I think watching this instructor makes Hirano's rhythmic work make much more sense. He (Hirano) appears to have been decomposing whole-body motion into its constituent components and drilling each technique with each movement component - the thesis being, if tori is skilled enough at fitting with each of several components then he will be able to fit with chaotic-seeming motion that is made up of those previously-understood components.
Check out the last 3 throws on the video - tori spazzes out (chaotic motion) and then finds the throw inside the chaos.


text:
Turkey's New Constitution & Secular Democracy: A Case for Liberty
Murat Somer, Jun 5 2012, 1828 views
In the fall of 2011, the Turkish National Assembly embarked on the process of drafting a new constitution, an effort spearheaded by a multi-party parliamentary commission..[1] Time will tell whether this collective effort to draft a new document, outlining the supreme law of the land will bear fruit, allowing Turkish citizens to finally take pride in a civilian-made constitution. .[2]
How will the new constitution affect the role of secularism in Turkey? Can Turkey take advantage of the new constitution-making process to develop a more democratic and pluralist model of secularism? And what should the new constitution have, and not have, in order to achieve this goal?
Against the backdrop of Arab transitions and the continuing rule of the Justice and Development Party (AKP)—which is rooted in moderate Islamism—the Turkish government and its allies have presented the Republic as an example of secular democracy upheld by a predominantly Muslim population. [3] But Turkish secularism (laiklik) suffers from grave democratic deficits as an authoritarian and interventionist model. [4] Thus, Turkey needs to reform its secularism, and democracy, in order to become a more enviable example. It should also endeavor to draw inspiration from the current democratic enthusiasm of Arab polities as much it tries to inspire them.
What is wrong with Turkish secularism?
It is crucial to correctly identify where laiklik went awry in order to be able to reform it.
Laiklik is the Turkish translation of, and was inspired by, French laïcité. This has led many scholars to argue that the problem with laiklik is its removal of, or attempt to remove, religion from public space (Kuru, 2009). I think this diagnosis is highly misleading because it shows only one side of the problem. It is true that the state in Turkey has too much control over religion (and everything else) and often tries to ban religion from many public spheres in ways that violate human rights and the modern standards of pluralistic democracy. However, the state promotes public religion as much as it tries to restrict it.
The claim that laiklik tries to remove religion from public space is not supported by evidence. Current laws and practices of laiklik actively promote religion in public space. They do so mainly but not exclusively through the colossal state agency referred to as the Diyanet. Among many other activities, the Diyanet encourages and subsidizes the building of mosques and pays the salaries of imams, and publishes and promotes religious literature. [5] In 2012, the Diyanet's approximately $2 billion budget was larger than that of the Ministry of the Interior.
"Secular" Turkish laws and state practices actively promote religion in such public spheres as education (vocational imam-hatip schools and in all primary and secondary schools compulsory courses of "religious culture and morality" which in practice are taught as courses on Sunni Islam) [6]; social security services (imams and the Diyanet are involved in their provision); and promotion of nationalism, national identity and sacrifice for the homeland: by law, for example, fallen Turkish soldiers are considered shaheed (Muslim martyr) and their families receive benefits accordingly. Since religion is promoted to shape people's identities, beliefs and morality through education and national identity formation, one can also say that the Turkish state promotes religion in both private and public spheres.
Possibly and partly as a result, religion is quite present and visible in Turkish society, everyday operation of the state, and politics. Much like the United States but in stark contrast to France—which Kuru (2009) classifies as in the same "assertive secular" category as Turkey, as opposed to the "passive secular" United States—Islam and piety are highly salient features of Turkish politics and political discourse.
While laiklik in principle promotes secular science and education, it often does not protect the freedom of unbelief and secular thoughts and expressions. Many secular intellectuals have been prosecuted and sanctioned for offending religion, which is in practice interpreted to mean Sunni Islam. Most recently, famous pianist Fazıl Say was indicted with insulting people's religious feelings. [7] Such prosecutions and often convictions of cartoonists, novelists, and media are quite common. [8] The draconian and hardly accountable Information and Communications Technology Authority (BTK) now has the authority to filter and block access to websites it deems to be subversive of morality or national integrity. It has used its authority and technological infrastructure to ban thousands of websites including many on Darwinism. [9] A gruesome past example comes from 1993 when public authorities banned the publication of Salman Rushdie's Satanic Verses. In the aftermath, 33 (Alevi and secularist) artists and intellectuals were killed in the province of Sıvas when a hotel was set on fire by a Sunni religious mob. The mob was enraged that satirist Aziz Nesin wanted to publish the novel. [10]
Laiklik, of course, does restrict religion in many specific public spheres, as the infamous (now relaxed) headscarf ban in schools and government shows, but it does so selectively and discriminatorily. Article 136 of the current constitution says that the Diyanet will act "in compliance with the laiklik principle, regardless of all political views and orientations, and aiming at national solidarity and unity."[11] This gives the impression that the Diyanet should be neutral vis-à-vis different interpretations of Islam. [12] Yet, the present Diyanet supports Sunni Muslim mosques but not Alevi Muslim shrines (cemevis), and, for that matter, others.[13]
Article 24 of the present constitution prohibits the use of religious freedoms "for even partially basing the fundamental, social, economic, political, and legal order of the state on religious tenets" [emphasis mine]. Political parties have been banned for violating the principle of secularism, the last one the AKP's predecessor, the Virtue Party in 2001. But at the same time center-right religious parties have ruled the country for most of the period since 1950. Many religious movements have been supported by the state, most paradoxically by the military regime of 1980-83, which was the maker of the present constitution and promoted the Turkish-Islamic synthesis ideology. These contradictions occur because Article 24 has been enforced selectively. It has been used to promote some religious views, parties and groups (movements and communities-jamaats) while suppressing others.
How we can make sense of all this conceptually and theoretically is outside the scope of this essay. Suffice it to say that laiklik was not only motivated by positivism and the politics of anti-Ottoman ancient regime. Equally, its founders were secularist-nationalists (Kemalists) who were former Ottoman officials (some of whom were deists or atheists and others were pious Muslims), whose intellectual milieu included modernist Islamism in the world, and who extended late-Ottoman modernization to its extreme. [14] And, contemporary laiklik was shaped over time by multiparty politics. [15] It evolved through confrontations as well as cooperation and informal compromise among religion and different state agencies. As a result, the state increasingly accommodated majority religion. [16]
Accordingly, Davison (2003) argues that in post-Ottoman Turkey "Islam was not disestablished, it was differently established." White (2008: 359) observes that Kemalist reforms "provided ideological support for the new secular national identity and legitimized a Turkish form of Islam." Similarly, Gürbey (2009) takes issue, as I do, with the claim that laiklik is "hostile to religion, or assertive, aiming to eliminate" religion in public sphere. Instead, she maintains that laiklik involved "the construction of an 'enlightened' conception of religion based on a particular Sunni interpretation of Islam" in pursuit of state-led, top-down modernization and nation-building.
In a nutshell, then, the problem with laiklik is not that it removes, or tries to remove religion from public space. The problem is that it suppresses some interpretations and expressions of religion while actively promoting others (mainly a Sunni-Hanafi Islam deemed to be authentic, docile and enlightened) in public, and that the state has the legal authority, resources and organizational capability to do so. It is to miss the point and the big picture to argue that the victim is public religion. The real victims are both religious and secular thought and public expressions, and more generally the expression of Turkey's diversity.
This is an important point with major implications for the constitutional process. If the problem with laiklik were its removal of religion from public space, then the remedy would have to be a reinforcement of religious freedoms, more specifically the freedoms of the majority religion, in public space. If the problem is, as I argue, the selective promotion and suppression of different religious and secular expressions, then the remedy should be to reinforce religious and secular freedoms, with emphasis on the freedoms of Muslim and non-Muslim minorities. [17] A new and more democratic constitution should provide protections for people's freedom of unbelief as well as safeguards against discrimination among different faiths, or, for that matter, different interpretations of Islam.
A radical remedy would be to dismantle the Diyanet altogether. Given path-dependency in the evolution of state institutions and the fact that no major political party advocates this radical remedy, a more feasible recipe is to make both Diyanet and other integrationist institutions and laws more democratic, pluralist and less restrictive of both religious and non-religious thought and expressions.
The new constitution should also include a more clear and pluralistic-democratic definition of laiklik. In the past, both Islamists (for example by using public funds and agencies to promote religion) and secularists (for example by banning Islamic headscarf in universities) have exploited the ambiguities and contradictions of laiklik for their own ideological purposes. [18] The result has been a less open and democratic public space for both religious and secular thought and practices.
Prospects for Secularism in Turkey
Laiklik is likely to remain one of the fundamental principles of the new constitution. All major parties are committed to it as a nominal principle. However, the content of laiklik in the future, more specifically, whether or not it will be more pluralistic and democratic than it is currently, will depend on how pluralistic and democratic the country's political system will be, the way the AKP government and Muslim-conservative intelligentsia will perceive and implement laiklik, and how strongly and effectively the new constitution will protect both religious and non-religious freedoms.
In personal conversations with members of the AKP, one frequently hears that "the AKP is the insurance for the continuation of secularism in Turkey." Indeed, the AKP fulfills a historical mission by reconciling pious citizens in general, and Islamists in particular, with secularism as a nominal value. It is remarkable that a party rooted in political Islamism has evolved in Turkey into a mass party committed to the nominal principle of secularism within the framework of what the party calls "conservative democracy." [19]
The problem is that a political party cannot be the insurance for the future secularism in a democracy, only institutions and a truly pluralistic political system can.
Here lies the main threat to Turkish secularism and democracy. In recent years and under the AKP government, the Turkish democracy has come a long way in dealing with authoritarianism by managing to curtail military praetorianism over civilian politics. [20] This presents a golden opportunity for consolidating a truly pluralistic democracy by constructing stronger and more accountable and representative institutions. Unfortunately, however, in this new era of declining military tutelage, the Turkish political system has also been evolving into a one-party-dominant, authoritarian system supported by a growing, vibrant economy. [21] This is occurring at a time when the EU, which was a crucial facilitator of democratic reforms until 2005, is in crisis, and democracy is a diminished priority for Turkey's allies considering global economic crisis and Turkey's growing strategic importance in the Middle East. [22]
By receiving half of the votes cast in the 2011 parliamentary elections, the AKP has become the first political party in the history of Turkish democracy to win three consecutive elections by increasing its votes in each election. While this boosts the AKP's self-confidence, the main opposition party CHP is in disarray suffering from internal divisions and searching for a new identity and political platform in order to broaden its base of supporters. The problems that the CHP and other secularist social and political actors face have long-term historical, social, ideological and institutional roots, which will take time to address. [23]
Predictably, the weakness of the opposition has been strengthening the authoritarian and conservative tendencies of the AKP since 2007. [24] Whether or not it is occurring with the direct involvement of the government itself, the iron laws of oligarchy seem to be in the working and criticism of the government is becoming increasingly costly. [25] Even conservative critics of the government are not safe: most recently, a columnist from the pro-government Yeni Şafak newspaper was reportedly fired after he condemned the government's inadequate response to the accidental killing of 34 Kurdish villagers, many of them children, during an air raid against the PKK along the Turkish-Iraqi border. [26]
In the short-run, the question is whether the AKP, which is facing no serious electoral challenges, will find it to be in its interest to reconstruct laiklik in such a way that it will diminish the powers of the state over religion and allow for more freedom of expression and religious and non-religious pluralism. If the AKP uses its powers to transform laiklik to allow more public space for the majority religion without simultaneously increasing the space for minority religions and non-religious expressions, this would replace one authoritarian laiklik with another. The present laws and practices of laiklik provide ample opportunities for a religious-conservative government to reshape society according to its own ideals. Will the AKP be drawn by these short-term opportunities or will it use its historical opportunity to serve the long term interests of a more democratic and free society?
Recently, the signs have become increasingly discouraging. In just the last few months, Prime Minister Erdoğan declared his wish to raise (through public policies) more religious new generations; overhauled the primary and secondary public and private education system to allow for more religious education despite furious but ineffective resistance from opposition and without adequate societal deliberation; and proclaimed that abortion is murder and birth by caesarean section is a conspiracy to undermine Turkey's (population) growth.
