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Shaneka Henson: Maryland needs to address mold contamination in rental homes | COMMENTARY
On the Level: Take great care if you must use truss space for storage
Woman fatally shot during riot at U.S. Capitol formerly lived in Annapolis, worked at Calvert Cliffs nuclear plant
Annapolis family sits at heart of DACA, protected status debates
By Phil Davis
pdavis@capgaznews.com |
Luis Portillo, of Annapolis, legally emigrated to the U.S. 17 years ago with his wife and kids under TPS, which is set to end in September. The family who considers the U.S. their home, hope for an ultimate path to citizenship. (Thalia Juarez | BSMG)
Luis Portillo shifts a lot on the couch of his Annapolis home when the topic of his impending deportation comes up.
A 42-year-old El Salvadoran immigrant who said he and his family have been in Annapolis legally since 2001 with temporary protected status, he regularly retreats into a response of "Everything will be OK."
But he admits it's somewhat of a defense mechanism, one he uses to keep up appearances with his two children, both of whom are attending college in different states.
"I try to stay positive … for them," he said.
Listening to Portillo, their family's situation seemingly manages to hit every single aspect of the current immigration debate happening not an hour away from where they live.
Portillo said he and his family fled El Salvador in 2001 on a tourist visa he'd renewed because he'd come the country previously to visit family.
Luis Portillo admires the letter announcing his daughter made the dean's list at Loyola University Chicago. Portillo emigrated to the U.S. 17 years ago with his wife and kids under TPS. The family who considers the U.S. their home, hope for an ultimate path to citizenship. (Thalia Juarez / Capital Gazette)
El Salvador had been devastated by an earthquake, which is what sparked then-President George W. Bush to extend them and other El Salvadoran immigrants the temporary protected status. According to the Pew Research Center, the status extends to about 320,000 people in the country who hail from 10 nations that have either gone through a significant natural disaster, like El Salvador and Haiti, or from war-torn regions like Yemen.
However, as the name implies, it does not offer permanent relief. The status is typically offered for a six- to 18-month period, and it's up to presidents to renew the status or let it expire.
For El Salvador, the status was renewed several times under Bush and then-President Barack Obama, allowing people like Portillo and his family to stay in the country for nearly 17 years.
In 2012, Obama announced the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, also known as DACA, immigration policy, which gave certain immigrants who arrived in the country under the age of 16 and had lived in the country since 2007 the opportunity to obtain work permits for two-year periods.
Portillo said his two children — a 19-year-old daughter and a 20-year-old son who came into the country when they were 3 and 4 years old, respectively — obtained permits under the policy.
President Donald Trump and his administration did not renew the temporary protected status for El Salvador earlier this year, giving them until September 2019 before they will no longer be allowed to stay in the country legally.
Trump also canceled DACA, and it is set to expire on March 5. However, a federal court ruling allowed those with the protection to renew their status if it expires in March or later, which Portillo said his two children did.
The president has put the onus on Congress to come up with an immigration deal that protects those covered by DACA, but the Senate rejected a bipartisan agreement earlier this month after Trump threatened to veto the bill.
Portillo, who has worked at the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Annapolis for more than a decade-and-a-half, said he's considering going into hiding if neither Trump nor Congress offers him any path to citizenship.
States consider protecting benefits for DACA, TPS immigrants facing loss of status
State lawmakers across the country are weighing a host of bills aimed at preserving driver's licenses and other benefits for undocumented immigrants who may
By By Antonio Olivo
He said he hopes his story will bring light to the weight behind Trump's decision. He said he only expected to be in the country for five years, but ultimately set up roots after his kids began to excel at school.
"All these years are thrown in the trash," he said. "Seventeen years in one place is a life."
His home is a modest, two-story house with a 9-year-old yellow Labrador who yelps behind a small gate in the kitchen as Portillo talks about how his daughter made the dean's list and his son plays basketball at college.
He emphasizes he works twice as hard to put them through college, splitting time between an auto body shop and the hotel.
But it comes at a time when the microscope on immigration has focused on crimes perpetrated by immigrants, with the gang MS-13, a transnational gang with bases in El Salvador, being a major focus.
A report by the Center for Immigration Studies claims about 25 percent of 506 people accused of being MS-13 members were illegal immigrants, which they claim are the result of "failed immigration policies" and an unwillingness by some state and local law enforcement agencies who are "not allowed to cooperate fully" with immigration officials.
The report's author, director of policy studies Jessica M. Vaughan, has also cited DACA as a contributor to the gang's resurgence.
"For example, one MS-13 clique leader in Frederick, Md., who had received a DACA work permit and was employed as a custodian at a middle school in Frederick, Md., and who was recently incarcerated for various gang-related crimes, reportedly was told by gang leaders in El Salvador to take advantage of the lenient policies on UACs (Unaccompanied Alien Child) to bring in new recruits, knowing that they would be allowed to resettle in the area with few questions asked," she wrote.
But Portillo said he, too, fears the gang and the resurgence they've had in this country, and he hopes those examples don't paint a broader picture that doesn't include the stories of his two children.
As the conversation moved to his children, he said they're his only concern. He said they cried over the phone when they were discussing the end of the temporary protected status with him, but he promised he would make it work.
[Most read] Former Anne Arundel Executive James Lighthizer awarded National Humanities Medal in White House ceremony »
He said he hopes something can be reached so he can see his two children graduate from college.
"For me, I just needed more time," he said. "I know there are more people like me, too."
Glen Burnie woman charged with stabbing another woman during fight, Anne Arundel police say
This story has been updated to reflect the correct organization which studied immigration policy.


The SriLankan Airline will have a new chief operating officer and chief financial officer in Wipula Gunatilake, starting in August.
He will succeed CEO Suren Ratwatte.
His appointment is part of the moves to minimize institutional debt and to formulate an investor-friendly business plan under a new management.
Gunatilake was CFO of SriLankan some years ago, and later became TAG Angolan Airlines CFO and director board member.
The debt-ridden SriLankan's woes are blamed on wrong management and wet-leasing of aircraft at high prices during the 2011-14 period.


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vancouverites
"TV series" Tagged Posts
Filming in Vancouver: To All the Boys I've Loved Before 3, Supernatural, and more
by Craig Takeuchi	in Town on July 15, 2019
Yay! Lana Condor is back in town to shoot To All the Boys I've Loved Before 3
Things are getting busy, busy, busy as today marks the start of three screen projects.
Two TV series and a Netflix feature are getting on set in town as we speak.
One of them is a crazy-popular teen romance, another is a superhero series that is the last of its related shows to get going, and another is a UFO investigation series that's based on historical fact.
Meanwhile, there's a wistful note as one of the longest-running series commences production on its final season.
So for details on what's happening in Vancouver's screen scene this week, join us after the jump…
Filming in Vancouver: The Flash, Batwoman, Loudermilk, and Sacred Lies
by Craig Takeuchi	in Town on July 2, 2019
Ruby Rose stars in Batwoman, which begins shooting Season 1 this week.
This week, several TV series are getting back on set to start production in Vancouver on their latest season.
One includes a powerpacked show about a superhero who certainly knows a thing or two about being getting a move on.
Another is a comedy that revolves around a cynical recovering alcoholic who works as a substance-abuse counsellor.
Yet another series is about a teenager without hands who has escaped a cult whose leader has been killed.
And there's a new series joining the Arrowverse gang.
For details about all of these shows, join us after the jump for an overview of what's going on this week in Vancouver's screen scene.
Filming in Vancouver: Hilary Swank, Camilla Mendes, Chesapeake Shores on Vancouver Island
by Craig Takeuchi	in Town on May 27, 2019
In this week's roundup of screen productions coming and going from these parts, a horror-thriller feature is calling it a wrap in Vancouver.
Meanwhile over on Vancouver Island, a multi-generational family drama TV series is also finishing up.
However, there's some exciting news as a two-time Academy Award winner will be coming to town this summer to shoot a new sci-fi series.
So if this interests you, meet us after the jump for what's happening in Vancouver's (and B.C.'s) screen scene.
Filming in Vancouver: BH90210, You Me Her, and TV series returning this summer
North Vancouver's Jason Priestley will star in BH90210.
This week in what's filming in Vancouver, two TV series get underway.
One is linked to a hit teen drama from the 1990s—but this version quite a different type of show than the one it's based upon.
As that one gets going, so does another one featuring a three-way couple who are navigating the uncharted territory otherwise known as suburbia.
Plus, there's a whole bunch of TV series, ranging from fantasy and comedy to ensemble dramas, coming back to shoot this summer.
So with all that in mind, here's a quick overview of what's happening in Vancouver's screen scene.
Filming in Vancouver: The Terror, Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, Healing Powers of Dude
George Takei stars in The Terror: Infamy
As one show finishes up, another one starts.
That's usually the norm in Vancouver's screen scene and such is the case this week.
In fact, one horror TV series is calling it a wrap while another horror series gets started.
But where they differ is that one is set in a historical event while the other is set in a world of witchcraft and teen drama.
Speaking of adolescents, there's forthcoming series that will shoot its inaugural season here for which there's very little detail, with the exception of a casting call that is drawing praise from people with disabilities.
Interesting finding out more? See you after the jump.
Filming in Vancouver: To All the Boys I've Loved Before 2, Get Shorty, and Upload
by Craig Takeuchi	in Town on May 6, 2019
Lana Condor stars in To All the Boys I've Loved Before 2.
This week's comings and goings from Vancouver's screen scene may set hearts aflutter as romance is a recurring theme.
A Netflix teen romance movie calls it a wrap while a new tech-driven romance TV series also finishes up this week.
Diverging from matters of the heart, a crime comedy-drama TV series that has relocated from the U.S. to here gets underway on its third season.
So if all of this tugs on your heartstrings, here's a look at what's happening in Hollywood North at the moment.
Filming in Vancouver: Are You Afraid of the Dark?, Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, 90210, and more
by Craig Takeuchi	in Town on April 29, 2019
Chilling Adventures of Sabrina (Netflix)
Within the dates of the current week, there aren't any screen projects coming or going from the city as numerous productions continue on their regular course.
However, there's plenty coming up on the horizon to tell you about.
There are three horror TV series, including a drama about a handless teen, a teen witch drama, and a '90s revival.
And speaking of reviving the '90s and teens, there's a famous franchise that's embarking upon its latest entry.
Wanna know more? See you after the jump.
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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


