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The aim of our study was to investigate the impact of maternal exposure to family violence, maltreatment and related posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) on young children's mental representations of self and caregivers. Participant mothers (n=24) and children (n=25) were recruited from a referred sample when they were 4-7-years-old. Maternal report and child story-stem narratives were used. Mothers' experience of domestic violence and severity of violence-related PTSD symptoms robustly predicted more dysregulated aggression, attentional bias to danger and distress, as well as more avoidance of and withdrawal from conflicts presented in the children's story-stems. Less narrative coherence was also noted. Maternal experience and symptoms prior to their child's turning 4 adversely affected that child's mental representations from ages 4 to 7.
Great attention has been paid in recent years to risk factors for intergenerational transmission of interpersonal violence (i.e. physical and sexual abuse or assault and domestic violence exposure; Dixon, Browne, & Hamilton-Giachritsis, 2005; Pears and Capaldi, 2001; Leifer, Kilbane, Jacobsen, & Grossman, 2004; Martin et al., 2002). Yet little empirical research has been done to unravel the heretofore mysterious, or as considered by Fraiberg, Adelson, and Shapiro (1975), spectralpsychological processes by which maternal experience of interpersonal violence leads to intergenerational transmission. Understanding those psychological processes by which experience is mentally represented and motivates behavior by the caregiver, and, in turn, is mentally represented and motivates behavior by the child, is essential for the development of effective interventions to interrupt familial cycles of violence and abuse (Schechter, 2003; Lieberman, Van Horn, & Ippen, 2005).
The understanding of mental representations and their role in the intergenerational transmission of attachment security/insecurity, organization/disorganization, and trauma is the hallmark of attachment theory. John Bowlby (1973, pp. 322-323) believed that a child's ongoing experience with a primary caregiver resulted in the development of an internal working model of that relationship, which would in turn become a lens through which one's sense of self, other, and self withother in the relational world would be interpreted. Bowlby was the first to describe how a mother who had traced back and recaptured feelings she had as a child (and found these feelings to be accepted with understanding by the therapist) became increasingly sympathetic towards her own child when her child had similar feelings (Bowlby, 1940).
Mary Main (2000) further developed the empirical work on internal working models by taking it to the explicit level of mental representations among adults. Main's findings that the effects of unresolved (i.e., unintegrated) trauma on the adult's ability to organize their attachment-memories into coherent narratives about the parent-child relationship, has converged with recent research that shows that the individual's efforts to defend oneself from trauma-associated affects contributes to intergenerational transmission of trauma despite one's best conscious efforts to stop such transmission (Egeland & Susman-Stillman, 1996; Schuengel, Bakermans-Kranenburg, & van IJzendoorn, 1999; Liotti, 1999; Lyons-Ruth, Dutra, Schuder, & Bianchi, 2006). This literature has provided an important psychological dimension to epidemiologic studies substantiating intergenerational transmission of child maltreatment and domestic violence as significant public health problems as well as a foundation for further research described in the present study (Oliver, 1993; Widom, 1999; Martin et al., 2002; McFarlane, Groff, & O'Brien, 2003).
Mother's experiences of interpersonal violence and related posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), specifically, have been noted as risk factors for distorted maternal mental representations of her child and hostile-intrusive behavior with her child (Schechter et al., 2006; Schechter, 2003; Lyons-Ruth and Block, 1996). One study examined the intergenerational effects of maternal experience of domestic violence on attachment (Huth-Bocks, Levendovsky, Theran, & Bogot, 2004). This study found that severity of maternal experience of domestic violence, independent of PTSD, was associated with non- balanced maternal mental representations of her child as well as insecure child attachment behavior.
Yet only one study to our knowledge has examined the effects of domestic violence on child mental representations (Grych, Wachsmuth-Schlaefer, & Klockow, 2002). And no published studies to our knowledge have examined the impact of maternal violence-related PTSD on the young child's emerging mental representations of self and other. Based on the adult literature with respect to adult internal working models, we might expect that unresolved interpersonal violent trauma and related PTSD that we know negatively impact the traumatized woman's degree of coherence of her adulthood narrative responses (Stovall-McClough and Cloitre, 2006), might very well also negatively impact the narrative coherence of her child.
Children's representations of relationships via the MacArthur Story Stem Battery (MSSB) (Bretherton, Oppenheim, Emde, & the MacArthur Narrative Working Group, 2003) have been shown to enable investigations of intergenerational processes affecting preschool- and school-aged children in inner-city populations (Grych et al., 2002; Robinson, Herot, Haynes, & Mantz-Simmons, 2000). One would expect that children who had been directly and indirectly exposed to interpersonal violent trauma in efforts to maintain attachments and a sense of security amidst a potentially threatening caregiving environment, might manifest attempts at avoiding intense interpersonal conflicts and associated negative affects, while simultaneously needing to approach that same potentially threatening caregiving environment for comfort, nurturance, and protection. This is the essence of disorganized attachment and associated ambivalent behavior (Main, Kaplan, & Cassidy, 1985; Lyons-Ruth, Dutra, Schuder, & Bianchi, 2006). In terms of what these children internalize and then express in self-concept, play, and narrative, we would expect children from threatenting caregiving environments to be more likely to construct narratives that involve both preoccupation with and withdrawal from danger. They might also, if consititutionally vulnerable, display prominent dissociation, which has been found among adolescents with histories of disorganized attachment (Lyons-Ruth et al., 2006). Consistent with disorganization of the internal working model one might expect their narratives to fluctuate between a sense of helplessness and grandiosity as well as between a self-protective stance and hostile-aggressive stance in the face of dysregulation of self and caregiver during and following represented interpersonal violence.
Indeed, the same study that examined the effects of domestic violence on child mental representations found that interparental aggression uniquely predicted dysregulated aggression and avoidance/withdrawal in child play-narratives on the MSSB (Grych et al., 2002). Several other studies have focused on maltreated preschoolers' mental representations of self and caregivers using the MSSB (Toth, Cicchetti, Macfie, & Emde, 1997; Macfie et al., 1999; Macfie, Cicchetti, & Toth, 2001). Examining child responses on the MSSB among maltreated versus non-maltreated preschoolers, Toth et al. (1997) found that maltreated preschoolers evidenced significantly more negative representations of caregivers and self and more grandiose, omnipotent representations of self than did the non-maltreated controls. Meanwhile, Macfie et al. (2001) studied a similar population of low-SES maltreated vs. non-maltreated preschoolers with respect to evidence of dissociation on the MSSB, finding that sexually molested, physically abused and neglected preschoolers manifested more dissociation than their non-maltreated counterparts. In all of these studies (Grych, et al, 2002; Toth et al., 1997; Macfie et al., 2001), evaluation of parental trauma and related symptomatology was beyond the scope of their investigations. To address the issue of intergenerational effects of parental experience, the present study aimed to investigate the impact of maternal interpersonal violent trauma and related PTSD on young children's mental representations of self and other as well as coherence expressed in play-narrative completion of story-stems.
In contrast to the prior studies, we did not have data that could validate the presence or absence of child maltreatment for the child-participants in the present study. It is important to note that the participants in the study were voluntarily seeking help with parenting and/or their own emotional difficulties. This salient feature of the sample suggests that we were studying a different population from that of mandated child maltreatment cases. We do know, however, in terms of potential risk factors for maltreatment, nearly half of the mothers in the present study during their baseline study assessments (i.e. 2 years prior to the child assessments studied here) stated that they had had involvement with child protective services regarding any of their children, including family violence between adults, parental substance abuse, and insufficient supervision as causes of the involvement.
In summary, we hypothesized that severity of maternal interpersonal violence-related PTSD would be associated with greater child dysregulated aggression, hypervigilance to danger and distress, avoidance and withdrawal from interpersonal conflict and associated negative affects, as well as narrative incoherence in children's narratives about family relationships and conflicts assessed with the MSSB two years after the baseline assessments.
Participants were 24 mothers and their 25 children, representing 59% of the original sample of 41 inner-city mothers of children ages 8-50 months who had participated in a baseline study of the relationship of maternal violence-related PTSD symptomatology to maternal perception and caregiving behavior two years prior (Schechter, 2003, Schechter et al., 2004, Schechter et al., 2005). No statistically significant differences were found between those participant dyads from the baseline study who returned and those who did not with respect to maternal or child age, maternal education, father's presence, or other measures of maternal adverse life events or symptomatology. The authors calculated the power of testing the primary hypothesis in the current study. Given that only 25 children participated in the follow-up study, the power to test this hypothesis is .80 when the correlation coefficient would be greater than or equal to .54.
At the time of this investigation, mothers were on average 32 years (SD= 7.3, range 21-47 years) and their children were ages 4 to 7 years (average age 71 months (SD=11.8, range 51-93 months. There were 13 boys and 12 girls; two children were fraternal twins, a boy and a girl. Most mothers (80%) were Caribbean Hispanic, and primarily Dominican-American or Puerto Rican; 40% of Hispanics were immigrants. Twenty percent of mothers identified themselves as African-American.
The average number of years of mothers' education was 11 (SD=2, range 7-16 years). Sixty-seven percent (16) of the mothers were without male partners steadily living in the home and were eligible for public assistance; 51% (12) received public assistance.
While we did not have definitive measurement of child abuse and neglect in the home, we did record by maternal report on our Demographic and Treatment History Questionnaire that 11 of the 25 participating children (48.5%) came from a family that had been involved in some involuntary way with child protective services investigation by the time the child was enrolled in the present study. We also already knew from baseline assessment data that 16 mothers (75%) participating in the present study, whose interactive behavior with their young children had been blindly coded on the Atypical Maternal Behavior Instrument (Lyons-Ruth, Bronfman, and Parsons, 1999), were classified as manifesting significant deficits in maternal sensitivity that were disruptive of child-parent communication.
Given the high-risk nature of this sample, we screened all children's receptive language functioning via the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (PPVT-III, Dunn & Dunn 1997). All children scored without exception within 1 standard deviation below the norm (norm=100, SD=15).
A standard Demographic and Treatment History Questionnaire, consisting of 33 close- and open-ended items was used. This measure is based on corresponding sections of the Structured Clinical Interview for the DSM-IV (SCID; First, Gibbon, Spitzer, & Williams, 1995), with additional items pertaining to the following areas of interest: Sociocultural factors, child-birth and developmental history, as well as maternal and child mental health treatment history.
One particular item of importance to this study on this questionnaire was a closed-ended question "Have you ever filed an order of protection (a.k.a. "restraining order") to protect yourself from a dangerous partner or family member?" We used this dichotomous variable in our analyses as a conservative, verifiable measure of domestic violence. A previous study established that such orders of protection (OP) serve as markers for the experience of significant domestic violence and indicators of maternal mental health risk (Linares et al., 1999).
The Life-Events Checklist (LEC) (Johnson & McCutcheon, 1980) is a standard 17- item checklist that lists a range of potentially traumatogenic events including natural disasters, accidents, sudden losses, and combat and interpersonal violent events. It classifies events as experienced directly, witnessed, or recounted by another individual and we used it as a subjective measure of domestic violence. We created a dichotomous variable that indicated whether or not the participant had experienced one or more types of interpersonal violent trauma directly and/or witnessed first-hand.
The Brief Physical and Sexual Abuse Questionnaire (BPSAQ) (Marshall, Jorm, Grayson, & O'Toole, 1998) is a semi-structured interview that was used to track maternal violent trauma history from birth onward. The measure has reliably predicted clinician rated PTSD in two different separate studies (Marshall et al., 1998). Four types of violence exposure were indicated. Interpersonal violence was supported on the BPSAQ if the subject endorsed that she was physically abused during childhood, i.e. prior to age 16 years, she had been hit by a caregiver with an object or hit and injured, in excess of simple corporal punishment. Sexual abuse was supported if a subject reported that, prior to age 16 years, she had been fondled, placed in any form of genital contact, and/or penetrated by an individual at greater advantage due to power, size or age. Exposure to domestic violence was supported if a subject reported that prior to age 16 years, she witnessed physical violence between household members involving a caregiver or other adult household member. The BPSAQ also includes items that probe for experience/exposure during adulthood of physical and sexual assault. A score for Maternal Interpersonal Violence Exposure Severity was derived from the sum of four factors on a score sheet created for the BPSAQ (see Figure 1). The measure and corresponding score sheet are described in greater detail in a previous paper (Schechter et al., 2005, p. 317-8).
The SCID (First, Spitzer, Gibbon, & Williams, 1995) is a well-established and reliable clinician-rated diagnostic measure that provides lifetime and current psychiatric diagnoses as well as clinical review of life events chronology, noting traumatic events. We rated severity of PTSD by counting the total number of clinician-rated PTSD symptoms following from interpersonal violent life experiences that were disclosed by the participant.
Mothers also reported on their children's adverse life experiences on The Life-Events Checklist (LEC; Johnson & McCutcheon, 1980) as described above. We used this measure to create a dichotomous variable indicating whether or not the participant had experienced one or more types of interpersonal violent trauma directly and/or witnessed first-hand. Two items were added to the LEC for the purposes of this study. We created a dichotomous child family violence exposure variable based on mothers reporting that their young children had 1) "seen someone hit, push, or kick a family member" and/or 2) "seen or heard adult family members arguing very loudly or fighting". The Child Dissociative Checklist (CDC; Putnam, Helmers, Horowitz, & Trickett, 1993) is a 20-item maternal-report checklist with a 3-point scale (0=not true, 1=sometimes true, 2=frequently true). The CDC is a clinical screening instrument that assesses dissociation on the basis of ratings given by caregivers or adults in close contact with the child. A score of 6 is considered to be a clinical cutoff for PTSD; and a score of 12 or higher, is considered to be evidence of pathological dissociation. The CDC shows good 1-year test-retest stability (r=0.65) and internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha=0.86); good convergent and discriminant validity have also been indicated (Putnam et al. 1993). The severity of child dissociation in this study was based on the CDC score described above.
