text:
District Court Preliminarily Enjoins Enforcement of California's A.B. 51 Anti-Arbitration Law
By John Lewis & Joseph S. Persoff
Since Oct. 11, 2019, we have been blogging about California's new anti-arbitration law and the injunctive action filed before Chief District Judge Kimberly J. Mueller to enjoin it. Chamber of Commerce of the United States of America v. Bacerra, No. 2:19-cv-02456 (E.D. Cal.). See our blog articles of Oct. 11, 2019, Dec. 30, 2019 and Jan. 16, 2020.
Judge Mueller filed a Minute Order Friday granting the motion for preliminary injunction but will follow up "[i]n the coming days" with "a detailed, written order." The Minute Order states, in pertinent part:
Defendant Xavier Becerra, in his official capacity as the Attorney General of the State of California, Lilia Garcia Brower, in her official capacity as the Labor Commissioner of the State of California, Julie A. Su, in her official capacity as the Secretary of the California Labor and Workforce Development Agency, and Kevin Kish, in his official capacity as Director of the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing are:
a. Enjoined from enforcing sections 432.6(a), (b) and (c) of the California Labor Code where the alleged "waiver of any right, forum, or procedure" is the entry into an arbitration agreement covered by the Federal Arbitration Act, 9 U.S.C. §§ 1-16 ("FAA"); and
b. Enjoined from enforcing section 12953 of the California Government code where the alleged violation of "Section 432.6 of the Labor Code" is entering into an arbitration agreement covered by the FAA.
There is no realistic likelihood of harm to defendants from preliminarily enjoining enforcement of AB 51, so no security bond is required. It is so ordered.
(Emphasis added).
Minute Order of Jan. 31, 2020 (Docket No. 44).
In summary, the judge's order enjoins enforcement of the three main provisions of A.B. 51:
An employer shall not require execution of an arbitration agreement as a condition of employment;
An employer shall not threaten, retaliate, discriminate against, or terminate any applicant for employment due to the employee's refusal to consent to arbitration; and,
It is an unlawful employment practice for an employer to violate the two above-listed prohibitions.
These provisions are described in greater detail below.
Impact of A.B. 51 on California Employment Law
The challenged legislation would have broad impact on California employment law and arbitration agreements. It added Section 432.6 to the California Labor Code prohibiting employers from requiring any employee or applicant to "waive any right, forum or procedure for a violation of any provision" of FEHA or the entire Labor Code, including "the right to file and pursue a civil action" in "any court," "as a condition of employment, or the receipt of any employment-related benefit." Cal. Lab. Code § 432.6(a).
Section 432.6 declares agreements that allow employees to "opt out of a waiver or take any affirmative action in order to preserve their rights" actually impose a condition of employment. See Cal. Lab. Code § 432.6(c). So, voluntary opt-out procedures are treated as if they were involuntary.
Under the Labor Code, businesses that violate these restrictions are guilty of a misdemeanor (Cal. Lab. Code § 433), punishable by imprisonment not exceeding six months or a fine not exceeding $1,000, or both (Cal. Lab. Code § 23). Individuals who prevail in an action enforcing their rights under Section 432.6(d) will be entitled to injunctive relief and attorneys' fees. Cal. Lab. Code § 432.6(d).
A.B. 51 also amends the California Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA) by adding Section 12953, which provides that any violation of Section 432.6 in the Labor Code will be an "unlawful employment practice" under FEHA, Cal. Gov't Code § 12953, providing an additional and distinct administrative remedy (and a separate private right of action) for any violation of Labor Code section 432.6.
These are some of the areas of California law potentially impacted by A.B. 51 and now protected by the Court's Minute Order to the extent that the activity is covered by the FAA. When Judge Mueller hands down her detailed written order, we will update this article. Finally, we expect that the Defendants will challenge any action the district court takes to delay the effective date of A.B. 51. And, the proper scope of the FAA will no doubt be addressed by the Ninth Circuit in the future.
The District Court has now issued a preliminary injunction enjoining Defendants from enforcing the most injurious portions of this anti-arbitration law. But this is only an early chapter in this dispute over A.B. 51.
Read more about John LewisEmail John B.'s Linkedin Profile
Joseph S. Persoff
Read more about Joseph S. PersoffEmail
Class Action & Mass Torts, Employment & Labor
Employment Class Action Blog
Baker & Hostetler LLP


text:
Guir! : Funding Opportunity From Gaelic Arts
26 red lion square london
Major arts centre
Midsize arts organizations
Digital immersive experiences
Small business microlending
Nam parant siorrachd
Full Opportunities is Fully Funded Scholarships based Network to Provide you with latest information about Jobs Opportunities, and other career opportunities.
Rsno 2019/20 Delve Deeper In Focus: The Vienna Connection Leonardo For Schools & Teachers This website and its content is subject to our Terms and Conditions. Tes Global Ltd is registered in England (Company No 02017289) with its registered office at 26 red lion square london wc1r 4hq. Teacher Experience. This School, State Average. Average years teaching, 20, 14 . Average years … Teacher
Dippy, The Uk's Most Famous Dinosaur, Is Open! The UK's most famous dinosaur is going to start its national tour on southern England's Jurassic Coast. A blue whale skeleton is being put in the dinosaur's prominent position by the main entrance – and so Dippy is After Dorset, 21m-long Dippy will visit Birmingham museum; ulster museum… Dippy is a composite Diplodocus skeleton in
Media release – 25 January 2018. An Lanntair receives £1.21m funding from Creative Scotland for the next three years Creative Scotland announced today that An Lanntair, the major arts centre and creative hub for the Isles of Lewis and Harris, will receive £1.21m funding from its Regular …
Commission Opportunity: Expressions of Interest … The Arts Council and Tourism NI are working in partnership to fund a pilot scheme to … royal sites of pre- Christian Gaelic Ireland and is one of Ireland's most famous and important …. For a quick guide on how to acknowledge your grants plus the simple steps you could be …
Opportunity Fund awards grants to small to midsize arts organizations, and organizations and initiatives that advance social and economic justice. At least 75% of our grants are awarded to projects that benefit the Greater Pittsburgh Community.
Projects in development for the new Gaelic Arts Programme, GUIR, were officially announced today. Our piece will investigate Gaelic's place in contemporary Scottish Culture through digital immersive experiences, exploring perceptions and misconceptions around Gaelic, and aims to engage with new audiences through use of the latest VR technology.
Bòrd na Gàidhlig and Creative Scotland support many Gaelic arts … profile of Gaelic language and culture as well as providing opportunities for people to see …
Information of cultural events, festivals and opportunities in Glasgow, and an overview of what's on at our arts venues; Tramway and GoMA. Cultural events, festivals and opportunities in Glasgow and an overview of what's on at our arts venues: Tramway, GoMA and Trongate 103.
Project funding for individuals and organisations, supporting a wide range of activities.
Opportunity Fund is the nation's leading non-profit microfinance organization. Our small business microlending and New Markets Tax Credit programs build stronger families and vibrant neighborhood.
Arts organisations, artists, and groups working with the arts can apply for funding. Discover what funding is available then register for online services to submit an …. the production of landmark creative documentary films on the arts in Irish. …. The purpose of this scheme is to offer theatre artists the opportunity to create a …
The Oak Room: A Mackintosh Masterpiece The original Ms Cranstons Tea room, now fully restored as Mackintosh at the Willow, 217 Sauchiehall Street, Glasgow, G2 3EX. We are serving Afternoon Tea only in the Salon de Luxe and there is a £5 per person supplement when choosing to dine in this room. Rsno 2019/20 Delve Deeper In Focus: The Vienna Connection
See more of Comann nam parant siorrachd Dun Bhreatann an Ear on Facebook
The Mull song installation is one of four projects just announced by a new Gaelic arts programme called GUIR using performance, dance, music and digital arts.
Poverty In Britain Today With Kerry Hudson

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Hulu this week plans to add eight new TV shows and movies to its streaming lineup, including a new original episode, and a series premiere.
The new titles will include episode three of The Act, which stars Patricia Arquette as an overprotective mother whose concern for her daughter (Joey King) leads to murder. The show, which is based on a real-life case, has generated a score of 90 out of a possible 100 at RottenTomatoes.com. Twenty-six of 29 critics surveyed by the site, which tracks critical reviews, say they like the show.
The Act's "disturbingly nuanced performances from Patricia Arquette and Joey King make The Act a convincing case for the ongoing dramatization of true crime stories," Rottentomatoes.com writes, summarizing the critical reviews.


