title: Early life of Mao Zedong

text:
# Early life of Mao Zedong

The early life of Chinese revolutionary and politician Mao Zedong covered the first 27 years of his life, from 1893 to 1919. Born in Shaoshanchong, Shaoshan in Hunan province, Mao grew up as the son of Mao Yichang, a wealthy farmer and landowner. Sent to the local Shaoshan Primary School, Mao was brought up in an environment of Confucianism, but reacted against this from an early age, developing political ideas from modern literature. Aged 13 his father organised a marriage for him with Luo Yigu, the daughter of another land-owning family, but Mao denounced the marriage and moved away from home.

In 1911 Mao began further education in the Hunanese capital of Changsha, where he came under the influence of republicanism, and became an admirer of republican revolutionary Sun Yat-Sen. When the Xinhai Revolution broke out between republicans and monarchists, Mao signed up as a soldier, although conflict subsided and he left the army after six months. Seeing himself as an intellectual, he became heavily influenced by classical liberalism, and began studying at the First Normal School of Changsha, as well as penning his first publications. With Xiao Zisheng he co-founded the Renovation of the People Study Society in April 1918 to discuss and perpetuate revolutionary ideas among students, before graduating in 1919.

## Childhood

Mao biographer Lee Feigon asserted that Mao experienced "a relatively typical childhood". He commented that it was for this reason that previous biographers had found it difficult to "find something fundamentally wrong with Mao from an early age" with which they had hoped to explain his later development into "a revolutionary tyrant".

### Birth: 1893

Mao Zedong's parents: Mao Yichang (left) and Wen Qimei (right)

Mao was born on December 26, 1893, in his familiar home in the rural village of Shaoshanchong in Xiangtan county, Hunan Province, part of south-central China. Typical of many Hunanese villages, Shaoshanchong was situated in a narrow valley surrounded by mountains. Both the village and the nearest town, Shaoshan, were named for the local Shaoshan Mountain ("Music Mountain"), a prominent feature in the local landscape with sacred associations for the region's Buddhists. The village was inhabited by many individuals with the surname of Mao; the Mao clan traced their lineage back to Mao Taihua, a warrior from Jiangxi Province who had moved to Xiangtan county in the mid-fourteenth century after fighting for Zhu Yuanzhang's military campaign to overthrow the Mongol-governed Yuan dynasty.

Mao's father, Mao Yichang, had been born in Shaoshanchong to a family of poverty before undergoing an arranged marriage to Mao's mother, Wen Qimei, when he was fifteen years old. While Yichang had received two years of schooling and could read and write, conversely Qimei was illiterate. Serving for several years in the regional Xiang Army, Yichang saved up his wages and on leaving the army used these to pay off his family's debts and purchase the lands that his father had sold. By the time of Zedong's birth, Yichang owned two-and-a-half acres of rice paddy, which would have been considered a substantial amount by the standards of the region. Through frugal living and hard work, over the coming years he was able to purchase a further acre and employ two farm laborers, with his farm encompassing a cow shed, a grain storage hut, a pigsty, and a small mill. Expanding the family's wealth, Yichang purchased mortgages on other peasants' land, thus becoming their landlord, while also purchasing the grain from the poorest farmers in the village before selling it on for a profit at the county seat of Xiangtan. In doing so, he amassed a fortune of two to three thousand Chinese silver dollars at a time when the majority of China's peasantry continued to live in poverty. This being the case, Mao biographer Philip Short could assert that the Mao family were "comfortably off" by the standards of the period. But other historians point out that where an average peasant might have eaten meat one meal in a month, Mao's family will only have done so one meal in a year.

According to the traditional lunar-based Chinese calendar, Mao Zedong's birth fell on the ninth day of the eleventh month of the Year of the Snake. After the birth, Mao's mother  who had previously birthed two sons who had died in infancy  was worried for his welfare, and consulted a Buddhist nun who lived as a hermit in the mountains for advice. The nun recommended that prayers be said for the child; doing so, Qimei then prostrated herself at a local temple dedicated to the Buddhist Bodhisattva Guanyin, requesting that the Bodhisattva become Zedong's foster-mother.

> "Zedong's upbringing was secure. Other boys of the same era could expect less than Zedong got. He did not go hungry. His clothes were few but they were not rags. His mother put order and dignity into the life of the household. Zedong's big problem was his father. His yearnings were of the spirit."

— Mao biographer Ross Terrill, 1980.

Several biographers have suggested it likely that local traditional customs would have been observed after the birth; in this circumstance, a rooster would have been presented to his parents, while Mao would probably not have been bathed until three days after the birth, an event which would have been the first culturally-appropriate opportunity for guests to view the child. The child's father was expected to add onion and ginger to the bath water, symbolizing mind and health, while also providing sacrifices to the spirits of the ancestors. A Daoist fortune-teller was then employed to draw up a horoscope for the child, which revealed that he was lacking in the water element; Mao was therefore given the personal name of *Zedong* because according to Hunanese custom the character of *ze* ("to anoint") was deemed to correct this deficiency. The character of *ze* however had a dual meaning; as well as referring to moisture, it also implied kindness and beneficence. Yichang chose the latter part of his son's name, *dong* ("east"), so that the child's name would mean "benefactor of the east".

According to traditional custom, the child was also given a second, unofficial name to be used on specific ceremonial occasions; this was *Runzhi* ("Dewy Orchard"). His mother gave him a third name, *shisanyazi* ("the Third Child Named Stone"), which reflected that he was her third child while also protecting him from misfortune and linking to the protection offered by Guanyin. If traditional Hunanese customs were adhered to, the baby's head would have been shaved after four weeks, with a small tuft of hair left on the crown and at the nape of the neck; it was at this point that the child would have been officially given its name. According to tradition, visitors probably would have gathered for this ceremony, bringing gifts of money, pork, fish, fruit, and decorated eggs.

### Growing up: 18931900

The Mao family lived in a clay-brick farmhouse constructed in 1878, although Yichang expanded it during Zedong's boyhood. They occupied the eastern wing of their house, with the neighboring Zou family living in the western half. The building was large enough for Zedong to be allocated his own room, a rarity at the time. In front of the house was a pond and a rice paddy, while pine and bamboo groves grew behind the building. The household included his paternal grandfather, Mao Enpu, who died when Mao was ten. His paternal grandmother, Liu, had died in 1884, nine years before Mao's birth. When Zedong was two years old, his mother gave birth to another son, her fourth child, Mao Zemin, and still another son, Mao Zetan, was born when Zedong was eleven. She also gave birth to two daughters, both of whom died in infancy, although soon after Zetan's birth the couple adopted a baby girl, Zejian, the daughter of one of Mao's paternal uncles.

As was common at the time, Mao began to help on the farm at age five or six, watching over the cattle and tending ducks. Mao's habits were formed by his farm background; biographer Stuart Schram suggested that this took the form of a "lack of social graces and of a concern either for comfort or appearances." In later life, Mao would never become accustomed to the use of a toothbrush, instead retaining the habit of washing his mouth out with tea. Similarly, he continued to prefer cleaning himself with a steaming towel than with soap and water, again reflecting his upbringing. Further, the Hunanese cuisine of his youth gave him his lifelong love of spicy food.

Qimei was a practising Buddhist, and encouraged her sons to follow Buddhist teachings; embracing this faith, Zedong often accompanied her on visits to the local Buddhist temple, influencing her hopes that he would become a monk. Conversely, Yichang was largely irreligious, although after surviving an encounter with a tiger, gave offerings to the gods in thanks. According to Mao's account, Yichang was a staunch disciplinarian, and would beat his children as punishment for disobedience and a perceived lack of filial piety, with Mao describing the beating he received on one occasion when he humiliated his father in public. He added that his mother would often try to protect her children from these beatings.

During the 1930s, Mao would claim that he resented his father, viewing him as stingy and unaffectionate. He contrasted this with the affection he received from his mother, thus adopting a Marxist dialectical perspective by dividing the family into two camps: his mother and himself on one side, his father on another. Biographers have interpreted this filial relationship in different ways; while Jung Chang and Jon Halliday stated that "Mao hated his father", conversely, Schram pointed out that even in Mao's accounts of Yichang, his description is nuanced, and "not simply one of unremitting hatred". Ross Terrill suggested that "Behind Zedong's expressed hatred of his father was an unacknowledged identification; he was driven to become an authoritarian like his father, and on a far grander scale." Feigon has questioned the veracity of Mao's account of this issue, suggesting that the alleged bad relationship between the two was "probably overstated"; highlighting that Yichang clearly went to great efforts to financially support his son, Feigon also noted that the anti-father trope was "wildly popular among young Chinese intellectuals" during the 1930s, and that Mao's account hence may well be a reflection of this rather than reality.

### Shaoshan Primary School: 19011906

Yichang was keen for his eldest son to gain a basic education rooted in Confucianism, the dominant moral ideology of Chinese society; he deemed a knowledge of Confucian teaching to be essential in allowing his son to develop key business and administrative skills. His hope was that Zedong would gain an apprenticeship with a Xiangtan rice merchant before taking over the family business and supporting his parents during their old age. Yichang was particularly adamant on the need to learn about Confucianism after losing a lawsuit over a parcel of land; he believed that his opponent had been victorious in the dispute as a result of their ability to quote the sayings of ancient Chinese philosopher Confucius throughout their argument.

Thus, from the age of eight, Mao was sent to gain a basic education at the private Shaoshan Primary School. Adopting a traditional syllabus and method of education, the school emphasised the copying and recitation by rote of a series of classical Chinese texts preaching Confucian morals: the *Three Character Classic*, the *Book of Names*, the *Thousand Character Classic*, the *Odes for Children*, the *Filial Classic*, and *Filial Learning*. Perceived failure or disobedience resulted in beatings with a bamboo rod from the teacher, who like Mao's father was a stern disciplinarian. Disliking this mode of education, Mao later asserted that "I hated Confucius from the age of eight." Although expressing his dislike for them, Mao nevertheless accepted the utility of learning these texts, finding himself able to win arguments  including those against his father  by the selective use of Confucian quotations.

Far more to Mao's liking were the accounts of war and banditry found in the Four Great Classical Novels, including *Romance of the Three Kingdoms*, *Journey to the West*, and *Water Margin*; while also steeped in Confucian morality, they emphasised the need to fight for justice in society, and it is possible that these texts inspired his interest in history. According to his later account, it was at this point that he attained a strong belief in justice; he began to divide his lunch in two to share with a poorer boy who could not afford food. On another occasion, he got into a physical fight with an older classmate; this greatly upset his mother, who held pacifist beliefs. According to his later account, at one point he rebelled when the teacher tried to punish him for disobedience; rather than permitting himself to be beaten with a rod, he marched out of the school and into the wooded mountains. He remained there for three days, until being discovered by a family member and brought home.

