For some time now, the tempo and fun surrounding the yearly Abuja Carnival have been low. But in order to re-infuse life into the Carnival, the federal government has just appointed Mr. Biodun Abe, a stage design expert whose love for artistic aesthetics is never in question as the Director of the Abuja Carnival. In this encounter with Edozie Udeze, he bares his mind on how to run a carnival that is all-encompassing where aesthetics, guerilla theatre, street jams, and decorations and more, will be involved. Excerpts.
In the past few years, the Abuja Carnival event had been a bit in the doldrums. Owing to the lacklustre organization and some other fundamental issues, many people, particularly Abuja residents, had come to see the event as lacking in glamour, style and colour. Abuja carnival was started about ten years ago to give the nation's capital an opportunity to enjoy such a festival for relaxation and fun.
A few weeks ago, the federal government announced the appointment of Mr. Biodun Abe of the National Theatre, Lagos, as the new director of the Abuja Carnival. It is part of the attempt to make the carnival come alive once again. And Abe, a renowned stage designer and director who has produced several stage designs and plays both locally and internationally says in this encounter that he is ever ready to re-ignite the flame of the carnival and make it a must watch by both the low and the high. "It is time for us to make Abuja people and other visitors to the city to fully participate in the carnival. It is their carnival. It is a carnival to make everybody unwind, loosen up and be in the best mood for relaxation".
With the theme as Building an Enduring Creative Nation, he said: This is time for hard work, more work to make sure that I do not disappoint the people who reposed the confidence in me by appointing me. It is also time to work to keep the people in the industry attuned to the issues of the carnival. About the content of the carnival as it is now, I am cool with it. It is the execution, the pre-carnival events and so on that needs to be changed. For the carnival of that stature to make a lot of impact, there must be emphasis on the pre-carnival events. The people need to be sensitised. You should not turn the people that own the carnival to mere spectators. The people have to be partakers in the big event called Abuja Carnival. And when we do so, we refer to the indigenes, the people who are living in Abuja. These people must be given a sense of belonging; let them be part of it".
Hoping to use this as a formidable platform to engage most of the stakeholders in the industry to be at their best for the purpose of the carnival, Abe explained thus: "Everybody will be totally involved so that they will continue to talk about it like people still talk about Festac '77. To hoist the balloon, I intend to engage artistes that can work in a guerrilla performance; that is street theatre to also attract attention. Thus, there have to be certain scenarios that have to do with a festival. They will wear gorgeous costumes and while they are doing this, they are telling the story. This will be more noticed in those areas peopled by visitors and residents who hardly mix with others. The awareness has to be total and effusive. There will be stickers in conformity with the carnival that will also be in place. This will be distributed alongside the street performances. Both private cars, buses and passers-by will be given these stickers".
By also engaging transporters like the interstate big buses, the carnival planners hope to spread the awareness to more rural places. "The campaign will include Ifesinachi and the rest of them. We want to make them also show interest due to the number of people they bring into the city. I intend to hold a meeting with them next week to fine tune modalities for this. We will brand their vehicles with big posters and stickers for the carnival. Even the six local government councils of Abuja must be part of this initial preparation because the local people have also a role to play. I will have some colourful posters pasted at the council offices announcing the carnival. This has to be at the entrance of each council so that people will see it easily. This will also encourage the workers to be fully involved in the whole exercise".
For Abe who loves aestheties and uses colourful materials to improvise most often, this is the appropriate time to bring this to total fruition. "Arts, to me, thrive on aesthetics. And for me what does this mean? You cannot take away light, you cannot take away the effect of light. Two weeks to the event, I will be able to extend my scratchers in Abuja to let people know that something very special is about to happen. Two, I will have a street gallery that shows popular roads and streets in Abuja where you can get images, framed images, wrapped in beautiful colours and these will glitter from time to time. But there will be light at night too. This will be an unparalleled aesthetic appeal. All these images will have a footnote of Abuja Carnival 2014".
Because all aspects of the arts will be engaged in this, the plastic artists have their own roles to play. This is so in order to ensure that no one is left out. "Yes, it is one big market and therefore they have to be involved in it. The plastic artists will have the theme to explore, put people in visual form to be able to see and view the carnival on canvass. They have to create designs and pictures out of the theme. There's going to be an artists' village where they will converge for people to come and view what they have. This is referred to as a stationery gallery. At the end of the day the artists will sell and people will still go back there much later to buy more works".
Also in all these, all the film houses in and around Abuja will be engaged. Abe insists that this will help to encourage artisans to be in the show. "For sure, I will engage all the film houses, art institutions and all to be able to collate all the films running within the time to be shown from time to time. We will encourage them to announce these also in our event programme. This will help people who would like to go to cinema to watch the films to do so. This is also to make it a show of varieties. From the cinema, you can come and be part of the musical jam. This will run into the early morning, where different musicians and the rest of them are expected to perform. In addition, the Abuja Cultural Centre will have plenty of live theatre running to hold the interest of those who love such. All the days of the carnival, the live theatre of different kinds will be on stage".
Other usual events of the carnival like the regatta, the children carnival, the durbar and others will be in place. However, the street will be shortened in such a way that they will be heavily manned and decorated in varieties of colours. The float tolls have to change to include the usage of bicycles, motor bikes and keke napep to decorate them to suit the tastes of visitors. Abe said, "All these will help us to have different concepts. We need to move away from the old routine to give modernity and varieties to the concept of floats. While people wait at the Eagle Square, they will feel good doing so, because the variety of floats will give joy to their hearts".
He intends also to engage the less-privileged and the cripples whom he says will be expected to perform with their rollers. "when I get to Abuja, I will talk to them.
Then after that, the team hopes to concentrate on how to improve in the marketing aspects of the carnival so that the next edition will come out better. In terms of security, Abe agrees that those responsible for that are also getting fully prepared to secure the venue and the people who are going to be part of it. "I know the necessary things are being done for us to have a carnival where we will not have issues," he said.
For now, Abe was not sure how many foreign countries that would be participating in the carnival but was quick to add that as usual those who have been part of the show in the past editions are likely to honour the invitation once more this year. "Now that we know that Nigeria is free and safe, I hope a bigger number of countries participating. But as at now, I can't categorically name names or say the exact number that will be coming. It is the content that I am so bothered about; in that area I want to make a whole lot of difference. I want to deliver a carnival that is unparalleled with aesthetics experience that has never been seen or witness before. Abuja is the biggest carnival in this part of the world and what we intend to do is to make it much more bigger and appealing to the people. And by His grace, we will have the best carnival that everybody will be proud of.
In the area of masquerades which have over the years drawn the attention of guests to the Eagle Square, Abe said, "yes, we will make them more dynamic this time around. Instead of mere parade, they will be made to perform, to thrill the people. Those antics of traditional masquerades have to be displayed so that people will have value for what they've come to watch. In this case, we will have to work with the handlers of the masquerades before the day of their outing in order to fine-tune all these areas. They have to be dramatic and aesthetically involved in whatever they do.
Abuja Carnival therefore is bound to draw people from all over the world as a vital tool for tourism. The number of people who troop into Abuja every November to watch the carnival, to participate in it, the food sellers who come from all over the federation to hawk, to sell and make money, all add value to the carnival. In all, we'll ensure that this glow and tempo are raised from this edition onwards," he proffered.
This year's carnival is expected to begin on November 24th and end on 28th at the Eagle Square, Abuja.
Why watch Enugu go up in flames?


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Limerick is the county town of County Limerick at the head of the estuary of the River Shannon near the Slieve Felim and Silvermine Mountains. It is 77 miles northwest of Waterford and 125 miles southwest of Dublin.
Limerick is Ireland's chief western port for shipping farm produce to England and the Continent. It was founded in 798 by the Danes, who built a fortified camp on the island. The kings of Thomond and Munster used Limerick for their chief city until it was conquered by the English in 1174.
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Navigate using timecode in Final Cut Pro
Timecode is a signal recorded with your video that uniquely identifies each video frame. When you play a clip from the browser, its timecode signal appears in a display below the viewer, using this format:
Timecode supports a variety of functions in Final Cut Pro, including timeline playback, syncing video and audio clip items, and adding, trimming, and moving clips. In addition, timecode allows you to navigate through projects in the timeline and see the duration of clips, range selections, and projects.
To move the playhead to a new timeline location in Final Cut Pro, do any of the following:
Move the playhead to a specific timeline location: Click once in the center of the timecode display below the viewer (or press Control-P), enter the new timecode value, and press Return.
For example, to move the playhead to 01:40:31:03, press Control-P, then enter "1403103" and press Return.
Move the playhead by a timecode duration: Make sure no clips are selected, then press the Plus Sign (+) or Minus Sign (–) key, enter the number of frames, seconds, or minutes you want to move the playhead, and press Return.
For example, if you type "+1612" and press Return, the playhead moves ahead 16 seconds and 12 frames.
The new timecode values appear in the timecode display as you enter them. When you press Return, the playhead moves to the new timeline location.
Here are some tips for entering timecode values:
You don't have to enter the separator characters (colons). Final Cut Pro adds them automatically after each set of two digits. For example, if you enter "01221419," the timecode value is interpreted as 01:22:14:19 (1 hour, 22 minutes, 14 seconds, and 19 frames).
If the leftmost fields are zeros, you don't have to enter them. For example, if you enter "1419," the timecode value is interpreted as 00:00:14:19. If you enter "253407," the timecode value is interpreted as 00:25:34:07.
If the rightmost fields are zeros, you can use periods instead. For example, to move to timecode 00:00:03:00, type "3." (3 and a period). To move to 03:00:00:00, type "3..." (3 and three periods). Instead of a period, you can also use a comma, colon, or semicolon.
You can copy and paste timecode (for example, to speed up timeline navigation or numerical entry from text documents, or to add timecode to notes). To copy timecode from the playhead position, choose Edit > Copy Timecode. To paste timecode into the timecode display, click once in the center of the timecode display below the viewer (or press Control-P), then press Control-V. For other ways to copy timecode, see Copy source or project timecode.
You can change the timecode display to show either timecode, timecode and subframes, just frames, or just seconds. See Editing preferences in Final Cut Pro.
Tip: You can view source and project timecode in resizable, floating windows, or set Final Cut Pro to show clip source timecode (rather than the project timecode) when you skim clips in the timeline.
Previous Navigate within your project Next View source and project timecode