A total of eight story stems were administered by a female psychologist who was blind to any information about the index child and family. Story-stems were administered to all children after the examiner encouraged the child to engage with her in a positive, emotionally toned story-stem about a birthday party, given as a model. Examiner and child were alone during the videotaped administration of the MSSB that lasted generally 25 to 30 minutes. The examiner initially introduced the cast of characters in the form of a family of dolls and prior to each story-stem told the child which dolls were in the story. The dolls were ethnically- and gender-matched to participants. Narratives were always presented in the same order, and for each narrative, the child was asked to listen to the beginning of the story and then to show and tell the examiner what happened next.
The eight story-stems chosen for this study protocol included a range of emotionally-charged family interactions. Specifically, seven MSSB story-stems used in this study were as follows (with the topic that they reflect in parentheses): Spilled juice (attachment/authority), Hot Gravy (attachment/authority), Lost Keys (family conflict), Mom's Headache (moral dilemma), Parents' Departure (attachment), Family Reunion (attachment), and Cookie Jar (moral dilemma) (Bretherton, et al., 2003). One additional story stem from the Attachment Story-Stem Completion Task (ASCT; Bretherton, Ridgeway, & Cassidy, 1990) was added to address the theme of caregiver protection and containment of fear and anxiety in the context of attachment: "Monster in the Bedroom". If the central theme or conflict in the story-stem was not addressed by the child, the examiner used a standardized probe, such as, "What about the spilled juice?" or, "What else happens after Johnny spilled the juice?"
Responses to each story-stem were scored for numerous content themes and performance features (i.e., how the narrative is told) by two research assistants who were not involved in data collection and had extensive experience with scoring story responses in low-income samples of children in this age range. The MacArthur Narrative Coding Manual was used as the basis for scoring all eight story-stem completions (Robinson, Mantz-Simmons, Macfie, & Kelsay, 2002). Content and performance themes were summed and averaged across all stories that were successfully administered; 2 children's responses were evaluated based on 4-7 stories.
Since we hypothesized that severity of maternal interpersonal violence-related PTSD would be associated with greater child dysregulated aggression on the MSSB, we aggregated the following content themes into a dysregulated aggression aggregate: Verbal aggression, physical aggression, unprovoked aggression, and assaulting an adult, personal injury, and escalation of conflict. The dysregulated aggression aggregate score ranged from 0 to 1.75, with a mean of .87 and SD of .58.
The performance features of emotional distress and "new or clear worsening of danger" by the child were grouped together as "Danger and distress." Scores aggregated across all stories ranged from 0 to 0.90, with a mean of .57 and SD of .40. The performance features exclusion of self, repetition, denial of story resolution, passive refusal of empathy, mechanical/sensorimotor play, family departure and dissociative behaviors (fleeing painful subject, fantasy proneness, spacing out, boundary confusion, intrusion of traumatic material, and sadistic pleasure with aggression; Macfie, et al, 2001) were aggregated as a dimension of "Avoidance/withdrawal." Scores averaged across all stories ranged from -.69 to .99, with a mean of .00 and SD of .50. Based on prior research indicating the elevation among maltreated children, these three salient dimensions of narrative response (Dysregulated aggression, Danger and distress, and Avoidance/withdrawal) were then together aggregated (i.e. summed) into one variable called the Aggregate of MSSB Trauma-Indicators (Cronbach's Alpha = .82). The inclusion of this aggregate indicator in addition to the individual variables permitted us to more holistically examine narrative responses directly reflective of the child's mental representation of caregiving and care-receiving during moments of distress and conflict and to maximize reliability to detect effects.
Narrative coherence additionally was evaluated as present or absent in each narrative, and was deemed to be present when the story as completed by the child flowed logically in a sequential manner, maintained a topic, developed a theme, and communicated character and/or child-as-narrator roles in an understandable and consistent manner regardless of whether the narrative was told primarily with words or in play. Scores averaged across all stories ranged from 0 to 1.00, with a mean of .47 and SD of .31.
Overall interrater reliability was excellent (ICC=0.94). Interrater reliability on the three aggregated measures that were used to test hypotheses in this study was also quite good: Dysregulated aggression (ICC=.86), Danger and distress (ICC=.79), Avoidance/withdrawal (ICC=.80), and Narrative Coherence (ICC=.98).
Mothers who had participated in the original study when their children were 8-50 months were sent a letter asking them to contact research staff within 2 weeks if they did not want us to call them. Three weeks after the letters were sent, a female research assistant called the mothers to describe the study and set up an appointment for an office visit if a mother was interested in participating. At the office visit, following informed consent, the research assistant obtained updated demographic and treatment history data as well as self-report and report of child symptoms from participant mothers. Children were meanwhile escorted into the playroom by the clinical psychologist who administered the PPVT and MSSB. This single videotaped "follow-up visit" lasted 1-2 hours. Mothers were financially compensated and children received a toy or book.
All mothers who participated in the first phase of the study who returned for the follow-up reported a history of interpersonal violent trauma (physical and/or sexual abuse, and/or domestic violence exposure) prior to age 16 years on the BPSAQ. Eleven (46%) of the 24 mothers additionally stated on the Demographic and Treatment History Questionnaire that, since the age of 16, they had filed a restraining order against a male partner or other family member following physical assault. In total, the mean number of violent events reported on the LEC was 3 (SD 1.8, range 1-7). Of the 24 mothers who returned for the follow-up study, the mean number of lifetime PTSD symptoms on the SCID that were related specifically to the violent traumatic experience identified in the baseline study was 12.4 (SD=2.5, range= 8-15). All mothers met criteria for lifetime violence-related PTSD but not necessarily for current PTSD. In the follow-up study sample of 24 mothers, 6 (24%) met criteria for current violence-related PTSD on the SCID.
84% of children experienced one or more adverse life events. The mean number of children's adverse life events across all categories on the LEC was 2.3 (SD= 2.3, range 0-10); with 60% having experienced some form of family violence. The mean severity of the Child Dissociative Checklist (CDC) was 9.4 (SD= 8.8; range 0-34). The correlation between the number of adverse life events on the child LEC and the CDC was robust: r=.59, p=.005.
Twenty-three of the 25 child-participants completed the MSSB. Two children were not able to complete the MSSB. In one case, a 5-year-old boy became disorganized and disruptive 10 minutes into the procedure; and a mutual decision with the caregiver was made to terminate the MSSB. In the other case, a 5-year-old girl who had become selectively mute and separation anxious in the context of an acute family stressor would not participate in the task and became acutely distressed in the playroom in the company of her mother. In both cases, complete maternal reported data were obtained. No differences were found between these two children and those children who were able to complete the task with respect to maternal or child age, maternal education, father's presence, other measures of maternal adverse life events, or child symptomatology.
As we were particularly interested in interpersonal violent trauma that may have impacted mother in her adult life, we compared the mean MSSB scores of children whose mothers had filed an OP against a male partner or other family member vs. mothers who had not. We found significantly higher mean scores for the dimensions of dysregulated aggression, danger and distress, and avoidance/withdrawal for children whose mothers had filed an OP (n=10) versus those who did not (n=13) as follows: Dysregulated aggression X=.93 (SD .33) versus X=.34 (SD .32); Danger and Distress X=.46 (SD .26) versus X=.19 (SD .23); Avoidance/Withdrawal X=.25 (SD .47) versus X=-.19 (SD .45); Aggregate of MSSB Trauma Indicators X=2.09 (SD .76) versus X=.61 (SD 1.02). Narrative Coherence was lower for children of mothers who had filed an OP than for those who had not at a trend-level of significance: X=.34 (SD .21) versus X=.58 (SD .34). Results from related ANOVA are shown in Table 1. We additionally examined correlations of child MSSB scores with maternal severity of lifetime PTSD symptoms (see Table 1). We found significant moderate-large correlations for the Aggregate of Trauma Indicators.
Using the Aggregate of MSSB Trauma-Indicators, we constructed a multiple linear regression model to examine the independent impacts of lifetime violence-related PTSD plus filing of an OP (see Table 2.) We found that these two maternal factors accounted for greater than 50% of the variance of the aggregated trauma-linked indicators on the MSSB subscales.
Finally, we wanted to see if the severity of maternal experience of childhood physical and sexual abuse and domestic violence exposure might have a direct impact (i.e. independent of PTSD) on the Aggregate of MSSB Trauma Indicators. We performed bivariate correlations of the MSSB aggregate with the Maternal Interpersonal Violence Severity Score (Schechter et al., 2005) pertaining to experience of violent trauma prior to age 16 as derived from the BPSAQ, and the latter Severity Score also with the measures of maternal PTSD. We did not find any significant association between severity of maternal experience of violent trauma prior to the age of 16 and the MSSB Aggregate (r=.24, p>.2) at this level of analysis; even though, severity of maternal experience of violent trauma prior to the age of 16 on the BPSAQ was significantly related to severity of maternal PTSD (r=.56, p=.005). Adjusting the regression model (see Table 1.) for maternal traumatic experience during her childhood, as marked by the Maternal Interpersonal Violence Severity Score, did not alter the relationship of maternal PTSD severity to the dependent variable Aggregate of MSSB Trauma Indicators (β-maternal PTSD=.56, p=.007).
A positive, significant correlation of child adverse life events to the dysregulated aggression subscale of the MSSB (r=.46, p=.04) was found. No other significant correlations between the number of child adverse life events were found with the MSSB, nor between child dissociative symptoms on the CDC and the MSSB.
No significant correlations were observed with respect to maternal report of child exposure to family violence on the LEC and the MSSB at this level of analysis: hypervigilance to danger and distress (r=.36; p=0.10), avoidance/withdrawal (r=.30; p=.16), dysregulated aggression (r=.19; p>0.30), and narrative coherence (r=-.26; p=.24). Adjusting the regression model (see Table 2.) for maternal report of child exposure to family violence on the LEC, did not significantly alter the relationship of maternal PTSD severity to the dependent variable Aggregate of MSSB Trauma Indicators (β-maternal PTSD=.54, p=.009).
In this study, we found that a mother's experience of domestic violence as an adult, her experience of family violence and maltreatment as a child, together with PTSD symptoms related to these experiences, significantly impacted her young child's mental representations of self and others. Within the referred sample studied, the trauma-related features of the children's play narratives in terms of patterns of dysregulated aggression, attentional bias to danger and distress, and avoidance/withdrawal, was independently and strongly associated with maternal experience of interpersonal violence and related PTSD. The coherence of the play narratives was not significantly associated with maternal experience of violent trauma and related PTSD.
Although these maternal factors were significantly associated with the quality of the MSSB play narratives, child factors as reported by mothers, by and large, were not. One exception was that the number of child adverse life events was associated with increased dysregulated aggression on the MSSB. Contrary to our expectations, this effect was not due specifically to child exposure to domestic violence as reported by mothers. We speculate that less than adequate maternal supervision may be an important risk factor for a greater number of child adverse life events; although, we were unable to test this within the scope of the present study. While maternal PTSD may contribute to impairment of mothers' capacity to supervise their children adequately, the relationship of maternal PTSD symptoms to number of child adverse life events was not significant in this study.
Previous studies had found that maltreated preschoolers portrayed child figures as responsible for containing their own distress rather than adult figures, and that maltreated children showed more dissociation than non-maltreated children, possibly rendering them less hypervigilant to their surroundings (Macfie et al., 1999; Macfie et al., 2001; Toth et al., 2002). That being said, while the number of child adverse life events was associated with significantly higher scores on the Child Dissociative Checklist (CDC) as one would expect, CDC scores were not significantly correlated with the MSSB, including specifically, the dissociative behaviors subscale. These results differed from those of Macfie et al. (2001), who did find significant associations between the CDC and dissociative behaviors on the MSSB. That study, however, involved a sample of maltreated children as opposed to our sample of children of maltreated mothers. For various reasons, the extent of direct child maltreatment was not measured in the present study.
Finally, the question of how maternal experience and PTSD exert intergenerational effects remains to be answered. Our study supports that with the exception of moderate to severe domestic violence during adulthood that leads to filing an order of protection, maternal experience of violent trauma during her childhood in the absence of PTSD symptoms was not sufficient to account for variation in trauma indicators on the MSSB. Yet our findings, encompassing maternal experience of interpersonal violence together with related PTSD and implied biological vulnerability in the present study, are consistent with those of multiple studies showing that a caregiver's sustained emotional dysregulation in the wake of violent trauma is both a risk factor for child psychopathology as well as a predictor of poorer child emotional and behavioral outcome when the child is confronted with adverse life events (Laor, Wolmer, & Cohen, 1996; Yehuda, Halligan, & Bierer, 2001; Holden and Ritchie, 1991). Based on their review of these and other studies, Scheeringa and Zeanah (2001) proposed various models of "relational PTSD" by which the caregiver's inability to assist the very young child with regulation of emotion and arousal can mediate and/or moderate child response to trauma and can support vicarious traumatization. Additional work from our group both confirms their model and provides evidence for psychobiological mechanisms in the context of attachment and human development that demystify intergenerational transmission of interpersonal violent trauma (Schechter et al., 2004).
A significant limitation of this study was the absence of a control-group of mothers without PTSD. Without such a control-group, our analyses were largely based on variance in severity of PTSD within a sample in which 90% of the mothers had a diagnosis of lifetime PTSD. Nonetheless, variation in symptom severity was predictive of trauma indicators in children's narratives. Future studies involving a non-PTSD control-group would clearly allow for a stronger test of our hypotheses regarding the MSSB.
Another limitation of the study included reliance on maternal report of child exposure to family violence and of child psychopathology, as well as reliance on maternal filing of an Order of Protection (OP) as a marker of family violence. Although filing of the OP corresponds to moderate to severe domestic violence, we recognize that not all women who have experienced this level of domestic violence file an OP. An additional limitation as mentioned above, included that the extent of direct child maltreatment was not feasible to measure in the present study.
Future studies would, therefore, improve upon the methodology used by adding: 1) a more sophisticated measure of maternal and child domestic violence victimization/exposure; and 2) additional concurrent child self-report and clinician administered assessment of child psychopathology. Given the difficulty in eliciting consistent, reliable self-reported and clinician-rated symptomatology among young, often expressive language-delayed children, one might also consider measuring physiologic correlates of child psychopathology concurrent with MSSB administration. For example, one recent study of study of 58 non-referred 7-year-old children, for example, found that autonomic nervous system regulation (i.e. vagal tone) was positively associated with greater narrative coherence on the MSSB (Bar Haim, Fox, Van Meenen, & Marshall, 2004). Our finding of a trend toward less narrative coherence on the MSSB as associated with greater maternal PTSD severity, would suggest a potential effect on child physiologic dysregulation, that itself can have enduring effects when the affected child becomes a parent.
