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Verbum et Ecclesia
versão On-line ISSN 2074-7705
versão impressa ISSN 1609-9982
Verbum Eccles. (Online) vol.35 no.2 Pretoria 2014
My father's tobacco-jar, Church square Pretoria and Freedom Park: An autoethnographical exploration
Marcel BarnardI, II, III, IV
IDepartment of Practical Theology, Protestant Theological University, Amsterdam
IILiturgical Studies, VU University Amsterdam, The Netherlands
IIIDepartment of Practical Theology, University of Pretoria, South Africa
IVDepartment of Practical Theology, Stellenbosch University, South Africa
Julian Müller, in his advocacy of a narrative theology, has called for an autobiographical theology. In addition to Julian Müller's plea, the author turned to what may be seen as the liturgical and ritual variant of this method, namely autoethnography. Thus he would honour Julian Müller and his tireless commitment to Practical Theology. Autobiographical and autoethnographical theology do not start from well-ordered and systematically arranged knowledge, but from a life as it has developed and as it is developing in its connections with others. Difference is therefore a keyword in the method. Others and other worlds evoke the consciousness of differences, incite reflections on the cracks, fractures and fissures that show themselves to the self and provoke negotiations with the otherness of the other. Never in his existence as a theologian had the author experienced this process more intensely than in his contacts with colleagues and religious practices in South Africa. It was described in the article how the author became acquainted with South Africa and, more particularly, with its liturgical rituals and visual arts since 2001. The different experiences of successive visits to Church Square in Pretoria functioned as a point of reference in the article. It was shown how the self re-negotiated its position in the world through the confrontation with a totally 'other' - in this case, South African liturgical rituals and visual arts. This re-negotiation focused on the Western academic position of the self when confronted with African epistemologies and ontologies.
On my father's desk in our house in the Netherlands there was a tobacco jar about 25 cm high. It was an heirloom from his grandfather and it was always referred to in the family as 'Uncle Paul' (Figure 1). It depicted a man sitting on a tree stump wearing a top hat. The torso could be lifted and then the hollow stem became visible. As a child, I never thought about the origin of the name of the tobacco-jar, or even why a tobacco-jar should have such a personal name. Only when I was in South Africa for the first time in 2001 as a middle-aged man visiting the University of Pretoria and standing in Church Square under Anton van Wouw's similar statue of Paul Kruger, did the circle close. In the Kruger House Museum on Church Street, I again saw an exact replica of my father's tobacco-jar, as an example of objects that, in particular in the Netherlands, were sold to support the Boers during the South African Wars around the turn of the century, or more precisely the wars between the Boers and the British in 1880-1881 and 1899-1902. At home again, the bookshelves of my parents appeared to include a commemorative book of the South African War that my great-grandfather had bought, apparently also in support of the Boers.
In 2001, I simply did not understand why that statue of the president of the Boer Republic was still there on Church Square in Pretoria, in the new South Africa, which presented itself at that time as 'the rainbow nation'. During that first visit, it was indeed not only the memory of the 'Uncle Paul' tobacco-jar that came to my mind, but also, and even more so, the memory of my high school days in the Netherlands in the 1970s, when we protested violently against apartheid and the posters promoting the boycott of South African oranges (Figure 2) hung everywhere at school: a black head that was squeezed on a juicer ('Eet geen outspan sinaasappelen. Pers geen Zuid Afrikaan uit - [Don't eat Outspan oranges. Don't squeeze a South African dry]).
And, of course, the emotional and most televised moment that we had seen live on television in 1990 continually came to my mind: Nelson Mandela, who, hand-in-hand with Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, walked out of the Victor Verster Correctional Centre in Paarl. Even now that I am writing this, 23 years later, it stirs many emotions within me. Those steps into freedom were, 10 years later, in 2011, inscribed into my own body when I, together with Ian Nell (who beat me easily), participated in a 10 km 'Freedom Walk' run from that same prison - a hard run for a Dutchman, who is used to a cool climate and flat surroundings, on a really hot morning in an undulating landscape. At that time, South Africa already had become my second home, and one for which I am always homesick when back in the Netherlands.
Some theoretical reflections on autobiographical and autoethnographical theology
Julian Müller has, in his advocacy of a narrative theology in particular, also called for an autobiographical theology. In his book, Om te mag twyfel: 'n Gelowige se reis (Müller 2011a), he has practiced the genre himself and shared his 'farewell to a Boer faith' with his readers. Following Sclater, Müller (2011b:2) says that theology can only be understood by referring to a 'complex matrix of connections' that becomes public in our autobiography. Theology as autobiography occupies (Müller 2011b):
a transitional space ... in which the self continually negotiates its position in the world, inscribes itself in relation to the available scripts, integrates the past, present and future through acts of remembering and telling. (p. 3)
In Liturgical Ritual Studies we use ethnographic methods. In addition to Julian Müller's plea for an autobiographical theology, I turn, in this article, to what may be seen as the liturgical and ritual variant of this method, namely autoethnography. Thus I will honour Julian Müller and his tireless commitment to Practical Theology.
Autobiographical and autoethnographical theology do not start from well-ordered and systematically arranged knowledge, but from a life as it has developed and as it is developing in its connections with others. Difference is therefore a keyword in the method. Others and other worlds evoke the consciousness of differences, incite reflections on the cracks, fractures and fissures that show themselves to the self and provoke negotiations with the otherness of the other. Never in my existence as a theologian have I experienced this process more intensely than in my contacts with colleagues and religious practices in South Africa. When, as in this article, the movements between two countries are the subject of an autobiographical and autoethnographical exploration, 'the stability of a narrating self' may offer 'temporary lodging for transient experience' (Neumann 1996:186). Meeting other cultures is indeed a creative and transformational process of identity formation. Eventually, however, the differences become smaller, even disappear and become integrated in the self. 'As different selves are awakened through travel, so, too, do they disappear', as Mark Neumann (1996:185) says, referring to Pico Iyer, who realises that he, upon arriving back home again, begins to understand that he has also left a home behind. The process of identity formation and transformation is not purely individual; the individual is part of a larger community with common values and understandings. In autoethnography, the common is seen through the perspective of 'the personal, concrete and mundane details of experience, as a window to understand the relationship between self and other or between individual and community', as Stacy Holman Jones (2005:766) says. Neumann (1996) states:
As we move through culture, culture moves through us, and in this mobilized configuration, the individual story leaves traces of at least one path through a shifting, transforming, and disappearing cultural landscape. (p. 183)
In this article, I explore my contacts with South Africans and my travels across the country, but I do so from the perspective of, and as a member of, the Dutch academic community that has a long tradition of cooperation with universities in South Africa.
In considering the consequences of autoethnography, Holman Jones (2005:767) points to the interest of 'emotions ... to understanding and theorizing the relationship among self, power, and culture'. In their turn, 'autoethnographic texts seek to invoke the corporeal, sensuous, and political nature of experience rather than collapse text into embodiment' (Holman Jones 2005:767). Thus, these texts aim at changing the personal and communal life; in other words, aim at transformation by means of their performative power. Autoethnography purposely strives at an output that is performative; the author is a performer, staging a performance. Thus autoethnography is not at all a value-free science, but invites scholars to write very concrete and detailed texts to 'stage arguments, to embody knowledge and politics, to open a community to itself and the world in ways that are dangerous, visceral, compelling, and moving' (Dolan, in Holman Jones 2005:784).
Coming back home from Africa
For students in Liturgical and Ritual Studies, bodily participation in the rituals that are investigated is a prerequisite. I have gradually become familiar with this methodological insight; in the years that I have taught at university, Liturgical Studies has changed from a mainly text and book-centred discipline into an empirical science that starts from the rite as it is performed. However, the power of this methodological understanding and its consequences for epistemology and ontology is not fully realised until one participates in a completely 'unfamiliar' rite. All too easily, my Dutch theology students - with whom I broadly share a perception of liturgy as performed in a neat church building with a pulpit, an organ and chairs or pews - and I will not find it necessary to explain to each other how the organ or the layout of the church building affects our understanding of liturgy. But coming back from Africa, after having participated in the liturgical ritual of an African indigenous church, I was simply no longer able to explain what I had experienced.
To feel the thumping drums and to experience the endlessly repeated rhythm physically in a worship service in an African indigenous church, is quite different from reading about it and theorising about the place of music in traditional African liturgy. The monotonous blowing of the vuvuzelas that lasts for hours is forever in my ears, without me being able to discursively explain its effect on me. I remember quite well how the circle dance in a Xhosa rondavel that served as a church building moved me to tears, somewhere deep in the green hills of the Eastern Cape, where I was on a Christmas morning. And although I fortunately did not have to participate in the dance itself, I felt more part of a community than I had felt for a long time back home in the Netherlands. Undoubtedly, this feeling is connected with the great hospitality with which I was received each time; arriving somewhere and seeing with your own eyes that a sheep or a chicken is slaughtered just because of you and others, visiting, brings one very close to the awareness that hospitality and a guest meal require a sacrifice: precious life has been cut for it. Literally so, as sheep and chicken represent a huge economic value. It also brings the huge economic differences between people on the globe to the fore; the reverend of this congregation worked in the mines of Johannesburg and had travelled to Cape Town by bus once in his life, but I know for certain that I will fly back to Europe and return next year. The heat in the small and dark hut and the smell of sweat from the dancing bodies unmistakably comes back into my memory when I write these words, but that is a weird (recollection of an) experience in an air-conditioned modern university building in Amsterdam's banking quarter.
