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Winner Francesco Fonassi
FRANCESCO FONASSI
Prescriptions betrayed by sick hours, anarchy through the tables of the law: a conversation with the winner of the Talent Prize.
by Francesco Angelucci
There are maybe two or three projects in the work of Francesco Fonassi, different from each other in their aims and chronology, but bound together in the same covers: Guarigione, Ultradiana and Salvatici, the latter being the winner of the 2020 Talent Prize. The works, although close to previous projects in their alteration of auditory material, stand out thematically in their proposal of a cure: prescriptions for sick hours. Infecting the sonorous timbres, infiltrating the rhythms of musical development, traces of ancient pharmacological practices can be perceived: medicaments. The absolute freedom of composition expressed through the severity and threat of its sudden, violent, necessary, original cut off evokes poetic discourse: when it expresses anarchy through the tables of the law, when a sonnet becomes venom in the poet Patrizia Valduga's Medicaments and more Medicaments.
So, there is a sickness; maybe there is a cure: "I think – says Fonassi – that these works, first and foremost, cure a psycho-physical state of unease and mistrust towards the present. There is nothing more violent than the way the audio material immediately embraces its end. These works prescribe and undergo conditions of epidermic and mental listening, which, based on the context of the place where they are produced or restored, incorporates an idea of recovery. An idea that is mine, certainly, but always referring to the need for cohesion and attraction offered by collective listening, at least as potential. In their own way, as previous projects with a different nature, they are prototypes. I like to imagine these flagless places where one can hypothesise otherworldly thoughts, where one can prescribe a auditory experience that is lucid, and, if you like, antisocial." And Salvatici does this by defining a tragic and reassuring atmosphere, like a waiting room in a hospital. An acoustic field, composed initially of a Congolese healing chant and an accordion, resonates through two wooden columns borrowed from a processional carriage for Santa Maria In Trastevere. "The columns for the processional carriage, which I faithfully reproduced – continues Fonassi – serve to transmit and display, to transport something sacred, to the extent that we believe in it, or to the extent that we submit ourselves to a pseudo-mystical regime to believe in. In their own way, they are judges. Why a Congolese chant or an accordion? My answer would be: because they breathe, but they cannot breathe on their own. They are formed, then, by groups of people, by breaths, by processions, in fact. This is always before and after my work. I saw someone, during the show in Belluno, touching these columns like someone who touches an injured dog on the street, resting their hand on its chest. Tragic and reassuring at the same time."
Just as a tragedy is consumed only with an audience, Salvatici is complete only through collective listening: after all, many of your works refer to, and are created by a community.
"Almost two years ago, I met Stefano Zaniboni, a musician and passionate collector of shellac discs from the beginning of the 20th century to the 1950s. His trio project, Ear Explorer, focuses on an almost ritualistic reproduction of some of these vinyls, slowed down and manipulated. When I went to his house to borrow some of them to use for the preparation of the track for Salvatici, we ended up listening to volcanic lava and whistling winds, running our mouths off: getting to know each other. I had an incredible sense of calm. The disc containing Demande de guèrison, the Congolese chant, is his: the composition oozes beats and distorsions, which echo on the magnetic tape from one of the two columns that form the installation. Again: when we put our trust in a mediated account, we are no longer the ones that speak."
This plurality structures some of your other works as well.
"I remember the breathing sessions I did in Sicily with Saori D'Alessandro, voiced along with Luca Garino; the Ospedale station on the Brescia metro for my project Guarigione, where, as well as a year of continuous sound, we welcomed musicians, among whom was Alvin Curran, with his shofar, in dialogue with the new semi-permanent sonic conditions; Ultradiana, where the voices of Letizia Fiorenza and Carlotta Crapes made themselves into dynamic, insomniac architecture, because as we know, the walls have ears – particularly those made from reinforced concrete."
This destroys the figure of the artist as a demiurge.
"I maintain that deifying the mystical, or at least masterly figure of the solitary artist is an anacronistic, misplaced way to look at art. We need to weave real, localised networks, organise ourselves and free ourselves from our dependency on our own production."
An intrinsic chorality, also in musical discourse, emphasised by your frequent use of many voices, sound sources and timbres. At times a dialogue is created, at times there is only silence.
"Silence is the third speaker; what remains is sacred. I often reference one of my favourite ever paintings, the Ritratto del doge Leonardo Loredan by Giovanni Bellini. Through his physiognomic attention to a face that is psychotic, detached, doubtful, Bellini performs an extreme gesture of revelation and wreckage, leaving a precise, inhuman psychology to permeate, which is nevertheless overflowing with faith and charm."
There is also an expanded plurality in the time folded into the present: you mention Bellini, but also Ginzburg and anonymous French writers from the fourteenth century.
"Last July, when I was invited to take part in a live intervention in the collective show Storia Notturna, at Centrale Fies, inspired by Carlo Ginzburg's text on the Shabbat, I worked on a text by a 14th century anonymous French writer, connected to the research I did with Daniela Zangrando on the folk figure, Om Selvarech. The text reminded me a lot of Henry David Thoreau, for its mix of subversive and environmentalist conflict: almost a prophecy. For the first time, I used my own voice, processed and unrecognisable, grotesque. I record the text in English and reproduce it in various listening sessions in one of the exhibition spaces, where Giulia Galvan, a professional interpreter, positioned in the space and just visible, repeats my words, live, using the shadowing technique: a preparatory exercise for simultaneous translation. Interrupted by a series of whistles/calls for attention, the sessions of of Work (poema selvatico) – this is the title of the work – speak about how this cognitive and educational technique can relate an unknown formula to the present, as if it is predicting its effects with a slight latency."
You seem to be running away from something: looking at your works over almost fifteen years, they all seem to turn suddenly, abruptly, to abandon the route in order to define a new perimeter.
"I would like to return to the image with which we opened this conversation. Even considering that I didn't know what this pharmaceutical atlas was, and nor did I know the work of Valduga, there is something that has always fascinated me in the idea of prescription, or the lack of prescription. Escaping, diverting, making uncontrolled movements: all true."
SALVATICI
The winner of the 2020 Talent Prize came out of a reflection on Om Selvarech (a folk character from the Dolomites) for the show, Salvatici, at the Burel Museum in Belluno, curated by Daniela Zangrando. The project is composed of two columns, which recreate the form of a processional carriage for Santa Maria In Trastevere. The architectural apparatus resonates with an audio track composed of a Congolese healing chant, combined and disguised by an accordion. A sonic dialogue is staged, and the atmosphere changes: it becomes sacred; the spectators are the faithful and the installation an immobile procession, permanently diverted, interrupted on its way to a destination of healing.
Born on the 22nd November in Brescia
Spends time in Kent, on the English coast, to observe the sound mirrors up close and visit the garden of Derek Jarman
Shoots a blank shot from a pistol in the San Francesco della Vigna, in Venice, in front of the Sacra Conversazione by Giovanni Bellini
Becomes father to Isabella
Co-founds Spettro, a centre for experimental culture in Brescia
Info: francescofonassi.eu


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Edan Laron Partner
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16 Abba Hillel Silver Rd.
Ramat Gan 52506, Israel
Tel: 972 3 610 3807 Fax: 972 3 610 3737
Email: edanl@meitar.com
Edan Laron is a partner in the firm's Litigation and Regulatory groups.
Edan specializes in civil and administrative litigation, and appears regularly before courts of all instances, as well as in arbitration and mediation proceedings. Edan represents Israeli and international clients in various complex commercial conflicts relating to regulatory, commercial, administrative law, intellectual property, consumer protection, construction, white-collar offenses and disciplinary proceedings.
Prior to joining Meitar, Edan served at the Supreme Court of Israel as a senior law clerk to the Honorable Justice Hannan Melcer and clerked for the Honorable Justice Ayala Procaccia.
Representation of the municipality of Tel Aviv in a series of petitions to the Supreme Court involving the operation of businesses on Sabbath. The case was heard by a panel of 7 judges. The municipality's position was fully adopted by the court.
Representation of Energean in two petitions filed with the Supreme Court by environmental groups and municipalities concerning the law applying to gas fields located in Israel's Exclusive Economic Zone and the legality of permits granted for construction of gas facilities. Both petitions were dismissed.
Representation of the Association of Banks in a petition to the Supreme Court to repeal the new law (unprecedented in the entire world) restricting the salaries of managers in the financial services sectors. The case was heard by a panel of 7 judges.
Representation of Oil Refineries Ltd. in a series of claims in excess of NIS 200 million, concerning sludge accumulated in an oil storage facility.
Representation of M+W and Intel in a number of claims relating to breaches of building contracts of specialized factories and office buildings.
Representing the three leading Israeli cellular carriers – Partner, Cellcom and Pelephone – in a legal action relating to alleged patent infringement of mobile devices.
Representation of a leading technology company in proceedings at the Compensation and Royalties Committee established under the Patents Law for the award of compensation for service inventions.
Representation of ZAP Computing in a patent infringement action and a motion for a preliminary injunction relating to a method for online comparison of shopping carts, leading to the successful dismissal of the case.
Representation of Spark Networks in opposing class action lawsuits related to automatic renewal of online subscriptions and entitlement to refunds following termination of subscriptions.
Representation of a seed company in a legal action relating to alleged misappropriation of trade secrets. The action was successfully dismissed.
Selected additional publications
Co-author (with Dr. Israel Leshem and Ron Peleg) of the Israeli chapter in: "The Chambers Legal Practice Guide: Litigation 2014-15."
