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Good morning/evening
At the moment, WordPress, BuddyPress, and MediaWiki are integrated on a site while Moodle sits in a directory all by itself. Does anyone have any experience integrating buddypress and moodle? I suspect it would start at the user/registration level but maybe there is a way to get a deeper integration.
Any suggestions?
Past Discussions
On the moodle forum: http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=130658 (login guest if you don't have an account)
On here: http://buddypress.org/community/groups/miscellaneous/forum/topic/bp-in-education/
I tried to install this:
Unfortunately, it doesn't seem to be working
OK. This is what I've learned so far ..
WP is using phpass instead of MD5 hash.
Moodle is using MD5 hash plus salt
The phpass authentication written by schoolsict built the views incorrectly. I've fixed the views and am now working on the php. I've discovered you cannot simply rename auth/db to something like auth/db-orig and upload the new /auth/db files … you get blank pages.
And that's it – it still doesn't work – yet – but I've made progress… (sort of)
this might interest you http://sushkov.wordpress.com/2010/04/04/scholarpress-buddypress/
@Windhamdavid – yes – I've seen scholarpress and installed it.
OK – this is my progress. I can now get the WP ID and password recognized and logged into Moodle. The challenge now is the loop of "There are required fields in this form marked" because email and City are blank. When I update those two fields, the error remains that the two fields need updating .. LOL.
Oh – so close – yet – so far
In the words of an excited person
Oh Yes! It works.
1. There were some lines in /user/editlib.php that needed to be commented out as well as in edit_form.php
2. Setting for user is "Student" and not the default "authenticated"
It is very exciting to know that students in August will be able to register in WordPress and immediately have access to the MediaWiki and Moodle … fantastic!
Would you be willing to share what you have done. Are you using one database for user information? Is this a single sign-on type of solution where all of the cookies are created on login? I'm not much of a programmer, but very stubborn so I'll stick at something until I figure it out if it is within my skill set so I would appreciate any pointers you could give. Thanks.
Happy to help. I'll try to give a little detail of the gotchas.
1. Go to http://moodle.schoolsict.net/2010/04/21/db-authentication-with-phpass-integrating-wordpress/ and read their directions. Download their files.
2. Backup your files and database
3. Upload the /auth/db files you downloaded from schoolsict
4. Go to phpmyadmin and create the views provided by schoolsict: now here is the trick. They wanted mdl_firstname2 to be created .. and this didn't work for me. Instead, I changed all of the "xxx2" to "xxx" and after the 4 views are created then you'll want to verify that the data are showing in the views.
5. Go to your moodle install, login, and follow the directions on schoolsict to setup the external database.
6. Modify /user/editlib.php and comment out city/county $mforms around lines 198 and 204 …
7. Change the Moodle settings for users to "student" and not "authenticated"
Test, test, and retest.
Hope this helps.
The new BuddyPress Courseware I'm working on, will kick ass, I wouldn't even bother testing moodle
All I really want that WordPress/Buddypress doesn't do now is a gradebook that will take grades from SCORM or other learning modules. Will BuddyPress Courseware do that? When do you expect a testing version will be available? As an aside I'm also waiting for the latest Scriblio so that the whole setup will include a library and extensive reading program as well; how will their be an API that will allow other plugins to include their data in the gradebook (I think I remember reading that you were going to include one). Looking forward to Courseware.
The new BuddyPress Courseware I'm working on, will kick ass, I wouldn't even bother testing moodle
I look forward to your plugin. Moodle was adopted by our school district last year. Best wishes on your plugin and hope that it is better than Moodle, because it takes a long time to tweak it. Let me know if you ever want someone to help test it for you or give you feature feedback.
@LPH2005 Sorry, I completely forgot to say thanks the other day. I'll have a look at what you did. Hopefully I can get rid of moodle and use WordPress / Buddypress for everything. Moodle is such a pain to customize and even then it still looks like moodle.
@Jalien – no problem. I'm a complete novice – even after 15 + years I make huge mistakes and have to squint at the screen for long hours to figure out why something isn't working
@Jalien, gradebook should be ready in a week or so. The idea is to use BuddyPress forums as a platform for students solutions postings, and implement a grading system above it. All the data later will be pulled into main Courseware dashboard.
A testing version is available now, but it has no gradebook so far, and will require UI/UX work. A final version is scheduled at the end of my gsoc period, which is end of this summer.
Basically the API approach I'm using is the same as in WordPress: Actions and Filters. The component will be full of hooks so extending it should be a snap.
Here's the initial list of features: http://gsoc2010.wordpress.com/stas-suscov-academic-suite/
@LPH2005 The code on svn works and allows creating courses, adding assignments and bibliographies to it. Untill monday there will schedules support too.
People ask how can they install and test…
@sushkov I'll be testing it out, too and thanks for being so helpful over here in addition to your gsoc work. One thing I will look to do is to enable this feature set in some groups, but not others / noroc
Thanks a lot, I'll be checking more often this thread from now on. Looking forward for your feedback @brianglanz
@Jalien, I committed Gradebook component in latest svn revision. You might want to take a look.
Create an assignment and you should have access to its gradebook instantly.
@LPH2005 the per group option was added into 0.1 release.
@Jalien – not sure just how I missed your request before. If you need to use SCORM (and not everyone does/should), we released a plug-in a month or so ago that does just that. It allows you to use our SCORM Cloud product directly in WordPress and it's BuddyPress compatible. You can see an example of it in BuddyPress on my testing blog – http://susanvillaslewis.com/scormtesting/ – although you have to be registered user to see the courses. More at http://scorm.com/wordpress
- The topic 'Moodle' is closed to new replies.


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Get Inked For Throwback Thursday!
Who doesn't love digging through the archives and pulling out some awesome (and possibly embarrassing) old pix? The Hawk is teaming up with Miller Lite this summer as they bring back their old school white cans, so we can all celebrate #throwbackthursday! Post your pic here!

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Top Misconceptions About Islam
Misconception: Muslims are violent, terrorists, and extremists!
This is the biggest misconception in Islam, no doubt resulting from the constant stereotyping and bashing the media gives Islam. When a gunman attacks a mosque in the name of Judaism, or a Catholic IRA guerrilla sets off a bomb in an urban area, or Serbian Orthodox militiamen rape and kill innocent Muslim civilians, these acts are not used to stereotype and bash an entire faith. Never are these acts attributed to the religious teachings of the perpetrators. Yet how many times have we heard the words 'Islamist or Muslim fundamentalist' linked with violence.
Politics in so-called "Muslim countries" may or may not have any Islamic basis. Often dictators and politicians will use the name of Islam for their own purposes. One should remember to go to the source of Islam and separate what the true religion of Islam says from what is portrayed in the media. Islam literally means 'submission to God' and is derived from a root word meaning 'peace'.
Islam may seem exotic or even extreme in the modern world. Perhaps this is because religion doesn't dominate everyday life in the West, whereas Islam is considered a 'way of life' for Muslims and they make no division between secular and sacred in their lives. Like Christianity, Islam permits fighting in self-defense, in defense of religion, or on the part of those who have been expelled forcibly from their homes. It lays down strict rules of combat which include prohibitions against harming civilians and against destroying crops, trees and livestock.
No where does Islam or the Qur'an enjoin the killing of innocents. The Qur'an says: "Fight in the cause of God against those who fight you, but do not transgress limits. God does not love transgressors." (Qur'an Chapter 2: Verse 190) And also, "If they seek peace, then seek you peace. And trust in God for He is the One that heareth and knoweth all things." (Qur'an, Chapter 8: Verse 61). War, therefore, is a last resort, and is subject to the rigorous conditions laid down by the sacred law. The term 'jihad' literally means 'struggle'. Muslims believe that there are two kinds of jihad. The other 'jihad' is the inner struggle of the soul which everyone wages against egotistic desires for the sake of attaining inner peace.
Misconception: Islam oppresses women.
The image of the typical Muslim woman wearing the veil and forced to stay home and forbidden to drive is all too common in most peoples' thoughts. Although some Muslim countries may have laws that oppress women, this should not be seen as coming from Islam. Many of these countries do not rule by any true Shari'ah(Islamic law), and instead introduce their own cultural standpoints on the issue of gender equity.
Islam gives men and women different roles, and equity between the two is laid down in the Qur'an and the example of the Prophet (peace be upon him). Islam sees a woman, whether single or married, as an individual in her own right, with the right to own and dispose of her property and earnings. A marriage gift is given by the groom to the bride for her own personal use, and she keeps her own family name rather than taking her husband's. Both men and women are expected to dress in a way which is modest and dignified. "The Messenger of God (peace be upon him) said: "The most perfect in faith amongst believers is he who is best in manner and kindest to his wife.""
Violence of any kind towards women and forcing them against their will for anything is not allowed. A Muslim marriage is a simple, legal agreement in which either partner is free to include conditions. Marriage customs thus vary widely from country to country. Divorce is not common, although it is acceptable as a last resort. According to Islamic teachings, a Muslim girl cannot be forced to marry against her will.
