Weather monitoring and forecasting systems have witnessed rapid advancement in recent years. However, one of the main challenges faced by these systems is poor coverage in lower atmospheric regions due to earth's curvature. The Engineering Research Center for the Collaborative Adaptive Sensing of the Atmosphere (CASA) has developed a dense network of small low-power radars to improve the coverage of weather sensing systems. Traditional, mechanically-scanned antennas used in these radars are now being replaced with high-performance electronically-scanned phased-arrays. Phased-Array radars, however, require large number of active microwave components to scan electronically in both the azimuth and elevation planes, thus significantly increasing the cost of the entire radar system. To address this issue, CASA has designed a "Phase-Tilt" radar, that scans electronically in azimuth and mechanically in elevation. One of the core components of this system is the Phased-Array controller or the Array Formatter. The Array Formatter is a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA)-based master controller that translates user commands from a computer to control and timing signals for the radar system. The objective of this thesis is to design and test an FPGA-based Array Formatter for CASA's Phase-Tilt radar system.


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Life Changing Moments #5: Illness
Valia April 18, 2017
When Sarah*, an Indonesian student, found out that she had tumors on her brain, she literally changed everything about her life: she decided not to spend years in medical school and choose to study abroad.
'The moment I found out that I had a medical condition, my whole perspective towards life changed,' says Sarah*, an 18-year-old student from Indonesia who was diagnosed with several brain tumors when she was 16.
Two years ago, she has a medical check up because she was suffering from constant, intense headaches. 'Doctors couldn't find the headaches' cause, so I was going back and forth to the hospital for months.'
Coming to terms
The first months were very tough, not only for Sarah but for her family as well. Her parents couldn't cope with what was happening to her. 'I think they have realized now that there is nothing they can actually do about it, so they have come in terms with it in a way.'
Although they still hope that the tumors are not malignant, Sarah doubts it because there is a family history of cancer. 'I feel like they are avoiding the situation in a way, but I am not blaming them. I know it must be really hard for them.'
Nevertheless, she believes that there is a positive side to the problem as well. 'I am lucky that I found out about it quite early. Some people have tumors but they only find it out when they are already in the final stage. Then, I think it is even harder for their families to accept it.'
Due to her medical condition, Sarah decided to abandon her dreams of studying medicine because she didn't want to spend the rest of her life studying. But she didn't know what else she really wanted to do, so she applied to several universities. She got accepted into the faculty of law of the University of Groningen.
Today, she enjoys every single moment of her time abroad. 'I always lived with my family, so it is a new experience for me to live in a foreign country all by myself and I actually like the city a lot. I am happy that I have met people from all over the world here.'
'I believe everything is going to be fine' Living in a student city and seeing people who use drugs or other things that could be harmful is disappointing to her now. 'It's such a shame. They have like their whole life ahead of them and they actually choose to throw it away.'
For her, being surrounded by people who can understand her is vital at the moment. 'I have a friend here with whom I can share everything. I think it is really important to have someone who stands by you in your difficult moments, so I believe everything is going to be fine.'
*Per the student's request, Sarah is a fictional name.
In Life Changing Moments Tags brain tumor, going abroad, illness, life changing moments, life experience, making amends, tumors, viewpoint
Life Changing Moments #4: Sailing
Valia September 9, 2016
American student Graham Clark realised his sailing trip was a life-changing moment after reaching shore. 'You just have to accept your fate and whatever happens, happens.'
'My father and I flew to Hawaii in July 2014 to get on a 13-meter-long boat and set sail for a character-building trip. Neither of us had any sailing experience in the past,' says Graham Clark, a 20-year-old bachelor's student in linguistics.
The journey didn't start auspiciously: there was no wind for fourteen straight days, which meant that they had to rely on their fuel. Once that ran out, they had to wait for wind in order to reach the coast. In total, their adventure lasted for 22 days.
Thistle, the ship that Graham and his father sailed across the Pacific.
But fuel shortage wasn't their only worry. 'There are somewhere between 5,000 and 10,000 shipping containers which fall off the ships and are floating in the middle of the ocean like an iceberg. There is a chance of running into one of those in the middle of the night, and then? Good luck. But I tried not to think about that, because then you could drive yourself crazy. You just have to accept your fate and whatever happens, happens.'
Graham, his father and the captain ran shifts throughout the day and night. Life vests were also mandatory. 'In the beginning, I didn't take it seriously, but then I realised that if I fall in the ocean I'll die, especially when I'm on a night shift, because my father and the captain were usually sleeping and they would only notice the next morning.'
Eventually, they caught a strong wind came and sailed quickly toward the coast. 'Once we reached it, we first had to buy more fuel, since we still had a day of sailing left. After that, we ordered beer and pizza. I hadn't had either of those things for many days. They tasted amazing. It was exactly what I needed.'
A sunset as seen from the middle of the Pacific ocean.
When they managed to get home safe, Graham realized that this voyage was a life-changing experience for him and he started appreciating some things more, as he explains. 'It was really nice to get off the boat and lay flat, because basically with the boat, you are always leaning one way or another. I also enjoy food more. After such a trip, you have a better idea of what you actually need in terms of food, because it's not like you can go to the store and buy more. You need to be very conscious about what will you take.'
Although it wasn't always smooth sailing, Graham is looking forward to his next journey. 'After spending time off of a boat, I would like to get back to one, even if the same thing happens again. It is part of the journey and you have to accept that the weather is out of your control. I think it's an experience everybody would benefit from, but it's definitely not for everybody. It's not easy. I am really glad I did it. I will never see anything more beautiful than the sunsets and the stars at night from the middle of the ocean.'
In Life Changing Moments Tags journey, life changing moments, life experience, reaching shore, sailing, viewpoint
Life Changing Moments #3: Bullying
Valia May 24, 2016
'I was bullied for 13 years. I felt like nobody, besides my parents, cared about me,' says Donna Mae, a 23-year-old Dutch pre-master's student in International Business and Management.
ae was bullied for her appearance when she was younger. 'I don't look like normal Dutch people. I am not blonde. My father is Dutch, but my mother is from the Philippines, so I look a bit Asian. My teeth are not straight. Because of all that, children in primary school made fun of me and called me names.'
At first, the bullying wasn't that intense, but it eventually became her worst nightmare. 'It was horrible. The only thing I ever wanted was just to fit in and be liked by the other children. Bullying is a very tough situation for a child to handle alone.'
'I was alone'
Mae describes her school years as dreadful and solitary. 'I felt that although I was standing in the middle of a big crowd, I was alone.'
Mae still lingers when she recalls one of her worst memories. 'One day, in high school, a girl told me: 'I wish you were dead.' It was horrible.'
The cruel comments hurt her so badly that she considered killing herself. 'Once, I went to the train station and I thought: 'This is it.' I had decided to commit suicide, but I didn't do it because of my parents.'
'I had decided to commit suicide' Their unconditional love and support during her personal odyssey kept Mae alive. 'My parents were my rock during those years.' Poetry was also an outlet for her feelings, and when she shared one of her poems with her teacher, she advised Mae to visit the school counselor. 'She thought it was high time I got some help, and that's what I did.'
At the age of 16, she decided to turn the page and start a new chapter in her life. 'I went to Canada for a summer exchange program. I had a great summer and I was so thankful that I was still alive.'
Despite her circumstances, Mae was dreaming of a brighter future. 'I always wanted to achieve something important in my life and that kept me focused. Now, here I am, studying at the University of Groningen. I am very proud of myself. Partly I am thankful that they bullied me. Every day I wake up and I feel so grateful that I have the opportunity to study, and bullying is the reason for that.'
Since the age of 14, she knew that she wanted to follow a career related to economics, and she is really excited about the programme she is studying. 'I didn't know the pre-master's would be so focused on what I wanted to do. It is related to international companies, and since I want to obtain a high position in such a company, I believe it is ideal for me.'
Although she still gets emotional sometimes, she has made amends with her past. 'I know that they already know that I moved on with my life and that's enough for me, I don't need to get in touch with them.'
While her studies are very demanding, Mae is enjoying every minute of it. 'Being able to study is a huge right for me. It's not easy, but who said that life would be easy? I actually learned that the hard way.'
In Life Changing Moments Tags bulling, life changing moments, life experience, making amends, school, view, viewpoint
Life Changing Moments #2: India
Valia February 8, 2016
'When I arrived in India, I understood what culture shock really means,' says Yuanyuan Guo, a Chinese student who moved to India in 2013 to work as an intern for an international organisation.
Her first internship abroad was definitely a life changing experience. Guo, a 22-year-old Chinese master student in Euroculture, describes her first impression of India as disappointing. 'I was stuck at the airport for more than two hours. The guy who was supposed to pick me up was late, so I had to wait there,' she recalls. 'I was very annoyed,' she adds.
Although she visited tourist attractions in order to explore the country a little bit the next day, Guo was still in a bad mood. 'There was nothing there, let alone the fact that it was full of garbage. I couldn't really understand why this place was in the list of the country's tourist places.'
After the initial shock wore off and despite the fact that her stay hadn't gotten off to a very promising start, Guo tried to focus on India's positive side. The family that she stayed with also helped her adapt quickly to the new culture.
'They were very nice and they treated me as if I was part of their family as well,' she says. 'They actually made me realize how friendly and nice Indian people are.'
Soon, Guo began to enjoy her time in India and the Indian lifestyle. 'They are very relaxed and they have a lot of free time, whereas China is developing so fast that people are just working without enough free time to meet their friends or to relax in general.'
