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Tag Archives: World war II
More Than a Soldier: One Army Ranger's Daring Escape from the Nazis
Feeling a patriotic duty to defend his country after Japan bombed Pearl Harbor,
seventeen year old, Angelo J. DiMarco, enlists in the U.S. Army. Severely short
of frontline fighters, the Army rushes Angelo through Ranger training and sends
him to Italy as part of the 1st Ranger Battalion. Their objective: stop the German invasion.
Fighting on the front lines in Italy, the German's teach Angelo a sobering lesson on life when they capture him during the bloody battle of Cisterna. Against
insurmountable odds, Angelo miraculously escapes in a way that stretches the
imagination. He survives behind enemy lines for over five months, hiding from
the Germans and trying to outmaneuver them. He begs for food, sleeps in barns
and suffers from many ailments, including dehydration, malnutrition, malaria and
exposure to the elements.
More Than a Soldier is Angelo DiMarco's powerful story of survival, resilience and
Where to Buy the Book: Amazon
Annechino colorfully draws the actions scenes, and richly brings the supporting cast of characters to life. A moving tale of survival in war-torn Europe. ~Kirkus Reviews
Nuanced and eloquently written, More Than a Soldier adds to the body of WWII literature an extraordinary story of survival and a deeply affecting portrait of a
soldier's coming-of-age. ~The iRead Review
Daniel M. Annechino, a former book editor, wrote his first book, How to Buy the Most Car for the Least Money, while working as a General Manager in the automobile business. But his passion had always been fiction, particularly thrillers. He spent two years researching serial killers before finally penning his gripping
and memorable debut novel They Never Die Quietly. He has written and published
five novels—all thrillers. But his latest work, More Than a Soldier, is a
Historical Biography set in Italy during WWII.
A native of New York, Annechino now lives in San Diego with his wife, Jennifer. He
loves to cook, enjoys a glass of vintage wine, and spends lots of leisure time
on the warm beaches of Southern California.
Guest Post by Daniel Annechino: The Life of an Author
An ex-workmate of mine who I haven't seen since I quit my "traditional job" seven years ago contacted me the other day because he's writing a novel and is looking for some direction. He asked me a bunch of questions that I did my best to answer, questions about grammar, editing, literary agents, and getting published. As I typed away, I realized that not one of his questions concerned marketing or promotion. This led me to believe that many aspiring writers—through no fault of their own—have no idea what the life of an author is like.
There was a time many years ago when an author did three things: They wrote. They read. They participated in book signings. But in this day and age, an age of e-books, the Internet, social media and self-publishing, writers spend more time marketing themselves than actually writing. Unless you're a well-known author with an established following like Stephen King, Michael Connelly, or Patricia Cornwell, promoting yourself may actually be more important than what you're promoting. In other words, "the sizzle is more important than the steak". Buzz is everything and buzz sells books.
Over the last couple of years, I've learned a great deal about the complicated world of writing. Although I have a long, long way to go before I could even begin to think of myself as a successful author (at least based on my lofty expectations), each and every day I must manage my blog and frequently add new posts. Admittedly, I've not given my website the attention it deserves, but I do my best. I have to maintain a presence on many of the popular writers' blogs. And perhaps most important, I must be visible on Facebook and Twitter and network as much as I can. I have to promote my book(s) and myself every-single-day.
To be honest, I'm not really fond of marketing and promoting. I wish all that was necessary to become a successful writer was to write. But that is not the way of the world; at least not in the year 2017. So, even though it pains me and gobbles up more of my day than it should, the new world of writing holds me hostage. Before you even think about publishing a book, do some homework and learn to understand the business of writing.
Filed under Book Reviews, History, Reviews and tagged army rangers, biography, book reviews, d.m. annechino, italy book tours, more than a soldier, nazis, World war II |	2 Comments
Botticelli's Bastard – A Book Review
Posted on November 28, 2014 by tesorotreasures
With a title like Botticelli's Bastard, I had no idea what to expect from this latest novel by Stephen Maitland-Lewis . But as I began to get absorbed in it, it all began to take shape. The story begins when a middle-aged art restorer, who goes through the motions of living his life without experiencing any passion for it, opens up a crate that has been sitting in the corner of his art studio for years. Within it, he discovers an unsigned painted panel of an old Florentine aristocrat. Little did he realize how his life was about to change!
Now this is where the story got a little weird for me, and I wasn't sure if I was going to enjoy the rest of it….but the painting of the Count began to speak to Giovanni, the art restorer! And, of course, he was the only one that could hear the painting speak! They ended up conversing a great deal, and Giovanni found himself treating the Count like his confidante and best friend! Weird, right? But actually, these conversations opened up the floodgates of history. All the time periods between the Renaissance and modern times were described from the viewpoint of this painted Count who had "lived" through them all. It was all pretty fascinating, especially the description of the pillaging of art by the Nazis in Paris during World War II.
The Count also dropped a bombshell on Giovanni when he insisted that he had been painted by none other than Botticelli himself! Giovanni had his doubts, but promised the Count that he would have the painting analyzed by the experts for authentication.
Throughout all these conversations, Giovanni began to renew his passion for living – the Count counseled him about life in general and also gave him a mission to accomplish. Giovanni was ultimately faced with a moral dilemma and his character was put to the test.
This book is a perfect example of what true historical fiction is all about – learning about history in a way that is interesting and entertaining! I can highly recommend it, if you can get past the fantasy of the talking painting!
Below is a question and answer session with
Mr. Maitland-Lewis:
How did you do research for your book?
The internet is my primary source for research, but one has to be very disciplined so as not to go off in tangents in reading material with is irrelevant to the topic in hand. For that reason, visits to local libraries are ideal, although more time consuming. With regard to Botticelli's Bastard, the research covered many different periods of European history, which made the project enjoyable and it did not at any time feel onerous.
If you could put yourself as a character in your book, who would you
Unquestionably, Giovanni Fabrizzi, the art restorer. He was burdened with sadness and later on was faced with the dilemma of Satan on one shoulder and the good angel on the other in determining his course of action. But there is a moral tale for all of us and I found myself inspired by his ultimate decision.
3. What made you write a book about a talking painting?
A painting that has survived 500 years, has traveled across continents, and has hung on many different walls, has a life of its own. Just as Oscar Wilde's
Dorian Grey had a painting that aged, my painting in Botticelli's Bastard talks to the restorer. Just as a writer or an actor can get totally immersed in his character, so can a restorer working over a long period of time and in the minutest detail, become overtaken by the painting on which he is working.
4. What is the last great book you've read?
Sophie's Choice by William Styron. This novel is superb on every level – character, plot, language, and overall style. I first read the book many years ago, at a time when I was not writing professionally, so I didn't appreciate the subtlety and brilliance of Mr. Styron. Reading it again recently, I realized that the author was one of the major world's literary geniuses. His writing is so fine that I have to resist the temptation of never writing another word.
Do you write every day?
I try to do so. Even if I am not writing a novel, I think it is important to write
something on a daily basis, whether it be a journal entry, or a complex social
or business letter. The great piano virtuoso Arturo Rubenstein remarked once
that "the first day I do not practice, I notice. The second day I miss a
practice, the critics notice. The third day – the audience notices."
What advice would you give budding writers?
Treat the art of writing as a serious professional occupation, and not a recreational activity. Try not to read fiction whilst you are writing fiction, as you could fall into the trap of admiring a particular descriptive passage in something that you have read, and subconsciously repeating it in your own work. Read fiction before or after you have completed your book, not during your exercise.
What is your next project?
I have started a novel about a second-rate jazz pianist, and have already
completed about 20,000 words. In the midst of writing this, another project came into my mind and I may well place on hold the earlier one to focus on this latest possible work. I don't want to say anything about the new project at present, so as not to jinx these very precious early stages.
Would you like to win a copy of this book?
Just click here, a Rafflecopter giveaway,
and you will have the chance to get your very own copy FREE!
Of course, you can also purchase the book at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Book Depository, and Chapters Indigo.
Filed under Book Reviews, History, Reviews and tagged book review, Botticelli, botticelli's bastard, historical fiction, italian art, Nazi, Stephen Maitland-Lewis, World war II |	Leave a comment
The Light in the Ruins – A Book Review
This excellent book by the author of Midwives, Chris Bohjalian, delves into life in the beautiful Tuscan countryside during the ravages of World War II. The Rosati's, a noble family, who lived in a beautiful villa surrounded by vineyards and olive trees, thought their little world was safe from the horrors of the War even though both their sons were in the military fighting for Il Duce. Their oldest son was off in Sicily and their other son was commissioned in Florence as part of the Nazi pillaging of art, but the rest of them were quietly living out the War in their little corner of Heaven. Heaven was about to turn into an inferno, though, when the Nazi's learned of the secret Etruscan tomb on their property and the possibilty of gathering priceless artifacts to send back to Germany.
At first, they treated the Rosati's with respect and reverence. One of the young German officers even fell in love with Cristina, the youngest daughter, and it all seemed like they would live a happily ever after once the War was over. This fairytale abruptly came to an end, though, when Italy surrendered to the Allies. The Germans became desparate and began trashing the countryside and killing anyone suspected of harboring the Partisans.
Massacres of innocent people, sometimes a whole town, took place and everyone lived in fear. The Rosati's were no exception: they soon became prisoners in their own home.
They were forced to give up their home for it to become a barracks for the Nazi's. They were allowed to remain, though, but all 6 of them were crammed into one room. Their animals were slaughtered to feed the soldiers and their vineyards and olive groves destroyed. Everything they had was gone! And on top of all the physical and economic hardship they indured, their allegiance was questioned by all…were they Nazi sympathizers (after all, their daughter was in love with one) or were they harboring Partisans?
