text:
America's Progressive Autoimmune Crisis Continues Apace
By Jonah Goldberg
About Jonah Goldberg
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(Photo Illustration: NRO)
EDITOR'S NOTE: The following is Jonah Goldberg's weekly "news"letter, the G-File. Subscribe here to get the G-File delivered to your inbox on Fridays.
Dear You Guys (I apologize for this break in protocol. Normally I would begin with the traditional salutation of "Dear Reader." But now that "you guys" is under assault, I felt this was, quite literally, the least I could do),
#ad#If I've made one point over the last 20 years, it's that you can never put too much cheese on anything involving meat. Coming in a close second is that the reason I'm a conservative is that I believe conservatism and libertarianism are only partial philosophies of life. Obviously, this is even more the case for libertarianism than it is for conservatism, but both schools of thought set relatively clear boundaries for what politics should touch. Not so for what we call liberalism.
The progressive vision sees all of mankind as clay to be molded, sheep to be herded, a third-grade diorama to be diorama'd. There are no safe harbors from politics because the personal is political.
The problem with saying "the personal is political" is twofold: You politicize what is personal ("Everyone must celebrate my lifestyle!") and you personalize the political ("Your opposition to the minimum wage hurts my feelings!").
This is how you un-think yourself out of a civilization; When politics becomes a fashion choice and fashion becomes political. If you wear your politics on your sleeve, it usually means you don't keep them in your brain where they belong.
The progressive vision sees all of mankind as clay to be molded, sheep to be herded, a third-grade diorama to be diorama'd.
This is at least partly why so much of what passes for politics these days is really lifestyle branding. I loved David Brooks's BoBos In Paradise, but its biggest flaw was in underestimating how much of the so-called bohemian-bourgeois lifestyle came pre-loaded with very political features. In 1997 Brooks wrote in The Weekly Standard that "one of the striking things about Burlington [Vermont] is that it is relatively apolitical." I really don't think that was true. More likely: Burlington was — and is — so uniformly liberal that even an astute observer might confuse stultifying political conformity for apoliticalness (not a word, I know, but like they said in Fast and Furious 3, you get my drift).
It's telling that when Phil Griffin predicted MSNBC would overtake Fox News by 2014 (Stop laughing!). He said he wanted to do it by turning MSNBC into a "lifestyle" network. "It's a mistake for us to limit ourselves to news," he told The New Republic. Instead, he wanted to build up something he dubbed, "the MSNBC lifestyle." This is the sort of thinking you fall into when you can't see where politics ends and "lifestyle" — i.e., life — begins.
I'm not a big fan of generational stereotyping, but it's fair to say that a large number of Millennials constitute the first big cohort of kids to be fully raised within this lifestyle-ized politics.
What's been the effect? Well, funny enough, I have a theory about that.
There's a lot of evidence that being too sanitary, i.e. too clean, causes allergies. If you're not exposed to dog hair, dirt, bugs, nuts, CHUDs early in life, your immune system doesn't know how to recognize these allergens later on and deal with them in a healthy way. It turns out if you give babies peanut butter, they are much, much less likely to get peanut allergies when they get older. Unfortunately for my kid's generation, this news came too late. And while she doesn't have peanut allergies herself, enough kids do at her school that all you have to do is whisper "peanut butter" and the place becomes like that scene in Monsters Inc. when the creature has a human sock stuck to his back ("23-19! We've got a 23-19!").
As I've been arguing for quite a while, I think America is going through a kind of autoimmune crisis. We're increasingly allergic to our own civilization and as a result we're attacking once-healthy organs of the body politic.
Frankly, I have trouble seeing all this "trigger warning" shinola (no, wait, the other stuff I always confuse for shinola) in any other context.
"America is the land of opportunity," "There is only one race, the human race" and "I believe the most qualified person should get the job" are among a long list of alleged microaggressions faculty leaders of the University of California system have been instructed not to say.
These so-called microaggressions — considered examples of subconscious racism — were presented at faculty leader training sessions held throughout the 2014-15 school year at nine of the 10 UC campuses. The sessions, an initiative of UC President Janet Napolitano, aim to teach how to avoid offending students and peers, as well as how to hire a more diverse faculty.
Now, if you suffer heart palpitations, feel light-headed, or in some other way manifest symptoms of panic because you hear that "America is the land of opportunity" or "there is only one race, the human race" you have an allergy to America and its ideals.
The danger is that if we cater to these allergies, they become worse. "A man may take to drink because he feels himself to be a failure," Orwell observed, "and then fail all the more completely because he drinks." We fail our kids by giving them these allergies and then fail them all the more completely by catering to them.
Miss Piggy America
Anyway, as I was saying, progressivism sees no safe harbor from politics because it doesn't see politics as distinct from lifestyle. There is no limiting principle for what passes for liberalism, because liberalism has simply become defined as whatever liberals believe in today. Hence the once-gold standard of liberal thought — "there is no race but the human race" — is now offensive and should be avoided lest it set off some kid's allergies (a point of view I could better understand if there were a lot of skinheads in the classroom).
One upshot of this that drives me batty is the injection of politics into areas that should remain politics-free. To pick examples near my heart, Star Wars and Battlestar Galactica were corrupted by politics. A few years ago, the Children's Television Workshop started mucking around with Cookie Monster. Suddenly Cookie Monster was talking about how "cookies are only a sometimes food." This is true — for humans. But for it to be true of Cookie Monster is to erase his identity. As I wrote at the time:
Since my copy of Meditations by Marcus Aurelius is in storage, let me explain by paraphrasing Hannibal Lecter's famous dialogue with Clarice Starling in Silence of the Lambs. Imagine Lecter isn't a superhuman cannibalistic serial killer and that, instead of being a doe-eyed feminist naif in the FBI, Ms. Starling is a doe-eyed feminist naif at the Children's Television Workshop.
Lecter: "First principles, Clarice. Read Marcus Aurelius. Of each particular thing, ask: What is it in itself? What is its nature? What does he do, this creature you seek?
Starling: He entertains children . . .
Lecter: "No! That is incidental. What is the first and principal thing he does? What need does he serve by entertaining children?
Starling: Social acceptance? Personal frustration?
Lecter: No: He craves. That's his nature. And what does he crave? Make an effort to answer.
Starling: Food?
Lecter: No! He is not a "food monster!" He is a cookie monster!
But not according to the well-meaning social engineers of PBS. After three decades, they've announced he's not a Cookie Monster at all. In the interests of teaching kids not to be gluttons, CTW has transformed Cookie Monster into just another monster who happens to like cookies. His trademark song, "C is for Cookie" has been changed to "A Cookie Is a Sometimes Food." And this is a complete and total reversal of Cookie Monster's ontology, his telos, his raison d'être, his essential Cookie-Monster-ness.
If the Cookie Monster is no longer a cookie monster, what is he? Why didn't they just name him "Phil: The Monster Who Sometimes Likes to Eat a Cookie"?
(I should note that it is my understanding they didn't ultimately change Cookie Monster's song.)
A bit further from my heart is the more recent case of Miss Piggy. Someone thought it would be clever to give her a feminist-icon award. The stupidity of this is not infuriating in of itself. People are free to make fools of themselves and such antics will not hinder the arrival of the Sweet Meteor of Death so much as make it that much more welcome.
But what is infuriating is the way MSNBC handled its interview with Miss Piggy. Anchor Irin Carmon, sitting next to Gloria Steinem, asked a man's hand wrapped in cloth that resembles a pig whether "she" was pro-choice. Miss Piggy responded, "I am pro — I am pro-everything."