Columbia University School of Law, New York (LL.M., Norman E. Alexander Scholar, 2009);
The University of Haifa, Israel (LL.B., Cum Laude, 2006)
Languages: Hebrew and English
Born: Israel
Admitted: Israel 2007
Class Action Defense
Contact Edan Laron

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


After years of talking about it, we're finally ready to make the switch to Semantic Versioning in Asciidoctor. This switch will happen as part of the next major release for each participating project.
Semantic Versioning (or SemVer, for short) is a logical system for selecting version numbers based on a simple MAJOR.MINOR.PATCH sequence.
A MAJOR version is for introducing incompatible changes (large or small).
A MINOR version is for adding backward-compatible functionality.
A PATCH version is for making bug fixes (backward compatible, of course).
There's also room for a prerelease version via build metadata. You can learn more at https://semver.org.
In our current system, patch releases are indistinguishable from major and minor releases and there's only a single release line. Experience has taught us (the hard way) that this situation is neither clear or sustainable. For us, SemVer is about having better communication and room to grow. It's a system based on shared expectations and trust. Although it may not be perfect, SemVer should help to understand what a version number entails and when to upgrade. We can't expect it to prevent breaking something, but at least you'll know when it might.
Switching to SemVer also means that the Asciidoctor projects, namely Asciidoctor, AsciidoctorJ, and Asciidoctor.js, will be versioned independently. Other projects in the ecosystem will likely start versioning independently as well (in fact, some already have).
AsciidoctorJ and Asciidoctor.js have both reached a point where the projects are much more than a redistribution of the Asciidoctor RubyGem. They have their own API, extensions model, custom features, and platform integration. And that warrants having their own version line. An independent version line will also allow users to better understand what to expect in each release.
The core processors (Asciidoctor, AsciidoctorJ, and Asciidoctor.js) will move to SemVer starting with the 2.0.0 release. We plan for all three projects to make this major version shift at roughly the same time to minimize confusion.
If Asciidoctor.js or AsciidoctorJ need a change in Asciidoctor, they can force Asciidoctor to be released. This means Asciidoctor will need to be "release ready" at all times. A patch or minor release won't need much discussion, but a major release will, of course.
We will not attempt to align the version numbers between the three projects after 2.0.0. Guillaume laid out a strong case that trying to align the version numbers would work against SemVer and thus result in the version numbers losing their meaning. This does introduce the complexity of having to document the version of Asciidoctor that Asciidoctor.js or AsciidoctorJ provides. However, both AsciidoctorJ and Asciidoctor.js provide an API for accessing the version of the underlying Asciidoctor release. The release number is also available via the asciidoctor-version document attribute.
We considered ways to lock Asciidoctor, AsciidoctorJ, and Asciidoctor.js to the same version while still adhering to SemVer. However, we reached the conclusion that doing that would only perpetuate the situation that's caused the backup of releases we've seen. It's best if the projects have the freedom to release when the time is right to release. And with three version number segments (MAJOR.MINOR.PATCH), we finally have enough space for those releases to happen!
We'll start by repackaging the Asciidoctor 1.5.8 release as 2.0.0, with some minor adjustments to drop unsupported versions of Ruby. AsciidoctorJ and Asciidoctor.js will then follow with their 2.0.0 releases. At that point, we'll stick to versioning according to SemVer rules as outlined above.
Asciidoctor.js 1.5.0 released to Bower and npm!
Then it was a prototype.
Now, it's the real deal.
When upgrading to Asciidoctor 1.5.0, please refer to the migration guide for details about how to migrate your content.
For example, reading an include file in Ruby is just a matter of using the normal Ruby IO API. In a browser environment, we have to use XMLHttpRequest (i.e., Ajax) as the IO API instead. If Asciidoctor.js is running on Node.js, we have to use the Node IO API, fs.readSync(), to make it work.
Read on to learn how to get your hands on Asciidoctor.js!
The optional --save flag automatically adds the package to your project's dependencies.
The asciidoctor-all.min.js is a minified version and includes Asciidoctor core, extensions API and Opal.
See the Front-end development guide to learn more about the Bower package.
See the Back-end development guide to learn more about the npm package.
A plugin for Atom that shows you a preview of your document while you type!
An extension for Brackets that shows you a preview of your document while you type!
Of course there are still challenges, but we'll solve them. Head over to the Asciidoctor.js project to get involved.
Let us play this new game!
There are still several challenges to tackle to ensure Asciidoctor.js runs smoothly on the JVM, such as getting includes working. Head over to the AsciidoctorJ project to get involved and help make it happen!
The alignment of Asciidoctor.js with Asciidoctor core was a major effort. It required input from a lot of people and they really pulled together to meet this challenge.
We want to especially thank the Opal developers, notably Adam Beynon, meh and Elia Schito, for making Asciidoctor.js happen. They were very responsive to our effort, making changes and fixes to Opal and generally providing input that allowed us to continuously move forward.
We also want to thank Anthonny Quérouil for crafting a Grunt build to compile, aggregate and compress Asciidoctor.js and for helping to get the artifacts published to Bower and npm.
Thanks to everyone who tested Asciidoctor.js, either directly or by using the tools. Your participation has helped Asciidoctor.js become the real deal!
If you have questions or feedback, we encourage you to participate in the discussion list. Talk to you there!


The Elephant Sanctuary in Kyshna, South Africa is home to the southernmost elephants in the world where the resident family of African elephants and world-class guides will give you a fascinating insight into mystical story of these majestic creatures.
The park offers a rare and exciting opportunity to get close to these gentle giants, who live in a controlled, free range environment in the heart of the famous Garden Route and many couples choose to take advantage of the unique wedding services that are on offer here.
The park also offers an "understanding Elephants" course that is perfect for the lay person that just loves elephants, professionals or university students.


Games for Our Annual Family Fun Day!
It's that time of year again. As many of my readers know, every year I plan and organize what I call a Family Fun Day. Friends and family are invited to join us for a day of activities, games and chit-chat.
This year, due to some health issues, I am going a bit more low key. I'm organizing a Scavenger Hunt with a couple of twists thrown in. We have various colours of take-apart plastic eggs and these will be hidden on the property.
The first thing family has to do is find their team partner. Sometimes I use pictures of animals and when the signal is given, each person has to find their matching animal. They can show their picture, yell out the name of their animal or start making that animal's sound.
I try to come up with a different way of finding team members each year and this year I've created math questions! Yep. I created simple math questions (2+2=?, 12/6=? etc) Each person has to solve their math question then look for another person whose answer to THEIR math question is the same! This should be amusing to watch.
As soon as each person finds their partner, they will race to where a line of hula hoops is laid out on the ground. I call this activity the Froggy Jump. Using one hula hoop, each person in turn tosses it ahead and jumps or steps into it. They must lift the hula hoop over their body and toss it ahead, then step into it and so on until they reach the finish line. At the finish line, my husband will be waiting to hand them the instructions for the scavenger hunt.
Teams of two have to find one of each colour PLUS one multi-coloured egg which I made by putting different coloured halves together. The multi-coloured eggs will contain instructions for one event which must be completed before teams race to the finish line with their eggs. The event that teams must complete is to head to the field where our pot-belly pigs are kept.
I have Canadian flags to put out to mark where teams are to go. Once there, they take one scoop of pig food and call our pigs, enticing them with the food. The goal is to count the pigs and believe me it's not an easy task as they don't exactly stand still to be counted! The next part of this event is memory based as teams must remember the total number of pigs until they have collected all their eggs and have run home.
I think this is going to be a lot of fun and plan to take lots of photos. Cross your fingers for sun that day because if it rains we will not be doing any of these fun things.
Sizzling Summer Sales at FamilyTreeDNA!
Summer is once again upon us and it is time for Family Tree DNA Sizzling Summer event! Our successful summers over the last two years have led us to offer you great values again this year.
REMEMBER: ALL ORDERS FOR THIS Family Tree DNA SALE MUST BE PLACED AND PAID FOR BY 11:59pm CST, JULY 26, 2013, TO RECEIVE THESE SPECIAL PRICES.
Library and Archives Canada announced yesterday that the Census for Lower Canada, 1831 database is now available online. The Census for Lower Canada, 1831 is partly nominal and therefore only contains the names of heads of family, their occupation, and the number of residents for each family.
I'm looking forward to some good summer TV watching!
Sign the Petition to Release the 1921 Canadian Census!
The 1921 Canadian Census was released by Statistics Canada (either January or June 1st this year, government agency accounts differ) to Library and Archives Canada (LAC) for scanning and releasing to the public.
It was due for release the first week of June but with no explanation from LAC the opening was delayed.
A source at LAC revealed information that the Federal Government put the census release on indefinite hold because the only people interested were "3 little old ladies in Kingston [Ontario]"
Now, thanks to reader Bill Robinson, we have a chance to sign an online petition to request this 1921 census be released NOW. According to the LAC source it's on the servers ready to go but not available until the Government gives the okay. Let's show them that there are more than "3 little old ladies" who want to study this census and search for their ancestors!
Please share this post with others - in private emails or on appropriate forums and mailing lists (meaning please keep it on topic). Feel free to blog about the petition and provide the link for signing on your own blogs. Anyone can sign no matter where you live so I hope to see our American, British, Australian and other friends and neighbours also signing and helping to bring this census online ASAP.
Help Solve the Mystery: Who Was This Woman?
Recently a fascinating yet sad story was posted in The Seattle Times. It's about Lori (Kennedy) Ruff who killed herself in 2010.
"The death of a wife and mother in Texas revealed a case of stolen identity with a connection to the Northwest. Now a Seattle investigator is trying to figure out who this mystery woman really was."
