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Annette Allen
Tue, 09 Dec 2008 11:38
Annette Allen is half English, half Norwegian, and she spent much of her childhood in Ethiopia and South Africa. She enjoys writing and has won awards for her corporate communications work, but Annette has always dreamt of helping the very poor. The Ethiopian Odyssey is her first book and some profits from the book will go to help provide water in Ethiopia.
Mark Thwaite: What gave you the idea for Ethiopian Odyssey?
Anette Allen: In 1995, I made my mind up I wanted to become a writer, and write about our common humanity, rather than the differences which so many prefer to focus on. I also wanted to donate half the proceeds from book sales to help the very poor. I began by writing some poetry, then some prose but was stuck on the idea for the first book. I'm also very spiritual and have the most amazing dreams which come true – a real gift! So, I used my strong faith and dreams to guide me: in April 2000, I dreamt I was back in the foothills of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, talking to an Ethiopian couple about poverty and drought. Mid-conversation I bent down to feel the dry topsoil and knew – beyond all doubt – that I was there to help provide water. With that thought the dream faded. So, I had my subject matter – a friends reunited story to find nine former classmates from my schooldays – and the cause: providing water by donating almost half of the royalties to help WaterAid in Ethiopia.
MT: How long did it take you to write it?
AA: I wrote as I went along, as the book is as much about the journey as my classmates – and my dreams too! All in all, about six months. And a month to rewrite half the book, following the editor's comments!
MT: Tell us a little about your own schooldays in Ethiopa Annette?
AA: I was the only English girl in the class and the youngest. Nazareth School was a very good Catholic girls school, and the top in the country (which I only realised afterwards). We were taught in English apart from Amharic lessons – the teachers were strict, but the education was the best I ever had. There were seven different nationalities in the class, and lunchtimes were a real treat, with lots of different food. Two of my classmates were Emperor Haile Selassie's grand daughters: Mary and Sihin Asfaw Wossen, and another classmate was Hiruth Girma, the daughter of Ethiopia's current President! I was only there for two years though, and left in July 1964.
MT: How difficult was it going about self-publishing your book?
AA: I had a literary agent, who loved the story, but when she saw I was determined to include my dreams and some aspects of my faith in the book, she dropped it. Every publisher told me it would never sell, but I'd made a promise to the Nazareth headteacher, Sister Weynemariam, and Marta Asrat (the first classmate I met in March 2004) who was the school secretary, that I'd launch it there in 2006. It cost me more self-publishing, but I'm proud of the layout and every word. And I kept my promise – the President turned up to the event, and it made the front page news of the newspapers and the TV news the next day too!
MT: Has the book achieved all that you would have wished?
AA: It's very early days, as it's only available online from next week. But I've loved giving talks about it, and doing book signings. People are so touched about the odyssey that many have been in tears when they've spoken to me. I've also been interviewed by radio stations and newspapers, which has been great fun. Most of all though, I long for the sales which will bring the water to Mamali and his family – a Muslim family whom I write about in the book, who live in south east Ethiopia.
MT: How do you write? Longhand or directly onto a computer, straight off or with lots and lots of editing?
AA: Straight onto the PC, from my notebooks! Straight off, and then edited for sense and clarity the next day. With non-fiction, every interview was double-checked and approved by the people concerned, and there's lots of academic references for those who want to know more, at the end of each relevant chapter.
MT: What do you do when you are not writing and travelling?
AA: I do interim corporate communications work – I'm always writing, in one way or another! I love helping people see the connections between their job and the 'big picture' – a bit like my book, which shows readers the connections between us all.
MT: Did you have an idea in your mind of your "ideal" reader? Did you write specifically for them?
AA: I always saw my readers as people from 14-100, interested in the power of dreams, and what happens to your life when you decide to follow your calling. I hope the Odyssey will inspire a few to make their dreams come true, and help give the very poor a hand-up in the process.
MT: What are you working on now?
AA: I'm tracking down my remaining classmates (I've found 24 out of 38) and planning to include those willing to share their life stories in volume II. Oh, and to feature a new photo of us as we are today, taken on the same school steps, on the front cover!
MT: Who is your favourite writer? What is/are your favourite book(s)?
AA: Alexander McCall Smith, for his humour and gentleness. Paul Theroux for his wonderful travel writing. I felt that if I could emulate both, I could be onto a winning formula – I want my readers to feel they're sitting beside me as these amazing events and connections happen along the journey.
MT: Do you have any tips for the aspiring writer!?
AA: Listen to your heart, and write about what you're passionate about. Don't let anyone deter you, because if you have the creative urge, you've just got to let it flow. Write as much for yourself as for your readers.
MT: Anything else you would like to say?
AA: Perhaps living your life with love is a little odd these days, but I've found enormous freedom in what I've done, and would like to share this with others. And when you set out with a dream in your heart, the kindness of strangers is overwhelming!
Posted by Mark
Categories: interviews, Blogroll, Annette Allen
Permalink: Annette-Allen
Michael Muhammad Knight
Tue, 09 Dec 2008 11:38
Michael Muhammad Knight grew up Irish Catholic and converted to Islam aged 16, after reading the Autobiography of Malcolm X. At 17 he traveled to Islamabad, Pakistan to study in a madrassah at Faisal Mosque. His first novel is The Taqwacores.
Mark Thwaite: Before we get on to your novel, Michael, tell us a little about how an Irish Catholic kid like yourself becomes a Muslim?
Michael Muhammed Knight: I read the Autobiography of Malcolm X around the same time that the movie came out, and that was the same year that I met my father for the first time. He turned out to be a white supremacist. He asked where I leaned religiously, I answered "Muslim" and he spit out some racial slurs. That only encouraged me to press forward with it. I was conscious of Islam as a correction of everything wrong in America and my own little life.
MT: What gave you the idea for The Taqwacores?
MMK: After crashing and burning as a fundamentalist, I hoped for a new Islamic experience with more room for individuality, creative chaos and honest expression within the community. Punk rock seemed to have the answer.
MT: How long did it take you to write it?
MMK: It took a couple of months, if I remember. Then I just started xeroxing copies, numbering pages with vinyl stickers and binding the books by hand. My plan was to travel from mosque to mosque and hand it out in parking lots, but that didn't work too well. Then I started posting online at message boards, offering to ship the book to anyone on my own dime. After mailing books to places like Saudi Arabia and Malaysia, I couldn't afford to do it anymore. Then Alternative Tentacles, the punk rock record label founded by Jello Biafra, decided to include The Taqwacores in their catalog.
MT: Do you hope The TaqwacoresThe Taqwacores will help readers understand a little better the complexity and diversity of Muslims and help, a little, to lessen the rampant Islamophobia we see around us?
MMK: Honestly, I had never thought about non-Muslims reading The Taqwacores. My original version had no glossary, since I was perfectly fine with alienating non-Muslim readers. Now non-Muslims are telling me that they got something good out of the book and I still don't know how to feel about it, because it wasn't meant for them. But whoever reads this story, I hope that I've given them something positive.
MT: One of your characters, Jehangir, is a pot-smoking Sufi punk. I'd be keen to know more about your interest in both punk and Sufism.
MMK: I don't know if I'd call Jehangir a Sufi. I know that I'm not one. I'm somewhat afraid to use that term because Sufism represents a very mature commitment. Jehangir's only Sufi virtue is that he really does love Allah with all of his heart, and he does put his life in Allah's Hands with absolute faith.
As a teenager I believed that stringed instruments were prohibited by Islam, so I didn't encounter punk rock until college. It offered a whole competing mythology to me. The punk kids I hung out with had this heroism to them, they really lived it out like they were taking on the whole world. Punk was a way to hate everything but in a life-affirming way, if that makes any sense.
MT: How do you write Michael? Longhand or directly onto a computer, straight off or with lots and lots of editing?
MMK: My stuff becomes more technically sound when I can see it on the computer, because I can improve it as I go, but the energy's better when I'm just outside somewhere scribbling on paper. It's like Allah said, "you have the power, but you have no refinement." The raw power's on the paper, but then I refine it on the computer. I edit more now than I used to. I think the key to good writing is to recognize when I've written badly.
MT: What do you do when you are not writing?
MMK: Nothing. It's a very real problem. Most of the time I only want to write. I've started to get better about it: I make a point of taking days off, and I've started to watch junk TV just to relax. And this weekend I'm going to Detroit for WrestleMania.
MT: Did you have an idea in your mind of your "ideal" reader? Did you write specifically for them?
MMK: I try to avoid that thought. I'm a bad driver when other people are in the car, because I end up looking at them instead of the road.
I honestly thought that noone would read The Taqwacores. A photocopied novel filled with obscure Muslim references and punk-rock references? I was sure that the Islam would alienate the punks and the punk would alienate the Muslims. Now it's being read by non-punk non- Muslims, I never could have dreamed it.
MT: What are you working on now?
MMK: I've just finished a nonfiction project about my experiences in American Muslim counterculture, and I also have a finished novel coming out next year, Osama Van Halen, featuring Amazing Ayyub and Rabeya from The Taqwacores. I've now started to mess around with my third novel, and I also have another research project in the works. I might want to take a break at some point, but it seems that each book begets three more.
MT: Who is your favourite writer? What is/are your favourite book(s)?
MMK: My favorite author is F. Scott Fitzgerald. The Taqwacores actually contains some Fitzgerald references, but most of them aren't obvious. My favorite book is Sherwood Anderson's Winesburg, Ohio, because it just tells its story through characters. There's no real plot, just a guy who goes around getting all these odd people to confide in him and that sums up this town that he's about to leave behind. He's doing what writers do.
MT: Do you have any tips for the aspiring writer!?
MMK: Writers write. Writers don't go to parties and talk about what they're writing. They sit at home and do the work.
Posted by Mark
Categories: interviews, Blogroll, Michael Muhammad Knight
Permalink: Michael-Muhammad-Knight
Marek Kohn
Tue, 09 Dec 2008 11:38
Mark Thwaite: In your most recent book, A Reason For Everything, you talk about the different impact Darwinian thinking has had in Britain compared with the rest of Europe and the US. How do you account for this difference?
Marek Kohn: The distinguishing feature of English evolutionary thought has been its attitude to adaptation. An adaptationist tends to see the work of natural selection in every aspect of an organism - a reason for everything. You see bands on a snail's shell: you wonder what good the bands do for the snail. And you go out into the field, and you look for possible reasons for them. In the case of the snails there's a camouflage effect - different coloured or banded shells are better suited to different habitats, such as leaf litter or grass. Not the whole story but a robust example of English adaptationism in practice.
The palaeontologist Stephen Jay Gould called this the British "hang-up", and his colleague the geneticist Richard Lewontin said that it arose in large part from the fascination for butterflies, snails, birds and gardens typical of the pre-war upper middle class from whose ranks these scientists mostly came. True enough, though it doesn't acknowledge the fascination with natural history that used to run right across the social spectrum. Also one can see its roots in Victorian natural history, which of course is where all this began. As Alfred Russel Wallace observed, it was a fascination with species and the subtle distinctions between them - beetle-collecting - that allowed him and Darwin to realise, independently, how natural selection works.
If by contrast your vision is shaped, as that of their counterparts on the continent was, by idealist philosophy, you are unlikely to see what is going on in nature. Idealism is concerned with ideal types and therefore discounts variation as 'noise'. You need to be fascinated by variation to see natural selection, because variations are what nature selects.
The British enthusiasm for natural history may also underlie differences in scientific practice. In France, by contrast, field biology never flourished because science was seen as a formal discipline that required the proper setting of the laboratory. So, we have a tradition of natural history and a tendency towards empiricism rather than idealism. Britain also had a more accommodating mainstream religious environment, which adjusted to evolution with relatively little difficulty. And in the 20th century the natural history was combined with mathematical analysis, demonstrating the power of natural selection.
MT: Are we in Britain therefore right to have been more receptive?
MK: The record of English evolutionary thought demonstrates conclusively that we are, in terms of biological knowledge and theory. But the social and ethical ideas of one or two of the thinkers I discussed also illustrate the disturbing results of an all-pervasive belief in natural selection.
MT: So you don't think this has had a negative impact on, say, more philosophical and/or postmodernist approaches to questions of human society and culture?
MK: Facing up to natural selection is an ongoing challenge. I think it's regrettable that it has developed into a kind of cold war between scholarly blocs.
MT: In your superb earlier book, As We Know It: Coming To Terms With An Evolved Mind, you said that we should "learn to stop worrying and love sociobiology", and that the discipline has "too much potential to be left to the sociobiologists". What did you mean? Can it really be safe to go back into the dangerous waters where Darwinism and the social sciences mix?
MK: We're evolved organisms and our nature is evolved too. We need to accept that in order to understand how individuals and groups behave. It's how I think about behaviour at the everyday level and on the broadest scale.
But sociobiologists for their part need to accept that the social sciences may have insights into how human societies and institutions work. Sociobiologists are endlessly and often justifiably indignant about the obfuscation with which their proposals are greeted from the other camp, but never seem to see any great problem in their own indifference to, or contempt for, any discipline outside the sciences. And most importantly, I think they should accept that their work is practiced in and influenced by its social context.
If Darwinism and the social sciences actually did mix, the waters would become a lot less dangerous. Though that's not to say that our evolved minds are how we'd like them to be.
MT: Why do you think that progressive thinkers have, in general, failed to take this more positive approach to sociobiology?
MK: People want to believe that humans are different. They want to believe that there is a separate domain, outside biology, for understanding humans. And they have also grown up, since World War 2, with a deep-rooted sense that applying biology to people is evil. We have thus arrived at a post-war settlement that established separate spheres of influence for science and other fields of scholarship. Much of what's going on is turf wars.
MT: But aren't there limits to Darwinism? Do you agree with your friend Kenan Malik that there are some things science just cannot tell us about human nature?
MK: I don't think there's a line beyond which Darwinism has nothing to say. In any given question I would always, I think, see Darwinian processes at work, but these are best at explaining general effects. They may not be much use for understanding individual cases or subjective experience, although they may well be a necessary perspective on these.
I suspect that in practice the limits of Darwinism may be set by the willingness of its practitioners to synthesise their insights with those of other forms of understanding. I mean, you could go through novels showing how characters illustrate evolved psychological patterns of behaviour, but that would be a pretty banal exercise on its own.
MT: Do we really have "stone age minds", as evolutionary psychology suggests?
MK: I'd like to think so, in one respect. Among other things, the idea of a 'stone age mind' is a device that addresses perhaps the biggest historical obstacle to human sociobiology: the discrediting of the assumption that different population groups - races - vary in evolved mental capacities. If you imply that the mind stopped evolving in the stone age, you head off suggestions that different mental capacities evolved in the different groups that differentiated in the last 10,000 years or so.
Evolutionary psychology (which is a particular form of sociobiology) has been distinguished by its emphasis on human universals, but it is next door to the hereditarians who are concerned with differences in mental capacities. It seems to me that the distinction between the two approaches is being removed.
MT: In A Reason For Everything, you make the intriguing point, outlined above, that the best evolutionary thinkers have been those who 'got their hands dirty' in the field. These scientists were less likely to get carried away with abstract theory and more likely to stumble upon the truth because they had their feet on the ground in the practical work of the real world. This sounds like a very Marxist argument! Would you call yourself a 'Marxist' or 'socialist'?
MK: The point I was making there was that field biology - going out and studying organisms in the field, rather than in the laboratory - was a fundamental and distinguishing element in the British approach to the study of evolution. As it happens, the one prominent Marxist in the series I wrote about, J.B.S. Haldane, made his contributions through mathematical calculations and wasn't a natural historian. On the other hand he was spectacularly practical, exposing himself to poison gas and potentially lethal extremes of cold and pressure in studies related to trench and submarine warfare. I'm certainly not a Marxist. I have the 'All that is solid melts into air ...' quote from the Communist Manifesto on the wall above my desk, but that's about it.
I do, however, call myself a socialist. For a long time I wondered whether that meant anything more than a nostalgic wave in the direction of what I believed in when I was a student, but since I became aware of the work of Richard Wilkinson and others on the effects of social relations on health, I have recovered my confidence in the term.
For me it involves the understanding that broadly equal social relations are good for health and that unequal ones are harmful. This can be measured right across the scale of severity, in deaths from heart disease to rates of cold infections; it relates to broader measures of individual and social well-being, such as a sense of trust in others.
The implication is that we need to reassert the importance of equality and rediscover the fundamental value of social solidarity. It implies examining how these human needs can be reconciled with the need to produce wealth efficiently. It means recognising how the need for social solidarity is expressed in contemporary political forms. And it means prising these values from the dead hand of Bolshevism.
MT: Who is Richard Wilkinson?
