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Home Culture Arts Lucretius and the Renaissance
Lucretius and the Renaissance
© February 23, 2014 © February 23, 2014 Arts / Books & Reviews / Critical Thinking / Education & Learning / What I'm Reading Now
It's fairly clear, even after reading only a few verses, why Lucretius's didactic poem, On the Nature of Things – De Rerum Natura – made such an impact on thought, philosophy, religion and science in the Renaissance. It must have been like a lighthouse in the dark night; a "Eureka" moment for many of the age's thinkers.
For others, especially the church leaders, it must have arrived like a mortar shell among their intellectual certainties and complacencies; shattering walls and window. An act of war that threatened to tear down whole schools of thought and belief.
While today his descriptions of atoms, void, and immortal substance may seem obvious and even a little quaint, they were revelations then, in the Renaissance. They shook the comfortable world picture of the Renaissance and challenged both faith and science.
Yet Lucretius wrote his poem in the time of Julius Caesar, before the Christian church even began. Then it was lost for more than 1,400 years, to be rediscovered by Poggio Bracciolini in 1417. Poggio was hunting lost manuscripts through European monasteries, trying to copy them so he could restore the lost words of the Romans for everyone to read. His discovery of On the Nature of Things was serendipitous in the extreme,* but it opened a Pandora's box of effects.
Stephen Greenblatt, in his excellent book, The Swerve, about the fortuitous discovery and its impact, opens Chapter Eight with this:
On the Nature of Things is not an easy read. Totaling 7,400 lines, it is written in hexameters, the standard unrhymed six-beat lines in which Latin poets like Virgil and Ovid, imitating Homer's Greek, cast their epic poetry. Divided into six untitled books, the poem yokes together moments of intense lyrical beauty, philosophical meditations on religion, pleasure and death, and complex theories of the physical world, the evolution of human societies, the perils and joys of sex, and the nature of disease. The language is often knotty and difficult, the syntax complex, and the overall intellectual ambition astoundingly high.
So it's a tough, challenging read, as much so today as it ever was. I'm reading it, but have to admit it's a bit of a slog, even in the modern Penguin edition.
Omnis cum in tenebris praesertim vita laboret.
Life is one long struggle in the dark.
Book II, line 54.
It's astounding how anyone in Caesar's day could by reason, logical, analysis and inference alone – no highly technical equipment, no advanced mathematics, no electron microscopes, no particle colliders, no Hubble telescope – deduce the structure of the universe was based on atoms. And then to infer that those atoms were constantly in motion, indestructible and timeless.
That's what the Epicurean philosophers did. Lucretius, perhaps the last of them (or certainly at least the last outstanding Epicurean) put their theories and ideas together into one long, rhetorical poem to teach his fellow Romans what Epicureans stood for.
In doing so, Lucretius deconstructs and dismisses the theories of his contemporaries about the nature of the universe, using the same tools of thought and reason. Those theories – now long dismissed – fossilized into accepted dogma for many centuries before his book was rediscovered. On the Nature of Things had no less an impact on Renaissance thought than On the Origin of Species had on modern thought.
Greenblatt subtitles his book, "How the World Became Modern" to reflect how deeply the rediscovery of Lucretius affected the Renaissance world.
To be fair, the Renaissance was a revolution in many areas; art, culture, religion, science, philosophy, politics, medicine – no one work sparked it. But Lucretius certainly fanned the flames i many areas, and provided a springboard for a new generation of thinkers to leap from. It was the "swerve" Greeblatt describes.
In 2011, Greenblatt wrote in a piece in the New Yorker magazine:
The poem's rediscovery prompted such a swerve. The cultural shift of the Renaissance is notoriously difficult to define, but it was characterized, in part, by a decidedly Lucretian pursuit of beauty and pleasure. The pursuit shaped the dress and the etiquette of courtiers, the language of the liturgy, the design and decoration of everyday objects. It suffused Leonardo da Vinci's scientific and technological explorations, Galileo's vivid dialogues on astronomy, Francis Bacon's ambitious research projects, and Richard Hooker's theology. Even works that were seemingly unrelated to any aesthetic ambition—Machiavelli's analysis of political strategy, Walter Raleigh's description of Guiana, Robert Burton's encyclopedic account of mental illness—were crafted in such a way as to produce pleasure. And this pursuit, with its denial of Christian asceticism, enabled people to turn away from a preoccupation with angels and demons and to focus instead on things in this world: to conduct experiments without worrying about infringing on God's jealously guarded secrets, to question authorities and challenge received doctrines, to contemplate without terror the death of the soul.
Science is not all Lucretius wrote about, of course. The poem was meant to teach his fellow Romans about the wide-ranging tenets of Epicureanism, a materialist, almost Buddhist philosophy that encompassed religion, sex, superstition, death, science, morality, pleasure, politics, disease, the gods… and a universe that had no designer, no beginning, no end and more starkly, no purpose.
George Santayana wrote in 1910:
The materialist is primarily an observer; and he will probably be such in ethics also; that is, he will have no ethics, except the emotion produced upon him by the march of the world. If he is an esprit fort and really disinterested, he will love life; as we all love perfect vitality, or what strikes us as such, in gulls and porpoises. This, I think, is the ethical sentiment psychologically consonant with a vigorous materialism: sympathy with the movement of things, interest in the rising wave, delight at the foam it bursts into, before it sinks again. Nature does not distinguish the better from the worse, but the lover of nature does. He calls better what, being analogous to his own life, enhances his vitality and probably possesses some vitality of its own. This is the ethical feeling of Spinoza, the greatest of modern naturalists in philosophy; and we shall see how Lucretius, in spite of his fidelity to the ascetic Epicurus, is carried by his poetic ecstasy in the same direction.
Epicurus wasn't an atheist, at least not openly, but he believed that the gods simply existed without care or concern for – much less personal intervention in – human lives. They existed solely for themselves. Our religious rituals, our prayers to them are pointless, he said.
He postulated a rhetorical paradox that challenged all religious thought, from his day forward:
Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able?
Then he is not omnipotent.
Is he able, but not willing?
Then he is malevolent.
Is he both able and willing?
Then whence cometh evil?
Is he neither able nor willing?
Then why call him God?
As Wikipdeia notes:
Epicurus himself did not leave any written form of this argument. It can be found in Christian theologian Lactantius's Treatise on the Anger of God where Lactantius critiques the argument. Epicurus's argument as presented by Lactantius actually argues that a god that is all-powerful and all-good does not exist and that the gods are distant and uninvolved with man's concerns. The gods are neither our friends nor enemies.
Much of what we know today about Epicurus comes from secondary or even tertiary sources – many antagonistic to his beliefs. Diogenes Laertius, an early and sympathetic biographer, wrote a book about eminent philosophers in 230 BCE, a generation after Epicurus had died. Dedicating Book X to Epicurus, Diogenes wrote:
But first: some few preliminary remarks about his division of his philosophy. It is divided into three subjects: Canonics, Physics, and Ethics. Canonics forms the introduction to the system and is found in a single work entitled The Canon. Physics consists of a comprehensive theory of nature; it is found in the thirty-seven books On Nature and is also summarized among his Letters. Ethics, finally, deals with choice and avoidance, which may be found in the books On Lifecourses, among his Letters, and in the book On the End-Goal. Canonics and Physics are usually treated jointly. The former defines the criterion of truth and discusses first principles (the elementary part of philosophy), while the latter deals with the creation and destruction of things in nature. Ethics counsels upon things chosen versus those avoided, the art of living, and the end-goal. Dialectics they dismiss as superfluous – they say that ordinary terms for things is sufficient for physicists to advance their understanding of nature.
While materialism of this sort challenged many long-held tenets about the nature of the universe, it was in the religious sphere that the Epicureans really shook the tree (and created enemies). Lucretius challenged the existence of an immortal soul in many lines, for example:
…mind does more
to maintain bands of life and govern life
than does the power of soul.
For without mind and understanding, no part of soul
can stay, even for the briefest moment,
inside the body—it quickly follows them,
as their comrade, and scatters in the air,
leaving cold limbs to icy death. And yet
anyone whose mind and understanding
remain behind continues on with life,
although his body has been maimed, with limbs
cut off all round.
Book I, Lines 552-
He believed that any soul we contained was integral to the flesh, not divine, and it died with the body. That alone would have brought upon his works the wrath of the church which had a hardened, vested belief in the soul, without which much of its other beliefs (and control over the masses) would have crumbled. The church feared Lucretius and the followers of Epicurus because they argued – convincingly for some – against many church beliefs.
Nam cupide conculcatur nimis ante metutum.
Men are eager to tread underfoot what they have once too much feared.
Book V, line 1140.
Today, we hardly hear about Epicureanism – a school of thought based on the ideas of the Greek philosopher Epicurus (341-270 BCE) – and what we do is usually through the filter of later opponents (such as the early church). The philosophy was derided, dismissed, expunged and most of its works destroyed. Today only fragments – aside from On the Nature of Things – exist.
Over the centuries, the Epicureans faded out of history. The church – its enemy from the start – invented derogatory stories about Epicurus, about his followers, and twisted the philosophy into a mere caricature about over-indulgent pleasure seekers. Even today, the dictionary definition of Epicurean is, "fond of or adapted to luxury or indulgence in sensual pleasures; having luxurious tastes or habits, especially in eating and drinking."
In the early 16th century, the church banned – and burned – all books that even suggested Epicurean ideas. They branded anyone caught with them as heretics. Clergy were forbidden to teach Lucretius in schools.
Yet Lucretius was not to be silenced. He was read far and wide by people as diverse as Machiavelli, Montaigne, Ben Jonson and Shakespeare. His work inspired Isaac Newton, Molière, Erasmus Darwin, Karl Marx and Thomas Jefferson. Machiavelli slyly made a copy of De Rerum Natura, but while many of his ideas come from Lucretius, he never openly acknowledged the source.
Spanish-born philosopher George Santayana commenting on Lucretius's ideas about endless creation and variation, in 1910 wrote,
This double experience of mutation and recurrence, an experience at once sentimental and scientific, soon brought with it a very great thought, perhaps the greatest thought that mankind has ever hit upon, and which was the chief inspiration of Lucretius. It is that all we observe about us, and ourselves also, may be so many passing forms of a permanent substance. This substance, while remaining the same in quantity and in inward quality, is constantly redistributed; in its redistribution it forms those aggregates which we call things, and which we find constantly disappearing and reappearing. All things are dust, and to dust they return; a dust, however, eternally fertile, and destined to fall perpetually into new, and doubtless beautiful, forms. This notion of substance lends a much greater unity to the outspread world; it persuades us that all things pass into one another, and have a common ground from which they spring successively, and to which they return.
Poggio rediscovered the manuscript before Gutenberg's revolution in printing allowed books to be mass-produced. It was copied laboriously by hand for decades. The first printed version appeared in 1473, in Lombardy. The original manuscript Poggio found has long since vanished. But thanks to his copying, Lucretius' poem was given new life and, 600 years later, we still have.
Today, of course, you can read it in many printed editions, or online in classical and modern translations. Lucretian quotes have appeared on Facebook (usually mis-attributed as are most Facebook quotes).
Nam veluti pueri trepidant atque omnia caecis
in tenebris metuunt, sic nos in luce timemus
interdum, nilo quae sunt metuenda magis quam
quae pueri in tenebris pavitant finguntque futura.
hunc igitur terrorem animi tenebrasque necessest
non radii solis neque lucida tela diei
discutiant sed naturae species ratioque.
For as children tremble and fear everything in the blind darkness, so we in the light sometimes fear what is no more to be feared than the things children in the dark hold in terror and imagine will come true. This terror therefore and darkness of mind must be dispelled not by the rays of the sun and glittering shafts of day, but by the aspect and law of nature.
Book II, line 56-62
Epicureanism has been rescued from the intellectual exile it has suffered for the past two millennia: websites are dedicated to explaining it, reproducing its few key works, elucidating its principles as an ethical, moral philosophy. We know much more about them than in the past, despite the strenuous millennia-long efforts of the church to suppress their teachings.
And we are richer for it. We are even seeing Lucretius slip into popular culture (as, for example, this site)
Quod siquis vera vitam ratione gubernet,
divitiae grandes homini sunt vivere parvo
aequo animo; neque enim est umquam penuria parvi.
But if one should guide his life by true principles, man's greatest wealth is to live on a little with contented mind; for a little is never lacking.
Book V, line 1117
* Consider that it survived for centuries in an increasingly illiterate world, in an intellectually hostile environment, against the ravages of floods, time, mold, weather, barbarians, and even the monks themselves who often scraped old vellum clean to re-use for more politically and theologically correct works. Remarkable.
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Justice for Bhopal – Stop Dow Chemicals sponsorship for London Olympics
Posted on December 5, 2011 by Swapnil Morye
Dow Chemicals is sponsoring millions of dollars to the London Olympics at the cost of the lives of 25,000 people who died inhaling the poisonous gas on the 3rd of December 1984 in Bhopal, India. Union Carbide, the company responsible for the mishandling of the large tanks containing the poisonous pesticide methyl isocyanate, is currently owned by Dow Chemicals. The organizations fighting for justice complained that they have received only 15% of the actual compensation they deserve. Union Carbide paid a part compensation of $470 mn. in 1989 after bowing down to the enormous pressure from activists and partly the Indian Government.
The compensations received then were based on the incorrect numbers presented by the Indian government, which has been constantly pestered by the organizations demanding justice. The official website for Justice in Bhopal mentions that the compensation received considered 5295 deaths but in reality 22,917 deaths have been reported due to the direct effects of the deadly gas. Also only 4902 were listed earlier as permanently disabled which is in complete contrast to the actual number which stands at more than 500,000. No compensation was provided to victims with temporary disability or minor injuries.
The politicians who have been constantly reminded by the activists to bring the American company to trial have eventually won the attention of the Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh, SS Chauhan joining the protests and asking for a boycott of the Games by India. Bhopal is the provincial capital of Madhya Pradesh. The Indian Government later asked the Indian Olympic Association to raise the issue with the International Olympic Committee. Although the Sports Minister has confirmed that no such action will be taken by the Indian Olympic Association.
Sebastian Coe, Chairman of the Organizing Committee for the London Olympics has insisted that the organisers will go ahead with the sponsorship deal. This statement created a massive hatred for Seb Coe in Bhopal and his effigies were burnt.
This is not the first time Dow Chemicals have been accused of playing dirty games. In its ugly past they produced napalm for the United States government during the Vietnam War and have also been responsible for leaking of poisonous plutonium in America for which they were sued. They have multiple sites in USA which are harmful and are labelled as dangerous owing to Dow Chemicals dirty activities. The 10 year deal with the Olympic Committee means Dow Chemicals will supply its chemical to the organizers for construction raising millions of dollars.
Five leading groups who have been responsible for keeping the fight alive have held numerous rallies across the city and the state capital Delhi. The most recent rally was the 'Rail Roko Andholan' (Stop the Trains Movement) which was highly successful when the protesters stopped all trains passing through Bhopal which lies in the heart of the 1.3bn population country.
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Multimedia Journalist. Interests range from International Politics and Current Affairs to Blues Music and Beer Gulping. Passionate reader and writer about Political propaganda's, Media commercialization and Human Rights. https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=554714070
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Around February 11, 1890
Selected Tales: The Power of a Story
Date(s): Unknown Location: ROCKBRIDGE, Virginia Tag(s): Arts/Leisure, Health/Death
In this day and age, newspapers rarely print fiction. Of course, there is the occasional magical story written by a third grade class that appears every once a week in the Arts and Entertainment section of the paper, but for the most part, fictional stories of real substance are not published in newspapers anymore. This was not the case in the 1800's. Appearing in The Valley Star each week was...
Inspiring Words From L.A. Chase
Date(s): February 11, 1890 Location: ORANGE, Florida Tag(s): school, Speech, Loring Augustus Chase, Hannibal Square, African-American
On February 11, 1890 Mr. Chase gave a wonderful speech to those who attended the introduction to the new faculty of the public school in Hannibal Square. The Hannibal Square Elementary was the first public school for African Americans founded in 1883.[1] Mr. Chase shed some light on matters such as slavery and he even goes on to compliment the African American people on their behavior and thirst...
Nineteenth Century Public Education in the United States
Date(s): February 14, 1890 Location: ORANGE, Florida Tag(s): Winter Park, The Advocate, public education, schoolhouses, The Dedication
In the years following Winter Park's founding, the city continued to grow, adding Rollins College, the Seminole Hotel, the Roger's House, and schoolhouses. On February 14th of 1890, two new schoolhouses were dedicated in Winter Park. One of the schoolhouses was for white children, and the other schoolhouse,...
Bloody Fight in Alabama between White Stone-cutters and Bridge Builders and African-Americans
Date(s): February 6, 1890 Location: BIBB, Alabama Tag(s): African-Americans, Crime/Violence, Health/Death, Race-Relations
The growing presence of racial intimidation and violence marked the decade of the 1890s, also known as the "height of mob frenzy.' Private mobs punished alleged offenders for both attempted and committed crimes of violence, murder, and rape. Failure of local officials to protect prisoners adequately contributed to this vigilante mob justice.