After her death her husband opened a locked box which Lori had kept hidden. It it he found scribbled notes, birth certificates, death certificates, driver's licenses with his wife's photograph but under different names and in different states.
Eventually Ruff and a Social Security investigator realized they had uncovered a case of a woman who ran from her past and hid under a dead girl's identity. This Tuesday you can join Times reporter Maureen O'Hagan and Joe Velling, Special Agent in Charge of the Seattle investigations office of the SSA, for a live chat and updates about the case at 2 p.m. Tuesday.
Read the full story and see all the documentation and clues at She stole another's identity, and took her secret to the grave. Who was she?
Announcing a new Family History forum called Genealogy Specialists - Tracing Our Past, Discovering Our Genes, which is affectionately known as TOP DOG.
Our aim is to offer mutual FREE help to each other in tracing our ancestors, following our family trees, and putting flesh on the skeletons that we discover. With a membership that stretches through 18 time zones around the world, and helpful moderators/admin on both sides of the globe, members will belong to an international, but friendly community.
Our membership ranges from enthusiastic amateurs to professional genealogists, and if we do not know an answer we will certainly be able to point members in the right direction to find one.
Yesterday I sorted a small box of my mother's jewellry. It was a job that has been waiting for me to tackle since her death in 2009.
Mom didn't have expensive jewellry but she had necklaces and earrings that she loved and wore frequently. She was especially fond of butterflies and I found one butterfly necklace in the box.
With some odd type of synchronicity, I found three necklaces that needed untangling. Let's just say that Mother didn't hang her jewellry carefully, she tended to toss it in a heap in a box.
Anyway, I found, and untangled 3 necklaces. I have 3 granddaughters. What are the odds? 3 necklaces and 3 granddaughters. So I am going to give them Mother's necklaces.
I'm writing a note to each of them and enclosing a photo and little bio of their great-grandmother Joan.
I hope they treasure these items and pass them on to their daughters.
The government of Canada was the winning bidder for a rare collection of War of 1812 artifacts that once belonged to Sir John Sherbrooke the lieutenant-governor of Nova Scotia. Sherbrooke conquered Maine for the British during the War of 1812 and kept copious documents and maps during his time in office.
The winning bidder was Library and Archives Canada, and the future Canadian Museum of History. Including commission, the sale cost the federal government and taxpayers about $690,000.
The collection, including hand-drawn maps from the early 1800s that cities such as Toronto and in its early years, sold for almost twice what had been expected.
When he left Canada, Sherbrooke took his maps and papers back to Britain, where they had been sitting in three wooden boxes in family attics for nearly 200 years. Curators say that the maps have been stored in the wooden chests, which were part of the collection, and are in pristine condition.
Fierce bidding drove the estimated price up. So while it is wonderful that our country has its own documents back, I question the wisdom of a cash-strapped agency putting out almost $700,000.00 for documents that they had already copied almost twenty years ago. That's right - Library and Archives Canada had copies of all these documents. I'm wondering if this outlay of money (which we taxpayers will no doubt feel) could have been better spent on digitizing the documents that are currently owned by LAC. This would have brought documents online for the public.
After all we are still waiting for the 1921 Census release which was promised and has now been put on hold by the Federal Government. With no transparency and a great deal of secrecy from the Government, we Canadians have no idea why the census is on hold nor exactly what stage of digitization or indexing it is at. Shouldn't the Canadian public know what the Government is doing with our heritage? Government agencies don't seem to realize they actually work for the Canadian people. Should we not be consulted or at the very least, kept advised of what is going on?
I wish they'd ask my opinion on whether or not they should have spent $700,000.00 for the originals of documents when they already had copies. Don't get me wrong, the collection is part of our heritage and while it is important that countries own their own historical documents, I think that in these difficult economic times and with Library and Canada Archives experiencing severe budget cuts, the money could have been better spent.
I could cite dozens of examples of documents owned by LAC that have not been digitized or indexed. Perhaps the money would have been better spent on those projects. How about investing in indexing, digitizing and making our 1921 census available? What about the wonderful War of 1812 petitions and claims for land losses - it would be extremely helpful to have them indexed.
Last, but not least, anyone can consult the copies of the Sherbrooke Collection that LAC owns. Is LAC going to invite the public to handle these originals? I doubt it! We, the public, will still be looking at the copies. The originals will be archived and stored, where perhaps once every dozen years, a historian or two will request access to the originals. It doesn't sit well with me.
Word is out that a reliable source at Library and Archives Canada has informed bloggers that the 1921 Canadian census has been digitized and is on the LAC server ready to go BUT... the Federal Government has ordered it held and not made public.
According to the source, those in power believe that the only people interested in this 1921 census release are "3 little old ladies in Kingston". So we all need to get involved and show them that there are thousands of genealogists and historians who want to study that census.
Fellow Canadians - please WRITE THOSE EMAILS!! The 1921 Census could be a long time coming if you don't act. Tell the government how important this census is to you. It's best if you write your own email but if you want to use mine as a template, here is a copy of the email I sent.
It has come to my attention that the 1921 Canadian Census has been digitized and is ready for release to the public but the Federal Government has put it on hold. Statistics Canada released it to Library and Archives Canada on June 1, 2013 and it was to be released to the public soon after.
As a Canadian and a genealogist this census is very important to my continued research. There are tens of thousands of genealogists and historians who will benefit from the release of this census. I urge you to approve its release as soon as possible.
and was interred in Maghera Cemetery, Co. Down on Wednesday 22nd August.
For more funeral cards online see Ancestors At Rest. There are many there to view. You might find an ancestor or two in the collection!
"The records of thousands of 19th century immigrants to Britain are now available to search and download online. The collection, which covers the period 1801 to 1871, includes records relating to more than 7,000 people who applied to become British citizens under the 1844 Naturalisation Act, as well as a small number of papers relating to denization, a form of British citizenship that conferred some but not all the rights of a British subject.
Applicants were required under the act to present a memorial to the Secretary of State at the Home Office stating their age, trade and duration of residence. These papers are now available online for the first time."
I'm off to see if I can find my son's German ancestor Georg Heinrich Christian Schulze who settled in Yorkshire England ca 1867-1868. Wish me luck!
Happy Father's Day to my dad. I didn't get to wish him very many of those days or Happy Birthdays either.
Dad was born in Guelph Ontario in 1914. This photo was taken about 1918. It's one of my favourites although I haven't got very many of him.
On Christmas Day 1960 my father died. He was only 46 years old. I still miss him even after 53 years. While I had him he was the best father ever - taking me fishing, teaching me to skate and throw a ball.
So hey Dad I just wanted to tell you how much I love and miss you still. Wish you were here.
I had an opportunity to talk to Tom Jones about his book Mastering Genealogical Proof, recently published by the National Genealogical Society.
The book is a culmination of Tom's years of interest in the topic of genealogical proof. While he was serving as its president, the Board for Certification of Genealogists published The BCG Genealogical Standards Manual (Provo: Ancestry Publishing, 2000). According to Tom, this book was "one of the first places where the Genealogical Proof Standard (GPS) was articulated and laid out in its five parts." He continues: "In fact, the Standards Manual was released at the NGS Conference in Providence in 2000, and I did a presentation on the GPS at that conference and have been doing them in one form or another over the years." Often, in the course of a one-hour lecture, Tom can share an insight into some aspect of the GPS, but the proof standard is a large topic that requires far more than a single hour.
The courses Tom teaches at Boston University and at the Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy treat the GPS in a broader context, and this book builds on that approach. "It's the result of my learning from all the teaching I have done, at BU and at the Salt Lake Institute particularly." Originally, the book was to have been an NGS online course. As he started to develop the content, Tom felt that "the complexity and the length suggested that an online course was not the best way to deliver the content." The exercises also made the work better suited to being a "textbook to accompany a course, rather than a course itself." So, the National Genealogical Society worked with Tom to re-conceive the project as a book to support in-class coursework.
And now the courses are coming: Two study groups have formed to study Mastering Genealogical Proof. One study group is hosted by Angela Packer McGhie, a genealogical researcher, lecturer, and instructor. Angela serves as the administrator of the ProGen Study Program and course coordinator. She has set up a "train-the-trainer" model where she is working through the content with a small group of mentors, who will then teach others. The course is being held online via Google Hangouts. For more information, see the "Gen Proof" groups post on her blog, Adventures in Genealogy Education.
Another study group is led by Pat Richley-Erickson, the irrepressible blogger also known as "Dear Myrtle." This course started with an orientation session on Sunday, with fifteen other panelists. There will be sessions through September, including a graduation ceremony. For more information, see Pat Richley-Erickson's blog Dear Myrtle or her MGP Study Group schedule.
Of the audience for the Mastering Genealogical Proof, Tom says he hopes it would include "everyone interested in tracing their family history. Most of my teaching experience has been with people that I would say are intermediate and higher in terms of their research experience. I think the greatest interest in the book is among that group, but I really hope people who are just embarking on their family history research will pick this up and get a lot out of it, because it will get them started off on the right foot. It will minimize all the hours of work put into something that a few years down the road they realize is worthless. I don't think anything in here is too advanced or too complex for a new family historian to digest and benefit from and apply to their own research." I agree, and hope researchers, those just beginning, and those with more experience, will take a look at Tom's book, and learn to benefit from the rigor and clarity of the genealogical proof standard. The National Genealogical Society is proud to have helped bring Mastering Genealogical Proof to the community of genealogists. We are heartened to see that the book is generating interest in advanced genealogical study, and that students and teachers are using it to explore and extend their understanding of the GPS.
