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CNN Goosebumps article
Detroit Free Press article
Detroit News article
Kids Read It, Watched It; Now They Shiver to Goosebumps - Live On Stage!
??? author credit (Pensacola News-Journal)
September 19, 1998Your kids read the books, watched the television series and now they can shiver in person to Goosebumps - Live On Stage!
The production, based on the best-selling Goosebumps book series by R.L. Stine, was set for its world premiere Friday night at Pensacola's Saenger Theater with additional performances through Sunday before moving on to other cities.
The stage production tries to walk a fine line of being scary enough to keep children engrossed without inducing nightmares while appealing as well to their parents.
"We use a lot of humor," said writer-director Rupert Holmes, a double Tony Award winner for best book and score for The Mystery of Edwin Drood.
"There is a lot of shiver, and a couple of bumps, but it is not violence-based," Holmes said. "As the people are screaming, they are also usually laughing."
The shivers and bumps come from eerie music, dry ice, some wild monster costumes and new stories written by Holmes "in the spirit, and with some of the spirits, of the books."
"It's not children's theater," said musical writer and co-producer Jonathan Brielle, who wrote the score for the Tony Award-winning show Foxfire.
"Even kids who are 15, who grew up on the books, can now come and enjoy the humor," Brielle said. "It's never written down to the audience; it's always written up."
Pensacola, a medium-size city in the Florida Panhandle, was chosen for the Goosebumps premiere because of recent upgrades in the city-owned Saenger's stage equipment and the nature of the community.
"Families, sort of suburbs as well as city, and a lot of people who have seen Broadway and Broadway-quality productions," Holmes said, are what he was looking for. "We'll base a lot of what we do in the show on what the Pensacola audiences react to."
Paul Benedict, best known for his roles in The Jeffersons, Spinal Tap, and Waiting for Guffman, plays a mysterious mad scientist [sic]. Three Pensacola children, Clayton Stocker, 8; Amanda Ninivaggi, 11; and Mark Schindler, 12, play younger characters featured in the show.
Clayton said he wasn't afraid of being in such a scary show.
"I only really get scared of aliens," he said.
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Stage Fright! Theatrical Thriller Premiering at Fox Follows Formula of Stine's Goosebumps
Jill Vejnoska (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
September 29, 1998His name is Slappy. He's a dummy. An evil dummy, in fact, but that's not what strikes fear nightly in Rupert Holmes' heart.
It's Slappy's sudden growth spurt that does it. The one that sees him more than double in size, to a height of about 14 feet, his 20-pound head and 10-pound (each) hands somehow supported by a stilt-walking circus clown inside the costume.
"I hold my breath every night at that moment," confesses Holmes, the writer and director of Goosebumps Live on Stage, which has its world premiere Thursday at the Fox Theatre. "It's a wonderful moment, but to pull it off successfully - I don't think anybody understands how difficult it is."
He is still talking about Slappy, right? After all, what Holmes and company are attempting to do here - pumping more air into the already monster-size franchise of Goosebumps kids books - is fraught with as much peril as possibility.
As caretakers of the best-selling children's book series of all time (vanquishing, among others, Nancy Drew and the not so Hardy Boys), the Goosebumps producers know their efforts will be closely scrutinized by the millions of mostly 7- to 13-year-olds (and their parents) who snatch up each new title (such as "Say Cheese and Die") as soon as it rolls off the presses - two every month.
Nor is it just young readers whose expectations they're trying to meet. It's young theatergoers, many of whom will be getting their first exposure to a play, performed live and without benefit of special effects screaming across a 70mm screen at the local multiplex.
Yet if they pull it off, the Goosebumps team says, they won't just fill up theaters. They'll change theater as we know it.
"Our objective is to create a whole new genre of theater," explained co- producer Kenneth Feld. "We think that this is the first stage play that's been created for families. There have been musicals, like Annie. But this is new."
To be sure, this is also a little hype. Maybe that's to be expected from a man who, if he's not P.T. Barnum reincarnated, at least lives in his old neighborhood. Along with other big "arena" shows (Disney on Ice), Feld Entertainment also produces the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus.
But you must really have to believe in something to undertake a major commitment such as Goosebumps Live on Stage represents. The $6 million production is scheduled to tour the country for nearly two years, starting in Atlanta and charging $16 to $36 for tickets at a time when such Broadway "family" shows as The Lion King and Beauty and the Beast demand up to $75.
"You can get really sucked into the romance, the 'We gotta play New York' mentality," said Goosebumps co-producer John Brielle, who says the show needs "time and nourishment" now and will make it to New York at some point. "Financially, too, we're creating a new genre. If you have a $65 ticket, Mom and Dad might have to leave some of the kids at home."
If there's anything the American public doesn't need to be sold on, it seems, it's Goosebumps. The franchise began growing to Slappyesque proportions almost from the moment in 1992 that New York writer R.L. Stine introduced his kid-pleasing formula of funny, scary storytelling in Welcome to Dead House. Sixty-one more books followed, featuring such titles as Revenge of the Lawn Gnomes with cliffhangers at the end of each chapter; more recently, Stine (who writes 20 pages a day, six days a week) has introduced Goosebumps Series 2000 for young teens as well as the Give Yourself Goosebumps and Goosebumps Presents series.
There's a Goosebumps TV series. Goosebumps videos. Even, God help us, Goosebumps interactive sound T-shirts. So why not Goosebumps Live on Stage?
"I thought it was a great idea," Stine, whom Feld first approached about a year ago, said recently by phone from New York. "I told Rupert, 'Make 'em scream! Make 'em scream and make 'em laugh!'"
If only it were that simple. Stine may have been enthusiastic about the idea, but he had neither the theater experience nor the time to write the play. And it was going to be a real play - though Feld admits they could have taken an easier route.
"We could have done this as a 'head' show," Feld said, referring to shows that feature singing and dancing costumed versions of popular children's characters. "But (Goosebumps) is a story about storytelling, and we felt that that could only be accomplished in the theater." To write it, they found Holmes, the Tony Award-winning playwright (The Mystery of Edwin Drood), pop musician ("The Pina Colada Song") and creator of the Cable ACE-nominated TV series Remember WENN.
Old-time radio fans who share a similar sense of humor, Holmes and Stine hit it off and quickly agreed that Goosebumps Live on Stage would consist of three original stories. "We've done all the books for TV," Stine said. "We had to give the kids something new." The stories would be linked by a recurring element and, perhaps more important, by what Holmes calls the distinctive "Goosebumps dynamics."
"In the Goosebumps world, kids solve their own problems," explained Holmes, who read about 40 of the books before writing a script. "Kids are afraid, but they're never victims. They're scared, but they're never paralyzed by fear."
Goosebumps Live on Stage is the saga of the three Barton siblings and friend Skate, who are stranded in an unfamiliar neighborhood after a school basketball game. Looking for a phone, they enter the Doomsday Bookshop, where old Mr. Gander tells them stories out of a dusty old book called Goosebumps.
The kids end up in the stories, dealing with everything from power-hungry lizards masquerading as human beings, to spooks haunting an old theater and, of course, that evil dummy who traps them in "Slappy's Fun House." In a two- hour show, there are as many jokes as scares, and - parents, take note - not all the witticisms are aimed at the youngsters.
"I thought, as a parent, I would love to write a children's show that I would enjoy sitting through as well," said Holmes, whose sons are 11 and 9.
From the first scene change, when the slightly shabby front of Doomsday Bookshop unfolds to reveal an oddity-crammed interior extending the full height and width of the stage, the audience experiences the transporting power of live theater. Two children climb a staircase as it moves across the stage, and, suddenly, a new scene and setting emerges; a character is completely recostumed by dashing through a "changing box"; an actor playing a stagehand moves props; and who, exactly, is inside that gigantic Slappy outfit?
"I'm trying to show kids that there is a world just as exciting and sometimes more involving than motion pictures or TV, called theater," Holmes said. "And that theater isn't simply the next best thing to big movies. There are things theater can do to you that nothing else can. It's like magic."
Maybe so, but it's also like a lot of hard work. Practice makes perfect. Two weeks before the Atlanta premiere of Goosebumps Live on Stage, it's dress rehearsal night at the Saenger Theatre in Pensacola, Fla. While 150 folks fill the front rows of seats, much of the theater is taken up by sound boards and lighting control panels, by technicians who talk quietly into headsets or stare intently at computer screens. A half-dozen video cameras record every second and angle of the performance, miles of film that later will be edited into 30-second clips for TV.
It's the first run-through before an audience and with all the scenery, costumes and props in place. A switchblade phone that requires exquisite timing to operate in the bookshop scene has only arrived that day. Two days earlier, Caitlin Reilly, a Ringling Brothers clown, had come onstage in the gigantic Slappy costume for the first time.
Back in New York, where the cast rehearsed 10 hours a day before moving to Pensacola, Reilly, 26, had spent about two weeks learning to walk as Slappy. Reilly already knew how to walk on the 4-foot stilts. It was the rest of the extremely top-heavy 60-pound costume that took getting used to.
Casting the show had taken about two months as Holmes and the producers searched for actors who could do everything from walk on stilts to straddle a fine line - being totally believable as kids, yet also having the necessary skills to play thriller and farce.
The results are a bit unusual: The 20ish actor portraying young Josh Barton also serves as legal guardian on tour to the 17-year-old actor playing his best friend. One of two girls sharing the role of the littlest Barton, 13-year-old Jaime Lynn Keller, is traveling with her aunt Holly and a teddy bear wearing a "My Heart Will Go On" key chain.
"At first, I didn't have anything to remind me of home," said Jaime, who's signed to a four-month contract. "My dad had given me a laptop, and I slept with that for awhile."
Three weeks before the dress rehearsal, Jaime and the rest of the company moved to Pensacola, a steamy Florida Panhandle town that offered the twin benefits of a full-sized theater to work in and a relatively low profile.
"We're away from a world where the media has instant accessibility," said John Wimbs, the show's press agent. "If we were in New York, you can bet there'd be a critic in there tonight, telling people what's not together yet."
The audience was weighted heavily toward children, some of whose parents had won tickets in a radio contest or were associated with the theater.
"They're really vibrating," said Milton resident Lisa Webster, pointing to her 10-year-old son, Josh, and his cousin Shane Pudsey. "They're much more excited about going to see this than any movie."
The excitement level was palpable before the show, helped along by the "I Was First to be Scared" T-shirts given to all the kids there - Josh and Shane were overheard plotting how they might each get a second one. There was also the obligatory souvenir stand hawking everything from Goosebumps watches and flashlights to key chains and puppets.
One thing, it seems, isn't for sale: A book version of Holmes' play, written by Stine, will be given free to young audience members in most cities.
"Hopefully, it will get more kids reading," said Stine. "This is what it's all about."
For now, the play's the thing. Back in the lobby after the dress rehearsal, a pint-sized mob scene broke out as Holmes and the actors emerged to sign autographs and answer questions. In the thick of things, Jimmy Howard, 14, said he hadn't really been that interested in seeing the show initially.
"And now I'm like pushing little kids out of the way to get autographs on my (souvenir) T-shirt," said the self-professed punk rock fan, who wore a Sex Pistols jacket and a rueful grin. "I thought it would be some not-so-great, low-budget, rinky-dink thing. I'll tell my friends to see it."
Comments like those were music to the ears of the Goosebumps team the next day. From their perspective, as well, the dress rehearsal had gone amazingly well - mostly minor tinkering would take place during preview performances before the official world premiere in Atlanta.
Stine will be at the Fox Theatre on Thursday night, getting his first official look at the stage interpretation of his beloved series of books. And soon after, the rest of the Goosebumps team will know if they've pulled off their attempt at doing justice to Stine's work - while at the same time creating a new genre of theater.
"This is a major risk. Is the expectation going to be the 'head' show?" Feld wondered aloud. "But it's absolutely the best thing for the integrity of the Goosebumps property."
There's already talk about coming up with new stories to replace these three when this tour of Goosebumps Live on Stage has run its course.
"I just think every person in America should be required to see this," Holmes said pleasantly. "And then they move on to Goosebumps '99.'"
Quick, somebody find Slappy.
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Holmes Out to Give Families a Good Scare in Goosebumps
Roy Proctor (The Richmond Times Dispatch)
October 2, 1998When the producers of the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus approached Rupert Holmes a year ago about writing and staging a Goosebumps comedy-thriller, Holmes had a ready answer.
The show, which was to be Feld Entertainment Inc.'s first venture into proscenium theater, had been in rehearsal for years.
"I had started reading the Goosebumps books to my son, Nick, when he was 7," Holmes explained last Sunday by cellular phone from the banks of the Tennessee River, where he'd retreated after a matinee of his Goosebumps - Live on Stage! in Chattanooga.
Nick is now 11, and Richmonders will have a chance to see what this four-year gestation has yielded when Holmes' 90-minute, special-effects-filled show opens Wednesday at Richmond's Landmark Theater.
Feld Entertainment Inc. became interested in Holmes after seeing his play, Solitary Confinement, a vehicle for Stacey Keach, at the Kennedy Center in Washington."Solitary Confinement was a comedy-thriller that played lots of games with the audience," said Holmes, who lives in Westchester County, N.Y., and sports an American accent that belies his British birth. "That's very much a description of Goosebumps - Live on Stage!"
"Kenneth Feld arranged a breakfast meeting, and I started forming the whole thing for the producers at the table. I told them, 'We've got to have a fun house and a thriller set in a haunted theater.' It was then that we came up with the idea of telling several stories and then tying them together so they're stories within a story."
The fact that Holmes had written and scored Broadway's The Mystery of Edwin Drood - and won two Tonys for his efforts - worked in his favor when his name was mentioned to R.L. Stine, whose Goosebumps books have sold about 200 million copies, and his publisher wife.
"They loved that show, and they also knew me as the writer of Remember WENN on TV," Holmes said. "When I met with the Stines, we hit it off immediately. I signed on the dotted line a week later."
The Goosebumps books, which have yielded a popular TV series, some of whose episodes are on the video market, are usually considered kid stuff.
Not to Holmes.
"We're aiming from womb to tomb," he said. "It's actually a family thriller. It's designed first and foremost for kids, ages 5 to 15, who have loved the Goosebumps books, but I'm also hoping I'll entertain and amuse the adults who bring them there."
Goosebumps - Live on Stage! is no slavish adaptation of Stine's stories.
"The Stines asked me to write new Goosebumps stories of my own, and Stine pointed out one thing I'd perceived already - the kids in the stories solved their own problems.
"My show doesn't borrow plots from existing stories, but I did use elements in several Goosebumps books as underpinnings. Slappy [a ventriloquist's dummy] is the only character that comes over from the books."
Holmes has been tinkering with his creation since the tour opened three weeks ago in Pensacola, Fla.
"There's a chance I'll tweak it in Richmond, and I'll continue changing it," he said of the show he hopes to open in New York before next summer. "Why work in theater if you can't do that?
"You listen to the audience and, if the audience loves something three times in a row, you say, 'Let's give them more of that.' We've been streamlining transitions and finding a way to get the characters seamlessly from the kitchen to the attic.
"We've thrown in a couple of pyrotechnic effects now that we have a pyrotechnic expert traveling with us."
Just how scary is Holmes' latest creation?
"It's scary, but I try to always have a scare accompanied by a laugh," he said. "I don't think anything in this show is scarier than a thrill ride at Disneyland or Disney World. There's no violence and no blood. The kids will be glad they're scared but happy their parents are there, too."
Holmes draws a line between scares.
"A good scare is where you can vicariously enjoy a shock knowing that everything is going to turn out fine," he said.
"A good scare is taking that first dip in a roller coaster. A bad scare is stepping into an elevator shaft by accident. It's the same fall, but you know everything is going to turn out fine on the roller coaster, so you end up laughing as well as screaming."
Holmes also believes it's important that the protagonists in his show are children.
"If a kid sees an adult in a horror story, a kid says, 'When I grow up like that, I'll know what to do.' But when a kid sees another kid facing the same challenge and figuring out how to meet the challenge, this is empowering to kids.
"A scary story in which the kids are the heroes is more realistic to kids."
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Success Gives Holmes Goosebumps
John Coulbourn (The Toronto Sun)
October 13, 1998In a world where successful career paths are most often traced in a geometrically precise trajectory, Rupert Holmes' vitae read like the flight of the bumblebee.
Perhaps best known as the creator of the perennially popular "Escape" (also known as "The Pina Colada Song"), Holmes has also earned a brace of Tony Awards for his musical stage adaptation of The Mystery Of Edwin Drood and is a highly respected creator of stage mysteries like Accomplice, for which he earned an Edgar Award.
Further, Holmes has worked with a brace of big-name singers like Barbra Streisand, for whom he wrote several songs for A Star Is Born, and even enjoyed modest success as a pop singer in his own right, a career side trip that brought him to the Imperial Room and Ontario Place. He's also the driving force behind Remember WENN, a highly-acclaimed American sitcom, unseen here in Canada.
And if that's not an impressive enough career sweep, consider this: Holmes began his career composing scores for movies of, shall we say, an adult nature. And today, while he puts the finishing touches on a Broadway-bound musical stage adaptation of The Picture of Dorian Gray, he's also earning new respect as a creator of entertainment for young audiences.
The proof of his skill at the latter takes up residence this week at the Ford Centre, a stage treatment of those kiddylit classics, Goosebumps Live On Stage.
But where the books are written by R.L. Stine, this stage version is written that's as opposed to adapted and directed by Holmes.
It took a bit of nerve to tackle a stage work under the Goosebumps title, Holmes admits from his suburban New York home, where renovators are hard at work.
"I'm terrible 'til I've had my first cup of sawdust in the morning," he cracks.
Kids, he concedes, returning to more serious topics, are inclined to view their literature with only slightly less reverence than zealots reserve for their holy books.
"I think this is one of the reasons the producers stipulated from the outset (that) they wanted me to write brand new stories," he explains.
"So I've been allowed to write these three stories," Holmes adds. "I tried to write them in a Goosebumps style, but they are original stories."
If the stories are new, however, not all of the characters grew fully formed from Holmes' imagination. Slappy, a marauding ventriloquist's dummy familiar to Goosebumps aficionados, makes a command performance courtesy of Nicholas, one of Holmes' two sons.
"Nicholas thinks the show is just his cup of tea," proud papa reports with a laugh. "But you have to understand. I worked backwards, knowing that if he didn't like it, I would be boiled in oil. If Slappy wasn't in it, I wasn't going to live in this house."
In the end, creating the show wasn't just a labour of love for his son, it turned into a labour of love for the theatre, too.
"I've written for every medium," Holmes reflects. "And I tell you, there's nothing like a play. Somehow, when I write a play, I feel like I'm in the fourth row and my arms are extended up to the stage.
"The thrill of doing Goosebumps, for me, is I'm trying to show kids the things I love about theatre that they may never have seen before."
As for his early days on the fleshy side of the movie business, Holmes is a trifle sheepish, but not even remotely apologetic.
"I was allowed to write those scores because nobody listened to them," he says with a chuckle. "Besides, I did the scores for those movies, I did not score in them."
Besides, when you're young, you'll do whatever it takes to get a buzz on a career.
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(Note: unfortunately, the show closed before the Dayton performance.)
Things That Go Bump on Stage
Terry Morris (Dayton Daily News)
December 13, 1998Rupert Holmes figures he "started working on the Goosebumps play before anyone even proposed the idea."
When his son (who is now 11) was 8, the Tony Award-winning playwright and composer started reading him R.L. Stine's creepy, kiddie-horror Goosebumps novels as bedtime stories.
"They're real page-turners with cliff-hangers at the end of each chapter. A lot of those sessions went on a lot longer than they were supposed to because I had to go on to the next chapter or chapters to find out what would happen," he said.
About the same time, producer Kenneth Feld was reading books from the popular series with his three daughters.
One night, he saw a Washington, D.C., performance of Holmes' play Solitary Confinement, which mixes mystery with comedy in characteristic fashion.
"My plays tend to wink at the audience," Holmes said.
Feld, who wanted to produce a Goosebumps play for families, decided Holmes might be the playwright to transfer the books to the stage.
"They [Feld and Stine] came to me and said: 'Goosebumps.' I said: 'I'm the man,'" said Holmes, who achieved an unprecedented Tony Awards double in 1986 as librettist and composer of the Broadway musical The Mystery of Edwin Drood.
Although Goosebumps, Live on Stage, is not a musical, Holmes is doing double duty as playwright and director of the $ 6 million production, which opens Tuesday night at Memorial Hall in Dayton as the ninth stop on a 50-city, two-year tour.
One aspect of a show with "some amazing stunts and special effects," will be new here. New York actor Gabriel Barre will be taking over for Paul Benedict (who played Englishman Harry Bentley on TV's The Jeffersons) in the role of Mr. Gander beginning Tuesday.
His character owns the bookstore that four children visit at the start of the show, thereby entering a series of adventures fashioned in Stine style.
"He taught me a lot about what's behind the Goosebumps books and how he works," Holmes said.
"R.L. Stine is actually one of the nicest guys I ever met, which he probably wouldn't want me to say. The day I met him, he was wearing a black shirt, black pants and a furrowed look. He said he had an interview later, and he was expected to look sinister during interviews."
Stine is looking sinister all the way to the bank. His more than 70 books are the best-selling kids' series of all time. He was number 36 on the Forbes list of "highest-paid entertainers" with $41 million in 1997 and is also the author of the Fear Street novels for 10- to 13-year-olds.
Holmes, who also wrote the Broadway thriller Accomplice and is working on the script and score for a musical based on Oscar Wilde's Picture of Dorian Gray, has known wide popularity himself. His best-known creation is the international pop hit "Escape (The Pina Colada Song)."
With Goosebumps, he set out to write a play that would appeal not only to the 8- or 9- to 14-year-olds who read the books, but also their parents.
"And I didn't want to make something that would traumatize the 4-, 5- or 6-year-old little brothers or sisters who might come along. Most of the chills in the show are connected to a laugh," he said.
The adventures in the play include a visit to a haunted theater and a fun house called Screamland "that would have scared me when I was young," he said. "One of our villains is the evil ventriloquist's dummy Slappy. My son would have disowned me if I hadn't included Slappy. We have Slappies of several different sizes, in fact."
The reviews have not all been raves. Critics in three of previous stops issued these verdicts:"In many ways, an all-out commercial for Goosebumps." - Atlanta. "Surprisingly unscary." - Richmond, Va. "Lacklustre, with lamely two-dimensional characters." - Toronto.
But those were all written by adults who are near, immersed in, or beyond middle age.Holmes said he bases a much more optimistic measure of audience reaction on his experience in the theater. "When the Act 2 curtain goes up, everyone is in their seat, and that takes some doing in audience with that many kids. The kids are enthralled with it. The show is doing everything we wanted it to do and then some."
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Lakisha Davis Flagg
DrPH, MPH, RN, CPH is a retired U.S. Army Nurse Corps officer and board-certified advanced public health nurse with 26 years of clinical and operational experience. Her expertise includes translation of data to action, workforce development, and systems-level process improvement. While in uniform, she served in a wide range of roles including Director of Public Health Services, Executive Officer for the U.S. Army Medical Corps Chief, and as U.S. Army Public Health Command's representative for the CDC's Community Preventive Services Task Force, Community Guide.
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'Devout' thief steals from Chennai temple but offers prayer to the deity first
It's a common practice for believers to pray to god before they begin an important task. A thief in Chennai was no different. The city police are on the lookout for a 'devout' thief who prayed to the deity before he looted two hundials (donation box) from a temple in Thiruvanmiyur. The police are in possession of the CCTV footage and are trying to identify the man.
The incident took place in the wee hours of Friday at the Marundeeswarar Temple on East Coast Road in Thiruvanmiyur. According to the police, who released a few screen grabs from the CCTV footage, a man dressed in a red-blue checkered shirt and light-coloured jeans with a face mask entered the temple, broke open the hundials and escaped with the money.
Speaking to TNM, a policeman from the Thiruvanmiyur station said that they suspect that the man must have jumped into the temple's compound wall from a nearby building. The temple has a tall compound wall around it, almost double the height of an average man. "In the footage, we can see him coming near the shrine area, praying to the deity. It even seems like he is putting something inside the hundial before breaking it open. It felt like he was praying that his attempt be successful," the policeman added.
Two hundials kept inside the temple premises were broken, and the police say that they must have had at least Rs 1 lakh as contributions from devotees from the time the temple reopened for the public around a month ago.
The police were alerted by the staff who, in the early hours of Friday, opened the temple to prepare it for the devotees. The police immediately reached the spot and conducted an inspection of the premises. They secured the CCTV footage and are now trying to identify the accused. An FIR has also been registered.