Misconception: Muslims worship a different God
Allah is simply the Arabic word for God. Allah for Muslims is the greatest and most inclusive of the Names of God, it is an Arabic word of rich meaning, denoting the one and only God and ascribing no partners to Him. It is exactly the same word which the Jews, in Hebrew, use for God (eloh), the word which Jesus Christ used in Aramaic when he prayed to God. God has an identical name in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam; Allah is the same God worshiped by Muslims, Christians and Jews. Muslims believe that Allah's sovereignty is to be acknowledged in worship and in the pledge to obey His teaching and commandments, conveyed through His messengers and prophets who were sent at various times and in many places throughout history.
Misconception: Islam was spread by the sword and is intolerant of other faiths
Many social studies textbooks for students show the image of an Arab horseman carrying a sword in one hand and the Qur'an in the other, conquering and forcibly converting. This, though, is not a correct portrayal of history. Islam has always given respect and freedom of religion to all faiths. The Qur'an says: "God forbids you not, with regards to those who fight you not for [your] faith nor drive you out of your homes, from dealing kindly and justly with them; for God loveth those who are just." (Qur'an, Chapter 60: Verse 8) Freedom of religion is laid down in the Qur'an itself: "There is no compulsion (or coercion) in the religion (Islam). The right direction is distinctly clear from error". (Qur'an, Chapter 2: Verse 256)
Christian missionary, T.W. Arnold had this opinion on his study of the question of the spread of Islam: "Of any organized attempt to force the acceptance of Islam on the non-Muslim population, or of any systematic persecution intended to stamp out the Christian religion, we hear nothing. Had the caliphs chosen to adopt either course of action, they might have swept away Christianity as easily as Ferdinand and Isabella drove Islam out of Spain, or Louis XIV made Protestantism."
It is a function of Islamic law to protect the privileged status of minorities, and this is why non-Muslim places of worship have flourished all over the Islamic world. History provides many examples of Muslim tolerance towards other faiths: when the caliph Omar entered Jerusalem in the year 634, Islam granted freedom of worship to all religious communities in the city. Proclaiming to the inhabitants that their lives, and property were safe, and that their places of worship would never be taken from them, he asked the Christian patriarch Sophronius to accompany him on a visit to all the holy places.
Islamic law also permits non-Muslim minorities to set up their own courts, which implement family laws drawn up by the minorities themselves. The life and property of all citizens in an Islamic state are considered sacred whether the person is Muslim or not.
Racism is not a part of Islam, the Qur'an speaks only of human equality and how all peoples are equal in the sight of God. "O mankind! We created you from a single soul, male and female, and made you into nations and tribes, so that you may come to know one another. Truly, the most honored of you in God's sight is the greatest of you in piety. God is All-Knowing, All- Aware." (Qur'an, Chapter 49: Verse 13)
Misconceptions: All Muslims are Arabs
The Muslim population of the world is around 1.4 billion. 1 out of 4 people in the world is a Muslim. Islam is the fastest growing religion in the world. Muslims come from a vast range of races, nationalities and cultures from around the globe -from the Philippines to Nigeria- they are united by their common Islamic faith. Only about 18 percent of Muslims live in the Arab world. The largest Muslim community is in Indonesia. Most Muslims live east of Pakistan. 30 percent of Muslims live in the Indian subcontinent, 20 percent in Sub-Saharan Africa, 17 percent in Southeast Asia, 18 percent in the Arab world and 10 percent in the Soviet Union and China. Turkey, Iran and Afghanistan make up 10 percent of the non-Arab Middle East. Although there are Muslim minorities in almost every area, including Latin America and Australia, they are most numerous in Russia and its newly independent states, India and central Africa. There are about 8 million Muslims in the United States. Islam is the fastest growing religion in North America.
Misconception: The Nation of Islam is a Muslim group
Islam and the so-called "Nation of Islam" are two different religions. Muslims consider this group to be just one of many cults using the name of Islam for their own gain.
Islam and the Nation of Islam differ in many fundamental ways. All Muslims must believe that there is only one God worthy of worship and that Muhammad PBUH was the last messenger of God, but Nation of Islam teaches something totally different. Also, Nation of Islam followers believe in racism and that the 'black man' was the original man and therefore superior, while in Islam there is no racism and everyone is considered equal in the sight of God, the only difference being in one's piety. There are many other theological examples that show the Nation's teachings have little to do with true Islam.
Any serious student of Islam has a duty to investigate and find the true Islam. The only two authentic sources which bind every Muslim are The Quran and Authentic hadith(sayings of the prophet). Any teachings under the label of "Islam" which contradict or are at variance with the direct understanding of fundamental beliefs and practices of Islam form the Quran and authentic hadith should be rejected and such a religion should be considered a Pseudo-Islamic Cult. In America there are many pseudo-Islamic cults, Nation of Islam being one of them. An honest attitude on the part of such cults should be not to call themselves Muslims and their religion Islam. Such an example of honesty is Bahaism which is an off-shoot of Islam but Bahais do not call themselves Muslims nor their religion, Islam. In fact Bahaism is not Islam just as Nation of Islam is not Islam.
Misconception: All Muslim men marry four wives
The religion of Islam was revealed for all societies and all times and so it accommodates widely differing social requirements. Circumstances may warrant the taking of another wife, but the right is granted, according to the Qur'an only on condition that the husband is scrupulously fair. No woman can be forced into this kind of marriage if they do not wish it.
Polygamy is neither mandatory, nor encouraged, but merely permitted. Images of "sheikhs with harems" are not consistent with Islam, as a man is only allowed at most four wives only if he can fulfill the stringent conditions of treating each fairly and providing each with separate housing etc. Permission to practice polygamy is not associated with mere satisfaction of passion. It is rather associated with compassion toward widows and orphans. It was the Qur'an that limited and put conditions on the practice of polygamy among the Arabs, who had as many as ten or more wives and considered them "property". It is both honest and accurate to say that it is Islam which regulated this practice, limited it, made it more humane and instituted equal rights and status for all wives. What the Qur'anic decrees amount to, taken together is discouragement of polygamy unless necessity for it exists. It is also evident that the general trend in Islam is monogamy and not polygamy. It is a very small percentage of Muslims that practice polygamy over the world. However, permission to practice limited polygamy is only consistent with Islam's realistic view of the nature of man and woman and of various social needs, problems and cultural variations. It also is the frank and straightforward approach of Islam in dealing with practical problems. Rather than requiring hypocritical and superficial compliance, Islam delves deeper into the problems of individuals and societies, and provides for legitimate and clean solutions which are far more beneficial than would be the case if they were ignored. There is no doubt that the second wife legally married and treated kindly is better off than a mistress without any legal rights or expermanence.
Misconceptions: Muslims are a barbaric, backwards people
Among the reasons for the rapid and peaceful spread of Islam was the simplicity of its doctrine -Islam calls for faith in only one God worthy of worship. It also repeatedly instructs man to use his powers of intelligence and observation. Within a few years of the spread of Islam, great civilizations and universities were flourishing, for "according to the Prophet (pbuh), 'seeking knowledge is an obligation for every Muslim man and woman'. "
The synthesis of Eastern and Western ideas and of new thought with old, brought about great advances in medicine, mathematics, physics, astronomy, geography, architecture, art, literature and history. Many crucial systems such as algebra, the Arabic numerals, and also the concept of the zero (vital to the advancement of mathematics), were transmitted to medieval Europe from Islam. Sophisticated instruments were developed which were to make possible the European voyages of discovery, including the astrolabe, the quadrant and good navigational maps.
Misconceptions: Muhammad was the founder of Islam and Muslims worship him
Muslims only worshio the one true God and believe that Muhammad (peace be upon him) was the last messenger sent by God to the world. Muhammad PBUH was a most noble man and beloved prophet, yet Muslims certainly donot worship him, or any other created being.
Muhammad PBUH was born in Mecca in the year 570. Since his father died before his birth and his mother shortly afterwards, he was raised by his uncle from the respected tribe of Quraysh. As he grew up, he became known for his truthfulness, generosity and sincerity, so that he was sought after for his ability to arbitrate in disputes. The historians describe him as calm and meditative. Muhammad PBUHwas of a deeply religious nature, and had long detested the decadence of his society.
It became his habit to meditate from time to time in the Cave of Hira near Mecca. At the age of 40, while engaged in a meditative retreat, Muhammad PBUH received his first revelation from God, through the Angel Gabriel. This revelation, which continued for 23 years, is known as the Qur'an. As soon as he began to recite the words he heard from Gabriel and to preach the truth which God had revealed to him, he and his small group of followers suffered bitter persecution, which grew so fierce that in the year 622 God gave them the command to emigrate.
This event, the Hijra 'migration', in which they left Mecca for the city of Medina, marks the beginning of the Muslim calendar. After several years, the Prophet and his followers were able to return to Mecca, where they forgave their enemies and established Islam definitively. Before the Prophet PBUHdied at the age of 63, the greater part of Arabia was Muslim, and within a century of his death Islam had spread to Spain in the West and as far East as China.
