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Many of the world's greatest scientists and technologists have discovered breakthroughs that have the potential to impact paralysed people's lives today. Yet, the interventions are held hostage in the minds and labs of these spectacular researchers due to systemic failures in translating research from the lab to the clinic.
Furthermore, at the beginning of the fourth industrial revolution, making breakthrough scientific discoveries and then moving them to commercial viability can easily cost tens or hundreds of millions of dollars and take decades. This simply isn't happening quickly enough for approximately 60 million people worldwide who have some form of paralysis.
To better understand how to tackle this systemic problem, Mark Pollock worked with The Dock, Accenture's flagship R&D and Global Innovation Centre to conduct research into (i) best practice case studies around collaborative advantage (ii) explored the triggers and barriers to collaboration in different societal and economic contexts and (iii) did a series of expert interviews with world-leading scientists, venture capitalists and catalysts for scientific and societal change.
The process uncovered five key challenges which are blocking actors from collaborating better to accelerate the cure for paralysis in our lifetime.
There is a culture of competition and individual glory in place
Funders are not incentivising collaboration
Regulators are not punishing excessive competition
There is no real sense of shared mission around the goal5. There is inequality of access in the care space
1. Systems-Led Change
No individual scientist, technologist, entrepreneur, investor, philanthropist, foundation or government is going to cure paralysis on their own. To do it, we need to create the conditions for collaboration, through systems-led change, that will help scientists and technologists navigate a pathway from research breakthrough to regulatory approval and commercialisation to impact the lives of millions of people worldwide.
Imagine the system as a set of two circles – one within the other. The core system is the central circle, and the environmental context is the wider circle around it.
• The core system is where care is provided, cures developed and therapies commercialised. Within it, there are 3 main stakeholder groups: care; academia; and commercial. Even where they have a common goal, these stakeholders can be disconnected or even in competition with each other.
• The environmental context sets the conditions for the core system. Within it, there are three main stakeholder groups: funders such as government, philanthropy and VCs; regulators, both national and international; and macro-influencers like WEF, WHO and Milken Institute. With the environment heavily influencing what happens in the core, it is these actors we often need to approach to create the basis for change.
2. Collaboration Building Blocks
Within the systems led approach to change, Collaborative Cures has identified 4 primary building blocks to create the conditions for collaboration and mitigate against fragmentation. This provides the basis of our approach to forging connections worldwide to break through silos across disciplines.
• Mission orientated framing has concrete, measurable and achievable outcomes. Establishing a shared mission that multiple parties can sign up to is essential for creating the conditions for collaboration.
• Embodying collaborative leadership involves leaders being visibly and tangibly open to collaboration. Leading by example promotes a culture of collaboration and shared endeavour as the way to achieve results.
• Incentivising collaborative behaviour requires recognising and rewarding collaboration. Incentives beyond funding are required to drive collaborative behaviours including rewards for sharing scientific data and open communication between different parts of the system.
• Active governance is central to building credibility and trust with key stakeholders in the system by incorporating proactive and appropriate levels of oversight to ensure projects achieve mission-level impact. Critically, funding, partnerships, and actual scientific progress can be wasted if the right governance structures aren't in place.
When Mark Pollock broke his back in 2010, he discovered that paralysis strikes at the very heart of what it means to be human. It turned him from his upright, running, jumping form into a seated compromise of himself.
He learned that it's not just the lack of feeling and movement, it also interferes with the body's internal systems that are designed to keep people alive. Multiple infections, neuropathic pain and uncontrollable spasms are common. These are the things that exhaust even the most determined. And, along with fundamentally impacting quality of life, it comes with €4 million average lifetime cost of care, there are huge barriers to getting back to work, and premature death is inevitable.
As Mark lay in hospital for 16 months, digesting the impact of his accident, he was physically and mentally broken. Yet, in the midst of the uncertainty, he began to turn his attention to curing paralysis. When he was released from hospital, he committed to donating his paralysed body to experimental research at the intersection where humans and technology collide, initially in aggressive physical therapy, robotic exoskeletons and trans-cutaneous spinal stimulation.
Over the subsequent 10 years, Mark, his partner Simone George and his team became facilitators for collaborations with key researchers in neuro-modulation and robotics; created multiple transatlantic research collaborations with academics and industry involvement; and built working relationships with leading research foundations through Wings for Life Spinal Research Foundation and the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation.
Through these experiences, Mark and Simone observed a systemic lack of collaboration and world-class stakeholders working in isolation, ultimately impeding progress towards a cure which will benefit millions of paralysed people around the world.
Since 2011, Mark has been building a broad network of connections on his personal mission to cure paralysis in our lifetime. Together with his partner, Simone George, and his team, they have been involved in catalysing collaborations valued at over €10 million. Now, we seek to scale this impact through Collaborative Cures.
Projects to date include co-creating international neuro-modulation and robotics research; facilitating multi-stakeholder relationships towards the commercialisation of academic research; creating multiple transatlantic collaborations with academics and industry involvement; and building working relationships with leading research foundations through Wings for Life Spinal Research Foundation and the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation.
Examples of collaborations created:
Created a research collaboration between Ekso Bionics and Houston Methodist Research Institute.
Launched an exoskeleton programme with academic, industry and philanthropic partners at Dublin City University to provide universal access to Ekso Bionics robotic legs for paralysed people, stroke patients, those with MS and other neurological conditions for a nominal fee.
Supported the expansion of GTX Medical to create a pathway to commercialising electrical stimulation devices.
Built a working relationship with scientists at the Feinstein Institute focused on Brain Computer Interfaces and Focal-Stimulation technology.
Facilitated a 50-subject study of spinal cord excitability in a group of 25 healthy subjects and 25 paralysed subjects in Trinity College Dublin.
Co-created the formation of a $5 million venture philanthropy fund with a Silicon Valley VC and a US philanthropic foundation.
Developed relationships with World Economic Forum colleagues and US Venture Capital firms.
Co-created the 'Druid Collective' – an initiative within the World Economic Forum to connect science and technology spin-out companies with relevant expertise and capital.
Created transatlantic research collaborations between Trinity College Dublin, UCLA, Ekso Bionics and NeuroRecovery Technologies.
Developed academic and industry research programmes with Microsoft, Imperial College London and University College London.
Created a first of its kind pilot study where Mark became the first person in the world with chronic complete paralysis to regain enough voluntary control to actively take steps in a robotic exoskeleton using transcutaneous spinal stimulation.
Built an ongoing working relationship with the world's leading authority on neuromodulation at UCLA.
Elected to the Board of the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation.
Began research collaborations with engineers in Ekso Bionics including stress testing early exoskeleton designs as the world's leading test-pilot of Ekso.
Became an Ambassador for Wings for Life Spinal Research Foundation.
Charity Trustees
Mark Pollock, Chairman
Unbroken by blindness in 1998, Mark became an adventure athlete competing in ultra- endurance races across deserts, mountains, and the polar ice caps including being the first blind person to race to the South Pole. He also won silver and bronze medals for rowing at the Commonwealth Games and set up a motivational speaking business.
In 2010 a fall from a second story window nearly killed him. Mark broke his back and the damage to his spinal cord left him paralysed. Now he is on a new expedition, this time exploring the intersection where humans and technology collide to find a cure for paralysis for him and millions of other paralysed people around the world.
Mark has been selected by the World Economic Forum as a Young Global Leader and is a former member of the Global Futures Council on Human Enhancement. He is a UBS Global Visionary, is on the Board of the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation (USA) and is a Wings for Life Ambassador (Europe). In addition, Mark is the subject of the acclaimed documentaries 'Blind Man Walking' and 'Unbreakable – The Mark Pollock Story', he has been awarded honorary doctorates by The Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland and also from Queens University Belfast.
