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All posts in category Satire
What Are Years?
I celebrate three New Years annually: the Jewish New Year, the academic new year, and the Gregorian New Year, which begins tomorrow. They are all different kinds of beginnings. This last one has both the least and the greatest effect on my sense of time: the least because it doesn't really affect my life rhythm, except that it occurs during our winter break and heralds certain deadlines and beginnings, and the greatest because the it is recognized, marked, and fêted worldwide. I suppose birthdays are a kind of new year too, in which case I celebrate many more than three.
But in all cases, the "year" has to do with the motion of the earth around the sun (or vice versa, as it was perceived in ancient times). Seasons and growth cycles have been part of our conception of time since the earliest antiquity known to us.
New Year's resolutions may be silly at times, but our sense of starting afresh is not. It's physical, possible, and good. A person doesn't even have to wait a year to do this. I often do it from one day to the next, or even during the course of a day. For instance, if I didn't get nearly as much done as I had hoped, I start over, right then and there, and either get something done or not. Or I do enough of something that I know it will be easy to continue or finish the next day. Being able to "start over" can do, if not wonders, at least more than nothing. Or it can make the "nothing" worthwhile. At times it can simply mean getting a good night's sleep.
But yes, this year stands out from other years, and the desire for a new start is a bit more urgent than usual, all around the world. Those spared by Covid itself have been hit by Covid fatigue and anxiety. The arts have taken a terrible hit. Travel, events, gatherings are up in the air.
But it's still possible to read, write, listen to music, watch movies, laugh. So I leave off with just a few recommendations:
The Autumn 2020 issue of my students' online journal, Folyosó:
Marcell Bajnai's song "dühöngő" (released in July):
A live video of Dávid Szesztay and his band playing his song "Elindul" (maybe my favorite of his songs):
A brutally funny satirical piece by Dan Geddes, published 19 years ago in The Satirist: "In Memoriam: Dr. Claire Hoyt: 'Shrink to the Stars'";
Lara Allen's art work Fried Liver Attack, whose description begins, "'Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth.' These words, spoken by heavyweight champion Mike Tyson, are the tabula rasa for this work. This punch might be a beginning or an end. It's supposed that we make art that is about something, or that reflects something, or interrogates something."
Ishion Hutchinson's magnificent poem "Little Music," published in the January 2021 issue of Harper's;
Martha Hollander's quietly stunning poem "Friday Harbor," published in Issue 12:3 of Literary Matters;
And, of course, Marianne Moore's poem "What Are Years?" from which this post's title comes. It is one of my favorite poems, and it brings back memories of John Hollander's classes. Since it now appears in various places online, I will copy it below (from the Madison Public Library website). I read it aloud this evening, against a backdrop of rain; here is the recording.
A Happy New Year to all!
What is our innocence,
what is our guilt? All are
naked, none is safe. And whence
is courage: the unanswered question,
the resolute doubt—
dumbly calling, deafly listening—that
in misfortune, even death,
encourages others
and in its defeat, stirs
the soul to be strong? He
sees deep and is glad, who
accedes to mortality
and in his imprisonment, rises
upon himself as
the sea in a chasm, struggling to be
free and unable to be,
in its surrendering
finds its continuing.
So he who strongly feels,
behaves. The very bird,
grown taller as he sings, steels
his form straight up. Though he is captive,
his mighty singing
says, satisfaction is a lowly
thing, how pure a thing is joy.
This is mortality,
this is eternity.
by Diana Senechal on December 31, 2020 • Permalink
Posted in Culture, Education, Language, Literature, Music, Poetry, Satire, Uncategorized
Tagged Dan Geddes, Folyosó, Ishion Hutchinson, Lara Allen, Marcell Bajnai, marianne moore, Martha Hollander, New Year's Eve
Posted by Diana Senechal on December 31, 2020
https://dianasenechal.wordpress.com/2020/12/31/what-are-years/
Zsolt Bajnai's "Corruption Therapy" Published in The Satirist!
Today was a great day for several reasons. One of them was this: Zsolt Bajnai's story "Corruption Therapy" ("Korrupcióterápia"), which I translated into English, was published this afternoon in The Satirist. It's funny and grim; go read it and share it with everyone!
by Diana Senechal on February 3, 2020 • Permalink
Posted in Language, Literature, Satire, Uncategorized
Tagged The Satirist, Zsolt Bajnai
Posted by Diana Senechal on February 3, 2020
https://dianasenechal.wordpress.com/2020/02/03/zsolt-bajnais-corruption-therapy-published-in-the-satirist/
Happiness Surveys Actually Increase Happiness
Happiness surveys are all the rage these days–but did you know that they can make you happier? Such is the finding of a research group at the Wisconsin Institute for Scientific and Demographic Organizational Measurement. The study, currently under peer review, stands out as the most robust and extensive investigation of the question to date.
Felix Laimingas, the lead researcher and a professor of brain eudaimonia, explained the methodology over sea salt toffee bars and tea. "We gave happiness surveys to a random sampling of 500 pedestrians in Milwaukee, Madison, and Green Bay," he said. "For the control group, we approached random pedestrians and asked them, 'How are you doing?'"
Those who completed the one-question survey (145 out of the original 500) gave their happiness level a mean rating of 7.2 out of 10 (95% CI: 6.8–7.6), whereas the control group reported a mean happiness level of just slightly over "okay," which translates to 5.2 (95% CI: 4.9–5.5). The difference between the happiness levels of the survey takers and the control group is statistically significant at 20%.
What are the implications? "Well, we've got two things to think about," said Laimingas. "First, since happiness surveys are actually making people happier, they might be affecting some of the research out there on happiness. That's not a big concern, though, because really all they're doing is lifting the level across the board, leaving comparisons intact." He paused as we each took another sea salt toffee bar, leaving none behind. "The other implication is even more uplifting. If we do lots more of this happiness survey type thing, we'll make the world a better place. This is TED talk material."
I expressed some doubt, since my own action research has found that healthy skepticism increases my sense of agency, which (up to a point) makes me happier. Laimingas smiled, being a happy person himself (with a nice personality type to boot). "I'm glad you questioned our findings," he said. "That gives me a chance to prove them to you." He offered me a survey and a pencil.
The survey consisted of two questions:
How happy are you now, on a scale of 0 to 10?
The first time, I answered "6"; I was fairly content with my life but didn't want to be naive about the matter. The second time, I gave the same answer.
"Your happiness actually went up," said Laimingas. "You see, we have to consider the law of repetitive decay. Research has shown that when survey respondents answer the same question twice in a row, they're likely to be disillusioned or bored the second time. You stayed right at the same level, which means you counteracted the tendency to go down. This means that you were happier as a result of answering these questions."
I was happy to hear this, since I initially worried (productively) that my duplicate numbers might come across as rude or flippant. "So you are happy with my answers?" I asked.
"Oh, very happy. Happier than ever. And validated."
If there is bias in happiness, I thought, it's good bias. Maybe we should have more happiness studies. Our takeaway: The next time you verge on asking someone "How are you?" consider handing out a quick survey instead. It's good for science and the world.
by Diana Senechal on November 13, 2016 • Permalink
Posted in "Research has shown", Culture, Satire, Uncategorized
Tagged agency, eudaimonia, happiness, happiness ratings, law of repetitive decay, Satire, Wisconsin Institute for Scientific and Demographic Organizational Measurement
Posted by Diana Senechal on November 13, 2016
https://dianasenechal.wordpress.com/2016/11/13/happiness-surveys-actually-increase-happiness/
Standards Count as Complex Informational Text, Says Leader
Green Lake, NY–In response to schools' complaints that they have not yet received a viable, affordable Common Core curriculum with actual texts, district superintendent Mike Vnutri announced that the students should be reading the very standards. "It's informational text, and it's complex enough," he said. "Plus I have it from higher up that everyone's supposed to be reading the standards several times in every class, so you're killing two birds with one stone. Sorry about that metaphor; I happen to like birds."
In a recent model Common Core lesson for a tenth-grade literature class, students spent a lesson reading ELA standard RL.9-10.4: "Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in the text, including figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the cumulative impact of specific word choices on meaning and tone (e.g., how the language evokes a sense of time and place; how it sets a formal or informal tone)."
Although this is not in itself a literary text, every literary text should be paired with informational text anyway. According to sources, it is even acceptable to leave the literary text out. This standard satisfies complexity requirements; when fed into text analyzers, it shows an eleventh-grade level and could thus be considered a "stretch" text: too hard for struggling readers, but within reasonable range for many others.
In order to ensure that all students leave the classroom with an understanding of the text, teacher Ernesta Pourtous announced, at the start of the class, that the goal of the lesson was to understand all of the words in the standard, which she then read aloud. She then asked each student in turn to repeat the goal of the lesson. She noted where they stumbled over words.
"Now," she said, "when you encounter an informational text that has difficult words, there are several strategies you can use. One is to look the words up in a dictionary. That's not the strategy we're going to practice today, because we don't have dictionaries in the classroom. Instead, I am going to teach you a four-step exercise: Identify, Predict, Align, and Define. You can remember it as IPAD." There were giggles in the class.
For the next activity, she had students copy the standard from the board and carefully circle the words they didn't know The circles had to be complete (or they would have to start over), and any student who did not circle "figurative," "connotative," or "cumulative" would lose a point. She circulated the room, taking photographs so that she could document that every student was hard at work. At the end of the ten minutes, she told students to hold their sheets of paper in the air. Circled words abounded.
Next, she took a minute to touch base about how it felt to succeed at an activity. Tessie Moran, a tall girl with dark bangs in the corner of the room, spoke quietly about how she now knew that she could do it. (There were hidden microphones in various locations.)
After this, Ms. Pourtous instructed them to turn to their partners and predict the meanings ot the words. "At this point, you are allowed to say what you think they mean; there are no wrong answers," she told them. "But I do want to see everyone talking." Soon the room was filled with noise. Five minutes later, she called for silence again. A student raised his hand.
"Yes, Jose?"
"Why aren't we reading a sonnet or something?"
"It's no use reading a sonnet if you don't have a Common Core-aligned goal. The purpose of this lesson is to help you get your goals in place. That will make you college and career ready. If you want to read sonnets, you've got to do the hard work. Which leads us to the hardest part of the lesson: alignment." She explained that now their task was to align their definitions with those of their classmates. First, they would compare notes in small groups. Then they would rotate to other groups–three times. Once they had completed all of these alignments, everyone would have an identical list of definitions. Through group influence, she said, these definitions would become more accurate over the course of the activity.
She then circulated as students conferred excitedly on the meaning of "connotative." "I think it's like a suggestion," one student said; the others nodded and copied him. "Now, how do you turn that into an adjective?" Pourtous asked the group. Once they arrived at "suggestive," she moved on.
At the end of the class, she had them all post their identical definitions on the walls. They had defined "figurative" as "imaginary," "connotative" as "suggestive," and "cumulative" as "piled up." The room was now decorated with words and their approximate meanings.
"You see," said Superintendent Vnutri, after displaying the video at a principals' meeting, "every single student was involved in this lesson, and every single student walked out with a better understanding of the standard. Do you see how it was all in their hands? This is vastly more productive and student-oriented than having a teacher stand at the front of the room and yap about Shakespeare, or engage in dialogue with just three or four students."
"I'd like to hear about the Shakespeare, myself," a principal ventured.
"Sure you would," Vnutri retorted. "You've just got to remember that this isn't about you."
Note: I made some edits to this piece after posting it.
by Diana Senechal on June 11, 2014 • Permalink
Posted in Books, Education, Literature, Satire
