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Not a week after President Obama told the National Prayer Breakfast that promoting religious freedom is a "key objective of US foreign policy" under his administration, a congressman challenged him to put his money where his mouth is.
"The indifference on the part of the administration is shocking," Rep. Christopher Smith, R-NJ, said in an interview February 11. Smith, who earlier in the day chaired a hearing on growing persecution of Christians worldwide, cited Obama's failure to appoint a new Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom within the Department of State, a post mandated by the 1998 International Religious Freedom Act.
"A little-remembered fact about that [legislation] is that the Clinton administration was against it—on the record—only to sign it when we had an overwhelming veto-proof majorities in the House and the Senate," Smith said in the interview. "But the hard lift in the early go, getting it out of the House and on the floor was unbelievable…. They were totally against it. So that mindset remains among certain appointees in the State Department."
That may explain why the post has been vacant during much of Obama's presidency, except for the two-and-a-half years it was held by Suzan Johnson Cook. Cook left the post in October.
Meanwhile, the persecution of Christians around the world is "expanding exponentially," Smith told CWR. "There needs to be a concerted effort by the US government, and it has not been there. If anything, we've been enablers by our silence, and I mean the Obama administration by name. And then the more subtle forms of persecution and discrimination, like we're seeing with the HHS mandate, which is by design and will be putting churches out of business if they are to prevail."
Obama, speaking at the February 6 National Prayer Breakfast, promised to appoint an international religious freedom ambassador soon. He also promised to oppose the laws criminalizing blasphemy and the defamation of Islam in certain countries, which have been cited as reasons for some of the persecution many Christians are experiencing.
"With this president, I'm waiting to see if there are any deeds, [any] concrete action other than talk," Smith said when asked whether he agreed with some observers that the president's statement was a shift in policy. "Talk is cheap in Washington, just like all the talk on Obamacare and so many other issues. I hope. He's meeting with [Chinese President] Xi Jin-ping next month. He should have a list of political prisoners of conscience and make it public what he says [to Xi Jin-ping] rather than something that happens in the back room with a very meek approach."
"On blasphemy laws, very little has been done in this administration; let's hope there's a change of heart," Smith commented.
As chairman of the House Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health, Global Human Rights, and International Organizations, Smith brought together a number of experts on religious freedom to discuss the growing problem of the persecution of Christians. Some of the experts, as well as fellow congressmen, criticized the Obama Administration for its inaction, which they said sends a signal that the United States doesn't care about the fate of Christians.
Political pressure and economic sanctions recommended
Elliott Abrams, a member of the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom, a body that was created by the International Religious Freedom Act, also expressed concern about the vacancy of the Ambassador-at-Large position.
"USCIRF urges the administration to offer a nomination speedily, as the president suggested he would in his remarks last week at the National Prayer Breakfast," Abrams said. "And we urge Congress to take up the nomination equally fast. The Ambassador-at-Large is supposed to be the key official inside the US government for coordinating and developing US international religious freedom policy. However, according to a report by the Government Accountability Office, the State Department's Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor dramatically reduced the rank of the Ambassador-at-Large. This reduction in rank constitutes a major change in the structure IRFA established and a thwarting of congressional intent. USCIRF also recommends that the Obama administration fulfill IRFA's intent that the Ambassador-at-Large be a 'principal adviser to the President and the Secretary of State regarding matters affecting religious freedom abroad' by ensuring he or she has direct access to the President and the Secretary of State when it is truly needed."
Abrams commented: "If there is a long vacancy, it weakens the attention of the Executive Branch; it sends a message to countries around the world about our inattention and lack of concern." He also lamented that the system set up by the act, in particular the designation of "Countries of Particular Concern" (CPCs), "is not working properly; it's not working the way it was established in the Act. It hasn't under several administrations…. The Obama administration made CPC designations only once in the first four years, and the act requires them every year."
He said that under IRFA the United States can "take action against individual members of a foreign government who are involved in religious persecution—officials of that government, officials of provinces, officials of units of that government—to be able to name names and say, for example, those individuals will never be admitted to the United States. So there's lots of flexibility, and I'm afraid we're not using it."
The Obama administration was not the only target of criticism at the hearing, however. Abrams said that USCIRF has repeatedly raised the importance of annually designating "countries of particular concern" (CPCs) and that "neither Republican nor Democratic administrations have fully utilized the CPC mechanism as the key foreign policy tool it was intended to be."
"Neither have designated CPCs in a timely manner nor issued specific presidential actions based on these designations," Abrams said. "For instance, the Obama administration issued CPC designations only once during its first term, and while the Bush administration issued several designations, it also allowed the annual designation process to fall off track. However, IRFA requires a CPC designation annually. Such designations enable the United States to raise concerns about systematic, ongoing, and egregious violations of religious freedom at the highest levels with foreign governments and seek improvements in human rights conditions."
Asked whether the presence of American businesses in places like China is actually helping to protect the rights of religious believers, Abrams said his impression is that "it's had no positive impact."
"We did a lot of business with Nazi Germany too in the 1930s, and that didn't have much of an effect," he said. "What does have an effect is when we put pressure on governments. One of the things that leads to religious freedom in Vietnam rising or falling is Vietnam's impression of what it needs to do to get government approval for that commerce to increase.… It's up to the US government to set the rules and keep the pressure on."
Vietnam is pertinent right now because, according to Smith, there are secret negotiations going on to form a Trans-Pacific Partnership with the communist country, which has a history of persecuting the Catholic Church. "Vietnam seeks entry, and if we focus on the utility and profits of increased trade without holding Vietnam to account for its human rights record, we miss an opportunity to better the lives of those who are beaten, imprisoned, and even killed for their faith," he said.
Abrams also recommended taking a lesson from the Cold War and being specific in speaking about political prisoners. "People in the Gulag told us that the mentioning of names was critically important, when they heard it from a president, a secretary of state, members of congress. … Adopting political prisoners of conscience, which about 20 members of have done, is a great idea too."
Harking back to the Reagan administration, Abrams said then-Secretary of State George P. Schultz "made sure human rights issues were raised at the beginning of meetings with the Russians…not the last thing when the clock was running out. I think there will be cases where talking about it doesn't work, going after individuals will fail, and you may want to impose some form of economic sanctions to get the message home: 'This will cost you in your relations with the United States; we will not have normal relations if this kind of persecution goes on.'"
IRFA's author Rep. Frank Wolf, R-VA, who is a hero to many advocates of religious freedom, also attended the hearing. Only Republican members of the subcommittee were present at the hearing.
Archbishop Chullikatt testifies on increase in persecution
Also appearing before the panel was Archbishop Francis A. Chullikatt, the Holy See's permanent observer at the United Nations in New York. He briefed the committee both as someone who participates in activities at the UN and as the Vatican's former nuncio to Iraq and Jordan.
The Indian-born archbishop's participation was a rare instance of a Vatican representative's appearance before a congressional panel. Because protocol proscribes someone with the rank equivalent to an ambassador from testifying before a congressional committee, Smith suspended the hearing in order to allow a briefing from the archbishop.
Archbishop Chullikatt's talk was at once philosophical and practical. "Religious persecution, be it overt or discrete, is emerging with an increased frequency worldwide," he said. "Even in some of the western democracies, the longstanding paragons of human rights and freedoms, we find instances of increasingly less subtle signs of persecution, including the legal prohibition of the display of Christian symbols and imagery—legitimate expressions of belief that for centuries have enriched culture—be they on the person or on public property. This suggests a profound identity crisis at the heart of these great democracies, which owe to their encounter with Christianity both their origin and culture, including their human rights culture."
He said it is important that Christians work together to ensure religious freedom for all. "It is crucial that every government guarantee religious freedom for each and every person in its country not only in its legislation but also in praxis," he said. "Strictly connected to freedom of religion is respect for conscientious objection, of which everyone should be able to avail himself or herself. Conscientious objection is based on religious, ethical, and moral reasons, and on the universal demands of human dignity. As such it is a pillar of every truly democratic society and, precisely for this reason, civil law must always and everywhere recognize and protect it."
Like other speakers, Archbishop Chullikatt also brought a perspective that reminded listeners that the problem is much more widespread than what has happened recently in Egypt and Syria. In response to a question from Rep. Joseph Pitts, R-PA, the archbishop said the Holy See is "really worried" about anti-conversion laws in India. "India is expected to be one of the great democracies in the world and has thrived so far because of its multi-religious, multicultural democratic system," he said. He called it "absurd" that someone who wants to change his religion needs a certificate from the government. "The United States can do a lot by putting pressure on the Indian government," Archbishop Chullikatt said. "The laws are already there, it's just a matter of implementing the laws at the state level so these minorities are protected."
Pitts, who is not on Smith's committee but was invited to attend the hearing, said that other countries in recent years have "increased the enforcement or adoption of laws that deter conversion or deem certain expressions of faith as blasphemy, whether it be Kazakhstan—its 2011 laws restricting religious activity—or Pakistan's anti-blasphemy law, or the anti-conversion laws in many states in India, including the populous state of Gujarat."
"Our government holds an obvious venue for addressing these issues through our dialogue with those states," Pitts said. "Specifically, our government can and must speak out and elevate policies that address these issues. Last year Keith Ellison (D-MN) and I introduced a resolution calling for the repeal of the anti-conversion laws in India and calls for religious freedom and related human rights to be included in the United States-India strategic dialogue. It's my belief that we need a corresponding escalation of policy to all of our allies and within all of our strategic relationships in order to combat this worldwide and systemic persecution."
