text:
The Africana Studies Program brings a global outlook to the study of Africa and its Diasporas. Drawing on analytical perspectives from anthropology, economics, education, history, literary studies, political science and sociology, the program focuses on peoples of African descent within the context of increasing globalization and dramatic social, economic and political changes.
To discuss your plan of study, ideas for special projects and summer work, and other aspirations, please contact Professor Alice Lesnick.
To particpate, share ideas, resources, announcements with the broader community, please use our online community space on Serendip Studio at :africanastudies or join us on Facebook
Upcoming events
Ben Vinson III
Dean of The George Washington University
Columbian College of Arts and Sciences
"Shades of Blackness: Race and Caste in ·-Mexico''
Tea at 4:15 PM; Talk at 4:30 PM Chase Auditorium
Sponsored by the Department of History and The Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellows Program in conjunction with the Distinguished Visitors Program
September 30, 2014
English House Lecture Hall
Bryn Mawr College
Robin Bernstein, Professor of African and African American Studies and of Studies of Women, Gender, and Sexuality, Harvard (Bryn Mawr 1991)
In the mid-twentieth century, psychologists Kenneth and Mamie Clark conducted their famous "doll test" in which they asked African American children whether they preferred black or white dolls. Most children identified white dolls as "nice" and black dolls as "bad"--proof, the Clarks argued, that segregation damaged black children psychologically. These findings figured pivotally in Brown v. Board of Education, the 1954 Supreme Court case that outlawed segregation in public schools. Robin Bernstein defamiliarizes the "doll test" by locating it not in the history of Civil Rights but instead in the history of dolls. Bernstein argues that a black child's rejection of a black doll might indeed reveal internalized racism; but it could also constitute a rejection of violently racist practices of play that had, for a century, been coordinated through black dolls. Thus Bernstein offers a new understanding of the Clarks' child-subjects not as passive internalizers of racism instead as agents who resisted inherited traditions of play.
A conference in Celebration of the 50th Anniversary of the publication of Chinua Achebe's novel Arrow of God
6-10 October 2014
A Multi-media
convened @ Haverford, Swarthmore, and Bryn Mawr Colleges by
Jesse Weaver Shipley, Iruka Okeke, Zolani Ngwane, Carina Yervasi, Alice Lesnick
In 1964 Chinua Achebe published his novel Arrow of God. There have been events across the world celebrating this anniversary. 6-10 October 2014 Haverford, Swarthmore, and Bryn Mawr Colleges are convening a conference in recognition of the 50th anniversary of this landmark text. There will be a week-long series of events across the three college campuses featuring participants from a variety of fields in the sciences, humanities, and arts. Guests, students, and faculty will engage in an extended dialogue that begins with the significance of Achebe's work in a variety of realms and extends to contemporary issues that reverberate through his writing's influence more broadly. The series of interdisciplinary, eclectic activities across the three colleges include several academic panels, film screenings, arts, pedagogy seminar, writing workshops, and class visits. Several faculty in a variety of disciplines will also be teaching Arrow of God and other texts by visiting artists in the Fall 2014 semester to correspond with this event.
Some of the conference will explicitly address Achebe and his writing while other segments will use his work as inspiration for extended conversations about arts, scholarship, and science in contemporary Africa and its implications for globalization, spirituality, expressive culture, and a variety of concerns. Tracing continuities and discontinuities across half a century and a global network of places will help to triangulate on issues of moral, political, and cultural transformation at the core of Achebe's work. Arrow of God is a complex novel about the powerful and the sacred, cultural and religious encounters, colonial rule and moral choice. It shows Achebe's commitment as a storyteller to tales with nuanced intertwined characters who at once resonate with particular contexts and act universally. His protagonists lead readers gently through multiple, simultaneous levels of interpretation. While many students of literature read Things Fall Apart, Achebe's other work has received less attention. Achebe himself was deeply concerned with how African writing, modes of storytelling, and forms of language-use informed issues of artistry, pedagogy, race, and inequality around the globe. His concern with myth, memory, and history, with power, and with the processes of telling open-ended stories have inspired our focus on the notion of (ir)reverence. While Achebe's work is playful and humorous it simultaneously offers profound reflections on spirituality, choice, and possible futures.
Sponsors-KINSC, CPGC, Hurford Humanities Center, Distinguished Visitors Office, Anthropology, Biology, English, First Year Writing (Haverford); Black Studies, French Studies (Swarthmore); Education (Bryn Mawr)
Recently published is Bryn Mawr's Professor of History and Africana Studies Kalala Ngalamulume's new book, Colonial Pathologies, Environment and Western Medicine in Sant-Louis-du-Senegal, 1867-1920
Alice Lesnick, at Bryn Mawr
Susanna Wing, at Haverford College
Marianne Weldon
Eric Pumroy


text:
Kenya is the East African powerhouse of the coffee world. Both in the cup, and the way they run their trade, everything is topnotch. The best Kenya coffees are not sold simply as generic AA or AB. They are specific auction lots sold to the highest bidder, and heated competition drives the prices sky high. Their research and development is unparalleled. Their quality control is meticulous, and many thousands of small farmers are highly educated in their agricultural practice --and rewarded -- for top level coffee.
In general, this is a bright coffee that lights up the palate from front to back. It is not for people who do not like acidity in coffee (acidity being the prized bright notes in the cup due to an interrelated set of chlorogenic acids). A great Kenya is complex, and has interesting fruit (berry, citrus) flavors, sometimes alternating with spice. Some are clean and bright, others have cherished winey flavors.
Kenya Kirinyaga Kii ABKii is a Kenya with a much gentler acidity than most - apparent but not bracing. Theres developed sugar sweetness and mild fruit notes that show up most as the cup cools. One sip and you know its Kenya, however, the less aggressive profile makes it a great option for espresso too. City to Full City. SO Espresso. Learn More$6.50/lb
(or less)
Kenya Nyeri Kigwandi ABKigwandi AB shows best at City+ to Full City range. layered citrus notes and caramelizing sugars dominate the cup. White grapefruit and a bit of bergamot orange provide a complex bittering aspect. The finish has a dry, black tea-like quality, mouth refreshing. A nice espresso up to FC+. City+ to Full City. SO Espresso. Learn More$6.85/lb
(or less)
Kenya Nyeri Gatomboya AAGatomboya AA is a crisp, clean Kenya coffee, with bright citric acidity and a multitude of fruit flavors. Tangerine, red grapefruit, kumquat, and pineapple show a nice presence, and the sweetness runs deep in the realm of developed sugars. The finish is long and shifts between black tea and pulpy/juicy citrus flavors. City to Full City. Single Origin Espresso. Learn More$7.95/lb
(or less)
Kenya Nyeri Gachatha AAKenya Nyeri Gachatha AA is a bold cup, multi-layered fruit flavors, juicy body, and with a pectin sweetness. Pineapple, citrus, apple, pear, red grape, mango, lychee…quite a bit packed into the cup! Acidity is more sweet than tart citrus, not as aggressive as many other Kenyas. City to Full City. Learn More$8.55/lb
(or less)

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Ships Free to USA*!
True one-section Radius Front Floral Merchandiser features a black non-peel or chip exterior and NSF approved black aluminum interior liner with 300 stainless steel floor, 2 shelves, 1 Low-E thermal self-closing, (torsion-type closure system) glass hinged door, illuminated sign panel, and low UV emitting fluorescent lighting. Product is designed to accommodate a broad range of floral temperature settings, and holds 35 degrees F. 1/3 HP, 115v/60/1-ph, 7.2 amps, made in USA. Dimensions are: 78.25(h) x 27(w) x 31.25(d).
For 2014, True has added LED lighting to the glass door model GDM-23FC-RF for attractive and even light in this merchandiser.


text:
[175] Pleomorphic Lobular Carcinoma In Situ on Breast Core Biopsies: An Under-Diagnosed Entity, Clinical Significance, and Immunoprofile.
Yaser Hussein, Sudeshna Bandyopadhyay, Bassam Albashiti, Quratulain Ahmed, Sumit Yadam, Lamia Fathallah, Amro Almradi, Haitham Arabi, Rouba Ali-Fehmi. Wayne State University, Detroit, MI; St John Hospital and Medical Center, Detroit, MI
Background: Pleomorphic lobular carcinoma in situ (PLCIS) is a recently characterized entity that shares morphologic features with solid ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) which may lead to misclassification. The objective of this study is to determine the frequency of misinterpreted PLCIS cases as solid DCIS from our pathology archives and to evaluate the clinico-pathologic and immunohistochemical (IHC) features of the re-classified PLCIS cases.
Design: 100 consecutive breast core biopsies over a period of 10 years, originally diagnosed as solid DCIS (intermediate/high grade) without invasion, were identified from our database for E-cadherin staining. Re-classification of solid DCIS into PLCIS was based on E-Cadherin negativity and morphology. The re-classified cases were matched with 12 consecutive cases of classic lobular carcinoma in situ (C-LCIS) that were also retrieved from our database. A panel of IHC stains included ER, PR, P53, and Ki-67 was done to compare the immunoprofile characteristics of the PLCIS with C-LCIS. The subsequent resection specimens were reviewed.
Results: Among 100 cases of solid DCIS, 6 (6%) cases were revised as PLCIS. E-cadherin was negative in all the 6 cases. Resection specimen revealed invasive lobular carcinoma as well as LCIS and DCIS in 2 cases, DCIS in 2 cases, and LCIS in 1 case. Compared to C-LCIS, PLCIS showed higher expression of P53 (66% vs 8%, p=0.02). No significant difference was seen in ER expression (100% vs 92%) and PR expression (50% vs 67%) between the 2 groups. Moderate to high proliferation index with Ki-67 staining was observed in 4 out of 6 PLCIS cases (66.7%) compared to 1 out of 12 of C-LCIS (8%)(p=0.02).
Conclusions: Our study shows that PLCIS is an under-recognized entity in breast core biopsies and can show aggressive features such as high proliferation rate and p53 mutation. Although the current recommendation is to treat them similar to DCIS, further investigation with larger number of cases and long term outcome is warranted.
Category: Breast
Tuesday, March 1, 2011 1:15 PM
Platform Session: Section B, Tuesday Afternoon


text:
Chelsea Handler: Uganda Be Kidding Me
Upper East Side
Tue Mar 4
- $$$$
Time Out says
Posted: Mon Feb 10 2014
At once vodka's poster child and its cautionary tale, the comic and host of Chelsea Lately takes her dirty mind on holiday in the follow-up to titles including Chelsea Chelsea Bang Bang and My Horizontal Life. Uganda trails Handler as she goes on safari, heads the the Bahamas and more.
ReviewsAdd +
Users say
Rating: 0/5
1 person listening
Show More
Near 92nd Street Y
Bars and pubs
Restaurants and cafés
2545 others, see all


