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Interview Spotlight: Booking Bands in NYC with Dyami Bryant
By Blow The Scene Staff
Blow The Scene is pleased to bring our readers around the world an exclusive interview with one of NYC's preeminent DIY promoters, Dyami Bryant, who plays an integral part in the organization of NYC's annual free music event, Punk Island Festival, that features over 50 bands across multiple stages. In addition to this gargantuan festival, Bryant steadily books scores of exciting shows at such NYC underground staples as ABC No Rio, The Acheron and more. In this interview Bryant takes us through his musical history and involvement with the NYC's underground metal, hardcore, and punk scenes, all the way up to this year's preparations for Punk Island 2014 and much more.
Without further ado, lets hear from Dyami Bryant..
Joshua BTS: You've been involved in booking some of the best underground shows in NYC for many years. When did you first begin booking bands and what originally sparked your interest?
Dyami Bryant: I actually started putting on little house shows when I was in college (in the early-to-mid 90's – ha! I'm old). Started my sophomore year – I moved into a townhouse the campus owned and my roommates and I would move all our furniture upstairs and have free shows in our livingroom. Mostly local bands, mostly hardcore, but some alternative rock and punk stuff too. If we got a band from out of town we'd usually ask for donations, and people were pretty good about giving. For like 2 or 3 years our place was known as a spot that had shows every couple months. Campus security rarely hassled us because we always warned our neighbors in advance so there were seldom noise complaints, and we didn't serve alcohol so there were never drunks being rowdy or causing problems.
Joshua BTS: One of the many projects you work on is the annual Punk Island Festival. What makes Punk Island different from other festivals? And where are you currently in the booking process for punk island 2014?
Dyami Bryant: Punk Island is unique in that it's a pretty large scale, free event that's totally DIY. This year is the 7th year we're having it, and I've been involved in three of the last four years. It's always held around the summer solstice as part of a larger, city-wide event organized by Make Music New York – a non-profit that curates outdoor performances all over the city, in all five boroughs. MMNY organizes musical performances of pretty much every genre imaginable – Punk Island just happens to be the one dedicated to punk and hardcore, and probably the largest one. The event is also unique in that it's organized and run totally DIY by promoters and volunteers from within the NYC punk and hardcore scene (MMNY is totally hands off). The scene here has it's ups and downs, and can be seen a couple different ways. There are a lot of people into punk and hardcore in NYC and the surrounding areas, but there's so many little facets that don't mix very often that shows still tend to be pretty small. At Punk Island we bring together bands and fans from across this wide array who would rarely mix otherwise, and people are often exposed to bands and parts of the scene that they didn't know about, or didn't know they'd even be into. It's also hard from a financial standpoint. It takes a lot to put the event on and donations/grants have gotten smaller each year. Right now we've got a Kickstarter going to raise funds to cover our expenses, and there are lots of cool perks for your donation! People can check that out here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/makemusicny/punk-island-2014
We're almost done with the booking. There are 7 staging areas at the fest, and the managers are obligated to have slots on their stage filled by bands who reach out to us via e-mail. This helps prevent it from being some closed-off scenester thing where managers just fill stages with all their friends' bands. It's hard enough to get a show in NYC if you don't know the right people, and part of the MMNY ethos is to give everyone a chance to make music and have their voice heard. We also try to avoid having too many bands from the previous year, to mix things up and keep it fresh!
Joshua BTS: What are some of the other venues/collectives you work with?
Dyami Bryant: The main space I book at right now is ABC No Rio, an all ages, DIY space in Manhattan's Lower East Side. I actually booked shows there about 10 years ago for a while, and after several bookers came and went started booking again in the spring of 2013. I've also done a couple shows at The Acheron in Brooklyn, and of late have been talking with people at Saint Vitus (also in Brooklyn) about doing stuff there. Both those places are great and work really hard to bring good bands to New York – particularly within the metal, punk, and hardcore scenes. Over the years I've booked at a bunch of clubs that are no longer around unfortunately, like CBGB, Coney Island High, The Spiral Lounge, even the original location of The Knitting Factory when they were still in Manhattan. I'd occasionally do shows in Long Island (Ground Zero) and New Jersey (The M&M Hall) as well, but right now I'm concentrating on New York.
Joshua BTS: What are some of the pros and cons of booking bands in the largest city in the United States?
Dyami Bryant: The hardest thing honestly is getting people out. There are actually more places for bands to play than ever it seems, so there're shows going on all the time. But because there are shows going on all the time people get burnt out on going to them, or don't see going to them as that big of a deal. Shows have gotten way smaller, so it's harder to bring in unknown bands from out of town unless you pair them with strong locals – and there are no super strong locals. It's extremely frustrating, because there's really no shortage of awesome bands in NYC right now. Whether you're talking metal, hardcore, or punk – bands here are just killin' it! But none have that great of a draw, and several play out too often.
Joshua BTS: When you are not busy booking shows in NYC- how do spend your time?
Dyami Bryant: What's funny is I actually still go to tons of shows all the time! I love live music, I love seeing bands that I love, and I love seeing new bands I've never heard or seen before blow me away! I never even cared much for music until my senior year of High School, and college just opened the floodgates. I dove in and never turned back. I played in a band for about 10 years and have recently been talking to some people about starting something new – we'll see! Besides music I'm really into film. I went to film school, and my day job is working in post production for a handful of cable networks. I go to the movies all the time with friends and watch a lot of TV. NYC's also great for food, in that the cultural diversity of this place means there's literally every kind of food you could hope for somewhere to be found! I go out to eat with friends fairly regularly, and like trying new places. There's also a greater than usual array of vegetarian/vegan fare in New York, so even though I'm not veggie I have plenty of friends who are and we never have a problem finding an awesome place to grab a bite!
Joshua BTS: What does the "ideal" show look like for you?
Dyami Bryant: Ideal for me, I guess, would be a good combination of a couple bands I've seen before but am really into, along with a couple of bands I've maybe heard but not seen live yet. Ideal would be all ages, and at a club or DIY space – not a bar. Bar shows sometimes bum me out because there's almost always an element of the crowd that's there to drink more than they're there to experience the show going on. Also, part of what's hurting the scene here is so many shows are at these bars that almost exclusively book 21+ shows, and there are some local bands that are great but almost exclusively play these places. Realistically, this is going to hurt you in the long run if you're playing hardcore, metal, or punk, because these genres are traditionally consumed most often by a younger crowd. If your primary demographic is unable to see you live there's but so far your band can go. I think back to when I was in college and going to shows all the time, and it bums me out to think that if I was a college kid in NYC right now most of the shows I'd want to see I wouldn't be able to get into. Ideal would also be a bill of 3-5 bands. Any more than that sucks for the crowd and the bands involved unless it's a fest. Most people tend to be more annoyed than stoked at the idea of going to an 8-band show that doesn't start until 7pm. People who are there at the beginning almost certainly won't stay to the end, and the ones who wanna see the headliner tend to show up halfway into the show. It sucks – no more than 5 bands unless it's a fest or some sort of special occasion. I'm also straight edge so I don't care for alcohol at shows, but I do like food options. It's awesome when a space either has reasonably priced food within the venue, or re-entry so you can run out and grab a quick bite between bands!
Joshua BTS: What have been some of your favorite shows or moments throughout your many years of booking?
Dyami Bryant: Hmmm, that's tough. A big part of what I like about booking is turning people on to bands I dig that they may not know yet – I love that! Also, thinking back, it's extremely satisfying to remember bills comprised of bands that went on to become huge. I played in a band called Locked In A Vacancy several years ago, and there was a point when my drummer was working at the Hard Rock Cafe here in NYC and convinced them to let him do occasional shows. The shows had to be late because because they served dinner, so it was kind of a risk booking shows where the doors are at 9:30pm and the first band doesn't go on until 10! The upside was they let us do it all ages and keep the entire door – their only concern was making a few extra bucks at the bar. The first couple shows were okay, but I'll never forget we ended up booking a show in like January of 2002 that consisted of Shai Hulud, Most Precious Blood, Every Time I Die, Locked In a Vacancy, Cipher, and Unsound – for like $6 or something like that! Over 600 kids showed up – there was a line down the block and the Hard Rock couldn't believe it! The next month we booked Skinless, Burnt By The Sun, Mastodon, LIAV, and our buddies in Foiled Again to open – another huge crowd for a ridiculously good bill (years later Teddy from BBTS told me that remained one of his favorite shows ever for the band!)! Another sick bill, from way back when I was doing Sunday matinees at Coney Island High, was booking a show comprised of: Breakdown, For The Love Of…, Motive (playing their final NYC show), Cave In, Cipher, and Locked In A Vacancy. Of course I have to bring up every time I've booked All Else Failed at ABC No Rio! Those guys are one of my favorite bands and some of the nicest dudes you'll meet, and just KILL it every time! Locked In A Vacancy played a reunion in 2012 and I booked them and A Life Once Lost to come up to rock it with us and Tiger Flowers – it was great! I've also booked Shai Hulud a couple times at ABC, and those shows are always outta hand! The first time was with Endwell, Cipher, and Relics – awesome show!
Dyami guest vocals with Zombie Fight at ABC No Rio in NYC
Joshua BTS: As you look into the future of underground shows in NYC- How do you see your role developing? Have you set any long term goals with any of your booking groups?
Dyami Bryant: I've been contemplating this recently. I'd really like to get more actively involved in helping bands grow. Several bands have already asked me to "manage" them or whatever, but I dunno if that's exactly the route I wanna take. I'd like to do something that helps some of the amazing bands I like get more of the notoriety they deserve, but also help make the scene here in NYC bigger and better than what it already is. I've got some ideas, and will be talking with some people soon. Stay tuned!
Joshua BTS: What advice would you give to the next generation of music enthusiasts looking to book his or her favorite touring band?
Be fair, and be smart about it. Don't just book shows with all locals, and don't book shows comprised entirely of bands from outta town (unless at least one of them is super huge). I played in a band for 10 years, and I honestly believe people who've played in a band that toured will have a better idea as to how to put on a successful show, how to treat bands, and how to promote. Also promoting is not just making a Facebook event page – get out there and pass out fliers! Assume that no bands will be playing for free – even the locals, but make sure touring bands are taken care of first. If you can't afford to sometimes dip into your own pockets to pay bands what they deserve if one of your shows comes up short, you probably shouldn't be putting on shows. Book quality bands that you're passionate about – screw flash-in-the-pan scene bands that are "big" for the moment. Don't book your friend's band that sucks just because they're your friend – wait until they get better. Screw hooking up bands that ONLY ask to get on big shows, but can never seem to play any other show you offer them. And lastly, support your local scene as a whole by paying your hard-earned cash to go to other shows put on by promoters in your area. Local bands tend to be good about supporting each other, and you'll meet lots of people in some of your favorite bands if you go out enough. Makes it much easier when you hit them up for a show down the road…
Interview by BTS's Joshua T.Cohen
Related Items:ABC No Rio, All Else Failed, Breakdown, Burnt by The Sun, Cave In, CBGB, Cipher, Coney Island High, Dyami Bryant, Every Time I Die, For The Love Of, Joshua T Cohen, LIAV, Locked In a Vacancy, Mastodon, Most Precious Blood, Motive, Punk Island, Shai Hulud, Skinless, The Acheron, The Knitting Factory, The Spiral Lounge
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Decibel Metal & Beer Fest 2019 Line-up & Pre-Fest
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SUMAC embark on West Coast US tour January 2019
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Roadburn Festival 2018