Global war on Christians "wrapped in a blanket of silence"
Also speaking to the panel was John Allen, Jr., the longtime Vatican correspondent for the National Catholic Reporter who is now an associate editor at the Boston Globe. Allen, author of The Global War on Christians: Dispatches from the Front Lines of Anti-Christian Persecution, said estimates of the number of Christians killed for their faith in these first years of the third millennium range from one victim a day to one fatality an hour.
Allen wondered aloud why the global war on Christians is "often wrapped in a blanket of silence, not only by the secular media but even within Christian churches themselves."
"In a word, I believe we have a problem of narrative," he said. "Ordinary people in the West are conditioned to see Christianity as the agent of repression, not its victim. Say 'religious persecution' to most Westerners, and the images that come to mind are the Crusades, the Inquisition, the Wars of Religion, Bruno and Savonarola, the Salem witch trials—chapters of history in which Christianity is cast as the villain. The fact that this narrative is badly out of date has done little to reduce its hold on the Western imagination. The truth is that the typical Christian in today's world is not an affluent American male pulling up to church in a Lincoln Continental; it's a poor black woman and mother of four in Botswana, or a poor Dalit grandmother in Orissa."
Dana Rohrabacher, R-CA, chairman of the Subcommittee on Europe, Eurasia, and Emerging Threats and a member of the Subcommittee on Asia, the Pacific, and the Global Environment, sat in on Smith's hearing. "We have here in America the opportunity to make a difference with our outrage," he said. "But we have to express that outrage, and we have to make sure our voices are loud, clear and specific. … I think America is a little hesitant about being as aggressive as we should be, and I think that's because in a world that's filled with suffering—and we are a country in which a vast majority of the people consider themselves Christians—we are self-conscious of the fact that if we speak up with a loud voice about the persecution of Christians this will appear self-serving to our own political end. The fact is Christians are being slaughtered today, and that slaughter is being ignored."
Nina Shea, an international human rights lawyer with the Hudson Institute, commented later on the significance of the hearing.
"The fact that this hearing is taking place and that the Vatican itself has sent a witness is a reflection of the dire situation facing Christian minorities in many parts of the world," she said in an email. "The Vatican's ambassador singled out the Arab Middle East, where he pointed out that churches are regularly attacked. He has drawn attention to the region of the world where the Christian presence itself is under threat of eradication."
"The witnesses today discussed many policy actions that are needed to help the persecuted Christians," said Shea. "There is in fact no single action that will resolve the crisis, but the immediate appointments of a religious freedom ambassador and a special envoy on religious minorities would go a long way to finding policy solutions."
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All About Glass
All About Glass
This is your resource for exploring various topics in glass: delve deeper with this collection of articles, multimedia, and virtual books all about glass. Content is frequently added to the area, so check back for new items. If you have a topic you'd like to see covered, send us your suggestion. If you have a specific question, Ask a Glass Question at our Rakow Research Library.
Michal Fronek from Olgoj Chorchoj glass studio in the Czech Republic works at GlassLab at the Vitra Design Museum in June 2010 during Art Basel.

subset: commoncrawl


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I recently learned a totally amazing word. "Vellichor" was invented by John Koenig to mean "the strange wistfulness of used bookstores, which are somehow infused with the passage of time…" I am sure many of you have experienced this even if you didn't have the word for it. I have been away from the United States for a year now, I am definitely in used bookstore withdrawal. I miss going on my little treasure hunts for science fiction and fantasy books, and of course, Steampunk books in particular. It seems an especially apt word for today's review of a book that is also focused on the passage of time (or in fact, times).
I managed to pick up a yellowing copy of The Warlord of the Air just before I left America, and I have been carting it around from country to country. I finally got a chance to read it on a long day of travel as I was leaving Sofia, Bulgaria and it was well worth the wait. This is the first in Michael Moorcock's A Nomad of the Time Streams trilogy, which were published between 1971 and 1981.
The tale is framed as a story that was told to Moorcock's fictional grandfather of the same name, who recorded Bastable's adventure while on holiday on a tiny island in 1903. He sees Bastable for the first time when he is forcibly ejected from a ship where he had stowed away, and is left to fend for himself. As much out of boredom as charity, "Moorcock Sr." takes the stranger under his wing and invites him to come back to his hotel for a meal. After some coaxing, Bastable starts to tell him about his life, and they end up locked in the room for three days while the story is recorded.
At the outset, Bastable is on a peace-keeping mission for the British army in 1902. He and a few other officers are invited into the sacred city of Teku Banga to negotiate with the king who reigned over this millennia-old society. They are led into the labyrinthine Palace of the Future Buddha and drugged by their host. When Bastable realizes the trick, and the others flee the chamber where they are eating with the king, and soon become lost in the tunnels under the palace. Something happens to him in the pitch-blackness and he loses consciousness.
When he awakes, he simply believes that there has been an earthquake, but the truth is far stranger than he could have imagined. The city around him lies in ruins, but this is old destruction and his clothes hang off him in aged tatters. Eventually, he finds out that he was been somehow transported to the year 1973, but no 1973 that you or I might recognize. The British Empire has continued to grow and flourish in the absence of WWI, spreading "civilization" throughout the globe. But as Bastable finds after joining the Airship police, the peace is only surface-deep and in many places terrorists and rebels are trying to throw off the yolk of oppression.
Alternate histories are some of my absolute favorite stories to read, and this one did not disappoint. It was fairly short, but also very insightful, which is an excellent combination. Moorcock has a unique perspective on history, both real and invented, and I definitely recommend that you give his work a try. I recently started reading a new compilation of short stories called The Time Traveler's Almanac, and I was also thoroughly delighted by Moorcock's Pale Roses. I look forward to getting back to the States in a few months, where I can resume my hunt for the rest of Moorcock's books in the series.
Have you ever read anything by Moorcock? What did you think?


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Most literate adults (or at least those with access to the Internet) would probably know to avoid the opinions of David Duke.
Duke, ex-Grand Wizard of the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, convicted fraudster and semiprofessional antisemite is hardly a reputable source.
Yet the "activist" Gilad Atzmon has a high opinion of Duke:
Now there is something very interesting and it's again the first time I'm saying it. The left is devastated by David Duke for instance. He was in the KKK when he was young. But here is something quite amazing: I read him and I was shocked to find out that this guy knows more about Jewish identity than I do! How could a supposedly 'racist' Gentile who probably never entered a synagogue knows more than I do about Judaism? The reason is in fact very simple : he is a proud white man. He's interested in nationalism, in the culture of his own people, so he understands things that I am not even allowed to think about. Believe it or not, even as a Jew, I wasn't allowed to think of myself as a racist. I was a racist, maybe I am still one, but I was not allowed to acknowledge it. Once he acknowledges the he's talking about white people's rights, in a way he thinks like Avigdor Lieberma ! But in fact, he is way better than Liberman. David Duke is a humanist because he says, «I want to celebrate my right and you should celebrate your rights» whether you are Muslim or black or whatever. He believes that all people should celebrate their rights, this is his current philosophy. Avidgor Liberman is not a humanist, because he wants to celebrate his rights at the expense of other people."
Duke hasn't, really, changed his views over the years, just polished them and tried to drag in the gullible or those seriously hung-up on the existence of Jews.
Bird of a feather flock together?
(H/T: Adam Holland)
Update 1: The SPLC on Former Klan Leader David Duke Expelled From Italy@
"No one wants David Duke.
The former Klansman, Holocaust denier and founder of a series of hate groups was expelled from Italy in early December after a court there deemed him "socially dangerous" for allegedly planning to create a pan-European neo-Nazi group. Duke, who has fled or been expelled from several countries before, was kicked out of Italy this time after a court upheld a finding that he had entered the country on false pretenses by using his middle name, Ernest, in place of his first."
Update 2: Not forgetting Huff Post Crime's coverage, David Duke Arrested In Germany, Ex-Klan Leader Faces Deportation:
"Since his release from prison, Duke has traveled and lectured widely, including a 2006 appearance at a Holocaust denial conference in Tehran, Iran. The conference featured numerous speeches denouncing the Holocaust as a "myth." At the conference, Duke voiced support for discredited, fringe scholars imprisoned in Europe for denying the use of gas chambers against Jews during the Holocaust.
In the United States, Duke continues to speak regularly at gatherings of prominent right-wing groups and writes for Stormfront, a leading white-supremacist website."
Update 3: Well worth a read, Ron Stallworth, Police Sergeant, Chronicles His Experience As Undercover KKK Member, particularly the slideshow "A day in the life of the KKK"
Ron Stallworth's blog and his insights make very necessary reading.
Update 4: the SPLC looks at a new David Duke project, Anti-Semitism Illustrated: David Duke Working on New 'Protocols of the Elders of Zion':
"White supremacist David Duke has a new book coming out, of sorts – a repackaged and "illustrated" version of the notorious anti-Semitic hoax, "The Protocols of the Elders of Zion." But unlike previous editions of the text – all of which attempted to claim that the book was a genuine transcript of a gathering of wealthy Jews who conspired to bring about the enslavement of Western civilization – Duke is taking a different tack.
"The Protocols of the Elders of Zion," Duke now claims, is in fact a work of fiction – which means, he says, that the hoax issue is moot. Instead, as he explains in his promotional video for the book, the text is like all "great literature" – a work of art whose value lies in the greater truths it supposedly reveals about the world. "
In all likelihood Gilad Atzmon will be endorsing that too!
Update 4: Last year the CST blog exposed Atzmon and some of his friends, Truth Movement – "Stupidest People on the Planet"??
