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Tag: perceptions
Personal Essay: "You're Being Too Sensitive"
In classical, opera, personal, writing
Mihail Teisanu, "Woman Wearing A Mask", 1919. Collection: Muzeul Național de Artă al României, Bucharest. Photo: mine. Please to not reproduce without permission.
Earlier this week Associated Press released a year-end summation of sorts relating to the story they broke earlier this year around allegations of sexual misconduct by Placido Domingo. Reading it, I found myself sad but also frustrated – it's depressing to see so much consistent pushback against the women who spoke out, and equally sad (if unsurprising) to note the consistent attempts to discredit them. Such actions highlight the many social and cultural divisions that must be overcome if we, as an industry are to evolve.
I wrote in a recent post about walls, and how, despite a lot of big talk on the theoretical beauty of their vanishing, the reality is that we tend to like them – what they keep in but also what they perceivably keep out. Nowhere is this more true than in the chasms that have been revealed within the classical world related to the #MeToo movement. The issue is, to my mind, larger than whether or not these women should have spoken out (though I think it's good they did); more broadly, it points to attitudes held by many in and around the industry which dictates that women and men are "a certain way". There's a lot of gender-slotting into little boxes of behaviour, ones that adhere to very old-fashioned and outdated clichés. These clichés around what's "normal" for a gender feed into a reality relating directly to power, one that can hire and fire, favor and dismiss. Some may well argue (and have, vociferously) that women should use their so-called "feminine wiles" in an industry that is so tough to break into. Why shouldn't a woman use the gifts God gave her? Aren't all men interested in "that sort of thing" from a woman? Such comments bring to mind an exchange I noted on social media earlier this year, in which, over the course of a lengthy thread relating to the Domingo case, one individual reiterated the belief that young women today are "too sensitive" and they should "toughen up" and "in my day we weren't so bothered by flirtatious men." This attitude is reflected in a quote soprano Laura Flanigan gave to AP, that "(t)he climate has always been 'don't tell and suck it up and deal with it."
Antoine-Augustin Préault, "Silence", 19th century. Collection: Muzeul Național de Artă al României, Bucharest. Photo: mine. Please do not reproduce without permission.
This past year I've frequently thought back to a memory from childhood, of a friend and I hiding in closets as tweens whenever a flirty male friend of my mother's would visit; this man, married and with three children, would insist on kissing us at every visit. We made a kind of game of it, daring him to find us, as my mother emitted what I can only surmise now must have been vaguely embarrassed chuckles as she clattered away in the kitchen. We would mock-shriek when closet doors opened and there he would be, this man in a three-piece suit, grinning at us and then puckering up and leaning forward, as we would duck and attempt to run. Usually we weren't successful and would have to endure cycles of his lips repeatedly on our faces and occasionally lips. We were taught to "endure" it (and that if we weren't enjoying it, there must be something wrong with us), but in truth, neither my friend nor I found any of it fun or playful; we found this man exasperating, irritating, his attentions humiliating and annoying. We giggled in the darkness of the closet not out of good, spirits, but out of nervousness, not knowing what else, as young girls, we should do.
My mother, being pre-boomer, belonged to an era where women were indeed taught that such attentions were "normal male behaviour" and, as I grew older, I was told, in either word or gesture, that I should "use what God gave" me. My mother was part of a generation that proclaimed women should "toughen up" (especially when it came to male behaviour) and "not take everything so seriously" (I still remember her saying that, almost up to her death in 2015), and, should any hint of complaint be uttered, it was my fault for being "too sensitive." If I had a dime for every time my mother accused me of this in the negative sense, I would indeed be wealthy. Hers was an attitude that would shape large swaths of my life, my choices, and my perceptions around power, and men, and what validation is and how it supposedly works. I wasn't entirely surprised when, years later telling her about my own assault, I was met with a dismissive attitude and accusations that, having drank too much and worn a low-cut a dress, I had somehow "asked" for it. Every time I see a woman vehemently defending terrible male behaviour, I think of hiding in that closet, choosing that dress, my mother, and her words.
Such moments from the past year, together with the AP round-up, also make me think back to a frank discussion I had with soprano Lisette Oropesa this past autumn. Much has been made about using so-called "womanly power" and how, in the classical world, this has and continues to be a key tool to getting ahead, and staying ahead. As Oropesa put it:
I've seen successful women behave and talk and dress and flirt a certain way and I think to myself, why? At this point, it shouldn't be necessary… it's such a cheap trick. It's low-hanging fruit! Any gorgeous woman can use it to advantage – and how many women can have careers doing that? Sure it has power, but it's *old* feminine power.
This attitude of, "if you got it, flaunt it" makes as many gigantic assumptions as its closest sibling, "she had a choice"; first of all, why should you? To quote the song, is that all there is? Secondly, what if one doesn't have "it"? Through choice or not, what if the "it" simply isn't there? In many senses the lack of a societally defined "it" makes a woman, no matter how talented, entirely invisible. In an ideal world, talent would win out (and sometimes it does, but not often), but to quote my post about walls, human foibles make such idealism incredibly difficult to manifest, let alone enact. Changing attitudes in the industry means changing the way classical is both thought of, and marketed, and yes, run – which means changing the way both audiences and artists view a very specific list of things that require redefinition, starting squarely with what "it" is and why it should so matter in 2020 – or be booted out the proverbial door along with last century ideas.
Alessandro Varotari (called Il Padovanino), "Susannah and the Elders" (detail), 16th-17th century. Collection: Muzeul Național de Artă al României, Bucharest. Photo: mine. Please do not reproduce without permission.
A woman coming into an industry where she can expect to be objectified (and used) sexually is de rigueur for success, where that notion of utilitarianism as it relates to the interweaving threads of success, sex, power, and identity, has no actual power– or choice. To pretend otherwise is a very convenient illusion; what a wonderful trick of the prevailing powers, to have so many, young and old, mouthing such nonsense with such wide-eyed seriousness, for so long. Secondly, there is no notion of "two consenting adults" when the playing field is not level to begin with; who's doing the hiring and firing? Who's propagating a continuing (outdated) framework of what "it" is? Who's making the decisions? Why? To quote Lisette Oropesa again, "There's this attitude of, "I went to the theater and didn't get a boner, so it's crap!"" A woman fortunate enough to have "it" and using "it" within a world run by those holding on to their outmoded frames is not levelling the playing field, it's bending over to make the world seem normal. To pretend otherwise is to engage in the most intense form of cognitive dissonance, and such a willful misperception would be amusing were it not so common.
Women who speak out against this system do not deserve to be branded as harpies, or to be called "over-sensitive." They don't deserve to be held up as examples of "typical American overreaction" or some "Westernized" anti-male brigade. If you hate the term "woke," fine – use "evolution" in its place. Cultural difference is understandable but sharply contrasting ideas about the female experience reveals uncomfortable truths about which environments are willing to acknowledge alternative (and perhaps more equitable) realities, and which ones are fiercely determined to stay the same.
Aelbert Van Der Schoor, "The Concert" (detail), 17th century. Collection: Muzeul Național de Artă al României. Photo: mine. Please do not reproduce without permission.
The intransigent adherence to so-called "tradition" in this sense ("men are like this; women are like this"), even as modern presentations and productions are simultaneously applauded, reveals a sad if unsurprisingly comfortable hypocrisy that gives a strange new meaning to the term "Old World"; I would ask such audience members to apply their same spirit of opennness to women who don't fit the so-called "traditional" moulds of desirability, and indeed, to women who are willing to stand up and say clearly, "I don't like this system, it's crap, can we please make a change?" They aren't sensitive; they're direct. I would ask women who can't understand such directness to kindly not use the very same brush for others' portraits as they might use for their own; everyone requires different shading, details, application, and focus. There is no one-size-fits-all in any world, classical or otherwise. Your experience is not their experience; your time is not their time; your voice is not their voice – nor should it be.
Hans Von Aachen, "The Three Graces" (detail), 16th-17th century. Collection: Muzeul Național de Artă al României, Bucharest. Photo: mine. Please do not reproduce without permission.
And so, as 2019 comes to a close, I want to believe there is a chance for evolution in the classical world. I want to believe there is a will to use ways and means heretofore unseen. I want to believe we can all do better. Whether or not we choose such an evolution is entirely up to us. We hate to admit loving our walls, and, more than that (and especially within the classical world), we hate to admit they exist at all. Let 2020 be the time we can at least see them, and if not take them down entirely, at least remove a few pieces here and there, to let the most strange, new, beautifully sensitive and wondrously strong flowers emerge.
Lisette Oropesa: "Context Is Everything As A Singer"
In classical, interviews, music, opera, voice
Photo: Jason Homa
Lisette Oropesa is a woman with opinions. Over the course of a lengthy recent conversation, the Cuban-American soprano mused on everything from the challenges and joys of directors and conductors, to the pressures of being a woman in the opera and online worlds. She is every bit as bold and vivacious off the stage as she is on it.
The New Orleans native was a winner of the 2005 Met Opera National Council Auditions and joined the Lindemann Young Artist Development Program, graduating in 2008. She made her Met stage debut in 2006 with Idomeneo (as Woman of Crete) and the following year, made her professional debut in a principal role, as Susanna in Le nozze di Figaro. Since then, Oropesa has appeared on the Met stage in over one hundred performances in a wide array of roles, including Amore in Orfeo ed Euridice, Sophie in Werther, the Dew Fairy in Hänsel und Gretel, Gilda in Rigoletto, Woglinde in Das Rheingold, and as her namesake in La Rondine. She has also sung with an array of North American and European companies, including Opera Philadelphia, Washington National Opera, San Francisco Opera, LA Opera, Royal Opera Covent Garden, Welsh National Opera, Opéra National de Paris, Teatro Real Madrid, De Nationale Opera, Amsterdam, Teatro dell'Opera di Roma, and La Monnaie/De Munt, Bruxelles, as well as a numerous festivals including Glyndebourne, Arena di Verona, Savonlinna, Tanglewood, Ravinia, and the Rossini Opera Festival.
As Norina in Don Pasquale at Glyndebourne, 2017. Photo: Bill Cooper
She's worked with a range of celebrated conductors (Fabio Luisi, Donald Runnicles, Sir Anthony Pappano, Carlo Rizzi) and equally celebrated directors (David McVicar, David Alden, Damiano Michieletto, Claus Guth, Andreas Kriegenburg), and has performed most of the great bel canto roles (Donizetti's Lucia, Adina, Norina) along with French (Meyerbeer, Massenet, assenet, Thomas), Baroque (Handel, Gluck) and Verdian (Traviata, Rigoletto, Masnadieri) repertoire, as well as oratorio, recital, and concert work. Oropesa has also performed the role of Konstanze in Die Entführung aus dem Serail (The Abduction From The Seraglio), in Munich at the Bayerische Staatsoper (2017 and 2018) and will be appearing in the Mozart work again, at Glyndebourne next summer opposite Finnish soprano Tuuli Takala as Blonde. Next year sees Oropesa sings the role of Rosina in Il barbiere di Siviglia (at Opera Bastille) and will be giving a number of recitals and concerts across Europe, including an appearance at the Wexford Festival Opera.
Amidst all of this (or perhaps to because of it), Oropesa is a devoted runner and an advocate of healthy eating; she has completed numerous marathons, even as she has also been vocal about the ongoing issue of body shaming in the opera industry. A recipient of both the Metropolitan Opera's 2019 Beverly Sills Artist Award and the 2019 Richard Tucker Award, her supple soprano is marked by an easy flexibility and incredible core of warm vibrancy that seems like a perfection reflection of her vivid personality. Those qualities were on full and lush display this past autumn when Oropesa appeared as the title role in Massenet's Manon, in a revived production by Laurent Pelly. Opera writer Patrick Dillon wrote of her performance that "(t)he voice, with its seductive silvery glimmer, has enough colour to give it texture and depth and enough power to make Massenet's musical points without straining.[…] She's the finest Manon I've heard since the glory days of Beverly Sills."
That isn't to say Oropesa has been changed by fame – if anything, she's one of the most upfront artists I've ever had the pleasure of conversing with. It's rare and entirely refreshing to speak with someone so entirely, authentically themselves. Witty, original, passionate, with a ferocious intelligence and keen insight, it will be interesting to see where Oropesa goes in her career. This weekend (November 24th) she's set to appear as Ophelia in an in-concert presentation of Ambroise Thomas' Hamlet in Washington, before a return to the Met in February for Violetta in La traviata. We spoke just before the Tucker Awards ceremony in New York City last month.
At the Richard Tucker Awards gala at Carnegie Hall, October 2019. Photo: Dario Acosta
What did you think when you learned of the Richard Tucker Award?
It's pretty awesome, although it was a total surprise, like, "Really? are you guys sure?!" I always saw as a gift to somebody about to really take off, and I felt like I took off and never got the award – so I figured I was past it. They can only pick one year and there are so many singers having wonderful careers, I mean, they just have to get the right person at the right time. I'd already made debuts at the Royal Opera, La Scala, Paris, I'd been signing at the Met, and thought, "I'm too far in my career now." Some said they felt I should've been given it before, but really, who's to say it's more overdue for me than for anyone else? Tons of brilliant artists deserve it – I wish they'd give ten awards instead of one, but it's hard to raise the money.
What's the benefit of receiving the award for you?
Whenever I'm at home in the States, I teach and go to universities and I always talk about the business as it is right now, because (the students) get a perspective they don't always get from their teachers or a traveling coach. Maybe eventually, when I exit performance, I will become a teacher because I really enjoy it. I was thinking about how to use the grant in the best way; it's easy to say, "I'll spend it on myself" but I'd really like to set up a scholarship at my school. I haven't made any promises yet; I don't want to anticipate something that isn't necessarily going to work. I have all these ideas but $50,000 doesn't go very far.
The investment in a classical career is immense and long-term and doesn't guarantee a payoff.
Yes, and it's very disheartening. You get to the point where you literally run out of money and you have to figure out what you're going to do, and hope your parents or a rich patron will help you for those years of your career. In the middle you could have a slump too, initially doing well but then someone else comes along who has a whirlwind around them so you may lose work to another artist, or you may get pregnant and have to cancel a year and a half's worth of engagements. I've never been pregnant, but I'd imagine deciding what to do in that situation is hard. I don't have kids because it was never my calling to be a mother; I thought about it for five minutes. I thought, "If I want to do this and have a child, I can't do both." It's an investment in my part. It may take away a certain aspect of my life, but I say "no" to this so I can say "yes" to that.
Women – especially female artists – can be held to a different standard, especially if they're in the public eye in whatever capacity.
Right now, in the heat of the #MeToo movement, everyone thinks it's just about harassment – that's a big part of any industry and there's no reason ours should be any different – but there's more to it. We struggle with objectification, and yes, being held to a different standard. When you're at a rehearsal and tossing out ideas to a basically all-male cast, you're almost always in the minority as a female; the director is almost always male, the conductor almost always male, and you, as a female, have to assert yourself or completely do the "Yes sir, whatever you like" thing. It's very tough, because when you want to say something or have an idea, you are perceived as a diva or a bitch; you're considered "difficult."
… because you're not genuflecting. It takes a lot of confidence to pipe up; you feel very alone in a very entrenched culture that isn't entirely conscious of its own architecture, and sometimes doesn't want to be.
Totally agree. I've never been harassed in the sense of, "if you don't do this, you won't get that" – the quid pro quo situation is not that common. But it's the subtle things; they are real and happen all the time – the winks, the compliments, the "Sweetie, I love that dress on you" and "Damn, you look great in that low-cut blouse" and "You have such nice legs"… I've never thought of it as harassment in the sense of it making me feel miserable or bad about myself, but as women we get to the point of tolerance, so our threshold for that kind of thing is much higher.
I think it often has to be in order for us to function. The system has been set up so that a woman often can't (or won't) adjust that threshold of tolerance because of the related cost being too high.
Exactly. When you're' desperate and hungry, it's different. And hey, I've seen and been in situations where I felt women were taking advantage – that doesn't mean they're bad people. I've also seen successful women behave and talk and dress and flirt a certain way and I think to myself, why? At this point, it shouldn't be necessary. And it's such a cheap trick. It's low-hanging fruit! Any gorgeous woman can use it to advantage – and how many women can have careers doing that? Sure it has power, but it's old feminine power. We have new feminine power now that is intelligent, perceptive, open, emotional, clear – instead of this boring, age-old adage of, "I have big tits and a nice ass and that makes me powerful" – no, it means you have a certain body type, but that's not your power.
It's power tied to male gaze.
Yes, for sure.
It's important to be cognizant of the fact that power greatly depends on the culture you're operating in, and the ways an artist can sometimes be boxed in by old cultural definitions. Have you ever felt you were put on the spot in terms of being a cultural spokesperson?
I think people have a need to label. They just do. I had this question the other day: "If you had to define your voice type, can you give me a word?" And I thought, hmmmm. People have a need to label, as with race and ethnicity and sexual orientation, everything has to be defined. Mine's simple: both my parents are from Cuba. I spoke Spanish growing up. I've always said I was Cuban-American. It's honorable. If they say, where are you from? I don't take offense. I speak Spanish and have a Cuban accent when I do; I listened to Latin music and watched Latin TV growing up. People will go, "Oropesa, what is that?" It's an honor to my parents and grandparents with whom I spoke only Spanish and I'm proud of it, but at the same time, does it make me a spokesperson for Latin-American singers? I don't think of it as a negative thing. People have asked me if I think being Latin in the U.S. has helped me in some way, and yeah, actually I do think it helps, but it also helps that I look white! You can't look too Latin.
Jemaine Clement has said something similar, that "(a)s a pale-skinned Māori person, I felt like a spy as a kid."
Yes, we "pass for white," so to speak. Not all my family is like this; there's a brown side. My grandmother is beige. My father was quite dark. I have one side very Barcelona European, so I have that look, but have another side with more beige, but I don't care. I think it's beautiful. we come in all colors of the rainbow, and can be whatever we choose to represent and put out there.
People want to see a Hollywood representation of exactly the setting given by the composer, but the problem is, these operas have to be sung – they're not paintings, they have to be performed by singers. And while it would be lovely as close to a racial dial as possible, sometimes it simply doesn't exist at the time. When you think about how often people are putting on Aida… it's put on everywhere, and there are not enough black Aidas in the world to go around! And it's a problem for black singers; if you're black, should you only sing black roles? If certain stories have race as an important aspect of the drama, then yes, either you get a black Aida, or you paint someone to look black, because if you make a white Aida then you're not helping black singers, and you are making excuses for black singers not to get hired.
Russell Thomas said something very similar to me when he was in Toronto for Otello last winter. He said the character "just can't be white—it doesn't work dramaturgically" and if that does happen, then "minority artists will lose out every time."
It's true. I have friends who have talked about this at length and I've spent time reading thousands of the threads about this, and they said, basically, that if you don't paint Aida black, you're painting the way for no more Aidas, and paving the way for fewer opportunities, because you're cutting out a big piece of the pie. It would be like not making Porgy and Bess all-black. I wish there was blind casting. That's how it was when I played the flute – it was behind a curtain, no one could see!
When I spoke with Lucia Lucas earlier this year, she said the same thing about blind auditions. But some people say they need to see how a performer moves, their expressions, if they have a certain presence.
That's what opera has that other art forms don't have: the musical aspect and the dramatic aspect. It's that combination, and it's why singers have to look a certain way. Either you live in it or you don't. It's complicated, because we want to say these issues exist but we don't get to the point where we're censoring opera and ignoring race and acting like its not important or not valid; we don't want to get the point where we're rewriting operas and censoring them. We want these pieces to stand as representations of what was happening at the time. Yes it's hard to see some of these works, but this is why theatre is exciting. We want to be part of it, but if we go too far in one direction, the backlash is a swing to the other direction, and that's a problem.
Good directors can sometimes inspire a reconsideration of a piece within the broader context of the issues you mention. What's been your experience?
I've done two productions with Claus Guth – for the first, I jumped in at the last minute for his Rigoletto-in-a-cardboard-box, which I thought was brilliant. I learned it in one day! His assistant was incredible; she answered all these questions I had, and was great to work with. I did his production of Rodelinda in Barcelona as well, and he came toward the end and shared a lot of things. For one character, he'd envisioned and staged him to have a limp and an eyepatch and to walk with a cane; he was the bad guy. When Claus came to rehearsals, he saw the guy singing that role (bass-baritone Gianluca Margheri) was gorgeous and buff, and just was not believable as this hunched-over, weak, bad guy with a chip on his shoulder, so Claus re-staged the entire role. I thought, wow, it takes a lot for a director to do that! Not all of them will – they'll say, "Sorry, you don't fit my vision!" and make you feel like shit, or fire people. Sometimes they'll say, "What's wrong with you? Why can't you fit?!" and it almost never ends well.
The super-successful directors are so busy and they can't be everywhere, and Claus is a good example of that. For this Met production of Manon, I never got to meet (its director) Laurent Pelly, but I worked with his assistants. If Laurent had been there, he might've made changes – the original singer (for the production) was Netrebko, and we couldn't be more different, but assistants aren't authorized to change costuming or stage traffic What do directors do? Everything, from ruining things you want to do, to bringing out the best in you to make you think or sit back and let you stage yourself. Everyone is different.
As Rodelinda (with Gianluca Margheri as Garibaldo) at Gran Teatre del Liceu, Barcelona, 2019. Photo: A. Bofill
That echoes a singer's relationship with a conductor, which can be even more intense.
It certainly helps to have a good first few rehearsals. If they rip into you initially, they're asserting their authority and I've learned to sniff that out and not take it personally, but a conductor who is willing to listen to your ideas without you having to spell them out all the time is nice; a conductor who is willing to lead when they have to lead, and follow when they have to follow is even better. Some only lead, some only follow, and there's a valid place for both.
I like being led by a conductor when I'm doing something I really know well. When I could roll out of bed sick and sing it no matter what, I'm happy to have them lead and do what they want; if I'm doing a role I need help with, to ease me in some places and push me in others, then I like to lead, and that's there's lots of subtle things with that. There are also the ones who don't listen, or don't follow, or know when to follow, or they insist on leading even though they know you're not following them, or they don't perceive you are struggling; there are some who aren't perceptive, and that only comes with musical sensitivity.
I've had experiences where I've thought the conductor hated me for weeks, and then the production turns out to be a huge success, but it's usually because I'm on my toes and scared to do anything wrong, and in the end it meshes together. And the audience doesn't know what happens before – they don't care if you've been through six months or hell with this guy, and they go, "Oh wow, so beautiful! What a wonderful collaboration!" and you think, my God, you have no idea.
Opera is an art of true collaboration – do you find the nature of those collaborations change over time? I would imagine the nature of collaboration changes depending on the context in which it unfolds.
Context is everything as a singer; it's probably more important than anything else. The next biggest thing is your preparation. You can bring all the preparation in the world: you will get there, and the conductor will be difficult, the director will be challenging, your colleagues you may not mesh with, you might have a theatre that does not support your rehearsal process, you might have a coach who make you do different things than you want, you may find your costumes uncomfortable… this is all the stuff audiences don't know or understand. They're at the end of the marathon waiting for you to finish; they don't see when you fell and what it took to get there. It's why you have to be a very strong person. Your audience may start shooting bullets and they may feel entitled to like what they saw – they paid a lot to see it – and they'll throw a lot at you, and you have to process that. Most of us try to improve and keep going through the run. Your heart has to be protected.
Part of that is context involves social media. You have said you try to minimize technological interaction; how do you balance an authentic portrait as an artist and keeping up engagement?
Backstage at Concertgebouw Amsterdam during a 2015 in-concert performance of Rigoletto. Photo: Steven Harris
I control all of my social media – it is completely organic and controlled by me and my husband. Steven's a web developer so I'm lucky, and he's smart about the right kind of posts, making sure the information is on there, and the cast is there too, so you're getting information and the right content, and he'll run things by me first. If I want to write a message, he'll come to me, and then we'll share ideas. I try to engage everyone and respond to comments. I don't get to all of them, but try to say "thank you." I get a lot of sweet messages on social media and I don't want people to feel they're not being heard.
As far as Instagram goes; it has a stupid algorithm. If you want to get on the feed you have to post a lot, and always post those thirsty photos, but there's also a psychological element. If Stephen and I go to pick a photo for Instagram, he'll look through my pictures and say, "Well, people tend to stop on photos of faces, so if you have one of your face, let's use that." So even if I feel like I want to post a great photo of a flower or a sunset, I know it won't get as much traction – I mean, sure, you can do it for yourself, but if you want to reach more people, you have to find things the algorithm supports. It's artificial but the platform wants you to be somehow authentic.
A pastiche of authenticity…
Right, "authentic"… then it becomes that old idea of power we discussed. I feel sorry for girls who have that look because they learn early on in life, "Here's my currency; this is my only currency" and they market themselves as that, and then in opera, it's almost an afterthought: "Oh, and I just happen to have a voice." I'm the girl who always grew up overweight and never popular, so I see it from a distance; it must be so hard to keep up. What happens when it fades? In ten years or less another one will take the place of this girl; it's so short-lived. You may make a crap ton of money, retire early – who knows? – I feel like it's a shame, that age-old trope of "beauty = value" because it pressures who who aren't so beautiful and sends a message of, "you're secondary in importance because you don't have that one thing."
It also entrenches old definitions of beauty, because "beautiful" … according to whose rules? There are many people who don't fit that old definition, and so what? Opera is well-positioned to challenge precepts, as Kathryn Lewek did. It can't exist to entrench old ones; it needs to destroy and rebuild them into something more accurately revealing and reflecting our world, or so I want to believe.
As Manon at the Metropolitan Opera, 2019. Photo: Marty Sohl
"Beautiful" is so much about perception. Some people think Claus's productions are beautiful, some think they're ugly and dark. I have learned so much doing Manon in terms of all this. After we opened, I read the reviews and feedback, and a lot of the things I read were negative, the gist being that I am not sexy enough to play her, I'm not beautiful enough to play her, I'm not convincing as the object of every man's desire – I read pretty much that exact quote. And that really hurt.
Yes, there is a world in which Manon is just a man-eater, but there's also a world in which Manon has something about her, like, it's not that she's the most obviously gorgeous woman physically, but the fact she's mysterious, she's fun, she has something about her. It's hard for some to accept that. There's this attitude of, "I went to the theater and didn't get a boner, so it's crap!" I used to think of myself as very ugly, and that child is still inside. When I think I've gone to all this trouble to be confident in my appearance so my body and voice could finally match, and people are still going, "Oh even at a size 4 she's not hot enough" I think, fuck this, I'm going back to eating ice cream!
It's vital those definitions be remade, especially in an art form notoriously adverse to change.
I never tell young singers they need to lose weight. Never. That person may go do it and still not be hot enough for somebody – if you're going to do it, do it for your health, but do not do it for your career. It won't change anybody's perspective of you. You can be cute in a size 16 or a size 2. If you want to force yourself into sexiness, fine, but accept who you are. Some people don't think I'm a sexy Manon and I just feel like… that's not who I am.
As Hébé in Les Indes Galantes at Bayerische Staatsoper, 2016. Photo: W. Hösl
Again, "sexy" according to whom? There are these very conventional ideas that Carmen has to be hot, Manon has to he hot, Violetta has to be hot – who gets to decide what is "hot"? I want to believe some will feel a woman being her authentic self is more attractive and desirable, onstage or off.
Carmen is a perfect example! It is the most stereotypical concept to approach it as, "she has to be this hot woman, it's the only way she's believable!" – and the same with Manon, this attitude of, "she has to be the woman des Grieux would give up his life for." So she has to look like Kim Kardashian?" It makes him look stupid. It makes him look shallow. Then you make her shallow, and people hate her even more. I mean, yes, Manon is an opera about a selfish bitch, and people can't handle that, they want to see a victim, someone pliable,a woman who's willing to please. But it's also why people argue about opera – I've never seen more polarizing perspectives than in doing this opera.
I think of Natalie Dessay, who I love and who is not conventionally beautiful but my God, you couldn't take your eyes off her! And she didn't pose her way through a role, ever; she wasn't standing on stage posing this way and that. That's the example that needs to be out there, because that's the kind of artistry I want to see in the world, for women and men alike.