She also liked Indian music. 'We went dancing with my friends very often. Even when I went back to China, I was constantly checking if there were any Indian dances or concerts that I could go to.'
Although Guo enjoyed her stay in India in the end, she couldn't help but notice some of the country's problems. Poverty is common and many Indian people don't have an adequate standard of living, 'I was surprised when I found out that even the fact that their living standards are very low doesn't seem to be a problem for them.'
However, the most striking thing for her was how many people relied on begging. 'The majority of them were mothers with their kids. I think many of them have turned begging money from others into their profession. I felt really bad about this part and I think it definitely needs to be terminated somehow in the near future. The organization I was working for was planning to implement some strategies in order to fight this problem, however it is high time the government did something about it.'
Although many of her Chinese friends were having a really rough time in India and wound up returning to China earlier than planned, Guo didn't. 'I was trying to enjoy every single moment and I even kept a diary to write down all the amazing experiences I had there.'
Guo hopes to go back to India one day. 'I miss those days a lot. I know that such a trip isn't ideal for the majority of people. However, for me, it was a unique experience and I learned how to behave in a multicultural environment.'
In Life Changing Moments Tags beggars, culture shock, internship, life changer, life changing moments, life experience, podcast, poverty in India, trip to India, viewpoint
Life Changing Moments #1: Pregnancy
Valia January 6, 2016
'In the beginning, I had mixed feelings about this new life', says Denise Holguin, a 32-year-old master's student from Colombia who recently moved to Groningen. She is in the city to finish her Erasmus Mundus programme in Learning and Teaching of Spanish in Multilingual and International Contexts. She's also six months pregnant.
Denise says her certainty about becoming a parent is also getting stronger as time goes on. 'I am sure this is something I want to do. The love for my baby is growing along with my belly.'
Although she and her husband were trying to have a baby, Denise decided to apply for a master's programme. When she eventually got pregnant, she never really considered the possibility of quitting her studies. She had been awarded a scholarship for a master's, so stopping was not really an option for her, as she explains.
'A very nice feeling'
'The fact that I am pregnant doesn't mean that I can't continue with my life. Pregnancy is of course something big and special, but we still have a normal life, and quitting my studies wouldn't be fair for myself.'
She never felt the morning sickness that many pregnant women feel and was able to continue with her life and her studies as normal. 'I just need more rest now and time to exercise, to knit and to go to the hospital for testing, and I need to sleep well.'
In fact, Denise thinks that her baby likes the lessons she is attending. 'I feel him or her moving a lot during my lessons. I am always attending classes with my hands on my belly and feeling my baby moving. It is a very nice feeling.'
'I felt very vulnerable'
Although her routine has changed little, she abandoned her initial plan to move to Berlin and finish her studies, and moved to Groningen instead per suggestion from her teachers, who told her that the programme would be less intense here.
'When I arrived here with my husband, I was really depressed and I was crying all the time. I knew I would be alone since he had to go back to Barcelona, and I felt very vulnerable. I didn't know anyone here. I had to share a place with other people which I wasn't used to, so the beginning was really tough for me.'
But despite the difficulties, Denise says she got used to her new life in Groningen quickly and managed to overcome all of her fears. Today, she is more optimistic regarding her future and her decision to move to Groningen alone. 'I think I am more positive in general. It is said that pregnant women are more positive towards life, and I really feel that is true.'
Special regard
As her pregnancy progresses, her perspective towards life is changing, too. 'Of course my studies are vital for me, but the perspective is more focused towards my baby at the moment.'
Her attitude towards children and pregnant women has also evolved. Before her pregnancy, they were just normal people to her. 'But now, I have a special regard towards them. I feel like I can identify with them. I also understand my mom better now and why she worries so much about us. I see my husband not just as my partner but as the father of my baby and an educator who supports me in this whole process.'
Denise already feels like a mom and and finds herself making preparations to welcome the new family member. 'I have started to sew and knit things. I have made some cloth toys, a quilt, and now I am knitting a blanket. This is something I would never have done before. My life is full of changes.'
In Life Changing Moments Tags baby, LifeChangingMoments, newborn, NewFamilyMember, newlife, nice feeling, pregnancy, viewpoint, when life changes
Stay Hooked
Stay Hooked, the radio broadcast me and the other students of the master in journalism of the University of Groningen did. It went live on the 18/12/2014.
In Life Changing Moments

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
"The list of those who began their careers in the journal includes some of the most formidable writers and poets in the second half of the 20th century."
Letter from Italy
Susan Balée
Dear H,
We arrived in Italy in February, leaving a blizzard behind us in Pittsburgh. Though Rome could hardly be called warm, the temperatures stayed well above freezing and the sun shone nearly every day. Our apartment lies just fuori le mura (outside the wall, meaning the ancient Aurelian wall) in a leafy suburb called Nomentano. Our building is limone, lighter than the giallo one up the street from it, a distinction that becomes important when directing a cabdriver. Our street, Via Udine, is flanked by early twentieth-century apartment buildings, a painter's palette of earth tones: cream, rust, honey yellow, ochre, blood orange. Pigeons, hooded crows, and swifts rule the airspace, while a clowder of neighborhood cats patrols the streets below. Traditional wooden shutters open and close like square eyelids on the windows of the buildings. Chocolate brown on lemon (ours), deep green on autumnal orange (across the street), and blue on the bone-pale edifice I can see from our roof. Speaking of roofs, antennae by the dozens poke up from all the buildings hereabouts. Apparently the digital revolution has not yet made it to Italy. Or it has, but these semaphores of the past remain.
The past, the past. Everyone says it, but it's worth repeating: In Rome the past is always present. It appears at every break in the ground. I still marvel at the way ruins from thousands of years ago shape the curves of major streets or, like the Torre Argentina where Julius Caesar lost his life, reveal themselves in the center of a busy piazza. Anywhere a visitor walks in Rome, she can be certain the ancient city crouches just below her feet. For this reason, I'm glad J. and I visited Palatine Hill early in our time here. In February, undistracted by other tourists, I could concentrate on the numinous aura emanating from the fallen palazzi on the hilltop. Grass grows around crumbling walls and decapitated columns, outlining the floors of ancient drawing rooms. Marble thieves left a few columns standing beside the imperial brick walls, as well as innumerable stones inscribed in Latin around the dry fountains and abandoned temples. I'd come to Italy with J. intending to paint, and one of my first pictures depicts a broken capital we saw lying in the dirt near the Domus Augustana.
Strange juxtapositions abound in Rome, as I discovered when we first visited Villa Torlonia, the park near our apartment. Our landlady-to-be had recommended the place, remarking that "Mussolini used to ride his horse there," and when we first entered the grounds, the grassy hills and fields alternating with copses of towering umbrella pines and Himalayan cedars made us wish we had horses too. In the distance we could see the roofs of various buildings and the top of an obelisk surrounded by palm trees. Taking the right-hand path, we passed first a big, colorful Moorish structure, locked behind a green fence and "Vietato" to visitors. The hill rose, a grove appeared on the right, and the ground fell away on the left to reveal an oval clearly meant for some athletic purpose. Did Mussolini ride his horse here? It wasn't that big, but surely it had once hosted more than a pack of boys kicking a soccer ball.
The path continued up, and on the right an elaborate Swiss chalet jumped out of the trees like a house in a fairy tale. The gabled roof reminded me of medieval Burgundy with its colored tiles in geometric designs. Stained glass owls winked beside the front door, providing the place its name, the Casina delle Civette. This odd residence once housed Giovanni Torlonia, the final scion of the family. He exchanged his lodgings from the estate's big mansion, the Casino Nobile, for this smaller house after the death of his mother. Giovanni installed the owl designs (a symbol related to luck, usually bad, in Italy) all over the house. Above his bed an elaborate mural depicts a cloud of bats descending—either on the sleeper or the insomniac. In 1925 he leased the Casino Nobile to Benito Mussolini for the nominal sum of one lira per annum. Il Duce lived in the mansion from then until his arrest in '43. His wife Rachele and youngest two children fled Rome but were arrested trying to leave Italy. Rachele became the prison cook on the Isle of Ischia and after the war returned to her and Benito's home village where she opened a popular restaurant.
The Allies made Villa Torlonia their headquarters from 1945–47, and they did the most damage to it. When they finally decamped, entropy enveloped the mansion for thirty years until the city of Rome reclaimed it. The park opened to the public in 1978, the renovated buildings years later.
The museum now in the Casino Nobile provides artifacts documenting Mussolini's long tenure (his furnished bedroom the most personal) and photographs of events that occurred there: Il Duce greeting dignitaries on the sweep of steps rising from the grand driveway; the regal 1930 wedding of his daughter Edda to Galeazzo Ciano (a politician Il Duce eventually had executed—despite the pleas of his daughter—for betraying him); images of him playing tennis and fencing in the oval (originally built for jousting by a nineteenth-century Torlonia), and, yes, riding his horse on the villa grounds. Mussolini's acquired palace exudes the opulence of the noble family he "rented" it from, with tempera painted walls in some rooms and baroque gilding and marble in others. The Torlonia, the last great aristocratic family of Rome, acquired the estate in the 1790s. For 150 years, scions of the family employed the best architects and artists to design, build, and furnish its houses and to landscape its grounds.