Siobhán Gallagher, Trustee
Siobhán Gallagher is a Director in The Ireland Funds, based in Dublin. The Ireland Funds is a global philanthropic network established to promote and support peace, culture, education and community development throughout the island of Ireland, and Irish-related causes around the world. In addition to her role in Dublin, Siobhán manages the worldwide Young Leaders, a global programme aimed at nurturing the next generation of donors globally.
Siobhán studied law in UCD and is a qualified solicitor. Before moving to The Ireland Funds in 2015, Siobhán practiced as a solicitor in a large Irish firm for over eight years. Recently, Siobhán completed a MSc in Management in UCD Michael Smurfit Graduate Business School.
Karl Richardson, Trustee
Karl Richardson is a communications and public affairs professional with over 20 years-experience working with and advising large corporations, NGO's and public service bodies. A native of Dublin, Karl is a graduate of both Trinity College Dublin and Technical University Dublin and began a successful career in the Public Relations industry in 2000 and has extensive communications and public affairs expertise in both in-house and agency roles across the consumer, healthcare, finance, sport, telecoms and non-profit sectors.
He was appointed as the first Head of Communications of the Irish Rugby Football Union in 2004 to develop and implement the sporting bodies communications strategy, before bringing his experience to the not for profit sector and is now working within the energy sector, delivering communications campaigns and legislative engagement for energy in Ireland and with EU member states.
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Collaborative Cures is a registered charity. Charities Regulatory Authority No. 20205817.
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Dr. Shuo Wang earned his PhD in Hotel Administration from Cornell University, US in 2013. He also holds a Bachelor of Economics from Beijing Union University, China and a Master of Science in Economics from the University of Bristol, UK.
Previously, Dr. Wang worked as a Visiting Assistant Professor at School of Hotel and Tourism Management, the Hong Kong Polytechnic University and as a Visiting Scholar at School of Hotel Administration, Cornell University. Before entering academia, he held several management positions in sales, marketing and revenue management at Swissôtel, Kempinski, Shangri-La, and InterContinental Hotels in China.
Dr. Wang's primary research interests lie in the fields of services marketing and consumer psychology. Currently, he is working on several projects investigating the behavioural approach to hospitality pricing and its implications for revenue management. His research has been published in the Journal of Economic Psychology and the Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Research, as well as in the Cornell Hospitality Reports and the Ivey Business School Case Studies.


I just had a call from Barbara Buchanan. She has volunteered to make Christmas bows for members during the presentations at our meeting on Thursday night. If you would like for her to make a bow for you, bring 3 yards of wired ribbon and give it to her before the meeting. She will make as many as she can. Thanks Barbara!!
Also, don't forget to bring check for your dues!!!
Attached is the Fall newsletter.
Our last meeting of 2017 will be Thursday, November 30, at 7:00 p.m. at the LaPlata Fire Hall. Our program topic will be "Decorating for the Holidays". We currently have three members who will each share a decorating idea. It would be great to have more members participate. If you have a holiday decorating idea to share, please let me know. Your idea presentation can be very short or a maximum of 15 minutes. I hope to hear from you and see you at the meeting! Enjoy Turkey Day!
Attached is a flyer for the Charles County Holiday Trail with details of the sites and dates/times of the participating locations. It is a great event. The biggest problem is that there are so many places, it is hard to decide which ones to visit and it is virtually impossible to visit them all.
Tis the season to be jolly. I know your schedules are brimming with activity and here is an awesome opportunity to add another Christmas delight. Crossroads of Hughesville is presenting "Colonial Holiday" during the Holiday Trail in Charles County, Md on December 2-3.
Please review the attached flyer and plan to join the fun!
In addition to the events at Maxwell Hall, the Holiday Trail includes activities at many other Charles County landmarks including the Maryland Veteran's Memorial Museum, St. Thomas Manor/St. Ignatius Church, Port Tobacco Village, Old Port Tobacco School, Thomas Stone National Historic Site, Mt. Carmel Monastery, Christ Church Port Tobacco Parish, Friendship House, Smallwood Retreat House, Mattawoman Art Center, Mt. Aventine, and Serenity Farm.
See https://www.facebook.com/charlescountyholidaytrail/ for details of the events.
We have an exciting schedule for the March Flower Show. One its unique features is that all of the Horticulture entries are in containers and three of the classes are for forced bulbs. Forcing bulbs was the rage in the 1800's, but along the way many of us have forgotten this wonderful method for bring making bulbs bloom on your schedule. This is an excellent opportunity to teach your club members the technique. Attached is a flyer from the University of Missouri Extension Service with step-by-step instructions including recommended cultivars.
The Flower Show features three classes – get the word out to your club members so they can order their bulbs now.
Forced bulbs in a pot not to exceed 8" across the widest inside diameter.
Thanks is advance for your support of our Flower Show.


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2019 Year in Review: Hampton Roads culture scene
Music fans cover the beach on Sunday, April 28, 2019, the last day of Something in the Water in Virginia Beach. (Steve Earley)
Something in the Water was a smashing success
Let's be honest: we were all a bit skeptical. But in just a few months, Pharrell Williams managed to plan a large-scale music festival at the Oceanfront that included an outright all-star lineup of artists, fashion designers, painters and athletes. And for the most part, the inaugural event went smoothly, despite torrential rains derailing the fest's first day. Something in the Water put Virginia Beach on the map, and arguably gave the region a higher level of visibility with fans all but cyberstalking Pharrell's every move for insight into SITW 2020. While it was a success for music and art lovers everywhere, it was a homerun for Virginia Beach. Pharrell strategically planned the festival to take place during College Beach Weekend, which already brought more than 30,000 people to the Oceanfront, many of whom are young African Americans. As in years past, resident reactions to the college event were divisive. But Pharrell's festival broke the pattern and, for a few days, fostered unity.
The Hampton History Museum has created an exhibit, The 1619 Arrival, that tells the stories of the first Africans who landed at Point Comfort in 1619. (L. Todd Spencer/The Virginian-Pilot via AP) (L. Todd Spencer/The Virginian-Pilot)
American Evolution
In 1619, the New World underwent several changes that would be seismic in their impact. The arrival of the first African laborers at Point Comfort set in motion the chain of events that would establish slavery in the British colonies; the inaugural meeting of the House of Burgesses in Jamestown marked the launch of the first Democratically elected, English-speaking representative body; and the first large-scale effort to recruit and send women to populate the New World.
They all happened around the Peninsula, and all were celebrated in 2019, with President Donald Trump paying a visit to commemorate the House of Burgesses.
JAMESTOWN, VA - JULY 30: U.S. President Donald Trump delivers remarks during the 400th anniversary celebration of the first representative legislative assembly at Jamestown on July 30, 2019 in Jamestown, Virginia. The ceremony marks the 400th anniversary of the Virginia Assembly's first meeting held in Jamestown's Church in 1619. (Photo by Zach Gibson/Getty Images) (Zach Gibson/Getty)
Marvelous Ms. Carter
Turns out all it took for Ruth E. Carter to win an Oscar was a trip to Wakanda. The 1983 Hampton University graduate (it was Hampton Institute back then) has been one of Hollywood's top costume designers for years. She had earned previous Academy Award nominations for Spike Lee's biopic "Malcolm X" and for Stephen Spielberg's historical drama "Amistad." This year she finally heard her name called as a winner for her spectacular work on Marvel's "Black Panther," making her the first African American to win that category. "I dreamed of this night, and I prayed for this night," she said backstage. "Finally the door is wide open."
Carter had traveled through Africa and studied its varied tribal cultures, and then developed intricate color-coded themes to get the film's costumes just right. Plus, they just looked insanely cool.
Best Costume Design winner for "Black Panther" Ruth E. Carter poses in the press room with the Oscar during the 91st Annual Academy Awards at the Dolby Theater in Hollywood, California on Feb., 2019. (Frederic J. Brown/AFP/Getty Images)
Hampton Roads can't get enough of its fashion
Speaking of Hampton Roads and fashion: As if four local fashion weeks (along with numerous single-event annual style shows) were not enough, Coastal Virginia Fashion Week entered the scene. In Hampton Roads alone, there is Virginia Fashion Week, Men's Fashion Week Virginia, Virginia Full Figured Fashion Week, Virginia Kids Fashion Week and the aforementioned Coastal Virginia Fashion Week. Adding to the confusion, the Coastal fashion week uses the same acronym, CVFA, as Central Virginia Fashion Week.
