text:
An Assistant Professor in the Department of Portuguese at the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth, Christopher Larkosh specializes in Lusophone and comparative literatures, literary and cultural theory, translation studies, and studies in ethnicity, migration and citizenship. He also directs the UMass-Dartmouth Summer Program in Portuguese. Recently published essays and articles include "Translating Multilingual Life" (Flusser Studies 7, 2008), "Allophone Presences: In the 'Here-and-Now' of the Humanities" (UMass-Dartmouth, 2007), as well as other articles in TTR, TOPIA, Contemporary French & Francophone Studies/Sites, Portuguese Literary & Cultural Studies, Social Dynamics and The Translator. He regularly presents his works at international conferences in the Americas, Europe, Africa and Asia, and is presently writing a book on Lusophone diaspora cultures.
Curriculum Vitae
Title: Assistant Professor, Department of Portuguese, UMass Dartmouth
Present research interests: comparative literatures and cultures (Lusophone World, Latin America, Québec, Italy/Central Europe, Global South); literary and cultural theory; translation studies; bi- and multilingualism; gender studies; studies in ethnicity and migration.
Languages: Proficient in English, Portuguese, Italian, French, German, Spanish, Catalan and Polish. Working knowledge of other Romance and Germanic languages.
Higher Education
- Ph. D. in Comparative Literature, University of California at Berkeley, 1990-1996. Degree conferred: December 1996. Fulbright Grant, U. of Buenos Aires, 1994.
- M. A. in Comparative Literature, University of California at Berkeley, 1988-1990. Degree conferred: May 1990. FLAS and Kosciuszko Foundation/Polish Government Grants for graduate study in the U.S. and Poland.
- A. B. in Hispanic Studies with general and departmental honors (summa cum laude), Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, New York, 1983-1987. Study abroad in Spain, Germany and Austria. Degree conferred: May 1987.
- Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Translation Center, University of Massachusetts-Amherst, 2003-2004.
- Rockefeller Postdoctoral Fellow, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Brazil, February-September 1998.
Selected Recent Publications
- "'QuébEx': Post-Nations, Translations and Other Cases of Multiple Identity." Contemporary French and Francophone Studies/Sites (Special Issue on Québec), Vol. 13, Nº 1, pp. 55-65, January 2009.
- "Translating Multilingual Life." In Flusser Studies 7 (www.flusserstudies.net, Finger, Anke, ed.) Fall 2008.
- "The Translator's Closet: Editing Sexualities in Argentine Literary Culture." In TTR, Vol. XXI, Nº 2 (Ottawa, 2007), pp. 63-88.
- "Forms of A-Dress: Performances of the Foreign and S-Other-n Flows of Transnational Identity." In Samuelson, Meg and Shaun Viljoen, eds. "Oceanic Worlds/Bordered Worlds." Special Issue of Social Dynamics, vol. 32, No. 2 (Cape Town, Fall 2007), pp. 164-183.
- "Je me souviens…aussi: Microethnicity and the Fragility of Memory in French-Canadian New England." In TOPIA: Journal for Canadian Cultural Studies, Issue 16 (Toronto, 2006), pp. 91-108.
- "'Writing in the Foreign': Migrant Sexuality and Translation of the Self in Manuel Puig's Later Work." In Polezzi, Loredana, ed. "Translation, Travel, Migration." Special Issue of The Translator, Vol. 12, Nº 2 (Manchester, U.K., 2006), pp. 279-299.
- "On Gramsci, 'Epistemic Interference' and the Possibilities of Sud-Alternity." Annali d'italianistica 24 (Chapel Hill, 2006), "Negotiating Italian Identities." Bouchard, Norma, ed., pp. 311-326.
Recent Conferences/Invited Lectures
- Session Co-Organizer and Presenter for the Conference Seminar "Embodying Translation." ACLA Conference, Cambridge, Mass., March 2009. Paper title: "Embodying Translational Autonomy in 21st-Century New England."
- Invited Plenary Speaker, International Conference, Comparative Literary Association of India, University of Hyderabad, January 2009. Paper title: "Reading Across the Current (And Other Lessons from the Future)."
- "Teaching (Beyond) Portuguese in Lusophone New England." Special Session on Cultural Diversity in Portuguese, MLA Convention, San Francisco, December 2008.
- "Navigating Between Ethnic Identity and Global Cultural Literacy: Teaching Portuguese in Luso-Afro-Brazilian New England." Conference on Teaching Portuguese in North America, University of Toronto, October 2008.
- "Tabucchi's Other 'Portuguese Novels.'" American Portuguese Studies Association Conference, Yale University, October 2008.
- "Translating Out of Portuguese in Postcolonial East Asia." CATS/ACT Conference, Vancouver, June 2008.
- "Prophecies from Vieira Park." Conference on António Vieira and the Futures of Luso-Afro-Brazilian Studies." UMass-Dartmouth, May 2008.
- "Cidadanias transnacionais no Atlântico Lusófono." [Transnational Citizenships in the Lusophone Atlantic.] Invited Speaker (in Portuguese), Instituto de Estudos Superiores Isidoro da Graça, Mindelo, Cape Verde, March 2008.
- "'Portagees,' 'Brazucas' and Other 'Funny Porto Ricans': Overlapping Citizenships in the U.S. Lusosphere." MLA Convention, Chicago, December 2007.
- "A Portugal of One: Antonio Tabucchi and the Ends of European Identity." Robert Dombroski Conference for Italian Studies, University of Connecticut, September 2007.
Recent Courses Designed and Taught, UMass-Dartmouth (Fall-Spring-Summer)
- Spring 2009: POR 681/781 "Latin American Fiction and Theory" (advanced graduate seminar)
- Fall 2008: POR 481/581/681/781 "The Mythical and the Sacred in Portuguese Literature" (advanced undergraduate/graduate seminar)
- Fall 2008: POR 310 "Introduction to Literary and Cultural Analysis" (undergraduate seminar).
- Summer 2008: POR 481/581/681/781 "Luso-Asian Fictions" (advanced undergraduate/ graduate seminar in Portuguese).
- Spring 2008: POR 481/581 "Off Center: Translating Identities in Lusophone Literatures" (advanced undergraduate/graduate seminar in Portuguese).
- Spring 2008: POR 305 "Portuguese-English Translation: Theory and Practice" (bilingual undergraduate seminar).
- Fall 2007: POR 217/ENL 200 "Portuguese-American Literature" (undergraduate seminar in English).
- Fall 2007: POR 630 "Migrations and Modernities in 20th-Century Brazil" (graduate seminar in Portuguese on Brazilian literature and culture).


text:
The Latin Vulgate w/ Apocrypha (VULA) | New International Version (NIV) |
10 facti sunt principes Iuda quasi adsumentes terminum super eos effundam quasi aquam iram meam | 10 Judah's leaders are like those who move boundary stones. I will pour out my wrath on them like a flood of water. |
The Latin Vulgate is in the public domain. (The Latin Vulgate w/ Apocrypha) | Scripture quoted by permission. Quotations designated (NIV) are from THE HOLY BIBLE: NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by Biblica. All rights reserved worldwide. (New International Version Bible Online) |

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Agility is the key to success for many sports like soccer, basketball, volleyball etc. Feet coordination, quick movement, start and stop are the main areas that need to be worked upon by the players. There are many kinds of equipment that provide agility training and agility ladder is the most popular and practiced one. It is perfect for both indoor and outdoor usage. There are many drills that can be performed with agility ladders to help in improving speed and coordination. Agility ladder is the most effective way to increase endurance and leg muscle strength. Using 2 agility ladders attached at an angle will help in performing quick direction changing exercises which matter a lot in sports. We also offer agility ladder drills DVD that is narrated by experts for complete running, skipping and jumping training. Choose your sport specific exercises and get fully trained for agility in different movements. This agility training equipment is designed with equally spaced flat and plastic rungs, and velcro attachments. We also deal in other kinds of agility training devices like reaction balls, jumpsoles, lateral resistance bands, step hurdles and lots more. There are many different ways to configure your training with these items. Get discounts on purchase of pairs or more and be the quickest one in your team.
Strength and Conditioning Trainer Brien Shamp


text:
Corporate accountability
Companies have an enormous impact on the rights of individuals and communities. This impact can be positive, for example the creation of new jobs and an increase in state revenue that can be used to fund basic services. Yet all too often, human rights are abused as corporations exploit weak and poorly enforced domestic regulation and the lack of international accountability mechanisms to devastating effect in developing countries.
Allegations of human rights abuse are particularly high in the extractive industries. This is not surprising, given the impact that such operations have on land and water resources. Communities may be forcibly relocated to make way for extractive activities. Traditional livelihoods – and lives – can be destroyed or threatened as land is contaminated and water supplies are polluted or overused.
The arrival of well-resourced companies seeking to win over local communities can also lead to increased violence and social conflict, as some people are excluded from the benefits of economic development. This can be exacerbated by the lack of transparency in the way companies award community contracts and payments.
Affected communities are frequently denied access to information about the impact of company operations and excluded from participating in decisions that affect their lives.
When abuses do occur, the situation is further compounded when communities are denied access to justice, and governments cannot or will not hold companies to account. The consequence is continued abuse and insecurity, further entrenching the cycle of poverty.
In the name of economic efficiency, states have privatized many state services including those critical for people to enjoy their rights to education, health, and water. However, governments often fail to ensure that companies deliver these services without discrimination.
Economic globalization has expanded the reach of companies across national borders, but regulation has failed to keep up. A system of regulation must urgently be put in place that ensures redress for those affected and prevents the pursuit of profit at the expense of human rights.
Find out more:
India: Bauxite mine and refinery devastate lives in Orissa
Papua New Guinea: Forced evictions and police brutality around the Porgera gold mine
Nigeria: Petroleum, pollution and poverty in the Niger Delta
India: 25 years of injustice for the people of Bhopal
Trafigura found guilty in toxic waste dumping tragedy


text:
i'm looking for nominees.
the one that inspired me is from this season's project runway. the fact that it's only one word and it's used 40 times an episode and it's uttered by the most annoying little twerp ever to appear on the show all put it at the top of the heap for me:


