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In this fast-moving, digitalized world, trust becomes such a precious gem – it is costly to give and it is even costlier to earn. Communication suddenly becomes a speedy exchange of wireless mobile data or digital signals running through thick cables. This transformation is indeed pure convenience – only, it serves both the good ones and the bad. Anonymity becomes a cloak that anyone, even psychotics, maniacs, fraudsters and more, can employ. Well, talking about meeting somebody online or receiving nameless calls and so forth. These days, it is sometimes difficult to know whether someone is real or not. However, we are not in shortage of tools for enhancing security. The internet offers services where you can painlessly conduct Police Records New York check and more.
It cannot be an overreaction to fear or a waste of time and money to protect oneself. We cannot afford to allow a murderer or a sex offender to look after our child or elderly either. The sordid truth is crimes happen; but it does not mean you cannot prevent it. Actually, you can exhaust all the means available just to ensure that you are out of harm's way. Today, it will only take a fraction of your time to know someone's trustworthiness. Web-based file retrieval options are much personalized in order to cater to your specific needs.
Whether you are hiring a worker or wanting to know a person more, the online solution allows you to effectively search for people's complete backgrounds. Plus, a plethora of categories are available for D-I-Y checking. It means to say that files ranging from police track records, marriage files, divorce records, court files and more are all at your fingertips when you acquire membership from a professional lookup site. You can choose to have a one-time query or get unlimited searches; either way the cost is pretty low in exchange for such valuable information.
Police file searches are indeed crucial during hiring procedure or when you are in the phase of making life-affecting decisions such as marriage, business partnership, and so on. In fact, it is usual protocol for most companies and government agencies to perform records screening. Trouble is not everyone is statutorily authorized to receive all levels of searches namely statewide, national, and federal database checks. The public is generally allowed to receive name-based criminal information search results comprising in-state arrest data and convictions.
Depending on the state, the degree of information released varies. For New York, the central database for state criminal history record information maintained by the Division of Criminal Justice Services can be searched for specific purposes as job hiring and licensing. Authorized agencies must have executed a Use and Dissemination Agreement with the Division. Otherwise, you can only request for conviction record search via the state Office of Court Administration.
But then again the general public can only get limited Police Reports when using the state lookup method. However, most commercial database providers offer a wide-range resource of public documents of state, federal, national search level. This just means that you too can now enjoy unrestricted tools for providing safety and security for your family. We can always embrace change positively as long as we also practice enough caution along with it.


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Eurosatory welcomes many Official Delegations, headed by ministers, vice-ministers, secretaries of state, chiefs of staff, national armament directors, general directors of police, gendarmerie, civil defence and customs… Heads of delegations are often assisted by national technical experts, ensuring a comprehensive assessment of the exhibition.
ODs attendance allows exhibitors to establish or confirm contacts in order to increase business opportunities and identify the needs of Defence forces and Security forces from different countries.
In 2016, 212 Official Delegations attended the show, a growth of 23% by comparison with 2014. They were 821 VIP delegates including 13 ministers, 30 vice-ministers and secretaries of states, 18 chiefs of staff and 26 national armament directors from 94 countries.

subset: commoncrawl


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ANNOUNCEMENT: You can find the new home of CEPA's StratCom Program here.
This Week in Info War
This Week in Info War
Editor's Note - 27 June 2016
AUTHOR: Donald N. Jensen
The official Kremlin reaction to the results of the UK's 23 June "Brexit" referendum was marked by calm and measured spin. Russian President Vladimir Putin vaguely told reporters in Tashkent that Britain's vote to leave the EU would have global consequences, but that it was too early to tell whether they would be positive or negative. He linked the outcome with British voters' unwillingness to support weaker economies as well as fears for their security.
Speaking 24 June in St. Petersburg, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev expressed concern that a UK exit might damage the global economy. Konstantin Kosachev, head of the Foreign Affairs Committee of Russia's Federal Council, stated that the British vote put the entire EU at risk of disintegration and worried that this could damage Russia's established trade ties. Putin also condemned British Prime Minister David Cameron for claiming that the Russian president had backed Brexit. (Cameron predicted last month that the Russian leader "would be happy" if Brexit happened and the EU were weakened).
This reaction contradicts Moscow's longstanding complaints that the current global order, in which the EU plays a key role, is unfairly rigged against Russia's interests. At the moment Russia apparently intends to send the message that it wants to be a constructive international player—in part because only in doing so might Western sanctions for its invasion of Ukraine be lifted—a key Kremlin adversary seems to be unraveling on its own.
But elsewhere, many Russian politicians cheered Brexit—a position that probably reflects Putin's private thinking. Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin welcomed Britain's departure. Boris Titov, the Kremlin's small-business ombudsman, hoped the exit would take Europe away from the "Anglo-Saxons" (i.e., the United States). Aleksey Pushkov, head of the Duma Foreign Affairs Committee, called the outcome a "personal failure of Barack Obama," who had urged Britons to stay in.
Indeed by all key measures, the referendum was a foreign policy victory for Moscow. Britain's exit weakens EU unity—a key Russian foreign policy objective—diminishes the international role of the UK, a longstanding Kremlin antagonist, and likely will distract the association from the key issues facing it: immigration, economic stagnation, and the ongoing crisis in Ukraine.
Putin predicted after the referendum that the EU's sanctions policy against Russia was unlikely to change. Here too, he is likely dissembling. Many Kremlin observers expect those sanctions to be cancelled or substantially watered down by year's end, and last week's results won't make the challenge of extending them any easier.
In the Baltics, as the latest CEPA briefs show, Russia continues to use information warfare to undermine regional security. In Estonia, a prominent Russian-language website published an article incorrectly claiming that the country's parliament refused to recognize Stalinist repression against non-ethnic Estonians. In Latvia, a Russian-language propaganda portal tried to discredit the reputation of NATO troops. Our third brief shows how a pro-Kremlin website in Lithuania used German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier's recent criticism of NATO military maneuvers to defame his Lithuanian counterpart. As controversy over Steinmeier's comments rages on, Moscow's propaganda machine stands ready to exploit divisions in German society.
Latvia - 23-30 May 2016
27 June 2016
Estonia 13-19 June
27 June 2016
Lithuania - 19-25 June 2016
27 June 2016
Poland: 13-19 June 2016
27 June 2016
Edward Lucas
Donald N. Jensen
Dalia Bankauskaitė
Urve Eslas
Andrzej Poczobut
Anna Ūdre
Wojciech Jakóbik
Mārtiņš Kaprāns
Siarhei Pelesa
Corina Rebegea
1275 Pennsylvania Ave NW, Suite 400, Washington, DC 20004, Phone: 202.551.9200
© 2007 - 2019 Center for European Policy Analysis, All Rights Reserved.


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Marooned Haircutters
5 Star Hairdressers of Cowbridge
Tel. 01446 773616
Mon - Wed: 9am - 5.30pm
Thurs & Fri: 9am - 7pm
Sat: 9am - 5pm
Sun: 10am - 3pm
Last appointments 45 min before closing time
Ladies Cut & Finish - from £21.50
Gents - £12.50
Child Wet Cut - from £8.00
We don't charge extra for re-design
Half Head Highlights - from £36
Gents Cut & Finish £12
NEW Straightening from £99
'I think the most important thing a woman can have, next to her talent, is her hairdresser'
Joan Crawford
Do you want your hair to look thicker? Do you want more density and fullness?
Thin hair can be difficult to style, and can be a cause for concern for many of us. However there are numerous things that we can all do to achieve visibly thicker and denser looking hair, and this starts with a suitable haircare programme. As a Five Star L'Oréal Professionnel Salon we have just trained with L'Oréal to launch their new range, Serioxyl, to target thin hair and help our clients achieve the look and style that they want. Using their patented formulas Stemoxydin™, Neohesperidin™, Glucoboost™ and Incell ™, the Serioxyl hair thickening programme begins in the salon with a revitalising scalp treatment, and continues at home for continued results. We've tried it and are amazed by the results.
At Marooned there is no extra charge for the "In Salon Treatment" when having a blow dry. Simply pay for the products required for your "At Home Programme"
starting from just £25.00
The Serioxyl hair thickening programme starts at Marooned, Cowbridge's only L'Oréal Professionnel hair salon. You will receive a full consultation to find the cause of your thin hair, and to help design the perfect hair service for you.
This is followed by the first element of the programme; the Scalp Deep Cleansing Solution to refresh and cleanse your scalp. Your hairdresser will then follow to 3-Step Fuller Hair programme, including our Thickening Shampoo, Conditioner and Aqua-mousse for added volume and lift. Finally, for a perfect finish, your hairdresser will apply one or both of our Super Serums; Thicker Hair or Denser Hair depending on your individual needs to help leave thicker or denser hair.
However the thickening programme doesn't stop when you leave the salon. For continued results your hairdresser will recommend one of our Fuller Hair follow-up kits and one or both of our Super Serums, for denser and fuller looking hair at home.
Our follow-up kits should be used as often as needed instead or in combination with your regular haircare regime. The Thickening Shampoo should be applied evenly to wet hair and scalp, using a massaging motion to lather and help stimulate microcirculation of the scalp. Rinse your hair and repeat if desired. The Thickening Conditioner should then be applied to your damp, shampooed hair. Leave this in for 1 to 3 minutes and rinse.
Once your hair has been towel-dried, it is time to applied the Aqua-mousse. Make four partings in your hair from front to back. Beginning with the first parting, apply a walnut sized amount of the mousse from the start of the parting, and distribute evenly along to the back. Repeat this process on the other 3 partings to cover the entire scalp and comb through the hair to ensure that the mousse is distributed evenly through the hair lengths. Do not rinse, and style your hair as usual.