"Experiences" became a thing
While it's cornered the market on selling most everything, Amazon.com can't yet offer a mini-golf match or a go-kart spin or a paint night while sipping wine with friends. That's why "experiences" were highly coveted tenants this year to fill holes in strip malls and shopping centers where traditional retailers have closed.
The MacArthur Center mall in Norfolk watched as several retailers left, including one of its two anchors, Nordstrom, in April. The mall's manager, Starwood Retail Partners, covered vacant stores with artistic facades to inspire selfies and turned others into lounges and game rooms. In November, Arcade and e-sports lounge GameWorks announced it would move to MacArthur Center from Chesapeake.
At Lynnhaven North near the Lynnhaven Mall, new tenants are building a roller-skating rink, trampoline park, climbing walls and zip-lines.
Where there's now a large Dick's Sporting Goods at Town Center in Virginia Beach, there will be, before the end of 2020, an amusement complex with a bowling alley, go-kart track, arcade, ropes course, laser tag course, mini-golf, restaurant and corporate meeting space. Town Center owner and developer Armada Hoffler announced in October that it had signed a long-term lease with Apex Entertainment for the complex.
Chilina Kennedy and Sasson Gabay in the touring cast of "The Band's Visit." (Matthew Murphy / HANDOUT)
Broadway shows have big year
Chrysler Hall has likely had one of its biggest years ever hosting some of the most popular shows from Broadway. A perennial favorite, "The Lion King," played a 12-day run in May and June and the 2019-2020 season kicked off in November with "The Band's Visit" and "Fiddler on the Roof." The current musical juggernaut "Hamilton" opened on Tuesday and will play through the 29th. It gave locals an opportunity to share in an unparalleled phenomenon.
Museums and performing arts center openings, re-openings, closings
Virginia Wesleyan University in Virginia Beach opened in March the Susan S. Goode Fine and Performing Arts Center. The 23,200-square-foot venue includes a 325-seat theater, gallery space for exhibits and a plaza for outdoor programs.
The former Glass Wheel Studio in Norfolk's NEON District reopened in September as the TCC Perry Glass Wheel Arts Center. It will be a branch of Tidewater Community College's TCC Perry Center for Visual & Culinary Arts and Hospitality Management that is scheduled to open in 2021.
The Portsmouth Art and Cultural Center recently closed. The 19th-century building had ongoing issues with an elevator that struggled to go up and down since last year. The museum's popular Winter Wonderland celebration, a collection of animatronic dolls, has been moved to the nearby Children's Museum of Virginia.
After years of working in cramped quarters at the Oceanfront's South End, a co-op of artists relocated several blocks north to the ViBe Creative District this year. The Virginia Beach Art Center held its grand opening in March. The building at 532 Virginia Beach Blvd. is painted deep purple and includes the working studios of the creators who make up The Artists Gallery, exhibition space and a pottery lab. Classes are available for children and adults. Community donations and a $100,000 grant from the city helped pay for renovations to a spacious, 1940s warehouse. On the first Friday of every month, the center holds an opening reception of a new exhibition. A holiday boutique continues through Dec. 22 and features hand-made note cards, jewelry, glass, fabric art, paintings, prints, ceramics and woodcarvings.
The Virginia Beach Art Center, a volunteer-run organization that brings together The Artists Gallery, a Pottery Program, art exhibitions and art classes, with a full program of events and activities, is preparing to open in the ViBe District of the city, photo taken March 13, 2019. (L. Todd Spencer)
Entertainment venues come and go
Elevation27: Bill Reid, founder of The NorVa, opened the midsized music hall just before the new year. The first big show saw none other than Norfolk's Waxing Poetics take the stage. By the end of the year, the club will have hosted somewhere around 150 shows.
Boathouse Live: In May, a year and a half after it opened, restaurant and music venue Boathouse Live closed its doors in Newport News' City Center. Its owner, restaurateur Sean Pepe, cited his inability to book high-profile shows at the venue. "It just wasn't working out," Pepe said at the time.
Granby Theater: A starry-eyed Ramon Corrales tried to revive the downtown Norfolk venue, but ultimately, fell short. Corrales reopened the theater in May, somehow snagging country megastar Billy Ray Cyrus for the grand opening celebration. But by mid-October, the theater folded. At the end of the year, a familiar message is back on the marquee: "For Sale or Lease."
Chicho's Backstage: Chicho's, one of the region's most beloved pizza joints, took over the restaurant and entertainment space directly behind The NorVa and started hosting live music performances by mid-October, giving local musicians another cozy venue to take advantage of downtown.
Norfolk restaurant tumult
The food year in Norfolk started with a bang — at least four of them. As 2019 began, four mainstay restaurants in central Norfolk closed within about two weeks of each other.
First it was 15-year-old Turkish spot Pasha Mezze in Ghent. Then came Bardo, another 15-year-old restaurant just down the street. And then came Tortilla West and Chow — two restaurants felled by a $1 million embezzlement lawsuit that's still winding its way through the courts.
But this was less a collapse than a changing of the guard. Pasha has already re-opened as 350 Grace, a gluten-free restaurant from longtime Hampton Roads chef Willie Moats. Tortilla West will become Spanish spot Macabeo (originally announced as Cava) next spring, and Chow is turning into a casual-upscale spot called the Coach House — whose name harks back to an '70s-era college hang by the same name.
Two other prominent restaurants in Ghent and North Colley also changed hands in the meantime: The decades-old Dog-n-Burger on Manteo Street closed to become Texas-inspired barbecue spot Redwood Smoke Shack, while chef Stephen Marsh's Hoyt's Luncheonette is now Hawaiian-Filipino cocktail spot Auntie's Tiki.
KFC's new fried chicken and doughnut sandwich is terrifying and delicious. MUST CREDIT: Courtesy of KFC. (Courtesy of KFC)
The Year of the Chicken
For one month this summer, Hampton Roads was ground zero for the fried chicken sandwich in America. In August, Louisiana-based chain Popeyes introduced its first fried chicken sandwich, greeted by a Twitter-fueled nationwide mania so intense that hourlong lines and fistfights were reported at Popeyes all over the country. The chain sold out nationwide within two weeks.
Except here. Quietly, in at least two locations in Norfolk and Chesapeake, Hampton Roads could still get its spicy chicken unencumbered, while the rest of the nation did without.
"We're just a better Popeyes," our Norfolk cashier told us, in explanation.
Meanwhile in September, Kentucky Fried Chicken debuted its own fried chicken sandwich monstrosity, a crispy chicken breast buried between two squishy glazed doughnuts. It was available only in Hampton Roads, Richmond, and Pittsburgh.
It tasted, according to The Pilot's reviewer, "like guilt, and regret and sadness."
We'll likely still prefer to get our fried chicken sandwiches at My Mama's Kitchen and Cagney's Chicken and Seafood in Norfolk, or maybe at Fuller's Raw Bar in Hampton. But we are, perhaps, grateful to remain America's test kitchen for novelty fried chicken products.
The interior of Guy Fieri's Pizza Parlor, opening June 27, 2019 at the Hampton Power Plant entertainment district. (MAtthew Korfhage/staff)
The second coming of Guy Fieri
2019 is the year Hampton Roads became Flavortown.
Some cities wait forever for a Guy Fieri restaurant. But as of this summer, Hampton Roads has three restaurants named for the TV chef — as many as any other city, tying us with the fading casinos of Atlantic City.
