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Is 7 Hours Sleep Enough For A 17 Year Old?
How much sleep is good for a 17 year old?
Is 7 hours of sleep OK for teens?
Is 7 or 8 hours of sleep better?
Is 7 hours sleep enough for muscle growth?
Is sleeping for 6 hours enough?
Should I sleep 7 or 7.5 hours?
Why do I feel tired after 7 hours of sleep?
Is 10 pm A good bedtime?
Is 3 hours of sleep OK for one night?
How long did Arnold sleep?
Do naps help you grow?
Can you grow after 18?
Is 6.5 hours of sleep enough for a teenager?
How Little sleep Can you survive on?
Is 8 hours of sleep overrated?
Is 7 hours and 50 minutes enough sleep?
Is 7.5 hours of sleep better than 9?
Why is waking up so hard?
Why do I feel so sleepy even after sleeping 8 hours?
How do I wake up refreshed?
What time is an all nighter?
Is it better to get 4 or 6 hours of sleep?
Is 1 am a good bedtime?
What country wakes the earliest?
Recommended Sleep Times By Age Group
Recommended Hours of Sleep
Preschool 3-5 years old 10-13 hours
School-age 6-13 years old 9-11 hours
Teen 14-17 years old 8-10 hours
Young Adult 18-25 years old 7-9 hours
Adolescents are notorious for not getting enough sleep. The average amount of sleep that teenagers get is between 7 and 7 ¼ hours. However, they need between 9 and 9 ½ hours (studies show that most teenagers need exactly 9 ¼ hours of sleep).
How much sleep do you really need? Experts generally recommend seven to nine hours a night for healthy adults. Sleep scientists say new guidelines are needed to take into account an abundance of recent research in the field and to reflect that Americans are on average sleeping less than they did in the past.
Sleeping for 7-9 hours per night is crucial, especially if you are looking to change body composition, increase muscle mass and/or if you want to be ready for your personal training session the next day. Sleep enhances muscle recovery through protein synthesis and human growth hormone release.
Getting only six hours of sleep each night is considered a poor sleep schedule that can result in sleep deprivation and lead to poor mental health and potential sleep disorders. You can survive on six hours of sleep but that would not be good for your long-term health.
See also Teenage Sleep. Sleep requirements stabilize in early adult life, around the age of 20. Individuals vary in their sleep needs but most adults require between 7 and 9 hours a night to feel properly refreshed and function at their best the next day.
The Takeaway. Although there is some genetic variation, most adults need between 7.5 to 8.5 hours of sleep per 24-hour period to function optimally. You can find your optimal sleep time if you set aside several days (perhaps during a vacation) to allow yourself to sleep as long as possible.
Most likely, you're still tired after eight hours of sleep because of these three factors: (1), you don't know your sleep need, (2) you're not taking into account your sleep efficiency, and (3) you carry sleep debt.
The 'Sweet Spot' for Bedtime: Between 10 p.m. and 11 p.m. Is Best for Heart Health. Researchers say falling asleep between 10 p.m. and 11 p.m. is the best time for heart health. They say that optimum bedtime fits well with circadian rhythms and daylight exposure.
Some people are able to function on only 3 hours very well and actually perform better after sleeping in bursts. Though many experts do still recommend a minimum of 6 hours a night, with 8 being preferable.
Arnold stated on the Tim Ferriss podcast that he likes to wake up early, but he is also keen to say that when he was 19 years of age he needed 9 hours sleep and took that 9 hours, but he also says as time went on he needed less sleep.
Growth hormone is released during slow wave sleep, which happens in sleep stages 3 and 4. That's the sleep that makes you grow. You're almost certainly not going to be reaching deep sleep in a power nap, so no. Power naps will not help you grow taller.
Height is largely determined by genetics, and most people will not grow taller after age 18. However, proper nutrition during childhood and adolescence can help you maximize your height. If you are unhappy with your height, you may want to consider some simple strategies to look and feel your best.
Sleep research suggests that a teenager needs between eight and 10 hours of sleep every night. This is more than the amount a child or an adult needs. Yet most adolescents only get about 6.5 – 7.5 hours sleep per night, and some get less. Regularly not getting enough sleep leads to chronic sleep deprivation.
The longest recorded time without sleep is approximately 264 hours, or just over 11 consecutive days. Although it's unclear exactly how long humans can survive without sleep, it isn't long before the effects of sleep deprivation start to show. After only three or four nights without sleep, you can start to hallucinate.
Sometimes life calls and we don't get enough sleep. But five hours of sleep out of a 24-hour day isn't enough, especially in the long term. According to a 2018 study of more than 10,000 people, the body's ability to function declines if sleep isn't in the seven- to eight-hour range.
For most people, 4 hours of sleep per night isn't enough to wake up feeling rested and mentally alert, no matter how well they sleep. There's a common myth that you can adapt to chronically restricted sleep, but there's no evidence that the body functionally adapts to sleep deprivation.
Ultimately, how much each of us sleeps must be determined on a case-by-case basis. The right number depends on our lifestyle, habits, and health. But as you go about figuring out the best balance for yourself, keep in mind that eight hours a night may not always be good for you--sometimes, it can even be too much.
Sleep guidelines by age
You might need at least 9 hours of sleep a night to feel well rested, while your partner may wake up naturally after 7 hours, feeling perfectly refreshed and ready for the day.
As a result, doctors advised adults to get 8 to 9 hours of sleep per night, on average. (The National Sleep Foundation recommends 7-9 hours for adults.)
Lifestyle factors, medical conditions, and medications can make it hard to wake up. These include: parasomnias, such as sleepwalking, sleep talking, and night terrors. sleep apnea, which causes periods of stopped breathing during sleep.
One of the simplest explanations is that it could be due to your body requiring more rest than the average person. However, it is also likely that your tiredness is due to the lack of quality sleep at night, rather than the quantity of it.
Sleep (Obviously!). The best way to wake up refreshed is to get seven to nine hours of sleep each night, says Singh, who stresses the importance of establishing good sleep habits.
Work with your sleep cycle.
Consider a.m. exercise.
Eat a solid breakfast.
Do something that brings you joy.
Don't hit snooze.
Pulling an all-nighter means engaging in an activity during sleep time that makes you catch little or no sleep for up to 24 hours. So if you're usually asleep from 10 pm to 6 am, you'll remain awake during an all-nighter throughout this time frame.
While sleep requirements vary slightly from person to person, most healthy adults need seven to nine hours of sleep per night to function at their best. Children and teens need even more. And despite the notion that our sleep needs decrease with age, most older people still need at least seven hours of sleep.
If your school or work schedule requires you to be up between 5:00 and 7:00 a.m., these are the suggested bedtimes: School-age children should go to bed between 8:00 and 9:00 p.m. Teens should try to go to bed between 9:00 and 10:00 p.m. Adults should try to go to sleep between 10:00 and 11:00 p.m.
New data published by sleep tracking app, Sleep Cycle, shows that South Africans clock fewer hours sleeping than any other nation in the world.
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Q: Dual of a polytope --- intersection of infinitely many halfspaces? Let $S \subseteq \mathbb{R}^d$ be a $d$-dimensional convex set (i.e. $\exists d+1$ affinely independent points in $S$). Let the origin of the coordinate system lie in the interior of $S$ and let:
$$S^* = \underset{a\in S}\bigcap K(a)  $$
where $K(a) = a \cdot x \le 1$
Then, $S^*$ is the polar of $S$. Also, if $S$ is a $d$-polytope in $\mathbb{R}^d$, then $S^*$ is a dual of $S$.
Since a $d$-polytope can be represented by a countably infinite set of points, this implies that the dual (which is also a polytope) is formed from the intersection of a countably infinite number of halfspaces --- which clashes with the definition of a polytope as the intersection of finitely many closed halfspaces.
What am I doing wrong here?

A: If the polytope can be represented by a countably infinite set of points, the dual can be represented by the intersection of countably infinite number of halfspaces.
Which is true and not in contradiction with the existence of a finite representation.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


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IPCAA Alum Diana Ng to Speak at the Humanities Institute
Tomorrow at 12:30 pm, IPCAA alum Diana Y. Ng will speak on the topic of "The Roman-period Theater as Cognitive Microecology: Setting, Seating, and Costume." This FellowSpeak talk examines the Roman-period theater as a cognitive ecology, one that supported and engaged different modes of thinking and learning by its occupants during nondramatic, civic and political gatherings.
Diana received her BA in classics and fine arts from New York University and her PhD in classical art and archaeology from the IPCAA program at the University of Michigan. She remains a frequent collaborator with the Kelsey Museum, and we encourage you to go see her speak tomorrow. Find all the details here.
StudentsIPCAA
Don't miss the deadline to enter the 2018–2019 Jackier Prize Competition!
The deadline to enter the 2018–2019 Jackier Prize Competition is fast approaching!
Are you a U-M undergraduate interested in archaeology, ancient history, or museum studies? Do you fancy a little extra pocket money? If you answered "yes" to both these questions, consider entering the Jackier Prize Essay Competition!
What is the Jackier Prize Competition?
Every object has a story to tell about the people who made it and those who used it or gave it value. The Jackier Prize Competition provides an opportunity for U-M undergraduates to explore and discover the stories behind the objects at the Kelsey Museum of Archaeology. The competition is open to any undergraduate from any discipline at U-M. The essays that best demonstrate excellence in archaeological research will be awarded a cash prize, made possible by the generous donation of U-M alumnus Lawrence Jackier and his wife Eleanor.
How can I enter the contest?
Submit a five- to ten-page essay that examines an object or objects in the Kelsey Museum. This can be a paper you have already written for a class or one written specifically for this contest. You may choose an object on display or one from collections storage. The subject matter of the essay may vary, but the essay needs to reflect careful research.
