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Today in Blue jays history: Jerry Garvin traded
Coming on the heels of Otto Velez and Alvis Woods, some of the final ties to the expansion era were broken
By Matt W Jan 18, 2023, 7:45pm EST
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In early November 1976, Major League Baseball gathered in New York to conduct a couple important items of business. On November 4th, the free agent era was inaugurated with the first free agent reentry draft enshrined by the newly minted collective agreement.
A day later on November 5th, the American League gathered to stock its two new expansion franchises. Over five rounds, the Toronto Blue Jays and Seattle Mariners each took 30 players from the existing 12 franchises at a cost of $175,000 (USD).
To be charitable, it was quite the mixed bag of players, and many were not to have long tenures with their new teams. In fact, one of the new Blue Jays did not last the day. Shortly after the draft, the Jays flipped their first pick of the second round, pitcher Al Fitzmorris, to Cleveland for catcher Alan Ashby and Doug Howard.
A month later at the winter meetings, Rico Carty was sent back to Cleveland for a second of their young catchers, Rick Cerone, as well as outfielder John Lowenstein (who killed them for years with Baltimore as part of a highly effective left field platoon with Gary Roenicke). Though it was far from the end for the Jays on the Beeg Mon, whom they would (re-)acquire three separate times over the next few years.
By the time Spring Training rolled around a few months later, it was already down to 26, with Leon Hooten a further casualty by Opening Day. By the first anniversary of the draft at the beginning of the 1977-78 offseason, there were 23 left.
By the Blue Jays third opening day in April 1979, the proportion fell under half with just 14 of the expansion picks in the organization and just 12 (40%) on the 40-man major league roster.
The turnover continued the culling as the losses mounted but the organization slowly but steadily built depth. There was another halving over the next two years, with just 7 survivors by the fifth opening day in April 1981. Reliever Mike Willis was jettisoned over the course of that season, leaving six originals as the Bobby Cox era dawned in 1982.
Jim Clancy, Garth Iorg, and Ernie Whitt would become mainstays as the Jays became contenders over the next hald-decade. But there was one more changing of the guard to come with another halving of the expansion survivors that finally culminated 40 years ago today.
Otto Velez was perhaps one of the more improbable survivors, selected in the last round from the Yankees. Buried on the depth chart in New York, in bits of four seasons he only got the plate 303 times by age 26. He took advantage of the opportunity afforded by an expansion team, and though defensively limited, Otto the Swatto had legit pop and his 16 home runs were second on the 1977 Jays.
Beyond the offensive production in a lineup often otherwise bereft of it, Velez was notorious for a couple things. The first being late reporting to Spring Training every year with one reason or another (resolving tax matters, dentist appointment, etc). And the second constantly missing time for all manner muscle strains and pulls. The Jays had a deal worked out to send him back to the Yankees in June 1977, but at the last minute they got Cliff Johnson instead.
Largely platooned over his first three season under Roy Hartsfield, after a very strong 1979 new manager Bobby Mattick resolved to give him the chance to play everyday and Velez responded with a very strong first half. Unfortunately, his season came to a premature end in late August when hos cheek was fractured in a car accident on the way to the park.
He wasn't the same hitter in 1981 (though scarcely alone; the entire team's production plummeted), and with young prospects like Lloyd Moseby and acquisitions like Barry Bonnell in the outfield he was relegated to pinch hitting and some DHing for 1982. That didn't take at all, and in August he was designated for assignment, and sent outright to AAA. To that point, he was the last Blue Jay to have been continuously on the major league roster from the beginning. In line for free agency anyway, in September he was formally released after initially refusing to report to Syracuse.
Outfielder Alvis Woods was selected in the second round, 15th overall, from Minnesota. The 1977 opening day leftfielder, he too was mostly platooned during the Hartsfield years. The lefty hitter posted decent offensive seasons in 1977 and 1979, but a very slow start in 1978 resulted in him being send down to AAA for three months.
Similar to Velez, Mattick committed to playing him everyday and he responded with a career season in 1980, hitting .300/.364/.480. Also similar to Velez, he suffered he missed the end of the season with a sderious injury, rupturing a calf muscle a few days before Velez in the last week of August 1980. And then he too slumped badly in 1981 and by 1982 had been passed by others in the outfield mix under Bobby Cox.
Unhappy with a part-time role, he demanded a trade after the season, as was actually a five year player's right under the collective agreement at the time. On November 5th, the sixth anniversary of his joining the team, the Jays obliged and sent him to Oakland for Cliff Johnson.
While that worked out tremendously for the Jays, he didn't make the A's either and was released at end of Spring Training. In July he rejoined the organization in Syracuse, a regular there through the end of 1984.
That brings us to the final link cut 40 years ago. Jerry Garvin was the second player the Jays took in the expansion draft, after first grabbing Bob Bailor. A prototypical crafty lefty without big stuff, Garvin made the opening day rotation and got off to a quick start. He won his first five decisions (on a woeful team that won 107 games), though eventually finished 10-18 in 34 starts with a respectable 4.19 ERA in 244 innings.
He led the league in home runs in home runs allowed with 33, though also picked off 26 runners to set an unofficial MLB record. The more he went around the league though, the more hitters figured him out, His ERA peaked above 6.00 midseason, and by late-July was removed from the rotation (making a handful of spot starts in August).
For 1979 the Jays tried him converting the bullpen, and the initial results were promising but the unfamiliar role resulted in an elbow injury in May that ended up costing most of the season. He rebounded to post a 2.29 ERA in 82.2 innings in 1980, and had a solid 3.40 ERA in 1981.
But 1982 went pear shaped, victimized by his old nemesis the long ball. He struggled early, was bounced around roles, but nothing clicked and eventually Bobby Cox lost confidence. In mid-August, the Jays optioned him to Syracuse, and though he came back up in September barely pitched.
The writing was on the wall, and in December when a roster spot was needed to accommodate Gillick's larceny of Dave Collins and Mike Morgan from the Yankees, Garvin was sent outright to AAA. A month later, 40 years ago today, on January 18th the Jays sold his contract to St. Louis where manager Whitey Herzog was interested in giving him a chance to make the reigning World Series champion's bullpen,
Ironically, Garvin almost predicted it. No batter had antagonized Garvin more than Cliff Johnson with seven career long balls, When the Jays acquired Johnson for Woods, Garvin was quoted in the Toronto Star by Alison Gordon:
You're kidding! It's great to have him on the same team. Of course now I'll probably get traded and have to pitch to him again.
Alas, he was only half right. He didn't make the Cardinals, released before opening day in 1983, the end of his professional career and never again to face Johnson.
And thus, 40 years ago, the final major turnover of the expansion Blue Jays occurred as they emerged from the doldrums to contention.


A playful illustration reminiscent of the Retro Gumball machines selling giant gumballs for a quarger. Chewing them ached your jaw and painted your lips and tongue the exact color of the gumball! Remember?
Decorative throw pillows are made from 100% spun polyester poplin fabric and add a stylish statement to any room. Pillows are available in sizes from 14" x 14" up to 26" x 26". Each pillow is printed on both sides (same image) and includes a concealed zipper and removable insert for easy cleaning.


We could not miss a product based on Alpha Lipoic Acid (ALA) in the NATROID catalogue.
Ingredients: lipoic acid, rice flour, gelatin, anti-caking agent: magnesium stearate.
Take 1 tablet once a day, at the main meal.
In case of prolonged use (more than 6/8 weeks) seek medical advice. The product is contraindicated in case of kidney or liver disease, during pregnancy and in children under the age of 12 years. Do not exceed the recommended dose. Food supplements should not be considered a substitute for a varied diet. Keep out of reach of children under 3 years of age.


Over 5 acres of shoreline on one of North Kenai's most beautiful lakes at only $0.53 per Sq Ft. This crystal clear, gravel bottom floatplane size lake can be purchased with the owner carrying the note. Power is on site. Mix of birch & spruce trees, great soils and drainage.


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Blackfield è il primo album della band omonima fondata da Steven Wilson e Aviv Geffen nel 2004, pubblicato dalla Kscope / Snapper nel 2004 su CD nel 2005 in doppio vinile (Gates of Dawn).

Tracce
Musiche di Aviv Geffen, eccetto dove indicato.
Open mind - (testo: Wilson) - 4:11
Blackfield - (musica: Wilson - testo: Wilson) - 4:21
Glow - (testo: Geffen/Wilson) - 3:28
Scars - (testo: Geffen/Wilson) - 3:02
Lullaby - (musica: Wilson - testo: Wilson) - 3:01
Pain - (testo: Geffen) - 4:30
Summer - (testo: Wilson/Geffen) - 3:27
Cloudy now - (testo: Wilson/Geffen) - 3:15
The hole in me - (testo: Geffen) - 2:51
Hello - (testo: Wilson/Geffen) - 4:22

Lista tracce nuova edizione 2005

 CD 1
Musiche di Aviv Geffen, eccetto dove indicato.
Open mind - (testo: Wilson) - 4:11
 Blackfield - (Wilson) - 4:21
 Glow - (testo: Geffen/Wilson) - 3:28
 Scars - (testo: Geffen/Wilson) - 3:02
 Lullaby - (testo e musica: Wilson) - 3:01
 Pain - (testo: Geffen) - 4:30
 Summer - (testo: Wilson/Geffen) - 3:27
 Cloudy now - (testo: Wilson/Geffen) - 3:15
 The hole in me - (testo: Geffen) - 2:51
 Hello - (testo: Wilson/Geffen) - 4:22

 CD 2
Musiche di Aviv Geffen, eccetto dove indicato.
Perfect World - (testo: Wilson/Geffen) - 4:11
Where is my love? - (testo: Geffen) - 4:21
Cloudy now (live) - (testo: Wilson/Geffen) - 4:28

 #Blackfield (video) - (testo e musica: Wilson) - 4:02

Note
Video diretto da Lasse Hoile

Lista tracce nuova edizione LP
Musiche di Aviv Geffen, eccetto dove indicato.
 LATO 1
Open mind - (testo: Wilson) - 4:11
 Blackfield - (Wilson) - 4:21
 Glow - (testo: Geffen/Wilson) - 3:28
 Scars - (testo: Geffen/Wilson) - 3:02
 Lullaby - (testo e musica: Wilson) - 3:01

 LATO 2
Pain - (testo: Geffen) - 4:30
 Summer - (testo: Wilson/Geffen) - 3:27
 Cloudy now - (testo: Wilson/Geffen) - 3:15
 The hole in me - (testo: Geffen) - 2:51
 Hello - (testo: Wilson/Geffen) - 4:22

 LATO 3
Perfect World - (testo: Wilson/Geffen) - 4:11

 LATO 4
 Feel so low - (musica: Wilson - testo: Wilson/Geffen) - 4:41

Note

Feel so low è un brano dei Porcupine Tree, qui ripreso in una versione acustica con una parte cantata in ebraico da Aviv Geffen.

