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Articles by: Fred Gardaphe
White American Youth: My Descent into America's Most Violent Hate Movement—And How I Got Out
Christian Picciolini wasn't born a racist, but he became one. At the root of his racism was a fear of the unknown, and Picciolini tells us that it doesn't take much for that fear of the other to turn into an anger that fuels terrible acts. The key to understanding why and how an Italian/American kid learned to hate that which he didn't know lies in the way he wasn't taught to deal with the frustrations that face every child as he or she grows from adolescence into adulthood; it doesn't take much for a victim of racism to turn into a racist himself.
Picciolini was born to Italian immigrants whose difficulties in making the transition from immigrant to American kept them from understanding the world into which they were sending their son as they concentrated on the work they needed to survive and thrive in working class America. While they were busy building their beauty salon business, Christian was forging his identity through his negative encounters with classmate taunts about his difference and constant threats from the likes of "Goliath," the class bully that Christian knocks down with one lucky punch, changing the way his peers perceive him, and teaching him that violence is the way to protect and defend yourself in a world that fears difference.
As he moves from his grandparents care in a blue-collar neighborhood of Blue Island, Illinois, to his parents' American dream home in middle-class Oak Forest, Christian gains notoriety and power with his fists. While success in classroom comes easily, it's not enough channel that mix of curiosity and fear of life that comes to every teenager, so he looks elsewhere for a way to make sense his own life. By the age of fourteen he's under the influence of Chicago's first Skinheads who give him a sense of belonging that is protected by fighting not only the establishment, but also those whom the establishment suppresses.
Surrounded by these formidable forces, Picciolini gathers like haters to build a revolution that connects disenchanted white kids like him to the larger white supremacy movement that is growing in the 1980s and '90s. While he seems bent on changing the world, his actions don't come without doubts: "From time to time, I may have felt guilty for my actions and pondered whether all the white supremacist stuff I was feeding these kids was right. It didn't always go down so easily for me—the anxiety from the constant violence that existed twenty-four hours a day, the hateful ideology I programmed myself with to override the old-world values I had been raised on."
Had those "old-world values" been reinforced through his education, had there been opportunities for the young boy to understand the history of his own ancestors, he just might have seen the arbitrary difference skin color creates, and the false sense of entitlement that that comes with empowering whiteness.
Picciolini writes powerfully of the damage he caused and the pains he felt before he could reject his past and embrace a different future. This is not some wistful apology for a misguided life or an "I found the light" confession. White American Youth is the story what goes on inside every kid who gets lost in a world of fear and finds his humanity by connecting to the very ones he once feared. This story confronts the reality of American racism that continues to wreak havoc in our world today, and shows us a way out.
This is Christian Picciolini's first book. He is an EMMY-Award winning television producer, a visual artist and renowned public speaker.
The Italian American Book - Where My Body Ends and the World Begins
Anthony Lazzeri, is not a mamma's boy, but only because he's become a grandma's boy. Since he lost his sister in the infamous Our Lady of Angel's school fire of 1958, from which he barely escaped himself, he's depended on Nonna to feed his stomach, head, and heart. Or so he thinks. Nonna is a source of strength for Anthony because she avoids the past. "So, this was why we heard to few stories of the old country. Not because of shame or regret…but because to look over one's shoulder at what came before would spell disaster," he thinks. But Anthony is not like his grandmother.
Antney, as he's called, lives with Nonna in the family two-flat his parents abandoned after Ellie's death. Ma, a working nurse, comes back now and then to care for him, but only when she thinks he needs her. Dad, a washed-up baseball pro, is pretty much absent, that is until Anthony gets stalked by Mr. Lipshultz, a retired cop who has never given up his search for the culprit of the fire that forever changed the Chicago neighborhood where they all live.
With the help of his girlfriend, and fellow fire survivor, Maryann, Anthony tries to piece together his life after that historical trauma as well as the car accident (or suicide attempt?) that breaks his leg. As Anthony is trying to reconcile his injury with his losses, his next-door neighbor Lipshultz thinks he's got the goods on Anthony as the source of that fire; the ex-cop is doing his best to prove it when he is found dead in his home. What follows is a strange family reunion.
Where My Body Ends and The World Begins is Tony Romano's second novel, one that is part family-secret saga, part detective story, and all psychological thriller. What goes on in Anthony's mind rarely gets into the minds of others, save Maryann, Nonna, and Ellie. Think Hitchcock's Psycho. Think Endless Love. Then think beyond both of them as Romano concocts a rich tale worthy of a second read, for even if you read closely, you've got to go back to see just how he did it.
From it's thick grey winters to its dripping humid summers, from the bustle of city streets to the hustle of its folk, Chicago is more than backdrop in the capable hands of Romano's prose. With a cast of characters who could all vie for best supporting actor in a novel, and a plot that keeps you on your toes, this novel takes off like the old Riverview rollercoaster and doesn't let up until you been through some very interesting turns, twists, and stomach dropping dips.
There's danger in taking on real-life events in a work of fiction, especially one as far-reaching and emotionally laden as the school fire that killed ninety-two children and three nuns, but Romano uses his research well. He never lets the tale get bogged down by the mundane necessities of reporting or trying to reconstruct history. It's story that Romano's after, and he captures it well as he shows us all how childhood trauma can haunt a family for generations. What we get is a number of versions of key events, even after Anthony tracks-down a key suspect years later. Periodically Maryann takes over the narrative to add her take on what's happened, but since she too has had a "breakdown" of sorts, we are left wondering who's got it right.
Tony Romano is the author of the story collection, If You Eat, You Never Die, and the novel, When The World Was Young.
Where My Body Ends and the World Begins
Tony Romano
Publisher: Allium Press
Twenty-two Short, Shorter and Shortest Stories About Women
Rita Ciresi is the author of four novels and two story collections. Her writing has garnered awards such as the prestigious Pirate's Alley Faulkner Prize for the Novel; the Barnes and Noble "Discover New Writers" series; finalist status for the Los Angeles Times Book Award, and the Flannery O'Connor Award from the University of Georgia Press.
Cirsesi's early writing often dealt with younger protagonists groping toward their future while trying to deal with their families' pasts; often her characters face the question: can the daughter of Italian immigrants use any of her ancestral culture in creating her own American self? In her latest collection of stories, "Second Wife," Ciresi moves away from a focus on ethnicity to create a series of "everywomen" who speak to the ups, and mostly, the downs of life after marriage in voices that lure and drag us into some very interesting places.
If brevity is really the "soul of wit," as Polonius tells Gertrude in the second scene of Act II of Hamlet, then these stories give us a good look at the soul of this talented writer. "Second Wife" collects twenty-two short, shorter and shortest stories, some a few pages, some a page, and one a single sentence, each as engaging as the next.
Stories, like the opening, "Bag Boy"—the longest at eight pages—
turn in on themselves, leaving us with a number of ways to think about what we've just read. Here we have what could be called a novel in a story because Ciresi packs her story full of other stories. Ciresi is a master of the ability of to make the reader aware of the not said by adding more information through implication in her dialogues and rich ambiguities in her words. By the time you get to the end, you're already thinking about what happened earlier to make you realize that this story is more than just a fantasy about a grocery bagger.
In a single sentence, the story, "Depression, origin of," achieves its goal of telling a tale that touches us deeply in less than twenty words, leaving us wanting to know more about this person—so much so that we might even try imagining her past, present and future for ourselves.
Known for her great sense of humor, Ciresi mixes the tragic with the comic in many of these stories about women in relationships that are beginning, ending and often static. Whether in love, hate or fear, the second wives here make us all think of what we can do to keep our own lives from being like these. Some of these entries are fantasies; "Physical Therapy," "Hot Yoga" and "Love for Sale: 99 cents," all tell us more about a character's relationship to reality than would a simple explanation of what's happening. Others work as mysteries, such as "Don't Want Other People to Know Where I Am," which opens with someone taking a psychological quiz and ends with, well, let's just say it ends with us wondering.
Ciresi's writing is sharp and sparse; she makes more out of less. But, don't be misled, there's a power here that size masks. Each story engages the reader at once and when you get to the end we often find that what we think might be happening isn't even close to what actually is occurring. There are layers to each that reward multiple readings; quite easy given their size. This experience alone is worth the price of admission to a world where hurt is real, revenge can be hilarious, and endings can be "Like That," another Ciresi story that says a whole lot in just five sentences.
"Second Wife" is the mark of a master storyteller at her best. In a world where tweets are about all some can mentally digest, Ciresi has found a way to make shortness work to lengthen our thoughts. ww
*Distinguished Professor of English and Italian American Studies at Queens College/CUNY and the John D. Calandra Italian American Institute.
Dante In Love: Dante Alighieri's Vita Nuova Reinterpreted
There have been many translations and interpretations of Dante's Vita Nuova, mostly used by students and scholars, so one might ask, could one more do something so completely different that it matters today? Valerio's Dante in Love combines and transcends earlier work by creating a palimpsest through which we read Dante through Valerio. The brilliance of the work is how it presents a translation of the original Italian while simultaneously covering it with insightful commentary along the way.
Now whether you're familiar with Vita Nova or not, Valerio's take on it is worth the read. More than an insightful read of this important text, Dante in Love is interactive in an intriguing way. Strategically placed throughout the work are phrases followed by blanks, such as: "I measure my love for _____ by __________ and "I'm a mess when my love ________." At first, I thought we needed to rely on Dante to fill them in, then I realized, these are for readers to complete. By doing so, we connect our experiences with love to Dante's, and in the process, we contribute to the work, learning much about how good writing creates good thinking.
Like Dante, Valerio uses contemporary English vernacular to render this over seven-century-old writing into a version that speaks to us right now. The story is simple and common: a young man falls in love, and through his inexperience and uncertainty shadows the one he loves, making mistakes that all of us know; he pretends to ignore her, while stalking her at public and private events; he composes sonnets of adoration and despair; he dreams of her; he befriends her family and acquaintances; he becomes lovesick; he grieves her absence in his life, especially after her death when he wonders how he can go on living.
Beatrice becomes somewhat of a celebrity of her town, and the young Dante's crush on her, unrequited, becomes the fuel that feeds his artistic endeavors, becoming the center of all the writer creates in poetry and prose. Written many years before his great Divine Comedy, Vita Nuova helps us to see the early life of an artist who will go on to create one of the greatest written works of Western humanity. Through this "new life" or "young life," we can locate ourselves in him, and better understand what make us all seek love.
As of now, this is an electronic-only book, so you'll need to have the right tools to access it. Explanatory notes and a link to the original work follow the text to help us better understand how and why Valerio created this unique reading experience. Like the work that he translates, interprets and interpolates, Valerio has composed an ode to a masterpiece that demands attention and rewards rereading.
For the sake of that good beguiling story to emerge and crystallize, I have compressed and modernized Dante's words in Italian into English, from the point of view of my life as a writer.
* Anthony Valerio is the author of The Mediterranean Runs Through Brooklyn, Valentino and the Great Italians, BART: A Life of A. Bartlett Giamatti, Conversation with Johnny, Anita Garibaldi, A Biography, The Little Sailor, Toni Cade Bamabara's One Sicilian Night, and John Dante's Inferno.
* Fred Gardaphe: Distinguished Professor of English and Italian American Studies at Queens College/CUNY and the John D. Calandra Italian American Institute.
Professore Fred Gardaphe with his Queens College students
Feeling Italic ...
Growing up in an Italian/American community, I was not aware of differences between me and others until I left my house in Melrose Park, a Little Italy outside Chicago. We seemed to be as American as everyone around us, and as Italian too, but we never used the term, Italian American to define our differences. When asked where I was from, which didn't mean neighborhood, I always answered, Italy.
When I finally got to Italy, the first in three generations of my family to do so, I found an Italy that couldn't understand the Italian I thought I was speaking; I found a place never described by my nonni, who had left there in the 1920s. The Italian they taught us was dialect; the images they created of Italy in my mind through their stories were long before many modern conveniences had arrived in Castellana Grotte, province of Bari in Puglia. That trip showed me how un-Italian I actually was.
I returned home confused and determined to sort it all out as I began my career, something that wouldn't happen until I became an Italico myself. The process began with connecting the outside of Italy to the inside of me. I had to master the language; I had to know the history; I had to know Italy's past; and this was all done through years of study and travel, years that resulted in the establishment of my career in research and education focusing on Italian/American studies.
Bassetti writes that the power of uniting business and education can lead to the kind of interaction that is future oriented with the aims of turning us away from nations battling each other and towards nations working for the common good of all humans. In this way his ideas coincide with new developments in Italian/ American Studies such as the establishment of the Italian Diaspora Summer Seminar under the aegis of the John D. Calandra Italian American Institute/Queens College and the University of Calabria, that has moved Italian/American Studies into the 21st century by establishing new ways of organizing and studying the impact that Italian immigrants have had, not just in the United States of America (the focus of what has been traditionally referred to as Italian/American studies), but throughout the world where Italian immigrants have set up homes in new lands.
This work is echoed by the recent success of the "Transnational Italies" exhibition project, led by Dr. Loredana Polezzi of the University of Cardiff and Dr. Charles F. Burnett of the University of Bristol, who have made the Italian Diaspora experience from many countries speak to today's viewer in both space and time, globalizing the notion of Italian heritage so that it speaks not only to, but also beyond, national borders.
Bassetti's ideas help us to see beyond the quagmire of fear and violence often created by the idea of the nation-state as it strives to defend itself from others even as they absorb them into the populace.
Can we break down the borders in this new globalized world? Can we move away from the chauvinism of national identity to focus on the humanity in and of us all? Can we find ways of connecting to others in the world beyond the idea of geographical locations and national identities?
We can do all that if we start moving away from the myths created by monolithic national identities and toward the knowledge created by glocal interactions that enable us to make the world great together. We can do that by taking the first step of realizing that Italici share the values that can make us all better citizens of the world.
Information of the Book:
Piero Bassetti: Let's Wake Up italics! Manifesto for a Glocal Future
Bordighera Press (1 April 2017)
*Fred Gardaphe is Distinguished Professor of English and Italian/American Studies at the John D. Calandra Italian American Institute, Queens College/CUNY
Francis Ford Coppola on the set of The-Godfather Part-III (1991)
Into the Mind of the Godfather's Father
For many, Francis Ford Coppola's Godfather films are untouchable classics of cinema mastery. For others, like those in the Italic Institute, they are an abomination, as John Mancini, an Institute analyst says: "Coppola is no hero. In The Godfather, he did to Italian Americans what D.W. Griffith did to African Americans in the 1915 film, Birth of a Nation: He demonized them as criminal. He created a tribute to thieves and murderers."
To counter the publicity surrounding the publication of Coppola's The Godfather Notebook for the 2016 Christmas season, the Institute produced a video that you can catch on youtube, that attempts to cast Coppola as a villain, a "Christmas Grinch" who practiced purposeful defamation "even when he had the chance to tell the true stories of real Italian American heroes and heroines." From there they launch into a hagiographic gallery of Italians Coppola might have chosen to make films about: A.P. Giannini, founder of Bank of America; Rocco Petrone of NASA and Governor Ella Grasso, all mentioned in this brief piece pro- moting the Institute's work.
