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The longtime leaders of North Carolina's top public school agency are questioning the depth and the cost of a newly-released organizational review that calls for a "transformation" in the N.C. Department of Public Instruction.
Consultants with Ernst & Young conducted the agency review over a period of 12 weeks this year, after state Superintendent Mark Johnson asked for and received a $1 million budget allocation from state legislators last year to audit DPI.
The results, released in a 106-page report to the State Board of Education on Tuesday of this week, outline 18 recommendations that would theoretically save the agency an estimated $5 million, provided the department invests $4 million in updated business systems, "streamlined" support for local school districts and consolidation of the department's information technology work, according to the global consulting firm.
The report prompted Johnson and state board members, in an unusual sign of unity, to call on lawmakers to delay more than $5 million in cuts that are currently budgeted for the agency in the upcoming fiscal year, on top of $22 million in cuts since 2009.
Those cuts, according to the state board's report to the legislature, will "prevent the strategic implementation of thoughtful changes" yielded by this year's work.
Yet many of the necessary DPI improvements listed in the review—a tendency to work in fragmented "silos," lackluster regional support for school systems and rising turnover—can be attributed to those deep legislative cuts, according to former state Superintendent June Atkinson and the department's longtime finance chief, Philip Price.
Among its recommendations, the firm said DPI should create a central, data repository; redesign the budget process to get more input from division heads; and speed a "slow" state hiring and contracting process that's left many lingering vacancies, among others.
The report also suggested moving the department's IT services to the state's IT office, although some suggested that an estimated $4 million in DPI savings that would result from the move would represent more of a "cost shift" than a savings.
Despite its relatively modest financial impact, the review could have weighty implications for DPI, which manages a $9 billion, K-12 budget and provides support for North Carolina's 115 local school districts. That support includes professional development and intervention in poor and struggling school districts.
Chris Librizzi, a managing director for Ernst & Young who helped to lead the organizational review, said this week that the firm kept an "open mind" when considering the financial implications for DPI, although state lawmakers last year took the unusual step of budgeting $1 million in expected cuts from the audit for the coming year.
Librizzi did not respond when asked if the firm considered areas in the department that were underfunded by the state legislature, a frequent criticism of the Republican-controlled General Assembly by leaders like Atkinson, who served as state superintendent from 2004 through 2016.
Price, who retired last year after more than 30 years in DPI finance, agreed. "It does make you question the ($975,000) price," he wrote to Policy Watch in an email.
For comparison, Price said an organizational review of DPI, the state board and the superintendent's office in 2008 and 2009 cost $170,000.
"This has the potential to represent a real transformation of the agency for the benefit of educators and students," said Librizzi.
Not all of the review was critical of the state agency. Librizzi said teachers, administrators and superintendents in local school districts value the agency's support, adding that it's particularly key in poor and rural districts without the local funding to provide necessary professional development.
State board members approved Ernst & Young's review Thursday and sent it on to state lawmakers. They also agreed to launch a "transformation" office and committee to lead implementation of the assessment's recommendations.
Board Chairman Bill Cobey declined to comment on the organizational review, but he applauded Johnson's agreement with the board that next year's departmental cuts would be counter-productive.
Yet DPI leaders and some state board members have long argued those efforts are hamstrung by legislative cuts, while some Republican lawmakers accuse the agency of inefficiencies and bloat. DPI's work is mostly considered non-partisan, but Republican legislators frequently clashed publicly with the department when it was under the control of Atkinson, a Democrat.
Meanwhile, there's been palpable tension over agency cuts between board members and Johnson, a Republican who was relatively quiet last year while the GOP-dominated legislature passed down another round of budget reductions, even as he sought funding for an audit.
The superintendent's office did not respond to Policy Watch requests for an in-depth discussion of the Ernst & Young report, which did not assess the still fledgling Innovative School District, the state's licensure division or its virtual public schools, which were excluded from the review by DPI.
Tricia Willoughby is a former teacher and ex-DPI superintendent who now sits on the State Board of Education. This week, she questioned whether the organizational review also took on the alignment of senior leadership at the department, meaning Johnson's office. Willoughby said she never received an answer to that question.
Board members have publicly chafed at divisions between DPI staff and Johnson's office, which received funding from lawmakers last year to hire workers that report directly to him and not to the state board. For example, Johnson's employs a communications spokesperson who operates separately from DPI's communications office.
It's a change from Atkinson's days, when DPI spokespersons represented the superintendent's office, the department and the board.
Willoughby also pointed to state cuts for some of the deficiencies noted in the Ernst & Young report. In particular, she said a recommendation to create an "end-to-end talent division" aimed at supporting teachers comes after legislators' cuts forced the agency to eliminate a position for a director of educator effectiveness in recent years.
Meanwhile, Atkinson said the "biggest problem" with the report is time. The ex-superintendent, who lost a surprise 2016 election to Johnson amid a tide of Republican electoral wins, said the speed of the review hampered Ernst & Young's work, even though the firm's representatives did not comment on whether the time frame was a factor.
Last year's budget required an "organizational, functional and business-process audit" report by May 1, although some, including Atkinson and Cobey, suggested Johnson's office moved too slowly in finding a vendor to perform the work. The department wasn't able to sign a contract with the firm until early 2018.
Indeed, Atkinson pointed out that the firm interviewed just 14 teachers across North Carolina during its review.
The organizational review's recommendations, as well as the board's message to state lawmakers, can be read in their entirety on the State Board of Education's site.


text:
// Provides class sap.ui.dt.plugin.ControlDragDrop.
sap.ui.define(['sap/ui/dt/plugin/DragDrop', 'sap/ui/dt/plugin/ElementMover', 'sap/ui/dt/ElementUtil'], function(
		DragDrop, ElementMover, ElementUtil) {
	"use strict";

	/**
	 * Constructor for a new ControlDragDrop.
	 *
	 * @param {string}
	 *          [sId] id for the new object, generated automatically if no id is given
	 * @param {object}
	 *          [mSettings] initial settings for the new object
	 * @class The ControlDragDrop enables D&D functionality for the overlays based on aggregation types
	 * @extends sap.ui.dt.plugin.DragDrop"
	 * @author SAP SE
	 * @version 1.42.8
	 * @constructor
	 * @private
	 * @since 1.30
	 * @alias sap.ui.dt.plugin.ControlDragDrop
	 * @experimental Since 1.30. This class is experimental and provides only limited functionality. Also the API might be
	 *               changed in future.
	 */
	var ControlDragDrop = DragDrop.extend("sap.ui.dt.plugin.ControlDragDrop", /** @lends sap.ui.dt.plugin.ControlDragDrop.prototype */
	{
		metadata : {
			// ---- object ----

			// ---- control specific ----
			library : "sap.ui.dt",
			properties : {
				draggableTypes : {
					type : "string[]",
					defaultValue : ["sap.ui.core.Element"]
				},
				elementMover : {
					type : "sap.ui.dt.plugin.ElementMover"
				}
			},
			associations : {},
			events : {
				elementMoved : {}
			}
		}
	});

	var sDROP_ZONE_STYLE = "sapUiDtOverlayDropZone";

	ControlDragDrop.prototype.init = function() {
		DragDrop.prototype.init.apply(this, arguments);
		this.setElementMover(new ElementMover());
	};

	/**
	 * @override
	 */
	ControlDragDrop.prototype.setElementMover = function(oNewElementMover) {
		var oOldMover = this.getElementMover();
		if (oOldMover !== oNewElementMover) {
			if (oOldMover) {
				oOldMover.destroy();
			}
			this.setProperty("elementMover", oNewElementMover);
		}
	};

	/**
	 * @override
	 */
	ControlDragDrop.prototype.setDraggableTypes = function(aDraggableTypes) {
		this.getElementMover().setMovableTypes(aDraggableTypes);
		return this.setProperty("draggableTypes", aDraggableTypes);
	};

	/**
	 * @override
	 */
	ControlDragDrop.prototype.registerElementOverlay = function(oOverlay) {
		DragDrop.prototype.registerElementOverlay.apply(this, arguments);
		var oElement = oOverlay.getElementInstance();
		if (this.getElementMover().isMovableType(oElement) && this.getElementMover().checkMovable(oOverlay)) {
			oOverlay.setMovable(true);
		}

		if (this.oDraggedElement) {
			this.getElementMover().activateTargetZonesFor(oOverlay, sDROP_ZONE_STYLE);
		}
	};

	/**
	 * @override
	 */
	ControlDragDrop.prototype.deregisterElementOverlay = function(oOverlay) {
		DragDrop.prototype.deregisterElementOverlay.apply(this, arguments);
		oOverlay.setMovable(false);

		if (this.oDraggedElement) {
			this.getElementMover().deactivateTargetZonesFor(oOverlay, sDROP_ZONE_STYLE);
		}
	};

	/**
	 * returns the dragged overlay (only during drag&drop)
	 *
	 * @public
	 * @return {sap.ui.dt.Overlay} overlays which is dragged
	 */
	ControlDragDrop.prototype.getDraggedOverlay = function() {
		return this._oDraggedOverlay;
	};

	/**
	 * @override
	 */
	ControlDragDrop.prototype.onDragStart = function(oOverlay, oEvent) {
		this._oDraggedOverlay = oOverlay;
		this.getElementMover().setMovedOverlay(oOverlay);

		this.getElementMover().activateAllValidTargetZones(this.getDesignTime(), sDROP_ZONE_STYLE);
	};

	/**
	 * @override
	 */
	ControlDragDrop.prototype.onDragEnd = function(oOverlay) {
		this.fireElementModified({
			"command" : this.getElementMover().buildMoveEvent()
		});
		delete this._oPreviousTarget;
		this.getElementMover().deactivateAllTargetZones(this.getDesignTime(), sDROP_ZONE_STYLE);
		delete this._oDraggedOverlay;
		this.getElementMover().setMovedOverlay(null);
	};

	/**
	 * @override
	 */
	ControlDragDrop.prototype.onDragEnter = function(oTargetOverlay, oEvent) {
		var oDraggedOverlay = this.getDraggedOverlay();
		if (oTargetOverlay.getElementInstance() !== oDraggedOverlay.getElementInstance()
				&& oTargetOverlay !== this._oPreviousTarget) {
			this.getElementMover().repositionOn(oDraggedOverlay, oTargetOverlay);
		}
		this._oPreviousTarget = oTargetOverlay;
	};

	/**
	 * @override
	 */
	ControlDragDrop.prototype.onAggregationDragEnter = function(oAggregationOverlay) {
		delete this._oPreviousTarget;

		var oDraggedOverlay = this.getDraggedOverlay();
		this.getElementMover().insertInto(oDraggedOverlay, oAggregationOverlay);
	};

	return ControlDragDrop;
}, /* bExport= */true);

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
Q: Using cypress to read the dom and create an array data structure for each of the rows Please take a look this image. Want to know how could I do this using cypress?