St Catherine's has had a lifeboat since 1969 although the station has not always been in the same location. Click here to find out more about the station's history and the various types of lifeboat that have saved lives from St Catherine's.
The current lifeboat station has been operational at its current location beside the Martello Tower in St Catherine's Bay since October 1990. It was originally designed to house the Atlantic 21 "Jessie Eliza" but also accommodated the Atlantic 75 "Eric Rowse" from March 2001 and now houses the Atlantic 85 "Eric W Wilson" (formally named in May 2011) which arrived on station in June 2010.
the Boathouse, where the tractor and lifeboat, on its trailer, are kept ready for a launch. There is an electronic board above the lifeboat which has the details of the casualty so that the crew can quickly see what sort of recue will be involved. In addition, there is a shelf on the wall which can be accessed from the lifeboat on which the handheld VHF radio is kept charging and additional flares are stores in the event of a night-time search. All other equipment is stored on board.
the Operations Room, from which the station crew can monitor VHF transmissions, plot positions on charts and maintain any necessary logs.
the Crew Room, which is where the station crew can make teas and coffess and relax while waiting for the lifeboat to return.
Changing facilities which are split into a 'wet room' (for all the wet drysuits) and a 'dry room' where crew change out of their day clothes into their 'woolly bears'.
the Mechanic's store, which is self-explanatory.
The St Catherine's lifeboat is an RNLI 'B class' Atlantic 85. She arrived on station in June 2010 and is named the Eric W Wilson, following a formal naming ceremony on 22 May 2011.
The Atlantic 85 lifeboat, Eric W Wilson, has been funded by the generous legacy of Mrs Winifred M. Wilson in memory of her late husband and the lifeboat was formally named in a ceremony which took place at the St Catherine's lifeboat station on 22 May 2011. Members of the Wilson family were in attendance for the ceremony.
Mr and Mrs Wilson were themselves keen boating people for more than 40 years and Eric Wilson was involved in Mulberry Harbours during the war. Winifred Wilson, who hailed from West Yorkshire but spent the last 30 years in North Norfolk, was a Shoreline member of the RNLI and supported fundraising for the charity's Hunstanton Branch for 18 years.
In the special ceremony to name and dedicate the new lifeboat, the invited guests and the local volunteer RNLI teams celebrated the occasion with a service of dedication at the lifeboat station. The lifeboat was handed to the care of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution by Mr David H. Wilson, son of Mrs Wilson and was named by his sister, Mrs Dianne P Ward. Of note was the fact that the lifeboat was dedicated by the Dean of Jersey as the Eric W Wilson was launched down the slip on active service, to attend to a motor boat in difficulties.


Following Monday's game vs. St. John's Catholic Prep, Head Coach, Joe Mathews presented the IAAM character coin to senior point guard, Anna LeMaster of the Vikings. Coach Mathews said Anna, "showed great sportsmanship and fought hard to the end even helping our players from the floor in the 4th quarter as the teams went back and forth".
Congratulations to Anna for demonstrating what the IAAM is all about.


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All-New TVS Apache RTR 160 4V Launched In India
Sam Paul - March 12, 2021
TVS Motor Company has launched the 2021 Apache RTR 160 4V in two variants – with disk brake and drum brake. The disc brake model will be sold at Rs. 1,10,320 (ex-showroom, Delhi), while the drum brake version gets a price tag of Rs. 1,07,270 (ex-showroom, Delhi).
Company's powerful street-naked bike costs Rs. 3,000 more than the 2020 model. Besides, it weighs lesser than the predecessor. In fact, the 2021 Apache RTR 160 4V is 2 kgs lesser, making it 147 kg for disk brake variant, whereas 145 kg for drum break model.
The new Apache bike gets more power than the previous model. Although it is powered by the same single-cylinder, four-valve, 159.7 cc, oil-cooled engine, it is capable of producing 17.4bhp and 14.73Nm of torque. The engine is packed with a 5-speed gearbox. These highlights make the TVS Apache RTR 160 4V the most powerful motorcycle in its class.
The rest of the new Apache RTR 160 4V remains untouched. It still has an aggressive design consisting of an LED headlight with LED DRLs, LED tail-light, and a single-piece seater. Hardware components also remain the same, with a telescopic fork and a mono-shock at the front and rear, respectively.
2021 Apache RTR 160 4V is available in three colour options –Knight Black, Racing Red, and Metallic Blue.
Bajaj Pulsar Dagger Edge Edition Launched In India
2021 Suzuki V-Strom 1050, 1050XT Introduced In New Colours
Aprilia SXR 125 Launched In India; Priced At Rs 1.16 Lakh
See also TVS iQube Electric Scooter Launched In Delhi — Priced At Rs. 1.08 Lakh
Tagged tvs, tvs apache rtr 160 4v
Lamborghini Urus Pearl Capsule Design Edition Launched In India: Check What's New
Tata Tiago Gets A New Colour Option


Nothing defines the size of a remnant. Once in Isaiah the remnant was called small but even then, the size was not defined. If we go back to first use issues to help us understand how God intends a word to be understood, it was in Exodus 26:12 in which the curtains of the tabernacle were being cut to a pattern. The remnant was that portion that did not fit the pattern. It was to be hung on the backside of the tabernacle. Make of that what you will.
If I were to purchase a whole bolt of cloth some twenty-five yards in length and by design or pattern, cut out a nine inch square in the corner to make a handkerchief, the rest of the bolt would then be called a remnant. Size does not matter. The excess that is not used to complete the pattern, is a remnant.
A peculiar people, those who do not fit the pattern, excess, remnant, size undetermined yet designated to serve a purpose, to hang on the backside of the tabernacle.
We really should reshape our thinking about the word remnant and stop thinking of it as a small useless thing.
Let me remind you again that Paul is addressing Jews in Rome. We who are on the outside looking in will not have the same perspective as those in the Jewish community. In many ways our trying to understand this brings about some serious error as to one of Paul's primary messages. Predestination is foreknowledge. God knew all that would happen in all of history before He began the work of creation.
This is such an enormous issue that rendering a proper understanding is impossible from a viewpoint fixed in time. What amazes me more than the concept is the fact that God, knowing all the evil released into the world, all the hate, all the torture, murder, lusts, and evil mankind performs on mankind, He chose to set it all in motion anyway. This is how precious our love is to our God. He put up with all this to obtain just a remnant that would love Him.
I see much suffering in this world which is unbearably ugly. Then I must accept that God sees His Glory, Jesus Christ in us, to be so great that all the ugliness is nothing. I cannot in my humanity imagine something that wonderful. Yet God saw it before He created anything of this world.
Your take away here should be this; you were worth it.


