text:
Woo Hoo! We won!
That's how it is supposed to be! BC played well in nearly all aspects of the game and beat NC State comfortably. If BC came to play, the Wolfpack clearly did not. This is the same NC State that beat Duke and UNC. Clearly they expected to coast and ran into a focused BC. The best takeaway from the game was that BC played the full 40 minutes and didn't let the W slip away.
-- Defensive rebounding. The best part of the defense was limiting second chance. Leading the charge were our guards. I don't know if Christian told them to hang back and crash the boards, or if this was just a random day, but it made a huge difference.
-- Not folding late. Admit it: when Clifford fouled out with plenty of time left, we all got a bit nervous. But BC converted enough free throws and didn't make too many mistakes.
-- Hanlan stays hot. He didn't score 30, but he still played really well. His early 3s set the tone. He also did more defensively than he's done of late.
One win can make a huge difference. I now believe the guys can make it two in a row when they take on VT Tuesday.
Labels: basketball boxscores, BC vs NC State, Jim Christian Year 1
Hockey take game one from ND
BC took an early lead against Notre Dame and then held on for the final two periods for a critical 2-0 victory. McChosen and Tuch scored the goals and Demko made 35 saves. The two teams meet again on Saturday.
Some clarification on the @hockey_east picture - If BC wins and BU loses tomorrow, the Eagles and Terriers will be CO-Hockey East champions.
— BC Hockey (@BCHockeyNews) February 28, 2015
Labels: BC Hockey, bc vs notre dame
Meanwhile BC is playing 1 on 5 pic.twitter.com/SVzdsLIY2m
— Dan Lyons (@Dan_Lyons76) February 25, 2015
I've decided to play football at Boston College! #WeAreBC #beadude pic.twitter.com/kvcBR87cR5
— Scooter Harrington (@scootalilcloser) February 21, 2015
Best part of Jameis Winston at the combine is Draft Twitter more than meeting its match with FSU Twitter #talkinboutthenoles
— Chris B. Brown (@smartfootball) February 21, 2015
Please retweet to send me to the @accmbb tourney to represent BC as @theACCDN Guest Reporter! #theACCDN #BCEmceeEliz http://t.co/CGXSMHYaEL
— Elizabeth Pehota (@pehota) February 24, 2015
Themes of Spring Practice
Spring Practice is here and Addazio has a lot to accomplish. He keeps telling the media what he's building long term, but in the short term BC needs to use these few practices to lay the foundation for next season's offense.
The presumptive favorite remains Darius Wade. He was the more sought after recruit. He is the only QB on the roster with playing experience and he has the most upside. When talking to the media, Addazio will occasionally slip and let the world know that it is Wade's job. However, in preparation for this set of practices Addazio seems to be keeping an open mind with regard to Flutie and newcomer Elijah Robinson. I expect Wade to win the job and be our starter next season. But he needs to show that he's up to the job this spring. Despite looking around, Addazio did not bring in a 5th year QB over him. The staff calmed themselves about rumors regarding a Wade transfer. Addazio is basically all in on the young QB. Now Wade needs to show improvement and leadership and get this team ready for the rest of spring ball and summer workouts. If he stumbles, Flutie seems like the next guy up.
The Offense
Addazio couldn't have been more clear on Signing Day that this was not Ryan Day's Offense, but rather his. And it will remain his scheme under new Offensive Coordinator Todd Fitch. But that is also easier said than done. The logistics and dynamics of having a new play caller will impact the team. They start working the kinks out now in practice. Addazio wants to run, so that is not going to change. But the Fitch/Wade combo should lead to more passing and explosive plays from the passing game. Hopefully we will see that in the Spring Game.
In all his recent interviews, Addazio is sure to mention the young, inexperienced offensive line. I don't know if he is purposefully lowering expectations or has real concern. It is probably a little of both. Regardless of what the coach fears, I am not worried about the OLine. Harris Williams should be back and healthy in time for the season. The other guys have more experience than the media is letting on. Bowen played a lot last season and looked good in jumbo packages. Baker also looked good in limited duty. Potential Center Frank Taylor remains the most untested. But I think OL is the one area where a good position coach can make a huge difference with the available talent. Justin Frye put together very solid squads his first two years at BC. I have complete faith he will do it again with the guys he has available. Will they dominate? Maybe not, but I am sure they will run block well enough for BC to remain competitive and productive.
Labels: Addazio Year 3, Darius Wade
How is Hanlan's hot streak impacting his draft prospects?
Olivier Hanlan tested the waters for the NBA Draft last year and wisely decided to return to BC. With his midseason slump it seemed like he would also spend his Senior season at the Heights. Now that he's on fire, many -- including me -- are speculating that he'll enter the Draft this spring. But it is far from a sure thing.
According to Draft Express, Hanlan is still not among the Top 100 Prospects for this Draft. Draft Express also slots him as just the 21st best Junior. (Draft Express updates their rankings daily.)
NBADraft.net ranks Hanlan as the 89th best prospect.
Now neither site is a guarantee nor do they address the needs that various NBA teams may have for a scoring combo guard. It is also likely that their rankings are lagging behind the growing consensus regarding Hanlan.
There is still plenty of basketball to play and Hanlan's final weeks will impact how NBA teams feel about him. For selfish reasons I don't want him to leave, but also think it is probably in his best interest. How high is he going shoot up the boards? Maybe he'll become a borderline 1st round prospect. If that is his status, he might as well return, get his degree and try to become a first-round lock.
Labels: NBA Draft, Olivier Hanlan
Something special and something miserable
Olivier Hanlan is in the middle of a hot streak that has rarely been seen around BC. He scored 39 against Pitt despite getting double-teamed on nearly every possession. Yet his heroics were not enough as BC lost 71-65. The best thing about the past two weeks is that any concerns about Hanlan's shooting is over. His percentages from 3 and on FTs have improved and are reverting to his norms from the past two years. The guy is an elite offensive player, regardless of the coach, the system and certainly the players around him. This team is terrible. I would say just give the ball the Hanlan, but that is what they are doing at this point. The problem comes when the other guys have to play defense, grab a rebound or pass. BC was in a big hole early just from stupid plays from Brown, Heckmann and Clifford. If not for Hanlan this team would be completely unwatchable.
The depleted bench cannot score. We know that. But against any team with size, we are cooked. Carney plays hard but is over matched. Odio has athleticism, but is still not a complete player.
Heckmann is a mess. When he's off, he needs to get closer to the basket and help on the boards.
Brown's stats are bit misleading. He was our second leading scorer, but did not have a good night. The turnovers and whining to the refs hurt the team.
As the season comes to a close, I am going to keep watching to see what Hanlan might do next. I am also aware that these might be his last few weeks as an Eagle.
Labels: basketball boxscores, BC vs Pitt, Jim Christian Year 1, Olivier Hanlan
Freshman ineligibility not good for BC
The Pac 12 and Big Ten are considering (but really trying to build national consensus) on a plan to make all football and basketball freshman ineligible. They are doing it under the guise that this is best for the student athlete. That's nonsense. This is just another move by coaches and administrators to get power back from the athletes and to a lessor extent SEC Football. Based on our protest vote against paying athletes, I am sure BC will gladly join the movement, but I think it is bad for the athletes and bad for BC.
As much as I turn a blind eye, football and basketball players are exploited in the current system. The education they receive is watered down and at times a complete academic fraud. There is very little free market movement and most of these guys don't belong in college and don't want to be in a classroom. The NFL and NBA get a free developmental league and the colleges get money and exposure. The majority of the college athletes get nothing. In an ideal world, there would be real basketball and football minor leagues and college sports could operate as an alternative path, like they do in baseball, hockey and soccer. Restricting players in those two sports gives guys without options, even fewer options to develop their skills or find their true value. If you really are an elite star and good enough to play at 18, shouldn't you be on the field getting better and raising your value? Sitting for a year -- even if you are still practicing and going to class -- stunts the growth of the truly elite.
While the Pac 12 and Big Ten and probably many members of the ACC believe that this will restrict the SEC's dominance, I think it will just lead to more corruption and that hurts BC too. In theory limiting freshman play will lead to more talent distribution. But really I think the SEC schools will just churn their freshmen in other ways. More of these permanent redshirts will come down with "career threatening" injuries while practicing and be out of the Bamas and LSUs of the world after one fall, while BC sticks with our underperforming recruits. I also think you will see more players graduating high school early so that they can speed up their time to the pros and still remain young. You see players in hockey graduate and enroll early at times. Now imagine this on a national scale. Enrolling 16 and 17 year-old high school juniors will favor schools with less academic rigor and schools that are closer to the athletes home. That again favors the SEC programs in the talent rich sun belt states.
Kevin Garnett spurred a movement of NBA prospects skipping college altogether in the mid '90s. Then the NBA instituted its age limit rule and we've seen an influx of one and done players. While I don't think it is the main reason we've struggled in basketball of late, I think BC was certainly better off in the no college era than the one and done era. When the best 5 to 10 prospects are skipping college and going straight to the NBA, it makes the playing field a little more even. Kentucky and Duke are still going to get the best players who want to take the college path, but often times those guys were more raw and less of a sure thing. I hope that an ineligible rule would spark a movement of the tops prospects to the D-League or overseas, but I fear it will just mean the best basketball players will still go to Duke and UNC and just skip their senior year of high school. BC's not going to come out ahead in those scenarios.
One of BC's tools for success has been player development and education. If other schools are forced into more serious development and education paths via new rules, it takes away one of our advantages.
I don't know if any of this will pass or lead to further schisms in college sports. I just hope that BC does what's right for our student athletes and athletes in general.
Recruiting confusion
Word broke this evening that BC picked up a commitment from Georgia Defensive Back Ronnie Blackmon. But before I could put up some sort of "another Eagle in Atlanta" post, the gossip changed.
Clarification on Ronnie Blackmon/#BostonCollege situation ... No commitment, but Eagles in good shape http://t.co/0MI7wsSj5r
— Keith Niebuhr (@Keith247Sports) February 24, 2015
After the smoke cleared, it seems like a Rivals reporter jumped the gun and a 247 recruiting analyst is saying it is not a done deal yet. This is another example of how the recruiting process is broken. If the schools were just allowed to address recruiting as it happens, there wouldn't be a cottage industry around it. Under current rules, a school cannot talk about a specific recruit until he signs a Letter of Intent. Would it harm anything if BC were able to clarify what happened with Blackmon? Of course not! The back channels from assistant coaches to recruiting writers gets the news out there anyway.
Despite the hedge from 247, the news on Blackmon is still good. He's a very good prospect in a need position in a territory we are trying to grow. I hope he does commit soon. This class is picking up a lot of momentum, and he could help rally some more prospects.
Labels: Addazio recruiting, Addazio Year 3, Ronnie Blackmon
Hockey get crucial win in Beanpot Consolation game
Normally I don't care about the Beanpot Consolation/3rd place game. If we don't win the whole thing, most BC fans rationalize the Beanpot as an unimportant non-league tournament. Monday night BC finally wrapped up its delayed 2015 Beanpot with a OT win over Harvard. And it was a win BC had to have. This team is very bubbly and needed another W with regards to ranking and resume. Now the must-win games shift to the series against Notre Dame. We always want to beat the Irish, but this year the team needs the wins to help keep the post-season thoughts alive.
Labels: BC vs Harvard, Beanpot
LSU sweeps Baseball and other links
The Baseball team got an early test this season by taking on LSU in Baton Rouge. It wasn't pretty. The Tigers swept the series and BC's bats never heated up. The team has a few days off before taking on Nebraska-Omaha Friday night in Florida.
Future Baseball Eagle Dominic Hardaway is putting in long days getting ready for college baseball.
Softball had a great weekend and improved to 11-3 on the season.
Women's Basketball lost to Florida State.
We know about the guys who committed this weekend, but here are some of the other guys who visited campus this weekend.
More details are coming out regarding the strange murder of former Eagle Nate Fox.
Labels: Addazio recruiting, BC baseball, BC vs LSU, BC women's basketball, Links
Addazio's New England
For years BC coaches whispered that there wasn't enough talent in New England to build a champion. While Addazio still continues recruiting ACC territories and the Midwest, he's clearly a believer in the local talent. Saturday he added two more members to his 2016 class and both are from New England.
The first verbal of the day was Connecticut Tight End Scooter Harrington. This is a good pickup for BC even though we had an in (both of his parents are BC grads). Harrington is expected to play Tight End, but certainly has enough athleticism to play in other spots. His dad was Defensive Lineman in the 1980s.
Massachusetts OLineman Sean Ragan also committed to BC. He plays for Brian St. Pierre at St. John's Prep.
Both join Massachusetts Tight End Danny Dalton as members of the 2016 class. Early verbals to BC will probably draw interest from other programs, but Addazio has been very good at keeping kids committed, especially the locals.
No D against ND
I can't figure this team out. I keep thinking that one thing is the problem and then in the next few games the issues will be something different. Saturday it was the Defense. Defense was supposed to be a focal point The D even improved for long stretches. Yet it was the problem in the loss to Notre Dame. The Irish are highly efficient on Offense, but they aren't this good. A few thoughts:
-- Too many easy baskets. We didn't turn the ball over very often, but nearly all the TOs lead to Notre Dame points. They scored at will close to the basket. Where was the help for Clifford?
-- Don't think about Colson. As frustrating as it is to watch a couple of Mass kids wipe the floor with BC, that really doesn't fall on Christian. I love Al, but keeping Colson around was one of the things that hurt the program. Papa was not a great recruiter and couldn't fill the void left by Cooley and Coen. Notice that Colson Sr never caught on again with a college program -- not even with one of Skinner's old assistants. I hope we start getting the best players in New England but our current rosters is not a mess because of our current coach.
-- Hanlan keeps rolling. He didn't score 30, but Hanlan still played well. Notre Dame tried to minimize his driving and instead he hit a bunch of 3s. Too bad we wasted another good game.
We wasted a good Hanlan game and a good Clifford game. Maybe against Pitt things will be better.
Labels: basketball boxscores, bc vs notre dame, Bonzie Colson
Our reader brings up a good point, does new OC Todd Fitch look like Steve Addazio with hair? http://t.co/nfdlVxk3Xd pic.twitter.com/47REjUiQ7f
— A.J. Black (@BCHysteria) February 20, 2015
Walsh: "I don't know what to say to anybody anymore. Hopefully it will stop eventually." #BOSnow #7News
— 7News Boston (@7News) February 15, 2015
In honor of #PresidentsDay, two from Bapst Library's 'Great Americans' series: pic.twitter.com/Z9SrK7pIxT
— Boston College (@BostonCollege) February 16, 2015
Once Addazio secures a verbal from the 6th grade New England QB, he'll lose a star.
— BC Interruption (@bcinterruption) February 16, 2015
Spring Practice media attention and other links
Addazio spoke with ESPN regarding the beginning of Spring Practice and the change in Offensive Coordinators. I will have more on Spring Ball in the next few days.
The ACC named Liv Westphal Scholar Athlete of the Year.
Andy Gallik finished in the Top 10 bench press for Lineman at the Combine.
The Thunder traded former Eagle Reggie Jackson to Detroit. He clearly hit a ceiling this year and lost OKC's faith. I still think he can be a very good player in the league. Let's hope he makes the most of his time with the Pistons.
Labels: Addazio Year 3, Links
Hanlan can't do it alone against 'Noles
We've had plenty of one-man teams before. Dana Barros was called on to do a lot while at BC. More recently Tyrese Rice needed to lead a young and mediocre BC group. But I can't think of a better player surrounded by worse talent than our current set up with Olivier Hanlan and this BC roster. Wednesday night he scored 32. The rest of the team scored 28 in BC's loss to Florida State. While the continued losing turned the season into a painful chore, I hope Hanlan keeps up his scoring barrage. It might be our only hope to steal a game or two. Other thoughts:
-- Brown in a funk. Aaron Brown continues to make terrible decisions all over the court. The forced, bad layups are obvious, but he also made mistakes on D. Someone else besides Hanlan needs to score but I don't think it is going to be Brown.
-- Weird minutes. Magarity's absence puts Christian in a bit of a jam, but I still couldn't get a handle on why we were playing the guys we played. Owens was okay...but 30+ minutes? FSU is tough matchup for us. Maybe going a bit smaller with more minutes for Batten would have made sense.
-- Defensive letdowns. Some of FSU's 3-point shooting was luck, but BC also didn't play great D. Too many open looks and too many mental errors.
In the coming weeks there will plenty of speculation on Hanlan's future. The good news for BC fans is that his options are not great. Christian is going to have to sell him hard that staying will be best for his long-term career.
Labels: basketball boxscores, BC vs Florida State, Olivier Hanlan
The BC Pep Band welcomes youngest member
This video made the rounds Monday and I wanted to share it.
From BC's Facebook page:
A 6-year-old has joined Boston College Bands, playing along with the Pep Band on his recorder at every Boston College Athletics hockey game. Andres Jay was recently invited to conduct the BC Fight Song. (Video by Max Prio '16, Exposure Productions)#WeAreBC
Great job by the Pep Band for getting this kid involved. Also, thank you to Andres' parents. The key to being a life-long fan, is getting them while they're young!
Labels: Band, Little Eagles, youtube
Can't win
Jinxes are a fun cop out, but maybe there is something to this team being cursed. How else do you explain Heckmann's point blank layup at the end of the first OT not going in? BC's couldn't keep up the momentum in the second OT and lost to Miami. Heckmann's play was bad -- Brad Daugherty was incredulous that he didn't dunk. But it wasn't the sole reason BC loss. I do think there is something to playing closer games. Maybe the luck will turn. Here are some other thoughts.
-- The Heckmann play. Lost in the missed layup was the great play design. Christian made a great call. The 'Canes focused on Hanlan, our guys spread out and Heckmann had a clear path to the basket. I tell myself that with better recruits, that design wins the game.
-- Terrible shooting. It is amazing that BC pushed this game as far as it did with such a bad shooting afternoon. No one could make a basket and plenty of misses were near the rim.
-- Where were the students? I hoped that students might use the snow and double header as an excuse to come to the game. It seemed like they used the unique time and weather to stay away. The team won't be better until most of current students are gone, so I understand people not caring. However, they missed a fun, free game.
What are your thoughts? Leave your thoughts and feedback in the comments section.
Labels: basketball boxscores, BC vs Miami, Jim Christian Year 1, that really happened
Make Monday's Doubleheader a 'thing'
Boston's latest snow storm forced BC to reschedule both the Men's and Women's Basketball games to Monday. The Men's game against Miami will start at 3:00 pm and the Women's game will start 30 minutes after the Men's game ends. The key aspect of the unique event is that admission is free! I understand that many fans won't be able to make it. However, students don't have the same excuses. This means that ALL STUDENTS SHOULD GO TO THE GAMES!!! There is no real reason not to go. "The teams stinks." So what? These are games they can win. They need your support. Maybe a little bit of fan support can push them over the top. "But it's cold. I can't get there." Most of you don't live that far from Conte. Even if you live off campus or Newton, you can make it. Just trudge through the snow. It will be warm in the building. "I have other things to do." What else do you really have to do that can't be done later? As I have said in the past, none of you really realize what busy is. It won't be the same after graduation. Take advantage of these moments now!
But it is not enough to just go to the games. You all have phones. Take pictures. Tweet it. Put it on Facebook. On Instagram. Or whatever else you might do. Get this trending. Make going to BC basketball games fun again. Make it a thing. Monday will be a slow news day and a slow sports day. If everyone in Conte starts cheering and making noise and taking pictures, it will be a game and moment you won't forget.
I don't know if the team will come through, but you can. Get there, make noise and have fun.
Labels: basketball, Boston snow, doubleheader
Reading too much into the Lonnie Jackson news
Lonnie Jackson was supposed to be the example. The Christian staff saw him as a guy who had a few good skills but didn't develop enough physically or in his game to be an ACC player. They felt that was a failure of the previous staff. But he was also supposed to be someone who could lead the transition from Donahue to Christian. While other guys transferred or seemed out for themselves, Jackson was a guy who bought in to the new guys. He was ready to have a big year. Maybe he's a different type of example now that he's leaving.
This story has a different ending if Jackson doesn't get injured. If healthy, he would probably be a contributor right now and finishing his career at BC. Instead he and Christian's staff are moving on. Jackson can finish his degree and pick the right spot to play next year. His dad's quote seems like he doesn't care about location, just playing time. I am sure he will find somewhere.
For Christian, this creates a problem and an opportunity. Even if he wasn't a game changer, Jackson potentially provided some leadership, a shooter and some roster balance as a 5th year senior next season. They can find talent to fill his minutes and points, the question is whether it will be another 5th year, a traditional transfer or another incoming freshman. Ideally it would be a low-risk, high reward 5th year. That would keep the balance. We won't know until later in the spring when the transfer market shakes out.
Best of luck to Lonnie. I am sorry it never came together at BC for him or the other guys in Donahue's mega recruiting class.
Labels: Jim Christian recruiting, Jim Christian Year 1, Lonnie Jackson
New graphic! We need to return to BC pride and remember what the great players were all about! #Toughness #WeAreBC pic.twitter.com/WodKKBGh0C
— Jim Christian (@BCJimChristian) February 10, 2015
when @bchoopnews was in #bigeast. @dabrams24 #BIGEASTmbb https://t.co/a9jQhLSgy0
— Big East Hoops 24/7 (@BigEastTourney) February 7, 2015
I cannot believe your rival school would deceive young men like this. Oh, your school did it? Commit To The School, Not The Coach!
— Jason Kirk (@JasonKirkSBN) February 6, 2015
@dmartynick @ML01803 Anyone know if Addazio can coach hoops?
— Kevin Wall (@kwallcuse) February 12, 2015
Christian: "We stopped playing"
Jim Christian seems frustrated. I don't blame him. As I wrote Wednesday night, this team is not talented enough to play well for 30 minutes and still win. They need full effort, for the full game and on each possession. If you watch Christian in the huddle, he's not really a screamer. He has the more sarcastic, passive aggressive way of trying to get through to the players. I don't know if it is going to work, but he's not holding pack with his criticism.
From the Globe:
"We stopped playing," Christian said. "We basically stopped playing. We stopped guarding. They got layups. We were awful in transition defense." The timeout wasn't to send a message. To Christian it was already clear. "They know," Christian said. "They know. It was way before that. I mean, that game was over at that point."
"I hate to say it, but for me, it's eye-opening as we move forward with our program, we have to have guys who have more invested in winning, in doing what it takes year-round to be a good basketball player at this level, because you're playing against guys who, every single day, wake up and challenge themselves to the highest level."
The Herald:
"We didn't lose this game on offense. We lost this game on effort."
The Heights:
"We stopped guarding, we gave up on transition defense, and that's what our team does down the stretch."
I don't know if this team will check out completely, but at least we know Christian will be pretty candid about what's going on with his team.
Labels: Jim Christian Year 1
Dudley does it all
We are in the middle of a Jared Dudley renaissance. The Clippers gave him away in the offseason and I worried his meaningful NBA career might be over. Thankfully I was wrong. Dudley has proved critical to a surprising Milwaukee team and now playing better, is getting media attention again. If you're a Dudley fan, this podcast with ESPN's Zach Lowe is definitely worth a listen. In it he talks about role with the Bucks, his health, life on the road and his future. He's serious about being a college coach and you can tell from his comments that he's already thinking about recruiting and scouting. I know he's going to be successful when he does make the transition. Let's hope it is at BC.
Labels: Jared Dudley
Good looking uniforms, ugly basketball
Once again BC wasted decent stretches of basketball with poor efforts, lack of hustle and dumb mistakes. Even when facing an unmotivated Syracuse, BC lacks enough talent to win when playing poorly. After playing decently in the first half, the team faded in the second half. The throwback uniforms were a nice touch, though they seem wasted on the crowd and opponent. Embarrassingly you could see free t-shirts draped over seats in Conte that went unclaimed. I keep telling myself that winning will solve many of these issues. It will, won't it?
-- Turnovers against the 2-3. I understand how 'Cuses D forces long, bad shots and controls the board, but how were we so bad passing? Clifford and Heckmann both had some head scratchers.
-- Clifford's offense. Ellis said that Clifford lacked confidence on his mid-range shots. I don't know if it is that simple. He used to be a good shooter. Those shots from the high post should be gimmes.
-- Good movement on defense. In looking for a silver lining, I did want to note that the defensive execution is improving. We still get overpowered, but there are fewer mental errors or guys missing assignments.
Labels: basketball boxscores, BC vs Syracuse, Jim Christian Year 1
Offensive staff finally settled
During his Signing Day press conference, Steve Addazio got surprisingly defensive regarding next year's offense. He sort of dismissed that the change in Coordinators would impact the team and noted that it was his offense and he touched every aspect of the program. In fairness to Addazio and Day, our offense has looked more like Addazio's Florida schemes (heavy on power) than it ever looked like Day's variation on Chip Kelly. The team and scheme should probably look very familiar next year with Todd Fitch calling plays.
Fitch has plenty of experience calling plays. His past -- with mobile QBs in the spread -- will also mesh well with what Addazio wants. Overall I give Addazio credit for handling the search well. He lost his OC somewhat unexpectedly, looked around and decided his best option was promoting from the current staff. For those who fear that BC went cheap, backfilling Fitch's position spot with Brian White indicates otherwise.
I thought White might make it up to BC, but as a play caller. The fact that he's coming as a position coach confirms that BC's giving out competitive staff salaries. A veteran guy like White, who has been a coordinator and worked at various Power 5 programs, had options. He picked BC to come back to New England and to work with Addazio again. That's great validation of where we are headed. White also fits well with BC's needs. He's recruited Florida, recruited the Midwest, and with ties to Harvard and Notre Dame, understands that BC recruits have to put in time in the classroom.
I was sad to see Ryan Day go, but think Addazio handled this offseason's staff changes well. We kept continuity on offense and upgraded our recruiting.
Labels: Addazio Offense, Addazio Year 3, Brian White, Todd Fitch
Who's going down?
We know all the reasons the basketball team is not winning. But I want to remain optimistic. I still think they can pull a few more games out. Olivier's getting hot. Magarity's coming back. The D is improving. The worst part of the schedule is over. Let's all drink the Kool-Aid together! I want Christian to finish strong and give us hope that there are good things to come. I ranked the remaining games in order from Most Winnable to No Way in Hell. Share your thoughts in the comments section.
1. Syracuse. Hanlan is still hot. It is at home Syracuse is checked out now that their season is over. We might break out special uniforms.
2. Miami. Almost beat them last time. It is at home. The cold might get to them a bit. They are not playing as well as they were in during the first game.
3. Wake Forest. The final game of the regular season. "Senior Day" for three starters. By this time we will have built up some confidence. We will want to play hard going into the ACC Tournament.
4. Virginia Tech. Not a good team. Also in transition. Late start so crowd will be sparse. Good matchup for BC if Hanlan gets hot.
5. Pitt. Another game BC should have won. On the road this time, but still a relatively good matchup. Should be low scoring and give BC another chance to steal a win.
6. Florida State. Another mediocre ACC team. Not a great matchup physically for BC and is also on the road.
7. Notre Dame. BC was terrible in this game yet still made it interesting. The crowd should be decent at Conte. Revenge factor. Notre Dame factor.
8. NC State. It is at home. NC State can score, but are not great defensively. They may take BC lightly.
I think we win at least three of these remaining games. We have had too many close calls not go our way. Something's got to give.
Sox to honor Frates and other links
New Major League Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred will be among the many attending the Red Sox-BC game in Spring Training. He will be there to honor former Eagle Pete Frates. Both teams will wear No. 3 logos in Frates' honor and BC will wear throwback jerseys.
Women's Hockey remained undefeated by shutting out UConn.
Softball beat George Mason 5-1.
On Friday night, Hockey beat Merrimack.
As BCI noted Jim Christian offered 2016 recruit Wenyen Gabriel.
Labels: Links, Peter Frates
Tar Heels too big for BC
The first 20 minutes gave me hope. BC capitalized on UNC's mistakes and handled their runs. For a moment it felt like this might be the game. Yet the Tar Heels controlled early in the second half. BC made another charge late but it was not enough. The announcers gave BC plenty of credit for doing a lot with a little, but that doesn't make this any less frustrating. A few other thoughts:
-- We miss Magarity. He sat out again with a concussion and it made a difference. Magarity is not a great defensive player, but we could have used his size and his ability to draw out big men.
-- Awful outside shooting. We need Hanlon and Brown to chuck it. It is our only offense. But we are not going to win many games going 5 for 23 from 3.
-- No bench. With Magarity out of the rotation, it hurts our depth, but only getting four points from the bench is terrible. Owens and Odio have to have more impact on the game. They are both athletic enough to be better around the rim.
Labels: basketball boxscores, BC vs UNC, Jim Christian Year 1
FIRED UP for 2015 Signing Day...who'll be the first Eagle to join us??? #WeAreBC #BCSigningDay
— Steve Addazio (@BCCoachAddazio) February 4, 2015
NSD line of the day from @BCHysteria: pic.twitter.com/LOURSkd4FA
— Jeff (@saintwarrick) February 5, 2015
13yrs ago I made the best decision of my life deciding to be a BC Eagle! Happy signing day future Eagles! #WeAreBC pic.twitter.com/muAF5NnW5j
— Al Washington (@BCCoachWash) February 4, 2015
Should you tweet at recruits? A thorough flow chart by @crimsonquarry. http://t.co/c8MccqtBp7 pic.twitter.com/5FEnV9X8U4
— SB✯Nation CFB (@SBNationCFB) February 3, 2015
Are bigger recruiting classes better for BC?
In his first two full recruiting classes, Steve Addazio signed 53 players. That doesn't include the six (and counting) 5th years transfers he used in both those classes or the two transfers that came in his transition class (Louie Addazio and Matt Patchan). That sort of roster churn is very familiar to SEC schools, but it is unprecedented at BC.
A host of factors contributed to this churn (most having to do with attrition and neglect under Spaz) but it created a huge opportunity for Addazio to remake the roster. For comparison, the closet BC ever came to the 53 commitments in a two year period were 48 recruits that surrounded Jags' one full class. He recruited 30 in 2008 and the transition classes on either side both had 18 commitments. If you just look at the Rivals database for examples of one BC coach bringing in his own two classes, the most ever brought in during a two year period was 44 commitments ('03-'04 under TOB and '10-'11 under Spaz).
The good news about this much churn is that it enables a sweeping talent upgrade (assuming you recruit the right players). The bad news is that it leaves a team very young and almost perpetuates a cycle of big classes. With big classes, you'll have more attrition. When forced to play young players, you are not spreading out that one scholarship over five years. When you accept more 5th year transfers, you have to replace them annually. Churn works for many schools but is still new to BC. While it may create more challenges in graduation rates and player development there is no reason it cannot succeed at BC.
Assuming normal attrition, Addazio's next class should still be big. It won't be 25 guys, but should be 20 or 21 commitments. Who knows what comes after? Will attrition spike? Will the redshirting finally slow down the churn? As long as Addazio keeping finding talent and winning, I don't think BC fans will mind the big recruiting classes.
Another frustrating loss for Hoops
How do you judge an ugly loss? BC basketball has produced so many over the past few years, we've had plenty from which to choose. Wednesday's loss to Notre Dame wasn't extraordinary. It was just frustrating. BC did enough things to make it close, but did all its good at the wrong times so that the game was lopsided throughout. Even late as they made a run they couldn't get out of their own way. Hanlan was on fire, having made four straight 3s, yet his teammates ignored him on two straight possessions late. How does this happen? Here are a few other thoughts:
-- Hanlan needs to take over early. I used to blame Hanlan's slow first halfs on Steve Donahue's offense. Not anymore. It is clear that Hanlan doesn't always assert himself early. Whether he is trying to be a distributor or is just lacking the killer instinct, it is hurting BC. He needs to drive from the first possession and just maybe BC won't constantly be playing catchup.
-- Missing at close range. The number of layups and putbacks this team misses is crazy. Since we cannot finish, maybe these guys should think about restarting the offense on occasion.
--Turnovers from the bigs. Magarity is our best passing big man so his absence was felt. In his place Clifford and Heckmann both made plenty of bad and stupid passes.
A week ago, I thought BC turned a corner. Its been terrible basketball since. If they are going to salvage this season, it better start soon.
Labels: basketball boxscores, bc vs notre dame
Making sense of Signing Day
Steve Addazio signed his third recruiting class (only his second full class) Wednesday. All the rumored BC verbals came through leaving little surprise or drama to the day. Although it was another large class and filled plenty of needs, the group of players was not highly regarded by the various recruiting services. Here are the rankings:
Rivals: 46th nationally | 10th in the ACC
Scout: 57th nationally | 11th in the ACC
247: 57th nationally | 12th in the ACC
ESPN: Not ranked and outside the Top 40
I have never really cared about the rankings, so I am not going to start now. What I care more about is BC's ability to identify the players they want and then close on them. Addazio is great at that. Most of these guys camped at BC before verballing and we didn't have any stragglers or guys who flipped away from BC.
Addazio spent a good chunk of his press conference emphasizing geography. He's spent two years building a class within five hours of campus and focused on recruits within three hours of campus. This left former BC strongholds in the Midwest relatively under recruited this year. Once again, I don't care where the recruits come from as long as they produce. TOB liked to hit Cincinnati and it paid dividends for a decade. Addazio made his career at other schools picking off New England, so it only makes sense that he thinks he can build a BC class here. For years BC coaches slagged off Massachusetts football for lacking depth and top end talent. Addazio doesn't share that belief and he's betting his future on it.
The other news of the day was the arrival of 5th year transfer Evan Kelly. 5th years are always welcome and I expect another one or two over the summer.
With this class, the roster is now Addazio's. It's young and raw, but it is all his. If he is going to be a great coach, he will need these kids to be great and out perform their rankings. I think they can, but only time will tell.
I will have more on the recruits in the coming days.
Labels: Addazio recruiting, Signing Day
Hockey loses Beanpot opener
Even as the team struggled early in the season, I always expected the guys to come together for the Beanpot. Boston's annual tournament is when York teams kick it into high gear. Well that won't happy this year as Northeastern knocked BC out of the Beanpot Final. It will be the first time in six years BC won't play for the championship.
BC will play Harvard in the consolation game Monday. If they make a run this year, it will be without the Beanpot title.
Labels: BC vs Northeastern, Beanpot
BC steps up Signing Day coverage
Wednesday is nation Letter of Intent day a.k.a. Signing Day in college football. Traditionally at BC that has meant a press release with player bios and a short press conference at the end of the day. While that probably seemed fine and appropriate to most of us, it wasn't what the big boys of college football were doing. This year the school is taking it up a notch and hosting a live show online starting at 7:30 a.m. ET. Meter and Cronan will host and break news while Mutryn and Jamie Parker field questions and interview coaches.
These sorts of events may seem a little much, but there is a plan to it all. A small minority of BC fans follow recruiting closely. Events like this appease them, but they also start to fan the flames for other BC fans who traditionally don't pay attention to recruiting. By making a big deal out of it all, the hope is that it becomes a bigger deal and that passion translates into better support and that translates into better recruiting. I don't know if it will work but it is nice to see BC trying something new and stepping out of the Dark Ages with regards to marketing recruiting. Watch the show Wednesday morning and enjoy.
Labels: Addazio recruiting, Meterparel, Pete Cronan, Scott Mutryn, Signing Day
A few quibbles with Bates' latest letter
Brad Bates released a letter on Friday explaining scheduling and addressing the 2015 schedule. I applaud his willingness to address issues in such a public manner, but there are a few things that don't ring true. The three big issues I question are the demand for seven home games, the FCS opponents and the non-conference games.
Seven Home Games. I am sure that in surveys and focus groups, most BC fans and ticket holders said they want seven home games. However, ticket sales and our inability to sell out during seven game homestands says otherwise. Does the feedback from ticket holders carry any caveats? Because most of the anecdotal stuff I hear is that people want seven games, but don't want bottom feeder opponents. Until BC reaches a point where ticket demand indicates that we can support a seven game schedule, I question that Bates should keep forcing it. Guarantees for that seventh opponent are going to become more and more expensive. Maybe BC should settle for six home games every few years and go get a payout as a road team from a major program.
FCS opponents. Bates mentions New Mexico State cancelling at the 11th hour and forcing the Howard issue. The official cancellation may have been 11th hour, but Bates knew it was highly likely months ago. If BC really wanted to find a respectable replacement for the Aggies, they could have been more proactive in their scheduling. I suspect they hoped to pressure New Mexico State to keep the game or pressure their conference to provide another FBS patsy. Since we couldn't get an FBS patsy we decided to pay for an FCS one. I think it was all a calculated risk to help a young team. I don't have a problem with Bates or Addazio for doing that. I just prefer they were a little more forthright about the whole thing.
Non-conference games. Bates implies that teams were afraid to schedule BC. I am sure that was the case for some of the programs we contacted. However, BC also didn't agree to take on all comers. You cannot say people are afraid to play us and not employ your own any time/any place attitude.
Scheduling is tough and will only get tougher. Other than playing BYU, I think our best future solution might be playing non-conference games against ACC teams. Wake and UNC are going to do it. Why not us? It is less expensive than other opponents. The fans will see familiar names on the schedule and selection committees will reward those games over lower-level FBS teams. The only downside is potential confusion with regards to ACC divisional races. Yet complaining about that is a nice problem to have. If we lose to say Pitt in an out of conference game yet still win the Division, you won't hear BC ticket holders complaining.
Labels: 2015 football schedule, Brad Bates, scheduling
There are no Patriots without a BC guy
Before the dynasty and before they became the model NFL franchise, the Patriots were Billy Sullivan's baby. Sullivan was a character in every sense of the word and if the hadn't put together an ownership group for an AFL team, there would be no professional football in the Boston area today.
Sulivan graduated from BC in 1937 and then went on to a series of jobs that sound more like adventures. He worked PR for BC, Notre Dame and the Braves. He started the Jimmy Fund and had a variety of entrepreneurial projects. Unlike many of the other NFL owners, Sullivan wasn't rich, so there was always a robbing Peter to pay Paul aspect to the Pats. He moved the team around Boston until the stadium was built in Foxboro. He sued his partners in the '70s, lost a fortune on a Michael Jackson tour in the '80s and eventually sold the team and then won a suit against NFL in the '90s for the limitations they put on him during the sale.
If Sullivan hadn't lost his shirt, I don't know if he and his children ever would have built what Kraft did. But without Sullivan getting his taste of the business side of football at the Heights, there is no trophy case in Foxboro now.
Labels: Billy Sullivan, New England Patriots
Beanpot postponed and other links
The Beanpot will have to wait one day, as the organizers have pushed the Semis to Tuesday. The weather related delay won't impact the Women's Beanpot, which will also start Tuesday.
Huge recruiting news over the weekend as Addazio flipped the Connecticut Player of the Year Zach Allen to BC. Allen previously verballed to Northwestern. He fills a huge position of need on the Defensive Line and continues BC's progress in Connecticut.
The Maxwell Club named newly arrived Eagle Elijah Robinson the New Jersey Player of the Year.
Labels: Addazio recruiting, Beanpot, Links


