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Your Key Locksmith will be standing by to assist when you have a need that demands a locksmith in Charles, MD. Our pros are ready with quick, affordable service the moment we take your call. One call solves it all, and we will handle your locksmith needs with expert, quality service from a name you know. For any locksmith needs you may have in Charles, MD, give us a call right away at 800-306-2477.
Your life is complicated enough without the added worry of an unexpected security issue. It's always a big hassle to lock your keys in the car, because it never occurs at a beneficial time. Your Key Locksmith will respond swiftly to your call, and our knowledgeable locksmith service will get you back on schedule as efficiently as possible. Our unrivaled customer care is one reason we've become a leading name for expert locksmith services in the Charles area, as well as the rest of Maryland.
With so much invested in your house or business in Charles, you need the peace of mind that comes with making a informed decision the next time you need locksmith services. You wouldn't take shortcuts with the protection of your loved ones, and we won't cut corners when we handle your locksmith needs. Your satisfaction is vital to us, and we'll ensure the work is done well the first time, every time, so you can get on with your hectic lifestyle. When you contact Your Key Locksmith, you won't need to look any further.
If your Charles residence or place of business needs new locks, or if you've locked your car keys in the trunk along with your milk and eggs, Your Key Locksmith will be there right away, handle your locksmith services concerns, and have you back on track in a flash. With our speedy, courteous service, professional crew, and fast response time, you can be confident that you're getting a great value.
Locksmiths are one of the services that people just don't give a moment's thought, so when they find themselves needing Your Key Locksmith, it usually feels like a matter of life and death. When you're getting worked up over a locksmith services related concern in Charles, MD, contact Your Key Locksmith right away at 800-306-2477.
At Your Key Locksmith, we provide locksmith services to residential and commercial clients in and around Charles, Maryland. In a lot of cases, people in Charles, MD contact us for help when they have locked themselves out of their house or car. However, we also have the ability to assist businesses throughout Charles change their locks upon terminating an employee or in other situations where they feel having the locks changed will significantly improve their security. Call our experts in Charles at 800-306-2477 if you have questions about how our locksmith business can help you or if you need our assistance.
Every day, someone locks themselves out of their Charles, MD house. When this occurs, it can result in tons of frustration and anxiety for the home owner and the fact they are hungry after a hard day of work does not make the scenario any better. Luckily, as soon as you contact our locksmith service, we will be on the way to assist.
We also receive a lot of calls from business owners throughout Charles, MD who are looking to change their locks for security purposes, such as following the termination of an employee who was given a key to the building. This service is provided for a very reasonable price, and we can definitely guarantee that it is much cheaper than going to buy completely new locks for each door on your company.
Imagine that you are finally walking to your vehicle after a hard day at work only to discover that you locked your keys in your car while rushing into work that morning. Even our staff knows how frustrating this is. Luckily, our experts will be on the way to your location throughout Charles, MD as soon as possible and they can normally have your vehicle unlocked within a matter of minutes.
Upon discovering you need the assistance of a locksmith, Your Key Locksmith is the preferred choice. Whether you have locked yourself out of your home or car, or wish to change the locks on your house or business for security reasons, our locksmiths have your needs covered. We also do not want to see a person stress out over how to pay for our services, which is exactly why we remove this concern by pricing our services affordably. If the assistance of a locksmith service that has been in your shoes is attractive to you, be sure to call us at 800-306-2477 today. Edwardsville, IL locksmith is yet another location we service thus don't hesitate to browse the other top notch cities.


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JINX Luminous Jellyfish® was designed in 2015 to be a high quality, low maintenance and visually spectacular mood lamp. The product is represented under Australian Design Registration No 201513967 and 201514939, and is manufactured in Shenzhen, China.
The company behind the product design and importation is Groovy Gadgets, an Australian company that has designed and wholesaled many electronic toys, gifts and gadgets in the Australian marketplace since 2002 (www.groovygadgetsonline.com.au) and will be releasing an impressive range of Lithium Ion Based High Capacity Powerstations in 2019 (see www.powerbuddy.com.au)
All products distributed by Groovy Gadgets pass relevant Australian safety standards and are marked accordingly. Several in-house designs and trademarked product names in the Australian gift industry come from Groovy Gadgets and are distributed through hundreds of retailers throughout Australia, New Zealand and USA.

subset: commoncrawl


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Advertisements Pakistan Tehreek Insaf (PTI) has finally changed its plan of Islamabad Lockdown at eleventh hour upon Superme Court's call. As per the latest plan revealed by PTI chairman Imran Khan, they'll be celebrating tomorrow as Youm e Tashakkur (Thanksgiving Day) at Parade ground, Islamabad. Advertisements "On the Supreme Court's …Read More »
Martial Law or Democracy? Here is what Pakistanis prefer!
The latest Gallup Survey tells that majority of Pakistanis prefer democracy over the dictatorship. The Gallup Survey shows that Pakistanis aren't attracted to martial law even when PTI is all set to showdown against the Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif over his name in Panama Leaks. PTI's 'Islamabad Lockdown' is set …Read More »
Hamza Ali Abbasi to join PTI's Islamabad Lockdown even if it ends his career
The famous film and drama actor, Hamza Ali Abbasi never shies away from expressing his opinion over different issues. Though he's not an office bearer of PTI, he supports Imran Khan's stance and often spends time with him. Abbasi actively took part in PTI's sit-in (Dharna) against the rigging in …Read More »
10 Tweets exactly explaining Sheikh Rasheed's escape
PTI and allies set 2 November date for Islamabad Lock Down, government taking some aggressive steps started detention of PTI workers. Today, Sheikh Rasheed was all set to show his power at Commite Chowk, Rawalpindi , at the same time his detention was expect. Awami League leader knowing it even …Read More »
Serene Air soon to launch in Pakistan
Pakistanis are yet to have another new airline setting operational in the country. The latest Pakistani airline named 'Serene Air' will soon be setting its services operational in Pakistan. In this regard, the management of the airline is also hiring the staff for different posts. According to the sources, Serene Air …Read More »
65th death anniversary of Liaquat Ali Khan being observed today
The death anniversary of Liaquat Ali Khan, the first Prime Minister of Pakistan is being observed on October 16. The Shaheed-e-Millat Mr Liaquat Ali Khan was assassinated on 16 October 1951, while being in a public meeting the Muslim League at Company Bagh in Rawalpindi. The park was later named …Read More »
Online passport service launched for overseas Pakistanis
The long-awaited online passport service has been finally launched. Initially, the service is on the go for overseas Pakistanis, though it will be available in Pakistan within next 6 months . "The initial phase will begin from June 2017 with a cost of Rs 600-700 million. E-passports will be issued …Read More »
Taher Shah's 'Mermaid' song to release on this Christmas
Music lovers were awe struck with Taher Shah's 'Angel' song, now they won't have to wait anymore as Shah will soon be coming up with song 'Mermaid', which will be releasing on this Christmas . Earlier, after his debut song 'Eye to Eye' Taher Shah came back with his next …Read More »
Ashura 2016 Holidays in Pakistan
The Interior Ministry has announced two public holidays over Ashura 2016, 9thand 10th Muharram, which will be falling on 11 and 12 of October. The notification issued on the website announces Muharram holidays in Pakistan. Following the notification, all the government, semi-government institutes, schools and collages will remain close over the …Read More »
Video: Young girl singing 'Mann Mayal' OST will make your day
You might have heard multiple time about Pakistan possessing some superb singing talent, here's another prove of it as sixth grader of Army Public School Rawalpindi has given many singers run for their money with her super-melodious voice singing 'Mann Mayal' OST. The young girl is lucky enough to grab the limelight …Read More »
CSS Exam Result 2016: 98% fail in written test
Like Every year thousands of Superior aspirants nationwide appeared in Central Superior Services CSS Exams this year, though it seems with every year it is getting tougher for the students as 98% of candidates have failed to pass the written exam, which makes this years' result the worst result in …Read More »
20 years of Shahid Afridi, Twitter pours tribute!