The prime minister is entitled to his views. The problem is that the weaknesses of the opposition and the present form of laiklik give him too much political and state power. Hence, a major long-term factor that will affect the nature of secularism in Turkey will be the ability of pro-secular parties and societal actors to overcome their intellectual and organizational inertia, develop more liberal versions of secularism, and present viable democratic alternatives to the AKP's conservative social and political model.
Erdoğan laudably praised secular democracy in his high-profile visits to Egypt, Libya and Tunisia. But his remarks on secularism received criticism from Egyptian Islamists and lukewarm response from many Turkish Islamist intellectuals. [27] It remains to be seen whether or not Turkish Islamic intellectuals, who constitute a major segment of the AKP's intellectual basis, will be able to develop a viable and more pluralist conception of laiklik beyond the mere call for more religious freedoms in public. This will also take time since they spent most of their careers criticizing laiklik and tend to support more religious influence in both society and state. [28]
All of this makes it even more important to call for a pluralist and democratic-secular constitution with strong divisions of power and checks and balances. Turkey should make a new constitution with very specific and strong protections to secure government accountability, an independent and neutral judiciary, and freedom of belief and expression for all. Preferably, the new constitution should not include any references to specific religious institutions such as the Diyanet and should entail strong requirements that any generic institutions will be representative of all beliefs in society. It should protect freedom to believe as well as not to believe, and protect individuals' rights to choose what to learn, what to wear and how to live against both secular and religious pressures, whether these come from government or from social groups. [29] Such a constitution would not be preferred by secular and religious conservatives. But I think it can be and should be defended by both secular and religious liberals and democrats. [30]
Despite its democratic deficits, divisions and festering problems, such as the Kurdish conflict, Turkey manages to be a thriving and ambitious place. Notwithstanding the global economic crisis, it competes with China in economic growth rates. The country's bold official goal is to become one of the world's ten largest economies by 2023, the 100th anniversary of the republic's foundation. Integration with the global economy is a major ingredient of this accomplishment and optimism. On the surface, the public spirit matches official goals. A popular TV commercial nowadays compares Emily, who is supposed to be a complacent Harvard University student, with Emine, who is a student of Harran University in Turkey's poverty-stricken and largely Kurdish Southeast. [31] Thanks to the Internet, as the story in the commercial goes, Emine can now reach the same knowledge as fast as (faster, according to Turkcell) Emily can. The commercial's explicit message ("It's Turkey's Time Now") is that Turkish people are leveling the playing field with the western world, the dream of modern Turkey's secular-nationalist founder Kemal Atatürk.
This dynamism should not make the country overlook its pressing shortages of ethnic, religious and ideological pluralism, rule of law, and freedom of expression. This new and self-confident Turkey should also be a more pluralist and democratic one. This is why the new constitution is so important. It would be a great missed opportunity to replace one authoritarian and discriminatory laiklik with another in the new constitution.
Murat Somer is an Associate Professor of International Relations, Koç University, Istanbul. Email: musomer@ku.edu.tr .
[1]. The four parties present in the national assembly, i.e. the ruling AKP, main opposition party CHP, nationalist MHP and pro-Kurdish BDP each have three members, although only one member of the committee is a woman. The commission takes decisions with unanimity and thus seeks consensus, a rare value in Turkish politics.
[2] The present constitution was made during the military regime of 1980-83. There are some important criticisms regarding the legitimacy and ability of the multiparty commission to lead the process of new constitution, such as the fact that only the parties that were able to pass the ten percent electoral threshold to enter the Parliament are represented in the commission. See Akan (2012) for a critical account and Kentel et al (2012) for criticisms and responses.
[3] Undoubtedly, the terms Islamist and secularist entail a great deal of oversimplification for the sake of linguistic and analytical economy. While rooted in moderate Islamism, the AKP is the product of a major transformation of Turkish Islamism during the 1990s and calls itself conservative democratic. It does not oppose secularism per se and is economically liberal, socially conservative, and a coalition of Islamists, liberals, and conservative nationalists. Likewise, while rooted in Kemalism, the CHP tried ultimately unsuccessfully to transform itself into a social democratic party during the 1960s and 1970s, and is now experiencing another period of ideological and organizational transformation, the result of which is yet uncertain. Relatively speaking, it is socially liberal, economically protectionist, and a coalition of secular nationalists, social democrats and people with rigid and defensive as well as moderate and flexible views on religion and secularism. See Konda (2007), Çarkoğlu and Kalaycıoğlu (2007) and Somer (2010 and 2011) for "religious" and "secular" voter and elite preferences that inform these parties. See, among others, Cizre (2008), Hale and Özbudun (2010) and Ciddi (2009) for the AKP and CHP as political parties.
[4] Among others, Sakallıoğlu (1996); Davison (2003); Kuru (2009).
[5] Kuru and Stepan (2012:6) claim that state activities supporting religion do not contradict their argument because through these activities the state tries to produce a "privatized Islam." As I hope that the examples I provide here demonstrate, the Turkish state supports private as well as public Islam.
[6] In practice, while vocational imam-hatip schools were initially established to train imams, they now form a parallel school system preferred by families who want their kids to receive a more religious (Sunni-Muslim) education. Comparing the textbooks and syllabi used in the religious culture and morality courses in high schools in 1995 and 2007, Türkmen (2009: 390) observes that the emphasis on Islamic sources has increased and the new textbooks exhibit a concern for the "recirculation of Islamic terminonology into everyday life."
[7] Selcan Hacaoglu, "Fazil Say, Turkish Pianist, Charged With Insulting Islam," Huffington Post, June 2, 2012. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/06/01/fazil-say-turkish-pianist_n_1562221.html.
[8] See Freedom House (2012) and Helsinki Watch (1988, especially pp. 30-34). Also see Sebnem Arsu, "Turkish Court Acquits Author," New York Times, June 25, 2009 and "Turkish Cartoonist to be Put on Trial for Renouncing God," Hürriyet Daıly News, September 28, 2011. http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/default.aspx?pageid=438&n=turkish-cartoonist-to-be-put-on-trial-for-denouncing-god-2011-09-28.
[9] Among others, Jacques N. Couvas, "Filtering Out Internet Freedom," IPS, January 19, 2012. http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=106493.
[10] Nesin (2009: 200) argued that he wanted to publish the novel in order to protest an "anti-secular [anti-laik] and anti-democratic act of the state" in a country which upholds constitutional secularism.
[11] Deputy Prime Minister Bekir Bozdağ argued that the new constitution should scrap the condition that the Diyanet must act in accordance with the secularism principle. See "Bozdağ: Diyanet Laik Olmamalı" (Diyanet Shouldn't Be Secular) Habertürk, June 5, 2012. http://www.haberturk.com/gundem/haber/748077-bozdag-diyanet-laik-olmamali.
[12] Law 633 defines Diyanet's task vaguely as "conducting affairs regarding the beliefs, practices and moral principles of the Islamic religion, informing the public about religion, and administering places of worship." http://www.mevzuat.adalet.gov.tr/html/1085.html.
[13] So far, the so-called "Alevi opening" launched by the government in recent years has not produced many tangible results. Jonathan Head, "Turkey election: AKP courts the Alevi minority vote," BBC News Europe, June 3, 2011. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-13605439.
[14] Findley (2010).
[15] Altunışık (2005)
[16] Cizre (1996).
[17] Despite some improvements in recent years, Turkey's non-Muslim minorities face significant problems that need to be addressed. See, among others, US Department of State (2010). The conception of "minority" should not be identified in terms of fixed demographic relationships but in terms of rights and freedoms. In Turkey, for example, pious Muslims may feel to be a minority and, thus, their freedoms to be restricted, in many secular quarters of Istanbul, while secular individuals may feel to be a minority and restricted in conservative neighborhoods of Istanbul and in predominantly conservative towns of Central and Eastern Anatolia.
[18] Tezcür (2007).
[19] Akdoğan (2004).
[21] Baç and Keyman (2012).
[22] See Öniş (2012) for a critical assessment of Turkey's engagement of the Middle East.
[23] Öniş(2007); Somer (2007); Ciddi (2009); Turam and Ringer (2009).
[24] Somer (2007).
[25] Akan (2012); Freedom House (2012).
[26] "Turkish columnist fired for criticizing PM," Hürriyet Daily News, May 30, 2012. http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/turkish-columnist-fired-for-criticizing-pm-.aspx?pageID=238&nID=21943&NewsCatID=341 .
[27] Maggie Michael and Lee Keath, "Turkey: Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan Visits Egypt," Huffington Post, September 13, 2011. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/09/13/turkey-erdogan-egypt-visit_n_960855.html . Ali Bulaç, "Ortadoğu'ya Türk Laikliği,"(Turkish Secularism for the Middle East), Zaman, September 17, 2011. http://www.zaman.com.tr/yazar.do?yazino=1180525 .
[28] Somer (2010 and 2011).
[29] See Konda (2007) and Toprak et al (2008) for social pressures and discrimination felt by different groups in Turkish society.
[30] An-Na'im (2005).
[31] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H-leC0kJosw. Accessed on May 22, 2012.
Akan, Murat (2012). "A New Constitution for Turkey without Democracy," e-International Relations (January 12, 2012) https://www.e-ir.info/2012/01/12/a-new-constitution-for-turkey-without-democracy/.
Altunışık, Meliha (2005). "The Turkish Model and Democratization in the Middle East," Arab Studies Quarterly 27 (1&2): 45-63.
An-Na'im, Abdullahi A. (2005). "The Interdependence of Religion, Secularism, and Human Rights" Common Knowledge 11 (1): 56-80.
Çarkoğlu, Ali and Ersin Kalaycıoğlu (2007). Turkish Democracy Today: Elections, Protest and Stability in an Islamic Society. London: I.B. Tauris.
Ciddi, Sinan (2009). Kemalism in Turkish Politics: The Republican People's Party, Secularism and Nationalism. London: Routledge.
Sakallıoğlu, Ümit Cizre (1996). "Parameters and Strategies of Islam-State Interaction in Republican Turkey," International Journal of Middle East Studies 28: 231-251.
Cizre, Ümit, ed. (2008). Secular and Islamic Politics in Turkey: The Making of the Justice and Development Party (New York: Routledge).
Cizre, Ümit (2012). "A New Politics of Engagement: The Turkish Military, society, and the AKP," pp. 122-148 in Ahmet T. Kuru and Alfred Stepan (eds), Democracy, Islam, and Secularism in Turkey. New York: Columbia University Press.
Davison, Andrew (2003). "Turkey, a 'Secular' State? The Challenge of Description," South Atlantic Quarterly, 102(2-3): 333-350.
Findley, Carter V. (2010). Turkey, Islam, Nationalism, and Modernity: A History, 1789-2007. New Haven: Yale University Press.
Freedom House (2012). Turkey – Freedom in the World 2011, at http://www.freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-world/2011/turkey, last accessed on 01 June 2012.
Gürbey, Sinem (2009). "Islam, Nation-State, and the Military: A Discussion of Secularism in Turkey," Comparative Studies of South Asia, Africa, and the Middle East 29 (3): 371–380.
Hale, William and Ergun Özbudun (2010). Islamism, Democracy and Liberalism in Turkey. (London: Routledge).
Helsinki Watch (1988). Paying the Price: Freedom of Expression in Turkey. International Freedom to Publish Committee of the Association of American Publishers.
Kentel, Ferhat, Levent Köker, and Özge Genç. (2012). Yeni Anayasa Sürecini İzleme Raporu 1 (Report on the New Constitution Process) (Istanbul: Tesev Demokratikleşme Programı).
Konda. (2007). Gündelik Yaşamda Din, Laiklik ve Türban Araştırması [Survey on Religion, Laicism and Islamic Headscarf in Daily Life]. Istanbul: Konda Araştırma ve Danışmanlık.
Kuru, Ahmet T. (2009). Secularism and State Policies toward Religion: the United States, France, and Turkey. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Kuru, Ahmet T. and Alfred Stepan (2012). "Introduction," pp. 1-11 in ibid (eds), Democracy, Islam, and Secularism in Turkey. New York: Columbia University Press.
Müftüler-Baç, Meltem and Fuat Keyman (2012). "Turkey under the AKP: The Era of Dominant Party Politics," Journal of Democracy 23 (1): 85-99.
Nesin, Aziz (2009). Bir Tutam Aydınlık (A Little Light). Istanbul: Nesin Yayınevi.
Öniş Ziya. (2007). "Conservative Globalists Versus Efensive Nationalists: Political Parties and Paradoxed of Europeanization in Turkey." Journal of Balkan and Near Eastern Studies, 9: 247 – 261.
Öniş, Ziya (2012), Turkey and the Arab Spring: Between Ethics and Self-Interest (March 7, 2012). Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=2017639 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2017639.
Somer, Murat (2007). "Moderate Islam and Secularist Opposition in Turkey: Implications for the World, Muslims and Democracy," Third World Quarterly 28 (7) (October): 1271-1289.
Somer, Murat (2010). "Media Values and Democratization: What Unites and What Divides Religious-Conservative and Pro-Secular Elites," Turkish Studies 11 (4), pp. 555-577 (December 2010).
Somer, Murat (2011). "Does It Take Democrats to Democratize?: Lessons From Islamic and Secular Elite Values in Turkey," Comparative Political Studies 44 (5): 511-545.
Tezcür, Güneş Murat (2007). "Constitutionalism, Judiciary, and Democracy in Islamic Societies," Polity 39: 479–501.
Toprak, Binnaz, İrfan Bozan, Tan Morgül, and Nedim Şener (2008). Türkiye'de Farklı Olmak (Being Different in Turkey). İstanbul: Boğaziçi University.
Turam, Berna and Monica M. Ringer (2009). "Introduction: State and Society: Neither Lovers nor Haters," Comparative Studies of South Asia, Africa and the Middle East, 29 (3): 353-359.
Türkmen, Buket (2009). "A Transformed Kemalist Islam or a New Islamic Civic Morality? A Study of 'Religious Culture and Morality' Textbooks in the Turkish High School Curricula," Comparative Studies of South Asia, Africa and the Middle East 29 (3): 381-397.
US Department of State (2010). International Religious Freedom Report. July-December 2010. http://www.state.gov/j/drl/rls/irf/2010_5/index.htm.
Competing Logics of Security toward Syrian Refugees in Turkey and Lebanon
Interview - Laurence Payot
Interview - Ieong Meng U
Interview - Christian Lequesne
Interview - Sarah Wolff
Interview - Costas Constantinou
Tags: democracy, liberal democracy, religion, secularism, secularism in modern democracies, Turkey, Turkish Constitution