While Muhammad PBUH was chosen to deliver the message, he is not considered the "founder" of Islam, since Muslims consider Islam to be the same divine guidance sent to all prophets before. Muslims believe all the prophets from Adam, Noah, Moses, Jesus etc. were all sent with the same divine guidance for their peoples. Since all prophets came from the same God, they all brought the same basic message -calling their people to the worship of one God. Every prophet was sent to his own people, but Muhammad PBUH was sent to all of mankind. Muhammad PBUH is the last and final messenger sent to deliver the message of Islam. Muslims love and honor him, but they do not worship him. In the Qur'an, it says: "O Prophet, verily We have sent you as a witness and a bearer of glad tidings and a warner and as one who invites unto God by His leave and as an illuminating lamp." (Qur'an, Chapter 33: Verses 45-6)
Misconception: Muslims don't believe in Jesus or any other prophets
Muslims respect and love Jesus, upon him be peace, and await his Second Coming. They consider him a great messenger from God to mankind. A Muslim never refers to him simply as 'Jesus', but always adds the phrase 'upon him be peace' (abbreviated as (u) here). The Qur'an confirms his virgin birth (a chapter of the Quran is entitled 'Mary'), and Mary is considered amongst the best and most noble women. The Qur'an describes the Annunciation as follows: "Behold!" the Angel said, "God has chosen you, and purified you, and chosen you above the women of all nations. O Mary, God gives you good news of a word from Him whose name shall be the Messiah, Jesus son of Mary, honored in this world and the Hereafter, and one of those brought near to God. He shall speak to the people from his cradle and in maturity, and shall be of the righteous." She said: "O my Lord! How shall I have a son when no man has touched me?" He said: "Even so; God creates what He will. When He decrees a thing, He says to it, "Be!" and it is" (Qur'an, Chapter 3: Verses 42-47)
Jesus (u) was born miraculously through the same power which had brought Adam (u) into being without a father: "Truly, the likeness of Jesus with God is as the likeness of Adam. He created him of dust, and then said to him, 'Be!' and he was." (Qur'an, Chapter 3: Verses 59) During his prophetic mission Jesus (u) performed many miracles. The Quran tells us that he said: "I have come to you with a sign from your Lord: I make for you out of clay, as it were, the figure of a bird, and breathe into it and it becomes a bird by God's leave. And I heal the blind, and the lepers, and I raise the dead by God's leave." (Qur'an, Chapter 3: Verses 49) Neither Muhammad (pbuh) not Jesus (u) came to change the basic doctrine of the belief in One God brought by earlier prophets, but instead to confirm and renew it.
In the Qur'an Jesus (u) is reported as saying that he came: "To attest the law which was before me. And to make lawful to you part of what was forbidden you; I have come to you with a sign from your Lord, so fear God and obey Me. (Qur'an, Chapter 3: Verses 50) The Prophet Muhammad(pbuh) said: ""Whoever believes there is no god but God, alone without partner, that Muhammad(pbuh) is His messenger, that Jesus is the servant and messenger of God, His word breathed into Mary and a spirit emanating from Him, and that Paradise and Hell are true, shall be received by God into Heaven. "(Hadith related by Bukhari) "
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For those who are wondering about the retro title of this black-history series, please take a moment to learn about historian Joel A. Rogers, author of the 1934 book 100 Amazing Facts About the Negro With Complete Proof, to whom these "amazing facts" are an homage.
Amazing Fact About the Negro No. 38: Did black combatants fight in the Battle of Gettysburg, which turned the tide of the Civil War 151 years ago?
Fantasy and Reality
"For every Southern boy fourteen years old," William Faulkner famously wrote in Intruder in the Dust (1948), it is early in the afternoon on July 3, 1863, just before the order is given to attack the center of the Union line across an open field three-quarters of a mile long, which leads up to Cemetery Ridge at what will become "the High Water-Mark" of the Confederacy — Pickett's Charge. "This time. Maybe this time," the fantasy goes.
To it I might add the less well-known but equally fervent dream of many black boys "fourteen years old," I'm sure: that when those grey and tattered butternut coats, their bayonets glistening in the summer sun, reach the apex of wood and stone, they and their African-American comrades are there to repulse the attack with the righteous fury of centuries of their enslaved ancestors, a clear victory of freedom over slavery that will drown out, once and for all, the wild Rebel yell.
For three days last year there was plenty of time for reverie as throngs of visitors descended on Gettysburg, Pa., for the 150th anniversary of the symbolic battle of the American Civil War, but facts are facts, right? Pickett's Charge was Robert E. Lee's greatest miscalculation, the climax of his second and final Northern invasion, and there were no black troops there to make his defeat more complete. After all, the war would drag on for two more years.
While close to 200,000 African Americans served in the Union Army and Navy during the war, those who'd taken up arms by July 1863 were engaged further west and south, where two weeks later the 54th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment would make their own desperate assault on Fort Wagner, S.C.
(Note: It's important to remember that "individual black soldiers had been fighting since the beginning of the war, especially in the west, but not as units" until the First Kansas Volunteer Infantry in October 1862, according to the historian Donald Yacovone, writing in an email to me. At the federal level, the use of black troops had been authorized in July 1862 with the passage of the Second Confiscation and Militia Act, but President Abraham Lincoln didn't take advantage of this power until he added this provision to the final version of the Emancipation Proclamation; the Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation, of Sept. 22, did not include it. Yet even before then, in defiance of Congress and the War Department, Union General David Hunter had begun organizing what would become the First South Carolina Regiment in April 1862, describing it as "a fine regiment of persons whose late masters are 'fugitive rebels' "; while Hunter was dismissed and the regiment disbanded, it was quickly reconstituted under General Rufus Sexton and, after engaging in battle along the Georgia Coast and Sea Islands, mustered into federal service on Jan. 1, 1863.)
I began writing this column wondering if I would find out otherwise, only to realize that proving there were black soldiers at the Battle of Gettysburg is a fool's errand. As John Heiser, Gettysburg National Military Park historian, said in an interview over the phone, the evidence is "scanty" and "untrustworthy." In fact, the only possible lead found was to one Charles F. Lutz, an Eighth Louisiana Confederate, who, apparently, could pass for white in census records. According to James Paradis in his illuminating book African Americans and the Gettysburg Campaign, Lutz was wounded on the second day of the battle, at East Cemetery Hill.
Given the amount of racial mixing in the Deep South during the antebellum period, it is not surprising there would be some black blood in some "white" soldiers, Heiser explained, but do not be misled: There were no black "combatants" on either side at Gettysburg, only "noncombatants" in support roles: ambulance and supply-wagon drivers, hospital attendants, teamsters. Of those there were hundreds, Heiser explained, including, on the Southern side, personal body servants (i.e., slaves) tending to white officers. Paradis shows the same, arguing that black teamsters in particular faced hard, perilous conditions and at Gettysburg were vital to supplying the Army of the Potomac and helping the Army of Northern Virginia escape.
Had I stopped my inquiry there, I might have been disappointed. Because I didn't, I was both horrified and amazed. Thanks to the invaluable research of Paradis and Margaret Creighton, a history professor at Bates College whose 2005 book, The Colors of Courage, has quickly become the standard, I have learned that Gettysburg wasn't just a three-day affair but a longer campaign that enveloped an entire region and countless African-American lives. Put it this way: While I was skeptical at first, it's no wonder to me now that black residents in Gettysburg are currently seeking funds for their own museum, as reported by the Associated Press on June 25, 2013.
The Terror
The terror began two weeks before what most regard as the Battle of Gettysburg proper (July 1-3, 1863), when a brigade of Confederate cavalry led by General Albert Jenkins crossed over the Potomac River and headed up the Cumberland Valley into Pennsylvania. They weren't only interested in conducting reconnaissance, cutting communications lines or raiding farms for cattle and other food supplies. They sought something more valuable: "contraband." However hard Southern apologists tried to deny that slavery was the central cause of the war, the Confederate invasion offered too tempting an opportunity to reverse the flow of the Underground Railroad, and in the fog of war, the Rebels didn't discriminate between runaways, refugees and free black people born and raised north of the Mason-Dixon Line.
As Creighton recounts in vivid detail, black people in Southern Pennsylvania had been quick to react to Gov. Andrew Curtin's warning on June 12. Of all citizens, they knew what the invasion meant from years of living along the porous border between slavery and freedom under the Fugitive Slave Law. It also wasn't the first time Confederate raiders had crossed over the Pennsylvania border to inflict terror during the war, Ron Soodalter reminded us recently in the New York Times, and it wouldn't be the last (in 1864, Rebel riders under "Tiger John" McCausland torched more than 500 buildings in Chambersburg when its citizens failed to meet a ransom demand of $100,000 in gold). Those who could, packed up and escaped further north to Harrisburg and east to Philadelphia. A number of black men assumed their wives and children would be safe from confiscation, but they were wrong.
In town after town along the Pennsylvania border, beginning at Chambersburg on the night of June 15, Confederate advance troops swept in and rounded up whomever they could seize and carry back to "Dixie" by horseback or in wagons. " 'The stronger and more refractory ones were tied together, making somewhat of an extemporized coffle-gang,' " Creighton quotes one journalist's account. For two weeks leading up to the battle, even during it, the terror was widespread and prolonged, with one white witness likening blacks' furious attempts at an exodus to " 'buffalo before a prairie fire.' "
It is impossible to identify the exact number of ex-slave and free blacks taken during the Gettysburg campaign. Estimates range anywhere from 30 to 40 to several hundred, according to various first-person accounts. (Confederates didn't keep good records on this subject, John Heiser explained, and even if they did, many were burned during the fall of Richmond in 1865.) But blacks didn't need to wait for future historians to teach them the concept of total war; they were living it.