Now whether you agree with the Italic Institute or not, there can be no doubt that Coppola's work has had a great impact on the way Italians have been presented in American culture. His latest addition, The Godfather Notebook may not be for everyone, but for those who know the film well, it is a must buy.
Beginning with an insightful introduction, the Notebook, brings us behind the scenes of the film's creation and into the mind of one of the most important directors of American cinema. From his an- notations to the pasted-in pages from the novel, to excerpts from the screenplay, and stills from the shoot, Coppola takes us through the think- ing behind the making of his magnum opus.
If you know the film well, you will appreciate the ideas surround- ing the decisions the director made before and during the production. What was thought and left out and put in gives the reader an idea of all the possibilities that the artist encountered on preparation for his cinematic journey.
For each of the fifty scenes imagined there are typed notes—full of the typos that come in first-drafts— scene synopses, era considerations, possibilities for imagery and tone, core themes for each, and potential pitfalls that would detract from the director's effort to capture his vision. Many of the scenes never make it into final production; some were shot and never included; others were planned much differently than they turned out. All in all, the value here is the unique access the Notebook gives us to the way Coppola worked, and this is the beauty of the book.
Coppola's introduction becomes both a rationale for making a film on a subject he had little knowledge of, and an account of what he calls "the downs and downs" of its making, for there were many problems the young director encountered from the casting through the editing that come to light on these pages. His honesty comes through in lines like, "I think I made the notebook out of profound fear. It's important to un- derstand that at the root of it all, I wans terrified."
From this notebook came the screenplay, which can now be seen as a collaboration that goes beyond the author and director to include suggestions from actors like Marlon Brando. So whether your on side of the Italics Insitute or not, The Godfather Notebook will bring fuel to fire your thinking about his monumental work of literary interpretation that led to the cinematic creation of one of the most controversial films of our time.
As for the Italic Institute's take on this, one could only wonder why they are so vocal about fictional portrayals of Italian Americans and so silent about the real-life anti-American antics of the likes of Joseph Arpaio and Carl Pasquale Paladino. Could it be they suffer from irony deficiency or reality vision impairment?
Information of the book >>>
Fred Gardaphe:
Distinguished Professor of English and Italian American Studies at Queens College/CUNY and the John D. Calandra Italian American Institute
"Built With Faith" won the first Italian American Studies Association Book Award at the annual IASA conference in Los Angeles, November 5, 2016.
Studying Italian-American Material Culture in NYC
Joseph Sciorra, one of the few scholars in the world to take this material seriously, provides masterful insights into what most people take for granted and even more ignore. His "thick descriptions" of private shrines, presepi—Nativity scenes, the Rosebank Grotto of Staten Island, New York, and religious processions, are all well grounded in thorough histories and journalistic accounts of these public performances of personal devotions to Catholic saints.
Through his engaging style, based on the best of ethnographic methods, he presents a study that reaches beyond the academic to inform and challenge us to see and react to this Italian American material culture in new ways. Sciorra's "Introduction" recounts the work he did over a thirty-five year period in New York City and provides a rationale for the way he has documented not only thehistoryoftheseacts, but how, over the years they have been "reproduced, discarded, and reinterpreted."
Chapter One, "Private Devotions in Public Pulaces" covers the evolution of the Roman larari—shrines to gods found in homes, gardens and streets of ancient Rome — to their historical le edicole in Italy, contemporary manifestations of these can be found in "bathtub madonnas," front stoop shrines during feste, statues and yard altars that all become what Sciorra calls "Points of Encounter, Nodes for Communication," where people can meet and discuss their reactions to these public expressions of private devotions. Along with historical data and interpretative analyses, Sciorra presents interviews with builders and devotees and includes anecdotes from his encounters over the years.
Chapter Two, "Imagined Places and Fragile Landscapes," covers the traditions and practice of setting up Nativity scenes, both dramatic and static, in homes and in museums from early Italian examples such as the one created by St. Francis of Assisi in 1223 to the crèche set up annually in the Metropolitan Museum of New York. His insights help us to see how these expressions of faith interact with contemporary life: "The presepio's power is it subtle ability to embrace us in
its miniaturized intimacy and conjure a reverie of entangled thoughts and meanings. The multiple narratives revealed there offer insight into our relationship to the past and the future, to the holy and the mundane, to the self and communal, and ultimately our longings and desires."
If you've ever wondered why people decorate the outside of their homes during the Christmas season, Chapter Three presents, in great mix of academic and journalistic style, not only the history of these practices, which actually originate in Northern Europe and the U.S., but also culturally critical insights as to how these practices are rooted in conceptions of social class and taste.
In Chapter Four, Sciorra provides an in-depth study of the creation and evolution of the Our Lady of Mount Carmel Grotto in Rosebank, Staten Island. Through his study of this shrine he captures the "multivocality" of a community project through interviews with and accounts of those who were present at its creation, and those who have come along to maintain this important site of religious devotion.
Chapter Five covers the important aspects of religious feste processions and their relationships to multicultural geographic spaces and their populations in the city. Each chapter is well illustrated with clearly reproduced photos and illustrations that bring to life the impact that material culture has on spiritual developments. A concluding chapter brings all the studies together to demonstrate how past and present migrations and settlements speak to and through these public representations of personal beliefs, helping us to better understand the shifting mosaic lives in New York City.
"Gomorrah": Not Your Normal Gangster Show
This is not the case in Italy, where anti-Mafia movements in Sicily include people who risk their lives, and sometimes lose them, in their attempts to rid their society of this criminal element. Italians understand gangsters through the lens of Italian history and culture; this is not the case in the U.S. It's taken a long time for Italian mainstream storytelling media to take on the gangster in any significant way, but one look at the latest addition to the list will tell you that Stefano Sollima's television serialization of Roberto Saviano's non-fiction "Gomorra" (2006) is not your American cousin's underworld story.
To understand the Mafia, Camorra, Ndrangeta, or even the lesser-known Sacra Corona Unita, you need to look back to their roots in the aftermath of the unification of Italy in the mid-19th century. One of the best accounts of this, yet to be translated into English, is Francesco Benigno's "La mala setta: alle origini di mafia e camorra, 1859-1878" (2015). Benigno's well-written and documented study takes us deep into Italian history to see the intricate and intimate connections between what most see as the a simple battle of the "good guys" vs. the "bad guys." It's not that simple, and that's what Sollima shows us, not only through Saviano's content, but also through the director's form and style.
While it might be full of clichés and stereotypes, the television series "Gomorrah" (Sundance TV, Wednesday nights 10 p.m. EST) is a long way from the first gangster films from the silent era like "The Black Hand" (1906) and D.W. Griffith's "The Musketeer of Pig Alley" (1912). And while you'll see allusions to "The Godfather" (1972), "Goodfellas" (1986), and HBO's "The Sopranos" (1999-2007), the new series is unique in many ways.
Unlike its U.S. antecedents, "Gomorrah" focuses not on the attempt to deal justice and maintain honor and order, but on the dirty reality of a life of crime in the real world where the settings are not always pretty and the lighting not always flattering to actors. It's no wonder that Matteo Garrone's 2008 film adaptation, despite winning major European awards such as the Cannes Grand Prix, had no chance for an Academy Award for Best Foreign Film. It was simply, just too real for a Hollywood that falls for fantasies such as "Slum Dog Millionaire" and "Life is Beautiful."
The same might be said for the newest incarnation of Saviano's story, where what you see are longer versions of what might have been shown on Italian television news. Will U.S. audiences take to the story of the Savastano crime family like they did to the Sopranos? They will if they've grown up since Tony and Carmela left their homes, but they won't if they fail to see that Sollima's take is as real as anything can be in today's mixed-up world of the reality television fetish.
If you want to know the differences between the Italian and the Italian American, then pay close attention to the differences between the Savastanos and the Sopranos. While there are many allusions to the earlier U.S. versions and visions of the gangster—such as the opening when two Savastano soldiers Attilo (Antonio Milo) and Ciro (Marco D'Amore) are driving through a Naples tunnel on their way home from work— and while you'll find many of the old gangster staples that we've come to know from all those earlier depictions, what "Gomorrah" gives you is slow development of the long story, done through superb acting that rarely breaks the dramatic spell of Sollima's storytelling (unlike the irksome commercials that the Sundance channel needs to insert: where's HBO when you need them?). From the friction of disgust to the blaze of flames from a burning car to the almost washed-out whiteness of daylight in the project, scenes in "Gomorrah" are more artistically constructed and more effectively realized. Even daylight is chiaro/scuro, and the contrast of the under lit night scenes results in powerful images that rarely reveal shadows.
The visual tension highlights the social conflicts created by characters that rarely gets relieved. When Don Pietro Savastano (Fortunato Celino) is imprisoned, you think it will be business as usual for the Savastano family, but a wily prison warden proves to be a formidable force for the anti-Camorristi. From the prisoners' meals to their prayers, we see a quotidian side of the gangster that is rarely shown in the U.S., and you get the feeling that perhaps a human being can really serve two masters and maintain, if not his sanity, then certainly his ability to find a way to live with it all.
Like the Soprano family, the Savastanos have troubles, but whether it's father/son or mother/son, Gennaro (Salvatore Esposito) exceeds the bounds of A.J. Soprano, his American counterpart. Gennaro takes to excesses such as speeding with his motorcycle when his father's rule takes him to places his stomach can't handle. And it seems one of the normal reactions to witnessing death, whether committing it or watching it, is stomach purge that many characters experience.
The humor is sparse, in this gritty story of dirty lives filled with uncertainties. There is little to laugh at, and little time to even think of it as the pace of the show takes us from one crisis to another. There are no backyard barbecues in Naples, though scenes of food and its preparation are plentiful, you don't see Imma Savastano (Maria Pia Calzone) baking a cheese cake or dishing out the baked ziti like Carmela Soprano. Certainly the women stay in the background more than their American cugine.
Scenes are punctuated or underscored by the presence of television news accounts of the crimes, and these serve as a Greek chorus, calling our attention (as well as the characters') to society's reactions to the ongoing disruptions of normal life. As of this writing, I've only seen four hours of the first season, and with a second season ready, and the third soon to be released, (and a fourth contracted) we should be in for some interesting viewing in the coming years that just might give us a better understanding of this underworld and maybe even ourselves.
BOOKS. Riding the Streets of Utica
The third installment of Frank Lentricchia's Eliot Conte mystery series, following The Accidental Pallbearer and The Dog Killers, finds the ex-professor turned private eye a stay-at-home father to a newborn daughter. Baby Ann, the result of his cohabitation with Catherine Cruz, is in his care and keeps him at his wit's end.
Without much of a track record in the father business, Eliot struggles to keep the kid fed, in clean diapers, and not crying as he muddles around his Utica home, waiting for Catherine to return from a visit to her older daughter.
When he gets a call from Caruso's Café telling him the news, he begins to sizzle. Victor Bocca, a local lout and angry old man smashed the guitarofone Angel Moreno, after the seventeen year old uses this new gift from his adopted father Eliotto amuse Utica's Golden Boys, local retirees, as they debate the most famous unsolved crime in Utica history, the 1947 murder of Fred Morelli.
Assumed all along to be a mob hit, Angel ruins the old men's theories as he presents evidence
he's managed to get through use of his superhuman skills as a computer hacker that links Morelli to none other than Thomas E. Dewey, the famous New York crime fighter turned politician. Angel, home from college, must have struck a wrong chord for Bocca to have behaved so violently, and leaves the café to sulk in his room.
Eliot seeks vengeance for the wrong done to his son, but before he can enact whatever physical response his twisted mind can conceive, he finds Victor's body sprawled over his front stoop; someone more professionally prepared than Eliot, got there first, yet Eliot will be suspected of the crime until he can prove he had nothing to do with it.
With this plot, Lentricchia takes us on another wild ride through the streets of Utica, New York, as wild man Eliot, part Sherlock Holmes, more Dirty Harry, flits about town in an effort to keep his family alive and together. Angel, whose family was murdered in the last novel, nowis Eliot'scharge.
Takingcare of a newborn, and this genius computer whiz home from the Ivy League school that awarded him a major in computer science before he even takes a class, is more than Eliot can handle. Under the stress, he drifts toward the old habits that got the best of him in the past, and keeps him from finding normal work.
Lentricchia has centered this novel around an actual unsolved murder of one Fred Morelli, whose immigrant father had his cigar business busted by the state for withholding sales tax, an act that drives Fred to the dark side of Italian power. With punchy dialogue and fast-paced action, Lentricchia keeps the story moving and the plot from giving itself away. His sleuth is someone you love to hate and are afraid to love, and yet, you can't help but wonder just how will Eliot get out of this one. While the solution is ingenious, the action makes us think, could this be the end of Lentricchia's detective work?
What could Eliot Conte possibly do next if he must stay in Utica as he reaches the age when health problems arrive unexpectedly to normal seniors, not to mention those who are trouble magnets. And just how much mystery can even a powerful writer such as Lentricchia draw from one small American city?
Rolling With Life's Changes Ideas
Thieves Never Steal in the Rain, is Marisa Labozzetta's fourth book of fiction, her second of short stories. These stories differ from her first collection, At the Copa, in that they are linked, meaning there are familiar characters and settings throughout the ten stories; this makes the fiction ring like a novel by the time you finish reading them all.
Labozzetta's previous work has garnered critical attention and awards such as a Pushcart Prize for At the Copa—also a finalist for the prestigious John Gardner Fiction Award in 2009, and Sometimes it Snows in America was a finalist for the Eric Hoffer Award. One of the stories in this new collection, "Forecast for a Sunny day," won the Watchung Arts Center Award for Short Fiction in 2010. The author carries her award-winning skills to new levels in this work.
In "Villa Foresta," the opening story, Joanna and Elliot, a middle-aged couple who have lost a young daughter to an early death by accident, travel to Italy to get away from it all only to find themselves closer to their daughter than ever before, realizing that grief can't always overcome the loss that caused it.
Rosemary and Nate, another middle-aged couple are introduced in "Deluxe Meatloaf," where they meet for a dinner that signals the end of their marriage, something that takes Rosemary, a successful advice columnist, by surprise. Rosemary's answers to her readers often contains a recipe for some food that will aid in dealing with the problem she addresses; without a clue, or a recipe for her own problems, Rosemary deals with this loss by emptying her sorrows in the street outside the restaurant.
Labozzetta is a master at capturing the internal and external forces that bring change into the lives of her characters, and expressing them through a variety of voices. Whether it's self perceived (and obsessed) obesity, as in "Pretty Face" or a mistaken reading of how good others have it, as in "A Perfect Father," the author explores the strengths of her characters so thoroughly that their weaknesses seem natural partners. You can't have the good in life without the bad, and somehow you have to learn how to live a life balancing the two.
Some succeed, some fail, but all of her characters teach us much about our own lives. The female cousins who are the protagonists in each story come together in "Comfort Me, Stranger," to save Rosemary when the depression from her divorce makes it impossible for her to continue her advice column. Joanna, Nancy, Barbara and Angie, all take turns responding to Rosemary's readers, each failing to meet the reader's needs, yet together they succeed in saving their wounded cousin, though everyone is worried about the roommate she takes in to help ease her loneliness.
The final two stories bring us into the world of dealing with aging and dying parents, and
in these stories the characters come together to help and sometimes hinder each other
as they face new challenges. In this, as in the other stories, Labozzetta reminds us that supernatural and the common provide ways of dealing with the ups and downs of the loves and losses of family life.


