Today I welcome author Alex Hurst to my blog. She is currently promoting the anthology, Writers' Anarchy III: Heroes & Villains, which comes out December 1st.
I am a fantasy and speculative fiction writer based in Kyoto, Japan. I was born in Louisiana, but my family made their way out to the west coast when I was in my teens. I've been writing ever since I learned to type, but have only considered it professionally for the last two years. In that time, I've taken on a role as an admin in one of Facebook's largest writer communities, Fiction Writers Group, and also learned a lot more about the production side of books than I ever thought I would need! I keep a blog, where I chronicle my adventures in Japan, interview fantasy and sci-fi illustrators, and post occasional updates about current releases. You can find me at alex-hurst.com.
I'd like to think that very little of my personal experiences are in my works. I like keeping my work separate, as I don't want my experiential bias to limit the story. That being said, there are several archetypes that I find myself repeatedly drawn to in my work, and I have to actively check and make sure I'm not writing the same character or story over and over again.
Yes, my next project is a serialized, hero science fiction. While I'm trying to make the science believable, I wouldn't call it a hard science fiction, as there is a fair amount of comic book flare in the narrative.
The story follows the trials of Alta Williams, a woman expulsed from the elite genetic class of a future Earth, after a chemical fire corrupts her DNA irreparably. In addition to the loss of genetic privilege, Alta also loses 98% of her natural skin, which is replaced with a synthetic version bio-engineered by nanoTech, a company with a monopoly on nano technology. This skin, the first of its kind, allows her to meet an abandoned computer program known as the Digital Nano-Accelerator, or D.N.A.
N.A. enlists Alta to help uncover illegal genetic trials and government cover-ups, while giving her the extraordinary power to alter her skin's genetic code at will. The series is called "D.N.A." for this reason. I plan to serialize it in about a dozen novellas, the first of which is being released on December 1st, in Writers' Anarchy III: Heroes & Villains.
Writers' Anarchy III: Heroes & Villains is the third installment of an anthology project put on by Fiction Writers Group. The group currently is home to 6,000 members, and since last year, has published (or has had a hand in publishing) six full-size anthologies and two drabble collections.
The book itself is themed around the idea of heroes & villains, and what differentiates one from another. Authors were allowed to write in any genre, as long as this subject was the centerpiece of their work. Because of this open-ended submission process, we've got a bunch of amazing stories from over seven genres, with characters across the entire spectrum. To name a few, Heroes & Villains has werewolves, tooth fairies, Egyptian gods, an evil pool cleaner, ancient Greek beauties, loyal dogs, and a variety of compelling superheroes and their arch nemeses.
Heroes and Villains has twenty-four riveting stories from authors all around the world, and I am honored to be listed among them. I also did all of the design for the book, and highly recommend the paperback edition—there are a lot of beautiful little touches that couldn't transfer to the ebook version.
Alta is actually one of my favorite characters in recent memory. I really enjoy her ability to act as she needs to, even when she is feeling scared or confused. She's become a wonderful foil to discuss identity issues: not just what defines a hero, but also what defines a human, a woman, and courage. She has a lot to say, and she's not afraid to say those things on the page, which defers a great deal from my usually reserved and collected protagonists.
I actually do dislike a few of my characters, though as far as I can remember, none of them are in published works yet. If I did have to choose from those available, I would have to say that Decebal from "The Bell Tower" would have to be one of my more annoying characters. My feelings on him come more from a development standpoint than any real dislike of the actual character, though. In the original version of the story, he was a young tax accountant for a variety of supernatural families, but in the final version, he was a clock maintenance man, and about sixty-seven years old. He has had to be one of my most illusive characters to pin down so far.
Writers' Anarchy is an annual anthology series, where the theme consistently changes. The next volume will release in October 2015, and is all about horror.
As far as Alta William's future, as I mentioned, I do plan on serializing more of her adventures. Something that I want to really focus in on with her narrative is the price of immense power (not in the cliché 'corruption of power' way, but rather, the corruption of her actual human-ness, the more she comes to rely on D.N.A.'s abilities to fight the foes she is up against.) I will be releasing her novella as a solo in January or early February, which will include original artwork and some amazing comic-style covers from artist Dali Kosta.
Oh, no. I would say the only bits that remained exactly how I imagined them would be the opening scenes, and one of the more emotionally charged portions in the first half. Otherwise, quite a bit changed. Partly because of a word count limit, and partly because beta readers kindly pointed out some logical flaws in the flow of the story, the narrative changed a great deal from its earlier drafts. I think it's much stronger than its original incarnation, while maintaining the energy of its source.
One of the specific bits that changed from the original draft that changed, which I can share here, is how Alta goes about rescuing the patients at nanoTech. A reader mentioned that there was no way the mission would risk the objective by dawdling at nanoTech headquarters, in order to get the necessary medicines. Specifically, they said "Why couldn't it have been made at any other lab in the country, if they have the 'recipe'?" and I realized that they were right. I ended up having to cut almost 1,000 words of action from the story, but at least it makes more logical sense, which is one of things I definitely wanted. Nothing pulls a reader out of a story faster than losing their suspension of disbelief!
A tough question, as there's so many places that would be cool (but also terrifying) to live in. I think I would want to live in Jim C. Hines's Libriomancer series, but only if I could be a libriomancer. The magic system is just a really cool idea, and I could use it to use the magic from other literary worlds I've enjoyed in my lifetime (Zelazny's trump cards, Aladdin's magic carpet, or Hermoine's time turner, how cool!) The other reason I think Libriomancer would be my choice is that I think it would actually be pretty bad to live in a lot of those worlds, considering how many wars go on (and how many side characters die), and besides, in Hines's world, you also get to keep all the benefits of our modern world.
Fiction Writers Group strikes again with Writers Anarchy III: Heroes & Villains, an action-packed anthology of truly epic proportions. What makes a hero? What makes a villain? Can good and evil really be separated so easily?
