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Maurice Sendak
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Maurice Bernard Sendak (10 June 1928 – 8 May 2012) was an American writer and illustrator of children's literature.
- And when he came to the place where the wild things are, they roared their terrible roars and gnashed their terrible teeth and rolled their terrible eyes and showed their terrible claws till Max said, "Be still" and tamed them with the magic trick of staring into all their yellow eyes without blinking once. And they were frightened and called him the most wild thing of all and made him king of all wild things.
- Where the Wild Things Are (1963); of this passage Bill Moyers stated in "NOW with Bill Moyers", PBS (12 March 2004):
- Joseph Campbell once told me long before I met you that one of the great moments in literature is this scene in Where the Wild Things Are … Campbell went and got that and read it to me. And he said, "That is a great moment because it's only when a man tames his own demons that he becomes the king of himself if not of the world."
- "And now," cried Max, "let the wild rumpus start!"
- Where the Wild Things Are (1963)
- Please don't go. We'll eat you up. We love you so.
- Parting words of the Wild Things to Max in Where the Wild Things Are (1963)
- Certainly we want to protect our children from new and painful experiences that are beyond their emotional comprehension and that intensify anxiety; and to a point we can prevent premature exposure to such experiences. That is obvious. But what is just as obvious — and what is too often overlooked — is the fact that from their earliest years children live on familiar terms with disrupting emotions, fear and anxiety are an intrinsic part of their everyday lives, they continually cope with frustrations as best they can. And it is through fantasy that children achieve catharsis. It is the best means they have for taming Wild Things.
- Acceptance speech upon being awarded the Caldecott Medal for Where the Wild Things Are (1964), published in Newbery and Caldecott Medal Books, 1956-65, edited by Lee Kingman (1965)
- There must be more to life than having everything!
- Higglety Pigglety Pop! or, There Must Be More to Life (1967)
- I believe there is no part of our lives, our adult as well as child life, when we're not fantasizing, but we prefer to relegate fantasy to children, as though it were some tomfoolery only fit for the immature minds of the young. Children do live in fantasy and reality; they move back and forth very easily in a way we no longer remember how to do.
- As quoted in Questions to an Artist Who Is Also an Author : A Conversation between Maurice Sendak and Virginia Haviland (1972) by Virginia Haviland
- I wanted my wild things to be frightening. But why? It was probably at this point that I remembered how I detested my Brooklyn relatives as a small child. They came almost every Sunday, and there was my week-long anxiety about their coming the next Sunday... They'd lean way over with their bad teeth and hairy noses, and say something threatening like "You're so cute I could eat you up." And I knew if my mother didn't hurry up with the cooking, they probably would.
- As quoted in The Art of Maurice Sendak by Selma G. Lanes (1980)
- You cannot write for children... They're much too complicated. You can only write books that are of interest to them.
- As quoted in Boston Globe interview (4 January 1987)
- Children are tough, though we tend to think of them as fragile. They have to be tough. Childhood is not easy. We sentimentalize children, but they know what's real and what's not. They understand metaphor and symbol. If children are different from us, they are more spontaneous. Grown-up lives have become overlaid with dross.
- We've educated children to think that spontaneity is inappropriate. Children are willing to expose themselves to experiences. We aren't. Grownups always say they protect their children, but they're really protecting themselves. Besides, you can't protect children. They know everything.
- As quoted in "The Paternal Pride of Maurice Sendak" by Bernard Holland, in The New York Times (8 November 1987)
- I don't believe in things literally for children. That's a reduction.
- One of the few graces of getting old — and God knows there are few graces — is that if you've worked hard and kept your nose to the grindstone, something happens: The body gets old but the creative mechanism is refreshed, smoothed and oiled and honed. That is the grace. That is the splendid grace. And I think that is what's happening to me.
- As quoted in "Interview: Why Is Maurice Sendak So Incredibly Angry?" by Leonard S. Marcus in Parenting (October 1993); also in Ways of Telling : Conversations on the Art of the Picture Book (2002) by Leonard S. Marcus, p. 181
- An illustrator in my own mind — and this is not a truth of any kind — is someone who so falls in love with writing that he wishes he had written it, and the closest he can get to is illustrating it. And the next thing you learn, you have to find something unique in this book, which perhaps even the author was not entirely aware of. And that's what you hold on to, and that's what you add to the pictures: a whole Other Story that you believe in, that you think is there.
- Quoted in an interview, "Sendak on Sendak," Rosenbach Museum & Library, Philadelphia (2007/2008)
- When you hide another story in a story, that's the story I am telling the children.
- Quoted in an interview, "Sendak on Sendak," Rosenbach Museum & Library, Philadelphia (2007/2008)
- We were the "chosen people," chosen to be killed?
- On traditional Jewish faith, as quoted in "Concerns Beyond Just Where the Wild Things Are" by Patricia Cohen in The New York Times (9 September 2008)
- I'm gay. I just didn't think it was anybody's business … All I wanted was to be straight so my parents could be happy. They never, never, never knew.
- As quoted in "Concerns Beyond Just Where the Wild Things Are" by Patricia Cohen in The New York Times (9 September 2008)
- Once a little boy sent me a charming card with a little drawing on it. I loved it. I answer all my children's letters — sometimes very hastily — but this one I lingered over. I sent him a card and I drew a picture of a Wild Thing on it. I wrote, "Dear Jim: I loved your card." Then I got a letter back from his mother and she said, "Jim loved your card so much he ate it." That to me was one of the highest compliments I've ever received. He didn't care that it was an original Maurice Sendak drawing or anything. He saw it, he loved it, he ate it.
- Interview with Terry Gross, host of National Public Radio's "Fresh Air"
NOW interview (2004)[edit]
- We're animals. We're violent. We're criminal. We're not so far away from the gorillas and the apes, those beautiful creatures. … And then, we're supposed to be civilized. We're supposed to go to work every day. We're supposed to be nice to our friends and send Christmas cards to our parents.
We're supposed to do all these things which trouble us deeply because it's so against what we naturally would want to do. And if I've done anything, I've had kids express themselves as they are, impolitely, lovingly — they don't mean any harm. They just don't know what the right way is.
And as it turns out sometimes the so-called "right way" is utterly the wrong way. What a monstrous confusion.
- I'm not Hans Christian Andersen. Nobody's gonna make a statue in the park with a lot of scrambling kids climbing up me. I won't have it, okay?
- I wasn't gonna paint. And I wasn't gonna do ostentatious drawings. I wasn't gonna have gallery pictures. I was gonna hide somewhere where nobody would find me and express myself entirely. I'm like a guerrilla warfare in my best books.
- I was talking about kids I knew and me. A book, an American book, where the child actually daunts his mother and threatens her.
No way. No way. And then on top of that, she puts him in a room and denies him food. No way. Mamas never do that kinda thing. Kids never get pissed at their parents. Unheard of. And the worst offense, he comes home. She leaves food for him. And he's not punished. Not punished.
- I often went to bed without supper 'cause I hated my mother's cooking. So, to go to bed without supper was not a torture to me. If she was gonna hurt me, she'd make me eat.
- Maybe there are lots of children or certainly those who are not drawn to my work because they don't want to see those shadows. But, I'm telling what it was like for me. And I know it was not unique for me.
I've known many children, many unhappy and many disturbed children who don't know how to talk about it. And you know, the strangest thing... the fan mail I get from kids are asking me questions which they do not ask their mothers and fathers. Because if they had, why write to me, a perfect stranger?
- I certainly don't spell it out. But they have to know it's possible things are bad. But, they are surrounded by people who love them and will protect them but cannot hide the fact that there is something bad.
- You can't get rid of evil. We can't, and I feel that so intensely. All the idiots that keep coming into the world and wrecking people's lives.
And it is such an abundance of idiocy that you lose courage, okay? That you lose hope — I don't want to lose hope. I get through every day — I'm pretty good — I work. I sleep. I sing. I walk. But, I'm losing hope.