Increasing power of...
Thirty-eight Sheriff Sales Reported in Local Missouri Newspaper
Date(s): February 2, 1890 Location: COOPER, Missouri Tag(s): Agriculture, Economy
Many Missouri farmers lost their farms in sheriff's sales during 1890. The Boonville Semi-Weekly Star reported 38 sales on February 2, 1890. Sheriff sales occurred when individuals failed to pay taxes on their property to pay taxes to some other creditor. The sheriff then sold the seized property on the courthouse steps. The locality listed the seized properties in the newspaper in an attempt...
Journalist Kincaid Shoots and Kills Former Congressman Taulbee in U.S. Capitol
Date(s): February 28, 1890 Location: Washington City, District of Columbia Tag(s): Crime/Violence
In the 1880s, Louisville Times journalist Charles E. Kincaid reported that married Congressman William Taulbee was seen in a "compromising way' with a young woman in the United States Patent Office. As a result, Taulbee's political career ended. On February 28, 1890, Taulbee came across Kincaid in Washington, D.C. and threatened the journalist. According to a Capitol doorkeeper who...
The Debate Over Colonization
Date(s): February 28, 1890 Location: Washington City, District of Columbia Tag(s): African-Americans, Government, Law, Politics, Migration/Transportation, Race-Relations, Slavery
Bishop H. M. Turner decided to pick up a copy of the Evening Star on the night of February 28th, 1890, when a certain headline caught his eye: Bruce on the race issue. The Honorable Blanche Kelsoe Bruce was an old friend of the Bishop's who had become a Senator of the state of Mississippi and moved to Washington D.C. Each man greatly admired the other for his work and his distinguished accomplishments....
Publication of the "Shell Manifesto'
Date(s): January 23, 1890 Location: LAURENS, South Carolina Tag(s): Agriculture, Economy
On January 23, 1890, G. Walsh Shell, president of the Farmers' Convention published the widely distributed "Shell Manifesto.' The Manifesto called for a convention to select candidates for state office that the Farmers' Convention would recommend to the Democrats before their party convention. The publication stressed the importance of farmers trying to influence government at...
Dirty Elections
Date(s): January 23, 1890 Location: ROCKBRIDGE, Virginia Tag(s): Crime/Violence, Government, Law, Politics, Race-Relations
On January 23, 1890, a small county newspaper printed in Lexington, Virginia published an article discussing the corruption of the election process with the memory of the prior year's November election fresh in the mind. The writer of the article was disgusted with the corruption of the election process, and was fed up with the continuing corruption. The congressional seats of important mining...
Date(s): January 23, 1890 Location: ROCKBRIDGE, Virginia Tag(s): Economy, Urban-Life/Boosterism
On the sixth of January, 1895, northerner H.C. Hovey, remembering his past trip to the Luray Caverns in Page County, Virginia, wrote a letter to the cavern's newly appointed Manger Superintendent, Lemuel Zerkel. Hovey filled the letter with friendly words and personal anecdotes referencing the caverns, to hopefully illicit a feeling of mutual interest from the newly appointed...
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Home » Our Work » Where We Serve » Jamaica
Mustard Seed Communities began in 1978 in the impoverished community of Mona Common on the outskirts of Kingston, Jamaica, as a home for a handful of abandoned and disabled children. Today we serve over 400 children, young adults, and families who belong to the most vulnerable groups in Jamaican society. The populations of our homes include children and young adults with disabilities, children affected by HIV, and teen mothers along with their babies. MSC Jamaica also manages a number of community outreach programs to combat poverty and provide education to local populations.
Our vision for each apostolate is to create a loving and caring environment to aid in the physical, mental, and spiritual development of our residents.
Residential Care for Persons with Disabilities
A majority of our programs in Jamaica focus on the care of children with disabilities. The residents of our homes have a wide range of physical and mental challenges including schizophrenia, autism, hydrocephalus, and cerebral palsy among many others. Several of our residential care facilities are located in and around the city of Kingston - the birthplace and primary headquarters of MSC Jamaica. At Mahoe Drive in Kingston, a bustling MSC community named My Father's House comprises a home for children, administrative offices, and several community outreach programs. My Father's House is home to over 40 children with varying degrees of physical and cognitive disabilities. There is a chapel at the center of the community where Mass and formal devotional are held three times each day.
Sophie's Place is an apostolate located in Gordon Town and home to over 20 children with disabilities. Sophie's Place participates in a project with Kingston's University of Technology through which residents attend daily sessions with occupational therapists on the University campus. Sophie's Place also includes accommodations for mission teams visiting Kingston, a chapel, and a Little Angels preschool.
In Spanish Town, MSC Jamaica has developed a large community called Jerusalem! The property is located on eight acres and it serves as a residential care facility for over 150 children and adults with disabilities. Jerusalem! provides a safe and nurturing environment for individuals challenged both mentally and physically. The Village section of Jerusalem! caters to older teenage and adult residents in a setting where several houses make up a small neighborhood. These homes provide an integrated environment where residents with varying levels of skills and development coexist. Training in construction, home economics, farm work, and formal education is emphasized to prepare residents for a semi-independent way of life. Jerusalem! also houses part of our Dare to Care program, a Little Angels preschool, and agricultural initiatives.
While there are several MSC Jamaica programs in the Kingston area, we do maintain additional apostolates across the island. Widow's Mite is located in Murray Mount, St. Ann, and was the first residential home for abandoned children with disabilities that MSC developed outside of Kingston. Widow's Mite cares for over twenty children. Additionally, a growing need within Jamaica and a generous donation of land led to our expansion into the northwestern part of the country in 2008. Blessed Assurance, home to 35 residents, is located just outside of Montego Bay. This apostolate is another location for mission trips to Jamaica, and the property has on-site accommodations for volunteers.
Mandeville is home to Jamaica's newest apostolate, Gift of Hope. Currently, Gift of Hope is a home for children with disabilities whose ages range from 2 to 34, yet the ultimate vision is that Gift of Hope will serve as a home for younger residents, ages 2 to 12. In addition to being Jamaica's 13th apostolate, Gift of Hope is also the newest mission trip location.
To complement our care for vulnerable children across Jamaica, we have developed an apostolate specifically to care for adults with disabilities. Jacob's Ladder is located in Moneague on 150 acres of land donated to MSC by a bauxite company. In Jamaica, there are no facilities - governmental or otherwise - available to take care of individuals with mental and physical disabilities after they reach 18 years of age. The vision for Jacob's Ladder is to fill this void by providing 500 young adults with mental and physical disabilities a home where they can live out their lives. Upon completion, this apostolate will have 100 cottages for staff and residents. At present, there are over 90 residents living at Jacob's Ladder and new cottage construction is ongoing. MSC is taking full advantage of the expansive property at Jacob's Ladder to develop it as a hub for our sustainable agriculture program.
Residential Care for Children Affected by HIV
Dare to Care is our program that cares specifically for children living with HIVwho have been abandoned as a result of the virus. Dare to Care is the first and only program of its kind in Jamaica, and it is the namesake for our first home within the program. The doors of Dare to Care opened to seven children in September of 2000. The home has since expanded and now cares for over 30 children ranging from 5 to 17 years of age. These children come from all over Jamaica. Our HIV initiative now encompasses three homes. The second of these homes, Matthew 25:40, was established in 2002 and caters to the needs of boys living with the virus. Martha's House, the third Dare to Care apostolate, was established by MSC in downtown Kingston in 2006. The original facility was destroyed by fire in March 2009, though fortunately no lives were lost in the incident. Martha's House was rebuilt on the Jerusalem! campus and officially reopened in December 2009. In total, our Dare to Care program provides housing and support to nearly 80 children.
Read more about the history and structure of this program.
Residential Care for Young Mothers
Mary's Child is our apostolate that provides housing and support for teen mothers and their babies. It is one of the only residential facilities of its kind in Jamaica. Mary's Child accommodates twelve mothers and babies for one year. Residents of the home are first-time mothers and are typically referred to MSC by social workers, the police, schools, or health authorities. In addition to providing a haven for the young women to transition safely into motherhood, Mary's Child also imparts life skills that will be essential after their departure from MSC. Mary's child offers training for educational, professional, and personal development including computer courses, home economic classes, and informational lectures on parenting skills. Each mother is also immersed in opportunities for spiritual growth, practicing daily morning meditation, midday rosary, and weekly Mass. This approach is modeled after that of other MSC apostolates and focuses on stimulating growth and development in every facet of the young mother's life.
Education & Nutrition
With our motto of caring for the most vulnerable in mind, we decided that our work should encompass a school system that would stand out among the best. Thus, Little Angels Learning Center was born. Little Angels provides education to our own residents as well as children from local communities. The Learning Center was officially recognized by the Ministry of Education on September 2, 2002. At Little Angels we aim to provide the very best for our children. They are taught to develop their mental, physical and spiritual selves. The Ministry of Education manages the structure of our annual curriculum. The children at Little Angels participate in classes such as religion, music, Spanish, Computer Studies, and Physical Education. Regular field trips expose children to their culture and national heritage. Spirituality plays a vital role in the lives of both the teachers and the children. Mass and adoration are observed weekly and students attend a monthly Day of Recollection as well as an annual retreat. Students and teachers endeavor to live by the word from the book of Proverbs 2 vs. 6. "True education is that imparted by him with whom is wisdom and strength."
Mustard Seed Communities makes nutrition a priority in every community we serve. In Jamaica, nutrition is a key component of the Little Angels preschools where students are provided with two meals daily. Proper nutrition is paramount for the children and adults with disabilities that we care for in Jamaica. The right food and medicines can make dramatic improvements to their quality of life.
An overarching goal of MSC is to become self-sufficient and sustainable in what we consume. Our programs in Jamaica are an important driving force for this vision. Jerusalem! and Jacob's Ladder serve as our main sites for agriculture and animal husbandry projects. In the future, we hope to extend some degree of food sustainability to all MSC apostolates.
At Jerusalem!, the farm functions as both a therapeutic alternative for the residents and as an income-generating project. The farm currently has two fish ponds, 2000 chickens for egg production, a vegetable garden, and a small flock of sheep. The farm serves the in-house protein needs of the residents and surplus is sold to neighboring communities as a form of income to help cover operating costs.
At Jacob's Ladder, we are fortunate to have an abundance of open land for agricultural expansion. The site has over 40 pigs and several greenhouses for cultivation. Additionally, significant advancements were made in terms of water provisions at Jacob's Ladder. In early 2013, the water catchment was completed and 8,000 gallons of water were pumped, filtered, and stored, providing Jacob's Ladder with a long-term water collection and distribution system. These initiatives will help MSC to fulfill the vision for Jacob's Ladder to serve as a lifelong home for over 400 adults with disabilities.
Training & Community Outreach
MSC is committed not only to providing for our children but also to uplifting the vulnerable and marginalized populations in society. In Jamaica, we have become involved in numerous outreach programs. These include poverty alleviation with a charitable program called Christmas Treat and training efforts such as the Pottery shop & apprentice program at Mahoe Drive.
Contact Us in Jamaica
P.O. Box 267, Kingston 10, Jamaica, West Indies
Phone: + 1 876-923-6488 Fax: + 1 876-923-6000
info-jamaica@mustardseed.com
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Uplift the most vulnerable members of society
Jamaica- Montego Bay Mission Highlights
Looking at MSC Through a New Lens
Mustard Seed Communities is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt charity. All contributions designated for specific projects are applied to those projects. We may assess up to 10 percent to be used to administer the gift. Occasionally, we receive more contributions for a given project than can be wisely applied to that project. When that happens, we use these funds to meet a similar pressing need.
Solicitation Disclosure
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29 Janes Avenue
Medfield, MA 02052
info-usa@mustardseed.com
Copyright © 2018 Mustard Seed CommunitiesCopyright: © 2009-2018
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Keedysville Water Commission
Keedysville Library The Keedysville Library is affiliated with the Washington County Free Library System. It is located across from Taylor Park. The library is open on the following days and times: Tuesday 3:15am-7:00pm Wednesday 3:15am-7:00pm Saturday 9:15am-12:00Noon Wi-Fi Internet access is available. Call the librarian, Brenda Berry, for further information at 301-432-6641. Follow the Keedysville Library on Facebook Library Book ClubThe Keedysville Library Book Club meets monthly to discuss a book the members have read. Meetings are held on the … Read More
Rockingham Home Owner's Associationhttp://rockinghamhoa.net Cannon Ridge Home Owner's Associationhttp://cannonridgehoa.com/index.html Maryland Manual On-Line: A Guide to Maryland Government:http://www.mdarchives.state.md.us/msa/mdmanual/html/mmtoc.html Neighborhood watch organizations:http://www.ready.gov/citizen-corps Maryland Department of Public Safety:http://www.dpscs.state.md.us/aboutdpscs/pct/ccpi/index.shtml Brochures for different police programs:http://www.dpscs.state.md.us/aboutdpscs/pct/ccpi/brochures.shtml Antietam Lodge No. 197http://antietamlodge197.net/
Fairview CemeteryKeedysville, Maryland Inquiries regarding the cemetery may be directed to Eric Ellis at (email). Search Cemetery Records History Settlement of Keedysville began in 1738 when the tract "Gordon's Purchase" was patented. In 1770, Jacob Hess became the 5th owner of Gordon's purchase where he engaged in the grain milling business. In 1788 Hess's 19-year-old son, Christian, became the first burial on a hilltop plot convenient to the Hess Home. Into the early 1800's, the Hess family cemetery became the … Read More
Utilities List
First EnergyCustomer Service Center10802 Bower Ave.Williamsport, MD 21795(800) 686-0011Note: Normal Business Hours 06:00 a.m. – 08:00 p.m., Weekdays, 08:00 a.m. – 04:30 p.m., Weekendshttp://www.firstenergycorp.com VerizonP.O. Box 17577Baltimore, MD 21297-0513(301) 954-6260Note: Normal Business Hours 08:00 a.m. – 06:00 p.m., Monday through Fridayhttp://www.verizon.com Boonsboro/Keedysville Regional Water Board21 North Main StreetBoonsboro, MD 21713(301) 432-5141 Apple Valley WasteQuestions or issues relating to trash pick up should be directed to Town Hall.The trash removal schedule is now available online. Washington County Department of Water Quality (Sewer)16232 Elliot ParkwayWilliamsport, … Read More
Taylor Park
Keedysville maintains a recreational park in town containing swings, slides and a merry-go-round for children, as well as a basketball court. In addition, there is a pavilion for group picnics and cooking/grilling facilities. Sanitary facilities are available. Park usage must be reserved by calling the Keedysville Town Hall.
Mount Vernon United Church of ChristPastor Delancy Catlett64 S. Main StreetBox 85Keedysville, Maryland 21756This is the oldest church in continuous operation in Keedysville. The church was built in 1831 and functioned as a civil war hospital during the battle of Antietam. St. Peter's Evangelical Lutheran ChurchPastor Regina Beard53 N. Main StreetKeedysville, Maryland 21756301-432-5787Web Site: www.bcklutheranparish.org Salem United Methodist ChurchPastor Al Deal25 S. Main StreetKeedysville, Maryland 21756301-432-4046Web Site: www.salemcommunity.org
Community Facts Report
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Regular Town Hours:
Monday-Wednesday 8:00-4:30
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Town Announcements
Town of Keedysville
Keedysville, MD 21756-0359
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Most likely come 2020 8-10% of blacks and about 40% of whites will vote Rump against their personal economic best interests.
Hehehehe, what tripe. The country is doing quite well under President Trump. Black employment highest in history and the same for Hispanic employment.
People earning less than about $150k would be doing much better with the old tax system and WAY better under the the tax plan the dems proposed 8 or 9 years ago....fractions of a % wage increase will never ever make that up and unemployment rates are little changed...4.6 to 3.7, it helps at the margins but doesn'tmatter to the vast majority.
You are truly delusional. Everyone who is working is doing better under President Trump. Plenty of jobs available for those who want to work for a living.
Some people's standards are not directly related to money, but you have shown no record here of comprehending that, even if you don't agree with it.
Virtually nothing about the economy is different now from 2 years ago when you were crying about how bad things were.
Just for you Mark. From the Boston Herald this morning.
"You don't have to give Trump the credit but his economy is soaring"
"The economy is roaring. On Friday the Bureau of Labor Statistics released the jobs report for October. It exceeded expectations.
We are seeing the best wage growth since 2009, when we were crawling out of the recession. In October, 250,000 jobs were added to the economy. The unemployment rate held at 3.7 percent — its lowest level since 1969.
The average hourly earnings increased at a 3.1 percent pace, year over year. That is the strongest wage growth since April 2009. More people are working than in any time in recent memory and employers are having trouble filling positions."
When ohbummer took office, the economy was wide open for anyone with business savvy and sound economic principles to set growth records but all ohbummer and his merry band of American apologist progressives could do was prop it up artificially and choke the recovery to death with taxes and regulation.
After 8 years of "recovery", there shouldn't be 250,000 jobs per month to even fill but President Trump is doing just that. That, my friends, is winning!
Obama always blamed President Bush for his failures. Now that President Trump has really turned this country around Obama wants to take credit for it. You just can't make this sh!t up.