A: You can use something like this depending on what exactly are you looking for:
cy.get('table')
  .find('tbody tr')
  .then(trs => {
    const content = [];
    Cypress.$(trs).each((_, tr) => {
      const row = [];
      const tds = Cypress.$(tr).find('td');
      Cypress.$(tds).each((_, td) => {
        const text = Cypress.$(td)
          .contents()
          .last()
          .text();
        row.push(text);
      });
      content.push(row);
    });

    console.log(content);
  });

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


Both of us feel time moves kind of slow for the past few weeks. We could actually counts to the second yet it doesn't seem to move any faster.
Perhaps because the lack of activities and also the limited nature of things what we could do at the moment.
I can't even remember when was the last time we hang out at Titiwangsa for a jog.
When was last time we go out sight seeing? Maybe at Botanical Garden, Putrajaya.
We could use a good time for rest though.
There are 9 missed call from this one number but I didn't realized as my phone was on silent.
After posting the sober post just now, a number appeared calling my cell.
He called using public phone and told that he called me few times before.
We talked for about 2 minutes and he told me he's been exempted from PLKN after medical check up today. Turns out, his history of asthma didn't passed him to go through the activities.
B nak balik, yey! B nak balik, yey!
My other half went to PLKN Serdang last Saturday. I thought I will be fine without him away, as if he used to go outstation for few days before this.
I teared up at the moment I reached home and saw his towel hanging at the corner of the bed.
The first night was okay as I manage to sleep well and didn't think much about it. Maybe I am just tired for a long journey that day.
The next day, I was left alone (almost) entire day. Angah back and fourth settling Acik's going back to her hostel - buying some groceries and running some errands for us.
I completely sober the whole day.
Turns out they only allowed handphones during weekends.
Thinking about I will not hear any of his voice, nor his news of what's happening on his side.
He left someone else phone numbers, in case of emergency.
I hardly sleep last night. Went out of bed after almost an hour trying and went to sleep with Angah, but don't want to disturb her. Going back to our room and trying again. Well, I did sleep but wakes up almost every hour.
Oh, I miss him miserably.
I am just flattered ^_^ cause I didn't expect it impact her so much.
I have a friend who can't understand why people eat Nasi Lemak with ayam goreng or rendang or paru etc. because for her, Nasi Lemak is originated with rice and sambal while eggs, cucumber and peanuts is the side dish. She told me that eating Nasi Lemak with those heavy meat would disturb the taste. She really makes fuss over it. Haha.
Anyway, it's almost impossible to find nyummy Nasi Lemak with price RM1 but I do know there's one stall selling it at Kampung Baru. It's open after Maghrib and selling very fast.
As it just seringgit, so dont expect the size is plenty as normal Nasi Lemak you bought. But the smell..umphh...enough to make your mouth watery :P Sedap tau. I guarantee one is not enough.
Kampung Baru is big but if you know where Petronas Kampung Baru is, then it is easier for me to navigate. If you are coming from Jalan Tun Razak, there's one alley, Jalan Raja Uda 1, before Petronas (which is on your left). Take the road along till the end and turn right to Jalan Raja Uda. You'll see small stall right after it on your left.


text:
Hematopoietic stem cells play key focus of stem-cell-based medical research
Feb 2 2022Reviewed by Emily Henderson, B.Sc.
According to a recent study by Weill Cornell Medicine researchers, a protein that controls how DNA is wrapped within chromosomes plays a key role in the proper functioning of blood stem cells, which create all of the body's blood cells.
Illustration of red and white blood cells. Image Credit: Shutterstock.
In plants, mammals, and most other species, the protein—known as histone H3.3—arranges the spool-like structures around which DNA is coiled. Histones allow DNA to be securely compacted and function as platforms for epigenetic changes, which loosen or tighten the bundled DNA to govern local gene activity.
H3.3's involvement in blood stem cells, commonly known as hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs), was investigated in the study, which was published on December 27th, 2021, in the journal Nature Cell Biology.
HSCs are a significant focus of attempts to create stem-cell-based therapy. Most HSCs remain in a stem-like, uncommitted condition where they can survive indefinitely while slowly self-renewing, while some HSCs develop or "differentiate" to create all of the different lineage-specific blood cell types.
H3.3 is required for both processes, according to the research, and removing it from HSCs resulted in decreased HSC survival, an imbalance in the kinds of blood cells generated by the HSCs and other defects.
"How hematopoietic stem cells coordinate their self-renewal and differentiation into various blood cell types in a balanced way has been a mystery to a great extent, but this study helps us understand those processes much better at the molecular level and gives us many new clues to pursue in further investigations," stated study co-senior author Dr Shahin Rafii.
Dr Shahin Rafii is the director of the Ansary Stem Cell Institute, chief of the Division of Regenerative Medicine and the Arthur B. Belfer Professor in Genetic Medicine at Weill Cornell Medicine.
Dr Ying Liu and Dr Peipei Guo, both senior instructors in the Rafii Laboratory, were co-first and co-senior authors, as was co-senior author Dr Duancheng Wen, assistant professor of reproductive medicine research in obstetrics and gynecology, and co-author Dr Steven Josefowicz, assistant professor of pathology and laboratory medicine and a member of the Sandra and Edward Meyer Cancer Center, all from Weill Cornell Medicine.
Because of their relevance in health and disease, as well as their promise in regenerative therapy, HSCs are among the most researched stem cells. From red blood cells and platelets to T cells, B cells, and pathogen-engulfing macrophages, a single HSC may give rise to all sorts of blood cells.
A deeper knowledge of how HSCs function might lead to a variety of uses, such as lab-grown blood for transfusions and improved HSC transplants for cancer patients. Furthermore, better understanding how HSCs become leukemias when they acquire aberrant mutations might lead to the development of novel treatments for these often-refractory cancers.
In recent years, biologists have been more interested in H3.3, as evidence of its involvement in HSCs and other stem cells—as well as its participation in many cancers when mutated—has accumulated. However, it is unclear what histone H3.3 performs in HSCs and other cell types where it is found.
Added to the complexity of this project, is that two different genes (H3.3A and H3.3B) code for the same H3.3 protein. Therefore, we had to painstakingly delete both genes in mice by genetic engineering, a herculean task that required a great deal of genetic manipulation of stem cells."
Dr Duancheng Wen, Study Co-Senior Author and Assistant Professor, Reproductive Medicine Research in Obstetrics and Gynecology, Weill Cornell Medicine
"Our powerful mouse model allows inducible and complete deletion of the H3.3 protein in all organs, or specific types of organs, at selected developmental stage of a mouse," stated Dr Liu, who is also a research associate in Dr Rafii's lab.
"Employing this approach, we showed that H3.3's absence in adulthood primarily causes a depletion of the long-term, self-renewing HSCs on which future blood-cell production depends. At the same time, affected HSCs differentiated into mature blood cell types with an abnormal skew or bias towards certain types of white blood cell, including granulocytes and macrophages."
"Most importantly, we found evidence that H3.3 has its effects on HSCs in part by anchoring several key epigenetic marks at developmental genes and endogenous retroviruses (ERVs), which are remnants of viruses that once inscribed themselves into our distant evolutionary ancestors' DNA," explained Dr Liu.
One intriguing observation was that H3.3's deletion caused the loss of epigenetic marks that normally suppress ERVs, which led in turn to the activation of an inflammatory response in affected cells, and then drove the cells' skewed production of blood cell types—a skew that is similar to what is seen in some leukemias."
Dr Peipei Guo, Study Co-Senior Author and Senior Instructor, Weill Cornell Medicine
H3.3 appears to be acting as a master regulator of self-renewal and differentiation in HSCs—which is wild, and hints at a very broad potential as a therapeutic target someday."
Andrew Daman, Study Co-Author and Doctoral Candidate, Weill Cornell Graduate School of Medical Sciences
Andrew Daman is a doctoral candidate at Josefowicz laboratory.
"Our take-home message is that normal blood cell development requires the proper epigenetic regulation provided by H3.3," says Dr Liu.
The researchers are now planning additional research in HSCs and other cell types to learn more about how H3.3 works and what happens when it is not there. More crucially, finding methods to track the H3.3 command of the epigenetic landscape might help them raise blood production more effectively.
"Finally, our team is investigating how H3.3 controls the function of the nurturing niche cells, such as blood vessels that orchestrate stem cell self-renewal and possibly block the emergence of malignancies such as leukemias," concluded Dr. Rafii, who is also a member of the Meyer Cancer Center.
Guo, P., et al. (2022) Histone variant H3.3 maintains adult hematopoietic stem cell homeostasis by enforcing chromatin adaptability. Nature Cell Biology. doi.org/10.1038/s41556-021-00795-7.
Posted in: Cell Biology | Life Sciences News
Tags: Blood, Blood Vessels, Cancer, Cell, Cell Biology, Cell Development, Cell Production, DNA, Gene, Genes, Genetic, Genetic Engineering, Gynecology, Histones, Laboratory, Medical Research, Medicine, Obstetrics, Pathogen, Pathology, Platelets, Protein, Red Blood Cells, Research, Stem Cells, White Blood Cell
TTP introduces Cellular Origins, a TTP Company focussed on delivering scalable manufacture of cell and gene therapies
New insights into cell health and disease
Novel blood biomarker predicts a favorable response to CART cell therapy
Analyzing the success rate of cell-cell metabolite exchange
Living "bio-solar cell" runs on photosynthesis
Researchers discover new transporter for recycling of bacterial cell wall
Grasping how a biological pathway causes stem cells to regenerate or die
Researchers study how cells use their sense of touch to make decisions during embryogenesis

