Consumer Health: How long are yesterday's leftovers OK?
Food poisoning, also called foodborne illness, is caused by harmful organisms, such as bacteria, in contaminated food. Because bacteria typically don't change the taste, smell or look of food, you can't tell whether a food is dangerous to eat. Learn more about handling leftovers safely from Katherine Zeratsky, a Mayo Clinic registered dietitian nutritionist.
Epilepsy during pregnancy raises special concerns. To begin with, some drugs used to treat seizures might contribute to infertility. However, certain anti-seizure medications can reduce the effectiveness of hormonal birth control methods. While most women who have epilepsy deliver healthy babies, you may need special care during your pregnancy. Here's what you need to know.
Vegetarian diet: Can it help control diabetes?
A vegetarian diet probably won't cure your diabetes. But it may offer some benefits over a nonvegetarian diet, including reducing your risk of some diabetes-associated complications, better controlling your weight, and possibly making your body more responsive to insulin. Learn more from Dr. M. Regina Castro, a Mayo Clinic endocrinologist.
Moving from one home to another is never easy. For a person who has Alzheimer's disease, changing the routine and moving into an unfamiliar environment can be especially stressful. If you're helping a loved one who has Alzheimer's move to a new home or into a care facility, here are some tips to make the transition as comfortable as possible.
Do you have a heart failure action plan?
If you have heart failure, you need to know how to quickly spot the early warning signs and symptoms of worsening disease, and what to do if changes occur. Knowing what to do and when can be challenging and may be overwhelming if you don't have a strategy in place. That's why cardiologists recommend that everyone with heart failure have an action plan to help guide their self-care at home. Learn more from Dr. Rekha Mankad, a Mayo Clinic cardiologist.


Have you heard of Heartfelt Books? Today is my husbands birthday and one of his presents was a book I created using Heartfelt Books.
The process is fast and easy. You select questions to answer that best fit your relationship or style. Then, we take your answers and create a book, by you, for someone special!
Many questions require simple answers, while some are more thought provoking and require more input. We print the questions, along with your answers in a beautiful, hardbound book that will be treasured for years to come.There is no better way to express how you feel!
Don't worry about spelling or grammar, we've got you covered! You have the option of having one of our editors review your book for $10 for spelling and basic grammatical errors.
Get started today - it's FREE to start your Heartfelt Book! You don't pay anything until you're finished. You can start and then come back at anytime to continue, so you can create your book at your own pace. Your answers are recorded on our secure server and are kept strictly confidential. We do not share your personal information with anyone.
Books are printed the same or next day (we print and ship Monday - Friday). When finished, give it as the ultimate gift for an anniversary, birthday, wedding, graduation, Valentine's Day, Mother or Father's Day or just because!
I received a coupon code to create a free Heartfelt book. I was not paid for this review and all opinions are 100% mine.
The setup/layout of the site is very simple to navigate. I like that they kept it simple so you are not spending hours picking font or color etc etc. Keeping it simple allowed me more time to focus on thinking of the answers to the questions it asked me. It was easy to skip a question if you wanted but you did need to have a certain amount of pages to finish and create the book.
My book was printed and shipped very quickly. My husband loved reading his book!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!
The price of the book with shipping is a bit steep for my price range but if you truly want to create a book for your loved one then this might be the best option.
The site has a very neat feature. If you want to get a reminder of a special event coming up you can fill out the information and get an email reminder 2 weeks before the event.
Описание: Трехцветный картридж для Canon PIXMA MP450 CL-41 прост в установке и надежен в эксплуатации. Рабочий ресурс этого картриджа – 312 страниц или 122 фотографии.


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Home /Healthcare/Nursing Home Evicts 101-Year-Old Woman for Being Unable to Pay $7,000/Month Rent
Healthcare |
101-year-old Mabel Barnfield, who has dementia, no longer has a home at the Brookdale Fountaingrove nursing home in Sonoma County, California.
According to the Santa Rosa Press-Democrat, the assisted living facility initiated eviction proceedings against Barnfield after she became unable to pay the $7,000/month cost to live there. Initially, Barnfield paid for the expense of staying in the nursing home with the money she made from selling her modest home in Santa Rosa for approximately $450,000 in 2013. However, the money dried up, and the nursing home wouldn't accept Medi-Cal — the state-based health insurance plan for low-income Californians that Barnfield uses.
Barnfield's friends reportedly called 12 other assisted living facilities in the area, but none would accept Medi-Cal for payment. She's now staying in Novato, California, after attorneys representing both Barnfield and the nursing home helped her locate a bed at another facility. According to the Press-Democrat, only two out of 21 skilled nursing facilities in Sonoma County are Medicare and Medi-Cal certified.
Just as California's population explosion has created an affordable housing crisis in which demand vastly outweighs supply, there is also a growing shortage of nursing home space in the Golden State as Californians continue to age. Just in Sonoma County, those aged 60 and up make up about 26% of the total population, despite making up just 20% of the population less than 10 years ago.
"In Sonoma County alone, there are just 1,400 beds to serve a half million people and an exploding elderly population," Deborah Pacyna, a spokeswoman for the California Association of Health Facilities, told the Press-Democrat.
The high cost of staying in an assisted living facility has caused at least one retiree to take an unorthodox approach. As Grit Post reported in February, 64-year-old Terry Robison decided to spend his final years at a Holiday Inn, instead of a nursing home. After taking advantage of the hotel's senior discount and additional discounts for booking by the month instead of by the day, Robison learned he could have a place to live for as little as $60/day.
"It takes months to get into decent nursing homes. Holiday Inn will take your reservation today," Robison wrote in a viral Facebook post. "And you're not stuck in one place forever — you can move from Inn to Inn, or even from city to city."
Brookdale Fountaingrove spokeswoman Heather Hunter told the Press-Democrat that Barnfield was "a beloved resident" and that staff "went above and beyond" to find her another nursing home to stay in after she was evicted.
"Our staff has cared for her and wanted the best outcome for her," Hunter said. "Since this community is not Medi-Cal certified it cannot accept Medi-Cal as a form of payment. Therefore, continuing with Brookdale was not an option for Ms. Barnfield."
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TAGS: 101-year-old woman assisted living Brookdale Fountaingrove California evicted featured Mabel Barnfield nursing home Santa Rosa Sonoma County Terry Robison
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Home / Real Estate / Will the Tbilisi Mayor's Decision End the Khrushchovka Era?
Will the Tbilisi Mayor's Decision End the Khrushchovka Era?
June 11, 2018	767 Views
Tbilisi Mayor Kakha Kaladze has announced plans to replace so-called "Khrushchovka" residential buildings. Kaladze made a statement during a government meeting several days ago.
The current plan calls for the full replacement of failing buildings in Quarters 6 and 8 of Verketili Third Massif, as well as moving residents from less damaged buildings in Verketili Massif and its Upper Plateau.
City Hall will announce the contracts for developing a residential complex on the 30,205 square meter site in Verketili Third Massif, Kaladze said.
The winning company will implement its project under the regulatory plan approved by the Tbilisi Council, on the condition of transferring certain residential spaces to the municipality, he added.
"I would like to talk about one of our most important projects. I have frequently mentioned it in my pre-election campaign: many people were skeptical and did not believe in the feasibility of this project. I refer to the replacement of Khrushchokva residential buildings. Having assumed duty and started work at City Hall, we launched the program and began implementing the project."
"Our offices have worked hard, and I would like to thank you, because today we present the first project—City Hall is announcing interest in developing a residential complex on the 30,205 square meter site in Varketili Third Massif, and we invite proposals from the private sector," the mayor said.
At the first stage, 170 families will receive new apartments. Along with this information, the Tbilisi Mayor urged the private sector to join in project development planning and stressed the importance of the business sector's involvement. Without the private sector, the Khrushchovka issue will not be resolved, he said.
What is the private sector's position? What preferences will authorities offer to the private sector in exchange for engagement in project implementation? Does the project fit into the new masterplan? In general, is it true that the Khrushchovka Era will be over in Tbilisi?
Irakli Rostomashvili, head of the Developers Association, focused on several important factors. Currently, about 23,000 apartments are built in Tbilisi every year, and about a half part of them are located in new residential buildings (12,000 apartments).
As for Khrushchovkas, there are 512 Khrushchovka residential buildings in Tbilisi and 30 families live in each of them. This signifies a total of 15,360 families live in Khrushchovka apartments in Tbilisi. Therefore, Irakli Rostomashvili supposes that the Tbilisi economy should be improved to thoroughly implement the Khrushchovka replacement project.
"If we decide to launch this project and jointly implement it, in the current economy of Tbilisi, in the next four years, we will have to build 60,000 apartments a year, four times higher than the norm. The problem will remain unresolved, even if the project implementation deadlines are extended. Conditionally, where new buildings replace the Khrushchovkas, we will need more public schools, police stations, recreational zones and so on. Who will tackle these issues? The business sector? The project cannot be addressed using only residential buildings. I think at this stage, many aspects are unclear, and this factor does not enable the private sector to be widely represented in the project," Rostomashvili said.
Previously, only M2 had expressed interest in the Khrushchovkas project, and there are certain reasons for that, he said.
"The only company which showed interest in the project was M2. However, there are not many similar major companies on the market. M2 has many resources, including lots of money and a major commercial bank backing it. At this stage, our company cannot join the project implementation process, because many aspects are unclear and I suppose a major section of the private sector companies have the same problem," Rostomashvili said.
As for the Tbilisi land use masterplan and its compliance with the Khrushchovkas project, City Institute Director Mamuka Salukvadze had the following position:
"In the case of the Khrushchovkas, it is possible to prepare a development regulation plan by the order of Tbilisi City Hall. In general, our position is that the masterplan cannot thwart project implementation. On the contrary, an individual approach is required. We should neither remove buildings nor build new ones chaotically. In reality, an inventory is required. That is, on a specific site a residential building may be dismantled, and the building may be rebuilt in other place," Salukvadze said.
