text:
Mayberry
Mayberry Sandwich Shops
Snappy Lunch
Around since 1923 and famous for its fried pork chop sandwiches. Andy Griffith ate here as a boy and mentioned it during Season 1 of The Andy Griffith Show.
Mayberry Museums
Andy Griffith Museum
Explore the life and times of Mt. Airy's most famous son at the Andy Griffith Museum. It also houses items donated by other actors, including Don Knotts (Barney Fife), George Lindsey (Goober) & Betty Lynn (Thelma Lou).
Mayberry Squad Car Tours
Enjoy a tour of the real Mayberry in vintage Mayberry squad cars as a "deputy" tour guide shares the sights, sounds and history of Andy Griffith's hometown of Mount Airy, NC.
Mayberry Arts & Music
Andy Griffith Playhouse
It features the same stage where a young Andy Griffith made his first appearance, singing a song in the school's talent show.
Granite City Greenway
Tracing the Ararat River & Lovills Creek, Granite City Greenway forms a 6.6-mile horseshoe around Mt. Airy. The paved route offers walking, running & cycling. Includes kayak & canoe launches and trout fishing.
Mayberry Culinary Stores
Bear Creek Gifts & Fudge Factory
Bear Creek is a popular gift store and fudge shop in downtown Mount Airy featuring a wide selection of Mayberry-themed merchandise.
Shopping Antique Stores
Beary Country
Beary Country carries a large selection of glassware, antiques, primitives, vintage items, baskets, home decor, holiday items, furniture, Willow Tree and Yankee Candles.
Arts & Music Live Music
Blackmon Amphitheatre
Located in downtown Mount Airy across from the Andy Griffith Playhouse, this venue offers great events from early spring through late fall.
Museums Arts & Music Live Music
Blue Ridge Music Center
Established by the U.S. Congress in 1985, the site includes an outdoor amphitheater and indoor interpretive center used to highlight an important strand of American musical culture, which is still alive and thriving in the region.
Outdoors Casual Dining Fine Dining Golf
Cross Creek Country Club
Set amidst a backdrop of the Blue Ridge Mountains, Cross Creek Country Club is an 18-hole championship layout that stretches to nearly 6,800 yards from the back tees and plays to a par of72.
Outdoors Fishing
Delayed Harvest Trout Fishing, Ararat River
The N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission's delayed harvest is a popular program in which certain waters are stocked with rainbow, brook and brown trout in spring and fall.


Officers in Pay Level 14 and higher, who are entitled to the use of official car, will have the option to avail themselves of the existing facility or to draw the TPTA at the rate of ₹15,750+DA pm. Differently abled employees will continue to be paid at double rate, subject to a minimum of ₹2,250 plus DA.
7th CPC – Central Government Employees Can Expect 80% Hike in their Salaries….


Solodev is a Florida-based content management vendor, which rebuilt their system from the ground up to be based on Amazon Web Services (AWS) in 2016. They are now working to redefine what it means to be a true cloud-based digital experience platform.
Without claiming to have the solution for all of these, our conversation touched on several aspects that Shawn and his team are trying to address. It was refreshing to hear a vendor speak openly about how we still need to make progress.
This memorable quote is from the Netflix blog on Chaos Monkey. Shawn highlighted this attitude as an important part of their innovative mindset, just like it played a big role in the Netflix cloud evolution towards making their infrastructure more resilient.
At the cloud-level, Solodev offers support for load balancing, content distribution networks (CDNs), and disaster recovery to keep customer data safe-and-secure across the AWS global network of data centers.
To be fair, it still takes considerable time and skill to implement an enterprise website using Solodev, but by offering easy access to the software and taking issues like deployments out of the equation, they are trying to save time for the buyers.
At quick look at other cloud-based vendors like Crownpeakand Umbraco confirms that while pricing is available for starter packages, you have to fill out the contact us form before getting started at an enterprise level. In other words, you can't buy an enterprise-level cloud solution without speaking to sales guys. There might be good reasons for this, but does it still need to be this way?
There's been a market for software vendors using technology to build websites since the late 90's, but some of the procurement processes remain unchanged.
At Solodev you can buy from their own website where small, medium and cluster versions are available. Their enterprise version with 10+ Hours per Month Support also requires you to fill out the contact us form.
In terms of pricing, you can also purchase Solodev on the AWS Marketplace as the 1st CMS available in there. The pricing model is hourly and I have never seen that before in this space.
This different pricing approach might not be easy to digest for a buyer, but it does offer very low cost compared to traditional approaches to hosting a website infrastructure.
I first heard about the term serverless CMS in May 2016, where Razorfish published an article on a reactive serverless CMS. They basically wanted to move their blog from WordPress and ended up with an architecture without running any servers, either locally or in the cloud.
AWS Lambda was an important part of the equation for Razorfish as the event-driven serverless computing platform that is a part of AWS and Shawn and the team at Solodev are investigating ways to supplement serverless next to a traditional CMS.
While the term serverless seems very new to the CMS space, Amazon is not the only that offers serverless compute options in the cloud. IBM, Google and Microsoft are in that space as well.
To read more about serverless, you can get a free ebook from O'Really: Serverless Ops – A Beginner's Guide to AWS Lambda and Beyond. Thanks to Deane Barker for the book recommendation.
I've previously said that there are no sane reasons not to take your digital experience to the cloud.
Cloud and digital innovation are frequent topics in several J. Boye groups. Meet with your peers and set the agenda for the next steps in the industry.