text:
WE prepare materials about exhibitionist teen, and also exhibitionist teen, besides you can discuss exhibitionist teen at our forum Here we have few themed pictures:
erica durance nudist. Pages of our site are devoted subtleties to work with jungen nackt gesehen, old beach resorts of maryland, masturbating movie voyeur.
preteen red heads. Open new world for yourself, having learned a lot of interesting and useful things, connected with themes like obscene sunbathing, muy guarra voyeur, erica durance nudist, on our Internet portal. Here we have few themed pictures:
ladies sunbathing naked. nackt freund, doctores naturistas, girl flashing for fun - these keywords, will help you to find our site. See it in details:
college flashing boobs. Do you searching for a long time for information interfaced with naturest n s w - come to our portal. It becomes more clearly on the pictures:
Catalogue 6335
silver star beach hotel
Catalogue 4662
The specialized portal is ready to teach you how to earn quite good money. Search for us on the Internet by following words newport beach california hotel, carlton beach hotel netherlands, gran caribe real resort spa. See it on the following pictures:
Catalogue 4005
To find our portal, it is necessary to enter in the search engine such words, as famous myrtle beach hotels and suites, apostolata island resort and, australian beach volleyball finals 2004 olympics. Also pictures:
Catalogue 2290
beachfront hotel in hilton head
Catalogue 1051
roc miami beach a renaissance resort
exhibitionist dares. The various information and materials devoted to sonya kraus nackt fotos, photo nudist naturist home fkk gay, australia famous beaches, placed on our portal. See it in details:
gay nudist boys. Here is materials about naked amsterdame preteen girls, exhibitionist dares, palm cove beachfront accommodation, only at our site. See it in details:
Catalogue 8980
Catalogue 8906
Catalogue 3382
gulf shores nudist. Dream to have a country house and an abrupt wheelbarrow? We wait for you at our site. Search for us in the Internet – use next words hintergrundbild nackt mann, allergic cough naturist cure, el cid marina beach resort mazatlan. It becomes more clearly on the pictures:
jungen nackt gesehen. Want to know, how people manage to be?. Simple answers to exciting questions about moric nudista senza censura, nackt ausziehen arzt, leah remini nackt fake. See it in details:
Catalogue 6033
You receive useful materials on the questions, connected with themes of samui paradise beach resort, discount beach vacation, carousel beach front hotel and suite on pages of our site. Also pictures:
Catalogue 1695
Hundreds of correspondents from every corner of the globe search for fresh, actual information about next themes afterdark dogging, geile nackte frauen ab 30, paton beach resort and then place that news at our site; don't forget to add extra news about emerald beach condo rentals. Those images will help you to understand:
Catalogue 3058
aruba renaissance beach resort and casino
Catalogue 1575
mission beach australia map
Catalogue 7343
gasfinolhu island resort
naturist hotel fuerteventura. Our site will tell to you how better to use resort redang island, heidi klum nacktfoto, ritz carlton palm beach hotel, and also we will be glad to answer on your questions. It becomes more clearly on the pictures:
nackte moese. Everything most interesting and actual about of montalivet, saublebeachcottagerentals, nacktbaden fkk. Pay attention to pictures on this theme:
Catalogue 2511
batangas beach and resort
Catalogue 9898
All subtleties and nuances of naturaliste canada, dreams palm beach punta cana hotel, masturbating movie voyeur. Besides that, only at our web-site you can find such detailed pictures:
Catalogue 4596
wollongong beach resort
Catalogue 6122
Soviet Union has broken but las dunas beach hotel and spa and barclay towers resort hotel virginia beach still exist. Those images will help you to understand:
gulf shores nudist. WE prepare materials about nudism 2009, and also beach hotel ibiza, besides you can discuss gota beach resort camarines sur at our forum Here we have few themed pictures:
Catalogue 3214
Catalogue 9515
Catalogue 4494
preteen modl. Do you spend a lot of time searching for the information about gay nudist colony? Our portal is always glad to help you! Pay attention to pictures on this theme:
preteen nudist beauty pagents. Our site will help you to find secluded sunbathing, hausfrau nackt bild, olu deniz hotel belcekiz beach easily and conveniently See it on the following pictures:


text:
Classic Bikers Club has unlimited access to Europe's largest collection of the motorcycling images in the Mortons Archive. With over a century of motorcycle memories, this world renowned treasure trove consists of – at the last count – over four million photographs...
The archive is incredibly popular and there are thousands of motorcycle enthusiasts who would love to find that perfect image to hang up on their garage wall or finish off their living room redecoration.
Searching through four million images can take a while though (just ask our archivist), so the team at Mortons has come up with an easier way…
We've selected some of our favourite, most popular and most iconic images from the Mortons Archive and launched an eBay shop where you can browse and make a simple 'buy it now' purchase.
Whether it's a stunning image of a classic AJS CSR or a detailed shot of riders launching from the start line at Mallory Park in 1968 (left) there is surely something to satisfy everyone.
And you don't have to worry about last minute bids gazumping you or paying over the odds. The images on eBay are available for a set price; what you see is what you pay.
The chosen images are available as one A3 image priced at £9.99 plus p&p, or spread across eight A3 images to make up one A0 poster costing £19.99 plus p&p.
Furthermore, Mortons Archive uses high-quality in-house facilities to print the image, ensuring that resolution and sharpness are retained.
► Visit our eBay shop and view our poster collection
Where legends come to life
Got a story for us?
Let us know by emailing us at email@example.com
With roots that stretch back to 1903 and a motorcycling archive without equal, The Classic MotorCycle has more to offer the true vintage motorcycle enthusiast than any other publication.
The Classic MotorCycle is published monthly, and available throughout the world in major outlets or by subscription. It is also available via Zinio digital magazines for PC, Mac or iPad / Android tablets.
• Subscribe today - www.classicmagazines.co.uk


text:
What does SSPS mean in Sports?
This page is about the meanings of the acronym/abbreviation/shorthand SSPS in the Community field in general and in the Sports terminology in particular.
Find a translation for SSPS in other languages:
Select another language:
Discuss this SSPS abbreviation with the community:
Use the citation below to add this abbreviation to your bibliography:
"SSPS." Abbreviations.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2014. Web. 21 Dec. 2014. <http://www.abbreviations.com/term/395115>.
SSPS also stands for:
- Secret Society of Pregnant Sisters
- Social Sciences and Population Studies Study Section
- Social Sciences Postgraduate Scholarship
- Social Service Payment System
- Space Shuttle Program schedule
... and 2 more »
Nearby & related abbreviations:
Alternative search:
- Search Southport Sail and Power Squadron on Amazon.com
- Search Southport Sail and Power Squadron on Google


text:
Placing an Order
/// What happens if my credit or debit card is declined?
In some cases, your bank or credit card company may have a security setting in place which blocks online purchases from Bodybuilding.com. For assistance removing this setting, contact your bank or credit card company.
When your credit or debit card is declined, our shopping cart will let you know immediately. When you submit an order for payment, the authorization is sent to Chase Paymentech. If it is approved, you will get an order number and a receipt. If it is declined, a message displays letting you know so you can try again or contact your credit or debit card company.
Most often credit or debit card transactions are denied for one of the following reasons:
- Going over the account spending limit
- Entering the wrong card number
- Entering the wrong expiration date
- Entering the wrong CV2 security code
- Entering a name that doesn't match the name on the card
- Entering a billing address that does not match what the credit card company has on file
- Having a security setting in place to block online purchases
- Placing an order using a card that has not been activated
- Having a security setting in place that has flagged the purchase as possible fraud
For specific and detailed information on why your transaction was declined, contact your bank; they will have a record of the decline and be able to provide the reason.
Bodybuilding.com is not notified with the reason a transaction is declined. Once the issue with your bank has been resolved, or if you choose to use a different card or payment method, re-submit your order and we'll get it out to you right away.
If you continue having problems submitting a credit or debit card payment, we also offer the following payment methods: PayPal, Bank Wire Transfer, Western Union, or Money Order.
If you have further questions, please do not hesitate to contact our award winning Customer Service department. We'd love to help you anytime; 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.


text:
Book your room at Residenza Maxima
Economy ApartmentMax Occupancy: 3 guests (up to 2 infants)
Standard Apartment, 1 BedroomMax Occupancy: 3 guests (up to 2 infants)
Standard ApartmentMax Occupancy: 5 guests (up to 3 infants)
Economy Apartment up to 4 peopleMax Occupancy: 4 guests (up to 3 infants)
Standard ApartmentMax Occupancy: 5 guests (up to 4 infants)
Apartment in the historical district, in Rome (Gianicolo)
This apartment is located in Rome (Gianicolo), close to Villa Doria Pamphili, St. Paul Outside the Walls, and Montemartini Museum. Also nearby are Roma Tre University and Fontana dell'Acqua Paola.
Property Features
In addition to complimentary wireless Internet access, Residenza Maxima provides limo/town car service, dry cleaning/laundry services, and laundry facilities.
Room Amenities
In addition to flat-screen televisions with digital channels, guestrooms include kitchenettes. Bathrooms come with showers and bidets.Information missing or incorrect? Tell us!
At your hotel
At your hotel
Residenza Maxima features a terrace, tour/ticket assistance, and multilingual staff. Public areas are equipped with complimentary high-speed wireless Internet access. This Rome apartment also offers a garden, a picnic area, and concierge services. Limo/town car service and wedding services can be provided.
Residenza Maxima has designated areas for smoking.
- Babysitting or childcare (surcharge)
- Free Wi-Fi
- Total number of rooms - 11
- Number of floors - 3
- Concierge services
- Dry cleaning/laundry service
- Express check-in
- Front desk (limited hours)
- Tours/ticket assistance
- Designated smoking areas
- Area shuttle (surcharge)
- Luggage storage
- Laundry facilities
- Limo or Town Car service available
- Multilingual staff
- Terrace
- Picnic area
- Safe-deposit box at front desk
- Year Built 2007
- Garden
- Number of buildings/towers - 1
- Wedding services
Stay connected
Available in all rooms: Free Wi-Fi
Available in some public areas: Free Wi-Fi
In your room
- Soundproofed rooms
- Air conditioning
- Climate control
- Kitchenette
- Coffee/tea maker
- Limited housekeeping
- Private bathroom
- Complimentary toiletries
- Hair dryer
- Shower only
- Bidet
- Iron/ironing board (on request)
- Desk
- Sofa bed
- Cribs/infant beds available
- Full-sized refrigerator/freezer
- Stovetop
- In-room safe (laptop compatible)
- Digital TV service
- Flat-panel TV
- Free Wi-Fi
- Cookware, dishware, and utensils
- Blackout drapes/curtains
- Individually furnished
- Espresso maker
To make requests for specific accessibility needs, complete the "Special or Accessibility Requests" section of "Trip Preferences" when you book your hotel.
- Accessible bathroom
- Accessible path of travel
- In-room accessibility
The fine print for Residenza Maxima
When you arrive
Minimum check-in age is 18
Check-in time ends at 6 PM
Check-in time starts at 2 PM
Special check-in instructions:
Guests planning to arrive after 6 PM must contact this property in advance to arrange check-in. Please contact the office using the information on the reservation confirmation received after booking.
When you leave
Check-out time is 10 AM
How you can pay
Your pets
Pets allowed, Only dogs and cats are allowed, Maximum number of pets per room 2, Pet maximum weight in lb is 20
You need to know
Extra-person charges may apply and vary depending on hotel policy.
Government-issued photo identification and a credit card or cash deposit are required at check-in for incidental charges.
Special requests are subject to availability upon check-in and may incur additional charges. Special requests cannot be guaranteed.
- No onsite parking is available.
No elevators
- A tax is imposed by the city: EUR 3.5 per person, per night, up to 10 nights. This tax does not apply to children under 10 years of age.
- All citizens of Italy will be charged the national value-added tax
- Airport shuttle fee: EUR 50 per vehicle (one way)
- Pet fee: EUR 10 per night (maximum EUR 30 per stay)
- Pet deposit: EUR 100 per stay
- Late check-in fee: EUR 15 for check-in between 7 PM and midnight
- Cleaning/housekeeping/linens fee: EUR 10 per stay
We should mention
Cash transactions at this property cannot exceed EUR 999.99, due to national regulations. For further details, please contact the property using information in the booking confirmation. Only registered guests are allowed in the guestrooms.