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Rock band AC/DC IS BACK!! :
The biggest music news of the year just hit. With the exception of Malcolm (God Rest His Soul), AC/DC has just announced their line-up for 2023 – 2024 and it's all original with Brian Johnson, Phil Rudd and Cliff Williams (along with Angus Young) all back together. *They just released their newest album PWR UP and we have all the new songs in video format that you can listen to right now here. On the 'poster' released by the band on September 30th, it shows each member and lists them as : AC/DC Angus Young : Lead Guitar, Brian Johnson : Lead Vocals, Cliff Williams : Bass Guitar, Phil Rudd : Drums, Stevie Young : Rhythm Guitar. So rejoice, AC/DC fans, the band is back and personally, I can't wait to see what they have up their sleeves. As for a concert tour, that I am guessing we'll have to wait and see what happens, especially because many places are still pushing restrictions on so many aspects of life due to the virus 'pandemic'. Hopefully the band will see through that inflated mess and go on tour anyway. I'd go see them live in a heartbeat.
Below you can find the latest list of AC/DC tour dates, links to get AC/DC concert tickets along with some cool AC/DC music videos and pictures. Rock on!!
** To see our ticket inventory, click or tap on the event of your choice directly below **
2023 – 2024 AC/DC Tour Schedule for North America
- No Dates Listed Yet, But Check Back Often!!
Keep watch here for added AC/DC tour dates as we will list then as they are announced.
VIDEO – AC/DC – Shot In The Dark
VIDEO – AC/DC – Back In Black
VIDEO – AC/DC Highway To Hell (Full Album – Playlist)
Get ready to Rock and Roll all you AC/DC fans because AC/DC is on tour!
Written by Craig Scott