text:
/ History of Better Marriages
Association for Couples in Marriage Enrichment
In 1973 David and Vera founded the Association for Couples in Marriage Enrichment with the slogan, "To work for better marriages, beginning with our own." According to David Mace:
"Our hope was that it might be quite natural (with no direct religious, political or professional connections of any kind) and might, therefore, become a coordinating agency for other organizations that were developing programs in this new field; that it might undertake the task of setting standards for leadership; that it might encourage the development of local chapters which could promote in their communities the cause of better marriage." (Mace, Close Companions, 1982).
The Maces have emphasized the importance of what they called a "primary coping system," a tool-kit for couples to use as they carry out the adventure of "growing a marriage." These essentials are:
1. A Commitment to Growth
The companionship marriage depends for its effectiveness on the growth process, in order to bring about changes that are essential if the couples are to adapt flexibly to each other in a shared life . . . Only by working patiently and persistently on the task of smoothing out the rough areas of their relationship can they reach the level of interaction that they desire . . .
Unless the couples have made a clear commitment to each other that they intend to work for ongoing growth in their relationship, the strong likelihood is that they will do nothing about it, or that they will make a few half-hearted efforts and then give up (Mace, Close Companions, 1982).
2. An Effectively Functioning Communication System
Couples must have a mutually agreed upon system of talking with and listening to each other. Since all communication is learned, what is not helpful can be unlearned and new skills substituted for those that hinder the relationship.
3. The Ability to Make Creative Use of Conflict
Using conflict creatively to gain more intimacy rather than allowing conflict to tear down the relationship is the third essential for a growing marriage. In order to do this, couples need to understand the normal dynamics of anger, when it is apt to occur in their relationship, and how they can use an anger situation to learn more about themselves and their partner.
Change of Organizational Name to Better Marriages
Over a 2-year period beginning in 2008, the Better Marriages National Board of Directors entered into an intense strategic planning period. The end result was a unanimous decision in 2010 to re-brand the organization as Better Marriages. The new brand gained exposure through press releases, a new website and social media. Though the new "doing business as" name was changed to Better Marriages, the legal name remains the same: "Association for Couples in Marriage Enrichment."
This name change was the third in the history of the organization. The original name was Association of Couples for Marriage Enrichment, subsequently changed to Association for Couples in Marriage Enrichment.
Early Work in Marriage Enrichment
The Association for Couples in Marriage Enrichment is one expression of a movement that began in the 1960s but had its roots earlier. In the 1940s and 1950s those in the helping professions began to view persons not just as individuals but as people living in family systems. Another contributing factor to what is now called "marriage enrichment" was the shift from "intervention to prevention." This change emphasized the importance of dealing with personal and interpersonal challenges by providing skills and experiential learning for individuals and families before they get into serious difficulty. Numerous events were taking place in the early 1960s, resulting in three basic models in the emerging field of marriage enrichment.
David and Vera Mace
In 1962, David and Vera Mace conducted their first marriage enrichment retreat in Kirkridge, Pennsylvania. They were searching for ways to prevent marital difficulties by working with couples who were not in crisis but wanted to learn skills for living in harmony. Certain components of the Maces' approach seemed to enhance the learning experience of the participants. These components included a husband/wife leadership team, limited structure, agenda building by the participants, group sharing and couple dialogue. The leader couple were full participants in this process.
Father Gabriel Calvo
In 1962, unaware of the work of David and Vera Mace in the USA, Father Gabriel Calvo began meeting with couples in Barcelona, Spain, for the purpose of strengthening marriages and families. Father Calvo used the term "marriage encounter" for his program. With its roots in the Roman Catholic Church, marriage encounter was transplanted to the USA in 1967 by the Christian Family Movement. In its present form, Marriage Encounter has emerged with a highly structured format using no group interaction. Couple leaders present a series of lectures, to which participating couples respond in private. Privately, couples write and share letters with each other. A priest is in attendance for counsel and guidance.
Leon Smith
In 1962, Leon Smith was appointed by the United Methodist Church in the USA to develop a ministry in marriage: preparation for marriage, marriage education, and marriage counseling. In 1964, Leon and his wife, Antoinette, presented the Marriage Communication Labs (MCL), a four-day structured program which included experiential and educational components. Communication skills and couple dialogue were emphasized.
The Maces, the Smiths and Father Calvo are acknowledged pioneers in the field of marriage enrichment. Since 1962, various religious and private groups have combined and adapted different aspects of these three basic models.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Feb 27 Judge Gershwin Drain to revisit Rasmea Odeh's case
News, Palestine in America, Rasmea Odeh
U.S. District Court Judge Gershwin Drain, who convicted and sentenced Palestinian activist and icon Rasmea Odeh, is being forced to revisit her case after an appeal's court remanded her case.
The appeals court determined that Judge Drain wrongfully excluded evidence related to Odeh's state of mental health, which arguably influenced the answers she provided on her immigration documents. This decision could lead to two possible outcomes: either a re-trial, allowing for related evidence to be provided, or another reason to exclude Dr. Mary Fabri's testimony from the case.
In November 2014, Odeh was found guilty of fraudulently obtaining U.S. citizenship by failing to disclose information on her immigration and naturalization documents regarding her conviction in an Israeli military court over forty years ago.
After her conviction, Odeh's defense team presented arguments at her appeal hearing to a three-judge panel at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit in Cincinnati, Ohio, last October.
Lead defense attorney, Michael Deutsch told Judges Alice Batchelder, Karen Moore, and John Rogers, that Odeh was denied the right to a fair trial and the right to present a complete defense, because the district court did not allow Odeh to provide evidence proving that she suffers from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). As a result, psychological expert, Dr. Fabri was unable to testify about why Odeh did not know that she provided falsified information on her immigration documents to obtain citizenship. Thus, concluding that Odeh's mental state influenced her ability to answer questions on her naturalization documents, as well as before an immigration officer.
In a brief call with Odeh's lead legal defense attorney, Deutsch said he is "very encouraged by the opinion [of the appellate court]." The decision to remand the case back to the district court and Judge Drain may lead to a new trial, where Odeh's legal defense team is hoping to present Fabri's testimony as evidence to prove that she suffers from PTSD as a result of the torture she endured for three weeks at the hands of the Israeli military.
According to a statement released by the Rasmea Defense Committee, the ruling from the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals represents a partial victory. However, her supporters remain hopeful, in that although the conviction was not overturned altogether, Judge Drain is "forced to rethink his decision" to exclude any evidence proving that Rasmea suffers from PTSD to be presented at her trial in November 2014.
Odeh's defense committee recognizes that there is much work is to be done to ensure that she is granted a new trial and opportunity to share her story before a jury. Organizers are encouraging people to continue supporting Odeh and contribute to her legal defense fund. Additionally, organizers have asked supporters to continue to host educational events, like the committee's upcoming International Women's Day event in San Francisco, Minneapolis, and Chicago to honor Odeh and share her story.
The U.S. Attorney's Office in Detroit has not immediately returned a request for comment.
Feb 29 Mohammed Assaf tours US to raise money for Palestine
Feb 26 LA Times runs same 'Skip the Trip' ad Variety Magazine censored


text:
NARA Conference on Preserving Tapes & Disks, March 1996
Facts and Advice from the Speakers
by Ellen McCrady
With apologies to the speakers, I will use an unconventional but time-saving method of reporting this conference: simply transcribing from my notes the most important or interesting facts and advice, without attribution. If I get anything wrong, or if anyone needs to know who made a given statement, please call me at the office, 512/929-3992, so that I can correct or supply the information.
The conference was held March 14. Speakers were Peter Z. Adelstein (on standardization activities), Fred Layne (tape), John Van Bogart (tape storage), John Powers (tape restoration), Fynette Eaton (The Archives' Center for Electronic Records), Douglas Stinson (CD lifetimes), Barry Roginski (optical disk migration) and Chris Cain (backup tape).
The optical disk people are doing a good job of writing standards.... The Tape Head Interest Committee (THIC) is producing documents on the permanence of tape.
Tape binders are mainly polyurethane, which have evolved significantly, and are more lasting now. Tape pack is the most important factor in archivability.... Tape 456 is Quantegy Corporation's most permanent tape.... Archive the software and generational protocol with the tape.... Japanese competitors of American tape manufacturers are very secretive, which is an obstacle to cooperative formulation of standards.
"Sticky shed" syndrome is caused by breakdown of the binder. Ligamers migrate to the surface, the tape squeaks and stops. When this was discovered in 1986 or '87, a heat treatment was developed in a crash program: bake them at 125°F for eight hours, which recombines the ligamers. The effect lasts 30 days at most, but the treatment can be repeated at least 20 times. Before the ligamers break down again, copy the tape. [Note: Most specialists recommend against use of this method by untrained people.]
Oxide systems last longer than metal particles under adverse conditions.... Analog media probably last longer than digital.... In studies comparing different recording media, life expectancy needs to be qualified by temperature, RH, failure criteria, percent surviving, and confidence interval.... Until we have standards for magnetic tape, write specs into your purchase order; ask for the life expectancy of the product and how they calculate it.... Keep the environment clean and dustfree. Bit densities are getting higher, so smaller debris does more damage.... Store tails out to preserve a good tape pack. Rewinding periodically is not as important now that big reels aren't used as much.
In the LBJ Library, there is a wide variety of tape formats of varying quality. They have lots of spare parts, equipment and technicians. It took them six months to find a machine that would play a databelt. They finally got one on loan from IBM's museum.
Make sure your machine works before you put an old tape in it.... Know what's on the tape. The more descriptive information on the tape, the better. Transfer the data when you rerecord. A lot of the tapes in the LBJ Library are acetate, which is OK, but as soon as it starts to deteriorate, it goes rapidly. If you smell it, copy it. Store tapes with vinegar syndrome separately from the others.
In the 1970s, the LBJ Library had its obsolete tape copied, using a low-bid service company that copied them onto tapes that are now completely obsolete. Now the Library is doing things right, recording first on multiple DAT (digital audio tape) copies, then doing an analog master.
The National Archives' Center for Electronic Records has been in existence for 30 years.... The Archival Preservation System (APS) was formed with several goals in mind, including: to retain control of the media and do their own preservation, and to widen the choice of formats for receiving and sending records. They will get nine 586 Intel processors, to handle all formats.
Archival Electronic Records Inspection and Control (AERIC) was organized in 1992.
NEVER ACCEPT BACKUP TAPES AS ARCHIVAL MEDIA.
The Infoguard Protection System is Kodak's scratch-tolerant top coating for CD-ROMs. "This is the first archival storage system that's made money for anyone."
Only 1 to 3% of government records are retained forever. All media are accepted by the Archives. The holdings of the Archives are growing exponentially. In 1994, NARA started accepting CD-ROMs (data files) on a trial basis. Optical tape is new, and could be an archival medium; but there is no commercial product yet.
In 1991, the Archives issued the first guidelines for state and local governments on long-term access to electronic data. It emphasized that this was the users' responsibility, not the vendors', who say "Don't worry-we'll take care of that," and "This will save you money." A survey of state and local government records systems showed that many systems were proprietary. They were advised to put the software code in the bank.
NARA learned 13 lessons during a large conversion project (to get copies of the Bush tapes so as to make them available to the public). Some of the lessons were: Do not postpone conversion. Expect it to be resource-intensive. Upgrade system components at the same time. Select system components that meet standards. Get any available hardware or software ever used with the files. Clean up files before you convert. Perform routine backups as you convert.