Update 5: The SPLC takes on "Dr. Duke":
"Former Klansman David Duke has made much of his academic credentials of late. On his website, he repeatedly refers to himself as "Dr." David Duke, a reference to the supposed Ph.D. he "earned" in 2005 at an anti-Semitic Ukrainian institution described as a "diploma mill" by the State Department. Around the white supremacist world, excited accolades to Duke's scholarship abound.
As the closest thing the radical right has to an intellectual today, Duke claims to uphold the high standards of academia. His website brims with criticisms of plagiarism — although they come, naturally, in the form of repeated attacks on civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., who is characterized as a "world-class plagiarist." Plagiarism, Duke's site adds piously, is "theft," a rip-off that the site suggests amounts to "a serious felony."
Duke, meanwhile, continues to boast of his "Ph.D" — his website, for instance, is now headlined, "The Official Website of Representative David Duke, PhD," although he hasn't been a Louisiana state representative for 17 years. As to the Ph.D., well, what Duke actually got at the Ukraine's Interregional Academy of Personnel Management is a "Kandidat Nauk" degree, which ranks below a full doctorate. It was awarded to Duke for a thesis entitled, "Zionism as a Form of Ethnic Supremacism" and was the second degree given Duke by the university, which had earlier handed the former Klan boss an honorary degree.


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21-05-2023 Neeya Naana-Vijay tv ShowCategory: Neeya Naana, Tamil TV Shows, Vijay tv Show,
Neeya Naana 21-05-2023 Vijay TV Neeya Naana 21.05.2023 Show Online | Neeya Naana 21/05/2023 Vijay TV Program 21st May 2023
Watch Vijay TV Neeya Naana 21.05.23 Show Neeyaa Naanaa 21/05/23 Latest Today Episode Online.
Neeya Naana 21-05-2023 – Vijay tv talk Show | vijay Tv Neeya Naana 21-05-23 Program 21st May 2023
Neeya Naana show,Vijay tv shows
Synopsis: A talk show which brings two polarized sections of society onto a single platform and encourages them to iron out their differences.
It is currently one of the most popular Tamil talk shows aired primarily in Tamil Nadu every Sunday at 9:00 PM – 11:00 PM. It brings together polarized sections of the society and allow them to debate on a topic that affects them the most and they share their views, opinions and counter-arguments. Every week, a topic is chosen and two groups of people representing the extreme ends face each other and discuss on the show. The program deals with the subject both light-heartedly as well as seriously at the same time and often features celebrity guests.
The show was designed and has been created by ANTHONY THIRUNELVELI and is currently being hosted by Gopinath, who has been the host since the program began.


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A Taste of OIL OF DOG
11 Wednesday Sep 2013
Posted Music I Lovein
11 Wednesday Sep 2013
Posted Music I Lovein
24 Friday May 2013
Posted Music I Lovein
019890, 48 Thrills, 999, Allied Propaganda, Alternative Ulster, Anarchy in the UK, Auguste Pages, Aunt Helen, Biff Bank Pow, Big Hits, Big Star, Billboard, Bomp, Bondage, Bored Stiff, Boston Groupie News, Boston Rock, Brainwash, Cashbox, Chainsaw, Count Viglione, Cowabunga, Electronic Media, Eurock, Extra Cheese, For Adolphs Only, Fuggit, Future, Gabba Gabba Hey, Gary Storm, Guilty of What, Hard Korps, I Wanna Be Your Dog, In the City, International Anthem, Jamming, John Holmstrom, Kill Your Pet Puppy, Live Wire, Melody Maker, Mouth of the Rat, Necrology, Negative Reaction, New Age, New Beat, New Music Review, New Wave Journal, New York Rocker, NME, Oh Cardiff Up Yours, Oil of Dog, OP, Panache, Pig Paper, Private World, Punk, punk fanzine, punk magazine, punkzine, Radio and Records, Radio Free Rock, Record World, Ripped and Torn, Ripper, Rising Free, Rockers, Rolling Stone, Rotten to the Core, S'Punk, Scene, Search and Destroy, Shy Talk, Skum, Slash, Sniffin Glue, Syne, Teenage Rampage, The Good, Touch and Go, Trouser Press, UpBeat, Varulven, Woof, Worcester Rock and Roll News, Young Fast and Scientific, ZigZag
Learn more about punk fanzines on this page: Punk Fanzines
Learn more about music industry publications on this page: Industry Publications
My song, "(The Cover of a) Punk Magazine" is a celebration of independent punk journalism. It is also a wink and a nod to Shel Silverstein who wrote Dr. Hook's hit, "Cover of the Rolling Stone."
Punk rock was a return to the garage roots of real rock'n'roll. It was a repudiation of the music industry of the late 1970s.
Thus, punk was a revolt against the inflexible control of the record industry by four colossal corporations: Warner, CBS, RCA, and EMI.
Punk was also a mutiny against commercial top 40 and classic rock radio stations that stringently resisted any new sounds.
And punk was an uprising against the journalism that gave press only to music released by the four record company monoliths.
The punks said, We will create our own record companies. And they did, and thousands of tiny labels, many with only a single 45 rpm in their catalog, popped up all over the world.
The punks said, We will find radio stations and clubs that will play our music. And they did, and non-commercial radio and punk clubs became havens where the punkers could listen and dance to their music.
And they said, We will publish our own fanzines. And they did, and thousands of rags, type set with scissors and glue and typewriters, printed by mimeograph and photocopy, and distributed by hand, popped up in thousands of towns.
My song, "(The Cover of a) Punk Magazine" is about this massive outpouring of punkzines.
On the pages linked to this post, I present, for your review and examination, all of the fanzines that are imaged in my song's video. Not all the fanzines are strictly punk magazines, but they were all part of the independent music journalism that the punks promulgated. They can all be seen on this page: Punk Fanzines
I also mention in the song the bad guys: the major commercial publications that, with few exceptions, never recognized the importance of the punk movement. Images and information about some of the industry publications can be found on this page: Industry Publications
I hope that anyone who was responsible for any of these great fanzines realizes that my video, my song, and these images are a celebration of your accomplishments. If you object to being a part of this project please contact me personally at email@example.com and I will remove you.
Please share my song "(The Cover of a) Punk Magazine."
10 Friday May 2013
Christian, Commandment of Love, Crayon Angels, Jesus, Judee Sill, My man on love, Phantom Cowboy
Proof that great Christian Music can be created outside of classical conservatories and the palaces of Europe.
Looking at the photographs of her on her albums, I thought Judee Sill was a hippy nerd. Her clothes are tomboyish, practical, and modest. Most notable, on the cover of her first album, is the gold fleur-de-lis Christian cross poised on her shoulder beneath her long straight brown hair. In her second album, we see her in a black-and-red striped knit top and blue jean jacket, holding a baton, wearing headphones, conducting an ensemble in the studio. She stares expectantly innocently through rose-tinted wire frames.
The arrangements, instrumentalisations, and decorative polyphony are derived from classical music, but her singing is sweet and simple, unadorned, even plain. She sometimes affects a country-western drawl. Every song evokes feelings of peace and hope and grace and, sometimes, fulfillment. All the time I played her on the radio – and I played her often – I thought she was an intellectual Christian square who wrote profoundly disturbing poems and baroque country-western folk music. All I knew was her music and the album art. She was great. What more was there to know?
How could I have been unaware of the heartbreaking tumult of her life, her adolescent escape from parental abuse, her time in reform school for armed robbery, her drug-dealing friends and her psychedelic dereliction, her descent into smack and prostitution, her imprisonment for narcotics and forgery, the devastating demise of her brother while she was incarcerated, and her rotten death from an overdose. When did she have the time to become such a fantastic musician?
But now, looking at her songs in the context of her life, the waywardness is the unarticulated subtext of all her songs. She does not dwell on her life's grief, but rather the redemption therefrom. Being so far from god, being so sullied and low, who can bring you back, who can redeem you, but that noble distant magical savior.
Take this song, "Crayon Angels," for example. There are only four instruments in this song: Judee's voice, Judee's guitar, an oboe, and, at the end, a shaker. Her loping finger picking opens the song, and the oboe whines a simple tune. And then she sings the story, just her and her guitar, but for a few interpretive fills on the oboe.
Crayon Angel songs are slightly out of tune
But I'm sure I'm not to blame.
Nothin's happened but I think it will soon,
So I sit here waitin' for God and a train,
To the Astral plane.
Crayon angels are divine guardians that never materialize. They do not appear when you need them the most. The shaker adds strange quiet drama to the end of the song.
Phony prophets stole the only light I knew,
And the darkness softly screamed.
Holy visions disappeared from my view,
But the angels come back and laugh in my dreams,
I wonder what it means.
If Judee ever found the "truth and a ride,/To the other side" that she seeks in this song, it was through her particular Jesus. Judee's Jesus is a mystical cowboy, a bandit, a heartbreaker, who loves her and then flies away to go fight evil in a rapture-drenched world. He is not in this world, he never touches the ground, and yet she sings about hitching a ride with him some day. Unlike the ineffectual crayon angels, this cowboy is the only one who ever came through for her. For Judee, the one truth that survives in all the emptiness is what her man has to say about love. "Have you met my man on love?"
I discuss the Commandment of Love elsewhere in these writings.
Judee Sill, "Crayon Angels," Blimp Music (BMI) (1969); "Jesus Was A Cross Maker," April-Blackwood Music (BMI) (1971); "The Phantom Cowboy," Blimp Music (BMI) (1970); "My Man on Love," Blimp Music (BMI) (1969). From Judee Sill, Judee Sill, Asylum Records, SD 5050 (1971). Album design – Gary Burden; Photography – Henry Diltz.