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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text:
Cartoon Silhouettes - Who am I?
…, (p.60) P1 - W…
ES, Animals, Like/Dislike
サイレントゲーム
ES, Alphabet & Phon…, Numbers
Will you ~~ please?
NEW CROWN 1, (p.98) LET…, NEW CROWN 2
Junior High 1, 2
Santa Claus is Coming to Town Listening Activity
HOLIDAYS, Christmas
Describing Something Japanese in English!
Miscellaneous, …, NEW CROWN 3
The Little Mermaid - Part of That World
Jimmy Cliff (cover) - I Can See Clearly Now
Loser Like Me
Glee Cast - Loser Like Me
What Makes You Beautiful
One Direction - What Makes You Beautiful
Moana - How Far I'll Go
Hyogo Ward Office
Starboard Craft Beer Bar
Takaha Elementary School
こうべしりつかたはしょうがっこう
神戸市立高羽小学校 Telephone: 078-841-0541
Seiwadai Elementary School
こうべしりつせいわだいしょうがっこう
神戸市立星和台小学校 Telephone: 078-593-8200
Maruyama Junior High School
こうべしりつまるやまちゅうがっこう
神戸市立丸山中学校 Telephone: 078-691-0005
How can I get to...?
Students ask directions to landmarks in a race to complete their maps.
This is a variation of a worksheet I found on Englipedia.
Students are divided into groups of 3, and each group has a variation of a map they must complete. They are given three landmarks on their map, but the rest are blank. The goal is to fill in each blank space with a landmark and to draw a path leading to the closest train station.
Here's the catch: every group's map has different landmarks given, so they need to find out the locations from other groups.
Each student has a role: one is an "explorer", another is a "teacher" and the last is a "cartographer". The "explorer" goes around to each group and asks where certain landmarks are. They bring the memo with them to record their findings. The "teacher" stays and tells other groups' "explorers" where locations are and how to get there (if the group knows them). The cartographer fills in the map after the explorer returns and reports their findings - drawing pictures of the landmarks, labelling them in English, and drawing a path to the nearest train station.
The "explorers" need a "memo" worksheet and a "how can I get there" script (depending on ability - I'd do it for 1st year and lower level 2nd year students).
The "teachers" need either a "how can I get there" script (they take memos directly onto the script and fill in the blanks) or a "memo" worksheet (they take memos directly onto there and don't rely on the script at all - this also depends on the ability of your kids so it's up to you).
The "cartographers" need the map. Please stress that they need to protect the map and not let other groups copy it!!!
This activity definitely requires demonstration beforehand. For explanation of the game, have a blank version of the map blown up to A3 or poster size on the board and read the Listening Script. The ALT is the "explorer" and the OTE is the "teacher". Get a student volunteer to be the cartographer. Act out how the game progresses and explain the roles. Practice the script as a class. Get your OTE to provide translations of each role to cut down explanation time.
The first team to finish correctly, and all other groups that get everything correct should be rewarded accordingly.
This activity took about 30-35 minutes in total.
If 3 people is impossible for a group size, then 4 is ok - the 4th person can act as a "scribe" for the explorer and take memos while the explorer speaks and asks about the landmarks.
blanks script how can i get.docx59.75 KB
1st years memo how can i get.docx12.46 KB
1st years how can i get game.docx709.67 KB
Submitted by Karina on Tue, 04/18/2017 - 11:14.
Lesson Topics
NEW CROWN 1,
(p.110) LET'S TALK 8 - How can we go to ~?,
(p.10) LET'S TALK 1 - Directions: How can I get to Ikuta Shrine? Take...
> 20 Minutes
attached worksheet


text:
Zhang Xiantu (1926 – 2015) was a Chinese women's rights activist. Xiantu was a former comfort woman; together with Wan Aihua, they were the first in China to come out and sue the Japanese government for covering up the sexual violence committed by the Japanese army during the Sino-Japanese war.