" 'Our life, our liberty, our country, our religious privileges, our family, OUR ALL is at stake,' " warned The Anglo-African all the way from New York on June 20 (quoted in Creighton). The Confederates " 'claimed all these Negroes as Virginia slaves, but I was positively assured that two or three were born and raised in this neighborhood,' " said a white minister shaken by the Rebels' kidnapping raids (quoted in Creighton). " 'One, Sam Brooks, split many a cord of wood for me. There were among them women and young children, sitting with sad countenances on the stolen Store-boxes. I asked one of the riders guarding the wagons; 'Do you not feel bad and mean in such an occupation?' He boldly replied that he felt very comfortable. They were only reclaiming their property which we had stolen and harbored,' " as quoted in Paradis' book.
In a few instances, whites intervened with words and spontaneous arms. Blacks resisted, too, by escaping, hiding and fighting back. In one instance, a nameless black man succeeded in disarming and shooting his captor; another was mutilated for trying. As Creighton writes, "They slashed his chest and abdomen, cut off his genitals, and poured turpentine on the lacerations. A Vermont soldier saw him as he lay in a barn near the Potomac River, 'grinding his teeth & foaming at the mouth.' " All this, he added, " 'because he would not go over the river with them' " Paradis quotes.
When Confederates under General Jubal Early threatened the state capital in Harrisburg (a prize Lee wanted) at the end of June, blacks helped build fortifications along the Western edge of the Susquehanna River, Heiser explained. One black company was even more directly engaged, taking up arms with three white companies in helping the 27th Pennsylvania Emergency Volunteers block some 2,500 Rebels from crossing the Cumberland-Wrightsville Bridge southeast of the capital on June 28 (eventually they had to burn it). " '[J]ustice compels me to make mention of the excellent conduct of the company of Negroes from Columbia,' " Colonel Jacob Frick wrote in his after-action report, which is quoted in Paradis' book. " 'After working industriously in the rifle-pits all day, when the fight commenced they took their guns and stood up to their work bravely.' " Perhaps he was thinking of the black defender who had had his head shot off by cannon fire, one of the first casualties of the Gettysburg campaign.
One free black resident of Gettysburg, Randolph Johnston, had been training a local colored militia for such an emergency, writes Creighton. Now that it was at hand, David Wills, a white lawyer in town (who would host President Lincoln at the dedication of the Soldier's National Cemetery at Gettysburg in November), telegraphed Gov. Curtin informing him of the availability of Johnston's 60 men. Unfortunately, that offer was denied due to an apparent lack of authority.
In another strange twist, writes Paradis, a black unit of 30-day volunteers organized in Philadelphia after June 15 made it all the way to Harrisburg to take part in the Gettysburg campaign, but upon arriving, were told by their white commander that he could only accept 60-day volunteers; by the time he was overruled, it was too late.
The terror against blacks in Southern Pennsylvania during the Gettysburg campaign was " 'the worse spectacle I ever saw in this war,' " one white minister observed, according to Paradis, " 'a most pitiful sight, sufficient to settle the slavery question for every humane mind.' " To read more about it, check out the essay "Black and on the Border," by Edward Ayers, William Thomas and Anne Sarah Rubin in Slavery, Resistance and Freedom.
The Battle
Before the Civil War, Gettysburg was home to a "thriving black community," John Heiser explained. There were close to 200 in 1860 (approximately 8 percent of the borough's total population, according to Creighton). Most lived in the Third Ward and worked as domestics, tenant farmers and hired hands; they rented homes and owned lands and businesses; many attended the powerful AME church in town active on the Underground Railroad. By the time the main battle was joined on July 1, many had fled for safer terrain, among them the confectioner Owen Robinson, an ex-slave who, despite have legal papers, knew better than to take a chance being sent back.
Some couldn't leave, however. As Creighton writes, a few were too infirm to make the trip. Others who stayed faked injury to avoid appearing too enticing to slavers. Still others hid, were hidden or, in extreme cases, were confined by their white employers.
While blacks were not invited to take up arms on either side, a few had their lands seized and their homes destroyed during the battle, including James Warfield near Seminary Ridge (according to Paradis, Confederate General James Longstreet, aware of the taking of contraband, may have used the Warfield home for his headquarters during the fighting). More central was the farm of Abraham and Elizabeth Brien (also spelled "Brian" or "Bryan"), whose farm on Cemetery Ridge ended up in the middle of Pickett's Charge, with some Rebels even taking cover in his barn; nearly all were killed or captured, according to Paradis.
On the edge of the Brien property was the shack of Margaret Palm, a black laundress, who, having fended off an earlier kidnapping attempt in 1857, had warned her neighbors to flee before being tied up themselves. Another woman, referred to as "Old Liza," "took advantage of the chaos and the crowds of soldiers and civilians and bolted" to the Lutheran Church in town, Creighton writes. Others were forced to cook for Confederate troops who'd offered their white employers protection. Everywhere, Creighton writes, the threat of capture persisted during the battle; while the confusion saved some, another witness "saw 'a number of colored people' corralled together and marched away." What more than a few blacks of Gettysburg saw and heard themselves inspired them to join the Union cause as soldiers, among them prominent citizens like Randolph Johnston and teacher Lloyd Watts of the 24th U.S. Colored Troops; both became sergeants.
When the fighting at Gettysburg was over, the Rebels' black teamsters, many of them slaves hired out by their white owners, drove the retreat. According to Paradis, 64 were captured and taken to Fort McHenry in Baltimore. Not until Dec. 18, 1863, did the U.S. War Department decide how to handle those still there: " 'Those who wish to take the oath of allegiance can be discharged, and if they so choose, continue as private servants of officers, or serve the Government as Cooks, Teamsters, Laborers or in any other capacity in which they can be useful. Those who refuse to take the oath of allegiance will be detained as prisoners of war, and will be employed or not, as the Commanding Officers of the Post where they are confined, may deem expedient and proper.'"
The Aftermath
In some ways, Gettysburg's black residents rendered their greatest service in the immediate aftermath of the battle. While healing from it would take the country years, one black woman, Lydia Smith, did not hesitate to ride a horse and wagon around to the field hospitals bringing food and clothing to the wounded, Union and Confederate. Observing her, one reporter that Creighton quotes said, " 'This is quite a commentary … upon Gen. Lee's army of kidnappers and horse thieves who came here and fell wounded in their bold attempt to kidnap and carry off these free people of color.' " While a number of blacks cooked in those hospital kitchens and helped rebuild the rail lines destroyed during the campaign, others washed the blood-soaked scraps of uniforms and sewed them into new ones.
Perhaps most moving was the service of those executing the burial detail, including free black Gettysburgian Basil Biggs, a hired hand, whose crew of black men reburied more than 3,500 soldiers from disparate hospital sites to the new Soldier's National Cemetery, where on Nov. 19 President Lincoln gave his famous Address on the meaning of the war (Biggs' job wouldn't be finished until the following March).
Lloyd Watts, a black veteran of the war, was tireless in transforming the Gettysburg sites into a national shrine until he nearly wore himself out with "chest and joint pain," according to Creighton. He, Biggs and others also formed the Sons of Good Will to continue the local effort after the war, including celebrating Emancipation Day on Jan. 1. The laundress Margaret Palm did her part by telling stories and posing for a photo with ropes recalling slavers' attempts to capture her years before; in 1924, according to Creighton, Palm's story inspired the character of "Maggie Bluecoat" in Elsie Singmaster's novel A Boy in Gettysburg.
The Dedication
A century and a half after the Battle of Gettysburg, one has to wonder why so much of this history will be news to so many. The fact is, as Creighton shows, it didn't take long for the white winners and losers of the battle to narrow its history at their various cemeteries, museums and battlefield reunions, which, together with most standard textbooks of the war, excluded blacks or at least made them feel irrelevant or unwelcome. This "segregation of public memory" became especially acute during the Jim Crow era, Creighton explains, when it became increasingly difficult for blacks even to visit Gettysburg. "Of the thirty-six hotels and boardinghouses in the area in the early 1950s," Creighton writes, "none accepted guests of color and only three (out of fourteen) restaurants served them food, 'depending on the situation.' "
By whitewashing the history of the Civil War's most famous battle and narrowing it to three days of action only, generations of Americans obscured the centrality of slavery to the broader war and, in doing so, reduced it to a (white) brothers' war in which whites' mutually assured destruction quickly gave way to respect around wistful campfires.
Thankfully, the correction is well under way at Gettysburg. According to Park historian John Heiser, the civilian story was always there but not always visible. It received an important boost in 2000, when then-Rep. Jesse L. Jackson Jr. spearheaded an effort to ensure that federal funding of historic military sites emphasized the broader context. In part as a result of "Rally on the High Ground," the Gettysburg Visitor Center that 150th anniversary celebrants toured last year makes no doubt about the real cause of the war, while public programs make an effort to include the civilian experience, including campfire talks and educational programs evoking multiple black voices.
This does not mean there is no more "unfinished work," to quote Lincoln. As I indicated above, the descendants of Gettysburg's black heroes are busy carrying the story forward by planning for a new museum devoted to their ancestors and the long struggle for equality that followed it into the 20th century. "Our story here in this town, and in this state, and in this country has not been told," Lloyd Watt's great-great granddaughter Mary Nutter told the Associated Press last week. Finding major donors remains a challenge.