Tagged common core state standards, english language arts, group work, informational text, literacy, literature instruction, model lesson, Satire, tedium, vocabulary
Posted by Diana Senechal on June 11, 2014
https://dianasenechal.wordpress.com/2014/06/11/standards-count-as-complex-informational-text-says-leader/
District Mandates Innovation in All Schools
New Fork, NY—Responding to the lack of innovation in some schools, and the multiple definitions of innovation in others, the New Fork Department of Education has ordered all schools to follow a streamlined, data-driven innovation rubric that spells out precisely what an innovative school and classroom should look like.
"It's time for every school in this district to become innovative," said schools chief Frank Lubie. "There is no excuse for doing the 'same old, same old,' or dibbly-dabbling in your own special thing. Innovation is research-driven, we know what it is, and it's time for everyone to get on board with it." Any school in the district that has not become innovative by 2015–2016 will lose fifty percent of its funding.
What does an innovative school look like? First, its bulletin boards must look innovative. "Every bulletin board must have a task, a Common Core State Standard, and a rubric, along with graded student work with a recent date," said Lubie. "Not one of those items can be missing." Just how is this innovative? "Research has shown that innovative schools have bulletin boards that conform to this standard," he replied. "That's why we call them innovative schools."
Next, all classrooms must have a four-square chart on the wall. "It can serve various purposes," said Literacy and Innovation Coach (LIC) Sally Onwys, "but it must be clearly visible, and it must be used." One purpose was to show students how to write a paragraph. "In the middle, you've got your topic sentence," she said, "but it's in a diamond, so it's still a four-square chart. Then you have an opening supportive sentence, two more supportive sentences with evidence—that's the most innovative part, since no one used evidence in the past—and a summary sentence. Do that for four more paragraphs, and you've got an innovative essay in an innovative classroom, all thanks to the innovative chart."
What if a student finds that a summary sentence is not needed, or that two supportive sentences do the trick? "That student will still have to follow instructions," Onwys replied. "What's good for one is good for all. To summarize: Even a student who sees no need for a summary sentence should write one, for the sake of our collective innovation rating."
Speaking of collective innovation, all desks in an innovative classroom must be arranged in pods, until the neo-furniture arrives. "There should be no detectable front of the room," said Onwys. "Students should have nowhere in particular to look except at each other. This will stimulate collaboration and group thinking." In addition, all students would wear RFID tags so that they could be tracked at any time, for greater success. Additional monitoring might include discussion tracking (by computer programs that detect keywords), engagement measurement by means of skin conductance bracelets, and other items.
As for content, every innovative classroom must focus on informational texts. "We've got to catch up with the information age," said Lubie. "Literature's all very nice, and we'll still teach it. But those kids have to be reading informational text every day." To eliminate the cost of photocopying, and to provide texts at each student's instructional level, schools would give each student an iPad with an interactive reading comprehension program. There would be no need to waste precious instructional time with class discussion; instead, teachers could circulate around the room and make sure students were on task. A typical check-in might sound like this:
Teacher: So, what strategy is Flubby teaching you today? [Flubby is an empathic animated tutor.]
Student: Today Flubby is teaching me the strategy of finding the main idea.
Teacher: Are you applying that strategy to an informational text?
Student: Yes.
Teacher: Let's see.
Student (pointing to a highlighted sentence on the screen): Here's the main idea.
Teacher: Great!
The teacher then makes a mark on a checklist and proceeds to the next student.
For Lubie, a strength of the innovative classroom is its lack of ambiguity. "We don't have to worry about being misrated and misjudged," he said, "because it's obvious who's innovative and who isn't." Nor is it necessarily time-consuming; the district has purchased five thousand Innovative Learning Packages that meet all of the specifications. A school need only set it up and use it. "If the district becomes entirely innovative, as we require," he added proudly, "the time soon will come when it knows no other way."
Posted in Education, Satire
Tagged animated tutors, bulletin boards, four-square charts, group work, innovation, innovative classroom, RFID tags, rubrics, Satire, skin conductance bracelets
https://dianasenechal.wordpress.com/2014/04/27/district-mandates-innovation-in-all-schools/
District Leader Calls for Inhumanities
Rhino Falls, Wisconsin—Citing a global trend toward ruthless school and workplace practices, Superintendent Mark Sequor called on for a steep increase in the inhumanities throughout the K–12 grades. "It's time we not only caught up with Singapore and China, but showed them who's who," he told an assembly of 10,000. "Our kids think they have lots of meaningless tests? They should see the tests the kids in Korea take. Our kids think they have too much homework? Compared to other kids, they're on permanent vacation."
To catch up with the rest of the world, says Sequor, the schools need an inhumanities emphasis even more than a STEM emphasis. "STEM might still give you a few stargazers," he explained; "whereas a course in inhumanities will keep every child on task."
The inhumanities, Sequor continued, are at the heart of the Race to the Top competition, which awards funding to districts that race into flawed reforms without really thinking them through. "The whole point here is to get ahead, not to succumb to lazy thoughts," he explained, "and so, by embracing the inhumanities, we're really going the extra mile—faster than anyone else, I'll add."
Telos Elementary, a model school in Rhino City, allows visitors to witness its inhumanities curriculum in action. The day is filled with rapid and strictly timed activities, where students from kindergarten on up must turn and talk, repeat, rotate, move to the next station, repeat, summarize, and get in line. "We can't let them get dreamy," said Holly Vide, the school's inhumanities coach. "We need to have everyone engaged. Also, in the workplace, they'll be switched from task to task or even fired, so we need to prepare them for that reality."
By second grade, students are already learning to cheer over their data. "You've got to get into their heads that the statistics are what count, so to speak," Vide said. "The biggest thing in their world should be that graph at the front of the room, showing their rise or fall in scores. This mindset will prepare them well for high school, where they have to spend months preparing for the SAT. They learn to live for the score. That's called achievement."
In middle school, students refine their social ostracism skills. "Group work helps everyone spot the non-team-players," said Sequor. "For this reason, it's important to have group work in every class. Once you've spotted the non-team-players, you can exclude them and get on with your project." The excluded students will receive low grades for classroom collaboration. "This is an important red flag for colleges and employers," he said, "and it allows us to boost our credibility. If our team players are doing well, and we're doing due diligence in classifying our non-team-players, then we'll keep our good ratings."
Once students enter high school, they are expected to do everything, he said. "Every high school student, in order to have a fighting chance in life, must have top grades, top test scores, leadership credentials, an array of extracurriculars, athletic prizes, community service hours, and at least ten things that go above and beyond what everyone else is doing. Can you be a person of integrity and character and do all of this?" he asked with a rhetorical flourish. "Of course not. That's part of the point. Integrity and character are relics of medievalism. I think it was the medieval writer Flannery O'Connor who said something about how integrity lies in what one cannot do. We live in a 'can-do' era. A 'can't-do' attitude is simply out of bounds."
According to some critics, it's the "can't-do attitude" that makes room for thiings like reading, pondering, or playing an instrument. "No one who does anything substantial or interesting can do everything," said Brian Emerson, a professor of English and an opponent of the inhumanities movement. "There must be areas of 'no' and failure."
"That's a quaint idea," responded Sequor, "but it amounts to a bunch of fluff. Substantial and interesting things? Those are subjective terms. We have to take a hard look at the era and go where it goes."
The era was not available for comment, but one of its representatives repeated its recent press statement that "following is leading." We would have mulled over the words, but a whistle blew, and everyone scurried on to the next task.
Note: I made a few edits to this piece after posting it.
Posted in Culture, Education, Satire
Tagged curriculum, education, group work, humanities, inhumanities, race to the top, Satire, team players
https://dianasenechal.wordpress.com/2014/03/21/district-leader-calls-for-inhumanities/
District Purchases New Goal Package
Upsidasi, MN–While schools around the country scramble to align themselves with the new Common Core State Standards, a district in Minnesota has taken a different tack. Because growth is what matters, it has purchased a new product called Goal-a-Matic, which gathers data through surveys and sensors, generates personalized goals, and then calculates progress toward them. What's more, it guarantees growth for all.
"It's amazing," said Superintendent Tracy Groter. "I just sit down with a sensor bracelet, fill out a form, and boom! I've got a goal that matches me. Then a few months later, I sit down again, and boom! I see growth. Not any old growth, mind you, but academic growth."
What was her personalized goal? "I will learn the spelling of two of the three following words: accommodations, accountability, and principal."
Isn't that goal a bit too close at hand? "It doesn't matter; it's a goal," she replied. "Goals are goals. Growth is growth. Show the growth, and you're good to go."
The software comes with electronic Goal-Mentors, cellphone-size digital devices that remind users of the goal every hour. "It's great to have that kind of pressure," she explained. "If you know you're being held accountable, you're less likely to slip up."
Teachers' goals range from "I will write three standards on chart paper five times a week" to "I will praise the new teacher evaluation system in two out of the next three faculty meetings." (While not strictly academic, these goals still serve academic purposes, according to Groter.)
For students, the goals are friendly and flexible: for instance, "I will turn and talk to my neighbor in 80 percent of my classes"; "I will draw a Venn diagram of something"; or "I will look at the title of a book and predict what it will be about."
"I find these goals incredibly annoying," said a fifth-grader. "I want to learn algebra, and instead I have to spend all day promising to learn inane strategies that I don't even need and then showing that I've learned them."
"This kid is just going to have to get used to it," said Groter, "because the workplace does this kind of thing too. In fact, we're borrowing a lot from what we hear is out there."
Setting and meeting goals is only part of the process. Once they have attained their goals, students, teachers, and administrators must advertise their attainments. "When you've got 100 people showing growth, there's got to be some other way of standing out," said Groter. "Basically you've got to promote yourself. You do it by buying airtime."
When students meet goals, they earn advertisement points. Once they accumulate five points, they may show a video ad of their attainments at the start of class. The teacher must accommodate these needs. At the end of the week, students vote on the most popular ads. The students with the winning ads take part in speed-networking events; the one that makes the best impression is named Student of the Week. At the end of the year, the student with the most Student of the Week awards receives the Success Prize, the school's highest honor.
"I made my ads over the summer," said Vince Chitry, a high school junior. "Then I started talking them up on Facebook. I know I've got the votes. Question is, what if someone offers to buy my votes? I could really use the cash. I could even use some of it toward special effects for my next video. I'll have to think about that one."
Vera Denken, a history teacher, asked what students would learn from all of this. She was swiftly informed that she would have to make an ad (her second) in which she displayed at least five approved "artifacts" of goal attainment.
"She had better be wearing new shoes this time," commented Groter. "You can't succeed in the real world if you wear the same shoes in two ads."
by Diana Senechal on October 12, 2013 • Permalink
Tagged achievement, education, goal-setting, goals, Satire, standards, success
Posted by Diana Senechal on October 12, 2013
https://dianasenechal.wordpress.com/2013/10/12/district-purchases-new-goal-package/
Proponent of Teacher Obsolescence Theory Becomes Obsolete
Exbox, SD—Nicole Intendo, professor of education at Avante University, received notice on Wednesday that she would no longer be needed in the classroom. Instead of taking her classes, students would spend the the time playing video games.