Despite these limitations, we have found robust associations of maternal emotional dysregulation in the context of interpersonal violence and related PTSD with child dysregulation of aggression, attentional bias to danger and distress, conflict-avoidance, and narrative incoherence on the MSSB. Although beyond the scope of the present study, we have preliminary evidence from an ongoing case-control study (Schechter, 2006) that, in addition to underlying emotional dysregulation and its physiologic correlates, observable maternal behavior in the forms of non-contingent withdrawal/avoidance, hostile intrusion, affect incongruence, and breaking off of joint attention may play a key role in the mechanism by which maternal PTSD affects the child's play-narratives on the MSSB.
The following case-examples may serve to illustrate this latter point as well as to illustrate the clinical relevance of this investigation. Indeed, the following two clinical examples, both from 4-year-old child participants, illustrate how dysregulated aggression, attentional bias to danger and distress, avoidance of conflict, and disruptions in narrative coherence manifested in their story-stem completions, portraying variations of intergenerational transmission of maternal and shared maternal-child interpersonal violent trauma.
Background to this case at the time of the initial assessment is described in greater detail in a published case report (Schechter, Kaminer, Grienenberger, & Amat, 2003). To summarize, Nancy was a 29-year-old married Dominican-American mother of two girls who presented for the initial assessment to our Infant-Family Service, an infant mental health clinic, when her younger daughter Libby was 17-months-old. Referral to the clinic followed a child protective services report filed by hospital pediatricians related to their concern about Nancy's apparent efforts to medicate her daughters' and her own psychosomatic distress with powerful anti-seizure medications and other medical interventions. When the attending pediatrician informed Nancy of the child protective services report, Nancy ran from the consulting room into her daughters' hospital room and had a violent pseudoseizure in front of her distressed children. This "ataque de nervios" (attack of nerves), as she later called it, necessitated hospital security being called, restraining Nancy in front of her children, and escorting her to the psychiatric emergency room.
In the emergency room, within minutes of the attending psychiatrist focusing on Nancy's life narrative, Nancy described a long history of multiple traumatic events. She described severe physical abuse of both her and her mother by her alcoholic father in the Dominican Republic beginning in early childhood. This contributed to her mother abandoning the family to seek safety and employment in the U.S. when Nancy was 8-years-old and leaving Nancy with her violent father and his family. While living with her father and his family, Nancy told of how she had subsequently suffered repeated sexual abuse by her alcoholic paternal uncle (ages 8-13), who during the molestation would cover Nancy's face with pillows. This sexual abuse resulted in the pregnancy and birth of two children by age 14, who were then taken away from her and never seen again. Nancy acknowledged that her experiences led her to be highly overprotective of her children. She said, "I don't let my girls go anywhere without me..." Her history of maternal abandonment and violent trauma further added understanding to her fears of losing her daughters to child protective services.
When evaluated a week later via a clinical research protocol on our Infant-Family Service, Nancy said of her 17-month-old daughter Libby, "She reminds me of my mother…she's got her attitude…and the everything's got to be her way…she got that from my brother and…my father (abusive)." When Libby was initially evaluated, Nancy described her as having many behavioral symptoms. Nancy denied that Libby had ever been physically or sexually abused by anyone, and denied displays of conjugal violence. While Libby could not be said to meet DSM-IV criteria for PTSD, given difficulty in linking her internalizing and externalizing symptoms to a specific event or series of events, Libby did have a CDC score of 14, which is in the pathological dissociation range and suggestive of significant traumatic stress. Moreover, mother-child play observations during the initial assessment revealed extensive bouts of frightening maternal behavior with Libby (i.e. looming, odd voices or devoicing, sudden intrusive poking or tickling, staring silently, holding Libby's wrist while tickling her so she could not get away, etc), in which Libby would display hypervigilance and a frozen, helpless quality to her response to Nancy (Schechter et al., 2003).
A number of gains were achieved via video feedback and then child-parent psychotherapy in terms of Nancy's perception of Libby and her behavior with Libby during the period that followed the initial research assessment and preceded the follow-up research assessment when Libby was 4-years-old. However, the following story-stem completion illustrates the persistence of dysregulated aggression that rapidly involves physical violence, and then role-reversal, in which the child quickly takes the blame as if to diffuse the conflict between the parents in the story, such that the child then becomes the object of wrath, with no resolution between the parents or solution to the problem of the lost keys. The child figure is left alone in distress with no comfort or protection by the caregivers.
Interviewer (I): (setting up dolls on the table) So, here's dad…and mom… and we'll call this little girl Susan again…
Libby (L): Mommy! (excited to see the mommy doll)
I: Now Susan comes into the room (places doll on table) and she sees mom and dad looking at each other like this (makes angry face)
L: (looks down)
I: Look at my face, Libby.
L: (looks up at interviewer)
I: Mom says (in dramatic angry tone), "You lost my keys!" Dad says, "I did not!" and Mom says, "Yes, you did! You always lose my keys!" and Dad says, "I did not lose them this time!" Show me and tell me what happens next.
L: Okay. So, she says, "Ahh!" (with an angry face, picks up mom doll and hits dad doll)
I: She says what?
L: She says (mumbles)…daddy's face! (swings arm in punching motion)
I: She said what? I still didn't understand…
L: She smashed daddy's face! (punches table three times)
I: She mashed daddy's face?
L: No. Like this! (smacks her own face with her hand)
I: Oh, she smacked daddy's face… Okay…
L: Uh huh, and then she says, (takes Susan-doll and speaks for Susan) "No, mommy, daddy didn't [take your keys], I did."
I: She said, "No, mommy daddy didn't do it, I did?"
L: Uh huh, and then she says, (takes mom doll and screams for her) "How dare you! Go to your room!"
I: (repeats what L. said)
L: And then she goes… (walks Susan-doll away from the others)
Cari was a 24-year-old Dominican-American mother who presented with her firstborn child, Berto, age 2 years. She requested a referral from her pediatrician for increased aggressive behavior following separation from his father several months prior. She described Berto as "violent" and having enacted "more biting, hitting, throwing, and kicking since his father left." Cari agreed to have a videotaped clinical research assessment. During this assessment, she described multiple episodes of being beaten by Berto's father to the point at which she obtained a restraining order. Cari recounted how she found it particularly challenging to respond sensitively to Berto's asking about his lost father and his sad reaction to his loss, even though Berto had exhibited fear of and hypervigilance towards his father when his father was with him. As for her own childhood history, Cari denied a history of physical or sexual abuse but reported that her mother had been depressed in the context of being battered by Cari's father.
In contrast to predominantly frightening and hostile-intrusive maternal behavior as observed in the previous case of Nancy and Libby, Cari, at the time of the initial assessment, was observed to appear frequently helpless as Berto threw destructive tantrums and became physically aggressive towards her. Cari had been observed, for example, to withdraw, flinch, smile and even laugh anxiously as Berto tore up the playroom. Both Cari and Berto were diagnosed with PTSD due to domestic violence by Berto's father. Additionally, Berto, had a CDC score of 18, well into the pathological dissociation range (i.e. >12), similar to Libby's score in the previous case. While never clearly having been the object of his father's rage, Berto witnessed and/or heard multiple violent arguments between his parents that led to extreme distress, shielding his mother at risk of being injured by his father, and hypervigilance. Complicating this, Cari reported that she simultaneously had become more irritable and short-tempered with Berto, who reminded her of his father physically and in his "way of being."
Cari and Berto engaged in child-parent psychotherapy for 12 months between ages 2-3 years. It was clear at the end of that period, that Cari and Berto had made significant gains. Videotaped maternal behavior during free-play, separation, and reunion was rated blindly post-treatment and noted to show significantly less frightened-frightening behavior. PTSD symptoms in both mother and child also subsided.
One year later, when invited to participate in the follow-up study, 2 years after the initial research assessment, Cari disclosed that she was again in a domestic violence relationship from which she wished to remove herself and Berto. It was under these circumstances that Berto at age 50 months was reassessed with the MSSB. Similar to the narrative by Libby, Berto's narratives, as illustrated below, are characterized by escalating hostile aggression by both caregivers that rapidly turns to physical violence. In Berto's narrative, there also is no resolution between the characters. The breakfast is completely disrupted and forgotten. And the child figure is left alone in distress with no comfort or protection by the caregivers. Berto's child character Mario ends up identifying with the violent daddy-doll, spinning and then hurling the mommy-doll against the wall.
Interviewer (I) (positioning dolls in toy chairs around a toy kitchen table with a small toy pitcher and glasses placed around the table). So, Mommy, daddy, Mario, and his sister sit down at the table to eat breakfast. (holds up Mario doll). Mario reaches to get the juice, and you know what happens? He tries to get the juice and he spills it by mistake! (knocks over the pitcher). "Oh no!" Show me and tell me what happens.
Berto (B) Now the mom is really angry.
I: The mom is really angry.
B: "You see what you did, Michael!" (takes doll representing mom and swings it to push the dolls' kitchen table off of the table) "You see what you did! Now you gotta clean it!
I: So she wants Mario to clean it up?
B: Now I'm that… that's my juice.
I: Did Mario clean it up?
B: Yeah. He tried to reach the juice from the table, but he, he can't reach it now (mumbles)…
I: What did he do?
B: Ahh! See, Mario, what you did? Get out! Get out! Get out! (daddy doll abruptly takes mother doll and knocks the child dolls off of the table)
I: What's happening now?
B: (confusing to follow which character is speaking) See what you did! Get out! (takes mother doll and knocks the other doll off of the table)
I: What happened? Is that mommy? Mommy is angry at Mario?
B: (holding up mommy doll) "Yeah, I'm mad you spilled the bottle!" (spins mother doll on table, then smashes her into the wall)
I: So mommy got angry too at Mario about spilling the juice?
B: Yeah.
I: And then she made him clean it up?
B: Yeah.
I: And Mario got very angry at mommy…
B: (no reply)
Berto's story also illustrates, consistent with our findings across the whole sample, how interpersonal violence targeted at mother and witnessed by the child, superimposed upon a history of prior maternal violent trauma exposure is a particularly disorganizing experience for the child. In Berto's spilled juice narrative, interpersonal violence overwhelms the narrative. Hostility takes over all characters, and likely affects Berto's capacity in the role of Mario to remain coherent and verbal with the interviewer. By the end of the story, the interviewer reported feeling unsure as to whether Berto had remained in character or was concretely representing himself (indicating intrusive thoughts and dissociation). Indeed, Berto, unlike Libby, was not able to complete more than half of the MSSB story-stem completions. He threw a tantrum and went out to find his mother, and refused to return to the examining room.
Maternal experience of interpersonal violence and related PTSD during the child's early life affects the child's developing mental representations of self and other throughout early childhood. Specifically, we noted that children of maltreated and otherwise violence-exposed mothers had already been primed to communicate danger, helplessness, and hostile aggression as the predominant features of child-caregiver relationships. They, furthermore, expressed high levels of distress, avoidance, and poorer coherence in the telling of their stories.
We understood this to mean that these children had not attained sufficient development of self-regulation of affect, particularly negative affect. We hypothesize that this occurs in part because maternal traumatization impairs mothers' ability to assist their very young children in regulation of emotion and arousal during critical periods of their social-emotional development, thereby interfering with development of self-regulation and the capacity to hold a protective and reflective caregiver in mind, particularly during moments of distress and acute conflict. Traumatized mothers suffering from PTSD and dissociative symptoms may also have a tendency to skew joint attention with their young child with hypervigilance to potential threats. We think that they might do this both to alert their children to dangers in the environment and to cope with their own fears and emotional dysregulation (Schechter et al., 2003). Clearly, this behavior, which is non-contingent to their child's, can elicit child anxiety and dissociation.
Clinical implications of our study include the following: Caregivers whose infants, toddlers, and preschoolers are referred for social-emotional assessment should be carefully assessed for present or past exposure to domestic violence and other interpersonal violence. These implications are echoed by the American Academy of Pediatrics Committee on Child Abuse and Neglect. That Committee recommended routine screening of all women for domestic abuse at the time of the well-child visit and implementation of a protocol that includes a safety plan for the entire family, citing that early detection and treatment for intimate partner violence against women has the potential to interrupt and prevent behavioral problems for their children, per research findings on school-aged children reported to that Committee (McFarlane, Groff, & O'Brien, 2003). Furthering this aim among mental health clinic-referred preschoolers, administration of the MSSB and its principles can be useful both for helping the child communicate something of his traumatic experience, and most importantly, the meaning he or she makes of that experience. Witnessing the telling of the story responses allows the clinician into a deep empathic understanding of the child's experiences. The MSSB procedure highlights the child's inability to regulate negative affect in the context of specific emotionally triggering themes and reveals important salient cues for the clinician working with the young child. There are few standardized opportunities to observe these types of dysregulated experiences directly with the child and the MSSB offers such a unique opportunity. Moreover, caregiver psychopathology should be actively assessed and treated while concurrently addressing the parent-child relationship, and the child's developmental and social-emotional needs. Maternal trauma-related factors were potent predictors of the quality of child mental representations and would likely continue to re-traumatize the child were they left outside of the treatment plan for the family.
We would additionally like to thank Drs. Robert Emde and Peter Fonagy for their encouragement and support of the study reported in this paper. Furthermore, we would like to acknowledge Dr. Blake Turner for his helpful comments in revising this manuscript, and Ms. Elizabeth Colon for her help in executing the study.
The research discussed in this paper was funded in large part by the International Psychoanalytical Association Research Advisory Board, with additional funding from the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry Pilot Research Award, the Sackler Institute for Developmental Psychobiology at Columbia University, the Irving Center for Clinical Research at New York-Presbyterian Hospital, the Bender-Fishbein Fund, the Ruane Foundation, and NIH K23 MH068405.
PubMed Central Canada is a service of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) working in partnership with the National Research Council's national science library in cooperation with the National Center for Biotechnology Information at the U.S. National Library of Medicine(NCBI/NLM). It includes content provided to the PubMed Central International archive by participating publishers.