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Biodiesel from coffee? Yes!
23 Jun 2014 Isaac Bober
Scientists at the University of Bath, UK have made biodiesel from coffee grounds, suggesting it could become a potential "local" alternative fuel source.
New research from the Centre for Sustainable Chemical Technologies and published in the ACS Journal Energy & Fuels showed that oil can be extracted from both fresh and waste coffee grounds by soaking them in an organic solvent, before being chemically transformed into biodiesel via a process called "transesterification".
Dr Chris Chuck, Whorrod Research Fellow from the Department of Chemical Engineering at The University of Bath, said: "Around 8 million tonnes of coffee are produced globally each year and ground waste coffee contains up to 20% oil per unit weight.
"This oil also has similar properties to current feedstocks used to make biofuels. But, while those are cultivated specifically to produce fuel, spent coffee grounds are waste. Using these, there's a real potential to produce a truly sustainable second-generation biofuel.
"The yields and properties of biodiesel can differ depending on the growth conditions of current biodiesel feedstocks, sometimes causing them to fall out of specification. The uniformity across the board for the coffee biodiesel fuel is good news for biofuel producers and users." That means, he said, that coffee is actually a more stable, if smaller scale, alternative to current feedstock-based biodiesel.
The researchers suggest that while coffee biodiesel would be a relatively minor part of the energy mix, it could be produced on a small scale by coffee shop chains to fuel vehicles used for deliveries. These same delivery vehicles could be used to collect spent coffee grinds and take them to a central biodiesel production facility to be processed. Companies such as London-based bio-bean already produce biodiesel and biomass pellets from waste coffee grounds.
Rhodri Jenkins, a PhD student in Sustainable Chemical Technologies and first author of the study, said: "We estimate that a small coffee shop would produce around 10kg of coffee waste per day, which could be used to produce around 2 litres of biofuel".
Tags:biodieselbiofuelcoffee
Call for biofuel mandate to be scrapped in NSW and Queensland
Biofuel produced from beer waste. Clever.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Maturity involves a developed sense of thought, discernment, and the capacity for appropriate response in various situations. I suppose, then, that immaturity would involve a lack of discernment. An immature person would be prone to respond inappropriately, without a developed sense of what is acceptable.
A business might reach a mature stage.
A person might mature in his/her ability to communicate or paint or write music.
We might observe that there are immature ears of corn, immature savings bonds, immature singing voices, and immature people and behaviors.
How should one begin a meditational post about the last kind of immaturity?
Out of the gate, I want to acknowledge the immaturity in me,¹ and I do so in all sincerity, but a full disclosure would also confess that this piece started out, a couple of months ago, as a less-than-mature, silent tantrum thrown over other people's immaturities. Below are some behaviors that strike me as immature. Some of these are recent, and some are long past. Some just might be mine, or potentially mine, and some might have been observed in others.
A young musician takes every opportunity to show off skills and knowledge (say, on the piano or trumpet or saxophone).
An office worker asserts thoroughly detailed knowledge while manifesting little appreciation for relationship, let alone insight or discernment in particulars.
A Bible student inserts corrections, responsible questions, and textual insights, regardless of the group's interest level or capacity for understanding.
A coworker reacts outwardly to mistakes in punctuation² and regional symptoms of poor grammar.
An employee takes liberties when the boss is on vacation.
A parent who's having a bad day places too many restrictions on a child just because the parent is mad or worried.
No one is completely mature. We all have more or less serious immaturities that come out from time to time. Some of these behaviors are seen in less-than-emotionally responsible, less-than-considerate, and less-than-grown-up people, while others are more run-of-the-mill. Surely there are countless marks of immaturity. Yes, I've pointed the finger at others and have been rather irritated over a couple of the above. But again, I'm also aware of some of my own immaturities. We are all carriers of the immaturity disease.
And then there's spiritual immaturity.
When I drafted this in early July, I knew I wanted to end it with a spiritual emphasis, but I've never become settled on a conclusion. It's not that I don't have something to ask or something to say (although I often do). It's not that it's an awkward segue (although it is). I think it's that I feel increasingly spiritually immature myself. I don't handle some things with as much discernment or mature Christian response as I once did, and this is of much greater concern to me than the behaviors listed above. Regression here is worse than ironic; it might be putting Grace to the test.
So, what to say about spiritual maturation . . . I could spout some verbiage about the illusory doctrine of "total sanctification," as though I were experiencing it. I could manufacture some exhortation about "iron sharpening iron" or "letting go and letting God." Those might amount to little more than a diversion of attention.
Let endurance have its full effect, so that you may be mature and complete, lacking in nothing.
I don't currently have any illusions of enduring very well, but my weak self hopes to attain to the growth—the maturation—that can come later from having endured.
² "Proper punctuation is both the sign and the cause of clear thinking," said Lynne Truss famously in Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation. In that same book, she also wrote, "The reason to stand up for punctuation is that without it there is no reliable way of communicating meaning." Truss is essentially right, but I'm also thankful for grammar that gives us a shot at aptly interpreting most Greek passages that didn't have any punctuation to begin with.
A central aim of the conductor should be to look like the music.
If he is merely beating time—with gestures not in keeping with the style—he may be conducting beginners in very simplistic music, or he may be worried that the sense of pulse may evaporate within the ensemble, or perhaps he is irritated, or he may simply not be very skilled.
On the other hand, if the conductor's nonverbal communication is well centered in the specific music being conducted, even complex or unusual gestures can have an air of ease. Being "in the music," imitating its essential nature, leads to a genuine flow of communication that in turn evokes the desired sonic result.
How will a conductor know whether he "looks like the music"? He can look in a mirror, but his nonverbals might in that case be affected/altered by self-consciousness . Video recordings are invaluable aids in studying oneself in this regard. Another, differently objective reflection will be seen and heard in the human beings he is conducting. For instance, do questions, comments, and other feedback indicate that the musicians, aided by the conductor's nonverbals, "get" the music? Over and above any dialogue that arises in rehearsal, the "proof in the pudding" is whether the music turns out to be stylistically authentic, manifesting appropriate interpretation.
A conductor should clearly be in tempo (which is a universally understood concept) and in style (which is not as universally evidenced in aggregate practice). If he is in tempo and in style, he may be said to be in the music. This embedding of oneself in the music turns out to be a strong reflection of the composer's intentions. There is evidence, then, that the conductor has studied what is written in the score—understanding what it "looks like"—and is intentionally pursuing its essence.
Those who hear and don't act are like those who glance in the mirror, walk away, and two minutes later have no idea who they are, what they look like.
Other meditational/pedagogical posts on conducting may be found here.
. . . are rarely helpful, but he does these things anyway. Being accountable to no one, he chooses to go his own way, avoiding even the self-critique that could come from reviewing video. The conductor who knows what to do but doesn't do it has simply gotten into lazy habits.
So whoever knows what is good to do and does not do it….
History. Maxims and aphorisms. Wordplay. Textual discrepancies. Alliteration. Textual criticism. And, of course, context. . . . All these factors (and more) are significant in James 3.
Last Sunday, our small group worked through the first section of James 3. This letter, supposed to have been written by Iakob (Jacob) (James), the half-brother of Jesus, displays connections with Matthew's gospel in particular and seems to have strong internal unity and intentional construction. A few have said this could be the earliest extant Christian document.
3:1-13 constitutes one of the more clearly self-contained sections in the letter, making analysis of the micro-context not only key to interpretation, but also easier to manage. One hint of the fact that this is a discrete section is the book-end-ish instances of the word-pair adelphoi mou (brothers my) in 3:1 and 3:12.
A few miscellaneous comments . . .
Many in our group leaned toward #3; this feeling might have resulted, in part, from reading onto the text the 20th– and 21st-century "public teacher" scenario of paid clergy, senior ministers, and televangelists (not that all of those terms are of the same stripe). Folks were at first interested in how teachers and preachers are often held to a higher standard than run-of-the-mill Christians because they live in a glass house. That is a syndrome, to be sure, but I'm not convinced it was what James had in view.
No firm answer appears for this question, but I lean toward a combination of 1 and 2, based on the context provided toward the end of chapter 2. No matter, though: the import of the warning to those who teach holds, regardless: speech (the tongue) is a huge pitfall, and those who speak words of instruction ought to keep an especially vigilant watch. The warning is extended to others, as well.
A built-in question appears in v2 related to the "perfect man"; James's intent (and he did have one, regardless of whether we dig it out and wash it off enough to see the potsherd's edges) may be illuminated by recognition that "perfect" might be translated "complete" or "mature," as well. With one of those readings, the thought could become less an ironic assertion—obviously, no one can be perfect with the tongue—but more a call to mature thought and action.
"Doubles" appear frequently in James, starting with the "double-minded" man of chapter 1. Here, the tongue is pictured as capable of two diametrically opposing results (blessing/curse, sweet/bitter, etc.).
Like so many such variants among the best Greek texts we have available, this one is a curiosity that allows conjecture over which is the most likely. It is also like most variants in that one's chosen answer to the question doesn't change the big picture.
An English reader might notice possible assonance or rhyme in the last of the three above, but that is not necessarily a valid a perception; the "ai" ending is merely a function of verb declension and not a "rhyme" per se, although the aural effect might well have played some role when first hearers heard the letter.
There is much more here—some, discussed in our small group, and some, of more specialized and/or esoteric interest. It is a good review for me to write out a few mentionables for sharing here. And ya know what's great? I get to be part of another Bible investigation tonight!
There has been a confluence of thought and study that I really couldn't have orchestrated myself. Whether you call it happenstance or the will of God or a prompting of the Holy Spirit, it has happened.
This post, by the way, is not related to the James River of Virginia or to the "Jamesian Stew" series of essays that dealt critically with the King James version of the Bible. This is a different kind of "Jamesian" confluence (and a very different James from the king of the early 1600s!).
a) James 2 and b) Leviticus, viz. the showing of favor, the rich and the poor, etc.
Which brings me to chronology. . . . James was probably not a believer with any particular role or status while Jesus was on earth, yet he clearly had some elevated role (at least in hindsight) within a few years at the most. My personal guess would be that James was a Messianic Jew, to use an anachronistic expression, by 34 or 35, and a thought-leader in Jerusalem by 40. His letter might have been written as early as the mid to late 40s. The conference about which we read in Acts 15 likely occurred within a year of 47, and some have perceived a similarity of speech between the epistle and the Acts 15 mini-missive sent to gentile churches.
The intertextualities captioned above are far more significant, and also more solid, than the musings about James as a person or the dating of events and pertinent documents. I am just now taking out a small pin to scratch the surface, but I'm already convinced that there's a lot to learn in reading Leviticus 19, in particular. That should probably be what I read next—if I want to be a serious doer/applier of the message, that is.