Submissions are due by 8 a.m., Monday, January 28th. Up to five winners will announced in mid-February 2019.
The Jackier Prize will be presented to the winners at a ceremony in early April 2019. Each winner will also receive a collection of Kelsey Museum publications and will have the opportunity to participate in the creation of a museum exhibit featuring the objects written about in the winning essays.
Ready to submit your essay?
Submit your essay via email to Jackier.Prize2019@umich.edu. On the first page of the essay, please provide the title of the essay, a picture(s) of the object(s) discussed in the essay, and your name and email address. You will receive an email within 48 hours confirming that the essay was successfully submitted.
Need more information? Get the full submission details here.
StudentsJackier Prize, Kelsey Museum, umich, university of michigan, writing contest
International Kurru Archaeological Project — Fieldwork Friday #3
Life in the Field, North Sudan
The main street in Kurru in the early morning hours before work. Waleed's shop, where we buy snacks and supplies but most importantly bottled water, is on the left less than 100 meters from our front door, and the barber shop, painted green, is right across the street!
By Gregory Tucker
The past week has been incredibly busy as we try to prepare the site for the final days of data collection before I leave for Khartoum next Thursday. In next week's post I will share some of the initial results of all of our hard work here, but this week I will focus on what my life is like in Sudan outside of work.
The International Kurru Archaeological Project stays in the village of El Kurru, near the ancient site, and we are kindly hosted by Sadiq Mohamed Saleh and his family. This month I have been staying in Kurru rather than closer to Jebel Barkal, as it is only a 15–20 minute car ride to the site. It is also where all of my friends from past field seasons live, and where I feel welcomed as a part of the community.
The front entrance to Sadeq's house, before (top, 2017) and after (below, 2018) its new paint job!
My bed (taken the first week of the project — I assure you it is nowhere near this tidy anymore) with equipment charging and my personal effects in the corner.
Part of the feeling of community comes from the fact that our meals are all communal. We share large dishes and eat with our hands, and the meals are always accompanied by bread. The main course is often fuul, a dish made of mashed beans with cheese or sardines or tomatoes or just about anything added to spice it up. We also often eat chicken, liver, a fish paste called fasikh, salad, and much more, and on special days we have fried fish! Last week, while staying the night in Karima, I even had pizza here for the first time, which I can highly recommend to the rest of the team coming next month!
Left: A typical fattur, with fuul, fasikh, tamia, eggs, and a few vegetables, to be shared between four to six people. Right: A special fish lunch.
Pizza making in progress (left), and our delicious dinner (right).
In past seasons after work I have played soccer with my friends here, in the shadow of the Kurru pyramids, but this year I have had to rest my legs and often opt to either watch the others play in the sunset or cool my feet in the Nile, which is only a five-minute walk from Sadiq's.
The guys playing soccer at Kurru. The pyramid is just behind me as I take this photo.
Cooling my feet in the Nile.
In past seasons we have even gone to see the Kurru soccer team play a few official matches, including big games against local rivals in the stadium at Karima. I'm in the field a bit earlier this year so the soccer season hasn't started yet, but the first match is on Tuesday in Karima, and I'm looking forward to cheering on my friends from the stands after work!
A view from the stands at a soccer match in Karima (2017).
This year I've felt even more closely connected with life in the village, attending a few wedding celebrations and just last night an engagement party for Salah Mohamed, one of the guys who works with me at Jebel Barkal. We danced for hours (myself only sparingly) to traditional tambour music, and it seemed as if the whole village came to celebrate with Salah!
In addition to all these larger events, I spend many of my evenings with friends talking under the stars or watching Champions League or EPL soccer while drinking tea, which is ubiquitous here. This season I've even picked up a new game to play, Ludo, which is kind of like Trouble and brings out an intensely competitive nature among us! It might be worth checking out the next time you're looking for an easy game to play with a few friends!
I have less than a week left for in the field, and it is going to go by far too quickly. Check back here next week for a final #fieldworkfriday update from Sudan for 2018!
Fieldwork, Studentsarchaeological fieldwork, El Kurru, fieldworkfriday, IPCAA, Jebel Barkal, Ludo, Sudan
Magnetic Gradiometry at Jebel Barkal
Collecting magnetic data on our first day of survey at Jebel Barkal. Photo by Abdelbaki Salahadin Mohamend.
This week for #fieldworkfriday I would like to share with you a bit of where I am and what I'm doing in the field. This month I've come to Sudan's Northern State, to the site of Jebel Barkal, near the Fourth Cataract of the Nile, to conduct a geophysical survey in two distinct areas of the site.
Map of Sudan showing the location of Jebel Barkal.
Jebel Barkal is a small mountain not far from the Nile that was considered by the Egyptians and later the Kushites to be the home of the god Amun. Various temples, palaces, and pyramids were constructed at the site from the Egyptian New Kingdom (about 1500 BCE) to the end of the empire of Kush (about 300 CE), and these have been the targets of extensive excavation in modern times. Jebel Barkal and the nearby sites of El Kurru, Sanam, and Zuma are on the UNESCO World Heritage List.
This image, which I took just yesterday, shows the amazing conservation work of the Italian-Sudanese team at the Mut Temple at Jebel Barkal. The image on the left has been cleaned and clearly shows Taharqa, while the image on the neighboring wall on the right is still covered in soot.
It's tourism season in Sudan, as evidenced by the many vehicles bringing tourists to visit the site every day. Seeing this many together is rare, however, even this time of year!
Geophysical survey is one of the most efficient ways to explore a large landscape like that of Jebel Barkal in search of specific features that will help us understand how people lived in the past. The results of this month of survey will help our projects better understand and interpret the built environment of the site, shedding light on how the community at Jebel Barkal lived and how it relates to other sites and their architectural traditions from the region.
This past week we finished up our work for the first project, on the south side of the mountain, where we were working in the desert landscape near the pyramids at the site. We were invited to survey this area by Murtada Bushara Mohamed of Sudan's National Corporation for Antiquities and Museums (NCAM) as part of the Qatari Mission for the Pyramids of Sudan (QMPS) project. This project is focused on research, preservation, and presentation of the pyramids at Jebel Barkal, Kurru, Meroe, and Nuri and our contribution will help us better understand the landscape context of these monuments by identifying the location of other structures in this region of Jebel Barkal.
The pyramids on the southern side of Jebel Barkal.
Tomorrow we will begin our work on the east side of the jebel, between the mountain and the Nile River, in an area we call the "East Mound." This project is an offshoot of Geoff Emberling's research at El Kurru and the surrounding region, and during preliminary research conducted in 2016 we identified this mound as being a likely location for the settlement associated with the temples and palaces of the monumental core of the site.[1] We were able to identify buried structures here during a very short period of survey that year, just a couple of days, so we have returned to survey the entire mound and the surrounding area to better define the extent of this settlement.
View toward Jebel Barkal from the "East Mound" as we begin to set up our equipment for the survey work in this area.
The type of prospection that I'm conducting can be done with many different instruments, each with its own unique method of collecting magnetic data. In the case of this project I am using a device that must be carried across the landscape and takes readings at consistent intervals.
The most efficient way to use this device is to set up a grid in the area that we wish to cover. Using a total station we establish a 30 x 30 m grid, and within that grid we lay down guidelines that are marked at every meter. Then, wearing the scientific device, I walk up and down along the guidelines, which are there to ensure that I walk straight and at a consistent pace.
By telling the instrument and the processing software the parameters of the survey, the data can be plotted quite quickly to create a map of the magnetic readings at the surface, giving us insight into what may lie buried below. With this particular machine we are limited only by how fast I can walk while maintaining a consistent pace and holding the machine relatively steady, which depends on the surface conditions — sand slows me down quite a lot! — and how well we have established the grid and the guidelines. Below is a short video that gives a first-person perspective of what walking one of these lines is like. (In a typical day I can walk approximately 540 lines!)
Of course, there is slightly more to it than just that, but the bulk of my time here is spent walking along these lines and listening to the machine chirp at me, 30 meters at a time.
I realize that I did not check the comments on my last post to see if there were any questions, but I will be better about that this week, so please comment with any questions you may have or email me at gstucker@umich.edu. I would love to hear from you! And please check in next week for another update from Sudan!
[1] This research was undertaken thanks to a Waitt Grant from the National Geographic Society for my project: "Defining Settlement in the Nile Valley: Geophysical Prospection in the Region of Jebel Barkal, Ancient Napata." For more about the results of this work, see Tucker and Emberling, "Settlement in the Heartland of Napatan Kush: Preliminary Results of Magnetic Gradiometry at El-Kurru, Sanam, and Jebel Barkal," Sudan & Nubia 20 (2016): 16–22.
Archaeological Research, Fieldwork, Studentsarchaeological fieldwork, geophysical survey, IPCAA, Jebel Barkal, remote sensing, Sudan
The New Faces of IPCAA — 2018 edition
There are four new faces in the corridors of Newberry Hall these days. These are the incoming grad students, hailing from places as far away as New Zealand. Since they're likely to be our friends and colleagues for quite some time, we thought we'd dive right in and get to know them a little better.
Between orientation, classes, homework, and extracurricular activities, as well as the million other things new students deal with when they arrive at U-M, they've hardly had time to breathe, but they have very kindly taken a few moments to answer the pesky questions of a curious editor.
So, without further ado, let us introduce Theo Nash and Alex Moskowitz.
A lifelong fascination with ancient ruins led Theo Nash to study Classics, earning First Class Honours for his Bachelor's degree and a Master of Arts with Distinction at Victoria University of Wellington in New Zealand. His research so far has been focussed on the Mycenaeans and their broader contexts, starting with his Honours thesis where he explored the creation of identity during the early Mycenaean period. In his MA he argued that the Mycenaean presence at Knossos during Late Minoan II was a precipitating factor in the emergence of palatial culture on the mainland, with a special focus on the contemporary development of Linear B and the contexts in which new scripts are created. He hopes to ask further questions of how scripts develop and spread, both at the palaeographic level and in their broader societal contexts. His other interests include the development of early Greek hexameter poetry and Attic vase painting.
