text:
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About the San Bruno Library
The San Mateo County Community Colleges are moving to a new library catalog in late December. Until the launch of the new system, library patrons will not be able to place holds on College items. Once the catalog is available, library patrons will continue to have free access to the collections. For more information, go to https://libguides.collegeofsanmateo.edu/onesearch.
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John Robie is a reformed jewel thief who was once known as "The Cat." robie is suspected of a new rash of gem thefts in the luxury hotels of the French Riviera, and he must set out to clear himself. Meeting pampered heiress Frances, he sees a chance to bait the mysterious thief with her mother's fabulous jewels. His plan backfires, however, but Frances, who believes him guilty, proves her love by helping him escape.
Publisher: Hollywood, Calif. : Paramount Home Entertainment, [2007]
Edition: Special collector's ed
Characteristics: 1 videodisc (106 min.) : sd., col. ; 4 3/4 in
Additional Contributors: Hayes, John Michael 1919-2008
Hitchcock, Alfred 1899-1980
Grant, Cary 1904-1986
Grace Princess of Monaco,1929-1982
Landis, Jessie Royce 1904-1972
Williams, John 1903-1983
Dodge, David 1910-1974 To catch a thief
Paramount Pictures Corporation
Alternative Title: Title on container: Alfred Hitchcock's To catch a thief
Read more reviews of To Catch A Thief at iDreamBooks.com
1aa Sep 04, 2019
An enjoyable film that seesaws in its excitements from beginning to end; it also ends with a neat and complete ending (a confession by the real perpetrator) like other Hitchcock films. The main character, Robie, and the mother and daughter duo, and how they get along and develop is the key to the film, even more interesting than the main plot.
iloveseaotters May 26, 2019
Every time I see a Cary Grant movie, I like him more. He and Grace Kelly were great in "Thief". However the thing I loved most about this movie was the breathtaking scenery. Just stunning and it only enhanced the movie's qualities. Great suspense and drama here and Cary Grant delivers some surprisingly hilarious moments. There is also a very clever cameo involved, so be sure and watch for it!
yellow_zebra_264 Apr 11, 2019
Jewel thieves, car chases, and climbing on rooftops are all here in "To Catch a Thief," a cleverly written tale starring Cary Grant and Grace Kelly. This is a spectacular mystery that will intrigue all who watch it!
ManMachine Sep 14, 2018
Following the huge box-office success of his Technicolor crime/thriller "Rear Window" - British film director, Alfred Hitchcock returned in full-force with 1955's "To Catch A Thief" (TCAT, for short).
Starring 2 of Hollywood's most appealing and reliable actors of the 1950s (Grace Kelly and Cary Grant) - TCAT is a riveting roller-coaster ride that takes the viewer to the cosmopolitan location of the French Riviera where jewel thieving, romance, and glamour all go hand-in-hand.
You can be sure - Hitchcock offers you a story of deadly intrigue that accelerates into an adrenaline-rush climax that's guaranteed to keep you glued to your seat till the final credits start rolling by.
jimg2000 Apr 18, 2017
My god, was Grace Kelly beautiful! And the scenes of the Riviera shot from a helicopter are stunning.
Onewhoissaved Aug 29, 2016
"To Catch a Thief", 1955, Hitchcocks pairs Cary Grant with Grace Kelly. (Grant did 4 films for the ovate Hitchcock and Kelly did 3.) Retired jewel thief John Robie seeks to salvage his reputation as a gone-straight former thief by finding out the identity of a copy-cat thief who seems to duplicate all of Robie's style. Grace Kelly is the beautiful daughter of a very wealthy woman who owns the kinds of jewels to attract the jewel thief. There is more romance than intrigue or suspense in this picture. Hitchcock obsessed with blond leading ladies. Veteran English actor John Williams adds good support. One interesting fact is that in this film Grace Kelly's mother is played by Jessie Royce Landis who plays Cary Grant's mother in 'North by Northwest'. Landis was only 8 years older than Grant. The French setting in 1955 is very appealing. No over-done violence and no lurid sex scenes makes this movie a relief from today's classless movie making. The coloring of this film is marvelous.
LPL_DanC Aug 10, 2015
Cary Grant's disturbingly leathery tan is the only thing to mar this otherwise sumptuous piece of eye candy from Alfred Hitchcock. It's not Hitch's greatest by a longshot, but Grace Kelly and Grant are fun to watch, and the sweeping helicopter shots of the French Riviera must have been mind-blowing to audiences in 1955. This movie really takes its time; it's an interesting difference between now and then, as is the lifestyle of Grant's character, whose profession--cat burglar--seems to be something one used to hear about quite a bit, but rarely does now. Perhaps more sophisticated alarm systems and super rich who don't wear jewels around in public have really hurt that profession. This one is worth a watch for arm chair travelers, or fans of Hitchcock, Kelly, or Grant.
d2013 Nov 07, 2014
Pure entertainment with a beautiful cast. One cannot go wrong with Gary Grant and Grace Kelly.
phantomas Jan 12, 2014
Alfred Hitchcock directed many movies, among them Rear Window, Rebecca, Notorious, and Shadow of a Doubt, but the Hitchcock film that I watch over and over is To Catch a Thief. Yes, it is corny, and yes, in some places even trite, but the actors, the scenery, and the suspense hold my interest. So what's it about, you ask? The Cat has returned. The Cat was the most famous jewel thief in Europe before WWII. Or possibly someone who can imitate the Cat in every detail. John Robie (formerly known as the Cat) has a choice: catch the imposter or go straight to jail. Who is telling the truth: Robie's former associates, the police, or Robie himself? Based on a crime thriller by David Dodge (his books are being published by Hard Case Crime), this 1955 movie will delight you, entice you to travel to the French Riviera, or make you look considerate in the eyes of your significant other as if you have chosen a movie just for him or her. And as a bonus, consider the eye candy: Cary Grant, Grace Kelley, and Brigitte Auber, such flowers as have not flourished in Hollywood before or since.
Monolith Aug 29, 2013
This was definitely a charming film. Hitchcock's follow-up to his highly successful prior pieces, "Rear Window", and "Dial M for Murder". I am, unfortunately, unlike most on this page, more prone to prefer those two over this one. A big production, granted; lots of beautiful people in beautiful vistas and life is beautiful. Even the criminals are beautiful, for crying out loud. Heavy on romance. Light on suspense. And that's where it lost some points for me. I'm not discrediting that, by any means; if pompous blue-haired people prancing around in Louis XV period gowns are your thing, more power to ya. I simply am not one who's into the whole glamour and glitz thing. Give me a raw black and white film noir with ugly mugs and ditzy dames and flatfoots trying to figure out who stiffed the stiff any day of the week and I'm happy. Nice film here, just too gooey for me.
DANIELLE:"If you were in South America with me, you will know exactly what will happen." ROBIE:"You make it sound dangerous either way." DANIELLE:"It would be so much nicer to be killed by love, no?" ROBIE:"Pardon me while I get the water out of my ear." DANIELLE: "John, you know what sort of men they are at Bertani's. Another robbery, and they will do something to you." ROBIE: I think I'd better get back." DANIELLE:"What has she got more than me—except money? And you are gathering plenty of that." ROBIE:"Danielle, you are just a girl. She is a woman." DANIELLE:"Why do you want to buy an old car, if you can get a new one cheaper? It will run better and last longer." ROBIE:"It looks as if my old car just drove off." FRANCIE:"No it hasn't. It's just turned amphibious."
Frances Stevens (of the chicken -- lol): "You want a leg or a breast?" John Robie: "...You make the choice."
Frances Stevens (of John Robie): "Oh, mother, he played us *both* for fools, and you know it!" Jessie Stevens: "I know you ought to be spanked with a hairbrush and sent back to school; *PUBLIC* school; where they could pound some sense into you during recess!"
Dodge, David, 1910-1974 — Film and Video Adaptations
Jewel Thieves — France — Riviera — Drama
Hotels — France — Riviera — Drama
Rich People — France — Riviera — Drama
Man-woman Relationships — France — Riviera — Drama
Riviera (France) — Drama
Thrillers (Motion Pictures, Television, Etc.)
Thriller — Feature
Suspense Films
Find it at SBL
SBL Location and Hours PLS Library Locations and Hours Contact Us Classic Catalog


text:
Close SSP Relationships Benefit Publishers: Discovery's Murray
How does the owner of TV properties like HGTV, Food Network, TLC and Eurosport like to sell its ads?
Via as many channels as possible, automatically – but with a high degree of business control.
In this video interview with Beet.TV, Bill Murray, Vice President, Programmatic Revenue and Ad Products at Discovery Inc, explains how the company is working with ad platforms in a range of different ways to maximize value from its inventory.
Toward guarantees
"With very few exceptions, we make all of our inventory available programmatically," Murray says.
"We work with multiple SSP (supply-side platform) partners so that our advertising partners are able to transact through whatever DSPs (demand-side platforms) they like.
"Programmatic-guaranteed is increasingly a sales channel that is being leveraged by our advertising partners. It provides them with the ability to obviously leverage the technology and reporting and such that they're able to get from the programmatic channel, but maintain that familiarity that they have from their traditional buying."
Whilst programmatic trading techniques initially emerged in open-auction ad markets, lately the industry has begun using programmatic "pipes" but with tighter business rules, often allowing only pre-specified parties to enter into trading relationships and with mandated price rules.
Programmatic-guaranteed is the process through which ad buyers agree to buy a fixed number of impressions for a guaranteed price.
Programmatic uptake
Discovery has kicked open auctions into touch, believing its "premium" content, coupled with advertiser demand, mean it is more valuable to do direct deals with ad buyers, even though they are often facilitated through automated, programmatic technology.
It's not that Discovery doesn't still do direct ad sales. Murray says content like premiers and exclusive content sponsorships are still cooked up manually. But everything else is done programmatically.
"It's made more sense for us right now to participate in either one-to-one private marketplace deals or programmatic guaranteed deals with advertisers," he says.
"We do have some private marketplace deals with DSPs, specific DSPs, the numbers very few.
Supply-side symbiosis
As Discovery leans on SSPs to take its inventory to market, Murray says it works best when both the platforms and his company are in harmony.
"The best practises (and) the most important partnerships that we have with SSPs, they're ones where we create, combine roadmaps, where we are pushing each other to advance this marketplace," he explains.
"There are partnerships where, when we have an operational problem, we can call them and they almost advise us and vice versa. We do the same for them."
'SSPs are extensions of our organization'
But the level of working-together that Murray is describing now goes beyond mere "partnership".
"We've gotten past the point where they're just entry points into our inventory," he explains. "They're truly strategic partners.
"They're almost technology arms of our organisation. And, in a lot of cases, they view us similarly as partners for them to build new products and to test them and put them out into the broader market.
"I would say that we have weekly meetings with them. We generally have quarterly business reviews with them or future quarter planning sessions with them. They're there. We consider them an extension of our organization."
Ahead with header bidding
Now Murray wants Discovery to benefit from a technology that has already revolutionized the ad rates that publishers can get from digital display.
Header bidding, through which platforms can let publishers entertain ad bids from multiple demand sources simultaneously, so as to get best bids all at once, is making the leap from the web and mobile to the living room, via connected TV.
Murray says that's "inevitable" and "necessary". "The evolution of OTT in the near future I think it will be interesting for organizations like Discovery," he says.
"I think that there is an opportunity for increasingly marketers to try to access our audiences and to determine specifically which ones they're interested in and when they're associated with what content."
This is from a Beet.TV series titled "The Accelerated Evolution of Programmatic OTT" presented by PubMatic. for more videos please visit this page.
By Robert Andrews on July 19, 2020 @robertandrews
The Accelerated Evolution of Programmatic OTT, presented by PubMaticTagged Bill Murray, Discovery Inc
Share: Close SSP Relationships Benefit Publishers: Discovery's Murray