Yellow, glass ladybug perched on rim. White, green and black glass gems dot green, yellow, black & white checked planter. An original piece that will be fabulous in a country home or city apartment. A lovely hostess gift – for someone who's hosted you as well as for yourself. 5 1/2″ high; 4 1/2″ opening. Dark green grout. Signed by artist. Drainage hole.
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عندما تزور كانبرا, ستشعر أنك في بيتك في Medina Serviced Apartments Canberra, James Court الذي يقدم لك إقامة متميزة و خدمات عظيمة. إن موقع الفندق الاستراتيجي، الذي يبعد 0.5 km فقط عن مركز المدينة، يسمح للنزلاء بالوصول سريعاً وبسهولة إلى العديد من الوجهات المحلية المثيرة. سوف يعشق النزلاء موقع هذا الفندق، فهو قريب من أهم المعالم السياحية في المدينة كمثل The Hamlet, Canberra City Church, Drill Hall Gallery .
إن Medina Serviced Apartments Canberra, James Court حريص على توفير الراحة للنزلاء، فلا يوفر الموظفون جهداً في تقديم أفضل الخدمات وضمان حسن الاستقبال. يقدم هذا الفندق العديد من الخدمات الكفيلة بإرضاء أكثر الضيوف تطلباً.
بالإضافة لهذا,تتضمن كل غرف الضيوف مجموعة واسعة من وسائل الراحة . بعض الغرف توفر حتى تلفزيون بشاشة مسطحة, غرفة معيشة منفصلة, حوض الاسترخاء, غرف لغير المدخنين, مكيف هواء لإرضاء أكثر الضيوف تطلباً. يمكنك طلب اللائحة الكاملة للخدمات في الفندق ومن بينها مركز للياقة البدنية, ساونا, حمام سباحة خارجي, سبا, مسبح (للأطفال). استمتع بخدمات لا يعلى عليها وعنوان ذو اعتبار في Medina Serviced Apartments Canberra, James Court .
Everything was good except almost everything that operated on battery was death. This included one of the air conditioner remotes, TV remote, both wireless phones (therefore I could not call the front desk) and the safe. Checked in on a Sat so I have to wait for Mon that get some of the trickier batteries like the safe and wireless phones replaced. The staff was very helpful but could do little.
I am recommened "Awesome apartment" to stay. Nice stay for family with young or old children. The facitities; gym, simming pool - and very close location to shopping centre, restourants, and etc. Honestly the hotel very clean and safe. I will book this hotel once in Canberra.
good. Canberra is the capital with most government offices. The apartments are located very near to the 'main' shopping area, the Canberra Centre with a lot of eateries around. Dun expect much life after 10pm but overall very pleasant stay and experience. Need to drive if the intent is to move around and see things.
The staff were really lovely though. Stains on carpets, old bathroom which had limited hot water, stains on lounges.. this place has no personality in the rooms. Was actually really disappointed with the state of the rooms. I saw two because the first one we were checked in to was flooded next door and smelt nasty. The second room was nicer. I wouldn't stay here again.
The location of the hotel is good. Walkable distance to shops restaurants and malls. TV din't work properly. Air con outdated. Had to pay $15 for parking. Its worth only if you are looking to live in the centre of city.
I had a week at James Court in a 1 bed apartment. The apartment was roomy, air con/heating worked well - the weather was freezing, kitchen is OK but not a lot of equipment is provided and v miss match, bathroom was roomy and included a washing machine ( no washing powder provided) & dryer but an airing rack is definitely needed. The bed was comfortable. Overall the apartment was quiet but at night got v cold unless you left the reverse cycle air con on which I hate doing. Also given I stayed 6 nights I felt charging parking at full rate of $15 p day was hefty and a discount should apply. There are plenty of eateries and supermarkets readonably close by. The housekeeping team were good and pleasant enough when you asked for something. The front of house team could be much more helpful, engaging and welcoming.
Currently staying for a week and overall the accomodation represents good value. However, I find it very annoying that so many Australian accomodation venues do not include unlimited, free high speed wifi as standard. This is just to be expected these days. Onsite parking is available for an extra $15 p day. My 1 bed apartment was ready on my arrival and well presented and clean but quality of the kitchenware is average and items provided basic. TV/Entertainment is also a bit archaic with Foxtel or similar re all channels not available - there is limited access. Again need to pay for movies which I also find annoying. Plus there is no easy access storage for clothes apart from wardrobe which is really hanging only so my cases have to act as my drawers. On the positive side - bed is comfortable, and safe is included in the wardrobe, bathroom / laundry is roomy. Heating is effective re reverse cycle air con. Location is excellent with supermarkets relatively close by. Housekeeping is OK. Medina team could certainly be more friendly and rarely acknowledge you as you come and go. So all in all it is a better than basic stay but certainly no luxuries included. It represents more than readonable value for money.
The reason I stayed here is for the free in room internet as advertised however it was the biggest rip off. You receive 100mb free every 24hrs. I was very disappointed with the false advertising. Place is also outdated and disappointing. In room entertainment is also a rip off compared to Rec Spartments.
This was great and we were not disappointed. However despite the place looking well maintained some minor repairs were evident. Aside from that it's a great place to stay. I'd stay here again but I'd also look around to see if there something nicer too.
Our group had a pleasant time at Medina Apts; we checked in late but had a smooth handover of keys from security. The rooms were spacious and well-ventilated. We took rather long to find parking, however, as the lots for hotel guest and private parking were allocated rather haphazardly and we had to scrutinize each lot's signage to determine if we could park in it.
Funny thing was the agoda ad did not mention parking was $15.00 per day and cars had to be in the garage by 9.00pm or they were locked out and had to park in the street. Apart from that and extra taxi fares the Medina was good.
These apartments are very large, you have full kitchen facilities and also a washing machine. The rooms are clean and in good condition.
Nice, clean and great location for family with kids. 5 mins walk to the main shopper center.
I love the location so convenient right next to major shops and restaurants but that's all it's got going for it. In need of a refurb as it looks much nicer in the photos then what it actually is.. enough room to swing a cat though so that's a plus!
Location, convenience, size of room.
Arrived late afternoon. Told at check-in they could not find my Agoda booking. Basically ignored by staff. Same happened to other customers who said they had a booking. Produced my Agoda voucher to duty manager. Had to wait over 30 mins for a room to be prepared. Room cleanliness below standard. Bedding not as per booking. Described as 'recently renovated'. We were not very impressed, as it was their most expensive room. Not 4 star. They need to do better.
it was all good, but it seemed that the bed sheet and cover were not changed since there were some other's hair in the bed. Coffee machine inside the apartment is highly recommended.Parking fees should be included in total price when booking.
We are quite disappointed with the housecleaning services. They will only vacuum the room and change the linen for long-term stays. As a result, our linens were not washed and our room not vacuum during our stay. To exacerbate the matter, they failed to provide any brooms or vacuum cleaners for us to do our own cleaning. Another issue is the parking. We are required to pay $15 per day for our parking. This is also something negative for us. It is better if they include the parking for hotel guests in the payment. Last, the wallpaints in the room were poorly done.
Had a nice stay, but the appartment we stayed in needed some attention, dryer didn't wirk , discovered this on last night, TV sets needs tuning in as way to dark to watch but unable to fix this as they way they were set up.


transportation with nearly 10%, see figure 1.
2015. Today, many smelting and refining plants have been expanded and built.
dynasty (1587 – 1666). The hydrometallurgical process of copper starts, however, relatively late in China.
process will develop rapidly in the coming years.
permanent cathode plates in China.
accepted and used in many large scaled copper refineries worldwide.
2007. Today, all types of permanent cathodes are widely used in Chinese copper and other metal refineries.
been grown rapidly along with the development of the Chinese refined copper industry.