text:
panchoballard's LomoHome
from Bolton, United Kingdom
Human male, North West UK. I used to front a Mexican band called Pancho Ballard and the Banditos. Now I'm just a solo musician. I bought my first analog camera, the Diana Mini, on a holiday to Muni…ch (check out the Deutsche Musuem, it's awesome!). I now have so many cameras that I've lost count. My favourites are my Holga 120GN, Sprocket Rocket, Kiev 6C and a 1979 Olympus Trip 35. I hope you enjoy my photos! show more show less
Lomo Lubitel 166U, Holga 120 GN, Lomography Sprocket Rocket, Lomography Diana Mini, Lomo Smena 8M, Lomography Spinner 360, Olympus Trip 35, Lomography Diana F+, Lomo LC-A+, Holga WPC, Lomography La Sardina - El Capitan, Kiev 6C, Holga 135, Lomo LC-Wide, Lomography Belair X 6-12 Jetsetter, Minolta XG-M, and Lomography La Sardina


text:
"We're seeing apple folks jump in on this now where we hadn't before. This printer seems to make sense for them now," he said.
Rainier Fruit hires veteran for sales and marketing
Rainier Fruit Co., Yakima, Wash., hired Andy Tudor to its sales and marketing department in late November.
Tudor comes to Rainier with 25 years of sales and marketing experience in Washington apples, according to a news release.
"Andy Tudor is a welcome addition to our team, and I'm looking forward to working with him," director of marketing Suzanne Wolter said.
The company also introduced "Max Line" apple packing technology in October.
"The Max line reduces our bin to box time a full 24 hours, allowing us to more efficiently and expeditiously respond to consumer packaging requests," Wolter said.
Sage Fruit promotes staff to social media director
Yakima, Wash.-based Sage Fruit Co., has a new social media director.
Kaci Komstadius, previously with sales support, stepped into the new role in September.
According to Chuck Sinks, president of sales and marketing, Komstadius will focus on building out the company's entire social media network, including running some contests with the upcoming Biggest Loser promotion. She also will work with schools and retailers on other promotions to help increase interaction with consumers.
Stemilt Growers hires artist to manage promotions
Stemilt Growers, Wenatchee, Wash., hired Nick Shamley as promotion manager.
Shamley will be responsible for creating promotional materials and programs to help sell fruit and increase consumption, vice president of marketing Roger Pepperl said.
Shamley, an artist who trained at the Seattle Art Institute, began his role this summer.
He previously worked for a promotion company that served the produce industry, Pepperl said.


text:
Norm Johnston has been coaching hockey longer than he cares to remember.
A veteran of the SJHL coaching wars, he spent one season (1994-95) as head coach of the WHL's Regina Pats. A lot of his time that winter was spent cleaning up an organization that was in the ditch. Despite getting things back on track off the ice, he wasn't invited back after the team went 26-43-3 on it.
A school teacher, Johnston since has coached various minor hockey teams in Regina and presently runs the midget AAA Regina Pat Canadians.
Last week, Johnston was wearing a rather wide grin. And, while he perhaps wasn't saying "I told you so," you can bet he was at least thinking it.
Because Johnston has been one of JC Lipon's biggest supporters for years now.
Lipon, a right winger in his fourth season with the WHL's Kamloops Blazers, came under Johnston's tutelage in Regina's minor hockey ranks. And now Lipon finds himself in Europe as a member of Canada's national junior team.
Johnston isn't surprised.
"I can still remember calling JC and telling him that he had made the bantam team," Johnston says. "I told JC that I had never coached anyone as small as he was.
"JC's reply was, 'I will do anything to play . . . anything to help the team.' "
At the time, Lipon was, according to Johnston, "under five feet and less than 100 pounds."
A couple of years later, Johnston was coaching the Pat Canadians and Lipon was in his camp. History repeated itself.
"He was among the bottom 15-year-olds," Johnston admits, "but he just wanted to play. We carried 22 players and JC was the last forward we picked.
"I can still remember parents coming up to me and telling me I picked the wrong guy. One parent told me that she understood if her son did not make the team, but that (bleeping) Lipon better not make it either!"
Johnston adds that a lot of hockey people talk about "character." As he points out, they throw that word around like it's a penny.
But, he adds, Lipon really does have character. "JC just wants to play," Johnston says. "Really, this guy will do what it takes to win."
Now in his fifth season as the Pat Canadians' head coach, Johnston has brought back five former players to speak to his team and the parents - Lipon, Graham Black of the Swift Current Broncos, Harrison Ruopp (Prince Albert Raiders), James Howden (Clarkson University) and Kale Derkson (junior A Notre Dame Hounds).
When Lipon spoke, it was about "work ethic and never give up," Johnston says.
Today, Lipon is testament to both.
Here's a guy who is in his fourth WHL season despite having scored only six goals combined in his first two seasons. At least he was consistent, with three goals each season.
From the beginning, though, all he wanted to do was play. After his first season, Lipon figured out that if he scrapped a bit he might get more playing time. So in 2010-11, he got involved in 15 fights, up from four his freshman season.
All the while, though, Lipon was working to become a better player. A national-calibre wakeboarder, he obviously is athletic. That helped him to improve his skating. His work ethic is beyond reproach. But, at the same time, he is extremely coachable.
Early last season, Kamloops head coach Guy Charron put Lipon on the right side of a line with Tim Bozon and Colin Smith.
The chemistry was immediate and Lipon responded with 65 points, including 19 goals. Then he started this season like a house afire. When he left for Team Canada's selection camp, Lipon had 57 points, including 22 goals, in 34 games.
Seen as the longest of longshots, he earned a roster spot, perhaps grabbing it in the first period of the prospects' second of two exhibition games when he twice absorbed hits in order to make plays and also set up a goal.
Canada flew to Finland on Saturday. It will play exhibition games there against Finland on Thursday and Sweden on Saturday. Then it's off to Ufa, Russia, where it opens the World Junior Championship on Dec. 26 against Germany.
Lipon is likely to play on an energy line with Philip Danault of the QMJHL's Victoriaville Tigres and Anthony Camara of the OHL's Barrie Colts. Danault was a first-round selection by the Chicago Blackhawks in the NHL's 2011 draft. Camara went to the Boston Bruins in the third round of that draft.
Lipon? He has never been drafted. He agreed to a tryout deal with the Colorado Avalanche last summer but the lockout wiped that out.
Of the 23 players on Canada's roster, 21 have gone through the NHL draft and 20 of those were selected. Only Lipon wasn't taken.
When Lipon played in the Subway Super Series game in Victoria in November, he admitted to having been star struck when he found himself surrounded by "all those first-round draft picks."
Well, there are 10 first-round selections on Team Canada's roster, along with six seconds and three thirds. But Lipon now knows that he fits in with these guys, that he can play at this level.
So don't be surprised if, before this tournament is over, people have to come to know JC Lipon, the guy who "just wants to play."


text:
No fooling?
Saw on the today show this morning where they taste tested the Paleo trend of "bulletproof coffee"...thought you all on this forum would get a kick out of that. Matt Lauer wasn't a fan! It made me laugh.
No fooling?
Here's the link:
Butter coffee: Will it give you extra energy -- or just make you fat? - TODAY Health
A couple of Paleo commenters managed to get in and say that this ONLY works if you're fat adapted, and even Paleos need to watch the calorie bombs.
It doesn't matter. Bulletproof coffee is waaaaaaaaaayyyyyyyyyyy over the heads of most Today Show viewers. They can't get past "moderation" and "get off the couch" and "didn't cavemen die when they were like 25" and "cavemen didn't have butter." You think they can have an intelligent discussion on BP coffee? Good god no.
5'0" female, 43 years old. Started Primal October 31, 2011, at a skinny fat 111.5 lbs. Low weight: 99.5 lb on a fast. Current weight: skinny-fat 106 lbs. Resetting with the 21-day challenge.
MY PRIMAL: I (try to) follow by-the-book primal as advocated by Mark Sisson, except for whey powder and a bit of cream. I aim for 80-90 g carb/day and advocate a two-month strict adjustment for newbies. But everybody is different and other need to tweak Primal to their own needs.


text:
BGCI Worldwide > BGjournal Special 20th Anniversary Editions
BGjournal Special 20th Anniversary Editions2007 was BGCI's 20th Anniversary year and also the 300th anniversary of the birth of Carl Linnaeus, father of modern taxonomy. To commemorate these events the Rufford Maurice Laing Foundation enabled BGCI to publish special editions of BGjournal. We are making these special editions available in full, for free, at the time of publication - normally BGJournal is only available to non-members one year after publication. January 2007 - Taxonomy and plant conservation "God made the world a flowering tapestry and put man thereupon to stroll, live and be happy" - Carl Linnaeus The first, the Taxonomy issue (PDF 1.6MB), features a range of articles looking at Linnaeus' legacy and how the 'Prince of Flowers' set up the naming process that allows us to understand the natural world in a systematic way. He was also a true nature lover and was a controversial figure with many original ideas. July 2007 - Botanic gardens and climate change The second of the special editions is dealing with climate change (PDF 1.6MB) and how botanic gardens are finding solutions to the issues it raises. Environmentalism is fashionable but still the value of maintaining plant diversity is not given the attention it deserves. Explaining the links between plant diversity, ecosystem functions and the global climate is a key role for botanic gardens. BGCI is very grateful to the Rufford Maurice Laing Foundation for making the publication of these special issues possible. Support BGCIWe are working to create a world in which plant diversity is valued, secure and supporting all life. None of our achievements would be possible without your support. Find out how you and your organisation can get involved. BGjournal ArchiveBGjournal began in 2004. Before that, BGCI produced BGCNews, which is also archived here. Articles are published online six months after publication. BGCI – Celebrating 20 Years of Securing Plant DiversityBotanic Gardens Conservation International (BGCI) was first established in 1987 as the Botanic Gardens Conservation Secretariat. In a mere 20 years, BGCI has grown to become the leading international organisation working to save the world's imperilled flora. |
Subscribe to BGjournal
To receive BGjournal and other BGCI publications, as soon as they are published, become a member of BGCI. Other benefits include free and discounted access to other resources from workshops to technical manuals. You'll also be joining a worldwide network of people working to save plants. |


