I'm travelling these days, so this will be brief. I just cannot let St Cuthbert's feast day pass without a mention. There is something about St Cuthbert that connects him in my heart with St Seraphim. There is something common in the way they succeed to let go of everything and focus on the one thing that truly matters for them. There is something common in their gradual evolution from monks living in large influential communities to remote holy hermits. There is definitely something common in their determined rejection of any position of authority – St Seraphim refused to be named the abbot of his monastery, while St Cuthbert abandoned his episcopal see and returned to his beloved island.
Above everything, though, there is definitely something common in their understanding of prayer. St Seraphim prayed for a thousand days and nights in the deep Russian forests. St Cuthbert entered the cold waters of the North Sea down to his shoulders, and prayed like that, night after night. Both approached prayer the way most people approach a deadly disease: something out of which one either returns resurrected as a new man, or sinks deep into death. For both of them prayer was not a search for comfort – physical or emotional. For both of them prayer was the fighting scene between Life and death, something so serious that it could only be done while facing death in the face – Russian winters and the North Sea waters are both life-threatening, but this closeness of death gave life, gave meaning, gave energy to their prayer.
I love St Cuthbert and St Seraphim in the same way, with a combination of awe, fear and longing to experience something – be it only a shadow – of their spiritual strength and determination. May we all be blessed through their prayers, and may we all – through Christ's endless mercy and love – be allowed to taste something of the sweetness of their prayer. Happy Feast Day, everyone!
More details photographs available on this link.
Christ to my right, Christ to my left.
This icon is precisely about that last line: the fulfilment of it all, the calling of all creation, the true self of each of us: my Creator within my being.
Press your hands against your heart and feel Christ – I've seen the old fathers in my monastery make this gesture as they were praying the Jesus prayer. Completely unaware of what they were doing, entirely caught up in the reality of whatever they were experiencing – something almost like an unwilling confession, they were pointing to their heart as if to say: here, here is where Christ lives. I remember feeling ashamed to witness this. I remember looking down, as if trying not to stain what I was witnessing with the unworthiness of my own heart. That gesture of theirs, those fingers pressing against their chest have been with me ever since, and this icon is about THAT.
Press your hands against your heart and feel Christ. He is already there, His Kingdom has always been there. Not as a metaphor, not as a symbol, but Christ-God Himself, as real as His Body and Blood.
For more detailed photographs, follow this link.
For a new Commission, follow this link.
If you have not heard of St Fillan, please search his life and read it. There is nothing shameful in not knowing anything, in not having even heard of him or any of these wonderful Saints. We see today the effects of centuries of purposeful destruction of their heritage, centuries of constant attempts to delete their memory. When you discover a Celtic Saint of which you had no previous knowledge, give thanks to God: you have unearthed an amazing treasure. Begin from there and see where Christ leads you – there is no accident, no coincidence in the eyes of God.
St Fillan is such a treasure. I have not been able to find any previous icon of him – if you know of any, please send it to me. This icon focuses on one particular event in the Saint's life, but tries to make something else visible. Once, a wolf killed the ox which St Fillan used to work the fields, so the wolf had to replace the dead ox and plough the fields with the saint. On the surface, this is what the icon shows.
Pray for a little while and the icon suddenly becomes the image of a confessor's gentleness, or that of a parent's struggle to both love and educate. This is the icon of the struggle any loving heart goes through when faced with the need to direct or to punish. Love punishes in a manner that edifies – not crushes; love corrects in a way that allows one to grow into one's true identity (God has created the wolf to serve man, and in this obedience it finds its true meaning) – not deform one's identity by imposing the parent's identity on him.
When love educates, there is no battle of wills involved. In fact, there is no human will here – the only will present is that of God. Looking at their faces, it is obvious that to punish goes against the Saint's love, while to obey goes against the wolf's fallen nature. And yet both of them bow down to one another (see their posture) and together, they both bow to God's will.
The hands that impose obedience look more like hands that caress, hands that bless. The one in authority has the posture of the one under obedience. When you look at their posture, one cannot distinguish who is the one in authority, who obeys to whom, for they both obey to God, and they bow down to one other.
Humanity is called to use the created world in love, not to abuse it with indifference. Humanity is called to help rekindle the true identity of the created world, not to destroy it. For after all – and this is something we should never allow ourselves to forget – our own fall, the fall of Man has dragged the world into its current fallen state.
The expression on St Fillan's face reflects this very awareness: this animal has killed, this animal has fallen because of our fallen nature, and ultimately, because of my own sinfulness.
To commission a new work, an initial Deposit is to be paid. The balance is due when the icon is finished (usually 2 to 3 months), before being sent to your home.
For more photos of the icons, including details, click this link.
This commission was a major challenge from start to finish. It is very difficult to create a new composition of such a well known and beloved Saint. We prayed for an icon that would bring to light a new, hidden side of St Columba's personality. For that reason, we decided from the very beginning that we would aim for a visual expression of an aspect of the Saint's inner life, rather than focus on a particular event in his historical life.
For a few centuries during the first millennium, St Columba's Monastery on Iona was not only the heart of the Christian Church in Scotland, but also a major centre of art and culture. Iona's cultural influence extended far beyond the Celtic Isles through the beauty of the illuminated manuscripts written by the monks on Iona. The Book of Kells itself, one of the greatest treasures from that time which is still in existence today, was painted in St Columba's Monastery.
The Saints himself copied texts and created many manuscripts throughout his entire life. In fact, the very reason for his presence on Iona had something to do with such a manuscript. In his youth, St Columba was involved in a dispute over the rights to keep a manuscript he had copied from an original that belonged to St Finnian. This dispute escalated into a real battle, which led to the death of several people. As punishment, St Columba was exiled from Ireland, which is why he sailed North, to the Scottish Isles. Tradition tells us that his remorse was so great that he purposely kept sailing until he reached an island from where, looking back, he could no longer see his home country. This island was Iona.
This is how we arrived to the idea behind this commission: St Columba working on an illuminated manuscript. However, the really interesting aspect to me was the personal one. As he grew older, as he sat in his cell on the tiny hill close to the monastery church, copying some text or another, was that remorse still with him? Did that terrible fall in his youth still cloud his soul?
These are the thoughts that we hoped to show in the gaze of this humble, old monk. Because these are questions that affect all of us, and we all must – sooner or later – face this anguish. How does one relate to past sins? How does one face old age still carrying the weight of a fallen nature? How does one look forward to the Resurrection while also looking back to one's past sinfulness?
We started from the intellectual idea of an icon depicting St Columba working on a manuscript. Prayer took us to the end of this journey, where we discovered that what was given to us was, in fact, something much deeper: as icon of repentance. This holy old monk contemplating the sinfulness of his youth is endlessly more relevant to our life than the historical reality of the depicted scene. The spiritual struggle of one's inner life remains relevant regardless of age. Through this commission, St Columba revealed himself as a teacher of repentance, one who can lead us into old age and help us bring our repentance before Christ in a way that leads to our salvation, not to despair or abandonment.
More detailed photographs of the icon are available on our Bookstore website.
When we receive a new commission, particularly when that relates to one of the lesser known Celtic Saints, with no previous icons readily available to compare (such as St Morwenna), where does one begin? We've approached this question from so many angles, and the best solution we could find was to always begins with a series of conversations. Conversations with the person who commissions us, and conversations with the Saint herself.
Everything is relevant: why this particular Saint, what is the personal connection with her, is there a story, some event, some experience, a miracle, a dream, even? It is essential to understand that personal story, because that story, that experience is our only way to the Saints herself. You, the person who commissions the work, may think that you are the active part in this process. My experience has taught me that that is almost never the case, and that the Saints themselves choose very specific people and make themselves visible through them.
You may think that writing this icon begins with you, but the reality is that it all started a long time ago, when the Saint spoke to your heart and made himself / herself manifest in your life. You are the means through which these ancient Saints step back into the world. Your commission will put a face on these Saints, it will give them a physical presence, it will act as a new entry into our world. Not that they were ever absent, but we need this physical manifestation to turn ourselves to them in prayer once again.