Faced with rising costs and shrinking budgets, a small but growing number of rural school systems are turning to a four-day school week to save energy and preserve programs that might otherwise be cut.
In New Hampshire, the state's first experiment with the alternative schedule began this week in Deerfield, where children attended school from Monday to Thursday. School officials hope that the one-year test of the new schedule will allow them to continue to pay for programs in art, music, and athletics without sacrificing academic quality.
The single-school Deerfield district joins a number of rural districts in Colorado and New Mexico already using a four-day school week.
The Deerfield plan has increased the length of the school day from six to seven and a half hours, allowing the town's only school to remain closed on Fridays and saving an estimated $15,000 in transportation and energy costs.
If New Hampshire's experience mirrors that of Colorado, Deerfield's 266-student school district may discover some educational and social benefits as well.
In a study of the first year of Colorado's four-day week pilot program, researchers in the Office of Rural Education at Colorado State University found that the 12 rural districts in the study "demonstrated the potential to save energy and transportation costs, and to reduce student and teacher absenteeism."
In their report, the study's authors, Robert W. Richburg and Robert W. Edelen, say that an overwhelming majority of the parents, teachers, and students studied favored the alternative schedule for professional, educational, and family reasons.
The report concluded that districts reduced gas consumption by an average of 22.5 percent; bus maintenance costs by an average of 18 percent; and electrical consumption by an average of 23 percent. After adjusting the figures for one of the warmest winters on record, the researchers say that the districts saved from 7 to 25 percent in heating fuel.
The school districts also reported that they used 24.5 fewer substitute teachers than they had on the average for each of the two preceding years.
Students' achievement--considered by the Colorado Department of Education to be a crucial measure of the program's success--also appeared comparable to their performance on a five-day schedule, although the researchers say the evidence is not yet conclusive.
For the four-day week to work, however, community support--from townspeople as well as parents, students, and school personnel--is especially important, according to state education officials in Colorado and in New Mexico, where six rural districts are operating on a four-day week for all or part of the school year.
And it was "tremendous" community support--from townspeople as well as parents, students, and school personnel--that helped to persuade the initially reluctant New Hampshire State Board of Education to approve the Deerfield plan.
Among the advantages of the four-day week cited by teachers in the Colorado study are increased daily instructional time, improved student attitudes, and a day available for professional activities.
Parents liked the change because it created time for medical and dental appointments and because their children spent more time at home. A majority of students--93.2 percent of whom said they preferred the four-day schedule--reported that they believed they were learning more in the 1980-81 school year than they did the year before and that they were absent less.
The rural character of the communities, where many families live and work on farms and must travel relatively long distances to schools and doctors, according to Mr. Edelen, may be responsible for the plan's success. "Very small communities are what we studied," he said, "where there is parental support for family life and education."


