text:
English Journal, Vol. 104, No. 2, November 2014
Poem: the kindness school (beyond the archeology of white people, pt. 2)
A Moment in NCTE History – NCTE Annual Convention
Washington DC, 2014
Paul Thomas, Council Historian
Delivered at the Board of Directors Meeting, 2014 Annual Convention
The Possible?: "You must consider what happens to a life which finds no mirror"
In late November of 2003, I sat on the floor in a crowded luncheon just a few feet and slightly behind Adrienne Rich, speaking and reading her poetry at the annual convention of the National Council of Teachers of English, held that year in San Francisco. Appropriately, Rich was reading from her then-upcoming collection, The School among the Ruins, and talking about teaching, teachers, and education. I was struck by many things that day, but one of Rich's most enduring messages from her Arts of the Possible confronts our choices about education in the U.S.:
Universal public education has two possible—and contradictory—missions. One is the development of a literate, articulate, and well-informed citizenry so that the democratic process can continue to evolve and the promise of radical equality can be brought closer to realization. The other is the perpetuation of a class system dividing an elite, nominally "gifted" few, tracked from an early age, from a very large underclass essentially to be written off as alienated from language and science, from poetry and politics, from history and hope—toward low-wage temporary jobs. The second is the direction our society has taken. The results are devastating in terms of the betrayal of a generation of youth. The loss to the whole of society is incalculable. (162)
If anything, history is a tapestry of choices—the story of human commitments, choices that shape us. Universal public education in the U.S. is such a tapestry of choices, choices about the possible as well as the possible ignored.
Writing in the November 1985 English Journal, novelist Walter Dean Myers reflected on his journey to loving literature:
I would read a library book under my desk with the assigned text on the desk itself. It happened that I had no library book one day, but I had discovered a store which sold used paperbacks for ten cents a piece. The cover of the book I had selected featured a young woman, sword in hand, blouse carelessly pulled down from her shoulder, standing before a billowing mainsail….
Now, I'd like to think that I read today because I enjoy the finer things in literature. I'm sure that's the case. I remember, years later, icebound on a cargo ship on Baffin Bay, I actually experienced Coleridge's "wondrous cold" and the "dismal sheen" of Arctic fog. But sometimes…sometimes I wonder if I wasn't reading for at least a few years, at just the right time in my life, in hopes that I would find another really juicy line the likes of "he silently padded over her." (93-94)
And then in 2014, the year he passed away on July 1 just a month and one day before James Baldwin would have turned 90, Myers returned to why he loved literature, why he wrote in"Where Are the People of Color in Children's Books?":
But by then I was beginning the quest for my own identity. To an extent I found who I was in the books I read….
But there was something missing. I needed more than the characters in the Bible to identify with, or even the characters in Arthur Miller's plays or my beloved Balzac. As I discovered who I was, a black teenager in a white-dominated world, I saw that these characters, these lives, were not mine. I didn't want to become the "black" representative, or some shining example of diversity. What I wanted, needed really, was to become an integral and valued part of the mosaic that I saw around me….
Then I read a story by James Baldwin: "Sonny's Blues." I didn't love the story, but I was lifted by it, for it took place in Harlem, and it was a story concerned with black people like those I knew. By humanizing the people who were like me, Baldwin's story also humanized me. The story gave me a permission that I didn't know I needed, the permission to write about my own landscape, my own map.
And thus, Myers in the January 2005 English Journal explained: "As a writer I especially want to reach the uninspired reader. I believe it is vital for the country and important for social order, and I relish my shared experiences with inner-city youths" (37).
Like Myers, Rich wrote in 2004 about Baldwin in her "The Baldwin Stamp." Rich had encountered Baldwin's work when she was 19, and then met him personally in 1980, explaining, "I did not need to introduce myself to Baldwin nor raise my hand in a question. His work was what I needed" (51). Later, Rich adds,
Baldwin was a moralist, a role which many writer today are apparently uncomfortable, since morality has become hostage of various fundamentalisms, or Hollywood/TV "good guys and "bad guys," or relegated to the critical trash heap of "post-" discards. But there was no self-righteous or simplistic moral scenario for him. (52)
In the U.S. where our streets and schools are increasingly hostile to young black males—the threat of being shot and killed by the exact police meant to protect them or destined to be suspended, expelled, or failed by the exact schools meant to teach them—we teachers of English, among all teachers, have become hostage to yet another era of accountability, standards, and tests that keep us from our central calling—one identified by Rich and Myers, one voiced by Baldwin at the Non Violent Action Committee Los Angeles (December 18, 1964): "you must consider what happens to a life which finds no mirror."
With each passing moment, we are contributing to the ever-growing tapestry of history, too often adding the possible ignored. Instead, let's create the possible; let's offer our students those mirrors for their quests for their own identities.
In her "Language Teaching in a Changing World," Lou LaBrant (1943) warned: "Teachers should consider carefully what they are doing with the most intimate subject in the curriculum" (97). The possible, then, resides in the words of Rich, Myers, and Baldwin and the faces of our students who come to our classes seeking themselves.
Works Cited
LaBrant, Lou. "Language Teaching in a Changing World." The Elementary English Review 20.3 (1943, March): 93–97. Print.
Myers, Walter Dean. "How I Came to Love English Literature." English Journal (1985, November): 93-94. Print.
Myers, Walter Dean. "Where Are the People of Color in Children's Books?" The New York Times (2014, March 15). Web.
Myers, Walter Dean. "Writing for the Uninspired Reader." English Journal 94.3 (2005, January): 36-38. Print.
Rich, Adrienne. A Human Eye: Essays on Art in Society, 1997-2008. New York: Norton, 2010. Print.
Rich, Adrienne. Arts of the Possible: Essays and Conversations. New York: Norton, 2001. Print.
"Why do we need the things in books?": The Enduring Power of Libraries and Literature
Panel presentation, 75 mins
Gaylord National Resort – Annapolis 1
Teaching Reading and Children: Reading Programs as "Costume Parties"*
P. L. Thomas, Furman University
"[L]anguage behavior can not be reduced to formula," Lou LaBrant (1947) argued (p. 20)—emphasizing that literacy growth was complicated but flourished when it was child-centered and practical (for example, in the ways many privileged children experience in their homes because one or more of the parents are afforded the conditions within which to foster their children's literacy). Also, LaBrant (1949) identified the central failure of teaching reading: "Our language programs have been set up as costume parties and not anything more basic than that" (p. 16). This opening talk of the panel will focus on the importance of access to books and libraries as an antidote to "costume parties"—highlighting the work of LaBrant and Stephen Krashen as well as the speeches and writings of Neil Gaiman and Ray Bradbury as life-long proponents of libraries.
"It is 1956, and I am thirteen years old," begins Louise DeSalvo's memoir Vertigo. The opening scene reveals DeSalvo's teenage angst and her desire to flee:
I have begun my adolescence with a vengeance. I am not shaping up to be the young woman I am supposed to be. I am not docile. I am not sweet. I am certainly not quiet. And, as my father tells me dozens of times, I am not agreeable. If he says something is true, I am sure to respond that it is most certainly not true, and that I have the evidence to prove it. I look up at the ceiling and tap my foot when my father and I argue, and this makes him furious.
In the middle of one of our fights, the tears hot on my cheeks, I run out of the house, feeling that I am choking, feeling that if I don't escape, I will pass out. It is nighttime. It is winter. I have no place to go. But I keep running.
There are welcoming lights a few blocks away. It is the local library. I run up the stairs. I run up to the reading room, sink into one of its comforting, engulfing brown leather chairs, pull an encyclopedia down from the shelf, hold it in front of my face so that no one can see me, so that no one will bother me, and pretend to read so that I won't be kicked out. It is warm and it is quiet. My shuddering cries stop. My rage subsides. (Prologue, p. xiii)
Libraries, librarians, and teachers return often throughout DeSalvo's life story that reads as a slightly revised version of Tennessee Williams's fictional "kindness of strangers"—this a retelling of the kindness of teachers, and of the library as sanctuary.
"There is more than one way to burn a book" (p. 209), Ray Bradbury warns in the "Coda" included in the 60th anniversary edition of Fahrenheit 451—a comment that motivated a poem of mine, "The 451 App (22 August 2022)," a speculative poem about how the move to electronic books could lead to the dystopian end to books and reading.
Bradbury's novel, of course, emphasizes the importance of books, and of reading, but Bradbury's writing of the novel and life also present powerful messages about libraries.
Jonathan R. Eller explains, "Bradbury virtually lived in the public libraries of his time" (p. 168). Further, Bradbury drafted early versions and then Fahrenheit 451 itself in the UCLA Library, working at a dime-per-half-hour typewriter.
Bradbury explains as well in the audio introduction to Fahrenheit 451:
I'm a library-educated person; I've never made it to college. When I left high school, I began to go to the library every day of my life for five, ten, fifteen years. So the library was my nesting place, it was my birthing place, it was my growing place. And my books are full of libraries and librarians, and book people, and booksellers. (p. 196)
It makes a great deal of sense and offers some literary symmetry, then, that Neil Gaiman wrote the Introduction to Bradbury's 60th anniversary edition—Gaiman who is the source of a mostly satiric piece I wrote calling for Gaiman to replace Arne Duncan as the U.S. Secretary of Education.
Gaiman, like, Bradbury is an advocate of books, of reading, of libraries, and then of children choosing what they read:
It is obviously in my interest for people to read, for them to read fiction, for libraries and librarians to exist and help foster a love of reading and places in which reading can occur….
The simplest way to make sure that we raise literate children is to teach them to read, and to show them that reading is a pleasurable activity. And that means, at its simplest, finding books that they enjoy, giving them access to those books, and letting them read them….
Well-meaning adults can easily destroy a child's love of reading: stop them reading what they enjoy, or give them worthy-but-dull books that you like, the 21st-century equivalents of Victorian "improving" literature. You'll wind up with a generation convinced that reading is uncool and worse, unpleasant….
Another way to destroy a child's love of reading, of course, is to make sure there are no books of any kind around. And to give them nowhere to read those books. I was lucky….
They were good librarians. They liked books and they liked the books being read. They taught me how to order books from other libraries on inter-library loans. They had no snobbery about anything I read. They just seemed to like that there was this wide-eyed little boy who loved to read, and would talk to me about the books I was reading, they would find me other books in a series, they would help. They treated me as another reader – nothing less or more – which meant they treated me with respect. I was not used to being treated with respect as an eight-year-old.
But libraries are about freedom. Freedom to read, freedom of ideas, freedom of communication. They are about education (which is not a process that finishes the day we leave school or university), about entertainment, about making safe spaces, and about access to information.
As I am writing this, it is late in the year 2014. No dystopia like Bradbury envisioned has happened, and at least potentially, books are more abundant than ever—both in print and electronically.
But a much more insidious dystopia does exist, one that is little different than decades before us and one that comes in the form of policy and what former NCTE president Lou LaBrant called "adult weariness" (p. 276).
Reading and books—and children—have long been the victims of prescribed reading lists, reading programs, and reading legislation. By mid-twentieth century, LaBrant (1949) had identified the central failure of teaching reading: "Our language programs have been set up as costume parties and not anything more basic than that" (p. 16).
Nearly 65 years later, Common Core, the related high-stakes tests, and rebranded concepts such as "close reading" are poised to have the same chilling effect Bradbury dramatized in Fahrenheit 451, and directly warned about, again: "There is more than one way to burn a book."
From LaBrant to Stephen Krashen, literacy teachers and scholars have called repeatedly for access to books in the home, well-funded public libraries, and children having choice in what they read.
Instead, we close libraries (and public schools), we defund and underfund what libraries (and schools) remain, and we invest in reading programs and reading tests. That is a very real and painful dystopia.
Like DeSalvo, Gaiman recalls the library as a safe haven:
Nobody is giving you a safe space. I used to love libraries at school. Because school libraries had an enforced quiet policy, which meant they tended to be bully-free zones. They were places where you could do your homework, you could do stuff, whether it was reading books, or getting on with things that you wanted to get on with, and know that you were safe there. And people responded to your enthusiasms. If you like a certain writer, or a certain genre, librarians love that. They love pointing you at things that you'll also like. And that gets magical.
Here, Gaiman answers his question from his Introduction to Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451: "Why do we need the things in books?" (p. xv).
Books as magic, libraries as sanctuaries—we must cast spells, then, to erase the dystopia before us in the form of yet more standards and test, yet more libraries closed, and then yet more children taught to hate the very things and the very places that have made life worth living for so many.
Books and libraries created Gaiman, spawned his belief: "The world doesn't have to be like this. Things can be different."
Let's hope so.
LaBrant, L. (1949, May). Analysis of clichés and abstractions. English Journal, 38(5), 275-278.
LaBrant, L. (1949). A genetic approach to language. Unpublished manuscript, Institute of General Semantics, Lakeville, CT.
LaBrant, L. (1947). Um-brel-la has syllables three. The Packet, 2(1), 20-25.
*Portions adapted from the following blog posts:
Teaching Reading and Children: Reading Programs as "Costume Parties"
Common Core in the Real World: Destroying Literacy through Standardization (Again)
"Fahrenheit 451″ 60 Years Later: "Why do we need the things in books?"
Neil Gaiman Should Be U.S. Secretary of Education: "Things can be different"
See Also
Neil Gaiman: Libraries are cultural 'seed corn'
It's a Book, Lane Smith
DRAFT Proposal for Resolution [Please email your support, allowing your name to be included and note if NCTE member, and any edits ASAP to firstname.lastname@example.com]
NCTE Resolution: Grade Retention as Flawed Education and Reading Policy