To the 14-year-olds out there, I am sorry I could not do a better job placing you directly behind the Union line at the appointed hour of Pickett's Charge, but I hope that in visiting Abraham Brien's farm at the center of the Confederate left flank, you will feel a greater sense of ownership of this history, that you will learn from it and be proud, and that you will never let anyone tell you that the Civil War had nothing to do with black people. As Scott Hancock, an associate professor of history at Gettysburg College, tells his students each year atop one of the battlefield's observation towers: There would be no battlefield to commemorate had there not been slavery or fugitives escaping in the hills surrounding it.
Thanks to Scott, I was reminded of the real stakes of the battle when reading a copy of the black Christian Recorder's Nov. 28, 1863, coverage of Lincoln's Gettysburg Address. In it, the reporter, standing in the same cemetery that Basil Biggs and other black men were consecrating with their hooks and shovels, wrongly or deliberately transcribed the last line of Lincoln's speech as follows: "that the Government of the people, for the people, and for all people, shall not perish from earth." The humanity Lincoln evoked reflected the humanity Pennsylvania blacks had shown in the face of the worst kinds of terror.
That humanity was tested again only a week after the Battle of Gettysburg in New York City, where some of the very same troops had to rush to quell the infamous Draft Riots that turned poor whites bitter about fighting the war — not against the rich men running it (the very men buying their sons' way out of it), but against the black citizens they blamed for its continuation. "Any black person unfortunate enough to encounter the mob became a target and was chased, beaten and often hanged," Linda Wheeler wrote for the Washington Post in a retrospective last April. "On the third day of the riots, newspaper images showed three black men hanging from lamp poles with a jubilant crowd dancing below them." Again, estimates varied from between 105 dead to 500.
What was clear, based on the events of June and July 1863, was that black lives north of the Mason-Dixon Line were worth more to Confederate kidnappers than to many white draftees they'd be battling, except after Gettysburg, they'd also have to contend with a much larger contingent of black soldiers — black soldiers bearing arms.
On the anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg and the various campaigns of terror blacks faced and resisted, I cannot help but think of nurse and poet Walt Whitman's famous line about the Civil War in his Memoranda During the War (1875-1876): "Future years will never know the seething hell and the black infernal background of countless minor scenes and interiors, (not the official surface-courteousness of the Generals, not the few great battles) of the Secession war; and it is best they should not — the real war will never get in the books." It didn't stop him from trying — neither should it we.
In a very gratifying response to my column on the absence of black soldiers at Gettysburg, my friend Allen Guelzo, the Henry R. Luce Professor of the Civil War and director of the Civil War Era Studies Program at Gettysburg College, informed me that while no black men fought officially, in uniform, for either the Union or the Confederate troops, he did discover that one unidentified black man spontaneously entered the fray and fought quite nobly. Here is what Professor Guelzo wrote to me, information that is summarized from his book Gettysburg: The Last Invasion.
"On the left of the 5th Ohio, a sergeant noticed something he had not expected: 'an American citizen of African descent had taken position, and with a gun and cartridge box, which he took from one of our dead men, was more than piling hot lead into the Graybacks.' There is no way of knowing whether this solitary black fighter was a civilian teamster who decided to join the Ohioans, or a refugee from the town who had come out of hiding to do his bit, or even a member of the Adams County company that had tried, unsuccessfully, to volunteer itself to the all-black 54th Massachusetts. He was certainly not a soldier, since none of the new black regiments recruited since the issue of the Emancipation Proclamation were attached to the Army of the Potomac. Whoever he was, he is the only African-American on record as a combatant, fighting at Gettysburg. 'His coolness and bravery was noticed and commented upon by all who saw him,' and the Ohio sergeant who described him thought that 'if the negro regiments fight like he did, I don't wonder that the Rebs … hate them so.' "
We are all indebted to Professor Guelzo for this important revelation, and I hope that others will find the time, as I now have, to read his book Gettysburg: The Last Invasion on this 151st anniversary.
As always, you can find more "Amazing Facts About the Negro" on The Root, and check back each week as we count to 100.
Henry Louis Gates Jr. is the Alphonse Fletcher University Professor and founding director of the Hutchins Center for African and African American Research at Harvard University. He is also editor-in-chief of The Root. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook.


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Fiery debate surrounds Section 113 of the Violence Against Women Acta last minute addition to the act titled Preventing Cyberstalking.
Is the new law evil or merely redundant? Will it destroy Internet communications as we know them or have no effect? Do members of Congress actually read the measures upon which they vote?
Section 113 was signed into law by President Bush on January 5. It amends 47 U.S.C. 223, the telecommunications harassment statute that is rooted in the Communications Act of 1934.
The telecommunications statute prohibits anyone from using a telephone or a telecommunications device "without disclosing his identity and with intent to annoy, abuse, threaten, or harass any person."
In application this has meant that you cannot anonymously annoy another person through the phone lines. Penalties include two years in prison and onerous fines.
Section 113 amends the statute to include "any device or software that can be used to originate telecommunications or other types of communications that are transmitted, in whole or in part, by the Internet."
Click here to see the specific additions to and deletions.
On January 9, electronic-freedom guru Declan McCullagh published an article entitled Create an e-annoyance, go to jail. Almost instant furor ensued.
McCullagh opened by declaring, Its no joke. Last Thursday, President Bush signed into law a prohibition on posting annoying Web messages or sending annoying e-mail messages without disclosing your true identity.
McCullagh and those who agree with his interpretation of Section 113 represent the law is evil and will damage the Internet side of the debate. Their warnings revolve around the two As: annoyance and anonymous.
First Amendment scholar Eugene Volokh argues that Section 113, if consistently applied, will criminalize annoying Web speech that is also meant to inform. For example, the anonymous creator of a blog that criticizes a politician may sincerely wish the target to become uncomfortable enough with public backlash to change his or her behavior. If the site engages in damaging lies, then existing libel laws apply.
Otherwise the right to state opinions under a pen name has been generally recognized by the First Amendment, with certain exceptions such as threats.
The parallel of a pen name is significant because Section 113 does not merely extend traditional protections from an old technology (phones) to a new one (the Internet). The Web is more like publishing than telecommunication. Phone calls are considered one-on-one communications and so, as Volokh comments, they are rarely of very much First Amendment value.
By contrast, the Internet is public speech. This fact alone makes Section 113 different in kind from 47 U.S.C. 223 and not merely an extension of the same principle.
Moreover, annoyance and intent to annoy are unconstitutionally vague terms. By contrast, harassment seems well defined: stalking, impersonating someone, threats, sending viruses through email, libel, contacting a targets family and co-workers. Critics of Section 113 are not defending a right to harass but the right to be publicly annoying, which is no more than freedom of speech.
As someone who runs electronic bulletin boards, Ive seen both harassment and annoyance in practice. Annoyance is when a churlish poster uses a screen name to flame another member because of a comment on Iraq or abortion. Harassment is what recently led to my closing a bulletin board; a members real name was outed and his real life was shadowed by threats.
As it stands, Section 113 makes no distinction between childish and menacing behavior.
Interestingly, those who argue against McCullagh do not necessarily argue for Section 113. Rather, they point to the irrelevance of the annoyance reference. Former Justice Department prosecutor Orin Kerr states that the statute and VAWA amendment can only be used to prohibit speech that is not protected by the First Amendment. In short, free speech protections still apply to the Internet.
Daniel Solove, associate professor at the George Washington University Law School, maintains that an anti-anonymity provision will apply only in cases when the annoyance is part of harassment.
Others argue that Section 113 will not be applied outside of the context of its title: Preventing Cyberstalking. But those who remember how the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO), originally written to target organized crime, was eventually used against pro-life groups in the abortion wars will not be reassured.
With experts and attorneys already contradicting each other, two things seem clear.
First, we will discover what Section 113 truly means when someone challenges the law. A candidate being mentioned on the Internet is Annoy.com; the site offers a service by which people send politically incorrect postcards without being required to furnish their identity.
The site owner Clinton Fein has a history of seeking declaratory and injunctive relief against the Communications Decency Act of 1996 through which indecent computer communication that is intended to annoy was criminalized. Fein believes Section 113 warrant[s] a constitutional challenge.
Second, this is a hastily written, bad law that was tacked onto a popular bill. Section 113 may seek to protect against real threats or violence but its language is so vague as to endanger much broader political discussion.
It illustrates why the organization Downsize DC is promoting a Read the Bills Act, which would require Congressmen to read measures before voting on them.
It is sad that such a commonsense goal sounds utopian.


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On July 28, 2012, Naveen Soorinje, a journalist with the Kannada television network Kasturi Newz 24 in Mangalore, Karnataka, covered an attack by a mob from the right-wing group Hindu Jagarana Vedike on a group of boys and girls having a birthday party at a suburban resort. A cameraman, Seetharam, who goes by one name, filmed the brutal assault, which lasted half an hour.