Despite this education, biographers Alexander Pantsov and Steven Levine commented that the "moral-ethical precepts of Confucius seem to have left not a trace in his soul". Conversely, biographer Philip Short asserted that for Mao, as for all Chinese children who went underwent traditional education, these Confucian texts "fixed the underlying pattern of \[his\] thought for the rest of his life". Short went so far as to suggest that Confucianism would prove to be "at least as important to \[Mao\] as Marxism", noting that even in later life, Mao's speeches contained a greater number of quotations from Confucius and other ancient Chinese philosophers than from major Marxist theoreticians Karl Marx and Vladimir Lenin.

### Marriage and secondary education: 19071911

Aged thirteen, Mao left Shaoshan Primary School, pleased to have gotten away from what he saw as its oppressive atmosphere. The decision had been made by his father, who wanted Mao to devote his attentions to the family business by working on the farm and managing the financial accounts. However, relations between him and his father became increasingly strained. Mao continued to read in his free time, often staying up late at night in his bedroom to read by candle light; this angered his father, who saw recreational reading as an unproductive pursuit. At this point he read a book which inspired his interest in politics: Zheng Guanying's *Sheng-shih Wei-yen* ("*Words of Warning to an Affluent Age*"). Published in 1893, the book lamented the deterioration of Chinese power in East Asia, and argued for technological, economic and political reform, believing that China could be strengthed if it abandoned its absolute monarchy and politically modelling itself on the representative democracies and constitutional monarchies of the Western world. His political views were shaped by protests  led by the Gelaohui, or Elder Brother Society  which erupted following a famine in Hunanese capital Changsha; Mao supported the protesters' demands, but the armed forces suppressed the dissenters and executed their leaders. The famine spread to Shaoshan, where starving peasants seized his father's grain; disapproving of their actions as morally wrong, Mao nevertheless claimed sympathy for their situation.

Yichang decided to organise an arranged marriage for Mao, selecting for him the seventeen-year-old Luo Yigu, the daughter of a local landowner. Although unhappy with the arrangement, Mao agreed to go through with the marriage, with the wedding taking place in 1907 or 1908. According to his later account however, he never consummated the marriage and refused to live with Luo. Instead, he claimed that he made use of connections with his maternal family to leave his parental home and move into the house of an unemployed student in Shaoshan, where he lived for a year. There, he continued his reading, enjoying tales of ancient Chinese rulers such as Sima Qian's *Records of the Grand Historian* and Ban Gu's *History of the former Han dynasty*. He was also influenced by Feng Guifen's *Personal Protests from the Study of Jiao Bin*, which had been compiled in 1861. Like Guanying's book, it called on China to adopt foreign techniques to strengthen itself, and to use them to defend itself from foreign aggression. Mao also read a pamphlet by the Chinese revolutionary Chen Tianhua, which recounted China's loss of sovereignty to Japanese and European imperialists; Mao claimed that this was a great influence on him, for after reading it "I felt depressed about the future of my country and began to realize that it was the duty of all the people to help save it." Meanwhile, Luo was locally disgraced and eventually died of dysentery in 1910, while Qimei moved to live with her brother's family in her native village of Xiangxiang.

In the autumn of 1910, Mao requested that his father permit him to attend the Dongshan Higher Primary School, which was located fifteen miles from Shaoshan; unlike the Shaoshan Primary School, this establishment taught modern subjects such as natural sciences. Yichang agreed to fund his son's tuition and dormitory space, and so the sixteen-year-old Mao set off to Dongshan with his older cousin, Wen Yunchang, who was also enrolled there. His two best friends at the school were Yunchang and Xiao Zizhang (also known as Xiao San), who would later join Mao in the communist movement and would become one of his first biographers. However, he was bullied for being rural and unsophisticated by many of his classmates, who were typically the sons of wealthy landlords from the Xiangxiang district. He nevertheless proved to be a successful student, gaining the respect of his teachers through hard work, an ability to compose essays in the classical style, and voracious reading. Here, he first learned about geography, and increased his knowledge of ancient Chinese history. He began to read too about foreign history, coming to be particularly influenced by a book titled *Great Heroes of the World*, through which he learned about  and was inspired by  the military prowess and nationalistic fervour of American George Washington and Frenchman Napoleon Bonaparte. Schram believed that it was here, at this school, that "we can date the real beginnings of Mao's intellectual and political development". Mao remained at the school for seven or eight months, before deciding to enroll at a middle school in the provincial capital of Changsha.

## Early adulthood and politicization

### The Xinhai Revolution: 1911–1912

In 1911, Mao convinced his father to allow him to attend middle school in Changsha. The city was "a revolutionary hotbed", with widespread animosity towards the absolute monarchy of Emperor Puyi. While some advocated a reformist transition to a constitutional monarchy, most revolutionaries advocated republicanism, arguing for an elected presidency. The primary figurehead behind the republican movement was Sun Yat-sen, an American-educated Christian who led a secret society known as the *Tongmenghui*. At Changsha, Mao came under the influence of Sun's newspaper, *The People's Independence* (*Minli bao*), penning his first political essay, which he stuck to the school wall; later admitting it was "somewhat muddled", it involved the creation of a republic governed by Sun, but with concessions made to the moderates by having Kang Youwei as premier and Liang Qichao as minister of foreign affairs. As a symbol of rebellion against the Manchu monarch, he and a friend cut off their queue pigtails—a sign of subservience to the emperor—before forcibly cutting off those of several classmates.

Inspired by Sun's republicanism, the army rose up against the emperor across southern China, sparking the Xinhai Revolution. Changsha initially remained under monarchist control, with the governor proclaiming martial law to quell protest. When the infantry brigade guarding the city defected to the revolution, the governor fled, leaving the city in republican hands. Supporting the revolution, Mao joined the rebel army as a private soldier, but was not involved in the fighting. The northern provinces remained loyal to the emperor, and hoping to avoid a civil war, Sun Yat-sen—proclaimed "provisional president" by his supporters—compromised with the monarchist general Yuan Shikai. The monarchy would be abolished, creating the Republic of China, but the monarchist Yuan would become president. The Xinhai Revolution over, Mao resigned from the army in 1912, after six months of being a soldier. Around this time, Mao discovered socialism from a newspaper article; proceeding to read pamphlets by Jiang Kanghu, the student founder of the Chinese Socialist Party, Mao remained interested yet unconvinced by the idea.

### Fourth Normal School of Changsha: 1912–1917

Returning to education, Mao enrolled and dropped out of a police academy, a soap-production school, a law school and an economics school. His father only approved of the latter, but the lectures were in English, which Mao didn't understand, and so Mao abandoned it for the government-run Changsha Middle School; he soon dropped out of this too, finding it rooted in Confucianism. Undertaking his studies independently, he spent much time in the Changsha public library, reading core works of classical liberalism such as Adam Smith's *The Wealth of Nations* and Montesquieu's *The Spirit of the Laws*, as well as the works of western scientists and philosophers such as Charles Darwin, J.S. Mill, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, and Herbert Spencer. Viewing himself as an intellectual, years later he admitted that at this time he thought himself better than working people. Inspired by the work of Friedrich Paulsen, the liberal emphasis on individualism led Mao to believe that strong individuals were not bound by moral codes but should strive for the greater good; that the end justifies the means. Seeing no use in his son's intellectual pursuits, Mao's father cut off his allowance, forcing Mao to move into a hostel for the destitute.

In early life, Mao was influenced by the publications of two revolutionaries, Sun Yat-sen (left) and Chen Duxiu (right), both of whom argued that China had to adopt various western political philosophies in order to modernise.

Desiring to become a teacher, Mao enrolled at a teacher training college, the Fourth Normal School of Changsha, which had high standards, yet low fees and cheap accommodation. Several months later, it merged with the First Normal School of Changsha, widely seen as the best school in Hunan. Befriending Mao, Professor of Ethics Yang Changji urged him to read a radical newspaper, *New Youth* (*Xin qingnian*), the creation of his friend Chen Duxiu, Dean of the Faculty of Letters at Peking University. Although a Chinese nationalist, Chen argued that China must look to the west, adopting "Mr. Democracy and Mr. Science" in order to cleanse itself of superstition and autocracy. Mao published his first article, "A Study of Physical Culture", in *New Youth* in April 1917, instructing readers to increase their physical strength to serve the revolution. He joined The Society for the Study of Wang Fuzhi (*Chuan-shan Hsüeh-she*), a revolutionary group founded by Changsha literati who wished to emulate Wang Fuzhi, a philosopher who symbolized Han resistance to Manchu invasion.

In his first school year, Mao befriended an older student, Xiao Zisheng; together they went on a walking tour of Hunan, begging and writing literary couplets to obtain food. A popular student, Mao remained active in school politics, and in 1915 was elected secretary of the Students Society. He used his position to forge an Association for Student Self-Government, leading protests against school rules. In spring 1917, he was elected to command the students' volunteer army, set up to defend the school from marauding warlord soldiers and bandits, arming these troops with makeshift bamboo spears and wooden rifles. Increasingly interested in the techniques of war, he took a keen interest in the events of World War I, but also began to develop a sense of solidarity with workers. Mao undertook feats of physical endurance with Xiao Zisheng and Cai Hesen, describing themselves as the "Three Heroes," a sobriquet taken from the *Romance of the Three Kingdoms*. With other young revolutionaries they formed the Renovation of the People Study Society in April 1918 to debate Chen Duxiu's ideas. Desiring personal and societal transformation, the Society gained between 70 and 80 members, including some females, many of whom would go on to join the Communist Party. Mao graduated in June 1919, being ranked third in the year.

### Citations

### Sources

* Carter, Peter (1976). *Mao*. London: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-273140-1.
* Chang, Jung; Halliday, Jon (2005). *Mao: The Unknown Story*. London: Jonathan Cape. ISBN 978-0-224-07126-0.
* Feigon, Lee (2002). *Mao: A Reinterpretation*. Chicago: Ivan R. Dee. ISBN 978-1-56663-458-8.
* Hollingworth, Clare (1985). *Mao and the Men Against Him*. London: Jonathan Cape. ISBN 978-0-224-01760-2.
* Pantsov, Alexander V.; Levine, Steven I. (2012). *Mao: The Real Story*. New York and London: Simon & Schuster. ISBN 978-1-4516-5447-9.
* Schram, Stuart (1966). *Mao Tse-Tung*. London: Simon & Schuster. ISBN 978-0-14-020840-5.
* Short, Philip (1999). *Mao: A Life*. London: Hodder & Stoughton. ISBN 0-340-75198-3.
* Terrill, Ross (1980). *Mao: A Biography*. Simon and Schuster.
* Spence, Jonathan (1999). *Mao Zedong*. Penguin Lives. New York: Viking Press. ISBN 978-0-670-88669-2. OCLC 41641238.