- The blackbirds are in this book, they're both pro the kids and against the kids. Just like fate. Sometimes it goes your way. Sometimes... and also a blackbird is from my passion for Schubert songs and his blackbirds and his birds of doom or birds of good. … some people were baffled that in the last big picture of that book, there's a crucifix on the wall of the children's house. Everybody assumes the hero and heroine are Jewish and the mother is Jewish. They're not. They're not. — That was my point. Those kids were in the wrong place at the wrong time. And all children were in the Holocaust. Everybody was in the Holocaust. So, I made sure my hero and heroine were not Jewish children. That was too easy. That was too easy.
- Hitler made a film about "Hitler gives a camp to the Jews". And they look all shiny. And they're drawing. And they're playing volleyball. And people are dancing. And people are having a wonderful time. And everybody fell for it.
- Art has always been my salvation. And my gods are Herman Melville, Emily Dickinson, Mozart. I believe in them with all my heart. And when Mozart is playing in my room, I am in conjunction with something I can't explain — I don't need to. I know that if there's a purpose for life, it was for me to hear Mozart. Or if I walk in the woods and I see an animal, the purpose of my life was to see that animal. I can recollect it, I can notice it. I'm here to take note of. And that is beyond my ego, beyond anything that belongs to me, an observer, an observer.
- Herman Melville is a god. … I cherish what he did. He was a genius. Wrote Moby-Dick. Wrote Pierre. Wrote The Confidence-Man, wrote Billy Budd. … Oh, yes. Look at him. … Scares the bejesus out of people and makes them hate him. Because he's so [[good.] Claggart has him killed in that book. Claggart has his eye on that boy. He will not tolerate such goodness, such blondeness, such blue eye. Goodness is scary. It's like you want to knock it. You want to hit it. Are we a country of beating down things? We love seeing people go down.
- My big concern is me and what do I do now until the time of my death. That is valid. That is useful. That is beautiful. That is creative. And also, I want to be free again. I want to be free like when I was a kid … Where we just had fun. What I mean by this is I've had my career. I've had my success. God willing, it should have happened to Herman Melville who deserved it a great deal more, you know? Imagine him being on Bill Moyers' show. Nothing good happened to Herman Melville. I want to see me to the end working, living for myself. "Ripeness is all." Now, interpreting what ripeness is our own individual problem. … So, what is the point of it all? Not leaving legacies. But being ripe. Being ripe.
- Sendak here quotes from King Lear by William Shakespeare : Men must endure their going hence, even as their coming hither: Ripeness is all.
- The ripeness was a letter that John Keats wrote to his brother who emigrated to America describing what it was like to have a peach or piece of a peach in his mouth. And it's one of the sexiest things you will ever read of how slow you should take the peach. Don't rush it. Let it go through your palette. Let it lie on your tongue. Let it melt a little bit. Let it run from the corners. It's like describing the most incredible sex orgy. And then, you bite. But, it must be so ripe. It must be so delicious. In other words, you must not waste a second of this deliciousness which for him was life and being a great poet. That you savor every, everything that happened. I want to get ripe.
Quotes about Sendak[edit]
- Alphabetized by author
- To young readers Sendak's "kiddie books" – in particular, 1963's hugely popular Where the Wild Things Are – were anything but idiotic, creating imaginative visions of childhood that adults might have considered dark, cruel or disturbing, but which thrilled and delighted three generations of children.
- Esther Addley, Guardian obituary 8 May 2012 [1]
- He is, at heart, a curmudgeon, but a delightful one, with a vast range of knowledge, a wicked sense of humor and a talent for storytelling and mimicry. … He spends his days pondering his heroes: Mozart, Keats, Blake, Melville and Dickinson. He admires and yearns for their "ability to be private, the ability to be alone, the ability to follow some spiritual course not written down by anybody."
Mr. Sendak is quick to insist that a vast distance stands between his own accomplishments and theirs. "I'm not one of those people," he said. "I can't pretend to be."
Still, he has the feeling that "I will do something yet that is purely for me but will create for someone in the future that passion that Blake and Keats did in me."
What he has failed to consider, though, is that he may already have.
- Patricia Cohen in "Concerns Beyond Just Where the Wild Things Are" in The New York Times (9 September 2008)
- He's one of the most important, if not the most important, writers and artists ever to work in children's literature. In fact, he's a significant writer and artist in literature. Period.
- No one does children's stories like Maurice Sendak … over a hundred books in all. He's won nearly every major prize for children's literature plus the national medal of arts. And no wonder.
Just look at these titles: In the Night Kitchen; Higglety Pigglety Pop!; Outside Over There; Chicken Soup with Rice; and of course, the most loved and famous of all, Where the Wild Things Are. Our own tattered copy is a Moyers family keepsake. We read it to our children when it was first published forty years ago. We've read it to our grandchildren in the last decade and we fully expect that one day they will be reading it to their grandkids, too.
But let me share a Sendak secret with you. A seven-year-old hearing this story couldn't have more fun than a 70-year-old reading it. Where the Wild Things Are is ageless and timeless.
External links[edit]
- Profile at PBS: American Masters
- NOW on PBS — Bill Moyers and Maurice Sendak discuss the inspiration behind "Where the Wild Things Are"
- NPR: Conversation with Maurice Sendak
- The Big Green Book : Maurice Sendak's Tribute to Beatrix Potter
- Profile at IMDb
- Sendak art at The Rosenbach Museum and Library


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Estimated read time: 3-4 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
LOS ANGELES (AP) — In a story June 12 about the death of actress Sylvia Miles, The Associated Press reported incorrectly reported the actress' age and that she died in an ambulance on the way to a New York hospital. Miles' niece and a longtime friend say she was 94, and the niece said she was declared dead while at the hospital.
A corrected version of the story is below:
Oscar-nominated 'Midnight Cowboy' actress Sylvia Miles dies
Sylvia Miles, whose brief appearances in "Midnight Cowboy" and "Farewell, My Lovely" earned her two Academy Award nominations, has died
By ANDREW DALTON
AP Entertainment Writer
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Sylvia Miles, an actress and Manhattan socialite whose brief, scene-stealing appearances in the films "Midnight Cowboy" and "Farewell, My Lovely" earned her two Academy Award nominations, died Wednesday.
Miles was declared dead at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York, her niece Holly-Jane Rahlens, told The Associated Press. She was 94. The cause was not immediately clear.
Miles was a veteran actress but not a widely known name when she appeared onscreen for about six minutes in 1969's "Midnight Cowboy." In her sole scene, she plays a brassy Manhattan woman who invites an aspiring male prostitute from Texas, played by Jon Voight, up to her penthouse for sex, but ends up taking money from him instead.
"You were going to ask me for money?" Miles' character, Cass, says as she breaks into increasingly angry mock-tears. "Who the hell do you think you're dealing with? ... In case you didn't happen to notice it, you big Texas longhorn bull, I'm one hell of a gorgeous chick!"
In 1975's "Farewell, My Lovely," which starred Robert Mitchum as detective Philip Marlowe, her screen time is only slightly longer as a down-on-her-luck entertainer who swaps information for a bottle of booze.
The fleetingly brief roles both got her Oscar nominations.
Her appearances in real life were just as memorable for those who came across her.
"She was pretty much the same person off screen as she was on screen," Miles' friend, fashion industry publicist Mauricio Padilha, said. "She was quite a character."
Miles was born in, and became a lifelong resident of, Manhattan, where she was married and divorced three times and had no children. She is survived by her older sister, Thelma Rahlens.
Miles studied at The Actors Studio, making her name in a series of Off-Broadway roles starting in the 1950s, and moving on to movies in the 1960s.
Her film credits included 1972's Andy Warhol-produced "Heat," 1987's "Wall Street" and its 2010 sequel "Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps," and 1988's "Crossing Delancey."
Her TV roles included guest appearances on "Miami Vice," ''One Life to Live" and "Sex in the City."
Miles was a competitive chess player, according to the New York Times, which twice featured her in its coverage of the game.
And she went, it seems, to nearly every party in New York for a time, becoming as beloved for her outgoing personality and flamboyant fashion sense than as for her acting.
"She shows up at premieres, screenings, receptions, teas and charity cocktail parties," said a 1976 article in People magazine titled, "What would a Manhattan party be without the ubiquitous Sylvia Miles?"