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - Velteva Hine, 87, of Colorado Springs, formerly of Amarillo, Texas, died Monday, Dec. 19, 2011.
Services will be at 10 a.m. Thursday in Chapel of Memories at Memorial Park Funeral Home with the Rev. Jerry Davey officiating. Burial will follow in Memorial Park Cemetery. Arrangements by Memorial Park Funeral Home, 6969 E. Interstate 40, of Amarillo.
she married Kenneth Hine of Channing, Texas, and Amarillo.
with her family across the northwestern U.S., where her husband deployed and modernized Minuteman missiles with Boeing Company during the Cold War of the 1960s and 1970s.
In Amarillo, she managed the offices of Southwestern Railroad and Trac-Work during the 1980s and 1990s. She was a charter member of the Chaparral Hills Baptist Church. She retired to Colorado in 2002 at the age of 77.
parents, Clara and Claude of Kentucky; three brothers, Ronnie, Estill and Lester; and her husband, Kenneth.
Christopher; two daughters, Karen and Elecia Jan; a special friend, Greg; two sisters, Shirlene and Geneva; a brother, Marvin; eight grandchildren, Jacob, Joshua, Rebecca, Rachel, Rehanna, John, Savannah and Jackson; seven great-grandchildren, Joseph, Steven, Elaina, Jaden, Colten, Ashtyn and Landon; and countless other family and friends.
Visitation will be from 5 to 8 p.m. Wednesday at the funeral home.


text:
import {BodyParams} from "@tsed/platform-params";
import {Post} from "@tsed/schema";
import {Controller} from "@tsed/di";
import {array, number, object, Returns, Schema, string} from "@tsed/schema";

const ProductSchema = object({
  id: string().required().description("Product ID"),
  title: string().required().minLength(3).example("CANON D300").description("Product title"),
  price: number().minimum(0).example(100).description("Product price"),
  description: string().description("Product description"),
  tags: array()
    .minItems(1)
    .items(string().minLength(2).maxLength(10).description("Product tag"))
    .description("Product tags")
})
  .label("ProductModel");

@Controller("/")
class MyController {
  @Post("/")
  @Returns(200).Description("description").Schema(ProductSchema)
  async method(@BodyParams() @Schema(ProductSchema) product: any): Promise<null> {
    return null;
  }
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
Studying at Durham University – Combining Top Class Academic Study with Top Class Sporting Opportunities.
Durham University is a world renowned institution for Higher Education, set in the beautiful surroundings of a historic cathedral city. The University prides itself on its ability to help develop the leaders of the future and has the highest of academic standards.
Currently ranked by The Times and Sunday Times as the Sports University of the Year (2015), the philosophy at Durham is to provide opportunities in sport which 'enable exceptional people to do exceptional things'.
The University and its students are about far more than academic success. The diverse collection of talented students and staff pursuing a vast array of interests, often at the highest of levels, provides a memorable atmosphere and vibrancy that remains with its members for the rest of their lives.
With the University ranked 25th globally for employer reputation – based on the quality and demand for its graduates (QS World University Rankings) – and 2nd in British University Sport, there are few institutions which more seamlessly, successfully and consistently combine sporting and academic excellence.
High Performance Sport and Study at Durham
Studying at Durham will give you the opportunity to study at a top class academic university whilst training and competing at the highest level of university sport. As well as top-class facilities, Durham can offer student-athletes a wide range of performance services including;
4 hours football coaching per week (higher in pre-season and mid-season)
Professionally structured Strength and Conditioning support (2/3 sessions per week)
Injury support and prevention
Nutritional guidance
Discounted gym membership
Entry routes for adult and non-traditional learners:
Degree courses with a Foundation Year
No previous academic qualifications required*
Preparation for study in Higher Education
High proportion of adult learners
Access to Student Finance
Academic English language and writing support
Straight forward progression to Durham University degrees
Full University membership and student status
Taught at Durham University, by Durham University
*some programmes require GCSE Math at grade C
Entry routes for those who are currently engaged in, or recently finished, studying in Further Education and have a successful academic record:
Undergraduate Degrees – Supporting Applications from Talented Athletes
When you study at Durham University you will have access to an education led by world-leading experts, in award-winning study facilities, with extensive collections of books and learning resources to support your studies. Whether you wish to study in arts and humanities, the sciences, or social sciences or health, here at Durham University we have 25 departments and over 200 undergraduate degree programmes for you to choose from
What our past students say ....
Oliver Gill – Economics 2014 (under-graduate entry)
Prior to Durham, Olly represented Manchester United, where he won Reserve Team Player of the Year, before deciding to pursue education and come to Durham. He has now embarked on a career with PriceWaterhouseCooper.
"Whilst I chose Durham primarily for its fantastic academic reputation, I quickly realised I would learn a lot on the sports field as well.
"I had three great years as a member of DUAFC during which the club helped me develop massively both and off the pitch."
Mike King – Economics 2014 (Foundation Year Entry)
Mike previously played for Burnley FC, where he played for 1 year as a professional, as well as playing professionally for a year in Singapore.
"Durham is a fantastic, well respected and all-inclusive university. The collegiate system sets it apart and my time here has been incredible.
"I was instantly made to feel comfortable and part of the team in what was a very new experience. The football is of a high standard and the social side is also good. The best part of being here is training and playing with mates you will have your entire uni experience – there is nothing quite like a DUAFC Wednesday when both teams have won."
If you are interested in studying at Durham University please contact a member of the PFA Education team. Email: education@thepfa.co.uk. Telephone: 01612360637.


text:
Q: Failed to process import candidates for configuration class; nested exception is java.io.FileNotFoundException Getting error while trying to run Spring Boot Application on Eureka Server.
Here I am trying to do Fault Tolerance in the Application.
I have created three Applications:

*

*CitizenServer

*EurekaServer

*VaccinationServer

In order to check whether the Fault Tolerance is working or not I have started EurekaServer and Vaccination Server.

Here I have closed the CitizenServer. In order to check the Fault Tolerance.
pom.xml
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?> <project xmlns="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
xsi:schemaLocation="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0 https://maven.apache.org/xsd/maven-4.0.0.xsd">
<modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>
<parent>
    <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
    <artifactId>spring-boot-starter-parent</artifactId>
    <version>2.6.4</version>
    <relativePath/> <!-- lookup parent from repository -->
</parent>

<groupId>com.example</groupId>
<artifactId>MicroserviceVaccinationCenter</artifactId>
<version>0.0.1-SNAPSHOT</version>
<name>MicroserviceVaccinationCenter</name>
<description>Microservice for Vaccination Center</description>
<properties>
    <java.version>11</java.version>
    <spring-cloud.version>2021.0.1</spring-cloud.version>
</properties>
<dependencies>
    <dependency>
        <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
        <artifactId>spring-boot-starter-data-jpa</artifactId>
    </dependency>
    <dependency>
        <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
        <artifactId>spring-boot-starter-web</artifactId>
    </dependency>
    <dependency>
        <groupId>org.springframework.cloud</groupId>
        <artifactId>spring-cloud-starter-netflix-eureka-client</artifactId>
    </dependency>

    <dependency>
        <groupId>org.springframework.cloud</groupId>
        <artifactId>spring-cloud-starter-hystrix</artifactId>
        <version>1.4.7.RELEASE</version>
    </dependency>

    <dependency>
        <groupId>mysql</groupId>
        <artifactId>mysql-connector-java</artifactId>
        <scope>runtime</scope>
    </dependency>
    <dependency>
        <groupId>org.projectlombok</groupId>
        <artifactId>lombok</artifactId>
        <optional>true</optional>
    </dependency>
    <dependency>
        <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
        <artifactId>spring-boot-starter-test</artifactId>
        <scope>test</scope>
    </dependency>
</dependencies>
<dependencyManagement>
    <dependencies>
        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.springframework.cloud</groupId>
            <artifactId>spring-cloud-dependencies</artifactId>
            <version>${spring-cloud.version}</version>
            <type>pom</type>
            <scope>import</scope>
        </dependency>
    </dependencies>
</dependencyManagement>

<build>
    <plugins>
        <plugin>
            <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
            <artifactId>spring-boot-maven-plugin</artifactId>
            <configuration>
                <excludes>
                    <exclude>
                        <groupId>org.projectlombok</groupId>
                        <artifactId>lombok</artifactId>
                    </exclude>
                </excludes>
            </configuration>
        </plugin>
    </plugins>
</build>

VaccinationController
@RestController
@RequestMapping("/vaccinationcenter")
public class VaccinationCenterController {

@Autowired
private CenterRepo centerRepo;

@Autowired
private RestTemplate restTemplate;