In short, my getting acquainted with liturgical ritual in South Africa has changed my performance as a teacher of university students. My lectures in Liturgical Studies are no longer primarily about texts that should be embodied and performed by the future ministers that we educate, but first and foremost point to 'the body (that) "minds" itself' - a quote from Theodore W. Jennings (1996:327), of which my colleague Cas Wepener, also from Pretoria University, constantly reminds me. Jennings (1996:333) emphasises that ritual knowledge is 'to know reflectively what is known ritually, to re-cognize ritual knowledge'; that knowledge cannot only discursively be reported about, but asks for poetics, images, footage and other ways of expression. It thus also challenges the boundaries of science and introduces the artist into the realm of the university.
The arts: Pierneef, Jan Vermeiren and Esther Mahlangu
The arts are an important way for me to relate myself to the world, even when back home. To become familiar with South Africa, my reading of literature and encounters with art and artists helped me as much as academic contacts and joint research projects. African literature has also familiarised me with at least one of the languages of the country, Afrikaans. Antjie Krog, N.P. van Wyk Louw, Cas Vos, Chris Barnard, André Brink, Dalene Matthee, P.G. du Plessis, Karel Schoeman and Dan Sleigh were guides through unknown regions and on untrodden paths.
Also, the visual arts were and are important, precisely because they express what cannot be said in words and what cannot be reduced to discourse. During our first visit to South Africa, we visited an exhibition of the originally Flemish painter Jan Vermeiren (born 1949) at the Art Gallery in Stellenbosch, where we met André Brink, who had just published his book on the artist (Brink 2000). We immediately fell for the African atmosphere and seducing colours of Vermeiren's work and bought Vrou met Bokkie [Woman with goat], which was shipped to the Netherlands and, since then, has a place of honour in our home. I consider the meeting with the paintings of Vermeiren as a pivotal point, by way of his use of colour, which clearly reflects Africa, and this refers to my own sensitivity to colour. A woman has a small goat under her left arm, whilst her right hand is on the kid's head with endless tenderness. The woman, in a blue dress, is positioned against a deep red soil and an ultramarine blue sky and flanked by two palms that, in their complementarity to the red, only emphasise the radiant warmth of the red, which, in its turn, deepens the woman's presence. André Brink (2000) sees the colours as the characteristics of Jan Vermeiren's paintings. He speaks of 'the apotheosis of blue', 'the most concentrated shades of blue', 'inviolability' and 'an arctic remoteness' (Brink 2000:75) and says:
Colour is more lasting than life: after the individual fruit has shrivelled or been devoured, after the person has died and the personality disintegrated, what remains is the colour. And this is the ultimate celebration in the work of Jan Vermeiren ... The earthy red becomes a representation of the fecund earth of the continent, while the deep rich background evokes, in the artist's own words 'the beautiful dark blue of African nights ... the spiritual quality of Africa'. (Brink 2000:65, 68)
The colours of Africa are different from the colours of Europe and they reflect different spiritualities. The depth of secularism really dawned on me when I noticed the ubiquity of religion in Africa. There was another painter of the South African landscape that touched me from the beginning, Van Wouw's ward, Jacobus Hendrik Pierneef (1886-1957): his abstract canvasses of the hoogveld [highveld] with a violet palette open the huge spaces of the scenery, but evoke a far more distanced spirituality. I would say the landscape is revealed in its inaccessible and awesome grandeur, but not entered. It suggests a numinous majesty, but the spectator does not become intimate with it. The violet always gives way, the horizon always moves to the background and pushes one single tree to the fore, only to emphasise the endlessness (Wepener & Vos 2013).1 Vermeiren enters the landscape and the spirits that inhabit it, the spectator becomes intimate with it and its inhabitants. Pierneef's almighty and exalted, inaccessible divine becomes, with Vermeiren, the personal and accessible spiritual. Are the meetings of Pierneef and Vermeiren in my biography the meetings of a classical-reformed God and a spirituality of Africa, the meeting of the South Africa of the Boer Republics and the new South Africa? I do not know the precise answers to these questions, but I know that the violet of Pierneef and the ultramarine and earthly red of Vermeiren have posed the questions to me. In both cases, the encounter with Africa was an embodied meeting via colour, that is, via the physical eyes. It was of particular interest and encouraging to me to meet two painting colleagues in Practical Theology at the University of Stellenbosch, Johan Cilliers and Danie Louw, with whom I could dialogue over the inadequacy of discursive academic output to understand the world and its religions and the necessity of embodied ways of practicing theology.
A final important meeting with a South African artist took place last year, through Helene Smuts of the 'Africa meets Africa' project (Lekgoathi et al. 2008).2 She introduced us to Esther Mahlangu (born 1935) (Figure 3), a Ndebele artist, who, according to African Success (2008), has exhibited all over the world, for instance in Centre Pompidou in Paris, France, in Germany, Italy, Scandinavia, Japan and the USA. She has also painted cars for BMW and Fiat in the typical Ndebele geometric structures. Using the pigments from the soil (Figure 4) in her native village, she makes them with cow urine.
Again we bought a painting, a geometric structure that is thickly pasted onto a canvas. This purchase evidently was a step further into South Africa: now the colours did not evoke and represent the memory of Africa, as in the painting of Jan Vermeiren, but the colours are the soil of Africa and the urine of its cows itself. African soil and African life entered our house in the Netherlands. And of course, again this act is full of ambivalences. In a resource book for educators of the 'Africa meets Africa' project, Paul Kruger is mentioned again:
After the wars of 1883, the Zuid Afrikaansche Republiek's president Paul Kruger did all he could to ensure that the Mapoggers (as he called them - the Ndzundza (or Ndebele) women, MB - after Nyabela's predecessor, Mabhogo) would not rise up again. Ancestral land was divided up into farms and shared out among the members of the Boer commando that had defeated King Nyabela. In this sudden state of landlessness, the Ndzundza people were removed from the traditions they had lived by. Families were divided amongst the farms and easily exploited. Their sense of belonging was reduced to the homes they built on unfamiliar land; under the authority of a Boer master, or Baas. (Lekgoathi et al. 2008:28)
This passage refers, of course, to the complex politics of contested land distribution that the country is facing nowadays. It is claimed in the project, that this shattered and virtually enslaved people, kept and reinvented their own identity by intensifying 'distinctive styles of beaded adornment, the resourceful architectural solutions and the wall paintings they created around rites of passage. In this way they maintained Ndebele identity' (Lekgoathi et al. 2008:28).
Evidently, the reinvention of ritual is always bound up with changing social and political contexts. Identity formation, in this case, appears to be directly connected to colonial and usurpative behaviour of the White minority. Being the guest of Esther Mahlangu, I realised what it meant to be able to meet her and buy a painting from her. We bought a piece of art, containing South African soil and cow urine, processed into an abstract painting of an - under the influence of 'Uncle Paul's' politics - reinvented Ndebele tradition, by an Afrikaans-speaking artist, who as a world-famous artist has become a symbol of the new South Africa - the best digital biography of her is on a website called African Success (2008) - and back in the Netherlands we hung the painting not far from my father's tobacco-jar. Thus, 'Uncle Paul' also lost his safe haven in our home in the Netherlands, where he is also forced to look the new South Africa in the face. We embedded him in the new South Africa. He was brought home again. In 1900, he was received in the Netherlands as 'a tragic old hero, the hero that everyone had closed in his heart, but for whom no one could do anything' (Bossenbroek 2012:429). We made him part of the history of the new South Africa.
Ontology and epistemology challenged
Meetings with South African people also challenge my Western ontological and epistemological perspectives. This also holds in particular for the research that I performed with, amongst others, Cas Wepener, in the African indigenous church mentioned before. A worldview in which ancestors, spirits and healings also form part of the world - and in which drums, dances and bodily performances take the place that rational words and restrained physical performances mainly take in the Western world - allows you to question your own assumptions. What does it mean when people join the church that we investigated mainly because of its healing powers and rituals? How does that affect my own theology with regard to the healing power of Jesus? What does it mean when these people convincingly connect to God and each other by means of the drums? How limited is my own, word-centred, discursive theology? Having been touched by this worldview and having got acquainted with people who simply do not question their ontologies and epistemologies, or who, in a Kantian sense, are non-critical because they do not modernly distinguish between the different realms of knowledge, has changed my own performances as a Western research leader and professor. I am convinced that meeting people from other cultures, and exploring the differences between them, on a modest scale contributes to human flourishing and world peace, because it changes people eventually. For this reason, I exert myself to promote, continue and expand cooperative academic research, as well as the exchange of academic staff and students, especially with other continents. I am well aware that I am standing in a long tradition of student and staff exchanges between South Africa and the Netherlands (Schutte 2005; Van Oel 2011). I am also aware that there are interests at stake in academic cooperation, certainly in cooperation between theological institutions. Knowledge is an economic value. Now that Christianity is dramatically shrinking in Europe, Africa, with its spectacular growing Christianity, has become an interesting partner. But here also lies the danger of neo-colonialism lurking around the corner. Collaboration requires real commitment and solidarity, without giving up your own identity.
Quite familiar with and enthusiastically engaged in the requirements of Western academic business, I have learned to see, on the one hand, its blessings (Western knowledge, for example as it is instanced by medical sciences, has highly improved the world), but, on the other hand, its limits and unproved assumptions (Western knowledge is overwhelmingly dominant, and the more data it collects ['big data'!], the more the question presents itself whether it leaves sufficient room for human creativity, love, compassion and probably also religiosity) (Cukier & Mayer-Schoenberger 2013:40). As a consequence, I had to renegotiate my position in Western academic discourse. It resulted in what I felt as an urgent need also to explore the creative and artistic sides of myself, more specifically - as I turned to painting - to discover the spectrum of colours that were hidden within myself.
Church Square
Let me turn back to Church Square and my first visit to that heart of town, 14 March 2001. Back in my memory, Church Square was a no-go-area at the time and my pleasure to see a life-size version of my father's tobacco-jar is connected to a hasty photo opportunity whilst a car stood nearby waiting. I kept a diary during that South Africa journey and I found my description of Church Square, written the same evening in that notebook. It appears that a theology student, at the request of the then Dean, Cas Vos, had driven us through the city in a bakkie that he had borrowed from his brother. The comment that I wrote reads: 'The crime rate in the city (and also in rural areas: some 600 farmers are murdered every year) is so high that you cannot go in there.' Then it goes on in my handwriting (it was before the time of travelling around the world with a laptop) about car hijackings and bank robberies. The visit to Church Square only gets one sentence, which reads as follows: 'We drove into town, on Church Square. We got out of the car to take a picture of the statue of Paul Kruger (Van Wouw, 1899): it is the "Uncle Paul" of the tobacco-jar back home'. Also the Union Buildings get one sentence, referring to the green lawns, the flowers and the inauguration of Nelson Mandela. A visit that same day to the Voortrekker Monument I render with strongly negative qualifications in my diary: 'Wrong symbolism and wrong aesthetics'.