Professional surfer and waterman Alan Stokes is one of Europe's best surfers and has competed all over the world. Having ranked 3rd and 2nd in Europe plus winning three British National Championships and two Uk Pro Tour Titles. Alan also won the inaugural Association Of Surfing Professionals Quiksilver Air Show in Ireland and the ASP Pantin Expression Session in Spain.
Dimitri started sea kayaking in 2007 and has never stopped since. When he's not at work or sleeping, he's on the water doing mostly day-trips, shorter trips, surf sessions and training rescue and paddle techniques. He founded the NORTHSEAKAYAK group to unite the Belgian paddlers as much as possible; it is a non-official group where everybody is welcome to join, regardless of age, level, experience or gender. They try hard to paddle safely and responsibly and share all their knowledge with those who paddle with them..
Dimitri learned sea kayaking on his own by trial and error and through watching videos, since there was not much support in Belgium. With his videos he tries to promote sea kayaking in Belgium, and with success! Unfortunately there are no rocks and tidal races in Belgium, but he still manages to keep things interesting! Most importantly within Dimitri's group of paddlers; it's all about the smiles, the fun and the companionship! Dimitri owns the coveted title of being the first person to complete a solo, unsupported crossing of the North Sea.
Barnaby is Typhoon's youngest team rider, and is showing huge potential.
When Barnaby was 6 he broke both bones in his arm. The pins were finally removed when he was 7 and Barnaby's mum bought a foamy to help him rebuild the strength and manoeuvrability that was lost after the break. From this moment on he was hooked and has surfed at every possible opportunity ever since.
In 2018, Barnaby will be stepping up to the WSL Pro Junior level and compete at events around Europe in the under 18s. His goal is to get consecutive quarter final finishes or better (top 8 in Europe).
Warrick Murphy is an Australian bodyboarder, living in Newquay UK. Warrick spent his early years growing up in South Africa, before his parents decided to move him and his brother to the Gold Coast of Australia. South Straddie; 'the best beach break in the world' became his local surf spot, where he found his love for the dropknee stance. This being said, Warrick also enjoys riding waves on all sorts of crafts including; longboards, shortboards, softtops and handplanes.
Since graduating Warrick has travelled all over the world exploring, discovering and surfing some amazing waves in some awesome locations which include, Cook Islands, Australia, Dubai, Portugal, Canary Islands, El Salvador, Columbia, Ireland, Iceland and the Faroe Islands. He has since settled in the UK, working as a primary school teacher in Cornwall.
During his holidays he spends his time searching for uncrowded, perfect waves in cold locations. Sometimes he ends up finding a few gems, other times the enjoyment comes from the constant search in these beautifully remote locations.
He is also a regular face around Fistral Beach either coaching surfing and bodyboarding, or waiting for that low tide to start sending in some punchy, suckier waves; optimal for bodyboarding.He has worked alongside some of Newquays household bodyboard names such as Rob Barber. Developing and promoting a Dropknee Specific board with Core Bodyboards. Follow his adventures either through his blog or instagram below.