Boom Boom Afridi is one of the greatest cricketer, International cricket is blessed with. Yeah the Pakhtun power from KP, Pakistan has ruled over cricket and even on the hearts of cricket-lovers. He have set several world records in International cricket and the most important thing is that he doesn't …Read More »
Hamza Ali Abbasi urges celebrities to support Pakistan Army publicly and vocally
Indian media came up with fake claim of 'surgical attack' in Pakistan on Thursday and following it Indians on social media lent their support for their armed forces. Even many of the Bollywood celebrities backed Indian army for doing all this in response of the Uri Attack, which left 18 …Read More »
Facebook removes 'Jamaat-e-Islami' official page for showing Indian atrocities in Kashmir
The social media giant Facebook has yet again not kept their words about 'freedom of speech' as now they have removed 'Jamaat-e-Islami' official page for showing Indian atrocities in Kashmir. It will be pertinent to mention here that earlier Faceboook banned Hamza Ali Abbasi's verfied official Facebook page over voicing in support …Read More »


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Research: The Importance of Trusted News Sources During an Election
By Rahul Sethi
As appearing on the INMA blog on November 5, 2018.
This past summer, Vividata, in partnership with Kantar, released the Canadian Trust in News Study. This study examined how Canadians feel about their news sources in the era of 'fake news', their preferred and trusted sources, and the importance of quality journalism.
In my last post, I discussed audience awareness of 'fake news', and the importance for news brands to leverage their heritage of trust and a reputation for providing in-depth coverage to retain and grow their audience. In this post, we further explore this opportunity for news brands to assert their inherent credibility; especially during an election year.
Trust in News Coverage of Politics and Elections
In October of 2019, Canada will have its next national election. In any country, national elections are a gripping time for news audiences, especially with the propagation of 'fake news'. Trust in the news sources audiences use is paramount as they search for election updates, candidate platforms and an idea of who they should elect to run their country.
As far as trust in news coverage of politics and elections, digital media is losing out in terms of the impact of 'fake news' on trust (see Figure 1). 66% of news audiences claim to trust social media less as a result of 'fake news'. Also losing audience sentiment regarding trust are websites or apps of digital only news outlets. It is not surprising that digital only channels are losing audience trust, as the creators of 'fake news' rely on these channels to spread their content.


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Transmitter Park: How Greenpoint's Waterfront Oasis Finally Appeared
When Transmitter Park finally opened in 2012, many longtime Greenpoint residents were shocked to realize that for decades they had been denied amazing views of the East River. They wondered how they could have lived so close to the East River, yet missed its stunning vistas. They also wondered why the community had been shut off from their waterfront for generations. The 1.61-acre park on the East River offers spectacular views of the Manhattan skyline and is a much needed urban oasis, but to understand why it took North Brooklyn decades to develop a park at the site lets take a look at the history.
The park is a natural estuary with wetlands that were once the hunting ground of the Keskachaugue Native Americans. The land is also susceptible to floods and when the park was planned, the designers incorporated a bridge into the park design that allows for the periodic high waters of the East River to enter the park. Sometime in the 1840s, the area was chosen as the site for a primitive ferry that was nothing more than a small rowboat with a sail that carried a few passengers over to the sparsely settled Brooklyn shore. Remnants of that first ferry are still visible from the park's bridge, but the undeveloped shoreline of the park would soon change with the advent of our area's first industry: shipbuilding.
The rapid development of shipbuilding in Greenpoint coincided with a huge demand for sailing ships. Trade with China and the gold rush in California created a massive need for ships and the East River shoreline became the nation's largest center of shipbuilding. The first wooden ship was built locally in 1850 and within five years a dozen shipyards producing wooden ships lined the East River shoreline.
John Englis joined his father's business in 1850 at his yard at the foot of East 10th Street in Manhattan and created the famous shipbuilding firm John Englis and Sons. Manhattan was booming, forcing shipbuilding across the river and John Englis and Sons moved to Greenpoint in 1872. The Englis family yard, located where the park is today, built several famous ships there. The family constructed one of the largest wooden ships ever built, The Grand Republic, which was more than a football field in length. Today, the bar 'Grand Republic' is just up the street from the park and recalls the huge wooden ship.
Shipbuilding was proving unprofitable in the early 1900s, and slowly the Greenpoint yards closed, but John Englis and Sons alone held out. Finally, Englis and Sons too could not find orders and in 1911 the last surviving shipyard in Greenpoint closed, ending a colorful era.


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Reading WikiLeaks We Learn all about the
American status hierarchy in all its righteousness and majesty.
The Podesta emails show how America is run WikiLeaks' dump of messages to and from Clinton's campaign chief offer an unprecedented view into the workings of the pretty satisfied, pretty content elite, and how it looks after itself. Nobody takes road trips to exotic West Virginia to see what the members of 99% looks like or how they live.
The Importance and the Dignity of the Individual
Bernie Sanders never changed his message, he stood for human rights, he worked for the dignity of people. That is what the democrats used to do and what they used to stand for, now it's called socialism.
What do the experts know about inequality?
Plenty! But for all the money and study what can then they tell you in a simple sentence?
"inequality has perverted U.S. democracy" in general, it's the well-off who mainly have the ear of those in power in our new Gilded Age. WTF!!
"the preferences of the vast majority of Americans appear to have essentially no impact on which policies the government does or doesn't adopt."
"the preferences of people in the bottom third of the income distribution have no apparent impact on the behavior of their elected officials."
% of children living in poverty.
1 Turkey – 25.3%
2 Israel – 24.3%
3 Spain – 23.4%
4 Chile – 22.5%
The think tanks, the Philanthropists, the Academics have proven that the insiders control everything – duh!
Inside the Russell Sage Foundation's Epic Dig Into Why Inequality Matters – Inside Philanthropy: Fundraising Intelligence – Inside Philanthropy
John Podesta has been a Washington power broker for decade.