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For Digital-First Content Providers, Product Placement Takes Center Stage
In Netflix's original film "Like Father," the cruise line Royal Caribbean literally sets the stage for the movie – the brand is actually part of the story.
While this sort of product placement isn't new, it's coming at a time when content providers are trying to decrease their ad loads and experimenting with new ways to incorporate ads.
Research from PQ Media reports that 84% of millennials don't "like or trust" traditional marketing. This disillusionment has given rise to a trend that Ian Schafer, co-founder and former CEO of the marketing agency Deep Focus, calls "brands underwriting content."
"This is happening more and more as publishers don't have the financing or capital to underwrite a ton of original programming," Schafer told AdExchanger. "Increasingly, they're hatching ideas with brands to create new forms of branded entertainment."
Ninety-one percent of Hulu originals and 74% of Netflix originals contain brand integrations, according to PQ Media. And Hulu says its overall sponsorship deals have increased 30% year over year.
While the core tenets of product placement haven't changed much over the last few decades, brands have become increasingly entwined in every step of the production process. In some cases, a show might not even get off the ground without a brand attached.
"There are companies that we work with that have direct relationships with showrunners," said Erin Vogel, SVP of creative lead branded content at Publicis-owned media agency Spark Foundry. "When we get pitched shows before they're greenlit, we get established networks or studios that will bring us a show and say, 'This doesn't have any brands integrated. We might not even greenlight them if we can't find a brand to be associated with them.'"
Hulu's VP of integrated marketing, Nicole Sabatini, says that brand integration is more critical than ever to the company's success.
"Not only can we work with brands to integrate them into our storylines, but because we have an ad-supported platform, we can then amplify that with other elements surrounding the show," she told AdExchanger, referring to the targeted ad units Hulu can create.
In the first season of "The Runaways," Sabatini oversaw an integration with Lyft. The deal was inspired by the show's teen actors, who shuttled themselves around the set using the ride service. Hulu then came to Lyft with an offer that it was happy to engage in, since it wanted to be in "culturally relevant spaces," Sabatini said.
Hulu similarly integrated McDonald's into a season plotline of "The Mindy Project," which worked out very organically, as its creator, Mindy Kaling, apparently loves McDonald's.
A spokesperson for Hulu told AdExchanger that brand integrations have "delivered an 89% increase in purchase intent among viewers and a 74% increase brand awareness in comparison to a traditional 30-second spot."
But these product placements are largely the result of in-person negotiations. Can automation – which has had a growing role in media buying – change the nature of product placements?
Video ad tech company TripleLift has a product designed to help brands place different products into content based on user data. For example, a bottle of Sprite in an episode of "Stranger Things" might appear to one viewer as a bottle of Dr. Pepper, depending on whom an advertiser is trying to target.
"The technology for programmatic product placement is already there," said TripleLift CSO and co-founder Ari Lewine. "it's just a matter of time before forward-leaning media companies, particularly those pursuing vertical integration strategies, which own content and distributions, start to invest in these kinds of solutions."
Lewine said this vertical integration is essential in order for programmatic product placement to work, because user subscription data is needed to serve ads that are relevant to them.
Both Lewine and TripleLift co-founder Shaun Zacharia said the main challenge in automated product placement is not the technology, but MVPDs' reticence to sign on to something that manipulates content. This could mean legal battles around licensing fees and potentially mountains of paperwork.
read more here: adexchanger.com
Author perukelPosted on August 28, 2018 August 28, 2018 Categories NewsTags digital content providers, PQ Media