The photographs are poignant - beautifully done, fascinating yet sad at the same time. I wish New York had given the photographer permission to reveal full names of the patients these suitcases belonged to. As a genealogist I immediately wanted to research the person behind the meager belongings.
I wish I could show a photo of one of the suitcases here on Olive Tree Genealogy blog but I don't have permission. So please take a moment and use the link below to read more and view these beautiful photos. They tell a story without words.
Olive Tree Genealogy Blog was recently chosen by Internet Genealogy Magazine as one of the Top 25 Genealogy Blogs. It's an honour to be in such a great group of other chosen blogs!
I'm not sure why the author put my blog as a Corporate blog when I'm just one Canadian grandmother, all on my own up in northern Ontario! I'm not part of a big company so although I'm thrilled to be chosen, I'm puzzled at the description. The few Corporate rated blogs in the list were the big guys - FamilySearch, My Heritage, and RootsMagic! They are all big commercial companies.
My husband jokingly said it's because my Olive Tree Genealogy blog is so professional that it's hard to believe one senior citizen does it all. Ha! I don't think so but it's a nice thought.
The Orphaned Kirby Photo Album Has Found A Home!
Continuing on with my journey of discovery into the identities of the people in the Kirby antique photo album I was able to develop a theory that the album began life in Yorkshire England and then ended up in Brantford Ontario.
Hubs and I matched photos - we put together all photos that we were sure were of the same individual and tried to work out dates and locations to help. It was an interesting exercise but it didn't solve anything for us.
Since my searches based only on the one full name in the album - Maude M. Kirby - had not been successful, and my searches using only first names as found on some photos, with my guess as to location likewise had not worked, I decided to search on Ancestry.com using a different tactic.
I narrowed my searches to Brantford and used the one bit of writing I thought was a clue - a photo of a young woman which she had obviously sent to a loved one, for on the back she had written "To Lillian and Aunt Mabel with love Maud"
I had found a Maude Marion Kirby living and dying in Yorkshire England but she died in 1901 and this photo signed Maud was taken ca 1920s so they could not be the same person. I'd had a glimmer of an idea that Maude Marion Kirby might have been the original owner of the photo album and on her death perhaps it passed to her mother or someone else in the family.
So I made a huge leap (assumption) and theorized that Lillian might be this Aunt Mabel's daughter. So I started my search on Ancestry.com for any mention of a Lillian with mother Mabel in the Brantford area.
was the right family but I managed to contain my excitement while hubs and I compared information and photos in the online Tree with whatever bits and pieces were contained in the album I bought.
There were no definite 100% proof moments but there were enough similarities to convince both of us that we had the right family. So I wrote to the Tree submitter and told him the story of the album. I included some first names and gave him my private email so I could send him copies of some photos to see if he thought it was his family. He responded immediately and his enthusiasm and excitement matched mine. It was indeed his family!
He filled me in on details. I was happy to have them because by now I'd become quite attached to the individuals in the photos and wanted to know their stories. It turned out that the album had indeed once belonged to Maude Marion Kirby, who died in England in 1901.
I figured out later that I had a photo of Maude Marion Kirby with her baby son Herbert. It was simply labelled "4 months old" but I knew it was taken late 1890s because of the clothing and hairstyle but also because the photographer George Dear was only at the the Sheffield location until 1899.
Everything was starting to make sense. Maude Marion Kirby owned the album and filled it with photos that had meaning to her. Then she died in 1901 at age 26 and the album passed to another family member - probably her mother Mary Kirby.
When Mary came to Brantford Ontario with her daughter Mabel and granddaughter Lillian in 1911, the album came with them. I suspect that when Mary died, the album stayed with Mabel.
The one puzzle was the photo of "Baby Donalda" with Lillian. I'd surmised that Donalda was Lillian's daughter but I could find no evidence that Mabel's daughter Lillian ever married or had children. The Family Tree owner was able to fill me in. Donalda, (who is still alive, in her 90s and living in Ontario!) was the daughter of Lillian's cousin. The cousin died in childbirth. I do not know at this point if Lillian raised Donalda but am eager to learn more.
And so the orphaned album has found a home. I am mailing the photos to Gordon (the owner of the Family Tree on Ancestry.com ) in England as soon as hubs has scanned them. We've agreed that I can put all the photos up on my Lost Faces website for other descendants to hopefully find.
A Wonderful Genealogical Find on Ebay!
Look what arrived yesterday! I found this on Ebay . It is the original group photo taken in 1909 of the Guelph Fire Department - on the first year it was official. Before 1909 the Guelph Fire Brigade was volunteers but in 1909 they became the first to be paid by the City of Guelph.
And guess who was in the Fire Department that year? MY GRANDFATHER Joseph McGinnis! Yep, found on E-Bay of all places.... I was pretty excited when this photo turned up.
I'd seen a scan of this photo at the Guelph Civic Museum so I had a copy of my grandpa cropped from the group photo, but had not seen the original. Now hubs is going to scan it and we'll frame it for our wall of ancestors.
The original owner's name is on the back of the group photo - Mrs. Watt. Daniel Watt was the Captain of the Hook & Ladder so presumably this photo was given to him in 1909.
1ST - A. SIMPSON, J. LANNIN, GEO. THOMPSON, W. MCILROY, R. DILLON.
4TH - A. ROBERTSON - CHIEF, G. SPALDING, W.J. ARMSTRONG ASST. CHIEF.
I did a little research and found some of the men's full names. So far I've found John Lannin (the Guelph Civic Museum has his Guelph Fire Department hat which I wish I could show you here but I need permission from them first); George Whetstone; Charles Chase; Daniel Watt (his wife's name is on the back of my photo); William Hebden; Adam Robertson; Charles Spalding and of course my grandfather Joseph McGinnis.
"Adam Robertson was the department's third chief; he held the position for quite some time. During that time, a new fire hall was put on the end of the building housing the Farmer's Market and it served the department until fairly recent times. A pipeline consisting of wooden planks wrapped with iron bands and sawdust was constructed from the Arkell Springs in 1907; it provided water for fighting fires throughout the city and is still of significance today. A ladder wagon was purchased about 1900 and Guelph's firefighters became paid public servants in 1909."
Over the years I've found a few treasured genealogical items that connect to my ancestors, but this is the first time I was lucky enough to find a photograph. I've bid on and won an advertising ruler from Biltmore Hats in Guelph where my dad worked, two blank cheques from Biltmore Hats, a lovely watercolour of a rustic stone bridge in Guelph painted by a well-known Guelph-born artist, and a few other interesting items.
My advice? Don't overlook Ebay as a source of genealogy treasures!
This is a wonderful yet odd database of historic newspapers. To quote reason.com, "Amateur Beats Gov't at Digitizing Newspapers: Tom Tryniski's Weird, Wonderful Website"
The site, FultonHistory, is amazing in its own right, chock full of wonderful New York newspapers. But on top of that reason.com reports that the Library of Congress' historic newspaper site, ChroniclingAmerica, has 5 million newspaper pages on its site. In January, visitors to Fultonhistory.com accessed just over 6 million pages while Chronicling America pulled fewer than 3 million views.
Mr. Tryniski's site is free and even though he has been approached by big companies with proposals for partnership, he refuses all in order to keep his work free for all.
This site is well worth checking out. Be sure you take a peek at his wonderful online collection of old postcards too.
Granted this census has been available online for some time now on Ancestry.com but that requires payment. LAC's is free. And the image quality is outstanding. But what I like best is the detailed explanation of all the markings on a typical 1891 census page.
Here's an example to show you what I mean - I've found all my family in Ontario in the 1891 census years ago. Some I found the old-fashioned way, by scrolling through screen after screen of microfilmed records (unindexed). Some I found on the Ancestry.com website.
Residential dwellings were described using letters and numbers such as "S2/6" for a stone house, two stories, six rooms or "W ½" for a wooden house, one story, two rooms.
I'd see these obscure markings but had no idea what they meant. I read them in my mind as a letter followed by a fraction (W 1/2 for example) Think of all the cool and interesting extra details I'd missed - namely the kind of house an ancestor lived in (wooden vs stone, the number of stories) and how many rooms were in the home.
My readers probably know me well enough to realize I spent a happy half day looking up 1891 census records for my ancestors again! I found that my 2nd great-grandmother Fanny McGinnis who was living on her own at the age of 60 (which I already knew) lived in a wooden one-storey house with four rooms. Her widowed daughter lived next door with her four young children in a wooden one-storey home with five rooms. That kind of detail may seem inconsequential but to me it adds more to the shadowy picture I have built in my mind of Fanny and her life. I'm trying to imagine the rooms - how big or small they were and what was in each.
My next happy but rather surprising find was when I re-examined my great grandfather Alex McGinnis's 1891 census report. He was Fanny's son and in 1891 was married with four young children. He lived in a wooden home with only 3 rooms! I cannot imagine that. I suppose there was a kitchen, living-room and one bedroom. So where on earth did the children sleep?
I'm having trouble wrapping my head around that. It was around this time that Alex and his wife Harriet separated and now I'm wondering if crowded living conditions and perhaps poverty were a factor in that separation.
You can search the 1891 census online. I plan on looking for more ancestors this afternoon.


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IKEA to open city centre store in Hammersmith
10th January 2020 News, Top Stories Comments Off on IKEA to open city centre store in Hammersmith 1,056 Views
IKEA UK plans to open a new small store format at Hammersmith in West London.