Which brings me to prayer… We start from your story, but then we move through prayer (you and I, together) to what the Saint wants to communicate through your story. Who is this holy person? Who is Morwenna, for instance? What is it about her that makes her who she is? The answer we received in our hearts was that of silent sacrifice, consistent and hidden sacrifice. Selflessness. And, at the end of it all, a certain sense of loneliness. The holy loneliness of one who has nothing here, in this life; the holy loneliness of one who does not belong, who purposely grows no roots here, gathers no treasure here. The loneliness of one who puts her entire existence in God's palm and never rests until she finds herself in His Kingdom. Such people build their salvation on stone – the stone of the secret, silent virtues they have gathered in Christ.
And suddenly, out of nowhere, this image grew into our hearts: night-time, silence, a pale and tired young nun, resting her head against her treasure: the church she built for others, stone by stone, day by day, simply out of love for Christ and humanity. A treasure of love, which never rusts and never is stolen, hidden against pride and self-satisfaction by the silence of the sea and the darkness of the night which surrounds her. A treasure of love which is not on the outside, but part of who she is, part of her identity, that which makes her holy – which is why her hallo, the symbol of her holiness, includes the church in her 'self'.
It is a frightening process in many ways. It must begin with prayer and end with prayer. No other approach is safe, for – at the end of it all – we are the hearts and hands that make these Saints visible to the world. May we all, through their prayers, be blessed and find our salvation.
Our first commission in this series of new, original compositions was for an icon of St Morwenna. Strangely enough, our second commission was also for an icon of St Morwenna.
There is something special about this little known Saint that deeply touches my heart. Not much about her life has been preserved, but what has been remembered is the image of a simple woman, dedicating her entire life to serve all those around her. There are no spectacular miracles. No extraordinary deeds. No mountains moved.
St Morwenna's holiness lies somewhere else. The foundation of her faith is simple, humble, silent love for people who hardly even noticed her sacrifice. Up on the top of a steep cliff – known as the Raven's Crag – just above the stormy waters of the Atlantic, she built a small church so that the local faithful may have a place where to pray for their salvation.
She is remembered carrying stones on her head up the mountain unassumingly, in silence and humility. Day by day, she spent her life for everyone else but herself. Stone by stone, she climbed that mountain focused on the needs of those around her. Any of those people could have built that church, and yet none of them did. Only this simple woman found the love to let go of herself, to empty herself of her own needs, of her own suffering, and live for the happiness and the salvation of everyone else.
It is a story that resonates with me, as I am sure it resonates with you, too. It reminds me of all the countless, small, hardly ever noticed sacrifices that women everywhere are making for everyone else. St Morwenna built a church: slowly, silently, stone by stone. Her selfless love reminds me of mothers, wives, nuns, friends everywhere who, simply out of love – day by day, meal by meal, advice by advice, smile by smile – build this world and give it a heart.
Thank you for the opportunity you have given us to paint the icon of this wonderful Saint. May she, through her prayers before Christ, bless us all. May she, through her love and prayers, build a small church for all of us in God's Kingdom.
Some time ago, I announced that the Monastery would start a long-term campaign to create original icons of the Celtic Saints. We want to offer everyone who loves the Celtic Saints the opportunity to purchase unique, personal icons, hand painted on natural wood. The main difficulty has been to find a way to balance the desire to offer high quality icons while still keeping the costs as low as possible.
The solution we've found is to develop two different iconographic projects. First, we shall continue the 'Series' project which aims to create a series of 12 to 20 standard icons of the Celtic Saints. We have already painted three icons in this series – St Columba, St Patrick and St Brendan – and two more are now in the process of being finalised: St Ita (Ida) and St Brigid. Because these icons are standardised (in the sense that we are not creating a new composition for each new commission, but merely painting a new copy every time) and because they are painted in a simple style, very common in the monasteries in Moldavia, we can afford to offer them at the lowest possible price for a hand painted icon.
The second project – entirely different from the 'Series' one – aims to offer original, creative icons of very high quality. This second project is focused on quality and originality, and allows us to create icons which are entirely personalised (such as icons depicting one particular aspect or event in a saint's life) or icons of less known saints, for whom other icons simply do not exist. This new project requires great effort, dedication and a lot of work. One has to research the life of the Saints, look for previous iconographic representations of similar events or ideas, work through multiple versions of the composition until a satisfactory one is created, then execute the actual painting. Because these are unique icons (not standardised, as the those in the 'Series' project), all this work is repeated for each new commission, which makes them more expensive.
It sounds extremely difficult and time-consuming, and it is indeed. But the excitement of having created an entirely new icon, the joy of taking an unknown saint's life and finding a visual expression to it, making aspects of that saint's life (his / her face, actions, words, values etc) visible again in an icon is immensely satisfying and an extraordinary spiritual experience both for me and for the person who commissions the icon.
I shall try to post the first commissions we have received over the next week or so. If you are interested to commission an icon, please write me an email (at ierom.serafim@yahoo.co.uk) and we shall work together through each stage of the process. Remember that the aim of this project is to focus on less known saints or to illustrate a personal relationship with one particular saint, so the more personal the icon, the more interested we shall be in the commission.
I think it is only proper to offer this icon of St Cuthbert as our first commission in this project. St Cuthbert is one the two Patron Saints of our church on the Isle of Mull, and we are extremely grateful for the opportunity we were given to create this icon which focuses on his solitary prayer at night-time, in the waters of the sea.
About two months ago, I posted three icons of Sts Columba, Brendan and Patrick on our online bookstore, and within 24 hours we had not only sold them, but also had eight new orders. The idea is to develop a series of simple icons of the Celtic Saints which are true to Orthodox iconographic canons, while also incorporating Celtic elements and biographical details of the Saints. I feel the Monastery should find a way to provide you with beautiful, yet affordable hand-painted icons on real wood. The solution that came to mind was to be in touch with the same iconographer who painted my own icons while I lived in my monastery in Moldavia. His style is iconographically correct and heart-felt, almost peasant-like in its simplicity. He uses good quality materials and real wood, and there is a sense of spiritual health in his direct, non-sophisticated manner of painting.
After those initial icons were published, I received a great number of emails asking whether we can paint icons of Celtic saints who are less well-known or icons which depict certain scenes from the lives of the Celtic Saints. It soon became obvious that we must either abandon the plan of a complete series of Celtic icons (there simply is no time to continue the series, while also focusing on these personal requests for icons) or come up with a new solution.
After giving it a lot of thought, I decided that it is very important to continue what we started and create a complete series of icons of the Celtic Saints. By that, I imagine a number of 12-15 icons painted in the same manner, using the same dimensions and style, and preserving the same structure and composition. If you look at the three icons we created so far, you will see what I mean by that.
At the same time, I do understand the need to provide icons of lesser known Celtic Saints, as much as I understand the need to personalise even the icons of very well knows Saints. For instance, I have personally always wanted an icon of St Cuthbert praying in the sea by night, because that is the image of St Cuthbert that speaks to my heart and inspires me most.
So I eventually got in touch with Dr Mihaela Schiopu, who is one of the best friends of our Monastery (you may know her work if you have seen our booklets On Prayer and, more recently, The Voice in Confession) and have come up with a plan for a new collaboration. This way, the Monastery will be able to provide you with unique, personalised icons of the Celtic Saints, while also continuing to develop the original series of Celtic Icons.
This new blog is dedicated to our icons. I want to share with you this new adventure, step by step. To create an icon is to create a personal relationship with a certain Saint: face to face, heart to heart. Since we have received our very first commissions, I have discovered the lives of several Celtic Saints who were unknown to me, and I have fallen in love with all of them. For all of that, I am deeply grateful to those who have written to commission these icons. I pray this new blog and the icons we shall create together will provide you with at least the same happiness and spiritual joy they have given me.


Press was easy, beltless and wrapless (as always.) Could probably have done 12 if I had cared to. I think I'm good for about 285 with a belt and wrist wraps at the moment, might have to give it a shot next week.
I've had this goal of pause squatting 500 for about 6 months now, so I decided to give it a go today, without a belt. Ended up getting 2 really damn smooth and clean reps, despite the second one being a bit slower. 405 x 6 after that was a total piece of cake and I absolutely buried the reps. Felt solid!
Chins were actually pretty good today as well, the set of 7 was much cleaner than the last 2 weeks.
Pretty close to a 4 day really, everything felt spot on.
YouTube is being lame so I'll post the press vid and 405x6 vid in the morning.


