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Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom
Volume 98 Special Issue 5: Marine Mammals
Temporal and spatial trends in stranding records of...
Temporal and spatial trends in stranding records of cetaceans on the Irish coast, 2002–2014
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 08 December 2016
Barry McGovern ,
Ross M. Culloch ,
Michael O'Connell and
Simon Berrow
Show author details
Barry McGovern
Irish Whale and Dolphin Group, Merchants Quay, Kilrush, Co. Clare, Ireland Namibian Dolphin Project, Waterfront, Walvis Bay, Erongo, Namibia
Ross M. Culloch
Irish Whale and Dolphin Group, Merchants Quay, Kilrush, Co. Clare, Ireland MaREI Centre, Environmental Research Institute, University College Cork, Beaufort Building, Co. Cork, Ireland
Irish Whale and Dolphin Group, Merchants Quay, Kilrush, Co. Clare, Ireland
Irish Whale and Dolphin Group, Merchants Quay, Kilrush, Co. Clare, Ireland Marine and Freshwater Research Centre, Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology, Galway, Ireland
bmcgovern100@gmail.com
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Using Irish strandings data collected between 2002 and 2014, seasonal and annual trends in the number of strandings for all strandings identified to species level (N = 1480), and for the five most frequently reported species: common dolphin (25.7% of records), harbour porpoise (22.2%), long-finned pilot whale (8.8%), striped dolphin (6.9%) and bottlenose dolphin (6.9%) were investigated. With the exception of bottlenose dolphins, there was a significant linear increase in the number of strandings across years for all species and for all strandings collectively, that were identified to species-level. Only common dolphins demonstrated a significant increase in the proportion of records relative to all other strandings, which may be indicative of a real rise in the number of strandings of this species. Common dolphins and harbour porpoises showed a similar significant difference in monthly strandings, with more strandings occurring during the earlier months of the year. Significant differences in the gender of stranded animals were found in common, striped, bottlenose and Atlantic white-sided dolphins and sperm and pygmy sperm whales. Live and mass stranding events were primarily comprised of pelagic species. Most strandings occurred on the south and west coasts, with two hotspots for live and mass strandings identified. The patterns and trends identified are discussed in relation to the caveats in interpreting strandings data. Specifically to Ireland, the findings highlight the urgent need to build on the current volunteer reporting network and augment this comprehensive dataset with post-mortem examinations to better understand the cause of the trends identified. The importance of strandings data in informing conservation and management guidelines of these species' is discussed.
Bycatch common dolphin harbour porpoise mass stranding live stranding stranding network
Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom , Volume 98 , Special Issue 5: Marine Mammals , August 2018 , pp. 977 - 989
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0025315416001594[Opens in a new window]
Copyright © Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 2016
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Temporal and spatial trends in stranding records of cetaceans on the Irish coast, 2002–2014 – CORRIGENDUM
Barry McGovern, Ross M. Culloch, Michael O'Connell and Simon Berrow
Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, Volume 98, Special Issue 5: Marine Mammals
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Volume 98, Special Issue 5
Barry McGovern (a1) (a2), Ross M. Culloch (a1) (a3), Michael O'Connell (a1) and Simon Berrow (a1) (a4)
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0025315416001594
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Interview with Filmmaker Sophie Black (SONGBIRD)
June 24, 2019 matthewtoffolo directing a film, film director, short film, short film festival, toronto film festival, Uncategorized, wildsound film festival	feedback film festival, los angeles film festival, SONGBIRD short film, Sophie Black
SONGBIRD was the winner of BEST MUSIC at the May 2019 Sci-Fi/Fantasy Festival in Toronto.
Matthew Toffolo: What motivated you to make this film?
Sophie Black: Songbird's writer, Tommy Draper, had the idea in the back of his mind for a while; then he heard Janet Devlin's cover of The Cure's 'Friday I'm In Love' on Spotify, and because Janet's story (discovering her voice and her confidence through 'The X Factor') was so similar to the story Tommy wanted to tell, he started writing Songbird, and he built his script around her. We were very lucky that Janet agreed to take the lead role in the film!
Tommy told me about his idea for Songbird during a road trip (we were travelling back from a film festival in 2015). As a massive fantasy fan, I literally begged Tommy to give me and my film company, Triskelle Pictures Ltd., the rights to make the film. I think I wrote him a massive 'pitch email' as well! I think the story's quite unique: it's tonally similar to The Little Mermaid and other classic fairytales, but it's set in the modern-day world of indie music, so that makes it really special.
2. From the idea to the finished product, how long did it take for you to make this short?
After completing the first draft of the script in Autumn 2015, we were then shortlisted for Creative England's iShorts scheme in January 2016. Although Songbird didn't progress any further with that scheme, it gave us confidence in the fact that the project had legs – so we brought producer Laura C. Cann on board, and vowed to make the film in any way possible. We then had two very successful crowdfunding campaigns, and shot the film in August 2016. Songbird was in post-production for just over a year (partly because of the many incredible VFX shots we needed for the film), and was finally completed in November 2017, before we started submitting it to film festivals. So, between Autumn 2015 and now, it's been a big commitment for all of us!
3. How would you describe your short film in two words!?
Voice discovery. I would say 'magical journey', but that might be too generic. Songbird is about finding your voice, in more ways than one, so 'voice discovery' it is!
4. What was the biggest obstacle you faced in completing this film?
Funnily enough, it was the weather! We had every type of weather thrown at us during the shoot, starting with scorching heat (a lot of the crew got sunburnt in the process!), and then ending with a torrential thunderstorm on the final day of filming. We were shooting the film's ultimate battle scene at the time; it was Scene 17 in the script, and those two words strike fear into the crew's hearts even now, because the weather was so severe that day.
We were filming in the woods, and it rained constantly between 6am and about 5pm: our set flooded, things threatened to blow away, the cast and their costumes kept getting soaked, and we feared for the camera kit. I actually had to cut the scene in half in order to get everyone off location quicker, but you can't tell when you watch the film – annoyingly, the rain looks kind of beautiful in the final footage!
5. What were your initial reactions when watching the audience talking about your film in the feedback video?
We're always a bit nervous when people watch our films, because we never know how they are going to react. We always hope that they'll like it. But my crew and I were really grateful for the kind of words of your audience, and we're so glad that they enjoyed watching the film. Songbird's music has been popular throughout its festival run (it won two awards before you kindly gave the film 'Best Music'), so we were half expecting that your audience would enjoy that element of the film, but we were really touched by their comments about the film's editing and its general aura as well.
Watch the Audience FEEDBACK Video:
6. How did you come up with the idea for this short film?
See question one.
7. What film have you seen the most in your life?
My favourite films are actually the ones I watch the least. The 'Lord of The Rings' trilogy made me want to make films in the first place, but I've probably only watched each film twice – I like those films to stick in the back of my mind like fond memories, so that they never grow old in the face of modern technology. That way they can stay perfect forever.
There are a lot of indie films I've watched multiple times – films like '500 Days of Summer', 'Breakfast Club', 'Empire Records' etc are always great for a bit of easy viewing. I also used to watch 'American Beauty' every time I directed a film, usually the day before the shoot, to inspire me – and I watch 'Stealing Beauty' every summer, so that I can daydream about the Italian weather (it's currently raining here in England, even though it's June!)
8. You submitted to the festival via FilmFreeway, what are your feelings of the submission platform from a filmmaker's perspective?
I think it's great. The layout is very user-friendly, and it's great to have everything available to you in one place. The built-in press-kit function is also really useful; you know your film is going to be presented well to festivals, from the get-go. I've used other platforms in the past, but I can't really fault Film Freeway (apart from the fact that there's a few lower-quality festivals on there, but you get that everywhere).
9. What song have you listened to the most times in your life?
It depends on my mood and what I'm doing at the time. I listen to music every day, and every time I hear a new song that I love, it gets played on repeat until I know it thoroughly. I've just done that with Hayley Heyndrickx's 'Untitled God Song' and Lucy Rose's 'Nebraska', if you need two examples.
Music is incredibly important to me, particularly when I'm in pre-production on a new short film. Tommy Draper and I create a playlist on Spotify or YouTube for every new film we're writing, and that helps to set the tone and pace for our screenplays. It's also very informative to try and imagine what kind of music each character would listen to. I then send that music to my actors, very shortly after I cast them, so that they can get in the same headspace.
10. What is next for you? A new film?
