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Upscale dressings get Olympic treatment
When athletes sit down to eat at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, they may encounter Olympic 'gold' decorating on the sauce bottle they pour.
Since the mid '80s, Atlanta-based Oak Hill Farms has been causing a stir in the gourmet food industry with its upscale dressings and sauces. But the company profile should reach a new high in the months to come now that Oak Hill has been approved as a 1996 Olympic Games Gourmet Collection licensee.
"We've started packing under that label and will be introducing a couple of products at a time this year until we have all the products ready for next year," says sales manager Ross Glover. Supplied by The Label Factory (Santa Ana, CA), the pressure-sensitive label is gold foil-embossed.
Also fueling sales growth for the firm is a custom bottle designed in 1993. Owner Bob Budd attributes part of Oak Hill's recent success to this distinctive container.
"We always knew we had the best possible product, but our packaging wasn't upscale and distinctive enough to communicate that message," Budd points out.
Oak Hill worked with the Atlanta office of Berlin Packaging (Chicago, IL) to come up with a custom bottle that would give the firm the kind of unique packaging identity it needed, both for its 5-oz and 375-mL (12.68-oz) offerings. The new shape-a soft-shouldered, 12-sided bottle-emerged as the design of choice. The next challenge was to find glass manufacturers that could produce the bottle to the design specifications.
British Glass manufacturer Beatson Clark (Rotherham, S. Yorkshire, England) came to the rescue on the 5-oz size. Berlin had worked with Beatson Clark on other challenging glass containers and knew that the company had vast production experience with smaller-sized, multifaceted bottles. For the larger container Berlin turned to Arkansas Glass (Jonesboro, AR).
"We had predicted a 50% growth rate for 1993," says Budd. "Instead our sales increased by 65%. We know the new bottles were a significant factor." According to Glover, sales shot up another 65% last year, too, as Oak Hill expanded distribution into West Coast markets.
This growth has led the company to build a new 33ꯠ-sq-ft plant that should be ready this summer, beginning with two and later adding a third packaging line to handle Olympic-sized sales for next year.
Oak Hill currently fills a total of 34 gourmet sauces and dressings evenly split between the 5-oz and 375-mL sizes. Sold primarily through gourmet and specialty shops, the products retail for between $3.50 to $7.00.
Berlin Packaging
PET bottles and jars
Clairol specs PCR plastic and paperboard


Home Remodeling and Renovation Ideas.
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Tag: Christine Webber
Reading and Writing Romantic Fiction: never too old to read it, write it, or to be the main character. Plus – Books of the Month for June 2021 #reading #writing #romanticfiction @1chriswebber @KileyDunbar @Isabelle_Broom @SnowProse
June 28, 2021 June 26, 2021 writeanne7 Comments
Age should be no barrier to living and loving – in real life and in fiction
Regular readers of this blog will know that when it comes to both reading and writing my genre of choice is romantic fiction. It's a wide-ranging genre and includes various sub genres such as romantic suspense, historical romance and contemporary romance – to name only some.
But for too long there was one aspect that was anything but wide-ranging and that's the age of the main characters. Indeed up until relatively recently you'd be hard pushed to find romance novels where the central couple were over thirty. Now while there's nothing inherently wrong with a novel about a couple in their twenties and there are many excellent such books – lots of which I've read and enjoyed – I'm guessing I'm not alone in wanting to read and write about older protagonists too – especially as I myself am an older reader and writer.
And I'm talking here particularly about contemporary romance because by definition it should reflect contemporary times – times in which attitudes and expectations have broadened and changed. So authors and publishers are missing a trick if they don't reflect that.
Fortunately though there are signs of positive changes. Seasoned romance, second chance romance, mature romance, whatever you prefer to call it, is a genre that's growing. Main characters can be anything from thirty years of age upwards. Characters in these stories have full and rounded lives which include falling/being in love and having sex – as well as negotiating often challenging career and life changes.
A Brilliant Example
One brilliant example of the above is one of my books of the month for June and it's the latest novel from one of my favourite authors Christine Webber.
So Many Ways of Loving by Christine Webber
This is such a lovely hopeful read. It's set in 2019 and the three main characters are all women either in or approaching their sixties and all are facing life-changing situations. There is also a fourth female character in her seventies who also features strongly later in the book. The story involves issues such as grief, body-image and ageing and yes, later life romance too. It's a story of new friendships, new experiences, and new starts. It's a story about possibilities regardless of age and stage in life. It's touching, warm, humane and realistic. And its message is that life goes on in all its sometimes surprising, sometimes messy ways – but that as long as it does it is wonderful and it's there to love, to be loved and to live. And that last sentence – caused a wry smile.
So Many Ways of Loving is a novel in which, at first glance, nothing much happens – there's no espionage, no high-speed car chases, murders, or haunted houses. But in a sense, everything happens – loss, death, grief, serious illness, but also birth, unexpected romance, fresh adventures and numerous possibilities. Three women in their 50s and 60s travel through the most momentous year of their lives, and as they do so, they are reminded of just how much we depend upon family, friends and pets.
You can buy So many Ways of Loving in bookshops and online here. It is available as a paperback and as an ebook.
You can connect online with Christine at the following places:
Website and podcast links: here
Twitter: @1chriswebber
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/christinewebberauthor
As well as the book above I have three other books of the month to recommend to you. All are contemporary romances and all have main characters who have all lived more than a little.
The Borrow a Bookshop Holiday by Kiley Dunbar
An unusual and heart-warming romance. I especially loved the ending and the fact that the grandmother character was no elderly cliché.
The Borrow-a-Bookshop Bookshop Café invites literature lovers to run their very own bookshop … for a fortnight.
Spend your days talking books with customers in your own charming bookshop and serving up delicious cream teas in the cosy café.
Bookworms, what are you waiting for? Your holiday is going to be LIT(erary).
Apply to: The Borrow-a-Bookshop Bookshop Café, Down-a-long, Clove Lore, Devon.
Jude Crawley should be on top of the world. She's just graduated as a mature student, so can finally go public about her relationship with Philosophy professor, Mack.
Until she sees Mack kissing another girl, and her dreams crumble. And worse, their dream holiday – running a tiny bookshop in the harbour village of Clove Lore for two weeks – is non-refundable.
Throwing caution to the winds, Jude heads down to Devon, eager to immerse herself in literature and heal her broken heart.
But there's one problem – six foot tall, brooding (but gorgeous) Elliot, who's also reserved the bookshop holiday for two weeks…
As Jude and Elliot put their differences aside to run the bookshop, it seems that Jude might be falling in love with more than just words. Until she discovers what Elliot is running from – and why he's hiding out in Clove Lore.
Can Jude find her own happy ending in a tiny, tumbledown bookshop? Or is she about to find out that her bookish holiday might have an unexpected twist in the tale…
The Getaway by Isabelle Broom
Set in Croatia which is beautifully described throughout the story – you really can imagine you're there, this is a romantic, mysterious and moving tale of pain, hurt, loss and the power of love.
Sometimes it takes losing everything to find the person you need . . .
Most people travel to Croatia for its endless sunshine, pebbly beaches and crystal clear sea.
Kate goes there to disappear.
She needs to escape from a life that has fallen apart in spectacular and public fashion, and no one on the beautiful island of Hvar knows who she is or what she's running away from.
Until she meets another lonely soul.
Alex is different to any man Kate has ever known, yet the connection between them is undeniable. She soon begins to open up in ways she never has before – not even to herself. But Kate is not the only person in Hvar hiding secrets. And, as she is about to discover, it is always only a matter of time before the truth catches up with you . . .
A Summer of Second Chances by Suzanne Snow
Sparks do indeed fly between an, at first, unlikely couple in this thoroughly enjoyable romance.
Sparks and tempers fly when Ben comes to stay in Daisy's holiday cottage.
Daisylikes routine. She goes to work, makes dinner for her son, then loses herself for an hour or two in her sewing. She's not looking for change, until Bencrashes – literally – into her life.
Ben is training for a triathlon, working himself to the limit in an attempt to forget a recent trauma. Daisy wants to help, but even as they draw closer with every week that passes, he pushes her away whenever things threaten to get serious.
Can Ben open himself up to love again? And with Daisy's life in the Yorkshire Dales and Ben's in New York, can they have a future together even if he does?
And that's it for this month. If you're a fan of romantic fiction, is character age something that attracts you to, or puts you off a book? Please feel free to share your thoughts on the topic and to recommend any examples you've enjoyed reading where the main characters are in, or beyond, their thirties.
Virtual Book Festival: Event 19 – writing in life's difficult times by Christine Webber @1chriswebber.com #VirtBookFest #writing #books
August 20, 2019 August 14, 2019 writeanne3 Comments
Welcome to event number 19 at the Virtual Book Festival. Today I'm delighted to welcome former TV news presenter, agony aunt, psychotherapist and writer, Christine Webber, to the festival.
Christine is taking a look at how real life issues can sometimes hinder the writing process but she also acknowledges how it can help during times of great stress.
So, over to Christine:
When Life Gets in the Way of Writing
We all know about displacement activities that keep us from our keyboards:
I need to watch this TV drama – for research purposes
I better do something about those windows, they're filthy
Perhaps I should get dressed before switching on the laptop
I'll think I'll just rearrange my CD collection in alphabetical order…
As writers, we also know that books or articles don't appear by magic. At some point, the distractions have to be junked and we have to put some words down – rather a lot of them – on paper or a screen. It's hard, but we do it.