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Reading knife attack: Khairi Saadallah pleads guilty to three murders
Khairi Saadallah launched a two-minute stabbing spree on a group of friends in a park in June.
Wednesday 11 November 2020 18:30, UK
A Libyan refugee, who killed three men in a knife attack in a Reading park, has pleaded guilty to murder.
Khairi Saadallah, 26, launched a two-minute stabbing spree on a group of friends in Forbury Gardens, Reading, shortly before 7pm on Saturday 20 June.
Witnesses reported hearing him shout "Allahu Akbar" [God is great] as he chased two men in the Berkshire park, before turning his attention to a group of five friends sitting nearby.
He was due to face trial next month for the murder of James Furlong, 36, Joseph Ritchie-Bennett, 39, and David Wails, 49 and the attempted murder of three others: Stephen Young, Patrick Edwards and Nishit Nisudan.
But at a hearing on Wednesday, Saadallah, of Basingstoke Road, Reading, pleaded guilty to the charges.
Prosecutors say Saadallah acted "without warning or provocation" and attacked his victims "in rapid succession" causing "catastrophic and fatal" injuries.
History teacher Mr Furlong and Mr Ritchie-Bennett, a US citizen, were each stabbed once in the neck while scientist Mr Wails was stabbed once in the back. All three were declared dead at the scene.
Police discovered that Saadallah had bought a large kitchen knife and a pair of gloves in a Morrisons supermarket in Reading the day before the attack.
He appeared at the Old Bailey wearing a red and white beany hat and a grey jacket. His voice appeared muffled as he spoke while wearing a face mask.
Members of the victims' families sat in court for the hearing before Mr Justice Sweeney.
Saadallah, who was born in Tripoli, Libya, had been living in the UK since 2012.
He was granted asylum in 2018 on the basis that he had been involved with groups fighting in the Libyan civil war.
He had previous convictions for offences of violence, criminal damage and possession of bladed articles, committed between June 2014 and August 2019.
He was briefly on the radar of the security service MI5 in 2019 over concerns he may have had aspirations to travel abroad, potentially for terrorist purposes.
However, security sources said he was quickly assessed but no genuine threat or immediate risk was discovered.
After the attack, he was assessed for mental health issues but was found fit to stand trial.
Defence lawyers submitted guilty pleas on the basis that Saadallah had not entered into any substantial preparation or planning and that he was not motivated by any ideological cause.
Given the prosecution assertion that the attack was an act of terrorism, the Judge Mr Justice Sweeney has scheduled a special "Newton" hearing for early December, where he will hear argument from both sides, before ruling on whether terrorism was Saadallah's motivation.