text:
Woman flashes and twerks on a plane
A woman was filmed twerking and flashing before being kicked off a flight.
by Aletha Adu
A SPIRIT Airlines passenger has thrown a tantrum, flashed her bum and twerked while having an epic meltdown on a packed plane.
The unidentified woman, apparently drunk, lost her cool after she was reportedly told to switch her phone off on a flight from Orlando to Newark in the US.
Footage shows the woman speaking to a flight attendant, and she appears to be begging to stay.
The woman threw a tantrum after being asked to turn off her phone.
Moments later, she moves to collect her things from an overhead locker.
As she moans, she notices several passengers are recording her antics, causing her to flip out.
"Yo record all you f***ing want," she yelled, before turning around and twerking while flashing her bum.
Dozens start cheering and laughing at her before one screams: "You're so trashy I love it!"
'COME FIGHT ME'
The woman instantly reacts, screaming, "Yeah! Come fight me then bitch!
"Do something! Do something! Oh nothing 'cuz you're a p***y a** hoe!"
She closes her locker, and then storms down the aisle towards the passenger as she yells: "You're not my mother. My mother makes more money than you."
A flight attendant calls her down to the front of the plane to escort her off the aircraft as other passengers cheer.
The unidentified woman flashed her bum and started to twerk before being kicked off the flight.
Some can be heard screaming: "Leave, Leave! Bye!"
Earlier this year, another passenger was ordered to pay $22,000 after getting drunk before a flight that resulted in an emergency landing.
David Stephen Young, 44, pleaded guilty in a Canadian court in January for failing to comply with safety instructions and resisting arrest on the January 4 flight.
The court heard Young, an alcoholic who was 18 months' sober until the day of the flight, had about six drinks at the airport while waiting to board.
On the plane, Young became belligerent with cabin crew and a fellow passenger and repeatedly tried to get up to use the bathroom during takeoff.
His abusive behaviour lasted an hour, at which time the flight crew made the decision to turn the plane around and return to Calgary.
In another incident, a Scoot flight was thrown into chaos in January and forced to divert to Sydney less than two hours after takeoff because of an "unruly" passenger who sparked a massive brawl.
Gold Coast man Rico David Garilli was heading to Singapore to start his wedding celebrations when the Scoot flight TR7 he was on with hundreds of other passengers was forced to turn back to Australia because a man started to fight with others.
Less than 20 minutes into the flight, Mr Garilli claimed the man started to become aggressive and wanting to fight other passengers.
Despite restraining the rowdy passenger, the pilot still made the decision to turn back and take him to Sydney.
This article originally appeared on The Sun and was reproduced with permission.
The woman was escorted off the flight bound for Newark in the US before it took off.
Adopted boy charged with killing parents
'Am I fired?' Hostie's mid-air blunder
Hosties selling creepy items on eBay
drunk flashing flight offbeat travel twerking


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The exclusive Lion Sands Private Game Reserve is able to tailor make a wedding celebration which is completely unique and in true African custom. The couple will be able to pledge their vows in the company of close friends, relatives and the African wilderness.
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CHILDREN We regret that we are unable to accommodate children under the age of 10 years unless the lodge is block booked by the same family or group.


text:
Clashes between Lebanon police, demonstrators
'You Stink' protesters trying to storm Lebanese parliament building
16 Eylül 2015 Çarşamba 15:13
Police in Beirut clashed with anti-corruption demonstrators trying to break through barbed wire protecting Lebanon's parliament on Wednesday, making several arrests, an AFP correspondent reported.
Inside parliament, representatives of the country's political factions were holding a second round of talks aimed at resolving their differences after failing to do so a week ago.
"You Stink," a citizen's group that emerged in protest at rubbish festering in the streets of the capital, had called for Wednesday's new round of dialogue.
"Down with the regime of thugs," shouted angry demonstrators, as some tried to break through the barrier.
Dozens of baton-wielding riot police clashed with the mostly young protesters, making at least 25 arrests, according to organisers.
"Shame on you!" some shouted in response, while others mocked the "dialogue of political trash."
One militant, Wadih el-Asmar, said "they take Lebanese for fools. We have absolutely no confidence in them."
The current political crisis began in July when the Naameh landfill closed, causing rubbish to pile up on Beirut's roadsides, in parking lots and in riverbeds.
"You Stink" emerged as a movement to demand a solution to the environmental problem, but rapidly broadened its target to include the entire political class, which it accuses of being corrupt and inept.
Last week, the government approved a plan to tackle the rubbish crisis, but campaigners said it was too vague and did not meet their demands.
It would involve turning over waste management to municipalities, which would have 18 months to prepare the necessary infrastructure, as well as temporarily reopening Naameh and expanding two other landfill sites in the provinces.
Lebanon's political system is deeply divided between two main blocs, which has caused months of political paralysis.
One bloc is led by the Shiite movement Hezbollah, which is allied with Syria and backed by Iran. The other is headed by Sunni former prime minister Saad Hariri, who is supported by Saudi Arabia and the West.
The country has been without a president for more than a year, as a divided parliament has been unable to fill the post despite meeting more than two dozen times.
#lebanon,
#You Stink
Who are the members of Israel's far-right 37th government?
Israeli envoy to France resigns in protest of new Netanyahu gov't
Netanyahu back at Israel's helm for 6th time after swearing-in at Knesset
Women's participation in Afghanistan aid delivery 'must continue': UN-backed group
Death toll from Iran protests rises to 476: Rights group


text:
module ServerSide::HTTP
  class Response
    include Caching
    include Static

    attr_accessor :status, :body, :request
    attr_reader :headers, :stream_period, :stream_proc

    def initialize(opts = nil)
      @status = STATUS_OK
      @headers = []
      @body = ''
      if opts
        opts.each do |k, v|
          case k
          when :status: @status = v
          when :body: @body = v
          when :close: @close = v
          when :request: @request = v
          when :static: serve_static(v)
          else add_header(k, v)
          end
        end
      end
    end

    def persistent?
      !@close && !@stream_proc && @body
    end

    # Adds a header to the response.
    def add_header(k, v)
      k = k.to_header_name if (k.class == Symbol)
      @headers << "#{k}: #{v}\r\n"
    end

    ROOT_PATH = '/'.freeze
    EXPIRATION_FORMAT = "%a, %d-%b-%Y %H:%M:%S GMT".freeze # according to RFC2109 must be GMT

    # Adds a cookie to the response headers.
    def set_cookie(name, value, opts = {})
      path = opts[:path] || ROOT_PATH
      expires = opts[:expires] || (opts[:ttl] && (Time.now + opts[:ttl]))

      v = "#{name}=#{value.to_s.uri_escape}; path=#{path}"
      if expires
        v << "; expires=#{expires.strftime(EXPIRATION_FORMAT)}"
      end
      if domain = opts[:domain]
        v << "; domain=#{domain}"
      end
      add_header(SET_COOKIE, v)
    end

    # Adds an expired cookie to the response headers.
    def delete_cookie(name, opts = {})
      set_cookie(name, nil, opts.merge(:expires => COOKIE_EXPIRED_TIME))
    end

    def to_s
      if @body && (content_length =  @body.size) && !streaming?
        add_header(CONTENT_LENGTH, content_length)
      end
      "HTTP/1.1 #{@status}\r\nDate: #{Time.now.httpdate}\r\n#{@headers.join}\r\n#{@body}"
    end

    def should_render?
      !@stream_proc || @stream_render_upfront
    end

    def stream(period, render_upfront = false, &block)
      @stream_render_upfront = render_upfront
      @stream_period = period
      @stream_proc = block
      self
    end

    def streaming?
      @stream_proc
    end

    def self.blank
      new(:body => nil)
    end

    def self.redirect(location, status = STATUS_FOUND)
      new(:status => status, :location => location)
    end

    def self.static(path, options = {})
      new(options.merge(:static => path))
    end

    def self.error(e)
      new(:status => e.http_status, :close => true,
        :body => "#{e.message}\r\n#{e.backtrace.join("\r\n")}")
    end

    def self.streaming(opts = nil, &block)
      new(opts).stream(1, &block)
    end

    def set_representation(body, content_type)
      @body = body
      add_header(CONTENT_TYPE, content_type)
    end

    def redirect(location, status = STATUS_FOUND)
      @status = status
      add_header(:location, location)
    end

    def content_type=(v)
      add_header(CONTENT_TYPE, v)
    end
  end
end

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


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This has been a year filled with sustenance for my soul. To be fully immersed in the creative process over a wide range of mediums, under the guidance of such knowledgeable and supportive teachers, amongst a group of fellow students from a wide range of backgrounds, all in the local town of Mullumbimby. I feel very blessed to have had such an opportunity, both challenging and highly rewarding on a technical and personal level. I would recommend this course to others who may have a desire for creative expression."


text:
Tag: Dispur Hospital
3 days of state mourning announced, last rites of former Assam CM Bhumidhar Barman at Nalbari
by NE NOW NEWS April 19, 2021 2:07 pm November 11, 2021 11:58 pm
The Assam government has announced three days of state mourning as a mark of tribute to former chief minister Bhumigdhar Barman. Barman breathed his last at the Dispur Hospital in Guwahati at 6:20 pm He was undergoing treatment for old age ailments and was admitted to the intensive care unit of the Dispur Hospital. Barman's […]


text:
خانه » آرشیو دسته بندی "Video"
04	جولای
Dolby Presents: Silent, a Short Film
This beautiful animated film was designed to showcase Dolby's partnership with the picture and sound industries over many decades. The story follows two street performers who dream of bringing their "Picture and Sound Show" to life. When they discover a magical contraption inside an old theatre, they embark on a cinematic adventure of sight and sound to find the audience they always wanted.
Lana Del Rey: Video Games
"Video Games" is the debut single release by American singer-songwriter Lana Del Rey from her second studio album, Born to Die (2012). Del Rey's music has been noted for its cinematic sound and its references to various aspects of pop culture, particularly that of the 1950s and 1960s Americana.