Due to launch in Spring 2021, the shop will sell the brand's home furnishing range, with all products available to buy from the store for home delivery, and over 2,000 home furnishing accessories available to take away on the same day. This will be the first time that IKEA's home furnishing accessories will be available to buy on the UK high street.
The outlet will be located in Hammersmith's Kings Mall Shopping Centre on Kings Street, which has been newly acquired by Ingka Centres (part of the Ingka Group, which owns and operates IKEA retail under franchise agreements) as part of a £170 million investment.
Last year, IKEA UK opened its most sustainable store to date in Greenwich, and two Planning Studios in London on Tottenham Court Road and Bromley, which specialise in providing advice and planning for kitchen and bedrooms. There are also four London stores in Wembley, Tottenham, Croydon and Lakeside.
The new shop in Hammersmith will mark a whole new IKEA format for the city. Peter Jelkeby, country retail manager and chief sustainability officer of IKEA UK & Ireland, said: "Our plan to open a new city centre store in Hammersmith is an exciting next step, as we continue to respond to people's evolving shopping habits, making IKEA more convenient than ever before.
"People have been eager to see our affordable range and access our 'life at home' expertise on the high street for some time. So we're excited to introduce a unique IKEA store to the vibrant local community in Hammersmith and London."
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Steering the Process through Uncharted Waters: Remote Hearings, Bargaining and Mediation
Total Credits: 1.25 Illinois
Labor Law | Labor Relations
Jeanne Charles | Angie Cowan Hamada, JD | Melissa Sobota | John J. Weathers
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The panelists will discuss best practices and provide practical advice for participating in hearings, bargaining and mediation remotely.
Jeanne Charles Related seminars and products
Arbitrator & Mediator and FSIP Member
Jeanne Charles has a multi-state ADR practice predominately in the areas of workplace disputes. She earned her Juris Doctorate (J.D.) degree from DePaul University College of Law in Chicago. She currently serves as a labor arbitrator on various panels that include the City of Chicago, Chicago Teachers Union, Chicago Transit Authority, IAFF, Internal Revenue Service, the National Treasury Employees Union, AFSCME, and Major League Baseball (MLB). Jeanne is also a Special Magistrate for the Florida Public Employees Relations Commission (PERC) and is listed with the American Arbitration Association, Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, and National Mediation Board. She is an adjunct professor at Penn State University's School of Labor and Employment Relations where she teaches a graduate course in Human Resources and Employment Relations. Jeanne has been inducted into the National Academy of Arbitrators and serves on its Board of Governors. She is also a fellow with the College of Labor and Employment Lawyers. More detailed information can be found at www.JCharles@JCharlesADR.com.
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Angie Cowan Hamada is a shareholder at Allison, Slutsky & Kennedy based in Chicago where she represents Unions and employees in labor and employment law matters before state and federal agencies, courts, as well as in arbitration, mediation and negotiations. She graduated from Chicago Kent Law School in 2005 with a certificate in Labor and Employment Law. She is currently a Commissioner on the Cook County Human Rights Commission, is the program co-chair of the ABA's Developing Labor Law Section, and is on the Board of Editors of the treatise The Developing Labor Law: The Board, the Courts and the National Labor Relations Act. She regularly speaks on panels providing the Union and employee perspective on various labor and employment law issues.
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John Weathers is Commissioner of Mediation in the Peoria, Illinois field service area of the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service (FMCS). Mr. Weathers joined the FMCS in 2016 after working as labor counsel for the Illinois Fraternal Order of Police Labor Council (ILFOPLC) in Springfield, IL for over six years. While with the ILFOPLC he negotiated and administered numerous collective bargaining agreements, presented cases in grievance and interest arbitration, and handled various court and labor board issues. Prior to his employment with the ILFOPLC, Mr. Weathers worked for the State of Illinois Department of Central Management Services (CMS) for nearly four years. His duties at CMS included grievance arbitration, unfair labor practices charges filed against state employees and agencies and negotiation of collective bargaining agreements.. Prior to practicing labor law Mr. Weathers was an State of Illinois Assistant Attorney General focused on defending the State in Federal and State Courts against various constitutional claims. Mr. Weathers received his undergraduate degree in political science from the University of Illinois and his law degree from the Kent College of Law at the Illinois Institute of Technology.
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« Music Video Monday: Light Beam Ride… | Memphis Named One Of 10 Best Places… »
Posted By Addison Engelking on Wed, Jan 20, 2016 at 11:45 AM
Phoenix (2014; dir. Christian Petzold)—You haven't heard this Holocaust story before. At the end of World War II, Nelly (Nina Hoss), a German Jewish nightclub singer whose everlasting love for her husband Johnny (Ronald Zehrfeld) helped her survive the horrors of Auschwitz, returns to Berlin. Like DC Comics' Unknown Soldier, her badly scarred face is covered in bandages. She needs reconstructive plastic surgery, but instead of altering her looks, she insists on getting as much of her old face back as she can. She also insists on trying to reconnect with Johnny in spite of some ominous rumors about his role as a Gestapo informant. After some nighttime wandering around Berlin's Trümmerlandschaft (literally "rubble landscape"; expertly recreated here, the real thing spilled into nearly every frame of such postwar classics as Rossellini's 1948 Germany Year Zero and Carol Reed's 1949 The Third Man), Nelly eventually finds Johnny washing dishes at the Phoenix nightclub. When he sees her, he seems to look right through her.
At first, that is. Then Johnny gets an idea. Since this new-face Nelly, who calls herself "Esther", looks so much like the Nelly he married (because, you know, she's the same person), he asks her to pretend to be his wife so Johnny can get his hands on Nelly's inheritance. Never mind that Nelly can't convince Johnny that she is the person he's looking for even though she knows things about their relationship she couldn't possibly have intuited. Never mind that Johnny either has forgotten what Nelly looks like or is submerged in such a deep, stinking cesspool of self-deception that he refuses to see who is standing in front of him. Never mind that describing the plot of Phoenix makes it sound completely crass and insane. It's insanely and crassly provocative once you half-convince yourself that it could happen somehow. It's happened before, after all; film critic J. Hoberman saw Petzold's film as a retelling of the Orpheus and Eurydice myth. You'll probably see it as a somber Vertigo riff told from the point of view of the neon-green sign outside Judy's room.
Petzold has designed a black-hearted wartime fable whose characters are pack mules dumbly hauling along ungraspable, uncomfortable ideas about human need and identity wherever they go. Nasty insinuations about memory, the past, culpability, inaction and imposture flit by in composed medium-long shot after composed medium-long shot. Hoss' gaunt, knife-cut beauty suggests unspeakable pain and suffering, which she almost gets to articulate when she starts to tell Johnny a "made-up" story about life in the concentration camp. But Johnny cuts her off; the more he tries to control her, the more his firm sadism and imitation-Gable handsomeness slowly come to embody the banality of evil.
The final scene—a musical performance of Kurt Weill's ballad "Speak Low" —is already famous among cinephiles who worship at the altar of the big finish; it turns on the liberation of a forearm from the confines of a long, bright red sleeve. Catch it on Netflix before it disappears into the night and fog.
Tags: Phoenix, Christian Petzold, Ronald Zehrfeld, Nina Hoss


workflow (including an optional transactional workflow).
I don't see the above as neither complicated nor undesirable.
to do if those things are 'just available for use' when I need them.
> discussion, not "taking javaspaces out of jini".
backed by Jini) is and should be a central and integral part of River.


"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness… ." Charles Dickens wrote those words referring to the era of the French Revolution a little over two centuries ago, but they could equally apply to today.
Times have never been better for most Americans, and almost everyone else on our little planet. Incomes are at a record high. Jobs are plentiful. People are living longer and better due to both medical advances and increased prosperity. Despite a few low-level conflicts around the globe that claim a few thousand lives each year, the toll is minuscule compared to the wars of the last century that killed tens of millions.
In the past 30 years, average real (inflation-adjusted) hourly wages have increased by about 80 percent. But it gets better; the real price of automobiles and clothing has not increased at all, after adjusting for quality improvements. And, better yet, telephone service, almost all electronic products, and toys cost about half as much in real dollars — and the real cost of TVs has dropped by an amazing 90 percent (one can buy a TV about ten times larger than in 1998 for the same real dollars).
The big areas where costs have grown much faster than wages are medical care and college tuition. Both of these areas suffer from massive government intervention, which has been the primary cost driver. But despite the massive increases in "sticker prices" for health and education, even here the real picture is not as bad as it first seems.
Drugs and medical devices and procedures have vastly improved, resulting in far fewer premature deaths and healthier and more productive lives for those who have benefitted from the new technologies. Advances in the medical and biological sciences are now approaching an exponential rate, much like computer chips did 40 years ago. What this means is that many conditions that would have been fatal or disabling will no longer be so, and, like computer chips, the cures will come increasingly faster and ultimately cheaper. Technology is going to be the savior of the "health care crisis," not socialist schemes which have always failed.
The increases in college tuition costs have been primarily driven by government-designed student loan programs, which have masked the increases in largely unnecessary overhead costs at most educational institutions. Fortunately, the Internet is in the process of disrupting, if not absolutely destroying, the bloated educational establishment. Various forms of online education will replace mediocre schools. The old prestige schools — like the Ivy League — already "buy" the students they want with free or discounted tuition, so the "sticker price" means little.
Schools that have programs for which there is little market demand, e.g. "gender studies" will increasingly find that fewer will sign on. Schools that train their students to hate capitalism and provide "protections" from all sorts of perceived stress will also increasingly find that employers will not hire such students, unsuitable to the many stress situations found in most workplaces, because of the fear of being sued. Who do you think would make the better employee — a student who majored in sociology at an "elite" university or one who showed the tenacity and discipline to obtain an engineering degree from a reputable online university?