## InfoBox

| Mao Zedong | |
| --- | --- |
| Mao in 1919 | |
| Born | December 26, 1893 (1893-12-26)<br>Shaoshanchong, Shaoshan |
| Died | September 9, 1976(1976-09-09) (aged 82)<br>Beijing |
| Occupation(s) | Communist revolutionary, politician, and socio-political theorist |


title: AmericanStyle

abstract: AmericanStyle was a quarterly cultural tourism magazine published by the Rosen Group from 1994 till 2012. There were 82 issues published over the 28-year period.

text:
# AmericanStyle

***AmericanStyle*** was a quarterly cultural tourism magazine published by the Rosen Group from 1994 till 2012. There were 82 issues published over the 28-year period.

## History

*AmericanStyle* was founded in 1984 by Wendy Rosen, founder of the Rosen Group. The magazine was operated from the company's office in the historic Mill Centre in Baltimore, Maryland. It was the first cultural tourism magazine in America and provided cultural travel information and feature stories on collecting contemporary fine arts and crafts, its makers, and trends in art collection.

Following the growth recession from 2007 till 2009 in America, the magazine closed after its 2012's Fall Arts Preview edition. The magazine faced difficulty in generating and maintaining advertising revenue from art galleries struggling in the wake of the recession.

## Content and cultural influence

The magazine provided its readers with tips and advice on art collection, home decoration, interior design, and display concepts, in addition to features of designer jewelry and fashion, art glass, teapots, art furniture, and functional and sculptural ceramics. It also highlighted and included portfolios of craftspeople and artists from various cities of America.

Each issue of *AmericanStyle* included information for art and craft makers, collectors, and enthusiasts. These articles were about the cultural and economic importance of handmade objects and the significance of the contributions made by craftspeople and artists to local neighborhoods and urban revitalization efforts.

The quarterly issues of the magazine also provided updates on over 200 gallery exhibitions, art festivals, and museum events in their datebook section. It included exclusives on artists’ lifestyles, homes of art collectors, and local art tours in different cities to promote their touristic potential. A number of cities held local and online competitions for inclusion in the AmericanStyle magazine's annual Top 25 Arts Destinations edition, the results of which were based on readers polling. In 2012, the magazine's quarterly publication had a circulation of about 65,000 copies. The selected destinations recognized and promoted these inclusions in their tourism's promotional marketing material and campaigns.

The articles and features from the magazine were used as citations in journals, such as Sociation Today, books, including Outside the Center/On the Edge by Lisa Austrin, published in 2005 by Bucknell University, and The Guild Sourcebook of Architectural and Interior Art, published in 2007. It has also been referred to in books about local cultures and cities, including the 2010-2011 Arlington/Fairfax Counties Real Estate Guide, Northport, American Advance: Westward from the French and Indian War, and Sustainable Communities: Creating a Durable Local Economy


title: AmericanEast

abstract: AmericanEast is a 2008 American drama film about Arab-Americans living in Los Angeles after the September 11 attacks. The story examines long-held misunderstandings about Arabic and Islamic culture by focusing on the points-of-view of three main characters.

text:
# AmericanEast

***AmericanEast*** is a 2008 American drama film about Arab-Americans living in Los Angeles after the September 11 attacks. The story examines long-held misunderstandings about Arabic and Islamic culture by focusing on the points-of-view of three main characters.

## Plot

Mustafa is a widowed Egyptian immigrant and the owner of Habibe's Café, a popular hangout in Los Angeles for those with Middle Eastern backgrounds. He is devoted to providing his son, Mohammed, with a moral upbringing despite the pressures of contemporary American urban life. He also finds himself cast in the role of protector to his unwed sister Salwah, for whom, by family and custom, he is responsible for finding a traditional suitor. But his respect for tradition comes up against his own aspirations to adapt to the American Dream when he decides to open a new restaurant with a Jewish partner – his friend Sam. This alliance is unpopular amongst the habitués of his café and the insular Arab community in which Mustafa resides. It is one of several personal points of tension that gradually build against the backdrop of larger, national events affecting the Arab-American community and lead to an explosive denouement.

Salwah, Mustafa's sister, must also reconcile her traditional values and familial obligations with new American realities. Although she is grateful to her brother for bringing her to America when she was young, and allowing her to pursue an education, conflict arises between them when he insists upon fulfilling his duty of finding her a traditional, arranged-marriage partner from Egypt. The arrival of this arranged suitor, her older cousin Saber, throws her life into turmoil and makes her question her own beliefs and faith. Secretly, she is attracted to an American, Dr. John Westerman, a young and attractive non-Muslim. Any caution she feels toward him, however, is thrown to the wind by the abrupt arrival of Saber and a possible impending marriage that she does not want. She becomes sorely tempted to experience intimacy with the young doctor outside of marriage, a taboo. While she undergoes this internal conflict, her suitor Saber is staying as a guest at the home she shares with Mustafa and his children, and the incompatibility between this traditional man, her future husband, and Mustafa's Americanized family is another source of irritation adding to the mounting tensions.

Mustafa's friend Omar is a struggling actor and a Habibe's Café regular, a young Egyptian man who supports his dream of becoming a film star by working as a part-time cab driver for Mustafa's ragged, one-car taxi company. Because of his Middle Eastern looks and accent, however, he is constantly cast in the role of a terrorist in American TV shows that portray only a shallow understanding of Arabs and their culture. When an opportunity for a non-racially-designated role arrives, Omar feels his chance for success—to be seen as an actor first, not only a Muslim—has finally arrived. It is the break he has been waiting for on many levels: a chance at the financial freedom necessary to marry and support his pregnant American girlfriend Kate, and a chance for him and his future child to be embraced as American, in the same way that he has embraced America.

But misunderstandings and prejudices related to his Arab background conspire against him once again and his opportunity is lost, pushing Omar to make a drastic, impulsive decision that sets off a chain of events leading to a violent conclusion that affects the lives and conflicts of all the other characters – a dramatic reminder of the simmering pressures under which Muslims live in the United States today.

## Background

In March 2003, writer-director Hesham Issawi and actor-writer Sayed Badreya, both Egyptian-born and living in Los Angeles, met with actor Tony Shalhoub, then in his second season of *Monk*. The two young filmmakers wanted the veteran actor to commit to a short film idea they wished to shoot. A few years previous, Badreya had met Shalhoub in a Cuban restaurant in Los Angeles by walking up to him and introducing himself and managing to leave the chance encounter with Shalhoub's phone number in hand. Shalhoub agreed to consider working with the two young men.

The concept for the short film, written by Issawi and writer Dick Grunert, was very close to Sayed Badreya's real-life conundrum as an Arab-American actor struggling to find roles in the U.S. – he was always cast as a terrorist. Shalhoub responded strongly to the idea, seeing both its poignant and comedic possibilities—and so began the production of the short film *T for Terrorist*, which the three filmed in March 2003 with Tony Shalhoub performing, Sayed Badreya starring and producing, and Hesham Issawi directing and producing.

When the short did well on the festival circuit, winning Best Short Film awards at the Boston International Film Festival and the San Francisco World Film Festival, the three determined to expand upon the idea of *T for Terrorist* to develop a bigger project that would represent more characters from the Arab-American community who they felt were constantly being stereotyped by Hollywood. Out of their frustration with that misrepresentation, the idea for *AmericanEast* began to take shape. Keeping the concept of the frustrated Muslim actor who is always cast as a terrorist, but now giving it a more tragic spin, they began to work on a storyline that touched on their own lives and experiences as Middle Easterners, and the lives and experiences of others, such as Tony Shalhoub's father, himself a Lebanese immigrant. With Shalhoub providing support as an executive producer with development funds, and Issawi and Badreya writing, the project began to take form.

In 2005, once a feature-length script was in hand, Shalhoub began looking for a producer and production company. Through a mutual friend, he approached producer Brian Cox at Distant Horizon, an international film financing company headed by Anant Singh and known for taking a stand on political and social issues in films such as the Oscar-nominated *Yesterday*. Cox read the script and immediately saw the relevance and timeliness of the project. The company optioned the rights to the project, which they considered the first true Arab-American film, and Cox began to develop the script further with the filmmakers. Eventually, co-production funding was sought through Zahra Pictures, a company run by independent producer Ahmad Zahra, and backed by investor Mohannad Malas, which had made its name specializing in films focusing on Muslim and interfaith issues. Next, line producer Jeff Kirshbaum was brought on to oversee day-to-day production. With the production team, the script, and the full funding in place, the film was slated to begin principal photography in the summer of 2006.

## Cast

## InfoBox

| AmericanEast | |
| --- | --- |
| Film Poster | |
| Directed by | Hesham Issawi |
| Written by | Sayed Badreya
Hesham Issawi |
| Produced by | Anant Singh
Brian Cox
Ahmed Zahra;
assistant producer: Pamela Easley
Al Giddings
Grant Hill |
| Starring | Sayed Badreya
Tony Shalhoub
Sammy Sheik
Sarah Shahi
Kais Nashif
Al Faris
Richard Chagoury
Tay Blessey
Michael Shalhoub |
| Edited by | Chris Wright |
| Music by | Tony Humecke |
| Release date | * November 14, 2008 (2008-11-14) (Thessaloniki International Film Festival) |
| Country | United States |
| Languages | English
Arabic |


title: (Almost) Straight Outta Compton

abstract: (Almost) straight outta Compton is part of a headline from a 2016 article written by Ruth Styles and published by the MailOnline, the website of the British tabloid newspaper the Daily Mail. The headline has been criticised and described as being an example of racist press commentary towards the American former actress Meghan Markle, prior to marrying the British Prince Harry.

text:
# (Almost) Straight Outta Compton

**(Almost) straight outta Compton** is part of a headline from a 2016 article written by Ruth Styles and published by the MailOnline, the website of the British tabloid newspaper the *Daily Mail*. The headline has been criticised and described as being an example of racist press commentary towards the American former actress Meghan Markle, prior to marrying the British Prince Harry.