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* Dollar/yen slips below 110.00, dollar index hits 7-mth low
* Caution begins to mount ahead of UK elections, Comey testimony
* RBA stands pat on rates as expected, Aussie pares losses (Updates with reaction to RBA's policy decision)
By Shinichi Saoshiro
TOKYO, June 6 (Reuters) - The dollar hit a six-week low against the safe-haven yen on Tuesday, with investors cautious ahead of Britain's election, a European Central Bank meeting and former FBI Director James Comey's testimony to a Senate committee this week.
The dollar was down 0.7 percent at 109.700 yen after brushing 109.660, its lowest since April 25. Initially buoyed by an overnight bounce in U.S. yields, it had briefly risen to 110.510 early in the session.
The greenback has been firmly on the defensive since Friday's weaker-than-expected U.S. non-farm payrolls report prompted investors to pare back expectations of future interest rate increases by the Federal Reserve.
"It's difficult to pinpoint a single factor but the UK elections and Comey's testimony will take place on the same day, which is making the market nervous," said Bart Wakabayashi, Tokyo Branch Manager of State Street Bank, referring to both events set for Thursday.
"The dollar is already on the defensive after Friday's jobs data, and now it's facing potential geopolitical risk in the form of Comey's testimony."
Comey, the FBI director fired by U.S. President Donald Trump in May, will be grilled by the Senate Intelligence Committee on whether Trump tried to get him to back off an investigation into alleged ties between the president's 2016 campaign and Russia.
In Britain, the latest opinion poll by Survation for ITV television showed Prime Minister Theresa May's lead over the opposition Labour Party holding at just 1 percentage point ahead of Thursday's election.
Sterling was 0.2 percent higher at $1.2927 following its rise overnight to a 10-day peak of $1.2940.
The euro pared overnight losses and rose 0.2 percent to $1.1275, edging back towards a seven-month high of $1.1285 reached on Friday.
The common currency's advance was relatively slow as a wait-and-see mood prevailed ahead of Thursday's European Central Bank policy meeting, which is likely to result in another baby step towards removing the extraordinary monetary stimulus.
The dollar index against a basket of major currencies went as low as 96.560, its weakest since Nov. 9.
The Australian dollar bounced from an earlier dip to last trade at $0.7490, little changed on the day, after the Reserve Bank of Australia kept interest rates at a record low of 1.5 percent, as expected, while their economic assessment was not as bearish as some had braced for.
The Aussie had earlier fallen to $0.7457 after Australia posted current account data for January-March. The deficit was the smallest in more than 15 years, but it still disappointed investors who had hoped for a rare surplus. (Reporting by Shinichi Saoshiro; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore and Jacqueline Wong)