Andria Basilaia, head of the economic development service of Tbilisi City Hall, said that to raise the business sector's interest, City Hall will transmit land plots to the private sector free of charge in exchange for engagement in the project implementation process. All other variants are under discussion. As for project implementation, Andria Basilaia assures that the Khrushchovka Era will end, but he could not give specific deadlines.
Basilaia said: "We believe this project will be implemented, but it cannot be launched and finished immediately. This is a long-term process. Therefore, I cannot name specific deadlines. As for the private sector's involvement, for Varketili we will transmit a site to the competition winning company free of charge. The Samkharauli Forensics Bureau has valued this site at 6.9 million GEL. In exchange, the company must build adequate apartments in two years. Naturally, all Khrushchovka apartments cannot be replaced in the same manner. We will consider alternative plans. We plan to apply similar mechanisms at other locations, including in Saburtalo and Samgori in the near future, where there are unfit buildings."
Besides free transmission of land to the private sector, Tbilisi City Hall has not prepared any alternative offer. The head of the municipal economic development service noted that the Varketili project results will inform future plans for similar projects.
"For example, in the eastern part of Berlin, Khrushchovkas were not removed, but renewed. There are many proposals for applying this method in Tbilisi too, but here the buildings are nearly destroyed and cannot be repaired. Therefore, we have limited options in the decision-making process and have to find new mechanisms. We expect the Varketili pilot project to bring certain results. Naturally, we cannot transmit lands in exchange for all Khrushchovkas. It is important that in this case an exception will be made for K2 coefficient, too. The coefficient is tightened and a stricter process will be continued in the future too, but in the case of social projects, we plan to set certain preferences for the private sector. All these efforts are to raise the business sector's interest and we hope our efforts will bring real results," Basilaia said.
As noted, there are 512 Khrushchovka residential buildings in Tbilisi. Many of them are located in the Vazha-Pshavela area, Third Massif and Dighomi, especially four to five floor low-ceiling apartments built in Tbilisi in the 1960s.
After the announcement of independence, almost all local governments in Georgia expressed interest in replacing the Khrushchovkas, but no real steps were taken. In 2014, the Tbilisi Council signed a cooperation memorandum with an investment holding in Saudi Arabia. The investor planned to build 15-floor residential buildings to replace Khrushchovkas. The project also called for office spaces and green zones. Initially, the project called for dismantling 800 buildings and investing 600 million USD from the USA, however, no real steps were taken.
Khrushchovka Tbilisi City Hall	2018-06-11
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Bloc Party have been missing in action for some time now - Four years actually, which makes the new album title very fitting. 'Four' will be released August 21st, and will be the bands fourth studio album. Hear the first track from the album 'Octopus' below.


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What's Wrong with the Washington Wizards?
Geoff Burke-USA TODAY
Toby Wynn, Staff Writer
In the 2016-17 NBA season, the Washington Wizards finished with a 49-33 record. For the first time in franchise history, they won the Southeast division title but lost a hard-fought second-round series to the Boston Celtics. The following season, injuries bombarded the team's star, John Wall. However, another player stepped up in his place to help the Wizards squeeze into the 8th seed in the East. His name is Bradley Beal. Beal has been very good for the Wizards recently and even made his first all-star team last year. So with John Wall healthy, Bradley Beal shining as a new co-star, and the acquisition of Dwight Howard over the summer, why are the Wizards 2-7? Even though Dwight Howard has been sidelined with a lower back injury, there is no reason that the Wizards should be bottom feeders like the Bulls or the Hawks.
I believe one of the main reasons for the Wizards' lack of success is that John Wall is underperforming. To prove this, I'm going to show you John Wall's win shares per 48 minutes. According to basketballreference.com, win shares per 48 minutes is defined as "an estimate of the number of wins contributed by a player per 48 minutes." Since his rookie year in 2010-11, John Wall has had the following win shares per 48 minutes: .041, .071, .134, .128, .132, .098, .149, 0.92, and .046. The most recent statistic, .046, is the lowest he's had since his rookie year and it's showing. As the team's leader, John Wall is not stepping up and I believe this is one of the biggest problems with the team's situation.
Another problem the Wizards have is their coach Scott Brooks. Brooks was previously famous for coaching the extremely young and talented Oklahoma City Thunder teams of the early 2010s. He was highly criticized as he had all the talent in the world, yet he somehow could not produce a championship, and he was ultimately fired by the Thunder in 2015. One of his big problems with coaching was his lack of creativity when calling plays. He would frequently rely on the main stars to do everything while not really thinking up too much strategy. I see parallels to this situation in Washington because, like in OKC, the Wizards offense tends to be really mundane and predictable and the team is paying for it. The Cleveland Cavaliers are one of the few teams worse than the Wizards right now and they've already fired their head coach so I wouldn't be surprised if Brooks is out the door soon. Despite all the problems in Washington, I like how Beal has played thus far and I think other young talent and role players such as Kelly Oubre Jr. and Markieff Morris will help push the Wizards in the right direction. Oubre Jr. is currently averaging 13 points per game which is career high and Morris is averaging 10.1 points per game with 4.5 rebounds per game. Although not stars, these two are producing at a nice rate and I think that if more of the Wizards played like these two, they could turn their season around.
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Since you are on Instagram to get a following for your market, you may want to know some basic points to follow. No matter how much you want to get the attention of users on the site, you have to have posts that are worth sharing. If you have that, then you have a good foundation.
Go and look up some of the most popular Instagram posts. They will be all over the internet. That is what happens to popular things these days, as you are trying to do. You will notice a couple of interesting and important points.
First of all, the most popular posts are very clear photographs or images with the best quality possible. They are eye catching and captivating. You need to use only the right photos and that means clear images that are colorful and they really capture emotion.
This is of the greatest importance. You want to gain followers on Instagram when it comes to social media marketing so your images are the primary key. When you use bright and colorful, emotionally evocative images, you get right to the heart of what most people pay attention to.
There is another part to the image of a post and that is how popular it looks. When you start out, your posts may or may not get much attention. If they do not get attention in the beginning, then you will probably want to consider some strong tactics.
One of the most practical things to do is to buy followers and likes to make your posts look like they are getting the attention you think they deserve. When you do this, others are bound to follow because people are into posts that look like they are popular. It does not matter if they truly are, they just need to look that way.
You can also gain a lot of ground if you agree with another user to have them shout out your posts and your general account. You do the same for them, as it is an agreement and you can even share contacts if you need to, which is ultimately the point.
At the same time, you can buy shout outs as long as you have the budget for it. It is very important to have a social media marketing budget if you are actually serious about marketing success using social media. You sometimes need to spend money in order to make money.
Realize that your following is very important and when you use shout outs, you do get a lot more shares. Much of this is about the shares you get because that is how you gain more popularity and that is how you gain followers on Instagram. Be as popular as you can be and you get more followers.
As long as you stick to the rules of making good posts and you buy followers when you need to, your posts will look good. Stay with these basic methods and you will find profitable success.


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Genevieve Sarno
Recommend Genevieve's obituary to your friends
Send Flowers for Genevieve
Obituary of Genevieve Sarno
Genevieve Sarno (nee Horton), 95 passed away peacefully at home in Maplewood on July 3, 2019. Relatives and friends are invited to attend the funeral from The Jacob A. Holle Funeral Home, 2122 Millburn Ave, Maplewood on Friday, July 5th at 9:30 AM thence to St. Joseph's Church, Maplewood, where a Funeral Mass will be offered at 11:00 AM. Entombment Hollywood Memorial Park, Union. For more information or to send condolences please visit jacobhollefuneralhome.com
Genevieve was born in Newark and has lived in Maplewood for the past 40 years. She was a payroll clerk at Verizon in South Orange for 25 years. Genevieve was a member of Maplewood Senior club and was an active member of the former Immaculate Heart of Mary Church in Maplewood. Genevieve was predeceased by her husband Arthur Sarno. She is survived by her children Patricia Lampa (Glen) and Susan DiJulio, grandchildren Jason, Kati, Nicole, Jennifer and Suzanne, great grandchildren Ja'Lind, Leo, Hudson and Will.
To send flowers to the family of Genevieve Sarno, please visit Tribute Store
The Jacob A. Holle Funeral Home
2122 Millburn Avenue
Maplewood, New Jersey, United States
St. Joseph's Church, Maplewood
767 Prospect St
Hollywood Memorial Park
1500 Stuyvesant Ave
Union, New Jersey, United States


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The Huntington supports Boston's most exciting small and mid-sized theatre companies facilities and services at significantly subsidized rates.
Huntington Theatre Company
The Purists
Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead
Quixote Nuevo
We All Fall Down
She the People
Our Daughters, Like Pillars
WGBH Broadcast of Mala
The Judy & Varla Show
The Niceties
Sherlock's Last Case
Man in the Ring
Spamilton: An American Parody
A Guide for the Homesick
Sunday in the Park with George
Bedroom Farce
A Doll's House
Topdog/Underdog
A Confederacy of Dunces
Disgraced
Milk Like Sugar
August Wilson's How I Learned What I Learned
Can you Forgive Her?
I Was Most Alive With You
after all the terrible things I do
Come Back, Little Sheba
The Colored Museum
The Second Girl
Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike
Awake & Sing!
