had played in any other era, he would be a multiple major champion by now.
Having come up short on three occasions against 17-time grand slam champion Roger Federer (US Open 2008, Australian Open 2010, Wimbledon 2012) and Novak Djokovic (Australian Open 2011), Murray exorcised his demons to end Britain's 76-year wait for a men's grand slam singles winner.
In any other year, Murray's achievement would have been the stand-out sporting event. To put it into context, Greg Rusedski was named BBC Sports Personality of the Year in 1997 for reaching the US Open final. But in 2012, when Britain's Olympians excelled, Bradley Wiggins won the Tour de France and Europe's golfers snatched victory from the jaws of defeat to win the Ryder Cup, the strength of Murray's achievements have been diluted a little.
Having hired Lendl on New Year's Eve 2011, Murray began the new season with a new coach and a new approach to his game. Lendl said it would take six months for his methods to take effect, but the Lendl factor was already in evidence as the Scot won his first tournament of the season in Brisbane.
On the face of it, Murray's Australian Open campaign in 2012 was not his most successful, having fallen in the final the two previous years. But it was the nature of his semi-final defeat to Djokovic - a heartbreaking 6-3 3-6 6-7(4) 6-1 7-5 reverse - where he was the aggressor for much of the match - which led Murray to believe he was closing the gap on the top three.
Murray underlined that belief in Dubai, where he beat Djokovic in straight sets in the semi-finals before falling to Federer in the final. In previous years Murray has struggled during the spring, but an early exit in Indian Wells proved to be a mere blip as he reached the final in Miami, only to be denied by Djokovic again.
A solid, if unspectacular, clay court season followed, reaching the quarter-finals of the French Open, where he fell to David Ferrer. Heading to London for the defence of his title at Queen's, Murray sparked concern over his form heading into Wimbledon as he was stunned by Nicolas Mahut - he of the Wimbledon marathon fame.
But far from moping, Murray made good use of his time as he headed to the practice courts, and the extra training time with Lendl paid dividends as he powered through the opening rounds at the All England Club (save for a scare against Ivo Karlovic).
After dispatching Ferrer in the quarter-finals, Murray defeated Jo-Wilfried Tsonga to become the first British man to reach the Wimbledon final since Bunny Austin in 1938. When he won the first set against Federer - the first he had won in a major final - the Scot had Britain dreaming of a first home champion since 1936.
But it wasn't to be, as Federer rallied to secure a 4-6 7-5 6-3 6-4 victory and his seventh title at the All England Club.
Ordinarily, Murray would then turn his attentions to the hard courts ahead of the final major of the year, but the Brit had a one-off shot at redemption, returning to the All England Club three weeks later for the Olympics.
And he grasped the opportunity with both hands, beating Djokovic in the semi-finals to set up a rematch with Federer. And this time there was no denying Murray as he romped to a 6-2 6-1 6-4 victory to deny Federer Olympic gold.
His performances in Toronto and Cincinnati were underwhelming at best, but like so many of the sporting heroes of 2012, it was about peaking when it mattered. Usain Bolt lost to training partner Yohan Blake in the Jamaican trials; Jessica Ennis struggled with her long jump in the run-up to London 2012, but when the big event came round, there was no questioning the champion.
And in New York, Murray finally fulfilled his potential, surviving the odd scare, prevailing in near-hurricane conditions and overcoming his own doubts to emerge triumphant.
Much to the New York crowd's disappointment there was no screaming, no dancing; nothing to suggest Murray had finally ended his, or Britain's, grand slam drought. The Scot just crouched on his haunches and held his head in his hands before commiserating with his opponent. Physically spent, emotionally exhausted, Murray had nothing left to celebrate.
"It's been a long, long journey. I don't know if it's disbelief or whatever," Murray said. "I'm very, very happy on the inside; I'm sorry if I'm not showing it as you would like."
He may lack the finesse of Federer, the passion of Rafael Nadal or the showmanship of Djokovic, but on September 10, 2012, Andy Murray confirmed his status as a sporting great.