Fotografia e grafica: Lasse Hoile

Formazione

Band studio
 Steven Wilson - voce, chitarra solista, chitarra Banshee, campionatori, nastri, batteria programmata, campane, carillon
 Aviv Geffen - voce, tastiere, piano elettrico, organo, chitarra ritmica
 Daniel Salomon - piano
Steffy Efrati - basso

Chris Maitland - batteria, percussioni, cori (2,8,9,10)
Gavin Harrison - batteria, percussioni (1,6)

Collegamenti esterni

 testi

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
Beyond beans and farm beds
Text and photo by Gina Mission
Chris and Clarissa Meek and their wards: Training for life
It all started with a simple "gotta-have-something-to-spend-my-free-time-on" thought . Nine months later, Cris and Clarissa Meek found themselves employing six full-time young farm workers who, after months of argument, brilliant back talk, petty quarrels and making up, finally realized the value of farming, patience and hardwork.
___As Reynaldo Pilarion, 21, the leader of the Meek 'wards' admitted: "When I work now, I don't think about how much more work there is to do, or that I'm tired already. I just go on working. It makes things easier."
___How the Meeks, British-Filipino couple from Manila who settled in Sta. Cruz, Davao del Norte, managed to change the outlook of their workers, however, was not easy.
"They were so used to the slow pace of rural life," blurted Clarissa, a former marketing executive, and the more vocal of the couple. "Things like regular schedules and timing were greek to them," she added. "And they hated to work. To them it was just another paid job. We had to train them to like what they're doing," she said.
___The feeling, however, was mutual. The workers admitted having a hard time working with the couple.
___"It was hard adopting to their style," admitted Pilarion. Born in a fishing village, Pilarion didn't know anything about farm work before joining the Meeks. "I had to learn everything here. In addition, they wanted us to work fast, and to follow orders. One mistake and you're headed for a 24-hour sermon and questioning," he added.
___The other workers have their own stories to tell, too. For Edwin Acedilla, 13, and Juanito Torres, 15, it was just a case of getting what they deserved. "If I work the way Ma'am instructed me to, she'd be happy. If I don't follow her instructions, she would be really mad," revealed Acedilla. "It was even good for me because I usually don't follow my parents' orders at home. Here I learned to discipline myself. I know my parents wouldn't be able to do that," he added.
___For his part, Torres is happy about the money he is making. "I give half of my earnings here to my mother. She uses the money to buy school supplies for my two sisters. Sometimes she uses the money for food. I feel happy that I am able to help my family while learning all these things at the same time."
___Being employed for the first time meant having to learn to do work assigned to them. Clarissa and Cris had to teach the boys farming methods ranging from planning the activities for the following day, to making farmbeds, planting vegetables the "proper way," and waking up as early as five o'clock in the morning, to apply organic fertilizers on the field.
___"It was for their own good that we did that, though they obviously didn't realize it at first," explained Cris, an agricultural engineer. "It was a personal mission to me. Through the years, I have accumulated all these farming techniques from my work in different countries and I wanted to introduce these to my workers. I want to train them. I don't have much money to share with them, but I can show them how to make money out of farming," he said.
___In addition to the resistance the young workers put up at first, the Meeks had to deal with the usual "I'm-a-farmer-I-know-better-than-you-are" attitude of their neighbors who tried to persuade their workers to do things the "usual" way. After all, Clarissa, who manages the farm, has never done farming before. And while Cris is a farmer by profession, it still struck the workers as odd that a white man should be a farmer, and his city-bred wife to be running the farm.
___"I think they thought at the start that we were crazy to be doing this thing. Or that we didn't really know what we were doing," Clarissa explained.
___When the Meeks decided to move to Sta. Cruz, Davao del Norte last year, Clarissa found herself alone most of the time. Her husband, Cris, a British national, was mostly in Manila where he works as an agricultural consultant at the International Rice Research Institute. As soon as they settled in, Cris thought of practicing what he has been teaching people in the 47 countries that he has worked in through the years. Consequently, he rented a farm in one of Sta. Cruz's mountainous areas. The decision to go into farming, and even to continue it, admitted the couple, has not been an easy one to make.
___"We were short of money and we're spending so much on the farm, with no visible return for our investment," said Clarissa. "It was always expenses and expenses, never income," she added. Their first crop, bell peppers, got washed away by heavy rains a week before harvest. The second crop, radish. sold at P2 per kilo when the average market price is P35.
___"Cris wanted to close the farm after that. He said that we could no longer afford to maintain it. But I begged for him to just hang on. I thought then that if we'd close it, our workers would be unemployed again. And they'd go back to their usual rural ways," Clarissa said.
___"So we didn't. Because deep inside, we know we couldn't. Because we were already teaching them for life," said Cris. "Rains and storms may damage our crop but the values they're learning in the farm will remain forever," he added.
CyberDyaryo | 1999.08.19

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


We are pleased to announce that our upcoming concert will be streamed live. If for some reason you can't make it to the concert this Friday, February 21st at 8 PM, be sure to follow Equilibrium Concert Series (just Equilibrium) on Livestream.com to be notified of the event. Even if you can't watch it live, the stream is available for 30 days after the concert as well.


It was established in 1992 in order to meet the fuel requirements of Çankaya Municipality.
The station on the area of Atatürk Forest Farm was reopened in May 2006 after being closed for about 14 years.
Providing services to create the differentiation by trying to be worthy to the customers and keeping the expected delivery of goods and services at the highest level.
Belpet Ltd. Şti.'s vision is keeping employee and customer satisfaction at a high level; creating stations preferred by residents of Ankara by providing services in accordance with the quality standards of the sector's dynamics.
It was established to meet the economic, social, cultural and artistic needs of the district residents and to give the municipality a more contemporary appearance.
Çankaya Belde A.Ş. plays an active role from the supply of manpower and materials to the submission of emerging products in the social projects which Çankaya Municipality implements and takes social requirements into consideration not market measures while organizing this process.
It was established to guide and develop the emergences of urbanization processes; help the production of structure and infrastructure equipment in a cheap and healthy way; apply resources with using rationally by transforming them into creative projects.
Involving in programs, plans, projects, research and development activities to create and improve contemporary urban spaces; producing land and housing, performing tourism, structure and infrastructure services; Organizing meetings, conferences and courses; and providing Art, culture and health services.Involving in programs, plans, projects, research and development activities to create and improve contemporary urban spaces; producing land and housing, performing tourism, structure and infrastructure services; Organizing meetings, conferences and courses; and providing Art, culture and health services.
It aims to be a trusted, leading and exemplary joint stock company that creating the quality, reliability, respect for the law and healthy financial structure in providing services which based on being faster, efficient and effective in relation with the municipalities.


This two-story, 18,000 SF transportation center contains two skywalks to the nearby hospital and clinic and features office space for the Parking and Transportation Department.
AWS' scope for the project included engineering, manufacturing and installing the structural glass curtain wall, the aluminum storefront and the unitized ACM panel rain screen.
AWS also engineered and installed Soffit Metal panels to the fiber cement wall and miscellaneous interior glazing on the project.


Our organization is committed to protecting the privacy of our friends. The personal information collected through our website will be used only to respond to your feedback or inquiries, to send you information on organizational updates, or to collect demographic data on where about of "Yekorem / Wofla Lejoch"(children of Korem) for better allocation of resources, organizing committees in regional & sub-region level and improve the quality our website.
We will not sell the confidential or personal information being collected through this web site to any other parties, nor will we share this information with a third party, unless that party is an affiliate organization.


The 28th Annual Florida Film Festival takes place April 12 – 21, 2019 and is now accepting submissions! Submit your film by completing our Festival Entry Form or submit through Withoutabox.
The Florida Film Festival is accredited as a qualifying festival for the Oscars® in the Live Action Short, Documentary Short and Animated Short film categories. The winner of the Grand Jury Award in each of these categories will automatically qualify to enter the following year's Academy Awards®.