Now, I have some sympathy for the felt pig (Not to be confused with the poignant children's book about bestiality, Sympathy for the Felt Pig.). Once asked the question, it would have been difficult to answer in a way that wouldn't throw her into the abortion debate (though hardly impossible). But only someone who lives in the lifestyle bubble of MSNBC liberalism would ask a character for children whether she was pro-choice or not. Still, I would respect Carmon so much more if she had the courage of her gauzy convictions and followed up with, "Are you for any restrictions on abortion, or do you believe it is your right to have your piglets vacuumed from your belly right up until the day before they're born?"
But no. Being pro-choice is such a sunny and uplifting thing it's of a piece with being "pro-everything."
I would be just as disgusted if a Fox News anchor asked Miss Piggy, "Are you pro-life?" For that matter, I'd be enraged if over at CNN Jake Tapper asked Spongebob Squarepants what he thought of Caitlyn Jenner or if Chuck Todd grilled Fozzy Bear about Dennis Hastert. Tonight on Special Report: Bret Baier sits down with Barney the Dinosaur and asks him whether Barack Obama is losing the War on Terror.
People decry a polarized, politicized country and then they go and politicize things that don't need to be politicized. Football is great, until some yatch starts telling you that such violent ground-acquisition games are in fact a crypto-fascist metaphor for nuclear war. Few things make me want to downgrade an actress more than hearing them explain that their moving portrayal of a limbless ballerina demonstrates why we need to pass the Lilly Ledbetter Act.
When everything is considered political, the totality of life is politicized. And that's just a clunky way of describing totalitarianism.
The whole point of a free society is to reduce the number of things that are political, particularly at the national level. When everything is considered political, the totality of life is politicized. And that's just a clunky way of describing totalitarianism.
Various & Sundry
Thursday on the Acela coming back from New York, I started out thinking I would write a column on why I think the fall of Baghdad is coming. But, I got distracted by a different argument and that became the column. Still, I don't think we will do anything serious about ISIS until Baghdad is in flames. Lots of friends on the right talk about how if we just recreated the techniques of the surge, arming the Sunni tribes etc., we could win without putting too many boots in the ground. I don't think that option is still available to us. The Sunnis have every reason not to trust us, never mind the Shia leadership in Baghdad. And anything that could overcome their doubts is not an option for this administration. Indeed, it's not that Obama hasn't been given strategies to defeat ISIS, it's that he doesn't want a strategy to defeat ISIS because he doesn't want to pay the associated costs. I certainly understand the reluctance, I even share it. The problem is that ISIS is counting on it. I don't enjoy saying it, but I think a bloodbath is coming. When we see helicopters fleeing Baghdad, crammed full of Americans, we'll get serious, but probably not before that.
Zoë Update: It's been quite a week for the Mid Atlantic's Dog (I figure it's too soon for Zoë to go for Jasper's title of America's Dog). My wife and daughter took Zoë and both cats (the good cat and my wife's cat) to the vet. Zoë in good shape. She now weighs 60 pounds (quite a difference from when she almost wasted away from parvo) and has tested negative for all the bad things. Except, she did test positive for the anti-bodies for Lyme disease (which doesn't necessarily mean she has Lyme disease). The vet wants to do a follow-up test to make sure she's okay. But they want us to collect a urine sample. This seems as easy as getting sample of Vladimir Putin's back hair.
In other news, on Monday she caught a chipmunk. When I saw her come out from the woods with it, I assumed she'd already killed it. But no. She was merely looking for an open field to play with it, free of any possible chipmunk escape routes. It was a terrible scene when she dropped the critter on the ground and it kept leaping up to attack Zoë's face, not least because Zoë clearly thought the chipmunk's fight for its life was so hilarious. Fortunately — with the help of Buckley Carlson's (brother of Tucker) dogs as distraction, I managed to save the critter's life. Future historians may one day condemn me for it if it one day becomes the Hitler of chipmunks.
I was in New York Thursday to appear on Outnumbered, which is visually like putting a rotten egg in the middle of four Fabergé eggs.
I'm going back to NYC this weekend to be on The Greg Gutfeld Show starring Greg Gutfeld. Sunday night at 10:00.
The Fair Jessica had a great op-ed in the Wall Street Journal on Monday.
Once again your humble servant was ahead of the curve.
I spend a shocking percentage of my life talking to dogs I don't know when they stick their heads out of car windows. So I appreciated this.
Man opens five beers at once
Iguana clogs toilet bowl
Hand print shows how we're all crawling in bacteria
Deep-fried Slim-Fast bars
Deep-fried Starbucks coffee
Hot dog–stuffed Pizza Hut crust
Goat babies in pajamas
The hills are alive… with the sound of Angela Merkel.
Clash of the Titans! Childhood icons Minnie Mouse and Hello Kitty fight it out in Times Square
Champion air guitar kangaroo
Game of Thrones coloring book coming to a store near you!
Man sues actress, claiming her "intense stares" on TV caused "spiritual damage"
Meet "the world's happiest dog," constantly smiling despite illnesses
Assault by pizza slice
Fawn over the world's smallest baby deer
Guess the tarot cards didn't predict this guy's misfortune
Argentine province mandates hospitals employ clowns
Romanian cat hired as communications director
Dog to owners: you may NOT have the lobster
Taco Bell's on fleek: fast-food chain keeping up on youth slang
Chimpanzee happy hour
Jonah Goldberg is a National Review contributing editor. @JonahDispatch
In Montreal, Egyptian Mummies, in 3-D, Have Secrets to Share	In Montreal, Egyptian Mummies, in 3-D, Have Secrets to Share
People Make New Orleans	People Make New Orleans
Happily Ever After — Even in Hollywood	Happily Ever After — Even in Hollywood
1917: War as Video Game and Ceremony	1917: War as Video Game and Ceremony


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The Philippine government has reportedly allocated PHP289 billion (USD5.46 billion) to procurement during the second modernisation phase of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), which runs from 2018 to 2023.
The figure, revealed by AFP officials in media reports on 9 June, represents a major increase over the PHP90 billion allocated for AFP procurement in the 2013–17 first phase.
Under the second stage of modernisation – known as horizon two – about PHP77 billion will be allocated to the Philippine Navy (PN), with this figure confirmed in a speech by President Rodrigo Duterte in May. The Philippine Army (PA) and Philippine Air Force (PAF) will share the remaining PHP212 billion.


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text:
PodCastle
Cast of Wonders
The Fantasy Fiction Podcast
For New Listeners
2019 Original Fiction
Narrator Guidelines
PodCastle 2020 Schedule
Submittable Portal
PC 474: Asymmetry
Author : Kendra Fortmeyer
Narrator : Dagny Paul
Host : Setsu Uzume
Audio Producer : Peter Wood
Discuss on Forums
First published in Forge Journal
http://media.rawvoice.com/podcastle/p/media.libsyn.com/media/podcastle/PC474_Asymmetry.mp3
Rated PG-13.
by Kendra Fortmeyer
She arrived at his apartment ten minutes late and discovered that she was already there.
The woman was a champion worrier, but this was something she had not thought to worry about. She had considered: is this a date, is this not a date, am I ready, is he a psycho/rapist/murderer who is going to drug/rape/murder me, what if I am a bad kisser, and even what if dinner makes me gassy and he leans in to kiss me and I let one rip and the whole evening comes down around our ears.
She rang the doorbell and the man appeared with a rosy smile that drained slowly from his face like paint.