My team and I are in pre-production on two new films right now: a 'Poison Ivy' / Batman fan film (because she was a childhood hero of mine), and 'Lepidopterist', which is a gentle sci-fi film about a female scientist who smuggles a specimen out of a lab. We're also in development on a fantasy thriller called 'The Barn' (working title), about a young man who abandons his ex-girlfriend when he discovers she is pregnant with his child; he then becomes trapped inside a magical building, which forces him to physically face his fears, with a new threat hidden behind every door. The Barn is one of our biggest projects to date, and it's one which we're really excited to get started on – we're just in need of some extra investment before we can make it happen. You can find out more about all of these projects on the Triskelle Pictures website.
Interview with Filmmaker Marat Narimanov (BIG BOOOM)
June 24, 2019 matthewtoffolo directing a film, feedback film festival, film director, short film, short film festival, toronto film festival, Uncategorized, wildsound film festival	audience feedback, BIG BOOOM short film, feedback film festival, los angeles film festival, Marat Narimanov
BIG BOOOM played to rave reviews at the June 2019 LA Feedback Film Festival.
Marat Narimanov: It's the desire to witness the great events that happened billions years ago and that are still happening right now.
To be able see all those processes in a short period of time and from the distant point of a cool-headed viewer, that's pretty much unemotional, just witnessing and stating the facts.
I'd say pretty long. The idea first came to me about 5 or 8 years before I started to make this film.
I finished all the animation within a year, then I had to wait for about 2 years for the sound design and the music to be accomplished.
Fast and nice. Because I wanted to make my film short, fast (in terms of real time to the cinematic time ratio) and nice.
Working with the other people on a 0-budget basis is really time-consuming. You should be ready to wait literally for years for some things to get finally done.
It was very interesting. Some ideas were fresh. I've already had a lot of feedback before from different people, but here the audience had some fresh ideas. It's very interesting.
It was after I got equainted with the old Hindu doctrine about the creation of our universe, I noticed it was pretty much like the Big Bang theory. And the Hindu concept is even much more advanced that the now-days scientific one, because it tells that the existence and non-existence (dissolve) phases of universe follow each other infinite number of times. The universe is born from the seed and returns to that seed after the cycle is finished. The grand cycles are called the Brahma's breath. So, my journey into the world of this animation film started with that ancient Vedic theory and with the word "Breath". Then I thought it would be nice to combine both theories – ancient and modern in one film.
It's probably Wong Kar Wai's In the mood for love. It's still a mystery for me HOW to make a film like that. I can watch it a hundred of times and never get bored.
8. You submitted to the festival via FilmFreeway, what are you feelings of the submission platform from a filmmaker's perspective?
It's the best platform ever.
Probably, it's Caravan played by Fanfare Ciocarlia. I'm always happy to hear it and occasionally dance while listeting to this song.
Yes, it's alreay done, just have to wait for the sound design and music to get finished 😉
Interview with Filmmaker Josh Jackson (A ROOMBA'S TALE)
June 24, 2019 matthewtoffolo directing a film, short film, short film festival, toronto film festival, Uncategorized, wildsound film festival	A ROOMBA's TALE short film, feedback film festival, Josh Jackson, los angeles film festival
A ROOMBA'S TALE played to rave reviews at the June 2019 LA FEEDBACK Film Festival.
Josh Jackson: Honestly, I hadn't made a film in a year or so, and wanted to MAKE SOME MOVIES DUDEY!!! You ever get that itch? Like it's pretty damn fun. Artistically fulfilling, all that jazz. So yeah, that's pretty much why I made it.
I had the stupid idea for a Roomba film like……a while ago. I think we shot it in December 2017 and finished it in like……..July 2018? I don't even know, man. There was a long pause in post-production because I was lazy and working a full time job. Gotta survive before you thrive, my mother always said. Just kidding, she never said that.
Dumb idea.
My biggest obstacle was probably just getting over myself and making something. You know how, as artists, we can be so precocious about our work and, "oh my, it must be PURRR-fect!" Especially if you haven't made anything in a while, you feel like your ART represents YOU and your value as a person. It doesn't. I had to block those annoying voices of self-doubt and focused on having fun.
They were all pretty spot on. It was really insightful! The girl who said she didn't laugh once…man, I gotta work on that. One guy talked for a while about how it could be seen as making light of domestic abuse. I don't even know how to respond to that.
I wish I had a good answer for this. The honest truth is that I saw my roomba and thought, "what if it were alive?" The end.
Gee…maybe Frozen? I freaking love Frozen.
FilmFreeway is great because it caused WithoutABox to get its act together. Like seriously, it was so cumbersome to submit a film through that platform. FilmFreeway comes along and is like the cool new kid in your school.
Probably worship music. I love Hillsong, Bethel, etc. It calms me down when I'm anxious.
I run a webcomic that has almost 100k followers on Instagram called @tubbynugget. We just sold 300 plush toys through a small business that my girlfriend (Jenine Pastores) and I set up. She was also the producer and co-writer on Roomba. So yeah, I'm probably out of the film biz for now. It isn't very profitable for a guy like mewho makes little indie short films. But webcomics….man, it's fun. You get to tell stories (which is the reason I fell in love with filmmaking to begin with) but on a smaller, faster scale. When I get back to filmmaking, it'll probably be a Tubby Nugget movie. So stay tuned. Enough about me though. How are you doing? Are you doing okay? You can message me on Instagram at @joshuadrewthis if you ever just like, I don't know, wanna talk about life or something. Did I mention I'm really bad at interviews?
Interview with Filmmaker Colin Gerrard (ELI)
June 24, 2019 matthewtoffolo directing a film, feedback film festival, film director, short film, short film festival, toronto film festival, Uncategorized, wildsound film festival	Colin Gerrard, ELI short film, filmmaker, interview, los angeles film festival
ELI was the winner of BEST FILM at the June LA Feedback Film Festival.
Colin Gerrard: I believe it has a timeless appeal coming from the moment we all make a decision regarding our own motives, without thinking of the consequences for others.
Survival & Equality
Having the right cast.
Wonderful. Feedback from people who have just seen your work, whether it be constructive or critical, is always helpful in my eyes. Especially when its immediately after they have just viewed the film…then its real and from the heart.
A friend of mine brought up the original story to my attention. After getting the rights to film it, we went about updating the story to a point we felt that it was more in keeping with current attitudes in society today…although in retrospect, not much ever changes as human beings have the worst track record when it comes to learning from history.
Great. They have streamlined the process to a point that its just the click of a button, after the initial setup of your film on their site.
10cc's 'I'm Not In Love'
I have 2 new shorts in the works as well as working on a new script for a series.
Interview with Filmmaker Myriam Kamel (MY BROTHER)
May 6, 2019 matthewtoffolo feedback film festival, film director, short film, short film festival, toronto film festival, Uncategorized, wildsound film festival	feedback film festival, interview, los angeles film festival, Myriam Kamel (MY BROTHER), short film
MY BROTHER played to rave reviews at the April 2019 Los Angeles FEEDBACK Film Festival.
Myriam Kamel: I definitely wanted to show diversity on the screen. Montreal is such a cultural city, and as beautiful as it is it also comes with its issues. I wanted to portray it on the screen.
2. From the idea to the finished product, how long did it take for you
to make this short?
I thought about this film for about 3 years before writing the first version. Then from writing to the first screening it took about 8 months.
Cultural film
Casting was the biggest challenge throughout this film. There are not a lot of arabic actors in Montreal and the few I met didn't correspond much to the characters. Casting was a very long process and I was very lucky to find Hamza and Fayçal.
5. What were your initial reactions when watching the audience talking
about your film in the feedback video?
At first I was very very VERY nervous, but after I was relieved. It's amazing to get that kind of feedback from strangers. I loved that people who had trouble relating to the story or who didn't understand certain things had the guts to speak out and say it. Too often it feels like people are too scared to say what they think for fear of hurting your feelings, but I know that my work is not perfect and I had an idea of what didn't come out right with this film. This feedback helped me confirm it and think of what I could have done differently. It was very constructive and I'm very grateful for it.
I knew I wanted to make a film about culture differences. Growing up in Montreal I've always felt like I had to behave a certain way inside the house and another when I was out. My beliefs were often challenged and my parents didn't always understand how it changed me. After discussing it with other people I realized that I wasn't the only one going through this sort of dilemna where I felt I had to chose between my family and what I wanted, and so I wanted to write about it.
In my whole life it would be La Haine by Mathieu Kassovitz, but recently I've just watched Divines by Uda Benyamina and I'm in love with it. It's a sad film, but it's beautiful, very well-made. I love french cinema.
8. You submitted to the festival via FilmFreeway, what are you feelings
of the submission platform from a filmmaker's perspective?
I like that there is such a platform, it definitely eases the submission process and it's great to have access to so many festivals in one place, but sometimes it does feel like your film is only one in a million. It's also hard to figure out which festivals are active on FilmFreeway.
Like Ships in the Night – Mat Kearney
Working on my next short 🙂