## Origin

The November 2016 MailOnline article is about the inferred family background of American actress Meghan Markle (born 1981) and her upbringing in the Los Angeles district of Crenshaw with her mother, Doria Ragland. It was published after Markle began dating Prince Harry. The full headline is: "Harry's girl is (almost) straight outta Compton: Gang-scarred home of her mother revealed—so will he be dropping by for tea?". It was also published on 2 November 2016 in a byline given to Ruth Styles "in Los Angeles for Dailymail.com". Crenshaw is portrayed in the article as having a high crime rate with the first paragraph stating that "Plagued by crime and riddled with street gangs, the troubled Los Angeles neighborhood that Doria Ragland, 60, calls home couldn't be more different to London's leafy Kensington. But social worker Ragland might now find herself welcoming a royal guest to downtrodden Crenshaw after Prince Harry was revealed to be dating her daughter—*Suits* actress Meghan Markle".

The headline references the 1988 song "Straight Outta Compton", the debut record by the American gangsta rap hip hop group N.W.A. The city of Compton in southern Los Angeles County, California, was historically associated with gang violence. Compton is located 14 miles from Crenshaw, the area profiled in the article. A separate article by the British tabloid the *Daily Star* had a headline querying whether Harry would "marry into gangster royalty?".

Markle grew up in the 1980s and 1990s. She became engaged to Prince Harry in 2017. Upon their marriage in 2018, she became the Duchess of Sussex. Their son, Archie Mountbatten-Windsor, was born in 2019. The following year, the couple stepped down as senior members of the royal family, moving to Canada and then to the Duchess's native Southern California.

In reaction to the March 2021 *Oprah with Meghan and Harry* television interview with Oprah Winfrey, Finlay Greig wrote in the *Edinburgh Evening News* that the headline insinuates that Meghan comes from a "life of crime", despite being brought up in a middle class area, which had suffered significant damage from both the 1992 Los Angeles riots and the 1994 Northridge earthquake, but was able to rebound in the late 2000s with the help of redevelopment and gentrification. The 2016 "(Almost) Straight Outta Compton" article also captioned a picture: "Prince Harry's new girl, Meghan Markle, grew up in this house in Crenshaw, Los Angeles, a troubled area that had 47 crimes in the past week—including murder."

## Reaction

The tone of this and other articles prompted Prince Harry's Communications Secretary to issue a statement that deplored the "racist" and "sexist" commentary and coverage received by Meghan. The statement described Meghan as having been "...subject to a wave of abuse and harassment. Some of this has been very public—the smear on the front page of a national newspaper; the racial undertones of comment pieces; and the outright sexism and racism of social media trolls and web article comments". The statement described Harry as worried about Meghan's safety and concluded that he had asked for the statement "to be issued in the hopes that those in the press who have been driving this story can pause and reflect before any further damage is done".

The *Los Angeles Times* clarified that the area "described by the British press as Crenshaw" was, in reality, the "more upscale" area of Baldwin Hills. Writing for BBC News in September 2017, Regan Morris wrote that "When one newspaper dubbed Markle '(Almost) Straight Outta Compton' last year, there was an outcry" and that "If you read the British tabloid press you would think the actress grew up in LA's notorious gang culture and was lucky to escape a life of crime". In a January 2020 opinion piece for *The New York Times*, published in the wake of 'Megxit', the writer and broadcaster Afua Hirsch wrote that "From the very first headline about her being '(almost) straight outta Compton' and having 'exotic' DNA, the racist treatment of Meghan has been impossible to ignore".

The headline was highlighted in the reaction to Meghan and Harry's interview with Oprah Winfrey in March 2021. Hanna Ziady wrote for CNN that "The first round of headlines back in 2016 played on harmful stereotypes and helped set the tone for how parts of the UK media, and especially its tabloid newspapers, would treat this newcomer to the royal family who stood out in one very obvious way: her race". Activist and lawyer Shola Mos-Shogbamimu wrote for *The Guardian* that she "\[could not\] believe that we are still having this debate about whether the way that Meghan has been treated is racist. It is misogynoir, pure and simple. Look at the media coverage of her. The *Daily Mail* said that she was "(almost) straight outta Compton"....That tells you what kind of society we live in". The headline was raised in an interview by Victoria Derbyshire with Ian Murray, the head of the Society of Editors. Derbyshire asked Murray if the headline was bigoted or racist, Murray replied that it was "disputed" as to whether the headline was offensive and said that it was "not acceptable" to describe sections of the British press as "bigoted". Murray described the article as a "rags to riches" story.

Murray has since stepped down from the Society of Editors after releasing a statement headlined: "UK media not bigoted: SoE responds to Sussexes' claims of racism", denying racism and bigotry in the UK press. The statement received an immediate backlash in the form of an open letter signed by over 250 "journalists of colour from the *Guardian*, *Metro*, the *New York Times*, the BBC and others", calling the initial statement "laughable" proof of "an institution and an industry in denial".


title: Edmund Smith (poet)

abstract: Edmund Smith (1672–1710), born Edmund Neale, was a minor English poet in the early 18th century. He is little read today but Samuel Johnson included him in his Lives of the Most Eminent English Poets in 1781.

text:
# Edmund Smith (poet)

**Edmund Smith** (1672–1710), born **Edmund Neale**, was a minor English poet in the early 18th century. He is little read today but Samuel Johnson included him in his *Lives of the Most Eminent English Poets* in 1781.

## Biography

The son of a successful merchant, Edmund Smith attended Westminster School and Christ Church, Oxford where he stayed until 1705. Smith translated *Phèdre* by Racine which was staged in 1707 and died in Wiltshire in 1710.

## Notable works

* *Phaedra and Hippolitus* (1707) (translation of *Phèdre* by Racine)
* *A poem on the death of Mr. John Philips* (1710)
* *Works* (1714) (posthumous publication)
* *Thales; a monody, sacred to the memory of Dr. Pococke. In imitation of Spenser* (1750) (posthumous publication)


title: Economics of open data

abstract: The economics of open data refers to the production, or loss, of wealth related to the use of open data. The cost of open data is a primary concern that can deter governments any companies from the opening up of data. While open data may theoretically have a low production cost, the cost of creating the original data set as well as maintaining that data once it is produced can be expensive. Though the creation of data may be expensive governments around the world such as France, the United States, and Japan, are anticipating substantial economic growth.

text:
# Economics of open data

The **economics of open data** refers to the production, or loss, of wealth related to the use of open data. The cost of open data is a primary concern that can deter governments any companies from the opening up of data. While open data may theoretically have a low production cost, the cost of creating the original data set as well as maintaining that data once it is produced can be expensive. Though the creation of data may be expensive governments around the world such as France, the United States, and Japan, are anticipating substantial economic growth.

## Open Data vs. Paid Data

Open data has the capability to increase economic benefit through both individuals' and companies' use of the information. As of March 2016, it was estimated that open data was generating 0.5% more GDP compared to paid data. The creation of open data relies on either funding from government to create and maintain the data or funding in the form of grants and volunteers. Data made open by governments largely relies on the publication of public service research. Because the data has already been created for a purpose, there is no creation cost for it to be made available to the public.

The opening of data requires current and advance technologies as well as the employment of users who are skilled enough to complete such work. When data is collected it cannot be presented to the public in its raw form and may be inaccessible due to the program is uses or how the data is presented may be unusable. Time and funding is required to be reallocated by those who create the original dataset in order to make the data more accessible and usable for citizens to understand and engage with. When government is the main source of funding for the production of data it does not necessarily mean that they are the singular entity creating or managing the data. Governments sometimes contract out the creation or management of data to a third party. In some cases the third party may provide access to the data in exchange for a nominal fee. Citizen led initiatives face similar issues, such as the requirement of time and funding. For these types of initiatives it can be especially difficult because they do not have access to a guaranteed steady income such as taxpayer money; these organizations largely depend on donations.

Paying for the use of public data would cover some of the costs associated with creating, maintaining and formatting data, although it would reduced the economic value of what once was opened by 50%. Paying for the data that is now available for free would result in a lack of innovation, decreasing the GDP, as well as an increase in the cost of services created from use of purchased data. The opening of data reduces costs associated with licensing that is usually associated with paid data, as it costs more money to license a dataset than to have no license at all, though there are open datasets that use licensing as well. The opening of data itself does not simply create economic prosperity; systematic reforms would take place in order for open data innovations to find a place.

## Open Data and Economic Opportunity

Open data gains additional economic value when governments support open data initiatives, although increased uptake and citizen engagement is vital to the economic success of open data. Greater economic impact depends on revenue growth, cost reduction, and job creation. Revenue can be increased through the use of open data with the creation of new businesses, new good or services, or improved goods and services. When businesses profit from the creation of goods or services that rely upon open data not only does their company reap the financial benefits but the government does as well, through the increase of tax revenue. Cost reduction helps to increase revenue for private sector businesses but is also an asset to government. Cost reduction in government, whether through reduction of services required or labor requirements, reduces government spending in some areas allowing for investment in others. Open data can also increase economic benefit through the creation of jobs. Jobs can be created through innovative entrepreneurship or through the requirement of skilled labourers to use and understand data.

## Examples of Open Data Financial Models

There are numerous ways in which businesses currently support the generation, creation and upkeep of their data. In most cases businesses, or data brokers, will sell this information to third parties for a profit. As charging a fee for data would defeat the purpose of open data, governments and businesses must rely on different financial models. Normally a government or business would finance a public sector body to generate the data and profit or cost recovery would be achieved through users paying a licensing fee back to the public sector body. In turn, the profit made by the users could then be taxed and return finances to the government.

### Budget Financing Model

Budget financing a specific amount of funds is allocated toward the open data project from general revenue. In this case the funding invested in to the project is only expected to cover the minimal costs. Businesses and Governments often expect to see a return from the opening up of data such as increased efficiency within their work environment or more positive citizen perceptions of the company or government.

### Community Model

This model relies on individual citizens to invest their time and skills into generating and maintaining open data. A very successful example of this would be OpenStreetMap, which is continually updated and expanded by everyday users. The community model can also easily incorporate interactive benefits such as user feedback and the improvement of data quality. In this case there is a lot of room for innovation and conversation though the strong dependence on citizen engagement means individuals must actively be engaged with the data on a regular basis or risk the decrease in data quantity and quality.