text:
Jul. 30 at 10:13am
One of my ongoing mental preoccupations is the problem of community. How do we establish it without getting it wrong? What are the sound principles of "intentional" communal living? By "intentional" I mean a kind of communal life that is deliberately adopted and cultivated, as opposed to what occurs spontaneously just from the fact of our living in society.
I've been pondering it since my undergraduate days, when my discovery of philosophy coincided with the imploding of the covenant communities that had been a major influence, for both good and bad, in the spirituality at my alma mater.
At Steubenville I had learned "how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity." Never before or since have I experienced such wealth and warmth and joy and blessing in committed Christian companionship. I still pine for it and feel bereft without it. But I also learned there how easily it goes awry—how abusive dynamics creep in, even when everyone involved means well. And when it goes awry, people get injured—sometimes irreparably.
In the years since, two things have been constant in me: a longing for true community and an acute sensitivity to bad group dynamics, which makes me recoil from anything that smacks of "community."
I talk about this issue often with friends. Some don't understand the longing. Don't you have a husband and children and friends? Shouldn't we just concentrate on rebuilding the "little platoons" of traditional American society?—the Knights of Columbus, the Ladies Sodality, the Rotary Club, the PTA, the parish? Some friends who have had bad experiences with covenant communities, the Legion of Christ or the like have come to the conclusion that the effort to deliberately "form community" is in itself dysfunctional—it's trying to substitute the organic with the artificial. Forget community! Focus on your family.
I have a lot of sympathy with this point of view.
A priest friend likes to tease me for my grass-is-always-greener coveting of monasticism. "What, your own Sacrament isn't enough for you?" He helps me see that the stability, serenity and regularity of monastic life has quite a lot to do with the religious vows of poverty, chastity and obedience that undergird it. The lay vocation has a different function, different needs and different accompanying graces and consolations.
I take his point. And it helps me understand better one of the ways "intentional communities" typically go wrong. It's role confusion—a collapsing of the lay vocation into the religious.
I also see plainly how the longing for community can become a substitute for and an avoidance of the effort and vulnerability involved in genuine intimacy. We feel the gaps in ourselves and our actual relationships, and, instead of working to fill those, we start fantasizing about something else—something less challenging and more rewarding. Or else we try to substitute natural bonds with arbitrary bonds, written down and agreed to in advance.
So, "Yes, true" to all that.
And yet, and yet... I can't help myself. Deep down, I'm persuaded that the fractured, dispersed way we live today is not okay. I'm sure it's the prime cause of the epidemic levels of stress and depression and mental illness and general misery we're experiencing. I note that Karol Wojtyla, before he became John Paul II, visited the United States and was alarmed by the rootlessness and alienation he sensed here. And that was in the 70's, before things got much, much worse.
The human person urgently needs to belong to a wider community—one where he's truly known and loved and appreciated for who he is and what he has to offer, and one where his defects are supplied by the gifts of others. The nuclear family is the foundation, but it's not sufficient in itself. We need more. We need extended family; we need neighbors and colleagues who know us and care for us; we need familiarity with a wide mix of types and generations and aptitudes; we need a distinctive local culture incarnating real values, where we feel at home with others. We need rituals and traditions; we need to recreate with the people we also work and worship with; we need a polity.
The kind of superficial, piecemeal, practically random dealings-with-others most of us make do with today doesn't cut it.
I keep thinking there must be a solution. It can't be so that there's no way to do intentional community without instituting dysfunction. I'm encouraged by the fact that my yearnings are shared by many.
In my conversation with John Crosby (recorded last week and available on the member page) we ended by agreeing that personalists have more to offer and do in the way of helping think through and articulate the principles of true communion. Anyway, I mean to try. Someday soon, I'll post about good models of true community.
Thanks, Katie. I, too, have been preoccupied with this question for the past 25 years, and I've taken note of communities gone bad, as well as a few successful ones. I really have to conclude that communities, like happiness, have to be a side effect of something else, and not, well, "intentional." Another thing I've been watching for 25 years is how Catholic families keep their grown kids Catholic--or how they lose them--and I've concluded that the ones who succeed are the ones who have had larger communities for their children to grow out into when the family is no longer enough.
The best "something else" for a Catholic community to arise from, besides a religious order and its charism, seems to be academic endeavors: Catholic homeschool co-ops and small Catholic schools and colleges. It's why we sent two daughters to Trivium School, even though they could only come home on weekends. It's why we've encouraged our older kids to take on debt if it's the only way they can get a Catholic liberal arts education that won't even get them a good job when they graduate. It's the best we can do, but we're still starving.
Abby Tardiff
#1 - Jul. 30 at 4:45pm | quote
I agree about academic institutions being the best cases available. I think it's something about there being a shared endeavor, plus geographical proximity.
We really miss the comaraderie of college and grad school and professional life in academia.
I guess I'm not ready to give up yet, though, on the possibility of something emerging in the extra-academic world—something that takes due account of all that's been learned through trial and error over the last couple centuries.
#2 - Jul. 30 at 4:53pm | quote
Katie and Stellatum
Your yearning for the richness of the kind of community experience you had for a period in college reminds me of a comment by Jacque Maritain regarding the study circles he and Raissa had established in France. WW2 broke up the gatherings and Jacque saw this as an example of the fact that "the Holy Spirit is not at work only in the durable institutions which go on for centuries, He is also at work in ventures which vanish overnight and must always be started afresh."
Regarding communities of deliberate intention, I think it is helpful to differentiate three different kinds of communities: communities of work, e.g. a construction crew building a house. Here just a minimum level of cooperation is needed. Second, there is the community of spirit. Here we have individuals cooperating to create something worthwhile for human kind, e.g. the development of an art museum or philosophical study club. The third type of community is the community of the heart. Here we have the profoundest sharing and enrichment.
#3 - Jul. 31 at 10:45am | quote
None of these communities can be forced and a fortiori the community of the heart. In my experience as a Catholic school teacher, (I judge Catholic Schools to be a community of spirit) I find it absolutely counterproductive when the powers that be try to force the teachers and the students in to a community of heart. This can be encouraged but never forced.
Lastly I would note that religious communities should not be seen too quickly as embodying communities of heart. I was in the Society of Mary (Marianists) for nine years. I love the Society and its mission but, as Katie noted with her college experience, flawed human nature is very much operative there too, sometimes in spades!
#4 - Jul. 31 at 10:46am | quote
Wojtyla's The Person: Subject & Community sheds a bit of light on this topic http://www.crisismagazine.com/1994/the-person-subject-community-the-second-of-three-installments-of-one-of-wojtylas-most-important-essays
His points about the differences between personal participation vs. alienation are crucial to understanding community.
Yep, unfortunately, suffering is shared along with bearing fruit over time--but it is worthwhile
#5 - Jul. 31 at 11:41am | quote
Also, Katie, I highly recommend bringing this subject up with Fr. Bob Oliver! I heard the superior of his order last evening in Minnesota: Br. Ken Apuzo. His order is all about community for both religious and lay members. Brotherhood of Hope and www.ccredeemer.org
#6 - Jul. 31 at 12:30pm | quote
Rhett, I, too, noticed that point of Jacques Maritain's, in his introduction to Raissa's Journal. It's come to mind often. He remarks in the same place that even if the initiative dies on the vine, often the friendships it engendered abide. I love that thought, and I have found it to be true in my own experience.
I agree completely that the deepest kind of interpersonal communion cannot be forced. Forced intimacy is one of the mistakes the Covenant Communities made.
One of the things I admire in Newman's description of the Oratory of St. Philip Neri, as he understood it and brought it to England, is his unapologetic adoption of the principle of affinity. New members would be admitted on the basis of the other members' sense that they were a good fit for the community.
Of course that principle would have to be guarded against the problem of elitism. How do we limit ourselves and safeguard our specific identity without becoming elitist?
#7 - Jul. 31 at 12:35pm | quote
Samwise, I wish Fr. Bob had time for conversations like that. On the other hand, I'm not sure he and I see eye to eye on the subject. His sense of where and why convenant communities went wrong is (unless his view has changed in recent years) very different from mine.
#8 - Jul. 31 at 12:41pm | quote
And Samwise, thank you for that link! As always for us, Wojtyla's thought is seminal. He nails the nub right in the beginning:
The Acting Person does not contain a theory of community, but deals only with the elementary condition under which existence and activity "together with others" promotes the self-fulfillment of the human being as a person, or at least does not obstruct it.
This imo, in a nutshell, is the difference between sound and dysfunctional community. Wholesome communities promote the the self-fulfillment of the human being as a person; dysfunctional communities tend in practice to subordinate the individual to the whole.
#9 - Jul. 31 at 12:49pm | quote
Wojtyla strongly supports Catholic covenant community:
So did Ratzinger and so does Bergoglio. Perhaps it's true that you don't see eye to eye with Fr. Bob...but I do
#10 - Jul. 31 at 2:24pm | quote
How do you know that, Samwise, when I have said nothing of what he holds or what I hold, or where I see the difference between us?
#11 - Jul. 31 at 2:29pm | quote
Further, I think you are overstating the case when you say Wojtyla strongly supports Catholic covenant community. The article you link says nothing about covenant communities. He is speaking generally about the "new movements" within the Church, including the charismatic renewal. I support those too.
And he reminds all that it is "easy to err", and that to "guarantee the authenticity" of a charism, it is essential to be in proper relation to the competent ecclesial authorities.
One of the ways (only one) the Covenant Communities went off track is that they were not properly related to the Church and Church authorities. This isn't my personal opinioin; it's the finding of the bishops.
My concern with this post isn't to diss community, but rather to make a start toward identifying and articulating the principles by which they can avoid error and dysfunction—the kind of error and dysfunction that caused so much damage in so many lives through the Covenant Communities of the 80s.
#12 - Jul. 31 at 3:00pm | quote
Well you did say, " I wish Fr. Bob had time for conversations like that. On the other hand, I'm not sure he and I see eye to eye on the subject".
Forgive me if read into that...my point is broader. JPII sums it up nicely:"There is so much need today for mature Christian personalities, conscious of their baptismal identity, of their vocation and mission in the Church and in the world! There is great need for living Christian communities! And here are the movements and the new ecclesial communities: they are the response, given by the Holy Spirit, to this critical challenge at the end of the millennium. You are this providential response." (ibid)
#13 - Jul. 31 at 3:05pm | quote
It is true, the Brotherhood of Hope--and the community from which they originated
#14 - Jul. 31 at 3:16pm | quote
Just a caution. Any community that has it's roots and is still associated with the Sword of the Spirit is one that should be carefully examined before it is held up as a model of community. From the outside it might look appealing, but unfortunately the Sword of the Spirit, while it claims to be ecumenical is more non-denomenational. This, imo, limits the potential of a community like this from becoming the force it should be in the Catholic Church. Unfortunately being approved by the Bishop of the diocese is no guarantee of authentic Catholic teaching within the community.
#15 - Jul. 31 at 3:43pm | quote
If Bishops and Papal approval is not the criterion for authenticity this side of heaven, what is? I'm strictly speaking on a level of subsidiarity, that is, as a Catholic covenant community meets the approval of the local bishop/archbishop who is in communion with Rome
#16 - Jul. 31 at 3:56pm | quote
All that you say is true and somewhere in there is the heart of the matter. When something is not what it should be or what others might think it is or what it claims to be, problems surface. As I said, just a caution. BTW, my reference is to community and not to the Brotherhood of Hope.
#17 - Jul. 31 at 4:17pm | quote
The Brotherhood of Hope is officially a part of SOS. See pdf page 2. Also see Fr. Bob Oliver on page 1
This link is the Brotherhood's official newsletter: http://brotherhoodofhope.org/documents/newsletters/nl-2013.01-lq.pdf
#18 - Jul. 31 at 4:43pm | quote
I am aware of that, and admire Fr. Bob Oliver very much. I am hopeful that the Brotherhood's involvement with the Sword of the Spirit will have a good influence going forward. Their involvement is a recent development.
#19 - Jul. 31 at 4:59pm | quote
Don't forget, Samwise, that Pope John Paul II was an enthusiastic supporter of the Legion until very near the end of his papacy. For years and decades the Legion defended their modes and methods by saying, "We have the approval of the Pope."
It only came out later that the Pope had been deceived.
The same is true of the Covenant Communities. In many cases, if not all, they initially enjoyed the support of the bishops. It was only later that the bishops discovered that they hadn't fully known what was going on. Only later that they intervened to correct abuses.
Samwise, the "difficulty with the bishops" that the SotS encountered was not in the beginnging, but much later—only after many stories of terrible harm done came to their attention.
I know. I was there.
I don't say that there was no good in them. Rather I say that they went off the rails, and now provide a good source of "what not to do" wisdom as we consider the question of how to form wholesome communities—the kind that promote the good of persons.
#20 - Jul. 31 at 6:56pm | quote
Bishop Andrew Cozzens--Minn/St. Paul, MN
Bishop Georges Bou-Jaoudé--Beirut, Lebanon (faithfully attends every community prayer meeting)
Bishop Frederick Campbell--Columbus, Ohio
These are just a few Bishops that I know first-hand, who are actively and wholeheartedly supportive of the covenant community. In Ohio, for example, the Rector of the Pontifical seminary is the chaplain for the fledgling covenant community supervised by Bishop Frederick Campbell.
Bishop Andrew Cozzens grew up in the midst of the covenant community in Minnesota!
I'll admit, some places like MI, Steubenville, PA, NJ etc. have had traumatic experiences with community. But today, on a firsthand basis, I know Bishops who are actively involved in community and are very supportive
#21 - Aug. 1 at 9:27am | quote
Several points in reply:
1) When I here critique covenant communities, I am speaking of the the communities of the '80s, before bishops intervened to correct abuses. I am not speaking of covenant communities as such (i.e. as a concept); nor am I speaking of the covenant communities as they exist today, after reforms were instituted. I have no familiarity with them, so am not in a position to judge their soundness.
2) The fact that bishops approve does not by itself guarantee soundness. Many bishops had enthusiastically endorsed the communities of the '80s, which only later were exposed as rife with systemic abuse. And, as I already mentioned, Pope John Paul II was an ardent supporter of Maciel and the Legion, before the truth of their inward evil and disorder came to light.
3) Even canonical approval is not enough to guarantee soundness. Again, the Legion's Constitution had been approved.
Canonical and episcopal approval do not and cannot absolve the leaders and members of a given community of responsibility to discern carefully and continually the health of their group as a group.
In fact, an answer to concrete criticisms of "Our bishop approves," is a pretty clear indication of dysfunction.
#22 - Aug. 1 at 10:02am | quote
I've been working on a long post on just this point.
For years, members and observers of both the covenant communities and the Legion brought forward criticisms and concerns in good faith: "Something's wrong here; look at what's going on." They got dismissed, basically, like this: "We're great and our bishop approves. So, why are you attacking a work of God? You clearly have issues."
Anyone in or associated with the Legion who raised concerns was reprimanded for a lack of charity or worse.
This, all by itself, is proof of dysfunction. We can say that an indispensable principle of sound group dynamics—especially religious groups—is that criticism is welcomed.
#23 - Aug. 1 at 10:17am | quote
I forgot to add that the fact that lots of people (such as Fr. Bob!) had "positive experiences" in community doesn't mean those communities are perfectly sound. It only means they're not thoroughly bad.
Lots of Protestants become holy. But Protestantism as such lacks the fullness of truth and involves serious errors that do harm.
#24 - Aug. 1 at 10:19am | quote
JPII sums it up nicely:"There is so much need today for mature Christian personalities, conscious of their baptismal identity, of their vocation and mission in the Church and in the world! There is great need for living Christian communities! And here are the movements and the new ecclesial communities: they are the response, given by the Holy Spirit, to this critical challenge at the end of the millennium. You are this providential response." (ibid)
I agree with every word of JP II here. (That I see a need for Christian communities should be evident from the substance of my post.) But this cannot be construed as an endorsement of covenant communities, much less the covenant communties of the '80s.
To say, "we need communities" is in no way the same as saying "all communities are perfectly sound and commendable".
Similarly, to say that the family is the foundational unit of the civilization of love is not to deny that some families are deeply dysfunctional.
#25 - Aug. 1 at 10:46am | quote
I too am working on a balanced list of sound and unsound aspects of community for a post that I trust will be acceptable to personalistic criteria.
I've been involved in different forms of covenant community for nearly ten years, I've seen both good and bad: many critique it as Protestant, Modernistic, Sensationalistic, out of harmony with Bishops, too patriarchal and cultish, etc. But these are IMPERSONAL criteria.
#26 - Aug. 1 at 10:54am | quote
I'll be looking forward to that list.
Also to getting a better idea of what you mean by impersonal criteria. Certainly patriarchal and cultish seem to me very much problems for personalism.
#27 - Aug. 1 at 10:59am | quote
JPII's address is dated 1994. I don't know what CVCOMM's of the 80's means. A lot of maturation has happened since then, and I am well aware of many abuses that occurred in those days, especially against women
#28 - Aug. 1 at 10:59am | quote
Not just maturation, but reform. The bishops intervened and insisted on reforms. And there wasn't just just reform, but a lot of dissolution. Many, many people (I think the majority of members) left the communities, taking their injuries with them. Grievous harm was done in countless lives.
Nor do I think there has ever been a full accounting. I still see worrying amounts of denial, and much too little in the way of public remorse and amends for damage done.
#29 - Aug. 1 at 11:06am | quote
Let me also say that my participation in community is purely voluntary, and I have freely chosen it. It is not for everyone, and I'm not a spokesman, an employee, an ideologist or anyone who benefits from community other than I think it to be an authentic way for human persons to live out their lives together in relationship with Christ and his Church.
#30 - Aug. 1 at 11:08am | quote
Another essential principle of sound "intentional communities": they must be voluntary and free of coercion and manipulation of all kinds.
#31 - Aug. 1 at 11:15am | quote
Of Course!
Has this website become a prolonged critique of covenant community? It seems to be a running theme...
#32 - Aug. 1 at 11:35am | quote
You say of course, but in fact, the covenant communities of the 80s and the Legion were full of coercion and manipulation, though every member would have said he or she was there voluntarily. Every day people volunteer for dysfunctional relations.
But if you think of my work here as a critique of covenant communities, you're missing the point. My point is rather to to consider and help articulate principles for sound interpersonal relations.
One way of doing that is the "via negativa", i.e. by looking at bad examples in our collective moral experience, in order to learn what went wrong and why.
The pursuit of health involves the study of the nature and sources of disease.
What I find worrying and maddening is how uninterested so many otherwise good Catholics are in examining wrong as a means both for setting things right and for establishing good.
They seem to think it virtuous to ignore injustice and just "move on"—thinking only happy thoughts. "My personal experience was positive, therefore, I don't need to hear about problems."
Need I say that this, too, is a recipe for dysfunction?
#33 - Aug. 1 at 11:53am | quote
"It can't be so that there's no way to do intentional community without instituting dysfunction."
It can, and is, so. There is no way to do intentional community without dysfunction popping up, because people are people. Every option people can pursue is prone towards its own unique problems. An emphasis on the individual breeds selfishness and separateness; an emphasis on community breeds pressure to conform and, ultimately, infighting. You can try to minimize the problems that come with having a community, maybe try to balance different elements, but you can't get rid of the problems altogether.
You might try to phrase your goal differently: to do intentional community better than the ones you have had negative experience with. And if you do, a good place to start might be to look at the covenant communities in some detail, to see if you can learn more about what they do right and what they do wrong. (I got a lesson on covenant community history from my dad a couple weeks ago, so if you want some balanced insight, I can refer you to him.)
#34 - Aug. 18 at 3:29pm | quote
I can't agree that it's impossible to institute intentional community without dysfunction. No community is perfect, because people aren't perfect. But some are basically sound and healthy and some are not. Likewise, all families are imperfect, but not all families are dysfunctional—unless you empty the word of its meaning.
My goal is to help identify and articulate the principles of sound communal living.
Since I think the covenant communities got it wrong in broad lines, why would I look to them for detail?
Let me stress again: When I speak of the Covenant Communities as a a negative example of intentional communities, I am speaking of the Covenant Communities as they were before they went through crisis, shakedown and reform in the early 90s. (I am very familiar with those.) I am not speaking of the current communities, because I am not familiar with them. I'm not interested in becoming familiar with them, because I don't trust them, just as I don't trust the current Legion.
#35 - Aug. 18 at 3:53pm | quote
I hope for the sake of all those involved and for the good of the Church that the reforms that have been instituted are sufficient to abolish dysfunction. But, personally, I doubt it. One reason I doubt it is because (as I've said) there was far "too little too late" when it came to the leadership's acknowledgement of wrong and error.
To this day, it seems to me that many of those who remain involved are still deep in denial. They want to blame the "problems" on "disgruntled ex-members" or a few people with "issues" who misunderstood the teachings, or a scandal-hungry media, or whatever.
They have yet to come to terms with the fact that their community was severely dysfunctional in principle and mode and that many people were badly hurt as a result.