THE DNC was the party who used to care about inequality but stopped caring a long time ago. They threw Bernie under the bus. Leaks prove the DNC was also colluding with the Clinton campaign to achieve this goal. The party is not supposed to pick. The DNC actively colluded against 45% of the people. Shutting down opposition is UNdemocratic.
Podesta on Bernie Sanders: "I agree.. Where should we stick the knife in?"
It shows the DNC establishment's contempt for its base — the working class, the anti-war vote, the Occupy Wall Street folks.
The rich and powerful are at their most thuggish when their backs are up against the wall, and they will corrupt their justice departments and courts to protect the cool insiders.
How did the DNC get this way?
Back in the 60's when those new activists (Clintons) realized they needed to join the game and came to Washington they had no memory of growing up in the depression and didn't grok what the banks would do if allowed to get away with it. They didn't think anything was wrong with the banking lobby money and thought it would be groovy to allow them to enter the municipal bond market, so back in the 60's they actually helped the banks throw out the only uneducated, no college degree southern redneck guy who chaired the banking committee who had successfully watched over the banksters up till then. He was the only guy that had was keeping them in check and only letting them be banks, keeping the Glass Steagle act in place, watching out for all of us. He had lived it. He had memories. He knew what those east coast elite bastards would do to the country if they were allowed to get away with it.
Then this new wave of activist college so called educated folks from the 60's with no living memories of how these banksters brought the country to it's knees on black friday in 1929 operated and who really saw no problem with all the money that the banksters were throwing at them happily agreed to vote the old redneck watchdog guy right off the island. That's how you get to be inside the cool bankster crowd. And the rest is history.
TIP #1 : Hated insiders know something, they learn something during all those years of work. They might be less than brilliant, they might be risk averse, but they've got experience!
TIP #2: In life there's always the cool crowd of a small cadre of experienced players who control every industry, and if you're not aligned with them, it's almost certain you will not have success. They've spent years establishing relationships. You don't get on the TV show by accident, or get that job, or get your kid into that college, if you're not willing to pay to play in order to get there. Your goal is to make everybody win, not just yourself. When everybody wants you, that's when you can charge the big bucks.
DNC Equal Pay
Hillary Clinton says men and women should make equal pay. But the Clinton Foundation's leadership team had an average $81,000 average gender pay gap, according to the most recent figures available.
During six years (1986 -1992) as a member of the Wal-Mart board of directors, Hillary Clinton remained silent as the world's largest retailer waged a major campaign against the labor unions seeking to represent store workers.
Pay to Play
A devastating memo from Douglas Band, at the time a key figure at the Clinton Foundation and President of his own corporate consulting firm, Teneo. The memo was rife with suggestions of pay-to-play and personal enrichment schemes at the Clinton Foundation. Rosalind Helderman and Tom Hamburger reported the story, including the following details: "The memo, made public Wednesday by the anti-secrecy group WikiLeaks, lays out the aggressive strategy behind lining up the consulting contracts and paid speaking engagements for Bill Clinton that added tens of millions of dollars to the family's fortune, including during the years that Hillary Clinton led the State Department. It describes how Band helped run what he called 'Bill Clinton Inc.,' obtaining 'in-kind services for the President and his family — for personal travel, hospitality, vacation and the like.'… Band wrote that Teneo partners had raised in excess of $8 million for the foundation and $3 million in paid speaking fees for Bill Clinton. He said he had secured contracts for the former president that would pay out $66 million over the subsequent nine years if the deals remained in place."
A summary by category of WikiLeaks' #PodestaEmails finds http://www.vaskal.ca/podestafiles pic.twitter.com/4c2U2EYCiO
Clinton Aide's Memo Details Ties Between Consulting Firm and Clinton Foundation
Definition of Boodle, Boodle Boys and the Good Ole' Boy Network
This Powerful Corporate Lobby Is Quietly Backing Hillary — and Nobody's Talking About It
Congressional Research Service provides valuable insight and non-partisan analysis of issues of public debate
Doug Band To John Podesta: "If This Story Gets Out, We Are Screwed"
Clinton Aide Boasted About How He Helped Foundation Prosper
WikiLeaks Bombshell: Emails Show Citigroup Had Major Role in Shaping and Staffing Obama's First Term
Citigroup had been serially charged by its regulators for abusing its customers and targeting the poor and financially uneducated. But key
executives at the bank had played major roles in raising funds for the Barack Obama campaign so it was richly rewarded for that.
How Did Trump Jump In Front?
The 99% want to Take Them Down.
The have nots – would rather burn the house down than allow the DNC & Wall Street get away with their jobs, pensions, homes, without getting punished. They believe and rightly so that "coarseness, corruption and moral corrosion" that describes Trump also describes the behavior of Wall Street and equally belongs to the Bush / Obama / Clinton reign. They have no illusions. They want the DNC insiders kicked out they want disruption, to deliver punishment.
The 99% knows the campaign-finance system allows "legalized bribery" and that it is rigging the economy to benefit billionaires.
Podesta Part 25: Wikileaks Releases Another 2,460 Emails, Total Is Now 41,969
Remember Bernie said 'The Business Model Of Wall Street Is Fraud' "Wall Street, play by the rules? Who are we kidding?"
Why Americans can't win against Wall Street
U.S. Senate Holds a Critical Hearing on the Stock Market on March 3, 2016 and 73% of the Senators on the Subcommittee Are a No-Show. There are 15 U.S. Senators who are members of the U.S. Senate Banking Committee's Subcommittee on Securities, Insurance, and Investment that has been investigating the charges that the stock market is rigged by the stock exchanges along with dark pools run by large broker-dealers that are operated as opaque, unregulated quasi stock exchanges, high frequency traders at hedge funds, conflicted payment for order flow, and tricked-up order types – to mention just a few of the ways the public investor is getting fleeced. THE VERY PEOPLE NOMINATED TO GUARD THE PUBLIC IS NO WHERE TO BE SEEN. http://wallstreetonparade.com/2016/03/this-one-photo-captures-why-americans-cant-win-against-wall-street/
Everybody saw the movies: Wall Street > The Big Short > The Wolf of Wall Street > Harry Markopolos is the former derivatives professional turned independent financial forensic investigator who spent nine years trying to convince the SEC that Madoff needed to be examined, but it was only the onset of the financial crisis and the massive redemptions he faced that forced Madoff to turn himself in. The fact that Madoff feeder funds were getting clean audit opinions from the Big Four accountants, when Bernie was stealing every dime from day one, shows how easy it was for Madoff
to fool the accountants, Markopolos said, adding that in the history of accounting it's impossible to name even one multibillion fraud that the Big Four uncovered. "Now, if I asked you, to name all the big, multibillion-dollar accounting frauds that the Big Four aided and abetted, we could be here all afternoon," he said. Basically the insurance industry is where the banking industry was in 2007."
The Holder Memo Won't Let Us Fail Nail And Jail Banksters.