Grade retention as a major element in education and reading policy has been adopted by at least 14 states, with 32+ states linking reading intervention to high-stakes testing (Rose, 2012). These policies ignore four decades of research on the negative consequences of grade retention and the significant body of research on effective and supportive literacy instruction.
Grade retention, the practice of holding students back to repeat a grade, does more harm than good, including: (i) retaining students who have not met proficiency levels with the intent of repeating instruction is punitive, socially inappropriate, and educationally ineffective, (ii) grade retention, especially when based on high-stakes tests, will disproportionately and negatively impact children of color, impoverished children, ELL students, and special needs students, and (iii) grade retention is strongly correlated with behavior problems, increased drop-out rates, and discipline issues.
As such, grade retention represents a system of policies increasingly adopted based on misleading advocacy , resulting in a recursive cycle of punishment for young people, diminishing their sense of belonging and reducing their opportunity for educational equity. The academic benefits of retention are limited, short-lived and far outweighed by the negative consequences on students' development in reading, writing, and all aspects of literacy. In fact, negative social, emotional, and academic effects of grade retention, at every level, are ongoing and persist into adulthood. Educators, policymakers, and political leaders must oppose the practice of retention.
The current pattern of political and public embrace of grade retention as a significant element in reading policy ignores solid decades of research refuting grade retention.
Resolved that NCTE strongly opposes the growing practice in several states of enacting into law grade retention requirements that children be retained in any grade who do not meet criteria in reading and other subjects.
And be it further Resolved that NCTE strongly opposes the use of high-stakes test performance as a major criterion for making judgments about retention in grade at any level or graduation.
If this resolution is adopted the NCTE staff will publicize this resolution to the public and urge similar actions by professional and other organizations. And the NCTE executive committee will schedule an agenda item to consider further implementations, including a plan to contact states with grade retention policies in order to advocate for repealing those policies and implementing sound literacy policy instead
NCTE Members
Yetta Goodman, Regents Professor Emerita
Ken Goodman, Professor Emeritus
Julie Gorlewski, Assistant Professor
David Gorlewski, Assistant Professor
P.L. Thomas, Associate Professor, Furman University
David Schultz, Assistant Professor
Janis Mottern-High
Steven Heller
Tara Seale
Renee M. Moreno, Ph.D.
Jesse P. Turner
Jeanne Gilliam Fain, Ph.D.
Joan Kaywell, Professor
Marjorie Siegel, Teachers' College, Columbia U.
Renita Schmidt, COE, U.of Iowa
Dorothy King, retired
Connie Weaver, retired Endowed Professor of Reading and Writing, Miami U.
Diane Stephens, U. of So. Carolina
Prisca Martens, Towson U.
Jack S. Damico, U of Louisiana@Layfayette
Margaret Phinney, U. of Wisconsin River Falls
Amy Barnhill, U. of Houston, Victoria
Patricia L. Anders, U. of Arizona, COE
Michael Shaw, Director of the Reading Collaborative
J.C. Harste, retired Indiana U
Barbara Flores, San Bernadino City Unified School Board Member
Paul Crowley, Sonoma State U.
Yvonne Sui Runyan, NCTE Past President
Caryl Crowell, teacher, Tucson Unified School District
Eliane Rubinstein-Avila, Teaching, Learning & Sociocultural Studies, U. of Arizona.
Elizabeth Jaeger, Teaching, Learning & Sociocultural Studies, U of Arizona
Susan Seay, School of Ed., U. of Alabama, Birmingham
Richard Meyer, Language, Literacy and Sociocultural Studies, U. of New Mexico
Denny Taylor, Garn Press
Christian Z. Goering
Lenny Sanchez, U. of Missouri
Mitzi Lewison, Literacy, Culture & Language Education, Indiana U.
Koomi Kim, Mexico State U.
Kathryn Whitmore, Endowed Chair Early Childhood, U. of Louisville
Jan Turbill, U. of Woolongong, NSW, Australia
Carole Edelsky, retired, Arizona State U.
Dawn J. Mitchell, Adjunct Instructor Furman University/ Spartanburg Writing Project, USC Upstate
Sandra Wilde, City U. of New York
Bess Altwerger, Towson U.
Carol Lauritzen, Eastern Oregon U.
Nancy Patterson, Literacy Studies, Grand Vallley State U.
Scott Richie, Kennesaw State U.
Jane Baskwill, Mount Saint Vincent U.
Howard Miller, Mercy Coilege School of Education
Reade Dornan, retired Michigan State U.
John Stansell, Chair Teacher Education and Administration U. of North Texas
Karen Packard, retired
Dr. Geneva Smitherman
Additional Support
Dan Kenley, Retired K-12 Teacher, Principal, and Director
Bill Boyle, Principal
Tom Gallagher, Teacher
Russ Walsh
Jack Awtrey, Title I Academic Specialist, Elementary ELA
Having been a serious competitive and recreational cyclist (not "biker") for all but a handful of years over three decades, I cringe and must bite my tongue every time people refer to their bicycle "seat" (it is a "saddle"). During those years committed to cycling, I have also become well acquainted with the history of the professional sport and a fairly accomplished bicycle mechanic.
I can take apart and assemble a high-end road bicycle, and I know the proper names for all the parts.
All of that knowledge and skill, however, have not made me a better cyclist. And since I have spent those same approximate years also pursuing careers as a writer and teacher (mainly of English, specifically writing), I remain baffled at both recurring arguments found in Juana Summer's NPR piece and the public responses to it:
When you think about a sentence, you usually think about words — not lines. But sentence diagramming brings geometry into grammar.
If you weren't taught to diagram a sentence, this might sound a little zany. But the practice has a long — and controversial — history in U.S. schools.
And while it was once commonplace, many people today don't even know what it is….
But does it deserve a place in English class today? (The Common Core doesn't mention it.)
I found this article through Facebook, where the original posting was praising sentence diagramming and many who commented followed suit. Oddly—although not surprising—when I weighed in with a century of research refuting the effectiveness of sentence diagramming for teaching writing, my comments were brushed off as a "viewpoint" and one person even boldly stated that no one could convince her that sentence diagramming wasn't effective.
During a teaching career—mostly in English—that spanned over six decades and included a term as president of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE), Lou LaBrant [1] confronted the grammar debate, including sentence diagramming, in 1952:
Let us admit that in thousands of schoolrooms our teaching of punctuation has concerned sentences no child ever made, errors which adults and publishing houses provided, books which we have spent hours trying to "motivate," and corrections of so-called "errors" which are approved forms everywhere except in our classrooms. We have wasted hours on diagramming dull sentences when what a sentence calls for is not to be drawn but to be understood. Who understands "Thou shalt not steal" the better for having written not on a slanting line under shalt steal? Our first step is clearing away busy work, meaningless matters, and getting at the problems of speaking about something worth saying and writing with sincerity and zest. Reading is not to be "something I had"; it should be "something I do."
Six years previous, LaBrant identified the research base examining isolated direct grammar instruction and teaching writing:
We have some hundreds of studies now which demonstrate that there is little correlation (whatever that may cover) between exercises in punctuation and sentence structure and the tendency to use the principles illustrated in independent writing.
In 1953, although there is a danger in her simple phrasing, LaBrant offered an eloquent argument about the job of teaching writing:
It ought to be unnecessary to say that writing is learned by writing; unfortunately there is need. Again and again teachers or schools are accused of failing to teach students to write decent English, and again and again investigations show that students have been taught about punctuation, the function of a paragraph, parts of speech, selection of "vivid" words, spelling – that students have done everything but the writing of many complete papers. Again and again college freshmen report that never in either high school or grammar school have they been asked to select a topic for writing, and write their own ideas about that subject. Some have been given topics for writing; others have been asked to summarize what someone else has said; numbers have been given work on revising sentences, filling in blanks, punctuating sentences, and analyzing what others have written….Knowing facts about language does not necessarily result in ability to use it.
And thus, we come to LaBrant's most powerful metaphor for teaching writing:
Knowing about writing and its parts does not bring it about, just as owning a blueprint does not give you a house….The end has all along been writing, but somewhere along the way we have thought to substitute mechanical plans and parts for the total. We have ceased to build the house and have contented ourselves with blueprints. Whatever the cost in time (and that is great), and whatever the effort, our students must be taught to write, to rewrite, to have the full experience of translating ideas into the written word. This is a deep and full experience, one to which each in his own way has a right.
At mid-twentieth century, then, LaBrant expressed evidence-based positions on teaching writing (and the ineffectiveness of isolated direct grammar instruction and sentence diagramming) that have been replicated by numerous teachers and scholars for decades—notably the work of Connie Weaver and George Hillocks. Hillocks, for example, has shown that isolated direct grammar instruction has negative consequences on students as writers:
NCTE has catalogued the same debates, misunderstandings, and research base: Guideline on Some Questions and Answers about Grammar and Resolution on Grammar Exercises to Teach Speaking and Writing. And despite a cumulative and clear recognition of the effective and ineffective approaches to teaching children to write (see Writing Next), we find articles such as the NPR piece above and the responses I witnessed on Facebook.
And while I don't suffer the delusion that I can stem the grammar/sentence diagramming debates, I want to offer here some framing clarifications that I think may help both teachers and the public better understand the issues:
So I return to LaBrant, and her plea that teaching young people to write is about goals and weighing what truly matters:
There are many ways of writing English, and the teacher of composition must know, before he thinks of means for teaching, what kind of writing he thinks important to teach. He may be content if the writing is composed of sentences with correct structure, with periods neatly placed, verbs correctly ended, pronouns in the right case, and all attractively placed on the page. I have heard teachers say that if their pupils do all this, and spell with reasonable correctness, they (the teachers) are content. I am willing to admit that a conventional paper, such as is just described, tempts one to be satisfied; but I am not willing to admit that it represents a worth-while aim. As a teacher of English, I am not willing to teach the polishing and adornment of irresponsible, unimportant writing….I would place as the first aim of teaching students to write the development of full responsibility for what they say.
If we seek to teach young people to write, and thus to think, in complex and original ways, we remain confronted by the need to see that writing is learned by writing—just as I have honed my skills as a cyclist by riding a bicycle about 5000 to 10,000 miles annually for most of the last thirty years.
Naming correctly the parts of the bicycle, taking apart and putting together a bicycle—these have not made me a better cyclist. For students as writers, blueprints, still, are not houses, diagramming is not composing.
Simply stated, then: The effective writing classroom must never be absent the direct teaching of grammar (again, not if, but when and how), but the grammar-based classroom has often been and continues to be absent writing by students—and therein is the failure.
Teaching the Unteachable, Kurt Vonnegut
[1] See Chapter 7 in Missing Chapters, Lou LaBrant: An Annotated Bibliography, and Lou LaBrant: A Woman's Life, a Teacher's Life.
Posted at Maureen Downey's Get Schooled, college instructor Rick Diguette offers a grim picture of first year college writing:
Once upon a time I taught college English at a local community college, but not any more. Don't get me wrong, I'm still on faculty and scheduled to cover three sections of freshman composition this fall. But it has become obvious to me that I am no longer teaching "college" English.
Every semester many students in my freshman English classes submit work that is inadequate in almost every respect. Their sentences are thickets of misplaced modifiers, vague pronoun references, conflicting tenses, and subjects and verbs that don't agree―when they remember, that is, that sentences need subjects. If that were not bad enough, the only mark of punctuation they seem capable of using with any consistency is the period.
I read this just after I had been mulling Jessica Lahey's What a 12 Year Old Has in Common With a Plagiarizing U.S. Senator, and I recognize in both pieces several overlapping concerns that deserve greater consideration as well as some warranted push back.
"Students Today…"
Let me first frame my response by noting that I taught high school English for 18 years in rural upstate South Carolina—where I focused heavily on student writing—and now have been in teacher education for an additional 13 years. My primary role is to prepare future English teachers, but I also serve as the university Faculty Director for First Year Seminars, and thus support the teaching of writing at my university.
In both Diguette's and Lahey's pieces, we must confront a problematic although enduring sense that "students today" are somehow fundamentally different than students in the past, and that difference is always that "students today" are worse. Students today can't even write a complete sentence (Diguette), and students today are cheating like there is no tomorrow (Lahey).
This sort of "students today" crisis discourse fails us, I believe, because it is fundamentally skewed by our tendency to be nostalgic about the past as well as by shifting far too much focus on lamenting conditions instead of addressing them.
I offer, then, a broad response to both Diguette's and Lahey's central points: Let's not address student writing and plagiarism/cheating as if these are unique or fundamentally worse concerns for teachers and education in 2014 than at any other point in modern U.S. education.
And for context, especially regarding students as writers, I offer the work of Lou LaBrant on teaching writing (see sources below) and my own examination of teaching writing built on LaBrant's work; in short:
In "Writing Is More than Structure," LaBrant (1957) says that "an inherent quality in writing is responsibility for what is said. There is therefore a moral quality in the composition of any piece" (p. 256). For LaBrant, the integrity of the content of a student's writing outweighs considerably any surface features. In that same article, she offers a metaphor that captures precisely her view of the debate surrounding the teaching of writing—a debate that has persisted in the English field throughout this century: "Knowing about writing and its parts does not bring it about, just as owning a blueprint does not give you a house" (p. 256)….
…LaBrant sought ultimately through writing instruction the self-actualized literate adult, the sophisticated thinker. She never wavered in her demand that writing instruction was primarily concerned with making sincere and valuable meaning—not as a means to inculcate a set of arbitrary and misleading rules, rules that were static yet being imposed on a language in flux.