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PLAZARIUM will participate in Plasma Technology Workshop - "Green Chemistry" and present CO2-neutral plasma technologies for electrification and hydrogen generation
December 1 - 4, 2020, the PLAZARIUM will participate in POLLUTEC Online (GREEN DAYS 2020 - Virtual Edition) in Lyon (France) and present plasma technology
(Postponement of the exhibition) from May 30 to June 3 2022, the PLAZARIUM will participate in IFAT and present a waste plasma gasification and plasma melting plant.
(Preview) from April 12 to 16, 2021, the PLAZARIUM will participate in the HANNOVER MESSE and present a plasma system for the plasma installation.
Dear customers, dear partners and dear business friends! We wish you and your loved ones a peaceful New Year's holidays and all the best for 2021!
The year 2020 taught us that it is possible, despite the necessary social distance, to move closer together on all levels, to pursue common goals, and to grow with these new challenges. For example, in 2020 with our client's support, we were able to put into operation new models of plasma systems and new types of plasma units. In 2020, we were able to conduct more than 35 different industrial tests of future samples of plasma units and their potential applications in the waste industry.
We hope that in the coming year we will be able to reach new heights in the field of plasma gasification and WtE projects, as well as in the field of replacing fossil fuels by electrification with industrial plasma systems, as well as in the field of plasma technologies for generating hydrogen, and together with you, we will be able to innovatively and positively look into the future, which will become more and more climate-neutral.
December 16, 2020 (from 2 PM to 6 PM UTC+1), the PLAZARIUM will participate in Plasma Technology Workshop - "Opportunities for Green Chemistry" and present CO2-neutral plasma technologies for electrification and hydrogen generation. Organized by the Fraunhofer IMWS Branch Lab "Circular Carbon Technologies" in cooperation with Institute of Energy Process Engineering & Chemical Engineering, TU Bergakademie Freiberg (IEC, Freiberg) and Leibnitz Institute for Plasma Science and Technology (INP, Greifswald).
We are pleased to announce that over 100 participants have registered for our online workshop on Plasma Technologies on 16.12.2020.
Vivez l'expérience Pollutec 100% digital, le rendez-vous immanquable des acteurs de l'environnement. Entre conférences, ateliers, rendez-vous d'affaires et solutions aux problématiques écologiques, Pollutec Online vous offre l'opportunité de vous informer, de vous former et de vous connecter à un large réseau de professionnels afin de développer votre activité.
L'inscription en ligne est disponible sur le site officiel GREEN DAYS 2020 - Virtual Edition
PLAZARIUM will take part in the international exhibition of high technologies, innovations and industrial automation IFAT 2022. The exhibition will be held in Munich (Germany) from May 30 to June 3, 2022.
IFAT is one of the oldest exhibition events held since 1966. Today, IFAT presents the world's broadest overview of innovations and solutions in the field of environmental technologies, including thermal waste processing. More than 3,250 companies from all over the world participate in IFAT. The total number of visitors-experts of the exhibition from more than 160 countries exceeds 141,000 people.
During five days PLAZARIUM will demonstrate the latest technical achievements and innovative developments in the field of plasma technology and present for demonstration at the exhibition the industrial plasma system PLAZARIUM TPS with a total capacity of 200 kW as part of unit for plasma gasification of waste and plasma plasma melting of ash residues and inorganic materials with a capacity of 200 kg per hour.
We invite you to visit our stand in hall A4 (Halle A4-Termal Waste Treatment) and get acquainted with the company's products and the latest developments in the field of plasma technologies.
PLAZARIUM will take part in the international exhibition of high technologies, innovations and industrial automation HANNOVER MESSE 2021. The exhibition will be held in Hanover (Germany) from 12 to 16 April 2021.
More than 6,000 companies from all over the world participate in HANNOVER MESSE. The total number of visitors to the exhibition exceeds 200,000 people. Within five days, PLAZARIUM will demonstrate the latest technical achievements and innovative developments in the field of plasma technology and present for demonstration AT the exhibition the plazarium TPS plasma system with a total capacity of 80 kW, designed for integration into a waste plasma gasification unit, a heavy oil residue plasma hydrocracking unit, or a plasma melting unit for ash residues and inorganic materials.
We invite you to visit our stand number C10 in hall 13 (Halle 13 Stand C10-Energy Solutions) and get acquainted with the company's products and the latest developments in the field of plasma technologies.
Notification of SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus infection (COVID-19) and its impact on the regime and operation of PLAZARIUM's factories and international offices during the period from March 20 to June 31, 2020
(News updated)
Note: Click on the link above for details.


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Language in Odessa
Most of the citizens in Odessa are bilingual . They speak both Russian and Ukrainian. Amongst youth it is more common to meet people speaking English.
Odessa is home to more than 120 nationalities, each with its own language and culture. That's why locals are used to hearing an unusual speech.
. A special lingual and cultural diversity differs Bessarabia. In some villages people speak Bulgarian, in others – Gagauzskyi , Ukrainian and Moldovan. Under Bolgrad there is a village where people speak Albanian.
The unique language of Odessa has been praised in theatre and cinematography. But its rarely used on the streets of Odessa nowadays. But to speak with Odessa' accent is still considered cool amongst market traders. So you can still meet alive prototypes of Kaatev and Babel on Privoz and New Market.


There's something both the indulgent spenders and those trapped in dire require can both reveal: the need for credit repair. No one wants to brush everyone under the rug, of dismissing all of them as people who can not plan a budget as well as stick to it. But the truth is both those who spend indulgently, more so than they can afford, and the ones with medical bills and family emergencies, both may end up with a bad credit rating. No one wants that.
The quick thought of some is to look for credit repair solutions provided by some companies, most of which are probably scams. Now you may improve his or her credit statement, in the legal and legitimate way. Yet what most people would like is some here and now instant solution. Naturally, some companies will jump on that need. Hence the actual proliferation of scam companies. But you may repair your credit standing yourself. Here are four ways to do just that, yourself. No a dime invested or scam involved.
Have someone add you as an authorized person on their credit card. A good as well as certain way to enhance remarkably your credit standing is to have your relatives, one or two of these, to add your name as on of the sanctioned users of the credit cards they actively use. Providing them with to do may not be simple if you're known to these as someone irresponsible, so you'd need to promise them you happen to be straightening out your existence.
The benefit getting your name added to their credit card's allowed-to-use list is that this arrives off as a positive mark on your credit statement. The usual reason is always that someone trusts you not to abuse their credit card. Make absolutely certain that the relative you ask to have you added also has a extensive credit history. Otherwise, it is a little pointless being added to their listing. That would negatively affect your credit status, rather than helping.
Decide on a investing ceiling on your credit card. Placing a cap on how much you can spend is always the best thing. Having a record that you simply phoned your credit card provider to limit the card's spending limit is often taken being a sign that you don't wish to spend more than a certain limit. The reduce is usually assumed to be how much you earn. This kind of speaks of discipline and also foresight. Definitely worth performing.
Up the limit around the credit card you're using. On the other end from the credit card spectrum is boosting your card's spending roof. When you successfully persuade your credit card issuer to be able to jack up your limit, that is taken to imply that the issuer provides decided you are trustworthy, which often means your revenue is stable and will support the needed obligations. This will reflect effectively on your credit status.
Grumble if you're paying students loan. When paying upwards for a student loan, contact students loan ombudsman, or the office handing your loan payments. You have to do this before you telephone your creditor, simply because those who provide student education loans have to make the payment choices convenient to people who borrow them. If you're persuasive enough, you may be fortunate to have the data of late payments taken off your account. This is a good point. You want as few bad marks in your credit status, as much as possible.
The tips listed here are not at all exhaustive. You are encouraged to search for more tips inside shouldering and tugging off your credit repair your self, without resorting to paying down a company that offers to boost your credit report or standing for a payment.
As has been discussed earlier, most likely they are ripoffs. Visit government as well as non-government websites, which are non-profit naturally, for more information.