MK: He's a professor of social epidemiology at Nottingham University. His work looks at the body of evidence that inequality is harmful to health in itself, not just because it implies different levels of wealth or resources. The classic findings are in the 'Whitehall studies', conducted by Michael Marmot and his colleagues in London. They found that the lowest ranking civil servants were several times more likely to die of heart disease than those in the highest grades. The usual suspect lifestyle factors such as smoking accounted for only about a third of the risk, so the lowest grades appeared to be about three times likelier to die of heart disease because of their position in the hierarchy.
The mechanism researchers like these favour is that the damage results from being in a chronic (that is, long-term) fight-or-flight mode. When an animal, human or otherwise, comes under threat, it will go into an emergency mode in which resources are diverted from activities such as bodily maintenance and immune defence, into escape or combat mechanisms. Staying in emergency mode incurs the costs of neglecting the activities that have been inhibited. Being subordinate - always under a kind of threat, and limited in options - is thought to induce this chronic state of emergency.
Control over one's job seems to be a key factor here, so the most obvious things to do involves restructuring work to increase job control. But that's just the start. This really is a transformative way of looking at what's wrong with affluent societies. It also suggests that what is good for the poor is good for those who are materially comfortable too: that globally the interests of the genuinely impoverished can be aligned with those of the majority of people in developed market democracies, and that within the latter, it should be possible to build coalitions that unite populations in the pursuit of truly healthy societies.
MT: You say you're not a Marxist. Does that mean that, in your view, the "dialectical biology" of people like Richard Levins and Richard Lewontin is wrong? Can there be such a thing as dialectical biology? Could it properly be called science?
MK: John Maynard Smith, the other one of my subjects who went through a Marxist phase, studied genetics and came to realise there was "something deeply undialectical' about genes. He was taught that 'genes control development', which irked him: as a dialectical thinker, he thought that development should influence genes in turn. But John Maynard Smith had to accept that nature doesn't care whether it is dialectical or not. Where it is, then biology might be dialectical; everywhere else the approach would be metaphysics, not science.
MT: What philosophers of science inform your work, if any?
MK: I generally just ask myself "What would John Maynard Smith have said?"
MT: And what about books generally: what are your favourite books? Do you read widely outside of science?
MK: Of course: I'm a writer, not a scientist. But not as widely as I should. If it's obscure, fictional and central European, it's for me! Mostly this places me somewhere between the wars, after the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian empire (the collected works of Joseph Roth) but I was delighted to find that this lost world of Central Europe between the wars can be represented by a writer (Pawel Huelle's Mercedes Benz) facing the future and contemplating what actually-existing, market-democratic freedom actually means. The story is set in Poland not long after the transition to market democracy and revolves around the narrator's efforts to learn to drive. There's a wonderful opening scene where he gets into an uncomfortable position between a tram and a lorry, and with the drivers bearing down on him turns to his instructor and tells her about a dramatic motoring incident that happened to his grandmother in 1925. So he's trying to make progress, to modernize, but he still needs to call upon the past. Although driving is the archetypal capitalist freedom, in practice it entails submission to endless constraints, and history is not the same as progress. Besides its metaphorical strength, the theme of driving provides a highly effective means to reflect on the past without sinking into nostalgia. (See Marek's review of Mercedes Benz.)
Favourite quote: the first sentence of Thomas Pynchon's Mason & Dixon, which might well be the desert island book choice too. The quote is: "Snow-Balls have flown their Arcs, starr'd the Sides of Outbuildings, as of Cousins, carried Hats away into the brisk Wind off Delaware,-- the Sleds are brought in and their Runners carefully dried and greased, shoes deposited in the back Hall, a stocking'd-foot Descent made upon the great Kitchen, in a purposeful Dither since Morning, punctuated by the ringing Lids of Boilers and Stewing-Pots, fragrant with Pie-Spices, peel'd Fruits, Suet, heated Sugar,-- the Children, having all upon the Fly, among rhythmic slaps of Batter and Spoon, coax'd and stolen what they might, proceed, as upon each afternoon all this snowy December, to a comfortable Room at the rear of the House, years since given over to their carefree Assaults."
MT: Anything else you'd like to say?
MK: I have to pause for breath here but there's plenty more on my website including a number of articles that explore and perhaps clarify themes I've alluded to here.
Posted by Mark
Categories: interviews, Blogroll, Marek Kohn
Permalink: Marek-Kohn
Anthony McCarten
Tue, 09 Dec 2008 11:38
The Book Depository: What gave you the idea for Death of a Superhero Anthony?
Anthony McCarten: I was talking with a friend, also a writer, and he mentioned a news item that we had both seen, where an Australian psychologist had taken a 14 year old with terminal cancer to a hooker just so the boy wouldn't die a virgin, and we both agreed it would make a great story. The real life event was an enormous scandal, mainly because the shrink, a close friend of the boy's family, had not consulted the parents at all. I became curious about the relationship that must have evolved between the boy and the shrink to make the guy perform hara-kiri with his career: he was subsequently struck off the register. As with every novel I have written, I liken this embarkation point to standing outside a strange house at night and seeing the people inside dancing to some music I cannot hear. Working out exactly what that music might be is, for me, the business of writing.
BD: How long did it take you to write it? Is that typical for you!?
AM: This was not a typical book to write for me. Either I took in too much coffee or it was something in the air in Corfu where I wrote the bulk of this short book, but it all came to me in a mad exhilarating dash. At one point I was writing 20 pages a day and in four weeks I had finished the first draft. But then, of course, the real business of writing began: the art of rewriting. Anyone can write but only the professional has the ruthless tenacity to polish and polish and polish. For me, the struggle is to stop polishing and I tend to tail my publishers car to the printers shouting out last minute changes.
BD: How do you write? Longhand or directly onto a computer, straight off or with lots and lots of editing?
AM: Starting out as a journalist at 17, I learned to type with two fingers on bulky old Imperial typewriters and so a computer is best for me, a liberation, though I can imagine the old demand of physically rewriting every sentence for the 'final copy' would make you really re-listen to the music of your sentences.
BD: Have you been happy with the response to your book?
AM: Death of a Superhero is only just out in the UK so it is too early to say what the critical reaction will be but in New Zealand where the novel came out last year the reviews were very, very kind.
BD: You do you read the critics/reviews then Anthony?
AM: I am unable to resist this unique self-torture. Perhaps it is because I was raised Catholic, or perhaps my curiosity makes me want to know whether I have created a strong reaction in readers, and the reviewer is often your first reader so for a while its all you've got to go on. But in the end, I feel about the reviewer as a tree must feel about a dog!
BD: Do you have much contact with your readers?
AM: Book groups, library readings and literature festivals are the show biz of being a novelist and I do enjoy these ventures into the sunlight.
BD: Do you have an idea of your "typical" reader? Do you write specifically for them?
AM: I write specifically for everyone and no one. So far all my books have reached their target audiences.
BD: What are you working on now?
AM: As always, I am currently writing the best novel I will ever write. I shall be writing with this elevated belief till the day I die. Today this passion is embodied in a tale about an endurance contest, which really happened, but which also looks at multiple storylines of people who are enduring all manner of human troubles.
BD: Who is your favourite writer? What is/are your favourite book(s)?
AM: The list is obvious to me, but we are all so different. For me, Garcia Marquez is the living master who has lately succeeded Saul Bellow and the playwright Arthur Miller, RIP.
BD: Do you have any tips for the aspiring writer!?
AM: Read the best writers with joy and allow yourself to imagine you are great. Then, even if the music you describe, the music which the people in the window are dancing to, is strange to the world, persevere, because it will be your own bold and unique music.
BD: Anything else you would like to say Anthony?
AM: Unprompted I never have anything to say. Thank you. Good luck. And be careful when you cross the street.
Posted by Mark
Categories: interviews, Blogroll, Anthony McCarten
Permalink: Anthony-McCarten
Mike Stocks
Tue, 09 Dec 2008 11:38
The Book Depository: What gave you the idea for White Man Falling Mike?
Mike Stocks: The premise of White Man Falling is that a white man falls out of the sky into a small south Indian town, causing all kinds of curious ramifications – spiritual, romantic and domestic – in the complicated lives of the main characters and their wider community. I can no longer remember the trigger point for that idea, but I've had a thing about Tamil Nadu in south India for some years, to the extent that I've even grappled with the language during three terms of evening classes at SOAS in London. At my most triumphant I attained a comedy schoolboy-French level of competence. And I've travelled in Tamil Nadu a lot. On my last stay there I rented a flat in an undistinguished suburb for six months, for a fiver a week, and just observed the lives going on around me. I suppose my characters started to assemble, and my story started to form, during that time.
BD: How long did it take you to write your novel Mike?
MS: It was done in uneven phases to fit around my work as an editor, my other writing projects, and my lovingly tended bouts of writer's self pity; but around eighteen months, all told.
BD: How do you write? Longhand or directly onto a computer, straight off or with lots and lots of editing?
MS: That's a nitty-gritty, trainspotter's question – which is fine – and here's my nitty-gritty, trainspotter's answer. I write my prose on a laptop, in a variety of places: at home, in the National Library of Scotland in Edinburgh, and in cafes all over. But I don't start writing until I have a scene-by-scene outline of the whole novel researched and planned, which takes about six months. When I do commence the writing, each day I generally spend twice as long in messing around with what I've already written than in writing new stuff, so there's always a deep-level edit going on. Eventually this dance of one-step-forwards, two-steps-back somehow results in the first draft of a book. At that point I feel fantastic, sometimes for as long as twelve seconds. Then it's back to the beginning and a thorough revision through to the end. Only then do I think I might have a working draft, something I'm prepared to show to someone else. In the case of White Man Falling, my editor was pretty happy with most aspects of the book at that stage, and gave me practical suggestions for those parts of the book he was unhappy with – most of which I agreed with and acted on. I enjoy being edited well. Then the book goes through further layers of polishing and buffing up – the winnowing of adverbs and adjectives, the further sharpening of descriptions, and all that malarkey. Both myself and my editor are inveterate tinkerers, so the process of revision just goes on and on until the last moment.
BD: What do you do when you are not writing?
MS: I edit other people's novels, for money; I run and edit a small poetry magazine, not for money – it's called Anon and it uses an anonymous submissions procedure, so I like to think there is a radical aspect to its tiny impact on the world; and I write poetry. Writing poetry is my main creative interest. A major component of writing – for me at least – involves waiting to have something to say, and when it comes to poetry I do much more waiting than writing. I'm like a bloke standing on a desolate canal-side from dawn till dusk, staring into the grimy ripples, solemnly chewing on his Tunnocks Caramel Wafer as he waits for his float to start bobbing up and down. Most days nothing happens – but you need to go fishing if you're going to catch a fish.
BD: Do you have an idea in your mind of your "ideal" reader? Do you write specifically for them?
MS: I'm new to being published, so part of me finds it difficult to move on from the notion that my ideal reader is "a reader". But the real answers to these questions are "No" and "No". Although White Man Falling is my first published novel, five unpublished novels preceded it, and they are so diverse that I doubt there's a reader alive who could be interested in all of them: there's a campus comedy, there's a second-novel-syndrome book that is too harrowingly bad to describe in public, there's a literary-historical mystery, there's a commercial eco-thriller, and finally there's a contemporary literary novel. Then there's my poetry, and I also write translations of the poetry of the 19th century Italian poet Giuseppe Gioacchino Belli. I just write the kind of stuff that I enjoy reading, so I suppose I'm my ideal reader…
BD: What are you working on now?
MS: Nothing. I'm doing my best to help Alma Books promote White Man Falling, and I'm enjoying giving my recently published poetry collection Folly a little push. And it would be nice, when I'm standing on that desolate canal-side I was talking about, for a big fat perch of a poem to attach itself to my line. As for my next novel, I have a setting in mind, and I think the story is beginning to form – but I feel that the first step in writing it is not writing it yet.
BD: Who is your favourite writer? What is/are your favourite book(s)?
MS: I'm not big on favourites, but E.A. Robinson and Robert Frost have written poems that are amazing at the highest level – my definition of 'amazing at the highest level' being that that the poems seemed amazing when they were written, they seem amazing now, and I suspect they will seem amazing in the future. So those writers are the ones I admire the most. I arrived at these American poets via the English poets Betjeman, Larkin and Auden. But my love of a powerful poem seems pretty irrelevant these days. When you consider the pre-eminence of poetry in the literary culture of the recent past, poetry today seems little more than an old ruin with some shrubs growing in the rubble, starved of light by the surrounding vista of skyscrapers that is the novel.
My favourite novelist is probably Evelyn Waugh; Decline and Fall, though not his best novel, is the work I'm most fond of – as much for the part it has played in my life as for the book itself.
BD: Do you have any tips for the aspiring writer!?
MS: I've got more to say about this than anything else! In theory I could be a cracking tipster for aspiring writers. Just look at my qualifications: I'm forty, and my first novel and poetry collection are out this year; I have five unpublished novels under my belt, the first of which was written when I was twenty-four; I could have put out a really good debut poetry collection by the time I was thirty, but no one wanted it; and although I attracted four literary agents during my years of being an aspiring writer, even with their heavy guns behind me I just couldn't break through... My first agent advised me that it often takes young writers ten years to break through. I remember thinking, are you crazy? – it won't take me anything like ten years to break through. And I was right. It took seventeen.
Tips are useful – for example, when I wrote my commercial novel, I found the practical advice in Al Zuckerman's rather embarrassingly titled Writing A Blockbuster Novel to be invaluable – but at the same time I feel that the serious aspiring writer should always retain his or her autonomy, and not get swept away by a mentor or a creative writing course or a system or an obsession with networking. Serious aspiring writers are the people who know they're writers because they don't stop writing books no matter how difficult their circumstances and no matter how bleak their publishing outlook. That kind of person will learn everything about the practice of writing (and the jungle of publishing) from first principles, by becoming more and more professional and experienced as they go along. Outside help can speed things up, but sometimes at a price that isn't worth paying.
It's the non-serious aspiring writer – the people who would write / finish their books if the circumstances were right, if someone would hold their hand tightly enough – who really want and need tips. But no amount of tips can compensate for a lack of drive.
It's sad to report that if you have some cachet in another field – journalism is the classic example – then you have a head start; and it's tragic to report that if you are a celebrity gardener / TV presenter / comedian etc, then you can sell your book before it's been written, regardless of how good or bad it might turn out to be. But don't get hung up on that, it's out of your control.
The bottom line is that unless you're a very stable person – which, if you're a serious aspiring writer, you almost certainly aren't – then you're likely to endure sustained periods of confidence-sapping rejection. You are investing much of your self-worth in the belief that you are a writer, in a world which doesn't seem to share that belief. In the worse case scenarios (er, see above) the years slip away and you become terrified that the lucky break is not going to happen – because luck is a big factor in your publishing fate, no matter how talented you might be. I was an aspiring writer for longer than most, so I can fully empathize. What can I say? I don't want to sound like Rudyard Kipling, but if you can carry on in the knowledge that failure is by far the likeliest outcome, with all the costs that imposes on your knackered psyche, then you're probably a writer.
BD: Anything else you would like to say?
MS: I've probably said too much…
Posted by Mark
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text:
10.12.12 VOLLEYBALL: Cavs Win GLVC/GLIAC Crossover Opener
Women's Volleyball, 2012-10-12
(Aurora, IL) Walsh (6-9) rallied to defeat Maryville University (2-17) in five sets in their first match at the fifth annual GLVC/GLIAC Crossover Volleyball Tournament. The Cavs have two matches left, both tomorrow. They meet McKendree University at 10 am and UW-Parkside at 4 pm.
After falling in set one 25-16, the Cavs rallied to even the match with a 25-18 set two win. Maryville would gain control of the match by winning set three 25-23. As they did in their GLIAC win over Northern Michigan University on Saturday, Walsh would rally to even the match with a 25-19 win in set four and take the match with a 15-10 triumph in the fifth and deciding set. The Cavs are on a season-high three match win streak.
Paige Chandler (Jr., Cincinnati, OH/McNicholas) led a balanced attack with 16 kills and 12 digs. Freshman Devin Hummel (Shelby, OH/HS) added 15 kills and a team-high 20 digs. Julianne O'Donnell (Sr., Willowick, OH/Lake Catholic) had 14 kills and 10 digs and Krissy Sokol (Jr., Akron, OH/Archbishop Hoban) added 10 kills. Hannah Duran (Sr., Elyria, OH/Midview) handed out a match high 51 assists and Emilee Muzechuk (Fr., Mansfield, OH/Madison) added ten digs.
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text:
KINGSPORT — A 4-year-old boy was killed in an all-terrain-vehicle accident at a Kinsgport residence on Tuesday.
Police said the boy was playing with and around a four-wheeler parked in the yard at the crest of a hill about 4 p.m. at 513 Rogan St.
Apparently the child pushed and pulled the ATV and dislodged it from its resting point. The ATV rolled down the slope toward the house and pinned the boy against the house.
The engine was not running, and the key was not in the ignition, police said.
The Kingsport Police Department's Criminal Investigation and Traffic Units were investigating. No charges had been placed.
The child's name had not been released.