Life

Comfort woman
At 16 years old, a few months after her marriage, Xiantu was forcibly taken from her home to the military brothel. She was confined and raped everyday by multiple men and was physically tortured for rejecting their sexual demands.

Xiantu's family sold their valuables and borrowed money and therefore was able to trade her back after 20 days. Apart from the psychological trauma, Xiantu suffered from gynecological diseases. Due to the stigma associated with multiple rape victims, she was ostracized by her husband and in-laws. She then decided to stay at her father's house to recover. She returned, as necessitated, to her husband after two years. Her husband suffered from severe PTSD so Xiantu bore the responsibility of managing the household.

Activism
In 1995, Xiantu filed a lawsuit at the Tokyo court against the Japanese government for the sexual atrocities committed by their military during the war. Xiantu sought for apology and compensation of victims. She was consistent, and in 2009, the Japanese government issued an apology but rejected the compensation. Since then, Xiantu had been persistent in campaigning for the rights and destigmatization of victims of sexual assault.

Death
Xiantu passed away on November 12, 2015, in Shanxi after a long-time struggle with gynecological illnesses. She was 89 years old. On her deathbed, she sought for the continuation of the campaign for remaining sexual violence survivors from the war.

References

Comfort women
Chinese women's rights activists
1926 births
2015 deaths

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


We making moneeeey…we making moneeeeyyy…we making money this year, we making money this yeaaarr,no matter what dem do, things'll be better this year…this yeaaarrr…this yearrr…. I know you are wondering, what is this guy up to this morning, but that is just my ring tone, an inspiring song by jaywon, every intending or future big boy or girl, must have this as a ring tone. Now, back to the matter.
As checked the caller, it was one of my aunties' I picked,..helloo, chijioke ke kah imere, she inquired, anyi na anwa,I replied and then we chatted for a while. Now the reason she called among other things was that one of my favorite cousin was sick recently, that it even went to the extent that she took injection and drip. So what was wrong with her and where was she treated ( I expected a particular answer and I was not disappointed), the nurse came to the house to treat her, she informed me, they had to call the nurse because, she has been trying my line to no avail.
"On Thursday, I met a nurse who had a day-case surgery & was rightly placed on oral post-op medications but she opted for parenterals. She was on her way home as she had been discharged home immediately after the surgery but she insisted that she would have an IV cannula inserted for her & her medications converted to IV & IM. I asked her for her reason & she said that IV medications were more 'powerful' than oral medications. Well, I don't understand that concept but I've heard the same statement from health professionals, mainly nurses. I'm not trying to slander nurses but every single person that I know has opted for parenterals when they're supposed to be on orals has been a nurse. We're supposed to educate the public concerning rational drug use (including routes of administration) & not add to the ignorance''.
Every patient must not take drip and injections.
Vasopri is necessary for a hypertensive patient but itself not an anti-hypertensive drug .
Happy new month…don't forget to like our face book page.
Right on point honourable colleague, we really have great work to do as regards sensitizing the public in view of the injections matter. Not a bad idea though but the education is bad for the public. Its well, Eldorado's close by man.
I must commend ur great work.its really an issue,can you imagine a nurse telling a mother that syrs doesn't work for a baby of 1 yr.i had to take time to educate the lady abt dosage forms.we really need to educate them whenever we have an opportunity.


There is a little bit of a "fish out of water" experience awaiting Ph.D.'s or A.B.D.'s who attend law school. A couple of weeks of "cold-calling" in class quickly turned me into a law student. Here's a "Top 10" list of tips and observations for students entering law school after a stint in graduate school based on my experience as a 1L.
Every sentence should be 25 words or less. This was by far the best suggestion I received from the legal writing instructor at the law school. Academics, for better or worse, tend to write longer, more complicated sentences. Lawyers and most law professors, on the other hand, prefer clarity over complexity. I've come to appreciate and adopt this advice.
Outline everything. Taking notes on a daily basis is a great way to keep up with assignments. It also prepares you for exams, which dominate law school. Ideas were way more important in my history coursework than in "Black Letter" classes. Rules matter more now. Taking extremely careful notes ensures you don't just know them but know how to apply them properly.
Seek out professors who share your interests. There will be faculty members that find your work interesting. Make you sure you connect with them early on in law school. It is important for jobs, clerkships and the like to find faculty members who will go to bat for you.
Try writing something out of your "wheelhouse." Sure, specialization is the norm in academia, but in law school, at least while you are a student, it is crucial to learn a little bit of everything. This is especially true if you plan on passing the bar exam someday. If you want to teach a "Black Letter" class, think about which one that might be. Start working on a paper or article in that field (maybe after your 1L year when you are just trying to keep your head above water).
Try a clinic or a summer internship. Practical experience completely changes the way law school looks for you. Suddenly, cases become more than just words on a page and you start thinking about clients and consequences. This makes law school easier and more enjoyable. And when you pursue your career as a lawyer or law professor, you'll be glad you had this real word experience.
Keep a separate file to save cases or ideas relevant to your area of research. Every now and again a case will come up in Contracts or Torts, e.g., that will relate on a direct or analogous level to your research interests. Keep a running document of case names and class notes that might help you with your own writing.
Take WestLaw or Lexis for a spin on your own topics. The research tools that these companies give to law students for free are amazing. You may never have the same opportunity to research on them freely again. Start running keywords and case searches through them. WestLaw NEXT, for instance, lets you store what you find in neatly organized folders.
Introduce yourself to the law librarian. Law librarians are amazing people. They know their way around legal databases and the book stacks, of course. But they also often have their own research interests and will happily share war stories about finding a difficult, but necessary document for their work. Someday, you'll be in a bind. The best law librarians will take a lot of pride in helping you. Some of them might even let you pet their dog for stress-reduction.
Start familiarizing yourself with canonical works in the study of the law. Whether it's Calabresi and Melamed's "Cathedral" article or the Coase Theorem, you should seek out the most-cited works and writers in legal scholarship. You'll learn quickly that the kinds of questions that lawyers and legal scholars ask are often quite different from what historians try to answer in their work.
Read and learn the bluebook. Learning a new style of citation, after you've spent most of your academic life with Chicago or MLA styles, is not easy. Unlearning something that has become habitual is harder, I believe, than adopting bluebook rules with a blank slate. Take the bluebook to the beach the summer before law school and get an early start. OK, that might be overkill. But you get the idea.
Great suggestions, Josh! I especially like the idea about keeping a separate file for cases and ideas that you find interesting, curious, or troubling. These can be great fodder for historical research.
Thanks, Karen! My next article will make great use of a lot of cases/ideas from Torts and Langbein's History of the Common Law.
As a JD starting out on a PhD in history this fall, I wonder if Josh or others might have a similar top ten list to share for those like me in the reverse situation?
This is a great list, Josh. I went from JD to PhD, and reading over your list reminded me of year one in grad school when I realized that as a law student I had so underutilized the possibilities for historical research in Lexis and Westlaw. Emily, I just have one thought about the JD to PhD move (inspired by Josh's second point): resist the temptation to outline everything so that you can let your brain work in new ways, but figure out when your outlining skills can yield something important/insightful.
Thanks, Clara. Emily, I'd definitely echo what Clara says about outlining. I'd also recommend getting as caught up on the "canon" as you can... Pocock's Machiavellian Moment or T.J. Jackson Lears's Concept of of Cultural Hegemony, e.g. Have fun and good luck!!


Academic mobility is one of the most powerful levers for the development of a common space for knowledge. It provides academic, social, and economic benefits, contributing to the creation of an Ibero-American identity that goes beyond the academic gains to influence the society as a whole.
The promotion of the academic mobility is one of the centerpieces of action of the Ibero-American Space of Knowledge (EIC), which is managed by the Organization of Ibero-American States (OEI) together with the Ibero-American General Secretariat (SEGIB) and the Ibero-American University Council (CUIB).
The OEI has acquired significant experience in academic mobility over the recent years. It is one of the institutions with a greater "know-how" accumulated in this area within the Ibero-American context, and it is the reference among the cooperation agencies operating in the region. The academic mobility of the OEI has three important initiatives: the Paulo Freire Academic Mobility Project, the Exchange and Academic Mobility Programme (PIMA) and the Pablo Neruda Mobility Programme.