@PostMapping(
        path = {"/add"}
    )
    public ResponseEntity<VaccinationCenter> addCitizen(@RequestBody VaccinationCenter vaccinationCenter) {
        VaccinationCenter vaccinationCenterAdded = (VaccinationCenter)this.centerRepo.save(vaccinationCenter);
        return new ResponseEntity<>(vaccinationCenterAdded, HttpStatus.OK);
    }

@GetMapping(path = {"/id/{id}"})
@HystrixCommand(fallbackMethod = "handleCitizenDownTime")
    public ResponseEntity<RequiredResponse> getAllDadaBasedonCenterId(@PathVariable Integer id) {
        RequiredResponse requiredResponse = new RequiredResponse();
        VaccinationCenter center = centerRepo.findById(id).get();
        requiredResponse.setCenter(center);

        List<Citizen> listOfCitizens = restTemplate.getForObject("http://CITIZEN-SERVICE/citizen/id/"+id, List.class);
        requiredResponse.setCitizens(listOfCitizens);
        return new ResponseEntity<RequiredResponse>(requiredResponse, HttpStatus.OK);
    }

public ResponseEntity<RequiredResponse> handleCitizenDownTime(@PathVariable Integer id) {
    RequiredResponse requiredResponse = new RequiredResponse();
    VaccinationCenter center = centerRepo.findById(id).get();
    requiredResponse.setCenter(center);
    return new ResponseEntity<RequiredResponse>(requiredResponse, HttpStatus.OK);

} }

Output Terminal:
Error starting ApplicationContext. To display the conditions report re-run your application with 'debug' enabled.
2022-03-22 19:37:03.465 ERROR 20100 --- [           main] o.s.boot.SpringApplication               : Application run failed

org.springframework.beans.factory.BeanDefinitionStoreException: Failed to process import candidates for configuration class [com.example.microservice.VaccinationCenter.MicroserviceVaccinationCenterApplication]; nested exception is java.io.FileNotFoundException: class path resource [org/springframework/boot/autoconfigure/web/ServerPropertiesAutoConfiguration.class] cannot be opened because it does not exist
    at org.springframework.context.annotation.ConfigurationClassParser.processImports(ConfigurationClassParser.java:610) ~[spring-context-5.3.16.jar:5.3.16]
    at org.springframework.context.annotation.ConfigurationClassParser.access$800(ConfigurationClassParser.java:111) ~[spring-context-5.3.16.jar:5.3.16]
    at org.springframework.context.annotation.ConfigurationClassParser$DeferredImportSelectorGroupingHandler.lambda$processGroupImports$1(ConfigurationClassParser.java:812) ~[spring-context-5.3.16.jar:5.3.16]
    at java.base/java.util.ArrayList.forEach(ArrayList.java:1511) ~[na:na]
    at org.springframework.context.annotation.ConfigurationClassParser$DeferredImportSelectorGroupingHandler.processGroupImports(ConfigurationClassParser.java:809) ~[spring-context-5.3.16.jar:5.3.16]
    at org.springframework.context.annotation.ConfigurationClassParser$DeferredImportSelectorHandler.process(ConfigurationClassParser.java:780) ~[spring-context-5.3.16.jar:5.3.16]
    at org.springframework.context.annotation.ConfigurationClassParser.parse(ConfigurationClassParser.java:193) ~[spring-context-5.3.16.jar:5.3.16]
    at org.springframework.context.annotation.ConfigurationClassPostProcessor.processConfigBeanDefinitions(ConfigurationClassPostProcessor.java:331) ~[spring-context-5.3.16.jar:5.3.16]
    at org.springframework.context.annotation.ConfigurationClassPostProcessor.postProcessBeanDefinitionRegistry(ConfigurationClassPostProcessor.java:247) ~[spring-context-5.3.16.jar:5.3.16]
    at org.springframework.context.support.PostProcessorRegistrationDelegate.invokeBeanDefinitionRegistryPostProcessors(PostProcessorRegistrationDelegate.java:311) ~[spring-context-5.3.16.jar:5.3.16]
    at org.springframework.context.support.PostProcessorRegistrationDelegate.invokeBeanFactoryPostProcessors(PostProcessorRegistrationDelegate.java:112) ~[spring-context-5.3.16.jar:5.3.16]
    at org.springframework.context.support.AbstractApplicationContext.invokeBeanFactoryPostProcessors(AbstractApplicationContext.java:746) ~[spring-context-5.3.16.jar:5.3.16]
    at org.springframework.context.support.AbstractApplicationContext.refresh(AbstractApplicationContext.java:564) ~[spring-context-5.3.16.jar:5.3.16]
    at org.springframework.boot.web.servlet.context.ServletWebServerApplicationContext.refresh(ServletWebServerApplicationContext.java:145) ~[spring-boot-2.6.4.jar:2.6.4]
    at org.springframework.boot.SpringApplication.refresh(SpringApplication.java:740) ~[spring-boot-2.6.4.jar:2.6.4]
    at org.springframework.boot.SpringApplication.refreshContext(SpringApplication.java:415) ~[spring-boot-2.6.4.jar:2.6.4]
    at org.springframework.boot.SpringApplication.run(SpringApplication.java:303) ~[spring-boot-2.6.4.jar:2.6.4]
    at org.springframework.boot.SpringApplication.run(SpringApplication.java:1312) ~[spring-boot-2.6.4.jar:2.6.4]
    at org.springframework.boot.SpringApplication.run(SpringApplication.java:1301) ~[spring-boot-2.6.4.jar:2.6.4]
    at com.example.microservice.VaccinationCenter.MicroserviceVaccinationCenterApplication.main(MicroserviceVaccinationCenterApplication.java:15) ~[classes/:na]
Caused by: java.io.FileNotFoundException: class path resource [org/springframework/boot/autoconfigure/web/ServerPropertiesAutoConfiguration.class] cannot be opened because it does not exist
    at org.springframework.core.io.ClassPathResource.getInputStream(ClassPathResource.java:199) ~[spring-core-5.3.16.jar:5.3.16]
    at org.springframework.core.type.classreading.SimpleMetadataReader.getClassReader(SimpleMetadataReader.java:55) ~[spring-core-5.3.16.jar:5.3.16]
    at org.springframework.core.type.classreading.SimpleMetadataReader.<init>(SimpleMetadataReader.java:49) ~[spring-core-5.3.16.jar:5.3.16]
    at org.springframework.core.type.classreading.SimpleMetadataReaderFactory.getMetadataReader(SimpleMetadataReaderFactory.java:103) ~[spring-core-5.3.16.jar:5.3.16]
    at org.springframework.boot.type.classreading.ConcurrentReferenceCachingMetadataReaderFactory.createMetadataReader(ConcurrentReferenceCachingMetadataReaderFactory.java:86) ~[spring-boot-2.6.4.jar:2.6.4]
    at org.springframework.boot.type.classreading.ConcurrentReferenceCachingMetadataReaderFactory.getMetadataReader(ConcurrentReferenceCachingMetadataReaderFactory.java:73) ~[spring-boot-2.6.4.jar:2.6.4]
    at org.springframework.core.type.classreading.SimpleMetadataReaderFactory.getMetadataReader(SimpleMetadataReaderFactory.java:81) ~[spring-core-5.3.16.jar:5.3.16]
    at org.springframework.context.annotation.ConfigurationClassParser.asSourceClass(ConfigurationClassParser.java:696) ~[spring-context-5.3.16.jar:5.3.16]
    at org.springframework.context.annotation.ConfigurationClassParser$SourceClass.getRelated(ConfigurationClassParser.java:1090) ~[spring-context-5.3.16.jar:5.3.16]
    at org.springframework.context.annotation.ConfigurationClassParser$SourceClass.getAnnotationAttributes(ConfigurationClassParser.java:1071) ~[spring-context-5.3.16.jar:5.3.16]
    at org.springframework.context.annotation.ConfigurationClassParser.collectImports(ConfigurationClassParser.java:549) ~[spring-context-5.3.16.jar:5.3.16]
    at org.springframework.context.annotation.ConfigurationClassParser.getImports(ConfigurationClassParser.java:522) ~[spring-context-5.3.16.jar:5.3.16]
    at org.springframework.context.annotation.ConfigurationClassParser.doProcessConfigurationClass(ConfigurationClassParser.java:311) ~[spring-context-5.3.16.jar:5.3.16]
    at org.springframework.context.annotation.ConfigurationClassParser.processConfigurationClass(ConfigurationClassParser.java:250) ~[spring-context-5.3.16.jar:5.3.16]
    at org.springframework.context.annotation.ConfigurationClassParser.processImports(ConfigurationClassParser.java:600) ~[spring-context-5.3.16.jar:5.3.16]
    ... 19 common frames omitted

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


If the detection distance of more than 10m is reserved in the shooting mode, other detection methods (magnetism, ultrasound, etc.) can not be long-distance detection.
Because of the detection principle of shading and reflection caused by the detection object, it can detect almost all objects, such as glass, plastic, wood, liquid and so on, unlike proximity sensors, which limit the detection object to metal.
Light itself is high-speed, and the circuit of the sensor is composed of electronic parts, so it does not include mechanical working time, and the response time is very short.
High resolution can be achieved by focusing the projected beam on a small spot through advanced design techniques or by forming a special optical system for receiving light. It can also be used for the detection of micro-objects and high-precision position detection.
It can detect objects without mechanical contact, so it will not cause damage to the detected objects and sensors. Therefore, the sensor can be used for a long time.
In the type of projected visible light, the projected beam is visible to the eyes, which is convenient for adjusting the position of the detected object.