subset: commoncrawl


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LONDON (Reuters Breakingviews) - Britain's 5G auction is wisely putting customers before the country's coffers. Regulators on Tuesday capped incumbent BT's participation in upcoming mobile-spectrum sales, potentially hitting the Treasury's income from the sales. It's a reasonable trade-off in order to ensure a competitive four-player telecoms market.
It makes sense for governments that are selling assets to try and maximise their revenue. In this case, that would mean letting telecoms slug it out and handing frequencies to the highest bidders. In the case of mobile-internet spectrum, however, there's a snag. BT is the largest holder of spectrum and, were it to increase its share substantially, might be able to squeeze small rivals and leave them unable to offer services on competitive terms. That could lead to higher prices and reduce smaller firms' willingness to invest.
For those reasons regulator Ofcom stopped BT from participating in an auction due later this year for spectrum in the 2.3 GHz band – the kind that's already usable today. It also capped operators at 37 percent of total mobile spectrum expected to be usable in 2020. That constrains BT for an auction also due this year of the 3.4 GHz band, which is expected to be used for superfast 5G mobile internet.
For Britain's coffers, that probably means lower takings. The National Audit Office says proceeds from the 2.4 billion pound 4G auction in 2013 were about 7 percent lower than they could have been, as a result of Ofcom reserving spectrum for a new entrant. It's possible the lost income would be proportionately higher this time, as biggest player BT is the most constrained. On the other hand, it's possible that BT and mobile operator Vodafone would bid less aggressively for immediately usable spectrum since they already have plenty.
Either way, the consumer benefit from having a competitive four-player market is likely to be high. Kepler analysts reckon average revenue per user in neighbouring France fell by 30 percent after Iliad joined the market as a fourth player. A 2009 paper in the RAND Journal of Economics, meanwhile, estimated that the value to U.S consumers of a competitive market has proved many times higher than the amount the government has earned in wireless licence sales. The hit to Treasury coffers is a sacrifice worth making.
Reuters Breakingviews is the world's leading source of agenda-setting financial insight. As the Reuters brand for financial commentary, we dissect the big business and economic stories as they break around the world every day. A global team of about 30 correspondents in New York, London, Hong Kong and other major cities provides expert analysis in real time.
Sign up for a free trial of our full service at https://www.breakingviews.com/trial and follow us on Twitter @Breakingviews and at www.breakingviews.com. All opinions expressed are those of the authors.


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Osler has extensive experience advising clients in all industry sectors on project development and finance matters. This involvement in an ongoing flow of projects and exposure to the challenges unique to project finance, in particular determining the optimal finance structure, allows us to help satisfy the borrowers financing needs while adequately protecting the lenders.
Our national project finance team advises from a uniquely integrated practice platform. Working seamlessly with energy, infrastructure, P3, construction, technology, and health industry experts, Osler provides seamless service from our Toronto, Montréal, Calgary, Ottawa and New York offices.
We have advised on all aspects of project financing, including:
For the borrower:
For the lenders:
Oil & Gas
For the lender:
Acted for the preferred proponent for the $1.42 billion South West Calgary Ring Road P3 project
BluEarth Renewables Inc. in connection with the project financing by National Bank of Canada of a 15MW run-of-river hydro project located near Squamish, British Columbia, being developed by Culliton Creek Power Limited Partnership, a subsidiary of BluEarth Renewables Inc.
Canadian Natural Resources Limited, Canadian Natural Upgrading Limited and Canadian Natural Resources, in matters relating to the bridge financing and project financing of the North West Redwater refinery project in Alberta, including a syndicated revolving credit facility, bond issuance and subordinated debt facilities.
Centre Hospitalier de l'Université de Montréal (the agents), in $148.5 million offering of debentures by Centre hospitalier de l'Université de Montréal (CHUM)
Feb 25, 2016


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Watch Love Finds You in Valentine online free spacemov, Kennedy Blaine, a Californian girl, inherits a ranch in the small town of Valentine in Nebraska. Before she sells the property, she decides to spend the summer in her house and learn more about her family.
Genre › Drama
Release › 6 November / 2016
IMDB Ratings › 8.2
Duration › Tv Movie
Director by › Bryar Freed
Written by › N/A
Country › USA
Language › English
Production › Love Finds You Productions
Starcast › Dontez James, Michaela McManus, John Eby, Edward Asner, Brian Bartels


