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The Political and Religious Influence of France on Anne Boleyn (Guest Post)
by Olivia Longueville
Anne Boleyn was one of the most controversial and captivating women of the Renaissance. For a time, she wielded a surprising level of influence over the volatile King Henry VIII, and her significance as the mother of one of England's most important monarchs, Elizabeth I, cannot be denied. This article explores how Anne's education and experiences in the court of France during her formative years both enabled her to ascend to the heights of power while simultaneously setting the stage for her tragic death.
Portrait of Anne Boleyn, based on contemporary copy
Her father, Thomas Boleyn, had sent her to the continental courts at a young age to ensure that she received an excellent education. Initially, she was in service to Margaret of Austria. In 1514, Thomas asked for Anne's release so she could join her elder sister, Mary, who was a lady to Princess Mary Tudor (Henry's younger sister). Princess Mary had married the recently widowed French monarch, Louis XII.
Louis XII's death in early 1515 ushered in a new era in France. His successor was his young, handsome, and flamboyant cousin, King François I of France, who had been raised in accordance with Renaissance humanism. The Boleyn sisters remained in France and entered the household of Queen Claude, François's gentle and benevolent queen. Claude spent most of her time in seclusion at Châteaux d'Amboise and de Blois because of her annual pregnancies.
Façades of Château de Blois in Classic, Renaissance, and Gothic styles (from left to right)
Despite her position as Queen of France, Claude had little interest in affairs of state. She abdicated such matters to two women whose extraordinary roles in governing France would have left an enduring impression on a young girl as Anne matured into adulthood.
These two women, Louise de Savoy, the king's mother, and Marguerite d'Angoulême, his sister, along with François, held the reins of power and were glorified by poets as "The Holy Trinity." Marguerite and Louise performed many official roles at court because Queen Claude did not like public life. Intelligent, superbly educated, and a gifted writer, Marguerite proved to be a capable negotiator of court politics and foreign relations from her early youth. The warm, charismatic Marguerite was widely respected and praised, and as a frequent participant in the Royal Privy Council, she was involved in royal decision-making to a significant degree.
Portrait attributed of Marguerite d'Angoulême to Jean Clouet, c. 1527
Queen Claude and Marguerite d'Angoulême had an affable relationship. They corresponded regularly, and Claude spoke highly of her sister-in-law in the presence of her ladies. We can also assume that Claude favored Anne Boleyn a great deal because she filed a complaint in 1522 about Anne leaving France. This suggests that Anne would have heard much about Marguerite from Claude, and it's likely that the young Anne was truly impressed with Marguerite's extraordinary influence.
Although there are no contemporary records suggesting that Anne had any personal contact with Louise de Savoy, she would have been fully aware of the incredible role of the monarch's mother in the political matters of the French kingdom. Louise was immensely devoted to King François, whom she called, "My son, my Caesar!" From his ascension to the throne until her death in 1531, Louise dominated the politics of France and court life and wielded great influence over her son's decisions. Like Marguerite, the intelligent and well-educated Louise possessed personal charisma, inner strength, and a formidable aura. Louise acted as regent in the king's absence and often presided over the Privy Council meetings. It was not a secret at court that Louise was the queen in all but name, while the second queen (in terms of her influence) was Marguerite d'Angoulême.
Anne Boleyn was a precocious girl observing two women whose extraordinary power at court would have been at odds with the traditional role of women as wives and mothers. In particular, noble women were expected to exhibit all the idealized characteristics of femininity while living as dependents under the authority of their fathers and husbands.
Bemberg fondation Toulouse – Portrait de Louise de Savoie, mère de François Ier – École De Jean Clouet (1475;1485-1540) 22×17 Inv.1013
Unlike his predecessors, King François welcomed the active participation of his female relatives in state affairs, trusting them more than others. Anne would have learned that Louise and Marguerite ruled French international affairs. Either from Claude or from other sources, Anne must have known that Louise and Marguerite helped the monarch fill a number of lucrative and powerful posts, including financial, military, and judicial offices, the ranks of his household servants, and even the prelacies of the realm after the Concordat of Bologna of 1516.
Would Anne have been amazed by these women executing such responsibilities? Or would the adolescent girl have believed that royal women naturally performed such exalted duties? Given her innate boldness and perhaps even her taste for adventure, it is no wonder that Anne attempted to perform similar roles in England during the time when Henry VIII was still enamored of her.
In 1522, Anne Boleyn returned to England an exotic diamond dressed in French fashions. Her skills in dancing, singing, and the art of flirting were unparalleled. Anne was charming and intelligent, but she was also headstrong. Well-versed in literature and the arts, she was capable of original thinking.
Her brilliant qualities attracted King Henry's attention in the middle of the 1520s, but ironically, they later played a crucial role in Anne's downfall from his good graces. Before Henry's decision to set his first wife, Catherine of Aragon, aside, Anne probably had no ambitions to become the Queen of England, but once it became a real possibility, Anne embraced her destiny. After all, she had witnessed Louise and Marguerite masterfully holding the reins of power in their hands. If others could accomplish so much, then why couldn't Anne?
During Henry's long courtship of Anne, he had listened to her opinions and gladly engaged in debates with the entrancing young woman. But he had also valued Catherine's intelligence and education in the early years of their marriage. When she aged and failed to give him a son, he had lost interest in her. Anne was far younger than Catherine, and he believed she could provide him with a much-desired Tudor prince.
Anne's astonishing rise to the throne following Henry's divorce from Catherine and the country's separation from Rome, emboldened Anne to see herself as another Louise de Savoy and Marguerite d'Angoulême.
I've always perceived Anne as an early feminist who endeavored to realize her potential despite the boundaries of Tudor society. She was not born into a royal family, although she had some royal blood (she was descended from King Edward I of England and from Hugh Capet through the Howard family). Even without Catherine's illustrious bloodline and family connections, Anne was prepared to climb to the acme of power. Most likely, she believed that Henry really loved her (in my opinion, Henry was incapable of genuine affection), so she assumed that being the keeper of the king's heart would allow her to rise to the throne. I also have no doubt that Anne sincerely loved Henry aside from her ambitions.
From the time of her youth at the Valois court, Anne had owned a French bible and other religious reform books. As the trade in such books was illegal, Anne surreptitiously imported them, and her brother, George, smuggled books from the continent during his diplomatic trips. Her books included works by Tyndale, John Calvin, and Simon Fisher. Some of her debates with Henry had focused on corruption in the Catholic Church.
Anne Boleyn was a more fluid person in religion than most people realize. Although some proclaim her the voice of the English Reformation, this is not exactly true as her religious beliefs fell in the middle of the religious spectrum. Her dissatisfaction with the Catholic Church encouraged Anne to seek to end Church abuses, but she never entirely abjured Catholic doctrines. Anne made the best of Henry's desire to get her into his bed and used her power over the obsessed monarch to introduce some reforms into England. Despite the break with Rome, Henry remained a Catholic.
Anne was never a conventionally quiet and obedient wife. After her failure to produce a Tudor prince, Henry tired of her interference in his affairs. In international relationships, Anne favored an Anglo-French alliance due to her adoration of France and after King François had promised to support her union with Henry (although François later reneged on his word, fearful of antagonizing the Pope). Until the very end, Anne strove to influence Henry's decisions.
When evaluating the standards of Tudor and Renaissance society, Anne's explicit resistance to the traditional paradigm becomes clear. Many people admire her intelligence and courage. However, few realize that Anne's understanding of women's opportunities was formed in France as she observed remarkable Renaissance women such as Louise de Savoy and Marguerite d'Angoulême. The examples of these ladies encouraged Anne to defy the conventional belief that the life of a woman was determined from her birth with little room for her to select her path.
The question becomes whether Anne fully realized that, no matter how much authority was wielded by Louise and Marguerite, and despite their disregard for the conventions of the time, the ultimate source of power at the French court was always King François. Tragically, Anne perhaps misjudged just how far she could emulate the influence of these women, considering that King Henry's character was nearly the opposite of King François in every measure.
Author the Author:
Olivia Longueville
Olivia has always loved literature and fiction, and she is passionate about historical research, genealogy, and the arts. She has several degrees in finance & general management from London Business School (LBS) and other universities. At present, she helps her father run the family business.
During her first trip to France at the age of ten, Olivia had a life-changing epiphany when she visited the magnificent Château de Fontainebleau and toured its library. This truly transformed her life as she realized her passion for books and writing, foreshadowing her future career as a writer. In childhood, she began writing stories and poems in different languages. Loving writing more than anything else in her life, Olivia has resolved to devote her life to creating historical fiction novels. She has a special interest in the history of France and England.
Olivia's social media profiles:
Personal website: http://www.olivialongueville.com/
Project website: http://www.angevinworld.com/
Twitter: @O_Longueville
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/OliviaLongueville/
Tumblr: http://www.olivia-longueville.tumblr.com/
Book 1: Between Two Kings: Amazon buy links. The first is for Amazon.com, and the second is for the UK Amazon store. These are not affiliate links.
https://bit.ly/Between2Kings
https://bit.ly/Between2Kings-UK
Tudors DynastyAnne Boleyn, Guest Authoranne boleyn, Catherine of Aragon, Henry VIII, Louise de Savoy, Marguerite d'Angoulême.Leave a comment
Lady Anne Clifford (Guest Post)
The Jewels of the Tudors – Part One (Guest Post)