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Classic Fallout Games Disappear from Steam
Just in case you wanted to download the classic Fallout games from Steam, you might have to wait a little while. Why? Because they've disappeared.
According to an article on Kotaku, the games were taken down due to a legal issue. Apparently, when Bethesda was awarded control of the Fallout franchise, previous owners Interplay were still allowed to sell the classic titles until Dec. 31, 2013. As a result of it having passed that date, the games have been taken down from the Steam catalog.
Whether or not they'll reappear on Good Old Games, purveyors of classic games, is another story. But for now, it seems like our best bet of seeing these Fallout games again lies with Bethesda and Steam.


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hcc st. moritz
Next to Passeig de Gràcia located in an emblematic and historical building that was declared of National Tourist Interest, maintaining a perfect combination of classicism and comfort.
hcc regente
Located in one of the main streets in the city centre, Rambla de Catalunya, and in the historical, commercial and business centre of Barcelona.
hcc montblanc
In front of Palau de la Música and next to the Gothic district. Newly built, modern and functional hotel.
hcc lugano
Next to Fira de Barcelona and Plaça d'Espanya. Enjoy the leisure activities in Barcelona next to the business centre of the city.
hcc taber
Perfect to discover Barcelona's Modernist architecture and its museums. You will find us next to Rambla de Catalunya.
hcc montsia
In the centre of Amposta, a city where you will discover one of the most attractive places in Catalonia and the Ebro delta.


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Mercer University provides facilities and resources for web sites. However, these resources are available only for web sites that fall within the scope defined below. Specific limitations and requirements for the content of those web sites are defined below.
Related Polices and Legislation
- Information Technology Access and Use Policy
- Graphic Standards
- Web Publishing Style Guide
- Student Handbook
- Faculty Handbook
- Employee Handbook (non-faculty) [Login required]
- Mercer Engineering Research Center (MERC) Handbook [Login required]
- United States Copyright Office
ContactInformation Technology Help Desk – 478-301-2922
Web sites are a critical part of the life of the university. From communications to operations to the classroom and to scholarly and creative endeavors, the many web sites hosted by the university require significant resources, and they are a reflection of the mission and character of the University's students, faculty, staff, alumni and others. In order to effectively manage available resources, work within various legal requirements, and to provide an environment where the University's constituents are portrayed in a way that reflects our mission, this policy has been established.Scope of Web Sites Allowed and Governed by this Policy
- Mercer may provide resources to host a web site for the following individuals and organizations:
- Colleges, schools, departments, centers, institutes and other entities that make up the university;
- Current faculty, staff, and emeriti faculty;
- Currently enrolled students;
- Student organizations recognized and in good standing with the university with the endorsement of the organization's advisor;
- Third party organizations directly affiliated with and sponsored by the university;
- Professional societies and other non-profit organizations which have a substantial relationship to Mercer's mission. Further, for these organizations, a current member of the Mercer faculty or staff will be responsible for working with the organization and managing its web site.
- Colleges, schools, departments, centers, institutes and other organizational entities within the university must receive approval from the Department of Information Technology before contracting with third parties for Mercer-related web sites. Web Management must be included in all planning, design, and development phases of the project. All Mercer-related web sites, including those hosted or created by third parties, are governed by this policy and the related policies listed above.
- All web sites must be actively sponsored and managed by a current faculty or staff member or current student. Web site owners are responsible for reviewing and ensuring that their web site(s) are kept current. Members of Web Management and Marketing Communications will occasionally review web site content to ensure accuracy, timeliness, and appropriateness.
- Approval of a web site may be denied based on the lack of necessary resources whether those resources are technical, personnel, or of another classification.
- All usage of web sites is to be in accordance with all applicable policies of Mercer University, including those listed above in the related policies and legislation section.
- Web sites may not contain or display fraudulent, harassing or obscene messages and/or materials. Further, materials of this type may not be stored on University web sites or other information technology systems, even if they are not displayed.
- Mercer University resources may be used to create web sites about an individual or an individual's interests but may not be used for personal business, personal gain, or partisan political purposes, except as permitted by other University policies.
- As a general rule commercial advertising is not permitted on web sites. This includes banner advertisements as well as graphic images that promote a commercial service or text links of a commercial nature. No graphic or text may imply Mercer University endorsement of commercial products or services. Any exceptions to this policy must be granted in writing by Marketing Communications and General Counsel.
- Copyright laws apply to electronic publishing as well as to print publishing. Web site owners are required to conform to the University's copyright and intellectual use policies. These policies are referenced above. (Note: For those who wish to learn more about Fair Use in the copyright area, please consider visiting the following web site - Stanford University Libraries Fair Use guidelines )
- Mercer graphics and images are owned by the University and may not be altered in any way. All use of Mercer graphics and images must conform to Graphic Standards.
- Mercer University reserves the right to add or require specific information to each web page or website including, but not limited to:
- a link to Mercer's home page;
- a page owner's e-mail address;
- legal information and disclaimers;
- the date of last update for that page; and
- the URL for that page.
Domain Names
The use of "Mercer" within a domain name such as www.mercer.edu in relation to the University is a trademark owned by the University. Therefore, the use of "mercer" within a domain name is specifically controlled. Anyone wanting to register "mercer" in a domain name must have permission from the Department of Information Technology.
Internet websites at Mercer generally will have the form www.mercer.edu/xyz (where xyz is a unique name or identifier for a department, organization, individual, event or other appropriate entity requiring a domain name). For technical reasons, Information Technology may establish additional servers and names such as www1, www2, etc. in place of www listed above, but for marketing purposes www.mercer.edu/xyz will be used when publicizing the site. There may be times when establishing a special name such as xyz.mercer.edu or www.mercerxyz.com is appropriate. Information Technology must approve these exceptions in advance.
Sanctions may include but are not limited to suspension of technology privileges, referral to Student Judicial Services, termination of employment, and/or criminal prosecution. For additional information, please reference the Information Technology Access and Use Policy.