Widely known as "the homestay attack," it was only one of a rising number of incidents of sectarian moral policing in the developing and modernizing city of Mangalore. But when Mr. Soorinje and Mr. Seetharam were arrested in November, along with 43 others, and charged with conspiracy, rioting and unlawful assembly, the case inspired an intense campaign for media freedom and Mr. Soorinje's release from jail. Mr. Soorinje was freed on bail on March 23, and the charges against him and Mr. Seetharam were finally dropped on Friday.
In an interview with India Ink, Mr. Soorinje spoke about what he learned during his time in jail and the dangers he sees in extremist groups and in the complicit police in Mangalore.
Since your arrest in November 2012, you maintained that you only recorded the attack and were not a participant. What led to charges being dropped now?
Civil society groups and journalists appealed to the Karnataka chief minister's office for charges to be dropped. They had approached the earlier B.J.P. [Bharatiya Janata Party] regime, but that was the government that in a way put me in jail, so we didn't expect them to release me. It was only after the new C.M. from the Congress Party took charge that he signed the petition to drop charges against me. Of course, when the Congress was the opposition party earlier, they didn't do anything then.
How were your five months in Mangalore jail?
This might sound odd, but it was good that I saw the inside of a jail. As a journalist, my view of crime stopped at the arrest, police and trial. The life of imprisonment was a blind spot. I found that the increase in communal tensions in Mangalore has led to even the jail being segregated. In the A block, are the Muslims and Dalits, largely convicted or accused of terrorism, smuggling or theft. The B block is the Hindu block, with thugs from right-wing groups — people who attacked girls for talking to boys, or for drinking. I'm Hindu, but since the attackers I filmed and thereby got arrested were in B, the cops thought I'd be safer with the Muslims and Dalits.
I stayed in different wards every few weeks, chatting with whoever was willing to talk. It was eye-opening, the abysmal conditions, the twisted interrogations, the stories of so many innocents or one-time petty criminals that languish in prison for ages while their trials go on for decades.
Have threats and intimidation against journalists grown in the past few years in Mangalore?
Yes, it has been a crucial part of the communal groups' intention to intimidate society. After the pub attack of January 2009 — I was a print reporter then — [the Hindu extremist group] Sri Ram Sena upped its violent projects. Hindu boys and Muslims girls can't eat ice-cream together, can't sit together in a bus. The attacks on college kids were all over.
I'm lucky to have a secular, fair editor. I'd reported on all this with a group of like-minded reporters. We shared tip-offs, created maximum coverage. We were disgusted with the random attacks on women and even more ashamed by most media that focused on the so-called moral degradations — girls' drinking and smoking and going with boys — than the assaults by these communal thugs.
We got life threats. People came around my house, screamed on the phone. They burned the press of the local paper I worked at, set fire to the editors' chair. My editor was arrested; I was chased a few times. The head of Sri Ram Sena, in a press conference, said that it is not enough to kill one fellow. Openly, he said," We should take out one more journalist, then Mangalore will be fixed."
What have the police done to stop this?
These lumpen elements have free rein because of two things: people's discomfort with modernity and westernization, and police complicity. In the homestay attack, when the police turned up, they conversed with the attackers for over half an hour. One victim tried to escape, but the police caught him and brought him back. In custody, the police allowed the attackers to beat him.
Why did they detain the victims? The Mangalore police do this — take the scared, assaulted kids to the station, call their parents, and then give them advice. "Don't send your girls with boys, don't let Muslims and Hindus interact in college, why is your child drinking, don't you know Indian culture?" This is moral policing, what else? Beat, and then give unsolicited advice to the wrong person.
The police blamed you for not informing them about the attack even when you were tipped off earlier by a source.
That is untrue. I repeatedly called the inspector of the local police station, Ravish Nayak, from my official number. Nayak did not pick up. The attacks had begun by then, and there was mayhem; the poor girls were screaming. I asked my friend Rajesh Rao of channel TV-9 to call the police. He also called Nayak, again in vain.
My cameraman and I were the first people there, and we tried to record everything. Other journalists came in minutes. We all shot, but we couldn't stop the drunk, crazy goons attacking the young boys and girls.
It was a birthday party. When I got there after a local source tipped me off — not one of the attackers, as my phone call record shows — a girl was sitting on the porch, and two boys were playing games on their mobile phone. There was no rave party, as the goons alleged.
You were also accused by the police of abetting the attack because you didn't stop it.
This is an old dilemma in journalism: do you stop the action or do you report it? But here, I had no dilemma. I was screaming and requesting, "Don't hit the girls." The camera has caught my voice, but the attackers were unwilling to listen. They were like a pack of lions. I couldn't physically stop them. No one could. [Read a translated version of Mr. Soorinje's full account of the attack here.]
It is common today in India for mobs to call the local media informing them of a planned raid or attack. This is their way of getting publicity. Just 20 days before this homestay attack, a girl was molested publicly by a gang in Guwahati, Assam. In that, the cameraman was egging the attackers on, instructing them. So it may seem like I was in the same situation, but I was not.
How do the people of Mangalore react to this? Have the sectarian groups influenced their actions?
Mangalore is both modern and conventional. That friction is being exploited. People live their lives as they please, but in private. In public spaces like buses, colleges, restaurants, there is a lurking fear.
The homestay incident was in July 2012. After that, there have been 10 other assaults. None have been investigated, and visual evidence is limited. Moreover, some tabloids — why, even big dailies — mangle the issue. If the Bajrang Dal [a Hindu fundamentalist group] has slapped a girl who was smoking, the headline will say "Smoking girl slapped." It's a combination of right-wing ideology and power driving the police, goons and some of the media.
You are still with Kasturi TV, and still in Mangalore. Has this experience changed the way you report or live now?
There is an angle of caste that I've begun to understand. For example, all the boys and girls attacked in the homestay are Muslims or from backward castes. The accused goons are also from backward or lower castes, barely educated until third or fourth grade. All the leaders — of Sri Ram Sena and of the Vedike — are high caste, sitting happily in Bangalore, never arrested, only giving wildly inflammatory speeches on Hindutva to their minions without any consequence. I've realized that accountability must go further than the immediate actors.
I used to always try and do balanced reports — you know, quote both sides. But now I want to expose the attackers even more strongly. There is nothing to redeem them.
Rohini Mohan is a journalist based in Bangalore. She is working on a book about the civil war in Sri Lanka.
[This interview has been lightly edited and condensed.]
Related articles
- Mangalore : Govt drops all charges against journalist Soorinje #goodnews (kractivist.wordpress.com)
- #India – Press freedom on shaky ground #FOE #FOS (kractivist.wordpress.com)


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Supermarket recalls strawberry cheesecakes
Lidl is recalling certain packs of cheesecakes which may contain egg not mentioned on labelling.
The discount retailer is recalling packs of Milbona Strawberry Cheesecakes as they may contain Milbona Strawberry Trifles, which contain egg not mentioned on the label.
This means the product is a possible health risk for anyone with an allergy or intolerance to egg.
The product being recalled is Milbona Strawberry Cheesecakes, 3 x 100g pack, with a use-by date of 12 June 2015.
Lidl are advising consumers who have bought the product and have an allergy or intolerance to egg, to return it to their nearest Lidl store for a full refund. You can also contact the Lidl Customer Services Helpline on 0370 444 1234.


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Well, I might not hold you in suspense. The message has to do with sugar.
You may be thinking that everybody is aware of sugar's bad. And that does seem to be actual. But not every person stays away from it. And it really is a problem, or at the least a trouble waiting to appear.
Not Connecting the Dots
When I became schooling to be a existence instruct, one of the trainer coaches turned into among forty and 50 kilos obese. One day she stated, "I'm hooked on sugar, however I'm okay with it."
This girl certainly failed to connect her addiction to sugar with both her weight or any of the health problems she had. That's what I'd name no longer connecting the dots.
Cravings that Never Go Away
I receive newsletters with articles on sugar cravings that "in no way appear to move away." The diverse authors gift themselves as nutrients professionals. As a solution, they normally endorse merchandise – that you may purchase! – that taste similar to chocolate and cast off the sugar cravings.
Apparently, something those specialists do with their day by day meals plans isn't keeping meals cravings from returning.
Fact: Sugar cravings surely DO leave through the years – probably completely – so it is a crimson flag for me if a vitamins 'expert' does not know how to make that take place for him/herself or for customers.
Falling for Sneaky, Sexy Sugars
The list of these within reason long: agave nectar, coconut sugar, maple syrup, fruit (yes, fruit), fruit juice, honey, monk fruit extracts, date paste, and extra.
It could be no marvel to discover that someone who makes use of those sneaky sugars is hooked on them or has cravings that by no means appear to head away absolutely. After all, they are sugar.
Which Brings Us to Paleo Menus
I'm on lots of lists and regularly acquire menus for Paleo desserts and treats that use some of the above sneaky sugars. They're scrumptious, we are instructed.
My understanding on this is simple: "Delicious" is suspicious.
And sugar is sugar. That's certainly no longer what each person desires to hear, but it is true.
Fruits and Vegetables
What can I say? I want people might prevent lumping those two collectively. It makes them seem similarly healthful, and they are now not.
Fructose, the sugar in fruit, is a especially harmful sugar. In fact, it's what makes sucrose (half of fructose, 1/2 glucose) the junk we know it to be. In the science lit, all researchers seem to know this. If only the relaxation folks have been inclined to just accept that!