But what happens when it's not just delaying tactics getting in the way of our masterpiece, but major life events?
I remember hearing Margaret Drabble say that when her children were small, she usually had a baby on her lap while she was writing and had to reach her arms out over the top of that infant so that she could bash away at her typewriter on the table in front of her.
Motherhood is still a big deal when it comes to writing. As is holding down a full-time job, which so many really good writers have to do in order to pay the bills.
Then there are life's reverses – a parent has dementia, our heart is broken, a child is being bullied at school, we move house and think we're losing our sanity… These are tough times, but one might argue that they provide some of our best material. And the strange thing is that during these periods, we may find that though we cannot concentrate well enough to read someone else's book, we have a strange compulsion, and ability, to carry on writing our own.
My biggest challenge came when David, my husband of thirty years, became terminally ill. I wanted to continue writing as it felt like the only normal thing that was happening. But I also wanted to spend most of my time caring for him as it became apparent that he was going downhill more rapidly than any of his doctors had forecast.
During those months, I was writing my novel It's Who We Are, which has five leading mid-life characters and three locations, including the west coast of Ireland where David and I had had so many wonderful holidays.
At the beginning of his illness, he was still managing to continue his own work as a medical columnist, so our routine was not too altered, though there were loads of hospital visits, and scans, and blood tests to fit in. But during that period, I got the bulk of my first draft written. And I found that, actually, you can be more episodic in your writing habits than usual, and still complete a manuscript.
But around late summer 2017, David had to give up his last regular writing job – a weekly column he had had for fifty years – and began to spend many more hours a day in bed.
This was when the challenges mounted up, and people who have been through this will know what I mean when I say that my brain felt overwhelmed and overloaded with arranging carers, doctors' visits, endless medication, trying to find food that would appeal and not take too much effort to eat and – most importantly of all – spending hours just talking together and celebrating the wonderful past we had had as we jointly planned David's remaining future and my life after that.
Somehow though, writing was a thread that held together during that time, not least because my lovely husband was as supportive as he had always been. And what I found was that when I had no capacity to produce new material, my mind was capable – and indeed really enjoyed – editing.
And of course, those of us who are indie writers have a host of other activities to tackle in order to produce a book, so when we can't summon up our creative juices, we can perhaps sort out our marketing ideas, or start planning a blog tour, or finalise a cover.
Somehow, It's Who We Are was finished, and it came out in mid-January 2018, by which time my husband was terribly ill. But I had dedicated it to him, as I had all my previous books, and I was able to sign his copy, and put it into his hands. It was a poignant moment.
Now, seventeen months after his death, I am writing another mid-life ensemble novel.
It will not surprise you to know that one of my three protagonists is newly widowed. And I am sure that in many ways, I'm processing my own loss by attributing it to a character. We writers are so lucky, aren't we, to be able to do that?
Anne: We are indeed fortunate in that respect, Christine. Thank you so much for sharing your, at times, moving thoughts on the difficulties but also the rewards of being a writer.
And now we have and extract from Christine's book It's Who We Are. I'll let Christine introduce it.
It's Who We Are
This, without any doubt, is my absolute favourite out of all the fiction and non-fiction I've written over almost four decades. It's a story about identity and change, and it reflects the turbulence so many of us experience in mid-life just when we had assumed we would feel stable and secure. The novel takes place in Norfolk, where all the main characters were born, as well as in London and the west coast of Ireland.
And the plot centres on how often the demise of parents can lead to us discovering family secrets that shock us to the core. The surprise in this book is beyond what the characters, or indeed any reader, could ever imagine. And poses the question: do you really know who you are?
This segment is from a chapter near the end of the book. Philip and Wendy didn't know each other at the start of the novel but as it has developed, they have become very good friends and she has been a huge support to him after a bad accident. They are in a hotel after leaving a party for her, which has been hosted by the other main characters at a house in Norwich.
The two of them are chatting in the lounge and discussing their evening, and Philip takes the opportunity to outline a new business project to her, which Wendy responds to enthusiastically.
His smile broadened. 'I knew you'd understand and run with it. Is it any wonder that I really, really love you?'
'Well, I love you too, Philip. You're a great person and a wonderful friend.'
'No, but I mean, I love you!'
Wendy wrinkled her nose in puzzlement.
'Do you understand?' He pressed her.
She continued to look bewildered for a moment, then she raised her eyebrows as she considered a new option. 'Do you mean, like, in italics?'
His face creased into the grin that she had become so fond of. 'Yes, exactly. Not just as in "I love this smoked salmon drizzled with lime juice".'
'Mmmn, but that sounds really good! So, you mean you love me more than that?'
'I do, actually. And in a rather lustful way.'
'Lustful! But I'm sixty in…' she looked at her watch, 'forty minutes. Surely not? Are you drunk?'
'Not at all.'
'But do you really mean what you're saying?'
He nodded. 'Totally.'
'Gosh!'
'Are you surprised?'
'Flabbergasted. I mean, we're the two who're well aware we're hopeless at sex, and even worse at relationships.'
'Perhaps we could try to push that assumption into the past tense?'
Her eyes glinted with fun. 'Do you mean what I think you mean?'
'I imagine so.'
She giggled. 'Well, I'm game to give it a go, if that doesn't sound too impossibly romantic!' Leaning towards him, she planted a tentative kiss on his cheek. 'Your room or mine?'
'You choose,' he said.
'OK, mine. Here's your stick. Can you manage the stairs, or do we need the lift?'
'Do you mind if we take the lift? Sorry, but I want to conserve my strength.' He sighed as he rose to his feet. 'Wendy, I'm hardly love's young dream.'
'I'm the one who's about to be sixty! We'll just do our best, shall we?'
'I might have to experiment to find a position where my ribs or my leg don't hurt, or my wrist doesn't give way!'
She took his arm. 'If you don't shut up you're going to talk yourself out of this, just when I'm getting keen on the idea!'
You can buy It's Who We Are here
Connect with Christine online:
Christine can be found tweeting on a wide variety of subjects @1chriswebber
She is also active within various book groups on Facebook including Books for Older Readers, Book Connectors and The Alliance of Independent Authors where she is a partner member.
About Christine:
Christine Webber originally trained as an opera singer but had to re-think her career plans when her voice professor commented: 'Your voice is ok, but your legs are very much better!'
Musical theatre beckoned. There was some success. But not much.
However, eventually, in 1978, she became a news presenter for Anglia TV. At last she had found something she enjoyed that other people thought she was good at. It was such a relief that she stayed for 12 very happy years.
Next, she became an agony aunt for various publications including TV Times, Best, Dare and BBC Parenting. She also wrote a column for the Scotsman and one for Woman called Sexplanations.
During her 'problem page' years, she trained as a psychotherapist and started a practice in Harley Street which she shared with her late husband, Dr David Delvin. That experience greatly informed much of her writing.
She has written 12 non-fiction books including How to Mend a Broken Heart, Get the Happiness Habit and Too Young to Get Old, and has broadcast extensively over the decades on mental health and relationship issues.
In 2016, she embarked on a fresh career as a novelist and has now produced three titles: Who'd Have Thought It?, It's Who We Are and a re-written version of her first book published in 1987, In Honour Bound.
Following the death of her husband, she's returned to live in East Anglia because that's where most of her good friends are. Forthcoming projects there include hosting an arts awards ceremony, judging the non-fiction section of the East Anglian Books Awards and a number of talks to women's groups. She has also become a Trustee for a charity that provides mentors for offenders, to support them when they leave prison.
Further afield, she has become an occasional presenter and interviewer for the Royal Opera House Insights Programme and recently had the honour of interviewing Royal Ballet star Gary Avis and Britain's best-loved baritone, Sir Bryn Terfel.
Next month, she is presenting and producing a series of video podcasts about staying as young as possible for as long as possible. And, having recorded the audio version of one of her own novels, she has now been approached to narrate a couple of others.
In Honour Bound by Christine Webber @1chriswebber #BookReview #RomanticFiction #amreading
November 11, 2018 writeanneLeave a comment
This is Christine Webber's latest book and the third one of hers that I've reviewed. You can read my reviews of her earlier novels Who'd Have Thought It and It's Who We Are here on the blog too. Just click on the book title to do so. I also interviewed Christine back in January this year and you can read that post here.
I very much enjoyed this author's first two books, so it's safe to say I thought knew what to expect with her new one. And yes, I did enjoy it. And yes, the writing and the storytelling were first class.
But the story content was quite different from its predecessors.
First of all, unlike Christine Webber's first two books, In Honour Bound is not quite contemporary fiction. It's set in the 1980s and this is when it was written and first published. This latest edition is a rewritten and revised version of the original.
The story is set in London and it tells of the intense and passionate love between TV reporter Helen and Egyptian, but London-based, heart-surgeon Sam. There are highs, lows, and several shocks along the way. And it's an emotional and poignant read from start to finish.
I enjoyed being taken back to a time when I too – like the main character Helen –was in my thirties. I enjoyed the insights into how the live TV set up works and into what Helen's working days involved.
But most of all, I loved being immersed in Helen and Sam's story which is so beautifully told.
All in all a great read.
Set in 1980's London, Helen Bartlett, a popular TV news presenter and Sam Aziz, a glamorous middle-eastern cardiac surgeon, meet on a live programme. They dislike each other on sight, and the interview is a disaster. But that is not the end of their story because later that evening, they find themselves at the same dinner party.