Travel from the distant past of epic poems to the high-tech futures of tomorrow as our contributors consider these questions, as well as external influences that mold and shape us into the heroes, or villains, that we become.
Writers Anarchy III: Heroes & Villains isn't all about the latex, though the collection boasts stories like "The Rise and Fall of Red Brick and Humble Pie", "The Truth About Tony", "Hero Hazha", "Birth of a Villain", "Let Sirius into Fire Melt", "The Matchmaker", and "D.N.A." for those seeking all things super.
Fall in with kidnappers, werewolves, ancient warriors, Egyptian gods, tooth fairies, and thieves. Animals and humans alike grace the pages of this wildly diverse anthology that blurs the line between right and wrong.
You can learn more about Alex on her blog.
Writers' Anarchy III:Heroes & Villains comes out on December 1. You can pre-order it on Amazon.
Since today is Thanksgiving and I figure many people (at least those in the US) are gathered around the table giving thanks and eating good food, I thought I would take a moment as an author and blogger to give thanks too.
to those who have read my stories…I hope you enjoyed them as much as I have loved writing them.
to those on Twitter, Tribber, or Facebook who have helped promote either my books or my blog. I appreciate everyone of you!
Now get back to your Thanksgiving Day activities….
I don't typically host authors on Tuesdays but this book's story is about Thanksgiving so it seemed appropriate to do a feature before the big day. So please welcome Bobbi Romans, author of An American Holiday, to my blog.
An American Holiday holds the most "true tidbits" of any book written to date.
The joy and madness of large (or kooky) families coming together for the holidays.
Didn't need to. These were my stomping grounds growing up.
Can you tell us a little about the black moment in your book.
When Kristi realizes these moments are family are a gift and one that won't always be there. Its fleeting a moment, but for her, a powerful one.
The evolution of her surprise revelation. I'm not used to writing such a slow progression, but for her (not him) this was sweetly slow.
Yes, when 1st sitting down, the end couple was not who I'd planned. It was plotted to have a very different ending.
Any scenes in the book stemming from a real event?
YES. Well sort of. When I was a kid I heard stories of my great grandparents house. Their basement had a concrete block missing in the wall and all the smokers in the family would sneak (Great Grandparents were anti smoking/drinking) their smokes and put the butts in hole. My grandmother (one of the smokers) said Lord help anyone if that wall gets knocked down. LOL Also, the sign hanging in Kristi's bathroom. "When its brown flush it down, when its yellow let it mellow." Apparently up on the mountains water conservation is a tad more in depth than most areas. My dearest friends grandparents had a sign that read that, hanging in their bathroom, in Harpers Ferry no less. ALSO, the recipe included… is truly my Great Grandmother Obaughs.
Ahh, Thanksgiving… complete with ghosts of holidays past. Those being humiliating memories of last year's revelry gone wild: jail cells, a tattoo and rose left on Kristi James pillow by someone she can't remember.
Toss in two brothers who, while loving, had needled her with vivid imagery on what might have happened during that fateful rendezvous at the local HoJo's. Seriously, what's a girl to do? She'd run like hell from Harpers Ferry back to her apartment and job in Alexandria.
She's praying this year's holiday ends a bit more traditional. But between exploding turkey's, cranberry fights, and the winter storm threatening to lock them all together for God only knew how long, she's fairly certain her Norman Rockwell hopes have flown the coop.
Adding another layer to this casserole of disaster, the high school boyfriend—who'd cheated on her two days before prom—returns, claiming to have made a horrid mistake all those years prior.
Thing is, she isn't sure why its bothering her so badly.
Sometimes it takes coming home again… to discover how lost we've really been.
Bobbi Romans born and raised in the suburbs of D.C, now resides in the south with Prince Charming and her overly large, nutty family. Currently, Bobbi is hiding from her loud family in a closet as she taps away the next installment in the Swamp Magic series.
Little known facts: She's been on the Gordon Elliot show and has owned ferrets, crawdads, rats, flying squirrels and a barnyard of other animals/critters.
You can find out more about her on her website. You can also follow her on Twitter and Facebook.
You can purchase An American Holiday on Amazon.
Today is the first day of our Thanksgiving break. My kids have the whole week off. Every year, I always have to balance keeping them busy and letting them relax. Too much unscheduled time seems to lead to bickering but with school, homework and activities taking up a lot of their time, it sometimes is nice to have nothing planned.
Lexie at the children's museum.
So for this Thanksgiving break, I am balancing the two. Today we are off to the Children's museum. We usually go about three times a year with friends but this is the first time in quite awhile that we will go just the three of us. Tomorrow, I plan to take them to the Magik Theatre's production – Junie B. Jones: Jingle Bells, Batman Smell. Lexie is looking forward to it but Jase not so much. Luckily we are going with friends so he has another boy to share the humiliation of watching a show he considers for first graders. Thursday we will be at my parents' house.
So that just leaves Wednesday and Friday. I think both days will be our stay-at-home days. There is no place I want to go to on Black Friday. Heck, I try to stay away from all that madness. I love to save money but there isn't a deal out there that can convince me to get up early and stand in line for it.
After Thanksgiving break, there is only three weeks of school until the winter break. And then there will be more days to fill. I don't have to worry about Christmas Eve or Christmas Day. We will be at home both those days. My in-laws will come over Christmas Eve, and my parents will be here Christmas Day.
One thing the kids are looking forward to is our Christmas party with their neighborhood friends. My friend Stephanie hosted one when Jase was in kindergarten. She planned to do it again the next year, but it never happened so I took up the challenge and hosted the party last year. It actually was my trial run for Jase's birthday. I wanted to see if I could handle a group of excited children at my house.