#36 - Aug. 18 at 3:59pm | quote
The distinction between dysfunction and imperfection is a fair one, although I would point out that telling which is which, in practice, can get pretty difficult sometimes, certainly with families, and for communities too.
Denial is... well, one of those human things. The Catholic Church still has problems with denial of the sex abuse problems (blaming it a few people with issues and a scandal-hungry media, just like you mentioned); does that make the Church dysfunctional instead of merely imperfect? Do you know of families where certain members are in denial about past problems, but are currently relating well to each other?
To be clear, I'm not trying to convince you to join a covenant community or even to like them. They certainly have their issues. I just think that when you're talking about wanting to work out the principles of forming intentional communities, it pays to research what's already been done. If you feel you have a lot of other examples of lay communities to draw conclusions from, then you may not need to look at the covenant communities. Otherwise, they're an available resource, even if it only shows what to avoid.
#37 - Aug. 18 at 4:32pm | quote
It sounds to me like you are being defensive about covenant communities. Why? Are you a member of one?
#38 - Aug. 18 at 4:43pm | quote
I was deliberately trying not to be defensive. :) I guess I didn't succeed too well. :P No, I'm not a member of one. I grew up in one, but decided not to join as an adult. I have somewhat mixed feelings about it... friends who call it a cult because of the damaging effects on them, and others who have been hurt, but also some extremely meaningful memories of their support, especially around the time my mom died. When I long, as you do, for a deeper community, I have concrete experiences from my past in mind.
#39 - Aug. 18 at 4:58pm | quote
So do I. My own and that of lots and family and friends.
When I say (as I do) that the convenant communities were badly infected with cultlike tendencies and dynamics, I don't mean to condemn them utterly. There was a lot of good in them.
If we want to create new communities that capture those goods without succumbing to the bad tendencies and dynamnics, then we're going to have to come to honest terms with what went wrong.
In my experience, that's just what a lot of people still involved with the communities (and the Legion) don't want to do, which is not a good sign. They want to say, "We're all dysfunctional compared to Jesus", or "You don't know the history or all the people involved or all the good that happened" or whatever. I think that habit of denial and avoidance is part of what got them into trouble in the first place.
I wrote a post a while ago on how to recognize cults and cultish tendencies.
#40 - Aug. 18 at 5:15pm | quote
I suppose my more positive personal experience leads me to classify the problems of covenant community more in the "imperfection" category than the "dysfunction" category - something that can, and SHOULD, be worked on, including the denial of problems, but not enough to toss them out of consideration completely. Whereas, presumably, your more negative experience leads you to the opposite conclusion.
So, out of curiosity for how you see the situation overall, how would you compare the dysfunction in covenant communities with the situation in the Church over the sex abuse? I see similar patterns of denial and avoidance in both. Would you still call the Church's situation a dysfunction? If not, what is the difference in people's behavior that makes it not one?
#41 - Aug. 18 at 11:04pm | quote
I think it's a fundamental mistake to attribute my evaluation of covenant community to "negative personal experiences."
This is a way (excuse my directness) of not taking critics and objective criticisms seriously. The Legion did the same thing. If anyone raised a concern, the response was, "I'm sorry you've had negative experiences." That way, anyone whose personal experience was positive felt justified in ignoring the evidence that there was a problem that needed addressing.
If you read the post I link above, you'll get a clearer picture of what I mean by cultism.
As for the comparison with the Church, there are key differences. The Church herself, as an organization, is sound. But particular dioceses or groups or institutions within the Church can become dysfunctional. Likewise, the Rule of St. Benedict is a model of sound communal living. But, over time, particular groups of Benedictines can become dysfunctional. When they do, they need reform, viz. they need to return to their founding vision and rule.
The Legion was unsound from the beginning, having a corrupt founder, a bad rule, and a toxic institutional culture.
The Covenant Communities started with many sincere people, but quickly went off the rails.
#42 - Aug. 18 at 11:23pm | quote
I think you're reading me more defensively than I am. I wasn't attributing your evaluation to "personal experiences" as a way of dismissing that evaluation, any more than I was encouraging you to dismiss my own evaluation when I said mine was based on personal experiences. I share your concerns, if not your end judgment.
Ultimately, a final evaluation of ... anything... involves not just the identification of problems and benefits, but also a) getting a sense for the scope and pervasiveness of those plus-es and minus-es—in theory, this could be done objectively, but in reality limits on information almost always require us to rely on personal experience in gauging how common a phenomenon is—and b) a subjective assigning of value (positive or negative) to the various effects. What one person will find a tolerable annoyance, another might find an insufferable state of affairs, same for good stuff. It is neither possible nor desirable for an end judgment to be made without consideration of personal experience. You thought I was being dismissive; I was trying to be the opposite. I was, in effect, saying that I cannot/willnot argue with your experience, because you experienced it.
#43 - Aug. 19 at 12:15am | quote
If the word limit didn't cut off at 200, I'd have added something to the effect that personal experience is the root of all reality. :)
#44 - Aug. 19 at 12:19am | quote
I'm all in favor of personal experience, and I agree that it's crucial to a just critique.
What I oppose is the tendency (very pronounced in cults and cult defenders) to dismiss or diminish criticisms and evidence telling against their group as the negative experience of a few, which contrasts with the positive experience of many more. (It typically comes with a subtle suggestion that negative experiences are not reliable indicators, since they often affect the judgment and objectivity.)
As someone who began critiquing the communities in the 80's, before the bishops intervened, and who began critiquing the Legion before the Legion had acknowledged Maciel's double life, I am very familiar with the tactic. I've seen it quite a lot, including from people who don't realize they're doing it.
Notice that you have here made no positive claims that the communities were or were not cults. Neither have you taken up the claims I make in the article on cultism.
By the omission, you (perhaps unintentionally) divert attention away from the subject in question, namely the problem of cultism and dysfunction in intentional communities, and instead put it on me and my imputed lack of knowledge and perspective.
#45 - Aug. 19 at 7:27am | quote
I don't suppose you mean to do this, but you do.
You suggest that I can't know that the Communities were infected with cultism without doing a huge amount of formal research (which you seem to take for granted I haven't done). You suggest repeatedly, though discretely, that my opinion is not balanced, that I am not well enough informed to render the judgment I've rendered (your father could give me some missing perspective), etc.
Though I've twice mentioned my article on cultism, you haven't taken up its points.
You are engaging in a form of ad hominem argumentation, in the sense that you are trying to discredit me and my conclusions without engaging my arguments at all.
This is how Community members (and Legion members) were trained to deal with critics. They were taught to think they were being reasonable and charitable when they did it.
#46 - Aug. 19 at 7:49am | quote
To determine whether a group is infected with cultism, we look for the symptoms of cultism, for instance:
- a lack of transparency and accountability in the leadership
- an exaggerated stress on authority and obedience
- externalism and conformism
- a culture of deflecting criticism, discrediting critics, and shaming and marginalizing ex-members
If we find these things, red flags go up. If we find these things plus lots of stories of people who, when they tried to bring forward concerns and problems found themselves not listened to, but accused, alarm bells ring.
If the bishops call in cult experts and insist on fundamental changes to the structure, leadership and teaching of the groups, we can be sure we weren't "overly sensitive."
Against all this the fact that lots of people have had positive experience is irrelevant. It does nothing to prove the group isn't a cult, just as the fact that I feel fine doesn't prove that the tumor in my body is benign.
The fact that many Mormons are happy in Mormonism doesn't mean that Mormonism isn't a cult, does it?
Nor does the fact that it's a cult mean there isn't a lot of good in it.
#47 - Aug. 19 at 8:16am | quote
Let's please define our terms, many of which are loaded, in order to continue a philosophical discussion about covenant community.
I read the article about "cult-like" behavior written by Katie and did not find a definition of "cult" in it, except sentences like this:
All that frustration you experience over the shortcomings of your parish or your pastor? Be grateful. It means the group is human and real. You're not in a cult. This is cultism.Conformity, loyalty, obedience, submission and reverence toward the leaders are demanded either explicitly or implicitly. Resistance or "negativity" of any kind is frowned upon and punished, either overtly or discretely, as "divisive" and destructive.
The reality is that the word "cult" means "how we worship" as in the Catholic Church is Creed (what we believe), Code (how we live) and Cult (how we worship).
Now, if we agree on those terms, I think the one in question with covenant community is moreso CODE than CULT.
Are you with me so far?
#48 - Aug. 19 at 9:35am | quote
Katie's definition of community is a little easier to grasp, per the same post:
"Persons are made for communion. We can only flourish as selves when we live in a genuine communion of love with and for others. So, when we're deprived of the natural community life normal in pre-modern human history, we suffer, and we search, and we substitute. And we find it difficult to recognize the difference between the real thing and its counterfeits.But, since all of us need real community, we'd better learn."
By using the modifier "natural" beside community, I interpret this to mean that no ideology is involved in its function. That is, persons are free from coercion in "natural" community--it happens "naturally".
Some critics of covenant community find it unnatural precisely because it suggests in various degrees a CODE of living together with other persons. This is the main issue in question for persons, not so much CULT (provided it is a Catholic community that celebrates the liturgy).
#49 - Aug. 19 at 9:46am | quote
A few clarifying points:
*By Liturgy I mean "Liturgy of the hours" and the Mass as CULT
*A parish is a CULT in that sense that it teaches "how to worship", but does not necessarily have a CODE "how to live" this is what largely differentiates covenant community from Parish life
Lastly, the Legion is a red herring, imo, it is being referred to as the worst Catholic example in the spectrum of lay movements to date so as to distract from defining truly genuine Catholic community.
#50 - Aug. 19 at 9:55am | quote
*Parishes and covenant community also teach CREED (what we believe)
#51 - Aug. 19 at 9:57am | quote
Let's talk then, so long as no one disagrees with my terms: CREED, CODE and CULT, about the CODE of covenant community.
If I could identify Katie's main issue with the CODE of covenant community, I would say that it is with "some" communitys' teaching on marriage--specifically the headship of the husband in the Christian family.
I have referred before to Dr. John Grabowski's article, and it's CODE of living out Catholic Christian marriage as absolutely compatible with the current CODE of Catholic covenant community (Katie supplied the link to Dr. Grabowski's article herself). But again, I cannot speak for ecumenical community on this same issue of CODE.
#52 - Aug. 19 at 10:09am | quote
"Cult" in the contemporary cultural context has a meaning completely distinct from the ancient theological meaning, which is generally understood by all. A parish is obviously not a cult in that sense. So, let's set that aside as a distraction.
I don't offer a definition of the term because I think my meaning comes through more clearly and fully by offering a set of earmarks, as I did just above and as Fr. Longnecker does in the article my other post links.
But I will say that, imo, its essence is what I said above (taking my cue from the Wojtyla article you linked): a group with dynamics, practices, and teachings that suppress and subordinate individuality in favor of the group. A healthy community serves the flourishing of personal life.
By "natural" in the context contrasts with "intentional", not ideological.
The Legion is not a red herring. It's a vivid example in our collective moral experience of how even a community with orthodox theology and approved constitutions and tons of sincere devout members can still be, at bottom, an abusive cult.
For years and decades anyone who criticized them was attacked as "imbalanced", "uncharitably negative," etc.
#53 - Aug. 19 at 10:16am | quote
a group with dynamics, practices, and teachings that suppress and subordinate individuality in favor of the group. A healthy community serves the flourishing of personal life.
Wojtyla's definition of "cult" in the contemporary cultural context will suffice. But again, "cult" is a loaded term and not consistent with the lexicon of the Church, like "pro-choice", etc.
I persist in the argument that CODE is more suited to the type of "counter-cultural" teaching on "how to live" Catholicism that covenant community fosters and is in question.
#54 - Aug. 19 at 10:29am | quote
Sam, you are confusing my critique of the covenant community teaching on marriage (not the teaching of "some" leaders, but the teaching of the covenant communities as such, before they were reformed) with my judgment that those communities were badly infected with cultism.
The two aren't completely unrelated, since the false teaching on marriage was bound up with the abusive treatment of women. (Women's individuality was systematically subordinated to her "role" as wife.) But the one is not reducible to the other.
The fact that some community leaders now embrace JP II's thought on marriage tells us nothing about whether or not the former communities were cults. It isn't even sufficient to ensure that the current communities aren't cults.
As I've said, the fact that some community leaders even now still embrace Steve Clark's radically depersonalizing teachings is not reassuring.
#55 - Aug. 19 at 10:32am | quote
You can use "code" if you insist, but if you do, you won't be addressing the questions and problems I've raised. You'll be talking past me. A group's teachings are only one aspect of its dynamics.
#56 - Aug. 19 at 10:37am | quote
The contemporary meaning of the word "cult" is not comparable to "pro-choice." "Pro-choice" is a emphemism adopted to obscure the reality of abortion.
"Cult" was adopted to identify a modern phenomenon. We all have an idea of what it means, even if we struggle to pinpoint its exact features and contours. Its contemporary meaning is different from its theological meaning, but it's not incompatible with the Catholic lexicon!
There is nothing about being Catholic that prevents us from noticing and talking about the reality of destructive and abusive cults, including cults that claim to be Catholic.
#57 - Aug. 19 at 10:58am | quote
I think you and I had different ideas about what we were talking about. I wasn't trying to defend covenant communities against the charge of cultism. I didn't avoid the question to try to discredit the question; I avoided the question because I took it as an agreed fact between us that cultism has been a serious issue for the covenant communities. Since you ask, I will say that I don't think of the covenant community that I grew up in as a cult, per se, but mostly because that word brings up images in my mind of a more extreme stereotype of "cult" than I experienced. For sure, the covenant communities have had problems with denial, blaming problems on the afflicted members, ostracizing former members, discouraging disagreement with leadership, and other cultish problems. (I was, in fact, originally saying that I think it's impossible to have a close-knit community WITHOUT these problems, although I then accepted your point about having problems vs. those problems being at a level of dysfunction.)
#58 - Aug. 19 at 12:21pm | quote
I was not suggesting you research covenant communities to find out whether they were cultish; I was thinking that if you want to start an intentional community without those problems, it might be helpful to know the details of how the attitudes arose in the first place, what contributed to them, whether there were any structural or other factors (like varying leadership personalities) that made the problem worse or better in one community vs. another, whether any community made any progress in reducing the problem, and if so, what did they do that helped, and if not, what—if anything—did they try that failed... stuff like that. As I think I said before, if you have more positive examples of healthy lay communities to draw from, then looking at the covenant communities may be unnecessary, because then you have a positive guide to follow.
#59 - Aug. 19 at 12:23pm | quote
And if you think you have enough knowledge of the covenant communities not just to identify the problems but also to identify their contributing factors and solution, then more power to you. The suggestion was a casual one, the path that I would probably follow if I were interested in setting up a community, not a suggestion based on a sense that you were lacking anything.
(The bit about my dad was more of "hey, he just gave me this surprise lesson on covenant history, and now someone's talking about covenant history, so I'm totally going to throw that in!") :)
Out of curiosity, are you actually thinking at all about starting a better community? Or is it more just an identified need at this point?
#60 - Aug. 19 at 12:24pm | quote
Anna, I really appreciate and admire the way you're hanging in with me here! Often my frankness drives people away.
I have to run, but will be back soon to take up your good points.
#61 - Aug. 19 at 12:26pm | quote
Katie van Schaijik, Aug. 19 at 10:37am
You can use "code" if you insist, but if you do, you won't be addressing the questions and problems I've raised. You'll be talking past me. A group's teachings are only one aspect of its dynamics.
It is precisely for this reason that I use the term CODE, so as to begin to categorize different dynamics in question with covenant community vs. the loaded umbrella term "cult". My intention is not to talk past you but to try to agree on a proper language for defining the types of dynamics we observe in covenant community.
#62 - Aug. 19 at 1:29pm | quote
Katie van Schaijik, Aug. 19 at 10:37am
You can use "code" if you insist, but if you do, you won't be addressing the questions and problems I've raised. You'll be talking past me. A group's teachings are only one aspect of its dynamics.
It is precisely for this reason that I use the term CODE, so as to begin to categorize different dynamics in question with covenant community vs. the loaded umbrella term "cult". My intention is not to talk past you but to try to agree on a proper language for defining the types of dynamics we observe in covenant community.
The term "cult" is a perfectly useful one. It captures what I mean to identify. Code doesn't. If I want to critique a given group's teachings, I do that. If I want to identify the group as a cult or as infected with cultism, I do that. I'm sorry you don't like the term, but it's the right one for my purposes. CODE doesn't serve the need.
#63 - Aug. 19 at 2:28pm | quote
Since you ask, I will say that I don't think of the covenant community that I grew up in as a cult, per se, but mostly because that word brings up images in my mind of a more extreme stereotype of "cult" than I experienced.
To my mind, one of helpful lessons we've learned in recent decades, partly thanks to the experience of the Legion and the Covenant Communities, is that not all cults or cultlike groups are extreme. Cult dynamics can be more or less subtle and more or less thorough-going.
Similiarly, we've learned that you don't have to get drunk every day to be rightly considered an alcholic. We've learned that sexual abuse and physical abuse aren't the only kinds of abuse. (There's also verbal abuse and emotional abuse.)
We've learned that cults don't have to have a whacked-out theology or a a central leader. They can even be Catholic. The key factors are things like control, conformism, and lack of transparency and accountability on the part of the leadership. The convenant communities had all those things in spades, though I agree with you that they weren't as bad as the Moonies.
#64 - Aug. 19 at 2:36pm | quote
Anna Macdonald, Aug. 19 at 12:23pm
I was thinking that if you want to start an intentional community without those problems, it might be helpful to know the details of how the attitudes arose in the first place...
I don't want to start an intentional community. What I want to do is help articulate and identify the sound principles for intentional community life. One way to do that is the "via negativa", i.e. examining bad and dysfunctional communities.
So, for example, if a lack of transparency and accountability in the governance of the group is hallmark of dysfunction, it follows that transparency and accountability in governance is among the desiderata for a healthy group.
If control and conformism easily creep in, we will want to find ways of maximizing freedom, and so on.
Since a stress on "roles" for men and women so easily leads to the subordination of the individual to his or her "role," we would want to take care to avoid that.
I've already got several draft posts in the works. One identifying community destroyers, one identifying several models of healthy community, one being to lay out some key principles of sound community.
#65 - Aug. 19 at 2:52pm | quote
Katie van Schaijik, Aug. 19 at 2:52pm
I don't want to start an intentional community. What I want to do is help articulate and identify the sound principles for intentional community life.
So more of an academic interest then, rather than an immediately practical or action-oriented one? Given that your post contrasted yourself with people who find their family/parish life to provide sufficient community, I find that ... odd? I would rhetorically ask you what the point is, of working out the right way to do something, if you're not planning to actually do it... except I've done that so many times myself, it's not really worth asking.
#66 - Aug. 19 at 3:30pm | quote
I'd say philosophical rather than academic, since the latter term has a negative connotation of "unrelated to life". Also, I'm not an academic. :)
Philosphical of course doesn't mean impractical. When Wojyla wrote his essays on Person and Community, he didn't intend to start a community. Same goes for von Hildebrand's Metaphysics of Community. But both texts have immense value for anyone who might like to form a community.
Then, too, think of all the debate and discussion that preceded the drafting of the U.S. Constitution. Quite a lot of thought about the principles of right governance went into that document, including the thought of men who didn't live to see their ideas realized.
Think of Peter Maurin and his call for "round table discussions" as an indispensable prerequisite for the development of new communities.
Think of the discussions and debates, not to mention all the philosophical and theological texts, that preceded the documents of Vatican II.
The Protestant Reformation began with the 95 Theses...
#67 - Aug. 19 at 6:14pm | quote
That makes sense.
#68 - Aug. 19 at 7:46pm | quote
Rhett, All,
lots of finery to choose from above, but:
Rhett Segall, Jul. 31 at 10:45am
Katie and Stellatum
[snip] Second, there is the community of spirit. Here we have individuals cooperating to create something worthwhile for human kind, e.g. the development of an art museum or philosophical study club. The third type of community is the community of the heart. Here we have the profoundest sharing and enrichment.I'm not sure I quite comprehend your distinction, but I'm also not sure I need to to support you at this time. Howison, p.188:
The doctrine which thus comes to light, that in art man not only shares literally in the creative office of God, but enriches Nature with new members that express its divine Ground in a still higher form, will seem to many overbold -- extravagant and irreverent. But its advocates are neither few nor inconsiderable; ..."
The true artist worships, and must worship, God;
And thus every work of art is and must be an embodied Theodicy - a symbol of the justification of the ways of God to man, ...
...poetry rightfully takes the highest place...
"we are here for all of us"?:
#69 - Nov. 22 at 5:36pm | quote