In 2017, the Guy Fieri Smokehouse came for Norfolk's Waterside district. And then, this June, it was followed by the Pizza Parlor and the Dive & Taco Joint in Hampton. Three months later, Hampton mayor Donnie Tuck softly chest-bumped Mr. Fieri in his restaurant, declaring Sept. 4 to be forever Guy Fieri Day in Hampton.
Greg Giesen, of the the five judges, writes down his thoughts after tasting the hotdog during the hotdog taste testing at The Virginian-Pilot on Tuesday, June 25, 2019. At the taste testing, the judges try both the new and old Norfolk hotdogs. In the end, the judges prefer the old Norfolk hotdog. (The' N. Pham)
Death and rebirth of the Norfolk dog
For 80 years since George Bacalis started slinging chili-mustard-onion dogs in downtown Norfolk, the Greek tradition of hot dogs in Hampton Roads included a specific hot dog — a skinny, snappy, natural-casing Hormel toughskin distributed nowhere except Hampton Roads.
Hormel discontinued the dogs in January, so Todd Goldman at meat distributor Chesapeake's Southern Packing Corporation commissioned his own version of Norfolk Dog to keep the tradition alive, making multiple tweaks along the way. Those new Norfolk Dogs are now served at Kevin's Dog House in Virginia Beach, and at Lew's and Doug's in Norfolk.
Tony's Hot Dogs, perhaps the longest-running hot dog tradition in Hampton Roads, likely never served anything but Hormels. The shop's owner, Phillip Mirabile, quietly closed up shop on May 31.
Branded flags fly outside the Ikea store in on the outskirts of Hyderabad, India, on Aug. 9, 2018. The international company is building a store in Norfolk that will open in the spring. (Udit Kulshrestha)
Losing Nordstrom, welcoming IKEA
The April closure of of Nordstrom meant not just the loss of a prestige-tier fashion retailer, but some of the beloved departments within in it. That included its extensive MAC Cosmetics counter, the largest of any of MAC's branded counters in Hampton Roads; and the cafe, which was a ritual gathering spot for friends, families and professionals. But we moved on pretty quickly. In some weird cosmic aligning, IKEA opened in less than a week, offering its famed Swedish meatballs. All's well that tastes well.
Pharrell Williams, right, and Chad Hugo arrive at the premiere of "Fast & Furious" in Los Angeles in 2009. (Matt Sayles)
Missy Elliott inducted to Songwriters Hall of Fame, passes baton to The Neptunes
Missy Elliott — known for her iconic style, futuristic beats and masterful storytelling — made history this summer when she became the first female hip-hop artist to be inducted to the Songwriters Hall of Fame. This year, more Hampton Roads talent gets a nod: Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo, known in the biz as The Neptunes. The two Virginia Beach natives are nominated for the 2020 class of the Songwriters Hall of Fame. If they win, they'll join Elliott, Jay-Z and Jermaine Dupri as the only hip-hop artists to be inducted. It will also mean that more than half of the genre's wordsmiths hail from Hampton Roads.
Learn about historic female leaders during Portsmouth's Black History program
Homegrown Buzz: The Neptunes hit the studio — new music is coming
Share your talents with Chesapeake-based, published poet Synnika Lofton
The Right Stuff: Artist Michael Kagan and astronaut Leland Melvin to talk space, art and discovery in Hampton Roads
What you need to know about Virginia Beach 'Bachelor' contestant Victoria Fuller
Cereal thriller
Almost a half-century ago, Johnny Cash mused in one of his classic hits about "the beer I had for breakfast." In 2019, Smartmouth Brewing Co. in Norfolk had a brainstorm that would allow folks to celebrate "the breakfast I had for beer." It was called Saturday Morning, of course, because that's what it tasted like – infused as it was with the nostalgic marshmallow flavors of Lucky Charms cereal.
To say it created a sensation would be an understatement. Locally it sold out immediately. Nationally it made headlines and went for hundreds of dollars per can at online auction sites. The craze didn't last long. Flavors of the month have an expiration date right there in their name. But for a while there, some crafty brewers in Norfolk made it Saturday Morning every night.
Smartmouth Brewing Company in Norfolk created a sensation with Saturday Morning, an IPA infused with Lucky Charms marshmallow breakfast cereal. - Original Credit: Courtesy Smartmouth Brewing Co. - Original Source: Handout (Courtesy Smartmouth Brewing Co. / HANDOUT)
- Denise Watson, Amy Poulter, Matthew Korfhage, Stacy Parker, Kim Pierceall, Mike Holtzclaw, Dan Duke and Jamesetta M. Walker contributed to this feature.
Most Read • Arts & Theater

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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Much Ado About Nothing: Asking Who Won the Political Debates. "If Voting changed Anything, they'd Make it Illegal."
By Edward Curtin
Global Research, July 05, 2019
Theme: History
It amazes me that alternative journalists would spend even a minute writing about the ongoing Democratic Party debates. They are meaningless and they are not debates. How many times do we have to go through this ridiculous charade before this can be accepted once and for all? The "debates" are farces, total theater, as are the Presidential elections. They don't matter. The political quiz show of duopoly is fixed. Discussing who has won is the height of absurdity. It legitimizes the system of oppressive duopoly. It is political "jeopardy," and only the fixers win when they suck us into watching and opining. One expects the corporate media to do their jobs and drone on endlessly about nothing, but not those who oppose this anti-democratic sham.
Emma Goldman is alleged to have said, "If voting changed anything, they'd make it illegal." She was right then and is right now. With the exception of JFK, who was assassinated by the national security state when in his last year he radically turned against its war agenda, not one American president since has posed the slightest risk to the systemic power of the elites who own and run the country. If anyone ever did, they would not be on the ballot or in office. Here and there, a candidate running for the nomination of one of the ruling parties makes it into a debate only to be marginalized for bluntly attacking war policies – e.g. Tulsi Gabbard in 2019. Those who enjoy the support of capitalism's invisible army (the CIA) and Wall Street's corporate merchants of death are allowed to present nuanced "anti-war" positions that their backers know are lies but suckers bite on in their desperation to believe that the system works – e.g. Obama in 2008.
Because Emma Goldman (image on the right) opposed the U.S. war and conscription policies during World War I, she was charged and imprisoned under the Espionage Act in 1917, "for conspiring against the draft," a form of state imposed slavery. Like Chelsea Manning and Julian Assange, she was punished for telling the truth to the American people and the world. To contemplate their confinement in these prison hellholes sickens the soul.
When I was young and was seeking release from the Marine Corps as a conscientious objector, I spent quite some time pondering prison life, something I was expecting and preparing for but surprisingly avoided when the Commandant of the Marines released me so I could "take final vows in a religious order." It was an outright lie, something I never mentioned in my C.O. application, but it allowed them to save face while getting rid of a troublemaker. Ironically, as a religious young man, I had often thought that the life of a Catholic priest or nun, in their respective celibate rooms in rectories or convents or monasteries, was similar to the life of a prisoner, and it struck me as very depressing. Even a few years in a federal prison felt more liberating, so I steeled myself for that possibility by reading Cleaver's Soul on Ice, and Bonhoeffer's Letters and Papers from Prison, among others, and disciplining myself physically, mentally, and spiritually for what never came to pass.
Now the world is our prison, as John Berger wrote in 2005 in a stunning article with the understated yet hopeful title, "Meanwhile." Because he was not caged by traditional categories of conventional thought but just wrote, trusting that words were winged creatures that rise and fly out of sentences into the unknown, Berger was able to discover truths that many feel but cannot articulate. Often referred to as a Marxist art critic, such a description fails to capture the liberated nature of his writing, even when he is describing how we are imprisoned:
I'm searching for words to describe the period of history we're living through. To say it is unprecedented means little because all periods were unprecedented since history was first discovered….The landmark that I've found Is that of a prison. Nothing less. Across the planet we are living in a prison….No, it's not a metaphor, the imprisonment is real, but to describe it one has to think historically….Today the purpose of most prison walls (concrete, electronic patrolled or interrogatory) is not to keep prisoners in and correct them, but to keep prisoners out and exclude them….In the eighteenth century, long-term imprisonment was approvingly defined as a punishment of 'civic death.' Three centuries later, governments are imposing – by law, force, economic threats and their buzz – mass regimes of civic death….The planet is a prison and the obedient governments, whether of the right or left, are the herders [US prison slang for Jailers].