I got choked up on Sunday listening to Stuart Townshed's song, "How Deep the Father's Love for Us." The thought that it was for me that Jesus had to suffer so much pain and agony is bringing tears to my eyes even now as I write this. "It was my sin that held him there, until it was accomplished" is a sobering thought. That kind of love was shown to someone so unlovely as I sinned and rebelled against him. That is the only kind of love that could reconcile one like me to a Holy and Righteous God. I could to nothing. As another hymn reminds me, "Not for sins could I atone, Thou must save and Thou alone." And He did on that cruel cross at Calvary. "Jesus was not murdered; He willingly laid down His life for us. He was not a martyr [so we should not blame the Jews nor the Romans]; He was a willing sacrifice for the sins of the world" (Wiersbe 149). Has He made a difference in your life?
Mark 14 has a lot in it. And I hope you take the encouragement I gave Sunday to read and reread this important chapter that Mark has written. Much of what Mark has been writing has its climax in this chapter. His messianic claim is finally verbalized because now is the time for the fulfillment of God's purpose and plan to take place. No need to "hide" His identity. The teachings about his betrayal and death are coming to fruition. Jesus gives his disciples his last words of encouragement and warning. The gospel message (loving extravagantly) is seen in one last example from an unnamed woman. And Jesus speaks and embodies living sacrificially.
There are some quotes that I loved from the commentaries I read that I just could not fit into the message that I want to to think about as you read this chapter again. Garland remarks in connection with the disciples sleeping in the garden a good connection with us, "Followers of Jesus who do not pray and try to follow on their own power will collapse." I like what Kernaghan has to say about the disciples in the garden as Judas approaches, "Jesus' followers were prepared to die for him, but they were not prepared to die with him. On this night salvation would come to God's people not through defeat of their enemies but through the death and resurrection of the Savior" (306) Later when Jesus was before the high priest Lane says, "It is evident from Mark's Gospel that Jesus had carefully avoided calling himself the Messiah [up to this point]. It was not his desire to arouse the nationalistic and political hopes which clustered around the figure of the Messiah in popular thinking. . . . [But now] to the question whether he claimed to be the promised Messiah, he replied clearly, 'I am'" (536). And finally from Garland again, "While Jesus was under fire inside, Peter warms himself by the fire outside. As Jesus confesses under immense pressure and hostility that seals his fate, Peter capitulates under the gentlest of pressure and lies to save himself." (566) Hope you have a good week.
Today is April Fools Day. However the sermon I preached yesterday was not foolish. We talked about the end times. And while it is important to know the signs leading up the the last days, we also need to be careful on how we walk during the last days. This is why I focused (as I believe Jesus did in Mark 13) on preparing followers of Christ on how He wants us to behave during the end times. He wants us to watch and be aware of the events surrounding us. Because in those last days, there will be imposters trying to lead us astray. There will be persecution and hardship. There will be cosmic struggles. There will be false Christ who WILL deceive many. And Jesus does not want us to be unaware. Keep watch-keep on your guard. Do not let them trick you. Many Christians in America have it good as far as being persecuted for Christ. Our brothers and sisters around the world are not so lucky. But I am not sure when our luck here in America will run out. When it does, we need to trust in God. Trust in His Word. Trust that He is in control. Trust that He will not leave us. And when that time comes we need to Stand. Stand firm in our faith. Standing combines our watchfulness and our trust in God. It will not be easy. But that is why Jesus spoke the words to us in chapter 13. If you do these three things, you will be no fool.
Wow, Sunday's message had a lot in it. And yet, there was still more I wanted to touch on but couldn't because of time. Here are a few more quotes from various commentaries I look at on a weekly basis in preparing my message. Kernaghan says, "The fig tree than is an enacted parable about the temple. When Jesus denounced the temple as a den of robbers, drove out the merchants and customers, overturned the tables of the moneychangers and stopped the offering of sacrifices, he was not trying to purify the temple. His actions amounted to a curse (on the temple). And if the fig tree, which he also cursed, had withered away to its roots, what would become of the temple?" Later, "it is impossible to love your neighbors as yourself when you are constantly seeking to put yourself in a position above them" Wow, so good!
I did not have time to explore the widow's mites at the end of chapter 12. It like Bartimaeus serves as an positive example of the teachings before it. Lane has several insights into this that I was unable to bring out. This account of the widow "serves to sharpen the contrast between the sham righteousness of the scribes and that wholehearted devotion to God which characterized an unnamed widow whose poverty was absolute. . . . The fact that the woman gave two coins was significant, for she could easily have kept one for herself." Wow, so good!
I will leave you with those two great thoughts.
As I was doing my devotions this morning, I was reading through the book of Ruth and a phrase caught my attention. Boaz is described as "a man of standing". This phrase is actually two words in the Hebrew (Gibbor Chayil). These are the same two words that are used in Judges to describe Gideon (Judges 6:12) only there they are translated "Mighty Warrior" (NIV). I like translation "Mighty Man of Valor" I know that in a couple of months, I am going to preach on Gideon and so I did a bit of research on this phrase. It is used 41 times in the OT and is used to describe notables like Jephthath (Judges 11:1), Saul (1 Sam 9:1), David (1 Sam 16:18), Jeroboam (1 Kings 11:28), and Naaman (2 Kings 5:1). Over 63% of this combination are used in 1st and 2nd Chronicles (26 times) mostly of random tribes/peoples. There is one woman who this attribute is connected with combining "Isssaw" (Hebrew for "woman") and "Chayil" (i.e. woman of valor) and that is Ruth. It has a rich meaning that I will expand upon when I preach. But today, in light of these verses, I am calling you to be men and women who are Mighty Warriors.
If you are following these devotions, you will realize that this post did not go out on the Monday as usual. It is actually Thursday the 14th. As mentioned in my last post, there has been some hospitalizations in my family last week, and with getting out of the hospital and settling in with the new norm, I have been unable to keep up with it all in a timely fashion. So I beg you forgiveness. I am also at a loss this morning for what to write. God has been teaching me patience this last week and with all my own expectations I have that are not being fulfilled in the way I would desire, I must confess I have not been the best person to be around. So this morning, I confess my frustrations, ill-temper, and impatience. Lord, help me to trust you and not on my own understanding.
I am writing this a day later than usual because of an unexpected trip to the emergency room with my wife after the Sunday morning worship service. At the time of this writing she still has not been released from the hospital. And it is hard to be with my wife in the hospital and be with my kids at home. Needless to say, I am weary and worried and running on empty. It reminds me of the life of Paul that we looked at in Sunday school two weeks ago. Paul was traveling to Rome when the boat was caught in the storm. For 14 days, they struggled and on the 14th day, Paul was encouraging the sailors and helping getting them get fed. And after they had to abandon ship the next day and swim ashore, there was Paul again getting firewood and being bitten by a viper for his trouble. I am sure that Paul was as weary and worn as the rest of the 276 people at this point in the story. Yet here he is ministering and encouraging those around him. And so I write, hoping in my weariness, I might minister to others. And even though, I do not know if anybody reads this blog or not, I still hope that this act of serving when all I want to do is curl up in a ball and cry, will help and encourage someone.
The Our Daily Bread devotional had a great message last week that tied nicely with the message Sunday about how your heart needs to be clean and so I am going to reproduce it here. If you read it this last week, read it again. Ernest Hemingway was asked if he could write a compelling story in six words. His response: "For sale: Baby shoes. Never worn" Hemingway's story is powerful because it inspires us to fill in the details. Were the shoes simply not needed by a healthy child? Or was there a tragic loss- something requiring God's deep love and comfort? The best stories pique our imagination, so it's no surprise that the greatest story ever told stokes the fires of our creativity. God's story has a central plot: He created all things; we (the human race) fell into sin; Jesus came to Earth and died and rose again to save us from our sins; and we now await His return and the restoration of all things. Knowing what has come before and what lies ahead, how should we now live? If Jesus is restoring His entire creation from the clutches of evil, we must "put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light." (Romans 13:12). This includes turning from sin by God's power and choosing to love Him and others well (Rom 13:8-10). The specific ways we fight with Jesus against evil will depend on what gifts we have and what needs we see. Let's use our imagination and look around us. Let's seek out the wounded and weeping, and extend God's justice, love, and comfort as He guides us. Live out your role in God's story as He leads you.
One of the lesions I was reminded again this last week as I was studying for the sermon yesterday is how God can use flawed, ordinary people to spread His perfect and extra-ordinary message. You see, people in the 1st century (and even people in our own time) found it hard to believe that nobility or extra-ordinary wisdom could come from those of lowly birth. Only those who were born with prestige or from well-to-do parents could grow up to be important themselves. This was why Jesus' hometown could not see Him as anything more than a carpenter. "The myth of the Greco-Roman world was that godliness was tied to nobility. [Similarly] the myth of our time is the godliness to tied to success. . . . Mark invites us to commit ourselves to the truth that god does awesome thing through people and events that appear to be merely ordinary" (Kernaghan 119) I find it fascinating that God uses what Paul refers to as clay vessels to shine God's love through. We do not have to be perfect or successful or noble to show forth the message of Jesus. And in fact, it enhances our message that God loves the broken and imperfect. None of us should feel superior because without God's love in our hearts, we are no better than anyone else. We are all beggars telling each other where to find bread.
This week we celebrate Valentines Day. It is a day to express our love and affections to friends, family, and other loved ones. However, I would encourage you to do something more. Since God so loved the world, I want everyone who reads this to be a Valentine to someone who is not close to you. Maybe it is someone you bump into on a regular bases at a store or a restaurant. Maybe it is a cashier or waitress. Maybe it is the greeter at the supermarket you frequent. Maybe it is a neighbor who just moved in or the mechanic who works on your car. Bless them in some way this week. Give them a warm hug or an extra tip. Smile at them and bless them in the name of Jesus. And if the mood strikes say, "I know someone who loves you more than you can ever imagine. Would you like for me to tell you about him?" The verse of the week on my desktop goes right along with this thought. "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind" (Luke 10:27). And may you all have a wonderful Valentines Day.