If you have a friend or family member with an addiction problem, then an intervention is likely necessary. However, it is not the wisest choice to perform an intervention without any prior research or experience. That is why our professional intervention specialists can give you the needed guidance and preparations for your meeting. Here are just a few things that you can expect from working with a Recovery Care intervention specialist.
Medical and psychological assessment is needed for interventions. The environment needs to feel calm yet taken seriously. It is a tricky situation, but with an intervention specialist, you will have the foresight to know what will calm the person, while not accidentally putting any stress on them as well. The best-case scenario is to have the person agree to go into recovery right there after the intervention is over with.
The intervention specialist also will be able to recommend the best type of recovery treatment. Our process involves hearing about the person first (including the nature of their particular addiction). How they act in regards to addiction and their personal lifestyle has a big impact on how they react to the idea of recovery. Some people are open to recovery, while others are unsure or even fully against the idea. From there we can recommend which treatment program will best suit their needs. The strength of the addiction greatly indicates which kind of treatment is right for them. With the interventionist's expertise and your personal understanding of the person, the person will not have to be afraid of being misunderstood at the recovery center.
The job for you as a friend/family member is to give them support and take away any worries that they may have. This might be anything from telling them not to worry about finances or what is going to happen to their career while they are in rehab. Most importantly, the intervention specialist is here to teach you how to receive the person with care while also pointing them to the prosperity that comes with recovery. For more information on our intervention services, please be sure to contact Recovery Care Partner today.


is�a NO SERVICE FEE mobile ticketing service available exclusively to Rogers Wireless customers. Visit www.urmusic.ca/tickets�or text TICKETS to 555 for full event listings and special offers.
Chris Shiflett & The Dead Peasants have announced dates of their first North American headlining tour, which will surround the July 13th release of the band�s debut self-titled album on Le Coq Napoleon/RCA. The tour will begin on July 7th at the Hotel Caf� in Los Angeles, CA � the first of a three-week Wednesday night residency in their hometown � and wrap up August 14th at the Mercury Lounge in New York, NY.
Chris Shiflett & The Dead Peasants recently supported Jesse Malin and the St. Marks Social on a weeklong west coast tour. Those dates marked the first time Shiflett toured with his new project as a full band; the July/August headlining tour will feature the same line-up of Shiflett on vocals and guitar, Luke Tierney on bass, Eric Skodis on drums, and Derek Silverman on keyboards.
Be sure not to miss Chris Shiflett & The Dead Peasants when they hit the stage at the Drake Hotel on August 7th!


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Home Pensions and Benefits
PIP announcement 'shows replacing DLA was waste of time and money'
The government's decision to stop regular benefit reassessments for some people with "the most severe, lifelong conditions" shows that replacing disability living allowance (DLA) with personal independence payment (PIP) was a waste of time and money, it has been claimed.
Sarah Newton, the minister for disabled people, confirmed this week that claimants with such conditions who are awarded the highest level of support under PIP – if their needs are expected to stay the same or increase – will no longer be subjected to repeat assessments.
Instead, they will have to undergo a "light touch review" every 10 years.
The announcement confirms a suggestion made by the government in its response to a report on the disability benefit assessment regime by the Commons work and pensions committee earlier this year.
In that response, the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) suggested it would change guidance to its civil servants to ensure that PIP claimants receiving "the highest level of support get an award duration that is appropriate to the condition and needs arising".
Now Newton has confirmed that this guidance will be changed, with a new version to be published later this summer.
She said: "We've listened to feedback from organisations and the public, and this common-sense change will ensure that the right protections are in place while minimising any unnecessary stress or bureaucracy.
"The government will be working with stakeholders to design the light touch review process so that it adds value for both our claimants and the department – for example, by providing information on services available and ensuring that contact or bank details have not changed."
Despite some claims in the media that this will mean all people with conditions such as Parkinson's or multiple sclerosis will no longer face PIP reassessments, this is unlikely to be the government's intention.
Buckinghamshire Disability Service (BuDS) warned on its Facebook page that disabled people should treat the government's announcement "very cautiously".
BuDS said: "The DWP haven't said what they mean by 'severe and lifelong' conditions yet.
"However, the wording of this announcement is very similar to the one last year about [employment and support allowance], where the DWP said that people with severe lifelong conditions would not need to have repeated work capability assessments.
"So the feeling is that the same criteria will be used for PIP as were announced for ESA.
"But those criteria are very restricted and do not help very many people. Most of the people they help would probably have got a very long or unlimited ESA award anyway.
"So the PIP announcement today might be equally meaningless for most people."
Linda Burnip, co-founder of Disabled People Against Cuts, raised similar concerns.
She said: "I'll believe it when we see this as we're still waiting months later for people to be exempt from repeated ESA assessments as promised.
"Such changes would not in any way help the many thousands of disabled people who have lost DLA and been refused PIP because of the 20 meter rule either."
Newton's announcement has also been seen as another move back towards disability living allowance (DLA), the benefit PIP is replacing for working-age claimants.
One of the key reasons ministers gave for introducing PIP was that DLA supposedly allowed claimants to secure unchecked "welfare for life" because of the lack of repeat assessments.
The current work and pensions secretary, Esther McVey, made the claim herself five years ago in a bid to justify the introduction of PIP and proposed cuts of 20 per cent.
Now McVey has approved changes that will apparently see PIP move back towards a DLA-type system.
Jenny Morris, who helped write the Labour government's Improving the Life Chances of Disabled People white paper, believes the government's failure to secure the 20 per cent cuts to spending on disability benefits was partly because they mistakenly believed that reassessing people on so-called lifetime awards would find the support needs of many of them had reduced.
But disabled people with lifelong conditions see their support needs – and their benefits – increase as they age under PIP, when under DLA they would not have been reassessed and so would have been left on a lower level of benefits.
Morris said people were placed on lifetime DLA awards "for very good reasons" and all the government had done by introducing PIP and its frequent reassessments in 2013 was to "create extra costs for themselves".
She said the latest move by Newton showed the government had spent years and wasted hundreds of millions of pounds on its PIP reforms, while exposing people to assessments that were "very oppressive and upsetting".
She said: "One of the worst things about it is they have introduced a process which people find so distressing, so unhelpful, in an attempt to save money, and they haven't even done that."
She added: "We could have told you so, and we did tell you so."
Meanwhile, the latest figures from social security tribunals show the proportion of claimants who have won their PIP appeals rose by seven percentage points in a year, from 64 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2016-17 to 71 per cent in the same period of 2017-18.
News provided by John Pring at www.disabilitynewsservice.com
benefit assessment
DWP
PIP Assessment


Reeve Kay has wrapped up Poole Greyhound Stadium's Owner's Bonus Series Final, landing her owner Richard Reeve, 33, the trophy, a £500 prize and a presentation jacket.
The win was the dog's third in as many races this month and she did so in style, completing the 450m in 27.09 seconds and beating her previous personal best by 0.42.
She came fastest out of the blocks and led by 3-4 lengths for the majority of Race 8 (21.22), with Live And Let Fly and Swift Shadow taking second and third.
Tuesday evening's racing, watched by 376 people, got off to a cracking start, with Mandeville Mars stealing in for victory in the 19.37 after Scolaris Angel had taken a three-length lead into the third corner.
The only photo-finish of the night came in Race 6 (20.52), when Active Thrush just managed to nick victory from Gaytime Lexi, who had led by 3-4 lengths coming into the third corner.
And the night's racing ended as dramatically as it had started, with Five Fingers pulling away in the final stretch of Race 12 (22.22), having been well in the pack until the final corner, to beat Lorna Doone and Ballyoak Lord into second and third place.
22 year-old MA Multi-Media Journalism student at Bournemouth University.
Interested in current affairs, music, film and Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C.