It feels uneasy to repeat these sentences, now in 2013. The text, on the one hand, reveals an exclusively touristic perspective. Its reflection on crime, and the fear of it that shines through the lines, underlines this perspective. These are the words of a tourist, who visits the places that he knows from television or from the books that he has read and whose real existence he proves by taking a picture of it. By this I do not want to deny the immense problem of crime in contemporary South Africa in any way; it is a huge problem. These are also words of a visitor who represents a politically correct stance - which he has learned 10 000 km away. For example, I refer to the founding date of the Voortrekker Monument in the 1930s, but any reflection on the situation of the Boers in the days after the South African Wars is lacking. My perspective on the South African Wars changed permanently through P.G. du Plessis' (2008) evocative novel Fees van die ongenooides and, in a sense also through Martin Bossenbroek's (2012) description of the war from a Dutch perspective. The complexity of South African history is simply a non-issue in my diary, whereas ironically my strong politically correct stance is not reflected in my travel scheme at all: the only outreach to non-White South Africans is a visit to a service in a Uniting Reformed Church in Stellenbosch. Moreover, the overwhelming kindness with which I was received by White colleagues, I have not associated with my political position.
To put it in terms of the theory of autobiographical and autoethnographical theology, my autobiography, as it is reflected in my diary of that visit, had not yet developed into a 'transitional space' that negotiated its position in the world. My world was still in order. My position had not yet started to move, the past and present that are inscribed in my self-view of that time are very personal and mainly refer to my own memories of home and school and watching South Africa on Dutch television. My worldview is still well-ordered: there are 'goodies' and 'baddies'. Nevertheless, there and then I started to connect to South Africa and to the people there, although it was still mainly unreflected.
Church Square revisited
During my latest visits, in 2011 and 2012, I took a taxi from my guesthouse close to the campus of the University of Pretoria and let the driver drop me off at the Pretoria Art Museum at Arcadia Park. As said before, during my first visit I was struck by the paintings of Pierneef, who so beautifully represents the South African landscapes with his violet and purple palette. I still like his paintings very much. But now the entire overview of South African art from the end of the 19th century fascinates me, as it reminds me of the many people and places - rural and urban, well-to-do and in townships or even in places without any facilities - that I visited, of what I learned from the history of South Africa and the Dutch, French and English interventions, which, in their turn, also became part of South African history.
Happily, the greater part of the city centre could be explored on foot at that time and I walked with my wife from the museum to Church Square, where I had not been since 2001, although I have visited the University of Pretoria many times since. What a difference to my first visit! Now it was not a hasty photo moment next to a waiting car that could be my safe haven at any moment, but a journey on foot, lasting one morning, which was, at the same time, a feast of recognition and a rediscovery. Orientation was sometimes difficult, because of the politics of changing street names which had now been realised and which reflects the change of who-is-in-power. The atmosphere was cozy and pleasant, but I was aware that we should not have been here in the evening and so I had left my camera in the hotel. The very first thing that struck me was that the area was completely occupied by Black people and that the Western cityscape with its neatly swept streets had been replaced by a more improvised use of public spaces. Yet, in some places, modern Western-styled shopping malls had begun to appear, next to numerous hairdressers, blanket shops, clothing stores and street stalls with cellphones, herbs and aphrodisiacs, sunglasses, hats and shawls, CDs, toys, et cetera. Several people holding a billboard with small pictures of new haircuts invited us to come along. The old monumental buildings that were in the centre of White governance definitely had begun to crumble. Repeatedly during our walk, we stumbled upon a religious gathering. A speaker with a wide circle of listeners loudly and humorously testified of Jesus Christ, there was singing by live singers or electronically through speakers. It was clear we stood out as White people and my wife was addressed directly, albeit in a language that we did not understand, but laughing bystanders translated for her. A church of the Nederduits Gereformeerde Kerk had clearly undergone a remake in the past 10 years, as billboards in the garden made it clear that it now completely focused on HIV and/or AIDS topics. Our walk ended at Church Square.
We found that the statue of Paul Kruger was still standing there, virtually unshaken. The green lawns that surround the statue had been transformed into family picnic places. On the tar streets that cross the lawns and circle the park, street performers entertained the public. 'Uncle Paul' was looking down on a new South Africa and we, walking in between, had become connected to that country. The changed meaning of my father's tobacco-jar simply mirrors the transformed significance of Van Wouw's statue on Church Square in Pretoria, which, at the present time, is part of the City of Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality. Back home, my father's tobacco-jar, which my mother gave to me after my father's death, looks at me, accompanied by Vermeiren's Vrou met Bokkie and Esther Mahlangu's Ndebele abstract. In Pretoria, the statue overlooks a square that finally has been appropriated by the new South Africa.
In 2001, after visiting Church Square, we went to the Voortrekker Monument. Now, in 2012, we went to the hill opposite, to the new commemorative Freedom Park. I had promised myself that I would return to the park, because it includes nearly all themes that I address in this article and is therefore an excellent focal point to describe what is happening in South Africa and to thematise the 'otherness' of the country for an involved visitor from abroad. According to the Freedom Park website, amongst the objectives of the park are to 'contribute to social cohesion by positioning Freedom Park as a symbol of national identity in 70% of identified target groups', to 'establish mechanisms to promote, protect and preserve Indigenous Knowledge Systems (IKS)' and to 'mobilize active partnerships with continental and international institutions to emancipate the African voice' (Freedom Park 2013a). It is a place commemorating those who lost their lives in 'the struggle for humanity and freedom' (Freedom Park 2013b). There is not only a flame for the unknown victims and a wall with the thousands and thousands of names of those who paid for the struggles with their lives, but also 'a resting place for the spirits of those who died in the struggles for humanity and peace' (Isivivane) (Freedom Park 2013c), and a 'walkway . for meditation, self-discovery, healing and spiritual contemplation' (Freedom Park 2013d). From the Freedom Park, the Voortrekker Monument can be seen on the opposite hill. The two monuments are accessible with one admission ticket. The South African Wars, formerly known as the Boer Wars, are commemorated in the Freedom Park as well, as there could have been no new South Africa without the Boers. This, at least, is the message that is expressed by the park. Whether it is always lived that way in the country, is another story. The message of the park is that it reflects the new South Africa and so the Boers' history is incorporated in it.
For me, 'Uncle Paul's' meaning as a symbol was reactivated in the past 12 years. In earlier years, it presented the familiarity of a father-son relationship and a vague memory of a greatgrandfather whom I never knew. Then it became a relic of the past South Africa of apartheid. Finally, the tobacco-jar became the symbol of the hospitality and friendships that I met in South Africa and of my commitment to the country and its peoples, of its complex history and blended cultures, from which the Afrikaners, with whom we Dutch have so many common roots, no doubt form part. And thus I no longer understand the touristic perspective of my travel guide: 'Church Square ... is the heart of the city ... A rather unattractive statue of a grim-faced, grizzled Paul Kruger stands in the middle ...' (Kellett & Williams n.d.).
Competing interests
The author declares that he has no financial or personal relationships that may have inappropriately influenced him in writing this article.
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Freedom Park, 2013d, Vhuawelo, viewed 28 August 2013, from http://www.freedompark.co.za/cms/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id= 81&Itemid=130 [ Links ]
Holman Jones, S., 2005, 'Autoethnography: Making the personal political', in N.K. Denzin & Y.S. Lincoln (eds.), The sage handbook of qualitative research, 3rd edn., pp. 763-791, SAGE Publications, London. [ Links ]
Jennings, T.W., 1996, 'On ritual knowledge', in R.L. Grimes (ed.), Readings in Ritual Studies, pp. 324-334, Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River. [ Links ]
Kellett, F. & Williams, L., n.d., South Africa handbook, 10th edn., Footprint Travel Guides, Bath. [ Links ]
Lekgoathi, S.P., Rich, P., Smuts, H. & Getz, C., 2008, Africa meets Africa: Ndebele women designing identity, The Africa Meets Africa Project, Johannesburg. [ Links ]
Müller, J., 2011a, Om te mag twyfel. 'n Gelowige se reis, Tafelberg, Cape Town. [ Links ]
Müller, J.C., 2011b, '(Outo)biografie as teologie', HTS Teologies Studies/ Theological Studies 67(3), viewed 29 May 2013, from http://dx.doi.org/10.4102/hts.v6713.1113 [ Links ]
Neumann, M., 1996, 'Collecting ourselves at the end of the century', in C. Ellis & A.P. Bochner (eds.), Composing ethnography. Alternative forms of qualitative writing, pp. 172-200, Alta Mira Press, London. [ Links ]
Schutte, G.J., 2005, De Vrije Universiteit en Zuid Afrika 1880-2005, Historische Reeks VU, vol. 10, Meinema, Zoetermeer. [ Links ]
Van Oel, M., 2011, De wereld in huis. Buitenlandse theologiestudenten in Kampen 1970-2011, Protestantse Theologische Universiteit, Kampen. [ Links ]
Wepener, C. & Vos, C., 2013, 'Betlehem én Beaufort-Wes is beautiful: Die ontwikkeling van 'n intertekstueel-inkulturerende homiletiese praxis-model', Litnet Academic (godsdienswetenskappe), viewed 29 May 2013, from http://www.litnet.co.za/Article/betlehem-n-beaufort-wes-is-beautiful-die-ontwikkeling-van-n-intertekstueel-inkulturerende- [ Links ]
Marcel Barnard
PO Box 7161
1007MC Amsterdam
The Netherlands
Email: firstname.lastname@example.com
Received: 10 June 2013
Accepted: 27 June 2013
Published: 06 Aug. 2014
Professor Marcel Barnard is a research associate of Professor Cas Wepener in the Department of Practical Theology at the University of Pretoria.
1. Wepener and Vos (2013) speak of an 'uninhabited idealized' and 'pristine' landscape.
2. The project has an educational aim: it 'engages with Ndebele cultural achievement as inherited knowledge and skill. It shows educators how an awareness of their cultural inheritance can support learning in our schools ... Daunting textbook challenges are presented in a known context and learning becomes an adventure of self discovery, as it should be' (Lekgoathi et al. 2008:3).