I am an Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of South Carolina. I received my Ph.D. from Indiana University in 2018. My research and teaching focus on topics related to gender and politics, representation, electoral politics, and legislative behavior.
More information about my research and teaching can be found using the links above.


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IPO Report: Market rout casts cloud over biggest IPO of the year as at least two deals are pulled during brutal selloff
At least two initial public offerings were withdrawn during Tuesday's brutal stock market rout, casting a shadow over what's expected to be the year's biggest deal, the $1.8 billon offering from AIG's life insurer Corebridge Financial Inc.
Israel tech-focused special-purpose acquisition corporation Keter1 Acquisition withdrew its plans for an $250 million IPO on Tuesday, according to Renaissance Capital, a provider of pre-IPO institutional research and IPO-focused ETFs.
And cancer-focused biotech Elicio Therapeutics pulled its $40 million offering, according to Renaissance.
The decisions came as the Dow Jones Industrial Average
DJIA,
shed 1,300 points Tuesday to mark its worst one-day performance since June 11 of 2020, following an unexpectedly hot consumer-price inflation reading for August.
The S&P 500 shed 4.3%, while the Nasdaq Composite
COMP,
fell 5.2% in a broad-based selloff. All 11 S&P 500 sectors finished in the red after the August consumer-price index, or CPI, rose 0.1% in August. Though the year-over-year rate slowed to 8.3% from 8.5% in July, economists had been looking for a monthly fall of 0.1% that would bring the year-over-year rate down to 8%.
Corebridge is still expected to price its deal later Wednesday, according to IPOScoop.com, although there are concerns it may come at the low end of its range of $21 to $24 a share. Corebridge is planning to offer 80 million shares to raise the most of any deal in this year's frozen market.
In a sign of just how thin the market has been, the deal, if completed as planned, would account for more than a quarter of this year's overall proceeds.
For more, see:This AIG spinoff is the biggest IPO of the year at just $1.8 billion in a sign of the deep freeze in new offerings
To be sure, Corebridge has some points in its favor, not least being that it's profitable and has delivered solid growth. Corebridge had net income of $6.4 billion in the first half of the year on revenue of $16 billion, according to its filing documents. That was up from net income of $2.8 billion in the year-earlier period, on revenue of $11.02 billion.
The company is planning to pay quarterly dividends, offering a 4.1% annualized yield at the midpoint of its range, according to Renaissance co-Founder and CEO Bill Smith. It had $358 billion in client assets as of June 30.
The deal has a strong roster of underwriters at 43 banks, with JPMorgan acting as lead.
Linkbancorp Inc.
LNKB,
+2.20%,
which operates Pennsylvania-based The Gratz Bank, priced its public offering on Tuesday at $7.50 a share, below its price range of $8.00 to $9.50. That offering was an uplisting to the Nasdaq from the OTC market. The stock was up 2.4% in recent trades.
Also on the docket Wednesday is biotech Third Harmonic Bio. THRD The company specializes in treatments for allergic and inflammatory diseases and plans to offer 9 million shares priced at $16 to $18 each.
The Renaissance IPO ETF
IPO,
was up 1.3% Wednesday, but has fallen 43% in the year to date, while the S&P 500
has fallen 17%.
Read now: You bought. They sold. Meet some of the insiders who unloaded $35 billion in stock amid the tech IPO bonanza before it tanked.
: Amazon hit with antitrust lawsuit from California, which claims seller rules are increasing consumer prices
The Wall Street Journal: U.S. railroad strike hinges on dispute over attendance policies

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


BOO! Have we SCARED you?! Consider it your friendly warning- Halloween is nearly here! October 31st will meet us on a Monday this year. No need to tell your grandkids; you can bet they already know exactly when it is! But one thing we could all use is some helpful tips to keep the Halloween celebrations safe and enjoyable.
Putting all joking aside, very tragically, children are more likely to be fatally injured by a car on Halloween than any other day of the year. Although this is mainly connected to teenage drivers, it is, nonetheless, crucial to be alert and safe when driving this spooky night. Drive extra slow through neighborhoods and anywhere kiddos might be out and about, using extra caution in general. Stay alert as you watch other drivers, and if you notice any wild and reckless driving, don't hesitate to contact the police. If you're out walking, carry a flashlight and shine it towards any oncoming cars.
Perhaps you have a grandchild with allergies or just want to get a little creative for your trick-or-treaters. The latest trend is to get some non-food treats and put a teal-blue pumpkin in front of your home. The pumpkin can be either painted teal-blue or you can buy an artificial one. (Sure, times have changed, but pumpkins are indeed still orange)! The teal-blue pumpkin lets families know that you have allergy-friendly options available for treats. An additional sign noting you have toy treats might also be helpful. Simple and inexpensive toys are wonderful. Things like bouncy balls, glow sticks, bubbles, slinkies, or any other little toys you can find at the Dollar Tree or a party supply store. Don't feel pressured to try this-- the good, old-fashioned way of giving candy is still a delight for most! But if you're wanting to brighten things up for a child with allergies, or perhaps just want a healthier option, toy treats can be all treat and no trick for any child!
Signaling trick-or-treaters, whether to come or go!
Particularly as it gets later, sometimes rowdy teenagers (or even older young people!) can come knocking, and although it's unlikely, occasionally they are up to no good and looking for trouble. Stay safe by taking a peek out the window before answering the door; if they look older or are acting at all unusual, don't answer. Mostly, troublemakers come out later in the evening when it's more isolated, perhaps from about 9pm (and certainly 10pm) and onwards, so turn your lights out and stop answering the door as it gets later.


MAR 9 | ROCHELLE: Rochelle's 4th St. Paddy's Day Parade and Irish Hooley will be held on Saturday, March 9 from 11:30 am to 4 pm.
MAR 23-24 | OREGON, IL: 69th annual Oregon Antique Show at the Blackhawk Center. Saturday hours are 9-5 and Sunday hours are 10-4.
Program on endangered native plant species in our area.
You won't want to miss First Friday in Savanna! Join your Main Street businesses for a fun-filled night of retail specials, service specials, food and drink specials, and so much more.
APR. 11 | DIXON: Dixon Founders Day Program is about the History of the Dixon Arch, will be held at 6 pm at the Northwest Territory Historic Center.
APR 13 | LANARK: Welcome spring with Lanark's Spring Fling and Vendor Fair on Saturday, April 13 from 9 am to 2 pm.
Join Oregon Park District as they host a historical tour of the Oregon Train Depot Museum.
Food, fun, music and more is in store for the upcoming Rochelle Fireman's Ball.
Join Loredo Taft Campus for the annual Spring Campus Luncheon. Enjoy a delicious meal and take a tour of the campus grounds. Learn about the history of Loredo Taft and get a firsthand look a the artwork and sculptures displayed at this private location. This is a great opportunity to see this exclusive campus that is only open to the public twice a year during the spring and fall luncheon.
APR. 27 | Chadwick: The Backroads Barn Sale will feature local vendors and crafters selling a variety of antiques, specialty items and more! Come and enjoy a day out with friends!
MAY 3-4 | FULTON: Fulton celebrates their Dutch heritage with their annual Dutch Days.
A book review on 'The Gallant 15th of Illinois' will be given at 10 am at the Mt Carroll Public Library by authors Betty Obendorf and Kathy Pasch.
Havencrest Castle, located at 140 N 5th St. in Savanna, welcomes you to their realm of romance and dreams during May by offering limited public tours on weekends-only.
Savanna is rich with diversity and local residents will participate by sharing traditions and experiences from their homelands .
The Lincoln Highway Car Show will be held May 11, from 9:00 am – 3:00 pm in Downtown Franklin Grove.
The public is invited to the party that begins at 5 pm and refreshments will be served.
The village of Erie will hold Memorial Day Picnic starting at noon following the parade and Memorial Day Ceremony at Heritage Park located at the end of Highland Avenue in Erie.
Enjoy an acoustic music performance on the riverfront performed by Kathy Cecchetti! Bring your lunch and a friend, enjoy the fresh air sunshine and river views.
Enjoy an acoustic music performance on the riverfront performed by Nate Gordon! Bring your lunch and a friend, enjoy the fresh air, sunshine and river views.
Enjoy an acoustic music performance on the riverfront performed by Steve McIntyre. Bring your lunch and a friend, enjoy the fresh air, sunshine and river views.