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Incidental
Famous quotes containing the word incidental:
"Besides, our action on each other, good as well as evil, is so incidental and at random, that we can seldom hear the acknowledgments of any person who would thank us for a benefit, without some shame and humiliation. We can rarely strike a direct stroke, but must be content with an oblique one; we seldom have the satisfaction of yielding a direct benefit, which is directly received."
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
"Almost always tradition is nothing but a record and a machine-made imitation of the habits that our ancestors created. The average conservative is a slave to the most incidental and trivial part of his forefathers' glory—to the archaic formula which happened to express their genius or the eighteenth-century contrivance by which for a time it was served."
—Walter Lippmann (1889–1974)
"What has history to do with me? Mine is the first and only world! I want to report how I find the world. What others have told me about the world is a very small and incidental part of my experience. I have to judge the world, to measure things."
—Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889–1951)
Terms related to incidental:
Incidental Catch
Incidental Damages
Incidental Findings
Incidental Music
Incidental Question
Eternal Road
Flat Major
Hein V. Freedom From Religion Foundation
List of Compositions By Ludwig Van Beethoven
Maternal Death
Wikipedia Incidental (Creative Commons)


Imperial Court is preparing for war.
Despite the silence of the government since the Imperial Diet was dissolved last week, the Imperial Court has watched, apprehensively, the Emperor's Office study the prospects of responding to the continuing moral aggressions perpetrated by the judiciary authorities. It is possible that more severe actions will be taken soon. For national history, the whole event is already treated like as the Juznoslavia War, considering the description of the article written for the Libertian Archives, which can be read here.


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Colorblind: North Carolina's teaching force—like the nation's—fails to match student demographics
Christina Spears is a third-year special education teacher in Apex. Liz Bell/EducationNC
Adam Rhew
by Adam Rhew, EducationNC

Colorblind: North Carolina's teaching force—like the nation's—fails to match student demographics

by Adam Rhew, EducationNC
March 26, 2018

It did not take many days into Jason Terrell's teaching career for him to realize this job would be about more than the middle school English lessons he planned.

In 2012, Terrell, a fresh-out-of-college novice, came to James Martin Middle School in Charlotte through Teach For America. He became interested in teaching late in his time at Furman University. After an uncomfortable conversation with his parents, a few months later, he was instructing a classroom of eighth graders.

In addition to teaching, he helped with the football team and agreed to lead the baseball team. But far more of his coaching happened off the field, in conversations about bullying, suicide, and parents in prison.

We are sitting in a west Charlotte corner market, at a small table in the sun, on a warm fall afternoon. Music blares from overhead speakers, frenetically hopping genres: funk to grunge to the theme song from Goldfinger. People come and go with their sandwiches and six packs. Terrell has a notebook on the table in front of him, although he does not refer to it. I lean in to hear what he has to say—it is clear he has told this story before.

"I had students I didn't even know who would come to my classroom and stand outside my door to talk to me," Terrell recalls, "because they didn't see another male who looked like them in the school building."

Terrell, who is black, was a rare find.

Despite a rapidly diversifying student body, teachers in North Carolina schools are disproportionately white. In the 2016-17 school year, 80 percent of North Carolina's roughly 94,000 public school teachers were white. That proportion far outpaces the ratio of white students—just less than half of the 1.4 million-person student body.

Although black children make up a quarter of all public school students in North Carolina, black teachers comprise just 14 percent of teachers. Latinos are underrepresented, too, even as North Carolina's Latinx population surges. The Department of Public Instruction reports just 4.9 percent of the state's teachers are a race other than white or black; Latinx students make up 17 percent of public school enrollment.

The lack of teachers of color in this state mirrors a national trend—the number of black teachers in the U.S. plunged after desegregation, when all-black schools closed and predominantly white school districts refused to hire black teachers for their newly-integrated classrooms. In recent decades, those numbers have rebounded, but not on pace with the so-called browning of America. It is a problem that is complicated and difficult to triage, although the risks of leaving the imbalance as it is today are too great for policymakers and educators to ignore.

"A lot of my boys would come to me, especially the African-American students, almost like a father figure," Terrell says. "And I was 21 years old at the time.

"I almost needed my own father figure."

North Carolina is not the only state grappling with racial imbalance in the classroom.

Studies repeatedly point out the disparity between the proportion of students of color and their racial representation among teachers. "A gap persists between the percentage of minority students and the percentage of minority teachers in the United States school system," write the authors of a September 2017 Learning Policy Institute report.

"States have not been doing nearly enough to increase the diversity of their teaching ranks," the Center for American Progress (CAP), a liberal think tank, says in a 2014 analysis. Last fall, the group noted "marginal increases" in the percentages of teachers of color nationwide, from 12 percent of all teachers in 1987 to 17 percent in 2012.

CAP gave North Carolina a diversity index of 31—signifying the percentage point gap between the ratio of non-white students and teachers in the state.

The gap is of particular concern among Latinx educators, given the rapid growth in North Carolina's Latinx population. The state was home to 75,000 people who identified as Latinx in 1990—and roughly a million today. The Latinx population in North Carolina surged 16.5 percent between 2010 and 2016, according to the Census Bureau. And yet, as the NC Department of Public Instruction data show, Latinx teachers make up a very small percentage of the state's teaching workforce. "One of the challenges I see is that sometimes we may be seen as less professional," says America Moreno Jimenez, a Mexican immigrant who teaches ESL at a Raleigh high school. "Our actions and our choices are different based on our experiences and our cultures. That doesn't necessarily mean we are less professional. It just means we approach things in a different manner."

She says she is one of about four Latinx educators in her school, where student diversity outpaces educator diversity. "That is better than my own high school where we did not have any Latinx teachers," she says, referring to her public school education in Hendersonville.

Like many teachers of color, Jimenez often finds herself in less-than-comfortable situations as she translates culture for her white colleagues.

"Often times we are asked to step in as the 'Latinx teacher'" she says, to connect with specific students or offer explanation to confused colleagues who do not understand a particular aspect of Latinx culture. "There's not enough of us to go around."

That sentiment is familiar to other teachers of color across the state.

"My greatest struggle as a teacher of color in North Carolina is simply finding other educators of color to connect with in meaningful ways," says Christina Cole Spears, a third-year special education teacher in Apex. "It's difficult to explain the feeling of walking into a school building where the vast majority of people of color are transportation or custodial staff."

That affects her every day, she says, especially as it relates to the way she interacts with students.

"I want my students to feel seen and loved, especially when the majority of their peers and teachers are white," she says. "Because of my personal experience, I understand the impact of witnessing a black woman lead a class.

"My black students see themselves reflected in me."

The benefits black students incur from exposure to just one black teacher are striking—and directly applicable to North Carolina.

A large study published in the spring of 2017 looked at 100,000 black North Carolina elementary school students. Having just one black teacher in third, fourth or fifth grades reduced the likelihood that black males from low-income households would drop out of school by 39 percent.

By high school, black male and female students—exposed to just one black teacher in elementary school—were more likely to go to college than their peers who had all white teachers.

"Our findings suggest that stubbornly persistent attainment gaps are not impervious to policy changes," the study's authors write. (Interestingly, however, they also note that the dosage effect of exposure to multiple black teachers had a "marginal" and "relatively small" effect on students' long-term outcomes.)

There are short-term benefits to exposure to same-race teachers, too, including lower suspension rates, less absenteeism, and improved standardized test scores.

A study published last year, which also focused on North Carolina students, found "consistent evidence that exposure to same-race teachers is associated with reduced rates of exclusionary discipline for black students." That finding held for male and female students, from all economic backgrounds and at all grade levels.

Researchers who studied the effects of same-race teachers say the conclusions are striking. "Right now it's reasonable to say that white students have some sort of advantage because they are more likely to encounter teachers who look like them," says Brian Kisida, a professor at the University of Missouri who has written about this issue along with a colleague at N.C. State, Anna Egalite.

"We tried to get at what's driving the effect," Kisida said.

There are three ways in which researchers believe teachers of color positively influence students of color in the classroom. First, he says, the mere presence of a black male, for example, in a position of authority, presents a role model figure to black male students. Seeing that role model every day could change a student's outlook for his future.

Researchers have also looked at teachers of color and the Pygmalion effect—the correlation between a teacher's expectations of a student and that student's future academic outcomes. School districts across the country have spent hours and dollars in recent years on implicit bias training for their teachers, but a study published last fall suggests white teachers consistently have lower academic expectations for black students than they do for white ones. A 2016 study reached a similar conclusion.

Finally, Kisida says, teachers of color may be particularly better suited to communicate and confer with students of color, something he calls cultural translation, that makes it easier to connect the curriculum in a way that resonates with students.

Christina Spears, the Apex special education teacher, told me the rapport she develops with students happens quickly—black students call her "mama"—and because of a shared understanding. "I'm not old enough to be anybody's mama," she says, "but it happens because of the way we talk, the inside jokes and cultural references, and even more so the way we may view education.

"Yet again, it addresses the need for educators of color in classrooms with students."

Recruiting and retaining more teachers of color would not negatively affect white students, either, Kisida says. "We don't have to choose. We can have both."