GOAL: The cowboy works to rope, throw and tie down a 300-pound calf faster than the competition.
SCORING/TIMING: The roper is timed from the moment his horse leave the roping box until he throws his hands up; indicating to the judge that he has completed tying his calf.
DISQUALIFICATIONS/PENALTIES: The cowboy must remain behind a barrier until the calf has a head start. If he "breaks the barrier," 10 seconds are added to his time. If the calf becomes untied before six seconds are up, the roper is disqualified.
EQUIPMENT: The steer wrestler chooses his own horse and equipment, but the ropes are the same for everyone. A lariat rope, about twenty-five feet long and about three-eighths of an inch thick, is used to rope the calf. A smaller six-foot length of rope is used to tie the calf.
THINGS TO WATCH: A skilled, well-trained horse is the key to calf roping. It must stay a certain distance behind the calf so the cowboy can make a successful throw. Once the calf is roped, the horse must keep the rope tight so the cowboy doesn't have to struggle with the calf while he's trying to tie its feet together.


text:
import sys

from . import game
from . import general
from card_fight_thingy.general import getInt

options = []

def addOption(text, func, args=()):
    """
    Create a new menu option denoted by the string text.
    Function func is called when option is chosen.
    """
    options.append({'text': text, 'func': func, 'args': args})

def dispMenu():
    for o_i, o in enumerate(options):
        print("{}. {}".format(o_i+1, o['text']))

def chooseOption():
    while True:
        dispMenu()
        optNum = getInt("Choose a menu option: ", 1, len(options))
        if not optNum:
            continue
        else:
            sys.stdout.write("\n")
            o = options[optNum-1]
            o['func'](*o['args'])

def init():
    addOption("New Game", game.newGame)
    addOption("Quit", sys.exit, args=(0,))

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
Brigadier General Bernard Banks, Ph.D.
(USA, Retired, USMA 1987)
Leader development, organizational change, organizational culture
Bernard (Bernie) Banks is a noted expert on the subjects of leadership and organizational change. Currently, he is the Associate Dean for Leadership Development and Inclusion (and a Clinical Professor of Management) at Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management. Bernie possesses accountability for leader development integration and diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives at Northwestern Kellogg.
Bernie retired from the Army as a Brigadier General in 2016 after having successfully led West Point's Department of Behavioral Sciences & Leadership from 2012-2016. In addition to having studied leadership extensively, he has led multiple military units ranging in size from 10 to 3000 people. In 1995, Bernie was selected from over 40,000 officers to receive the Army's top award for entry-level managers (General Douglas MacArthur Leadership Award). In 2006, the Apache Helicopter unit he was leading in South Korea was designated as the top Apache Helicopter unit globally in the U.S. Army's annual best aviation unit competition.
Scholarly Work/Publications/Awards
Bernie's work has been published in a variety of outlets (e.g., Harvard Business Review, Military Psychology, New York Times). Furthermore, he has worked extensively with organizations across all sectors concerning their leader development efforts (e.g., Procter and Gamble, Mercedes Benz, General Electric, IBM, 7-Eleven, The US Forest Service, International Chiefs of Police).
PhD, Social-Organizational Psychology, Columbia University, New York, NY
MPhil, Social-Organizational Psychology, Columbia University, New York, NY
MBA, General Management, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL
MPA, Leadership, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA
MSS, United States Army War College, Carlisle, PA
BS, United States Military Academy, West Point, NY
The Chicago Club
Harvard Club of NYC
Economic Club of Chicago
USO of Illinois
West Point Society of Chicago
Four Strategies for Cultivating Strong Leaders Internally
Does Your Company Actually Live Its Values?


text:
Q: How to handle Tel with WebView? I am able to show the dialer, but the phone number doesn't show up. Where am I going wrong?
This is my code.
if (url.startsWith("tel:")) {

                    Intent intent = new Intent(Intent.ACTION_DIAL);

                    startActivity(intent);
                }

So again my problem is with the number, the number doesn't show up on the dialer. So my real question to you, How do you grab that number?

A: It just had to be in this format Intent (String action, Uri uri)
if (url.startsWith("tel:")) {

Intent intent = new Intent(Intent.ACTION_DIAL,Uri.parse(url));

startActivity(intent);
                        }

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


Everyone loves our family martial arts programs!
Here at Goshin Karate & Judo Academy, your entire family will have fun while learning important life, leadership, and defense skills.
CLICK on the links below to learn more about our programs and to take advantage of our web site specials.


Pin code of Dhalabani Post Office, Mayurbhanj, along with its address, contact details & location.
The following table displays Pin code of Dhalabani Post Office (757034) along with Post Office type and contact address.
The following areas/localities come under Dhalabani Post Office, Mayurbhanj, ODISHA, and have the same Pin Code as Dhalabani - 757034.


On November 5, 2013, a round table on "The situation of Christians: new threats and the humanitarian missions of the Imperial Orthodox Palestinian Society" was held in Moscow as part of the 12th church-public exhibition-forum "Orthodox Rus' – Towards the Day of People's Unity". It was organized by the IOPS Moscow branch.
It was attended by the IOPS leaders, ambassadors of the State of Palestine and Syria, Russian ambassadors, Foreign Ministry officials, State Duma deputies, and professors and students of the Faculty of Orthodox Culture of the Peter the Great Strategic Army Academy. The Russian Orthodox Church was represented by Archpriest Nikolay Balashov, vice-chairman of the Moscow Patriarchate's department for external church relations.
Addressing the meeting Mr. S. Stepashin, IOPS chairman, reminded the participants that Russia was long seen in the Arab world as a country which comes with humanitarian mission. Among the tasks of the IOPS is to promote this mission in the present situation and to give humanitarian aid to people in hot spots, especially in Syria.
"One of the serious problems today is the situation of civilians in the Middle East, especially in the places swept by the so-called Arab Spring that actually has rather led to winter", he said, stressing the importance of the efforts made by the state leaders and Russian diplomats to prevent active military actions against Syria.
He also spoke about the efforts for preserving Christianity in the Middle East. These efforts, he said, were not only slogans but our reaction to this serious threat.
With the blessing of Patriarch Kirill and by the agreement with the president of the country and with active support from the Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Emergencies, the IOPS has given considerable humanitarian aid to the suffering people in Syria, regardless of their religious or ethnic background, Mr. Stepashin said.
He informed the round table about the work the IOPS carried out in the Middle East and North Africa to protect Christians in the Middle East and North Africa in active cooperation with Christian communities there.
"Our today's conference is not simply an exchange of opinions, it is the exposition of our stand and plan of concrete actions assumed by the IOPS", he noted.
In his remarks, Mr. Riad Haddad, Syrian ambassador to Russia, thanked the IOPS for the humanitarian aid it gave to the Syrian people. He expressed special thanks to Patriarch Kirill for "giving great attention to the Syrian problem". He also spoke about the suffering inflicted on his people by international terrorists fighting in Syria, the defilement of people's shrines, the destruction of churches and numerous killings of Christians. He said the terror threatened all – Christians and Muslims, endangering the peaceful coexistence of religions. To settle the Syrian problem, he said, it was necessary to reject the policy of double standards on the international level.
Mr. Mustafa Fayed, Palestinian ambassador to Russia, spoke about the situation of the Christian population in Palestine. "Christians have always been an integral part of the Palestinian society and played a great role in the development of our people's culture", he said stressing with profound regret that at present the number of the Christian population in Palestine was decreasing. "Our people and our leaders devote much attention to the enlargement of the Christian presence in our land", he said.
The Palestinian ambassador thanked the Russian Orthodox Church and the Imperial Orthodox Palestinian Society for their assistance in preserving and extending the presence of Christianity in Palestine.
Archpriest Nikolay Balashov spoke about the grave situation in which Christians found themselves in Syria. "Every day we receive new reports about tragic events linked with the persecution to which our fellow-Christians are subjected in Syria. Half a million of Christians have already become refugees. Tens of churches and monasteries have been destroyed. There are clergy killed. Two prominent Christian hierarchs in Syria have been in captivity for half a year now, and we have no reliable information about their whereabouts and the demands that could be made by their abductors", he said.
The situation of Christians in a number of other countries in the Middle East remains grave. Hundreds of thousands of them have had to flee Iraq after "democracy began to be implanted" there through the efforts of the USA, whereas these people had been safe in pre-war Iraq. In Libya, after an operation to implant democracy was carried out there, the Christian population is asked to leave the country actually by the state authorities now. The situation of Christians in Egypt becomes ever more vulnerable from day to day, and they have to leave for other places, with some seeking asylum in Russia.
As Father Nikolay noted, this situation affects Christians in other countries of the Middle East as well. "The Russian Orthodox Church speaks about it at every international forum where possible including the General Assembly of the World Council of Churches which is taking place today in South Korean Busan", he stated.
He also reminded the meeting that this year all the dioceses, parishes and monasteries of the Russian Church conducted a fund-raising campaign for aid to victims of the armed conflict in Syria. Over 1,3 million dollars were collected. "This money, which our parishioners left after divine services, is a manifestation of our people's solidarity with the suffering people of Syria. The raised funds were handed over to our sister Orthodox Church of Antioch for purchasing the necessities for refugees and distributing aid".
As a member of the IOPS, Father Nikolay noted that the society already supplied some seven humanitarian aid cargos to Syria. The aid is divided between the two leaders of religious communities in that country, with one half distributed through the Supreme Mufti of Syria and another half through the Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch.
Speaking about real mechanisms of supporting Christians and preventing their increasing persecution in the world today, Archpriest Nikolay Balashov recalled that the European Parliament adopted in 2011 a resolution whereby any aid, either economic or political or financial, to a country in which the rights of Christians are violated should be exchanged for guarantees of safety for the Christian population. "It is an excellent resolution but we have not seen its implementation to this day", he said, "I think we should see to it that the adopted decisions should be implemented. It is important to draw the attention of the world public opinion to the tragedy of the destruction of Christianity in the lands of its origin. Unfortunately, most of the world mass media keep silent about this problem as if it does not exist".
In conclusion of the meeting, Mr. Stepashin proposed that the round table as part of the Orthodox Rus' – Towards the Day of the People's Unity exhibition-forum become a regular platform for discussing the protection of Christian in various parts of the world.