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Dem some ugly gals.
He don't look right in the head.
Guess the perp.
Guess the perp.
Financial Black Holes.
This trial and execution could be done in a week.
I don't think that everyone must have a utility to society but what do we need him for? Why feed him? The death penalty may be gone as a useful punishment (thanks to activist courts) but why can't this man earn the rest of his keep in prison. Making little rocks out of big ones. Hoeing his food plot. No more dental care. No more medical care. Food, a roof and death in his time.
What would be the effect on drunk driving if this man were shot at dawn?


text:
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Cooler Master LAB test bench v1.0 review -
You know, when it comes to technology reviewers, editors, engineers, R&D, support and related personel there isn't much hardware or software out there that makes our life any easier .. unless you have the wallet the size of a truck of course. Mostly, we have to design everything from ground up including on the software side strict benchmark policies and procedures creating our own time demo's, update them constantly and compare them consistently. On the hardware side of things it's not much different, nothing is really convenient. If we want to test say a motherboard, we place them on some foam at the desktop, at the motherboards packaging or as we did, built our own test bench where we place our hardware on. See, really we do not build in every motherboard into an actual test PC as it just takes too much time and next to that, we want easy access to the components as processors, memory and graphics cards nearly fly on and off the motherboard.
A much missed piece of hardware is what we are reviewing today, a test bench. A chassis where you can easily mount your gear in like optical drive, HDD, Power Supply and then the motherboard plus accompanying components.
Cooler Master designed the Cooler Master LAB Test Bench v1.0. It's what has been missing here at the lab alright, a nice looking, easy to use chassis where we can pop on and off hardware components, it makes motherboard, cooler and RAM testing really easy. Much like your girlfriend, we all want easy access ;)
So this article is dedicated to all tech editors, tech station aficionado's and LN2 overclockers that need easy access to the motherboard or certain components .. have a peek at the Cooler Master LAB Test Bench PC Chassis v1.0
Next page please.
We test and review the all new Cooler Master Nepton 240M, an All-in-One Liquid cooler kit that is performing quite OK in a very saturated LCS kit market. Can it keep up with similar products? Let's f...
Cooler Master Cosmos SE review
We review the new Cooler Master Cosmos SE. Based on the popular Cosmos design the more compact chassis now is available as an all black full tower, this chassis is just gorgeous to look at and has space for full size ATX motherboards, it comes with dark side panels and a whole lot of new innovations. Wanna have a peek ?
Cooler Master CM 690 III review
We review the Cooler Master CM 690 III chassis, a new upgrade over the popular CM 690 II mid-towers. The looks might be the same, but every little mishap of the previous series has been upgraded and fixed including the interior.
Cooler Master Eisberg 240L Prestige review
We test and review the Cooler Master Eisberg 240L Prestige, a 240mm Liquid cooler that is performing nicely in a LCS kit that can actually be upgraded. Can it keep up with similar Asetek based products and their own Seidon series ? Let's find out!