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As a kid, the only turtles that really interested me lived in the dwellings of New York City, fought crime against the Foot Clan and exclaimed things like "Cowabunga!" Yep, I'm talking about these guys—the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
Since then, my expectation of turtles hasn't changed. They should be fierce fighters, find strength in numbers and ultimately, play a role in helping the world. It's just that now, they are fighting extinction instead of foot soldiers, gaining numbers through captive breeding and head starting programs through zoos and conservation partners, and the important role they play on the planet is more ecologically significant than crime-fighting significant.
More than 50 percent of the world's known turtle species are facing extinction, making these reptiles one of the most endangered groups of animals on the planet. Turtle extinction is a global phenomenon, but with another successful turtle breeding season at the zoo we are helping to grow the populations of severely endangered species in our backyard. This month, we welcomed to the zoo new western pond turtle hatchlings, native to Washington state, and Egyptian tortoise hatchlings. (Cue the squeals!)
|This Egyptian tortoise hatched two weeks ago. The Egyptian tortoise is the second smallest tortoise species in the world. Photo by Ryan Hawk/Woodland Park Zoo.
In partnership with local and international conservation leaders, including the Egyptian Tortoise Conservation Program and the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, the zoo's successful captive breeding and head starting programs are increasing populations in our state as well as in our North American populations of captive species. These turtles are not giving up!
|Since June, more than 100 western pond turtles have hatched at the zoo. Archive photo by Ryan Hawk/Woodland Park Zoo.
The Egyptian tortoise is among the top 40 tortoises and freshwater turtles at a very high risk of extinction. Native to northeast Africa and the Middle East, the second smallest tortoise species in the world is primarily threatened by habitat loss, introduced predators and the illegal pet trade. With increased research, public awareness and community engagement, the Egyptian Tortoise Conservation Program is working to prevent the species' extinction. In the U.S., our zoo has produced more Egyptian tortoise hatchlings on average than any other zoo, producing more than 75 tortoises through our successful captive breeding program.
|At two weeks old, the Egyptian tortoises are just the size of a quarter! Photo from Woodland Park Zoo's Instagram. Follow @woodlandparkzoo.
Our western pond turtle hatchlings are part of the Western Pond Turtle Recovery Project. Remember our post in August on our release of hatchlings? In Washington state, the species is endangered and its population is rapidly declining. To give these animals a head start, Woodland Park Zoo and Oregon Zoo rear hatchlings each year until they are large enough to avoid predation in the wild. For 21 years, Woodland Park Zoo has led the recovery project and released nearly 1,500 turtles back into protected habitats.
|Western pond turtle hatchling on the move. Archive photo by Ryan Hawk/Woodland Park Zoo.
Despite the challenges threatening turtle species, our new turtle hatchlings are yet another large stride for the zoo's turtle conservation programs. Turtle power!
|WildLights presented by KeyBank runs through Jan. 1. Photo by Ryan Hawk/Woodland Park Zoo.
Need a closer look at the reptiles? Visit the zoo's Egyptian tortoises, western pond turtles, and other reptiles and amphibians day or night this winter. WildLights presented by KeyBank, the zoo's sparkling, after-hours event, features reptiles and amphibians in the Day Exhibit. WildLights is open through January 1, 5:30-8:30 nightly and will be closed December 24-25. Tickets available now at www.zoo.org/wildlights.