Over the weeks, hostility morphs into passion, and soon they fall desperately in love.
Both are looking for the right partner with whom to settle down and produce a family. They seem made for each other; they delight in the joy that they have found, and plan to marry. But then, the differences in their cultural backgrounds start to manifest themselves. And a debt of honour that Sam cannot ignore returns to haunt him.
Struggling with their torment, while she is so much in the public eye and he is performing life-saving surgery on a daily basis, places them under intolerable strain.
Must they relinquish the most magical relationship either of them has ever known? Can they find a way out of their dilemmas? Or do they have to accept that no matter how modern we are, we cannot fly in the face of the traditions that served, and shaped us, for centuries?
In Honour Bound is available to buy here.
It's Who We Are by Christine Webber @1chriswebber #bookreview #MondayBlogs #amreading
January 22, 2018 January 21, 2018 writeanne2 Comments
An entertaining, interesting and satisfying read
As promised in my previous post where I interviewed author, Christine Webber, here is my review of her new novel It's Who We Are.
From the back cover: Five friends in their fifties find themselves dealing with unforeseen upheaval as they uncover long-hidden and devastating family secrets. Meanwhile, the world around them seems to be spinning out of control. This is a novel about friendship, kindness and identity – and about how vital it is to reach for what enhances rather than depletes you.
My Review: As in her previous novel, Who'd Have Thought It, Christine Webber has produced a perfectly judged contemporary tale. The protagonists are in their fifties and linked to one another through friendship. All five of them are facing challenges some of which are age-related and some of which are simply related to what it means to be human regardless of age or stage.
The various challenges which drive the plot include supporting adult children, coping with ageing parents, facing up to divorce, beginning new relationships, managing the demands of work and facing up to getting older. Bu the overriding theme is the one of relationships, of the ties that bind – familial, romantic and friendship and how they inform a person's identity.
The five main characters are a great mix. They are realistically drawn and they're a diverse group but the reader cares about all of them.
This is a story that deals with all of life – its joys, sorrows and imperfections.
All in all it's a lovely satisfying read.
Author Interview: Christine Webber @1chriswebber #amreading #MondayBlogs
January 15, 2018 writeanne4 Comments
I'm delighted to welcome author Christine Webber to the blog today to talk about her new contemporary novel It's Who We Are, and about her writing in general. I read and very much enjoyed her previous novel Who'd Have Thought It? and I reviewed it here. And I will be posting a review of the new book here very soon.
Welcome Christine!
I was intrigued to see that there was a thirty year gap between your first novel In Honour Bound and your second one Who'd Have Thought it? What were you doing in between?
Christine: As those of us of a certain age know all too well, thirty years can disappear in a flash! I wrote my first novel when I was working as a news presenter for Anglia TV. I always meant to carry on writing fiction, but shortly afterwards, I left the company to pursue a new career in medical and social journalism – and somehow fell into becoming an agony aunt. I wrote columns for Best magazine, TV Times, The Scotsman, BBC Parenting, Woman, Dare, Full House and several others – not all at the same time though! Then I started getting work as a 'relationships expert' on TV programmes such as Trisha and The Good Sex Guide… Late. While this was happening, I decided to train as a psychotherapist – and I started my own practice. Meanwhile, Hodder commissioned my husband and me to write a book about orgasms (The Big O). This did quite well and led to my staying with Hodder and writing a whole range of self-help books. Later, I penned titles for Piatkus and Bloomsbury. I knew I longed to write more novels. It just took a while to get on with it!
Why was fiction writing something you wanted to come back to – especially after such a long gap?
Christine: I kept having ideas for fiction, but life was so busy, and I felt I had to focus on work that actually paid me. In some ways I regret that now. On the other hand, my years of writing about relationships, and being a therapist, gave me great insight into how our minds function – which is useful when it comes to portraying characters realistically. And the decades of juggling broadcasting, health writing, newspaper columns, and therapy did provide me with a financial cushion which has enabled me to do what I do now. I know many other indie authors, who have had long-term careers before writing, feel the same.
You write what could broadly be described as contemporary romantic fiction, but it's definitely not chick-lit. Why do you go for older protagonists who are in their fifties and sixties?
Christine: I suppose it's all about wanting to read material that mirrors our own experiences. And – like many other writers and readers of my vintage – I feel there is a lack of good stuff about the people we really are. I first tried to change publishers' attitudes to the over 50s in 2009, when I was planning a guide for female baby boomers. I wanted to write about finance, locations, housing, beauty, friendship, romance and health – basically everything that needs to be considered if we are to age more vibrantly than people of past generations.
I had to change agents and publishers to get this book accepted. I was told constantly, 'no one wants to read about older people!' Anyway, I did get Too Young to Get Old published and now I have transferred my zeal for writing about the individuals we are – as opposed to out-dated stereotypes – into fiction. But I had to venture into indie publishing in order to do it.
Do you detect a growing popularity for this kind of multi-generational novel where middle-aged and older characters are at the centre of the action?
Christine: I really do. And I would urge interested writers and readers in mid-life to investigate the excellent new organisation – launched recently by Claire Baldry – called Books for Older Readers. We are a growing band. One might even say that we are creating a 'genre'! Check out the website: www.booksforolderreaders.co.uk. The group is also active on Facebook and Twitter.
Describe for us your typical writing day.
Christine: I'd love to describe something scheduled and organised. But I'd be lying if I did. Like lots of people, I have constraints on my time, for family reasons. I also think it's absolutely vital to get exercise, so that has to be worked into every day too. And, as every indie writer knows, the marketing and social media aspect of one's 'operation' also has to be managed. In practice then, I tend to do correspondence and marketing in the morning. And try to leave two or three hours to write mid-afternoon. I also have a new resolution, which is to find half an hour after lunch for reading other authors' novels. I need an expandable day, really! The other component that forms an essential part of my writing day is that I always play music while I work. And I invariably start each day with Mozart, who feeds my soul and sanity. There's nothing like tapping into creative genius for getting your own grey cells into shape!
And finally, please do tell us a bit about your new book, It's Who We Are.
Christine: It's Who We Are is a contemporary novel. It's very different from Who'd Have Thought It? which is essentially a romantic comedy. People do fall in love in the new book, and there are plenty of comedic moments too, but it's a far more serious work than the last one. But then life is more serious than it was just a few years ago. Think back to the London Olympics – we don't feel like the same country now, do we? And writing contemporary fiction seems to me to have to reflect that.
I have five main characters in this book, and they are all facing tremendous upheaval in mid-life. One of the women has decided to divorce her perpetually unfaithful husband. Another is coming to terms with widowhood and contemplating a change of career. Then there are three men – a rich business man who hates running the family firm and is trapped in a loveless marriage, a priest who is so intensely lonely that he feels people must be able to 'smell it' on him, and a larger than life freelance singer who's in a panic about his ageing voice and the fact that he has no savings whatsoever.
Like many of us in our fifties, these individuals are amazed at how unsettled they feel just at a time when they had expected to be living a calm and stable existence. Thrown into the mix there are family secrets, which become uncovered as elderly parents die or become ill – and these cause all five characters to question who they really are.
Thank you, Christine. An interesting and thought-provoking interview. And I agree that, as in your books, life goes on in all its richness and complexity for all of us – regardless of age.
It's Who We Are is published on January 16th and will be available in bookshops throughout the country and on Amazon
You can follow Christine on Twitter at @1chriswebber
Her website is www.christinewebber.com
And, as always, it's over to you, the readers of this blog: Do you like reading multi-generation fiction and/or fiction where the main characters are middle-aged or older?
Book Review: Who'd Have Thought It? By Christine Webber
September 12, 2016 writeanne4 Comments
Genre: Contemporary Fiction
This book is packed with interesting characters. There are friends, lovers, and families and lots of entangled relationships between the individuals. The characters are so well drawn, it's easy to imagine the book as a TV serial drama.
The story centres around GP Annie Templeton who finds herself single in her fifties when her long marriage comes to an end. Having to cope with an elderly parent who has dementia, a demanding job, grown-up but still needy children, and friends who need her support through their own life challenges take up a lot of her time and energy.
But in amongst it all she does long for a new partner to share her life with. However, it's not easy and her quest has false starts, dead ends and surprises along the way.
Who'd Have Thought It? is bursting with warmth, humour and poignancy. It's a story of mid-life in all its vibrancy, frustration, messiness and joy.
Type of Read: One to two sittings, snuggled up with wine and chocolate. Grown-up fiction for mature women for whom life is still full of love and surprises.
Back Cover Blurb: A year after discovering that her husband no longer loves her, Dr Annie Templeton wakes up with a sudden relish for singledom. However, she soon realises that being single in your fifties is very different from being single in your twenties. How, she wonders, do people of my age – with careers, adult children doing unwise things with unwise people, parents going gaga, and friends falling ill, or in or out of love – ever have the time and energy to find a new partner? Who'd Have Thought It? is a romantic comedy, which will make you laugh and cry – often at the same time.
Who'd Have Thought It? is published by On Call and is available in paperback and as an e-book.
Good Reads and Independent Booksellers
June 23, 2015 writeanne17 Comments
Two main reasons for this post: It's Independent Booksellers Week in the UK (20th to 27th June 2015) and I've only done one book review so far this year.
It's not that I haven't been reading. I've read more books than usual since January. I've just not made time to get the reviews done. Apart that is from my (ahem – modest cough) prize-winning review of JJ Marsh's Cold Pressed which I posted here.