It was an interesting experience and didn't put me off having Jase's birthday party at home last May. And I am willing to do it again though I have learned a lot about what I want to put my efforts into. Last year, I had found some cute things to do on Pinterest and while the parents remarked on them, my efforts were lost on the kids. So this year, I am going to worry less about making everything look good and concentrate on the kids just having fun.
As for other activities during the winter break, I already have a Groupon for Pump It Up. We will attend one of their open sessions to let the kids run and jump their energy out. We will also probably go visit my parents one of the days. And then there is taking them to the Magik Theatre – a children's theatre showing Junie B. Jones: Jingle Bells, Batman Smells. Lexie is excited about this. Jase isn't.
But even with these few planned activities, we will have plenty of days left open for them to play with their new toys. And before I know, break will be over, and they will be back to school.
Please welcome author Nicole R. Dickson to Into Another World.
I am a native of California and a child of the West. I also would say I have wandering feet. From the time I was born, we moved around a lot on the West coast, from city to city, house to house. If I look at it, the longest I've lived in any one place in my life is the house I am in here in North Carolina – nine years, which is very long for me. Did you ever read Chocolat? See the movie? That main character is how I feel – a woman in a red cape holding her daughter by the hand and hearing the North wind call her to join its wayward journey. That's me – the wayfaring stranger.
I've always been a storyteller since I was little. I was always in my head somewhere else, living in a world of my creation, built on the world around me. In college, I had professors suggest I pursue a career in writing, but I just didn't have it in me at the time to sit down and write. I didn't have that discipline. Everything changed with the death of my mother. I realized how short our lives are and how precious are the stories of the people that surround us. Somehow, right then, I figured out how to put a story together and had the focus to actually write it down hour after hour.
Like I said, I'm a storyteller. Always have been. Writing takes discipline, which I never had really. I've always written, of course, but never finished anything except poetry. Then I took to writing children's stories. Always something short so I didn't have to commit – my motto in writing. The stories were always in my head, though. So, with my mother's death, I started writing down what was in my mind day after day, week after week. I'd tell a good friend of mine over and over again how I wanted to be a writer. It was such a longing and such an impossible dream to be one. Then, one day in one of our conversations, she turned to me and said, "Nicci, you are a writer. What is a writer if not someone who writes, which you do all the time." That day was an eye opener for sure – a complete shift in how I saw myself. It changed how I spoke to myself. I didn't want to be a writer. I was a writer. I am a writer.
Actually, I don't. Different writers have different ways to forge a story. In college, when the professors would say I should take up a career in writing, I always said no precisely because I hated outlining stories. I didn't like structure like that because it totally snuffed out the lightness of my imagination. So now, I couldn't write an outline to any of my stories to save my life. That said, what I always do have is the end. Once I have the end, I can start and I have a meandering path to walk to that end. It's a journey filled with surprises and miracles and wisdom born elsewhere and funneled through my pen. Honestly, I can say I don't even feel like it is me writing. It is something else – something far wiser and deeper than I can ever be. And I love being with it – listening to it scratch its story on to paper.
Here and Again takes place now but also has a storyline back in the Civil War. I've been wandering around the Civil War for a very long time, so I had a great deal of the research completed when I started. I guess you could say, I spent eleven years or more researching for this book. I also spent that much time waiting for a story to come that took place in the Civil War. I wanted to write one, but had to wait for it. Finally it came, which was such a fantastic road to walk down. I was also lucky that it came when my wandering feet brought me to North Carolina. I was in the vicinity of all the great battles of the Eastern theater and I walked many of them. I also have realized I'm not done with this time in our history, though. I sense I've got a couple others yet to come from that time.
Have you started your next project? If so, can you tell us bit about your next book?
Currently, I am working on a novel that deals with Sherman's Special Field Orders , No. 15, which, back in the Civil War, was a military order that allotted 40 acres (and a mule but that is questionable) to the newly freed black slaves in Georgia, South Carolina, and several other states. This history has become the tale the Red family of Antres Vast, Georgia tells each generation as to how they came to own the property on which they live and that same 40 acres is now at the center of a major family battle. As with most family stories, the telling changes in time and is rarely reflective of the reality way back when. In fact, sometimes family history is nothing but a myth and the truth is deeper, darker, and more defining of who we are than even we ourselves can possibly imagine.
Author Nicole R. Dickson creates an indelible, delicate world filled with heartbreak and hope, seamlessly weaving past and present, and tying together the personal price we pay for legacy, war and duty.
Nicole R. Dickson is the author of two novels, the first of which, Casting Off (2009), was a top ten entry in the first Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award in 2008. Additionally, as a business executive, she writes essays on leadership and defining brand. An avid student of history, she can most often be found buried in that section of the library and finds many of the books there follow her home to rest on her bedside table. Here and Again is her second novel.
You can find out more about Nicole on her website. You can also follow her on Twitter or Facebook.
Here and Again is available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Books-A-Million, IndieBound and Powell's.
Last week, I covered front matter (all the pages BEFORE your story) in your book. Today, I want to talk about back or matter – which as you guessed is all the pages AFTER your story.
This section is pretty self-explanatory. My only comment is this needs to be a brief (think of the back inside cover of a paperback) bio. This is not the time to list out every one of your accomplishments. Try to keep it to about 100 words or less.
Susan Leigh Noble has always loved dragons and magic so it is no wonder that she became an author of fantasy novels. She began writing Summoned, her first complete novel, many years ago. It was released in digital form in 2011. The sequel, Quietus, continues the tale of Lina and her telepathic cat, Tosh. Quietus will be released in late 2011. The Elemental series will conclude with a third book to be released in 2012.
In addition to writing, Susan Noble spends her days taking care of her two young children and husband in Texas.
Here is what could be listed in my next book.
This is where you can let your readers know how to reach you. Feel free to list your blog, Facebook, Twitter or even your email account. You can see an example above under About the Author.