subset: commoncrawl


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television shapes concepts of social reality
History and Orientation
With the decline of hypodermic needle theories a new perspective began to emerge: the stalagmite theories. Black et. al. used the metaphor of stalagmite theories to suggest that media effects occur analogously to the slow buildup of formations on cave floors, which take their interesting forms after eons of the steady dripping of limewater from the cave ceilings above. One of the most popular theories that fits this perspective is cultivation theory.
Cultivation theory (sometimes referred to as the cultivation hypothesis or cultivation analysis) was an approach developed by Professor George Gerbner, dean of the Annenberg School of Communications at the University of Pennsylvania. He began the 'Cultural Indicators' research project in the mid-1960s, to study whether and how watching television may influence viewers' ideas of what the everyday world is like. Cultivation research is in the 'effects' tradition. Cultivation theorists argue that television has long-term effects which are small, gradual, indirect but cumulative and significant.
Core Assumptions and Statements
Cultivation theory in its most basic form, suggests that television is responsible for shaping, or 'cultivating' viewers' conceptions of social reality. The combined effect of massive television exposure by viewers over time subtly shapes the perception of social reality for individuals and, ultimately, for our culture as a whole. Gerbner argues that the mass media cultivate attitudes and values which are already present in a culture: the media maintain and propagate these values amongst members of a culture, thus binding it together. He has argued that television tends to cultivate middle-of-the- road political perspectives. Gerbner called this effect 'mainstreaming'. Cultivation theorists distinguish between 'first order' effects (general beliefs about the everyday world, such as about the prevalence of violence) and 'second order' effects (specific attitudes, such as to law and order or to personal safety). There is also a distinction between two groups of television viewers: the heavy viewers and the light viewers. The focus is on 'heavy viewers'. People who watch a lot of television are likely to be more influenced by the ways in which the world is framed by television programs than are individuals who watch less, especially regarding topics of which the viewer has little first-hand experience. Light viewers may have more sources of information than heavy viewers. 'Resonance' describes the intensified effect on the audience when what people see on television is what they have experienced in life. This double dose of the televised message tends to amplify the cultivation effect.
Conceptual Model
Cultivation Theory
Source: Hawkins and Pingree (1983)
Favorite Methods
Cultivation analysis usually involves the correlation of data from content analysis (identifying prevailing images on television) with survey data from audience research (to assess any influence of such images on the attitudes of viewers). Audience research by cultivation theorists involves asking large-scale public opinion poll organizations to include in their national surveys questions regarding such issues as the amount of violence in everyday life. Answers are interpreted as reflecting either the world of television or that of everyday life. The answers are then related to the amount of television watched, other media habits and demographic data such as sex, age, income and education.
Scope and Application
Cultivation research looks at the mass media as a socializing agent and investigates whether television viewers come to believe the television version of reality the more they watch it.
In a survey of about 450 New Jersey schoolchildren, 73 percent of heavy viewers compared to 62 percent of light viewers gave the TV answer to a question asking them to estimate the number of people involved in violence in a typical week. The same survey showed that children who were heavy viewers were more fearful about walking alone in a city at night. They also overestimated the number of people who commit serious crimes. This effect is called 'mean world syndrome'. One controlled experiment addressed the issue of cause and effect, manipulating the viewing of American college students to create heavy- and light-viewing groups. After 6 weeks of controlled viewing, heavy viewers of action-adventure programs were indeed found to be more fearful of life in the everyday world than were light viewers.
Key publications
- Boyd-Barrett, Oliver & Peter Braham (Eds.) (1987). Media, Knowledge & Power. London: Croom Helm.
- Condry, John (1989). The Psychology of Television. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
- Dominick, Joseph R. (1990). The Dynamics of Mass Communication. New York: McGraw-Hill.
- Evra, Judith van (1990). Television and Child Development. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
- Gerbner, G., & Gross, L. (1976a). Living with television: The violence profile. Journal of Communication, 26, 172-199.
- Gerbner, G., & Gross, L. (1976b). The scary world of TV's heavy viewer. Psychology Today, 10(4), 41-89.
- Hawkins R.P & Pingree, S. (1983). Televisions influence on social reality. In: Wartella, E.,
- Whitney, D. & Windahl, S. (Eds.) Mass Communication Review Yearbook, Vol 5. Beverley Hills CA: Sage.
- Livingstone, S. (1990). Making Sense of Television. London: Pergamon.
- McQuail, D. & Windahl, S. (1993). Communication Models for the Study of Mass Communication. London: Longman.
- Stappers, J.G. (1984) De eigen aard van televisie; tien stellingen over cultivatie en culturele indicatoren. Massacommunicatie 12(5-6), 249-258.
See also Media, Culture and Society, Mass Media


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Well, I thought it had to do with his IRS problems, but I guess I was wrong.
It turns out that like when Homer Simpson was Mr. X, Kent knew too much!
The Illuminati wanted to shut him up! It makes too much sense!
Gosh, the only thing nuttier than Kent Hovind are his devout followers!
I imagine he continues to natter on prison– I'm sorry, I mean Uncle Obama's Gulag for Christians!
And I can't imagine any worse punishment than being forced to be Kent's cellmate.
That might even be against the constitutional provision against cruel and unusual punishment.


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When corn harvesting conditions allow optimal time for in-field drying, taking full advantage can reduce on-farm energy consumption.
A new publication from Iowa State University Extension and Outreach explains the basic principles of energy management for grain drying.
PM 2089Q"Improving Corn Drying Efficiency (PM 2089Q) is available to download from the Extension Online Store, https://store.extension.iastate.edu/.
This publication explains corn moisture content, plant physiology and the fundamental principles of drying corn following harvest.
Topics include in-field drying, considerations for selecting earlier maturing hybrids and recommendations for holding corn "wet and cold" through the winter.
When conditions allow, implementing some or all of these techniques can help growers reduce fuel bills for grain drying.
"Both over-drying and under-drying corn can lead to wasted energy and lost grain quality," said Shawn Shouse, ISU Extension agricultural engineer.
"Consider options to reduce your drying needs and manage your drying system closely during changing weather and grain conditions to reduce energy use and maintain grain quality."
For more tips on energy efficiency around the farmstead, visit http://farmenergy.exnet.iastate.edu.
The Farm Energy publications are part of a series of farm energy conservation and efficiency educational materials being developed through the ISU Farm Energy Initiative. The purpose is to increase farmers' awareness of opportunities for improving efficient use of farm energy.
The initiative also will help farmers and utility providers to explore opportunities to reduce farm energy demand and to improve overall profitability in a rapidly changing energy environment.


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Chronic Communication at Home: What We Do That Hurts Our Partner
Learn how to prevent hurt feelings—and how to heal a hurt in your relationship.
By Dr GaryCA October 4 1,592
Gary McClain, PhD, is a therapist who specializes in helping clients deal with the emotional impact of chronic and life-threatening illnesses.
I talk with a lot of couples about their relationship. And I talk with clients one-on-one who also want to talk about their relationship.
Inevitably, we discuss hurt feelings. Pain that comes not so much from the big things they feel their partner has done to them, but more likely the little things. Little things that can, over time, have a big impact on their relationship. We also talk about the hurtful big and little things they have done to their partner.
I think that being diagnosed with a chronic condition introduces additional challenges in a relationship. Changes to the daily routine. The need for additional assistance. Financial challenges. And on and on. These challenges can lead to stress, not only for the individual living with the chronic condition but also for their partner.
Stress in the home can leave you that much more vulnerable, more sensitive. Words and gestures that you might not even notice or acknowledge can be experienced as catastrophic when you, your partner, and your relationship are under stress.
And as you know, stress resulting from living with a chronic condition can accumulate over time. Leaving you even more sensitive.
This can become a cycle. Challenges from living with a chronic condition. Stress. Tension in your relationship. Feeling more vulnerable to words and actions from your partner. And hurt feelings. See what I mean?
Here are some of the causes of hurt feelings in a relationship.
Words. Sure, launching a verbal attack on your partner, tearing into them for past hurts and disappointments, criticizing the way they do or don't do things, can result in hurt feelings. But so can flippant comments, sarcasm, underhanded comments. All leaving small wounds in their wake.
Actions. Doing something that you know will not be received well by your partner. Intentional actions, big and small, are often a way of expressing anger. And don't forget about actions that are not so intentional, resulting from thoughtlessness. They can also result in hurt. Examples of intentional or unintentional actions include turning off the TV when the other person is still watching it, making something for dinner that your partner doesn't like or can't eat, or committing to an activity they can't participate in.
Lack of action. It's not only what you do, but what you don't do, that can feel hurtful to your partner. Not following up on something you promised to do. Leaving them with all the chores. Forgetting a special occasion. Again, lack of action can be intentional or unintentional. It might be an expression of anger, or just the result of having too much on your mind. Either way, your partner may feel confused and hurt.
Expressions. We convey a lot through body language. Facial expressions like a simple roll of the eyes, a frown, or appearing to be bored say a lot about how you feel about your partner.
Body language. What you do with your body sends a message too. Like folding your arms, holding your hand up, or turning your head away when they are trying to talk to you. The simplest body language can leave your partner with hurt feelings.
What you can do instead
Don't forget how the impact of little hurts accumulates over time. Lots of small hurts can add up to a very big hurt. That can impact the day-to-day harmony in your relationship in a big way. And as you know, and may have also experienced, tension in your relationship can also impact your physical and emotional wellness.
So, here are some ideas to help you avoid making your partner feel hurt and to help heal a hurt in your relationship:
Think. Or, as my mom used to say, use your head. Be aware of how your words and actions might affect your partner. You know their hot buttons.
Make kindness your daily goal. Keep in the front of your mind the intention of treating your partner with love and compassion. Doing so will help make acting out of kindness second nature to you—your default position.
Stay aware of your partner. How does your partner appear to be reacting to you? You know them pretty well, after all. What are the signs that tell you they are angry? Frustrated? Hurt? Keep your eyes and ears open to any indications they may have misunderstood something you innocently said or did. Or that they correctly understood any unkindness you may have shown them.
Hurting your partner hurts your relationship. And your wellness.
Be ready to apologize. If it is clear you have done something hurtful to your partner, apologize. As soon as possible. Be willing to humble yourself, even if you feel they did something to merit the way you behaved.
Be willing to forgive. A hurtful action can be the result of a bad day. It can be an oversight. Or it can be intended, but later regretted. Talk it out. Forgive, just as you hope to be forgiven when the ball is in your court.
Be intentional. Every day, perform an act of kindness toward your partner. A smile. A few words of kindness. Do something you know they will appreciate. This will set the tone for kindness in your home.
Focus on the benefit. Both you and your partner win when you are all about showing kindness and staying aware of what you can do to avoid causing hurt to your partner. The reward is harmony in your relationship. Keep this in mind during those times when you are itching to show how angry you are, or aren't sure if you can quite bring yourself to apologize.
Ask for help. Sometimes you might not be sure what your partner needs from you to know that you are acting out of kindness and not trying to hurt them. Ask them. And if you don't always recognize when you are acting in a hurtful manner, ask you partner to let you know when you are. It's that easy.
Ask for more help. If you find that you are constantly hurting to your partner, in words or in deeds, or if your partner is hurting you, then it might be time to reach out to a mental health professional. A therapist or counselor could help you, or your partner, sort out what's going on that is leading to the desire to cause pain. You might also consider couples counseling, to learn how to work together as a team and treat each other with kindness.
You, your partner, and hurt feelings. Nobody's perfect, and sometimes we unintentionally, through words and actions, cause our partner to feel hurt. And when we hurt, it is only human to want to hurt back. But either way, you risk injury to your relationship. Make it your goal to avoid both the big things and the little things that can cause your partner to feel hurt, and to react quickly to patch things up when you need to. After all, we're all in this together.
What helps you and your partner deal with hurt feelings? Share your thoughts by commenting below.


