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Kariann E. Goldschmitt
Lorimer Chapel 001
Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays
150 Bixler Art and Music Center
Office Hours:
Required Texts:
Thomas Turino, Music as Social Life: The Politics of Participation (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2008).
Mike Davis, Planet of Slums (New York: Verso, 2007).
Readings on Reserve in Bixler Library:
e-Reserves (ER)
Bixler Reserves (BR)
Course Description:
Metropolises bring together diverse groups of people in concentrated locations all over the world. Despite the dangers that these cities represent (violence, crime, and poverty), they also produce an astounding variety of musical innovations. This course is an exploration of the meetings of disparate musical cultures in major metropolises of the world. Throughout the semester, we will study six different major cities (New York, Mexico City, São Paulo, Paris, Tokyo, and Mumbai), the major musical developments to come from them, and the cultural conflicts and celebrations that emerge in contemporary urban life. We will discuss styles such as hip hop, punk, reggaeton, mariachi, nor-tec, dancehall, roots music, samba, j-pop, shibuya ke'i, karaoke, bhangra, filmi, "world music," and electronic dance music, and how they relate to the urban environments where they were developed and where they continue to thrive.
Throughout the course, the professor will bring audio, visual and participatory examples that relate to the reading. Students are encouraged to do the same so long as they email the professor in advance.
Students will become familiar with the critical issues at stake to these musical communities through a variety of course readings, writing assignments, exams and the development of term paper. Class objectives include:
· increasing basic understanding of the relationship of music and geography;
· developing of critical reading and listening skills;
· understanding the diversity of musical practices in different places in the world;
· appreciating music as a site of conflict and celebration in present day urban policy;
· the development and revision of an original term-paper that meets the academic requirements of the course.
Course Expectations:
o Students are expected to do all reading for the course and have questions and comments prepared before class convenes. The easiest way to succeed is to take note of questions that arise as you engage with course materials and bring those concerns to class meetings.
o Students are expected to keep up with the listening on a regular basis. The musical examples for this course will be available through links on the course website (under "A/V examples"), often in the form of YouTube videos and streaming audio.
o All students with documented disabilities will be given special dispensations if they so require them. Please notify me during the first sessions of class.
o I am happy to answer questions and chat with you about your thoughts and ideas about this class. Please feel free to visit me during Office Hours. I am also available by appointment via email, text or phone and I maintain an open door policy with all students.
Grading and Assignments:
I. There will be two exams in this course: a midterm (worth 15% of your final grade) and a final (worth 20% of your final grade).
II. There will be three short written assignments designed to help you work through recurring issues in the course and help you develop your term paper: one reading response (1-2 pages in length) worth 5%, one listening response related to your term paper (2-3 pages) worth 5%, and a final paper proposal outlining your repertoire / locale of choice, your line of inquiry, and how it relates to the class (10%). I will discuss the details of writing assignments throughout the term. Keep copies of all papers in the case my copy goes astray. Late papers result in a grade deduction of one-third a grade every day they are late.
III. There will be one term paper (7-10 pages), worth 25% of your final grade. You must show evidence of incorporating the professor's comments on your writing assignments into the final paper to get a good grade.
IV. Due to privacy, I only discuss grades in person. Please make an appointment or visit my office hours if you wish to inquire about your performance.
Grading Breakdown:
15% Midterm Exam
20% Final Exam
20% Writing Assignments
25% Term Paper
20% Participation
Unit 1: Conceptual Foundations to Music and Urban Geography
[Music] / [Global] / [Metropolis]
• Wk 1: September 9 Introduction to Music and Globalization
Bohlman, Philip V. "Colonial Musics, Post-colonial Worlds, and the Globalization of World Music." In World Music: A Very Short Introduction. New York: Oxford University Press, 2002. ER
Turino, Thomas. "Introduction: Why Music Matters." In Music as Social Life: The Politics of Participation. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2008.
• Wk 1: September 11 Urban Studies and Musical Participation
Davis, Mike. "Urban Climactic." In Planet of Slums. New York: Verso, 2007.
Turino, Thomas. "Participatory and Presentational Performance." In Music as Social Life.
Urban Geography, Community, and Divisions
• Wk 2: September 14 Musical Communities and Music as Culture
Turino, Thomas. "Habits of the Self, Identity, and Culture ." In Music as Social Life.
• Wk 2: September 16 Music Technology and Urbanism
Krims, Adam. "Introduction." In Music and Urban Geography. New York: Routledge, 2007. ER
Turino, Thomas. "The Recording Fields: High Fidelity and Studio Audio Art." In Music as Social Life.
• Wk 2: September 18 Cultural Impact of Post-Fordism and Urban Renewal
Davis, Mike. "The Prevalence of Slums." In Planet of Slums.
Abrahamson, Mark. "Introduction, Background, and Preview." In Global Cities. New York: Oxford University Press, 2004. ER
Unit 2: New York City, United States
The Five Boroughs and the '70s and early '80s: Hip Hop, Punk, and Club Culture
• Wk 3: September 21 Downtown to Uptown: The Development and Spread of Disco
Lawrence, Tim. "Pollination: The Rise of the Downtown Party Network." In Love Saves the Day: A History of American Dance Music Culture, 1970-1979. Durham: Duke University Press, 2003. ER
Lawrence, Tim. "Recognition: The Crystallization of a Sound." In Love Saves the Day. ER
• Wk 3: September 23 Urban Grit and Noise: Punk and DIY
Polk O'Meara, Caroline. "The Bush Tetras, 'Too Many Creeps,' and New York City." American Music 25 (2007): 193-215. ER
• Wk 3: September 25 Hip-Hop and the Bronx
** Writing Assignment 1: Reading Response Due in Class (5% of Final Grade)
Chang, Jeff. "Necropolis: The Bronx and the Politics of Abandonment." In Can't Stop Won't Stop: A History of the Hip Hop Generation. New York: St. Martin's Press, 2005. ER
The City, Migration, and Mobility
• September 28 No Class – Yom Kippur
• Wk 4 TBA Latinos and Música Negra I: Nuyorican Soul and Salsa
Knights, Vanessa. "Nostalgia and the Negotiation of Dislocated Identities : Puerto Rican Boleros in New York and Nuyorican Poetry." In Postnational Musical Identities: Cultural Production, Distribution and Consumption in a Globalized Scenario. Edited Ignácio Corona and Alejandro L. Madrid. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, 2007. ER
García, David F. "Embodying Music / Disciplining Dance: The Mambo Body in Havana and New York City." In Ballroom, Boogie, Shimmy Sham, Shake: A Social and Popular Dance Reader. Edited by Julie Malnig. Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 2009. ER
• Wk 4: September 30 Latinos and Música Negra II: Reggaetón
Marshall, Wayne. "Dem Bow, Dembow, Dembo: Translation and Transnation in Reggaeton." Lied und populäre Kultur / Song and Popular Culture: Jahrbuch des Deutschen Volksliedarchivs 53 (2008): 131-51. ER
Marshall, Wayne. "From Música Negra to Reggaeton Latino: The Cultural Politics of Nation, Migration, and Commercialization." In Reggaeton. Edited by Raquel Z. Rivera, Wayne Marshall, and Deborah Pacini Hernandez. Durham: Duke University Press, 2009. BR
• Wk 4: October 2 Urban Folk Music and Class Mobility
Turino, Thomas. "Old Time Music and Dance." In Music as Social Life: the Politics of Participation. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2008.
Unit 3: Mexico City: The Biggest City in the Western Hemisphere
Intranational Musical Genres: Mariachi and Cumbia
• Wk 5: October 5 Mexico City and the World
Davis, Mike. "Treason of the State" and "SAPing the Third World." In Planet of Slums.
• Wk 5: October 7 Cultural Industry and Mariachi
Sheehy, Daniel E. "Mexico." In Handbook of Latin American Music. 2d Edition. Edited by Dale A. Olson and Daniel E. Sheehy. New York: Routledge, 2007. ER
• Wk 5: October 9 Transnational Hybrids: Cumbia and Tecno-Cumbia
** Writing Assignment 2, Listening Response Due in Class (5% of Final Grade)
García Canclini, Néstor. "Mexico: Cultural Globalization in a Disintegrating City." American Ethnologist 22 (November 1995): 743-755. ER
Transnational Music of Mexico: Rock en Español, Nor-tec, World Music of Mexico
• Wk 6: October 12 No Class for Fall Break
• Wk 6: October 14 Rock en Español and Border Music
Kun, Josh. "Rock's Reconquista." In Audiotopia: Music, Race, and America. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2004. ER
Dillon, Hope. "Café Tacuba: Forging a New Mexican Identity." Journal of American Culture 20 (1997): 75-83 ER
• Wk 6: October 16 Mexican World Music
Gonzales Aktories, Susana. "Lila Downs: The Voice of a Butterfly." Lied und Populäre Kultur / Song and Popular Culture: Jahrbuch des Deutschen Volksliedarchivs 53 (2008): 153-166. ER
Unit 4: São Paulo, Brazil: Urban Jungle and Folk Music Revivalism
A City of Division and Peripheries
• Wk 7: October 19 São Paulo and Spatial Segregation
Caldeira, Teresa P.R. "São Paulo: Three Patterns of Spatial Segregation." In City of Walls: Crime, Segregation and Citizenship in São Paulo. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2000. ER
Davis, Mike. "Illusions of Self-Help." In Planet of Slums.
• Wk 7: October 21 Developmentalism and Regional Folk Music Reinvention
Davis, Mike. "Haussman in the Tropics." In Planet of Slums.
Caldeira, Teresa P.R. "The Increase in Violence." In City of Walls: Crime, Segregation and Citizenship in São Paulo. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2000. BR
• Wk 7: October 23 Drum 'n' Bass in the São Paulo Periphery
Fontanari, Ivan Paulo de Paris. "Globalizing the Periphery: Transnational Extensions and Local Tensions in an Global/Underground Music Scene in Brazil." Echo: A Music-Centered Journal 8 (Fall 2006). ER
Immigration and Transnational Identification
• Wk 8: October 26 Brazilian Cultural Capital
Ortiz, Renato. "Legitimacy and Life-Style." In Latin American Cultural Studies Reader (Durham: Duke University Press, 2004), 474-497. ER
• Wk 8: October 28 Regional and Folk Music and Cannibalist Aesthetics
Olson, Dale A. "Music of Immigrant Groups." In Handbook of Latin American Music. 2d Edition. Edited by Dale A. Olson and Daniel E. Sheehy. New York: Routledge, 2007. BR
• Wk 8: October 30 Brazilian Hip-Hop
** Term Paper Proposal Due in Class (10 percent of Final Grade) **
Pardue, Derek. "Hip Hop as Pedagogy: A Look into 'Heaven' and 'Soul' in São Paulo, Brazil," Anthropological Quarterly 80 (2007): 673-709. ER
Unit 5 Paris, France as Cosmopolis
Chanson, Parisian Electronic Dance Music and Hip-Hop
• Wk 9: November 1 Parisian Chanson and the Legacy of Colonialism
Looseley, David L. "Chanson as National Myth: The Authenticity Debate." In Popular Music in Contemporary France: Authenticity, Politics, Debate. New York: Berg, 2003. ER
• Wk 9: November 3 Parisian Hip-Hop and Electronic Dance Music
Hawkins, Peter. "MC Solaar: A Gardiner of Words." Chanson: The French Singer-Songwriter From Aristide Bruant to the Present Day. Aldershot: Ashgate, 2000. ER
Prévos, André J. M. "Postcolonial Popular Music in France: Rap Music and Hip-Hop Culture in the 1980s and 1990s." In Global Noise: Rap and Hip-Hop Outside the USA. Edited by Tony Mitchell. Middletown, CT: Wesleyan University Press, 2002. BR
• Wk 9: November 5 Midterm Exam (15 percent of Final Grade)
Unit 6 Mumbai, India
Film Music Producer
• Wk 10: November 9 Mumbai as Cultural Producer
Davis, Mike. "Slum Ecology." In Planet of Slums..
Neuwirth, Robert. "Mumbai: Squatter Class Structure." In Shadow Cities: A Billion Squatters, A New Urban World. New York: Routledge, 2006. ER
• Wk 10: November 11 History of Bollywood and Film Music
Sen, Biswarup. "The Sounds of Modernity: The Evolution of Bollywood Film Song." In Global Bollywood : Travels of Hindi Song and Dance. Edited by Sangita Gopal, Sujata Moorti. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2008. ER
• Wk 10: TBA Contemporary Bollywood and NRI Culture
North Indian Classical Music, Light Classical and Popular Music
• Wk 11: November 16 Bollywood and Classical Music
Booth, Greg. "Pandits in the Movies: Contesting the Identity of Hindustani Classical Music and Musicians in the Hindi Popular Cinema." Asian Music (2005): 60-86. ER
• Wk 11: November 18 Non-Cinematic Popular Music in India
Manuel, Peter. "Popular Music in India: 1901-1986." Popular Music 7 (1988): 157-176. ER
• Wk 11: November 20 No Class!
• Wk 12: November 23 Light Classical Music
** Term Papers (25 percent of Final Grade) Due!
Manuel, Peter. "Cassettes and the Modern Ghazal." In Cassette Culture: Popular Music and Technology in North India. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1993. ER
Unit 7 Tokyo, Japan: The "Postmodern" City
Post World War II Development, J-Pop, Karaoke, Shibuya Ke'i
• Wk 13: November 30 Tokyo Post-WWII
Atkins, E. Taylor. "Bop, Funk, Junk, and That Old Democracy Boogie: The Jazz Tribes of Postwar Japan." In Blue Nippon: Authenticating Jazz in Japan. Durham: Duke University Press, 2001. BR
• Wk 13: December 2 Contemporary Tokyo, J-Pop and Karaoke
Shimatachi, Hiro R. "A Karaoke Perspective on International Relations." In Japan Pop! Inside the World of Japanese Pop Culture. Edited by Timothy J. Craig. 2000. ER
• Wk 13: December 4 J-Pop and Shebuya Ke'i
Toth, Csabah. "J-Pop and Performances of Young Female Identity." Young 16 (2008): 111-129. ER
Hip Hop, Video Game Music, and Cosplay
• Wk 14: December 7 Japanese Hip-Hop
Condry, Ian. "A History of Japanese Hip Hop: Street Dance, Club Scene, Pop Market." In Global Noise: Rap and Hip-Hop Outside the USA. Edited by Tony Mitchell. Middletown, CT: Wesleyan University Press, 2002. ER
Condry, Ian. Hip-Hop Japan: Rap and the Paths of Cultural Globalization. Durham: Duke University Press, 2006. BR
• Wk 14: December 9 Contemporary Japanese Popular Music
Mattar, Yasser. "Miso Soup for the Ears: Contemporary Japanese Popular Music and its Relation to the Genres Familiar to the Anglophonic Audience." Popular Music and Society 31 (2008): 113-123.
• Wk 14: December 11 Video Game Music and Cosplay
Final Exam TBA!