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Joel McDonald Plays Dilandau In Funimation's Escaflowne Dub
Posted by Samantha Ferreira | Mar 28, 2016 | News Reporting |
Tags: dubbing, escaflowne, funimation, vision of escaflowne
The leader of the Dragon Slayers has arrived, ready to burn everything to cinders.
Earlier today, Funimation announced that Joel McDonald (Fairy Tail, Baccano!) will play Dilandau Albatou in the company's updated Vision of Escaflowne dub.
McDonald joins six other confirmed cast members for the adaptation:
Van Fanel: Aaron Dismuke
Hitomi Kanzaki: Caitlin Glass
Merle: Alexis Tipton
Allen Schezar: Sonny Strait
Millerna Aston: Colleen Clinkenbeard
Sonny Strait was tapped to direct the new English dub.
Funimation also used the recent update to clarify outstanding questions on the release. The most notable of these was the fact that, per Funimation's licensing agreement, the title will feature locked English subtitles.
Funimation's Kickstarter to re-dub Vision of Escaflowne officially launched on February 27. In an interview with Anime News Network's Zac Bertschy, Funimation brand manager Jennifer Fu explained the need for a new dub on the series:
So basically there was the original dub that came out and it's based on SD materials that, as you're aware, the director's cut, the HD Japanese version that was released on Bluray more recently, has scenes that were not in the original materials that the original English dub was based on. So because of that it's not possible for us to put the subtitled HD material which is what we've just received from Japan, on the same disc as the original dub, because otherwise it doesn't line up correctly and there are some points where the dub just won't have any dialogue or anything in it and it'd just be kind of strange.
Funimation noted that the $150,000 goal wouldn't cover the full cost of a new English adaptation.
The campaign reached its goal on March 1, and passed its first stretch goal of $200,000 on March 10. The second stretch goal was hit earlier this week.
As of press time, the campaign stands at $261,742 donated across 1,676 backers, with an average contribution of $156.17 per backer.
Three stretch goals are currently in play:
$200,000: Behind the Scenes featurettes and interviews (Funded)
$250,000: Upgraded box art, and art book added to Kickstarter Edition copies (Funded)
$500,000: Backers-only Escaflowne party at a major US anime convention, with director Kazuki Akane in attendance as a guest.
Source: Kickstarter
Editor's note: I have to admit that I'm a bit puzzled by this one, given a few significant plot details revolving around the character. But, for the moment, we'll wait and see how things shape up in the final product.
PreviousFate/stay night: Heaven's Feel Trilogy Gets First Visual & PV
NextFood Wars! Gets PVs For Upcoming Season 2 & OVA Debuts
Little Witch Academia Gets Second PV, 1/8/2017 Premiere
Funimation Reveals "And you thought there is never a girl online?" Dub Cast
Studio BONES Producing My Hero Academia Anime Series
Toonami Claws Back a Half Hour, Shoves Cowboy Bebop Into It


Auchroisk single malt, matured in two hogshead casks for 11 years. It was distilled in March 2007 and aged until March 2018, when it was bottled at 43% ABV by Signatory.
Nose: Toasted granary bread, buttery digestive biscuits and a hint of milk chocolate temper rich cinnamon and a touch of smoke.
Palate: Notes of oak spice and peppery malt fizz through lemon marmalade, golden barley and orchard fruits.
Finish: A hint of brandy snaps lingers.


As a non-cloistered religious community, the Community of St. Mary of the Annunciation gathers daily, Monday-Wednesday and Friday, for Morning Prayer and Holy Eucharist at St. Augustine's Episcopal Parish, and on Thursday for Midday Mass and Chapter. We also pray throughout each day at common times.
Matins (Morning Prayer) and Mass (M-W,F): 8:30 a.m.
Midday Mass and Chapter (Thursday): 1:00 p.m.
Evensong (Evening Prayer): 5:30 p.m.
We also pray Compline (Night Prayer) as we prepare to go to sleep.
We use the Book of Common Prayer, the St. Helena Breviary, and the Holy Bible for our prayer books. Guides for our prayer are available upon request from Prior Chad-Joseph, who will happily answer any questions you may have about our community and its prayer life.
All are invited to daily Morning Prayer and Mass at St. Augustine's, Monday-Wednesday and Friday at 8:30am, and to Midday Mass at 1:00pm on Thursday.
Each Thursday after Midday Mass we gather to reflect upon the Rule of St. Benedict, read from the lives of the saints celebrated each week, and conduct community business at our Chapter meetings.
If you are interested in a life centered upon transformative spiritual practice and faithful service, consider attending our monthly gatherings to learn more about Benedictine spirituality and to find a supportive community for your intentions. Contact us, for more information.
You can read (and sign up to receive in your e-mail) Prior Chad's daily reflection on the Rule of Benedict here: http://www.stmarycanons.org/blog.


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Keep Sedona Beautiful celebrates 50 years of litter lifting
On Dec. 11 it will be 50 years since the first Keep Sedona Beautiful litter lifters started picking up litter in Sedona, according to a news release.
VOC businesses help veteran's hospital benefit continue
The Cornelius Veterans Hospital Benefit Drawing is a 17-year-old tradition started by John Cornelius. The Rotary Club of Sedona Village has taken over leadership, with the help of many local businesses to ensure this worthy project continues.
Wealth by Welch: The need for power of attorney
A power of attorney (POA) is a legal instrument that delegates an individual's legal authority to another person. If an individual is incapacitated, the POA assigns a trusted party to make decisions on his or her behalf.
By DAWNA WESTBERG-WELCH, Special to the Villager November 2, 2021
Meet the 2022 Big Park Council candidates
At the Nov. 11 regular meeting, the Big Park Community Council will elect its 2022 officers from the following list of candidates.
Big Park Council highlights of October meeting
Public Agency Report Paul Amadio, head of school at Verde Valley School (VVS), updated the council on the history and vision of the institution's long-range plan.
By MARY POPE, Special to the Villager November 2, 2021
Sedona church to host holiday boutique Nov. 13
Sedona United Methodist Church is scheduled to host an Outdoor Holiday Boutique on Saturday, Nov. 13, from 9 a.m. until 3 p.m. in the church's main parking lot, according to a news release.
Chamber News: New member, golfing and more from the CEO
I am excited to welcome the Big Park Regional Coordinating Council as a new chamber member! I want to thank the board and President Camille Cox for bringing our organizations closer, symbolizing our commitment to work together across the greater Sedona Verde Valley region and northern Arizona.
By CANDACE CARR STRAUSS, Special to the Villager November 2, 2021
Village Gallery to host ceramic work of Luke Metz in November
The Village Gallery of Local Artists is scheduled to feature the exquisite ceramic work of Luke Metz during the month of November, according to a news release.
Dine In, Dine Out: The Clinkscale – we weighed in and liked the results
We drove the exciting 89A to Jerome in August, knowing we would have daylight on the drive home. Jerome is such a fascinating city and The Clinkscale Hotel and Restaurant add to the charm.
By JEFF and SUZIE DUNN, Special to the Villager November 2, 2021
Kaleidoscope Redrocks to perform Nov. 5 in VOC
The Kaleidoscope Redrocks sister duo are thrilled to share their newest monthly show venue at the Sedona Arts Academy at The Collective Sedona in the Village of Oak Creek, according to a news release.
Gardens For Humanity: The gardener's calendar
A gardener's sense of time is governed by the seasons, and by the life cycles of plants and other garden residents. There is a rhythm to life that a gardener experiences that is a contrast to the strict lock step of days, weeks, and months.
By Richard Sidy November 2, 2021
Keep Sedona Beautiful to host Ted Grussing during speaker series Nov. 10
Keep Sedona Beautiful (KSB) is scheduled to host photographer, pilot and author Ted Grussing on Wednesday, Nov. 10, at 5 p.m. for its monthly "Preserving the Wonder" speaker series, according to a news release.
Local businesses support Red Rock Trail Fund with 'Trail Bucks' program
The Trail Bucks Program is an important component of the Sedona Red Rock Trail Fund. Trail Bucks is an effective alliance with local businesses providing a convenient way for visitors to contribute to trail maintenance and enhancement, according to a news release.
Sedona Heritage Museum launches 'Throwback Thursday' events Nov. 4
The Sedona Heritage Museum will host "Throwback Thursdays-Pioneers at the Museum," starting Thursday, Nov. 4, at 3:30 p.m., according to a news release.
Sedona Library to open new full-time branch in VOC Nov. 4
The Sedona Public Library is hosting a ribbon cutting and grand opening of the new branch in the Village of Oak Creek in November, according to a news release.
Project Fill the Need opens food pantry in VOC
Local residents and volunteers cheered the opening of the Project Fill the Need food pantry on Saturday, Sept. 25, at the Big Park Community School in the Village of Oak Creek, according to a news release.
Gardens for Humanity: What is our relationship with our food?
In the month of October we are between the harvest moon of September, and the Thanksgiving celebrations of November. This is a transition time between seasons, when all of our senses are kindled by change.
By Richard Sidy September 30, 2021
Chamber News: Short-term rentals, golf, airport and more
September was a busy month for the Sedona Chamber of Commerce, convening the community on critical issues including last week's public meeting on Short-Term Rentals (STR).
By CANDACE CARR STRAUSS, Special to the Villager September 30, 2021
Letter to the Community: Horse Mesa Ranch thanks you for the support!
When our community comes together, there is nothing we can't accomplish.
By MARY MORRIS, Special to the Villager September 30, 2021
A review of September's Big Park Community Council meeting
A review of the Big Park Community Council meeting Sept. 9:
By CAMILLE COX, Special to the Villager September 30, 2021
Highlighting the most important factors from the Yavapai County Board of Supervisors meeting
It was gratifying to once again have a full house at the Sept. 19 meeting of our Yavapai County Board of Supervisors.
Sedona church to host pumpkin patch fun beginning Oct. 2
Beginning Saturday, Oct. 2, the pumpkin patch will be in full swing at the Sedona United Methodist Church, 110 Indian Cliffs Road, Sedona.
Monsoon! Partnerships assist trail recovery in VOC
Everyone in our community was happy to see the monsoons bring much needed rain after two years of minimal precipitation. But this year, monsoon rains also brought severe erosion and damage to our red rock trails.
By LINDA PALLAS and MELISSA PONTIKES, Special to the Villager September 30, 2021
'Rock Gem & Jewelry Show' set for Oct. 16-17
The Sedona Gem and Mineral Club is hosting its 20th annual "Rock, Gem & Jewelry Show" on Oct. 16 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Oct. 17 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Sedona Red Rock High School, 995 Upper Red Rock Loop Road.
Emerson Theater receives $25K in grant funds for upcoming productions
The Emerson Theater Collaborative (ETC) would like to thank the City of Sedona and Arizona Humanities for recent grant awards, according to a news release.