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Crepidula intratesta is een slakkensoort uit de familie van de Calyptraeidae. De wetenschappelijke naam van de soort is voor het eerst geldig gepubliceerd in 2006 door Simone.

Calyptraeidae

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M-LFD Makes Quick Work of Manhasset House Fire
Lee Genser
On March 14, 2019, at 9:45 p.m., M-LFD Companies 1, 2, 3 and L8743 were dispatched to a reported bedroom fire at 91 Onderdonk Avenue in Manhasset. DC Weisburd (8702) was the first to respond and arrive on scene, and upgraded the call to a general alarm, and requested that a FAS Team respond to the scene from the Port Washington Fire Department. L8743 was the first fire apparatus on scene and located a fire in a second floor bedroom. The crew vented and searched, while the crew of E8712 advanced a hose line to extinguish the fire.
Chief of Department Stone (8705) placed the fire under control at 10:17 p.m., and all units were released from the scene by 11:30 p.m. There were no injuries, and the cause is under investigation by the Nassau County Fire Marshal's Office.
M-LFD Elects New Chief of Department
M-LFD Battles Apartment Fire
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Tuesday, 03 January 2023 M-LFD Battles Early Morning House Fire in Great Neck
Sunday, 25 September 2022 M-LFD Responds to Fully Involved House Fire in North Hills
Saturday, 09 April 2022 M-LFD Elects New Department Officers


This ornament is fully hand painted by a professional artist.
Finished in metallic colors to match most of the other decorative accessories.
This ornament is made of aluminum that last forever.
If exterior setting is chosen, a sealer coat should be applied for protection and durability, extra charge will be added to the price.
You can choose from two different finish sheen, low luster, which is the default sheen and gloss, an extra finish coat should be applied to obtain a glossy sheen, extra charge will be added to the price for this service.
Made out of aluminum for maximum durability and detail.
Can be drilled, glued, or screwed.


Manduwar of Club Jeff Jell has filed an appeal contesting his defeat to Leket Bu Barra, Foroyaa Sport understands.
Manduwar bit the dust to Leket weeks ago at the Independence Stadium on referee's decision.
The two exhausted the allocated time but Manduwar was declared loser after incurring three warnings in an intriguing rematch, five years after their first meeting.
However, this publication understands Manduwar has sent a letter to the Gambia Wrestling Association (GWA) urging for the referee's verdict be reversed.
According to unimpeachable reports reaching our desk, Manduwar's camp based their ground of appeal on the warnings he was issued and what reportedly transpired between him and Leket just before start of the combat.
The GWA's disciplinary committee are sitting over the matter and a verdict to accept or dismiss the appeal is yet to be reached.


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BOOK | The Mark of Slavery: Disability, Race, and Gender in Antebellum America (University of Illinois Press, 2021) by Jenifer L. Barclay
Posted on March 28, 2021 by ccsp
The Mark of Slavery: Disability, Race, and Gender in Antebellum America
University of Illinois Press, 2021
by Jenifer L. Barclay
Barclay-2021-TOCDownload
https://www.press.uillinois.edu/books/catalog/84dwc6fn9780252043727.html
Publisher's Description:
Exploring the Disability History of Slavery
Time and again, antebellum Americans justified slavery and white supremacy by linking blackness to disability, defectiveness, and dependency. Jenifer L. Barclay examines the ubiquitous narratives that depicted black people with disabilities as pitiable, monstrous, or comical, narratives used not only to defend slavery but also to argue against it. As she shows, this relationship between ableism and racism impacted racial identities during the antebellum period and played an overlooked role in shaping American history afterward. Barclay also illuminates the everyday lives of the ten percent of enslaved people who lived with disabilities. Devalued by slaveholders as unsound and therefore worthless, these individuals nonetheless carved out an unusual autonomy. Their roles as caregivers, healers, and keepers of memory made them esteemed within their own communities and celebrated figures in song and folklore.
Prescient in its analysis and rich in detail, The Mark of Slavery is a powerful addition to the intertwined histories of disability, slavery, and race.
"This original work adds an important new voice to conversations about slavery, disability, and medical history. Exceptional analysis of an understudied topic" —Library Journal (starred review)
"Barclay's deft handling of disability through her archival research, the brilliance of her scholarship on the ways that blackness becomes synonymous with disability, her skillful use of Black Critical Disability Studies as a methodological framework, and clear and persuasive prose allows us greater insight into the debilitating effects of slavery as a disabling device for its victims."–Deirdre Cooper Owens, author of Medical Bondage: Race, Gender, and the Origins of American Gynecology
Jenifer L. Barclay is an assistant professor of history at the University at Buffalo.