Interview with Filmmaker Andre Sitolini (THE COOK AND THE CHEF)
April 7, 2019 matthewtoffolo 1997, directing a film, feedback film festival, film director, short film, short film festival, toronto film festival, Uncategorized, wildsound film festival	Andre Sitolini, comedy film, feedback film festival, los angeles film festival, the cook and the chef short film
THE COOK AND THE CHEF played to rave reviews at the March 2019 Comedy & Drama Film Festival in Los Angeles.
Andre Sitolini : I wanted to make something very stylistic. I wanted clouds grounded to the horizon and the sky to never be blue.
About 5 months of intensive work. The intro alone was a month of work.
Sizzling Hot!
Having to decide which scenes to cut and which scenes to keep in.
Overjoyed! I'm glad everyone liked it!
I actually wanted to tell a different message. It was going to be about having more than just passion to be good at something.
Originally the Cook was suppose to lose and learn about not judging the Chef for his apathetic appearance.
It's rare that I'll watch a film more than once but anything incredibly stylistic and colorful is always something I keep coming back to.
It was really great having to make only one portfolio and submitting to multiple festivals. I'm not really the producer type so it help me get into more festivals then I would have bothered.
Andrew Bird – Armchair Apocrypha is my favorite album of all time, but for the entire production of my film I limited myself to only listen to songs with an accordion in it.
I became an animator to create an animated series about Superheroes, but now I want to adopt it into a comic format!
Interview with Filmmaker Filippo Michele Guarna (MISTER EGG)
April 7, 2019 matthewtoffolo directing a film, feedback film festival, film director, short film, short film festival, toronto film festival, Uncategorized, wildsound film festival	feedback film festival, Filippo Michele Guarna, los angeles film festival, MISTER EGG short film
MISTER EGG was the winner of BEST FILM at the March 2019 Comedy & Drama Film Festival in Los Angeles.
Filippo Michele Guarna: It was a period of intense philosophical 'restlessness' for me; self-inquisition, confusion and doubt – the kind of thoughts that start bugging you when you're approaching your twenties, I guess. Such a ride can be heavy, so I decided to take it the light way, underlining through comedy the absurdity of existence. Humor really is a superpower, it can change one's perspective in fascinating ways and peculiarly gifts human life with hale dignity.
It took about ten days: I had to deliver a short film to film school, and I was running out of time.
This sounds like looking for a title: 'philosophical egg'.
Editing the face of Akuzike Mauluka (Mister Egg) onto the egg forced my to push the boundaries of my basic VFX skills a little further. But the hardest part was probably acknowledging the value of my work while it was coming to life in the final phase of editing; I am very critical of my works, especially when I just finished them. I seem to notice more their weaknesses than their strengths, and with 'Mister Egg' that was the case: only various precious external points of view helped me shedding a light on its virtues too. A process which furtherly unfolded through watching the audience feedback video.
Some kind of alienation, it seemed surreal to me that they were talking, from a theatre on the other side of the world, about my film on a talking egg. It was an enlightening experience somehow, it was the first time I heard about Mister Egg from someone I don't personally know. My interior voice reacted something like this: 'Who are you, ladies and gents? What do you want from me? Why are you saying nice things about my short film I made in my kitchen a couple of misty winters ago? Well, thank you kind strangers!'. I also had a laugh when Paolo Valenti (Paul) was compared to Jon Snow – this often happens with him.
As I previously mentioned, I had to submit a short film to film school. I was lacking an idea which would satisfy me, and time was running short. I was standing in the kitchen, around midnight, scratching my beardless chin in pursuit of inspiration. Then I looked at the frying pan, love-heartedly thinking about how I ate an egg everyday for breakfast, and not-so-love-heartedly realising how this would have raised my cholesterol levels very quickly. Cholesterol apart, I imagined a philosophical conversation between an ordinary guy and his breakfast's egg, and was fascinated by such egg's hypothetical perspective. An interaction which offered me new dialogic 'toys' to play with.
Stanley Kubrick's "2001: A Space Odyssey".
I can't compare it to past tools of submission, since this was my first experience with festivals. However, I don't think it can get simpler than that, and this is positive. Upload your work, look for festivals, send it through: it goes straight to the point.
Comfortably Numb by Pink Floyd.
Lately I've been writing quite a few short scripts. To be honest, quite a lot short scripts. Too many of them, indeed. By focusing on one of them, in the next months I will dedicate myself to making it come to life. Unfortunately, I lost the habit of eating eggs for breakfast. My cholesterol levels are OK, but I'll have to seek inspiration elsewhere!
Interview with Writer Mike Arsuaga (Twitter Short Story)
Interview with Writer Rick Danford (Twitter Short Story)
Interview with Writer Micki Hogan (Twitter Short Story)
Interview with Writer Angela Brown (Twitter Short Story)
Interview with Writer Connie Wilson (Twitter Short Story)
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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Recruitment is a process. In our case, a process that has taken us two years to refine and perfect. You trawl websites like ours and you find a couple of jobs that interest you. After you've been through our process and the magic happens, it's your turn. Your prospective employers like what they've read and they call you in for interview.
For many, the interview is nothing short of a living nightmare. You know you're qualified for the job and you know your face fits, so why, for some, does it all fall to pieces when you're face-to-face?
There's a thousand websites where you'll find horror interview stories (including one we prepared earlier) and we all know someone who's had a shocker but if we boil it down to the absolute basics, it's just you and a middle-management jobsworth, in a room, sizing each other up.
You might get the job, you might not, that's how it works. But when you're in the interview, having done all your prep, try not to fall to pieces. However if you do don't worry about it, you're in stellar company.
David Blaine & Eammon Holmes Blaine appeared on lovable Eammon's ITV breakfast show to (presumably) talk about his latest attention-seeking stunt but simply refused to talk. Instead, he held up his palm with an eye drawn on it telling Holmes it was to protect him from death. Oddball.
Meg Ryan & Michael Parkinson She wasn't in a great place. She'd just split from Russell Crowe and the film she was supposed to plug had been slammed but she was rude, uncooperative, uncommunicative and it made him angry. Parky! Angry? He thought she was rude, she though he was a nut. 'I've wiped my memory of Meg Ryan. I didn't like her.' Diva.
Tom Cruise & Oprah Winfrey A-list Hollywood royalty turned Scientology punchline killed his public image in the space of four horrifically-excruciating minutes in 2005 when he appeared on Oprah's show. Whatever he was flogging is long forgotten. All anyone remembers is him going completely and utterly insane when talking about his love for (his now ex-wife) Katie Holmes. Mentalist.
In 1995 and shortly before her divorce, Princess Diana agreed to a full-length interview with highly-respected broadcaster Martin Bashir. Almost 23-million of us watched. Some say she was incredibly brave for fronting up. Others questioned her decision to take on the Royal Family single-handedly and in such a public way.
She told the world she knew about her husband's affair with Camilla; she admitted to an affair with James Hewitt and came clean on her bulimia, self-harm and the lack of support from the Royal Family including allegations they tried to destroy her reputation in the aftermath of her separation.
Jephson suggested that what appeared to be quite a daring, subversive thing to do, didn't seem so in the cold light of day.
Sadly at the time, the interview – which has gone down in the annals of history as one of the most famous ever conducted – did nothing to further her cause. She was racked with guilt, anxiety and defiance and you take on the Royal Family at your peril.
The hour-long conversation was all at once desperately sad, shocking and controversial, but also one of the most famous interviews ever televised.
Four years after President Richard Nixon resigned in the wake of the Watergate scandal, he agreed to a series of interviews with (then) talk-show host and producer David Frost (who had just had his US talk-show cancelled). Nixon's staff saw it as a way to repair his public reputation and were certain that Frost would roll over and have his belly tickled. There was no way an upstart from the UK could outwit a US President. Was there?
Since none of the American networks wanted a piece of the action, Frost funded the interviews almost entirely out of his own pocket, selling the syndication rights at the last minute and agreeing to pay the disgraced ex-President $600,000 (approx. £2 million today) and 20% of the syndication profits.
The series of 12 interviews, recorded three-a-week for four weeks lasting just under 29 hours, delved into Nixon's presidency and topics included domestic and foreign policy, the Vietnam War and of course, Watergate. The first three interviews were typical Nixon – a well-rehearsed, well-briefed albeit rambling yet confident orator. He and his cronies had the measure of Frost. If he just kept babbling on, Frost couldn't ask any questions. His staff were sure this was going to be the dictionary definition of easy cash.
Little did David Frost know when he was sitting with Nixon that he was about to be the headline act in one of the most important pieces of television ever.
As well-prepared as Nixon was on everything else, it later transpired he'd done no prep on Watergate. Frost probed, pressed, out-argued and kept knocking on the door and he eventually got what he – and the nation – was looking for.
With that, Frost was assured of his place in broadcasting history but as good as that legacy is, his second is even more important.