Sharon is a Board Certified Family Nurse Practitioner with a Doctorate in Nursing Practice, who started working with Upstate OB-GYN in January. She earned her undergraduate and Post - Masters Degrees from USC Columbia and her blood runs garnet. She is a member of the Sigma Theta Tau Nursing Honor Society, Upstate Nurse Practitioner Association and Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated.
Sharon is an Upstate Native, being born and raised in the town of Greer. Sharon knew Women's Health was a specialty she had a strong interest in after spending years working at DHEC. After receiving her initial nursing degree, she spent 10 years working at the bedside as a medical surgical nurse in many settings across South Carolina, as four of those years were spent working as a travel nurse. She continued her education while working to earn a Master's in Nursing Education which landed her teaching in the Associate Degree Nursing Program here in Greenville. She would go on the complete the Doctorate Degree in Nursing Practice which landed her teaching in a Family Nurse Practitioner program for Chamberlain University, where she continues to teach online. Her passion for Women's Health has been long standing, even after working the past 7 years in Primary Care. Sharon enjoys taking care of women's health as she feels she can identify with many of the health concerns of this population.
In her spare time, she enjoys traveling, shopping and most of all spending quality time with her family. Sharon looks forward to returning to this environment as a Nurse Practitioner.


It's been a tumultuous year to say the least for Kolkata-based designer Anamika Khanna. An illness, winning the Designer of the Year Award at Vogue Women Of The Year 2018, having her twin sons graduate from university and join the business—high highs and low lows. But Khanna has come out on the other side resilient and more determined than ever to showcase her evolution as a designer, and her unique perspective on India modern that has long captivated her peers and customers. This evening, Khanna launches her AK-OK collection on Instagram, taking viewers into a deeply personal space. It's probably her most intimate collection to date. Khanna speaks exclusively to Vogue about what she was really thinking while designing these clothes. Excerpts below.
I don't think I'm wrong in saying that this is your most raw collection yet, in terms of emotion. It's deeply personal.
I am so emotionally invested in this collection. I felt this amazing sense of freedom doing this. You know, I do feel in fashion we are getting bound in shackles, and here it was about strength and courage to find a path that's just yours. AK-OK has already become a talking point, but for me it started with being OK, physically and emotionally.
We're glad you are OK too! What are you most excited about, when it comes to this collection?
I love this story and would wear every look. More so because it allows me to do my thing, which is something I have always strived towards. It's fashion forward and at the same time draws inspiration from our roots. There are no rules here and I enjoyed doing the scripts most. It's really become a mantra in my life—all my friends now use AK-OK instead now.
How did AK-OK come about?
My twin boys were studying at USC in Los Angeles, and we often had to communicate via phone or email about my health issues. During the height of the 1960s USA Space Program, NASA invented the term A-OK, apparently because the sharp sound of an A could cut through static and space easier. Harnessing the transmission power of the term A-OK and adding personal twist of my initials, A-OK became AK-OK—a code that would travel back and forth between us over 13,000km and four years. Using that mantra as a starting point, I wanted to wear them loud and proud on our clothes.
Why was the time right for you to launch this collection?
I really am clear that I don't want to box this into a particular age group or genre. It's meant to be made your own, no matter your age, gender, size—make it mad, make it elegant, team it with pieces you already have, use one focal piece; as long as you feel easy about it and not weighed down, that's really the key message. These are feelings too that I've been going through, and having the boys involved brought in that millennial mindset and the energy. It's been the most fun collection I've done to date.
Your twin sons, Vishesh and Viraj, are now involved in the business. How has the dynamic changed?
It's really brought in a new mindset and a realisation that the world has changed. As a result, we're evolving constantly as well—we are bolder, younger and more experimental.
Let's talk about the next few months. What are you most excited about ?
Whew! We have a lot planned including a flagship in Mumbai, menswear (it was about time and with two boys on board, the next step) and an accessories line. I am just so excited for the opportunities that are coming my way.
AK-OK is based on the idea of mantras. What's your personal mantra?
Valuing my personal space and the right kind of energy. I won't allow myself to get trapped in what could be or should be.
Scroll ahead to closer peek at some of the key pieces from the Anamika Khanna's AK-OK collection.


If saving money is on your mind and you love Game of Thrones, you just might be inspired by these eye-opening facts about how you 'misuse' your money each year. Whether it is heading to Starbucks each morning on auto-pilot for a cup of coffee or buying a pack of cigarettes before going to the office, there are things you can change that can potentially save you hundreds of dollars each year, Game of Thrones style.
This infographic by National Debt Relief discusses the common things we do every day that we can live without. Saving money is a good idea for an average debt-ridden American, and these simple tips can help in a very effective manner if followed. Tips like refraining from going out often to eat, saving more, spending less on new technology and Smartphones, using less expensive cable, using coupons while shopping, not choosing cosmetic surgeries and avoiding premium gas, and more, can help in saving a lot of money over a period of time. These are things that don't make a big difference on the face of it, but still take away a lot of cash from your pocket. Save money now, for it can secure your future tomorrow.
After all, unlike the folks from the seven kingdoms of Westeros, you never know when winter is coming!


text:
package container

import (
	"fmt"
	"sync"

	"github.com/google/cadvisor/manager/watcher"

	"github.com/golang/glog"
)

type ContainerHandlerFactory interface {
	// Create a new ContainerHandler using this factory. CanHandleAndAccept() must have returned true.
	NewContainerHandler(name string, inHostNamespace bool) (c ContainerHandler, err error)

	// Returns whether this factory can handle and accept the specified container.
	CanHandleAndAccept(name string) (handle bool, accept bool, err error)

	// Name of the factory.
	String() string

	// Returns debugging information. Map of lines per category.
	DebugInfo() map[string][]string
}

// MetricKind represents the kind of metrics that cAdvisor exposes.
type MetricKind string

const (
	CpuUsageMetrics        MetricKind = "cpu"
	MemoryUsageMetrics     MetricKind = "memory"
	CpuLoadMetrics         MetricKind = "cpuLoad"
	DiskIOMetrics          MetricKind = "diskIO"
	DiskUsageMetrics       MetricKind = "disk"
	NetworkUsageMetrics    MetricKind = "network"
	NetworkTcpUsageMetrics MetricKind = "tcp"
	AppMetrics             MetricKind = "app"
)

func (mk MetricKind) String() string {
	return string(mk)
}

type MetricSet map[MetricKind]struct{}

func (ms MetricSet) Has(mk MetricKind) bool {
	_, exists := ms[mk]
	return exists
}

func (ms MetricSet) Add(mk MetricKind) {
	ms[mk] = struct{}{}
}

// TODO(vmarmol): Consider not making this global.
// Global list of factories.
var (
	factories     = map[watcher.ContainerWatchSource][]ContainerHandlerFactory{}
	factoriesLock sync.RWMutex
)

// Register a ContainerHandlerFactory. These should be registered from least general to most general
// as they will be asked in order whether they can handle a particular container.
func RegisterContainerHandlerFactory(factory ContainerHandlerFactory, watchTypes []watcher.ContainerWatchSource) {
	factoriesLock.Lock()
	defer factoriesLock.Unlock()

	for _, watchType := range watchTypes {
		factories[watchType] = append(factories[watchType], factory)
	}
}

// Returns whether there are any container handler factories registered.
func HasFactories() bool {
	factoriesLock.Lock()
	defer factoriesLock.Unlock()

	return len(factories) != 0
}

// Create a new ContainerHandler for the specified container.
func NewContainerHandler(name string, watchType watcher.ContainerWatchSource, inHostNamespace bool) (ContainerHandler, bool, error) {
	factoriesLock.RLock()
	defer factoriesLock.RUnlock()

	// Create the ContainerHandler with the first factory that supports it.
	for _, factory := range factories[watchType] {
		canHandle, canAccept, err := factory.CanHandleAndAccept(name)
		if err != nil {
			glog.V(4).Infof("Error trying to work out if we can handle %s: %v", name, err)
		}
		if canHandle {
			if !canAccept {
				glog.V(3).Infof("Factory %q can handle container %q, but ignoring.", factory, name)
				return nil, false, nil
			}
			glog.V(3).Infof("Using factory %q for container %q", factory, name)
			handle, err := factory.NewContainerHandler(name, inHostNamespace)
			return handle, canAccept, err
		} else {
			glog.V(4).Infof("Factory %q was unable to handle container %q", factory, name)
		}
	}

	return nil, false, fmt.Errorf("no known factory can handle creation of container")
}