Everyone's talking about Aaron Rodgers and the likelihood of him missing the rest of the season with a broken collarbone. While Green Bay's chances of winning the Super Bowl are slim without the game's best player, the defense has also struggled to live up to expectations.
Allowing 22.5 points and 326.2 yards per game, the Packers defense will have to try to slow down the league's fourth-best scoring offense.
The New Orleans Saints are scoring 29 points and tallying 372.2 yards per game. While the Saints are a pass-first team, they've also established a respectable running game, averaging 113.8 yards per contest on the ground.
Expect Packers quarterback Brett Hundley to have a solid game and put points on the board. However, it won't be enough, as the Packers defense will let them down against the Saints.


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When people speak to me I feel empowered : Prakash Rai
Mangaluru Mar 14, 2018: Renowned actor Prakash Rai has said that he feels a lot more empowered whenever a common man comes and talks to him.
At an interactive meet with media persons here on March 14, Wednesday Prakash Rai said he was not in favour of entering electoral politics and neither was he in favour of any political party. "I will speak against the party which endangers the country," he said. He further added that the communal mindset of the BJP has attacked him and dubbed communal politics as a "bigger cancer than corruption."
He also did not forget to highlight the role of media and added that he was raising his voice as a citizen of this nation. He also regretted that at times his remarks have been twisted and added that he had every right to question. Everyone has the right to question in the true spirit of democracy, he said. "Attempts are made to silence my voice through criticism and pressure tactics," Rai said.
He said he felt greatly disturbed when BJP supported Union Minister Ananth Kumar who spoke against the Constitution.
Regarding the court verdict on pub attack case, Prakash Rai said he wondered how the accused could be acquitted when there was so much evidence.
On some reports that he faced threats in Mangaluru, Prakash Rai said four men had questioned his car driver as to where he(Rai) was residing. However they left the spot on seeing the police, said the actor.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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Latest news and need-to-know information from Austria on work culture, workers' rights, workplace etiquette and rules, trade unions, taxes, salaries, and more.
Reader question: What are the rules for commuting between Austria and Slovakia?
Many people cross the Austrian-Slovakian border for work. Here's a look at the latest rules that apply.
EXPLAINED: The 2022 salary requirements for Austria's EU Blue Card
Explained: How to understand your payslip in Austria
How to prepare for your Austrian tax return if you're self-employed
Top co-working spaces in Austria for freelancers and entrepreneurs
Seasonal workers in Austria: What's the situation for winter 2021?
Everything you need to know about annual leave in Austria
Austria's 3G rule for workplaces: How will it work?
Everything you need to know about health insurance for freelancers in Austria
Working in Austria: Longer notice periods for workers come into force