If they loved your book, point them to the next one. At the end of the first two books in my trilogy, I always let the reader know there was another book coming. Here is the teaser from Quietus.
Here ends Book Two of The Elemental.
and realize their battle with Selda isn't over yet.
Now at the end of my short story, The Search, I actually included the prologue and first chapter of book one of my trilogy.
The story of Lina and Tosh continues in Summoned: Book One of The Elemental.
Please enjoy the prologue and first chapter of Book One after the "About the Author" section.
You might team up with another author and promote each other's work. You could include an "If you like this book, you might like…" or even include a sample chapter from their book. Be sure to include links.
This is similar to the foreword (which could be included in the front matter) in that it explores how the book came to be written.
In a non-fiction book, you also could have a bibliography, index or glossary as part of the back matter.
As for fiction, some authors may include an epilogue as part of the back matter, but as I said with a prologue, I consider this to be part of the story and not part of the back matter as this is more like the final chapter of your story used to wrap up loose ends.
There really is no limit to the amount of information you can put after your story has come to an end. It would be a waste not to include at least one or two of these items as your back matter to help you sell more books and build a fan base.


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Tom Hamilton (broadcaster)
Tom Hamilton, a native of Waterloo, Wisconsin, is the chief radio announcer for the Cleveland Indians Major League Baseball team and a Big Ten college basketball commentator on ESPN.
Tom joined the Indians broadcast team in 1990, after spending three years in the booth for the then AAA club of the New York Yankees, the Columbus Clippers. He served with Indians legend Herb Score until 1997, when Score retired after 30 seasons. Hamilton became chief announcer in the 1998 season, and has held the position until present. In early 2007, he signed a five-year contract extension with the Indians, and will remain the team's voice through at least the 2011 season.
He is well known to Indians fans for his enthusiastic home run calls, "A swing and a drive!" or "Swung on and belted, to deep left field, a-WAYYYY back and gone!" Also part of Hamilton's signature is his emphatic "Ball Game!", which follows the final out in an Indians win.
Hamilton calls basketball games for the Big Ten Network. He refuses to say three pointer only "triple." Hamilton is a four-time Ohio Sportscaster of the Year award recipient (1997, 2000-01, 2004).He resides in Avon Lake, Ohio, with his wife and four children.
Broadcasting associates with the Indians
Tom Hamilton has partnered with the following members of the Cleveland Indians Radio Network (Flagship station: AM 1100, WTAM, Cleveland, OH):
*Herb Score, 1990-1997
*Mike Hegan, 1998-present
*Dave Nelson, 1998-1999
*Matt Underwood, 2000-2006
Broadcasting credits
*University of Wisconsin-Madison -- football games
*ABC Radio
*Appleton Foxes -- minor league baseball games
*University of Colorado -- basketball games
* [http://cleveland.indians.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/team/broadcasters.jsp?c_id=cle Cleveland Indians-supplied biography]
Fan Kam Road
Communist League (Denmark)
Hamilton (people) — Scots and Irish Nobility= *Duke of Hamilton :Surname Douglas Hamilton . For Dukes of Hamilton and of Brandon, Marquesses of Hamilton and Clydesdale, Earls of Arran, Lanark and Cambridge, Lords Hamilton, Aven, Innerdale, Polmont, Machansyre and… … Wikipedia
Thomas Hamilton — or Tom Hamilton may refer to:cottish nobility*Thomas Hamilton, 1st Earl of Haddington (1563 ndash;1637), Scottish administrator; Lord Advocate; judge; Lord Lieutenant of Haddingtonshire *Thomas Hamilton, 6th Earl of Haddington (c. 1680… … Wikipedia
List of people from Hamilton, Ontario — The following people were born in, residents of, or are otherwise closely connected to the city of Hamilton, Ontario. Arts Architecture and design * Lida Baday, (1957 ), fashion designer. Her namesake label is sold at Holt Renfrew across Canada,… … Wikipedia
Milo Hamilton — and Mike Krukow at Wrigley Field, June 10, 1981 Born Leland Milo Hamilton September 2, 1927 (1927 09 02) … Wikipedia
Stompin' Tom Connors — Connors in 2002 Background information Birth name Charles Thomas Connors Also known as … Wikipedia
David Croft (broadcaster) — David Croft Born 1970 UK Nationality British Other names Crofty Ethnicity English Occupation … Wikipedia
Cleveland Indians — For other uses, see Cleveland Indians (disambiguation). Cleveland Indians 2012 Cleveland Indians season Established 1894 … Wikipedia
Detroit Tigers — 2012 Detroit Tigers season Established 1894 … Wikipedia
List of home run calls in baseball — The home run is considered by many baseball fans to be one of the most dramatic plays in the sport. The typical home run s trajectory carries it in the air for a few seconds, and there is often some question as to whether or not the batted ball… … Wikipedia
Mike Hegan — First baseman / Outfielder Born: July 21, 1942 (1942 07 21) (age 69) Cleveland, Ohio Batted: Left Threw: Left … Wikipedia

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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Collaboration in crisis: responses to the pandemic across our network
August 10, 2020 August 13, 2020 Greg Bloom
With the world in crisis due to the COVID-19 pandemic, health, human, and social service providers face a harrowing dilemma: need is skyrocketing, even as providers' ability to actually help is severely compromised. Many institutions have struggled to respond or even closed down entirely – while many new efforts to meet communities' needs have emerged with astonishing speed.
We've seen a wave of new efforts to connect people with information about resources — and, in many cases, these new projects quickly ran into some of the same challenges that the information-and-referral sector has been grappling with for years. Information about the availability of community resources is often harder to find – and harder to trust – than one might expect.
Some of the best instances of rapid action have emerged in places where different kinds of organizations can work together to respond in new ways. This is where Open Referral comes in handy. By facilitating cooperation among organizations that maintain and use information about the resources available to people in need, we make it easier for community leaders to respond to rapidly changing circumstances in ways that make the most out of limited time and resources.