Head to Mount Carroll from 4-9 pm the 3rd Saturday night June through September for their monthly Cruise Night.
Enjoy an acoustic music performance on the riverfront performed by Todd Lorenc! Bring your lunch and a friend, enjoy the fresh air sunshine and river views.
Enjoy an acoustic music performance on the riverfront performed by Josh Naylon! Bring your lunch and a friend, enjoy the fresh air, sunshine and river views.
Enjoy an acoustic music performance on the riverfront performed by Robbie LeBlanc! Bring your lunch and a friend, enjoy the fresh air, sunshine and river views.
Enjoy an acoustic music performance on the riverfront performed by Mary Townley! Bring your lunch and a friend, enjoy the fresh air, sunshine and river views.
Enjoy an acoustic music performance on the riverfront performed by Jonna & Vicki! Bring your lunch and a friend, enjoy the fresh air, sunshine and river views.
Enjoy an acoustic music performance on the riverfront performed by LoJo Russo! Bring your lunch and a friend, enjoy the fresh air, sunshine and river views.
Enjoy an acoustic music performance on the riverfront performed by Jay Vonn! Bring your lunch and a friend, enjoy the fresh air, sunshine and river views.
Annual Polo Car, Truck & Bike Show in downtown Polo from 8 am - 3 pm rain or shine.
Enjoy an acoustic music performance on the riverfront performed by Steve Robery! Bring your lunch and a friend, enjoy the fresh air, sunshine and river views.
Enjoy an acoustic music performance on the riverfront performed by Mark Hobbs! Bring your lunch and a friend, enjoy the fresh air, sunshine and river views.
Enjoy an acoustic music performance on the riverfront performed by Kathy Cecchetti! Bring your lunch and a friend, enjoy the fresh air, sunshine and river views.
Tours of the Thomson Depot Museum from 9a - 4p; music, food, entertainment, outhouse races and more!


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Unemployment in Bulgaria in December 2020 was 4.8% – Eurostat
Unemployment in Bulgaria in December 2020 was 4.8 per cent, European Union statistics agency Eurostat said on February 1, citing seasonally-adjusted figures.
This figure represented an estimated 159 000 people in Bulgaria, Eurostat said.
In December 2019, before the Covid-19 crisis, unemployment in Bulgaria had been 4.2 per cent, representing an estimated 141 000 people.
Unemployment was at 5.2 per cent in September and October 2020, representing 171 000 and 169 000 people, respectively. It decreased to five per cent in November 2020, about 163 000 people.
Eurostat said that youth unemployment in Bulgaria in December 2020 was 14 per cent (about 18 000 under-25s), up from 9.3 per cent in December 2019 (about 14 000 under-25s).
Youth unemployment in Bulgaria in September 2020 was 14.7 per cent in September 2020, decreasing to 14.1 per cent and to 13.9 per cent, Eurostat said.
Eurostat said that in December 2020, the euro zone seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate was 8.3 per cent, stable compared with November 2020 and up from 7.4 per cent in December 2019. The EU unemployment rate was 7.5 per cent in December 2020, also stable compared with November 2020 and up from 6.5 per cent in December 2019.
In December 2020, 3.138 million young people (under 25) were unemployed in the EU, of whom 2.590 million were in the euro zone.
In December 2020, the youth unemployment rate was 17.8 per cent in the EU and 18.5 per cent in the euro zone, up from 17.5 per cent and 18.1 per cent respectively in the previous month.
Compared with November 2020, youth unemployment increased by 41 000 in the EU and by 36 000 in the euro zone. Compared with December 2019, youth unemployment increased by 438 000 in the EU and by 353 000 in the euro zone, Eurostat said.
Austrian investors: Business climate in Bulgaria shows encouraging signs
Household gas consumers to receive compensation
Ministry considering ageing car, transport renewal as part of eco-mobility plan


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Govt focus on fuel demand, refining capacity needs
September 1, 2022 by admin Leave a reply
The government has begun a reassessment of the country's future oil demand and refining capacity requirements as domestic consumption soars, planned refineries are delayed, and predictions of a quick end to the oil age falter, according to officials.The petroleum planning and analysis cell of the oil ministry has been asked to prepare a fresh report on the future fuel demand and refining capacity needs, according to an official who didn't want to be identified."In the early days of Covid or before that everyone seemed to believe that oil demand would quickly drop and give way to alternatives," the person said. "But that doesn't seem to be the case. So, we need to have the capacity to meet the demand that's expected to grow for years to come."
The International Energy Agency expects global oil demand to surpass pre-Covid levels next year.Domestic petrol and diesel demand have grown 23.4 per cent and 17.5 per cent, respectively, in the four months to July over the year earlier. The demand is 11 per cent higher than the pre-Covid level for petrol and 2 per cent lower for diesel. Overall demand for all refined products has risen 14 per cent year-on-year in the April-July period. India is a net exporter of fuel but strong local demand has pushed up imports and reduced exports.
Officials are of the view that the country didn't face a supply shortage due to its large refining capacity at a time when robust demand and limited refining capacity in international markets had driven fuel prices to record levels. Greater control of refining capacity by state-run companies also helped keep prices from skyrocketing in the domestic market, said the person cited above. Domestic refineries have been running above their nameplate capacity for months to meet strong local and overseas demand. The current capacity of 251 million tonnes per annum, or 5 million barrels per day, will have to expand to meet future demand.
Refining CapacityThere is a need to add refining capacity in the eastern part of the country for a fair and efficient distribution of supplies, the official said. Refinery expansion has remained behind schedule and is unlikely to meet previous projections by the ministry, according to industry executives. An oil ministry report in 2018 had projected the country's refining capacity at 259 million tonnes by 2020 and 415 million tonnes by 2025.Covid has delayed a greenfield refinery being set up by Hindustan Petroleum Corp. Ltd (HPCL) at Barmer in Rajasthan while the inability to secure land has left the prospects of a proposed 60 million tonne-a-year refinery project on the western coast uncertain. The larger issue, however, is the doubt over the longevity of oil demand."Because of the green wave, globally, most people have been unsure whether to build a refinery or not. Nobody wants to be left with a stranded asset," the official said. "But given the strong domestic demand, India must rapidly add capacity."India has the fourth-largest refining capacity in the world, behind the US, China and Russia.
https://energy.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/oil-and-gas/govt-focus-on-fuel-demand-refining-capacity-needs/93915568
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U.S. Army Research Grant, $345K, "Understanding the Plasma - Propellant Interaction through Experimental Modeling"
Dean's Research Initiative Award, $5,000,"New Etch Chemistries for Magnetic Materials"
DURIP Grant, $110,000,"High Efficiency Detection for Supersonic Pulse, Plasma Sampling Mass Spectrometry"
U.S. Army Research Grant, $216,223, "Elucidation of the Fundamental Mechanisms of Diamond Film Growth"
AU Research Grant -in - Aid, $10,000, "Spectroscopic Identification of Reactive Species Extracted from Plasma Environments"
Physical Chemistry: Chemical interactions of plasmas with solid surfaces.
Research in the Blumenthal Group is focused on the chemical interactions of plasmas with solid surfaces. Over the years, our interests have ranged from problems of concern to the semiconductor industry (the etching of silicon and magnetic metals), thin film deposition (the deposition of diamond thin films), and the military (the ignition of propellants).
Method Development (Supersonic Pulse, Plasma Sampling Mass Spectrometry): Our first efforts were dedicated to the development of a new mass spectrometric method, Supersonic Pulse, Plasma Sampling Mass Spectrometry. In this technique, we release a short pulse of argon into the low-pressure plasma environment. The gas pulse expands and cools as it traverses the plasma region, ultimately resulting in supercooling of the gas. Species originally in the plasma become the nucleation centers for the formation of argon clusters, which are then transported to the mass spectrometer. This technique allows us to obtain a nearly intact mass spectrum of the chemical composition of the plasma.
Thin Film Deposition (Applications include tools and multi-blade razors): The first problem that we tackled with this new technique was the mechanism of diamond deposition in high-density plasmas. We were able to show that the primary chemistry of the feed gases is the stripping of hydrogen from the carbon backbone. Based on our observations, we were also able to make a convincing argument that the "growth species" of diamond is •C2H3, not •CH3 as is commonly believed.