Have you invested in top rank diversified equity mutual funds? If you don't then it is the right time to invest to get an awesome return on your investment.
Top rank diversified equity mutual funds schemes let you invest in large-cap, mid-cap, and small-cap stocks of multiple sectors. It is a pool of best stocks in a particular sector that diversify a portfolio of stocks.
You can consider the below top rank diversified equity mutual funds to invest in India that has been ranked 1 by CRISIL. You can remain invested in this funds for at least 3 years to get sound returns.
Principal Emerging Bluechip – Growth is one of the top rank diversified equity mutual funds that has been ranked 1 by CRISIL in its category.
Its NAV value has grown up by more than 46% in the last one year. The scheme has invested in Eicher Motors, Britannia, IndusInd Bank, IGL, Petronet LNG, ICICI Bank, AIA Engineering, Bajaj Fin, HPCL, and Navin Fluorine as top holdings.
Principal Emerging Bluechip funds have invested above 17% in the Banking and Finance sector. Moreover, it also allocated above 7% in Oil & Gas, Manufacturing, and Cement sectors. Along with that, it has invested around 9% in Chemicals and Automotive sectors.
Motilal Focused Multicap 35 – RP Growth fund is also an open-ended fund. Its main objective is to invest in 35 equity-based stocks and relevant equity instruments across sectors. CRISIL has ranked 1 to Motilal Focused Multicap 35 RP(G) scheme.
Its one year return is 43.80% and allocate funds in sectors like Banking and Finance, Oil & Gas, Automotive, Food & Beverage, and Pharma. This scheme invested over 4% in United Spirits, PNB Housing Fin, Britannia, Eicher Motors, and IndusInd Bank.
Furthermore, over 8% of its funds have been invested in Maruti Suzuki and HDFC. Apart from that, it also allocates over 5 % of its assets value in HDFC Bank, HPCL, and BPCL.
Aditya Birla Sun Life Advantage Fund – Growth is an open-ended scheme. The scheme is also ranked 1 in the diversified equity mutual funds category by CRISIL. You can invest in this scheme and can achieve long-term growth at moderate risk.
ABSL Advantage Fund(G) has given 40.90% returns for a period of one year as on 19 Dec 2017. Its top 10 holdings are HDFC Bank, SBI, HPCL, Maruti, ICICI Bank, Voltas, Eicher Motors, Natco Pharma, PNB Housing Fin, and Dalmia Cement.
This fund has allocated more than 30% of capital in the Banking and Finance sector and around 12% in the Oil & Gas sector. Furthermore, it also invested above 10% in Automotive and 7.47% in Cement sectors.
Sundaram Rural India Fund (G) is also ranked 1 in the diversified equity mutual funds category by CRISIL and its one year return is 38.50%. This scheme has allocated above 19% to the chemicals sector and more than 13% to Food & Beverage and consumer non-durable sector.
Its portfolio includes stocks like HUL, ITC, M&M, SBI, NCC, Tata Chemicals, Tata Global Beverage, Britannia, and Maruti Suzuki. The scheme has allocated over 2% on most of these stocks.
Tata Equity P/E Fund – Growth is yet another diversified equity mutual funds that also has been ranked 1 by CRISIL. Its one year return is 37.70% and risk is moderately high.
The scheme's highest allocation is in Automotive and Banking & Financial sectors with over 18%. Other major sectors are Oil & Gas, Manufacturing, and Engineering where it has invested.
Sectors include stocks like Yes Bank, PowerGrid, Larsen, Finolex Cables, Zee Entertainment, Grasim, Gail, and Tata Motors.
I hope you like this post of diversified equity mutual funds and so kindly share it on your social networks like Facebook, Twitter, and Google+ or any other networks.
I screen out mutual funds depending on different parameters to suit your needs and so keep visiting for more info. You can share your thoughts in the comments section below.