So now seems like a good moment to flag up the best of the rest of the books-read-so-far in 2015 and to ask that if you're tempted to buy any of them, you perhaps consider going to your local independent bookshop and making your purchase there. Even if they don't stock the book they'll be able to get it in for you. Independent bookshops offer a real booky atmosphere and a personal touch and they need booklovers to use them. (Yes, I've included Amazon links but only so you can find out more about the books before you go out and buy them 🙂 )
I should also mention that my two local bookshops have just agreed to stock my novels and I appreciate their support very much. Let's hear it for Tippecanoe and for Aros.
To keep it manageable I'm doing mainly brief reviews. The books are an eclectic mix, fiction of several genres, non-fiction, bestsellers and lesser-knowns, established and debut authors.
And so here they are – my five star reads for 2015 so far:
Torn by Gilli Allan: A contemporary romance-plus novel – no gush or slush – believable, flawed, three-dimensional characters, vividly drawn setting and not one, but two expertly crafted will-they-won't-theys. An evening or bedtime curl-up read. [Accent Press]
Get the Happiness Habit by Christine Webber: (only available as e-book so not one for the book shop) Self-help book on how to improve your emotional wellbeing. Easy to read, practical down-to-earth advice on how to improve your optimism levels and to recognise daily moments of happiness. Focuses on taking exercise, practising altruism, developing an inquiring mind, building resilience, maintaining a social network – in the real world as well as online, finding soul-feeding moments, for example through mindfulness or meditation or just going for a walk or listening to music, adopting a stoical view of life and taking time to care for ourselves. All sensible and doable. [Bloomsbury Reader]
Us by David Nicholls: It's David Nicholls so hey, I was expecting an entertaining read. I wasn't disappointed. It's a contemporary story of midlife crisis and re-evaluation told in first person by husband and father Douglas. His marriage is failing and his relationship with his teenage son is fraught. The holiday he hopes may set things right doesn't go to plan. This is a sometimes humorous, sometimes poignant, always brilliant story of a guy whose good intentions pave a chaotic path. [Hodder & Stoughton]
The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins: Contemporary thriller. The story is told through the eyes of Rachel, Megan and Anna. Rachel is the girl on the train, commuting to work, fantasising about the people she sees from the train window, but then the fantasy becomes a much more challenging reality, a scary, tense and engrossing reality involving all three women. This is a gripping read – a definite page turner. great twists and storytelling. [Doubleday-Transworld]
The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion: I quickly followed up reading this book by reading its sequel The Rosie Effect. Both are great. Narrated by main character Professor Don Tillman, both books tell of life as experienced by Don, a brilliant geneticist looking for and failing at romantic love. He also happens to have Asperger's syndrome. His unique take on human relationships leads him to set up a project to find a wife. Against all odds it succeeds and the two books follow his finding Rosie and later marrying her. Both books are charming, witty, funny, highly original and are just sublime storytelling. [Penguin]
Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott: This book, published twenty years ago, is a writing manual – except it's not. Oh sure it has lots of good advice for writers about facing the blank page, about getting started, persevering, getting support and getting published, but it's also about so much more. It's really a sort of wry look at life in a way – in that a lot of Lamott's advice can be applied generally and not just ti the act of writing. It's warm, instructive and wise.
Killochries by Jim Carruth: This was a first for me. I've never read a verse-novella before. Carruth is a prize-winning Scottish poet. He was poet laureate of Glasgow last year. This slim wee volume is stunning – brief and beautiful. It tells a redemptive story of two men, distant relatives, both very different from one another. One an atheist poet, the other a bible quoting, stoical Christian. They are forced by circumstances to live together for a year on the older man's somewhat bleak farm but as they do so they gain a mutual respect and a renewed perspective on life. [Freight Books]
In the Shadow of the Hill by Helen Forbes: There's an Ann Cleeves meets Ian Rankin and Kate Atkinson vibe going on here – fans of crime fiction will know what I mean by this. This book is not just any old crime fiction, it's Tartan Noir crime fiction, and it's set in the Hebrides – so before I even started reading this book it was already ticking important reading boxes for me. This is the author's first novel and I can't wait for the next one. It's starts in Inverness on a slow burn and gradually picks up pace until after several clever, unforeseen twists it reaches its exciting conclusion on the island of Harris. The characters are believable and well fleshed out, especially the main character of DS Joe Galbraith who is both flawed and likeable. I definitely look forward to getting to know him as well as I know Jackson Brodie and John Rebus. [ThunderPoint Publishing]
Bella's Betrothal by Anne Stenhouse: (only available as ebook) This is a historical romance and it's set in Georgian Edinburgh. And with this novel I'd say we're sort of in Jane Austen meets Bridget Jones territory. But as well as the history and the will-they-won't-they romance, there's also a mystery at the heart of this novel. It's an enchanting story and the author gets the tension level just right. There's a great cast of characters from Bella's good friends and her lovely aunt and uncle to her horrid mama and menacing pursuer. Being an Edinburgh native, I loved all the references to places I know and was impressed by the author's attention to the details of the city's development as its New Town was being established. Best of all though was Bella herself. Bella is no wimp. She's resilient and feisty in the face of scandal and suffering and in the face of a real threat to her personal safety. She makes informed choices and she does what's right even when it puts her at risk. [MuseitUp Publishing]
So there you have it. What's your favourite read of 2015 so far? And which independent bookseller do you support? Please do reply below.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Norway's Scandza Forum Scandal: Free Speech Not Dead—But On Life Support
Harri Honkanen
"Freedom Of Speech Dead In Europe" was the headline on James Kirkpatrick's VDARE.com account of the November 2 Oslo arrest by Norwegian security police (PST) of the Scandza Forum's American keynote speaker, Greg Johnson, Editor of Counter Currents. Johnson was indeed subsequently deported—or at any rate flown out of the country at Norwegian taxpayer expense. But, unlike with Hungary's 2014 expulsion of Richard Spencer, or with the Schengen Zone's 2019 exclusion of Jared Taylor (also on his way to speak at a Scandza Forum conference), this particular act of soft totalitarianism seems to have the Norwegian government nervous (possibly because Johnson hired a good lawyer). And Scandza certainly got a ton of publicity. So maybe free speech is not quite dead in Europe—just on life support.
Scandza Forum is run by Faroese Dissident Right activist Froði Midjord. It holds regular events for truth-seeking (and thus heretical) academics and nationalist politicians to the discuss their ideas with audiences who want to save the West from destruction. This Oslo conference was exclusively academic: The subject was "Human Biodiversity."
But Scandza has been coming under increasing pressure. At its previous meeting in Copenhagen in October, Greg Johnson was also prevented from speaking—because aggressive "Anti-Fascists" mysteriously discovered the venue and surrounded it, preventing Johnson and roughly a third of participants from getting in. In typical anarcho-tyrannical mode, the police did very little to help. In Norway, it is clear that a branch of the police was, in effect, actively working for the masked enemies of free inquiry and civilization.
Froði Midjord reports that the PST turned up at the venue, in a suburb of Oslo, and took Johnson away. How the PST knew Johnson was there is unclear. However, a Communist news website, Filter Nyheter, had run an October 31 piece, "Hailed Breivik's Rationale for the July 22 Terror—Now he is Going to Oslo to Speak for 'White Nationalists,'" claiming that Johnson had expressed support for the Norwegian terrorist Anders Breivik:
Johnson has previously expressed support for how Anders Behring Breivik justified the July 22 attacks in 2011 in his trial, referred to the terror as "necessary," and has described at length the killing of Labor Party politicians as a legitimate means to fight "non-white immigration."
In his scathing just-posted post-deportation account Anarcho-Tyranny in Oslo [CounterCurrents, November 6, 2019] Greg Johnson notes that this is a preposterous misrepresentation:
The whole point of my article [on Breivik] is to argue that killing Labor Party politicians—or any form of terrorism, for that matter—is not a legitimate means to fight non-white immigration.
Another article in Filter Nyheter, published on the same day, interviewed the "terrorism expert and senior researcher at the Defense Research Institute (FFI), Thomas Hegghammer," who told them that "Norway should consider the possibility of denying Johnson entry before the scheduled conference on Saturday" due to these supposed pro-terrorism statements—which, as usual, he credulously accepted.
In an English-language interview below in front of Norway's royal palace with Johnson's lawyer, John Christian Elden (a celebrity in Norway who was featured on the front page of a leading tabloid the next day in relation to another high profile case he was working on [Elden varslet Høyesterett I 2017: BLE IKKE HØRT OM NAV-FEIL, Camilla Huuse & Runa Victoria Engen, VG, November 4, 2019, p.1]), Scandza's Froði Midjord recounts that when the PST asked Johnson to come with them, Johnson asked whether he was under arrest. They told him that he was, although refusing to say why.
Johnson's lawyer points out, however, that the police are legally obliged to tell suspects the reason they are being arrested.
The PST attempted to retrogressively correct this mistake by telling Norwegian newspapers that Johnson had not been "arrested" at all, but rather held in custody under paragraph 106 of the "Alien Act."
But they had got it wrong again. Paragraph 106 relates to the detention of any foreigner in Norway. It is "Paragraph 126" which focuses on detaining people, without charge, who are perceived as a threat to the Norwegian state.