Intendo works relentlessly to propagate the theory that traditional classroom teaching (narrowly defined) has become obsolete in the wake of educational technologies. According to sources, Avante University has enthusiastically decided to apply her ideas.
"That is insulting, preposterous, and un-research-based," said Intendo. "Research has shown that classroom teachers in kindergarten through high school have become relics of the past. But in college and graduate school, it's an entirely different matter. We need to shape the wants of aspiring professionals. Too many young people enter our education program with fantasies of standing in front of the room and presenting something fascinating about a subject. We have to combat their outdated sense of purpose."
According to Intendo, research has shown that all aspiring teachers are essentially "industrial and hierarchical" in motivation. They want to teach the students something they don't already know. Video games, by contrast, are entirely interactive; you can't get through the game unless you are actively playing. Therefore, says Intendo, it is essential that she disseminate the research as often and as widely as possible—through classroom lectures, TED talks, radio interviews, and pocket-size bullet points—so that the American public at large will be exposed to the facts.
"If I lose my position," she said, fighting back tears, "there will still be kids in Boston or Dallas who have to sit and listen to a teacher talk about how to solve an algebraic equation or how a sonnet is structured or how World War II came about. Why should they have to suffer through that? All that information is on Wikipedia. What they really need is a screen, keyboard, and challenge, all tailored to them. It's so obvious, once you look at the research—but it takes me about two years to get this across to any given student."
Asked how teachers could possibly be evaluated accurately in a class driven by video games, Intendo pointed at a bar chart on the wall. "Teachers are all-important," she said. "Everything they do impacts a student's future outcomes. See that graph? It shows a teacher's direct effect on future earnings, down to the dollar. This is why they have to accept their new roles and step out of the way."
Intendo's students have questioned her conclusions. "I think she's comparing apples to Apples," said one, who requested anonymity. "I enjoy video games, but they don't belong everywhere. I'm taking a great class on Chaucer and Cervantes right now. Is there a video game for this?" He quoted from the text:
This Chauntecleer his winges gan to bete,
As man that coude his tresoun nat espye,
So was he ravissed with his flaterye.
"What are we supposed to do—play a game where we're the rooster trying not to be killed by the fox?" he taunted. "Oh, and maybe sprinkle in some word challenges, like 'ravissed' and 'Chauntecleer'? I'd rather take the course, thanks, and play my favorite games in my own time."
"My favorite high school classes had teachers who actually taught us stuff," said another. "In music theory class, the teacher taught us harmony and counterpoint. She made it really interesting, with examples from different kinds of music. She got us to notice things. Then for homework she had us do exercises and compose pieces. That's the kind of teacher I hoped to be."
"That just proves my point," said Intendo. "As you can see from these comments, new teachers imagine themselves at the front of the room. They have some favorite teacher who set the example for them in that way. But they have to get weaned off their own experiences and start looking at data. They absolutely need me for that."
Intendo, who gave a TEDTalk about the future of education, believes that education professors, when they lecture, should do so in TED style. "I don't lecture all the time," she said, "but when I do, I practice every move in advance, so that I project total confidence. I make my multimedia effects really grabbing. I keep the ideas simple so the students have a takeaway. I bring emotions into the picture. I even share a little about myself. My point is not to fill their heads with useless information but to convey the most essential data in about 20 minutes." The rest of the time, she said, was devoted to "turn-and-talk" activities, where students would come to a "scholarly consensus" about what had been said. At the end of the lesson, they would fill out a two-column chart with the headings "I used to think" and "But now I know."
"My classes are revolutionary, if I may say so myself," she said. "It occurred to me the other day that I am changing the face of teaching and learning. I have to keep this up. If Avante gets its way, we will slide right back into the status quo."
by Diana Senechal on September 15, 2013 • Permalink
Posted in Education, Literature, Satire
Tagged Amplify, Geoffrey Chaucer, personalized learning, Satire, teacher evaluation, teaching, technology, TedTalks, The Canterbury Tales, video games
Posted by Diana Senechal on September 15, 2013
https://dianasenechal.wordpress.com/2013/09/15/proponent-of-teacher-obsolescence-theory-becomes-obsolete/
"Measure Every Teacher Now!" Shouts District
New Gaffe, NY—In its rush to get all teachers measured, the New Gaffe School District has ordered its schools to use any standardized measures at all, even if they bear no relation to the subject being taught.
"The point is to launch the new system and fire the bottom five percent of teachers," said district chancellor Mark Islip. "We can't waste time here. If we wait, the status quo will come sliding back down on us, like… a landslide. We've got to get the reform rolling. We can tinker with it later."
According to the new directives, teachers of untested subjects may choose from an array of approved measures. One option is to take the students' temperatures at the beginning and end of the year. "The September temperature, that's your baseline," said Islip. Then your June temperature may be higher, or lower, or the same. If it's higher, it may mean there's higher engagement in the class, or it may mean there's a flu going around. We'll take it as growth, in any case."
Another option for such teachers is to use the English language arts test as a baseline and the mathematics test as a final exam. "Hey, you never know," said Sandy Sullivan, a Reform Implementation Consultant (RIC). "The progress from ELA to math may be substantial. Music teachers might even get a boost." When asked what "progress" from ELA to math would mean, Sullivan shrugged her shoulders. "We have to stay open-minded," she said. "It could mean something."
Not only teachers of untested subjects, but teachers of subjects such as chemistry and physics (which aren't typically taught over multiple years) must use a baseline outside of the subject. "How can you have a baseline in physics, when the students don't know any physics yet?" asked George Metropoulos, a physics teacher who, by virtue of being a teacher, clearly doesn't know what he's talking about. "This whole thing needs reconsideration." Metropoulos was given three options for a baseline: the previous year's social studies test, the third-grade reading test, or the number of sit-ups each students could complete per minute, timed under officially approved conditions.
"We're dealing with a lot of nitpickiness and frustration," replied Toby Winnow, an instructional coach who reportedly had "worked with" Metropoulos until the latter balked. "Clearly the baseline is going to make more sense for some teachers than for others, but in the end it makes sense for everyone. Think of it this way. The kids come in with knowledge of something. You add knowledge of something else. Subtract that something from the something else, and there's your value-added, after it's gone through a state-of-the-art formula. Simple as that."
What if the new measurement system results in the firing of good teachers? "Oh, please," said Islip. "At this point, we could fire teachers blindly and end up much better off than we are now. Research has shown that if you fire any five percent of the teachers, you will raise achievement by half of a standard deviation, and increase students' lifetime earnings by precisely $124,932.56."
Which research has shown this? "It was on a slideshow at the last superintendents' meeting," Islip replied. "Those slides are top-notch, prepared by the best in the field."
"I don't see how any of this makes sense," said Ariane Tort, a tenth grader. "First of all, I don't want any of my teachers fired. Second, I'm really good at sit-ups, so that means less 'growth' for my teachers. Should I slow down my sit-ups so they get more growth points?"
"Do whatever feels right for you," said Winnow. "Remember, this has nothing to do with you. It's all about the teachers. I know it's painful to see them fired, especially if you like them, but change is always painful, if you know what I mean." He paused for a minute. "It's painful even if you don't know what I mean. Even if I myself don't know what I mean, or no one knows what anyone means. In fact, that last scenario might be the most painful scenario of all, or the least painful. Wow, I've gotten philosophical," he mused. "I wonder how philosophy would be measured. The possibilities are endless. That's the wonder of the new system. So much room for innovation here. We could even give the kids a typing test."
by Diana Senechal on September 2, 2013 • Permalink
Tagged Satire, teacher evaluation, value-added ratings
Posted by Diana Senechal on September 2, 2013
https://dianasenechal.wordpress.com/2013/09/02/measure-every-teacher-now-shouts-district/
To Promote College Readiness, Congress Abolishes Speeches
After hours of snappy debate, both houses of Congress approved a bill that will forever prohibit speeches, monologues, lectures, books on tape, and other forms of communication in which a single person speaks for more than two minutes at a time.
"We are up against a crisis of epic proportions," said Representative Frank Megalogos, D-MI. "Today's graduating seniors are woefully unprepared for any sort of college or career, and why? The reason is simple. They have not been cognitively engaged. Someone has been talking at them, all these years, and they have just been sitting back. This has got to change, folks!" He looked at his watch and halted.
"Now, turn and talk to your neighbor about what I just said!" he shouted. "Come on, I want to hear voices! Talk, talk, talk!" The people in the room dutifully generated a buzz.
According to members of Congress, the key factor in student success is teacher quality, which essentially amounts to teacher disappearance. "Effective teachers are so good, you barely notice them," said Senator Maria Vidrio. "You never hear them speaking. You never see them at the front of the room. They make the students do the bulk of the work, which means the students are twice as cognitively engaged as they would otherwise be. A great teacher doesn't even have to know much about the subject, because it isn't her knowledge that matters. What good is a whole bunch of knowledge, if the kids just take it in passively?" Aware that she might have gone on too long, Vidrio caught herself and yelled full force, "Now, turn and talk! Turn and talk!"
Asked how a ban on speeches could possibly be compatible with the First Amendment, Megalogos let out a long, bitter laugh. "The very question proves the sad state of American cognitive development," he answered. "There is a world of difference between freedom of speech and freedom to deliver a speech. People can still say whatever they want. They just have to keep it short. This shouldn't be startling. The same rule applies everywhere. It's what people want. Even my best friends expect me to keep my emails to a sentence or less. Some of my family members don't want to hear from me at all."
What was to be done about existing plays, recordings, and other works in which someone speaks at length? "Obviously, we're not going to get rid of classic films like A Free Soul," said Representative Murgatroyd Barrymore, who denies any relation to the actor Lionel Barrymore, who gave an outrageously long monologue in the film. "Instead, we'll re-edit them with frequent commercial and activity breaks. That way, American consumers can continue to enjoy these old greats while benefiting from maximum cognitive engagement."
What about religious services? "No one is exempt," Barrymore replied. "Every single religious ritual out there has got to break it up. No more sermons of any kind. No more long prayers, long songs, long anything."
Isn't listening a form of cognitive engagement? "No, not at all," replied Vidrio, who had been turning and talking for a good portion of our interview. "Listening is just plain zero-like. Sometimes we've got to do a little of it, but the less of it the better. We're only cognitively engaged when we're doing something. Research has shown that we learn the most when teaching others, especially in a noisy room."
Not everyone shares the majority's enthusiasm over this new bill. "I hate noisy classes," said Wilky Roman, a high school senior in Wichita, Kansas. "I can't think when everyone's talking at once. I have to take a bathroom break, just to get my thoughts together, and then I get in trouble for taking so many breaks."
"The kid is just making excuses," said Megalogos. "Anyone who needs time alone is just being lazy. We're in a fast-paced collaborative world, and if you don't like it, the best thing you can do is change. Bring yourself up to speed. Give in to the noise."
According to underground reports, a number of rebels have gathered in the Shenandoah Caverns to indulge in the outlawed practice of listening. Speakers, actors, and musicians will perform; discussion will follow. The schedule is booked for the next five years but may lead to multiple arrests.
by Diana Senechal on August 17, 2013 • Permalink
Tagged attention, cognitive engagement, college and career readiness, english language arts, listening, Satire, teacher knowledge, teacher preparation, turn and talk
Posted by Diana Senechal on August 17, 2013
https://dianasenechal.wordpress.com/2013/08/17/to-promote-college-readiness-congress-abolishes-speeches/