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You won't be able to dismiss this by usual means (escape or click button), but you can close it programatically based on user choices or actions.
"I chose the "Reef" color option and I found it true to the color displayed on screen. It is very cute and the color combo feels very Spring like. For my wedding thank you cards I wanted something simple, but elegant and this fit the bill. The paper quality it very nice. The card stock is thick and has a nice texture to it. I had it personalized with our names and date of the wedding and it looked very nice! I got the digital proof in about 24hrs and the cards shipped earlier than estimated. They arrived early as well. Be sure to order extra cards in case you make mistakes :)"
"The entire black/white/red toile line is absolutely beautiful! I got my Save the Date, Invitations and Thank You cards in this style and I've gotten nothing but compliments from everyone. I chose to upgrade the cards with the pearl shimmer and they are simply stunning!"
"This card perfectly matched my color scheme for my wedding, black and white with touches of red. The paper is very good quality, thicker than I thought it would be. I received several compliments on the save the dates."
"I loved these cards. They were beautiful and very affordable. The red really pops against the black and white. I did expect them to be a bit bigger however."
"These were another "thank you" card that I ordered that was different from our wedding invitations. I got the blue flowers and it is a pretty smoky blue. Loved the colors, and the paper stock is the thickest of any of the products I ordered. I like the off-white color of the card stock, too. Planning on using these beyond wedding thank-yous. If I haven't mentioned it in other reviews, the Wedding Paper Divas customer service are amazingly helpful! I've never come across a company so determined to make every customer happy with their products and experience. So great to feel like they truly care!"