"I get invited because I'm fun," Miles told People at the time. "I have a good sense of humor. I look good. I'm not bad to have at a party."
Even after the 9/11 attacks, when the city was in a state of fear and mourning for months, she was quick to start socializing again, attending a Broadway opening just over a week later.
"Honey, this is a known jungle to me," she told the AP outside the play. "I am not afraid of anything. The animals in this jungle I can handle."
Follow AP Entertainment Writer Andrew Dalton on Twitter: https://twitter.com/andyjamesdalton .
Copyright © The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

subset: commoncrawl


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Letter to the editor, New York Times, June 23, 1993:
If landlords could double or triple the rent on vacant apartments, it would be a compelling incentive for them to try to drive current tenants out by any means necessary. (During the East Village's gentrification in the 1980's, my landlords neglected or cut off heat and hot water, called us late at night to tell us to leave, let crack addicts stay in warehoused apartments and rented storefronts to drug dealers.)
Under luxury decontrol, what would stop them from renting only to tenants who make more than $100,000 a year to get apartments permanently deregulated? Warehousing would burgeon as landlords kept apartments vacant for months waiting for a sucker to pay top market rent.


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Fellow Patheos blogger Rebecca Hamilton has recently posted about the World Trade Center Cross. This is a 17-foot-tall, cross-shaped piece of rubble found in the World Trade Center aftermath of the 9/11 attack. Out of all that wreckage from buildings built of steel I-beams welded together at right angles, it's not too surprising that the intersection of two beams had broken to make a cross-shaped piece of steel.
The cross wasn't even found at the Twin Towers site but rather at 6 World Center, but it has become a religious relic for some Christians.
Rebecca is puzzled by the fuss from atheists and proposes two explanations: (1) atheists are thin-skinned whiners "set on harassing, insulting and attacking Christians at every turn in an attempt to drive us underground and silence us." Or (2), atheists are vampires and are repulsed by the sight of a cross.
I'd like to respond with a tweaked version of a post that I wrote for last year's anniversary of the attack. Perhaps we can clarify atheists' motivations.
The cross shape could just be a coincidence (the explanation favored by atheists), or it could be a sign from God (what some Christians propose). If the latter, I'm not sure what to make of the fact that the only evidence of God participating was his calling card. In the rubble. And this evidence of God-not-doing-anything is now highlighted as a holy relic.
Hmm—that it's just a coincidence is starting to sound a lot better from the standpoint of the Christian.
This cross is now a controversial addition to New York City's soon-to-be-completed National September 11 Memorial and Museum.
American Atheists and New York City Atheists are suing to have the cross removed. Their remedy is to return it to St. Peter's Church, two blocks from Ground Zero, where it had been for five years until moved to the museum in July 2011. Since half of the museum's financing has been provided by the government, returning it to the church sounds a lot easier than giving equal time to all the worldviews that don't have a cross as their symbol.
There was another controversy associated with the tenth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks in 2011. New York Mayor Bloomberg declared that the commemorative ceremony would be religion-free.
Sounds good to me. There are plenty of secular reasons for the ceremony, and religious people can remember the event in their own way as best suits their religion. People of any faith (or even no faith) can feel pain. Why should only some get a publicly-funded platform?
And when you do try to include religions, there's bickering over who was omitted.
Some evangelical Christian leaders said they were outraged that an interfaith prayer service planned by the Washington National Cathedral did not include a Southern Baptist or other evangelical minister.
The New York City ceremony, which has been held annually on the anniversary, is punctuated by moments of silence (six times in 2011), plenty of opportunity for prayer.
But for some folks it has to be more overt. Benjamin Wiker said:
Perhaps the mayor could have come up with an entirely innocuous prayer that all the clergy could offer without offending anyone, say something like this: "Almighty God, we acknowledge our dependence upon Thee, and we beg Thy blessings upon us, and our country. Amen."
Who could possibly object to that?
Oh, I dunno. Maybe atheists, not that they apparently are worth worrying about. Buddhists. Those who check "Spiritual" instead of a specific religion. The almost 20% of Americans who are "Nones" (those who don't identify with any religion). And since this "God" is pretty obviously the Christian God (one person of the Trinity), probably the Jews and Muslims as well. And anyone else who's not a Christian. And anyone who respects the Constitution enough to realize that the First Amendment helps all of us, the Christian and non-Christian alike, and bristles when it is insulted.
Aside from that, I think you're good.
Back to that article:
Since Engel v. Vitale [the 1962 Supreme Court case that rejected school prayer] a series of court cases have struck down, one after another, any religious expression in the public square, thereby setting one clause of the First Amendment ("Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion") in direct contradiction to the clause that directly follows it ("or prohibiting the free exercise thereof").
Not really. You want to express a religious sentiment in the public square? Knock yourself out. This is the essential distinction that is forgotten: the public can, within limits, say anything, religious or otherwise, in public. The constraint is on Congress (expanded beyond just the federal government with the Fourteenth Amendment).
And isn't that the way you'd want it? Christians can send their children to public school and know that they won't hear a Mormon or Satanist prayer. Christians can go to a City Council meeting and not see Allahu Akbar ("God is Great") in Arabic script on the wall. Christians can go into a courtroom and not see a Shinto or Hindu god of jurisprudence glaring down at them. A win-win.
In disallowing any public appearance of religion in the 9/11 memorial "service," [Mayor Bloomberg is] simply taking Engel v. Vitale yet another step. No prayer in public schools. No prayer in public period. The Establishment Clause (so secularists would have us believe) demands that religion be silenced.
Wow—what's hard about this? Just keep Christianity out of the tax-supported part of society. Pray in private or in public, or encourage prayer all you want—just not in the official capacity as mayor. (Or president. But the National Day of Prayer is another story.)
The whole point, in historical context, was that the Federal Government should not positively sanction one Christian denomination over another (as England had established the Anglican Church as the state church), and also negatively should not interfere in the free exercise of any denomination (as England had persecuted both Puritans and Catholics).
Ah, so it's all about Christian religion, you say? In your mind, perhaps, but that's not what the Constitution says.
So it is that a particular New York mayor uses the Establishment Clause to root out Christianity, and the Free Exercise Clause to publicly affirm Islam.
Dr. Wiker is apparently still hot under the collar about that whole "Ground-Zero Mosque" thing (officially called Park51). Let me give my two cents on that.
(1) May a Muslim group build two blocks from the Twin Towers site? Yes. Assuming the city's other requirements are met, the government can't reject the project simply because Muslims are involved or that the building would have a prayer space.
(2) Should a Muslim group build there? No. In my opinion, the respectful course of action would have been to find another site far from Ground Zero. This is a missed opportunity for a prominent Muslim community to yield and show that it understands the issue and is sensitive to it.
This is the distinction that Wiker seems to be missing. If Mayor Bloomberg defended point 1 above, then he simply demanded that the law be followed. If he's treading into religious favoritism, however, that would be a problem. Is he? I've seen no evidence supporting this.
But that's the point. That's where the Constitution helps everyone, including the beleaguered Christian. The government is forbidden to give preferential treatment to Islam (by favoring a Muslim group over others) or to Christianity (by including Christian prayers at the 9/11 anniversary commemoration or Christian symbolism in the Memorial Museum).
It cuts both ways. And that helps all of us.
(This is a modified version of a post originally published 9/10/11.)


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News Story
Obama Win Means Big Health Care Decisions for States
Since the day it was enacted, many of the Affordable Care Act's opponents have preferred to treat it as provisional. First, they argued, the Supreme Court might overturn the whole law. When that didn't happen in June, opponents turned to the hope that maybe Mitt Romney would win the presidency and repeal it.
Now, there are no more maybes. "With an Obama victory one has to come to terms that the Affordable Care Act is the law of the land," says Henry Aaron, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution. "Maybe it's time to start living in reality rather than fantasy."
Still, in the new reality, there remain some significant uncertainties in the immediate future of the ACA, particularly in how Republican governors, who have vociferously opposed the law until now, will react in the wake of President Obama's victory. The ACA is indeed the law of the land and will remain so for the foreseeable future, but that doesn't mean that Republican governors have to be full participants.