With the new Every Student Success Act (ESSA), all eyes are searching the federal K-12 education law for opportunities to advance education reform. While there are good and concerning provisions, one thing is certain: the 391 pages are full of opportunities to make personalized learning a reality for every student in the country.
These opportunities will only translate into results for students if stakeholders take advantage of them as they design new systems of teaching and learning. This side-by-side tool compares key provisions in the previous K-12 education law (No Child Left Behind) to new provisions in ESSA that advance personalized learning. Our goal is to draw attention to these new opportunities so stakeholders are inspired to explore personalized learning elements as they begin to design and advocate for systems change.


text:
Brill's Companion to Greek and Latin Epyllion and Its Reception. Brill's companions in classical studies
Manuel Baumbach, Silvio Bär, Brill's Companion to Greek and Latin Epyllion and Its Reception. Brill's companions in classical studies. Leiden; Boston: Brill, 2012. xxvi, 640. ISBN 9789004214323 $258.00.
Calum Maciver, University of Edinburgh. Calum.Maciver@ed.ac.uk
Weighing in at 640 pages, this Brill Companion to Epyllion is anything but little. My pickings are, inevitably, slender. The size is, however, perhaps testament to the complexity of the short hexameter poems which together receive the attention of the authors of this volume, and is reflective of the still unresolved question of epyllion as a discrete genre. A glittering array of internationally renowned scholars came together in Zürich in 2009 to discuss epyllion in texts ranging in chronology and variety from the Odyssey to Tam O'Shanter of Scotland's national bard, and with the addition of a few more contributors, this edited collection forms the results.
Essentially, despite the volume's title, this is not a companion, but conference proceedings. If one compares, at random, Brill's Companion to Callimachus, one finds thematic sections, not linear-chronological sections as in this volume, with chapters entitled, for example, The Gods of Callimachus, Callimachus' Muses, or Callimachus and Later Greek Poetry. What is particularly useful about the current volume is that for many texts, such as Triphiodorus, Musaeus, Christodorus, we find large scale articles which will do much to scholarship on these less well-known authors, if less so to an understanding of Epyllion as an entity.
The editors include a succinct but useful introduction to the category epyllion, without giving any unnecessary preamble to the papers which follow. What do they do focus on, as do most of the papers in the collection, is the meaning of epyllion, its coinage, usage and implications as a category or non-category. The editors conclude, tentatively, that as a category there is essentially no ancient idea of epyllion as we know it, but acknowledge the potential usefulness of the term as a modern construct to define a number of texts (and, intertextually, against each other) which are epic-like, short, and which can be characterised by certain criteria which may include, but need not include, traditionally un-heroic themes. The editors are careful not to restrict these definitions to Hellenistic texts where epyllion tends to find its home in modern scholarship. Beyond the introduction, it is refreshing that each author addresses the idea of epyllion and either embraces, adapts or abandons the term's usefulness and function. Given its chronological range, few readers are likely to read this book from cover to cover, but in the volume's essential function as a receptacle for disparate articles on disparate themes and poems, these separate discussions of epyllion as a(n) (non-) entity will prove useful individually, but should be set in each instance against the overview given in the introduction.
The first section (on the history and development of epyllion) consists of three papers, two on the history of classical scholarship, and one on the role of Catullus 64 as primary focus for epyllion in scholarship to date. Both Masciadri and Tilg in their respective contributions delve into the reception and categorization of short epic-like Classical texts in German-speaking scholarship. Both sift through a wide range of German editions of Classical texts from as early as the 18th century. The term epyllion was thought to have been coined by the great Homeric scholar Friedrich August Wolf in 1820, but Tilg proves beyond doubt that, before Wolf, K.D. Ilgen in his edition of the Homeric Hymns in 1796 applied the term to describe the Homeric Hymn to Hermes. Tilg shows that for Ilgen, unlike Wolf in his discussion of the ps.-Hesiodic Scutum, the term is not pejorative, but rather that it stresses the close proximity of a text in nature to the Homeric epics. Tilg then traces the use of the term through nineteenth century literary and scholarly studies, and concludes that the idea of epyllion was broader in its scope than its current definition in scholarship. Importantly, he shows that the origin of the idea was seen in archaic, light-hearted hexameter poems, and not in the Hellenistic period. As the nineteenth century developed, the term came to be applied typically to Catullus 64. On the centrality of that poem in modern understanding of epyllion as applied especially to other Latin poems, Trimble manoeuvres expertly through a range of studies against a preliminary premise that it is 'fair to say that our own working definition of "epyllion" is in fact "a poem that reminds its readers of Catullus 64″' (p. 58). This holds true for many scholars, and indeed Trimble tentatively puts forward a suggestion that Catullus 64, for its complexity of composition, serves as a useful benchmark for other texts which bear similarities to the one we are so readily willing to call the perfect epyllion.
We get two chapters (Hunter, Bierl) on the Song(s) of Demodocus in the section on the Archaic and pre-Hellenistic period, along with two on the Homeric Hymns (Baumbach, Petrovic), and one on the pseudo-Hesiodic shield (Bing). Hunter displays his usual expertise in careful exegesis in his discussion of the three songs of Demodocus, especially the third, on Ares and Aphrodite, in terms of the evident extension and compression of narrative. Bierl's piece is somewhat different, but equally interesting. He acknowledges the legitimacy of reading the Song of Demodocus from a later Hellenistic perspective in order to better understand narrative and poetic functions. He states that smaller scale epic co-existed 'side by side with the one monumental Homer', but holds the view that smaller scale epic, represented by the Song of Demodocus, is the traditional, unmarked, usual epic entertainment (his words) and the longer full-scale Homeric epic is a marked, special case, and that therefore (and this is less convincing) much of what has traditionally been viewed as atypical epic content of the Song of Demodocus is traditional, as belonging to 'previous strata of epic song culture'. Baumbach is incisive in his analysis of the Homeric Hymn to Aphrodite as a poem which crosses the boundaries traditionally marked between epic, hymnic and epyllic poetry. His focus in particular on readers' reception of the text and their identification of its origin within and evolution from the Odyssey, with interesting results for our understanding of epyllion if we do indeed include the hymn within the epyllic compass. Like Baumbach, Petrovic, in a wide-ranging and thought-provoking paper which locates textual analysis within cultural and poetic paradigms, discusses the Homeric hymns, and sees them as important archetypes for Hellenistic epyllia and aesthetics. Bing brings this section to a close with what is essentially a sustained close reading of the pseudo-Hesiodic shield. His discussion of the aesthetics of ecphrasis is especially useful, as is his overview of the reception of the shield in Hellenistic small-scale epic, but his view (pp. 189-190) that its rhapsodic performance could have (re-) ignited a Hellenistic poet's interest in the shield is speculative at best.
The range of texts offered by the section on the Hellenistic period is (surprisingly) not broad, and disappointingly there is no article on Moschus' Europa (though Höschele and esp. Kuhlmann glance in that direction); the section on Latin poetry devotes itself to an even narrower range. Luz begins the Hellenistic section with a study of Pindaric narrative technique as evident in especially Theocritus' mythological poems, and concludes (not unexpectedly) that Theocritus developed from Pindar how to do epyllion. (On a separate note, it is puzzling why Luz defines epyllion as a short hexameter poem with mythical subject if, in her footnote 1, she advocates banishing such a description of epyllion). Gutzwiller's excellent article (it is surprising that her seminal 1981 book on epyllion is not cited more in this volume) has many facets: she focuses in particular on ancient (especially Hellenistic) literary criticism, with particular attention paid to the Hecale. Through lucid linguistic analysis and comparanda she proves that the mega poiema in particular in the scholion to Callimachus' Hymn to Apollo (T1 Hollis, ad 2.106, which states that Callimachus wrote the Hecale in response to taunts that he was incapable of writing a large poem), belongs to the terminology of Callimachus' contemporary critics. Her discussion of poetological or metapoetic signals in the Hecale is entirely convincing. Of the two articles on Theocritus, Acosta-Hughes briefly pursues the figure Heracles in Idylls 17, 24, and 13 (and 25). Thomas Schmitz provides an intriguing reading of ps.-Theocritus 25, combining both philological acumen and insightful literary-theoretical analysis (in the latter category he is surprisingly author-centred at times). He comprehensively demonstrates that the poem is complete as we have it (although it should be pointed out that his seven points to prove this are mostly based on literary, and not material, criteria). He discusses the effects of presupposition as read in the abrupt beginning and section openings of the poem, and ends by looking at possible meta-narrative aspects of Heracles' lion-skin. For Schmitz, these literary techniques make the poem a typically Hellenistic text. Fantuzzi discusses the Epithalamium of Achilles and Deidameia. As he states, there is very little evidence for the poetic history of Achilles at Scyros before Statius, other than this poem. He discusses its date and authorship, and then expertly delves into the programmatic and intertextual implications of the poem (especially the comparison with Polyphemus of Theocritus 11, and the agonistic implications of ti melpso, p. 295, with reference to the breadth of Lycidas' repertory versus the limitations of the Theocritean bucolic singers, particularly Polyphemus).
There are three chapters on authors of the late Republican and Augustan periods. Klooster examines what Parthenius' Erotika Pathemata tell us about epyllion and its generic affiliations, and in particular, what kind of poetry Parthenius, seen as the last of the Alexandrians, may have expected Gallus to write. Within similar restricted parameters, Höschele focuses on the surviving traces of Calvus' Io. Among well-argued but mostly speculative propositions, Höschele's suggestion is convincing in that since Calvus' heroine Io draws her knowledge of forthcoming evils intertextually from her role in Aeschylus' Prometheus Bound, she is most likely the speaker (to herself) of fr. 21 Hollis (dira sibi praedicens), along with fr. 20 Hollis, in the context of a prophetic dream. Eigler's short piece on the Orpheus epyllion in Metamorphoses 10 is unfortunately poorly translated from its German original, but makes a clear case for this episode as metapoetically emblematic of the Metamorphoses and its creator.
Tomasso's study of Triphiodorus is so broad (38 pages in total) that it will likely function as a scholarly introduction to the poem, author and literary context (his view that it predates Quintus Smyrnaeus is unlikely, however). Dümmler's treatment of Musaeus is painstakingly detailed, thorough and (therefore) rewarding. A welcome addition to the narrow bibliography on Christodorus is Bär's analysis of ecphrasis, which makes a number of important observations on literary aesthetics and categorisations, and especially welcome conclusions on the jeweled style in later Greek poetry. Kuhlmann ends the section on Imperial literature with a study of Europa in Moschus, Ovid, and Nonnus, and the narratological tension in each text between narrator and narratee.
The volume is end-stopped with chapters on the reception of the (non-) genre in post-Classical literature and scholarship. Passing over the eminently useful discussions on Latin epyllion in the Middle Ages (Cardelle de Hartmann and Stotz) and in neo-Latin literature (Korenjak), I will end in the Scottish Ayrshire countryside. Ewen Bowie, in his familiar and inimitable style, makes the case that Burns, a well-read poet even before his translation to Edinburgh in 1786, most likely had access to a wide range of translations (and if his Latin was up to it, original language) editions of Classical epyllia in the Advocates' Library in Edinburgh. Bowie analyses a range of epyllion-like techniques in Tam O'Shanter from gnomai to ecphrasis, and (rightly) concludes that at least the epyllic material in Vergil Georgics 4 was an influence on this mock-epic.
This is an excellent collection of detailed and at times adventurous studies of a large range of texts. The volume was subjected to excellent editing; the reader, too, will find the massive bibliography and indexes very useful. Typos are minimal (e.g. 'und' p.264, 'disconinuity' p. 266, 'Daphis' p.296 ). The price is absurd.