How did you get interested in studying the ancient world?
Living in Germany as a child, I became fascinated with ruins; the rest is history (or, perhaps, archaeology).
What is your favorite thing about studying the ancient world?
That there were people, just like us, who lived what is really an incomprehensibly long time ago. Seeing traces of their life, like a thumbprint impressed on a vase before it was fired, bridges that gap with an immediacy and force that I find incredible.
What is something you think everyone should know about the ancient world?
There seems to be impression among a lot of the people outside academia that Classics is somehow a "solved" field — that because it's been studied for so long there's nothing meaningful left to say. But that's not the case at all. Not only are we frequently making new discoveries, but we continuously find new and better questions to ask of the existing evidence. Far from being antiquated and fusty, it's an incredibly dynamic and engaging discipline.
What are your career aspirations?
I hope to find myself in a position where I can continue to think about and engage with the Classical world and its relics, whatever that might look like in practical terms.
Who's your favorite person from history?
The written records of the Mycenaean Greeks unfortunately yield very few personal narratives, but we do know from Hittite records about one Mycenaean named Attarissiya, a military adventurer in what is now Turkey. He appears to have had a personal vendetta against a local potentate, Madduwatta, whom he twice tried to kill for reasons quite unclear. When not distracted by such personal matters, he enjoyed raiding Cyprus. Not the most pleasant fellow, perhaps, but his fragmented CV is a poignant reminder not just of the narratives but also the personalities lost to the ages.
Alex Moskowitz earned a BA in Ancient History with High Honors from Swarthmore College in 2015. His research there focused on modeling processes of cultural contact at the Greek site of Sybaris. In 2017, Alex received his MA in Classical Languages (Greek and Latin emphases) at the University of Georgia. His master's thesis considered Herodotus's Histories and focused on the role of colonial narratives in blurring distinctions between Greek and non-Greek identities. Alex has also participated in the Azoria Project in Crete and the Western Argolid Regional Project. Since 2016, he has excavated at Morgantina with the Contrada Agnese Project, most recently serving as an assistant supervisor. Alex's research investigates economic exchange, migration, and transitions in cultural identity at the periphery of the Iron Age Greek world.
My interests in the ancient world started when I was a child! I stumbled upon some "Asterix" comics in my cousin's basement and fell in love with the stories. I spent many hours flipping through the pages and reading about the adventures of this tiny Gaul having adventures in the ancient Mediterranean. While an undergraduate, taking ancient Greek and participating in my first field project in Crete revived those interests from a more academic perspective.
It's the challenges associated with studying the ancient world that excite me most. Reconstructing an image of what daily life or cultural identity was like over 2,000 years ago with limited evidence is no simple task! But developing new methods to understand that evidence and perceiving patterns that may have been overlooked can be very rewarding.
Something I've always thought people should know about both ancient Greece and Rome is that both cultures were, by modern standards, really weird! They were obsessed with auguries, and oracles, and sacrifices. They believed in all sorts of magics and had some really peculiar theories for how human bodies work. We like to think of the Greeks especially as these incredibly wise people, but the reality is much stranger. They made some incredible insights in a lot of disciplines, but their world view was so different from our own and it is easy to forget that.
After I get my PhD, I would love to continue as an academic. In particular, I would like to find a position at a liberal arts college where I could really focus on teaching in a small-classroom setting.
From ancient history, specifically, my favorite person is probably Herodotus. He is generally considered to be the founder of "history" as a discipline and I am constantly fascinated by the way he perceives connections and differences between different cultures. His book is a wonderful combination of history, ethnography, and pure fairy tale that is a joy to read not only for its many insights into the ancient world but also because it is remarkably entertaining when you give it a chance.
Thank you, Theo and Alex! Welcome to U-M!
We'll meet the other two IPCAA newcomers, Lauren Oberlin and James Prosser, in a later blog post.
From the Archives 33 — August 2018
By Sebastián Encina, Collections Manager
At the end of August and beginning of September, the annual migration of students, both new and returning, comes back to Ann Arbor. Roads will soon be closed off and traffic patterns thrown asunder. That one way to work we are all used to will longer be an option. Parents helping their children move into their dorms park wherever they can, often causing nightmares for the regular denizens of Ann Arbor.
Soon, those students will start venturing out on their own, making friends and filling the cafés and restaurants we locals have grown accustomed to having all to ourselves. They will form groups of friends through their residences, their departments, their activities, and their classes. They will spend much time together, forming bonds and taking a lot of group photos.
For this month's "From the Archives," we present a mystery. Just like in 2018, U-M students have been gathering together since the university was founded, in 1817. With the advent of photography in the mid-19th century, they could document themselves.
Often in archives work, while working on one project, other, seemingly unrelated, materials pop up. Many times, these are "orphans," left behind by someone who had knowledge about them, but who has since left the institution. While organizing the Kelsey archives, these three photographs were found. Sadly, they are accompanied by no documentation, no explanation.
Group photographs of young men assembled, perhaps at the U-M campus.
These photographs are presented as a mystery, but also as a call for help. If any of our readers recognize the people captured here, or the locations, or date, or even if this is from the University of Michigan at all, we can begin piecing together this puzzle.
Astute readers will notice one clue that may assist. In the lower right corner of the first photograph is the signature "Randall and Pack." Some research into this reveals that Randall and Pack was a photo studio active in Ann Arbor between 1908 and 1917.* That gives us a time frame for at least one of the photographs. However, all other details remain obscure.
A close-up view of the Randall and Pack signature, alongside an advertisement in the 1917 U-M yearbook, the Michiganensian, p. xxxix.
The archives present an opportunity to save history, to save the names and faces of people who have passed through these walls. Unfortunately, this is not always easy, and we rely on our community for assistance. These students may have a Kelsey connection, but without details we may never know. And with this loss, these photographs become an oddity in the archives, rather than a memory.
* Directory of Early Michigan Photographers, by David V. Tinder (Ann Arbor: William L. Clements Library, University of Michigan, 2013; online edition), s.v. "Randall, Herbert"; see also "Pack, Ambrose Clarkson."
From the Archives, Studentsarchives, photography, umich
Craig's Back!
It's been pretty quiet in the corridors of Newberry Hall lately. The Kelsey staff is as busy as ever, but the students are all away for the summer; some are taking part in fieldwork projects, others are conducting their own research. (Some might be kicking back, though I'd wager it's not very many.) The Kelsey research library and the IPCAA study areas — normally hives of activity enlivened by the voices of students chatting about their research, an upcoming exam, or the latest happenings on campus — are dark and deserted.
Frankly, it's been a little dull around here.
But the new semester is approaching and the students have begun to trickle back, hale and tan and with renewed energy, and we who have stayed behind prod them for details about their adventures abroad.
The first to return this year is one of our favorite Canadians, Craig Harvey, who's beginning his sixth year as an IPCAA grad student. We sat down with Craig to learn about his summer and (let's be honest) to live vicariously for a little while as he regaled us with tales of his travels.
The Kelsey: Welcome back, Craig! What have you been up to this summer?
Craig: Quite a lot! My "summer" actually started back in January when I left for what I thought would be a three-month research trip to Israel, Cyprus, and Jordan to collect data for my dissertation. During my trip, I was invited to join a survey project in Saudi Arabia, which extended my travels until June when I presented at a conference in Jordan and participated in a second project in Israel.
Craig in front of al-Khazneh ("The Treasury"), Petra, Jordan. All photos courtesy of Craig Harvey.
Kelsey: Wow. That sounds amazing. What specifically were you working on?
Craig: During my time in Israel, Cyprus, and Jordan I was doing a lot of traveling to sites relevant to my dissertation, which is on Roman-period construction in the Eastern Mediterranean. Specifically, I was looking at the extent of local influence on the construction techniques and materials used in Roman baths. When I was not visiting sites, I was conducting research in libraries and meeting with local scholars.
The Sanctuary of Apollo Kylates at Kourion, Cyprus.
Kelsey: And in Saudi Arabia?
Craig: In Saudi Arabia, I was part of a survey project documenting the archaeological remains around the city of al-Ula, and for the project in Israel, I was working as the numismatist and was processing and identifying their coins.
The old city of al-Ula, Saudi Arabia.
Qasr al-Farid, a rock-cut tomb at Mada'in Saleh, near al-Ula, Saudi Arabia.
Kelsey: That sounds like an incredible experience. Did you get to travel around much?
Craig: Yes, I got to travel a lot, although not all that much in Saudi Arabia. I have been going to Jordan since 2008, and yet there were still places I had not seen before, so this trip was a chance for me to finally get to these important archaeological sites.
Kelsey: What did you do in your free time?
Craig: More travel! I tried to visit as many sites as possible, even those not connected to my dissertation. While in Cyprus, I rented a car and visited a number of the Painted Churches in the Troodos Mountains, and I even managed to visit Beirut and a few sites in Lebanon during the month I was in Jordan.
Kelsey: You must have seen some spectacular things. What would you say was your favorite aspect of the trip? Did you discover any "hidden gems"?
Craig: Well, like I said, I have been going to Jordan for over ten years now, but I still cannot get over how friendly and hospitable the people are. In my opinion, they are some of the nicest people in the world. In terms of a hidden gem, I have to recommend Qasr Bshir, which is a Late Roman fort in the Jordanian desert. It is one of the best-preserved Roman forts in the world, with its walls and towers nearly fully preserved. In my opinion it is one of the best hidden sites in the Middle East and is just spectacular.