Importantly, Kisida says researchers do not intend for black students, for example, to only be taught by teachers of their same race. The dosage effects highlighted in the North Carolina research indicate exposure to the first black teacher has a significant effect on the outcomes for black students.

"We're not trying to necessarily flip it the other direction," Kisida says. "It's not an argument for segregated schools. It's an argument for representation."

Within his school, Jason Terrell found himself playing a unique role.

"Men of color are often placed in situations where they have to manage bodies and not teach content," he says. "They're expected to be the disciplinarians in your school, they're expected to be the enforcers."

In his first year of teaching middle school, Terrell struggled. "There's no training about how to be an effective role model; there's no leadership development around that," he says. "It was challenging to be in a space where there weren't that many men—or people in general—that I could come to and talk to about my experience."

He turned to a veteran male teacher in his school, using the older colleague as a mentor. They met frequently, talked out problems, and strategized about ways to help their students. That relationship, Terrell says, made him realize there was a void—few male teachers of color, and even fewer resources to support them.

Starting in 2014, Terrell and his Teach For America colleague, Mario Shaw, started hosting casual dinners in their own apartments for other male teachers of color. The gatherings were small at first—three people at this one, five at the next. "We didn't have any intentions of doing a program," Terrell says. "We didn't have a name. It was just a group of us texting in a group chat."

Eventually, though, the dinners sparked an idea.

Terrell and Shaw decided to quit teaching and launch Profound Gentlemen, a Charlotte-based nonprofit that aims to create a network of male teachers of color who can have a positive effect on boys of color. The move was risky. "I'd never run a nonprofit. Never even worked at a nonprofit," Terrell says with a laugh.

But he knew, from his own experience attending Title I schools as a boy and then teaching boys of color in Charlotte, that a program such as Profound Gentlemen was long overdue.

The organization would use a peer-to-peer mentorship model, they decided, pairing teachers with what they call "impact leaders." Programming would focus on developing participants into effective teachers, coaching on how to be a role model and discussions about race and community justice.

Today, Profound Gentlemen serves about 200 teachers, about half of which live in North Carolina, including in Mecklenburg, Wake, Pitt, Halifax, and Nash counties. It hosts in-person quarterly trainings for its members in five cities: Atlanta, Charlotte, Chicago, Memphis and Washington, plus virtual sessions for teachers who live elsewhere. There is an annual conference in Charlotte. Each teacher who participates in Profound Gentlemen agrees to commit to 20 hours of one-on-one coaching each year with his impact leader.

All of that, Terrell emphasizes, points toward one goal: improving the outcomes for boys of color.

As with other issues in public education, at least part of the solution to improving teacher diversity is buried within the teacher pipeline. Policymakers nationwide have offered little in the way of wholesale solutions.

Much of the attention has focused on recruitment, particularly of teachers of color to high-poverty, urban schools that tend to serve students of color at higher rates than suburban ones. "Efforts over recent years to recruit more minority teachers and place them in schools serving disadvantaged and minority student populations have been very successful," the Learning Policy Institute report says. "This has been somewhat of an unheralded victory."

Those efforts, teachers of color agree, should continue. Spears suggests a focus on non-traditional pathways such as a lateral entry and Teach For America, coupled with teacher cadet programs in high school that could awaken students of color to possibilities in teaching.

The typical teacher pipeline solutions often come up, too: More scholarship initiatives such as the North Carolina Teaching Fellows program, more intentional pathways to professional growth, and incentivized pay for teaching in hard-to-staff subjects and schools.

Two decades ago, Florida's legislature created the Florida Fund for Minority Teachers, which uses tuition grants of up to $4,000 annually to support diverse education majors at the state's public and private universities. New York City launched NYC Men Teach, which is on track to add 1,000 male educators of color over the next three years. In North Carolina, individual school districts pursue their own teacher diversity hiring strategies. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools, for example, targeted career fairs in Florida to increase its ranks of Latinx educators.

Hiring more teachers of color is not the sole solution. In a report released last year by the Learning Policy Institute, researchers argue the U.S. education system has focused on the wrong part of the pipeline.

"Underlying most of the commentary and policy on this issue has been the assumption, largely untested, that minority teacher staffing problems are rooted in the front end of the teacher supply pipeline," the authors write. There has been far less attention paid to the back end of the pipeline: retention.

Between 1987 and 2012, the number of teachers of color in the United States doubled. (The number of white teachers increased, too, so the proportions as related to the student body did not grow at the same rate.) But over the same period of time, turnover rates among teachers of color were "significantly higher" than those among white teachers, the LPI report says. Surveys of teachers who quit indicated a strong correlation between their departures and "organizational and working conditions." In 2012-13, nationwide, turnover among teachers of color was 25 percent higher than that of white teachers.

In Illinois, lawmakers created the Grow Your Own Teachers initiative, which combines a recruitment strategy with two years of mentoring support. Boston Public Schools came up with a teaching fellowship that includes mentoring and has received praise for its effectiveness.

But in North Carolina, teachers of color are often left to their own devices. Some turn to Twitter, where they collaborate with peers—from the state and elsewhere—to solve common challenges.

Terrell says that reality is part of what makes Profound Gentlemen's programming so vital to its members. "Recruitment is sexy," he says. "But it's gotta be more than that. Everyone wants teachers in, but there aren't initiatives to keep them in."

Even when school systems successfully recruit and retain teachers of color, those educators often meet institutional racism and implicit bias.

Spears recalls participating in a school equity team meeting "where some marginalized groups, and thus their voices, are missing from the conversation." She is working to change those attitudes—by mentoring students, advising the step team, and pushing her institutions (and their leaders) to change. "Although it's not my sole responsibility or the responsibility of teachers in color in general, I feel it's necessary to use our pedagogy to focus on social justice issues," she says. "It may be difficult for white educators to engage in these types of conversations with colleagues and peers, but it should be the heart of our everyday work."

Similarly, Profound Gentlemen's founders want to see more institutional change. They met with school systems about their hiring practices, encouraging schools to think of male educators—and particularly men of color—as more than disciplinarians but, as, Terrell puts it, "someone kids can come to for nurturing and to learn from." In a session with hiring managers in Charlotte, he says, heads nodded as attendees realized they had not considered their implicit biases in this way.

As we talk, in the west Charlotte deli, Terrell reflects on the basic goal of education in the 21st century, the idea that we are trying to set kids up to have a better future. He acknowledges the public policy side of teacher diversity is somewhat of an enigma—no silver bullet, the most obvious solutions often the most expensive and politically challenging. Regardless, he says, Profound Gentlemen's work matters. It is making a difference, one teacher, one classroom at a time. He looks up, wants to make sure I get this point.

"Kids need to see different images of success," he says, "that reflect our communities."