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Music Licensing Agreement for Use in a Film/Video: Template Kit Contract template for use by musician or filmmaker
Special thanks to Attorney Richard Stim for editorial feedback and contributions to this Kit.
Anyone who has ever made a video or film knows that music can have a huge impact on the final product. This is true for just about any kind of video, from a narrative thriller to a television commercial spot to an industrial training video: Music helps set the tone, engages viewers, and can sometimes make or break a video project.
It follows that as a video/filmmaker, or as a musician, it's important to understand how to obtain or give the necessary rights to a piece of music so that everyone is on the same page about how the music will be used, what fees will be paid (if any), and other important terms. Knowing the basics of music licensing is important to avoid conflicts—or even worse, allegations of infringement or other legal troubles—which are especially painful to deal with after a film is made.
That's where this Music Licensing Agreement comes in: It is a simple legal document covering the important aspects of the agreement between the musician and filmmaker, regarding use of a piece of music in a video/film.
Who Is This Agreement For?
The info and agreement template in this Licensing Kit is aimed at helping filmmakers and musicians execute an agreement for a song to be included in a film or video. The agreement template is for a song recording that already exists; if the filmmaker wants to record their own cover, there are additional issues to consider that are discussed below; you may need an additional agreement in this case.
Note that this kit is not geared for developing a music video; the process and issues involved in making music videos are different. (We will publish a legal kit for music videos in the near future.)
We'll assume that you are either a filmmaker or a songwriter; the agreement template we provide in this kit is suitable for either party and not weighted towards either the filmmaker's or songwriter's interests.
We'll also assume that the songwriter manages their own compositions and is not represented by or affiliated with a music publisher (such as the Harry Fox Agency). As noted throughout the material below, it is possible that some other entity owns one or more of the copyrights involved in a music licensing deal, and in that case you'll need to make sure the right entities are involved. You can still use the information in this kit to guide you, but you may need to use a specific agreement provided by the music publishing company, record label, etc.
Before walking you through the terms of our agreement template let's take a quick look at some of the essential background info you should know about music and copyright.
Who Owns What?
Let's start with some context. We're talking about intellectual property here: creative work that is owned by the person (or sometimes, a company) who creates the work.
As a musician, you own songs that you write, and recordings that you produce. This ownership is generally called copyright: i.e., artists own copyright in the works they create: songs, paintings, poems, photographs, novels, etc. When you own copyright, that means that no one else may reproduce your work without your permission. If they do, they are committing what is called infringement, which means they are illegally using your work, and may be subject to legal penalties such as fines.
When it comes to musical recordings, there are two copyrights:
- one for the song itself (mainly the melody and lyrics), and
- another for the particular recording of the song.
Let's look at each of these just a tiny bit more closely.
Song Composition Copyright
As the person who writes a song, the songwriter is the owner of copyright in the song. Note that copyright protects melody and lyrics; you can't copyright chord progressions. (Weird, right?)
About Peri Pakroo
Peri Pakroo is the founder, Publisher and Editor of Pyragraph. Outside her work with Pyragraph, Peri is a business author and coach, specializing in creative and smart strategies for self-employment and small business. She has started, participated in, and consulted with businesses and nonprofits for more than 20 years. Her focus is on helping people build structure for their passions to find success on their own terms. Her blog is at www.peripakroo.com.
Peri received her law degree from the University of New Mexico School of Law in 1995, and a year later began editing and writing for Nolo, specializing in business and intellectual property issues. She is the author of several top-selling Nolo titles on small business and nonprofit start-ups including The Small Business Start-Up Kit, The Women's Small Business Start-Up Kit and Starting & Building a Nonprofit.
Peri accidentally started her first band The Moist Towelettes at the age of 40 with her husband Turtle O'Toole. Since then she has played in a number of bands including the blurts and her own downer-country project, Peri & the FAQs.
In 2012, Peri saw the need for a resource featuring the voices of a wide range of creative workers and the many different career paths they take. She founded Pyragraph to fill this need. Here's the Pyragraph start-up story.View all posts by Peri Pakroo →


text: Will these seasons ever be released on DVD? Its been a long time since the 1st season. The series was at its best in seasons 2 and 3. If poor sales was the issue, next time Sony please advertise. Market the release to hair salons, Barbershops, in magazines etc... Please consider.


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Nintendo Games are one of the major brand that were created for you to have the best time of your life with, because all their games are so much fun and give you so much pleasure. But I know that nowadays there are myriads of games out there to choose from, since this is the age of technology. But anyway, here are some fun facts about Nintendo Games..
Super Smash Bros. started as a Super Nintendo game. Much like Super Mario 64, Super Smash Bros. was conceived back in the SNES days and intended to be a Super FX chip powered game ala Star Fox. Thankfully the guys behind Smash Bros. quickly realized that while the Super FX chip can do triangular spaceships pretty well, it probably wouldn't be able to handle more complex models like Mario or Donkey Kong.
A team of two guys developed Smash Bros. initially. In it's earliest stages, Smash Bros. was essentially the after-work hobby project of Masahiro Sakurai (the creator of the Kirby series) and Soturu Iwata. Yes, that Iwata — the guy who's now Nintendo's banana contemplating president.
Mario, Donkey Kong, Samus and Fox were the game's first fighters. These were the four characters Sakurai decided to add when it came time to sell the game to the higher ups. Perhaps not so coincidentally those four were always my faves in the original Smash Bros. Well, them and Jigglypuff.
Bowser, King Dedede, Mewtwo and Meowth were intended to be in the game. While no traces of them can be found on the cart, Nintendo has outright said these characters were meant to be in the game. Bowser, King Dedede and Mewtwo would make it into later instalments in the series, but sadly the series seems to have permanently passed Meowth by.
And Now, - 12 Souvenirs To Love From Nintendo Games
1. The 8 Bit Catastrophe Survival Kit.
Via redditgifts.com
2. Goomba Cord Art
3. The Pokérose
4. Donkey Kong Shelves
5. NES Controller Coffee Table
7. Mario Shelves and Warp Pipe Table
busydoor.com / Via busydoor.com
8. Metroid Ring
9. Super Mario Aquarium
10. Super Mario Quilt
11. Raccoon Mario Rug and ? Block Ottoman
12. Super Mario Pincushion
Don't Forget To Visit All My Other Sites So You Could Make It In All Areas Of Your Life:14. Love Video Games15. Best News Online
16. Aliens Landing Today
More Related Video Games Articles And Videos You Will Love..
14. Love Video Games15. Best News Online
16. Aliens Landing Today
More Related Video Games Articles And Videos You Will Love..
12 Funny Video Games To Laugh At, 12 Video Games, 12 Funny Games, Video, Gaming, Internet Gaming, 12 Virtual Games
Video Games - How They Evolved, Funny Video Games, Video Game Jokes, How to play video games, how to understand video games, Online Gaming
How many Men and Women play Video Games, Video Game Statistics, Who play video games, Age groups who play Video Games
Best Video Games, 10 Best Video Games To Play On PC, PC Video Games, 10 Fun video games to play, How to play video games
Love Video Games, Video Game Addiction, Video Game Players Ignored Baby, Parents Ignored Baby Playing Video Games
Nintendo Games, Facts about Nintendo, Best Nintendo Games, Nintendo, History of Nintendo. Nintendo artifacts
Parents And Sports, Kids playing sports, Aggressive Parents, Competitive Parents, Type of parents
Video games, 12 Best Video Games To Play, How to play video games, Video Game Characters, Types of video games
Gaming, Video Games, Fun Video Game Facts, How to play Video Games, Best video games
Tags: Nintendo Games, 12 Souvenirs From Nintendo Games, Gaming, How to play Nintendo, Nintendo Gaming, Nintendo