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Home » DMS Newsroom Content » Digital Media Solutions Launches DMS Education, the Unification of a Portfolio of Industry-Leading, Legacy Higher Education Marketing Brands
Digital Media Solutions Launches DMS Education, the Unification of a Portfolio of Industry-Leading, Legacy Higher Education Marketing Brands
September 27, 2018 Digital Media Solutions
Clearwater, FL – September 27, 2018— Digital Media Solutions, LLC (DMS), the fastest-growing independent agency focused on performance marketing, announced the launch of DMS Education. Described as the "culmination of significant strategic investments," by COO of DMS Fernando Borghese, DMS Education is the product of organic growth and the unification of a robust portfolio of industry-leading lead generation companies acquired by DMS, including Avenue 100/CourseAdvisor, Lead Media Partners and One on One Marketing.
Since 2002, DMS Education brands have been supporting the higher education industry, including traditional and for-profit colleges, trade schools, community colleges, boot camps, continuing education providers, OPMs and agencies. Throughout the years, the Digital Media Solutions education offering has expanded through a combination of organic growth and acquisitions.
"Higher education performance marketing has always been core to our capabilities as a trusted partner to a long list of academic institutions," said Borghese. "Now with our unified DMS Education brand, we are the clear leader in this space."
DMS Education uses robust targeting and routing logic to deliver predictable volumes of inquiries at scale to higher education institutions. Employing a diversified, multi-channel strategy, DMS Education media is dominated by internal, owned-and-operated traffic, including well-known, education-focused properties and a 150+ seat call center based in Clearwater, FL. DMS Education has significant reach and manages a large and growing share of the education lead industry:
29 owned-and-operated education-focused properties
200+ higher education partners
2+ million monthly visitors
40+ million leads delivered to academic institutions since 2002
DMS Education will continue to be led by higher education marketing industry veteran Cliff Libby, who joined the company earlier this year. The broader DMS Education team includes senior leadership with more than 50 years of collective experience in education, which means they understand the unique characteristics of the education consumer and their journey.
"DMS Education is the most reliable partner in the business for predictable, consistent and scalable higher education performance marketing solutions," said Libby, Executive Vice President and General Manager of DMS Education. "Supported by the best team in the business, our list of owned-and-operated education portals, in-house media buying, email marketing, call center teams and proprietary technology will drive higher education growth for years to come."
According to recent reports, between Q1 of 2017 and Q1 of 2018, inquiry volume for both campus-based and online programs increased. Add to that, advanced degree holders are still more likely to have jobs and earn better salaries than their peers. In a post-recession world, adult consumers are interested in leveraging higher education degree and certificate programs for career advancement, higher income and other employment opportunities. With DMS Education re-introduced to the marketplace via a more streamlined and comprehensive offering, DMS has massively expanded its reach across a multitude of mediums to help higher education institutions connect with high- intent consumers.
Since its inception, DMS has evolved into a full-service performance marketing company that services firms within highly complex and competitive industries.
Founded by a team of lifelong athletes, Digital Media Solutions, LLC (DMS) is the fastest-growing independent agency focused on performance marketing. DMS deploys diversified and data-driven digital media customer acquisition solutions that deliver scalable, sustainable and measurable marketing results. The company's performance marketing, digital agency and marketing technology solutions connect the right consumers with the right offers at the right time to achieve the marketing objectives of clients in highly competitive industries. DMS continues to experience explosive year-over-year growth, with continuous recognition on the Inc. 5000 list in 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018; the Tampa Bay Business Journal's TBBJ 200 List in 2015, 2016 and 2017; the Entrepreneur magazine 360 list in 2017; and a top 10 ranking on the 2015 and 2016 Florida Fast 100 lists. Named one of America's "Best Places to Work" in 2017 by Inc. magazine, DMS brings together some of the industry's most knowledgeable people, efficient processes and sophisticated technology across the digital and marketing spectrum. The company continues to deliver on its strategic mission, which is backed by its board of investors including multi-billion-dollar Canadian private equity firm Clairvest Group. For more information about DMS, its consumer finance-focused brand Best Rate Referrals, affiliate network W4 Performance Ad Market, education-branded platforms under DMS Education including CollegeAtlas.org and CourseAdvisor.com or the performance marketing technology Sparkroom, visit digitalmediasolutions.com. Keep up with DMS news at insights.digitalmediasolutions.com and connect with us on LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/company/digital-media-solutions-group.
Digital Media Solutions Names Paul Webb Senior Vice President of Finance
Digital Media Solutions announced Paul Webb was promoted to Senior Vice President of Finance. In this role,...
Digital Media Solutions Earns Prestigious Hall of Fame Status with Fifth Year in a Row Ranking on Inc. 5000 List
DMS ranks on the Inc. 5000 list of fastest growing private companies in America.


text:
Frances Ellen Watkins Harper House
Frances Ellen Watkins Harper was born in Baltimore, Maryland and the only child of free African American parents. She was raised by her aunt and uncle after her mother died when Frances was three years old.
As a poet, author, and lecturer, Frances Ellen Watkins Harper was a household name in the nineteenth century.
Harper published her most famous novel Iola Leroy in 1892.
Not only was she the first African American woman to publish a short story, but she was also an influential abolitionist, suffragist, and reformer that co-founded the National Association of Colored Women's Clubs.
After teaching for two years in Ohio and Pennsylvania, she embarked on a career as a traveling speaker on the abolitionist circuit. She helped slaves escape through the Underground Railroad and wrote frequently for anti-slavery newspapers, earning her a reputation as the mother of African American journalism.
The Frances Ellen Watkins Harper House was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1976.
This is a private residence and not open to the public.
African American Museum in Philadelphia
Institute for Colored Youth
Marian Anderson Historical Residence Museum
Mother Bethel AME Church
Wesley AME Zion Church


Lorenzo Truant graduated in architecture at Venice University in 2001, together with Romano Burelli and Heinz Tesar writing a thesis titled "Il cielo di Treviso" about the airport theme. After obtaining his degree and a master in Product Design, he attended the research centre of a famous furniture and lighting company. For more than 10 years he worked as an Art Director in an important lighting company. He designs light exploring all the possible implications of LED and OLED technology without forgetting the symbolical aspect of project development.
Lorenzo Truant designed Voluptas collection for Axolight.