"Hi," the woman said. She had a bottle of cheap wine in her hand. She had picked it because it was on sale and had a tag beneath it that advertised it as REGINALD'S PICK, and she felt a person named Reginald was somebody who probably knew something about wine.
The man stared.
"Can I come in?" the woman asked.
She heard a woman's laugh behind him: a familiar laugh, a things-aren't-funny-but-we're-making-them-funny-laugh. A laugh the woman used herself when social situations got uncomfortable or slow.
"You forgot I was coming over," the woman blurted. She knew this had been a mistake. She wanted to drop the wine bottle, or to club him over the head with it and run.
"Who is it?" asked a female voice from the kitchen. There was the scraping of a chair, footsteps. Over the man's paralyzed shoulder, a face appeared.
It was her face.
"Oh my God," the two of her murmured in unison.
The women sat on the man's couch, studied him and each other and the identical bottles of wine.
"This is a joke," the man said. The woman didn't know him very well. He was a friend of a friend, new to town. She had helped him find an apartment, and he invited her over for dinner as a thank-you. "You have an identical twin," he said, to the first one, the Other, "and you're playing a joke."
"No," the women said in unison. "I'm an only child."
"This is sick," muttered the man. He was slumped in a terrible plaid armchair. It never would have worked out between them, with an armchair like that. The woman could see that now.
The women looked at each other.
"Who are you?" the woman said.
The Other said her name. It was the woman's name.
The woman said, "Me, too."
They regarded each other, considering.
"When did He leave?" the Other asked softly. She didn't need to say: your husband. She said He with a capital H, like something venerated, then dead.
The woman answered, "Six weeks ago, Sunday."
Tears pricked the Other's eyes. The woman had been unable to find this sympathy in anyone else.
"So you're not twins," the man said, startling them. They had forgotten he was there. "You've never met each other before. And you're both at my house for dinner."
"Yes," they said, perhaps a little too emphatically.
"Can we at least open the second bottle of wine then?" he asked piteously.
"Go ahead," the women said.
He scurried off toward the kitchen. The women regarded each other. They were worriers, not panickers. They stared and tried to understand.
"What time did you get here?" the woman asked.
"7:23," said the Other.
"You were early," the woman said. "I'm never early."
"I know," the Other said. "But I had nothing better to do, so I left."
"I was going to," the woman said. "But then I had to fix the button on my sweater."
"Button?" the Other said. She looked down at her sweater. The third middle button dangled loosely on a bright green thread.
"How did you not notice?" the woman said.
The Other shrugged. "I don't know," she said. "I just grabbed a sweater. I wasn't thinking too much about it, you know?"
But I always think about things, the woman thought. She was disappointed in herself, but also relieved. She felt, somehow, that this could make sense of everything.
The man returned and sat in his terrible chair with two half-empty glasses of cheap wine. "Everyone overthinks everything these days." The women looked at him, and he added hastily, "But that's fine. I like that in a woman. Women."
"I guess we should go home," they said.
"I only cooked enough for two," he said, apologetically.
He walked them to the door. "This is the weirdest date I've ever been on," he said.
"So it was a date," the women said. They had been suspicious. He shrugged, smiled disarmingly.
"Yeah, well," he said. "Chris warned me not to hope for much. But you sounded pretty cute on the phone. I thought I'd give it a shot."
Once, this would've made the women blush, but they were too preoccupied, now, with each other. They waved goodbye, walked each other out.
They were disappointed to find just one car, parked in the one space. "Damn," the Other said. "I thought the car would double, too."
"I wonder how that works?"
They stood, fingering their identical keys in their identical purses. Wondering what it would mean to take their two bodies home to the empty one-bedroom apartment.
"Do you want me to drive?" said the Other, at last.
Gratefully, the woman curled up in the passenger seat of her own car. She watched the city streets slide by and basked in the glow of being taken care of by herself.
Everything was not the same. There was discomfort over the shared toothbrush, confusion over which side of the bed was whose. Each still considered herself the original one. Neither wanted to accept being a copy.
They established a system: took turns going to work in the woman's law office, doing the dishes, the shopping. They got hungry together. Missed their husband together, furiously and unashamedly. When they woke in the night, frightened of the sounds outside, they took turns getting up, patrolling the darkened exterior rooms. After a week of cohabitation, the Other called a security company and had alarms installed, and they dozed snug and safe, identically entwined beneath one shared quilt.
The thing they were most grateful for was someone to share their loneliness without judgment. They stroked each other's hair in bed, sometimes laughed, sometimes cried. The world, closed to lonely people, opened up again like a flower: the HOV lane on the highway. Two-for-one admissions. Full-sized gallons of milk. The woman had missed the movies after the husband left, felt too ashamed to go by herself. Now she and the Other went to matinees, split swimming pool-sized Cokes and popcorns. They always thought the same previews looked good. They always laughed at the same jokes.
Pulling out of the parking lot one evening, the Other said, "This is actually better than it used to be."
The woman looked over, stunned. "How can you say that?" she said.
The Other shrugged, uncomfortably. "He never liked the same movies I did. We did," she said.
"Well, yeah," the woman said. "But then we could talk about it afterward. We could debate."
"And he always spent the whole movie hitting our arm and saying, who's that actress? I know I've seen her in something, what did I see her in?"
The woman shifted in her seat, looked out the window.
"I'm just saying," the Other said. "It's not so bad now."
The light turned yellow and the Other slowed to a stop. It was out of consideration for the woman. Her nervousness which had been consuming everything lately. She checked the locks three times before leaving the house, flinched when lighting the stove. The week before, coming home from the bank, they'd seen a car hurtle through a red light and T-bone a lavender minivan, and the woman had cried all afternoon, imagining: those poor kids. That poor mother. The Other checked beneath the car for them in dark parking lots. Tested the bathwater before they climbed in.
"Don't be mad," the Other said. The light turned green and lit her hair marine. "I'm just trying to look on the bright side."
The woman chewed her salt-shriveled lips, glaring at her reflection in the rearview mirror as they slowly accelerated toward home.
The woman came in late from work one evening, stomping the cold out of her toes. "God, I hate him," she announced. "What an idiot."
She had been parked in the driveway for twenty minutes, trying to decide if she should call her (ex)husband. She had become embarrassed doing these things in the house: pausing over the phone, checking her e-mail incessantly. Her stomach ached with the pressure of shrinking from her own scrutiny.
The Other was draped over the arm of the couch, reading Crime and Punishment with one eye closed. The house was warm, smelled richly of coffee and take-out Chinese. The woman had always wanted to read Crime and Punishment. She was dimly happy to see that one of her was finally doing it.
"Hey," the woman said. She felt awkward calling the Other by her own name, tried to avoid using it. She sat on the floor, sipped at the Other's coffee. The Other's coffee was cold and too sweet, a syrupy shock to her tongue. She sighed and leaned her head against the Other's thigh.
The Other lowered the book, peered down its spine at the woman.
"What's going on?" she asked. But her voice sounded tired.
"I miss him so much," the woman said.
"So just call him," the Other said. She gestured to the mug. "There's some fresh in the kitchen. Could you get me some?"
The woman ignored the mug. She felt obliquely betrayed. "I can't call him. We hate him. He won't tell us anything we want to hear anyway. Right?"
"Whatever," the Other said. "If you want to do it, then do it." She disappeared again behind Dostoevsky.
The woman sat still, cradling the cold mug of coffee like a nest. She wanted the Other to convince her. She wanted the two of them to call together, like high school girls in eighties movies, clinging breathlessly to the receiver together and listening. She knew, since they were the same person, that the Other knew what she needed. But the Other kept reading and the woman, lonely on the floor, sipped chill and bitter coffee and listened to the pages turn without her.