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Business in Brief: Goldman Sachs Sees Surprise Bank of Israel Rate Cut
Clal responds to charges re Andromeda; Israel Corp. unit buys LatAm power plant; TAT wins $45m contract with Republic Airways.
Sep. 22, 2014 Updated: Apr. 10, 2018
Bank of Israel headquarters in Jerusalem.Credit: Bloomberg
Goldman Sachs sees surprise Bank of Israel rate cut
The Ticker: IAC reportedly makes $500m offer for Perion
The Ticker: Dollar extends gains on the shekel
At 0.25%, the Bank of Israel's base lending rate is already its lowest in history. But Goldman Sachs, defying the consensus of economists said in a report over the weekend, that it expects the central bank to lower the rate a third time in a row on Monday to 0.15%. "We expect the 'dovish' central bank to surprise the market once again," Goldman said in the report. A 10-basis-point cut would "be a strong signal to the market that the central bank is determined to bring inflation back towards the target over the next 12 months." And if that isn't enough, Goldman also predicted a second, 10-point reduction, to 0.05% by the end of the year. If the Bank of Israel doesn't cut the rate, there is a "real risk" that the shekel, which has weakened close to 7% since the end of July, could reverse course, Goldman said. (TheMarker Staff)
Clal says it got only partial data on Andromeda accusations
Clal Biotechnology said on Sunday that documents it was shown at a meeting with representatives of Hyperion gave it little information to assess the validity of the accusations that Andromeda falsified trials of its DiaPep277 diabetes drug. The weekend meeting came a week and a half after the U.S. drug maker that backed out of a potential $550 million purchase of Clal's Andromeda unit. "The information was shown only in the form of a presentation to Clal representatives, without their being able to see the [original] information or examine it independently, nor were they given free access to the Andromeda knowledge base," Clal said. Nevertheless, the company said it saw no evidence showing that Clal or any of its employees were involved in any misconduct. Clal, whose shares plunged close to 50% after Hyperion rescinded the deal, jumped 7.5% to 43.42 shekels ($11.87) in Tel Aviv Sunday. (Yoram Gabison)
Israel Corp. unit buys LatAm power plant
Israel Corporation said on Sunday that its IC Power unit, which operates energy projects in Latin America, bought its fourth regional power station, paying $40 million cash for the Puerto Quetzal plant in Guatemala. The 234-megawatt plant, Guatemala's biggest and a provider of electricity neighboring El Salvador and Honduras, adds to facilities closely held IC Power has in Jamaica, Nicaragua and Colombia. The plants will be able to share generating capacity. All told, IC Power now had 10 plants in Latin America. Israel Corporation, whose A-plus credit ranging was affirmed by S&P Maalot on Sunday, finished up 2.8% at 2,138 shekels ($584.62) in Tel Aviv. (Dror Reich)
TAT wins $45 million contract with Republic Airways
TAT Technologies, which provides services and products to the commercial and military aerospace and ground defense industries, said its U.S. unit, Piedmont Aviation Component Services, had a seven-year agreement to maintain landing gear for Republic Airways aircraft for $45 milion or more. The contract covers the airline's fleet of 160 Embraer E-175 aircraft and the total value may exceed $45 million. "This contract will position us as a world leading maintenance service provider for Embraer E-170/190 landing gear as the fleet is just entering first wave of major overhaul requirements. It constitutes an important step in our strategy of solidifying TAT Technologies and subsidiaries as world leading service providers," TAT CEO Itsik Maaravi, said. Shares of TAT rose 3.4% to close at 28.43 shekels ($7.77) in Tel Aviv. (TheMarker Staff)
TA-25 powers to another record higher
The Tel Aviv Stock Exchange's TA-25 index powered to another record high on Sunday, energized by a higher Wall Street and a budget deal over the weekend. The benchmark index closed more than 0.6% up at 1,456.15 points while the TA-100 advanced 0.4% to 1,307.05 on turnover of 639.5 million shekels ($174.9 million). Israel Chemicals paced the TA-100 higher, rising 3.7% to 29.40 shekels and was also the day's most actively traded stock. The advance capped a 9.3% rise in the shares in the past six sessions. Bezeq gained 2.8% to a close of 6.58 shekels. On the downside, Mazor Robotics extended its losses over the last nine trading days to nearly 14.5%, losing 3.2% on Sunday to close at 23.93 shekels. In the fixed-income market, the government's 10-year shekel bond rose 0.12%, cutting its yield to 2.46% while its inflation-linked bond due in 2023 edged up 0.03% to leave its yield at 0.52%. (Shelly Appelberg)