text:
Classics IV was een Amerikaanse popband, geformeerd in Jacksonville in 1965 door Dennis Yost en staat vooral bekend om de hits Spooky, Stormy en Traces, die van 1967 tot 1969 werden uitgebracht en die inmiddels coverstandards zijn geworden.

Bezetting
 Dennis Yost (zang)
 James R. Cobb (gitaar) (vervangen in 1968 door Aubrun Burrell)
 Wally Eaton (gitaar)
 Joseph Wilson (bas) (vervangen in 1968 door Dean Daughtry)
 Kim Venable (drums)

Carrière

1965-1966: Vroege dagen
De band begon als The Classics, een coverband uit Jacksonville, bestaande uit gitarist J.R. Cobb, bassist Walter Eaton, toetsenist Joe Wilson, saxofonist Greg Carroll en drummer Dennis Yost, die eerder lid was van The Echoes. De naam The Classics kwam van het klassieke drumstel dat Yost bezat. Hij stond in de regio Georgia/Florida bekend als de 'stand-up drummer' omdat hij staand speelde. The Classics speelden covers van The Ventures, evenals instrumentale versies van Misty en Summertime.

De band werd ontdekt tijdens een optreden in Daytona Beach door talentagent Alan Diggs, die de bandmanager werd in samenwerking met Paul Cochran en later Buddy Buie. Het paar had een alliantie gevormd met manager/uitgever Bill Lowery en drong er bij de band op aan om naar Atlanta te verhuizen. Met de hulp van Lowery wisten ze de band snel een singlesdeal te bezorgen bij Capitol Records. De debuutsingle van The Classics was Pollyanna, een lied geschreven door Lowery-klant Joe South en gezongen in een stijl die leek op die van The Four Seasons. Kort daarna ontvingen ze een brief met de mededeling dat er al een opnameact was met de naam The Classics, die de single Till Then had uitgebracht. In een poging om zich te onderscheiden, voegden Yost en zijn bedrijf 'IV' toe aan de naam omdat er (op dat moment) vier leden waren.

1966-1970: Succes
The Classics IV voerden Pollyanna uit in de tv-show Where the Action Is! van Dick Clark en werd een regionale hit. Maar toen de WABC (AM)-radio in New York het begon te spelen, kregen ze een telefoontje van de manager van The Four Seasons, waarin ze eisten dat ze de uitzending van Pollyanna stopzetten, anders zouden ze niet langer exclusieve aanbiedingen krijgen voor toekomstige Four Seasons-opnamen, naast andere negatieve maatregelen. De band sloot een deal met Imperial Records. Gitaristen Cobb en Buie voegden teksten toe aan de jazzinstrumental Spooky, een regionale hit uit 1966 voor saxofonist Mike Sharpe uit Atlanta. De single bereikte nummer 3 in de Billboard Hot 100 in februari 1968 in de Verenigde Staten en nummer 46 in het Verenigd Koninkrijk.

Drummer Kim Venable werd binnengehaald zodat Yost zich vrij als frontman kon bewegen (drummer Dennis St. John en bassist Emory Gordy waren de muzikanten op hun studio-opnamen). Wilson verliet de band en werd vervangen door Candymen-lid Dean Daughtry. De band veranderde haar naam in The Classics IV met Dennis Yost en had nog de twee top-10 hits Stormy (1968, Hot 100 #5) en Traces (1969, Hot 100 #2, Easy Listening #2), waaraan Emory Gordy ook meeschreef. Cobb en Buie ontleenden veel van Every Day with Jesus uit 1936 van Robert C. en Wendell P. Loveless om de opvolgende top 20-hit Every Day with You Girl (1969, Hot 100 #19, Easy Listening #12) te schrijven.

Spooky, Stormy en Traces verkochten elk meer dan een miljoen exemplaren, die allemaal werden bekroond met gouden schijven door de RIAA. Die drie hits plus Every Day With You Girl verschenen ook in de film The Chicken Chronicles uit 1977.

In 1970 vormden Cobb, Buie en Daughtry samen met Candymen-drummer Robert Nix wat Atlanta Rhythm Section zou worden. De eerste twee bleven echter actief als schrijvers en producenten voor de band. Nadat hij hersteld was van een auto-ongeluk in mei 1969, verliet Eaton de band en werd later een elektronica-expert bij Unisys.

1970-1975: Latere jaren
Met Yost als het overgebleven oorspronkelijke lid, veranderde de band haar naam weer in Dennis Yost & the Classics IV. Nadat Imperial werd opgenomen bij United Artists Records, tekende de band bij MGM South. In 1971, na te hebben gewerkt voor de Lowery-artiesten Tommy Roe en The Swingin' Medallions, werd Michael Huey de drummer. Tijdens deze periode werd Huey ook de stafdrummer van de Lowery Studios en verhuisde later naar Los Angeles.

Hun daaropvolgende publicaties waren minder succesvol, ondanks hun laatste top 40-hit What Am I Crying For?, die in 1972 piekte op nummer 39. Tegen die tijd eindigde de samenwerking tussen Cochran en Buie. Na het uitbrengen van My First Day Without Her in 1975, ontbond Yost de band en keerde terug naar Florida.

1975-2001: Na Classics IV
In 1977 keerde Yost terug naar het circuit van Holiday Inn, dit keer alleen onder zijn eigen naam of The Classic One. Tegen die tijd verloor hij de rechten op de naam Classics IV. In datzelfde jaar kreeg Eaton in 1977 een baan bij het computersysteem van Jacksonville en werkte later voor het stadhuis. Hij is momenteel professor aan het Florida Community College. Van medio jaren 1970 tot het begin van de jaren 1980 scoorde de Atlanta Rhythm Section de Top 40-hits Doraville, So in to You, Imaginary Lover, I'm Not Gonna Let It Bother Me Tonight, Do It or Die en hun vertolking van Spooky.

In de jaren 1990 gebruikte hij veel achtergrondbands, met Steve 'Stevie G' Guettler (gitaar, zang), Jeff 'JT' Strickler (basgitaar, zang), Steve Farrell (gitaar, zang), Mike Wilson (keyboards, zang) en Wes Armstrong (drums, zang) van de in Atlanta gevestigde band The Rockerz. Hij gebruikte ook de in Nashville gevestigde band Steve Jarrell & The Sons of the Beach, evenals The Hitts uit Virginia Beach, Virginia, met Ed Hutchison (gitaar, achtergrondzang), Ramon Gonzalez (keyboards, achtergrondzang), Andy Crosswell ( drums) en David Voss.

In 1993 werd Classics IV opgenomen in de Georgia Music Hall of Fame.

2001-2006: Nieuwe formatie
In 2001 onderging Yost een succesvolle keeloperatie voor een aandoening die zijn zangstem ernstig had aangetast. Later begon hij te toeren onder de naam Classics IV, waarmee hij de rechten op de naam verwierf.

2006-2008: Overlijden van Yost
Op 11 juli 2006 viel Yost van een trap en liep ernstig hersentrauma op. Om Yost en zijn vrouw te helpen met hun medische rekeningen, werd op 25 maart 2007 een benefietconcert gehouden in Rhino's Live in Cincinnati, Ohio. De kosten waren echter veel hoger dan het ingezamelde geld, waardoor het evenement in het rood stond.