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Sunday, 18 April 2010
Nike Testløb 3 Race Report
Generally a half marathon is considered to be half the distance of a marathon or 13.1 miles/21.1 km. But today's route was incorrectly measured and was instead, as you can see above, 13.4 miles or 21.57 km. I honestly didn't think much of it and figured my garmin was wrong, until Henriette said after the race how upset she was by how long the route was "again". Apparently these Sparta races are notorious for being inappropriately measured. This really suprised me, because everything else about these races seems so professional and well-organized.
Granted an extra .47 km isn't that big of a deal if you're just out for an enjoyable run, but when you are running your ass off to get a PR (and prove to the blogosphere that speedwork makes a difference) it IS a big deal.
But on to the report.
Here is what I did not run in, but tried on at the National Museum afterwards:
I started off next to my balloon man, who was pacing for a 1:30 half marathon. He warned me beforehand that he ran the first half faster than the second. Here he is, Frederik Bøjholm:
Well, as much as I wanted to make Frederik my new best friend, I could only hold on to him for the first 5 km, which we ran in 21 minutes. After that, I got a side stitch and he and a huge group slowly pulled away from me. Did I mention there were 2588 runners today?
I came through 10k, according to my garmin at just under 42 min. So my pacing was going well. Federik was a good 20 seconds ahead. Already at this point, I noticed that 10k sign was long after 10km. Between the 10k and 12k, I struggled a lot to keep my morale high. There was a lot of turning and going up and down ramps through tunnels along the lakes in the map above. But after 12k, everthing started clicking again. The side stitch was gone and I paid no attention to women around me. (Okay, I did notice that either Tanni wasn't there or she hadn't passed me yet.)
At this point, I was still hoping that the finish line would come at 13.1 miles. But when I came through 13.1 miles in 1:31:01, the finish line was not in sight. But I did get a new half marathon PR of 1:31:01. And that's what I'm using for my records.
I went great guns the last stretch to make it through 21.57 km in 1:33:04, also faster than my previous half marathon PR. My pace was 6:56 min/mile (or about 4:19 min/km).There was concensus afterwards that everyones' times were slower than expected and that everyone clocked the route as long. I saw Tanni come in about a minute after me and she also looked quite disgruntled. Anyway, I shouldn'i forget to mention that it was such a fun race with so many participants and cheering fans and a beautiful route in downtown Copenhagen.
Here is full proof I wore Olga's Wasatch Speed Goat shirt (thank you, Olga!):
After I turned in my chip, I was so happy to be greated by the fam. They took the train to meet me and go the the (free entry) National Museum afterwards.
And then Henriette and I managed to find each other.
What a fun lady. She was also disappointed, though, that her time was over 2 minutes slower than expected and sadly showed me her garmin with the same distance as mine. She also told us about the marathon in Albertslund next weekend. SR and I are both thinking of running it now, just as a training run. Partly because there are both a 60k and 100k at the same time and we want to see our crazy ultra friends.
Anyway, there are two different ways to look at the race today:
1. Despite running perhaps the best race of my life, I officially barely beat my previous PR because the route was incorrectly measured.
2. I got huge half marathon PR of 1:31:01 and then ran a little extra to finish the race route.
You all know I choose number 2.
Running Song of the day: I Gotta Feeling by Black Eyed Peas (when I'm running a race, I don't want to think, I want to rock :))
17 comments:
- May-Britt Hansen said...
Hi Tracy.
I´m sorry to inform you that your new PR is 1.33.04.
I´ve been in contact with a friend of mine who has officially measured the route on Friday. He is the only Dane who measures both national and international races through Dansk Atletik Forbund (DAF)
Garmin has an uncertainty of 2% = over 400 meters during a halfmarathon. It is especially a problem in cities with tall buildings.
Still - you ran a new PR and that ain´t so bad. Congratulations :-)
- 18 April 2010 at 19:37
- Henriette said...
Hi Tracy.
It was so nice meeting you today. You are one hell of a tough woman and I really enjoyed talking to you and your husband.
Uanset om ruten var for lang eller ej (øv May-Britt - nu troede jeg ellers et øjeblik, at jeg havde en undskyldning for min snegle-tid)- så er det en fantastisk tid du løber på. Og uden en sveddråbe bagefter. Meget imponerende. En anden lignede en karklud lige til at vride.
En 11. plads blandt 775 kvinder, det er i mine øjne forrygende. Stort tillykke. Til sammenligning kom jeg ind på plads 190.
Vi ses igen, Tracy ... måske allerede i næste weekend.
Hilsener fra
- 18 April 2010 at 20:10
- SteveQ said...
(I learned to type diacritics, but I'm not learning Danish...)
- 18 April 2010 at 20:37
- PiccolaPineCone said...
If you remember the route you ran, try gmap-pedometer.com to measure it. I have found this website to be amazingly accurate - I have used it to measure a 400 m track as a test and come up with exactly 400 m.
But, even though GPS units do have inaccuracy, if your friend's GPS device gave the exact same distance as yours I would guess that the course really was long.
Frustrating... but, congratulations on what sounds like a patient, smart, well paced race!
- 18 April 2010 at 20:55
- May-Britt Hansen said...
You have to keep in mind that it is the absolutely shortest route, that is measured, and with more than 2500 participants there is a lot of running left and right. That quickly adds up to 2-300 meters during a halfmarathon.
@ Steve Q: Tillykke is the Danish word for congratulation ;-)
- 18 April 2010 at 21:00
- sea legs girl said...
Hej May-Britt,
Thanks for looking into it. You know, if my time is wrong, it just makes my next attempt at a PR harder. Plus I'd hate to falsely accuse Sparta of not measuring correctly.
It is just strange that the website does not say the route is DAF measured (as opposed to the Copenhange Marathon). Plus Henriette said that in the first Testløb a bunch of people got socks because they complained the route was measured wrong and they were correct. Hmmmm...
Do you think your friend would mind if I sent him an email? The whole thing is just too weird. Everyones' times were much slower than expected and the weather was perfect. I'm not changing my time until I get to the bottom of this. PLUS Garmins tend to be inexact in that they measure distances too short. They don't add distances that aren't there, at least as far as I understand.
Oh and thanks for trying to teach Steve Q Danish!
Tak! Du er en super sjov kvinde og jeg er meget, meget taknemmelig at jeg kender dig. Vi håber også vi ses næste weekend. Din ven er også meget sød og børnene elkede hans hund :).
Steve Q,
Jeg tror du kommer til at lære lidt dansk, trods alt.
I really appreciate your input in this. I will try the website if I get a moment after this (doubtful with the chaos level in this house at the moment).
- 18 April 2010 at 21:21
- May-Britt Hansen said...
I´ve told my friend that you have made a post on Dourun, so look for the answer from Marathonmanden.
- 18 April 2010 at 21:31
- Barefoot AngieB said...
sweet PR and great report!!
- 18 April 2010 at 21:32
- sea legs girl said...
Thank you, May-Britt! I will look for it.
Thanks also Barefoot Angie B :)!
- 18 April 2010 at 22:04
- Paige said...
congrats on the PR!
love the orange shirt. :)
- 19 April 2010 at 03:08
- Ingrid said...
Congratulations on your new PR!
- 19 April 2010 at 04:05
- Diana said...
Congrats on your new PR! Sounds like you ran a great race, whether or not the route was too long.
I use the gmap-pedometer all the time to measure the distance of my runs (maybe I should get a Garmin like all the cool kids), but I didn't know if it was all that accurate. Thank you for the input about it, PiccolaPineCone.
- 19 April 2010 at 09:59
- PiccolaPineCone said...
Ok, I tried to use gmap-pedometer to measure the course BUT i could not follow all the criss-crossy lines! that was one complicated route and there was something espeically complicated going on down by the park near the water that I could not follow. Anyway I wound up with a length of 15.2 km and a whole section that I did not measure :( I'll try again later when the cocotte goes to sleep.
- 19 April 2010 at 13:25
- olga said...
Well, this leaves me exhasuted, sorry, but the 400m just don't excite me at all, and all the ra-ra about it either...You ran a great race, you gave it what you had, and it is just so "roadie" to care for exact meausrement...but the shirt looks cute on you. May be this is what caused the extra steps - it's from the trails! :)
- 19 April 2010 at 15:24
- Marathon Princess said...
Congrats on the PR! I hate when my garmin doesn't match the course distance, I take my times as my unofficial PRs ;)
- 19 April 2010 at 16:18
- PiccolaPineCone said...
But Olga, if we can't measure it, how do we know if we enjoyed ourselves? (yes, I'm kidding... sort of).
- 19 April 2010 at 17:01
- Amber Dawn said...
when I ran Boston in 08 my Garmin said I did 42.7km and I was off my goal time by 2 minutes. I don't doubt the accuracy of the Boston Marathon, but I do think the bopping and weaving around people on a crowded course can add to the overall distance.
Regardless, great time!!
- 19 April 2010 at 17:08