And this is appears to be what the Norwegian state claims that Greg Johnson is. When Midjord asks the lawyer "Is it illegal to have right wing opinions in Norway?" Elden replies: "Until today, I didn't think so."
Midjord then notes that the PST had told Aftonposten, Norway's largest serious newspaper, that it was important that Johnson was arrested before he was able to "…give his presentation for the audience . . . We work proactively to prevent these milieus from growing, to keep them as small as possible."
Elden replied that it is not in the legal jurisdiction of the Norwegian police to prevent political debate:
Absolutely not. And I think they went back to their desks, because now they no longer claim that he has been arrested. They say he's been detained under the Alien Act by reason of being a threat to Norwegian security. So it's a kind of new argument than what they had yesterday.
According to Attorney Elden, this is making new law in Norway. Nobody has ever previously been sent out of the country for their political opinions.
Indeed, eventually, Johnson was told he was free to leave Norway on his own hook, or simply stay and appeal against what had happened, the deportation decision having seemingly been overturned. And he is not banned from returning to Norway. He writes:
Since I wanted to go home, and since the deportation flight was the quickest and cheapest option (it was paid for by the Norwegian government), I took the flight. I also thought it would be an interesting experience—and it was. I can highly recommend being deported from Norway. It is infinitely better than normal air travel, true V.I.P. treatment: no long lines at security, no crowded departure lounges, no endless queues, first on and off the plane, people driving you to and from the terminal, etc. But, as I understand it, I was not really deported in a legal sense.
Greg Johnson is Free, CounterCurrents, November 5, 2019
Meanwhile, back at the Scandza Forum, not long after Johnson was arrested, an organized gang of masked Antifa thugs turned up at the conference, the whereabouts of which they miraculously knew. They battled with riot police—who however managed to ensure that the conference attendees could safely get through the shouting rabble. Video recordings of the protest can be seen here.
The number of Antifa as reported at the time by the Norwegian state broadcaster, NRK, who were livestreaming from outside the conference, was 25. This increased as the day progressed and by November 5th, English-language website The Local—Norway were reporting that there had been 50 protestors. [US far-right extremist deported from Norway]
Ultimately, 28 Antifa were arrested by riot police and (in an example to U.S. law enforcement) fined for public disorder. [Utleier:—Vi tar fullstendig avstand fra det de står for, NRK.NO, November 3, 2019]
No conference attendee was arrested.
The conference went ahead, with speeches by Kevin MacDonald, Danish psychologist Helmuth Nyborg, and British anthropologist Edward ("The Jolly Heretic") Dutton.
The media camped outside the event well into the night, desperate for interviews with the organizers, who chose to be picky about which newspapers they gave interviews to—rejecting a newspaper whom they thought would be biased, Dagbladet, as can be seen here, much to the embarrassment of the wannabe interviewer.
The actions of Norway's security police, and of Antifa, ensured that this small Dissident Right conference was the major news story in Scandinavia for many days and that it spread around the world, even making headlines in China.
If "No publicity is bad publicity" then Oslo's November 2019 Scandza Forum must be considered a phenomenal success.
But European free speech is, at best, on life support.
Harri Honkanen [Email him] is a student of Scandinavia.
Anarcho-Tyranny


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In November 2012 Susan Sherwood. director of Center for Technology & Innovation sent two DVDs which had IBM Training Movies (converted from 16 mm film). These explained the advantages of transistors over vacuum tubes in data processing (computing) equipment, a version of how diodes and transistors worked, and how to use transistors as logic elements..
The thought was that these might be helpful in training new people to maintain our old equipment. Center for Technology & Innovation has a working IBM 1441 and we (CHM) have two working IBM 1401s.
You mentioned that these videos might be useful in training new people in maintaining/trouble_shooting our archaic discrete transistor computing machines.
is not as sharp as one might imagine.
like the system location of the "failed" card should be logged and associated with the physical card. In tough cases, an extender card may be needed to scope out the trouble element by element.
Field people are suspicious of cards that are returned from Repair as "fixed" or "no fault found".
There are tales of field people crushing chronic troublesome cards.
"We" spent considerable time thinking of making a circuit card tester.
My summary, the movies might be the first hour of an intensive three? month course.
How to maintain these machines after the/we old geezers become inactive is an enormous and worrisome challenge !!
2. Current wants to flow from the Emitter through the Base to the collector.
3. The Base controls the Emitter to Collector current by current injected into the Base.
4. The ratio of Emitter to Collector current to Base current is 10 to 40 normally.
This is the amplification of a transistor.
A Diode is a transistor without a base(NP).
If the N end is negative in relationship to the P end, the diode will conduct.
If the N end is positive in relationship to the P end, the diode will not conduct.
If your circuit does not work, more than likely there is a bad transistor or diode to blame.
What the 1401 experience demonstrates is that "fix when broken" repair of SMS cards is no big deal, as blown/short diodes and transistors are readily found with an ohm-meter.
First principles say to make a machine of the 1401 era really reliable, one should margin check it on a regular basis. This is the result of the MIT work re Whirlwind and TX-0 and what was incorporated into all early DEC machines, following what the DEC founders learned from building those machines. Of course, *really* reliable is debatable, my definition is to compile and execute about the largest FORTRAN program the machine can handle and run it for 24 hours without faults.
Later work even showed that semiconductors usually show degradation before failure and that predictive failure tools could find circuits about to fail with about the same success rates as they could predict the future failure of mechanical structures.
It's the second approach that requires something other than an ohm-meter to "fix" "bad" cards. i.e. the detection of slow, weak gain, leaky, temperature sensitive, etc. semiconductors. Having worked on a big machine (10x the 1401) with "morning sickness" I"m also well aware of the frustration in chasing marginal bugs.
A SMS card tester is really no big deal, I've scoped it out rather completely for the variety of 1401 cards. However, there is no point to building it unless there is some reason to do so and for it to be used.


The good news is that there are many older women who are actively proving that they are more than capable of making highly valuable contributions in their fields. At age 72, Andrea Mitchell continues to be an active and important voice in journalism. The bona fide "Queen of Media," Oprah Winfrey has been ranked as the most influential woman in the world. At 64, she's showing no signs of giving up her crown. Meryl Streep and Elizabeth Warren are 69. Martha Stewart is 77. Nancy Pelosi is 78. All of these women continue to show us all just how relevant—and powerful—women of a certain age can be.
My favorite example (of course) is Ruth Bader Ginsberg. At 85 years old, RBG is known for her tenacity in a career dominated by men. When she broke three ribs earlier this month, she was back at work before she was even released from the hospital. Her commitment and ambition seem to know no bounds. But what about those of us who are not household names and are struggling to remain relevant?


We often say that there is no such thing as 5•5 style, well no formal style to be precise! As our design approach is more focused on substance than on style.
To embody the studio's vision and state of mind, we wanted a visual identity that could evolve, more than just a logo, to work towards a comprehensive graphic system with great creative freedom. This desire gave rise to a range of 5•5 logos with radically different styles, going beyond the stylistic to focus on the name 5•5. What matters is these two numbers and the point, which provide continuity and clarity between the different variations of the logo. And because an identity is not limited to single graphic charm, we have created a joyous colourful range evoking the studio's multidisciplinary approach and many areas of expertise.
The range forms a "whole" which is used on our various communication materials to create a true identity that reflects our collective design vision.


I hope you all have an amazing weekend. I'm not sure which holiday you celebrate but I hope that it was full of love, family and fun. This weekend was so busy for me. Friday, my congregation had our annual Passover Seder. The Seder was symbolic of what the Israelites leaving Egypt and all that happened during that time. Saturday, I had to go to my uncle's funeral. It was honestly the first funeral I went to where people celebrated who the person actual was. I appreciated it. I think we honored him well. He was not buried in the typical suit and tie. He had a hoodie one and a baseball cap and they spoke honestly about his character. Then Sunday, service as usual. I don't celebrate Easter so it was literally regular services as usual but that didn't stop me from going to get food. You know how families have to have Easter dinner? Well, I went over Jen's family house and ate but accidentally had some greens with pork in it. So I went for the gusto and just had some mac-n-cheese too. I promised myself I'd do better for the rest of the week. Anyway, I just wanted to do a quick check in with you guys.
Oh, I almost forgot to tell you guys…I saw my sisters!! Unfortunately, not in person but on video. My aunt sent me pictures and everything. They've gotten so big and they even sent me text messages! Still haven't talked to my dad but I believe in my heart that things will work out. I could keep talking but I wanted to keep this short and sweet so thanks for checking in and I'll see you soon.


text:
Magazine Survey
// PHOTO BY THOMAS FRICKE
Cover Feature
Embracing Leadership
From small hugs to big commitment, Manitoba's new lieutenant-governor gives a master class in how to lead, and reminds us that leaders are everywhere.
By Katie Chalmers-Brooks
The Honourable Janice Filmon [BScHEc/63, LLD/11], Manitoba's lieutenant-governor, is singing under the spotlight.
Really singing, with animated hands and enthusiastic eyes as if she's performing for a packed house. Everyone at the photo shoot loves it.
"My God, I asked for it," says the photographer, laughing. "That's awesome."
He had suggested the lieutenant-governor have some fun for the camera. She obliged, offering a rendition of an age-old song the home economics grad would perform during skits back in her days at the University of Manitoba. Just like that, Her Honour has reminded the room that leadership doesn't have to be grandiose or formal. It comes down to making small, but meaningful, connections with others.