If they decline to be involved, however, they have to be willing to forego billions of federal dollars while at the same time inviting more federal involvement in their state health policies.
At issue is whether states will be willing and able to run their own health insurance exchanges — the ACA's envisioned online marketplaces where some 30 million Americans will be able to comparison shop for private insurance plans and apply for Medicaid and federal tax credits. If states choose not to run their own exchanges, the law requires the federal government to do it for them.
States must also decide whether they want to accept generous federal funding to expand their Medicaid programs to cover millions more people. In addition to the political liability that may represent for Republicans, the expansion also comes with a future price tag some states are taking very seriously.
The initial decision on establishing exchanges must be made by November 16, although the administration is expected to be lenient if some states need more time to complete their proposals. There is no deadline for states in considering whether to participate in the ACA's expanded Medicaid program, but it is a decision many of them will want to make sooner rather than later. Choices made on both health exchanges and Medicaid expansion will have major effects on consumers and the entire health care industry, as well as state budgets, for years to come.
From here on out, states will be the primary drivers of the health law's implementation. To achieve its intended goal of covering 30 million uninsured people with affordable health care, the Obama administration will have to engage in some give-and-take in order to ensure the cooperation of as many states as possible.
Medicaid Expansion
The federal health law originally required states to expand their Medicaid programs, starting in 2014, to people with incomes at or below 133 percent of the federal poverty level, about $31,000 for a family of four and $15,000 for an individual. That expansion by itself was expected to take in some 16 million uninsured people nationwide, about half of the total population the law aimed to cover.
But this year's Supreme Court decision, which largely upheld the law, made the Medicaid expansion optional for the states. That spawned a series of refusals to participate by GOP governors who opposed the law. Most Democratic governors are expected eventually to agree to implement the provision.
For states that take up the Medicaid option, the federal government will pay 100 percent of the costs for the first three years; after that states are responsible for up to 10 percent of the costs. Although the offer seems generous, some states genuinely worry that the increased expenses in the fourth year and beyond will strain their already costly Medicaid programs.
But the real decision will come early next year when state legislatures weigh in on the issue. In the meantime, many analysts expect the objections by GOP governors to fade away. Aaron, for example, maintains that the offer "is so hugely attractive to each state financially that refusal to expand coverage … [would be] an act of fiscal self-mutilation."
Even so, all states are expected to weigh carefully the federal government's deficit reduction agreements this January as they make a decision on expanding Medicaid. In deficit talks last year, the Obama administration recommended substantial cuts to the overall Medicaid program under a proposal known as the "blended rate." The extent of those cuts in a final budget agreement is expected to factor heavily into states' decisions on whether to expand Medicaid.
"State Medicaid programs are already unsustainable," says Matt Salo, director of the National Association of Medicaid Directors. "That is not going to change." No matter what states decide on the Medicaid expansion, simultaneous efforts will have to be made to cut overall costs by making fundamental changes to the program. For that to happen, the Obama administration will need to make the process of change much more flexible, Salo says.
Questions have also come up about whether states that accept the expansion will be permanently required to maintain the broader Medicaid coverage. So far, the administration has said that states may join the expansion now, then opt out later if the costs are too burdensome. But states have not been given an answer on whether they will be allowed to strike a middle ground by expanding coverage to a smaller number of people — those with incomes at or below the federal poverty line, rather than the broader population with incomes below 133 percent.
As for the absence of a deadline on the expansion, experts say states could conceivably hold out indefinitely because making a technical change to their enrollment systems to include the expanded population would not require a huge effort. Some may wait until after 2014 to expand Medicaid.
"The goal of expanding Medicaid in every state may take years," says Chris Whatley, deputy director of the Council of State Governments. "Even if you have half the states not doing it in the beginning, they may eventually come along." The 1965 Medicaid amendment to the Social Security Act made the program optional and many states took up the offer in the first couple of years. But there were stragglers. Arizona did not sign on until 1982.
Health Insurance Exchanges
The issue of whether to participate in health insurance exchanges confronts Republican governors with a difficult decision: either create your own state insurance exchange, a central element of the Affordable Care Act they oppose, or stand by and watch the federal government come in and dictate changes in your state's health insurance market.
"They are faced with a difficult choice politically because Obamacare is so bitterly unpopular among Republican voters," says Mike Tuffin of APCO Worldwide, a health care consulting firm. "That said, if they don't pursue a state exchange they leave themselves open to having Washington come in and do it themselves, which is antithetical to Republican philosophy."
A third option is for states to join in a partnership with the federal government to create and run an exchange. In future years, those states could opt to take over their exchanges entirely if they wanted to.
As of late October as many as 30 states had not yet committed to creating their own insurance exchanges, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. That does not mean that all of those states will refuse to do it. Some states, while resisting Obamacare publicly, have quietly taken steps to launch their own exchanges or join in partnership with the federal government, even while they hoped that a Romney victory would ultimately allow them to shelve those plans.
The exchanges are supposed to be up and running in less than a year (October 1, 2013) so that people can sign up for insurance that would take effect in January 2014. Given the complexity of the technical, design and insurance market issues that must be addressed to create an exchange, a number of states will be hard-pressed to create one on their own at this point. For those that have laid adequate groundwork, however, there is still time.
As for those states, such as Texas, that have done nothing thus far, it's probably too late. "They have not taken enough steps even if they change their minds," says Alan Weil, executive director of the National Academy for State Health Policy.
In those states, the federal government will create and operate the exchange. "What they lose is being able to define the structure of the insurance choices in their own states and overseeing the health insurance plans that are offered," says Weil. Many believe that every state knows its own insurance marketplace and consumers best and is therefore best-suited to design its own exchange.
An irony is that during the congressional debate over the Affordable Care Act, the initial favored position of Democrats was that there be only a federally administered exchange. Ultimately, those in favor of decentralized control won out, giving states the opportunity to create their own exchanges. Now it is a group of Republican-controlled states that will likely have to submit to a federal exchange.
Our stories may be republished online or in print under Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. We ask that you edit only for style or to shorten, provide proper attribution and link to our web site. Please see our republishing guidelines for use of photos and graphics.


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Dolphins have been a popular plot device since the time of Flipper, but scifi has long had a particular fondness for them. Some are awesome; others verge on utterly ridiculous. Here are our favorites.
Illustration by T-KONI.
The Dolphins of Pern, by Anne McCaffrey
Intelligent, English-speaking dolphins accompanied the human settlers Pern with essentially the same motivation — fleeing from an overcrowded, polluted shell of a planet. Two and a half millennia later, the species have completely lost touch (understandable, given the humans' preoccupation with the Thread. As this is an Anne McCaffrey novel, an intrepid teen named Readis eventually rediscovers the creatures can speak and devotes himself to rebuilding relations.
Uplift Series, by David Brin
Dolphins play a major role in Brin's Uplift series, which posits a universe where almost every species has to be "uplifted" to intelligence. Humans have already started the process with dolphins and chimps when they invent FTL technology and attract the attention of the intergalactic community. That gives us patron status, which protects the planet from any aliens on the make who'd claim humanity as a new client race. The second book in the series, Startide Rising (which won basically every SF award there is), takes place on a ship crewed almost entirely by dolphins.
Seaquest DSV
An aquatic crew member is an obvious invaluable asset to any team working underwater. Nathan Bridger's relationship with Darwin the Dolphin predates his command of the Seaquest, as he began working out how to communicate with the creature. During the show itself he communicated via a device called a vo-corder (though it made him sound rather like a precocious toddler).
"Johnny Mnemonic," by William Gibson
There are significant differences in the short story and the movie, but both versions feature Jones, the retired Navy dolphin/hacker. Johnny rents his brain for use as a high-security dropbox for extremely sensitive data. Only the intended recipient has the password required to access that data. When Johnny gets stuck with some dangerous info and needs the password, Molly Millions takes him to Jones, who has the requisite skills and sensors from his days disrupting enemy mines. (In the short story, she offers heroin in exchange for assistance — the Navy has all its dolphins hooked so they won't just swim off.)