>>>> terminated by and including the first null character."
>> said that in a bit you snipped.
> care about storage classes.
> string, by being a zero-terminated array of characters.
sufficient to contain the sequence."
Thank you for leading me to this point.
>> question is if the C standards guarantee that his code does what he wants.
> the function containing it exits? The answer is: yes.
Agreed (now that I have seen the light).
>>> TL;DR: OP's code is safe, language-wise.
>> Can you back that up with references to the standard?
>>>>>>> With C, there are three standards to choose from - C90, C99 and C11.
>>>>>> for subsets is a warning flag in itself.
>>>>> What need of "commercially important subsets" are you talking about?
>>> That is a set of rules for C, rather than a subset as such.
>> That's hairsplitting, which obscures rather than illuminates.
> language.  What makes you think C is special?
> another type of C, but it is certainly not a standard one.
non-standard than libraries that aren't defined in the standard.
>>> of the language", or the fault of the language.
of "subset" - and would instantly think to look at what's being concealed.
> claiming they can be provably correct).
senses) boundaries which exclude important real-world problems.
>>>>> see a /need/ for them.
>>>>>>> equally valid in later versions.
>>>>> and not valid C99 or C11 code.  There are /very/ few incompatibilities.
>>>>> not C11 compatible? Or C99 code that is not gnu99 compatible?
>>>> You miss my point.
>>>> but C of /any/ standard.
>>> and C99 on IAR ?  Or the difference between C on an ARM and C on an AVR?
>> of the same standard)!
> definition of the behaviour.
> and thus getting things wrong.  That happens in all languages.
> bad as many people make out, and not different in principle from other languages.
There are no perfect languages, and probably cannot be.
imperfect in practical use than others.
have learned Better Techniques in the past 40 years.
is firm: history, familiarity and weight of existing code.
>>>>>>> for subsets is a warning flag in itself.
>>>>>> What need of "commercially important subsets" are you talking about?
>>>> That is a set of rules for C, rather than a subset as such.
>>> That's hairsplitting, which obscures rather than illuminates.
>> any other language.  What makes you think C is special?
> non-standard than libraries that aren't defined in the standard.
correct" but not "C standards correct".
>>>> that is not "a subset of the language", or the fault of the language.
>> subset of the language just as surely as if they say "use MISRA for C".
>> (though few aspire to claiming they can be provably correct).
> senses) boundaries which exclude important real-world problems.
that a formal proof /could/ be made if someone were to go to the effort.
that you could (if you wanted to) prove many of the functions involved.
code, even if you don't do so formally.
>>>>>> I don't see a /need/ for them.
>>>>>>>> equally valid in later versions.
>>>>>> code that is not gnu99 compatible?
>>>>> You miss my point.
>>>>> but C of /any/ standard.
>>> of the same standard)!
>> certainly wrong regardless of any definition of the behaviour.
>> should, and thus getting things wrong.  That happens in all languages.
>> in principle from other languages.
> There are no perfect languages, and probably cannot be.
> imperfect in practical use than others.
> have learned Better Techniques in the past 40 years.
> is firm: history, familiarity and weight of existing code.
still the best choice for many purposes - and sometimes the only "choice".
>>>>>>>>> With C, there are three standards to choose from - C90, C99 and C11.
>>>>>>>> for subsets is a warning flag in itself.
>>>>>>> What need of "commercially important subsets" are you talking about?
>>>>> That is a set of rules for C, rather than a subset as such.
>>>> That's hairsplitting, which obscures rather than illuminates.
>>> other language.  What makes you think C is special?
>>> counts as another type of C, but it is certainly not a standard one.
>> non-standard than libraries that aren't defined in the standard.
> promotions that was "MISRA correct" but not "C standards correct".
>>>>> subset of the language", or the fault of the language.
>>> say "use MISRA for C".
>> of "subset" - and would instantly think to look at what's being concealed.
>>> aspire to claiming they can be provably correct).
>> senses) boundaries which exclude important real-world problems.
> There are few cases where formal proofs are worth the time and costs involved.
> solid code, even if you don't do so formally.
>>>>>>> see a /need/ for them.
>>>>>>>>> equally valid in later versions.
>>>>>>> code that is not C11 compatible? Or C99 code that is not gnu99 compatible?
>>>>>> You miss my point.
>>>>>> but C of /any/ standard.
>>>>> and C99 on IAR ?  Or the difference between C on an ARM and C on an AVR?
>>>> of the same standard)!
>>> certainly wrong regardless of any definition of the behaviour.
>>> and thus getting things wrong.  That happens in all languages.
>> There are no perfect languages, and probably cannot be.
>> imperfect in practical use than others.
>> have learned Better Techniques in the past 40 years.
> that are written in C would be better written in other languages.
>> is firm: history, familiarity and weight of existing code.
> best choice for many purposes - and sometimes the only "choice".
> that a formal proof /could/ be made if someone were to go to the effort.
> that you could (if you wanted to) prove many of the functions involved.
> code, even if you don't do so formally.
changes are made to the code base.
this ideal. So you gamble.
which are two sides of the same coin ).
C also supports event-driven-ness in a way that few other languages do.
>> writing solid code, even if you don't do so formally.
> changes are made to the code base.
enumerate /all/ inputs and states of your code and go through them all.
cannot prove a program is correct.
deriving correct code in the first place - you don't do it by testing.
> this ideal. So you gamble.
Indeed - and almost all practical situations fall into this category.
>> written in other languages.
> which are two sides of the same coin ).
I don't follow that at all.
> C also supports event-driven-ness in a way that few other languages do.
And I follow that even less.
>> is all good stuff for writing solid code, even if you don't do so formally.
That's nothing to do with formal proofs, of course.
It is equivalent to "inspecting quality into a product".
> ideal. So you gamble.
>> that are written in C would be better written in other languages.
> two sides of the same coin ).
>>> for writing solid code, even if you don't do so formally.
>> changes are made to the code base.
> That's nothing to do with formal proofs, of course.
> It is equivalent to "inspecting quality into a product".
>> this ideal. So you gamble.
>>> written in other languages.
>> program  ( which are two sides of the same coin ).
>> C also supports event-driven-ness in a way that few other languages do.
or messages, but they all work at least as well or better than C for it.
absolutely zero experience with Go...).
>>> writing solid code, even if you don't do so formally.
> enumerate /all/ inputs and states of your code and go through them all.
> cannot prove a program is correct.
So what you can to is find the meat of what is possible and do that.
constraints by the ability to do damage.
> deriving correct code in the first place - you don't do it by testing.
I only invoked Haskell because it's the source of the actor pattern.
> Indeed - and almost all practical situations fall into this category.
Yeah, I dunno. I think people give up too early.
>> which are two sides of the same coin ).
> I don't follow that at all.
a text file. You can get close.
A C struct? Gimme thirty minutes and the source code.
> And I follow that even less.
- Model checking is the current state of the art in correctness.
- Models don't work without events.
- Models work better when they're introspected.
in memory, it has a small leg up in the game of introspection.
C has select()/poll()/epoll() and Real(tm) callbacks.
> useful language to have.
rather than wait on someone else to provide things for me.
Oh heck no. Try "introspecting quality into a product".


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Food for thought: the intersection of food insecurity and mental health at UO
Samantha Pierotti
A&C Reporter
Before the pandemic, food insecurity affected around 36% of the UO student population. It's safe to assume the number has risen over the past year-and-a-half: statistics from Feed America say that around 19% of Americans struggled with obtaining food in 2019, and that number rose to around 23% in 2021.
Yet food insecurity is rarely talked about in social circles. There's stigma and shame surrounding not having access to food, but there shouldn't be. Being able to eat and having access to healthy options is crucial for one's mental health. Although the cliché of the college student that survives off of ramen is funny, the reality is students need more nutritious meals to get through their day.
"Mental health is such a holistic experience," Maddie Alms, a third-year student who runs the cooking class program at the Duck Nest, said. "Having access to food that makes you feel good and fuels you properly is really important." Alms also explained that having access to food affects a student's concentration, as well as the way students socialize in class. Going out to coffee or lunch is a common hangout for friends after class, but for students struggling with food security, it can be difficult to navigate the college social realm.
Alms also believes, if you feed your body well, it's easier to handle your mental health. "I know for a lot of students, especially if they're struggling with their mental health, making food is hard," she said. The Duck Nest works to make little things accessible, like meal prep or grocery shopping, so cooking doesn't feel so overwhelming. It provides classes and instructional videos, as well as instructions on how and where students should grocery shop. "Providing options for easy meals, especially for those struggling with their mental health, is so important," Alms said.
The Duck Nest offers cooking classes for students who are struggling with the transition to cooking for themselves. Ingredients are provided by Food for Lane County, a nonprofit in Eugene that also acts as a food bank, so all students need is access to a kitchen and a pot or pan.
"We offer three types of classes: cooking for one or two, meal prep and vegan or vegetarian meals," Alms said. The Duck Nest also talks about food insecurity, smart grocery shopping and cooking on a budget during their classes. "We just want to make it so every student feels like they at least have one night where they made a meal they can be proud of," Alms said.
"Never be afraid to ask for help," Alms said. "Be honest with yourself and set varied goals when it comes to cooking." No one is going to be perfect when they start to cook, so being honest and gentle with yourself is an important part of the process.
The University of Oregon offers several programs related to food security. The Duck Nest offers SNAP drop-in hours where students can get help filing for monetary food assistance, which provides around $250 a month for groceries. "We have at least seven people on staff who are trained to help with SNAP," Alms said. "One of the biggest barriers is people not knowing if they're eligible, and we're here to help with that and the confusing applications." The Duck Nest offers a SNAP drop-in hour every day, with times posted on their Instagram.
The Student Sustainability Center also offers programs for folks struggling with food security. "We have the produce drop from 3 to 5 p.m. every Tuesday at the EMU amphitheater," Tanner Gill, a UO sophomore and food security program assistant at the SSC, said. The produce drop features free, fresh fruits and vegetables weekly, along with some grains and kitchen staples. "We also have the pantry on Wednesdays and Thursdays from 4 to 6 p.m.," Gill said. The pantry, which is located at Grace Lutheran Church, offers hygiene products and proteins as well as other selections. The SSC collaborates with Food for Lane County for their programs.
The SSC is also working with SNAP enrollment and plans to set up a period for students to come in and get help filling out their forms this year. "The biggest way a student volunteer can help is to learn the knowledge and tools of navigating the really difficult process of applying to SNAP so they can help others get food benefits," Ella Melroy, a UO junior and food security program assistant at the SSC, said.
Another problem the Duck Nest and the SSC face when it comes to SNAP are students thinking they're taking food or money away from other students. "That's just not true," Alms said. "Money is always being put into the program, so there's more than enough for everyone."
"The people [who] are looking for SNAP programs are people [who] are working or are in class full-time," Gill said. He lamented the long wait times students experience when trying to enroll over the phone and explained that enrolling in SNAP can be a frustrating process in general.
"There's a lot of documents you have to submit, and you have to continue to resubmit after you're enrolled to keep getting benefits," Melroy said. Students often run into red tape when trying to enroll for food benefits, which can easily deter them from finishing their process. SSC and Duck Nest staff acknowledge the process is tedious but are willing to work with students every step of the way toward food security.
The intersection between the food one eats and their mental health is imperative to the way they function at school. The Duck Nest and SSC are working to provide for students and take care of their mental well-being.
Duck Nest
Student Sustainability Center
I am a freshman from Southern California writing for the Arts & Culture desk. I like going on bike rides, cooking dinner, and watching movies with my friends.
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Up here in the Great Northwest, we all occasionally experience problems with colds or allergies, and we get congested as a result. Persistent congestion, however, is a different problem, and leads to a number of associated issues.
People who snore (and those who sleep next to them) can attest to the fact that the snoring often gets worse with nasal congestion. In cases of obstructive sleep apnea, a poor nasal airway may dramatically worsen the problem.
A deviated septum is one of the more common causes. The septum is the partition that divides the nasal airway into two sides. Even something as innocent as a fall in early childhood can cause the septum to move (or deviate), narrowing the airway. Depending on the severity of the incident that caused it to move, this may result in obstruction of one or both sides, and can vary from mild to severe.
Other causes of nasal obstruction include chronic inflammation of tissue in the nose, as well as the growth of abnormal polyps in the sinuses, which can become obstructive over time.
Regardless of the cause of your nasal obstruction, when you come in to NW Face Medical for a consultation, your ENT doctor will make an accurate assessment of all possible contributing factors, and then build a plan to successfully relieve the problem.
Even after you have fully healed from skin cancer surgery, protecting your skin from ultraviolet rays will help prevent future development of skin cancer.
If the cause of the obstruction is chronic inflammation, your ENT doctor may recommend treating it with the use of anti-inflammatory sprays. Structural problems require surgery, namely septoplasty – which is a simple and extremely effective procedure in correcting the nasal obstruction. Often other additional minimally invasive procedures can be done to help resolve the congestion.