Earlier this month I got an invite to a press junket and movie screening for a new film starring Rosario Dawson and Katherine Heigel . The email included a link to the trailer and as soon as I viewed I was SOLD.
I love a good thriller and the fact that it was low-key about "mom life" I was even more intrigued to see how it all played out.
Quick synopsis - After the dissolution of her marriage, Tessa Connover soon learns that her ex-husband David has taken up with a new woman Julia. Not only has Julia moved into the home they once shared, but she's also now a part of their daughter Lily's life. Julia believes she has finally met the man of her dreams who can help her put her own troubled past behind her. But it's not long before Tessa's jealousy takes a pathological turn until she's willing to stop at nothing to turn Julia's dream life into the ultimate nightmare reality.
The Friday screening couldn't come around fast enough as far as I was concerned. I met up with a few other influencers for a quick bite and cocktails and we headed to the theater, giggling our excitement and spilling popcorn. And then it started.....OMG y'all. This movie is. insane.
And I mean that in the best possible way. We yelled at the screen and shrieked in all the right places. We were basically "those people" in the theater. And we totally didn't care.
We left the theater breathless, full of questions and excited for the next day's round table with the stars of the film.
Spending the day at a swanky hotel in Beverly Hills is not a terrible start to the weekend and to be rubbing elbows with such fabulous women made it all the more special.
We ended up sitting down for a round-table discussion with Rosario Dawson, Katherine Heigel, and director Denise Di Novi. I had no idea it would be so intimate and the ladies would be so open to all of our questions. Truth be told, it was more of a conversation than an interview. We really did feel as though we were chatting with long time friends over coffee while discussing a film we all enjoyed. There is something that happens when a group of women get together and converse openly about the range of emotions and obstacles we face as wives and mothers.
Denise, Rosario and Katherine were so open about discussing the characters, their developments and the many aspects of themes that are portrayed throughout the movie. We discovered they shot the movie in approximately 30 days (unheard of in Hollywood) and because the cast and crew were comprised of mainly women it added a completely different dynamic to the shooting process.
I absolutely loved seeing these women portray such strong characters that resonated so deeply with ME for so many reasons. No matter if you're team Tessa or Team Julia, you will no doubt find things you can relate to within each of these women. They are, in a sense, all of us. Or someone we know or will meet in this lifetime.
The girl power was running rampant and when Geoff Stults (David) popped his head in, even he was overwhelmed by all the female energy that was vibrating off the walls. We were definitely a force of fabulousness and that he recognized that says something.
After our chat with the ladies and then a lovely conversation with former Charlie's Angel, Cheryl Ladd (talk about a class act), who plays Tessa's mother in the movie, we were bubbling over with excitement. Apparently our enthusiasm was contagious as we were then asked to head downstairs for a bit of extra filming. The results were AWESOME. I am still floored that they allowed me to have my rose in hand for the whole process.
Unforgettable is out in theaters TODAY so do yourself a favor- grab some girlfriends, go get dinner and have some cocktails and treat yourselves to a thrilling night at the movies.
I guarantee you will want to throw your popcorn at the screen as you holler at these characters as you find yourself emotionally invested in the outcome.
Thank you Warner Bros for an Unforgettable experience!!


From the Turkish for "bed", yataks are rugs of a squarish format with a low knot count, having loosely spun, long piled wool on a foundation characterized by a number of weft shoots. The magical tactile value of this type of rugs is closely connected to its specific construction. The design on this particular yatak is composed of four parallel rows of octagons containing a hooked framework, probably of early origin, seen also on a 14th century Florentine fresco (see K.Erdmann, Europa und der Orientteppich, Mainz, 1962, plate 12).


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Beach Exploration - July 12, Centennial Beach, BC
Centennial Beach, BC
(depends on selected options)
Base fee:
Adult registration – $10.00
Beach Exploration! July 12, 2014, Centennial Beach, BC
This program provides you with a hands-on opportunity to explore the intertidal zone by searching for live aquatic animals at the beach. Guided by an experienced, friendly and knowledgeable professional biologist, you will discover the diversity of animals and plants that inhabit the intertidal zone; a place that is often overlooked. You will also learn how best to respect these animals during future beach adventures.
$10 for adults and $5 for children (17 and under).
NOTE: This program is conducted entirely outside. Please prepare yourself to dress appropriately for spending time outdoors and at the beach (e.g. hats, sunscreen, jackets, beach appropriate footwear etc). Our work near the shoreline may result in wet feet! Wearing water-resistant shoes or rubber boots is highly recommended! THIS PROGRAM GOES RAIN OR SHINE.
Trip Leader:
Sheila Byers is a registered professional biologist that has authored the intertidal pamphlet and booklet, Explore the Rocky Shore at Stanley Park, and the annelid worm section of Marine Life of the Pacific Northwest. She is an interpreter at the Beaty Biodiversity Museum and a volunteer at the Vancouver Aquarium and with Nature Vancouver. Sheila focuses on the taxonomy, natural history and ecology of marine invertebrates, specializing in marine worms. She shares a concern about the health of our oceans and all that lives therein.
Directions for July 12 Centennial Beach: Follow Highway 99 south and west onto Highway 17 towards the BC Ferry terminal. Exit left (south) at 2nd set of lights to Tsawwassen (56th Street). Turn left (eastward) onto 12th Avenue which turns southward into Boundary Bay Road. Follow the signs to BBRP and Centennial Beach. Park (free) at lot closest to the new Concession Stand. Estimate 45 min to 1.0 hr drive from Vancouver. Meet beach-side of the Concession Stand at Centennial Beach, BBRP at 10:00 AM.
© Northwest Aquatic and Marine Educators

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


There are currently 12,057 users on this website.
Old Coin, Possibly Persian - Need Help With Identification.
Unknown French Token: "30 Centimes" And "Cirque Royal Buffet"
Safe Deposit Token? Any Idea?
How Much Does Damage Affect The Value Of A Coin, And How Much Is Too Much?
It took 1.53 seconds to rattle this change.


Exactly how important is it that we watch our… personal pronouns? We'll look at that in our Thought of the Day. And in our interview segment, we learn from branding expert Bruce Turkel why our "brand" is not about us. It's actually all about THEM. That also happens to be the name of his terrific new book.
Why we shouldn't focus on ourselves or even our product… but what we should focus on instead.
Why focusing on ourselves in the sales process makes us less effective as influencers.
Why the focus should not be what the brand is about, but rather who it is about.
How branding both reinforces what you do, but also "pre-inforces" what you do.
Why a good brand makes you feel good, but a great brand makes you feel good about yourself.
What Bruce means by "Prius" politics, and the steps you should take to make things right when you make a mistake.


By playing with it, you can literally learn some basic skills that are required to be a maker, like soldering techniques, basic electronic circuit principles and programming skills.
This Starter Shield is a perfect choice for the beginners of Maker World. By playing with it, you can literally learn some basic skills that are required to be a maker, like soldering techniques, basic electronic circuit principles and programming skills. What? Afraid of soldering and programming? Don't worry, we've prepared a very detailed Soldering Guide and fully supported library of programming examples from easy level to hard level, you can always find something useful in it.
Starter Shield contains most commonly used components like buttons, light sensors, temperature sensors, buzzer and display etc. Once you finish the soldering task, you'll find out it's actually a geek style alarm clock which can auto adjust the brightness of display and keep in synch with real world time. Yet, you have to connect it to an Arduino/Seeeduino board and download the code first.


Amy Sillman's recent show of large oils and jewel-like gouaches was suffused with the color, light and atmosphere of Quattrocento Italy.
Yet despite the sinister ideological forces at work, an uncanny tenderness suffuses this poem.
It is thrilling to see how this desire for deeper spirituality, redemption and grace suffuse the poem even as it ironically ends with the beggar's spirited demands.
A life of poverty, tradition and religious dread suffuses songs steeped in misery and learnt by word of mouth.
With its allusions to dusky rivers, soul, blood, the setting sun, and sleep, the poem is fairly suffused with images of death.
Zuka refashions the timeless subject into a contemporary painter's dream of color and movement suffused with a satirist's wit.
'The spirit of Morecambe and Wise gradually suffuses the show, and lots of Morecambe and Wise gags are lifted verbatim,' says Clive.
In most shots, virtually the entire screen is suffused with a red wash, which dominates and assimilates virtually every other colour but black.
Drawing viewers into the first gallery, the syncopated lines of electric-blue text ran up the front and back of each spike, suffusing the room with color.
But in fact, Shelley was an optimist who wrote poems suffused with faith in human progress.
Chromatherapy is available in eight different colour sequences that suffuse the water with emotionally soothing light.
Where a dark grey curtain had hidden the hills from sight, a rosy glow gradually deepened and suffused every mountain top in sight.
The more the sun wanes the more lustrous become the colours of the encroaching night until the entire picture is suffused first with magenta and finally saturated in deep blue.
Appalled at his deliberate misunderstanding of her offer to buy him coffee, Serena felt outraged heat suffuse her cheeks.
The whole plant is suffused with colour and with a gravitas that few other plants can match.
A member of the carotenoid family, lycopene suffuses fruits with color and offers several healthful properties, particularly for men.
The colored light falls on the painter's large areas of pure local hue and fragments them; it steals across his blindingly harsh white highlights and suffuses them with saturated and pastel hues.
Sweet and spicy flavors, including date, pomegranate, coriander, and cumin, suffuse the foods spread out on a nearby buffet.
Working in low light without a flash demanded relatively long exposures, and so color suffuses these images.
And Jenkins's achievements - and failure to grasp the supreme power prize - pervade his historical writing and suffuse it with insight.