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Daily Toll
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Suriye İnsan Hakları Ağı Profili
Home Report Monthly Reports No less than 56 Massacres in July 2016
No less than 56 Massacres in July 2016
Including 43 Massacres at the hand of Syrian and Russian regime
SNHR has published its monthly special report documenting the massacres perpetrated by the different conflict parties in Syria.
The report outlines the massacres in July 2016. The report refers to an incident as a massacre if it involves the killing of five peaceful people at once. Based on this definition, the report records that 56 massacres were perpetrated in July 2016 where 34 massacres were perpetrated by government forces, nine by allegedly Russian forces, five massacre by ISIS, four massacres by the international coalition forces, one massacre by armed opposition factions, three massacres by unidentified groups.
According to the report, government forces perpetrated nine massacres in Idlib, four in Homs, seven massacres in both Damascus suburbs and Aleppo, two massacres in both Deir Ez-Zour and Hama, and three in Daraa. Russian forces perpetrated seven massacres in Aleppo and two massacres in Idlib, while ISIS perpetrated two massacres in Al Hasaka and one massacre in Aleppo, Damascus suburbs and Al Raqqa. Additionally, international coalition forces perpetrated four massacres in Aleppo and armed opposition factions perpetrated one massacre in Damascus. The report recorded two massacres in Aleppo and one massacre in Daraa perpetrated by unidentified groups.
The report notes that 778 individuals including 246 children and 150 women were killed in the massacres of July meaning that 51% of the victims were women and children which is a considerably high percentage that indicates that civilian residents were the target in most of these massacres.
The report outlines the death toll of the massacres that were perpetrated in July where government forces killed 337 individuals including 89 children and 57 women while Russian forces killed 130 individuals including 48 children and 20 women. Additionally, 105 civilians including 13 children and 19 women were killed in the massacres perpetrated by ISIS while 143 civilians, including 76 children and 33 women, were killed in the massacres perpetrated by international coalition forces.
Furthermore, armed opposition factions killed 10 civilians including two children and four women. 53 civilians, including 18 children and 17 women, were killed in the massacres perpetrated by unidentified groups.
The report affirms that the bombing incidents, deliberate or indiscriminate, targeted armless civilians, thus, government forces and Russian forces have violated the articles of the international human rights law which guarantee the right to life. Furthermore, these violations were perpetrated during a non-international armed conflict which amount to war crimes as all elements of a war crime have been fulfilled.
Furthermore, these attacks, especially bombing, have resulted in collateral damage that involved casualties, injuries, and damages to civil facilities. There are strong indicators that prove that the damage was deeply severe compared to the estimated military benefit. In all of the cases, we didn't find any military targets before or during these attacks.
Additionally, the magnitude of the massacres, its frequent pattern, the exaggerated use of strength, its military nature, the indiscriminate manner of the bombing, and the coordinated approach of these attacks must be based on high orders, and a state policy.
The report calls for referring the case in Syria the International Criminal Court and stop the disrupting of the decisions that must be adopted by the Security Council against the Syrian government. This disruption is a wrong message to all dictatorships around the world and supports the culture of crime. Also, immediate sanctions must be imposed on all individuals involved in widespread human rights violations.
Moreover, the report calls for binding the Syrian government to allow all relief and human rights organizations to enter Syria, in addition to the International Intendent Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic and journalists and let them work without any obstructions.
The report emphasizes that all militias that are fighting with the Syrian government and have committed widespread massacres such as Hezbollah, other Shiite brigades, National Defense Army, and "Shabiha", must be listed on the international list of terrorist organizations.
Finally, the report calls for the implementation of "Responsibility to Protect" norm agreed to by the United Nations General Assembly in 2005, in Syria as it is direly needed there.
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Syrian Network for Human Rights - الشبكة السورية لحقوق الإنسان
The Syrian Network for Human Rights aims to enrich the human rights culture in Syria, spread awareness among citizens regarding their civil and political rights, and train dozens of Syrians in various fields of human rights. SNHR wishes that Syrian citizens would enjoy their full legal and constitutional rights.
The Syrian Network for Human Rights is a non-political organization that affirms its commitment towards international standards, declarations, and conventions of human rights of the United Nations.