Still, it wasn't the glitzy house (gorgeous, visitable mansions abound in Rome) that intrigued me, but the art gallery located on the second floor. I found myself mesmerized by a collection of works from the "Scuola Romana" donated a decade ago by the estate of Dr. and Mrs. Francesco Ingrao (Dr. Ingrao, a medical doctor, supported his artistic patients by buying their work). The Roman School flourished in the 1930s, and it reminds me of Expressionist painting, but with a more grotesque edge. In these works, whimsy often mixes with horror. Not surprisingly, as Mussolini's Fascist party had begun to move ever closer to Hitler's Nazi agenda, and the Roman School had Jews among its founders and was, in any case, opposed to the Fascist art of the Novecento which longed to return to the triumphs of the past. Instead, the Roman School showcases the gallows humor of people who wonder if they will be the next ones killed. One work from the collection that I haven't been able to forget (nor, alas, to find online) is a pastel and ink drawing of someone who had just been shot in the Tiburtina railway station. In October 1943, thousands of Roman Jews were arrested at their homes and deported to Auschwitz from that station. I can only imagine the emotional state of the artist who drew the scene on the piece of brown paper he had in his bag. I imagine him passing through the station, seeing the horror, and choosing to bear witness, even if all he had at first was brown paper and a pen. His drawing skill rendered a delicate drawing of a dire subject, which he made even more tender with the use of white and pink pastel, or chalk (I imagine him adding it later). The only bright color is the red blood flowing from the crumpled body.
That framed image kept me riveted in its corner for half an hour though it's not the most striking piece in the collection. That honor must go to Mirko Basaldella's sculpted head covered in colored tesserae, Fury. I sketched it, though even without the memento, I doubt I'll ever forget it.
The Roman School developed athwart another art movement of the Fascist era, the Novecento (meaning, the 1900s). The Novecento, as its name implies (the word mimics Quattrocento and Cinquecento, the highest points of Italian Renaissance art) hoped to lead Italian art back to its glory days. Margherita Sarfatti, the art critic and voice for this group, envisioned a return to the kind of work that had once made Italy the center of the art world. Sarfatti's essays on art, many of them written when she was quite a young woman, show a fine mind, confident in its judgments as well as its prose. Many historians consider her the cultural leader of the Fascists; certainly, her ideas were championed and developed by Mussolini. She numbered among his many mistresses and wrote the first biography of her lover. The irony of her position became clearer later, as the Germans began to push their anti-Semitic agenda on the Italians. Sarfatti was Jewish.
In 1938, when the Manifesto of Race stripped Jews of their Italian citizenship and, of course, their membership in the party, Sarfatti left Italy for South America. Prince Giovanni Torlonia also died that year. While inspecting a dress march of the Italian artillery on horseback, he fell off his mount. Somehow, he landed on his sword, which had come out of its scabbard. The point pierced one of his eyes. He died two months after the accident, his funeral an affair of state that one can watch on YouTube "I funerali di Giovanni Torlonia." Mussolini appears in the newsreel marching beside family members in the funeral procession.
Historic ironies abound in Rome, and clearly Villa Torlonia exemplifies the pattern. The biggest of Torlonia's may be that it rests atop Jewish catacombs dating back to the first century AD. The Nomentano is one of the city's historic Jewish neighborhoods, and our landlady's family settled here long ago for that reason. We've come to love Ugo and Lia, her brother and sister-in-law, and my son and I were honored to be invited to a Shabbat dinner at their house. Ugo astonished us with his beautiful singing of the Kiddush while his children answered the questions he asked them in Hebrew, and his daughter distributed for us the bread he had made. Ugo's mother, who lived in our apartment until her death a few years ago, survived the war years in Rome because nuns hid her, most likely for money as well as compassion, in a convent along the Via Nomentana, just down the street from the Villa Torlonia.
Mussolini had to have known about the Jewish necropolis beneath him, as scholars visited the catacombs regularly throughout the 1920s at the invitation of Giovanni Torlonia. The prince had funded the excavation and restoration of the catacombs in 1919 when the widening of Via Nomentana unearthed some of the arcosolia.[1] Farmers of the land, which had mostly been vineyards for wealthy Roman families until the nineteenth century, no doubt knew about the catacombs since there were visible entrances (only one now remains, and it's currently blocked off with a fence and a "danger" sign). Further, the area had been known since the Middle Ages as the Campo dei Giudey, or "Field of the Jews." Modern archeologists first heard of the catacombs in 1902, when construction workers putting in a trolley line on Via Nomentana crashed into what those who study catacombs call a "lucernarium,"[2] or skylight.
As their paths crossed on twilit strolls—or canters—around the grounds, I can well imagine Prime Minister Mussolini chatting with Prince Torlonia about the ongoing work, restorative and scholarly, occurring in the hollows beneath them. Moreover, he had to have seen a sarcophagus with a menorah carved into it, because the piece sat in the kitchen gardens of the Casino Nobile for decades, not disappearing until the end of the war. We know about it because one of the scholars from the 1920s drew and photographed it. Perhaps because of his relationship with Sarfatti, or simply because the Italians never really subscribed to Hitler's Aryan agenda, Mussolini tried to protect the Roman Jews early on from his ally's anti-Semitic agenda. Neither he nor the majority of Italians wanted to seize and ship their fellow citizens, the ones who happened to be Jews, off to internment camps. Ultimately, of course, Il Duce capitulated to Hitler.
Still, Mussolini avoided breaching any of the Jewish catacombs when he built air raid shelters under the Casino Nobile in the late 1930s. He did, however, worry about Allied troops sneaking into them and then conducting a surprise attack on the house, so he kept their entrances closely guarded. In the end, of course, it wasn't the Allies he had to worry about, or even the vengeful Germans he'd betrayed. He was brought down by his own countrymen.
But I digress. I meant to tell you about my impressions of Italy, and instead I've been caught up in the history of Rome, all the big egos that have strutted out their brief time here. Before selfies, there were monuments, and half of Rome's treasures are statues and villas leaders built to commemorate themselves. Anyone who's looked at ruins knows that those who ride pedestals might as well be on bucking broncos. They're destined to fall off.
To my mind, the three megalomaniacs who form Rome's unholy triumvirate are Nero, Mussolini, and Berlusconi. Just as his followers continued to worship Mussolini long after his death (his final resting place in his hometown of Predappio has long been a pilgrimage site for Fascists), lots of Italians still love the ousted Silvio. Not our friends— academics and professionals—who lament that he controlled the media for decades, wrecked the economy and ruined the Italian university system. Moreover, despite his well-known illegal activities, he could not be brought down for years. He had the laws on his side, since he made them. Indeed, he kept changing the statute of limitations to avoid prosecution for past crimes. Even last spring, as the elections drew near, Forza Silvio posters began appearing on the streets. Berlusconi can never run again—he's been under house arrest and performing community service—but merely having his name on the ballot drew 17 percent of the vote.
Berlusconi styles himself the heir of Mussolini and on International Holocaust Day last year, he popped up to defend Il Duce as "not so bad," but a benevolent leader who was forced into mistakes by Italy's need to form an alliance with Germany. Berlusconi's remarks were in response to a question about the plan to build a Shoah museum on the site of Villa Torlonia. The Jewish heritage museum would provide a symbolic cleansing of Mussolini's presence. The building should have been well under way by now, but there's no evidence any work has yet begun on the museum and its planned link to the Jewish catacombs. Instead, the official website for the catacombs says the burial chambers can't be visited due to the presence of "dangerous gases" underground, hence explaining the overgrown, fenced-off entrance to the catacombs that my husband and I explored late one afternoon when park officials were otherwise engaged. I waded through the hip-high grass and down some metal steps to an ancient door cut into stone. It was barred shut, though I knew what lay behind it, as I'd seen photos from the last visitors in 2008.
We've taken all of our visitors (seven sets of them during our four months here) to walk the grounds of the Villa, to lunch in the café built around the former lemon grove, or to tour the old houses. Of course, all of our visitors had another list of sights they really wanted to see, and we helped with those, too. On the day my daughter Alix and her girlfriend arrived from New York, they announced their plan to hit a club in central Rome around midnight.
The girls were clearly jetlagged, and J., who always knows what to do, was in another country delivering a Fulbright lecture. My maternal instincts thus ran unchecked and gave me awful images of two lovely girls getting lost in Rome in the middle of the night. I urged them to stay home and relax for the first night. Alix cocked her head to one side. "Mom," she said, "Let me remind you of something. I am 25 years old, and I work in Manhattan. I live in Bed-Stuy. I go out at night there and everywhere else in New York. Do you see where I'm going with this?" I turned to Kira. "Am I being too much of a mom?" She shrugged. "We're used to it. Alix, if your mom gets cold, you have to put on a sweater." I laughed, and they went out at the witching hour. They came home safely at 3 a.m., which I know because I was awake.
In addition to the pleasure of having my kids and other young members of my family visit, J. and I have enjoyed getting to know several Italian university students. His teaching Fulbright entailed lecturing six hours a week last spring at the U. of Naples "L'Orientale." In May both of us led workshops at an American Studies summer school on the Isle of Procida, a lovely baby sister to Capri and Ischia in the Bay of Naples. The sessions took up much of the day, so we got to know the students in our workshops and met others when we took our lunch on the terrace of Terra Murata, with its spectacular view of the bay far below and Vesuvius in the distance.
We were housed in a hotel beside a marina. A half dozen restaurants sit around the little harbor, and each night the faculty enjoyed a three-hour dinner at a different one. As a recent convert to vegetarianism, I'm always looking for new dishes that don't require meat. One of Procida's specialities is a salad made from the huge, unusually sweet lemons that grow all over the island. Chefs peel off the skin, chop up the inner fruit and pulp, then toss the chunks with sliced red onion, olive oil, and pepper flakes. I loved this salad and tried to re-create it when we got back to Rome. Alas, it's only possible to make something similar with regular lemons if you add a good sprinkling of sugar.