Below, we've collected a range of examples of new initiatives from across our network. The breadth of experiences is impressive: in some cases, new initiatives are presenting simplified versions of complex resource data to present for a specific context. In other cases, simplified sets of resource data are being shared with more complex systems, which augment them with local knowledge from end users. And in all cases, we can see a balance between the need to respond to this particular extraordinary moment, with a long-term vision of transformed systems.
Toronto's ReConnect synthesizes mutual aid with social services
The Infectious Disease Working Group (IDWG) is an initiative led by an interdisciplinary team of students from the Dalla Lana School of Public Health at the University of Toronto.
"A lot of us were working in frontline community settings when the pandemic hit Toronto," says Joseph Burley, a member of the IDWG's Community Engagement Team who helped initiate the project. "As our organizations struggled and adapted to continue providing services, we were struck by the mutual aid efforts springing up to fill the gaps in our city's COVID-19 response. As a team we recognized almost immediately that these resources, alongside more formal programs and services, needed to be aggregated and made more accessible to those most in need."
IDWG developed ReConnect to streamline the navigation of these resources for GTA residents in conjunction with public health operations in the region.
Motivated by concerns voiced by local communities in the Greater Toronto Area, the ReConnect facilitates users in finding local resources in their respective neighbourhoods, including both public programs alongside community-led initiatives that are responding to the unique needs of those who are most impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Resources are organized by types of services that the IDWG have found to be particularly important in this crisis (e.g income support, mental health, employment, childcare, etc) and priority population groups.
Through Open Referral, IDWG connected with 2-1-1 Ontario, which has developed the first standardized "Open211" open data platform. 2-1-1 Ontario, in partnership with Findhelp | 211 Central, now provides updated data about public programs and social services, which IDWG curates and presents through its ReConnect tool.
Through this partnership, both institutions are able to play through their strengths: Ontario 2-1-1 maintains reliable data about health, human and social services, and shares it with IDWG, which curates it alongside information about emergent mutual aid efforts, as part of the IDWG's broader public health strategy.
At the same time, the IDWG is also using this data to visualize patterns of resource allocation and disparities across the city — and to advocate for change. Through their work, they've found that areas outside the downtown core had fewer resources and services but higher rates of COVID-19 cases.
"If you look at these areas in Toronto where there are fewer resources but greater COVID-19 case rates, they are also the neighbourhoods with a higher proportion of Black and racialized communities, a higher proportion of low-income earners and unsuitable housing, higher rates of chronic illness and poor mental health," said Harsh Naik, Co-Founder and Director of Events of the IDWG, in a recent interview about the project. "This is clearly systemic racism permeating through our city that the government needs to address."
Stanford Data Lab's Bay Area Community Resource leveraging volunteer networks using Open Referral's Airtable
Students affiliated with the Stanford Data Lab and Stanford Journalism developed the Bay Area Community resource locator as a volunteer project. In the beginning of the COVID-19 closures, the team started off by maintaining a Google Map of school meal pick-up locations — which gained over 400,000 views within two weeks after launch. The project quickly began to expand, and now houses over 6000 rows of resources throughout the Bay Area and beyond, comprising food stamp-accepting retailers, free meal resources and free mental health, medical and legal resources.
"This whole crisis has really shown a deeper level of connection to each other, but also a different level of generosity and kindness."
When #COVID19 hit, students across Stanford banded together to help vulnerable populations access free food, medical help and legal assistance. pic.twitter.com/A4l2rRjbVW
The team has over 70 volunteers from the Bay Area, including undergraduate and graduate students at Stanford and UC Berkeley, high school students as well as members of the public. Several volunteer 'resource coordinators' are each responsible for maintaining a category of resources, whether it's cash assistance, health resources, or food resources — and work with a team of data entry volunteers to verify records in that category.
The team has found this model is a challenge to sustain, especially as volunteers are grappling with internships, full time jobs and the eventual start of school in the fall, and energy around response to the crisis begins to wane. To that end, the project has taken steps to keep volunteer efforts sustainable, including efforts to improve workflow, while developing partnerships with other organizations – and adopting standards for sharing resourcedata.
"The most meaningful partnerships we have had are with organizations in the food insecurity space, particularly No Kid Hungry," says project lead Joyce Tagal. "Along with a sister organization, unBox, we were able to use our updated, volunteer-verified data to support NKH's Bay Area meals database. Because of our amazing volunteers, we are able to maintain a level of data quality and verification which other organizations are unable to do."
When the Bay Area Community resource team connected with Open Referral, their volunteers were entering and verifying data into 6 different Google sheets, which were then automatically synced to a CARTO database, and then displayed on a Mapbox basemap. (The code for the website is available on BAC's Github repo.) The team is now migrating to the Open Referral Airtable as a ready-made, customizable content management system — an improvement over the Google sheets within which they were managing resource data.
The team is also exploring partnerships with local resource data maintainers, in hopes that they might align their crowdsourcing capabilities, and data engineering talent, together with local information-and-referral specialists.
Streetlives NYC introduces the open source GoGetta
Streetlives is an initiative based in New York City, which we have featured here on Open Referral's blog before.
Streetlives specializes in facilitating the sharing of information among people who use services themselves — especially people experiencing homelessness. Their product to date had only ever been used privately among a core group of users and providers. In response to the pandemic — and in partnership with the US Digital Response — they rapidly developed and released a public-facing platform called GoGetta.
"Our data gathering platform was designed to be used on-site, in person, which suddenly became practically impossible during lockdown," says Streetlives founder Adam Bard. "Also, information is changing a lot and our users know that, so data on service provider operations are less trusted. So we've retooled our data gathering system so that our Street Team can verify information in various ways, from direct calls, mailing lists, public datasets, and other digital channels — to partnerships with third-party organizations" like the Hunter College NYC Food Policy Center, which is providing data on food resources that Streetlives' team transforms into Open Referral's HSDS in order to then load into GoGetta.