Despite the better life that the free-market capitalist system has enabled for billions of people, there are increased numbers of political voices and their media allies demanding socialism. Given the centuries of failure and mayhem resulting from socialism, for all to see, the new socialists are treated as if their ideas are sensible, rather than ludicrous.
"Medicare for all," if literally adopted, would kill individual choice, much innovation, and quickly lead to an economic meltdown. So why treat people, whose policies would destroy success, as serious individuals? Ask those who demand free education, who should pay for their education or their children's education? Why does someone else have the obligation to give you free stuff? Who decides who gets the free stuff, and who has to work to provide the "free stuff"? The United States fought a Civil War over involuntary servitude. Is not a 90-percent tax rate, as some are now proposing, involuntary servitude? Disconnecting work effort from getting stuff obviously destroys the success model. Are the advocates of such disconnection stupid, ignorant, or mean-spirited?
It is not just those on the left who, in essence, push for policies that would destroy success. In 2016, the Republicans controlled both houses of Congress, as well as the presidency. They gained power by making a series of promises, among them was to repeal Obamacare and cut many specified federal spending programs. Most people understand that if you don't keep your promises others will not buy from you or vote for you again — not rocket science. The Republicans did not keep their promises and hence lost the House in 2018 — a perfect example of destroying success.
The world economy and most major countries suffer from increasing massive and unsustainable debt overhang. That is the most dangerous threat to mankind — not sea level rise. Many of those who focus on sea level rise propose "solutions" that would speed up the global debt collapse. A return to the age of foolishness?
Richard W. Rahn is Chairman of Improbable Success Productions and on the board of the American Council for Capital Formation. He is the recipient of the 2018 Hayek Lifetime Achievement Award.


One morning I read an article, from our local newspaper, that surfaced many different emotions in the readers. A number of people expressed strong feelings after reading the article. I was very surprised to read the many insensitive comments. I couldn't help but wonder why it is so easy for people to write hurtful words. Why are we so quick to react out of anger without reflecting and finding empathy in others? Is it easier to react angrily to strangers because we fail to see God in them?
Heavenly Father, you call us to go first and be reconciled with our brother, and then come and offer our gift. May we remember to see you in others so that, when we come to you, we are prepared to sit at your side.


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Helen's Room
"The beer is too dark here."
I was sitting with Brett Easton, a coworker of mine, in the dinghy, high ceilinged bar next door to our office building. I don't know why he invited me to go for a drink with him. He never spoke to me casually at the office. I figured he probably just didn't want to be seen drinking alone.
"I like dark things," I said.
"I'll bet the pizza here tastes like cardboard. That is, if our waitress ever comes back over here."
"I like the taste of frozen food. It reminds me of Mom's cooking."
"Ugh! This beer tastes like dirty dishwater."
"That-reminds me of one of my little projects," I said.
"Where on earth is our waitress?"
"I started it when I was six."
"Huh? It's a little after six now." Turning for the whole bar to hear: "And it was five-thirty when we came in here!"
"Early that day, the weather turned, and the snow was melting into dirty water. I was standing at the curb watching the slush flowing along the gutter and into the sewer grate when I thought of it."
"You know, I'll bet you could strip paint with this beer."
"I worked on it secretly for days and days. I became obsessed with it. When it was done, I couldn't bear to part with it."
"Uh-huh. Oh, there she is! Miss! Miss!"
"I carried it around with me everywhere I went. In fact, I have it here now. Sometimes I like to sneak little peeks at it when no one is looking."
"Damn it! What, are we invisible?"
"My family tells me that I have a sickness, that I'm going to end up just like my sister. I worry that they may be right. But I persist in denying it."
Easton sighed. "I'm going to get another bowl of popcorn from the bar," he said. "You want one?"
I looked at him sharply. "I think what I want is to gouge your eyeballs out and freeze them and use them as ice cubes."
"That sounds great. Be right back."
Easton scooted out of the booth and weaved toward the bar. I got up as well and headed for the door. I doubted that my absence would even be noted.
I shuffled into the suddenly bright outdoors and turned toward home. Not my apartment home, but my parents' house. Tomorrow was their wedding anniversary. I couldn't remember which one. I tried to count in my head. At least 35, because that's how old my eldest brother, Gerald, was. Their anniversary was one of the many occasions when the entire family was more or less obligated to gather and endure one another's company. All of my brothers and sisters (sister, I corrected myself) would be there, and to not appear was an excellent way to further ostracize myself.
I began the long walk to the house. I had to walk because there was something wrong with my car. I wasn't sure what, but I sensed that something was wrong, so there probably was. Regardless, I was now frightened of it.
The only member of my family who I remotely looked forward to seeing was my brother Frederick, and I wasn't certain that he would be there. I honestly could not remember when I had seen him last. Frederick spent much of his time out of the country. Because of that, he had not developed the family pastime of whispering about the youngest brother.
Gerald was certain to be there, along with his horrid wife Sharon and their horrid children, Matt and Louise. Gerald idolized Father, to the point of fawning. He spent every opportunity at Father's side. They even allowed him to sit at the "other" head of the table, opposite Father. I suspected that Gerald's attentions came from hopes of inheritance and not love.
Sylvia, naturally, would be at Gerald's heels in competing for Father's attention. If only she found poor, sweet Hannah nearly as interesting. But, alas, Hannah was only a child, and could not provide Sylvia with the comfortable, effortless existence she craved.
Helen, of course, would be unavoidably absent.
I was to be the family entertainment, the topic of whispered conversations and closed-door gossip. I would have to endure sideways glances and endless scrutiny. In Helen's absence, I was the next best sideshow. Everyone wondered if I would be the next to go. Sometimes I wondered that myself.
A loud rapping yanked me back to the present. I found myself standing in a gas station lot, gazing into the tiny glass booth where the attendant was scowling at me.
"You need somethin', buddy?"
"I'm sorry?"
"You've been standin' there five minutes. Somethin' I can do for ya?"
"Er, uh, no. No. I'm sorry."
Trembling, I turned and tried to run, but I found one side of my body unresponsive, and I sort of loped sideways to the street. Perhaps my family was right. Perhaps I was beginning the steadily quickening slide that would deposit me in the same cold place as my sister. I felt as though half of my brain were clinging to reason while the other half babbled incoherently.
Somehow, I found my bearings and arrived at my family's large Edwardian home. Lights glowed through the leaded glass windows. I could not bear to go inside. I could not take the inevitable questions about my well-being, which were really questions about my state of mind.
Using my key, I slipped through the side door and scurried upstairs to my usual bedroom. Just as my hand touched the doorknob, I heard Father and one of my brothers emerging from one of the adjacent bedrooms. I hurried inside and turned the lock, thinking I had moved too quickly to be spotted. But I did not even have time to settle my shaking body on the small bed before Father's familiar rap sounded at the door. I opened it and saw him standing with Frederick. Frederick had a beard now.
"Ah, Jonathan, you've arrived," Father said. "I was just showing Frederick his room."
"It's good to see you again, Johnny," Frederick said, shaking my hand. "It's been a long time."
"Indeed," I sat down on the bed as Frederick scanned the room.
"What's with the cameras?" he asked.
I looked up at the surveillance cameras protruding from the corners near the ceiling. Tiny glass eyes shone dully on the ends of their aluminum stalks. I didn't know if they were active anymore or not. They had been installed to monitor Helen when this was her room, in case she had fits. They were one of the few modern intrusions in this sprawling Gorean house.
"They were to keep an eye on Helen," I explained. "And me," I added, smiling maliciously at Father. "The disturbed one always stays in Helen's room."
Father was rescued from his uncomfortable silence by the appearance of Sylvia with her young daughter Hannah in tow.
"Does anyone know how long dinner will be?" she demanded. "If he knows what he's doing down there, it could be ten minutes from now. But if he doesn't, it could be twenty!" Sylvia had a habit to exaggerate her torments.
Hannah interjected cheerfully. "When Mumbato cooks, it takes, like, two minutes!" Hannah's endless optimism was one of Sylvia's many torments.
Mumbato was an African tribesman that Mother and Father had encountered on one of their many global adventures. They thought that it would be socially outstanding to have an ethnic cook. Mother never did learn to cook. Before we hired Mumbato, the only thing she ever made was frozen TV dinners. I grew rather accustomed to that cardboard- and plastic-wrapped cuisine. They tempted Mumbato away from Africa with the lure of a large (to him) salary and a room in a grand house. They opted not to send him to culinary school so as not to spoil his instinctive talents. As a result, Mumbato was never exposed to the wide range of foodstuffs outside of Africa. We ate grains a lot.
"I do believe," Father said, "that dinner is just about ready."
Dinner was torturous. Mother wanted to hear all about everyone's various ailments and maladies--especially mine--and she made no hesitation to report her own every ache, pain, and suspicious symptom. I gained a brief respite of silence when Mumbato served dinner--a kind of four-bean stew accompanied by rice- and corn-stuffed tomatoes. It was delicious, and I hated it. I longed for the stacks of frozen dinners in my freezer at home.
Father sat to my right, at the head of the table. Mother sat directly across from me, where she could keep an eye on me. Hannah was seated to my left, beside her mother. From the other end of the table, Gerald carried on a business conversation with Father, while Sharon award-winningly missed every opportunity to discipline her two children.