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text:
Seeing beyond the local saved and grew the family business
Business interview: Harry Hughes, chief executive of Portwest
Fri, Jun 9, 2017, 06:45
Harry Hughes, chief executive, Portwest. Photograph: Richie Stokes
The three amigos: Harry, Cathal and Owen Hughes.
His company may be targeting revenues of more than €1 billion but Harry Hughes is the first to admit that he doesn't always know what the customer wants.
"I've been wrong plenty of times but right enough to stop it getting embarrassing," he says, referring to how products are selected for Portwest's catalogue. It's a 600-page tome that is available in 26 languages and sent out to customers across the world.
The Co Mayo-based speciality clothing company that Hughes runs with his brothers Cathal and Owen has been on the go since 1904 and continues to grow at an impressive rate. This suggests that the siblings know what they are about, even if its chief executive is reluctant to portray himself as someone with a golden touch.
"We have a team of about 25 people working on the design and selection process overall. I have famously turned down products that others in the team have insisted should be in the catalogue and many of these have gone on to be among our top-selling products so I'm the first to put up my hand and say I don't always get it right," Hughes says.
"Our guiding rule when it comes to choosing products for the catalogue is that if there are enough people who love it, then it gets in," he adds.
There certainly seems to be plenty of people who love Portwest's goods, judging by the company's sales figures.
The company, which has its headquarters in Westport, designs and manufactures personal protective equipment, workwear and outdoor leisurewear, employs more than 2,000 people worldwide and its products sell in more than 100 countries.
Global dominance
The low-key Hughes brothers have grown revenues at the firm from close to €200,000 in 1979 to more than €140 million in 2016. The way Hughes tells it, Portwest has only just started in its plan for global dominance.
"In our five-year plan, we're looking at growing from €142 million last year to €350 million based on growth of about 25 per cent a year, the majority of which will come from Europe in 2017. However, our next five-year plan will see us aiming for €1 billion as we expand further afield. We've never been more confident of getting there than we are right now," he says.
The Hughes's roots in Mayo go back to the 1700s and the family has been actively trading in Westport since 1904 when Charles Hughes set up a textiles business in the town. Owen, Cathal and Harry, who come from a family of 13 children, are the third generation of the Hughes to run the business, succeeding their father Pádraig, who was Charles's son.
The siblings also own the 139-room, four-star Hotel Westport and a retail leisurewear business which has four stores. Earlier this year, they announced plans to acquire Westport House, an 18th-century mansion formerly owned by the Browne family.
Two other brothers, Vincent and Pat, own the popular Carraig Donn clothes and giftware chain, which was established by their mother, Marie, and has an estimated turnover of about €40 million.
Hughes got involved in the family business in the late 1970s after a few years away studying design technology in Manchester. Owen and Cathal joined the firm after studying to become chartered accountants. At that point, the company owned one small factory in Westport and a second one in nearby Ballyhaunis.
We had two great advantages, however, which were that we were young and we had training that helped us see beyond the local
"If the recession didn't destroy the textile industry in Ireland, then globalisation was the sledgehammer that finished off family businesses such as ours. We had two great advantages, however, which were that we were young and we had training that helped us see beyond the local," Hughes says.
"The world was changing with disruptive duties coming down and Asia beginning to open up. We could see that globalisation meant the tide was turning as regards textiles and knew we needed to adapt. Because of my technical design skills, we started moving away from just making basic workwear towards producing hazard-protection clothing and we also began to look further afield to build up exports," he adds.
The company's protective clothing is now widely used in the mining, building and security industries. In an average year, Portwest has about 1,200 products for sale. It adds 150-200 new items and culls a similar number every year.
The company initially opened a factory in Barnsley in Yorkshire as it sought to hold on to the local facilities in what was a rapidly changing market.
"The breakthrough for us came when we realised we could internationalise both our sourcing and our selling, which meant we could sit in Ireland and organise the whole thing without necessarily even touching the goods."
"It was a gradual process over the next decade as we made fewer goods locally and stopped replacing staff while building up our skillsets. We got more confident in what we were doing and eventually opened up an office in China in 1995. Now we deal with 60 different factories there, and we also have facilities in the UK, Poland, Germany, Dubai, Bangladesh and the US.
The company's local manufacturing facilities closed in the early 2000s although the firm still employs about 300 people in Ireland. This breaks down to 100 people in the Portwest headquarters, and another 200 in the group's leisure, retail and wholesale divisions.
We were probably one of the last clothing companies in the west to shut down and we agreed a really good package with staff, but it was still a difficult decision to make
"The hardest moment for us in business was closing the factories. We were probably one of the last clothing companies in the west to shut down and we agreed a really good package with staff, but it was still a difficult decision to make," says Hughes.
Joining the ever-growing list of international facilities owned by the company are new warehouses in Myanmar and Panama, which are due to open shortly. Future plans will see the company expanding in the US, where it is eyeing up opening a second warehouse on the west coast to join the facility it opened in Louisville, Kentucky in 2014. The company is also on the acquisition trail and earlier this year acquired Australian firm Prime Mover Workwear for €7.5 million.
As may be obvious, the company sees growth coming primarily from outside of Europe in the coming years.
"We started maturing in the UK around the time of the downturn with sales there having reached about €40 million by 2007/2008. We then started looking to mainland Europe, where we reckon we now have about a further 10 years or so before we mature. About four years ago we started paying more attention properly to the US, which is a highly competitive market for us with at least 50 good rivals. It also brought issues we hadn't faced before such as different sizing standards, zips being fitted on the other sides of garments and so on. But we're highly confident we can do well there," says Hughes.
"Latin America is also somewhere we're interested in which is why we're opening the warehouse in Panama. There are a number of countries there such as Chile and Peru that have duties that are as low as 5 per cent, and overall it is a more developed market for safety products than Africa or the Middle East," he adds.
The businessman says that when it comes to entering new markets, Portwest uses what it calls the "virgin territory model", which, as Hughes explains, is akin to growing crops.
"Entering into a new territory is like planting a harvest. It takes three or four years before anything comes to fruition. We start out with salesmen achieving very little in terms of sales in the first year but that will grow slowly after that and, once it does, you put your foot to the accelerator and get the most out of it," he says.
The media-shy businessman finds himself in the spotlight as a finalist in this year's EY Entrepreneur of the Year awards. He says that, despite being based in Co Mayo, the company has never really struggled to find new opportunities on the international stage. He remains largely unconcerned about the impact of geopolitical issues such as Brexit.
"Out of everything we try, we've always figured that if three things worked and two didn't that we are still winning. The biggest winners for us though without a doubt are the really technical garments, the fire-retardant garment and so on. Where there are people working and there's a potential hazard and plenty of dirt is where we specialise," Hughes says.
"One of the core engines for growth has been that we follow the oil and gas industries and some of the big companies in that space are looking for a global solution. Our intention is to ultimately have a network of warehouses around the world so that we can get products to any site no matter where within five days," he adds.
While many of us would run several miles rather than work with family members, Hughes says he and his brothers have always found it easy being in business together.
"I get on exceptionally well with them and there has barely been a cross word between us in 30 years. We're lucky that we're friends as well as being family and have different personalities and skillsets that complement each other," he says.
"When it comes down to it, we impeccably trust each other and it is a privilege to work together. We don't really have board meetings. It's more a case of meeting for coffee and after we've finished discussing politics and sports, we eventually turn to work issues."
Hughes says the family are also privileged to be able to remain living and working in Westport.
"Buying Westport House is all about giving back to the community because it isn't something that really makes economic sense, but it is hugely important to the area and its tourism trade," he says.
"I love living so close to work that I can pop home for my dinner every day and, as any parent in the west will tell you, there's always a concern as to whether your sons and daughters will be able to stay.
"We have built up the business so that our children are increasingly part of the company's future and expect it to live on long past me and the brothers," he added.
Name: Harry Hughes, chief executive, Portwest
From/lives: Westport, Co Mayo
Family: Married to Deirdre with five children aged between 21 and 28 years of age
Something you might expect: Harry spends a lot of time on the road
Something you might not expect: A keen local historian, Harry has written five books, including one on the history and archaeology of Croagh Patrick.
Charles Hughes
Harry Hughes
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Search executive
jobs on irishtimes.com