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2013 Nissan Titan Overview
The 2013 Nissan Titan is offered in the following submodels: King Cab, Crew Cab. Available styles include SV 4dr Crew Cab SB (5.6L 8cyl 5A), SV 4dr Crew Cab 4WD SB (5.6L 8cyl 5A), and PRO-4X 4dr Crew Cab 4WD SB (5.6L 8cyl 5A). Titan models are available with a 5.6 l-liter gas engine, with output up to 317 hp, depending on engine type. The 2013 Titan comes with rear wheel drive or four wheel drive. Available transmissions include: 5-speed automatic. The 2013 Titan comes with a 3 yr./ 36000 mi. basic warranty, a 3 yr./ 36000 mi. roadside warranty, and a 5 yr./ 60000 mi. powertrain warranty.
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Is the 2013 Nissan Titan a good car? Edmunds experts have compiled a robust series of ratings and reviews for the 2013 Nissan Titan and all model years in our database. Our rich content includes expert reviews and recommendations for the 2013 Titan featuring deep dives into trim levels and features, performance, mpg, safety, interior, and driving. Edmunds also offers expert ratings, road test and performance data, long-term road tests, first-drive reviews, video reviews and more.
Our Review ProcessAll of our reviews are written by a member of Edmunds' editorial team of expert car reviewers. Our team drives every car you can buy. We put the vehicles through rigorous testing, evaluating how they drive and comparing them in detail to their competitors.
We're also regular people like you, so we pay attention to all the different ways people use their cars every day. We want to know if there's enough room for our families and our weekend gear and whether or not our favorite drink fits in the cupholder. Our editors want to help you make the best decision on a car that fits your life.
How do people like the 2013 Nissan Titan?Consumer ratings and reviews are also available for the 2013 Nissan Titan and all its trim types. Overall, Edmunds users rate the 2013 Titan 4.3 on a scale of 1 to 5 stars. Edmunds consumer reviews allow users to sift through aggregated consumer reviews to understand what other drivers are saying about any vehicle in our database. Detailed rating breakdowns (including performance, comfort, value, interior, exterior design, build quality, and reliability) are available as well to provide shoppers with a comprehensive understanding of why customers like the 2013 Titan.
Vehicle SV 4dr Crew Cab 4WD SB (5.6L 8cyl 5A)
Review I have owned my 2013 Titan for almost 2 years now and have not had an issue. I have owned several full size trucks and to date this is my favorite. I put magna flow exhaust on it and is by far the best sounding note out of all the V8's I have owned. When we get snowstorms of 12 plus inches and the roads are not cleared the ol girl plows through it with ease. I plan on driving her until she just can't get down the road safely anymore which I hope is another 15 + years. I know of the few things that tend to fail such as exhaust manifolds and wheel seals but from all the research I have done and continue to monitor the engine and transmission are solid, which is the main reason for purchase.
See all consumer reviews and retings for the 2013 Nissan Titan
2013 Nissan Titan inventory listings Shop Edmunds' car, SUV, and truck listings of over 6 million vehicles to find a cheap new, used, or certified pre-owned (CPO) 2013 Nissan Titan for sale near Ashburn VA. There are currently 190 new and 222 used and CPO 2013 Titans listed for sale in your area, with list prices as low as 16494 and mileage as low as 15550. Simply research the type of car you're interested in and then select a car from our massive database to find cheap vehicles for sale near you. Once you have identified a vehicle you're interested in, check the Carfax and autocheck vehicle history reports, read dealer reviews, and find out what other owners paid for the 2013 Nissan Titan. Then select Edmunds special offers, perks, deals, and incentives to contact the dealer of your choice and save up to 300 on a new, used, or CPO 2013 Titan available from one of 2797 dealerships in your area.
How can Edmunds help? Edmunds has deep data on over 6 million new, used, and certified pre-owned vehicles, including rich, trim-level features and specs information like: MSRP, average price paid, warranty information (basic, drivetrain, and maintenance), features (upholstery, bluetooth, navigation, heated seating, cooled seating, cruise control, parking assistance, keyless ignition, satellite radio, folding rears seats ,run flat tires, wheel type, tire size, wheel tire, sunroof, etc.), vehicle specifications (engine cylinder count, drivetrain, engine power, engine torque, engine displacement, transmission), fuel economy (city, highway, combined, fuel capacity, range), vehicle dimensions (length, width, seating capacity, cargo space), car safety, true cost to own. Edmunds also provides tools to allow shopper to compare vehicles to similar models of their choosing by warranty, interior features, exterior features, specifications, fuel economy, vehicle dimensions, consumer rating, edmunds rating, and color
2013 nissan titan SV 4dr Crew Cab SB (5.6L 8cyl 5A), 5-speed automatic, regular unleaded 15 combined MPG 13 city MPG/18 highway MPG
2013 nissan titan SV 4dr Crew Cab 4WD SB (5.6L 8cyl 5A), 5-speed automatic, regular unleaded 14 combined MPG 12 city MPG/17 highway MPG
2013 nissan titan PRO-4X 4dr Crew Cab 4WD SB (5.6L 8cyl 5A), 5-speed automatic, regular unleaded 14 combined MPG 12 city MPG/17 highway MPG
What options are available on the 2013 Nissan Titan?
Available Nissan Titan 2013 Submodel Types: Regular Cab, Crew Cab, King Cab
Available Trims: S, SE, SL, Platinum Reserve, XE, LE, SV, PRO-4X
Exterior Colors: Magnetic Black, Smoke, Deep Blue Pearl, Blizzard, Pearl White, Radiant Silver, Red Alert, Galaxy, Red Brawn, Navy Blue, Majestic Blue, Cayenne Red, Galaxy Black, Galaxy Black Metallic, Radiant Silver Metallic, Forged Copper, Graphite Blue, Gun Metallic, Navy Blue Metallic, Brilliant Silver, Deep Water, Granite, Java Metallic, Sedona, Smoke Metallic, White, Blue Steel, Canteen, Desert Stone, Espresso Black, Glacier White, Solar Flare Yellow
Interior Colors: Black cloth, Black/Brown leather, Graphite/Titanium, Beige cloth, Black leather, Almond cloth, Charcoal II cloth, Beige leather, Steel cloth, Graphite/Titanium cloth, Steel, Charcoal cloth, Charcoal leather, Sand/Steel, Almond leather
Popular Features: Heated seats, Navigation, Auto Climate Control, Multi-Zone Climate Control, Blind Spot Monitoring, Keyless Entry/Start, Leather Seats, Electronic Folding Mirrors, Upgraded Headlights, Remote Start, Post-collision safety system, 8ft Bed, Standard Cab, 360-degree camera, Cooled Seats, 8000lb Towing Capacity, 6ft Bed, AWD/4WD, Alarm, Audio and cruise controls on steering wheel, Aux Audio Inputs, Fold Flat Rear Seats, Rear Bench Seats, Stability Control, Sunroof/Moonroof, Tire Pressure Warning, Trip Computer, Upgraded Engine, 10,000lb+ Towing Capacity, Crew Cab, Back-up camera, Bluetooth, Parking sensors, Power Driver Seat, Rear Entertainment System, Towing Hitch, USB Inputs, Upgraded Stereo, 7ft Bed, Extended Cab, 6000lb Towing Capacity
Engine/Mechanics: 8 cylinders
Transmission: AUTOMATIC
Fuel Types: regular unleaded, flex-fuel (unleaded/E85)
Drivetrains: rear wheel drive, four wheel drive
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The Roccat Juke allows you to transform the audio from your PC to your headphones in fantastic 7.1 sound, allowing you to immerse yourself fully into the virtual surround sound experience. The built-in cable features a robust and solid compact design, allowing you to take it anywhere and not have to worry about it getting damaged. The flexible USB cable enables accessibility and comfort, with colour coded 3.5 mm jacks which makes for simple installation. The Roccat Juke includes a full featured software suite.
- Premium quality
- 7.1 virtual surround sound
- USB Stereo soundcard and headset adapter
- Immersive experience
- Robust and solid
- Compact design
- Flexible cable extension, for added accessibility
- Colour coded 3.5mm jacks, for extra ease of use
- Includes full featured customisation software suite
- Connection: USB 2.0
- Colour: Black Technical Specification
- Sampling rate: 20Hz ~ 20kHz
- Jacks: 2x 3.5mm
- Max. height/length: 27 x 250mm
When will my order be dispatched?
Orders placed before 3:00pm (Monday – Friday)* will be dispatched on the same day. Orders placed outside of these hours will be dispatched on the next working day.
* Excluding UK public holidays
How will my order be sent?
Our standard delivery option is FREE in the UK via Royal Mail First Class, with large or high value orders sent via Parcelforce courier service. Delivery to Europe (from an additional £2 per item) and other Worldwide countries (from an additional £4 per item) are sent via Royal Mail International who work with trusted delivery partners to deliver to the destination country.
When can I expect it to arrive?
- UKDeliveries to destinations in the UK usually arrive within 1-2 working days after the order is dispatched with the vast majority arriving on the next working day.
- Europe
Deliveries to destinations in Europe take on average 3-5 working days, but times will vary depending on the import regulations and postal service in your country. Please check with your local postal service for an estimate on how long it takes to ship items from the UK to your country.
- Worldwide
Deliveries to destinations outside of Europe take on average 5-7 working days, but times will vary depending on the import regulations and postal service in your country. Please check with your local postal service for an estimate on how long it takes to ship items from the UK to your country.
If your order has not arrived by the expected delivery date this is usually no reason for concern - see our delivery help pages.
|Dispatch Time
|Usually within 24 hours
|Age Rating


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Embassy Row: All Fall Down : Book 1 Paperback
by Ally Carter
Part of the Embassy Row series
Praise for Ally Carter:Ally Carter is an author that you simply can't miss. - Gripped into BooksGallagher Girls books have real heart, pushing strength and sisterhood over sass, with super wit and humour too... brilliant. ***** Books for KeepsAbsolutely unputdownable and completely gripping... everything that fans of this series will have been waiting for... 10/10... an incredible series in which each book gets better and better.
The GuardianAlly Carter has done it again! From the story to the cover, everything about All Fall Down is exciting and sure to keep you on your toes! http://sassyanddangerous.blogspot.mx/Product Description:I don't mean to get into trouble.
Trouble just sort of finds me. Grace has been shipped off to stay with her diplomat Grandpa in the glittering Embassy Row, a place where trespassing into the wrong garden can cause an international incident.
Grace knows the rules - she's ignored them before - but however much she wants to change, she can't.
Not while she's certain of three things: 1. She isn't crazy. 2. Her mother was murdered. 3. Someday she's going to find the man with the scar, and then she is going to make him pay. About the Author:Ally Carter writes books about spies, thieves, and teenagers.
She is the New York Times best-selling author of the hugely popular Gallagher Girls series, including I'd Tell You I Love You but Then I'd Have to Kill You, Cross My Heart and Hope to Spy, Don't Judge a Girl by Her Cover, and Only the Good Spy Young.She lives in the Midwest where her life is either very ordinary or the best deep-cover legend ever.
She'd tell you more, but...well...you know.
- Format: Paperback
- Pages: 320 pages
- Publisher: Hachette Children's Group
- Publication Date: 05/02/2015
- Category: Thrillers (Children's/YA)
Standard Delivery
Within the UK
Also by Ally Carter | View all
Also in the Embassy Row series | View all
Available for
immediate download
Available for
immediate download


text: New York Western television programs Morgan Lee Lee Morgan McMasters ; Berkley Pub. Group Western stories Western films 1995 1995 en Fiction 32524974 McMasters Color illustration on front cover of man in purple shirt, turqoise bandana and white hat holding rifle while standing on rock. Behind his head superimposed gold badge reading "Cattleman Association." In background red storm clouds and bolts of lightning with woman in blue dress riding horse through desert landscape. 32524974 Western stories Jove Books Western radio programs 2017-10-22 nyu 9780515116328 0515116327