The woman began to get smaller.
Nobody else seemed to notice. Her coworkers greeted her like always, dropping cheery helloes as they zipped past her cube. No one in the break room asked, in a puzzled way, if she had changed anything: her hair, maybe. But it was getting harder for the woman to reach the wineglasses in their high cabinet. Driving the car after the Other, she had to adjust the seat.
She wanted to seek help, to find a specialist, but she didn't know where to start. She wished that her ex-husband were there. He had always been better at these things than she had.
When she came home from work on the third day of shrinking, the house smelled like curry. Cardboard boxes lined the halls. The Other was in the kitchen, stirring something in an unfamiliar pot.
"What's all that?" the woman asked. She fiddled with her wedding band, dangling loosely on her shrunken finger.
"Chana masala," the Other said. "It's Indian. I found a recipe online. Do you think we should go vegetarian?"
"No," the woman said. "What's that in the hall?"
"I cleaned out our closet," the Other said. She lifted the lid of the rice pot. Beads of fragrant steam clung gemlike to her hair. "There was stuff in there we hadn't worn in years."
The woman stared at the Other's face so hard she thought she could split the flesh, peel it away to reveal cold, unfeeling bone. She tried to keep her voice light. "Do you mind if I go through it? In case you got rid of something I want."
The Other pulled out hot pads, sighed. "I'm worried that we're sort of a pack rat."
"That's okay" the woman asked. "Think of all the closet space we have now." She tried to force a laugh. It sounded like swallowing a seagull.
The Other, carrying plates to the table, didn't smile. The woman went and stood in the darkened hallway, breathing cumin and garlic and surveying the boxes of her past life. One by one, she hauled them back up the ever-growing stairs.
At the end of the month, the woman, on tiptoe, got their utilities and mortgage and car payment bills. She sat on a stack of phone books at the kitchen table, head swimming.
"We need money," she said.
The Other peered over her shoulder. "Do we?" she said. "We don't eat much."
"I know," the woman said. "It doesn't make sense to me, either." She didn't mention: the new clothes, the night creams, the flowers, the perfume. The things the Other seemed to think she was entitled to, now that she was a single woman.
The Other considered.
"I was thinking about a new job," she said. "If you don't mind going to the office every day."
"Great," the woman said. "What is it?"
"Dancing," said the Other.
"Like," the woman felt extraordinarily stupid even before she finished saying it, "Ballet?"
"Actually, exotic dancing," said the Other.
The woman blinked. Her mouth wanted to work, but couldn't. She made an incoherent noise, the combination of several other syllables. The new word, if it were a new word, expressed what and why and really and that's amazing and Jesus.
"Marie has a friend who does it," the Other said. "I met her at Frank's yesterday. She's actually pretty great. She says she can bring home six hundred a night. At least."
The woman weighed thirty-six hundred dollars a week against her personal sense of revulsion.
"I've never wanted to do that," she said instead.
The Other shrugged. "I don't think it would be that bad," she said.
Who are you, the woman wanted to say. But the Other leaned across her and added, in her own handwriting, $12,000 to the monthly income column.
"If it's no fun, I'll quit," she said over her shoulder as she went upstairs.
The woman sat alone at the table, staring at the numbers, her feet dangling from the chair like a child's.
When she couldn't see over the steering wheel anymore, the woman called in sick to work. She lay under the bed, feeling tiny and desolate and missing her husband. She wanted him to come cradle her in his big arms, make her feel safe again.
"Come on," the Other said on the third day, standing over the bed. "Get yourself cleaned up."
"I can't," the woman said.
"That's a lie," the Other said. She was wearing seaglass green heels that the woman didn't recognize. Her toenails were purple. "Get up."
"I don't want to," the woman said. The floor was cool and hard under her back. She felt it grinding into her bones, numbing her spine, skull, elbows. She liked the grinding. It made her feel arrested in the present. It helped her forget that she was disappearing, day by day.
"Fine," the Other said at last. Her feet shifted in her shoes. "I can't argue with you right now."
The woman listened to the shoes retreat, stared at the cool lemon light of the ceiling. From down the hall, she heard the shower come on: the muted sound of water running serpentine down skin and walls. Closing her eyes, she imagined the warmth.
The smell of soap rolled off the Other's skin when she rejoined the woman, scootching her legs beneath the bed, and lying on the floor. Her body was large and warm and reassuring. The woman rolled her greasy head onto the Other's giant shoulder, and caught, as she did, the Other wrinkling her nose. The woman felt quietly ashamed.
"I just feel so sad," she said. That small token. That peace offering of their shared lives.
The Other patted her hand. "I know you do," she said. But her eyes were far away.
It was late on a Saturday night, and the woman was the size of a large toddler. She sat curled on the couch in a tent-sized sweater and tried not to think about the Other, out working: the eyes of strange men on the body that had been her own, of the system-scummed dollars, the hands.
The woman watched the wall clock toss seconds against the blank-faced windows until the emptiness filled her with nausea. Then she picked up the phone and dialed her ex-husband.
The phone rang too loudly. When he picked up, he sounded like he'd been asleep.
"What do you want?" he said. It sounded like the voice of the man she had loved, and another voice. It sounded like nothing she understood.
"Hi," she said. She leaned her whole head into the cradle of the phone, closed her eyes. "Nothing. I just wanted to see how you were doing."
"I thought you made it pretty clear you never wanted to hear from me again," he said warily. His voice something that needed to be coaxed out of a tinny den.
She wanted to ask, what, when. But she already knew. She knew what she would've said if she were braver and solid on her feet. The woman hated that the Other had talked to him and not told her. She hated the Other for having heard his voice.
"I'm sorry," the woman said. "I haven't been myself lately."
"I don't know what you want." His voice broke, a familiar whine of fatigue. She remembered it from the nights when he was up working, wrecked with insomnia, pacing their small kitchen. She would come down some nights, make him a cup of tea. Other nights, she slept. Those were the nights she regretted after it was all over, when all she could think of was the million small ways in which she had not loved him enough to keep him.
"I know," she said. "I'm sorry. I just really miss you."
"You miss me?" He laughed, shortly. "That explains so much. Like why you don't return my calls for a fucking week, and when you do finally pick up, you tell me to eat Drano."
"You've been calling for a week?" the woman asked, faintly.
"Make up your mind," her ex-husband said. "I can't keep doing this."
He hung up the phone. The woman sat on the couch, numb.
She woke to the gentle click of the door, the Other slipping in from the night. It was some lonely hour between midnight and predawn. The chill air flooded the room like a whisper, kissed the coffee table, the coat rack, the books and tea cups littering the floor. The woman looked at this, the Other's mess, and felt like lead.
"He said he'd been calling for a week," the woman said. Her tongue was swollen, too large for her mouth.
The Other hung her coat and keys. She didn't answer.
"A week," the woman said, loudly. "Why didn't you tell me?"
The Other's mascaraed eyes glittered in the dark. "Because it shouldn't matter to you anymore."
The woman struggled to her feet. The sweater, too large for her body, slipped to her elbow, exposing her shoulder to the cold. "It was eight years of my life," she growled.
"Was eight years," the Other said. "Was. Okay? It's over. Move on."
The woman laughed, bitterly. The noise bounced off the side of the Other's enormous breast and fell to the floor and shriveled.
"No wonder he left us," she said. "He knew I was half enormous bitch."
The Other grabbed her hand, suddenly, so hard that the woman cried out. Her tiny palm eclipsed by the giant grip.