Semiconductor Processing (Transistor and non-volatile RAM Fabrication): In the semiconductor etching field, we were the first group to measure the fraction of chlorine that is dissociated in these plasmas. We have determined the mechanism responsible for the 250% etch rate enhancement in the etch rates of magnetic metals, observed when CO is added to NH3 plasmas. That mechanism is the first one reported that includes a species responsible for the etching that is synthesized in the plasma environment. We are currently exploring a number of other gas chemistries to determine both their etch rates and their mechanisms.
Military Effectiveness (Ignition of Propellants for Artillery Applications): We are investigating the mechanism of the plasma ignition of propellants. Plasma ignition has been demonstrated to have several advantages over conventional ignition, including a reduced and highly reproducible ignition delay, important in targeting moving objects. By investigating the interactions of a propellant with the individual components and combinations of the components of an igniter pulse, we have developed a mechanism for the plasma ignition process that also explains the reproducible ignition delay. We are actively working on a number of other issues related to propellant ignition.
H. Sun and R. Blumenthal, "Products of the Ultraviolet Laser Ablation of RDX", Proceedings of the 43rd JANNAF Combustion Subcommittee Meeting, CPIAC JSC CD-60, December 2009-0105 CS.


The discovery of a swan's head in Glasgow has prompted an investigation into the disappearance of nearby birds.
The Scottish SPCA has appealed for information about five swans which are believed to be missing from the grounds of Provan Hall.
The severed head was found near the Glasgow east end parkland by a member of the public.
The charity said it was possible the birds had been deliberately lured from water before being netted.
Scottish SPCA Inspector Stacey Erwin said: "We believe that whoever is responsible has removed five swans from Provanhall House Loch and Bishop Loch.
"Swans can be lured over by slapping the water. We suspect these birds may have been netted and then removed from the water.
"This is a very serious and cruel act and we are keen to find the person responsible.
"We're encouraging the public to be aware of any suspicious goings on around Bishop Loch and Provanhall House and to report any information to our animal helpline."


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Deputies will begin administering naloxone
Deputies at Richland County Sheriff's Office to begin carrying naloxone Oct. 1
Deputies will begin administering naloxone Deputies at Richland County Sheriff's Office to begin carrying naloxone Oct. 1 Check out this story on mansfieldnewsjournal.com: http://ohne.ws/2bYD9Qi
Lou Whitmire, Reporter Published 5:32 p.m. ET Sept. 3, 2016
Richland County Sheriff's deputies will begin carrying naloxone for possible overdose victims beginning Oct. 1, according to Sheriff Steve Sheldon.(Photo: Lou Whitmire/News Journal)Buy Photo
MANSFIELD - Deputies at the Richland County Sheriff's Office will begin carrying naloxone in an attempt to assist possible overdose victims, beginning Oct. 1.
Richland County Sheriff Steve Sheldon said a policy is still being reviewed.
Deputies in July received training from Richland Public Health on how to administer the drug. The health department also donated 10 units of the drug, which will be administered to people who have overdosed on heroin or opiates.
With the rash of overdoses in Mansfield and Richland County in recent months, Sheldon said Richland County is 500 square miles with 18 townships and a lot of volunteer fire departments.
"It's conceivable we might get to a scene where someone needs naloxone and get there 15 to 30 minutes before our fire departments or an ambulance, so with that in mind we decided to get naloxone," he said.
Sheldon said the policy will give deputies leeway to make decisions on who will receive the drug,
Sheldon said the sheriff's office is hoping to replenish the kits through the Ohio Attorney General's Office.
"Unfortunately, we're afraid we might go through the kits fairly fast," he said this week.
Richland County Sheriff's Sgt. Brian Gunder said Keith Evans of Richland Public Health did the training for deputies on Project Dawn.
Deputies will have packets with two doses of naloxone. The kit involves the dose of naloxone to be inserted into the nasal tube, which is sprayed into the victim's nasal passage.
The drug is temperature sensitive and each deputy will be assigned a packet and return it at the end of each shift to the office.
lwhitmir@nncogannett.com
Twitter; @LWhitmir
Read or Share this story: http://ohne.ws/2bYD9Qi


When running app, listview binding data successfully but the Listview can not scroll. Any idea?
I found another solution. I use ContentDialog control, not use Popup. If add ScrollViewer to Popup, Listview is not scrollable too.
Perhaps you could try putting it into a scrollviewer.


text:
Category Archives: Contributor
Posted by Brona's Books in Brona (This Reading Life), English, Summaries and Reviews
1864, George Sand, Laura: A Journey Into the Crystal, Pushkin Press, Sue Dyson, Translation
When I met M. Hartz, he was a naturalist and dealer who ran his business affairs in a quiet way, selling minerals, insects or plants to collectors.
Thankfully I read and thoroughly enjoyed Mauprat a decade or so ago. If I had started my George Sand journey with Laura: A Journey into the Crystal, it may have ended right here. This is the weirdest little book I think I have ever read.
I have no idea it's purpose, or what Sand intended me, or any other reader, to take from it. Was it a dream fantasy or a science fiction horror story? Was it a coming of age love story or a philosophical ramble? Who knows?
It's only saving grace was it's slimness, so that I could read it in a couple of quick sessions, scratching my head the whole time. I tried to research it, but no-one else seemed to know either. I only found publisher notes and second hand book sales. On Goodreads one and two star reviews abounded. I'm not the only one who found it to be incoherent, uninteresting, disjointed, heavy-handed, and just plain odd.
Laura's special ability is one that allows her to transport herself inside a geode. Or is it? Maybe it's just her cousin, Alexis who can get lost inside the brilliant world of a geode. However it works, Alexis meets Laura in the geode and it is here they fall in love. Or do they?
A Jules Verne-like journey takes us across crystal plains, climbing up into sharp, sparkling spikes into the heart of the geode. Or does it? Is it all a dream sequence or a hallucinatory experience? Who knows? Who cares?
I'm sure if I tried hard enough I could talk about the struggle between science and mystery, beauty and nature. If I cared enough, I could discuss various aspects like destiny, materialism, racism and colonisation. But I don't.
I've pulled out three quotes that caught my eye enough to underline:
The artist was born to be a traveller; everything is a journey for his spirit
if your whole life is nothing but an application to material things, you might just as well be iron yourself, in other words an inert substance deprived of reasoning.
in this land, thoughts walk and feet follow.
If you've read Laura and have some insights to throw my way, feel free. Watch out for a response from Bill when he gets a chance to read this too.
Book: Laura: A Journey Into the Crystal
Translator: Sue Dyson (English translation 2004)
Publisher: Pushkin Press
Date: 2018 (originally published 1864)
(originally posted on This Reading Life by Brona's Books)
Posted by wadholloway in Bill Holloway (The Australian Legend), English, Gutenberg
George Sand (1804-1876) was an influential (female) French writer and feminist, though I have no idea whether she was widely read in English before the C20th (Wiki says The Devil's Pool was first translated in 1847). I wrote about Sand previously as the subject of Elizabeth Berg's fictionalized 'autobiography', The Dream Lover, and have long had the intention of reading some of her work.
Sand grew up on, and became the owner of, her grandmother's estate at Nohant in central France (Wiki). Since 1952 the house and gardens have been a museum. The Devil's Pool (1846) was written relatively late in Sand's career and refers back to the time of her childhood on the estate, a time which she regards as before modernization, particularly of course before rail made cross-country travel accessible to rural communities.
The novel begins with a contemplation of Holbien's picture (above) of the devil driving a team of plough-horses, from his series 'The Dance of Death'.
Shall we look to find the reward of the human beings of to-day in the contemplation of death, and shall we invoke it as the penalty of unrighteousness and the compensation of suffering?
No, henceforth, our business is not with death, but with life. We believe no longer in the nothingness of the grave, nor in safety bought with the price of a forced renunciation; life must be enjoyed in order to be fruitful.
We shall not refuse to artists the right to probe the wounds of society and lay them bare to our eyes; but is the only function of art still to threaten and appall?