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Play The Walking Dead, Game of Thrones, Batman, and More with Telltale's Humble Bundle
Humble Telltale Games Bundle
I imagine most of you have played at least one or two of Telltale's choice-driven narrative games, but the newest Humble Bundle is a great excuse to try out more.
Just $1 gets you a lot of the studio's earlier work, including the first season of The Walking Dead, paying more than the average unlocks the likes of Game of Thrones and Tales from the Borderlands, while $15 gets you Batman and Minecraft: Story Mode. As always, a portion of the proceeds go to charity, so make the choice to buy this bundle; you won't regret the consequences.
APC Surge Protectors, 64 oz. Growler, Kershaw Knife, and the Rest of Tuesday's Best Deals
Harvest This $20 Deal On Stardew Valley For PS4 or Xbox One
This $8 Nintendo Switch Case Doubles As a Stand


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Westover, Tara
Annotation: Traces the author's childhood among Idaho survivalists, including her participation in her family's paranoid lifestyle, and her resolve to escape by educating herself enough to gain acceptance at a prestigious university.
Catalog Number: #160484
Format: Publisher's Hardcover
Pages: xv, 334 pages
Dewey: 921
Women. Idaho. Biography.
Survivalism. Idaho. Biography.
Home schooling. Idaho. Anecdotes.
Women college students. United States. Biography.
Victims of family violence. Idaho. Biography.
Subculture. Idaho.
Christian biography.
A girl claws her way out of a claustrophobic, violent fundamentalist family into an elite academic career in this searing debut memoir. Westover recounts her upbringing with six siblings on an Idaho farm dominated by her father Gene (a pseudonym), a devout Mormon with a paranoid streak who tried to live off the grid, kept four children (including the author) out of school, refused to countenance doctors (Westover-s mother, Faye, was an unlicensed midwife who sold homeopathic medicines), and stockpiled supplies and guns for the end-time. Westover was forced to work from the age of 11 in Gene-s scrap and construction businesses under incredibly dangerous conditions; the grisly narrative includes lost fingers, several cases of severe brain trauma, and two horrible burns that Faye treated with herbal remedies. Thickening the dysfunction was the author-s bullying brother, who physically brutalized her for wearing makeup and other immodest behaviors. When she finally escaped the toxic atmosphere of dogma, suspicion, and patriarchy to attend college and then grad school at Cambridge, her identity crisis precipitated a heartbreaking rupture. Westover-s vivid prose makes this saga of the pressures of conformity and self-assertion that warp a family seem both terrifying and ordinary. (Feb.)
School Library Journal Starred Review
Raised in an alternative Mormon home in rural Idaho, Westover worked as an assistant midwife to her mother and labored in her father's junkyard. Formal schooling wasn't a priority, because her parents believed that public education was government indoctrination and that Westover's future role would be to support her husband. But her older brother's violence and their family's refusal to acknowledge problems at home resulted in the teen contemplating escape through education. Admittance to Brigham Young University was difficult. Westover taught herself enough to receive a decent score on the ACT, but because of her upbringing, she didn't understand rudimentary concepts of sanitation and etiquette, and her learning curve was steep. However, she eventually thrived, earning scholarships to Harvard and Cambridgethough she grappled with whether to include her toxic family in her new life. Born in 1986, Westover interviewed family members to help her write the first half. Her well-crafted account of her early years will intrigue teens, but the memoir's second part, covering her undergraduate and graduate experiences in the "real world," will stun them. VERDICT A gripping, intimate, sometimes shocking, yet ultimately inspiring work. Perfect for fans of memoirs about overcoming traumatic childhoods or escaping from fundamentalist religious communities, such as Jeannette Walls's The Glass Castle and Ruth Wariner's The Sound of Gravel. Sarah Hill, Lake Land College, Mattoon, IL
Wilson's High School Catalog
School Library Journal Starred Review (5/1/18)
Word Count: 114,688
Interest Level: 9+
Accelerated Reader: reading level: 6.4 / points: 19.0 / quiz: 500693 / grade: Upper Grades
Choose the Good
My strongest memory is not a memory. It's something I imagined, then came to remember as if it had happened. The memory was formed when I was five, just before I turned six, from a story my father told in such detail that I and my brothers and sister had each conjured our own cinematic version, with gunfire and shouts. Mine had crickets. That's the sound I hear as my family huddles in the kitchen, lights off, hiding from the Feds who've surrounded the house. A woman reaches for a glass of water and her silhouette is lighted by the moon. A shot echoes like the lash of a whip and she falls. In my memory it's always Mother who falls, and she has a baby in her arms.
The baby doesn't make sense--I'm the youngest of my mother's seven children--but like I said, none of this happened.
A year after my father told us that story, we gathered one evening to hear him read aloud from Isaiah, a prophecy about Immanuel. He sat on our mustard-colored sofa, a large Bible open in his lap. Mother was next to him. The rest of us were strewn across the shaggy brown carpet.
"Butter and honey shall he eat," Dad droned, low and monotone, weary from a long day hauling scrap. "That he may know to refuse the evil, and choose the good."
There was a heavy pause. We sat quietly.
My father was not a tall man but he was able to command a room. He had a presence about him, the solemnity of an oracle. His hands were thick and leathery--the hands of a man who'd been hard at work all his life--and they grasped the Bible firmly.
He read the passage aloud a second time, then a third, then a fourth. With each repetition the pitch of his voice climbed higher. His eyes, which moments before had been swollen with fatigue, were now wide and alert. There was a divine doctrine here, he said. He would inquire of the Lord.
The next morning Dad purged our fridge of milk, yogurt and cheese, and that evening when he came home, his truck was loaded with fifty gallons of honey.
"Isaiah doesn't say which is evil, butter or honey," Dad said, grinning as my brothers lugged the white tubs to the basement. "But if you ask, the Lord will tell you!"
When Dad read the verse to his mother, she laughed in his face. "I got some pennies in my purse," she said. "You better take them. They'll be all the sense you got."
Grandma had a thin, angular face and an endless store of faux Indian jewelry, all silver and turquoise, which hung in clumps from her spindly neck and fingers. Because she lived down the hill from us, near the highway, we called her Grandma-down-the-hill. This was to distinguish her from our mother's mother, who we called Grandma-over-in-town because she lived fifteen miles south, in the only town in the county, which had a single stoplight and a grocery store.
Dad and his mother got along like two cats with their tails tied together. They could talk for a week and not agree about anything, but they were tethered by their devotion to the mountain. My father's family had been living at the base of Buck Peak for a century. Grandma's daughters had married and moved away, but my father stayed, building a shabby yellow house, which he would never quite finish, just up the hill from his mother's, at the base of the mountain, and plunking a junkyard--one of several--next to her manicured lawn.
They argued daily, about the mess from the junkyard but more often about us kids. Grandma thought we should be in school and not, as she put it, "roaming the mountain like savages." Dad said public school was a ploy by the Government to lead children away from God. "I may as well surrender my kids to the devil himself," he said, "as send them down the road to that school."
God told Dad to share the revelation with the people who lived and farmed in the shadow of Buck Peak. On Sundays, nearly everyone gathered at the church, a hickory-colored chapel just off the highway with the small, restrained steeple common to Mormon churches. Dad cornered fathers as they left their pews. He started with his cousin Jim, who listened good-naturedly while Dad waved his Bible and explained the sinfulness of milk. Jim grinned, then clapped Dad on the shoulder and said no righteous God would deprive a man of homemade strawberry ice cream on a hot summer afternoon. Jim's wife tugged on his arm. As he slid past us I caught a whiff of manure. Then I remembered: the big dairy farm a mile north of Buck Peak, that was Jim's.
After Dad took up preaching against milk, Grandma jammed her fridge full of it. She and Grandpa only drank skim but pretty soon it was all there--two percent, whole, even chocolate. She seemed to believe this was an important line to hold.
Breakfast became a test of loyalty. Every morning, my family sat around a large square table and ate either seven-grain cereal, with honey and molasses, or seven-grain pancakes, also with honey and molasses. Because there were nine of us, the pancakes were never cooked all the way through. I didn't mind the cereal if I could soak it in milk, letting the cream gather up the grist and seep into the pellets, but since the revelation we'd been having it with water. It was like eating a bowl of mud.
It wasn't long before I began to think of all that milk spoiling in Grandma's fridge. Then I got into the habit of skipping breakfast each morning and going straight to the barn. I'd slop the pigs and fill the trough for the cows and horses, then I'd hop over the corral fence, loop around the barn and step through Grandma's side door.
On one such morning, as I sat at the counter watching Grandma pour a bowl of cornflakes, she said, "How would you like to go to school?"
"I wouldn't like it," I said.
"How do you know," she barked. "You ain't never tried it."
She poured the milk and handed me the bowl, then she perched at the bar, directly across from me, and watched as I shoveled spoonfuls into my mouth.
"We're leaving tomorrow for Arizona," she told me, but I already knew. She and Grandpa always went to Arizona when the weather began to turn. Grandpa said he was too old for Idaho winters; the cold put an ache in his bones. "Get yourself up real early," Grandma said, "around five, and we'll take you with us. Put you in school."
I shifted on my stool. I tried to imagine school but couldn't. Instead I pictured Sunday school, which I attended each week and which I hated. A boy named Aaron had told all the girls that I couldn't read because I didn't go to school, and now none of them would talk to me.
"Dad said I can go?" I said.
"No," Grandma said. "But we'll be long gone by the time he realizes you're missing." She sat my bowl in the sink and gazed out the window.
Grandma was a force of nature--impatient, aggressive, self-possessed. To look at her was to take a step back. She dyed her hair black and this intensified her already severe features, especially her eyebrows, which she smeared on each morning in thick, inky arches. She drew them too large and this made her face seem stretched. They were also drawn too high and draped the rest of her features into an expression of boredom, almost sarcasm.
"You should be in school," she said.