"I don't wike this chair," Matt complained. He was ten, but still spoke like a toddler.
"I'm sorry, baby, but this is all there is," Sharon responded, without looking at him.
"I hate this chair, an' I hate you!"
"Now, that's not nice to say, sweetie."
"I'm sowwy, mommy," Matt said, without a hint of sincerity.
Louise, meanwhile, was busy flinging pieces of corn at my parents' sheltie, Sid, who lay in the corner and flinched.
The stress was getting to me. I didn't have an appetite anyway, so I took advantage of the cacophony at the table to admire the little amusement I'd created all those years ago. Thousands of times I had seen it, and yet it still fascinated me. There was such beauty in its simplicity, such basic order in its structure. Like fine music, add or remove one element and it all falls apart.
A voice to my left, "What's that, Uncle Johnny?"
Sylvia: "Oh, God. Jonathan, at the dinner table?"
Mother: "Dear, when are you going to lose your fascination with that thing? Put it away now."
Father simply stared at his plate. I was sure that if he could will me not to exist, he would. I know I would.
I screeched my chair back. "You know, everyone, I had a really hard day at work, and I have a bit of a headache. I think I'm going to turn in early. Goodnight, everyone. I'll see you all in the morning."
I went up to my room and closed the door. Helen's room, I reminded myself, not mine. It would always remain Helen's room. Her knickknacks were still arranged neatly on the dresser, and her clothes still filled the armoire. As if she were ever coming back, I thought. I removed several items from my jacket pockets and lay down. One of the items was a small, leather-bound journal, its pages stiff and bloated. I opened to the first blank page and wrote, Friday, July 25th. I had the same elegant, spidery penmanship that my father had learned from his father, the man who built this house. Father liked to say that change is good, but we must preserve the finer things from our past. Good penmanship, he said, is one of them.
I picked up my copy of Nine Stories, by J.D. Salinger, and began reading. The first story was A Perfect Day for Bananafish. It made me laugh. One passage in particular struck my liking, and I took a rusting razor blade and carefully sliced the paragraph from the book. Then I smeared a glue stick across the back of the fragment and gently pasted it into my journal. I pressed the bulging covers shut and set it aside. Lacing my fingers behind my head, I lay back and stared at the camera in the corner. I wondered who was watching at the other end.
I think I fell asleep with my eyes open. The knock at the door made me jump.
The door opened a crack, and Frederick stuck his head in the room. "Hey, Johnny. Can I come in?"
"Oh, hullo, Freddy. Sure." I sat up and slid over to give him room to sit. Next to Helen, Frederick was nearest to my age, and we had always been closer than our other siblings. He had struck out on his own immediately following graduation, and had spent the last thirteen years systematically conquering the world's highest mountains. Of the big ones, I think he had only K2 and Everest left to climb. Perhaps he had just come from there.
"How's peaks?" I asked.
He shrugged. "Got caught in a snowstorm on McKinley about a month ago and lost a pinkie toe to frostbite. Have to put off climbing for a while." He lowered his voice and grinned. "Don't tell Mom."
I smiled. "Deal." I have always been small. Freddy has always been lanky and muscular. When I was twelve, he came upon three of my classmates beating me up behind the school. He put two of them in the hospital. He was fourteen then. The other kids left me alone after that.
Frederick's expression suddenly turned serious. "I have to ask, are you ok? I mean, it's been a long time since I've seen you, and you don't seem happy anymore. You don't seem...alive."
I looked at the floor. "I don't think I'm well, Freddy."
"In a way, I guess. Mother calls it a sickness. I think... I think the same thing might be happening to me...as happened to Helen."
Frederick frowned. "Has this been confirmed by a doctor?"
"Then how can you say?"
"Well, it just has to be true. I've been having these...blackouts where I lost track of time. And my mind feels like it's being pulled in all directions at once. And Mother says--"
"Oh, God," Frederick interjected. "Haven't you learned not to listen to a thing Mother says?"
"But doesn't it make sense? I'm Helen's twin. What happened to her should naturally happen to me."
"Look. Mother doesn't feel like she's being a mother unless she can find things to fix. Did it ever occur to you..." He looked up at the ceiling as though searching for words lurking in the wallpaper up there. "Did it ever occur to you that maybe the reason you feel the way you do is that everyone expects it from you?"
"Why would they want that to happen twice in the same family? I mean, no one ever talks about Helen anymore. She damaged their social standing quite badly."
"Johnny... This is one screwed-up family. Why do you think I literally headed for the hills as soon as I could? They were gonna kill me, buddy. One way or another, I wasn't gonna survive them. And I'm afraid that's happening to you now."
"I have to admit, I don't really enjoy spending time with them. If Helen were still here, it might be different..."
"Well, what about Helen?" Frederick asked. "Have you been to visit her lately?"
I shook my head. "I don't like it there."
"If she had a choice, I don't think she would be there either. We should go see her."
"I don't know if I can."
"Because... Because they might not let me out."
Frederick was quiet for a long time. "Listen. There is no conspiracy. I'm not trying to lure you there so that they can slap on a straightjacket and lock you away. Believe me, if I can rescue any member of this family, I want it to be you. I only wish I could have gotten to Helen soon enough to save her."
"I miss her, Freddy."
"So do I, bud. I'll call the hospital and let them know we're coming tomorrow."
The next morning, Frederick and I walked away from the looming family home, and went to see our sister.


Art Workshop available in Alphington Victoria.
I have a workshop available this Wednesday afternoon with only two other people as I try to cap it to only three. You can paint or make mixed media collage in a very relaxed no pressure environment.
Let me know if interested. Date is 20th Feb 2-5pm.
Experience or beginner are both ok.
Let me know if you are interested and we can discuss what materials you have or do not have. If it's a one off class I'm sure I can supply for you.
Favourite colour is all kinds of yellow.
This is a small painting of around 25 x 25cm using acrylic on board. This is one of a series of four still-life works. They are all framed in blondewood box frames. I will post some of the others later. Loved making them and using super vibrant colours. I have used a limited palette as I always do however I will always introduce alizarin crimson for apples. So only four colours plus white. I think you can call that pretty limited.
Peachy, orangy colours but it's a persimmon.
A small painting on board done using acrylics. The fruit is off my tree that refuses to grow taller. Many years ago I took a photo of myself in front of the newly planted tree hoping it would get taller but alas it is still the same size. I get only about six pieces of fruit from it. The best thing is it is a pretty tree and the fruit is delicious.
From a tree we can build.
First image is a little Character I made as a lucky charm or lucky protector. It's made of wood, woodcarving, painting, found charms and some other quirky bits. I am making more of these before I decide if I like them enough to keep going. Currently I have a little man in a suit and tie with a mohawk (yet to paint). I do become connected to these little people as my wood carving is pretty limited and very very slow.
Here is a detail from a collage/mixed media series I am making for an exhibition in Canberra in October. I have made several pieces that are merging people, industry, nature etc. Where things start and or finish might be ambiguous.
Really really reduced prices Artist Sale at Cambridge Studio Gallery Collingwood.
1 weekend only! 52 Cambridge Street, Collingwood. See their website and pictures of works for sale on their instagram site.
Rare opportunity to purchase artworks at radically reduced prices. Artists are cleaning out their studios, real gems available for one weekend only.
Sale -This coming Weekend 17th and 18th February only.
Workshops: I am looking for two people that would like to take Wednesday Still-life Workshops in Acrylic with me. As the classes are so small it would be easy for me to teach Collage/Mixed Media if you prefer. We meet here in my home studio in Alphington (Victoria, Australia) at 9.30am to 12.30pm.No experience necessary, I will show you my techniques which will make painting fun and easy, you can then adapt to suit your own style. You only need to love art to do these classes so don't let your experience or lack of experience stop you from learning something new and sharing this experience with others. If you are interested or know of anyone else that may be interested pass on my information please. I would like to start this Wed 14th or the following one on 21st February. I'll put it on my Website as well. www.annewarrenart.com.
Wednesday Workshops in Art available.
Art exhibition nearing at Alphington Open Studios at the end of the month.
Just want you to know that the Alphington Open Studios will be on again on Saturday 25th and Sunday 26th of November. For more information go to the Facebook Site Alphington Open Studios or to the website http://www.alphingtonstudios.com. You will see information and images from all of the exhibiting artists. Below I have inserted a still life painted image and below that a mixed media drawing and painting. Hope you like them. Please note that I now have a new Website http://www.annewarrenart.com that I hope you will look up for more gallery pictures.
Melbourne East Arts Festival art exhibition August 18-20th.
I was so pleased to be invited to exhibit works at the Melbourne East Arts Festival on Friday 18th August to Sunday 20th August. Inside this beautiful little church, alongside the magnificent stained glass windows I will be exhibiting a solo still-life exhibition of paintings made especially for this occasion. In another room I will be exhibiting a selection of collage work with the highly regarded and beautiful sculpture of Michael Meszaros.
By the way I have heard that the wine and food flows at this event.
Hope you can come along and join us at the Friday evening opening at 8.30pm (note there is a $10 fee as it is a fundraiser for the church) and please also keep in mind the other calendar of events available during this weekend.
Michael and I will be there most of the weekend to talk to you. Please contact me for any further information or contact the email addresses on the brochure.
If you are blogging friend of follower I would love for you to pop in and say hi to me. If you wish to see more of the work I am exhibiting you can email me.
Coming soon my art exhibition in East Melbourne.
I will exhibit collage/mixed media work and still-life painting and Sculpture Michael Meszaros will exhibit his 3d sculpture on the August 19-20th. Here are a couple of details from my work. The still-life work is acrylic on birch board or canvas and the collage work is on paper. Hope you can lock in the date.