Fast forward 10 years or so….the War is over and Italy has somewhat repaired itself from the damages. The Rosati's have left their war-torn estate behind and moved to Rome. The horrors they endured during the War are still raw scars on their hearts that have yet to heal, and probably never will. And now, their family has become the target of a brutal serial killer. Someone is out for revenge, but why? Who? The pretty, young, female investigator assigned to the case has to untangle clues from the past which puts her back in touch with her own secrets and horrors endured during the War. The story takes its twists and turns, but the reader is always caught up and motivated to keep reading wondering how its all going to come together.
Filed under Book Reviews, History, Memories, Reviews and tagged book review, Chris Bohjalian, etruscan, Italian nobility, Nazi, the light in the ruins, tuscany, war damage, World war II |	Leave a comment
Nutella Has English Roots?
Posted on March 18, 2014 by tesorotreasures
I bet you never equated Nutella with anything English, right? After all, it is made in Italy and many Italian children have been raised on Nutella and bread sandwiches as an after school snack! Nutella was created in Italy, back in the 1940's, by a Piemontese pastry maker named Pietro Ferrero.
He had the ingenious idea to incorporate hazelnuts with cocoa beans to extend the chocolate, which was in short supply because of World War II rations. His original recipe mixed toasted hazelnuts (which are abundant in Piemonte, Italy) with cocoa butter and vegetable oils. He called this delicious concoction "Pasta Gianduja" (gianduja is hazelnut in Italian). Then in 1949, he changed the original recipe to make it easier to spread on bread. This became known as "Supercrema Gianduja."
So, I know you're just dying to find out where this English connection comes in? Well, in 1964, because hazelnuts were becoming so popular, the Ferrero company decided to change the name to "Nutella"…a combination of the English word "nut" and "ella". "Nut" was used to make it clear that it was made of nuts (and not just chocolate), and the ending "ella" to give it a softer ending. So there you have it – an Italian product with an English name! I guess they knew that English would one day be the international language and they were tapping into a whole new population to sell their product to! Now that's what I call SMART MARKETING!
Filed under Culture, Food, History, Language and vocabulary, Traditions and tagged ferrero, hazelnut, italian products, nutella, pasta gianduja, supercrema gianduja, World war II |	2 Comments
Solitaria – A Book Review
I am going to digress from my travel log in order to review the latest book I read having to do with Italy – Solitaria by Genni Gunn. I actually won this book from The Italy in Book Challenge that I did in 2011 and finally just got around to reading it. I have a signed copy with a personal note from the author! I definitely am going to put this book and note in a safe place – it's always so special when the author has signed their work.
Solitaria is a wonderfully written book which takes place in the present time, when the body of Vito Santoro is discovered by a demolition crew at an Italian seaside villa, and it digresses to memories of Italy in the 1940's. La Solitaria (the solitary) is Piera, the oldest sister of a family of 5, who barricades herself in her room when the rest of the siblings come back home from their homes around the globe after the body of their oldest brother, Vito, is discovered. She feels that no one understands her even though she feels she has devoted her entire life to taking care of them and making sure that they were safe. She has a strong sense of duty and she believes that the rest of her siblings don't realize that everything she did in her life was out of love and sacrifice. Instead she feels only lonliness and rejection. The discovery of her brother's body after all these years is the right time for her to tell her side of the story of the family's past and all their secrets, but she will only tell David, her sister's son and favorite member of the family. During her private times with him, she pulls out letters that she has written and which she has kept locked up. She tells him about Aldo, the successful lawyer, whom everyone turns to when they are in need; Teresa, the dead brother's wife and Marco, their son; Renato the rebel who lost Teresa to Vito; Mimi the spoiled youngest surviving sibling; Clarissa, the famous opera diva whom Piera competed with for attention; Daniela whom sadly was killed as a young child; Vito, the oldest brother and "black sheep" of the family; and her mother and father who faught with their own demons while trying to provide for such a large family. The family dynamics were at times loving and other times filled with jealousy and betrayal…and many dark secrets. Genni Gunn brings Italy of the 1940's to life with her words, and I could hear the stories told to me by my own parents of the difficulties of living in Italy right before and during the War.
If you are looking for a book that keeps you interested page after page, while giving you some insight into Italy's history during the Fascist Period, then you will enjoy Solitaria. I highly recommend it!
Filed under Art, Book Reviews, Culture, History, Memories, Reviews, Traditions and tagged fascist, genni gunn, historical fiction, solitaria, World war II |	Leave a comment
Viva L'Italia!
The war years in Italy were difficult – innocent people were killed by the Germans because they were believed to be helping the Partisans (see my post about this at An Italian Tragedy), people were hungry and not sure if they would get food, and idlyllic and peaceful places full of history, art, and beauty were being destroyed. Once the Americans came in and the Partisans triumphed, Italy began to breathe a sigh of relief. La Festa della Liberazione, a National holiday in Italy marking the end of World War II and the fall of the Fascist government, is celebrated today, April 25th, with parades and other festivities all over Italy. Rebuilding Italy after the War would turn out to be a significant and difficult task, but the Italians worked hard and persevered. Even though it is not immune to the problems plaguing the rest of the world, Italy has come a long way from those horrible days during and after World War II to become the Italy that so captivates and enchants those that visit her.
Below is a song written by Partisan sympathizers and sung during the War by the Resistance. It was sung in the underground and only became popular to the public after the War when it was introduced by some Italian student singers at Berlin's Youth Festival in 1948. I have to make note, here, that I am purely sharing this song as part of Italy's history and I'm not making ANY political statement here!!! With that said, here it is:
Una mattina mi son svegliato O bella ciao, bella ciao, bella ciao ciao ciao Una mattina mi son svegliato Eo ho trovato l'invasor
O partigiano porta mi via O bella ciao, bella ciao, bella ciao ciao ciao O partigiano porta mi via Che mi sento di morir
E se io muoio da partigiano O bella ciao, bella ciao, bella ciao ciao ciao E se io muoio da partigiano Tu mi devi seppellir
Mi seppellire lassù in montagna O bella ciao, bella ciao, bella ciao ciao ciao Mi seppellire lassù in montagna Sotto l'ombra di un bel fiore
E le genti che passeranno O bella ciao, bella ciao, bella ciao ciao ciao E le genti che passeranno Mi diranno: "Che bel fior"
È questo il fiore del partigiano O bella ciao, bella ciao, bella ciao ciao ciao È questo il fiore del partigiano Morto per la libertà
One morning I woke up O bella ciao, bella ciao, bella ciao ciao ciao One morning I woke up And I found the invader
Oh partisan, carry me away, O bella ciao, bella ciao, bella ciao ciao ciao Oh partisan, carry me away, For I feel I'm dying
And if I die as a partisan O bella ciao, bella ciao, bella ciao ciao ciao And if I die as a partisan You have to bury me
But bury me up in the mountain O bella ciao, bella ciao, bella ciao ciao ciao, But bury me up in the mountain Under the shadow of a beautiful flower
And the people who will pass by O bella ciao, bella ciao, bella ciao ciao ciao, And the people who will pass by Will say to me: "what a beautiful flower"
This is the flower of the partisan O bella ciao, bella ciao, bella ciao ciao ciao This is the flower of the partisan Who died for freedom
Here is a song that was sung by the Alpini – a branch of the military that patrols the mountains all around Italy. It captures the sentiments felt during the War by those Alpini soldiers and their love of the mountains of Italy. It is in a sort of dialect, and therefore I will try to translate it as best I can!
IL TESTAMENTO DEL CAPITANO
El capitan de la compagnia l'è ferito stà per morir el manda a dire ai suoi Alpini perchè lo vengano a ritrovar. el manda a dire ai suoi Alpini perchè lo vengano a ritrovar.
I suoi Alpini ghè manda a dire che non han scarpe per camminar O con le scarpe o senza scarpe i miei Alpini li voglio qua. O con le scarpe o senza scarpe i miei Alpini li voglio qua.
Cosa comanda, siòr capitano, che noi adesso semo arrivà? E io comando che il mio corpo in cinque pezzi sia taglià. E io comando che il mio corpo in cinque pezzi sia taglià.
Il primo pezzo alla mia Patria secondo pezzo al Battaglion il terzo pezzo alla mia Mamma che si ricordi del suo figliol. il terzo pezzo alla mia Mamma che si ricordi del suo figliol.
Il quarto pezzo alla mia bella che si ricordi del suo primo amor. L'ultimo pezzo alle montagne che lo fioriscano di rose e fior L'ultimo pezzo alle montagne che lo fioriscano di rose e fior.
The Captain's Testament
The captain of the company is wounded and is dying. He sends a message to his Alpini soldiers for them to come and visit him.
His Alpini soldiers tell him that they don't have shoes to walk. He says that with our without shoes, he wants them there.
What do you command, Captain sir, now that we have arrived? I command that you cut my body up into 5 pieces.
The first piece to my Country, the second piece to my battalion, the third piece to my mother so that she may remember her son.
The fourth piece to by girlfriend so that she can remember her first love. And the fifth piece to the mountains so that it can be covered in roses.
Filed under bureaucracy, Current Events, History, Holidays, Language and vocabulary, Memories, Music, reflections, Traditions, Travel and tagged alpini, festa della liberta, il testamento del capitano, liberation, o bella ciao, partisans, resistance, World war II |	10 Comments
Little Known History of Italian POW's
Courtesy of Camilla Calamandrei
Prisoners in Paradise, a documentary film by Camilla Calamandrei, is about Italian POW's in America during World War II. I am embarrassed to say that I didn't know this very poignant and important part of my Italian heritage. I was not aware that so many Italian soldiers (51,000!) were interned here in the USA during the war. Because my parents immigrated so many years after the end of the war, this subject was never discussed in my family and I didn't know any of these stories on a personal level. But after watching this film, I learned so much and actually found out that my mom knew all about this from her neighbor whose sister used to date some of these POW's!