text:
Negotiating adat
Written by Dean Yulindra Affandi
Reformasi
Dean Yulindra Affandi
Throughout much of the second half of the twentieth century, the Indonesian government laid claim to exclusive authority over a vast forest estate comprising nearly three-quarters of the nation's terrestrial area. It also claimed control over the ways people could interact with the natural environment. The classification known as kawasan hutan negara (state forest area) was conceived by the colonial government, but was expanded dramatically during the Suharto era. It shifted the locus of authority over forest territories and resources firmly to the central government. Consequently, the state ignored masyarakat adat (customary communities), and the access and management rights that are mediated by their customary laws and traditions.
Adat is the term used in Indonesia to describe this myriad of customary systems. It refers to, among other things, rules, perceptions, moral concepts, forms of agreement, conventions, principles, modes of behaviour, ceremony, the practice of magic, sorcery, and ritual.
Kasepuhan have been clearing and cultivating patches of forest for centuries - Dean Yulindra Affandi
The reformasi period brought a groundswell of support for masyarakat adat, enabling them to organise themselves to advocate for recognition of their customary rights and regulatory practices – particularly for the restoration of their hak ulayat (sovereignty over specific areas of land and resources).
On 16 May 2013, Indonesia's Constitutional Court handed down its decision in case number 35/PUU-X/2012 (hereafter referred to as MK 35). It decreed that forest lands occupied by masyarakat adat should not be classified as state forest. The judgment invalidated the government's ownership claim to all the country's forests and their resources, a claim based on the 1999 Forestry Law. The decision potentially opens the way for a major reallocation of forests back to the communities who have long occupied and looked after them.
Kasepuhan community
The Kasepuhan are an adat community living in the forest at Halimun-Salak, in the Lebak District, Banten Province. At present there are 57 Kasepuhan groups scattered throughout the forest area, totalling around 50,000 people. They live in the largest tract of relatively pristine rainforest remaining in Java. The forest cover in the Halimun-Salak area is estimated to be about 60,000 hectares. Since the Dutch colonial period, the area has been designated as a protected forest based on its rich biodiversity and hydrological importance.
It takes only six hours to drive from Jakarta to reach the Kasepuhan settlements, indicating how close this large and biologically diverse forest is to the teeming national capital. Even during the heyday of Dutch botanical exploration, relatively few attempts were made to explore and exploit this area. According to many Kasepuhan people, the primary reason for this was the belief that this whole section of south western Java is inhabited by spirits, reflected in the oft-cited aphorism, 'nyumput buni di nu caang' (Sundanese: hiding in plain sight).
Kasepuhan claim that they have been clearing and cultivating the patches of forest in this area since long before the Dutch arrived, and perceive themselves as the original owners and guardians of the region and its forests. According to the oral history passed down through the generations, the Kasepuhan people originated from the last Hindu Kingdom in Java, the Pajajaran Kingdom, which was vanquished in 1570.
The Kasepuhan community is one of two masyarakat adat that joined together with AMAN (Alliance of Indigenous People of the Archipelago) to petition the Constitutional Court for judicial review in order to gain recognition of their customary rights. The court decision has brought a new opportunity for the Kasepuhan to strengthen their claim on their adat forest.
In 2003, the Ministry of Forestry expanded the area of Gunung Halimun National Park by incorporating several regions into the area of Gunung Salak, forming a new park now known as Gunung Halimun Salak National Park. It stretches over an area of 113,357 hectares. The expansion placed much of the Kasepuhan's adat territory within the boundaries of the park, thus limiting their access to the forestlands on which their livelihoods depend.
According to the Forestry Law, the Kasepuhan communities living inside the national park have no ownership rights. However, in practice they had already come to exercise some degree of management rights. For example, in the timber forests managed by Perhutani (the State Forest Corporation), local community members were employed to plant trees in small plots and in return were allowed to grow crops on them while the trees were still small. This adat intercropping system was called taungya or tumpang sari.
Other de facto management rights were negotiated with national park staff, who realised that in practice it was not realistic to strictly implement the law. They accepted that the Kasepuhan had a right to utilise forestland and resources in certain designated areas and to live within park boundaries. The national park management also designated a special use zone to acknowledge the fact that people live and farm inside the park boundaries.
These arrangements are informal in nature, but provide the Kasepuhan some sense of land tenure security. Kang Yoyo, a 45-year-old member of the Kasepuhan Cisitu explained to me that, 'We are sometimes warned off, but when the forest rangers come they feel bad for us. They know the people were already there before the national park. That is why they allow us to use non-timber forest resources for consumption'.
Negotiating forest access
MK 35 has brought new hope to the Kasepuhan. Along with several NGOs, they have been active in articulating and asserting their rights to state authorities. In 2014, with support from a number of NGOs, the Kasepuhan intensively lobbied the regional parliament to issue a new regional regulation officially recognising the Kasepuhan community and their adat territory. This is one of the key goals to be achieved before the Kasepuhan can receive state recognition of their hak ulayat.
The Kasepuhan have re-organised quickly to adapt new institutional bases of access to resources. A Kasepuhan adat association called SABAKI was revived with the help of some NGOs to facilitate negotiations with government on matters including forest access and ownership. The chairman of the organisation holds a government role as head of a sub-district. His appointment has strategic importance in helping the organisation to be acknowledged and recognised by district government.
The regional regulation on Kasepuhan is being discussed by the local parliament Epistema Institute
Some individual Kasepuhan members are actively involved in local political institutions: both the speaker of the regional parliament and the deputy district head are from Kasepuhan groups. Other Kasepuhan individuals serve as members of the regional parliament. Kasepuhan realise the crucial importance of gaining support from the current political regime in order to increase their chances of restoring their hak ulayat. The Kasepuhan cultivate these relationships when they need to negotiate forest access.
Presently, the Kasepuhan are attempting to promote their adat beliefs and customs in an attempt to gain recognition of their claims. For example, they use local media to publicise different aspects of their lives. The harvest festival of Seren Taun has recently become quite well-known due to media coverage. This has had the positive impact of increasing public awareness of the Kasepuhan way of life and increasing public support for its cause.
Another tactic that the Kasepuhan community use to assert their territorial claims has been to present authorities with examples of their customary forest management system. This includes reforestation in various locations where forest had been destroyed or degraded, regardless of who holds the rights to manage it. This reforestation effort serves other purposes besides rehabilitating the forest. It is also a way of staking claim to it. With help from a number of NGOs, the Kasepuhan have begun to identify and visualise their knowledge about the boundaries of their customary territory with the help of modern technology such as GPS (global positioning system) and GIS (geographic information system).
The regional regulation on Kasepuhan is currently being discussed in the local parliament, and is expected to pass within a year. If this happens, the Kasepuhan community would be among the first adat groups in Indonesia to take advantage of the MK 35 decision and restore their hak ulayat.
Kasepuhan adherence to adat values and practice form a pervasive and resilient framework for their day-to-day lives and relationships. One of the adat leaders said to me 'The Kasepuhan aren't entering the twenty-first century as defeated people. We won't degrade ourselves. We haven't lost a sense of who we are'. Adat represents both a potent motivating force and an effective resource that they tactically mobilise in order to secure greater autonomy and control over ancestral lands. Adat is both a reason, and a means, to achieve legal recognition of their territory.
Dean Yulindra Affandi (dean.affandi@monash.edu.au) is a research fellow at the Habibie Center and a PhD Candidate at Monash University, Melbourne.