And leadership is something she takes very seriously. During her installation as lieutenant-governor at the Legislature a week earlier, Filmon shared her mandate to grow leaders in Manitoba. "In my experience," she said during her official address, "most all of us have the spark to lead but just need a bit of encouragement to feel empowered."
A tireless volunteer with not-for-profit organizations for decades, she is inspired by everyday people who shine a light in someone else's life. She sees leaders everywhere: the driver of the Handi-Transit van at the park unloading his passengers with such care, a woman who puts her heart into being a mom.
They're all in, Filmon points out. "Leadership in its broadest sense is that you have a commitment or a passion from within yourself to want to partake. You've got to believe in the project."
At 72, Manitoba's lieutenant-governor still believes. And she doesn't worry or overanalyze (it's a waste of energy) or watch TV (it's a waste of time). She doesn't have a bucket list (not yet anyway). And she can't think of anything that scares her.
// PHOTO BY TRACEY GONCALVES
"Katie, these are funny questions," she says with a smile.
I continue: "Do you believe in psychics?"
But she does know the mystical powers of a hug.
"I'm a hugger," she affirms unapologetically.
Filmon shows me an email from Ted Dzogan, a man in his 40s who once took part in Manitoba ALIVE (A Leadership Initiative in Voluntary Efforts). She helped create the program to encourage high-schoolers to find their inner leader and squash racial stereotypes. Each year the program brings together 30 teens of all ethnicities from within Winnipeg, the province's rural communities and the Far North.
One of the workshops was about hugging. Filmon describes how some participants would keep their arms out wide like something was preventing them from getting close. In the email, Dzogan wrote about how at first he felt uncomfortable with the idea, having grown up without hugs in his home—but that was going to change for his family.
"For all your other wonderful accomplishments, the one that means the most to me will be that hug you gave an awkward, lonely and anxious boy that won't ever publicly define you, but is the starting point for most of what has ended up defining me," Dzogan wrote.
He was at Her Honour's installation.
"He said, 'Can I have one of those hugs?'" Filmon recalls.
Join the discussion Connect with us on Twitter to share your thoughts on this story @UManAlumni #umtodaymag
Seeing Manitoba ALIVE teens learn from each other was "pure magic" and their transformation, dramatic. "Kids develop masks," says Filmon, at one time a social worker with the Children's Aid Society in Winnipeg. She helped them to reveal their unique beauty and potential. "[When] they feel good about themselves and they believe in themselves—all of a sudden you have this amazing dynamic happening and parents would come back and say, 'Who is this?'"
While her husband Gary [BSc(CE)/64, MSc/67, LLD/11] was leading Manitoba as premier, the couple was trying to empower their own kids—Allison, David, Gregg and Susanna.
As a mom, Filmon wanted not just to be there but to be present in every moment. She knew when to step back and let them climb that tree—"better a broken arm than a broken spirit," she quips. Filmon wanted them to take charge of their own happiness.
"The whole business with parents saying 'I just want them to be happy,' well, I think being happy is their responsibility, not mine. It's about the choices they make," she says.
When she was a child, her father, Harold Wainwright, shared with his two daughters his curiosity about people and community. And he instilled in them a drive to push themselves. "He'd say 'Is that the best you can do, young lady?'"
An executive with the Hudson's Bay Company, he moved the family around a lot but within the instability, the love was steady. By age seven, young Janice Wainwright was already 4-foot-11, nearly as tall as her five-foot mother, Marjorie. In the pre-teen years that followed, she would grow up fast. An introvert back then, she had to dig deep for the confidence to be the new kid at six schools in five years. But the real game-changer came at 16 when her mom was diagnosed with breast cancer.
LEADERSHIP LESSONS FROM JANICE FILMON
Her Honour shared some valuable leadership tips with us. We've summarized them here.
There is a leader in all of us – take a chance, say 'Yes.'
Empower young people to make their own decisions – better a broken arm than a broken spirit.
Don't pretend to be someone you're not – there is freedom in being yourself.
Celebrate those who came before you – and those who may not have had it as easy.
Life is a series of progressively larger stepping stones – use each one to grow and learn and teach and walk alongside others.
Show gratitude – it's the one thing you can't overdo.
Filmon became mini-mom to her younger sister and only sibling, Judy, getting dinner in the oven after two daily visits to Misericordia Hospital squeezed in before and after classes at Gordon Bell High School. Her mom would survive six years, much of that time spent in hospital.
No longer could she greet her daughters from behind the counter at the local community club canteen, when they came inside to warm up from a skate. Away from the cold, the pungent blast of mustard and boiled hotdogs would hit their rosy cheeks. "It just smelled so delicious," Filmon recalls.
Marjorie died at 54.
When Filmon got a phone call from her doctor's office years later—at 46—the mother of four knew something was awry. They had asked her to change her appointment and instead come in at the end of the day. Before a word was said, Filmon remembers pondering what this doctor sitting across from her must have been feeling in that heavy moment. She wanted to put him at ease.
"I thought, imagine having to tell me this. So I said, 'You don't know me very well and I've driven down here and I just want you to know that I'm going to be okay to drive home,'" she recalls.
She would drive home to Gary, who was near the beginning of his 11-year run as premier. Their profile was public, but she fought her breast cancer battle out of the spotlight, going through three dozen radiation treatments and then chemotherapy.
"And then years later," Filmon's voice falls, "it was Allison."
One of her most cherished memories: the moment their eldest child, Allison Filmon Carvey, came home carrying baby Lexie, a sweet bundle of love. It was Christmas and the glow from the tree lit up their home in holiday perfection. "I can still see her walking in with our first grandchild."
Allison, a mother of two, was also 46 when she was diagnosed with cancer. During the three years before her death of melanoma in 2013 it was hard to wriggle away from cancer's hold. "You're aware of that uninvited guest," says Filmon, a long-time chairperson for the CancerCare Manitoba Foundation. "What you're doing is going through a circumstance as best you know how, with who you are at that point, with whatever skills you have and the love that surrounds you…. She was a beautiful, beautiful woman in every way, in spirit, inside and out."
Gary, a loving father, has always offered his wife a steady hand to hold. When there are questions, he pursues answers. When there is a problem, he tries to fix it. "If the plane was going down, you would want him at the controls," she says.
While her husband was premier, she didn't read the newspaper or watch the news. She wanted to be free to just be herself. "I didn't need to know that stuff," Filmon says. "I needed to know that I could be me and if I went out into the community and met somebody I was meeting them on my terms and without a whole lot of background. So that allowed me to go about the community and be."
Filmon is good at remembering people's names, and she'll make a point of calling you by yours several times during a conversation. She describes herself as "a relationship-based thinker" which will serve her well during her five-year appointment as the Queen's representative in Manitoba. She says it's about time a female was chosen; she is only the second woman to hold the vice-regal post since 1870, following Pearl McGonigal [LLD/83] in 1981.
"Because first comes a single step, and then a stride and before you know it someone may even ask you to lead."
Filmon admires another Manitoba-raised woman who broke new ground: Nellie McClung. As founding chair of the Nellie McClung Foundation, Filmon led a team of volunteers who put a bronze sculpture on the Legislative grounds and who honour McClung for her role in helping Manitoba women win the right to vote before any other jurisdiction in Canada.
"Nellie was doing this back in 1916, married with five children. There were no cell phones. It was not cool for a woman to leave her husband and go riding the rails, right? This is phenomenal," says Filmon.
There's a stack of thank you cards Her Honour is working through in response to all of the well wishes for her appointment. She's handwritten about 500 so far.
Among them: former classmates from the U of M.
How many have you kept in touch with?
"Oh, everybody," she says before laughing.
The first from her family to go to university, Filmon would become Alumni Association president, a Distinguished Alumni Award recipient and an honorary degree recipient.
The campus was where she met her husband and home to some of her earliest volunteer efforts, from the blood drive to the Snowball Prom. (Her dad's shovel might still be floating around; she left it behind after building snow sculptures and he never let her forget it.)
Nominate alumni now! Celebrate alumni by nominating them for a Distinguished Alumni Award
Filmon soaked up the tight-knit spirit on campus. "It was just such a sense of community and of pride," she says.
Her Honour also talks about the pride she feels for the province as a whole. "There is something about prairie people," she says. "They are very rooted, family-oriented, community-oriented, great volunteers."
As lieutenant–governor, she wants to develop leaders no matter how old they are, whether they're from a big city or a tiny town. It begins with saying yes. "Because first comes a single step, and then a stride and before you know it someone may even ask you to lead," Filmon said in her installation speech.
And that leadership grows out of human connection.
"Sometimes to empower a person, it takes just a word of encouragement, a squeeze of the hand, or the simple words, 'You are not alone. I'll help.'"
Before I leave her home, the woman whom Prime Minister Stephen Harper hailed as "a strong leader" and "an exemplary volunteer" is apologizing that she never offered me biscuits.
But I did get a hug.
Filmon installed as Lieutenant Governor
Two alumni lauded for outstanding contributions to health field
Janice Filmon, Honourary Degree Recipient, 2011 Spring Convocation
Lieutenant Governor of Manitoba Installation
Reconciliation Nation
Accomplishments – Spring 2016
3 comments on "Embracing Leadership"
Lexie — October 13, 2015 at 12:29 pm
Beautifully written article on an outstanding woman.
Pat Flaws — October 24, 2015 at 8:22 am
I admire Janice very much and consider her a friend who never forgets my name or anyone else's. She is a powerful leader.