The film shows some great footage of Italians in North Africa during the War and also footage of their times in the internment camps strewn all over the United States.
It follows the stories of six POW's and their personal experiences. One of the most memorable lines in the movie is from a POW who said that while he was fighting in North Africa he was hungry and living in horrible conditions. But after his capture by the Americans and shipment to an American POW camp, he felt like he was in Paradise – he was fed abundantly, given a pack of cigarettes a day, and slept in warm barracks! Even though he was a prisoner of war, the Americans treated him with kindness and respect. The hardest part for him was not having any notice of his family back home. His letters home went unanswered, and he had no news for the remainder of the war.
The story continues to explore the change when Italy surrendered and switched alliances. These Italian POW's were given the choice to join forces with the USA to provide assistance to the war effort. Many decided to cooperate and were given considerable freedoms. They were allowed to socialize with the Italian-American families already settled here, and many met and fell in love with their future brides.
Several of these war brides were interviewed in the film and just hearing about their experiences brought tears to my eyes.
When the war ended, these Italian POW's were freed and sent back to Italy. Their excitement at being allowed to go back home quickly became horror as they entered the port of Naples to find it completely destroyed. Their homeland was in shambles and they were devastated and scared to find what their homes would be like. They knew that they would have to work hard to rebuild Italy once again.
Meanwhile, those young American women who had fallen in love with their Italian POW's were also at a loss. Their loves were sent back to Italy and could not return unless they were married. Many of these girls hopped on ships and sailed to Italy to claim their husbands. They married in Italy and came back with their Italian husbands. But, I can just imagine how many never saw their loves again….
The end of the movie touches upon the tender memories of the POW's who have made America their home for many years now. They tearfully mention that America has given them everything, but that a big part of their hearts still belong to Italy.
I can highly recommend this movie – it is available for purchase at www.prisonersinparadise.com.
Below is a very informative essay written by Camilla Calamandrei and she has given her permission to post it to my post – thank you, Camilla, for all the hard work you put in on your research into this very important part of our Italian heritage.
Italian POWs held in America during WW II:
Historical Narrative and Scholarly
by Camilla Calamandrei
June 1940 through May 1943, hundreds of thousands of Italians were sent into a
war for which they were ill equipped and about which they understood little. By
the end of 1943, over six hundred thousand Italian soldiers were taken prisoner
and, of those, 51,000 were brought to America as enemy prisoners of war.
The documentary "Prisoners in Paradise" traces the journey of six young
Italians: from their entry into the war; to internment as prisoners in a country
with a level of abundance and wealth they had never imagined possible; through a
decision that would change not only their experience as prisoners in the United
States, but in many cases, lead them to a second decision that would change the
course of their adult lives.
The first period of critical decision making for Italian POWs began on
September 8, 1943, with the announcement of the signing of the armistice by the
Badoglio government in Italy. Now that Italy was officially an ally of the
United States, Italian POWs were faced with the dilemma of whether to "
collaborate" (i.e., perform war related work) with the nation that had, until
that moment, been their enemy captor. To understand how confusing this concept
was at that time, it needs to be noted that during this same period Northern
Italy was still occupied by Germans who managed to free Mussolini on September
12th, and place him at the head of a newly declared fascist republic. If these
simultaneous contradictory scenarios are confusing for us to follow with fifty
years of hindsight, one can only imagine how shocking the shifting alliances
must have been for young Italians who had only recently been pulled from combat.
Looking at the data, it seems clear that Italians POWs in America were,
overall, sympathetic to the Allied cause. Almost 90% of the Italian POWs agreed
to support the U.S. war effort by joining what would be called Italian Service
Units. This summary view unfairly disguises, however, the difficulty, and in
some cases trauma, of being asked to make this kind of decision. If these men
had gone to war with the understanding that they didn't have to believe in the
war–they only had to believe in the greatness of Italy–then what did it mean
now to change loyalties? Did this constitute further loyalty, in obeying the
government of their homeland? Or, did it constitute a pathetic move to avoid
being associated with the losing side? For young enlisted men there were all
these questions as well as: the fear of being sent back into combat–possibly
this time in Japan; fear of helping supply munitions that would be used in Italy
where their families might be in harm's way; and fear of some kind of
retribution against their families if it became known that their sons were
helping the Allies. For Italian officers, who tended to be more indoctrinated in
the ideology of fascism, changing sides was incomprehensible because it meant
that there was no such thing as the courage of one's convictions. Finally, for
some individual enlisted men and officers who had fought side by side with
Germans for two and a half years, there was also the simple question of loyalty
to fellow soldiers.
Italian POWs were right to view the decision to support the U.S. war effort
as a serious one. It would dramatically affect the quality of their experience
as prisoners in the U.S. And, in turn, for those who would become immersed in
relationships and the abundance of life in America, it would lead them to the
question after the war of whether they should live in Italy or seize the
opportunity to build a new life under the flag of another nation.
The almost 45,000 Italian POWs who eventually agreed to join Italian Service
Units were relocated, almost immediately, to coastal and industrial sites across
the United States. They worked with American civilians and military personnel in
combat related work for the remainder of the war. By contrast, non-collaborating
Italian POWs were kept in highly isolated camps in places like Texas, Arizona,
Wyoming and Hawaii.
In addition to having jobs and earning money, men involved in the Italian
Service Units were given increased freedom of movement and as a result, incre
ased interaction with American civilians. Across the country, there was an
outpouring of interest on the part of Italian Americans who were looking in the
Italian POW camps for relatives, family friends or simply people from their
hometowns. As a result a number of Catholic parishes in many states arranged to
host dinners where Italian Americans could meet and visit with Italian POWs.
These courtesies were extended almost exclusively to POWs who had agreed to
support the war effort and even the freedoms granted these Italian Service Unit
members varied greatly depending on where they were situated in the U.S.
Comparing and contrasting the experiences of Italian POWs on the East Coast
with POW experiences in the mid-West and on the West Coast reveals that, while
their lives inside camp walls were quite similar, surrounding communities had a
strong influence on how much freedom POWs had to move outside camp boundaries.
It seems that community responses varied by region according to immigration
patterns prior to the war, local politics, regional economic realties and
involvement and/or perspectives on the war. For example, one might assume that
the East Coast, because of its old world, European connection and large Italian
American communities, would have been the place where Italian POWs were received
most sympathetically but this was not necessarily the case. While there were
many Italian Americans who wanted to retain contact with the prisoners (by
travelling to visit them on Sundays) it was generally accepted that this should
be a relatively reserved activity. The fact that these Italian POWs were
contributing to the war effort did not erase the knowledge that Italy had
contributed to escalating the war in the early years.
In contrast in the middle of the country, in states like Utah, Michigan, and
Ohio, Italians serving in Italian Service Units had some modified privileges and
an unofficially sanctioned freedom of movement. POWs could be escorted out of
the camp by U.S. soldiers (which usually required a bribe) or POWs could sneak
out of the camp and sneak back in, under an unofficial agreement by which
American soldiers would turn a blind eye. In Ogden, Utah a local church held
chaperoned dances each weekend for the POWs and Italian American families could
visit POWs on Sundays.
Finally in California, where the war was palpable through to the end of 1945
because of the intensity of fighting in the Pacific, Italian POWs working in
support of the war effort were actually received most enthusiastically. While
local West Coast Italian Americans had felt some tension in their neighborhoods
early in the war (i.e., that they should not too openly be supportive or
concerned about Italy) once Italy switched sides community animosity turned more
consistently to the Asians. As a result, Italian POWs had a rather significant
amount of freedom in the camps in California. The most amazing story being that
of the Italian POWs stationed on Angel Island who held regular dances in a hall
in San Francisco that they rented with their own money. In addition, Italian
American families in California could, with official permission, take Italian
Service Unit members out of POW camps for picnics and outings. It is important
to note that immigration patterns during the 20's- 30's in California set the
stage for a sympathetic reception of Italian POWs. Italians in the preceding
decades had immigrated in large numbers and established themselves as fisherman,
farmers and winemakers. In this state, heavily populated with immigrants from
all over the world, by the 1940's Italians were seen as relatively established
–especially in contrast with Asian laborers who were seen as a threat to the
local "white" labor movement. Racism towards another group took the edge off
racism or fear of the Italians. A point which actually refers to a larger
transition that was occurring for America during this period: the change in the
perceived definition of who was a true American.
During WWII white ethnic Americans (e.g., Italian Americans, Jews, Irish
Americans) were drawn into a more integrated, accepted status as they were asked
to go to war for their country and as they had the experience of forming bonds,
while in the army, across ethnicities and class. Early in the war Italian
American communities were fiercely divided as it became clear that some were
embarrassed by Mussolini's actions and others were still sympathetic to the
fascist regime. In families where perhaps only the father had become a citizen
when they first immigrated, wives and children quickly moved to establish their
American citizenship. With this as the backdrop, we see how Italian POWs and
Americans were each facing their own questions of personal identity, loyalty and
nationality during the period when they were called upon to work together for
the larger Allied cause.
In addition to the stories of Italian POWs interacting with Italian
Americans, there were numerous situations in which Italian POWs developed
relations with Americans of diverse heritages (e.g., Italian POWs in Colorado
and Nebraska were sent to do farm work for German American farming families; in
California and in New York POWs were guarded by Irish American guards). In a
remarkable number of instances, the human impulses towards connection and
camaraderie allowed the labels of "enemy," "prisoner" and "foreigner" to fade
away and be replaced by life long bonds of friendship and love. This was credit
to both the Italians whose vitality and good will flowed freely and to the
Americans whose curiosity and humanity led them into vibrant, warm relations
with the Italian prisoners.