In response to the needs expressed by Streetlives' user community, GoGetta has a special design focus on presenting users with information about services that are open right now, or virtually accessible at all times.
"Right now, people are not necessarily exploring new services. If you can't walk there, you're not going to go. The most fundamental question during the pandemic is can I find help in my neighborhood, or not?" says Adam.
He adds that they've also heard from their users that it's more important than ever to know when a record was last updated: "So we've been focusing on data freshness — like adding a timestamp to indicate how recently the record was verified."
Early metrics for GoGetta have delivered very positive signs. For example, 60% of all site visitors follow through to access details about at least one service — and of that group, 27% of users select an option to contact providers — through a call, directions to their location, or by redirection to their website.
Jha'asryel-Akquil Bishop, Streetlives' Director of Communities, describes their approach to engaging users in every step of the design process as a matter of equity — and smart strategy: "Feedback is a constant thing with our community so we're able to build in a way that centers them while also communicating about our capacity and set expectations."
Anyone can see or even redeploy the code used by Streetlives and GoGetta – it's open source software, available here.
More importantly, their process of community-led design is one that may benefit more initiatives to meet the vast need in this time of crisis. Reach out to learn more.
Let's find new opportunities to collaborate in crisis.
Are you working on an initiative in response to this challenging moment of cascading crises? We'd be glad to feature your work — and, if possible, provide support of various kinds. Reach out to talk about it!
Blog healthcare, humanitarian, implementations. permalink.
Presenting ORServices 3.0: a Complete Laravel-based Open Referral Directory Solution
Upgrading our specifications: A proposal for HSDS 2.0


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Links for Research and Interest
If you're trying to find out more about local events, people or buildings there are many online resources worth exploring. Have a look at some of the sites listed.
Scarborough History
A key resource for Family History researchers, GenUKi, has a really useful information page about Scarborough and you can follow links to other local areas (and anywhere else in the UK!)
The Yorkshire History Pages have lots of information about Scarborough and surrounding area.
North Yorkshire Libraries & Archives provides access to many local records. If you can visit, the Scarborough main library has plenty of information in its Local Studies Room; ask a librarian for assistance.
Scarborough Maritime Heritage Centre aims to preserve Scarborough's maritime heritage qnd has some fascinating material.
If you appreciate Scarborough's buildings heritage, have a look at Scarborough Civic Society.
The history of St. Mary's Church is inextricable from Scarborough's past.
Scarborough's main municipal cemetery was in Dean Road and Manor Road; there is a Friends group and many graves are listed on the Find a Grave site
The most ancient settlement in the area is Star Carr . This site describes the area they lived in, the Carrs Wetland and the project to preserve it.
The Society has close links with the Friends of Ayton Castle, their website can be found here.
Scarborough's museums have been redeveloped and have frequent exhibitions and events; look at the Scarborough museums Trust site for news and details at the Rotunda, Art Gallery and Woodend.
For those interested in postcards, George Webber has a web site on ETW Dennis of Scarborough , the earliest commercial picture card producer and Adrian Spawforth has an excellent site devoted to postcards of Scarborough
Yorkshire People and History
The East Yorkshire Family History Society has members and resources for Scarborough and surrounding area and holds regular meetings at venues across eastern Yorkshire. In addition the Society runs regular Help Desks and other events at libraries in the area and publishes an extensive range of material of interest to family and local historians.
Here are some possible sources of useful local information:
Whitby Archives Heritage Centre (not online but can be visited)
Yorkshire and Humberside newspapers;
The Borthwick Institute for Archives originally specialised in ecclesiastical archives, but the holdings now include collections of regional, national or international importance from Yorkshire.The York Archaeological Trust runs all the excavations in York and has a wealth of information about the North's greatest historical city.
Yorkshire Ancestors produce CDs of Parish Registers and other records; their products are now available at Genfair or Parish Chest
The York Archaeological Trust runs all the excavations in York and has a wealth of information about the North's greatest historical city
The Yorkshire Archaeological Society covers the whole county.
The Roman Antiquities Section of the Yorkshire Archaeological Society have launched a new website
More archaeological finds information can be found in the Portable Antiquities Scheme records.
The Yorkshire Vernacular Buildings Study Group website has much information about Yorkshire architecture and an excellent page of links.
The County Record Office online shop where you can browse and buy from a fascinating selection of historic photographs and maps.
This includes the Unnetie Project, the collection of Bertram Unne's photographs of Yorkshire in the early to mid-twentieth century
An interesting site about all of Yorkshire is My Yorkshire - celebrating all that's best in God's Own County
Follow these links to look at some of the best museums in the area:
Down the coast are Filey and Hornsea; inland is Malton, the excellent Beck Isle Museum in Pickering; and the Ryedale Folk Museum in Hutton le Hole.
Further north, Whitby has two: the Whitby Museum and Captain Cook Museum.
The Southburn Archaeological Museum, located just outside Driffield, is a small museum that contains a comprehensive collection of artefacts found in Southburn and the surrounding area. The collection ranges from Neolithic hand axes and flint tools, through the Bronze and Iron Ages, to Roman and Medieval finds.
Archives and other sources
There are plenty of online information sources for the whole country. Try:
British History Online
Access To Archives Discovery (useful for Scarborough wills - use the advanced search facility to find them)
Historic England has many useful pages: for example: Guidance on caring for the heritage; for Listed Buildings, Scheduled monuments, Historic Parks & gardens the National Heritage list for England
For old maps National Library of Scotland is by far the best old maps resource with very good quality scans of historic OS maps.Use their search page
A great resource for research is Historic England's PastScape. This allows you search 420,000 records held in the National Record of the Historic Environment (NRHE) which provides information on archaeological, architectural and maritime sites. A great way to search is to click on a location on a map and ask for all records with a certain distance of the clicked location.