subset: commoncrawl


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Case Western Reserve University and The Temple – Tifereth Israel Announce Historic Partnership
The Maltz Family Foundation of the Jewish Community Federation of Cleveland provides $12 million lead challenge gift to CWRU to create the new Milton and Tamar Maltz Performing Arts Center; Initiative to preserve a cultural icon for the Jewish community and the City of Cleveland
Case Western Reserve University and The Temple – Tifereth Israel have announced an historic partnership with a lead donation of $12 million from the Maltz Family Foundation of the Jewish Community Federation of Cleveland. The gift represents a catalytic challenge for the transformation of The Temple's iconic building in University Circle into the Milton and Tamar Maltz Performing Arts Center. The initiative also will preserve the historic building as a place of worship and celebration for the 1,400 families of The Temple - Tifereth Israel community.
"Milton and Tamar Maltz have given us a remarkable opportunity," said Barbara R. Snyder, President of Case Western Reserve. "This project has the potential to create enormous benefit for our university, for The Temple congregation and for the community at large."
Built in 1924, The Temple in University Circle is listed in the National Register of Historic Places. Located at East 105th Street at Silver Park, The Temple contains a library and a museum, as well as a beautiful chapel and sanctuary. The structure came into being through the vision of Rabbi Abba Hillel Silver, who led the congregation from 1917 through 1963.
Today The Temple's primary home is in Beachwood. Even so, the congregation still uses The Temple site in University Circle for High Holy Days and other holiday services, and events such as weddings, b'nai mitzvah ceremonies, and funerals. As part of this partnership, congregants will continue to be able to gather at the University Circle location for these observances.
"This building carries great emotional, historic, and spiritual meaning for our congregation," said Richard A. Block, Senior Rabbi of The Temple – Tifereth Israel.
"The ability to keep it as a place where we can return for worship, and at the same time open it to new uses, is the best of all possible outcomes."
The performing arts have a proud history at Case Western Reserve and continue to be a core of the CWRU experience. In 2009-2010 for example, the university enrolled more than 200 undergraduate and graduate students seeking majors or degrees in music, dance and theater. In any given semester, more than 1,000 undergraduates take courses in these areas, and more than half of our undergraduate students participate in extracurricular ensembles including the CWRU-University Circle Orchestra, IMPROVment, the Mather Dance Collective and many more.
In 2008 the university identified Culture, Creativity and Design as one of four primary academic alliances in its strategic plan, Forward Thinking. The Temple project will be an integral part of advancing that alliance. Plans call for the creation of a performing arts venue to feature programs and performances from the music, dance and theater departments. The 100,000 square-foot facility will also feature rehearsal rooms, classrooms and faculty offices.
"The partnership between Case Western Reserve and The Temple can bring dramatic new life to The Temple," said Milton Maltz, president of the Maltz Family Foundation, "and at the same time honor the building's status as a historic religious icon. We are pleased to be part of launching this project."
The university estimates that the total renovation of the building will require $25.6 million, with an additional $7 million needed for construction of a pedestrian bridge/walkway to connect the building to the university campus.
The Temple building is adjacent to a 14-acre parcel of land that once served as the home of the Mt. Sinai Medical Center. Case Western Reserve acquired this property in 2001. Today that parcel is home to the Cleveland Center for Structural and Membrane Biology as well as the Wright Fuel Cell Center.
About Case Western Reserve University
Case Western Reserve University is among the nation's leading research institutions. Founded in 1826 and shaped by the unique merger of the Case Institute of Technology and Western Reserve University, Case Western Reserve is distinguished by its strengths in education, research, service, and experiential learning. Located in Cleveland, Ohio, Case Western Reserve offers nationally recognized programs in the arts and sciences, dental medicine, engineering, law, management, medicine, nursing, and social work. For more information, visit the Case Western Reserve University Web site.
About The Temple – Tifereth Israel
Organized by 47 German-speaking families in 1850, Tifereth Israel, as it was then known, was one of America's first Reform congregations and it has long been one of its foremost. Among eleven senior rabbis who have led The Temple, Rabbi Abba Hillel Silver stands out for his 46-year tenure and his extraordinary achievements, including his role in creating the State of Israel. Once a "Classical Reform" synagogue, The Temple introduced the study of Hebrew to its curriculum and embraced Zionism three quarters of a century ago. Under the inspired leadership of Rabbi Richard A. Block, it continues to evolve in response to contemporary needs and sensibilities, striving for excellence, meeting the diverse needs of its congregational community, and combining a warm approach to tradition with creativity and innovation. For more information, visit The Temple – Tifereth Israel Web site.


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Gilmore Girls
"He's Slippin� �Em Bread...Dig?" - (TV-PG) (HDTV)
Tuesday, August 1 2006
LORELAI AND RORY CELEBRATE THANKSGIVING / CHRISTOPHER REAPPEARS / CAROLE KING GUEST STARS - After a long absence, Christopher (David Sutcliffe) reappears in Lorelai (Lauren Graham) and Rory's (Alexis Bledel)) lives with an offer to make up for lost time. Luke (Scott Patterson) struggles with what the new person in his life will mean to him and his relationship with Lorelai. Lorelai and Rory enjoy their first Thanskgiving at the Dragonfly Inn, during which Rory receives surprising news about Logan (Matt Czuchry). Meanwhile, as the band prepares for an important showcase performance, Lane (Keiko Agena) has to deal with Zach's (Todd Lowe) jealousy over a song Brian (John Cabrera) wrote about her. Singer/songwriter Carole King guest stars as Sophie, the owner of Stars Hollow's music shop. Melissa McCarthy, Yanic Truesdale and Liza Weil also star. The episode was written by Daniel Palladino and directed by Kenny Ortega (#2T6310).


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As we move to the end of the General Assembly session, we are engaged in intense negotiations on the major issues. Also, we have had significant progress on U.S. 1.
Earlier this session, Senator Puller and I culminated four years of work to build support for a U.S. 1 study when the McDonnell Administration confirmed that it is holding $2 million to fund the next U.S. 1 improvement study. Last week, I met with over a dozen state, local and regional stakeholders here in Richmond to discuss the next steps on planning U.S. 1 improvements.
The study will have several elements. It will likely focus on the stretch of U.S. 1 from the Occoquan River to Alexandria's southern boundary. Second, there is a consensus that we must consider all modes of transit — Metrorail, light rail and bus rapid transit. Third, it will be based on the regional population, employment and household forecasts maintained by the Washington Metropolitan Council of Governments (COG). Some of these estimates may be larger than those in the Fairfax County Comprehensive Plan. In addition, the study may include the impact that increased density has on transit ridership, if funding permits. We should know more specifics and timeframes in the next two weeks. We will issue a joint announcement and set up an informational website.
Planning for a new U.S. 1 will be an academic exercise without money. The numerous potholes in our roads confirm that the state has none. Legislators are negotiating transportation legislation as I write this column and I have serious concerns. One proposal would divert funds now devoted to education, public safety and healthcare to transportation. Virginia has budgeted to spend less per student on secondary education today than we spent in the 2007-2008 biennium. We can't pave roads with textbooks.
Another concern is how well Northern Virginia's interests are represented. The Commonwealth Transportation Board (CTB) decides which projects get funded. NOVA, Hampton Roads and Richmond have 65 percent of Virginia's population and 33 percent of the votes on the CTB. My legislation to rebalance the CTB's votes based on actual population was killed by the House by two votes after rural legislators erupted. Northern Virginia needs to be more fairly represented on the CTB so that we get our fair share of transportation money.
I am also concerned about establishing a local transportation tax unless language is included which prohibits the CTB from reducing our state funding because we devote local funds to transportation. Without protections in law, we will not get our fair share.
Lastly, the numbers being considered are entirely too meager. The state needs $4-5 billion per year in new funding. The most optimistic high-end projections of any plan are $1.4 billion per year or about 20 percent of our long-term need. At that rate, U.S. 1 road and transit improvements will be funded by about 2050. I want a long-term fix, not more short-term measures designed for election protection.
When this is printed, a compromise plan will probably have been announced. I am still undecided. Please email me your views.
Secondary education reform is also on the calendar. I was one of three House Democrats to vote for Governor McDonnell's proposal to give schools letter grades (A-F) modeled on a Jeb Bush proposal. Our current school rating labels are indecipherable techno-speak that take a graduate school education to understand. Simplifying this system will provide everyone clearer information on the quality of our schools and foster improvement.
Governor McDonnell has proposed creating a new Richmond control board to take over non-performing schools modeled on a Louisiana program. I strongly oppose this concept. Once a school is removed from local control, local taxpayers would still have to bear the costs, but have no say in school operations or policies. Parents would have no school board member to call. While some school boards in Virginia are dysfunctional, a central-government takeover is not the way to fix local school problems.
We have several critical votes coming up this week. Please stay posted and let me know if you have feedback. It is an honor to serve you in Richmond.