A view of Qasr Bshir, a Late Roman fort in the Jordanian desert.
Kelsey: Thanks a lot, Craig! What's next for you?
Craig: Now I'll go back to writing my dissertation!
Craig would like to express his thanks to the American Center of Oriental Research, the Cyprus American Archaeological Research Institute, and the Rackham Graduate School for the generous grants that funded much of his travel.
Archaeological Research, StudentsCyprus, IPCAA, Israel, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, travel
Two Conferences — Two Countries — Four Days
12/12/2017 07/25/2018 cperson01Leave a comment
BY MATTHEW NAGLAK, IPCAA student
From December 6th to 9th, I had the opportunity to participate in two separate conferences on two different continents in different capacities. At the University of Edinburgh, I was invited along with U-M Classics professor Nicola Terrenato to give a talk about early Latin society and state formation based on evidence from Gabii, Italy, at the international conference The Dawn of Roman Law. Back in Ann Arbor, the Kelsey Museum was gearing up for Into the Third Century: The Past, Present, and Future of Michigan's Archaeological Museums, a graduate and undergraduate student symposium sponsored by the Collaborative Archaeology Workgroup in conjunction with the bicentennial exhibition Excavating Archaeology @ U-M: 1817–2017 (which is currently on display at the Kelsey Museum). As one of the graduate student organizers for the event, I felt that I should do everything possible to make sure it went as smoothly as possible.
I arrived in Edinburgh, Scotland, on the morning of December 6, about two hours before the beginning of the conference. What followed was approximately 36 hours of extended presentations on topics ranging from the use of the dative in the Twelve Tables to an Etruscan inscription that may be one of the earliest moments ever found for the culture, of dining on Scottish delicacies as well as quite odd Italian-Scottish fusion, and sleeping the sleep of the jet-lagged. Following our well-received presentation, however, it was necessary to switch gears quickly from presenter-mode to that of an organizer/administrator for the symposium back in Ann Arbor.
Organizing a conference is not easy. One must arrange and purchase meals, airport rides, and hotel rooms for the participants, reserve and set up lecture venues, create schedules, prepare introductions, cajole speakers, clean up, and deal with the inevitable technology issues that will arise. Fortunately, the team of doctoral candidate Kimberly Swisher from Anthropological Archaeology, Kelsey Museum educator Catherine Person, and myself had each other to help spread the load. After an excellent keynote address by Lisa Çakmak (Associate Curator of Ancient Art at Saint Louis Art Museum and IPCAA alumna) on Friday night, Saturday went smoothly with presentations by numerous graduate students from IPCAA, Anthropological Archaeology, and Classics, as well as remarks from the directors of the Kelsey Museum and the Museum of Anthropological Archaeology, Terry Wilfong and Michael Galaty, respectively. At the same time, there were multiple posters presented by undergraduate and graduate students and a technology session where participants could try out the newest technology for presenting archaeological materials to the general public. Overall, although an exhausting couple of days, it could not have gone any better!
StudentsCollaborative Archaeology Workgroup, conference, IPCAA, travel
Trotter Multicultural Center
BY CAITLIN C. CLERKIN, IPCAA Student
The Kelsey Museum is getting a new neighbor! Kelsey regulars and visitors alike have undoubtedly noticed the construction project to the north of the Kelsey on State Street.* In case you missed the official ground-breaking, this blog post will provide a little orientation to the whats and whys of the project.
The William Monroe Trotter Multicultural Center will be moving from its current location (1443 Washtenaw Avenue) to the new facility (currently being built) on State Street. This project is the result of an exciting combination of student activism and the recognition that space and place matter in both rhetoric and practice.
This is not the first time in Trotter's history that this combination has led to concrete change. Indeed, what is now Trotter Multicultural Center began its organizational life in fall 1971 as William Monroe Trotter House, a Black student center named for the early 20th-century journalist and civil rights activist, on the corner of South and East University Streets. It was founded in the wake of a 1970 campus-wide strike organized by the first Black Action Movement (BAM I), a coalition of Black student groups which protested against discrimination and marginalization of Black students in university policy and university life. The strike led to negotiations between BAM and the University administration. Among the BAM demands were structural changes (e.g., increasing enrollment of Black students to 10% by 1973 in order to match state demographics) and resources that would support Black and Hispanic students, such as the establishment of a Black student center. Not all of these demands have been fulfilled (notably, Black student enrollment has never reached 10%). Two subsequent activism campaigns (BAM II and United Coalition Against Racism/BAM III) took place in 1975 and 1987. (See a recent essay by Austin McCoy about this legacy and continuing activism.)
Trotter House moved to its current Washtenaw location in 1972 after a fire destroyed the first house; it was renamed William Monroe Trotter Multicultural Center to match an expanded mission in 1981. Now, its planned move to State Street is the direct result of Black student activism.
In 2013, students concerned about University inattention to the Trotter facility on Washtenaw organized an initiative, A New Trotter (ANT), with the goal of a new building for Trotter. This goal gained more momentum under the #BBUM—Being Black at the University of Michigan—campaign organized by the Black Student Union (BSU). For those unfamiliar, the #BBUM campaign was aimed at sparking conversation about race and diversity—and specifically about the experiences of Black students on campus—across the whole campus. It drew national attention to the University, bringing to the fore student priorities for improving diversity and climate and pushed the University administration to respond to student demands. #BBUM culminated in seven demands issued to the University administration in winter 2014; the creation of a new Trotter Multicultural Center on Central Campus counted among the seven.
The importance of space and place was apparent in the BSU's demand that Trotter to Central Campus: the students' desire to move Trotter demonstrates that location is meaningful. In the fields of art and archaeology of the ancient Mediterranean and Near East, we constantly discuss the ways in which locations matter and buildings constitute arguments. Depressingly, many examples we attempt to illuminate with our scholarship show how urban planning and monumental building in antiquity sought to exclude and enhance inequality, rather than to include, integrate, and support. A "classic" Roman example is the high (33 meter) rear wall of the Forum of Augustus in Rome. This firewall is usually seen as serving two related purposes. Built of stone with fire-resistant properties, it may have been intended to prevent any fires from the adjacent overcrowded, lower-class neighborhood of the Subura from spilling into imperial, public space. In addition, the wall blocked the Subura from view, hiding non-elite sights, smells, and people away from the public and especially elite viewers. Thus, this urban "amenity" excluded the Subura from its vision of Rome, keeping it physically separated, while creating differences in physical risk (fire) between the public forum and the Subura.
This phenomenon of spatial exclusion is, of course, not restricted to the ancient Mediterranean—it is a constant in modern periods also, although the specifics and mechanisms differ from place to place and by era. Countless projects, researchers, and activists in many fields have explored, questioned, and fought against this practice; for example, I recently ran across a project that maps residential segregation in 19thcentury American cities. And, indeed, as Austin McCoy noted to the Michigan Daily, the location of Trotter on Washtenaw, away from Central Campus, matches, spatially and physically, the marginal position that students of color experience at the University of Michigan. Centralizing an institution that has supported students of color at Michigan for more than 40 years is an encouraging move.
Relocating Trotter to Central Campus has both practical and symbolic value. On the practical side, Trotter will be closer to students on campus: stopping in or attending Trotter's many events will be easier and quicker. Easier access, greater visibility, and closer connections to other units by virtue of its location on Central Campus will hopefully knit Trotter Multicultural Center—and its legacy of being an inclusive and supportive space (and the legacy of its namesake!)—even more deeply into the fabric of University life and help it serve more students.
On the symbolic side, the presence of Trotter on State Street makes a physical argument for the integral position of communities of color in the University (in the "heart" of campus) and marks a recognition of the need to support them through institutions like Trotter Center. Trotter has served for years as a "vibrant hub" for students (as Interim-Director Michael Swanigan describes it): it has a long, active history of offering programs aimed at fostering cultural dialogues, spaces for student organizations to meet, study spaces, and, especially, a supportive context for students to build relationships and thrive.
Trotter's future location on State Street expresses a physical and concrete commitment by the University to include its diverse student communities and their experiences. The University community can do more than just hope that this promise is fulfilled — every person can and should work actively to make sure the University and the wider community uphold this promise of inclusion and support. We can all do this by holding the University accountable when it fails, by acting inclusively, and by engaging thoughtfully and actively in mission of an equitable university.
This archaeologist (writing this essay) is heartened by this move. It reminds us of the power of student voices (we sometimes lose sight of the possibilities of this kind of agency in archaeology!). In addition, a place — Trotter Center, with its long legacy of support for students — is being relocated to a Central Campus space that will help it better fulfill its mission: this is an exciting and positive example of putting spatial rhetoric into practice.
At the Kelsey Museum, construction of the new Trotter Center has meant the installation of vibration monitors (to ensure the safety of the collections), some temporary changes in access, and eager anticipation of our future neighbors. The Kelsey (including the Interdepartmental Program in Classical Art and Archaeology graduate students who lurk in Newberry Hall) is excited to welcome the Trotter Center to State Street!
Note: My hearty thanks to Professor Stephen Ward and Trotter Interim-Director Michael Swanigan for speaking to me about Trotter Center.
Please see the following links (in addition to those embedded in the article) for more information about the construction project and for further reading (drawn upon in writing this post):
http://umaec.umich.edu/projects/major-projects/trotter-william-monroe-multicultural-center-new-multicultural-center/
https://trotter.umich.edu/trotter-on-state
https://trotter.umich.edu/history
"Trotter House Origins," by James Tobin, in the Spring 2013 issue of LSA Magazine (pp. 35–36): https://lsa.umich.edu/content/dam/lsa-site-assets/documents/lsa-magazine/13spr-fullmag.pdf
"Researching the Truth," by Dan Shine, in the Fall 2016 issue of Collections, the Bentley Historical Library magazine (p. 16):
http://bentley.umich.edu/news-events/magazine/researching-the-truth/
*Never fear, internet people! There is a webcam, so you can watch the work, too!