text:
The Hundred-Year Walk
Dawn Anahid MacKeen
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Indiebound
"MacKeen doesn't shirk from recounting the grisly details of genocide, describing brutal beatings, hunger to the point of cannibalism, and thirst to the point of urine-drinking. With a health-care reporter's deft touch, she manages to play down the utter pathos, but her dedication to baring gruesome facts is as unfailing as her loyalty to the mission thrust upon her." —Barron's
"Must read"—New York Post
"Gripping"—Outside
"MacKeen weaves multiple historical sources for corroboration and context, but her main material, Stepan's unpublished memoir, lands the emotional punch of personal narrative. MacKeen's added perspective is what makes this book though. A moving portrait of one family's relationship to the past that offers surprising hope for reconciliation."—Toronto Globe and Mail
"This previously untold story of survival and personal fortitude is on par with Laura Hillenbrand's Unbroken. Further, this is a tale of tracing your family roots and learning about who you are."--Library Journal, STARRED review
"Harrowing"—Us Weekly
"Powerful"–Khloe Kardashian, Koko's Book Club pick
"A century later, his journalist granddaughter found his first hand accounts of his harrowing journey, and in an attempt to learn more about him, set out on her own journey to follow his route through Turkey and Syria. The result is a compelling new take on an important, too-little-understood chapter of history."—The National Book Review
"Part family heirloom, part history lesson, The Hundred-Year Walk is an emotionally poignant work, powerfully imagined and expertly crafted. The considerable archival scaffolding remains invisible as MacKeen carries her readers on an emotional journey full of heartache and hope."
—Aline Ohanesian, author of Orhan's Inheritance
"In her remarkable book, The Hundred-Year Walk, Dawn MacKeen has taken the Armenian genocide and shown us its terrifying flesh, blood, bone, and sinew. Her vehicle is her grandfather's forced deportation, and she uses it to take the reader on a horrific ride into the heart of one of history's darkest moments."
—S. C. Gwynne, author of Empire of the Summer Moon
"I am in awe of what Dawn MacKeen has done here. With the meticulousness of a historian, the courage of an investigative reporter, and the compassion of a daughter mining a fraught and cherished family legacy, MacKeen has accomplished the near impossible. She has elucidated a complicated ethnic and political history through a delightfully literary lens. Her sentences sing. Her research shines. Her readers will be rapt—and a lot smarter by the end."
—Meghan Daum, author of The Unspeakable: And Other Subjects of Discussion
"By telling the riveting story of her grandfather Stepan, who—like the armies of refugees today—overcame daunting odds as he braved the Turkish gauntlet of death and walked across desert sands to safety, Dawn MacKeen drives home that we're all part of the human family. The Hundred-Year Walk is an unforgettable contribution to the literature of suffering and memory, and to the growing conviction that we must say 'Never again' to the mass destruction of human life and culture."
—David Talbot, author of The Devil's Chessboard
"The Armenian genocide has been forgotten today except by those who keep it alive. Investigative reporter Dawn Anahid MacKeen grew up hearing stories… Her own grandfather was one of those Armenian migrants forced to walk from Turkey to Syria. She retraces his steps in her remarkable new book, The Hundred-Year Walk." —John Hockenberry, PRI's The Takeaway
NPR's All Things Considered listen...
Los Angeles Times read...
PRI's The Takeaway listen...
PBS's Book View Now watch...
GoodReads Debut Author Snapshot read...
Los Angeles Review of Books read...
Huffington Post read...
Excerpts/Articles
ELLE "I Retraced My Grandfather's 1000-Mile Odyssey With His Journals as My Guide"
Salon "The Crime of Being Armenian"
Ozy "Grandpa Stepan's Extraordinary Gift"