By the end of the war in December 1945, Italian POWs had contributed millions
of hours to the war effort. When they were repatriated in January 1946, a number
were leaving significant relationships behind—hoping, but not sure, that they
would find a way to stay connected. Their joyous return to the homeland was, of
course, tempered by the devastation evident throughout Italy and the realization
that opportunities for young men returning from war were few. For Italian POWs
who had not collaborated with the U.S., the return to Italy also meant coming to
terms with the fact that in many cases friends and relatives had in the end
decided to support the Allied war effort, and the non-collaborating position was
no longer a popular one either officially or unofficially.
In the years following the war, some of the couples who had met in America
did decide to marry. In order to do that the American women had to go to Italy
and marry there (because of quotas restricting immigration into the U.S.). Most
often, due to financial difficulties in Italy, these couples would return to
raise families in the United States in the areas where the women had lived and
where they still had jobs. We don't know, officially, how many ex POWs chose to
come back and live in America—but a number of them do now live as American
citizens in the towns where they were first enemy prisoners of war. Others
(especially officers from the "fascist" camp in Hereford, Texas) have written
books and created art about their experiences in America, and have returned to
visit periodically. Clearly the experience of being a POW had a big impact on
the 51,000 men who were brought here. And, they–in turn–had a big impact on
all the lives they became part of, whether it was for the war years only or for
the fifty years to follow.
copyright 2000, Camilla Calamandrei
Filed under Entertainment, History, Memories, movie reviews, reflections and tagged internment, italian americans, italian pow, prisoners in paradise, war brides, World war II |	16 Comments
My Italian Mamma!
Those I tell my stories to about my mom say that I should share them! So, over a series of several posts, I will pass on some tidbits about her: her life in Italy before she immigrated, and also her life now as an Italian/American. Her stories always mesmerize me because they depict so vividly what life was like before all those modern conveniences we so take for granted – how much harder, but at the same time, how so much simpler it was back then. It's like a living history movie, and because I know the locales she talks about, it brings it to life for me. I have been to the home where she grew up – it is still there and it is in the "old town". Therefore, the insides can be modernized but the outside has remained the same as when she lived there.
My mom is turning 80 this year, so if you do the math, she was born in 1931. Her early childhood memories are not as vivid as those of her teenage years, but interesting to say the least. She was the youngest of 3 daughters, and by far, the most vivacious. Because she was the baby, she was also a little bit spoiled! (Well, about as spoiled as you can be when there is barely any food to go around!) She was actually the only one of the girls born in a hospital because her mother suffered from asthma (or at least that's what they called it then). During her early childhood, the family moved from the Veneto region to Lombardy, on the shores of Lago Maggiore. This is where all her memories are from.
When she was nine years old, her mother passed away. Her father was left raising three daughters on his own. Grandpa and an uncle lived with them at that time – now,whether that was good or bad is hard to say, because my mom's oldest sister, who was only 15 at the time, had to wash and clean for all these men and her two sisters. She instantly became the "mother" of the family. Fortunately, her father was a good cook so he took over the cooking duties of his family.
When my mom was in the 2nd grade, she had an unfortunate accident. Her sister and her were in charge of cutting some wood to use in their wood burning stove (which heated their living area). While my mom was holding the wood, her sister chopped off the tip of my mom's middle finger!!! Ouch!!! Luckily, the bone was fine – fortunately, she had only gotten the tip. But because it was her right hand, she couldn't write until it healed. Schools were tough back then, and because she couldn't write, they made her repeat the 2nd grade! (as a side note, my mom told me that if someone was left handed, they would force them to learn to use their right hand – left handedness was NOT ALLOWED!) To this day, my mom reminds her sister of this incident and shows her her shortened middle finger!
Another story deals with food and the rations that was put on food around the time of World War II. One of the food items rationed was jam. This particular day, her and her sister were in charge of going to pick up the month's supply of jam. It just so happened that the jam being given out was cherry jam. Yum! My mom and her sister were kind of hungry, so they thought it would be OK if they sampled some on their way home. One bite for her, one bite for her sister….and before you know it, all the jam was gone! Gone was their ration for the whole month! I'm sure they got an ear full when they got home, but maybe it was worth it 🙂
I wish I had some photos to post of her as a little girl, but unfortunately, the only photos they had were some rare professional ones – AND HER SISTER THREW THEM AWAY!!! I can't believe that these would not be treasured items! If only I could have them now! So, instead, I will post some pictures of the town she grew up in the shores of Lago Maggiore. What a gorgeous place to live…and so many of her memories center around this beautiful lake.
Filed under Culture, History, Memories, reflections, Traditions, Travel and tagged lago maggiore, memories, World war II |	2 Comments
California Says "I'm Sorry"….
This blog entry is more factual and serious, but I thought it important and interesting to chronicle the events of some recent legislation in California. With so many Italian-American groups trying to re-establish their roots, it's interesting to learn stories of the hardships that Italians faced in creating their new lives in the United States. Many of the current generation have no idea of the struggles that their ancestors endured while trying to better the lives of their families and ensure that future generations would prosper.
World War II was a dark chapter in the history of the world, and many ethnic groups were targeted and treated unfairly. Italians were no exception, even though their story was not one widely known. During the war, over 100,000 Californians were deemed to be "aliens". Most of these were of Japanese descent, but over 10,000 of them were Italian. Some were forced to leave their homes and interned in labor camps, while others were subject to home searches and curfews. Some, especially fishermen, were denied the right to earn their living. Their rights as American citizens were violated and they were treated as criminals. This classified information became one of the "untold" stories of World War II. But during State Senator Joe Simitian's campaign of "There Ought To Be a Law", a resident of San Jose, whose parents were subject to searches and curfews during World War II, exposed evidence of this mistreatment. This led to the passage of Resolution 95 that acknowledged that the treament of Italian Americans during World War II "represented a social injustice" and expressed "deepest regrets" for these actions.
This resolution follows a U.S. Congressional Report from 2001 entitled "A Review of the Restrictions on Persons of Italian Ancestry During World War II." At that time, Italians were the largest foreign group in the United States and their treatment during the war devastated many of them. The passage of this bill was to provide "a long-due measure of recognition and respect."
As evidenced, life was not always easy for these Italian-Americans, but their perseverence in wanting a better life was their means to an end. An end that resulted in a strong sense of patriotism and love for their new country, without letting go of their roots. And now, with the recognition and apologies for the unfair treatment they received during a difficult period in history, the loyalty to their new home is even more solid. Italian-Americans are "American" first and foremost….with their roots always to be tied to Italy!!!
Filed under Current Events, History and tagged california legislation, internment, World war II |	4 Comments

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
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September 6, 2019, 14:26
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Simon Carswell
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Strong growth in permanent jobs boosts profits at CPL 07:40


Molecular weight: Activin AB is a disulphide linked heterodimer of subunits βA / βB . βA Single chain, containing 116 aa (13.7 kDa) and βB single chain, 123 amino residues (14kDa). Recombinant human Activin AB contains a His-tag at the N-terminal end.
Description: AActivins are homodimers or heterodimers of the various β subunit isoforms, belonging to the TGFβ family. Mature Activin AB has two chains of 116 and 123 amino acids residues (βA-βB). Activin exhibits a wide range of biological activities, including mesoderm induction, neural cell differentiation, bone remodelling, haematopoiesis, and reproductive physiology. Activins plays a key role in the production and regulation of hormones such as FSH, LH, GnRH and ACTH. Inhibins /Activins are proteins that are formed by the dimerization of two subunits, i. e. an α with either βA –inhibin A- or βB – inhibin B. The subunits βA and βB can also form homodimers or heterodimers calleds activins: Activin A (βAβA), Activin B (βBβB) and Activin AB (βAβB). The activin gene family comprises the additional, but poorly characterized members activin βC, βD, and βE.
As with other members of the super-family, Activins interact with two types of cell surface trans-membrane receptors (Types I and II) which have intrinsic serine/threonine kinase activities in their cytoplasmic domains, Activin type 1 receptors, ACVR1, ACVR1B, ACVR1C and Activin type 2 receptors, ACVR2A, ACVR2B.
The development of assays distinguishing between different forms of activins and inhibins, along with knock-in and knock-out models, have provided evidence that the betaA- and betaB-subunits have independent and separate roles physiologically. Additionally, evaluation of ligand-receptor interactions indicates significant differences in receptor affinity between activin isoforms, as well as between inhibin isoforms.
Figure 1.- SDS-PAGE analysis of human recombinant Activin AB. Lane MWM: molecular weight marker (kDa). Lane1: 1 ug and lane 2: 2 ug of human recombinant Activin AB.
Figure 2.- Serological identification. Dot-blot analysis of human recombinant Activin AB, Activin A and Activin B with specifics antisera.
Biological Activity: The biological activity of Activin AB is measured by its ability to inhibit mouse plasmacytoma cell line (MPC-11) cells proliferation. EC50 <5ng/mL are required to stimulate a half-maximal response at cytokine saturation. Note: Since applications vary, each investigator should titrate the reagent to obtain optimal results.


Eyup Revolucion de Cuba, our Dine & Discover restaurant for August!
Next to take to the stage and ready and waiting for you to dine and discover next month, is city-centre Cuban haven, Revolucion de Cuba, tucked away on Mappin Street.