text:
Q: remove spaces from char* array in C I am working on a plugin in C for a game emulator, where I would like to remove all spaces from chat message before checking if the input messages contain any website urls.
So, I have this function like this to deblank (remove spaces from input message):
char* deblank(char* input) {
    int i, j;
    char *output = input;
    for (i = 0, j = 0; i < strlen(input); i++, j++) {
        if (input[i] != ' ')
            output[j] = input[i];
        else
            j--;
    }
    output[j] = 0;
    return output;
}

I use it in my plugin hook like this:
bool my_pc_process_chat_message(bool retVal___, struct map_session_data *sd, const char *message) {
    if (retVal___ == true) {
        char* check_message = deblank(message);
        bool url_detected = (stristr(check_message, "://") || stristr(check_message, "www.") || stristr(check_message, "vvvvvv.") || stristr(check_message, "wvvw."));
        if (!url_detected) {
            int len = sizeof(tld_list) / sizeof(tld_list[0]);
            int i;
            for (i = 0; i < len; ++i) {
                if (stristr(check_message, tld_list[i])) {
                    url_detected = true;
                    break;
                }
            }
        }
        if (url_detected) {
            clif->messagecolor_self(sd->fd, COLOR_RED, "Possible GM Impersonation Detected - you cannot type website URLs in chat.");
            return false;
        }
    }
    return retVal___;
}