This article first appeared on EducationNC and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.
News Equity Teaching-in-color
It did not take many days into Jason Terrell's teaching career for him to realize this job would be about more than the middle school English lessons he planned.
In 2012, Terrell, a fresh-out-of-college novice, came to James Martin Middle School in Charlotte through Teach For America. He became interested in teaching late in his time at Furman University. After an uncomfortable conversation with his parents, a few months later, he was instructing a classroom of eighth graders.
In addition to teaching, he helped with the football team and agreed to lead the baseball team. But far more of his coaching happened off the field, in conversations about bullying, suicide, and parents in prison.
We are sitting in a west Charlotte corner market, at a small table in the sun, on a warm fall afternoon. Music blares from overhead speakers, frenetically hopping genres: funk to grunge to the theme song from Goldfinger. People come and go with their sandwiches and six packs. Terrell has a notebook on the table in front of him, although he does not refer to it. I lean in to hear what he has to say—it is clear he has told this story before.
"I had students I didn't even know who would come to my classroom and stand outside my door to talk to me," Terrell recalls, "because they didn't see another male who looked like them in the school building."
Terrell, who is black, was a rare find.
Despite a rapidly diversifying student body, teachers in North Carolina schools are disproportionately white. In the 2016-17 school year, 80 percent of North Carolina's roughly 94,000 public school teachers were white. That proportion far outpaces the ratio of white students—just less than half of the 1.4 million-person student body.
Although black children make up a quarter of all public school students in North Carolina, black teachers comprise just 14 percent of teachers. Latinos are underrepresented, too, even as North Carolina's Latinx population surges. The Department of Public Instruction reports just 4.9 percent of the state's teachers are a race other than white or black; Latinx students make up 17 percent of public school enrollment.
The lack of teachers of color in this state mirrors a national trend—the number of black teachers in the U.S. plunged after desegregation, when all-black schools closed and predominantly white school districts refused to hire black teachers for their newly-integrated classrooms. In recent decades, those numbers have rebounded, but not on pace with the so-called browning of America. It is a problem that is complicated and difficult to triage, although the risks of leaving the imbalance as it is today are too great for policymakers and educators to ignore.
"A lot of my boys would come to me, especially the African-American students, almost like a father figure," Terrell says. "And I was 21 years old at the time.
"I almost needed my own father figure."
North Carolina is not the only state grappling with racial imbalance in the classroom.
Studies repeatedly point out the disparity between the proportion of students of color and their racial representation among teachers. "A gap persists between the percentage of minority students and the percentage of minority teachers in the United States school system," write the authors of a September 2017 Learning Policy Institute report.
"States have not been doing nearly enough to increase the diversity of their teaching ranks," the Center for American Progress (CAP), a liberal think tank, says in a 2014 analysis. Last fall, the group noted "marginal increases" in the percentages of teachers of color nationwide, from 12 percent of all teachers in 1987 to 17 percent in 2012.
CAP gave North Carolina a diversity index of 31—signifying the percentage point gap between the ratio of non-white students and teachers in the state.
The gap is of particular concern among Latinx educators, given the rapid growth in North Carolina's Latinx population. The state was home to 75,000 people who identified as Latinx in 1990—and roughly a million today. The Latinx population in North Carolina surged 16.5 percent between 2010 and 2016, according to the Census Bureau. And yet, as the NC Department of Public Instruction data show, Latinx teachers make up a very small percentage of the state's teaching workforce. "One of the challenges I see is that sometimes we may be seen as less professional," says America Moreno Jimenez, a Mexican immigrant who teaches ESL at a Raleigh high school. "Our actions and our choices are different based on our experiences and our cultures. That doesn't necessarily mean we are less professional. It just means we approach things in a different manner."
She says she is one of about four Latinx educators in her school, where student diversity outpaces educator diversity. "That is better than my own high school where we did not have any Latinx teachers," she says, referring to her public school education in Hendersonville.
Like many teachers of color, Jimenez often finds herself in less-than-comfortable situations as she translates culture for her white colleagues.
"Often times we are asked to step in as the 'Latinx teacher'" she says, to connect with specific students or offer explanation to confused colleagues who do not understand a particular aspect of Latinx culture. "There's not enough of us to go around."
That sentiment is familiar to other teachers of color across the state.
"My greatest struggle as a teacher of color in North Carolina is simply finding other educators of color to connect with in meaningful ways," says Christina Cole Spears, a third-year special education teacher in Apex. "It's difficult to explain the feeling of walking into a school building where the vast majority of people of color are transportation or custodial staff."
Ronald Wilson (left) and Sydney Denton in class with Spears. Liz Bell/EducationNC
That affects her every day, she says, especially as it relates to the way she interacts with students.
"I want my students to feel seen and loved, especially when the majority of their peers and teachers are white," she says. "Because of my personal experience, I understand the impact of witnessing a black woman lead a class.
"My black students see themselves reflected in me."
Spears with her student, Jesse Richardson. Liz Bell/EducationNC
Spears works with her student, Emerson Hooks. Liz Bell/EducationNC
The benefits black students incur from exposure to just one black teacher are striking—and directly applicable to North Carolina.
A large study published in the spring of 2017 looked at 100,000 black North Carolina elementary school students. Having just one black teacher in third, fourth or fifth grades reduced the likelihood that black males from low-income households would drop out of school by 39 percent.
By high school, black male and female students—exposed to just one black teacher in elementary school—were more likely to go to college than their peers who had all white teachers.
"Our findings suggest that stubbornly persistent attainment gaps are not impervious to policy changes," the study's authors write. (Interestingly, however, they also note that the dosage effect of exposure to multiple black teachers had a "marginal" and "relatively small" effect on students' long-term outcomes.)
There are short-term benefits to exposure to same-race teachers, too, including lower suspension rates, less absenteeism, and improved standardized test scores.
A study published last year, which also focused on North Carolina students, found "consistent evidence that exposure to same-race teachers is associated with reduced rates of exclusionary discipline for black students." That finding held for male and female students, from all economic backgrounds and at all grade levels.
Researchers who studied the effects of same-race teachers say the conclusions are striking. "Right now it's reasonable to say that white students have some sort of advantage because they are more likely to encounter teachers who look like them," says Brian Kisida, a professor at the University of Missouri who has written about this issue along with a colleague at N.C. State, Anna Egalite.
"We tried to get at what's driving the effect," Kisida said.
There are three ways in which researchers believe teachers of color positively influence students of color in the classroom. First, he says, the mere presence of a black male, for example, in a position of authority, presents a role model figure to black male students. Seeing that role model every day could change a student's outlook for his future.
Researchers have also looked at teachers of color and the Pygmalion effect—the correlation between a teacher's expectations of a student and that student's future academic outcomes. School districts across the country have spent hours and dollars in recent years on implicit bias training for their teachers, but a study published last fall suggests white teachers consistently have lower academic expectations for black students than they do for white ones. A 2016 study reached a similar conclusion.
Finally, Kisida says, teachers of color may be particularly better suited to communicate and confer with students of color, something he calls cultural translation, that makes it easier to connect the curriculum in a way that resonates with students.
Christina Spears, the Apex special education teacher, told me the rapport she develops with students happens quickly—black students call her "mama"—and because of a shared understanding. "I'm not old enough to be anybody's mama," she says, "but it happens because of the way we talk, the inside jokes and cultural references, and even more so the way we may view education.
Liz Bell/EducationNC
"Yet again, it addresses the need for educators of color in classrooms with students."
Recruiting and retaining more teachers of color would not negatively affect white students, either, Kisida says. "We don't have to choose. We can have both."
Importantly, Kisida says researchers do not intend for black students, for example, to only be taught by teachers of their same race. The dosage effects highlighted in the North Carolina research indicate exposure to the first black teacher has a significant effect on the outcomes for black students.
"We're not trying to necessarily flip it the other direction," Kisida says. "It's not an argument for segregated schools. It's an argument for representation."
Within his school, Jason Terrell found himself playing a unique role.
"Men of color are often placed in situations where they have to manage bodies and not teach content," he says. "They're expected to be the disciplinarians in your school, they're expected to be the enforcers."
In his first year of teaching middle school, Terrell struggled. "There's no training about how to be an effective role model; there's no leadership development around that," he says. "It was challenging to be in a space where there weren't that many men—or people in general—that I could come to and talk to about my experience."
He turned to a veteran male teacher in his school, using the older colleague as a mentor. They met frequently, talked out problems, and strategized about ways to help their students. That relationship, Terrell says, made him realize there was a void—few male teachers of color, and even fewer resources to support them.
Starting in 2014, Terrell and his Teach For America colleague, Mario Shaw, started hosting casual dinners in their own apartments for other male teachers of color. The gatherings were small at first—three people at this one, five at the next. "We didn't have any intentions of doing a program," Terrell says. "We didn't have a name. It was just a group of us texting in a group chat."
Eventually, though, the dinners sparked an idea.
Terrell and Shaw decided to quit teaching and launch Profound Gentlemen, a Charlotte-based nonprofit that aims to create a network of male teachers of color who can have a positive effect on boys of color. The move was risky. "I'd never run a nonprofit. Never even worked at a nonprofit," Terrell says with a laugh.
But he knew, from his own experience attending Title I schools as a boy and then teaching boys of color in Charlotte, that a program such as Profound Gentlemen was long overdue.
The organization would use a peer-to-peer mentorship model, they decided, pairing teachers with what they call "impact leaders." Programming would focus on developing participants into effective teachers, coaching on how to be a role model and discussions about race and community justice.
Today, Profound Gentlemen serves about 200 teachers, about half of which live in North Carolina, including in Mecklenburg, Wake, Pitt, Halifax, and Nash counties. It hosts in-person quarterly trainings for its members in five cities: Atlanta, Charlotte, Chicago, Memphis and Washington, plus virtual sessions for teachers who live elsewhere. There is an annual conference in Charlotte. Each teacher who participates in Profound Gentlemen agrees to commit to 20 hours of one-on-one coaching each year with his impact leader.
All of that, Terrell emphasizes, points toward one goal: improving the outcomes for boys of color.
As with other issues in public education, at least part of the solution to improving teacher diversity is buried within the teacher pipeline. Policymakers nationwide have offered little in the way of wholesale solutions.
Much of the attention has focused on recruitment, particularly of teachers of color to high-poverty, urban schools that tend to serve students of color at higher rates than suburban ones. "Efforts over recent years to recruit more minority teachers and place them in schools serving disadvantaged and minority student populations have been very successful," the Learning Policy Institute report says. "This has been somewhat of an unheralded victory."
Those efforts, teachers of color agree, should continue. Spears suggests a focus on non-traditional pathways such as a lateral entry and Teach For America, coupled with teacher cadet programs in high school that could awaken students of color to possibilities in teaching.
The typical teacher pipeline solutions often come up, too: More scholarship initiatives such as the North Carolina Teaching Fellows program, more intentional pathways to professional growth, and incentivized pay for teaching in hard-to-staff subjects and schools.
Two decades ago, Florida's legislature created the Florida Fund for Minority Teachers, which uses tuition grants of up to $4,000 annually to support diverse education majors at the state's public and private universities. New York City launched NYC Men Teach, which is on track to add 1,000 male educators of color over the next three years. In North Carolina, individual school districts pursue their own teacher diversity hiring strategies. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools, for example, targeted career fairs in Florida to increase its ranks of Latinx educators.
Hiring more teachers of color is not the sole solution. In a report released last year by the Learning Policy Institute, researchers argue the U.S. education system has focused on the wrong part of the pipeline.
"Underlying most of the commentary and policy on this issue has been the assumption, largely untested, that minority teacher staffing problems are rooted in the front end of the teacher supply pipeline," the authors write. There has been far less attention paid to the back end of the pipeline: retention.
Between 1987 and 2012, the number of teachers of color in the United States doubled. (The number of white teachers increased, too, so the proportions as related to the student body did not grow at the same rate.) But over the same period of time, turnover rates among teachers of color were "significantly higher" than those among white teachers, the LPI report says. Surveys of teachers who quit indicated a strong correlation between their departures and "organizational and working conditions." In 2012-13, nationwide, turnover among teachers of color was 25 percent higher than that of white teachers.
In Illinois, lawmakers created the Grow Your Own Teachers initiative, which combines a recruitment strategy with two years of mentoring support. Boston Public Schools came up with a teaching fellowship that includes mentoring and has received praise for its effectiveness.
But in North Carolina, teachers of color are often left to their own devices. Some turn to Twitter, where they collaborate with peers—from the state and elsewhere—to solve common challenges.
Terrell says that reality is part of what makes Profound Gentlemen's programming so vital to its members. "Recruitment is sexy," he says. "But it's gotta be more than that. Everyone wants teachers in, but there aren't initiatives to keep them in."
Even when school systems successfully recruit and retain teachers of color, those educators often meet institutional racism and implicit bias.
Spears recalls participating in a school equity team meeting "where some marginalized groups, and thus their voices, are missing from the conversation." She is working to change those attitudes—by mentoring students, advising the step team, and pushing her institutions (and their leaders) to change. "Although it's not my sole responsibility or the responsibility of teachers in color in general, I feel it's necessary to use our pedagogy to focus on social justice issues," she says. "It may be difficult for white educators to engage in these types of conversations with colleagues and peers, but it should be the heart of our everyday work."
Similarly, Profound Gentlemen's founders want to see more institutional change. They met with school systems about their hiring practices, encouraging schools to think of male educators—and particularly men of color—as more than disciplinarians but, as, Terrell puts it, "someone kids can come to for nurturing and to learn from." In a session with hiring managers in Charlotte, he says, heads nodded as attendees realized they had not considered their implicit biases in this way.
As we talk, in the west Charlotte deli, Terrell reflects on the basic goal of education in the 21st century, the idea that we are trying to set kids up to have a better future. He acknowledges the public policy side of teacher diversity is somewhat of an enigma—no silver bullet, the most obvious solutions often the most expensive and politically challenging. Regardless, he says, Profound Gentlemen's work matters. It is making a difference, one teacher, one classroom at a time. He looks up, wants to make sure I get this point.
"Kids need to see different images of success," he says, "that reflect our communities."
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Adam Rhew attended Beverly Woods Elementary, Carmel Middle, and South Mecklenburg High schools, all part of Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools. He earned a journalism and political science degree from UNC-Chapel Hill. He is a contributor to Southern Living, Charlotte magazine, and SBNation Longform, among other publications. Previously, Adam was an award-winning television and radio news reporter, with stops at stations in Chapel Hill, N.C., Charlottesville and Richmond, Va., and Charlotte, N.C.
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools report shows links between race, poverty, and student achievement
by Adam Rhew | February 26, 2018