text:
No, We Haven't Lost the 'War on Women'
Image by Flickr/Creative Commons
By Ilana Flemming October 19, 2015
Stop me if you've heard this one before: The war on women is over, and women lost. In the past five years, states have enacted over 230 new abortion restrictions. Planned Parenthood is under constant attack and losing ground quickly. The promise of Roe v. Wade is lost, its precedents irreparably undermined. Basically, it's over.
Yes, it's a familiar narrative. Safe, legal, accessible abortion is a thing of the past, and we'll soon be forced to admit our defeat. As someone who works on reproductive rights policy, I hear this frustration frequently, from friends and acquaintances. Why is the pro-choice movement always on the defensive? Why do our allies use language that stigmatizes women who choose abortion? Why are we allowing our freedoms to be legislated away? Why aren't we more proactive?
The answer is simple: We are fighting back. Right now, there are two federal bills that would restore crucial healthcare access to millions of women – the and the Women's Health Protection Act. These bills are the result of the dedication and passion of advocates, grassroots activists, progressive lawmakers, and every person who has steadfastly refused to give up the fight for women's freedoms.
The Equal Access to Abortion Coverage in Health Insurance (EACH) Woman Act would end the restrictions of the Hyde Amendment, a ban on abortion coverage in government insurance programs. The bill would ensure crucial coverage for many millions of women: low-income Medicaid beneficiaries, federal employees, military women and families, veterans, Native women, and Peace Corps volunteers, among others. As an unplanned pregnancy can quickly destabilize a low-income woman's financial security, insurance coverage for Medicaid enrollees is absolutely critical to ensuring that women and families can avoid poverty and build healthy futures. Federal employees and their families, a diverse group of millions of people across the country, shouldn't have their insurance coverage restricted based on their employer. Native women using the Indian Health Services should not be subject to discrimination in coverage due to their source of healthcare. For military women and families, veterans, and Peace Corps volunteers, service shouldn't mean sacrificing affordable access to reproductive healthcare. For those who want to help, the All* Above All campaign is currently mobilizing activists, advocates, and legislators in support of the bill, highlighting its discriminatory impact on low-income women.
The Women's Health Protection Act would prohibit states from imposing abortion restrictions that apply to no similar medical procedures, restrict access to safe and legal abortion, and interfere with personal medical decision-making. The bill would end many of the tactics that anti-choice lawmakers and lobbyists have used to cut off access to abortion in states across the country: Laws that require abortion providers to have admitting privileges at a local hospital (impossible in many rural areas where the sole local hospital refuses to grant privileges to abortion providers); onerous building regulations that force clinics to spend millions on unnecessary renovations or close their doors; restrictions on medication abortion that contradict accepted medical protocols and make early-term abortion more difficult to access; mandatory waiting periods that force women to take days off work, drive hundreds of miles, and spend money they may not have; biased counseling requirements by which the state forces a doctor to recite a medically-inaccurate script designed to scare women; and ultrasound laws that override a doctor's medical judgment, and add time and cost to an abortion procedure. All of these are examples of the ways in which the state interferes with a woman's right to choose, her ability to access healthcare, and her essential need to receive medically-appropriate advice and care from her physician. Join the newly-launched Act for Women campaign to get involved, put pressure on lawmakers, and raise public awareness of the need for reform.
So for every person who has asked me, "Why aren't we fighting back?," here is your answer. This is our battle cry. Join us.
Ilana Flemming is the Manager of Advocacy Initiatives at JWI, the leading Jewish organization empowering women and girls. For more information join JWI's advocacy network or follow JWI on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
COVID-19 changed shiva traditions — will one of the most beloved ever return?
By Danielle Kaye 3 min read
My sister was a master knitter. When she died, I picked up her needles — literally.
By Alison Leigh Cowan 4 min read
My daughter and her non-Jewish husband want to baptize their daughter. Can I object?
By Ginna Green and Lynn Harris 5 min read
My friend matched with my cousin's wife on a dating app. Do I tell?


Sloe gin is delicious, and sipping a little glass of it neat while watching Alastair Sim's Scrooge discover the spirit of Christmas makes a perfect holiday afternoon.
But a shot of sloe gin isn't a cocktail. This led to the idea of using sloe gin in a negroni – where it cosied right up with the red vermouth, and stood its ground against the bitterness of the Cinzano.


18 Oct 2015, 06:48 Died at Level 48 by a Horsea and a Staryu.
9 Oct 2015, 22:30 Died at Level 48 by a Qwilfish and a Chinchou.
6 Oct 2015, 23:09 Died at Level 48 by a Muk.
6 Oct 2015, 22:59 Died at Level 47 by a Metapod.
3 Oct 2015, 19:14 Died at Level 47 by a Furret and a Meowth.
3 Oct 2015, 19:05 Died at Level 47 by a Furret.
2 Oct 2015, 22:34 Died at Level 47 by a Qwilfish.
2 Oct 2015, 03:59 Died at Level 47 by a Diglett and a Donphan.
1 Oct 2015, 04:08 Died at Level 46 by a Metapod and a Caterpie.
1 Oct 2015, 03:59 Died at Level 46 by a Mankey and a Tentacool.