text:
Albert R. DiPiero, M.D., M.P.H.
- Specialties:
- Medicine, General Internal Medicine
- Special Interest:
- General Internist
- Accepting Patients:
- No
- Languages:
- English, French, Italian
Dr. DiPiero graduated from the University of California - San Francisco (UCSF) School of Medicine in 1991, and completed his internal medicine residency there in 1994. Dr. DiPiero has been board certified with the American Board of Internal Medicine since 1994. He received his Master's degree in public health from the UCLA School of Public Health in 1997. Dr. DiPiero served as Medical Director at the OHSU) Health Center - Tigard, and is currently an assistant professor in the Department of Medicine. His clinical practice is focused on the care of patients with multiple chronic illnesses such as diabetes, high cholesterol and high blood pressure. He is part of the Chronic Illness Management Clinic in the division of general internal medicine. His interests outside of health care include American history, politics, theater, and the study of languages. Dr. DiPiero has published multiple articles on health care including the following: DiPiero A, Sanders DG. Condition based payment: improving care of chronic illness. BMJ. 2005 Mar 19;330(7492):654-7. DiPiero A: Universal Problems and Universal Healthcare: 6 countries - 6 systems. Oregon's Future. Fall 2004 V(2):27-31; Sanders D, DiPiero A: An emerging consensus for transforming health care. The Oregonian. Monday, October 4, 2004. DiPiero A, Sanders D: Self-directed health care and the future of health insurance. Health Insurance Underwriter. 2002 October; 50(9): 56-61.
- Degree:
M.D.: University of California - San Francisco (UCSF), M.P.H.: University of California - Los Angeles (UCLA)
Internal Medicine, University of California - San Francisco (UCSF), 1994 -
Internal Medicine, 1994