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STAGE TUBE: Behind the Scenes of ALLEGIANCE at the Old Globe
The Old Globe presents the World Premiere of Allegiance – A New American Musical, an epic story of family, love and patriotism set during the Japanese American internment of World War II. As previously announced, television and film icon George Takei, Tony Award-winning actress Lea Salonga and Broadway favorite Telly Leunghead up The Cast. BroadwayWorld has a video below of KPBS arts reporter Beth Accomando, who goes behind the scenes of the Allegiance at the Globe.
Directed by Stafford Arima, with music and lyrics by Jay Kuo and book by Marc Acito, Kuo and Lorenzo Thione, the production features choreography by Andrew Palermo and music supervision, arrangements and orchestrations by Lynne Shankel. Allegiance – A New American Musical will run on the Donald and Darlene Shiley Stage in the Old Globe Theatre, part of the Globe's Conrad Prebys Theatre Center, through Oct. 21, 2012.
On the 60th anniversary of Pearl Harbor, a meeting with a young journalist forces WWII veteran Sam Kimura to remember his family's relocation from their California farm to the Heart Mountain internment camp in Wyoming. As they struggle to adjust to their new home, Young Sam and his sister Kei find themselves torn between loyalty to their family and allegiance to their country. With its moving score, Allegiance – A New American Musical takes audiences on a journey into our nation's history through the eyes of one American family.
For tickets, scheduling and more information, visit www.TheOldGlobe.org.


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Leah Caplan & Tami Lax
In 1999, two young, talented, and ambitious local chefs set out to make a difference in our local food shed. Tami Lax, current owner of Harvest Restaurant and co-owner of The Old Fashioned, and Leah Caplan, Chief Food Officer for Metcalfe's Market, were friends and culinary peers living and working within the "Slow Food" framework. Leah had already helped to start and grow other sustainability organizations such as Homegrown Wisconsin and Chefs Collaborative in an effort to help connect local chefs with local producers. Tami had recently left her position at L'Etoile, under the tutelage of Odessa Piper, to open Harvest Restaurant.
News of Slow Food had made its way across the Atlantic, and while Tami had some "down time" between jobs she contacted Slow Food about starting a chapter in Madison. After recruiting a minimum of 20 dues-paying friends and peers, she and Leah inaugurated the first convivium in Wisconsin and one of the first three in the U.S. At this time Slow Food "convivia" (chapters) were small and very informal. Patrick Martins, former executive director of Slow Food USA, had not yet established the national office, now in New York City. Slow Food Madison gained a rapid following and at one time was the largest chapter in the U.S.
The primary objective of Slow Food Madison was taste education and preserving the culinary heritage and identity of Wisconsin through food. Our first events included an apple tour and tasting at Weston's Antique Apple Orchard in New Berlin, an outing to Rushing Waters Fisheries in Palmyra, Future Fruit Spring Festival in Ridgeway, and a tour of Crawford Farm in New Glarus.
The Ark of Taste
Tami Lax and Leah Caplan have both been involved in Slow Food USA's Ark of Taste, with Tami being instrumental in its inception and leadership. The Ark of Taste is an international catalog of endangered food whose existence is threatened by industrial standardization and environmental damage. Since 1996 more than 800 products from over 50 countries have been added to the International Ark of Taste. The U.S. Ark of Taste includes over 200 rare regional foods and serves as a guide to farmers, producers, and consumers for celebrating and supporting the biodiversity of our country and cultural heritage.
True to their ambitious and visionary nature, Tami and Leah began focusing their attention on other projects and gradually turned the leadership of Slow Food Madison over to Susan Boldt, who since its inception had been a very active member. Susan rallied a small team of equally ambitious folks to create a larger rolling leadership team for Slow Food Madison which has carried it forward to today. We are grateful to Tami, Leah, and subsequent leaders and active members for their hard work and dedication in not only initiating but maintaining the chapter four our community.
Slow Food UW
The University of Wisconsin chapter of Slow Food was the first campus chapter, started in 2007 by Genya Erling, Tony Sturm and other UW students with faculty adviser Lydia Zepeda. In many ways, SFUW remains the model campus chapter, and their ambitious projects inspire chapters internationally.
Slow Food UW is independently organized by the students of UW, but is a close ally that works often with Slow Food Madison.


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Arviat, Nunavut Territory, Canada
Jacob Irkok began carving in 1962; he recalls that his first sculpture, carved in antler, depicted a caribou and wolf fighting.* He still carves in antler, but also in stone. Irkok's wife, Eulalie Utuuyak Irkok, is also a carver. Their son, Jack Irkok is also a carver in Arviat.
Spirit Wrestler Gallery
101-1669 West 3rd Ave.
Vancouver, BC
Canada V6J 1K1
Toll Free: 1-888-669-8813
Phone: 604-669-8813
one block West of the Granville Island gates
Between Pine St. and Fir St.
Tuesday to Saturday, open 10-5
Sunday and Holidays, open 12-5
© 2019 Spirit Wrestler Gallery. All Rights Reserved.


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How have the Sundance hits of the past few years fared at the global box office?
As Sundance seekers prepare to brave another week in the sub-zero splendour of Park City, thoughts inevitably turn to the commercial prospects of the festival line-up. Over the years some films have gone on to achieve notable success while others have flopped, giving rise to the popular parlour game whereby industry attendees guess how well a festival hit will perform at the box office.
Sundance is a festival, not a distributor showcase. There is no guarantee of commercial theatrical playability and festival director John Cooper repeatedly says this is not at the forefront of programming criteria, though always welcomed. Plus the domestic distribution arena is in a state of flux and many are arguing it is time to stop looking at theatrical performance as the be-all-and-end-all and realise there are new platforms that can offer remuneration.
Sundance today is, more than ever, about discovery and setting the pace for the year ahead in independent cinema. Translating Park City popularity into dollars and cents is notoriously difficult: a film that resonates with the famously exuberant Sundance crowd may not appeal seven months later to an exhausted office worker looking for two hours of escapism on a Friday night. A buyer's rarified taste may bewilder even the most ardent arthouse supporter. And of course the film's subject matter may simply fall out of fashion over time. Then again, it can catch a wave.
When JC Chandor's debut Margin Call premiered in 2011, it was clearly something special. Roadside Attractions and Lionsgate snapped up US rights and by the time the financial thriller, starring Kevin Spacey, came out in a day-and-date theatrical and VoD pattern it resonated with audiences.
"It hit the Zeitgeist well with the Occupy Wall Street movement reaching its peak as we opened in October," says Roadside Attractions co-founder Howard Cohen. "That made reviewers and feature writers take the film more seriously and be more interested in the subject matter, and to place it more prominently." Margin Call grossed $5.3m in US theatres and an undisclosed amount on VoD, where it continues to play. Internationally Myriad Pictures has licensed theatrical rights in more than 40 territories.
"The fact that the film was released day-and-date with VoD in the US appears not to have impacted the international releases," says Myriad chief Kirk D'Amico. "Even in places like Canada, where… Alliance nonetheless provided the film with a proper theatrical release."
Margin Call has taken more than $6m to date internationally.
'Margin Call hit the Zeitgeist well, with the Occupy Wall Street movement reaching its peak as we opened in October'
Howard Cohen, Roadside Attractions
Lisa Cholodenko's 2010 hit The Kids Are All Right is a supreme example of the film-as-survivor story. The project almost fell apart several times but producers Celine Rattray and Jeffrey Levy-Hinte persevered, and Focus Features picked up North American and select territory rights following a bidding war at Sundance. It went on to win a Teddy prize in Berlin, trading on its festival kudos to earn more than $20m in the US — by far its biggest market.
The Ryan Reynolds thriller Buried played in the same year and caused a stir among festival-goers. Yet it completely flopped at the North American box office when Lionsgate chose a muted campaign to release it later in the year. By contrast it has fared well on video and VoD and international audiences responded well when the film opened wide through Universal and independent distributors, grossing around $20m in total.
"In Spain, for example, it was perceived as a thriller with international acclaim; same in the UK, which were the two top territories," notes Buried's sales agent Rena Ronson of UTA.
The 2010 festival title Splice, an effective sci-fi drama with Adrien Brody and Sarah Polley, impressed Joel Silver. He bought it through Dark Castle, which has a deal with Warner Bros. The studio got behind a wide release and committed at least $25m in p&a. The result was $17m in North America and, importantly, a strong video and VoD run.
The 2010 crop included indie darling Winter's Bone, Debra Granik's gritty Ozark Mountains tale that launched Jennifer Lawrence's career and went on to gross $6.5m in North America through Roadside Attractions. Cohen calls it "a classic arthouse release" that launched in New York and Los Angeles and expanded over subsequent weeks.
"The one slight deviation from the norm," Cohen recalls, "is that we opened in theatres in a lot of markets in the general area where the film took place, southwestern Missouri, much earlier than we would have on any other arthouse release. And [it played in] other kind of 'heartland' areas that might not have played a film of this type at all. Those markets did extremely well and played throughout the release."
Among the more notable 2011 acquisitions were the Paul Rudd comedy Our Idiot Brother, which grossed more than $24m in the US through The Weinstein Company, a solid result mitigating what would have been a fairly heavy p&a outlay. Paramount bought Drake Doremus' Like Crazy and put the full force of its publicity machine behind the film, but it earned a limp $2.9m in North America. Fox Searchlight snapped up the widely admired Martha Marcy May Marlene and generated $2.9m domestically. That is a lot less than the thriller could have expected but what it lacked in grosses it more than made up for in career-building: star Elizabeth Olsen and first-time film-maker Sean Durkin are now on everybody's radar.
The commercial success or failure of a Sundance hit — or indeed a hit at any festival — is in large part a lottery. It is a tough gig being a buyer at a festival. Buyers can get it right and they can make mistakes, sucked in by a herd mentality that creates inflated expectation around some films and dismisses unfairly the prospects of others.