text:
Paul Cuffee, the black millionaire who helped resettle freed American slaves in Sierra Leone
Elizabeth Ofosuah Johnson January 17, 2019 at 04:00 pm
Captain Paul Cuffee, born on Cuttyhunk Island in 1759 -- Photo: mvtimes.com
Paul Cuffee was born a free man on January 17, 1759, in the small island of Cuttyhunk located just off southern Massachusetts. He was the 7th of ten children to an Ashanti father, Kofi Slocum who was captured from his home in the Gold Coast (Ghana) at the age of ten. His mother, Ruth Moses was of Wampanoag Native American descent.
Paul's father, Kofi Slocum gained his freedom from his slave master John Slocum who had offered him freedom from slavery after becoming a devoted Christian. Soon after, Kofi adapted his master's surname for legal papers, married his wife in 1746 and began work as a fisherman, carpenter and farmer until he saved up enough money to buy a house and bought a 116-acre farm in Westport, Massachusetts in 1766.
Paul was only eight years old at the time and by 1772, his father had died leaving his property for Paul and his brother John.
Granville Town – not Freetown – was the world's first settlement for freed slaves in Sierra Leone
Elizabeth Ofosuah Johnson
Here's how an African American missionary became the first naturalized citizen of Sierra Leone
Jamaica's forgotten people who were deported to Sierra Leone in the 1800s
Paul Cuffee — Wiki
Among Kofi Slocum's 10 children, Paul Cuffee remains the most popular and most successful. Soon after his father's death, Paul showed great interest in picking up his father's trade and helped build boats at the port to make a decent living.
By 16, Paul had worked with many whaling and cargo ships and had mastered navigation as well as taught himself how to read and write. Paul's progress was brought to a short halt when in 1776, he was captured by the British during the American Civil War and held for three months in New York.
Paul Cuffee's farm, Westport, Massachusetts
By the time Paul was 21, he had changed his name from Paul Slocum to Paul Cuffee and was known as a successful navigator and trader. He gathered a good fortune to build and purchase ships, hire people to work for him and started operating his own shipyard.
Paul Cuffee had become a very wealthy young man by the 1790s and was also very influential in the African American society. According to PBS.org, his first active role as an abolitionist was in 1780 when he refused to pay taxes out of anger that freed blacks were not eligible to vote in Massachusetts. Paul and his brothers went ahead to send a petition to the Bristol County which was denied but led to the 1783 state legislature that allowed freed black males to vote.
Memoir of Captain Paul Cuffee
He was considered as one of the very few black millionaires in the whole of America at the time who had successfully created a maritime business that traded with Europe and the Caribbean on ships he had either built or purchased.
Aside from his passion for trade and shipping, Paul Cuffee was also very much interested in the abolition of slavery and the freedom of African Americans. To play his part, he often supported the black community through the offering of jobs and charity work with the church. He also built a school for the proper education of the next black generation and supported the teachers as well.
Paul Cuffee Monument
Photo; Westportfriendsmeeting.org
Paul Cuffee became one of the most respected black men in all of America by all races and is, according to Historian Donald R. Wright, the first free black man to visit the White House for a discussion with the then president James Maddison in May 1912 on the release of his cargo and those of several other black traders which was granted.
His influence soon found its way into Africa. After a few visits to Sierra Leone, Paul developed a keen interest in seeing that freed Africans in the USA could establish a colony in Africa with Sierra Leone being the best option. His dream also entailed sending at least one vessel each year to Sierra Leone, transporting African-American settlers and goods to the colony and returning with marketable African products.
Depiction of African American returning to Sierra Leone
Four years after founding the Friendly Society of Sierra Leone, on
December 10, 1815 Paul together with other African Americans sailed to Sierra Leone on his ship to join the already small community that was there. The arrival of Paul and his entourage on February 3, 1816, signified the start of the return home vision that he had.
Despite facing several difficulties, Paul managed to establish peaceful trade between Africa, Europe and America. He also supported every African American who chose to settle in Sierra Leone with a generous amount of money to establish themselves and worked with Governer Maccarthy to build homes for the people.
He was let down by The African Institution in England which had previously offered to support him but failed. Paul still bore several costs which went against him due to the fact that he had also suffered a major business loss during the wars.
1812 Paul Cuffe engraving in 1812 from a drawing by Dr. John Pele of Bristol, England[
Paul returned to America later in 1816 to help support more freed blacks to return to Sierra Leone and also started plans for others to move to the Caribbean. He managed to spark major interest in the black community to take the return trip home.
Unfortunately, Paul Cuffee's health deteriorated and he died on September 7, 1917, without being able to return to Africa again. He left behind a huge estate and legacy including 7 children and a wife, Alice Pequit, who according to PaulCuffee.org, was a local Native American woman he married in 1783 right after the the end of the Revolutionary war.
Elizabeth Johnson is a Ghanaian –Nigerian avid reader and lover of the Creative Arts. She is also a writer and has worked with various online platforms as an editor and content creator. She also produces a literary radio show and has worked as a festival administrator. Her story was featured in the 2017 Independence anthology by Afridiaspora. Her play has been staged by African Theater Workshop and she is the 2018 winner of the Random Thoughts writing Prize.
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A report last week suggested that to ward off brain diseases such as Alzheimer's, constant cerebral stimulation through activities like games and reading could be the key. And one woman, 100-year-old Kathleen Connell, would certainly appear to back up such findings, with the centenarian putting her longevity and sharp mind almost entirely down to her Nintendo DS gaming device.
Kathleen, who lives in East Renfrewshire in Scotland, said that the machine helps her memory stay in good shape, as she used to have trouble remembering things.
One thing she's particularly proud of is the mental age she scored with the popular Brain Trainer game—just 64—pretty impressive for someone now in triple figures. Other games she enjoys playing include Scrabble, My Word Coach, Art Academy and Family Fortunes.
Last week researchers at the University of California claimed to have found a connection between activities that stimulate the brain and levels of a kind of protein that is believed to cause Alzheimer's, a disease marked by dementia and memory loss. Of course, it's not just playing brain games on hand-held devices that researchers believe will prevent the onset of the disease, though Kathleen Connell finds the Nintendo alone works for her.


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Blog 2011 September CALIFORNIA PRISON REALIGNMENT
California Prison Realignment
Posted By Scott Hughes || 30-Sep-2011
October 1, 2011, AB 109 will take effect in the state of California. More commonly known as "realignment," the bill is a response to the U.S. Supreme Court's May order for California to reduce its prison population. The basic concept is to transfer the least dangerous inmates to the communities they are originally from and change sentencing and parole guidelines. The following sections highlight and discuss the major changes of realignment.
Changes to California's Felony Sentencing and Parole
Instead of state parole, released individuals will be assigned to county Postrelease Community Supervision. After being released from a county jail felony, there will be no county Postrelease Community Supervision, except for those with felony sentences that can be followed by probation.
Felony offenses that are punishable by sentences of more than one year will be served in county jail, and some of those sentences may be followed by a period of probation.
Sentencing for Felony Offenders Without Convictions for Serious, Violent, or Registerable Sex Offenses
Individuals with felony sentences that are non-violent, non-serious, or non-registerable sex offenses under California Penal Code § 290, will serve their sentences of terms exceeding one year in county jail.
If a specific term is not specified by statute, jail sentences of many of these felonies may be followed by a period of probation pursuant to California Penal Code § 1170(h).
Counties may work with the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to accept those convicted of county jail felonies.
Sentences for Felony Offenders with Current Serious, Violent, or Registerable Sex Offenses or those who have such a prior felony
California Penal Code § 1170 provides the basic disqualification for current or prior violent, serious, or registerable sex offenses under California Penal Code § 290.
Over 60 non-violent, non-serious, and non Penal Code § 290 registerable sex offenses will remain felonies requiring the sentence to be served in state prison.
County Jail Conduct Credits to be 50%
Two actual days in county jail will be deemed to have been four days served.
Those convicted of violent felonies will be limited to conduct credit at 15%.
Those convicted of murder will still be ineligible for any conduct credit.
The county system will mimic the state prison system in that conduct credits may be lost through an administrative disciplinary system.
Counties Able to Authorize Voluntary and Involuntary Home Detention
California Penal Code § 1203.016 will authorize counties to offer voluntary home detention programs as well as order involuntary participation in a home detention program.
California Penal Code § 2900.5 states that days spent in home detention will count towards mandatory minimum sentences.
Countries Can Authorize Electronic Monitoring in Lieu of Bail
California Penal Code § 1203.018 allows the county board of supervisors to permit qualified inmates held in lie of bail to be placed in an electronic monitoring program.
California Penal Code § 2900.5 states that time served in this electronic monitoring program will count towards mandatory minimum sentences.
Postrelease Community Supervision to Replace Parole for Those Released from Prison
The new Postrelease Community Supervision Act, to be implemented by county agencies, states that individuals who are released from prison after serving a term for particular felonies are subject to up to three years of postrelease community supervision.
Those who do no fall under those particular felonies will be released on parole.
For those who served their felony sentences in county jail, there will be neither parole nor Postrelease Community Supervision, but a period of probation may follow.
Parole only available to Certain Offenders
Parole will be limited to those released from prison on and after October 1, 2011, whose sentence was for any of the following:
violent felony
serious felony
offenders with a metal disorder
possible high risk sex offender crimes
New Revocation Hearing Officers will decide parole revocation cases starting July 1, 2013. The county superior court will be permitted to appoint as many hearing officers as necessary to conduct these hearings or determine violations of postrelease supervision.
Parole Reentry Accountability Program Expanded
The parole entry accountability program, already in effect as of January 25, 2010, will be expanded to include individuals on Postrelease Community Supervision.
Division of Juvenile Justice Not to Be Affected by Realignment
The Division of Juvenile Justice will not be affected by the realignment to take place on October 1, 2011.
How do I know if realignment will affect me?
For persons sentenced on or after October 1, 2011, for county jail felonies, the sentencing changes will apply prospectively (that is, October 1, 2011 and after).
The conduct credits, where four days credit will be given for every two days served, applies prospectively for crimes committed on or after October 1, 2011. Days earned by a prisoner prior to October 1, 2011, will be calculated under prior law.
Those released from state prison on or after October 1, 2011, who do not need to be on parole, will be placed on postrelease supervision.
Scott D. Hughes is a Criminal Defense Attorney in Orange County, California practicing in State and Federal Court.


TCL TCL King Electrical Appliances Group (Shenzhen) Co., Ltd. to 103 million sale price to a third party owned equity investments, trading nearly 36 million yuan to bring the Group income. Received development funds will be mainly used for LCD and IC MB4514B and LED TV into the core business.
import and MB4514B Suppliers and export growth than last year down, and below Chinas foreign trade growth. 1-11 months, exports of electronic information products 484.22 billion U.S. dollars, an increase of 16.8% down year on year increase of 9.4 percentage points lower than the national foreign trade export increased by 2.5 percentage points, accounting for 36.8% of foreign trade exports, the countrys foreign trade contribution to export growth rate of 32.7%.
Want the price is not high, but also with a color screen and MB4514B Price and built-in camera, handheld computer, Sony's new Clie PEG-TJ27 series of new products even if such a product. This entry-level products and recently launched the TJ37 has the same processor, body design, the memory capacity and camera, only difference is that Wi-Fi is not configured and built headphone jack, while the price reduction makes it low end of the market a bullish market.