Ether Dome
Becoming Cuba
The Cocktail Hour
The Power of Duff
Now Or Later
Captors
Before I Leave You
Tiger Style Curriculum Guide
Dr. Lyman's literary references in Bus Stop
Honest and True: The Comedic Landscape of William Inge
William Inge's Film Adaptations
Collaborators in Conversation
Curtain Calls: Bus Stop
Catching Up with Nicholas Martin
A Brief History of the fictional town of Shirley, VT
Annie Baker discusses Circle Mirror Transformation
Capturing Silence: Annie Baker and the New Naturalism
Circles, Mirrors, Transformations: Acting Exercises and Theatre Games
Annie Baker on Circle Mirror Transformation
Welcome to Shirley, VT
Working Man/Working Artist
Crime and the American Family
Vengeance is the Lord's: Bob Glaudini's Version of the American Family in Drama
Designing Vengeance is the Lord's
Timeline: The Congo in Conflict
Coltan: From the Congo to You
Lynn Nottage on Ruined
The Music of Ruined
A Weapon of War: Rape in the Congo
Willy Russell, Liverpool, and Culture
An Interview with Maria Aitken
Reading with Rita
An Interview with Stephen Karam
Playing With Real Life
Characterizing Space
Stephen Karam: A Quick Look at the Playwright
Adapting Richard III & The Comedy of Errors
Seeing Shakespeare Again For The First Time
In the Basement: Party Games You Might Remember
Collaborators in Conversation: Amy Herzog and Steven Levenson
Jeffrey Harris, Music Director for A Long and Winding Road, talks to Daryl Waters
In A Long and Winding Road, Maureen McGovern Blends Music and Memories
Inexorable Logic
Shed Light
Sing us a song
Discover the places and things from Maureen's memories.
The World Was On Its Head
Ancestors in the room
Ancestors in the Room: An Interview with Paula Vogel
A Musical Quilt: An Interview with Composer Daryl Waters
Through the Eyes of the Poet: Living Voices of the Civil War
Testimonies of the Faithful
The Convergence of Christmas: Paula Vogel's Christmas Plays
Collaborators in Conversation: Paula Vogel and Peter DuBois
American Tragedy: Arthur Miller's Common Man
Director David Esbjornson Brings Miller's Mature Vision to an Early Play
Victories at Cost: War and Enterprise in World War II
In His Own Words: Arthur Miller on Theatre
Collaborators in Conversation: David Esbjornson and Craig Lucas
Lydia R. Diamond: Complex Thought, Complex Pleasure
Kenny Leon: Leading the Artistic Front
Continuing the Tradition: African-Americans on Martha's Vineyard
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Entomology, Insects, and Stick Fly
To Be Young, Educated, and Black
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Fetching More Than Water: Jack and Jill of America
Collaborators in Conversation: Lydia R. Diamond and Craig Lucas
Collaborators in Conversation: Lydia R. Diamond and Kenny Leon
On Becky Shaw
Becky Shaw: What's In A Name?
"The Stranger and The Beggar Are From Zeus"
Razor-Sharp Wit: Gina Gionfriddo's Comic Heart
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Prelude to a Kiss: Through the Years
Consider the Metaphor
The Craig Lucas Collection
Craig Lucas: Leaving Your Artistic Legacy
The Look of Love: The Designers of Prelude to a Kiss
Collaborators in Conversation: Karen MacDonald and Craig Lucas
RICHARD NELSON: An American Iconoclast
Richard Nelson: Master of Storytelling
SHAKESPEARE IN THE STATES: The Bard Takes a Democratic Turn
EUREKA! The Gold Rush is On: 1849-1864
The "Challenge Constantly Renewed"
Making Paths Through the Heavens
Men of Science, Men of Faith
A Kindler, Gentler Inquisition?
Italy, the Renaissance, and Religious Conflict
History Games: The Life and Plays of David Grimm
Looking for a Refill On That Half-Empty Glass
When Blood Boils: The Ongoing Tale of Saint Gennaro
Delight in Turmoil: Renaissance Naples
A Theatre for the People
Jokes on Wheels: All About Commedia Dell'Arte
The Archetypes of Commedia (a selection)
Perfectly Outrageous: The Story of Gilbert and Sullivan
The Real Pirates of the Caribbean
Fending Off Theatrical Pirates: The Transatlantic Birth of an Operetta
An Opera By Any Other Name
"I'd Rather Be Laughing:" Nell Benjamin, Adaptor Extraordinaire
Harvard alumna Nell Benjamin, who recently finished penning the music and lyrics for Broadway's Legally Blonde, was initially reluctant to change a word of the original Gilbert and Sullivan operetta she loved as a child. But after a little wining and dining by director Gordon Greenberg she warmed up to the idea. Here in a conversation with Artistic Associate M. Bevin O'Gara, Benjamin talks about her process and why she adores The Pirates of Penzance.
Director Gordon Greenberg said you were an obvious choice for this project because you have such an appreciation and a love for Gilbert and Sullivan. What is it about the original piece and the rest of their work that you admire?
To say I'm a fan isn't exactly true; I'm more of a groupie. Basically, it's work that was immediately relevant at the time, it was perfect, spot-on funny, "Saturday Night Live" satire and has lasted through the ages because it's so incredibly witty. Gilbert's wit, lyrics, and rhymes are just astonishing to me. Sullivan's tunes are fantastic and they're this wonderful mix of classicism, church music, and popular tune. I was exposed to it at a young age and I didn't understand most of it, but I still laughed. It's like Bugs Bunny that way. When you're young and you watch old Bugs Bunny cartoons and he's doing a Bette Davis imitation and you have no idea who that is, but you're still laughing because it's funny, it hits on a very sophisticated level and on a very silly level. Gilbert and Sullivan's jokes are that way; they can be incredibly silly or dumb and yet oddly sophisticated at the same time. There's a run in the show, mixing up the words "orphan" and "often," and some people derisively say, "Did you put the pun run in there?" And I say, "No, that was there." People have this elevated idea of Gilbert and Sullivan, thinking they must be done in a serious or praiseworthy Victorian way, but they themselves had an enormous appreciation for the plain and silly, which Gordon and I have as well. What became the challenge (and it was a scary one), was changing Gilbert and Sullivan in such a way as to be true to that spirit and allow people who might not be as big fans of Gilbert and Sullivan as I am to appreciate it.
How did you start on this collaboration?
We started with the idea, and then Gordon started with wine and flattery to get me to actually change more than I thought was going to change. The most important moment in terms of the shape that the show eventually took was when Gordon said we needed to think of it as an "out of town musical," and if we were writing the musical from scratch, what are some things we would do? How would we edit it if it weren't Gilbert and Sullivan? What I wanted was to make all the songs move the plot along, as that's not always the case with Gilbert and Sullivan songs. There was this wonderful musical tradition where you just stood there and sang a silly song. Once we realized we had to tell more of the story in song, that led us to thinking about which songs were important to the story and streamlined it. In the original story the pirates are fixated on the prospect of marrying these daughters. You don't usually think of pirates as the marrying kind, so it's odd them harping on this all the time. I thought since they're going to say this constantly, let's have a good reason why they're obsessed with marrying these girls. That became my idea for the curse that we incorporated into the plot. Why did they want to marry them? Well, because they have to. The idea of cursed pirates is certainly not a new one, and we thought here we could have more of the piracy and less of the Penzance, and everybody can enjoy that. Once we tightened the plot arc it became easier to see our way forward to a musical that has everything hopefully that you like in Gilbert and Sullivan but moves forward with the pace and timing that people expect from a modern musical.
You've done the production twice now. Are you going to continue to tweak as you go into rehearsals here?
We're going to continue to tweak like crazy. It's odd when you think that we got great reviews and everyone seemed to love it, but I still think we need to keep meddling. What did someone say? "Musicals never finish. They just open." What we want to do is take what we've discovered so far, both from the actors and the audiences and go even further and find all those lovely moments of piracy and idiocy we haven't perhaps capitalized on to the best of our abilities.
This production includes songs from other Gilbert and Sullivan musicals. Why did you pull other material of theirs instead of writing a new song?
Writing entirely new music and lyrics didn't seem to be in the spirit of Gilbert and Sullivan. They have a fantastic repertoire of stuff and we wanted it ultimately to be based on their work. Writing some new lyrics became necessary to advance the plot through song and keeping it on message. When we decided we were going to introduce the idea of the curse, I remembered there was another curse entirely in Ruddigore. I said, here we've got this great pirate curse tradition and this great Gilbert and Sullivan curse tradition, let's smush them together. The song is the same scansion, same rhyme scheme, and the same tune, preserving the original brilliance and intent with new lyrics, new ideas; a Gilbert and Sullivan tradition modified.
What do you think that Gilbert and Sullivan would think of your adaptation?
Gilbert, as he was a complete control freak, would be horrified and appalled that we dared to mess with this stuff. If we had done this to someone else's material, he would be delighted and definitely laugh at it. That's flattering myself, but I really do believe Gilbert would get that this is in the spirit of his topsy-turvy comedy. It's just that we messed with his stuff — that would probably annoy him, but he's dead, and as they say dead men tell no tales.
When you mentioned The Pirates of Penzance the first thing that comes to mind is "Modern Major General." Were you intimidated at starting to alter those lyrics?
ABSOLUTELY. I wasn't going to do it at all. I didn't want to touch it. But as we worked we discovered some interesting things. First, our character of the Major General is a different type of character than the original. The original character and the original point of "Modern Major General" was based on an existing general who everybody would have known — it was tensioned political commentary. This particular general had allowed several stunning defeats due to poor tactical planning. So the original idea was a song about a "perfect" military man who understands all the theory but knew nothing about actual soldiering and had no concept of combat. This was hysterically funny and very relevant at the time. Today that's not a joke we get, it's not the politics of our day. We talked about a Major General who is very gung-ho about spreading his personal brand of democracy and civilization to people he doesn't understand. That became our social commentary, and our Major General is this wonderful guy who thinks the sun never sets on the British Empire and he's going to extend that empire by force if necessary.
You recently worked on Legally Blonde: The Musical. Can you talk about the differences between adapting an existing theatrical work and adapting a movie?