text:
Difference between revisions of "Magnanimity"
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|date=The run begins on the Day of the Late Dog in the Month of the Serpent in the thirteenth Year of the Magpie since the Regency Council was formed.
|location=The run takes place in the City of Light in the Illuminated Precincts and the Shrouded Isle
|runlinks=[[Bear for Sale|Previous Run]]
|runlinks=[[Bear for Sale|Previous Run]] [[Silence is Crimson|Next Run]]
==Setup==
When the little carriage arrives, things are surprisingly ahead of schedule. The increase in efficiency seems to be coming from the non-headliner acts, who are working together more smoothly, which Merit finds deeply suspicious. The VIP box has been expanded and is extra-plush, for Minoru Katsu and Lady Suzuki and Kuan-Xi to sit in. Katsu has been visiting the circus, and seems to be reasonably popular and liked. Cai Wen delegates the discussion of the VIP box to Merit. Kuan-Xi hears that her lady-in-waiting, [[Shang Rui]], has gone off with Lady Suzuki.
When the little carriage arrives, things are surprisingly ahead of schedule. The increase in efficiency seems to be coming from the non-headliner acts, who are working together more smoothly, which Merit finds deeply suspicious. The VIP box has been expanded and is extra-plush, for [[Minoru Katsu]] and [[Lady Suzuki]] and Kuan-Xi to sit in. Katsu has been visiting the circus, and seems to be reasonably popular and liked. Cai Wen delegates the discussion of the VIP box to Merit. Kuan-Xi hears that her lady-in-waiting, [[Shang Rui]], has gone off with Lady Suzuki.
Merit also hears that there is some discontent and grumbling directed at him by the circus folk. He asks his spy in the circus what's up; apparently it has come to the attention to certain members of the circus that there are certain... inequities in pay scale. There are the headliners and the not-headliners, which everyone is used to, and there are also the really good income earners and the not. There was some investigation, and it was discovered that there was an investment opportunity for some people in the Merit Trade Company, but not everyone had the chance to invest twenty li and get twenty li back every week. [[Bien Mei-Ling]] says that they deserve better.
* Siri tells Cai Wen that she's here on behalf of the Dragon's Hoard, to steal things from no one he has ever met, so he should feel at ease. He tells her that they've freed the Dragon, and He's probably going to want his Hoard back.
* Katsu tells Kuan-Xi that the older woman (we'll just call her the Songstress) is wearing the Great Talisman of the Phoenix. Kuan-Xi tells Katsu that the Dragon spirit is free, so the Phoenix is free to act. Ah, maybe that's why the Songstress is out in public for the first time in decades.
* Katsu tells Kuan-Xi that the older woman (we'll just call her the [[Songstress]]) is wearing the Great Talisman of the Phoenix. Kuan-Xi tells Katsu that the Dragon spirit is free, so the Phoenix is free to act. Ah, maybe that's why the Songstress is out in public for the first time in decades.
* The guard captain tells Kasumi that there are several shticks that will detect anyone sneaking up to the Firelord. Kasumi says that someone on the other side of the room is a ninja, but she's not sure who.
Cai Wen leaves with Katsu, and requests the boon of his maintaining an alliance with Lady Suzuki, contingent on giving Kuan-Xi her freedom. This is a bit complicated, but Katsu has already agreed to break the betrothal, so it's okay.
Lady Suzuki leaves with Kuan-Xi and requests the use of the carriage during this puttering. Siri leaves with the finance minister, and the Songstress leaves with Muro Hidetora. That's it for the favors.
==Final Bits==
[[Category: Book Six Logs]]
* Cai Wen et al visit the grave of the Bandits of the Double Caldera.
* Lijuan and Takanata visit Ti Lao to tell him about her Foon heritage.
* Cai Wen looks for the Moon's First Daughter
"He who was presented with an ox must give in return a horse." The run begins on the Day of the Late Dog in the Month of the Serpent in the thirteenth Year of the Magpie since the Regency Council was formed.
The run takes place in the City of Light in the Illuminated Precincts and the Shrouded Isle
Previous Run Next Run
1 Distractions
2 Military Planning
4 Politicking
5 Magnaminity
6 Final Bits
Merit continues to worry about the circus being attacked by sea monsters. Cai Wen worries about Squeaky being unhappy, and Lijuan notices that Ho is also unhappy, since the two animals were attacked by the Demon of Animal Cruelty. Lijuan examines them both, and thinks that if they were people, she would have them drink soothing tea and relax, but animals don't normally have the same sort of existential depression. She comes up with her best guess at a treatment regimen.
Three things plus a scary fourth
Then, she draws some art - the fourth quadrant she leaves blank, because it is too horrible to contemplate. Well, that doesn't sound good.
Merit gets a message that there's some sort of customs problem with the ship booked to the Shrouded Isle. A Dragon Army soldier (wearing a uniform indicating he's in the Sea Lord's command) in the customs house asks a bunch of questions about their travel plans, and wants to make sure that their ship, the Swift Crossing, returns after taking the circus to the island, rather than waiting around to take them to the Isle of Beauty. Merit doesn't want to be obliged to send the ship back, and there are clearly some legal ramifications from actually confiscating it, but refusing to clear the customs forms is a way to make an end run around that issue. After much grumbling, they agree to send the ship back, and their exit documents get stamped. Merit pumps the soldier for more information, and he thinks Merit has no idea what things are like now. It's not like in the stories where the Warden of the Southern Seas just fixes everything. Here in the real world, you have to defend the coasts with ships! Everyone looks very thoughtful about this.
Lijuan looks for Da-Xie, but she doesn't appear to be around. Cai Wen remembers that Takanata sent her to the Isle of Beauty as part of the "move the islands back" plan.
Merit checks in with his spy in Commander Sung's team. The Southern invasion is officially still a secret. They're pulling people off the South Wall to put on ships; the Sea Lord is providing a lot of the ships, but they'll also have to commandeer some. Merit is concerned - if they take everyone off the Wall, then maybe that means the armada is a feint, and the actual invasion will come over the Wall.
Clearly this is something that needs to be dealt with immediately, so the circus gets sent on ahead to the Shrouded Isle, and the party will catch up later in Kuan-Xi's carriage.
Given recent events and the resulting dip in circus popularity, Cai Wen points out to everyone that not-very-threatening attacks made against the party when they're in the circus should be countered with restraint, not immediate fatality. Don't kill people if you don't have to.
Merit heads to the Exalted Library to look up information on the Warden of the Seas. So... most people of learning believe that the Golden Palace Immortals exist, and that the Prince of the Immortals is named the Warden of the Northern Seas as one of his three titles. The Warden of the Southern Seas, on the other hand, nobody really believes in, though there are several fanciful stories filed under "fiction" which mention a pirate called the Water Dragon who was sometimes named such a warden.
Everyone else heads to the Isle of Beauty in Kuan-Xi's carriage. Kasumi goes to the gardens in case Ti Jun has something to say; the Prince isn't there, but she overhears that Old Teng has been transferred to the royal estates in as close to the far end of nowhere as you can get on the Isle.
Everyone else checks in with the Dragon Army garrison on the island, to find out whether there are any young girls hanging around. The captain exasperatedly says that they are trying to avoid having army groupies hanging around, and trying to be more professional than that. The groupie went back to the palace, as she does some sort of thing there. Kuan-Xi tries to glare him into taking back the "no groupies" policy, but he is not sufficiently impressed to do so.
The group heads to the palace, where they find Da-Xie in the southern wing, in a seriously bad temper and apparently plagued with paperwork. Cai Wen examines the paperwork - is it some sort of bureaucracy attack? No, instead it seems to be a bureaucratic maneuver to make it very very clear that Da-Xie works here, as part of the Strategic Defensive Planning Committee. There are lots of notes from meetings, which she annotates and signs. (Other members of the committee include Golden Flame, J, an architect, the captain of the guard, and the palace chamberlain).
Lijuan reassures her that the work she's doing is very important - but does it have anything to do with the armada coming from the South? The what? So... there's this southern invasion fleet, that they came here to ask her about. Da-Xie doesn't know anything about that - she's kind of out of the loop here on the island. She also particularly doesn't approve of taking soldiers off the Wall and putting them on boats - she's going to have to deal with that. Speaking of things she doesn't approve of, she also doesn't approve of this stupid Northern Wall on her island. It makes it almost impossible for her to come here on her own, among other problems.
"You tell Mister Grumpy Pants that next time I see him, I am going to smack him. And you take me south to fix this." -Da-Xie
The group wonders if she's heard of the Warden of the Southern Seas from long long ago - she says she doesn't know about that, but then, she's only seventeen. Cai Wen's best guess is that if Da-Xie is back up on the island in a week or so without telling anyone that she's gone, then the bureaucratic "she works here" won't be disturbed.
Kuan-Xi gathers some local news on the way back to the carriage - rumor has it that after years of stagnation in the general House games, there are some changes. House Nogi has gotten a lot of credit with their Petal Bay revitalization and the upcoming festival, while House Tokai is starting to slip.
The carriage trip back to the City of Light is a little longer than usual, as nobody has any KS: Illuminated Precincts. Eventually, they end up on Olive Partridge Island, and make their way back to the City of Light by normal means. Everyone staggers back to the hotel, finds a note from Merit that says he's at his restaurant, and decides that it's too much trouble to go find him at this point.
Military Planning
In the morning, Da-Xie shows up to the party's hotel - she's confirmed that there's a giant fleet coming! Merit says not to worry, they'll be dropping a sea serpent on it. Maybe. He also notices that despite the fleet, Da-Xie seems to be a lot less grumpy now.
"So... you know you're not really seventeen, right?" -Merit
"No, I'm pretty sure I'm seventeen." -Da-Xie
"Have you always been seventeen?" -Merit
"... no, I was fifteen when I met you two years ago." -Da-Xie
Da-Xie clarifies that she is not exactly like Mister Grumpy Pants - winter hibernates, but summer is reborn. Winter is a lot more boring.
The party assures Da-Xie that they are dealing with the sea invasion, but she will have to deal with the Wall staffing problems. She has already convinced the Bearers of Swift Response to not get on boats - they've gone back to their regular patrols. Merit talks to her about strategy, and comes to the conclusion that she's very conservative, and that left to her own devices, she will probably strip the Navy of all the southern Dragon Army forces and put them back on the wall. Which could be a problem for the boats.
Da-Xie gets the group in to see Commander Sun - that goes surprisingly easily, as she can just walk right in, followed by the party. They seem to genuinely like each other; he doesn't dislike the party, but does seem to expect them to be the bearers of ominous news. An argument about how many people to put on the boats versus how many people to put on the Wall ensues. There is some discussion of sending more spies south, but Da-Xie thinks that's cruel and heartless, since they can't return. Regardless of the proportions, the Empire's forces seem likely to be outnumbered. If it was clear where the invasion fleet would be landing, trying to be there to defend might be more sound, but without the ability to be sure where to go, meeting them on the ocean might be safer.
Outside, watching for trouble, Kasumi and Lijuan spot a furtive-looking woman who looks a little familiar. The woman spots them looking at her, and disappears into the crowd. Lijuan goes shopping, and buys several barrels of hardtack, which she presents to the local urchins in case of invasion.
And then, it is time to bid the Illuminated Precincts a possibly-overdue goodbye.
"Perhaps we should go to the Shrouded Isle, where we should be for a circus performance tonight?"
When the little carriage arrives, things are surprisingly ahead of schedule. The increase in efficiency seems to be coming from the non-headliner acts, who are working together more smoothly, which Merit finds deeply suspicious. The VIP box has been expanded and is extra-plush, for Minoru Katsu and Lady Suzuki and Kuan-Xi to sit in. Katsu has been visiting the circus, and seems to be reasonably popular and liked. Cai Wen delegates the discussion of the VIP box to Merit. Kuan-Xi hears that her lady-in-waiting, Shang Rui, has gone off with Lady Suzuki.
Merit also hears that there is some discontent and grumbling directed at him by the circus folk. He asks his spy in the circus what's up; apparently it has come to the attention to certain members of the circus that there are certain... inequities in pay scale. There are the headliners and the not-headliners, which everyone is used to, and there are also the really good income earners and the not. There was some investigation, and it was discovered that there was an investment opportunity for some people in the Merit Trade Company, but not everyone had the chance to invest twenty li and get twenty li back every week. Bien Mei-Ling says that they deserve better.