See also Příbram on Wikipedia; and our 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica disclaimer. Now located in the Czech Republic.
PŘIBRAM, a town of Bohemia, Austria, 39 m. S.W. of Prague by rail. Pop. (1000), 13,576, together with the adjoining township of Birkenberg, 19,119, almost exclusively Czech. It lies in a valley between the hills of Birkenberg and Heiliger Berg, and in its neighbourhood are the lead and silver mines which belong to the Austrian government and are worked in nine shafts, two of which, the Adalbert shaft (3637 ft.) and the Maria shaft, (3575 ft.) are the deepest in the world. The mines have been worked for several centuries, but their actual prosperity dates from 1770, when the sinking of the Adalbert shaft began. They yield yearly an average of 80,000 lb of silver and 1900 tons of lead. At the top of the Heiliger Berg (1889 ft.) is a church with a wonder-working image of the Virgin, which is the chief place of pilgrimage in Bohemia.


Här publicerar vi regelbundet erbjudanden som riktar sig till konstnärer, översättare och kulturskapande inom film, teater, dans, litteratur, musik och konst.
Förutom internationella workshops, seminarier och residenser i Tyskland finner du även "Call for entries" från festivaler och andra samarbetspartners som Goethe-Institut har i Tyskland. Vi hänvisar även till dessa erbjudanden på Facebook och Twitter.
Practical qualification in the field of cultural management: the Master of Arts (M.A.) in Arts & Cultural Management is a new, interdisciplinary course of studies in international cultural management. It was developed by the Leuphana Professional School in cooperation with Goethe-Institut. As an English-language, job-concurrent distance learning course, it is addressed to cultural professionals all over the world. The Master's programme focuses on the opportunities and risks of current transformation processes for cultural organizations: demographic change, digitalization and globalization. The integration of experienced cultural managers from the Goethe-Institut guarantees international practical relevance.
The programme offers the Master of Arts in Arts & Cultural Management in various variants and so allows for adaptation to individual training needs. It is also possible to take individual modules. Prerequisites for study include a first professional qualification in the form of a university degree and good English language skills. The next programme begins in October 2019 (Apply until 31 July 2019).