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Wulfgar Heimdallsson, Priest of Fenris, 'the Guardian', Speaker of the Dead, a warrior of dry humours and known for his apparent calm in even the most dire of circumstances. Wulfgar is charged with watching those warriors fallen to the Curse of Morkai, the so called 'Black Cull' packs of Hvarl Red-Blades Great Company.
Wielding a Great Frost Blade, a kraken tooth edged chain sword of mighty proportions, Wulfgar is a fearsome fighter, skilled with a blade the sagas tell of many an enemy head taken for the accounts.
Design note: whilst 40k wolf- priests are clad in black armour, there is little evidence to suggest that the Speakers of the Dead are likewise clad. The idea here is that all warriors, regardless of rank are clad in the storm-grey of the Legion, using a black cloak and omitting the usual red spot colours on other units the model has a darker feel, implying black without being so.
Until Next Winter…


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Note - this takes you off
of our website
GrassBase - The Online World Grass Flora
W.D. Clayton, M. Vorontsova, K.T. Harman & H. Williamson
© Copyright The Board of Trustees, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.
Digitaria adamaouensis
HABIT Annual. Butt sheaths glabrous. Culms geniculately ascending; 80–110 cm long. Culm-internodes distally glabrous, or hirsute. Leaf-sheaths glabrous on surface. Ligule an eciliate membrane. Leaf-blades 8–12 cm long; 3–4 mm wide.
INFLORESCENCE Inflorescence composed of racemes.
Racemes 5–12; borne along a central axis; unilateral; 4–7 cm long. Central inflorescence axis 8.5–11 cm long. Rhachis wingless; angular. Spikelet packing lax.
Spikelets in pairs. Fertile spikelets pedicelled; 2 in the cluster. Pedicels unequal; 1–3 mm long; scabrous.
FERTILE SPIKELETS Spikelets comprising 1 basal sterile florets; 1 fertile florets; without rhachilla extension. Spikelets lanceolate, or elliptic; dorsally compressed; 1.9–2.1 mm long; falling entire.
GLUMES Glumes two; shorter than spikelet; thinner than fertile lemma. Lower glume ovate; 0.7 mm long; 0.33 length of upper glume; membranous. Lower glume apex truncate to acute. Upper glume oblong; 0.9 length of spikelet; membranous; without keels; 7 -veined. Upper glume surface pubescent. Upper glume apex acute.
FLORETS Basal sterile florets barren; with palea. Lemma of lower sterile floret elliptic; 1 length of spikelet; membranous; 7 -veined; pubescent; acute. Fertile lemma elliptic; 1.9–2.1 mm long; cartilaginous; much thinner on margins; grey; without keel. Lemma surface reticulate. Lemma margins flat; covering most of palea. Lemma apex acuminate. Palea cartilaginous.
DISTRIBUTION Africa: west-central tropical.
NOTES Paniceae. Gram Cam 1997.
Please cite this publication as detailed in How to Cite Version: 3rd February 2016.


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Ram 1500 Laramie
Step into the 2014 Ram 1500 With just over 30,000 miles on the odometer, this vehicle provides excellent value as a pre-owned model. The following features are included: 1-touch window functionality, a built-in garage door transmitter, a power seat, a trip computer, an automatic dimming rear-view mirror, adjustable pedals, and seat memory. Features such as automatic climate control and leather upholstery prove that economical transportation does not need to be sparsely equipped. Passengers are protected by various safety and security features, including: dual front impact airbags, front side impact airbags, traction control, brake assist, a security system, an emergency communication system, and 4 wheel disc brakes with ABS. Electronic stability control ensures solid grip atop the road surface, no matter how challenging the driving conditions. Our sales reps are knowledgeable and professional. We'd be happy to answer any questions that you may have. Stop by our dealership or give us a call for more information.


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Everton Get 2-Year Academy Ban, Fine for Illegally Approaching Youth PlayerNovember 8, 2018
Everton have been banned from signing academy players for two years and fined £500,000 after they were found to have made an illegal approach for a schoolboy who played for Cardiff City in 2016.
Per the Mirror's Liam Prenderville, the player now plies his trade for Manchester United.
The Times' Paul Joyce shared Everton's reaction to the news, as the Toffees took full responsibility and accepted the sanctions:
paul joyce @_pauljoyce
Everton statement: We are extremely disappointed with some of the practices we have found which are not in line with our values and not acceptable to Everton. We have accepted the penalties imposed on us by the Premier League and have given them our strongest apologies.
According to Prenderville, the probe found Everton offered incentives to the player and his family in a bid to convince him to join their academy. The ban means the Toffees can't register any players between the ages of 10 and 18 if those players were previously with another club from the Premier League or EFL.
The report also stated Everton opened their own investigation and suspended their head of recruitment, Martin Waldron. Per Joyce, the investigation uncovered six other instances where the Toffees broke the rules:
paul joyce @_pauljoyce
Premier League say Everton immediately admitted the allegations over Cardiff City schoolboy and set up its own internal inquiry which established that similar misconduct had occurred in relation to six other Academy players.
Everton's Under-23 squad currently leads the Premier League 2 standings, a competition they won in the 2016-17 campaign. The Under-18s also lead their league, sitting a single point ahead of rivals Liverpool.
The academy has long held a sterling reputation, producing talents like Wayne Rooney, Ross Barkley and Tom Davies, one of the brightest young stars of the current Toffees side.
Everton have committed to building the current squad through the youngsters, with big things expected from the likes of Dominic Calvert-Lewin, Ademola Lookman, Mason Holgate and Jonjoe Kenny.
As part of that approach the Toffees need a steady influx of talent to rise to the senior side from the academy. Any type of ban presents a big blow to those plans.
Liverpool were handed a similar ban last year, per the Guardian's Andy Hunter. The second year of their ban was suspended.


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Across the planet and unknown to each other, a group of troubled teenagers led lives of quiet desperation. But hell is about to befall them and they find their lives destroyed when they are targeted by dark forces. On the run, they discover they have unbelievable powers and must come together – as The Troop! Issue #1 comes with two covers to collect: an art cover by series artist Joshua Cassara (order code: OCT151684), a variant art cover by red-hot Doctor Who artist Elena Casagrande (order code: OCT151685)
The Troop #1 will be available in stores and on digital devices from December 9 For more information about Titan Comics visit: http://titan-comics.com/


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Pet Parlor
8229 Washington St
Chagrin Falls, OH 44023
- Phone: 440-543-2443
Our Fans
This business doesn't have any fans.
Become a Fan of this Business
If you want to save Pet Parlor to your favourite business to get updates and easy access from your dashboard, click in the next button. Click Here


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Mac Miller Ft. Rick Ross: Insomniak (JayCeeOh & HIDEthenSEEK Remix)
Nothing like a little Mac Miller to let out some aggression, backhand your day, blare through your car speakers speeding down the PCH at 100 MPH. Okay, I'm not that boss, but JAYCEEOH and HIDEthenSEEK definitely are, and so is their official remix of the rapper's "Insomniak." The song also features Rick Ross so, in other words, the combined talent is not suitable for those with heart conditions, those without respect for Pittsburgh, and those who we deem basic.
Grab the free download, here!


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The assurance to visit the poll-bound State came when INPT president Bijoy Kumar Hrangkhwal and party general secretary Jagadish Debbarma called on the Union Home Minister in New Delhi today.
In the meeting, Hrangkhwal alleged that the CPI-M-led Government has not been giving power to the States tribal council even though the party is running the autonomous body.
Despite repeated pleas, the State Government is yet provide adequate funds which has affected the developmental work of the Council, he pointed out.
After giving a hearing, the Union Minister said that the Centre has no reservation to give more autonomy or power to the autonomous tribal council under the constitutional frame work.
I will visit Tripura soon to explore ways for providing power to the TTAADC in order to protect the rights of indigenous people living in the backward region, he assured.


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SFC11 Day 26 Merger At Last
April 15th, 2013, 10:00 pm
Author's Comments:
Reply SWSU-Master, April 15th, 2013, 10:00 pm
We are finally moving into the Individual Game... where it is indeed Anybody's game.
Reply Advertisement, August 19th, 2019, 9:45 am
User's Comments:
Reply BlueDevil (Guest), April 15th, 2013, 10:02 pm
Ah yes. THe sweet smell of victory (for now). Maybe that'll teach Angel and Whitney not to be so arrogant!
Reply sesareee, April 15th, 2013, 10:05 pm
Angel 7 Artemist 6 Bradlyn 2 Casey 3 Claus 6 Dwayne 8 Eli 9 Flaithri 9 Honey 8 JU 3 Moemi 8 Paine 10 Rosemary 7 SexyXO 5 Tialayla 9 Whitney
Reply Vilecheese, April 15th, 2013, 10:12 pm
Don't feel like explaining my numbers tonight. :P
Reply rac567 (Guest), April 15th, 2013, 10:18 pm
Hard to believe that Juiced Up and Claus lasted longer then Artemis and Flay. It was like Tia's fear that Sexy would survive longer then her, expect it came true. Also Sunflower has major explaining to for the Mariano girls.
Reply rac567 (Guest), April 15th, 2013, 10:22 pm
It's kinda sad that the only "villians" left are Juiced Up and Claus. Then again they are entertaining though despite their massive egos. I didn't like their smug smiles though, over Flay and Artemis' eliminations because they are obviously going to give themselves credit for those and try to intimidate the other contestants as well.
Reply Friend of Fennecs, April 15th, 2013, 10:40 pm
Finally! They have merged! This is going to be fun. I like Jeff's little trolling in the beginning; it reminds me of what he did with Bonnie in the SFC9 Finale.
Reply 999, April 15th, 2013, 10:42 pm
I'll do a traditional list, just for nostalgia:
Reply anime9001, April 15th, 2013, 10:57 pm
Their faces did not disappoint :p
Reply SkySurfer (Guest), April 16th, 2013, 1:19 am
Angel - 9
Reply LordViking, April 16th, 2013, 4:50 am
Angel's face in the third panel says it all.
Reply mryoshi2002, April 16th, 2013, 8:59 am
think who will win: angel
Reply LOLOLOL (Guest), April 16th, 2013, 5:09 pm
LOLOLOL I want to create a Sprite comic....what software do you use, and if possible could you make a video if how you do this, so I understand what to do :)
Reply Austin0017, April 16th, 2013, 5:09 pm
Angel - 9
Reply MidnaFan (Guest), May 27th, 2013, 2:29 pm
Eli actually saw the text color?
Post A Comment