Gail, Otto Willi. DER STEIN VOM MOND. KOSMISCHER ROMAN. Breslau: Bergstadtverlag, . Octavo, pp. [1-6] 7-286  [288: ad], original pictorial orange cloth, front, spine and rear panels stamped in black, top edge stained black. First edition. Sequel to DER SCHUSS INS ALL (1925). A novel set in the near future that takes place in the Atlantic ocean, on the Yucatan Peninsula and in space near Venus. The parts of the novel concerning Yucatan and Atlantis have an occult tone and some crank science is involved. The interplanetary portion is more sound and practical. "…combines elements of from Blavataksy's Theosophy with contemporary rocketry." - Bleiler, Science Fiction: The Gernsback Years 445. Translated into English as "The Stone from the Moon," SCIENCE WONDER STORIES, Spring 1930. Bleiler, Science-Fiction: The Early Years 828. Lexikon 2, p. 117. Bloch (2002) 1089. Brandt, Der deutsche Zukunftsroman 1918-1948, p. 358. Nagl, p. 255. A bright, nearly fine copy. (#147188).
"1.--6. Auflage" on copyright page.


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#ifndef TESTS_MOCK_MOCKSUBSCRIPTIONMANAGER_H
#define TESTS_MOCK_MOCKSUBSCRIPTIONMANAGER_H

#include "tests/utils/Gmock.h"

#include "joynr/MulticastSubscriptionRequest.h"
#include "joynr/SubscriptionManager.h"
#include "joynr/SubscriptionRequest.h"

class MockSubscriptionManager : public joynr::SubscriptionManager
{
public:
    using SubscriptionManager::SubscriptionManager;

    MOCK_METHOD1(getSubscriptionCallback,
                 std::shared_ptr<joynr::ISubscriptionCallback>(const std::string& subscriptionId));
    MOCK_METHOD5(registerSubscription,
                 void(const std::string& subscribeToName,
                      std::shared_ptr<joynr::ISubscriptionCallback> subscriptionCaller,
                      std::shared_ptr<joynr::ISubscriptionListenerBase> subscriptionListener,
                      std::shared_ptr<joynr::SubscriptionQos> qos,
                      joynr::SubscriptionRequest& subscriptionRequest));
    MOCK_METHOD10(
            registerSubscription,
            void(const std::string& subscribeToName,
                 const std::string& subscriberParticipantId,
                 const std::string& providerParticipantId,
                 const std::vector<std::string>& partitions,
                 std::shared_ptr<joynr::ISubscriptionCallback> subscriptionCaller,
                 std::shared_ptr<joynr::ISubscriptionListenerBase> subscriptionListener,
                 std::shared_ptr<joynr::SubscriptionQos> qos,
                 joynr::MulticastSubscriptionRequest& subscriptionRequest,
                 std::function<void()> onSuccess,
                 std::function<void(const joynr::exceptions::ProviderRuntimeException&)> onError));
    MOCK_METHOD1(unregisterSubscription, void(const std::string& subscriptionId));
    MOCK_METHOD1(touchSubscriptionState, void(const std::string& subscriptionId));
    MOCK_METHOD1(getMulticastSubscriptionCallback,
                 std::shared_ptr<joynr::ISubscriptionCallback>(const std::string& multicastId));
    MOCK_METHOD1(
            getSubscriptionListener,
            std::shared_ptr<joynr::ISubscriptionListenerBase>(const std::string& subscriptionId));
    MOCK_METHOD1(getMulticastSubscriptionListeners,
                 std::forward_list<std::shared_ptr<joynr::ISubscriptionListenerBase>>(
                         const std::string& multicastId));
};

#endif // TESTS_MOCK_MOCKSUBSCRIPTIONMANAGER_H

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


Download Indiana University-South Bend Whitepaper!
Download the PDF with FULL information about the Indiana University-South Bend from opened government trustful sources - right now!
Indiana University-South Bend offers 241-degree programs and 6 via distance education. Student-to-faculty ratio is 13:1. 1 high safety campus. Acceptance Rate is 73%. The most popular test is SAT - 84% of students submitted it in comparison to 29% of students who submitted ACT. 38.2% are women, and 61.8% are men. 3% percents of international students. Indiana University-South Bend is a member of 5 athletic associations. The average annual total cost of attendance at Indiana University-South Bend is 10377$, that is at the level of national average. Total price of living is between $12453 and $19271 per year. 26% of full-time Indiana University-South Bend students completed their education in 150 percent of time: graduation rate is at the level of national average. Average salary after attending is $33,400, so if you studied 2 years, you'll get your funds back in less than 2 years.
The Indiana University-South Bend is a public and non-academic-year institution, so it's net price represents an average of all programs and includes only undergraduates who first enrolled in the fall term and pay in-state tuition and receive Title IV aid.
Depending on the federal state, or institutional grant and available, Indiana University-South Bend students in your income bracket may pay more of less than the overall average costs.
3670 of Indiana University-South Bend undergraduate students were awarded with some type of financial aid, it's 50 percents of all undergraduate students. This makes Indiana University-South Bend number 30 in the amount of financial aid awarded to students among all educational institutions in Indiana.
Students at Indiana University-South Bend awarded 5 types of loans or aids, the biggest percent of students received a any financial aid.
Here are the learning opportunities available in Indiana University-South Bend.
Indiana University-South Bend graduation rate is below the national average.
26% of full-time students enrolled for the first time to Indiana University-South Bend completed the education program and got a degree in 150 percent of the expected time of completion.
Indiana University-South Bend acceptance rate is above national average.
Average acceptance rate for institutions in state is 72%, so acceptance rate value is above state average for 1% only.
Average acceptance rate for all institutions in state in the same net price range is 66%, so Indiana University-South Bend acceptance rate value is above state net price average for 7%.
The Indiana University-South Bend full-time retention rate is 66% and part-time retention rate is 49%.
Retention rate is an important index: if it is high, it demonstrates that school offers quality curriculum, welcoming student environments and cultures as more students choose to continue their studies.
The student-to-faculty ratio at Indiana University-South Bend is 13:1, that means that for every 13 students the institution has one professor, lecturer or specialist with a degree in education. Lower student-to-faculty ratio is better - it means that professors can dedicate more time and attention to each student.
In Indiana University-South Bend the biggest percent of students are enrolled in on-campus courses.
Here are the students enrolled exclusively in distance education courses at Indiana University-South Bend and grouped by their location. Distance education courses are the most popular for students located in Indiana.
The campus located by 1700 Mishawaka Avenue address in South Bend, Indiana.
Main Campus in comparison of all branches in the US. It is calculated as the average percent of crimes yearly by five years of data for every campus, based on an overall number of students studying there. The branch is a part of Indiana University-South Bend with 0.12% of maximum crimes a year. The most often crimes detected on Main Campus are burglary, robbery, and motor vehicle theft.
Indiana University-South Bend offers 241 programs in total: 154 are for Bachelor's degree, 39 - for Master's degree, 18 - for Associate's degree, 15 - for 1-year, but less than-2-year certificate programs, and 15 are Postbaccalaureate certificate.
This is one of the lowest number of programs in comparison with other 135 universities in Indiana state. Indiana University-South Bend is one of the few institutions in Indiana that offers an Associate's degree program.
There are 6 distance education programs that are provided in the Indiana University-South Bend: 6 are for Bachelor's degree.
Indiana University-South Bend provides coursework for undergraduate students and graduate students.
In 2014-2015 academic year estimated full-time equivalent undergraduate enrollment was 4847 students with 145413 сredit hours for 12-month instructional activity period. The enrollment for graduates was 368 with 8839 credit hours.