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text:
Senator Manchin pulls support for Biden's $1.75 trillion social spending plan
Democratic Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia said Sunday he can no longer support President Biden's Build Back Better Act. Manchin told 'Fox News Sunday' that concerns over inflation, the national debt and the COVID-19 pandemic forced his decision, saying "I cannot vote to continue with this piece of legislation. I just can't. I've tried everything humanly possible. I can't get there. This is a no on this piece of legislation. I have tried everything I know to do. In a lengthy statement reiterating those concerns, Manchin said Democrats in Washington "are determined to dramatically reshape our society in a way that leaves our country even more vulnerable to the threats we face."
In response, White House press secretary Jen Psaki issued a statement early Sunday afternoon, disputing the senator's public comments. Psaki said Manchin's remarks on Fox "are at odds with his discussions this week with the President, with White House staff, and with his own public utterances," adding, "Weeks ago, Senator Manchin committed to the President, at his home in Wilmington, to support the Build Back Better framework that the President then subsequently announced. Senator Manchin pledged repeatedly to negotiate on finalizing that framework 'in good faith.' Just as Senator Manchin reversed his position on Build Back Better this morning, we will continue to press him to see if he will reverse his position yet again, to honor his prior commitments and be true to his word. The fight for Build Back Better is too important to give up. We will find a way to move forward next year."
As written and proposed, the Build Back Better plan would pass through special Senate budgetary rebukes requiring a simple majority vote. Manchin, a moderate Democrat, has pushed for bipartisan cooperation in everything the chamber does since he arrived in the Senate in late 2010. In his statement Sunday, Manchin said he will "continue working with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to address the needs of all Americans and do so in a way that does not risk our nation's independence, security and way of life."
Editorial credit: Rachael Warriner / Shutterstock.com