// Clear the known factories.
func ClearContainerHandlerFactories() {
	factoriesLock.Lock()
	defer factoriesLock.Unlock()

	factories = map[watcher.ContainerWatchSource][]ContainerHandlerFactory{}
}

func DebugInfo() map[string][]string {
	factoriesLock.RLock()
	defer factoriesLock.RUnlock()

	// Get debug information for all factories.
	out := make(map[string][]string)
	for _, factoriesSlice := range factories {
		for _, factory := range factoriesSlice {
			for k, v := range factory.DebugInfo() {
				out[k] = v
			}
		}
	}
	return out
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


There are 1 users using the Friendship/729 Hao Shuai Champion Carbon.
Good control. Not as fast as you think, but plenty fast with the right rubber. Light. This is a high quality blade. I use a fast rubber on the BH (non-carbon) side and a medium rubber on the carbon FH side and it works well. Head is minimally oversized, but bigger than some other standard blades I have.
I have recently upgraded to this blade and i love it! It is very light but still gives great power. I am currently playing with Gambler Outlaw on my FH and Gambler Reflectoid on my BH. The carbon layer on the FH side adds to the speed of the Outlaw, but does not speed up the slow Reflectoid BH rubber. Great blade!
not as fast as i thought it would be and that's coming from a def player. it also had rubbish control on both off and def strokes. looks good though. also the bit from the handle fell out the second time i used it.
This blade is fast and light. I have a very fast hitting game on my forehand and long pip chopping on my backhand. I am currently using Gambler Outlaw 2.2mm on FH and Milky Way 955 LP OX on my BH. Blade is still a little too fast for the backhand side, but at the sacrifice for control. My backhand chops have a fairly high degree of inconsistency and I don't think it is all me. Forehand side is amazing for fast flat hitting, loop driving and pushing. It really has that sweet spot all around. Even out of position at least 60% of my hits make it. My game has really improved after I switched my FH rubber from Friendship 729 God Favored to the Gambler Outlaw.


My beautiful 10-1/2 yr old rottie girl died in my arms this past sunday at 4:45pm…. i rushed her to the vet but of course she had already passed….
I can not even begin to explain the amount of pain I'm in, she was my best friend, my protector and my hero. She saved me from death from a bad man holding a gun, and who was going to kill me, my hero!!!!!!!
Kira was her name…… and full of life until about a wk ago, she started getting very sick,we ran blood tests, full body x-rays and nothing, but she did have very bad diarrhea, she was on meds. she was acting like she was getting better and then -a stroke and she died in my arms….
Oh Haynes, I'm so sorry for your loss. Anyone who has ever loved a dog this way will totally understand and know what you're going through!
I know how much it hurts, I've lost much-loved dogs over the years, some way before their time, and the pain can be heart-breakingly overwhelming. BUT, it does pass given time. I can't tell you that it won't completely go away, I still get a lump in my throat over mine at times, but you WILL be able to look back and remember Kira with love and a smile, even though you wish she was still with you.
It sounds as though she was a truly special girl, and that you've been through a lot together, and I'm absolutely certain that she knew how much you loved her and that you did everything you could possibly do to help her get well again. Sometimes things just happen out of the blue, things we don't understand and find hard to accept, but Kira loved you and wouldn't want to see you sad.
As a breed Rottweilers have a relatively short lifespan with the average being around 9 years, Kira had 10 1/2 great years with you and you with her. I know it's hard but try to remember the good times and just hold onto the fact that you gave her a life of love and happiness, she was a lucky girl.
It feels as though you're drowning in sorrow right now, but hang in there, as the days pass it will get easier I promise. I believe that Kira is at the Rainbow Bridge waiting for the day when you will be together again, she's happy and not in pain or distress. She would want you to be happy again too.
One day you may feel like adding another Rottweiler to your family. No other dog EVER replaces the beloved one that you lost, but giving another pup/dog a chance at a happy life full of love and companionship can help ease some of the pain. There are a lot of lonely Rottweilers (and of course other dogs) in shelters and pounds across the country who desperately need love and companionship too. Maybe one day two of you will be able to help each other.
Give it time though, everyone is different and grieves in a different way. I'm afraid that there's probably nothing that anyone can say or do to make you feel better right now, and that's normal. But you will get through this!
Condolences in the loss of your baby girl Kira.No words we can say will ease your pain but find comfort in knowing our thought and prayers are with you.I too have lost 2 of my girls prior Ciara age 6 in 2001 and Precious age 9.5 in 2010.I now have my Angel who is 2.3 and I still call her Precious..I can't believe my 1st has been gone for 12 years as it feels like yesterday.For Kira to get to 10.5 yrs you both where blessed.No dog EVER replaces the last one but brings just as much love and joy.It took me months before I could get a new dog but knew I had to as life without a rottie to me is not an option.Each time I got my new girl I realized how much it helped me heal..When the time is right you will know it and I hope if you get another she helps ease your pain..Know in your heart Kira is over the Rainbow Bridge having a great time with my girls and all others that have passed and left us behind..RIP Kira your mommy misses you..
My heart goes out to you in this very painful loss of your precious Kira & I too know this pain all to well for I am still grieving my loss of my Beloved Bruiser who died 03/30/2011 & my Precious Casper who died 05/27/2008. With Casper I am now learning to cope it's been almost 4yrs but with Bruiser not at all still each day I feel the pain & shed the tears & at the end of this month it will have been 2yrs since his death. He as with your Kira was so very special to me in so many ways when he touched my heart he left an in print in my soul with a love that will forever live in my heart. And I knew in deep down I had to have another Rottweiler so my chance I found my now (Sam) who I got in may 2011 & the strange thing about Sam is he was born on the same day Bruiser died so I believe he is my gift from heaven sent to me by Bruiser & I love him so. But my advice to you would be this (CRY) let it out keep one of her favorite toys take walks where you used to go look at her pictures & even talk to her this may help you. I brought both of my dogs home to be with me after their death only now they sat in cherry wood boxes a top my dresser in my office where I spend most of my time,because it is my wish that they are to be buried with me. I had Casper for 10yrs & Bruiser for 12yrs & I hope to have Sam just as long. When you love a Rottweiler what you receive in return is a everlasting love of kindness & respect & honor that I have never found in any other breed of dog. They own my heart & rule my world. May god help you find the peace you so need to heel your broken heart.
my heart hurts for you and what you are going through right now, i think in time you pain will ease some but you will never forget, i lost my bear in oct 2011 he was 11 1/2yrs old and my friends rottie 28 days before that had passed and i had gone to the shelter and adopted another and that fell through so i felt like i lost 3 rotties in 5 weeks, i was beyond consoling I even wanted to move from my home and area so I didn't have that constant reminder of what I lost,and then 3 months later recieved a call from a friend that had bear's sister and she had just passed. That evening I went outside and picked a group of stars that sparkled brighter than the rest and pick a star for each of them and thanked God for the special blessing of the time that I did have with them and just told myself that there must have been a child that left our world long before their time and god needed my friend as a companion for that child and what better match than a rottie and a child. I did adopt another rottie 2 weeks after bear's passing and our story is posted on this site under "paying it forward" I will pray that god will comfort you though this difficult time and maybe when you are ready you will want to share your life again with another special friend.My thoughts and heart are with you.


A gluten-free diet isn't just for people with Celiac disease or other dietary restrictions.
The gluten-free diet has become a bit of a trend recently. You may know a friend or coworker who has tried it. It's even been endorsed by celebrities that include Oprah Winfrey, Zooey Deschanel, and Drew Brees. Although the gluten-free diet is a celebrity trend, it's one that could actually live up to the hype and be highly beneficial to your health.
Gluten is basically just a protein that is found in wheat, barley, and rye, so it exists in most types of bread, cakes, beer, crackers, sauces, and lots of other delicious things. However, giving these foods up might not be so painful when you consider some of the positives of living without gluten.
Whether or not you have Celiac disease, a gluten-free diet is reported to help you lose weight, have more energy, and just make you feel better all around. Avoiding gluten and cutting back on starchy carbs and replacing them with vegetables, lean meats, and fruits can be extremely beneficial because consuming natural proteins and sugars has been proven to be much better for both your physical health and well-being.
Cutting gluten from your diet can be extremely beneficial, but it can also be dangerous if not done correctly. If you are not careful about replacing the nutrients you would have gotten from gluten, you could have serious problems. However, if you eat smart and maintain a balanced diet, a gluten-free diet is a great way get healthy.