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Romance Studies
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, 2008/01/08 11:33:17
Modern French Studies. Open rank. We seek a scholar whose work extends the boundaries of the literary field in one or more of the following ways: by working across geographical regions and / or linguistic boundaries, using interdisciplinary approaches; engaging with questions of empire and race, immigration and exile, or gender and sexuality. Distinguished record of publication and teaching commensurate with rank. Applications received by November 15, 2008 will be guaranteed consideration. Junior candidates should send CV, recommendations, transcripts, statement of teaching philosophy, sample teaching evaluations to: Chair, Department of Romance Studies, 205 Language Center, Box 90257, Duke University, Durham, NC 27708-0257. Senior candidates should send CV, the names of up to three references, transcripts, statement of teaching philosophy, sample teaching evaluations to: Chair, Department of Romance Studies, 205 Language Center, Box 90257, Duke University, Durham, NC 27708-0257. Duke University is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer.
October 22, 2007 - Lecture by Antonio Vitti, 10/22 at 1:15 pm
Professor Antonio Vitti will give a lecture entitled "From Neorealism to Americanism: Cinematic Transformation and Social Change Seen through Lenses."
Vitti has written extensively on De Santis. In English, he wrote "Giuseppe De Santis and postwar Italian cinema"; and he has recently edited a collection of interviews and commentaries on de Santis--"Giuseppe de Santis secondo se stesso".
The event will take place on October 22, at 1:15 in room 305 of the Languages Building.
For more information, please contact Professor Roberto Dainotto, dainotto@duke.edu
Gary Wilder discussion and lecture, 10/22 and 10/23
A lecture by Gary Wilder, Pomona College
Emancipating Futures Past: Aimé Césaire, Strategic Utopia, and the Political Untimely
Tuesday, OCTOBER 23, NOON, Breedlove Room (204 Perkins)
(Lunch will be provided)
In his talk, Wilder will outline his reading of Negritude as a critical theory and then discuss Aimé Césaire's postwar projects for decolonization without national independence. The talk is drawn from a new book project on Negritude, decolonization, and utopia, provisionally entitled Freedom Time.
On Monday, October 22nd, from 4:30-7:00 p.m. in 305 Languages, there will also be an informal discussion with Gary Wilder about his book The French Imperial Nation-State: Negritude and Colonial Humanism between the Two World Wars (University of Chicago Press, 2005). All students and faculty are welcome. Gary Wilder is an Associate Professor of History at Pomona College. He was recently awarded a Mellon New Directions Fellowship, and is currently a Visiting Fellow at the Human Rights Program at Harvard Law School.
For more information contact Laurent Dubois (ld48@duke.edu)
Sponsors: Romance Studies and History, Latin American and Caribbean Studies, African-American Studies, and Global Studies
Poetry Reading by Manuel Vilas
On Wednesday, October 24, Manuel Vilas, one of Spain's best contemporary poets, will read poems from his book "Resurrección" (2005), a book which won the 15th annual "Jaime Gil de Biedma" International Poetry Prize, and was published by one of Spain's best poetry presses, Visor. Manuel Vilas is also the author of several other books of poetry ("El rumor de las llamas" (1990), "El mal gobierno" (1993), "Las arenas de Libia" (1998), and "El Cielo" (2000). He is also the author of a novel ("Magia", 2004), a book of literary articles, a book of short stories ("Zeta" 2002). He has edited an anthology of the latest Spanish poetry, "Los chicos están bien" (2007). His work has been translated into French, Italian, Portuguese, and German. Manuel is also an enthusiastic reader of American literature, so it will be wonderful to have him dialogue with our local group of poets.
For those who do not know Spanish, Joaquín Bueno is preparing an English rendering of the poems Manuel will be reading. Manuel's reading, sponsored by the Duke in Madrid Program of the Department of Romance Studies, will take place in the LGBT Center, in 02 West Union Building. It will be preceded by a wine and cheese reception.
5:45 Wine and cheese reception.
6:15 Introduction by Marcos Canteli Reading by Manuel Vilas from "Resurrección"
October 03, 2007 - Lecture by Helene Merlin
Helene Merlin, Professor of 17th Century Literature at the Universite Paris III, currently a Visiting Professor at Rutgers University, will be giving a lecture on Wednesday, October 3rd, 2007 at 4:25 pm as part of Professor Michele Longino's "The 17th Century & the Law of Genre" seminar. Title TBA.
This lecture is open to the public and is sponsored by the Department of Romance Studies and the Center for French and Francophone Studies.
Panel Discussion by Prof. Toril Moi
Please join us for a panel discussion of Henrik Ibsen & the Birth of Modernism: Art, Theater, Philosophy - by - Toril Moi, James B. Duke Professor of Literature & Romance Studies, Duke University
Thursday, October 25, 2007 4:30 PM Rare Book Room, Perkins Library, West Campus
Panelists: Sarah Beckwith Marcello Lotti Professor of English and Professor of Religion and Theater Studies, Duke University
Frederic Jameson William A. Lane Professor of Comparative Literature and Romance Studies, Duke University
Martin Puchner H. Gordon Garbedian Professor of English and Comparative Literature, Columbia University
Questions? See additional information below or e-mail fhi@duke.edu
** Companion Screenings: 2 Film Adaptations of the Ibsen Play An Enemy of the People **
Monday, October 22, 8 PM, Griffith Theater An Enemy of the People (En Folkefiende) (dir. Erik Skjoldbjærg, 2005, 90 min, Norway, Norwegian with English subtitles, Color, 35mm) * Presented with the Film/Digital/Video Program
Tuesday, October 23, 8 PM, Griffith Theater Ganashatru (An Enemy of the People) (dir. Satyajit Ray, 1989, 102 min, India, Bengali with English subtitles, Color, DVD) * Presented with the Film/Digital/Video Program and the NC Center for South Asian Studies
For more information, please visit: http://fvd.aas.duke.edu/screensociety/schedule.php
About the Featured Author & Book: Toril Moi is James B. Duke Professor of Literature and Romance Studies at Duke University. Her central research and teaching interest is in feminist theory and women's writing. She has also worked extensively in literary theory and aesthetics broadly defined, and in 19th- and 20th-century European literature. She is particularly interested in questions arising in areas where literature and philosophy overlap. Her books include Sexual/Textual Politics: Feminist Literary Theory (1985; 2nd edition 2002), Simone de Beauvoir: The Making of an Intellectual Woman (1994); and What Is a Woman? And Other Essays (1999), republished in a shorter version as Sex, Gender and the Body (2005). She is the editor of The Kristeva Reader (1986), and of French Feminist Thought (1987).
Her most recent book, Henrik Ibsen and the Birth of Modernism: Art, Theater, Philosophy, was published by Oxford University Press in September 2006. Ibsens modernisme, the Norwegian translation by Agnete Øye, was published by Pax Forlag in Oslo in May 2006. The book reconsiders the work of Henrik Ibsen (1828-1906). In spite of his unquestioned status as a classic of the stage, Ibsen is often dismissed as a boring realist, whose plays are of interest only because they remain the gateway to modern theater. Toril Moi makes a powerful case not just for Ibsen's modernity, but also for his modernism. The book situates Ibsen in his cultural context, emphasizes his position as a Norwegian in European culture, and shows how important painting and other visual arts were for his aesthetic education. The book rewrites literary history, reminding modern readers that idealism was the dominant aesthetic paradigm of the nineteenth century. Modernism was born in the ruins of idealism, Moi argues, thus challenging traditional theories of the opposition between realism and modernism. This radical new account places Ibsen in his rightful place alongside Baudelaire, Flaubert and Manet as a founder of European modernism.
Lecture by Professor Deb Reisinger
Professor Deb Reisinger, Duke University, will give a lecture entitled Violence and the Media: French response to the Succo affaire.
4th Floor Seminar Rm, FedEx Global Education Center
UNC Chapel Hill
On May 15, 1986, 24 year-old Roberto Succo escaped from the Italian psychiatric hospital where he had been confined since murdering his parents five years earlier, and embarked on a crime spree that spanned Western Europe and lasted for 18 months. Succo's crimes not only instilled terror in the French public but also inspired artistic and journalistic reenactments of his life, most notably Bernard-Marie Koltès' play, Roberto Zucco, and Cedric Kahn's film of the same name.
It is this provocative intersection of crime and art, of sensationalism and journalism, of media and politics that Reisinger will investigate in her exploration of France's complex relationship to violent crime.
Professor Reisinger is Visiting Assistant Professor of French at Duke University and the author of Crime and Media in Contemporary France (Purdue, 2007).
Romance Studies Professor appears in "The Chronicle of Higher Education"
Professor Alice Kaplan's "A Scholar's ??Paris," appears in the September 14th issue of "The Chronicle of Higher Education."
To view this article, please stop by our office in 205 Languages or email your request for a PDF version to cknoop@duke.edu
Romance Studies Professor marks 9/11
An article by Professor Helen Solterer (French Studies) appeared in Duke News to commemorate 9/11 (originally appeared in InsideHigherEd):
"Teaching Free Speech in Time of War"
http://www.dukenews.duke.edu/2007/09/freespeech.html
Congratulations to all of our 2007 Graduates!
(pictures from the Romance Studies ceremony and reception will be posted soon!)
New French class offered
FRENCH 111S FOR FALL 2007
The very first flapper girl, a pre-pop icon more daring than Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera and Madonna together, dancing more seductively than Shakira and J.Lo, Salomé embodies the essence of the femme fatale. Her dance of the seven veils fascinates men to such an extent that it literally makes their heads spin (and John the Baptist ends up beheaded by it!).
Beyond the typical representation of it in American movies, what exactly is a femme fatale? And why did this particular feminine icon named Salomé blossom in 19th-Century ??France? The purpose of this course is to question the role and place of women in the 19th-Century French literature and culture by focusing on the myth of Salomé.
All readings, discussions and writings will be in French ; no previous knowledge of 19th-Century literature required. Open only to Freshmen and Sophomores.
For more information, contact Virginie Pouzet-Duzer at vap@duke.edu??
New book by Romance Studies French Instructor !
Congratulations to Dr. Deborah Reisinger!
Please join us in congratulating our colleague Dr. Deborah Reisinger, Assistant Director of the French Language Program, on the publication of her first book, Crime and Media in Contemporary France.
In the book, available from Purdue University Press, Reisinger examines contemporary French society's relationship with violence in an era of increased media dominance. The study's innovative and interdisciplinary approach integrates media, cinema, and literary studies to analyze how crime news (faits divers) functions as a site of discursive struggle. Reisinger focuses on the sensational Paulin and Succo affairs that became mobile signifiers about crime, insecurity, and the Other in France in the 1980s.
http://www.thepress.purdue.edu/Books%20Pages/Book%20Descriptions/resinger.asp
By situating these crime stories in a larger historical and political context, she analyzes how media and politicians use the crime story as a tool for upholding dominant ideology. Yet, rather than conclude that the crime story has become an absolute banality, as Jean Baudrillard has maintained, Reisinger shows how these crime stories attest to the public's renewed fascination with violence. Her analysis of the artistic rewritings of these stories reveal alternative, complex readings of the fait divers that effectively subvert the media's sensationalized discourse on crime. Through an analysis of the complex processes of production, reception, and re-articulation that contribute to the representation of crime, the study concludes that the fait divers is an important place of social and political resistance for readers and artists alike in contemporary France.
Deborah Reisinger received her Ph.D. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in Twentieth-century French Literature and Cultural Studies. She has published articles on contemporary culture and the pedagogical applications of technology. Her current research examines the criminalization of popular culture. She is a Visiting Assistant Professor at Duke University in North Carolina.
January 29, 2007 - Job talk by Ileana Rodriguez
Ileana Rodriguez (Distinguished Professor, Ohio State University) will be giving a job talk entitled "Outside/Within Conceptual Frames and Overlapping Disciplinary Borders" on Monday, January 29, 2007 at 7:00 pm in 305 Languages.
Please contact cknoop@duke.edu for more information.
Lecture by Ana Maria Ochoa Gautier
Ana Maria Ochoa Gautier (Associate Professor, NYU) will be giving a lecture entitled "Circulation of sound and the changing nature of the musical "text" in Colombia" on Tuesday, January 23, 2007 at 1:00 pm in 329 Soc Psych.
Lunch will be provided. If you would like more details, please contact cknoop@duke.edu
February 22, 2007 - lecture by Ryan Szpiech
Ryan Szpiech will be giving a lecture on Thursday, February 22, 2007 at 3:00 pm entitled "Authorizing Apostasy: Polemic as Narrative in Medieval Iberia." This lecture will take place in 329 Soc Psych.
This lecture is sponsored by Duke in Madrid. If you have questions, please contact cknoop@duke.edu.
Ryan Szpiech is Assistant Professor of Modern Languages and Literatures at Beloit College.
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HARTFORD, Conn. – A white former police officer accused of being part of a conspiracy to harass Latinos in Connecticut has been sentenced to two years in prison on an obstruction charge.
Jason Zullo was sentenced Monday in federal court in Hartford. Prosecutors had sought a two-year prison sentence. Zullo's lawyer had asked a judge for no more than a year.
Zullo and three other officers were charged last year with abusing and harassing Latinos in East Haven. Zullo entered a deal, pleading guilty to obstruction by falsifying a police report about his cruiser striking a motorcycle.
Defense lawyer Norm Pattis argued that because the victim in that case was Italian-American the court shouldn't consider the conspiracy in passing sentence. Prosecutors argued it was part of the same case.