Obituaries for Rich abound, and most of the ones I've read so far emphasize her radical feminism, which at a point in the 1970s extended even to lesbian separatism. But what these obituaries often occlude is the fact that Rich quickly moved beyond her analysis of gender as a primary source of suffering and extended her vision to a much broader web of oppressions. Learning from her Black sisters, especially, but also increasingly concerned with global markets, the complexities of Middle Eastern politics, and the tangled web of injustices, Rich expanded her ethical vision so that the often overlooked writings of her last 30 years–both essays and poetry–are as powerful for the feminism she so importantly helped write into being. As we struggle to think through healthcare reform, the hinging of a presidential race on women's bodies, the uncomfortable reality of embedded violence and racism in the Trayvon Martin case, and our responsibility to attend and reflect and resist cynicism as we imagine and work together for some better future, I believe Adrienne Rich to be an important resource for anyone claiming to be young, or anabaptist, or radical. Let us not forget the wisdom of our elders.
Here is the piece I ought to have posted months ago.
I've been reading Adrienne Rich (again) as I've been thinking about race, gender, and other forms of difference in relation to Occupy Wall Street. Her essay "Notes Towards a Politics of Location" (1984) challenges the tendencies of the white, heterosexist makers of theory and policy who assume their experiences are universal, shared across the globe. I believe that in our analyses of injustices, of economies, we must take responsibility for our own situations–Rich calls this a "politics of location"–and the differences that characterize human experiences.
I've been thinking about this both in terms of the Occupy movement and in terms of anti-Occupy rhetoric, like the "Letter from a College Student" that has been circulating on political blogs and social networking sites. The paradoxical need for us to speak from our own experiences but also to resist generalizing from them, assuming that everyone else should be judged by the same standards is especially striking. So is the danger of one form of injustice taking precedence in a heirarchy of oppressions that de-emphasizes inextricably linked issues. Theologian Elizabeth SchüsslerFiorenza helpfully offers the term kyriarchy, meaning a structure of connected and mutually-sustaining forms of power based on gender, race, sexuality, class, capitalism, religion, etc. In the face of kyraiarchy, we need multiple stories–we need to practice attentive listening across differences. Only with such sensitive, hospitable openness to others will we see our collective energy renewed in the long-haul struggle for justice and beauty.
"The movement for change is a changing movement, changing itself, demasculinizing itself, de-Westernizing itself, becoming a critical mass that is saying in so many different voices, languages, gestures, actions: It must change; we ourselves can change it.
Thanks for this pithy window into Rich's thoughts. I'll admit I've never read her myself. Thanks for the nudge in that direction.
Are any of her essays on-line?
Tim, thanks for the comment. With a quick search, I found this fairly recent article (http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2006/nov/18/featuresreviews.guardianreview15) by Rich on the political importance of poetry.
There are also plenty of her poems available for a quick read on various websites, including at poetryfoundation.org.