As well as a tailor-made offer valid throughout August for Dine & Discover, the bar and restaurant will also be hosting a rum tasting evening! Find out more and get your tickets booked ASAP (these will fly off the shelves).
To learn a little more about the Latin-inspired cocktail bar and restaurant that has a collection of more than 60 different rums from around the world, we caught up with general manager Jamie Smith for a chinwag.
Tell me about Revolucion de Cuba's humble beginnings.
Revolucion de Cuba's parent company is Revolution Bars Group. In early 2010, owners and senior managers went on a research trip to Cuba, where they found themselves in a little bar, very similar to the bar here (in terms of the dark mahogany back bar with the glass mirrors and high ceiling fans) enjoying a mojito and soaking up the atmosphere as a pop-up band played in the corner. Music is really ingrained in Cuban culture, but you don't necessarily expect a live band up and running at 2-3pm in the afternoon. The managers then recognised the lively yet laid-back atmosphere that was created in this small bar, and were eager to replicate this back in the UK.
They then used their experience in setting up Revolution bars and applied this to creating a music-oriented, tapas, cocktail and rum cantina. And here we are! We're the first Revolucion de Cuba of 19 venues in the country, having opened here in 2011.
What is Revolucion de Cuba all about?
We're aspiring to deliver great experiences. Tapas and cocktails really are at the centre of what we do. We're looking to enhance that experience with music, great décor, a really relaxed service style, but done in a professional and refined way.
How does this place differ from other venues in the city?
The thing that really differentiates us is the music. There are a lot of really great operators in Sheffield - we're definitely more spoilt for choice now than we have been in the last ten years. Even in the last two years, the city has changed quite dramatically.
The thing that sets us apart though, is the calibre of entertainment that we offer people here at Revolucion de Cuba. We host live music here five times a week, which is a real commitment, particularly when competition is on the rise, and there seems to be a down-turn in casual dining in the city. We offer a really diverse range of live music here, and we're not just promoting local talent, we're bringing in artists from far and wide to perform.
I came here to study in 2005 and after graduating - I never wanted to leave! Sheffield has the amenities of a big city, with the feel of a small town. The Peaks are on your doorstep and you're close to Manchester and Leeds. To sum up, Sheffield has everything on your doorstep.
If Sheffield were a cocktail, what would it be?
It would have to be a mojito - a modern twist on a classic. You've got the nature element there representing Sheffield's green spaces and the Peaks, but I also see Sheffield as a real mixture of cultures, encompassing two major universities, and being a city that spans far and wide. In the city centre you have a real mix of these elements, in a way like a mojito's ingredients are muddled together with a green back drop.
What can diners expect when they come to Revolucion de Cuba?
They can certainly expect great food – freshly cooked tapas – some may say Instagram-worthy. During our happy hour, people can also expect great value for money drinks and cocktails! (Happy hour is 3-7pm on weekdays, 5-7pm on Saturdays and all day on Sundays.) Expect great service given in a relaxed way, by genuinely happy and engaged staff. In the background you'll hear great feel-good music, that'll enhance your experience.
It's not all about the food here. The drinks are a huge part of what Revolucion de Cuba means. Tell me more about them.
Cocktails are a massive part of what we do. Around half of every drink sold here is one - they fly out on busy Saturday nights, especially during our happy hour. Most other venues will offer a restricted happy hour offer during their slowest hours. We offer a much more flexible deal, where you can buy any two cocktails from the entire menu – we make it simple so you can order what you want. That's how we've forged real loyalty from customers, as they know there's no fuss and the cocktails are fantastic.
We have around 60 different rums on offer here. Rum as a category is quite broad, it offers quite a lot to different people – some might say 'I don't like rum' and we say you've just not found the right rum. Rum isn't as heavily restricted as its counterparts like whiskey or tequila etc. It has the freedom to be made in so many different ways that there is a broad spectrum on offer from around the world, giving a whole host of different flavours. We try to encapsulate this in our selection on the bar. At the moment, we have a rum that's seven years old from Japan, which has aged in sake barrels. Paired with some ginger ale and all of a sudden, it's not your typical idea of the spirit.
Even if someone comes in who isn't a fan of rum, our staff know their spirits, and are more than happy to put together bespoke cocktails to suit taste buds, and to get you enjoying the many flavours of rum.
Sheffield comes alive after 5pm. How does Revolucion de Cuba join in?
We have a brilliant happy hour offering, which gets you experiencing cocktails old and new. Join us after work on a Friday and we'll have a band playing, food and drinks canapes, everything you need to enjoy your night.
We're bouncing back from a series of bustling Tramlines fringe events, and we're keen to carry that energy and live music mentality throughout the summer. With this weather we're having, we hope that people will want to continue that sunshine feel at 'Cuba. Over the next few months we have a packed calendar full of bands – more content than we've ever had really. We're going further afield to source new bands and live music performers. We're also having a big party over the August bank holiday – we're hosting Batucada Horns, who are a Latin-African rhythm drum band that fuses with big band brass.
If this has got you counting down the hours until happy hour, head on over to Mappin Street (just off West Street) and treat yourself! This month, you'll also be able to make use of an exclusive #DineAndDiscover offer – it'll only be available during August, so you'd better get yourself down ASAP!


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Upsolar Expands Sales Operations in Response to Growing Demand
Published: Thursday, 18 October 2012 19:54
Upsolar, a leading international provider of PV modules, today announced the addition of two members to its UK-based team. The company has appointed Bob Mills to the role of National Sales Manager and Stuart Tandy as Key Account Manager.
As National Sales Manager, Bob Mills is responsible for growing all sales channels within the United Kingdom at Upsolar. Mills comes to Upsolar with more than a decade of experience in the international solar market. Prior to joining the company, Mills served as Sales Manager for SCHOTT Solar in the UK and North America. Mills gained Engineering Qualifications from Sheffield Polytechnic, now Hallam University.
"Having been on the front lines of solar for many years, I am encouraged by the dedication and ingenuity demonstrated by the entire Upsolar team," said Mills. "I look forward to digging in with one of the market's most promising module providers and serving the UK's rapidly growing PV market."
Upsolar's new Key Account Manager, Stuart Tandy, also comes to Upsolar from SCHOTT Solar, where he served as a UK Sales Manager. Tandy was previously an Account Manger for global electronics and electrical engineering company Siemens, where he managed the distribution of energy-efficient heating controls. He was also responsible for community educational initiatives on the importance of reducing carbon footprints through energy efficiency measures. Tandy will leverage his years of advocacy experience in his work with Upsolar, helping to raise awareness on the environmental and financial benefits of solar energy for a variety of key stakeholders.
"Bob and Stuart are exceptional complements to our ever-expanding presence in the United Kingdom, a market that is demanding ever higher standards of technology and customer support," said Justin Canning, Country Manager for UK Upsolar. "Both men bring rich knowledge from across the energy industry and will serve as valuable assets for our customers and partners who share a similar vision to our own as we explore new opportunities."
Tags: Company News, solar digest, e-lec.org


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Home — Essay Samples — Literature — A Streetcar Named Desire — Good and Evil: the Image of Dorian Gray and a Streetcar Named Desire
Good and Evil: the Image of Dorian Gray and a Streetcar Named Desire
Subcategory: Plays, Books
Topic: A Streetcar Named Desire, The Picture of Dorian Gray
Pages: 4.5
The measure of a man's character is what he would do if he knew he never would be found out.
Thomas Babington
Morality is the very foundation of goodness and the pillar of righteousness. Immorality, however, is the threshold towards conspicuous malevolence. These two extremes are often but a step between which we are baffled and bemused. Morals undeniably establish the confinements of one' behaviour in any given society. Should these principles crumble, ethical boundaries would give way to anarchical freedom. Both works explored in this analysis illustrate the succumbing to immoral conduct for selfish purposes. In The Picture of Dorian Gray, by Oscar Wilde, we are intrigued by a charming Englishman who discards his innocence and embraces loathsome hedonism. Tennessee Williams A Streetcar Named Desire confronts us with a stout and virile figure who abides to no opposing authority than his own. Two unscrupulous characters surface from different worlds with the equivalent dismissal of moral values common to humankind. Although one is characterised by beauty and the other, by potency, they share the same vivid animation of unrestrained cruelty. It is in their ominous acts that their factual embodiment is exposed. Wilde and Williams reveal, through these depraved beings, the basis of humanity's intrinsic flaw: the loss of inhibitions. I will further discuss, by means of relevant characters, the yearning for moral ideals as well as the clinging onto immoral philosophies.
Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray is set during the late nineteenth century England, a period marked with the exceeding importance of social stature and personal image. The protagonist, Dorian Gray, rises as the archetype of male pulchritude and youth. His aristocracy and stunning beauty enthral his surroundings. He often poses for Basil Hallward, an artist of great talent whose art is inspired by Dorian's charisma. While Basil's most prodigious painting is in the midst of being completed, Dorian is introduced to Lord Henry Wotton, a cynical philosopher and skilful orator. Dorian is easily seduced by his manipulative tongue and his scornful theories. Wotton envisions fashioning, corrupting the vulnerable boy into an unrelenting hedonist. Through him, Dorian faces the harsh realisation that his physical attributes are ever fading. Upon this sudden insight, he dreads the physical burden of ageing. He envies the perpetual attractiveness of Basil's masterpiece. …If it were only the other way! If it were I who was to be always young, and the picture that was to grow old! For that – for that – I would give everything! Yes, there is nothing in the whole world I would not give! I would give my soul for that! (Wilde p. 31). The materialisation of this wish and the metamorphosis it will ensue are to bring his demise.