"It was a shitty thing that happened to you." The Other spoke low and urgently. She was just pieces in the dark, built of shadows and scraps of moonlight. "It was shitty, and it was unfair, and you didn't deserve it. But you can't let it destroy your life."
"I'm not letting anything," the woman shrilled. "You're hurting me. Let me go."
"Bullshit," the Other said softly, and released her. The woman clutched her hand to herself, turning it over like a treasured thing. She flexed it, experimentally. Smooth and whole.
"I quit the club," the Other said, rising. "It wasn't for me. I'm going to bed. Come up when you're ready."
The Other disappeared upstairs. The woman sat for a long time in the dark, cradling her hand and watching the silent phone, cold and remote as a stone in a well. Ring, she begged it. Ring. Come save me from myself.
Eventually, when the sky began to streak pink, the woman crept up to bed. She was frightened of herself but had nowhere else to go. She was so little now that she had to climb up the night table, the drawers of which had been left open for her.
The woman awoke so small that she was lost in the bedding. She screamed and screamed for the Other, but her tiny voice wandered weakly into the comforter, was lost among the thread count. She weighed so little now that she made no dent.
She wanted her husband. She wanted everything to go back to the way it was, when she was normal and happy and thought she was going to be that way forever. That's what's most unfair, she thought. He stole my sense of always.
The Other rolled over in bed. The pillowy cloud beneath the woman's feet sighed and sank.
She screamed a tiny scream, scrabbled up the edge of the pillow, gripping at the folds in the fabric. Something slammed the world into blackness a foot away–a giant hand, coming down with crushing force.
The woman knew clearly, for the first time, that she was going to die. That she would be killed, advertently or not, by herself, waking up and rolling out of bed in the morning. That the Other would go on without her, take over her life. She would wear pants that fit, make marsalas and souffles, host dinner parties, go on dates. She would take herself to the movies and laugh at the dumb parts, would not call their ex-husband, and the world, without the pathetic woman, would be a better place.
Something boomed above, and light crashed through her whole self like a riptide. The Other had pulled back the sheet. The woman cringed, ducking her head into the pillow as the world around her dissolved into an endless roar and the immense shadow of the Other's hand blotted out the white-ceilinged sky.
Oh, howled the world, swallowing her ears. There you are.
The Other lifted the woman towards the wet abyss of her mouth. The woman covered her ears and prayed that she would disappear entirely before herself consumed her, prayed as the Other's breath washed unbrushed and moist over her head: wake up, wake up, wake up.
Darkness did not come in the form of teeth: it was a kiss. Gentle, the softness of warm lips enfolding her small body. A kiss of forgiveness, of love despite itself. Something that did not soak her up, but drank her in again.
The woman yawned, swung her legs to the floor, shivered against the bright shock of cold to her toes. She went downstairs, made an omelet and toast, sliced fruit. She set, for the first time in a month, one place at the table. She surveyed it, considering. Moved a stack of books and papers beside the plate. A vase of fresh-cut flowers in the place opposite.
The phone rang in a far room and she pricked for a moment, hand floating over the silverware. But her omelet was hot, and the jam just beginning to sink into the toast, and the part of her that needed to dash to the phone, to check for his missed calls six times an hour, had gotten smaller by the day.
The phone rang again, and the woman settled into her chair. There was the crossword, the weak winter sun curling catlike through the window and around her warming toes. She bit into her toast and savored the sweetness of jam unfurling across her tongue. She closed one eye, and then the other, and when she opened them, there was the world.
Categories: Podcasts, Rated PG-13
Kendra Fortmeyer
Kendra Fortmeyer is a writer of strange fictions. She attended the Clarion Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers' workshop in 2016 and has work appearing or forthcoming in The Best American Nonrequired Reading, Lightspeed, the Toast and elsewhere. Her debut magical realist novel is forthcoming from Little, Brown in June 2017. She loves mermaids and the word 'swamp,' and can be found at kendrafortmeyer.com.
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About the Narrator
Dagny Paul
Dagny Paul is a lapsed English teacher, failed artist, and sometimes writer who lives in New Orleans, Louisiana. She has an unhealthy (but entertaining) obsession with comic books and horror movies, which she consumes whenever her six-year-old son will let her (which isn't often).
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- Coaches. All sorts of new coaches. The largest coaching turnover I've ever witnessed. In all, of the 103 teams between Section VI & the MMA, 22 of them have a new head coach this season.
- Section VI teams are finally back to playing a 20-game regular season.
- With the way Easter falls this year, the season will end a week earlier than normal.
- The Canisius/St. Joe's rivalry returns to a home-court advantage format, after playing the big games at the Canisius College Koessler Center the past couple seasons to accommodate the masses. Get there early.
- Middle College will play its home games at Bennett this season. The Kats had been hosting home games at ECC since 2010.
- After winning the Class B Federation Championship last season, Park will move up and compete with the big dogs in the CHSAA's Class A, while Nichols will return to Class B after playing up a year ago.
- It wouldn't be a season preview without some divisional realignments in the CCAA : Maple Grove & Cassadaga Valley flip leagues, with the Red Dragons joining CCAA I West, while the Cougars move to CCAA II West. In the East, Cattaraugus/Little Valley leaves Division I to compete in II.
- West Valley will not field a team this season. Students from the school have the option to play for Ellicottville.
- This season, the Class A1 semifinals will be split up between the Tuesday & Wednesday nights of Buffalo State week, with the Class AA semis and then the Class B2 semis played prior to each A1 semifinal. That means the Class A2 semifinals are Monday night, leaving the Class B1 semifinals for Thursday night.
- Far West Regionals are back at Buff State this year.
- Niagara Falls HS will host a "Battle at the Border" in February, featuring three of Canada's top teams playing Timon, Aquinas, and the host Wolverines.
- Depew will host this season's ADPRO Public/Private Challenge from December 17th-19th.
*** Seven of the top 15 players from the 2015 All-Centercourt Team return to the WNY high school hoops scene, along with another 10 players that received Honorable Mentions following last season.
- After transferring from Amherst following his sophomore campaign, Nwora exceeded all expectations in a breakout junior season, leading the Pioneers to a Federation Championship in Class B. He became an elite scorer and is equally dangerous in half court sets and in transition. With multiple Division I offers already on the table (South Florida, Long Beach State, Fordham, & UB), the ceiling is high for a 6-7 wing that is still improving. He'll look to lead his team back to the successes they enjoyed last season, only this season, they'll attempt to win it all in Class A.
- In my time covering high school basketball, I've never seen a better player in a Lancers uniform. Shows raw talent and athletic ability, but it's his feel for the game, ease handling the ball, and smooth shot from all ranges that separates him. He'll be relied upon heavily to be a leader this season, which will be necessary for St. Mary's to win the Class B Manhattan Cup and beyond.
Canisius capped off years of local dominance by winning the state's highest honor in Class A, a Federation Championship. The Crusaders will continue to be elite and return 1st Team All-Centercourt standout Stafford Trueheart. After winning a Federation title in Class B one day after the Crusaders were crowned, Park moves up to Class A. The Pioneers return three starters, including 1st Team All-Centercourt pick Jordan Nwora, who is already stock piling D-I offers. Timon has plenty back from last year's dangerous top ten team, along with a pair of key additions and former Crusader assistant, Des Randall, taking over as head coach. St. Joe's should have one of the best backcourts in WNY with guards Nick Motley & Naseer Jackson, along with all-around threat Grant Beyer. St. Francis has a very young team, but many are returning and hoping to build on last season's finish. The Red Raiders will hand the reins over to freshman point guard Julian Cunningham, cousin of Howard Washington Jr.