We believe that the mission of art is a mission of sentiment and love, that the novel of to-day should take the place of the parable and the fable of early times, and that the artist has a larger and more poetic task than that of suggesting certain prudential and conciliatory measures for the purpose of diminishing the fright caused by his pictures. (The Author to the Reader)
So the story begins:
I had just been looking long and sadly at Holbein's ploughman, and was walking through the fields, musing on rustic life and the destiny of the husbandman ..
At the other end of the field a fine-looking youth was driving a magnificent team of four pairs of young oxen ..
A child of six or seven years old, lovely as an angel, wearing round his shoulders, over his blouse, a sheepskin that made him look like a little Saint John the Baptist out of a Renaissance picture, was running along in the furrow beside the plough, pricking the flanks of the oxen with a long, light goad but slightly sharpened. The spirited animals quivered under the child's light touch
These are Germain and his son Petit-Pierre.
So it was that I had before my eyes a picture the reverse of that of Holbein, although the scene was similar. Instead of a wretched old man, a young and active one; instead of a team of weary and emaciated horses, four yoke of robust and fiery oxen; instead of death, a beautiful child; instead of despair and destruction, energy and the possibility of happiness.
On the Librivox recording I heard the author say that she was surprised her work was regarded as 'revolutionary' but I can't find the quote. I think the 'revolution' is that she has taken the old genre of Pastoral Romance with its lords and ladies and fairies and replaced them with ordinary peasant folk, and in doing so has written one of the prettiest little love stories I have ever read.
Germain, who is 28, has been some years a widower with 3 children. He lives and works on his father-in-law's farm, and is I think effectively a partner in the business, along with his late wife's brother. His father and mother in law have decided that he needs to re-marry, his sister in law is pregnant and they need another woman in the house to manage Germain's children.
There is an amusing discussion on Germain's great age and how he needs a sensible and mature wife and not one of the flighty young girls from the village. Father in law has in mind the widowed, childless daughter of a friend, who has a few acres of her own and who lives in a remote village beyond the woods, some ten miles distant. The journey is planned for the following Saturday and Sunday, and a poor widowed neighbour asks Germain to take with him her 16 year old daughter, Marie, who is going to a nearby farm as a shepherdess. On the day, Petit-Pierre inveigles his way into going with them.
I won't tell you the story of their little trip, and their problems getting through the forest of the Devil's Pool, but if you can, download the Librivox version, it is an absolute delight listening to Marie talk. She is one of those young women born full of common sense who have so often had to rescue me from my congenital idiocy, and I am more than a little in love with her.
Germain's 'intended' turns out to be a flibbertigibbet and Marie's employer a lecher and so they return home. All else turns out as you might expect.
George Sand, The Devil's Pool, first pub. 1846 as La Mare au Diable. Gutenberg English translation here. I listened to a Librivox recording.
First posted at The Australian Legend (here)
Posted by Lisa Hill in French, Lisa Hill (ANZ LitLovers), Nelson, Summaries and Reviews
Book review, George Sand, La Mare au Diable (The Devil's Pool)
La Mare au Diable (1846) is the fifth book that I've read in the original French instead of in translation, and the second I've read by George Sand.
The novella is one of a series of four pastoral novels by George Sand (1804-1876): the others are François le Champi (1847–1848), La Petite Fadette (1849), and Les Beaux Messieurs Bois-Doré (1857). This edition is a student edition published by Nelson, and it still bears the sticker from Hall's Book Store in Bourke Street, where those of us of a certain age bought all our school text books. The book once belonged to the father of Bill from The Australian Legend and in beautiful copperplate, it bears his name and the date from September 1949. So the book is a real treasure, with a story of its own, thank you Bill!
As we know from Indiana (which I also read in French, see my review) George Sand was subversive. Notable for smoking in public and wearing men's clothes, she was also acerbic about marriage because of her views about equality of the sexes. However, La Mare au Diable is, at first glance anyway, a story of a happy marriage, a devastated widower, children in need of a mother, and in-laws pressuring their father into marrying again (because they have had to look after the children while he works on the farm.) And though the fates conspire against true love for most of the novel, it ends up satisfactorily.
However, the novella features two strong women who refuse to be pressured into marriage until they are ready. I have summarised the plot at Sensational Sand (here, but don't go there if you want to avoid spoilers), so suffice to say here that the woman that Germain is supposed to marry has been a widow for two years and has been playing off three suitors against each other for all that time because she's not in any hurry to marry again. She doesn't fancy any of them, but their presence signals to other men that she hasn't settled on widowhood and is open to the right offer. She is wealthy and has no children to support, so she has more choices than other women do.
But despite much more limited choices, the other woman, the one that Germain has fallen for, possibly under the influence of the Devil's Pool, doesn't fancy him either, because he's almost twice his age. He's also sulky and pessimistic. She loves his children and enjoys looking after them, but she's alert to the dangers of being left a widow by a husband much older than she is. More importantly, she would rather live in poverty, without work, than marry someone she doesn't care for. (This same young woman has also refused the advances of her #MeToo employer, and subsequently refused a bribe intended to keep her quiet about it. )
So why doesn't she care for Germain? He's handsome, and while not rich, he's certainly better off than she is. A poor girl sent off to be a shepherdess in another village because her mother's farm can't support the two of them, can't afford to be too choosy, right? Well, despite her capitulation at the end, Marie is a good judge of character. She's strong enough to tell him that he should be making his own choices, not just doing what his in-laws say he should do. He's a lugubrious fellow, and he gives up too easily: it's she who takes the initiative when they are stranded in the woods, and it's she who has the skills and ability that enable to survive a bitterly cold night after he's got them lost.
An observant reader will notice other things too. Germain takes her under his cloak because she's used hers, not his, to wrap up his child against the cold. There's not a lot to eat, and she takes barely a morsel because he's used to eating four times a day and she's used to being hungry. She tears her skin dealing with the kindling for the fire while he watches on, impressed by her skills. Marie doesn't judge him for this unmanly selfishness, but I have no doubt that George Sand meant her readers to do so.
A very interesting little book!
PS The book is listed in the 2012 edition of 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die, but not in the 2006 edition that I'm tracking.
You can read the story for free (in English) at Project Gutenberg, and you can listen to it in French at LibriVox.
Author: George Sand, (the nom de plume of Amantine Lucile Aurore Dupin)
Cross-posted at ANZ LitLovers
Posted by wadholloway in Bill Holloway (The Australian Legend), English, Reference Works, Summaries and Reviews
The Dream Lover (2015) is a fictionalized life, written in the first person, of celebrated French novelist George Sand (1804-1876) who was of course a woman, born Amantine Lucile Aurore Dupin. I've been listening to it over the past couple of days and have constructed this review from my memory of the story, relying on Wikipedia for dates and names.
Ironically, in her memoir Histoire de ma Vie (1855), Sand writes, "I would not want to tell my life like a novel. The content would be overwhelmed by the form."
Sand was the author of 60 or so novels and two memoirs. As well as I can gather, her themes were adultery, sexual satisfaction for women, and the unfairness of marriage laws which vested all of a woman's property in the husband. She went about publicly in men's clothes, lived separately from her husband, conducted a number of 'scandalous' affairs, and hinted at being bi-sexual, particularly in her relations with the actress Marie Duval.
I am always looking out for antecedents for the strong anti-marriage theme in the writing of C19th Australian women novelists and feminists like Catherine Helen Spence, Mary Gaunt and Rosa Praed, and Sand interests me in this regard. I'm not sure how much of her work was translated into English, though I'm sure she was well known. Berg quotes passages from Sand's work and what I presume are genuine letters, particularly in relation to her views on sexual politics, but again does not suggest any influences.
The novel begins in 1831 with Aurore leaving her husband Casimir Dudevant and their two children at their country home Nohant – which she had inherited from her grandmother along with a substantial fortune, but which he controls – to join her lover in Paris and to set out on her career as a writer. We move ahead in two parallel streams – her career as an independent adult going on from that point, and her childhood and young womanhood leading up to the separation. The writing is good, but not excellent, and the story itself is fascinating. As we switch back and forth between the timelines each episode is dated but still with the potential to be confusing, especially listening and not paying full attention, for instance Aurore dealing inexpertly with a suitor in one timeline and dragging a lover into bed in the other.