A couple of servings of fruit a day is probably k for the majority. A serving is ½ cup or 1 medium fruit.
Yet some culmination can also cause an addictive reaction in a few humans. Self-focus and self-honesty are key survival equipment, and some distance better than going together with any mainstream push closer to trending sugars.
I've Had to Change My Message
Several months ago, whilst joining a women's networking institution, I made the error of introducing myself as a sugar addiction expert in my 30-second pitch. It led to not anything however fear. People are afraid to cope with sugar dependancy, very probable due to the fact they realize what takes place when they cross without sugar for any length of time.
But I'll end with this important message as it without a doubt subjects greater than ever:
• Sugar is at the coronary heart of the obesity epidemic. Not fat, now not supersizes.
• Sugar will increase appetite.
• Sugar results in the consumption of more fats. Many excessive-sugar ingredients include fats. Fat also makes sugar tastes sweeter, so ingredients with both sugar and fat encourage overeating, and the calories can add up speedy.
• Sugar can boom blood strain. More than salt.
• Sugar can growth serum ldl cholesterol. More than fat.
• Sugar can increase triglycerides. More than fat.
• Sugar can cause type 2 diabetes. Yes, it could.
• Sugar can contribute to temper swings, anxiety, melancholy and other temper problems.
• Sugar can intervene with greatest mind consciousness and paintings productivity.


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Porting Ruby/NCruses Rogue-Like to .NET and FlatRedBall
Posted by: ashes999 on 08/21/2015 | Add Revision
I created an awesome rogue-like game in Ruby. For the GUI, I used NCurses. Since I'm using FlatRedBall as my engine of choice for Silverlight game development, I want to port this game over.
What is the best way to efficiently doing this, and what are the pitfalls I should expect?
For example, Ruby is object-oriented, like C#, and I should be able to just convert (rewrite) classes one by one. However, I will run into issues like:
- NCurses API. I need to possibly create my own notions of a "Window", or else rewrite GUI code. It's one class, but it's BIG.
- Mix-Ins. These are essentially aspect-oriented development. There are a couple of solutions in .NET, like dynamic classes.
What else? Also, I should mention that I want to create a FlatSilverBall (C#) application out of this. That is to say, I will be using the FlatRedBall 2D engine as my foundation. I am not interested in Curses, or any other variation that will allow me to make a console-type game.
As much as possible, I'll dump reusable and helper code, algorithms, etc. into separate projects and generate reusable DLLs.


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SAN FRANCISCO, March 8, 2013 – Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE: WFC), America's No. 1 small business lender1 and a leading lender to women- and diverse-owned businesses, today announced a commitment to lend a cumulative total of $55 billion to women-owned businesses in the U.S. by the year 2020, updating its lending commitment first established in 1995. The announcement will be made by Lisa Stevens, Wells Fargo lead executive for Small Business and West Coast Regional Banking president, at the Hispanas Organized for Political Equality (HOPE) 22nd Annual Latina History Day conferencein Los Angeles.
March is National Women's History Month, and Wells Fargo has a rich history of working with women business owners and providing them access to capital and financial services. Since introducing the women's lending commitment 18 years ago, Wells Fargo has provided more than $38 billion in capital to women business owners, a group that grew in size by more than 20 percent from 2002 to 2007, according to the latest Census data. Today, approximately 30 percent of businesses in the U.S. are owned by women, according to the National Women's Business Council.
"Women-owned businesses are among America's fastest growing segments, and we are honored to support their role in shaping the future of small business," said Stevens. "As a leader in lending to women, Wells Fargo is dedicated to helping women succeed financially — in business and personally."
Wells Fargo's first lending commitment in 1995 established a goal to lend $1 billion to women business owners over three years. Fueled by the continued growth of women business owners, the goal was increased, most recently in 2003.
In addition to the cumulative lending goal, Wells Fargo supports numerous outreach efforts to build relationships with women business owners and help them to succeed financially. Wells Fargo is a proud supporter of the National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO) and the Women Presidents' Organization, as well as several other organizations focused on the education, growth and advancement of women business owners. Wells Fargo provides the full array of financial products and services to satisfy all of the financial needs of women-owned businesses, such as banking, business loans and lines of credit, credit cards, payroll, merchant services, insurance, retirement planning, and online resources.
For an example of how Wells Fargo helped meet the financing needs of one woman-owned small business, see the story of GLAMGLOW, a Los Angeles-based consumer products company owned by Shannon Dellimore.
About Wells Fargo
Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE: WFC) is a nationwide, diversified, community-based financial services company with $1.4 trillion in assets. Founded in 1852 and headquartered in San Francisco, Wells Fargo provides banking, insurance, investments, mortgage, and consumer and commercial finance through more than 9,000 stores, 12,000 ATMs, the Internet (wellsfargo.com), and has offices in more than 35 countries to support the bank's customers who conduct business in the global economy. With more than 265,000 team members, Wells Fargo serves one in three households in the United States. Wells Fargo & Company was ranked No. 26 on Fortune's 2012 rankings of America's largest corporations. Wells Fargo's vision is to satisfy all our customers' financial needs and help them succeed financially.
About Wells Fargo Small Business
Wells Fargo has loaned more money to small businesses in the United States than any other bank for 10 years running (based on 2002-2011 Community Reinvestment Act government data) and is a leading lender to women- and diverse-owned businesses. Wells Fargo provides a wide range of financial solutions to meet the needs of business owners nationwide. Through the Wells Fargo Business Insight Resource Center, business owners can access an informative selection of videos and articles featuring expert advice and best practices. For more information visit wellsfargo.com/biz or call the National Business Banking Center at 1-800-CALL-WELLS.
1 Based on Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) government data (2002-2011)


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|* This file is subject to the terms and conditions of the GNU General Public
|* License. See the file "COPYING" in the main directory of this archive
|* for more details.
|* Copyright (C) 1992 - 1997, 2000-2005 Silicon Graphics, Inc. All rights reserved.
|#ifndef _ASM_IA64_SN_PDA_H
|#define _ASM_IA64_SN_PDA_H
|#include <linux/cache.h>
|#include <asm/percpu.h>
|* CPU-specific data structure.
|* One of these structures is allocated for each cpu of a NUMA system.
|* This structure provides a convenient way of keeping together
|* all SN per-cpu data structures.
|typedef struct pda_s {
|* Support for SN LEDs
|volatile short *led_address;
|u8 led_state;
|u8 hb_state; /* supports blinking heartbeat leds */
|unsigned int hb_count;
|unsigned int idle_flag;
|volatile unsigned long *bedrock_rev_id;
|volatile unsigned long *pio_write_status_addr;
|unsigned long pio_write_status_val;
|volatile unsigned long *pio_shub_war_cam_addr;
|unsigned long sn_in_service_ivecs[4];
|int sn_lb_int_war_ticks;
|int sn_last_irq;
|int sn_first_irq;
|} pda_t;
|#define CACHE_ALIGN(x) (((x) + SMP_CACHE_BYTES-1) & ~(SMP_CACHE_BYTES-1))
|* Per-cpu private data area for each cpu. The PDA is located immediately after
|* the IA64 cpu_data area. A full page is allocated for the cp_data area for each
|* cpu but only a small amout of the page is actually used. We put the SNIA PDA
|* in the same page as the cpu_data area. Note that there is a check in the setup
|* code to verify that we don't overflow the page.
|* Seems like we should should cache-line align the pda so that any changes in the
|* size of the cpu_data area don't change cache layout. Should we align to 32, 64, 128
|* or 512 boundary. Each has merits. For now, pick 128 but should be revisited later.
|DECLARE_PER_CPU(struct pda_s, pda_percpu);
|#define pda (&__ia64_per_cpu_var(pda_percpu))
|#define pdacpu(cpu) (&per_cpu(pda_percpu, cpu))
|#endif /* _ASM_IA64_SN_PDA_H */


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Conceiving Family follows (Director/Producer) Amy Bohigian and her partner, Jane Byers, as they adopt biracial 15 month-old twins, Franny and Theo. Their journey to becoming a family, like the other four same-sex couples, is laden with challenges, including confronting the Christian Fundamentalist foster parents who express fear that the children they've cared for since birth will now, "grow up to be gay" with parents who are "going to hell for their sins." Required to live together for two weeks during the kids' transition they confront their differences in the most surprising ways. Combining personal interviews, intimate footage, and family photos, Conceiving Family tells the collective story of what it takes to become an intentional family.