09 Saturday Feb 2013
Posted Music I Lovein
I'm listening to "The Great San Bernardino Birthday Party" which runs into "Knott's Berry Farm Molly," a long guitar solo with many different movements, including segments in which the tape is played backwards.
The first time I saw John Fahey, the opening act was a lighthearted bluegrass band, whose name now escapes me.
And then there was a long pause.
And then John Fahey came out with his guitar. And he sat with his legs akimbo, and he set the guitar on the stage, and opened a can of Sprite. And he looked at no one in particular at the audience. And he drank from the can. And he looked with no particular interest at us again. And he drank more from the can. And he looked with indifference at the crowd. And he drank from the can. And the audience laughed. And he kept looking and drinking. And the audience laughed nervously. And he looked and gulped. And the audience tittered. And he looked and took a swig. And the audience didn't know what to do.
And when he finished the can of Sprite, he set the empty can down, and kind of clumsily and kind of slowly picked up his guitar, and we noticed, for the first time, it was a really big guitar, like bigger than you have ever seen, and dark, strangely dark. And he looked at us.
And he struck a string, and a bottomless yawning cavern opened beneath our feet and below us streams of lava bubbled and stars flickered and the kind of radiance you cannot see erupted through us and the auditorium ceiling floated up and dispersed and swinging galaxies ululated overhead and deities above allowed themselves to be seen, and we were never again the same persons who bought tickets and sauntered down the sloping walkway into that concert hall.
The second time I saw John Fahey, he was bombed out of his nut long before he ever hit the stage.
And he stood up, and I swear to god, when he stood up, if he didn't hold up those jeans below his bulging beer belly they would have fallen down. And, I don't even remember why, but for some reason he thought the sound guy was messing with him. He stood up, his round belly puffing, and shouted, Common up here! You mother fucker! Get up from that mixing board. Common Sound Man. You wanna take me on! Common! Get up here!
Oh god John, shut up sit down and play, you filthy drunk moronic fat slob.
And then he did.
And nothing else, nowhere else, only here, only this, only everything, only everywhere, only nowhere, only nothing, only now.
John Fahey, John Fahey Vol. 4, Takoma Records, C 1008 (1966). Album design: David Goines.
04 Friday Jan 2013
A Porky Prime Cut, Anticipation, Bethan Peters, Delta 5, George Peckham, Julz Sale, Kelvin Knight, lacquer-cutting, Matching Tie and Handkerchief, Monty Python, Ros Allen
Among the great secret delights of punk-era 45-rpm records are the inscriptions etched into the runout grooves of the records. Sometimes there are only serial numbers and record-company codes. But many of them contain mysterious cipheric words, adulatory opinions about the music on the disc, and messages meant for one single unknown individual and no one else.
It was John Farrell who alerted me to one of the most important inner-groove inscriptions: "A Porky Prime Cut." Any record that featured this caption was guaranteed to be GREAT!
And right now, I am playing a 45 that is has been bestowed with the "A Porky Prime Cut" approbation on both sides. It is by Delta 5 on the Rough Trade record label. Delta 5 is a girl-dominated punk band from Leeds in England. This is their second single. In addition to the "Porky" inscriptions, the inner groove on the A side says "Where's the goat?" and on the B side, "And the kids!" These comments are probably a private joke between Porky and one single solitary other person.
Like Gang of Four, Delta 5 had the musical acumen to punch up the band by using two bass players. The group on this record is singer Julz Sale, Ros Allen on bass and vocals, Bethan Peters as the second bass player, and Kelvin Knight on drums. The production is spare, the guitar is dry without distortion, the vocals bump around in a small boxy room.
The song, "Anticipation," begins with a thudding solo bass groove. The other instruments join one at a time: complementary thumps from second bass, driving drums, dissonant guitar, and the two girl vocalists singing in a working-class British accent whose enunciation is not always discernible. The words appear to be about how the expectations we bring to a looked-for event are always more pleasurable than the event itself. After deciphering the writing on the record sleeve, I have determined that the lyrics go something like this:
Days of your youth
Days of your dreams
Days and nights that might have been
Dreams reality has stolen
Anticipation is so much better
Anticipation is so much better
Anticipation is so much better
Time that was spent
In pleasant practices
No mood you realize
Made in advance
Those things that might have been
Are left to others
The music is freewheeling and oblique and the musicianship has that sloppy-tight wildness that threatens to collapse but always hits the beat spot on. The angst in their songs is usually personal, directed at such disappointments as a false friend or the violation of one's privacy. But every song is grounded in the economic wretchedness that debilitated their home town of Leeds and all other British factory towns in the late 1970s.
We did not know it at the time, but "Porky" was George Peckham, a British lacquer-cutting and mastering engineer. The manufacturing of a phonograph record begins with a cutting machine that transforms the electronic signals of a musical tape into spiral grooves on a disc which is coated with a nail-polish-like substance called lacquer. The lacquer grooves are coated with layers of such metals as silver and nickel. The metal is peeled away resulting in a disc which is a mirror of the lacquer disc. Rather than sunken grooves, it consists of raised ridges. This negative impression of the record will be used at almost 200 degrees under tons of pressure to melt and press hunks of vinyl into magical black discs of music.
Peckham was primarily at the lacquer cutting end of the process. Many great records were mastered by Peckham, including those of the Beatles, Led Zeppelin, and Genesis. In fact, the "Porky Prime Cut" blessing was not reserved only for punk records. It appears for example on some of George Harrison's singles. It was Peckham who mastered Monty Python's Matching Tie and Handkerchief album, which is a three-sided disc. One side is a single spiral groove and the other has two parallel running spirals. You would never know if your needle would select the "side" starting with "The Background to History" or the one beginning with "Minister for Overseas Development (aka Mrs. Niggerbaiter explodes)."
Delta 5, "Anticipation," No publisher (No licensing) (1980). From: Delta 5, Anticipation b/w You (45 rpm single), Rough Trade Records, RT 041 (1980). Sleeve design – Jon helped by Ralph.
19 Wednesday Dec 2012
Apartheid, Bright Blue, Josh Groban, Ladysmith Black Mambazo, Ma Melodi, Mamelodi, South Africa, The Voice, Vusi Mahlasela, Weeping, When You Come Back
This is one of those albums that is perfect from beginning to end. Every song is an epiphany.
Vusi Mahlasela is known in South Africa as The Voice. And he sings high and tremulous and sweet, and you know he could not cease singing any more than can a Citril or a Sugarbird. He accompanies himself with wonderful finger picking on his acoustic guitar.
He is The Voice of Mamelodi. Vusi was born in the Mamelodi Township in South Africa which was named after a female German doctor who cared for the people. When she arrived the place was known as Vlakfontein. As she provided medical care, she would sing the tunes she had heard when she visited the celebrations, weddings, and shebeens of the country side. The people came to call her Ma Melodi, which means "Mother of Melody." She must have been a great healer and a great singer because the people renamed the township after her. Can you imagine?
Vusi is The Voice of the people. As he explains in the liner notes: "This album is dedicated to all in every walk of life who are the voice against any injustices committed to men, women and children of the world, and the ignorance of those suffering the indignity of man – let everyone who cares become a voice to preach for a world of cultural Peace."
And so now we are listening to "When You Come Back," a joyous celebration of the emergence of African culture after the downfall of the Apartheid system of segregation. The song begins with a rhythmically free acapella solo by Vusi – his voice soaring from his high euphoneous natural range to ringing falsettos.
This is the unknown grave
The one who died maintaining his might
His will being so strong and musically inclined
His sad melodies coming out like smoke from the woodfire
And he sang:
Mayibuye i-Africa!
Sing now, Africa
Sing loud
Sing to the people
Let them give something to the world and not just take from it.
The music and art of those who were destroyed by Apartheid will never be lost. But this song is not just about the South African heroes whose legacy will endure. It is also about how the culture of all Africa – the music, art, social systems, economics, laws, and spirituality – so long crushed by racism and greed, will forever endure, and will be reborn and flourish when the subjugation has been vanquished. And Vusi, The Voice, will lead the way, even as the tyranny persists.
Our lost African music, will turn into the music of the people
Yes the people's music, for the people's culture
And I'll be the one who'll climb up the mountain
Reaching for the top of our Africa dais
While the poor women working for the lazy lord, sing!
Also included on this album is a powerful version of that incomparable you-must-not-die-without-hearing-it song, "Weeping." This song was originally composed and recorded by a South African group of white musicians called Bright Blue. Americans became acquainted with this song from Josh Groban's splendid performance with Ladysmith Black Mambazo on his Awake album. It is an unequaled account of the stupidity and futility and cruelty and heartbreak of bigotry and I say it again: you must not die without hearing it.
Vusi Mahlasela, "When You Come Back," Vusimuzi Music c/o BMG Africa Music Publishing (ASCAP) (2003). From Vusi Mahlasela, The Voice, ATO Records, ATO 0011 (2003). Album Design – Emily Philpott/The Mill; Photography – Costa Economedes, Martin Beck, Lance Nawa.
01 Wednesday Aug 2012
Barbra Streisand, Been On A Train, Blood, Christmas and the Beads of Sweat, Emily Dickinson, Fifth Dimension, Fyodor Dostoevsky, Laura Nyro, Paul & Mary, Peter, Sweat & Tears, Sylvia Plath
Laura Nyro was a child prodigy. She released her first album, More Than a New Discovery, in 1966 when she was 19 years old. It included "Blowing Away" and "Wedding Bell Blues" that were hits for the Fifth Dimension, "And When I Die" that was a hit for Peter, Paul & Mary and Blood, Sweat & Tears, and "Stoney End" and "Flim Flam Man" that were hits for Barbra Streisand.