"Won't Dad just make you bring me back?" I said.
"Your dad can't make me do a damned thing." Grandma stood, squaring herself. "If he wants you, he'll have to come get you." She hesitated, and for a moment looked ashamed. "I talked to him yesterday. He won't be able to fetch you back for a long while. He's behind on that shed he's building in town. He can't pack up and drive to Arizona, not while the weather holds and he and the boys can work long days."
Grandma's scheme was well plotted. Dad always worked from sunup until sundown in the weeks before the first snow, trying to stockpile enough money from hauling scrap and building barns to outlast the winter, when jobs were scarce. Even if his mother ran off with his youngest child, he wouldn't be able to stop working, not until the forklift was encased in ice.
"I'll need to feed the animals before we go," I said. "He'll notice I'm gone for sure if the cows break through the fence looking for water."
I didn't sleep that night. I sat on the kitchen floor and watched the hours tick by. One a.m. Two. Three.
At four I stood and put my boots by the back door. They were caked in manure, and I was sure Grandma wouldn't let them into her car. I pictured them on her porch, abandoned, while I ran off shoeless to Arizona.
I imagined what would happen when my family discovered I was missing. My brother Richard and I often spent whole days on the mountain, so it was likely no one would notice until sundown, when Richard came home for dinner and I didn't. I pictured my brothers pushing out the door to search for me. They'd try the junkyard first, hefting iron slabs in case some stray sheet of metal had shifted and pinned me. Then they'd move outward, sweeping the farm, crawling up trees and into the barn attic. Finally, they'd turn to the mountain.
It would be past dusk by then--that moment just before night sets in, when the landscape is visible only as darkness and lighter darkness, and you feel the world around you more than you see it. I imagined my brothers spreading over the mountain, searching the black forests. No one would talk; everyone's thoughts would be the same. Things could go horribly wrong on the mountain. Cliffs appeared suddenly. Feral horses, belonging to my grandfather, ran wild over thick banks of water hemlock, and there were more than a few rattlesnakes. We'd done this search before when a calf went missing from the barn. In the valley you'd find an injured animal; on the mountain, a dead one.
I imagined Mother standing by the back door, her eyes sweeping the dark ridge, when my father came home to tell her they hadn't found me. My sister, Audrey, would suggest that someone ask Grandma, and Mother would say Grandma had left that morning for Arizona. Those words would hang in the air for a moment, then everyone would know where I'd gone. I imagined my father's face, his dark eyes shrinking, his mouth clamping into a frown as he turned to my mother. "You think she chose to go?"
Low and sorrowful, his voice echoed. Then it was drowned out by echoes from another conjured remembrance--crickets, then gunfire, then silence.
The event was a famous one, I would later learn--like Wounded Knee or Waco--but when my father first told us the story, it felt like no one in the world knew about it except us.
It began near the end of canning season, which other kids probably called "summer." My family always spent the warm months bottling fruit for storage, which Dad said we'd need in the Days of Abomination. One evening, Dad was uneasy when he came in from the junkyard. He paced the kitchen during dinner, hardly touching a bite. We had to get everything in order, he said. There was little time.
We spent the next day boiling and skinning peaches. By sundown we'd filled dozens of Mason jars, which were set out in perfect rows, still warm from the pressure cooker. Dad surveyed our work, counting the jars and muttering to himself, then he turned to Mother and said, "It's not enough."
That night Dad called a family meeting, and we gathered around the kitchen table, because it was wide and long, and could seat all of us. We had a right to know what we were up against, he said. He was standing at the head of the table; the rest of us perched on benches, studying the thick planks of red oak.
"There's a family not far from here," Dad said. "They're freedom fighters. They wouldn't let the Government brainwash their kids in them public schools, so the Feds came after them." Dad exhaled, long and slow. "The Feds surrounded the family's cabin, kept them locked in there for weeks, and when a hungry child, a little boy, snuck out to go hunting, the Feds shot him dead."
I scanned my brothers. I'd never seen fear on Luke's face before.
"They're still in the cabin," Dad said. "They keep the lights off, and they crawl on the floor, away from the doors and windows. I don't know how much food they got. Might be they'll starve before the Feds give up."
No one spoke. Eventually Luke, who was twelve, asked if we could help. "No," Dad said. "Nobody can. They're trapped in their own home. But they got their guns, you can bet that's why the Feds ain't charged in." He paused to sit, folding himself onto the low bench in slow, stiff movements. He looked old to my eyes, worn out. "We can't help them, but we can help ourselves. When the Feds come to Buck Peak, we'll be ready."
That night, Dad dragged a pile of old army bags up from the basement. He said they were our "head for the hills" bags. We spent that night packing them with supplies--herbal medicines, water purifiers, flint and steel. Dad had bought a truckload of military MREs--Meals Ready-to-Eat--and we put as many as we could fit into our packs, imagining the moment when, having fled the house and hiding ourselves in the wild plum trees near the creek, we'd eat them. Some of my brothers stowed guns in their packs but I had only a small knife, and even so my pack was as big as me by the time we'd finished. I asked Luke to hoist it onto a shelf in my closet, but Dad told me to keep it low, where I could fetch it quick, so I slept with it in my bed.
I practiced slipping the bag onto my back and running with it-- I didn't want to be left behind. I imagined our escape, a midnight flight to the safety of the Princess. The mountain, I understood, was our ally. To those who knew her she could be kind, but to intruders she was pure treachery, and this would give us an advantage. Then again, if we were going to take cover on the mountain when the Feds came, I didn't understand why we were canning all these peaches. We couldn't haul a thousand heavy Mason jars up the peak. Or did we need the peaches so we could bunker down in the house, like the Weavers, and fight it out?
Excerpted from Educated: A Memoir
All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.
#1 NEW YORK TIMES, WALL STREET JOURNAL, AND BOSTON GLOBE BESTSELLER • NAMED ONE OF THE TEN BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW • ONE OF PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA'S FAVORITE BOOKS OF THE YEAR • BILL GATES'S HOLIDAY READING LIST • FINALIST FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE'S AWARD IN AUTOBIOGRAPHY • FINALIST FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE'S JOHN LEONARD PRIZE FOR BEST FIRST BOOK • FINALIST FOR THE PEN/JEAN STEIN BOOK AWARD
NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY The Washington Post • O: The Oprah Magazine • Time • NPR • Good Morning America • San Francisco Chronicle • The Guardian • The Economist • Financial Times • Newsday • New York Post • theSkimm • Refinery29 • Bloomberg • Self • Real Simple • Town & Country • Bustle • Paste • Publishers Weekly • Library Journal • LibraryReads • BookRiot • Pamela Paul, KQED • New York Public Library
An unforgettable memoir about a young girl who, kept out of school, leaves her survivalist family and goes on to earn a PhD from Cambridge University
Born to survivalists in the mountains of Idaho, Tara Westover was seventeen the first time she set foot in a classroom. Her family was so isolated from mainstream society that there was no one to ensure the children received an education, and no one to intervene when one of Tara's older brothers became violent. When another brother got himself into college, Tara decided to try a new kind of life. Her quest for knowledge transformed her, taking her over oceans and across continents, to Harvard and to Cambridge University. Only then would she wonder if she'd traveled too far, if there was still a way home.
"Beautiful and propulsive . . . Despite the singularity of [Tara Westover's] childhood, the questions her book poses are universal: How much of ourselves should we give to those we love? And how much must we betray them to grow up?"—Vogue
"Westover has somehow managed not only to capture her unsurpassably exceptional upbringing, but to make her current situation seem not so exceptional at all, and resonant for many others."—The New York Times Book Review


text:
require 'spec_helper'

describe "Checkout" do
  let!(:country) { create(:country, :name => "United States of America",:states_required => true) }
  let!(:state) { create(:state, :name => "Alabama", :country => country) }
  let!(:shipping_method) { create(:shipping_method) }
  let!(:stock_location) { create(:stock_location) }
  let!(:mug) { create(:product, :name => "RoR Mug") }
  let!(:payment_method) { create(:payment_method) }
  let!(:zone) { create(:zone) }

  context "visitor makes checkout as guest without registration" do
    before(:each) do
      stock_location.stock_items.update_all(count_on_hand: 1)
    end

    context "defaults to use billing address" do
      before do
        add_mug_to_cart
        Spree::Order.last.update_column(:email, "ryan@spreecommerce.com")
        click_button "Checkout"
      end

      it "should default checkbox to checked" do
        find('input#order_use_billing').should be_checked
      end

      it "should remain checked when used and visitor steps back to address step", :js => true do
        fill_in_address
        find('input#order_use_billing').should be_checked
      end
    end

    # Regression test for #1596
    context "full checkout" do
      before do
        mug.shipping_category = shipping_method.shipping_categories.first
        mug.save!
      end

      it "does not break the per-item shipping method calculator", :js => true do
        add_mug_to_cart
        click_button "Checkout"

        fill_in "order_email", :with => "ryan@spreecommerce.com"
        click_button "Continue"
        fill_in_address

        click_button "Save and Continue"
        page.should_not have_content("undefined method `promotion'")

        click_button "Save and Continue"
        page.should have_content(shipping_method.adjustment_label)
      end

      # Regression test, no issue number
      it "does not create a closed adjustment for an order's shipment upon reaching the delivery step", :js => true do
        add_mug_to_cart
        click_button "Checkout"

        fill_in "order_email", :with => "ryan@spreecommerce.com"
        click_button "Continue"
        fill_in_address

        click_button "Save and Continue"
        Spree::Order.last.shipments.first.adjustment.state.should_not == "closed"
      end
    end
  end

  #regression test for #2694
  context "doesn't allow bad credit card numbers" do
    before(:each) do
      order = OrderWalkthrough.up_to(:delivery)
      order.stub :confirmation_required? => true
      order.stub(:available_payment_methods => [ create(:bogus_payment_method, :environment => 'test') ])

      user = create(:user)
      order.user = user
      order.update!