If your dog suddenly starts limping or has difficulty putting pressure on his back legs, there's a good chance that your pup tore his cruciate ligament (similar to the common ACL tear in humans).
The cruciate ligament connects the femur to the tibia at your dog's knee joint. The cruciate ligament helps stabilize the dog's knee joint by keeping the tibia in its proper place.
A partial or common tear is one of the most common orthopedic problems in dogs. Not only is it painful for your pup, but it can be very expensive to treat.
Which Breeds Are Most Susceptible to Cruciate Ligament Tears?
Acute trauma to the knee will usually happen when your dog is running and suddenly changes direction. This action puts most your dog's weight on his knee joint and it can put undue stress on the cruciate ligaments. Your dog will probably start to limp as a result.
And it could even happen if your dog jumps on the curb quickly and doesn't land correctly.
As mentioned above, certain breeds are pre-disposed to Cruciate Ligament injuries.
As dogs age, their tendons are weaker and in some dogs, this can affect their walking and knees just as it does in humans.
A chronic form of cruciate ligament damage can be from the weakening of the ligament as a result of arthritis. At first, the ligament is either partially torn and then with continued use, a complete tear occurs.
Overweight dogs, just like humans, are more likely to develop cruciate ligament tears. The more weight that is put on their knees, the more likely it will be to tear.
Dogs with other knee problems such as a luxating patella are also more likely to rupture their cruciate ligaments.
Your veterinarian will complete a full physical exam of your dog first.
Then, X-rays are usually taken to see the extent of the cruciate ligament damage and rule out other causes of the lameness in the legs.
The X-rays will help your veterinarian to see if there is arthritis or fluid in the joint. And if any bones pieces broke off when the ligament was torn.
Your vet will also perform what is called an anterior drawer sign.
The vet will hold your dog's femur. If the tibia has the ability to pull forward in a motion that is almost like a drawer being opened, this usually means there is a cruciate ligament tear.
Partial tears will usually heal on their own if you limit your dog's activity.
Complete tears will need surgery.
In a lateral extracapsular repair, the surgeon will typical remove fragments of the torn ligament and repair the menisci if necessary. The menisci act as shock absorbers between the femur and tibia.
Then an artificial ligament will be placed outside the joint capsule of the knee joint.
This surgery is most effective in small dogs or those under 60 pounds.
With a TPLO surgery, a different portion of the tibia bone is cut, it is then rotated and stabilized. Since the tibia is cut where the weight is usually placed on the femur, the idea is that there isn't any need for a cruciate ligament.
This is a long, complex surgery that usually requires an orthopedic specialist. It can be very expensive but also very effective in larger dogs.
What Is The Cost Of Cruciate Ligament Surgery?
When considering the cost of Cruciate Ligament surgery, it is not only the surgery that costs money but also the post-operation care.
Vet visit follow-ups, prescription medication, and even physiotherapy can all factor into the price.
The cost will typically range from $3,100 to $11,000 depending on the type of surgery required and other things such as where you live and the breed of your dog.
Does Pet Insurance Cover Cruciate Ligament Tears?
Yes, but you need to insure your dog before any tear or CCL injury occurs.
And, 60% of dogs that tear one cruciate ligament will also tear the one in the other knee.
That's why pet insurance is so important to get when dogs are young before any of the issues become pre-existing.
If your dog is a breed that is more likely to develop a CCL tear, pet insurance is really worth the cost.
A plan like Healthy Paws, can save you up to 90% of the surgery costs and can even help with some of the rehabilitation and post-op costs.
It is important that you limit your dog's activity for 6 to 8 weeks after surgery.
Many dogs will receive physical therapy after surgery to help the recovery and to reduce any complications that might occur.
Depending on the severity of the surgery, your dog should be able to be fully functional in three months.
If your dog has arthritis, weight management is very important.
Supplements such as glucosamine/chondroitin may help delay the onset of arthritis in your dog and help with bone strength.
While cruciate ligament tears are painful to dogs, surgery can help relieve the pain.
If your dog is a breed that is pre-disposed to a CCL Tear or even just a bigger dog, pet insurance can be a serious help and money saver.
Especially if your poor pup has to have both knees repaired!
Just make sure to sign up for a plan while your dog is young and before this issue occurs.
If you are looking for a new pet insurance plan or just want to change to a new one, our top 10 pet insurance companies is a great place to start!


Ok, so I missed the first period, mostly. Turned it on just in time to see the Leafs score for 2-1. So this recap will be pieced together out of boxtops and enthusiasm.
Check out this story about blind hockey.
And then re-read this story about Tim Thomas.
Or don't. Your loss. Recap time.
Nearly halfway through, Lucic goes and gets the puck, throws it to Savard. Savard passes one off the boards to a streaking Kessel, he picks it up. Kessel goes 5-hole from far away. GOAL.
A couple minutes later, Lucic and Savard are at it again, this time anointing Matt Hunwick. Hunwick's first shot is blocked, but he's just getting Toskala out of position. GOAL.
Ok, here's the part where we've choked up a loss to these guys before. Crap.
I turn on the TV. Jason Blake rams one in short side. 2-1. Ugh.
Versus explains why not to have interviews mid-game, and Chiarelli has no idea what to do. Whoever the interviewer is, they're a tool. Ward gets the puck from in front of the Net, and passes it to Ryder at the other Blue line. Ryder decides "oh, why not, I'll score" and follows through. GOAL.
No more goal-scoring in the second, due to a tornado in front of the Boston net.
Grabovski scored about 10 minutes in, (3-2) and then the Bruins collapse for the last 10 minutes, just like in NYC. They can't be doing that. Luckily, Thomas is still in net.
We looked like crap out there. Thanks to Thomas, we still got the win. Some days that will be Manny, and he can steal games too.
Goal by Ryder! He showed what he can do...against Vesa Toskala.
Thornton's fight was embarassing. I'm not a huge fight fan, but I can see when it doesn't go well.
If anyone feels like doing some photshopping, Thomas as wall, Thomas as Superman, or Thomas carrying the team would be appropriate. What a beast.
Hunwick looked pretty good, the goal didn't hurt. Ference is out until January, but his surgery went well.
Cornball - where did this hockey love come from? I swear the only ice-related talk that I've ever heard come out of your mouth was in reference to broomball.