When she was 21 she ripped open the pop music world with Eli and the Thirteenth Confession, a secular revivalist R&B operatic Philly-soul tinpan tour de force. She released an album a year – New York Tendaberry, Christmas and the Beads of Sweat, Gonna Take a Miracle – each one a masterwork, until her brief retirement from the music business at the age of 24.
This is "Been On A Train," from Christmas and the Beads of Sweat. Just Laura and her piano. It is a conversation between her and a junkie. I think of great dialogues in literature in which the conversants represent abstractions: Emily Dickinson's "Death is a Dialogue Between." Sylvia Plath's "Dialogue Between Ghost And Priest." And especially, Fyodor Dostoevsky's "Grand Inquisitor," because, even though Jesus does none of the talking, the Inquisitor undermines his argument with his own words, as does the junkie in Nyro's song.
In many such dialogues, the dispute is really between the urgings within a single soul. Nyro is the one who is addicted to smack, or whatever addiction is metaphorically implicated:
been on a train
and I'm never gonna be the same
The piano is sparse, forlorn, and then relentless, banging. She says to a junkie, the embodiment of her addiction:
You got no guts, no gospel
and you got no brain
He said, "I got just one thing
gonna soothe my pain"
She damns him and drags him out of the door and vows she "won't go north no more."
Her wailing assaulting voice, she is breathy, airy, stark. She has won, she has defeated her junkie, but the feeling in the music is joyless, desolate.
Laura Nyro, "Been on a Train," Tuna Fish Music, Inc. (BMI) (1970). From Laura Nyro, Christmas and the Beads of Sweat, Columbia Records, KC 30259 (1970). Album Design – Not Credited; Illustration – Beth O'Brien.
07 Saturday Jul 2012
Andy Hernandez, Coati Mundi, Cri Cri, Dr. Buzzard's Original Savannah Band, Kid Creole, Kid Creole and the Coconuts
His real name is Andy Hernandez but he names himself after the coati, sometimes called coatimundi, a mammal of the raccoon family, the various species of which dwell in South and Central America. His instruments are vibes and marimba, and with Kid Creole, he played in Dr. Buzzard's Original Savannah Band before becoming a primary conspirator behind Kid Creole and the Coconuts. His publishing company is Cri Cri Music, and I wonder if it is named after the great Mexican children's musician, Cri Cri.
This is not children's music. It is like a one sided yo mama contest, a merciless rapping putdown of Coati's lying girl friend who gave him VD, is "uglier than an ulcer," who tries to dismiss his insults with "intellectual constipation," whose love lingers like dandruff and pollution, and who snacks on "number two." (Yuck, a coprophage.)
The shrill female chorus sings his thoughts: "Me no Popeye, you no Olive Oyl." No love lost here.
Unlike the words of Twilight 22 or Grandmaster Melle Mel, there is no social critique in this song. It is just wacky party music. And also unlike those urban rappers the music is not driven by techno beats, mixing, breakbeating, and scratching. This is warped Ricky Ricardo madcap rumba Latin jive with a heavy dollop of rap on top.
Andy Hernandez, "Me No Pop I," Cri Cri Music (BMI) (1980). From Coati Mundi, Kid Creole & The Coconuts Present Coatimundi (12-inch single), Antilles Records, AN 807 (1980). Album Design – Not credited.
03 Tuesday Jul 2012
Bruce Cockburn is a Christian. I have never seen him perform, and I don't know what he is as a man. But, in his records he expresses a faith that is revealed by love and fierceness and liberalism and care for the unfortunate and reverence for the natural world and rage at injustice. Cockburn is no prophet, but the sensibility of his music puts shame to anyone who would follow the false prophets, like Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson, that I discuss elsewhere in these writings.
But without the music his message would be lost. Listen to the fluid purity and sweet vibrato of his tenor voice.
This song, "Let Us Go Laughing," is in two parts with an instrumental interlude. The first is a meditation on nature that is illustrated by languid finger picking on his Martin D-18. He sings of sitting in a canoe at twilight watching and listening to the bones of the day, a pale protectress moon, ragged branches vibrating in the wind, silent distant lightning – he is contemplating his own mortality.
In the instrumental part of the song he plays a duet with Eric Nagler on mandoline banjo, which is hybrid banjo that is strung in courses (double strings) and is tuned like a violin. Their picking is luminous, meticulous, and vibrant, but they loosen up the folk and classical progressions with bluesy modalities. And then in the third part he primarily forgoes finger picking for folk strumming. He offers an answer to the problem of mortality.
As we grow out of stones
on and on and on
so we'll all go to bones
on and on for many a year
but let us go laughing — o
let us go
We know where we will end up, but until then, life should be about laughter. Hah, I know laughter. I wonder if Bruce Cockburn likes to hang out in taverns and tell ribald jokes. I think Jesus did.
Bruce Cockburn, "Let Us Go Laughing," Golden Mountain Music (BMI Canada) (1971). From Bruce Cockburn, High Winds White Sky, True North Records, TN-3 (1971). Album design – George Pastic; Photography – George Pastic.
23 Saturday Jun 2012
Black Sheep was a local band from Rochester, New York featuring a nice Italian boy as lead singer named Louis Grammatico. They put out three albums that received little notice. Then at the invitation of Mick Jones, of Spooky Tooth, Louis auditioned for an, as yet, unnamed band. The result was the corporate rock phenomenon, Foreigner, for which he changed his name to Lou Gramm. He became the cloying archetypal voice of stadium rock.
But before all that, I loved this naked song, "When It All Makes Sense." Electric piano. No drums. Simple beautiful guitar solo, threading a single line. The quietness of the arrangement manifests the feeling of lying awake at night. And Gramm displays consummate virtuosity in his singing. The song opens in a vibratoless scratchy voice, as he whines about the ordinary travails of getting along with his lover. But then in the chorus he realizes:
When the moon is alone in the sky and weeping
And the one you love lies beside you sleeping
That's when it all makes sense.
And the fullness and passion and warmth fill his voice. Mellifluous high tones. Perfect phrasing. Beautiful.
Larry Crozier, Louis Grammatico, "When It All Makes Sense," WB Music Corp. and Open Love Music Inc. (ASCAP) (1975). From Black Sheep, Encouraging Words, Capitol Records, ST-11447 (1975). Photography – Lavey-Pincus.
10 Sunday Jun 2012
Dando Shaft came out with three albums in the early 1970s. How this song prances: "Kalyope Driver." They pronounce it "KÁL-ēē-ōp."
The original calliopes produced music by forcing steam through banks of whistles. They were played by a keyboard or by mechanical means, after the workings of a player piano. Carried on wagons drawn by teams of horses, driven by a teamster, they were a standard feature of circus parades and, because they were extremely loud, would alert people from miles around that the circus was in town. The shining calliope pipes were arranged in rows from tallest to shortest and the wagons were gaudily painted.
In this song, the Kalyope Driver is much more than a teamster. He is a mystical or godlike pied piper who calls all humanity to a better world. As I hear the words:
Kalyope driver guard the train
Ignorance will strike again
As darkness tries to hide the rows
Of rose that bloom among them
Take your time the world is spreading
Heading down toward the answer
Kalyope driver blow your horn
If only for to warn them
For to warn them
For to warn them
This song is in the aeolian mode, and the minor harmonies mingle hope and foreboding. At the heart of the aesthetic ideology of Dando Shaft is a renunciation of electricity. As far as I know, they never used electric instruments. The guitars, the drums, the fiddle, and even the bass are all unamplified, except by studio or stage microphones. The music is structured with layers of texture. Overlaying the ornate tabla beats, the patterns plucked on the mandolin are counterpoised against the picking on the guitar, creating complex polyrhythms.
Dando Shaft, "Kalyope Driver," No publisher (No date). From Dando Shaft, Dando Shaft, RCA/Neon Records, NE5 (No date). Album design – Not credited.
02 Saturday Jun 2012
She is so strong, she can be completely vulnerable. Some of her songs, like this one, "Dry Land," make me weep without tears. She is rough and imposing and yet tells such wondrous tales of the heart.
Clear back to land I'm rowing
Clear the deck let me touch your soul
Maybe I'll bring you back a gift of love
I'll promise you so much more
Never has there been another song that describes a yearning for true love with such piercing beauty. The song turns on the metaphor of being long away to sea. She craves peace and calm in the object of her love. Her singing aches with desire. She asks to touch the soul of another. But, surprisingly she says, "maybe" she will bring a gift of love. There is, even in this deep passion, a hint of reticence. And this guardedness is of a piece with the remainder of this album in which she talks to or sings about another person, who in two instances is named Jesus, and she has been rebuffed more than once and is clearly wary of reaching out.
From one song to the next, from one album to the next, Joan Armatrading explores great diversity of style and arrangements that range from her solo guitar or piano to an ensemble that seems to embrace all humanity. At times her voice is deep, almost growling, and then she quavers high and pure. While the songs speak of a spiritual longing, they arouse numinous understanding in those of us lucky enough to listen.
It is possible to interpret this album, Back to the Night, as an allegory for a Christian spiritual journey. But I think this album is response to a troubled relationship or unrequited longing. The religious yearning she invokes is, I think, metaphorical. Yet I feel she is calling us all, as privileged companions on her quest to understand the true nature of human love.