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Leaders Speak: Jose and Mayra Humphreys of Metro Hope Community Church
Rev. Jose and Dr. Mayra Humphreys members of Latino Leadership Circle and Pastors of Metro Hope Church in Harlem were interviewed on FaithStreet.
Faith Street sat down with with Jose and Mayra Humphreys, pastors at Metro Hope Church. We had a stirring discussion about Metro Hope, how Jose and Mayra challenge people to develop roots in New York City and why a relationship with Christ is a foundational part of doing social justice work.
By The FaithStreet Team
What could a newcomer expect on a Sunday morning at Metro Hope Church?
Jose: Metro Hope is an Evangelical Covenant Church. We meet in a historic theater in East Harlem, so the space communicates elements of history, creativity and culture. On a Sunday morning folks can expect a deep experience of hospitality. At Metro, when we say, "we're a welcoming church", we are serious about the words, "come as you are." While this is often a slogan seen on websites, we attempt our best to create a space that embodies welcome. We also encourage folks to come with their questions about faith, skepticism, and doubt–the questions they might fear asking out loud.
After a typical worship experience, people leave feeling a sense of peace and grounding in Christ. One thing we have done well is to cultivate a space where people can engage the love of Christ in a way that's practical and relevant.
Mayra: At Metro Hope, it's very important for us not just to "do to", but to "do with." That's an important piece for us: to do ministry horizontally, because everything we do is undergirded by relationship. We continually work to create a space where we're actually listening to folks–deeply listening– honoring moments where people can feel affirmed in their identity, and even their questions about faith. At Metro Hope we do a lot of border crossing, and a lot of transacting. When we began, we observed there were very few places where true multicultural dialog was happening, where people could openly discuss issues of race, gender, and class. So we engage folks from all walks of life. Our task at Metro is to be curators. Many enter our doors with diverse gifts and aspirations, how do we put those on display for God's kingdom? Our job is really to walk with people as they seek Christ. We try to ask ourselves, "What is God doing in people and how can we participate in that?"
How did you two decide to become a husband and wife pastoral team?
Jose: Early on in our marriage we received a wonderful encouragement from a friend. He said, "You and Mayra have a wonderful opportunity to be co-creators with God and one other, in creating a union that is healing and redemptive for you and the world." This is a quote I now use when I officiate wedding ceremonies. Early on we saw marriage as more than just "getting hitched". We saw marriage as mission – something that could provide health, healing and meaning to us and to others. We cultivated something in our relationship that today has thankfully flowed into our church.
Mayra: There's a deep respect and understanding we have about what each of us brings to the table. If I were not at Metro Hope I wouldn't be a pastor. I am very committed to what we do here. I deeply believe in what Jose is leading us into. We both respect the different gifts brought to the table. I do pieces of multiculturalism and advocacy well, and he supports that. Jose is wonderful at discipleship and leadership. And we really understand why we need each other and why we're both here.
Jose: It's like jazz.
So what's different about Metro Hope?
Mayra: We believe we need a full spectrum of churches. There are churches in Harlem already doing great work. So we've asked, "What kind of church would God want us to be, among a community of churches?" So when we thought about starting a church we wanted to come from a different disposition. We observed a group of folks who felt caught betwixt and between. In particular, people of color who felt the church wasn't relevant to their intellectual identity, but who felt significant ties to their cultural and historical roots. It seemed like there were many churches where their narrative was not represented. Some churches were more about the head, others about the heart. We resonated with that deeply. We wanted to merge the differences and think about both Spirit as well as intellect.
We also knew people would say, "Oh, it's just another church." But we were more interested in how our church could partner with others for God's kingdom in Harlem. We try our best to take on the posture of collaboration with churches and institutions in our neighborhood.
So why another church in New York City when there are so many churches?
Jose: If you look at East Harlem there is no shortage of churches. Per square foot Harlem is saturated. The joke at Metro Hope is, "If it doesn't work out here, there's another church just across the hall!" All in all, Metro Hope is finding its place in East Harlem and NYC. The gospel is a grand story with great news. At times certain parts of that narrative may be underrepresented in this community. So we began to imagine starting a church that could grow with the changes happening in Harlem. Our church on a Sunday is now becoming more and more representative of the changing landscape of Harlem. It's nice to have singles and families that represent different cultures and ethnicities, worshipping together on a Sunday morning.
The second thing I would say is people should be able to bring their whole selves to church. White, black, Asian or Latino, people are not expected to lose themselves. This is really about addressing the idols we all have about culture, putting them in their rightful place in light of Christ. I'm an intellectual being, with a body, a soul and emotions. So we try to integrate that into how we teach, how we facilitate discussions on Sundays. It's important that people not dichotomize themselves, or "divorce" a part of self when they come to church. If you're really made in the image of God then your culture matters, your history matters, where you live counts.
What's the difference between compassion ministries and social justice advocacy? And why is it important for Metro Hope to be involved in social justice work?
Jose: Compassion is the posture that we approach justice with. For us there's no separation between the two. Some folks talk about picketing with signs, or shaping policy versus handouts and alms to the poor. Jesus was all about seeing people and being present with them, whether they were Jewish or Canaanite or Samaritan. With each person Jesus embodied a posture of compassion. When he saw the 5000 plus he had compassion for them because, "they were like sheep with out a shepherd." God works on our sight first, before we put our hands to the plow so-to-speak.
Without compassion justice becomes pity. Feeling sorry for someone will dehumanize them. When you dehumanize someone they become less. But when you have compassion for someone, you realize they are created in the image of God Almighty, and they possess beauty – they have worth and you can learn from them.
Mayra: It comes from our evangelical roots. It's having an understanding that our personal relationship with Christ is foundational – and our work is built on that. When I have a relationship with God and I realize how deep his love for me, how deeply he loves humanity, I in turn start to love humanity in the same manner. And when I see people suffer, it breaks my heart because it breaks God's heart. It is key that ministry not just come from the perspective of humanism. When I do things, I get to participate in what God is doing. I say, "Here's my pebble. Here's what I can do." You can't do relationship and restorative work with people, without a relationship with God. It's a lot easier to serve people when you aren't in relationship with them. It's another thing to say, "we are a community and your pain is also my pain." Community then comes with a lot of wonderful complexities!
But in this, the gospel repairs a lot of deep chasms caused by sin, racism, sexism, and classism. Our church provides the landscapes to work through fears, biases, and even neutrality. In NYC certain "isms" aren't always obvious. When it comes to race in NYC, we tend to be more passive-aggressive. At Metro we're trying to get beyond the surface toward deeper questions like, "Who am I ignoring? What am I afraid of? Where am I not loving as deeply? And how can God enter that space?"
How do you encourage people to invest in New York City?
Jose: We encourage people to move into or stay in the city. Most of our leadership lives in East Harlem, and some have even moved in together to form an intentional community called Hope House. Seeing people actually take root in the city is important. It is then that people begin to really care about what happens here. For example, Harlem has many food deserts – the proportions of fast food to healthy food options are disparate here. So we've started a ministry that deals with urban agriculture. We're here to cultivate and this is a different rhythm for living in community.
Tim Keller once said, "we need to get beyond pillaging the city", and start investing back. So we encourage others to become a part of the rhythm and the fabric of the city. Live here. Shop here. Get to know local business owners and restaurateurs. Where you invest your money is a spiritual matter!
What discourages you about the City?
Jose: The transient nature of the city. Folks are busy and have many competing priorities. The cost of living in the city is also an ongoing challenge.
The fact is NYC is still a place where you can raise a family. Imagine allowing your children to be exposed to many different cultures and experiences. What kind of person would they become? People that would be engaged with all of God's creation – the city after all can be a snapshot of what heaven is like. Thankfully we are seeing a diversity of single people and young families take root in our church and NYC. This is always an encouraging sign of health and growth.
Mayra: It can sometimes be a challenge to be pastors of color leading a multicultural church. There aren't many models in the city for this. It's a challenge in the world we live in; it has to do with how people define leadership and authority, and what their often most comfortable with. Jose and I have to walk through some unique places. It's in many ways a pioneering kind of work.
What gives you hope for the City?
Mayra: We love the City! It breaks my heart when I hear native New Yorkers say, "I just can't wait to get out." But I understand, the pace is brutal. If you don't find ways to set your own pace, you're going to get swept by the waves. But we love the city. It's the story of the gospel–it starts in the garden and ends in the city. It's the place where the gospel propagates. It's where God works and does miracles as in the the book of Acts. It's the fertile ground God uses–where commerce leads, where diversity comes. The city is a wonderful catapult for voices of people living out the Gospel.
Jose: Someone once said that hope is, "unknown possibility". The gospel of Christ brings so many possibilities to the city. We keep in step with the Spirit. Re-imagining how church can be done here. We imagine a church that lives the gospel together in diversity. A church that can be in tension with questions and doubts, but secure in the grace of God, caring about our neighbors, going beyond compassion into social justice. My joy is distilling this truth, and other folks participating with us. We all get to join with God, and we get to witness great art, great beauty and great jazz.
Original post can be found on http://blog.faithstreet.com/
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Why choose BIE?
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Organisational Change: Delivering change in a disrupted world
The penny has dropped that we now live in a disrupted world, where technology drives speed and customisation into our increasingly convergent home and work lives, and where societal staples take on new meaning. Consider how we are starting to apply new meaning to the following: work and our jobs, organisational structure and hierarchy, sharing resources, justice and values. Our interpretations and aspirations are now influenced by opportunity in the broadest sense of the word.
Much is being written about the challenge and opportunity leaders face in creating and sustaining change-able organisations to remain competitive in this era. Leaders need to create an environment where a change mindset and culture of change is secured as part of the organisation's DNA. These are important macro considerations but let's spare a thought for those employed in the work of planning and delivering change; the people who might be in change leader or project leader roles, or unsuspecting line managers given the work of leading a change.
What makes a great change professional in a disrupted world? Do we need to rethink the meaning of managing change and change management?
Because the debate about the difference between change management and project management continues, for the purposes of this discussion let's settle for this position: "A great project manager has a change mindset and a great change manager has a project mindset."
Our focus is on delivering change, not the job title. There are three key elements to consider:
The context of delivering change
The practices of delivering change
The behaviours of delivering change
We haven't lost sight of the importance of strategy and change still has a high-level goal and purpose, with associated budgets and delivery schedules. However, we are cutting ourselves free of the mindset that thinks it can pre-determine the route or the final end game.
The context and experience for change leaders is that, during the design and delivery of a change, the direction might be altered by external and internal environmental factors. If an agile project methodology is being used, the change leaders will expect things to change; they will know that while the direction of travel is set, each sprint could lead to an altered course.
The challenge for the change leader is how to plan and design for a change that no longer has a defined end game. How do they flexibly plan and design the other project workstreams? For example, with a system change, the other relevant workstreams might be: processes, communications, training, culture and organisational design. Some of these can fit into each agile sprint but some are overall end-game dependent.
Get the eBook,Creating Adaptable Businesses, where BIE explores the impact the Fourth Industrial Revolution is having on businesses and their leaders.
The quality of the change and project thinking that goes into the planning and design of the change need to be more robust than when conditions were less volatile.
Change leaders and the change team need to be fully aware of how a change affects the different parts of the organisation system and what it will take to deliver it. It requires a mindset of fine-tuning the workstreams all the way through to when the change is considered implemented, given that change doesn't end and moves into continuous improvement. What's different is that they are likely to need to be able to do this at pace, as change becomes quicker and more transformational, without risking the quality of decision making.
It's important to remember that there will still be changes that are more transactional and smaller scale that are not under the same pressure. There are also organisations whose work might not benefit from iterative deliveries and follow a longer-term waterfall approach. Would NASA when developing the next space technology or Airbus designing the next generation engine, use an agile approach?
We also need to allow for the practices of delivering change to evolve, as there is no one, right way. What's important is the quality of the questions we are asking and the decisions being made to reduce the ambiguity for those involved in designing the change, as well as those sponsoring or being impacted by it.
The power of change is likely to move from the control of a few into the hands of many, with individuals being equipped and having the authority to design and deliver change at a local level. Some organisations such as Google, have a day a fortnight for people to take an issue, find the people who can fix it, and fix it. The findings are that the combined motivation, prioritisation, collaboration and outcomes, far outweigh the cost of a day spent away from their day job. As an expression, this should be moving to the archives soon as we rethink what a day job means.
The behaviours of change
The behaviours associated with change need to evolve and move into the next generation. This applies to all employees, as levels, hierarchies and pyramids are replaced with groups of individuals coming together to solve problems based on their expertise.
These behaviours are as much about mindset and attitudes, as they are about specific change and project expertise. They are not new, they are already part of organisational language but it is time for them now to become established practice. The command and control behaviours that lead to fixed attitudes and rigid ways of approaching a change don't work anymore; it is less about power and more about leading in ambiguity.
Some of the priority behaviours are:
Having a change mindset: keeping the end in mind, focusing on the purpose of the change and considering all the elements that are required to deliver the change.
Organisational system thinking: nothing happens in isolation.
Collaboration and co-creation: bringing the right people together, to create the solution.
Political practices: until politics is removed from organisations, we need to help change leaders navigate it and grow in confidence in dealing with it, to start to break down one of the main barriers to change.
Specific change expertise: making the right choices about who is chosen to lead organisational change; just because someone is available, it doesn't mean they are able to lead change. The expertise required is a combination of process and practice, as well as knowing the questions to ask; high-potential questions leading to better quality change decisions.
Delivering change in a disrupted world requires organisations to be change-able. This results from shifting the culture and developing capabilities throughout the organisation, enabling people to respond to the context with the relevant practices and behaviours.
Anna Davis is the managing director and founder of Crossing Jordan® Limited, an independent change management consultancy. With specialist expertise in change management, organisation design and strategic capability development, she works with senior leaders across a range of industries and cultures to deliver high performance.
Crossing Jordan® Limited has designed and developed Change Dimensions® – a practical change management business tool delivered as three leading-edge intuitive Change Apps®. These apps help you manage change, on the go and on any device – change at your fingertips. http://www.changedimensions.co.uk/
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Sports Brooklyn Boro
Facing salary cap, Islanders trade Devon Toews to Avalanche
Defenseman Noah Dobson "ready to take the next step," Lamoriello says
October 13, 2020 John Torenli
Defenseman Devon Toews was a casualty of the Islanders' salary cap situation Monday. Toews was dealt to Colorado for future draft picks after two solid years with New York. Photo: Jim McIsaac/AP
After expressing his pleasure with last week's NHL Draft, New York Islanders team president Lou Lamoriello went right back to work.
The reigning NHL General Manager of the Year and Hall of Fame executive made a pair of trades this week, including one he admittedly didn't want to make.
"[The salary cap] certainly played a role, unfortunately," Lamoriello ceded after swapping defenseman Devon Toews to the Colorado Avalanche on Monday for second-round picks in 2021 and 2022.
"The combination of a player going to arbitration was an unknown and being able to acquire assets, which we sort of used in previous trades, it was all inclusive," he added.
Toews' filing for arbitration as a restricted free agent and the team's need to remain below the league's salary cap, which will come in at $81.5 million next season, forced Lamoriello's hand in dealing off a player who amassed 46 points in 116 games with New York over the past two seasons.
The Isles' sage GM knew he could afford to lose some talent along the blue line as former first-round pick Noah Dobson appears to be blooming into a regular on back line.
"We would not have made this move if the ice time that Devon received, we didn't have the ability to put a player into that. Noah Dobson, we feel, is certainly ready to take the next step," Lamoriello said.
And so are the Isles after reaching their first Eastern Conference finals since 1993 last month before bowing out in six scintillating games to the eventual Stanley Cup champion Tampa Bay Lightning.
The loss of Toews came one day after Lamoriello made another trade with Colorado, sending prospect Kyle Burroughs to the Avalanche for budding forward A.J. Greer, who had 32 points in 47 games in the American Hockey League last season.
Though Lamoriello could have waited out Toews' arbitration hearing, the 26-year-old native of British Columbia instead sat down and worked out a mutual parting of the ways with the team that drafted him 108th overall in the 2014 draft.
"It takes two to make any transaction," Lamoriello said. "Devon was the individual who was involved, that's the best way to put it. Not that he was a player targeted.
"That would be disrespectful to him and what he's done for us. I had a conversation with him and certainly it was a difficult conversation because he's such a quality human being as well as a good hockey player."
Isles team president and general manager Lou Lamoriello believes defenseman Noah Dobson is ready to take the ice time of recently traded blueliner Devon Toews. Photo: Kathy Willens/AP
Lamoriello believes the Isles picked up some good players during last week's two-day virtual draft as well.
New York made five picks overall, none of which came in the first or second rounds due to a pair of key deals Lamoriello made at last year's trade deadline for defenseman Andy Greene and forward Jean-Gabriel Pageau.
He took three wingers, a defenseman and a goaltender, each of whom stands over six feet tall.
Swedish winger Alexander Ljungkrantz, forward William Dufour, defenseman Matias Rajaniemi and Alex Jefferies all possess formidable height, but each must stand in the shadow of Finnish goalie Henrik Tikkanen, who tops the charts at 6-foot-8.
"I compliment our scouting staff at the job they did, not having a first- and second-round pick," Lamoriello said.
"The objective going into the draft was no different than any other draft … Trying to get the best possible players available that will allow you to stockpile your assets … That's exactly what transpired today."
Just three days after taking Tikkanen, the Isles waved goodbye to veteran backup goalie Thomas Greiss, who signed a two-year, $6.2 million pact with the Detroit Red Wings.
Greiss, who combined with starter Semyon Varlamov to give New York one of the most consistent goaltending tandems in the league, went 16-9-4 this year with a 2.74 goals-against average.
Just to be safe, Lamoriello inked former New Jersey Devils goalie Cory Schneider Monday as a potential backup to Varlamov this coming year.
But he is also hoping Varlamov can help fellow Russian and top goaltending prospect Ilya Sorokin break into the league soon, making Greiss expendable on a roster that is shaping up as one of the most solid since the halcyon days of the 1980s when the Isles won four consecutive Stanley Cups.
A fifth title, which would be the Brooklyn/Long Island-based franchise's first since 1983, could be looming on the horizon.
Especially with Lamoriello, a three-time championship GM in New Jersey, tirelessly working the phones this offseason.
Isles still believe 'D' is the key to victory
January 7 | John Torenli, Sports Editor
Isles eager to finish what they started
Islanders sign Ryan Pulock to two-year contract
November 5 | John Torenli
One-year deal gives Josh Ho-Sang another shot with Islanders
October 28 | John Torenli
https://brooklyneagle.com/articles/2020/10/13/facing-salary-cap-islanders-trade-devon-toews-to-avalanche/