Na het ongeval werd Tom Garrett door Yost gekozen om hem te vervangen als leadzanger voor de Classics IV. Het plan was dat Yost een paar jaarlijkse speciale optredens zou maken en Garrett geleidelijk de leider van de band zou laten worden. Yost kon in 2008 echter slechts één keer met hen optreden.

Yost overleed op 7 december 2008, de 40e verjaardag van de entree van Stormy in de top 10 van de Hot 100.

2008-heden
De huidige bezetting van Classics IV bestaat uit Garrett als leadzanger, Kevin Lloyd op bas, James Yoder op keyboards, Paul Weddle op saxofoon, John Kerner op gitaar en Shawn White op drums. Tot op de dag van vandaag toert de groep regelmatig.

Overlijden
Dennis Yost overleed op 7 december 2008 op 65-jarige leeftijd aan respiratoire insufficiëntie. Drummer Kim Venable overleed in juni 2016 op 72-jarige leeftijd.

Discografie
 1968: Spooky
 1968: Stormy
 1969: Traces
 1969: Everyday With You, Girl
 1972: What Am I Crying For?

Amerikaanse band

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


Matt Walsh is awesome! It was funny that he was recognized a few times, because of his role in the super-famous "Old School" movie. I was in Portland, OR, when they came through and talked to the School of Journalism at PSU.
One piece of their advice to students was something like "If you're doing a story on gas prices, you gotta interview a guy with a turban"
Oooh, I can't wait to listen. Ever since I heard about Improv Everywhere last time on your podcast, I have become a huge fan. I love reading and hearing about their pranks! Woo-hoo!
Glad to hear, Tank. Let me know what you think!
Awesome. Can't wait to listen, my brother's girlfriend is friends with Charlie Todd.
Great show.When I first heard of Improv Everywhere over a year ago I was not fan. As an improvisor with Second City I thought this was going to give improv a bad name (people dressed up as bees and walruses meeting in a field for some weird battle). After listening to this interview though, Charlie really blew me away and spoke about what I love about improv...it's to have fun. If that means not wearing pants on the subway or just thinking a taxi driver saved a relationship, it works for me.
Good interview with Charlie Todd. I imagine that's a tough one, as you want to explain to everyone what the hell his group is all about while at the same time keep it from being a description of his greatest hits. Good balance.
As an improvisor with Second City I thought this was going to give improv a bad name (people dressed up as bees and walruses meeting in a field for some weird battle). After listening to this interview though, Charlie really blew me away and spoke about what I love about improv...it's to have fun.


text:
Pope: To tackle "barbaric resurgence" of anti-Semitism, Jews and Christians must till soil of fraternity
Osservatore Romano | AFP
Pope Francis in the cell of Maxmillian Kolbe
Kathleen N. Hattrup - published on 01/21/20
If we do not do this – we who believe in Him who from on high remembered us and showed compassion for our weaknesses – then who will?
Decrying a "barbaric resurgence" of anti-Semitism, Pope Francis called on Christians and Jews to "till the soil" in which hatred grows and instead to sow peace.
The pope encouraged getting to the roots of hatred in an address to representatives of the Simon Wiesenthal Centre, a global human rights organization that researches the Holocaust and hate in a historic and contemporary context."
Francis said it is "troubling to see" that in many parts of the world, there is an "increase in selfishness and indifference, lack of concern for others and the attitude that says life is good as long as it is good for me, and when things go wrong, anger and malice are unleashed."
the attitude that says life is good as long as it is good for me
He said this is "fertile ground" for factionalism and populism, where "hatred quickly springs up."
"Once more I firmly condemn every form of antisemitism," the pope said clearly.
But to till the soil of peace, he said, we need integration and the search to understand others.
He said it is "urgent to reintegrate those who are marginalized, to reach out to those far away, to support those ignored for lack of resources or funds, and assist to those who are victims of intolerance and discrimination."
In this, said the Bishop of Rome, Jews and Christians have a particular mission, with their "rich spiritual patrimony."
I feel that we, above all, are summoned, especially today, to such service: not to take the path of distance and exclusion, but that of proximity and inclusion; not to force solutions, but to initiate ways of drawing closer together. If we do not do this – we who believe in Him who from on high remembered us and showed compassion for our weaknesses – then who will?
Pope Francis noted that on January 27, we will mark the 75th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp.
This "angel of Auschwitz" landed in the concentration camp because she called Hitler a calamity
He recalled his own visit there in 2016, where he spent time in silent prayer.
In our world, with its whirlwind of activity, we find it hard to pause, to look within and to listen in silence to the plea of suffering humanity. Our consumerist society also squanders words: how many unhelpful words are spoken, how much time is wasted in arguing, accusing, shouting insults, without a real concern for what we say. Silence, on the other hand, helps to keep memory alive. If we lose our memory, we destroy our future. May the anniversary of the unspeakable cruelty that humanity learned of seventy-five years ago serve as a summons to pause, to be still and to remember. We need to do this, lest we become indifferent.
5 Courageous saints who were sent to Nazi concentration camps

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Who We Are As a People—The Syrian Refugee Question
October 2016 • Volume 45, Number 10 • Edward J. Erler
Edward J. Erler
Co-Author, The Founders on Citizenship and Immigration
Edward J. Erler is professor emeritus of political science at California State University, San Bernardino. He earned his B.A. from San Jose State University and his M.A. and Ph.D. in government from the Claremont Graduate School. He has published numerous articles on constitutional topics in journals such as Interpretation, the Notre Dame Journal of Law, and the Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy. He was a member of the California Advisory Commission on Civil Rights from 1988-2006 and served on the California Constitutional Revision Commission in 1996. He is the author of The American Polity and co-author of The Founders on Citizenship and Immigration.
A rational concern for our liberties as well as for national security weighs in against such reckless policies. Security experts warn that we don't have enough homeland security agents to monitor suspected terrorists who are already in our country. If we increase the number of refugees from terrorist-supporting nations, greater security can only be provided by closer cooperation between the various security agencies and closer monitoring of the private lives of all Americans. The consequent loss of liberty will be extensive and will impact all areas of American life. This, we are told, will become the "new reality" or the "new normal," and Americans will have to develop a "new mind-set" to deal with it. Europeans are well on their way to accepting terrorism as a daily part of their lives—surely Americans, we are told, can adapt as well. But Europeans are used to sacrificing liberties to the administrative state represented by the EU.
Will Americans acquiesce so easily?
The administrative state has not yet extinguished America's love of liberty, although it surely has made significant inroads over the years as Americans have become inured to being bullied by bureaucrats of all stripes. The constant monitoring of citizens in the name of detecting terrorism will, if allowed, turn the nation into a security state where liberties will be easily and casually sacrificed to the constant threat of terrorism. Sacrificing liberty will be the price Americans pay to accommodate refugees—in other words, it is the sacrifice we must make on the altar of political correctness.
Remarkably, many politicians and pundits have argued that the First Amendment's guarantee of free exercise of religion prohibits Congress and the president from banning the emigration of people to the U.S. based on religion. Thus they characterized the proposal to suspend the entry of Syrian refugees and others from terrorist-supporting nations as a violation of the Constitution. But we must surely wonder how those who are not American citizens or legal resident aliens—indeed, even those who have never been present in the country—can assert rights under the Constitution. By the terms of the Constitution, free exercise of religion is one of the privileges and immunities attached to citizenship; it can hardly be said to be possessed by all those who seek refuge in, or wish to emigrate to, the United States. As a sovereign nation, it is beyond dispute that the U.S. has plenary power to determine the conditions for immigration. Except in a borderless world, it can hardly be claimed that free exercise of religion is a right possessed by all persons inhabiting the globe or even those who are potentially asylum seekers.
One condition for claiming refugee status in the Refugee Act of 1980 is religious persecution. This necessarily means that any applicant for religious asylum would have to submit to questioning about his religious beliefs and (presumably) the sincerity of those beliefs. Also, it is not beyond reason that a sovereign nation would be allowed to inquire whether the religious beliefs of an asylum seeker are compatible with the American constitutional order. Should asylum be extended to the adherents of religions that do not recognize the free exercise rights of other religions? Should those religions whose adherents refuse to pledge or give evidence that they would support free exercise be ineligible for asylum? Religion—and inquiry into religious belief—has always been part of the asylum law, and there is nothing in the Constitution that bars such inquiry on national security grounds. Indeed, a quick glance at Article I of the Constitution reveals that Congress has plenary power to "establish a uniform Rule of Naturalization." This has always been understood—by a necessary rule of inference—to mean that Congress also has plenary power to regulate immigration. Congress has wide latitude to choose the "necessary and proper" means to accomplish this end as long as it doesn't violate some specific prohibition of the Constitution.
To sum up, only in the perfervid imaginations of the politically correct—those who reject the idea of borders—could the Syrian refugee controversy be confused with a constitutional controversy.
« Previous page 1 2 3 4 Next page »


text:
Q: Excel - does not show varbinary(16) column from SQL Server Database I have a SQL Server 2014 stored procedure that I've added to an Excel 2013 workbook as a Data Connection.
The stored procedure returns a table defined as follows:
create table #rollups
(
    ID_INT_EXT_KEY varbinary(16) not null,
    AS_OF_DATE date not null,
    FOR_MONTH int not null,
    FOR_YEAR int not null,
    FINAL_REPORT_DEPT varchar(100) null,
    PROV_NAME varchar(100) null,
    EXTERNAL_FLAG bit not null,
    YTD_VISITS decimal(15,2) not null default 0,
    YTD_CHARGED decimal(15,2) not null default 0,
    YTD_PROCS decimal(15,2) not null default 0,
    MTD_VISITS decimal(15,2) not null default 0,
    MTD_CHARGED decimal(15,2) not null default 0,
    MTD_PROCS decimal(15,2) not null default 0,
    YTD_VISITS_DIFFLASTMONTH decimal(15,2) not null default 0,
    YTD_CHARGED_DIFFLASTMONTH decimal(15,2) not null default 0,
    YTD_PROCS_DIFFLASTMONTH decimal(15,2) not null default 0
);

-- insert data to the temp table
-- select from the temp table

I don't have a problem with the stored procedure, it works as intended.
I've added it to the Excel sheet, as an OLE DB Query, command type is SQL with the command text as simply the name of the stored procedure.
It returns the data (a few thousand rows) as expected, except for the first column ID_INT_EXT_KEY (which is a hash of a few of the columns). The column does not get pulled in to the sheet at all, not blank, not hidden. It's just not there. I tried turning on Row Numbers thinking maybe that had something to do with it, but no.
In SSMS the column is there.
This isn't really a problem for what I'm using it for, but it's perplexing and I'm wondering what I can do about it, short of altering the returned table's data types.
Edit:
Question: given that I have a stored procedure which returns a table, and one of the columns is a varbinary, is there any way to get this column into Excel (using a standard External Data Connection), without creating or modifying any database objects?