So Long, and Thanks For All the Fish, by Douglas Adams
The entire species comes off as a class act in Adams's Hitchhiker's Guide series. We already knew from the first book that dolphins were the second-smartest animals on the planet (after mice, of course). They tried to warn humans of Earth's coming demolition, but found they couldn't quite breach the language barrier. It's not until the fourth book that we discover the dolphins, before bailing, created a faithful replica of the planet and moved the humans, lock stock and barrel.
Known Space, by Larry Niven
Dolphins pop up regularly in Niven's Known Space books. Able to communicate with humans telepathically, they discover and lead the protagonist to the grasping alien Kzanol in World of Ptavvs, for example. Eventually, they're actually admitted to the United Nations and receive legal status that basically puts them on par with humans.
The Day of the Dolphin
You probably know George C. Scott for his roles in either Patton or Dr. Strangelove. But he also made some more interesting project choices. For example, in Day of the Dolphin, he plays Jake Terrill, a brilliant scientists training dolphins to speak English. Two of his subjects, Alpha and Beta, are kidnapped by the shady rich guy funding his research. Why, you ask? Because he wants to use them to assassinate the President of the United States on his yacht. Of course he does.
The Scar, by China Mieville
Lots of fictional dolphins are playful and cuddly. Not Bastard John, who runs security for Armada, the pirate city. A description shows him "passing through the brine with unique motion (as he swept in to punish some worker with a brutal beating)." This dolphin is abusive and violent and generally terrible, and no one would cast him in a children's TV show.
Porm, Aquaman (and Lobo and his spacedolphins)
Dumped in the ocean by the superstitious Atlanteans, Arthur is rescued and essentially raised by Porm, queen of the dolphins. As the boy grows up and into his superheroness, she becomes an advisor. Bonus extraterrestrial cetaceans: In one story, Porm is kidnapped and taken to an experimental facility. In his attempt to free her, Aquaman actually manages to work together with the deeply unpleasant Lobo. The alien bounty hunter is legendarily impossibly to get along with, but he's willing to be civil for the sake of rescuing one of his beloved spacedolphins, who's also been captured.
Hyperion, by Dan Simmons
Maui-Covenant is an idyllic ocean world, with a fertile ecosystem that includes living, moving islands. The planet's dolphins (able to communicate to an extent, but not super advanced) stay with the islands, herding them around the planet. The whole delicately balanced shebang is utterly trashed by the tourists that arrive after Maui-Covenant is connected to the WorldWeb, spurring an ill-fated rebellion that only wrecks the world further and kills much of the remaining dolphin population.


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By Request
From time to time Graham gets requests for photos that have been used in printed publications, but were not included in a stage or race update. When he has the time in his schedule to find the image file, he'll include it in this gallery. - Enjoy!Read More


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August 21, 2007: What? Cooperative Munchkin?Well, not on purpose, maybe, but it can happen.
One of the games we playtested last week was the next supplement to Munchkin Cthulhu. No, not revealing the name yet . . .
It ended up with a four-way win. Everyone was level 9 and Loren was about to win, with nobody able to stop him. Then Jimmie gave Andrew, the only non-cultist, a Sudden Head Blow, recruiting him to the cult and ending the game. Only Munchkin game I have ever heard of that ended in everyone winning.
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|The White House
President George W. Bush
|Print this document
For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
November 7, 2003
Remarks by the President at Bush-Cheney 2004 Reception
M.c. Benton, Jr. Convention Center
Winston-Salem, North Carolina
THE PRESIDENT: Thanks for your warm welcome. Thank you for coming. I appreciate you. It is great to be back in Winston-Salem -- it's a incredibly beautiful part of our country. But more beautiful are the people who live here. And I want to thank you for your friendship; I want to thank you for your support; I want to thank you for coming today. What we're doing is laying the foundation for what will be a great national victory in November of 2004.
We had a good run in 2000, thanks to you all. And the Vice President and I expressed our deepest appreciation for the hard work you all put in in the year 2000. We'll do even better in 2004 here in North Carolina. I want to thank you for -- (applause.) I'm loosening up. (Laughter.) I'm getting ready. But I've got a job to do -- I've got to work on the people's business in Washington, D.C. We've got a lot on the agenda, and so when you go to your coffee shops, your houses of worship, or your community centers, please tell them -- Republican, Democrat, or independent alike -- that the President is focused on the people's business and he will keep this nation secure and strong and prosperous and free. (Applause.)
I regret that Laura isn't with me today. You drew the short straw. (Laughter.) She's a fabulous wife, a great mother, a wonderful First Lady. I'm really proud of the job she has done. (Applause.) She sends our very best to our friends here in North Carolina -- her very best to our friends here in North Carolina. We've got a great friend in the Culbertsons. I'm so proud to know the Culbertsons. I want to thank them for their friendship and their leadership.
I appreciate so very much traveling today with Congressman Richard Burr. He flew down -- (applause) -- he flew down on Air Force One. There isn't much air rage on Air Force One. (Laughter.) He is going to make a great United States Senator for North Carolina. (Applause.)
It's good to see Brooke Burr. I appreciate so very much that David Burr was here, his dad, who gave the invocation. I'm sorry that Senator Elizabeth Dole is not here, who, by the way, is doing a really good job for the people of North Carolina. (Applause.)
I appreciate the Senator whose place she took, a man who stood strong, a man who stood on principle, Jesse Helms. (Applause.) Speaking about former senators, I know Jim Broyhill is here. I appreciate you coming, Senator. I will pass your best to your good friend, my -- (applause) -- I will pass your best to your good friend, number 41. (Laughter.) If you know who I'm talking about there. (Laughter.) Who, by the way, is going to jump out of an airplane on his 80th birthday. I know it. (Laughter.) Mother had the same reaction. (Laughter.)
I want to thank very much my friend, the Mayor of Charlotte, Pat McCrory, who is here with us today. Mayor, thank you for coming. Good to see you. (Applause.) I know there's a lot of State House folks here and local government officials. I want to thank you all for being here. I appreciate your service to your great state and to your communities.
I've asked a North Carolina graduate to serve as the National Finance Chairman for the Bush-Cheney campaign of '04. Mercer Reynolds is doing a fantastic job of working hard on our behalf, and I want to thank Mercer for his dedication and his friendship. I also want to appreciate -- appreciate Dr. Aldona Wos, the State Chairman for Bush-Cheney. Thank you very much for your hard work. (Applause.)
We've got a lot of grassroots activists who are here, people who are actually going to get on the phone and put up the signs and lick the envelopes, all necessary to make sure that we run a vibrant campaign. I want to thank Ferrell Blount for his leadership here in North Carolina. I want to thank all the grassroots activists for what you're fixing to do when we're coming down the stretch in 2004. (Applause.)
Chief Linda Davis is here. I'm honored the Chief is with us. I appreciate the fine job she is doing. It's not the first time I have seen the Chief. I know you're proud of the job she does here in Winston-Salem. I want to thank her for coming. But most of all, thank you all once again. It's a great turnout. It makes a fellow feel good to see so many people supporting him.
The last two-and-a-half years, our nation has acted decisively to confront great challenges. I came to this office to solve problems instead of passing them on to future presidents and future generations. (Applause.) I came to seize opportunities instead of letting them slip away. My administration is meeting the tests of our time. (Applause.)
Terrorists declared war on the United States of America, and war is what they got. We've captured or killed many of the key leaders of the al Qaeda network. And the rest of them know we're on their trail. In Afghanistan and in Iraq, we gave ultimatums to terror regimes. Those regimes chose defiance, and those regimes are no more. (Applause.)
Fifty million people, fifty million people in those countries once lived under tyranny. And today, they live in freedom. (Applause.) Two-and-a-half years ago, our military was not receiving the resources it needed and morale was beginning to suffer. So we increased the defense budgets to prepare for the threats of a new era. And today, no one in the world can doubt or question the skill or the strength or the spirit of the United States military. (Applause.)
Two-and-a-half years ago, we inherited an economy in recession. And then our nation was attacked. And then we had some scandals in corporate America. And then we marched to war, war in Afghanistan and Iraq, all of which affected the people's confidence. That's a tough -- tough hurdles to cross, when it came to our economy. Yet, this administration acted. We passed tough new laws to hold corporate criminals to account. And to get the economy going again, I have twice led the United States Congress to pass historic tax relief for the American people. (Applause.)