text:
W27: Shadows and Cynicism
October 31, 2010 in World 027 News, World News
What's that you say? Can it be that a tribe has massive dominance on a world but continues to be overlooked for closure? Must be one of those tricks they speak of on Halloween. Here, have some cheap nobles and scarper you meddling kids.
I'd like to think that the above story is oddly analagous to Halloween in a strange sort of way. I wouldn't know; I have never been trick or treating, since it probably sets the precedent that teaching children to cover their identities and then threaten or blackmail elderly people for the sake of sweets is worthwhile enough to have an entire day devoted to it.


text:
Lachine Market
The oldest public market in Montreal, the Lachine Market dates to the 1840's. The farmers' market became a permanent market in 1909, and the bulk of items on sale are still basics like local cheeses, fresh breads, and garden vegetables. Apart from groceries, visitors can find macarons and meringues at Marius et Fanny, and an outdoor patio at Le Café du Marché. The market also sells seasonal items such as cut flowers from Crispina de la Rueda and Christmas trees from Maison des jeunes L'Escalier.
Insider Tip:
Five minutes from the market, walk along the waterfront trail Promenade Père Marquette to find the 1803 fur trade warehouse at Lachine Canal National Historic Site.
Open / Closes- Accessible by Public Transportation
Shop Type:: Farm market