There's only so much we could manage to mess up on Legally Blonde without having people come out of the woodwork and say that's not what Elle Woods would do. There were a lot of hectic people, as opposed to working on Gilbert and Sullivan, where we had a little more free reign. Legally Blonde had no songs but had a very clear plot, so we had something to follow. In some cases like "Bend and Snap," we wrestled really hard with figuring out how to work it in because the original material mandated so much. When you're working with material that people care about, or like because they liked the movie, they feel very strongly one way or the other about whether or not there should or should not be a "Bend and Snap." The two pieces are similar in that sense. People feel very strongly about what should be in a Gilbert and Sullivan show, people feel very strongly about what should be in a Legally Blonde show. Hopefully you hit all the points that made people love the movie or the original musical, but it's not just a rehash where you sit there thinking, "Why didn't I just see the movie or why didn't I just listen to my old recording of Gilbert and Sullivan?" You want to bring something new and still respect the original.
Your work spans a lot of different styles. What would you say is the unifying element of your work?
I'd prefer to write a comedy any day because I personally would rather be laughing while I'm learning something. And one of the fun things about comedy — and we certainly have this in Pirates! — is the idea that many of the disasters of the world are started by very satisfied, stupid people who cheerfully believe themselves to be right without thinking too hard about whether they actually are. In comedy you have those people and they can be funny; you can point at them and laugh at them, and hopefully when someone like that tries to convince you to join their cause or give them money or vote for them you will be a little more wary. Hopefully all of our characters are great fun to watch but also make you think a little bit about what kind of people they are.


Hastings, as indeed the entire colony of Sierra Leone, from the 1820s presented a matrix of religious interaction between mission Christianity and African religions. The dominant presence of "Aku"  people in the colony from those years onward and the successful re-creation of their traditional religious cults in exile could not be stopped by the 1831 edict of the governor. And although the cults were functioning in a colonial environment in which mission Christianity held the legitimacy, some of the people who professed the faith of the church did not totally abandon their old faiths. The reason is clear. Life in the colony was precarious and beset by diseases and debilities. Life expectancy was low as there was always one form of threat or another to life.  In particular, the problem of social violence among the various peoples and nationalities, indigenous and settlers, was not uncommon.  This precarious existence naturally provided the legitimacy for protection, the very function of African divinities. In Hastings, the ministers did not understand how deeply this need for protection was ingrained in their people. All through his time in this village Mr. Graf had only tirades against the practice of charms, fighting them on all fronts.
In spite of the radical nature of the social significance of the Church Relief Company, it appears its ultimate success was the culture of thrift it eventually developed in its subscribers, which contrasted with values that drove the companies in the wider society. From 1842 when the company was started the members slaughtered at Christmas several bullocks and shared them among themselves. They also funded supper for those who stayed for a week with bereaved families during funerals. Graf overlooked these practices because he did not want to jeopardize the prospects of the company at the very beginning. In 1849 the people took the initiative themselves and abolished them, apparently considering them as unnecessary dissipation of resources.  It was the final triumph of mission Christianity and its values among the converts at Hastings. Graf could not but be gratified by its implicit vindication of his exploits among them.
Beyond the vastness of the population, which justified his innovation, it would seem Graf felt his limitations as a European seeking to communicate a new faith and value orientation to his African parishioners. Although he never showed any flagging disposition in his vehemence against the traditional religious systems and was not disposed to compromise with them, he knew there was still a safe and tolerable threshold he could not cross in spite of his goodwill. But those he had won over, who were familiar with the cognitive world of the unconverted, could not only cross it but also find beyond it resonance with the aspirations of their unconverted kinsmen and women. At this threshold his trusted converts must now be allowed, as the critical mass, to identify and employ, in his own words, "such means …best suited to their country-men."  By this means, Graf unleashed the potentials of the congregation. Although he does not appear to be aware of the deeper significance of his innovation at the time, by it he struck the ultimate chord that would amplify his missionary efforts, three years later, when his parishioners would begin the exodus that would take mission back to their homeland in the Yoruba country. In the meantime, the flux of politics and economy were undermining the demographic situation of the colony.
The political contest between the pro-slavery and anti-slavery partisans in the British parliament often determined the fortunes of the colony of Sierra Leone. At length, it came to a head in 1844 when the government drastically reduced its financial support for the colony. Instead the governor encouraged those who desired to emigrate to West Indies, where their labor was in great demand, to do so. With too many idle hands around and the disembarkation of recaptives continuing in the face of poor economic prospects in the colony, missionaries were at variance whether to encourage emigration or not. As the enthusiasts and the skeptics among the populace and within the missionary circle expressed their opinions, fears gripped the colony.
In spite of the general skepticism of the missionaries some people took advantage of the opening and returned to take their families with them while they encouraged their compatriots to also do the same.  Among these was a young man who returned to the colony from Jamaica after twelve months to get married. He and his four friends, all of them young men from the church in Bathurst, put together the sum of £2 and gave it to their minister, Charles Gollmer, as donation to the society towards mission in their native country, Aku. The Yoruba mission was then about to start at Abeokuta.  In Hastings, however, Graf did not change his position on emigration in spite of the publicly declared change in government policy towards the colony. He discouraged his people from embarking on it.  Happily they had found attraction in the opposite direction, and they had resolved, as he himself was encouraging them, to follow their heart.
As he remarked on the preference the Local Committee gave to "the Aku Dialect," the people had a growing desire to return to their country and he envisaged the possibility of appointing a missionary to accompany them. His awareness of their desire drew from the general stirrings in his local congregation at Hastings in the 1830s, as some of the liberated Africans in the church expressed the desire that the Society send missions to their countries.
At the same farewell service Graf "proposed a collection for our parting friends to enable them to form at once on their arrival a Church Relief Company" to prevent their becoming too intricately connected with their non-Christian country people.  Before the two helpers left the village, they made donations to the church. William Goodwill handed over the sum of 4/- to Graf as his contribution towards the next missionary meeting, although he had a large family for whose passage he had to pay. Andrew Wilhelm and his wife agreed to donate their house and the big land on which it sat to the Society rather than sell them. Graf did not fail to perceive their sense of sacrifice.  With their departure to the Yoruba country, some of the workforce he had trained as Christian visitors in Hastings would be extending his influence beyond the colony to another sphere he would be privileged to visit in another eleven years as the Archdeacon of Sierra Leone.  For the time being the village, the church, and the school must recover from the loss induced by their exit.
Graf's plan for those members of his congregation who neither emigrated to the West Indies nor returned to the Yoruba country unfolded in the midst of a controversy his journal report generated in 1845. The crisis can best be understood against the background of the development that had been taking place among the rising generation of colony-born children. And Graf's panacea for the problem involved may be deciphered from his intellectual resonance with Thomas Fowell Buxton on the remedy for the African condition.
In the late 1830s, while Sierra Leone was still receiving fresh arrivals of recaptives a new generation of young people, colony-born, was rising with distinctive subculture. Some of them had been through church schools but many had not taken advantage of missionary liberality in this respect. If the situation of Hastings' day school is anything to go by, though by no means representative of the other villages in terms of quality,  the opportunity for education was open to all children in the colony. The popular prejudice of parents, the frequent movement of schoolmasters, and the unavailability of decent learning environments were among the factors that slowed the growth of the school in Hastings. The situation began to improve when the new building that served as church and school was opened on June 2, 1839.  After eight years of consistent presence of ministers and school teachers among them, a rare privilege in the colony, many parents in Hastings still did not see the need to send their children to school.
Nevertheless, Graf gave the school under his care good attention, and he was particularly interested in developing the children's musical ability.  But in spite of the Society's efforts to use the school system as a tool for evangelizing the young people and for developing them intellectually and spiritually, many of those who passed through the schools did not turn out right.
Eighteen months later he reported closing down the school after several fruitless remonstrances to the girls for disorderliness and disobedience. The seriousness of the matter soon dawned on them when Graf would not open the school weeks after the closure and their parents had to plead with him to reopen it. It was only after the "bigger girls" came to plead and promised to be of better manners that he opened the school again. But long before he closed the school he had succeeded in removing "fancy work" and "showy bazaar" from their training program and had given priority to "plain, useful work, such as can make them useful seamstresses after leaving school."  It earned him the charge of being narrow-minded.
Graf's assistants were of the view that he was not managing the day school very well because he graduated the bigger pupils early to keep them from influencing the younger ones. The missionary too was disappointed that many of these former pupils did not make progress after leaving school.
The contention about what was true or not and what should or should not be said about the colony-born young people remained within missionary circle of the CMS. After the secretary of the Local Committee indicated his objection to Graf's remarks no one contested the issue with him, and he continued to do his analysis of the situation on the ground.
This was not a fluke. For after his usual lamentation about the young men, having returned to the colony in December 1847, Graf could see the difference in their rank so that he could write six months later, "about half a dozen of the worst and leading members of the number are caught in the Gospel net: their company broken up; their drums laid aside; their riotous habits forsaken…." He attributed this to "the simple Gospel searchingly & pointedly brought to their consciences in public & private, accompanied by God's Spirit & God's providence."  But it was more than that; he had preached the same Gospel "searchingly and pointedly" for more than a decade in the village. It would seem something he did in addition, which he did not connect with the change, was also involved in this transformation.
In his analysis of the crises facing the colony-born children Graf had argued that one of the reasons for their attitude was the "want of the introduction of various arts and sciences…to serve as a rational employment for the vacant hours of the day". When he was returning in 1847 he brought back to Hastings some literature to start a lending library which would afford young people the opportunity to loan a book at a penny for two weeks. Twenty of them subscribed to the initiative, but their enthusiasm soon dwindled and only a few kept up with their subscription. The reason, according to Graf, was that although the books were written in simple English and for leisure reading, they were "written for the capacity of European children."  And so it was not a very successful venture. But it would seem this initiative spoke volumes to the young people about their minister, more than his many sermons over the years, and sustained the trend of their accession to the church in his absence. Although Graf did not seem to recognize this fact as responsible for the change he perceived in their attitude towards the church, there is no doubt that the initiative bridged the critical disconnect between him and these young people and warmed their heart towards the church. It is amazing that the intrepid missionary could not connect this simple, apparently not-so-religious initiative with the spiritual transformation that began in his absence in the rank and file of the colony-born young people.
