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In the summer of 1841, Charles Dickens found himself with not quite enough to do. "I am in an exquisitely lazy state, bathing, walking, reading, lying in the sun, doing everything but working," he told his friend John Forster. Dickens was twenty-nine and wrote, as a rule, on a rampage. When he was sixteen, he started working as a court reporter. At twenty, he was hired by a newspaper; two years later, he became a political correspondent for the Morning Chronicle and began writing sketches of London life under the name Boz. The first number of "The Pickwick Papers" appeared in March of 1836, three days before Dickens married Catherine Hogarth, the daughter of a Chronicle editor. By November of that year, he was making enough from writing stories to leave the paper. He liked to write from nine to two every day, "walking about my room on particular bits of all the flowers in the carpet." For most of his career, Dickens was also the editor of a weekly magazine. Nearly all his novels were published in either weekly or monthly installments. For thirteen months in 1838 and 1839, he wrote "Oliver Twist" and "Nicholas Nickleby" at the same time, abandoning Fagin in Newgate to pursue Mr. Squeers, only to leave Bill Sikes hanging while failing to rescue sorry little Smike.
Everyone in Dickens is either a jailer or a prisoner, and some, like Dickens himself, are both: the author, his own turnkey. Whenever an extra in a Dickens novel needs to make an escape, he exits stage left, to an unseen America; characters with better billing merely gesture westward, like so many weathercocks. Mr. Monks flees "to a distant part of the New World," where he meets his end in an American penitentiary. Amy Dorrit wishes her worthless brother, Tip, would decamp for Canada. Herbert Pocket fancies "buying a rifle and going to America, with a general purpose of compelling buffaloes to make his fortune." Sam Weller's father proposes sneaking Mr. Pickwick out of Fleet prison by concealing him in a piece of furniture ("A pianner, Samivel, a pianner!"), and sending him across the ocean, where all his troubles will be over, because he could "come back and write a book about the 'Merrikins as 'll pay his expenses." It needed only the piano.
Readers were so keen to see Mr. Pickwick set sail that Edward Lloyd published a knockoff called "Pickwick in America." Here Mr. Pickwick meets his first Virginian:
"America is a fine place, sir, is it not?" inquired Mr. Pickwick, looking with a searching glance into the countenance of the gentleman of the gigantic brimmer. . . .
"A fine place!—I calculate you're right there to an iota"; replied the singular little gentleman; "every swamp in America is a perfect pride of paradise."
Dickens sued Lloyd for plagiarism.
By September of 1841, Dickens was close to finishing "Barnaby Rudge," a novel of revolution that, like "A Tale of Two Cities," begins in 1775. At its climax, Joe Willet, who has just returned from fighting in the American Revolution, breaks into a prison to rescue the woman he loves, who happens to be the daughter of a locksmith. Dickens had written six books in as many years. He had never been out of England for more than a week or two, and only as far as France. He and his wife had four children. You can hear the keys jangling, as if in Miss Murdstone's very jail of a purse. "Haunted by visions of America night and day," Dickens wished to avail himself of Mr. Weller's stratagem. He wrote to his publisher, "It would be a good thing, wouldn't it, if I ran over to America about the end of February, and came back, after four or five months, with a One Volume book?"
The trouble was his wife, who didn't want to go without the children; the oldest was four, the youngest only six months. "Kate cries dismally if I mention the subject," Dickens wrote to Forster. "But, God willing, I think it must be managed somehow!" Dickens sometimes signed letters from Mr. and Mrs. Dickens "Bully and Meek." Forster had no doubt it would be managed.
On January 4, 1842, Dickens and his wife boarded the steamer Britannia. The bed in his cabin was so thin that, he informed the artist Daniel Maclise, he thought he could put it in an envelope and mail it with one extra stamp. Maclise had made a drawing of the Dickenses' children. Catherine took it out and put it on the table.
The couple set sail. They were so seasick that Dickens was possessed of "a kind of lazy joy—of fiendish delight, if anything so lethargic can be dignified with the title—in the fact of my wife being too ill to talk to me." When Martin Chuzzlewit and Mark Tapley sail to the States on a packet ship called the Screw, Tapley takes care of a poor woman and her three weakened children while Chuzzlewit lies abed, moaning:
"Why, you don't suppose there is a living creature in this ship who can by possibility have half so much to undergo on board of her as I have? Do you?" he asked, sitting upright in his berth and looking at Mark, with an expression of great earnestness not unmixed with wonder.
Mark twisted his face into a tight knot, and with his head very much on one side pondered upon this question.
Dickens always wrote this way, cleaving a man from his conscience by splitting one character into two and then locking them together in a prison, or a contract, or a marriage. His novels are cunningly arranged to appear all a-clutter, like a Victorian parlor, ottomans and mahogany card tables higgledy-piggledy with chintz-covered armchairs and marble columns topped with busts of Roman statesmen, a curiosity shop of characters, but somewhere, caped by heavy velvet drapes, there always hangs a pair of pendant portraits. Twain had his Huck and his Jim. Dickens had his Chuzzlewits and his Tapleys, his Pips and his Magwitches, locked in a cell, bound by a knot, fastened by a screw.
Dickens liked to figure himself as imprisoned by his readers; writers more commonly think of themselves as hostage to critics. Readers have loved Dickens so long and so well that there are people who have been going to Dickens camp, at the University of California, Santa Cruz, every summer for decades. What lies between a devotion so passionate and lasting and the changing but often harsh judgment of critics is not only Dickens's work but also Dickens's history, the history of reading, and even the history of criticism itself.
Book reviewing dates only to the eighteenth century, when, for the first time, there were so many books being printed that magazines—they were new, too—started printing essays about them. In the nineteenth century, an age of factories and suffrage, literacy rates increased, the price of books fell, and magazines were cheaper still. A democracy of readers rose up against an aristocracy of critics.
Edward Bulwer Lytton, a friend of Dickens, the contemporary novelist he most admired, a Member of Parliament, and one of the few nineteenth-century novelists to rival Dickens in sales, worried that, as the literary marketplace was opening up, "all powerful opinion, that of the majority, will rule." Edgar Allan Poe thought that readers were wrong about Bulwer but right about Dickens. In 1841, Poe compared "The Old Curiosity Shop" with Bulwer's "Night and Morning." Bulwer, he wrote, "has arrived at the capability of producing books which might be mistaken by ninety-nine readers out of a hundred for the genuine inspirations of genius," while Dickens, "by the promptings of the truest genius itself, has been brought to compose, and evidently without effort, works which have effected a long-sought consummation—which have rendered him the idol of the people, while defying and enchanting the critics."
But Dickens didn't unify the House of Critics and the House of Readers. For a very long time, critics—Poe being one of the few exceptions—dismissed him as a caricaturist: facetious, melodramatic, antic, clumsy, and, on political questions, dangerously out of his depth. There never lived a man as hideous as Quilp. Mr. Gradgrind was not to be credited; Nell was not to be borne. Mirth could not answer tyranny. "Bleak House" was belabored. The novels before "Copperfield" were meringue and treacle; those which followed were burned pot roast. Mr. Dickens did not satisfy.
Anthony Trollope found Dickens's writing wanting, and his popularity vexing. "The primary object of a novelist is to please; and this man's novels have been found more pleasant than those of any other writer," he admitted. "From all which, there arises to the critic a question whether, with such evidence against him as to the excellence of this writer, he should not subordinate his own opinion to the collected opinion of the world of readers." Who decides?
In 1939, Edmund Wilson turned the critical tide, arguing that Dickens was not only "the greatest dramatic writer that the English language had had since Shakespeare" but also an astute social critic—he had a singular vantage on the Pecksniffian moral dishonesty of Victorianism—even if he was fundamentally "not interested in politics." Months later, George Orwell described Dickens as chiefly interested in politics; it was just that his politics weren't half as radical as some people wanted them to be. Lionel Trilling threw up his hands: "With a body of work as large and enduring as that of Dickens, taste and opinion will never be done." A classy dodge.
A good place to puzzle over all this, I thought, must be Dickens camp: a week of discussing Dickens, sleeping in dormitories, and eating in a cafeteria, bringing together literary scholars, teachers, and students with readers who love Dickens so much I thought they must be like the people in the final chapter of "Fahrenheit 451," hiding out in the hinterland, mumbling lines they had committed to memory. I pictured meeting an old man Copperfield wandering beneath the redwoods, muttering, "Whether I shall turn out to be the hero of my own life, or whether that station will be held by anybody else, these pages must show."
Every year, the campers read a different book. This year, it was "Great Expectations," which also happens to have been a recent selection of Oprah's Book Club, membership nearly two million. The number of people who turn up at Dickens camp in any given summer depends on how much people like the book. "The Christmas books were, for instance, a hard sell," Catherine Robson, a literary scholar from N.Y.U., told me. Throngs were anticipated for "Great Expectations." Robson volunteered to let me room with her. When I wrote her that I wasn't sure I'd be able to make it, being reluctant to leave a houseful of pips, she wrote back, "What could be more Dickensian than abandoning your children?" She had me there. I headed for the airport, wishing that I had the brass to use, for an e-mail out-of-office auto-reply, Boz's boilerplate:
Dear Sir
I beg to acknowledge the receipt of your obliging letter, and to assure you that my time and attention are far too much occupied, to admit of my having the pleasure you propose to me.
Faithfully Yours
Instead, I made do with the usual feeble promise: Back soon.
On January 22, 1842, the Britannia reached Boston, a port that, in Dickens's honor, Americans took to calling Boz-town. Ribbons fluttered from lampposts. Hackneys lined up at the dock, fighting for the chance to drive Dickens to his hotel. Bundled in a brown peacoat, his feet stuffed into cork-soled boots, Dickens looked a fright; Catherine wanted him to change his clothes before getting off the ship. "Never mind that, dear," he said. "We are on the other side now."
Dickens considered himself an honorary American, and Americans thought of him that way, too. The twenty-two-year-old Walt Whitman hailed him as a "democratic writer." The United States Magazine lauded his "democratic genius." Dickens had received letters "from the dwellers in log-houses among the morasses, and swamps, and densest forests, and deepest solitudes of the Far West." He wanted to meet the readers who wrote those letters. He once described to his wife what it felt like to watch the actor William Macready listen to one of his stories: "If you had seen Macready last night, undisguisedly sobbing and crying on the sofa as I read, you would have felt, as I did, what a thing it is to have power." He wanted to watch his American readers swoon.
He bounded like a madman through Boston's snow-covered streets. When he reached the Tremont Hotel, he yelled, "Here we are!" Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and Charles Sumner took him for a ten-mile walk. Longfellow thought Dickens had "a slight dash of the Dick Swiveller about him." James Fields, later the editor of The Atlantic, called him the "Emperor of Cheerfulness."
"The American poor, the American factories, the institutions of all kinds—I have a book, already," Dickens wrote to Forster, a week after he arrived. But by the time he reached New York everything had begun to go wrong. His books sold wildly in the United States, but his income from their sale amounted to no more than fifty pounds. In the absence of enforceable international copyright law, no American printer need pay any English author royalties. And when Dickens argued on behalf of copyright reform ("I,—the greatest loser by the existing Law, alive") New York newspapers damned him as mercenary, a poet of poverty who loved nothing better than money.
He travelled southward, his spirits sinking. In a prison in Philadelphia, he saw a man who had been held in solitary confinement for six years and who sat in his cell wearing "a paper hat of his own making." It was the shadow of Dickens's own terror. To have no communion with humanity—no readers for his writing, no audience for the performance—is what Dickens dreaded most.
"This is not the Republic I came to see," he wrote to Macready from Baltimore. "This is not the Republic of my imagination." In Washington, he watched a congressional budget debate and reported to Macready that American politics were grotesque:
Look at the exhausted Treasury; the paralyzed government; the unworthy representatives of a free people; the desperate contests between the North and the South; the iron curb and brazen muzzle fastened upon every man who speaks his mind, even in that Republican Hall, to which Republican men are sent by a Republican people to speak Republican Truths—the stabbings, and shootings, and coarse and brutal threatenings exchanged between Senators under the very Senate's roof—the intrusion of the most pitiful, mean, malicious, creeping, crawling, sneaking party spirit into all transactions of life.