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Roger Pen is a cutting-edge wireless microphone that enables people with hearing loss to hear and understand more speech in loud noise and over distance.
Built on game-changing Roger technology, this fully automated solution is proven to perform better than any wireless microphone in the industry. It can be used as a standalone microphone or alongside other Roger Pens or the Roger Clip-On Mic. It also features Bluetooth for cell phone calling, and can also be used to listen to TV and multimedia.
When to Use It
Challenging listening situations
in loud noise
over distance
when there are several speakers.
10 CELEBRITIES WITH HEARING LOSS
Hearing loss affects a broad cross-section of society, including celebrities! There's no reason to ever feel alone if you're hard of hearing, because you really are in good company. Here we list just ten of the many famous personalities who suffer from hearing loss.
1. Bill Clinton
This former US President started wearing hearing aids in both ears in 1997, in the midst of his second term in office. His age and the band-playing days of his youth were both contributing factors to his high-frequency hearing loss. Before he started wearing state-of-the-art hearing aids, Clinton complained of not being able to hear properly in crowded rooms.
2. Whoopi Goldberg
In 2011, Whoopi Goldberg made her private struggle with hearing loss public, telling the National Enquirer, "I attribute my own hearing loss – which, by the way, is suffered by thousands of people in varying degrees – to years and years of listening to music so loudly and so close to the delicate ear drum." Goldberg wears hearing aids to help her hear low tones.
3. Halle Berry
Halle Berry was a victim of domestic violence in the early 1990s, and as a result has lost 80% of hearing in her left ear. She has spoken publicly about both hearing loss and domestic violence in the past.
4. Ben Cohen
Former English rugby union winger Ben Cohen was diagnosed with 33% hearing loss in both ears in 2004, as well as tinnitus. His hearing has since worsened to around 50%. He initially did not wear hearing aids, preferring to lip-read. He finally started wearing aids at the urging of Elton John, and has not looked back. "I use them a lot," he told Hearing HQ magazine. "They have changed my life."
5. William Shatner
Famed actor William Shatner has suffered from tinnitus since the 1960s, after he stood too close to a special effects explosion while filming an episode of Star Trek. Shatner told the American Tinnitus Association, "There were days when I didn't know if I would survive the agony [because] I was so tormented by the screeching in my head." He eventually sought professional help and his condition has improved.
6. Peter Townshend
The legendary guitarist and songwriter of The Who, Peter Townshend spent years and years surrounded by loud music. As a result, he suffers from noise-induced hearing loss and tinnitus. It's not surprising his hearing was affected – the Who once played the 'Loudest Concert Ever' on 31 May 1976, according to the Guiness Book of World Records. He now wears hearing aids.
7. Phil Collins
In 2011, acclaimed musician Phil Collins called the music business quits, due to his failing health and diminishing hearing. After almost 40 years of live concerts and studio sessions, he suffered from sudden hearing loss, which he described in the German weekly paper Die Zeit: "I was recording in the States and had spent the day singing in the studio. Then I collected my daughter from school. We got home, had something to eat, played a video game. Then suddenly my ear went ssssssssshh. Within a second my left ear simply closed down. As if I had been underwater. I tried to clear it by pinching my nose. But it made no difference. So I thought it would sort itself out. But it didn't."
8. Eric Clapton
Another music legend, Eric Clapton was once renowned for his loud live sets and would simply declare to those who complained, 'That's the way I play.' Unfortunately, his penchant for turning up the volume is the reason he suffers from tinnitus today. He has learnt to protect his hearing using earplugs, and thankfully his condition is not worsening.
9. Brian Wilson
While most musicians owe their hearing loss to years of exposure to excessive noise, the Beach Boys' Brian Wilson has had little to no hearing in his right ear since early childhood. Despite this early setback, he still went on to be a hugely successful and iconic musician.
10. Leslie Nielsen
Known for appearing in cult comedies such as Airplane! and the Naked Gun, late actor Nielsen suffered from sensorineural hearing loss. He was legally deaf and wore hearing aids for most of his life. He never allowed his hearing loss to slow him down, however – he will still go down in history as one of the funniest comedians of all time!
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Mel Sorkowitz, Au.D. Doctor of Audiology (former director of the Albert Einstein Institute)
Sondra Sorkowitz, B.A. Hearing Aid Specialist Geriatric Care Manager Elissa Sorkowitz Lejeune, HAS. BC-HIS, Nationally Board Certified Hearing Instrument Specialist BOB SCHEPPSKE, HAS. BC-HIS, Nationally Board Certified Hearing Instrument Specialist
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A very old street, possibly dating from Roman times or before, Beeston Mount is part of a route which comes across the fields from Long Lane and beyond, and continues across Shrigley Road, down a field path to Ingersley Road.
Today it is lined with stone cottages and a terrace of late 20th century cottages.
Leads to Beeston Close, Cocksheadhey Road. Provides pedestrian access to Green Lane.
The top end of Beeston Mount leads into an unmade road having a fine stone house on each corner and several old stone cottages beyond.
The stone house on the right hand side of the road as it bears round to the left is Rock Cottage, home to the Stewart family for 100 years.
This part of the road runs into footpaths that work their way to the top of the hill at Green Lane and then across the fields towards Long Lane and Adlington.
Martin [Swindells] left Mr. Smith to go into partnership with Thomas Fernley of Stockport. The two partners would appear to have heard something of a cotton mill in a village called Bollington. They drove into the village by way of "Long Lane", "Cat-ladder" & "Beeston" to see the Clough Mill.
The hill side for about half a mile between Beeston Brow and Nab Lane is known as Beeston and has mostly been quarried for stone. The story suggests that what we today call Beeston Brow might then have been known as Cat Ladder. On the other hand there might not have been a road at Beeston Brow and they might have been using the original track which comes down Beeston Mount. Today one of the paths above Beeston Mount is stepped – maybe it was then – in which case this may have been the 'ladder'.
Beeston Mount was once called Salt Pie. This probable originates from the track which was part of a 'salt way' leading from the Cheshire wiches (Middlewich, Northwich etc.) from where the salt has come for so many centuries.
Conservation: This street is in the Bollington Conservation Area. Numbers 2-22, 1 and 3, 19 and 21 are subject to Article 4 Direction.