Lou LaBrant remained paradoxically rigid in her stance: The writing curriculum had to be open-ended and child-centered; the content of writing came first, followed by conforming to the conventions; and English teachers had to be master writers, master descriptive grammarians, and historians of the language. It all seemed quite obvious to her, since she personified those qualities that she demanded. LaBrant was one of many who embodied the debates that surround the field of teaching English, and she left writing teachers with one lingering question: Do we want our students drawing blueprints or building houses? The answer is obvious. (pp. 85, 89)
Instead of framing student writing and plagiarism, then, within crisis discourse, we must view the teaching of writing and the need to instill scholarly ethics in our students as fundamental and enduring aspects of teaching at every level of formal schooling. In other words, the problems in student work we encounter as teachers—such as garbled claims; shoddy grammar, mechanics, and usage; improperly cited sources; plagiarism—are simply the foundations upon which we teach.
Along with the essential flaw of viewing "students today" as inferior to students of the past, the urge to lament that students come to any of us poorly prepared by those who taught them before is also misleading and more distraction.
We certainly could and should do a better job moving students along through formal education (see my discussion of common experiences versus standards), but the simple fact is that each teacher must take every student where she/he is and then move that student forward as well as possible. Formal standards and implied expectations about where all students should be mean little in the real world where our job as teachers is bound to each student's background, proclivities, and all the contexts that support or impede that student's ability to grow and learn.
Now, before moving on, let me introduce another point about our perceptions of how and when students "learn" literacy. Consider the common view of children learning to read by third grade, for example. As reported at NPR, this widespread assumption that students acquire reading by third (or any) grade is flawed because children and adults continue to evolve as readers (and writers) in ways that defy neat linear categories.
As educator professor and scholar Peter Smagorinsky notes in his response to Diguette, "Education is very complex, and it's rare that one problem has a single cause."
On Writing, Plagiarism, and Teaching
None of what I have offered so far relieves teachers of this truth: All students need (deserve) writing instruction and that must include serious considerations of proper citations as well as focusing on the ethical implications of being a scholar and a writer (and citizen, of course).
And while I disagree with claims that "students today" are fundamentally worse writers or more prone to plagiarism than students in the past, I do recognize that we can expose why students perform as they do as writers and why students plagiarize and settle for shoddy citation.
Whether we are concerned about the claims or organization in a student writing sample, the surface features (grammar, mechanics, and usage), faulty attribution of citations, or outright plagiarism, a central root cause of those issues can be traced to the current thirty-years cycle of public school accountability built on standards and high-stakes testing.
As Smagorinsky does, I want to urge anyone concerned about student writing to consider the conclusions drawn by Applebee and Langer regarding the teaching of writing in middle and high school (see my review at Teachers College Record).
Applebee and Langer present a truly disheartening examination of the consequences related to the accountability era as they impact student writing: Although teachers are more aware than ever of best practices in the teaching of writing (due in no small part to the rise of the National Writing Project in the 1970s and 1980s), throughout middle and high school, students are not writing in ways that foster their abilities to generate original ideas; establish, support, and elaborate on credible claims; and polish writing that conforms to traditional conventions for language.
The primary reasons behind this failure are not "bad" teachers or lazy/stupid students, but the demands linked to high-stakes accountability. Just as one example, please consider Thomas Newkirk's challenge to the unintended and corrosive consequences of writing being added to the SAT in 2005.
The writing section of the SAT has negatively impacted the teaching of writing in the following ways, all of which can be found in contexts related to preparing students for other high-stakes testing situations related to state-based accountability (although NCTE warned about these consequences from the beginning):
The more productive and credible approach to considering why students write poorly or drift into plagiarism, then, is to confront the commitments we have made to education broadly. The accountability era put a halt to best practice in writing for our teachers and students so we should not be shocked about what college professors see when first year students enter their classes.
But another source of shoddy student writing must not be ignored.
Within that larger context of accountability, student writing that is prompted tends to have much weaker characteristics (content as well as surface features including proper citation) than writing for which students have genuine engagement (see the work of George Hillocks, for example). In other words, while students are not composing nearly enough in their K-12 experiences (and not receiving adequate direct instruction of writing at any formal level), when students do write, the assignments tend to foster the worst sorts of weaknesses highlighted by Diguette and Lahey.
Shoddy ideas and careless editing as well as plagiarism are often the consequences of assigned writing about which students do not care and often do not understand. (Higher quality writing and reducing plagiarism [Thomas, 2007] can be accomplished by student choice and drafting original essays over extended time with close monitoring by the teacher, by the way.)
And this leads back to my main argument about how to respond to both Diguette and Lahey: As teachers in K-12 and higher education, we have a moral obligation to teach students to be writers and to be ethical. Period.
To be blunt, it doesn't matter why students struggle with writing or plagiarism at any level of formal education because we must address those issues when students enter our rooms, and we must set aside the expectation that students come to us "fixed."
In other words, like most of education, learning to write and polishing ones sense of proper citation as well as the ethical demands of expression are life-long journeys, not goals anyone ever finishes.
However, in the current high-stakes accountability era of K-12 education—and the likelihood this is spreading to higher education—I must concur with Smagorinsky:
If you want kids to learn how to write, then put your money to work to provide teachers the kinds of conditions that enable the time to plan effective instruction, guide students through the process, and assess their work thoughtfully and considerately.
Otherwise, you may as well add yourself to the list of reasons that kids these days can't write.
And I will add that if college professors want students who write well and ethically, they (we) must commit to continuing to teach writing throughout any students formal education—instead of lamenting when those students don't come to us already "fixed."
Writing and ethical expression have never been addressed in formal schooling in the ways they deserve; both have been mostly about technical details and domains of punishment. The current accountability era has reinforced those traditional failures.
I find Diguette's and Lahey's pieces both very important and seriously dangerous because they are likely to result in more misguided "blaming the victims" in that too many of the conclusions drawn about why students write poorly and often plagiarize remain focused on labeling teachers and students as flawed.
That students write poorly and often plagiarize is evidence of systemic failures, first and foremost. In order for the outcomes—effective and ethical student writers—to occur, then, we all must change the conditions and expectations of formal education, including understanding that all teachers are obligated to identify our students strengths and needs in order to start there and see how far we can go.
Final Thoughts: Adult Hypocrisy
Many of you may want to stop now. The above is my sanitized response, but it isn't what I really want to say so here goes.
If you wonder why students write poorly and too often plagiarize, I suggest you stroll into whatever room has the biggest mirror and look for a moment.
As someone who is a writer and editor, I work daily with scholars and other writers who submit work far more shoddy than my students submit.
And as an increasingly old man, I witness the adult world that is nothing like the idealized and ridiculous expectations we level moment by moment on children.
Plagiarism? You too can become vice president of the U.S.!
Lazy student? You can become president of the U.S.!
Now, I absolutely believe we must have high expectations for our students, including a nuanced and powerful expectation for ethical behavior, but many of the reasons that children fail at their pursuit of ethical lives must be placed at our feet. The adults in the U.S. (especially if you are white, if you are wealthy, if you are a man) play a much different ethical game than what we tell children.
Children see through such bunkum and that teaches a much different lesson that doesn't do any of us any good.
For Further Reading
The New Writing Assessments: Where Are They Leading Us?, Thomas Newkirk
Advice to Students and Authors: Submitting Your Work
High and Reasonable Expectations for Student Writing
What do College Professors Want from Incoming High School Graduates?
LaBrant, L. (1949, May). Analysis of clichés and abstractions. English Journal, 38(5), 275-278.
LaBrant, L.L. (1934, March). The changing sentence structure of children. The Elementary English Review, 11(3), 59-65, 86
LaBrant, L. (1945, November). [Comment]. Our Readers Think: About Integration. The English Journal, 34(9), 497-502.
LaBrant, L. (1950, April). The individual and his writing. Elementary English, 27(4), 261-265.
LaBrant, L. (1955). Inducing students to write. English Journal, 44(2), 70-74, 116.
LaBrant, L. (1943). Language teaching in a changing world. The Elementary English Review, 20(3), 93–97.
LaBrant, L. (1936, April). The psychological basis for creative writing. The English Journal, 25(4), 292-301.
LaBrant, L. (1946). Teaching high-school students to write. English Journal, 35(3), 123–128.
LaBrant, L. (1953). Writing is learned by writing. Elementary English, 30(7), 417-420.
LaBrant, L. (1957). Writing is more than structure. English Journal, 46(5), 252–256, 293.
Thomas, P. L. (2000, January). Blueprints or houses?—Looking back at Lou LaBrant and the writing debate. English Journal, 89(3), pp. 85-89.
Thomas, P. L. (2007, May). Of flattery and thievery: Reconsidering plagiarism in a time of virtual information. English Journal, 96(5), 81-84.
[At the 2014 National Council of Teachers of English Annual convention—themed Story As the Landscape of Knowing and held November 20-23, 2014, in Washington DC—Renita Schmidt (University of Iowa), Sean Connors (University of Arkansas), and I will be presenting as detailed below; I offer our proposal as a preview and hope you can join us as we need to raise our voices for both libraries and literature.]
"Why do we need the things in books?": The Enduring Power of Libraries and Literature
Panel presentation, 75 mins
Teaching Reading and Children: Reading Programs as "Costume Parties"*
P. L. Thomas, Furman University
"[L]anguage behavior can not be reduced to formula," Lou LaBrant (1947) argued (p. 20)—emphasizing that literacy growth was complicated but flourished when it was child-centered and practical (for example, in the ways many privileged children experience in their homes because one or more of the parents are afforded the conditions within which to foster their children's literacy). Also, LaBrant (1949) identified the central failure of teaching reading: "Our language programs have been set up as costume parties and not anything more basic than that" (p. 16). This opening talk of the panel will focus on the importance of access to books and libraries as an antidote to "costume parties"—highlighting the work of LaBrant and Stephen Krashen as well as the speeches and writings of Neil Gaiman and Ray Bradbury as life-long proponents of libraries.
The More Books the Better!: Library Books as Boundary Objects To Build Strong Girls
Nita Schmidt, University of Iowa
Libraries provide stories for helping us understand who we are and who we might become. Sometimes, those stories take us to places we cannot imagine and we need more stories to resolve the tension. Libraries provide the books that become boundary objects or, as Akkerman and Baker (2011) describe, artifacts that work as mediators during times of discontinuity. Drawing on sociocultural theories of learning (Gee, 1996; Wenger, 1998; Vygotsky, 1978), this paper will discuss the ways an after school book club works with 4th – 6th grade girls to consider new perspectives. Book club members visit the library every month, read books with strong female protagonists, discuss topics in the books that relate to the real lives of the girls, and help the girls start their own personal libraries to encourage girls to begin to see themselves as successful young women in a complex global world. A bibliography will be provided.
Speaking Back to Power: Teaching YA Literature in an Age of CCSS
Sean Connors, University of Arkansas
If, as the narrator of John Green's (2009) Paper Towns suggests, imagination is the machine that kills fascists, then literature, as English teachers and librarians know, is the engine that drives it. Despite the current education reform movement's insistence on reducing the study of literature to a set of narrowly defined, measurable skills, and arguments which associate "close reading" and "textual complexity" with canonical literature, educators who value Young Adult fiction know that, like literature for adults, it is capable of creating a space for readers to examine complex issues related to race, class, gender, etc. This presentation calls on educators to recast arguments for teaching YA fiction in an age of CCSS by foregrounding its ability to encourage critical thinking. The presenter will share examples of (and guidelines for producing) student created digital book trailers that, rather than promoting books, instead "speak back" to oppressive ideologies featured in them.
*Portions adapted from the following blog posts:
Teaching Reading and Children: Reading Programs as "Costume Parties"
Common Core in the Real World: Destroying Literacy through Standardization (Again)
"Fahrenheit 451″ 60 Years Later: "Why do we need the things in books?"
Neil Gaiman Should Be U.S. Secretary of Education: "Things can be different"
Akkerman, S.F. & Baker, A. (2011). Boundary crossing and boundary objects. Review of Educational Research, 81(2), 132-169.
Bradbury, R. Fahrenheit 451, 60th anniversary edition.
Neil Gaiman lecture in full: Reading and obligation — http://readingagency.org.uk/news/blog/neil-gaiman-lecture-in-full.html
Gee, J.P. (1996). Social linguistics and literacies: Ideology in discourse. New York: Routledge.
Green, J. (2009). Paper towns. New York: Speak.
Krashen, S. (2014, January 4). The Spectacular Role of Libraries in Protecting Students from the Effects of Poverty. http://skrashen.blogspot.com/2014/01/the-spectacular-role-of-libraries-in.html?m=1
LaBrant, L. (1949). A genetic approach to language. Unpublished manuscript, Institute of General Semantics, Lakeville, CT.
LaBrant, L. (1947). Um-brel-la has syllables three. The Packet, 2(1), 20-25.
LaBrant, L. (1944, November). The words they know. The English Journal, 33(9), 475-480.
LaBrant, L. (1940, February). Library teacher or classroom teacher? The Phi Delta Kappan, 22(6), pp. 289-291.
LaBrant, L. (1931, March). Masquerading. The English Journal, 20(3), pp. 244-246.
Wenger, E. (1998). Communities of practice, learning, meaning and identity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Vygotsky, L. (1978). Mind and Society: The development of higher psychological processes. Cambridge, MA: President and Fellows of Harvard College.