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BURLINGTON, Vt. (AP) Trey Blue came off the bench for a career-high 19 points and Brian Voelkel pulled down 15 boards to lead Vermont in a 61-37 rout of America East Conference foe Binghamton on Wednesday night.
Voelkel also dished out seven assists and Clancy Rugg scored 16 points for Vermont (11-6, 4-1), winners of four of its last five.
Jordan Reed and Roland Brown scored 10 apiece for Binghamton, which shot just 39 percent (16 of 41) in its 12th straight loss.
Vermont shot an identical 11 of 27 in each half but made five 3-pointers in the opening stanza en route to a 34-22 lead at the break. The Catamounts led by 15 three different times in the second half and extended their lead to 20 on a Voelkel layup with 7:31 left to play.
Binghamton (2-16, 0-5), which made 10 of 20 first-half shots, scored just 15 points after intermission.


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Duchess of Cambridge hoax call nurse death a 'tragedy'
The death of a nurse who took a hoax call about the Duchess of Cambridge was a "tragedy", the Australian radio station which broadcast it has said.
Rhys Holleran, chief executive of the company that owns Sydney radio station 2Day FM, said DJs Mel Greig and Michael Christian were "completely shattered" by the death of Jacintha Saldanha, 46.
The pair posed as the Queen and Prince Charles in a call on Tuesday morning.
Scotland Yard have now released an image of Mrs Saldanha.
It is thought she killed herself. A Metropolitan Police spokesman said a post-mortem examination would not take place until next week.
The station has suspended adverts, and the show has been taken off-air.
Speaking at a press conference in Melbourne, Mr Holleran, chief executive of Southern Cross Austereo, said he did not think any laws had been broken.
This was in contrast to a statement on Tuesday by hospital chief executive John Lofthouse, who said he had "received advice that what the Australian broadcasters did may well have broken the law".
The two DJs telephoned the hospital early on Tuesday morning, and recorded the call. It was then assessed by the station's lawyers before being broadcast on 2Day FM.
Mrs Saldanha, a duty nurse, answered the phone because it was 05:30 GMT and there was no receptionist on duty.
She put the pair through to the duchess's nurse, who unwittingly revealed details of the pregnant duchess's medical condition.
The duchess had been admitted on Monday for acute morning sickness, and was discharged on Thursday.
Mr Holleran told journalists that Mel Greig and Michael Christian's show would not be returning until further notice.
He said: "This is a tragic event that could not have been reasonably foreseen and we are deeply saddened by it."
But he added: "I think that prank calls as a craft in radio had been going on for decades. They are done worldwide and no-one could reasonably have foreseen what happened."
The network later suspended all advertising on 2Day FM until Monday.
BBC correspondent Duncan Kennedy said the decision was meant as a sign of respect, although with several advertisers, including Australia's largest supermarket chain, already pulling their adverts, it was more like damage limitation and to avoid further bad publicity.
Before the death, the country's media watchdog, the Australian Communications and Media Authority, had received complaints about the broadcast. Chairman Chris Chapman said: "These events are a tragedy for all involved and I pass on my heartfelt condolences to the family of the deceased nurse in London.
"The ACMA does not propose to make any comments at this stage, but will be engaging with the licensee, Today FM Sydney, around the facts and issues surrounding the prank call."
In a statement, Mrs Saldanha's family said they were "deeply saddened by the loss of our beloved Jacintha". They have requested privacy from the media.
On Friday, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge said in a statement they were also "deeply saddened" by the death of Mrs Saldanha, a duty nurse who was married with two children.
And King Edward VII hospital paid tribute to "a first-class nurse who cared diligently for hundreds of patients".
She had also worked at North Bristol NHS Trust for a number of years dating back to 2003. A trust spokesman said: "We are shocked and saddened by this news and offer our sincere condolences."
'Excellent nurse'
BBC royal correspondent Peter Hunt said he understood Mrs Saldanha - who was staying in hospital accommodation close to hospital - was the person who answered the call from the DJs and was not the nurse who discussed the duchess's medical condition.
The BBC understands Mrs Saldanha had not been suspended or disciplined by the hospital.
The BBC's Nicholas Witchell said it had been suggested to him that she had felt "very lonely and confused" as a result of what had happened.
The St James's Palace statement said the duke and duchess "were looked after so wonderfully well at all times by everybody at King Edward VII Hospital, and their thoughts and prayers are with Jacintha Saldanha's family, friends and colleagues at this very sad time".
A palace spokesman later added that "at no point did the palace complain to the hospital about the incident".
"On the contrary, we offered our full and heartfelt support to the nurses involved and hospital staff at all times."
Scotland Yard said officers were called at 09:35 GMT on Friday after reports of a woman found unconscious at an address in Weymouth Street, central London. She was pronounced dead at the scene.
Police said the death was not being treated as suspicious.


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I want to close a Hotmail account and move on to either my own Barca email or a Gmail account.
But I have a folder of >150 important emails that I need to keep.
Is there any way of using Barca to transfer them other than sending them from hotmail individually ?
~ Moved from Barca ... Eric ~


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For three weeks in March 1997, Marsha Harris and her NYU basketball teammates were the toast of the town. New York City, where sports success is measured in Super Bowl trophies and World Series rings, scooped up the basketball girls of New York University. The team had a cumulative GPA of 3.2, no athletic scholarships, and their record was 27-1 heading into the Division III Final Four weekend.
The Daily News and the New York Times featured the Violets almost daily, especially the "dynamic duo" of Harris, the 5'8" point guard, and Jen Krolikowski, the 5'9" shooting guard. Together they scored more than 1,000 points in the 1996-97 season.
And what memory does Marsha first mention when asked about the championship season? Not ringing the bell to open the New York Stock Exchange, not meeting NYU and NBA hall-of-famer Satch Sanders, not racing three-fourths of the court to lay in the winning basket.
"Being an over-achiever, I remember the only game we lost."
That's not false modesty or false pride. Marsha, her team, all NYU's intercollegiate athletes and hundreds more like them are part of an obscure, almost non-sensical, athletic conference. The University Athletic Association – accurately named, but brand-challenged – competes in the NCAA's Division III, which means no athletic scholarships, lots of colleges with hyphenated names, and travel that takes place mostly in buses and vans.
The UAA – or Geek League – is comprised of Brandeis, Carnegie Mellon, Case Western Reserve, Emory, NYU, the University of Chicago, the University of Rochester and Washington University in St. Louis. It was formed in 1986 as an "alternative" conference and began formal competition in 1987. The presidents of nine prestigious universities (Johns Hopkins was a founding member that has since dropped out) wanted a sports program for their private research universities that matched the academic standards of their undergraduate programs.
Marsha Harris, who grew up in Queens and was always a nerd, is one of the thousands of undergraduates who matured in that rare atmosphere.
"I was doing my school thing and my sports thing and coming home every day," she said of her four years at August Martin High School. But by her junior basketball season, her sports thing had become a big thing. Division I coaches came calling and knocking and visiting, offering free tuition to play basketball for them. Marsha was tempted, and she took a couple of campus visits. As a geek at heart, she had visions of becoming a doctor – her father's idea. She also looked at nearby schools with a top drawer premed program, and quietly applied to NYU on her own. The DI visits left her cold. "They didn't seem to be too focused on academics. It wasn't going to work for me."
Janice Quinn, NYU's coach at the time, knew about Marsha and her skills, but with so many big-time programs hovering, she thought landing Marsha "would be a stretch." Marsha had her own plans.
The day of a big all-star tournament in New York City, Quinn got a phone message that Marsha Harris wanted to talk to her about attending NYU. One of Quinn's assistants was planning to attend the tournament and called Quinn to get down there quick once she saw Marsha play. Quinn saw one defensive and one offensive sequence and said to her assistant, "If Marsha Harris comes to NYU, that's a national championship."
By choosing NYU, Marsha was living the philosophy the UAA envisioned – she would be a student first and an athlete second. She would have more choices to make.
Freshman year, Marsha lived in an apartment-style dorm near Union Square. Her roommate played basketball, and there were several more on the floor. She took the transition from Queens to Manhattan in stride.
"I don't think I went home for the first month and a half. You get used to the idea of being your own person with your own freedom. I wasn't a crazy kid, anyway."
Working into the 1994-95 team was more of a challenge than course work. She was a real star, with a reputation and the skills to match. But she had to learn how to become a leader and a contributor without stepping on the toes of some of the older players.
Winning, though, smooths over a lot of rough patches. "All that stuff goes out the window and camaraderie forms," Marsha said. The Violets finished third in the UAA and reached the Sweet 16 that March before losing to Salem State College of Massachusetts.
The next season, they reached the Final Four and were routed 62-37 by the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh, which hosted the tournament and went on to win the national championship.
In the classroom, Marsha faced her first real college student. She had been valedictorian at August Martin and could maintain good grades by cramming for exams. That strategy didn't work for the chemistry and math major at NYU. In the first semester of organic chemistry, she had to learn a new way to study. "Before, it was so easy. I would just cram before a test and do well. As the classes became more difficult, I couldn't do it that way. "There's nothing you can do but do it, right?" So she taught herself how to keep up every day and make sure she understood the material before moving on.
Then came abstract mathematics. "It was really abstract," she said. "No matter what I did, it was just too abstract for me." But the concrete girl even learned the abstract and earned a decent grade.
Junior year was the pinnacle. Marsha and her teammates won the national championship.
The team ran through the non-conference schedule in November and December undefeated. Marsha's backcourt teammate, Jen, was a senior and majoring in mechanical design. In the course of the season, she became NYU's all-time career scoring leader.
The only loss was in Atlanta, against Emory.
"I think I only scored 10 points," Marsha said. It was a typically hostile, if well-educated, environment.
"We always felt like we were the Yankees coming to town," she said of UAA road games. It was a matter of their power as well as coming from New York City.
NYU won the conference with a 13-1 record and won four regional games to reach the Final Four.
The Violets hosted the tournament that year in Coles Sports and Recreation Center, a singularly plain building at the corner of Bleeker and Mercer streets in Greenwich Village. One unique feature of Coles is that the basketball floor is built below street level, so when you get past the security desk you are standing on a bridge overlooking the court, which has a huge, purple NYU logo in the center. It seats 1,500, but only occasionally would it be filled to capacity. No admission is charged for most UAA events, and the schools host regular events to boost attendance. Average attendance that season was 250 .
The newspaper and TV coverage ramped up as they won the regional tournament. Marsha remembers that Jen – jokingly – guaranteed a national championship and one of the local TV stations ran with it. "We pretty much had no choice but to win."
In the semifinal game, NYU fell behind by 10 points to Scranton College in the Pennsylvania Pocono Mountains. Marsha had three fouls and was on the bench. Jen took over. She scored 21 points in the second half, making all three of her three-point shots. NYU 84, Scranton 74.
The next night, Saturday, March 22, 1997, NYU fell behind by 15 points in the championship game against Wisconsin-Eau Claire. Coles was filled to capacity. Slowly, the Violets came back, and Jen tied the game in the last minute. After Eau Claire missed a shot, Marsha took the outlet pass and ran past two defenders for a layup and the win. NYU 62, Eau Claire 59.
Quinn told the newspapers afterward that she had a dream in which Marsha dunked the winning basket.
After three years of anonymity, Marsha was finally recognized on campus. Kids congratulated her on the street and in class. She heard people mention her name as they passed or walked behind her. That was a new experience, and one that a lot of UAA athletes share. While they might have been stars in high school, they were simply college students on the big, UAA campuses.
That role of fitting in with the student body doesn't offer the athletes much recognition. It does however fulfill a goal of the UAA, where athletic teams regularly match or exceed the GPA of the overall student body.
As a senior, Marsha was the leader, but she and her teammates couldn't match the previous season. Jen and her classmates were gone, and a new crop of freshmen joined the team.
Marsha, who had a 3.5 GPA, was applying to medical schools – NYU, the University of Pennsylvania and Columbia among them. She wanted to stay close to home, just as she had for undergraduate school. She also scored 549 points that season and her career high of 41, and overtook Jen for the all-time – men's and women's – NYU scoring leader.
The New York Times came calling again that year with a profile of Marsha under the headline, "Academics over Athletics." When newspapers or TV stations take the time to write about the UAA, they play that angle so relentlessly that it almost flattens out. It's the truth, but within the UAA it can lose its resonance.
Marsha, while typical, faced an unusual choice. She was probably good enough a basketball player to make it in the young WNBA, but she had been striving for medical school. Quinn has no doubt she could have made it in professional basketball, but her promise to all players was to launch them into the world with the best undergraduate experience NYU could provide.
As Marsha recalls, Quinn turned out to me more excited than Marsha on the day she got into NYU. Coach even brought a cake to practice. "We celebrate those achievements as much as we celebrate a national championship," Quinn said. That's probably a stretch.
Of course, Marsha chose NYU medical school over hoops and talks about it so matter-of-factly that it's easy to forget the enormous gap between the two options. "At the time, it [the WNBA] wasn't as much of a sure thing as medical school." This is a woman who is way more concrete than abstract mathematics.
Now 34, Marsha is a surgeon in private practice in Manhattan, double board certified in general surgery and colon and rectal surgery. Quinn says she's a celebrity doctor. Marsha admits that at least a couple of patients a day want to talk about her basketball career. Not because she brings it up, but because they have Googled her for background before their appointment and discovered she has her own entry in Wikipedia.
"It goes on for about five minutes," Marsha said, "and then you go back to work." She typically operates on Mondays and Thursdays and sees patients the remaining days.
She was in a recreational basketball league when she first started her practice, but hands are everything to a surgeon, and the risk of injury was too high to continue.
So why would Brandeis, Carnegie Mellon, Case Western Reserve, Emory, NYU, the University of Chicago, the University of Rochester and Washington University each spend between $3 million and $6 million a year on Division III sports?
"EVERYTHING I learned in sports translates right into what I do on a daily basis," Marsha said. Learning how to get along with different people, treating people with respect and being calm under fire. Sports is really about learning through losing, and medical training is really about correcting errors, because mistakes can be fatal.
Is Marsha Harris special? One reporter asked her that question during her college days. She said that her achievements seemed so natural that she didn't think of herself as exceptional.
In the University Athletic Association, Marsha Harris is the rule.
Copyright 2011 Kevin S. Austin