It's time for the circus to begin - Kuan-Xi goes to dinner elsewhere, ignoring her mother and anyone else in the VIP box. A carriage much like Kuan-Xi's arrives, bringing Minoru Katsu and Lady Suzuki and Shang Rui. The two locals frown to find Katsu's fiancee (that is, Kuan-Xi) not there, and Rui asks around for her, but nobody will admit to knowing where she is. The party decides to send Zhuai (now "Lord Foon") to see what he can find out from them.
"So when I said, 'no one else is engaged, right?' you all lied to me!" -Kasumi
Merit checks who is in town regarding the circus's money - Merit, Bian Mei-Ling, and Merchant Siri, who has just added herself to the plot. Merit also notes that he seems to have more guards on the trade company wagons than he should, though whenever he talks to any particular guard, it's someone he recognizes. He summons his Butterfly strike team, and sends them to vanish into the back mountains of the island with the party loot, to return in two days time.
The circus performances are pretty epic, and Shuyan mesmerizes everyone with a snake dance for a good twenty minutes. Lijuan is impressive in her archery, and Murase Minako is surprisingly good as well. Akimoto, however, misses a jump to the trapeze, and plummets towards the ground, only to be saved by Kasumi at the last minute with a three-karma "yoink". After the performance, Cai Wen goes to talk to Akimoto to find out what happened, but he says that everything is fine, and he'll deal with it. Shuyan tries to talk to him too, but he's still unforthcoming.
Lijuan examines all the ropes and platforms, looking for frayed ropes or incriminating pieces of silk tying something to something else, but she can't find anything. As far as she can tell, it's just that Akimoto missed his jump.
Returning from dinner, Kuan-Xi listens for rumors, but the big one is that she's back on the island. There's supposed to be a formal party at the Shrouded Citadel tomorrow, and there was some sort of disturbance there last night. When she gets back to the circus, Rui tells her that she kind of played along with Kuan-Xi's mother about the whole marriage thing, rather than arguing directly, and that she's been given an allowance from House Suzuki!
Zhuai checks back in. Since they told him he wasn't allowed to solve the problem, he didn't cut any deals, but he suspects that Katsu would be amenable to making a deal. Getting a favor from the Firelord might be sufficient. Kuan-Xi doesn't understand why her mother is making a deal with Katsu at all, but Zhuai thinks that (unlike Kuan-Xi), Lady Suzuki thinks being Firelady is a win, and that if a member of a different branch of Suzuki became Firelord, then their branch would take over the family.
Merit notes that Merchant Siri is no longer involved in the money plot, but he doesn't find that particularly reassuring. As for who is in town involved with Minako's horse-y plot: Murase Minako, her horses, Merit's horse, and the Firelord's horse. Hmm. He ponders plots some more.
Lijuan tracks down Bian Mei-Ling at the super-secret meeting in the tea tent, and she and Kasumi sneak in to spy on the meeting. Mystic Mondo looks at Kasumi and winks, but nobody else seems to notice. With the power of collective bargaining, Mei-Ling says, they can get the ringmaster and propmaster to understand that they are circus performers too. Some of their number have even paid with their lives! There is some cheering, and the circus appears to mostly be on board with her plan. She passes around a sack, which a number of people put li into. Then, they all leave, more or less furtively.
Politicking
In the morning, everyone except Kasumi heads to the Suzuki estate. Kuan-Xi's mother is there; her father is away doing research at the moment. Polite small talk is made, until Kuan-Xi mentions the armada from the south. Lady Suzuki asks a lot of questions, more about the provenance of the information than specific tactical questions, and says she'll have to speak to the Firelord at the party that evening. She suggests that she could arrange for invitations for the group - it would be good for Kuan-Xi to have a pleasant evening with Katsu. She'll provide seven invitations if Kuan-Xi will have her first dance with Katsu.
"Fine, so I don't dance." -Kuan-Xi
Does Lady Suzuki know anything about the name of the island, or changes to it? She doesn't. She did notice when it moved, though. What caused it is a great mystery, though being able to advise the Firelord on what caused it would get points.
Everyone heads back to the circus, where the promised invitations arrive. Siri shows up to say hello to Cai Wen, and wonder if he can arrange for her to attend the party. Cai Wen says he has an invitation, but unfortunately not a spare. She says she's in town for nothing related to the circus, but she did happen to do some recon on the palace a few nights ago. If he can get her into the party, she can help him with any party mechanics. Zhuai thinks he might be able to get some more invitations from Katsu, though it would be good if he could offer something. They agree that he can promise the dance with Kuan-Xi to Katsu as well. Kuan-Xi says that her main goal (other than getting out of the betrothal) is that she doesn't want her mother to lose political ground.
"Have you thought about making your father Firelord? I have not thought about this, but it seems like a possibility." -Zhuai
Kuan-Xi says that he's not really the political power. Making her mother Firelady might give her the power she is interested in, but she'd still have an interest, maybe even more of one, in who Kuan-Xi marries. And Cai Wen says that he can spend a couple of actions tossing party points towards Katsu, depending on what the party mechanic is. Zhuai heads off to see what he can put together with this.
Bien Mei-Ling shows up to talk privately with Merit and Cai Wen. They go into the tea tent, followed stealthily by Kasumi and Shuyan. She starts in on her spiel: many at the circus have noticed the vast financial inequities, etc. etc. In the end, she offers Merit the bag of li she has collected, and says that they want to buy into the Trade Company too.
Merit isn't sure that's reasonable. There are a lot of responsibilities that come from being in the mutual fund. They recently defeated a southern strike team, and defeated bandits in the Forest of Chin. Mei-Ling doesn't seem particularly surprised by that, and mentions the time that Enlightened Melina recovered Xiao Fa's vision from the Dragon, or Mystic Mondo opened the Ivory Sphere, or she herself got the strike team into the Obsidian Ninja house, or Silent Han... well, he was was killed by skinwalkers protecting the Ringmaster, wasn't he? Merit thinks that those examples aren't as good as some of his, but admits that her argument has some validity.
She offers her first proposal: the circus folk buy in to the Merit Fund, and they will provide a fully character-sheeted circus NPC for each run to help with the plot. Merit is dubious - is she sure they want to take on the extra risk? Mei-Ling thinks that one, yes, and two, many of them think they're seeing a lot of the risk anyway.
"A lot of the named circus folk know we're fighting the Marked - we're just not really sure who they are or why we're doing it." -Mei-Ling
Merit says that paying out more money to other performers would be very suspicious if they started spending it publically - how about if he has all their income held in trust for them on the Isle of Beauty, so they could take it out at some later time but can't spend it? Mei-Ling finds this a rather dubious suggestion, and counter-offers that they could take turns with the current shareholders as to whose salary is held in an unspendable state. He does, however, persuade her that the unnamed circus mooks need less of a raise.
In the end, they settle on the compromise that there will be a number of circus NPCs who want to be in the high-risk high-salary pay grade, and there will be a test period during which each of them is in a run. During the test period, they'll be paid half the salary of the PCs, after which Merit can choose which ones to keep and which one he thinks are useless; useless NPCs won't get to rotate in and won't be paid extra. Oh, and they can have their bag of li back.
"There's no buy in? What kind of crazy company is this?" -Mei-Ling
"I can't tell you everything... yet." -Merit
Magnaminity
Zhuai returns from his meeting with Minoru Katsu, with a party invitation for Siri in exchange for first dance privileges with Kuan-Xi. The thing that Katsu is offering is that he will officially call off the betrothal, so that Kuan-Xi's mother can't exert any more pressure, if the party can get him the largest boon from the Firelord at the end of the party.
Cai Wen explains the basic party rules: "If you want to win this party, give until it hurts."
And then, they are off to the party!
Magnanimous actions in the Intellectual and Social figures include:
Merit passes; this is its own form of magnanimity, as it lets the other person score points. Jiro tells Merit that the Firelord's guard captain is very interested in finding out information about the disturbance in the palace, and that the older woman over there is the leader of one of the most secret organizations in the Empire.
Siri tells Cai Wen that she's here on behalf of the Dragon's Hoard, to steal things from no one he has ever met, so he should feel at ease. He tells her that they've freed the Dragon, and He's probably going to want his Hoard back.
Katsu tells Kuan-Xi that the older woman (we'll just call her the Songstress) is wearing the Great Talisman of the Phoenix. Kuan-Xi tells Katsu that the Dragon spirit is free, so the Phoenix is free to act. Ah, maybe that's why the Songstress is out in public for the first time in decades.
The guard captain tells Kasumi that there are several shticks that will detect anyone sneaking up to the Firelord. Kasumi says that someone on the other side of the room is a ninja, but she's not sure who.
Cai Wen tells Muro Hidetora about emperor mechanics. Hidetora tells Cai Wen that Muro is secretly a cadet branch of Kobayashi, and he has the Firelord's favor.
Merit briefs the guard captain about the Northern Barbarian tactics used against the Isle of Beauty. The guard captain says whoever scouted out his defenses three days ago scouted out Merit's yesterday. Neither of them thinks this is very useful.
The party starts to notice a kind of feud going on between two of the party goers (nicknamed Smiley and Shouty), and Merit decides to help Smiley a bit.
"She says if you go home with her after the party she won't even read your character sheet, and she thinks you're smart enough to know what that means." -Smiley to Merit
Kasumi takes advantage of an impressive move to dance Lady Suzuki wherever she wants to be.
The Songstress tells Kuan-Xi that even though it's against hundreds of years of tradition, she officially authorizes Kuan-Xi to promote her own heroism instead of some other Phoenix's.
Lijuan tells the Firelord about the incoming Southern armada, scooping Lady Suzuki (who was waiting for a more appropriate figure).
Shuyan offers to dance for Katsu in private.
"I'm not listening, la la la" -Merit
The Songstress appears to have a goal of dancing with Shuyan, Cai Wen, and Kasumi, though she doesn't have specific things to offer them once she does so. Drift changes the figure to Compromising, which leads to some interesting magnanimity.
Lijuan tells Zhuai that he can decide when it's time to have an heir, which kind of stuns him and gets her a large handful of points.
Siri tells the guard captain what she's going to steal from the Shrouded Isle.
Cai Wen tells Zhuai that he's never been so humiliated as when Zhuai tricked him into letting Lijuan get kidnapped. "But if you're good for her, I'm going to let that go." Zhuai considers compromising things he could say in return, but stays on plan and lets Cai Wen get the point.
Merit tells the assassin that he's a spy for the Isle of Beauty, and the assassin admits that he's hanging around, waiting to take out the wrong heir.
The Songstress admits to Shuyan that her plan is to use some Phoenix-granted abilities of hers while dancing with each other holder of a talisman.
The last figure called is the Imperial figure.
Lijuan tells Lady Suzuki that she's the last heir of the Bear Emperor and is allied with her daughter.
Cai Wen tells the Firelord the briefing on the Qin Cho protocols, which is interesting but not really something he needs to know.
The architect tells Kuan-Xi that he knows how the Walls were built.
The Firelord tells Lijuan that he supports the Regent from the Shrouded Isle for Emperor, and she tells him that Ti Jun is another candidate.
Shouty tells Merit that the Shrouded Isle regent is a fire sorcerer, and Merit tells him that almost anyone can trace their lineage back to the Imperium one way or another.
Kuan-Xi tells the finance minister that the Empire is about to be invaded by an armada. He tells Kuan-Xi that the Imperial Treasury was recently robbed, but they're trying to cover it up. She says she knows, which he finds fascinating in its own right.
The party ends, with Lijuan in the lead. She leaves with the Firelord, and asks the boon of officially choosing Katsu as his heir.
Final Bits
The next morning, Mei-Ling says she would like to add something to the negotiations. Could Merit's new guard, Kun, be transferred somewhere else? Maybe he could guard Merit's restaurant instead? He's been making a lot of the circus folk nervous, and she thinks that's why Akimoto fell. Merit says that he'll have to keep him around, but he can ban Kun from attending any performances or practices; Mei-Ling thinks that could be okay.
Mei-Ling and Merit also agree on the final details of the bargain - seven named circus people will rotate through being in the runs. They'll be paid at half the party rate during the trial period, and then after that, everyone can argue over who is sufficiently useful.
Cai Wen et al visit the grave of the Bandits of the Double Caldera.
Lijuan and Takanata visit Ti Lao to tell him about her Foon heritage.
Cai Wen looks for the Moon's First Daughter
Retrieved from "http://boojum.scripts.mit.edu/Dragon/index.php?title=Magnanimity&oldid=12693"
Book Six Logs