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Wylfa
Wylfa nuclear power station on Anglesey will generate its last electricity at the end of December. Bosses at Britain's last Magnox nuclear station say they will turn off the remaining reactor for good on 30 December. It will bring an end to 44 years of electricity generation at the island's plant. The 500-strong workforce will be cut to about 350 posts by April 2016, as the process of removing spent fuel and decommissioning the site gets underway.
BBC 2nd Dec 2015 read more »
Daily Post 2nd Dec 2015 read more »
THE energy company behind a new power station at Bradwell has written to residents to update them on the scheme. In October EDF Energy announced it had signed a deal with China General Nuclear Power Corporation for "Bradwell B", a greenfield site next to the former station. The Chinese company will provide two thirds of the development costs and hope to begin construction by 2023. Up to 25,000 jobs will be created during construction, although it is unclear how many vacancies will be filled by local residents. A joint letter from Humphrey Cadoux-Hudson, managing director of Nuclear New Build at EDF Energy and Zhu Minhong, general director of UK Nuclear Project at China General Nuclear Power Corporation, has been sent to residents in and around Bradwell. In the letter it says proposals are at a preplanning stage and it is likely to take several year before detailed plans are brought forward.
Maldon Standard 1st Dec 2015 read more »
Still warm with the glow of leading one of the first countries to officially turn its back on coal-fired power, David Cameron was riding high as he addressed the climate conference in Paris this week. It's amazing what a difference a fortnight can make. Prior to the 'Energy Reset' speech made by energy secretary Amber Rudd last month, the minister had spent the previous few months quietly dismantling a string of government subsidies created to encourage business investment in clean, renewable energy. The bold declaration to ditch unabated coal-fired power within the decade delighted green campaigners, but before they even got to the second line of the hallelujah chorus, came the revelation that instead of a clean energy revolution, reliance on gas and nuclear power would be our saviour. "Before the government changed the policy goalposts, onshore wind and solar were on track to be the cheapest sources of UK power with the potential to be subsidy-free by 2020," said Juliet Davenport, chief executive of renewable energy company Good Energy. "The government's apparent preferred options of nuclear and gas, and an old fashioned grid are not cheap and will not be subsidy-free for decades."
Process Engineering 2nd Dec 2015 read more »
Elon Musk, the renowned innovator, believes the widespread introduction of a carbon price could halve the time it takes the world to transition to clean energy and make a huge difference to the impact of climate change.
Guardian 2nd Dec 2015 read more »
Nuclear-power plants have been around since the 1950s, and provide around 11% of the world's electricity. But the spent nuclear fuel that they produce is highly radioactive and there are no facilities that can permanently and safely store it. Last month, Finland's government became the first to approve construction of such a store — a deep underground repository — after more than 30 years of efforts to find a suitable site. Nature examines how Finland did it, and which countries are likely to follow suit. According to Cherry Tweed, chief scientific adviser at Radioactive Waste Management (a firm in Didcot, UK, which handles the UK's effort to create a deep geological repository), Finland's case shows that two elements are crucial to getting approval for permanent storage: "One is a safe site. The other is a supportive community who will work together with the developer to shape the project," she says.
Nature 2nd Dec 2015 read more »
European utilities executives meeting at the Paris Climate Conference know they are part of the problem. What they have not yet figured out is how to make money by being part of the solution to climate change. For decades, power plants owned by the likes of RWE , Enel and EDF have been among Europe's worst polluters. When governments started subsidising solar and wind power in a bid to reduce carbon emissions, many utilities shunned green energy as unrealistic and uneconomic. Now, renewable energy accounts for more than a quarter of Europe's power and is pricing fossil fuel and nuclear plants out of the market, forcing utilities to come up with new strategies to benefit from a low-carbon energy environment. Some are belatedly jumping on the renewables bandwagon, some focus on their power grids, while others venture into emerging markets and new energy services. But all are still weighed down by their legacy fossil fuel or nuclear businesses and are struggling to reinvent themselves.
Reutes 2nd Dec 2015 read more »
The International Atomic Energy Agency has completed its report on the military dimensions of Iran's nuclear program. The conclusion of the weaponization investigation is one of the major prerequisites for the full implementation of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), the landmark nuclear deal that Iran and a US-led group of six countries reached in July. The investigation is mandated under a "roadmap" agreement reached between the IAEA and Iran on the same day as the JCPOA was completed. And according to the 16-page IAEA document, which can be found here, Iran carried on forms of weaponization work until 2009, several years longer than publicly available information previously suggested.
Business Insider 2nd Dec 2015 read more »
Iran engaged in nuclear weapons design until 2003, says UN watchdog. IAEA says country also conducted weapons studies and only abandoned nuclear related activity in 2009 before historic deal
Guardian 3rd Dec 2015 read more »
Swiss utility Axpo has submitted a road map to the country's nuclear regulator for further investigations of flaw indications in the reactor pressure vessel (RPV) of unit 1 of the Beznau plant. The company does not now expect the unit to restart until at least August 2016.
World Nuclear News 2nd Dec 2015 read more »
The Swiss power grid operator has warned utilities that they may have to ramp up energy production from high-mountain hydro plants this winter as atomic reactors remain shuttered and there is not enough transformer capacity to take on sufficient renewables power from Germany.
Reuters 2nd Dec 2015 read more »
Argentine president Cristina Fernández de Kirchner led the official opening ceremony of the Pilcaniyeu uranium enrichment plant on 30 November.
Areva has won a contract worth "tens of millions" of Euros to dismantle the vessel internals of EDF's Superphénix fast neutron reactor at Creys-Malville in France.
World Nuclear News 1st Dec 2015 read more »
Recent satellite images indicate that North Korea is building a new tunnel at its nuclear test site, a respected US think tank has said. A report on 38 North, a website run by the US-Korea Institute at the John Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, studied images taken between April and November. These appeared to show work in a new area of the Punggye-ri nuclear zone. But, the report said, there is no sign that any nuclear test is imminent.
BBC 3rd Dec 2015 read more »
Telegraph 3rd Dec 2015 read more »
Film: The Atom: A Love Affair
A preview screening for existing and potential new investors looking to buy shares to help us finish post-production on the film – with a view to submitting to the Sheffield DocFest next summer and hopefully releasing it more widely later on in 2016. Well, I'm delighted to report that said investors preview night is happening – at the lovely screening room at 68 Middle Street in central Brighton, at 6.30pm, on Monday 7th December.
Tenner Films 30th Nov 2015 read more »