### Advertising Model

The advertising model is a popular method that can be seen across many online publications. In order to cover operating costs an open data publisher relies on revenue from advertisers. In these cases citizens are exposed to add banners and pop ups displayed on the same site as the data they are attempting to access. While this may prove sustainable for individual company websites some governments have policies against displaying advertisements on government webpages, which could prevent them from adapting such a model.


title: Echigo-Hirose Station

abstract: Echigo-Hirose Station Echigo-Hirose Station is a railway station in Uonuma, Niigata, Japan, operated by East Japan Railway Company.

text:
# Echigo-Hirose Station

**Echigo-Hirose Station** (越後広瀬駅, *Echigo-Hirose-eki*) is a railway station in Uonuma, Niigata, Japan, operated by East Japan Railway Company (JR East).

## Lines

Echigo-Hirose Station is served by the Tadami Line, and is 129.5 kilometers from terminus of the line at Aizu-Wakamatsu.

## Station layout

The station consists of one ground-level side platform serving a single bi-directional track. The station is unattended.

## History

Echigo-Hirose Station opened on 1 November 1942, as an intermediate station on the initial western section of the Tadami Line between Koide and Ōshirakawa. Along with the rest of the Tadami Line, the station came under the ownership of the Japanese National Railways (JNR) in 1949, and was absorbed into the JR East network upon the privatization of the JNR on April 1, 1987.

## Surrounding area

37°16′27″N 138°58′52″E / 37.2742°N 138.9811°E / 37.2742; 138.9811

## InfoBox

| Echigo-Hirose Station
越後広瀬駅 | |
| --- | --- |
| Echigo-Hirose Station in August 2006 | |
| General information | |
| Location | Namiyanagi, Uonuma-shi, Niigata-ken 946-0111
Japan |
| Operated by | JR East |
| Line(s) | Tadami Line |
| Platforms | 1 side platform |
| Tracks | 1 |
| Other information | |
| Website | www.jreast.co.jp/estation/station/info.aspx?StationCd=281 |
| History | |
| Opened | 1 November 1942 |
|  | |
| Services | |
| Preceding station  JR East Following station  Yabukamitowards Koide  Tadami Line  Uonuma-Tanakatowards Aizu-Wakamatsu | |
|  | |
|  | |
|  | |
| Location  Echigo-Hirose StationLocation within JR Tadami LineEchigo-Hirose StationEchigo-Hirose Station (Japan) | |


title: Desmond Kelly

abstract: Desmond Anthony Carl Kelly was a Sri-Lankan-born Australian musician and actor who has entertained in Sri Lanka and in Australia.

text:
# Desmond Kelly

**Desmond Anthony Carl Kelly** (July 2, 1936 - April 29, 2023) was a Sri-Lankan-born Australian musician and actor who has entertained in Sri Lanka and in Australia.

## Songs on Radio Ceylon

Kelly was one of a group of musicians who were discovered by Radio Ceylon, now the Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation. Radio Ceylon gave him a platform for his songs and announcers Vernon Corea and Christopher Greet played his compositions on their music programs - Radio Ceylon made him into a household name - not only in Sri Lanka but also in the Indian subcontinent. His pop hit *Dream World* was in the hit parades in both Ceylon and India. He has also been featured in the top entertainment column, EMCEE, published in the Ceylon Daily News in the 1960s. Des Kelly was best known for such pop hits such as *Dream World*, *Cha Cha Baby*, and *The Reason Being*. He migrated with his family to Melbourne, Australia in 1962 where he worked as an entertainer.

He has collaborated with fellow Australian musician Robin Foenander on a range of pop songs. Des Kelly has also released CDs which include the popular Sri Lankan baila music and calypso songs.

Des Kelly was semi-retired although he was still in demand in Melbourne as an entertainer until his death.


title: Dong River (China)

abstract: The Dong River is the eastern tributary of the Pearl River in Guangdong province, southern China. The other two main tributaries of the Pearl River are the Xi River and the Bei River. The headwater is located in Mount Sanbai (三百山) in Anyuan County, Jiangxi. The Dong River is a major source of water for megacities in Pearl River Delta, including Hong Kong, Shenzhen, and Guangzhou. The Hong Kong Government has purchased Dong River water from Guangdong since 1965. Over 70 percent of domestic water in Hong Kong is imported from the Dong River. Its discharge totals roughly 807.5 cubic meters per second (28,520 cu ft/s).

text:
# Dong River (China)

The **Dong River** is the eastern tributary of the Pearl River in Guangdong province, southern China. The other two main tributaries of the Pearl River are the Xi River and the Bei River. The headwater is located in Mount Sanbai (三百山) in Anyuan County, Jiangxi.

The Dong River is a major source of water for megacities in Pearl River Delta, including Hong Kong, Shenzhen, and Guangzhou. The Hong Kong Government has purchased Dong River water from Guangdong since 1965. Over 70 percent of domestic water in Hong Kong is imported from the Dong River. Its discharge totals roughly 807.5 cubic meters per second (28,520 cu ft/s).

## Historical findings

A dinosaur egg fossil dated back to the Late Cretaceous was discovered by primary school student named Zhang Yangzhe while playing near the Dong River in 2019 in July. The boy's mother, Li Xiaofang, later contacted the Heyuan Dinosaur Museum members, and under their excavation guidance more than 10 dinosaur egg fossils each about 9 centimeters in diameter and dating back to 66 million years were revealed.

## Places along the river include

## InfoBox

| Dong River | |
| --- | --- |
|  | |
| The north branch of the Dong River, near where it converges with the main stream of the Pearl River, photographed from the Dong River Viaduct of S3 Guangzhou-Shenzhen Riverside Expressway, crossing boundary between Dongguan and Guangzhou. | |
| Traditional Chinese | 東江 |
| Simplified Chinese | 东江 |
| Postal | East River |
| Literal meaning | East River |
| Transcriptions  Standard Mandarin  Hanyu Pinyin Dōng Jiāng  Wade–Giles Tung1 Chiang1  Gan  Romanization Dung1gong1  Yue: Cantonese  Jyutping Dung1gong1 | |
|  | |


title: Amazon Trail II

abstract: Amazon Trail II is a simulation video game developed by The Adventure Company and published by MECC for the Macintosh and Windows. It was released in September 1996. The game is a spin-off of The Oregon Trail. It is the second video game in the Amazon Trail video game series, succeeding The Amazon Trail and preceding Amazon Trail 3rd Edition. It was included in a games bundle with the Quantex 5500, and in the Trail Mix Social Studies Bundle with The Oregon Trail 3rd Edition and MayaQuest: The Mystery Trail. The Quantex QP6/333 M-1c package also included the game in its software package.

text:
# Amazon Trail II

***Amazon Trail II*** is a simulation video game developed by The Adventure Company and published by MECC for the Macintosh and Windows. It was released in September 1996. The game is a spin-off of *The Oregon Trail*.

It is the second video game in the *Amazon Trail* video game series, succeeding *The Amazon Trail* and preceding *Amazon Trail 3rd Edition*.

It was included in a games bundle with the Quantex 5500, and in the *Trail Mix Social Studies Bundle* with *The Oregon Trail 3rd Edition* and *MayaQuest: The Mystery Trail*. The Quantex QP6/333 M-1c package also included the game in its software package.

## Production

The aim of this educational video game is to teach players about the "culture, ecology, and history of the Amazon River". Richard D. Thompson was the game's video director.

The game was donated to The Strong National Museum of Play.

## Plot

The game starts with a mysterious incident at the Museum of Ancient Art, which results in the player ending up in the Amazon. Players are then sent to find a local cure to a disease, with the end goal being to reach the city of Vilcabamba.

## Gameplay

Featuring "the same gameplay and educational styling" as *The Oregon Trail*, players take a virtual trip up the South American Amazon River in a canoe in an interactive learning journey. The game has 3 levels of difficulty. Players receive points by remaining healthy, using their resources wisely, and conversing with characters correctly. The best players have their names put into a high score list. A fishing meter shows how hard the harpoon is thrown when fishing. Tour guides ask the player questions which they must respond to further the game. The game includes four river guides, 17 assignments, and 50 characters.

## Critical reception

Janice Reutter wrote in the *Science and Children* journal that the game is "an exciting, adventurous journey" with "attractive graphics", "mysterious and intriguing sound effects", and "beautiful 3D...scenes". The *Boston Herald* favourably compared it to its "pretty simple" and "not very attractive" predecessor *Amazon Trail*, deeming it a "good buy for families who don't yet have *Amazon Trail*". *Computer Shopper* said a software package that included the game was a "great starting point for the first-time buyer". *The Washington Post*'s review included testimony from their "kid software tester" Sarah Phillips, who said that parts of the game could be "pretty neat" or "extremely frustrating". MECC deemed it "one of the most compelling interactive adventures ever". TESL-EJ described it as "wonderful" and "imaginative".

## Further reading

## InfoBox

| Amazon Trail II | |
| --- | --- |
| Cover art | |
| Developer(s) | The Adventure Company |
| Publisher(s) | MECC |
| Series | *The Oregon Trail* |
| Platform(s) | Windows, Macintosh |
| Release | 1996 |
| Genre(s) | Simulation |
| Mode(s) | Single-player |


title: Dennis Richardson (public servant)

abstract: Dennis James Richardson, is an Australian retired public servant and diplomat who served as the Secretary of the Department of Defence from 2012 to 2017 and Secretary of the Department of Foreign Affairs from 2010 to 2012. He was previously the 10th Director-General of Security from 1996 to 2005 and the 19th Ambassador of Australia to the United States of America from 2005 to 2010.

text:
# Dennis Richardson (public servant)

**Dennis James Richardson**, AC (born 14 May 1947) is an Australian retired public servant and diplomat who served as the Secretary of the Department of Defence from 2012 to 2017 and Secretary of the Department of Foreign Affairs from 2010 to 2012. He was previously the 10th Director-General of Security from 1996 to 2005 and the 19th Ambassador of Australia to the United States of America from 2005 to 2010.

## Background and career

Richardson was keenly interested in current affairs as a boy. He attended the University of Sydney where he received a Bachelor of Arts with Honours (1965–68). He started his Australian Public Service career in the Department of External Affairs in 1969. His history supervisor had suggested he apply to the Department rather than continuing with plans to become a teacher.

Between 1969 and 1986 Richardson had various positions in the Department of Foreign Affairs, including postings to Kenya, Papua New Guinea and Indonesia. In 1986 he was appointed Head of the Refugee and Humanitarian Branch in the Department of Immigration and Ethnic Affairs. In 1987, Richardson moved to the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet, being appointed Head of the International Division in 1988. In 1990-91, Richardson was seconded to Prime Minister Bob Hawke's office where he served as Chief of Staff. In 1992, Richardson conducted a review of the Australian Intelligence Community Post Cold War. In 1993, Richardson was appointed Deputy Secretary of the Department of Immigration and Multicultural Affairs. He was Director-General of the Australian Security Intelligence Organization from October 1996 to May 2005. Richardson was Australian Ambassador to the United States of America (2005–2010) and Secretary of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (2010–2012). While Australian Ambassador to the US he visited all 50 states, driving with his wife to all but Hawaii.