text:
smith-ken-23
La Polizia Segreta
La sedia bianca
Poesia da tradurre
Elogio alla vodka
Ken Smith Inghilterra inglese Ken Smith, nato nel 1938 a Rudstom, east Yorkshire, figlio di un fattore, ha lavorato in Gran Bretagna e in America come insegnante, scrittore freelance, barman, editore, raccoglitore di patate e speaker della BBC, e ha seguito corsi di scrittura alla Leeds University, Kingston Politechnic, e Clark University. Dal 1985 al 1987 è stato scrittore in residence alla prigione Wormwood Scrubs. Ha ricevuto il premio letterario Lannan per la poesia nel 1997 e il premio Cholmondeley nel 1998. Ha vissuto a Londra con sua moglie la scrittrice ed artista visiva statunitense Judi Benson.
Ken Smith è morto a Londra, dopo una lunga malattia, il 27 giugno del 2003.
Il suo primo libro, "The Pity", è stato pubblicato da Jonathan Cape nel 1967, e il secondo, "Work, Distances/poems", da Swallow Press, Chicago, nel 1972, a questi sono seguite molte altre raccolte di versi fino a "Terra" 1986, "Wormwood" 1987, "Wild Root" 1998 tutti insigniti di vari premi letterari ed accolti con favore dai critici. È stato definito dal Tribune "il più importante poeta contemporaneo, uno dei pochissimi che sarà ancora letto fra cento anni". Nel 2002 è stato pubblicato dalla Bloodaxe Books il volume "Shed" che raccoglie le sue poesie degli ultimi vent'anni.
La sua poesia è sfuggita ai confini della insularità per diventare universale. Egli ha scritto alle persone piuttosto che per loro e a questo deve gran parte del suo successo.
È stato tra i primi grandi poeti ad aderire ai progetti di Casa della poesia ed è stato molto legato al suo circuito e ai suoi poeti. Ha preso parte nel 1999 a Napolipoesia.Incontri internazionali, nel 2000 a Verba Volant. Incontri internazionali di poesia, nel 2002, a settembre a Sidaja (Trieste) e in ottobre agli Incontri internazionali di poesia di Sarajevo dedicati all'amico Izet Sarajlic. Sempre nel 2002 era stato tra i poeti segnalati da Casa della poesia agli Incontri di Vilenica in Slovenia.
In Italia sue poesie erano apparse in una antologia Einaudi sulla giovane poesia inglese e in rete attraverso le attività di Casa della poesia.
The Pity (Jonathan Cape 1967)
Work, distances/poems (Swallow Press, Chicago, 1972)
Tristan Crazy (Bloodaxe Books 1978)
Fox Running (Bloodaxe Books 1981)
Burned Books (Bloodaxe Books 1981)
Abel Baker Charlie Delta Epic Sonnets (Bloodaxe Books 1982)
The Poet Reclining: Selected Poems (Bloodaxe Books 1982)
Terra (Bloodaxe Books 1986)
A Book of Chinese Whispers (Bloodaxe Books 1987)
Wormwood (Bloodaxe Books 1987)
Inside Time (Harrap 1989, Mandarin 1990)
The heart, the border (Bloodaxe Books 1990)
Berlin: Coming in from the Cold (Hamish Hamilton 1990, Penguin 1991)
Tender to the Queen of Spain (Bloodaxe Books 1993)
Klaonica: poems for Bosnia - ed. with Judi Benson (Bloodaxe Books 1993)
Wild Root (Bloodaxe Books 1998)
Shed: New and Selected Poems (Bloodaxe Books 2001)
Ken Smith has died in London. The noted British poet succumbed last Friday after a long battle with complications of Legionaire's Disease, which he contracted after a reading tour in Cuba. He was 65 years old.
A Yorkshire-born son of an itinerant farm worker, Smith travelled widely, worked as a barman, potato picker and teacher in both Britain and the United States and developed a reputation as a maverick poet because of a gritty style that was close to the bone of the British working-class without being pedantic or didactic.
He was the first poet to be published by Bloodaxe Books, singularly one of the more important poetry presses in England.
In 1989 he published a book about Wormwood Scrubs, a notorious British prison, the result of his having worked with the prisoners.
He was working in Berlin when the Berlin Wall came down, writing a book about the two Berlins. That work became Berlin: "Coming in from the Cold", which was published by Penguin Books in 1991. Two years later, he and his wife, the poet Judi Benson, edited
"Klaonica: poems for Bosnia", which Bloodaxe Books published.
During the '90s, and because he had a superb reading voice, he was commissioned by the BBC of London to travel to Eastern Europe. The result were "reports" in poetic form that were broadcast over the BBC and are among his finest works - poems of Hungary,
Czechoslovakia and the Ukraine, including "The Shadow of God", a long historical poem on the life and reign of Sultan Suleyman Han in the Balkans.
In the '90s as well, he read brilliantly at international festivals organized by Multimedia Edizioni/Casa della Poesia - in Naples, Salerno, Trieste and Sarajevo. He brought to those festivals the air of the "other" Britain, a feisty and fully engaged internationalism that his Italian audiences adored.
A year before his death Bloodaxe Books published a large selection of twenty years of his poems, called "Shed", which has been hailed in Britain.
Jack Hirschman
Casa della poesia, Baronissi
A poet of self-discovery, his work was highly personal, yet accessible and involving
Jon Glover
Ken Smith, who has died aged 64, was a great poet. He emerged first in the 1960s with other important new voices in Leeds, and was still opening new doors for poetry in the new century. He was a writer of personal experience who often reflected a sense of loss as he talked through the urban landscape. But he was also a fine poet of the visual and the present. Many of his books were a joy because of the way in which they integrated photographs and drawings into the experience of reading. His BBC radio programmes also merged speech with music and sounds recorded on location. His poems had to be heard, seen and felt, and they live on now as the visual, tactile and audible worlds of a wonderfully rich imagination.
Unlike some poets whose work is sparse, Ken Smith simply lived to write, and he was at the height of his powers when he brought legionnaire's disease with him back to London after a visit to Cuba. His last retrospective collection, Shed, published in 2002, confirmed the immense power of his poetry.
Ken Smith was born in Rudston, a small village in Yorkshire. His father (a farm worker and then greengrocer shop owner), whose life he explores in an early poem, Family Group, moved around, and Ken attended junior schools all over the county:
He was my father who
brought in wood and lit
The hissing lamp. And he
would sit, quiet
As moor before the fire.
After grammar school in Hull and Knaresborough, he did national service in the air force from 1958, returned to Hull in 1960 and married his first wife, Ann Minnis. In the same year he went to Leeds University to read English. He was one of that generation who remembered the impact of the war as children and who then went on to study after their own spell of military life. Fellow students at Leeds included Jon Silkin and Tony Harrison, and, like them, he was involved in editing and writing the extraordinary weekly poetry magazine, Poetry And Audience. Geoffrey Hill was an important influence as teacher and poet.
Silkin invited Ken to join him as coeditor of the quarterly Stand in 1963, a position he held with others until 1972. In 1964 he won a Gregory Award For Poetry, and his first pamphlet collection, 11 Poems, appeared in the same year from Northern House, the small press jointly organised by Stand and the school of English at Leeds University. This established him as a key member of the group of poets most associated with Leeds, and with a growing national and international reputation - Silkin, Harrison and Hill.
From 1963 to 1965 Ken joined Silkin and others in selling Stand to cinema queues, in pubs and in university halls of residence. His journeys put him in contact with other important young writers. They also helped to spread Stand's influence as a radical journal with a commitment to politics, and to the world of writers with a consciousness of social purpose far wider then that normally associated with the English tradition.
Ken moved to teach in Exeter College of Art in 1965, and his first full volume, The Pity, was published by Jonathan Cape in 1967. After joining the widespread student (and staff) protests of 1968 and, crucially, writing poetry about them in Academic Board Poems, in 1969 he left for the US, where he became writer in residence at Slippery Rock State College, Pennsylvania, and then at the College of the Holy Cross and Clark University in Worcester, Massachusetts.
Work, Distances/Poems was published by the Swallow Press in Chicago in 1972. His American poems had a more relaxed and open style than those in The Pity, and seemed to discover an intensity of meaning, bringing experience of space and experience of poetry together in a way encapsulated in the layout of the title.
There was still the sense of movement that originated in the Yorkshire landscape, but whereas rootlessness had earlier seemed only expressible in a gruff, remorseful, hurting anger, now it was more relished and tolerable, as in The Dream:
Where we are we belong,
Here or another place
How the tree speaks, talks
Of a fox passing through...
The fox, after its first appearance in 1968 in A Good Fox, was there again in Fox Running (1980).
Ken and his family had returned to England in 1973; his work mainly appeared in pamphlets, some self-published. He returned to Leeds University as a Yorkshire arts fellow from 1976 to 1978. He went to live in London after his marriage broke up. Fox Running appeared as a cyclostyled, 32-page A4 pamphlet, just 150 copies at £5 each.
This had some good reviews. An unsuspecting purchaser writing to The Rolling Moss Press for a copy discovered that Rolling Moss was actually Ken himself. Neil Astley of Bloodaxe Books (who had also worked with Stand in Newcastle), had already published Ken's Tristan Crazy in 1978, and agreed to produce a second edition of Fox Running in 1981. This was followed the same year by Abel Baker Charlie Delta Epic Sonnets, and Burned Books and The Poet Reclining, Selected Poems 1962-1980, both in 1982. Writing in The Times Literary Supplement in June 1983, Roger Garfitt, one of Ken's most perceptive critics, said: "Poetry ceases to be what it so often is in England, an art of framed observations: it becomes the spelling out of a selfhood, 'a language to speak to myself'." Ken's reputation was established and his readership widened.
To some extent his achievement has paralleled the expansion and influence of Bloodaxe. His journeys were both inwards and outwards. His poems were intimately related to self-discovery as he placed himself in stranger and more demanding situations. Terra (1986), A Book Of Chinese Whispers (prose poems) and Wormwood (both 1987); all were produced while Ken was writer-in-residence in Wormwood Scrubs prison between 1985 and 1987. These were followed in 1989 by a major prose account of prison life called Inside Time. He continued to travel and gathered his intensely felt observations into prose, including Berlin (1990), on the fall of the Berlin Wall and its aftermath, and several poem sequences for BBC radio.
Later collections include Tender To The Queen Of Spain (1993), Wild Root (1998), and the widely praised Shed. Many of his books have been Poetry Book Society recommendations, and Terra was shortlisted for the Whitbread poetry prize. Ken held other fellowships and awards. He travelled widely in the US and Europe, visiting Hungary, Slovakia, Ukraine and Romania to record sounds and voices for the BBC. He continued to speak for victims of oppression, and the collaboration required for radio work was a vital counter-balance to his intense individuality. He edited, with his second wife, the poet and artist Judi Benson, Klaonica: Poems For Bosnia (1993). He took part in Stand's 50th birthday reading in Leeds in November 2002. He was about to carry out research in the West Country for the BBC when he became ill in January.
Like many poets of his generation he formed a creative, symbiotic relationship with America - its landscape, history and language. While he lived for many years in London's East End he could, perhaps, talk about the city experience only afterthe freedom and distances of the US and its people. His poetry offers a special insight into the world in which we now live. Highly personal yet accessible and involving, it provides a record of journeys that seem at first to be strange, distressing and unique. But many readers will continue to join him as though finding vital common ground for the first time.
He is survived by his first wife and their children Nicole, Kate and Danny; and by Judi and his stepson Todd.
(Kenneth John Smith, poet, born December 4 1938; died June 27 2003)
Brad Evans Interviews Ken Smith
Ken, what I'd like to ask you first is a bit on your background: where you're from and where you were educated?
I was born in '38 in Yorkshire, in a small village called Rudston. My father was always moving around, so I was in junior schools all over Yorkshire, then I was one of those kids who passed his scholarship, so I went on to grammar school. Stayed on until sixth form, got 'A' Levels, then got into university but before that I did national service in the air force. I then went to Leeds University, got a BA in English and that was it.
Would you like to mention briefly some of your previous occupations?
Teacher, bartender, potato picker, some work from time-to-time as a BBC reader, telephone salesman - I was lousy at that. All the jobs I got were crooked in one way or another. About twenty-seven years ago, when I came back from the States in '73, there weren't any teaching jobs so I didn't apply for one. I did supply teaching, bartending, anything that would pay the rent. Fortunately, over the last six or seven years, I've just about managed to cobble together a living just as a writer.
Do you have a religion or unique system of beliefs?
I don't have any religion as such. I go by life, I have a sense of morality, that's about it - it's a very loose dogma.