1. Click 'Clear' to remove all cookies. Make sure the 'Submitted' cookie under the foreseeresults.com domain is also removed.
2. Enter desired sampling percentage for testing.
3. Click 'Set'. This will drop a cookie that represents the entered values. It will only affect YOUR SESSION and not other visitors to the site.
4. Proceed with navigating the website to reach your parameters and receive a survey invitation.
Notes: Make sure the page you are testing is not listed under the Exclude list inside trigger params file.


Hello, i am still new to Matlab and coding. Currently im stuck in how to combine these array from different cells into one cell.
Each cell array has different number of rows!
Can I combine alltogether into one cell. If yes, is there any efficient way to do this?
This is called concatenation. See the documentation of the function CAT. Matlab allows you to concatenate a bunch of column vectors into a single column (or row vectors into a single row), even if they have different lengths.
When your vectors are stored in a cell array, as in your question, using comma-separated list expansion makes it quite easy.


Campbell Kneale on his lonesome and then you get Koji Tano and Richard Francis performing live together in 2000.
This was released as a CDr on Koji Tano's Denshi Zatsuon label in 2001 to commemorate a Japanese tour by Birchville Cat Motel, Eso Steel and MSBR. What astonishing gigs they must have been!


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Round-table and chair are all fantastic for smaller Decor. It's Edge less so that it is going to create additional sense of distance plus you can easily set it anywhere. Round-table is also safer since it doesn't possess pointy edges. Thus, it is the exemplary option for home with kids.


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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


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The EasyLife Safety Step Stool is perfect for any that has mobility or balance issues, the high handle gives you something to push off to get onto the step and when you are up there you can hold on to keep you balance more easily. The platform of the step is ridged for better grip and is 36cm wide so has plenty of room for both your feet to fit on. The handle also has a foam gripper, so you can get a proper grip on it.


AV was a strong boxer. But when some yakuza attempt to make him play in an adult movie and he refuses the yakuza break his legs, his arms and kidnap his girlfriend to force her to play in an adult movie instead of him. After that he goes to the city of darkness where he street fights, spending the cash on pornographic videos in the desperate attempt to find his girlfriend.