At the heart of this prison system is financial, not industrial, capitalism, and the system of globalization fueled by the Internet that allows speculative financial transactions to be continually performed instantaneously. Speed is the essence of cyberspace, a placeless "place" that allows this worldwide prison system to operate. Space, time, nationalities, local traditions, and idiosyncrasies of any sort are washed away by this tyrannical flood of abstract power controlled by the jailers and their henchmen in and out of governments. This planetary prison's "allotted zones vary and can be termed worksite, refugee camp, shopping mall, periphery, ghetto, office block, favela, suburb. What is essential is that those incarcerated in these zones are fellow prisoners."
The prisoners that are us are often just dimly aware that they are prisoners, but dimly is better than unaware. For the jailers also use cyberspace to misinform, confabulate, lie, confuse, and convince the prisoners that they are not in cells but are free on their cells and had better be on constant alert to protect themselves and get theirs, theirs always being some commodity, which comes in many forms, including political candidates, sometimes "new and improved" and sometimes just "bright and new." The prisoners are always free to choose more of the same, if they can be conned. While everyone "knows" these candidates sell themselves and that's what debates are about – "if you liked that (one), you will like this (one)" – the jailers create what Berger calls "a hallucinating paradox" that keeps the prison population believing that the rigged system somehow works for them since they are exceptions to the rule that renders others moronic suckers.
So the question – who won? – is a good one, if you are a sports fan, but not when applied to the Democratic (or Republican) candidates' debates. Better to sing "Mrs. Robinson" along with Simon and Garfunkel: "Going to the candidates' debate/Laugh about it, shout about it/When you've got to choose/Every way you look at it you lose."
Those writers who wish to help their fellow prisoners should refuse to be herded into doing the work of their jailers and using language in a way that suggests the game is not fixed and they are not being seduced, as Benjamin Braddock (Dustin Hoffman), the recent Williams College graduate, willingly was by Mrs. Robinson in the 1967 film, "The Graduate." Ben may have been put off by the suggestion that his future lay in "One word: plastics," but if he were graduating from Williams or any other elite college and university this year or in any of the past twenty-five, a top career choice, flashing dollar signs, would be in the financial "services" industry, where he could join the financial tyrants in the use of cyberspace to imprison most of the world. Our universities have become human "resources" departments (as people have become commodified resources like copper or nickel) for financial capitalism and the whole complex that ex-CIA analyst Ray McGovern calls "the Military-Industrial-Congressional-Intelligence-Media-Academe-Think-Tank (MICIMATT) complex, in which the corporate-controlled media play the sine-qua-nontoday."
Alternative writers should refuse to rate the candidates or discuss their debates, but, like John Berger, think historically, structurally, and imaginatively, finding "enclaves of the beyond" for their fellow prisoners, little gifts, sunlight and blue sky through the jail cell's window, not prizes for the winners. That is not dissidence.
And while I am a harsh critic of the digital revolution, I realize Berger is right when he says:
Prisoners have always found ways of communicating with one another. In today's global prison, cyberspace can be used against the interests of those who first installed it. Like this, prisoners inform themselves about what the world does each day, and they follow suppressed stories from the past, and so stand shoulder to shoulder with the dead. In doing so, they rediscover little gifts, examples of courage, a single rose in a kitchen where there's not enough to eat. Indelible pain, the indefatigability of mothers, laughter, mutual aid, silence, ever-widening resistance, willing sacrifice, more laughter….The messages are brief, but they extend in the solitude of their (our) nights. The final guideline is not tactical but strategic.
"Meanwhile" is a hopeful word. It implies that we are between times and the future is coming. It can only be different if we do not play our jailors' game, buy their lingo, and discuss the fixed quiz show that is American presidential politics.
"Liberty," concludes Berger "is slowly being found not outside but in the depth of the prison."
Copyright © Edward Curtin, Global Research, 2019
Articles by: Edward Curtin


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Man fighting for life after horrific A19 smash
A man is fighting for life and three others are seriously injured after a horrifc crash on the A19 this morning
Friday, 13th October 2017, 3:26 pm
The Great North Air Ambulance at the scene of this morning's crash. Picture: GNAAS
The incident happened on the northbound carriageway at around 6.50am between Leven viaduct and the A174, involving a Vauxhall Insignia, a Ford Focus, a FordTransit van, a Renault truck and a Toyota Corolla.
The 54-year- old female driver of a black Vauxhall Insignia was taken to James Cook University Hospital. She is currently in a stable condition.
A male passenger travelling in the same vehicle suffered a broken arm and multiple internal injuries and was airlifted to James Cook University Hospital. He is currentlyin a critical condition.
A 21-year- old male driver from the Toyota Corolla was taken to James Cook University Hospital with a broken back.
The male drivers of the Ford Focus and the Renault Truck were checked over at the scene by paramedics and the male driver and passenger from the Ford Transit weretaken to hospital with leg injuries.
Officers closed the road whilst investigations took place into the incident.
Both carriageways were fully reopened at around 2pm.
Police say they would like to thank motorists for their patience whilst the incident was dealt with.
Anyone who may have seen the collision or anyone who may have sighted the black Vauxhall Insignia prior to the incident is asked to contact PC Ivan Hughes from the Cleveland and Durham Specialist Operations Unit, quoting event number 185526.


London, New York - December 04, 2018: Arachnys, the leader in Customer Risk Intelligence (CRI) solutions for Client Onboarding, Know Your Customer (KYC), Customer Due Diligence & Enhanced Due Diligence (CDD/EDD) and Anti Money Laundering (AML), today announced the launch of their CRI cloud-native platform.
Customer Risk Intelligence is an entirely new approach to Client Onboarding, KYC, CDD, EDD and AML investigative activities. It enhances the speed, accuracy and re-use of information for KYC and onboarding; uplifts the customer experience; accelerates revenue acquisition, streamlines compliance efforts and transforms investigative "know-how" into an institutional asset.
The capabilities inherent in the Arachnys Customer Risk Intelligence platform address rapidly changing market dynamics which are compelling financial institutions, around the world, to focus on five "must-do" initiatives: real-time money laundering interdiction, competitive differentiation with accelerated client onboarding, syndication of investigative knowledge, re-use of compliance data exhaust and analyst empowerment.
With Customer Risk Intelligence, financial institutions can trim weeks from onboarding times to drive topline revenue, avoid the sunk expense of AML remediation cost and dramatically increase investigative throughput by reducing false-positives and QA error rates.
The foundations for a firms' Customer Risk Intelligence platform are: a cloud-native solution suitable for global use; an entity-centric infrastructure and approach to compliance investigations; a curated online information library tailored to the firm's compliance policies and risk knowledge management capability for capturing, organizing and leveraging prior analyst work. Once in place, CRI harnesses and transforms a firm's institutional and people assets for competitive differentiation and true financial crime prevention.
Arachnys is a leader in Customer Risk Intelligence. We harness the world's information to empower the investigative minds that secure our world. Our cloud-native, customer risk intelligence platform enables financial institutions worldwide to thwart bad actors, reduce operational costs, accelerate topline revenue, decrease false positives and reduce rejection and error rates. It ensures a firm's KYC, AML and CDD capabilities support regulatory compliance demands. Arachnys' unique use of RPA and ML technologies garnered it a 2018 "KYC Category Leader" rating from Chartis Research and placed it in the Chartis RiskTech 100, which identifies and profiles the top 100 RiskTech global providers. The company also garnered its inaugural ranking in the RegTech 100. Arachnys is the newest member of the venture capital firm QED's portfolio.