Dorian's figure remains immaculate while the picture bears his abhorrent transformation. This is first confirmed following his amorous liaison with Sibyl Vane, an actress he meets at an infamous theatre. Like him, she is characterised by an entrancing beauty and a youthful naivety. Mesmerised by one another, they promptly exchange vows of fidelity. Dorian invites Henry and Basil to the theatre, if only to be dreadfully embarrassed by Sibyl's artificial performance. In a fit of anger yet unknown to him, Dorian reluctantly reprimands his fiance. You are shallow and stupid. My God! How mad I was to love you! What a fool I have been! You are nothing to me now (Wilde p. 98). This vindictive refusal leads to her suicide. Upon returning to his dwelling, he is bewildered by a hideous discovery: his portrait had slightly altered, hinting the sinful transfiguration that would occur throughout his debauched existence.
Dorian conveys strong feelings of contrition upon learning of Sibyl's needless death. He is conscious of his wrongdoing and feels profoundly culpable. However, Lord Henry encourages him to discard the incident and to revel in his present freedom. Dorian is torn apart as his egoism weighs heavily over his conscience. By overlooking the death he caused and indulging in pleasure, Dorian incarnates Lord Henry's philosophy. With the knowledge of his physical imperviousness to the aftermath of any consequence, he adopts hedonistic values. The complete denial of responsibility in Sibyl's death is but the beginning of his moral degradation. He relishes in observing the mutilation of the picture, thus his soul. His further meetings with Henry simply magnify this descent into profligacy. …You were the most unspoiled creature in the whole world. Now, I don't know what has come over you. You talk as if you had no heart, no pity in you. It is all Harry's influence. I see that (Wilde p. 120) From then on, Dorian progressively mingles with sin; provoking scandals, visiting opium dens and frequenting prostitutes.
Dorian often gazes at the painting with horror, but is unable to divert from this lifestyle, aroused by its wickedness. He is undoubtedly aware of his ethical dissipation and, despite the beautiful items in which he surrounds himself, is appalled by the ugliness of his soul. He knew that he had tarnished himself, filled his mind with corruption, and given horror to his fancy; that he had been an evil influence to others, and had experienced a terrible joy in being so (Wilde p. 241) Dorian's fear of his predicament being discovered grows as the tableau alters with every misdeed. Although it is hidden from prying eyes, the bareness of his soul is ever-present in his mind. His hot-tempered murder of Basil not only signifies the peak of his immoral demeanour, but his obliteration of moral barriers. His iniquitous act throws him in a state of guilt-ridden paranoia. He is world-weary and borne down by the weight of this infamy.
Wilde's protagonist was not a villainous nor unprincipled man, simply pliable and somewhat narcissist. Under Lord Henry's overwhelming influence and the portrait's enticing protection, he succumbs to a world free of restrictions, tempted by self-gratification. When breaking apart from the moral confines that establish order, Dorian is thrust into a chaotic freedom. Without the ubiquitous prison that symbolises morality, anarchy and evilness reign, destroying the goodness in one's nature. When he strikes the diabolical picture, beleaguered by remorse and maddened by regret, he wishes to purge his soul and reacquire the proper values that once governed his life. Therefore, by destroying the wantonness that marred his spirit and the guilt that plagued his conscience, he kills himself.
Lord Henry is an extremely patronizing and cynical character. His actions are not as overtly sinful as Dorian's, since he is not shielded from their repercussions. Although preaching hedonism, he never acts on his philosophies, remaining within the boundaries of what society deems tolerable. He thus has little knowledge of the pragmatic effects induced by his philosophy. He is portrayed as a coward, utilising Dorian to make flesh of his theories, but not venturing on them himself for fear of ruining his social figure. He is a brilliant intellect, although he has a narrow understanding of human behaviour. For instance, when he asserts: All crime is vulgar, just as all vulgarity is crime. It is not in you, Dorian to commit a murder… (Wilde p. 234), he is entirely oblivious to Dorian's tragedy.
While most of humanity is constrained to moral hindrances, there are those who drift away from these ideals, and become the source of misdemeanours2E Although morality and ethics are restraining concepts, they shelter the individual and thus, mankind. Without them, there could only be degradation and self-destruction, as illustrated by Oscar Wilde in The Picture of Dorian Gray. As Mahatma Gandhi once said: The human voice can never reach the distance that is covered by the still small voice of conscience. One may enjoy life and have no fear from death if he obeys his scruples.
Tennessee Williams A Streetcar Named Desire formulates a medium to reflect upon the morbid aspects of humanity and the result of these societal downfalls. Stanley Kowalski emerges from an impoverished rural setting in New Orleans as the epitome of flagrant barbarity. His speech is coarsely uneducated and his actions display instinctive crudeness. He adheres to mankind's most primitive rule and basic code: to hunt or be hunted. His household symbolizes his territory and anyone who menaces this tenure should be eliminated. The metaphorical episode in which he casually tosses to Stella, his wife, a bundle of bloody meat emphasises his ape-like qualities. He has little notion of courteousness, which understandably repulse his pampered sister-in-law, Blanche.
The image of a delicate flower amongst a mound of litter is comparable to Blanche Dubois arrival at the Kowalski household. Her expression is of shocked disbelief. Her appearance is incongruous to this setting (Williams p. 15). She appears inherently refined and somewhat ostentatious, having seemingly never witnessed indignity. However, her false decorum is a rather deliberate effort to save herself from misery. Blanche exists in a self-fabricated universe in which she blinds herself from reality's bleakness. Her haughty manners contrast with Stanley's uncouth behaviour and clash from their first encounter.
Stanley imposes his animalistic vigour upon Blanche since he feels threatened by her presence. He despises her aristocratic ways, her diminutive expressions concerning his origin and her dallying about with his friend Mitch. His hatred of Blanche is intensified by her unflattering dialogue with Stella. He acts like an animal, has an animal's habits! Eats like one, moves like one, talks like one! There's even something – sub-human – something not quite to the stage of humanity yet! (Williams p. 72). This culmination of anger is manifested in his enquiry of her promiscuous past and in his spiteful birthday gift. He relentlessly thwarts her relationship with Mitch, sabotaging her illusions of rescue. In his vile quest to bring Blanche's ruin, he brutally exposes her to the harshness of her position.
Stanley's final effort in tarnishing Blanche's image is animated by chauvinism. Although his past attempts were strictly psychological blows, he now wishes to exert physical power upon her. In Blanche's state of vulnerability, he rapes her, devastating the remainder of her sanity. His degenerate character, first insinuated after hitting his pregnant wife, is given full evidence following this acrimonious sin. The concluding scene consists of Blanche being ostracised to an asylum and the depiction of Stanley as the dedicated husband, soothing his wife as she embraces their newborn child. The fallaciousness of this image, given what we have learned throughout the play, paradoxically brings into perspective society's erroneous conception of right and wrong.
The settings of The Picture of Dorian Gray and of A Streetcar Named Desire differ immensely. Dorian is immersed in a tumultuous social environment, caught in the intricate web of social demeanour. Stanley, on the other hand, resides in a modest yet impecunious milieu. In Wilde's work, the innocent is poisoned, succumbing to immoral growth and subsiding into internal deterioration. In Williams play, remorseless animosity is the dominating asset, as modern man's conduct is banished. Although these events take place at nearly a century's interval, one remaining constant is observed : the consequences on the self and on others resulting from the dismissal of morals.
Dorian and Stanley are above all human, and as every human, are subjected to the similar dilemma: to remain within the borders of moral beliefs, or to venture across into immoral conditions. The laws of ethics impose restrictions and greatly limit humankind's actions, but allow the world's proper functioning. Both characters break free from this psychological incarceration and therefore, represent the dark side of human nature.
It is critical that we, as a community, comprehend the necessity to abide by the restraining order of morals. Only then will violence and havoc cease to exist. Is it not in our power to differentiate the good from the bad? This question lies not underneath a compulsory set of rules, but rather within the depths of our conscience. Wilde and Williams have magnified, through their enlightening characters, the step between morality and immorality. In the end, it is in our hands to decide on which to stand.
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Good and Evil: the Image of Dorian Gray and a Streetcar Named Desire. (2018, May 29). GradesFixer. Retrieved January 12, 2021, from https://gradesfixer.com/free-essay-examples/morality-and-immorality-the-picture-of-dorian-gray-and-a-streetcar-named-desire/
"Good and Evil: the Image of Dorian Gray and a Streetcar Named Desire." GradesFixer, 29 May 2018, gradesfixer.com/free-essay-examples/morality-and-immorality-the-picture-of-dorian-gray-and-a-streetcar-named-desire/
Good and Evil: the Image of Dorian Gray and a Streetcar Named Desire. [online]. Available at: <https://gradesfixer.com/free-essay-examples/morality-and-immorality-the-picture-of-dorian-gray-and-a-streetcar-named-desire/> [Accessed 12 Jan. 2021].
Good and Evil: the Image of Dorian Gray and a Streetcar Named Desire [Internet]. GradesFixer. 2018 May 29 [cited 2021 Jan 12]. Available from: https://gradesfixer.com/free-essay-examples/morality-and-immorality-the-picture-of-dorian-gray-and-a-streetcar-named-desire/
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Member of the Promotion winning squad of the 1967-68 season.
Highest appearance maker in the 1969-70 season with 44 appearances (46 max).
Joint highest appearance maker in the 1971-72 season with 45 appearances (46 max).


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Climate is changing. Investing needs to, too, says BlackRock
By STAN CHOE AP Business Writer
FILE - In this March 26, 2014 file photo, BlackRock Chairman and CEO Laurence Fink is interviewed by Maria Bartiromo on Fox Business Network's "Opening Bell with Maria Bartiromo," in New York. BlackRock, the world's largest asset manager, is making climate change central to its investment decisions going forward. Fink, who oversees the management of about $7 trillion in funds, said in his influential annual letter to CEOs Tuesday, Jan. 14, 2020, that he believes we are "on the edge of a fundamental reshaping of finance" because of a warming planet.