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Press release from Marketwire
Geologix's North Zone Drilling Confirms Higher-Grade Starter Pit-New Resource Estimation Underway
Thursday, February 16, 2012
Geologix's North Zone Drilling Confirms Higher-Grade Starter Pit-New Resource Estimation Underway07:00 EST Thursday, February 16, 2012VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwire - Feb. 16, 2012) - Geologix Explorations Inc. (TSX:GIX)(FRANKFURT:GF6)(BERLIN:GF6)(MUN:GF6)(STUT:GF6) (the "Company") is pleased to announce remaining drill assay results from the latest resource expansion and infill drilling program at its 100% owned Tepal property in Michoacán state, Mexico. All drill assay data from the 160 holes drilled in the latest program are now being compiled in preparation of the forthcoming updated resource estimation. The latest results from the Tepal project's North Zone confirm the presence of a higher grade, near surface area within the body of the North Zone. Highlights from these most recent drill assay results include hole TEP-11-075 which intersected 140.70 metres (m) grading 0.87 grams per tonne (g/t) gold and 0.36 percent (%) copper, and hole TEP-11-072 which intersected 76.00m grading 0.77 g/t gold and 0.59% copper. See drill section and plan map at the Company's website (www.geologix.ca).To view the drill section and plan map, visit http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/gix216_F1-2.pdf.Details of the highlight holes from the latest North Zone drilling include:Hole IDZoneFromToInterval (m)Au g/tCu %Ag g/tAu Eq*TEP-11-033North0.0041.9041.900.290.585.91.48TEP-11-060North0.0096.0096.000.430.262.30.96TEP-11-063North4.0067.4063.400.360.261.00.87TEP-11-064North0.0054.5054.500.430.292.11.01TEP-11-065North0.0029.9529.950.410.390.51.15andNorth54.4077.2522.850.430.420.81.23TEP-11-068North52.5093.5041.000.740.371.11.46TEP-11-072North0.0076.0076.000.770.591.01.90TEP-11-075North0.00140.70140.700.870.361.41.57andNorth162.75188.9026.150.5188.8.131.52TEP-11-084North0.0031.5031.500.140.300.70.72TEP-11-089North0.0041.0041.000.450.781.81.95TEP-11-093North0.0067.9567.950.670.640.91.89TEP-11-094North18.65224.70206.050.4126.96.36.199TEP-11-102North0.00137.00137.000.4220.127.116.11TEP-11-110North0.0078.0078.000.300.321.40.93TEP-11-113North0.00179.35179.350.540.241.11.01TEP-11-115North0.0054.4554.450.730.321.31.35TEP-11-120North0.00119.60119.600.300.191.20.68TEP-11-125North0.00122.05122.050.600.250.91.09Au = gold, Cu = copper, Ag = silver, *AuEq g/t = gold equivalent based on metal prices of $1,000 Au, $2.75 Cu, and $16 Ag.Dunham Craig, President & CEO, stated, "We are pleased with these latest results as eighty (80) of the last ninety-one (91) holes being reported encountered mineralization equal to, or greater than the Company's internal North Zone cut-off and represent the final data required to complete the upgraded resource estimation currently being conducted by Micon International Limited. Additionally, multiple holes drilled within the central portion of the North Zone returned intervals of gold and copper grades well in excess of the 2011 Preliminary Assessment North Zone's mine plan average grade of 0.37 g/t gold and 0.24% copper. These elevated grades found over substantial intersections support the potential for the North Zone to host a sizable higher grade starter pit which could positively impact Tepal's production profile, specifically within the critical early years of the project's mine life."As indicated in the accompanying drill section, drilling at the outer edges of the zone encountered elevated grades outside the previous resource outline (see Preliminary Assessment news release dated April 11, 2011), evidencing the potential to expand the resource outline laterally. Infill drill holes completed in this program returned assays consistent with previously reported North Zone drilling and should provide the necessary data to both produce the pending upgraded resource estimation to Measured and Indicated categories and to complete the subsequent pre-feasibility study.A complete table of all drill hole assays being reported, as well as previously reported assay results, together with associated drill sections and plan maps, can be found on the Tepal project page of the Company's website (www.geologix.ca). Geologix's Resource Geologist, Andrew Hamilton, B.Sc., P. Geo., a 'qualified person' for the purposes of National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Properties of the Canadian Securities Administrators, has verified the data (including sampling and analytical data) and prepared the information contained in this news release. All samples were collected from the project by ALS-Chemex, and taken to their sample preparation facility in Guadalajara, Jalisco State, Mexico, with the analytical work being completed at their North Vancouver, B.C. laboratory. A QA/QC program has been implemented to ensure all core and sample handling procedures are in accordance with the best possible practices. The assay protocol includes the insertion of standards, blanks and duplicates into the sample stream.Geologix Explorations Inc. is a mineral exploration company focused on acquiring, exploring and developing mineral resource opportunities with the potential to host world class mineral deposits. The Company's primary focus is the Tepal Gold-Copper Porphyry Project in Michoacán state, Mexico, where the Company has completed a Preliminary Assessment study ("PA") of the existing resource and is continuing to aggressively explore for additional gold and copper mineralization in an effort to expand the size of the resource and scale of the possible future mining operation.FOR FURTHER INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT: Dunham CraigGeologix Explorations Inc.President & CEO604.694.1742 or Toll Free: firstname.lastname@example.com WilsonGeologix Explorations Inc.VP Corporate Communications604.694.1742 or Toll Free: firstname.lastname@example.com Toronto Stock Exchange has not reviewed and does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