      Spree::CheckoutController.any_instance.stub(:current_order => order)
      Spree::CheckoutController.any_instance.stub(:try_spree_current_user => user)
      Spree::CheckoutController.any_instance.stub(:skip_state_validation? => true)
    end

    it "redirects to payment page" do
      visit spree.checkout_state_path(:delivery)
      click_button "Save and Continue"
      choose "Credit Card"
      fill_in "Card Number", :with => '123'
      fill_in "Card Code", :with => '123'
      click_button "Save and Continue"
      click_button "Place Order"
      page.should have_content("Bogus Gateway: Forced failure")
    end
  end

  context "and likes to double click buttons" do
    before(:each) do
      user = create(:user)

      order = OrderWalkthrough.up_to(:delivery)
      order.stub :confirmation_required? => true

      order.reload
      order.user = user
      order.update!

      Spree::CheckoutController.any_instance.stub(:current_order => order)
      Spree::CheckoutController.any_instance.stub(:try_spree_current_user => user)
      Spree::CheckoutController.any_instance.stub(:skip_state_validation? => true)
    end

    it "prevents double clicking the payment button on checkout", :js => true do
      visit spree.checkout_state_path(:payment)

      # prevent form submit to verify button is disabled
      page.execute_script("$('#checkout_form_payment').submit(function(){return false;})")
      pending 'not happening'
      page.should_not have_selector('input.button[disabled]')
      click_button "Save and Continue"
      page.should have_selector('input.button[disabled]')
    end

    it "prevents double clicking the confirm button on checkout", :js => true do
      visit spree.checkout_state_path(:confirm)

      # prevent form submit to verify button is disabled
      page.execute_script("$('#checkout_form_confirm').submit(function(){return false;})")

      page.should_not have_selector('input.button[disabled]')
      click_button "Place Order"
      page.should have_selector('input.button[disabled]')
    end
  end

  context "when several payment methods are available" do
    let(:credit_cart_payment) {create(:bogus_payment_method, :environment => 'test') }
    let(:check_payment) {create(:payment_method, :environment => 'test') }

    before(:each) do
      order = OrderWalkthrough.up_to(:delivery)
      order.stub(:available_payment_methods => [check_payment,credit_cart_payment])
      order.user = create(:user)
      order.update!

      Spree::CheckoutController.any_instance.stub(current_order: order)
      Spree::CheckoutController.any_instance.stub(try_spree_current_user: order.user)

      visit spree.checkout_state_path(:payment)
    end

    it "the first payment method should be selected", :js => true do
      payment_method_css = "#order_payments_attributes__payment_method_id_"
      find("#{payment_method_css}#{check_payment.id}").should be_checked
      find("#{payment_method_css}#{credit_cart_payment.id}").should_not be_checked
    end

    it "the fields for the other payment methods should be hidden", :js => true do
      payment_method_css = "#payment_method_"
      find("#{payment_method_css}#{check_payment.id}").should be_visible
      find("#{payment_method_css}#{credit_cart_payment.id}").should_not be_visible
    end
  end

  # regression for #2921
  context "goes back from payment to add another item", js: true do
    let!(:bag) { create(:product, :name => "RoR Bag") }

    it "transit nicely through checkout steps again" do
      add_mug_to_cart
      click_on "Checkout"
      fill_in "order_email", :with => "ryan@spreecommerce.com"
      click_button "Continue"
      fill_in_address
      click_on "Save and Continue"
      click_on "Save and Continue"
      expect(current_path).to eql(spree.checkout_state_path("payment"))

      visit spree.root_path
      click_link bag.name
      click_button "add-to-cart-button"

      click_on "Checkout"
      click_on "Save and Continue"
      click_on "Save and Continue"
      click_on "Save and Continue"

      page.should have_content(Spree::Order.last.number)
    end
  end

  def fill_in_address
    address = "order_bill_address_attributes"
    fill_in "#{address}_firstname", :with => "Ryan"
    fill_in "#{address}_lastname", :with => "Bigg"
    fill_in "#{address}_address1", :with => "143 Swan Street"
    fill_in "#{address}_city", :with => "Richmond"
    select "United States of America", :from => "#{address}_country_id"
    select "Alabama", :from => "#{address}_state_id"
    fill_in "#{address}_zipcode", :with => "12345"
    fill_in "#{address}_phone", :with => "(555) 555-5555"
  end

  def add_mug_to_cart
    visit spree.root_path
    click_link mug.name
    click_button "add-to-cart-button"
  end
end

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
Cegielnictwo (również strycharstwo) – produkcja ceramiki budowlanej z gliny z domieszką innych substancji nadających trwałość, odporność, zabarwienie.

Przypisy

Cegła

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


Nintendo has stuck with plastic cartridges for its portable gaming machines, but every other console you can buy today left them behind years ago. Which is too bad, because there was a certain charm to swapping those old seemingly indestructible game carts. And if you're feeling nostalgic for them, you can now deck out your home with this wallpaper homage to those far-from-forgotten cartridges from your childhood.


Memories. That's what Trago, the new tapas restaurant in Kansas City near Liberty, is based on. Kandi Kerns, the chef/owner is capturing the feeling and essence of dining experiences long past and making them available for the hungry diner today.
The restaurant opened in late 2016 after Kerns completed quite a bit of the build out herself. She has a small staff and enjoys being hands on with everything from menu planning to bourbon tasting. In short, she's creating the restaurant that she's always wanted to enjoy, even if that means 16 hour days for her.
The restaurant opened with an abbreviated menu of hot and cold tapas plus paellas and cheese and charcuterie plates. Kerns says that while she intended to expand the menu to a more expansive menu, she now plans on keeping the grand opening menu and instead offering daily specials. On Sundays, she offers brunch items as well with specials on bloody marys and a variety of breakfast items like huevos rancheros, frittatas, and Spanish tortillas.
While tapas is a Spanish style of eating, Trago combines both Spanish and Latin American cuisine. The memory that she is recreating is of a hidden restaurant that her grandmother took her to in her grandmother's home country of Guatemala. Some of the best dishes on the menu harken back to those Latin American roots, as I would find out at a casual lunch with friends.
Since sharing is the theme of a tapas restaurant, we dove in with gusto. Plates like the black beans and plantains nailed the flavor of Central America. Kerns is using many of her grandmother's recipes as a base and it shows. While many may think that refried beans are merely a forgotten side dish on a Mexican combo plate, with love and care and lots of garlic, they can be a delicious focus. The plantains were thick cut, crispy on the outside and soft on the inside, a great accompaniment to the savory beans.
For a more Spanish themed dish, the fresh goat cheese in tomato sauce was a hit. The goat cheese was warmed just enough to spread easily and despite being in the dead of winter, the tomato sauce hinted at flavorful summer tomatoes. For those that want a little Mexican flair, Trago serves street tacos with either chicken, beef, pork or shrimp. The chicken version was my favorite with a tangy cilantro cream sauce.
Trago also offers charcuterie and cheese plates, outfitted with a wide variety of garnishes, including candied almonds, olives, and jam. There are several proteins and cheeses to choose from and plates are priced for how many people would enjoy them. A word to the wise–don't overestimate the portions per person. They are delicious and you will want more than one piece per person.
The bar at Trago has a variety of options, from Spanish wines to house-made cocktails to a soon to be stellar bourbon selection. Kerns says that her intent with Trago was to create an atmosphere where diners could meet each other from table to table and make new friendships along the way. To that end, the dining room is warm and inviting with tables ideal for expanding. And when the weather is warmer, a great patio space invites people to lounge.
Trago is still finding its feet but the restaurant and its small staff are learning fast. What they do know is that their smaller menu of favorites is a hit and they are all putting their hearts and souls into the effort and it shows. For the winter, Trago is open for dinner only Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday and open for lunch and dinner Thursday through Sunday. So grab a friend or make a friend when you get there. The staff at Trago is happy either way.


Our attention has been drawn to news making the rounds from dailies especially the New Telegraph [that] Pastor E.A Adeboye, the General Overseer of the RCCG had a recent phone conversation with the Leader of the All Progressive Congress (APC).
We would like to inform the general public that this is false and Pastor E.A Adeboye has not and would not be involved in inter/intra party politics in Nigeria and anywhere RCCG is present across the world.
Pastor E.A Adeboye advices all well meaning Nigerians just like him to get their PVC's and exercise their civic duty.


text:
Q: flutter AnimatedPositioned cause a Ui jank I am using AnimatedPositioned to make animation.
   Obx(() {
      return AnimatedBuilder(
        animation: controller.animationController,
        builder: (context, child) =>
            AnimatedPositioned(
              duration: const Duration(milliseconds: 1000),
              bottom: controller.actionsBottom,
              child: child!,
            ),
        child:
          !controller.trloaded.value
              ? const SizedBox()
              : Column(
            children: [
              Row(
                mainAxisSize: MainAxisSize.min,
                children: [
                  GlobalButton(
                    title: controller.trLanding('signUp'),
                    type: ButtonType.outlinedPrimary,
                    width: 154.w,
                    height: 56,
                    onTap: () => controller.goToSignUp(),
                  ),
                  SizedBox(width: 20.w),
                  GlobalButton(
                      borderWidth: 1,
                      borderColor: AppColors.primary[800]!,
                      title: controller.trLanding("signIn"),
                      width: 154.w,
                      height: 56,
                      onTap: () => controller.goToSignIn()),
                ],
              ),
              Container(
                margin: const EdgeInsets.only(top: 16, bottom: 16),
                child: Row(
                  children: [
                    Text(
                      "By Signing up you agree with our ",
                      style: textTheme.bodyText2!.copyWith(
                        color: AppColors.neutral[400],
                      ),
                    ),
                    GestureDetector(
                      onTap: () {
                        // clearData();
                        push(TermsPage());
                      },
                      child: Text(
                        "Terms and Conditions",
                        style: textTheme.bodyText2!.copyWith(
                          color: AppColors.primary[700],
                        ),
                      ),
                    ),
                  ],
                ),
              ),
            ],
          ),

      );
    }),

When I run the app by profile mode I got these problems:

To fix that I am using Animation Builder and I added my widgets to its child but I have the above problem. How can I fix that?