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Columns Music
Listening Closer: The Innocence Mission Goes on Shining
Jeffrey Overstreet
Every other Monday in Listening Closer, Jeffrey Overstreet opens up the art of songcraft, sharing his own musical experiences, interpretations, and epiphanies, while soliciting alternate interpretations and discussion.
On her brilliant 1992 pop record 99.9F, Suzanne Vega sings of a Sunday in Liverpool when everything was almost quiet. Almost.
Except for the boy in the belfry —
He's crazy,
He's throwing himself down from the top of the tower,
Like a hunchback in heaven
He's ringing the bells in the church for the last half an hour,
And he sounds like he's missing something
Or someone that he knows that he can't have now.
Since the day the record dropped, I have loved that chorus.
I had slipped away from my fellow students during a study tour in Europe, picked up the CD at a Strasbourg music shop, and walked down to the bank of the Rhine River. While morning fog roiled all around and hushed the whole scene, I put on my headphones. Somehow, the startling details of Vega's Liverpool scenario — the clamor of a church bell, the suggestion of a lonely soul sending the sound of his heartbreak out into the world from the point in the church closest to the sky — they seemed to be as applicable to foggy Strasbourg as anywhere.
When I think of feelings that are common for me, loneliness is not one of them—I am gratefully blessed with friendships and a marriage of two decades. So why did I get choked up when I heard this song? Why do I still, when I sing along?
There is something about the suggestiveness of "In Liverpool." This isn't just a song about a boy missing a girl, or a girl missing a boy. I mean, it might be. But there is significance to the location, to the implications of a cry from a cathedral. The absence of further explanation suggests that something mysterious is happening here, something words are insufficient to trace. Everyone has these experiences: joys and sadnesses that defy precise description. If we didn't, we wouldn't need poetry. We wouldn't need music. We wouldn't need art.
The more an artist acknowledges and expresses the brokenness we know in this life, the more meaningful her praises of beauty and declarations of hope become.
These lines, though, this melody, this voice — they set something to resonating within me: memories of heartbreak, notions of desires that I've tried to ignore, that are unlikely to be satisfied in this broken world. Something in me understands, answers, joins hands with this character, and says "Hello, yes — I feel the same."
Vega concludes her speculation about the boy in the belfry with a confession:
And if he isn't… I certainly am.
Whatever this singer hears on that otherwise quiet Liverpool day (it may actually just be a traditional church bell ringing), it has startled her into a realization of a fathomless longing.
And in sharing it, she has produced the same effect in me.
This kind of thing happens to me all the time when I listen to The Innocence Mission. During my morning commute in the dark, I am listening to Hello I Feel the Same, the band's brand new record. I've only heard it twice, and I've already felt tears sting my eyes for reasons I can't explain. With this record, The Innocence Mission — Don and Karen Peris and bass player Mike Bitts — continue their 30-year-long journey through territories of moods and mysteries rarely explored or expressed by other musicians.
How to describe what they do so uniquely? How can Karen, with her uniquely sunny voice, give me such a strong sense of both confident hope and fathomless sadness at the same time? Her lyrics, like sculptures made of paper-thin panes of glass, are just substantial enough to be suggestive, but slight enough to keep us from holding on tightly to any specific interpretation. It's not that she's being deliberately cryptic; it's that the emotions and questions she's voicing are difficult to relay. Thus — and this is especially true of this new record — her performances sound like whispered confessions of struggle, or assurances of love, to an intimate friend.
In the opening track, Peris sings of noticing a girl who sometimes feels invisible, and she offers sentiments of empathy and encouragement: "Hang on, hang on, hang on, I wave again / Hello, hello, hello, I feel the same."
Colors play an important part throughout the album, as if they are beacons of spring's promise in the dead of winter. In this first track, for instance, she says to the girl,
Yes to the color green,
and the field of clouds,
and the thousand birds,
and the lifting out.
In the album's closer, meanwhile, green becomes a language that lifts the spirit, flaring up in two inspiring events:
The color green was sent to me in four beat measures
of fields and their walkers in cardigan sweaters,
with the lavender sky that was just beginning to
rain down into the music.
This is how it was sent, in and out of weather.
The color green was sent to me in waves, and lifted
me up three stories. I could see the day gifted
with a million gifts. And tomorrow in the car
things may turn around, I have to watch out.
This is how it was sent, in a sudden visit.
These lyrics have the ring of lived experience, but they are recorded with such spaciousness and restraint that I could not tell you exactly what the story that inspired them must have been. Instead, I catch glimpses — glimpses of what might have been, glimpses of my own experiences, glimpses of states of faith and doubt and joy and despair that I have known.
I am feeling this commonality most intensely right now from a song called "When the One Flowered Suitcase." It begins like this:
When the one flowered suitcase declares winter over,
plans, whether realized or not, do their best.
And we have got to keep on.
We meant to start here. A new year,
in Finland, with cloud banks slanting down.
We thought that it mattered — it did not,
like no money, and we've got to keep on,
and carry each other through these forests,
through these long buildings, up every stair flight.
Let's say we are tired
from getting our hopes up again,
again, let's say we are tired.
Again, I'm uncertain, but it sounds to me like a venture to begin again, to strive, to make something happen, has failed. The singer is discouraged about how things have turned out; she is struggling to pick up and move on.
I know that feeling. I've invested years and resources in writing endeavors, hoping to answer what I've taken to be a vocational call. I've assumed that eventually a door will open, that I will step into a season where my writing is my work, rather than what I do in leftover moments after taking care of somebody else's business. I've believed that someday my wife and I will live at a more human pace and be finished with climbing these long "stair flights." Sometimes it's hard to see so much hard work amount to what seems, at times, like so little.
But then the song turns, and this is the recurring refrain:
Yes, it's alright, yes, it's alright I hear you.
Yes, it's alright, yes, it's alright I'm near you.
Yes, it's alright, yes, it's alright I'm with you.
It's what I want to say to the singer. It's what her song is saying to me. It's what the Spirit is saying to us both. We are not alone in our darknesses.
Peris's poems need to be heard in the sweetness and sadness of her vocals, which are as distinctly beautiful as ever. And her husband's guitars, shining with the Innocence Mission's signature tones — sun flares, honey drips — make these lyrics positively prismatic. She is singing her way up into the assurance of things hoped for and the conviction of things not seen.
Lyrics about hope and comfort and the promises of God are so prevalent, so primary, so routine in Christian music that they feel like cheap sentiments, tired mantras, easy answers. They're sentimental. They make believers feel good for their familiarity. We like to hear what we agree with, what comes easily, what lacks any complication or challenge. But the ultimate effect of such sing-alongs tends to be slight and fleeting, their influence insubstantial, for they do not acknowledge or reckon with the persistent reality of this present darkness, of the discouragements and fears and horrors that make us all acquainted with despair.
The inspiration of The Innocence Mission's music is powerful for me because Karen Peris sings about hope like someone deeply acquainted with private struggle, suffering, grief, and a kind of spiritual loneliness that cannot be completely relieved in this fractured world.
And if she isn't, I certainly am.
Jeffrey Overstreet has two passions: writing fiction, and celebrating art — music, cinema, photography, literature — through writing and teaching. He is the author of a "memoir of dangerous moviegoing" — "Through a Screen Darkly." And his four-novel fantasy series, The Auralia Thread, which begins with "Auralia's Colors," was published by Random House. He speaks at universities and conferences around the world about understanding art through eyes of faith. He is earning his MFA in Creative Writing at Seattle Pacific University, where he has worked for 11 years as an editor, writer, and communications project manager. His work has been recognized in The New Yorker, TIME, The Seattle Times, IMAGE, Ravi Zacharias International, and Christianity Today. Visit lookingcloser.org.
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Dr Lindsay Shaw
lindsay.shaw@uq.edu.au
Dr Lindsay Shaw specialises in understanding the genetics behind yield associated traits in cereal and horticultural crops. Lindsay completed a Bachelor of Biotechnology with Honours at the University of Queensland and went on to be awarded a Doctor of Philosophy from the University of Queensland in 2010 for her work on the role of the Dof transcription factor family in wheat development, at CSIRO's Agriculture and Food.
Upon completing her doctorate, Lindsay accepted a postdoctoral fellowship at the John Innes Centre Crop Genetics Department in Norwich, UK and began her work on understanding the regulation of flowering time in wheat through the photoperiod pathway. Dr Shaw then returned to CSIRO as an OCE Postdoctoral Fellow working on the regulation of grain size in cereal crops.
Following her postdoctoral research, Lindsay took up the opportunity to continue her work from the UK as a Project Scientist at the University of California Davis Department of Plant Sciences. Her research focused on understanding how genes in the photoperiod pathway interact to regulate flowering and spike development in temperate cereal crops.
Dr Shaw joined the Queensland Alliance for Agriculture and Food Innovation in 2019 and her research is focused on the application of emerging genetic and genomic technologies for Horticultural crop improvement.
Shaw, Lindsay, Nath, Onkar, Fletcher, Stephen, Henry, Robert, Mitter, Neena and Hayward, Alice (2020). Avocado transcriptomic resources. Reference Module in Food Science. (pp. 544-557) Amsterdam, Netherlands: Elsevier BV. doi: 10.1016/b978-0-08-100596-5.22733-9
Shaw, Lindsay M., Li, Chengxia, Woods, Daniel P., Alvarez, Maria A., Lin, Huiqiong, Lau, Mei Y., Chen, Andrew and Dubcovsky, Jorge (2020). Epistatic interactions between PHOTOPERIOD1, CONSTANS1 and CONSTANS2 modulate the photoperiodic response in wheat. PLoS Genetics, 16 (7) e1008812, 1-28. doi: 10.1371/journal.pgen.1008812
Shaw, Lindsay M, Lyu, Bo, Turner, Rebecca, Li, Chengxia, Chen, Fengjuan, Han, Xiuli, Fu, Daolin and Dubcovsky, Jorge (2019). FLOWERING LOCUS T2 regulates spike development and fertility in temperate cereals. Journal of Experimental Botany, 70 (1), 193-204. doi: 10.1093/jxb/ery350
Pearce, Stephen, Shaw, Lindsay M., Lin, Huiqiong, Cotter, Jennifer D., Li, Chengxia and Dubcovsky, Jorge (2017). Night-Break Experiments Shed Light on the Photoperiod1-Mediated Flowering. Plant Physiology, 174 (2), 1139-1150. doi: 10.1104/pp.17.00361
Whan, Alex P., Smith, Alison B., Cavanagh, Colin R., Ral, Jean-Philippe F., Shaw, Lindsay M., Howitt, Crispin A. and Bischof, Leanne (2014). GrainScan: a low cost, fast method for grain size and colour measurements. Plant Methods, 10, 23. doi: 10.1186/1746-4811-10-23
Shaw, Lindsay M., Turner, Adrian S., Herry, Laurence, Griffiths, Simon and Laurie, David A. (2013). Mutant Alleles of Photoperiod-1 in Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) That Confer a Late Flowering Phenotype in Long Days. PLoS One, 8 (11), e79459. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0079459
Shaw, Lindsay M., Turner, Adrian S. and Laurie, David A. (2012). The impact of photoperiod insensitive Ppd-1a mutations on the photoperiod pathway across the three genomes of hexaploid wheat (Triticum aestivum). Plant Journal, 71 (1), 71-84. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-313x.2012.04971.x
Shaw, Lindsay M., McIntyre, C. Lynne, Gresshoff, Peter M. and Xue, Gang-Ping (2009). Members of the Dof transcription factor family in Triticum aestivum are associated with light-mediated gene regulation. Functional & Integrative Genomics, 9 (4), 485-498. doi: 10.1007/s10142-009-0130-2
Li, Chengxia, Shaw, Lindsay, Alvarez, Alejandra, Lin, Huiqiong, Pearce, Stephen and Dubcovsky, Jorge (2017). Dissection of the wheat flowering pathway using sequenced mutant populations. 13th International Wheat Genetics Symposium, Tulln, Austria, 23-28 April 2017.
Pearce, Stephen, Shaw, Lindsay, Lin, Huiqiong, Cotter, Jennifer, Li, Chengxia and Dubcovsky, Jorge (2017). Nightbreak experiments shed light on Photoperiod1-mediated flowering in wheat. Managing global resources for a secure future, Tampa, FL USA, 22-25 October 2017.
Shaw, L. M., Lv, B., Nitcher, R., Li, C., Han, X., Fu, D. and Dubcovsky, J. (2016). Characterization of Flowering Locus T2 in wheat and Brachypodium. International Plant and Animal Genome XXIV, San Diego, CA United States, 8-13 January 2016.
Shaw, L. M., Allen, S. L., Whan, A. P., Bischof, L. M. and Helliwell, C. A. (2013). The regulation of grain size in Brachypodium distachyon. 24th International Conference on Arabidopsis Research, Sydney, NSW Australia, 24-28 June 2013.
Shaw, Lindsay M., Allen, Sue L. and Helliwell, Chris A. (2013). The regulation of grain size in cereals - improving understanding using the model species Brachypodium distachyon. Wheat Breeding Assembly, Brisbane, QLD, Australia, 16-19 July 2013.
Shaw, Lindsay M., Turner, Adrian S. and Laurie, David A. (2011). Ppd-1 is involved in photoperiod response which is differentially regulated across the A, B and D genomes in wheat. Monogram Network Workshop, Nottingham, United Kingdom, 11-13 April 2011.
Shaw, Lindsay M., Turner, Adrian S. and Laurie, David A. (2011). Ppd-1 is involved in photoperiod response which is differentially regulated across the A, B and D genomes in wheat. International Plant and Animal Genome XIX, San Diego, CA, United States, 15-19 January 2011.
Shaw, L. M., McIntyre, C. L., Gresshoff, P. M. and Xue, G. P. (2008). The Dof transcription factor family in wheat. Plant Energy and Water Productivity, Canberra, ACT, Australia, 18-20 September 2008.
Shaw L.M., McIntyre, C.L., Gresshoff, P.M. and Xue, G.P. (2008). Identification and expression analysis of the Dof transcription factor family in wheat. ComBio, Canberra, ACT, Australia, 21-25 September 2008.
Shaw L.M., McIntyre C.L., Gresshoff P.M. and Xue G.P. (2008). The Dof transcription factor family in wheat. The 11th International Wheat Genetics Symposium, Brisbane, QLD Australia, 25-29 August 2008.
Shaw L.M., McIntyre C.L., Gresshoff P.M. and Xue G.P. (2006). An investigation into the potential role of drought down-regulated members of the AP2/ERF family in plant growth and development. 8th International Congress of Plant Molecular Biology, Adelaide, SA, Australia, 20-25 August 2006.
Lindsay Shaw (2009). The Dof transcription factor family in Triticum aestivum. PhD Thesis, School of Biological Sciences, The University of Queensland.