text:
Nature and men, the return of the agricultural machines
Jan 16 2021 BlogPosted by IntentSpirits in Wordpress
One of my favourite themes is agricultural machines.
No, not as you imagine them, although I do have a sort of love affair with old Italian machinery too, especially tracked tractors.
What I am talking about is machines that were made out of the earth, of stone, areas sculpted to turn nature into a machine that farmed on its own.
I live and work in Central Italy currently, in an area that is still seeing the last days of peasant farming, our own farm is called La Difesa, an area that was set aside for the large communal animals, where they used to feed on acorns in the forest at the last days before real winter. Owning that place made think a lot about the nature of farming, about the place Man has in nature.
We are currently seeing a wholesale abandonment of an earlier way of life, their strategy of farming was different to ours, and La Difesa is a symbol of that, where men made areas out of the forest, where he built stone collection areas, channeling water into vineyards, mix of olives and oaks.
I see some of my neighbours pick boulders out of their fields, in order to grow wheat, but those boulders were cogs in an earlier machine, one made to enhance nature, to catch water, to farm on its own, now the water runs down their clay soil and washes the road, which we have to fix every year, but I do not blame them, I admire them. In La difesa, there is a whole other world, the old vineyard, which I used as a campsite for my volunteers, it has been dug up, lime stone floor has been laid as a catchment area, and a meter of soil piled on top of it, the sheer amount of work!, Stone walls work together with old channels to irrigate the land without any interference.
I have found out the hard way, because I love to landscape with a bulldozer, and sometimes Ill dig one of those old machines out, my machine against theirs, I do archaeology and permaculture from the back of a bulldoser, and as you can imagine sometimes it spells destruction.
The marginal areas and the open lands are really where the new war is being fought, Man has got some kind of maintained balance in farmlands, it is not necessarily healthy farming, or good for the soil, but in criticising it, I think many do not take into account that, the issue is not farming practices, it is a global supply chain, small scale farmers have almost no say in how they farm, they barely make ends meet, they should get a medal for the fact they still farm.
War happens in the marginal, and I see it in the sickness of the olive trees, the elms dying before they can mature, nature in the marginal is trying to repair itself, ash trees in Italy are mainly still healthy but who knows how long until ash die back will arrive here too? Ash is the first attempt of nature to reforest, and wild boars are magicians when it comes to making forests too.
Yet all is not well, new sickness comes out of the marginal areas these days, and the wild boars themselves are often sick. The problem is that Man has lost its place in countryside. Where once the old stone cogs would work to enhance the forest, farm with it, without the need to do heavy lifting, now the old machines are buried, stone walls that have fallen down, and nature itself is struggling, you can read it in the trees, or you can read it in the expressions of the old people that live in small villages in the mountains.
War is where nature and Man meet, when the identity we enforce over it falls away, Nature comes back, but it does not favour us, and who could blame it. After all we stopped favouring it, we no longer have time to build our complexes, to naturally breed landraces, to plant our trees in a certain way.
Peasent farming was not agriculture, it was a way of life, when you finished collecting you tomatoes, you will wander around to your apples and trim them, little manure for the olives, and secrets whispered to your wheat. Sure it is easy for us to romanticise it, because in truth it was a hard life, I can still imagine the family who sold me the farm, sleeping all in one room, 2 adults and 5 kids.
The marginal areas are the front line between Man and nature. The settling fathers, those "pioneers" who went over to turn America into an offshore farm, noted that when clearing the forest to plant wheat for the first time, a weird process would start, sickness would come out of the forest for at least 10 years, whole communities would die. Then as if nature gave way to domestication, everything would come down.
That is what is hard for all of us to see, because we only view countryside as farmlands, and although if you were a soil engineer or a specialist the problems would be screaming at you, most of us see it as healthy nature, but what is healthy in a way is that nature gives way to us, it says 'ok, you can write over this area, you died for it, Ill let you'. It backs off and we farm quietly, maybe too quietly.
It took 3 years for the birds to come back to our oak tree, and now at times there is a party in the two oaks in our garden, where have they been before? Design plan for rural areas (in my mind at least) starts as a conversation with the group identity of small communities and nature, and for those of you that think that a life in nature is pure joy, I would say you have never really lived in a marginal rural area, where nature and man wash on each other like waves, where non can win over the other.
One day the mountain is stronger and the next man is. It drives people crazy, although there is a beauty in it.
It is a question we all face now, of how we would design the large open natural spaces, how we could develop the marginal as a protection belt. If I had a say in it, I would make it like La Difesa, a small belt of forest farming, which is not really farming anything, but keeping nature at bay. My favourite thing is landscape design, and I love doing it on my Old Italian Bulldoser, building up and digging the cogs of the contadino way of life. I clear and plant, yet I laugh at how the wild boars pull all my trees out. 'Do not plant hazel', who knew they had such a preference, but after they pulled out the hundred trees I planted for the third time, I gave up.
This is the land of the wild boar king I let him rule, when I let him be, he and his family seem to farm with me, they dig up my gardens but only around the plants, how considerate of them.
It is easy to be an idealist, to farm without farming, the hard thing is to see my neighbours struggling to farm the land, I try too help them, yesterday my neighbour borrowed my digger to go and cut a load of wood, I told him it is crazy to do so in the mud, but a pandemic and lockdown meant the little money they had coming in is gone a long while ago, I drove it home in the dark, the tracks all covered in mud. I love seeing how they cope, they should have been starving by now, as many of them did not really have an income even before, but life goes back to what it used to be before modern laws, it is cold and people go and cut wood and create a circular economy, somehow they survive.
There is this notion, of which I too used to participate, that the abandonment of this peasant farming way of life, can be fought off with a wave of new young people, coming from the cities, people wanting to try to take try their hand in real country living, they tell you, 'I have come to live my dream', I laugh, 'You really have no idea, it is not living your dream, it is fighting to make a living in the face of abandonment'. I tell them 'if you have the guts to fight for that dream and make a life to sustain it, maybe you will come through'.
I have come to side with the locals, tired of empty projects, a hard mountain people, maybe the mountain made me hard too.
Things will change because this is how it always was. I have changed things simply by repeating the same thing over and over, by creating a new identity in front of the mountain. But I do not love the dreams of people, as much as I love the whispers of the land, the rustling of the quiet, walking over broken down bones of the agricultural complexes of the ancients, there is a war in which I take no sides, my farm is a no war zone, La difesa is made of forest and of Man, it has no plan in modern life, and I would like to keep it that way.
La Difesa the an ancient forest farm
The Old vineyard which we cleared but left semi forested
Job and investment opportunities
Jan 1 2021 BlogPosted by IntentSpirits in Wordpress
Its 2021, who would believe it, seeing the inside of our homes so often. So many things have gone wrong for so many people, and we had our own share if not more.
We feel it is high time we collectively start looking at rural areas, our efforts remain on two fronts Abruzzo where we focus most of our work on a real slow development, where marginal areas can be developed slowly into experiential, maybe even transformational locations, but focusing on keeping local community and villages intact as much as possible. In the UK we would like to help take the whole Glamping industry forward into a new type of experience, themed campsites, and small scale venues of experiential tourism, something that has never really been done before, its the cutting edge of script writing for the tourism industry, and something we have been playing with for years, whenever we and our clients sit and talk about how we really would like to see things done.
What we are looking for is a large land based project, probably an estate, or a conservation project with large land. We would need to find accommodation as part of the project to allow us to be hands on, we will be bringing some of our larger event yurts so our own investment can be from 25k to 50k depending if we can build a campsite as part of the project. We would need a two bedroom house and a small workshop as we aim to keep our cover making work alongside the project.
What we are looking to create is theatre, taking Glamping into a new platform, where clients are no longer just holiday makers, they get to become involved, through heritage foods, and a special eating experience, with a sort of show that takes the client from a spectator into a participant. We look to run events of a new kind, focusing on a return to heritage foods, and historical reference, where man belonged in nature. The themes we aim to play with are tribalism, peasant farming, and traditional issues. The idea is to develop a new kind of an event, a gathering which is like a small scale festival at times, or a high end eating experience, with flavours and foods that have become almost extinct, heritage wheats, and old varieties of food, with participatory theatre, that takes people into the fabric on older ways of life.
We believe that with Covid 19, festivals will have to start becoming smaller type of events, and in a way this ties into it perfectly, it focuses on smaller events of up to 100 people in very special settings, and would be a perfect income for a large estate or farm even. We need someone who is really open to take a new approach to sustainable tourism, and not afraid to venture into a new direction, the fact we are bringing our own tents into the deal means initial investment is low.
We are open to explore an option to run this project from afar, but believe that it would make things much harder, as we would like to guide the whole style of the events. We are also looking for a special type of chef who is open to cooking with and over open fire, and is passionate about the tastes of real foods, and the unique flavours of landraces and heirloom veg and cereal. We focus a lot on heritage wheats, which we help grow in Central Italy, and most passionate about Durum wheats, of which we are collecting some of the oldest in the world. Most of our events focus on handmade pasta as an art form that ties wheat to the land through tradition of peasant farming, but we also play a lot with archeo-foods, old recipes that have been almost lost, and leave one with a question for why.
Because we are starting to venture in some new directions, and to keep our cover work going, we are also looking for someone to train as a seamstress, but the focus here would be for someone to work with us on making covers from distance, and mainly yurt covers, we would prefer a woman, but are open to a man just the same. We need someone passionate about the art of cover making, and can withstand the stress of making seams, we would look to give pass them gradually more and more work, and for them to eventually work independently possibly, but with a clear vision, that we are no longer looking to teach someone to sew yurt covers, so they take our work and compete with us later, so that would need to be clear from the start. We not only are probably one of the longest cover making in the Glamping industry we are almost the only one doing so at a distance, it is not an easy job, and one that can leave you crying. We not only actually wrote the full yurt cover sewing book, we have also taught many in the business, most of which make their own yurts. This time we would like to teach someone that can keep the work in house, even if they operate separately in the end. So it is a chance to work with us, and take on some off our clients, for a larger percentage of the work, we have many regular clients. We have a love for sewing canvas like no one else, born out of endless nights and days where we worked the machine to the bone, and we would like to find someone who loves this art like we do, and work alongside, learn pattern ,makings, and all of our secrets.
We hope 2021 will see us all in a better place, and hope we can start focusing more time on rural development as a whole, take the tourism industry into a more integrated place with small scale farming, and natural conservation, we believe that waiting for politicians to sort it out for us is meaningless, because in truth they do not really have an idea about rural areas, and so we feel the work should be done by all of us regardless, and that if we want to really defeat globalisation taking over, the loss of the countryside and possibly all of freedoms this is the only way. We wish you all a happy new year.
The girl with the crow from a tribal dinner event in Abruzzo