Young skiers and snowboarders in the Youth Sports Alliance s Get Out & Play program pose for a picture by the First Time lift at Park City Mountain.
Switchback Sports, Rossignol and the Christian Center of Park City teamed up to provide 127 scholarship kids with skis, snowboards and winter clothing for the alpine session of the Youth Sports Alliance's Get Out & Play program. A record-setting 700 local youth participated in the January session of Get Out & Play — 590 local youths headed to the slopes at Deer Valley, Park City Mountain and Utah Olympic Park, while an additional 108 cross-country skiers skied at White Pine Touring. Others learned to climb at The Mine Bouldering Gym or skated at the Park City Ice Arena, bringing the total for the year to 890 participants.
Rossignol donated more than 100 sets of skis and snowboards to Get Out & Play, while Switchback Sports took the lead in prepping and distributing the gear to scholarship recipients to use during their lessons. Sports Authority, Utah Ski & Golf, JANS and Ski Butlers helped fill in the gaps to provide gear for Get Out & Play's 127 scholarship recipients.
Patrick Fannon, owner of Switchback Sports, said, "Giving these kids a chance to experience skiing and snowboarding is an opportunity of a lifetime. I was able to see the joy on the kids' and parents' faces when they picked up their equipment. It was meaningful for my whole to team to have the opportunity and ability to facilitate such a special and unique gift for these kids."
In mid-December, a gear-up night was held at McPolin Elementary School to help provide scholarship students with ski pants and jackets to use all winter as well as during their ski or snowboard program. Collection bins had been placed at all Park City's elementary schools in which community members donated ski jackets, snow pants, mittens and goggles. Despite the generosity of the community, clothing donations ran short. The Christian Center pitched in by providing ski jackets and pants to help make sure that every scholarship student was properly attired to hit the slopes.
Rob Harter, Executive Director of the Christian Center, noted, "We are happy to support YSA's 'Get Out & Play Program' by providing the necessary ski clothing including hats, gloves, pants, etc. so that the youth who are a part of this program have what they need to have a great experience on the mountain. We are excited about what YSA is doing in general and this program in particular because it is such a fun-filled recreational opportunity for the students of our community."
The Get Out & Play sports program is a unique community partnership, giving elementary students the opportunity to try a variety of sports in a safe, supervised setting regardless of financial need. Led by the YSA, this program is a cooperative effort between local venues including Deer Valley, The Mine Bouldering Gym, the Park City Ice Arena, Park City Mountain, Utah Olympic Park and White Pine Nordic Center, and coaches for many local competitive sports teams including Figure Skating Club of Park City, Fly Freestyle, Park City Ice Miners, Park City Nordic Ski Club, the Park City Speed Skating Club, Team Park City United, Team Utah and Young Riders, along with more than 100 parent volunteers who all worked to together to provide local elementary school children the chance to learn new skills at reduced prices.
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text:
Dylann Roof Found Guilty in Charleston Church Massacre
Townsquare Staff
Charleston Police Dept.
Dylann Roof was found guilty on 33 counts in the mass shooting of nine people at a church in Charleston, South Carolina, in June 2015. The jury will reconvene on January 3 to determine if Roof will be put to death or go to prison for life.
The admitted white supremacist had already confessed to the killings of the nine black parishioners, which he said he committed in an attempt to start a race war. The jury, consisting of nine white and three black members, deliberated for just two hours before reaching its decision.
The church where Roof perpetrated this massacre, Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church, is a historic symbol of black religious life in the south. This is one of the reasons Roof selected it as the site of his crimes.
During closing arguments, Assistant U.S. Attorney Nathan Williams emphasized the church setting in his appeal to convict Roof:
In that moment, a man of immense hatred walked that room shooting person after person after person, stopping only so he could reload more magazines and kill more people. It was an act of tremendous cowardice, shooting people as they have their eyes closed in prayer, shooting them on the ground.
South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley released a statement after the verdict's announcement, saying, "It is my hope that the survivors, the families and the people of South Carolina can find some peace in the fact that justice has been served."


We are located directly across from the Hamburg State Opera (Hamburgische Staatsoper), just a few minutes' walk from Jungfernstieg, Gänsemarkt and the Dammtor railway station (route planner). The Gänsemarkt car park is right nearby and can be accessed from Welckerstraße and Dammtorwall. If you are using public transit, you can take the above-ground tram (S-Bahn) to Dammtorbahnhof or Jungfernstieg, or the subway (U-Bahn) to Gänsemarkt, Stephansplatz or Jungfernstieg.


This was our first visit to Gothenburg/Göteborg, so we didn't really know what to expect when planning our trip. We decided to Couch Surf while we were there (hospitality exchange through social media) so with the help of our hosts we got to see a lot of gems we wouldn't of known about by just checking out our guide book. If you are a person that is interested in meeting locals while travelling and interested in taking the unbeaten track, check out couch surfing. In my experience, it's a wonderful community of people with many different views and life experiences who all share an openness to basically open up their home. It's not for everyone, but if the sound of it appeals to you, check out their website and maybe even set up a profile and see how it goes.
In Sweden traditional wooden houses can be seen covered in this bright red/copper colour, it's called Falu Red and dates back centuries. It has quite a practical purpose for preserving the wood and giving the effect of a brick house but was used mostly in the country side as the government in larger cities like Gothenburg and Stockholm opposed the use of it on houses in the cities. I love the look of these houses, and would love one for my very own but I think it would look a bit silly plopped in the middle of my town.
Stora Saluhallen is the indoor market right in the city centre. They have a great selection of fresh seafood, breads, spices etc. You can pick up a couple of things to eat on the road like we did, or you can sit and dine in the middle of the food hall for some really fresh meals. We grabbed one of the Semla (follow for recipe) and ate it by the near by river which was a great choice in the perfect chilly but sunny weather.
The Feskekôrka, ('fish church' in Swedish) was a building that I really wanted to visit, as it's essentially a fish market but intended to look like some of the Norwegian stave churches. It didn't disappoint, it fits so snugly into the city that you would expect it to of been an actual renovated church. Inside is anything but church like with all of the fish mongers battling to sell to the next customer…perfect combination.
Granit was a shop didn't expect to find. It appears they don't ship outside of Sweden, which is such a shame because it's such an amazing store for all things home and garden. Apparently they have a few stores across Scandinavia, so if you are wandering around there, find one. We would of bought loads of things if we were travelling with more than hand luggage.
The shop focuses on porcelain, glass, metal, and textiles with items for the bathroom, kitchen, office and garden. The ranges all run through and only the base colours black, white, grey and neutral. I found this a really nice aspect of the store, everything blended in together.
We have a thing for old trunks and Rob fell in love with these faux vintage trunks made from steel.
Leaving Gothenburg we travelled to the bottom of Sweden so had to make a stop in Malmö before we entered Denmark. Malmö is a very small city, but also filled with many things to see for a day.
Travelling on the bridge is quite an experience as it's a great view, I was quite excited!
Malmö is quite a pretty little city, a lot of streets to walk around and quite a strong influence from the fishing markets and mongers. There wouldn't be many activities in the city to keep you excited but if you enjoy wandering around and just taking in all the surroundings, it is quite nice.
I really love visiting Sweden, and there are so many different cities to view. Next time, I would like to go more up North and view how different it compares to Stockholm, Gothenburg and Malmö. If you have been toying with the idea of visiting Sweden, go for it…soon. I really feel it has so much to offer to a wide range of travellers.


RICHMOND, Va. (WTVR)—The Byrd Theatre Foundation announced Wednesday that the beloved, but informal, tradition of the Carytown Ball Raise has been canceled this year, and put out a call for help finding a new place to host the event.
"After consultation with the Carytown Merchants Association and several to the community partners, it is clear that many in the Carytown and surrounding communities share serious concerns about the Ball Raise, "Melissa Savenko, President of the Byrd Theatre Foundation said in a release posted on Facebook.
"We are respectful of and share some of those concerns. While it saddens us to eliminate any festive element during such a celebratory time of year, our highest priority is the safety of patrons of the Byrd Theater, Carytown, and the surrounding neighborhoods.
Local law enforcement has said that the event, which drew over 35,000 people last year, has outgrown Carytown, according to the press release. The Carytown Watermelon Festival, a daytime event, usually brings over 100,000 people.
A police presence is required to maintain the crowds. Problems from past years include vandalism, trespassing and littering.
"We are hopeful that we can work together with the CMA and the rest of the community to find an alternate event solution or location for the Ball Raise for New Year's Eve 2014," Savenko said.
With just under two weeks until we prepare to welcome in 2014, let the suggestions start.
They shouldn't have to pay for security. The Redskins didn't. I guess since the mayor isn't getting box seats, they don't get free security.
The Diamond or the Redskins training camp would seem obvious as good locations. Hey! How about the large vacant lot where Azalea Mall used to be? There would even be enough room to have the Food Trucks!
im very upset they have cancelled the carytown ball drop!!!! I looked forward to it this year especially because I always work late on NYE and finally made plans to be there this year around my schedule. I hope they find a venue so my family and I can enjoy bringing in the NEW YEAR together and make it memorable. I was hoping the Redskins Training Camp could safice, The Diamond, The Old Azeala Location, The DogWood Dell, Anything!!! PLEASE!
So, the RPD cannot handle a festival. Facts would indicate that stereotypical crime is above their pay grade as well. It's not the officers, it's the administration, advancement, and hiring practices.
Now as for the citizens that do not want it,,,,who would expect better from an anti capitalist voting base?