Dickens made it as far south as Richmond and then turned west. The American people were not only savage, he wrote to Forster; they were also humorless: "I am quite serious when I say that I have not heard a hearty laugh these six weeks, except my own."
America is where Dickens's love affair with his readers fell apart. Ask a reader to pay an author and, according to Dickens, you get but one answer: "Dollars, banks, and cotton are our books, sir." The emperor of cheerfulness turned sarcastic. "The Americans like him! They are glad to see him when he comes here!" he wrote from Niagara Falls. "The Americans read him; the free, enlightened, independent Americans; and what more would he have?"
He could hardly have been more eager to leave. "We sail from New York, per George Washington Packet Ship (none of your steamers) on Tuesday the Seventh of June. Hoo-ray—ay—ay—ay—ay—ay—ay—ay!!!!!" He brought on board a spaniel named Timber Doodle; a wife, homesick; and his expectations for America, dashed. The republic he had admired was a sham: its politics violent, its people tasteless, his readers cheap. "I am a Lover of Freedom disappointed," he lamented.
As soon as he got home, he wrote "American Notes for General Circulation," an account of his travels only slightly less candid than his letters to Forster, with scabrous reflections on the avarice and coarseness of the American people. Even the title is a swipe at Americans' preference for money over books. It is generally considered the worst thing he ever wrote, and it is also the reason, both fairly and unfairly, that so many critics regard him as politically naïve. Dickens "is a man of very 'liberal' opinions in politics," one reviewer remarked, but "we greatly doubt whether he has read or thought sufficiently long and deeply on such matters, to enable him to offer confident opinions." Poe called it "one of the most suicidal productions ever deliberately published by an author, who had the least reputation to lose." America had nearly ended him.
The University of California, Santa Cruz, sits at the edge of an America that Dickens never saw, in a forest of redwood and eucalyptus just below the mountains and just above the ocean, foggy in the morning and dark as tar at night. It smells of lavender, and of the sea.
At twilight, Catherine Robson and Teresa Mangum, a professor of English at the University of Iowa, led me to the week's first lecture, along a path of pine needles bordered by thyme and lamb's ear and past a vegetable garden where spent sunflowers drooped over a patch of summer squash. Nearby, deer grazing in a field eyed us with gentle indignation.
A Dickensian waved as he passed us.
"Wemmick," Robson whispered. "The postbox mouth."
"More Tom Pinch," Mangum murmured.
It is a quirk, at Dickens camp, to liken everyone you meet to a character in a Dickens novel. The week's opening lecture was delivered by Andrew Miller, from Indiana University, an earnest man, all in black and white, and with a discerning stare. Nickleby? I looked out the lecture hall's windows, at the redwoods, and the darkening sky. In an hour-long talk, rife with allusions to Leibniz, Hume, Kierkegaard, Wilde, Woolf, and Hardy, Miller offered a reading of "Great Expectations" in which he argued that the novel is defined by "the optative mode of self-understanding," an experience of modern life, in which everything is what it is but could have been something else.
I walked back alone in the dark, wondering how Dickens ever survived the bashing he got after "American Notes" to be the subject of such elaborate academic scrutiny and popular adulation that two hundred and sixty people had given up a precious week of summer vacation just to talk about him.
Right after finishing "American Notes," Dickens wrote "Martin Chuzzlewit." ("I have nearly killed myself with laughing," he wrote, while working on the American chapters.) "What are the Great United States for, sir, if not for the regeneration of man?" General Choke asks, in the course of swindling Chuzzlewit into investing in the Eden Land Corporation. But when Chuzzlewit and Tapley arrive in Eden they find not the thriving republican city they were promised but festering swamps, rotting cabins, and dying settlers. "There's one good thing in this place, sir . . . and that is, that it's a reg'lar little United States in itself." Both Tapley and Chuzzlewit get sick and nearly die, which changes Chuzzlewit for good:
In the hideous solitude of that most hideous place, with Hope so far removed, Ambition quenched, and Death beside him rattling at the very door, reflection came, as in a plague-beleaguered town; and so he felt and knew the failing of his life, and saw distinctly what an ugly spot it was. Eden was a hard school to learn so hard a lesson in; but there were teachers in the swamp and thicket, and the pestilential air, who had a searching method of their own.
Dickens had found something out, in America: "So low had Eden brought him down. So high had Eden raised him up."
I went to bed. There is very little time to sleep at Dickens camp, but, if you wanted to try, you could buy, at a silent auction, Miss Havisham's Insomnia Kit, which consists of tea and a candle. Reading seminars start at eight-thirty and lectures are delivered in the morning, afternoon, and evening, followed by late-night screenings of film adaptations of the week's novel. There are daily rehearsals of an original farce, written for the occasion. In addition, there are faculty seminars, graduate writing colloquiums, and teaching workshops, not to mention Victorian tea, a Victorian dance, and, presumably, summer romance for graduate students, the less Victorian the better. ("Grass in the hair is the tell," I was told.) Much anticipated was a lecture titled "Great Sexpectations."
Breakfast starts at seven-thirty. I sat down with the Cheerybles of what is known as the Dickens Project: John Jordan, Murray Baumgarten, and Ed Eigner. Jordan grew up in Memphis. His grandmother read Dickens to him. "She used to say she had never met anyone in her life whom she hadn't first met in 'Pickwick Papers,' " he recalled. In the nineteen-seventies, when Jordan and Baumgarten started teaching a course on Dickens at Santa Cruz, they got to talking with Eigner, who was teaching a Dickens course at U.C. Riverside, so when the U.C. president invited proposals for inter-campus initiatives they proposed a research consortium. The chancellors were mostly scientists. The Dickens Project was one of the few humanities projects that were funded. Baumgarten smiled. "We told them we wanted to run a Dickens lab," he said.
Dickens camp is officially called Dickens Universe. Eigner named it. It was also Eigner's idea to let anyone come. "It turned out to be the most important part of the whole thing," he said. The first year, though, the non-specialists staged a revolt. "Can't you just talk like ordinary people?" they asked the academics. No, the academics answered. They had worked very hard to prepare these lectures, and, damn it, they were going to read them.
Alexis DesRoches—who works in a real-estate office in Industry, Maine, population 697—had been to Miller's talk. "I have never used the word 'optative' in my life," she told me, "but, once you make the translation, the guy is really fascinating." Her family thinks she's nuts: "My sister-in-law said, 'A week of English class? Blech.' "
I sat next to DesRoches in John Bowen's class. (Thirty-nine faculty from thirty-three institutions came this year; none of them are paid for their teaching.) Bowen, who is lithe and effervescent, teaches at the University of York. His grandfather was a miner. He belongs to the first generation in his family to go to college. He has been coming to Dickens camp since 1998. "The first time I came home, I flew home, my wife picked me up at Heathrow, and I talked non-stop for four hours," he told me.
He went to the chalkboard. "If we might begin by just thinking about a thing or two you found weird about the book . . . ?" The questions tumbled out. Why is Pip such a little shit? How much did Jaggers know? What's up with the weather? Bowen's eyes grew wide. He picked up a nub of chalk and began to write.
The room grew warm; soon the board was covered with questions. A community-college teacher from New York broached the subject of Pip's reliability as a narrator. A heavyset woman with frizzled gray hair, spectacles, running shoes, and a black dress patterned with pink roses cleared her throat.
"I have a passage I should like to read."
Bowen opened his arms. "How could I stop you?"
The woman picked up her paperback and found the page she wanted:
If a dread of not being understood be hidden in the breasts of other young people to anything like the extent to which it used to be hidden in mine—which I consider probable, as I have no particular reason to suspect myself of having been a monstrosity—it is the key to many reservations.
It wasn't just what she read; it was how wonderfully she read it. Could we trust Pip? Could we trust the woman in the rose-patterned dress? Could she please read more? Someone whispered, "Isn't that Professor Sprout?"
It was the English actress Miriam Margolyes, who played Professor Sprout in the Harry Potter movies and has also played Flora Finching and Mrs. Bumble in adaptations of "Little Dorrit" and "Oliver Twist." She has attended Dickens camp for more than a decade. ("I so read the book, but I so didn't understand it," a recent high-school graduate confessed to me. "But then Miriam, she read that and, all of a sudden, I could hear it, you know?")
I caught up with Margolyes at a crowded table in the cafeteria, where I sat next to Trude Hoffacker, a retired high-school English teacher from Sunnydale, California, who has been to Dickens camp every year since it started. Hoffacker told me about a camp regular who never said much and then, after he'd missed a year, and she asked him why, confessed that he hadn't been able to get the book on tape. It turned out that he didn't know how to read.
After five days of breakfast, lunch, and dinner with a couple of hundred people, the attendees can run together, as if we were all always sitting at the same table, sharing an endless plum pudding. Tom and Mary Ann Berry drove here from Durango. This is their first year. He has never read Dickens; she is a Dickens fanatic. John Romano has a Ph.D. from Yale and wrote a book about Dickens and realism and taught at Columbia until he quit to become a screenwriter. "I started writing for 'Hill Street Blues,' " he said. "And I found out we did more talking about Dickens there than I ever did at Columbia." Meghan Kelly, an elementary-school librarian from Louisiana, runs a Dickens Club for fifth graders, modelled on Dickens camp. Lillian Nayder has just finished a biography of Catherine Dickens and is here to give a lecture. Sybil-Frances Kimbrig, whose late husband was a professor of linguistics, used to go to Elderhostels, but her husband hated it, because he would end up teaching everyone, and she likes this better because the experts are actually experts, and they don't talk down to you. Ernie Peterson, a retired doctor from Boise, and his wife, Cindy, always room with Aleck Darr and his wife, Nancy; they met one another here nine years ago. Peterson doesn't have a favorite Dickens. "To me, it's all one big novel," he said. Camp was starting to feel that way, too. And God bless them, every one.
"We are old; we are young," Margolyes announced over lunch one day. "We are ignorant; we are scholars."
Margolyes read "Oliver Twist" when she was eleven. "Since then, there hasn't been a day in my life when I haven't read Dickens," she said.
"Not a day?" I asked, doubtfully.
"Not a day."
"And why?"
"Because he's fucking good." She put down her fork. "He gathers you into his world, and while you're in his world you are ravished. You are ravished!" She placed her palms on the table and leaned toward me, her voice rising. "I love him; I hate him. I admire him; I despise him. He is everything." Or maybe that was at dinner.
I bumped into Bowen, walking to a lecture. I asked him why Trollope was so exasperated by Dickens. "Ah," he said, and paused. "Trollope mistrusted rhetorical power."
Most scholars mistrust rhetorical power, too. It is the business of a reader to enjoy a book. It is the business of a critic to reckon a writer's merit. Dickens's merit being, for the moment, stipulated, it is the business of a literary scholar to decipher a text. But deciphering Dickens is like defusing a bomb.
"BEGAN DOMBEY!" Dickens wrote to Forster when he finally began writing again, after the disappointing "Chuzzlewit." "There's no writing against such a power as this," Thackeray exclaimed when he read the fifth installment of "Dombey and Son." "David Copperfield" appeared in 1849. Little Davy, locked in a room, is reduced, in his longing and his loneliness, to kissing the keyhole. The Prime Minister read it to his wife. "We cried," he confessed, "till we were ashamed." Henry James, as a six-year-old boy growing up on Fourteenth Street in New York, hid under a table to listen to his family read it aloud, until his sobs gave him away.
"Copperfield," the first novel that Dickens wrote in the first person, tells the story of his own life:
"I suppose history never lies, does it?" said Mr. Dick, with a gleam of hope.
"Oh dear, no, sir!" I replied, most decisively. I was ingenuous and young, and I thought so.
Never be mean, never be false, never be cruel. "Avoid those three vices," Betsey Trotwood tells Copperfield, "and I can always be hopeful of you."
Dickens began writing "Bleak House" in 1852. "Little Dorrit," which appeared between 1855 and 1857, outsold all its predecessors and outpaced them, too, in critical contempt. Dickens countered his critics by counting his readers:
In the Preface to Bleak House I remarked that I had never had so many readers. In the Preface to its next successor, Little Dorrit, I have still to repeat the same words.
If he had never had more readers, he had also never been unhappier. In 1857, when Dickens was forty-five, he fell in love with a seventeen-year-old actress named Ellen Ternan. Catherine Dickens, who was forty-two at the time, had endured twelve pregnancies, including two miscarriages. She was no longer the wife of his imagination. She was fat; he found her dull. He moved her into a separate bedroom. In May of 1858, he more or less kicked her out of the house. "She does not—and she never did—care for the children," he insisted, "and the children do not—and they never did—care for her." Charley, the Dickenses' oldest child, went to live with his mother. At twenty-one, he was the only one of the nine children old enough to make his own decision. Dickens all but forbade the rest of the children to see their mother. The youngest, Edward Bulwer Lytton Dickens, had just turned six.
On June 8, 1858, four days after Catherine Dickens signed a deed of separation, Edward Bulwer was speaking before his constituents in Hertford when his estranged and often outrageous wife showed up and heckled him, shouting, "Sir Liar!" Bulwer had married Rosina Wheeler, the daughter of a women's-rights advocate, in 1827, but he beat her, and kept a series of mistresses. According to a well-corroborated story, he once bit his wife in the face and had to be pulled off her by the servants. After they were legally separated, in 1836, he had their children, aged six and ten, taken away from her; she barely saw them again. She took vengeance by writing novels—her first, "Cheveley; or, the Man of Honour," is a satirical portrait of her husband. After she showed up at the hustings, he had her declared insane, and committed to a lunatic asylum. At the same time, Dickens publicly announced his separation from his wife on the front page of Household Words, a magazine he edited. (Elsewhere, he hinted that she suffered from a "mental disorder.")
With the Bulwers, sympathy fell more on his side than on hers: he was silent; she was shocking. With the Dickenses, the reverse was true. "Incompatibility of temper after twenty-three years of married life! What a plea!" Elizabeth Barrett Browning wrote, and then she added, thinking, perhaps, of both scandals, "I would rather be beaten by my husband once a day than lose my child."
Domestic tragedy, like domestic happiness, is ineffable. "I can never hope that anyone out of my house can ever comprehend my domestic story," Dickens wrote. In April of 1860, he assured a friend that his unhappiness would not spoil his fiction:
I believe I am exactly what I always have been; quite as hopeful, cheerful, and active, as I ever was. I am not so weak or wicked as to visit any small unhappiness of my own, upon the world in which I live. I know very well, it is just as it was. As to my art, I have as great a delight in it as the most enthusiastic of my readers; and the sense of my trust and responsibility in that wise, is always upon me when I take pen in hand.
And then, in a field behind his house, he made a bonfire and burned his letters—including all the letters Catherine had ever written to him—destroying the evidence of history so that he could write the story of his life as a fiction, once again. Telling Forster that "a very fine, new, and grotesque idea has opened upon me," he started writing a new novel. "The name is GREAT EXPECTATIONS."
"You have just been hired to write an adaptation of 'Great Expectations,' " Marty Gould told us, at the start of the high-school teachers' workshop. Gould teaches at the University of South Florida. "You can have only ten characters, and eight scenes. You've got ten minutes. Go!" Dickens camp is part academic conference, part book club, part vacation, and part liberal-arts boot camp. It was the middle of the week, and I had Dickens fatigue. Bleary-eyed, I made my list, wondering whether, if I did without Mrs. Pocket, I could keep Trabb's boy.
In "Copperfield," Dickens confronted his childhood; in "Expectations," his adulthood. "To be quite sure I had fallen into no unconscious repetitions, I read David Copperfield again the other day," Dickens informed Forster. The two novels start in the same place. "During these first three weekly numbers you will find the hero to be a boy-child, like David," Dickens explained. "Then he will be an apprentice." And then he will grow up. In "Great Expectations," Dickens wanted to find a way to be both the Dickens his old readers missed—that Pickwickian boy-child, Pip—and the Dickens he had grown into, as pained and pursued as Magwitch. "I have got in the pivot on which the story will turn," he wrote. A child will be chained to a convict.
Five minutes passed. "Stop!" We put down our pens. "Your budget has just been cut!" Gould said. "Now you can only have seven characters, and eight scenes." I said a sorrowful goodbye to Mr. Pumblechook.
The teachers' workshop is organized by Alice Alarcon, who teaches at a high school on Long Island, and Wayne Batten, who teaches in Nashville. "Great Expectations" is the ninth most frequently assigned title in ninth-grade English classes in U.S. public high schools. It's also the longest book and, in reading difficulty, the hardest novel assigned in high school, in any grade. Batten has a passage that he likes to ask ninth graders to read. I read the instructions in the handout: in the following passage, underline the verbs, circle the adjectives, and cross out the adverbs. Pip has just met Miss Havisham:
I saw that the bride within the bridal dress had withered like the dress, and like the flowers, and had no brightness left but the brightness of her sunken eyes. I saw that the dress had been put upon the rounded figure of a young woman, and that the figure upon which it now hung loose, had shrunk to skin and bone.
And then I realized I had heard these words all week long. "Miss Havisham is Dickens!" Margolyes had called out on Monday evening, during a performance of her one-woman show about Dickens. Claire Jarvis, from Stanford, had offered a theoretical reading of the novel that cast this scene in a new light in her lecture, "Great Sexpectations," which, disappointingly to some, focussed on virginity. Miller had cited this scene as an example of the optative mode: Pip, like Miss Havisham, is what he is, but he might have been something else. The ghost of Miss Havisham, in a dress made out of white kitchen garbage bags, had even staggered through the cafeteria one day at lunch, leaning on a cane, and rasping, "Love her! Love her! "
I read the passage again, and I saw that Miss Havisham's dress is thin and papery, like the pages of an old book. And I thought that I saw, at last, how Dickens camp works, and what happens when very many people read a very old book together, if it is very good. I saw that everyone wears Miss Havisham's dress, and I saw that it always fits.
On November 17, 1860, Harper's announced that Abraham Lincoln had been elected President and that a new Dickens novel was on its way. "Great Expectations" was published serially and, in the United States, a week ahead of its publication in England, in Dickens's magazine, All the Year Round. Dickens calculated that he would finish the novel on June 12th, the anniversary of his announcement of the dissolution of his marriage. But writing at breakneck speed wasn't as easy as it once was. He began suffering from unexplained pains in his side. His face hurt. He couldn't sleep.
Meanwhile, he was reading a draft of a new novel by Edward Bulwer, which he planned to run in All the Year Round. He didn't want to lose readers after his own novel ended, and Bulwer was the only novelist who could reliably keep up the magazine's circulation. The story that Bulwer sent Dickens involved two manuscripts, and went like this: while preparing a metaphysical treatise proving the impossibility of an afterlife, Doctor Fenwick falls in love with the ethereal Lilian Ashleigh but is strangely attracted to the mysterious Margrave, whereupon a dying nobleman asks Fenwick to edit his unpublished memoirs, in which it is explained that Margrave has stolen the secret of immortality.
On May 12th, Dickens wrote Bulwer that he couldn't put the book down, and tossed out some possible titles, including "The Lost Manuscript." Then he went back to his own manuscript, finishing "Great Expectations" a day early, on June 11th. Four days later, Dickens travelled to Bulwer's country estate, where he asked Bulwer to read the ending of "Great Expectations," in proof.
Bulwer didn't like it. "You write to be read, of course," Dickens had once reminded a contributor to Household Words, instructing her to make the ending of her story "less painful." Bulwer told Dickens much the same thing. On June 24th, Dickens sent him a revised ending. "I hope you will like the alteration that is entirely due to you," he said. In this ending, Pip meets Estella on the marsh:
I took her hand in mine, and we went out of the ruined place; and, as the morning mists had risen long ago when I first left the forge, so the evening mists were rising now, and in all the broad expanse of tranquil light they showed to me, I saw the shadow of no parting from her.
That's what Dickens printed. He wanted his readers back. He got them.
"Shall I read the ending?" Bowen asked the class. "Which one?"
Lately, everyone likes the sadder ending better. As Dickens originally wrote it, Pip meets Estella in Piccadilly. She is married. They speak, briefly, and part. Softly, Bowen read the final lines:
I was very glad afterwards to have had the interview; for, in her face and in her voice, and in her touch, she gave me the assurance, that suffering had been stronger than Miss Havisham's teaching, and had given her a heart to understand what my heart used to be.
When no hand rose, Bowen asked a question of his own, as the best teachers always do. "Is only one of them allowed to have a heart?"
But time was up, class was over, and the week was nearly done.
Dickens returned to the United States in 1867. In his honor, Bulwer hosted a farewell dinner at Freemasons' Hall. Dickens and Bulwer entered arm in arm. Bulwer toasted first the Queen, and then Dickens, "a different kind of royalty." When Dickens rose to speak, he attempted, lamely, to explain why he was returning to a country he had found so disappointing: "Since I was there before, a vast entirely new generation has arisen in the United States." Americans had changed, and Dickens had changed. And he wanted to make money.
In the United States for six months, Dickens gave eighty readings and earned a quarter of a million dollars. He was frantic and exhausted, all at once. Henry James found the readings charmless. Mark Twain described them as "glittering frostwork." The trip destroyed Dickens's health. Two years later, at the age of fifty-eight, he died of a stroke.
In a three-volume biography that began appearing within two years of Dickens's death, Forster printed the original ending of "Great Expectations," which hardly anyone but he and Bulwer had seen before. He also revealed something that, apart from Dickens's family, no one but he had ever known: when Dickens was twelve, his father had gone to debtors' prison, and Dickens had been sent to work at a blacking factory, a child, chained to a convict. An unhappy childhood, an unhappy affair, and an unhappy ending—these were Charles Dickens's unhappy secrets.
Catherine Dickens died in 1879. On her deathbed, she handed to her daughter all the letters Dickens had ever sent her, saying, "Give these to the British Museum, that the world may know he loved me once."
Reading Forster's biography, Thomas Carlyle had decided that at the very bottom of Dickens a reader finds "deeper than all, if one has the eye to see deep enough, dark, fateful, silent elements . . . the elements of death itself." But nothing, he thought, was darker than Dickens on America.
"American Notes" and "Martin Chuzzlewit" constitute an unforgiving portrait of a troubled republic: ambitious, cruel, ungenerous, brutal, and divided. The problem wasn't that Dickens's America was inaccurate: it is, and it isn't. The problem was that it was vicious, and came from a man known for his cheerfulness. Dickens's America is a dismal swamp, a failing bank, and a man, alone in a prison, wearing a paper hat. "He was more truly democratic than any American who had yet written fiction," William Dean Howells wrote, and fair enough. G. K. Chesterton once observed that one of the things Dickens did best was to make democracy funny. Also true. But Dickens's humor about America was black. "How could he ever go to America!" Mrs. Lupin cries, missing Mark Tapley. "Why didn't he go to some of those countries which are not quite barbarous; where the savages eat each other fairly, and give an equal chance to every one!"
At Dickens camp, in the mountains above the sea, I went, on my last night, to the performance of the farce, written and directed by John Glavin. Glavin, a professor of English at Georgetown, has been coming to Dickens camp for twenty-six summers. This year's farce featured Pip—played by Richard Porteous, who plans to attend Oxford this fall—tired of being Pip, and wondering, "What would it be like to have been invented by—Thackeray?" After the farce, there was a feast of cakes and tarts. A raccoon sneaked in.
There is no Thackeray camp, no Trollope camp, and, most assuredly, no Bulwer camp. Maybe this can work only with Dickens. Precious few humanities initiatives have brought together students and readers, scholars and teachers as well as the Dickens Project has done. Still, it's not clear how much longer Dickens camp will last. For more than three decades, Californians have been gradually destroying what was once the best public-education system in the world by starving the state government of tax revenue. Two years ago, the University of California stopped funding the Dickens Project. " 'Dollars, banks, and cotton are our books, sir.' " Thereafter, citing their own budget crises, three affiliate universities (including my own) pulled out. Dickens camp is still growing, but it's now increasingly dependent on donations.
When Bret Harte, who liked to write while on retreat in Santa Cruz, heard, in 1870, that Dickens had died, he composed a poem called "Dickens in Camp." It was about listening to a haggard old miner reading "The Old Curiosity Shop" around a roaring campfire in the Sierras. But, with Dickens dead, "lost is that camp, and wasted all its fire." And, lately, forgotten is that America Dickens never found, that Eden, republic of dreams. ♦


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Network Devices and Services Overview for the CCENT Certification Exam
You can be sure to get a few questions on the CCENT certification exam that test your knowledge of types of devices and different network services. The following are some key points to remember about devices and services:
Network devices
Hub: A hub is a layer-1 device that is used to connect systems together. When a hub receives data in the form of an electrical signal, it sends the data to all other ports in hopes the destination system is at one of those ports. All ports on the hub create a single collision domain and a single broadcast domain.
Repeater: A repeater is a layer-1 device that is used to amplify the signal. As the signal travels along the network, it gets weaker due to interference, so the purpose of the repeater is to regenerate that signal so it can travel more distance.
Bridge: A bridge is a layer-2 device that creates multiple network segments. The bridge maintains a table in memory of what systems reside on what segments by their MAC addresses. When data reaches the bridge, the bridge filters the traffic by only sending the data to the network segment that the destination system resides on. The purpose of the bridge is that it filters traffic by sending the data only to the segment where the destination system resides. Each segment on the bridge creates a separate collision domain, but it is all one broadcast domain.
Switch: The switch, another layer-2 device, is an improvement on a bridge in the sense that each port on the switch acts as a network segment. The switch filters traffic by sending the data only to the port on the switch where the destination MAC address resides. The switch stores each MAC address and the port the MAC address resides on in an area of memory known as the MAC address table. Each port on the switch creates a separate collision domain, but all ports are part of the same broadcast domain.
Router: A router is a layer-3 device that handles routing of data from one network to another network. The router stores a listing of destination networks in the routing table which is found in memory on the router.
Network services
DHCP: The DHCP service is responsible for assigning IP addresses to hosts on the network. When a client boots up, it sends a DHCP discover message, which is a broadcast message designed to locate a DHCP server. The DHCP server responds with a DHCP Offer, offering the client an IP address. The client then responds with a DHCP request message asking for the address before the server responds with a DHCP ACK to acknowledge that the address has been allocated to that client.
DNS: The DNS service is responsible for converting the Fully Qualified Domain Name, (FQDN) such as www.gleneclarke.com to an IP address.
NAT: Network Address Translation is responsible for converting the internal address to a public address that is used to access the Internet. NAT offers the benefit of being able to purchase only one public IP address and have a number of clients on the network use that one IP address for Internet access. NAT also offers the security benefit that the internal addresses are not used on the Internet — helping to keep the internal addresses unknown to the outside world. There are two types of NAT to know for the CCENT certification exam:
Static NAT: Static NAT is the mapping of one internal address to one public address. With static NAT, you will need multiple public addresses to allow internal clients to access the Internet.
NAT overloading: A more popular form of NAT, NAT overloading is the concept that all internal address get translated to the one public address on the NAT device.
Web services: There are a number of Web services you should be familar with for the CCENT certification exam:
POP3/IMAP4: POP3 and IMAP4 are the Internet protocols for receiving email over the Internet.
SMTP: SMTP is the Internet protocol for sending email over the Internet. SMTP servers are also known as email servers.
HTTP: HTTP servers are also known as Web servers and are used to host Web sites. HTTP is a protocol that is used to send the Web page from the Web server to the Web client.
FTP: FTP is an Internet protocol used to transfer files over the Internet. The files are hosted on FTP servers, which are then downloaded to any clients on the Internet.

subset: commoncrawl


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Saturday, June 27, 2009
Sweet Unity
I wanted to share this card that I created for Wednesday's SCS sketch challenge. I used my new Unity Kit of the Month and Cosmo Cricket Early Bird paper. I colored the ice cream cone with my Stampin' Write markers and then added crystal effects for a glossier look. I then popped it up with dimensionals. The ribbon is real red and the brads are not quite navy.
Well, that's it for today's post. It's been a pretty good week but I have definitely been missing my husband. Sleeping has not been the easiest thing. I have finally picked up some tricks that have helped. However, I am SO ready for him to be home that it's not even funny. I don't know how women whose husbands are in the military do it. They are amazing women, to say the least! :)
5 comments:
- malissa32 said...
this is gorgeous! love the shinyness! the paper is cute and love the brads. thanks for sharing your talent.
- June 28, 2009 at 8:03 AM
- Christi said...
Absoultely yummy!!!
- June 28, 2009 at 9:33 AM
Love the card....the way the ice cream cone pops is FAB! Great work!
- June 28, 2009 at 12:10 PM
- Jessie/knightrone said...
Totally cute Steph!!
- June 28, 2009 at 2:28 PM
- Terri E. said...
LOVE it!!!! What a super fun card and the dsp is delicious as well.
It's a good life!
Terri E.
- June 28, 2009 at 3:16 PM
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Create a Bottle that's as Unique as You Are
A Love Bottle is a glass canvas
We love collaborating with companies to create unique designs, bringing their brands to life in new ways. Your custom Love Bottle is an opportunity to leave a lasting, memorable impression with your guests, clients, employees and partners with a beautiful takeaway. Love Bottles also provide an eco-friendly option for use on site for an event or at your location, replacing throwaway cups or plastic water bottles.
Love Bottles have a large area for your design that wraps around the entire body of the bottle. Your design will be printed using a non-leaded ceramic ink that is durable, scratch resistant and dishwasher safe. Every Love Bottle has Love embedded in the glass with a raised heart on the chest and a UR Loved on the bottom. The ceramic swing top lids are artisanally handcrafted which gives a beautiful old world European feel to your customized glass water bottle. Love Bottles are an elegant way to showcase your unique brand and voice.
Some of our Custom Bottle Collaborators
Our Custom Love Bottle Profile
Coconut Bliss
"At Coconut Bliss, we always source the best. Whether it's the best organic ingredients, the most sustainable office supplies or the cleanest water bottle on the market, we are committed to high quality through and through. We recently began working with Love Bottle and could not be happier! From the design process, to the samples and final ship order, the communication was clear and the process was easy (and fun!). Thank you, Love Bottle, for your commitment to excellent customer service, your commitment to clean water for all, your commitment to changing the world and your commitment to protecting our Earth. It is an honor to see our brand design elements flow seamlessly and beautifully upon your clean, recycled Love Bottles."
More Information
Download your Custom Love Bottle Catalog and contact us to get the conversation started!
Specifications & Printing Details
Vector artwork accepted as .eps or AI files
144 bottle minimum
Costs vary by number of colors and quantities
3 week turnaround after art and sample approval
Separate pricing for ASI/SAGE/PPAI distributors


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The #1 Most Common Cause of Websites That Fail: "Measure Twice: Cut Once"
Sometimes our clients' biggest obstacles are inside their own management team or process(es).
If your team members are creating road blocks by creating delays it's time to hold those people accountable. Those delays create bottlenecks and affect the schedules and accomplishments of other people on the team. Eventually this becomes resentment and frustration which leads to massive loss of productivity.
If you hire someone to analyze and improve your SEO it may be because what you have tried isn't working.
If you continue doing the same thing and insist that your new "SEO" people follow your own pattern of behavior you're going to get the same results as before. Sometimes fixing a traffic problem begins by looking inside your own company and not at the website itself.
You can keep on painting your house but if your foundation isn't stable it will eventually fall down no matter how attractive it is from the new paint.
When these improvements are resolved then your company, and your website, have a fighting chance to survive.
Old rules still apply.
This is #1 in the long list of Big corporate obstacles to productivity.
Rushing for lack of time will cost you more time then if you took the time to be careful the first time.
"Measure Twice: Cut Once"
Most of our clients, who we love and cherish, are inefficient and cost themselves money and time. With this simple rule a typical company can save itself money as well as increase revenue and improve Quality Control.
Like those people who make jogging like movements to appear like they're hurrying when actually they're not moving any faster than the people who are walking. They work in a frenzy to appear more busy then they are while accomplishing less than the multi-taskers who work more efficiently.
Perception of working harder or doing more simultaneously accomplishes nothing if the actual work isn't getting adequate attention to detail.
This is why we hire people to be our eyes.
This is why management works on their specialty and we work on ours.
SEO and Internet Marketing should not be managed by people who are in a hurry, lack attention to detail or who otherwise affect timelines of productivity and ultimately the massive failure of their expensive marketing campaigns.


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Contact Us
Remote Control & Monitoring
Incorporating induction sealing into an integrated control network has never been easier. Enercon's technology helps customers integrate line control to improve output and reduce downtime.
The new RCM (Remote Control and Monitoring) option package allows packagers to incorporate induction sealing into sophisticated line control and SCADA (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition) systems. Simple remote control and operation is also available from a PC.
This option package is so flexible that it will work with virtually any customer-supplied software. Packagers can customize the data from the cap sealer to create their own unique remote interface screen.
Enercon's RCM package provides all the cap sealing control functionality and data monitoring required for powerful integrated line control. The RCM package includes the documentation needed for Enercon's cap sealers to communicate with the customer's PLC.


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MYXclusive: GLOC-9 Returns To Form In "Rotonda" EP!
Renuel Fallore
Posted at
Clocking at just over 21 minutes, Gloc-9's new EP Rotonda is his 20th year anniversary offering. It's the latest milestone from this month's MYX Headliner who has renewed ties with Universal Records.
The six-track EP also marks Gloc-9's return to form as he cultivates fresh stories to share to his loyal fans. "Yung Rotonda is an EP na sobrang natuwa ako sa bawat kanta, kasi dumating sa'kin paisa-isa, and parang nung nabuo ko 'yung lima, sakto siya do'n sa gusto kong i-discuss na mga bagay na hindi ko pa napag-usapan sa ibang album," he said.
Gloc-9 officially launched the EP last November 4 at Eastwood Central Plaza. He also got the chance to meet and greet his fans who bought the album.
We got the chance to listen the whole album! Here are the tracks in a nutshell:
"Rico J"
Gloc-9 never forgets where he came from. It's a about conquering adversaries and intrigues while looking back to the past and recalling how he started.
"Ice Tubig"
A collaboration with singer Mike Luis, the lead single is about a relationship which has turned cold as ice. "Tungkol sa isang babae na ang kanyang puso ay parang ice tubig," he said.
The 40-year old rapper is known for tackling social issues in his songs. He tapped the band Agsunta for the refreshing track which is simply about the life of a typical working-class Filipino here in the Metro.
"Mamang Poser Skit"
The filler skit about a pseudo rapper will prepare you for the next track.
Way before "Lodi" became a thing, Gloc-9 already released songs like "Silup" and "Atik Laham". This one is actually "Meron" spelled backwards. He collaborates with Abbadon and Shanti Dope in this impactful track about the war on drugs which Gloc-9 considers as one of his favorites from the EP.
Featuring Joey Ayala, the title track is packed with eye-opening stories about life and social inequalities. "Pauulit-ulit ang eksena, kahit bago ang yugto. Sa palabas na ang bida ang paghihirap at buno, sa araw-araw na maraming sikmurang kumukulo."
While Gloc-9 can't believe that he got the chance to work with the OPM icon again, his young collaborators also feel the same way about him. "High school pa lang ako lagi ko na siya napapakinggan. Lagi ko pang inaantay ang mga music videos niya sa MYX, doon ako nau-update sa mga songs niya", recalled Klumcee who produced "Ice Tubig" and "Norem". Likewise, 16-year old rapper Shanti Dope is grateful for the chance to work with his "Master Gloc".
Rotonda is now out in record stores and digital platforms!
What can you say about Gloc-9's new EP? Let us know what you think by leaving a comment!


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In course of APMN's existence for more than a decade since 1995 and the endorsement of the 'Mountain Agenda' in 1992, significant new developments in ICIMOD and other global institutional efforts for sustainable mountain development, has pushed APMN to a point where it is beset with both challenges and opportunities. The development of new strategic approach of ICIMOD and the establishment of the decentralised hub of the Mountain Partnership Secretariat hosted by ICIMOD has opened up new avenues for APMN to reinvigorate its role as a knowledge exchange network for sustainable mountain development in Asia-Pacific.
The overall goal of APMN is to operate as Asia-Pacific regional network to support ICIMOD and users in collecting, documenting and sharing information and knowledge on sustainable mountain development and engaging more people in knowledge sharing, raise awareness and bringing people together for this cause through modern means.
In order to achieve the goal the specific outcomes of the APMN 2009-2011 project are:


text: Spring is here and the weather gets warmer day by day. It's time to forget about sipping hot tea on the cold dark mornings, and start thinking about refreshing deserts, such as the yummy Citrus Jelly! Are you ready to experience something new? Play this fun game called Cooking Citrus Jelly and get ready to be amazed. This is such a refreshing and delicious desert, and you never tasted anything like that before. First you need to go to the market and buy the ingredients, such as fresh limes, lemons and oranges, gelatin, sugar, butter and cream. Cut the citrus fruits, add water to a pot, add the butter and the fruits, and then pour sugar and gelatin. Once they are well boil use the mixer, then pour the compositions in a bowl, add cream and a slice of orange as decoration. Have fun playing this new game called Cooking Citrus Jelly!


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We are so excited to collaborate with Janet Klein and her Parlor Boys – a fabulous band specializing in "Lovely, Naughty and Obscure Music of the 1910's, 20's and 30's" – for FRANKIE'S soundtrack. For more info about their amazing history and talents, please visit:
|And our stunning score was composed and performed by Houston's Two Star Symphony whose dark, playful sound proves a perfect marriage to our dark, playful film. To learn more about this fabulously talented ensemble, please visit:
web site: WWW.TWOSTARSYMPHONY.COM


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The National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority, or NPPA, has turned down the request of drug companies to raise insulin prices. Domestic insulin-makers Biocon and Cadila had argued that the cost of production and packaging had become higher, and multinational corporation Eli Lilly wanted the depreciation in the rupee vis-à-vis the dollar to be factored into the price. The NPPA says it has taken this step to protect consumers — as many as three million Indians take insulin shots every day. As a result, insulin prices are at their 2009 levels, when the NPPA last revised prices, though the rupee has depreciated 35 per cent against the dollar since then. This can be seen as a subsidy for diabetics — except the bill is picked up by the insulin makers. A news report indicated that the affected companies may seek a review of the NPPA directive from the department of pharmaceuticals.
The incident brings to light the complex set of rules and regulations the government has woven over the years. While domestic insulin makers come under direct price control, companies that import and sell are prescribed a profit margin over the cost of production. This has caused two severe conflicts. One, the NPPA says the importers often inflate their cost of production in order to get a higher price. Thus, Eli Lilly had taken the NPPA to court when it refused to accept the cost of production the company had submitted. In June 2011, the Delhi High Court asked the NPPA to accept the cost and raise the price accordingly. The NPPA accepted the costs but cut the profit margin from 35 per cent to 17 per cent; the result was that the maximum retail price (MRP) of Eli Lilly's insulin remained unchanged.
The other is the conflict it has caused between domestic producers and importers — the age-old war of words between the domestic and foreign lobbies. Imported insulin happens to sell at much higher prices than domestic insulin. This has caused considerable heartburn among the domestic companies. With their lower prices, they ought to be happy because that way they can drive the importers out of business. But multinational corporations, in spite of their higher prices, command almost 75 per cent of the Rs 750-crore-per-annum market. The reason is that diabetics never experiment with insulin and stick to the brand recommended by their doctor. A patient is unlikely to switch to another brand of insulin just because it is cheaper. So, what Indian insulin makers want is a level playing field with the multinationals. The lack of it, they argue, has kept more domestic players from getting into the insulin market.
There is an argument to be made in favour of price controls when the producers are making super-normal profits. But there is hardly any evidence of that in the sector. Eli Lilly has said that its profit margins have shrunk to one to two per cent. Price controls clearly have outlived their utility. If there is market dominance by one or two insulin makers, the matter is best left to be investigated by the Competition Commission of India.


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I am thrilled to finally be working in Encaustic. During my month long residency at Rancho Linda Vista in Oracle, Az; I took a beginner workshop with Miles Conrad of the Conrad Wilde Gallery in Tucson. He has over fifteen years of experience in Encaustics, and a beautiful gallery that is located on 4th ave in the heart of Tucson. Read more about his gallery at www.conradwildegallery.com. Encaustic consists of pure beeswax infused with damar resin (to make it harden), and pigment for color. It is a beautiful medium, you actually paint with in wax. It also borrows from print making and ceramics, in the different ways you can manipulate the surface. I look forward to this new series of paintings; my studio is just about set up to work with the wax and I have twelve empty panels. Abbey and I plan to open up the studio again sometime in August/September for First Friday.
Lucky Rabbit Studio
1020 N.W. Grand Avenue
Phoenix, Az


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Hi friends
I just wanted to let you all know that I was privileged to be selected by Greg and his wife, the owners of Oregon Burls to receive a beautiful and unique slab. This was in response to a contest Greg had on LJ's. http://lumberjocks.com/OregonBurls/blog/18972
Due to work and weather it's been a few weeks since Greg notified me that I had won his contest. As a matter of fact it was when David and Rick from LJ's were visiting. I was really surprised that I was selected, but so happy to get this is a unique and wonderful madrone slab.
Here is the burl it was cut from
The slab will need some time to dry out sufficiently before I can make something from it, but that gives me time to ponder what I'll make, any suggestions? I was only able to go down to Oregon Burls (about 50 miles south of my home) on a day that Greg had a previous appointment, but Greg was kind enough to have me come down after all. When I drove up, Greg's home and shop was pretty much as I imagined wonderful burls everywhere. Even though Greg had limited time, he offered me a tour of all his fantastic slabs and burls and let me select the one I wanted.
Wow, does he have a ton of cool slabs and fantastic burls. He gave me a tour of his shop and let me see some of his upcoming projects. Asking how far away he was shipping his great wood and he mentioned he had just shipped 1000 lbs of burl to New York. I was very surprised to hear that even though he was shipping all the way to the east coast and the slabs weighed 1000 lbs, it only cost a little over $200 to ship all that great wood. Along with having very reasonable prices on his one-of-a-kind slabs and burl wood the shipping was far, far less then I would have thought. It was time to go and Greg moved a few slabs and got out the slab I had selected (all the way in the back of the pile) not only did he spend all that time with me and lift and move dozens of slabs to help me select which one I wanted, but then he insisted on carry this giant slab out to my truck by himself even though I offered to help. I hadn't told him, but I had strained my back the day before, so I was very grateful for this kind act.
All I can say is THANKS SO MUCH GREG! And if you're thinking about burl or slab think Oregon Burls. Greg has some very special slabs for guitar-making that look like art all by themselves. If he is this generous and help to someone he gives wood to, you can only imagine how well he treats his customers! BTW, Greg sells his great wood on Ebay, as well.
Check out Oregon burls website http://oregonburls.com/


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It wouldn't be Christmas without this classic number. Got to love this short and sweet rendition of the beloved "Baby, It's Cold Outside" by Lady Gaga and Tony Bennett. In 2014, the pair released an album of duets together called "Cheek to Cheek." It doesn't get much better than that. We only wish that this was a full music video and not just an ad ... it's just too cute!
What's your favorite version of this classic christmas song? Also ... does anyone else want Gaga's shoes as much as we do?


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PlanLoCaL: the website, videos and resource packs
Giving communities the knowledge and confidence to influence local planning policy
Project duration: April 2010 ongoing
A significant output from CSE's PlanLoCaL project has been a group of products designed to help communities establish renewable energy projects, energy efficiency projects, and neighbourhood plans through inclusive community decision-making and engagement with the planning system.
These include the PlanLoCaL website (www.planlocal.org.uk), a series of short videos and a set of three resource packs:
- PlanLoCaL: community renewables
- PlanLoCaL: energy efficiency and community Green Deal
- PlanLoCaL: localism and neighbourhood planning
These are being used by community activists and community development workers seeking to get renewable energy projects off the ground. They cover the renewable energy technologies themselves, plus other critical issues like planning, neighbourhood consultation, funding, legalities and even how to spend any profits.
The website | www.planlocal.org.uk
CSE's Chief Executive Simon Roberts introduces the website:
The website is an in-depth resource containing all PlanLoCaL's written guidance, videos and a wealth of links to other advice sources. It was launched in April 2011 and redesigned in January 2013.
The website first developed out of work CSE undertook with ACRE (Action with Communities in Rural England) to understand the processes of community-led planning and help to place low-carbon planning within the priorities that emerge.
The videos
We made 47 PlanLoCaL: community renewables videos which range from around 4 to 12 minutes in length. Ten of the films are case studies of successful community energy projects. Others cover relevant topics such as introductions to the different renewable energy technologies, project management, funding, dealing with planning, consulting with the community, generating an income stream, re-investing your profits and heritage and landscape.
For PlanLoCaL: energy efficiency and community Green Deal, we made 12 new short animated films which give guidance on engaging with the Green Deal, setting up and running various types of community energy efficiency projects, along with case studies and advice from groups that have already run community schemes.
You can watch all the videos at www.planlocal.org.uk/videos or on youtube at www.youtube.com/csebristol.
The videos are available on DVDs to accompany the resource packs (below). They are designed to be watched in a communal setting and as an aid to collective decision-making when combined with the participatory exercises in the resource packs.
The resource packs
The first PlanLoCaL resource pack and DVDs grew out of a series of half-day training events that demonstrated the steps communities need to take to set up a viable renewable energy project, and the benefits that the community might enjoy as a result. Popular demand for more of these sessions prompted us to produce a resource that would allow communities to 'do it for themselves' – something that is very much in keeping with CSE's approach of empowering others.
In January 2013, we released a second comprehensive resource pack to equip communities to engage with the Green Deal and other energy efficiency projects.
The packs themselves are hefty A4 binders full of exercises, images, case studies, technical information, support on running events and help on setting up as a group. Interspersing factual information with participatory exercises, they are designed to empower communities to make decisions and plan projects on their own. You can order a free copy via this page of the PlanLoCaL website.
Our resources on low carbon localism and neighbourhood planning are also available as a third mini-pack on request.
In 2013, 'PlanLoCaL: community renewables' was a runner-up in the Learning category at the Sustainable Energy Europe & ManagEnergy Awards (presented by the European Commission), while 'PlanLoCaL: energy efficiency and the Green Deal' won the Sustainability Communicator category at the ENDS Green Economy Awards.
You can find every resource from the three packs, plus various other useful documents, on the PlanLoCaL website, and they are downloadable in chapter-sized chunks from the downloads section.
Feedback on the PlanLoCaL pack
CSE used online questionnaires to collect feedback about the PlanLoCaL: community renewables pack and training. The pack evaluation survey received responses from 61 groups including county councils, city councils, district councils and unitary authorities, community groups, transition groups, a university architecture department and more. Feedback included the following comments (which we can't attribute because the survey was confidential) and for more glowing tributes, click here:
"It's a fabulous resource that I have recommended to many people."
"We had already gone through a number of processes before we got the pack but it gives us more confidence we are on the right track and enables more [people] on our Committee to consider the process and options."
"The pack helped with choosing what type of consultation to do, and reinforced how important it is to consult the community as widely as possible."
"It has given the team a lot of information and enabled us to develop our own engagement programme."
"Would have taken months of research to have achieved this myself."
"Excellent resources to use both professionally and personally."
"Made me stand back and look at community renewable energy projects in the context of its general importance to other people in the community who are less concerned with climate change impacts and sustainable energy."
We envisage that there are two 'types' of people who will use the PlanLoCaL resources:
- Community activists or individual community members (or small 'core groups' of people) who want to establish a community-owned renewable energy project or energy efficiency scheme in their own locality.
- Community development workers or individuals who would use this pack as part of their job, perhaps as a way to kick-start a process that would get a community interested in the idea of a community energy scheme.
Read about a PlanLoCaL training day, held in Bath in February 2011, here.


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Demonstrating a unique mix of technical vision, marketing and business acumen, Philippe Courtot has repeatedly built innovative companies into industry leaders. As CEO of Qualys, Philippe has worked with thousands of companies to improve their IT security and compliance postures. Philippe received the SC Magazine Editor's Award in 2004 for bringing on demand technology to the network security industry and for co-founding the CSO Interchange to provide a forum for sharing information in the security industry. He was also named the 2011 CEO of the Year by SC Magazine Awards Europe.
Before joining Qualys, Philippe was the Chairman and CEO of Signio, an electronic payment start-up that he repositioned to become a significant e-commerce player. In February 2000, VeriSign acquired Signio for more than a billion dollars. Today, VeriSign's payment division, based on the Signio technology, handles 30% of electronic transaction in the U.S., processing $100-million in daily sales. Prior to Signio, Philippe was President and CEO of Verity, where he re-engineered the company to become the leader in enterprise knowledge retrieval solutions. Under Philippe's direction, the company completed its initial public offering in November 1995. Philippe also turned an unknown company of 12 people, cc:Mail, into the dominant e-mail platform provider, achieving a 40% market share while competing directly against IBM and Microsoft. Acknowledging the market leading position of cc:Mail and the significance of e-mail in corporate environments, Lotus acquired the company in 1991. In 1986, as CEO of Thomson CGR Medical, a medical imaging company, Philippe received the Benjamin Franklin award for his role in the creation of a nationwide advertising campaign promoting the life-saving benefits of mammography. Philippe served on the Board of Trustees for The Internet Society, an international non-profit organization that fosters global cooperation and coordination on the development of the Internet. French and Basque born, he holds a master's degree in physics from the University of Paris, came to the US in 1981 and has lived in Silicon Valley since 1987.
As the Chief Financial Officer of Qualys, Melissa leads all elements of the company's finance organization, including finance, accounting, investor relations, treasury and tax. She brings 20 years experience as a strategic financial executive working with technology companies on areas including corporate finance, investor relations, treasury, financial planning and analysis, mergers & acquisitions, and corporate governance. Melissa previously served as VP, FP&A, IR and Treasury at Zynga Inc., a social gaming company. Prior to Zynga, Melissa served as VP, Corporate Development, IR and Treasury at Digital River, Inc. a global provider of enterprise e-commerce SaaS solutions. Prior to Digital River, she was an investment banker and advised companies on more than $400 billion of transaction volume at Goldman Sachs, Banc of America Securities and Foros. Melissa currently serves on the Board of Directors of Model N, Inc. as a member of its Audit Committee. She previously served on the Board of Directors of Image Sensing Systems, Inc., including serving as Chair of the Audit Committee, and of Digital Generation, Inc. Melissa received an AB in government from Harvard University and an MBA from Harvard Business School.
As President and Chief Product Officer at Qualys, Sumedh oversees worldwide field operations, engineering, development and product management for the Qualys software-as-a-service (SaaS) platform and integrated suite of security and compliance applications. A core systems and database engineer, Sumedh started at Qualys in 2003, architecting and delivering Qualys' PCI compliance platform to meet the Payment Card Industry (PCI) Data Security Standard (DSS) requirements. Today, more than 69 percent of ASVs and 50 percent of QSAs worldwide use Qualys PCI to perform PCI DSS certification.
A long time advocate of the SaaS model and cloud computing, Sumedh worked at Intacct, a cloud-based financial and accounting software provider, before working at Qualys. Previous to Intacct, Sumedh worked at Northwest Airlines to develop complex algorithms for yield and revenue management for their backend reservation system.
Sumedh is active in the PCI and security community working closely with the PCI Council on the development and enhancement of PCI DSS. He co-authored "PCI Compliance for Dummies," an easy-to-read guide designed to educate merchant organizations about PCI. Sumedh has a bachelor's degree in computer engineering with distinction from the University of Pune.
As Chief Human Resources Officer, Rima helps the Qualys workforce maintain a high level of performance by serving as an employee champion and cultivating the corporate community. She brings more than 15 years of domestic and international human resources experience to the company. Prior to joining Qualys, Rima was in HR at VeriSign as part of the mergers and acquisitions group where she was responsible for investigating potential acquisitions, focusing on talent assessment, management style, cost analysis of benefits, and stock plan transfers.
Rima joined VeriSign as part of its acquisition of Signio, where she served as Director of Human Resources, spearheading employee practices and all other aspects of HR. She also led the Human Resources departments at NetObjects, Inc. and Verity, Inc. where she played an integral role in taking both companies through a public offering. Rima holds a bachelor's degree in business administration from San Jose State University.
Laurie leads the worldwide field operations teams. In this role, she works with all regional leaders to provide customers with solutions that help them secure their digital transformation efforts. She also builds technology partnerships with customers that guide and shape the direction and vision of the Qualys Cloud Platform. In addition, Laurie ensures that the field teams deliver the highest level of technical support to customers – providing maximum performance and results from the deployment of Qualys solutions.
Laurie has 22 years of experience in the IT industry, with a focus on information security for the past 12 years. Before joining Qualys in 2012, she managed the vulnerability program for CVS Caremark. Laurie has also program managed strategic initiatives at various security companies, including SecureWorks and VeriSign.
Bruce leads the Qualys legal team and oversees vital regulatory and governmental relations efforts. Bruce previously served as general counsel and corporate secretary at IntelePeer, Inc.; Openwave Systems, Inc.; iPass, Inc.; and AuraServ Communications. Also, he was senior vice president of federal relations and regulatory law for US WEST Communications, and vice president of public policy and external affairs for MediaOne. Further, former Colorado Governor Roy Romer appointed Bruce to serve in a cabinet postion as executive director of the state's Department of Administration. Bruce holds a bachelor's degree in political science from the University of Oregon and earned his Juris Doctor degree from the University of Michigan Law School. He is also a member of the California (registered in-house counsel), Colorado and Oregon State Bars.
Karun leads Qualys' worldwide strategic alliances and channel partnerships with MSSP's, VAS partners, consultants and resellers. A computer engineer with a passion for cybersecurity, he has been at Qualys since 2013, supporting and helping grow its business with channel partners globally. Today, Qualys powers security and compliance solutions for the majority of MSSP's in Gartner's Magic Quadrant for Managed Security Services.
He has been a cybersecurity and cloud advocate since his early days at HCL Technologies, one of the large global systems integrators, where he ultimately led cybersecurity pre-sales and business development for North America . Karun's experience includes advising CIO's and CISO's of large fortune 500 organizations on adapting cybersecurity programs for the digital and hyperconnected age. He has a bachelor's degree in computer engineering from the University of Pune and a post-graduate Management degree in Business Administration (M.B.A.) from Amity University, India.


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I am so pleased to announce my newest line of printed fabrics, Macaroni Love Story. Macaroni Love Story will only be available at Spoonflower, and only for a limited time. And if you get over there soon you can sign up for a drawing to win the whole collection.
One of my favorite things about Spoonflower is that you can order designs (your own, mine, and lots of others) to be printed on a wide variety of fabrics, including the lovely linen swatched below. The lawn and the linen happen to be my favorites, but you can order a set of swatches and see them all. There is also a nice soft spongey jersey that happens to be organic, and a lovely sateen that would be perfect for a back to school dress. Most fabrics are 54-58" wide (the least expensive, option, a quilting weight cotton, is 44" wide), which goes quite a long way when you're making stuff for babies and kids.
This collection includes two colorways, aqua and sunset. Here is AQUA:
Its not a coincidence that these colorways are similar to those that I used in Far Far Away and Far Far Away II. They both, emply orange, of course. As my husband says, orange is the color that goes with everything but rhymes with nothing.
Here's SUNSET:


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The Great American Road Trip* is in full swing but as I start thinking about heading back to South America in the fall I'm beginning to plan out all the must-see stuff I want to see and do as part of my next mission. While I love the comfort of the United States and the opportunity to see new cities and landscapes… I do miss South America.
I'm thinking about road trips in South America and this sponsored post about the Carretera Austral, Route 7 Highway in Chile really gets my juices flowing about upcoming adventures south of the ecuador!
Taking you through untouched rainforests, blue-tinted hanging glaciers, gushing waterfalls, and scenery too beautiful to imagine; the Carretera Austral – or Route 7 as it's sometimes known – is a road traveling 770miles (1240km) from one side of Chile to the other.
If you've always dreamed of exploring a rural and natural habitat, then this route is for you. Beginning in Puerto Montt, the Carretera Austral takes you on a whirlwind adventure before you eventually arrive in Villa O'Higgens.
Construction on the route began in 1976, and took 20 years to complete. Despite years of work, the route is still 80% unpaved, and must be embarked upon carefully. For adventure tourists, this route is ideal. With rivers and lakes full of salmon and trout, it's a fisher's dream. As well as this, there are plenty of places to enjoy kayaking, rafting, and trekking.
The first section of the route will take you from Puerto Montt to Chaiten, where you'll experience a journey through lush and untouched ancient forests, and enter a world of natural beauty. You'll also come across ferries which will shuttle you and your car across the deep fjords.
As the road is very narrow, it's advisable if you're driving to take things slowly, and watch out for any vehicles which might be coming the other way. Always take an empty gas can with you, as there are seemingly endless stretches of road where there are no services. However, make sure the gas can is empty coming into the country, as Chile won't allow gasoline to travel across the border.
Areas of the route pass islands full of red deer, and national parks which make ideal stopping points for a rest and a spot of sight-seeing. Many people choose to experience the route on a bicycle, and whilst this is a wonderful way to travel the wonderful sights; the weather can be pretty intense at times with heavy downpours of rain. However, there are various camping spots where cyclists can take a break and shelter from the rain.
If cycling, it would be sensible to get some specific worldwide travel insurance, which covers sports like this, as many don't insure injuries obtained whilst cycling. This is often not too much more expensive then general travel insurance, and sites such as moneysupermarket.com can really help you keep your costs down.
Guaranteed to be a truly memorable experience, the journey is best completed in two to three weeks, so you can fully enjoy its surroundings and absorb the incredible scenery around you. If you've ever yearned for a break from the bustling, fast-paced city life to a remote, secluded, and truly stunning destination; then the Carretera Austral route is waiting just for you.


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You've read my bio and my training, what else is there to know about me?
I understand what it is like to balance many roles, hats and projects.
Becoming a certified public accountant in 2006 gave me the skills needed to manage people, clients and workload.
Becoming a mother in 2008 gave me further experience in managing life, plus wherewithal to know that there are more important things than "just managing life" and now I aspire for greater balance and joy*.
Becoming an iPEC trained professional coach in 2015 has given me the skills and tools to initiate and facilitate change in other's lives.
Things that I love:
- Maui, Hawaii - Lahaina Front Street, Honokowai Beach Park, sunrises, snorkeling, snow cones, Da Kitchen, mix plate, calamari, fresh pineapple, coconut pancakes, Road to Hana, banyan trees, locals
- Victoria, Canada - afternoon tea, double decker buses, the Empress Hotel, Willow's Galley fish n' chips, Willow's Beach Park, Royal BC Museum, Victoria Bug Zoo, Oh Gelato, walking everywhere
- Friends - I haven't gotten over the fact that Friends and How I Met Your Mother are over. Yup that's right folks, I love me some old sitcoms and now looking for some new ones to love...
- You've Got Mail - "Don't cry shop girl, don't cry."; this movie inspired my love for Jane Austen and Pride and Prejudice
- The 7 Habits of Highly Successful People by Dr. Stephen R. Covey - meeting Covey in September 2010 launched my desire to become a coach to help change lives and here I am now
- Laughing - jokes, movies, irony, and since I try not to take myself too seriously I many times simply laugh at myself
- iPhone/iPad - I have never loved a phone before, but the user friendly interface, everything all in one place across multiple devices and my new friend Siri has created a love for technology that is hard to match
- Lumpia and Pancit - made by my mom on my birthday every year and present at all Filipino parties and gatherings
- Yoga - unless it's Hot Yoga Power, I really thought I was going to die in that heated room in the midst of all those hot, sweaty, bendy people; I prefer slower, cooler and more contemplative poses that allow me to connect with my breath and relax my mind (without all the sweat and funk)
- Ayurveda - I was told by my wonderful practitioner that I am Pitta dosha through and through. So due to my "fire" constitution, I have to curb my love for hot foods and eat plenty of ice cream in the summer (poor me).
My Purpose:
- I am a catalyst for joy*
My Mission:
- I spark joy* through appreciation, ignited by awareness
*My personal definition of Joy is: recognition and appreciation of life's simple gifts and moments, for a satisfying and dynamic life.
Now that you've gotten to know me a little...
I invite you to also aspire for more, create balance and love the blooming self you become.
I would love to hear from you in the comment section...
What is it that you:
- aspire for
- need to balance in your life
- want as the ideal you
Thank you for joining me on this journey!


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Electrum Botnet Steals $4.6 Million in Bitcoin, Cryptocurrencies
The botnet attacking Electrum has grown to 152,000 infected computers and has now stolen $4.6 million in cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, according to Malwarebytes. Malwarebytes states that it has been "closely monitoring" the attack against the Electrum Bitcoin wallet. The company states how the botnet came to fruition, stating: "Victims were being tricked to download […]Continue Reading


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With a culture so focused on leadership and public-speaking, much of our Western education model makes sure to offer plenty of opportunity to develop our capacities in these areas. However, very little if any attention is given to counterpart roles of followers and listeners. As a result, we are living in a society where our understanding of good followership is nearly non-existent, and our capacity for listening is mostly summarized under the skill-set of "active" listening while missing the much more profound capacity of "deep" listening.
Active listening often involves a type of participatory, affirming set of techniques that has the listener employing behavior like regular eye-contact to show connection, head-nodding to demonstrate understanding, the use of "uh-huh, mmm, yes" to encourage and support, and the use of lots of supportive questions and paraphrasing to make sure the speaker feels heard. While this approach to listening is great in many circumstances and is a sure-fire way to make a speaker feel heard, there are also unrecognized side-effects.
The most alarming one resides in the power of listener to manipulate what a speaker actually talks about. Through our use of affirmations, paraphrasing and body gestures, we send strong signals about whether we approve and agree or not, and this can often lead a speaker to continue their course of thought or shift and change to another one, accordingly. Active listening also suggests that a listener must somehow demonstrate their level of participation and engagement, and this often leads to a "thinking about what I'm going to say/ask next" monologue. We often try to jump in with opinions or stories to show how we can relate. The problem here is that while we are busying ourselves with all the effort required of actively listening, we aren't fully paying attention to the speaker and tends to keep conversation at a relatively generic level. It also often leaves listeners feeling tired at the end of the conversation, suggesting that active listening also requires extra effort and energy. Active listening can be attributed to Level 1 or Level 2 listening, sometimes called downloading or factual, and remains on the level of polite conversation or debate, often producing results by the end of the conversation that could have already predicted by everyone at the onset.
Deep listening on the other hand requires a whole other set of techniques and presence, and allows for Level 3 and 4 listening, when empathic or generative dialogue are sought after. In this case, the goal of the listener is to give full and undivided attention to the speaker in a way that holds space for the speaker's greatest possible wisdom to emerge and remains curious about essence and source from which the speaker shares. The invitation here is to restrain from any verbal or physical affirmations and simply support the speaker in following their own deep sharing thought-process. In deep dialogue, we often encourage speakers to imagine they are speaking from their gut, rather than their head, and to only share the truth that comes out from there. Many people often notice that the volume of a conversation often decreases when people start speaking more from their bodies than their heads. Additionally, listeners pay attention to their own inner monologue and notice voices that can distract them from deep listening, such as voices of judgement, cynicism, or fear. When the listener notices the voices he/she simply lets them go and returns to giving full attention to the speaker. Lastly, the listener focuses on staying fully mindful and embodied in their own presence, and only asks questions that feel truly in service of the speaker and the generative dialogue. Often the results of these types of interactions are a new understanding and emergence of wisdom on whatever topic is being explored. Results are often different than what participants had expected and energy is notably higher. People note a sense of speaking from the whole rather than from their own individual perspective or needs.
Ultimately, it is the quality of our attention that dictates the outcomes we see and experience . As such, active vs. deep listening is a matter of paying attention to our attention, and practicing and experimenting with the various levels of listening whenever possible so that we can fine-tune or sense of how to best use all 4 levels.
MOVE workshops always use education and practice about deep listening as a foundation for our work with clients. For more information about deep listening you can also check out this fantastic brief article by Alan Seale.


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Owing to our technological adeptness, we are at the forefront of developing best quality Shower Tray. This tray is demanded widely to attain a contemporary feel in modern day bathrooms. The stylish and light weight tray is made from best quality material to ensure rigidity and hassle free maintenance. Further, we are providing a quality tested range of shower trays, which can be availed from us at market leading price.
Size: 5.5'' X 2.5
Additional Information:


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Scene: a couple of weeks ago. It's late afternoon and Anya is waiting in the living room for her daddy to come home. She's playing, but distracted. Mark enters through the front door and she rushes forward eagerly.
Anya: PAPA!
Mark: Hi, Anya!
Anya: Elephant. TWO elephant.
Mark: Two elephants?
Anya: Yeah. Scare you.
Mark: They scared you?
Anya: Yeah. Scare you. Home.
Mark: They scared you and you wanted to go home?
Anya: Yeah. Home. Elephant.
Mark: Yeah?
Anya: Yeah. Two elephant.
And with that she ran off to play happily. I guess our trip to the zoo that day was memorable. And no, I didn't take her straight home as she requested; we ended up having a blast looking at the other animals. And the next time she went to the zoo, she was just fine with the elephants.