I know that when Americans have more take home pay to spend, to save, or invest, the whole economy grows and people are more likely to find a job. So we're returning more money to the people to help them raise their families. We're reducing taxes on dividends and capital gains to encourage investment. We're giving small businesses incentives so they can hire new people. With all these actions, this administration has laid the foundation for greater prosperity and more jobs across America so every single citizen can realize the American Dream. (Applause.)
Two-and-a-half years ago, there was a lot of talk about education reform. But there wasn't much action. So I acted. I called for and Congress passed the No Child Left Behind Act. (Applause.) With a solid bipartisan majority, we delivered the most dramatic education reforms in a generation. We believe every child can learn to read and write and add and subtract. We expect every child to learn to read and write and add and subtract. This administration is challenging the soft bigotry of low expectations. (Applause.)
We dramatically increased Title One funding. For the first time, the federal government is now asking the question, are you succeeding? We're asking the question of every single public school whether or not we're meeting the high standard that we expect. The days of excuse making are over. This country will stay focused on the basics to make sure every child learns to read and write and add and subtract so not one single child is left behind. (Applause.)
We reorganized the government and created the Department of Homeland Security to better safeguard our ports and borders and to better protect the American people. We passed trade promotion authority to open up markets for North Carolina's farmers, ranchers, and entrepreneurs. But I understand that trade is a two-way street, that if we have trade with other neighbors and countries, we expect there to be fair trade coming the other way. (Applause.)
We passed much needed budget agreements to help maintain a spending discipline. In Washington, D.C., on issue after issue, this administration has acted on principle, has kept its word, and has made progress for the American people. A lot of the credit goes to the Congress, people like Congressman Burr, people with whom we've -- (applause) -- people like Speaker Denny Hastert, Majority Leader Bill Frist.
We're working hard to focus the town on results, not on senseless politics. There's too much politics in Washington, D.C. The leadership in the administration -- we're trying to set a better standard. See, the people want us there to do the business. People there want us to do what's right for the country. That's what we're working hard to do, to change that culture in Washington. And those are the kind of people I've asked to serve in our government. I put together a fantastic team of people from all walks of life to serve the American people. (Applause.) Our country has had no finer Vice President than Dick Cheney. (Applause.) Mother may have a second opinion. (Laughter.)
In two-and-a-half years, we've done a lot. We have come far. But our work is only beginning. I've set great goals worthy of a great nation. First, America is committed to expanding the realm of freedom and peace for our own security and for the benefit of the world. And second, in our own country, we must work for a society of prosperity and compassion so that every citizen, every single citizen has a chance to work and to succeed and to realize the great promise of America.
It is clear that the future of freedom and peace depend on the actions of America. This nation is freedom's home and freedom's defender. We welcome this charge of history, and we are keeping it. (Applause.) The war on terror continues. The enemies of freedom aren't idle. And neither are we. This country will not rest, we will not tire, we will not stop until this danger to civilization is removed. (Applause.)
We are confronting that danger in Iraq where Saddam holdouts and foreign terrorists are desperately trying to throw that country into chaos by attacking coalition forces, by attacking the people who are there to provide aid to the long-suffering Iraqi citizens, and by attacking Iraqi citizens themselves. See, they know that the advance of freedom in Iraq would be a major defeat in the cause of terror. This collection of killers is trying to shake the will of American in the civilized world. And this country will not be intimidated. (Applause.)
Impressively striking the terrorists in Iraq, defeating them there so we will not have to face them in our own country. We're calling on other nations to help. If you see a free Iraq, a peaceful Iraq, a peaceful Iraq in the heart of the Middle East will make the entire world more secure.
We're standing with the Iraqi people, the very capable, competent Iraqi people as they assume more of their own defense and as they move toward self-government. These are not easy tasks, but they are essential tasks. And we will finish what we have begun. We will win this essential victory in the war on terror. (Applause.)
Our greatest security comes from the advance of human liberty because free nations do not support terror. Free nations do not attack their neighbors. Free nations do not threaten the world with weapons of mass terror. Americans believe that freedom is the deepest need and hope of every human heart. And I believe that freedom is the right of every person. And I believe that freedom is the future of every nation. (Applause.)
America also understands that unprecedented influence brings tremendous responsibilities. We have duties in this world. And when we see disease and starvation and hopeless poverty, we will not turn away. On the continent of Africa, America is now committed to bringing the healing power, the healing power of medicine to millions of men and women and children now suffering with AIDS. This great, powerful, strong, compassionate land is leading the world in this incredibly important work of human rescue. (Applause.)
We face challenges here at home, as well, and our actions will prove equal to those challenges. So long as any of our citizens who want to work can't find a job, it says to me, we've got a problem. I will continue to try to create an environment of job creation and job growth by enhancing the entrepreneurial spirit of America. We've had some good news recently about our economy. But we won't rests until everybody who wants to work can find a job.
I'm going to talk today at one of your fine community colleges about the need for us to make sure there is adequate worker training programs to train -- to help train the good citizens of North Carolina for the jobs which actually exist in the state of North Carolina. (Applause.)
We have a duty to keep our commitment to America's seniors by strengthening and modernizing Medicare. A few weeks ago, Congress took historic action to improve the lives of older Americans. For the first time since the creation of Medicare, the House and the Senate have passed reforms, reforms which will increase the choices for our seniors, reforms which will provide coverage for prescription drugs.
The next step is for both Houses to reconcile their differences and to get a good bill to my desk. We must handle our responsibilities in Washington by making sure the Medicare system is vibrant and viable and real, not only for seniors today, but for those of us who are fixing to be seniors tomorrow. (Applause.)
For the sake of our health care system, we need to cut down on the frivolous lawsuits which increase the cost of medicine. (Applause.) People who have been harmed by a bad doctor deserve their day in court. Yet the system should not reward lawyers who are simply fishing for a rich settlement. (Applause.) Frivolous lawsuits drive up the cost of health care, and they, therefore, affect the federal budget.
Medical liability reform is a national issue which requires a national solution. I put forth a good piece of legislation which passed the House of Representatives. It is stuck in the United States Senate. It is time for some of the senators to understand that no one has every been healed by a frivolous lawsuit. We need medical liability reform today. (Applause.)
I have a responsibility as the President to make sure the judicial system runs well, and I have met that duty. I have nominated superb men and women to serve on the federal courts, people who will interpret the law, not legislate from the bench. Here in Carolina, I nominated Judge Terry Boyle for the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals. I nominated this good man, this man of integrity, more than two years ago. We're still waiting for his vote in the United States Senate because a small group of senators is willfully obstructing the process. Too many nominees like Judge Boyle are being denied an up-or-down vote. These needless delays in the system are harming the administration of justice. They're deeply unfair to the nominees and their families themselves. It is time for some of the members of the United States Senate to stop playing politics with American justice. (Applause.)
The Congress needs to complete work on a comprehensive energy plan. Our nation must promote better energy efficiency, better conservation, we must develop clean technology to help us explore in environmentally friendly ways. But for the sake of economic security, for the sake of national security, this nation must become less dependent on foreign sources of energy. (Applause.)
A prosperous nation must also be a compassionate nation. I will continue to advance our agenda of compassionate conservatism which says we will apply the most innovative ideas, the most effective ideas to the task of helping our fellow citizens who hurt.
There are still millions of men and women who want to end their dependence on government and become independent through hard work. We must build on the success of the welfare reform by bringing work and dignity into the lives of more of our fellow citizens. Congress should complete the citizen service act so more Americans can serve their communities and their country.
And both Houses should reach agreement on my faith-based initiative to support the armies of compassion that are mentoring our children, caring for the homeless, and offering hope to the addicted. Oftentimes, many of the problems that our citizens face are problems of the heart. And government can hand out money, but it can't put hope people's hearts or sense of purpose in people's lives. That's done when people from any faith put their arms around a brother and sister in need and says, I love you. Our government should not fear the work of our faith-based programs. We ought to welcome faith-based programs and the healing of citizens who hurt. (Applause.)