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Iraq and Libya (II)
By Editor on 31st August 2011 in Politics
The following article was published by Reidar Visser, an historian of Iraq educated at the University of Oxford and currently based at the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs. It is reproduced here with the author's permission. Any opinions expressed are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the views of Iraq Business News.
The recent successes of the opposition forces in Libya have prompted a second outpouring of comparisons between Iraq and Libya as well as another bout of compilations of dos and don'ts in a post-conflict reconstruction environment. As the entire Middle East region goes on holiday for the Eid this week, it is worth reflecting for a moment on one particular aspect of the Iraq-Libya comparison that has failed to receive much attention thus far: The approach adopted by the respective oppositions to questions of territoriality and state structure during their periods of transition.
In Iraq, of course, one of the main watchwords in the post-2003 setting was "federalism", which thanks to Kurdish and American pressure had been grudgingly accepted by the Shiite Islamists during the opposition conferences of 2002. At first, the Shiite embrace of federalism had been seen mainly as a concession to the Kurdish desire for autonomy within the Kurdish-majority areas, but gradually, some of the Shiite Islamists developed an interest in federalism themselves and tried to combine it with sectarian rhetoric. The crucial point of transformation in this regard appears to have been the negotiations over the Transitional Administrative Law in 2004, in which Adel Abd al-Mahdi of the Shiite Islamist ISCI used the argument that "everything the Kurds have, the Shiites shall have" to make the concept of federalism applicable to all of Iraq. Of course, ISCI's subsequent attempt at converting the general Shiite population to a pro-federal position proved singularly unsuccessful; nonetheless the damage had been done and today Iraq still struggles with a constitution from 2005 that remains full of contradictions thanks to the premature and unnecessary introduction of federalism as an option also for governorates outside Kurdistan.
It is a refreshing but largely unnoticed sign, therefore, that the new transitional charter of the Libyan opposition does not tinker with the existing state structure in Libya in any way. The charter basically confirms the existing unitary arrangements including Tripoli's status as the capital. True, there is reference to the flag of the monarchy area – which with its tripartite structure at least does have a federalist origin – but it is fair to say that during the past tumultuous months the old flag has come to signify general anti-Gadhafi sentiment rather than a specific pro-federal stance. Neither "federalism" nor "decentralisation" occurs in the text of the charter at all.
KBR Wins 3-Year UK Govt Deal in Iraq
New Iraqi Dinar to be Harder to Counterfeit
Tags: Libya, Norwegian Institute of International Affairs, Reidar Visser