St. Mary's is young, lacks size, and is limited on varsity game experience. What the Lancers do have is returning 3rd Team All-Centercourt selection Takal Molson, and if he embraces the leadership role that will be asked of him, they'd be my pick to win the Class B Manhattan Cup. Niagara Catholic returns five of its top six players from last year's team, led by seniors Elijah Griggs, Jaceary Menes, & Zach Socha. Sophomores Imean Davis and Nick Krupp will be important contributors in their second varsity season, while freshman Jaden Turner is expected to be an excellent addition to the backcourt for the Patriots. Nichols has just three returning varsity players who were part of last year's team that beat Timon in the Class A semifinals before losing a two-point heart breaker to Canisius. Back in Class B this season, the Vikings will be led by underclassmen Will Johnson & Marcellus Cooper. Walsh has three starters back, including dynamic point guard, Tavien Kemp. Cardinal O'Hara looks to improve from its 2-11 league mark last season. The Hawks bring back a lot, returning eight players led by Nasir Benton and Charles Debose.
With six of its top seven players back at Middle College, including 3rd Team All-Centercourt forward Fred Foster & Honorable Mention pick Jojo Staton, it's quite simply a state championship or bust season for the Kats. Put me on record as predicting it happens, along with a third Yale Cup championship since 2010. McKinley has a solid core of tenacious seniors that played a large role in the Macks winning the Yale Cup last season, led by Shaquan Jones. East will be led by sophomore Willard Anderson, who started for the team's Class B championship team as a freshman. The Panthers look to reach a sectional title game for the seventh straight year. Fresh off a run to the state championship in football, the pride of the city, South Park, will look to carry that momentum onto the court, led by Shakur Harris. Burgard is coming off its best season since 2006 and returns team captain Isaiah Jamison.
After a run to the state semifinals in Class D, which ended in a devastating loss after leading by double figures, I-Prep remains the team to beat in Yale Cup II. The Presidents return three starters, including standout Davon Gant (6-5), along with their sixth man, as they move up in Class to B2. Olmsted has a talented trio in Brandon Roach, Daniel Reid, & Naseem Baynes and has its sights set on dethroning I-Prep. City Honors returns two starter from last years team, Ryan Langhorne & Amir Radford, and hope to rebuild its roster through valuable experience this season. MST Seneca wants to have balanced scoring & solid defense, and will need to work hard all game. The Indians are pleasantly surprised with some underclassmen additions and also return team leaders in rebounds, blocks, & steals. DaVinci has three players back from the team that turned the corner last year under head coach Karl Maggiore, including a win over the Class D champ, I-Prep.
Williamsville North has the league's best player in Maceo Jack and an excellent floor general in Sean Hill. Couple that with the talent that moves up from a strong JV squad, and the Spartans look like the team to beat in ECIC I. Jamestown enters as the defending league and Class AA champs and welcome back a pair of starters from last year, in Zacc Kinsey and James Rojas. Lancaster has a quality core of seniors in Collin Murray, Alex Damiani, & Alex Konst, who saw extended action last season, and should be ready to make a push for a league title. Clarence returns only one starter, Adam Southern, but adds three athletic seniors who did not play as juniors. Jake Randall and Jake Ireland, who both gained valuable varsity experience last year as sophomores will be counted on as juniors. Orchard Park has a new coach in Jim Gibson and eight returning seniors, led by Philip Marks & Kevin Looney.
After winning the league and advancing to the regionals in Class A last season, Williamsville South has six players back from its eight man rotation. Once again, the Billies lined up a difficult nonleague schedule to prepare for another postseason run, but will open their season without two of their key pieces as they recover from injury. Starpoint became a major player in the local hoops scene in 2015, splitting with South in league and reaching Buff State in Class A2. The Spartans expectations are high coming into this season, with three key starters back, including a pair of All-Centercourt Honorable Mentions - Christian Nodine & Brock Kroening. RJ Killinger takes over as head coach at Williamsville East, and inherits a balanced Flames team with five sophomores. West Seneca East had its first winning season in 20 years last season. The Trojans think they can make it two straight, and hope to add a trip to Buff State to this year's accomplishments. Hamburg will look to Ryan Dils and sophomore Jacob Genzel for offensive production and leadership, as the Bulldogs will be without three-year starter Brendan Ryan for much of the season as he recovers from off-season shoulder surgery. Iroquois has three starters back and will look for quickness and athleticism to key their 2015-16 campaign. Lake Shore returns nine seniors this year and they bring a lot of experience. Collin Fiutko, who was out with a torn ACL last year, he will be a big boost for a team that returns four out of five starters from last year. Sweet Home will be a very young and energetic group, focused on implementing climate and culture.
If ever there was a preseason when Amherst was to believe 'this is our year', it would be this year. With three-year starter and 3rd Team All-Centercourt star TC Brown leading the charge, St. Bonaventure commit Amadi Ikpeze patrolling the paint, and an excellent supporting cast (including Hutch-Tech transfer Jaylin Rose), the Tigers should have expectations of playing basketball in March. If there's a team that'll play spoiler to Amherst, it'll be Cheektowaga. The Warriors have rich recent history with the Tigers, that includes six classic battles in the last two seasons. All-Centercourt 2nd Teamer, Dominick Welch, enters his junior season as a 1,000 point scorer and is already one of the best I've ever covered. He'll team with fellow juniors, Stephan Parker and Adrian Baugh in a quest for a second sectional crown in three years. Maryvale should have one of its best teams in recent seasons, coming off a sectional final apppearance in Class B1. The Flyers bring back one of last year's captains in Drew Crombie, along with talented underclassmen Ted York-Brown and Ray Blackwell. Four out of five starters return to East Aurora, with three still being underclassmen. Depew will focus on limiting turnovers and ball movement to find good shots. The Wildcats need a another big step forward from sophomore Chad Biersbach, who averaged 10 per game as a freshman. Pioneer has a new coach in Keith Junik but will rely on a very talented group of seniors to play traditional pioneer basketball. Solid defense, hustle, and timely baskets will be the keys to victories in a very deep ECIC III. Greg Miller takes over coaching duties at Springville and will look for a big season from senior Kyle Warner.
Cleveland Hill won a third straight league title last season, going unbeaten in ECIC IV. They will attempt to pressure the opposition with solid defense, while balance between the perimeter shooting and post play is expected offensively. Alden returns four starters, which include its two leading scorers & its top rebounder. JFK hopes to gain some seasoning quickly, with just three returning players and a very young team. Holland has three starters back and will look to get the ball inside, as the Dutchmen's strength will be in the post. First-year head coach, Benjamin Kopp, looks to rejuvenate the hoops program at Eden, where its eight-man roster includes just two seniors. Lackawanna will carry five sophomores on its roster, including the talented Smith twins. Tonawanda has a balance of seniors and underclassmen, led by Justin Holevinski, Cody Diaz, & Tyler Stapf.
Niagara Falls looks ready to strike fear into league opponents again, as used to be commonplace during the Wolverines NFL dominance in the years that followed the merger. NFHS has its best team since 2013, and most have been together for three seasons now. They feature an elite defender in Breon Harris and play a brutally difficult nonleague schedule. Kenmore West may have the league's most athletic player in Terrell Ford, while junior Tyler Aquilina has good game instincts and a great touch from the perimeter. North Tonawanda graduated some key pieces from last season's NFL champion & A1 finalist unit, but retools thanks impart from a JV team that finished 15-3 in 2015. Last season, Grand Island won its first sectional game since 2008. The Vikings look to keep the momentum going with a deep squad, led by returning starter Joe Kulikowski. Lockport returns six players from last season, led by Kelly Brown. Niagara Wheatfield will put the ball in the hands of senior leader and point guard, Nathan Nielson, and look for an even bigger contribution this year from 6-5 wing Denzel Fuller. At Kenmore East, the Bulldogs have the talent to compete in the NFL and hope to put it all together this season. Lew-Port will again be competitive in league play, led by senior Jenard Jackson.