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Justin Theroux is staying fit during the coronavirus pandemic with his adorable dog, Kuma.
On Wednesday, the 48-year-old actor shared video of himself doing pushups on his Instagram Story, though his loving pit bull kept interrupting to lick him on the face. Theroux clearly didn't mind, continuing on with a huge smile on his face, then eventually stopping to cuddle him.
But it wasn't just Theroux's dog that undoubtedly brought a smile to his followers' faces. Theroux was wearing a Britney Spears tank top during the workout, while sweating to MC Serch's "Back to the Grill."
"Great workout," Theroux wrote. "Thanks Kumz."
Theroux is clearly attached to the hip when it comes to Kuma, whom he adopted in June 2018. In October, he brought her to the Lady and the Tramp premiere in New York City.
"I bring her everywhere," he said. "When people tell me I can't bring her in, then I apologize and leave."
"We've all read the studies, they lower your heart rate, people live longer apparently, but yeah," he said about having a dog. "I think she's comforting. I don't ever have to look across the room at her and wonder if we're still on the same side."
For more on Theroux and Kuma's heartwarming bond, watch the video below:
Justin Theroux Adorably Has 'Separation Anxiety' From Dog Kuma (Exclusive)
Source: Read Full Article


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Development of innovative high-performance fibers and fiber-based products is the research focus of the Institute of Textile Technology (ITA) at the Department of Textile Mechanical Engineering at RWTH Aachen University. The team is led by Dr.-Ing. Pavan Kumar Manvi and Dr.-Ing. Franz Pursche, conducting research in the field of spinning technologies for multi- and monofilaments to develop innovative fibers. Their focus is on high-performance and sustainable fibers with new property profiles and broad application options. These include lightweight construction, mobility, health, construction and housing, energy and information as well as communication. Tests are carried out with all types of thermoplastic polymers. They range from commodity plastics to bio-based and recycled polymers. In the Institute's pilot plant, researchers use melt spinning equipment ranging from laboratory to pilot plant scale, employing screws, spinnerets complete with spinning housings and spinning pumps.
In order to ensure fast and reliable removal of thermoplastic polymers, a compact vacuum pyrolysis system from SCHWING Technologies has been available for tests of the spinning technology for several months. Within a few hours, the VACUCLEAN COMPACT removes all adhered polymer in only one operation. The fully automatic process cleans safely and gently at a maximum of 450 degrees Celsius with vacuum pyrolysis and oxidation. Loading capacity is a maximum of 50 kilograms of part weight. Cleaned machine parts can be returned to the test process after post-treating in an ultrasonic bath or by sandblasting.
ITA develops new fiber-based material systems
In order to produce new fiber-based material systems, the facilities in the pilot plant and test laboratory run on an industrial and laboratory scale. The institute conducts research to develop new fiber-based material systems using current and digitized machine technology. Focus areas range from functionalization, new materials, sustainability and recycling to process optimization and process upscaling. Tests are carried out from laboratory to industrial scale - including a current project from the healthcare sector on the subject of "highly cleanable bristles for toothbrushes". The team led by Dr. Franz Pursche, Head of Monofilament Technologies, is investigating how cleaning performance can be optimized using a special filament geometry. "Special nozzles are required to produce the filaments," explains Dr. Pursche. "They consist of complex channel geometries. In terms of cleaning, they require a modern and reliable pyrolysis unit."
Thermal vacuum pyrolysis unit cleans small machine parts
Machine parts used are changed or cleaned three times a week on average. When doing this, the first step is to allow the nozzle parts of the spinning systems to cool down, disassemble them and transport them to the pyrolysis unit. Around 10 to 25 kilograms of metal parts are serviced per cleaning cycle in the research project. Once the nozzle parts are properly positioned in the cleaning system, the door is closed, the program is selected and the fully automatic vacuum pyrolysis is started. Cleaning takes place in an electrically heated vacuum cleaning chamber, whose temperature is measured directly on the machine parts. First, the system heats up slowly and gently under vacuum. The actual pyrolysis process only starts at around 440 degrees Celsius. Any remaining carbon is removed by a subsequent oxidation phase at around 450 degrees Celsius. This all happens fully automatically, takes around five to six hours and leaves virtually no residue. To save time, the cleaning process at ITA usually runs overnight. Afterwards, the nozzle parts have to be allowed to cool, sandblasted, cleaned in an ultrasonic bath and finally inspected under a microscope
Reliable cleaning secures project goals
Due to the high ITA plant utilization of almost 100 percent per year, the support work for spinning preparation must be carried out with a very high degree of reliability. This also includes nozzle cleaning. "In the worst case, a nozzle that is not cleaned leads to spinning breaks, putting not only trial days but entire weeks at risk," describes Peter Rüdiger, a member of the research team. Dr. Manvi, head of the Spinning Technology Center, adds that in other cases both filament formation and the associated filament properties are negatively affected. Therefore, the process-related influencing variables could only be investigated suboptimally. "In addition, the short cleaning period also supports us in starting new trials. This is particularly important with regard to the development of new nozzle geometries. For cleaning, we rely on the environmentally friendly and low-emission technology with clean exhaust gases without contamination for this purpose," concludes Dr. Manvi.
Compact system ideal for laboratory situation
The vacuum pyrolysis system weighs only around 750 kilograms and, at 100 x 125 x 245 cm (W x D x H), is only slightly larger than a spacious refrigerator. All essential components are integrated into the interior of the system to save space: these include a catalyst section, a vacuum pump, a control cabinet and fittings, as well as the 50 x 50 x 35 cm (W x D x H) cleaning chamber including loading platform. The system is conveniently controlled via a touchscreen HMI panel. Thanks to an external traffic light system, users can always keep an eye on the cleaning status, even from a distance. With the new, electrically operated and easy-to-install system, SCHWING engineering team responds to the internationally increased demand especially for more compact systems. In addition to the small-format system, SCHWING's vacuum pyrolysis technology is already used at several textile technology institutes. In addition to the Institute for Textile Technology at RWTH Aachen University, this includes the Institute for Textile Machinery and Textile High Performance Materials Technology at TU Dresden. Another SCHWING user is the European center CETI Centre Européen des Textiles Innovants located in Lille, France.


text: Can I Use This Song In My Podcast? It Depends. By Brandon W. Clark According to Podcast Insights, there are currently over 660,000 podcasts in existence and over 28 million episodes available to listen to. This number is certainly growing as are the legal concerns and issues associated with hosting or producing a podcast. This article will provide some general guidelines and outline some of the rules around using […] Continue Reading →


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Graphic communication media akin to calendars, postage stamps, pennants, buntings and flags are utilised in our daily actions as a folks, society or nation. Stroll down the aisle in any grocery store, take a drive down any main thoroughfare or spend a while shopping the Web or flipping by means of the channels and you'll be bombarded with an endless array of visible stimuli. Colour, form, measurement, and composition – these are the variables that outline our options. Do we reply to large, daring and wealthy, or delicate, subtle and pale? Trendy or basic? Plain or embellished? Easy or busy? Smart or dumb? Ridiculous or chic? The alternate options are endless. Effective graphic design grabs us by the throat and forces us to react impulsively primarily based on our innate sense of taste and preference. And not using a second's hesitation, we either prefer it or dislike it. Buy into it or dismiss it entirely.
An artist today may discover it doable to create news out of virtually any situation that they're going through in their creative career. How an artist goes about creating this into a story somewhat than simply information is the distinction between an artist who has discovered how to make use of the facility of press releases and is receiving the financial benefit that this process produces.
Water soluble oil paints are excellent for journey, particularly on airplanes. Many airlines restrict conventional and flammable solvents on business flights. Eliminating the need for harsh solvents makes water soluble oils simple to pack for portray on location whether by automotive, airplane or horseback.
The Ebook of Kells – A Bible handwritten richly illustrated by Irish monks in the ninth century CE-is for some a really stunning and early example of graphic design idea. It's a graphic demonstration of nice inventive worth, top quality, and that even a mannequin for studying to design-for even surpasses in high quality to many of the present-editorial productions, and likewise from a functional perspective up to date This graphic piece responds to all wants introduced the staff of people that made it, nevertheless others consider that it could be graphic design product, because they perceive that their design is just not adjusted to the idea of current graphic design challenge.
Logo designing is among the important elements of any graphic design companies, hence it is important to preserve this level in thoughts. Along with this, the landing pages along with exposure in social media is another fascinating criteria to remember.