Join us for a colossal fossil festival as we honor National Fossil Day in a big way!
Meet the paleontologists and geologists who work every day to uncover the secrets these ancient remains reveal about past life on Earth. Explore fossil displays and the dig pit. Bring your fossils for identification and talk to members of fossil clubs throughout Florida to learn what fossils can be found around the state!


text:
Curing Lesesucht (addiction to reading)
Charlotte Simmonds
Fischel Schneersohn was born around 1885/88 in Kamianets Podolski under the Russian Empire. He studied medicine in Berlin from 1908. By 1920 he was in Kiev, working as a children's doctor and co-editing the short-lived Hebrew literary journal Kadima. He then returned to Berlin to direct a Jewish children's centre. He is variously recorded as having specialised in psychiatry and psychology; the non-fiction books and articles he published in both Yiddish and German certainly belong more to the field of psychology than psychiatry. But he was also interested in non-scientific literature, with many of his Yiddish novels published in the 1920s and 30s, also in German and Hebrew translation.
In the 1930s he emigrated to Mandate Palestine where he continued to practise either child psychiatry or psychology, running a clinic and afterschool programme in Tel Aviv for neurotic children. In 1952, he wrote a lengthy German report on a syndrome which could not be considered today to have any nosological validity. It was a type of Lesesucht, or reading addiction, observed among the children in his Tel Aviv clinic over 1937 to 1951.
'Pamela, or Virtue Rewarded' by Samuel Richardson, first published 1740.
Concerns about Lesesucht had been at their highest in Europe during the 1700s with the rise of the entertainment novel. There were fears that society would go to wrack and ruin – women would neglect their housework, people would begin living in fantasy worlds, sexual excitement would be stimulated, everyone would become socially isolated, no one would get anything done. The noble pursuit of reading, for spiritual and scientific edification, was being debauched and degraded. Moral anxiety about new media repeats itself later with radio, then television, then video games and internet.
Schneersohn's worries picked up where the early 1800s had left off. The syndrome he described contains elements of today's hyperlexia, ADHD, autistic syndromes, OCD and Tourette's. But it fits none of those categories, nor is there enough information to retrodiagnose any of his small patients using a modern classifications system. Yet Schneersohn felt the existence of his syndrome demonstrably proven by the fact that all children suffering from it had been successfully cured of their baneful addiction following treatment in his clinic and showed few signs of "recidivism".
Children who had formerly been isolated loners, preferring books to their friends, were now fully participant in school and social life. They could go on to become engaged and productive members of society, something an emerging state with Marxist leanings probably considered important. Schneersohn writes that reading in normal quantities (1-2 hours a day), whether for entertainment or edification, is certainly to be highly valued or even considered essential to life, but, like any other essential aspect of life, eating, drinking, exercise, becomes damaging when indulged in to excess (for Schneersohn, 2 hours or more). While that may be somewhat true, the conclusions Schneersohn then extrapolates from his observations are highly questionable and his work today stands largely as a curio for the historian of medicine.
I was most charmed by the creative writing exercises completed by two of his case studies. The following translation consists of four brief snippets from Schneersohn's paper: first some background on the authors of the short stories, then the short stories the children wrote with Schneersohn's introductory remarks. While Schneersohn's words are a simple translation from German to English, the two stories written by the children are first translations from, presumably, Hebrew, but possibly another language, into German by Schneersohn, a native speaker not of German but of a Ukrainian variety of Yiddish, and then into English by me. Let the Chinese whispers begin!
Case 1.
April 1938. Simon, 10 years old, in the 4th class, isolated child (has only a two-year-old brother). The boy was sent to the clinic by his teacher Mr Itingen who complains that the boy is indifferent to his lessons, that he in no way participates, much less in the social life of the class. The teacher claims that his indifference and apathy, exceeding all bounds, are entirely immune to paedagogical influence. The mother of the boy also complains that he is very untidy and dirty, that he doesn't do his homework and that his behaviour towards her indicates a note of the sharpest opposition. But neither the teacher nor the mother mentioned the child's excessive reading which was only established on examination in the clinic.
During examination using the unrestricted storytelling method (it was suggested to the boy that he write a composition on any topic of his choice), the boy responded that he had nothing to say. The boy was only able to write a short composition using the restricted storytelling method (i.e. on a set topic: "A boy went walking in the field and lost his way") with great difficulty. The result was a short story completely devoid of content, which we reproduce here in its entirety.
A boy went walking in the field and lost his way.
When it was midday and he wanted to go back, he couldn't remember the way home. He looked and looked till evening but couldn't find it. That night he climbed a tree and sat there till morning and in the morning he looked until midday and found the path and went back home. Enough!
April 1938. Yehuda, 11 years old, in the 6th class, isolated child (he has only a five-year-old sister at home). The boy was sent to the clinic by his teacher Mr Lipetz. The teacher complains about the boy's carelessness when learning and particularly his explosive nature; during outbursts of rage he does not shrink even from destructive acts. The teacher also writes about "nervous fits" which he witnessed in the child. The mother also complains that the boy does no homework, disobeys his parents, performs acts of defiance and teases his little sister at home no end. The mother herself attests that when she once went to the school, she saw with her own eyes her son heavily beat one of his schoolmates. She also mentioned, quite in passing, that the boy reads a lot.
We cite below the story that this erethic boy wrote using the restricted storytelling method on the same topic given to the apathetic boy. In comparison with the short, content-lacking story of the first boy which we gave earlier, the colourful, adventurous story of the second boy appears particularly striking. For the sake of brevity, we deliver below only the first half of the story:
After coming home from school, the boy left his house in the city of Tiberias and directed his steps towards Lake Kineret, as he was accustomed to spend the majority of his time there. He strolled along the shore of the lake and a determination arose in him to finally pay a visit to his schoolmate who lived in a mountain village. He thought he would need a few hours to make his way there and back again and so did not think it necessary to take provisions of food or drink with him on his journey or to inform his parents of his intention. The path that led to the village was narrow and tortuous like all the paths around there, and as the boy came to a fork in the road he forgot his friend's directions and, instead of turning right, he turned left and continued down the new path. After half an hour, he began to fear that he had gone the wrong way, yet he could not turn around as it was close to evening and he wanted to reach an inhabited area. He could not remain in the mountains overnight. He quickened his steps and saw with fright that the light on the mountains was heralding the approach of night. An hour passed and he knew not which way to turn and as the tears began to glisten in his eyes, he suddenly saw a few lights moving at the foot of the mountain. He summoned his remaining strength and arrived, breathless, at an encampment of Bedouins who had pitched their tents there. The Bedouins gazed on him in astonishment and had no idea what to do with him. At first they wanted to leave him to fend for himself somewhere in the mountains but then they decided out of compassion to take him with them and to then hand him over in an area where Jews lived to someone who would take him in. The Bedouins gave him food and camel milk to drink and pointed him towards a few sheepskins for sleeping. Jakob drifted off to sleep amidst thoughts of his hasty deed and the sorrow of his parents and their fear when they saw he had not come home. The next morning, he was awoken by the bites of mosquitoes and pesky flies and as he saw the walls of the tent over his head …
(The story ends with the Bedouins taking the boy, after several adventures, to the banks of the Jordan where they hand him over to fishers who bring him back to his parents' house.)
According to Schneersohn's report, both of these children were successfully rehabilitated, to the joy of Schneersohn, their teachers and their parents. No mention is made of the children's own views on the matter.
Charlotte Simmonds is an autistic Wellington writer, translator and PhD student (at least till the end of this year), studying the history of European research into autistic syndromes and autism-like conditions. She reads in several languages for 8-16 hours a day but only speaks in English.
Fischel Schneersohn (b. ca. 1885-88, d. 1958) is a German transliteration. A non-exhaustive list of possible spellings can be found here: http://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/nr94015893.html
Shneerson's report is "Die Lesesucht bei Kindern", published in three parts in the Swiss journal Zeitschrift für Kinderpsychiatrie. 1952. Volume 19 (issues 4-6), pages 150-163, 190-198, 205-210.
Filed Under: History, literacy, Reading
Fascinating! Thank you!
What a splendid post!
Cushla McKinney
What a wonderful piece. Thankyou for sharing. It puts me in mind also of Plato's concern that reading would erode memory (and I can't imagine how cross I would be should somebody try to cure me of MY reading addiction!)


Everyone knows that social media campaigns can be powerful tools to build your reputation and brand loyalty. Most people are also aware of the ever-increasing role smartphones play in helping potential customers locate businesses and decide whether or not to give them their patronage.
What many businesses are struggling with is the creation of a successful campaign that harnesses these technologies effectively. Not everyone uses mobile tech yet and social media campaigns can be difficult to obtain meaningful metrics from, making it difficult to determine if your return on investment makes your effort worthwhile. Nonetheless, you can't afford to ignore the potential that either of these technologies offers in terms of customer engagement and the building of brand loyalty. Here are a few things to keep in mind.
Getting social media to be an effective tool for your business has a lot to do with how you use the technology. The number one mistake that businesses make with social media is taking too strong of a 'sales' approach in their attempts to connect with customers. The key point to keep in mind about social media is that it's meant to be a social platform. This means that people are using it because they want to connect and share personal experiences with others; they're not using it so they can be blasted with advertisements and haggled about buying something.
As a business, the best approach to social media is to think about it as a tool to make friends with your customers. It's a platform where it's O.K., even expected, to be less formal and more friendly. Posts should be value-oriented, delivering information you know your customers would be excited to have.
Your posting frequency matters too. In fact, a recent study in the Restaurant Social Media Index 2012 Consumer Report found that brands who published more than six promotional posts per week, had an opt-out rate of 8% from social customers!
Sometimes one good image can be a far more powerful tool to catch people's attention than any number of text posts could ever be. Images also have a longer staying power in people's minds. Think, for instance, how much more likely you will be to remember that such and such restaurant is running a lunch time special on burgers if you actually see a picture of said burger looking totally delectable beforehand. Platforms like Pinterest, YouTube, and Instagram can be particularly powerful tools toward this end, since they are image-focused and shares are user-driven. Mobile platforms such as Yelp and FourSquare have recently beefed up their image sharing capacities as well, adding to the increased importance of images in restaurant marketing campaigns.
Given the increasing use of smartphones and mobile technology, it would be folly not to at least have a mobile version of your website enabled. Even better, build a free mobile app that your customers can download to their devices to stay in constant touch.
Several restaurants are using this technology is very effective ways. Krispy Kreme, for example, has an app that alerts users anytime their 'hot now' sign is on at their favorite Krispy Kreme location, allowing people to know exactly when they can show up and get their favorite doughnuts freshly baked and piping hot. Denny's recently ran a mobile campaign where they gave users a digital 'badge' each time they ate at a new Denny's location. The first user to visit a Denny's in all 50 states was given free Grand Slam breakfasts for life.
These are just a few examples of how you can utilize mobile technology to inspire engagement and loyalty from your customers. If social media and mobile technology is not yet a well-developed aspect of your marketing campaigns, now is as good a time as any to leverage these technologies to your advantage.
This entry was posted on March 18, 2013 at 10:00 am and is filed under Restaurant Management Group, Restaurant Receiverships, Restaurant Turnaround Management.	You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
Jim Balis Blog on Leveraging Social Media.