As briefly as I can, the story is that her well-born father Maurice Dupin was an officer in Napoleon's army. While serving in Italy he falls in love with Sophie, a courtesan, whom he marries secretly against his mother's wishes. They have a daughter, Aurore and subsequently a son who is born when Sophie joins Maurice in Spain (I guess at the beginning of the Peninsular War) but who is sickly, particularly after the long trek back to Nohant in central France (about 300 km south of Paris) and soon dies. Maurice dies not long after, in a riding accident. Sophie does not get on with her mother in law and accepts an allowance to go and live in Paris while Aurore is brought up as a lady by her grandmother, and is educated by Maurice's old tutor.
Aurore is probably a bit wild. She gets her first taste of men's clothing riding around the countryside in trousers and a loose shirt. Her grandmother reacts by putting her into a convent school run by English catholic nuns in Paris where she spends a relatively happy couple of years until she is 16 and it is time to put her on the marriage market. Her grandmother dies and Aurore becomes mistress of the estate until at 19, she marries Dudevant and he begins to run it down.
Berg pictures her as inexperienced (of course) in bed but also unresponsive. Nevertheless they have a son, Maurice, and then a daughter, Solange, though by then Aurore has been experimenting with lovers, so Solange's paternity is uncertain.
Dudevant offers Aurore no comfort intellectually and she is frustrated by his stewardship of her estate. After eight years they separate and Dudevant gives her an allowance (out of her own money!) to live in Paris. Initially the children stay with their father and the parents take turns living at Nohant.
Aurore and her lover Jules Sandeau jointly write Rose et Blanche (1831) which is published under the pen name Jules Sand. The following year she writes Indiana, using the pen name George Sand, which name she adopts for herself from then on (that is, people now call her George). She has a job as a theatre critic and starts wearing men's clothes because only men are allowed to sit in the cheap seats down the front.
The problem of women achieving satisfaction is a running theme in her early novels, and Berg has her spending one never repeated weekend of sensual delights with Marie Duval at Nohant where Duval teaches her the uses of all her ladybits. This seems to make life more pleasant both for her and for the many subsequent men in her life.
Divorce was abolished in France by Napoleon, but after four or five years of independence Sand and Dudevant negotiate a legal separation in which she regains control of Nohant and custody of the children. Sand is in any case already a prolific and commercially successful author and so though her stated sympathies are with the poor, her upbringing and lifestyle put her firmly with the rich and famous.
We go on. Maurice is a good boy, Solange is a handful. George is friends with Franz Liszt and stays with him in Switzerland in time to meet baby Cosima (The Young Cosima, Henry Handel Richardson). Liszt introduces her to Frederic Chopin, and Sand and Chopin live together for the decade 1837-47, eventually separating when Chopin sides with Solange over Solange's impetuous marriage to August Clésinger.
In 1848 Sand is an enthusiastic supporter of the February Revolution marking the end of the monarchy and the beginning of the (short-lived) Second Republic. I think though that with the return of Empire under Napoleon III she finds it politic to retire to the country. She continues to entertain and in later years becomes friends with the reclusive Flaubert, twenty years her junior. She dies at Nohant in 1876.
Elizabeth Berg, The Dream Lover, Random House, 2015. Audio version Brilliance Audio, 2015, read by Emily Sutton-Smith
Google Books has some interesting critical studies of George Sand (here) including modern introductions to Story of my Life and Indiana.
Originally posted at The Australian Legend (here)
Posted by Lisa Hill in Book cover art work, Contributor, Images, La Bibliotheque electronique du Quebec, Lisa Hill (ANZ LitLovers)
Cover of the eBook edition published by La Bibliothèque électronique du Québec
Indiana was published in 1832 and has been translated by Sylvia Raphael with an introduction by Naomi Schor for Oxford University Press (2011).
Posted by Lisa Hill in Contributor, Editions, French, La Bibliotheque electronique du Quebec, Lisa Hill (ANZ LitLovers), Summaries and Reviews
George Sand, Indiana
I hope you noticed, dear reader, that contrary to my usual practice at ANZ LitLovers, I have not #NamedTheTranslator. That is because *drum roll* I have read this novel by French author George Sand in the original French. And after the first dozen chapters, I did not 'translate' as I read. I just read it, without worrying much about vocabulary I didn't know unless it really seemed critical. (You can see for yourself where I stumble in my translations below).
This is not to imply that I understood every word of it. Certainly not. My French is not that good, and literary French from the 19th century was an ambitious project to tackle. I have no doubt that I missed many subtleties and nuances, and I occasionally realised as I progressed through the chapters that I had completely misunderstood something from an earlier chapter. But I understood it enough to enjoy it, and to recognise George Sand as a champion of the poor and an advocate of women's rights. I admired her overt scorn for a character who abandons a woman because she is of a different class and therefore not marriageable. And in her authorial intrusions, she doesn't beat about the bush:
Moi, je crois que l'opinion politique d'un homme, c'est l'homme tout entier. Dites-moi votre coeur et votre tête, et je vous dirai vos opinions politiques. Dans quelque rang ou quelque parti que le hasard nous ait fait naître, notre caractère l'emporte tôt ou tard sur les préjugés ou les croyances de l'éducation. Vous me trouverez peut-être absolu; mais comment pourrais-je me décider à augurer bien d'un esprit qui s'attache à de certains systèmes que la générosité repousse ? Montrez-moi un homme qui soutienne l'utilité de la peine de mort, et, quelque consciencieux et éclairé qu'il soit, je vous défie d'établir jamais aucune sympathie entre lui et moi. Si cet homme veut m'enseigner des vérités que j'ignore, il n'y réussira point; car il ne dépendra pas de moi de lui accorder ma confiance. (Ch 14) Me, I believe that a man's political opinions are the whole man. Tell me your head and your head, and I will tell you your political opinions. In whatever rank or whatever party it is our fortune to be born, our character prevails over prejudices or educational beliefs. You perhaps find me absolute: but how else can I decide to ascertain (?) a mind/spirit which attaches itself to certain systems that (makes) generosity flourish? Show me a man who supports the usefulness of the death penalty and however conscientious and clear-minded he might be, I defy you to ever establish any sympathy between him and me. If that man wants to instruct me in truths of which I am ignorant, he will never succeed; because he cannot depend on me to accord him my confidence.
George Sand by Charles Louis Gratia c1835) (Source: Wikipedia Commons)
George Sand was the pseudonym of Amantine-Lucile-Aurore Dupin (1804-1876), a prolific French novelist who cast a sardonic eye over her society. She had a 'liberal' upbringing, and it was a liaison with the writer Jules Sandeau that prompted her to co-author her first published novel, Rose et Blanche (1831). Indiana was the first novel she wrote independently and she went to write an impressive string of novels, publishing two and three each year. (You can see them listed at Wikipedia.) Amongst her contemporaries, Baudelaire sneered at her, but Balzac admired her subtlety and imagery, and she was read by Dostoyevsky, Walt Whitman, Elizabeth Barrett Browning and Proust. More recently she is referenced by Virginia Woolf and by Elizabeth Allende, and in film, television and music.
Indiana is the story of a noblewoman married off to an older military gent called Delmare. She doesn't love him, and he's a clumsy boorish man who has no idea about the emotional needs of a very young woman. The author herself had married at eighteen, so she was writing from the heart and it shows. (This is why I've chosen the portrait which shows her as a young woman, not the usual dour Nadar photo of her when she was in her sixties.)
BEWARE:SPOILERS ABOUND
Anyway, Indiana suffers from an assortment of ailments which derive from her misery, and she cries a lot much to the irritation of Col. Delmare – but she still manages to look pale and attractive to her English neighbour Sir Ralph Who Loves Her From Afar. Although Indiana is on the lookout for love, she doesn't countenance Sir Ralph and it's hard to escape the conclusion that the sang-froid of Englishmen discounts them as potential lovers. (And George Sand should know about lovers, because she had a lot of them). Enter Raymon, (who we of Anglo-Saxon persuasion would call a Cad or a Bounder) and despite some hiccups along the way, (notably the suicide of Indiana's maid and soul-sister Noun who fell pregnant to Raymon even as he swore his love to Indiana), he manages to steal Indiana's foolish young heart.
Having won her heart, he doesn't want it. He sees Indiana take fearlessly to the horse that Sir Ralph so cunningly bought for her, and is a bit unnerved by her courage. He likes his women meek. (And rich as well, of course).