The students studying English-language literature at Naples, Rome, and the other schools we visited impressed J. and me as far better educated than comparable American college students—in high school, most of them studied Latin and Greek for five years, in addition really to learning the "core curriculum" of math and science that so many American universities force on undergraduates to make up for poor high school education. The students we met in Italy speak English fluently and are extremely well read.
One of these students, the delightful Mariarosaria, took me and my son Mark on a tour of the Naples graffiti—so much more inventive and imagistic than the boring scrawls of Rome ("Joker Full," I read on a Via Udine wall, or "Ti Amo, Rita"). Naples' tags are full-out urban art—colorful, often large drawings, with or without text. They're everywhere, and they've lured famous taggers to the city. Mariarosaria showed us where Banksy had painted a saint (Naples is full of saints) with a gun hovering over her head. The one that intrigued me, however, was the image of a priest, hands raised, and the caption "Le Mani Sulla Pietà," which means "hands-on piety." Of course, one can think of all sorts of ironic meanings to that statement, especially considering the cognitive dissonance between the drawing and the words. This priest has his hands up, in surrender or supplication.
As we threaded our way through the crowded alleys of the Decumano, Mariarosaria described the depressing job market for Italians in their twenties, especially for humanities graduates. Most people, she told us, start working when they graduate high school and stay in the same job all their lives. They never move up, they never get raises, and they are rarely doing what they want to do. "You know the big bookstore here, Feltrinelli?" We nodded. "To get a job as a shop assistant there is the dream of someone with a master's degree in English literature. Can you imagine that?" No one can get a college instructorship unless someone retires or dies, and government funds for education diminish annually.
Secondary school teaching positions are almost as difficult to land and fraught with red tape, as Pina, another student explained to me. "It's a huge series of tests and bureaucracy, but finally, if you're one of the lucky ones, you get placed in a school. Then that school does whatever they want with you. I know someone with a degree in languages who got a job in a school where they needed a math teacher. She had no idea what she was doing, and obviously the students weren't learning any math!" Another, Angela, chimed in, "We have a favorite teacher at the university, a woman who tells us the truth. She told us if we want to get jobs, we need to study abroad. Italian higher education just isn't enough anymore."
These students strike me as among the best and brightest and, despite their fears, they're succeeding in various ways. Pina just scored an internship with the American Consul in Naples, and Mariarosaria has begun tutoring students in English, and she imagines either starting her own language school or studying abroad if she can raise the money. Angela visited relatives in the U.S. last spring to find out about a Ph.D. program in American literature. Marta, Pina's good friend, actually serves as a delegate for the Democratic Party in Naples, though only twenty-four. She's a member of the party led by Matteo Renzi, the young and charismatic liberal poised, as of this writing, to be the next leader of the EU who swept the April elections with 41 percent of the vote.
Gabriele, another gregarious former student I met in my Procida workshop, works in his parents' insurance company in Naples, but also edits a lively online magazine, My Generation Web. He, too, dedicated several afternoons to showing us the sights of Naples, letting Mark ride on the back of his scooter to see the bay up close; then leading both Mark and my niece Isabel by metro to Floridiana Park, where they took in a wonderful view of the city and the omnipresent Vesuvius. He even invited them to the birthday party of one of his many friends. When I thanked him profusely for his generosity, he said, "I love my city; I love showing it to people." In America, these kind and talented students would all have better jobs, but even in Naples they are managing to carve out fulfilling lives.
We've been lucky enough to have two apartments in Italy. The one in Rome I've described and the one in Naples provided by J.'s Fulbright. I love the people I've met in Naples, but I'm not as fond of the city as my young relatives, all of whom prefer its noisy street life to the more dignified boulevards of Rome. Naples spooks me a bit with its dark alleys and weird shops like the "Doll Hospital." Every few feet you pass a church, and the creepy one next to our apartment is consecrated to "Santa Maria delle Anime in Purgatorio." A rich Neapolitan founded this church in the 1600s so regular masses could be said for souls in Purgatory. Frequent famines, plagues, and eruptions from Vesuvius made the Neapolitans particularly death savvy. But who knew where the afterlife might take one? Praying for souls in Purgatory lessened one's own time in the flames.
Bronze skulls decorate the church's exterior, and in the basement real skulls lie in recessed alcoves, surrounded by gifts from those who worship them—despite a papal ban on skull worship. Neapolitans live like gamblers, feeling themselves at the mercy of fortune. Luck, good and bad, is their real religion, and superstitions abound. What I first perceived as a red chili pepper wearing a crown, for sale in all the gift shops, turned out to be a devil's horn. If someone gives you one, you'll have good luck. The evil eye retains its power here, and a hand signal—the thumb holding back the two middle fingers while the index and pinky point down—dispels it. I saw people in the street making the signal when they passed a particularly garrulous drunk, a wild-eyed woman, who sat on some church steps near our apartment. Between swigs on her bottle, the woman muttered imprecations at all passersby, and half of the latter surreptitiously gestured the counter-charm.
Naples reminds me of New Orleans with its carnival atmosphere. The commedia dell'arte character Pulcinella, with his black mask and ravening hunger, serves as the city's secular mascot. The religious one has to be San Gennaro, whose preserved blood liquefies several times a year in the Duomo. The fried street food, especially the breaded rice balls known here as arancine (little oranges) taste delicious, but occasionally a sulfurous exhalation from the ancient sewers stops me mid-bite.
The war lives in memory here, and many buildings bear witness to its souvenirs. First the Allies, then the Germans bombed the city. The townspeople fled underground to escape, and we saw their refuge when we visited the cisterns and aqueducts, subterranean remains of the Greek city of Neapolis. The local wife of an American professor at Orientale, Renata, told me she'd been down there often as a little girl during the war. At first she thought it was fun being hustled underground in the middle of the night because she could play with her friends instead of sleep. Later, as the war and the bombings intensified, as many buildings in the city collapsed and people died, Naples became a deathtrap. Renata said, "I was one of the lucky ones. My grandmother had a place out in the countryside, in Campania, and all of us kids went to live with her until the war was over." She looked away. "We were safe for a while, but the Nazis were so enraged after Italy abandoned them that they started bombing even the little villages."
Carlo Vecce, a comparative literature professor at Orientale, invited us to his family's ancient villa in Carbonara, behind the shoulders of Vesuvius. We happened to be there on the night of the elections, and Carlo pointed out the mayor of the tiny village anxiously awaiting the results in the square below. Earlier that day, we had visited the archeology museum in the town of Nola and then dined at a farmhouse restaurant deep in the countryside. We arrived during a First Communion party and celebrated with the locals. Our meal lasted nearly five hours as course after course made its way to our table. I could barely stand up by the time the meal was over. Wiser guests had been quietly taking breaks between courses to smoke or chat with their friends or let a fretful child run free.
Mark and Alfonso, Carlo's extroverted, witty son, discussed Japanese anime and video games while J. and I marveled at the rural life of a Campania village. "You're the first Americans they've seen since World War II," Carlo laughingly told us. "They'll be talking about you for months." Indeed, the strolling musicians entertaining the party came over and sang with great gusto a rendition of the postwar Neapolitan song, "You Want to Be American." The restaurant's locals beamed as we tapped our feet and swayed to the lyrics of "Tu vuò fà l'americano."
On the roof that night, we watched the sun go down among the mountains while discussing Machiavelli's The Prince. Carlo, a Renaissance scholar, told me that Machiavelli wrote it in the hope that some Italian prince might use his political advice to unite the country and repel Spain. No one did, and Southern Italy fell to the Spanish, as they had and would again fall to the French (shades of New Orleans). Living near his mansion, I realized that the leader who finally did read and apply Machiavelli's strategies is the peasant who styled himself a prince: Benito Mussolini.
I've spent a lot of my time here thinking about the past and its monuments. I like to visit cemeteries, especially the non-Catholic cemetery in Testaccio where John Keats and what remained of Shelley after his friends burned him on a beach are buried. Gramsci lies here too, and a whole host of visitors who settled in Rome. My favorite statue, William Story's The Angel of Grief, stands over the grave the sculptor shares with his wife, Emelyn. These two came from Boston, and their friend Henry James wrote a two-volume biography of them and their circle of artists living in Rome. After we returned from the hallowed spot, J. read in his chair nearby, I sketched the Angel of Grief from the front, then painted a side view of her in acrylic.
Mussolini died an ignoble death in 1945. After Nazi storm troopers liberated him from prison in September of '43, Hitler appointed him the head of a northern Italian Fascist district controlled by the Germans. Mussolini knew he'd been made a puppet but also knew the Allies would not treat him well. When it was clear that the Germans had been defeated, Mussolini tried to escape to Switzerland. Italian partisans caught him near Lake Como in his Alfa Romeo with his mistress, Clara Petacci, and two party members. Outside a farm in the village of Dongo, their executioner shot Clara first because she wouldn't move away from her lover. With her body at his feet, Mussolini reputedly threw his coat open and shouted, "Shoot me in the chest!" This sounds brave and symbolic—destroy my heart, ungrateful countryman!—but most likely he wanted to save, literally, his face. The Italian partisan who killed him obliged, and his bulldog visage remained recognizable when the partisans hung him by his ankles from an Esso station in Milan. That famous photo of him, his mistress, and two slain subordinates dangling from the roof truss is beyond gruesome. Like Mirko's head, I doubt I'll ever forget it.