Critical and, perhaps, harsh as Graf might appear in his evaluation of the young people, it should be mentioned that the earnestness he exercised in Hastings, which began to bear this fruit of redeemed colony-born youths from 1848, was not found in other villages of the colony. His sharp criticism of the fledgling Creoledom was only disputed by his colleagues but never taken as early, warning signal against the crises ahead.
The irony of the saga of the colony-born youths of mid-nineteenth century Sierra Leone is that only three years before Graf's unsettling criticism a British Parliamentary Committee on the colony praised the educational achievements of missionary societies there. What was not recognized then was that the education being offered by the missionary societies, for its lack of "local content," carried with it temptation whose consequences were to begin to unfold in the second half of the century. It inadvertently created a social and cultural dysfunction in which its beneficiaries, particularly the colony-born children, could neither grapple with their African roots nor fully resonate with the values inherent in that education.
Graf himself, for all his critical reading of the situation, did not appreciate the need to imbue his school program with the Africans' wholesome values that would make them educated, and not necessarily westernized, Africans. His not-very-successful experiment at providing intellectual occupation for the youths through his lending library was an indication that there was a chasm between their innate personalities as Africans, even if they themselves did not realize it, and the cosmopolitan culture being fostered around them. His realizing that his imported literature could not sustain their interest, because they were designed for the capacity of European children, was a deflected indication of this predicament. But Graf was too Eurocentric to appreciate the values inherent in Africans' seemingly less sophisticated and traditional-religion-pervaded culture in which these young people, at bottom, live, move and have their being.
Graf's proposal resulted in several efforts, between 1847 and 1853, to promote agriculture in Sierra Leone by synergizing with friends of the mission in England. With the Honorary Secretary, Mr. Henry Venn, facilitating contacts in England, Graf was able to send two men to England to learn trade in 1853. One of them was Henry "Erugunjimi" Johnson who was sent to the Royal Botanical Garden, Kew, London, and Mr. Robin who was also sent to learn cotton processing business. But there were too many obstacles to make the various initiatives successful. Graf was the main person driving it. While his missionary colleagues appreciated and saw value in his crusade for social and economic transformation of the colony, none was willing to take up additional responsibilities. The problem of acquiring land in Sierra Leone for a botanical garden was daunting. The difficulty of moving plants across the sea was no less responsible for the failure of the various schemes attempted. But the five years from 1848 to 1853 saw many activities in Freetown in the attempt to transform the social and economic fortunes of the colony.
In 1853, Bishop Vidal appointed Graf archdeacon of Sierra Leone, newly created along with that of "Abbeokuta" which covered the Yoruba country.  Although the Parent Committee had promised to appoint an assistant missionary to serve with Graf, should he decide to retain his superintendence of Hastings along with his responsibilities as the secretary of both the Finance and Central Committees of the Society, it is not clear if he got this help. His additional responsibility as an archdeacon, which the bishop thought would now make necessary the appointment, still did not appear to have changed anything. What is clear is that from 1853, Graf was increasingly absorbed with his assignments in Freetown, and his role at St. Thomas Church, Hastings, gradually diminished.
Graf was one of the most energetic missionaries in the CMS Sierra Leone Mission in the first half of the nineteenth century. He was unassuming and perfectionist. He had something significant to say on the main issues of the day. He was forthright in his conviction, piety and moral discipline. But behind this apparently austere demeanor lay a humanity committed to the wellbeing of the people under his care. His critique of the mission in Sierra Leone was unique, but he went beyond offering critique. He exerted effort and went to great length to provide solutions for the people. In the political, economic and social uncertainties of the age, much of his efforts did not come to fruition, except his most valuable investment in his pastoral watch care over his people.
S.v. Graf, John Ulrich. Church Missionary Society, Register of Missionaries, 41.
J. Graf, journal entry, December 9, 1837, CMS C/A1/O105/28a.
J. Graf, journal entry, March 7, 1838, CMS C/A1/O105/28b.
J. Graf, journal entry, April 17, 1838, CMS C/A1/O105/29a.
Before the name "Yoruba" evolved, this was the name by which recaptives from what is south-west Nigeria today were first called in Sierra Leone. It derived from their extensive greetings and courtesies.
J. Graf, journal entry, May 23, 1845, CMS C/A1/O105/48a.
As an example, Hastings was in a state of excitement in January 1851 when the Aku boys decided to submit no longer to "the oppressive and unprincipled conduct of the Government Overseer." Pitted against him and his supporters in the disbanded soldiers and the other nine ethnic groups represented in the village, war was only averted when the factions were broken up and the overseer dismissed, following the governor's intervention. J. Graf, journal entries, January 13-22, 1851, CMS C/A1/O105/57b.
J. Graf, journal entry, December 23, 1841, CMS C/A1/O105/36a.
J. Graf, journal of the quarter ending March 25, 1842, CMS C/A1/O105/36b.
Christopher Fyfe, A History of Sierra Leone (London: Oxford University Press, 1962), 170,171.
J. Graf, journal extracts for the quarter ending March 25, 1842, CMS C/A1/O105/36b. C. A. Gollmer made the same observation in Bathurst. Journal entry, August 19, 1843, CMS C/A1/M11(1843-1845)/85.
The role played by the mixed company that aided and abetted the excesses of the Government Overseer in Hastings seems to give credence to Graf's complaint that the companies in the colony were more of a problem than aid to civil governance. He felt vindicated by the dissolution of this particular company in consequence of the intervention of the government in the 1851 crisis between the overseer and Aku boys in the village. J. Graf, Journal entry, January 22, 1851, CMS C/A1/O105/57b&c.
J. Graf, journal extracts for the quarter ending March 25, 1842, CMS C/A1/O105/36b.
J. Graf, journal extracts for the quarter ending June 25, 1842, CMS C/A1/O105/37b.
J. Graf, journal extracts for the quarter ending December 25, 1845, CMS C/A1/O105/50b.
J. Graf, journal entry, August 2, 1845, CMS C/A1/O105/49.
J. Graf, journal extracts for the quarter ending December 25, 1849, CMS C/A1/O105/55b.
J. Graf, Journal Extract for the Quarter Ending March 25, 1839, CMS C/A1/O105/32a.
J. Graf to J. Warburton, Queries on Emigration, CMS C/A1/M10(1842-1843)/337.
J. Graf to J. Warburton, Queries on Emigration, CMS C/A1/M10(1842-1843)/338. Other respondents indicated that the people who had emigrated were of various religious temperaments and commitments. The best and most responsible people as well as the ignorant had emigrated from their villages, and these belong to the CMS congregations and other denominations. J. Beal to J. Warburton, Queries on Emigration, CMS C/A1/M10(1842-1843)/345; E. Jones to J. Warburton, Queries on Emigration, CMS C/A1/M10(1842-1843)/339.
J. Graf to J. Warburton, Queries on Emigration, CMS C/A1/M10(1842-1843)/338.
Christopher Fyfe, A History of Sierra Leone, p. 225.
C. Gollmer to J. Warburton, Queries on Emigration, CMS C/A1/M10(1842-1843)/336; Graf to J. Warburton, Queries on Emigration, CMS C/A1/M10(1842-1843)/338.
C. Gollmer, journal entry, August 19, 1843, CMS C/A/M11(1843-1845)/85.
J. Graf, Report of a Visit to the Yoruba Mission, March 1855, CMS C/A1/O105/63.
J. Graf, journal for the quarter ending March 25, 1842, CMS C/A1/O105/36.
With the exit of many of these people from the colony, and particularly from Hastings, and the appointment of his assistant Henry Townsend as the missionary to begin the work in the Yoruba country, Graf was advised to drop his study of the Yoruba language for Susu in 1843. It is not clear if his motive for studying the language was a personal anticipation of being appointed to "continue" his work among the people in their homeland as he saw the sending of missionaries there as an extension of an existing effort in Sierra Leone. In arguing for the extension in 1842 he remarked that, "It is not a new mission." J. Graf, journal extracts for the quarter ending December 25, 1842, CMS C/A1/O105/39a; journal extracts for the quarter ending September 25, 1843, CMS C/A1/O105/41b.
J. Graf, journal extracts for the quarter ending December 25, 1842, CMS C/A1/O105/39a.
Aku Members of the Congregation at Hastings to the Local Committee of CMS, October 1, 1842, CMS C/A1/M10(1842-1843)/331.
Townsend, having earlier perceived the dominant presence of Yoruba people in the colony, had started learning the Yoruba language and culture while he was still at Kent. Although a man who had no interest in any theorization, he made significant progress in the language more than any other missionary. He was first intimated with the desire of the people to have mission sent to their country two months after he resumed in Hastings. He wrote with delight, "It gave me much pleasure to hear one of our communicants say that they (the Akus) had begun to pray that the Lord would send a missionary to their country." H. Townsend, journal entry, August 27, 1842, CMS C/A1/M10(1842-1843)/366; journal entry, March 6, 1842, CMS C/A1/M10(1842-1843)/197.
J. Graf, journal extracts for the quarter ending December 25, 1842, CMS C/A1/O/105/39a.
J. Graf, journal entry, April 13, 1843, CMS C/A1/O105/41a.
J. Graf, journal entry, April 18, 1843, CMS C/A1/O105/41a.
J. Graf, journal entries, November 17 and 27, 1843, CMS C/A1/O/105/42.
J. Graf, journal entry, November 13, 1843, CMS C/A1/O105/42a.
William Goodwill left behind, but in the charge of Mr. & Mrs. Graf, his daughter Elizabeth who married in Hastings on April 21, 1851, "a respectable young man, a Tailor and Farmer by profession." J. Graf, journal entries, November 17 and 27, 1843, CMS C/A1/O105/42; journal entry, April 21, 1851, CMS C/A1/O105/58a.