We have zero prosecutions – [let alone] convictions – of any of the elite bank frauds, the Wall Street types, that drove this crisis. The Real Reason Banks Promote Financial Literacy is to Repair their "Banks are Pirates" Image. The Holder Memo and Its Progeny "I think you guys are breaking the law," Warren writes – Dimon suddenly got quiet and responded, "So hit me with a fine. We can afford it." That's for sure. JP Morgan Chase was one of five of the world's largest banks hit with a total $5.7 billion fine after pleading guilty to global currency manipulation charges. Add to that, the $13 billion settlement it paid because of its funding of bad mortgages. Nonetheless, in the fourth quarter of 2014 alone, the company reaped in a $4.9 billion profit.
2016 The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) fined Wells Fargo $185 million for a widespread fraud wherein salespeople – thousands and thousands of them – opened around 2 million unnecessary new accounts for its customers in order to meet internal sales targets.
An email from early September 2008 outlines how Google helped President Barack Obama's transition team to set up 'secure data rooms' for sharing information such as "policy promises, as well as legal documents like expense reimbursements and contribution forms".
'Keep this whole enterprise under wraps
The email from Obama aide Chris Lu, who is currently the deputy secretary of labor, explains how the "data rooms" can be accessed by staff –
and emphasizes the importance of maintaining secrecy over their discussions."The one thing you should know is that contrary to the log-in instructions, we're not giving out "transition2008.com" email addresses. We think that would compromise our ability to keep this whole enterprise under wraps," he writes.
The secrecy reminder is somewhat surprising, given the role Citigroup played in picking Obama's cabinet even before the election.
#WikiLeaks emails shows #Citigroup's major role in shaping Obama administration's cabinet https://www.rt.com/usa/362836-emails-citigroup-
WikiLeaks Bombshell: Emails Show Citigroup Had Major Role in Shaping and Staffing Obama's First Term
Citigroup had been serially charged by its regulators for abusing its customers and targeting the poor and financially uneducated. But key executives at the bank had played major roles in raising funds for the Barack Obama campaign so it was richly rewarded for that.
Wall Street's 1% has been at the rudder for the past two decades devouring the credibility of the United States
Wall Street's image has fallen so low that the Federal Reserve Bank of New York is holding an annual "Reforming Culture and Behavior in the Financial Services Industry" conference.
Feds Probing Wall Street Collusion
2016 Citigroup Says CFTC Is Probing Banks' Rate-Swap Businesses
Citigroup Inc. disclosed a new government probe involving the industry's trading and clearing of interest-rate swaps five months after paying $425 million to resolve claims that it attempted to rig derivatives markets.
The bank is cooperating with the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission, New York-based Citigroup said Monday in a regulatory filing. The case is related to a 2015 antitrust lawsuit alleging that 12 of the biggest swap dealers blocked fund managers from trading the instruments on exchanges to preserve their profits, according to a person with knowledge of the investigation who asked not to be identified because the
information isn't public.
The disclosure is the latest questioning the role of Wall Street's biggest dealers in helping determine the prices for a range of financial instruments. Authorities around the world have been clamping down on the derivatives and currency markets since 2013 after allegations that bank traders rigged benchmarks. In the currency market, more than a half-dozen lenders have been fined a total of more than $10 billion and
scores of traders have been dismissed. Other investigations into gold markets and currency options are also under way. Mark Costiglio, a spokesman for Citigroup, and Steven Adamske of the CFTC declined to comment. Citigroup agreed earlier this year to pay $425 million to resolve a CFTC claim that it tried to rig interest-rate benchmarks including ISDAfix from 2007 to 2012, without admitting or denying the allegations.
Here is the polished, educated, well mannered, degreed, people who can govern the the country. wikileaks banking scam bailout by Edmond Dante
Timeline: The Republicans' Abysmal Record on the CFPB


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Is your estate agent social enough?
Recently I attended a live event organised by a Twitter group I contribute to, Stockporthour – #hours are the online equivalent to Networking events where users contribute to a discussion group using a relevant hashtag. However being slightly old fashioned, I still like to meet real life people face to face so thought I would get out from behind my keyboard! [···]


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Horror-On-Sea Film Festival will be returning for another year in 2019 with more horror delights to keep those winter chills away.
Taking place at the Park Inn Palace Hotel, Southend-On-Sea, UK, the mayhem and madness will take place in January, over two weekends: Friday 11th to Sunday 13th and Friday 18th to Sunday 20th.
The Festival is now open for submissions and you have until 15th September 2018 to get those screeners in.
You can send online screeners for shorts and feature length films to:
If you have a DVD screener, e-mail them to the same address above to find out how to get your film viewed.
Be sure to keep checking the Horror-On-Sea Film Festival website to keep up to date on 2019s festival.
We will also bring you news on the festival as it progresses which will include films that will be screening and potential guests.
Remember to keep the 11th – 13th and 18th – 20th of January 2019 free for Horror-On Sea Film Festival.


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My 13-year-old daughter started animating the morning after a tornado blew through our town of Mount Juliet, TN, leaving a path of heart-breaking destruction. At first, it was a way for her to express her feelings. It then became a way for her to speak to others affected by the storm and direct people to give to The Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee. When she first showed me her completed animation, I was amazed by its heart and simplicity.
One scene in particular continues to stay with me. When the boy grabs hold of the extended hand, he bursts into tears. Rather than stifle them, the touch allows his tears to flow freely and the animation stops right there.
It doesn't end on a sunny note (even though she wrote earlier in the video, "It's going to be okay…We're in this together."). Having the promise of things inevitably being okay does not mean we are (or someone else is) okay in the moment. It does not mean we need to stop our tears or think there's nothing to cry about (even if someone does have it worse).
There is a time to leap into action, to encourage each other that all will be okay, to gather in churches to sing praises and offer thanksgiving, to share Scriptures and words of hope to find strength for the road ahead.
There is also a time, especially as the shock wears off, to allow for tears, both individually and communally, and stop right there.
Today is Halloween and my daughter is dressing up like a crazy cat lady.
In the 13th century she would have been killed.
Sounds ridiculous doesn't it?
It's amazing what fear can do especially when its conduit is religion. Fear and superstition can be passed down for centuries!
How many times have you or another remarked on the black cat that just crossed your path?!
In graduate school, a man studying to be a therapist told me, in all seriousness, that demons took possession of cats so to be wary of them. Years later a woman told me that black cats were associated with witchcraft and satanism so she would never own one. A couple of years ago I told a friend how interesting it was that shortly after being trained in Reiki I noticed how our neighbor's 12-year-old cat began spending oodles of time at our house wanting to be petted. She said, "Well, you know what they say about cats and evil." Clearly she did not trust cats or Reiki!
All of these people are sincere, intelligent people, but their belief (or what they may even call truth) arose out of fear and superstition from around the year 1232.