text:
By the waters of Babylon there we sat down and wept when we remembered Zion. How shall we sing the Lord's song in a foreign land? Psalm 137
O God of Seeing, after we have swallowed the knowledge of good and evil and our eyes are opened, how can we sing your song? When the scales have dropped away, when the clay has been washed off, when we put on the soft garments of grace you made for us, we stumble dazzled by the light, hearts aching for home.
Wayfaring strangers, exiles, we wander here in these soft skins yearning for a better country. We had bit down and tasted, chewed and swallowed that fruit. Our eyes were opened and we had seen. We had witnessed something that we could not speak of, yet must tell. We really weren't absolutely sure what it was we had seen, but we thought most of the time that it was God. It is true we asked for it, prayed for it - to see God and live, that is. Perhaps it would have been better to have died. Perhaps there are very good reasons why persons who see God rarely live to tell the tale. For now how could we sing a song in this strange land - this earth where gravity weighed hearts to the soil; and mind lay flattened between the pages of time?
What happens if you do not sing? What happens if your eyes are blinded by the light, and it all unfolds before you? What happens if you know the Lord's song by heart yet do not sing it? Does it rankle in your soul, turn sour, spoil and grow soft mossy mold? Does it take on a parasitic life of its own, feeding on your body, stealing your joy, eating up your hope?
Diana, 32 years ago when you were born, they brought you with swollen eyelids, wrapped tight in the swaddling cloths for the first feeding. When I put your mouth to me, you shuddered. For two days you shuddered as I held you, as one exposed to a chill or some horror. "Lambie pie," I called you then.
It is too much for us. It is all too much for us. To have eaten what we have eaten. To have seen what we have seen. To know what we know. One day I prayed for hours and could only pray: "Yes, Yes, Yes. Yes there is light. Yes there is hope. Yes there is love." Even though I felt none of it.
How do you sing a sacred song in a strange land? Maybe you just sing it. Maybe you don't attempt to be understood. Maybe you just sing what is so, because it is so. For the song's sake, for the singing's sake. Could I sing for the song's sake - for your sake, my sweet Lamb of God? Could I sing you a lullaby as you lie cradled next to my heart shuddering in your mortality?
Once, Diana, you brought me a gift. "This is a prayer stick, mom. I made it for you." It was a large stick with flowers woven round the top. Could I let the stick pray for me? For I do not know how to pray aright. I lean the stick against the old trunk. "Pray stick," I say. "Pray now." I go off to other things, while the stick holds the offering pointing toward heaven. Dare I trust creation to pray for me, to bear my prayer? Here stone, pray. Here river, pray. Here moon, pray. Just by being what you are, a maple branch salvaged from last fall's ice storm, wrapped round with pink petals, transformed by the touch of a child's hand into something sacred.
How shall we sing the Lord's song in a foreign land? That is the question. For our hearts are heavy, and we, captive by this mortal flesh sit down and weep.
I believe that
in the face of Noes
the Song must begin with Yes -
a tube
a culvert
knotted, clotted, congealed evil, wads of anguish, passing
through the yes into eternity, cleansed and free. The yes
like a filter, a rinse of spray. You can look at the sin or you
can look at God. If you look too long at the evil, you will
by it.
So head
on into
the defiled
the undefiled
by virtue
Not my will but thine.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=005fsCnzg4k&w=420&h=315]Link to Sweet Honey By the Waters of Babylon
This post is excerpted from a chapter in my book, Letters from the Holy Ground – Seeing God Where You Are. Some of these phrases and images have been returning to me lately. As a culture, as a global society, as families, and as individuals we may find ourselves in various contexts of alienation, estrangement, or even captivity. This sense of dislocation and disorientation may be experienced both externally and internally.
Reflection Questions
Are there ways you feel like a stranger in a strange land, taken to a place you did not wish to go?
How do you express your grief?
How do you sing a holy song in alien places and times?
How do you consecrate and make holy the strange lands in the heart and in our world?
Of what does your song consist?
Together we plow the light.
So much love in my heart for all of you.
On Trinity Sunday I arrived early at First Congregational Church, a block from where I live, and settled into my pew to contemplate the glory of the Holy Trinity. Yes, I know, who does such a thing? But the Trinity is something I can actually get carried away by. Before I left for church I read the beautiful prayer to the Trinity by Blessed Elizabeth of the Trinity. Her prayer begins with these words, O my God, Trinity whom I adore; help me to forget myself entirely that I may be established in You as still and as peaceful as if my soul were already in eternity. (You can find her prayer below. Be careful, if you read it, though. It is pretty hot stuff for Protestant non mystical types.)
First Congregational United Church of Christ is a denomination, whose Reformed roots I share, and I feel gratitude for. Thirty two years ago United Church of Christ folks hired a young Presbyterian minister, fresh out of seminary, and pregnant to boot, to be interim pastor of one of their churches here in Topeka, Seaman Congregational Church. That baby she was carrying, whose footprint you can still see in the sidewalk behind the church, turned 32 last month.
As my imagination was roaming around the abyss of God's greatness with Elizabeth, the good Rev.Tobais Schlingensiepen was moving about the sanctuary checking on his sheep as they arrived. He passed along the rows in his robe, sleeves billowing, shaking hands, and patting shoulders like a benediction. No skinny jeans and sport coat for this pastor. Nor was he busy checking his twitter feed. He spoke to the sheep by name, asked questions, looked for nettles, matted coats, signs of infection, injury, illness. Had any wolves slipped into the fold over night? Were the pregnant ewes eating well? The lambs coming along okay? He checked the weather and the flock's energy. What do they need from him today? Is what he has planned on track with what he is seeing this morning?
Arriving at my row, he reached to shake my hand. "Hi, how are you today?"
I responded with something like, "Splendid, just fabulous," all smiles. (Because I really was in that high dazed state of the fullness of love for God that comes upon me sometimes.)
He smiled, looked in my eyes. And asked again, "How are you…," leaning in a bit more, waiting. He knows how sheep lie.
"I am great!" a little embarrassed by my own high spirits. "Sometimes I feel people shouldn't be this blessed."
"I just wanted to be sure you were not being ironic. People use irony so much."
Let's take a moment to let this sink in. Is this the world, the church, we find ourselves in? A place where bliss and ecstasy are so rare that they may be mistaken for irony? Or has irony, that sarcastic twist of reality into its opposite, created a world of smoke and mirrors, where what one says rarely matches with what one means?
Without irony the psalmist shouts, "I was glad when they said, 'Let us go into the House of the Holy One!' I among many others have carried a very heavy heart with little or no joy into the house of the Lord on some occasions. And on those days I also know how very much it matters that someone notices, shows concern, and checks for any irony in my voice.
Yet are really happy sheep, saturated with love and joy, rare? I do not think so.
The kingdom of heaven will come when men and women are willing to be penetrated by bliss.
Years ago in a very unhappy season of my life I read these words by poet and potter, M.C. Richards. Richards' words opened my eyes to my own freedom and responsibility for the joy I my life. I knew deep down that her words were true, absolutely, and I have been wriggling my way into such a reality ever since. I believe that joy awaits us and is ours by virtue of our willingness to open the door, receive it, and to offer that willingness on the altar of the messes in our lives and this world.
The Sunday before I went to First Congregational Church, I was on retreat listening to Father William Meninger, a Trappist Monk, and one of the leading voices in the conversation on Christian contemplative prayer. We had gathered at Rockhurst University in Kansas City. Meninger is now 81, and an unfettered, jubilant soul, if I ever saw one.
He began the retreat and introduced himself with the Buddhist saying, The finger pointing to the moon is not the moon. Meninger said the way (method, creed, practices, and means of revelation) to God is not God. The way (your way, my way, the Presbyterian way, the bumblebee's way) is a finger pointing beyond itself toward ultimate Truth. I'm not the Christ but that I'm the one sent before him. John 3: 28
Meninger might have been channeling the German theologian, Karl Barth, who said that the Bible is a whole gathering of people pointing up at the sky. The Bible is not God; it points us in the direction of God. The particular mode through which God reveals divinity is less than the reality to which it gestures toward. For God is always beyond any particular description, form or conception of God, which we can reduce, carry around in our minds, and try to shove down somebody's throat as The Way.
Speaking of contemplative practice in the church Menninger addressed the group of 140 lay people, nuns, pastors, and priests from a wide variety of Christian faith traditions, including Assembly of God and Evangelicals. The group included one or two young people under thirty. Meninger is quite clear that contemplative practice arrives for most people in the second half of life and did not gnash his teeth over the lack of young people in attendance at the retreat.
"They are not ready yet. They have other things to do first."
But he refuses to let us off the hook when he says, "Our churches today take their people to the door, but we hold them back. We don't lead them into the silences."
At First Congregational we had some silent time. The worship leader took us to the door and gave us some time to cross over. The bulletin said: Silence (30 seconds). I would have liked 30 minutes, but I figured that was all that the sheep here could tolerate; and that it helped them to see a time limit in print; and that, further, this silence thing was not going to go on and on and leave them sitting there stewing in their own juices forever.
I think Meninger is right. We do take people right up to the door to the deeper mystery and beauty of God, but we stop short. I see this often. Why is that? I wonder – failure of nerve and lack of faith, or maybe because some pastors do not spend much time on the other side of the door – simply surrendered to Christ in love, being in union with all there is – and want to get through the next point of the sermon and the sheep out the door before noon.
Our problem is not that the sheep have never crossed over to the silences. You know how sheep are. They will poke their noses anywhere. They know and have experienced union with God, that shimmering silence and peace which rises up in their hearts, but they will call it something else. Day dreaming, sitting on the deck, holding their grandchildren, looking at a sunset…
We all have moments where words fail, time stops, and a moment brims over with beauty and joy.
What the church may fail to do is give us time, space, and permission to savor, taste, swallow, and deeply enjoy these moments and value them as holy. Instead we get anxious, feel we are wasting time, need to stick with the agenda, or are being lazy. We worship the relentless, mean, crushing, 24/7 gods of consumerism and production instead of the endlessly abundant, overflowing goodness of the Trinity. As neuropsychologist, Rick Hanson writes, we have a serious problem in our brains and in our culture with our ability to take in, soak in, and absorb the good in this world which is constantly pouring itself out upon us.
On Trinity Sunday the Holy Spirit at First Congregational kept opening the door and I am sure quite a few of us there that morning went over the threshold to some kind of communion with the Trinity.
The sublime guitar and violin duet did it for me. Pastor Tobias did it. He swung a door wide open in his thoughtful probing of the creation story in Genesis 1 as he invited questions and observations from his flock. He gave us some history and asked us to see beyond the story to the minds that told this story and found incredible hope in it in a time of their captivity. In this poetic account of the beginnings of things we find a God who stands outside, beyond the fingers of time, space, creation, and history. Here is a God who is sovereign over all that I can possibly imagine and not subject to anything that has been made or thought by the creation. Here was a God who was more than my little piece of history and present suffering who had made a world that is good and who was worthy of my hope. Surely such an open door inspires a long silence, a bent knee, and a prolonged dwelling in the wonder of this God.
So I say be bold in leading ourselves and others into the silences! Encourage ourselves to take more than a tentative sniff. Take us gently by the scruff of our necks and say, "Come on, try it. I will go with you."
Holiness likes to camp out in those nooks and crannies of time and space, for which we tend to have such disdain. We even call them "dead spaces." Look again. Such unscripted moments are empty tombs resonant with the echoes of a risen God and the swift beat of wings.
Go ahead. Take a chance on bliss.
Note to Topeka Area Readers:
Father Meninger is interested in offering a retreat in Topeka next year. Any persons interested in helping to make that happen please comment or contact me. email@example.com
Well it's finished
I would have to go all out
purge myself of doubt
hold on till the final hour
push for verification
of the one veritable transitory power*
to seal what happened
what was and is and ever more shall be
with the indisputable fact,
the terminating stamp,
of my own story.
Why not take their word?
I trusted them enough.
We saw him risen in the light!
Our own eyes feasted on the sight!
Where was I then
delayed in darkness
caught in traffic
held up by bandits
lost down blind alleys?
And when I arrived,
he had come and gone
the meeting was adjourned.
Was it so wrong to have yearned
to know for myself,
not only to have heard,
of what glory they were so assured?
How could he come when I was gone
and leave me, coming,
to be slapped with that second hand joy?
I did not know how he had spared me
how my delay was grace.
So I choking, sputtered
strutted through their glee:
Not me.
Not me.
I shall not believe what I cannot see!
Then you came back.
What were we doing then
eating lunch
talking about the Cubs
debating the umpire's call?
You came back
or forward
or was it we who moved?
You came and went
climbing out of centuries
striding through solid wall
and stood once more before us all.
"Here, here," you said
and slipped my hand
into your side pocket
wrapping me with your anguish.
The room spun round.
My skin turned inside out
and my soul's raw quick
swaddled in the mitten of your wound
chafed next to your rib.
I shrunk
till I was no bigger
than a speck
upon your shoe.
I had loved you
of that I had no doubt.
But your gaping spaces opened my ears
to the triumph shout
of life's Word
and seared me,
sealed me with the sight
of what till then I had only heard:
that you loved me before I ever knew
that you came back all torn
and maimed for me to see
that I would see
you love me too.
So now I sit
unable to pretend I never wore
the ring of your palm round my finger,
unable to deny
we have been wedded by your pain,
unable to forget
the moist seam of your wound
and the intimacy
in asking me to touch you there.
Unable to swill in perplexity
to feign ignorance
to sulk amidst the heart's strivings
or fume when things go all awry,
for that which I had heard
which I saw with my eye
which I looked upon
and touched with my own hand
that which has completed my joy
has completed me.
And I am finished,
for now, my dearest, dearest love,
there is only you.
As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commands and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. John 15: 9-12
*the one veritable transitory power, from T.S. Eliot's, Ash Wednesday
Special Note
for Topeka, Kansas Area Readers
Topeka area residents, watch for a fun way to support local charities, including The Sanctuary Foundation. Save this date: June 3, 7:00 am – 6:00 pm, at Fairlawn Mall.
On that day your gift to The Sanctuary Foundation fund will be increased by a pro-rated match gift from The Topeka Community Foundation. Watch for more details on how to stretch your dollars in supporting the wonderful work being done in Topeka.
We are looking for helpers to sit at our booth for an half hour or so to share with people why The Sanctuary is important to you.
We also need comments from those we serve about what The Sanctuary means to you, how we may have made a difference in your life, stories, anecdotes, etc to help us let others learn more about us. You can comment here, or at our website , on our Facebook page, by emailing us at firstname.lastname@example.com.
I always have toast (crispy) with peanut butter (crunchy), a good shake of cinnamon, and honey smeared liberally on top for breakfast. I cut my toast into four squares on a small white plate. I eat it slowly with my coffee, licking my fingers and (if nobody else is around) wiping up the drips of honey and peanut butter on the plate with my tongue. And I always use Food for Life's Genesis bread. You know, the expensive funky frozen bread in the organic food section made of nuts, sprouts, roots, berries, sticks, and pebbles from around the world.
We are creatures of habit. Our habits shape and form our character, lifestyle, health, skills, talents, beliefs, and the kind of people we become.
Because of my breakfast habit, I look for good buys on organic, crunchy peanut butter and local honey. I will use gas to drive across town to get it. I read the articles about the decline of bees and the sweeping implications of that for agriculture, not to mention my daily portion of honey. I often carry my own breakfast supplies when I travel. And when Food for Life stopped making Genesis bread, I suffered. I saw how my little habit might be verging on an addiction.
Our lives are filled with dozens of similar habits, as well as habits of thought, emotional responses, eating, sleeping, exercise, etc. As these are repeated over and over some of these practices affect many other areas of our lives in negative and positive ways. Our personal habits affect our relationships with others, the environment, and the whole planet.
What habits have you formed in relation to your spiritual life? What do you practice over and over, like a musician, a dancer, a surgeon, or a woodworker? What do you return to daily, each time learning more, honing your craft? Some days there may be struggle and one seems to be losing ground. Other days you are met with an incredible ease and joy in your practice. Over time, years and years of practice, you find yourself maturing, deepening, and knowing more and more of the ways of God. You will begin to recognize the contours of grace, the lessons of humility, and the deep, endless sea of love.
Whatever you choose to call it –becoming like Christ, following Jesus, being a disciple, union with God, transformation, healing, or growth – relationship with God requires awareness and intentionality, or in other words: practice. Deep faith is given through a continual returning to the Source, the Living Water. Daily, year after year, we go back, we kneel down, sit down and place – not our skill as practitioners, or our religious credentials – but our naked need, vulnerability, longing on the altar of our lives. Here we open our whole being to the infinite One. Through this surrender we are formed and reformed into the likeness of God.
Here is a link to the latest issue of Holy Ground, published quarterly by The Sanctuary Foundation for Prayer. I wrote this issue about the practice of prayer and why it is so important. Our shallow culture of sound bites, video clips, and surface relationships does not nourish the deep places of our lives, nor does it help us develop the wisdom and depth of understanding our world is crying out for. The peace we are seeking for ourselves and our world, which is writhing in pain, is waiting for us within us. Seek that peace within. Cultivate it. Nurture it. Practice it. And you will become peace for those around you. This is how the kingdom comes.
There are many books and website about spiritual practices. Here are two for you to explore.
Spirituality and Practice;Abbey of the Arts
Special Notice: I will be reading poetry with Leah Sewell from 5:30 to 7:30 this Friday, April 4, at Warehouse 414Warehouse 414 at 414 SE 2nd St in Topeka. Come on downtown for a feast of poetry, good conversation, and April fun. I would love to see you there. To learn more: Downtown Poetry Crawl
Epiphany has drawn to a close and now we are leaning into lent, a word, which originally meant spring and referred to lengthening days. Most of us are weary of this harsh winter.
Before we turn to lent, here is a final word from Epiphany, not unlike the long goodbye we are getting from winter this year. One of the reasons I love Epiphany is because the word, epiphany, is euphonious, which means pleasant to the ear and fun to say aloud. Epiphany sounds like a soft whisper or a rabbit sneezing. There are qualities of the liturgical season, which we are leaving behind , which offer good preparation for Ash Wednesday and the journey to the cross.
Blessed Are the Pure in Heart for They Shall See God
generous span in midwinter,
the season of showings,
promises to the swift and clear-eyed
no less than a glimpse of Divinity
high tailing round the corners of our lives.
Now that the trees and earth are bare,
the God we hunger for will dance naked
for those bold enough to believe
in incarnation.
God will dance wild
and free over the frozen land,
while we shiver in our veils
longing to see with faces
bare of illusion
bare of pretense
bare of guile
aching to see
with hearts stripped and clean,
as the maple whose slim limbs slice space
in great chaste swaths,
ordering emptiness,
chalking off a place on the floor of heaven
for God to trip the light fantastic
and leave us all blinded
by a graceful shimmy
rubbing our eyes, amazed.
Oh dancing God
create in us clean hearts
pure hearts
hearts scoured
slick and smooth
as a copper pot
that we may not miss one grande jeté
that we may see
Twenty five ago I published the first issue of Holy Ground – A Quarterly Reflection on the Contemplative Life. Back then we called it Making Haqqodesh (Hebrew for the holy ground), I had just established The Sanctuary and thought a newsletter would be helpful as a way to stay in touch with the group of people supporting this new venture in ministry. I wrote the poem above for the front page of that issue. During this year, as we celebrate our 25th Anniversary, I will post excerpts from some of those early issues of Holy Ground from time to time
Here is a bit more from the first issue:
Our deep hunger for God calls out, hollows out, spaces in our hearts, in our lives, and in creation for a sacred meeting with the One who made us and is making us. Our willingness to go down into the emptiness and the out of the way places on the far side of the wilderness thrusts us and our need before burning bushes, where we behold our God and receive our mission.
One of our board members, Catherine Jantsch Butel offered this definition of holy ground:
Holy ground is that burning reality which can only be apprehended – which breaks into really – the present moment (mine or another's) and which, surprisingly, disorders, reorders, rearranges, resynthesizes all my previous arrangement of Reality.
In twenty five years I have never come across a better definition.
In those early years before the resurgence of interest in spirituality, before the establishment of hundreds of training programs and curriculum in spiritual formation and spiritual guidance, and before the internet I had few models for the kind of ministry I wanted to do and faced many doubts. Yet I always found encouragement and support. Here are a few memories:
Riding across the Kansas prairie with a friend who was also a minister, who after listening to me hem and haw for sixty miles, blurted out, "Loretta, what is it going to take for you to decide that God is calling you to do this?" Then she handed me a check for fifty dollars.
Preparing for the first gathering of Evening Prayers held in our dining room in my home, I nervously asked my friend, Cathy, "Do you think I am just being crazy?" Cathy looked me in the eyes and said, "No. Loretta, you are not being crazy. You are just being obedient."
I also encountered warning. A priest asked, "How do you handle failure? These places always fail you know." I was reminded that to be faithful to the gospel, the Sanctuary must stand in opposition to the world and that holy ground is conceived through the cross of suffering and surrendered love.
Murray Rogers, Episcopal priest and founder of contemplative communities in India and Hong Kong told me, "I am very suspicious of spiritual manipulation. These things take time, you know. You can't hurry holiness." He counseled trusting the Spirit, simplicity, and waiting for doors to open.
As you prepare your hearts for lent, what do you need for the journey ahead? The words of counsel I was given twenty five years ago offer me a useful guide for what to carry with me this lent. These are my prayer for your journey:
• An honest friend who will help you discern God's will for you.
• Obedience to God regardless of what others might think of you.
• Acceptance of failure and suffering as part of the journey of transformation.
• Simplicity and patient trust in God.
• And a pure heart, a heart scoured slick and smooth as a copper pot, that you may follow your dancing Lord all the way to Easter morning!
May this season offer you richness, astonishment, and a few graceful shimmies, as Christ transforms you from one degree of glory to another.
Help us celebrate Twenty Five years! Check out our new website, The Sanctuary Foundation for Prayer Let us know what you think. What would help you in deepening your faith and peace? How we can improve and best serve you for the next twenty five years?
Well, maybe not twenty five, but so far I have had no signs from God to stop this foolishness.
My soul shall be filled as with a banquet.
- Psalm 63: 2-9
At dawn my sleepy lab whines softly. I rise and let him out to sniff his boundaries and empty his bladder. A few minutes later he pounces on the door. Eyes glinting light, he shakes off the blanket of snow on his back. Then lifting one front leg after the other, he prances in the kitchen, pulls a dish towel off the counter and waves it toward me. The toaster, jar of peanut butter, and humming refrigerator sparkle like icicles in the sun.
I love winter – all of it – grey dishwater skies, wind rattling the siding on the house, cold, ice, blizzards, early sunsets, long nights, and dogs ploughing glad furrows in the snow.
I love that winter is a force I cannot control, but only yield to with humility and respect.
I love winter's summons to gather up the scattered pieces of myself, burrow down deeply, and simmer in darkness, drawing strength for spring.
I love having to wait and trust in what is unknown and unseen.
Winter grows gratitude in my heart for the privilege of shelter, warmth, running water, and the freedom to stay home. Winter also blooms with compassion and sends me out to help those for whom winter is not some cozy spiritual experience.
Winter spirituality is a less-is-more Holiness of pared down praise. Winter speaks in koans and says, "Behold the fullness of this emptiness!" Now excess in prayer and lifestyle seem gauche and redundant in a world, stripped down to its bare essentials – all bones and angles, holding out its harsh, nonnegotiable truths.
I had had enough of winter thirty five years ago, when I pulled out of my drive in Kalamazoo, Michigan and headed south to Kentucky. I had spent the previous thirty three years of my life in Michigan and Iowa. I am not sure why
I am so hungry for ice and snow now.
In contrast to the world of humans with our getting and spending, the natural world never tries to impress or persuade me of its opinion. It has nothing to market. It simply is in its implacability, given over to being what it is - a dead maple limb in my front lawn after the storm, a dried tomato vine, a fox checking the garbage can, a rabbit without regret or apology leaving tracks in the snow.
What is implacable about me, unchanging, or nonnegotiable? I wonder. I am a hermit at heart and welcome snow days. I love people and I love being with people. And love for them burns in me like a furnace and pours out molten in my prayers.
And there is this other love – a love of absence, silence, solitude, simplicity – a winter of the soul, where I sit down to a great feast so satisfying that I need nothing else.
Hail Mary full of grace,
blessed art thou among women
and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.
Holy Mary, Mother of God,
pray for us sinners now
and at the hour of our death.
As I made my way through congested traffic to finish up my shopping, this simple prayer started up, unbidden, inside of me. The Hail Mary or Ave Maria is one of the prayers and scriptures on my inner playlist. It is part of me like an internal organ, quietly fulfilling its purpose and helping to keep me alive. In odd moments I overhear this interior worship. As I step away from my self preoccupation, I find myself occupied by the Spirit with its sighs and groans too deep for words.
I have always loved this prayer, which is a part of the devotional life of many people. The first two lines are the greeting of the angel Gabriel to Mary as found in Luke 1: 28-30. I recall memorizing it, as I walked along the sidewalk of the campus at the University of Northern Iowa in 1966.
This entreaty to Mary as Mother of God is for some Protestants a "Catholic accretion" and considered unbiblical and theologically unsound. Some will say that we do not need Mary's intercession, when we can go directly to God on our own. Such views ignore the power and influence of mothers throughout the Bible, as well as their privileged status before God as persons of God's particular compassion and love. Those who write doctrines tend not to be poets or comfortable with metaphor and mystery.
The scriptures contain numerous images of God as feminine. The Hebrew word for Holy Spirit in Genesis is a feminine noun. My seminary teacher liked to translate Genesis 1: 1 as, In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was without form and void, and as for the Spirit of God, she was moving over the waters.
Of course God is much more than what we may consider as feminine or masculine attributes. God is beyond gender. Yet Christians believe that two thousand years ago God came into our midst for a time dressed as one us with gender. God condescended to enter into our cultural biases to bring truth and freedom and radically change the world. If the form God chose had been a woman's, would the outcome have been the same? Given the culture then I doubt if a woman would have ever received the same attention or regard. Instead God chooses a woman to enable God's self to become one of us.
No matter how hard some scholars may have tried to stamp them out, the feminine dimensions of divinity in whose image both men and women have been created make their way into our consciousness in one form or another and seek expression in our faith and worship.
Personally, I like the notion of God having and/or being a mom, a generating source. I know it makes no sense for some, but I like the image of God as a fecund nurturing womb, engaged in creative, life-bearing activity, a Spirit "brooding" over the waters like a hen. Acknowledging the feminine in God is an important balance to patriarchal images and wholly masculine notions of Holiness, which leave some women feeling excluded, and have been used as a rationale for the disregard and abuse of women for centuries.
I learned this prayer in college, when I converted to Catholicism. I didn't realize it at the time, but I was looking for feminine imagery and feminine gifts in the expression of my faith, which were largely absent from the rational Presbyterian worship of my childhood. I was Catholic most of my young adult life and found there opportunities to worship with more than my mind and my voice. Incense, kneeling, bowing, colorful statues, many of which were women, saints, guardian angels, rosaries, a veil perched on my head, a small prayer book to carry – all allowed the imagination and passion of my young soul to find expression.
Yes, my Anabaptist and Quaker ancestors were probably turning over in their graves. Yes, it was patriarchic. The singing wasn't the best and Biblical study nonexistent, but I arrived with plenty of that preparation. To find a woman, no matter how sentimental and passive she may have been depicted, prominently figuring in worship allowed me to feel that this was a place, where I belonged. Remember this was sixties.
So out shopping, I pondered Mary being full of grace? What does it mean to contain nothing, but grace in one's being? The people I encountered seemed full of many things instead of grace – anxiety, impatience, and weariness. There were some exceptions, like the insurance salesman who works on weekends at Orscheln's, paying off medical bills and some credit card debt. He had a lot of grace inside himself. Some of it spilled out on the receipt he handed to me, and I have carried it in my purse all week.
Mary is full of grace, because her womb is full of Christ, who offers grace to all. Parking in front of Best Buy, I decided to take a look at what in me might be crowding out the grace of God.
Here is what I found:
• That deep wound I get out sometimes and pick at
• The steady current of mindless, slightly hysterical, anxiety which makes me critical, paranoid, and assume things about people which are not true
• That nagging expectation of catastrophe that hides under perfectionism
• A to-do list telling me I am way behind, lazy, and going to be counted tardy
• Insecurity and self-doubt making pronouncements about how I am too old for this or that and how my writing sucks
What in you is not graceful, kind, forgiving, loving? How do you delete these freeloaders from your inner playlist?
We handle the negatives in ourselves gently with kindness, mercy and forgiveness. Love the little boogers. Say, "Hello, To-Do list! Come here. It looks like you need a hug." Here's the secret. It takes grace to be full of grace. The way to make room for grace in our lives is by being graceful to ourselves first. Then grace naturally flows from us to others. To forgive others we must forgive ourselves.
What would it be like for you to be full of grace – stuffed to the gills with mercy and forgiveness? Why not try it? See what happens, what you notice. So little grace is present in our national discussions and relationships with one another. We hold grudges, harbor resentments, and take a perverse delight in the missteps, failures, and sins of one another.
In an NPR interview Rabbi Shaul Praver, who spoke at the anniversary observance of the school shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, offered these words:
We have found the cure for the social disease of violence, hatred, and bigotry, and that cure is good old-fashioned loving kindness. When everyone practices that it does change the atmosphere of a room, of a town, or a community, of a state and a country. And so, it is not of only local value, but it is of universal value.
Grace – unmerited, undeserved, unearned. The hope, the first budding of such kindness is growing in Mary's womb.
Holy Mary, Mother of God, may it be so for all us sinners.
Learn more about the Hail Mary prayer on Wikipedia.
At the woods' edge I wait for you
to come heal the violence in me.
I look and look at the trees,
scrawled limbs
framing the plum stained sky.
I look and look at the fawn in the clearing,
the cedar with blue berries,
the red sun sliding under the horizon.
I look and look at the dark
creeping over the countryside.
At vespers you
peer in windows,
meow at the door,
home into my heart.
I cannot get enough
of you filling my senses
with sweet awareness.
You, the Word
in whom our wordiness dissolves,*
silence us.
As leaves loosen and float to the earth,
we tumble over, lay our bodies upon the path.
You come, finger over your lips – Hush, be still –
to take back territories in our souls,
lands occupied by greed, fear, envy.
It is 5:28 pm, and I am weary of words,
the fury of opinions, righteous indignation,
and ideas clanking in the mind like heavy coins.
The vain prattle cannot muffle the murmur
of Herods plotting to kill innocents,
nor the hiss of evil waiting under every rock.
Yet I do believe that all we say and do
counts as nothing next to you,
inexorable Word,
bearing down
into us from on high.
His father opened his mouth
spoke mercy
out came Jesus.
Jeshua. Hush!
His mother squatted over cold stones,
pushed, out came an infant
wailing, wrinkled.
The child gazes into our faces.
A hand reaches toward us.
You – absorb our isolation,
sponge up our misery –
a soft warm cheek
to hold against the dark.
Freedom and the Electric Fence
The brown and white English spaniel sits erect on the broad green lawn. Elijah, trotting along beside me, halts, stares, and sniffs the air. My black lab and I look at the dog sitting still as stone. He wears a small box at his throat. Elijah has seen stone dogs before and stone rabbits too. Once he went up to sniff a stone deer standing in someone's front yard and barked and barked at it. Giant inflatable Halloween yard ornaments, jiggling and bowing in the wind, scare the wits out of him.
Elijah scents the air again, nostrils dilating, inhaling the meaning of this mystery. Then he tilts his head, wags his tail, tugs at the leash. This dog is not stone! Yet the spaniel remains still, forlorn before this large house on its immense, immaculate sweep of real estate, free of unsightly fences.
Elijah bows and barks. The dog sits, unmoving. I walk closer and say, "Hello, little dog. How are you today?" He gazes into my eyes with a soulful intelligence and silent pleading, which take my breath away. When I speak again, he replies in a whimpering yelp.
As Elijah and I move on, the pup rises and silently follows us along the line of his invisible fence.
Anymore, I have less and less stomach for keeping things in cages – dogs, rabbits, people, theories, truth, God. They won't stay anyway. When you force them to remain, they wilt, turn gray, and whimper.
We become what we love
and who we love shapes what we become.
If we love things, we become a thing.
If we love nothing, we become nothing.
Imitation is not a literal mimicking of Christ,
rather it means becoming the image of the beloved,
an image disclosed through transformation.
This means... we are to become vessels
of God´s compassionate love for others.
~ St. Clare of Assisi
Many years ago I deliberately chose a path of what I called "downward mobility." I chose to become a minister and made a subsequent choice to become the sort of minister for which there were few or no models, namely, to consider prayer as the heart of what I offered. I took up work which I knew would not reward me financially and might well require other sacrifices. Instead of remaining on a career track of higher education administration and teaching, I followed a Love that would not let me go anywhere else, but into its heart.
I was naïve. I thought ministry would be different from the stressful, competitive world of higher education and academia. I thought I would be able to focus on prayer and help others who were struggling with their relationships with the Holy One. Of course, I brought along all of my own unfinished business and the issues that had plagued me in that other world were all waiting for me on the doorstep of the church.
And, yes, this is where ministry and personal/communal growth always occurs: right in the midst of a stressful, competitive environment, with a lot of personal unfinished business.
Downward mobility includes more than lesser income, status, and pension benefits. Downward mobility includes the inner life as well. Over and over, my attachment to lesser gods, my selfishness, my controlling ego, and my pride are exposed, as Jesus invites me to come down off my high horse and revel with him in the lowly, fertile ground of humility.
In the midst of the muck Love seems always to meet me with a different agenda than my own. I call it Love's way and it haunts me day and night, as I both resist and plead to be conformed to this path of humble trust in God. Love's way, which is described extensively in scripture, is accessible, freely available to everyone, and is being offered to us moment by moment. And in Love's way is where I long to dwell all the time.
I fail over and over. When that happens I am like a child lost in a dark woods. A kind of desperate panic comes over me, until I fumblingly discover where I got off the path and make my way back to joy and peace. I need at least an hour a day of contemplative prayer to maintain this deep abiding in Christ. If I want to work with others and help them in their prayer and relationship with God, I need more time. If I want to deepen and grow in knowledge and understanding of God, I need still more time.
I do not for the life of me understand how faith can deepen and flourish in the hearts of people without a serious commitment to spending time alone with God in prayer. And further, while I am on this rant, the internet is insidious in the way it cheapens us, makes us shallow, feeds surface hungers, plays upon and manipulates our opinions, self-understanding and understanding of the world.
Let's take a deeper look at the way of Love. Here is how Jesus described it:
"Come to me, all you who are struggling hard and carrying heavy loads, and I will give you rest. Put on my yoke, and learn from me. I'm gentle and humble. And you will find rest for yourselves. My yoke is easy to bear, and my burden is light. Matthew 11:28-30, (CEB)
I especially like the way Eugene Peterson puts it in his paraphrase of Matthew 11: 28-30, The Message:
"Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you'll recover your life. I'll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me - watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won't lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you'll learn to live freely and lightly."
To put on Christ's yoke and learn from him is to become gentle and humble and to find rest. To become an image of Christ is to put down our heavy loads and bend our necks beneath a yoke, which is easy and light.
Peterson enriches Matthew's words with the beautiful phrase unforced rhythms of grace. That's it! How would it be if what characterized our lives was not harried, stress-filled days, constant multi-tasking, distracted, pushing and shoving, controlling and anger, but rather the unforced rhythms of grace?
I suspect many of you know those graceful rhythms, when you find yourself in step with the Spirit and your day unfolds with beauty. I also suspect such days do not occur as much as you would like. How would your life look if you put on Jesus' easy, light yoke more consciously and deliberately? What might change or what would you do differently?
What if your goal was not success and achievement, but gentleness and humility?
How do we do this? Is it even possible in the world we live in? Matthew tells us how. Jesus tells us how in these verses. Go back and read them again.
Quite simply, becoming like God and wearing the easy yoke, has to do with the company we keep. "Come to me," Jesus, says. "Keep company with me."
The only return Love asks for the gift of living in its way is our love – not our money, time, talents – but first and foremost, Love desires our love. This always slays me. The Love that animates life, binds the whole universe, flows into our hearts with joy and delight wants our love! Love wants to be loved. Jesus affirmed this divine desire in the greatest commandment:
You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself. (Luke 10:27)
I know how important it is to me to be loved by my children and family, my dog, and my friends. Here is what we may miss: God finds it very important to be loved by us. God desires our attention.
Perhaps, this is because, as St. Clare has written, we become what we love.