text:
Please i really need some help on this
My mom is a pretty big disney fan and i need to come up with some creative disney usernames for her. Her name is Ann if you could incorporate that into a creative Disney name that would be Great! Thank you in advance for any help you can give.
Please i really need some help on this
picking just the 'right' username is tough! Does she have any particular area of Disney she likes? Favorite movie or character or park?
-Pat (Disneydame2004)
Dream Team Auction Coordinator
Help make a child smile! Dream Team Project Firstgiving Page
What about: AnnTheyLivedHappilyEverAfter
Probably too long though.
"It's the time of your life, so live it well" ~ a bug's life
I have a Disney book coming out in the first week of March. Stop by www.fromscreentotheme.com for more details!
you could also gives us more than 10 minutes
WDWRadio Moderator
P.U.S.H.-A mantra MOST will not understand.
Disney rocks, Walt was a genius.
Very Clever stuff Sorry heres some more info Favorite ride-soarin Favorite Character-Cinderella Favorite park- Magic Kingdom.
um.... CinderAnn-a um...... lost on any others
Around here, however, we don't look backwards for very long. We keep moving forward, opening up new doors and doing new things... and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths. - Walt Disney
I like Soar'Ann
"Here you leave today and enter the world of yesterday, tomorrow and fantasy"
Wow thanks every one you have all been very helpful great ideas
Hi i would like some help to if no one minds. i been wanting a creative Disney user name but cant think of anything.my name is Luis.favorite rides r space mountain & tower of terror. favorite characters r Pluto & jack skellington


text:
We have found some free veronika decides to die videos and pictures.
This week the Iranian government reportedly banned all works by Paulo Coelho, the Brazilian mystic and author of international bestsellers such as The Alchemist, The Diary of a Magus , and Veronika Decides to Die. Authorities gave no reasons for their ... Source: Newsweek
fellinifilmcafe.net; 544-5420. "Lokas" 7 p.m. Saturday (Mexico/Chile 2008). "Veronika Decides to Die" noon Saturday (USA 2010). "The Social Network" 4 p.m. Saturday (USA 2010). "Heartbreaker" 7 p.m. Saturday (France 2010). "Mao's Last Dancer" 4 p.m. Sunday ... Source: El Paso Times
Buffy herself is returning to TV. OK, not the vampire slayer, but Sarah Michelle Gellar has signed on to front a new drama pilot for CBS. Please allow me to express my excitement almost entirely in acronym shorthand: ZOMG, SMG on TV is 2G2BT! This would be ... Source: AfterEllen.com
Sarah Michelle Gellar is heading back on the small screen! While Buffy fans mourn the loss of Joss Whedon to the upcoming Buffy movie, they can rejoice that the real Buffy Summers (sorry, Kristy Swanson ) is hopefully turning to TV. Sarah Michelle Gellar ... Source: TV.com


text:
Here are a few things I'm working on right now:
OSLO LOVE STORY, a romantic comedy, produced by Cinenord Spillefilm Norway.
UNTITLED LOLLY JACKSON PROJECT, a true-life crime thriller set in Johannesburg, funded by the National Film and Video Foundation (South Africa).
Veronica Belmont - about.me user since 2010
"First, customize your page. It's easy and fun to design!"
Hi! I'm currently living in (City), where I work at (Work Place) doing (Job Title). When I'm not working I like to (Hobby), (Interest) and (Passion). Connect with me!
"Next, connect services and send people to your page."
"That's it! Let about.me do all of the work for you."
Showcase a 360 degree view of who you are
Help people find and follow you on your social networks
Be found for new opportunities


text:
News & Initiatives
First Aberdeen's Sandra Cordiner named FirstGroup's best eco-friendly driver in the UK
Wednesday 05 June 2013
First Aberdeen bus driver, Sandra Cordiner, has been named FirstGroups �Best Eco Friendly Driver across the UK.
Sandra, 41 from Peterhead who has been a driver with First Aberdeen for two years, earned the much coveted title after achieving a better score for safe and environmentally friendly driving than any of her 17,000 bus driving colleagues employed by FirstGroup across the UK.
Over the last year Sandra has achieved exceptionally good scores in the companys �DriveGreen initiative, which is designed to reward and recognise the safest and greenest drivers within the business.
Sandra said: "Its very exciting to have won the award and quite unbelievable that my DriveGreen scores were better than 17,000 FirstGroup drivers across the UK.
"Since First introduced DriveGreen a few years ago it has certainly helped me improve my driving skills - Ive even had customers compliment me on how smooth their journey is. Now when I am driving the car in my time off I continue to use the DriveGreen principles and drive more smoothly " its safer and saves petrol.'
Duncan Cameron Operations Director, at First Aberdeen, said that the company boasts the best DriveGreen record amongst all Firsts bus companies. "Our drivers in Aberdeen have embraced the groundbreaking DriveGreen technology and as a result are providing customers with a safer, smoother journey, whilst also reducing our carbon footprint and saving fuel.'
He added: "Sandra is one of a number of drivers that have particularly excelled in Aberdeen scoring outstanding DriveGreen scores. All at First Aberdeen are extremely proud that Sandra has been named FirstGroups Best Eco Friendly Driver.'
Sandra Cordiner won the title at FirstGroups annual environmental awards ceremony in central London on April 16. The aim of the awards is to reward those individuals and companies that demonstrate commitment, enthusiasm, innovative thinking and go the extra mile to help limit Firsts environmental footprint.
About DriveGreeen
Every one of FirstGroups 7,500 buses, including the 150 based in Aberdeen, are fitted with the latest GPS technology that can detect dozens of driving movements per minute and immediately lets the driver know how well they are driving.
The DriveGreen equipment picks up on acceleration and braking patterns as well as corner, lane and speed handling. A �traffic light LED monitor on vehicle dashboards flashes green if the driver is driving correctly, or amber or red if a bus driver carries out an unwanted driving manoeuvre such as heavy braking or unnecessary acceleration.
The driver can then make immediate changes to their driving to ensure buses travel more efficiently to produce fewer CO� emissions and more smoothly, improving the journey experience for passengers.
Scores are allocated for each driving session and based on these scores, each bus depot can identify the best performing and the most improved drivers. To encourage drivers to use DriveGreen to help improve their driving style, weekly and monthly financial rewards are awarded to the best and the most improved.


text:
Sign in or Sign Up
2 adults (1 room) 1 adult More options…
lowest rate guarantee
Great reasons to book with Agoda
Over 550,000 hotels worldwide – more added every day
Trusted by over 18,000,000 satisfied customers
Best Price Guarantee
9 million+ hotel reviews by Agoda customers
With availability in over 57,000 cities worldwide
agoda special offers
including last minute offers(even same day!)free nightsfree upgrades!
Customer Support
0.01 Km.
Accessible, affordable and...
0.03 Km.
The hotel has a good location in...
0.06 Km.
Strategic, close access to metro...
breakfast 24 hours a day,...
0.07 Km.
good location, comfortable and...
Air conditioning, Helpful staff,...
0.08 Km.
Location was the only outstanding...
0.1 Km.
Good location, safety, adequate...
0.11 Km.
0.12 Km.
Location, facilities, and...
4.5 / 5
over 80,000 reviews
of users recommend us
Go To Top
All material herein © 2005 – 2015 Agoda Company Pte. Ltd., All Rights Reserved. AGODA ® is a registered trademark of AGIP LLC, used under license by Agoda Company Pte. Ltd. Agoda is part of (NASDAQ:PCLN)