A: From your comment I take SSMS converts it to a hex string.
This is not true, it just looks like a HEX-string...
SSMS has the same problem Excel would have: How to display binary data? SSMS choses the HEX-string, but the data-type of this column is still VARBINARY...
If you want to get a real string looking like a hex value you can use a built in function:
DECLARE @Varbin VARBINARY(16)=0x00112233445566778899AABBCCDDEEFF;
SELECT @Varbin AS A_varbinary_VALUE;
SELECT DATALENGTH(@Varbin);

DECLARE @ConvertedToString NVARCHAR(MAX)= sys.fn_varbintohexstr(@Varbin);
SELECT @ConvertedToString;

UPDATE
As your column is VARBINARY(16) best should be a direct cast to GUID, which is 16 bytes per definition:
DECLARE @CovertedToGUID UNIQUEIDENTIFIER=CAST(@Varbin AS UNIQUEIDENTIFIER);
SELECT @CovertedToGUID;

You can cast this back:
SELECT CAST(@CovertedToGUID AS VARBINARY(MAX))

But there's still one question left: Why?

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


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text:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<metadata>
  <groupId>com.sdcuike</groupId>
  <artifactId>maven-parent-doctor</artifactId>
  <versioning>
    <release>2018-1</release>
    <versions>
      <version>2018-1</version>
    </versions>
    <lastUpdated>20180129085145</lastUpdated>
  </versioning>
</metadata>

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


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Parliamentary elections were held last weekend in Slovakia. The 5.5 million inhabitants of this small country decided in which direction they wanted to go and which policies they agreed most with. And they did so massively. In this election, turnout exceeded 60%, making it the second most important election turnout since 1991. Current Prime Minister Fico competed for a third term. That way he could follow the path set out by Viktor Orban in Hungary, who received his third term. And the answer was compelling. There was a substantial increase, in percentage as well as in number of seats, in the presence of extreme right-wing, nationalistic and xenophobic political forces. Slovakia thus joins other countries where the anti-immigration discourse is gaining popularity and where extremist and populist movements managed to enter institutions with a more than symbolic representation. France, the Netherlands, Sweden and Greece are some of the most compelling examples.
In the case of Slovakia, the results of the elections had several consequences, which will complicate governability. First, it made the government party lose its absolute majority that it had since 2012, thus creating the need for coalitions with, at least, two other political forces. This is complicated given that all political forces, except for the Slovak People's Party, rejected a coalition with the current Primer Minister. There are 150 seats in the Slovakian parliament and the social-democratic party Smer-SD only obtained 49. The addition of the 15 seats would therefor not be sufficient to reach the government. Fico and the rest of the political forces have also reiterated that they refused any pact with Marian Kotleba, leader of the far right People's Party Our Slovakia. Marian Kotleba is already under investigation for instigating racial hatred against the Roma community and for being a strong admirer of Josef Tiso, president of the fascist state and close to the third Reich.
Secondly, an atomisation of the number of groups present in the legislative body that were able to cross the threshold of 5% took place. Next to the social-democratic (Smed-SD, 49), liberal (Freedom and Solidarity, 21) and conservative (OL'ANO-NOVA, 19) parties, and the party of the Hungarian community (Ziev, 11) other parties joined that were either recently created or absent from the political landscape during the last legislature. That's how the Slovak National Party, that had been a member of the government coalition between 2006 and 2010, came back, with a program based on the momentum of strategic industries and the fight against multiculturalism – and with 15 seats. The aforementioned People's Party Our Slovakia also appeared (14), in a way that reminiscent of the 1930's in Central Europe. Incidentally, it didn't appear in any of the pre-electoral polls. Finally, these parties are joined by the eurosceptical and anti-immigration party We Are Family (11) and the centrist party Network (10), both created mid-2015.
So, it seems Slovakia could be forced to hold new elections, with an aggravating factor: this July, Bratislava will assume the six month term presidency of the EU. In this context, speculations spread about the possible creation of a Temporary Cabinet of Experts that will be in charge until December or, even, the formation of a government of national unity promoted by the liberal Kiska, as there wouldn't be enough time to hold new elections.
Thirdly, one central aspect of these elections is that they highlighted the prominence of anti-immigration views in the country. There is, to varying extents, a certain unanimity all across the political landscape as far as the subject of migration is concerned. This is only a reflection of Slovakian public opinion. 89 % of the Slovakian population opposed refugee resettlement. The refugee crisis did indeed, as it did in other European countries, favor the reactivation of a xenophobic and populist political rhetoric, that resonated among a population plunged in a deep identity crisis that lead to an identity-based isolationism that reminds us, to some extent, of Europe between the wars.
In the Slovakian case, Prime Minister Fico started using such rhetoric during the summer of 2015, when his popularity ratings were plummeting. His main objective was to improve his electoral prospects. Following the same path, Slovakia appealed to the Court of Justice of the European Union against the mandatory resettlement quotas for refugees from Greece and Italy. But his most recurrent theme was the speech against the Muslim community, with which he tried to obtain the support of an ultra-catholic majority, using declarations such as: " the natural integration of persons with a different lifestyle, a different way of thinking, a different cultural heritage and, most of all, a different religion is impossible ".
If we look at the results of the election, Fico didn't achieve his goals. By using a nationalistic rhetoric against migrants, Smer-SD reinforced the political stance of the extreme right wing in Slovakia. The most ethnocentric nationalism appears once again, after Vladimir Meciar's governments (he took up positions of power from 1991 to 1998). Back then, during the nation-state construction process, the ethnic-nationalistic discourse focused on Gypsies and Hungarians. Now, this discourse is aimed against the Muslim community, be they inhabitants of Slovakia or refugees fleeing the Syrian conflict, and mainly serves electoral purposes or to distract.
But are those fears, of a Muslim "invasion" of the country or of an uncontrollable flood of immigrants, well-founded ?Judging by the facts, they don't seem to be. In 2015, Slovakia received less than 350 asylum applications, of which it only granted 8. In case of a resettlement implementation it would have to take on 2600 refugees and resettle 902. So this doesn't seem to be the reason for the severity of the Slovakian political rhetoric over the last months. In the end, imaginary refugees gave real Nazis their seats.
As we said before, Fico used this type of rhetoric to improve his electoral prospects. And to distract the population from other important questions, like the frail public health system, the deterioration of education, the increase of territorial disparities or the corruption linked to the privatizations carried out by the government. In the meantime, populist measures were taken: free public transportation for retirees, an increase of the minimum wage and tax reductions applied to food products.
This also reinforces the common stance of the alliance Slovakia forms with Poland, the Czech Republic and Hungary in the discussions about the Schengen area in the European Council. They are in favor of expelling Greece and criticize the sanctions against Russia and the management of the refugee crisis – although it seems that in that aspect, Orban's, Zeman's and Fico's claims have already won.


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Second primary malignances (SPMs) in patients (p) with gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GISTs) - a coincidence or an effect of imatinib?
1432P - Second primary malignances (SPMs) in patients (p) with gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GISTs) - a coincidence or an effect of imatinib?
Date 29 September 2014
Event ESMO 2014
Session Poster Display session
Topics Anticancer Agents
Presenter Anna Estival
Citation Annals of Oncology (2014) 25 (suppl_4): iv494-iv510. 10.1093/annonc/mdu354
Authors A. Estival1, O. Etxaniz1, J.L. Cuadra Urteaga2, M. Romeo3, I. Blanco4, M. Gil5, S. Ahlal6, I. Ojanguren4, A. Indacochea7, L. Vila5, C. Balana5
1Medical Oncology, Catalan Institute of Oncology ICO Badalona Hospital Germans Trias i Pujol, Medical Oncology, 08916 - Badalona/ES
2Medical Oncology Service, Catalan Institute of Oncology, Hospital Germans Trias i Pujol, 08916 - Badalona/ES
3Medical Oncology, Institut Català d'Oncologia- Badalona, 08916 - Badalona/ES
4Medical Oncology, hospital germans Trias i PUjol, badalona/ES
5Medical Oncology, Catalan Institute of Oncology, Hospital Germans Trias i Pujol, 08916 - Badalona/ES
6Medical Oncology, Institut Català d'Oncologia-Badalona, 08916 - Badalona/ES
7Medical Oncology Department, Catalan Institute of Oncology ICO Badalona Hospital Germans Trias i Pujol, Medical Oncology, 08916 - Badalona/ES
View Poster
GISTs are the most common mesenchymal tumors of the gastrointestinal tract. Imatinib has become the standard treatment for unresectable metastatic GISTs and as adjuvant treatment in high-risk p. A high rate of SPMs (4.5 -33.3%) has been reported in p with sporadic GISTs and a potential association between imatinib treatment and the development of SPMs has been postulated.
We have retrospectively reviewed the incidence of SPMs in all p diagnosed with GIST and treated at a single institution between 1997 and 2012.
A total of 95 p were diagnosed with GIST, 21 (22%) of whom developed SPMs. In addition, 18 of the 95 p (18.9%) had premalignant lesions, the most common of which were tubular adenoma (5 p) and melanocytic nevus (4 p). For the 21 p with SPMs, median age at GIST diagnosis was 45.6 years (range, 27-75). The GIST was located in the stomach in 10 p (47.6%) and in the small bowel in 11 (52.4%). The SPMs were in colon (6 p), breast (4 p), kidney (4 p), bladder (3 p), head and neck cancer (3 p), esophagus (2 p), lymphoproliferative disease (2 p), adrenal gland (2 p), skin cancer (1 p), prostate (1 p), pancreas (1 p), bone and soft tissue sarcoma (1 p), pheochromocytoma (1 p), and oligodendroglioma (1 p). 7p had more than one SPM. Only 1 p had been diagnosed with neurofibromatosis as a genetic syndrome. The SPMs were metachronous in 17 p (81%). Only 4 p (19.4%) received imatinib, 2 of whom developed SPMs after treatment.
We have observed SPMs in 22% and premalignant lesions in 18.9% of p with GISTs. While the cause of this high rate of SPMs is difficult to determine, it seems that factors other than imatinib treatment may play a role. Further investigation is warranted.
All authors have declared no conflicts of interest.