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Will & Grace (The Revival) - Season One
They're all in it together. Again.
No one could have imagined when NBC announced that it was renewing one of its hit comedies, and not as a "reunion" or a "reboot" but essentially bringing the series back a decade later intact and as if it hadn't been away at all, that "Will & Grace" would inspire an entire revival. One of the greatest comedy hits, the series was revolutionary when it debuted in 1998, positioning gay characters in the lead roles and opening the mainstream to a whole new world.
By the time the series had come to its end in season eight, it still ranked among one of the funniest shows in primetime, though it featured a particularly existential finale that didn't meet up to expectations. When series creators Max Mutchnick and David Kohan went to work on "Will & Grace" (The Revival): Season One they immediately took the opportunity to retcon the original finale and brought in the entire gang, including Eric McCormack and Debra Messing, their sidekicks Megan Mullally and Sean Hayes, and it was like 11 years later couldn't come too soon.
Available now on DVD, the inaugural "revival season" is tackling today's most relevant issues, including the current political climate and challenging the "new normal." Integrating the best parts of the original series run, this time around the cast jump right into the middle of things, as if time had stood still - and yet it didn't. Will and Grace are living together (again) after her failed marriage; her gay BFF is single (again), but taking it all in stride. Meanwhile, both Jack and Karen continue to bring technicolor into their lives. The series is fresh, fun and full of frills!
"Will & Grace" the revival has inspired a sitcom renaissance, with "Murphy Brown" in fast-forward production, and "Roseanne" got off to a good start, until it didn't, so until the Second Season of the "revival" returns in the full, check out "Will & Grace" on DVD. All 16 episodes are featured, along with additional bonus content, including deleted scenes, a gag reel and behind-the-scenes featurettes that explore the love and laughter of this great American comedy guaranteeing America is gayer than ever, and proud as Just Jack!
"Will & Grace" (The Revival): Season One
DVD and Digital HD


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It has been long known that stuttering, especially in severe cases with blocks, stops and interjections, could produce a real voice disorder as a post effect.
In most of these cases of severe stuttering, while the patient is blocking his speech we can see how much pressure is building below the closed vocal cords until they finally open for that interjection of speech production, causing the upper circulatory neck veins to be full of blood,well shown and causing a severe friction effect on the vocal cords themselves.
Thus, there is not much surprise in the clinical connection between stuttering and a secondary voice disorders. The voice of these stutterers is harsh, choppy, and very distinct.
Voice therapy might help with stuttering – really?
Speech pathologists who treated many stutterers throughout the years have seen numerous times that by treating the secondary voice disorder not only is voice quality improved but, surprisingly enough, the stuttering has become less severe and in some cases is gone completely!
This is actually not so surprising…any speech pathologist who has the specialty to treat stuttering will tell you that one of the best remedies clinically proven is to change the output pattern of the patient speech. Since voice therapy is doing just that…it may as well be a wonderful remedy for severe stuttering.
What would be the clinical procedure?
In the evaluation process I see many stutterers with a secondary voice disorde. While testing the voice and speech production of these patients I will decide which of the disorders to tackle first and which technique to use. Most probably if the patient's voice is harsh and choppy I will choose to treat him with a technique that will try to solve both disorders or, rather, to do voice therapy that will decrease the vocal abuse secondary to his fluency disorder and improve his vocal production while working against his dis fluency behaviors by changing the speech production process all together.
What exactly do we do in voice therapy against stuttering?
There are typically a couple of very good techniques to choose from nowadays. While any voice therapy technique that will work to change the breath support pattern of the patient while advocating vocal cords relaxation physiotherapy is good and will have positive results on both the stuttering disorder as well as on the secondary voice hoarseness, I would much prefer to use state-of-the-art techniques that are more suitable for this complex combined situation of an Hoarse-Stutterer.
Let me briefly discuss 2 specially designed techniques for that:
WMD (Sonorantic) technique:
Introduced by Watterson,McFarlen and Diamond , features use of sonorants ( nasal consonants like /M/ and /N/ and liquids (half a vowel) like /Y/) in the teaching materials while implementing a change to abdominal breath support and emphasizing relaxation drills to the vocal cords. The idea behind this unique technique is that when we produce these sonorants , friction in the vocal cords is much reduced compare to using materials with ordinary common consonants – making this a best match to these stutterers!
MMSM (Minimal Movements Specialization Method) technique:
Introduced by Dr. Weiss, was designed as a voice coaching technique for singers and actors , then was implemented as medical voice therapy and has shown tremendous success with these actors that had dis fluency problems prior to treatment. Again, we see the power of changing the speech pattern in these patients. This relatively new fascinating technique may become a powerful weapon against stuttering since it features not one good voice but a thousand of good voices…the patient is learning how to control his vocal output using minimal movements of his speech muscles, making it possible to change the voice output in thousand different ways, so you could have a different speech pattern every day…which will most probably will have a vast positive effect on any stutterer's speech outcome, and by decreasing the primary disorder will reduce voice abuse to solve the secondary voice disorder as well.
Gal Levy M.Sc. CCC-SLP, has more than 21 years of experience in clinical treatments of Voice, Fluency, Articulation and Language. Gal is working as a school based SLP, Home health SLP and in his private practice at Frisco, TX. He also writes professional articles on various speech disorders and state of the art treatments on Google's new Encyclopedia, Helium and AC writers websites. Gal participated on Community Focus radio monthly shows with Dr. Griffin advising KEOM 88.5 FM listeners on voice, fluency and tongue thrust clinical issues.