text:
import java.util.HashSet;
import java.util.Scanner;
import java.util.Set;

public class Pangrams
{
	public static void main(String[] args)
	{
		Scanner stdin = new Scanner(System.in);
		String string = stdin.nextLine().toLowerCase();
		Set<Character> alphabet = new HashSet<>();
		for(int i = 0; i < string.length(); i++)
		{
			if(string.charAt(i) != ' ')
			{
				alphabet.add(string.charAt(i));
			}
		}

		if(alphabet.size() == 26)
		{
			System.out.println("pangram");
		}
		else
		{
			System.out.println("not pangram");
		}
		stdin.close();
	}
}


Coffee is one of the most consumed beverages in the world and it's no surprise why. Coffee has been giving people the extra boost of energy they need for years. The wonderful aroma and copious varieties that it comes in, make coffee the preferred drink of choice for most. Along with these enticing attributes, coffee has also been known to help people power through the work week for many other reasons as well.
The caffeine we are consuming through our morning cup of joe doesn't actually wake you up. It does however, help put a stop to the neurotransmitter adenosine which makes you feel sleepy.
One of the other interesting benefits to drinking coffee is that it has been shown to help people be more creative. This is shown to work on an individual basis as well as when you are working in a group setting. There has even been research done at MIT that supports this theory.
There was a study published that reported 200 milligrams of caffeine can help the brain to identify words and phrases at a more rapid pace. Another study found that drinking coffee can aid in improving your short-term memory as well.
There are many benefits of having your morning cup of joe especially when it comes down to being as productive as possible. Drinking coffee can become addicting, so you want to remember to drink in moderation. Overall it is a great way to stay motivated and keep those creative juices flowing!


Fandango's my One-Word Challenge today is "bottle." As I was contemplating what to write for the prompt, it occurred to me that I'd already written a post about a bottle in August last year. So, being that it's a lazy Sunday, I decided to recycle that post. I hope you don't mind.
William is a diligent, responsible individual who takes his job seriously. And he's very good at it, too. He works from home, and that morning, like every weekday morning, he got up, brewed a fresh pot of coffee, and sat down in front of his computer.
He read the few dozen emails that had come in overnight. He checked his calendar and saw a handful of phone calls and a few web meetings scheduled throughout the day. He poured a cup of coffee and prepared to get to work.
William looked out of his home office window. Despite the early hour, the sun was shining brightly and the skies were already a deep blue with nary a cloud to be seen. Although still a little nippy out, the day's forecast called for a gradual warm up by early afternoon. How long had it been, he wondered, since he'd taken a day off?
What happened next was so unlike William. He made a conscious decision to play hooky that afternoon. He'd be as productive as possible in the morning so he wouldn't feel too guilty when he stepped away from his computer later in the day.
Shortly after 1 p.m., armed with a large beach towel, William hopped on his bike and rode the 3-mile trail through the park to the beach. He secured his bike to a bike rack, removed his shoes, and stepped onto the fine sand, already warmed by the bright, early afternoon sun.
William found a nice, quiet, semi-isolated spot, spread out the towel, and sat down. For the first time in a very, very long time, he was disconnected from the world. No iPhone or laptop. Just nature.
He watched people frolicking on the beach with their dogs, throwing tennis balls or Frisbees. A few surfers in wetsuits were attempting to catch some waves, but the waves on that day, with only the slightest of breezes, were rather small.
As William was glancing around, enjoying his untethered, relaxing afternoon, something in the water caught his eye. Whatever it was, the afternoon sun, which was slowly working its way across the cloudless sky towards the far horizon of the Pacific, shimmered off of it.
The object was bobbing in the shallow surf. William rubbed his eyes, wondering if the shimmering object would still be there when he looked again. It was.
He stood up and gazed in the direction of the flashes of light. Something was definitely floating in the shallow water. He looked around to see if anyone else had seen it, too. But either no one had, or it wasn't anything they felt worth investigating.
He walked to that point on the beach where the surf kissed the sand and stepped into the shallow, cold water. He is reached out and grabbed the bottle. It was clear glass, a wine bottle, although the bottle's label had long ago washed away. A cork was pushed into the bottle's mouth and inside the bottle was a rolled-up note. Seriously, a note in a bottle!
Maybe he was being pranked. He looked around to see if someone had a camera or a smartphone and was creating a video to post on YouTube, but he didn't see anyone paying attention to him.
He ran back to his towel, and, with unbridled excitement, yanked the cork from the bottle top. He tapped the bottom of the bottle and the note fell into his lap. Who wrote it? When was it written? From what distant shore was it sent? What would the message say?
WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU WILLIAM?
BEFORE THE END OF THE DAY!
"Oh, sure." Paul opened the door, invited Greta in, and motioned for her to sit on the sofa. He took a seat on the chair opposite the couch. "Can I get you anything? Coffee? Water?" She's kinda good looking, Paul thought.
William is a serious, responsible individual who takes his job seriously. And he's very good at it, too. He works from home, and that morning, like every weekday morning, he got up, brewed a fresh pot of coffee, and sat down in front of his computer.
He read the few dozen emails that had come in overnight. He checked his calendar and saw a handful of phone calls and a few web meetings scheduled throughout the day. He poured a cup of coffee and prepared to get things going.
William looked out of his office window. Despite the early hour, the sun was shining brightly, the skies already a deep blue with nary a cloud to be seen. Although still a little nippy out, the day's forecast called for a gradual warm up by early afternoon. How long had it been since he'd taken a day off?
What happened next was so unlike him. He made a conscious decision to play hooky that afternoon. He'd be as productive as possible in the morning so he wouldn't feel too guilty when stepped away from his computer later in the day.
William found a nice, quiet, semi-isolated spot, spread out the towel, and sat down. For the first time in a very, very long time, he was disconnected from the world. No iPhone, laptop, or iPad. Just nature.
Maybe he was being pranked. He looked around to see if someone had a camera or a smartphone and was creating a video to post on YouTube, but he didn't see anyone paying attention to him.
Written for today's one-word prompt, "shimmer."