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Kemp, Sally L.
Essentials of NEPSY®-II Assessment
Quickly acquire the knowledge and skills you need to confidently administer, score, and interpret the NEPSY®-II
The NEPSY®-II is widely used by school psychologists, neuropsychologists, and research psychologists to assess children, ages three to sixteen, with neurological disorders and developmental disabilities and to develop effective intervention strategies. It provides comprehensive assessment over six functional domains: Attention/Executive Functioning, Language, Sensorimotor Functions, Visuospatial Processing, Memory and Learning, and Social Perception. Professionals need an authoritative source of advice and guidance on how to administer, score, and interpret the test to use it properly. Coauthored by two of the creators of the NEPSY®-II, Essentials of NEPSY®-II Assessment is that source.
Like all the volumes in the Essentials of Psychological Assessment series, this book is designed to help busy mental health professionals, and those in training, quickly acquire the knowledge and skills they need to make optimal use of major psychological assessment instruments. Each concise chapter features numerous callout boxes highlighting key concepts, bulleted points, and extensive illustrative material, as well as test questions that help you gauge and reinforce your grasp of the information covered.
Essentials of NEPSY®-II Assessment includes vital information about the NEPSY®-II, including the advantage of being able to assess a child across functions and modalities. The authors provide step-by-step guidance on test administration, scoring, and interpretation and valuable advice on its clinical applications. Expert assessment of the test's relative strengths and weaknesses is also provided in a chapter contributed by Stephen R. Hooper.
Complete coverage of administration, scoring,interpretation, and reporting
Expert advice on avoiding common pitfalls
Conveniently formatted for rapid reference
Other titles in the Essentials of Psychological Assessment series:
Essentials of Assessment Report Writing
Essentials of School Neurosychological Assessment
Essentials of Evidence-Based Academic Interventions
Essentials of Response to Intervention
Essentials of Processing Assessment
Essentials of Conners Behavior AssessmentsTM
Essentials of Cross-Battery Assessment, Second Edition
Essentials of WISC®-IV Assessment, Second Edition
Keywords: Marit Korkman, NEPSY, NEPSY II, NEPSY-II, neuropsychology, psych – assessment, neuroscience, Essentials books, neuropsychiatry, psychiatry, ADHD, Essentials of NEPSY Assessment, Essentials of NEPSY-II Assessment, Essentials of NEPSY, Essentials of NEPSY-II
- Author(s)
- Kemp, Sally L.
- Korkman, Marit
- Publisher
- John Wiley and Sons, Inc.
- Publication year
- 2010
- Language
- en
- Edition
- 1
- Series
- Essentials of Psychological Assessment
- Page amount
- 402 pages
- Category
- Medicine, Health Care, Mode
- Format
- Ebook
- eISBN (ePUB)
- 9780470634639
- Printed ISBN
- 9780470436912


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I don't think it's a surprise to anyone that we lost our opening home game to Chelsea. But the manner of the defeat laid bare many of Arsenal's problems this season. Chelsea are a better team, a more mature team and further along in the now infamous "process". If there was any doubt about the scale of the task Arteta has on, there isn't anymore.
Arsenal actually started the game quite brightly and in the opening exchanges looked to be holding their own. But it took just one Chelsea attack for it all to come apart. Tactically Arteta got it wrong again. Our left hand flank was an issue all afternoon, with Saka pushed too far forward to try and make something happen. This left Tierney woefully exposed against Reece James and Chelsea's attack. As Lukaku slotted it in the feeling of Groundhog Day swept around the Emirates. Their second was again down the right this time Reece James turned goalscorer and from then we never looked like getting anything from the game.
The decision not to bring in a right back is now looking worse and worse by the day. Cedric was appalling and clearly isn't at the required level. If Southampton let someone go, there's a good reason for it. The less said about Pablo Mari the better, he was turned inside out by Lukaku (which will happen to a lot of defenders this season in fairness). It does prove that we needed another center back and the sooner Gabriel is back the better. But our defence is still a cause for concern.
Upfront we looked as toothless as against Brentford. Until Aubameyang came on. When Lokonga played him through I thought we were away only to see Mendy beat him to the ball and thump it clear. Should Saka have won a penalty? Maybe. Would it have changed the game? Highly unlikely. Our lack of genuine threat was a worry going into this season, with Covid and injuries already causing problems, it shows how poorly equipped we are. I felt for Martinelli upfront on his own with very little service. It can be a lonely place for a striker.
Very few. But Lokonga played well, he looks very assured and calm on the ball unlike his current partner in the middle. I think when Partey is back and alongside him our midfield will be look infinitely better. Aubameyang looked sharp when he came on which is definitely an encouraging sign and with Odegaard ready to come into the number 10 position we can all hope that we might finally start finding the net. And make no mistake we need to, sooner rather than later. After a League cup trip to the Hawthorns tomorrow we travel to the Champions and are looking at the very real prospect of 0 points and 0 goals after 3 in the Premier League *gulp*. Onwards and hopefully upwards!


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|Hey buddy it's been 4 years since you've been gone. I see pictures of you and I cry. You were my first baby and will always be in my heart. I miss your swimming and craziness. Grandma and grandpa miss you tons! Zephyr our new guy is the spitting image of you, you have 2 sisters and a brother who love you. They're all water and ball dogs. I wish you were here I love you soo much and are missed by all. Love mom
Click here to Email Lindsey a condolence, or to send an E-sympathy pet memorial card click here.


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OGF Introduction Video
Introduction to Dr. Robert Keller's OGF (Original Glutathione Formula) and the benefits of increasing your body's natural production of glutathione.
Save $20 on your first order of OGF (30-day, empty bottle guarantee). Click Here: RobKellerMD.com At checkout use the coupon code RKMD-77566. (This is through our affiliate account and we appreciate you ordering through us).


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Whole systems approach
Students in rural and remote schools are supported by an unrelenting focus on improving educational engagement and achievement.
Integrated responses for sustainable change is achieved through:
- a common understanding of rurality
- consideration of the opportunities, complexities and challenges of our communities
- ownership of responsibility by all in the department.
This dynamic approach amplifies a systemic collaboration between government agencies, department leaders, directorates and community to ensure identified needs and responsibilities are shared by all stakeholders.