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Home > Our Work > Success Stories > Precieux's Story
'Trouble child' found boxing and his whole life changed
Precieux's first contact with Palace for Life Foundation was in 2013, when he attended a community football session at Selhurst Park aged 13. Three years later, the self-confessed 'trouble child' found boxing and his whole life changed.
At 16, Precieux was kicked out of sixth form and was targeted by an older gang member. He was used by the gang as a 'county lines' drug dealer and got involved in trafficking drugs to rural towns and cities. Having delivered cocaine and heroin to areas including Bournemouth, Ashford and Kent for the gang, Precieux was threatened at knife point by a rival gang.
Speaking about this time in his life, Precieux said: "I was always going missing from home or school and worrying about my mum and when I look back, I didn't like the direction my life was going in. When you're young and getting involved with dangerous groups, it makes you feel like a big man, but that's not the way to do it."
In an attempt to take himself away from this situation, Precieux joined Croydon Amateur Boxing Club, where he met Adam Ballard, founder of Gloves not Gunz, a community organisation that aims to tackle youth crime and violence. Meeting weekly in Norbury Park, the group gives young people a free fitness class, followed by a mentoring session on important issues such as gangs, weapons awareness and healthy relationships.
Gloves not Gunz is supported by Palace for Life Foundation, with investment from the Premier League and Professional Footballers' Association. Director of Community Development Soye Briggs explained: "We have been working with Gloves not Gunz since 2017, supporting their fantastic boxing initiative that runs in one of the most deprived areas of Croydon. This kind of provision is absolutely vital in showing young people they have alternative choices and opportunities to engage positively in their local communities through sport."
Precieux was incredibly grateful for the group's support when he started. "When I came to the gym after getting in trouble, Adam and Ben [Eckett, who also runs the sessions] didn't judge me, they met me with open arms. They understood my situation because they came from the same background."
After his involvement, Precieux wanted to give back to his community and volunteer with the group to help other young people in the same situation. However, at first Precieux would often struggle to turn up on time and was disorganised, which affected his preparation for the sessions.
The Foundation and Gloves not Gunz staff worked with Precieux to help him understand the importance of being a role model and setting good examples for young people and he soon adopted a more professional approach; turning up before the session with everything he needed.
Foundation Community Development Officer Jamie Broughton said: "Precieux showed us that he was ready to take on more responsibility, and he began to lead small groups and warm-ups at sessions. We could see his confidence growing during this time and he started to deliver his activities in his own style."
Five years after attending his first community football session, Precieux completed his boxing activator qualification in February 2018, and noticing the improvements he had made in his commitment, mentality and confidence, Gloves not Gunz rewarded him with a job as the organisation's first Youth Mentor.
Precieux is now one of the coaches delivering the Palace for Life Foundation community boxing programme in partnership with Gloves not Gunz, and is also running boxing sessions at local schools to help tackle issues like youth violence. In the future, he is looking to gain a Level One qualification in boxing, which would allow him to work in boxers' corners at fights and conduct sparring sessions, and he also has ambitions to box.
Moving away from gangs and crime, he is now looking forward to further education, starting at the University of Queen Mary in September 2018. However, Precieux is still grateful to Gloves not Gunz and the Foundation, and is planning on continuing his coaching there: "I love taking the Thursday sessions as seeing the kids being interactive, getting active and at the same time learning valuable life lessons makes me happy."
To help the Foundation make a difference to the lives of more young people like Precieux.
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Home » Opinion » Dwight G. Duncan » Can businesses claim religious freedom?
Can businesses claim religious freedom?
On: 3/28/2014, By Dwight G. Duncan , In: Opinion
By the time you read this, the United States Supreme Court will have heard argument in the companion cases of Kathleen Sebelius, Secretary of HHS, v. Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc., and Conestoga Wood Specialties Corp. v. Sebelius. The cases raise the important question whether closely-held family-run businesses can claim religious freedom from the requirement imposed by the government under Obamacare that employers provide free contraceptive coverage for drugs that can cause abortion. The one-hour argument was on Tuesday, March 25, but a decision from the Supreme Court is not expected much before its current term ends in late June.
With the help of some law students, I filed an amicus brief on behalf of a number of not-for-profits, like Massachusetts Citizens for Life and Massachusetts Family Institute, arguing from our legal history and tradition that secular corporate charters have often been the vehicle for the practice of religion unhindered by government control. I summarized the argument in an op-ed published in the Sunday Globe for March 2 under the heading, "Our legal heritage favors religious freedom."
For example, it is telling that Roger Williams, who favored a broad understanding of religious freedom, received a charter for Rhode Island which stated: "No person within the said colony, at any time hereafter, shall be in any wise molested, punished, disquieted or called in question, for any difference in opinion in matters of religion ... but that all ... freely and fully have and enjoy his and their own judgments and consciences in matters of religious concernments." In 1658, the General Assembly reinforced the validity of the charter, reminding the other colonies that: "Freedom of different consciences, to be protected from enforcements, was the principal ground of our Charter...; which freedom we still prize as the greatest happiness that men can possess in this world."
The technical legal question before the Supreme Court is whether business corporations are persons within the meaning of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, a federal law that applies to all persons, but doesn't expressly define "person." Of course the federal Dictionary Act would presumably kick in, which does consider corporations to be legal persons, a longstanding legal fiction that dates back to the middle ages and even before, and is included in Blackstone's Commentaries on the Laws of England, written just before American independence.
If a person's religious practice is substantially burdened by government, then the burden falls on the government to demonstrate both that its interest is of a convincing, compelling nature, and that the restriction on religious freedom is no broader than necessary to achieve that compelling government interest.
In response to my piece in the Globe, several letters to the editor were published on the following Sunday, March 9, all making arguments against the position of the corporations, and in favor of the government mandate. For example, a "reproductive health advocacy fellow with Physicians for Reproductive Health," writes, "As a physician specializing in family planning, I am outraged when I see news outlets publishing misinformation about contraception." The good doctor categorically states, "No method of birth control causes abortion." The issue, then, is whether any of the forms of contraception can cause abortion.
Well, the doctor reports that "contraception, including emergency contraceptive pills such as Plan B and Ella, work primarily before fertilization occurs. They do not work post-implantation and do not disrupt an established pregnancy." Notice the words "primarily" and "post-implantation." They are a tacit admission by the letter-writer that the emergency contraceptives secondarily work after fertilization to prevent implantation of the fertilized embryo in the womb. Without double-speak, that is an abortion. Which is the issue for the Greens, the owners and directors of Hobby Lobby, and what they object to, since they do not object to other forms of contraception that do not have an abortifacient feature. QED. So some forms of contraception can cause abortion. The fact that this happens to outrage the "reproductive health advocate" is just a perk.
The other letters both raise in different ways the claim that the relevant religious freedom at issue here is that of the employee, not the employer. But the regulations under Obamacare are not requiring employees to use or refrain from using contraceptives that can cause abortion. They can do whatever their religion, conscience, or freedom permits. But the contraceptive mandate is requiring employers to provide abortifacient contraceptives free-of-charge, and thus to cooperate in doing what they regard to be religiously prohibited. And so the relevant religious freedom in these cases is that of the employer, not the employee. From the employers' perspective, if it's your body and your choice, why should I have to pay for it if it runs the risk of killing a human embryo?
Dwight G. Duncan is professor at UMass School of Law Dartmouth. He holds degrees in both civil and canon law.
Pope says he was 'astonished' by violence at Capitol
Pope's doctor dies of COVID-19 complications
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Special Edition: Weekly Pilot 6/12/2020


The band mates of Frightened Rabbit lead singer Scott Hutchison have said they are 'worried he may be in a fragile state' after going missing.
The band posted on their Twitter account to appeal for Scott to return home safely after being reported missing by his family.
Scott was last seen leaving the Dakota Hotel in South Queensferry at around 1am this morning (Wednesday, May 9).
The 36-year-old is originally from Selkirk but now lives in Dennistoun.
In a tweet, Frightened Rabbit, said: "We are worried about Scott, who has been missing for a little while now. He may be in a fragile state and may not be making the best decisions for himself right now.
"Please could Scott or anyone with any information on his whereabouts please contact Police Scotland (101)."
Those with information can contact officers at Drylaw Police Station via 101 and quote incident 0082 of the 9th May.


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Microsoft / Features
Special Olympics snowshoer Anton Grotz has the 'fighting spirit to win'
By	Suzanne Choney	 8 March, 2017 Microsoft News Center Staff
Anyone who goes up against Anton Grotz will find they have big shoes to fill – snowshoes, to be exact.
The 22-year-old is among 2,700 athletes competing in the 2017 Special Olympics World Winter Games in Austria this month. Grotz's "fighting spirit to win" and determination to always keep improving are among the traits his father says he admires in his son, who has learning disabilities but doesn't let them stop him from what he wants to do.
"Never give up, and always keep fighting," says the young snowshoer, whose smile is as winning as his talent.
"He's very keen to achieve," says his father, for whom Anton is named. "He inspires us, the whole family." The Grotz family includes Anton's younger sister and an older brother. Their extended family includes the town of Unterammergau, Germany, population 1,500, where the Grotz family lives, and where everyone knows the athlete and is rooting for him.
Anton Grotz with his parents, Anton senior and Irmgard Grotz.
Grotz grew up in the family's 400-year-old house in Unterammergau, a pastoral region of Bavaria where cows and ski resorts share the beauty of the Ammergau Alps. His family owns a dairy farm, and Anton's skill, dexterity and speed at maneuvering around it every winter on snowshoes was not lost on his father, or on a high school track coach who encouraged Grotz to compete in the sport.
"We all here in the region are proud that we have a sportsman who will go to the World Games in Schladming, Austria," one of the sites for the World Winter Games, says coach Horst Demmelmayr of Special Olympics Germany. Grotz "wholeheartedly gives his best in everything he does."
"A tough start to life doesn't mean that you can't become a world champion at the things you love."
Grotz is one of 30 athletes Microsoft is supporting in the March 14-25 event, which features eight winter sports: Alpine skiing, cross country skiing, figure skating, floor hockey, floorball, short track speed skating, snowboarding and Grotz's passion, snowshoeing. As a Special Olympics partner, Microsoft has provided technology, support and devices to help the organization support the management of 100,000 events in 170 countries each year.
Grotz competed in the World Winter Games in 2013 in South Korea, where he won a silver medal for snowshoeing in his division. He regularly trains on the fields of his family's farm, which make for excellent competitive terrain in the winter. In the run-up to the Games, he is training five times a week in Schladming, more than three hours from his hometown.
During the summer months, Grotz's training doesn't stop just because there isn't snow on the ground. In the warmer months, it's soccer time, helping him maintain and build on his strength and endurance. And, as his father notes, "He's absolutely crazy about soccer."
Anton Grotz, also a soccer fan, trained recently with soccer player Daniele Bruno.
His enthusiasm was shared with soccer player Daniele Bruno, 20, when the two recently spent a couple days together training in each other's sport. On the first day, Bruno, who plays forward for the Spielvereinigung Unterhaching team, coached Grotz in the fineries of soccer in Munich. On the second day, the roles were reversed, with Grotz leading Bruno through intense snowshoe training in Unterammergau.
On day one, after Grotz found the corner of the net with an emphatic shot, Bruno noted that Grotz "is a fighter, just like me," and told Grotz how he would look forward to learning from him about snowshoeing.
"Yes," Grotz replied, with a big smile. "It will be tougher than here."
And it seemed to be. On the Grotz family farm, in the snow, Bruno listened as Grotz showed him the ropes and how to conserve his energy. "He showed me how to save and ration my strength, and not burn everything at once," Bruno said.
Working on your own, Grotz says, "you are limited. But together, you have much more potential. That's much better."
Bruno agrees. "Everybody can learn from each other," he said after the experience. What did he learn? "A tough start to life doesn't mean that you can't become a world champion at the things you love."
When Grotz isn't training or working on the family's farm, he spends his days as a carpenter in a workshop with others who have intellectual disabilities. His specialty is woodworking, which he started learning at age 16, and he is an artisan as he builds a variety of items including chairs, tables and even birdhouses.
"I just help where I can," he says. "There's always someone who needs a hand."
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Learn more about Grotz's journey to the 2017 Special Olympics World Winter Games.
Lead photo: Anton Grotz leads the way as he trains soccer player Daniele Bruno in snowshoeing.
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The Fifth Head of Cerberus (cu sensul de Al cincilea cap al Cerberului) este o nuvelă științifico-fantastică și o colecție de trei nuvele din 1972 de Gene Wolfe (de aici titlul romanului, deoarece Cerberul din mitologie a avut trei capete). A fost publicată de editura Charles Scribner's Sons. Nuvela a fost inclusă ulterior în Nebula Award Stories Eight din 1973.