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The Best Clint Eastwood Movie Quotations
Clint Eastwood is one of my favorite actors. It's remarkable how long he has been in the business: since the 1950s. His first big break in Hollywood came through the TV show Rawhide. From there, he went on to act in many spaghetti westerns, then detective films, and finally began directing and starring in his own movies.
The following are some of the great memorable quotes from Clint Eastwood films.
Walt Kowalski: Ever notice how you come across somebody once in a while you shouldn't have messed with? That's me.
Maggie Fitzgerald: They took my leg, boss.
Frankie Dunn: It's gonna be alright, you hear?
Maggie Fitzgerald: I always hear your voice, boss.
Will Munny: What I said the other day, you looking like me, that ain't true. You ain't ugly like me, it's just that we both have got scars.
Tuco: You pig! You wanted to get me killed. When d'ya unload it?
Blondie: Last night. You see in this world there's two kinds of people my friend - those with loaded guns, and those who dig. You dig.
The Good, The Bad, The Ugly (1966)
Tiny, Bar Bouncer: I'll put you in the hospital old man.
Frank Corvin: Yeah? Well I've got MediCare, go ahead and shoot your best shot!
Robert: The old dreams were good dreams; they didn't work out, but glad I had them.
Bridges of Madison County
Harry Callahan: I know what you're thinking. "Did he fire six shots or only five?" Well, to tell you the truth, in all this excitement I kind of lost track myself. But being as this is a .44 Magnum, the most powerful handgun in the world, and would blow your head clean off, you've got to ask yourself one question: Do I feel lucky? Well, do ya, punk?
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The aim of the annual HEMA design competition was to design a chair for children. Hema is a leading department store in the Netherlands with a playful, puristic and square style. The H of HEMA, as well as playful features like a interchangeable turning head and clip on cushions. This triggers the fantasy and imaginary power of children. After a thoroughly analysis the shapes of some animal heads were brought back to the basic recognition features. For the competition a full-scale model was build, that sadly got lost before i could take good pictures.


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Saissac (en occità Saissac) és un municipi de França de la regió d'Occitània, al departament de l'Aude.

Municipis del districte de Carcassona

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


Find quality-focused soups, salads and pizzas at this intimate East End eatery.
: Natural light floods into this bright, straightforward Pittsburgh classic. Bright orange plastic chairs and polished stainless steel strike the appropriate contemporary design note. The wine bar features a changing list of labels, available by the glass or bottle. And the well-curated menu reflects chef/owner Sonja Finn's focus on doing a few things well. In many ways the operation remains a model for our times: local, seasonal, organic, sustainable, casual fine dining. The energy-efficient equipment couples with a recycling plan. A rooftop garden shaves off carbon miles for the restaurant's tomatoes, herbs, peppers and arugula. Offerings may seem simple, with appetizers, salads, soups, pizzas and desserts. But what panache fresh and tasty ingredients, in unique combinations, deliver. Caramelized fennel elevates soup. Crispy thin crusts support pizza toppings such as bacon, leeks, mozzarella, Gruyère and sage. Understated, comforting desserts, with standby choices of chocolate pot de crème and arborio rice pudding, finish the meal.