Are you ready to harness all of the motivational and inspirational energy floating around us all at the start of a brand new year? If health is your goal this year, keep on reading.
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Contact: Haig Hovsepian
ANCA-WR Welcomes Passage of SB 515 by California Senate Committee
Sacramento, CA – The Armenian National Committee of America – Western Region (ANCA-WR) welcomed news of the passage of SB 515 through the California Senate Business, Professions and Economic Development Committee. The Senate Committee passed SB 515, which extends the "sunset" of funding for the California Armenia Trade Office (CATO) by 2 years until 2010. The CATO, which opened under the leadership of Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger (R-CA) and California Senator Jack Scott (D-Pasadena), was administered to stimulate trade between California and the regions of Eastern Europe, Western Asia, and the newly independent states of the former Soviet Union.
Testimony in support of the CATO was provided by Johnnie Nalbandian, Executive Director of the Foundation for Economic Development, Inc. which is the privately-funded sole contractor of the CATO. Mr. Nalbandian discussed the past, present and future of the CATO and specifically mentioned that the "gateway" that exists between Eastern Europe, Western Asia and California must be cultivated to bring these markets closer together. Mr. Nalbandian also discussed various companies that are interested in pursuing opportunities through the CATO. Specifically, Mr. Nalbandian mentioned feasibility studies that are in the process of being conducted for Cedarlane Natural Foods and Mattel Toys. Marani, which has already begun to work with CATO and can be found in almost 1000 stores, utilized demographic research studies done by the CATO to identify marketing and resale opportunities. Other companies with which the CATO works are Nic Nak clothing, which has agreed to work with an Armenian company to knit children's clothing to be shipped for the winter season, and Tesco Stores, a United Kingdom-based retail grocery chain which has already contacted the CATO to determine the viability of products that it could import from Armenia.
Also providing testimony in support of the CATO was Souzi Zerounian-Khanzadian, who testified on behalf of the Los Angeles – Yerevan Sister City Association. Zerounian-Khanzadian discussed the distinguishing characteristics of the CATO from previous trade offices; namely that 1) it is a contract trade office, 2) it does not receive any state funding, and 3) the authorizing legislation provides accountability provisions. She also noted the stabilizing factors associated with extending the sunset date which include helping interested companies grow in California's robust economy while strengthening opportunities for California companies to reach out to untapped regions in Eastern Europe, the Caucus region and Western Asia.
After testimony, the Committee passed SB 515 by a vote of 8-0.
"The CATO represents a wonderful opportunity for the State of California to establish viable economic ties to global markets that are not yet saturated," commented ANCA-WR Executive Director Andrew Kzirian. "We are happy to see the California Senate Business, Professions and Economic Development Committee move forward with this measure."
Photo Caption: The Foundation for Economic Development, Inc.


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The Step Into Time Auction
Thank you for your interest in the Step Into Time auction. We invite you to peruse these details. There's something for everyone!
Please note that this auction has ended. It took place on March 15, 2019.
All proceeds benefit the mission and programs of TimeLine Theatre Company.
FEATURED SILENT AUCTION PRIZES
LUXURY SUNSET YACHT CRUISE AND 5-COURSE DINNER FOR 6
Enjoy spectacular water views of Chicago at sunset as you and 5 friends cruise on a private yacht. Complete your onboard experience with drinks, a 5-course personalized menu, rare cigars, and VIP company.
Join the yacht owner (A Broadway, West End and Chicago theatrical producer & investor) for a once-in-a-lifetime Chicago evening aboard his 75-foot, British-made boat, along with Eileen LaCario (TimeLine Board President and Vice President of Broadway In Chicago) and PJ Powers (Artistic Director of TimeLine).
Cocktails begin at 6 pm for you and 5 friends on the Chicago River as you cruise your way toward the Chicago Locks to enter Lake Michigan. Once on the lake, the captain will drive around Navy Pier and find a spectacular place to anchor inside the calm protected waters of the Play Pen.
Once there, Chef Shane will create a wondrous five-course meal including fine wines specifically chosen for you. Menu will be agreed on beforehand and can be suited to accommodate food allergies and preferences. Watch the lights of Chicago come on as you drink and dine on a most memorable meal.
You'll make your way back to the river after dinner and cruise the South Branch all the way to Chinatown as you drink fine scotch and smoke very rare cigars (optional). All alcohol and food is included.
OSLO OPENING NIGHT VIP ACCESS FOR 4
You and 3 friends will score the best seats in the house for the highly anticipated Chicago premiere of Oslo by J.T. Rogers. Start your evening getting the behind-the-scenes scoop at dinner beforehand and celebrate with the cast at the post-show party before saying goodnight to your friends and heading to your overnight stay at The Ritz-Carlton!
You and a guest will receive the ultimate VIP treatment at the Opening Night performance of the Chicago premiere of Oslo on Wednesday, September 18, 2019 at Broadway In Chicago's Broadway Playhouse. Start your evening in style at an intimate dinner with TimeLine Associate Artistic Director and Oslo director Nick Bowling, another key production artist, and other supporters.
When you arrive at Broadway Playhouse you'll head to the best seats in the house to watch the show. The evening doesn't end there! Celebrate this epic production with the cast and production team at the official Opening Night reception. Then say goodnight to your friends and head across the street to a luxurious night at The Ritz-Carlton.
2017 Tony Award® winner for Best Play, Oslo by J.T. Rogers is a remarkable story about the unlikely friendships, quiet heroics, and sheer determination that pushed two foes to reach something neither thought truly possible—peace.
When the Israeli prime minister and the chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization shook hands on the White House lawn in 1993, the world had no idea what it took to orchestrate that momentous occasion. Behind the scenes, a Norwegian diplomat and her social scientist husband hatched an intricate, top secret, and sometimes comical scheme to gather an unexpected assortment of players at an idyllic estate just outside Oslo. Far from any international glare, mortal enemies were able to face each other not as adversaries, but as fellow human beings.
GOURMET DINNER AND FINE WINES WITH A TIMELINE COMPANY MEMBER OF YOUR CHOICE FOR 8
Spend a sumptuous evening with the TimeLine Company Member of your choice and seven of your closest friends at an exclusive, gourmet dinner party.
Wine and dine at this elegant and exclusive dinner featuring a special guest of your choice from TimeLine's Company and Artistic Director PJ Powers. The heart of TimeLine is a team of 17 Company Members, the core group of decision-makers responsible for selecting the theatre's artistic programming. The Company includes a wide range of talented members with expertise in acting, directing, playwriting, dramaturgy, literary management, arts administration, and more.
You and 7 friends will enjoy a delicious dinner party, prepared by a renowned chef with perfectly matched, fine wine pairings from the cellar of dinner host's, TimeLine Board Alumna Anne Stockton and her husband Richard in their beautiful Roscoe Village home.
PREMIUM WHISKEY TASTING FOR 10
The whiskey tour you've been waiting for— impossible-to-find bottles and a chance to learn all about the spirits' history from our resident expert, Company Member Ben Thiem. The perfect pairing!
You and up to 9 friends could enjoy a private tasting of historic bourbons with TimeLine Company Member Ben Thiem—in your home or at the theatre. Sample rare and delicious drams of our American spirit from as far back as the 1960s to today and learn about the history of each brand and compare how they've changed over the years. Featuring impossible-to-find bottles from several distilleries including Buffalo Trace, Four Roses, Wild Turkey and more!
POWERS CAFÉ
The bestseller is back! Artistic Director PJ Powers will personally prepare for you a truly one-of-a-kind dining experience. And at his dining room table, you'll get the ultimate insider scoop on all things TimeLine!
This prize may be TimeLine's most exclusive ticket! Enjoy a seven-course gourmet dinner for 4 at the home of TimeLine Artistic Director PJ Powers, hosted by PJ and his wife Shelley.
PJ (our resident culinary enthusiast) will create and prepare an elaborate menu with wines to match each course, and conversation is sure to include a unique peek behind the scenes of TimeLine. It'll be an evening you and your guests will never forget!
FLORIDA FAMILY GETAWAY
Feel your stress melt away during a weeklong stay in a waterfront home in Madeira Beach, Florida. Beaches, restaurants, museums, shopping, or better yet, doing nothing at all —the perfect vacation!
Are you ready for some rest and relaxation? Watch the water from your own private dock during a 6-night, 7-day stay in this 3-bedroom, 2-bath stand-alone waterfront home in Madeira Beach, Florida.
Fit for a family, the master and second bedrooms have queen-size beds and the third bedroom has two twin-size beds. Enjoy easy access to the beach, miniature golf, tennis courts and restaurants, plus complimentary Wi-Fi and more. Nearby are attractions like the world-renowned Salvador Dali museum, theatres, music venues, The Florida Orchestra and historical locations. Shoppers will greatly enjoy the John's Pass Village in Madeira Beach!
The Gulf—a perfect vacation spot!
RESERVED SEATS AT TIMELINE
Enjoy the ultimate perk at TimeLine Theatre performances – reserved seats.
Upgrade your TimeLine experience with a perk normally available only to TimeLine Theatre donors of $10,000 and more – reserved seats selected by TimeLine Artistic Director PJ Powers. Attend performances in TimeLine's 2019-20 season with 2 premium subscriptions, offering you ultimate flexibility to book and attend shows, and enjoy a leisurely meal before the shows knowing that your seats are waiting for you when you arrive.
THE ULTIMATE "HAMILTON" EXPERIENCE ON THE DATE OF YOUR CHOICE FOR 2
Don't just be in the room where it happens — go onstage, too! You'll have the ultimate experience when you see Hamilton from Prime Orchestra seats at the performance of your choice, followed by an onstage photo op. Don't throw away your shot at this amazing opportunity!
On the date of your choice, you and a guest will attend the hit musical Hamilton, the sold-out Broadway hip-hop musical by Lin-Manuel Miranda that has taken the theatrical world by storm, in Prime Orchestra seats. Following the show, you will be escorted onstage for a photo op.Head next door to complete your evening with an overnight stay at the Hampton Majestic.
"THE MOST EXCITING AND SIGNIFICANT MUSICAL OF THE DECADE. SENSATIONALLY POTENT AND THEATRICALLY VITAL, IT IS PLUGGED STRAIGHT INTO THE WALL SOCKET OF CONTEMPORARY MUSIC." — The Wall Street Journal
4 PRIME SEATS BEHIND HOME PLATE + ENTRY TO THE 1914 CLUB
Catch a Cubs home game from 4 prime seats behind the dugout, plus enjoy access including food, drinks and more at the exclusive 1914 Club at Wrigley.
Located behind home plate between the dugouts in Row C Aisle AA19, these seats are so close to the action you can almost step foot onto the field.
Your tickets include access to the American Airlines 1914 Club, with a dedicated, private entrance to the climate-controlled club, multiple bars, comfortable seating, and private restrooms. Opening 2 hours before the game, the American Airlines 1914 Club features multiple bars serving craft and domestic beer, premium spirits and wine. Reserve wines are also available for purchase. Unique food offerings inside this club include chef-attended grill stations, artisan pizzas and flatbreads, ballpark fan favorites and signature house-made desserts, on an all-inclusive basis. Members also will enjoy grab-and-go options and dedicated vendors serving traditional ballpark fare directly to their seats at no additional charge.
THE SIMPSONS AUTOGRAPHED PRINT
Don't have a cow, man! You can walk away tonight with your own piece of television history – this print of The Simpsons autographed by the show's animation team.
Donated by Pamela Hayden, the actress who voices many characters on the show, most notably Milhouse, this print can proudly hang on your wall showcasing your love of the iconic show. Don't leave tonight saying "D'oh!" by not winning this fabulous piece!
OTHER HIGHLIGHTS OF THE SILENT AUCTION
Art & Accessories
Package Name: "Janet Ulrich Brooks as Maria Callas" by Tobin Marais Richter
An original oil painting by Tobin Marias Richter inspired by Janet Ulrich Brooks' turn as Maria Callas in last fall's Master Class.
From the artist – "At this very moment she is telling her student how to sing about the opportunity presented by the King's planned "sleep over" at MacBeth's castle."
Explore, Learn, Play and More
Package Name: Escape Room and Dinner for 4
Try something different for a friends' night out with 4 tickets to the Great Escape Room Chicago, an exciting Sherlock Holmes themed escape room that's sure to be an escape from the ordinary. Part scavenger hunt, part puzzle-solving, 100% fun! Once you've escaped, head on over to MityNice Bar & Grill restaurant located in Water Tower Place, for $100 toward a delicious dinner and drinks!
Getaways and Date Nights
Package Name: Opening of Dear Evan Hansen Date Night for 2
If you missed the new hit Dear Evan Hansen, or are hooked like the rest of us, you'll love this date night featuring 2 tickets to Broadway In Chicago's opening night of Dear Evan Hansen in the summer 2020 plus a $100 gift card to Beatrix in River North for a delicious meal and creative cocktails.Dear Evan Hansen is winner of six 2017 Tony Awards including Best Musical and the 2018 Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album. A letter that was never meant to be seen, a lie that was never meant to be told, a life he never dreamed he could have. Evan Hansen is about to get the one thing he's always wanted: a chance to finally fit in.Dear Evan Hansen is the deeply personal and profoundly contemporary musical about life and the way we live it. Dear Evan Hansen has struck a chord with audiences and critics everywhere, including The Washington Post who says Dear Evan Hansen is "one of the most remarkable shows in musical theatre history." The New York Times calls it "a gut-punching, breathtaking knockout of a musical." And NBC Nightly News declares the musical "an anthem resonating on Broadway and beyond."
Food, Wine and Wellness
Package Name: Shopping Party and Volo Dinner for 5
Shop 'til you drop, then dine to unwind! Enjoy a private shopping party for 5-25 guests at Cinnamon Boutique in Roscoe Village. All guests will receive 20% off and the hostess will also receive $50 off during the party. Hors d'oeuvres and wine will be served throughout the evening. Cinnamon Boutique carries all your favorite lines, including Rebecca Taylor, Joie, Nicole Miller, Trina Turk, Autumn Cashmere, Mother Denim, Citizens of Humanity, Frame Denim, McGuire, Diane Von Furstenberg, MZ Wallace, Calleen Cordero, and Black Halo, among many others! Afterwards, head over to Roscoe Village's Volo Restaurant and Wine Bar to enjoy $200 toward dinner. Featuring an award-winning alfresco cabana patio, Volo combines cozy/chic design elements with urban vintage charm. Volo makes enjoying food and wine easy, accessible, and un-intimidating … all in a relaxed neighborhood atmosphere.
Package Name: Indy 500 5/26 for 2
You and a friend will see the final race of the 103rd running of the Indianapolis 500 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana, on Sunday, May 26 from amazing seats located in the front row of the Paddock Press Penthouse: Box 30, Row A, Seats 10, 11. The Paddock Press Penthouse is two rows of seats that hang below the Front Straight Paddock Penthouse. It was the original Press Box, before they built the new, modern Press Box. The Indianapolis 500, billed as The Greatest Spectacle in Racing, is considered part of the Triple Crown of Motorsport, the most prestigious event on the IndyCar calendar, and one of the oldest and most important automobile races in the entire world.
Details as of 3/13/19. Prizes are subject to change.Save
TimeLine's biggest event of the year!
Celebrate TimeLine's unique mission by stepping into another era for an unforgettable evening that raises funds vital to our work.