subset: commoncrawl


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Rookie wide receiver David Gettis just atoned for that fourth-down drop, scoring his second TD of the game with 1:53 left on a 23-yard pass from Matt Moore.
Gettis now has eight catches, 125 yards and two TDs for Carolina, and this game is tied at 20-all.
Carolina went 63 yards in eight plays to tie the game after the defense gave the Panthers another chance.
Now the 49ers get a chance from their own 20, with 1:53 to go and all their timeouts. David Carr remains at QB, and the 49ers have rarely trusted him to throw the ball so far after he replaced the injured Alex Smith.
Sunday, October 24, 2010
Gettis hangs on this time -- 20-all
Posted by Scott Fowler at 3:59 PM
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MOVIEmeterSEE RANK
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Gritos en el pasillo (2006)
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A prestigious fairytale illustrator is hired by the psychiatric hospital director. His job there will be to decorate the hospital walls with his drawings to improve the place's atmosphere. ... See full summary »
Director:Juan José Ramírez Mascaró
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Veterans Day 2011: City of Spokane Closures and Area Events | Community Spirit
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City of Spokane Veterans Day Closures
Friday is not your typical national holiday. City offices will be open for Veterans Day and so will the libraries. Your city needs, like garbage and recycling, will resume all week.
One difference is the city municipal court. The courthouse is locking their doors on Friday, closing themselves off to walk-in citizens. Instead they'll be available by phone.
Other city facilities like Riverfront Park's Ice Palace and the IMAX Theater will remain open.
Don't worry about parking downtown. The meters don't need to be plugged. Shoppers and downtown workers won't need to worry about their vehicle getting a ticket.
Continued: Veterans Day Events
Regional Veterans Day Events
Memorial Program - The Spokane Veterans Memorial Arena will be featuring a Friday morning Veterans Day program. The program starts at 10 a.m. and will feature a keynote speaker, Wm. Fred Aronow, Army Reserve Ambassador.
Veterans Discussion - Spokane's chapter of Veterans for Peace will be speaking at Spokane Community College on Thursday, November 10th to share their observations and feelings about the state of veterans. They're guests of the Student Awareness League.
Discussion will feature comments from four veterans, three who served in Vietnam and one who served in Iraq.
Professor Scott Finnie, from Eastern Washington University will follow with an academic presentation of the state of veterans over the years.
Occupy Spokane - Occupy Spokane is organizing their own day of action to align with the global movement on Veterans Day. They'll be gathering and marching in downtown Spokane starting at 11 a.m. They'll be meeting in Riverfront Park.
BeGin at the MAC - The Northwest Museum of Arts & Culture will be open for Veterans Day. They'll be hosting their monthly open gallery even with live music from the local band, Terrible Buttons and Y La Bamba out of Portland. For more information, visit their Facebook.
Veterans Day, Barbershop Style - Pages of Harmony will perform an evening of patriotic songs saluting the armed forces and military veterans on November 11th at The Lincoln Center. Local Pearl Harbor survivors are guests as well as the author of Radioman, Carol Hipperson.
Tickets are $45 at the door, $25 in advance. For more information, call (509) 325-2925.
Salute to Veterans Dance - The Sons of Norway will be dancing to the sounds of big bands on Friday night. They'll start wtih dance lessons from 6-7 p.m. for those that need a refresher. The MasterClass Jazz Orchestra Big Band will perform from 7-9:30 p.m. Admission is $10.