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The best real estate agents in Pompano Beach don't just have great reviews and a long history of closing deals. They go above and beyond in providing top-notch customer service while demonstrating a strong commitment to helping you achieve your goals.
We've combed through the data on real estate agents in the area to find the best Pompano Beach agents. If you want us to hand-pick an agent for you, start here.
Best time to hire a top real estate agent in Pompano Beach
You want to hire an agent when you're actually serious about finding and buying a home or selling a home in the next month or two. Unless you have a good reason, like repairs or upgrades, if you find an agent too early, you may have trouble convincing them to take you as a client because you aren't quite ready to make a decision.
On the other hand, if you find an agent too late you may make a mistake in the transaction that can literally cost you thousands of dollars. If you're a buyer, hire an agent before you express interest in a particular property. If you're a seller, hire an agent before you price and list your home online to ensure that your agent can leverage their knowledge and experience on your behalf.
Top real estate agents for sellers in Pompano Beach
Seller's agents are also called listing agents because they list your home for sale. This involves arranging for professional photography, describing your home in an engaging way, and pricing it right.
Your agent will not only deal with buyers and negotiate on your behalf, but they'll also handle all paperwork throughout the entire sales process. The best listing agent for you will have a solid history of selling homes in your location and price point and will take the time to understand your goals.
Listing agents best at:
- Helping you upsize or downsize: Shawn Raval
- Negotiating: Heather Lefebvre
- Pricing properties accurately: Rachael Barach
- Selling and buying together: Kolec Nick Ndoja
- Selling luxury properties: Cathy Prenner
Not seeing the type of agent you're looking for? Click here to get hand-picked agent matches for you.
Shawn Raval: Helping you upsize or downsize
RECOMMENDED FOR: Sellers looking for an agent who can market their condo or single-family home effectively and help them buy a new property at a fair price
Heather Lefebvre: Best at negotiating
RECOMMENDED FOR: Sellers looking to get top-dollar for their properties in Imperial Point, Lighthouse Point, or Southeast Pompano Beach
Rachael Barach: Best at pricing properties accurately
RECOMMENDED FOR: Sellers who want a diligent realtor who will price their property right from the start and market it effectively with top-notch photos
Kolec Nick Ndoja and the RE/MAX First Team: Selling and buying together
RECOMMENDED FOR: Sellers who want a team of experts to stay on top of their transaction and guide them through the process of selling a mid-priced property and purchasing a new home or condo at a fair price
Cathy Prenner: Best at selling luxury properties
RECOMMENDED FOR: Sellers of waterfront or luxury properties in East Pompano Beach, Hillsborough Beach, Lighthouse Point, or the Cove who want to work with an agent experienced in marketing million dollar properties
Selecting the right listing agent can net you thousands more on your property. But where do you even begin searching?
Clever can help! We match you with vetted, top-performing agents in your area so you can compare options and choose the best fit.
We also negotiate special low rates, saving you thousands just for using our free service instead of finding the same agent on your own!
Clever's service is 100% free with zero obligation. Give us a try today!
Top real estate agents for buyers in Pompano Beach
Buyers agents work with you to find a property you'd like to make your own.
The best buyer's agent for you will be familiar with the local area and will have helped many buyers in your price range. Your agent should make the purchase as simple as possible. They'll handle all the paperwork while answering questions and keeping you updated at each step.
Buyer's agents best at:
- Negotiating for mid-priced homes: Kendra Obrist
- Negotiating in South East Pompano Beach: Jonathan Keith
- Helping find the perfect location: Denise Stewart
- Negotiating for luxury homes: Howard Goldberg
- Relocating to Pompano Beach: Janine Spiegelman
- Helping first-time buyers: Nancy Lairet
Not seeing the type of agent you're looking for? Click here to get hand-picked agent matches for you.
Kendra Obrist: Best at negotiating for mid-priced homes
RECOMMENDED FOR: Buyers looking for homes priced between $100,000 and $400,000 who need a tough negotiator to help them stay on budget
Jonathan Keith: Best at negotiating in South East Pompano Beach
RECOMMENDED FOR: Buyers looking for an agent who can help them buy a property for below list price in Imperial Point or Southeast Pompano Beach
Denise Stewart: Best at helping find the perfect location
RECOMMENDED FOR: Buyers looking for an agent who works throughout the Pompano Beach area who can help them find the perfect location to buy properties valued at up to $1 million
Howard Goldberg: Best at negotiating for luxury homes
RECOMMENDED FOR: Buyers of luxury homes priced up to $2 million who want a strong negotiator to help them save thousands off the listing price
Janine Spiegelman: Relocating to Pompano Beach
RECOMMENDED FOR: Buyers on a budget who need an agent skilled at remote showings who can help them relocate to a permanent new home or a winter home in the Pompano Beach area
Nancy Lairet: Best at first-time buyers
RECOMMENDED FOR: First-time buyers with budgets under $400,000 who need a detailed-oriented agent to negotiate aggressively on their behalf and help them get a fair price
Selecting the right agent can save you thousands on your new home. But finding that agent isn't easy.
Clever can help! We match you with vetted, top-performing agents in your area so you can compare options and choose the best fit.
We also negotiate special low rates, saving you thousands just for using our free service instead of finding the same agent on your own!
Clever's service is 100% free with zero obligation. Give us a try today!
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My long-term research focus is on the effect of neuroinflammation on triggering and progression of neurodegeneration. Specifically I am interested in how brain damage affects glial function in cell autonomous way and neuron-glia communication through non-cell autonomous pathways. Answers to these outstanding questions can be implemented together with information on the contribution of genetics to disease in particular patients, which will let us propose novel personalized ways to tackle pathological changes in Alzheimer's disease (AD). I am a molecular and cellular biologist with 9+ years of experience in validation of potential targets for treatment of AD using cell lines, primary culture and mouse models – uniquely qualified to fulfill these goals. As a predoctoral student with Prof. Bart De Strooper (KU Leuven, Belgium) I used agonists of serotonergic receptors to modulate production of amyloid-beta peptide and test the amyloid cascade hypothesis.
I discovered the signaling pathway leading to the activation of alpha-secretase and how this effect is beneficial against pathological and behavioral changes in AD mouse model. For my postdoctoral training I chose to work on genetic risk factors for AD with Prof. Alison Goate (ISSMS, New York, US). I have implemented different assays in the lab, e.g. phagocytosis, apoptosis, etc. for validation of AD risk factors in cell lines, co-cultures of microglia with primary or iPSc-derived neurons and astrocytes, and mouse models of brain damage. I thrive in a collaborative environment created at the Loeb Center for Alzheimer's disease and have successfully accomplished several projects as evidenced by recent publications


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Michigan CEO Leaves on a High Note as the 2014 TEC Inspirational Leader of the Year
23 Apr, 2014, 12:10 ET
DEWITT, Mich., April 23, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Call it luck or perfect timing, but either way, DENTCO CEO Kevin Dent is leaving on a high note. Dent recently announced his retirement and shortly after The Executive Committee (TEC) of Michigan named him the recipient of its 2014 Inspirational Leader of the Year Award.
Dent said, "I am honored to receive the Inspirational Leader of the Year Award; this is a testament to our team of people who have worked hard to make DENTCO a leader in the Exterior Services Management® (ESM®) industry. For more than 30 years, DENTCO has transformed the industry through our company belief in people, processes and technology."
DENTCO got its roots as a family-run business in 1977 when older brother Greg Dent founded a full-service landscape installation and maintenance company named Trees, Incorporated. Then in 1983, they acquired a regional parking lot maintenance company and incorporated an irrigation company shortly thereafter. In 1996, the integration of snow removal, landscaping, parking lot maintenance and irrigation acquisitions established the core services of DENTCO's ESM model.
DENTCO Chairman, Greg Dent said, "When we named Kevin CEO in 2001, the company experienced considerable growth, and to this day maintains a 99 percent customer retention rate. I am grateful for Kevin's leadership, I am proud of him for this award, and I know it's selfish, but I am really looking forward to his retirement so we can spend more time together. Not sure what I did to deserve such a great brother and leader to run the family business for so long, but I want to thank him for everything from the bottom of my heart."
Coincidentally, 12-year DENTCO veteran and former COO, Scott Milnes, was named the new President in 2013 and Greg's son, Justin Dent, (another 19-year DENTCO veteran) was named the new COO.
Milnes commented, "I know I have some big shoes to fill, but I also know the entire team here will make it happen together, as always. On behalf of everyone at DENTCO, we want Kevin to know how proud we are of him and we will carry the torch that he so vigorously ignited."
Visit DENTCO at www.dentco.com or call 800-993-3689.


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'Don't Say Gay,' How Educational Censorship Will Harm America
At least a dozen states have proposed similar legislation to Florida's "Parental Rights in Education" bill, according to NPR. These bills infringe upon the rights of LGBTQ individuals and ignore essential educational principles of open discussion and diversity of thought.
The Florida law, often referred to as the 'Don't Say Gay' bill by policy opposers, prevents the discussion of gender identity and sexual orientation in the classroom before the third grade. For students above the third grade, the Florida bill outlines that classroom education regarding topics of gender identity and sexual orientation must be "age-appropriate," a term left relatively undefined according to The Washington Post. If this new policy is breached, parents are able to sue the school district, according to NPR.
"We're going to make sure that parents are able to send their kid to kindergarten without having some of this stuff injected into their school curriculum," Gov. DeSantis said, according to a clip from a news conference shared on Twitter by CNN.
Watch: Florida's Gov. Ron DeSantis confronts a reporter over the state's "Don't Say Gay" bill, which would ban certain instruction about sexual orientation and gender identity in the classroom. pic.twitter.com/tN95AN74M5
— CNN (@CNN) March 8, 2022
Ohio, Texas, Georgia, Alabama, and Iowa are among the states proposing bills similar to the one originally signed by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. A comparison between the differing bills can be found on the Forbes website. All the proposed bills seek to limit or ban discussion of gender identity and sexual orientation at least at the primary educational level, according to NPR.
Students in primary school are typically between the ages of six and 11 years, according to UNICEF. This raises concerns when acknowledging that 38% of gay men, 23% percent of lesbian women, and 18% of bisexual adults said they began to recognize that they were not heterosexual before the age of ten, according to a poll conducted by Pew Research Center in 2013.
73% of transgender women and 78% of transgender men experienced gender dysphoria, or the strong desire to be of another gender, for the first time by the age of seven years old, according to a study published by Cedars Sinai.
LGBTQ students will be prevented from discussing their own identities throughout some of their most formative years. The censorship promoted by this bill could have devastating effects on the health of LGBTQ youth. "Personal, family, and social acceptance of sexual orientation and gender identity affects the mental health and personal safety of LGBT individuals," according to Mental Health America.
Pediatric psychologists warn against the damaging effects of these bills, according to The Guardian. Censorship laws similar to that proposed in Florida could increase stigmatization of and discrimination against the LGBTQ community.
These anti-LGBTQ educational policies are merely one segment of a much larger-scale anti-LGBTQ legislative wave. A total of 238 bills aimed at limiting the rights of LGBTQ individuals have been proposed at the state level this year alone in the United States, according to NBC News. A broader shift towards increased classroom censorship is occurring in the United States; a trend primed by the anti-Critical Race Theory movement, according to The Guardian.
Excessive censorship in public schools prevents the desired outcomes of American education. Knowledge about global communities and the 'diverse cultural heritage' within America is encouraged by the United States National Education Goals. Censoring students from discussing diversified identities goes against this core educational ambition in the United States.
With a profuse number of states following in Florida's footsteps, we must act immediately. You can sign the petition created by the Humans Rights Campaign, voice your concerns to your elected state officials, vote in the upcoming midterm elections, and donate to LGBTQ advocacy groups like Equality Florida.