Maxim Verehin is a freelance concept artist and illustrator originally from Russian. Maxim is currently working as a Concept Artist for Lionsgate and a Illustrator for Wizards of the Coast.
All images © Maxim Verehin or their respective copyright holder.


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People's Care Home Health is committed to improving the quality of life for our patients through clinical excellence, extraordinary service and compassionate care.
We do this beginning with an initial assessment of their needs followed by consistent monitoring of their progress and condition. Our primary concern is to help them recover, attain or increase their ability to perform daily activities. We work closely with their physician and other medical professionals, providing the necessary services in their home on a regular or intermittent basis.
Home health care is a wide range of health care services that can be given in your home for an illness or injury. Home health care can be a more affordable, convenient, and just as effective as care you get in a hospital or skilled nursing facility (SNF).
A senior who recently had an inpatient hospitalization, rehabilitation, or a stay at a skilled nursing facility. This helps to transition back to independence.
A senior who had a recent medication change, in order to monitor for side effects and assure a new medication is effective.
Arrangement for medical equipment will be made to meet the special needs and requirements of the patient, such as commodes, wheel chairs, hospital beds, canes, crutches, braces, and others.
Approved services are covered 100% by Medicare and Medi-cal. Private insurance coverage varies with individual policies. We do a thorough search of insurance coverage and process all claims. Accepting insurance: Medicare, Primecare, My Family Medical Group, IEHP, Caremore, Easy Choice, Health Partners, Workers Comp. with LOA and other insurances.


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Medical care for civil-war refugees
Violence in Syria is unbroken and there is no sign of an end of the horror. It is tragic: Despite all military and diplomatic endeavors there seems to be no solution for the conflict. Up till now hundreds of thousands of people lost their life. Almost half of the population is fleeing: 6.5 million as domestic refugees, 5 million seek shelter in the neighborhood countries Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey and Iraq. Syrian government as well as rebels commit war crimes, and even the few hospitals left are intentionally bombed.
"As a medical organization we have only limited room to maneuver" Bernd Goeken, chief executive of Cap Anamur explains. "International help- organizations are targeted attacked." We had to witness this three years ago, when our team including Bernd Goeken was almost kidnapped by the terror militia Islamic State (IS) in the small town of Azaz. Since this attack we work in Syria almost invisible and operate in this manner three polyclinics in the country.
Besides the operation of these hospitals we support Syrian refugees in the neighboring countries, where people futile hope for a return to their home countries since years. We support two hospitals in Jordan and run a project in Lebanon, where we enable Syrian people to get medical treatment by transporting them to the hospitals and pay for the treatment. Presently we realize another project: A container hospital for refugees.
Construction of a container- clinic
According to Amnesty International in the refugee camp near Rukban, located in the no man's land near the Syrian – Jordan border, about 75,000 refugees are stuck. They remain here under inhuman conditions and wait for their entry permit – some of them since many months.
However, after a bomb attack against a nearby military post in June, when 6 soldiers died, the Jordan government shut off the area large scale. For international aid organizations the Jordan border remains closed, too, and thus the way to deliver aid to the refugee camps. These people are restricted from humanitarian help since five months: They lack of water, food and medical care.
Despite the shut off our team managed to bring a container- clinic to this remote desert area. At present the doctors treat about 150 patients a day in six containers. They report manifold and heavy health problems. "These people urgently need our help" Bernd Goeken emphasizes. "Mainly children suffer from the extreme conditions in the desert. Please support our important work by donations for medicines and medical staff."
Help where misery is largest
A Visit to our Hospital Projects


great article. I love the photos.
Loved this post! The layout and photos were so nice & it was very personable.
such a beautiful post as always! artful photos and words!
I'll never be able to get over to how amazing your graphic design skills are — I love feeling like I'm reading a magazine! Fantastic photos, hope you get a chance to truly unwind!
Oh wow your photos are just beautiful. They're a cross between modern and vintage. The laptop sounds and looks pretty good and something I would consider as I will be needing a new laptop soonish. Great post.
I wasn't supposed to comment, but Asus.
Disclaimer: this post is not sponsored by Asus.
Beautiful post!! I love the layouts.
This post has an amazing layout and photos!
I love love love this post. Thanks for sharing!
The first photo is art piece! Wow! Beautiful Shini. An you've inspired me by 30-day yoga challenge. Thank's for tip!
The Asus looks great, perfect for mobile work life.
That looks like a mean machine… I love how tablets have got more affordable lately.
Beautiful country, and great photos.
This post makes me want to go to Marrakech even more than I already do!
The Asus looks like a great notebook! Love the photos!
Fantastic post with gorgeous photographs, I especially love the very first one, so eye catching! Also, yay for white noise, although I usually go for Tibetan singing bowls.
Thank you for inspiring me! Your blogs…WOW!!!!
I just love how informative and detailed your posts always are! Thanks for sharing Park and Cube!