The Fifth Head of Cerberus poate fi privit atât ca o culegere de trei nuvele, cât și ca un roman în trei părți care tratează colonialismul, amintirile și natura identității personale. Prima nuvelă, care dă și titlul cărții, a fost nominalizată la Premiul Nebula pentru cea mai bună nuvelă.

Prezentare

Titlul acestei colecții de nuvele este un joc de cuvinte care se referă la Cerber, un câine cu trei capete din mitologia greacă care păzea poarta către lumea de dincolo, Hades. În prima nuvelă, protagonistul explică faptul că Cerberul reprezintă propria familie, cele trei capete ale sale fiind tatăl său, mătușa și domnul Million (un robot), adăugând că restul de capete până la cinci, cele "nevăzute", sunt reprezentate de fratele său David și, implicit, însuși naratorul. Urmând această logică, titlul nuvelei se referă astfel la narator, a cărui poveste o citim. Mai multe paralele între familia naratorului și mitologia privind Cerberul pot fi trase în numeroase alte moduri de-a lungul acestor nuvele. De exemplu, o statuie a acestei creaturi mitologice există în partea din față, sau "porțile" casei lor, casă care se află situată la 666 Saltimbanque, acest număr având asociații cu lumea de dincolo care datează din manuscrisele grecești ale cărții Apocalipsei. De asemenea, casa familiei lor este menționată mai târziu la un moment dat ca Maison du Chien, literalmente "Casa câinelui".

Colecția de trei nuvele
Colecția de trei nuvele este o expansiune a nuvelei originale și a apărut în antologia Orbit 10 care a fost editată de Damon Knight în 1972. Nuvelele următoare, "A Story" de John V. Marsch și V.R.T. au extins narațiunea și temele primei nuvele.

Nuvelele au loc pe două lumi-colonii, aflate la 20 de ani-lumină de Pământ, planetele duble Sainte Anne și Sainte Croix, locuite inițial de coloniști francofoni, dar pierdute de aceștia într-un război cu un inamic fără nume. Sainte Anne a fost (probabil) o dată casa unei culturi autohtone (la un nivel aparent pre-paleolitic ca tehnologie) de ființe care își schimbau forma, care poate - sau nu - au fost șterse de către invadatorii umani.

Wolfe a prezentat nuvela titlulară la un atelier de citire Milford Writer's Workshop. Norbert Slepyan, redactor la editura Scribner's, a fost impresionat de poveste și a propus ca Wolfe să scrie încă două nuvele înrudite, care să fie publicate într-o singură carte.

Note

Legături externe

Vezi și
1972 în științifico-fantastic

Romane din 1972
1972 în științifico-fantastic
Romane științifico-fantastice
Nuvele științifico-fantastice
Mitologia greacă în cultura populară
Romane de Gene Wolfe

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


21 East 66th Street - Walter & Samuels, Inc.
Built in 1921 and converted in 1989, Chez 66 is an intimate pre-war condominium building featuring 18 luxury residences. Its premiere location on the northwest corner of Madison Avenue and East 66th Street affords unparalleled access to the Upper East Side's world-renowned shops, restaurants, museums and Central Park.
into culture when you live in a neighborhood that includes the Frick Collection, the MET, and the Guggenheim Museum and also has an impressive array of public and private schools.


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Resources for Military Families
Last Updated: 5/26/2021 3:41 PM
If your child is a member of a military family please complete this survey so that we can acknowledge your family's commitment to our country and community for the 2021-2022 school year.
Military Discount Guide
VFW Scholarships
VFW scholarship opportunities
Our Military Kids
Our Military Kids provides a one-time grant opportunity, per child, for education-related expenses, such as sports, fine arts, camps, and tutoring programs. The activity is eligible for a grant if it falls in one of those four categories. However, they DO NOT award grants for child care, school tuition, or religious trips. For more information, please check out the website listed here.
Military Child Education Coalition
The Military Child Education Coalition or MCEC is a worldwide non-profit organization whose goal is to serve as a model of positive leadership and advocacy for all military children. Their mission is to ensure inclusive, quality educational experiences and opportunities for all military children affected by mobility, family separation, and transition. They provide responsive and relevant support systems and resources such as Students at the Center as well as free professional training and programs such as Student 2 Student and Parent 2 Parent for families in transition.
Operation Military Kids
Operation: Military Kids has programs available to assist military youth and their families to help them deal with deployment. These include camps for youth, camps for families, and other activities throughout the year.
Boys and Girls Club of America
Boys and Girls Clubs of America have a program called MISSION: YOUTH OUTREACH that is specifically designed from military youth. Boys & Girls Clubs of America know that times of national crisis can dramatically disrupt a military family's life. The MISSION: Youth Outreach partnership supports military youth, ages 6 to 18 who are coping with a deployed parent by creating a positive, supportive network. Through this partnership, children of National Guard, Reserve, and Active Duty families, who do not live near or have access to a military Youth Center, can receive a free membership to their local Boys & Girls Club.
March to Success
March 2 Success provides an online study program to help students prepare for standardized tests, improve school work and review materials.
Military Education Guide
GI Bill Guide
Scholarship Guide


Ref Revolt of Vindix Denarius, RIC 72, RSC 420, BMC 34.
Revolt of Vindex, 68AD, AR denarius, (3.42g) Vienne (?), Gaul, SALVS GENERIS HVMANIS Victory with wreath and palm, left on globe. / SPQR in wreath. RIC 72; Martin 77; Vagi 779 (this coin plated as 774, but not an aureus).


text:
Q: How to count values in collection? Please anyone can help me? I want to calculate the collection in meteor but I don't know the code. I want the code like this code in sql
"SELECT category,COUNT(category) FROM table GROUP BY category);') " and this code
" SELECT unit,category,COUNT(category)
FROM table where unit like "%'.$searchtype.'%" GROUP BY unit, category;')"

Please I need your help.

A: this is a syntax error the group function can not work with the single
example:
select DEPTNO,COUNT(EMPNO),SUM(SAL) form emp  GROUP BY DEPTNO

the above statement is work fine because we select the DEPTNO and GROUP BY DEPTNO
BUT if we select like this
    select ENAME ,COUNT(EMPNO),SUM(SAL) form emp  GROUP BY DEPTNO
this is syntax error as I mentioned above which group function can not work with a single
I hope I understand what did U mean. and my answer  is helpful

A: You can use count() method of a cursor, see documentation.
Collection.find({...}).count();

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


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When you hear about events like Coffee with the Mayor, you have to imagine old fashioned, down home communities where people smile at each other on the street.
It's the home of Oktoberfest, an annual event that takes place in the city's historic downtown. The city hosts great eats like the Louisiana St. Grill Wood Fired Steaks & Seafood restaurant, as well as the Heard Natural Science Museum & Wildlife Sanctuary and the Town Lake Recreation Area, and other recreational sites that embrace the region's open spaces. Beer lovers will appreciate being close to some of the state's best breweries, while admirers of the vino can get that famous Texas hospitality at places like the Long Star Wine Cellars. This town is golf courses, the Heard-Craig Center for the Arts, balloon rides, game and entertainment centers, shows, music, shopping and dining, and walking past beautiful bushels of colorful flowers on public, cobble stoned streets under a Texas sky. There is no other place like this in the country.
This is also a town that's technologically savvy, using the Internet to stream vital information to its residents, including community news, council meetings, and program and event announcements. Yet, when you're walking down its streets, you'll almost believe you stepped back a few decades in time as you are entranced by gorgeous trees and buildings that don't obscure a beautiful sky.
The city has a diverse and rich history that continues to be shaped by its current residents. From museums and the arts to historic architecture and monuments, the people who live here put a lot of energy into building our history so that future generations have proud stories to record and events to celebrate.
Back in the mid-1800s, settlers on oxen and horse pulled wagons came here to start a new life. Most were induced by colonizers hired to convince people to migrate. Many made the trip for incentives that included a gun, a newly built cabin and up to 640 acres of land.
While some found the hardened frontier a bit much, many stayed, setting up communities, farms and commerce. In 1872, the Houston and Texas Central Railroad came to town, stimulating development and growth. The region soon became a hub for wheat, corn and oats. Growth led to larger business, a better infrastructure and larger homes, many of which still stand today. By 1885, there were thousands of citizens, newspapers, a courthouse, flour mills, banks, churches and an opera house.
Today, we're still considering our future and continued growth. Fortunately, the past has helped us develop a thriving economy, a superior way of life, and citizenship and leadership that's dedicated to celebrating the roots that helped pave new paths.
Not far from the metropolitan Dallas-Ft. Worth area, we're by far not a cosmopolitan city on sight. You can see the gently rolling hills from most of the streets. From its quaint neighborhoods and friendly residents, from downtown festivals to a strong belief in education, this is a town that embodies community, that spearheads innovation, participation and creativity. It's a business friendly town that's seen dynamic growth over the last ten years, including international aerospace and defense company Raytheon bringing over 3,500 new jobs to town. We've also seen new companies involved in aviation, medical services and energy.
As a town always looking to the future, college prep and career are a huge focus. While computers have become a part of even the youngest child's life, our students begin a formal, educational connection with them in grade school, using wired smart-boards. All high school freshmen are provided with a MacBook for academic purposes. Advanced placement courses begin with middle and high schoolers having internship opportunities that cross a broad array of industries in the area.
Many residents love spending an afternoon or evening downtown. It's considered a historic setting with its art galleries and specialty shops. There are elegant restaurants that were obviously farms at one point. It's East Coast, West Coast and European all meshed with a country charm coating, and you're going to spend a lot less here than in Dallas. The Cinemark has 14 screens featuring the top movies, as well as games the whole family can enjoy. You can engage in painting classes or take the family to Storybook Ranch for riding lessons and pony parties.
We like to think we have one of the easiest jobs in the world. And that's convincing people this Texas city is a great place to live. In 2014, Money named the town the country's number one best place to live. And we've only given you a hint as to why. From restored Victorian homes to classic Texas mansions, this town is flush with properties where you can raise a family and happily share a community.
The real estate office of Shirley Davis loves everything about this town. We've been a part of this community for many years and really can't see ourselves anywhere else. This weekend, we may hit the Native Texas Butterfly House & Garden or grab some Crispy Stuffed Shrimp at Rick's Chophouse, but come the new week, we'll be back at our desks answering phones and keeping abreast of what properties are on the market and how to best connect them with people looking to start a new life in a great town like this one.
If you love your big city life, good for you. But if you're looking for a nice change of pace, a community built on pride and history, a place where every stranger smiles and says hello, and you're looking for a great home in Texas, give us a holla! Call, come by the office or browse the site. We'll show you why everyone here loves McKinney and why you're going to want to be a part of its future.