A compassionate society must promote opportunity for all, including the independence and dignity that come from ownership. This administration will constantly strive to promote an ownership society in America. We want more people owning their own home. Today in America, we have a minority home ownership gap. I've submitted a plan to the United States Congress to close that gap. We want more people owning and managing their own retirement accounts. We want them owning and managing their own health care accounts. We want more people owning their own small business in America. We understand that when a person owns something, he or she has a vital stake in the future of our country.
In a compassionate society, people respect each other, and people take responsibility for the decisions they make. The culture of America is changing from one that has said, if it feels good, do it, and you got a problem, blame somebody else, to a culture in which each of us understands we are responsible for the decisions we make in life.
If you're fortunate enough to be a mom or a dad, you're responsible for loving your child with all your heart. If you're worried about the quality of the education in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, you're responsible for doing something about it. If you're a CEO in corporate America, you're responsible for telling the truth to your shareholders and your employees. (Applause.)
And in the new responsibility society, each of us are responsible for loving our neighbor just like we would like to be loved ourself. (Applause.) The culture of service and the culture of responsibility is growing around us here in America. I started what's called the USA Freedom Corps in order to encourage Americans to extend a compassionate hand to a citizen in need. And the response has been fantastic. People from all walks of life are willing to help, willing to stand up, willing to make a difference in their communities. Our faith-based programs are strong and vibrant and growing. The social entrepreneurship in American is an integral part of the fabric of our society.
You've got policemen and fire fighters and people who wear our nation's uniform remind us what it means to sacrifice for something greater than yourself. Once again, the children of America believe in heroes because they see them every day. (Applause.) In these challenging times, the world has seen the resolve and the courage of America. And I have been privileged to see the compassion and the character of the American people.
All the tests of the last two-and-a-half years have come to the right nation. We're a strong country, and we use that strength to defend the peace. We're an optimistic country, confident in ourselves and in ideals bigger than ourselves. Abroad, we seek to lift whole nations by spreading freedom. At home, we seek to lift us lives by spreading opportunity to every corner of America. This is the work that history has set before us. We welcome it. And we know that for our country, the best days lie ahead.
May God bless you all.


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SSR 94-2p
SSR 94-2p: POLICY INTERPRETATION RULING Title XVI: Workers' Compensation (WC) Payments
PURPOSE: To clarify that, under the supplemental security income (SSI) program, any portion of a WC payment designated for medical expenses, or for legal or other expenses attributable to obtaining the WC award is not income.
CITATIONS (AUTHORITY): Section 1612(a)(2)(B) of the Social Security Act (SSACT), as amended; Regulations No. 16, sections 416.1103(a), 416.1121(a), and 416.1123(b)(3)
PERTINENT HISTORY: WC is awarded to an injured employee or to the survivor(s) of an employee under Federal and State WC programs and the Longshoremen and Harbor Workers' Act. It may be paid by a Federal or State agency, an insurance company, or an employer. Payments may include amounts for medical expenses, or for legal or other expenses attributable to obtaining the WC award. These expenses may be past, current, or future and may be lump-sum or periodic in nature.
The SSACT at section 1612(a)(2)(B), and regulations at 20 CFR 416.1121(a) provide that WC is unearned income for SSI purposes. Regulations at 20 CFR 416.1123(b)(3) provide for counting less than the amount actually received when part of the amount received is for an expense of obtaining the income.
Regulations at 20 CFR 416.1103(a) provide that reimbursement for certain medical expenses is not income.
POLICY INTERPRETATION: If the Federal or State agency, insurance company, or employer that authorizes or makes a WC payment designates any portion of it for medical expenses, or for legal or other expenses attributable to obtaining the WC award, such portion is not income for SSI purposes. The expenses may be past, current, or future. Any portion of a WC award or payment not designated for such expenses is unearned income.
EFFECTIVE DATE: This Ruling merely clarifies longstanding SSI policy on the treatment of WC payments designated for certain types of expenses. If a case comes to SSA's attention where SSA did not apply this policy, SSA will reopen and revise the earliest determination possible under the rules of administrative finality. SSA will use the 2-year reopening rule, treating the determination as an error on the face of the evidence.
CROSS-REFERENCE: Program Operations Manual System, Part 5, Chapter 008, Subchapter 30, Section SI 00830.235.


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Grand outing
The shuttle bus pulled up at 6:08 a.m. Arizona time (what time is that in Alaska? What time is that in Utah? In a state that does not observe daylight savings, the real time was a constant source of debate.) The bus was packed to the brim with people - other hikers bundled in their Arctic best for the long descent down the South Kaibab Trail. It was a swift dose of reality that the Grand Canyon is not the place to seek solitude. But more than that, we were astonished at the sheer number of people undertaking what just a few years ago to us was a bewildering idea - hiking from one side of the Grand Canyon to the other in a day.
But since those uneasy years, I had dropped off the rim three times. By the fourth, the edge had worn off a bit. I had become more accustomed to day-long physical exertion, and rarely on paths as well-built and luxurious as the Grand Canyon's main trails. But where the physical challenge dulled a bit, the wonder only sharpened.
In the warm light of sunrise, a huge chasm spread out around us. Serrated rock and soft sand is a kind of scenery so different from that which I see in my day-to-day adventures. I appreciate its beauty so much more now that I'm so far away.
My dad looked out over the trail snaking into the gorge and said, "this is one of those 'wow' moments, isn't it?" I smiled, because a love of sweeping spaces is something my dad and I both identify with. It reminded me that my dad and I share things that run so much deeper than bloodlines.
After just a little more than an hour of hiking, we were already watching the blue-gray ribbons of the Colorado River flow toward the oasis of Phantom Ranch. I felt like we were moving at the speed of light. Tom, who had been up Mount Rainier but never down the Grand Canyon, said "Wow, I feel like we've walked a long way downhill, and we still have a long way to go."
We skirted a narrow bridge across the Colorado River, elevation 2,400, at about 9 a.m. On the banks was Phantom Ranch, a little National Park resort with flush toilets and bunk houses and cold lemonade. We were still wearing half of our warm layers. My thermometer still hovered well below 60, in Arizona, in mid-October. I have visited that place at the same time of year when the temperature was in the 100s, and I have suckled the Phantom Ranch lemonade like it was the elixir of life. "You know," my dad said, "I don't really feel like a cold lemonade right now." And I realized with no small disappointment that I did not, either.
As we continued up the surprisingly un-oven-like box canyon on the lower north side, we saw our only member of the large wildlife community that we met during the trip, a bighorn sheep. We also saw, to our disappointment, dozens of other hikers.
We stopped for lunch at Ribbon Falls. I pulled out my assortment of Clif Bars and candy bars and tried to ascertain a good combination for lunch. My dad offered me a cheese bagel, with honey, and part of a can of Pringles - just like in the old days, when I was a grumpy teenager and my dad carried all of the food. The idea that he would still think of me when shopping for his hiking expedition made me feel warm and secure, and I relished in a lunch that still tasted as rich and nourishing as it did when I was 16.
Ribbon Falls was just spectacular in the noon sunlight. We finished lunch and climbed up behind the waterfall, trying to dodge the mist that on any other October day in the Grand Canyon would probably feel wonderful.
Ribbon Falls is about a perfect halfway point between the South and North rims. I think it should be a destination in and of itself. Crystal clear water over a ribbon of moss and vegetation as rich and green as anything in Juneau, contrasted against the red rocks. I would hike 24 miles out and back to see it.
I couldn't decide which picture to post, so I posted four. Yup, still Ribbon Falls.
A cold wind that had been blowing all day really picked up force as we ascended the North Rim. Gusts of 40 and sometimes even 50 mph blew away my hat and pounded us with chilling force. Luckily, the wind was almost always at our backs. Even on slow-moving feet, the push helps.