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The Browser has a pleasurable Five Books interview with the English newspaper food critic Giles Coren, in which he talks about what makes for good food writing. The man is, um, opinionated:
Apart from being fat, what do you think makes a good food critic?
It is someone who understands that your first job as a journalist is to sell newspapers, and to do that you need to entertain people. Your opinion is neither here nor there. Almost all restaurant critics are rubbish. Worldwide, 99% of them are a waste of time. The only ones that are any use at all are here in the UK and there are probably only three or four who are really any good. The ones who show off about each mouthful of food, trying to show how it was cooked and what was done and give you the biography of the chef, are tedious bores. If you were next to them at a dinner party you would just kill yourself.
But Adrian Gill and Jonathan Meades, who was my predecessor at The Times, understand that the first job is to tell a great story that people will look at in the weekend paper. Essentially, being a food critic is nothing – it's not politics, it's not war reporting. There is no need to see it as something terribly important and become pompous and self-aggrandising about it. We all know who those people are! It is all a bit of fun.
Mind you, I want the food writer I read to know something about how dishes are put together, but in general, I agree with Coren. I don't want to read a food writer who is technically skilled in describing food. I want to read someone who knows how to tell a story, and who can convey a broader sense of the experience of eating. I can think of a particular upscale restaurant where the food was really good, but the decor was so frigid that it made the place less fun. That same food in a warmer room would have produced a different experience — and that's part of the job of a food writer, conveying the subjective experience of eating a particular meal.
I think the same is true of any kind of critical writing for a general audience. When I read a film review, for example, I want to know what the movie was like, but I equally want to know what it was like for Roger Ebert, with all his strengths and weaknesses, and in all his humanity, to watch that film. Having read Anthony Lane's film reviews for 20 years now, I feel that I know what moves him as a writer and filmgoer, and I enjoy reading his work not only as a guide to moviegoing, but also because it is flat-out entertaining, and it leaves me with the glow of having spent a few minutes in the company of a witty, discerning connoisseur. I will read Lane's reviews of movies I have no intention of seeing, only because he's so damn good with the English language. Clive James is the same way; he could review Chinese menus, and I would not only love what I read, but I would probably learn something about life from James's critique.
It is possible, of course, to take this too far. In the end, the reader of a restaurant review wants and needs to know whether or not the joint is any damn good. But you don't really get that sense from a clinical, technically "correct" analysis of the food. You can dissect a bird to learn how it flies, but that's not the same thing as conveying the experience of flight.
More Giles Coren:
Your final book is Elizabeth David's French Provincial Cooking.
She was the first modern English food writer, although she is basically talking about French food. She never really wrote about English food. When I talked about cholent, that is really just a Jewish version of cassoulet. She has two different cassoulet recipes in it – cassoulet de Castelnaudary and cassoulet de Carcassonne. I used to cook every type of cassoulet when I lived in Paris in my early 20s.
There she was in the 1950s with her incredibly complicated domestic life. In the same way as Nigel Slater, with his difficult childhood and his coming out, she had her issues as well. She was known as a monstrous shagger and I think people with incredibly complicated romantic lives bring something to the table as food writers. Even Gordon with his dalliances and bits and pieces has something.
But considering you are so anti-French cooking and French food writing, why do you like this book?
I just think she is a very good cookery writer. She is trying to explain to people in austere 50s Britain how to make a petit salé or a beef bourguignon. She'll write things like, "Try and get hold of a bay leaf; you may not have heard of these things. You will sometimes find them in the delicatessens of Charlotte Street". Bloody hell, what was England like? "If you can't get ham, use luncheon meat." So there was this post-war rationing. Her writing is escapism. It started with the English middle-class drift to the Dordogne. She tells endless anecdotes, which really works. One of them is how she tried to get her car fixed but there was a sign saying that they were closed "à cause de cassoulet". So you actually have French industry stopping for the day to eat a really good dish of goose and beans. She was retelling that story in 1950s Britain when people were eating Spam. It has a sort of poetry to it.
I've never read Elizabeth David — Julie has a couple of her books on the shelf here — but Coren's bit about her causes me to recognize that food writing, and food, has for me a lot to do with escapism. Cooking is a form of alchemy, of enchantment: the idea that with the right formula, and the expert application of heat, you can turn ordinary things into something that thrills, delights, and transports you out of the everyday. In that thoroughly secular way, food is sacramental. A couple of days ago, I smeared the last of some salt butter caramel spread I'd brought back from France onto a water cracker, and ate it. Suddenly, and for a few seconds, I was no longer standing in my kitchen, but was back in the Marais, at the Breizh Cafe.
And now I've got to thinking about the leftover bits of ham from Christmas, and how rich and delicious a pommes de terre dauphinoise would be with ham inside. Not for me — I'm back on the Nativity fast — but we have houseguests, and it's cold outside, and what a lovely treat this would be when Julie and our guests return from their daytrip to New Orleans. Off to the store for potatoes and heavy cream.
Oh, and this is the New Year's Day menu: Navy beans with ham (using the hambone from Christmas), turnip greens and roots from my dad's garden, baked Louisiana sweet potatoes, and cornbread. OK, I gotta go cook…