Having worked on Chantilly Lace's website, Sidetrack worked with Bow Bridal, the sister wedding dress business, in developing their brand and website. The site showcases the company's dress collection and gives customers the ability to book appointments. The site was launched in 2018.


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Elmer Jacob Burkett, född 1 december 1867 i Mills County, Iowa, död 23 maj 1935 i Lincoln, Nebraska, var en amerikansk republikansk politiker. Han representerade delstaten Nebraska i båda kamrarna av USA:s kongress, först i representanthuset 1899-1905 och sedan i senaten 1905-1911.

Burkett avlade 1893 juristexamen vid University of Nebraska. Han inledde därefter sin karriär som advokat i Lincoln.

Burkett blev invald i representanthuset i kongressvalet 1898. Han omvaldes 1900 och 1902. Han efterträdde 1905 Charles Henry Dietrich som senator för Nebraska. Han efterträddes sex år senare av Gilbert Hitchcock.

Burkett var metodist och frimurare. Han gravsattes på Wyuka Cemetery i Lincoln.

Externa länkar
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Amerikanska republikaner
Ledamöter av USA:s representanthus från Nebraska
Ledamöter av USA:s senat från Nebraska
Amerikanska politiker under 1800-talet
Amerikanska politiker under 1900-talet
Personer från Mills County, Iowa
Födda 1867
Avlidna 1935
Män
Alumner från University of Nebraska–Lincoln


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Home Celebrity Culture Celebrity Culture: Yoon Ji Sung Shares Heartbreaking Story Of His Newly Adopted...
Celebrity Culture: Yoon Ji Sung Shares Heartbreaking Story Of His Newly Adopted Dog + Thoughts On Healthy Celebrity-Fan Culture
On June 17, Oh Boy! released Yoon Ji Sung's cover and pictorial for the latest issue, which were shot before the singer's recent military enlistment.
In the accompanying interview, Yoon Ji Sung revealed that his mother wanted to raise another dog following the death of his pet of 17 years, Sarangyi.
He had said to his mom, "I don't have the confidence to endure the same kind of pain again and I don't think I can raise [a dog] again. These dogs also have lots of pain. What if we're not enough?"
After many conversations, Yoon Ji Sung's mother brought home the dog Hodu. At the time, Hodu always looked scared and sad, and Hodu was frightened when Yoon Ji Sung put his hand near it due to trauma from a previous male owner. Yoon Ji Sung explained, "It was abandoned five times. It must've been hurt during those five times. Dogs also know everything."
Hodu finally opened up thanks to Yoon Ji Sung's love, and the two posed for photos in the pictorial.
Also in the interview, Yoon Ji Sung talked about fan and celebrity relationships. "As a fan of a celebrity, I know how big that impact is," said Yoon Ji Sung. "I was a fan of Lee Hyori. I learned and studied a lot through seeing Lee Hyori. Every day, I thought, 'When I become an influential person in the future, I want to become a good person like that.'"
He continued, "I still wear the campaign bracelets. They only cost a couple of collars, but I think it's a meaningful cause. I really liked and was grateful that fans also bought them after I wore them. I want to become someone who has a positive influence. I always say to fans, 'I'll become a good person. I'll become a good celebrity.' I think that's a good culture for a singer and fan."
Yoon Ji Sung enlisted in the military on May 14 as an active duty soldier and released his digital single "Winter Flower" as a gift for his fans.
Source (1) (2)
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God help me, I'm still an insane fan
Nov 27, 2022 Newsletter Meta
Good afternoon to everybody but Ryan Day, and thanks for your continued support of Extra Points.
I didn't go to Journalism school, but I know enough about it to know that they tell you that there's no cheering in the press box pretty early in the curriculum. Serious Professional Journalists are supposed to be objective, bereft of fandom and emotional attachments. You take that childhood fandom, and you drown it in the bathtub as quickly as you possibly can. After all, we are not supposed to care who wins or what happens on the field, only that it happens quickly enough for us to file before deadline, so we can make it back to the Marriott hotel bar before closing time.
Of course, objectivity is impossible, because we're human beings.
Regardless of what professional standards dictate, major college football press boxes are full of homers, just usually homers that have the good sense to not actually cheer in the press box or tweet things like JIM HARBAUGH FOR PRISON during a game. They have to be marginally more subtle.
While this is certainly not true for every reporter there, recruiting message boards are full of writers who practically serve as extensions of the university recruiting department, a trend that I think is becoming even more pronounced in the portal/NIL era. Other writers may not care who wins a game, but very much care about protecting their friends or sources. And I know veteran reporters who will swear on their FWAA membership cards that they're neutral, but still very much prefer to cover teams that are winning. After all, nobody buys a book from a beat writer about a 3-9 season. Success sells subscriptions.
I learned to write while working at SB Nation, a website that used to have great college sports coverage until management decided to pivot to producing content for millionaires with 'Hate Has No Home Here' signs in their all-white neighborhoods. SBN believed that it would be more honest to throw any pretense of objectivity out the window. We were told to write for fans, while clearly identifying ourselves as fans. We would seek to be accurate, fair, and interesting, yes. But not objective.
That approach does allow for a certain kind of honesty since you aren't worried about placating a coach, agent or administrator. But it also creates limitations. The uncouth embrace of fandom was used by plenty of administrators as a reason for never giving us access. I learned to file FOIAs, after all, only because schools almost never called me back once they learned where I worked. I had to develop a writing style that doesn't easily fit into most other outlets.
I obviously don't work there anymore. Extra Points covers a very different beat than whatever I wrote about at SB Nation. While this isn't a scoops-focused publication and probably never will be, I really do need to talk to administrators and industry professionals to write many of my stories. Even though I've been a professional sportswriter for a decade now, I still feel like I am only slowly being introduced into Polite Professional Society: the type of reporter that goes to conventions and conferences and nods solemnly at Calls To Reform College Sports on various panel discussions.
I don't think I'll ever be fully comfortable in that world, because I do not have the credentials, the byline, or the self-assurance. But I also know part of that is because, despite my best efforts, I have not managed to extinguish those last burning embers of fandom. I am an Ohio State football fan. This is not a secret.
This means, even as a Serious Professional Journalist, I'm a little bit insane. Even before this weekend.
Last year, I read a book given to me for Christmas by my wise and successful brother-in-law called A Guide To The Good Life: The Ancient Art of Stoic Joy by William B. Irvine. A central theme of this book was the importance of getting off the Hedonic Treadmill.
My formal philosophy education consists of this book, a B in one college class and watching The Good Place, so forgive me if I mess this up, but I understood the Hedonic Treadmill as the cycle where one returns to a baseline level of happiness, despite major life changes.
The risk here is that one can lose the ability to find joy and happiness for certain levels of success or external rewards. The child who grew up with the Game Boy Color may now get bored with it and insist he can only be happy with a Nintendo Switch. In 2021, I was excited to have 4,000 subscribers. In 2022, I have 11,000+ and worry if that number dips by a handful. This is not a recipe for human happiness.
This is a core problem with Ohio State fandom. I reckon I was old enough to really start paying attention to college football in 1996. Ohio State has won two national titles in that span, 13 Big Ten titles, three other national title appearances, and countless major bowl bids. The Buckeyes have been excellent for nearly my entire life.
You know who would love to have that level of success? Almost every single other FBS program.
And yet!
I know I am not the only Ohio State fan who has not enjoyed watching a lot of Ohio State football. With almost every spread in the double digits, the only acceptable outcome is not only a victory, but a blowout, especially if Georgia, Alabama and Clemson are blowing teams out that week. A 22-point win over Wisconsin brings only marginal relief, not joy. The regular season may be punctuated with sporadic excitement from highlights and the occasional unexpected blowout, but when the consensus expectations are so high, a win is simply not enough.
The expectations, as explained by Ryan Day himself, are threefold. For the team to beat Michigan, to win Big Ten championships, and to compete for national titles.
This season, Ohio State went 11-1. They might sneak into the Playoff somehow, but the first two goals failed. The team will probably play in the Rose Bowl or some other New Year's Six Bowl, and half a dozen starters will probably sit out. It would be a towering achievement for almost any other program in college football, and given this year's expectations, this year's talent, and this particular season, it will feel hollow.
And here's the thing: I know how crazy this sounds.
I know Ryan Day is 45-5 at Ohio State. I know he's made the CFP twice, and might even make it a third time. I know that unlike, uh, most other Ohio State coaches, he's also mostly avoided embarrassing scandals.
I cover the business of college athletics! I know, as a professional, how challenging it can be on an administrative, political, even spiritual level for programs to balance skyrocketing expectations with reality. I know, as somebody who has written extensively about college football for over a decade, that games are not played on spreadsheets and that nobody could possibly expect to win titles every season.
I've been to Sunday School! I've been to therapy! I completely intellectually understand the concept of reasonable expectations, about not letting comparison be the thief of joy, the whole thing.
Even after a day to think about it, I still would prefer Ryan Day to decide to take the Chargers job or whatever and go do something else.
The standard is the standard, and Ohio State isn't meeting it right now. You can be accused of a lot of things in Ohio....you can be slow, like the Buckeyes were during some of the Jim Tressel era. You can be stubborn, like they were during the Urban Meyer era. But you cannot be soft. And that's the current charge facing the Day administration.
I worry about a lot of things in this job, probably too many. One of my biggest concerns, whenever I fire up Google Docs and start typing a newsletter, is whether I am properly in touch with my audience.
This is a real struggle for professional writers. If you do this gig for long enough, there will always be a temptation to write for other colleagues, for sources, for award panels, rather than your core readers. You start worrying about stuff that your readers don't care about, and you run the risk of going down the road of irrelevancy.
I feel like remaining in touch with my readership at Extra Points is a particular challenge because I don't write for just one group. I write for industry professionals. I write for college students. I write for other media members. I write for conference commissioners, athletic directors and lawyers. But I also write for thousands of just regular fans. People with Reddit accounts, 247 subscriptions, non-.edu email addresses.
And these are the folks who support this entire industry, that make it possible for there to even be athletic directors and conference commissioners and NIL collectives and everything else.
Would I be happier if I could finally free myself from the tyranny of still caring who wins an Ohio State football game? On the balance, I think I probably would. Would I become more acceptable in certain halls of power in this industry? Almost certainly. Would I be a better writer?
Maybe this is my irrational brain talking, trying to justify ridiculous behavior to myself. But deep down, I don't think I would be a better writer. I don't think I'd be a better reporter, even if it meant I'd be a better connected one.
But it's also probably moot, because I don't think I can change. The Ohio is too strong in the bloodstream, and I'm afraid it is incurable. No amount of research papers, or thoughtful research, or careful analysis can kill the pre-workout fueled monster deep inside that just wants to tweet that Ryan Day is John Cooper with a beard in the middle of a Northwestern game that Ohio State is leading by 13 points.
God help me.
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