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Native American and Indigenous Studies
Native.American.Studies@Dartmouth.EDUContact & Department Info
Major and Minor
Waitlists and Applications
NAS 85 Independent Study Rules & Procedures
NAS Students
Writing Prize Award Recipients
Alumni - Tell Us Your Story
Funding for Internships and Independent Research
Off-Campus Program
Gordon Russell Visiting Professorship
Gordon Russell Visiting Professorship Alumni
Charles Eastman Fellowship
Eastman Fellowship Alumni
Tribal Scholar Fellowship Program
Tribal Scholar Fellowship Alumni
Melanie B. Taylor
|Professor
Chair, Department of English and Creative Writing
Professor of English & Native American Studies
House Professor, North Park House
Executive Editor, Native South journal
20th and 21st century American literature and culture; U.S. Southern literature and culture; Native American literature and culture; American studies; postcolonial literature and theory; globalization studies; comparative studies of the Americas; economic history and theory; working class studies; women's studies
Melanie.B.Taylor@dartmouth.edu
37 N. Main Street, Room 302
B.A. Smith College
M.A. Boston University
Ph.D. Boston University
Native American literature /U.S. Southern literature /literary theory /economics and identity /cultural studies
The Indian in American Southern Literature (Cambridge University Press, 2020)
Reconstructing the Native South: American Indian Literature and the Lost Cause (University of Georgia Press, 2012)
Disturbing Calculations: The Economics of Identity in Postcolonial Southern Literature, 1912-2002 (University of Georgia Press, 2008).
EDITED VOLUMES & JOURNAL ISSUES:
The Cambridge Companion to Native American Poetry (Cambridge University Press, in preparation)
The Cambridge Companion to the Native American Novel (Cambridge University Press, in preparation)
Norton Critical Edition of William Faulkner's Light in August (Norton, forthcoming 2021)
"Indigeneity and the Anthropocene," Theories & Methodologies Forum in PMLA (January 2021)
The Cambridge History of Native American Literature (Cambridge University Press, 2020)
I Am Where I Come From: Native American College Students and Graduates Tell Their Life Stories, eds. Andrew Garrod, Robert Kilkenny, and Melanie Benson Taylor (Cornell University Press, 2016)
"Indigenous Interruptions in the Anthropocene," PMLA Guest Column (Jan. 2021)
"Orange is the New Red," Forum on Tommy Orange, PMLA (May 2020)
"Locating Race," in Race in American Literature and Culture, ed. John Richard Ernest (Cambridge University Press, forthcoming)
"Southern Literature and the Anthropocene/Capitalocene," in Insiders, Outsiders: New Directions in the Intellectual History of the American South, eds. Sarah E. Gardner and Steven M. Stowe (University of North Carolina Press, forthcoming 2021)
"Karen Russell: A South without Borders," in 21st Century Southern Writers, eds. Jean W. Cash and Richard Gaughran (University Press of Mississippi, 2021)
"Fictions of the Native South," in The Cambridge History of the Literature of the U.S. South, ed. Harilaos Stecopoulos (Cambridge University Press, 2021)
"The Afterlives of the Archive," Foreword to Indigenous Archives in the Digital Age (University Press of New England, 2019)
"Why Native Southern Literatures Matter," with Eric Gary Anderson, Introduction to Special Issue of Native South, ed. Melanie Benson Taylor and Eric Gary Anderson, volume 12 (2019)
"Letting the Other Story Go: The Native South in and beyond the Anthropocene," with Eric Gary Anderson, Special Issue of Native South, ed. Melanie Benson Taylor and Eric Gary Anderson, volume 12 (2019)
"Katherine Anne Porter's Familiar Countries," American Literary History (Summer 2019)
"Doom and Deliverance: Faulkner's Dialectical Indian," Faulkner and the Native South (Faulkner and Yoknapatawpha Series), (Oxford: University Press of Mississippi, 2019)
"The Landscape of Disaster: Ernest Hemingway, Katherine Anne Porter, and the Soundings of Indigenous Silence," with Eric Gary Anderson, TSLL (Texas Studies in Language and Literature), Special Issue on "Modernism and Native America," 59.3 (Fall 2017)
"Introduction: Coming Home," I Am Where I Come From: Native American College Students and Graduates Tell Their Life Stories, eds. Andrew Garrod, Robert Kilkenny, and Melanie Benson Taylor (Cornell University Press, 2016)
"In Deep," South: A Scholarly Journal vol. xlviii (Fall 2015), 68-73
"Surviving the Economic Apocalypse: Capitalism, Consumption, and the Indian Imaginary in Karen Russell's Swamplandia!," Navigating Souths: Transdisciplinary Explorations of a U.S. Region, eds. Michele Coffey and Jodi Skipper (forthcoming, University of Georgia Press, 2016)
"Modernism [modernity; backwardness]" in Critical Terms for Southern Studies, eds. Scott Romine and Jennifer Greeson (University of Georgia Press, 2016)
"Faulkner's Doom: Capitalism, Colonialism, and All the Southern Dead," Undead Souths, eds. Eric Gary Anderson et al (Louisiana State University Press, 2015)
"Faulkner and the New Southern Studies," The New Cambridge Companion to William Faulkner, ed. John T. Matthews (Cambridge University Press, 2015)
"Being the Emergency: Response to Hortense Spillers' 'States of Emergency,'" The Power of Writing, eds. Christiane Donahue and Kelly Blewett (University Press of New England, 2015)
"A Killing Greed: Capitalism, Casinos, and the Fetish of Culture in Contemporary Native American Literature," Created Unequal: Class and the Making of American Literature, eds. Andrew Lawson and Stephen Shapiro (Routledge, 2014)
"The Economics of Eating: Native Recipes for Survival in Contemporary Southeastern Indian Literature," Southern Foodways and Southern Literature, eds. David A. Davis and Tara Powell (University Press of Mississippi, 2014)
"Unsettling Accounts: The Violent Economies of the Ledger," Multiple Narratives in Plains Indian Ledger Art: Essays on the Mark Lansburgh Collection, ed. Colin Calloway (University of Oklahoma Press, 2012)
"The Indian in the American Literary Imagination," The Hovey Murals at Dartmouth College: Culture and Contexts, ed. Brian Kennedy (University Press of New England, 2011)
"The Native Screen: American Indians in Contemporary Southern Film," American Cinema and the Southern Imaginary, eds. Kathryn McKee and Deborah Barker (University of Georgia Press, 2011)
"The Fetish of Surplus Value; or, What the Ledgers Say," Global Faulkner (Faulkner and Yoknapatawpha Series) , A Trefzer and A Abadie (eds.), (2008)
"Indian Givers: Reterritorializing the South in Contemporary Native American Literature," Mississippi Quarterly , 60:1 (2007).
"Southern and Western Native Americans in Barry Hannah's Fiction," Perspectives on Barry Hannah , M Bone (ed.), (2006).
"'Carrying Our People's Bones': Louis Owens, South by Southwest," Pembroke Magazine , 38 (2006) 43-54.
SELECTED REVIEWS
Review of Jay Watson, Reading for the Body: The Recalcitrant Materiality of Southern Fiction, 1893-1985 (University of Georgia Press, 2012) [for Modern Fiction Studies 60:4 (Winter 2014)]
Review of Steven C. Hahn, The Life and Times of Mary Musgrove (Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 2012) [for Women's Review of Books, Wellesley College (Sept./Oct. 2013)]
Review of Geary Hobson, Janet McAdams, and Kathryn Walkiewicz, eds., The People Who Stayed: Southeastern Indian Writing After Removal (University of Oklahoma Press, 2010) [for American Indian Quarterly 36.1 (Winter 2012) 105-7]
Review of Lisa Brooks, The Common Pot: The Recovery of Native Space in the Northeast (University of Minnesota Press, 2008) [for Wicazo Sa Review 25.2 (Fall 2010) 144-46]
Review of Adam Gussow, Journeyman's Road: Modern Blues Lives from Faulkner's Mississippi to Post-9/11 New York (University of Tennessee Press, 2007) and Barbara Ladd, Resisting History: Gender, Modernity, and Authorship in William Faulkner, Zora Neale Hurston, and Eudora Welty (Louisiana State University Press, 2007) [for American Literature 80:2 (June 2008) 409-11]
Review of Fred Hobson, ed., South to the Future: An American Region in the Twenty-First Century (University of Georgia Press, 2002) [for Mississippi Quarterly 56:3 (Summer 2003) 439]
ONLINE PUBLICATIONS/ENCYCLOPEDIA ENTRIES/BRIEF COMMENTS
"The Lies We Live," South Writ Large: Stories, Arts, and Ideas from the Global South (Winter 2014) southwritlarge.com
"Rocket Man: The Rise of the Native South (Verse One)," Society for the Study of Southern Literature Newsletter vol. 46, issue 2 (November 2012)
"At What Cost?" The Chronicle Review in The Chronicle of Higher Education vol. 56, issue 15 (November 2009)
"Native American Novel," "Native American Reservation," and "Womanism,"The Greenwood Encyclopedia of Multiethnic American Literature, Greenwood Press (2005)"Concluding Roundtable: Postcolonial Theory, the U.S. South, and New World Studies," Mississippi Quarterly 57:1 (Winter 2003-04) 171-94
African and African American Studies
Asian Societies, Cultures, and Languages Program
French and Italian
Humanities 1 & 2
Latin American, Latino and Caribbean Studies
Quantitative Social Science
Spanish and Portuguese
Speech at Dartmouth
"Dartmouth's capacity to advance its dual mission of education and research depends upon the full diversity and inclusivity of this community…Diversity and inclusivity are necessary partners. Without inclusivity, the benefits of diversity— an increase in understanding, improvement in performance, enhanced innovation, and heightened levels of satisfaction—will not be realized. We commit to investments in both, to create a community in which difference is valued, where each individual's identity and contributions are treated with respect, and where differences lead to a strengthened identity for all." – Dartmouth College Inclusive Excellence Action Plan; see also Arts and Sciences Inclusive Excellence Reports
Department of Native American and Indigenous Studies


text:
'''
US Population Pyramid Over Time
===============================
A population pyramid shows the distribution of age groups within a population.
It uses a slider widget that is bound to the year to visualize the age
distribution over time.
'''
# category: case studies
import altair as alt
from vega_datasets import data

source = data.population.url

slider = alt.binding_range(min=1850, max=2000, step=10)
select_year = alt.selection_point(name='year', fields=['year'],
                                   bind=slider, value={'year': 2000})

base = alt.Chart(source).add_params(
    select_year
).transform_filter(
    select_year
).transform_calculate(
    gender=alt.expr.if_(alt.datum.sex == 1, 'Male', 'Female')
).properties(
    width=250
)

color_scale = alt.Scale(domain=['Male', 'Female'],
                        range=['#1f77b4', '#e377c2'])

left = base.transform_filter(
    alt.datum.gender == 'Female'
).encode(
    y=alt.Y('age:O', axis=None),
    x=alt.X('sum(people):Q',
            title='population',
            sort=alt.SortOrder('descending')),
    color=alt.Color('gender:N', scale=color_scale, legend=None)
).mark_bar().properties(title='Female')

middle = base.encode(
    y=alt.Y('age:O', axis=None),
    text=alt.Text('age:Q'),
).mark_text().properties(width=20)

right = base.transform_filter(
    alt.datum.gender == 'Male'
).encode(
    y=alt.Y('age:O', axis=None),
    x=alt.X('sum(people):Q', title='population'),
    color=alt.Color('gender:N', scale=color_scale, legend=None)
).mark_bar().properties(title='Male')

alt.concat(left, middle, right, spacing=5)


text:
by saraharmstrong | Apr 12, 2021 | Amicus, Policing and Law Enforcement, Weekly News Roundup |
Welcome to This Week in Civil Rights and Civil Liberties. This week, President Biden forms a panel to study Supreme Court reform, Maryland establishes a multitude of police reform measures, and California's COVID-19 related restrictions are once again struck down by the Supreme Court.
President Biden has announced that he will form a panel to study the possibility of expanding the Supreme Court. Such an expansion would fulfill the goal of some liberal Democrats hoping to end the Court's current conservative majority. While speaking last week at the Harvard Law School annual Scalia Lecture, Associate Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer pushed back on the idea, requesting those considering court-packing "think long and hard before they embody those changes in law." (Reuters, SCOTUSBlog, The Crimson).
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has announced it will allow the Dakota Access pipeline to stay open during its permit review process. Activists had hoped the pipeline would be shut down after a key environmental permit was denied last year. The Standing Rock Sioux said in a statement that they would continue their appeal. (Reuters).
Multiple cities have announced legislation offering security deposit alternatives to assist community members struggling to pay their rent during the pandemic. Bills have been passed in Atlanta and Cincinnati, and governors have issued executive orders in New York and New Jersey. Last week, the Baltimore City Council became the latest to pass legislation supporting alternatives to lump-sum security deposits; it now goes to Mayor Brandon Scott for his signature. (NBC News).
Two Alabama state senators have announced their proposal to divert part of a statewide property tax to promote Black history in the state. The property tax was originally imposed to fund pensions for Confederate soldiers and their widows and is still collected today. Though most of the revenue is used for other purposes, 1% is used to preserve and operate the state's Confederate Memorial Park. (AP).
Maryland lawmakers have overridden Republican Governor Larry Hogan's veto to impose police reform measures. The measures involved include repealing the Law Enforcement Officers Bill of Rights, a bill that provided job protections in the police disciplinary process that critics say impeded accountability. Also included is a statewide use-of-force policy, mandated use of body cameras statewide by July 2025, expanded public access to police disciplinary records and limited use of no-knock warrants. (NPR).
Police in a small town outside of Norfolk, Virginia are accused of using excessive force in a routine traffic stop of an Army lieutenant. 2nd Lt. Caron Nazario is seeking $1million in compensatory damages after the incident in December. While still in his car, police officers pointed guns at him and pepper sprayed him, before pulling him out, pushing him to the ground, and searching his vehicle. (NBC News, CNN).
Amidst multiple recent mass shootings, President Biden has announced limited measures to tackle gun violence. Biden will ask the Justice Department to curb proliferation of self-assembled "ghost guns" and make "stabilizing braces, which effectively turn pistoles into rifles, subject to registration under the National Firearm Act. He will also ask the ATF to make it easier for states to adopt "red flag" laws that flag at-risk individuals who own guns. (Reuters, NPR).
The Supreme Court has blocked California's COVID-related restrictions on in-home religious gatherings. In an unsigned opinion, the Court's majority wrote that government regulations are subject to heightened scrutiny whenever they treat any secular activity more favorably than religious activity. This is the fifth time the Supreme Court has sided with religious parties over Calirofnia's COVID-19 restrictions. (SCOTUSBlog, NPR).
Under a current Justice Department legal opinion from the end of the Trump administration, federal prisoners who were released due to the pandemic will be recalled to finish their sentences when the emergency ends. The opinion could impact as many as 7,399 BOP inmates who are currently out on home confinement. Criminal justice advocacy groups have called on President Biden and U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland to reverse the opinion. (Reuters).