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Permanent Mission of the United
Arab Emirates to the United Nations
UAE Security Council Statements
Press Statements of the UN Security Council in March 2022
UAE In The World
UAE Renews its Commitment to UNRWA as One of its Main Contributors
NEW YORK – The UAE reaffirmed its commitment to the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) and expressed support for finding innovative solutions to financing the agency's vital work.
Mr. Saud Al Shamsi, Deputy Permanent Representative and Chargé d'Affaires of the Permanent Mission of the UAE to the UN, renewed the UAE's longstanding support to the agency in his statement at the special meeting of the UN General Assembly's Ad Hoc Committee on Pledging for UNRWA. He underlined that the UAE's commitment to UNRWA stems from the country's historic and unwavering commitment to the Palestinian people. He also emphasized that the agency contributes to the maintenance of security and stability in the region.
Mr. Al Shamsi noted that the UAE's additional contribution to the agency in 2018 amounted to over USD 50 million, making the UAE the sixth largest donor to the agency for that year. This contribution has helped maintain the agency's educational programs for hundreds of UNRWA schools, as well as the agency's health and food programs. In addition, the UAE contributed USD two million to finance fuel for power stations which support hospitals in the Gaza Strip, and provided USD 364 million through UAE aid initiatives in humanitarian, development and food assistance to the Palestinian people during 2017 and 2018.
Mr. Al Shamsi stated that the UAE welcomed the decision of the Council of Foreign Ministers of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) during its 46th session held in Abu Dhabi, which established a development fund in support of the UNRWA.
Additionally, Mr. Al Shamsi noted that the UAE will continue to support the agency including when it assumes the Vice-Chairmanship of the Advisory Committee of UNRWA in July 2019
Furthermore, Mr. Al Shamsi underscored the importance of reaching a just, lasting, and comprehensive solution to the Palestinian question, ending the suffering of the Palestinian people and establishing an independent Palestinian state based on the June 1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital. He stressed that the UAE will continue to work with its international partners and UN agencies in support of humanitarian issues around the world.
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Permanent Mission of the United Arab Emirates to the United Nations
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© 2023 | Permanent Mission of the
United Arab Emirates to the United Nations