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May 4th, 2013 05:07 AM #23Senior Member
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Zelda Astrid is about the cutest name ever! I love Hugo and Magnus from your list, I think they would be great with Zelda. Atticus and Gideon too. I'm not over the moon crazy about Salinger and Huxley, as pp said, it's very obvious names (they also feel quite American) and might be seen as quite pretentious here.
I like Atticus Mads and Hugo Mads the most.
Other Danish names: Villads, Mikkel, Aksel, Jesper.
(I also think Silas, Edgar, Bertram and Ronald are fantastic with Zelda!)[FONT=Palatino Linotype][CENTER]My darling Marian Illyria Aphrodite, March 2013 & Little Bunny (a girl!) due 9th of February 2014[/CENTER][/FONT]


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- 1
- person in the U.S. has this name View Steve Szczawinski on Whitepages
Meaning & Origins
Short form of Stephen and Steven, also used as an independent given name. It is associated with the American film stars Steve McQueen (1930–80), noted for his 'tough guy' roles, and Steve Martin (b. 1945).
|109th in the U.S.
The meaning of this name is unavailable
|185,031st in the U.S.
Nicknames & variations
Stephen, Steven, Stephan, Stevie, Stefan, Steveo, Stevers
Szczepanski, Szczepaniak, Szczesny, Szczesniak, Szczepanik, Szczygiel, Szczech, Szczerba, Szczepanek, Szczepkowski


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|Tolkien Gateway is 10 years old. Sign up today to edit TG and help us grow for years to come.
Brianne Siddall
Brianne Chierighino Siddall (August 25, 1963) is an American voice actress.
[edit] Roles
- 2006: The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-earth II: Additional voices
- 2004: The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-earth: Additional voices
[edit] External links
- Brianne Siddall at Wikipedia
- Brianne Siddall at IMDb
- Brianne Siddall at Voice Chasers


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It's that time of year again. It's National Novel Writing Month which is better known as NaNoWriMo. I've been busy writing my novel si I've been slacking on the posts this week. I'm over 30K already. I want to be at least 40K this weekend. I think I can do it. :)
Hope you have a great weekend!
Five Things To Make:
- Baked Maple Bacon Doughnuts @ Shutterbean
- Element Jars @ Free People Blog
- Bacon Cheddar Bay Beer Bread @ Dine & Dish
- Pralines @ The Kitchn
- DIY Tassel Necklace @ DeSmitten
Five Things To See:
- Yep, people are truly that dumb.
- This football team does something expected for a fellow teenager.
- Simply put: NO!
- The "Candy Monster" strikes again thanks to Jimmy Kimmel.
- Breast cancer patient throws a dance party before her double mastectomy.
Five Things To Do:


text:
Please select a rent timeAdd To Cart +
Pentax 35mm f/2.8 SMCP-DA Macro Limited Series Autofocus Lens
7 Days
Retail: $696.95From $42.00
- Product Details
Lens rental package includes: Front cap, uv filter, built in hood and rear cap.
The Pentax SMCP-DA 35mm f/2.8 Macro Limited Lens is a compact, light-weight and versatile lens. With its macro capability you can shoot as close as less then half a foot. The 35mm becomes about 50mm on a cropped sensor so it is essentially the perfect portrait lens but it can still be used for tight landscapes.
The glass has been treated with Super-Multi Coating which allows maximum light transmission, sharpness and high contrast. The build is rugged and tough and it comes with a convenient slide out hood.