Joan Armatrading and Pam Nestor, "Dry Land," Almo Music Corp./Essex Music Inc. (ASCAP) (1975). From Joan Armatrading, Back to the Night, A&M Records, SP 4525 (1975). Art direction – Fabio Nicoli; Photography – Clive Arrowsmith.
26 Saturday May 2012
So here we are in Flamenco Land. Charlie on an acoustic steel string, descending figure, ascending figure, descend, ascend, and then what are those blues riffs doing in there? And it loosens up and drifts away into impossible improvisations, and how could any fingers ever put those chords together, and then here we are back at the zingaro campfire. It sounds like Buddy Deppenschmidt begins playing the drums with his hands, compounding the gypsy feeling, and then sparse insistent rapid taps and quiet clinks around the drumset. And Keter Betts' bass isn't walking those blues – it's swinging and strutting and twirling and sashaying and pattering that soft shoe and leaping in big arches.
The great D.C. jazz DJ, Felix Grant, used to sign off the radio with the words, "So Long Old Shoe." This song is called "Scherzo for an Old Shoe," a tribute to a great friend of Charlie's, and every other jazz musician. It is the third and last movement of Charlie's "Blues Sonata." It closes with a return to a phrase from the slightly off kilter polonaise of the first movement, and ends with a very courtly A major chord.
Charlie Byrd, Blues Sonata, Offbeat Reacords, OLP 3009 (1961). Album design – Ken Deardoff; Photography – Ken Deardoff, Steve Schapiro.
20 Sunday May 2012
Hapsash and the Coloured Coat, Michael English, Mike Batt, Nigel Waymouth, psychedelic, Spooky Tooth, T. S. McPhee
What the hell is this? Thumping screeching jamming with drums and guitars and piano, like we've all done late at night bombed out of our nuts in a living room. Except these wackos released it on vinyl. They sound like a bunch of rich kids who could hardly play any instruments got into a studio did a bunch of drugs and banged and strummed and whooped. They hoot "H-O-P-P Why?"
I don't know if Michael English and Nigel Waymouth were rich but the rest of my presumptions hold. They were actually founders of a design company called Hapsash and the Coloured Coat that created spectacular iconic psychedelic posters for many British groups like Pink Floyd, Soft Machine, and Spooky Tooth. They put out what has become one of the most collectible albums from the psychedelic era: Hapsash and the Coloured Coat Featuring The Human Host and The Heavy Metal Kids. The Heavy Metal Kids were the musicians who went on to form Spooky Tooth.
Waymouth continued as Hapsash and recorded a second album called Western Flyer which was produced by the brilliant and sophisticated Mike Batt. It also has become a consummate collector's item. It was at least as wacky and sloppy as the first Hapsash album. The great slide guitarist, T. S. McPhee (later the leader of the Groundhogs) noodles away on his strings, clearly saying with each note, "Well, at least I'll get paid (I hope)."
Guy Stevens, Nigel Waymouth, Michael English, "H-O-P-P Why?," (BMI) (No date). From Hapsash and the Coloured Coat, Hapsash and the Coloured Coat Featuring The Human Host and The Heavy Metal Kids, Imperial Records, LP-12377 (No date). Art Direction – Woody Woodward; Album design – Gabor Halmos; Photography – Ekim Adis.
19 Saturday May 2012
Osei Tutu is one of the leading modern proponents of highlife music. He is named after the legendary 18th century warrior king of the West African Empire of Ashaniti, and he is a member of the modern Ashanti Tribe in Ghana. The present day King of the Ashanti shares the same name – Otumfuo Osei Tutu II – but I have not found anything to suggest the two are related, except through the love of music.
Highlife is a musical mutt. It began in Ghana in the early 1900's as a mingling of rhythms and percussion of West Africa, the blasting horns of European military brass-band music, and happy melodies of Pacific islands. Into its musical mashup, highlife has, through the decades, accreted calypso, son cubano, American swing, rock and roll, Western pop, reggae, R&B, gospel, hiphop, and any other genre that caught the ears of its devotees. All the while, it has been rooted in the wild dancing party beats that keep its fans jumping until the sun rises.
Osei Tutu's voice is almost conversational, the melodies are sweet and simple, and every syllable is discernable, which contrasts beautifully with the frantic insistent syncopated rhythms on a multitude of percussions. Even a romantic duet with Hannah Lee is underdriven by dynamic patterns on the drums.
This album is a collaboration between Osei and Claude Di Bongué, the noted Cameroonian guitarist, who arranged the tunes and also plays keyboards and percussion. The album was recorded in Paris, where the two met. Take this beautiful song, "Enyimema." Perhaps he is singing in the Twi language, but the words are translated:
Do not leave me
My love
Don't you think
We deserve
A second chance?
In the middle of the instrumental, Léandro Acouncha on piano suddenly spins off into a Keith Jarrett-like jazzy interlude. The trumpet and sax blow out blazing accents. Underlying the simple ballad sung by Osei is some of the most amazing drumming I have ever heard. Hubert (The Groove Man) Colau on a trap set and Patrick Gorce on percussions create a completely unexpected rhythm track, finding the beats between the beats and poising pauses of unanticipated brevity, all the while driving a rhythm that requires joyous jumping, sultry swinging, and temerous twirling.
Claude Di Bongué and Osei Tutu, "Enyimema," No publisher (No date). From: Osei Tutu, Awakening, Tinder Records, 42854832 (No date). Album design – Christine Lemeur and Shaun James; Photography – Emmanuelle Margarita.


text:
Since the murder of Dr. George Tiller, many women who saw him for late-term abortions have spoken out about the caring he showed them during a deeply painful time in their lives. Their stories, and a pro-lifer's perspective, after the jump.
Most of the women who have shared their experiences online — even anonymously — are married, and sought late-term abortions because of fetal abnormalities. Though their decisions were heart-wrenching — these were planned, wanted pregnancies — their stories may be more socially acceptable because they don't fit the pro-life profile of thoughtless sluts seeking "abortion on demand." But Tiller treated unmarried women and girls too, with no less compassion. One woman, who terminated her pregnancy because of a rare fetal blood abnormality, remembers Tiller's commitment to all his patients:
My husband and I found Dr. George Tiller to be a caring, sensitive, and compassionate man who truly believed he was helping those of us who were desperate and had nowhere else to go. While we were at his clinic, he was very concerned about an 11-year-old child raped by her stepfather. And, when we were tormented by Operation Rescue protesters outside his clinic, he put on a bullet proof vest and personally drove us out of there while we hid in his van.
And a husband recalls:
I remember being puzzled about a T-shirt he was wearing, which said "Happy Birthday Jennifer from team Tiller!" or something similar. Turns out it comemmorated the birthday of a fifteen year old girl who was raped, became pregnant, and came to Tiller for an abortion. As luck would have it, she was in the clinic the same week as her birthday. So the clinic threw her a party.
A Heartbreaking Choice, a website for parents who terminate planned pregnancies due to fetal abnormalities, has a section called "Kansas Stories," dedicated to Tiller's Women's Health Services Clinic, one of only three in the nation that will perform abortions after 21 weeks. The stories don't mention Tiller by name, but they paint the clinic as a safe haven for women with few options, beset on all sides by critics. One woman writes,
I was 27 weeks by this point. I was terrified. The moment I met the doctor, all of that ended. He was a wonderful and loving man. I came in on Monday and gave birth to our baby girl on Friday. We were able to hold her after, and say our goodbyes. That doctor will always be in my heart.
Another says:
The reality is that abortion in the late second and third trimesters is extremely rare. The reality is that finding a doctor to do this procedure in the late second or third trimester is almost impossible. For me, the reality was that at the most painful time of my life I had to travel out of state, stay in a hotel room and face hostile protesters in order to carry out this most personal of choices. [...]
My only advice is don't let "them" define this for you. It is still your choice, your child and your life. I started to react as if the protesters were talking to me personally and indeed felt like everything they said was directed at me. In truth, they never see the real people behind the rhetoric.
A third adds:
The following morning the protestors were there again but this time with a twist. They had a huge group of kids with them. These middle- to high school-age kids were out there on the street corner hollering at us. These children didn't have the slightest understanding of what we were going through but they were taught they had the right to judge us.
A Kansas pro-lifer, writing to Andrew Sullivan, lays part of the blame for Tiller's death at the feet of such protesters:
This had been going on for years now. When these people said that Tiller's practices must be "brought to an end" or whatever, I truly believe that the vast, vast, vast majority of them (including the OR president, whom I've talked to about this before) do not have homicide on their minds. However, it doesn't matter. Operation Rescue or Bill O'Reilly do not qualify every statement about Tiller with a parenthetical stating "oh, by the way, killing him is not the way to stop him" for obvious reasons. But even if they did, they can't stop someone from thinking that more drastic measures are "necessary."
Pro-life advocates have the right to protest in front of abortion clinics, just as advocates for choice have the right to criticize them for making a difficult time all the more painful for women. But rhetoric that targets abortion providers themselves, rather than abortion as an issue, always runs the risk of inciting extremism and violence. After Tiller's death, Operation Rescue president Troy Newman said,
Operation Rescue has worked for years through peaceful, legal means, and through the proper channels to see him brought to justice. We denounce vigilantism and the cowardly act that took place this morning.
His denunciation is commendable, but why the focus on "bringing Tiller to justice?" Why can't the debate over abortion concentrate on laws and courts, rather than on individuals who perform a service that is legal and considered by many to be morally acceptable? William Saletan at Slate says, "If unborn children are morally equal to born children, then Tiller's assassin has just succeeded where the legal system failed: He has stopped a mass murderer from killing again." He says that the fact that pro-life groups have denounced Tiller's murderer shows they don't truly equate unborn children with born children, or abortion with murder. But there's another argument here, one that says if you truly disagree with abortion, you should seek to remove the laws that allow it, not the people who operate according to those laws. If the death of George Tiller shows us anything, it's that if there must be a battle over abortion, that battle should be fought at the polls and in the courtrooms, not in doctor's offices — and the weapons should be words, not bullets.