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Delivery & Collection Guide
Simply can't wait to get your order? Discover our great range of delivery and collection options, perfect for you.
Click & Collect
Collect your item from your local store. Pay online or pay when you pick up in-store.
Fast Track same day home delivery
Buy online before 6pm and we'll deliver by 10pm for only £3.95. Subject to availability. Exceptional demand may restrict Fast Track same day home delivery availability. 90% UK coverage.
2 man delivery
Buy a large item today, get it delivered from tomorrow or on a specific day chosen by you. Subject to availability.
TU clothing
Click & Collect your clothing, simply order by 2pm today and collect your item for free from 4pm tomorrow. Or enjoy home delivery for £3.95 (order by 2pm Monday – Friday for next day delivery. Orders placed from 2pm Friday to 2pm Sunday will be delivered Monday).
Click & Collect options
Click & Collect
Choose how you want to Click & Collect, it's up to you. Pay online and get longer to pick up. Or reserve online, pick up and pay in-store.
Click & Collect - HOW IT WORKS
Pay online. Get longer to collect
Save time in-store and head straight to the dedicated collection counter. You'll get 7 days to pick up your order and better still, it's free of charge! Plus, log into Your Account online to extend for another 7 days.
Reserve online. Pick up and pay in-store
You don't have to pay anything up-front, but we'll hold your item(s) for up to 2 days. You can pay either way – card or cash. Plus, log into Your Account online to extend for another 2 days.
Need more time to collect your items?
No problem – but you'll need to sign into "My Account" before you pay for or reserve your item(s). Then head to the Recent Orders bit and chose to extend your collection date. Unfortunately, you can't extend the collection date on a TU clothing order.
Click & Collect - where can I collect my items?
Argos stores
Browse and shop 1000s of products you can take home instantly. Choose to either pay online and we'll hold your items for 7 days, or reserve online and pay when you collect.
Argos inside Sainsbury's
Our most popular products are available immediately, with 1000s more available to collect when you order online. Choose to either pay online and we'll hold your items for 7 days, or reserve online and pay when you collect.
Sainsbury's collection point
When you pay online, you can choose to pick up from a Sainsbury's Collection Point near you. There are 100s of convenient locations with late opening hours.
Click & Collect - what our customers think
Fast Track Same Day Home Delivery - only £3.95
Fast Track Same Day Home Delivery
With Fast Track Same Day Home Delivery, you can get your products delivered in as little as 4 hours, for only £3.95.
Fast Track Same Day Home Delivery - how it works
Simply order online or in-store before 6pm and get your order the same day, anywhere in the UK.
It's in the basket
Check your basket to see if your items are available for Fast Track Same Day Home Delivery. Then they'll be with you before you know it.
Choose your delivery date and time
We deliver 7 days a week, with a choice of 4 time slots: 7am-10am, 10am-1pm, 2pm-6pm and 7pm-10pm. Buy online before 6pm and we'll deliver by 10pm. Subject to availability. Exceptional demand may restrict Fast Track same day home delivery availability. 90% UK coverage.
We're on our way
We'll give you a 2 hour delivery window within your time slot and then let you know when we're 30 minutes away.
Fast Track Same Day Home Delivery - what our customers think
Two-man delivery - Delivered from next day
Choose from three delivery options for large items and large kitchen appliances, with our fantastic two-man delivery service. Our friendly drivers will let you know when they're on their way, so you don't have to wait in all day! Subject to availability.
Next day delivery
Next day delivery on large items, like sofas, from £14.95. Next day delivery on large kitchen appliances, from £8.95.
Next day delivery with a timeslot
Get next day delivery with a chosen timeslot from £24.99 on both large items and large kitchen appliances.
Choose the day of your delivery, without a timeslot for free* on large kitchen appliances and from £6.95* for other large items. *During delivery trial periods some delivery options and prices may change. You'll be able to see delivery charges at the checkout.
Tu clothing
Tu clothing
Need your new threads quick? Choose our free Click & Collect service to pick up in-store, simply order by 2pm today and collect your item for free from 4pm tomorrow.
Or enjoy home delivery for £3.95. Just order by 2pm (Monday – Friday) to get your items next day. If you order before 2pm Friday-Sunday, your items will be delivered or ready to collect Monday. Excludes bank holidays.
As well as delivery, we offer a range of installation and recycling options for large items.
We can take away selected old appliances and mattresses when we deliver your new one. Prices start at £14.99 and you need to add the recycling option to your basket with the new product.*
This service includes disconnection and recycling of your old appliance and installation of your new one.*
*Terms and conditions apply. Click below to find out more about our recycling and installation services, including how it works, finer details and eligibility.
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Continue shopping or find out more about all of our delivery, collection and recycling services...