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Q: How to prove that complete implies sequentially complete? Let us start with a topological vector space (TVS) $X$. We say that $X$ is a complete (resp., sequentially complete) TVS if each Cauchy net (resp., Cauchy sequence) in $X$ converges to a point of $X$. Can you please help me on how to prove that every complete TVS is sequentially complete.

A: Every (Cauchy) sequence is a (Cauchy) net, indexed by the naturals in the usual order, so this is trivial. You've simply got to prove that an ordered set is a directed set, and you're done.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


If you're an avid DIY-er, you've probably found yourself having to lubricate some moving parts of your project every now and then, but always found doing that a real hassle. Well, what you might not have considered is that a grease gun can make things much easier and convenient, and you'll no longer be avoiding lubricating whatever it is you're working on as that's important for increasing the longevity of the product. However, buying your first grease gun can be somewhat confusing, as there are many different types. That being said, here's a list of all the available options you'll come across online and in retail stores.
You'll find a wide range of grease pumps online, and they basically work by generating pressure within the gun's cylinder to put out the grease. If your favourite store doesn't seem to sell grease pumps online, that's because they're probably categorized as hand pumps, because they usually come equipped with portable pumps. These grease guns are versatile, powerful and can deliver consistently accurate results. This makes them a favourite among DIY-ers and professionals alike, and their only downside is that they aren't that easy to use.
Air powered grease guns are ideal for industrial use and heavy-duty projects overall. This is simply because they're usually accompanied by a heavy-duty compressor that's responsible for generating the necessary pressure to handle large projects. As you can imagine, the downside to these grease guns is the cost that comes with having an air compressor.
Cordless grease guns feature rechargeable batteries that allow them to lubricate without a power cable. Their biggest advantage is precisely that, meaning you can use them virtually anywhere, regardless of whether there's power or not. Furthermore, you aren't restricted by cables, and you can hit awkward angles conveniently. However, they're usually very simple and not very feature-packed due to their limited power supply.
Lever grease guns take advantage of a manually-operated lever to release grease. All you have to do is stroke the lever, which makes adjusting the rate of flow and the pressure extremely easy by simply varying the stroke length. These guns are very versatile and easy to use, which makes them extremely popular among people working in various industries, as well as DIY-ers. Their downside, however, is that extended use can tire you, meaning, you can't really tackle lengthy greasing projects with them. Unlike pump grease guns, these guns need to be operated using both hands.