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Dancing with Audre Lorde: A Lesbian Memory
Author: Victoria Brownworth
There are moments in one's life that are indelible. Some are traumatic, some are fantastic, some are sweet, some take us to the very edge of darkness. Some are small, yet indescribable and they remain with us, seared in our consciousness. There is an inchoate beauty to all these moments, these memories, because for whatever reason they have stayed with us–no matter how seemingly minor the event–there is a meaning beyond memory that is a vivid, vital piece to the puzzle that comprises our lives.
February is, of course, Black History Month. I was born in February, as was Audre Lorde. It is for black lesbians I reach out in February, staving off the erasure that is fast encroaching upon all lesbians. I am, as Adrienne Rich wrote in Diving Into the Wreck, forever transliterating from "the book of myths." I am always recalling that
The words are purposes.
The words are maps.
I came to see the damage that was done
and the treasures that prevail.
Audre Lorde was one of those treasures of our lost feminist and lesbian history. Audre Lorde, who will never leave my consciousness, Audre Lorde, who said, in A Litany for Survival, the documentary about her life by African American film makers Ada Gay Griffin and Michelle Parkerson, "What I leave behind has a life of its own….I've said this about poetry; I've said it about children. Well, in a sense I'm saying it about the very artifact of who I have been."
As Rich wrote: "the thing I came for:/the wreck and not the story of the wreck
/the thing itself and not the myth"
The essence of Audre Lorde, the little piece I took away with me when I met her, like a beautiful shiny object, like a talisman, like a life-preserver.
Audre Lorde.
I was wearing winter white the night I danced with Audre Lorde.That's a color–winter white.A kind of vellum-starting-to-fade, just off-white kind of white. An off-white wool skirt, an off-white sweater with lace along the décolleté neckline, a winter white coat. If I had fallen in a snowbank on the streets of Manhattan on my way to the dinner party, I likely wouldn't have been found until spring.
I was poor in those days, but always trying to look like I had more than I did–a trick I'd been taught before I could read by my mother who had grown up in what she once and only once described to me as "shameful" poverty. The poverty in which I was raised was confusing as well as shaming, but she never saw it that way. Because she taught me about passing.
I'd learned how to shop for "good" clothes as a child on Saturday mornings in the local thrift shop, tutored by my mother, whose penniless youth was devoid of such privilege as the used "good" clothes of others. So that night in Manhattan I arrived at the party in my understated elegance passing for money, because in those days I was still passing, always passing.
A 20something writer fresh out of the domestic Peace Corps trying to make it in the city of a million nascent writers, I yearned to be like the women in that lush West Side apartment. I was so eager, so propelled by the need to do and be, to change whatever I could. To make a mark, an indelible mark. I took every assignment. Went anywhere I was asked to go. Slept around. A lot. Tried on experience after experience like other women my age were trying on jeans in smart uptown shops to wear to the clubs.
That night, at that party, I was by decades the youngest woman there. I was out of my depth, but I was an enfant terrible, and among enfants terribles, confident that once in the door, I would have some tidbit to offer. Even if that tidbit was only my oh-so-impressionable youth and my surprisingly good stories for someone still so young.
This was an intimate gathering of about two dozen feminist writers and artists. I was there by luck and fortune and the perfect alignment of the stars–the plus one of an art historian who had a massive crush on me and who in turn was close friends with the woman giving the party, a noted New York artist. The art historian was showing me off, like a scene out of Marilyn Hacker's Love, Death and the Changing of the Seasons, where the middle aged lesbian is so deeply and irrevocably infatuated with the 20something who has no moorings.
I had no moorings. I was looking for depths to plumb in the words of these women who had only ever been required readings for me.
I was given to awe in those days (truth be told, I still am; I've never learned to be jaded) and it was an awe-inspiring night. I was in the same room with Audre Lorde and Phyllis Chesler and Betty Dodson, among others, and it wasn't a classroom or a lecture, but an amazing two-story apartment in New York City with a three-quarter view and oh did it take my breath away just being there in that rarified atmosphere, a poor girl in the lap of lesbian and feminist luxury, both literal and intellectual.
I cannot remember eating at that sit-down dinner. I just remember the table and the conversation and the intensity of being part of it, of being part of a conversation with women I had studied in school, from whom I had, through their books and work, learned feminism. Women I revered like I had once, as a girl in Catholic school, revered the female saints.
There was wine, a lot of it, and I do remember the wine. Heady, redolent. I think we were all a little drunk. Who wouldn't be, surrounded by such a wealth of feminist iconography?
After dinner, where I felt I should have been taking notes on one of my little reporter's note pads, we all congregated in the living room. There was music–I couldn't tell you what was playing. Something danceable from the early 1980s. I was half-standing, half-sitting on the arm of a sofa, a glass of wine in my hand, trying to imagine how I could ask one of the artists I had met to have drinks with me another time, when I had come with someone else.
And then there was Audre, right in front of me, asking me to dance. Audre Lorde. Icon. Audre Lorde, whose work emanated the kind of raw fire I was wanted to write myself.
I can't explain how it felt to be in her arms. It's easy to say it was a rush, but it was more than that. Because I felt then and in the 30 years since, that she was transmitting something to me. Something visceral and deep and essential–as in, the essence of. The essence of her, of what she knew and was. It stuck to me, whatever she had poured out onto me as she held me and talked and laughed in my ear and moved me around the small bit of open floor with her vivaciousness and so-much-Audre-ness.
A romance heroine would say, "I was a willing captive in her arms."
And I was. Willing. Captive. Captivated. Mesmerized.
Whatever it was about her stuck to me–her scent, her realness, her voice, her laugh. It stuck to my winter white and my eagerness and my unsureness beneath the bravado of youthful prettiness.
It stuck to my heart.
How did I know then, when she finally let me go, that it was a dance that would change my life forever?
The night I danced with Audre Lorde she was already missing a breast, having had a mastectomy in 1979, when she'd been diagnosed with breast cancer. Cancer was a battle she would fight the rest of her life and it was cancer in her liver that would kill her, eventually, in 1992, exactly three months shy of her 59th birthday.
In the early 1980s, women weren't having reconstructive surgery the way they do now. There were no Angelina Jolie's having their breasts opened up and scraped out and restructured to avoid the empty space and fat angry scar where their breast had once been.
When I was in college, I had a job in an office where the receptionist, a strikingly beautiful woman in perhaps her late 50s, early 60s, had had a mastectomy. It was the buzz in the office, but not talked about except secretly. But one day as I stood at her desk and she leaned forward for something, the V of her dress puffed out and I saw the prosthesis on the left side where her breast should have been. It was a glimpse, a nanosecond. Her head was bent over her work and she didn't see me seeing her. But it shocked me.
The missing limb of femaleness.
Audre didn't have a prosthetic. She didn't believe in them. She had a breast and she had a blank space where a breast had once been. She was a true Amazon warrior, with her single breast and her fuck-you attitude about it.
I had said nothing memorable while we danced, but she had said something.
In The Cancer Journals, which are excerpted in my own book, Coming Out of Cancer: Writings from the Lesbian Cancer Epidemic, Lorde writes, "I would lie if I did not also speak of loss. Any amputation is a physical and psychic reality that must be integrated into a new sense of self. The absence of my breast is a recurrent sadness, but certainly not one that dominates my life."
She also wrote in her essay,"Breast Cancer: Power vs. Prosthesis" in The Cancer Journals, "I also began to feel that in the process of losing a breast I had become a whole person."
Was that what she had told me?
I would read that later, as I lay in a hospital bed at 26, my own breast cancer diagnosis and its consequences looming before me.
Interviewed for an article on breast cancer for the New York Times the year before her death, Lorde, who had chosen not to wear a prosthesis for feminist philosophical and political reasons, said, "When other one-breasted women hide behind the mask of prosthesis or reconstruction, I find little support in the broader female environment for my rejection for what feels like a cosmetic sham. The social and economic discrimination practiced against women who have breast cancer is not diminished by pretending that mastectomies do not exist."
She taught me this–about sham, about pretense–that night at the party where I was passing for everything and she was refuting passing.
She taught me, in the time it took to sweep me around the floor, that artifice isn't just meaningless, it is damaging. Artifice is a facade that subverts and undermines the truth, that hides what is raw and awful and real, and in doing so, allows the wounds to fester and infect us all.
As Lorde wrote in The Cancer Journals, "Imposed silence about any area of our lives is a tool for separation and powerlessness."
She exuded power.
Maybe that is what stuck to me that night–her belief that women, especially lesbians, had power, if they just seized it.
In her poem, "Power," Lorde begins:
The difference between poetry and rhetoric
is being ready to kill
instead of your children.
Later in that poem she explains:
I have not been able to touch the destruction
within me.
But unless I learn to use
my power too will run corrupt as poisonous mold
As Lorde wrote in her famous 1984 essay, "The Master's Tools Will Never Dismantle the Master's House," which appeared in her collection Sister Outsider, power was a relative term that was often used with a large dollop of moral relativism. Power was in many ways subjective and objective.
That title is often used as a quote, but almost always out of the context within which she wrote it, which is about how the connection to men and patriarchy privileges people, including women. In discussing her perspective on racism within feminism–an issue still roiling today, three decades later–Lorde situated what she called the "unrecognized dependence on the patriarchy."
We aren't allowed to use the term "patriarchy" anymore–doing so calls down the label of radical feminism, which is considered déclassé within liberal (still mostly white and wholly straight) feminism and within the LGBT community as well. But Lorde was a radical feminist intent on the dismantling of the patriarchy and her polemic in the essay is clear: there are strata within the class women and ignoring that, whether with regard to race or sexual orientation–whiteness or heterosexuality as opposed to color or lesbianism–reliance on the patriarchy was solidified. There could be no place for lesbians or women of color within a feminism that was straight and white and ignored the subjugation of not just the class women, but the subjugations within the class women.
Straight women, white women were dependent on the patriarchy to maintain their own limited power which was linked to male privilege. Refusal to accept that reality, Lorde argued, made straight feminists and white feminists "agents of oppression."
Thirty years later that essay has been read less and discussed more as just its title, not its substance.
Audre Lorde was a lesbian. A radical feminist. A one-breasted Amazon speaking from a state of, she wrote after that essay, fury. "What you hear in my voice is fury, not suffering. Anger, not moral authority."
Power, not privilege.
Yet the longest romantic relationship of Lorde's life was with Frances Clayton, a white academic with whom she was involved from 1968 to 1989 and with whom she raised her children. Lorde met Clayton when she was writer-in-residence at Tougaloo College in Mississippi.
Lorde said some feminists declared she hated white women, but I saw her that night at the party. She loved women, all women. She loved Frances. She loved me, for that brief time, that night, when we were dancing.
Audre Lorde was a warrior, but she was also a lover. Her essay, "Uses of the Erotic" should be read over and over again. She situates female-centered sexuality, lesbianism, women's sexual energy and power outside of male dominance, outside of the penis, outside of the male gaze, outside of all the things that have straitened (and straightened) women for millennia.
She writes,
There are many kinds of power, used and unused, acknowledged or otherwise. The erotic is a resource within each of us that lies in a deeply female and spiritual plane, firmly rooted in the power of our unexpressed or unrecognized feeling. In order to perpetuate itself, every oppression must corrupt or distort those various sources of power within the culture of the oppressed that can provide energy for change. For women, this has meant a suppression of the erotic as a considered source of power and information within our lives.
She also wrote, "Part of the lesbian consciousness is an absolute recognition of the erotic within our lives and, taking that a step further, dealing with the erotic not only in sexual terms."
As Lorde describes the erotic within herself, it is almost palpable–it is, indeed, power: "When released from its intense and constrained pellet, it flows through and colors my life with a kind of energy that heightens and sensitizes and strengthens all my experience."
One can read the details of Audre Lorde's life in African-American academic and writer Alexis De Veaux's comprehensive and to date, definitive, biography, "Warrior Poet: A Biography of Audre Lorde, which won the Lambda Literary Award in 2005 for biography. The 500 page annotated biography with 16 pages of photographs explores all aspects of Lorde's life and work, from her Harlem childhood during the Depression to her rise to celebrated author to her long cancer battle. It describes her brief marriage in the early 1960s which gave her two children, Elizabeth and Jonathon Rollins. It describes her 20 year relationship with Frances Clayton, the white feminist academic with whom she raised her children in, of all unlikely places, Staten Island. It describes her death.
Lorde lived in the U.S. for the majority of her life, but spent time in Germany in the mid to late 80s, working with the burgeoning Afro-German movement as well as seeking alternative medical treatment for her metastatic breast cancer which had spread to her liver. I had spoken to her when she was in Berlin and I in London for an interview in 1988. She was ill, but still surprisingly strong.
Her final three years were spent living in St. Croix with her last partner, Gloria I. Joseph.
According to De Veaux, in the year before her death, Lorde engaged in an African naming ceremony in which she took the African name "Gamba Adisa," which means "warrior: she who makes her meaning clear."
There has always been clarity in Lorde's approach to writing and politics, feminism and lesbianism. At four she began to read as well as speak for the first time because she was born nearly blind. Her mother said Lorde didn't like the way the Y looped below the other letters in her given name, Audrey. So she deleted it.
Naming–one's self, one's people, one's ideas, one's philosophy–would become a consistent theme throughout her writing. And even at the end of her life, she was still naming and re-naming herself. She was also naming and re-naming the place for herself to be.
In A Litany for Survival, Lorde says, "I grew up in Manhattan, I grew up in New York, I was born here. My parents were West Indian. My father was from Barbados, my mother from Grenada, and we were always told when we were growing up, that home was somewhere else. So no matter how bad it got here, this was not our home, you see. And somewhere there was this magical place that if we really did right, someday we'd go back."
In a 1978 poem, "Harriet," Lorde names the pain of never finding other places she was searching for:
And we were
Nappy girls quick as cuttlefish
Scurrying for cover
Trying to speak Trying to speak
Trying to speak
That pain in each others' mouths
That pain was always just below the surface. Lorde said, "Let me tell you first about what it was like being a Black woman poet in the '60s, from jump. It meant being invisible. It meant being really invisible. It meant being doubly invisible as a black feminist woman and it meant being triply invisible as a black lesbian and feminist."
In 1980, with Barbara Smith and Cherríe Moraga, she co-founded Kitchen Table: Women of Color Press, the first U.S. publisher for women of color–making women of color visible.
Lorde was New York's Poet Laureate from 1991 until her death, the author of more than a dozen books and countless essays and speeches. She was a voice from the late 1960s to her death for lesbians, for feminists, for black women worldwide.
Audre Lorde began "triply invisible." But Audre Lorde made herself visible and in doing so, made others visible as well.
I could write a book about Audre Lorde. About the feel of her hand on my waist, about the unrestrained laugh and the unrestrained surviving breast in her flowing clothes. I could write about the imprint of her work on me, on other lesbians, on other feminists. I could write about her language–the brisk cut-to-the-quick poetics of "Harriet" or the deeply philosophical essays in Sister Outsider that marked her as a singular academic.
I could explicate and deconstruct and document and reiterate. I could write about whose work she has influenced and especially how she influenced the rise of black feminism. Her books, her poems, her essays, her letters, her speeches, her performances–it is all a compelling, enticing, nothing-like-it piece of lesbian history, of feminist history, of black history.
I could write forever about how she was a lesbian and breathed the fire of lesbianism into feminism.
Audre Lorde described herself as "Black feminist lesbian poet warrior mother," but repeatedly said that description was not enough to capture and hold her complete identity.
Audre Lorde would have been 81 last week. More than 20 years after her death, she is still revered, still missed, still ached for.
As Black History Month and our shared birthday month, draws to a close, I am remembering her that night, all bright and sparkling and just bursting with life.
I want you to see her, to envision how in a room full of dazzlingly bright lesbian and feminist lights, she shone oh-so-bright and I was so lucky as to received the gift of whatever it was she was exuding, that amazing energy that left people stirred and inspired.
Audre said one night at Hunter College,
I took who I was, and thought about who I wanted to be and what I wanted to do and did my best to bring those three things together. And that is perhaps the strongest thing I wanted to say to people. It's not when you open and read something that I wrote. The power that you feel from it, doesn't come from me. That's a power that you own. The function of the words is to tick you in, 'oh hey, I can feel like that' and then to go out and do the things that make you feel like that more.
She was against awe, the kind of awe I had that night, the kind of awe I still have for her. She said,
You have got to go on. No, but you don't need me. Don't you understand? The me that you're talking about you carry around inside yourselves. I have been trying to show you how to find that piece in yourselves because it exists. It is you. You have got to be able to touch that, to say the things, to invite, to court yourself out. And you can get together, you can do it for each other until you do it for yourselves. Don't mythologize me
It's impossible not to mythologize Audre Lorde. It's impossible not to read her and underline nearly every word, every idea, every construct. It's impossible not to quote her.
And so I remember her, memorialize her, put her in the place of lesbian icons of our collective history.
And I remind you of why she did everything she did. She said, "I write for those women who do not speak, for those who do not have a voice because they were so terrified, because we are taught to respect fear more than ourselves. We've been taught that silence would save us, but it won't."
She refused silence.
She gave us voice.
Her words, like that dance for me so many years ago, live on with a vibrancy and breadth we are so lucky to have, still, on the page, her, forever.
Photo: Audre Lorde via The Poetry Foundation
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About: Victoria Brownworth
Victoria A. Brownworth is an award-winning journalist, editor and writer and the author and editor of nearly 30 books. She has won the NLGJA and the Society of Professional Journalists awards, the Lambda Literary Award and has been nominated for the Pulitzer Prize. She won the 2013 SPJ Award for Enterprise Reporting in May 2014. She is a regular contributor to The Advocate and SheWired, a blogger for Huffington Post and A Room of Her Own, a columnist and contributing editor for Curve magazine and Lambda Literary Review and a columnist for San Francisco Bay Area Reporter. Her reporting and commentary have appeared in the New York Times, Village Voice, Baltimore Sun, Los Angeles Times, Boston Globe, Philadelphia Inquirer, The Nation, Ms Magazine and Slate. Her book, 'From Where We Sit: Black Writers Write Black Youth' won the 2012 Moonbeam Award for cultural & historical fiction. Her new novel, 'Ordinary Mayhem,' won the IPPY Award for fiction on May 1, 2015. Her book 'Erasure: Silencing Lesbians' and her next novel, 'Sleep So Deep,' will both be published in 2016. @VABVOX
*Lesbian
Victoria A. Brownworth