Mark Lennihan
NEW YORK (AP) — A changing climate means dramatic risks for the world — and for investments too, the chief of the world's largest investment manager said Tuesday.
To prepare for and protect against those risks, BlackRock CEO Laurence Fink said in his influential annual letter to CEOs that his firm, which manages roughly $7 trillion for investors, will make a series of moves putting climate change and sustainability at the center of its investing approach.
Among them, BlackRock will cut out investments in some coal producers from some of its portfolios, sharply increase the number of sustainability-focused funds that it offers, and vote against companies at shareholder meetings when they're too slow in disclosing and mitigating their impact on the environment.
"Climate change has become a defining factor in companies' long-term prospects," Fink wrote in his letter, adding that he believes "we are on the edge of a fundamental reshaping of finance" because of it.
Fink predicted that the changes in how capital is deployed will come "more quickly than we see changes to the climate itself," and "sooner than most anticipate."
In fact, the shift is already underway.
Investors poured a net $20.6 billion into sustainable funds across the industry last year, nearly quadruple the record set a year earlier, according to Morningstar. Investors, particularly younger ones, increasingly say they want their money invested with an eye toward sustainability. The total dollars are still small relative to the entire industry — investors plugged a total of $413.9 billion into all taxable bond funds last year, while yanking $41.3 billion out of all U.S. stock funds — but the trend is clear and accelerating.
Fearful of losing out on those dollars — and the fees that they produce — investment companies are rushing to meet the surging demand.
BlackRock and other huge asset managers are generally behind smaller competitors when it comes to sustainability, said Danielle Fugere, president of shareholder-advocacy group As You Sow. BlackRock, State Street, Vanguard and others have been criticized for not doing more about the environment. Besides protests outside its Manhattan headquarters, BlackRock has also heard criticism from members of Congress who believe it could better address climate change.
Because of its size and reach, any shift in focus by BlackRock could alter the industry. It is a major shareholder in thousands of companies through its popular exchange-traded funds that track various indexes, as well as its funds run by stock-picking managers. But Fugere said Tuesday's announcement is only a first step.
"The words are significant, and the words show leadership," Fugere said. "But that's not enough. We have to see on the ground action, and we need to see it quickly. There is no time. Australia is burning up. California is burning up."
The wildfires in parts of Australia and California and other recent disasters have shown big institutional investors that climate change is just as much a threat to their returns in the near term as over the coming decades.
"The physical risks have become so immediately clear and stark," said Amy Borrus, deputy director of the Council for Institutional Investors, whose members include pension funds, endowments and other U.S.-based asset owners investing more than $4 trillion.
"Many institutional investors will welcome these steps by BlackRock," she said. "More and more public funds are coming around to the view that sound environmental, social and governance practices are not just about making the world better but about fundamentally creating and preserving shareholder value."
This approach to investing comes after a yearslong evolution for the industry, which began with simple funds that bluntly excluded stocks deemed as harmful, such as gun makers or tobacco stocks.
Now, fund managers say they they look at environmental, social and governance issues broadly as part of their analysis of any investment. It's known as "ESG" investing, and proponents say it aids investors' returns, not just their consciences, because it helps them avoid risky stocks and big potential losses. Companies with poor records on environmental issues are more likely to face big fines, for example.
For all the noise made by Fink's announcement, the reaction in the stock market was muted on Tuesday. Energy stocks in the S&P 500 were down, but not as much as some other corners of the market. Coal stocks were mixed.
In his letter, Fink said companies and investors have a role to play in the transition to a low-carbon world, but governments will ultimately need to lead the way.
Some movement has begun. The European Union on Tuesday unveiled a plan to dedicate a quarter of its budget to tackling climate change and to help shift 1 trillion euros ($1.1 trillion) in investment towards making the economy more environmentally friendly over the next 10 years. The Europe Investment Plan will be funded by the EU budget and the private sector. It aims to deliver on European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen's Green Deal to make the bloc the world's first carbon-neutral continent by 2050.
"It will be interesting to see whether BlackRock's high profile move will have any impact on policy," Borrus said. "Government can do much more in the long run on climate change than investment flows."
AP Reporter Samuel Petrequin contributed to this report from Brussels.
Trusts And Fund Management
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Municipal Debt
President Donald Trump on Thursday vowed to protect prayer in public schools. Here's what he said.
Speaking at an Oval Office event and joined by Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, Trump unveiled the federal government's first updated guidance on school prayer since 2003.
Wisconsin judge orders state elections commission to immediately strike up to 209,000 names from voter rolls
PORT WASHINGTON, Wis. (AP) — Wisconsin judge orders state elections commission to immediately strike up to 209,000 names from voter rolls.
Georgia parole board spares life of man hours ahead of scheduled execution. Sentence commuted to life without parole.
ATLANTA (AP) — Georgia parole board spares life of man hours ahead of scheduled execution. Sentence commuted to life without parole.
A Japanese billionaire is looking for a 'life partner' to fly with him to the moon
The deadline for applications is Jan. 17, with the final decision scheduled to be made at the end of March.
Radio calls add to mystery: Why did airliner dump fuel that doused LA schoolkids?
Radio traffic between pilot and tower indicated engine problems as the flight turned back to land. But most pilots don't dump fuel unless a dire emergency requires it, experts said.
Massachusetts boy creates tiny clay koalas to raise funds for Australian wildlife
Owen Colley says he is making clay koalas to raise money for Australian wildfire relief because "helping animals is better than watching TV."


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The Passing Trailer Shows That Race Is A Delusion
Story from Unbothered
The Passing Trailer Highlights That Race Is A Delusion
Nylah Burton
"Race is a delusion," my friend sighed. We had been discussing passing, the act of someone from one race being accepted or perceived as a member of another, usually a marginalized race to white. After numerous anecdotes about the ridiculous race science-y tactics — gauging the slope of a nose is a popular one — that people employed to categorize others, this was our conclusion.
A week later, our Twitter timelines were scattered with comments on a tantalizing trailer for Passing, a forthcoming Netflix movie based on Nella Larsen's 1929 novella of the same name. The film, which will be released on November 10, stars Ruth Negga as Clare and Tessa Thompson as Irene. According to Larson's original story, both Clare and Irene are supposed to be white-passing.
Still, no matter how good their acting is, Negga and Thompson are not Clare and Irene. They're not "dark-white" or "olive-skinned" characters on a page onto which we can project our own individual images. They're flesh and bone people that the public solidly recognizes as Black women. There's no real chance of delusion because we already feel in the know. Because of that, Twitter debated whether these two women could actually be white-passing. For many, the idea was ridiculous. They pointed out the features of Negga and Thompson's flesh and bone — their skin, the shape of their noses, the curl of their baby hairs — to say it was impossible that these two women could have passed for white in the 1920s.
Whether Thompson or Negga could pass is irrelevant; the irrelevance is the point of the book and is the very essence of "passing" itself.
Whether Thompson or Negga could pass is irrelevant; the irrelevance is the point of the book and is the very essence of "passing" itself. In my familial and social experience, white-passing Black people are not defined by how white or Black they look. They are defined by how they can, through varied means not at all limited to physical appearance, illuminate the fact that race is a delusion, thereby discomfiting and fascinating others. Those varied means can include the ability to codeswitch, their style aesthetic, the food they eat, and the company they keep. Their features are an important part of that, of course, but nothing is more powerful than the overall delusion.
Identifying who can pass as white is an act of obsession, and while race may be a social construct, obsession is innate. White-passing Black people are a source of anxiety and fascination because they encourage that obsession. When confronted with them, people will go over every detail of their bodies and complexions, the tone of their voice, their family histories, you name it… all with no real result except to highlight the ridiculousness at the core of the concept of race.
Like all social constructs, race is real because we have made it so, and it seems immutable because we wish it to be. It's no less powerful because humans invented it as a means of control. In fact, that may make it even more powerful. In the name of this deeply silly idea, my people have been plundered and enslaved and tortured, raped, incarcerated, shot, and starved. This deeply silly idea is, in fact, the only reason that my people are my people or why I exist in the first place. Race, although it may be a delusion, is one that has entranced the entire world and changed the course of human history forever.
That's why, I think, people have such an obsession with white-passing Black people. Larsen embodies this by infusing the novel with Irene's near-erotic, often violent, and perhaps paranoid preoccupation with Clare. Passing converges all our vices and fears — an unhealthy preoccupation with attaining whiteness and controlling Blackness. It reveals a desire to neatly categorize what we find confusing, and most of all, to expose some big secret, to be the one to pull back the curtains and reveal the county fair magician (the person attempting to pass) for the fraud they are, and through that, how honest and pure we are. Humans love to feel pure, after all.
It also allows us to indulge in race pseudoscience, something which has been clumsily wielded by white people as a means of maintaining their color line and has nonconsensually seeped into the psyches of the rest of us. On the relative ease of passing casually, in the novel Irene thinks "White people were so stupid about such things for all that they usually asserted that they were able to tell; and by the most ridiculous means, fingernails, palms of hands, shapes of ears, teeth, and other equally silly rot."
It is silly rot, but race pseudoscience — most notably, phrenology — was used to perpetuate genocide and shape apartheid policies. Silliness makes the room go still when the bodies start to pile up.
What has been lost in the knee-jerk reaction to the film's trailer is the nuance found in the novel — but within the knee-jerk reaction is also the nuance.