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The SoftFibre Light Travel Towel from Lifeventure has been stripped back to basics. Very light with a soft feel, it absorbs 6 times its own weight in water, but dries 9 times faster than a conventional towel. Instead of a carry case it comes with a handy elasticated hanging loop, which also helps it pack away neatly. It's an ideal travel companion, no matter how far your adventure takes you.
- Fabric: Soft Fibre
- A DofE recommended product
- Dries 9 x faster than a standard beach towel
- Absorbs 6 x its own weight in water
- Lightweight, ultra compact & absorbent
- Comes with an elastic hanging loop for storage
- Dimensions: 110 x 65cm
- Weight: 120g
Product Code: E7414089
British brand Lifeventure has designed and manufactured products for over 20 years to enable travellers to experience new cultures, broaden horizons and explore every corner of every continent in security and comfort.
Every product is specified to the highest standards. Functionality, reliability and style are all key considerations and the team continually work to perfect these three elements.


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Young Artist Competition
The Fremont Symphony's Young Artist Competitions are open to students up to 23 years of age who live or attend school in one of the nine Bay Area counties, and who can perform from memory an entire concerto or single major work for solo instrument and orchestra of at least 15 minutes' duration.
Those under 16 years of age can compete for the Nafisa Taghioff Award, playing a single movement of a concerto or similar work.
Looking forward to 2020
The 2020 Young Artist Competition will be for strings—violin, viola, cello and bass. Details will be made available soon…
2019 Young Artist Competition Results
First Place
Shota Otaguro, 21 (Sarmientos Concerto for Marimba & Orchestra)
Other Prizes
Second Prize - Leyla Kabuli, 19 (Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 2)
Third Prize - Angela Tsang, 15 (Shostakovich Piano Concerto No. 1)
Nafisa Taghioff Award (under 16)
Erin Yu, 14 (Grieg Piano Concerto in A minor, first movement)
Other finalists:
Jonah Cabral, 21 (Larsson Saxophone Concerto)
Nnamdi Odita-Honnah, 20 (Ibert Flute Concerto)
Honorable Mention was awarded to the following:
Spencer Cha, 14 (Schumann Piano Concerto)
Oliver Corro, 11 (Haydn Piano Concerto No. 11, third movement)
Daniel Mah, 16 (Liszt Piano Concerto No. 1)
Henry Smolen, 20 (Mendelssohn Piano Converto No. 1)
Ryan Wang, 12 (Ravel Piano Concerto in G, first movement)


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To celebrate May Day, here's some quotes on work, both deep and delightful
To celebrate MayDay (and with a nod to Karl Marx's anniversary celebrated this year), a few hopefully provoking thoughts about labour:
Marxism is about leisure, not labour. It is a project that should be eagerly supported by all those who dislike having to work. It holds that the most precious activities are those done simply for the hell of it, and that art is in this sense the paradigm of authentic human activity. It also holds that the material resources that would make such a society possible already exist in principle, but are generated in a way that compels the great majority to work as hard as our Neolithic ancestors did. We have thus made astounding progress, and no progress at all.
* * *
I should like to raise an apparently odd question. My question is: What does an active life consist of? What do we do when we are active? In asking this question, I shall assume that the age-old distinction between two ways of life, between a vita contemplativa and a vita activa, which we encounter in our tradition of philosophical and religious thought up to the threshold of the modern age, is valid, and that when we speak of contemplation and action we speak not only of certain human faculties but of two distinct ways of life.
Surely, the question is of some relevance. For even if we don't contest the traditional assumption that contemplation is of a higher order than action, or that all action actually is but a means whose true end is contemplation, we can't doubt -- and no one ever doubted -- that it is quite possible for human beings to go through life without ever indulging in contemplation, while, on the other hand, no man can remain in the contemplative state throughout his life.
Active life, in other words, is not only what most men are engaged in but even what no man can escape altogether. For it is in the nature of the human condition that contemplation remains dependent upon all sorts of activities -- it depends upon labor to produce whatever is necessary to keep the human organism alive, it depends upon work to create whatever is needed to house the human body, and it needs action in order to organize the living together of many human beings in such a way that peace, the condition for the quiet of contemplation is assured.
* * *
Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven't found it yet, keep looking. Don't settle. As with all matters of the heart, you'll know when you find it.
-- Steve Jobs
* * *
Buzzterms such as the 'commons' and 'peer-production' are thrown around, but few have bothered to ask what this means for capitalism itself. I believe it offers an escape route – but only if these micro-level projects are nurtured, promoted and protected by a massive change in what governments do. This must in turn be driven by a change in our thinking about technology, ownership and work itself. When we create the elements of the new system we should be able to say to ourselves and others: this is no longer my survival mechanism, my bolt-hole from the neoliberal world, this is a new way of living in the process of formation.
-- Paul Mason
* * *
I've learned that making a "living" is not the same thing as making a "life."
-- Maya Angelou
* * *
The "working poor," as they are approvingly termed, are in fact the major philanthropists of our society. They neglect their own children so that the children of others will be cared for; they live in substandard housing so that other homes will be shiny and perfect; they endure privation so that inflation will be low and stock prices high. To be a member of the working poor is to be an anonymous donor, a nameless benefactor, to everyone else. As Gail, one of my restaurant coworkers put it, "you give and you give."


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Some healers were born knowing they were healers or being a healer was a part of their lineage, and they know nothing else than just doing the work. But for the vast majority of healers there was a turning point in their lives that called them to the Quest. Whether it was their own health or spiritual crisis or that of a loved one, something beckoned to them to go learn a modality or several modalities. Or maybe it was a desire to be of service, or transition their career into something more meaningful.
So they went through whatever certifications or schooling they needed to learn the tools, techniques, and knowledge necessary for their chosen modalities got their certificates and were "released to the wild" as I call it. What I have found is that very few healing arts programs actually provide healers with the real life tools and techniques to have a successful business, or provide continued support after they hand out the certificates. There are of course exceptions, but providing comprehensive business development and start up skills are rarely part of the program. Generally what you are told is, find a catchy name, print your business cards, start a Facebook page, maybe a website if you can afford it, and basically, hang your "Open For Business" sign on your door and wait for the people to come. ALL THE PEOPLE! Rather than getting clear on why and whom you want to serve.
Gaining the skills and the knowledge is paramount, but so many of my clients are lost on how to even begin developing their businesses and marketing it to share their knowledge and their gifts. Heck most of them are even struggling to get back the money they spent on their education, and many of them have no budget to operate their businesses, or don't know the costs of doing business. I have to be honest this frustrates the hell out of me. I wish the healings arts programs were honest during admissions about what it really takes beyond just the knowledge in a chosen modality to be successful. It is my mission to help as many healers and creatives be successful, share their gifts, and have abundance. The world needs the healers, artists, and intuitives more than ever.
When I ask many of the healers in my circle if they have a business plan I get a deer in the headlights look. The idea of doing one is so daunting, and they were not taught this in school. What I tell them before getting to the icky part of crunching numbers to start with their vision. Remember why they chose this path, why they want to do this work, and whom they want to do it for. Get really truthful, really vulnerable and tell their story. AND WRITE IT DOWN, paint it, bring it into form. Do not just let it live in their heads, but visualize it. The result of this is knowing their gifts (many of which are far beyond the knowledge received in their programs), knowing why they want to share them with the world, and knowing that THEY ARE ENOUGH!
What I have found more often than not, is rather than get clear about the vision and the plan for sharing the knowledge they do have, they think they don't have enough and get more certificates, more modalities, more tools and techniques for working with clients and that by doing that it will bring in clients. Do not get me wrong; getting more tools and techniques to share with clients is a wonderful thing. Trust me, I have a list of certifications as long as my arm, and I do not regret a single one of them, every one brought me deeper, introduced me to new teachers, and put me exactly where I am today. And here's the thing:
How I share that vision, how I share my gifts, and the work I do is vastly different than it was then, but the vision has always remained the same. Don't fall into the trap of continuing to amass knowledge that does not support the vision, or because you feel you don't know enough to share your work with the world.
The truth is starting and running a business costs money, many programs do not tell you what to expect. Knowing how much money it costs, and how much money you need to make in order to sustain yourself, and continue to live in your joyful creation is sort of important. This is the scary part for most healers and creatives but it doesn't have to be, there are ways to make it a creative and dare I say even fun practice, and for me I do art and ritual around each stage of my visioning and financial planning for all my endeavors and projects.
Doing this helps you to know if what you are visioning makes financial sense, or if it fits your vision, not only for your business, but your life. Sometimes things need to be marinated on, put on the backburner, or axed completely because you have discovered doing something will lead you somewhere you don't want to go. Like working 24 hours a day and having no time for self-care, reflection, family, and it sucks the joy right out of the work. Which does not serve your clients at all.
I would love to hear from you, what are your fears, hesitations, and of course successes around doing a business plan? How can I help you get creative and get over the fear?