The above works, but there's a side-effect. What seems to be happening is that the input message is getting modified and all spaces from the message being removed, when it doesn't contain any website urls.
For example, if I typed:

Go to www.some-domain.com

The above get's blocked, So does this (when players try to be clever and use spaces):

w w w . s o m e      -       d o m a i n . c o m

However, when you type a normal message that doesn't contain any website urls like this:

Hello, how are you?

It's getting turned into the following:

Hello,howareyou?

This is because of this line: char* check_message = deblank(message);
The deblank function appears to be modifying the original message. I thought the function would return a new copy of the orignal message, without spaces.
Is there a way I can make a temporary copy of the original input message, remove spaces from that, before doing my check?
Also, how do you clear allocated memory to the temp copy of the orignal input? I don't want this to linger around. Or does C automatically clears that temp char array once the code finishes it's execution in the scope?

A: No, you can't actually do that.
There are two solutions:
 - Loop the string a first time to count how many non-space characters there are, so you know how much you need to allocate.
int count_not_empty(const char *str)
{
  int n = 0;

  for (; *str; ++str) {
    if (*str != ' ') n++;
  }
  return n + 1; // the +1 is for the nulbyte at the end
}

*

*Allocate a string as big as the one you want to trim, and pad with nulbytes at the end.

i.e.
char *copy_not_empty(const char *str)
{
  size_t i;
  size_t j;
  char *new = malloc(strlen(str) + 1);

  for (i = j = 0; i < strlen(str); ++i)
  {
    if (str[i] != ' ')
      new[j++] = str[i];
  }
  for (; j <= i; j++)
    new[j] = 0; // pad with nulbytes
  return new;
}

A: Code broke the contract.
const char *message points to data that should be not modified.  deblank(message) attempted to modified. it --> undefined behavior.
bool my_pc_process_chat_message(..., const char *message) {
  if (retVal___ == true) {
    char* check_message = deblank(message);

A properly warning enabled compiler would warn about this - saves you time.
For more detail and ideas, post the calling code to my_pc_process_chat_message().

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


I'm sorry but I do not like Green Day, I may be the only one who thinks this, and get yelled at for saying this… But I truly believe they're overplayed on classic rock AND new music stations. They play them on every station, for music, on this planet! I get it people like them and all, but really, "Brain stew" Is a very overplayed song.
So where do you start in a section as massive as this one? From acoustic to electric, nylon to steel stringed, hollow body to solid body, all styles are represented here, so having a good idea of what you're looking for will definitely help. The best place to start is usually with the brand, as each one has a reputation for something different, allowing you to narrow things down from there. For example, you'll instantly recognize names like Fender, Gibson and Ibanez as trailblazers of the electric guitar, while others like Martin, Taylor, and Breedlove are more famous for the unparalleled quality of their acoustic instruments. After that, you'll want to look at things like body type, tonewood, strings, size, orientation and performance level. Once you have a general idea about each of these, your decision gets that much easier. Just remember, it all comes down to personal preference, so as long as you're happy with the guitar you choose you can't go wrong. The guitar is a special instrument, with a different meaning to every player. Whether you're taking your first steps into the world of music or you're a professional rocking out in front of sold out stadiums all over the planet, strumming, plucking and picking on a guitar is a way to express yourself that can't be duplicated with anything else. So pick up a guitar here and start playing… you'll be glad you did.
The neck and fretboard (2.1) extend from the body. At the neck joint (2.4), the neck is either glued or bolted to the body. The body (3) is typically made of wood with a hard, polymerized finish. Strings vibrating in the magnetic field of the pickups (3.1, 3.2) produce an electric current in the pickup winding that passes through the tone and volume controls (3.8) to the output jack. Some guitars have piezo pickups, in addition to or instead of magnetic pickups.