Please select the Paypal button for the appropriate country. DVD's are no longer on sale for educational use. You must go through Films Media Group. Please click here for purchase of educational copy of the DVD: BUY HERE
For DVD Sales in Canada – Home Use Only
For DVD Sales in U.S. – Home Use Only
- CBC Radio One – interview with Paolo Peitropaolo
- Curve Magazine – film review coming in June 2012
- Washington DC's Blade article
- New England's Bay Windows article
- Vancouver Observer article
- Nelson Star article
- Art in the Kootenays article
- Xtra! Magazine article
- GayVancouver.net article
- Instinct Magazine article
- G Philly article
- Women's Forum website
- The Nelson Daily article
- Proud Parenting article
- Curve Magazine – September 2012
- Blog "See Theo Run" – January 2013
Festivals and Screenings
- June 23, 2012 – Toronto BC, Female Eye Film Festival 4-6PM at the Carlton Cinema
- April, 2012 – Kamloops BC, MCFD hosting
- March 12, 2012 – Victoria BC through Movie Monday Film Society
- March 11, 2012 – Vancouver BC, Women in Film Festival at the Vancity Theatre
- February, 2012 – Victoria BC, Victoria Film Festival
- January, 2012 – Nelson BC, encore screening at SelfDesign High
- November 2011 – Castlegar BC, at Selkirk College
- November 2011 – Kelowna BC, MCFD hosted at Okanagon College
- September 2011 – Nelson BC, hometown premiere at the Capitol Theatre
- June, 2011 – Vancouver BC, AFABC hosted at The Cultch's Historic Theater
*To host a screening, please contact [email protected] for more information.
These are resources that are invaluable to any LGBT prospective family, family or friend of the family. AFABC has a comprehensive list of books, links to social groups and further resources on their website here: RESOURCE LIST AND LINKS
Funded By
Intention of Film
I conceived of this film back in 2008 when my partner and I made our decision to start a family during a backpacking trip in the Rockies. We, like so many around us, wanted to have children and chose government adoption to begin this process.
We learned that there are thousands of children, from newborns to teens, in need of a permanent family, yet despite this, barriers still exist for gays and lesbians to adopt. At the same time, the number of gay and lesbian households choosing to have a family is rising exponentially. Now is the time to bridge the gap and open the doors for those children that need a loving home.
I was awarded a major project grant from the Victoria Foundation's Lex Reynolds Adoption and Permanency Fund, a fund established to support the creation of more life-long families through adoption. I partnered with Adoptive Families Association of BC, an leading organization for prospective adoptive families and adoptive families. It was my intention when I made this film that it would inspire new families by telling the essential and emerging stories of gay and lesbian adoptions.
I have come to understand what my film mentor once advised. Rather than set out to change the world through our films, let ourselves be changed by the films we can't help but make.
Conceiving Family takes us inside the lives of five gay and lesbian couples who show the bravery, determination, and humor it takes to rise above the legal systems, societal prejudices, and personal fears inherent in starting a family through adoption.
Conceiving Family director/producer Amy Bohigian and her partner Jane Byers are an American/Canadian couple that adopt biracial 15 month-old twins, Franny and Theo. Their journey to becoming a family is laden with challenges, including confronting the Christian Fundamentalist foster parents who express fear that the children they've cared for since birth will now, "grow up to be gay" with parents who are "going to hell for their sins." Required to live together for two weeks during the kids' transition they confront their differences in the most surprising ways.
Long-term partners Jan and Lindsey found their twin baby girls at a Romanian orphanage, only to have one come close to dying shortly after arriving at her new home. Twenty years later, having fought in the courts to both be legitimized as legal parents, they find themselves as foster parents to a baby boy with whom they become so connected they chose to adopt him and his older sister to keep them together. This initiates a whole new round of parenting as they enter their sixties.
Daryl and Ian decorated the nursery and bought a minivan in preparation for their new baby's arrival only to have the birth family reverse their decision because they had second thoughts about a same-sex couple. When their social worker calls again, they find themselves holding their breath and then, their four hour-old baby boy, Oliver, at the hospital nursery one week later.
Colleen and Tammy are seasoned foster parents, so when Kelly came to them as a sick baby they knew it would be heart wrenching to let her go. Despite their immediate connection to Kelly, they return to her native community to reunite her with her birth family. Here, Kelly's birth mother laments her past mistakes having caused the baby harm during pregnancy and makes the difficult choice to support Colleen and Tammy as Kelly's new adoptive parents.
Like most gay men looking to start a family, Jim and Ted researched surrogacy, but were daunted by the cost. When they saw the video of five year-old Damien at an adoption event, they became convinced they were going to be his parents. Jim must then confront his self-image as a 'good Catholic boy' and show his devoutly religious mom that his new family is as normal as it gets.
Combining personal interviews, home video archives, and on location footage, Conceiving Family tells the essential and intimate collective story of what it sometimes takes to become a family.
Conceiving Family Press Kit
Press Kit – Conceiving Family[8.2 MB ZIP file]


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Washington (CNN) -- The Republican-controlled House of Representatives delivered a mixed message on America's role in the NATO-led Libya campaign Friday, opposing a resolution expressing support for the war while also voting down a bill restricting American involvement in the conflict.
The first measure -- similar to legislation introduced in the Senate by Sen. John Kerry, D-Massachusetts, and Sen. John McCain, R-Arizona -- was backed by the White House. It was defeated 123-295, with Republicans overwhelmingly opposing the measure and Democrats voting more narrowly in favor of it.
The second measure was strongly supported by House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, and other top GOP leaders. It was defeated 180-238, with Democrats largely voting no as Republicans voted yes by a slimmer margin.
In short, the House appeared unable to speak with clarity on President Barack Obama's controversial effort to oust Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi.
White House press secretary Jay Carney expressed disappointment in the first House vote, and told reporters the "writing is on the wall" for Gadhafi.
"Now is not the time to let up," he said.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said she was "gratified that the House has decisively rejected efforts to limit funding for the NATO mission."
"I am pleased that a very important statement was made today by the House, on a bipartisan basis, that recognizes the need for us to continue this important mission," she added.
Asked to explain the relatively rare defeat for the House leadership on the second vote, Boehner only offered a one-word reply: "nothing."
A GOP leadership aide, however, told CNN there was last-minute concern among some Republican members that a vote to restrict certain forms of U.S. involvement in the NATO mission could have been interpreted as an inherent authorization of other types of force.
"Once you de-facto (approve) it ... then the president can run with it," said Rep. Scott Garrett, R-New Jersey, who opposed both measures. "What we're trying to do here is have our cake and eat it too. We're trying to split it in half by declaring a partial war and then telling (Obama) how he is going to be commander-in-chief."
"I don't think you can do that in a bill," Garrett said. "The proper resolution would say we should not be over there, (and) we are withholding all funds for all military activity, period."
Rep. Gerry Connolly, D-Virginia, who backed the support resolution while opposing the bill restricting involvement, said he wasn't lobbied by the White House until Friday morning.
"I think moving forward, a lesson (about administration outreach) has been learned here," he said.
Much of the House's disapproval of the Libya campaign has been fueled by a belief that Obama failed to sufficiently consult with Congress before committing to military engagement. Specifically, representatives from both political parties say the administration has violated the 1973 War Powers Resolution, which gives the president 60 days to get congressional approval for sending U.S. forces to war, followed by a 30-day extension to end hostilities.
The combined 90-day period ended last Sunday.
Support for the war has also been further shaken by evidence of several noncombatant deaths caused by recent NATO airstrikes.
The White House says Obama didn't need congressional authorization because U.S. forces are playing only a supporting role in Libya and haven't engaged in what the law defines as hostilities. The president, however, personally overruled contrary legal opinions put forward by both the Pentagon and the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel, according to a report published Saturday in The New York Times.
Boehner said during Friday's debate on the House floor that Obama's authority under the Constitution "does not free the president from accountability to the American people, this Congress or the rule of law."
The War Powers Resolution "is the law of the land and simply cannot be ignored," he said. The GOP-sponsored bill is necessary to "defend the constitutional authority of the legislature" and provides "much-needed accountability."
Some Democrats, however, blasted Republicans, accusing them of playing politics with what they called a critical foreign policy priority.
"This was not handled right" by the White House, said Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Texas. But the House votes are "nothing but politics," and "I don't want to abandon my friends in the Arab states who are now struggling for democracy."
Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Thursday it would be a mistake for Congress to cut funding for U.S. military operations in Libya.
"I think, once we have our forces engaged, to deny them funding would be a mistake," Gates told PBS News. Key American allies -- especially the British, the French and the Italians -- consider Libya a vital interest, and "our alliance with them is a vital interest for us," he said, citing their efforts in Afghanistan.
Gates insisted that progress has been made toward the U.S. goal of ousting Gadhafi.
"Based on everything we see, the government gets shakier by the day," Gates said. "His forces have been significantly diminished. The opposition is expanding the areas under their control."
Clinton met privately with House Democrats on Thursday to urge support for the resolution backing the Libya mission, according to a Democratic source who attended the meeting.
"The bottom line is, whose side are you on?" she said earlier in the week. "Are you on Gadhafi's side, or are you on the side of the aspirations of the Libyan people and the international coalition that has been created to support them?"
The allied military effort, which has formal United Nations support, was launched to protect Libyan civilians from violence stemming from a crackdown launched by Gadhafi. Western leaders have made clear, however, that they believe the mission cannot be successfully completed without Gadhafi's ouster.
The White House has promised not to use U.S. ground troops, but bipartisan congressional opposition to the military campaign has nevertheless been mounting over several weeks. In addition to concerns about the War Powers Resolution, traditional anti-war Democrats and fiscally conservative Republicans are worried about the cost of the conflict.
In a recent report on the mission, the administration said the cost of military and humanitarian operations through June 3 was about $800 million. It estimated the total cost through September 30 would be $1.1 billion.
CNN's Dana Bash, Rachel Streitfeld and Deirdre Walsh contributed to this report.