text:
This folder contains a simple XBR buyer and XBR seller that runs in a HTML5 browser (Firefox/Chrome tested).

Open

* [XBR Buyer](buyer.html)
* [XBR Seller](seller.html)

and hit F12 to watch console output.

> The respective JS code is identical to the NodeJS examples - the only difference are the very top couple of lines that import the Autobahn libraries.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


Mark Lawrence: SPFBO 3, we have a winner!
Three cheers for our winner, Where Loyalties Lie, by Rob J. Hayes!
I advise you buy the book immediately and try the other finalists too.
Huge thanks to all ten blogs and the many reviewers who put in so much time, read so many books, and generated hundreds of reviews.
See the results of our cover contest here.
300 contestants were narrowed to 10 finalists.
The Self-Published Fantasy Blog-Off finalists were scored and reviewed as indicated on the table below.
The process of selection is documented here.
CONGRATULATIONS to Rob and everyone for making it to the final round!


text:
Q: After virtual machine reboot File Share mounted drive disconnected I am mounting azure file share drive in virtual machine using .netSDK RunPowerShell method. Drive has been created successfully but whenever I restart the virtual machine my drive automatically disconnected. I am using below powershell command :
cmd.exe /C "cmdkey /add:`"test.file.core.windows.net`" /user:`"Azure\admin`" /pass:`"*************************`""
New-PSDrive -Name V -PSProvider FileSystem -Root "\\test.file.core.windows.net\amazefileshare" -Persist

i want my file share drive should be always available.


If you are experiencing problems with your Mazda MPV Hatch not being supported by your new lift supports be sure to check that they are properly installed. First check the lift supports for a blue label, on the label it should read 6113L and 6113R. The 6113L supports should be installed on the driver side, and the 6113R is on the passenger side. The markings on the bracket do not not apply for this application. Also, make sure that the brackets are installed pointing down towards the ground, as illustrated below.


Ostomy Tasmania Incorporated is a non-profit organisation, and a registered charity and deductible gift recipient. We are governed by a voluntary Management Committee, many of whom are ostomates themselves. Until 2007, the association was wholly managed and staffed by volunteers. In July 2007, the decision was made by the Management Committee to employ a part-time Administrative Officer, and this has now expanded to four part-time Administration Staff to meet the growing business demands on the organisation. Ostomy Tasmania is currently managed by the Secretary, who works in a voluntary capacity. We also could not operate successfully without our pool of 10-15 volunteers, who between them work over 400 hours per month. Many of our volunteers are either ostomates themselves, or are the friends or family members of ostomates.
Ostomy Tasmania provides appliances to over 1500 members in Tasmania. This involves ordering and warehousing stock, processing about 1000 member orders per month, and distributing products either by mail or at our office counter in New Town. We issue around 2500 products every month.
We work closely with the Tasmanian Stomal Therapy Nurses. You can find more information about the Stomal Therapy Nurses at www.stomaltherapy.com or click here to link to the names and contact details of the Stomal Therapy Nurse for your region.
The Management Committe meets twice a year for General Meetings and otherwise on an as-required basis, to discuss matters and make decisions pertaining to the operation of the organisation. Positions on the Committee are subject to election each year at the Annual General Meeting. Financial members present at the meeting are eligible to vote.
Mrs B. Clarke, Mr A. Kok, Mr P. Lopez, Mrs M. Ferguson, S. Hicks RN, Mrs H. Hortle, Mr P. Emery.
DISCLAIMER: Ostomy Tasmania Inc. does not guarantee the accuracy or suitablity of any information contained within this or any other stated website. No person should act or refrain from acting solely on the information contained within this website. Always seek advice from a qualified medical practitioner.


View, Play and Use Newsgroup and Usenet Files Tutorial and Guide.
See Figure 1 which is referred to throughout this tutorial.
After you have downloaded, decoded and extracted (decompressed) your material, you now have to figure out how to use it. This can be a challenge at times, but once you figure it out, you are good for most of the material because there are "standards" used by most posters.
There are many types of material that you can obtain from the newsgroups.
Video - Most movies are MPEG format with a few flavour-of-the-day compression codecs used. Codecs are popular for a while and then a new codec (see below) will come along. WMV or ASF movies are rarely used for movie posts. RM (Real Media) format is sometimes found for TV programs but I have rarely seen a movie in that format. Quicktime (MOV) is occassionally found.
Graphics and Photographs - JPEG, GIF, PNG, WMF, BMP, and ICO files.
Each of these is covered in more detail in the following sections. However, there are lots of different ways to process the stuff you get from the usenet groups.
Generally speaking, the NFO files which accompany the post will provide all the information you need to view, play or use your material. Also, you can read other people's questions or post your questions about how to view, play or use the material.
Ok, this is where things can get kinda hairy. Theoretically, all you need to do is download, decode, decompress and voila you have a file viewable AVI, MPEG, ASF or RM file which you can burn to a CD if you want (see below).
Do you have the right "CODEC" (instructions for your media player to play the that particular encoding format)? More on CODECs below.
Are your sound card, video card, speakers, RAM, CPU all configured and of sufficient quantity or quality for that particular format of video?
Do you have the right video player? For example, SVCD requires DVD capable video players, MOV format files require Quicktime, etc.
Read the NFO file (see Step 5: Download from Usenet) that accompanied the post.
Read other people's questions in that newsgroup related to that post.
Only after exhausing all other avenus should you ask the person who posted it. While there is a sense of customer service by many posters, don't rely on it too much.
Be vigilant, learn all you can on your own.
Do a Google Groups search.
I am not going to go into detail about your sound card, video card, speakers, RAM, CPU being all configured and of sufficient quantity or quality for that particular format of video. I have briefly covered that in another section on multimedia internet services such as radio and voice over internet. However, most of the video formats today require at least a Pentium II or higher processor with 32 MB + RAM.
Finally, one of the best sources on the WWW for everything about video is VCDHelp.com. Go there for details on playing, copying and burning VCD, SVCD and DVDs. You won't be dissapointed.
Very often the material you get from the usenet will be "pre-packaged" (into yet another layer of formatting) so that it can be directly burned to a CD for use in a CD or DVD player or to be stored on CDs.
This a "customer service" feature so you don't have to convert an MPEG file to a CD format yourself. Aren't these people posting wonderful!
You will have to be aware of the CD formats which are identifiable by their file extension and include: iso, bin, ccd, nrg most commonly. Each file extension and formatting corresponds to specific programs which must be used to re-format the CD format to a format usuable on your harddrive.
You must use CloneCD for ccd files and Nero for nrg files.
There are a variety of software programs that can convert between BIN and ISO formats.
ISO Buster can extract an MPG file from ISO image files and a whole lot of other useful things. Very useful program.
VCDHelp.com also has all the details on copying and burning VCD, SVCD and DVDs.
A codec is a method of compressing video so that a video file can be as small as possible while still retaining high quality.
It is interesting that there are "brands" of codecs that have been established in the Usenet. These have largely been developed by independent programmers. One in particular, Divx, has recently made the jump from "hacker" to "corporate" status and is now being adopted by industry. This is probably a good example of why "open source" use of copyrighted material has some value.
Some of these posting groups are really well established and sometimes seem corporate in their organization and results (except for the fact that they are posting someone else's movie).
There are really only a couple of commonly used codecs although they change occassionally. You can learn more about codecs and where to get them from at VCDHelp.com.
You will also see MPEG formats being used including VCD and SVCD. You can learn more about these on VCDHelp.com.
Most of the images you will find are jpeg or jpg format. You'll also find gif too. Because these files are generally small enough they are usually not broken up into parts like the much larger movies and other video.
After you download and decode images you can just use any image viewer to see them just by double clicking on the file in Windows Explorer or opening it using the open dialogue in the image viewer.
One of the most popular image viewers is called ACDSee which views all image formats.
Music files are almost always MP3s. MP3s are also not big enough to be broken up into parts. So all you have to do is find them, queue them up and download and decode them. Then you can use your favourite MP3 player or multimedia player.
eBooks are generally on one file, and often only one segment in size depending on the format. Because the files are so small, they are usually on your ISPs news servers in complete form if the ISP purposely limits the size of files on its news servers. They do this to keep you from using up bandwidth downloading and uploading binaries to their news server.
However, often eBooks are in txt, rtf , Word doc or HTML format.
Of course, there is a ton of software posted in the usenet groups. Everything that you have learned in this tutorial is entirely applicable to obtaining software.
However, there are additional steps required to use the software, but usually the NFO file provides all the specific instructions you will need.


text:
Esdeveniments
 Belisari reconquereix Sicília
 Chi Min Yao Shu, obra clau de la història de l'agricultura
 Erupció del Krakatau

Naixements

Necrològiques
 8 de maig - Roma, Regne dels Ostrogots: Papa Joan II (n. c. 470).