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Stephen Wood Seriously InjuredFriday, December 22nd, 2006
Stephen Wood, son of Allen Wood and grandson of Aaron Wood, was seriously injured in a single vehicle accident yesterday afternoon near Clayton, NC. You can get the details of the story from the newspaper article right here.
Stephen is also a brother-in-law to Tony Dunn (husband of Cathy Carter Dunn).
Please keep Stephen and this family in your prayers.


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Stumbling Blocks
Just about the worst thing that can happen when you have a kid who doesn't eat* is stomach flu.
In the past year, the Tot has added some good foods to her repertoire — apple slices with peanut butter, pancakes and waffles (with whipped cream), grilled cheese — but for the past week, she has struggled with a barfing virus. If our experience with the Barfs holds true again, it will take us a while to work our way back to even some old standards.
Makes me sad, ya know?
* First World Problem, yes I know.
P.S. Somehow Comments are turned off and I can't figure out how to turn them on. I'll figure it out soon! Pinkie swear!


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March 4, 2008
Just like a mail carrier, rain, wind and snow did not keep Lipscomb golfer Cory Parkinson from completing his task.
He delivered for the Bisons golf team with a two-round total of 140 (69, 71) to finish as the leader in the Grover Page Classic hosted by the University of Tennessee-Martin at the Jackson Country Club in Jackson, Tenn.
The Bisons, who finished the first round of the tournament in first place, finished in second place in the 16-team field with a two round total of 585 (290, 295). Central Arkansas won t he team title by one stroke with a 584 (295, 289).
Rain, wind and snow all pelted golfers Tuesday as they completed the second round. Stormy weather conditions on Monday resulted in the tournament being trimmed from three to two rounds.
Rounding out the scoring for the Bisons were Cody Hale and Clint Suggs who tied for 12th with scores of 148. Hale was in a tie for second after the first round with a score of 71, but shot 77 in the second round. Suggs turned in identical rounds of 74.
Brandon Mundie finished in a tie for 22nd place with a 149 (76, 73). Parker Beck tied for 48th with a score of 155 (76,79).