In October 2012, Richardson was appointed Secretary of the Department of Defence. Richardson announced on 19 April 2017 that he would retire on 12 May 2017. Associate Secretary Brendan Sargeant was acting Secretary until the appointment of Greg Moriarty on 4 September 2017.

Richardson was on the board of the US Studies Centre at Sydney University from 2010-2017. Following his retirement from the Public Service, he was appointed to the Board of Linfox Australia. In addition to Linfox, Richardson currently serves on the Boards of The National Capital Authority, Vault Cloud, The Australian Wildlife Conservancy, The Canberra Raiders NRL Club and is Chair of StarFlight Victoria.

In mid 2018, Richardson was appointed by the Australian Government to conduct a Comprehensive Review of Australian Intelligence Legislation. A classified report was given to the government in December 2019, with an unclassified report published in December 2020.

## Honours

Richardson received the Centenary Medal in 2001. He was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) in 2003 for service to the community in a range of public policy areas including foreign policy, immigration and security, and advanced to Companion of the Order of Australia in 2019 for his "eminent service to public administration" in the fields of national security, defence and foreign policy. He was also awarded the Distinguished Service Order by the President of Singapore on 8 June 2017.

Richardson received an Honorary Doctorate of Letters from the University of Sydney in November 2018 and an Honorary Doctorate of Laws from the Australian National University in December 2018.

## Personal

Richardson is married to Betty, a real estate agent, and has two children, Mark and Natalie.

In 2020, he revealed his views on several public policy positions in an interview. He said he now supported calls for the establishment of a Commonwealth Integrity Commission to restore public trust, in part because ministerial staffers had been excluded from being investigated by many inquiries. He supported Australia becoming a republic because he believed that a head of state should not be foreign, and was opposed to the ban on Catholics becoming monarch. He also confirmed several anecdotes from his diplomatic career, saying he was the only person, to his knowledge, to have attended a diplomatic ceremony in a "waiter's uniform" after hiring a suit during a posting to East Africa. Another anecdote concerned his Rottweiler, Henry, downing politician Peter Costello at a diplomatic residence. Richardson agreed with characterisations of himself as being tough, an occasional micromanager, and a "cheeky bastard".

| External videos | |
| --- | --- |
| One Plus One: Dennis Richardson, One Plus One, ABC News | |

## InfoBox

| Dennis RichardsonAC | |
| --- | --- |
| Official portrait, 2005 | |
|  | |
| Secretary of the Department of Defence | |
| **In office**
18 October 2012 (2012-10-18)  12 May 2017 (2017-05-12) | |
| Preceded by | Duncan Lewis |
| Succeeded by | Greg Moriarty |
| Secretary of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade | |
| **In office**
January 2010  18 October 2012 | |
| Preceded by | Michael L'Estrange |
| Succeeded by | Peter Varghese |
| 19th Ambassador of Australia to
the United States | |
| **In office**
20 June 2005  1 February 2010 | |
| Preceded by | Michael Thawley |
| Succeeded by | Kim Beazley |
| 10th Director-General of Security | |
| **In office**
11 October 1996  27 May 2005 | |
| Prime Minister | John Howard |
| Preceded by | David Sadleir |
| Succeeded by | Paul O'Sullivan |
|  | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Dennis James Richardson
(1947-05-14) 14 May 1947
Kempsey, New South Wales |
| Nationality | Australian |
| Spouse | Betty Richardson |
| Alma mater | University of Sydney (BA \[Hons\]) |
| Profession | Diplomat
public servant |
|  | |


title: Abram Robertson Byram

abstract: Abram Robertson Byram was an Australian cabinetmaker and politician. He served as alderman and mayor of Brisbane Municipal Council, Queensland, Australia.

text:
# Abram Robertson Byram

**Abram Robertson Byram** (died 1893) was an Australian cabinetmaker and politician. He served as alderman and mayor of Brisbane Municipal Council, Queensland, Australia.

## Personal life

Abram Robertson Byram was born about 1825, the son of James Cooper Byram and Mary Robertson. He married Elizabeth Freeman Elliot in Tynemouth, England in 1848. They had the following children in England:

Hartley

* William Elliot Byram, born 1851 in Tynemouth, England

Abram and his family immigrated to Sydney on the *Parsee,* arriving on 17 Jan 1853; William died on the voyage.

Daughter Elizabeth Byram was born in 1854 in New South Wales. She married Norman Meredith Davis in Brisbane in 1882 and died in Brisbane in 1920.

They had more children in Brisbane:

* William James Byram, born 1861. He died in 1922 in Queensland
* George Elliot Byram, born 1865. He died in 1875 in Queensland.

Abram Robertson Byram died at his home in Boundary Street, Spring Hill, Brisbane on 20 February 1893 aged 67. He is buried in Toowong Cemetery with his wife Elizabeth Freeman Byram and his sons George and William.

## Public life

Abram Robertson Byram served as alderman of the Brisbane Municipal Council from 1877 to 1888 and as mayor in 1883. He served on various committees:

* Improvement Committee 1879, 1881
* Legislative Committee 1879 - 1881, 1883
* Finance Committee 1878, 1880, 1882, 1887
* Works Committee 1883, 1888
* Health Committee 1888
* Town Hall Committee 1885, 1886.

Media related to Abram Robertson Byram at Wikimedia Commons

## InfoBox

| Abram Byram | |
| --- | --- |
|  | |
|  | |
| 17th Mayor of Brisbane | |
| **In office**
1883–1883 | |
| Preceded by | Robert Porter |
| Succeeded by | John McMaster |
|  | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Abram Robertson Byram
1825 |
| Died | 20 February 1893 (aged 67)
Spring Hill, Queensland, Australia |
| Resting place | Toowong Cemetery |
| Spouse | Elizabeth Freeman Elliot (m.1848 d.1898) |
| Occupation | Cabinetmaker |
|  | |


title: Abakar Abdelkerim Daoud

abstract: Abakar Abdelkerim Daoud is a Chadian military officer.

text:
# Abakar Abdelkerim Daoud

**Abakar Abdelkerim Daoud** (born 1968) is a Chadian military officer.

## Biography

He is a member of the Zaghawa people from the Wadi Fira region and is nicknamed Kirekeyno (“the one who does not flee”, in Zaghawa).

He fought alongside former Chadian President Idriss Déby during the rebellion against the regime of Hissène Habré in 1990. He was appointed head of presidential security in 1991 before leading the presidential guard a year later. He was wounded in combat around Lake Chad in 1992 and treated in France for over a year.

He was made Chief of the National Gendarmerie in 2008, Chief of Staff of the Army (CEMAT), Advisor to the Ministry of Defense and finally Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces (CEMGA) until the death of President Déby. He successfully commanded the armed forces in the 2021 Northern Chad offensive.

After the death of Idriss Déby on 20 April 2021 and the seizure of power by his son Mahamat Idriss Déby, he became a member of the Transitional Military Council.


title: Abdul El-Sayed

abstract: Abdulrahman Mohamed El-Sayed is an American politician, former public health professor, and civil servant serving as the director of the Department of Health, Human, and Veterans Services for Wayne County. He was a candidate in Michigan's 2018 Democratic gubernatorial primary election, placing second out of three candidates. In September 2018, he founded Southpaw Michigan, a political action committee, to help elect other progressive candidates in Michigan. El-Sayed was executive director of the Detroit Health Department and Health Officer for the City of Detroit from 2015 to 2017. In 2017, he resigned as health director to run for governor. He was also formerly an assistant professor in the Department of Epidemiology at Columbia University. He is a political contributor at CNN, the author of Healing Politics: A Doctor's Journey into the Heart of Our Political Epidemic and Medicare for All: A Citizen's Guide, and the host of America Dissected with Dr. Abdul El-Sayed, a podcast about politics and public health produced by Crooked Media. In 2020, he served on the Joe Biden–Bernie Sanders Unity Task Force on health care.

text:
# Abdul El-Sayed

**Abdulrahman Mohamed El-Sayed** (Arabic: عبدالرحمن محمد السيد born October 31, 1984) is an American politician, former public health professor, and civil servant serving as the director of the Department of Health, Human, and Veterans Services for Wayne County. He was a candidate in Michigan's 2018 Democratic gubernatorial primary election, placing second out of three candidates. In September 2018, he founded Southpaw Michigan, a political action committee, to help elect other progressive candidates in Michigan.

El-Sayed was executive director of the Detroit Health Department and Health Officer for the City of Detroit from 2015 to 2017. In 2017, he resigned as health director to run for governor. He was also formerly an assistant professor in the Department of Epidemiology at Columbia University.

He is a political contributor at CNN, the author of *Healing Politics: A Doctor's Journey into the Heart of Our Political Epidemic* and *Medicare for All: A Citizen's Guide* (co-authored with Micah Johnson), and the host of *America Dissected with Dr. Abdul El-Sayed*, a podcast about politics and public health produced by Crooked Media. In 2020, he served on the Joe BidenBernie Sanders Unity Task Force on health care.

## Early life and education

El-Sayed was born in the metro Detroit area to parents who emigrated to the United States from Egypt.

He grew up in the Detroit area with his father Mohamed El-Sayed and stepmother Jacqueline El-Sayed, a native of Gratiot County, Michigan. Both are engineers. His father grew up in Alexandria, Egypt, and emigrated to the United States to study engineering at Wayne State University. His mother, Fatten Elkomy, is a nurse practitioner in Missouri.

El-Sayed graduated in 2003 from Bloomfield Hills Andover High School, where he was a three-sport athlete—wrestling, football, and lacrosse—and a captain in the latter two. El-Sayed attended the University of Michigan, where he majored in biology and political science, and played on the men's club lacrosse team. He won the William Jennings Bryan Prize for Political Science, graduated with Highest Distinction, and delivered the student commencement speech in front of president Bill Clinton, who delivered the 2007 commencement address.

El-Sayed was awarded a full-tuition scholarship to attend the University of Michigan Medical School, where he completed his first two years of medical school. There he led a student medical mission to Peru and founded a student organization that raised money and coordinated community service for a local free clinic. As a second-year medical student, he declined a Marshall Scholarship and accepted a Rhodes Scholarship to attend Oriel College, Oxford, where he completed a DPhil in public health in 2011. While at Oxford, he earned a full blue as captain of Oxford's men's lacrosse team. In 2014, he completed his MD at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons and was funded by the Soros Fellowship for New Americans and Medical Scientist Training Program. El-Sayed did not pursue a residency after medical school and is therefore not licensed to practice medicine.