Medina has its deepest unit in recent years, ranging from seniors to freshmen, with a sophomore (Jalin Cooper) poised for a breakout season. Wilson needs to replace five starters from the team that pushed Fredonia at Buff State last March, but has a bright future with sophomore Ryan Bradley. Newfane will be young, carrying six sophomores. The Panthers do have a pair of starters back, along with three seniors with court experience. Barker has just three players back, but one is the team's scoring leader - junior Nate Luckman. Under first year head coach Josh Kraft, the Raiders will look to work hard and earn a reputation for consistent toughness. CSAT should possess a nice combination of experience and talent, returning six players in its bid to win a second N-O title after taking the crown in 2013. Roy-Hart returns four starters, including Andy Xapsos, a 1st Team All-League selection who led the Rams with 17.9 ppg last season. Akron returns Gates Abrams, who opposing defenses will look to locate every trip down the court, following a junior season that saw him knock down 59 treys. Albion didn't win the league last season, but ended the year with the most storied season of all the N-O teams, winning section title in Class B1.
Olean has four players back who saw extended court time last year, including three starters, from its Class A2 title team. The Huskies have moved down to Class B1 and are eyeing another season that extends into March. Fredonia returns Patrick Moore and Jarod Burmaster, both starters for the Hillbillies Class B2 finalist team of a year ago. Dunkirk will be long and athletic and returns nearly all of its scoring from last year. Look for the Marauders to compete with Olean for both league and sectional titles, while being one of the area's more exciting teams to watch. Chautauqua Lake is a young team in a tough league, but they do return four starters, looking to catch some attention this year. At Falconer, Jamie Glatz takes over behind the bench, while Southwestern looks to improve under new head coach Mark Sleggs.
Silver Creek has played in four straight Section VI championship games, and is optimistic they can keep the streak alive. Look for "Chill Showtime" to keep the ball moving rapidly with a whole new cast from the team that ran all ther way to states in 2013. Allegany-Limestone will challenge for the league hardware with seven players from its rotation back on the court, four of which started for the Gators in 2015. Ike Morrison is the new head coach at Randolph, where the Cardinals are coming off back-to-back sectional final appearances. Portville returns a pair of starters and welcomes in a young crop of talent from a JV squad that finished 17-2. Gowanda will be led by Carter Benton & sophomore Nate Brawdy. Salamanca fields a deep 15-man roster with 10 juniors. The Warriors will try to win with all around solid team defense and look to run the floor to take control of games early.
Panama is ready to make some noise and go after a Class D title, with four starters back from a team that finished 16-5 and only lost to Glens Falls qualifier, I-Prep, in the sectional semifinals by four points. Sherman lacks experience beyond Chris Robson & Kolby Parks, but the Wildcats run to three straight Class D Championship games suggests they'll be back in the mix again this season. Clymer returns three of its top players from a season ago, the only seniors on the team, to compete in a deep league.
Expectations are high in Ellicottville, where they bring back plenty of talent and have just one player new to the varsity level. After an eight-win season last year, Pine Valley's team this season will be balanced, bigger, and more athletic. Franklinville will start a pair of sophomores this season, along with three seniors - two of which were 2nd Team All-League last year.
Tapestry graduated nine players from its Class C1 championship squad, but the cupboard isn't bare. The Thunderhawks have athletes all over the court and love to play aggressively on both ends. Health Sciences added Jaylen Prophet from McKinley, a new head coach in former assistant Ty Parker, and brings back a depth of talent to make a run with in Class B2. At Oracle, Dave Hardy takes over and inherits a strong program with plenty returning. Maritime has four players back, including senior captain Mario Washington. The Commodores are exited about the talent they have found in newcomer James Baker, also a senior captain for the team. Buffalo Science is young and hungry, with just two starters back. Global Concepts has a new coach in Chuck Mancabelli and just three seniors, led by Fabian Pierce.
- Amherst & Olean both make it to Glens Falls.
- Middle College makes it to Glens Falls, where they win a Class C State Championship.
Great read! However, a couple things: For Dunkirk it's Shamon Stewart and Juan Damas, and the new North Collins head coach is Jan Warren.
What did Gary Foster play for South Park's football team?
Middle College doesn't have a football program, so students who were football players from that school, played at South Park.
Olmsted students played for Bennett.
Emerson & City Honors students played at Hutch-Tech.
MST Seneca students played for Burgard.


In addition, we also would like to bring your attend to the Huada International Postdoctoral Fellow in the Institute of Particle Physics (IOPP) at Central China Normal University (CCNU). The successful candidates will work half-time each year at IOPP and LBNL. There are also several Director's Postdoctoral Fellowship positions at IOPP staring on September 1, 2012. The current theoretical research interests at IOPP include high-energy nuclear theory, phenomenology and theoretical particle physics, with special emphasis on physics at high temperature and density, partonic structure of hadrons and nuclei in high-energy collisions, signals of quark-gluon plasma in heavy-ion collisions, heavy flavor physics, dark matter and physics beyond standard model.
Review of applications will start at the end of December and will continue until the positions are filled.


FYAP works in collaboration with the Hamilton Southeastern School District, City of Fishers, and the Hamilton County Superior Court. FYAP is one of six offices serving students and their families in Hamilton County, Indiana.
Services are available to young people and their families, ages 3 to 17, who reside within the Hamilton Southeastern School District. Services are voluntary, confidential and are provided at no cost to the family.
Family education programming offers caregivers access to a variety of no-cost programs provided by or in collaboration with community professionals that facilitate family growth and development, including workshops, guest speakers and parenting classes.
HSE/Fishers Summer Lunch Program serves between 300 to 500 students, who need a source of food during the summer months. FYAP works with partner organizations to identify families who need assistance and also with volunteers to prepare and deliver meals. In 2017, the program served more than 12,000 meals to 185 children in our community.
Educational tutoring resources are facilitated in association with the National Honor Society programs at both Fishers and Hamilton Southeastern High Schools, volunteer teachers within the schools, and sometimes through scholarships when working with tutoring companies serving the Fishers community.
Mentoring programs are provided by trusted local FYAP partners and are selected based on the unique needs of each child and the personal challenges they are facing. We work with the parents/caregivers to select the mentor program that will provide the most benefit to the child in providing companionship and adult role modeling.
Food, clothing, & financial assistance is offered through coordination with our Township Trustee offices, church and community organizations, and local/state community agencies.
Camps & recreational opportunities are available to students working with the Fishers Youth Assistance Program who can benefit from a positive recreational experience. FYAP works with families and community organizations to provide scholarships when needed.
Click one of the buttons below to learn more about getting directly involved with Fishers Youth Assistance!


When violinist Caroline Goulding, 17, appears with The Cleveland Orchestra on Thursday, July 1, at Public Square, listeners can expect fireworks. It's the annual free Star-Spangled Spectacular concert, brought to this year's listeners by Cuyahoga Arts & Culture, and as long as it doesn't rain, the grand finale will include a colorful fireworks display.