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Superintendent of Police, Government Railway Police, Vijayawada district (region), Ch. Shyam Prasad, has said that all mobile teams have been ordered to shoot on sight anyone indulging in dacoity on trains.
Speaking to mediapersons after addressing GRP staff hailing from Palasa to Vijayawada here on Saturday, Mr. Prasad said special teams had been constituted with four armed constables for each train and two mobile teams comprising 10 constables. Route officers of the rank of DSP would visit all railway stations. An SI would stay put in the sub control-room to be set up exclusively in big stations keeping in mind the thefts and dacoities usually committed during summer months.
"The GRP staff will be held responsible for incidents of theft or dacoity on trains," he warned. Police beats would be increased in the district, he said, and added that 300 constables had been recruited recently.
Stating that 15,000 persons had lost their lives last year either while crossing the railway track or undertaking footboard travel, Mr. Prasad said the toll in Vijayawada district alone was 5,000.
Mr. Prasad said recovery of stolen property was only 26 per cent last year. It was targeted to achieve 80 per cent this year, he added.
Two days ago, a Bihar gang indulging in stealing suitcases was busted and 500 kg gold belonging to a passenger from Bhimavaram was recovered from it, the police official said.


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Robin Soderling: "If no comeback in 2013, then I do not know...."
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Join Date: Aug 2009
Location: Minneapolis, North of the Wall
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Originally Posted by
Guessed as much, given the context. I really don't get what is with these tennis players and mono. Haven't heard any other sportspeople get it
Hope we don't have another Ancic like case here and Soderling does make a decent comeback.
It is really quite simple. EBV is one of those viruses that 90% of the population carries, however it rarely turns into a noticeable bout of glandular fever (Mononucleosis).
The thing is, athletes today are pushing themselves to the limit of the human body, with travelling, lack of sleep, time zone changes, practice schedules, etc.
We didn't see this because 30 years ago people didn't work even close to as hard and for such an extended period of time at the top of pro sports. Mono is merely the virus that tells you "I am doing too much". First year of University I was working while going to the gym 5 days a week and essentially working myself until I couldn't lift anymore (really stupid, I regret the mistakes I made so much as it has set me back 6 years physically, and I probably will never be the same) and I caught mono. I continued to work not knowing I had it, and was wondering why I was seeing stars and almost passing out. Sure enough they did tests and I had mono. I never really recovered and then ended up getting some other virus a year later and lost 20 pounds, which after 6 years I have just gained 10 of those back.
Obviously not everyone has such an extreme case as me, however it is more than conceivable in Soderling's case that he just isn't the same anymore - and at the pro tennis level, even 5% reduction in capability may be the difference between 10 and 50 in the world.
P.S I want to mention I wasn't really bed ridden except for the first 7 days, but I couldn't stay awake longer than 2 hours without feeling like I hadn't slept in 5 days. This really hinders the ability to train at the elite level, even if it is an extremely mild case - Roddick was never the same, Federers energy in 5 setters hasn't been the same arguably, and Soderling is completely finished.
And 2x P.S Mononucleosis is NOT BACTERIAL. The entire premise of a virus, and why they can be much more debilitating than bacteria is that there is no cure, and inherently they work much differently. While bacteria is a single identifiable force inside your body that can be targeted (antibiotics) a virus uses your own cells to replicate, thus it is much more complicated to create vaccine's and anti-viral drugs since the virus inherently inhabits your own cells - this is why HIV is incurable (at least right now).
K Factor K Surge
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Since 1892, Berard® has produced olive wood kitchen tools and accessories at its headquarters near Provence, France. Berard uses only the finest Mediterranean olive wood—with its distinctive grain and gorgeous patina—to craft unique, stylish utensils, cheese boards, storage canisters, and other top-quality kitchen products. The quality and character of Berard workmanship result from more than a century of traditional methods and expertise applied by artisans who have passed down their skills from one generation to the next.
Naturally strong and elegant, olive wood is known for its intense grain and characteristic variations, making each hand-crafted Berard piece unique. To help maintain olive wood's original luster, Berard suggests that you occasionally apply a light coat of food-safe mineral oil or beeswax.
Berard's olive wood products provide years of enjoyment in the kitchen and home. Enjoy!


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Home > Product Categories > Pro-Video > Video Production Tools > Tally Lights > TB-5
Item #: DV-TB5 MFG #: TB-5
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The TB-5 Tally Box is an accessory for the SE-500 or SE-900 switchers which takes tally commands from the switcher and turns on/off up to four tally lights to indicate "next up" and "live". The tally lights are connected and powered by mini phono plugs.
Each TB-5 unit comes packaged with four tally lights, one cable for each light, serial cable to connect to the switcher, and a power adapter. Use two sets of TB-5s for up to 8 tally lights when connected to the SE-900.
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Pitching for foreign investment in the infrastructure sector, which needs $1 trillion in the 12th Five Year Plan, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Sunday asked U.S. investors to access the Indian debt market through a mechanism of regulated entities with a sustained long-term interest rate.
Meeting leaders of Fortune 500 companies here, Mr. Mukherjee assured them that India had evolved a transparent and stable regulatory regime in sectors such as electricity, telecommunications, ports, airports, petroleum and natural gas, and that a regulator for the coal sector was on the anvil.
Mr. Mukherjee told them that India had recently liberalised foreign participation in the debt-equity market by allowing foreign investors to invest in the Indian equity directly.
Seeking a "greater degree of involvement" from foreign investors, Mr. Mukherjee said the "debt requirement for the infrastructure sector is very large." He said India had recently evolved a mechanism to enable access to the Indian debt market through infrastructure debt funds, which would be regulated entities with a sustained long-term interest rate, long-horizon entities such as pension and infrastructure and insurance funds.


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KUALA LUMPUR: South Korea pulled off an upset win over World No.1 Australia in the Champions Trophy hockey tournament here on Friday.
In the 54th minute, Jang Jong-Hyun's powerful flick off a penalty corner found the target.
Earlier, Pakistan beat two-time winner Spain 2-0. Pakistan struck in the 56th minute when Waqas Sharif scored off a rebound.
Akhtar Ali made it 2-0 four minutes later when his powerful hit whizzed past goalkeeper Francisco Cortes.
Pakistan, which lost 5-2 to Germany in its opening match on Thursday, now has three points from two matches.
Spain had drawn 2-2 against South Korea on Thursday. Saturday is a rest day.
Netherlands prevails
Defending champion Netherlands beat host Malaysia 3-1 in another match. Malaysia is yet to score a point.
Germany blanked Great Britain 4-0.
The results: Pakistan 2 (Waqas Sharif 56, Akhtar Ali 61) bt Spain 0; Netherlands 3 (Taeke Taekema 25, Rob Reckers 32, Ronald Brouwer 37) bt Malaysia 1 (Kelvinder Singh 18); Germany 4 (Sebastien Draguhn 32, Matthias Witthaus 38, 71, Carlos Nevado-Gonzales 58) bt Great Britain 0; South Korea (Jan Jon Hyun 56) bt Australia 0. — AP


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12th December 2014
Obama and Harry Styles 'had sex' tabloid turns out to be photoshopped
5:01 PM — A tabloid newspaper cover from the US which claimed to state that President Obama and Harry Styles "had sex". has been revealed to be a convincing photoshop job.
5th April 2013
Rapper Daddy Yankee denies that he is gay after circulation of fake gay kiss photo 5
1:11 PM — Rapper Daddy Yankee has dismissed rumours that he is gay, blaming social media for the rumours, as a photograph which sites claimed was of him kissing another man, circulated earlier this week.


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I'm currently doing a project where I'm going to build an application (created in Java) alongside a database. So this will be client server system i'm developing. Part of my project would be to research existing client server systems.
So I was wondering is there any good client server systems, that was built using Java, that I can take a look at? I'm interested in novice to professional programs, but not something too complicated that i won't be able to get my head around.
I want to discuss them in my research and see how they work.
Thank you.


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Mi Vida Sin Ti
Released: Oct 2012
Label: Virtus, Inc.
What a perfect name for an album from this legendary family band beloved for their hyper-romantic, heavily dramatic love songs. Naturally, Mi Vida Sin Ti comes stuffed with swooping, shimmering tales of love -- and love lost -- served up with the kind of heart-yanking pop theatrics we've come to expect from Los Temerarios. Revel in the trembling tenors and soaring belts. Quiver before the stately mariachi pace of "Definitivamente Ya no Estoy Enamorado." Swoon to the synthed-up sentiment of "Dias Nublados." But whatever you do, do not miss "A Mi Manera," a cover of "My Way."