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Ben Stiller hosted this weekend's Saturday Night Live and though the second Zoolander film is at least a year away (probably longer) the show was filled with fashionable references.
During Weekend Update, Zoolander made an appearance with his new friend Stephon, and casually brought up his good friend, John Galliano. But earlier, Stiller starred in a digital short with Andy Samberg, one that pit the two against each other in one of New York's Rag & Bone stores. Who, exactly, can pull off the deeper designer V-neck?
Click through to watch. Warning: Things get ugly.


text: Advertisement Advertisement No. 17 picks in the NFL draft May 06, 2014 | 10:35 AM Every slot in the NFL draft has its share of success stories and disappointments, and No. 17, where the Ravens are slotted to pick on Thursday night, is no different. The position has produced career backups (Jarvis Moss in 2007), solid starters (Gosder Cherilus in 2008), Pro Bowlers (Chad Greenway in 2006) and a likely Hall of Fame guard in Steve Hutchinson. Here's a look at the careers of those selected at No. 17 in recent years. The pick has seen several offensive linemen who were immediately plugged into their team's starting lineups, though very little impact at skill positions. Anything player you'd like to see the Ravens replicate? (Gallery by Jon Meoli) Advertisement Advertisement


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Cast your vote by logging in to AnthroGateway, click on the "My Information" page, and then click on the "Vote Now!" button.
This month we'll take a look at the candidates.
Featured today are the candidates for the Ethics Committee Biological Seat: Julie Lesnik and Bethany Turner
The objective of the Committee on Ethics is a standing committee of the Association, which is responsible for the design and implementation of the Association's ethics education and advisory program. The objectives of the ethics education program are (1) to increase the number of candidates for all degrees in anthropology receiving training in ethics before graduating; (2) to provide ongoing education in ethical issues for all AAA members; (3) to provide advice to AAA members facing/raising ethical dilemmas, and (4) to provide guidance to the Executive Board about AAA codes and guidelines.
Click here to learn more about the Committee on Ethics.
Julie Lesnik
I have a broad professional history in anthropology, which has furnished me with the experience necessary for a position on the Ethics Committee. I have taught at many different schools in Chicago including small, private establishments, large research-driven public universities, and a minority-serving institute. The student body as well as the faculty at every type of school faces their own challenges. Having worked in many different academic environments, I have an understanding of the challenges that need to be overcome in order to implement ethics training in various anthropology curricula. I have also worked on four field schools on three different continents. I have experience navigating many ethics problems that can present themselves in these settings, such as research team power dynamics, relations with local populations, and ethical treatment of human remains. I am able to advise AAA members who may be currently encountering these issues. Finally, I have been active in the AAA since 2008 and I look forward to contributing more in the years to come. Serving on the Ethics Committee would be a great way to engage with the membership and help promote awareness of the ethical dilemmas we all face in our chosen field.
Bethany Turner
I am a social bioarchaeologist working primarily in the Peruvian Andes to study patterns of diet, mobility, health, and identity among indigenous groups who lived in ancient imperial states such as the Wari and Inca, and under Spanish colonialism. I have also collaboratively studied human remains from archaeological contexts in Middle Woodland-Period Florida, Medieval Mongolia, Early-Christian Sudanese Nubia, and Emancipation-Period Georgia. All of these research contexts involved explicit and sustained efforts to engage in context-specific best practices, from excavation to compliance with NAGPRA and museum policies, to engagement with descent communities, to ongoing dialog regarding intrusive analysis and repatriation.
My training involved a strong and consistent focus on skeletal ethics and public engagement, which I now infuse into training and mentoring students in the field and lab. I believe that studying human remains is a privilege, one that imparts a heavy responsibility on the researcher to commit to the nuanced and dynamic nature of ethical practices. Because of this, I have published peer-reviewed book chapters centered on the ongoing negotiation of ethical issues in the study of ancient human remains in the US and abroad. I would translate these experiences and perspectives into productive contributions as a member of the AAA Committee on Ethics.
Log-in to AnthroGateway to vote today!