What is your favorite Destroyer quote? : "That's the biz, sweetheart"
What is your favorite Destroyer quote? : Any time Chuin calls Remo "White Man"
Where are you from? : St.Thomas U.S.V.I.
Who is your favorite recurring character? : CHIUN !!
What is your favorite Destroyer quote? : I am created, Shiva, the destroyer.
What is your favorite Destroyer quote? : " That's the Biz, sweetheart"
Who is your favorite recurring character? : REMO!!!
What is your favorite Destroyer quote? : "No, no, no. No guns for monkey. Not until monkey stops throwing feces at the nice lady."
What is your favorite Destroyer quote? : "I am created Shiva, the destroyer of worlds, who is this dog meat that challenges me?"


I'm busily at work on Book 3, so today in lieu of my usual post, I wanted to share one of my favorite posts from one of my favorite blogs–Problems with Infinity. In anticipation of the upcoming announcement about Persona 5 (please be a release date!!), I'm sharing Sarah's post "Video Games vs Life." Never before has anyone so eloquently–or accurately (haha)–summarized how I feel when a new video game is released. Click through to see the full post and check out the rest of her brilliant comics as well!
The post Video Games vs Life appeared first on Problems With Infinity.
Video games are always a priority.
What game is released then?


Business leaders are set to urge the Government to work hand-in-hand with them over Brexit.
While the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) says its members are fully behind making Brexit work for Britain, it needs to work together with the government to make sure a divorce from Europe is beneficial for the economy.
The organisation will call for calm as Britain heads towards triggering Article 50.
CBI President Paul Drechster will urge Prime Minister Theresa May to be more transparent over Brexit negotiations.
In a keynote speech to the business body's annual conference, he is set to say:"The firms I speak to every day are 100 per cent committed to making the best of Brexit. To do this, Government and business must do more than just work together.
"We must be two partners with a common cause; two signatories to the same contract, securing the best possible result for the British people.
While Mr Drechster says businesses understand more than anyone that prudence is necessary when entering into negotiations, he also says more openness is needed.
The CBI is baking Mrs May's May deadline to Trigger Article 50.However, he said firms were understandably nervous as they think about whether a sudden change in trading conditions could come into force.
He said that ports, airports and logistics companies could find themselves in a red tape nightmare if suddenly faced with new trading rules.
Business leaders at the organisation have been pressing Mrs May to commit to long-term infrastructure projects, which will have an economic benefit, including the new runway at Heathrow.
The CBI is looking to form a better relationship with Mrs May's government following a number of comments and statements from ministers which provoked anger among bosses.
Trade Secretary Liam Fox, for example, said that businessmen in Britain were lazy, heading out to play golf on Friday afternoons, instead of trying to boost the nation's economy. Meanwhile, in an idea which has now been shelved, Home Secretary Amber Rudd proposed introducing new red tape for firms, so they would have to reveal the nationalities of their workers.


text:
Lauren Leedberg '18
Chelmsford, MA
Major MarketingManagement
Complementary Minor Communication
One-to-one faculty-student relationships and career connections taught a student how to lead.
"Management is about knowing how to help people succeed," says Lauren Leedberg '18. "What I've learned won't just help me go further, but will help the people around me as well."
Leedberg's seen that willingness to help play out in her own life. "I've had so many mentors during my time here at Bryant. Every step of the way I've had incredible advice," she says. "They've been so important to me that it's my goal now to become someone else's mentor – because of the difference they've made in my own life."
"I've never felt like a number at Bryant," says Leedberg. "I know my professors and the faculty and the staff and every single person is here to help you. I found support here that I wouldn't have had anywhere else."
An Honors student and member of the Omicron Delta Kappa National Leadership Honor Society, she formed close bonds with her professors, including Professor of Management Lori Coakley, Ph.D., and Professor of Marketing Suki Yoon, Ph.D. "They take the time to talk to you, not just about what's happening in class or a topic in their field, but to get to know you," Leedberg states. "You can talk about what's going on in your life and they care about you and want to help."
Leedberg also took advantage of Bryant's award-winning Amica Center for Career Education in charting her course. She found an internship with athenahealth, a leading provider of network-enabled services and mobile applications for medical groups and health systems, through Amica's Bryant Career Connection, an online resource that helps students explore hundreds of professional positions, internships, and employer and career events. "My internship with athenahealth was incredibly important," she says. "It taught me new skills and gave me hands-on experience."
They were so impressed with her work they offered her a job before graduation – as did five other companies she found through Amica. "Having the ability to choose what you want to do is incredible at 22 years old," notes Leedberg. She, of course, talked through the offers with Professor Coakley and her other mentors.
Ultimately, Leedberg chose to begin her professional career with athenahealth. "I wanted to help make a difference," she says. "Working in healthcare technology and being able to help doctors and patients makes me feel connected to a great cause."
- Member, Omicron Delta Kappa National Leadership Honor Society
Alison Feehan '18
Bryant's powerful alumnae network helped this former President of Bryant's Honors Program land a dream position at an international education company.
Pallak Bhandari '18
After graduation, she joins PwC as an Advanced Risk and Compliance Analytics associate.