Located in the heart of Bulcock Beach. This unit has great water views as well as views of the Glasshouse Mountains. With 2 spacious bedrooms it is perfect for a family of 4. Walking distance to transport, shops, restaurants and cafes. A patrolled swimming beach and great park is just a short stroll away.
This unit has recently undergone a few renovations. A fully self contained unit with a fully kitchen & Laundry. Very spacious bedrooms with1 Double bed in the main bedroomand 2 single beds in the 2 nd bedroom. There isaccess to the balcony from main bedroom and living room however you also have the option of rearbalcony.
The bathroom has a shower over the bath and shares the space with the laundry - The includes a washing machine and dryer.
This unit is tastefully decorated and will comfortably accommodate up to 4 guests. Located in the Heart of Bulcock Beach so everything is within walking distance.
Enjoy mountain and water views from the balcony, a great place to watch all the activity in the area.
Please Note: Linen and cleaning products are not supplied - We can assist you if you would like to hire packages. Please speak with our consultants when booking.


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Round Up Your Pals and Your Coziest Quilt for a Free Concert, Featuring the U.S. Army Field Band
This weekend, enjoy the Musical Ambassadors of the Army as they perform to serve and inspire the American people by telling the Army story and honoring our Soldiers and Veterans at home and abroad. Join in the fun at Miller Outdoor Theatre on November 3rd when the U.S. Army Field Band presents a Concert Band & Soldier's Chorus.
From Boston to Baghdad, Tampa to Toronto, The United States Army Field Band has been thrilling audiences of all ages for more than six decades. As the premier touring musical representative for the United States Army, this internationally-acclaimed organization travels thousands of miles each year presenting a variety of music to enthusiastic audiences throughout the nation and abroad.
Through these concerts, the Field Band fosters the support of the American people for members of the armed forces and supports diplomatic efforts around the world. The musical backgrounds of Soldiers' Chorus personnel range from opera and musical theatre to music education and vocal coaching; this diversity provides unique programming flexibility.
This versatility has earned the Soldiers' Chorus an international reputation for presenting musical excellence and inspiring patriotism. Critics have acclaimed recent appearances with the Boston Pops, the Cincinnati Pops, and the Atlanta, Dallas, Detroit, Nashville, and National symphony orchestras. Other notable performances include four world fairs, American Choral Directors Association conferences, music educator conventions, Kennedy Center Honors Programs, the 750th anniversary of Berlin, and the rededication of the Statue of Liberty.
Join the United States Army Field Band on Sunday for a very special concert event! Tickets are required for the covered seating area. Free tickets are available at the Miller Outdoor Theatre box office on the day of the performance. As always, there will be open seating on the hill. The show goes on rain or shine. For more information, visit www.milleroutdoortheatre.com.
Are you growing weary of life's monotony? This means you need to break away from your daily routine. The friendly management team at Westmount at London Park Apartments in Houston, Texas encourages you to add a little something special to your day by attending this event!
Sunday, November 3, 2019—6:00 PM
Miller Outdoor Theatre
6000 Hermann Park Drive


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Bahamas Information Services Updates
Ministry of Tourism Updates
Organization of American States (OAS)
News : International : Organization of American States (OAS) Last Updated: May 20, 2017 - 12:14:02 PM
Message from OAS Secretary General on Venezuela
By OAS
Desmond Tutu once said "If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor."
The boxer Archie Moore, referring to Muhammad Ali, also said, "He is a fighter who stands for something. He is a rights fighter also, like me. The man who stands neutral stands for nothing."
The beginning of this message is based on quotes from two people of African descent. That is very telling, because African descendants have struggled more than any other people against indifference and "neutrality" when faced with discrimination. The world of people of African descent has been the one that has had to face legal doctrines that justified discrimination and even slavery.
There is no room for so-called "neutrality", nor is it acceptable when it is based on ignoring repression, political prisoners, torture, hunger and the lack of separation of powers. This strange and convenient fiction cannot be called neutrality.
The more than 40 deaths that have taken place in Venezuela should never have happened. They are the tragic result of a regime that stubbornly refuses to recognize that the only viable solution to the crisis in the country are immediate general elections.
The Inter-American Community, along with the rest of the International Community will continue to insist that this is the only way to return democracy to the country.
The time has come to negotiate once and for all the return of democracy and to agree on the terms for its reestablishment.
It is time to build bridges; bridges between Venezuela and democracy, between the country and its constitution, between human rights and the Venezuelan people.
It's time for the regional community to help reach an agreement with the leaders of the regime for the reestablishment of the country's institutions and for the return of democracy to Venezuela. The previous dialogue failed because it didn´t take into account the need to return democracy to the country.
It will not be easy, but the principles of democracy and human rights will guide us and force us to continue working for the benefit of the people of Venezuela.
Because as Martin Luther King Jr. said, "The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy."
Grenada Assumes Chair of the Permanent Council
OAS Delivers Final Report on Electoral Reforms to the National Congress of Honduras
OAS Report Reveals 43% of Large Financial Institutions in Mexico Suffered Cyber Incidents in the Last Year
Ministers of Education of the Americas approve the plan of action of Antigua and Barbuda 2019
OAS and Amazon Agree to Empower Indigenous Youth in the Inter-American System


Great in town lot to build your home on located on a short cul-de-sac street. Convenient to everything histortic downtown Covington has to offer. Ride your golf cart to shopping, great restuarants and even concerts on the square. Enjoy downtown living evryday!
From downtown Covington take Floyd Street to right on Dearing Street, right on Linwood, Lot on left.
I am interested in 5186 Linwood Dr, Covington, GA 30014.


Collaborative procurement is emerging as a powerful means to tackle the costs and technical barriers to public investment in solar energy projects . However, upfront costs for high-quality solar potential assessments, RFP/RFQ development, and vendor evaluations prohibit many public entities from identifying and pursuing high-potential projects.
To help address this barrier and to unlock the power of collaborative procurement for the public sector, Strategic Energy Innovations (SEI) and Optony Inc. have created the SEED Fund, or the Solar Energy and Economic Development Fund, which a unique opt-in program to empower public agencies to evaluate and participate in a regional group purchase of municipal solar PV projects. A key feature of the program is that it leverages regional funding (e.g. grants, community investments) to defer upfront allocation of funds for project planning, site assessments, or procurement activities; rather these costs will be paid back through solar contracts that are developed with vendors to create a revolving fund for future work , so participants can fully evaluate their opportunities and costs before committing any resources.
SEED Fund Team: SEI and the SEED Fund Technical Service Provider Optony Inc. ; organize regional funding sources; provide technical and logistical support to facilitate participants' evaluation of solar potential; manage the procurement process and vendor evaluations; and oversee fund activities to maximize regional impact.
Coordinating Agency: One public agency who is committed to securing PV for their facilities and is willing work with the SEED Fund Team to develop and issue the RFP/ RFQ on behalf of themselves and the other regional participants.
PARTICIPANTS: Local governments, agencies, and schools who want to evaluate solar potential and who may want to participate in the collaborative procurement to reduce their energy costs while improving the regional environment and economy.
CPUC Press Release – List of grant awardees from the California Public Utilities Commission. Click here to view the announcement.
Project Overview Presentation – Slide-deck presentation of the SEED Fund project background and goals, in addition to benefits of collaborative solar procurement. Click here to download.
SEED Fund Benefits and Savings – Explanations and examples of how the SEED Fund provides financial benefits to all participants. Click here to download.
Finance Workshop Presentation – Full presentation from SEED Fund Workshop: Solar Project Financing & Economics Discussion. Please enter your contact information here to receive an electronic copy of this document.
PV Carport Examples – Compilation of solar carport installation photos. Please enter your contact information here to receive an electronic copy of this document.
Technical Workshop Presentation – Full presentation from SEED Fund Workshop: Solar Project Installation and Technical Considerations. Please enter your contact information here to receive an electronic copy of this document.