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Restoring Peniup Creek in South-West Western Australia
You are here Home > Riparian Revegetation > Restoring Peniup Creek in South-West Western Australia
Diverse Carbon Plantings are helping to restore Peniup Creek
Restoration occurs one tree, one paddock, one creek at a time, but this must happen across many paddocks and kilometres of creek and river frontages. Scale is so important. Restoration must meet the scale of degradation caused by over clearing and the massive demands of agriculture. To match the scale of degradation, a commercial scale solution is needed. Carbon markets (globally and nationally) have the potential to provide commercial scale restoration of degraded catchments. Such potential is being tested in the southern corner of the West Australian wheat belt.
The story begins with an engrossing vision:
"Reconnected country across south-western Australia, from the Karri forest of the SW corner to the woodlands and mallee bordering the Nullarbor plain, in which ecosystem function and biodiversity are restored and maintained."
This community based vision and network of diverse organisations is showing how restoration can be accomplished at scale.
Tapping into the carbon market is one strategy that started back in the mid 2000s. At that time Greening Australia and Bush Heritage Australia, with assistance from a diversity of philanthropic donors, including The Nature Conservancy, purchased a handful of farm properties between the Stirling Ranges National Park and the Fitzgerald River National Park, all within the a globally significant Biodiversity Hotspot (see map above). Both organisations took on the monumental task of restoring thousands of hectares of degraded farmland within the Pallinup River catchment, including the Peniup and Carackerup Creeks. Greening Australia pursued the emerging Australian carbon market with vigour, and managed to secure early funding from commercial companies seeking voluntary carbon offsets. More recently Greening Australia has secured funding from the Australian Government's Biodiversity Fund which is part of the Clean Energy Future Plan. This funding is supporting restoration of over 800 ha on the Peniup property with frontage onto Peniup Creek.
Neil Davidson and Justin Jonson from Greening Australia monitoring seedlings established by direct seeding a year after sowing.
Justin Jonson and his handy work shortly after sowing was completed in September 2008.
Plot 104d in 2010 with a combination of planted trees and direct seeding.
Plot 104d in 2011
You can read more about this story on the Rivers of Carbon website.
Peniup Creek, Western Australia


text:
Q: Gauss error function implementation for JavaScript Is there a free (BSD- or MIT-licensed) Gauss error function implementation written in JavaScript?

A: Here is the code, using the approximation from wikipedia as described in Peter Mortensen's response
Original credit goes to Abramowitz and Stegun.
        function erf(x) {
            var z;
            const ERF_A = 0.147;
            var the_sign_of_x;
            if(0==x) {
                the_sign_of_x = 0;
                return 0;
            } else if(x>0){
                the_sign_of_x = 1;
            } else {
                the_sign_of_x = -1;
            }

            var one_plus_axsqrd = 1 + ERF_A * x * x;
            var four_ovr_pi_etc = 4/Math.PI + ERF_A * x * x;
            var ratio = four_ovr_pi_etc / one_plus_axsqrd;
            ratio *= x * -x;
            var expofun = Math.exp(ratio);
            var radical = Math.sqrt(1-expofun);
            z = radical * the_sign_of_x;
            return z;
        }

A: I did some research on Gaussian approximation.
My best found in accuracy/performance is :
var gaussrand = (Math.random()+Math.random()+Math.random()+Math.random()+Math.random()+Math.random()-3);
This trick may seem ugly but it give your a null average and sigma²=1/2 as expected.
I hope this will help.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


An ancient proverb says that "The best things comes in small packages". And this sentence has never been so true in this article.
There is always great issues when it comes to decorate small bathrooms. So, a design exercise has to be made to understand what can best be applied to this space's decoration.
This article selects some incredible design inspiration to be added to this essential space in our dailylife.
Alternating stripes of gray and white paint enliven the powder room of a modernist home.
A vintage appointment can give your bathroom a diferent and unique touch.
An angular oak cabinet can enclose the bathroom.
A beach wave decoration can transform the powder room into a more relaxing area with a good vibe. Don't hesitate to access to beach appointments and paint you wall into blue tones.
Wall covered with patterns can turn your bath into a cosier room. Choose hot colors within the patterns to make it warmer.
Mirrors is the perfect option when our intention is to make a division looks larger.
Similar to the wall covering, a wall with a different texture or bold color can make all the difference.


The presentation of the products in the online shop is not a legally binding offer, but a non-binding online catalog dar. If you the online ordering process by entering the information required there (Step 1: address, 2nd step: shipping, 3rd step : Payment, Step 4: Check & Order) and in the fourth and last step click on the button "Buy", you place a binding order of the goods in the shopping cart. The confirmation of receipt of the order follows immediately after the order has been sent and does not constitute acceptance of the contract. We can accept the offer within five working days by sending an order confirmation or the dispatch of the goods (dispatch confirmation).
All prices are in Euro, include VAT at the current rate of 19% and are plus shipping costs. In each case the price applies at the time of the order.
PayPal is the online payment service that makes it easy, fast and secure to pay on the internet. To use you create a one-time PayPal account, by depositing his bank or credit card details at PayPal. PayPal uses this data again and again, so that they are not to be entered with every purchase. In addition, there is the possibility to be forwarded directly from the shopping cart via PayPal Express to the online payment service PayPal. In this case, no registration is necessary with us, because you can directly access the PayPal CHECK OUT purchase button to his PayPal account. After successful input of the personal data and the desired delivery address with PayPal, one confirms on our purchase completion page the purchase. When paying with PayPal and PayPal Express, there are no charges for the customer.
In Germany we ship with dpd. The delivery time is about 5-7 working days after receipt of payment. The shipping national is calculated flat rate.
We ship worldwide with Deutsche Post AG and dpd. The delivery time is about 7-10 working days after receipt of payment. The costs for international shipping are calculated according to the weight incl. Packaging. The final shipping costs are calculated during the ordering process and are visible to the customer before completing his payable order.
We reserve the right to refuse orders that exceed commercial quantities.
If the purchased item is defective, the provisions of the statutory liability for defects shall apply.
You have the right to withdraw from this contract within fourteen days without giving any reason. The cancellation period is fourteen days from the day on which you or a third party named by you, who is not the carrier, has taken possession of the last goods. To exercise your right of withdrawal, you must us (Alber-Bischoff, Innviertel 7, 84567 Perach, Tel .: (+49) 0172 8185661, E-mail: info@race-europe.com) by means of a clear statement (eg a letter or e-mail sent by post) informing you of your decision to withdraw from this contract. You can use the attached model withdrawal form, which is not required. In order to maintain the cancellation period, it is sufficient that you send the notice of the exercise of the right of withdrawal before the expiry of the withdrawal period.
You must return the goods to us immediately and in any event not later than fourteen days from the date on which you inform us of the cancellation of this contract. The deadline is met if you send the goods before the expiry of the period of fourteen days.
We store and collect data from the customer within the scope of the contract. Hereby we observe legal regulations.
The contract is concluded in German or English.
The order text is not stored by us and can not be retrieved after the completion of the order process. However, you can print out your order data immediately after sending the order.
You agree that the contract-related communication can be done electronically.
These Terms and the mention of legal regulations refer to German law, unless they contradict mandatory protective regulations of the respective consumer country.


text:
Bovictus diacanthus, the Tristan klipfish, is a species of marine ray-finned fish, a temperate icefish or thornfish, belonging to the family Bovichtidae. It is endemic to two isolated, small island groups in the South Atlantic.

Taxonomy
Bovichtus diacanthus was first formally described in 1819 as Callionymus diacanthusby the Scottish botanist and officer in the British Army Dugald Carmichael with the type locality given as Tristan da Cunha in the South Atlantic, When Achille Valenciennes described the genus Bovichtus in 1832 the only species he classified within the new genus was Carmichael's C. diacanthus which is therefore the type species of Bovichtus. The specific name diacanthus means "two spines", a reference to the two robust, needle-shaped and sharp spines on the operculum which are erected when the gill membrane is expanded.

Description
Bovichtus diacanthus is species in the genus Bovichtus and these fishes are characterised by having a terminal, protractile mouth with teeth on the palatine. There are two robust backwards pointing spines on the operculum. They have a single lateral line and the anterior dorsal fin is spiny and starts above the operculum. The soft rays in the posterior dorsal fin and the anal fin are simple, the rear most anal fin rays are thickened and longer than the front rays. They are normally mottled in colour and their gill membranes direct the exiting water upwards, an adaptation for a sedentary benthic lifestyle. In the pectoral fins the lowest rays are unbranched with a thick cuticle, extend a little beyond the membrane and have upturned tips, the rearmost anal fin rays are also structured like this. This species attains a maximum total length of .

Distribution and habitat
Bovichtus diacanthus is restricted to the waters around Tristan da Cunha and Gough Island in the South Atlantic Ocean. It is found in rockpools which vary in depth from  and in coastal waters down to depths of .

Biology
Bovichtus diacanthus has a pelagic stage of larvae which gather in large shoals. Once they have attain a total length of  these settle and adopt a benthic lifestyle. The  diet of Bovichtus thornfishes is made up of invertebrates, mainly crustaceans and worms. This species is a batch spawner, the spawning season running from July and August. Females reach sexual maturity no later than 5 years old while for males the maximum age of sexual maturity is four years.