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Current Embryonic Story Ideas
Hey, young bloods! In addition to the in-progress works I've featured on my writings page, there are also a ton of embryonic, early-stage book ideas floating around in my brain. (It comes from suffering from Shiny New Idea Syndrome, I tell you. *sigh*) Today, I figured I'd share some of them with you!
I've got the plot of this one pretty well fleshed out, but I can not come up with good characters for the life of me. :/ This is a futuristic space story where all the planets in our solar system have been colonized except Pluto. For some reason, whenever anyone tries to colonize Pluto, they disappear and
are never heard from again. The other planets are exploding from overpopulation, though - so much so that criminals, the disabled, the poor, and others who can't effectively contribute to society are often shipped off to Pluto.
The governor of Neptune has had enough of this, however. He hires the solar system's best pirate to escort and protect the latest batch of Pluto-bound Neptunians, and she reluctantly agrees. It then turns into a survival story on Pluto, with a ton of amoral criminals and perfectly moral innocents trying to survive together against the aliens who secretly live on Pluto and are hunting them down. I reckon this would be at LEAST a duology, probably a trilogy or quartet.
2. In Honor of Angel
This is a dystopian story inspired by this snippet of writing I posted a long time ago. I haven't done much work with it, though. It's a typical dystopian rebellion story, and I have no idea how to make it more original.
3. Everward or The Dreamers and the Dreamt
Everward/TDATD would be a novella duology (trilogy?) about a land called Everward where people go when they dream. Whatever you dream of (any people, places, items, etc.) continues to exist once you wake up, and any people you make up become real inhabitants of that land. If you die while dreaming of Everward, you are transported there permanently. Thus, there are two classes of people in Everward: the Dreamers, who came when they died, and the Dreamt, who were created by the Dreamers. The Dreamers rule Everward with an iron fist and treat the Dreamt as sub-par citizens. It's up to Nikolessa, a rebellious Dreamt gnome; Lukas, a cynical Dreamer-Dreamt Hybrid; and a yet-unnamed newly-arrived Dreamer to fix this and overthrow the tyrannical Dreammaster. Other possible characters: Kakaya, the Dreammaster's daughter who runs away from home; and her sarcastic body guard.
4. Elves vs. Tieflings political intrigue
5. Assassin thingy??
This one is very, very, VERY new. In fact, I just came up with it a few days ago; however, I think it has a ton of potential and really want to get down to plotting it (after it's marinated in the back of my mind for a while). Basically, the king and queen hid away their daughter and disguised her as a commoner when she was a baby, and she's grown up the "daughter" of an innkeeper, never suspecting she's royalty. (I reckon she's around twelve when the story starts?) Then, her location is discovered by two of her parents' political opponents. The two best assassins in the land are hired to kill her, which they do.....which starts a civil war. This would probably be a duology of either novels or novellas following the fate of these two assassins and their country as a whole as it's swept into a giant civil war. (The princess, in case you're wondering, makes a grand total of one (1) appearance - as a corpse. She impacts the plot because of her death, but she definitely won't appear herself in the story.)
I really love how this idea kind of turns the typical lost princess narrative on its head. The princess serves as nothing but a plot device; the real story is her two assassins and the political intrigue they end up engulfed in.
10 Comments
OH MY GOSH SPACE PIRATES YES! And the dream thing is like such a neat concept ahh please write that I feel like that could be so rad ((I promise I'll try really hard not to steal it)) no I would never haha but it is just such a great idea. I read a book playing off the concept of dreams and was so disappointed because the topic wasn't nearly as well done as it could've, since the whole idea really has so much potential. I totally want to write a book about dreams someday, as I find them super interesting and mysterious concepts in general with so much to work with. I totally want to read yours if you write it too. I feel this struggle though haha-- just today I was sitting in math trying to convince myself to pay attention when out of nowhere I suddenly realized the perfect name for an OC ((with a very underdeveloped story)) I've had for a year?? And then the brainstorm spiraled out of control and needless to say I don't even know what happened in that class haha. But yeah I love all your story ideas, so fun to read!ReplyDelete
THANK YOU SO MUCH. Omg, I was literally outlining this in math class today. I'm thinking there might be a mad scientist the Dreammaster is forcing to develop a way for Dreamers to continue being able to create things at will in Everward after they die. As of now, you lose the ability once you die.Delete
- Ellie
PLUTO, yes. It's such an interesting concept and it's something that I can actually envision having to happen (overpopulation onto different planets). Also, the plot twist you had in your last plot bunny-- ooh, super shocking! Way to turn everyone's heads and make everyone freak out, Ellie. xDReplyDelete
xoxo Abigail LennahReplies
Thank you!! <3Delete
- Ellie
Honestly, you had me at "space pirates." ALSO I TOTALLY WANT TO READ THE DREAMING ONE. That sounds amazing!! I'm reading Strange the Dreamer right now and it's so full of dreaming, I love it.ReplyDeleteReplies
Thank you so much! Ooh, I've been wondering about reading that one. I definitely look forward to your thoughts :)Delete
- Ellie
OKAY SO THE LAST ONE IS MY FAVOURITE AND I'M JUST FLAILING OVER IT BECAUSE ASSASSIN STORIES!! *flails wildly* Also the space pirates one. 😍😍 Basically you have spectacular ideas and please write them all immediately.😍ReplyDeleteReplies
Thank you so much! <3Delete
- Ellie
Please give me space pirates. PLEASE. I'LL DO ANYTHING! But seriously, I love that idea. Also the elves vs tiefling one—I'll happily read that too!ReplyDeleteReplies
Ahhh, thank you so much!Delete
- Ellie


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Tuesday, December 20th
Today's work was centered around a campaign for anemia.
A doctor and two nurses volunteered their time to the clinic. Julia, a team member and a junior at UNC, is a certified phlebotomist. After the head doctor learned of Julia's certification, he allowed her to lead a station in taking blood. She was amazing! I was able to assist her for the first part of the day by preparing cotton swabs, applying adhesive bandages, and holding patients' hands. For many of the patients, this was their first time getting their blood taken. Think of just a few of the scary things the patients were facing at once:
- Needles
- Blood
- The initial prick of the skin
- Doctors
- Foreigners
With this being said, each patient did amazing, and I always said goodbye being impressed by their resilience. It took coercing and candies to get many of the kids to hand over their arms, but this is important. They need to know early if they have anemia. It is worth the temporary pain of a finger prick. Peruvian medicine (and all other medicine) has to remember that preventing disease is far better than finding solutions to disease. This seems intuitive, but it is not always the applied practice. Thankfully, the parents in the community seem to understand the importance of the procedures and assist the doctors in persuasion.
Once the clinic closed for the day, Julia taught all of us how to draw blood and we all took turns practicing on one another. After our crash course was complete, we headed back to our homes to have lunch with our families before heading to Conache. Conache is a popular place for sand boarding. We hiked up the sand mountains, which proved to be a very difficult task. However, the incredible view at the top was worth each step. Dinner was Chifa, Chinese Peruvian cuisine. To finish off the night, we walked around the local downtown before heading home to rest up for the next day.


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Image: ©Graham Watson
A Grand Tour feels like a "once in a lifetime experience" that I did seven years in a row from 2010-2016.
When I started racing, I was as a pure mountain biker. I wasn't even aware of the Tour de France until I was in high school. This was the Lance era and his dominance heightened my own sense of national pride, and immediately I became fascinated and watched the race every summer.
At 16, I got my first road bike and couldn't fathom how those guys were racing insanely long distances over three straight weeks. When I would head out on my own ride, I would have the jingles that they played during the intro to the Tour coverage in my head, and I began imagining myself soaring through the mountains. I also started to dream about competing for the USA in cycling.
Two years after graduating from Lees-McRae where I raced mountain bike, road, and cross, I signed my first professional contract with BMC (2008). For those first two seasons, my race calendar focused on stage races (plus one Paris-Roubaix). I continued developing and tackling harder Pro Tour races-Tour de Romandie and Criterium Dauphine in 2009.
When I started the 2010 season, I didn't think I would race a Grand Tour that year. I definitely couldn't have fathomed taking the podium on my first stage at the Giro d'Italia. What began that year sent into motion racing at least one Grand Tour every season:
- 2010—Giro and Tour de France
- 2011—Tour de France
- 2012—Vuelta a Espana
- 2013—Tour de France
- 2014—Giro d'Italia
- 2015—Giro d'Italia 2016—Tour de France
Fast forward to this season and during our usual pre-season planning seasons, we selected the Tour of California as my key focus for the early season. This meant the Giro was out. I finished third overall in 2016 in California and the race was being upgraded to World Tour status, so I was happy and very motivated by this plan.
Putting it in the simplest of terms, selection for the Tour de France is always a complex and exhaustive process. I told the team that I was motivated and inspired to be there to help Richie again and improve on his fifth overall last year. I wasn't on the pre-selection for the Tour, which was fine because my eyes were firmly focused on California.
I earned a strong string of results leading up to and during California and it sounded like the team moved me back in for a spot at the Tour as a reserve. In the end, the original nine riders remained healthy, fit and ready to go, so I wasn't called up. I took this as a rare opportunity to bank some reset and recovery during July. I felt spoiled—I went home for my first Fourth of July celebration ever in Asheville, got in some time on the mountain bike and let myself enjoy the normal things in life: floating down the river and sipping some beers. I think that month definitely helped me stave off a few grey hairs that definitely would have popped up at the Tour.
When it comes to the Vuelta, selection is a little different and delayed. It typically solidifies after the Tour finishes and all the dust settles. I let the team know I was interested in racing but I also saw positives in an alternative race program that didn't include a three-week stage race.
Now I'm taking the energy that I would have spent at a Grand Tour and applying it to my remaining races. I loved my USA block of racing at the Tour of Utah and Colorado Classic throughout August, and now I'm focused on the late season races. I've never done the Tour of Britain before. I'm about to start my second decade as a pro and it's a boost to get a fresh and new race at this point!
What I missed the most without a Grand Tour this season was the preparing and conquering of all the challenges that arise together as a team. Everyone---staff and all riders ---brings their A game and respect the challenge that lies ahead. It's something you cannot do alone and it amplifies the team aspect of road cycling. You completely see yourself as a part of something bigger than yourself; I have missed that.
With that said, this has been my healthiest season in a long time. I think part of that is skipping the depleting and ravaging effects of a three-week race. I'm enjoying heading into September healthy and fit and ready for more racing. In the past, I've reached this part of the year completely blown out simply counting the days until the season is over.
Looking ahead to 2018, I'm motivated to return to a Grand Tour, but I feel like an appearance doesn't define my season or career. I've raced eight Grand Tours and I know that racing one won't transform me or provide me with something I've never experienced.
I'm hungry to be part of a successful team effort and will always be motivated to improve upon that second place result from my first grand tour stage back in 2010.
As an American, the Tour holds the most significance in my heart, especially with our fan and friend base. Every time I've done it, I promise myself I won't go back; it is that savage. But fortunately, cycling teaches us to be quite good at selective amnesia so give me a few months and maybe I'll be ready for another round.