text:
Men's hockey drops Beanpot heartbreaker
Ryan Fallon February 11, 2014 3 min read
By Josh Brown
Close but just short.
That was the case for the #12 Northeastern Huskies (16-10-3) Monday night in the Beanpot Championship as they fell 4-1 to the #1 ranked Boston College Eagles (22-4-3), in what could arguably be called Northeastern's best executed game of the season. The win is Boston College's 5th consecutive Beanpot title, and the second straight against the Huskies.
Northeastern came out strong in the first period out-shooting the Eagles 16-11 behind a relentless offensive attack and strong defense across the board for the Huskies.Despite this, Boston College scored the lone goal of the first period on Kevin Hayes 21st goal of the season assisted by Bill Arnold and Johnny Gaudreau.
In a reversal of fortune in the second period the Eagles out-shot the Huskies 14-8 but Northeastern scored the only goal of that period on John Stevens' 6th of the season assisted by Kevin Roy. The Northeastern defense was able to block 12 shots in the second period alone, which helped take the ease off Clay Witt, who once again was his team's backbone all game long.
Northeastern Head Coach Jim Madigan was confident where his team was at, after heading into the locker room tied after two periods.
"I like the way our team played, [they] competed hard. They battled for the whole game and through two periods I liked where we were," Madigan continued, "If you can be 1-1 or up a goal or down a goal going into the third period, you've got a chance to win. I just liked where we were going into that third period."
Despite the consensus that Northeastern outplayed the Eagles in the first two periods, the tide changed in the third with the Eagles out-shooting Northeastern 16-6, and scoring three goals to seal the game.
The first one came at 14:30 of the period on a Patrick Brown tip off of a Isaac MacLeod shot that just right by the shoulder of Clay Witt. Johnny Gaudreau gave the Eagles a two goal lead at 18:44 of the period on an empty-net goal, followed by another Patrick Brown goal with the 50 seconds left in the period that got over the glove of Witt.
Witt ended the night with 37 saves on 40 shots, and ended the Beanpot saving a combined 64 of 67 shots he faced.
Coach Madigan talked about Witt's performance, and how he kept this Huskies team in the game all game long.
"I thought he played fabulous. I thought both goalies played really well tonight and Clay gave us a chance to win," Madigan added, "It's 1-1 after two periods and their goalie makes a great save to keep it out of the net… and Clay makes a few good saves there and he just couldn't get the tip. It was well placed and he just couldn't get it. But he was really good. He's given us a chance to win all year long."
Kevin Hayes took home Beanpot MVP honors as Eagles freshman goalie Thatcher Demko got the Eberly Award, given to the goalie who accumulates the highest save percentage in the tournament.
The season is still by far not over for the Huskies, who have Hockey East Championship and NCAA Tournament goals in mind. The Huskies will travel to Amherst to try and get revenge on Massachusetts who beat them 3-0 Friday night.
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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
Charagmus cachectus é uma espécie de insetos coleópteros polífagos pertencente à família Curculionidae.

A autoridade científica da espécie é Gyllenhal, tendo sido descrita no ano de 1834.

Trata-se de uma espécie presente no território português.

Referências
 Charagmus cachectus - de Jong, Y.S.D.M. (ed.) (2013) Fauna Europaea version 2.6. Web Service available online at http://www.faunaeur.org (consultado em 22 de setembro de 2014).