Pandas are dying. Despite their venerated status and relative lack of natural predators, pandas remain endangered. The panda's reluctance to adapt means that there are fewer than 1,600 pandas left in the wild. The apathetic idleness of the panda means that we may witness the end of this much loved species before the century is complete.
Indie white guys with guitars are dying. This once staple animal of the British music scene had immense popularity and generated great affection. A complete lack of imagination and vibrancy has resulted in milquetoast music videos that further vitiate a severely compromised genre that may die out before the decade is complete.
Some will argue that our effort to save pandas is a losing battle but one we cannot afford to lose. Some will argue that indie white guys with guitars are their own worst enemy and we should just give up because no one will miss them when they're gone.
Wolf Alice is a new British indie guitar band.
WHOA what happened?! I like the makeover. I really do. It's a fresh coat of paint on a blog that I already find pretty fresh.
To quote an ill lyric'd white guy with a guitar, John Mayer, "we're waiting on the world to change" with the pandas...Who, it seems are waiting too. And it's just not working. Waiting on the world to change with the pandas, or with white guys and their guitars just doesn't seem to be a viable option.
Although, Wolf Alice seems to have a pretty promising future! Such a fun music video.
I don't think about the skin color. I'd like more indie musicians with guitars.


He wants to get married but he owes a debt to his father; can he take zakaah from him?
Is it permissible for me to take zakaah from my father to help me get married, knowing that I owe him some money?.
It is permissible to give zakaah to one who wants to get married, if he cannot afford to get married. We have explained that in the answer to question no. 21975.
It is also permissible to give zakaah to one who is in debt, if he cannot afford to pay off his debt.
It is not permissible for a father to give zakaah to his son, because if the son is poor the father is obliged to spend on him. Similarly, if he needs to get married, the father is obliged to arrange his marriage. Giving zakaah to him is evading this obligation, so it is not permissible. But the father may give his zakaah to a son who is in debt, because he is not obliged to pay off his son's debt, unless the son borrowed money because of the maintenance that his father should have provided for him in the first place.
Shaykh Ibn Baaz (may Allaah have mercy on him) said: It is permissible to pay off your father's debt with your zakaah, and it is permissible to pay off your son's debt with your zakaah, so long as the reason for this debt was not to get maintenance that you are obliged to pay. If the reason for it was to get maintenance that you are obliged to pay, then it is not permissible for you to pay off this debt with your zakaah, lest that be taken as a trick to avoid spending on those on whom you are obliged to spend by letting them take a loan then paying it off from the zakaah. End quote from Majmoo' Fataawa Ibn Baaz (14/310).
But if the father's wealth is not sufficient to arrange a marriage for his son, in that case it is permissible for him to give his zakaah to his son to help him with the expenses of marriage, because what the father cannot afford, such as the expenses for his son's marriage, is not obligatory upon the father, because he is not able to afford it. In that case, giving zakaah to the son is not evading something that is obligatory for the father.
This has been explained in the answer to question no. 85088.
And the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: "Allaah has enjoined upon them charity (zakaah) to be taken from their rich and given to their poor." Waiving a debt for a poor person is neither taking nor giving, and what is owed by the poor person is something that is not present and is not tangible, therefore it cannot be regarded as being like wealth that is present and tangible. Because what is owed is of less importance in the mind of a person than what is present and tangible, so paying the debt on behalf of the poor person is like giving him something of lesser value.
End quote from Majaalis Shahr Ramadaan by Shaykh Ibn 'Uthaymeen (may Allaah have mercy on him), al-Majlis 17.
Conclusion: Your father may give his zakaah to you, because you are in debt, so you may take it from him then pay off the debt, so long as you did not take the debt to make up for the maintenance that your father is obliged to provide.
And it is permissible for him to give zakaah to you if he cannot afford the expenses for you to get married.


The Tonkinese is a breed of shorthaired cat is known for its minklike fur and coloring and acrobatic antics. The cat's coat is soft, silky, and shiny, with patterning that can be solid (like the Burmese); pointed, or light with a darker face, tail, and legs (like the Siamese); or mink (a combination of the two). Mink patterning is the most common, especially with the following colors: natural (warm brown with dark chocolate markings), blue (bluish gray with slate blue markings), honey (ruddy brown with chocolate markings), champagne (warm beige with pale brown markings), and platinum (soft silver with pewter markings). The ears are wide-set, broad at the base, and oval-tipped. The eyes are almond-shaped and blue-green. The tail is quite long and tapered. The Tonkinese is fearless and curious. The breed was first developed in the United States in the 1930s and called the golden Siamese because it was derived as a cross between the Siamese and the Burmese; it was renamed the Tonkinese in the 1960s.