Raymon fut effrayé de la voir courir ainsi, se livrant sans peur à la fougue de ce cheval qu'elle connaissait à peine, le lancer hardiment dans le taillis, éviter avec une adresse étonnante les branches dont la vigueur élastique fouettait son visage, franchir les fossés sans hésitation, se hasarder avec confiance dans les terrains glaiseux et mouvants, ne s'inquiétant pas de briser ses membres fluets, mais jalouse d'arriver la première sur la piste fumante du sanglier. Tant de résolution l'effraya et faillit le dégoûter de Mme Delmare. Les hommes, et les amants surtout, ont la fatuité innocente de vouloir protéger la faiblesse plutôt que d'admirer le courage chez les femmes. L'avouerai-je ? Raymon se sentit épouvanté de tout ce qu'un esprit si intrépide promettait de hardiesse et de ténacité en amour. Ce n'était pas dans le coeur résigné de la pauvre Noun, qui aimait mieux se noyer que de lutter contre son malheur. Ch 14) Raymond was alarmed to see her ride away like this, submitting herself without fear to the fiery spirit of a horse that she barely knew, launching him boldly through the shrubbery, avoiding with astonishing precision (adresse?) the springing branches that (might have?) whipped her face, crossing ditches without hesitation, confidently risking the slippery, muddy ground, unafraid of breaking her slender limbs, but brooking no rival (jalouse?) to be first at the steaming scent of the boar. So much determination alarmed him and almost aroused disgust in him for Madame Delmare. Men, especially lovers, are addicted to the innocent smug foolishness of wishing more to protect weakness than to admire the courage of women. Will I confess? Raymon was terrified by everything that a spirit so intrepid promised in boldness and tenacity in love. It was not like the resigned heart of poor Noun, who preferred to drown herself rather than to fight against her misfortune.
As in most French literature of this period, there are allusions to politics. Sir Ralph and the Colonel have long had a tacit agreement to avoid points of conflict, but when Raymond wangles his way into being a regular visitor, he provokes argument. Raymond is a monarchist, Sir Ralph is a republican and Colonel Delmare yearns for the Empire. As Sands remarks,
C'est une grande imprudence d'introduire la politique comme passe-temps dans l'intérieur des familles. It is a great imprudence to introduce politics as a pastime in family life.
This dissension bodes ill, and it's no surprise that Sir Ralph's relationship with the Colonel comes off worst. He has to do a lot of eating humble pie in this novel, (which probably gave French readers a certain grim satisfaction as Anglo-French relations were not at their best in this period).
Indiana is a remarkably foolish young woman, who seems to irritate her creator. There are authorial gems along the way, like this one in Chapter 12.
Ce n'était pas la première fois que Raymon voyait une femme prendre l'amour au sérieux, quoique ces exemples soient rares, heureusement pour la société. This was not the first time that Raymond had seen a woman take love seriously, although these examples are rare, happily for society.
Luise, rival to Indiana for Raymon's capricious attention, is much smarter. She understands that an heiress can't hope for love, not when two million francs are at stake. She doesn't blame Raymon, but she's not silly enough to love him. She knows that French society requires that she marry, but she's going to keep her independence for as long as she can, and she's going to make Raymon work for what he wants. The reader can almost hear Sand chuckling to herself as her pen writes the scene where Luise mocks Indiana's absurd histrionics.
This authorial declaration – La femme est imbécile par nature – in chapter 23 made me find a proper English translation:
Woman is naturally foolish; it is as if Heaven, to counterbalance the eminent superiority over us men which she owes to her delicacy of perception, had implanted a blind vanity, an idiotic credulity in her heart. It may be that one need only be an adept in the art of bestowing praise and flattering the self-esteem, to obtain dominion over that subtle, supple and perspicacious being. Sometimes the men who are most incapable of obtaining any sort of ascendancy over other men, obtain an unbounded ascendancy over the minds of women. Flattery is the yoke that bends those ardent but frivolous heads so low. Woe to him who undertakes to be frank and outspoken in love! he will have Ralph's fate. This is what I should reply if you should tell me that Indiana is an exceptional character, and that the ordinary woman displays neither her stoical coolness nor her exasperating patience in resistance to conjugal despotism. I should tell you to look at the reverse of the medal, and see the miserable weakness, the stupid blindness she displays in her relations with Raymon. I should ask you where you ever found a woman who was not as ready to deceive as to be deceived; who had not the art to confine for ten years in the depths of her heart the secret of a hope sacrificed so thoughtlessly in a day of frenzied excitement, and who would not become, in one man's arms, as pitiably weak as she could be strong and invincible in another man's.
Sand, George, 1804-1876, Indiana (Kindle Locations 3251-3261). The University of Adelaide Library. Kindle Edition. Translation by George Burnham Ives
Does it all end badly? Well, alas, Raymon does not get his just desserts. George Sand was blending romanticism with realism in this novel and chaps like Raymon got away with their knavery all the time in French society. So she wasn't about to blunder into a soppy happy ending, no. Yes, Indiana and Sir Ralph get to know each other better after he rescues her from penury in Paris, but no, she does not recover from her dolours. But the solution Sand chooses is bizarre, so much so that when Sir Ralph proposes a suicide pact, I ventured to an English translation to check that I had understood correctly how a God-fearing man could justify it. But he does, and although they both recover some equanimity on the long sea voyage to a suitable waterfall on the Île Bourbon (renamed Île La Réunion after the fall of the Bourbons), and although, yes, Indiana forgives him when he finally (finally!) tells his tale of woe and declares his stoic love for her, and – gosh! she even agrees that he can be her husband in heaven and on earth! – the novel concludes with a splendidly melodramatic finale:
Alors Ralph prit sa fiancée dans ses bras, et l'emporta pour la précipiter avec lui dans le torrent…
Then Ralph took his fiancée in his arms and carried her away to hurl themselves into the torrent…
Well, almost. There is a nicely ambiguous ending to tease the reader: it could be that Indiana finds love at last and – consistent with her passionate nature – held his hand as they plunged to their deaths in the waterfall. But the last chapter, which takes the form of a letter to 'J. Neraud', suggests otherwise. An adventurer who has a slight acquaintance with Sir Ralph stumbles on an isolated cottage on the island. He had heard all kinds of fascinating rumours about Sir Ralph and Indiana but no one had seen them or knew what had become of them. Are the couple who are living contentedly there the reclusive scandal-makers, or are they the product of the letter-writer's delusions after two days lost in a storm? A kind of prototype Choose-Your-Own-Ending, eh?
BTW According to Wikipedia, Sand, who had never been to the French colony of Réunion, based her descriptions of the colony, on the travel writing of her friend Jules Néraud.
Title: Indiana, first published 1832
Publisher: downloaded as a PDF from La Bibliothèque électronique du Québec Volume 12 : version 1.01
Also consulted Indiana by George Sand,The University of Adelaide Library. Kindle Edition. Translation by George Burnham Ives.
PS The tables in this post have tested my skills with html and *pout* I could not get the cell padding right!
Crossposted at ANZ LitLovers.


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Sonic the Hedgehog trailer retooled using classic cartoon design: Watch
A fan has delivered the trailer we all deserved weeks ago
Cartoon Sonic trailer
Literally scary design flaws in the new live-action film version of Sonic the Hedgehog resulted in widespread public outrage and mockery. The pushback was so intense that director Jeff Fowler issued an apology and promised to go back to the drawing board to overhaul the character's appearance.
While Fowler leads a million-dollar redesign plan, one clever YouTube user has taken it upon himself to give fans the Sonic the Hedgehog trailer we deserve in 2019. Instead of the freakish humanoid Sonic, Artur Baranov's updated trailer features a cartoon version that looks a lot like the traditional, old-school character we originally fell in love with all those years ago.
Watch below.
Here's the original trailer if you so dare to see it again:
The simple, but effective edit should serve as something of a lesson to Fowler and other Hollywood execs looking to cash in on remakes: The key to nostalgia is a comforting sense of familiarity. You know, not CGI-crazed updates that render beloved characters nearly unrecognizable.
To accommodate the redesigns, Fowler's Sonic the Hedgehog has been delayed and will now open in theaters February 14th, 2020.
'90s Nostalgia
Iggy Pop to release new book 'Til Wrong Feels Right
Moby's "going away for awhile," cancels book tour in light of Natalie Portman controversy