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Three months or so ago, reports began to surface that a sheep and a deer were carrying on a love affair at a Chinese zoo. Well, yesterday, they "decided" to make it official, and got married in a Valentine's Day wedding ceremony at the zoo. The male sheep, who's called Long Hair, and the female deer, Pure Child, received a wedding bath and a feast of carrots and grass, which they shared with their guests (i.e., other animals from the park). There was apparently one small scare when Pure Child got nervous and left her "groom" at the altar, but the two managed eventually to find their way through the "I Do Gate" that the zoo staff had built. Oh, and if you thought this is one of those innocent animal friendships that won't be consummated, you'd be wrong. These two reportedly get it on, cross-species style. Here's hoping Pure Child and Long Hair live out their days in wedded bliss.
Sheep-Deer Couple in Yunnan Zoo Married on Valentine's Day [ChinaSMACK]


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I get this question all the time: In which stocks should I invest if I want to retire comfortably?
And my answer is always the same: Stocks that regularly pay you to invest -- that is, stocks that pay dividends. I have many reasons for this answer.
The skinny
First, if you're near retirement, it's time to start building the cash hoard on which you'll rely for living expenses. If you're in retirement, you want investments that will throw off income so you don't have to sell.
Second, most dividends are taxed at a rate of 15%, lower than work-generated income, short-term capital gains, and interest from most bonds.
Third, dividend-paying companies post real profits, have healthy cash flows, and have performed quite well over the long term with less volatility than the broader market. According to Standard & Poor's, dividend payers returned nearly three percentage points more per year than nonpayers from 1980 to 2002.
Put all of that together -- regular income, lower taxes, historical outperformance, and less volatility -- and you have a recipe for great retirement investments.
But there's more!
More reasons to love dividends
The historical 10% annual return from the stock market that folks always talk about is actually the sum of two components: capital appreciation and dividend yield. Since 1926, that 10% breaks down as follows: 4% (gains from dividends) + 6% (capital gains).
With the S&P 500 currently yielding just 1.7%, you can see that if you want to achieve that golden 10% historical return going forward into retirement, you had better start looking for investments with above-average dividend yields. These would include stocks such as Vodafone
The Foolish bottom line
But there's a lot more to retirement than simply picking up shares of high-yielding stocks. That's why I help members of my Rule Your Retirement service through all of their retirement questions, including the right savings and withdrawal rates, how to plan for future expenses, the right strategies for deferring taxes, and even ways to travel around the world on a budget.
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This article was originally published on July 10, 2006. It has been updated.
Robert Brokamp , editor of Motley Fool Rule Your Retirement , does not own shares of any stock mentioned. Vodafone is an Inside Value recommendation. Duke Energy is an Income Investor recommendation. The Motley Fool isinvestors writing for investors.


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Estimation of factor means
Mplus Discussion
Confirmatory Factor Analysis
Holmes Finch
posted on Friday, June 01, 2007 - 5:54 am
I have a question regarding the estimation of factor means in the CFA context. I understand how factor scores for individuals are calculated, but am not clear on how factor means are estimated when one does a latent means comparison. I have looked at equations that show the link between an individual observed variable and the latent variable, but can't get my head around how this works for multiple observed variables and a single factor. What I'm ultimately interested in learning is how a latent mean changes value as one changes a single factor loading while holding everything else constant. Thanks for any insights you can provide.
Bengt O. Muthen
posted on Monday, June 04, 2007 - 10:39 am
It is hard to give an intuitive notion of this. First, note that factor means are not estimated by averaging factor scores. Then consider the population formulas - the factor means are related to the means for the observed variables y as
E(y) = nu + Lambda*alpha
where nu is the intercept vector, Lambda is the loading matrix and alpha is the factor mean vector to be estimated. We have sample means estimating E(y). One group sets alpha=0 which identifies nu. The second group then solves for alpha given nu and Lambda (which is identified from the covariance structure and is usually identical across the groups). If the second group changes a loading for a factor (a column in Lambda), the alpha estimate is adjusted to fit the y means. Hope that helps.
Holmes Finch
posted on Monday, June 04, 2007 - 11:55 am
Thanks very much. So it sounds like that if I change one loading value (say for y1) out of a set of 3 y's, in order to maintain the equality above, something else would need to change as well, in addition to alpha. So as a simple example, if ybar1=2, ybar2=3 and ybar3=4, nu1=nu2=nu3=0 and alpha=1, then my loadings would need to be .2, .3 and .4. We can assume that those are invariant across groups.
Now if the loading for y1 and group 2 were changed to .4 (no longer being invariant across groups), we would have to change either alpha for group 2 or nu1. But if we change alpha, then we would also have to change the loadings for the other two variables it seems. The alternative would be for nu1 in group 2 to change as well, in which case alpha could remain the same.
So just to make sure I'm clear, it appears that if one of the loadings is different between the groups but all of the intercepts are invariant then in order for the equality to work out, other loadings must also be different for the groups. Does that sound right?
Sorry if I'm being dense, but I do want to make sure I understand this issue. Thanks so much for your help.
Bengt O. Muthen
posted on Tuesday, June 05, 2007 - 2:51 pm
That's the correct reasoning. As a little additional twist, note also that if you change the y1 loading (no longer being invariant across groups), you can change alpha for that group - and you don't have to change the other loadings, but can instead compensate by changing the other nu's.
Holmes Finch
posted on Wednesday, June 06, 2007 - 4:15 am
Thanks very much for helping me clarify this issue for myself.
Pranav Gandhi
posted on Monday, July 19, 2010 - 11:54 am
I am conducting a longitudinal analysis (two time points) in a dataset. I have fixed time 1 latent factor means to 0 for identification purposes. Is there any specific range of value for latent factor means at time 2 in a longitudinal analysis? I mean do they have a value between 0-1 or can they have a value of >1 also?
Thank you!
Linda K. Muthen
posted on Tuesday, July 20, 2010 - 8:21 am
Factor means can take on positive or negative values. A positive value would represent a higher mean than the reference group. A negative value would represent a lower mean that the reference group.
Pranav Gandhi
posted on Tuesday, July 20, 2010 - 11:15 am
Thank you!
In one analysis, one of the factor means was 2.034 and the second factor mean was 3.047.
However, in a separate study, I found mean values for factor 1 and factor 2 to be 0.131 and 0.237, respectively.
Is it possible to have such discrepant values for factor means?
Is there any specific range of values for factor means?
Thank you for your time!
Linda K. Muthen
posted on Wednesday, July 21, 2010 - 10:07 am
The metric of the factor mean is determined by the metric of the variable that has its factor loading fixed at one. It sounds like the two studies use variables with different metrics.
Pranav Gandhi
posted on Friday, July 23, 2010 - 4:30 am
Thats is correct. Thank you!
Jason Bond
posted on Monday, May 06, 2013 - 5:05 pm
Using Mplus to run a CFA on a set of poloytomous items produces a mean of a single latent factor that is not 0 (as it is for factor analyses of continuous items). Is there a reference you could provide that might explain the relationship between the factor mean and the mean of individual items? Somewhat related to this, what I'd like to be able to do is, for each item and respondent, produce the estimated value of the item from the factor score for the respondent and the factor loadings and thresholds for each item. Is there a reference you could provide that would allow me to crosswalk (i.e., invert) this relationship? Thanks,
Bengt O. Muthen
posted on Tuesday, May 07, 2013 - 2:09 pm
Perhaps you mean that the factor score mean is not zero. In a single group FA the factor mean parameter is fixed at zero so it could not be what you refer to.
Because you have categorical items, I think your questions are best answered by an IRT book. We refer to Baker & Kim in our UG, but there are many others of different technical level.
Mosi Ifatunji
posted on Wednesday, April 23, 2014 - 12:20 pm
I am interested in producing a factor mean using a single group confirmatory factor analysis. First, am I correct that this is possible? Second, if possible, what syntax is required to produce an estimate of the factor mean in the single factor, single group context?
Linda K. Muthen
posted on Wednesday, April 23, 2014 - 3:16 pm
Factor means are not identified in a single group model.
posted on Thursday, December 04, 2014 - 9:02 pm
how can i get the factor means in the CFA analysis
Linda K. Muthen
posted on Friday, December 05, 2014 - 5:48 am
If you are doing a single group, single time point analysis, factor means are fixed at zero for identification purposes. You cannot estimate factor means in this situation.
posted on Friday, December 05, 2014 - 9:57 am
thanks for replying so fast, you said I can't get factor means in a single group and a single time, and I want to know if it can be conducted in two times, like comparing the factor means
Linda K. Muthen
posted on Friday, December 05, 2014 - 11:51 am
With multiple time points, factor means are fixed to zero at one time point and can be estimated at the other time points.
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Florida executes man convicted of murdering 2
STARKE, Fla. (AP) — Florida has executed a man convicted of murdering two relatives to prevent one of them from testifying against him in a burglary trial.
Robert Hendrix was pronounced dead at 6:21 p.m. at Florida State Prison in Starke, shortly after the lethal injection procedure began.
Prosecutors say that in August 1990, Hendrix shot, hit and stabbed his cousin, Elmer Scott, in his Lake County trailer home. They say he then cut the throat of Scott's wife, Michelle, and shot her.
Elmer Scott had planned to testify the next day at Hendrix's burglary trial. Scott had been his partner in the crime but had reached a plea deal.
The 47-year-old Hendrix was the fourth inmate executed by Florida this year and the 16th since Gov. Rick Scott took office in 2011.
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I planted a Blackberry Bush in April 2011.
The Blackberry Bush was from Home Depot.
This is definatly showing signs of doing a little better than before and establishing itself. I think the overcrowding got to it when the weeds grew up but now it should be a little better suited for next spring.
As of August 2011 its not done much other than run away and root in the corner. It has some new shoots poking out but nothing too exciting. I think its waiting for a cooler growing season so maybe Sept/October it will go for it.