Philip Bialk — September 13, 2016 at 1:02 am


One of the many reasons to travel and study at a Spanish school in Buenos Aires, Argentina is to experience the vibrant and captivating Argentine culture.
Learning and practicing Spanish and meeting people will definitely help in feeling comfortable and at home in your new city. Of course, the best way to learn the language is to take quality Spanish classes. After the school day is over though, you want to find ways to get out and practice your gained knowledge by meeting locals and making some friends! Argentines are extremely warm and friendly people and are excellent conversationalists, happy to engage in a chat – but where to go to meet them? Now let's get talking!
Let's start simple and practice at home! If you live in a shared apartment or homestay with Argentines from your Spanish school in Buenos Aires, you are lucky to have built-in native speakers to practice with every day. Chatting over meals or sharing some mate in the living room together is perfect for asking questions and sharing some laughs.
Once you've left the apartment, get chatty in your own barrio! Become a regular at the places you frequent and talk daily with the clerks- whether it's the verdulero while picking out your frutillas and paltas, the owner of the panadería where you buy your delicious carne picante empanadas, or the bartender at your local cervecería, by striking up a conversation every time you go to those places you will easily practice lots of Spanish!
Another great way to practice speaking is to find a conversation language exchange. In these exchanges, each partner swaps of an hour of his or her native language in exchange for an hour of Spanish. This is a great way to learn about the culture of Argentina while being able to practice the language in a relaxed environment.
Try having the meetup in the Bosques de Palermo with some mate to enjoy the summer sun! The website conversationexchange.com is a good place to start—but be aware you may have to chat with several people until you find the right "fit". Sometimes a weekly conversation exchange partner can turn into a great friendship!
Friendships are really important to the Argentine culture- there is even a national holiday devoted to it in July, so making friends is key! Perhaps the easiest way to begin is to meet people is by pursuing your current hobbies. If you play a sport, an instrument, are interested in trying out new recipes, love working out, doing beautiful paintings, etc- those all exist here in Buenos Aires! Also, try taking a class to learn something new and befriend your fellow classmates. Taking tango classes is a great option!
The Couchsurfing community is strong in Buenos Aires and holds picnics in the park, festive holiday get-togethers, and meetups in cervecerias. Networking groups like International can also be a great way to meet people for professional purposes. Living abroad has so many new opportunities to learn and see and explore and so you want to take full advantage of that!
It's time to dust off your dancing shoes and sign up for a class. There are many options to choose from—La Viruta is a good starting point. There are classes for all levels, and all are taught in Spanish! After the hour-long lessons are done, you can stay and practice dancing in the milonga all night long. Another fun place to watch and dance the Tango to enjoy the warm summer nights is to head to the in Las Barrancas del Belgrano. Here you will find locals dancing Tango Friday and Saturday nights under the stars in a beautiful park in the lovely neighborhood of Belgrano.
How did you meet people in Buenos Aires, Argentina? Share your thoughts so fellow travelers can find new ideas!
Expanish has an exceptional Spanish & Tango program so you can learn Spanish in the classroom and practice your newfound language acquisition alongside some smooth new steps in tango lessons. Find out more here.
Part One: Gualeguaychú – el Carnaval del País!


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"YOU MOVE AND YOU'RE DEAD…"
We are all familiar with the words dead by dawn which were made famous in the late eighties by bloody battles and saw wielding leading men chased by demons…you already know that story. What is not yet known is a horror story from Uncork'd Entertainment along with Silver Spider Investments and Velvet Hammer Films aptly titled Dead by Dawn.
This film comes from the dark minds of Sean Cain and Wes Laurie and stars Drew Lindsey Mitchell (Tuesday Crowd),Kelcey Watson (Lucifer), Skylar Dominique and Bo Burroughs (All About the Money) Jamie Bernadette rounds out the team coming in with much experience in the horror genre with films like I Spit On Your Grave: Deja Vu – a sequel to the 1978 original film directed by Meir Zarchi. 4/20 Massacre and The 6th Friend which she co-wrote, produced and starred in. This cast as a whole worked well together to tell a story of loss, depravity, desperation and finding purpose and strength to press forward while getting chased by real life demons.
"A suicidal man in a remote cabin is suddenly faced with protecting a kidnapped woman from three killers and their sadistic games…"
The characters in this movie play off each other well and you can almost feel the realness come across the screen – they're tapping into some hurt and pain thats there only serving such purpose. As the movie unfolds we find that there are a few stories within this film that could hold their own if given the chance – they let you peek into their baggage while not letting it all come unfolded and muddying up the main two stories going on within the film which is the hurt and pain both main characters are feeling and the uncertainty of the morning after. The cast all came together to tell a story from their respective sides. All the actors brought the intensity needed to help the film unfold with some rage and callousness mixed with comedic relief "peepee monster" and back to letting flashes shine through of past hurt and broken dreams.
My favorite part of the film is when they decide to not sit by and be victims and extend invitations to their assailants by making use of Dylan's daughters prepper box and set out to take hold of the situation. We find out a lot more from all characters involved as the story unfolds and depending on where you sit by then, you'll either love it or hate it.
"It's a fight to the death where only the strongest will survive until dawn."
The cinematography is in the hands of Eric A. Wahl and he helps you get immersed into the film- you feel as though you are in the same room kneeling down with the people in the scene, outside almost getting shot at or looking down at bullet wounds. the sound design by Mario Salvucci really gives you a score/soundtrack that helps auto select your emotions or level of anxiety for certain scenes. Really well done edits are key to letting this film flow in its intended purpose.
A big plus was the use of practical effects mixed with some CG helmed by Marina Coria and Eduardo Arambula. They married the best of both worlds to create scenes and a feel needed for the film. Subtle use and proper use whenever needed and it helped the film achieve realness in those facets.
"This is not fuck around time…"
From start to finish this film brings you on a wild horror ride of deceit, destruction, loss and the growth from having gone through hell and back.. you might not be the same person if you're not Dead By Dawn! If you have the chance to put your peepers on this film once it hits the streets i'd say take the warrior way and hit play, ya shit-bird! – Angel L. @chaosmanis / @thatstrangeshow
Available on DVD and Digital April 7, 2020
#DeadByDawn #IndieHorrorFilm #ThatStrangeShow


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This image released by A24 shows Awkwafina, center, in a scene from "The Farewell." (A24 via AP)
Review: Director Lulu Wang's "The Farewell"
This image released by A24 shows Awkwafina, in a scene from "The Farewell." (Casi Moss/A24 via AP)
By Lindsey Bahr, AP Film Writer
The premise behind writer and director Lulu Wang's wonderful film "The Farewell " might be a little hard to accept for some audiences. A family collectively decides not to tell their grandmother back that she has been diagnosed with lung cancer and has only three months to live. But wanting a chance to say goodbye, they arrange an elaborate ruse — a wedding — to get everyone together one last time.
Far-fetched? For Americans it is. But as we learn in the first frame, the film is "Based on an actual lie."
Yes, Wang has mined her own family's wild true story to create a film that, despite its hyper-specific premise and setting, is a universally relatable and heart-rending portrait of how looming death affects a family. It's not emotionally manipulative or even necessarily a tear-jerker, although it's not a bad idea to bring along tissues. "The Farewell" is a stoic and honest representation of a flawed and lovely family coming to terms with the inevitable.
Awkwafina plays the stand-in for Wang. Her character, Billi, is a 31-year-old New Yorker whose financial and career instability is starting to become more than just a temporary state of youth. She's having trouble paying the rent, her parents are reaching the point where they don't really want to help anymore, and she's just been rejected for a fellowship she was counting on. She's rudderless and drifting.
Then her parents inform her that her beloved grandmother Nai Nai (Shuzhen Zhao, who will win your heart in an instant) is dying in China. They're not going to tell Nai Nai, and instead are going to China under the pretense of her cousin getting married, even though he's only been dating his girlfriend for a few months.
Billi, who has been raised in the United States since she was 6, is appalled they'd even think of keeping the diagnosis from Nai Nai. Her mother Jian (Diana Lin) flatly explains, "There's a saying in China: When you get cancer, you die." Part of what kills you, she believes, is the fear. Later, someone asks what the point would be in ruining Nai Nai's good mood with the truth. You might even find yourself buying into the idea at points. Maybe this is a more empathetic way.
And so a plane ride later, everyone is together at Nai Nai's, cooking, eating, quarreling and planning this very real fake wedding. Her sons both left China and have lived most of their adult lives elsewhere — Haiyan (Tzi Ma), Billi's father, in America, and the other in Japan. This family reunion is a long time coming. They haven't all been together in 25 years, and it's as comforting, fraught and melancholy as a reunion should be.
Awkwafina, who made a name for herself with larger-than-life comedic performances, is quiet, understated and heartbreaking as Billi, who is grappling with the idea of impermanence while her own life stands still. She has maintained a sweet and close relationship with Nai Nai despite their physical distance. She's also the most outwardly sentimental of the bunch, so much so that her parents don't even want her to come to China to say goodbye.
The film is a heady, gentle and emotional journey, but Wang also packs the frame with layered conversation and funny background action. She makes the family dynamics feel universally familiar while also presenting an authentic portrait of China and Chinese families.
This is Wang's second feature. Her first, "Posthumous," was never released theatrically. But that fate is unlikely to befall her again after such an assured statement as "The Farewell." She is a superb writer and director and a name worth knowing.