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This afternoon I got to zip up to the gorgeous Whiskeytown Lake with a selection of my crazy friends. We chilled, listened to my Parent Trap playlist, squealed in the mini dust storms that happened every 10 minutes, chased geese away from tortilla chips and tossed a frisbee around. All in all, a very relaxing couple of hours. Cheers to you, spring break.
in Personal


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Tears are an unspoken language only few can understand.
This language is one that is innate to the sad and broken-hearted mostly, it speaks to the person with past and current experience. Tears show that you've had enough and you're now at your breaking point. Tears confirm it is finish and this is the finally goodbye, no more struggles and disagreement.
Tears are just other ways to say I'm angry, sad and disappointed. It also signifies that you need to break free from something or someone. Memories whether good or bad evoke tears, which tells that you have some emotional attachment to whatever memory that is provoke in your mind. The heart and the mind are the two main initiator of such emotional statements.
Tears mean something entirely different to another set of people, which is more of a positive spin. It's a way to say I've completed my mission and proud of myself. Tears are just signs of relief. Tears shows one have pass the hurt and pain that became cumbersome, hence you are now free. Tears mean you have accomplish total happiness with others as well as yourself.
Tears also mean you have surrender to you current situation and you're willing to allow it to build you up or tear you down. It's also a state of mind that represents the core feeling that may not be so easily identify by the individual. These tears are unique, as it greatly impacts the individual unknowingly and may cause an emotional melt down. For every tear that you cry in any situation, make it be one that interprets your actual emotions. The interpretation of your tears is what makes you special.


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Let Buffett guide you into a play on autos.
Credit Acceptance Corporation (CACC - Get Report) offers financing programs that enable automobile dealers to sell vehicles to consumers. Its financing programs are offered through a network of automobile dealers.
The company has two dealer financing programs. The Portfolio Program advances money to dealers in exchange for the right to service the underlying consumer loans while under the Purchase Program, the company buys the consumer loans from the dealers and keeps the amounts collected from the consumer.
A bedrock principle for Warren Buffett is that his type of company has a "durable competitive advantage" as compared to being a "price competitive" or "commodity" type of business.
Buffett likes companies to have solid, stable earnings that are continually expanding. This allows him to accurately predict future earnings. Buffett would consider this firm's earnings predictable.
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In fact earnings per share for Credit Acceptance have increased every year. The company's long term historical earnings per share growth rate is 30.3%, based on the average of the 3, 4 and 5 year historical earnings per share growth rates. The company is expected to grow earnings 16.0% per year in the future, based on the analysts' consensus estimated long term growth rate.
The Buffett Checklist
Buffett likes companies with above average return on equity of at least 15% or better, as this is an indicator that the company has a durable competitive advantage. U.S. corporations have, on average, returned about 12% on equity over the last 30 years. The average ROE for Credit Acceptance, over the last ten years, is 31.1%, which is high enough to pass.
Buffett also requires, for financial companies, that the average Return On Assets (ROA) be at least 1% and consistent. Return On Assets is defined as the net earnings of the business divided by the total assets of the business. The average ROA for Credit Acceptance, over the last ten years, is 9.6%, which is high enough to pass.
Buffett likes companies that do not have major capital expenditures. Credit Acceptance's free cash flow per share of $28.51 is positive, indicating that the company is generating more cash that it is consuming. This is a favorable sign, and so the company passes this criterion.
Buffett also likes to see if management has spent retained earnings in a way that benefits shareholders. To figure this out, Buffett takes the total amount of retained earnings over the previous ten years of $110.28 and compares it to the gain in earnings per share over the same period of $26.98.
Credit Acceptance's management has proven it can earn shareholders a 24.5% return on the earnings they kept. This return is more than acceptable to Buffett. Essentially, management is doing a great job putting the retained earnings to work.
Why to Buy
The second stage of Buffett's analysis asks "Should I buy at this price?" The Buffett strategy favors companies in which the initial rate of return is around the long-term treasury yield.
Currently, the long-term treasury yield is about 2.75%. Compare this with Credit Acceptance's initial yield of 8.03%, which will expand at an annual rate of 16.0%, based on the analysts' consensus estimated long term growth rate. The company is the better choice, as the initial rate of return is close to or above the long term bond yield and is expanding.
The Buffett-style strategy calculates the expected rate of return based on the average return on equity method and also based on average earnings per share growth. Based on the two different methods, you could expect an annual compounding rate of return somewhere between 16.0% and 29.2%.
To pinpoint the average return a little better, we have taken an average of the two different methods. Investors could expect an average return of 22.6% on Credit Acceptance shares for the next ten years, based on the current fundamentals.
Buffett would consider this an exceptional return, thus passing the criterion.


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Can't Take the High
Jim Matheney, who was a police captain in the Detroit suburbs, took a job in Nederland, Colorado, altitude about 2,500 MILES above sea level. For comparison, I looked up the altitude of Farmington Hills, Michigan, which is about 260 miles above sea level. That's a bit of contrast.
Why the geography details to start the story? They're key. Matheney took a job as the Town Marshal in Nederland, but resigned after six months. There was speculation that he left because of a space alien attack. (?!)
He says, "No. It's the altitude." He can't take the air there. He insists that he was not attacked by space aliens.
Apparently, the quirky town of Nederland is best known for their 'Frozen Dead Guy Days Festival', which celebrates a guy who lived there and had himself cryogenically frozen in hopes of one day walking again among the undead. The festival is in March of next year if you're thinking like that sounds like fun. Which, actually, does sound like fun. In addition to two tents of live music, they host chilly winter games like frozen T-shirt contests, brain freeze contests, snowy beach volleyball and ice turkey bowling.


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"Man's very insides – his self – are foreign to him. He doesn't know ..why he was born, what he is doing on the planet, ..what he can expect.
– The Denial of Death (1973)
His own existence is incomprehensible to him, a miracle just like the rest of creation, closer to him, right near his pounding heart, but for that reason all the more strange."
— Ernest Becker, ibid.


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Ep. 98: Tech Democracy & Community Production (W/ Gyasi Williams)
Our guest this week is Gyasi Williams a member of Cooperation Jackson working on their Community Production Cooperative.
We're talking about how communities can use technology create localist, environmentally conscious models of production that are aimed at black liberation and the empowerment of the working class. THIS. IS. THE. FUTURE. WE. WANT.
Subscribe to Future Left Podcast on SoundCloud, iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, and YouTube.
Check out the article that Gyasi wrote (with Kali Akuno) "Countering the Fabrication Divide" that further explores the issues we talk about in this episode. https://cooperationjackson.org/blog/2018/1/7/countering-the-fabrication-divide-4
Don't miss this great episode!
Learn more about Cooperation Jackson at https://cooperationjackson.org/
Follow Gyasi Williams on Twitter at https://twitter.com/Jah_SEE2