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Tag Archives: travel memoir
Review: Mongrel – Essays by William Dicey
There is nothing quite as satisfying as an excellent personal essay, and William Dicey's Mongrel contains six gems of the genre. Dicey has been on my literary radar for a while now. In the past decade, whenever I found myself admiring a beautifully designed local book, Dicey's name would often feature on the copyright page. His first book, Borderline (2004), a travel memoir about canoeing on the Orange River, is one of those titles readers remember fondly whenever mentioned, but apparently, it is out of print. Fortunately, I found a copy in our library. I have been meaning to read it for years, and Mongrel has finally made me realise that I need to succumb to the longing.
The essay collection opens with four epigraphs which already warn us that what lies ahead will not be as clear-cut as one might assume.
Allow me to quote a few snippets:
– "Fiction, nonfiction – the two are bleeding into each other all the time …" (Geoff Dyer).
– "The writer getting in the way of the story is the story, is the best story, is the only story" (David Shields).
And my favourite:
– "[T]he strays of literature have tended towards the ill-defined plot of the essay" (Hugh Walker).
The tone of the essays ranges from intimate through personal, playful, or analytical, to simply bizarre. The latter becomes immediately obvious when you consider the title of the first piece in the collection, "Miss Meat Festival", and its first sentence: "Hannes Rheeder, I love you like a fish parcel."
Dicey and his friend Justin are travelling north to the Hantam Meat Festival in Calvinia, an "annual celebration of mutton and lamb"…
Continue reading: LitNet
This entry was posted in What I've Read, What I've Written and tagged book design, Borderline, Calvinia, essay, essays, foot notes, justice system, literary executor, meat festival, Mongrel, Orange River, pastoral, personal essay, reading, South Africa, travel memoir, Umuzi, William Dicey on March 19, 2016 by Karina.
At Home in China
Unexpectedly, it felt like a homecoming. Our Dragonair flight from Hong Kong to Beijing landed in the late afternoon. From the moment we left the arrivals hall something in the air made me want to curl up inside myself and simply return to where we came from. And it was not the chilling wind; nor the constant drizzle.
The grey architecture's sharp and unimaginative lines, the bleak atmosphere, the poverty and hopelessness of masses, the condescending attitudes of people in any kind of authoritative position, the schemers operating below the radar of the system, and the uncanny impression of being constantly watched as if surrounded by an omnipotent, unpredictably scary, presence – almost instantly I was transported back to the time I was growing up in Eastern Europe still under the thumb of communist rule, before the political changeover of the late 1980s. Something engrained in my bones, but dormant for so many years, resurfaced in recognition.
The traffic policeman in charge of the taxi flow at the Beijing Capital International Airport shoved us aside and signalled for us to wait. It transpired that we were judged to have too much luggage to fit into an ordinary taxi, with no other kind of taxi in sight. There were three of us, each in possession of a suitcase and a piece of hand luggage. We tried to suggest that we could at least attempt to load the luggage into a car or separate and take two taxis, but both ideas were rejected. After a while of hopeless waiting, a rickety minibus arrived, clearly not an official taxi. The driver 'generously' offered to take us all to our hotel for about twice the usual fee. We did not have a choice but to accept.
An insignificant scene, one could say, but it was just the beginning. For the reminder of the trip I was constantly aware of this familiarity between the Poland of my childhood and the present-day China and I marvelled again at the destructive power of the ideology behind the resemblance, at how two countries of such diverse cultural backgrounds – Eastern European and Asian – could be reduced to eerie similarity under the pressures of a single system of thought.
But beside the ache in my bones, the experience of discovering a few spots of China was one of the most memorable ones of my entire travelling life. For the first time, I realised what Americans were doing when they 'did' Europe in two weeks. Our attempt was of a similar nature. My husband André Brink and I visited China to attend two literary festivals, in Hong Kong and Shanghai. The invitation was facilitated by a dear friend of André's, Gary Kitching, who kindly offered to accompany us not only to the official literary events but on most of our journey through the Land of the Dragon. Apart from visiting the two festival cities, we used the opportunity to fulfil lifelong dreams of walking on the Great Wall and seeing the warriors of Emperor Qin Shi Huang's Terracotta Army.
It was our honour and pleasure to share parts of the journey with another South African writer, Mandla Langa who, like André, was a guest of both literary festivals. Mandla Langa's latest novel, The Lost Colours of the Chameleon (2008) won the Commonwealth Writers' Prize for Africa Region in 2009. During the two festivals Mandla read from the novel and spoke very movingly about his work, the hardships of exile, and the tragedy of having to cope with his brother's death at the hands of the ANC. At shared events, Mandla and André discussed the different sides of the literary and political struggle they were both involved in during apartheid. On a more positive note, they shared with their enthusiastic audiences their feelings of optimism about the explosion of creativity in the New South Africa.
In Hong Kong at one of the literary events, together with Mandla, André was interviewed by Rachel Holmes, author of The Secret of Dr James Barry (2002) and The Hottentot Venus: The Life and Times of Saartjie Baartman (2007). She reminded them of the occasion they had met in London when Mandla was still in exile. André described the encounter in his memoir, A Fork in the Road (2008). He went to see Mandla and Essop Pahad at the time. As he took his leave, André was offered a packet of ANC coffee from Kenya and was told that they would drink it together when they were all allowed to come home "one of these days". "The coffee will still be fresh," André was reassured. Mandla accompanied him to the tube. André recalls in the memoir: "I walked huddled over the small packet I was carrying like precious loot under my arm. Mandla walked inclined towards me as if he, too, wanted to claim possession. Perhaps we were both imagining the flavour of that coffee: the smell of tomorrow. One of these days."
For both of them, and for myself, the time of tasting freedom has arrived when at last we all found ourselves living in democratic countries, post-1994 South Africa and Austria respectively. But while we were travelling in China, signs of the ongoing repression and fear were everywhere: the Rio Tinto trial began in Shanghai amongst secrecy and doubt in the fairness of the process, Google was finally on its way out of the country refusing to accept the censorship imposed on the search engine, and an interview with the outspoken Chinese artist and activist Ai Weiwei, a victim of censorship and state violence, was repeatedly shown on BBC World. Very tellingly, there were hardly any Chinese readers attending the festival events.
Even before arrival in the country, while applying for our visas we were told not to mention the fact that we were writers, academics or had any associations with the media. This might have either endangered the positive outcome of the application or at least made the process much more tedious, we were warned. So, André travelled as a retired teacher, I as a housewife. Neither was a direct lie, but both statements were far removed from the truth. The application went smoothly. To our great surprise, the Chinese Consulate in Cape Town even distributed free DVDs about the Dalai Lama. We did not dare take one when applying for the visa, suspicious of the unexpected offer (a possible test of the worthiness of the applicant?), but could not resist bringing it back home once the visas had been granted. We were curious whether it was a piece of propaganda. But it turned out to be shrewder than that. We only managed to watch thirty minutes of what seemed a factually correct documentary. Then we fell asleep; it was so boring. Clever, we thought.
We also discovered that in spite of being widely publicised in the print and online media, the literary festival in Shanghai we attended was strictly speaking illegal. This kind of schism is also part of the system I remembered from growing up. You constantly live your life on the border of legality. Your actions are tolerated until you overstep a line. Where that line is precisely located you never know until you cross it, and then all which has been ignored till then will be counted against you.
As a special administrative region, reflecting the policy known as "one country, two systems", Hong Kong still enjoys a high degree of autonomy in all areas except defence and foreign affairs. The city hosted its literary events officially. Celebrating their tenth anniversary with a bang, the festival organisers invited the likes of Alexander McCall Smith, Junot Díaz, Louis de Bernièrs, Linda Jaivin, and Mo Zhi Hong whose debut novel The Year of the Shanghai Shark (2008) won the Best First Book for South East Asia and Pacific of the Commonwealth Writers' Prize 2009 (the same year as Mandla won with The Lost Colours of the Chameleon).
The Hong Kong and Shanghai festivals often collaborate in bringing authors to the their audiences. So some faces were more or less familiar when we arrived in Shanghai. Contrary to expectations, literary festivals or conferences seldom offer good opportunities of getting to know other writers, especially if one is rather shy by nature, which, maybe surprisingly, many writers are. In spite of many organiser's efforts to put them into social situations, writers often end up lonely in hotel rooms, passing the time from one event to another with TV or mini-bar content (more often than not, both), or if the gatherings take place in interesting settings, desperately trying to see as much of the area as possible. The latter happened to us, when André and I spent every free minute exploring Hong Kong and Shanghai instead of listening to other guests of the festival, no matter how alluring.
We did however, even if only briefly, catch up with Linda Javin, Louis de Bernièrs, and Mo Zhi Hong in Shanghai. On the terrace of the fabulous "M on the Bund" Restaurant (venue and one of the main sponsors of the festival), over James Bond martinis and the exotic Dragon's Pearl cocktails we listened to the wonderfully flamboyant Linda Javin, author of the best-selling A Most Immoral Woman (2009), talking about her latest project, a traditional Chinese opera based on a story from a Ming Dynasty novel for which she has been asked to write the libretto. We actually managed to attend Louis de Bernièrs's official event during which he delighted the audience with a reading of "Obadiah Oak, Mrs Griffiths and the Carol Singers", a story from his recent collection Notwithstanding (2009), and charmed us all with his infectious sense of humour. With Mo Zhi Hong we shared a taxi to the airport in Shanghai and after a brief conversation were very sorry not to have been able to spent more time in the company of this erudite young man. The festival over, he was on his way back home to Auckland and we were travelling to Xi'an for our appointment with the world-famous Terracotta Army.
One of Emperor Qin Shi Huang's megalomaniac ventures, the terracotta warriors are a sight to behold. What struck me most about visiting China's well-known places of interest was that in spite of seeing them numerous times on television programmes or in photography books, one is not prepared for their size. Constantly I had to readjust the images in my head to the real thing. The Great Wall of China (also Emperor Qin Shi Huang's brainchild) does not impress with its height, as I expected. It is actually quite low and narrow for most of its unfathomable length. But when you stand on one of its vantage points and it stretches away from you in both directions over the mountain ranges like a ribbon carelessly discarded on the seemingly impenetrable landscape, it takes your breath away. In Beijing, the infamous Tiananmen Square is so vast that one can hardly see from one side of it to the other and walking across it in bitter cold was quite a challenge. The Forbidden City is actually a city within the capital. We began our tour of it at the northern entrance and it took us over four hours of almost continuous walking to reach the South Gate where Chairman Mao's portrait overlooks the scene of the terrible massacre which took place in 1989.
Similarly, no matter how often one had seen them on television, the enormous excavation pits near the city of Xi'an where the Terracotta Army stands exposed after thousands of years of existing only in legends, are simply awe-inspiring. Each individually crafted and meticulously reassembled after centuries of being buried in mud, the warriors testify to the outrageous and murderous dreams of a single individual. Thousands of craftsmen and workers were tortured and killed during the execution of Qin Shi Huang's vision of the army that was to protect him in the afterlife. Since their discovery just over thirty years ago, thousands of archaeologists, scientists and helpers have been meticulously putting the warriors' remains together to make them, and what they stand for, known to the world. I walked around the pits and was terrified by the hunger for power and greatness which called this army into being. It was a chilling experience, but I admired the incredible reconstruction work on site and the amount of knowledge experts have gathered about ourselves and our past from the excavation pits. If only we would learn from it.