text:
I hope you don't mind the repeat post because I already posted this in the cooking forum, but here goes . . .
I am making a dessert for my Grandmother's birthday on Sunday and I was wondering if this would work because I have to travel for an hour with the dish and bake when we get there. I know from experience that canned rolls are not any good if they are not baked immediately.
Start with Peeled, cored and quartered apples
Do you think it would work if I wrapped the apples in puff pastry instead of the canned rolls, then put everything together except for adding the sprite. When I get there, I will take out of the cooler, add sprite and bake? It is her favorite so I want to try and make it but I have to be able to make it in advance.
Follow-Up Postings:
- Posted by craftfetish (My Page) on Tue, Nov 20, 07 at 9:27
I was with you until the Sprite. I think the baked apple wrapped in puff pastry would be delicious - just a tad flakier than the crescent roll version. I'm not sure how it would react to the liquid though - I worry you'd get a crispy, flaky top and a soggy bottom. And looking back at the date of your post, I see that Grandma's birthday was last weekend, so I am no help. How did it go? |
Please Note: Only registered members are able to post messages to this forum. If you are a member, please log in. If you aren't yet a member, join now!
Return to the Entertaining Forum
Information about Posting
- You must be logged in to post a message. Once you are logged in, a posting window will appear at the bottom of the messages. If you are not a member, please register for an account.
- Please review our Rules of Play before posting.
- Posting is a two-step process. Once you have composed your message, you will be taken to the preview page. You will then have a chance to review your post, make changes and upload photos.
- After posting your message, you may need to refresh the forum page in order to see it.
- Before posting copyrighted material, please read about Copyright and Fair Use.
- We have a strict no-advertising policy!
- If you would like to practice posting or uploading photos, please visit our Test forum.
- If you need assistance, please Contact Us and we will be happy to help.
Learn more about in-text links on this page here


text:
2013 va disability rates | military benefits, 2013 va disability rate tables for veterans with a disability rating of 10 percent or higher. veterans can receive as much as $3,340 per month..
2013 va service-connected disability compensation rates, Updated for 2013: va disability compensation is paid to veterans with a service-connected disability. find current disability pay rates and other info..
Va disability compensation rates | military.com, The following tables show the va compensation rates for veterans with a disability rating 10 percent or higher. dependents allowance: in addition veterans entitled to.
News releases – office of public and intergovernmental affairs, Provides a list and brief description of news releases issued by the department of veterans affairs. most news releases are also available as word files to download..
Gs pay scale 2013 with locality pay, Gs pay scale 2013 with locality . supporting the sense of locality with online communities. automatic data locality optimization through selfoptimization..
Compensation home – u.s. department of veterans affairs, Portal to where va compensation and pension benefits programs are described; to include rates of payments and how to apply for va benefits..
2014 military pay chart – u.s. troops & veterans outreach, 2014 us military basic pay charts. when the budget proposal for fy-2013 was released, department of defense officials laid out a five year plan for military pay..
2013 military pay chart – u.s. troops & veterans outreach, We are a website based around supporting our troops, everyday hero's, like, care packages, crisis chat lines and much more related services, we also provide a.
What are the pay scales for va disability? | chacha, What are the pay scales for va disability? chacha answer: the va pay scale depends on the status. for single with no dependents, 10%.


text:
Walking along Santa Fe Drive the other day, I gazed at the van Straaten Gallery and thought about a shift that has taken place recently on the street. As usual, the gallery was closed, though a few spotlights were on so you could tell there was art on display inside.
The first indication that things weren't going well came earlier this year, when owners Jan and Bill van Straaten let go of gallery director William Biety and cut the hours to appointment-only. And now the space is up for sale. Truth be told, there are many spaces along Santa Fe that are for sale. What makes this one different is what this gallery meant to the art district. Not only was its predecessor, the Sandy Carson Gallery, the premier gallery on the row, but it was one of the first commercial spaces to stake a claim here in the 1990s. Many in the art community hoped the van Straatens would continue to make it a top spot for local, regional and national artists. But it's not to be.
I would now dub Space Gallery the district's top commercial venue. Owner Michael Burnett has a good eye for art and a capacious set of rooms in which to display it. In the main gallery right now is a fascinating show, New Works by Diane Cionni, which is made up of paintings depicting blurry, abstracted views of plants.
Cionni, who lives in Steamboat Springs, has been a practicing artist for thirty years, but this is a rare glimpse of her work in Denver. For these pieces, she took photos of her garden and then digitally altered them. Afterward, using rice paper, inks and acrylic pigments, she obscured the details of the original pictures while enhancing their outlines. The finished products, such as "Dandy," are clearly paintings as opposed to painted photographs, but you can still see the digital origins of the imagery.
They remind me of the similarly conceived (if otherwise different) work by Bob Koons, and I thought how great it would be to put Cionni in a duet with him. Koons, by the way, used to show at Sandy Carson, which is where I first saw his work.
In the rear gallery, Burnett has installed Holiday Group Show, highlighting Space's strength in contemporary abstraction. There are some amazing paintings by Scott Holdeman that juxtapose blurry organic shapes against straight lines and bars, all of it sealed under unifying layers of shiny glazes. The large Haze Diedrich is another standout. Among the other included artists are Michael McClung, who burns through his pieces to create them; Robin Ault, who did some very Franz Kline-like drawings on sheet music; and Tom Bosma, who's represented by a trio of mixed-media neo-minimalist compositions. Also here are updated abstract-expressionist works by Carlene Frances and Pat Orban, who run the Enso Gallery on the mezzanine.
Last but hardly least is Lewis McInnis, who's represented by more than half a dozen gouaches that are absolutely fabulous. They are dense little gems covered in spontaneous markings. I think of McInnis as being one of the top abstract painters around today, and these drawings prove it. It's hard to understand why he's so little known.
That's the same query I'd make about the artist whose solo, Abstraction 2010: Ania Gola-Kumor, is on view at the nearby Sandra Phillips Gallery. Gola-Kumor has been exhibiting in Denver for decades; her signature style is all-over abstractions formed from clearly defined shapes that fill the picture plane to the edges, like the pieces of an enigmatic puzzle. Her painterly technique is breathtaking, with lots of overpainting in broken passages across the picture that is emphasized by a sense for drawing, as though Gola-Kumor had scribbled across the canvases and then carefully filled in the resulting automatist forms with layer upon layer of pigment — which is precisely what she did. The automatism links her to abstract expressionism, while the meditative followup makes her approach distinctly different.
Gola-Kumor's palettes are remarkable and unerring in their elegant balance. The paintings in this group are closely associated formally, but not in terms of their colors, which, though defined by a limited range within each piece, encompass the entire spectrum of color across the series. Some are filled with hot, toned-up reds and oranges, while others are in cool, recessive shades of creams and greens; all are untitled.
Despite the small space, director Sandra Phillips has shoehorned in another solo, New Work: Andrew Speer. Speer, who's had a long art and teaching career in the area, would be the state's most idiosyncratic painter if Ken Peterson didn't live here, too. His approach is invariably experimental, and these recent paintings are dominated by juxtapositions of different forms and styles. The effect is jarring. Another difficult aspect of his work is his taste for muddy color fields used as backdrops. Speer's paintings clash with Gola-Kumor's, and I wish Phillips had more effectively separated them.
The Art District on Santa Fe is still Denver's top art area, but a larger, up-and-coming district is giving it a run for its money: the River North district, nicknamed (trade named?) RiNo. A marker in the form of a geometric rendition of a rhinoceros — get it? — has just been placed as an entry piece to the neighborhood on the corner of Broadway and Larimer Street. Made by California artist Mike Whiting, it is marvelous, both severe and whimsical at the same time. Its shape, with four cubic sides, follows the silhouette of the animal, with a square through-piercing to indicate the creature's eyes. The surfaces have a painterly finish in the form of distressed automotive lacquer in a faded blue.


text:
Situated five minutes north of Brisbane's city centre, the suburb of Windsor is steeped in the history of Brisbane.
As one of Brisbane's older suburbs, the landscape of Windsor is sprinkled with grand old homes, majestic Queenslanders, heritage-listed buildings and renovated workers cottages. Hilly parts of the suburb boast stunning city views, while the low-lying areas enjoy the calm tranquillity of Enoggera Creek.
... moreThe Windsor Historic Society is based in the former Council Chambers, a quaint old stone building, constructed in 1897 from stone carved out of the nearby Windsor quarry. The old building and quarry are now heritage-listed and you can visit them for a glimpse of this fascinating piece of Brisbane history. While you're in the area visit the Windsor War Memorial located near the Chambers building and admire the beautiful old stone cenotaph.
Attractive parkland and walkways are provided alongside beautiful Enoggera Creek. A relaxed stroll along the creek will take you to Downey Park containing playing fields, parkland as well as some remnant bushland. The Park also offers excellent city views and markets are held every Sunday morning.
You will find a wide variety of good restaurants in Windsor as well as take-away options and cafes. Accommodation options include four star hotels and motor-inns.
... less


text:
0 items - $0.00Shopping Cart
Empty Cart | View Cart
N Bone PupperNutter
Highly palatable peanut flavor with omega 3 fatty acids from fish oil, the PupperNutter is not only nutritious but low in fat and without any added salt or sugar. PupperNutter typically last longer than other edible and digestible chew bones.
Size Small 2Pk Large Jumbo
Price: $2.89 to 9.99
Price: $3.99 Sale: $2.89 - save: 28% Price: $9.99 Sale: $4.40 - save: 56% Price: $12.99 Sale: $9.99 - save: 23%
Baked Dry Dog Food
Canned Dog Food
Dehydrated Raw Dog Food
Dry Dog Food
Freeze Dried Dog Food
Frozen Dog Food
Gift Card
Baked Dog Treats
Bark 4 Green
Bones for Dogs
Freeze Dried Dog Treats
Holistic Dog Treats
Natural Dog Treats
Puppy Teething Treats
Bows and Barrettes for Dogs
Dog Carriers
Dog Collars and Leashes
Dog Transportation Items
Doggie Clothes
Dog Control Collar
Dog Leashes
Dog Tags
Eco Friendly Dog Collars
Dog Beds
Dog Travel Beds
Chewable Wormer for Dogs
Digestive Supplements for Dogs
Freeze Dried Supplements
Liquid Dog Supplements
Liquid Wormer for Dogs
Natural Treatments for Dogs
Salmon Oil for Dogs
Skin and Coat
Coat Care for Dogs
Dog Conditioners
Dog Shampoos
Odor Relief
Skin Care for Dogs
Balls for Dogs
Dog Chew Toys
Dog Fetch Toys
Dog Flea - Tick Shampoos
Flea - Tick Powder
Flea - Tick Spray Mist
Natural Bird Feed
Canned Cat Food
Cat Bowls
Cat Food Pouches
Cat Grooming
Cat Litter
Cat Supplements
Cat Toys
Dehydrated Cat Food
Dry Cat Food
Freeze Dried Cat Food
Frozen Food
Natural Cat Treats
Cleaning Dog Supplies
Dog Accessories
Dog Bowls
Dog Food Storage
Dog Training
Dog Training Pad Holder
Natural K9 Special Offers
Puppy Training Pads