text:
The Southern Conservative
The Southern Conservative, Vol. 7, No. 4, April 1956
pdf_uhlib_10604411_v007_n004_ac
uhlib_10604411_v007_n004_001_ac
The Southern Conservative, Vol. 7, No. 4, April 1956 - File 002. 1956-04. University of Houston Libraries. University of Houston Digital Library. Web. January 18, 2020. https://digital.lib.uh.edu/collection/southern/item/1067/show/1059.
(1956-04). The Southern Conservative, Vol. 7, No. 4, April 1956 - File 002. The Southern Conservative. University of Houston Libraries. Retrieved from https://digital.lib.uh.edu/collection/southern/item/1067/show/1059
The Southern Conservative, Vol. 7, No. 4, April 1956 - File 002, 1956-04, The Southern Conservative, University of Houston Libraries, accessed January 18, 2020, https://digital.lib.uh.edu/collection/southern/item/1067/show/1059.
Title The Southern Conservative, Vol. 7, No. 4, April 1956
Darden, Ida M.
Publisher Southern Conservative
Date April 1956
Identifier OCLC: 10604411
Houston Metropolitan Research Center
Ida M. Darden Collection
Rights No Copyright - United States: This item is in the public domain in the United States and may be used freely in the United States. The item may not be in the public domain under the copyright laws of other countries.
Note This item was digitized from materials loaned by the Houston Metropolitan Research Center.
Title File 002
File Name uhlib_10604411_v007_n004_001_ac.jpg
The Southern Conservative, Vol. 5, No. 11-12, November-December 1954
The Southern Conservative, Vol. 4, No. 9, September 1953


text:
Q: Prove explicitly that if a function has a left inverse it is injective and if it has a right inverse it is surjective
A function g : S → T is said to be a left inverse for the function f : T → S if g◦f equals the identity function on $T$. In this case, f is also a right inverse for g . Prove explicitly that
That t any a function has a left inverse it is injective and if it has a right inverse it is surjective, give an example of a function that has 2 distinct left inverses.

I'm not too sure if i understand the difference the difference of between a left and right inverse to begin with. I think it's left inverse if in f: S --> T and g: T --> S meaning in f is you plug in S to f(x) you get T and for g(x) plugging in T  you get S. So g(x) is the inverse of f(x) and vice versa.
Left inverse f(g(x)) = S and  right inverse when rather g(f(x)) = T. Definitions have $1_S$ and $1_T$ which confuses me.
To be injective i also know that for every value of the codomain T there must be a unique value of S the domain. So there cannot be more than one value of T that maps into a value of S.
To surjective and everyone value of T the codomain must map to a value the domain S. So for example e^x  is not  surjective for all real x because its range is y > 0 rather than having a range of all real x.  However you could cut the parameters to something like x>0 and even say it's bijective where it is both surjective and injective.
.

A: Let $g : S \rightarrow T$ be the left inverse of $f$, it means $g \circ f = I_{T}$. If $f(x) = f(y)$, then $x=g(f(x))=g(f(y)) = y$, so $f$ is injective.
Let $h : S \rightarrow T$ be the right inverse of $f$, it means $f \circ h = I_{T}$. For any $y \in T$ we have $y = f(h(y))$. By arbitrariness of $y$, f is surjective.
Also worth adding that implications go both ways in both cases.

A: Let $f: T \to S$. A function $g:S \to T$ is a left inverse for $f$ if $g(f(x))=x$ for all $x \in T$. For example, if $f$ is $f(x)=x+2$, then $g(x)=x-2$ is a left inverse for $f$ because $g(f(x))=f(x)-2=x+2-2=x$ for any $x$.
On the other hand, a function $g:S \to T$ is a right inverse for $f$ if $f(g(x))=x$ for all $x \in S$. In my example above, $g$ is also a right inverse for $f$, since $f(g(x))=g(x)+2=x-2+2=x$ for any $x$.
$1_T$ is the identity function on $T$; it is defined by $1_T(x)=x$ for any $x \in T$. Similarly, $1_S$ is the identity on $S$: it is defined by $1_S(x)=x$ for any $x \in S$. They use the notation $1_T$ and $1_S$ because these are functions on different spaces $S$ and $T$.
I think you understand injective and surjective...

A: An example should clear things up. Consider the function $f\colon \mathbb Z \to \mathbb R$ defined by $f(x) = x^3$. It is easy to see that $f$ is injective but not surjective. In other words, $f$ has a left inverse but not a right inverse. Indeed, consider the function $g\colon \mathbb R \to \mathbb Z$ defined by:
$$
g(y) = \begin{cases}\sqrt[3]{y} &\text{if } \sqrt[3]{y} \in \mathbb Z \\
0 &\text{otherwise}
\end{cases}
$$
We need this extra if statement because if $y = 1/8$, then $\sqrt[3]{y} = 1/2$ is not in the codomain, which violates the definition of a function. Notice that $g \circ f\colon \mathbb Z \to \mathbb Z$ is the identity function on $\mathbb Z$, so $f$ has a left inverse. But $f \circ g\colon \mathbb R \to \mathbb R$ is not the identity function on $\mathbb R$, since:
$$
f(g(1/8)) = f(0) = 0 \neq 1/8
$$


"Well you can bump and grind, And it's good for your mind, Well you can twist and shout, Let it all hang out"
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Troop 523 to accomplish these objectives while having FUN!
Oath, and The Outdoor Code. Other useful information to know is the Scout Slogan and Scout Motto.
Patrol Leaders, and Assistants. In a PLC we plan upcoming camping trips and future meetings.


Dead River Road / Acken Road between Mountainview Road (Warren Township) and Spring Valley Boulevard (Bernards Township) will be closed to through traffic starting Monday, March 27, 2017. Replacement of four culverts and resurfacing of Dead River Road in Warren Township will take place for approximately three (3) months. A signed detour will be posted. Please plan alternate routes during the construction.


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So where are you on your journey? Check in with your investment advisor today and see what Sterling Advisors can do for you.
Sterling Advisors is a division of BB&T Securities, LLC, member FINRA/SIPC. A Registered Investment Advisor. BB&T Securities, LLC, is a wholly owned nonbank subsidiary of BB&T Corporation. Asset allocation cannot eliminate the risk of fluctuating prices or uncertain returns. FP&S Empower is a registered service mark of BB&T Securities, LLC. All rights reserved. 2018. BB&T Securities, LLC, or any of its affiliates, does not guarantee future financial outcomes or results.


text:
150 jobs coming to Upstate
Updated: 1:40 PM EDT May 6, 2014
Stephanie Towers
New jobs are coming to the Upstate.Trelleborg Wheel Systems has selected Spartanburg County for the company's first North American manufacturing facility that will produce radial tires for agricultural machinery.The $50 million investment is expected to create approximately 150 jobs by 2018."In coming to Spartanburg County, we'll be located in a modern facility in a prime location, capitalizing on existing partnership agreements with major OEMs and distributors while facilitating the transfer of technology from one part of the world to another. Although we already sell our products in the United States and Canada, local production offers considerably more favorable conditions, thus enhancing our competitiveness," said Maurizio Vischi, president of the Trelleborg Wheel Systems Business Area.The new, 430,000-square-foot facility will be located on Trelleborg's existing premises in Spartanburg, which includes Trelleborg Coated Systems US, Inc.Production of these agricultural equipment tires is expected to commence in late 2015."Trelleborg has facilities all over the world and they chose to build this new facility in South Carolina – that says a lot about our workforce and business environment. We have a strong partnership with Trelleborg and that's obvious through their decision to bring Trelleborg Wheel Systems to the Palmetto State. We congratulate them on their decision to invest $50 million and create 150 new jobs in Spartanburg County," Gov. Nikki Haley said.
SPARTANBURG COUNTY, S.C. —
New jobs are coming to the Upstate.
Trelleborg Wheel Systems has selected Spartanburg County for the company's first North American manufacturing facility that will produce radial tires for agricultural machinery.
The $50 million investment is expected to create approximately 150 jobs by 2018.
"In coming to Spartanburg County, we'll be located in a modern facility in a prime location, capitalizing on existing partnership agreements with major OEMs and distributors while facilitating the transfer of technology from one part of the world to another. Although we already sell our products in the United States and Canada, local production offers considerably more favorable conditions, thus enhancing our competitiveness," said Maurizio Vischi, president of the Trelleborg Wheel Systems Business Area.
The new, 430,000-square-foot facility will be located on Trelleborg's existing premises in Spartanburg, which includes Trelleborg Coated Systems US, Inc.
Production of these agricultural equipment tires is expected to commence in late 2015.
"Trelleborg has facilities all over the world and they chose to build this new facility in South Carolina – that says a lot about our workforce and business environment. We have a strong partnership with Trelleborg and that's obvious through their decision to bring Trelleborg Wheel Systems to the Palmetto State. We congratulate them on their decision to invest $50 million and create 150 new jobs in Spartanburg County," Gov. Nikki Haley said.