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Epcot's 2006 International Food & Wine Festival General Overview
The 11th Annual Epcot International Food & Wine Festival:
Eating Myself into Oblivion
Debra Martin Koma
ALL EARS® Senior Editor
This article first appeared in the
October 10, 2006, issue #368, of ALL EARS® (ISSN: 1533-0753)
For the fifth year running, I have made a pilgrimage to that mecca that calls to all who suffer from the dual afflictions of being both a "foodie" and a "Disneyphile" — the annual event known as Epcot's Food and Wine Festival. And, for the fifth year in a row, I have overscheduled myself, trying to attend as many of the special dining events as possible in a very short amount of time. Yes, I did it again. I ate (and drank) myself nearly into oblivion. Fortunately, I have recovered enough to share some of my thoughts and observations of this year's Festival with you.
This year there are 26 "International Marketplaces" stationed around World Showcase featuring the foods and beverages representative of various regions — Australia to Scandinavia, South Africa to South America. New this year are marketplaces representing the cuisines of Thailand and Argentina.
Wisely, I paced myself a little better this year, and spread out my taste-testing of these food booths over the course of several days, instead of trying to sample as many as possible in just one. I did find on opening day, a Friday, that the lines at the booths were much more manageable than on the weekends – no surprise, really. And of course the lines grew longer as the day went on. TIP: Try to visit the booths during mid-week.
If you're sampling the wares at the booths, I can recommend more than a few tasty treats to try. The Traditional Kjottkaker ($2.75) at the Scandinavia booth is quite savory. The meatball itself was a bit chewy, and I tasted no cauliflower, even though it's supposedly an ingredient. The cheesy potatoes, mashed still wearing their red skins, were a good accompaniment, and the sweet beet sauce was very good. If you like veggies, don't miss the Vegetable Curry with Jasmine Rice and Lemongrass ($2.50) at the new Thailand marketplace. Loaded with mushrooms, green beans, cauliflower (there it is!) and even cucumber, with a slightly spicy kick, this was a tasty morsel served over fragrant rice that must have been cooked in coconut milk. And if you have a sweet tooth (or, like me, more than one!) don't miss the Zeppole Fritte al Cioccolato ($2.75) at the Italy booth. It wasn't exactly like the zeppole I'm used to getting at my local Italian groceria, more like a chocolate cream-filled cream puff, but the pastry was light and the filling so smooth and creamy, not overly sweet. Yum! I stayed away from items that I've tried in previous years, like the Bobotie in the South Africa booth, and the Cheese Soup in Canada, instead concentrating on foods that were new to me. Other items I found to be at least worth a try on my walk around the World: the Chilaquiles ($3.50) in Mexico, the Grilled Beef Sirloin with Chimichurri ($3.75) in Argentina, Curried Butternut Squash Soup with Naan Bread ($2.75) in India, and, the Duo of Chocolate Truffles (one milk chocolate, one dark for $3.00) at the Champagne booth.
TIP: Unless you're a glutton for punishment, avoid the Potato Leek Soup with an Irish Cheddar Crisp at the Ireland booth. Greasy, salty and apparently made with a beef base (rather than the chicken stock that I use when I make potato leek soup), this sample was not worth the $2.75. The best part of the soup was the cheese crisp!
I noted a number of new items on the menus this year, some exotic, and others not so. But no matter how your tastes run, you're sure to find plenty to please your palate as you stroll around World Showcase. And, since you're there, why not be a little adventurous? Go ahead — for around $3 a plate, you can afford to branch out a bit. There's Albondigas (Spanish Pork and Chicken Meatball) at the Spanish booth, and Porotos Granados (I never did find out what that is) at Portugal — you know you want to try them!
As with last year, visitors who are using the Disney Dining Plan as part of their vacation package can use the plan's snack credits to buy most foods and beverages at the booths, regardless of price (except for the alcoholic beverages). Even the Maine Lobster Roll, which is selling for $6.50 at the USA booth, can be purchased as a Dining Plan snack. Just look for the purple and white Dining Plan icons on the menus posted around the World.
Another bright idea that someone had is use of color-coded tickets to expedite the purchase of the booth items. At those marketplaces that tend to be most popular at peak times (primarily those with the most familiar cuisines, such as Italy, USA, and Poland), you pay at a little kiosk before you receive your food and beverage and are given color-coded tickets to hand in to the Cast Members at the booth. This does speed up the process in most cases. Except for the Ireland booth, where I paid in advance and was given nothing in return. No cards, no receipts, nothing. How, I asked, would the Cast Member know what I had bought? Just tell them, was the response. In other words, I could have told the food dispensers that I had purchased five not-so-yummy cups of Potato Leek Soup and five glasses of Irish Cream liqueur and no one would have been the wiser. They might want to re-think that.
The popular "Wine Walkabout", located near the Germany pavilion, has returned as a part of the "Australia — Discover Down Under" exhibit. The price of the Walkabout "passport" hasn't increased this year — it's still $7 — but now you can only sample four wines (not five as before) while talking with the wineries' representatives. The "walkabout" concept has also been adopted over at the America pavilion this year, with the introduction of the "American Wine Tasting Adventure." You purchase a passport that will allow you to try samples of four American wines for $8. The featured wines are from Virginia, Washington State, Napa Valley and Sonoma, which ties in neatly with the festival's "Exploring Regional Flavors" theme.
New this year is an exhibit spotlighting the culture of Turkey, located near the Morocco pavilion. In this area you can experience daily complimentary demonstrations on Turkish cooking and Turkish coffee, or learn about Turkish crafts, such as calligraphy. Unfortunately, on opening day when I stopped in, the times for the presentations had gotten mixed up somehow. They were demonstrating calligraphy when I was hoping for a cooking lesson. Hopefully they'll work that glitch out before you get there.
I was disappointed to note that many of the so-called "special exhibits" didn't really seem that special this year. None were on the grand scale of the Spain exhibit a few years back, an exhibit so elaborate that rumors were flying it might be become a permanent World Showcase pavilion. With flamenco dancers and demonstrations on olive oil and the fancy art of pouring sherry, it seemed to always have something going on. Nor were any displays even close to the exhibit that featured the Piedmont region of Italy a year or two ago. But later in the festival another new exhibit will have a limited run (October 20-29) — the country of Peru will set up in a space in World Showcase Plaza, where chefs from the city of Lima will hold demonstrations of authentic Peruvian cooking. Perhaps that will live up to previous, more grandiose displays.
Situated just before you enter the Mexico side of World Showcase, the Odyssey, formerly a counter service eatery, is once again home to the "Chef's Showplace," the center of a number of special Festival events. As in the past few years, it's the spot for special, ticketed cooking demonstrations, such as Sweet Sundays and Chefs A'Field, for which you can find some individual reviews on AllEarsNet.com. Visiting chefs for these programs come from a diverse range of backgrounds, and include several very well-known names, like Cat Cora and Michael Psilakis from the Food Network. The Chef's Showplace is also the site of many complimentary cooking demonstrations, tasting seminars, and book signings (see the Festival program for events and times). The complimentary programs, though, are extremely popular and can be very difficult to get into. Be sure to check the schedule in the Festival program and plan accordingly — you may need to arrive more than 30 minutes ahead of time for these 45-minute programs. One day I saw the line for the Valrhona Chocolate tasting wrapped about 3/4 way around the building!
There are also free wine tasting seminars held in the Innoventions West Festival Welcome Center in two areas, one known as the Vineyard Hall, the other as the Estate Hall. Again, these complimentary programs are very well-attended and require that you arrive early to be assured of getting a seat.
Other free programs around the World Showcase this year include the Twinings Tea Seminar held at the United Kingdom pavilion. This year, the seminar celebrates the 300th anniversary of the revered tea company and, at least for opening weekend, was presented by Stephen Twining, 10th generation of the long-established family. ALL EARS® reader Andrew Della Vecchia attended the seminar this year and submitted a review for us HERE.
If you'd like to attend the tea seminar, or another of the Festival's complimentary programs, such as The History of Beer in America (presented by the Boston Beer Company in the American pavilion), and International Beers of the World (hosted by InBev at a kiosk in between the Canada and UK pavilions) consult your program for the times. TIP: Stop by the appropriate locations in advance to see if you can obtain a ticket to guarantee your spot. And be sure to arrive at least a half-hour early for admission!
There was a bit of a mix-up at the opening weekend of the Festival this year — some of the usual merchandise was not available. No recipe books, no pins, for example. By now, those issues should be resolved, and the pins and other commemorative merchandise should be available at the Festival Gift Shop located between World Showcase Plaza and the Canada pavilion. This year's Festival poster, available in the Festival Welcome Center, is a subtle scene of fruits and vegetables in muted shades of yellow and orange. The Welcome Center is also home to a number of book signings, as well as to a retail spot that offers a variety of food and wine related merchandise, not to mention hundreds of bottles of all types of wine from all over the world. Who knew there was such a thing as MANGO wine? Beware though: They won't ship wine for you, and with the new TSA rules for air travel you can't carry bottles of liquid on board with you. If you don't live locally, or have room in your luggage for your purchases, you might be better off remembering the names of those wines you want to buy, and then look for them at home or online. Other items in the market that I found interesting were little organic spice packets by Pinch Plus ($1.00 for one tablespoon, or combo sets were also available); laser-type wine thermometers (from $25 to $75, depending on size and type); and an assortment of mouse-shaped cheese knives by Ganz.
Other Festival shopping can be found at Birdsville Provisions in the Australia exhibit — that's where you can pick up a $20 boomerang, then learn all about it with the $7 "Boomerang Book." A variety of Turkish crafts are on hand in that country's exhibit, as well. You can also purchase wines by the bottle in the usual places around World Showcase: at the Weinkeller in the Germany pavilion, Les Vins de France in the France pavilion, and Enoteca il Castello in the Italy pavilion.
TIP: Disney is plugging the use of its Disney Gift Card for purchasing the food and beverage items around the World Showcase. Although there is no special Food and Wine Festival design for the card, it is a handy way to buy your booty. You can buy the gift cards, and "reload" them when they run out of purchasing power, at most Disney shops.
I've commented in years past that the Food and Wine Festival really is lacking when it comes to activities that might appeal to children. This year, if it's possible, they have even LESS. The last several years they have had two recurring exhibits, The Buzz about Honey and Nuts about Peanuts, both of which were normally positioned somewhere in Future World. This year, these two exhibits have returned but have been significantly scaled back and are located in World Showcase Plaza. If memory serves, The Buzz about Honey even featured a type of children's play area, but that aspect of the exhibit is now missing-in-action. Although the program specifically states that there would be hives for the kids to examine, I sure didn't see them — and I walked past the exhibit at least a dozen times over the course of the weekend. And what happened to the hands-on area sponsored by Mission Foods? I recall that kids could grind corn, or play in an interactive area that had a scale to determine your weight in tortillas. In several press releases leading up to the Festival I saw mention of a teen cooking demonstration, which piqued my interest since I have a teen who will be coming to the Festival when I return in November. Unfortunately, that demo seems to have gone by the wayside — there's no mention of it in the Festival program, and Cast Members I asked had no clue as to what I was talking about.
Still, there are the Kidcot Fun Stops around Epcot that have a specially themed Food & Wine Fest craft for them to work on. The littlest kids always seem to enjoy that.
Kids will also probably enjoy the Eat to the Beat Concerts at the America Gardens Theater (showtimes are 5:45, 7 and 8:15 p.m.), even if they've never heard of the performers — and most likely they haven't. During my stay, the featured entertainment was Survivor and The Family Stone. To coin a Food and Wine Festival type of phrase, they weren't my cup of tea, so I didn't go to the shows. However, I will be certain to stop by to have a listen to Chubby Checker when I return. I just wish I could be there to see some of the other former chart-toppers coming up on the schedule, like Little Richard, The Beach Boys, Gloria Gaynor and Three Dog Night.
If you can only afford one big-ticket culinary experience during this year's Food and Wine Festival, I will, as I have done for the last few years, recommend the Party for the Senses, held at the spacious World ShowPlace, located between the United Kingdom and Canada pavilions. Even though the price has gone up substantially this year ($125 per person plus tax, up from $95 plus tax last year), I still find this event to be one of the most fun evenings you can have at Epcot, or anywhere in Walt Disney World.
Last year about half of the chefs in attendance were from Disney properties — this year 14 of the 26 chefs present were from Disney kitchens. This, however, is not a complaint, merely an observation. In truth, some of the best offerings I sampled at this year's Party were from Disney chefs. Let me tell you, I have never had a 'lollipop' as delicious as the Black Angus one prepared by Daniel Sicilia of Saratoga (not Sarasota, as the program misstated) Springs Resort's Turf Club Bar and Grill. And the Horseradish-crusted Prime Filet of Beef presented by Le Cellier's Albert Riviello was a close second on my top 10 list of the evening.
Many of the wineries represented this year were familiar to me — I would venture that anyone who imbibes alcoholic beverages knows about Robert Mondavi, Moet & Chandon, Samuel Adams, and Remy Martin. But some of the new (to me) vineyards also offered some more than palatable potions: Raphael Vineyards from New York; Napa's Etude Wines; Mission Hill Family Estate of Canada; and Pierre Sparr from the Alsace region of France.
Performers from Cirque du Soleil's La Nouba were again on hand to provide entertainment, yet this year the strolling musicians were absent. Piped in music was the order of the evening, and while it was satisfactory, the live music of years gone by was missed.
In past years, the Festival has offered a number of reasonably priced Food & Wine Pairings at several Epcot restaurants. This year, the pairings' price has gone up a modest $5 (to $40 per person plus tax), but they still remain one of the best Festival values. The cost gets you three light courses (usually appetizer, entree, dessert) paired with three different wines, along with the chance to hear from the chef and the winery representatives about the pairings.
A former Festival culinary experience known as "Lunch and Learn" has evolved into two different offerings this year: The Cook, the Book and the Bottle, and Chefs A'Field. In the former event, a highly regarded chef prepares a three-course lunch, paired with complementary wines. In addition, attendees receive a cookbook by the chef, along with a commemorative bottle of wine. The latter program, based on a current PBS television series, features three courses prepared by a chef who has teamed with a local farmer, as well as three different wine pairings. The emphasis in the Chefs A'Field program is clearly on working with the freshest ingredients, with a slant toward organic growing methods, and attendees receive a cookbook and a video of the first season of the PBS series. Each of these two new programs costs about double the price of the original Lunch and Learn series (which was $75 per person plus tax), and have garnered mixed reviews. In addition, the Festival has added two new educational seminars, priced at $45 plus tax — the Food and Wine in Balance Seminar and the Cheese and Wine Pairing Seminar, both held at Ariel's in the Beach Club resort. Again, these new offerings have been met with mixed reaction.
You'll find reviews on these new events, as well as many other Food & Wine Festival experiences, on AllEarsNet.com in the next few days, as I recover from my food-induced stupor and have the chance to write.
As you can see, even after five years, I still find enough worthwhile to keep returning to the Food and Wine Festival. Yes, I did notice a definite downsizing in many aspects of the six-week-long event — except in the prices, which have most decidedly increased. But I really don't mean to complain — the Food and Wine Festival is still my favorite of Walt Disney World's "big" events. I'm even planning to return with my family in a few weeks. And when I do, I will really try to restrain myself and refrain from, yet again, nearly eating myself into oblivion, not to mention the next dress size.
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Epcot's 11th Annual International Food and Wine Festival runs daily through November 12, 2006. Admission to the Festival is included with your park admission, but there are several special events that are an additional (and often hefty) charge. Many events are sold out, but some openings remain, particularly for the Party for the Senses. To make reservations, contact 407-WDW-FEST. And if you're thinking ahead to next year, the dates have already been announced: September 28-November 11, 2007. Remember that reservations for many of the ticketed events go fast — be sure to watch AllEarsNet and ALL EARS® for an announcement, probably sometime in July, concerning reservations for the 2007 Festival.
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Take the Food and Wine International Marketplace (Food Booth) Survey! Tell us what you thought of the samples!
Read the survey ratings HERE.
The AllEarsNet.com Team hopes you enjoy our other reports and photos on the Food & Wine Festival — click on the links to our reports in the left-hand column of this page!
Editor's Note: This story/information was accurate when it was published. Please be sure to confirm all current rates, information and other details before planning your trip.


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Anger Management
Season Two - Episode Descriptions
Episode 31 / Production #1042 - "Charlie Kills His Ex's Sex Life" (Airs August 8, 9:30 pm e/p) - Charlie goes too far when he gets jealous of Jennifer's much younger boyfriend, Canvas. Meanwhile, Patrick helps Lacey look sexy for her first modeling gig. Written by Kristy Grant; directed Gerry Cohen.