## Career in public health

El-Sayed is the author of over 100 scholarly articles, abstracts, and book chapters on public health policy, social epidemiology, and health disparities. His essays on public health policy have also been published in *The New York Times*, CNN, *The Hill*, *The Huffington Post*, *The Detroit News*, and the *Detroit Free Press*.

### Public health professor

In 2014 El-Sayed joined the faculty at Columbia's Mailman School of Public Health as assistant professor in the department of epidemiology. He served as director of Columbia's Systems Science Program and Global Research Analytics for Population Health. As a researcher, he has authored over 100 scientific publications, including articles, commentaries, book chapters, and abstracts, about health disparities, birth outcomes, and obesity. His research has been cited over 700 times. He is the recipient of several research awards, including being named one of the Carnegie Council's Policy Innovators. He created and taught the Mailman School's first course on systems science and population health. He co-edited a textbook on the topic with Sandro Galea published in 2017 by Oxford University Press, *Systems Science and Population Health*.

### Health Director of Detroit

In August 2015, Mayor Mike Duggan appointed El-Sayed Health Officer and Executive Director of the Detroit Health Department, making him, at 30 years old, the youngest health officer in a major US city at the time. In that role, he was charged with rebuilding the Detroit Health Department after government public health activities were provided by a nonprofit before the City of Detroit's municipal bankruptcy in 2012. On his first day on the job El-Sayed arrived at a small office space in the back of Detroit's parking department overseeing five employees. In his first year as director he led efforts to oppose increases in sulfur dioxide emissions by Marathon Petroleum's Southwest Refinery, which resulted in reductions in overall emissions. He also led efforts to test Detroit schools for lead in the wake of Flint's Water crisis, provide free glasses to children in Detroit city schools, and transform the city's troubled Animal Control department.

Because of his leadership on lead poisoning reduction, El-Sayed was appointed to the governor's statewide Childhood Lead Elimination Board. He also served on the State of Michigan's Public health Advisory Commission and the Advisory Committee to the US Secretary of Health & Human Services for Healthy People 2030.

In 2016 El-Sayed was named one of Crain's Detroit's "40 under 40", and "Public Official of the Year" by the Michigan League of Conservation Voters. In 2017 the University of Michigan awarded him a Bicentennial Alumni Award, awarded to 20 alumni "whose achievements carry on Michigan's traditions of intellectual creativity and academic endeavor, of civic engagement, and of national and international service."

### Health Director of Wayne County

In December 2022, El-Sayed was named director of Wayne County's Department of Health, Human, and Veterans Services, pending approval by the county commission. He assumed the role in March 2023.

## 2018 gubernatorial campaign

On February 9, 2017, the *Detroit News* reported that El-Sayed would resign as health director to run for governor of Michigan in the 2018 Democratic Party primary. He officially announced his candidacy on February 25, 2017. El-Sayed was inspired to run for governor following the Flint water crisis, saying: "I watched as Governor Snyder and his team of accountants were cutting costs and cutting corners. Their inattention to communities ultimately poisoned thousands of children - and those children were the very ones that I was serving at the helm of the health department. ... And that's something I didn't believe in. I believe in government as something we do in this country for the people and by the people".

El-Sayed pledged not to accept any campaign donations from corporations, and raised over $5 million from individual donations.

El-Sayed was endorsed by U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders, Democratic congressional nominee and democratic socialist activist Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and 2017 Women's March organizer Linda Sarsour. He was also endorsed by the organization Justice Democrats and *The Nation* magazine. In the August 7 primary, he received 340,560 votes, or about 30% of the vote, thus losing to Gretchen Whitmer.

In September 2018, El-Sayed launched a political action committee, Southpaw MI PAC, to support liberal down-ballot candidates and take positions on ballot initiatives.

## Personal life

El-Sayed lives in Ann Arbor with his wife, Sarah Jukaku, a psychiatrist.

## InfoBox

| Abdul El-Sayed | |
| --- | --- |
|  | |
| Born | Abdulrahman Mohamed El-Sayed
(1984-10-31) October 31, 1984
Detroit, Michigan, U.S. |
| Education | University of Michigan (BS)
Oriel College, Oxford (MA, DPhil)
Columbia University (MD) |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Spouse | Sarah Jukaku |
| Awards | Rhodes Scholarship
Paul and Daisy Soros Fellowship |
| Website | abdulelsayed.com |


title: Denée Benton

abstract: Denée Ayana Benton is an American actress and singer. She is best known for her performance as Natasha Rostova in the 2016 musical Natasha, Pierre, & The Great Comet of 1812 on Broadway, for which she was nominated for a Tony Award. Benton’s other Broadway credits include the role of Eliza Hamilton in Hamilton (2018) and the role of Cinderella in Into the Woods (2022). Her television acting credits include UnREAL and The Gilded Age.

text:
# Denée Benton

**Denée Ayana Benton** (born December 31, 1991) is an American actress and singer. She is best known for her performance as Natasha Rostova in the 2016 musical *Natasha, Pierre, & The Great Comet of 1812* on Broadway, for which she was nominated for a Tony Award. Benton’s other Broadway credits include the role of Eliza Hamilton in *Hamilton* (2018) and the role of Cinderella in *Into the Woods* (2022). Her television acting credits include *UnREAL* and *The Gilded Age*.

## Early life and education

Benton was born and raised in Eustis, Florida. Her mother was a journalist, therapist, and businesswoman; her father was a mayor of Eustis and an airport executive. Rodgers and Hammerstein's *Cinderella* was an early inspiration for her desire to act.

She attended Trinity Preparatory School in Winter Park, Florida, before graduating from Carnegie Mellon University in 2014.

## Career

Benton's first prominent professional role was her role as Nabulungi in the West End and U.S. national tour of *The Book of Mormon*.

Benton was cast in the titular role of Natasha Rostova in *Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812* with the American Repertory Theatre; she later made her Broadway debut opposite Josh Groban as Pierre when the show opened at the Imperial Theatre on November 14, 2016. Benton received a Tony Award nomination for Best Actress in a Musical for her role in the show. Later in the run, she starred opposite Okieriete Onaodowan and the show’s creator Dave Malloy as Pierre. She appeared on *The Late Show with Stephen Colbert* on December 12, 2016, to discuss the role.

Benton gained wider prominence in her recurring role on the second season of the Lifetime series, *UnREAL*, as Ruby Carter in 2016.

On October 17, 2018, it was announced that Benton would assume the role of Eliza Hamilton in the Broadway production of *Hamilton*, beginning performances on October 30. She left the show on December 8, 2019 and starred opposite Michael Luwoye, Daniel Breaker, Mandy Gonzalez and James Monroe Iglehart.

On 2022, Benton started acting as Peggy Scott in the main cast of the HBO historical drama series *The Gilded Age*, alongside Louisa Jacobson, Cynthia Nixon and Christine Baranski. In 2023 she was nominated alongside the cast for the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series.

In May 2022, Benton played the role of Cinderella in Stephen Sondheim's *Into the Woods* at New York City Center opposite Heather Headley, Neil Patrick Harris, Sara Bareilles, and Gavin Creel. In November, she reprised her role replacing Krysta Rodriguez in the Broadway revival of the show. She left the production on December 24. She would star opposite Creel, Brian d’Arcy James, Patina Miller, Stephanie J. Block, Montego Glover, Andy Karl, Joshua Henry, and Joaquina Kalukango.

In December 2023, it was announced that Denee will star as Susan in the production of *tick, tick...BOOM!* at The Kennedy Center.

## Personal life

Benton began dating Carl Lundstedt in 2014, whom she met in her acting program at Carnegie Mellon University. They married in 2020.

## Theatre credits

| Year(s) | Production | Role | Location | Category |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 2012 | *Annie* | Star-To-Be | Benedum Center | Regional |
| | *Fiddler on the Roof* | Ensemble | | |
| | | *Sunset Boulevard* | | |
| 2013 | *The Crucible* | Rebecca Nurse | Carnegie Mellon University | |
| 2014–2015 | *The Book of Mormon* | Nabulungi | - | U.S. National Tour |
| 2015 | | | Prince of Wales Theatre | West End |
| 2015–2016 | *Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812* | Natasha Rostova | American Repertory Theater | Regional, Pre-Broadway |
| 2016–2017 | | | Imperial Theatre | Broadway |
| 2017 | *Of Thee I Sing* | Mary Turner | Carnegie Hall | MasterVoices Concert |
| 2018–2019 | *Hamilton* | Eliza Hamilton | Richard Rodgers Theatre | Broadway |
| 2022 | *Into the Woods* | Cinderella | New York City Center | Off-Broadway, Encores! |
| | | | St. James Theatre | Broadway |
| 2024 | *Tick, Tick... Boom!* | Susan | Kennedy Center | Regional |

## Filmography

### Film

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 2013 | *The Narrative of Dalvin Reynolds* | Felicia | Short film |
| 2018 | *Mother's Milk* | Lark |  |
| 2019 | *Our Friend* | Charlotte |  |
| 2023 | *Genie* | Julie |  |
| 2024 | *Dreams in Nightmares* | Z |  |

### Television

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 2016 | *UnREAL* | Ruby Carter | 10 episodes |
| 2018 | *25* | Morgan | Television film |
| 2022–present | *The Gilded Age* | Peggy Scott | Main cast |

## Awards and nominations

| Year | Award | Category | Work | Result | Ref. |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 2016 | Elliot Norton Award | Outstanding Performance by an Actress | *Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812* | Nominated |  |
| | IRNE Awards | Best Actress in a Musical | | Nominated |  |
| 2017 | Tony Awards | Best Leading Actress in a Musical | | Nominated |  |
| | Drama League Awards | Distinguished Performance | | Nominated |  |
| | Theatre World Awards | | | Honoree |  |
| 2023 | Screen Actors Guild Awards | Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series | *The Gilded Age* | Nominated |  |

## InfoBox

| Denée Benton | |
| --- | --- |
| Benton in 2017 | |
| Born | (1991-12-31) December 31, 1991<br>Winter Park, Florida, U.S. |
| Education | Carnegie Mellon University (BFA) |
| Occupation(s) | Actor, singer |
| Years active | 2013–present |


title: Abdullah ibn Khatal

abstract: Abdullah ibn Khatal was a Muslim tax collector who committed treason against the State of Medina by defecting to Mecca and becoming an Apostate. He was killed shortly after the Conquest of Mecca on the orders of Muhammad being one of the 12 inhabitants of Mecca not granted immunity. It is said that he was hanging to the curtains of the Kaaba in Mecca, where he attempted to take refuge but was executed before being able to enter the Ka'aba.

text:
# Abdullah ibn Khatal

**Abdullah ibn Khatal** (Arabic: عبدالله بن خطل) (died 629 C.E.) was a Muslim tax collector who committed treason against the State of Medina by defecting to Mecca and becoming an Apostate. He was killed shortly after the Conquest of Mecca on the orders of Muhammad being one of the 12 inhabitants of Mecca not granted immunity. It is said that he was hanging to the curtains of the Kaaba in Mecca, where he attempted to take refuge but was executed before being able to enter the Ka'aba .


title: Department of Industry (1928–1940)

abstract: The Department of Industry was an Australian government department that existed between 1928 and 1940.

text:
# Department of Industry (1928–1940)

The **Department of Industry** was an Australian government department that existed between 1928 and 1940.