Referències

Segle VI


The living room is a place which most of the time is designed by the explicit taste of the person who spends most of their time in it. That is why it is a lot harder to choose a "model" design for your living room, unlike the other rooms in your house. Sometimes you will find a design that you really like only to discover one major flaw that you can not live with everyday and then you begin looking from the start again. Then you get confused and start looking at other styles that don't fit your home just because you have grown tired of searching.
We know we probably can't hit the exact style and design that you are looking for, but in order to make your search a tiny bit easier, we have created this universal collection of 15 Mesmerizing Living Room Designs For Any Home Style in which we have thrown in various living room designs that will fit almost any home.
The living room designs in this collection differ in a lot of things such as the interior design style which you can find under names such as traditional, transitional, contemporary, rustic, modern, industrial,Mediterranean and many others, room size as well as color and accents. Enjoy!


text:
'The king is passing': Narrie Approo, Trinidad & Tobago's oldest Black Indian masquerader, dies at 94
'Mas is Dance and Fight'
Read this post in Español
Okenaga—Black Indian culture bearer Narrie Approo at Victoria Square, Port of Spain, Trinidad, in 2009, taken by Abigail Hadeed as part of her outdoor backdrop project, through which she documented masmakers like Approo and the costumes they made. Used with permission.
To put on face paint and a costume in the context of Trinidad and Tobago Carnival—especially within the realm held by the characters of traditional mas—is to be transformed, not just physically, but mentally, emotionally and spiritually. It was a routine metamorphosis for Narrie Approo, the country's oldest "Black Indian" masquerader, who passed away at the age of 94 on the evening of January 6, leaving behind a legacy of creation and performance that is hard to match:
Narrie Approo… The oldest Black Indian mas player at 91.#traditionalmas #narrieapproo #trinidadandtobago #carnival2018 #intricate #localtalent #passdownthetraditions #keepthetraditionalive #youthpower #respect #photojournal #capturinglife #whatisee #… https://t.co/RXTEzSmJn5 pic.twitter.com/CnXiAvZmlb
— howsiett (@howsiett) February 8, 2018
Portrait of Narrie Approo by Abigail Hadeed, used with permission.
Black Indian mas, which celebrates the many ways in which Indigenous people and Africans banded together throughout the horrors of colonisation, dates back to the 19th century. Through his annual portrayal of this tradition, Approo and his troupe, "Warriors of the Black Tribe", did yeoman's service in preserving this unique aspect of Trinidad and Tobago's cultural heritage. As a consummate "masman," he was also skilled at the craft of Carnival creation, making intricately beautiful costumes and papier-mâché masks, some of which are displayed at the Toco Folk Museum on Trinidad's east coast.
Writing for Caribbean Beat magazine, academic Dylan Kerrigan noted that Black Indian mas, "the fiercest of the traditional Indian masquerades," may well have had roots outside Trinidad and Tobago, with Approo himself suggesting links with runaway slaves in the United States who were taken in by Native American communities in the early 1800s—a "cultural intermingling" that came to fruition in New Orleans' famous Mardi Gras.
Okenaga—Narrie Approo portraying Black Indian in the band 'The Warriors of Huracán,' led by Patrick Anderson. This was Approo's last performance at Port of Spain's Queen's Park Savannah, in 2018. Photo by Abigail Hadeed, used with permission.
To be an authentic Black Indian, though, was not a matter of external trappings. An integral part of Black Indian masquerade is its own language, sounds and songs, evolving from Indigenous and African languages, the languages of the Spanish, French and English colonisers, and even Hindi, post-emancipation, when plantation owners introduced East Indian indentureship to fill the labour gap. Approo once said this aspect of the mas required commitment and practice: "We always went to the yard to rehearse our performance before we hit the road, and we chanted a prayer in black Indian language asking for strength."
In photographer Maria Nunes' book "A World of Their Own," which is an ode to traditional mas, fellow Black Indian masquerader Darlington "Boysie" Henry said, "Narrie Approo was the Flying Agitan…he's a high grandmaster of language!"
Another key aspect of the mas is its hierarchical structure, with the Okenaga (king of the band) and Malerao (queen) in the leadership positions. Then, almost in military fashion—as documented by Nunes—are the Flying Agitan, Wagadaraja, Jeppetok and Jeepnafagna, with the Jeeps being the lowest ranking warriors.
Okenaga—Narrie Approo (front) trailed by another member of the Black Indian band 'Warriors of Huracán,' on stage at the Queen's Park Savannah, Port of Spain, Trinidad, 2018. Photo by Abigail Hadeed, used with permission.
Photographer Abigail Hadeed, who has been documenting Black Indians for decades, is most captivated by the fact that the portrayals have a deep spiritual link with the once-banned Orisha faith as masqueraders "dance and chant through the streets […] rituals of a spiritual nature, wearing mostly black costumes handmade from local corbeau feathers, river beads, chip-chip or snail shells, and cow horns." Though marginalised, she says, by the ever-increasing commercialism of the national festival, practitioners like Approo routinely "reclaim with apt ceremony what was denied during slavery and post-emancipation: the freedom of the individual, and of a people, to choose and celebrate their own spirituality, and to express themselves culturally."
Okenaga—Narrie Approo, Victoria Square, Port of Spain, Trinidad, 2009, as he embodies the invaluable connection between a tradition that is as old as the society itself and an unknown future. Photo by Abigail Hadeed, used with permission.
Born in San Fernando, in south Trinidad, on April 22, 1927, Approo moved with his family to the capital, Port of Spain, when he was five years old. Living in John John, in an area of Laventille known as "behind the bridge"—a community rich in the creativity of all things Carnival, including the steelpan—Approo first participated in Carnival in 1934, playing his first Black Indian mas at the age of 11.
Inundating himself in every aspect of the festival, he also played tenor pan with a steelband called "Cross of Lorraine" (now known as "All Stars"). Back in those early days of the instrument finding its footing, the steelband movement garnered a reputation for being explosive, and violent clashes between different pan sides were not unusual. Approo experienced one of these scuffles when Cross of Lorraine got caught in the crosshairs of a fight between two other pan sides—"Invaders" and "Tokyo"—on Carnival Monday, 1946. But Black Indian mas was where his heart was, and Approo described it as "fighting mas," which began with battles of language and skill and occasionally transmuted, just as the steelband wars did, into physical altercations.
Narrie Approo behind one of his exquisite papier mache masks. Photo by Abigail Hadeed, used with permission.
Approo realised the importance of preserving his life's work in order for such Carnival traditions to be handed down. On February 12, 2021, he donated his extensive Carnival collection to the Alma Jordan Library at The University of the West Indies' St. Augustine campus in Trinidad and Tobago. Kathryn Chan, who curated the collection, said on Facebook:
What a relief that Narrie Approo's work will be in a safe location and preserved (away from the threats of mildew, floods, fire etc). I now see that this is just the beginning. It was a very small and short gathering to honour Narrie, to take him to see The Alma Jordan library where his works will live on […] After Covid times, the universe willing, maybe I can take him back to see the actual collection. […]
This collection is only possible because Narrie was the chief archivist. He would have photographs taken every year, hunt down and collect any of him and his fellow mas players and place them in chronological order in multiple albums that date back to the 1960's. He saved articles and movie posters that he studied to make his own costumes. It is truly due to his own meticulousness that all of this has survived.
Okenaga—Narrie Approo, Queens Park Savannah, Port of Spain, Trinidad, 2018. The photo, by Abigail Hadeed, shows Narrie in costume (second from right), prior to performing on the Queen's Park Savannah stage, the largest competition venue in Trinidad and Tobago Carnival. Approo came out of retirement to celebrate his friend, fellow Black Indian and the Flying Agitan, Dalington 'Boysie' Henry, who had recently passed away. Used with permission.
In 2018, Approo received the Hummingbird Medal, a national award, for his significant contribution to Carnival culture. It was also the year he would make his last public appearance as a Black Indian, coming out to pay tribute to his friend "Boysie" Henry who had recently died.
Upon learning of Approo's death, Maria Nunes shared some of her photographs on Facebook, saying:
Narrie Approo – Masman Extraordinaire. Gone to the Ancestors now. […]
'Okenaga highway daseena
Okenaga highway daseena
Sa ta na, sa ta na highway daseena'
Black Indian chant which translates as – the King is passing. This chant is sung while Black Indians are going down the road during Carnival.
Narrie Approo after crossing the stage with 'The Warriors of Huracán' on Carnival Monday, 2018. The former Okenaga, who was initiated into Black Indian mas at 11, was the oldest living Black Indian. Photo of him through his headdress as he waited to be driven home, is by Abigail Hadeed, used with permission.
Rapso performer Wendell Manwarren summed up Approo's passing this way:
End of an era. […] Thank you for the example and your profound wisdom. 🙏🏽 You once said to me, quite simply and with much certainty in response to my question what is Mas? 'Mas is Dance + Fight'.💥
Every molecule in my being reverberated and I was humbled and grateful and honored to be in your presence and felt empowered and blessed by your generosity of spirit and inherent humility and profound wisdom. Walk Good Masman 🖤🔥✊🏾


"Everybody can be great, because anybody can serve. You don't have to have a college degree to serve. You don't have to make your subject and verb agree to serve. You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love." – Martin Luther King Jr.
Every year, Martin Luther King, Jr. Day presents us with an opportunity to renew our commitment to serving our communities.
Yesterday, President Obama, Michelle Obama and First Book helped to refurbish a local elementary school library in Washington DC. Together with a large group of volunteers, they cleaned, painted and organized 600 books donated to the school by First Book.
First Book was pleased to be a part of the First Family's Day of Service.
Visit http://www.firstbook.org/get-involved to learn more about how you can serve your community with First Book.