ABSTRACT: Somatic cells can be directly reprogrammed to pluripotency by exogenous expression of transcription factors, classically Oct4, Sox2, Klf4 and c-Myc. While distinct types of somatic cells can be reprogramed with varying efficiencies and by different modified reprogramming protocols, induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) induction remains inefficient and stochastic where a fraction of the cells converts into iPSCs. The nature of rate limiting barrier(s) preventing majority of cells to convert into iPSCs remains elusive. Here we show that neutralizing Mbd3, a core member of the Mbd3/NURD co-repressor and chromatin-remodeling complex, results in deterministic and synchronized reprogramming of multiple differentiated cell types to pluripotency. 100% of Mbd3 depleted mouse and human somatic cells convert into iPSCs after seven days of reprogramming factor induction. Our findings delineate a critical pathway blocking the reestablishment of pluripotency, and offer a novel platform for future dissection of epigenetic dynamics leading to iPSC formation at high resolution. Reduced representation bisulfite sequencing (RRBS) was applied to mouse iPS cells and mouse embryonic fibroblast (MEF) before and after DOX induction (initiating reprogramming by OSKM factors) from randomly selected Mbd3+/+ and Mbd3flox/- clonal cell line series. Polyclonal donor cell cultures were harvested at days 0,4 and 8 after DOX reprogramming without selection or sorting for any marker or passaging, and mapped for similarity to subcloned iPSC lines.
Project description:Somatic cells can be directly reprogrammed to pluripotency by exogenous expression of transcription factors, classically Oct4, Sox2, Klf4 and c-Myc. While distinct types of somatic cells can be reprogramed with varying efficiencies and by different modified reprogramming protocols, induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) induction remains inefficient and stochastic where a fraction of the cells converts into iPSCs. The nature of rate limiting barrier(s) preventing majority of cells to convert into iPSCs remains elusive. Here we show that neutralizing Mbd3, a core member of the Mbd3/NURD co-repressor and chromatin-remodeling complex, results in deterministic and synchronized reprogramming of multiple differentiated cell types to pluripotency. 100% of Mbd3 depleted mouse and human somatic cells convert into iPSCs after seven days of reprogramming factor induction. Our findings delineate a critical pathway blocking the reestablishment of pluripotency, and offer a novel platform for future dissection of epigenetic dynamics leading to iPSC formation at high resolution. Samples include Mbd3+/+, Mbd3flox/- and Mbd3-/- cells from mouse ES cells and mouse embryonic fibroblast (MEF) before and after DOX induction (initiating reprogramming by OSKM factors). Two histone modifications are given: H3K4me3, H3K27me3. In addition binding data of Mbd3 and Mi2B in various stages.
Project description:In order to identify other molecular aberrations that may cooperate with IDH1R132MUT in gliomagenesis, we performed CpG-island methylation profiling analysis using MSRE (Tran et al. Front. Neurosci. 3:57. Doi: 10.3389/neuro.15.005.2009) on a subset of IDH1R132MUT and IDH1R132WT GBMs and found a distinct pattern of CpG island hypermethylation that was detected in all GBMs and lower grade gliomas with IDH1R132MUT. While absent from nearly all IDH1R132WT glioma, the methylation pattern in IDH1R132MUT GBMs shows similarity to the recently reported CpG island methylator phenotype (CIMP) found to be tightly associated with IDH1R132MUT gliomas(Noushmehr et al. Cancer Cell, Volume 17, Issue 5, 18 May 2010, Pages 510-522, ISSN 1535-6108, DOI: 10.1016/j.ccr.2010.03.017). Methylation profiling performed on 40 distinct brain tumor samples: 7 Anaplastic Astrocytomas, including 3 IDH1MUT and 4 IDH1WT; 5 Lowgrade Astrocytomas, including 4 IDH1MUT and 1 IDH1WT; 28 Glioblastoma, including 8 IDH1MUT and 20 IDH1WT.
Project description:Polycomb Repressive Complex 2 (PRC2) catalyzes histone H3 lysine 27 tri-methylation, an epigenetic modification associated with gene repression. H3K27me3 is enriched at the promoters of a large cohort of developmental genes in embryonic stem cells (ESCs). Loss of H3K27me3 leads to a failure of ESCs to properly differentiate, which presents a major roadblock for dissecting the precise roles of PRC2 activity during lineage commitment. While recent studies suggest that loss of H3K27me3 leads to changes in DNA methylation in ESCs, how these two pathways coordinate to regulate gene expression programs during lineage commitment is poorly understood. Here, we analyzed gene expression and DNA methylation levels in several PRC2 mutant ESC lines that maintain varying levels of H3K27me3. We found that maintenance of intermediate levels of H3K27me3 allowed for proper temporal activation of lineage genes during directed differentiation of ESCs to spinal motor neurons (SMNs). However, genes that function to specify other lineages failed to be repressed, suggesting that PRC2 activity is necessary for lineage fidelity. We also found that H3K27me3 is antagonistic to DNA methylation in cis. Furthermore, loss of H3K27me3 leads to a gain in promoter DNA methylation in developmental genes in ESCs and in lineage genes during differentiation. Thus, our data suggest a role for PRC2 in coordinating dynamic gene repression while protecting against inappropriate promoter DNA methylation during differentiation. Embryonic Stem Cell (ESC) lines mutant for PRC2 core components Suz12 (Suz12GT and Suz12delta) and Eed (Eednull) were subjected to in vitro directed differentiation down the spinal motor neuron lineage. ESCs and day 5 differentiated cells from the three mutant lines and wild-type were used for Reduced Representation Bisulfite Sequencing (RRBS).
Project description:Somatic cells can be directly reprogrammed to pluripotency by exogenous expression of transcription factors, classically Oct4, Sox2, Klf4 and c-Myc. While distinct types of somatic cells can be reprogramed with varying efficiencies and by different modified reprogramming protocols, induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) induction remains inefficient and stochastic where a fraction of the cells converts into iPSCs. The nature of rate limiting barrier(s) preventing majority of cells to convert into iPSCs remains elusive. Here we show that neutralizing Mbd3, a core member of the Mbd3/NURD co-repressor and chromatin-remodeling complex, results in deterministic and synchronized reprogramming of multiple differentiated cell types to pluripotency. 100% of Mbd3 depleted mouse and human somatic cells convert into iPSCs after seven days of reprogramming factor induction. Our findings delineate a critical pathway blocking the reestablishment of pluripotency, and offer a novel platform for future dissection of epigenetic dynamics leading to iPSC formation at high resolution. Samples include Mbd3+/+, Mbd3flox/- and Mbd3-/- cells from mouse ES cells and mouse embryonic fibroblast (MEF) before and after DOX induction (initiating reprogramming by OSKM factors).
Project description:The Zinc finger protein of the cerebellum 2 (Zic2) is one of the vertebrate homologs of the Drosophila pair-rule gene odd-paired (opa). Our molecular and biochemical studies have demonstrated that Zic2 to preferentially bind to transcriptional enhancers and functions as a cofactor that interacts with the NuRD complex in ES cells. Detailed genome-wide studies demonstrate that Zic2 function with Mbd3/NuRD in regulating the chromatin state and transcriptional output of genes linked to differentiation. Zic2 is dispensable for the selfrenewal of ES cells but is required for proper differentiation, similar to what has been previously reported for Mbd3/NuRD. Our study identifies Zic2 as a key factor in the execution of the pluripotency program with Mbd3/NuRD in ES cells. ChIP-seq of Zic2, Chd4, Mbd3 and Zic3 in mES cells. ChIP-seq of H3K27me3, H3K27ac, H3K4me3, H3K4me1 and PolII in mES cells after Zic2 shRNA and non-targeting shRNA. RNA-seq of mES cells after Zic2, Zic3, Mbd3 and Mta2 shRNA and non-targeting shRNA.
Project description:The oral cavity is the persistent reservoir for EBV with lifelong infection of resident epithelial and B cells. Infection of these cell types results in distinct EBV gene expression patterns that are regulated by epigenetic modifications involving DNA methylation and chromatin structure. Such regulation of EBV gene expression relies on viral manipulation of the host epigenetic machinery that may inadvertently result in long-lasting, oncogenic host epigenetic reprogramming. To test this hypothesis in the context of EBV infection of epithelial cells, we established a transient infection model to identify the epigenetic consequences after EBV infection of immortalized normal oral keratinocytes and subsequent viral loss. NOK cells were single cell cloned (designated as cl1) and EBV infected by co-culture with a recombinant Akata EBV strain carrying neomcycin resistance and GFP expression cassette in place of EBV BXLF1. Cells were selected with 350 ug/ml G418. As a selection control, cells were transfected a plasmid carrying a neomycin resistance cassette. Cells were passaged 10 times with G418, followed by removal of selection pressure. After an additional 10 passages, cells were single cell cloned and the presence of EBV was determined by various methods. Three clones were identified as being EBV negative and said to be transiently infected. Uninfected parental and vector transfected cells were passaged in the same manner and also single cell cloned. The DNA methylation profiles were examined using reduced representation bisulfite sequencing.
Project description:We report that full length TET1 (TET1-FL) overexpression fails to induce global DNA demethylation in HEK293T cells. The preferential binding of TET1-FL to hypomethylated CpG islands (CGIs) through its CXXC domain leads to its inhibited 5-hydroxymethylcytosine (5hmC) production as methylation level increases. TET1-FL-induced 5hmC accumulates at CGI edges, while TET1 knockdown induces methylation spreading from methylated edges into hypomethylated CGIs. However, TET1 can regulate gene transcription independent of its dioxygenase catalytic function. Thus, our results identify TET1 as a maintenance DNA demethylase that does not purposely decrease methylation levels, but specifically maintains the DNA hypomethylation state of CGIs in adult cells. Digital restriction enzyme analysis of methylation (DREAM) was performed to determine the DNA methylation profiles of HEK293T cells overexpressing mTET1-CD, TET1-CD, mTET1-FL, or TET1-FL. In this approach, genomic DNA is sequentially cut at CCCGGG sites with the methylation sensitive enzyme SmaI (blunt ends) and its methylation-tolerant neoschizomer XmaI (5'CCGG overhangs), creating different end sequences that represent methylation status of the CCCGGG sites. These end sequences are analyzed by next generation sequencing, and thereafter the methylation status at individual CCCGGG sites across the genome can be determined.


When you want to thank someone for something pretty awesome. This card is beautifully embellished with a gold foiled floral wreath and comes with a 120gsm white envelope. Inside is blank for your very special message.