Other sites to try are:
Heritage Gateway
Historical directories
Internet Library of Early Journals
Ordnance Survey (Historical and modern maps)
Trade Directories in Northern Libraries
Some useful book publishers are:
Victoria County History, "the authentic history of English places and their people, written county by county from original documents". and
Phillimore, "the leading specialist publisher of British local and family history"
Current Archaeology publishes several archaeology magazines.
There are plenty of general and focussed sites; these are some helpful articles that have been recommended by colleagues
Top 100 Genealogy Sites is a survey of the sites people really use.
There are several "beginners' sites" that provide guides and useful tips; many are US-based, but are still relevant to UK research. For example:
A Beginner's Guide to Starting a Family Tree Online
History at home genealogy guide
Ultimate Beginners Guide to Genealogy
How to Travel to Find Your Roots; exploring Europe to seek your relatives Genealogy and the Law explains some of the legalities of family research
Billiongraves brings together records of graves from many cemeteries in UK and worldwide
Resources for Military Families helps you locate the right military records at findmypast.com
Military Indexes links to war records from many times and countries


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Perhaps the most shocking instance of man`s inhumanity to man, the Holocaust is one of the central events of our times. - How was the Holocaust unique? - Did the Nazis have a murderous master plan from the very start? - What were the attitudes of the general public in Germany and Occupied Europe? - Could neutral powers, Allied governments or the Catholic Church have done more to save Jewish lives? - And could the Jews themselves have done more to resist the Nazi`s final solution? Historians have provided many crucial, although often controversial, new insights into these intensely painful and complex questions. In this invaluable book, Michael R. Marrus presents a judicious and lucid survey of their views, together with his own conclusions.


The klout of a global fashion week and the expertise that logistics supplier DHL provides is the makeup of the DHL Exported Program. Created for established designers looking to enter new international markets, the initiative is a win for brands ready to scale their business.
DHL Exported will provide one winner in each market with a venue and underwrite production costs for two consecutive seasons at one of the following events: Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week in New York, London Fashion Week, Milan Fashion Week or Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Tokyo. This includes shipping raw materials and samples along with delivery of the final collection in each respective market.
The finalists had to submit applications along with a retail development strategy that focused on marketing, public relations, shipping and logistics to be considered.
The program will also include a robust digital program and e-commerce platform for the winning collections.
A graduate of Central Saint Martin College of Art & Design, Yasutoshi worked as an assistant under Alexander McQueen and launched his first collection in 2010.
A graduate of Central Saint Martins in Fashion Design, Liberatore started her business in London and Rome after working at Jean Paul Gautier and other fashion houses. She also won the Next Generation competition at Milan Fashion Week in 2009.
Katty Xiomara has been showing at Portuguese Fashion Week since 1998. She also lectures at Modatex in Porto on urban, tribal and street subculture.
Stocked in 120 stores worldwide, Leyla Piedayesh debuted her label in 2004 and has been worn by celebrities such as Cameron Diaz and Jessica Alba.
Balancing his own business and working as Creative Director for Turkish textile companies, Hakaan Yildirim, began in 2001 designing couture dresses for his customers.
Based in Toronto, Negium studied Fashion at the Fashion Institute of Technology before working under Yigal Azrouel. He is a member of the Toronto Fashion Incubator where he produces in-house.
Sid Bryan, Joe Bates and Cozette McCreery are the designers behind British label Sibling International. Prior to starting their label, each designer worked for other brands, learning the trade before doing it on their own.
Known for his slogan tees, Henry Holland began his line in 2006 and is now in their 13th season.
London-based designer Todd Lynn has had his label since 2006. Known for his rock 'n' roll aesthetic, he has dressed musicians like Thirty Seconds to Mars and Courtney Love. He has also been nominated for the British Fashion Award.
With a 2013 debut, Pyer Moss has received international press and support. His debut collection was picked up by Browns of London.
New York-based label Nicholas K was started by brother and sister Nicholas and Christopher Kunz. Their first collection in fall of 2013 sold through at 35 top boutiques in the United States and Japan.
Learn more about the program at DHL Exported.


n. 1. A standard of judging; any approved or established rule or test, by which facts, principles opinions, and conduct are tried in forming a correct judgment respecting them.
Of the diseases of the mind there is no criterion.
Inferences founded on such enduring criteria.
- Sir G. C. Lewis.
Noun 1. criterion - a basis for comparison; a reference point against which other things can be evaluated; "they set the measure for all subsequent work"
2. criterion - the ideal in terms of which something can be judged; "they live by the standards of their community"


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Peacock's Office Zen
ViacomCBS on Hulu
Discovery Plus Originals
B+C's Jan. 18 Digital Edition
Peacock Plans Zen Channel When it Streams 'The Office'
By Jon Lafayette 14 December 2020
Some episodes to feature never-before-seen footage
How 'The Office' will look on Peacock (Image credit: Peackock)
With The Office starting to fade away on Netflix, NBCUniversal's Peacock is ramping up its promotion that it will be the exclusive streaming home of the series, starting Jan. 1.
The Office, which ran NBC from 2005 to 2013, has been one of the most popular shows on Netflix. NBCUniversal decided not to renew rights to the show with Netflix and use it for its fledgling direct-to-consumer offering, in a deal believed to be worth $100 million year.
Also Read: NBCU to Move 'The Office' Off Netflix and to Its Own OTT Platform in 2021
Peacock said the first two seasons of The Office will be available on Peacock's free tier. Seasons 3 through 7--as well as expanded "superfan episodes--will be available on Peacock Premium, which costs $4.99 a month and the ad-free version, which is $9.99 a month.
Those "superfan episodes" will include never-before-seen footage and deleted scenes, starting with Season 3.