Studentsconstruction, IPCAA, Trotter Multicultural Center
A student's summer internship
BY JULIA TRIEZENBERG, Kelsey Museum Summer Intern
Julia Triezenberg is a junior majoring in American culture and minoring in museum studies. She has looked for ways to be involved in the museum world, so she spent this past summer interning for the Registry Department at the Kelsey. During her time with us, Julia assisted with exhibitions, worked with researchers using the collections, and worked independently on a ceramics rehousing project. Her internship offered her diverse ways to explore a museum career.
Over the course of my summer interning at the Kelsey, one thing is for certain: I spent a lot of time around pots. "Pots?" you ask. "What kind of pots?" "Do they keep better company than other kitchenware?"
Why yes, they do. I wasn't surrounded only by pots, either — the project I worked on for over a month dealt with finding new homes for a variety of ceramics from excavation sites in Seleucia, Iraq. An extension of previous interns' work, I reorganized and housed the ceramics from three of the Kelsey's cabinets. While that might sound simple at first, it was no small task. Depending on the shape and size of the artifacts, there could be hundreds of artifacts in each drawer that had to be moved individually for their safekeeping. It was especially confusing for me in the beginning because the objects were quite mixed up by shape and size when I began.
With this in mind, I decided to move the ceramics between the three cabinets based on their size and function to see how I could improve future organization. I was able to condense space in quite a few of the drawers, which proved especially helpful as the Kelsey prepares to officially accession some ceramic objects from the Toledo Museum of Art. Final steps included editing the Kelsey's new database to reflect my changes and leaving behind my procedure and advice to future interns' work with the collection.
Rehousing these ceramics was one of many things I did while at the Kelsey, but it was a project that gave me specific opportunities to formulate my own plan about the reorganization and work independently to get it done. Other college students spent their summer lifeguarding poolside or backpacking through the Rocky Mountains. This is what I spent my summer doing — and I couldn't have been happier about it.
Holdings, Studentsarchaeological registration, internship, registry, Seleucia on the Tigris

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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Film and Television, Pop Culture
Trailer Time: Fox's "Rocky Horror Picture Show" (2016)
May 16, 2016 Ken Pierce	Leave a comment
The Fox Network has offered up some interesting musical renditions over the last few years with "The Wiz" and "Grease" being among the latest ones and while I didn't see "Wiz" I did catch a fair chunk of "Grease" which was really done well. It's one of my favorite Broadway shows to be honest and they did this one right. That being said I had to admit some serious surprise when it was revealed that the iconic Underground B Science Fiction Horror film "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" was next on their list. I've embedded the recently revealed trailer for you below. Check it out.
The Rocky Horror Picture Show (also known as The Rocky Horror Picture Show Event) is an upcoming television film. It is a "reimagining" of the 1975 film of the same name, directed by Kenny Ortega and using the original script written by Richard O'Brien and Jim Sharman. The film will star Laverne Cox, and will be broadcast on the Fox network around Halloween, 2016.
Laverne Cox as Dr. Frank-N-Furter
Victoria Justice as Janet Weiss
Ryan McCartan as Brad Majors
Reeve Carney as Riff-Raff
Christina Milian as Magenta
Annaleigh Ashford as Columbia
Staz Nair as Rocky
Adam Lambert as Eddie
Ben Vereen as Dr. Everett von Scott
Tim Curry as the Criminologist
PiercingMetal Thoughts: This is not one of the typical television items that I would include here but the "RHPS" is something very near and dear to me in terms of just how much fun it was as a film. I am speaking of course of both seeing it on the big screen and being part of that wild live audience that carries on with absolute madness while it plays. Okay so here is a confession, while I never dressed up for the film, on the few times I got to see it I did dance around and brought some of the props like confetti and rice or a water gun and such. It was weird wild stuff. Personally speaking I just don't feel right about any sort of remake or re-imagining that is now happening and this is nothing against who is playing who and what they are all about. To me this is timeless underground cinema that should be left alone. Call me old fashioned but some things are sacred to me in this media realm we live in but I guess after forty years of being in existence I should have expected a redo to come around sometime. What do you readers think about the whole thing and the trailer? Let me know in the comments section below.
Official Wiki Entry: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Rocky_Horror_Picture_Show_%282016_film%29
adam lambertannouncementsben vereenchristina miliandr. frank-n-furterfoxlaverne coxmagentareeve carneyriff raffrocky horror picture showrocky horror picture show eventryan mccartanstaz nairtelevision announcementstelevision trailerstim currytrailersvictoria justice
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The thing about publishing as often as I do is that I'm never quite sure if everyone sees everything. Or it might be that a post that didn't interest you at the time suddenly becomes relevant a couple of years later and, the search facility on this blog not being all that, you can't find it again when you want it. So, with that in mind, and with a little too much on my plate at the moment, I thought I would revisit my 5 Ways series that first came out in 2017.
We'll start with the hall. Which makes sense as it's the first place you come to when you open the front door. Often neglected as a passing-through place and a dumping ground, the hall is, in fact, one of the most important rooms in the house. It's the first thing you see when you come downstairs in the morning – or walk through from other rooms of your flat – and the last thing you see before you go to bed at night. Not to mention, and perhaps more importantly, the first place you see when you come home from work or leave to go out.
The hall sets the mood for the rest of the house so it's really important to make sure it's doing its job. I have written before about this but it bears repeating: basically when you come in you want the hall to welcome you, to give you a place to put your bag, your coat and your shoes and not to be shouting at you to get the hell out because it's dark, dingy, messy and there's not enough storage.
Most of us have small halls. Mine is particularly narrow and there is no room for any furniture. We hang the coats at the far end in an alcove which leads down to the cellar and is tucked under the stairs. The only thing in our hall is a mirror and a radiator. Which means it has to work even harder to be interesting and welcoming. So we have made the STAIR RUNNER a real feature. We have the spotty carpet from Alternative Flooring which I still love as much as the day it was installed nine years ago.
Or you can buy a plain carpet and have the edges overlocked in a contrasting jolly colour – dark grey with neon orange for example. Pale grey with a dark green border. Then get the paint out and paint the bannisters to match the hem of the runner. Yes it's a faff but you're basically sitting down for this one so you can do it in batches.
The next easy makeover is to PAINT THE DOOR by which I mean the inside – in a happy colour. We finally got round to painting ours last year in the same colour as the stair runner and while you can't look at both at the same time, it does make the space look more interesting and pulled together. But you could, of course, choose a completely different colour to contrast rather than tone.
Finally, on paint, you can also consider HALF-PAINTING THE WALLS. This can be a really practical decision as the lower half of the wall tends to get scuffed from bikes and bags and dirty hands, so painting it dark will hide a multitude of sins without making it much darker. If you're worried where to stop you can go to the top of the stairs on the wall side and then leave it at that. You don't have to go all the way.
Another, really practical idea is to half-tile the walls. This is even more practical as you can just wash off any mud and they won't scuff either. If you don't have a dado rail, as I don't, then you can use those edging tiles along the top.
Now, on dark paint – if your hall is dark and windowless anyway, then there's not much you can do about it. Having the light on all the time will just emphasise that it doesn't have enough natural light so you might as well embrace that and go dark. The first point is that if the doors to the other rooms are open, then they will feel brighter when you enter from a dark space. The second is that no-one lingers in the hall anyway, so you can afford to be bold and brave with your decor. If you've always had a secret hankering for some amazing wallpaper this is the place to try it out. It's not like you'll have to sit there for hours every day or wake up to it every morning.
So we've dealt with painting and papering in various different ways. Next up we need to talk about STORAGE. The key point to make here is discipline. No you can't have all your coats and all your shoes in the hall at the same time. You just can't. Filter, triage, sort. That is the first thing. Then there are options. think about hooks arranged in a pattern all over the wall so they will look good when empty – which I know will never happen. A high shelf with hooks under will allow you to store a box of gloves and scarves when they're not in season.
If you have small children then consider hanging pretty baskets on hooks and putting small shoes, gloves and scarves in them. Give each child a basket, or two, and encourage them to put their own things away. You can also hang these hooks low enough for small hands to reach and, because they can be arranged in a pattern, they won't look silly when the kids have grown too tall.
Another idea is to create a long low shelf along one wall – unless you have a radiator (curses) with another, slightly narrower, one underneath. Store shoes along the bottom one and use the top one to sit on when putting said shoes on. That way the shoes are slightly hidden by the top shelf. Paint both to match the wall and they will disappear. You can also use the top one for plants, books, a basket of post etc. You can determine the width of these depending on the length of the longest shoe and the size of the largest bottom.
So now you've thought about the stairs, repainted some or part of the space and considered your storage, it's time for the accessories. Again most of us won't have room for furniture so you need to get clever with other pieces that will work hard and look good.
Buy the biggest MIRROR you can afford. Propped up against the floor won't take up much room and it will bounce the light around and reflect back the light from other rooms. And do bear in mind that an angled mirror appears to shave a few pounds off your reflection which may, or may not be a good thing. I had an angled mirror in the bathroom for years and when I finally saw myself in a flat one I had to go on a diet. But, hey knowledge is power so I'll give you that knowledge – it's up to you how you feel about it. On the upside I left the house every day for three years thinking I looked AMAZING and that can't be bad. If a floor mirror's out of the question then a big wall-mounted one will work just as well.
There's a lot of neon around these days but it can be a good way to add a little more personality and light to a dark space. Even better hang it opposite the mirror to double your lighting.
I hope that has given you all some ideas for your own halls, landings and corridors.