Not only that – the young soloist has planned razzle-dazzle selections designed to bring musical sparkle to the evening, too. Goulding, who just finished her freshman year at the Cleveland Institute of Music, is an assured and exciting soloist who will zip through the Zigeunerweisen (Gypsy Airs) by Sarasate and the Souvenir d'Amérique, Variations on "Yankee Doodle," by Vieuxtemps.
"They're both virtuosic pieces written by virtuoso violinists," Goulding says, noting that Vieuxtemps is said to have sketched out the "Yankee Doodle" variations on a napkin while touring America. The Belgian violinist/composer turned the composition into a popular encore piece. Goulding knows it well, having recorded it on her debut CD on the Telarc label, Caroline Goulding, which was nominated for a Grammy Award in the category of Best Instrumental Soloist Performance (Without Orchestra) earlier this year.
Completing Goulding's contribution to the evening is the languid and lovely "Summertime," excerpted from Gershwin's Porgy and Bess and arranged for violin and orchestra.
"To play with The Cleveland Orchestra is an honor," says the former Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra member, concertmaster, and concerto competition winner.
Four years ago, at 13, Goulding performed with the Orchestra on an Education Concert program, playing a movement from Lalo's Symphonie espagnole.
Poised and articulate beyond her years, Goulding exudes the confidence of success. People have believed in her for her whole life. Born in Port Huron, Michigan, she began studying violin at age three and a half, when her two older brothers noticed her interest in their saxophone and trumpet practice. After initial studies with Julia Kurtyka, Goulding's parents took her to the University of Michigan to study with Paul Kantor. When Kantor left Ann Arbor for a new job at the Cleveland Institute of Music, Goulding's parents, both schoolteachers, moved to Cleveland so their daughter could continue studying with him. She was 11.
The young violinist is currently going through several big transitions. Last year, during Goulding's freshman year at CIM, she lived at home in Cleveland and her mother traveled with her to her concerts. But her mother has now joined Goulding's father at their home in Florida, and next year Goulding will travel on her own for performances – including recitals in Boston, New York, and Washington, D.C. that resulted from winning a First Prize in the 2009 Young Concert Artists International Auditions. This summer, Goulding will study privately with Joel Smirnoff of CIM, with whom she started studying last year after more than eight years (and six summers at Aspen) with Paul Kantor.
Goulding's life centers around music, but she's a teenager, too. She grins as she tells an interviewer about one of her goals this summer: to get her driver's license on her 18th birthday, coming up in August. Before that, she will have performed with The Cleveland Orchestra and made her debut with the Houston Symphony. Even though those dates made it impossible to attend Aspen as a student this year, she hopes to go back to visit friends.
Passion for what she does, and the patience to pursue steady growth – that's this violinist's secret to pursuing her dream. For details on the Star-Spangled Spectacular at Public Square, visit clevelandorchestra.com.


Chinese spies and hackers have been indicted for "repeated intrusions into companies' computer systems" in the U.S. and elsewhere for more than five years, the U.S. Department of Justice has announced.
Zha Rong, Chai Meng and other co-conspirators worked for the provincial arm of China's state security police in the eastern province of Jiangsu, which has its headquarters in Nanjing, the DOJ said in a statement on its website.
"The conspirators' ultimate goal was to steal, among other data, intellectual property and confidential business information, including information related to a turbofan engine used in commercial airliners," it said.
Zha and Zhai used a team of hackers including Zhang Zhanggui, Liu Chunliang, Gao Hongkun, Zhuang Xiaowei, and Ma Zhiqi to try to steal technology for a turbofan engine used on U.S. and European commercial airliners, it said.
The hackers used a range of techniques, including spear phishing, to sow different strains of malware into company computer systems using the victim companies' own websites as "watering holes" to compromise website visitors' computers, and domain hijacking through the compromise of domain registrars, the DOJ said.
The first alleged hack had begun by Jan. 8, 2010, when members of the conspiracy infiltrated Capstone Turbine, a Los-Angeles-based gas turbine manufacturer, in order to steal data and use the Capstone Turbine website as a "watering hole" to compromise site visitors' computers.
The team also recruited insiders working for a French aerospace manufacturer that had an office in Jiangsu's Suzhou city and a partner company based in the United States, before hacking the computer systems of the French company.
The French company in Suzhou hired two employees in 2013, Tian Xi and Gu Chen, who had sought their jobs at the behest of the Jiangsu state security department. They then facilitated the infection of the company's systems with malware, and warned the department when the malware was discovered, enabling it to cover its tracks to a certain extent, the statement said.
Companies based in Arizona, Massachusetts and Oregon linked to the turbofan project were also targeted.
"At the time of the intrusions, a Chinese state-owned aerospace company was working to develop a comparable engine for use in commercial aircraft manufactured in China and elsewhere," the DOJ statement said.
Zhang and Li Xiao were also accused of freelancing off the back of the state-sponsored hacking project for their own gain in a project that included a hack targeting a technology company based in San Diego, it said.
"For the third time since only September, the National Security Division, with its US Attorney partners, has brought charges against Chinese intelligence officers from [Jiangsu] and those working at their direction and control for stealing American intellectual property," U.S. Assistant Attorney General for National Security John C. Demers said in a statement.
"This is just the beginning. Together with our federal partners, we will redouble our efforts to safeguard America's ingenuity and investment," Demers said.
John Brown, FBI Special Agent in Charge of the San Diego Field Office, said Chinese state-sponsored hacking attempts have continued unabated.
"The threat posed by Chinese government-sponsored hacking activity is real and relentless," Brown said. "Today, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, with the assistance of our private sector, international and U.S. government partners, is sending a strong message to the Chinese government and other foreign governments involved in hacking activities."
The DOJ successfully extradited an officer with the Jiangsu state security department to Ohio in connection with a hacking attempt linked to technology for jet aircraft engines, while a U.S. Army recruit was charged in September of working for the Jiangsu state security department.
Reported by RFA's Cantonese Service. Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie.


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Jurichs ist der Familienname folgender Personen:

 Claus Jurichs (1935–2005), deutscher Schauspieler und Synchronsprecher
 Stephan Jurichs (* 1984), deutscher Schauspieler

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February 13, 2020 • 10:21 am
It's been a deluge. Just gathering some of the past day's worth of major announcements:
–Simon Woods has been named Interim Executive Director of the Grand Teton Music Festival.
–The New York Philharmonic announced its 2020-21 season, which will include Project 19 and the American premiere of György Kurtág's Beckett opera Fin de Partie.
–Juilliard has named violist alum Adam Meyer as its new provost starting July 1, "when Ara Guzelimian steps down as provost and dean and assumes an advisory role." Juilliard will now have separate the positions of dean and provost and will embark on a search for the new dean.
–Philadelphia Orchestra's BeethovenNOW project starts March 12 and will pair the nine symphonies with four world premieres commissioned by the ensemble, including composer-in-residence Gabriela Lena Frank, Iman Habibi, Jessica Hunt, and Carlos Simon.
–The Metropolitan Opera just announced its 2020-21 season, featuring new productions of Aida, Die Zauberflöte, and Don Giovanni and Met premieres of The Fiery Angel and Dead Man Walking.
–Lyric Opera of Chicago has announced its 2020-21 season, which is the final season of Sir Andrew Davis's tenure as music director. Delighted to see Proving Up and Lessons in Love and Violence among the offerings.
Plus: last week, the Los Angeles Philharmonic announced its remarkable 2020-21 season program, including America: The Stories We Tell, the Seoul Festival, the Pan-American Music Initiative, the return of the Tristan Project, two John Adams operas, and a total of 27 premieres.
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