Still life paintings change of mind pictures.
So many changes. Pears gone, Lily gone, ribbon gone, teapot gone. Hours and hours of work. It's a good feeling to accept that something is not quite right. I removed the problem bits and looked at a different set up with fresh eyes. Ahh happy now.
Μια προσπάθεια συγκέντρωσης και παρουσίασης της εικαστικής καλλιτεχνικής δημιουργίας στην πόλη της Θεσσαλονίκης. An attempt to assemble and present the visual artistic creation in the city of Thessaloniki, Greece.


text:
Meet Ben, the Singaporean composer who broke into the inner circle of China's music industry
on 13th January 2022 13th January 2022 by Claudia Tan
Home » Meet Ben, the Singaporean composer who broke into the inner circle of China's music industry
Despite a late start in music, Benjamin Lim Yi has become a sought-after composer in China through sheer grit and relentless drive, writing for national events and blockbuster TV programmes. He recounts his beginnings as an outsider, and how this perceived handicap turned out to be his greatest strength.
13 January 2022 / By SGN
Benjamin Lim Yi is a Singaporean composer based in Beijing since 2013.
It's hard to pinpoint exactly what kind of musician Ben is.
He has written and arranged for orchestras and ensembles, TV and film, dance and theatre, pop music and children's songs. He's a multi-instrumentalist: an accomplished sheng player who's also adept at piano and guitar. He is inspired by both the Western and Chinese musical traditions, and secretly a fan of heavy metal.
"I've worked in so many mediums and genres that a lot of people are very perplexed," he says. "Some people find it interesting, some people find it frustrating. They're like, 'Hey, what's this guy about?'"
Feeling like an outsider
Ben's unique position in music may be traced to his unconventional entry into the field. In fact, music wasn't always a source of pleasure.
In primary school, he recalls having classmates who were learning piano or violin and already able to read music. Naturally, during recorder lessons, everybody could play the instrument – that is, everybody but Ben. It was a formative experience that shaped his view of the subject. "I've always felt like an outsider in music," he says, "someone that's outside looking in."
Things took a turn at 15, when his teacher pressed him and his deskmate to join the Chinese orchestra because they were short of sheng players. Ben tried it out for fun, and grew unexpectedly absorbed in the practice, thrilled by the challenge while discovering a flair for music.
More than the sheng, he was captivated by the power of the orchestra to move audiences and conjure sweeping emotion. Often, he stayed back after rehearsals to borrow the conductor's score and decipher how all its elements pieced together.
As a persistent back injury dashed his sporting aspirations and commando dreams, he dived deeper into music and began theory lessons during National Service. He seemed well-suited for composition: he could read scores faster than his peers and figure out chords and counter-melodies by ear, even before he had learnt the jargon.
But because he had neither the qualifications nor a Western instrument to audition for a Bachelor's in composition, he opted instead to study at the National Institute of Education and become a music teacher.
With music students before the Singapore Youth Festival 2013
Early days in Beijing
Even as he pursued a teaching career, Ben never let up on improving his skills in music, making trips to Beijing's Central Conservatory of Music for private lessons – first in sheng, then in composition, tutored by the eminent Tang Jianping.
"Because I started music very late, I always had this constant fear that I needed to catch up," he explains. "I always felt like: I need to study more, I need to read more, I need to listen more."
After four years of teaching, Ben had imparted all he could to his students. He was ready to venture out and gain more life and work experience.
Given that being a full-time composer in Singapore was near-impossible, he settled on pursuing a Master's degree at the Central Conservatory in Beijing as a means to hone his craft while easing into China's music industry. Though language posed a huge challenge, the Conservatory offered the rigorous training he sought, and it helped that he was already familiar with the city.
Possibly the first Singaporean to get into the notoriously tough composition programme, Ben spent four years – resuming his mentorship under Tang Jianping – experiencing what he describes as "ass-whipping" training and impossible-to-complete exams that induced more than a few tears.
Ben with (left) mentor Tang Jianping and (right) composer Zhou Long
By the end of his Master's, Ben had built a steady pipeline of projects to supplement his living expenses. Though he never had a big break, he became known as someone clients could count on at the eleventh hour, subbing for composers that had dropped out without warning.
"That is something I am especially proud of as a Singaporean – the reputation we have built for being reliable and professional," Ben says.
As a junior composer, he had to endure missed payments and poor treatment. Over time, however, Ben grew a client base that valued and believed in his work.
Ben has worked on blockbuster TV series like Sing! China, Vacation of Love, and Faith Makes Great, an epic 40-episode production to commemorate the Communist Party's 100th anniversary.
Within the industry, Ben gets hired as if he were a local, which allows him to participate in some of the biggest projects in China. "Many of my collaborators don't know, till a much later stage, that I'm a foreigner. It makes for good conversation over beers once projects are wrapped, though," he says.
He has been involved in projects of great magnitude, such as the 70th anniversary of China's founding. The grand parade commissioned works by an esteemed roster of composers, of which Ben was the only non-national.
Ben at the soundtrack recording of Faith Makes Great
He subsequently scored a children's musical involving young performers from China and Denmark to celebrate the opening of Panda House at Copenhagen Zoo, a US$24 million enclosure for two newly loaned giant pandas.
In the classical world, he's worked with top orchestras and the most revered musicians in China, including Yang Xuefei ("the Beyoncé of the classical guitar world") and Wu Tong ("the god of sheng") – whom he addresses as shige since they were taught by the same professor.
With classical guitar virtuoso Yang Xuefei at Ben's recording studio
Reaching the common man
Ben's influences encompass the East and the West. They range from Jerry Goldsmith and Alexandre Desplat to Ryuichi Sakamoto and Chen Qigang – who was a member of the illustrious Class of 1978, the Central Conservatory's first batch of composition students after the Cultural Revolution.
In a process that can be emotionally draining, he pours himself into each piece he creates, immersing himself in the story and the feelings of its characters.
"Music is very malleable," he says. "I could make you feel a sense of calm one moment, then twist it around and make you feel saturated with regret or anguish. There are so many tinges and hues that I can colour with."
Occasionally, he receives texts and emails from listeners that express how his work has resonated deeply or moved them to tears.
"I think I'm able to touch people only because I know what it's like to be an outsider to music," he muses. "Much as I have been trained to be highly technically proficient, my goal has always been to write music that is accessible to the man in the street. I don't write music to alienate people."
Love for collaboration
Amid his commercial pursuits in China, Ben sets time aside for passion projects that support young artists and the Singapore arts scene.
He keeps a lookout for indie films by students or fledgling directors, offering them professional audio treatments on low budgets. He also undertakes projects with Singapore groups like the Singapore Chinese Orchestra and Toy Factory, which engaged him to score their play 7 Sages of the Bamboo Grove in 2020.
Curtain call at Toy Factory's 7 Sages of the Bamboo Grove in early 2020 – the last time Ben was in Singapore
While Ben's advice to aspiring artists is to go further by focusing their energies on one genre, he can't help but yield to an omnivorous appetite for the arts. He loves collaborating with choreographers, filmmakers, theatre directors, and gets fired up by the creative possibilities of supporting their vision and adding layers of meaning through music.
He credits being an outsider for this artistic versatility, saying that musicians who started young may find it harder to break the mould they were cast in. "But I was never a part of that mould," he says. "That has given me the freedom to go into whichever medium I'm interested in."
Behind his success
Most people see the glamour of Ben's successes and the polish of his finished pieces. What they don't see are the long nights, the pitches that fall through, the endless rejections and rewrites under frantic deadlines.
"I would say that for every big project of mine, I've probably had 20 or more projects that did not work out," he says. "Many Singaporean musicians have come and gone, and I think it has to do with an assumption that success comes overnight.
"I've been working on my career for close to 20 years now, and I've only just begun. I'm nowhere near peaking."
Entering 2022, Ben continues to take on a mix of Singapore and China assignments. In the first quarter alone, he is juggling work for the Winter Olympics in Beijing, another Toy Factory production premiering in March, and a short film by Singaporean director Boo Junfeng.
Reuniting with his team in October 2020 after nearly a year of remote work
Musician. Husband. Father.
After eight years in China, Ben has not only forged a thriving career – he has also started a family.
He is married to Sherry Sun Ying, a high-profile pipa performer who studied at the Central Conservatory from the age of 11. She has performed at the 2007 FIFA Women's World Cup, the 2008 Beijing Olympics, as well as in numerous stage performances and studio recordings for film, TV, and pop music.
Ben is married to Sherry Sun Ying, an accomplished pipa performer.
The couple have a one-year-old son who is unsurprisingly drawn to music, dancing along happily or sitting and listening, remarkably focused, for 10 minutes straight.
Much may have changed since Ben moved to Beijing, but some things never will. He still dreads the cold, and he is still improving his Mandarin and knowledge of Chinese culture. Thanks to Facebook and WhatsApp, Ben feels like he hasn't left Singapore. Oddly enough, neither have his dreams.
"It's funny that in all my years in China, my dreams are always set in Singapore," he shares. "Most of them are very mundane. I could be sipping kopi at a kopitiam. But the location is always Singapore."
One-month-old Cassidy receiving his passport at the Singapore embassy
Father and son in the studio
Ben is a Singaporean composer based in Beijing who has written for renowned musicians and orchestras, award-winning indie films and hit television series. He graduated from the Central Conservatory of Music with a Master's in composition under the tutelage of Tang Jianping.
Learn more at his website.
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