## Scope

The department dealt with the matters raised by unions on industrial matters and matters related to the administration of the Cockatoo Island Dockyard.

All of the Department's positions were abolished in 1932 and the Department was virtually inactive.

## Structure

The Department was a Commonwealth Public Service department, staffed by officials who were responsible to the Minister for Industry.

## InfoBox

Department of Industry
| Department overview | |
| --- | --- |
| Formed | 10 December 1928 |
| Preceding Department |  |
| Dissolved | 28 October 1940 |
| Superseding Department |  |
| Jurisdiction | Commonwealth of Australia |
| Headquarters | Canberra |
| Ministers responsible |  |
| Department executive | * Robert R Garran, Secretary (1928–1932) |


title: Dental instrument

abstract: Dental instruments are tools that dental professionals use to provide dental treatment. They include tools to examine, manipulate, treat, restore, and remove teeth and surrounding oral structures.

text:
# Dental instrument

**Dental instruments** are tools that dental professionals use to provide dental treatment. They include tools to examine, manipulate, treat, restore, and remove teeth and surrounding oral structures.

## Examination instruments

These tools allow dental professionals to manipulate tissues for better visual access during treatment or during dental examination.

### Dental mirror

The dentist or dental auxiliary use dental mirrors to view a mirror image of the teeth in locations of the mouth where visibility is difficult or impossible. They also are used for reflecting light onto desired surfaces, and for retraction of soft tissues to improve access or vision.

### Probes

## Retractors

* Cheek retractor
* Dental mirror
* Lip retractor
* Mouth prop
* Tongue retractor

## Local anesthesia

Anesthesia is classified into three types: local, regional, and general, each of which affects the nervous system in some way and can be provided via a variety of methods and medications.

Local anaesthesia is a type of anaesthetic medicine that numbs just a small, specific area of the body (it can be administered as a shot, spray, or ointment). (for example, a foot, hand, or patch of skin). A person is awake while being drugged with local anaesthesia. Local anaesthesia has a short duration and is frequently utilised for simple outpatient operations. (when patients come in for surgery and can go home that same day). For someone having outpatient surgery in a clinic or doctor's office (such as the dentist or dermatologist), this anesthetic is likely used. The medicine can numb the area during the procedure and for a short time afterwards to help control post-surgery discomfort.

The function of this instrument involves successfully piercing the surface of the periodontal ligament so the patient can be distributed the anesthesia. Past devices have proven to be insufficient because it instilled fear in patients and made it exhaustingly uncomfortable for dentists to use because of the bulky size. With how simple it is to hide it in the hand due to the smaller size of modern day anesthetic syringes, dentists are successfully able to maneuver in a patient's mouth without causing harm to the patient being treated, allowing for a quick insert of the anesthesia followed by the dentist being able move on swiftly to the next task of the dental visit. Another aspect of the syringe is the capability of use, which means dentists are able to easily insert fluid in the device and follow the color coded instructions that allow for efficient use of the dental instrument. The device is so intricately sized that doctors are able to grip it well enough to get the job done. Some anesthetic syringes also include a power handle that gives the doctor less of a responsibility over the amount of pressure needed to push in the medicine because the power handle has settings that let the dentist set an amount for how much anesthetic they want to be produced.

## Dental handpieces

Dental handpieces are classified into several varieties, including high-speed air driven (also known as an airotor), slow-speed, friction grip, and surgical handpiece.

## Dental laser

A dental laser is a type of laser designed specifically for use in oral surgery or dentistry.

The use of a laser can decrease morbidity after surgery, and reduces the need for anesthetics. Because of the cauterization of tissue there will be little bleeding following soft tissue procedures, and some risks of alternative electrosurgery procedures are avoided.

## Dental torque wrench

A dental torque wrench or restorative torque wrench is a torque wrench used to precisely apply a specific torque to a fastener screw for fixation of an abutment, dentures, or prosthetics on a dental implant.

## Burs

The cutting surfaces of dental burs are made of a multi-fluted tungsten carbide, a diamond-coated tip, or a stainless steel multi-fluted rosehead. There are many types and classifications of burs. Some of the most common are the round bur (sizes ¼ to 10) or inverted cone (sizes 33½ to 90L).

Burs are also classified by:

\- The type of material the bur is made of

\- The shank type and total length of the bur

\- The shape of the head

\- The size of the grit

\- The maximum diameter of the head

For instance, a latch type, or right angle bur, is only used in the slow-speed handpiece with contra-angle attachment. A long shank or shaft is only used in slow speed when the contra-angle is not in use, and finally, a friction grip bur, which is a small bur, is used only in the high-speed handpiece.

There are many bur shapes that are utilized in various specific procedures.

### Operative burs

Flat fissure, pear-shaped, football, round, tapered, flame, chamfer, bevel, end cut, bud bur, steel, inverted cone, diamond, brown stone, and green-stone

## Restorative instruments

### Excavators

* Spoon excavator: Used to remove soft carious decay
* Half hollenbach: Used to test for overhangs or flash
* Dental hatchers: Used to widen the entrance of the tooth cavity and slice away the thin carious enamel
* Chisels:
    + Straight - bevels the cavosurface margin and used in 3, 4, and 5 classifications of cavities on the maxillary
    + Wedelstaedt - only used in the anterior for classes 3, 4, and 5
    + Bin Angle - this is held in a pen grasp and used for class 2 maxillary only

## Burnishers

Burnishers are used for polishing and contouring amalgam fillings and to polish composite fillings. They include:

* Ball burnisher
* Beavertail burnisher
* Cone burnisher
* Flat plastic
* Pear shaped burnisher
* Football shaped burnisher

## Pluggers

Pluggers are also known as amalgam condensers. They are used to achieve a well-condensed filling by compressing the filling material into the cavity and applying pressure.

* Amalgam plugger
* 49 plugger

## Periodontal instruments

### Fine scalers

Fine scalers are used in the removal of soft deposits. They include:

* Drury scalers
* Fine excavators
* MF 4/5

### Heavy scalers

These are seen as the scalers used in the removal for heavy tartar and stains which are not removed by the fine scalers. They include:

* American pattern B
* Cushion scaler
* Excavator
* Hoe scaler
* Jacquette 1
* Jacquette 2
* Jacquette 3
* Scaler 152

### Curettes

Types include:

* Gracey curettes - semicircle tipped, but one edge lower than the other. It is used at 70° to the tooth root surface.
* Universal curettes - these have a semicircular tip used at 90° to the tooth root surface.

## Prosthodontic instruments

### Removable prosthodontics

* Articulators
* Blow torch
* Bunsen burner
* Calipers
* Face bow
* Fox plane
* Glass mixing slab
* Lecrons carver
* Mixing bowls
* Spatulas for mixing dental plaster
* Spatulas for mixing impression materials
* Wax carver
* Wax knife
* Wax spatula
* Willis gauge

## Extraction and surgical instruments

### Dental forceps

Ancient Greek and Roman dentists extracted teeth with lead pliers. In 1840, Sir John Tomes and his friend Evrard made the first pair of dental forceps. In 1841, Tomes posted an article to tell the whole world about his discovery of new forceps that had never been seen before, successfully becoming the creator of the forceps and the concept of forceps. In earlier times, or during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, elevators and pelicans were used as extraction devices because the idea of dental forceps did not exist, but the thought of extracting in the first place with some form of a tool was there. With pelicans, their sharp talons were used to be placed down on the inside of the mouth near the gums while the elevator helped pull the tooth out of its socket. Then, a pair of pincers would do the rest of the job, wiggling the tooth out of the gum until the extraction was complete. The functionality of today's dental forceps come from the need to remove items from the mouth such as the cotton balls dentists place next to a patient's teeth or the rubber bands a patient needs for their braces. However, most dental forceps are not designed for comfort, nor do they take the account of the dental practitioners hand positions throughout the procedure to mind. Dental forceps have been designed to the point where dentists experience medical complications of their own on the carpal scale considering their hands are always placed in an awkward angle while they remove items from the patient's mouth.

#### List of dental forceps

* Bayonet
* Cow horns #23
* Greyhound
* Lower universals
* Root
* Upper canine
* Upper left molar
* Upper right molar
* Upper straight long
* Upper straight short
* Upper universal fine
* Upper universals
* Upper wisdom tooth

### Elevators

* Cogswell-A & B elevators
* Coupland's elevators
* Crane root tip elevators
* Crossbar apex luxators
* Cryer elevators
* Flat elevators
* Heidbrink root tip elevators
* Miller's apex luxators
* Molts elevators
* Narrow and wide, straight and curved luxators
* Periosteal elevators
* Potts elevators
* Root-tip pick elevator
* Warwick James elevators
* Winter elevators

### Chisels

## Orthodontic instruments

* Band pusher
* Band setter
* Bird beak pliers
* Bracket holder
* Bracket tweezer
* Cinch back
* Distal end cutters
* Elastics
* Hemostat/Mathieu pliers
* Tucker
* Matrix band
* (Tofflemire) Matrix retainer
* Spring ring

## Endodontic instruments

* Apex locator
* Endodontic explorer
* Finger pluggers
* Finger spreader
* Gates glidden burs
* Guttapercha retrieval files
* Endodontic files and reamers
    + Broken instrument retrieval files
    + Controlled memory flexible files
    + Hedstrom or H-files
    + K-files
    + Manual tapered files
    + McSpadden files
    + NiTi flex files
    + Pathfinder files
    + Rotary tapered files
* Lentulo spiral
* Masserans kit
* Microscope
* Peeso reamer burs
* Post and core kit