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Model no: Z906
Brand: LOGITECH
Size: 5.1
Color: BLACK
Logitech Z906 5.1 Surround Sound Speaker System
Thx, dolby digital and dts digital certified sound
- Immerse yourself in a theater-quality audio experience in the comfort of your home from this 5.1 speaker system.
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Amazing surround sound
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1000 watts of powerful sound
- 1000 Watts peak/500 Watts RMS power delivers rich audio and thunderous bass.
- Enjoy an audio experience that delivers every detail from the roar of the crowd to the footsteps right behind you. Sound that you can truly hear and feel.
Versatile setup
- Supports multiple inputs simultaneously.
- Connect up to six compatible devices via 3.5mm, RCA, six-channel direct, digital coaxial and optical inputs.
- Choose the audio input via the control console or remote control.
Integrated controls
- Independently adjust the volume levels of each satellite speaker as well as the subwoofer and access power and mute all from the control panel or with the wireless remote control.
- Define your listening experience by selecting either 2.1, 4.1 or 3D surround sound.
Brand: Logitech
Model: Z906
Color: Black
System requirements
Works with any device with either a headphone jack (3.5mm), RCA, six-channel direct, digital coaxial input or optical inputs
- Television
- Computer
- Smartphone
- Tablet
- Music player
- DVD player
- Blu-ray™ player
- PlayStation®
- Xbox®
- Wii™
Technical specifications
Total watts (RMS): 500 W
Subwoofer: 165 W
Satellites: 4 x 67 W, wall mountable
Center channel speaker: 1 x 67 W, wall mountable
Digital optical input: 2
Digital coaxial input: 1
Six-channel direct input: 1
3.5mm input: 1
RCA input: 1
Control console
Infared remote
- Height x Width x Depth: 293 mm x 281 mm x 319 mm
- Weight: 9 Kg
- Height x Width x Depth:3 mm x 100.3 mm x 93.5 mm
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Center Channel
- Height x Width x Depth:3 mm x 166.3 mm x 93.5 mm
- Weight: .89 Kg
Control Console
- Height x Width x Depth: 293 mm x 281 mm
- Weight: .50 Kg
Wireless Remote
- Height x Width x Depth:111 mm x 43 mm x 18.9 mm
- Weight: (w/ Battery) 0.1 lb (67 g)
Package contents:
- Four satellite speakers
- One center channel
- Subwoofer
- Six-channel direct cable
- Control Console
- Wireless remote
- 3 AAA batteries
- User documentation
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A survey of county residents and roundtables with health care providers have produced a list of health care priorities for the coming years.
The highest priorities identified are promoting health and wellness, prevention of chronic disease, improved communication and collaboration among health care providers, between providers and the community, and within the community, and enhanced access to resources and assistance.
The surveys were a joint project by St. Luke Hospital and Living Center, Hillsboro Community Hospital, and Marion County Health Department.
"It was gratifying that everyone recognized the need to address chronic public health issues," Health Department Administrator Diedre Serene said. "We all recognize the problems are there. Improving the situation is the challenge."
Early steps to work on those priorities include updating a county health services directory and a health fair planned for late winter.
Copies of the health needs assessment report are available at http://www.slhmarion.org, www://hchks.com/ or at St. Luke Hospital, Hillsboro Community Hospital, or the health department.


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Message Board
Steven E. McDonald Message Board
Talk about the novels, new and used books that McDonald has written!
Author McDonald's Book Reviews
Tor, May 2004, 24.95 271 pp. ISBN: 0765304856 The last remaining High Guard Starship from the defunct Systems Commonwealth, the Andromeda Ascendant, heads to Kantar on the outer rim of the galaxy in their quest to rebuild galactic society. However, instead of a friendly welcome, hostile fire batters the Andromeda forcing the crew to flee the planet in a crippled vessel. Desperately in need of repair, but near nothing except a three century ab...


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If Olympic beach volleyball players April Ross and Jennifer Kessy seemed right at home Wednesday afternoon as they signed autographs and posed for pictures at CdM Fitness, it's because they were.
The pair have trained at the gym on East Coast Highway for about two years. The gym's owner, David Jurevich, accompanied the team to London as their trainer. And Ross and Kessy, who have spent the last month or so since the games toting around some new silver hardware, are both Orange County-bred.
"Our coach at Newport Harbor (High School) would cross train with us and take us out to Newport Beach," recalled Ross, a Costa Mesa native. "Now we train in Big Corona."
Kessy, who is from San Juan Capistrano, remembered growing up with the beach—and plenty of professional beach volleyball—nearby.
"It's easy to play when you're here," she said. "Here, you can pretty much play all year. It's a big benefit."
The fact that their opponents in the Olympic finals, Newport Harbor product Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh Jennings, also hail from California, Ross said, "feels nice."
"It feels more like a unified family," Ross said of May-Treanor and Walsh Jennings, who took gold. "We travel with them so much."
The atmosphere was relaxed at Wednesday's meet-and-greet. Ross and Kessy mingled with friends, while a few people in work-out garb passed through the gym. Parents and children stopped by and checked out products from event sponsors Suite Sweat Sauna Studio and Ritual Wellness.
Among the admirers were another set of beach volleyball players, 12-year-olds Hayden McElroy and Kenzie Sullivan. Asked how they felt about meeting Ross and Kessy, the two answered in unison: "Really excited."
Sullivan explained that she and McElroy had already met Ross and Kessy once before, but, she said, "This was our first time seeing Olympic medals?" She looked at McElroy for confirmation. McElroy nodded.
Jery Lee, 42, who was one of the first fans to nab a picture and an autograph, said he happened to see the event advertised online and "just came to check it out after work."
Lee said he "mostly watched swimming and gymnastics," along with some volleyball during the Olympics and he's "not too into autographs."
But, he said, "It's not every day you get to see an Olympian."