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


Twelve to fifteen students are selected each year for the CCL/Mellon Foundation Seminar in Curatorial Practice. Candidates for the Seminar should be full-time students enrolled in a doctoral program (or its equivalent) in art history, or a related field of study with significant coursework in art history. Eligible candidates will have completed their oral examinations before the program begins and will have, at minimum, determined the topic of their dissertation research. Students who will have successfully defended their dissertations prior to the start of the program are not eligible to apply.
CCL seeks an inclusive group of participants from across the United States and abroad. The ideal candidate has a strong academic record and demonstrates intellectual and professional curiosity, an interest in exploring the curatorial field, and the ability to work well with others. Previous museum experience is common, but not required.
Applications to the 2019 CCL/Mellon Foundation Seminar in Curatorial Practice were due Tuesday, January 29, 2019. Following review, finalists will be contacted for interviews in April 2019. The 2019 class will be announced in early May 2019. Applications to the 2020 program will open in November 2019.
All Seminar application materials, including recommendations, are to be submitted online through the CCL website. Applicants will create an account to access the application. Applicants may enter information, save, and return any time before the deadline to edit and continue the application.
Applicants will enter the information for one recommender in the online application. The recommendation should come from a graduate advisor, another professor, or a museum professional who is able to write knowledgeably about, and in strong support of, the applicant's candidacy.
Applicants should contact their recommender and ask them to write on their behalf before adding the individual's contact information to the application. Once their information is entered into the application and saved, the recommender will receive an auto-generated email with instructions and a link to the online recommendation page. Recommenders can prepare the text in Microsoft Word and then copy and paste it into the recommendation submission form.
Is the Seminar intended for art historians in a particular area of study (for instance, Byzantine art)?
Just as art museums represent and celebrate a broad range of media, cultures, and time periods, CCL cultivates emerging potential curators working in all areas of art history.
Do I need to be nominated by my graduate program?
No. Applicants only need to submit an application and one recommendation.
Can I supply more than one recommendation?
Applicants may only submit one recommendation.
How much time do I have to decide if I want to accept the offer?
Upon acceptance in the spring, students will have one week to sign a formal written contract committing to their participation in the Seminar.
What if I am applying to other concurrent programs? Can I change my mind?
Once participants return their signed program contract, their participation in the Seminar is considered confirmed and final.
If I have other commitments, can I attend a portion of the program?
No. The program is a comprehensive and intensive experience. Accepted students are required to attend all sessions during the two-week period. If a candidate has other commitments during the program, they need not apply.
Is CCL affiliated with a university or museum? Can I receive school credit?
The Seminar is funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, but is not affiliated with any specific museum or university. A certificate of completion will be granted at the end of the Seminar. No school credit is offered for the course.
There are no tuition fees or direct costs associated with the Seminar. CCL is committed to ensuring that financial resources do not preclude any student's application or participation. Round-trip travel to New York City and dormitory housing for the full two weeks of the program will be provided for students residing outside of New York City. In addition, CCL will provide all students with a stipend to cover the costs of transportation and meals not organized by CCL.
Can I apply again to the program if I was not accepted in previous years?
Candidates are welcome to reapply, but must submit a new application each year.
Applications are reviewed by CCL and a small committee composed of museum professionals and art historians.
If I have further questions, whom should I contact?


As I passed mile 22 of the marathon, run on rolling hills around Portland, Maine, I asked myself, how on earth did I get into this?
There were a whole lot of reasons, but the moment I made the decision to run the second marathon of my life, and the first in 12 years, came on April 15 when terrorists exploded homemade bombs at the finish line of the Boston Marathon, killing three people and injuring 264.
Like all Americans, I was deeply upset and saddened -- but as a runner I was especially outraged. There is something beautiful about running and runners. It is our most democratic sport. You don't need fancy, expensive gear -- just a decent pair of shoes -- and when you line up for a race, whether a 5K or a marathon, there is such a sense of fellowship that has become rare in our fractured, mean-spirited society. Everyone is rooting for everyone else to do well. At the starting and finishing lines and along the course, truly a discouraging word is never heard.
Everyone runs the same course, whether they're Olympic hopefuls or plodders like me. I have had the thrill of running alongside former world record holder for the mile and 800 meters and Olympic silver medalist Jim Ryun in a charity run and actually passing him. (He probably wasn't trying very hard.) But nobody really is competing against each other. We are all trying to meet personal goals and truly everyone is a winner.
When the Boston bombs exploded, I made a personal vow to show up and run next year as a personal statement against terrorism. But you have to qualify for Boston -- which meant running another marathon first. I chose the race in Portland, Maine, which was run on Oct. 6.
There were other reasons I wanted to do it. I am fast approaching my 60th birthday and the cliched idea of shaking a fist at mortality attracted me. And, three years ago, I went through what the writers always call a "bout" with cancer. I viewed the marathon as falling within the spirit of the Book of Deuteronomy to "choose life."
It's one thing to commit to running 26.2 miles. It's another to actually do it. And running a marathon at 59 is vastly different from running one at 47. At first, as I upped my distance from five to seven to nine miles, it felt incredibly difficult. Near the end of one seven-mile run, I tripped on a curb and ended up with six stitches in my chin and spectacularly blackened eyes.
It's actually harder to go from five to 10 miles than from 10 to 20. As the body settles in and becomes used to running for two and then three hours at a time, strange things happen to the mind. I found myself entering a blissful, almost Zen-like, state of thoughtlessness. There was only the painless sensation of putting one foot in front of the other. The world shrank, and I retreated from my daily concerns.
Other times, I was totally immersed in the music coming through my headset. Once my iPod jammed and I was treated to the final movement of the Verdi Requiem six times in a row, the Libera Me or "Deliver Me." It was fantastic. One morning, running trail along the C&O canal outside of Washington DC just before daybreak, I saw two beavers as well as lots of deer and herons -- and nary a human.
Of course, training for the marathon in the heat and humidity of a Washington summer is tough. I found myself getting up for my long runs on Sunday morning at 4:45 a.m. to beat the heat. A couple of times it was so humid I had gone through all three of my water bottles within five miles and had to turn back.
As for the marathon itself, the weather was perfect with temperatures in the low 50s -- but the course was much hillier than I anticipated. I reached the halfway point in just over two hours, but a surge of energy helped me increase my pace. By this point, I knew I would not qualify for Boston but I still wanted to break four hours.
In the third and fourth hours of the race, there were patches where I felt I could keep going for ever. I was passing one runner after another, exchanging words of encouragement. I had the heady feeling of transcending physical limitations. I thought, "Whatever else I do with my life, I have accomplished this." The final steep hill, known as "The Crusher," came at mile 23. I battled up it, stopped for a sip of water, and then cruised to the finish, managing a sprint for the final 100 yards.
I finished in one minute under four hours and missed qualifying for Boston by four minutes. But there's always next year.


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Hackney Gazette > News > Crime
Hackney robber bought kebab and chips on stolen credit card after spending hundreds at Westfield
Published: 6:29 PM January 19, 2017 Updated: 10:41 AM October 14, 2020
Ralfe Igor Benedito-Fazenda - Credit: Archant
A "violent" robber beat his victim about the face, before embarking on a spending spree at a Westfield betting shop with his bank cards "without a care in the world".
Ralfe Igor Benedito-Fazenda, 20 of Brooke Road, Upper Clapton, was with four other men on a 149 bus on February 27 last year, when their 39-year-old victim got on in Kingsland High Street at 4am.
The victim - who was alone - noticed the men sitting close to him, and when he got off they followed him along Stoke Newington Church Street.
He heard one of them say: "Where do you think you're going?" before being pushed into an alleyway and punched in his face repeatedly for a whole minute, causing deep lacerations.
His mobile phone was stolen along with his wallet which contained his driving licence, cash and a bank card.
The man staggered home and did not contact police until the next morning - while Benidito-Fazenda was at Westfield spending a few hundred pounds of his money in betting shops and fashion stores.
Then at the end of his shopping spree bank records show he used the bank card to order himself a kebab and chips.
Investigating officer, DC Scott Johnson, from Hackney, said: "This was a brutal robbery of a man who had been out with friends and was vulnerable. It was a cowardly attack by a group of males who used unnecessary violence.
"Benedito-Fazenda was one of these men, and he went on a spending spree with the victim's bank cards with not a care in the world.
"He is a violent and cynical criminal and I am pleased he has been brought to justice. I must credit the victim for being so brave."
Benedito-Fazenda was found guilty of robbery and fraud by false representation at Wood Green Crown Court today, following a four-day trial.
He was sentenced immediately to five years' imprisonment for robbery and six months each for the fraud by false representation counts, to run concurrently - meaning he is jailed for a total of five years.
Police are trying to find the others beleived to have been involved in the attack.