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1 Blot WJ, Li JY, Taylor PR, et al. Nutrition intervention trials in Linxian, China: supplementation with specific vitamin/mineral combinations, cancer incidence, and disease-specific mortality in the general population. J NatlCancer Inst . 1993; 85:1483–1492.
2 Brewer GJ. Practical recommendations and new therapies for Wilson's disease. Drugs . 1995;50:240–9.
3 Momcilovic B. A case report of acute human molybdenum toxicity from a dietary molybdenum supplement—a new member of the "Lucor metallicum" family. Arh Hig Rada Toksikol . 1999;50:289–97.


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Crime Report: January 15, 2014
911 Calls
Rutherford County Sheriff's Department was dispatched to 148 calls on Wednesday; Forest City police had 72 calls; Rutherfordton police was dispatched to 19 calls; Spindale had 22 calls; Lake Lure had 10 calls; Rutherford County EMS responded to 41 calls and Rescue had 13 calls.
Fire Calls
Cherry Mountain Fire Department was dispatched to a motor vehicle accident; Cliffside firefighters responded to a woods fire; Hudlow Fire Department was called to a fire alarm.
Jennifer Elaine Banks, 31, Blossom Drive in Bostic, was charged with assault and battery; $1,000 bond.
Howard Earl Bates, 28, Pine Knoll Drive in Forest City, was charged with failure to appear on fictitious/altered title/registration card/tag, failure to appear on misdemeanor charges and surrender by surety on fictitious/cancelled/revoked/altered registration card or tag; $3,500 bond.
Dana Mashburn Greene, 30, New Hope Road in Rutherfordton, was charged with misdemeanor probation violation; $5,000 bond.
Phillip Michael McKinney, 23, Beaver Street in Forest City, was charged with misdemeanor larceny; $500 unsecured bond.
Andrew Taylor Parker, 22, Elliot Road in Rutherfordton, was charged with failure to comply with child support; $1,547 bond.
John Douglas Russell, 60, RSW Trail in Mooresboro, was charged with assault with a deadly weapon; $1,000 bond.
Charles Travis Stuart, 24, Dusty Hollow Road in Bostic, was charged with failure to comply with child support, civil contempt order; $500 bond.
Jonathan Eric White, 40, Hopper Road in Rutherfordton, was charged with failure to appear on felony possession of a controlled substance, possession of drug paraphernalia and two counts possession of a firearm by felon; $63,000 bond.
Don Wallace reported an incident of breaking and entering.
Ian Walsh reported an incident of an assault.
Donald Reinhardt reported an incident of a dog bite.
An employee from Foothills Family Healthcare reported an incident of attempted breaking and entering and damage to property.


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Dec 10 2009
A Clean Drinking Water Lesson
The availability of clean water can be taken for granted in developed countries such as the U.S. or U.K. For people in Bangladesh, however, clean water can be scarce.
You can also view the clean drinking water video on YouTube.
In many remote places in Bangladesh, people may never drink clean water. They suffer from waterborne diseases,…


text: Que tipo de ajuda necessita? (Exemplo:"Panda AdminSecure", "erro 2093") Tweet What is the Panda Account included in Panda Gold Protection 2014 and how do I set it up? Informação aplicável a:: Productos Panda Gold Protection 2014Your Panda Account is an exclusive area available for all Panda Gold Protection clients which allows to:Download your products.Manage the services of your product, find out the expiry date, renew the license, etc.Obtain the specific documentation of your product.Report issues of your product to Technical Support.To create your Panda Account, just follow the Panda Gold Protection installation wizard through. We highly advise you to do it this way, as your account details will be automatically associated to the Activation Code of your product.You can also create your account outside the installation of Panda Gold Protection. However, bear in mind that you will need to associate the product´s activation code to your Panda Account manually afterwards.This is how you do it.Step 1: Create your Panda accountAccess Panda Account by clicking the link below:https://myaccount.pandasecurity.com/Click Create new account to sign up.Fill in the Email address, Password, Confirm password, Country and click Create.You will get confirmation that the account has been correctly created.All you need to do at this point is verify the email address you entered during the signing up process.Step 2: Activate your Panda accountAccess your inbox, open the email sent by Panda Security and click the Activate your account! button.Once your account is activated, you can confirm your data. This step is optional. Enter your data or, if you prefer to do it later on, press Not now.Step 3: Add your productsThe last step of the Panda Account creation wizard after activating the account will take you straight to the section called My Products within your Panda Account. The same applies after logging in your newly created account.In any case, once in My Products, you need to associate your Panda Gold Protection to your Panda Account. To do so, follow the steps below:Click +Add first in the You still haven´t registered any products window.Now, add the Activation Code of your product.That´s it! Now, you are all set to access your Panda Account and start enjoying all the benefits it offers!Additional InformationHow do I access my Panda Account?How do I change my Panda Account details? Ajuda nº- 20140616 80768 EN Ajude-nos a melhorar o nosso serviço partilhando a sua opinião. As suas sugestões ajudar-nos-ão a resolver as suas questões de forma mais rápida e eficaz. Esclareceu a sua questão com este artigo? SIM NÃO Obrigado pela sua resposta De que modo poderíamos melhorar este artigo? Pretende contactar o Suporte Técnico?


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1. Birth Doesn't Always go as Planned. I had a pretty distinct idea of what the birth experience would be like and what I wanted to happen during labor and delivery with my son, but not everything went as planned. I can't complain too much, because things certainly could have been worse and my son and I are were both healthy.
2. Breastfeeding is Harder than it Looks. I wouldn't do anything differently with breastfeeding looking back because my goal was to breastfeed exclusively until around 2 years of age and I accomplished that. I am very pleased with myself that I did not give up when it was the easy solution. It's harder than I thought it would be. I thought everything would come naturally and there would be no problems, but I wasn't prepared for biting and the challenge of getting my son to sleep through the night without nursing so I could finally get some sleep.
3. You Won't Have all the Answers and You're not Alone. I thought if I read enough books about infant and toddler development, I would be prepared for what I would have to deal with as it came, but I quickly learned that all babies and toddlers have unique personalities and develop at different rates. Some of the things I read really didn't work for us and there's been plenty of times where I've thought, "I don't know what to do.", but I've also realized we learn a lot as we go through experience and other parents don't have all the answers either.
4. The "text book" baby/toddler/kid might not be your kid. I did a lot of reading before and after my son was born and I've realized there's no one size fits all solution for most challenges parents face. Some things suggested went against my parenting views and others my son just wasn't going for.
5. Everyone has Something to Say on What you do as a Parent. It's one of the most annoying things I think parents face is the "I know everything" attitude from other parents, even strangers, even people with no children! It seems like everyone has something to say about what you're doing. For instance, if you breastfeed your child past 1, you're sick and you'll breastfeed them until they are 10 (I've been told this). Then there's someone there to tell you that if you encourage weaning instead of letting your child completely self wean, you are a bad mother and your breastfeeding efforts aren't good enough (I've heard this too). You just can't win when it comes to pleasing everyone else.
What do you wish you knew about parenting before becoming a parent?