At that time, Pope Gregory IX wanted unity in the Church so he looked to weed out heretics and heretical beliefs (people and beliefs not conforming to the Catholic faith [now remember there was no Protestant faith at this time]). He also wanted to stop local lords and their mobs from unjustly executing people for heresy before any kind of trial was held. So he initiated the Papal Inquisition thinking it would bring more order to the process and give heretics an opportunity to return to the Church before being killed. He issued the Vox in Rama to Germany's King Henry hoping he would stop the spread of the heretical Luciferian cult. In this papal bull he mentioned some of the cult's devil-worshiping practices, including how Satan took the form of a black cat. And with that document, the demonizing of black cats and their owners began.
Black cats were killed and any peasant woman who owned cats, especially black cats, was automatically suspect. Soon the killing spread to all cats as fear heightened with the Black Plague. Thinking that getting rid of evil cats would get rid of the evil disease, people unknowingly exterminated a needed predator of the rats that housed the fleas that later on many believed were to blame for the Plague.
Choosing the fear-based path can have far-reaching consequences. From generation to generation others follow the fear trail marked out for them.
Here in America, Europeans brought with them their fear-based beliefs about black cats and witches which fueled the Salem Witch Trials in the late 1600s. To this day, black cats' bad reputation continues to haunt them as shelters report that they are passed over for the brighter white and orange cats. And violence toward cats, in particular the black cat, escalates on Halloween.
So let's pause (no pun intended!) for a moment and let black cats beckon us away from the path of fear & superstition. Let every cat and their owner be a reminder that we all hold such beliefs whatever person, people group, or animal we may choose to fear, blame, and even (God-forbid!) exterminate.
In writing this post, I found I wanted to blame Pope Gregory IX but realized I needed to dig a little deeper into the story rather than automatically (and easily) demonizing him! Each time we catch a fear and/or superstition-based belief arising within us (who or what we blame may clue us in), let us become aware of the fork in the road.
We don't have to continue down the same path tread by our ancestors. Yes, it may be harder and take longer but as Deuteronomy and Proverbs urge, we can choose the path of life with discernment, wisdom, and kindness.
Black cats and crazy cat ladies will thank us. Future generations will, too.
El DeBarge during Centering Prayer (dealing with distractions during meditation)
One day last week, I had just begun my twenty minutes of silent meditation, known as Centering Prayer, when I began to hear the sound of a synthesizer from 1986.
Not long after, I heard the voice of El DeBarge sing out, "Who's Johnny? she said and smiled in her special way..."
I was not smiling.
I couldn't even remember the last time I heard this song. Maybe you can't either. For a refresher, I've posted the video below so you can better imagine this scene with me...go ahead, have it playing while you continue to read. I certainly didn't expect to hear it during my time of Centering Prayer!
My husband had no idea I was downstairs in silent meditation. I had no idea why he was listening to El DeBarge in the room beside me (especially early in the morning)! I was just about to yell, "Hey, what in the world are you doing? I'm in the middle of centering prayer!" when suddenly I remembered some words from author and former Trappist monk, James Finley.
I had been reading his book, Christian Meditation: Experiencing the Presence of God and he repeatedly addresses external and internal distractions that occur during silent meditation. When they come (as they always have and always will because we're human), Finley advises that we:
Here was an excellent opportunity to enter more deeply into Finley's words and into my meditation practice! So I internally gave El DeBarge permission to endure and returned to an inner meditative awareness. What was I aware of inside? It certainly wasn't a peaceful calm! It was anger and annoyance!
I wanted to yell out, "Hey! Enough of El DeBarge already!" Perhaps a deeper, inner curiosity won out because rather than resist them, I decided to allow my feelings of anger and annoyance to arise, endure, and pass away. They endured a long time.
When the feelings did pass, a thought took their place. This thought pointed out how much I want (even demand) things to go my way...or else! I expected silence with no distractions for 20 minutes and the moment I did not get what I wanted, my anger surged to the surface!
I don't know about you, but when I have an expectation, I tend to expect it to turn out like I envisioned (perfectly). And if it doesn't, I just know it will be ruined (or at least that's how my thinking goes). Have you ever considered how much you internally (or externally) demand things go your way? One of the benefits of meditation is one becomes more aware of things like this!
Though insightful, this thought wanted me to cling to it and spend time mulling it over, perhaps devise a plan for transformation or soak in shame. Instead my time of meditation was inviting me to let ALL arise, endure, and pass away. In specific Centering Prayer language, the moment I notice I'm engaged with (clinging to) the thought, I gently return to my sacred word, the symbol of my intention to consent to God's presence and action within.
Entrusting all of my responses and reactions (and plans for transformation) into God's hands, I allowed myself to return to the deepest truth offered in the present moment--I am fully loved by God just as I am. The humbling thought about my expectations eventually passed away and there was a brief calm (but even that is not to be clung to!).
I would like to say I continued to neither cling to nor resist any distraction, that I allowed every external sound and internal feeling, thought, memory and bodily sensation to arise, endure, and pass away. BUT, half-way through Scritti Politti singing their 1985 hit, "Perfect Way"...
Becoming yourself is.
I knew a brilliant young woman who needed to leave professional ministry to become herself.
Her life was on track to eventually earn the title of "Reverend" in a mainstream denomination along with its retirement benefits. The problem was that this denomination was neither a fit nor was the position of senior pastor. After a long season together in spiritual direction, it became clear that while she had given it a valiant effort,
she was living a story that was someone else's, not hers.
When I was in college, there were para-church ministries who planted the idea in students' minds that if you really loved Jesus you would let go of your secular job pursuits and come on staff with them after college.
As an adult, I watch how some believe leaving a "secular" job to go into professional ministry proves how much one loves and is devoted to God and/or the Church. And it's lauded by many, especially when a big pay-cut is involved.
So many gifted scientists, lawyers, business men & women, machinists, musicians, and others have left their "secular" callings because they thought loving Jesus and the Church meant to do so. And it is true, sometimes Jesus does call us to leave one job for another, as he did his ragtag group of fishermen and tax collectors turned disciples. Although notice if he or Paul called the folks who financially supported them to leave their jobs!
The problem lies in labeling jobs "sacred" or "secular," elevating one over the other, and allowing that to become our primary lens for discernment. Guess what happens? People end up in full-time ministry jobs that are an ill-fit (for them and for those around them).
Ever had a pastor who you could tell had a different calling? I once worked for a senior pastor who was a very gifted naturalist. I learned so much about reptiles and plants from him and watched how his face lit up when he talked about creation that every time I listened to him preach or sat in staff meeting, I wished he'd followed his God-given giftings instead!
Remember 16th century Protestant Reformer, Martin Luther? Well after the word "vocation" had been institutionalized to mean full-time church work, he broke it out of the box again by reminding people that since all are called to the "priesthood of believers," all jobs are ministry! Loving Jesus doesn't mean you must leave your job and become a professional missionary or monk. You can be both right where you are!
Read what Luther wrote in The Babylonian Captivity of the Church:
"...the works of monks and priests, however holy and arduous they may be, do not differ one whit in the sight of God from the works of the rustic laborer in the field or the woman going about her household tasks...all are measured before God by faith alone."