Other 'visionaries' ruled the land. After the so-called Cultural Revolution of the late 1960s when China's innumerable treasures were destroyed and a whole generation of artists annihilated, the country is in the throes of another 'cultural revolution', this time brought about by Big Money and Big Mac. Like many other fast-growing economies, China is in constant flux, its authenticity challenged by the same forces which are at work in South Africa and other westernised parts of the world. Recently modernised for the Olympic Games, China still looks like one gigantic building site. Entire cityscapes are dominated by high-rise flat buildings which function as dormitories for the expanding population. Transport networks, shopping malls, factories, office buildings, and all kinds of institutions rise from the ground like mushrooms after the rain. The one constant is forests of cranes. Higher, bigger and faster seems to be the motto for everything. I can imagine that architects must have a field day in a country where their imaginations are required to go beyond all limits.
One of the most spectacular modern sites we saw was the architecturally mind-boggling Pudong skyline in Shanghai, the characteristic Oriental Pearl Tower dominating the scene. Over the last two decades the district has become home to China's commercial and financial buzz. Just across the Huangpu river from Pudong is Shanghai's best-known historical landmark, the Bund. While we were visiting, we witnessed the exciting preparations for the World Expo all along its beautiful promenade.
Yet, among all the splendour and chaos, the one place in China that is truly lodged in my memory is the Old China Hand Reading Room, a small antique book-cum-tea shop located in one of the quieter streets of the French Concession, another of Shanghai's historical districts. It was founded by photographer Deke Erh and writer Tess Johnston and strikes the perfect balance between past and present, between Chinese and Western influences. Furnished with antique furniture and stocked with hundreds of old and new publications as well as many quirky trinkets of local and international origins, the shop is a must for all tea and book lovers. They also serve excellent cappuccinos in ancient porcelain cups. Just the thing after a long Sunday morning walk through the Concession, as André and I discovered.
Everywhere else we had what one really should have while travelling through China: tea. It is served at every opportunity, its distinct flavours and the rituals to bring them forth cultivated through millennia-old traditions. I have always loved tea but never appreciated it as much as after the visit to China. The souvenir I cherish most from our visit is my collection of exquisitely embroidered, colourful silk pouches from the Laoshe Teashop in Beijing which was recommended to us by our dear friend Alex Smith, the author of the travel memoir Drinking from the Dragon's Well (2008). Inside the pouches conceal such wonders as Dancing Fairies, Love at First Sight, Birds of Heaven, and Whispering Flowers. If you put them in a transparent teapot and pour mild boiling water over them, the little green tealeaf bundles which are known by these fantastic names open up like blossoms and release a string of flowers – jasmine or lily – from their centre. The taste is as marvellous as the spectacle.
It is good to be back in Cape Town, where I'm truly at home, and to enjoy a bit of Chinese magic. Not all can be lost for a people who can create such perfect little artworks in a teacup. They may yet survive the dreams and visions of 'Great Men'. And in spite of everything that is going wrong in our own country, I gain strength from the unsurpassed surge of creativity we are experiencing at the moment in South Africa. I just hope that my bones won't begin to ache here, and I wonder whether I will ever be granted a Chinese visa again. Or will this article be placed in a file with my name on it, hidden away in some obscure cabinet?
First published in WORDSETC 8 (August 2010).
This entry was posted in Memories, What I've Written and tagged A Fork in the Road, A Most Immoral Woman, activist, Ai Weiwei, Alexander McCall Smith, ANC, André Brink, Asian, Austria, BBC World, Beijing, Beijing Capital International Airport, Best First Book for South East Asia and Pacific of the Commonwealth Writers' Prize 2009, Big Mac, Bund, Cape Town, censorship, Chairman Mao, China, Chinese artist, cocktails, coffee, Commonwealth Writers' Prize for Africa Region, Cultural Revolution, Dalai Lama, Deke Erh, Dragonair, Dragon's Pearl, Drinking from the Dragon's Well, Eastern European, Emperor Qin Shi Huang, exotic, fear, Forbidden City, French Concession, Google, Great Wall, Hong Kong, ideology, James Bond, Junot Díaz, Karina M. Szczurek, Karina Magdalena Szczurek, Karina Szczurek, Laoshe Teashop, libretto, Linda Jaivin, literary festival, Louis de Bernièrs, M on the Bund, Mandla Langa, martinis, memoir, Ming Dynasty, Mo Zhi Hong, Notwithstanding, Old China Hand Reading Room, Olympic Games, Oriental Pearl Tower, photographer, Poland, post-1994, Pudong, Rachel Holmes, repression, restaurant, Rio Tinto trial, search engine, skyline, South Africa, state violence, tea, Terracotta Army, Tess Johnston, The Hottentot Venus: The Life and Times of Saartjie Baartman, The Lost Colours of the Chameleon, The Secret of Dr James Barry, The Year of the Shanghai Shark, Tiananmen Square, traditional Chinese opera, travel memoir, World Expo, writer, Xi'an on September 27, 2014 by Karina.
Writers' Other Lives
"We pay our writers to write," my Norwegian friend Kristin said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world and enlightened me about the Statens Kunstnerstipend, a "grant and guaranteed income programme with the objective to give creative and performing artists the opportunity to actively pursue their artistic career and to aid younger artists in establishing themselves as artists." The programme offers diverse short and long-term grants as well as one-off bursaries for travel, study or material expenses for artists based in Norway. I was mostly fascinated by the "guaranteed income" support scheme: established artists can apply for this to provide them with the financial stability necessary for having "artistic enterprise as their primary form of occupation." And the crux is that the recipients retain the right to this financial stability (paid monthly) until they reach retirement age.
Norwegians seem to take a much-quoted imperative to heart: "If you think culture is expensive, try ignorance!" The objective of their support programmes is to ensure that individual artists are able to contribute "to a diverse and creative wealth of art" in Norwegian society.
Listening to Kristin and reading about Statens Kunstnerstipend, I thought of the many writers I know in South Africa who struggle to make a living while pursuing their creative careers. For most, the situation is not desperate, but almost all pay their bills by other means than their creativity. I decided to approach a few of them to discuss the dynamics involved in being a writer and having an ordinary day job. Their valuable comments were often surprising and opened up many engaging ways of thinking about this topic.
We tend to think of creative people rushing home after long hours of suffering in their dreary jobs to lock themselves up in that special room of their own and devoting the rest of their waking hours to the Muse. What transpired from my interviewees is that, on the contrary, even though it is sometimes difficult to juggle their paid and creative work, they actually enjoy their money earning jobs just as much as they do their creative ones. Only the degrees vary.
Angela Makholwa is the author of the urban thriller Red Ink (2007) and the fresh-off-the-press chick-lit adventure The Thirtieth Candle. When she was fifteen, she decided "quite firmly" that one day she would publish a novel with "an authentically South African story". Today, she is not quite sure anymore what that means, but she is definitely somebody who knows what she wants and how to get there. She runs Britespark Communications, a successful public relations and events management agency in Johannesburg, and feels fortunate to be "doing something that allows her creativity to flourish".
Siphiwo Mahala is in a similar position. As Deputy Director for Books and Publishing at the Department of Arts and Culture, he works in his field, which gives him great satisfaction. He has always been passionate about reading and went on to study literature at university, finishing with an MA in African Literature at Wits. When he began publishing short stories, the overwhelming joy of "seeing his creative writing in print" inspired him to pursue this avenue further. He received the 2006 Ernst van Heerden Creative Writing Award for his first novel, When a Man Cries (2007), an incisive portrayal of township life in South Africa. He says that his day job is "essentially the best one that any literary enthusiast could do in the public service". It includes the promotion of the culture of reading and writing and developing a sustainable book industry that encourages equitable development of all local languages: "The job itself is not too far from my personal ambitions hence it is so fulfilling." Only drawback: "When a job is a passion it means that when something goes wrong it doesn't end in the office, you take it home and your family falls victim of a situation they didn't cause."
Inspired by their day jobs, Angela and Siphiwo find that they can well manage the two spheres in their lives, creativity and work. However, sacrifices have to be made, as Siphiwo notes, and one has to accord creativity the time and space it deserves. Only then can you also "expect your potential reader to skip their favourite soap opera, miss hot gossip, and let the pots burn while reading your book," he says.
Would they give up their jobs to write fulltime if they could make a living out of it? An emphatic yes in both cases in spite of the aforesaid. For Angela writing is "an esoteric experience" and she "envies those who can afford to do it fulltime". Siphiwo considers writing his "first love", but he is too realistic about making money out of it: "For as long as the culture of reading remains as low as it is currently in the country, we are not likely to have more than 10% of our writers writing for a living." He might not write for a living, but he insists he "lives for writing." Financial support from the government for writers would be welcomed by both, although Angela feels that it could make her feel obliged to write "about issues of enormous political or social impact", while Siphiwo believes that any such support could truly work only with "a national writers' association firmly in place."
In their considerations, both authors allude directly and indirectly to an aspect of state-sponsored support for artists about which Sven Eick, author of the socio-critical novel Apetown (2007), feels strongly: "I am firmly behind the notion that artists should challenge society rather than attempt to have society endorse their work." He also believes "that the tax-paying public should have the right to choose whether or not they want to support writers, i.e. by buying their books, and that it's not the government's business to fund writers on their behalf." Sven highlights the corruptive aspect of making money with creativity: "If writing novels were to become my only source of income, then inevitably I'd begin writing novels to make money, and that would represent a corruption of the creative process for me. I think a 50/50 balance would be about right." By which he means that he'd also "always want to do something other than writing."
Sven was working on cruise lines when he realised that he was destined to become a writer. He wrote regular updates of his experiences which attracted "a small, but dedicated following." He knew then that he should invest more "energy" into writing. Today, he earns his living as a copywriter for a network of sports websites: "I find many aspects of the sports I cover interesting. Sport is really about narratives, and despite being somewhat saturated by the amount of sport I cover I still find these narratives interesting and engaging." He wants to continue with a similar but more creative line of work in the future: "I'm interested in the business aspect of the internet, how to keep content free and informative whilst still generating revenue using non-intrusive and targeted advertising. However, I'd obviously prefer to write more creative content than the grunt work that occupies a lot of my time." And even though he would not accept financial help from the government as a writer, he wouldn't mind making money out of books, so that he could continue to write at leisure. "I guess this is any writer's dream," he says. "I just don't want to become a book-a-year Wilbur Smith type." He also suggests that "instead of governments paying writers it might be useful to fund initiatives like the Boekehuis in Calvinia, or other low-cost writers' retreats where we could go away to write at no expense."
Other writers would endorse state-funded grants, but like Sven, they cannot imagine giving up their other occupations in order to write fulltime. Multitalented, with degrees in drama, journalism, and creative writing, Willemien Brümmer always knew that she wanted to be "An Artist", but it took her a long time to find her individual path. She published her debut short-story collection, Die dag toe ek my hare losgemaak het (The Day I Let My Hair Down) in 2008. She actually writes for a living, writing feature articles for By, the Saturday supplement of Die Burger, Beeld and Volksblad. Almost stumbling into journalism by accident, Willemien felt in the beginning that it was not creative enough; "it felt like stealing," she remembers, and the wrongly perceived lack of creativity made her ashamed to call herself a "journalist". She realised how inseparable journalism and creativity were only fairly recently. A few years ago, while completing her MA in Creative Writing, she wrote profiles of people "in the news" for Die Burger's weekly column Oop Kaarte and recognised how similar the methods for writing articles and writing short stories were. The only difference is that "reality is often far more interesting than anything I can come up with," she admits.