Hi Kate I love your podcast, and have just started reading your blog it's so helpful. I have a question about my hallway. I have a little very muddy porch full of coats and boots with an inside door and then a downstairs hall that is open plan with my kitchen. I have farrow and ball railings on the banister and a complimentary geometric wall paper on the wall leading up the stairs. But what colour should I paint the walls and the inside of the front door? Railings is almost black so I feel in a big open plan hall it might be too much.
It's hard to say without seeing it but you could do the inside of the front door in a totally contrasting colour – burnt orange or bright yellow or emerald green. for the walls you could half-paint them in Railings to tie the whole thing together? As I say, without being able to see either the space, the floor or the wallpaper it's a shot in the dark! But I would almost certainly go with a contrast on the door. Otherwise you could leave the walls pale but do all the woodwork – skirtings and door frame in Railings to bring it together?
I love your book Kate and just discovered this blog which I'll be reading a lot! We're moving house on Friday and I can't wait to get stuck into decorating each room. The hall is first, I love the geometric vinyl/tiles in the first picture could you tell me where they're from? I've found a couple online but pretty pricey. Do you think a Victorian pattern would work with a 30's house? It has some green stained glass details in the landing window so was going to find some flooring with a hint of green to tie in.
The first picture is my hall and it's wallpaper with books on at the top of the stairs – if you mean that it's from MineHeart Design. If you mean the blue and white tiles in Sophie's hall floor in the second picture they are from Claybrook Studio.
Yes I think those tiles would be great although see Erica's hall with the green carpet and black and white and grey tiles – that also works really well.
Well timed article. I'm just thinking about decorating the hall which is currently grey carpet, beige walls, no windows – so any and all advice is much appreciated.
Our hall is dark, no windows. No art. No storage possible, so I painted a basket white that stands by the front door and stuff gets put into it that is either on it's way out or temporary. The ceiling has lights set into it but it's low and six doors lead off this hallway. How to improve the space and create a feeling of light? Answer a bevelled mirror 5ft high by 8ft wide professionally stuck to part of one long wall and for under £300. The thickness of the glass with a mirror this size matters I purchased one of 6mm thickness, the bevel is about an inch wide all around. That's the size I needed. It's placed an inch from the ceiling and comes two thirds down the height of the wall. This is an area we pass through and we take little notice of the mirror now but it has transformed the feeling and is a great success. I would suggest hunting for the best quote as the first quote was more than double what I eventually agreed to.
Hello, I've been reading avidly every day for three months, ever since I discovered the blog. I absolutely love your writing, which makes me smile, and your excellent taste that reflects (but way supersedes) my own! This post has just helped me so much. Our hallway is a disaster and I've always been defeated by its challenges but now I'm feeling determined. I was just wondering whether you knew where that console table in the penultimate shot is from. I have been googling around but everything I find is pretty twee. I did check on Karen's blog, but no luck. Thanks ever so much for all the inspiration and practical know-how.
It's very generous of you to reply with so much information. Thank you so much. I love all these options, and am especially loving Swoon Editions. I'm moving back to the UK after ten years away and am so out of touch. Thanks again.
How would you handle half-painting a wall in a hallway where you also have artwork? I have a long thin hallway with no windows (and a lot of bike scuffs on the wall!) and have been thinking for a while about half-painting it, but have a few big paintings in the hallway as well and worry that having them hang across two different wall colours might look really odd!
I think actually it might look amazing! Depends on the colours etc but I think it could work – probably one third above the line and two thirds below. Or you could not do a half painted wall but a third and two thirds? The key is to make it look like you meant it so perhaps the frame of the art is the same – or a slightly paler version – of the frame so that it all links. Or the bottom half is a colour that is in the painting. Yes I know we don't normally match our art to our decor but this is quite a specific case.
really good ideas and inspiring pictures, thank you!
Thank you! And, er gosh, I don't know offhand. Anyone? There seem to be some solutions on google – prime with a upvc primer and then on you go. Perhaps not too difficult but a bit faffy!
What about Everlong paints?! Give them a call directly they are so helpful. I'm sure their paints don't need prior sanding priming or waxing- what a dream!
Hi I used Bullseye 123 primer, you can get it from Screwfix and then Sadolin, great job!
If it is the inside of the door you want to paint, then chalk paint by Annie Sloane could work. I had some old fixed wardrobes in the master bedroom that were a faff to remove and had melamine doors. So I just painted over them in a 2-tone (frame a lighter colour and door front a darker shade) and even after 5 years they are still good. Just use the paint thick, as it comes. But be prepared to do several coats. Hope it works for you.
I love those propped up mirrors, I have an old wardrobe door I use. But just a word of caution. If there are small children around, they need to be fixed to the wall to avoid potential accidents.
Love the blog and read it every day.
Yes good point well made. Mine are teenagers now. I did think it while I was typing but didn't actually add it in. FIX THE MIRRORS PEOPLE IT'S IMPORTANT.
We are currently in the process of deciding what to do with a stair runner at the moment on a budget! But please could you tell me what paint you have used in your hall?


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Is It Time to Buy an Aston Martin DB7?
Aston's first car under Ford ownership is starting to look like a good buy.
eBay/jmlegendauto
I can remember when this car previewed a bright future for Aston Martin. Its first new model after being bought by Ford, the DB7 took the platform from the old Jaguar XJS and styling from an abandoned E-Type successor and breathed new life into Aston Martin. And in 1999, the DB7's greatness was certified with the creation of the Vantage, the first Aston Martin with a V12.
The Aston DB7 Was Born From an Nixed Jag F-Type
Welcome to You Must Buy, our daily look at the cars you really should be buying instead of that boring commuter sedan.
That V12 was really just two Ford Duratec V6s conjoined, but it made 420 hp and sounded fantastic, so no one cared. The DB7 was an odd assemblage of parts turned into a great car, and one that kept the Aston legend alive into the 21st century. Its this importance that makes the DB7's relatively low prices today so surprising.
Just check out this 1999 DB7 Vantage. At $50,000, its asking price is on the more expensive end of the DB7 spectrum, but this is a rare manual-transmission coupe. And it's a great spec too, with its light green exterior and cream interior.
Of course, today, it's hard to overlook some of the cheaper elements of the DB7—its interior door handles are from the first-generation Miata—but in a way, they help tell the story of the car. The DB7 was Aston making the best of what it had, spending its limited budget on the things that mattered like the engine and styling.
And the DB7 still looks damn good today. Ian Callum penned a masterpiece here, and it's aged beautifully.
So the question is, will DB7 values climb from here? It's tough to say. Desirable examples like this one could get expensive, while earlier inline-six models and automatic-transmission cars might stay relatively low.
In any case, this DB7 Vantage at $50,000 is an interesting alternative to the V8 Vantage, which can be had for around the same price. Maybe it's worth your consideration.
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paddyspiigs
Tag Archives: Ireland
April 5, 2014 · 10:18 pm
Ella was born on the 31st March, in Germany. She shares her birthday with Henry II of France, Rene Descartes and Olli Rehn. She has a claim for citizenship of Australia, Austria, Germany, Ireland. She could live and work in over thirty countries, without impediment.
She has relatives in Germany, China, Australia, Austria, England, Ireland, Sweden, Switzerland, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Angola. She has close personal connections in another ten countries.
She will likely speak four or five languages, have friends and colleagues spread throughout the world. She can expect to travel widely and have the benefits of a liberal democratic upbringing. She will face the perils of social unrest, health issues, personal problems, and Acts of God, but she will be well equipped for these, having many personal, family and governmental resources to assist her.
Excepting war and plague, she will have a very good chance of living to the 22nd century, when her grandparent's youth will have slipped from Modern to Ancient History. Her life will be measured, calibrated, photographed and recorded in every moment. Distance will not impede her communications, and location will not define her. Privacy and solitude will be art forms for her.
She already carries the heavy responsibility of the promise that we as a society vest in her. The promise of a brighter future and a better world.
The world ahead will be exciting, challenging ever-changing and totally unpredictable. The rapid and accelerating societal changes of the last twenty years will be multiplied exponentially. The society she will grow old in would be as strange to us, as New York would be to Amazonian Indians.
But there will be stability as well. While we cannot fathom the technological, medical or societal changes to come, we can see in retrospect that the spirit of humanity, personal values and the basis of personal relationships have not changed over the centuries, and are unlikely to in the future.
What we have to hope for and strive for is a society that bases it's policies on human values, and not on material or totalitarian values. What she needs is a society that will allow her freedom, and the ability to achieve her potential. These are values held as self-evident in the American Constitution, but realised in their fullest in Europe today.
This is a Europe that strikes the balance between materialism and liberalism. A Europe that allows material entrepreneurship without oppressing personal freedoms. A Europe that declares high aspirations, and strives to achieve them. A Europe that defines itself in the 21st Century by aligning itself constantly with democratic ideals and rejecting oligarchic values, wherever they are found.
Ella is a child of Europe. She represents the best of what we are as a continent, and as a society. She represents pan-nationalism, tolerance, social justice and personal freedom. She represents that highest of emotions that the human spirit can aspire to – hope for the future.
Filed under European Union
Tagged as Birth, European Nationalism, European Union, Germany, Infancy, Ireland
The Cause Of all Our Problems – Anglo Irish Bank (Photo credit: infomatique)
I find it seldom that I appreciate Angela Merkel's utterances, though I do have a certain admiration for her. She has too much of an eye on her own electorate to be an effective European Leader, and I think she has largely abandoned any ambition of being an Adenauer or a Kohl. Perhaps there is no longer an agenda of greatness attached to leading what has become a failed project, or at least, a difficult cul de sac.
However I did agree with her last week when she said she had nothing but contempt for the Irish bankers from the failed Anglo Irish Bank, recorded during the financial crisis, singing "Deutschland über ales" after persuading the Irish Government to underwrite the banks. Far more objectionable was their trite and scandalous treatment of the Irish tax payer. Their contempt for the Government and the Financial Regulator, neither of whom, to be fair, appeared to demonstrate anything resembling competence during the entire financial crisis, was manifest in these recordings.