We're leaving Rome in a few weeks, but we'll keep up our daily walks at Villa Torlonia until we go. Next time we visit, I hope they will have built the Shoah museum beside the Casino Nobile and opened the Jewish catacombs. I've spent so much time thinking about them as I walked overhead that I'd really like to see what's down there. The frescoes, I know, are magnificent.
[1] Arched recesses cut into the walls of the catacombs where the bodies were placed.
[2] That word applied to a Jewish tomb gave me pause, and I quickly realized why. My Catholic upbringing included that word, but in a very different sense. Lucernarium is the Latin term for the "Service of Light," the mass said at dusk, Vespers.
Comment from the Autumn 2014 issue.


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Case Study - Cibes
Customer's Profile
The story of Cibes began in 1947, when Swedish inventor Bertil Svedberg founded a company manufacturing lifts. During the 1960s, the first generation of home lifts was launched and shortly thereafter, the first series of platform lifts.
This was the beginning of the exciting journey that has made Cibes what it is today: by their own description, a dynamic, global company, with strong roots in Sweden.
In 2008, Cibes became part of the Cibes Lift Group and a few years later, in 2012 to be precise, operations moved to Gävle – the heart of the company today.
Cibes Lift produces between 4,000 and 5,000 lifts each year, for over 50 countries. 15 of these countries have their own operations, but otherwise the majority of production takes place in the factory in Gävle.
The first office in China was opened in 2015. Today, there are 20 offices and plans for a Cibes factory in China are under way.
The move from Järbo to Gävle coincided with Jonas Persson joining the company as IT manager.
Jonas is responsible for IT security across all the company's offices. He does this from headquarters in Gävle with the help of Panda Adaptive Defense 360 and Panda Systems Management.
In an organization like Cibes, which is growing all the time, one major challenge is to keep on top of the management of new users, who join as new companies start up and fresh recruitment takes place. And this has to be done remotely, as Jonas is based in Gävle. New networks have to be set up and computers installed. For users in Europe, ready-installed computers are sent from headquarters. In Asia, local staff ensure that Panda Fusion 360 (a combination of Panda Adaptive Defense 360 and Panda Systems Management) is installed.
Defending endpoints against attack is difficult. Protection must include a wide range of defenses, including traditional antivirus, anti-malware, personal firewall, web and email filtering, and device control.
And any defense must provide additional safeguards against hard-to-detect zero day and targeted attacks. Up to now, IT departments have needed to acquire and maintain a number of different solutions from different vendors to defend endpoints, but this is no longer the case.
As Jonas needed a solution where remote working was unproblematic, Fredrik Losman from Panda Security recommended two Cloud-based IT security solutions: Panda Adaptive Defense 360 and Panda Systems Management.
Adaptive Defense 360 combines the widest range of endpoint protection (EPP) technologies with EDR capabilities, automating the prevention, detection, containment, and response to any advanced threat thanks to its two services, managed by Panda Security experts and delivered as a feature of the solution: Zero-Trust Application Service and Threat Hunting Service. It also provides the following capabilities: IDS, firewall, device control, email protection, URL & content filtering.
Panda's Adaptive Defense 360 relies on a security model based on three principles: continuous monitoring of applications on the company's computers and servers, automatic classification, and machine learning. These protect clients/servers from known and unknown attacks coming from email or the Internet for example.
One of the biggest challenges any organization has is its users. Adaptive Defense 360 enables companies to minimize the risk of IT security incidents by preventing users, for example, from installing programs that Panda Security regards as malicious or unknown.
Using Panda Systems Management (RMM tool*), Jonas can simply run, monitor, and manage all devices in the company, irrespective of whether they are in the office or elsewhere. He can, for example, set up monitoring on Cibes servers, which incorporates alarm functions to provide a direct warning if a hard drive is about to crash or a server's hardware resources are running out.
Having a comprehensive report of all capabilities makes it easier for the IT manager or management team to make decisions about what needs prioritizing or changing.
When Jonas talks about Panda Adaptive Defense 360 and Panda Systems Management, time and again he comes back to the benefits of having two Cloud-based solutions, and particularly how much our RMM tool has made it easier for him and his work when the majority of the work is done remotely.
Panda Patch Management allows, within a single user-friendly solution:
Audit, monitor and prioritize operating systems and application updates.
The single-panel view offers centralized up-to-the-minute and aggregated visibility into the security status of the organization with regard to vulnerabilities, patches and pending updates of the systems and hundreds of applications.
Prevent incidents, systematically reducing the attack surface created by software vulnerabilities.
Handling patches and updates with easy-to-use, real-time management tools that enable organizations to get ahead of vulnerability exploitation attacks.
Contain and mitigate vulnerability exploitation attacks with immediate updates.
Panda Adaptive Defense 360 console, in conjunction with Patch Management, allows organizations to correlate detected threats and exploits with the uncovered vulnerabilities. Response time is minimized, containing and remediating attacks by pushing out patches immediately from the web console. Additionally, affected computers can be isolated from the rest of the network, preventing the attack from spreading.
Reduce operating costs.
Panda Patch Management does not require the deployment or update of any new or existing endpoint agents, simplifying management and avoiding workstation and server overloads.
Minimizes patching efforts as updates are launched remotely from the Cloud-based console. Additionally, installation is optimized to minimize errors.
Provides complete, unattended visibility into all vulnerabilities, pending updates and EOL applications immediately after activation.
Complies with the accountability principle included in many regulations (GDPR, HIPAA and PCI). It forces organizations to take the appropriate technical and organizational measures to ensure proper protection of the sensitive data under their control.
Main Benefits:
Panda Systems Management makes it possible, among other things, to take over a client or server wherever it is located. See which type of hardware clients and servers are using and which programs are installed.
See, via the console, any changes to a client that have taken place. This makes trouble-shooting easier.
One or more software applications can be distributed in a simple manner, either to one particular client or to the whole organization.
Incident management system that automatically creates tickets when something unexpected happens, for example if a server goes down or if a hard drive is about to crash.
Panda Cloud Systems Management allows you to see directly how much electricity your clients and servers have used and the cost of the energy consumed. By setting energy consumption rules for clients, you can save money and help look after the environment.
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Panda Systems Management has been incredibly important for us at Cibes. Administrators can simply run, monitor, and manage all devices in thecompany, irrespective of whether they are in the office or elsewhere.
Jonas Persson, IT Manager at Cibes Lift
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LightSquared to Launch Nationwide Wholesale LTE Network
Broadband's Impact
WASHINGTON May 13, 2011 – The New America Foundation gathered key industry experts on Thursday to discuss whether satellite spectrum should be reclassified so that it can be used for the expansion of terrestrial mobile broadband.
With the spectrum crunch that many experts anticipate, many industry experts are calling for the reclassification of the satellite spectrum to be used for the expansion of mobile broadband. Rather than wholly reclassify the spectrum, LightSquared uses their mobile satellite spectrum holdings to deploy a nationwide Long-Term Evolution (LTE) network with both terrestrial and satellite components.
Rahul Gaitonde
The CEO of LightSquared, Sanjiv Ahuja, provided an expansive overview of how the firm plans to combine satellite coverage with terrestrial towers to create a nationwide, wholesale 4G LTE network. All the devices that run on the network will be able to seamlessly switch from satellite to terrestrial giving users true nationwide coverage.
"For the first time users will be able to go from Manhattan to the Grand Canyon and keep their coverage," said Ahuja.
LightSquared will not offer service directly to consumers – rather it will provide network access to mobile providers and allow hardware makers to connect their devices directly to the network. Ahuja predicts that the low cost of access for the mobile providers will expand the number of companies offering prepaid options.
"We have set up an innovation center in Silicon Valley where we are working with mobile providers and hardware makers to develop new technologies which will work on our network," said Ahuja. "We've already met with a camera manufacturer that wants to put a chip in its cameras that will allow consumers to directly upload pictures to their choice of services directly from the camera."
Ahuja sees his firm as a disruptive technology, allowing small regional carriers to gain access to 4G services without having to find new spectrum or build out a network. He also promised that the network would be fully open allowing all compatible hardware access to the network.
"Due to the unique combination of satellite and terrestrial the LightSquared network is ideal for public safety users," Ahuja said.
Since the network operates nationwide, public safety workers can move from region to region without losing access to the network.
"We want to build out an LTE network but we simply don't have the necessary spectrum or the physical network," said Bill Ingram, Senior VP of strategy for Cricket/Leap wireless. "We signed a deal with LightSquared to provide the necessary access our customers demand."
Parul Desai, Consumers Union Communications Policy Council, said that this new wholesale provider will increase competition in the market by allowing smaller providers access to the necessary network infrastructure to compete.
Desai also called for the expansion of handset access to regional mobile carriers to improve market competition.
Michael Calabrese, Director of the Wireless Future Project at the New America Foundation, praised this new wholesale market as a great way to increase competition in the mobile market.
"The recent [FCC] roaming order along with the creation of the LightSquared network will greatly help regional carriers compete with the major national mobile companies," said Calabrese, "With the possible merger of AT&T and T-Mobile, there need to be more firms in the marketplace to increase competition and prevent the potential duopoly from controlling the market."