text:
Inquest into death of Natasha Chin in HMP Bronzefield to reopen on Wednesday
*UPDATE ISSUED 2 JULY: This inquest has been adjourned. It is now listed for 5 November 2018 and is expected to last up to 5 weeks.
Before HM Coroner Caroline Topping
HM Coroner's Court, Station Approach, Woking, GU22 7AP
Opens 27 June 2018 – expected to last 10 days
The inquest into the death of Natasha Chin will reopen on Wednesday 27 June, after being adjourned unexpectedly last month. Natasha Chin is described by her family as a lovely person who loved making people laugh. She was 39 years old when she was found unresponsive in her cell in Sodexo run HMP Bronzefield, on 19 July 2016.
Natasha had been recalled to prison for missing probation appointments and not residing in the accommodation approved by probation. She had alcohol and drug dependencies, a history of depression and poor physical health including asthma and epileptic fits. She had been in prison for only 36 hours before she died.
Natasha, a black woman from Islington, became unwell after entering the prison and was noted as suffering from withdrawal. The next day her condition deteriorated. She was vomiting excessively and was reported to be perspiring, out of breath and unsteady on her feet. She rang her cell bell during the evening but this went unanswered due, it would seem, to a problem with the cell bell system. This problem appears to have been known by some, but not all staff. It was not known to the night time officer in charge of Natasha's wing that night. Around three and a half hours after she rang her cell bell, a prison officer and a nurse who entered her cell to deliver her medication found her unresponsive and she could not be saved.
Natasha's family hope the inquest will address the following issues:
What the cause of Natasha's death was.
The extent to which the prison's response to her withdrawal symptoms and ill health contributed to her death.
Communication failures between staff.
The failure of the cell bell system.
Whether an earlier intervention could have saved Natasha's life.
Marsha Chin, Natasha's sister said: "I hope the inquest will thoroughly examine the circumstances of Natasha's death to help us as a family understand why she died, and whether anything could have been done to prevent her death."
Deborah Coles, Executive Director of INQUEST said: "The vulnerability of women in prison is well documented and they are owed a duty of care. There have been previous concerns raised by coroners and investigation bodies around the treatment of drug dependency in this private prison. This inquest must offer proper scrutiny into the circumstances surrounding Natasha's death and how she came to die within 36 hours of entering the prison".
For further information or to register your interest please contact Lucy McKay or Sarah Uncles on 020 7263 1111 or [email protected]
INQUEST has been working with the family of Natasha Chin since her death. The family is represented by INQUEST Lawyers Group members Megan Phillips of Bhatt Murphy Solicitors and Maria Roche of Doughty Street Chambers.
Sodexo (who run the prison and are responsible for both discipline and healthcare), Cimarron who provide GP agency services, and a doctor will also be separately represented.
Natasha was one of nine women to die at HMP Bronzefield since 2010. One of these deaths has been classified as self-inflicted, six as non self-inflicted and two awaiting classification.
Following the death of Sarah Higgins at Bronzefield in 2010, the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman's investigation concluded that prisoners undergoing methadone maintenance programmes should be checked regularly if they report as unwell.
Poignantly, this year marks the 10-year anniversary of the death of Pauline Campbell, a formidable campaigner who fought to prevent the imprisonment of vulnerable women and to hold the state to account for preventable deaths. Her work was pivotal in the setting up of the Corston review after her daughter was one of the six women to die in Styal prison. She was a great advocate for INQUEST and she was dedicated to supporting other families.
On 1 May, INQUEST launched a new report, Still Dying on the Inside, which calls for urgent action to save the lives of women in prison. It highlights the lack of action from successive governments to prevent deaths and puts forward a series of recommendations to close women's prisons by redirecting resources from criminal justice to community-based services.
Updated: 2nd July, 2018
Author: Sarah Uncles
other circumstances
Black, Asian and minority ethnic groups


We assembled in the dark at Costley Park, ready to begin. The night had been filled with wind and rain, and some of the crew worried about what the day would bring. Me, I slept like a baby. I woke to the first day of filming with a huge sense of anticipation.
It was dull and grey to start with. But then, with perfect timing, the sky turned golden, the birds sang, and we had the perfect dawn opening we'd all been hoping for. It was a bit of divine magic which either happens or doesn't, and we were fortunate enough to be on the receiving end.
The rest of the day followed as it should – a keen team of crew traipsing around Ponsonby following Arthur on his adventures. It was a chance for everyone to hit their straps and get used to working as a team. And apart from our DOP putting his back out, it all went swimmingly. We kept on schedule and wrapped early.
So strange to see a story which has only existed on paper and in imagination come to life. What a great privilege for a writer. I'm looking forward to every day of this.


We wish a HAPPY FATHER'S DAY to all dads and host dads out there!
Hey there, I hope you are well. Here is my little letter about my host dad Wes. I attached a photo, which I think describes really well what a great dad he is.
"Hey there, well I'd like to introduce my host dad Wes who's doin' a fantastic job in my view. He's not only young at heart, but he is also a super reliable and supportive dad. Moreover, he's always doing his best to make it for watching the boys' matches or school events even though he got loads of work to do. Honestly, I really admire this energetic enthusiasm after a long work day when he is still able to spend fun time with the boys, being patient with all of us, cooking fantastic dinners or entertaining us with the corniest jokes (no offense lol).
From the first moment on, when he picked me up from the airport, he did his best to make me feel as comfy as possible and what shall I say? He succeeded in every way with his humorous warmth!
What a great way to express her feelings!
However, we had lovely letters from other participants as well. It seems like your host dads are amazing fathers.
We thank all of you for participating.
There is no better host dad than mine: Jas!
After I had a very bad experience in my old host family I felt lost. It was hard for me to keep open minded but than I met the Manns. Jas promised me to look after me and to make sure that I'll have the best experience ever. The most important thing for him is that everyone is happy.
He is always kind and cheerful. Jas is the best possible dad even if he had a long day and the children are a bit naughty he stays calm and fair. It doesn't matter what time it is: if it is night and I am scared to walk home from the train station or if it is day and I need help with anything. Jas is 24/7 supportive.
Although he is very busy he is always thoughtful. That is one of his most impressive characteristics.
Jas is my superhero host dad and I can never thank him enough for what he did for me. He kept his promise and made the au pair experience the best of my life. It makes me very sad to leave them in July but I know that they will always be a part of me.
My host dad is the best, because he kills all the spiders in my rooms at any time. Last week he drove 20 minutes to help me unpark my car, because I got boxed in. He got up, although he had a sore head from drinking the night before.
He shows a lot of dry humour towards his kids, what makes me laugh a lot. He is a loving and kind dad! Thank you Jason!
So many good words for their host dads!
Long or short, all letters show how important a father can be for us!
Yesterday, the Sunday the 27th of September saw our Annual Smartaupairs Au Pair introduction Day take place.
Nearly 150 au pairs attended which was a fantastic turnout! Present from Smartaupairs were Robyn, Chloe, Tuuli and Sandra and we also had two experienced au pair helpers Johanne and Lara who are currently au pairing in Kent.
We had lots of different social games for the day and we hope many au pairs found new contacts from other local au pairs during the event.
Thank you for all who joined us!
Here are some of the photos submitted by the au pairs themselves!
Annual Au Pair River Cruise – Book NOW!
The date for the annual Au Pair River Cruise has been announced! Every year, Smartaupairs invites all au pairs who are placed with one of our host families to join us for the event. It's extremely popular so we recommend booking your place as soon as possible!
Come and join hundreds of other BAPAA au pairs on a private boat trip to Greenwich. You will travel past famous bridges and historic buildings along the river from Central London, with many exciting views of Westminster including the Houses of Parliament and the London Eye, and then head downstream through the city to the Thames Barrier, Greenwich and back again. At Greenwich you will have time to have a look around – there are lively markets, historic buildings, the famous Royal Observatory and Meridian Line, the Maritime Museum and a beautiful park with wonderful views over London. Bring a picnic or buy lunch in Greenwich.
Nearest tube station: Waterloo or Embankment. Nearest mainline train station: Waterloo.
If you wish to stay in London for the night of Saturday 16th May, hostel accommodation is available through International Students House, 229 Great Portland Street, London W1. (www.ish.org.uk) Telephone 020 7631 8310, quoting BAPAA.
Au Pair Britt won our photo competition in 2014. This is her entry taken in Greenwich Park.
Payment details: You can pay via PayPal (even if you don't have a PayPal account) – go to www.paypal.co.uk and make the payment to finance@bapaa.org.uk. You must include your FULL name, the name of your agency in the UK (Smartaupairs) and your host family, plus the names of any friends going on the trip with you (stating BAPAA or non-BAPAA). You must print off the PayPal receipt or ticket and bring it with you on the day, as you will need to show it when you board the boat (tickets displayed on smartphones will not be accepted)! You must pay in advance for your ticket and refunds are not given.
Smartaupairs will be running a photo competition so REMEMBER TO BRING YOUR CAMERA!
Entries are to be emailed to aupairs@smartaupairs.com by 29th May 2015 and the winner will receive a £20 Amazon voucher. Click here to see some of last year's entries.
Smartaupairs reserves the right to use any images from the boat trip for the purpose of future promotions.
The #aupairproject research has especially highlighted the dangers for both Au Pairs and host families using "Internet only platforms" where there is no self-regulation at all. Using an Internet matching site there is no agency to mediate and oversee an Au Pair placement ensuring the rules of the Cultural Exchange are followed. There is no support on offer to the Au Pair or to the host family, no benefits for the Au Pair or for the host family, no emergency helpline or agency number to call if the Au Pair or host family are having problems and in need of assistance.
It's that lovely time of year again when we hear from au pairs and families about how their placements have started off. Here are the stories from two au pairs who have recently started their placements in the UK.
Firstly, we wanted to share with you the full PowerPoint presentation created by Dutch au pair Maartje, one of the winners of our recent competition.
The following slides cover the first month of her placement in Kingston upon Thames in Surrey.
All is perfect!!!!! I am really happy here. I have a lovely hostfamily, I found a news friends, I take english courses and I improve my english: the paradise!!!! Thank you for all.
After all of the hard work that goes into the search process and organisation for the au pair's arrival, by our agency, the host family and the au pair herself, it is great to hear wonderful success stories like these.
This is a lovely time of year for us, as we hear so many fantastic stories from families and au pairs who are parting ways after spending a year together. Many host families are also confirming their new au pairs in time for the summer or next academic year.
We would like to share with you some of the wonderful feedback we have received over the last few days.
"I have been using Smartaupairs for several years now and every year proved successful thanks to the Smartaupairs team's diligence and kindness.
Thanks to them, the process of finding the "right" au-pair for my family has always been fool-proof: a quick phone-call with a very helpful and supportive person at the end of the line; a few emails exchanged to finalise details and there I was with a list of pre-selected candidates.
I really enjoyed using the Smartaupairs website for its easiness of use as well as finding all the information I needed with just a few very simple clicks.
Once, I have had an emergency where my German au-pair had to go home following a bereavement. It was a stressful time for everyone in the family but thanks to Smartaupairs, some of this stress has been removed within days.
I have recommended Smartaupairs to all my friends with young children and will continue to do so in the future for the quality of service provided is exemplary.
If you looking for reliability as well as outstanding service, you are in the right place!
We were delighted to place the Cummings family's first au pair with them. We understand that the search process can sometimes be daunting for first time host families so do our very best to make things simple.
"A huge Thank you for connecting us with three wonderful candidates.
We were impressed by all of them but sadly only one can be successful.
For more testimonials, please see our website.
We look forward to matching lots more families and au pairs in time for the new school year!
If you are interested in hosting an au pair, please call us on 0800 917 8166, email on info@smartaupairs.com, or register on our website for a call back.