For many years now, the beleaguered Irish tax payer has accepted passively, the incompetence of our Government, and our bankers, but no-one could have reasonably guessed how odious they really were. Listening to these tapes exposes the cesspit of their attitudes and behaviour.
It is difficult to believe that these bankers are not in jail, or that not one of them has been put on trial five years after Bernie Madoff, for instance, went to jail in the US. It is even more difficult to believe, that this Anglo Irish Bank is the stable where NAMA (National Asset Management Agency – Ireland's "bad bank) and the IRBC (Irish Banking Resolution Commission – the clean up operation for Anglo Irish Bank) recruited many of their own staff. The very staff who ran the country into the ground are tasked to clean up the mess.
But it gets worse. The Irish Government recently proudly announced the "creation of 800 new jobs" in Capita, whose "Financial management function" includes debt collection and restructuring. This new financial industry will involve the closure and receivership of many an Irish firm. Guess where the staff are being recruited from? Rumour has it that they will come from the recently closed IRBC.
So the very people who destroyed Ireland, are not just part of the solution, but are to be the agents of the tidal wave of misery and bankruptcy that is about to overtake the ordinary citizens of Ireland, as the remaining banks try to recapitalize. These are the new Jobs announced by the Irish Government.
Yes Angela, 'contempt' is a good word for what they deserve. In Ireland it is only a word however, and the reality is that ordinary citizens are under the cosh, and the very people who showed such contempt for the Irish people, are not in jail, as you would expect, but are being recruited to become the carpetbaggers sifting through the wreckage, to extract blood from the corpse!
Filed under European Crisis
Tagged as Angela Merkel, Bankers, Ireland
George Soros, billionaire (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
One can almost get encouraged when wise council abounds. However wise council is ignored, and partisan political interests prevail. Germans can see no further than their forthcoming elections, and are busy claiming the high ground as the tsunami of European Disintegration approaches. To quote Yeats "the best lack all conviction, while the worst are full of passionate intensity". The crisis becomes more acute by the day, and the political inertia seems to deepen.
George Soros, has put forward a succinct analysis of the situation in The Guardian. He is saying what anyone with a brain has been saying since Cyprus. He has, however, put his mind to finding good constructs for the remedy of the situation. His options are the issuance of Eurobonds, or alternatively Germany leaving the Euro. Again, this is the choice between integration and dissolution, which has been a theme here at Paddyspiigs.
If Germany did leave the Euro, who else would go with them,- Austria? Denmark? Holland? This would lead to a two speed Europe with the separation of the Northern nations from the indebted nations. A natural consequence of the current political atmosphere. This is a solution that totally ignores the political, social, and strategic aims of the European Union. It would be a sad message to send out to the world at large.
Soros's analysis does however make a significant contribution to the current debate. Hopefully someone will listen to him!
Tagged as austerity, Cyprus, Euro, Euro Crisis, European crisis, European Union, George Soros, Germany, Ireland, PIIGS, Soros
That Man Again – MICHAEL D HIGGINS Speaks out again
English: Herman Van Rompuy, President of the European Council, at the press conference about the European Union during the 37th G8 summit in Deauville, France. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Michael D. Higgins: An Auld President. (Photo credit: David Conch Condon)
TWO PRESIDENTS IN ONE DAY
– SOMETHING MUST BE HAPPENING!
The President of Ireland, Michael D Higgins, has done it again. He has broken the stodgy Presidential Protocols and expanded on his previously reported speech to the European Parliament in an interview he gave to the Financial Times, which has also complimented him in a very supportive Editorial.
"There is a real problem in what was assumed to be a single hegemonic model… The unemployment profile in Greece is different from the unemployment profile in Ireland. You need a pluralism of approaches… We have 26m people unemployed… There are 112m at risk of poverty, a contraction in investment and falling demand."
Herman Van Rompuy , President of the European Union, has also spoken out today, calling for fiscal stimulus, and inferring the great unmentionable (that anyone with two Betz cells knows now to be the truth), that this
Austerity Isn't Working.
How many people have to hear this? The Future that the austeritocrats are playing with is yours, and they're just not listening. I do not oppose austerity because I feel people shouldn't pay back their debts. I oppose it for the exact opposite reason. I oppose it because the only way anyone will be able to pay back anything is if there is a viable economy, and we can't have that if we are destroying the economy day-in and day-out, by everything Governments are doing. We have had five years of this now, and it is getting worse and worse. This is not the Europe that was ever envisaged by the founding fathers. It is time to call a halt. It is so heartening to hear reasonable men stand up, for a change.
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Crying in the Wilderness. (paddyspiigs.com)
President Higgins intervenes in political debate on euro zone debt crisis (irishtimes.com)
Tagged as Euro Crisis, European crisis, European Parliament, European Union, Financial Times, Government, Greece, growth, Herman Van Rompuy, Ireland, Michael D Higgins, President of Ireland
Ivory Towers and Other Fantasies
As someone who's appreciation of economics has absolutely no formal basis, I find the current debate about the Rogoff-Reinhart controversy quite surreal. Here are all these economists on both sides of the argument, discussing the relative merits of one form of analysis, versus another, and minimising or exaggerating the effects of a spreadsheet error. This issue is not an abstract philosophical discourse. The issue of how we view our society is of fundamental importance to every person in the world. Trust in our advisors is particularly relevant to Western democracies surviving. We have moved beyond the base economics, and we are talking about the shape of the Western liberal tradition. Over the last ten years or so, the rudder of Western Society has been firmly in the hands of the austerity driven economists, who, via the World Bank, via the ECB and via the Troika in Europe, have not only had the hegemony of policy, but also have esposed a monopoly on knowledge about the so called remedies for recovery. These policies have prevailed while 27 million people are unemployed in the E.U., and the wealth of middle class Europeans and Americans has dissipated.
Wile E. Coyote Business Card .. Genius .. Have Brain Will Travel .. Reverend Bill Proctor "stuck in Atlanta" (July 02, 2011) …item 4.. Comments are posted from viewers – We are not his preferred constituents (Feb 9, 2012 at 01:54 PM) … (Photo credit: marsmet523)
These policies bear no criticism. In the case of Ireland, this diminutive analysis portrays the entire Irish population as squanderers whose spendthrift ways are deserving of moral opprobrium and of the punitive austerity imposed as a remedy on the entire population. The fact that the gross excesses were limited to a minute proportion of the population, and there were many non-Irish players, including foreign banks with their snouts in the trough, does not seem to influence the Troika or the arbiters of the new order. The fact that much of the so called "Irish" debt was based in other countries, and not truly "Irish" in any real sense of the word, offers no respite. The undisputed fact that the recklessness of the banks contributed to the catastrophe, fails to provide any relief for the indentured population. Paradoxically, the only element of the population that is not suffering are the bankers, who continue their gluttony of bonuses and high salaries, while acting as the very agencies that are imposing penury on the general population.
So back to the debate over the R-R mistakes/omissions or whatever. The problem for me, an ordinary Joe, is not the semantics of the derivative implications of the subtle analysis that was presented. It was not the worry about the extrapolations of high financial equations. It was not even the arithmetic mistake that was made. It was however the sheer clumsiness, the appalling arbitrariness and the overwhelming subjective nature of the analysis that was most frightening. In my naivety, in my ignorance, I had always thought that economists dealt with the real economy. I considered that these people with their magic formulae, their alchemical spells, could conjure up, if not a view of the future, at least an understanding of the past. But oh! I was woefully wrong. The people who lay the fabric for the agenda of the rich and powerful, don't do any of that. They decide for arbitrary reasons, to include or exclude countries from their analysis, they don't bother to check for simple mathematical errors. They then defend themselves against criticism by saying that they were only small errors.
My problem, as a punter, is how the hell can I know what any of their prognostications mean. In fact, how can anyone know? I truly do not know anything of the mathematical formulae required to analyse economies. I know little of the nuances of Keynesian planning, though I understand enough to know that the wisdom of his thinking has been ignored in order to save the oligarchy of the financial elite.
What I do know is this – that the last five years have seen the greatest transfer of public wealth into private hands in the history if Western Society, the indenture of the whole population of the PIIGS countries, the decimation of the middle class, the dismantling of social services and the abolition of democracy in debt burdened nations. The banks have managed to privatise their profits and socialise their losses. Nations have not only lost the ability to decide on their own Government programs, but have had external programs imposed on them.
So what the nub of the problem for the man in the street is that the basis for all these austerity driven policies is not an analysis of tried and trusted methods of overcoming the debt crisis but rather the exact opposite. These programs are not only counter-sense, but they are an exact opposite of the methods that we have learned about dealing with recessions/depressions before. They are an attempt to create growth by shutting down economies. To raise taxes by strangling industry. To reduce social spending by increasing dependency. They fly in the face of the manifest truisms that you cannot create growth without a functioning economy, you can't have an economy without cash flow, and you cannot have cash flow when you sacrifice individual effort in order to prop up failed financial institutions.
These counter-sense economic policies play straight into the neo-Weberian view of the world that economic collapse has a quasi-moral dimension to it, and that the nations who profited most by the European experiment in the terms of growth and centralisation of wealth are somehow on a higher plane than the peripheral economies that have floundered. Whatever truth there is in the supposition that the peripheal countries screwed up their economies independently of the centre (another manifest fantasy), the cure has nothing to do with the complaint. The cure is designed to tie those peripheral countries into a centralised low-inflation stangnant austerity that has nothing to do with stimulating growth. It has everything to do with economic dependency and indenture.
economics (credit: Sean MacEntee)
This whole debate is not about a tweeking of an "Econ 101" freshman project. These data were presented as scientific fact, and a quick revision is not the solution. The basis of the austerity philosophy as applied to Europe is nationalist, pseudo racist, and highly questionable. It relies for intellectual legitimacy on the highly questionable views of the likes of Rogoff and Reinhart. So when you question how such philosophies have contributed to putting twenty seven million people out of work, you have to throw up when you find out that the whole basis of these concepts is faulty. Not only are the analyses subjective, arbitrary and variable, but you also find out that even the basic arithmetic is wrong. Closed prejudiced minds. Sloppy work, and sloppy thinking.