Related Topics:Bill IngramConsumers UnionCricket/LeapLightSquaredMichael CalabreseNew America FoundationParul DesaiSanjiv Ahuja
ITIF Panel: FCC Needs to Address Spectrum Needs
Senators Grill Mobile CEOs on AT&T/T-Mobile Merger
Rahul Gaitonde has been writing for BroadbandBreakfast.com since the fall of 2009, and in May of 2010 he became Deputy Editor. He was a fellow at George Mason University's Long Term Governance Project, a researcher at the International Center for Applied Studies in Information Technology and worked at the National Telecommunications and Information Administration. He holds a Masters of Public Policy from George Mason University, where his research focused on the economic and social benefits of broadband expansion. He has written extensively about Universal Service Fund reform, the Broadband Technology Opportunities Program and the Broadband Data Improvement Act
T-Mobile Wins on Infrastructure, Lina Khan FTC Nomination, Open Source Collaboration
In Session at TPRC, Michael Calabrese of New America Emphasizes Vital Role of Spectrum Sharing
FCC Chairman Ajit Pai, on Webcast with New America, Singles out Telehealth as Beneficiary of New Unlicensed Spectrum
Questions of Public vs. Private Auction and Role of 5G Spectrum Dominate Conference on C-Band
America Needs to Be More Like Europe and Regulate Information Technology, New America Panelists Agree
CES 2022: Public-Private Partnerships Key to Building Smart Cities, Tech leaders Say
Public-private partnerships will increase the community benefit of infrastructure projects, leaders at Qualcomm and Verizon said.
Panelists on the "Smart Cities and Public-Private Partnerships" CES session on Friday.
LAS VEGAS, January 12, 2022––Telecommunications industry leaders said Friday at the Consumer Electronics Show that public-private partnerships will pave the way to realizing the future of smart cities.
Raymond Bauer, director of the domain specialist group that connects governments to Verizon's telecommunications services, said the government needs private partners to improve its infrastructure efforts.
Referencing the recent passage of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, Bauer said governments should look forward to partnering with private technology companies to improve upcoming infrastructure projects.
"There's a once in a lifetime opportunity from IIJA," Bauer said. "We should find common ways to work in a way we haven't in the past. There are certain goals and use cases to leverage the infrastructure we have," he said.
The $1.2 trillion bipartisan legislation funds physical and digital infrastructure projects, including $65 billion for the expansion of broadband across the country.
Bauer said communities have a chance to monetize the services Verizon offers to communities if Verizon builds infrastructure for broadband access in underserved areas. "By bridging the digital divide, underserved communities get the services they need," he added.
Ashok Tipirneni, head of smart cities and connected spaces at Qualcomm, said that cities should be thinking about how technology can improve much-needed infrastructure projects.
"Cities are growing faster than available utility," he said, citing global issues of housing, water, and equity for vulnerable populations. "How do we ensure access for all citizens? And how can cities be in lock step with new technology, whatever it is?" he asked.
Qualcomm's Smart Cities Accelerator Program delivers internet of things ecosystem products and services to member cities and local governments.
"New Orleans, Miami, and Los Angeles has local governments asking how they can do better," he said. "They offer opportunities for partnerships that wouldn't have been the case a few years ago."
Year In Review: Key Developments for Broadband's Impact in the U.S.
This year saw a growing telehealth trend, federal digital inclusion efforts and greater attention to spectrum sharing.
Photo of FCC Chairman Jessica Rosenworcel (left) in February 2020 from the Prince George's County Library used with permission
WASHINGTON, December 29, 2021–High-speed internet access has never seemed more essential than in the days of another year of the COVID-19 pandemic.
And that's why, for the third in a three-part review of 2021, Broadband Breakfast focuses on broadband's impact in enabling benefits through expanded internet access.
Telehealth takes center stage
Because the pandemic is continually forcing closures and stay-at-home orders, the expansion of telehealth services has become a critical, normalized service this year as remote health care is a safer, more efficient way to deliver high-quality care.
Broadband service is now important to maintaining overall health––experts have defined broadband services as a social determinant of health. Expanding telemedicine across rural and Tribal communities remain barriers to better health outcomes for vulnerable populations.
The pandemic prompted Congress to extend waivers that allowed patients to take advantage of telehealth services. Experts say the waivers encouraged the growth of telehealth systems, and that investment in telehealth is necessary to improving them.
Broadband access and affordability often restrict vulnerable communities' ability to take advantage of telehealth services. This year saw massive investments focused on funding telehealth subsidies for patients in need.
In December alone, the Federal Communications Commission announced more than $42.7 million in COVID-19 Telehealth Program awards for health care providers spending on telecommunications information services and devices. The awards also reimburse health care organizations for innovative ideas that connect patients to quality care with broadband.
For example, the Westchester County Health Care Corporation in Valhalla, New York, was awarded $1 million for the purchase of remote monitoring software and video equipment, which will allow for the creation of a "tele-ICU" for the provision of remote care for hospitalized patients.
In October, a Senate subcommittee heard testimony that permanent regulatory flexibility allowing free or subsidized telemedicine services for patients would have a positive impact on patient care. It may have a cost benefit too: FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr estimated that widespread telehealth availability could save the health care system $305 billion a year.
The FCC's new Affordable Connectivity Fund
The Federal Communications Commission served as an accelerator to better connect communities during the pandemic through its Affordable Connectivity Program. As families and students struggled to stay connected to work and school during the pandemic, the FCC has taken historic steps to assist families can't afford to pay for internet service and devices.
Originally established as the Emergency Broadband Benefit, the Affordable Connectivity Program is the nation's largest broadband subsidy program to ever be enacted. The Emergency Broadband Benefit was replaced by the Affordable Connectivity Program after the passage of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act in November.
The Affordable Connectivity Program transformed the Emergency Broadband Benefit into a long-term program that provides discounts for families to purchase internet service and devices. Households can also receive discounts to purchase a laptop, desktop computer, or tablet for their home.
The Affordable Connectivity Program enrollment period opens on December 31, 2021, allowing families to start the new year with the opportunity to receive new devices for the home. However, a long-standing challenge has been informing the community about these benefits. Policy experts agree that these benefit programs are not reaching the intended audience.
A November report showed that areas with low broadband adoption are less likely to enroll in the program. "If leaders want to connect the unconnected, in addition to low income groups, other programs will be needed. EBB isn't targeting these low-adoption communities," said Will Rinehart, senior fellow at the Center for Growth an Opportunity.
FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel agreed on the need for emphasizing outreach. "There was no funding to help a lot of these non-profit and local organizations around the country get the word out [about the program]," Rosenworcel said during a September event hosted by the Internet Innovation Alliance about the broadband affordability divide. "And I know that it would get the word out faster if we had that opportunity."
Digital equity and inclusion
The past year was significant for its focus on digital equity and inclusion. The closing of many public institutions because of the pandemic has forced lower-income communities into isolation without sufficient devices or technology to stay connected, digital inclusion experts say.
Organizations such as the National Digital Inclusion Association have decried a type of discrimination known as "digital redlining" in which internet service providers discriminate in broadband deployment, maintenance, upgrade, or delivery of service in lower-income neighborhoods. Because communities of color are more likely to have slower and less reliable internet service, policy leaders have been active in finding solutions.
To combat this alleged practice, Rep. Yvette Clark introduced the Anti-Digital Redlining Act on July 30. The bill finds that lower-income residents pay the same for DSL internet as fiber customers, while wealthier residents receive much better internet service. The text of the bill also acknowledges that disparities in internet access "impose significant costs" on the government to choose between "either offering non-digital means of interaction or excluding residents without access to high speed, reliable broadband access."
If passed as federal law, the measure would require the FCC to ban digital redlining.
This year also saw the passage of digital inclusion-focused legislation as part of the recently-passed Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. The law allocated $2.75 billion to the Digital Equity Act, which establishes the federal definitions of digital inclusion and digital equity.
The Digital Equity Act's two programs and three grant funds will supply money to the states in order to do digital equity work. For example, the Broadband Equity Access and Deployment program gives block grants to states for broadband infrastructure deployment and other digital inclusion activities.
Amy Huffman, policy director at the National Digital Inclusion Association, said that states are best prepared to promote digital equity for their residents. "The states are already in charge of so economic development workforce development health outcomes, etc. so they want the state to think holistically, about how they're doing around digital equity will help them achieve their other goals." By connecting all residents to quality devices and internet-enabled services, residents are better equipped to fully engage with the community and improve their quality of life.
Satellite broadband takes flight
Apart from the high-profile space launches this year, the broadband industry is both excited and skeptical about satellites playing a greater role.
In late 2020, the FCC voted to adopt rules making it easier for satellite providers to obtain licensing to deploy satellites faster. In February, Elon Musk's SpaceX launched 120 Starlink broadband satellites on two February missions, bringing the total number of satellites to over 1,700.
Low Earth Orbit satellites, which can bring broadband to rural communities, could connect harder-to-reach communities faster than laying fiber. By May 2021, SpaceX announced it had over 500,000 orders for the Starlink service.
Other companies are also jumping into the satellite business: the FCC approved Boeing's request to launch 132 satellites for its broadband internet network, and Amazon's satellite imitative Project Kuiper partnered with Verizon in October to launch an internet service for underserved and unserved communities.
However, these massive investments didn't come without controversy. Apart from concerns about Starlink's capacity to deliver long-term, high quality service that complies with IIJA, public telecommunications policy leaders say the 12 GigaHertz (GHz) band, the portion of spectrum that Starlink uses for its services, should be shared with 5G operators to deliver internet to lower-income communities.
Research commissioned by RS Access in August concluded that the mid-band spectrum can be shared between 5G and satellite broadband operators and finding that the 12 GHz spectrum is "highly favorable for 5G," and "can rapidly accelerate 5G deployment nationwide."