text:
GuangZhou Hi-Power Machine Co.Ltd
FLOOR PREPARATION, FLOOR GRINDER, EPOXY FLOOR, INDUSTRIAL FLOOR, FLOOR SCARIFIER, Manufacturer and Supplier - China
Description and Application:
It is for scarifying and milling, clearing worn epoxies and adhesives in large area, also can be used to clear highway lines.
· Equipped with vacuum connecting devices
· Precise... - Update: 2010-07-06
LT220 Description and Application:
scarifying and milling small area and clearing worn epoxies and adhesives.
LT220 Features:
· Equipped with vacuum connecting devices
· Walk-behind design, operation steadily and reliably
... - Update: 2010-07-06
Description and Application:
Grinding large area effectively and can work continuously for long time. There are 2 types for your option:
A type: 1000 revolutions per minute
B type: 2000 revolutions per minute
A type can grind concrete floor and... - Update: 2010-07-06
L150 Light Floor Grinder/L300 Medium Floor Grinder
No. :L150/L300
L150 Light Floor Grinder/L300 Medium Floor Grinder
Description and Application:
Grinding concrete surface and epoxies for not very large area effectively. Wi... - Update: 2010-07-06


text:
This story was corrected on April 19, 2013. An explanation follows the article.
The case of three male students from West Springfield High School who were arrested at the school Jan. 11 on child pornography charges has resulted in felony charges for the three teens.
On Thursday, the three teens, ages 16, 16 and 15, faced Fairfax County Juvenile Court Judge Thomas P. Mann on charges of "unlawful filming," considered under Virginia law as a class six felony when the subject of the filming is a "non-consenting person under the age of 18." The charge is punishable by up to five years in prison. Two of the teens pleaded no contest to one count each of unlawful filming, while the third pleaded not guilty and was found guilty of two counts of the crime. A no-contest plea means that a defendant will not contest the charge of a particular crime but is not admitting guilt.
Defense attorneys Mark Petrovich and Gretchen Taylor represented two of the boys, and attorney Mark G. Leffler represented the third.
"My client pleaded no contest to one count of unlawful filming but the judge did not find him guilty," said Taylor, who represents one of the two teens who pleaded no Ccontest to the crime. "The judge has witheld his finding of guilty until a sentencing report can be prepared."
The teens were all originally charged with the possession, reproduction, distribution, solicitation and facilitation of child pornography. The charges stemmed from videos of six teenage girls from West Springfield and other area high schools engaged in various sexual acts and stages of undress, all allegedly taken and distributed by the three boys. The Fairfax County Times does not divulge the names of minors charged with crimes.
"This case originated on Nov. 29 when the school resource officer at the school was told about it," said Master Police Officer Eddy Azcarate. "As it grew, the SRO discovered there were six female teen victims and sought the help of our child exploitation unit. As a result, the three suspects were charged on Jan. 11 at the high school. The case remains under investigation."
Following the arrests of the three students, West Springfield High School Principal Mark Greenfelder sent a letter home to the parents of all students, explaining what happened.
"I want to be very clear that while arrests were made here at school the students did not engage in any of these alleged behaviors at school or during school hours," he said. "The charges that are pending all revolve around alleged inappropriate activity that occurred outside of school over an extended period of time."
Fairfax County Public Schools spokesman John Torre declined to comment on whether the school system would engage any of its own disciplinary actions against the three male students. "The SRO at West Springfield High School was informed of these allegations back in November and a police investigation was subsequently launched," he said. "However, FCPS did not conduct a 'separate' investigation and does not comment on student disciplinary matters."
According to Leffler, the videos in question all were of consensual sex taken at parties and other locations and the girls in the videos were not under the influence of any drugs. One minor female testified in court that in at least one instance the filming was not consentual. "It's an unfortunate mix of teenage libido, alcohol and video. It's nothing more than that," Leffler said about the case prior to trial.
All three teens will be sentenced in June.
Capt. Bruce Ferguson of the Fairfax County Police Community Resources Division sits on the board of directors for the Unified Prevention Coalition of Fairfax County, a nonprofit coalition made up of local community leaders to prevent alcohol and substance abuse among Fairfax County teens. Ferguson has six daughters of his own, four of whom are teens.
"Sexual encounters and other poor decisions made by impaired underage drinkers can be harmful to themselves and others for the rest of their lives," Ferguson said. "These days almost everyone has a video camera on their phone and once something gets on the Internet, there's no retrieving it."
This story originally said two of the teens pleaded guilty, when in fact they pleaded "no contest."


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Covered Placket Leather Jacket: A leather jacket is a closet staple that makes anything that it's paired up with look that much more amazing. Pair this rich piece of outerwear with jeans to elevate the style! Imported.
Read what customers are saying about this product:
Rating: 4.89 out of 9 votes cast
High Quality Jacket
I love this jacket, which I ordered in green, size 4. The fit is true to size and the color is beautiful. It is shorter than Metrostyle's typical blazer, which makes it stylish enough to wear with any outfit. It is also versatile enough to wear during different seasons. I'm very pleased with this purchase.
Nice Leather Jacket
Ordered in a VELVET PLUM Size 8 and it fit true to size. The color is beautiful and the leather is soft & supple. Is a purple plum color. Would recommend. Also have in Green Leather. Also like zipper front. The length is great too.
Hesperia, CA
Great Jacket
Love this jacket, I have every colorin this style.
Hilmar, CA
Ordered this jacket in size 12, beautiful green last February. Love it! Always get compliments when I wear it. Fit and feel is great. I'm between a size 10 & 12. Recently ordered black size 10, returning for a 12. Can't wait for my jacket!! You will love it.
Wilmington, NC
3 Time Hitter
I got this jacket in brown last year and I love it. I wanted a purple leather to match a handbag and this is perfect. I also ordered the raspberry it is on sale and with a coupon the price is fantastic. This jacket is so multi-usable it goes from work-to-date night, from jeans-to-dress lacks and from dresses-to-skirts. The style is modern and sleek, the colors are rich and vibrant and the fit is true to size. I ordered one size up so I can wear with a sweater during the winter it is lightweight and very moveable leather which make it the perfect any season jacket.
Baltimore, MD
Fabulous for the price! A gorgeous jacket! Fits well, and is of nice quality. Bought three in size 12 - in black, berry and orange. All beautiful colors. (Note: the orange I received is more of a red-orange, rather than a true orange as pictured on the model). You will love this jacket, in any color!
San Diego, CA
Love it
I really love the look and fit of this jacket. It has a very sporty look and you can dress it up with a nice top or down with jeans. I ended up purchasing it in both orange and green but once it arrived and I wore it I loved it so much I ended up purchasing the black and brown!
Michellvillle MD
PLEASE BRING MORE IN ORANGE BEFORE THE SEASON START MINE IS TOO BIG , and i have to return it.
I just received this jacket - WOW, is it gorgeous! The leather is thick yet soft, not stiff or "plastic" looking; has a really nice hand/feel to it. Feels true to size. I'm so happy I got one in each color! I'm 5'9" & 38D bust but between a size 12 and 14, so I ordered the 14. It fits just right!
Los Angeles, Ca
Click here to read all of this product's reviews
Cap Toe Pump by Boston Design Studio™: Slip into a stunning shoe featuring a shiny patent cap toe and trim at the heel. These versatile pumps look marvelous with everything from dresses, to suits, to jeans.
Rating: 4.00 out of 10 votes cast
Beautiful shoe
Unlike other reviewers, I had no problem with the fit of the shoes. They were just right for me, and they're as gorgeous on as they are in the photo. Can't wait to wear them somewhere "for real" as part of a complete outfit!
New Orleans, LA
Cap Toe Pumps
I was in dire need of a professional-looking black pump with style. When, to my surprise, I found them. When I found these I couldn't resist getting the green pump as well. And, the best part is that the shoes were on sale.Abundant thanks Chadwicks.Anita
Bridgeport, CT
I received the rich red pumps today 2/12/15. Very lovely and comfortable, but are too big :( .I should have read the reviews before ordering, because most of the reviews say that they come too large. Very lovely I wish they were not too large. I ordered 6 1/2 my size , but they fit like a 7 1/2.They are going back.
iliana G
Tarzana, California
I received the blueberry and black pumps today on 2-9-15. These pumps are pretty and comfortable in my regular size.I had ordered them in size 7's and they were too tight because the reviews stated these shoes were huge.I got these pumps in a half size larger, than an 8.Sometimes the other reviews help but in this case it didn't work for me. I waited for 2 months for an exchange in my right size. Awesome shoes!I planning on buying the red and the bordeaux soon.Thanks Chadwick's for an great product.
Chicago, IL
Captoe heels
Love these shoes. Have them in two other colors. Very comfortable and can be worn with slacks, skirts, or dresses.
Lebanon, TN
too big
I usually take a size 6.5, sometimes can go up to a 7. I ordered my size and they are so big there his a HUGE gap in the back. I have tried a bunch of different insoles, but think they are going to have to go back. Too bad, the green is great!
These are very pretty shoes, but the sizing is way off. I bought a half size larger than usual because my fee have been hurting lately, thinking I could put a memory foam insert in it. Bad, bad idea. They were so big, I put 2 full size inserts in each shoe, and still couldn't keep them on my feet. So loose I walked right out of them.I am trying again because they are very pretty, so I sent back for my regular size. I am beginning to worry it will still be big, though, after reading the reviews here and on Chadwick's. We'll see.Oh yeah. Did I say huge??
Austin Texas
I love these shoes. At first I was hesitant about getting a pair. But I got the green and red and they fit great. I got the wide. I have gotten so many compliments on them. I wore the green ones with a green skirt,that went perfect with it. So keep making these shoes. I wish you had them in purple. Great Shoes and Very Comfortable,Perfect heel height.
Long time loyal shopper
Great color
First, the blueberry is a fab color! Second, for me, the size ran large. I ordered a 7.5 and it wouldn't stay on. Have reordered a 7 but haven't yet received.
farmington, nm
I love these shoes. The shoe fits well and I am tall so it's not that big of a heel. The colors are so springy, I receive many compliments when I wear these shoes. I have 2 pair....
Mukilteo, WA
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OK - so I basically come from a liberal background that has fostered my support for a variety of "progressive" causes. As an educated contemporary Reform Jew, I am very much aware that this is a key piece of my identity and activity. To my own surprise, my positions and perspective on issues continues to become increasingly progressive. I find this quite interesting.
Now I have no problem with the idea that there are those who hold differing opinions from mine; as a matter of fact, that is of course what makes life interesting. What baffles me is the level of narrow-minded hatred that often emerges from within the right-wing spectrum (of any issue). As if to say "because YOU hold a different view, I have the right to demean your worth as a human being."
And more recently - at least in my experience - these vitriolic attacks are often propped up by unitelligible (in not outright unintelligent) arguments. Don't get me wrong - I'm not looking to live in a world where everyone agrees with *me*. I would appreciate a greater level of respect and openness in civil discourse - in our society, in our political arena, and in our own communities as well. If we can cultivate an atmosphere in which people truly strive for understanding, while protecting and upholding the inherent dignity of those who with whom we disagree, or find different, or are relegated to being "other", we will go a long way toward fulfilling the obligation for tikkun olam - repairing the ills that face our world
I know this is not a new issue, and I'm certainly aware that there are no quick-fixes to such complex, emotionally charged matters. Yet I maintain the hope that in our own day, we will find ways to make this world better, and not worse, for our having been here.
Any great ideas? PLEASE feel encouraged to share.