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May 21, 2014
There are many that aren't too happy with Microsoft's decision to abandon security patch support for its aging OS Windows XP.
In direct retaliation for its decision, the Chinese government has completely banned Windows
8 from a sizeable amount of public-sector personal computers.
The ban was announced by the government's IT procurement agency in a notice posted online on May 16.
The notice was addressed to hardware vendors bidding on a contract to supply the Chinese state
with new energy-saving PCs, laptops, tablets and other similar equipment.
"All computer vendors are not allowed to install Microsoft's Windows 8 operating system," the
note stated.
The Chinese government agency behind this decision- The Procurement Center of the Central Government
Institution of the People's Republic of China has enormous power within the country as it leads
procurement for the Chinese public sector at large.
The outright ban follows a set of Chinese internet giants teaming up in February to offer
support for Windows XP for the next two years following Microsoft halting updates for the legacy
operating system.
As of the end of 2013, Windows XP had a marketshare of about 50 percent in China. Last December, Chinese
officials were reported to be concerned about the potential security impact of Microsoft permanently dropping
support for the OS.
The Chinese government was also reported to have told Microsoft that halting the sale of Windows
7 and switching over to the higher-priced Windows 8 would lead to software piracy.
"This morning, the Central Government Procurement Center of China posted a notification
titled 'Bidding Process for Government Purchasing Energy-efficient IT Products.' The notification
indicated that the Windows 8 operating system is excluded in the bidding," a Microsoft spokesperson
"We were surprised to learn about the reference to Windows 8 in this notice. Microsoft has been
working proactively with the Central Government Procurement Center and other government agencies
through the evaluation process to ensure that our products and services meet all government procurement
"We have been and will continue to provide Windows 7 to government customers. At the same time, we
are working on the Windows 8 evaluation with relevant government agencies," he added.
But overall, China may not have that many alternatives to Microsoft, given that the country's
homegrown OS "Red Flag Linux" apparently shut its doors and fired all staff in February of this year.
In other IT news
Here's a fact that shouldn't surprise you-- IT depts are spending less on enterprise storage
arrays, and instead are considering shifting to the cloud, if they haven't done so already.
This 4 year old trend was pointed out by Aaron Rakers, managing director of equity research
firm Stifel Nicolaus.
Hes plotted the combined EMC, Hitachi, and IBM storage financial results over time, and his chart
shows a revenue decline since 2010.
Stifel also polled system admins at businesses that have a need for enterprise storage, and found
About 60 percent of respondents thought 2014 storage spending would be greater than that
in 2013.
Over 53 percent of surveyed CIOs and CTOs view cloud computing as the most disruptive technology
to their data centre, followed by software-defined storage and converged compute-storage (32 percent) and flash storage (15 per cent).
About 60 percent of surveyed CIOs and CTOs view EMC as the best positioned company to capitalise on
the data centre transition and trends taking place in the enterprise storage market, while 19 percent
of respondents view NetApp as the best positioned.
Over 58.9 percent expect to evaluate a software-defined storage solution in the next 12 to 18 months.
60 percent view server SAN software as the most attractive.
Rakers concluded by saying-- ``We believe traditional approaches to networked storage appear
to be increasingly misaligned with the performance requirements of virtualised server environments.``
``We would view late 2014/2015 as potentially representing a pivotal period in how investors view
the storage landscape over the next 3 to 5+ years,`` he added.
``We believe that server-side SAN or hyper-convergence represents potentially the most distributive
architectural approach to software-defined storage as this approach is highlighted as being the
closest comparison to Google, Facebook and Amazon.``
Rakers has an expectation of a two-quarter pause in storage spending; EMC and NetApp have
consistently highlighted a belief that enterprise decision cycles have lengthened.
Oracle has acquired the desktop software virtualizer GreenBytes, which uses ZFS technology, for
an undisclosed amount.
Overall, GreenBytes' software is based on its own highly rated deduplication engine and replication.
It can run on flash hardware and GreenBytes sold a VDI flash appliance but got out of the hardware business
in August 2013.
It was founded in 2007 by CEO Bob Petrocelli and took in some $37 million in GreenBytess exec-contributed
and venture capital funding.
This may suggest that, unless the company was distressed, the backers could have received up to 4 to 5 times the
payout, meaning about $150 to $185 million. That sure sounds like a lot of cash for a SW-only VDI supplier,
especially with Atlantis making waves in the market.
We havent had any recent announcements from GreenBytes about its business progress so we can't
tell if it was doing well or not.
There might be some distress here which would reduce the amount of cash or shares that Oracle
paid. Then again, maybe not, it's hard to tell.
The deal announcement said GreenBytes technology is expected to enhance Oracle's ZFS Storage Appliances,
and that could mean the ZFS appliance getting GreenBytes deduplication engine. Oracle said it is currently
reviewing the existing GreenBytes product roadmap and will be providing guidance to customers at some
point in time.
We wrote about Postgres this week, and judging by
the latest beta version of the open source PostgreSQL database, the 'nuances' between the SQL and NoSQL concepts are
fading over time. And it looks like that trend doesn't seem to want to reverse itself.
With the beta release of the open source PostgreSQL 9.4 database yesterday, system admins
have been given more of the features typically associated with NoSQL systems like MongoDB.
To be sure, the main new feature is the JSONB ("binary JSON") storage format, which lets the
database deal in a more efficient manner with JSON-formatted data.
Overall usage of the JSON file format is one of the things that distinguishes typical NoSQL
systems, like MongoDB, from their relational counterparts.
By supporting the format from version 9.2 onwards, PostgreSQL lets DB admins use a format
that is easily parsed by interpreters to store their data, giving them some of the flexibility
typically associated with document databases.
By writing JSON objects into binary, DB admins can manipulate them more efficiently. "JSONB uses
an internal storage format that is not exposed to clients.
JSONB values are sent and received using the JSON text representation," explained the chief
architect at PostgreSQL company EnterpriseDB, Robert HaaS.
MongoDB's "BSON" format is unable to represent an integer or floating-point number with greater
than 64 bits of precision, whereas JSONB can, he explained.
"JSONB can represent arbitrary JSON values. The PostgreSQL community believes that limitations
of this type are unacceptable, and wants to provide the full power of JSON to our users," he explained.
Though this may seem a bit trivial, it's worth remembering that the overall capabilities of
JSONB will have a huge effect on the efficiency of JSON-based systems, especially as they grow.
Since a lot of younger developers have grown up writing data into this format, it's understandable
to see the PostgreSQL take an opinionated view on it.
"With JSONB and other enhancements in version 9.4, we now have full document storage and improved
performance with less effort," explained Craig Kerstiens, a developer at Salesforce-backed
Source: The Government of China.
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Many poets and writers have used Venice and, to a lesser extent, the Veneto as a creative topos. There is both the writing that might be said to belong to the Italian/Venetian literary tradition, as well as the non-Italian tradition of writing Venice, a phenomenon that spans English literature, in particular, from William Shakespeare's time, to the Romantic period and into the present day. This paper explores my relationship to this creative topos and the writers and writing that are associated with it. In particular, it focuses on the notion of literary nomadism: a method for interacting with the literature of Venice and the Veneto that allows me to find intersections between my own work and that which already exists in a broad historical and literary terrain. Moving between and across the literatures of this region, I argue that it is possible to find multiple points of reference that guide and inform my own poetic responses to it, and which reflect my own subjective nomadism and in-between-ness. By taking such an approach I am able to map my hybrid, transnational and transcultural identity into this space, in order to locate myself—and my writing—in the 'imagined terrain' I have chosen as a creative topos.
Keywords: Venice - Veneto - poetry - literature - terrain - nomadism
The historical character Marco Polo, describing Venice to the Mongol ruler in Italo Calvino's Invisible Cities (1997), knows that there is both a difference and a connection between how we represent a city or place in writing and how it comes to exist in the imagination. In a similar way, my own poetry is concerned with real spaces and places, in so far as it is about my relationship with Venice and the Veneto, and yet it also describes an imagined terrain, already created and represented through writing.
This paper explores the relationship I have to Venice and the Veneto as a creative topos, and the negotiations I make with other writers' representations of this space. While I am conscious that the literature of this space creates dominant or popular ways of imagining it, I am interested in exploring how my own creative practice in poetry does not attach itself to or spring from a single, particular way of writing about Venice and the Veneto. Instead, I take the approach of a literary nomad who ranges across a number of different poetic responses to this space, finding an 'in-between' approach that mirrors my own subjective 'in-between-ness' as an Australian-Italian-Venetian writer.
In Nomadic Subjects Rosi Braidotti describes her own journey as a 'migrant who turned nomad' (2011: 21). That is, she describes a personal and intellectual experience of living and working between countries, cultures, languages and philosophical traditions. This idea of nomadic subjectivity is applicable to my own life and creative practice, in so far as I find myself moving between Australia and Italy, both physically and creatively. My poetry, set in Venice and the Veneto, can therefore be thought of as a form of literary cartography in which I attempt to map my relationship to this site, both real and imagined.
In his introduction to Nation and Narration, Homi K. Bhabha argues that any place or space is both physical and created through what we say, think and write about it (1990: 1-7). Similarly, Braidotti points out that 'Territories are powerful locations…all communities are imaginary constructions—they are all 'imagined' to a large extent' (2011: 31). I am therefore interested in the nomad's way of imagining the territory they survey. This is because, as someone who moves between one cultural space and another, I am interested in the possibility of locating my poetry somewhere between Italian and non-Italian responses to Venice and the Veneto. In this manner, this literary, linguistic, national and cultural terrain represents for me what Bhabha terms a Third Space; a 'split space of enunciation' (1994: 56) in which I attempt to account for my own split and multiple identifications with one place and another.
Braidotti writes that 'Avoiding romanticizing or appropriating the exotic, the 'other', I want to practice a set of narrations of my own embodied genealogy; that is to say, I want to revisit certain locations and account for them' (2011: 27). In a similar fashion, I have taken Venice and the Veneto as a space in which to identify and account for my own 'embodied genealogy' that is nurtured and nourished by this particular part of the world. In my poetry, to which I will refer in more detail below, I practice what might be termed a literary nomadism, moving between one tradition or approach and another. For this reason I take an itinerant, mobile approach in which I roam across a wide literary cartography to find intersections between my own work and that of others.