Also Read: Peacock Grows Signups to 26 Million, Says Shell
Other behind-the-scenes footage, such as bloopers, featurettes and interviews will be available.
There will be a 24/7 Office Zen channel of ambient noise devoted to the sights and sounds of the office for people working at home.
Collections of themed episodes are being put together, such as those with Office parties or guest visitors.
There will also be clip playlists to provide memorable pranks, romances and words of wisdom from the show.
In February, Spanish-language audio and Spanish closed captions will be available for original episodes and super-fan episodes.
There will also be Office channels in Giphy and TikTok where fans can share their favorite Office bits.
Superfan episodes of The Office will be available via Peacock (Image credit: Peacock)
"Having The Office back in the NBC family opens up access to a lot of extra content that we originally shot," said Greg Daniels, the creator of the U.S. version of The Office. "The team at Peacock wanted to create the ultimate destination for fans, so I went back into the dailies with the original editors of the show and found some never-before-seen footage that was cut for time but is still fun to see. You can choose to watch the classic version of the show, or the superfan extended cuts with this new footage and other deleted scenes that we are gradually rolling out, starting with season 3. The experience on Peacock should feel like a celebration of The Office for fans."
Much of this information was conveyed to reporters in an ersatz memo from Dunder Mifflin CEO David Wallace to all employees of the fictional paper company.
"This memorandum is to inform everyone that we expect a significant spike in sales starting on January 1, 2021 when Peacock starts streaming the documentary footage that was shot at Dunder Mifflin Scranton between 2005 and 2013. This includes all previously released episodes and brand new, never-before-seen content. We anticipate that this will cause renewed interest in our product lines, especially as a result of the footage that will be released for the very first time. Customers will definitely be calling and they will most certainly have questions," Wallace said.
"While we expect the call volume to match the unfortunate cartoon mouse/duck watermark fiasco from 2007, we very much look forward to what may be our most significant sales period in recent history," he said.
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At CL Events we understand the unique and special world that is the fundraising event arena. CL Events founder Catina Lesavoy has extensive experience executing events with a fundraising component. She has produced events at well-known, highly respected and nationally renowned healthcare institutes on both the East and West coasts. Of those institutions is the Harvard Medical Teaching Hospital in Boston, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. She's been responsible for portfolios upwards of $1.5 million annually and truly understands the needs of a 501(c)(3) when planning their signature events. CL Events will aid you in making a lasting impression and furthering your philanthropic mission.
Whether it's a 500-person seated dinner gala, honoree or award show, outdoor festival, golf tournament, Trustees or Board retreat, a cocktail reception, pre-show party, a backyard function, or otherwise we have executed flawless experiences for guests while creating a meaningful connection and impact to achieve fundraising KPI's.


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E.U. Regulators Bar Meta From Requiring Users to Pay With Their Data
E.U. regulators have invalidated Meta's contract requirement that Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp users allow the company to use their personal data without consent, fining the company $428 million. The regulators' decisions, published January 11 and 19, reject the common business model of providing a free internet service in exchange for users' activity data. The Meta case also exposes intensifying disputes among the E.U. regulators, with Ireland's Data Protection Commission announcing that it will sue the bloc's top data protection board to annul one binding order for further proceedings. This article examines the decisions' impact on data collection under GDPR, the dueling regulator positions, and the key compliance implications for companies, and includes insights from GDPR specialists at DLA Piper, Ropes & Gray and Wallace. See "Two European Regulators Warn Behavioral Advertising Skates on Thin Ice" (Jan. 19, 2022). Read full article …
France's Cookie Enforcement Against TikTok and Microsoft Highlights Common Compliance Missteps
In a span of less than two weeks, the Commission Nationale de l'Informatique et des Libertés (CNIL), France's lead privacy regulator, fined two companies – TikTok and Microsoft – for insufficient cookie consent practices. The CNIL's cookie enforcement activity, which has been on the uptick, represents just one part of a broader enforcement initiative by European regulators who, in recent years, have been targeting cookie practices that are not in alignment with the GDPR's stringent data privacy requirements. This article explores the CNIL's recent enforcement actions, the broader heightened cookie enforcement activity across Europe, and offers lessons for multinational companies to avoid costly financial and reputational mistakes with their own cookie practices. See "Compliance Takeaways From the Latest GDPR Enforcement Statistics" (Feb. 2, 2022). Read full article …
Global Enforcement
Transparency of Beneficial Ownership Clashes With U.K. Privacy Laws
The Register of Overseas Entities (ROE) that came into force in the U.K. on August 1, 2022, via the Economic Crime (Transparency and Enforcement) Act 2022 aims to help crack down on foreign criminals using U.K. property to launder money by requiring registration with the U.K. Companies House. However, on November 22, 2022, the Court of Justice of the European Union issued a ruling that prioritizes privacy over transparency and could eventually lead to changes in the approach to registries across Europe. The Cybersecurity Law Report spoke with Crispin Rapinet and Khushaal Ved, attorneys at Hogan Lovells, about the new requirements, the somewhat conflicting CJEU ruling, and what they mean for multinational corporations. See our two-part series on lessons from the WhatsApp decision on GDPR transparency requirements: Enforcement Takeaways (Oct. 20, 2021); and Compliance Foundations (Oct. 27, 2021). Read full article …
Constangy Expands With New Cyber Team
Constangy has added a new data privacy and cybersecurity team consisting of 32 attorneys in 17 cities and 12 states, all of whom joined from Lewis Brisbois. The team will be led by Sean Hoar. Read full article …
Cyber Expert Rejoins Cole-Frieman & Mallon to Serve Investment Management Industry
Cole-Frieman & Mallon announced that it will launch a cybersecurity law practice, bringing back former partner John Araneo as its lead. Araneo focuses his practice on cybersecurity regulation as it relates specifically to investment advisors. Read full article …