It is the consequence of racism that makes passing such a fraught act and yet such a common one. That's because there are two different kinds of passing. Historically, white-passing Black people often casually flirted with the color line. In Passing, it is Clare's act of "passing over" — meaning disappearing almost completely into whiteness on a permanent basis — that is the source of tension and dread, and yet the novel opens with Irene, a proud Black woman with "adherence to her class and race… in the whole pattern of her life," casually passing so she can get a glass of ice-cold tea in a swanky Chicago location. For Irene and most white-passing Black people of the era, this temporary act of passing was routine. A slight of hand. But Clare's transgression is, as Irene describes it, "abhorrent." Clearly, there is a difference between a party trick and a web of deception.
Irene's disgust at Clare is at the heart of the Twitter debate about both characters' casting. White people don't see Clare for who she is, but her own people do. Similarly, we see Thompson and Negga as Black, and can't imagine them as anything else. When among Black people, Clare doesn't really pass, nor does she want to pass. Surrounded by white people though, even Irene has a hard time identifying her childhood friend. But that's the thing about passing. It's so ridiculous and so dependent on several factors, many of which have nothing to do with the person themselves. It's more about who they are with or how they are portrayed (it's interesting to note that director Rebecca Hall's choice to shoot Passing in black-and-white makes both characters appear whiter).
Standing next to a dark-skinned Black person, a white-passing Black person finds the feat to conceal their true identity almost impossible, while it might be easy in a room full of white people. What has been lost in the knee-jerk reaction to the film's trailer is the nuance found in the novel — but within the knee-jerk reaction is also the nuance. Because once Irene recognizes Clare, what was to her unmistakably a white woman becomes her sister in race. "Ah! Surely! They were Negro eyes!", Larsen writes. This is not much different than commenting on how Black Negga's nose appears, or how Thompson is one of us because "look at her." A shared bond does a lot to shatter the delusion of race, while still enforcing it. Casting two characters that don't look white just makes us think about this more.
The act of crossing over the supposedly unbreachable rivers of race is meant to be shameful. The shame is amplified more by knowing Black people like Irene are disgusted by the act more than the danger of being found out by white people, who never seem to hold their incognito Black loved one's entire hearts (consider Stella in Brit Bennet's The Vanishing Half, and her detachment from her own daughter, a pattern that Clare repeats with hers). But the thing about Clare is that she has no shame and that's what turns Passing from a mediocre novel with a "tragic mulatto" trope into almost a thriller, one that asks us real questions instead of continuing banal discourse about "choosing between two worlds."
No, with Passing, Larsen did something much more powerful. The reactions on Twitter — including complaints about our "cultural fixation" with white-passing people, since in Larsen's novel, questioning the fixation is the point — only solidified the power of this nearly century-old book. Instead of ruminating on the consequences of passing, Larsen used passing to pull the cloak off the concept of race itself. We, as the readers, are in on the absurdity and performance of it all. When Clare's racist husband declares there will be "no n*gg*rs in his family," the room of white-passing women he's surrounded by fight to stifle their laughter. If the movie does Larsen's novel justice, which is still to be seen, this debate over whether two light-skinned Black actresses could pass as white will seem as irrational as race pseudoscience. In the book, we witness how these two characters both perform and lie to themselves about race, for survival or love or money or fear. Doing Larsen's novel justice would also mean questioning the concept of race itself.
As the readers, we're not asking why Clare chooses one race over the other — the economic benefit makes it quite clear — but we're asking what the nature of race must be to inspire such obsession, callousness, love, intimacy, and at the same time, such violence and loyalty between Clare and Irene. In the end, Clare's misadventure in passing has so little to do with whether white people find her out based on how she looks. It has to do with how Black people — including Irene — perceive the core of who she is, beyond appearance and into a deeper place of unfathomable and perhaps terrifying depths. Because if race is a delusion, do any of us really want to know what it's concealing?
'Passing' Trailer Debate Shows That Race Is A Delusion
Unbothered • Entertainment • The Latest • Movie Trailers • Movies
written by Nylah Burton


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Skateboarder dies after being hit by truck in Durham
Posted July 4, 2015 1:39 p.m. EDT
Updated July 4, 2015 5:52 p.m. EDT
Durham, N.C. — A 23-year-old Durham man died early Saturday after being hit by a truck while skateboarding on Spruce Street, police said.
Investigators said Reilly Shamus was traveling north on Spruce Street near Holloway Street at about 8:30 a.m. when he was hit by a 1998 Chevrolet truck driven by Melvin Council.
Shamus was taken to a local hospital, where he died. Investigators said Shamus failed to yield the right of way prior to the wreck.
Speed and alcohol were not factors in the crash, which is still under investigation.


I can already hear Andy Rooney complaining. In the continuing saga of the death of the newspaper, a recent thought experiment takes another punch at the New York Times.
According to back-of-the-envelope calculations, The New York Times could send every subscriber an Amazon Kindle (retail $359) for half as much as they spend to print the paper each year.
The Silicon Alley Insider came up with the calculations based on the Times' 10-Q quarterly report.
While print costs are estimated at roughly $644 million, providing all 830,000 subscribers with a Kindle would cost $297 million. While this is illustrative of the inefficiencies of tactile print media, these prognosticators make several wrong assumptions.
First, they compared the costs of printing all papers, including those sent to newsstands, to the costs of sending Kindles to only local subscribers. Other hidden factors in the analysis include the ad sales and marketing benefits that favor the visibility and accessibility of print media, over personal e-readers.
And as one observer astutely comments, "Imagine how expensive it will be when you have a new puppy and you have to cover the floor with a collection of Kindles while potty training."


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The Mister by EL James
The Mister by EL James tells the love story of Maxim and Alessia. Let's just say it's not at all what one would expect from an EL James novel titled "The Mister". It's good though! The romance stays with you after you finish reading. The suspense that EL James seems to gravitate to is definitely present in this book. What's missing? BDSM. Yep. Pretty much totally absent. If you were expecting another peek into doms and subs - nope, not what you're getting. Is it worth reading? Yeah, it is. Especially if you are an anglophile or just like stories set in Europe. Or if you like love stories where the hero is super wealthy and the heroine cleans houses for a living. Or you want to be in the know on EL James' newest novel. Where does it rank on the believability scale? I mean, maybe it's a little low on the whole "yeah, this could totally really happen" scale. But, it's more believable than say, a Mission Impossible film, and there are legions of people who keep watching those movies. I could detail the points I personally scratch my head on, but I'd give away too much and there's really no point. So, suspend your disbelief a bit and just enjoy. That's my mantra. Especially when reading a romance novel!
© 2021 Copyright Isabel Jolie.


This pack of 10 torx keys are ideal for a range of uses around the home.
These Stanley torx keys have chrome vanadium steel shafts and have two hex drive ends.
These torx keys are ideal for the removal or installation of hexagonal headed bolts and screws.
Please Note: Brooklyn Trading will be closed from Friday 19th April and will re-open 9am Tuesday 23rd April.
Standard Delivery Update: Any orders placed on Thursday 18th April will be processed and dispatched on Tuesday 23rd April and will be sent using a 2-5 day delivery service.
Any orders placed between Thursday 18th April - Monday 22nd before 12pm noon will be processed and dispatched on Tuesday 23rd April for delivery on Wednesday 24th April.


Discover a deep, pure clean. This serum-infused clay mask instantly clears pores with activated Charcoal and gently draws out oils and toxins without over-drying. Boosted with powerful skin-balancing Probiotics to reveal a fresh, clear complexion. Perfect for all skin types.


Arlington Heights, IL — Acclaimed choral director Jonathan Miller is bringing a new singing opportunity to older adults in the northwest suburbs with the Arlington Heights Encore Chorale, the newest local affiliate of the national Encore Creativity organization. Singers from all over the area are invited to participate.
The Arlington Heights Encore Chorale will hold a 15-week session on Wednesday afternoons, starting on September 14th, from 2:00-3:30pm at Arlington Heights Senior Center, 1801 W. Central Road, Arlington Heights.
Encore registration for Arlington Heights is now open. The $175 registration fee includes sheet music, rehearsals with conductor and accompanist, and final performance. Online registration is available at www.encoreillinois.org. Scholarships are available, based on financial need; singers wishing to apply should send a confidential e-mail to encoreillinois@gmail.com.


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GWC's Louis C. Cairo Speaks at Fundraiser for Judge Frederick H. Bates
Home » GWC's Louis C. Cairo Speaks at Fundraiser for Judge Frederick H. Bates
In Community Involvement
GWC's Louis C. Cairo Speaks at Fundraiser for Judge Frederick H. Bates2017-05-152022-01-21https://www.gwclaw.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/logo-gwclaw-dark.pngGWC Injury Lawyers LLChttps://www.gwclaw.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/logo-gwclaw-dark.png200px200px
On May 9, 2017, GWC Injury Lawyers Managing Partner Louis C. Cairo spoke at a fundraiser for Judge Frederick H. Bates. Judge Bates is running for Circuit Court Judge in Cook County's 2nd Judicial Sub-Circuit. Mr. Cairo serves as Co-Chair of the Committee to Elect Frederick H. Bates.
Judge Bates is a 30-year resident of Chicago's South Side. He has over 34 years of legal experience, including two years as a Circuit Court Judge, 15 years as an Administrative Law Judge and Hearing Official, and over 15 years as a trial attorney. Judge Bates has received favorable ratings from several Illinois bar associations and has received numerous endorsements from labor unions, members of the judiciary, and elected officials, including Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle, who serves as Honorary Campaign Co-Chair.
Alderman Edward M. Burke of Chicago's 14th Ward also spoke at the event.