References

diacanthus
Fish described in 1919
Endemic fauna of Tristan da Cunha

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


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A full day of western adventure lies just a few miles south of Santa Fe on the Turquoise Trail National Scenic Byway. Also known as New Mexico Highway 14, the Turquoise Trail will carry you through scenic landscapes ranging from wide-open prairies to rugged mountain tops, and through ten thousand years of human history from an early "cave man" site to a modern movie set.
To begin your trip from Santa Fe, take either St. Francis Drive (US 84/285) or Old Santa Fe Trail/Old Pecos Trail to I-25 southbound (toward Albuquerque) and exit at NM 14 southbound (toward Madrid.) Do not take Cerrillos Road (also called NM 14) from downtown, as it is Santa Fe's commercial strip and is very slow going.
Start your day early enough to have breakfast at San Marcos Café, located a few miles south of the freeway on NM 14 at milepost 39. There is no sign by the road but look on the right for the old farm windmill and the candy-apple red sculpture. The café features both New Mexican and American-style dishes, and the cinnamon rolls are justly famous. San Marcos is local favorite and you may experience a wait on the weekends.
Fueled with a good breakfast, you can now begin your sightseeing tour with a little bit of faux history at the J. W. Eaves Movie Ranch. Built in 1969, the Ranch is an active movie set featuring an Old West town where movies such as The Cheyenne Social Club, Billy Jack, and Silverado have been filmed. Between movie shoots, the sets are open for tours by appointment, 505-474-3045. To find the Ranch, continue south on NM 14 and turn right on Bonanza Creek Road (NM 45). Proceed one mile and turn left on Rancho Alegre Road. The ranch is another seven-tenths of a mile on the left.
Continue your tour by heading south on NM 14, and watch for milepost 37. As you descend into the arroyo look through the trees to the left (east) for a series of irregular, grassy mounds. They are the buried remains of one of the largest prehistoric villages in the southwest, San Marcos Pueblo.
Settled in the early 1300s, the Pueblo quickly grew to more than 2000 rooms set in 38 separate room blocks covering almost 60 acres along San Marcos Creek. Puebloans called San Marcos the "corn village" because, in years of good rain, its residents grew a large crop which not only gave them relative prosperity, but made their pueblo the most powerful in the region. San Marcos' occupants also distinguished themselves by developing unusual lead glaze-decorated pottery and by making turquoise ornaments, both of which they traded to surrounding pueblos and beyond.
San Marcos played an important role in the Pueblo Revolt of 1680 which temporarily drove the Spanish out of New Mexico. Although successful in the short term, the revolt caused tremendous upheaval in pueblo life and many families left San Marcos for other villages to the north and west.
The return of the Spanish in 1692 ignited inter-pueblo warfare as well as further hostilities with the Europeans. As a result, San Marcos was permanently abandoned by the early 1700s. The site is now owned and protected by the Archaeological Conservancy which offers group tours by appointment, 505-266-1540.
Your next stop is a magical experience in contemporary Native American life and art: the sculpture garden of renowned Apache artist, Allan Houser. Considered the most influential Native American artist of the 20th century, Houser produced 450 limited edition bronze sculptures and over 500 unique works in wood, stone and fabricated metal.
About 85 of these sculptures can be viewed in the 12-acre garden by appointment, 505-471-1528. The hilltop site also affords a spectacular 360-degree view of the Galisteo Basin and the Sangre de Cristo, Jemez, Sandia and Ortiz Mountains.
To find the Houser compound, turn left on NM 42 and proceed 1.4 miles to Haozous Road, turn left and look for the sign on the left.
Continue on Highway 14 South to the right-hand turn-off at County Road 57 and on into the village of Cerrillos. This dusty, little mining berg was nearly a ghost town a few decades ago, but has been undergoing a slow revival, polishing some of its architectural gems without losing a bit of its old west character.
Park the car and wander on foot: you will easily find the galleries and antique shops scattered about the tiny village. Be sure to seek out the Casa Grande Trading Post, Petting Zoo, and Mining Museum on Waldo and Third Streets, one block south of Main.
Back in the car, take First Street north, across the Santa Fe railroad tracks and follow the signs to the Cerrillos Hills Historic Park on Route 59.
The park was established in 2003 to preserve the local ecosystem and the 1100-year history of mining in Los Cerrillos. (The name Cerrillos Hills is actually redundant as Cerrillos means "little hills" in Spanish). Several miles of trails in this "hiking only" park take you past several abandoned mine sites and interpretive signs describe the geology, flora and fauna of the hills.
As early as 900 AD early puebloan peoples mined turquoise at the base of the distinctively conical hill in the middle of Los Cerrillos, named Mount Chalchihuitl, the Aztec word for the blue stone. Highly valued by Native peoples, Cerrillos turquoise was traded extensively throughout the southwest and deep into Mexico.
The pueblo of San Marcos probably controlled the mines during its heyday, and miners from the nearby pueblos of Santo Domingo, Cochiti, and San Felipe continued to extract turquoise well into the 20th century.
The early Spanish settlers had very little interest in turquoise mining although they did find small amounts of silver in Los Cerrillos.
The big mining boom, however, came in the late 1870s when the combination of the Santa Fe Railroad, industrial mining technology, and east coast capital resulted in hundreds of mining claims seeking not only turquoise and silver, but also copper, lead, zinc, and manganese.
The most famous of the Cerrillos mines of the American Territorial era was the Tiffany turquoise mine, owned by the famous New York City jewelry and tableware company.
Spurred by a brief craze for "Indian-style" jewelry and silverwork, Tiffany removed two million dollars in turquoise from the north end of Los Cerrillos in the 1890s, before the bottom dropped out of the market and the mine was sold. The Great Depression ended commercial mining in the area, but many hobby miners still find small amounts of turquoise and silver.
Continue your tour by heading south on NM 14 to the coal mining town of Madrid (pronounced "MAD-rid.") In the 1890s, Madrid was larger than Albuquerque, but the closing of the mines in 1954 turned it into a ghost town almost overnight. In that year the entire town was listed for sale for $250,000, but attracted no buyers.
Today, many of Madrid's houses and commercial buildings have been restored and are home to dozens of artists and galleries. Park your car and stroll up and down the main street to browse a diverse selection of mostly New Mexico artwork. For a bit of Madrid lore, visit the Old Coal Mine Museum and its quirky collection of early mining and transportation equipment. If, by this time, you find your stomach growling, check out the celebrated Mine Shaft Tavern (adjacent to the museum) for good road food, or Tocororo Café for tasty Cuban dishes.
As you drive south out of Madrid you will gain beautiful views of the rugged Ortiz Mountains on the left, and then the long, rounded Sandia Mountains on the right. Though very different in appearance, both mountain ranges have their origin in a rare geological process called a "rift." About 30 million years ago, New Mexico began to pull apart along lines that now form either side of the Rio Grande Valley. As the geologic plates went opposite directions, the earth between them dropped down creating the valley, and the rocks on either side pushed up, forming mountains. The Sandias are a large chunk of the uplifted rock, while the Ortiz are the remnants of volcanoes that erupted through the moving and cracking rock.
Old, weathered volcanic ranges often produce precious minerals, and this was true of the Ortiz Mountains. Placer gold (loose gold often found in stream beds) was discovered there in 1825, setting off the first gold rush west of the Mississippi, more than two decades before the '49ers flocked to northern California. In 1879, a mining camp called Golden was chosen as the commercial center for the various mines in the area, and the town quickly accumulated homes, saloons, shops, a school, and a post office. Within ten years, however, most of the gold was played out and the town went into a slow decline.
The remains of Golden lie in a quiet valley about 15 miles south of Madrid. You know you're arriving in town when the picturesque San Francisco Church comes into view on top of the hill on your left. Built in the 1830s, the church was restored in the 1960s by New Mexico's beloved historian / priest, Fray Angelico Chavez, and is now a favorite of artists and photographers. In the valley, across the road from the church, are ruins of the old stone schoolhouse. The only business regularly open to the public is the Golden General Merchandise, built in 1918, and thus a relative newcomer to the town. Now, part museum and part store, the General Merchandise is stocked with very reasonably priced pueblo pottery and jewelry.
If you leave Tinkertown with your vision intact, continue on NM 536 for a side excursion on a section of the Turquoise Trail known as the Sandia Crest Scenic Byway. This winding, fourteen-mile drive through the Cibola National Forest takes you to the top of Sandia Peak, standing 10,678 feet above sea level and more than a mile above downtown Albuquerque which lies at the mountain's southwestern edge.
On a clear day – that is, almost every day in New Mexico – the panoramic view from Sandia Crest encompasses 11,000 square miles of varied terrain including the middle Rio Grande valley, the western edge of the Great Plains, and six different mountain ranges. The crest includes a snack bar and gift shop with good indoor and outdoor viewing areas.
If you are game for a high altitude hike, pick up a trail map from the US Forest Service desk just inside the Sandia Crest House gift shop. Dozens of miles of trails invite you to explore the crest or even hike back down the mountain.
If you prefer not to drive all the way up to the crest, take the Summer Chair Lift from the base of Sandia Peak Ski Area, located past milepost 6 on NM 536. Rent mountain bikes at the Double Eagle II base facility and pedal (or brake) your way back down the mountain.
If lunchtime intervenes, enjoy the views from the top of the ski area at High Finance Restaurant and Tavern. At the ski crest (which is a 1.8-mile hike from auto access to the Crest) you also will see the Sandia Peak Tramway-the world's longest aerial tram that ascends Sandia's nearly vertical western face, carrying skiers to the top.
Now that you've reached the literal high point of your Turquoise Trail excursion, it's time to plan your return trip to Santa Fe. Of course, you can backtrack north on NM 14, but if you have time to see a few more sites, there are three other scenic options: the City Route, the High Plains Route, and the Forest Canyon Route.
To return via the City Route, descend the mountain to NM 14 and head south to the village of Cedar Crest and the Museum of Archaeology and Material Culture. This compact and well-organized museum features a 12,000-year timeline of Native American history from the continent's earliest human inhabitants to the Battle of Wounded Knee in 1890. The museum is on Snowline Road, a right turn from NM 14 just past milepost 5.
The southern end of the Turquoise Trail lies just a few miles south of Cedar Crest at the town of Tijeras and your last stop, the Tijeras Pueblo Archaeological Site. Buried here are the ruins of a 200-room pueblo built in the 1300s and abandoned about a century later.
Markers on the short interpretive trail describe the pueblo, its construction, and its builders, as well as the native plants and animals from which they made their livelihood. To find the site, follow NM 14 South past I-40 and turn left on NM 337. Access is through the Sandia Ranger Station on your left.
To return to Santa Fe, backtrack to I-40, head west through Tijeras Canyon and then, near downtown Albuquerque, take I-25 North. As you head out of the city, follow the crest of the Sandia Mountains until you find the communication antennae. You'll see just how high you climbed earlier in the day. Travel time from Cedar Crest to Santa Fe via this route is about 1 hour and 30 minutes.
If you are reluctant to break the spell of the New Mexico countryside and want to avoid the city, return to Santa Fe via the High Plains Route. From Sandia Peak, head back toward NM 14 South, stopping at the Museum of Archaeology and Material Culture as well as the Tijeras Pueblo Archaeological Site, which are on the City Route.
Instead of taking I-40 West, however, turn right on Historic Route 66 (now called NM 333) and head east to the town of Moriarty. It will be easy to spot surviving examples of the splashy roadside architecture that marked the heyday of Route 66 from the 1930s to the 1960s.
At the center of Moriarty, turn left on NM 41, cross over the freeway, and head out onto the Great Plains. This is the very western edge of what used to be called "The Great American Desert," millions of square miles of high grassland too dry for farming but perfect for cattle. The southern plains became the birthplace of the American Cowboy.
A few miles north of the ranch town of Stanley, you will crest a ridge that affords the stunning view of a broad, grassy valley interrupted by rugged mesas and hogbacks. This is the Galisteo Basin. Although it seems quite empty now, around 500 – 600 years ago the Basin was one of the most populous areas in the southwest.
Nomadic Paleo-Indians hunted here at least 8000 years ago, but large-scale settlement began in the late 1100s as the Anasazi abandoned towns such as Mesa Verde and Chaco in the Four Corners area, and blended into the "Tanoan" or Southern Tewa tribe already living in the Basin.
Between the late 1200s and the early 1500s, the Southern Tewa built at least ten pueblos in the Galisteo Basin. San Marcos, at the west end of the valley, was the largest, but four other Basin villages also contained hundreds of rooms and sheltered a thousand or more residents.
Life in the pueblos was very difficult due to periodic drought and raids by surrounding nomadic tribes. These factors, plus inter-pueblo conflicts, caused the abandonment of five of the Basin pueblos even before the arrival of the Spanish. The Pueblo Revolt and subsequent reconquest of New Mexico by the Spanish finished off the others.
By 1700, the remaining Southern Tewa families had scattered in all directions. Some rejoined their close relatives, the Northern Tewa, at the pueblos of Tesuque, Pojoaque, San Ildefonso, Santa Clara, Ohkay Owingeh, and Nambe. Others joined Keres-speaking pueblos to the west or the Tewa-speaking Pecos Pueblo to the east.
One group of families from Pueblo San Cristobal fled to the Hopi First Mesa in Arizona where they established the village of Hano, and where their descendents speak Tewa to this day.
As early as the 1690s a few Hispanic families moved into the Galisteo Basin, but Comanche raids and lack of rain also made their lives tenuous, at best. Another hundred years went by before the Spanish successfully established long-term settlement in the Galisteo area. The village itself dates to 1816 when 19 families built adobe houses around a central plaza and began farming their new land grants.
At the center of Galisteo village is a sprawling adobe hacienda, the oldest parts of which date to about 1705. It is now a charming bed & breakfast called the Galisteo Inn.
If you decide to take the High Plains route, time your trip to have dinner at the Inn's La Mancha Restaurant, named one of America's "26 Hot Tables" by Conde Nast Traveler magazine in 2006.
Travel time from Tijeras to Galisteo is about 45 minutes so time your reservations accordingly. (505-466-4008) The trip from Galisteo to downtown Santa Fe will take another 30 minutes via NM 41, US 285, and I-25.
The shortest drive back to Santa Fe from Sandia Crest (other than NM 14) is the Forest Canyon Route. Driving down NM 536 from the Crest, look for the turnoff for NM 165. (It appears that you are entering a parking lot, but the road begins off to your left). The first few miles of NM 165 are a series of switchbacks which take you down the mountain and into beautiful Las Huertas Canyon (Spanish for "the gardens").
The road is unpaved, narrow, and very rocky, so a high-clearance vehicle such as an SUV is recommended. When it reaches the bottom of the canyon, however, the road improves and straightens so you can enjoy the views of the creek and cliffs through the forest of ponderosa pines.
After the road straightens, keep an eye on the sheer cliff on your right for a view of a weirdly incongruous staircase leading to a hole in the cliff, 190 feet above the canyon floor. At this point look for a small sign pointing to the parking turnout for Sandia Cave.
You can climb the trail and the staircase to enter the cave (take a flashlight) and to gain a nice view of the canyon from above the trees, but the cave itself it is rather unremarkable. Its history, however, is quite interesting.
A University of New Mexico team excavated the cave in the late 1930s, finding wooly mammoth bones, stone tools, and other evidence of early human habitation.
The lead archaeologist, Frank Hibben, eventually concluded that people had used the cave more than 20,000 years ago. At twice the age of any other archaeological site in North America, this was a sensational discovery that received national publicity and made Hibben a celebrity.
It turned out, though, that he had made some serious errors in excavation and data collecting. Most scholars now agree that humans occupied the cave no earlier than 10,000 to 12,000 years ago. Nevertheless, Sandia Cave is nothing to scoff at since the revised date still places it among the earliest confirmed human habitation sites in the US, right up there with Folsom and Clovis in northeastern New Mexico.
From Sandia Cave, continue north on NM 165 through the town of Placitas. As you descend the long slope toward the Rio Grande, look off to the far horizon for a view of the solitary, flat-topped mountain, El Cabezon (the head.) Known as a "volcanic neck," El Cabezon is the core of an extinct volcano that resulted from the Rio Grande Rift.
Over the millennia, the volcano's lava and ash cone eroded away, leaving harder rock protruding above the plain. We'll take you on a day trip to this and other sites west of the Rio Grande in our next issue. In the meantime, NM 165 will take you to the town of Bernalillo where you pick up I-25 north for your return to Santa Fe. Travel time from Sandia Crest to Santa Fe is about one hour and twenty minutes via the canyon.
This article was excerpted from Canyon Road Arts: The Complete Visitors Guide to Arts, Dining and Santa Fe Lifestyle, Vol 3, 2007-2008, pages 24-32. Canyon Road Arts is published by Medicine Man Gallery. All rights reserved.