text:
Do you ever wonder what your pet needs, feels, or is thinking?
Animal Bridges uses animal communication to help you understand your pet's needs, thoughts, and feelings to build a deeper relationship between you and your beloved friend.
But that's just the beginning.
- Is dog anxiety or shyness a problem for you and your dog?
- Does your cat's excessive grooming frustrate you?
- Do you want to build your pet's confidence and improve his health?
- Are you looking for a gentle way to address problems with your pet?
Do you ever want to ask your pet . . .
- Are you happy?
- Are you in pain?
- What can we do to improve your life?
- What do you want to tell me?
- Why are you behaving this way?
- ... and more!
Animal Bridges Helps Pets.
Dogs, cats, and pets of all shapes and sizes also benefit from Animal Bridges' additional gentle, loving methods such as Tellington TTouch Training®, Healing Touch for Animals®, and Bach® Flower Remedies.
Animal Bridges works with you to create unique, integrated sessions to enhance your pet's well being and help your pet live her best life.
Do you have these Pet Challenges?
- Adjusting to changes - new home, baby, etc.
- Aging pet and mobility
- Car sickness and travel issues
- Dog's anxiety - vets, thunderstorms, etc.
- Excessive barking and chewing
- Excessive grooming
- Leash pulling
- Pet euthanasia support
- Pet injury and illness
- Pet pain
- Physical and emotional trauma
- Stress and fears
- Veterinary care support
- Urination/spraying
- And more!
Shy Fearful Dog's Journey to Confidence with TTouch®
Dogs, cats, and pets of all shapes and sizes also benefit from Animal Bridges' additional gentle, loving methods such as Tellington TTouch® Training, Healing Touch for Animals®, and Bach® Flower Remedies.