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Feb. 23, 2002
SANTA CLARA, Calif. - Santa Clara University finished its home season undefeated for only the second time in school history after posting a 69-65 victory over West Coast Conference champion Pepperdine in women's basketball action this afternoon at the Leavey Center.
The Broncos went 12-0 at Leavey this season, becoming only the second team in school history to completely protect their home court. The only other Bronco team to go undefeated at home was the 1990-91 squad, who finished its season 17-0 at Toso Pavilion in the Leavey Activities Center, and 28-3 overall as the WNIT Champions.
SCU finishes the regular season 19-8 overall, 9-5 in the WCC, while Pepperdine falls to 20-7, 11-3.
Junior Kendra Rhea finished the afternoon with her sixth double-double of the season, a career-high 21 points to go with 12 rebounds. Senior Caroline Gruening scored 14 points on 4-5 shooting from three-point range in her final home contest. Fellow senior Becki Ashbaugh dished out eight assists in the first half en route to a game-high 11.
Pepperdine was led by Nadja Morgan, who posted 15 points and 12 rebounds. Tamara McDonald added 11 points, while Shandrika Lee added 10. Keani Christianson fouled out with 1:03 remaining and finished with seven points and seven rebounds.
Down 42-28 at the half, Pepperdine opened the second period with a 15-6 run to get back in the game. Morgan converted on a three-point play to put the Waves ahead 65-62 with two minutes remaining, but an Ashbaugh drive, followed by a Bronco three-point play from junior forward Courtney Cushing, and SCU was ahead with one minute remaining. McDonald missed the front end of a one-and-one with 22 seconds left while Lee missed a three-pointer with eight seconds remaining. Free throws from Ashbaugh and Rhea sealed the victory for the Broncos.
Santa Clara opened the game on fire offensively, hitting 56.7 percent from the field, including 6-7 for Rhea and 3-3 from long distance for Gruening. The Waves applied full court pressure for much of the half, but the Broncos' transition game resulted in an early 17-9 lead that SCU held onto through the period.
A baseline three from Pepperdine's Shanell Law gave the Waves their first lead of the second half, at 56-55 with under seven minutes remaining, and increased that to 58-55 before the Broncos responded. Gruening's final three of the afternoon tied the contest at 62 with 2:22 remaining.
The Broncos finished the game shooting 40.7 percent from the field, but did not get help from the charity stripe, going 17-26 for an almost season-low 65.4 percent.
Up next for the Broncos is the 2002 WCC Women's Basketball Championship, held for the second straight year at the Jenny Craig Pavilion on the campus of the University of San Diego. The tournament will take place February 28 through March 4, with the women's semifinal games beginning March 1 at 6 p.m., with the championship slated for a 2:30 p.m. start on March 3. The title contest will air live on Fox Sports West, KRON and Action Sports. Seedings will be announced on Sunday.


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Honda Professional Automotive Career Training (Honda PACT)
View a transcript.
The five-semester associate degree program is completed with instruction and lab work in the college's state-
of-the-art Automotive Technology facility with co-op work experience at dealerships. Sponsorship at a Honda/Acura
dealer is not required to begin the program, but completion of the program is contingent on obtaining and
sustaining sponsorship at a Honda/Acura dealer.
Education is the key to quality service repairs. Eastfield College provides a solid base of knowledge for
our younger technicians to build on.