Next year regulators and policymakers will continue the battle to determine who, if anyone, will have greater control over the 12 GHz band.
Will the 'homework gap' persist in a world of online education?
Last year's initial COVID lockdown left many families unprepared and unconnected to devices or internet access and the "homework gap" persisted.
In fall 2021, many schools embraced a "hybrid" in-person, virtual schooling model. Around this time, Pew research found that lower-income parents were more likely to say their children did homework on a cellphone and could not complete homework because they did not have computer access at home.
Some students have been using public Wi-Fi because they could not connect reliably at home. The FCC's Emergency Connectivity Fund was authorized to help close bring devices to students who lack them.
Originally launching in June as part of March's American Rescue Plan Act, the FCC has committed $3.8 billion of the $7.17 billion program to provide funding for schools and libraries to buy equipment students to learn remotely.
The total amount committed to go to support 9,000 schools, 760 libraries, and 100 consortia for nearly 8.3 million connected devices and over 4.4 million broadband connections, the agency said last week in a press release. (See also Year in Review: Key Developments in Digital Infrastructure with Ramifications for Next Year.)
Last week, the FCC committed another $603 million in Emergency Connectivity funds to connect more than 1.4 million students across all 50 states.
Telehealth Has Potential to Shift Medical Focus to Preventative Care and Wellness
Experts say continued investment in telehealth is necessary to improve care systems.
T.J. York
John Halamka, David Rice, Angela Moore, Jeffrey Neal and Peter Ku
WASHINGTON, December 24, 2021 – Medical experts say continued investment in telehealth systems expanded during the coronavirus pandemic has the potential to improve medicine's focus on preventative care and wellness.
However, some concern exists over what will happen to telehealth advances made during the pandemic should Congress fail to renew waivers that allowed telehealth provision in government-aligned health programs such as Medicare.
Experts discussed this current juncture in telehealth at a Federal Communications Bar Association event last week.
They remarked on just how quickly telehealth systems were able to grow in the past two years because of Congress' waivers and the major impacts revoking these waivers could have for these systems and the access of many individuals to healthcare.
A discussed example of virtual medicine's growth was observed "exponential" increases in new overall patient engagement at Veterans Affairs medical providers through telehealth during some of the deadliest phases of the pandemic.
During a Senate hearing in October, witnesses such as Deanna Larson, president of Avel eCARE, testified that regulatory flexibility from Congress is necessary to address telehealth access, as well as that broadband affordability issues often prevent access to telehealth.
Witnesses also raised that telehealth's prevalence would increase emergency room bed availability during the pandemic
At the FCBA event, Miller Nash attorney David Rice emphasized that beyond giving medical access to individuals that face obstacles in traveling to medical facilities for treatment, telehealth is simply more convenient than in-person treatment for almost everyone and allows patients to fit medical appointment attendance more easily in their schedules.
In terms of challenges robust telehealth systems would face going forward, Mayo Clinic Platform President John Halamka cited potential licensure issues for providing care, and some argument existed between Rice and Jeffrey Neal, T-Mobile for Government's national director of federal sales, over whether data privacy issues are likely to be a serious hindrance to virtual treatment.
On Monday, the Federal Communications Commission announced $42.7 million in awards from its COVID-19 Telehealth Program which supports continued care for patients by reimbursing them for telecommunications services, information services and connected devices.


Since 1993, Sentinel Offender Services has been a trusted partner of courts, sheriff departments, probation and parole departments, and other law enforcement agencies from across the country. We provide comprehensive case management and offender-management programs.
Sentinel pioneered the community-based offender-funded program model. Program fees are paid for by offenders, saving taxpayers millions of dollars in jail costs. How does this work? At the time of enrollment, Sentinel staff conducts a detailed financial assessment. The results of that assessment establish a suitable daily program fee. Each participant pays according to the supervising agency's approved fee schedule and the participant's ability to pay. This payment structure is available for all the services we offer.
Sentinel has delivered products and services in all 50 states and throughout North America. These services include GPS location tracking, RF house arrest monitoring, domestic violence programs, breath alcohol testing, substance abuse testing and complete day reporting center reentry program management. All Sentinel programs are backed by our in-class 24/7/365 offender monitoring capabilities.
Sentinel Offender Services does not have the power, authority or responsibility to enforce laws and execute warrants. The government agencies with which we contract have the power, authority, and responsibility for these items.
Sentinel contracts with court systems and other agencies to collects fees, fines or restitution amounts on their behalf. Any fees collected are passed directly to the contracted party following agreed upon protocol. As a private services provider to courts, community corrections agencies and law enforcement, Sentinel Offender Services can only carry out agreed upon contractual obligations on behalf of the customers we serve.
Our company vision has remained consistent. Robert Contestabile is the founder and owner of Sentinel Offender Services. He has been Sentinel's CEO and president since 1993.
Sentinel's senior leadership team offers more than 200 years of combined industry experience. This is a rarity in an industry that simply didn't exist 30 years ago. That amount of experience gives Sentinel a significant advantage when it comes to addressing the complex problems facing the criminal justice system.
Sentinel provides its customers with live operators 24/7/365 to field incoming calls from our state-of-the-art National Monitoring Center located in our headquarters in Anaheim, California.
Sentinel manufactures its own products and continually improve products based on customer feedback and market demands.
With customers in all 50 states and across North America, Sentinel is a leader in comprehensive community-based offender management solutions. We support all levels of courts, law enforcement, and community corrections agencies. No vendor offers a wider or more flexible array of offender management solutions. Products and services include Day Reporting Centers, reentry program management, GPS monitoring, RF monitoring, domestic violence monitoring programs, deep lung alcohol testing, substance abuse programs and more. All Sentinel programs are backed by the National Monitoring Center, 24/7/365.
For more information on how Sentinel is positively impacting the efforts of judges, courts and the communities they support, contact Sales@SentinelAdvantage.com or by calling (800) 589-6003.


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Office development completions are at a fiveyear high. How does this affect the demand and supply equilibrium?
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2021 will see the stars align for sale & leaseback transactions
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Sale and leaseback transactions (S&LB) in Europe reached a total of €8.4bn in 2020, 8.5% higher than the five year average, with the trend set to continue into 2021
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St. Paul de Vence, Cote d'Azur, France
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7 Properties for sale in St. Paul de Vence
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Search our selection of properties for sale in Saint Paul de Vence. Our ever-changing portfolio of villas brings you closer to your ideal home in one of France's most sought-after areas. We are always prepared to assist every one of our clients with the highest levels of support and insight into the market.
French Riviera, 06480
400 sq m(4,305.57 sq ft)
Asking price €3,300,000
Price inclusive of fees
Provençale stone property…Provençale stone property…
Landscaped grounds of over 6,000 sq m…Landscaped grounds of over 6,000 sq m…
Caretaker's house…Caretaker's house…
Pool, gym and sauna…Pool, gym and sauna…
Valbonne-Mougins
+33 (0)4 93 12 34 00+33 (0)4 93 12 34 00
400 sq m (4,305.57 sq ft)
Les Galets - Villa 2…
Asking price €770,000
New build villa…New build villa…
Sea views…Sea views…
4 bedrooms…4 bedrooms…
Ground of 350 sq m…Ground of 350 sq m…
1Receptions
Sea view…Sea view…
Garage…Garage…
Air-conditioning…Air-conditioning…
Saint Paul de Vence, French Riviera, 06480
Spectacular sea views…Spectacular sea views…
Stunning grounds…Stunning grounds…
2 guest houses…2 guest houses…
Pool, tennis court and gym…Pool, tennis court and gym…
Saint Paul de Vence…
97.90 to 231.70 sq m(1,053.79 to 2,494 sq ft)
Guide price €980,000 - €2,800,000
Ideally located for the village…Ideally located for the village…
Panoramic sea views…Panoramic sea views…
A range of luxury apartments…A range of luxury apartments…
2 to 4 bedrooms…2 to 4 bedrooms…
97.90 to 231.70 sq m (1,053.79 to 2,494 sq ft)
2 - 4Bedrooms
1 - 3Bathrooms
Refurbished villa…Refurbished villa…
Residential area…Residential area…
Swimming pool and garden…Swimming pool and garden…
Ideally placed for the beach…Ideally placed for the beach…
Belle Époque style…Belle Époque style…
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Lenco-md
Lenco-MD is the record player of the 21st century. It is 3D printed, modularand made of renewable green materials. The Lenco-MD rethinks the classic concept of the record player. Although its design is inspired by classic Lenco record players, its characteristics are not.
Private artist series
Private clothing is a Belgian-based livestyle brand with its roots in youth- and boardculture. They have strong DIY ethic and make a strong point about producing their clothing in a fair and sustainable way. This collaboration focussed on the fall collection.
The design was completely drawn by algorithm: the individual leaves as well as the overall composition around the logo.
It's written in the stars
Stellar is inspired by constellations of stars, abstracted using primitive shapes and points. They are not digitally drawn, but programmed with the Processing environment. A system of rules is set in place, in which the computer can randomly take decisions and generate an outcome. Therefore,
Circular triangles
The cirular triangles serie places pseudo 3d triangles in a circular or vortex-like composition. 3 fixed colors are randomly distributed. They are not digitally drawn, but programmed with the Processing environment. A system of rules is set in place, in which the computer can randomly take decisions and generate an outcome.
Fish to the bone
A T-shirt illustration for a skateshop that has the name "Fishbone", depicting a zombie-like creature that has a Fishbone spine, that shows while he pulls of his own head.