The past four days have found me fully immersed in the beginnings of a two-week orientation and training session. Interestingly enough, this extremely international group of us is going to be together for my two "Passport Country"'s Independence Days. I'm afraid that I have never been a very good, very traditionally patriotic, Independence Day celebrator. But this characteristic, as I just learned, is typical of those of us known as "TCK"s, or "Third Culture Kids." One of the things we have all been learning about is the nature of the TCK and I, for one, am fascinated by this topic . . . how could I not be, really?
Seasons change. Years go by. Life happens. And as I grow not-quite-as-young, not-quite-as-naive, as I once was, there are times when I worry I am going to be cynical and disillusioned with age. I fear losing a sense of wonder at the world, and at life.
But then things happen that remind me once more of all that is good and right. And I realize that while there is much that is wrong in this world in which we live, there is also much that is right; or perhaps more accurately, there are people who are right.
A visit with family allowed me to cross paths with friends from way back in time. So this afternoon I found myself flying with the pilot who flew me to and from family when I was small, doing the same thing once more. To good people such as these, it is the most natural thing in the world to offer a private flight simply to help with the logistics of managing a family visit and allow for time catching up with these friends as well.
No, it did not seem a small thing at all to me today to be approaching this home, seeing it from above as we neared . . .
I was treated to a drive along the Pacific Northwest coastline this afternoon, with the good company of some old family friends, and their wisdom about the area. I told them I was wishing my camera was not packed away in my suitcase at the time, as I learned an interesting tidbit about local trees. One of the most common trees we saw along the coast was what I think they called a Pacific Medrone. With reddish bark that peels like a Eucalyptus, it stands out once you know what to look for. So I wanted to capture a visual to go along with this bit of knowledge I had just happily gleaned. But no–locked away in the trunk was my camera.
I had to return to the cemetery today. Had to leave my own mark upon the grave I had not yet made my peace with. So I went with a single rose from Oma's garden, the bush just going into bloom, and I placed it there. Then I remembered that I had also meant to water the potted blooms my cousin had left, noticing the soil was dry yesterday. But it wasn't where it sat yesterday. I looked around and was so very glad that I had, for it lay on its side, far from its home, next to a rubbish bin. But now it sits back where it belongs, freshly watered . . . beside a rose.
This morning we went to the cemetery. It was the first time I had been since I was here last, 10 years ago. And it was one of those "too much" times in life. One of those times when there is too much intensity packed into the moment for one heart to handle.
We visited three graves there. One was that of my cousin, whom we buried when she was barely 4 years old. As I stood there with Oma, I remembered the last time I was there, losing my composure and sobbing through the graveside service. But today I stood dry-eyed and quiet.
Then we continued on to my aunt's grave. This was one I had not yet seen. And as I looked at the flowers my cousin had placed there just days earlier, I thought, Why was I not here? Why didn't I come to the funeral? Why could I not have ignored practicalities of time and expense then, and just come anyways? I should have been here . . .
Then I started to cry. As Oma turned to walk towards the next site, I turned my head to hide my face from her. We were both quiet as I followed her. I asked what she was looking for now, and then immediately kicked myself for so ignorantly forgetting that Opa's grave was there as well.
That was when I realized it was too much. Too much reality, too much emotion, for my feeble self. I wondered if I was just stilted in my human capacities and should be able to just slide through days like this without a pause.
But I think that I am at least in a bit of good company at the moment–maybe not the only one needing to recover myself after such times. For I noticed that Oma had to do some more weeding, some more literal [and figurative, I suspect] uprooting. Such is life, eh?
It was with a great sense of breathe-deeply relief that I mowed the lawn this afternoon: the distinct relief of an activity that was simple and soothingly productive. Relief from the hourly–momently–self-checks and reminders that I need not panic, that He will give me the ability to do this work set before me. Relief from the excitement of the work ahead tempered by my "much-afraid" tendencies when the unknown is ahead. Relief from the constant to-do-list additions and wondering what the next, most-important thing now is.
But God spoke a word of truth to my soul. I awoke with the message "God deals with me gently" running through my head the other day. And it is so very true. Every time I feel it is all too much, that He has given me more than I can handle, that I will just sink under the pressure . . . the feared-for arrives and then the reality is so much easier, so much simpler than I could have possibly imagined. Yes, God deals gently with me.
So as I mowed, I noticed for the first time this trailer that I have been meaning to look for since Oma told me about it last week. I forgot to look, with the urgency of the days. But this trailer reminds me of all that is real, and true. It reminds me of my family heritage. I am my father's daughter. And he made this in his younger days, deciding that the need for a trailer provided the perfect opportunity for him to test out his creative carpentry skills. Here it is still, so very many years later. A reminder of the life I came from, of the legacy I am blessed with, and of the simple goodness of this life I have been entrusted with.
I'm afraid I had to pull some more dandelions today. And no, I was not a happy camper. Today was a bit of a different retain, though. This time my own day was fine. But someone I love is hurting, and I can't do one daggum thing about it. So I uprooted dandelions instead, imagining that I could root out that pain in a simpler, dandelion world.
Once again, I opted for a more pleasant visual aid than a photo of weeds. Oma's well-loved snowball tree is nearing the end of its relatively long [this year] life. And the carpeted result is a lovely one for sure, if a bit of a bittersweet reminder of life's realities . . .