J. Graf, Report of a Trip to the Yoruba Mission, March 1855, CMS C/A1/O105/63.
Hastings' day school was actually considered inferior to those of other villages.
J. Graf, journal extracts for the quarter ending June 25, 1839, CMS C/A1/O105/33.
W. Marsh, journal for the quarter ending June 25, 1844, CMS C/A1/M11(1843-1845)/480.
J. Schön, journal entry, November 7, 1836, CMS C/A1/O/195/49a.
J. Graf, journal for the quarter ending June 25, 1844, CMS C/A1/O105/44.
J. Graf, journal for the quarter ending December 25, 1845, CMS C/A1/O105/50b.
J. Graf, journal entry, March 23, 1845, CMS C/A1/O105/47.
Graf agreed to modify his statement, as suggested by a special meeting of the Local Committee, if Mr. Warburton agreed to withdraw his counter statement. With his refusal, Graf also refused to modify his statement. J. Graf, journal for the quarter ending June 25, 1845, CMS C/A1/O105/48a.
Graf argued that the colony born young men in particular did not show interest in the life of the church like their female counterparts and laid out statistics that showed that out of the total number of 2,103 communicants from eight congregations in the colony, including Freetown, only six were colony-born young men. Of the remaining 2.097 there were 59 colony-born women. The rest were liberated Africans. J. Graf, journal for the quarter ending June 25, 1845, CMS C/A1/O105/48a.
J. Graf, journal for the quarter ending June 25, 1845, CMS C/A1/O105/48a.
J. Graf, journal for the quarter ending June 25, 1845, CMS C/A1/O105/48b.
J. Müller, journal for the quarter ending June 25, 1846, CMS C/A1/M12(1845-1846)/565.
J. Graf, journal entry, June 6, 1848, CMS C/A1/O105/52a.
J. Graf, journal for the quarter ending March 25, 1848, CMS C/A1/O105/51.
Leo Spitzer, The Creoles of Sierra Leone–Responses to Colonialism, 1870-1945 (Madison, US/Ile Ife, Nigeria: The University of Wisconsin Press/University of Ife Press, 1974/1975).
Gordon Hewitt, The Problem of Success: A History of the Church Missionary Society 1910-1942, vol. 1 (London: SCM, 1971), 8.
Leo Spitzer, The Creoles of Sierra Leone.
J. Graf, Civilization in Africa, CMS C/A1/O105/61.
Lord Bishop to J. Graf, September 30, 1853, CMS C/A1/O105/25; J. Graf to Lord Bishop, CMS C/A1/O105/25.
s.v. Graf, John Ulrich Church Missionary Society, Register of Missionaries, 41.
J. Graf, Report of Visit to Yoruba Mission in 1854, CMS C/A1/O105/63.
The idea of using locally trained converts for outreach as Christian visitors in CMS West Africa was Mr. Graf's distinctive contribution to the mission. Andrew Wilhelm of his church at St. Thomas Parish, Hastings, he wrote, was the first of such in the colony of Sierra Leone. J. Graf, Report of Visit to Yoruba Mission in 1854, CMS C/A1/O105/63.
H. Johnson, jr. to E. Hutchinson, January 1877, CMS C/A2/O55.
Archives of the Church Missionary Society (CMS), University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham, UK.
Colonial Office Records, National Archives London (NAL).
Church Missionary Society, Register of Missionaries. Fyfe, Christopher. A History of Sierra Leone. London: Oxford University Press, 1962.
Hewitt, Gordon. The Problem of Success: A History of the Church Missionary Society 1910-1942, vol. 1. London: SCM, 1971. Spitzer, Leo. The Creoles of Sierra Leone–Responses to Colonialism, 1870-1945. Madison, US/Ile Ife, Nigeria: The University of Wisconsin Press/University of Ife Press, 1974/1975.
This article, which was received in 2011, was written and researched by Dr. Kehinde Olabimtan, Coordinator of educational ministries, Good News Baptist Church and Adjunct Teacher, Akrofi-Christaller Institute, Ghana, and a recipient of the Project Luke Scholarship for 2010-2011.


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Breaking News Tech/Gadgets 0
Free smartphones from Amazon coming soon!
From Jessica Lessin
Now in ebook and paperback and soon in Audiobook at Apple and Amazon
Which technology giant will be the first to offer a free smartphone? Amazon.com Inc. is making a play. In a previously unreported move, the online retailer and Kindle maker is considering introducing its long-planned smartphone for free to consumers, according to people familiar with Amazon's effort. There are many unanswered questions about the plan and what strings will be attached for customers. One of them is whether Amazon would require its smartphone owners to pay for services such as Amazon Prime, the company's loyalty program. But the people familiar with the matter said that Amazon wants the device to be free whether or not people sign up for a new wireless plan at the same time. (Wireless carriers typically discount the price of devices if customers sign up for a one- or two-year wireless contract.) One person familiar with the effort said the company has talked to wireless carriers about offering its phones, though it is expected to offer them directly to consumers through its website. A launch date also is unclear. The pricing strategy is a big departure from the strategies of incumbents like Apple Inc. and Samsung Electronics Co., whose new flagship phones retail at around $200 with wireless contracts in the U.S. Those companies also offer some older high-end models for free or for just $1, with contracts. The free strategy isn't set in stone and depends on several factors, including Amazon's ability to work out financial arrangements with hardware partners, said one of the people who is familiar with Amazon's smartphone effort. This person and others expressed skepticism about Amazon's ability to pull off a free device. Still, Amazon's pricing ambition is the clearest indication of its phone playbook: undercut rivals and grab meaningful market share. (An Amazon spokesman declined to comment.) Apple's Nightmare It is also shows that Apple's worst nightmare may be coming true: prices could fall not just for cheap phones in developing markets but higher-end ones too. Indeed, for years, Apple and Samsung have been packing their flagship phones with more bells and whistles in order to justify premium prices. And they have been pretty successful. In the past five years, the average price a consumer paid for smartphone that is not subsidized by a wireless carrier dropped just 20% to $343 from $430, according to IDC. But the game is changing. New smartphone entrants Amazon and Google generate revenue primarily through e-commerce sales and online advertising, respectively READ MORE
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Fans + Community // DECEMBER 12, 2018
Meet the Winners of the Star Wars Fan Awards 2018!
See all winning entries and learn how many were made in exclusive chats with their creators!
StarWars.com and The Star Wars Show are pleased to announce the winners of the Star Wars Fan Awards 2018! We received thousands of entries across four genres — Long Video, Short Video, Visual Art, and Photo — and were continually amazed at the incredible talent on display. Thank you and Wookiee hugs to all who participated!
Check out the most impressive winners below, including recipients of the Filmmaker Select chosen by Dave Filoni, and Audience Choice awards voted by fans on StarWars.com! And learn more about how these passion projects were made in exclusive interviews with many of this year's esteemed award winners.
Genre: Long Video
WINNER: FILMMAKER SELECT & BEST COMEDY
More Machine Than Man by Mark G.
How did you become a Star Wars fan?
I saw Star Wars for the first time when it was originally in theaters in 1977. I was 11 years old. I've been all-in ever since. I remember seeing Return of the Jedi at the Thursday midnight special premiere screening where the ticket cost an outlandish $4.50. Star Wars was probably my primary inspiration for becoming a filmmaker myself. I learned everything I could about George Lucas, and even went to film school at USC on his example. I still maintain that original Star Wars is one of the greatest films of all time, in the same realm as Citizen Kane or Casablanca.
What was the inspiration for your Star Wars Fan Awards entry, and how was the experience making it?
I've had the idea for More Machine Than Man for years. Ever since we saw Obi-Wan Kenobi cut up Anakin and leave his roasting body for dead on that lava planet in Revenge of the Sith, we've known the REAL story behind all the things he told Luke about his father. Back in 1983, when Obi-Wan said Vader was "more machine now than man, twisted and evil" we never thought much about it. But seeing him dismembered, we now knew he had, among other things, robot arms and legs. He was LITERALLY more machine than man. And I though it was kind of cool that when making the original films, George Lucas must have had all that detail thought out that the casual viewer wouldn't even think about.
Anyway, I thought about what Obi-Wan would have had to admit if Luke had pressed him for just a little more information. The actual story is so much more gruesome than the sugar-coated version we've had for years that it just struck me as funny. I mean, seriously! All he said was "He ceased to be Anakin Skywalker and became Darth Vader." He left out the key detail, "I cut off his arms and legs, let him catch fire, and left him for dead."
I made my own Obi-Wan Kenobi costume from dyed curtain lining material. We shot on a green screen, and then I built a miniature set, about 2 feet by 2 feet to shoot for the backgrounds. I lit the model, blew in canned smoke, and photographed it on my kitchen table. The R2-D2 is the voice activated 13" R2 that I've had for years. The X-wing I bought off of eBay, and then dry-brushed it to weather the parts that would be visible. All the elements were shot separately and sandwiched together for the final shots. The most challenging effect was the Jedi ghost effect, which I made in Apple Motion. It needed to make me transparent and blue, but also glowing and sparkling around the edges. I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out.
What does winning mean to you?
It is a great honor to win the Best Comedy as well as the Filmmaker Select Award. Star Wars has been an important part of my life for over 40 years. It's what made me want to be a filmmaker in the first place. And I'm delighted that people with an actual connection to the franchise are seeing and appreciating my work. Thank you so much.
WINNER: AUDIENCE CHOICE
Like My Father Before Me: A Star Wars Story by Jack C.
WINNER: BEST ANIMATION
The Kessel Run by Brian W.