A commision for Private snowboard apparel.
The obtrusive ball
Physical interactive games
The obtrusive ball is an interactie platform , consisting of ball that can sense movement. This system works without external controls. The end goal is to create a ball that is capable of playing different kinds of interactive games in real life (like tag, for instance). The project has come to a stop at prototype number 5,
More than meets the eye
"More than meets the eye" is a series of portraits of people from a minority group. On the top part of the portraits, there is part of a statement added.
The statement can be completed by posting a tweet.
Help.Japan shirt
creative data visualisation
This shirt design was created using the open source software Processing. I used Processing to collect the data of this database, which contains the magnitude of the largest earthquakes in Japan over the last 33 years.
This data was used to create a visually pleasing composition using the national Japanese flag as center piece,
Virtual opera
Le tableau parlant
With the help of 3 students we setup experiments on how this virtual singer would be best represented during the opera. In the end we developed a mask wherein we projected the pre-recorded face of the opera singer.
The images of the singer where controlled by computer on wich a performer pressed the buttons at the right time.
Serious game can be fun
Skindeep is a collaborative project between Niels Quinten, Danny Leen, Thomas Lammers, Olivier Berger and Tom Luyten. It was realised at the Media & Design academy in Genk, Belgium.
empowering experiences


For the second time in as many days, sixth-seeded St. Thomas Aquinas rallied from a double-digit, second-half deficit in Manchester to earn a riveting NCAA triumph -this time vs. fellow Cinderella program and Rockland County rival Dominican in advancing to their second Sweet 16 in three years. Demetre Roberts generated 24 points (3-3 from deep), including the acrobatic, go-ahead 3-point play at the 1:06 mark of overtime that proved the key basket. The ECC Rookie of the Year then snared a cross-court pass and Kameron Murrell (six points, all at the line) converted two huge foul shots with 23.2 seconds to play, making it an 85-80 contest. Tavon Ginyard – who totaled 22 points off the bench – was fouled attempting a 3-pointer with 23.2 seconds left and sank all three shots to give the seventh-seeded Chargers life. And when Roberts split a pair at the stripe one second later, Dominican had two shots to tie, but triple tries from DJ Rodwell (12 points off the pine) and Ginyard came up short, giving the Spartans their second nail-biting win vs. their neighbors in as many meetings this winter, and snapping their six-game winning streak in the process. If not for a controversial final play of the second half, the game might not have even necessitated a third period. After a right-wing, fast-break three by Louis Griffith tied things up at the six-second mark, Daniel Grant eschewed a timeout, went coast-to-coast and missed a jumper, but Jason Copman – who compiled eight points and 12 rebounds in a reserve role – snared the rebound and attempted a follow at the buzzer, drawing lots of contact but no whistle, guaranteeing bonus basketball. The Chargers built a 78-75 advantage inside of the three-minute juncture of OT, but Roberts drew a foul on a 3-point attempt, canning all three of his tosses to even things up yet again. After forcing a turnover, Aquinas went ahead 82-80 on a lay-up by Jamar Sudan (six points, seven rebounds in reserve duty), but a Copman lay-up provide the final tie at 80-80 with 1:29 on the clock, setting up Roberts' critical "And-1." Dominican led the majority of regulation, crafting a 12-0 run that centered around back-to-back Ginyard triples, breaking a 51-51 deadlock and giving his team a 63-51 lead with just over eight minutes remaining. But an 18-4 counter-run – capped by Osbel Caraballo's tying free throws and go-ahead lay-up with 2:04 to go – put the Spartans on top 69-67. That was just the start of a riveting rollercoaster ride as Ginyard nailed a well-defended 3-pointer from the top of the key to beat the shot clock, putting the Chargers back in front (70-69) at the 1:25 mark. Zachary Rzewnicki (eight bench points) followed with a second-chance basket for STAC's last lead of regulation (71-70) as Ian Gardener (22 points, 8-13 FG, 4-6 from beyond the arc) converted the go-ahead lay-up with 33 seconds to play and Rodwell sank two free throws with 15 ticks left, prefacing Griffith's tying trifecta. Caraballo logged 24 points and six rebounds for the winners, who fared better at the foul line (29-38 to 21-32). Grant added 14 points in defeat for Dominican, but missed four key free throws down the stretch and turned it over seven times, including costly cough-ups in crunch time. Both teams were formidable from beyond the arc (STAC 9-17, DC 10-24).
Tension was just as high in the nightcap as top-seeded St. Anselm survived a scare against New Haven, advancing to its third regional championship game in six years – and first ever within the friendly confines of Stoutenburgh Gym. The #20 Hawks led the majority of the night, including three 11-point advantages in the opening period before the Chargers closed the half with an 11-4 flourish to draw within 35-31. An 8-0 upswing snapped the final tie and put the hosts on top, 52-44, following a 3-pointer by Gustav Suhr-Jessen (15 points, 5-7 FG) with 11:50 remaining. A lay-up by Tim Guers (14 points, seven assists) with 7:19 to go extended the advantage to 60-51, and it was still a 68-61 edge inside of the three-minute mark before fourth-seeded New Haven used an 8-2 spurt to creep within a point – 70-69 – following a pair of free throws by Roy Kane, Jr. with 28 seconds to go. Cody Ball – who produced 16 points and five helpers – was immediately fouled but uncharacteristically misfired on both of his tosses, giving the visitors a chance to steal the spoils. They actually had three chances, but each one would come up short: first, a driving lay-up by Quashawn Lane (nine points), then – after the ball was batted out of bounds by St. A's – Kane missed a baseline jumper. Yet the Chargers were granted one final opportunity with 0.9 seconds on the clock. Alas, a lob to Kane in the lane was deflected by Guers, prompting the large, loud crowd to erupt in euphoria and relief. Kane racked up a career-high 28 points (10-16 FG, 5-9 from 3) and nine rebounds for New Haven, which also received 21 points from Elijah Bailey. St. Anselm – which shot 55% from the floor and accounted for 16 of the game's 22 assists – will face St. Thomas Aquinas in the regional title game – the two teams' third NCAA meeting in just four years.


Crosslerator was conceptualised by the team at Best Practice Online Ltd that built the MyInfoNet.com content management/distribution software that drives the industry-leading LegalRSS.uk system. The system supports hundreds of law firm websites and their business development across the UK.
Our clients told us that one of their frustrations was that no matter how much time and training they put into trying to get their team members to cross-promote other departments and events, they just didn't do it.
Sending mass-marketing emails regularly (or when something important happens) isn't always feasible.
We thought long and hard…and realised that if the marketers controlled the messages and the messages were attached to normal business emails, then they'd be opened and read.
Better still, it can be done in such a way that it will often look like the email writer is being proactive and the communication has arisen as a result of that proactivity.
…and the writers don't have to be involved at all.
97% open rate and 52% click-throughs. We were astonished!
It is self-evident that this will pay for itself in a couple of months: wish all Business Development activity did!


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Division 1 Rankings
Recruiting Report: Christian Wagenhauser (2018)
By Anthony Garcia
The takeaway from Sylvania Southview's win over Anthony Wayne last Friday: the Cougars are one of the best teams in Northwest Ohio and 6'7"-6'8" forward Christian Wagenhauser (2018) is a major reason for their success. The big man not only shot a high percentage in his 20-point performance, but Wagenhauser appears to be the team's leader.
"I broke my ankle the last day of practice before our first game last year … I had to be a leader on the bench because I couldn't contribute actually on the court. So I tried to help people and be positive on the bench," Wagenhauser said.
When guards turned the ball over, Wagenhauser could be found calming them down. When they had a chance to break the lead open, Wagenhauser implored his team to get a defensive stop.
The senior also has a natural presence on the floor because of his size. Wagenhauser has a soft touch in the paint with his back to the basket. But at the next level, he will likely be more of a stretch four.
"I actually feel comfortable shooting anywhere on the court," Wagenhauser said. "I've grown up shooting because my dad has always wanted me to be somebody who can stretch the floor as a big man."
The 3.8 GPA student (24 ACT score) is a self-aware prospect, in that he's identified areas of his game he'd like to improve before next season.
"I definitely need to improve my strength. Just physically, I need to improve my leg strength and my upper body, adjust for the physicality of the collegiate level. I definitely need to improve my ball-handling ability … Rebounding too, just being able to attack the ball," he said.
Defiance College has been circling him closely lately.
"I've gone a visit there and the coaches have come to multiple games, which has been nice," Wagenhauser told Prep Hoops. "I like how they've put in effort to watch my games and show that they're interested in my development."
He told us that Hillsdale and Findlay have shown interest in the past. However, Defiance is the only school currently recruiting him.
School size, a strong sales and business marketing program, and financial help are all factors Wagenhauser will weigh when making his college decision.
We encourage any Division III school in Ohio to get involved with Wagenhauser before his senior season concludes. He can score the ball inside and outside, competes on the glass and block, has strong academics, and cares about his teammates.
Southview is currently 4-0 and welcomes Perrysburg for a home game on Friday, where Wagenhauser will be confronted with sophomore 6'6" forward Jackson Sizemore, a fellow stretch big.
With three quality wins under their belt, Wagenhauser believes Southview has a chance to achieve success in the postseason.
"We have really good team chemistry. A lot of us have been playing together since sixth grade," Wagenhauser said. "Our goal is, honestly, to win the [Northern Lakes League] outright, and if possible win a District Championship and go farther than that. I think we have the keys to do that."
photo: @mcmurrray on Twitter