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Looking for more pitching, White Sox owner Charles Comiskey acquired Eddie Cicotte from the Red Sox after the Cicotte argued with his manager and owner John Taylor. Cicotte, of course would pitch well for the White Sox, but then would be banned from baseball in 1920 because of his involvement in fixing the 1919 World Series. In eight and a half years with the White Sox, he won 156 games.
For the third and final time, Billy Pierce was pegged to start for the American League in the All-Star Game. This year with the game in Washington D.C., Billy was tagged with the loss, despite only allowing one run in three innings of work. The NL won, 7-3.
Pierce would represent the Sox in seven All-Star affairs. Joining him on the team that year were Nellie Fox (2B), Sherm Lollar (C) and Jim Wilson (P).
At the All-Star Game in Texas, first baseman Frank Thomas turned in the first performance of a special double-dip, winning the home run contest the day before the actual game.
Magglio Ordoñez homered off the Cubs' John Lieber at the All-Star Game in Seattle. He became the second White Sox player to ever homer in the annual classic. The AL won the game, 4-1. Ordoñez was the only Sox player on the team.


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Nigeria's Super Falcons won the 9th edition of the African Women Championship on Saturday evening following their 2-0 defeat of Cameroon at the Sam Najoma Stadium, Windhoek, to make it their seventh title in the African Women Championship.
Midfielder Ngozi Okobi was fouled in the middle of the park. Desire Oparanozie stepped up and took the free kick. The ball nestles at the far corner beyond the reach of Cameroon keeper, Ngo Ndom, for Nigeria's first goal.
It was the turn of Asisat Oshoala to get on the scoring act in the 44th minute of the game. The nimble-footed striker got to the end of a Francesca Ordega's inch perfect cross which Oshoala swept home.
The second half did not produce any goal but the Falcons contained the industry of the Cameroonians. Cameroon's Enganamouit turned brilliantly and unleashed a powerful shot two minutes into the second half.
Striker Ngono Mani's shot was saved in the 53rd minute by Ebubeleye Whyte. Wo(man) of the Match in the final, Francesca Ordega danced her way to the edge of the Cameroon box but her cross was off target.
Enganamouit continued proving to be Cameroon's most potent player in the game as her fierce free kick in the 63rd minute hit the underside of the post before Whyte could claim it.
One of the highlights of the final was the referee's inistence that Nigerian right back, Ugo Njoku, took her exit from another end of the field as Osinachi Ohale makes to substitute her. Njoku is perceived to be keen to waste more time as the clock winds down. A minute later from that incident, Whyte acrobatically tips over a dipping free kick as she grows more confident in front of goal.
Asisat Oshoala was substituted by evergreen striker Perpetua Nkwocha with three minutes to go. The experienced forward helped launch few attacking moves before the game dramatically ended. The players and officials on the bench ran to the field to join the rest of the payers in celebration.
Nigeria are now both African champions in the men and women's football on the continent.
Striker Desire Oparanozie was the Highest Goal Scorer of the Championship with five goals. Asisat Oshoala was deservedly presented with the Most Valueable Player prize. The 19-year-old striker scored four goals in the Championship.
Nigeria had lost the African crown in 2012 when Equatorial Guinea won the Championship.


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A perfect keyboard is very important part of your Android experience. This could single handedly make a large difference to how much, how often and how efficiently you use your smartphone. Swiftkey is one such keyboard which more than doubled its user base in one month from going free. The keyboard learns with time and safely stores what it grasps on cloud. We got to have a little chat with Josh Greenwald, Community Support Manager at SwiftKey . Read on to know more.
Q) How is Swiftkey different from other keyboards on android?
A)We believe our strengths are in adapting to the way that individual user types, not the other way round. SwiftKey uses artificial intelligence to understand the way users write, creating a personalized typing experience. It also saves users time, eliminates typos and lets them type in several languages at the same time, from English to Hindi – no settings required.
Q)What initiative Swiftkey are taking to get more Indian User using it?
A) Firstly we need to let more people know they can upgrade their keyboard to one that learns from them and speaks the languages they speak. And it's free! Many people don't yet know the benefits of this – it's easy, fast, fun typing and enables you to get more done – or the features SwiftKey brings such as swipe-typing method SwiftKey Flow, fun emoji, lots of colours and customization.
For our Indian-speaking users we have also introduced a range of new languages including Hindi, Tamil, Marathi, Bengali and Punjabi. We appreciate that people want to be able to write in their own languages, quickly and easily without the hassle of changing settings.
We're also looking for partners and mobile manufacturers who can speed up our distribution. We'll be spending more time here, engaging with our users, influencers and partners who believe in what we offer. The theme we created for Diwali last year was a really successful bestseller. Also, languages like Hinglish have been doing incredibly well for us. So we're going to build over these successes in the year ahead.
Q) How to handle Auto Capitalization with URL and Email Strings in Swiftkey?
A) Currently we do have a URL mode that we offer with SwiftKey Keyboard for Android. This was actually something that our Community posted a blog post about last year. As a team we are always looking to improve the typing experience and typing URLS and email addresses in an easier way is an excellent example of that. We definitely recognize that there is always more work to be done in this area.
Currently, all you have to do is make sure you are typing in lowercase. For example, if you wanted to type a URL at the beginning of a sentence, just tap on the 'shift' key (the arrow key on the bottom left of the keyboard) twice to bring it to lowercase. From there, you can easily enter URLs that start with 'www.' If you're typing a URL mid-sentence, starting with 'www' or 'http://' will automatically put SwiftKey Keyboard into URL mode.
Q) How can someone transfer SwiftKey settings from one android device to other?
A) This is a great question. We have many users that often want to know more about using SwiftKey across their Android devices or across Android/iOS. Through our SwiftKey Cloud service, we offer the ability sync and personalize predictions as well as purchases through our theme store. At this point, we have not yet added options for syncing app settings on multiple devices. It's a tricky balance with adding options and maintaining a fast and reliable service.
Q) How do I fix a haptic feedback that is too strong with SwiftKey?
A) SwiftKey Keyboard for Android offers the option to enable or disable haptic feedback within the app settings. In Settings under "Sound & Vibration" there is a checkbox under "Vibration" where you can uncheck "Keypress Vibration." There are some instances where haptic feedback can be stronger on certain devices. We've noticed this in our testing but unfortunately since the values for haptic feedback are set by the device manufacturer it's not something we have direct control over with regards to intensity of vibration.
Q) Swiftkey can be really useful at times with swipe but can swipe be disabled?
A) SwiftKey allows you to write by gliding your finger on the keyboard through SwiftKey Flow. It predicts as you flow – once you see the word you want just lift your finger off. You can switch seamlessly between flowing and tapping – there's no need to change modes. You can disable/enable Flow with SwiftKey Keyboard for Android by following the below steps.
· Go into SwiftKey Settings
· Tap 'Input Methods'
· Check/uncheck 'Flow'
Q) How does auto correct work on SwiftKey and how can you stop it from correcting some words?
A) Auto correct is designed to work without the user having to think about how it works. If you do happen to see a word that is corrected when it shouldn't be, we offer "retrospective correction" which means that when you tap a word, the cursor will go to the end of the word and the predictions shown will give you alternatives for that word.
If it's a word that you have recently typed or flowed then the alternatives will be based on the letters that you tapped or the shape that you flowed. If the word is further back in your piece of text, the alternatives will be based on the letters that are currently there.
Q) Can SwiftKey take voice as input to type, can Hinglish words be typed through it this way?
A) Voice input (aka Voice to text) is turned on by default with SwiftKey Keyboard for Android. Within the keyboard, just longpress on the microphone/comma button in the lower left (next to the 123 key). SwiftKey utilizes Google Voice functionality to power this feature so the availability of Hinglish words would hinge on whether they are available. With that said, we've noticed that some common words/phrases like "machi chips" do appear.
Q) Why a User should install SwiftKey not any other third party keyboard?
A) We believe in our technology adapting to you, not the other way round – SwiftKey replaces your default keyboard with one that adapts from the way you type. We want typing to be made much easier, particularly if you speak more than one language at a time and want to switch seamlessly between them without changing any settings. In our latest update we launched a wealth of Indian languages, including Assamese, Bengali, Gujurati, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Oriya, Punjabi, Tamil, Telugu, Nepali and Sinhali. As a company we want to make it our mission to reach as many people around the world as possible and on Android we now support 81 languages worldwide.
Q) When is SwiftKey coming to Windows Phone platform?
A) As a company, we are committed to providing the best possible experience across touch screen devices. While it's hard to rule out any opportunities in this area, our current resources and focus remain on creating the best possible typing experience on the Android and iOS platforms.