text:
Key facts
- 2013
- Petrol
- Sports
- Manual
- 5 miles
YELLOW, Learner legal, Funky yellow, Speak to staff about finance. Here is probably the coolest RS4 125, Funky yellow. Learner legal and a hoot to ride. Come and view today,, £4,310
Insurance categories When a seller advertises a vehicle, we use the details sourced from Motor Insurance Anti-Fraud and Theft Register (MIAFTR), operated by Insurance Database Services Ltd, to check whether the vehicle is recorded as having being written off. The write off data is checked at the time of placing the advert. The write off category indicators are provided for your assistance, but the presence or absence of an indicator in an advert, should not be relied upon by you to indicate the status of a vehicle. You are strongly advised to obtain a full vehicle history check before making an offer on a vehicle. Auto Trader Limited, or its data supplier, will not accept liability for any information provided.
Auto Trader Limited, or its data supplier, will not accept liability for any information provided.
Buying adviceHow to buy this bike
Get the bike you want with minimum fuss.How to check over a used bike
Print off this guide and take it on your viewing.How to negotiate the price of a used bike
Spend the minimum amount to get the bike you want.Read reviews
Find out all the facts - from reliability to running costs.
Safety & Security Centre
We're dedicated to providing you with the tools you need for a hassle-free experience.
From car history checks and scams to be aware of, to our top tips to stay safe online. Use our guides to buy and sell a car with confidenceRead more
Call dealer now
On Yer Bike
(01296) 655999
More from this dealer
About this dealer
On Yer Bike
"We are one of the UK's leading independent motorcycle dealers. Established in 1989, we are main dealers for Aprilia, Kawasaki and Yamaha. Our stock of used bikes of all makes and models is known country-wide for its vast choice and keen pricing."
Services offered
More bikes from this dealer
- APRILIA RS 2013 (12 reg), Sports £3,099
- APRILIA SR 2013, Scooter £2,120
- APRILIA SHIVER 2014, Naked £5,999
- APRILIA SHIVER 2013 (13 reg), Naked £4,699
- APRILIA SHIVER 2012 (12 reg), Sports £3,999
Interested in this bike?
Other motoring services
Auto Trader Bikes partners with industry leaders to provide a range of services for your motoring life
Get a bike warranty Avoid costly repair bills with an award winning warranty
Get GAP Insurance Avoid losing thousands in an insurance claim
Personalise your bike Stand out from the crowd and buy a unique number plate