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PRESIDENT CLINTON AND VICE PRESIDENT GORE:
FIGHTING FOR SMALLER CLASS SIZES
AND MORE MODERN SCHOOLS
Smaller Class Sizes and More Modern Schools Help Raise Student Achievement.
Smaller Class Sizes Matter: According to a May 1998 Department of Education report, which analyzed the data and findings from the most carefully designed research studies on class size, smaller class sizes
below 20 students, especially in the early grades -- increase student achievement, reduce discipline problems, and increase instruction time for teachers.
More Modern Schools Matter: One study found that students in school buildings that were in poor condition had achievement levels 6 percent below students in schools that were in fair condition and 11 percent below students in schools in excellent condition.
However, Class Sizes Remain High and Many of Our Schools Are Falling Down. Today, the average class size in grades one through three is 22 students. And a recent GAO study showed how much work needs to be done to help modernize our schools: the estimated cost of bringing the Nation's schools into good overall condition is $112 billion, with one-third of all schools in need of extensive repair or replacement.
President Clinton's Proposal To Cut Class Sizes And Modernize 5,000 Schools.
Class Size Proposal: President Clinton is fighting for $1.1 billion this year to help state and local areas start to hire 100,000 new well-prepared teachers and to reduce class size in grades 1-3 to a nationwide average of 18, which will help make sure that every child receives personal attention, gets a solid foundation for further learning, and learns to read independently and well by the end of third grade.
School Modernization Proposal: In order for students to learn and to compete in the global economy, schools must be well-equipped and they must be able to accommodate smaller class sizes. To help renovate, modernize and construct over 5,000 new public schools, President Clinton is fighting to ensure that this year's budget includes Federal tax credits to pay interest on nearly $22 billion in bonds at a cost of $5 billion over five years.
President Clinton and Vice President Gore Will Fight To Ensure That Class Size Reduction and School Modernization Are Included In This Year's Budget. In his 1998 State of the Union Address, President Clinton said, "My balanced budget will help to hire 100,000 new teachers... to reduce class size in the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd grades to an average of 18 students... [and include] a school construction tax cut to help communities modernize or build 5,000 schools." Since then, the President has been fighting to enact his class size reduction initiative and his school modernization tax credit proposal. The Administration is eager to work with the Congress to get the job done -- and Republicans in Congress should agree with the President and parents that smaller classes and more modern schools are a top priority.
FACT SHEET: PRESIDENT CLINTON'S INITIATIVE
FOR SMALLER CLASSES WITH BETTER TEACHERS
President Clinton is fighting for his smaller class size proposal to help communities and school districts reduce class size to a national average of 18 in grades one to three. The initiative would provide $1.1 billion in fiscal year 1999 -- and $12.4 billion over seven years -- to help make sure that every child receives personal attention, gets a solid foundation for further learning, and learns to read independently and well by the end of third grade. The initiative would reduce class size by providing funds to help local school districts hire and pay the salaries of an additional 100,000 teachers. States would receive funds to boost teacher quality through teacher training, recruitment, and testing, and new teachers would be required to pass state competency tests. The President's initiative would:
Help Hire an Additional 100,000 Teachers to Reduce Class Size. States would allocate funding under this initiative to school districts to pay salaries and benefits for additional teachers to reduce class size in the early grades. Up to 90 percent of the funds allocated to school districts would be used for hiring teachers.
Make Sure These Teachers Are Well Prepared to Teach. States would be required to implement competency testing for new teachers, with each state selecting the tests it believes most appropriate for this purpose. Participating states and school districts would also have to ensure that individuals hired to fill these new positions be either fully certified or making satisfactory progress toward full certification.
At least 10 percent of the funds in this initiative would be used to promote high quality teaching by (1) training teachers in proven practices for teaching in small classes; (2) providing mentors or other support for newly hired teachers; and (3) providing incentives to recruit qualified teachers to high poverty schools. States could use a portion of their funds to toughen teacher certification requirements, as well as to develop more rigorous assessments of new teachers.
Hold Schools Accountable for Results. School districts receiving these funds would have to show that each school is making measurable progress in improving reading achievement within 3 years or take necessary corrective actions such as providing additional teacher training, revising the curriculum, or implementing proven practices for teaching reading. School districts could lose funding if there is no subsequent improvement in reading achievement in those schools. School districts would also have to publish an annual school report card, providing parents and taxpayers with clear information on student achievement, class size, and teacher qualifications.
Target Funding to Areas of Greatest Need. The President's initiative would distribute funds to states on the basis of the Title 1 formula. Within the state, each high-poverty school district would receive the same share of these funds as it receives under Title 1. The remaining funds would be distributed within the state based on class size. Matching funds would be required from participating school districts, on a sliding scale ranging from 0-35 percent, with high-poverty districts contributing the least. Once a state has reached an average class size of 18 in grades 1-3, it could use these funds to further reduce class size in the early grades or extend its efforts to other grades.
EVIDENCE THAT SMALLER CLASS SIZES
According to a May 1998 Department of Education report -- which analyzed the data and findings from the most carefully designed research studies on class size -- the academic research shows that:
Smaller Class Size Increases Student Achievement. The report found that reducing class size from substantially above 20 students per class to below 20 students leads to gains in student achievement with the performance of the average student moving from the 50th percentile to somewhere above the 60th percentile. According to studies, students from smaller classes in North Carolina, Wisconsin, Indiana, and Tennessee outperformed their peers in larger classes. According to a follow-up study, students from smaller classes in Tennessee continued to outperform their peers in all academic subjects even after returning to larger classes in the 4th grade. An analysis of data on 10,000 4th graders in 203 school districts and 10,000 8th graders in 182 school districts across the United States shows that students in smaller classes performed better in 4th grade and 8th grade than comparable students in larger classes.
Smaller Classes Reduce Discipline Problems and Increase Instruction Time for Teachers. In Burke County, North Carolina, the percentage of classroom time devoted to instruction increased from 80 percent to 86 percent, while the time devoted to non-instructional activities such as discipline decreased from 20 percent to 14 percent when class size was reduced. In Tennessee, students from the STAR program worked harder and caused fewer discipline problems than students from larger classes even after the STAR students returned to large classrooms.
Smaller Classes with Well-Prepared Teachers Make a Difference. Smaller classes will boost student achievement the most when teachers are prepared to teach well in these classes. A review of more than 100 research studies indicates that positive effects of smaller classes were more likely if teachers change their instructional methods and classroom procedures in the smaller classes. Class size reduction efforts resulting in student achievement gains in Wisconsin and North Carolina included a strong focus on professional development for teachers.
Smaller Classes Make the Greatest Impact in the Early Grades and for Disadvantaged and Minority Students. The clearest evidence of positive effects of smaller classes on student performance are in the primary grades, particularly first through third grade. Research on class size reduction efforts in Tennessee, Indiana, Wisconsin, and North Carolina shows clear academic gains for students in smaller classes through the third grade. (Studies questioning the impact of class size have often focused on class size variation across all grade levels.) The national study of 10,000 4th graders and 10,000 8th graders found the greatest impact of smaller classes on inner-city youth.
FACT SHEET:  PRESIDENT CLINTON'S TAX CUT
TO MODERNIZE SCHOOLS FOR THE 21ST CENTURY
In order for students to learn and to compete in the global economy, schools must be well-equipped and they must be able to accommodate smaller class sizes. To address these and other critical needs, President Clinton is fighting for Federal tax credits to pay interest on nearly $22 billion in bonds to build and renovate public schools. This new initiative provides tax credits in lieu of interest payments for investors in two types of School Modernization Bonds: Qualified School Construction Bonds and an expansion of the Qualified Zone Academy Bonds (which were created last year). The Department of the Treasury estimates that the revenue loss associated with the bonds would be $5 billion over 5 years and more than $11 billion over 10 years.
Qualified School Construction Bonds:
$19.4 billion in zero-interest bonds ($9.7 billion in 1999 and $9.7 billion in 2000) is proposed for construction and renovation of public school facilities. The Department of the Treasury would allocate the rights to offer these special 15-year bonds to states, territories, and certain school districts that have submitted school construction plans to the Secretary of Education.
Half of the bond authority would be allocated to the 100 school districts with the largest number of low-income children, in proportion to their share of funds under the Title I Basic Grant formula in the preceding year. In addition, up to 25 additional school districts that are in particular need of assistance, such as districts with a low level of resources for school construction or a high level of enrollment growth, could receive these allocations. These funds would be spent in accordance with the school district's plans.
The other half would be allocated to states and territories to provide to school districts in need of assistance in accordance with each state's plan. The bond authority would be allocated in proportion to each State's share of funds under the Title I Basic Grant formula in the preceding year, after subtracting the Title I shares of the 100-125 school districts.
School Construction Plans: In order to receive a bond allocation, states, territories, and the eligible 100-125 school districts would be required to submit a plan to the Secretary of Education. The plans would (1) demonstrate that a comprehensive survey has been undertaken of the construction and renovation needs, such as the need to provide access to students with disabilities, in the jurisdiction and (2) describe how the jurisdiction will ensure that the bond funds are used for the purposes intended by this proposal, including the requirement that they will supplement, not supplant, amounts that would have been spent on construction and renovation in the absence of the bonds. State plans would also describe how they will ensure that localities with the greatest need -- as demonstrated by inadequate facilities coupled with a low level of resources to meet the needs -- would be served.
Qualified Zone Academy Bonds:
This program, created by the Taxpayer Relief Act of 1997, provides a tax credit to pay interest on bonds for a variety of expenses (including building renovation) related to certain public school-business partnerships. The FY 99 Budget would expand these bonds to cover school construction, and would increase and extend the bond authority by $2.4 billion (an additional $1 billion, to $1.4 billion, in 1999, and $1.4 billion in 2000). This bond authority is allocated to States on the basis of their respective populations of individuals with incomes below the poverty line.
WHY SCHOOL MODERNIZATION
ASSISTANCE IS NEEDED
President Clinton's school modernization initiative is designed to address a nationwide school facilities crisis. These funds are necessary because: (1) the cost to repair existing schools is high, and states and communities can stretch their efforts and dollars further with these interest-free bonds; (2) enrollment growth is surging; and (3) better school facilities lead to better academic achievement.