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Beware the temptation to leap into enterprise before you have executed the proper planning. Visualize insights with embedded analytics throughout the planning and reporting course of. I began Horizon Advisor as I bought increasingly more requests from buddies in my network who had been beginning every kind of companies, from coaching to artistic ventures and images, says Svetlana.
If public relations if part of your promotional strategy, detail your plans right here. Planning truly entails a whole lot of innovation on the a part of the managers Being the first perform of management it's a very tough exercise. There are also free business plan templates to help you decide what you are promoting' legal structure, define your target audience, and map out your advertising plan.
Ask your enterprise contacts for referrals (and their charges), and embrace those prices in your business plan. Nonetheless, there are some activities that are common to most businesses which can be helpful in understanding the process. A marketing strategy exactly defines what you are promoting, identifies your goals and serves as your agency's resume.
Conventional knowledge and MBA's from Harvard will tell you that you need to create an enormous business plan full of market analysis, sales strategy, funding plan, and every part else. Every business, massive or small, has limitless scope to develop if it plans and implements proper business growth strategies. Be efficient and concise: When you're writing a business plan, assume phrase economy. As with tax preparation software, it's reassuring when the enterprise planning software answer defines phrases, offers pattern data, and explains the sort of info expected in each area.
Positioning: The primary a part of your advertising plan covers how you're positioning your online business and merchandise. A gross sales forecast is usually damaged down into several rows, with a row for each core services or products that you are providing.
You'll must put in more work, and deliver a more thorough plan, in case your objective is to safe funding for what you are promoting versus working by a plan for yourself or even your workforce. Solely then is it's time to write a business plan, which describes how you intend attain the destination set out in your strategy.
Chris supplies enterprise advice to a range of companies together with those starting up as well as established organisations. This process is known as the marketing strategy cycle. It must detail how you are going to begin, element who your market is, and how you will promote and distribute your product or service to this clearly defined market.
Generally this would come with an outline of the present business targets, operation, key personnel, skills gap; customer base; key suppliers; historic financial performance. The amount of work that you just put into your business plan shall be key to securing this interest, as well as offering you with a structured, methodical method to laying out your corporation mannequin.
One of the most vital components of any companies is the administration, the command and control if you will. There are vast variety of different types and designs of enterprise plans. Though the overall gist of a marketing strategy is comparatively straightforward, writing a business plan is not fairly so simple. Any new enterprise, particularly startups, want a business plan. Our trade-main email instruments—which work in tandem with all the opposite channels our all-in-one Marketing Platform provides—are designed to help develop what you are promoting quicker.
COGS ought to only include those costs directly related to making your merchandise, not regular business expenses reminiscent of lease, insurance coverage, salaries, and many others. A strategic marketing strategy gives a high-degree view of a company's targets and how it will obtain them, laying out a foundational plan for the whole company.
The method of making a business plan requires the entrepreneurial group to go through this research and evaluation systematically, creating a better basis for strategy. Each good business plan requires acknowledgement of the wider marketplace and the enterprise competitors.
When just beginning out, it can be tempting to think about a marketing strategy as simply your organization's title and an outline of your product or service. Following are particulars of the financial statements that you need to embody in your marketing strategy, and a quick overview of what ought to be in every section.
The Engineering Enterprise Plan And The Business Mannequin
Please load the workbook business plan and fill it based on the recommendation given in this guide. Most potential investors will need to see a business plan earlier than they take into account funding your small business. It would lay out your entire motivations and plans so to build your enterprise from the ground up. The first piece of your organization overview is intended to present readers and buyers a normal sense of your online business.
In addition to the primary doc, it is best to present an appendix containing resumes, personal monetary statements, credit score reports, lease copies, and reference letters for each main player in your startup, in addition to copies of contracts, other authorized paperwork and another pertinent paperwork, at the end of your marketing strategy.
How To Write A Enterprise Plan (Step
A marketing strategy is just a doc on paper without a real path to get the work done, complete with a schedule, outlined roles, and key obligations.
Always remember that you could be not use each answer in writing your marketing strategy, however they could be very helpful once you replace your plan as your new business grows. What is particularly helpful is that Smart does not simply take care of marketing strategy templates for a diverse vary of enterprise sorts, the company also offers plan templates for franchises and non-earnings. However, listed below are some guidelines that can assist you to get essentially the most out of the experience of writing your business plan.
While this may occasionally look like extra work on top of the market segmentation that you've got already performed, having a solid purchaser persona can be an extremely great tool that can assist you determine the advertising and marketing and sales techniques you'll need to use to attract these ultimate customers.
Even Industry sectors and all other industries like Aerospace & defence, Automotive, Banking & capital markets, chemical compounds, communications, schooling & non-profit vitality, utilities & mining, engineering & development, leisure & media, monetary services, forest and paper & packaging all have business plans.
However, we decided to rearrange it as one section, the business & competitors overview, and embrace all the necessary info for this a part of the marketing strategy. You also needs to describe how you are planning to deliver your product to customers. Because of the data, research, and amount of knowledge concerned on this part, when you're writing a marketing strategy, this step could very properly take the longest.
Enterprise Administration
A business plan is one of the best investments that a startup needs to have and is without doubt one of the constructing blocks for a hit online venture. Describe briefly your monetary forecasts, however do not go an excessive amount of into the small print – traders can read your business plan to see extra data or ask you direct questions if wanted. Spend extra time rising your corporation and less time closing the books by streamlining planning and attaining a sooner, extra correct close.
The P&L pulls data from your gross sales forecast and your personnel plan and also features a checklist of all your other ongoing expenses related to operating your corporation. Most funders is not going to consider placing money into an organization without seeing a nicely-written, convincing business plan.
Cloud Enterprise Enterprise Planning Software program Solutions
There are four major reasons why business planning is used for an organization. Included in the marketing strategy must be the character of the business, its enterprise aims and goals, an evaluation of its viability in a selected location, the corporate's image, achievement of the authorized features, money movement projecting the profit and loss projections and the break even evaluation.
Developing and sustaining a successful business requires planning. A normal business plan often begins from the manager abstract after a title web page. Administration by aims (MBO) is a technique of agreeing upon aims (as can be detailed within enterprise plans) inside a company so that administration and staff conform to the objectives and understand what they're within the organization.
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Succeeding in enterprise within the current monetary crisis can only be by way of a correctly laid down marketing strategy. It offers full integration with an organisation's business planning and execution, with its group, market and brand methods, in addition to model planning and target setting. Starting your marketing strategy with a structured outline and key particulars about what you may embrace in each section is one of the best first step you can take.
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Guest curator and San Francisco Cinematheque director Steve Polta speaks each Wednesday with artists in the Screening Room exhibition certainty is becoming our nemesis, which was interrupted by McEvoy Arts' temporary closure due to the coronavirus. The program is now available to view online in its entirety.
Steve Polta: Can you tell us a bit about yourself and your current artistic concerns or projects? Where are you answering this Q&A from?
Zackary Drucker: I am safe and secure at home in Los Angeles and very grateful for the many blessings in my life. It's Earth Day (April 22, 2020), my dad's birthday, and the kind of beautiful spring day that Los Angeles is famous for. There are carnations and poppies blooming in my garden, and pomegranate blossoms on the trees. For years I've been bouncing around, feeling like I'm maintaining a home that I don't spend any time in, and now I've only got time at home. I'm working full-time (remotely) on a television project. I'm also writing a text for a performance and creating photographs at home.
SP: How does your film in this program relate to your ongoing practice or body of work?
ZD: Unison is the last film I made with Flawless Sabrina, which also includes many of my biological and chosen family. Different phases of it were filmed over several years. The film explores traveling through time to witness one's lineage, speaking to our predecessors and successors, and pondering what it means for a lineage to end with a gender non-conforming body.
Working within limitations can be a tremendous gift, and this is one of those times when artists who are really committed to shifting our consciousness and shattering our social mores will shine.Zackary Drucker
SP: As you know, certainty is becoming our nemesis is inspired by McEvoy Arts' exhibition Orlando, itself inspired by Virginia's Woolf's 1928 novel and Sally Potter's 1992 film adaptation starring Tilda Swinton. What, if any, is your prior relationship to the work of these artists?
ZD: I'm a huge fan of Tilda Swinton starting from the moment that I saw Orlando when it was released on video in 1993 or 1994. As a young person in Syracuse NY, the media that I was able to find at the local independent video store and library were a lifeline, and Orlando was one of the first trans characters I recall seeing. It was so magical to see a boy character inexplicably become a woman overnight (if it were only that easy). It inspired my imagination and informed who I am today.
SP: The program explores themes of transformation, self-invention, and gender performance and suggests that ambiguity of identity can operate as an emotional survival strategy and act of defiance. Are these themes something you consider in your artistic process or as central to your work exhibited here?
ZD: Yes, I'm always looking for survival strategies from elders. I hope to live a long life. We should be so lucky. I think that trans people's mere existence is a multiplicitous form of defiance everyday, even in isolation.
SP: In what way has your inclusion in this program (or in conjunction with the larger Orlando exhibition) impacted your view of the work itself?
ZD: Tilda Swinton, Aperture did an incredible job with Orlando—the Aperture edition and the exhibition. I'm thrilled that the exhibition has had a sustained life online where people can witness their brilliance.
SP: How are you coping with the current public health crisis? How has it impacted your approach to art-making?
ZD: I think the current health crisis deepens my commitment to human values. I think that it may change much of human behavior. There's really no space for self-indulgence or narcissism in this time, and those are the values that our culture has been predicated on for many years. Working within limitations can be a tremendous gift, and this is one of those times when artists who are really committed to shifting our consciousness and shattering our social mores will shine. A lot of the bullshit will fall away. Few people will have time for petty, decorative or otherwise superfluous art.
SP: Lastly, what's the last piece of art, media, or culture that exerted a profound impact on you?
ZD: This text message from Nao Bustamante on a neighborhood group thread today:
You can watch Zackary Drucker's Unison (2013–2017) here. For more from McEvoy Arts at Home, click here.
Zackary Drucker is an independent artist, cultural producer, and trans woman who breaks down the way we think about gender, sexuality, and seeing. Drucker is an Emmy-nominated Producer for the docu-series This is Me, as well as a Producer on the Golden Globe and Emmy Award-winning series Transparent.