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French Interior Minister moved to defend the controversial state ban on full-face veils after yet another fight sparked riots outside Paris, which he said now has "contained".
The weekend violence erupted on the outskirts of Trappes after a man was arrested for allegedly assaulting a police officer who had stopped her on it veils - a practice that is banned in France, outraging many in the Muslim community.
"The law is the law banning the veil for women ... It is not for the second law of Islam," Manuel Valls told RTL radio.
"It is against the law practices that have nothing to do with tradition and our values, and the police do their job well."
France, home to Europe's largest Muslim population - estimated at 5 million - have banned women from wearing full face veils in public since April 2011, and authorities said about 300 women were caught breaking the law that applies in the first year.
Criminal offense with a fine of up to € 150 ($ 200) or mandatory citizenship training, and the ban has caused outrage and has led to a flare-up of violence.
It also led to landmark court cases, like that of a nursery assistant who was fired for refusing to remove her Islamic headscarf. The decision was later overturned by the appeals court, by reason of religious "discrimination".
There are also some cases, though rarely, people taking vigilante action against Muslim women to wear veils in public. Recently reported that a pregnant Muslim woman lost her baby after being kicked in the stomach by one of the vigilante.
Later on Monday, French Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said the weekend violence was "unacceptable" and asked everyone to respect the law.


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Ivanhoe gives you more choice
An Ivanhoe Education goes beyond the academic with an engaging and diverse co-curricular program providing opportunities outside the classroom.
Students at all year levels are encouraged to explore interests beyond the academic through participation in Performing or Creative Arts, Outdoor Education, Sport, Cadets, Leadership, Service and the House Program. The co-curricular program complements and balances the curriculum, encouraging participation, teamwork and confidence. Participating in a co-curricular activity is a great opportunity for students to build friendships with peers and teachers.


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KABUL (Reuters) - An Iranian-Afghan policewoman who killed a U.S. contractor at the police headquarters in Kabul may have been motivated by a personal grudge, said security officials, who were also probing possible Taliban or al Qaeda involvement.
The officials said the woman named as Narges seemed wracked with remorse over the shooting. They said she held an Iranian passport but offered no evidence thatIran may have orchestrated the attack.
She arrived at police headquarters on Monday morning and headed to a bathroom where she loaded a pistol and hid it under her long scarf, they said. She then approached the American police trainer as he was walking to a canteen and shot him in the ribs.
"After she shot the American, she pointed her pistol to other policemen who rushed to arrest her. But her weapon jammed," one top police official told Reuters. "Her prime target could have been senior officials in the compound."
It appeared to be the first time that a female member ofAfghanistan's security forces had carried out such an attack.
At least 52 members of theNATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) have been killed this year by Afghans wearing police or army uniforms, in so-called insider attacks.
Also known as green-on-blue attacks, the incidents have undermined trust between coalition and Afghan forces who are under mounting pressure to contain the Taliban insurgency before most NATO combat troops withdraw by the end of 2014.
"This was a very organized shooting," said the top police official. "There must have been bigger hands involved... At this stage, we can only say that she could have been brainwashed either by the Taliban or al Qaeda."
Virginia-based DynCorp International described the killing of its employee, police mentor Joseph Griffin, 49, as a tragedy.
"The loss of any team member is tragic but to have this happen over the holidays makes it seem all the more unfair," the company said on its website.
There had been no indication that Narges posed any threat during her six years on the job and officials had believed she was dedicated to improving security in her troubled country.
They invested in the mother of three, sending her on a law enforcement training course in Egypt and giving her responsibility for promoting women's rights in the police force, senior police officials told Reuters.
"She is a religious person with a clean background. That's why we didn't have surveillance on her," said the top police official. "It's very difficult to have surveillance on thousands of people in the police force to see who is doing what."
Authorities were examining her phone records on Tuesday. At a press conference, Interior Ministry officials presented what they said was her Iranian passport, which identified her as Narges Rezaeimomenabad.
Interior Ministry spokesman Sediq Sediqqi said she had obtained an Afghan national identity card when she married her husband, an Afghan who works in the ministry's criminal investigation department.
"She is in a terrible condition now and crying, sighing deeply and asking herself why she did it," said the top police official. "She keeps saying 'shoot me dead'."
(Additional reporting by Mirwais Harooni and Miriam Arghandiwal; Editing by Tom Pfeiffer)