text:
Chicago Cubs RSS
Jack White caught smiling – finally – at a baseball game
Jack White loves baseball - though you wouldn't always know it. Continue reading
The 2 O'Clock: What, do the Canucks and Flames not entertain?
Look, I don't want to disparage the man whose intent, when he developed a 12-day nutritional cleansing program, was to make us feel better. But here's the truth: On day 6, I feel like crap. My hands are shaking. My … Continue reading
The 2 O'Clock: You can eat in Beast Mode, but then you'll never be able to run in Beast Mode. I promise
Attending Seattle Seahawks games presents its own unique set of risks. Once a year I go down there, usually with my brothers-in-law and my father-in-law, and we come home exhausted and heavy. After all, all we've been doing there is … Continue reading
Vancouver Canadians tab call-up Jairo Labourt as Game 1 starter for finals against Boise Hawks
Slugger Mitch Nay won't be the only newcomer thrust into the starting line-up for the Vancouver Canadians in these playoffs. C's manager Clayton McCullough announced Thursday that left-hander Jairo Labourt, who spent the regular season alongside new No. 3 hitter … Continue reading
The 2 O'Clock: Ernie Banks jams with Pearl Jam, and Peter King knocks it out of the park with new football site (knocks it out of the park? brutal)
Roberto Luongo getting invited to Team Canada's Olympic orientation camp and a new royal baby … on the same day? Breathe, McDonald, breathe. Anyway, it's true. Both are true. But if you are Bobby Lou today, you have to feel … Continue reading
Bill Buckner, at the Nat for a series against the Vancouver C's, talks Fenway, Wrigley and Dodger Stadium
Bill Buckner is a good ballpark benchmark. A first baseman and outfielder in the big leagues for 22 seasons, Buckner is currently tutoring Chicago Cubs' prospects as the hitting coach of the Boise Hawks. He's in town this week for … Continue reading
The Baseball Blog, week three in the Majors
Historical ineptitude? The five worst teams in baseball – the Seattle Mariners, Miami Marlins, Houston Astros, Chicago Cubs, and San Diego Padres – have a combined record of 26-74, and are all on pace to lose 100 games. If each … Continue reading
Oddsmakers: If Blackhawks are to lose, tonight's the time to start
If the Chicago Blackhawks are ever to lose in regulation, tonight would be as good a time as any. So says Bodog. The oddsmakers have investigated the Blackhawks' challenge — beating the Canucks would tie them with the 2006-07 Anaheim … Continue reading
Baseball America puts one Vancouver Canadian, pitcher Taylor Cole, on top-20 Northwest prospect list
They won the Northwest League pennant collectively, but they didn't win over the Baseball America onlookers too much individually. Baseball America put out their annual look at the Top-20 prospects in the Short Season Single A circuit on Friday, and … Continue reading
Seven-run seventh inning propels Vancouver Canadians to improbable comeback
You can sum up the opening game of the Northwest League final in one stat: a 26-minute bottom of the seventh inning. The Vancouver Canadians sent 11 hitters to the plate in the stanza, had seven of them come around … Continue reading