 Ligações externas

 Charagmus cachectus - Biodiversity Heritage Library - Bibliografia
 Charagmus cachectus - NCBI Taxonomy Database
 Charagmus cachectus - Global Biodiversity Information Facility
 Charagmus cachectus'' - Encyclopedia of Life

Coleópteros polífagos de Portugal
cachectus
Coleópteros descritos em 1834

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


On the highest hill in our valley stands the little red Nikkaluokta Mountain Chapel.
The chapel was built on an initiative from "The Lappland Mountain Men Club". They wanted to show appreciation for what the mountains and the people here had given them.
Cyrillus Johansson was contracted as architect and he designed a building with distinct Sámi features that could withstand hard winter storms. It was ready and opened August 16, 1942.
The chapel is very popular for sermons, baptizing and weddings. We often arrange confirmation camps in Nikkaluokta when we use the chapel.
Ask for more information about the chapel. You can also borrow the key to the chapel from us.


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Mathematics Education: Being Outwitted by Stupidity | Education News.
Recent times have seen an increase in the number of students with learning difficulties, many showing difficulties within mathematics education. Some data suggests that the figures have risen as much as three times since the 1970's.
Reid Lyon (2001) states that children from less fortunate backgrounds are more likely to have difficulties with reading due to the lack of reading comprehension input at an early age.
This leaves us asking whether the right to read should be free or if indeed it should come attached with a dazzling fee from our materialistic society.
Find the perfect essay example!
BBC News – UK university joins US online partnership → ← Avail an extraordinary custom essay writing service!


NEARLY 20 per cent of public hospitals have failed to meet the national benchmark for hand hygiene standards according to data released for the first time yesterday, sparking a call for hospital managers to improve their hygiene policies.
Correct hand washing in facilities such as Hospitals, aged care facilities, and schools is critical. The data reported on the Australian Government's MyHospitals website makes it clear that these sorts of places don't place enough value on proper technique, with many facilities failing to meet even the generous standard, which states that cleaning your hands times out of the ten that you should is good enough.
Sinks poorly located – if it's hard to get to a sink you are less likely to use it.
Thankfully, as well as knowing about the problem, we have an answer: GlitterBug Potion.
GlitterBug Potion is a training tool used to demonstrate how to wash your hands – simply rub the lotion into your hands, wash as you usually do, and then shine a UV light upon the 'washed' hands.
It's scary, but it's also super-useful. People don't easily forget what they see.


If you live outside the US then maybe you aren't quite sure what exactly is a coupon code? These unique codes are a great way to get various discounts on everyday items or special gifts you buy in either a big physical store like a Walmart or even your local pizza restaurant looking to promote business in local town. However, not only can you use them in a physical store, but also online ecommerce stores too like Bulletproof.com coupons.
Couponing is when you go looking for these codes in magazines, local newspapers, ads, websites in order to save money per month. Some people save hundreds of dollars per month by knowing how to find these codes and not being shy to use them like these guys.
"Click to Save" – these type of links take you straight to product page on the specific online store for that brand. In this case you wouldn't need to enter a promotional code in the checkout area as the product is already discounted automatically for you. For example Bulletproof coffee kits are cheaper than buying each item individually so why not just send you straight to help you save money.
"Printable Coupons" – this is more for online stores that have a physical outlet too. In this case you would be able to print the savings code off your computer and take the paper code to the physical shop to claim your discount on the goods you purchase. For example if Dave ever decides to use this option you would cut the coupon out and take it to maybe the Bulletproof Coffee Shop in Santa Monica to claim a discount at till point there instead.
It is concept used by marketing teams to help promote more sales. Every business owner or company should be using something like this to help get more customers and more sales for the business. It just makes sense – why wouldn't you except in a few types of businesses maybe.
Once you have the unique text or combination of letters and numbers you'll need to enter them somewhere to activate the discount to your order.
For most online merchants this is when you get to the checkout part of the stores websites. Here you'll be able to see what products you have clicked to place in your online shopping cart, what each item costs and how much the total cost with or without shipping fees included. There should also be a box/area called "Discount Code" or "Promotional Code". Basically an area that says to you if you have a savings code then please enter it here to try activate the code. This is when you copy and paste your coupon into this area and press enter to see if it is still valid as some expire and how much of a percentage discount was applied to your online order.
The post What is a Coupon Code? appeared first on Bulletproof Coffee.


Kelch, Dean G.* and Bruce G. Baldwin.
KELCH, DEAN G.* and BRUCE G. BALDWIN. University and Jepson Herbaria, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720. - Utility of the External Transcribed Spacer (ETS) in Compositae tribe Cardueae phylogeny reconstruction and rapid evolution of North American thistles (Cirsium species).
A 21 base-pair sequence, invariant among Carduus nutans and Cirsium andrewsii, was used to design primer ETS-Car-1, beginning at base pair 561 upstream from the 3' end of ETS (referring to the sequence of Cirsium andrewsii). A subsequent PCR of 10 diverse Cardueae taxa using primers ETS-Car-1 and 18S-E produced products of identical length. Maximum corrected (HKY85) pairwise ETS-region sequence divergence was 14.8% between Centaurea calcitrapa and Atractylodes japonica. Within Cirsium, the maximum corrected (HKY85) pairwise ETS-region sequence divergence was found between C. henryi and C. arvense (5.2%). For phylogenetic analysis, 52 taxa were sequenced for ETS and ITS, including 34 North American native Cirsium species, 13 Old World Cirsium species, and two species each of Carduus and Onopordum. Divergence between the ITS and ETS sequences were similar. Phylogenetic analysis supported the monophyly of Cirsium and C. subgenus Eucirsium (New World thistles). Two clades of West Coast species appeared; one including Pacific Northwest and montane species with n=34 and one comprising California endemics with n=32. ETS and ITS divergence among Cirsium are significantly lower than in other studied groups, as determined by comparison of divergence in six California plant groups. The relatively low levels of rDNA spacer sequence divergence contrast with the great ecological diversity displayed by new World Cirsium.


St. Thomas places a very high importance on protecting and securing the comfort of those that attend our services and programs. Foremost, our staff and volunteers in key ministries (e.g. ushers) have been trained through protective programs like "Sheep Dog" to insure peoples' safety in the event of a crisis, and/or how to recognize the precursors to such events to shut them down before they ever happen.
We are also blessed, and have invited and coordinated, with about 15 law enforcement agents that attend Mass here with their families, to be a part of our emergency action plan in the event of a crisis. Unlike an uniformed police officer, our law enforcement agents, who happen to be parishioners, as well, just blend in and never raise the question of, "Is something wrong, or going to happen because we have uniformed police officers here?" -- Quite the nice 'undercover' security blanket!
And, finally, in addition to our monitored security system and police panic buttons placed throughout the building, we do enlist the services of the Amarillo Police for the weekend Masses and other special events throughout the year. Officers patrol the parking lots and are inside the building in case an emergency arises or even an accident happens where paramedics are needed; response time of the EMS has been much faster with the officers calling it in to dispatch, rather than a typical bystander. Yet, another comfort when someone needs quick attention and/or is in pain.