This dimension of her work is decisive. She draws inspiration for her fiction from the stories she encounters in real life: "In my next book, fiction and journalism come together closely." Still, writing fiction feels like "chocolates after dinner", like "spoiling yourself," says the Calvinist in her. As a perfectionist, Willemien invests a lot of time in each journalistic article, and despite having a lot of freedom in what she writes about, she sometimes feels torn between having to write about yet another subject and wanting to engross herself in the one she is currently working on. "It's simply not enough to have only one week to write about somebody like Sindiwe Magona," she laments about a recent assignment. "Nor is it easy to distance oneself from a story one is working on for a couple of months. It's like falling in love; turning away can be a painful experience which also poses a lot of ethical questions. It's not a natural situation; one has to become calculatedly distant and that's not the kind of person I really am." In this respect, Willemien would not hesitate to accept a grant to support her writing, journalistic and fictional: "It would allow me to concentrate, work in-depth, on both. In an ideal world I would write a book about each subject."
Similarly, in an ideal world, the talents of Helen Moffett would not go to waste. "I wear many hats," she writes on her blog. It would take an entire walk-in cupboard to display all, or at least some, of them: academic, copyeditor, mentor, teacher, cricket expert, and most recently the co-author of Bob Woolmer's Art and Science of Cricket (2008) and author of the sensual poetry collection Strange Fruit (2009). With four academic degrees and thirty years of experience, Helen does not have a regular income because her health dictates that she work as a freelancer. Academic editing for clients all over the world pays the bulk of her bills. There is also fiction editing, manuscript assessment, training (writing workshops for academics and NGOs), copywriting, ghost-writing, and occasionally a life-saving royalty cheque courtesy of one of her prescribed academic titles.
As for Willemien, creative writing feels to Helen like "sitting down to pudding". She has her notebook always at hand, because "poetry happens anytime", and she has enough notes for stories, novels non-fiction to keep her busy for the rest of her life, if she could only afford to give up her bill-paying activities, especially academic editing. "If I have any kind of break, I write like mad," she says with a dreamy smile on her face, "and I eagerly accept commissions for fiction. This means I get a deadline and the piece must be finish on time, allowing the work equal value and importance. It always feels like a holiday."
Having constantly to worry about making a living, diminishes Helen's potential as an academic as well as a creative fiction and non-fiction writer. She says an unambiguous yes to any grants for writers, however modest. Many wonderful opportunities slip by her because she cannot afford to invest her energies in them. In the last seven years, she has been trying to write a book on gender violence, a crucial topic in contemporary South Africa, and one that Helen is an expert on. "It's tough to write; I'm only able to make any progress when I get a bit of funding for the project, but I still have some way to go." Asked what she would do if she didn't have to worry about the end of the month, she says she would write and devote more time to teaching: "I love teaching, but there is so little pay in it. Yet, I feel that it is my moral responsibility to transfer my skills. I just can't lock up all that education and experience I've been fortunate to acquire over the years; not being able to pass it on is terrifying, but I have very little choice." Even so, she insists on teaching a few courses a year, however poorly paid.
In comparison, Alex Smith fully intends to "make a living out of creative writing", but she also wants to continue working in other areas as long as they do not sap her creativity. At present, she is a tutor for a novel writing course and a bookseller at Exclusive Books. "Working with books keeps me grounded. I'm a story addict and seeing the dozens of new titles arriving every day is heartening, but it also doesn't allow for any illusions of grandness about writing. I feel writers and booksellers are readers' servants." Alex's grandfather was a dedicated book collector, travelling to London to buy everything from antique tomes to rare first editions. She grew up surrounded by books and being around them makes her "immeasurably happy." She has authored two herself, the novel Algeria's Way (2007) and the travel memoir Drinking from the Dragon's Well (2008). A third, Four Drunk Beauties, will be published next year. Talented and prolific, with a Creative Writing MA under her belt, Alex wouldn't say no to financial support for creativity, but doesn't feel anybody owes her anything. Having studied business science, for some years Alex earned a good salary as a successful creative and marketing director of a textile company. "But I always wanted to be a storyteller," she stresses. "The way things are now, I'm free to write, and the price is debt, but it is my choice to be in this position. My heart's desire is to explore real and imagined places, and play with turning those into stories." Knowing her literary output and determination, one cannot help but feel assured that she will succeed at what she does with such unmistakable passion.
One author who has managed to write himself out of dire poverty is the inspirational Zanozuko Mzamo, or Zyd, as many know him. He is the author of a motivational book called A Year of Staying Positive (2007). Zyd grew up in Johannesburg, went into exile in the 1970s, studied economics in Zambia and Bulgaria, and returned to South Africa in the early 1990s to work in commerce. He was deeply unhappy with what he was doing, struggled to keep working, and eventually ended up broke and homeless. It was devastating, but the experience set him out on a journey of "soul-searching and gift finding". He asked himself, "Who am I? What am I here for?"
To find answers, he visited libraries, fell in love with self-help literature, and discovered writing as a way of encouraging people. In 2005, he applied for a job at the community newspaper City Vision and even without pay persisted in publishing a weekly motivational column that garnered him a lot of recognition. He received so much positive feedback from his readers that with the help of Colleen Higgs and the Centre of the Book, he decided to self-publish 52 of his articles in book form. "A couple of publishers turned me down, but I wouldn't be deterred, not even by the initial scepticism about the book in my community."
His persistence and initiative were recognised by Carl Wesselink of the Kuyasa CDM Project (developing energy efficient housing in Khayelitsha). Carl Wesselink saw that Zyd's book could inspire people and offered to buy two thousand copies of it to distribute in Kuyasa as well as to pay Zyd's salary for a year. Today, Zyd coaches people in personal development and self-improvement in Kuyasa. He considers reading an indispensable ingredient of both. His latest initiative is the Teach a Child to Read Campaign, and he has two more books on the way. He finds the idea of state-funded support for his writing intriguing, but is scared that it would make him lazy: "I like challenges," he points out. "When I was about to drown, I found my calling," he says, relaxed and confident. "I hope to sell a million copies of my books." His mere presence inspires. It's easy to believe that he will make it.
All seven authors I spoke to seem to have found the right niches for their many talents. Financial support for their creativity wouldn't drastically change their lifestyles, just utilise their talents in more efficient and rewarding ways. They all seem to have discovered what Zyd writes in one of his essays: "Life is what you make it."
http://www.kunstnerstipend.no/english/
First published in WORDSETC 6 (September 2009).
This entry was posted in What I've Written and tagged A Year of Staying Positive, academic, African Literature, agency, Alex Smith, Algeria's Way, Angela Makholwa, Apetown, Beeld, blog, Bob Woolmer's Art and Science of Cricket, Boekehuis, Britespark Communications, bursary, By, Calvinia, Carl Wesselink, Centre of the Book, chick-lit, City Vision, co-author, collection, Colleen Higgs, community newspaper, copyeditor, creative and performing artists, creative fiction, cricket expert, culture, Department of Arts and Culture, Deputy Director for Books and Publishing, Die Burger, Die dag toe ek my hare losgemaak het, Drinking from the Dragon's Well, Ernst van Heerden Creative Writing Award, events management, Exclusive Books, Four Drunk Beauties, freelancer, grant, guaranteed income, Helen Moffett, ignorance, Johannesburg, journalism, Karina M. Szczurek, Karina Magdalena Szczurek, Karina Szczurek, Khayelitsha, Kuyasa CDM Project, libraries, mentor, Muse, non-fiction writer, Norway, Norwegian society, novel, Oop Kaarte, passion, poetry, portrayal of township life, programme, public relations, Red Ink, Saturday supplement, self-help literature, self-publish, short stories, Sindiwe Magona, Siphiwo Mahala, socio-critical novel, South Africa, Statens Kunstnerstipend, Strange Fruit, Sven Eick, Teach a Child to Read Campaign, teacher, teaching, The Thirtieth Candle, travel memoir, urban thriller, Volksblad, When a Man Cries, Wilbur Smith type, Willemien Brümmer, Wits, Wordsetc, Writers' Other Lives, Zanozuko Mzamo, Zyd on September 26, 2014 by Karina.
A long time ago, behind seven mountains and seven rivers… That is how fairy tales begin in Polish. The words make me think of the time I met Alex Smith when she was looking for people to translate her Orphan's Lullaby. I did the Polish version and we met for coffee at the Book Lounge to discuss the project and to get to know each other. It's hard to believe that this already happened six years ago. Since then we have become friends and have supported each other through the ups and downs of writing careers.
We share a deep love for literature, even if our reading tastes often differ and the kind of stories we tell are sometimes worlds apart. The one thing which has always stood out for me in Alex's work is her powerful, versatile, irresistible prose which has few equals in contemporary South African literature. I once told her that I would even read the history of toilet paper, if she were to write it. Her prose is like a cup of delicious tea, like a favourite bar of chocolate, like a warm breeze on a perfect day on the beach. One wallows in it with pleasure, no matter what her subject matter.
My absolute favourite of Alex's books until now is Drinking from the Dragon's Well (2008), a quirky travel memoir about the time she spent in Asia. I will never forget the kettle falling scene. Simply wonderful, like the rest of the book. I reviewed it along with her Four Drunk Beauties (2010) for ITCH.
Alex contributed a funny, moving story to Touch: Stories of Contact. She has been shortlisted for the prestigious Caine Prize. One of her more recent stories features in the Adults Only anthology and I am told that it is remarkable (can't wait to get the book just to read it). She has been recognised for her work with the Nielsen Booksellers' Choice Award, has been short-listed for the SA PEN Literary Award, won a silver award in the English category of the Sanlam Prize for Youth Literature, and was shortlisted for the international Rolex Mentor & Protégé Arts Initiative. And I believe even greater things are to come for her.
Her latest novel, Devilskein & Dearlove (published by Umuzi locally and Arachne Press in the UK) is about to be launched at the Book Lounge next week. Alex will be in conversation with the amazing Versuhka Louw. We are in for a real literary treat.
"Young Erin Dearlove has lost everything in a violent attack on her family. She now lives with her bohemian aunt Kate in a run-down Cape Town apartment block. Locked into a fantasy of her previous life, she shuns all overtures of friendship from her new neighbours, until she meets Mr Devilskein, the demon who lives on the top floor… and opens a door into another world. Just as Neil Gaiman's The Graveyard Book reworked Kipling's The Jungle Book for a modern audience with a liking for the supernatural, Devilskein & Dearlove is a darker, more edgy, contemporary reworking of Frances Hodgson Burnett's classic The Secret Garden. An orphaned teenager is taken in by a reluctant distant relative, and in her new home makes an unexpected friend and finds a secret realm. It has shades of the quirky fantastical in the style of Miyazaki's (Studio Ghibli) animated films like Spirited Away and Howl's Moving Castle (originally a novel by Diana Wynne Jones). Alex says 'As a child The Secret Garden was one of my first favourite novels – one of the first I relished reading by myself. Although Devilskein & Dearlove is very different, it was inspired by that novel and its themes.'" (Arachne Press)
This entry was posted in Events and tagged Adults Only, Alex Smith, anthology, Arachne Press, Book Lounge, book trailer, Caine Prize, contemporary South African literature, Devilskein and Dearlove, Diana Wynne Jones, Drinking from the Dragon's Well, Four Drunk Beauties, Frances Hodgson Burnett, Howl's Moving Castle, launch, Neil Gaiman, Nielsen Booksellers' Choice Award, Orphan's Lullaby, prose, Rolex Mentor & Protégé Arts Initiative, SA PEN Literary Award, Sanlam Prize for Youth Literature, The Jungle Book, The Secret Garden, Touch: Stories of Contact, travel memoir, Umuzi, Versuhka Louw on July 8, 2014 by Karina.