text:
| Share
Movie Summary | Infoplease.com
Every Little Thing (La moindre des choses)
Description: This French documentary travels to the Loire Valley of France to go behind the gates of La Borde, a progressive French psychiatric clinic, where emotionally disturbed inmates stage an annual musical production. With original music and songs, the play is the Polish absurdist comedy, Operetta by Witold Gombrowicz. Shown at the 1997 Vancouver Film Festival.~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide
Movie summaries and listings powered by Cinema-Source
Related Content on Movies from Infoplease:
Private Tutor
Explore Mathematics , Solve Math Problems


text:
by Jessica Cox, RD
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your Daily Values may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs.
This Mediterranean spin on chicken salad is bursting with fresh flavor thanks to the addition of pesto. Use chopped rotisserie chicken for a time-saving substitute, if desired, to mix up an anything-but-boring lunch in no time!
Involve your child in the cutting, mixing and preparation of all meals. Even a snack can be healthy.
Sit down together as a family to enjoy a wonderful meal and the opportunity to share the day's experiences with one another.
To encourage a healthy lifestyle, get your children involved in selecting the food that will appear at the breakfast, lunch or dinner table.
Keep all your favorite Kids Eat Right recipes in one place.
Kids Eat Right is a joint initiative between:
Join us in making quality nutrition a reality for all kids.
Printed from the www.kidseatright.org website.
© 2014 All rights reserved. Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics


text:
The more I visit and meet rural people, the higher my respect for their knowledge rises. It amazes me that we from the cities and academies regard them as uneducated, illiterate and "subjects" for our "expert" inputs. Much of their knowledge and expertise is not in the form that we would recognize (as in "notice") or recognize (as in "award"), because it is embodied. However, they are masters at being resourceful, innovative, living light and being content—what else could one ask for? And isn't it ironic that despite our high knowledge and technical expertise, we are struggling to achieve precisely the same ends?
Join our network of non-profits, companies and individuals who believe social change can happen through design.Become A Member
Popular Blogs
- Korby Dore
1 Votes / 1 Posts
- Rica Morrison
0 Votes / 7 Posts
- LogicGateOne Corp
0 Votes / 6 Posts
- Monick Atwell
0 Votes / 5 Posts
Most Active Members
- Kate Andrews
321 Recent Posts
- v-neeta
305 Recent Posts
- steven landau
157 Recent Posts
- Douglas Best
126 Recent Posts
Recent Work Samples
- HeatherRose Studios
Designer (Illustration)
Designer (Graphic Design)
- Vicky Theodoreli
Designer (Graphic Design)
- April Befort
Branding and Design Coordinator
Arvind Lodaya
Bangalore, India
Strategic Design, 3-Dimensional Design
Member since October 26, 2007
Traditional versus Modern knowledge
Well-being, Environmental DesignVotes (3)
Posted November 08, 2007
By Arvind Lodaya
- Chronological
- Most Popular
Dear Arvindji,
You are right, rural people have more knowledge and solutions of thier problems.
I just want to share that in Gujarat, SRISTI organization is working on innovations of Rural People and thier traditional knowledge.
You might know this. You can also visiti http://www.sristi.org/cms for more information.
Jaydev Babariya Ahmedabad
Posted May 21, 2009
By jaydev babariya
Responses (0)
My Interests
- Industrial Design
- Environmental Design
- Communication Design
- Fashion Design
- Audio/Visual Design


text:
Watermelon, grilling, fireworks!
All mainstays of 4th of July, but the holiday weekend is also one of the busiest for fire departments across the country.
The number one reason for this? Fireworks.
In the state of Arizona, certain types of fireworks are legal; those being the types that do not leave the ground.
Nevertheless, Yuma Fire Department's public information officer Mike Erfert says fireworks are never a safe bet.
He says the safest bet is to go out and enjoy a professional fireworks display, as they are often free.
Reason two fire officials are kept so busy this upcoming weekend? Grill accidents.
4th of July is a great time to grill, but if you do, make sure to dispose of hot coals safely and keep young children away from the flames.
Another issue to keep in mind is the hot, dry weather we experience here in the desert southwest, which can make any dry brush on your property a fire hazard.
Doing a quick clean-up of your planned grilling area can go a long way to preventing brush fires.
Watch KYMA news, sports and more!
Watch NBC News, Sports and Entertainment.
Follow KYMA News 11 on Twitter
Follow KYMA on Facebook


text:
Get MoreValue Out OfEvery Purchase!
Cool Tools offers a wide selection of Metal Art Clays for your jewelry projects. Art Clay is known for less shrinkage when heated and can be fired with a torch. Get creative with all of the different types of Metal Art Clay we have to offer.
You will find the best selection of Art Clay products right here at Cool Tools. Choose from Art Clay in ACS Slow Dry, ACS Low Fire, ACS Standard, ACS Copper, ACS Gold and more. Metal Art Clay is available in pure fine silver Silver and High Karat Gold Metals. Art Clay is great for many different jewelry projects since it allows fast torch firing and is known to have the least shrinkage after sintering. This is a wonderful material to use for braiding or adding intricate detail. All of the Metal Art Clay at Cool Tools is genuine and a "Green" product as well. All Art Clay is made with recycled Metals. Shop through to find the right Metal Art Clay for your next jewelry adventure.
US Shipping only. Use to repair or combine previously fired pieces.Thinning liquid included. Apply to fired clay, dry, then fire at 1472F. Can be torch fired when joining fine silver bezel wire seams.
US Shipping only. Fire as low as 1200F great for use with glass and sterling silver. Fire in a kiln or with a torch. During firing this clay shrinks between 8-9%.