I saw Star Wars as a child when it first released in theaters. The very moment the Star Destroyer appears in the opening shot of A New Hope, I was hooked. At that time, science fiction movies were very cheesy with everyone wearing aluminum foil costumes. Star Wars was the first genre movie that felt like it took place in a real universe.
I wanted to do something with Star Wars characters that had not been overdone already. This is very difficult because there are already so many excellent Star Wars fan films out there. I wondered what characters had not had their own film yet, and I realized the dejarik pieces from the Millennium Falcon's holochess board had never been given their due. I also thought they would be very fun to animate. It was, but I did not think about the fact that in most shots I would have to animate eight characters at once. It was a tremendous amount of work and I almost gave up several times, but the end result was worth it.
I am thrilled to win. There are a large number of excellent Star Wars fan films out there, some made by Hollywood professionals with high-end equipment. To stand out among the crowd is a great feeling of validation both as an animator and a Star Wars fan.
WINNER: BEST CHOREOGRAPHY & BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
Exile: A Star Wars Fan Film by Noel B.
WINNER: SPIRIT OF FANDOM & BEST STOP MOTION
Star Wars: The Toys Awaken by Raymond M.
I was born in 1974 and grew up with the original trilogy being a huge part of my formative years. Watching The Empire Strikes Back in the theater in 1980, and taking in Yoda's wisdom and Vader's galaxy-shattering revelation, made a lasting impression on me. I was hooked at that point and have been a lifelong fan since ever since. I didn't realize it then, but my Star Wars fan creativity was in its beginning stages just after Return of the Jedi came out in theaters in 1983. I wrote two short stories complete with illustrations, naturally titled The Jedi Strike Back and Return of the Empire. I don't think they were very good, but I was so proud to share them with my family.
The inspiration for my film goes back to 2012 when Disney announced it would purchase Lucasfilm and start making new Star Wars movies. After living for years with the reality that there would be no more Star Wars movies after Revenge of the Sith, this news re-ignited the fan in me. Being anxious for any and all Star Wars news, I checked StarWars.com daily and read that Lucasfilm would resurrect the Star Wars Fan Film Awards and present awards at Star Wars Celebration Anaheim in April 2015. I always had an interest in video production and had just switched careers from electrical engineering to running a freelance business in motion graphics and visual effects. I knew the Fan Film Awards would be the perfect opportunity to produce my first short film, share my fandom with the world, and actively participate in Star Wars Celebration (for which I already purchased a four-day pass). Because my excitement for Star Wars was at an all-time high, I wanted to produce a fan film about a fan whose toys come to life to help him out of a jam. I was fortunate enough to have my first fan film, Star Wars: A Toy Story, selected as a finalist and nominated for Best Visual Effects.
I was honored to be a finalist in 2015, but failing to win one of the coveted awards left me feeling incomplete. Falling short drove me to produce a film for the 2016 Star Wars Fan Film Awards. I wrote the script for Star Wars: The Toys Awaken in early 2016 and kicked off production in April. Ultimately the scope of the film was too wide, and I didn't have enough time to complete the film before the deadline. I put it on hold and switched gears when I learned of Lucasfilm's #GoRogue fan film contest leading up to the release of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. I managed to complete a 2-minute film for the contest, The Rogue One: A Star Wars Toy Story, but unfortunately I fell short of winning once again.
Lucasfilm did not hold the Star Wars Fan Film Awards in 2017, but I eventually came back to The Toys Awaken late in 2017. I had gotten so many great people involved in my initial production effort (about 40 people for the movie theater scene from local fan groups Star Wars Steampunk Universe, San Diego Star Wars Society, and Science Fiction Coalition), I felt a responsibility to complete the film even in the absence of a Lucsafilm contest. By early 2018 I had completed a significant portion of the stop-motion animation. I had to put it on hold once again due to work commitments. But then this past summer I learned that Lucasfilm would hold the 2018 Star Wars Fan Awards. That announcement provided me the impetus to make the final push to complete the film.
The story is set on the opening day of Star Wars: The Force Awakens and tells the story of a young Star Wars fan whose toys come to life. The young fan, Riley, is played by my daughters Maliya and Nora, who are two and a half years apart in age. For the shots we filmed in April 2016, Maliya played the role of Riley. By the time we got around to completing production two and a half years later, she was too old for the role, so I had Nora, who was the right age, step in and complete the shots. I shot Nora so that we never see her face directly, and I only shot extreme close-ups of Maliya's eyes when we needed shots of her face. The timing worked out perfectly. I'm so happy that it took three years to complete the film so that both Maliya and Nora could play significant roles in it. I'm ecstatic that we won two awards, but I'm even happier that this film has provided us with a very personal family experience that we'll never forget.
Winning means everything to me. Having Lucasfilm officially recognize my work as a Star Wars fan is a tremendous honor. Having entered three Lucasfilm contests, I have seen how high the bar is, how talented the competition is, and how rare winning is. Being a finalist in 2015 and not winning, and having made three fan films to get to this point is extremely satisfying. It means even more to me that my daughters have been a part of this journey. I hope they see this as a life lesson that hard work and sticking with their passions can lead to positive outcomes even though the journey can be difficult.
Genre: Short Video
WINNER: FILMMAKER SELECT, BEST COMEDY, & BEST STOP MOTION
Ice Cream To Go by Jordan G. and Cody G.
Vader: Misquoted by Jared H.
WINNER: BEST ANIMATION & BEST CHOREOGRAPHY
Grievous Versus Praetorians by Brian W.
WINNER: SPIRIT OF FANDOM
Simple Tricks and Nonsense by Jason Y.
Star Wars has always been around in my life for as long as I can remember. My earliest memories consist of my family and I sitting around the TV watching the original trilogy together on VHS. My brother and I enjoyed scrapping together costumes from random items around the house and reenacting scenes from the films. We would spend countless hours playing with Star Wars action figures, and even made a few of our own fan videos with them.
As I was thinking about my entry for the Star Wars Fan Awards, I really wanted to capture the essence of my love and appreciation for Star Wars. Growing up, I loved collecting and playing with the toys available at the time. My love for collecting Star Wars toys continues today, which I get to share with my three children, who have become avid Star Wars fans in their own right.
For my entry I created a short video inspired by the original Kenner action figure TV commercials, but used modern action figures from the Black Series line that we collect together as a family. Needless to say, we had such a fun time creating the video together!
As a Star Wars fan, it is an incredible honor to be among this year's winners of the Star Wars Fan Awards — I'm proud to represent the greatest fandom in the galaxy. Thank you for your votes and support, and as always, may the Force be with you!
WINNER: BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
A Close Call by Jared P.
Genre: Visual Art
WINNER: BEST IN SHOW & BEST POSTER ART
A (Tiny) New Hope by Trevor W.
I saw Star Wars the day it opened at a drive-in on my birthday (May 25th!) and as soon as Darth Vader walked through the door of the Tantive IV…I was hooked! I collected everything I could get my hands on and afford or I begged my parents for it. Action figures were, of course, always a part of that collection.
I'm a toy photographer on a semi-professional and hobby basis and try to do a big, iconic Star Wars shot every year. This year, I got my hands on the Hasbro full-size Vader helmet and it looked perfectly scaled to use with 6″ and 3.75″ figures to recreate the iconic Star Wars poster. I had to "redesign" (cut up and add pieces to) Leia's dress to match the one in the illustration. Lighting and getting the fog just right probably took 150+ shots! Having it work as well as it did was worth all the effort though.
My work has been recognized before, but this is a BIG DEAL! Being recognized officially by the people at StarWars.com and Lucasfilm/Disney is a fan artist's dream come true!
WINNER: AUDIENCE CHOICE & BEST DIGITAL ART
Balance by Madison T.
Honestly, I can't remember a time when I wasn't a Star Wars fan. My older brother was already really into it by the time I was old enough to become interested in the films, so I grew up watching both the original trilogy and the prequels. In fact, my first Star Wars memory is crying because I wasn't allowed to go see Attack of the Clones on its opening night. (I was only six at the time.) But when Revenge of the Sith came out three years later, I finally got to have the magical experience of seeing a Star Wars movie in theaters for the first time!
For me, the Force has always been the most fascinating element of the Star Wars universe. Its portrayal in the Mortis arc of The Clone Wars is especially beautiful, complex, and thought-provoking. It raises just as many questions as it does answers about what balancing the Force means, and about what the Force actually is as an entity. I love how the Father, Son, and Daughter represent certain aspects of the Force, and I think that is also the case with certain characters in the saga films. That is why I chose Rey and Ben Solo/Kylo Ren as the two characters I wanted in this piece. Light and dark, if you will.
Creating the final design of the composition was a long and difficult process. I started with a lot of sketches, and after narrowing the options down to a single idea, I began the process of digitally painting it. That design then went through several major alterations and transformations along the way. The composition I ended up with is quite different than what I originally imagined, but I think that it is stronger because of its numerous iterations. This is definitely one of the more difficult pieces I've ever worked on, but it is also one of the most rewarding.
To have my work recognized by fellow fans and by Lucasfilm's panel of judges is an incredible honor for me. As an artist who is passionate about both my work and about Star Wars, seeing that people have responded so positively to the piece has been really wonderful. The sheer volume of support far surpassed what I ever could have expected, and I'm extremely grateful for and humbled by it. The Star Wars community truly is like a family, and I've never felt that more than during this process.
WINNER: BEST CUSTOM COSTUME
Enfys Nest Costume by Michaela M.
I always kind of grew up watching Star Wars movies but I really got into it with The Clone Wars and Star Wars Rebels. It's become a family event; we all cosplay as different Star Wars characters together.
As soon as I saw the costume design for Enfys Nest I fell in love with it. Once I actually saw Solo, I knew I had to try making it.