In this paper I will describe the way in which I encounter both Italian and non-Italian writers who populate this space and bring it to life in their writing. I focus in particular on my responses to the life and writing of three poets connected to Venice and the Veneto: Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch), Andrea Zanzotto and George Gordon 'Lord' Byron. In their literary relationships to this space I see precedents for my own in-between, hybrid and transcultural identity that is revealed here. As I will argue, by responding to these literary figures I am able to traverse historical examples that stretch across space and time, looking for ways in which the literature of the past might intersect with my own 'imagining' of Venice and the Veneto in the present.
Literary mapping, from a Venetian perspective
In the Venetian Museo Correr, overlooking Piazza San Marco, is the famous 'Bird's eye view map of Venice', created by Jacopo de' Barbari in or around the year 1500. The map represents a wonderful circus-trick of perspective: it is as if de' Barbari has climbed a non-existent, but nevertheless very high tower, somewhere to the far side of San Giorgio Maggiore and the Giudecca, in order to look across the main islands of Venezia—Venice—all the way to the mainland and the Dolomite mountains beyond. Added to this feature are more supernatural elements that give a sense of liveliness to the map; such as cherubs that blow wind into the sails of the ships in the lagoon, and the figure of Neptune who commands the maritime scene with a raised trident.
De' Barbari's map conceives of Venice and its surroundings as something real and at the same time historical, mythological and imaginary. It suggests that to understand this terrain we must let our imaginations be free to interact with its life, its history, its inhabitants, its myths and stories and its relationship to the wider world. For me de' Barbari's map issues the challenge to take up my own, unique position in relation to Venice and the Veneto, and it inspires me to roam about this space, describing and mapping my relationship to it through poetry.
If the Venetian archipelago can be thought of as a kind of literary map that the creative writer traverses, then it is signposted by the writing of some of the world's great literary identities: Petrarch, Shakespeare, Byron and Mann among them. Below I shall explore the influence of some of these writers and their work on my own project to map this space through poetry. To begin with, however, I wish to explore for a moment the idea of a 'native' or local literature, and what this might mean, in particular, in the Venetian context.
Tony Tanner argues that Venice is a city without a single, iconic, author: 'London has Dickens; Paris has Balzac; St. Petersburg has Dostoevsky; Vienna has Musil; Dublin has Joyce; Berlin has Döblin—and so one might go on. There is simply no comparable writer for—of, out of—Venice' (1992: 4). However, this is not to say that there does not exist a Venetian literature, albeit a literary tradition that stretches beyond the confines of the city of Venice to include the region of the Veneto that surrounds it. Bruno Rosada provides an overview of this letteratura Veneta (2002). He traces the literary history of the region dating back to the period immediately before the formation of the Venetian Republic in 812AD to the mid twentieth century. His study includes reference to a wide range of writings including historiography, plays, novels and poetry.
While few canonical Italian writers were born there (with the exception of Goldoni and Casanova) others were exiled from it (as in the case of Foscolo). Some had political, social and/or philosophical connections to the Republic (such as Dante and Petrarch). Still others found their creative, adopted home there (as Aretino did). And while not himself a writer, Marco Polo's story, originally documented by Rustichello da Pisa, takes Venice as central compass point in relation to Polo's travels in the east (2001).
That no single writer dominates this literature is perhaps because the letteratura Veneta includes the work of writers such as these, who had relationships to Venice and Venetian literature that might best be described as provisional or transitory, a notion that mirrors my own personal relationship to this terrain. Two illustrative examples underscore this point. Dante died in 1321 after travelling through 'malarial swamplands' on his return from Venice to Ravenna after an ill-fated attempt to act as an emissary over navigation rights along the Po River (Norwich 1982: 4). Petrarch, a close friend of Doge Dandolo, took Venice as his adopted home between 1362-1367, even promising to bequeath the city his substantial library. After suffering a public insult from a Venetian youth he left the city abruptly (Norwich 1982: 236) and his final years were spent in the Veneto town now known as Arquà Petrarca.
I am attracted to the story of Petrarch's complex relationship to the Venetian Republic and Italy more generally as it reminds me of my own insider/outsider relationship with this part of the world, as one who is/is not Venetian/Italian. In order to explore this relationship with Petrarch and his writing I decided therefore to address him directly in poetry, the result of which is the poem transcribed below:
'To Petrarch'
Imagine your surprise when, on a Lenten
morning cold and crisp with privation,
you saw her, sitting with her scrofulitic family,
adjusting a grimy linen bonnet.
Did your heart seize in your chest
at the sight of her unblemished bosom?
Did you start a frantic Pater Noster when
her angelic face titled up towards you?
How you must have filed that memory deep
in the hostile forest of the future, a coarse thought
to blanket around your old, bony shoulders,
a bandage for your wounded pride when
at the crucial hour the Italians turned against you:
obsessed with their own intoxicating youth.
The implied reader of this poem, it could be argued, is Petrarch himself: in this sense it is a direct address that picks up the interrogative tone he so often addresses to himself in the Canzoniere (1999). It begins with a description of Petrarch's first meeting with Laura, his unrequited love. The series of irreverent questions in the octet are then used to set up an image of an unblemished 'intoxicating youth' with which to compare Petrarch's experiences in later life when his dream of an Italian republic came to nothing, as described in the final stanza.
Petrarch was himself a nomad: though born in Arezzo, Tuscany he spent much of his early adulthood in France, and his unrealized aims for a united Italian Republic and his deep interest in Italian history led him to sojourn in various cities throughout the peninsula (Foster 1984). Though he does not write of Venice directly his provisional relationship to the Veneto and his deep interest and attachment to it remind me of my own 'wandering' in this space. In particular, this relationship reminds me of my own status as an insider/outsider in the Veneto: though not born there, I nevertheless belong to its land and its culture.
The sonnet 'To Petrarch' was the starting point for me to explore, through poetry, my relationship to a number of writers associated with Venice and the Veneto, and to be 'in conversation' with them. One of these literary figures, whose footprints remain embedded in the cultural soil of this terrain, is the twentieth century Italian poet Andrea Zonzotto, famous for his experimentation with language and the creation of a hybrid Venetian dialect called petèl (Caesar 1997: 574).
Zanzotto's formulation of a hybrid dialect reflects the variety of diverse linguistic histories that belong to this terrain. This begins with the Latin historiography focused on the creation of the Venetian Republic (Rosada 2003: 8) and follows through to the English fascination with Venice in the Renaissance and Romantic periods (Tanner 1992, Ross 1994, Pfister and Schaff 1999, Beatty 2012). However, I am particularly interested in Zanzotto's creation of a hybrid dialect in so far as it relates to my own linguistic hybridity or 'in-between-ness', whereby I am constantly shifting between one language, or dialect, and another. Indeed, transposing Italian/dialect into poetry in English (and vice-versa) highlights the connection between my own translocation and a much longer tradition of multilingualism associated with the letteratura Veneta.
When addressing Zanzotto in poetry I therefore wished to highlight his forensic interest in language, and his tendency to think of it as a kind of microbiology of words (Caesar 1997). This is because I am interested in the connection between terrain that I traverse and the words that spring from it:
Zanzotto, is that you I spy
crouched beside the chestnut tree,
your beret cocked, your ear
close to the damp, cool earth?<
What fungal language do you hear?
Perhaps it is the truffling,
baby-talk of the spring,
or the molecular chew-talk of the grubs,
or the over-lapping dialect
of rotting leaves—those brown,
paper-thin tongues
upon which nature writes
its own transparent eulogy.
Writing on the poetry of Zanzotto, Patrick Barron observes that his use of dialect was a means by which the poet created an 'archipelago di luoghi' or archipelago of sites (2006: 194) that shaped 'a labyrinthine spatial knowledge, a veritable forest of endless signs… in which we are called to wander' (p. 211). I have adopted this notion of an archipelago of sites in relation to my own poetry, using Venice and the Veneto as a broad cultural, historic, geographic and literary terrain in which to locate my poetry.
Venetian by choice: Foreign writers and the mythology of Venice
Despite the literary output of the Italian writers I have just mentioned, to a great extent the 'archipelago di luoghi' of Venice and the Veneto is imagined for us by literary figures from outside the Italian literary tradition. The list of foreign writers who take Venice as the subject or setting—or both—for their writing is extensive. William Shakespeare, George Gordon (Lord) Byron, John Ruskin, Robert Browning, Henry James, Thomas Mann, Marcel Proust, Ezra Pound, Joseph Brodsky and Ian McEwan are just a few of the many non-Italian writers who have written of, about and in Venice.
Several studies have been dedicated to this subject. The collection of essays titled Venetian Views, Venetian Blinds (Pfister and Schaff 1999) interprets literary Venice as a heterotopic space, with many different approaches to imagining the city. Michael L. Ross (1994) compares literary representations of Florence, Rome and Venice, predominantly by English writers. Venice and the Cultural Imagination: 'That strange dream upon the water' examines different cultural imaginings of the city by non-Italians in music, art, architecture and literature (O'Neill, Sandy and Wooton 2012), while Tony Tanner (1992) reads literary Venice of the modern era through the lens of desire: desire in Venice and desire for Venice.
Emerging from this scholarship is the notion that there are two key 'moments' in which Venice is represented in writing other than Italian. The first comes in the Elizabethan/Jacobean era in which the plays of Shakespeare (Othello, The Merchant of Venice, Romeo and Juliet, The Two Gentlemen of Verona, The Taming of the Shrew), Ben Jonson (Volpone) and Thomas Otway (Venice Preserv'd) reflected the English cultural and political fascination with the Republic of Venice at that time, which provided a counterpoint to the English monarchical tradition. In the English writing of this period Venice became synonymous with 'sex, revolution and possible models of government' (Beatty 2012: 16).
The invasion of the Napoleonic forces and the annexation of Venice by the Austrians led to the fall of the Republic, which ceased to exist in 1797. At around the same time, a second Venetian 'moment' in English literature occurred: the Romantic poets, led by George Gordon Byron, took Venice as a literary topos. The fall of the Republic and the physical and political decline of the city provided a backdrop for Romantic poetry and its fascination with nostalgia, loss, ruin, love and tragedy. This connection between physical and personal ruin was then adopted by a further generation of writers for whom Venice became a literary topos; including the work of Robert Browning, Henry James and Thomas Mann. Robert's Browning's 'A Toccata of Galluppi's' is an exemplar of this kind of writing, in which the fall of the Republic is linked with romantic and sexual 'folly':