"The Farewell," an A24 release, is rated PG by the Motion Picture Association of America for "thematic material, brief language and some smoking." Running time: 98 minutes. Four stars out of four.
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Football games send viewers to TV on cold weekend; Nielsen week in review
Nominated Films
Jon Joffin


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Billionaire Tory donor tells Rishi Sunak to admit that the public were lied to over Brexit
Guy Hands has said that Rishi Sunak must admit that the Brexit campaign was full of lies, if the party wants his support again.
A billionaire former Tory donor has told Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to admit that the Brexit campaign was full of lies, if the party wants his support again.
Guy Hands, a long-time supporter of the party and founder and chairman of Terra Firma Capital Partners, told the ipaper that his support for the party would now depend on the government changing course and adopting a softer Brexit trade deal with the EU.
"I'm delighted to support the party that is putting Britain's long-term future health above party politics," he said. "A good deal with Europe will not solve all problems, but it would be a good start."
Hands wants the Tories to negotiate a deal with the EU which is similar to the agreements that countries such as Switzerland and Norway have in place and which crucially would allow freedom of movement between the UK and EU citizens, a policy that would outrage Tory MPs as well as its membership.
Hands' comments come at a time when polling shows that a majority of the public now believe that leaving the EU was a mistake. Earlier this month, Sir John Curtice, President of the British polling council revealed that 57% of the country now believes leaving the bloc was an error.
A paper from Kings College London has also revealed that Leavers are more likely to regret the Brexit vote' than Remainers.
Hands said: "Having a vote on Brexit was meant to solve the issue of Europe in the Tory party for good.
"Unfortunately, [David] Cameron expected a different result, a result which the majority of the British population now regret."
Billionaire Tory donor closes busy main road in South Kensington for gardening work
Tory donor says the party is not fit to run the country
Public believe Keir Starmer would be a better PM than Liz Truss or Rishi Sunak, poll shows
Tory run councils warn Rishi Sunak of possible bankruptcy


If we are to serve, we are guaranteed to get our hands dirty. At times we privately recoil at the thought of getting messy, losing sight of Jesus' servant heart as he gently scrubbed his disciples' feet. Together, we will be reminded and inspired to explore opportunities to serve in new ways, recognizing the opportunity to open our hands and hearts. Grab your towel and be ready to do some spiritual house cleaning through the dirty work of serving.


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Home » States » California » NOM Condemns Ninth Circuit Ruling Finding Prop 8 Unconstitutional, Imperiling the Marriage Laws of 43 states
NOM Condemns Ninth Circuit Ruling Finding Prop 8 Unconstitutional, Imperiling the Marriage Laws of 43 states
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: February 7, 2012
Group will support efforts to take the issue to the US Supreme Court
WASHINGTON, D.C. — "As sweeping and wrong-headed as this decision is, it nonetheless was as predictable as the outcome of a Harlem Globetrotters exhibition game," said Brian Brown, NOM's president. "We have anticipated this outcome since the moment San Francisco Judge Vaughn Walker's first hearing in the case. Now we have the field cleared to take this issue to the US Supreme Court, where we have every confidence we will prevail."
San Francisco federal court judge Vaughn Walker ruled in 2010 that Proposition 8 violates the 14th amendment of the US Constitution. If allowed to stand, the ruling could invalidate the marriage laws of 43 states that define marriage as the union of one man and one woman. The case is widely expected to go to the US Supreme Court for resolution.
In their 2-1 split decision, the Ninth Circuit opinion [PDF] written by Judge Stephen Reinhardt, held that:
•	The proponents of Proposition 8 have the legal standing to appeal the lower court's ruling, as suggested by an earlier ruling of the California Supreme Court;
•	Judge Vaughn Walker did not have a duty to disclose that he was in a long-term committed homosexual relationship throughout the time he was hearing and deciding the case;
•	Once "marriage" rights have been granted to same-sex couples by a court, as occurred with the California Supreme Court, they may not be taken away by a state initiative;
•	There is no rational basis to support the constitutionality of Proposition 8 and it is thus unconstitutional as violating the 14th Amendment's equal protection clause.
"Never before has a federal appeals court – or any federal court for that matter – found a right to gay marriage under the US Constitution," said constitutional scholar John Eastman, who is chairman of NOM. "The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals is the most overturned circuit in the country, and Judge Stephen Reinhardt, the author of today's absurd ruling is the most overturned federal judge in America. Today's ruling is a perfect setup for this case to be taken by the US Supreme Court, where I am confident it will be reversed. This issue is the Roe v Wade of the current generation, and I sincerely doubt the Court has the stomach for preempting the policy judgments of the states on such a contentious matter, knowing the lingering harm it caused by that ruling."
Eastman is the founding Director of the Center for Constitutional Jurisprudence at the Claremont Institute and is a constitutional law professor and former Dean at Chapman University School of Law. A former US Supreme Court Clerk, Eastman has participated in over 60 cases before the US Supreme Court.
To schedule an interview with Brian Brown, President of the National Organization for Marriage, or John Eastman, chairman of the National Organization for Marriage, please contact Elizabeth Ray (x130), [email protected], or Anath Hartmann, [email protected], at 703-683-5004.
This entry was written by NOM Staff, posted on at 1:03 pm, filed under California, Law, Marriage, Press Releases, Prop 8, Same Sex Marriage, Supreme Court. Bookmark the permalink. Follow any comments here with the RSS feed for this post.


Ardent Partners recently published my annual CPO-themed report, CPO Rising 2015: The Agility Agenda (registration required), which is drawn from the responses of more than 300 chief procurement officers and other procurement executives (as well as 26 CPO interviews) and presents a comprehensive, industry-wide view into what is happening in the world of procurement. As we do each year, we like to discuss the research report in a series of articles that examines some of the key findings and major takeaways from the study.
In 2015, procurement departments on average manage just slightly over 60% of total enterprise spend, a number that has stayed flat for the past few years. Additionally, these organizations on average delivered annual savings that totaled 6.0% last year (2014) and are expected to deliver 6.6% this year (2015). The savings numbers continue a multi-year downward trend and parallel the gradual, relative de-emphasis on procurement savings that is occurring within global enterprises and their procurement departments. Average sourcing volumes have followed in lockstep with savings, trending downward this year and falling below 50% for the first time in several years.
Ardent's analysis in this report determined best-in-class procurement performance by identifying the top 20% of performers in the spend under management metric. These leaders have placed on average 90% of spend under the management of the procurement organization, which is a full 70% more spend than their peers. Ardent uses spend under management as a starting point in the development of its best-in-class framework and to drive additional discussion and deeper analysis of strategies, capabilities, and results.
In 2015, the best-in-class procurement departments manage most of their enterprise spend (90%) and based on other performance metrics, manage it well, or at least significantly better than the competition. The ability to influence 90% of total spend is an accomplishment borne from years of hard work, tenacity, and consistent execution. It is also worthy of high praise. These best-in-class teams have proven that their CPOs' plans to gain credibility and influence spend are both achievable and worthwhile. These groups, more than others, stand on the cusp of the next wave of procurement, well-positioned to continue to push the procurement performance envelope and execute the CPO's new agility agenda.
While the best-in-class manage significantly more spend than their peers, they also source significantly more addressable spend (61.8% vs. 43.9%). This higher level of sourcing activity, combined with other efforts, enabled the best-in-class to report savings that were 15% higher in 2014 on a much bigger spend portfolio. This means that the bottom line impact of having a procurement department operating at best-in-class levels can pay for the entire department many times over – this shows once again that the leverage from a successful procurement operation can be extraordinary.
At a higher level, best-in-class procurement performance can be attributed to several key process and technology drivers that they leverage more frequently than all other procurement and sourcing teams. Across the board, the best-in-class are more likely to standardize processes like spend analysis, sourcing, contract management, and supplier management than all other teams. And in the case of spend analysis, they are also more likely to link it to their other sourcing activities.
This should not be a surprise, since linking sub-processes is much easier when the areas are clearly defined and understood. Linked processes and systems can result in a more familiar and user-friendly experience, which can drive more users to leverage them, foster greater spend under management, and ultimately, greater realization of identified cost savings.
Best-in-class procurement teams also automate and leverage technology solutions more frequently than other teams as shown by higher application adoption rates. Chief procurement oOfficers from best-in-class procurement teams understand that technology solutions, when implemented well and leveraged effectively, can be force multipliers for their staff and can allow them to move mountains across the sourcing landscape. For example, automated spend analysis solutions can allow a staff to aggregate, analyze, and distill spend data into actionable spend intelligence in a scalable and repeatable way. This in turn can help them develop better sourcing strategies and make more informed sourcing decisions.
The use of business networks among the best-in-class is also a noteworthy feature. Since business networks provide enterprises with an array of suppliers that are already connected electronically for transactions, Best-in-class teams that leverage business networks can take advantage of a supplier base that can enable greater agility vis-a-vis changing market conditions and is already "enabled" on a system.
Best-in-class procurement departments, on average, manage 90% of enterprise spend and they do it more efficiently and more effectively than their competitors. They think about their processes more holistically and utilize technology to drive visibility, collaboration, and superior performance. To learn more about their characteristics and competitive differentiators, click to download CPO Rising 2015: The Agility Agenda (registration required).
Is simplification part of your business's long-term strategy? Read The Time For Simplification Is Now: Why It's Important And How You Can Get Started Today.


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