Reinhart and Rogoff – Responding to Our Critics – NYTimes.com
Filed under World Economy
Tagged as austerity, Banks, Economic, Euro, Europe, European Central Bank, European crisis, Ireland, John Maynard Keynes, Kenneth Rogoff, Keynesian, Keynesian economics, PIIGS, Reinhart, Troika, United States, Western world, World Bank
Pressure, Pressure – 13 out of 25 in the Bold Corner.
English: Italian cannons in Ljubljana (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
The last couple of weeks have seen a breather from the Cyprus Crisis, but the pressure keeps building. Portugal's constitutional Court have thrown a spanner in the works of THE AUSTERITOCRATS, by ruling against €1.5bn budgetary measures. Portugal's finance minister has blocked all capital spending as a result. Portugal's government may fall, leading to further instability, and the formation of another Coalition. The Irish Trade Unions have given the two fingers to more austerity, paving the way for industrial unrest, public service cutbacks and a division between the state sector demands and the ability of the taxpayer to fund it. The downward social spiral continues.
E.U. Commissioner Oli Rehn has issued a warning about Spain and Slovenia, suggesting they are not meeting their targets in the austerity drive, and their Banks are failing. The Slovenian Government, which failed to privatize the banks, after the fall of communism may well have underestimated the cost to underwrite them, and confidence is ebbing. Although the Slovenian situation is but a dot on the landscape compared to the Irish situation, the mood, statements, reassurances have a familiar tone to them. The €70 Billion deficit in a country of 2 million people is slightly better than the Irish €190 Billion for four million people.
Aside – isn't it wonderful the way the word "Billion" just rolls off your tongue these days, when ten years ago no-one had heard of it, and a million was a lot of money!!
Further aside – France's War Debt to the US after the Second World War was about $2.8 Billion (about €2.15 Billion) – Ireland could wage 88 world wars for the money we owe – at least we could if all our young people hadn't emigrated already leaving a sorry bunch of old farts to take up the cause!.
Sorry – Back to the main story – The Slovenian economy is well beyond my poor brain, but I do recognize another canary when I see one! Slovenia may be the next canary in the cage. How will the troika deal with the next crisis? Will we find out whether Cyprus was indeed a special case in how Ljubljana fares?
Ireland may receive extra time to repay its loans, according to opinions around Dublin. This is a rare bit of good news for the beleaguered island. It was celebrated like we had just won the Eurovision, with smiling faces and congratulatory handshakes. The fact that the Irish taxpayers still have to carry the full responsibility of the international lending disaster that took place in this country, still seems to be conveniently ignored by the powers that be. A debt that has left every man, woman and child in the country owing €50,000 (a goodly sum for a baby, or an nanogenarian!) to bail out speculators, who must have felt all their Christmases had come at once. A second bit of good news, that was celebrated with fanfare, was the downward projection of the Government deficit projection for 2015, to €2 Billion from €3 Billion. With progress like this we should exit the crisis in the year 2202 A.D.!!
Its not only the laggards that have been admonished this week however, the EU has warned that no less than13 countries in the union, including France, the Netherlands and Belgium need to take urgent action to reform their economies.
I'll post something more upbeat next – Promise!
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European Commission warns of 'excessive imbalances' in Slovenian economy (irishtimes.com)
Slovenia Bailout Would Be Spanish-Cypriot Mongrel – Bloomberg (bloomberg.com)
Speculation mounts over Slovenian bailout (irishtimes.com)
Tagged as austerity, Cyprus, Euro Crisis, European Union, Government, Ireland, Ljubljana, Netherlands, Oli Rehn, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain
April 1, 2013 · 3:44 pm
Dead Canary
Map of Cyprus with EU flag (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
So many things have happened in Cyprus this week, that it will take many years to get a proper perspective on the entire tragedy, but there are a few things that are already apparent to me
The savers have been shafted. People who have saved all their lives and built up a nest egg for themselves have seen 60% of their savings (over 100k) robbed out of their accounts.
Unbelievably the political elite seem to be immune as always and are reported to be well able to look after themselves.
This money has been lost because the bankers had already spent it. When these people popped that money into the vault for safe keeping, they had no idea that as soon as they left the bank, the manager was heading down to the vault, to take it out and spend it on speculative investments, derivatives, performance bonuses, fast cars, or a yacht for his mistress – but that is exactly what happened, because there was nothing left when they went back for it.
Whether the money belonged to tax avoiding Russians or not is a moot point, but a handy bit of propaganda to deflect from the fact that Cyprus is only one of many offshore investment set ups in Europe, including Luxembourg, and even the City of London ( not to mention our own IFSC). Only 27% of the accounts were reported to be Russian (though the value may be in excess of that). There can be no doubt that many of the accounts would have been local.
The EU has broached new ground, by failing to protect the depositors. The Irish economy was devastated by the Troika insistence that all bondholders and depositors should be protected. We were told that we must take on the burden of speculative debt, or the financial system of Europe would implode. In Cyprus depositors were thrown to the wind. The initial proposal to levy all depositors was rejected by the communal horror expressed throughout the EU, and though the comfort of attacking the alleged "Tax Evaders" quelled the disgust, the initial intention remains clear. This is a volte face from the Troika that has ruined Ireland and Cyprus by exactly contrary policies.
The only thing "special" about Cyprus, is that it is the first. There can be no rowing back from this. When the next country comes looking for support from its European "neighbours", what happened in Cyprus will be be on the table, officially or not. The northerners will say "we cannot be expected to contribute, unless you do so yourselves like the Cypriots did". Bank deposits in the peripheral "PIIGS" countries are inherently in the spotlight. The flight of money from the EU is inevitable.
There is nothing left in the EU solidarity myth, other the the hegemony of the Northern nations. Ordinary Germans or Dutch feel no empathy for the periphery, whom they see as profligate and unable to self-govern (with some justification).
Cyprus has said it is staying in the Euro, but this is a fallacy. It is already out of the Eurozone. It is like Macedonia, using the Euro as a currency, but not being a part of the Eurozone. Owning a €1000 in Cyprus is not the same as owning it in Germany, France or in Ireland. There are exchange controls. You might not even be able able to access it. It could be confiscated. You cannot use it to buy stuff abroad or invest abroad.
Cyprus will have enormous difficulty trading anything from ice cream to oil, and attached to the euro, will face huge unemployment and politico-commercial collapse.
The only people seriously supporting the continued Euro Fiasco are the politicians, bankers and large industrialists. The European economies have been caged in a common currency that has decimated the peripheral countries with the combination of cheap interest, excess money supply and stagflation. Cyprus is the dead canary at the bottom of the cage.
Cyprus President's Family Transferred Millions to London Days Before Bank Confiscations (intellihub.com)
Tagged as City of London, Cyprus, Deposit account, Euro, Euro Crisis, European Central Bank, European Nationalism, European Union, Eurozone, Ireland, Multilateral, PIIGS, Troika
The Last of Europe?
Are we witnessing the break-up of Europe? Is the Grand Dream over, and was it ever a reality? Has the initial vision of Adenauer and his co-founders come to its conclusion?
Europe – Satellite image – PlanetObserver (Photo credit: PlanetObserver)
Has the pendulum moved from progressive integration to the rise of nationalism?
Over the last five years the European Union, in the face of the world monetary crisis, has shown itself unwilling to act or incapable of acting in a cohesive way. While the economists struggle with the budgetary implications of the crisis, the politicians seem incapable of seeing anything of the original vision. The cost of everything is calculated except for the cost of chaotic disintigration.
There are no good countries or bad countries in this crisis, though there is endless evidence of appalling and contradictory decisions being made by management. Voters tire of austerity and will always revert to secular self interest when push comes to shove. Ther is no affinity between Larnaca and Leipzig. The pity is that every country is now only looking after itself, and the very democracy that Europe so espouses is the mechanism for bringing the house of cards down.
Like an observer looking at a fire in a house, hoping it will somehow go out, or be tamed, I am watching incredibly from the periphery of the continent. I am aghast at what I have seen in my own country, Ireland, and throughout the continent. After Ireland was bullied into underwriting international speculators, in the name of European Solidarity, we now find that it wasn't necessary after all, and that Cyprus can not only "burn the bondholders" but also the ordinary citizens. Cyprus has reached new bounds in so many ways, and it points to a sad vista that undermines the very fabric of the EU, and paves the way for resurgent nationalism with all its nastiness.
I am starting this blog to document the crisis that is unfolding. I want to have an "ordinary person' perspective on what is going on. I have no training in economics, and I consider that an advantage. My heart will always be hoping for European Integration in the greater sense. I would not care for integration that is based on a monetarist view of Europe that is schewed towards the transfer of power and money to the politico-industrial powerbase, and ignores the contribution of the periphery. Such a Europe is an anathema to the dreams of Adeneaur and Co.
Are we witnessing the end of his dream – Hopefully not.
Tagged as Cyprus, Euro, Euro Crisis, European Central Bank, European Nationalism, European Union, Government, Ireland, Multilateral, PIIGS
A Living History of the Breakup of Europe
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paddyspiigs · The Living History of the Breakup of Europe
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Political Sneezes - Starnuti Politici
The politics of public discourse in Europe