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Most often, parents can find the care and treatment for their children close to home and in their communities, at their doctor's office or local hospital. In addition, the MaineHealth system connects patients and their families to the most advanced network of care in northern New England. For more complex cases, the Barbara Bush Children's Hospital at Maine Medical Center treats children affected by neurological illness or injury with an exceptional range of diagnostic and treatment expertise. Maine Medical Partners-Neurology offers a pediatric and young adult neurological practice, giving young patients access to the most advanced treatment for neurological disorders.


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Kyary Pamyu Pamyu is happy to appear on 'Kohaku Uta Gassen' with Fukase
by ustar
Scrap'd Scrap
On December 29, Kyary Pamyu Pamyu participated in the rehearsals for the upcoming 'Kohaku Uta Gassen' at NHK Hall where she commented on her appearance on the program with SEKAI NO OWARI's vocalist�Fukase.�
Kyary stated, "I'm on the red team (SEKAI NO OWARI is on the white team), so we'll be rivals. I will do my best so that the red team can win." Reporters asked the singer if it's encouraging to have her boyfriend there with her. "I'm happy that we'll be able to appear together. I'm also happy because I love the members of Sekaowa," she happily responded.�
SEE ALSO: Kyary Pamyu Pamyu denies retirement reports
Last year, Kyary went through a costume change during her performance, but this year, she revealed that she has prepared one special costume.
NHK's New Year's eve music special 'The 65th NHK Kohaku Uta Gassen' will broadcast on December 31�from�7:15 pm to 11:45 pm.�
Source & Image: Sports Hochi via Yahoo! Japan
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Sandaime JSB wins the 'Japan Record Award' for the first time
Mukai Osamu & Kuninaka Ryoko register their marriage
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• OnlyOneOf display their skills in dance cover of Rosalia's 'Malamente'


Saw your poster presentation at the 2013 Ohio Library Council Convention & Expo. Lots of fantastic real-world examples. Bravo! Leave it to a musician to be so creative in a non-music way. Just goes to show you that music does make a difference in so many ways. All the best and keep KICKin' IT IN!
OMG! This exactly. I've been trying to get a cohesive way to explain why my teen programming flyers must look the way they do in comparison to those of the rest of the youth services department. I'm printing this out! Thank you!


Lesley Miller was tired of feeling ashamed of her body.
So when the 21-year-old shared a photo of herself in her first bikini with the popular Facebook page Love What Matters, the image — and the story she submitted alongside it — resonated with thousands of people.
Miller's submission details her past struggles with body acceptance.
"I've spent the past 18 years of my life waiting," she writes. "I kept my body covered up and hidden away. I told myself that one day I would finally let myself be seen; I would finally do all of the things I dreamed of when I was enough. Thin enough, happy enough, confident enough. When my body looked the way that it was 'supposed' to."
She goes on to describe childhood taunts from classmates that lead to diets and weight loss procedures. She also details her history with self-harm at age 15, and later at 20, which stemmed from an obsession with losing weight.
"And then I got tired of waiting," she writes. "So now I'm twenty one and I bought my first bikini. EVER. You can see it all. Weird bulges and rolls of fat. Hanging excess skin. Stretch marks, cellulite, surgical and self harm scars. Awkward protrusion on my abdomen from my lap band."
Miller's story more than 1.6k shares, 32k likes and more than 2.8k comments from supporters.
"I want to learn to love all of myself, not just the parts I've been told are 'acceptable,'" she concludes. "Because the secret is, I was always enough. And you are too."