Personally, what is a poem to you?
A poem is something that moves me, something that sings, something that has a lyric line in it, something that asks a question and tries to pose an answer. That's about all I've got.
Who first introduced you to poetry?
It must have been in the school system, I don't remember having any particular moments of suddenly saying "wow, that's something!" Most of the poetry I was taught at school when I was a kid was pretty old-fashioned rhyming ballads, you had to learn the stuff by heart, which I didn't like doing. They probably did all they could to put me off it.
What was the first poem that moved you after school?
Again, I don't remember anything specific. I started writing poetry during adolescence, as a lot of people do, and it was really just about me and my miserable adolescence. The first poem that I tried to write I didn't think of as a poem. I was trying to imitate the sound of a blues clarinet, only later, when I looked at it I thought 'Oh, it might be a poem!'. It's long gone now - but that was what kicked me off and then I went on writing from there. And then, after a few years of that, I thought I'd grown out of my tortured adolescence and I stopped writing for a bit. Partly, I think, as a result of doing an English degree where I was reading a lot of poetry and literature and I felt 'come on mate, there's no way you can compete with that, quit it!'
Really, so you felt that there was a value in what you were reading at the time?
I did. But I got back into writing poetry in my last year. It's always a matter of opportunity, of what happens, a lot of it is coincidental. In Leeds, where I was, there was this great little magazine called Poetry & Audience, it came out every Friday, it cost one old English penny, and it was a very popular magazine that a lot of people bought. And the experience of, one day, sitting in the cafe and hearing somebody talking about a poem that I had in that magazine - and that I'd only written a week before, struck me suddenly, you know, this is relevant, this is current, this is what you call 'an ethos'. And I became more and more involved with the poetry scene.
Did you consider back at that time that you had a unique style in the way you wrote poetry?
I didn't think much about style, or what I was doing. I think I was an imitator, as probably everybody is, to begin with. I was probably in the school of Ted Hughes writing that bleak, nature poetry. Later on I got to know a poet who was in fact the editor of Stand, Jon Silkin, and I think I started imitating him then. He died a couple of years ago. But he was the editor of Stand for a long, long time and I got to work on Stand magazine with him. I found that a very useful thing to do, because you're reading submissions and you've got an idea on what people are writing and what they're concerned about. So you can start forming an image on what might be a passable poem, a printable poem or a publishable poem. That was all good experience.
Based on your experience as an editor, how did you go about sorting the promising poems from the not-so-promising ones?
There were occasions where you came across a poem and you thought 'this line is not good' or 'this phrase could be better' and then I'd sometimes enter into correspondence with people and try to discuss it, to see if I could get them to see it. Sometimes they did and sometimes they didn't, it's all dialogue and dialogue is good.
What are some of the things that motivate you to write poetry?
The usual clichés really - love, life, death, comic situations. Usually I'm trying to work something out because I don't really know what it is, it's hard to say what it is, just the broad spectrum of love, life, death and so on.
Do you have any poets/writers who you feel that you get a lot out of their work consistently?
Not many British ones: Geoffrey Hill, Ted Hughes, Norman McCaig - the Scottish poet. I like their rhythm, texture, density. For instance, with Geoffrey Hill, I like the phrasing but you have to really dig down hard to get anywhere near the meaning that he's after. He has become very obtuse, but I think he's a very fine poet.
Do you feel that you have to know their background, before you get a grasp on their work?
It helps a bit sometimes. For instance, Hughes' background in Yorkshire, I think that explains the terseness of the language in his poetry, but only in a general way.
Is the language in your poetry traceable to your upbringing in Yorkshire?
A lot of my poetry is 'local', in that I write a lot about London now because I live here. When I started writing, I think I was writing nostalgic stuff about my childhood - which was in the countryside. So it was nature poetry and then it occurred to me that since I will now be living in cities for the rest of my life, I should get out of the country. It's still in there on a deep level, I think. There's a very good review in the current Agenda of Wild Root and the reviewer calls me 'a rustic in the city', because I still have this 'rustic' outsider's sensibility towards the city. And I think he's right about that.
Do you feel that you're anti-city?
No, no, not 'anti-city', I think it'd be a waste of time being anti-city. The future lies with the cities for everything and cities give me all kinds of things that I couldn't find in a village as a kid. I like libraries, I like movie houses, I like theatres, I like music, I like crowds, it's all there and I just like to throw myself in it. I work with my ear, really, picking up phrases and things that I hear people say.
I like hanging around places like railway stations, where you get the drama of departure and arrival, and all that sort of thing. I sometimes consciously go out looking for images and language, like the city's a great, big supermarket and you can pick & mix as you like. I haven't done this in years but I used to go and stand up the back in magistrates' courts where, as long as you don't make any noise, you can listen to the most amazing stories - and it's a play really between both sides of the prosecution and the defense and the poor, old protagonist is the accused; and your just a part of the audience.
Places like that kick me off with some idea, or phrases that cling together. On the other hand, my work is so much wider than that, I've written about Eastern Europe, America. Usually when I go on a trip somewhere I, again, collect ideas, images, language, and it usually leads to something.
So you visit all those places that you mention before you write about them?
I can't write about them before I experience them, I have to go there and absorb, take notes, come back and mull it all over. Most of those trips have actually been made under the aegis of the BBC, which is how I've partly made my living for five or six years. I've been to places like Hungary, Slovakia, the Ukraine, Romania, in order to specifically write a text for a particular program - taking the tape recorder and collecting sounds and then mixing them all together, and I like doing that. I like working with radio, with microphones, and I like working with sound.
How do you feel when you've written something that really stands out?
Very happy. I walk around the room, I read it again and again. I read it out loud, I tape it and listen to it. I share most things with my wife, who also writes - we are each other's critics and first audience and that's a very useful relationship in that way. And then as I said to you the other night - reading the poem out loud and gauging some kind of response to it - you can tell whether they're bored, amused, interested, or whatever. So, you get some feedback off that.
How often do you re-work a poem?
It's a variable answer. Some poems need a hell of a lot of re-working, sometimes numerous drafts and still they sometimes never come out right. Other times, the poem's just there, right from the start and any tinkering you do is going to make it less of a poem. I've never managed to figure a rule for this, it just works out that way.
Do you ditch any poems that you feel are beyond salvation?
I chuck them in a basket and, sometimes, I go and plunder it and I go 'wait a minute, I want that phrase there', or 'there's a line there', or maybe there's just the nut of an idea there and if you've left it maybe for some months or years, you can go back to it and start afresh with the nut of an idea, but usually they die in the basket.
What moments and experiences in your life bring out the best in your poetry?
I was very motivated some years ago when I did a couple of years' work in a prison, here in London. I was writer-in-residence. I was actually the first writer in this country to do this job and it was very interesting, it made me think a lot about confinement, criminal behaviour, discipline, law & order, the whole bloody lot. I wrote out of that experience, basically out of empathising with the blokes I was working with, trying to see from their point-of-view and what it felt like to them. I mean, you can never get all the way with empathy but empathy takes you quite a way. So, things like that, the deaths of parents, friends, makes you ponder all the questions and sometimes it's nothing at all, it could be sitting here and looking at that townscape or sitting in my garden at dusk and listening to the blackbird. Just listening to the sounds of the neighbourhood sometimes.
What are some of the most important things that you would suggest to somebody who is starting to write?
< Laughter > My first thing would be to say quit now! Quit while you're ahead. But, actually, I've got to say that you have to persist, it's a learning experience, and you also have to read poetry. For me, the experience of editing magazines and anthologies gave me an overview of what's going on. So, yes, get involved and persist with it. Don't give up easily.
Where were you educated?
I went to grammar school in '49, when I was eleven and that took me through eight years to '57, with some good teachers. Teachers that constructively offered literature, made it come alive. It wasn't forced down your throat. I remembered this new teacher, he was called Stan Carter, and he was a great, dynamic bloke who came in and he said he would be teaching us next term and on the blackboard he wrote the names of twelve novels, classics like A Farewell to Arms, Grapes of Wrath, all that stuff. And he said 'I want all this read by the beginning of next term!' and that really kicked me off into reading, I've never stopped since. I'd never read books, as such, before that and suddenly there's whole worlds opening up in front of you of stories and literature, adventure, character and dialogue, which I've always valued. And I had an echo of that, which was many years later when I was working in the nick, in the prison, and I was working with this guy and got him into reading and he said to me one day 'I never really realised, until I started reading books, that other people feel like me!' .He'd been trapped in his own head thinking that only he had these thoughts, only he had these feelings and that was a bit like the rejoinder to Stan Carter, years later.
Did you find that a lot of inmates had some really good experiences that they could have put into writing?
They mostly have bad experiences.
You don't think they should write about that?
Yes, as part of my brief I was to encourage them to do so, because I think that introspection is useful. And the process, certainly with prisoners, was: 'How did I get here?' 'What did I do?' 'Why did I do it?' So some are writing from a biographic beginning, but they branch out into literature, fiction, poetry. And the other thing I found was that, in prison, writing poetry was a perfectly acceptable activity. It's not like out here, where you don't go around saying 'I'm a poet!'
In prison it's a perfectly acceptable because it has currency - it's like a bloke who can cut hair. If you can cut hair you can earn yourself some tobacco. If another bloke wants to send his girlfriend or his wife a birthday card, he'll get this guy to write a poem for him, obviously there's going to be some tobacco in exchange for that. And I like that: it's a respectable, acceptable thing to do, it has a currency and the guy can get himself a smoke from doing it. It was a great surprise to me! I found a lot of blokes, just ordinary blokes, like painters and decorators and plumbers, they write poetry and they'd be quite open about it, frank about it.
What was the difference between the poetry that you read in school and the poetry you read following that?
The poetry that I read in school wasn't terribly interesting at all. That has probably changed considerably in schools now. I know that quite a lot of contemporary poetry is being taught in a lot of places, which can only be to the good of it, I think. Otherwise, there's that artificial world of highwaymen, maids a-milking and all that bollocks, which was just a world that never existed anyway.
What censorship with media have you experienced with your poetry?
Do you find it easier to get your poetry published in the UK or overseas?
I don't really try to get it published overseas because it's so distant. I've got one or two contacts, one or two American magazines I send things to from time-to-time, and I've got a book coming out in Budapest later this year, which is all the poems that I wrote in and around Hungary. So that's a nice outlet when it happens, but by and large, it's very difficult to pursue the contacts I think.
Have you ever had your poetry criticised at all?
Quite a lot of reviewers have done things with it. I think I must say, mostly, it's been pretty good. I've not really had any problems with it.
Do you find that there's a consistency with the feedback that reviews' editors have been giving you?