The Cost to Repair Existing Schools Is High:
In a 1996 report, the General Accounting Office (GAO) estimated that the cost of bringing the Nation's schools into good overall condition was $112 billion. GAO's report revealed:
One-third of all schools, serving 14 million students, need extensive repair or replacement;
About 60 percent (including some schools in generally adequate condition) of all schools report needing at least one major building feature to be replaced or extensively repaired.
According to GAO: 28,100 schools serving 15 million students have less-than-adequate heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning systems; 23,100 schools serving 12 million students have less-than-adequate plumbing; and 21,100 schools serving 12 million students have less-than-adequate roofs.
GAO cited horrific examples of the need for school repairs:
Heating that depends on a fireman's stoking a coal furnace by hand at a high school;
Raw sewage backed up on the front lawn of a junior high school because of defective plumbing
An elementary school where a ceiling weakened by leaking water collapsed just 40 minutes after students had left for the day; and
Another elementary school with asbestos, chipping and peeling lead paint, and boarded windows.
Enrollment Growth is Surging:
The National Center for Education Statistics projects that elementary and secondary enrollments will swell from 52.2 million in 1997 to 54.4 million in 2006. States and localities will need to build some 6,000 new schools to serve additional students in the next decade.
The Condition of Schools Is Related to Student Achievement:
Several research studies indicate that the condition of school buildings affects student achievement. For instance, one study found that students in school buildings that were in poor condition had achievement levels 6 percent below students in schools that were in fair condition and 11 percent below students in schools in excellent condition.
HOW PRESIDENT CLINTON'S SCHOOL MODERNIZATION TAX CUT
COULD HELP SCHOOLS IN YOUR AREA
President Clinton's school modernization tax cut would work differently in various communities. Below are three examples that illustrate differences among communities based on their: (1) school construction needs; (2) authority to issue bonds; and (3) ability to issue bonds.
School District A -- A Rapidly Growing School District
School District A needs funds to construct additional schools to educate its rapidly growing enrollment. The state would allocate bond authority to School District A. When this community passes a bond initiative, it would then enter into an agreement with a financial company to sell the bonds to bond holders in order to raise funds to build schools in the community. The school district would use these funds to plan, design, and build additional schools. The community would repay the principal on the bonds to the bond holders, but it would not have to pay interest on the School Modernization Bonds. The bond holders would receive a tax credit equivalent to the amount of interest they would ordinarily have received on the loan.
School District B -- School Buildings in Need of Renovation
School District B needs funds to renovate its aging school buildings. This school district would receive a direct allocation of bond authority from the Federal Government because it is one of the 100 school districts with the largest number of students in poverty. This community has already passed a bond initiative, so it does not have to go to its citizens to gain the authority to issue bonds. The district is still eligible to issue School Modernization Bonds because it has not yet issued all of the bonds its citizens authorized it to issue. It would issue the bonds through a financial company to raise the funds necessary to renovate its schools. School District B would use these funds to renovate its facilities taking into account the need to accommodate modern educational technologies; provide access to individuals with disabilities; improve the energy efficiency of its buildings; and to bring its buildings, including its roofs and boilers, into good overall condition. The bond holders would be repaid as they would under the example for School District A. One difference would be that School District B would be able to use money saved from its energy bill to help it repay the principal on the loan.
School District C -- Poor Indian Reservation
This poor public school district needs funds to renovate a school and build a new school but is unable to issue bonds itself because of its small tax base. School District C would receive a heavily subsidized loan from the state. The state would subsidize the loan either by contributing the state's own funds toward the loan or by decreasing the amount of the subsidy other communities would receive under School Modernization Bonds in the state. School District C would not issue the bond itself; the state would issue it on behalf of School District C and several other school districts. School District C would use the funds to plan, design, and construct its new building and to renovate its existing school. The state could guarantee that School District C would repay the loan by retaining State aid in event that the school district stopped making payments. School District C would pay only a portion of the principal on the loan to the state because the loan is subsidized. The bond holders would be repaid as described in the above examples, except the state rather than the community would repay the principal to the bond holders.
IMPACT OF INADEQUATE SCHOOL
FACILITIES ON STUDENT LEARNING
A number of studies have shown that many school systems, particularly those in urban and high-poverty areas, are plagued by decaying buildings that threaten the health, safety, and learning opportunities of students. Good facilities appear to be an important precondition for student learning, provided that other conditions are present that support a strong academic program in the school. A growing body of research has linked student achievement and behavior to the physical building conditions and overcrowding.
Physical Building Conditions
Decaying environmental conditions such as peeling paint, crumbling plaster, non-functioning toilets, poor lighting, inadequate ventilation, and inoperative heating and cooling systems can affect the learning as well as the health and the morale of staff and students.
Impact on Student Achievement:
A study of the District of Columbia school system found, after controlling for other variables such as a student's socioeconomic status, that students' standardized achievement scores were lower in schools with poor building conditions. Students in school buildings in poor condition had achievement that was 6 percent below schools in fair condition and 11 percent below schools in excellent condition. (Edwards, 1991)
Cash (1993) examined the relationship between building condition and student achievement in small, rural Virginia high schools. Student scores on achievement tests, adjusted for socioeconomic status, were found to be up to 5 percentile points lower in buildings with lower quality ratings. Achievement also appeared to be more directly related to cosmetic factors than to structural ones. Poorer achievement was associated with specific building condition factors such as substandard science facilities, air conditioning, locker conditions, classroom furniture, more graffiti, and noisy external environments.
Similarly, Hines' (1996) study of large, urban high schools in Virginia also found a relationship between building condition and student achievement. Indeed, Hines found that student achievement was as much as 11 percentile points lower in substandard buildings as compared to above-standard buildings.
A study of North Dakota high schools, a state selected in part because of its relatively homogeneous, rural population, also found a positive relationship between school condition (as measured by principals' survey responses) and both student achievement and student behavior. (Earthman, 1995)
McGuffey (1982) concluded that heating and air conditioning systems appeared to be very important, along with special instructional facilities (i.e., science laboratories or equipment) and color and interior painting, in contributing to student achievement. Proper building maintenance was also found to be related to better attitudes and fewer disciplinary problems in one cited study.
Research indicates that the quality of air inside public school facilities may significantly affect students' ability to concentrate. The evidence suggests that youth, especially those under ten years of age, are more vulnerable than adults to the types of contaminants (asbestos, radon, and formaldehyde) found in some school facilities (Andrews and Neuroth, 1988).
Impact on Teaching:
Lowe (1988) interviewed State Teachers of the Year to determine which aspects of the physical environment affected their teaching the most, and these teachers pointed to the availability and quality of classroom equipment and furnishings, as well as ambient features such as climate control and acoustics as the most important environmental factors. In particular, the teachers emphasized that the ability to control classroom temperature is crucial to the effective performance of both students and teachers.
A study of working conditions in urban schools concluded that "physical conditions have direct positive and negative effects on teacher morale, sense of personal safety, feelings of effectiveness in the classroom, and on the general learning environment." Building renovations in one district led teachers to feel "a renewed sense of hope, of commitment, a belief that the district cared about what went on that building." In dilapidated buildings in another district, the atmosphere was punctuated more by despair and frustration, with teachers reporting that leaking roofs, burned out lights, and broken toilets were the typical backdrop for teaching and learning." (Corcoran et al., 1988)
Corcoran et al. (1988) also found that "where the problems with working conditions are serious enough to impinge on the work of teachers, they result in higher absenteeism, reduced levels of effort, lower effectiveness in the classroom, low morale, and reduced job satisfaction. Where working conditions are good, they result in enthusiasm, high morale, cooperation, and acceptance of responsibility."
A Carnegie Foundation (1988) report on urban schools concluded that "the tacit message of the physical indignities in many urban schools is not lost on students. It bespeaks neglect, and students' conduct seems simply an extension of the physical environment that surrounds them." Similarly, Poplin and Weeres (1992) reported that, based on an intensive study of teachers, administrators, and students in four schools, "the depressed physical environment of many schools... is believed to reflect society's lack of priority for these children and their education."
Overcrowding:
Overcrowded schools are a serious problem in many school systems, particularly in the inner cities, where space for new construction is at a premium and funding for such construction is limited. As a result, students find themselves trying to learn while jammed into spaces never intended as classrooms, such as libraries, gymnasiums, laboratories, lunchrooms, and even closets. Although research on the relationship between overcrowding and student learning has been limited, there is some evidence, particularly in high-poverty schools, that overcrowding can have an adverse impact on learning.
A study of overcrowded schools in New York City found that students in such schools scored significantly lower on both mathematics and reading exams than did similar students in underutilized schools. In addition, when asked, students and teachers in overcrowded schools agreed that overcrowding negatively affected both classroom activities and instructional techniques. (Rivera-Batiz and Marti, 1995)
Corcoran et al. (1988) found that overcrowding and heavy teacher workloads created stressful working conditions for teachers and led to higher teacher absenteeism.
Crowded classroom conditions not only make it difficult for students to concentrate on their lessons, but inevitably limit the amount of time teachers can spend on innovative teaching methods such as cooperative learning and group work or, indeed on teaching anything beyond the barest minimum of required material. In addition, because teachers must constantly struggle simply to maintain order in an overcrowded classroom, the likelihood increases that they will suffer from burnout earlier than might otherwise be the case.


Four attorneys from Heninger Garrison Davis, LLC. have been selected to the 2015 Alabama Super Lawyers list. No more than five percent of the lawyers in Alabama are selected by Super Lawyers.
For the sixth consecutive year, Steve Heninger was selected in the top 10 lawyers in Alabama by Super Lawyers. Erik Heninger was also selected to the top 50 lawyers in Alabama by Super Lawyers list.
In addition, five HGD attorneys have been selected to the 2015 Alabama Rising Stars list. Each year, no more than 2.5 percent of the lawyers in the state are selected by the research team at Super Lawyers to receive this honor.