When deciding between hydroblasting and traditional pool stripping to help start with your swimming pool, hydroblasting gives the best results.
Many homeowners don't consider the damage traditional replastering causes to the pool shell. When performing swimming pool replastering on a pool or spa, the surface prep is key to get the new plaster to properly stick to the old surface.
When it comes to swimming pool replastering, the prep work is everything. Until only recently, replastering meant stripping off the old plaster using pneumatic air hammers and jack hammers. This method has proved to be very harmful and destructive to the pool shell.
When stripping a pool, a certain amount of the structural gunite gets removed with it. Eventually, it exposes the reinforcing rebar and leaving a thin, uneven and weakened gunite structure. Once these issues start occurring future repair costs to the pool shell will be in the 10's of thousands of dollars for replacing the gunite.
Luckily, new technology to correct this harmful practice is now available. Hydroblasting removal uses a 40,000 PSI water blaster to evenly remove or scarify the old plaster surface for a better non-damaging bonding texture. This method also carries an extended 10 year warrantee. Best of all, hydroblasting can be done over and over without the harmful effects of traditional stripping.
Knowing the preparation methods of hydroblasting and stripping will help you decide which is best for your swimming pool replastering job.
cuts plasters with high pressure water.
does not impact or weaken the gunite substrate.
does not expose structural steel.
leaves an ideal, uniform surface for new product placement.
does not cause structural trauma to the pool shell.
Most importantly, unlike stripping, hydroblasting does not damage your pool. Stripping can leave damages to the surface and structure, which can possibly cause problems later on. Hydroblasting, on the other hand, uses only water to erode the surface in a smoother way.
Alan Smith is the owner of Alan Smith Pools. He is a founding member of the National Plasters Council (NPC) and chaired their research committee. He has also served on and chaired the NPC board of directors. In 2007, Alan designed and built the National Pool Industry Research Center at Cal Poly, Sans Luis Obispo, and chaired its Advisory Board under Cal Poly's Environmental Engineering Department. Alan is a national speaker and lecturer on swimming pool resurfacing, construction, and engineering subjects.
If you're looking to replaster your pool surface, hydroblasting offers all the benefits of traditional stripping, without the structural risk. With over 30,000 pool construction and repair projects, you can trust the work of Alan Smith Pools. Call us now at or contact us online for a free estimate.


Trileptal (Generic name: Oxcarbazepine) is an anti-seizure drug used to treat seizure disorders. Trileptal may be used alone or with other medications to treat partial seizures in adults and children over six years of age. Oxcarbazepine is an anticonvulsant that works by decreasing nerve impulses that cause seizures. Trileptal is also prescribed off-label to treat bipolar disorder. Take Trileptal exactly as it was prescribed for you.
The most common Trileptal side effects include acne, constipation, dizziness, drowsiness, dry mouth, fatigue, headache, insomnia, nausea, and etc. If you are experiencing any severe side effects such as chest pain, easy bruising or bleeding, fever, jaundice, mental/mood changes, unusual weakness, vision problems, and serious allergic reaction (difficult breathing; hives; itching; rash; swelling), please inform your doctor immediately.
Do NOT take Trileptal if you are allergic to Oxcarbazepine or to any of the ingredients in Trileptal medication. Before taking Trileptal oral, tell your doctor if you have had any medical conditions such as decreased sodium blood levels (hyponatremia), kidney or liver disease, recent seizures, and suicidal thoughts. Tell your doctor about all the prescription and over-the-counter (OTC) medications you use. They may interact with Trileptal drug, especially of: anti-anxiety, antihistamines, calcium channel blockers (e.g.,felodipine, verapamil), hormonal birth control drugs, narcotic pain relievers, psychiatric, tranquilizers, tricyclics, and other seizure medications. Consult with your doctor if you are pregnant or breast-feeding.


We create software to empower communities and the organizations that serve them to work more efficiently and to deliver more effective impact.
We drive lasting, measurable impact by helping organizations make better use of data for decision making, operations and evaluating their impact.
Our software for social good has a dramatic, positive impact on the lives of individuals around the world.


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Contemporary & Literary Fiction
Teen & YA
Australia Canada India United States
Tough Guys Do Dance
By David Winters
Published by Indigo River Publishing
LIST PRICE £7.75
David Winters has produced and directed over 80 feature films and over 200 television shows and TV movies, and is recognized as nothing short of an icon in the entertainment industry. In Tough Guys Do Dance, David shares many fascinating and, at times, jaw-dropping behind-the-scenes stories regarding his associations with some of the biggest names in show business—names like Frank Sinatra, Elvis Presley, Barbra Streisand, and Michael Jackson, to name a few. It is filled with personal stories of David's life that at times may seem hard to imagine and is told with David's personal voice and real-life humility in a way that only he could tell. David's work in the legendary Broadway show and film West Side Story inspired millions of boys and men alike to embrace the art of dance and truly showed them that "tough guys do dance"! Whether you are a student of dancing or an aspiring actor or producer, this book will prove to be one of the most entertaining reads you will ever experience.
David Winters has produced and directed over 80 feature films and over 200 television shows and TV movies, and is recognized as nothing short of an icon in the entertainment industry.
Publisher: Indigo River Publishing (June 12, 2018)
Drama > American
Performing Arts > Film & Video > Direction & Production
Biography & Autobiography > Entertainment & Performing Arts
Book Cover Image (jpg): Tough Guys Do Dance
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Sometimes, even in a morass of bureaucracy, a soldier lucks out. Not everything turns into a Kafkaesque nightmare, right? Take the case of "the hoodlum Marek" at his military sentencing.
"'One-year volunteer Marek is being sentenced to 21 days intensified regimen and, after having served out the sentence, into the kitchen with him, to peel potatoes.'"
"And the hoodlum Marek stood next to Švejk and was wearing a countenance of total satisfaction. It could not have turned out better for him. It is decidedly better to be peeling potatoes in the kitchen, sculpting bilbouny, idiot-size fruit dumplings and picking a rib than to be hollering, with the pants full, under the tornado of enemy's fire: 'Single file! Attach bayonets!'"
~~ Jaroslav Hašek, The Fateful Adventures of the Good Soldier Švejk During the World War, Book Two. The Samizdat edition of the new English rendition, translated by Zdeněk "Zenny" Sadloň, AuthorHouse, 2009, page 81.
". . . it wasn't like the beginning of the war anymore, when soldiers on the way to the front overstuffed themselves at every railroad station and where they were being welcomed by bridesmaids in stupid white dresses and even dumber faces and . . . an even sillier speech of some dame whose husband now acted the tremendous patriot and republican."
"The welcome in Vienna [now] consisted of three female members of an Austrian Red Cross association and two female members of some war association of Viennese matrons and young ladies, one official representative of the Viennese magistrate, and a military representative."
"In all those faces one could see fatigue. The trains with the troops were running day and night, the ambulances with the wounded were passing through every hour, they were switching cars loaded with prisoners of war . . . It went on one day after another and the original enthusiasm was changing into yawning . . . from the cattle cars were peeking out soldiers with an expression of hopelessness such as seen on those who are going to the gallows."
~~ Jaroslav Hašek, The Fateful Adventures of the Good Soldier Švejk During the World War, Book Two. The Samizdat edition of the new English rendition, translated by Zdeněk "Zenny" Sadloň, AuthorHouse, 2009, pages 120-121.


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The Retribution of Mara Dyer
It had to end sometime, but Mara Dyer had no idea it would end like this. She wants to believe there's more to the lies she's been told and she doesn't stop to think about where her quest for the truth might lead. She... See More
Mara Dyer knows she isn't crazy. She knows that she can kill with her mind, and that Noah can heal with his. Mara also knows that somehow, Jude is not a hallucination. He is alive. Unfortunately, convincing her family and... See More
Mara Dyer believes life can't get any stranger than waking up in a hospital with no memory of how she got there. It can. She believes there must be more to the accident she can't remember that killed her friends and left... See More
The Becoming of Noah Shaw (Shaw Confessions 1)
In the first book of the Shaw Confessions, the companion series to the New York Times bestselling Mara Dyer novels, old skeletons are laid bare and new promises prove deadly. This is what happens after happily ever after.... See More
The Reckoning of Noah Shaw (Shaw Confessions 2)
Noah Shaw's confessions continue in the second book in the New York Times bestselling companion series to Michelle Hodkin's Mara Dyer trilogy! Noah Shaw doesn't think he needs his father's inheritance. He does. Noah... See More
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Synopsis (Goodreads): A world battered by climate shift and war turns to an ancient method of keeping peace: the exchange of hostages. The Children of Peace - sons and daughters of kings and presidents and generals - are raised together in small, isolated schools called Prefectures. There, they learn history and political theory, and are taught to gracefully accept what may well be their fate: to die if their countries declare war.
This book started out so slowly for me so it was almost a DNF but I am really pleased I persisted because I found the concept to be interesting and unique amongst other books in the genre at the moment.
Premise: Artificial intelligence (AI), Talis keeps order among mankind's opposing countries – with the first rule of stopping war by making it personal.
The children of the world leaders are held in Preceptures until they are eighteen years old or until their parents declare war.
Characters: The main character is Greta Gustafsen Stuart, Duchess of Halifax and Crown Princess of the Pan Polar Confederacy; a kind, responsible and considerate character she was stoic and selfless. The newest hostage to the Precepture was Elián Palnik who is sarcastic with a hot temper; we also meet a number of other secondary characters, who all play a pivotal part in the overall story such as Xie, Elias and Da-Xia. Talis was also wonderfully characterised.
World & plot – The plot is intricate and full of surprise twists but could also be quite confusing at times, I could never quite guess what was going on. The world we are introduced to was well constructed, environmental changes and war has forced leaders in to an ancient method of keeping peace through hostage transfers and we learn a lot about the tyrannical system under Talis's reign in this futuristic world, I got more of a sci-fi political feel rather than dystopian with this title.
Writing – Wonderful! Erin Bow's writing style is masterful and enjoyable; I was hooked on every word of this powerful, terrifying, dark and gritty story. The Scorpion Rules was a thought provoking read.
Thank you to Margaret K. McElderry books via Edelweiss for the opportunity to read and review The Scorpion Rules by Erin Bow.
1. I'm a physicist turned poet turned YA novelist.
3. I wrote a book about Greta Gustafsen Stuart, Duchess of Halifax and Crown Princess of the Pan Polar Confederacy: THE SCORPION RULES, coming fall 2015 from Simon and Schuster.