Kansas Stories [A Heartbreaking Choice]
Patients Remember Dr. Tiller [Feministe]
It's So Personal: A Tiller Patient [Daily Dish]
Another Memory Of Visiting Dr. Tiller [Double X]
A Pro-Lifer From Kansas [The Daily Dish]
Kan. Abortion Doc Killed In Church; Suspect Held [AP, via Yahoo News]
Tiller's Killer [Slate]


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Mothers, Help Your Sons Grow Up to be Fathers…
My oldest son, Francis, grew up amongst a caravan of foster brothers and sisters. Specializing in newborns and infants who had been affected by prenatal drug exposure and addiction, our family was usually comprised of my husband and myself, Francis, his sister, Dinora, who had been adopted from Guatemala, and one or two foster babies. Despite the fact that Francis is severely visually impaired, he played an active role in child care, frequently holding a little one, feeding a bottle and changing diapers. When going to the mall, he and his sister would proudly push the double stroller. (With the 2 of them, he could be a pusher without having to see where he was going…) Throughout his childhood, sixteen foster babies lived with us, and caring for them was just a fact of life.
Francis is now an adult with a Ph. D. from Cambridge, a well paying dream job, a wonderful wife and a cozy home complete with a grill for grilling steaks and a lawn to mow. And, as of three weeks ago, a newborn baby. My week spent with his little family renewed my faith in the power of what is learned in childhood. Without even knowing it, I had trained Francis how to be a good father! He bundles his little girl up in a baby blanket, like I had bundled up those babies who were going through withdrawal. Newborns like being in a tidy bundle because they arrive with strong startle reflexes and without much control of their arms and legs. By pulling her arms and legs in close and securely wrapping a blanket around her little body, baby India can feel safe and secure. When she is awake and alert, Francis rocks her and sings songs to her, songs that he heard me sing so many years ago: "Itsy Bitsy Spider", "Hush Little Baby," and "The Wheels on the Bus Go Round and Round". Even though she couldn't possibly know the songs, the sound of his voice quiets her, and these songs are easy to sing. When he is expertly changing her diaper, he plays "This Little Piggy" with her toes, gently pulling her feet to his mouth to kiss. He exaggerates the "wee wee wee home" by tracing his finger from her toes to her chin, tickling her slightly before kissing her forehead. And while she sits in his arms on the couch, ready for bed, he reads her books with very large print; "Goodnight Moon", and "Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed".
On the evening before I left to fly home, he looked over at me and thanked me for giving him the opportunity to practice on all those babies years ago. All of his friends are having babies now, he said, and they are all in a tizzy. Because of the practice HE had, he is a confident parent and not at all nervous with India. I realized that by being a foster parent to infants, I was not only caring for little ones, but also nurturing parenting skills in my oldest sons, skills that will ensure he will be an awesome father!
I have repeated this post from last year. His adorable baby is now a year old, and his father's day skills have continued to flourish!
If you are interested in reading other stories about Francis, please purchase my book on Amazon.


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All text and images on this site (unless otherwise credited) are copyright © 2012 - 2020 Mark Overgaard, with all rights reserved.
Borneo and More 2015
These images were created during a trip to Southeast Asia in late December, 2014 and January, 2015. The first part of the trip was based in Chiang Mai, Thailand and included a brief visit to Chiang Rai and the Golden Triangle areas north of there. The second part of the trip was a wildlife photo safari in Borneo (starting in the Indonesian state of Central Kalimantan and concluding in the Malaysian state of Sabah). This part of the trip was led by Suzi Eszterhas, whose website is http://www.suzieszterhas.com. The trip concluded with a few days in Penang, Malaysia.Read More


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Lærredstryk: "Sand Octopus" (rektangel)
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Saturday was a very sad day for me. I had to say goodbye to my 17-year-old cat, Oliver, after a week of seeing him decline from kidney disease. Oliver was diagnosed two years ago with Chronic Kidney Disease. He held up well until August when his physical showed a weight loss of three pounds, down from fifteen pounds to eleven, and his blood work confirmed that he was now in Stage 4 of the disease. A few months before that, he had begun yowling early in the morning. I've heard that senior cats do that sometimes, but looking back, I think it was part of his illness.
Last week, Oliver began to lose weight even more rapidly especially in his hind legs that were now so weak he had difficulty walking down the hall to his water bowl, climbing up on my bed, or on the table in the outside enclosed room where he liked to sunbathe. I was boiling him chicken every day and feeding him in bed. He would meow to let me know when he needed to be lifted up. Otherwise, he was very quiet. He would hardly purr when I petted him and would no longer sleep near my pillow where he used to sleep every night. He appeared listless and depressed. His beautiful blue eyes had sunk into his face. His fur was dull, and he hardly cleaned himself. I recognized all these signs as the dehydration he was suffering from by his failing kidneys. It brought back memories of my cat, Benny, who at eight-years old suffered kidney failure and went into a coma. My mother and I had been treating him with sub-q fluid injections under the skin, but he was not responding. I raced home from work that day when she called me to tell me he was in a coma and carried him wrapped in a blanket on my lap to the vets where he was helped along to Rainbow Bridge. The vet told me he was on his way already, but at least I got to spend the end with him. I vowed to do the same with Oliver if it came to that, but I wouldn't let it go that far.
I was lucky to have a vet come to my house to check Oliver. She was compassionate and visited us every day to give him fluids and help make him comfortable. Friday night, she explained to me that Oliver wasn't going to recover and that it was up to me when I was ready to say goodbye to him. At this point, he was barely making it around the house. He was not having a quality of life. The following day, I had to work. A few hours after I started, my husband called to tell me that Oliver had gone behind the headboard of my bed. I knew that hiding in a dark place was a sign that a cat was preparing to die. I rushed home and contacted my vet. When she came over, she helped me take Oliver out of his hiding place. She told me he was letting me know he was ready, so it would be easier for me to make my decision to let him go in peace.
We placed Oliver on his cat bed outside on the patio where he'd loved to sit and sun himself, and the vet administered a sedative to relax him. I stood by him brushing, kissing, and talking to him. When she gave the dose that would send him to Rainbow Bridge, she let me have some moments alone with him and then took out a kit where she made a set of paw prints and clipped some fur. Although I'd buried my other cats, I'd decided to have Oliver cremated, and she said she would take care of this for us but that it would take about three weeks to get his ashes. I had also purchased a pretty urn in which to store them because I knew the time was arriving when I would need it. I planned to keep it in my room where he always stayed waiting for me when I got home from work and when he slept with me with his paw on my pillow, and I would stroke his handsome chest.
That's the story of how I said goodbye to Oliver, but there's more to his story than that. Oliver was a special cat to many people, and he appeared in two articles I wrote for Catster.com. The following is how Oliver came to us as a senior cat of 13 and how he gave us four and a half wonderful years. http://www.catster.com/lifestyle/what-i-learned-senior-citizen-cat-adoption.
The second article is one that won me an award from Hartz in the Cat Writers Association contest. http://www.catster.com/lifestyle/brush-your-cat-for-bonding-beauty-and-better-health
I also wrote a story last year called, The Path to Rainbow Bridge, in which a Siamese cat is the one of the main characters. Many of my cats are featured in this tale, and I am offering the eBook copy free from Monday, November 6 to Friday, November 10, to those who have lost their own beloved pets.
In addition to these articles and that story, I also feature a Siamese cat in my Cobble Cove mystery series. Sneaky the library cat is based on Oliver. I have also included a Siamese of the same name in my upcoming standalone mystery, Reason to Die, which will be published by Solstice Publishing and am currently writing the first book of another cozy mystery series that I plan to dedicate to Oliver.
To end this post, here's a poem I wrote for my sweet Oliver:
Ode to Oliver
There's a spot next to my pillow that's bare.
Oliver always used to sleep there.
He loved me to stroke his chest.
Of all my cats, he was one of the best.
He was a handsome Siamese cat.
There was no doubt about that.
Although we only had him four years,
I can't help shedding so many tears.
His favorite spot was his cat bed.
It's so hard to believe he's dead.
He did such cute things in the past,
like fishing in his water bowl where he made quite a splash.
He loved to be brushed,
and his fur was so lush.
His loud voice in the morning was my alarm clock,
Losing him is still a shock.
But he's out of pain now on Rainbow Bridge waiting for me
with my other special cats who one day I will see.


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Ticket to Write: From lawless start to high-tech horsepower, NASCAR HOF showcases history of sport
Steve Stephens More Content Now
Auto-racing superstar Richard Petty, who won 200 races and seven NASCAR championships, is such a legend that even non-racing fans would probably recognize him in his trademark dark sunglasses and black cowboy hat.
"The King" was also my guide through the NASCAR Hall of Fame in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Well, at least a video version of him.
I'm not much of an auto-racing fan, but I am a big fan of America, and NASCAR has become an iconic part of American sports and culture. So I knew that when I visited Charlotte, I had to stop in at the hall.
NASCAR, the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, was started in 1947 to organize a sport that sprang from Southern moonshiners outrunning Southern cops in souped-up cars — or so the legend goes.
Although those early lawless days are still a big part of the sport's myths, today NASCAR is a sophisticated, high-tech mix of horsepower and marketing, with races run across the country.