Bright smiles for bright futures at GCSF's 14th annual scholarship awards ceremony on June 23.
What does an educational fundraising organization do for an encore? The answer is easy: raise more money for education. Considerably more difficult is achieving a 50% year-over-year increase in scholarship funds distributed. But this year, that is precisely the philanthropic coup that the Graphic Communications Scholarship Foundation (GCSF) has managed to bring off.
The money—all $160,500 of it—is now in the deserving hands of 41 New York City metro area students pursuing undergraduate and graduate degrees at 16 schools offering programs in graphic design, production, and publishing. More than half of the record number are repeat recipients, and the group as a whole nearly overflowed the stage at the Hearst Tower Atrium during the 14th annual GCSF award ceremony on June 23.
The sum of the 2016 awards easily outstrips last year's record-setting amount and is a far cry from the $5,000 worth of stipends that GCSF presented for the first time in 2002. Since then, a total of more than $686,000 has been disbursed to 149 recipients.
The grants come from an inventory of separately endowed scholarships that GCSF, a 501(c)(3) organization, coordinates and helps to raise money for. Students, who earn the awards by submitting portfolios, letters of recommendation, and supporting essays, may continue to apply for and receive them until they graduate.
Over the years, the GCSF scholarship program has become a focal point for educational giving by graphics industry trade groups in the metro area. The most munificent of givers in 2016 has been the Advertising Production Club of New York (APCNY), which raised about $100,000 of the total presented on June 23. Other stalwart organizational supporters include IDEAlliance, Printing Industries Alliance, and The Navigators.
Voluntarism in its purest form remains the cornerstone of everything that GCSF does. Its officers, who are uncompensated, work without professional staff or dedicated office space. This means that the program has virtually no overhead expenses—all of the money collected passes through to the students as stipends.
It has been done this way from the first time GCSF's founding members sat down in a borrowed conference room to discuss how to revive a small number of print industry scholarship funds that were not being actively managed. Many more scholarship endowments have come under GCSF's custodianship since then, but the group's insistence on channeling 100% of their proceeds to students has not changed.
GCSF sustains the financial assistance it provides by drawing upon a dependable network of individual donors and corporate sponsors (see table below). The generosity of this network was evident at the group's "Spring Fling" event on June 15, a fundraising-focused social gathering hosted by Ogilvy & Mather on the rooftop of its building overlooking the U.S.S. Intrepid on the lower Hudson River.
GCSF vice president Diane Romano emcees the group's "Spring Fling" fundraiser on Ogilvy & Mather's rooftop.
Nearly 200 printing, publishing, and media professionals attended, and 35 high-profile corporate supporters pitched in. The result: a net of $30,000 to help swell the bounty distributed at the awards ceremony on June 23.
Fundraising isn't GCSF's only outreach on behalf of graphics education. It also operates a mentoring program that pairs metro area students with seasoned members of the industry for 12 months of enhanced, hands-on learning experiences in real-world business settings. In this way, students gain both the practical knowledge and the personal confidence they will need for success in their chosen fields. GCSF also arranges internships and solicits contributions of training aids and educational materials for use in graphic studies programs.
Mentees and mentors, from left: Jack Kott, Valerie Buonaiuto, David Luke, Lea Orsini, Allyson Gonzalez, Emilia Dabrowska, Roxana Santana, Nick Patrissi, Jessie Ann Murphy, and Jerry Mandelbaum.
Everything culminates in the annual scholarship awards ceremony, held for the last nine years at the Hearst Tower Atrium. Student testimonials and the bestowal of a special educational honor highlight the value of GCSF's work, the difference it makes in the lives of the students on whose behalf it is done, and the solidarity of the industry that stands behind it.
First-time recipient Sergio Georghiou, a freshman at SUNY Purchase and the creator of the winning portfolio in a citywide graphics competition, spoke with unrestrained emotion about his family's faith in his talent through difficult times. "This award is for them," he said.
Valerie Buonaiuto (Adelphi) talked about the personal growth she experienced by taking part in the mentoring program and completing a GCSF-arranged internship. Natalie Alcide, on her sixth GCSF scholarship grant as she nears graduation from New York City College of Technology, said simply, "I wouldn't be the woman I am today" without the help she received from GCSF members who encouraged her along the way.
Since 2008, GCSF has saluted industry members with exceptional records of providing this kind of help as its "Champions of Education." The 2016 honoree is James (Jimmy) Levin, an award-winning commercial photographer who went on to become a leading specialist in media recruitment and staffing. Today he operates Job Search Therapy, a consultancy for job and internship seekers. Levin sits on GCSF's scholarship selection committee and is a board member and the education committee chairman of APCNY.
James (Jimmy) Levin accepts the 2016 Champion of Education Award from GCSF president Jerry Mandelbaum and past president David Luke.
Accepting the Champion of Education award, he urged students to develop their potential "with passion and purpose": always challenging themselves, but always focusing their energies on pursuits they enjoy and believe in.
Levin also reminded them that "attitude and effort" are two things in life that professionals can always control, even when other forces seem to be slipping from their grasp.
Many of the people who attended GCSF's Spring Fling and scholarship award ceremony will also be on hand for another gala event that celebrates professionalism in graphic communications: the 2016 Franklin Luminaire Awards, to be co-hosted by Printing Industries Alliance and IDEAlliance on October 19 at The Lighthouse at Chelsea Piers. PIAlliance and IDEAlliance's DEER Foundation donate most of the net proceeds from Franklin Luminaire to GCSF.
GCSF's next gathering will be its fundraising "Holiday Bash" on December 8 at a location to be announced.
What's the best way to raise $10,000 in a few hours for a worthy cause? Throw a party. But the cause needs to be the Graphic Communications Scholarship Foundation (GCSF), and the party needs to have been the well-attended affair that the foundation hosted at the Manhattan headquarters of the Art Directors Club on December 10.
The money collected from admissions and sponsorships, 100% of which goes to fund scholarships, was on top of the $100,000+ in grants that GCSF presented to 31 students at its annual award ceremony earlier this year. The foundation, an all-volunteer 501(c)3 corporation, has been doing this kind of good work on behalf students of graphic communications in the metro area for 13 years.
Along the way, its mission created a focal point for educational giving by other graphics industry groups and clubs throughout the area. Their donations help to fund the various scholarships that GCSF administers and presents, and their members show their support personally by turning out in force for the GCSF "spring fling" and "holiday bash" events that have become highlights of the industry's social calendar.
GCSF's principal partners are IDEAlliance, the Advertising Production Club of New York (APC-NYC), the Art Directors Club, The Navigators, and Printing Industries Alliance (PIA). On December 10, nearly 200 of their members gathered in space donated by the Art Directors Club for a celebration of the year's accomplishments. Also on hand were those who helped GCSF make the bash possible: individual sponsors and representatives of companies that furnished sponsorship contributions and raffle prizes (see lists below).
But, the evening's real celebrities were the 12 students who came as GCSF's special guests. They are among the 131 students to whom GCSF has made $526,000 in scholarship grants since its founding in 2002. Like their predecessors, they are graduates of graphic studies programs at metro area high schools who are pursuing academic degrees at leading colleges and universities where the discipline is taught. They earned their stipends by submitting academic records and creative portfolios for evaluation by GCSF.
One of them was Natalie Alcide, who delivered a short keynote thanking GCSF and its supporters. Now a junior at New York City College of Technology (City Tech), she is in her fifth year of receiving scholarship grants from the foundation. If she enters a graduate-level graphic studies program, she can go on receiving them for a total of eight years.
Alcide's career ambition is to win an art director's spot at an advertising agency. She said that as helpful toward that goal as the scholarship funding has been the experience of learning from industry professionals through internship and mentoring opportunities provided by GCSF.
Watch this blog for further news of GCSF activities, including its 2016 scholarship awards ceremony when the details of the event are announced. In the meantime, please consider spreading holiday cheer and helping graphics education by purchasing holiday cards and posters created by student recipients of GCSF scholarships.
GCSF officers, trustees, and scholarship recipients, back row, from left: John Aaron, David Luke, Jerry Mandelbaum, Diane Romano, Natalie Alcide (recipient), David Garcia, Mark Darlow. Front row: Jack Kott, Ellen Hurwitch, Richard Krasner, Jessie Ann Murphy (trustee and recipient), Nick Patrissi, Valerie Buonaiuto (recipient).
The GCSF holiday bash sponsors included Blanchard Systems; Buy-Rite Robbinsville; Candid Litho/ Candid Worldwide; Canon; DALIM Software; Thomas Saggiomo, dg3; Hearst Magazines; HudsonYards; Konica Minolta Business Solutions; LB Graph-X & Printing; Mark Darlow, Graphic Art Supply; Robert S. Rosenbaum; RR Donnelley; Unimac Graphics; Valerie Merone, Victoria's Secret; and Xerox.
The raffle gift donors were Canon; Pantone; Adobe; DALIM, Bricco Ristorante Italiano, Christine Aaron, Showtime, RedTie, LB Graph-X, and Highroad Press.
This happy group consists of trustees, students, and supporters of the Graphic Communications Scholarship Foundation (GCSF) enjoying the festivities at the 2015 Franklin Luminaire Awards event at Chelsea Piers 0n October 1. The generosity of sponsors enables students to attend the gala affair free of charge so that they can network with potential employers. Money raised at the event helps GCSF to provide much-needed financial support for New York City metro area students pursuing careers in graphic communications. For a complete description of the evening and its honorees, please see our report at WhatTheyThink.
Are you planning to attend the UV LED 2015 conference in Troy, NY, October 28-29? WhatTheyThink, the event's media partner, is looking for attendees who would like to take part in a panel discussion of the state of UV LED technology and its applications.
Printers with UV production experience are welcome, as are specifiers and buyers of UV printing. You don't need experience with LED (light emitting diode) curing—just a wish to learn more about it and a willingness to talk about where UV LED printing might fit into your future plans.
The Museum of Printing, formerly based in North Andover, MA, has announced that it has secured a new site and will soon begin moving its contents there. After 13 years at its current location the museum is moving to Haverhill, MA, along Route 495, north of Boston in the Merrimack Valley.
A unique feature of the museum will be that it will house two libraries. One, for general reference, includes typographic books, type specimen books, and specialty publications. The second will be the Romano Graphics Arts Library for scholars and researchers. This collection consists of over 5,000 books, many rare, plus extensive graphic arts ephemera. Part of the Museum's collections includes the original type drawings used to create US Linotype fonts.
The museum will remain open at its current location in North Andover throughout the summer and fall of 2015. The new facility will open in the early summer of 2016. Currently on exhibit is the Lance Hidy retrospective, the Anna Hogan wood cuts, and a collection of Mark Fowler prints. A major fundraising program will be inaugurated to upgrade the new facility and tailor it to the Museum's needs.
The Museum of Printing preserves the past of printing for future generations to understand the impact of printing on today's world. Showcasing a large collection of letterpress tools and presses, the museum is also the proud home to the only collection of historic phototypesetting systems in the world. The 25,000-sq.-ft. museum is also home to one of the largest collections of print-related books, ephemera, and typeface art.
The museum contains two 90′ galleries, a large lobby, a library, and access to the library's four floors of archival stacks, making it an ideal educational field-trip destination for local school systems. For more information, visit www.museumofprinting.org.
Higher education is expensive, and as most students discover, finding the money to pay for it can turn into a preoccupation. That's why scholarship funds exist: to take away some of the financial pressure so that the focal point of students' lives can be their academic pursuits, not anxiety about tuition bills.
The Graphic Communication Scholarship, Award and Career Advancement Foundation (GCSF) has been providing this kind of philanthropic relief for 13 years, and on June 18, the group disbursed a record amount of it to metro area students enrolled in or about to enter college-level graphic studies programs. The awards ceremony at the Hearst Tower in Manhattan saw the presentation of more than $100,000 worth of stipends to 31 recipients, the largest distribution that GCSF has made since its founding in 2002.
The money consisted of grants from 20 individual scholarship funds coordinated by GCSF, a 501(c)3 corporation that acts as an umbrella organization for the financial support of graphics education in the metro area. Ten of the scholarships were provided by the Advertising Production Club of New York (APC-NY). The rest were grants from industry groups and clubs or funds named in memory of prominent industry figures.