Writing fiction can be a heart-expanding journey. With all characters that we create, we succeed most when we are able to inhabit their internal world. With children we are challenged to hop back into their experience and bring them to life as they really are, not seen through the eyes and pen of our adult selves. Fictional children, to come across as authentic, require that we go right to a most sacred part of ourselves, our empathy, our ability to feel another person deep down. If we can become our fictional child, without looking down on her because she is shorter, that child will come alive in our stories.
Emma snuggled in between her Grammy and Grandpa. It was a magical time to be out, really late, like 10 o'clock. Nice music floated out of the gazebo in front of them and the summer moon looked pretty in the dark sky.
Emma's eyes followed a couple dancing on the grass. She got off Grammy's lap and walked with Arabella Ann over to the gazebo and the music. Clutching her doll close, she began to dance and twirl around and around and around. She stopped twirling. "I'm your Mommy, Arabella Ann, and I will take care of you forever and ever and not leave. Even if you are a bad girl. Well, I'll be mad if you are bad, but only for twenty minutes and then I will hug and kiss you and make you birthday cakes even when it's not your birthday." Emma ran back to Grammy's lap and held on to her hard. She and Arabella Ann fell asleep.
Harry Potter has grown up. We struggle along with Albus, his youngest son, who hates being a wizard like his famous father. We become Albus, fighting to discover who he is and we feel a personal thrill when he triumphs.
Delve into how your character relates to the natural world and see how you can evoke deeper aspects of his personality. Maybe he's an obsessive recycler, a passion that comes from his relationship with his mother who refused to recycle anything. Or maybe your character scoffs at the idea of global warming because she's a very conservative thinker. As with other grand issues like religion, love relationships, power struggles, your character's take on the environment can reveal much about how he maneuvers through your story.
Gilly was happy to be an assistant counselor at Junior Environmentalists Camp for a hundred reasons. She loved that the campers and staff picked their way through the woods like she did, breathing in the oxygen offered by the trees, breathing out carbon dioxide to send back to them. She loved using electric lights and computers sparingly. She loved teaching her little campers not to pick the wildflowers. "Enjoy them where they grow! Aren't they beautiful?" She was part of a huge commitment to revere the environment and the feeling of belonging to this little community assured her that she measured up, that she was on the right side of things and that consequently she was an appealing person.
Gilly also loved Jake, a fellow counselor. They shared the same birthday, July 29, when they both turned fifteen. They gave each other "Surviving in the Wilderness" manuals for presents. They had both read The Legacy of Luna, The Story of a Tree, a Woman and the Struggle to Save the Redwoods.
But Gilly had a shameful secret that burned in her stomach and chest. She was terrified of bugs. She couldn't help it and she was in constant fear that some one would find out. One day in the woods with Jake and their campers she felt something crawling up her leg. Ugh! Involuntarily she slapped off a large, green, pokey thing, Ugh, and then squished it with her sneaker. She looked down. It squirmed. Then it didn't. Dead.
"Oh," she said. She felt her mortification pop out all over her. "I don't know why I did that, I'm sorry," she whispered.
He turned his back and walked away. The campers followed him. First they looked at Gilly in disbelief, then, Gilly could sense it, with disdain.
She was a fraud. For sure Jake thought so now. She had no business being in this camp. She was shallow compared to every other person here. Gilly flushed red and wished she could melt right into the leafy path and disappear.
Note: I could never just leave this story here. I would have Gilly find her gumption and most of all her sense of self-worth some other way and she would triumph inside herself!
Happy summer writing everyone. A perfect time to find your muse outdoors somewhere.
Julia Butterfly Hill lived on a platform in a redwood tree for 738 days to protest the clearcutting of a grove of giant redwood trees in California. And then she wrote about it.
What about asking your fictional characters to tell you their "gratefuls?" They may surprise you! Maybe they think they don't have any, or maybe they will reveal something about themselves that will show you a deeper side, an unexpected layer of who they are. Your character may show you he's not always dense, or loving or grouchy or intelligent.
Go ahead and try asking your characters what they are grateful for. Start with a blank page, put the character's name on top and ask the question! Give them a chance to show you how richly layered they may be. They might reward you by breathing right off the page.
Here's mine. I asked my character if she were grateful for anything. She revealed something I never knew about her and I realized I had done her an injustice. She wasn't just one way. She was another way too.
She had to get rid of this dog. He bites, well nips, her ankles, the delivery man's ankles, guest's ankles, everybody's ankles. He whines every hour on the hour at night. Can he tell time? Here's the worst. Sometimes he goes poo-poo in her husband's back office, in front of the bathroom door. Right after a long walk outside.
Here he was now, looking up at her while she sat reading, tissues piling up in the basket next to her. Her nose wouldn't stop running and her throat was sore and her head was hot. She crossed her legs trying to find a comfortable position. Holding the top leg slightly out in front of her felt good.
The dog lay at her feet. He reached his big paw up to her lifted leg and plopped it there, on her ankle. He was very still. She stared at him for a few moments, then a few more moments. She couldn't help the smile and she ruffled the dog's ears. She leaned back and felt the warmth of his paw spread through her, landing, she realized, on her heart. The dog looked her in the eye and didn't move his paw from her leg. She really would be bereft without him. How could she be in her house without that doggie love following her around?
A Very Happy Thanksgiving Writers with many "gratefuls!" As for me, I am so grateful I am a writer because my eyes are always open wide.
Trust, as in trusting that your characters know who they are.
I wonder if Dickens or Tolstoy or Edith Wharton had conversations with their characters?
Happy November to all you Wonderful Writers!
Writing the unexpected joy, in memoir, fiction, a poem, is great writing practice for evoking a moment. It's a chance to filter everything out except those words, those sounds, those smells, that rhythm that calls up the feeling of the moment—for the character and for the reader.
Have you been startled by something that dazzles you lately? Touched by a kindness? Go ahead all you idea-filled writers out there! Practice evoking a joyful moment. Maybe it will turn into a longer piece or turn out to be a horrible moment. Just start.
The old man stared at the picnic table by the sand dunes. The sun was peeking down through the clouds, covering half the table in warmth. Crisp, November ocean breezes blew some dried seaweed off the weathered table top.
Leaning on his dog and with a bit of effort, he pulled one leg up on to the table bench. Oof. He stopped to take a breath. "Bossy Dr. 'Cautious' would have ten fits if he saw me now, Finnegan, stiff as I am and creaky as I am." The old man had dizzy spells sometimes and a hip that annoyed him.
He hoisted his other knee beside his foot. "O.K. O.K. I'm almost up, Finnegan." Oooof. He pulled himself on to the tabletop and turned himself bit by bit, ouch, ouch. He lay down on his eighty-nine year old back. Aaaaah. The table was hard and the muscles in the top of his back hurt. He scrunched up his scarf and put it under his head. Yes. Better. Finnegan settled on the bench just beneath him.
The old man smiled and switched his awareness to the cloud pictures passing by in the sky that didn't end. A slow sense of peace and utter contentment began to release his body into the warm wooden tabletop. The smell of the ocean and the lullaby of the crashing waves delighted his senses.
"I miss you Lizzie," he said to a floating cloud. Was she clucking at him for doing such a darned foolish thing—climbing up on top of a picnic table? No, no, she's glad I tried and did it. She only wanted me to be happy. Always.
After a nice long stretch he took one last blissful breath and began the trip down from the table top to the sand. Steady, steady, I can do it. O.K. O.K.
This does look like a lovely spot to dream some new writing ideas or discover that elusive answer to a revision problem.
Not to push this too far, but for me to feel deep contentment is what I imagine might be a state of grace.
The Outermost House by Henry Beston is full of unexpected joys at the seashore.
Young children love to look up to you and announce the most surprising things; little bursts of observation that can be funny, troublesome, endearing or savvy. We are often charmed because they are small and new to this world.
Capturing a 'child moment' is sometimes a challenge for writers. We are not three years old and unless we have young children around us we may harbor pre-conceived notions about what childhood feels like. Our memory may not be reliable and cliches about children like to insinuate themselves into our writing.
Cliche is a place we do not want to be. As much as possible I try to creep into the child's experience and write that. With adults reacting to children I try for a spontaneous response.
Go ahead writers and create a story around a child. You may feel refreshed by this work, as I do.
The outdoor arbor of branches and twigs was bedecked with small flowers and ribbons. The light scent of roses wafted among the seated wedding guests and you could feel the buzz of anticipation and excitement in the small grassy meadow. The groom and minister were in place under the arbor and the processional was about to begin.
All eyes were turned to the back where Oliver, the five-year-old ring bearer, held fast to his satin pillow that cradled the two gold rings. He was standing with the groomsmen ready to walk down the aisle. Light music from the musicians' violins began to fill the meadow.
The whisper was a loud whisper and it floated down the aisle bringing on many soft chuckles.
Halfway through the service, during a relative's recitation of "How Do I Love Thee? Let Me Count the Ways," a small voice whispered to the best man, "I have to go to the bathroom. Badly." It was again a loud whisper and again amused, delighted titters spread though the gathering.
The minister paused and grinned down at Oliver. The relative stopped reciting.
"Me too," one of the little flower girls piped up." "I have to, too." The other flower girl, a toddler, stepped out of line.
Oliver's mother rushed up and escorted the three to the house. They were squeezing their legs together.
There were only one or two "shouldn't the mother have taken care of this beforehand?" Haven't they ever had a similar emergency?
A Huge Responsibility. Must arrive safely to the alter.
When writing from a child's P.O.V. I really like to consult this vocabulary book organized by grade in school. If the child is a genius (and most mothers' children are geniuses) you can skip a grade or two.
Writers read, read, and read some more. Right? We read anywhere. Books and all those words feed our thirsty creative sensibilities.
My holiday gift to you all is a gentle suggestion. You might want to read or re-read Charles Dicken's A Christmas Carol. Not just for the deliciousness of it. But read it as a writer.
What details did Dickens choose to evoke Scrooge's extreme miserliness? His scoffing at the ghosts and then his terror? His newly discovered love-filled heart?
How did Dickens put his words together? Bring us into Victorian England?
HOW DID HE CREATE HIS MAGIC?