The following has been reprinted with permission from the June 2016 Correctional Oasis, Volume 13, Issue 6.
A prior version of this article was first printed in the March 2009 issue of the Correctional Oasis.
It presents views of Corrections Officers from several states on mandatory overtime (MOT), and on the consequences of frequent MOT. We are reprinting it because we are aware that, due to job vacancies and high sick leave use, frequent MOT continues to be a considerable operational stressor in the lives of Corrections Officers in numerous states. This of course can potentially impact their functioning at work, their physical and also their psychological health, and their personal and family lives.
"MOT is a fact and a necessary evil of Law Enforcement work. There is more to MOT than meets the eye though. Be-sides the time away from our families, MOT can be a serious hazard. Having worked through some serious staff short-ages myself, I can attest to the effects of MOT. Short on money, years ago my department was running almost 25% short-staffed. We were working 3-4 forced overtimes per week. This was a time we did not dare answer our telephone on our off time, to not risk being called into work. After several months of this, the effects of the working conditions became obvious. Everything, from illnesses to injuries to divorces, was a direct result of repeated, constant MOT. There was a steady increase of Worker's Compensation claims. Many of these were directly related to tired officers making small mistakes that got them hurt. Most of them were minor, but as we know, small mistakes can turn bad quickly in our profession. The rate of incidents skyrocketed. The normally patient officers were running out of patience with the inmates. Long hours were affecting the moods and decision-making abilities of almost every officer. Sick calls soared. Officers were desperate for a break. Home life was strained also. All of these unintended consequences eventually led to an increase of cost to the state. Administrators need to remember that their officers are more than Law Enforcement machines. They are human beings with needs and with families. When employees begrudge their leaders, our goals to protect and serve are not accomplished well."
"Due to MOT I don't get to see my family, as I often have to work 16 hours. My commute home is a challenge to stay awake. I have almost fallen asleep behind the wheel. When I get home I try to go to sleep right away because I get up 5-6 hours later, sometimes less, because I am too wired to sleep due to stress and due to drinking caffeinated beverages throughout the night to stay alert. When I am mandatoried I am not able to take my nighttime medication, so I fall behind in my schedule in taking my daytime meds. My health deteriorates. I am tired and irritable. At work, I am not as alert as I want to be, fighting off sleep and fatigue. I can be doing a back to back mandatory or maybe get one day in between. If I get a mandatory on my Friday, I spend one day catching up on my sleep. At times I have to call in sick to get some rest. This impacts the shift because now other Officers have to be mandatoried to fill my position."
"My biggest stressor is mandatory overtime. It has been a consistent high stressor for 18 years! Not a good way to live."
"Although MOT is necessary, the effects can be very dangerous. You are not mentally prepared to work for at least 16 hours. I like to know ahead of time when I am working overtime. When my children were younger I had to make arrangements to ensure that they were looked after (and pay additional costs for childcare). It is hard to work 16 hours and then get up again the next morning prepared to deal with the inmate population. You have to be able to quickly diffuse situations. I have trouble sleeping, so I am already not getting the required amount of sleep. MOT makes it worse. I also have not brought enough food to have two meals, so I begin feeling sluggish. Imagine the effects after 16 hours of dealing with various personalities. Tempers flare. Things that would not normally bother you are enhanced ten times and incidents get out of control quickly. Inmates also know when you are working overtime and they will use it to their advantage. Sometimes they purposely bait you into arguments, so that they have a reason to be disruptive."
"Emotionally an 8-hour shift is all I can handle. Negativity from officers and inmates alike gets to me. My normal work week consists of at least 2 half shifts of overtime. If I don't schedule them I am subject to being forced to work at the last minute and for an entire extra shift, not just half of one. After 12 hours spent around criminals I come home, eat, shower, veg in front of the TV, and just fall out and prepare for the next day. When I take my boots off my calves are swollen and do not go down until I go to bed. It is depressing that my "real life" depends on whether my supervisors decide I can go home at the end of my shift or I need to "help out" for another 4-8 hours. I wouldn't mind the job so much if I knew that I could just go home at the end of my shift. I'm not in this field to work overtime. Extra pay is not worth missing grandkids' activities, holidays, being dependable for picking kids up from school, making my own appointments, etc. In spite of my seniority, I'm subject to the same rules of MOT as the 25 year-old rookies who are in excellent shape and gungho about the job."
"MOT hits everything from having to drop out of college to watching staff burn out. I love my job, and most of the time I take pride in it. My greatest challenge is how MOT affects me and my family. My ailing elderly parents are often in need of extra care. Holidays at work bum me out when I think, Could this be their last Christmas? Once when MOT was so bad I hardly saw my daughter except to put her to bed at night. She told me I was not her momma anymore, that her daddy's girlfriend was. Wow, how that hurt! I'm not sure I can pick my job over my child again if MOT got bad in the future. You just can't raise a healthy family when you go to work in the dark, work 16 hours and come home in the dark, then turn around and do it all over again."
"I once lost three days' pay because we had so much comp time (hour for hour, no time and a half), that we went over the allowed limit. Some staff lost even more than that. Due to riots and other problems, I and other officers incurred over 180 hours each of overtime in one year. Our health suffered, our families suffered, our work suffered, but true to the correctional officers' unspoken code, we "handled it.""
"MOT makes me feel like I am running at half speed with no hope of getting caught up. It is even worse if I have had something planned or it occurs on a holiday. Loved ones do not always understand when you have to call and cancel an arranged function because you have to stay at work. There is absolutely no consideration of the officer's circumstances when OT is mandated. The more it happens, the worse it gets. I am not sure you ever mentally recover. It is always worse the next time it happens, no matter the time in between. It is one of the reasons I left custody even though I am less safe in my current assignment. It is also one of the reasons that officers resign."
"Massive overtime with no relief in sight. The DOC is dragging their feet in hiring new COs. The short staffing and extra long hours are having a negative impact on many officers and sergeants at my facility."
"When there are staffing shortfalls that result in mandated overtime, it can take up to a week to recover from just one 8 hour additional shift. Around the holidays, there may be up to 3 mandated overtimes in a week increasing my stress level at both work and home."
"Too much mandatory overtime has affected my sleep patterns, which are vital to overall health and wellness."
"Frequent MOT results in staff's "I don't care, I don't have a choice to be here" attitude. They don't enforce rules as they should because they are run down. Due to MOT we LIVE at work. It becomes our second home. Departments of Correc-tions wonder why we have all these "overfamiliarity" cases across the country. Not every staff gets involved with inmates because of MOT, but I believe it contributes in some cases."
"The unpredictable nature of forced overtime has caused anxiety for me."
"Low and inadequate staffing that has led to the need for overtime at unprecedented levels. This along with the extraordinary need and demand for MOT above and beyond voluntary overtime in excess of 12 times within the past 10-11 months has been a major contributor to adverse health related issues for me as well as bad attitudes, constant malaise and fatigue among co-workers."
"We are required to work a lot of mandatory overtime due to an acute lack of staffing. At least once a week I am required to work against my will. This is starting to wear on a lot of the COs. People can't make plans with their families, and there is no end in sight."
"The original idea behind MOT was to allow for staff to be available during major disturbances, or when weather conditions or disasters prevented staff from coming to work. Unfortunately, now MOT is being used as a budgetary tool. This is not good for the department or its officers. There are going to be times when bad planning or bad events are going to lead to MOT, but they should be few and far between. As for the employees, every officer needs to under-stand that MOT is part of the job. It is their duty to safely staff the institution. We cannot allow our personal feelings to jeopardize the safety of our communities. Saying "no" is not an option unless you are prepared to lose your job. If your administration is abusing their power of MOT, then it is time to sit down with them and discuss it. If the MOT is causing you stress on or off the job, take the time to talk it over with someone. If you have a caring spouse at home, sit down and talk to them about it. If you are still struggling, seek out a counselor for help. It is important that you keep your mind, body and spirit strong!"


Jack Frost may try nipping at their nose but this very classy Black Fairisle Snowflake sweater will keep them cozy and warm. It is black with white snowflakes and red accents. It is 100% acrylic and machine washable. Comes in sizes 6" - 16". To determine the size, measure from the base of the neck to the base of the tail. For dogs with a little more weight or fluff, go up a size.


text:
The Frozen North
Dungeons & Dragons 5e on Roll20, Zoom
Duration: 3.5 to 4.5 hours
This is an atmospheric horror survival game set in the frozen northlands of Icewind Dale in the Forgotten realms at about the same time that Rime of the Frostmaiden takes place. The game, as written, is for first and second level characters, BUT if the table would prefer to play with higher level characters, that's fine as well. While I wrote it for the D&D Adventurer's league, it makes a fine home-brew game as well, where I can add encounters that didn't make it past editing. Your character has a reason to be going to Icewind Dale. Perhaps you're running from your past - the folk of Icewind Dale don't ask a lot of questions about who you were before you got here. That and it's a loooooong way from the troubles (and the law) of more civilized areas like Baldur's Gate, Neverwinter, and Waterdeep. Maybe you're going to the Dale to check in on an old mentor, or a friend, or a family member. Perhaps you're trying to set up a merchant route for a trading coster. Regardless of your origin, you are on a caravan heading northeast from Luskan towards the Ten Towns, and then perhaps onto Kelvin's Cairn. The Frozen North is an adventure that features the classic struggle of the heroes versus nature... but in this case nature is being corrupted with evil magic. The stakes are high - survive or die! Yes, this game has elements of horror. BUT... I strongly believe that games should be scary-fun, not scary-bad. The horror elements will be dialed back or turned up to a level that everyone at the table is comfortable with!
18 years as a Game Master
5 games hosted
Brings Everything on D&D Beyond, nearly everything on Roll 20. Custom maps. Custom art. to the table
You should create your character with the above specifications before the game. If you do not want to create a character, let me know and I'll make one for you. I will also send a Zoom link so we can use Zoom for voice and video. Video isn't required, of course, but I strongly prefer that you use video. Being able to see people's faces and read their expressions helps people communicate and tell better stories together! (Plus a lot of us are so isolated right now that seeing another human face is often very comforting!) You don't have to install Zoom; you can run it from your browser. A microphone for voice is required.
As we're online-only, I'm bringing a beautiful experience! I have over 700 hours DMing on Roll20, and this adventure will feature bespoke custom-made color maps that have been prepared especially for this game for Roll20 (using Inkarnate, DungeonDraft, Dungeon Painter Studio, and Photoshop). The Roll20 materials also contain many non-combat pages that have beautiful atmospheric pictures and puzzles as well as music and sound effects for each page.
This game focusses heavily on exploring and surviving hazards. Several of those hazards are the weather itself, but a fair few are monsters as well. Having said that, I can tailor the experience to YOUR needs. Does the table want a lot of roleplay? Can do! Does the table want a lot of combat? No problem! The table will decide if this will be run as an Adventurer's League Adventure or as homebrew. If it's an Adventurer's League adventure, your character must be first level and must be built using the AL guidelines. If it's a homebrew adventure, the table must decide on the level they want to play at (first through fifth), and must be built using common sense guidelines that will be sent to you when you register, but in brief 27 point buy, standard HP, all WotC sources are good (others can be discussed), reasonable magic items, no flying characters except at 5th level. I will send you links to Roll20 and a D&D Beyond campaign. You can make your character either place, or just with pen and paper. You can roll dice in R20, D&DB, or roll physical dice and just tell me the results. I strongly prefer seeing people's faces, reactions, and body language by using video - but it's optional for you. A mic for voice is required. We will be using Zoom. This game will be run using this code of conduct. https://www.benandpaigewrite.com/code-of-conduct
Characters will be made with 27 point buy, default HP, and only using the following sources: Player's Handbook, Xanathar's Guide to Everything, Volo's Guide to Monsters, and Tasha's Cauldron of Everything (contact me if you're interested in a source outside this list). No flying characters are allowed at less than 5th level. First level characters will start with one potion of healing and one common magic item. Second level characters will start with one potion of healing, one common magic item, and one uncommon potion (other than Philter of Love). Third level characters will start with one potion of healing, two common magic items, and one uncommon potion (other than Philter of Love). Fourth level characters will start with one potion of healing, two common magic items, two uncommon potions (other than Philter of Love). Fifth level characters will start with one potion of healing, two common magic items, two uncommon potions (other than Philter of Love), and one uncommon magic item. I will send you a link to the Roll20 game and my D&D Beyond campaign and you are welcome to make your characters in either places using all of my resources (I have all the things). You're also free to just make your character on paper if that's what you like best.