As for Venice and her people, merely born to bloom and drop
Here on earth they bore their fruitage, mirth and folly were the crop:
What of soul was left, I wonder, when the kissing had to stop?
(Pettigrew 1981: 550-552)
This notion of Venice as a nexus point between debauchery, excess, personal ruin and death was then further promulgated in the modern era in Thomas Mann's Death in Venice (1912) and its subsequent intertext Night Letters (Dessaix 1996) in which sexuality and mortality, so prominently linked in the Romantics' view of Venice, were restated and embellished (Bennett 2010).
This brief sketch of the way Venice has been imagined in literature from outside the Italian tradition will be familiar to anyone familiar with modern representations of this cultural and physical terrain. I provide it here, however, to illustrate that such writing represents an overlay or dominant set of coordinates for mapping this space with words. The tropes of sexual excess, political decline, physical and personal ruin and death so prevalent in this literature become almost impassable topographical features on any literary journey into this storyscape.
As a writer in Venice this presents a dilemma: does one try and slip by such dominant imaginings as quietly as one gondola passes another through a narrow canal, or does one face up to them, as a bold tourist takes photos of a church façade? As I have mentioned above, my conception of nomadism is both literary and subjective or, more accurately, literary because it is subjective. As such, my dual identifications as insider/outsider, Australian/Italian mean that I seek ways to navigate my way through the Italian and 'foreign' literature of this space, as well as around, between and across the dominant images and mythologies that represent it. My approach then is to embrace the idea of Venetian literature—both Italian/non-Italian—as a series of entry and exit points, much like the waterways and calle of Venice itself, that lead me in unusual directions, and which reveal certain landmarks of identity and selfhood as I move about this topos in my writing.
Mapping the self in Venice and the Veneto
Northern Italy is a place in which my sense of belonging and alienation is amplified: I have deep ancestral connections to this space, I speak its language and have lived and worked in this area at various points over two decades. For me, writing bilingually and practising self-translation of my poetry is a means to explore the connection between language, literature and national identity. Yet I am still acutely conscious that I was not born in the Veneto, and that I have a dual identity that includes a land and its culture many thousands of kilometres away.
That so many well-known writers from outside Italy chose Venice/the Veneto as an adopted, creative topos brings into question the idea that identity is solely located in one's place of birth. The notion of transnationalism is directly explored, for example, in Henry James' The Aspern Papers. In particular, the young Miss Tina represents a strange 'in-between-ness' in her capacity to speak the local dialect, despite her sheltered existence behind the seemingly impenetrable walls of her aunt's palazzo. The narrator of the novel even goes so far as to observe that the Misses Bordereau, ex-patriots living in Venice, inhabit a kind of in-between space in which a fixed sense of national identity becomes blurred:
You could never have said whence they came from the appearance of either of them; wherever it was they had long ago shed and unlearned all native marks and notes. There was nothing in them one recognised or fitted, and, putting the question of speech aside, they might have been Norwegians or Spaniards (2013: 29).
This kind of transnationality has particular significance for me in so far as I recognize in the description of these characters my own capacity to move through Venice and the Veneto as both an insider and an outsider, as one who does/does not belong simultaneously, and who is neither entirely Italian nor Australian. This is an enjoyable and productive kind of transnational camouflage: it is as if Venice is a stage upon which a masquerade of multiple identities can be played out. In line with this kind of thinking, the narrator of The Aspern Papers observes that the city
resembles a theatre with its actors clicking over bridges and, in straggling processions, tripping along fondamentas. As you sit in your gondola the footways that in certain parts edge the canals assume to the eye the importance of a stage, meeting it at the same angle, and the Venetian figures, moving to and fro against the battered scenery of their little houses of comedy, strike you as members of an endless dramatic troupe (James 2013, 86).
Venice—and for me, the Veneto—is indeed a stage upon which my primary character, the self, can be put into play in various guises. It allows for a mobile 'troupe' of possible identities that take up position in different times and places. As a literary nomad this also grants me the capacity to stage interactions with the writers who have come before me in the space, just as I have described in those poems addressed to Petrarch and Zanzotto described above.
It is therefore worth noting the poetic interaction I have made in this regard with the life and writing of George Gordon Byron. Byron famously approached Venice as a stop on his poetic Grand Tour, in 'Childe Harolde's Pilgrimage' (1841). For Byron an image of Venice was already formed in his mind by the writers who come before him: 'I loved her from my boyhood: she to me/Was a fairy city of the heart…And Otway, Radcliffe, Schiller, Shakespeare's art,/Had stamped her image in me' (Canto IV, Stanza XVIII in Byron 2009: 220). Byron's representation of the city is in this sense a literary pilgrimage through which he encounters it as a place already imagined by others. I have used this notion of a literary pilgrimage as the inspiration for my own encounter with the literature of Venice and the Veneto; while Otway, Shakespeare and others shaped Byron's view of Venice, Byron's words have, to a degree, shaped my own.
For this reason, I attempted, through writing, to 'encounter' Byron in the context of the 19th century Venice he inhabited. My poem 'Shelley, out riding with his Lord Byron' is a response to Shelley's 'Julian and Count Maddalo' (1824), and is an attempt to position myself, for a moment, in their adopted environment:
I rode out with him one day, early,
to avoid the crowds that even then
would follow him as far as the Lido,
keen to see the limping Lord, the
sharp-pencilled bard and infamous
English cuckolder. Asweat upon<
our satin-coated, chestnut mares we
galloped the beach to Alberoni where,
pausing in the cool pine-shade, we spoke
of his dual philandering. On one hand he
is an Armenian sacerdote on San Lazzaro,
while on the other he inclines to
prostitute himself to that old Lady
waiting, in heat, on the near horizon.
In the original poem Shelley recalls his time spent riding with Byron on the beach at the Lido, where Byron stabled horses. I have concentrated on this detail, using it as the basis to take up Shelley's perspective on Byron's relationship to Venice. From this standpoint I am able to refer to Byron's incongruous twin identities that developed in Venice: on one hand he was a sexual philanderer and on the other a student of languages with the Armenian monks on San Lazzaro. As Tanner puts it: 'Byron, in search of an occupation in Venice, took up sex and Armenian' (1992: 24-25).
I am attracted to this sense of duality for two reasons. The first has to do with the notion of 'staging the self' that I have mentioned above. By employing a first person poetic voice I am able to take up, for the duration of the poem, Shelley's perspective on his friend and fellow poet: it is a means to inhabit this point and place in history. At the same time this poem also acknowledges Byron's own embodiment of multiple identities, for in Venice he could be the religious student and sexually promiscuous lover simultaneously.
The second reason is that Byron's reputation as a philanderer coincides with one of the dominant ways of imagining Venice that I have mentioned earlier: as a space synonymous with sexual freedom, if not debauchery. On one hand I am somewhat reluctant to engage with the rather clichéd literary tradition that connects Venice with sexual intrigue, personal ruin and death, a trope already well noted by researches such as Tanner (1992), Pfister and Schaff (1999) and others. And yet I must also acknowledge that this mythology is a pathway to other poems in which I describe sex, sexuality and eroticism in this space from a more subjective perspective. As in 'Shelley, out riding', I have often used the technique of first person poetic narration to explore sex and sexuality, desire and the erotic in more obviously autobiographical representations of sex and sexuality set in Venice and the Veneto.
While I might strive to avoid the more obvious and clichéd mythology that connects sex and death in this context, searching for broad ranging and indeed personal ways of representing this topic, the example above demonstrates that my poetry is, in various ways, engaged with the literary history it encounters. This imagined outing with Shelley and Byron, with its insight into their relationship to Venice, is therefore an entry point into thinking about my own subjective relationship to this terrain. It allows me to travel in both space and time, mapping myself into a literary cartography that stretches back and forth in time. In this manner I have created my own 'archipelago di luoghi' (Barron 2006: 194) and a 'genealogy' (Braidotti 2011: 27) of images and representations in which I locate myself, through the practice of literary nomadism.
Venice and the Veneto, re-imagined
It is not uncommon in Venice to find twin yellow signs pointing in opposite directions but giving directions to the same place. This is because landmarks such as the Rialto Bridge, or the Piazza San Marco, can be reached in numerous ways. Indeed, it is often best to surrender to the interweaving nature of the calle, and trust that, in the end, one's orientation in the city will take care of itself. Over time the visitor and citizen alike will find themselves criss-crossing the same streets, bridges and waterways: this is a space that welcomes the patterns of the nomad and the wanderer. This notion reminds me to embrace the idea of intersections and encounters with the literary terrain I traverse when I practice writing in this locale, and to welcome the accumulation of an embodied knowledge that comes from spending time here and reading about its characters, its stories and its histories.
Experience has led me to understand that the creative practitioner who takes Venice and it surroundings as a literary topos also faces the danger of becoming mired in the various dominant themes, motifs and narratives that already characterise this space. Indeed, writing that refers to the popular imagery/imaginary of Venice—its faded glory, its masked Carnival its and funereal gondole, its reputation for debauchery and the Fall of its glorious Republic—is at risk of being inundated by a set of ideas that are always–already embellished and worn.
At the same time, the imagined terrain of Venice provides a powerful and unavoidable context for my own relationship to this space. Both the Italian and non-Italian literary traditions that have evolved here provide a multi-vocal, transnational stage on which I am able to perform multiple selfhoods, across languages and across identities. Indeed, through the practice of a literary nomadism I have pieced together my own, hybrid literature that belongs to this topos. It is an existential, embodied, intimate relationship with a literary terrain that I describe. Ultimately, it is not a literature that is exclusively Italian-Venetian or foreign; it is a hybrid literature, born of the nomadic explorations of the poet working in this space.
Barron, P 2006 in G Pizzamiglio (ed.) Andrea Zanzotto: tra Soligo e laguna di Venezia, Firenze: Leo S. Olschki.
Beatty, B 2012 'A More Beloved Existence: From Shakespeare's 'Venice' to Byron's Venice' in M O'Neill, M Sandy and S Wooton (eds.) Venice and the Cultural Imagination: 'This strange dream upon the water', London: Pickering and Chatto.
Bennet, B 2010 'More than a love affair: Australian writers in Italy', in B Kent, R Pesman and C Troup (eds.), Australian Lives in Italy: Contemporary Lives and Impressions, Clayton: Monash University Press, retrieved 10 January 2014 <http://books.publishing.monash.edu/apps/bookworm/view/Australians+in+Italy/52/xhtml/title.html>.
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