The entire costume was a nonstop, 10-week project. The helmet alone took five of those weeks. It was easily the most complicated project I've ever undertaken. I spent hours researching details of the costume, some of which could only be seen on action figures of the character. I tried to create a screen-accurate costume, right down to the scuff marks. I also wanted to incorporate the working technology of the costume as much as possible. The electroripper staff, belt, and chest box all light up. I also built the vambraces to open and close on my arms, as well as a working voice changer in the helmet.
It's an honor to have all my hard work be recognized by fans of the franchise. I originally created this costume as a personal project and a challenge to myself. The positive response has been overwhelming.
WINNER: BEST CUSTOM DIORAMA
Forgotten AT-AT by Mirko M.
WINNER: BEST CUSTOM FIGURE
Krayt Dragon Action Figure by Brad H.
It happened the moment my mom popped in the VHS of A New Hope. The gears of my young imagination were set in motion and there was no going back. Truly wonderful the mind of a child is.
The skeleton of the krayt dragon in the desert of Tatooine in Episode IV always caught my eye. It was one of the many blink-and-you-miss-it moments that has me re-watching Star Wars to this day. Growing up, very much alive and ferocious krayt dragons showed up in several video games I played. In the MMO Star Wars Galaxies, krayt hunting was a community event. Groups of eight or more players banded together to take down the massive beasts and claim the loot on the other side of victory. Years after regularly playing Galaxies, I was learning digital sculpting and looking for a challenging project to give myself. I found a screenshot I took in-game during a krayt hunt, and the fond memories fueled this project to completion.
Winning means a lot to me because I feel like I am contributing to the larger Star Wars community and getting to share my work on its biggest platform with people who will love the krayt dragon as much as I do.
WINNER: BEST PHYSICAL ART
切り絵:白と黒の共闘 (Kirie: Black and White Joined in Battle) by Yukiko K.
Forty years ago, when I was a little child, I saw Star Wars for the first time. At that time, sci-fi animation was a fad in Japan, so I was interested in sci-fi. Space, robot, science, and future technology. I thought they were very cool! That's why I was also interested in Star Wars. So I became a fan.
I saw the scene where Rey and Kylo Ren fight together against a common enemy in The Last Jedi. I came up with the idea of expressing their "shape" of the Force with white and black feathers.
My dream is for many people to know Japanese paper cutting art (called "Kirie") and my Star Wars fan artwork.
I was chosen as a winner, so more people will see my Kirie artwork. That's a very happy thing for me, and I was chosen as a finalist for the Audience Choice award. I'm so happy!
WINNER: BEST TRADITIONAL ART
Darth Maul Drawing by Justin M.
Genre: Photo
WINNER: BEST IN SHOW & BEST FAMILY PORTRAIT
Rey, BB-8, & Chewbacca on Jakku by Brianna E.
I don't remember the exact moment because I grew up on Star Wars. Even my first celebrity crush as a kid was Harrison Ford. Star Wars has always been a classic to me, a series of movies you can watch over and over again, in different orders, and never tire of.
My children are my biggest inspiration, so combining the love for my children, my dog, photography, and Star Wars seemed like a no-brainer!
Winning means so much to me! I've never won anything for any of my photography. And for my first two awards to be for one of my favorite pictures I've ever taken, it really warms my heart.
Rex and Baby Rey Family Portrait by Isaiah T.
I have been a HUGE Star Wars fan for my entire life! For as long as I can remember. The original trilogy was basically playing all day long in my house. One of my favorite Star Wars memories was going to see the midnight showing of The Phantom Menace on opening night! I just remember sitting there, hearing the music and seeing the text crawl on the big screen for the first time! Gives me chills just thinking about it! Star Wars was a huge part of my childhood and remains a huge part of my life. It's so awesome to be able to share my passion for it with my own children now!
My entry for the Star Wars Fan Awards happens to be a shot taken on Halloween with my daughter and me. I was dressed as one of my favorite characters, Captain Rex. She was her most favorite, Rey. We decided to have a little photo shoot in the backyard and my wife was able to snap this perfect shot! If you know our daughter, then you know it is no easy task getting her to stay still for a picture. This moment snapped in time will be one of my most cherished memories for the rest of my life.
Winning this award, especially the Audience Choice award, is so humbling and incredible! To have this picture chosen by other Star Wars fans amongst so many other amazing shots is such an honor! We just want to take the opportunity to again thank everyone who voted for us! We are so grateful and appreciative! Thank you also to Star Wars and Disney for the amazing opportunity! May the Force be with you always!
WINNER: FUNNIEST
You Think This Is Weird…Wait Till You See the Egg by Aaron A.
The way I became a Star Wars fan is the reason why I still love it today — it's a chance to just relax and get drawn into a world where the stress of everyday life can't get to me. With my two young children we can enjoy it together, and they have the opportunity to experience the fun and adventure that caught my attention all those years ago.
To just try to be a part of the fantastic Star Wars universe. It's been such a big part of my life since I was young and the opportunity to have my name attached to even a little piece of it was my main focus. Like nearly every Star Wars fan out there I have my own movie and creative ideas floating around my head and to have a way to express that with like-minded fans is incredible.
Winning a Star Wars Fan Award is such a great moment, it's going to be an awesome way to show my children that you can achieve things if you just put yourself out there and try.
WINNER: BEST ORIGINAL CONCEPT & BEST STAR WARS FOOD PRESENTATION
Nien Nunb Prosciutto Salad by Atsuko W.
I have been watching the movies since I was a little, but I think that I have gradually understood [it more] deeply since becoming an adult. Now my son is a Star Wars, fan so we enjoy it together.
All the materials of the work are familiar. Work was done in the kitchen with chopsticks, kitchen scissors, and petty knife. I shot it using a smartphone on the dining table.
After shooting, I ate everything.
My dream is to have work on the Star Wars website, so I'm very happy.
WINNER: BEST PET PHOTO
A Dog Hope by Kazuya O.
I saw Episode IV at a movie theater as a child. Since then, I've been a Star Wars fan.
I love Episode VIII's interaction between Chewbacca and the porg. So the idea was that I wanted my dog to interact with a porg.
Of course, this honor is a treasure of a lifetime. Thank you very much. It may be an exaggeration, but I feel like a part of Star Wars history.
WINNER: BEST SCENE-INSPIRED
Scavenger by Carlo V.
I was introduced to Star Wars when I was around five years old by my dad and grandad, who are huge fans. I would sit and watch the original trilogy with them on the weekends and they would also encourage me to collect action figures. Star Wars turned into a sort of family tradition, and now I share it with my own family.
Rey was the main inspiration for my photo. My hobby is action figure photography and I build all of my sets from scratch using recycled materials, pretty much the same way Rey scavenges for parts. It just felt right for me to take that concept and recreate with an action figure.
It validates my hard work and passion for the 3.75" line of toys that I have loved and cherished since I was a child. Having my art recognized publicly is surreal and makes me very grateful and encourages me to keep on sharing my work with this community of fans and creators who have inspired us since we were kids.
WINNER: BEST THROWBACK
Vintage Joy: In Between Star Wars and Disney by Adam M.
The Empire Strikes Back is the first film I remember seeing in a theater, and it remains my favorite film of all time. I have a weird memory of staring into the mirror and attempting to fast forward time so I could know if Vader REALLY was Luke's father or not. It didn't work.
What was the inspiration for your Star Wars Fan Awards entry?
I have a glass case where I keep a few of my childhood Star Wars toys on display, and this photo of me at age five sits atop the case. While there are plenty other vintage photos of me with various Star Wars memorabilia, I've always felt this one was particularly special. You can see how filled with joy I am, and the connection of Star Wars and joy has never dissipated for me.
It seems preposterous, to be honest. I know there were many, many equally deserving entries. I just happened to be really happy in a photograph.
Watch The Star Wars Show's Star Wars Fan Awards 2018 special below!
StarWars.com. All Star Wars, all the time.
TAGS: Star Wars Fan Awards 2018, star wars fans, SWS
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Old Globe opens world premiere musical
By Bob Morey | September 12, 2018
Huey Lewis and the News launched their first album in 1980, and with the release of their third album, "Sport," in 1983, Huey Lewis and the News became pop icons and a mainstay on the MTV video rotation (when MTV used to play music videos). To this day, Huey Lewis and the News remains one of the defining bands of the '80s.
That spirit of those heady days of youth where achieving all your dreams are possible is captured as the Old Globes kicks off its 2018–2019 season with the World Premier of the musical comedy "The Heart Of Rock & Roll," inspired by the songs of one of the most beloved and iconic acts in music history, Huey Lewis and the News. The Heart Of Rock & Roll opens on Sept. 14 and runs through Oct. 21.
The story goes like this: Bobby and his band are hustling for their big break on the Chicago dive bar circuit. But after their latest rejection, Bobby decides it's "Hip to Be Square," trades in his guitar, and starts "Workin' for a Livin'" in corporate America.
His boss, Cassandra, is having struggles of her own having sacrificed her personal life to climb the company ladder.
When they both get a shot at their dreams — for Bobby, another crack at rock stardom, and for Cassandra, a chance to become the CEO — they must decide "If This Is It" for their careers, or if "The Power of Love" triumphs over all. "The Heart of Rock & Roll" celebrates the classic songs of Huey Lewis and the News in this heartwarming and hilarious new musical which is fun for the whole family.
"The Heart of Rock & Roll" plays on the Donald and Darlene Shiley Stage at the Old Globe Theatre Conrad Prebys Theatre Center in Balboa Park with performances running Tuesday through Sunday evenings with a 2 p.m. matinee on Saturday and Sunday's.
Tickets start at $52, however active duty personnel and their families as well are retired veterans can get tickets starting $24 by using the code Blue Star when ordering.
Tickets are available by phone by calling (619) 234-5623, or online at www.theoldglobe.org. For more information, visit the Old Globe's website or Facebook page.
Bob Morey
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