...the works of monks and priests, however holy and arduous they may be, do not differ one whit in the sight of God from the works of the rustic laborer in the field or the woman going about her household tasks...all are measured before God by faith alone. -Martin Luther, 16th century
Ever witness someone operating out of their giftings? It's as natural and stunning as a sunrise. One year my daughter hated math and the next year she loved it. The difference? She had a teacher gifted in math! Said Saint Basil of Caesarea, "God the Creator has arranged things so that we need each other." Isn't that the truth?! We need creative and compassionate electricians, inventors, counselors, accountants, nurses, yoga instructors, athletes, social workers, childcare providers...their presence changes the world, no matter how big or small.
So how can you begin to identify your vocation? Author Frederick Buechner writes, "The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world's deep hunger meet." Am I ever glad that math teacher didn't go into full-time ministry! Instead she's living out the presence of Christ in the classroom, where so many, like my daughter, need her.
By the way, that young woman I mentioned at the beginning is now in a vocation she loves which has nothing to do with professional ministry. It's a better fit for her (and for this world)!
Glory be to God.
What would you call a man who shovels his driveway in a blizzard?
How often I am like that man!
Any season of the year, I can be caught with my proverbial shovel in hand.
This morning I'm thinking back to another man.
A farmer who was also a pastor of one church and a handyman for another.
Keep this fact in mind.
He used to begin his mornings sitting in the dark, seated at a table in silence (or I began my mornings seeing him seated in the dark at a table in silence).
Only a coffee mug close at hand.
The first time he startled me. Six in the morning. I was in the building earlier than any other staff member (I had thought). Certainly not expecting to see the shadow of
someone in the side room!
But soon I became accustomed to him sipping his coffee with the lights out. Not moving until the sun came through the window. I came early with an armload and head-full of work to get to, I had no time to sit and stare.
Rumor among our large staff was that he was lazy. They, too, would see him sitting while they rushed in and out of their daily blizzard of ministry activity. Who had time for such an outlandish thing?
One day I stopped and asked him what he did in the silent darkness of the church basement.
He smiled and after taking a sip said,
"I wait and let the pieces fall into place for the day."
Driving my kids back to Tennessee from my rowdy and fun family's 65th reunion in Pennsylvania several weeks ago, I asked my kids to tell me about their favorite moments of our trip.
My shy 10-year-old daughter said, "Well, my favorite thing is that I surprised myself...I actually carried on conversations with people! I was even funny. AND, I surprised myself because I actually enjoyed it!"
Her surprise was met by my own, for I was not only overjoyed but completely caught off-guard, not expecting to hear this out of my quiet, catlike girl, especially not as her favorite part of the trip! It was a good reminder of how we often pigeonhole ourselves and others.
The term "pigeonhole" was first used in 1864 to describe placing a person or thing in a narrow or confined category that resembles a literal hole a pigeon roosts in. As you can imagine and see from the picture, the borders of the pigeonholes tend to be pretty rigid so it's up to the one roosting to leave the safety of the confined space.
Speaking from experience, we often let our expectations keep us from discovering and entering into the "new thing" the Spirit of God is inviting us to discover, whether it be within or without. Instead we keep rehearsing (& posting) old stories and viewpoints. A look over our social media posts or reflecting on recent conversations inside our heads or with others can reveal a pigeonhole or two we roost in.
But might our continued pigeonholing be fear in disguise? For once we venture outside a particular pigeonhole we can no longer dwell within that hole again. After my daughter said she surprised herself by enjoying a conversation, she can no longer claim she's too shy to carry on a conversation (or enjoy doing so)!
Bursting out of the pigeonhole takes courage...what a beautiful spiritual practice she invited me (and now you) into! Let's try it:
* Take a moment and look at the above pigeonholes. Maybe even sketch them out and put a word in each box that you would use to describe yourself (begin with yourself then branch out to another person or situation).
* Now let the below words from Isaiah 43 or II Corinthians 5 blow through your pigeonholes.
"Forget about what's happened;
don't keep going over old history.
Be alert, be present. I'm about to do something brand-new.
It's bursting out! Don't you see it?"
"...we don't evaluate people by what they have or how they look. We looked at the Messiah that way once and got it all wrong, as you know. We certainly don't look at him that way anymore. Now we look inside, and what we see is that anyone united with the Messiah gets a fresh start, is created new. The old life is gone; a new life burgeons! Look at it!"
* Whether experienced as a gentle breeze or wild wind, stay with it for a few moments. Notice which words are being ruffled. You may experience this as a feeling of resistance or fear around a particular word, you may have immediate knowledge as to which word is being blown forward, or you may be more visual and imagine how the words are affected.
* Is there a particular pigeonhole you're being invited to step out of? Write it down, pray, and tell someone! This will help you spread your wings and fly, carried by the currents of the Ruach, the Holy Wind. And, you may even find, much to your surprise, you enjoy it!
More than I thought.
In 2009 I had emergency back surgery for a ruptured disc that caused the worst nerve pain I have ever felt...paralyzing lightning down my leg and out my right toes leaving me screaming.
After the surgery, I'd hoped the muscle pain and sciatica I had experienced on and off since high school would finally be gone...it wasn't. I did physical therapy (having already done chiropractic). Again I was hopeful...it didn't help.
Whenever the pain would hit, I'd chalk it up to accidentally bending or twisting and tweaking an old basketball injury. It would have me either in bed or on the floor with my feet up on the couch for days. I thought my active life of hiking and carrying stuff (like my own little girl) was over. I (& those around me) started treating my back gingerly, making sure I did not lift or do anything that could trigger that familiar shooting pain. You can imagine what I looked like whenever I walked and sat down or did anything that included my back (amazing how much does!).
One night at a breathwork class, after observing me, the instructor told me to read John Sarno's The Mindbody Prescription, saying it would help. I thought this was laughable. I'd undergone the knife and physical therapy, how could a book help? Undeterred she told me how it had helped a friend with my kind of pain. At the end of our time she said, "You're so young, I just don't want you to be in pain the rest of your life." What did I have to lose? I read it.
I haven't been on the floor or in bed due to back pain since. Seriously. That was 8 years ago!
Over the past eight years, beginning with that book, I've learned three things:
My physical self is interconnected with all other parts of myself. How I am spiritually affects how I am emotionally which affects how I am physically and all can affect how I am relationally. What's happening relationally can affect how I am mentally and emotionally and physically and so on. If we choose to dissect and isolate any of these when we have dis-ease or pain in any given area, we miss ways of healing that come when we consider the whole of us.
A lifetime of being a "good girl" coupled with perfectionism affected my body. It led to the suppression of anger and other unwanted feelings which finally erupted in physical pain. My unconscious thought physical pain a better choice than emotional pain. Locating an old area of injury and a socially acceptable place of pain (back pain is what ulcers used to be!), that's what it chose. It's interesting the games our minds can play (thinking that they're helping us)!