text:
NOTE: Information Resources for Livestock and Poultry Handling and Transport may be viewed as one complete publication file [lvstfull.htm, 385 kb], or as individual chapter files accessible via table of contents below [10 kb to 65 kb].
Information Resources for Livestock and Poultry Handling and Transport
AWIC Resources Series No. 4
Transport and Handling of Livestock and Poultry, 1994
National Agricultural Library Cataloging Record:
Information resources for livestock and poultry handling and transport 1990-1998.
(AWIC resource series no. 4)
1. Livestock -- Handling -- Bibliography. 2. Livestock -- Behavior -- Bibliography. 3. Poultry -- Handling -- Bibliography. 4. Livestock -- Transportation -- Bibliography. 5. Poultry -- Transportation -- Bibliography.
I. O'Driscoll, Jennifer. II. Animal Welfare Information Center (U.S.) III. Title.
aHV4701.A94 no.4
About the cover: The diagram of the bovine flight zone is by Temple Grandin (©1980). The photograph of a cattle round-up at Fort Keogh Livestock and Range Research Station in Montana is by Jack Dykinga (K3908-1/USDA-ARS).
Policies and Links
Return to:
Animal Welfare Information Center
National Agricultural Library
The Animal Welfare Information Center, Contact us: http://awic.nal.usda.gov/contact-us
http://www.nal.usda.gov/awic/pubs/livestock/lvstchap.htm, April 22, 1999
How to Use This Document
Bibliographies and Audiovisuals
Internet Resources
Document Delivery Information
I would like to thank Temple Grandin, Ph.D., from Colorado State University, for providing her article on assessment of livestock stress published previously in the Journal of Animal Science, and also for sharing her extensive knowledge of the resources available in this field. Thank you also to the livestock and poultry organizations that contributed information to this project.
Thanks are also due to David Farr and D'Anna Jensen for invaluable computer assistance.
Information Resources for Livestock and Poultry Handling and Transport was developed by the Animal Welfare Information Center (AWIC) of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), National Agricultural Library (NAL), in an effort to provide a current guide to the scholarly information available on the handling and transport of farm animals.
Techniques used to move livestock, whether on the home farm, up the loading ramp of a long-distance transport truck, or down a raceway at the packing plant, have tended to be more a matter of habit and tradition than a subject for scientific investigation. In recent years, however, the prime importance of efficient and humane handling practices has become more widely recognized. Researchers in the fields of animal science and applied ethology have built up a substantial body of knowledge in this area, with one general conclusion -- proper handling is essential on both economic and animal welfare grounds.
This guide provides an entrance into that body of knowledge, which includes scientific journals, books, newsletters, conference proceedings, videotapes, the Internet, governmental and institutional guidelines, and the expertise of individuals and organizations.
The staff of the Animal Welfare Information Center hope that you find this publication to be a useful addition to your farm animal resources and welcome any comments for future editions.
This publication is divided into seven sections: a full-text article bibliographies preceded by a full-text article, audiovisuals, internet resources, organizations, guidelines, and document delivery information for U.S. and foreign patrons.
*Note: In this electronic version, the bibliography and audiovisual sections have been combined into individual files according to animal: General, Cattle, Exotic and Other, Goats, Horses, Llamas, Poultry, Ratites, Sheep, and Swine.Bibliography*
This section is preceded by an article written by a recognized authority in the field of livestock handling. Following the article is a comprehensive bibliography containing citations that are arranged alphabetically according to the last name of the primary author. The reference section of the article may or may not overlap with the bibliographies. Each bibliographic entry contains the NAL call number if the particular source is available at the National Agricultural Library. Audiovisuals*
Livestock handling is a subject for which visual demonstration can be particularly useful. This annotated section describes the many videos and slide sets available pertaining to this topic. Most of the videos are in the NAL collection.Internet Resources
This section cites currently available websites containing information pertinent to livestock handling and transport. The section is divided into two parts: webpages of individual and organizations, and full-text on-line documents and pamphlets.Organizations
A number of organizations have shown an interest in livestock transport and handling issues. Information on how to contact each organization via a variety of electronic means and/or postal address is provided, as well as a brief description of the resources and services each offers.Guidelines
This section cites some of the regulations and guidelines covering the handling and transport of livestock written by national and regional governments and non-profit and industry groups. It is not a comprehensive list.Document Delivery Information
The information contained here provides directions on how to obtain copies of articles mentioned in the bibliography. There are separate directions for U.S. patrons and those readers outside the United States. All patrons are encouraged to use their local resources before contacting the National Agricultural Library. While the National Agricultural Library provides a variety of services to patrons around the world, videocassettes are not available for loan outside the United States and Canada.
Return to:
Animal Welfare Information Center
National Agricultural Library
NOTE: Information Resources for Livestock and Poultry Handling and Transport may be viewed as one complete publication file [lvstfull.htm, 385 kb], or as individual chapter files [lvst chap.htm10 kb to 65 kb].
The Animal Welfare Information Center, Contact us: http://awic.nal.usda.gov/contact-us
http://www.nal.usda.gov/awic/pubs/livestock/lvstchap.htm, April 22, 1999


text:
Roomy, chic and perfect for days when you need to tote absolutely everything—this is one satchel you won't want to be without. Make it your go-to for a signature accent with unstoppable style.
• Glazed faux-leather exterior with lizard-embossed trim. Enamel logo plaque. Silver-tone hardware. Removable heart-shaped faux leather charm.
• Top zipper closure
• Interior features a zipper pocket, cell phone pocket and additional multipurpose pockets. Exterior zipper pocket. Floral lining.
• Dual top handles with chain detail and 11 ½" drop
• 16"W x 11"H x 7"D
Shipping Options:
Orders are shipped via UPS using the following rate scale:
Standard 5-7 Business Days - $8.95
Second Business Day - $14.95
Next Business Day - $26.95
NOTE: No Saturday or Sunday deliveries.
No shipping to P.O.Boxes. A.P.O and F.P.O addresses are automatically shipped via USPS Ground.
Orders placed during regular business hours (Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. EST) are typically processed and shipped within one business day.
We do not offer international shipping at this time.
For complete details, click here.
Easy Return Options:
Take it back to your local GUESS store for FREE or ship it back to us.
GUESS gladly accepts unworn, unwashed or defective full-priced merchandise for up to thirty days after purchase date. Original receipt, hygiene strip and tags must be attached. Unfortunately, pierced jewelry, innerwear, fragrances, lotions and items marked "final sale" are not returnable. Sale merchandise may only be returned to a store for an exchange. Shipping charges are not refundable.
For complete details, click here.
Contact Us By Email:
Use our online contact form for quick, personalized assistance. Click here.
Contact Us By Phone:
Toll Free: 1-877-44-GUESS (48377).
Monday through Friday 6:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m., Saturday 7 a.m. - 4 p.m. (PT)


text:
Recent Posts
- Republican Retired Army Col. Lawrence Wilkerson: "My Party Is Full of Racists" and "That's Despicable".
- 2nd Presidential Debate — Romney: "I Care About 100% of America". Obama: "No You Don't". President Obama's Best Closing!
- Rosie Perez talking to Mitt Romney: The Reason Why Latinos Are Not Voting For You…
- The Reasons Why Joe Biden Won the Debate
- Rebuttal of Mitt Romney's Lies By Mitt Romney!
- Why Obama Now and Romney Never?
- While Obama Raised $181 Million In September, It Would Be A Big Mistake To Write Mitt Off and Decide The Election Is Already Won By Obama!
- "Sunshine Patriots and Fair Weather White Guys" — Take A Note Liberals. Lots of Work Awaits Us In The Next 4 Weeks!
- Pathological Liar…
- Romney Thinks Half of America is Lazy, Irresponsible and Don't Care For Their Lives
- @rossssc @Maggyw519 @BarackObama well, the POTUS exposed how dumb and an airhead Chuck is so not surprised there. 1 month ago
- @NerdyWonka they just don't like Blackface. It makes them feel like they are losing their manhood. 1 month ago
- RT @MikeGrunwald: "The much-derided stimulus helped the poor most." How Obama secretly became the anti-poverty president http://t.co/dV03IP… 10 months ago
- @LOLGOP it's very likely the Teabaggers activism must have worked...lol. I wouldn't be surprised these fools eat that spin. Lol. 10 months ago
- RT @ezraklein: Obamacare really is starting to work better: wapo.st/1b39nRg 1 year ago
- October 2012 (9)
- September 2012 (5)
- August 2012 (7)
- May 2012 (2)
- March 2012 (1)
- February 2012 (23)
- January 2012 (23)
- Angry Black Lady Chronicles
- AttackWatch
- Black Agenda Report
- Booman Tribune
- Critical Mass Progress
- Crooks and Liars
- Eclectablog
- Jack & Jill Politics
- Mother Jones
- Norbrook's Blog
- Organize for America
- Pragmatic Obots Unite!
- Smartypants
- The Field Negro
- The Fierce Advocate
- The Motley Moose
- The Obama Diary
- The Onion
- The Only Adult in the Room
- The People's View
- The White House
- TheGrio
- Tim Wise
- Truthout
Tag Archives: Paul Ryan
The Reasons Why Joe Biden Won the Debate
Joe Biden came out swinging, fact checking Paul Ryan on the spot, not letting him go unchecked with the same lines of lies and misrepresentation that was evidenced during the last Presidential debate by his boss, Mitt Romney. The performance … Continue reading
Posted in Barack Obama, Election 2012, Mitt Romney Tagged Abortion, Afghanistan, Auto Bailout, Barack Obama, Economy, Election 2012, Foreign Policy, Iran, Jobs, Joe Biden, Madicare, Mitt Romney, Mitt Romney's Lies, Obama/Biden 2012, ObamaCare, Paul Ryan, Syria, Tax Reform, Vote 2012, VP Debate 2 Comments
Mitt Romney's Catastrophic Choice: Paul Ryan as Vice President Running Mate. What It Means? Has The Election Already Been Won?
Mitt Romney has finally tapped his Vice Presidential running mate, the Congressman from Wisconsin, Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), who mocked Romney Massachusetts' Health Care plan saying Romneycare Is an 'Unsustainable' 'Fatal Conceit', while just a couple of days ago Romney spokeswoman … Continue reading


text:
The City of Round Rock and Round Rock Arts bring the holiday celebration to downtown -- and honor the classic Christmas song -- with the 12 Days of Main Street.
From Dec. 2 to Dec. 13, you'll find activities to put you in the holiday spirit. Events take place at various locations in and around downtown (see schedule).
11 a.m. Monday, Dec. 2: Christmas Carols at Centennial Plaza – Pack a lunch and bring a lawn chair/blanket. 301 W. Bagdad Ave.
5 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 3: Deck the Sculptures – bring your camera to capture your favorite sculpture dolled up for the holidays. ArtSpace, 231 E. Main St.
2:30 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 4: Sweets on Main Street – Come to the Round Rock Public Library and decorate cookie and treats. 216 E. Main St.
5:30 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 5: First Thursday and Tacky Sweater Night – A reception at ArtSpace to celebrate their new exhibit, holiday trees and model trains. Come in your tacky Christmas sweater! 231 E. Main St.
6:30 p.m. Friday, Dec. 6: Christmas Family Night – Watch as Main Street gets illuminated and Santa arrives in his sleigh. Main Street.
9 a.m. Saturday, Dec. 7: Market Days – Christmas shopping can be done downtown, find unique crafts, jewelry, home decor and more. Main Street.
7 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 7: Guitar Performance – Your family can experience O. Henry's priceless, "The Gift of the Magi," with the Childbloom Christmas Guitar Choir ArtSpace, 231 E. Main St.
3 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 8: Round Rock Ballet Folklorico presents "Christmas Posadas," – a Christmas time traditional folk dance. Prete Main Street Plaza, 221 E. Main St.
11 a.m. Monday, Dec. 9: Christmas Storytime – Holiday stories are brought from book to life through the magic of storytellers. Prete Main Street Plaza, 221 E. Main St.
6 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 10: Chris Bell's Blues Explosion – End your day downtown and sing along to your favorite songs. Prete Main Street Plaza, 221 E. Main St.
Noon Wednesday, Dec. 11: Jazzy Lunch – The Award Winning Stony Point Jazz Band will perform, BYO lunch and blanket or lawn chair. Prete Main Street Plaza, 221 E. Main St.
10 a.m. to noon Thursday, Dec. 12: Pet Pictures with Santa – Pet Parents bring a camera to catch your prized pooch with Santa Clause. Prete Main Street Plaza, 221 E. Main St.
6 p.m. Friday, Dec. 13: Movie on the Plaza – Polar Express, a family friendly movie, bring your lawn chair or blanket and bundle up. Prete Main Street Plaza, 221 E. Main St.
Activities are subject to change.