To date, GCSF has presented $526,000 in scholarships to 131 students attaining academic degrees in graphic arts, design, production, and related subjects at some of the nation's most prestigious colleges and universities for these disciplines. Students in undergraduate and graduate programs can apply for grants, and many have received more than one stipend during their time in school.
Unique among printing industry scholarship funds in being established and operated entirely by uncompensated volunteers, GCSF does all of its own fundraising and manages its business affairs without an external support staff. One hundred percent of the money it collects is given to metro area students—there are no deductions for overhead or administrative expenses.
Its selection committee determines eligibility for scholarships by evaluating applicants' SAT scores, grade point averages, portfolios, and other criteria. GCSF also offers a student mentoring program and sponsors fundraising social events like the June 4 "Spring Fling" at Ogilvy & Mather.
Besides saluting recipients, GCSF's annual scholarship awards ceremony celebrates graphic communications as a whole and the aspirations it nurtures. On June 18, student speakers Valerie Buonaiuto and Annie Wong shared their feelings about what being able to enter the field meant to them.
"Graphic arts is my healthy obsession," said Buonaiuto, a Bayside High School graduate who is on her way to Adelphi University. Wong, who said she was the first member of her immediate family to attend college, sees graphic design as a "visual means of solving problems" that she is tackling in her studies at Rochester Institute of Technology.
Keynote speaker Cheryl Kahanec (EarthColor), a leading expert in digital print production, told the students that printing "is no longer just about putting ink on paper—it's about delivering messages" in concert with other graphic media. She said that the scholarship recipients were fortunate to be entering the industry at an exciting time, and she thanked the volunteers of GCSF for helping to make this possible.
"They believe in you students and your futures," Kahanec said.
Tributes to absent friends were paid in the form of newly created memorial scholarships in the names of Stephen D. Server and Nina Wintringham. Server was a co-founder of the company that became Applied Graphics Technologies, which at one time was the world's largest provider of publication prepress services. Wintringham is well remembered as a leader of graphics industry organizations and as an organizer of many of their most important activities.
Diane Romano (HudsonYards), GCSF second vice president, characterized Server as a "disciple of continuous improvement" whose innovations in electronic and digital prepress helped to transform magazine production. "He would be so thrilled to know his name is on a scholarship," she said.
"Always be serious about your work.
"Never be content to give less than the best quality you are capable of delivering.
GCSF's current slate of officers includes Jerry Mandelbaum, president; Ellen Hurwitch, first vice president; Diane Romano, second vice president; Steve Kennedy, treasurer; and Nick Patrissi, secretary.
The foundation's trustees are John Aaron, Mark Darlow, William Dirzulaitis, Vincent Forgione, David Garcia, Jack Kott, Richard Krassner, David Luke (also GCSF's immediate past president), Jessie Ann Murphy, Linda Nahum, Jack Powers, Laura Reid, and Howard Weinstein.
GCSF enjoys the support of numerous individual and corporate donors. To become one of them, e-mail Jerry Mandelbaum.
By late May and early June, classes at most metro area schools are over—but the graphics industry's efforts in support of education are just shifting into high gear. Two recent social events in New York City reaffirmed that the industry's commitment to students of graphic communications is as strong as ever and that members of the industry enjoy showing their support in one another's good company.
One event has long been a fixture on the industry's convivial calendar, and the other is new. On May 28, as it has in nearly every year since 1956, the Gamma Chapter of the Gamma Epsilon Tau graphic arts honor society inducted new student members and presented Gamma Gold Key Awards to industry figures whose careers exemplify the values of education.
June 4 brought several hundred revelers to the New York headquarters of Ogilvy & Mather for a "Spring Fling" on behalf of the Graphic Communications Scholarship, Award and Career Advancement Foundation (GCSF), a group with a track record as imposing as its name in raising money for metro area graphics students preparing for careers in the field. This party, being held for the first time, heralded the upcoming GCSF event on June 18 at which students either attending or bound for colleges with graphic studies programs will receive their stipends for 2015.
The highlight of the May 28 gathering at the 101 Club in midtown Manhattan was the addition of Timothy Freeman and Kathy Sandler to the long and distinguished list of Gamma Gold Key Award recipients.
Freeman, a professional trade association executive, has been connected with the printing industry since 1984. He is the person primarily responsible for preserving and strengthening Printing Industries Alliance, the membership organization that unites printing companies and related businesses in New York State, northern New Jersey, and northwestern Pennsylvania.
Sandler's 30-year career in magazine and book production technology epitomizes many of the most important advancements in those fields. She has held senior management positions at top publishing houses and has been a leader of most of the publishing industry's principal trade groups for production professionals.
After the award presentations to Freeman and Sandler, a candlelight induction ceremony brought three more students into Gamma Chapter's august ranks. This honor society aims to instill values that drive professional success and inspire a career-long commitment to supporting and serving the graphic arts industry.
Besides saluting students and industry leaders, the Gamma Gold Key Awards program also spotlights the role of New York City College of Technology (City Tech) as a leading center of graphics education for the metro region. Gamma Epsilon Tau's Chapter's Gamma Chapter is located there as an activity within the Department of Communication Design (COMD), an undergraduate program that has been training people for careers in graphics for more than 60 years.
The department, formerly focused on advertising design and traditional graphic arts manufacturing, has broadened its academic scope to include curricula in new and emerging forms of visual communications. It now offers associate and bachelor's degree programs that enable students to specialize in advertising, graphic, web, and broadcast design or gaming, animation, and illustration.
Chaired by MaryAnn Biehl, who gave an update during the Gamma Gold Key Awards program, the department currently enrolls about 1,000 students from throughout the metro area. It recently completed a two-year self-study exercise that will lead to an important academic accreditation from the National Association of Schools of Art and Design (NASAD). A new curriculum in communication design management is to be launched in the fall semester. At a later date, the department will relocate to an expanded media center being developed in refurbished space at City Tech's downtown Brooklyn campus.
Students from City Tech have always been among the recipients of GCSF scholarships, as have students from other, equally prestigious colleges and universities offering undergraduate and graduate programs in graphic communications. The foundation has presented $526,000 to 131 students since it began collecting money in 2002, and on June 18, the value of the stipends will be the richest yet: $110,000 for 31 students who will assemble with their families at the Hearst Tower to become the latest beneficiaries of one of the most exceptional fundraising efforts anywhere in the industry.
The June 4 "Spring Fling" at Ogilvy's space on the far West Side wasn't entirely without precedent—GCSF held a "holiday bash" along similar fundraising lines at The Art Directors Club last December. Like that festivity, the "Spring Fling" was all about raising awareness of the need for more donations, more involvement, and more activism on behalf of industry education. The foundation, a 501(c)3 corporation that operates entirely through the work of volunteers, has become a focal point for education in the metro region and is actively supported by other industry groups that share its aims.
For example, 10 of the grants to be presented on June 18 are funded through a sponsorship donation from the Advertising Production Club of New York (APC-NY). At the "Spring Fling," GSCF booster Diane Romano announced that proceeds from the October 1 Franklin Luminaire Awards event (a joint production of Printing Industries Alliance and IDEAlliance) would be donated to the scholarship fund.
GCSF also has a growing list of corporate supporters that contribute cash, gifts for scholarship recipients, mentoring assistance, and other kinds of help. On June 4, representatives of these companies mingled with a cross-section of publishers, advertising and media professionals, creatives, print service providers, and industry technologists for what was both a sophisticated cocktail party and a pride-inducing show of the industry's determination to take good care of its youngest, best, and brightest in the metro area.
The Graphic Communications Scholarship, Award and Career Advancement Foundation (GCSF) will present its 2015 Champion of Education Award to Patrick Henry, a longtime journalist and educator in the field. Part of GCSF's 13th Annual Scholarship Awards Celebration on Thursday, June 18, in New York City, the Champion of Education Award honors exceptional individuals who have helped to prepare the industry's next generation of talent and leadership.
Henry began covering the graphic communications industry during the desktop publishing revolution in 1984, when he became managing editor of Printing News. Since then, as an editor of or a contributor to most of the industry's leading trade media, he has published many hundreds of articles on business trends and technological developments in graphic communications. He is a co-author of a textbook, The Magazine Publishing Industry. He also wrote the chapter on book manufacturing for Volume 5 of A History of the Book in America.
An adjunct lecturer in graphic communications for master's degree programs at New York University since 1987, Henry also has taught undergraduates at New York City College of Technology. He is the recipient of numerous honors for industry service and education, including the Florence B. and Leo H. Joachim Award; the Gamma Epsilon Tau Gold Key Award; and the Tom McMillan Award for Journalistic Excellence.
Henry currently is an editorial manager for WhatTheyThink. He also operates Metro Graphics Reporter, a news resource for the graphics industry in the NY-NJ-CT metropolitan region.
The award to Henry will be among the highlights of "The Future of Graphics," a special program paying tribute to the latest recipients of GCSF scholarship grants. The keynote address will be delivered by Cheryl Kahanec (Earthcolor), a leading authority on digital print production. The event also will feature the inaugural presentations of scholarships in memory of industry figures Steve Server and Nina Wintringham.
GCSF's 13th Annual Scholarship Awards will take place at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday, June 19 in the 3rd-floor Atrium and Joseph Urban Theatre of the Hearst Tower, 300 W. 57th Street in Manhattan. Admission is free, but all attendees must pre-register by e-mailing a request for entry to Jerry Mandelbaum at jmandelbaum@601west.com.
The Graphic Communications Scholarship, Award and Career Advancement Foundation is an all-volunteer, 501(c)3 non-profit organization that provides financial support to New York City metro area students pursuing careers in graphic communications. Since its founding in 2002, GCSF has given more than $500,000 in stipends to 131 students in graphic studies degree programs at leading institutions in the field.
This year, 31 students will receive scholarship awards totaling $110,000, a significant increase in GCSF's annual awards amount. Of the 31, 10 are being funded through a sponsorship donation from the Advertising Production Club of New York (APC-NY).
On June 5, more than 100 students from 10 New York City high schools will assemble at New York City College of Technology (City Tech) in downtown Brooklyn for the metro area's most important showcase of young talent in graphic communications: the 14th Annual Citywide Graphic Arts Competition.
The event, held under the auspices of the New York City Department of Education, challenges the contestants to conceive and execute their best work in seven categories on a tight, real-world production deadline. The judges are graphics educators and industry professionals. The awards include trophies, cash, gifts, and, for the first-place winners, a celebratory dinner and a tour of The New York Times plant in College Point, Queens.
The judging categories are for graphic, package, and web site design; photography; student filmmakers; digital video production; and digital illustration. On June 5, the contestants will have just four hours to research, design, and produce their projects on site for evaluation later in the day by the judges. While they work, the teachers who encouraged them to enter will attend briefings on industry trends and career paths for students of graphic communications.
The competition is open to all New York City public high school students participating in a graphic arts program. This year, entrants qualified as first-round and second-round finalists by pre-submitting work on the theme of "My City" for online judging by high school graphics teachers. The teachers used detailed rubrics based on professional standards of the graphics industry to assess the entries.
The finalists will receive new assignments to develop for the prize competition in the Atrium at City Tech, which is located at 300 Jay Street. This year, for the first time, alumni of the competition—graduates who were once finalists themselves— will award the trophies, cash and prizes to the winners.
Organizing and promoting the event is Graphics Industry Advisory Commission, a group of volunteers who work with the Department of Education to improve study programs in graphic communications at city high schools. The commission is one of a number of advisory groups under the umbrella of the department's Office of Postsecondary Readiness (OSPR), which fosters public-private alliances in support of career-focused education.
Donors can call Bensen at 917-359-7569 or e-mail her at angen@comcast.net. The competition also has a PayPal link for those who wish to contribute online.