Seeing God as a Divine Task-Master perpetuated my good girl-perfectionist cycle. Since we become like the God we adore (as I mentioned in last week's post), my inner critics had no problem replicating this God-like perpetual drivenness to accomplish and improve. Be better. Try harder. Be (or at least act) perfect. And it's no surprise that snippets of Scripture would often run through my mind to back up these "commands"! Anytime I fell short, which of course I did since I'm human, I took the feelings of anger and shame and stuffed them. Eventually my body would no longer "play these reindeer games" (it began warning me in junior high but it took me a long time before I would or knew how to listen!).
Now my body is my friend. I view it as part of the whole. It tells me the truth. When I feel nerve pain begin in my toe, I know that if I don't tend to what feelings are running under the surface, it will soon start in my back. My God-created body has invited me to not only reflect on my God-created emotions but even my image of God. As my image of God has undergone healing and transformation, guess what? It's affected my mind, emotions, relationships, and yes, my body. Thank God for that gift of back pain.
Over the years, the simplest and best prayer practice I've found for healing our image of God and teaching kids how God loves them is based on a prayer found in Matt, Dennis & Sheila Linn's book, Simple Ways to Pray for Healing.
In that book and in a previous book, Healing Our Image of God, they reiterate how we become like the God we adore! So if the God we worship is critical, judgmental and condemning, guess what? We're going to be critical, judgmental and condemning! If the God we picture is stoic and distant...you got it...we're going to be stoic and distant. And this can be passed along from generation to generation.
One way to heal our image of God is to realize that God loves us at least as much as the person who has loved us most.
Take a moment to consider your image of God. What words or images would you use to describe your view or understanding of God? Would you like others to describe you in these ways? If not, your image of God may be in need of healing.
Or perhaps parts of you have a healthy view of God and parts of you do not. This prayer has been instrumental in the on-going healing of my own image of God. My inner critic can often have a very sanctimonious sounding voice and when I'm vulnerable I can easily mistake it as God's until I bring to mind a person who has loved me most. This immediately exposes the false god and I am able to not only receive God's love but let God join me in my vulnerable place (which is transforming).
After facilitating this prayer with countless people, I've tweaked it from how it appears in the Linn's book, like adding the love of a pet because some people cannot recall a person who has loved them in a healthy way. Or sometimes a pet is how God wants to best communicate love to us at a given time.
Here's the prayer for you to try:
Receiving God's Love through the Person or Pet Who Loves You Most
I hope you'll try this prayer for a week and see what happens! A bonus is that it makes us even more grateful for the person or pet who has loved us so well...and what happens then? We cannot help but love them back! It becomes a love circle of giving and receiving (which is exactly what the Trinity is)!! Now that's a beautiful image of God!
I am grateful for freedom.
And to those who have made my freedom(s) possible.
I am grateful I have the right to vote and worship God how I choose. I am grateful I got to marry who I chose. I am grateful I do not live in daily fear in or outside my home.
And yet in the midst of all of my gratitude this July 4th, I am reminded of Frederick Buechner's words about peace in Wishful Thinking:
"...we are homeless even so in the sense of having homes but not being really at home in them. To be really at home is to be really at peace, and there can be no real peace for any of us until there is some measure of real peace for all of us. When we close our eyes to the deep needs of other people, whether they live on the streets or under our own roof-and when we close our eyes to our own deep need to reach out to them-we can never be fully at home anywhere."
I think the same can be said about freedom. Can there even be real peace without freedom?
Will you join me this July 4th in asking the question, "Who is not free yet?"
Who is not free to worship how they choose?
Who is not free to marry who they choose to?
Who lives in fear inside/outside of their home?
Who has no voice in religious, political, and business institutions?
It shouldn't take too long to identify at least one person if not an entire group of people.
Then with the voice of the Holy Spirit and the entire tradition of the Holy Scriptures urging us on, let's take the next step and do something about it. Like those who gave their lives for our country's freedom.
Then this will truly be "the land of the free and home of the brave."
Can you recall a moment of synchronicity?
"Meaningful coincidences" or moments connected by meaning and means not of your own making? When it happens (or at least when I notice), I cannot help but sense that Something is seeing me and something is being communicated. A word, image, or subject matter is repeatedly offered in a variety of ways (unexpected conversations, dreams, nature, ordinary events, extraordinary events, etc.). When synchronicity occurs, I take it as an invitation from God to pay attention. In my own life, it's often a call to grow (consciously) or a signal that growth is occurring (unconsciously).
I had a moment of synchronicity last week.
On Tuesday, I mentioned Fowler's Stages of Faith Development in relation to listening to the Holy Spirit, so it was fresh on my mind a day later when I headed to Congregation Ohabai Sholom with a friend for a 4-week class on The Heart of Jewish Meditation & Spirituality taught by Rabbi Rami Shapiro. Although we had missed the first week, unbeknownst to me, the discussion for the second week was mystical Judaism's 5 Levels of Consciousness! These levels are based on the words of Deuteronomy 6:4-9 and walk one through the deepening levels of relationship with/to God...the exact subject material of my latest blog!
Clearly I was to step further into the stages of spiritual growth! So I'm paying attention, perhaps you're beckoned to pay attention, too.
Just as I briefly shared about Fowler's stages, I'll briefly go over the Levels of Consciousness as I understood them in class.
The 5 (Ascending) Levels of Consciousness:
5. Yechida (Spirit) Singularity, pure Soul/God, no barriers between "I-Thou"
4. Chayah (Soul) "Spacious mind," connected to everyone/everything in the Universe, Truth is beyond ideology, more justice & humility expecting nothing in return, no self-seeking, Higher Self, non-dualism, "I and Thou"
3. Neshamah (Mind) "Narrow mind," ego, survival, intellectual comprehension, identity, spirituality reflects back ego/tribalism, "What's in it for me or my group?", dualism, "I-it"
2. Ruach (Heart) Emotions and "spirit" of person, personality
1. Nefesh (Body) Animal existence- breathing, eating, sleeping, walking around
Just as each of Fowler's stages of faith development are necessary, so too, are the 5 levels of consciousness. While the level of Nefesh or body-consciousness is the lowest level, that does not mean it is to be denigrated. After all, we need a body! Rabbi Rami asks us to consider, "Which [level] is calling right now?" If it's the body level, please tend to the body!
The point of the levels is to remind us that we're beckoned to grow beyond simple existence and emotions. At some point in time, we're also beckoned to grow beyond our own ego and tribe. In fact, authentic spiritual practice will always seek to move us from Neshamah to Chayah or from "narrow mind" to "spacious mind." Rabbi Rami describes narrow mind as "seeing the self as separate from and often in conflict with the world and God." And spacious mind he describes as "seeing the self and other as part of a greater wholeness we call God."
In my Christian experience, a lot of Christian reading, teaching and preaching tends to keep people in the Neshamah level or the realm of ego and tribal identity. This can be seen in viewing Christianity as the one right religion (or even narrower, one denomination as the truest or most orthodox) and celebrating being on the "winning side." It's the belief that Christian music is the only music a Christian should listen to. It can also be seen in people's image of God, often a masculine Being resembling the Greek god, Zeus. Remember, such concrete, dualistic thinking whether described by Neshamah or Fowler's "Mythic-Literal or "Conventional-Synthetic," is a necessary stage or level, but it's not the ending point.