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Beer Bars We Love in Richmond, Antwerp, & Olympia
In this edition of Love Handles—where we put the spotlight on the world's great beer bars—we check out The Cask in Richmond, Virginia; the Ware Jacob in Antwerp, Belgium; and the Eastside Club Tavern in Olympia, Washington.
Beth Demmon , Joe Stange , Ben Keene Dec 19, 2020 - 5 min read
The Cask
Enjoy a worldly beer selection with homemade sausage at this classic bar in a burgeoning beer town.
What it is: "Beer first" is how The Cask Co-owner David Garrett describes his pleasantly unpretentious pub on the edge of Richmond's Fan District. Sixteen taps of constantly rotating brews range from regionals such as a Berliner weisse brewed by Washington, D.C.'s Bluejacket to international classics and historical styles such as Fuller's London Pride. There are no permanent tap handles, so even regulars can expect variety, and the on-site market is chock-full of carefully selected cans, bottles, and wines, as well as growlers ready to fill.
Why it's great: In a town that's known for certain much-hyped releases, The Cask provides a staggeringly low-key alternative. The space is on the small side, but its cozy feel, curated list, and deeply knowledgeable staff make it an industry favorite. The house-made sausages are a particular point of pride; anyone looking to pair a German-style bratwurst with a properly German pilsner need look no further. After eight years helping to develop the city's now-roaring beer scene, this old-school refuge is a welcome throwback to simpler times. —Beth Demmon
Hours: 11:00 a.m.–11:00 p.m., Sunday–Wednesday; 11:00 a.m.–12:00 a.m., Thursday–Saturday Address: 206 S. Robinson St., Richmond, Virginia Web: thecaskrva.com
De Ware Jacob
A little off the beaten path, this beer café offers a great selection of Belgian beers.
What it is: De Ware Jacob is a cozy, venerable, one-room beer café in central Antwerp, not far from the Cathedral or the waterfront, with advanced taste in ales from artisanal Belgian producers. Lots of wood paneling, a couple of benches, mirrors, tile floors, and a nautical theme set the tone. It's been years since smoking was allowed, but the ancient nicotine patina is preserved for posterity. Nonintrusive music favors blues, jazz, and soul.
Why it's great: It's a living picture of a Low Countries' brown café—old, comfortable, well-wooded, and totally unpretentious—exactly the kind of place to settle in for a while, wallow in atmosphere, and get to know some of the best beers from smaller, independent Belgian producers, including newer upstarts that have yet to blip on the international radar. Antwerp-area breweries tend to feature prominently on the prolific bottle list, while the five taps virtually always include St. Bernardus 12 and Dupont Avec Les Bons Voeux. —Joe Stange
Hours: 3 p.m.–12 a.m., Tuesday–Friday; 2 p.m.–1 a.m., Saturday; 2 p.m.–12 a.m., Sunday; closed Monday. Address: Vlasmarkt 19, Antwerp, Belgium Web: facebook.com/DeWareJacob/
Eastside Club Tavern
A classic dive bar for those who enjoy a diverse and welcoming environment.
What it is: Eastside Club Tavern has been around since 1942 and maintains the lived-in feel of a classic dive bar. It's survived a train crash, an earthquake, and the grunge era (Kurt Cobain once lived five blocks from here). The lighting is dim, the popcorn is free, and the entertainment consists of pool, ping-pong, and good old-fashioned conversation. You might find a stout from AleSmith or the latest hazy from Fort George on tap, but most of the 42 draft lines are dedicated to ales and lagers brewed in Washington state, particularly locals such as Matchless, Triceratops, Top Rung, and Headless Mumby.
Why it's great: The best bars welcome people from all walks of life, and this is true of the Eastside: college students, civil servants, doctors, and musicians consider this their local. There is something comforting about the fact that little has changed in almost 80 years, beyond collecting more beer stickers, artwork, and dust on its breweriana. (It's also still cash only.) Plus, in the town where Olympia Brewing once proclaimed, "It's the water," you'll always find cheap cans of the namesake lager in the cooler. —Ben Keene
Hours: 12 p.m.–2 a.m., Monday–Friday; 1 p.m.–2 a.m., Saturday–Sunday Address: 410 E. 4th Ave., Olympia, Washington Web: theeastsideclub.com
Vintage Beer-Bar Bucket List
These beer-centric bars and restaurants let you enjoy the complexity of a finely aged beer without a beer cellar of your own.


It's perhaps one of the most common flowers, but the dandelion could help us find a unique way to create drones that require no power source.
Most children will be familiar with blowing a dandelion and watching its seeds drift seemingly endlessly into the breeze. However, they probably give little thought to how the seed is actually able to travel such large distances.
This led curious researchers at the University of Edinburgh to carry out a series of experiments to better understand how the seed's parachute structure allows it to fly, given that it is mostly made up of empty space.
Detailing its findings in Nature, the team came to the astonishing discovery that the seeds use a form of flight believed to not exist anywhere else in nature.
The key to the seeds' ability to fly is a newly discovered air bubble – now named the separated vortex ring – which is physically detached from the bristles and stabilised by air flowing through it. It is able to float using the spacing between these bristles, precisely controlling the bubble's shape and its position directly above the seed. The analysis showed that this flying method is incredibly efficient – up to four times more so than a conventional parachute.
This could have major implications for the design of small aircraft, particularly drones. If mastered, the porous parachute idea might lead to the development of drones that require little or no power consumption.
This wasn't the only recent study that set out to discover how things fly, with a team from Case Western Reserve University studying the electrical activity of neurons in the common flesh fly.
It was discovered that flies possess specialised sensory organs called halteres, which help them detect body rotations during flight. With their halteres removed, they can no longer maintain stability.


Why David Jones? Why Now?
David Jones's poetry is not widely read. Because of the difficulty of his work, its themes of the Great War, of cultural "lateness" and its often fragmentary and multitextual form, he tends to be classified as a lesser Modernist. Some find him a little easier than Joyce (whose work he greatly admired, especially Finnegans Wake) and a little harder than Eliot (who fostered and supported Jones's work). But I believe it is in his particularity, his resistance to being included with broad themes and movements, that David Jones actually speaks beyond his time. Perhaps, as Lear's fool put it, he lives "before his time,"1 and looks ahead to our own. A Catholic convert, Jones wrote at a time of change in the liturgical practices of the Church, and this, combined with his identity as an Anglo-Welsh artist, makes him even more interesting to our own multicultural era. He speaks self-consciously out of a cultural and religious framework that is less and less widely understood. But he expresses little of the normative traditionalism that one finds in, for example, Eliot. The ideas and traditions Jones evokes are not held up in a spirit of traditionalist nostalgia, but are rather celebrated and shaped, before our eyes, as the particular cultural materials of this artist, working within "the limits of his love" (Ana, 24). Reading his poetry, we watch a creator and craftsman – a representative of "man the artist" at work, using some of the strategies, but not always the ideologies, of High Modernism. All his work is about poetic process, and it demonstrates and celebrates that process, as we watch the poet-artist putting things together into significant form.
Perhaps more subtly, for 21st century readers, Jones's work is countercultural in ways that speak directly to our time -- perhaps especially in the United States, which has been for more than a generation a center of "world empire," politically and economically. He is not simply a traditionalist wishing we could go back; rather, he is pulling together the "things" that he cares about and that seem to be threatened and devalued by the technocratic and imperialist agendas of our time. For Jones, Christian tradition is one of those "things", especially an incarnational, sacramental, often curiously feminine-centered Christianity that values generativity, continuity, and particularity. He sees the Christian mythos and the practices surrounding it as if they were part of an indigenous culture being threatened by a new empire. Especially in the U.S, many of us who care about the continuity of a creative and generous-hearted Christianity can resonate with Jones. We can recognize with him that the beloved, traditional forms look to most of the world like the "rear-guard details in their quaint attire" (Ana, 50) and we can wonder with him what will come next as a mode of expression for the mystery of who we are as human beings. Jones's work invites us to explore what it means to be "makers" in a world that often seems to be occupied with "unmaking. " It invites us to see that we perform "acts of art" because we are made in the image of the One who made all things: "himself not made, maker of sequence and permutation in all things made" (Ana, 63), the One who "placed himself in the Order of signs."
On the weekend of St. David's day (February 27- March 1, 2009), the Cathedral College of Washington National Cathedral sponsored a conference on "Faith, Art and Poetry in a post-Christian Culture," focusing on the art and poetry of David Jones, with Kathleen Henderson Staudt and Esther de Waal serving as organizers and conveners. The conference was coordinated with the opening of an exhibit on David Jones and his Circle at the Lauinger Library of Georgetown Unviersity, an event which featured a talk by Derek Shiel and the showing of Shiel's film, In Search of David Jones: Artist, Soldier, Poet.
This issue of FlashPøint has at its core the papers offered at that conference, enhanced by other fine work that places Jones's work in various modernist contexts. In Washington, William Blissett offered a keynote, reflecting on the themes of faith and friendship over his seventy years of knowing David Jones and his work. Calum Macfarlane and Kathleen Henderson Staudt spoke to the conference's theme with reflections on the theology and spirituality expressed in Jones's sacramental poetics – MacFarlane by placing Jones's work in conversation with that of Gerard Manley Hopkins, Staudt by reflecting on her own evolving relationship with Jones's poetics and spirituality. Anne Price-Owen showed how Jones draws together the material and immaterial in his visual art. Thomas Goldpaugh, who is completing an edition of Jones's previously unpublished long manuscript poem, reflected here on the anti-imperialist themes at the heart of the long poem that Jones was writing for most of his life, of which the poems published in The Sleeping Lord are "fragments." Bradford Haas placed Jones's work in the context of High Modernist discourse. Beyond the Washington conference papers, we also include here some fine work by Thomas Dilworth and Colin Wilcockson offered at a later David Jones Society gathering at Kettle's Yard, Cambridge, May of 2010.
Readers of FlashPøint will appreciate in Jones's work the linguistic complexity and multivoiced texture of High Modernism, as well as his peculiar cultural vision, which is neither totally traditionalist nor purely anti-imperialist, though it weaves together elements of these perspectives. We hope that the papers and links drawn together here will provide a kind of "gateway" for readers and scholars new to Jones's work, as well as a foundation and re-starting point for those taking a fresh look at this highly original and much neglected modern voice.
2. Jones develops this theology of human sign-making in his important essay "Art and Sacrament," in Epoch and Artist (London: Faber & Faber, 1959). See especially pp. 148-159.
Tutelar, or Her Truth's Teller? Myth, Women Poets, and David Jones's "The Tutelar of the Place"