de la bota empinar parabapapa.
que me han de enterrar.
Pobrecitos los borrachos que están en el camposanto.
This entry was posted on Miércoles, junio 24th, 2015 at 15:14	and is filed under A, Tuna. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.


text:
HBO via CNN
Why 'Game of Thrones' fans aren't happy with this final season
Warning: Spoilers ahead. (CNN) -- "Game of Thrones" fans are fed up. This final season was supposed to be a climax of brilliant storytelling, a time when all the pieces in this sprawling, intricate Westeros puzzle finally snapped into place. Instead, fans are grumbling on social media about rushed...
Kimberly Adams/KYW Newsradio
Kimberly Adams
'Game of Thrones' fans in Philly savor start of final season
PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — The 8th and final season of "Game of Thrones" began Sunday night. More than 70 fans of the show met up at Le Viet restaurant in South Philly for a viewing party. "I can't to finally see, after waiting a whole year to see the last season of Game of Thrones," said Kahn...
HBO via AP
German students have algorithm for 'Game of Thrones' deaths
BERLIN (AP) — Spoiler alert: Computer science students at the Technical University of Munich have developed an application that scours the internet for data on the popular Game of Thrones series, and uses an algorithm to predict which characters are most likely to survive to the end of its final...


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A Proud Future for Horror Anthologies?
These are glory days for horror fans. The success of films like It, A Quiet Place and Hereditary have reinvigorated the genre.
TV shows like Stranger Things, and adaptations of some of horror's most treasured brands, including Bates Motel (Psycho), The Exorcist and The Haunting of Hill House, are perhaps evidence of a growing appetite for the genre. We've had four new novels from Stephen King in the last eighteen months and a new trilogy (The Three Births of Daoloth) from Ramsey Campbell that sees the old master back on top form.
And earlier this year, Valancourt books struck a deal with Quirk Books to re-issue the titles from the 70s and 80s horror boom that were reviewed in Grady Hendrix's superbly entertaining 'Paperbacks from Hell'.
Make no mistake; this is a good time to be a creator and consumer of horror fiction.
This is the second blog I've written for Twisted50, which might seem odd as I don't have stories in either volume. Everything I submitted was shortlisted but none of my stories survived the final round of cuts. It doesn't matter; I had a blast taking part. I made some wonderful friends and I benefited from generous feedback. And since my stories escaped Create50's crooked claws, one of them has been published, another will be published early in 2019 and another is currently shortlisted for something pretty special. The story that's been published generated some of the best feedback I've ever had. "Jesus this is terrifying." "Wow. This is brilliant, Chris." "God I want to know what happened." "This is beautiful and heartbreaking." "Oh wow Chris and that last line..." "That left me with goose bumps." "Good stuff. But if they make a film, I won't go..."
If people are saying this sort of thing about my little reject, just think what they're going to say about the stories that actually made it into Twisted50 volume 2. I'm excited.
I guess the question I'm most interested in is what happens next? The Twisted50 competitions must be a monstrous amount of work for Chris and the Create50 team. More than four hundred submissions at two thousand words apiece adds up to eight hundred thousand words. That's somewhere in the region of ten novels' worth of stories that need to be read, shortlisted, edited and cut down to the final fifty. For a small team, that must take a huge amount of time and effort.
And it has taken time. The world has changed beyond recognition since Twisted50 volume 2 opened its doors for submissions back in February 2016. The news is frequently more troubling than anything on my horror bookshelves. When the competition opened, I'd had four stories published. Earlier this year, I celebrated my fiftieth acceptance and my fourth competition win.
From the outside, it looks like we all got carried away with the success of the original Twisted50 (which is still performing relatively well on Amazon). The audio books, Little Sister and The Singularity were fantastic, and it's a credit to Chris and the team that they've been able to juggle so many commitments (not forgetting Impact50 and the London Screenwriters Festival), but with hindsight, I wonder if the Twisted50 brand would have been better served by focusing on producing volumes 2 and 3 etc.
Personally, I'd love to see a fresh new volume of Twisted50 tales published every year in time for Christmas. Maybe around Halloween. I'd like to see a shorter competition window for new submissions—say January—followed by a couple of months for revisions. Then it would be over to the Create50 team and their amazing volunteers to do the hard work of deciding the shortlist and winners. Wouldn't it be wonderful to see Twisted50 grow to be an internationally recognised brand of horror fiction, championed by readers and writers alike?
I guess I would say that. I'm a horror fan.
I may not have made the cut for Twisted50 but I've been lucky enough to see many of my own twisted tales published over the last few years. In 2017, Gettysburg won The Molotov Cocktail's Flash Rage competition, while And the World Roared Back and Absent Spouse Syndrome were published over at The Green Light. This year, Oymyakon and Lepidoptera were included in The Arcanist's 'Year One' anthology, with the latter being republished in Littsburgh to promote the anthology. And Boîte Fantôme has just taken first prize in The Arcanist's ghost story competition – it'll be published in time for Halloween.
These are glory days for horror fans and I can't wait to see what treats are served up in Twisted50 volume 2. Congratulations again to Chris and the team, and all the authors who made the final cut. Fingers crossed the journey doesn't end here.
Christopher Stanley's story 'Hive Mind' is due to be published in the Singularity50. Find out more about Christopher's published and prize-winning stories in his blog, When only words are left, and check out his previous Twisted50 blog, A Proud History of Horror Anthologies. Follow Christopher on Twitter @allthosestrings
tagPlaceholderTags: twisted50v2, twisted50vol2, 2018, ChistopherStanley
Richie Brown (Thursday, 18 October 2018 21:24)
Excellent blog, Chris, and you make a very pertinent point about the horror renaissance – it's moving into the mainstream as a quality endeavour in its own right. It's so good to see the thoughtful, considered side of the genre grow, because it's such a wide canvas. There's always a place for gore, but horror at its best is much more varied and nuanced.
The point in your blog that excites me most is the suggestion that Twisted might build upon the investment of time, resources and passion already made by Chris Jones and his team, and by all those who have contributed and participated, and become an established and valued feature in the indie horror calendar and canon. That's a significant ambition, and will need meaningful support from the C50 community. Your proposal for a truncated entry/review period seems sound and practicable. I note, for example, that Weirdbook (an established and regular brand) had no submission window for a year, and the current window runs for the second half of October. (It's open now, ladies and gentlemen.) So it does work, even allowing for comments and rewrites – no other endeavour allows for rewrites, insofar as I'm aware, and that is to be cherished.
Your blog, Chris, and its central point of establishing the Twisted pedigree, deserves consideration by everyone, and perhaps it will become a focus for discussion – the ambition is great, but ambition without commitment and resources is worth little and it cannot be left to Chris and his core team and a heap of goodwill.
Cometh the hour, cometh the C50 community?
(Here's the Weirdbook submission link: http://weirdbook-magazine.com/submissions. Other opportunities are available. I hope an annual production of Twisted becomes one of those opportunities.)
Chris Jones (Friday, 19 October 2018 11:08)
Great reply Richie and yes, lets get T2 and S2 out there before announcing any next stages?
Nick Yates (Saturday, 20 October 2018)
Excellent blog Chris. Congratulations on your success!
Christopher Stanley (Monday, 22 October 2018 21:31)
Thanks for reading, Nick - how are you getting on? I enjoyed your Create50 stories a lot - hopefully you're enjoying many successes of your own...


2.5. As being valid for the accommodations done in 2019, reservation changes (number of persons, room type) will be made at quota prices that are appropriate for the conditions of the day when changes requested.
4.1. If reservation is cancelled within 30 days or longer ahead of estimated check-in date, 5% of total accommodation amount collected will be deducted and whole of balance amount will be returned to bank account or debit card with which the guest made payment. If reservation is cancelled within 15 days or longer ahead of estimated check-in date, 40% of total accommodation amount will be deducted and whole of balance amount will be returned to bank account or debit card with which the guest made payment. In the event it is cancelled until 7 nights are left, 50% of total accommodation amount will be deducted and whole of balance amount will be returned to bank account or debit card with which the guest made payment. In the event cancellation request is made at 7 days or at a shorter time to check-in date, return of accommodation rate charged to the guest will not be possible; no Show will be applicable to entire amount.
4.2. Repayment in case of payments made via credit card during reservation will be made by re-deposit to the credit card with which payment was made.
4.3. The Hotel will not apply No Show to a guest in case of force majeure such as Acts of God, terror, insurrection and deaths that can be certified (1st and 2nd degree relatives), accident and disease (bill of health from a general hospital) in case of reservation cancellation.
4.4. In case of payments with a credit card, the amount left after deduction of transaction fee and commission will be returned.
6.2.The Customer hereby agrees and undertakes that in case it violates any provision of this agreement, it shall pay all damages suffered by the Hotel due to such violation.
6.3.In case the guest acts and behaves in a manner so as to impair the Hotel's order, the Hotel shall be entitled to request that the guest leave the hotel without refunding the payment.
6.4.Based on the decision of our Board of Directors, the visitors of our guests staying at our resort will not be allowed in the resort. A one-day usage fee will be charged to visitors approved by guests staying in our resort.
6.5.Cameras, camera phones, as well as electronic devices with camera or video features are not allowed in the women's section. Legal action will be taken against guests failing to comply with these terms.