Confused? Wondering what spiritual practices can help you shift from Neshamah to Chayah (or move from narrow mind to spacious mind)? Well, they will not look the same for everyone! This is why a spiritual director can be such a helpful companion on your journey. Plus our ego-minds are masters at using religious language to trap us in Neshamah when it's time for us to grow (we are not apt to see it on our own). This is why I have my own spiritual director!
By the way, Rabbi Rami says there are no ways or practices to move from Chayah to Yechida, it is simply pure grace. I'm not surprised, Chayah gets us out of our own way, preparing the way for Yechida, the highest level of consciousness characterized by non-dualism and Union with the Divine. This should resonate with those who practice Centering Prayer, the silent prayer of consent which prepares one for the gift of contemplative prayer or resting in God. If/when one ever gets to taste Yechida, can you guess what the earmark is? Pure Love. Of God and neighbor. Sound familiar?
Next week: More Synchronicity to Share & The Shema (Deuteronomy 6:4) as a Breath Prayer
Kasey is a scarf, ball and club juggling spiritual director just outside of Nashville, TN. Play helps her Type-A, Enneagram 1 personality relax, creating space for poetry and other words to emerge. She also likes playing with theological ideas like perichoresis, and all the ways we're invited into this Triune dance.
March 2020


text:
Packard, Frank L. The Adventures of Jimmie Dale. New York: George H. Doran Co., 1917.
"Dear Philanthropic crook."
So begins each letter of instruction that the Gray Seal receives from the mysterious Tocsin. The Gray Seal is the most audacious and successful burglar in the city. His crimes are spectacularly successful, the envy of every other crook in the underworld and the bane of the police force, who haven't the faintest clue of who he is or how to catch him. And catch him they most assuredly want to, cop or crooks, dead or alive and no one is particular about the alive part.
The police are made to look like fools by the Gray Seal's antics. So they would very much like to put an end to his career as a safe cracker, possibly even put an end to the Gray Seal himself. The underworld very much wants to put an end to the Gray seal for when ever he strikes one of their own seems to end up in jail or one of their schemes seems to fail.
Who is the Gray Seal? The world would be shocked to learn that he is none other than Jimmie Dale, wealthy bachelor and man about town. High society would be scandalized to learn that one of its own consorted with low society. Dale, bored with his day-to-day existence began using his intimate knowledge of safes (his father was a safe manufacturer) to commit "crimes." He would break into a well guarded safe and leave behind a gray diamond seal. Nothing would be stolen but the nose of the law would be well and truly tweaked.
One day things don't go quite as planned and Dale barely escapes. In the process he ends up taking some jewels. It is a disaster for him. Even worse, someone else knows that he has stolen the jewels and knows that Dale and the Gray Seal are one and the same person. A long prison sentence and the besmirching of the Dale name await him unless he does this mysterious person's bidding. Quickly the mysterious Toscin has Dale committing "crimes" that actually foil greater underworld plots. Toscin's notes provide intimate details of the plots to be foiled, usually with very little time to spare. Dale, as the Gray Seal must rush off to complete another task, each more hair raising and tense than the last. Dale no longer wants to play his game of burglar but now cannot quit.
The Adventures of Jimmie Dale was first serialized in People's magazine in 16 parts from May 1914 through to August 1915. It was published as a book by George H. Doran Co., in 1917. The novel is divided into two parts. The first part deals with Dale's adventures as he tries to accomplish the Toscin's objectives and discover who the Toscin is. Dale also manages to fall in love with the mysterious Toscin. In the second part of the novel, Dale and the Toscin, aka Marie LaSalle, finally get together, and, surprise, LaSalle also loves Dale. But, the underworld wants LaSalle, to get at the fortune left to her. The underworld is also closing in on the Gray Seal so the pair must seek a way to get completely free of the undesired attention.
The Jimmie Dale character proved to be a very popular and successful one for Frank Packard. In the end five Jimmie Dale novels were written. Packard was reportedly working on a sixth when he died. If so, it did not survive. There is no sign of it in Packard's papers. The stories were immensely popular in the US, Canada and the U.K. Packard's book's, in general, were very popular and were translated into at least 8 other languages. Jimmie Dale books also appear in Czechoslovakian, Italian and Spanish. Walt Disney himself bought the rights to the character. Unfortunately he died before making a movie and interest was subsequently lost in the project. The five novels, while written over a period of 20 years, form a single, continuous story sequence. Events in later novels follow closely on the heels of events in previous novels.
The Jimmie Dale character stands out from most other pulp characters. Dale has an actual internal, emotional life. He is not always sure of his way and agonises over the consequences of his actions. At first brush, Dale seems to be operating as a typical vigilante justice figure, one who pursues justice through self sacrifice. Dale appears to work for the benefit of others, much like those who would come after him (Zorro, The Shadow, Doc Savage, Batman, etc.) But, that is not the case. Dale was essentially a spoiled rich boy who got caught dabbling in crime and mischief making. The Toscin forces Dale to atone for his childish hijinks and makes him into an actual agent of justice and good. She gives his actions, and as a consequence, his life, purpose and meaning. Dale would happily abandon the Grey Seal persona, along with his underworld alias, Larry the Bat, but he can't. Dale is a flawed, or reluctant hero.
The Toscin character is another one to watch. She is a strong female character who is smarter than Dale. She is self assured and psychologically stronger than Dale. She lives in the underworld contentiously. Dale only dips in, then retreats to his exclusive St. James club to refresh himself. At no point in the story does the Toscin ever need to be rescued by Dale, or anyone else.
The Jimmie Dale stories are notable for another reason. They introduced a number of hero characteristics (or tropes) that influenced pulp fiction and hero fiction through to this day. Some of these are:
a) The hero is wealthy. This frees the hero from having to do any work. Plus, it permits him to purchase any equipment or technology he may need.
b) The hero is a bachelor. This frees the hero from having to account to anyone for his movements or activities.
c) There is a secret base from which the hero works from.
d) The hero maintains a secret identity or disguise.
e) The hero uses the latest technology. In Dale's case, this included cars for personal transport and guns for defence.
Many of the hero's that followed Dale incorporated these and other tropes. Some examples are:
Zorro 1919
Bulldog Drummond 1920
Blackshirt 1925
The Saint 1928
The Shadow 1930
Doc Savage 1933
Superman 1938
Batman 1939
Spiderman 1962
The Adventures of Jimmie Dale never made it to paperback, but for those who like to read actual books, there are plenty of inexpensive A.L. Burt reprint editions to be had. The text is also readily available on-line. There is an audio version available at LibriVox.
Sampson, Robert. "Dale", Yesterday's Faces: Glory Figures. Vol. 1. Bowling Green: Bowling Green University Popular Press, 1983. 132-162. Print.
Vineyard, David L. "Frank L. Packard's Jimmie Dale – An Overview", Mystery File. 2009. Web. 25 March 2013.