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Add vehicles to compare. You can compare up to 3 vehicles at a time.
Prices do not include additional fees and costs of closing, including government fees and taxes, any finance charges, any dealer documentation fees, any emissions testing fees or other fees. All prices, specifications and availability subject to change without notice. Contact dealer for most current information. Although every reasonable effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of the information contained on this site, absolute accuracy cannot be guaranteed.
Shop Used 2008 Chevrolet Impala Cars, Trucks, & SUVs for Sale in Newark - Porter Hyundai
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Welcome to The University of Toledo Research Enterprise
The University of Toledo is among an elite group of universities with a broad range
of programs and professional schools, including engineering, law, pharmacy, and medicine
with an academic medical center. As the third largest public university in Ohio,
the University helps to lead in the transformation of Northwest Ohio into an exciting
and healthy community with a diverse, knowledge-based economy.
In Spring 2007, the Executive Strategic Planning Committee considered research areas as part of a new strategic plan. That plan, "Directions: The University of Toledo," approved by the Board of Trustees on March 19, 2007, identifies the following areas
for research opportunities:
|Environmental Impacts on Health
Focusing on the interaction between human activity and the environment, especially the impacts on life and wellness, through an assessment of geographical information, the source and disposition of pollutants, human physiology, economic sustainability, technologies and related factors.
|Energy Sustainability and Conservation
|Focusing on the development of renewable energy sources, such as solar cells and biofuels, as well as the creation of advanced materials and infrastructure, including enhanced intermodal transportation and urban planning.
|Translational Interfaces of Health Sciences, Engineering and Clinical Care
|Focusing on cell signaling and other basic processes as applied to disease prevention and treatment. We will align this research with the clinical focus areas of cancer, cardiovascular disease, transplantation, immunology, degenerative neurological conditions, musculoskeletal diseases and trauma.
|Public Engagement, Regional Economic Revitalization and Global Competitiveness
|Focusing on applied research critical to a highly engaged metropolitan university.
|Science and Technology Education
Focusing on transformational PK-12 educational programs emphasizing scientific literacy and career preparation, based on benchmarked outcomes research.
|Health Care Delivery Systems
|Focusing on the revitalization, technology advances and management leadership of health care delivery systems.
|Search for Origins
|Focusing on the origin and development of life and the universe, and the related scientific, cosmological, philosophical, anthropological, cultural and religious theories.


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Necro Neil
Necro Neil has been the writer and editor of Necronomicon, a UK based horror fanzine, since its creation in 2001. He has written fanzines for over half of his life time, since the age of 14 in 1995.
His first fanzine was Sell Your Friends a fan magazine for the band Strangelove which lasted six issues from 1995 until 1998 which he wrote under the alias Padriff. During this time he was also a regular contributor to various other Northern UK music fanzines simply as 'Neil' and collaborated with a friend on a A3 sheet publication reviewing fanzines called Zine Machine that lasted for three issues.
Under a seperate identity ('GAN') he created a fanzine for the band dEUS called Violins and Happy Endings which also lasted six issues in the mid to late 1990s.
Neil created a few one off fanzines in the late 1990s: Cigarettes and Bambi's Bones about the UK band Delicatessen, Poopsies about the American soap opera Sunset Beach and The One Where Chandler Is Gay about the character Chandler from Friends.
In 2001 he began Necronomicon fanzine as a way of journalling his life through the horror films he watches, as of 2013 there have been 26 issues of Necronomicon.
In 2009 he printed Ribbons a collection of comics drawn during his time living in Leeds about his mental health, music and friends.
Although a prolific and compulsive fanzine maker he is known for never deviating from his stubborn old school fanzine making ways of cut and paste using photocopiers, resistance to spell check and grammar and for hand threading his staples through refusing to buy a long armed stapler.


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Search for General tyres
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Where's the laundry room?Posted on Monday December 3, 2012
There are some fundamentals to take into account when siting a laundry room or when considering a home to buy. Read more »
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Thinking architecture? Think architectPosted on Tuesday July 3, 2012
Thinking of building or renovating a home, think about hiring an architect first. Read more »
Complexities of condo buying: know your rightsPosted on Tuesday July 3, 2012
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Buying a hot tub just the first stepPosted on Wednesday June 20, 2012
Hot tubs remain popular even though a growing number of people loathe the huge things that take up so much room on decks and in spa rooms across the nation. One thing probably every hot tub fan hates is installing a hot tub. Read more »
tool up with innovationsPosted on Sunday June 17, 2012
Tools – what man and a lot of handywomen could resist an addition to the toolbox, especially when it's an innovative piece of reno hardware? Read more »
Lighting plan is essentialPosted on Friday June 15, 2012
Lighting is essential to good interior design but it is often overlooked by householders who do their own decorating. Read more »
Outfit your deck for year-round livingPosted on Friday June 15, 2012
As most of us know these days, from scanning a few magazines, outdoor furniture looks as good as, or even better than, the stuff we have indoors. As many of us are finding out, it has become affordable too. Read more »
What's a cottage worth to you?Posted on Tuesday June 12, 2012
How much would you sacrifice to own a cottage? Some surveys have asked this question and the answers are fascinating. Read more »


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Approx. Packaging Dimensions (cm): 21 x 21 x 7
Weight (g): 330
A place where friends of TOYMANA come together to write and share what they love. Promoting creativity & freedom to express ourselves with photos & words
04 - 30 Apr 2019
Week 1 of Toymana's Gundam Marathon has already begun!
Click on the button below to learn more and check out
our daily promos and schedules.


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Latest Results
Open Opportunities for Researchers
ESA is pleased to announce the reopening of the Announcement of Opportunity (AO) call for the Aeolus Mission.
Within the framework of its Copernicus missions, ESA is pleased to announce the Sentinel-5 Precursor Calibration and Validation Team Call.
The Open Science Earth Observation (OSEO) call offers to scientists the opportunity to exploit at no cost a full archive of optical EO data for science, applications and technological innovation, by offering services which exploit state of the art ICT.
The S3VT call is open to relevant and interested groups and individuals worldwide; group responses are particularly welcome.


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Denny Sanford Premier Center in Sioux Falls Addresses Ticketing Concerns
If you tried to get tickets to one of the opening concerts at the new Denny Sanford Premier Center in Sioux Falls, you're in one of two camps: you're either overjoyed that you were able to score seats to Jason Aldean/Florida Georgia Line, Cher/Pat Benatar, or Eric Church, or frustrated that you're on the outside looking in after all three shows sold out quickly.
In the days following that trio of sellouts, officials at the events center have been inundated with questions, concerns, and complaints about the ticketing process.
At a Monday afternoon press conference, events center general manager Terry Torkildson tried to provide some additional information about ticketing in the hopes of quieting some of the critics.
Torkildson stressed that the new venue is ushering in a new reality for local concert goers with higher profile acts driving ticket sales to a level Sioux Falls has never seen before. That means even with a bigger building, tickets will sell quicker than they have at the existing arena:
The other issue with ticket sales, according to Torkildson, lies with who really controls the logistics of a show:
One of the biggest complaints the events center received was the ticket pre-sale for the three shows. Torkildson says each pre-sale is different, but everyone who has access to the pre-sale has the same opportunity to get tickets:
Another issue was fans who were unable to buy tickets, only to have others purchase seats later:
Torkildson says he's been asked about Ticketmaster's ability to handle high volumes of ticket sales, and whether that affected availability of seats for these three shows:
One thing that does impact the general public's ability to buy tickets to events is ticket scalping. That will play a role in ticket sales at the event center, unless something changes in South Dakota law:
Torkildson says what may be bad for people left out in the cold for these three shows is actually a big positive for the new venue going forward:
So what's his advice on the best way to score tickets for the next big concert at the Denny Sanford Premier Center?


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it may take an awful long time to load markers on a Google Maps page.
I didn't know what was going on. I mean, Firefox was much much faster on this page than Internet Explorer, on the same connection, same computer. Why?
A very long thread over this issue was running on the Google Maps API discussion group without any clear work-around or explanation. So I took the plunge.
I fired Fiddler, a wonderful little application done by Eric Lawrence, one Program Managers of Microsoft Internet Explorer 7. Fiddler spies the WinINET calls, and logs all the HTTP requests and responses done and received by your computer using the WinINET library.
The reason Internet Explorer was so much slower than Firefox was obvious, Internet Explorer was querying the browser for the marker image, but it was doing it once for each marker! That means the server was sending out the same image over and over again.
It turns out Explorer may cache the image, but it needs a bit of time to cache it. If you just ask for 500 markers directly, it will try to download 500 times the five images that compose a marker.
Depending on your IE options, and on the headers your server sends along with your images, you may find this bug only the first time you open the page, and then it may vanish, or not, or appear again when the cache expires, to vanish again after that, or remain there (again, in function of your exact headers).
So if you have to read multiple markers in google maps, before doing so make sure Internet Explorer has put the needed images in the cache: