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A Chinese delegation on a recent East Coast tour to learn about the U.S. nonprofit and charitable giving sectors couldn't believe that government controls of these entities were as loose as described, according to Richard Gelles, dean of the University of Pennsylvania's School of Social Policy & Practice, who met with the delegates.
"They kept asking the same question that they couldn't believe our answer to: 'Tell us again how the government controls your nonprofits and philanthropic organizations,'" Gelles said. "When we said they are required to file a [Form] 990 and to abide by the tax code, they couldn't believe that the controls are that loose."
Gelles and Eileen Heisman (left), chief executive of the National Philanthropic Trust (NPT) and a lecturer at the school, described their impressions of the meeting in separate telephone interviews with AdvisorOne. Neither professed to be an expert in Chinese philanthropic practice.
"They are very eager to learn about the role of the philanthropic sector and the nonprofit sector in terms of how it works with the government or separate from the government to address social issues and problems," Gelles said.
The delegation comprised about 25 national, provincial and local government officials and academics, Heisman said, who were keenly interested in governance and transparency issues. A grant to the School of Social Policy & Practice funded the trip.
"They were fascinated with the idea of community-based boards, boards of citizens who had the best of intentions who would govern charities that didn't have a connection to the government," she said.
"They were interested that these self-governing boards actually work effectively and were willing to abide by the law in a way that allowed them to be freestanding entities. How do the boards replace themselves? What do they do? Who appoints them? How do you get to be board chair?"
Heisman said the delegates wanted to know what would happen if she as a CEO had a disagreement with her board chairman. They asked how her salary was different from a for-profit salary.
She said they were especially interested in transparency rules the IRS imposes on charities: Form 990, self-dealing, "all the rules that regulate charities and that people were willing voluntarily to comply with. I talked about how a government audit of records works." NPT was audited about five years ago.
Chinese politics did not come up during the meeting. Gelles said there was never a direct conversation about what would happen if a nonprofit or philanthropic organization took a contrary position to the government. "But clearly, they are not comfortable giving that much freedom to organizations that could stir up trouble."
The Chinese charitable sector today is bifurcated, with a number of large government-sponsored institutions "similar to the American Red Cross and the American Cancer Society" and a proliferation of smaller grass-roots groups, Heisman said.
The newly affluent in China "see Bill Gates and Warren Buffett as the prototypical philanthropists," Gelles said. The delegation's view of American philanthropy "is not the Ford Foundation, not the Carnegie Foundation; it's a kind of noblesse oblige of the well-to-do to use their money for good. That's their model: If I already have enough money, how do I use my money for good?"
But their efforts hit a wall of government rules and regulations for establishing a nonprofit and, more important, for raising money. Gelles said he tried to point out that if the government sponsors the nonprofit and allows it to raise money under government control, "it's not like you're donating to a nonprofit, it's like another form of taxation." That observation didn't resonate with the group, he said.
Gelles said his school works with a foundation set up by Jet Li, the actor, filmmaker and martial artist. "They can set up the foundation, but they can't raise money," he said. "They're limited to whatever Jet Li can give them. He can do some good, but he has to be careful and selective about what good he's doing, and he's a very little player compared to what the government is able to do with its government-sponsored nonprofit arms."
As to how the nonprofit and philanthropic sectors in China are likely to evolve, Gelles said: "They're going to try—because it's part of the DNA in the culture—to encourage philanthropy with normal government controls. So, they will gradually loosen the regulations for establishing a philanthropic organization and a nonprofit organization.
"The ability to create a 501(c)(3) independent of the government is likely to be loosened. They may begin to loosen the regulations for who can solicit funding for a public charity. Those seem to be the more promising areas they'll go down."
Heisman noted a great interest among the delegates in the different giving vehicles the U.S. government allows to motivate donations. Donor-advised funds and charitable remainder trusts, in particular, piqued their interest.


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Hello Friends and Heroes,
I'm anxious to try out PAS and see what all I can do with it. I'm new to 3d, but I have made a few 2d games in RPG maker... um, none of them are really finished! Haha! Most of you probably know how long and how much work it takes to make a game, especially if you are just one person. That is why I scour the earth for tools like PAS, which seems like it will make world-crafting fairly easy, comparatively speaking. The less I have to do in the graphics and programming departments, the better; I'm not really a graphics artist or a programmer; I'm a story-maker. Also, I'm only one person.
Right now I'm searching for good tutorials to get me going, and I've found a few tidbits, but I'd like more info. So, if you have any recommendations, please tell me.
I like the idea of PAS a lot, especially the map editing functions, though I'm sad there isn't a party system for RPG games. I don't imagine tweaking the config files would be enough to simulate one; I suppose you'd have to write a hash for multiple actors data storage and a party manager class into the game's source code, and that's far beyond my capabilities. I've made plug-n-play scripts in RGSS for RPG maker, but I'm no C/C++ programmer, that's for sure.
If there was a party system option, it would make PAS a top for choice for my projects. As it is, I will see what I might be able to use it for.
Thanks and peace--
Thank you, Hero!
Introduce yourself to the rest of the community here.
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subset: commoncrawl


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You will need:
- 1 packet TS perfectly potato cheddar soup mix
- 2 cups grated cheddar cheese
- 6 cups water
- 1 cup whole milk
- 2 cups chopped broccoli
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1 tablespoon TS Onion Onion
Whisk soup mix with water and milk. Add the rest of the ingredients heat on low for 4 hours or until broccoli is cooked. Garnish with extra cheese.


text:
So the survey at the Isola Sacra has been running for the last three years. The area comprises an artificial island between Portus and Ostia Antica with the line of the Via Flavia running from north to south. A number of questions are being directed at the area, in particular relating to the location of the ancient coastline in the Roman period, the division and make-up of the ancient landscape an the presence or absence of buildings, workshop zones, cemeteries and other sites.
One thing that has stemmed from the survey to date is the presence of ancient canals sub-dividing the area, a small example of which appears below.
More of the same being processed at the moment suggesting the continuation of similar features. The area is marked by broad geological features also, all relating to the prograding of the Tiber delta in antiquity. For more information see www.portusproject.org/ and http://www.portusproject.org/fieldwork2007-9/regionalsurvey/results.html and http://bsr.academia.edu/StephenKay/Papers/185232/The_role_of_Integrated_Geophysical_Survey_methods_in_the_assessment_of_archaeological_landscapes_the_case_of_Portus.


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Ally NCP has asked Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan not to take any decision regarding implementation of multi-brand FDI in retail in the state without consulting it, even though the party voted in favour of the move in the Lok Sabha.
A letter signed by NCP State President Madhukar Pichad was delivered to Chavan by former Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar last night. The party has said the issue of implementation needs to be discussed in the co-ordination committee first.
"We have issues which need to be discussed and clarified. There are Mathadi labour unions, Market committees and we have to ensure that their interests are not harmed while implementing FDI in retail," Pichad said.
The coalition partner in Maharashtra government has told Chavan that no one-sided decision should be taken. The UPA government of which NCP is a key constituent at the Centre won approval for FDI in Lok Sabha yesterday after the Opposition motion seeking immediate withdrawal of the decision was rejected as the BSP and SP walked out.
218 voted in favour of the Opposition motion, while 253 voted against it in the House where 471 members participated in the voting. The total strength of the House is 545.
Yesterday, soon after the voting, NCP leader Praful Patel said that his party did not support implementation of the decision in Maharashtra.
"In Maharashtra, we have a coalition government (with Congress).We will meet, discuss its merits and demerits and then decide on our party's stand which will be conveyed," he had said.


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The U.S. Treasury said on Monday it would sell the last of its remaining AIG shares, rounding off a $182 billion bailout that began during the financial crisis. Following is a timeline of key events in the history of AIG:
- Sept. 16: The government rescues AIG with an $85 billion bailout, as the company was minutes from bankruptcy.
- Sept. 17: The government removes Robert Willumstad as AIG's chief executive and names former Allstate CEO Edward Liddy to replace him.
- Oct. 8: AIG and the Fed reach a deal for another $37.8 billion in liquidity.
- Nov. 10: AIG bailout is restructured to include the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) and the creation of the Maiden Lane facilities.
- March 2: Bailout is restructured again to give the Fed preferred interests in life insurers ALICO and AIA.
- AIG posts a fourth-quarter loss of $61 billion.
- May 21: Liddy says he will resign.
- Aug. 10: Robert Benmosche, the former CEO of MetLife, takes over as AIG's chief executive. He will ultimately get the lion's share of the credit for turning the company around and preventing a fire sale of its assets.
- March 1: AIG reaches deal to sell AIA to Prudential for $35.5 billion; the sale later falls apart.
- March 8: AIG reaches deal to sell ALICO to MetLife for $15.5 billion; the deal closes later in the year.
- Sept. 30: AIG, the Fed and the Treasury agree to a complicated recapitalization deal to repay the Fed and centralize the government's investment with the Treasury.
- Oct. 22: AIG prices the public offering of a two-thirds stake in AIA in Hong Kong, in one of the largest IPOs ever.
- Jan. 12: AIG strikes a deal to sell its Taiwanese insurance unit Nan Shan.
- Jan. 14: The recapitalization deal closes.
- May 11: Treasury launches its first sale of AIG stock, reducing its stake in the company from 92 percent to 77 percent.
- Aug. 5: The company says it will hold on to United Guaranty, its mortgage insurance unit whose fate had been undecided.
- Shares fall to a 17-month low, having lost half their value over the course of the year on uncertainty about the company's future.
- Aug. 8: AIG sues Bank of America for $10 billion, alleging mortgage fraud, in one of the clearest indications yet AIG intends to fight back against the banks it believes contributed to its decline.
- Sept. 2: ILFC, AIG's aircraft leasing business, files for an initial public offering.
- Feb. 23: After making a determination it has returned to consistent profitability, AIG recognizes nearly $20 billion in tax-related benefits.
- Feb. 28: The New York Fed sells the last of the assets in Maiden Lane II, one of the two vehicles it set up to help rescue the company.
- June 14: The New York Fed says the last of its bailout-related loans has been repaid with interest.
- June 28: AIG says it will rebrand some units that dropped the AIG name during the depths of the crisis, restoring the company's mark to prominence.
- Sept. 9: The Treasury launches its fifth sale of AIG stock, this time for $18 billion, in an offering that will take its stake in the company to around 20 percent.
- Nov. 2: AIG says it plans to shift its focus from stock buybacks to debt management, and adds it would like to pay a dividend in 2013 if possible.
- Dec. 7: AIG confirms it is in talks to sell 90 percent of its aircraft leasing unit ILFC to a Chinese consortium.
- Dec. 9: AIG strikes deal to sell up to 90 percent of ILFC for a valuation of $5.28 billion.
- Dec 10: The U.S. Treasury says it will sell its last 234.2 million shares of AIG stock, worth some $7.8 billion at market prices. The government will retain warrants to buy AIG stock.
Sources: Federal Reserve, A.M. Best, company reports
Copyright 2020 Reuters. Click for restrictions.
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text:
DETROIT – The families of the victims of the Oakland County Child Killer have released photographs of the 1978 suicide scene of a suspect in the case to the Local 4 Defenders.
From February 1976 to March 1977, a serial killer abducted and held four children against their will for several days before killing them, then left their bodies throughout metro Detroit.
The victims, all from homes in Oakland County, were 12-year-old Mark Stebbins, 12-year-old Jill Robinson, 10-year-old Kristine Mihelich and 11-year-old Timothy King.
No one has ever been charged in the more than 30-year-old case.
Christopher Busch, a convicted sex offender, was questioned in the case, but was released.
He later committed suicide.
However, the victims' families have been vocal about their allegations of his responsibility.
King's family filed a lawsuit in order for police to turn over their information against Busch.
VIEW: Inside Christopher Busch's home
Chis King, Timothy King's brother, said he thinks Busch was involved because the photos show potential evidence linked to the cases.
One photograph shows a drawing that was pinned on Busch's wall, which closely resembles Stebbins.
The photographs also show ropes that appear to have blood on them and shotgun shell.
Robinson was killed by a shotgun blast.
"Now we have hard evidence and we expect them to do their job," Chris King said.
The Defenders have also learned that the Michigan State Police are requesting DNA from all living family member of the four victims to make sure all samples are current.
A Grand Jury in Oakland County and a separate Grand Jury in Wayne County is looking at evidence in the case.


text:
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Finance Rates From @0.29%*OAC Currently a demonstrator vehicle for our dealership. ///Avantgarde Edition+Sport+Active Parking Assist+360º Camera+Comand Online Navigation with MB Apps+SiriusXM+/// Avantgarde Edition Package -Blind Spot Assist -Panoramic Sunroof -LED High Performance Lighting System -8" Central Media Display -Thermotronic Automatic Climate Control -Smartphone Integration -Apple CarPlay -Google Android Auto -Auto Dimming Rearview and Driver's Side Mirrors -Exterior Power Folding Mirrors -Foot Activated Tailgate Release -Keyless-Go -Easy-Pack Power Tailgate -Mirror Package Sport Package -19" AMG Multi-Spoke Wheels -AMG Styling -Sport Brake System +++++ With stand-alone equipment like: -Active Parking Assist -360º Camera -Comand Online Navigation with MB Apps -3 free months of SiriusXM Satellite Radio Plus a host of standard equipment! We do Market Value Pricing which is achieved through proven systems which poll thousands of pre-owned websites every hour to ensure that all our guests receive the BEST VALUE via real-time Market Value Pricing on every pre-owned vehicle we sell. We don't artificially inflate our prices in the hopes of winning a negotiating contest with our customers,we're here to help you make an informed decision on the vehicle that represents the best value in the market. Drive with confidence knowing that the Performance Auto Group has the most rigorous inspection and reconditioning process,handled by our team of factory-trained Mercedes-Benz technicians. For a complimentary Market Value Pricing analysis on any of our pre-owned vehicles,please contact Performance Mercedes-Benz to experience the difference with the assistance of a Sales Professional at a time and place that is most convenient for you - yes,we can come to you. We look forward to hearing from you. *Rates,Pricing and Promotions subject to change. See dealer for details.
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text: I'm very excited to watch Unchained Reaction (video in this link) when it comes out. It's a show, produced by Jamie and Adam of the Mythbusters, that pits teams against each other in a battle of Rube Goldberg machines! Woot! It sounds like L.A. hackerspace CRASH Space contributed teams to the show. The debut is scheduled for Sunday, March 18th.


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HeadHardHat's Award Winning Geocaching Blog is a geocache treasure trove of geocaching information. Years of searchable geocaching insights await you here. HeadHardHat's GeoSnippits Geocaching Videos series can be seen on You Tube. You can also find him on his new GeoSnippits Reboot Podcast series and the Geocaching Podcast. Geocaching the outdoor treasure-hunting game which the participants use a GPS receiver to hide and seek containers called "geocaches" or "caches" anywhere in the world
Monday, April 13, 2009
Lookie Who Made The Denver Examiner
Found this in the Denver Examiner...
Please don't forget to visit our GeoSnippits Geocaching Tutorial Videos Website at http://www.geosnippits.com
6 comments:
- Erika Jean said...
- April 13, 2009 at 6:28 PM
- Chris P said...
Very Cool I just meet Darcie the otehr day, Online that is, She told me about her new interest in Geocaching etc... she is local to me as I have seen an article or two where she talked about caches local to me. This is to be expected with the quality of the information and videos you put out! Congratulations!
- April 13, 2009 at 8:27 PM
- Just John said...
You're going to reach Geocaching rock star status in no time!
- April 14, 2009 at 3:55 AM
- Unknown said...
You can kinda thank me for this. :-) I made a comment on Darcie's other geocaching stories and she went to my blog and started checking out the links on my site.
She and I have been conversing abit.
You do a really great job on your videos, I think I have seen them all, and I look forward to your future ones.
- April 14, 2009 at 9:50 AM
- D. Gudger said...
I was browsing your blog again to find more info about CITO and stumbled upon this post.
Finding high quality information is a priority for me as I write articles. I've watched a lot of homemade videos, and yours is excellent, informative and entertaining.
You will reach rock-star status b/c that won't be the only time I feature you in my column. :)
- April 17, 2009 at 12:32 PM
- D. Gudger said...
Oh, and yes I had help discovering your site (Marc and Chris)
- April 17, 2009 at 12:32 PM


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**ANYONE INTERESTED IN WATCHING A SHORT VIDEO SHOWING 3 OF THE BROWNS, GO TO MY FB PAGE (Jim Parks) I have it up for public access.
I'm telling this story as I want dedicated fishermen to know the quality fishery we have in the gem of the Smoky Mountains. I tire of often hearing, "there's just little trout up there". Well, with dedication and luck, the amazing fishery of the GSMNP can be enjoyed but we must remain good stewards in protecting it for future generations. The fish are there, and they're not easy, but with proper approach and technique they can be had. My hats off to Matt Kulp and the predecessors before him, Steve Moore for one, and the many volunteers of TU in protecting what we have.
As some of you know, I've been fishing in the Smokies for 42 years. I was fortunate to get an early start. However, it took me 17 years to catch my first "trophy" trout, which I consider 18" long or better. During that time, I sometimes felt like the late great Dale Earnhardt who took 20 years to win the Daytona 500, where everyone kept asking "When are you going to catch the big one". Since my first "big one", I've caught numerous large browns up to 25". Last year, was my best when I caught 5 over 20" spread out over 13 trips. The year before I'd caught 3 over 20". Last year, my goals became to mentor someone to catch a big brown and secondarily for me to catch 2 trophy trout in a day. Needless to say, I'd passed up several good opportunities the past few years to help others get their trophy without success. BTW, I ALWAYS practice Catch & Release for large trout. I have WAY too much respect for their living the years necessary to grow to trophy size, what they've endured during those years, and they sure produce a lot of eggs for the next generation! Consider it one old warrior's respect for another.
Saturday (6/15/19) was the BEST trip I've ever had in my 42 years casting the waters of the Smoky Mountains for wild trout. My protege and I had a slow start, catching a few in first few hours. About 11:00, I was fishing a side pocket in some rapids when I missed a strike. I saw a small rainbow and figured I'd missed it, then I saw a large brown move in the pocket. Hmmm?? So, I quickly cast again and I hooked the brown on a greenie weenie. After a fierce struggle in the rapids keeping it away from a submerged log, I landed the 19 inch "hump-backed" male with a nice kype. Trophy #1.
About 30 mins later, I waded up to a long pool with a shallow, slick tail out. I figure any large trout in a tail out away from the safety of the deep water is "shopping" either for food or sex. Since it's not spawning season, that leaves one reason. I ALWAYS stop below a long pool to look. In surveying the pool, I saw a couple smaller 8-10" trout. Seeing nothing else, I look at a submerged rock that created a slightly deeper pocket to the side with faster water flow. I make a blind cast (keeping my eyes open) at the head of the little run. As my nymphs (Guinea & greenie weenie) drift back to me, I lift them out to make another cast when I spot a large brown chasing it for nearly 15 feet! Unfortunately, my flies were out and the trout never got to hit them! Figuring it had seen me as it was swimming toward me. I freeze and watch as it settles within 20 feet of me. I turned around to subtly get the attention of my fishing buddy, who was on his 6th fly-fishing trip ever. He was too far downstream to see me. When I looked back the large trout had disappeared. I made a cast above where I had last seen it. BANG!! It hit...I missed it :( Opportunity lost, but out of reflex I quickly cast back, BANG!! This time, I set the hook. I'd NEVER seen a wild brown strike twice after feeling the hook the first time, much less an old wise brown. After a fight during which it headed downstream into the shallow rapids, I landed the 21" brown. Trophy #2 on the Guinea Fly.
During the next hour, the feeding frenzy continued as we kept catching trout on the Guinea on what seemed like every other cast. At one deep pool, I caught 6 in 8 casts. I was tying on a new greenie weenie to replace one I'd broke off on a tree, when I heard my partner (Shawn) whistle from somewhere upstream around a bend. Still a newbie, he periodically whistles to show me a small trout he'd proudly caught. This whistle sounded different. I quickly made my way upstream around the bend where he came into view and I could see that his rod was bent double. He expertly played a large brown to my net. Remember this only his 6th trip... HE'S RUINED!! It was a nice 18" brown.
Now, having met my goals of helping a friend catch his first and my catching 2 in a day, what else is there?
We walked upon another long pool. About 1/2 way up the pool was a ledge about 4 feet deep where at least 2 large browns were finning as they fed. It required a long cast, well beyond Shawn's capabilities, for now. Needing to cast beyond and to the side to give the nymphs time to get down to the bottom where the trout were, luck was on my side. After making the cast and getting the slack out of my line, my tiny yellow roll-on indicator was visible as the nymphs sank and I saw a sudden pull on the indicator. I lifted my rod tip and the brown jumped at least 2 feet of water. After about 5 mins of fighting the large brown down into the lower end of the long pool, Shawn videoing the last 4 mins, I landed the 21" brown on the Guinea Fly. #3 for me and #4 on the Day!
I kept saying "What a Day" as I've never seen anything close to what happened in my 4 decades in the Smokies with a combination of beautiful skies, clear 58 degree water with perfect flow and not just fish, but large fish in a feeding frenzy! It seemed as long as we practice stealth and got the Guinea in front of them, they were there for the hooking!
For those of you who saw me do the fly-tying demo on February 2nd, you saw me tie the Guinea Fly, which I tie on a #8 hook. I've now caught five 21" browns on the fly in the past 3 years in the months of April-June. It's one of the oldest patterns, easy to tie, and probably the 2nd pattern I learned to tie. I also caught many on the greenie weenie Saturday. I estimate about 70 trout came to hand Saturday, with 80% on the Guinea and 20% on the greenie-weenie.
Hope you enjoyed reading this 1/10 as much as I enjoyed living it.
Jim Parks


text:
|About The Spaghetti Bowl
Please sign in to see more.
"In-laws, Ex-laws, and Out-laws" they're all here!
Thanks Craig for giving this sprawling family tree its name! And Larissa for helping with updates. At any time, please feel free to let me know about corrections, additions, etc. to our family tree and it will be updated in a timely manner. Also, when I first started compiling information for this site, I made the mistake of not properly documenting my sources. Most information came from government records: census, Social Security Death Index (SSDI), birth certificates/ index, death certificates, and marriage records, and passenger ship lists, etc as well as cemetery records, newspapers, and general family knowledge.
Facts About Our Tree:
1. Confirmed nationalities: Irish, English, German, Scottish, Dutch, Swiss, French, Belgian, Welsh, and Swedish
2. Famous relatives: Clyde Barrow (of the infamous Bonnie and Clyde) and his brother Buck Barrow (also a bit infamous). Most notably, Charlemagne, William the Conqueror , The Tudors, and many more.
Location Information:
1. Thackerville, Chickasaw Nation, Indian Territory is now Love County, Oklahoma. Marietta, Love County, Ok is very close to where the fore-mentioned location is, therefore, often interchanged in old documents.
2. Some locations are extinct. Yep, that's right, they don't exist anymore. One such is New Amstel, Delaware. It's now called New Castle. Same for Burnside, KY, which was originally called Point Isabel prior 1890.
A NOTE ON CEMETERIES: Sometimes cemeteries are lost; families die out and no one is left to care for or about the graves. Eventually, they are lost to time. Many people have questioned me about the cemetery where my mom's parents are buried. I know it as the Old Tateville Cemetery. It's actually Old Tateville Church Cemetery Annex. There's the keyword. You have to go on past the church, around the curve, over the train tracks, turn left, and go down a little drive. Some people who have lived in the area all their lives, didn't even know about it. This is also true for dozens of cemeteries throughout the country.
Warmest Wishes,
Renee, Administrator
(20 October 2018)


text:
Autodance & Solo Echo | 2019/2020
Ori Lichtik has collaborated with Sharon Eyal on several productions, frequently also as a percussionist. He makes appearances at Israel's most famous nightclubs and also at clubs in Berlin. In addition, he teaches on music education courses. In the early 2000s, he was among the people taking the initiative for an extensive rave party demonstration/manifestation against Israeli attacks and occupations in Palestine.


text:
Big Pimpin'
Andraz and the boys at Seascape are pushing to fill their last few build slots for 2014, and they figured this shot might light some of you up a little, reminding us that the Seascape 27 isn't just a race boat! The shot comes from Croatia on one of the world's coolest bays, and if you're looking to check out the new Seascape 27, the Chicago Yacht Club is the place to be; US boat # 1 sets off for the Chicago Mackinac Race next month, doublehanded with US offshore shorthanded Phil Sharp.
For more on the boat, see here.


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Brooklyn: Toby's Public House (a Checkup)
Toby's Public House
686 Sixth Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11215 (at 21st Street; map); 718-788-1186; tobyspublichouse.com
Oven Type: Wood-burning
Pie Style: Neapolitan/New York–Neapolitan
The Skinny: A relaxing, laid-back pub whose name belies the fact that there are some first-class pizzas coming out of the rustic wood-burning oven here. My God, man, get the black garlic pie!
Previously: Toby's (6/30/2008) »
What would it be like if someone made New York–Neapolitan pizza in a wood-burning oven?
Not that anyone has ever asked that question*, but the answer could reasonably be found at Toby's Public House.
Because while the pizzas may be personal-size and done up under the supervision of native Italian Nicola Bertolotti in a rustic wood-fired oven in the back of this casual neighborhood bar, they seem to have moved more along the pizza continuum toward American-style pies.
This was something I noticed over the last two Saturdays as I visited Toby's with Girl Slice.**
I'm not going to get too into the whole Neapolitan/authentic/whatever issue, since that's been done to death here on Slice and since what most people care about is whether the pizza tastes good. And Toby's tastes damn good, my friends.
Where Neapolitan partisans might find a digression in style is that Toby's crust is noticeably thinner and crisper than most Neapolitan-style pies in the city and that the end crust does not get as much puff (or oven spring) as other places. Whether that's a deal breaker is a matter of personal preference.
Without standing there near the oven with a stopwatch in hand like a complete tool, my guess is that the pizzamakers leave the pies in longer than most WFO places. I say this not only because of the crust crispness (crisp without being crunchy) but also because the fresh mozzarella is cooked until spots of golden-brown chewiness appear. Some folks howl when they see this; other folks, like me, appreciate the flavor and texture this imparts. I often see this happen on the New York–Neapolitan/coal-oven pizzas at, say, Totonno's, John's, or Arturo's. Which is another reason I say these Toby's pies have something in common with their stylistic cousins.
The sauce, too, departs from usual Neapolitan-style preparation. While many Neapolitan places in the city do little to the crushed canned tomatoes they add to the pies, Toby's seems to use a cooked sauce that's seasoned with more than just salt and pepper. Something about it gives even a Margherita pie there a hit of umami. The sauce is rich and deeply savory and just hooks you in.
Switching gears, have I ever told you that I'm a bit of a Foursquare addict? I have no idea why I use it, because I don't really care about getting more "points" than my friends for "checking in" to different venues, and I have the "pings" turned off so I'm not alerted every time one of my friends checks in at place (it gets super annoying once you have more than four friends in your network). I guess I like "collecting" the goofy little badges (like the pizza one).
Actually, I use it for getting good tips on things. I've found that the early adopters of Foursquare have been great at adding intel about whatever place I might be at. So I checked in at Toby's the first Saturday we visited and saw (after we had ordered) that Phil C. recommended the black garlic pizza.
I guess I'm not much of a "foodie," as I had never heard of black garlic until searching for it just now. It's apparently used in some Asian cuisines and, according to Wikipedia, is now catching on at high-end restaurants throughout the U.S. It's whole garlic bulbs fermented at a high temperature, resulting in black cloves that are "sweet and syrupy with hints of balsamic or even tamarind."
Anyway, having already ordered, I filed away that info for the following week. And when we went back, I scanned the menu for the black garlic pizza. And, not seeing it ... Ah! There it is. It's actually listed on the menu as the "Pancetta" pizza (with crimini mushrooms and black garlic).
Dude. Get this pizza. It's really good. It's a great mixture salty porkiness, earthiness, and sweetness. And the thin crust somehow stands up to all the stuff on top. Thank you, Phil C.!
Speaking of crust, there's the requisite pizza upskirt. It was too dark in the place to get an adequate cross section of the hole structure. Just be aware that it wasn't crazy poofy like Motorino but wasn't completely compact or too fine.
Having not been to Toby's in, oh, a year and a half, I had forgotten that I really liked the laid-back surroundings. It's true to its name. It's a comfortable neighborhood pub (thanks to or perhaps in spite of sports playing on four different TVs) that attracts a varied clientele (including frat-type dudes, yuppies, and whomever) that just happens to serve some first-class pizza.
Totally recommended.
*Well, I guess I've asked it, in my head, a number of times before. [back]
**Girl Slice and I visited Toby's over the course of two weekends not only because it's responsible pizza journalism (I snicker every time I type "pizza journalism") to attempt multiple visits but because we had tried to attend a friend's party nearby the week before. Unfortunately, Girl Slice had neglected to double-check the date and we showed up to party a week early. (This is not the first time she has done this, by the way. We turned up early to her friend's birthday party about a year ago and we almost did the same a few months ago. You'd think I would always double-check her math, but do I learn? No.) Fortunately, Girl Slice was hungry, and i knew Toby's was just up the street, so we ended up there. Our experience with both food and atmosphere*** was such that she suggested returning the following week, on the date of the actual party, to have dinner there again. [back]
***Girl Slice described the atmosphere as "manly" and said she wanted to go there again. I didn't know whether I should be worried about that or not. Fortunately, on the second of our recent visits, she pronounced the evening's clientele lacking in cute boys. And what am I, chopped liver? [back]
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Book Review Swami Rama: Selected PoemsAn Insight on Life EnlightenedCompiled & Translated by Shakuntala BodasPublished New Delhi 2007 My indefatigable aunt Shakuntala Bodas, an ardent and committed devotee of Swami Rama, has authored a number of books in English, Hindi and Marathi on Swami Rama, his life and his teachings. My favorite is Swami Rama : Selected Poems – An Insight on Life Enlightened compiled & translated by Shakuntala Bodas. Pessimism or disappointment is living deathSo please do not allow it entrance into your mindKeep your body, mind, and energy filledWith enthusiasm, coupled with peace and balanced mind. This is an excerpt from the poem titled The Secret of a Happy Life. Poetry, breathtaking in its simplicity, expressing clear thoughts and delivering precise message – that is the beauty of the poems in this compilation. The book has a large number of simple evocative poems; each one will touch your soul in some way or the other. The sincere devotion, earnest zeal and erudition of the author are evident in the free-hand translations, and as one absorbs the delightful poems, one does experience a sense of sublime joy. At the beginning of the book, Shakuntala Bodas explains the background, reasons for writing this book, and recounts the life story of Swami Rama. Her effortless, attractive writing style makes this book a delight to read. Dear Reader, doesn't matter whether you are spiritually inclined or not, get a copy of this book, carry it with you, open a page at random, read a poem, and you will feel inspired and spiritually elated. [Reviewed by Vikram Waman Karve] http://vikramkarve.sulekha.com http://www.linkedin.com/in/karve email@example.com email@example.com
Posts Tagged 'selected'
Swami Rama Selected PoemsMarch 20, 2008
Posted in 2007, art, art of living, author, banaras, bhu, bibliotherapy, biography, blog, Blogroll, book, book review blog, books, education, ethics, happiness, heritage, history, humor, india, karve, leadership, life, literary blog, literature, living, love, maharashtra, management, memoir, mumbai, oracle, oxymoron, philosophy, poona, principle, pune, review, spiritual, story, study, teaching, university, values, varanasi, vikram karve, weblog, women, writer, writing, yutang | Tags: anthology, ashram, bodas, compilation, creative, deemed, delhi, diat, enlightenment, girinagar, happy, haridwar, hindi, hindu, india, indian, insight, joy, karve, life, love, marathi, meditation, new, poem, poems, poetry, rama, religion, selected, shakuntala, spiritual, study, swami, teach, translation, university, vikram, waman, writing | Leave a Comment »


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Hope in Bloom
Breast cancer survivors and their families in Massachusetts benefit from an organization dedicated to creating garden sanctuaries.
Roberta Hershon and her friend Beverly Eisenberg spent many wonderful hours together immersed in their Massachusetts gardens—planning, visiting nurseries, and working together in the dirt. When Beverly was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2004, her close circle of friends made sure that her garden was cared for, and, when she was unable to enjoy the outdoors, they ensured that she was still surrounded by the flowers and the green growing things that brought her so much joy and peace.
When Beverly died in 2005, Roberta was inspired by the way the garden and the plants her friends had maintained had continued to bolster Beverly's spirit throughout her illness. In Beverly's honor Roberta founded Hope in Bloom, a not-for-profit organization created to provide indoor and outdoor gardens free of charge at the homes of Massachusetts women and men undergoing treatment for breast cancer. The first 24 gardens were planted in the summer of 2007, and the organization currently has more than 100 qualified requests for gardens from around the state. It's clear that for many survivors and their caregivers, a garden sanctuary is powerful medicine.
For Roberta the opportunity to provide a garden space for survivors has been an affirming and wonderful experience. "Just like a diagnosis of cancer changes someone's life forever, Hope in Bloom has changed mine. Every time we install a garden and I see the joy on a recipient's face and later learn about how spending time in their garden has granted them inner strength to beat cancer, I know we are making a difference."
The scale of the Hope in Bloom requests varies, Roberta says, and past projects have included everything from filling indoor spaces with lush tropical plants, to creating fragrant retreats on apartment balconies and small patios, to engaging in full-scale renovations of outdoor gardens. In one case the organization transformed an overgrown patch of lawn at a rental property into a bird-and-butterfly garden for an avid birder. The survivor, Roberta says, now spends hours watching the many birds who visit the birdbath. At another home the owner told volunteers that her garden "looked as sick and tired as she felt." She didn't have the money to take care of it, but she wanted to revive the space. After volunteers spent days pruning, raking, and planting colorful flowers, Roberta says, the owner told Roberta that there were no words to describe her emotional high: just being able to sit in her garden every morning made her stronger.
Whatever the request, Roberta says, the organization—working with landscape designers and nurseries that donate their time and expertise (Hope in Bloom generally covers the cost of the plants)—works closely with clients to ensure that the results meet their needs and their caretaking abilities. Because the organization provides many gardens for clients from underserved populations, including single women, single mothers, and seniors, it's especially important to ensure that the garden will not result in any undue burden. "We meet with clients to see what kind of gardening experience they have and how much time can be devoted to upkeep. It's important that the end result is a garden our clients will enjoy." In addition, the team takes into consideration special requests for colors or fragrances, specific plant varieties, memories that a client might wish to evoke, and any other specific information that will make the garden a truly special environment.
The impact that these gardens have made on the lives of breast cancer survivors is remarkable. "A Hope in Bloom garden provides beautiful surroundings for people to focus on and take their minds off their illness," Roberta says.
For many the garden becomes a powerful image of the positive way their own body and spirit can continue to flourish. "My garden is a symbol of my personal survival," says Sue Gierej. "The doctors saved my life, while my Hope in Bloom garden rejuvenated my spirit. Each healthy new blossom I see this year fills me with positive energy that keeps me strong."
The response from survivors, the devotion of the many volunteers and businesses who make the gardens a reality, and the knowledge that she is able to continue to honor Beverly's memory make Roberta's work with Hope in Bloom an intensely rewarding endeavor. In describing the cumulative effect of watching the gardens inspire inner flowering in the lives of survivors and their families, Roberta refers to a quote from designer Charleen Maunsell, who has contributed her time to the organization: "It's all so magical yet so simple."
For more information about Hope in Bloom, visit https://www.hopeinbloom.org.
Leesburg or Sterling
Fax: 1-855-831-9022 or 703-858-3111
Phone: (703)-858-3110


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Here's the latest article from the MidAtlantic USA site at BellaOnline.com.
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Embrace Diversity With Stedman Graham
Sept. 21, 2006 -- In his latest book, "Diversity: Leaders Not Labels," renowned businessman, educator and author Stedman Graham discusses how in the global economy of the 21st century, diversity has become a defining quality of business.
More than ever before, maintaining individuality while accepting others' uniqueness is key to personal and professional success.
By profiling people who have done this, Graham teaches readers how to grow to their full potential.
"Diversity: Leaders Not Labels" is essential for anyone who hopes to excel in all aspects of life.
Read an excerpt from "Diversity: Leaders Not Labels" below:
The Lessons of Whitesboro
First, I must tell you about an instrument of change in my own life, a man who was central to my transition from race-based thinking, a man whom I never met.
As I grew up in the 1950s and early 1960s, racism still infected the black communities of our country like a plague. It was more conspicuous in the South, but it lingered in the North as well, and New Jersey was no exception.
Whitesboro, New Jersey, was much like other black towns that sprang up across America in response to antiblack violence and segregation. It was also my hometown, my sanctuary, as I grew up. In areas surrounding our town, blacks were still being openly disrespected, shut out of jobs, and treated like second-class citizens. A kid growing up in Whitesboro felt a little more insulated from this day-to-day despair. But the story of this unique town's founder, George Henry White, dates back far before my time there. White, in fact, was born a full century before me. But his legacy lives on in my heart and the hearts of the thousands who have dwelled in Whitesboro over generations.
White was a visionary man who devoted his adult life to securing the most basic rights for the underrepresented. He understood the power of leadership and education in overcoming the label of "second-class citizen." Born in Bladen County, North Carolina, in 1852, he spent much of his childhood in servitude, working as a slave in the humid forests of the region to harvest the precious pine gum used in the making of turpentine and many other common products. He toiled from sunrise to sunset for the benefit of wealthy slave-owning families in a youth he called a "struggle for bread and very little butter."
White was thirteen years old when slavery ended. He knew that extreme poverty was inevitable for most former slaves, so he rededicated his life to helping the legions of newly freed yet disenfranchised men and women gain access to the only thing he knew could give them hope: education. He worked his way through a teaching school and then Howard University in Washington, D.C., later earning a law degree. He got elected to a seat in North Carolina's House of Representatives, where he fervidly petitioned for increased funding of African American schools. He would serve as district attorney in New Bern, North Carolina, and later as state senator.
In 1894, White took an even bolder step, running for a seat in the U.S. Congress. He lost but was not deterred and clawed his way back to capture the post two years later. A brilliant orator, White made impassioned, classic speeches about the prejudices and brutality plaguing African Americans in the South. White, as it turns out, was the last former slave to serve in Congress, and by 1898 was the only African American remaining in the House of Representatives.
White went down in history as the first to introduce an antilynching bill, illuminating his colleagues on the sobering fact that 80 percent of the people who were being lynched across America in his time were African Americans. But White's bill stalled in the Senate, and similar House bills met the same fate over the next hundred years. On June 13, 2005, an antilynching bill finally passed the U.S. Senate, with language apologizing for the many previous failures to address the violence that killed thousands in our nation's past. White's century-old quest for contrition from his country was finally realized.
But that's just one part of the George Henry White story. Back in 1900, White began to realize the hopelessness of pursuing a third term. North Carolina's legislature, you see, had ushered through legislation that banned blacks from voting. White saw the writing on the wall and knew his days in the House were numbered. Before leaving, White delivered his final congressional speech, the historic "Defense of the Negro Race," in January of 1901, refuting white-supremacist claims and recounting how racism had unduly influenced our country's legislative process. He promised that blacks "will rise up again some day and come again" and then spoke his parting words "on behalf of an outraged, heartbroken, bruised and bleeding people -- but God-fearing people -- faithful, industrious, loyal people, rising people, full of potential force."
White's moving farewell speech was in many ways a new beginning. For years, White felt that African Americans could thrive if given the chance to build their own communities. Blacks in the South -- while free in theory -- were still being afforded precious few civil rights when he left office. So White hatched the idea of developing an all-black town somewhere in the North.
Not long after his departure from Congress, White and a handful of loyal friends bought 1,700 acres of a former slave plantation on the southern tip of New Jersey -- in Cape May County -- to birth a town that would soon come to bear his name: Whitesboro.
Early settlers with names such as DeVane, Stanford, and Spaulding -- the latter, my ancestors -- came mostly from North Carolina, followed later by families from New Jersey and surrounding states. Following White's lead, the settlers realized that education was the connection to power, prosperity, and respect and were anxious for their children to develop a strong intellectual foundation and a sense of racial and community pride. A school and church sprang up, as did a lumber mill, grocery stores, a hotel, and other businesses. Largely removed from the prejudices, negative labels, and other racial obstacles of the day, Whitesboro grew to forge a distinctive and rich cultural identity. I became a part of this legacy when I was born to Mary and Stedman Graham in Whitesboro in 1951.
Though we were insulated there, there wasn't a person born in Whitesboro who didn't come to realize how the town was perceived once they traveled outside its city limits -- and that there was a specific set of slurs and labels reserved exclusively for people like them, people like me. There was a saying in south Jersey: "Nothing good comes out of Whitesboro."
So we grew up knowing we were different. And in different mediums, we heard the same message over and over: "You are not as smart as whites." Though we lived in a town with few resources, we were lucky to be blessed with several outstanding, no-nonsense teachers at my school, Whitesboro Grammar School. These teachers took it upon themselves to sternly prepare us for the rough ride ahead. The memorable lessons taught by Charlotte Harmon, Alice Jones, and Ines Edmunds reverberate even today. They insisted we focus heavily on reading, math, and science and impressed upon us that we had better know our lessons well. If we didn't, they would make darn sure our parents knew all about it -- immediately. Our school only went up to fifth grade, and we knew we'd soon be attending white schools outside Whitesboro's city limits. In essence, the teachers were telling us, "We don't want you to go up to those white schools and embarrass us."
So we grew up with a sense of pride in Whitesboro. We respected our family members and we respected the elderly. We didn't tolerate namecalling. However, there was an unwritten rule when I was a kid that white folks weren't allowed in Whitesboro. It was our haven -- our respite. If white people ventured into town, we chased them off, with the exception of sports teams that would come down to our fields for home games.
When that happened, it was a huge event in the community. Because we constantly felt we had to prove ourselves, we knew we had to be twice as good as white kids to get anywhere, and we weren't going to let these guys beat us on our own ball fields. Pride was all we had and pride took over. My family worked hard to develop the few resources we had. We struggled like many families did in Whitesboro. My father was a painter and carpenter, but he would not teach me those skills because he did not want me to follow in his footsteps. He wanted me to get my education and grow up to be something else. Because my father was a person of color, he couldn't get into a painters' union. So he had to take on all the odd jobs that no one else wanted. All his life, he had a sense that he was being put in his place, and that his family was being put in its place too.
You could count on reading anything negative that happened in Whitesboro in the newspaper. Incidents that would have never been significant enough to write about in a white community became news when they happened there. Sometimes that negativity was a self-fulfilling prophecy. A number of my friends and classmates who had been good, smart, and athletic kids turned on themselves and got involved with drugs. Some were sent to prison. They were looking for a way out and often didn't find one.
Students were bused from Whitesboro to attend Middle Township schools, where I attended an integrated high school. I was a drum major there, a basketball player and founder and president of a club called Betterment Through Understanding (BTU). I was a Boy Scout and was treasurer of the freshman class. As active as I was, I still hadn't come to fully understand the real value of education.
I was always pressing, always trying to convince myself and others that I was good enough. We were living only in the moment because we had to, most of us thought. As I grew to high school age, I internalized a lot of rage. We had been disrespected for so many years that we felt we had to prove ourselves. Our self-esteem had been diminished. That led to physical intimidation. When we were about fourteen or fifteen, several of us would walk into places outside Whitesboro and feel all eyes in the room on us. We'd turn around, look menacingly at them, and bellow, "What are you looking at?"
But most of our parents in that era "stepped in line." They bought into this whole race-based consciousness and were unwittingly enforcing it. They were always aware of how they carried themselves, and hence, so were we. I had to watch every move I was making because I felt I was always in jeopardy: I had to work at fitting in. Away from Whitesboro, the realities of racial bias were hitting me hard, and I would often internalize racial incidents that went on in my high school. There was always some race-based controversy.
As a person of mixed Native American and African American ancestry, I was light-skinned. Because of that, I suppose, I was a little more palatable to white America than some. But "light-skinned" became a selfattached label and a stigma for me. We were all subdivided into differently shaded groups that often marked how much money, culture and, class we were due. And I felt I was naturally entitled to a little more because of the lightness of my skin. I might even be able to get into doors that darker-skinned blacks could not, I thought. It took me a long time to realize that such race-based thinking was to my detriment. Instead of focusing on my academic merits, I was becoming class-complacent and class-conscious.
There was a time in my life when I said to myself, "I don't know how a black man makes it. How do I get past the labels and the psyche of the world and all this separation?" After all, our world is a place that seems to shout out, "We are going to put up all these obstacles and create a system that labels you and keeps you locked in with bars all around you. We know you're probably not going to make it, but if you somehow do, well, that's amazing. We might even throw you a bone if you get out."
I never imagined in my wildest dreams that success in life was more about understanding who I really was. For the longest time, I thought I would be happy if I got lucky enough to get inside the white world even just a bit. Of course, there were certain unwritten rules you had to follow to accomplish this. You had to be subservient in the way you talked and acted. You had to walk softly. Otherwise, you would be knocked back into your place.
Obviously, we felt as if the whole world was telling us what we could and couldn't do, and it seemed the bar had been lowered for African Americans. When counselors told us to "stay in school," they usually didn't mean "go on to college." They just meant we should finish high school. We were even told by a school counselor that we shouldn't plan on going to college to become a doctor or lawyer or dentist because those weren't the professions that people of color could choose.
Hundreds of years of labeling and programming have affected millions of lives. Imagine how many legacies would have been different if people were free to believe that they could be anything they wanted.
But it was a little different for me back then. I was headed to college. Blessed with athletic ability, I led my basketball team in scoring. I had scholarship offers from schools all over the country when I was a sophomore. I even thought, "Maybe I'll be able to play professional sports." For a lot of us, sports represented a way out. But we knew in the back of our minds that some of us weren't going to make it out that way. We didn't have a lot of vision beyond that one hope.
Sometimes, when I wasn't in school or playing ball, I would help my mother clean houses in white, upscale beach towns such as Stone Harbor and Avalon. Their owners would arrive for the summer season in new cars and hang out at the beach all day, tanning and indulging. Then they'd come home and order in food. My mother and I would look at each other in amazement at this exotic lifestyle, as if to say, "What is all this?" These houses were huge. They seemed like a fantasy land -- like Disneyland. Coming out of Whitesboro, I found the experience even more surreal. That's how I grew up in the fifties and sixties -- in a disjointed, divided world. I had no control of my long-term thinking. It was all too common for many in that era to grow up reacting emotionally instead turning on the brain.
I realize in hindsight that what I was trying to do was fill that hole in my heart. I think about this often, especially now that one of my main roles is teaching other people how to process their upbringing and move forward based on a nine-step methodology -- a process that I will address a little later in this book in a leadership and diversity context.
There is a huge dichotomy between what I knew when I was growing up and what I know today. My life has taught me that many people are still stuck in these "places" and aren't really able to take more control over their lives and explore the great possibilities they hold. Over the years, I turned all those things that happened to me and to my family into motivators, never forgetting and never getting comfortable.
Fortunately for me, my parents were there to encourage me to never quit and to do my best always. And in much of Whitesboro, that same spirit of determination prevailed, passed down through the generations from our town founder, Mr. White.
If that same spirit of determination is not in you, you're going to have a tough time making it in this changing, demanding world. The only way you can move forward through this life is with a passion for what you do, a lifelong commitment to develop your skills, and an ethic of hard work. Eventually, I would return to Whitesboro a changed, more enlightened man. In the interim, I learned much more about the psychology of racebased thought and race-based exploitation. I have been visiting Africa annually for years. On one such occasion, I was with a U.S. group visiting an impoverished village, accompanied by members of a charitable organization, who were mostly white. As we waited in a van listening to a member of the organization talk about the pathetic state of some of these poor, malnourished African kids, one of the folks said, "It is sad how the people in this region are so poor." I remember replying, "Let's talk about where this poverty really came from. Consider all the rich farmland that was once in this part of the world. If all those people from everywhere else around the world didn't come in and feed off this land, mine the diamonds, and take all the minerals out of the ground without putting anything back, it wouldn't have happened. They plundered all the resources.
Before you knew it, the whole continent was divided up like a pile of treasure. They weakened the foundation when they did this. They left no infrastructure behind for the people whose resources they stole. That seemed to be their plan all along. It was a setup. Then people came over trying to help and ended up taking control. What we need to do is create opportunity and move forward -- to leave something meaningful behind. People here couldn't even farm their own land or feed themselves. They couldn't benefit from the wealth of their country because of this negative outside influence. Isn't it a shame that we have all these starving children now?" As the folks from the charity sat there listening, their eyes sort of widened, and one said, "You know, you're right. That is what happened." When you realize what your legacy is -- and frame it in a way that helps you understand how you got where you are -- you can achieve perspective on your life, I came to understand. Instead of feeling diminished by the past, I position it this way: "What can I learn from that past that can propel me beyond it?"
That's the first step toward transcending -- moving past the constraints that others have imposed on you -- and transforming into a more productive and accepting human being. I realized that this challenge was twofold for me: I needed to reprogram how I felt about myself and see myself for my own unique qualities, not someone else's stereotypical view of me. As a rule, people don't tell us how to do this. Too many of us just look at past oppression and mistreatment and say, "Woe is me."
Of course, struggle is not unique to people of color. Almost all of us have endured some sort of major struggle. We are the same in that way. What we all need and want is love and respect and someone to care for us. That binds us. We just come from different cultures -- be they Whitesboro or White Plains -- and many of us see our lives only from that vantage point.
It took me a long time to move out and away from the bad things in my life and embrace the good things -- to transcend my past. Only from that point on was I truly able to move into my imagination and my possibilities and my identity. But it's an ongoing process. If I execute it every single day, it will be reinforced and much more effective. If I don't, I fall back into old traps.
Continuing reinforcement of positive values is paramount to anyone's transformation.
Though my home base is now in Chicago, I return to Whitesboro several times a year. Over the years, the more I thought about what I've received in wisdom and perspective from this distinctive New Jersey town, the more I knew I must give something back. So when I came back to town in 1989, it was with an agenda: to form a nonprofit grassroots organization called Concerned Citizens of Whitesboro.
In the original spirit of community pride instilled by town founder George White, I felt an obligation to aid in the town's social and economic revival. Through Concerned Citizens, we members seek to raise money and form partnerships with the county, the community, and several local organizations to help restore the vitality of Whitesboro. We have added streetlights, fixed sidewalks, and shored up aging infrastructure, as well as built voter registration programs, senior citizens' programs, family support services, recreational programs, scholarship programs, and other educational opportunities for youth.
Our overall goal is to help "the Boro" transform, stay vital, and welcome systemic change that will lead to stronger leadership and a healthier community.
Through Concerned Citizens under the leadership of a man named Bernie Blanks, and with the support of the committee and local residents, we continue to make a concerted effort to preserve and promote local pride in the town's unusual history and distinctive character. From the beginning of this effort, we wanted to stand up for our community and help give it representation.
Without that reinforcement, advocacy, and commitment, Whitesboro could descend to the status of a "second-class citizen" town. We owe it to George Henry White and the original settlers of Whitesboro to honor their founding ethics and not let that happen.


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March 19, 2016
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Dear Charlie and all the team,
We want to thank you for making our move so smooth and efficient.
At every point of the process we were met with friendly, professional and efficient staff who helped us along the way.
We would have no hesitation in recommending your family run business to others.
Many thanks again,
Dear Adrian,
We wanted to thank you for the seamless removal experience with your company.
Everything was carried out with the utmost care and efficiency on both sides of the Channel. We would like to commend the great job done by Tim and Callum along with their courtesy.
By the way, how long do we have to check the content of boxes? There is an ocean of them, just asking. They are sure to keep us busy for several weeks.
Thanks again and bonne continuation.
Dear Adrian,
Please accept our sincere apologies for not getting back to you sooner, but as I am sure you will understand that we have been rather busy.
Where do we start to begin.
We cannot find the words that will express our deepest gratitude for what Charlie and Dan did for us on Saturday, and not forgetting Mark for his part in it all.
Our move would not have happened if these guys did not feel that they could have approached you for your understanding and support, and so we cannot thank you enough for allowing them to come back on Saturday.
Without question we will most certainly be recommending Pretlove removals at any opportunity that arises.
With kindest of regards
A huge 'thank you' to the team for taking the stress out of our removal to
A very professional service, hard-working staff, and service with a smile.
Difficult job done with good grace & humour
Dear Charlie and Anne,
Thank you for your service on 24th April for removal of my father's house content [...] to Melbourn in Royston.
I would like to give a very good feedback for the three removal men, Ross, Calum and Richard (I think that was his name) who were punctual, professional, supportive and very efficient.
I rarely see this kind of commitment and professionalism in services provided by young people these days. So I have decided to write to you to give my positive feedback to you.
Please do send my thanks to them and I hope this message reaches them too.
With kind regards
We would just like to say how great your guys were that moved us. Nothing was too much trouble for them, the old house was cleared swiftly and they carefully put the furniture back together in the new house. There was no damage and all personal items and food stuff were stored neatly in the new house so we could get on with loading cupboards etc. Thanks for excellent service, we would recommend you to anyone.
Best regards,
Your team of men who had the task of moving us last Thursday and Friday were terrific, they took the stress out of what could have been a really horrible day as we had had so much hassle prior to the move. The team were Martin, Johnno and Richard, they were kind caring and very hard working, well done for employing such good people.
Hi Jack
We are all moved in and just wanted to say a massive thank you to you and the team. The guys today were superb, and we couldn't have done it without them. It was without a doubt the best decision we made! We have been so impressed with every aspect of the move, and the customer service. We wouldn't hesitate to recommend Pretlove's
We will let you know once we are unpacked and have all the boxes ready for collection
Hi Jack,
I wanted to thank you for all your assistance with the shipping of my new baby furniture to Dubai. Not only did it arrive in perfect condition but it was early!
You made the whole process simple & smooth for me and your levels of communication were second to none.
I look forward to recommending you to my many Expat friends.
Keep up the good work, best regards
Hello Adrian, I just wanted to write an e mail to you to say thanks for all of your efforts over the past few weeks with the planning of the move to our new boarding premises.
As you know it was a huge operation but everything went perfectly over the three days, without any problems whatsoever, and the removal chaps were absolutely brilliant and worked unbelievably hard to make sure the job went smoothly and was completed in good time.
At some point in January I'll see what full packs of boxes we have left over and give you a shout to return them if that's still alright?
Have a great Christmas and I wish you a Happy New Year.
Thanks again and all the best,
Dear Adrian
Please express our sincere thanks to the wonderful team that moved us last week to Norfolk from Stebbing.
They came on the Tuesday and removed all our personal belongings onto two vans, they were so professional and very friendly bunch of guys. Nothing was too much for them.
On the Wednesday they arrived in the morning and unpacked the vans, put the beds up and dining room table. Again with no fuss, a very helpful team and I would certainly recommend Pretloves to anyone who is moving. You should be very proud of them, they made our move so easy and relaxed.
Thank you again for all your and their help during this couple of days.
I have been rather busy since our removal from Hill Crest and realise that I am rather late in thanking you and all at Pretloves for your excellent service. The complicated removal was made very easy for us by your tolerance in changing the dates and then by the kindness and efficiency of all your staff both in the office and on the ground.
Very many thanks to you all.
Good Morning,
Just a quick thank you for the help of your company on Friday. The 2 removal men were fantastic and the service received throughout the process has been first class. I would strongly recommend you to anybody I know.
Thank you once again
Kind regards
Adrian and team!
Thank you so much for moving us!
It all went very smoothly and your staff were very friendly, courteous and efficient!!
We have now been in the new home about 7 weeks and have just about emptied all the boxes!!
We would definitely recommend your company to our friends in the Cambridge/Hertford area.
Thanks again
Dear Charlie and Adrian,
All house contents safely delivered to Elsenham.
Many thanks to the two lads, Theo and Chris, who did a great job (photo attached). They deserved a pint after the job but they were driving!
Best regards,
I'd like to express my admiration for the dedication, professionalism, work rate and, above all, politeness of the team you sent over today; they are, and were, exceptional and a true credit for you as ambassadors for your company.
I rather suspect I will be saying the same tomorrow but may be too busy unpacking to re-iterate the same sentiment - outstanding work today.
I just wanted to drop you a line and ask you to send on my thanks to the team you sent to help me move.
Trevor, Mark, Paul and Elliot - amazing guys who made a stressful day an easy move.
Please do let them know how very grateful I am, they worked so very hard and nothing was too much trouble, Mark moving huge rugs just to try them in different rooms to make sure I was happy, Elliot fixing up my tv before he left, Trevor's amazingly tidy organisation of the load and unload and of course Paul lifting and moving heavy furniture despite being obviously in pain from a sore arm (I do hope he got that looked at).
In short I'm sure I don't need to tell you your staff are exceptional, hard working but always so careful with every box and piece of furniture. What is most definitely one of the hardest jobs to do was still accompanied by a smile and a joke!
They really were my dream team and I cannot thank you enough for yet another easy move!
My very grateful thanks
Further to my move on Tuesday 14th June, and previously on 23rd Feb, thank you for an excellent service. On both occasions your staff made the moves stress-free with their hard work and courtesy, always managing to find a way around any potential problem.
Thank you very much. Nothing was damaged as far as we know. The team were very thoughtful & showed great attention to detail.
Pretloves were really good - everyone was really friendly and there was an excellent service. We were moved in and out very efficiently and we are over the moon with it!
Amazing. Thanks for extra effort with awkward wardrobe and generally made move-in a pleasant and non-stressful experience.
Amazing. The guys were so friendly and helpful - and eased me through the day. Thank you so much.
Thank you for all your team's assistance in the lead up to and our moving day yesterday. Theo, Ashley & Martin, were outstanding throughout the day and a pleasure to have around on what could have been a very stressful day!
Hopefully we will not be moving for some time, but I will highly recommend Pretloves in the future.
Many thanks,
Hi Ruth/Julie
I just wanted to say thank you for a fantastic service for my move on Saturday.
Mark & Stuart (they came from Saffron Walden I believe) were absolutely wonderful, they were really polite, professional, friendly to everyone they met with me that day, nothing was too much trouble, they were fast but also took great care of my items, and kept checking with me as to where to put things, was there anything heavy that I needed moving before they left etc?
I just wanted to say a huge thank you to them if you could please pass this on as they made my day go so smoothly, and make sure they get recognition for a job well done, as I know people usually only give feedback when it's not positive!!
Your services had been recommended to me by my father and cousin, both of whom you did removals for earlier this year. I cannot agree with them more, and will certainly mention you to anyone I know who is planning a move.
Thanks again.
Hi Adrian, just a word of thanks to you & your staff for all the work you put to get all our possessions containerised, listed & out to us here in Fuerteventura all in 1 piece in the minimum of time. Your agents out here were excellent & could not have been more helpful. Thanks to everyone involved.
Very many thanks
Just a quick note to thank you and your team for making the move in August so easy for us. We were moving from one house with narrow staircases and doors to a bigger barn with just the same challenges.
Your team did a great job 'over and above the call of duty' with no fuss and in a very quick time. The rates were competitive and the whole day was hassle-free. Good job!
Dear Adrian and Anne,
Just a brief note thank all of you in the office for coping with our ever-changing situation and making the move to Axminster and Rousdon go so smoothly.
And a special thank you to the two Barrys (Mark and Stuart), Ashley and Martin for loading and unloading everything so carefully, and for being so cheerful, no matter what we asked of them. They were all fantastic ambassadors for the company, and we are most grateful to you all.
With very best wishes to all of you for the future, from
Hi Adrian
I just wanted to thank you in person for the excellent service from your teams which came on Thursday and Friday, it all went like clock-work.
Attached is a photo you may like to use in publicity somewhere, my daughter Holly Roberts started school for the very first time on the day we moved in to South Road, she was 5 then, now we have moved out 17 years later she looks slightly different!!
Thanks & regards.
Hi Charles, I just wanted to let you know that my move with Pretloves last Friday the 22nd went off like a dream.
I feel I have to email you and let you know just how deeply impressed I am with the level of service that your company provided. From the initial visit (the only company I approached who even bothered to turn up and look at what I wanted done!) to the packing and the move, your team were outstanding.
This kind of service to me is top class, and the old saying about 'give good service and people tell 6 others, give bad service and people tell 40 others' is appropriate here - As you can tell, I'm obsessed with customer service, I have more than 25000 followers on Twitter that will get to know about the day I moved and the pleasure that your guys and girls made it - where the actual move was less stressful that any other part of the process.
Thank you so much.
Please make sure that you let the team know just how amazing I think they were.
Kind Regards
Often when life is so hectic, we forget to stop and value the jobs that we do.
You don't just shift boxes and furniture, but are entrusted to transporting "people's lives", their valuables, from their precious things to beloved 'keepsakes' - like a piece of old tree that once sheltered many a happy family gathering, pieces of old stone from the gardens of departed loved ones and garden compost that has taken a whole year to make!!! You have played a very important part in making it possible for 2 "oldies" to enjoy their memories. One day you will understand.
You worked extremely hard and every minute was very much appreciated.
Sincerely THANK YOU to all who helped.
Dear Anne,
Pretloves restored my wife's faith in humanity! She was effusive at the end of the first day's packing; she was even more upbeat about the loading day and she was over the moon with the effort from your team to get the right boxes in the right rooms – and only after happily fine-tuning the placement of all the furniture; she's a surgeon and likes things straight, so is a tough taskmaster on this front! It sounded like she had some new-found friends by the end of 3 days...
In a nutshell, thank you!
Kind regards
Dear Sir/madam
We would like to take this opportunity to thank Pretlove's and the team that helped us out of a very stressful situation when our house move went horribly wrong due to being let down by another removal company. We are both incredibly grateful that you were prepared to step in at very short notice and get the job done with fantastic efficiency, and would again like to thank the team you provided as they were not only hard working but friendly with it. Hopefully we won't have to move for many years, but if we do we will certainly use your services again, and will without hesitation recommend your services to friends.
Yours faithfully
Dear Adrian
I wanted you to pass on our great thanks to Mark and Liam who helped us move house recently. They were professional, polite and very friendly. A moving day is long and stressful one, but they were so easy to be around. They insisted we did nothing and that is exactly what we did. Nothing. We would highly recommend your company, indeed one of our friends has already booked your company for their imminent move. I hope we do not move again for some time, but if we do we would not hesitate to use your company again.
Best wishes
I just wanted to thank you for sending the wonderful chaps that were involved in setting up our new home on Monday. Not only were they professional and worked hard but they were also wonderful. They were fun, supportive and serenaded us! (We encouraged them). I would be delighted to recommend the team.
Please can you thank them for me again. Best wishes
Dear Adrian & Ann
Just to let you know how very pleased we were with how the move went last week. Mark and Stuart were brilliant, they went more than the extra mile and we wanted you to know we thought the service we received from them and your office was second to none. A big thank you especially to the lads.
Kind regards. Sincerely
Dear Adrian
I would like to thank you and your staff for their efforts in moving me from Cambridge to Kent. As a company you were very easy and reassuring to deal with and the three lads that actually moved me, (I am not the best with names but I think) Mark, Stuart and JJ were superb. I would happily recommend your company to anyone moving. I have already passed your name on for people to think of in the future.
Again, thank you so much. Best Regards
Dear Adrian
Re: House move from Sutton Coldfield. We would like to record our appreciation for the professional, competent and efficient work carried out by your 4-man crew of Mark, Steve, Stuart and Richard when they made it possible for us to transfer to Dorset on Tuesday 21st, a day ahead of schedule. They were cheerful, friendly, hard-working and extremely helpful, especially Stuart and Mark at the Dorset end when they had to rope a large piece of furniture to the first floor. It would be welcome if some of them could be involved in bringing the items in store down to us, if for no other reason than they now know where the house is.
Yours sincerely
Having today just emptied the last box since you moved me to Burnham On Crouch, I thought it was appropriate that I thanked your company for their efficient, courteous and professional attitude over the two days, this made my move much easier.
Kind regards
Dear Adrian
On behalf of us both, we would like to thank your company for the highly professional manner in which you and your staff effected our removal from Littlebury to the above address recently. Every aspect of the project was handled smoothly and nothing was too much trouble. Without exception, each member of the team put the interests of the customer first and the friendliness and humour by which they conducted their business made a very stressful experience much easier for us to handle. As you know, we have used Pretloves many times in the past, and it's good to know that you still maintain the highest and best standards of service. We would have no hesitation in using your company again and will certainly recommend Pretloves to everyone we meet.
Yours sincerely
Don't have time to write a formal letter but wanted to express my thanks to your guys yesterday - all went smoothly - 3 great guys - they did your reputation proud! Please thank them formally from me,
PS- you could use a "comments" form on your website!
Dear Adrian, Anne and all at Pretlove's
Sorry for the delay in sending this, but we wanted to thank you very much for arranging our move from Italy back to the UK. It went just as smoothly as when you first moved us to Italy 7 years ago. We were really impressed that even though there was no visit to size up the job this time, your calculations were spot-on and all our possessions fitted perfectly (and to the exact centimetre) into the truck. Everything is safely stored away with you until we decide where we're moving to next - so we'll be in touch soon!
Thanks again for your help.
Dear Sir/Madam
On the 1st Dec 2011 your removal company delivered furniture we had in storage with you for quite a few months. I just wanted to write and praise the two men who unloaded and placed the furniture in our house. They were pleasant, considerate, very helpful and made such a difference to a difficult day. They later took some furniture to our daughters house. It had been a long day and with only two of them moving heavy furniture into some difficult spaces but our daughter also commented on how good they were and how pleasant they were at the end of a long day. I just felt I wanted to pass our thanks on and would highly recommend these two men.
ps. Apologies for not remembering their names.
Good morning from Florida.
Just a quick note to thank you for your help in transporting our lives to the US of A. Your agents here could not have been more helpful. Attentive to detail, regular updates, and a delivery crew who, after a five hour drive, arrived at our address within 10 minutes of their planned time. Everybody has been polite, cheerful, helpful and a credit to you. Thank everyone in your office for me.
Best wishes for Christmas.
Dear Sir/Madam
We have just moved to the village of Harston in Cambridge on 26th August 2011. I would just like to say how impressed I was with your removal company. Actually not just the company but the people working for you. Firstly I was impressed by Lance who came to my home initially. It was his friendly manner and the way he explained the process in a clear straight forward way which made me choose your company. Secondly I would like to mention the men who did the physical hard work involved in the move. Paul, Brad, John and J.J. all worked extremely hard on the day. They all worked very efficiently together and I was impressed with the way they approached some of the difficult jobs and kept me and my partner well informed. I would particularly like to mention J.J. who was very friendly, polite, extremely helpful and concerned that everything was going well for us. Thank you once again.
Yours faithfully.
Dear Adrian & Anne
This is a short and rather late note to thank you and your team for your help in moving. Your patience with holding dates is a wonder! Our removal team of Mark, Steve and Jay Jay were friendly, helpful, considerate and extremely hard working. The day they packed us up was terribly hot and the interior of the van was unbearably hot yet they carried on with a smile until it was all safely stowed. It makes such a difference to the whole move to have a team you feel you can trust and most important of all - the right attitude to keep everyone going cheerfully through what is always a long day.
So many thanks to you all.
Dear Mr Pretlove
I would like to say a big thank you to your team of hard working men from your Saffron Walden branch who did my house move from Epping Green to the Wirral on August 18th. They were wonderful! Professional at all times and polite, courteous and particularly the youngsters - had a great sense of humour. They made a potentially stressful time much easier.
With thanks.
Dear All at Pretloves
Just wanted to say thank you so much for your help with our recent move. The guys struggled through heat, torrential rain and the van not fitting through the drive to make our move hassle free. Even through all of that they had a smile on their faces and were still joking. It was worth every penny.
Thank you so much.
Dear Ms Pretlove
I would like to thank the guys who did our removal yesterday. They were a fine team and said all the right things and were unfailingly cheerful, despite us being unprepared. They were a great advert for your company and I will not hesitate to recommend Pretlove's in the future (as you were recommended to us).
Dear All at Pretloves
I just wanted to write and say a big thank you, for organizing my move. Although, as we all know how horrendous and stressful moving is, the two men Trevor and Mark made it a pleasure!!! However, I will say it was very hard work for them, and they stayed calm, happy and helpful all day. Some moves are painful because of circumstances, and on the three occasions that Pretloves have 'moved me' I can honestly say they made it 'not quite so bad'. Now, as you know, you have all my worldly possessions safely stored away, so I will be seeing some of you in the near future - hopefully the same two, as they packed it so well...
Once again, a big thank you, hopefully I will not require your services too many times, but will not hesitate call you if the needs be.
Dear Adrian
Thank you and in particular for a very speedy and hassle free move. At last we have emptied most boxes (3 left)! Lance, Richard, Craig were all superb and are excellent ambassadors for your company.
A great move!
Dear Adrian
I'm now well-settled in to my new home. I am so glad I sought your services. I want to congratulate you on the efficiency and courtesy of your firm. I was impressed by the speed with which your men transferred the house contents so quickly. Everything was well-packed and nothing was broken. In addition they all seemed to be enjoying themselves. They moved like greased lightning. Your foreman (I think I should call him) was kindness itself and told me to look after myself and unpack slowly. This was the most exhausting thing I've done for a long time. It made me aware that I must take life more easily and get enough rest.
I am very pleased with my new house and I want to thank you for your excellent service.
Dear Anne and Adrian
Thank you for excellent service on our recent move to Australia. The advice you gave us was spot on. Your men arrived promptly. Our goods arrived in Sydney on time with nothing missing and no breakages. We were very impressed and would have no hesitation in recommending your services.
Dear Adrian
re finally all settled in our new home in Italy. Thank you so much for arranging the move - we were very impressed that the guys managed to find us and navigate the winding country roads! Even after a long journey they were really cheerful and brought everything in for us - all we could do for them was put the kettle on!
like the times we've used you in London, everything went really smoothly, so many thanks again for all your help.


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Hard Reset: The PC-Only, "Old-School" FPS
Time for a proper look at Hard Reset, the PC-exclusive FPS from new studio Flying Wild Hog, a supergroup of Polish devs formely from CD Projekt Red, People Can Fly and City Interactive. The initial trailer was really just a bloke very slowly looking up, with occasional flashes of some manner of urban dystopia. This one's a full minute of cyberbunk manshootiness aimed to demonstrate Hard Reset's graphics card-troubling techno-clout, but take heart – it also includes more footage of a bloke slowly looking up. Except he doesn't look very well this time.
Looks like utter carnage, hopefully in a way that lovingly tickles all the requisite fun-glands. Oh, and the combination of city streets, alien-looking things and oddball megadeath weaponry has me wondering if perhaps this will be the game to give the Duke Nukem 3D faithful some of what DNF didn't manage to.
Over on GameSpot, Flying Wild Hog boss Michal Szustak explains why they've elected to go PC-only on this one:
"If you want to show some amazing graphics, it's better and easier to develop the game for PCs. Also, in the era of movie-like shooters almost 'on rails,' with player-environment interaction as limited as possible, we wanted to create a game for old-school PC players, raised on all those forgotten Dooms, Quakes, and Painkillers."
They'll be using their own engine too, by the way, and the cyber eyepatch thing that keeps cropping up in these trailers will indeed have an in-game purpose that Flying Hog are keeping mysterious for now.
Hard Reset lands in September. Oh, it won't have a multiplayer mode because "We had to choose whether we wanted to put all our efforts into creating the best single-player experience or add a multiplayer mode just to fill the check box and still get it done worse than in other games focused on multiplayer modes." I concur with this line of thinking.