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Come join us at Crockpot Moms! Find great recipes and new friends!
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|Epic poetry
Kalingatteuparani is a 12th-century Tamil poem and a war song by Jayamkondar, celebrating the victory of Kulottunga Chola I over the Kalinga king, Anantavarman Chodaganga in the Chola-Kalinga war.[1][2] parani is a type of literature thy is written on a king(person) who kills a thousand elephants in a war. Hence, kalingattuparani depicts that kulottunga chola I killed a thousand elephants in tha chola-kalinga war. It gives a vivid and a graphic description of battle scenes. It is hailed as one of the master-pieces of Tamil literature with its majestic style and diction.[3] Kulottunga Chola I is the protagonist and the hero of this work.[4][5] Jayakondar, the court poet, touches on various sections such as lineage of the king, his birth, his family, the training in warfare that he received as a child, his accession to the throne, his exploits and his subsequent move to the city of Kanchi. The author then proceeds to explain the training that Kulothunga received in warfare and his heroics in Vayiragaram and Chakrakottam while he was still young. Next he proceeds to talk about his queens and how one day the king wanted to move his capital to Kanchi. Finally, he touches on the circumstances which led to the Kalinga war. Karunakara Thondaiman, a Pallavan prince and a feudatory will distinguish himself in this affair.
- ^ Sri Varadarajaswami Temple, Kanchi: A Study of Its History, Art and Architecture, page 13
- ^ Tamil studies, Volume 1, page 65
- ^ Temples of Kr̥ṣṇa in South India: history, art, and traditions in Tamilnāḍu, page 77
- ^ History of medieval Andhradesa, page 25
- ^ History of the Eastern Chalukyas of Vengi, 610–1210 A.D.


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Beginning on March 28 going through April 2, 2013,
Night with a Dom is FREE! And I'm giving away a $5.00 Amazon Gift Card to one lucky reader.
Thanks for having me on your blog, D'Ann!
Thanks for being here, and thanks for the wonderful freebies! What a great treat!
Leave a comment for your chance to win and EVERYONE can get Night with a Dom FREE on Amazon.
Night with a Dom
Melody Manning's workaholic ambition, coupled with a slave-driving former boss, has made her the youngest market analyst in her firm. It's also killed her personal life, including losing her fiancé. When she receives a message from him on New Year's Eve announcing his engagement to another woman, Mel loses it. Her new, more compassionate boss has the perfect solution for her—get laid. Good and laid.
At his suggestion, she signs up with the 1Night Stand service, listing her deepest sexual desires on the application. A speedy response from Madame Eve has Melody on her way to Sonoma Valley wine country and a one-night stand with a mysterious Dom.
The sexy, masked Master promises to get to the bottom of her guilt and provide ultimate satisfaction under the safety of his stern hand. After an emotional night of submission and uninhibited passion, will her lover's unmasking lead to the end of their encounter or give Mel another chance at love?
The following excerpt has been bleeped out to make it a PG-13 excerpt. Please keep in mind that the book does contain adult themes and language, and is not suitable for minors. Thank you.
"During this portion of the evening you will only speak when asked a direct question, and you will address me as 'Sir'. Understand?"
Concentrating on his words, she had to strain to hear him over her pounding heart but nodded. Excitement and fear zinged to her extremities and every place in between.
He trailed his tongue from her earlobe down to her nape. She gasped and tensed her shoulders as he nipped and sucked the sensitive skin. Goosebumps covered her from head to toe. Her nipples hardened and throbbed.
He swept his hand slowly over her stomach. She melted back against him, the heat of his body wrapping around hers, instant, carnal and very real. Throbbing need pulsed between her legs, replacing the chill of fear.
"I'm going to remove your dress."
"Okay." The word whooshed from her. Dizziness caused her to sway. Is this really happening? His velvet baritone held a familiar lilt she couldn't place, but surely if she'd heard that sexy sound before, she'd remember. Right now she was so aroused, it could be her high school boyfriend and she wouldn't know—or care.
"Okay, what?"
Her body tensed at his rebuke. "Okay, Sir."
"You have enough discipline coming this evening for past transgressions, Miss Manning. Let's not complicate matters by increasing their number. All right?"
"All right, Sir." She sucked in a breath at the mention of punishment. What would he do to her? She had stipulated mild discipline, but what did that mean to him?
Prior to becoming a writer of romantic fiction, Casea Major worked in the legal field for a non-profit dispute resolution company for ten years. She is now a full-time mom to three preschool children with whom she and her husband live happily...most of the time. When she isn't chained to her laptop, she enjoys Cary Grant movies and crocheting.


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Euro Sprawl
September 14, 2000
Urban sprawl, the tendency of metropolitan regions to spread out in all directions as people moving up the economic ladder move out to the suburbs, is not unique to America.
Populations in central cities worldwide have been shrinking, says Steven Hayward. And European cities, which the "smart growth" movement frequently praises for their public transit and "compact" development patterns, are sprawling faster than American cities.
Between 1970 and 1990, for example,
- The developed area of Amsterdam expanded 12 percent while the city's population declined 12.4 percent, and Copenhagen's developed area expanded 10.3 percent while its population declined 14 percent.
- In Germany, the area of Frankfurt expanded 33.3 percent while population declined 5.4 percent, and Hamburg expanded 54.6 percent while population declined 7.9 percent.
- And although the population of Paris rose 15.3 percent, its developed area increased by more than half (54.3 percent).
As a result, population density in all of these cities declined 20 percent to 30 percent.
People prefer to live in the suburbs, where population density, crime and taxes are lower. And as result of increased affluence, they can afford to. In the U.S., the majority of the increases in automobile ownership and vehicle miles traveled over the past 20 years occurred among working women and minorities, according to transportation analyst Alan Pisarski.
Source: Steven Hayward, "'Growing Pains': The NGA's Flawed Report on Sprawl," Backgrounder No. 1393, September 13, 2000, Heritage Foundation, 214 Massachusetts Avenue, N.E., Washington, D.C. 20002, (202) 546-4400.
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An un-overwhelming process.
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Because here's the deal, you and I both know this should have already been done. It's probably been a bottom feeder on your to-do list for...uh...well, you know...ever.
The ingredients.
Branding that communicates authenticity.
We analyze your brand, picking up all the bits and pieces that lay disheveled all over the internet and unifying them.
Content optimized to attract.
Writing content that authentically connects to potential clients is different than writing a stuffy online snooze-fest. Our content introduces you and your brand in a way that has visitors climbing the walls to get in.
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Having a site at the forefront of technology matters. It's a trust builder. So we design with only the best platforms and plugins, ensuring a great user experience.
We also know that staying front-of-mind is hard. We equip you with a custom autoresponder and email/newsletter templates and forms to keep you zipping to inboxes with ease.
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What does it cost in time and money to get a website that actually becomes a useful business tool, from a company that you want to partner with long-term?
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Think it might be your time to shine?
Let's schedule a free 15 minute chat.
We will discuss your brand and goals, how I can help and if we are a match made in branding heaven!
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Personal Stories, Advice, and Support 129 People
Handyman In His HeavenAt thirty two I was single with a dozen short term boy/ girlfriend type relationships behind me. I was brought up in a strict home life, values in morals, church every Sunday. Mother and father university educated, so impressed upon me to do the same. I chose a route via US...
ThighLicker 51-55, M 0 May 29, 2011
This is so much fun when you find someoneas Kinky as you :)
TooTricky2Trick 41-45, M 0 Mar 22, 2016


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Conrad Fink's Sept. 19th column was right on the mark. A clear analysis of the problem and what solutions were available. However, before we start any military action, we should do all things possible to dry up the terrorist's money supply. Without funds these people will have fewer friends to help them. I look forward to future columns authored by Conrad.
Edmund Lynch
This article published in the Athens Banner-Herald on Thursday, September 20, 2001.
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GraphicRiver Steampunk mechanism 1623079
Stock Vector \ Conceptual \ Technology \ Retro
Vector \ Illustrator \ Mechanism \ Illustration \ Created \ Download \ Resolution
Stock Vector - Steampunk mechanism 1623079 by yuanden @ GraphicRiver
Stock Vector \ Conceptual \ Technology \ Retro
Illustration ?Steampunk mechanism?
This image is a vector illustration and can be scaled to any size without loss of resolution. This image will download as a .eps file. You will need a vector editor to use this file (such as Adobe Illustrator).
This works created in adobe illustrator, sometimes used to draw a graphic tablet. In the illustrations do not use other people's works, only my sketches or photo.
Layered: No; Graphics Files Included: JPG Image, Vector EPS; Minimum Adobe CS Version: CS.
Professional Boxer After Fight; Superhero Coffee-Man; Rock Band; Media Zombies with Devices Instead of Heads; Easter Bunnies; Set of Trees; Alien Invaders.
Keywords: art, construction, design, engine, gear, graphics, grunge, history, horse, illustration, industry, iron, machine, machinery, mechanical, mechanism, motor, music, old, power, retro, robot, smoke, steam, steel, technology, vector, vintage, wheel.
Create GraphicRiver Steampunk mechanism 1623079 style with After Effect, Cinema 4D, 3DS Max, Apple Motion or PhotoShop. GraphicRiver Steampunk mechanism 1623079 from creative professional designers. Full details of GraphicRiver Steampunk mechanism 1623079 for digital design and education. GraphicRiver Steampunk mechanism 1623079 desigen style information or anything related.


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For Her: 40mm Bow
One of the most popular sneaker brands burning up Instagram right now has been on the scene for a while, but if you haven't heard of BUSCEMI you will. Everyone from Lauren Hutton to Jourdan Dunn to Russell Wilson have been spotted wearing the highly-stylized sneakers. Launched at the legendary concept store COLETTE in Paris, BUSCEMI is now available online and at Neiman Marcus.
For Him: 140mm Ippocastano
|• Fashion
|• 1 Comment