The huge, modern, interactive museum in downtown Charlotte reminded me of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, only louder.
Guests receive a credit-card sized electronic pass with admission. Each pass is personalized to track individual achievements throughout the museum and the interactive exhibits.
Guests also pick one popular NASCAR driver to be their video "guide" for the day. I eschewed the pretty boys of today and chose Petty, who became my personal video host at screens throughout the museum.
My visit began in the wide-screen, surround-sound High Octane Theater with a short film about NASCAR history, ranging from those anarchic, bootlegger beginnings to the big-money, big-thrill races of today.
Most of one floor of the four-level museum is devoted to interactive experiences. Guests can "qualify" at a video-racing station or climb into one of eight real, full-sized cars zooming (virtually) around a (virtual) track in a (virtual) race.
Other exhibits simulate being part of a race-day pit crew or broadcast team.
Other floors house the Hall of Fame, where inductees are enshrined, each with his own display that includes video highlights from his career; and the Heritage Speedway, a collection of individual galleries with information and mementos from some of the greatest races and greatest drivers.
The most impressive exhibit, to me, was "Glory Road," a massive display of 18 historic cars parked in racing position on a curving, banked track that mimics raceways such as Talladega Superspeedway.
Among the cars: The classic "Petty"-blue No. 43 Plymouth Belvedere raced by Petty to his first NASCAR championship in 1964.
For more information about the NASCAR Hall of Fame, call 1-888-902-6463 or visit nascarhall.com.
— Steve Stephens can be reached at firstname.lastname@example.com or on Twitter @SteveStephens.


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Crimony. The University of St. Andrews just gave Stephen R. Donaldson an honorary degree, in the same ceremony as it gave one to N.T. Wright. Via Paleojudaica.
(That sound you hear is me biting my tongue.)
Although I will mention that anyone who complains about Tolkien's wordiness does not even know the meaning of verbosity. Donaldson, OTOH…..
(Biting my tongue again.)
Anyway, one understands that St. Andrews is a very pretty town in the summer, and one is very glad for both men, even if one of them made me suffer hours of agony without even counting what he did to his characters, and I don't mean the one who writes a lot about St. Paul.
UPDATE: To be totally fair, I should say that Donaldson is extremely erudite and well-informed when talking about writing and how to do it, and probably does indeed deserve a doctorate for his work in that area.


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While many political observers and reporters in Florida consider, and often mislabel, Florida Senator Bill Nelson a centrist, that label is greatly at odds with his very liberal voting record and 98 percent support of Barack Obama. In fact, it is greatly at odds with a time long ago when Bill Nelson might more accurately have been labeled a centrist, way back in the late 70's.
Consider that in 1979 and 1980, Bill Nelson supported President Jimmy Carter only 49% and 68% of the time, respectively. In 2009, 2010 and 2011, Bill Nelson supported Obama 97%, 98% and 97% of the time, respectively. Bill Nelson is in no way a centrist, and he has become far too liberal for mainstream Floridians.
Aside from his support of the space program, Nelson has never really identified himself with a strong signature issue. In fact, a Florida magazine once labeled the Democrat an "empty suit."
So with just over an eleven-week sprint to Election Day, the Bill Nelson of 2012 is in a significantly weaker position than the Bill Nelson of 2006. In 2006, Nelson's average ballot score in over 30 polls through the mid-August that year was in the mid-50s.
In 2012, Nelson has been mired in the mid-40s in public polling. In fact, his numbers very recently have been falling into the low 40s, and for the first time this cycle, the most recent series of Real Clear Politics (RCP) averages of the polls has had Mack leading and now this race as close as a race can get at 43.8-43.6.
And as we all know, 2006 was one of the worst elections in the last two decades for Republicans; while it was a banner year for Democrats and a thus banner year for Bill Nelson. Overall, the election resulted in a sweeping victory for the Democratic Party, which captured from Republicans control of the US House of Representatives, the US Senate, and a majority of governorships and state legislatures.
Unlike the political and issue landscape of this election, Nelson focused on safe issues in 2006 portraying himself as a bipartisan centrist problem-solver. He obtained the endorsement of all 22 of Florida's daily newspapers and as the election approached, polls showed Nelson ahead by 26 to 35 points. With a comfortable enough lead in the last weeks, he transferred about $16.5 million of his campaign funds to other Democratic candidates, and won the election with 60.4% of the vote.
The political landscape for 2012 is markedly different from 2006, as are the most important issues on voters' minds and, much like 2010, it greatly favors the more fiscally-hawkish Republicans like Connie Mack than liberal, big-spending Obama rubber stamps like Bill Nelson.
A closer look at Nelson's liberal voting record reveals clearly why.
In the slightly more than 10 years that Bill Nelson has been representing the state of Florida, the federal debt has gone from $5.7 trillion to nearly now $16 trillion. He's voted to raise the debt ceiling 11 times. The annual federal deficit in his first year in 2001 was $127 billion. Last year it was $1.3 trillion – more than a 1000% increase! When Bill Nelson took office, there were over 310,000 unemployed Floridians. Today, that number is tripled.
It is very difficult for Bill Nelson to claim he is not part of the big spending addiction that inflicts liberal Democrats in the Senate. He has voted for 88,990 earmarks during his tenure worth a total of $178 billion! He has sponsored or co-sponsored legislation that, if it all were passed into law, would cost $1.45 trillion.
Remember that self-proclaimed bipartisan, centrist-problem-solver image he wore in his 2006 re-election campaign? In no way can he effectively project that image anymore; it doesn't fit. Because he has voted with Barack Obama 98 percent of the time, and has voted for increasing taxes 143 times.
In addition to an abysmal fiscal record of supporting record spending, record deficits and record debt that has cost Florida desperately needed economic growth and jobs, and despite having warned President Obama that Obamacare was a raw deal for seniors in Florida, Nelson still caved to White House and his party leadership's pressure to provide the 60th vote for its passage in the Senate.
All across Florida, the Nelson-supported Obamacare is literally killing jobs. In North Florida, small business owners have said that government-run healthcare is driving up their premiums. Meanwhile, small business owners in Jacksonville have said the taxes in ObamaCare could force them to sell their business. Additionally, in Melbourne, medical device companies have stated that the medical device tax is stifling innovation.
Notably, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has stated the healthcare law will kill 800,000 jobs nationwide.
The Nelson record is further littered with more liberal, big spending initiatives including the failed stimulus, bailouts, cap and trade, card check, and the DREAM Act. And he more recently voted against the pro-domestic energy, pro-jobs Keystone XL Pipeline legislation.
Nelson claimed after his stimulus vote that it would create or save 206,000 jobs. In fact, Florida ranked dead last in stimulus benefits per resident. Today versus when Nelson was sworn in in 2001, Florida construction jobs have dropped 33%, and Florida manufacturing jobs have been reduced by 35%.
Connie Mack is a solid alternative to Bill Nelson
In contrast, Connie Mack has a clear record and offers a great contrast to the ever-left-leaning Nelson. Mack is a vocal supporter of less federal spending and lower taxes, reducing debt and balancing the budget. He is a signer of the Taxpayer Protection Pledge. Additionally, he is an original co-sponsor of a constitutional amendment to require a balanced federal budget and has been one of the most outspoken opponents of federal bailouts.
He also has sponsored "The Mack Penny Plan," a straight-forward, common-sense plan to balance the federal budget by: 1) cutting federal spending by one percent each year for six consecutive years; 2) setting an overall spending cap of 18 percent of GDP in 2018; and 3) reducing overall spending by $7.5 trillion over 10 years.
In addition, Mack has a unique idea for what he calls a "Repeal Congress." Each Congress sits for two years and he is proposing that the House and Senate utilize one whole Congress – for two full years – focusing nearly all legislating on repealing and reworking bad, broken and out-of-date laws currently on the books that do much more damage than good to the American people and our Constitution. Another common-sense conservative idea that is probably too plainly simple and smart to get the traction it deserves.
Mack also maintains a strong, consistent record of voting for pro-growth, pro-jobs legislation throughout his career in the House, legislation that rarely sees a vote these days in the Harry-Reid-Democrat-controlled Senate while they stack up high in a death pile on his desk in the Senate.
This Senate election in Florida is a very clear contrast and Bill Nelson is in serious trouble, as he should be. Conservatives and fiscal-minded independents should take a keen look at Connie Mack as the clear alternative to replacing the far too liberal Bill Nelson.


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STAR: Student Testing, Advising & Registration at Aquinas College
After Your STAR Session
We hope you enjoyed your STAR day and are pleased with your fall schedule. Below are links to resources and services here at Aquinas that will help you prepare for your transition to college in the fall. Contact information is listed on each site, in case you have any questions.
Enjoy the rest of your summer! We can't wait to see you at orientation in the fall.
Resources for Incoming Students
Registrar/Academic Advising
Download the Academic Catalog, course schedules and learn what the Registrar and Academic Advising Office can do for you. If you have any questions and concerns about your schedule, please don't hesitate to contact the Registrar/Academic Advising office. We will be happy to help you resolve them.
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Health & Wellness Services
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Use the log in you received at STAR to explore this web-based tool. CourseConnect facilitates and supports online education at AQ.
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Joining a new community is an exciting yet sometimes overwhelming experience. At Aquinas College, our skilled orientation team strives to ease that transition.
Campus Life
Research shows that co-curricular involvement increases a student's overall performance academically and provides leadership opportunities, social networking, and a sense of belonging in a new community. Apply your in-class knowledge to diverse out-of-class experiences! Clubs, organizations, service opportunities, and more await you.