 See World Resources Institute's 2012 publication "Purchasing Power: Best Practices Guide to Collaborative Solar Procurement" here.
 SEED Fund Participation costs are estimated at 1-2% of total Solar project costs, and Project Cost savings from participation are estimated at 10-12% of total solar project costs, resulting in a net cost savings estimate of 8-11% for participants.
 Strategic Energy Innovations, is a non-profit organization dedicated to reducing pollution and saving money through energy and resource efficiency. Optony Inc. is an independent solar consulting firm specializing in supporting public and private solar programs and projects and helped to pioneer this collaborative approach.


Voting by NBA's 29 head coaches, who cannot vote for players on their team. Each ballot has entries for two five-man teams, regardless of position; two points given for 1st team, one for 2nd. First team votes in parentheses.


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J. R. R. Tolkien quotes and sayings
Novelist | Born: January 3, 1892 - Died: September 2, 1973
Don't dip your beard in the foam, Father!" They cried to Thorin. "It is long enough without watering it!
Why must you speak your thoughts? Silence, if fair words stick in your throat, would serve all our ends better.
Thus Aragorn for the first time in the full light of day beheld owyn, Lady of Rohan, and thought her fair, fair and cold, like a morning of pale spring that is not yet come to womanhood. And she was now suddenly aware of him: tall heir of kings, wise with many winters, greycloaked, hiding a power that yet she felt. For a moment still as stone she stood, then turning swiftly she was gone.
Fantasy is escapist, and that is its glory. If a soldier is imprisioned by the enemy, don't we consider it his duty to escape?. . .If we value the freedom of mind and soul, if we're partisans of liberty, then it's our plain duty to escape, and to take as many people with us as we can!
There are other men, and other lives, and time still to be.
Is it nice, my preciousss? Is it juicy? Is it scrumptiously crunchable?
Under the Mountain dark and tall The King has come unto his hall! His foe is dead, the Worm of Dread, And ever so his foes shall fall. The sword is sharp, the spear is long, The arrow swift, the Gate is strong; The heart is bold that looks on gold; The dwarves no more shall suffer wrong. The dwarves of yore made mighty spells, While hammers fells like ringing bells In places deep, where dark things sleep, In hollow halls beneath the fells. -from The Hobbit.
The world is full enough of hurts and mischances without wars to multiply them.
But the only measure that he knows is desire desire for power and so he judges all hearts. Into his heart the thought will not enter that any will refuse it that having the Ring we may seek to destroy it. If we seek this we shall put him out of reckoning.
It is plain indeed that in spite of later estrangement Hobbits are relatives of ours: far nearer to us than Elves, or even than Dwarves. Of old they spoke the languages of Men, after their own fashion, and liked and disliked much the same things as Men did. But what exactly our relationship is can no longer be discovered.
Don't the great tales never end?" "No, they never end as tales," said Frodo. "But the people in them come, and go when their part's ended. Our part will end later or sooner.
It is the way of my people to use light words at such times and say less than they mean. We fear to say too much. It robs us of the right words when a jest is out of place.
I will not give you counsel, saying do this, or do that. For not in doing or contriving, nor in choosing between this course and another, can I avail; but only in knowing what was and is, and in part also what shall be.
Goodbye, master, my dear! Forgive your Sam. He'll come back to this spot when the job's done - if he manages it. And then he'll not leave you again. Rest you quiet till I come; and may no foul creature come anigh you! And if the Lady could hear me and give me one wish, I would wish to come back and find you again. Good bye!
The only just literary critic," he concluded, "is Christ, who admires more than does any man the gifts He Himself has bestowed.
A sister they had, Galadriel, most beautiful of all the house of Finw; her hair was lit with gold as though it had caught in a mesh the radiance of Laurelin.
What does your heart tell you?
Fear both the heat and the cold of your heart, and try to have patience, if you can.
This of course is the way to talk to dragons, if you don't want to reveal your proper name which is wise, and don't want to infuriate them by a flat refusal which is also very wise. No dragon can resist the fascination of riddling talk and of wasting time to trying to understand it.
At my age I'm exactly the kind of person who has lived through one of the most quickly changing periods known to history. Surely there could never be in seventy years so much change.
A traitor may betray himself and do good he does not intend.
It is wisdom to recognize necessity when all other courses have been weighed, though as folly it may appear to those who cling to false hope.
On two chairs beneath the bole of the tree and canopied by a living bough there sat, side by side, Celeborn and Galadriel... Very tall they were, and the Lady no less tall than the Lord; and they were grave and beautiful. They were clad wholly in white; and the hair of the Lady was of deep gold, and the hair of the Lord Celeborn was of silver long and bright; but no sign of age was upon them, unless it were in the depths of their eyes; for these were keen as lances in the starlight, and yet profound, the wells of deep memory.
Books ought to have good endings.How would this do: and they all settled down and lived together happily ever after?
Moonlight drowns out all but the brightest stars.
A new day will come. And when the sun shines it will shine out the clearer.
There are many powers in the world, for good or for evil. Some are greater than I am. Against some I have not yet been measured. But my time is coming.
For so sworn good or evil an oath may not be broken and it shall pursue oathkeeper and oathbreaker to the world's end.
You may not like my burglar, but please don't damage him.
It's the job that's never started as takes longest to finish.
Adventures are not all pony-rides in May-sunshine.
But fear no more! I would not take this thing, if it lay by the highway. Not were Minas Tirith falling in ruin and I alone could save her, so, using the weapon of the Dark Lord for her good and my glory. No, I do not wish for such triumphs, Frodo son of Drogo.
it was easier to believe in the Dragon and less easy to believe in Thorin in these wild parts.
Go back! Fall into the nothingness that awaits you and your Master.
Faithless is he that says farewell when the road darkens.
Venice seemed incredibly lovely, elvishly lovely--to me like a dream of Old Gondor, or Pelargir of the Numenorean Ships, before the return of the Shadow.
Stand by the grey stone when the thrush knocks, and the setting sun with the last light of Durin's Day will shine upon the key-hole.
Dear me! We Tooks and Brandybucks, we can't live long on the heights.' 'No,' said Merry. 'I can't. Not yet, at any rate. But at least, Pippin, we can now see them, and honor them. It is best to love first what you are fitted to love, I suppose: you must start somewhere and have some roots, and the soil of the Shire is deep. Still there are things deeper and higher; and not a gaffer could tend his garden in what he calls peace but for them, whether he knows about them or not.
The road must be trod, but it will be very hard. And neither strength nor wisdom will carry us far upon it. This quest may be attempted by the weak with as much hope as the strong. Yet it is oft the course of deeds that move the wheels of the world: Small hands do them because they must, while the eyes of the great are elsewhere.
It is not our part to master all the tides of the world, but to do what is in us for the succour of those years wherein we are set, uprooting the evil in the fields that we know, so that those who live after may have clean earth to till. What weather they shall have is not ours to rule.
Home is behind, the world ahead, And there are many paths to tread Through shadows to the edge of night, Until the stars are all alight. Then world behind and home ahead, We'll wander back and home to bed. Mist and twilight, cloud and shade, Away shall fade! Away shall fade!
We are lost, lost,' said Gollum. 'No name, no business, no Precious, nothing. Only empty. Only hungry; yes, we are hungry. A few little fishes, nasty bony little fishes, for a poor creature, and they say death. So wise they are; so just, so very just.
You are a set of deceitful scoundrels! But bless you! I give in. I will take Gildor's advice. If the danger were not so dark, I should dance for joy. Even so, I cannot help feeling happy; happier than I have felt for a long time.
It needs but one foe to breed a war, and those who have not swords can still die upon them.
A red sun rises. Blood has been spilled this night.
My dear Frodo!' exclaimed Gandalf. 'Hobbits really are amazing creatures, as I have said before. You can learn all that there is to know about their ways in a month, and yet after a hundred years they can still surprise you at a pinch.