I suppose so, but it's hard to say what it is. They say I have a particular style of language that's recognisable, I don't see it. Some people claim that I have a fair amount of influence over younger poets, I don't know.
In your view, does the average person appreciate and value poetry?
No, I think the average person doesn't, but I think far more people who we are not aware of do. Poetry is a minority sport, but I think it's a growing minority in that there are more and more outlets for it, there are more and more people who meet in groups and workshops, who develop their interest in poetry. A couple of months ago I was judging a national competition, set locally, about a thousand poems came in and, again, it's a way of getting an overview of what's going on. You can see the results of workshop practise and people are developing within this context and that's good, that's great.
Do you find that poetry is appreciated and valued differently by people in other cultures?
I think it is. In Italy, for instance, where I was about a month ago taking part in a festival in Salerno, lots of people come to these readings, they're not all pointy-headed intellectuals. They're all sorts of ordinary people. Last year I went to Colombia and there they have a huge, massive festival, and everybody turns out in these huge stadiums with between about five and six thousand people and I found that people there just had a healthier attitude, it's not such a rarified activity. They like people to do it, they like people to write, whereas I think the English are still a bit stuffy about that type of thing, although it's vastly improved from what it was years ago.
Do you feel that performance-based poetry is becoming more popular in this country?
I think it's becoming more popular. Sometimes it's okay, some of it is quite interesting. I've heard John Cooper Clarke, he's a real artist when he does it. It's not my style, but I appreciate it as a style - it's one more manifestation of a growing activity.
Do you think that young people in particular appreciate poetry?
Yes, yes. I think, particularly, young people.
Do you think that anybody can write poetry, or are there certain skills a person needs?
I don't think anybody can write it because it requires a certain degree of literacy to start with and, unfortunately, that doesn't include everybody. As a position you'd have to say 'everybody can do it!' but I think in reality everybody can't do it and not everybody wants to do it. I think what we all pray for really are more readers < laughter >.
Personally, what does poetry provide for you as a writer? What is its purpose?
On a personal level, it's my means of communicating to the world, it's my means of communicating with my fellow human beings. I'll tell you a story, which is some years ago, when my grandfather died my mother (who was the eldest child) and I, who accompanied her, were sitting in the car behind the hearse and we had to go from the church, where the service was, to the graveyard which was out on Flamborough Head about 5 miles away. It had been a beautiful day, but as we were driving along it suddenly starts chucking it down, and my mother says "blessed are the dead, the rain rains upon". And I don't know whether you know that line, Brad, but it's from Edward Thomas, a poem called 'Rain' which is about the dead in the trenches of World War One.
I didn't ask her at the time, but on a subsequent occasion I reminded her that she'd said this, it was a way of expressing what she'd felt, it gave her a great release to be able to say this. And then, underneath it, there was something else because I asked her 'have you heard that line before?', and she hadn't. She'd never heard of Edward Thomas either. So I told her where it was from. What I think, is that she'd heard that line some time in her life and she'd tucked it away somewhere, just for that moment when it's needed. And that, to me, is an illustration of the purpose of poetry.
On one level, poetry is a form of entertainment, on another level it's a sort of education in feelings and in how people feel, and what it is possible to feel. I don't see it as a direct, political consequence, I don't think it would change anything politically in people's minds, but it has an influence on people's feelings and opinions and that's what I see as its' role.
Do you feel the need to be published as a poet?
Yes, to be quite honest. If I didn't get published at all, I would probably quit.
Do you sense any pressure from people or groups outside to have your work published?
No. The only pressure I get, and that's not much pressure, is from my publisher to go on writing and provide more books for him to publish, which is a very nice pressure.
I first discovered your work in a book of poems titled The Poet Reclining back in 1995, which I think was a selection of your work between 1962 and 1981. Would you like to list some of the titles of your other publications?
All the work that was in The Poet Reclining, included all the stuff I did before that. The first book that I had here, which was called The Pity, is in there. A book that I had published in the States called Work Distances, is in there, and then a whole lot of small press stuff, fugitive stuff, is all in there. Since then, I've had titles like Terra, a book of prose poems that I did called The Book of Chinese Whispers, which are all mad, surreal things; Tender to the Queen of Spain, Wormwood - which was mostly concerned with the prison I worked in, and the latest one Wild Root all of which will be collected in this new book which comes out next year, Shed. It will be another complete edition. The Poet Reclining was a complete book of selected poems up until 1981, and this one will be everything since then. So, I'll only have to go to a reading with one book in each pocket.
What feedback do you get from magazine editors?
Not a lot, really. I mean, there aren't many magazines that I publish in, or take my work. It's mostly solicited, somebody will ask me if I've got anything and if I have I'll give it. They either take it or they don't.
Do you feel that editors should give you more feedback with your submissions?
If they can, but it's quite a lot to ask. I mean, I've worked on magazines and you end up with massive numbers of stuff to read and you just don't have time to go into a big critical bag of why you're rejecting it.
Were you getting many rejection slips when you first started writing?
Yes, quite a lot. Partly because when you start out you're not quite sure where to send things, so obviously there are magazines which are not going to take your work and it's a waste of postage to send it. I started out with quite a lot of rejection slips, including one which I remember quite well, it said 'not quite, I didn't think', which when you take out the negatives it just means 'quite'.
What was the first poem that you had published?
The first poem that I ever had published, not counting Poetry & Audience, was probably in Stand magazine and it did pay me something for it, a couple of quid, a fiver maybe. But it was the first thing in proper print.
Do you think that royalties for poetry in the contemporary scene have improved?
There's more money about. There's still a lot of magazines that don't, can't pay anything. But there are more magazines in England that do, there's just more money about.
Have you ever had to pay any money to have your poetry published?
I've never done the vanity press scene, where you have to pay for the publication, I think that's a complete waste of time and money and it's usually a racket - those publishing houses that do that by making money and keeping their printer supplied at your expense. So, I've never done that! But I have occasionally 'primed the pump' a bit. There's a long poem I wrote, which is in The Poet Reclining called 'Fox Running' and it's a poem some 32 pages long and there's no way I was going to get that published anywhere, but I had a mate at that time who worked as a technician at London University and he said 'let's just put it on the machines and print it up. So, we did that. I mean...
A. I was feeling very ignored and not published at all.
B. I was extremely broke and Christmas was coming up...
So I sold these off for a fiver, and we printed off a hundred of them, so we had a decent Christmas and it got some decent reviews, including a review in The Guardian. And then Bloodaxe, my publisher, was just starting out at that time and I think he'd done one little pamphlet of mine and that was his first publication as a publishing house. He was skint as well, but he said he'd like to publish 'Fox Running' again in a proper printed edition and, I think, I said out of this five hundred that I made from the first edition I'll buy the paper, which was two hundred quid, for the second edition - now that's 'priming the pump', that's making something happen where nothing's happening. But I think that's a different thing to vanity press.
Do you think vanity press is a complete waste of time?
Yes. What people forget is anybody can print a book, it's a matter of distributing it. I mean there're established publishing houses who can't get the books out to the right bookshops, so there's not much chance that the vanity presses will. And they don't. Usually the writer has to guarantee buying some fixed figure, which then pays for their printing bill and then you give them away to your relatives for Christmas. So what?
If you were offered the chance to have a poem published, but the editor suggested changes, to what extent would you make a change?
I'd consider minor changes, because the editor could probably see something that I've missed, and that's constructive, useful criticism. So, yes, I'd consider small changes - a line, maybe a word repeated too often that I hadn't noticed, something like that, but I wouldn't make extensive changes. If they didn't like it, they can get stuffed!
Aside from the general comments made by editors, do you feel that there are other motives for your work to be rejected in regards to content or whatever?
Sometimes I suspect they are < laughter >, but there are certain clubs that I do not belong to.
What do you think of writers who submit their poetry simultaneously to magazines?
You shouldn't do it. You just shouldn't do it, because it leads to confusion, embarrassment. If two magazines take the same poem, you're going to have to write an embarrassing letter to one of them. I mean I have occasionally, mistakenly done that and run into an embarrassing situation, but I do not consciously do that. I try to keep a close record of everything I send out. Of course if you never get a reply, you send it somewhere else.
What sort of time period do you think a writer should give an editor?
I give them three months. That's enough time. I may give a bit longer with some situations, but three months is enough generally.
Would you like to add anything further? Are you tired < laughter >?
No, I'm not tired. I think we've covered most of the posts really: childhood, education, experience, travel, prison work. What am I doing now, perhaps? How about that?
Yes, that's fine.
What I'm trying to do at the moment, is write just to the immediate situation that I find myself in. What I'm writing is a book of hours, a hypothetical day - which means there could be 24 poems, there's 13 so far and I don't really want to sketch out what I'm doing before I do it. I'm trying to write them left-handedly, almost unconsciously, without the fuss of 'I'm going to write a poem today!' or that sort of thing. So, sometimes, it's just a stray thought that would normally just go and I think to myself 'hang on a minute! What is that?' and I might just write it down and work on it. They're all fairly short poems - truncated non-rhyming sonnets, if you like. I always had a theory about the sonnet, it was fourteen lines, and the last two lines are the couplet at the end, which sums everything up. So I write twelve lines, semi-sonnets, with no summing up. It's really just incidental stuff that happens during the day, and where it happens to be where I happen to be. And I'm trying to do it in as relaxed a way as possible.
I think one of the things that happens as you get older, is that you get more clenched up into the posture of how you're meant to be writing a poem. I used to run workshops and some of the most successful workshops that I've done are where we don't approach the poem directly, we do something else. There was one I did in Wales, it was a week-long course, and I told them before they got there 'we're going to make masks', so everybody made a mask. Three days of glue, paper, wire and paint, messy, slopping it around, it was great stuff, it was like being a kid again. But then, by the fourth day, I said 'now, look at the mask. Who is it, what's in the mask?' And I got them writing from the masks and it was one of the best I'd ever done.
There's an American poet called John Haines and he talks about writing poetry, he says 'approach it as you would approach a bright light' - i.e. approach it, but not straight on, you have to work your way around it. He was in the navy during World War Two and he describes being on a ship in a convoy in the Atlantic - it's dark, there's no lights, there's radio silence, and you're up on the bridge and you're watching for the conning tower of a submarine and it's imperative that you see it as soon as it's there and that you don't see something that isn't there because if you do that, you end up getting the whole bloody ship alerted over a false alarm. And he says "you're looking, you're looking, you might see something. Don't look straight at it - look to the left of it, look to the right of it, you look in front of it and all around it, then you go in on it; and if you still see it, then it's a conning tower. And you hope to get the bugger before it gets you". And I like that analogy between that and writing poetry. If you approach it head-on, it blinds you.
© Brad Evans, Ken Smith August 2000