The Fender Custom Shop 2015 Flame Maple Top American Custom Telecaster® takes a double-bound early-'60s classic and decks it out with knockout appointments that make it a dazzling performer. The two-piece lightweight ash body has a gorgeous two-piece book-matched AAA flame maple top, with parchment top and back body binding. The guitar comes in elegant Violin Burst or Honey Burst finishes with an NOS treatment that evokes the look of a brand-new instrument in its original model year. Scorching Telecaster snap comes from a pair of hand-wired Twisted Tele® single-coil pickups and Fender's Greasebucket™ tone circuit, which rolls off highs without reducing gain.
Other premium features include an AAA flame maple neck with "large C" profile, fast compound-radius (9.5″-12″) maple or dark rosewood "slab" fingerboard with bone nut and 22 narrow frets, three-way pickup switch with black "top hat" tip, three-ply eight-hole parchment pickguard, custom deluxe Telecaster bridge, and Elite chrome tuners with pearl buttons. Includes black textured vinyl hard-shell case.


text:
Rhethawks
ENG 109/111
Inquiry 1 Reflective Narrative
Inquiry 1 Examples
Inquiry 2 Rhetorical Analysis
Inquiry 3 Research-Based Argument
Inquiry 4 Remediation
Optional Cumulative Reflection
Optional Cumulative Reflection Examples
"The Harmful Impacts of Heteronormativity," Holly West (2016) — Inquiry 3
At the time I was writing this essay, same sex marriage in the United States had been legalized for a few months. I noticed that people were starting to lose their passion for advocating for gay rights because, to them, the fight had already been won. As someone who has close friends who identify as gay, I wanted to talk about how there is still a social stigma attached to the LGBT community. I thought a great way to do this was to define the term "heteronormativity," a term many people may not be familiar with, to explain its importance in how we treat issues surrounding sexual orientation in our society, and to give specific examples of how even the smallest things we think of as normal are harmful to the members of this community.
Some focuses I included were religion, subtle forms of prejudice, and microaggressions. Religion was the best place to start because it provided a framework for how prejudice and microaggressions can take place. I thought using the example of anti-gay religious ideology would help the reader understand how and why society collectively perpetuates heteronormativity. Next, I talked about prejudice and microaggressive behavior. My intention was to identify examples of heteronormativity we may not think of as harmful and to explain how they affect gay individuals. I concluded this section with the thoughts and experiences of a friend of mine who faces the impacts of heteronormativity first-hand in hopes of helping the reader understand just how important it is to learn about this. I then wrapped everything up with some final ideas of how we can work to eliminate the stigma. My objective by ending on this note was to help the reader comprehend that even though same sex marriage is legal, all the topics that were introduced in this essay are proof that the fight is nowhere near over.
The Harmful Impacts of Heteronormativity
In the past few months, we have seen massive triumphs in the movement for equality. Same sex marriage has been legalized in all fifty states and representation for the gay community is at its highest. Although, many people don't realize that work still needs to be done for equality to be accomplished on a social level. Many people stand behind the belief that gay marriage, adoption, or the lifestyle of being gay in general challenges traditional values America has held on a pedestal since our nation's founding. These values lead to stereotypes, discomfort, or overall hatred for individuals who identify as LGBQ. The social perception of the gay community stems from heteronormativity partially rooted in religious values, which has an impact on how LGBQ individuals are treated in school and the workplace, as well as how these individuals perceive their own identity.
Modern society, as well as societies well before our generation, epitomizes and encourages relationships strictly between men and women, which is the idea of heteronormativity. Heteronormativity is defined as "the privileging of heterosexuality" (Hylton 68). This can be seen in popular culture by opening a book, turning on the radio, or watching a movie in which the majority of relationships depicted are between a man and a woman. This ideology is also seen through certain religions, such as Christianity, where homosexuality is highly discouraged. A study on undergraduate students identifying as Protestant Christian reveals that the majority of participants held generally negative views towards different aspects of gay rights, the two most negatively received being gay male marriage and gay parent adoption. The lack of positive association to these moral concepts and the generally neutral association to more simple concepts, such as job discrimination, "may indicate a perception that the issue of job discrimination was less threatening … where as the other measures involved mention of sexual acts (laws) and potential perceived threats to the 'traditional family' unit" (Wolff 214). The findings in this study are an example of how religion contributes to heteronormativity, which can be damaging to "out," "closeted," or questioning individuals alike, whether people fully recognize it or not.
An example of harmful behaviors towards the LGBQ community is how the topic of gay issues are perceived in an academic environment. Findings in a study done by Hylton show that most participants, who were lesbian and bisexual social work students, encountered subtle forms of prejudice, which can be traced to the idea of heteronormativity. Hylton explains the discomfort that was reported:
Participants observed that faculty members and peers often appeared to be uncomfortable
in discussing LGBT issues or interacting with lesbian, gay, and bisexual people. This
discomfort was reported to be particularly problematic in the classroom…One
participant noted that a professor's discomfort with LGBT issues would not only
negatively affect specific discussions, but also influence the overall comfort with issues
of sexual identity experienced by students. (73)
Although the study reported that most participants' sexual orientations were tolerated and accepted by peers, the underlying uneasiness in these scenarios is a form of heteronormativity. Although someone interacting with an openly LGBQ individual may think nothing of it, their internalized discomfort, as shown in the study, can manifest in how these people are treated and also has an effect on how comfortable they feel. In a study done by Nadal et al., one of the eight themes found through interviewing LGBQ youth was the "use of heterosexist terminology," such as the nonchalant use of the words faggot and dyke. Other themes include "assumption of universal LBGT experience," an example being the belief that gay men can't play football, and "denial of the reality of heterosexism," which is one of the most important themes that everyone needs to realize. This quote from the study explains its importance:
…in an aforementioned incident where a woman compared a gay male participant to a flamboyant character from the Will & Grace, he reacted to her negatively and pointed out her microaggressive behavior. In response, she denied that she was being heterosexist and instead claimed she was paying him a compliment…these defensive statements may be degrading and hurtful to the recipient of the microaggression who experiences such microinvalidations regularly. (Nadal 249)
Another example in how these underlying opinions manifest is how they sometimes lead to errors in preparing workers to work with gay patients. In a different study including LGBT physicians, "56% said that medical school was not at all helpful, 50% said that residency training was not at all helpful, and 30% found continuing medical education to be not at all helpful" in training them to work with patients with minority sexual orientations or genders (Eliason 1362). In fact, the percentages of participants who experienced no content in separate LGBT areas during their education and training experiences was as high as 79%, with bisexual content being the highest compared to lesbian and gay male content. Some other statistics found include that 34% of participants have witnessed prejudiced care towards LGBT patients and 27% have witnessed prejudice against an LGBT employee. Although these numbers have been higher in the past, they still prove to be an issue on how these groups are viewed and treated in a work environment.
It's one thing to know of the struggles these people face, but it is eye-opening to actually hear of them first-hand from someone who experiences them on a daily basis. To learn about this topic more directly, I spoke to a good friend of mine, Elizabeth, who identifies as asexual. People who are asexual do not experience attraction to others. To some people this may be a simple concept to grasp, but others may have internalized assumptions, which contributes to the heteronormative culture we live in. "For a while I just kind of kept saying I was straight," Elizabeth explains. "Like, people would ask me, and I would be like 'Yeah, I'm straight,' because…that's what everyone else was. But, on the inside I was like, 'I don't think I am.'" Elizabeth realized that she was asexual fairly quickly, so she didn't have a long period of feeling confused. "If I had not found out about it, I'm pretty sure that I would've forced myself into more relationships with guys that I wouldn't have been comfortable with." She believes that there is a threat to asexual people, but it's more of a "psychological" threat than physical. "I tried coming out to one of my friends as I was just beginning to learn about what asexuality was, and she obviously had not heard of it, 'cause she was like 'Oh, so you're like a plant?' 'cause she thought I was joking." Along with being called a plant, she says that asexual people are also associated with innocence. "We often get kind of perceived as naive, when that is obviously not true, 'cause maturity is not just sexual maturity, it's being responsible. And so, because…people assume that asexual people either don't want sex or something, like, we kind of get infantilized…or seen as childish, which I don't like." Representation for asexual people is something Elizabeth believes could have a big impact on how asexual people feel about themselves. "We are only one percent-ish of the population, but that is millions of people, and so when there are millions of people who are experiencing the same thing, it can be harmful not to have that representation, 'cause if you go your whole life thinking that you're the only person who feels this way, you feel very isolated." Representation, to her, is an important factor of acceptance; she believes that seeing only straight couples being depicted in media "kind of gets overused…just seeing the same love story over and over again gets kind of redundant."
Elizabeth has not yet told her family that she is asexual–only some of her closest friends know—but she's happy with the acceptance she's received so far. One group of friends she came out to continued on their conversation right after, as if nothing had happened. "I was like, 'They didn't explode! They didn't be like, 'That's not a thing!' and it was just kind of nice just, like, how everything just continued as normal, 'cause to them it was normal…just knowing that you are valid and that people care about you, it's just, that is a psychological thing that we all need…being accepted at least in this aspect of who I am was almost life changing, really." The main piece of advice Elizabeth wants to give to asexual youth coming to terms with their identity is "knowing that you are not broken, you are valid. What you are experiencing is normal. People always confuse 'normal' and 'common,' like, just because something is more common than something else doesn't mean that it is any less normal."
In conclusion, heteronormativity expressed through religion, in school, and in the workplace is more common than people might think. To completely eliminate the underlying stigma associated with identifying as LGBQ, there are a few things that need to happen. One thing is getting rid of assumptions. It is harmful to assume everyone around you is heterosexual until proven otherwise. This forces heteronormativity further into people's minds. Stereotypes are also damaging; the idea that lesbians and bisexual girls are sluts and only want sex, that gay boys are feminine and sassy, and that asexual people are naive or "plants" are only a few negative associations I see all the time. Another step is more representation of these people. As simple as more TV shows about explicitly bisexual characters or as major as the first lesbian Disney Princess, even one story can make millions of people feel more comfortable with themselves. Finally, more acceptance overall. It doesn't stop at same-sex marriage; in fact, it goes much deeper than a law that was legalized less than one year ago after almost 240 years of our country being established. It includes all of the topics that were addressed, and it starts with each and every person, no matter their sexual orientation, taking a look at themselves and asking if they truly accept these people for who they are.
Eliason, Michele J., Suzanne L. Dibble, and Patricia A. Robertson. "Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and
Transgender (LGBT) Physicians' Experiences in the Workplace." Journal of
Homosexuality 58.10 (2011): 1355-1371. Web. 16 Oct. 2015.
Doyle, Elizabeth. "Asexuality and Heteronormativity." Personal interview. 24 Oct. 2015.
Hylton, Mary E. "Heteronormativity and the Experiences of Lesbian and Bisexual Women as
Social Work Students." Journal of Social Work Education 41.1 (2005): 67-82. Web. 18
Oct. 2015.
Nadal, Kevin L., et al. "Sexual Orientation Microaggressions: 'Death By a Thousand Cuts' For
Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Youth." Journal Of LGBT Youth 8.3 (2011): 234-259. Web. 2
Dec. 2015.
Wolff, Joshua R., et al. "Evangelical Christian College Students and Attitudes Toward Gay
Rights: A California University Sample." Journal of LGBT Youth 9.3 (2012): 200-224.
Web. 19 Oct. 2015.
Past Rhethawks Essays
Howe Writing Center
King Library
Silva Rhetoricae
Purdue OWL
Writing Spaces