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Okay...as you know, I have made a crusade of pointing out the hypocrisy of some Democrats, (namely: Hillary Clinton, Teddy Kennedy, John Kerry, John Edwards, Dingy Harry Reid, even Loopy Nancy Pelosi) for thier pro-war statement BEFORE the Iraq War concerning WMD, and the 180 degree flip flop when the going got tough.
I think you remember the Vice President talking about people trying to rewrite history.
Well, it's looking like the Democrat's plan backfired:
From the Washington Post
Democrats fumed last week at Vice President Cheney's suggestion that criticism of the administration's war policies was itself becoming a hindrance to the war effort. But a new poll indicates most Americans are sympathetic to Cheney's point.
Seventy percent of people surveyed said that criticism of the war by Democratic senators hurts troop morale -- with 44 percent saying morale is hurt "a lot," according to a poll taken by RT Strategies. Even self-identified Democrats agree: 55 percent believe criticism hurts morale, while 21 percent say it helps morale.
The results surely will rankle many Democrats, who argue that it is patriotic and supportive of the troops to call attention to what they believe are deep flaws in President Bush's Iraq strategy. But the survey itself cannot be dismissed as a partisan attack. The RTs in RT Strategies are Thomas Riehle, a Democrat, and Lance Tarrance, a veteran GOP pollster.
Their poll also indicates many Americans are skeptical of Democratic complaints about the war. Just three of 10 adults accept that Democrats are leveling criticism because they believe this will help U.S. efforts in Iraq. A majority believes the motive is really to "gain a partisan political advantage."
This poll is one of the few pieces of supportive news the administration has had lately on Iraq. Most surveys have shown significant majorities believe it was a mistake to go to war, as well as rising sentiment that Bush misled Americans in making the case for it.
Even so, there is still support for Bush's policy going forward. A plurality, 49 percent, believe that troops should come home only when the Iraqi government can provide for its own security, while 16 percent support immediate withdrawal, regardless of the circumstances.
Pretty darn good news for Dubya! Man, I love Joe Sixpack. Maybe I can talk Christoph into changing my name to "Joe Sixpack" in Joe's honor.
Just kidding Christoph.
Caesar, thanks for posting this article, I really didn't think that the Americans think like that. I thought there are more people supporting each word the Democrats say. Well, there aren't. So: Good for us
Yep, it really made my day when I read it.
@ Caesar, maybe a bit of topic, but I got something for you here , that you might enjoy .
Gast10602Zitat von chris015
we have to finish what we started, no matter what. the public at large knows that.
i know, it sounds different on tv and the news, but if you ask a real person, you will hear it.
the media is so bias, they only show you , what they think you should know and hear.
Perfect example was the Dan Rather incident.
Then we have the all time ueber-biatch Katie Curic, gosh her and BArbara Walters in a sack, start swinging and you will always hit the right one.
Also just a short highlight out of this article besides "This poll is one of the few pieces of supportive news the administration has had lately on Iraq. Most surveys have shown significant majorities believe it was a mistake to go to war, as well as rising sentiment that Bush misled Americans in making the case for it."
But what heiner said is of course true, it was started and now it has to be finished how long ever it may take, anything else would be irresponsible. That does not mean, that everybody has to like it and most of the surveys seem to indicate that.
Dear Mr. Blix, Welcome to Iraq! It is so good...Antworten: 4Letzter Beitrag: 01.08.2003, 18:49
40. Oh I just couldn't. Hell, she's only sixteen....Antworten: 1Letzter Beitrag: 01.04.2003, 03:32
One day Saddam Hussein was walking in the desert...Antworten: 2Letzter Beitrag: 01.04.2003, 03:01
As A Born Texan, I think I have the right to make...Antworten: 0Letzter Beitrag: 31.03.2003, 14:12
"Kill All That You Can Kill" "Shower With Men"...Antworten: 0Letzter Beitrag: 31.03.2003, 14:10
Hmm....here is a madman, who delibertly tries to...von solarisAntworten: 10Letzter Beitrag: 31.08.2006, 05:41
Mayor Wants To Chop Off Thumbs, Whip...von EifelfeeAntworten: 2Letzter Beitrag: 04.11.2005, 21:42
U.N. REPORT INVESTIGATING THE ASSASSINATION OF...von MichuAntworten: 3Letzter Beitrag: 30.10.2005, 02:46
Aaahh just as I was about to post in the...von MaraCAntworten: 36Letzter Beitrag: 20.10.2005, 07:24
1. Freedom of Speech - "Congress shall make no...von Christoph_AWFAntworten: 0Letzter Beitrag: 21.09.2005, 04:41


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Not sure what class to take? Take a few minutes to review our 2015 Course Descriptions for detailed information on each program plus any uniform requirements or materials fees. If this doesn't answer your questions, just give us a call at 360.473.0550. We'll be happy to tell you more.
Our Cosmetology Salon is open for business! Check out our Services Menu and call for an appointment.
There's still time to sign up for Fall 2015 classes.
RETURNING STUDENTS - Take advantage of our early enrollment process. Returning Students may submit applications between January 5-23...well ahead of new students.


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It was so nice to learn about Robins Egg Pink via an email that owner and Canadian designer Angela Falcao was nice enough to send announcing her soon to launch shop (coming in January, so bookmark this one!). Angela currently creates lots of beautiful things for babies and also some gorgeous pillows for under $25 that I want to show you that are available in her Etsy shop.
Most of her pillows are around $22 which is a great deal for a handmade cushion. I can imagine lots of them on my big white sofa! :) The net proceeds from the sales of many of her products will be donated to The Hospital For Sick Children in Toronto, Ontario; and the Ontario Humane society. Angela will soon add pendant lights to her collection – yay!
Robins Egg Pink on {etsy} and in January you can find more including lighting on {Angela's website}.
For some reason they remind me of beachfront living in Australia. Maybe it's all those Aussie mags I've been reading and of course the influence Miss Anna Spiro has had on us all in bloggyville. I can see one of these pillows in her lovely home or shop. Here's a little idea of what I'm talking about…
Anna's gorgeous shop, this is a recent shot of a display there. Total wow factor. More shop photos here.
(photos for robins egg pink by sarah hartill photography)
I recently heard from Jill at Bongenre and thought her work was something lots of us may really enjoy, especially for guests and for setting the "children's table" that so many use during dinner parties when the family gets together. Bongenre is melamine tableware (bowls, plates) with a twist – it's actually quite elegant! Brooklyn-based founder/designer Jill Fenichell spent 15 years as an antique porcelain and pottery dealer specializing in English blue and white porcelain made in the 18th century.
About her designs Jill says, "I get to think about patterns I love, and work out interesting color relationships and rhythms between shape and pattern and color," she adds, "The real question is: how to connect the old to the new…that's what I want to do with my tableware."
Don't miss the Winchester Mandala pattern, available in several gorgeous colorways. I'm really into mandalas right now so these totally speak to me, especially in purple, lime, and winter (oooh) which is PERFECT for an indoor party this winter for January/February when everyone is tired of red and blue and white seems to coordinate so nicely with the snowfall. Perfect for gift giving too!
What do you think of Melamine tableware? Yes, no, maybe? Under what circumstances do you use it currently? Outdoor only? Indoor? Do you use it mainly for food or for decorating (on the walls or on plate racks)? Do you think it's a good option for dinner parties when breaking out the china isn't something you feel up for and paper plates are definitely not on your menu? Is Melamine the happy 'in-between' option for you or…?
(images from bongenre)
Frida from Husmusen told me last week that Swedish apparel giant H&M (Hennes & Mauritz) will soon launch a home line (window coverings, comforters, sheets, pillows, towels and accessories) due to an large demand for home textiles from their customers. The collection will include several items grouped by theme, here are a few that the lovely Frida has grouped together for a quick peek:
Nature (love those button cushions!)
Design (bold graphics, black and white)
Bright Colors (featuring work from Liselotte Watkins, blogged here before)
and Classic (Marine blue, "New England style")
These collections will start to sell online in February 2009, but not in America, only in Germany, Austria, Netherlands and Nordic countries. They want to start selling online and through catalogs first to see how things go and then see what they want to do from there. Perhaps America could be next? Stay tuned!
Out of the collections shown above, do you have a favorite? Why? Anything that you'd like to see that is currently missing when it comes to affordable home items? I think the world could use more of a selection when it comes to shower curtains and affordable patterned curtains personally.
(images from frida and H&M)
Let's talk about decorating and have a little discussion about it today, shall we? I'll start and then you can pick up with your own thoughts in the comments section. Ready? Okay. When I was a little girl, I would beg my mother to take me on night walks around our neighborhood so I could see what homes looked like inside. I really loved to catch glimpses of the magical places where people lived, and though I didn't press my nose against any windows, I certainly loved admiring the many homes from the sidewalk as we strolled by. I particularly liked to see what was in the window. Sometimes a little cat relaxing on a blanket, or I'd notice plants and flowers in pretty pots, stained glass, and window decorations like glass animals or paper mobiles. It was always a treat to take night walks and today nothing has changed. Whenever I'm in Boston, I like to walk around the Back Bay (especially in early December) to see the twinkle lights and to catch peeks of the gorgeous brownstones that line the streets.
via Candi Mandi. She made her own headboard with fabric paint creating the word, Love.
In Germany, my vacation apartment is in a small city the size of Boston in a neighborhood with many gorgeous Jugenstil style buildings from the 1800's. Our night walks here are always a delight, from sparkling store displays to a glimpse of someone's apartment, even if only their window decorations. Many of you are the same, it's not so unusual to enjoy seeing how real people live. That is why I love Flickr. I find so many homes there of some pretty creative people who live all over the world, and I never tire of viewing them because I see so many things I like and feel inspired by.
via Nestled In who has a lovely blog too.
When you view the magical world of interior design magazines it can often be a double edged sword. On one side you can become seriously inspired. On the other, if you take what you see too seriously, you may find yourself depressed, feeling as though your life will never be as glamorous, wondering why 'they' have it and you don't (and let's face it some of us will never live in a posh flat in London or on the beach in Malibu). I call these rooms "smoke and mirrors decorating". Sure, these places are real in most cases but it's important to remember that they are often designed by pros, styled to perfection by pros, photographed by pros, with some of the most expensive and luxurious products and furnishings on the market, and then presented as though this "perfect" home is absolutely normal and attainable — like we should all live in the rooms that the magazine presents as 'the' lifestyle. In America it's often sold as the "American Dream". In this economy some of us may need to learn to appreciate what we have and not lose our joy focusing too much on what we do not have. Goals are good to have, but many who become obsessed with trying to mimic what they see in a magazine are often disappointed with the end result because they forgot that what is in a decorating magazine (in most cases) is much like what you view in a fashion magazine, it's a "model" of what part of society views and the other part should be viewing (in other words, what we are being sold to believe as the perfect body, the perfect room, the perfect products to buy, etc.) as completely normal, the lifestyle we should all be aiming for. Am I making sense yet? I'm trying… I'm trying… :)
The work studio of Lovely Design in Vancouver.
I think that it's obvious when you read certain magazines or even blogs, sometimes it's as though everyone is decorating in somewhat the same way and professing to be unique and not "mainstream" yet they are all unique in exactly the same way, you know? I'm guilty of this as well, I often fall into seeing something on a blog or in a magazine and hopping on the wagon incorporating a look into my home that isn't really "me" but because I saw it elsewhere I decided that I should try it out. I's normal to do this and certainly nothing wrong with it, but it's important to remember that no one should be given the authority to tell you what is "good" decorating and what is "bad" decorating, just as with art it is open to personal interpretation (to a certain degree of course, skill is something you can measure to a certain extent but that is an entirely different conversation). There are those naturally born with very good style and this translates into their home and by good style I mean that they possess the knack of pulling things together in a way that is visually appealing. Like the home owners featured in this blog post, they're all extremely talented with such a gift in my eyes. I think though that it's important to keep in mind that the most commonly accepted style is usually considered the 'best' style but it doesn't mean it is truly THE BEST, it's just the most commonly accepted style during a certain period of time.
Nicole – A habitat of being, also a blogger.
In the end I'm simply trying to say to create a home, a room, a corner of your home, any space that belongs to you (even half of your dorm room) into a space that has your fingerprint on it — something personal and special, a place that supports you, the invigorates, refreshes, inspires. If you like it, that's what matters the most. The homes that I enjoy most are those real spaces that I recall seeing as I strolled hand in hand with my mother many years ago, the rooms I see as I walk at night now with my husband, and the homes I see of my friends, family, clients, and those on sites like Flickr. Warm, lived in, special places where there is a sense of pride, history, present, and future. It's hard to describe in words so the photos I've placed in the post are a visual interpretation of what I'm trying so hard say.
Moline, aka Yvonne, a neighbor of mine here in Germany who lives about 30 minutes to the north. Her home is utterly breathtaking. More here and here.
From Christianna's Earthly Delights.
From ZAI Couple in Latvia. They also blog here.
Kleofea in Switzerland.
From -Haust-
From the amazing Herz-Allerliebst in Germany who has a lovely relaxing home.
An entry to a beautiful New York home, Door Sixteen does decorating so, so right. She blogs too.
Via Posidriv in Norway, her blog is here.
Jasna Janekovic in Germany, who sells things that she creates here in her DaWanda shop. She even hand painted polka dots on her fridge!
Alex The Girl from Girl At Play based in Santa Monica, CA. Her former living room is to die for in my opinion.
Do you have your own opinions on what defines a real space? I'd LOVE your thoughts so please share them below…
(images linked to their sources above)