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« AICPA wants 'immediate guidance' on pass-through business income under new tax law | Main | Peek into Goldman's black box charity reveals tech billionaires »
IRS ready to process some retroactive tax breaks
The Internal Revenue Service said it's prepared to handle three tax breaks that had expired for 2017 but were recently extended retroactively by Congress.
This month, as part of the bipartisan budget deal, Congress revived 36 tax extenders that had expired at the end of 2016 and weren't previously included in last December's tax cuts law (see Budget deal revives dozens of expired tax breaks for 2017). After passage of the Bipartisan Budget Act, the IRS said Thursday it has now reprogrammed its systems to process the three benefits most likely to be claimed on returns filed early in the tax season.
That means taxpayers can now file tax returns claiming:
• Exclusion from gross income of discharge of qualified principal residence indebtedness (often, foreclosure-related debt forgiveness), claimed on Form 982;
• Mortgage insurance premiums treated as qualified residence interest, generally claimed by low- and middle-income filers on Schedule A; and
• Deduction for qualified tuition and related expenses claimed on Form 8917.
The IRS said it's working closely with tax professionals and the tax prep industry to make sure their software can now accommodate the newly extended tax provisions. The IRS is still in the process of updating its systems to handle returns claiming the other tax breaks extended by the budget act that was enacted Feb. 9. But in general, those other benefits affect a smaller number of taxpayers, such as tax breaks for motor sports raceway owners and rum producers. Taxpayers who are eligible for those tax breaks may need to file an amended tax return after the IRS's computer systems have been updated to reflect the latest changes. Check IRS.gov/Extenders for future updates.
Taxpayers who have already filed their 2017 federal tax return and now want to claim one of the retroactively renewed tax breaks can file an amended return on Form 1040X. The IRS noted, however, that amended returns can't be filed electronically and could take up to 16 weeks to process.


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Ashford University Hosts 4th Annual Early Childhood Education Conference Virtually: Educating with a Purpose, August 3-5, 2020
Ashford University will host its 4th Annual Early Childhood Education Conference virtually on August 3-5, 2020. This year's conference, Educating with a Purpose, brings more than 26 sessions presented by Ashford faculty, students, alumni, and early education professionals.
Dr. Craig Swenson, President of Ashford University, shared: "Our communities are facing new and evolving challenges that impact access and quality of education for our youth. Ashford's Early Childhood Education Conference provides teachers, administrators, educators in training, parents, and caregivers information on best practices and standards, with the aim to inspire those who foster learning and support for our future generations."
The impressive keynote speaker lineup features Scarlett Lewis, founder of The Jesse Lewis Choose Love Foundation and global speaker; Dr. Teresa McKay, Ashford University associate faculty member and National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) reviewer; and Nancy Moretti, Ashford University associate faculty member and mindfulness expert.
"We can't always choose what happens to us in life, but we can always choose how we respond. Choosing love as a thoughtful response enables us to take our personal power back and make the world a better place," said Scarlett Lewis, founder of the Jesse Lewis Choose Love Movement. "I'm happy to be sharing this important and much needed message with participants. Now more than ever, we need to practice thoughtfully responding to manage our emotions."
Information on conference sessions and speakers is available at https://sites.google.com/site/auecevirtualconference/home.
About Ashford University
Ashford University is a recognized leader and innovator in distance learning and online education. Ashford is designed to meet the needs of working students, offering programs most often sought by those whose primary educational goals relate to developing professional and career-relevant competencies. Flexible schedules, innovative delivery, and accessible academic support tools help working students balance busy lives with academic studies. Ashford offers associate, bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degree programs. For more information, please visit www.ashford.edu.
About The Jesse Lewis Choose Love Movement
Jesse Lewis, a six-year-old first grader, was a victim of the Sandy Hook tragedy whose action saved the lives of nine classmates. Jesse left behind a message on a household chalkboard, "Nurture, Healing, Love" that became the inspiration for his mother, Scarlett, to found the Choose Love Movement. The Jesse Lewis Choose Love Movement is a 501(c)(3) charitable organization with a commitment to reach students, educators and individuals, nationally and internationally, and provide them with a simple, yet profound formula for choosing love. Its signature program, the Choose Love Enrichment Program, is a no-cost infant/toddler through 12th grade curriculum that contains the simple universal teachings of courage, gratitude, forgiveness and compassion in action – the foundational concepts of Social and Emotional Learning (SEL). For more information, please visit www.jesselewischooselove.org. Choose Love At Home is a no-cost program based on the success of the Choose Love Enrichment Program teaching families how to Choose Love and help create a safer, more connected world.
SOURCE: Ashford University
http://www.ashford.edu
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