I ticked off the elevation on my GPS, announcing the numbers to my dad and Tom as we marched upward. Fall began to return to the landscape. The thermometer dropped back toward 40. The climb is long, more than 6,500 feet over the course of the day, and the mileage - about 22 - is not a short stroll either. Even so, near the top, a part of me felt like we were just getting started, and GPS confirmed it. We had spent just a little more than nine hours in the canyon, with only about six to seven of that hiking (GPS accuracy is hard to pin down on moving time.) For the first time in four rim-to-rim treks, I could understand why people would turn around and walk back into the abyss.
Still, there was enough good tired to go around. I have difficulty with the impact of running and walking for more than a few hours. Saturday was no exception, with some IT band tightness that subsided pretty quickly. Tom was pretty happy with the experience. This picture is our crew: Tom, his wife, Jill; my dad, Jed; my mom, Sheri, and me. (Jill and my mom drove around to shuttle us out. And yes, it really was that cold on the North Rim.)
Clouds started to move in shortly after we crested the rim. By 5 p.m., it was snowing. But, all in all, we had an ideal trip. The weather was just about perfect - for my Alaska blood, that is. I was half disappointed I didn't get to see the snow while we were hiking. I imagine the canyon is beautiful dusted in white.
So that's my fourth time down the Grand. Would I do it again? Most definitely.
24 comments:
- AnonymousOctober 15, 2008 at 3:58 AM
Wonderful pictures. Thank you very much to share with us.ReplyDelete
Best regards
Awe inspiring. My wife and I have been discussing the Grand Canyon for the past few months.ReplyDelete
Now, we just need to find the time to get there.
Once again, thanks for sharing another adventure with us.
Oh great - thanks for the motivation. I am heading to Phoenix in 2 weeks and was contemplating a trip to the Canyon - Now it is set in stone and I guess I have a 22 mile hike ahead of me :)ReplyDelete
Great story once again - you guys look cold in that last picture :)
Those were some stunning pictures. Thanks for sharing them with us.ReplyDelete
beautiful country!@!!!ReplyDelete
- AnonymousOctober 15, 2008 at 6:55 AM
NICE! Thanks for the story. What Olympus camera model do you have?ReplyDelete
Three years of Alaska outings have taught me to leave the house as pessimistic as possible and shed my way toward optimism.ReplyDelete
Now there is a life philosophy I can support!
Your dad is a good dad.
Great pictures, Jill. I'm still surprised how quickly the weather changed on the North side from two weeks ago. We sat out on the North Rim lodge patio in shorts and t-shirts and watched the sunset the night before our hike. You guys had snow. Go figure.ReplyDelete
Beautiful pictures Jill! I'm not ready to see snow though :-)ReplyDelete
Wow! With pictures like that I may consider going with you guys one day... maybe. At least I could drive around with Mom.ReplyDelete
And Dad is a GREAT Dad!!
Your pictures are so amazing I can't even stand it.ReplyDelete
Now you make me ache, not only for northern landscapes, but also for those of the Grand Canyon. It is truly one of the most beautiful places I have ever been - in spite of all the other hikers. Have you ever hiked the Havasupai area, west of the GC but still in the same river valley? If not, I highly recommend it.ReplyDelete
- AnonymousOctober 15, 2008 at 10:24 AM
great post. your blog is a how-to for living life well.ReplyDelete
- AnonymousOctober 15, 2008 at 12:27 PM
You are the coolest chick I have never met. Great writing, great photos, perfect sentiment.ReplyDelete
- AnonymousOctober 15, 2008 at 1:53 PM
Thanks for the incredible photos. For a first timer, which direction to you recommend?ReplyDelete
Wow, just wow.ReplyDelete
I gotta do that hike soon!ReplyDelete
Lovely stuff Jill
Sorry I missed yah
Of course its already been said but.... wow, great photos. Its come to the point that when I visit your blog I expect great photos.ReplyDelete
Thanks for sharing them. Perhaps you should post some crappy ones once in a while so that our expectations don't get too high.
I am REALLY impressed by your pics! I simply love them. And lloking at them it's like you have made my dreams come true once more. (The fisrt time when my dreams did come true was when i visited Alaska (http://www.odyssei.com/travel-gallery/88111.html). i hope to see ya more often in the blogosphere!ReplyDelete
Looks like an awesome outing, even if it was probably a wee chilly. But hey, you are already used to that on two wheels.ReplyDelete
BTW, big plans are afoot. May have some questions for you. Now, if I could only figure out your email address...
awesome pictures .... makes me wish to fly to the US to visit those places.ReplyDelete
Greetings from Italy!!
I came from a family of campers, but never hikers. Thanks for allowing me to live vicariously through your family.ReplyDelete
Ahhh, the good old days...sleeping at cottonwood, waking up and running down to the springs for a spray. Getting into the falls...ReplyDelete
Thanks for the flashback:)
Dinglearm ... My camera is an Olympus Stylus 770 SW.ReplyDelete
Jenn ... I've never been down that way, but the guy we were hiking with talked about it quite a lot. I have to admit, I'm a little uneasy about it after reading a long Backpacker Magazine article about a murder down there. Not that I really believe that makes it a more dangerous place - it just gives me kind of a creepy feeling.
K. Koski ... the best route for a first timer is probably North to South, down the North Kaibab and up Bright Angel. You gain about 1,000 less feet that way, there's water the whole distance, and better amenities for the people that are waiting for you on the other (south) side. But the South Kaibab is my favorite section of trail, hands down. (No water there, though.)
Tom ... expect to see more crappy pictures now that I'm back in Juneau and it's deep into fall. Lots of wet brown and gray this time of year.
Jack ... good luck with all of it! Let me know if your big plans bring you near Alaska.
Thanks again to everyone, and especially to my dad for being a good dad.


text:
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Event sections
Invited talks


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text:
(visited by Ottar Fredheim and Trond Fredheim)
28-Mar-2004 -- I first heard about this extremely interesting project just two weeks ago (on The BBC World Service) when my wife and I were holydaying in The Canaries.
I must admit I became an addicted confluence hunter immidiately. And as soon as I got back to Alta, I started checking the confluence points in my neighbourhood. N70E23 had not yet been successfully visited, and it wasn´t far away.
So then, last Sunday, after a cloudy morning with thick snowfall that seemed to put a stop for our little expedition, it cleared up around noon and gradually became one of these magical winter days (spring is yet far away up here at 70°N), with intense, bright arctic light reflected from the fairly steep snowy mountainsides surrounding the fjord. The temperature reached a high of ¸ 2°C . A friendly 4 m/s SE wind made it quite pleasant spending the whole day up in the western mountains of the magnificent Altafjord.
My son and I took off south from the E6 some 30 km south of Alta; at the end of the straight 700 m long stretch in the bottom of Melsvik (the last syllable "-vik" means bay in English).
Then we followed a dirt road (unmarked) some 300 meters to a gravel pit.
After parking the car a little past noon, we soon realized that the crusty snow conditions would make walking much more comfortable than skiing. We therefore left our skies behind in the car.
It turned out that besides the few spots where the sun had melted the top layer of the crust, we could easily walk on the crust surface, without falling through the layers of snow underneath. But occationally we did; especially the heavy one of us. And every now and then the bold father for a short while were just as helpless as a bear in a pitfall!
We also knew that we within less than 2 km had to ascend about 450 meters.
With proper boots, but without crampons, we started on the steepest climb a little less than 1 km NE from the confluence point.
On a narrow plateau, half a km before the last little climb up to the point, we rested and took some fine shots along the Altafjord towards the island Seiland (the 5th largest in the country) that lies as a fender in the north just outside the mouth of the fjord, and calms the rough seas from The Artic Ocean.
From the plateau we reached the confluence point (elevation 452 m) easily in just minutes, and "The confluence dance" began!
During the photo session some half an hour later, our fingers turned more and more white, cold and stiff! (all those small buttons on cameras and other fancy electronic equipment, why don´t they make them bigger - for use with mittens on in cold regions ?)
We send our best wishes to the whole Kuflik family who made a bold attempt to reach the point in Aug. 2002. We had much more time available, and of course also benefit from the fact that we live in this region. (We can asure the Kufliks that we met no angry moskitoes; they are probably resting, gaining strength and patiently waiting for the first tourist to arrive this summer season).
Now we´re aiming for N70E24.


text:
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