Eomer said, 'How is a man to judge what to do in such times?' As he has ever judged,' said Aragorn. 'Good and evil have not changed since yesteryear, nor are they one thing among Elves and another among Men. It is a man's part to discern them, as much in the Golden Wood as in his own house.
A man that flies from his fear may find that he has only taken a short cut to meet it.
But who knows what she spoke to the darkness, alone, in the bitter watches of the night, when all her life seemed shrinking, and the walls of her bower closing in about her, a hutch to trammel some wild thing in?
And what do you wish?' he said at last. 'That what should be shall be,' she answered.
If you're referring to the incident with the dragon, I was barely involved. All I did was give your uncle a little nudge out of the door.
A single dream is more powerful than a thousand realities.
The eyes were hollow and the carven head was broken, but about the high, stern forehead there was a coronal of silver and gold. A trailing plant with flowers like white stars had bound itself across the brows as if in reverence for the fallen king, and in the crevices of his stony hair yellow stonecrop gleamed. "They cannot conquer for ever!" said Frodo.
American English is essentially English after having been wiped off with a dirty sponge.
Where there are so many, all speech becomes a debate without end. But two together may perhaps find wisdom.
War must be, while we defend our lives against a destroyer who would devour all; but I do not love the bright sword for its sharpness, nor the arrow for its swiftness, nor the warrior for his glory. I love only that which they defend.
We meet again, at the turn of the tide. A great storm is coming, but the tide has turned.
Touching your cap to the Squire may be damn bad for the Squire, but it's damn good for you.
The Sword of Elendil was forged anew by Elvish smiths, and on its blade was traced a device of seven stars set between the crescent Moon and rayed Sun, and about them was written many runes; for Aragorn son of Arathorn was going to war upon the marches of Mordor. Very bright was that sword when it was made whole again; the light of the sun shone redly in it, and the light of the moon shone cold, its edge was hard and keen. And Aragorn gave it a new name and called it Andril, Flame of the West.
Their horses were of great stature, strong and clean-limbed; their gray coats glistened, their long tails flowed in the wind, their manes were braided on their proud necks.
O Elbereth! Gilthoniel! We still remember, we who dwell In this far land beneath the trees. Thy starlight on the Western Seas.
I should have said Welsh has always attracted me. By its style and sound more than any other, ever though I first only saw it on coal trucks, I always wanted to know what it was about.
Mercy!" cried Gandalf. "If the giving of knowledge is to be the cure of your inquisitiveness, I shall spend all the rest of my days in answering you. What more should you like to know?" "The names of all the stars, and of all living things, and the whole history of Middle-Earth and Over-heave and of the Sundering Seas," laughed Pippin. "Of course! What less?
A story must be told or there'll be no story, yet it is the untold stories that are most moving.
Home is now behind you, the world is ahead!
Middle English is an exciting field - almost uncharted, I begin to think, because as soon as one turns detailed personal attention on to any little corner of it, the received notions and ideas seem to crumple up and fall to pieces - as far as language goes, at any rate.
All my own small perception of beauty both in majesty and simplicity is founded.
There are truths, that are beyond us, transcendent truths, about beauty, truth, honor, etc. There are truths that man knows exist, but they cannot be seen - they are immaterial, but no less real, to us. It is only through the language of myth that we can speak of these truths.
And long there he lay, an image of the splendour of the Kings of Men in glory undimmed before the breaking of the world.
Then Aragorn stooped and looked in her face, and it was indeed white as a lily, cold as frost, and hard as graven stone. But he bent and kissed her on the brow, and called her softly, saying: 'owyn omund's daughter, awake! For your enemy has passed away!' - Aragorn and owyn.
There was a deep silence, only scraped on its surfaces by the faint quiver of empty seed-plumes, and broken grass-blades trembling in small air-movements they could not feel. 'Not a bird!' said Sam mournfully. 'No, no birds,' said Gollum. 'Nice birds!' He licked his teeth. 'No birds here. There are snakeses, wormses, things in the pools. Lots of things, lots of nasty things. No birds,' he ended sadly. Sam looked at him with distaste.
I'm in a position where it doesn't matter what people think of me now.
Human stories are practically always about one thing, really, aren't they? Death. The inevitability of death. . . . . . 'There is no such thing as a natural death. Nothing that ever happens to man is natural, since his presence calls the whole world into question. All men must die, but for every man his death is an accident, and even if he knows it he would sense to it an unjustifiable violation.' Well, you may agree with the words or not, but those are the key spring of The Lord Of The Rings.
There is more in you of good than you know, child of the kindly West. Some courage and some wisdom, blended in measure. If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world.
Splendid! They used to go up like great lilies and snapdragons and laburnums of fire and hang in the twilight all evening!
Then holding the star aloft and the bright sword advanced, Frodo, hobbit of the Shire, walked steadily down to meet the eyes.
I was talking aloud to myself. A habit of the old: they choose the wisest person present to speak to.
"We will make such a chase as shall be accounted a marvel among the Three Kindreds: Elves, Dwarves and Men. Forth the Three Hunters!" Like a deer he sprang away. Through the trees he sped. On and on he led them, tireless and swift, now that his mind was at last made up. The woods about the lake they left behind. Long slopes they climbed, dark, hard-edged against the sky already red with sunset. They passed away, grey shadows in a stony land.
Sam, clinging to Frodo's arm, collapsed on a step in the black darkness. 'Poor old Bill!' he said in a choking voice. 'Poor old Bill! Wolves and snakes! But the snakes were too much for him. I had to choose, Mr. Frodo. I had to come with you.
What really happens is that the story-maker proves a successful 'sub-creator'. He makes a Secondary World which your mind can enter. Inside it, what he relates is 'true': it accords with the laws of that world. You therefore believe it, while you are, as it were, inside. The moment disbelief arises, the spell is broken; the magic, or rather art, has failed. You are then out in the Primary World again, looking at the little abortive Secondary World from outside.
For Isildur would not surrender it to Elrond and Crdan who stood by. They counselled him to cast it into the fire of Orodruin night at hand... But Isildur refused this counsel, saying: 'This I will have as weregild for my father's death, and my brother's. Was it not I that dealt the Enemy his death-blow?' And the Ring that he held seemed to him exceedingly fair to look on; and he would not suffer it to be destroyed.
I will not walk backward in life.
And thou, Melkor, shalt see that no theme may be played that hath not its uttermost source in me, nor can any alter the music in my despite. For he that attempteth this shall prove but mine instrument in the devising of things more wonderful, which he himself hath not imagined.
He found himself wondering at times, especially in the autumn, about the wild lands, and strange visions of mountains that he had never seen came into his dreams.
No taste of food, no feel of water, no sound of wind, no memory of tree or grass or flower, no image of moon or star are left to me. I am naked in the dark, Sam, and there is no veil between me and the wheel of fire. I begin to see it even with my waking eyes, and all else fades.
Ho! Tom Bombadil, Tom Bombadillo! By water, wood and hill, by reed and willow, By fire, sun and moon, harken now and hear us! Come, Tom Bombadil, for our need is near us!
Paulo Coelho (1965) Charles Dickens (1100) Chuck Palahniuk (1046) Leo Tolstoy (917) Margaret Atwood (880) Suzanne Collins (805) Ernest Hemingway (781) J. R. R. Tolkien (744) Aldous Huxley (678) Honore de Balzac (664) Fyodor Dostoevsky (656) Salman Rushdie (636) Elizabeth Gilbert (614) Gore Vidal (581) Jeanette Winterson (557) Elie Wiesel (544) Herman Melville (512) Ilona Andrews (508) John Updike (476) J.R. Ward (467) Miguel de Cervantes (462) Jack Kerouac (459) Joyce Carol Oates (458) Erica Jong (447) Barbara Kingsolver (446) Hermann Hesse (436) Toni Morrison (426) Anne Rice (424) Madeleine L'Engle (417) Khaled Hosseini (416)


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