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Saturday, November 23, 2013
© Copyright 2015 Gwinnett Daily Post
DULUTH — The Gwinnett Gladiators negated power plays with penalties four times and were shut out for the second time in just over a week Saturday.
This time it was Greenville blanking the Gladiators in a 3-0 affair that gave the 5,419 on hand at the Arena at Gwinnett Center little to cheer.
It was the second loss to the Road Warriors in as many days and increases the ground Gwinnett (5-12-0-0) must make up in order to climb out of the ECHL South Division's basement.
"They scored three goals in matter of seven minutes," Gladiators head coach Rick Emmett said. "They scored two goals in 3 ½ minutes last night. So I'd say that's pretty consistent (a storyline)."
Greenville (7-7-1-1) dominated the second period and raced out to the 3-0 lead. Maybe frustrated by a number of near misses and unsavory bounces in the first period, the Gladiators were adrift in the second period. They spent most of it defending and never got much set up in the way of offense, a marked departure from the opening 20 minutes.
"That's just it, it's going OK (in the first)," Emmett said. "Just OK. Guys aren't getting the job done with the puck on their stick."
The Road Warriors weathered an early storm and put the pressure on after the first intermission.
A snappy passing play, capped by Marc-Olivier Vallerand on the backdoor, was the first parry at 2:28.
Sean Berkstresser broke out of his season-long goal less drought in a big way with the next two goals at 5:03 and 9:35.
He hammered a point-blank shot by goalie Peter Delmas and persevered after a 3-on-1 was defused. Gwinnett's Kirill Tulupov did an excellent job defending the original chance, but the Gladiators failed to gain control of the puck and Berkstresser made them pay.
"(It wasn't the goalie's fault) tonight or last night," Emmett said.
Gwinnett had a brief surge to start the third, but that quickly faded and Greenville pushed its lead over the Gladiators in the division standings to six points.
The team has a few days off before playing against former Gwinnett head coach Jeff Pyle's Evansville IceMen on Thanksgiving.
More like this story
- Gladiators rout Wheeling 5-0 in home opener ( October 24, 2014 )
- Southern, Gladiators beat Greenville soundly in exhibition ( October 13, 2013 )
- Gladiators sign gritty Greenville captain Berkstresser ( August 19, 2014 )
- Gwinnett Gladiators falter down stretch in season opener ( October 18, 2013 )
- Gladiators want to manage emotions in home opener ( October 23, 2014 )


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1969 Pontiac Grand Prix Here's an extremely nice '69 Model J numbers matching 400 V8/350 HP paired with an automatic transmission. Very solid car, straight... More
1967 Pontiac Grand Prix Here is a double sharp one year only Grand Prix convertible. Bright Red, White top with Parchment/White bucket seat interior. It's... More
For sale in our Fort Lauderdale showroom is a classy 1965 Pontiac Grand Prix. This powerful Pontiac is powered by a mighty 389 cubic... More
Triple Black BatmobileHERE WE HAVE A 3 OWNER FULL FRAME OFF RESTORED CAR, IN MINT CONDITIONOWNED SINCE 1977, SPENT 3 1/2 YEARS ON RESTORATION... More
Everyone likes surprises, right? This 1963 Pontiac Grand Prix hardtop is definitely a surprise. With the GTOs and Bonnevilles getting all the attention, it's... More
1982 Pontiac Grand Prix BroughamPeople buy old cars for many different reasons for some the decision isDriven by nostalgia for their past while for... More
Have a look at this nicely restored 1966 Pontiac Grand Prix. The 1966 Grand Prix received only minor appearance revisions from the 1965 edition... More
1968 Pontiac Grand Prix Absolutely beautiful restoration of a solid 43K mile original car. Solar red with black vinyl top and black interior. 400 cubic... More
This 1962 Pontiac Grand Prix Pro Stock Coupe features a 541 V-8 900H/P 8cyl Gasoline engine. It is equipped with a 3 Speed Automatic... More
As Pontiac's version of the personal luxury coupe, the Grand Prix offered a lot of performance and comfort for a considerably more attractive price... More
The first year that the Pontiac Grand Prix was produced was 1962 and it came to be similar to the other full-sized Pontiacs mainly... More
1972 Pontiac Grand Prix 2D Hardtop CoupeA Pontiac is always something beautiful,the Pontiac Grand Prix is ??a great vehiclewhich very well driving can be.The... More
1966 PONTIAC GRAND PRIX BUILT AND SOLD IN CALIFORNIA FACTORY 8 LUG WHEELS $6999 FOR MORE INFORMATION ON THIS VEHICLE PLEASE CONTACT CRAIG ON... More
Homologation specials are nothing new, and aerodynamics have always played a big part in NASCAR warriors, and this 1986 Pontiac Grand Prix 2+2 Aerocoupe... More
1967 PONTIAC GRAND PRIX 400 CU.IN 4/SPEED ONLY 536 MADE P.H.S. DOCUMENTATION YEAR: 1967 MAKE: PONTIAC MODEL: GRAND PRIX BODY:... More


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The Big Board auction of specially crafted 2007 cuvees from the Vintner's Circle of 42 supporting wineries drew over $124,000 and the top auction bid of $25,000 won a custom barrel of Pinot Noir from Oregon's Grand Cru Estates. Wine-themed trips to Burgundy and Australia also ranked among the top bids.
The 2009 auction will be held on November 13 and 14.
About Salud!: Since its inception in 1991, Salud! has provided healthcare outreach services for seasonal vineyard workers and their family members. Since this mobile workforce rarely qualifies for health insurance plans, they are unable to receive benefits. To fill this void, a dedicated group of Oregon vintners and volunteers associated with Tuality Healthcare Foundation created a bi-lingual, bi-cultural service calling it Salud!, for the traditional Spanish toast "to your health."
Salud! provides health education, cholesterol and diabetes screenings, dental care, assistance with medical paperwork and more. Referrals are made for necessary medical aid beyond the financial means of most recipients, including quality pre-natal care, hospitalizations and surgeries. In 2007, Salud! documented over 6,000 client encounters with qualified individuals and sponsored 126 mobile vineyard clinics. Of the 903 wellness screenings given, 31% of those tested were found to be at risk for heart disease or Diabetes and were referred for further care.
The Vintners Circle: These select wineries graciously donate their time, resources and talent to create exclusive Salud! Oregon Pinot Noir cuvees. Their generosity, along with the support of Tuality Healthcare Foundation, makes the achievements of the ¡Salud! mission and services possible.
Adelsheim Vineyard, Amalie Robert Estate, Antica Terra, ArborBrook Vineyards, Archery Summit, Argyle, Ayres Vi
|Source: PRWeb
Copyright©2008 Vocus, Inc.
All rights reserved


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If you stick
Submitted by Liberty_First on Thu, 03/21/2013 - 19:10. Permalink
with reason, then you have only three choices to solve a group demand conflict (note: Israeli-Palestinian conflict is NOT about individual rights) - 1) accept the judgment of wise-central planners (NWO, king, majority vote, etc.); 2) negotiate a deal; 3) win a war.
Palestinians rejected 1) & 2) and lost 3), so reasonable action is closed to them. Terrorism and asking NWO to interfere is their only hope.
Those who believe in miracles can pray or spend days typing idle posts siding with a particular GROUP to vent their emotions.
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