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Burlington Central 7, Genoa-Kingston 1: Lexi Kern scored 2 goals and had an assist to lead the Rockets to a Big Northern East win. Cali Andrew had a goal and an assist for BC while Camille Dela Cruz had a goal and 2 assists. Also scoring goals for the Rockets (17-2-1, 10-1-1) were Alyssa Messina, Ellen Jayne and Tatiana Reynoso. Taylor Martin had 2 saves in goal for BC.
Hampshire 3, IMSA 1: Paige Palubicki, Alex Zeller and Claudia Lazar scored goals for Hampshire in this nonconference win. Emily Zeller, Lexi Maze and Alex Zeller had assists for the Whip-Purs (6-9) and Ari Rominski had 5 saves in goal.
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Posted at: 11/16/2012 6:35 PM
By: Chris Ramirez, KOB Eyewitness News 4
Sandoval County Commissioners and County Clerk are deflecting blame away from themselves for the election night fiasco in Rio Rancho and casting the blame on the State of New Mexico and the Secretary of State's Office.
During a Sandoval County Commission meeting Thursday night, a county commissioner and the County Clerk cited an email from the Secretary of State to all County Clerks.
The email shows the Secretary of State asked for $1.4 million in emergency funding from the State's Board of Finance, but the request was denied.
Sandoval County leaders argue the State did not give them enough resources which created these massive lines.
"And I have here the letter that was sent to us by the Secretary of State where they didn't have any more money for any more voting machines," Sandoval County Clerk Sally Padilla told KOB Eyewtiness News 4.
But both the governor's office and the Secretary of State fired back stated they gave Sandoval County everything the County Clerk asked for.
Documents show the State Board of Finance denied the emergency following, but advised the Secretary of State to spend the money to adequately fund the counties, and ask for the supplemental funding to cover the overture during the 2013 New Mexico Legislative Session.
"My job as Secretary of State is to provide them best as I can the resources and the systems that they have requested from us," Secretary of State Dianna Duran said. "And that is exactly what we did."
Secretary Duran contends that her office gave all of the counties across New Mexico what they requested.
A spokesman with Governor Susana Martinez's argues if it truly was the state's fault, more counties would have experienced similar problems that we saw in Sandoval County.


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Viewers: in countries Watching now:
The elusive alpha channel remains one of the most misunderstood yet powerful tools in Photoshop. Alpha channels are collections of luminance data that control the transparency of an image, and they inform just about every aspect of Photoshop. As he builds transitional blended layers, fashions a depth map, makes edge adjustments, and takes on extreme channel mixing, Omni Award-winning expert Deke McClelland teaches Photoshop users that where there's a will, there's a way. Photoshop CS3 Channels and Masks: Advanced Techniques covers mapping texture on an image, turning flesh into stone, using vector masks, working with all different channels, creating a rustic edge effect, and much more. Exercise files accompany the tutorials.
Download Deke's customized keyboard layouts for Channels and Masks from the Exercise Files tab."
In this exercise I am going to show you how to create a Depth Mask, which will allow us to establish a depth of field effect inside of a photograph. Take by way of example this image right here, it's called In the grass.tif and it's found inside of the 12_Specialty_Mask folder, and it features this model, the same model we have been seeing in the previous exercises. So no surprise, this image also comes to us from the same photographer Bobby Osborn of iStockphoto.com and the image features this model in high focus, meaning that she is sharply focused.
The grass which represents her background is at times in high focus, and another time in low focus, meaning blurry. So towards the bottom of the photograph the grass is in high focus, toward the top of the photograph the grass is in low focus. We want to exaggerate that effect using a depth mask as I say, in combination with the Lens Blur Filter inside of Photoshop. So we are going to need to mask her away, so we are protecting her from any modification, and we will create a gradient across the grass, so that portions of the grass are protected, and portions of the grass are selected. So here is how we are going to do it. I am going to start things off by pressing Ctrl+D or Command+D on the Mac to deselect everything inside the image. Then let's go up to the Select menu and choose the Color Range command, because all we want to select inside of this image is the grass, and the grass is so consistently green, and she is so consistently not green, Color Range is our best solution.
So I will go ahead and choose the command. Then I am going to start things off by switching the Selection Preview option to None, so that I can see the full color version of the image, and I am going to click on the grass down here at the base of the image, and then I will Shift+Drag over this region of grass. Now I want you to take care to make sure that you don't Shift+Click or drag over any of these beige leaves in the background, or over any of the yellow or white dandelions. Go ahead and miss those as well, because if you do, Shift+Click or Shift+Drag over those areas, you are going to select a big region of the foreground image being the model of course.
So I am now going to switch the Selection Preview back to Grayscale, so that I can see what I have selected and what I have deselected. And notice that even though I have been pretty careful just to lift greens inside of the image, I have still gone ahead and encroached upon her. I have selected a goodly amount of the model. That maybe just because I have the Fuzziness value set so high. So let's go ahead and take that Fuzziness down to something along the lines of 60. I think that looks a lot better. If you feel like you have still selected too much of the image, you can try again. You could just Shift+Click in the grass, and then Shift+Drag over a little bit of grass down here like so. Then actually it looks pretty good to me. I might Shift+Drag just a little more just to see if I can add tiny bits more grass inside of the image. Once again, without selecting too much of her, and if you feel like you got too far, remember that you can press Ctrl+Z or Command+Z on the Mac to undo that last beige color addition.
From my part I think this looks pretty good. So I will go ahead and click OK in order to accept that selection. Then I am going to Shift+Tab to bring my palettes up on screen, so that I can see my channels palettes. I am going to add a new alpha channel to this image by Alt+Clicking or Option+Clicking this icon down here at the bottom of the channels palette, that little circle in the square icon. I am going to call this channel rough, because it represents my rough base channel. I will go ahead and click OK. Then I will press Ctrl+D or Command+D on the Mac to get rid of that selection. So now I am going to move rough up the stack here a little bit so that it appears before the field alpha channel. The field alpha channel is the one that I have given you in advance here. So here is the rough alpha channel. I will go ahead and move this over so that we can see it, and here is the filed alpha channel.
You can see that there is not all that much difference between two channels. This rough represents that selection that I just created with the Color Range command. Field represents the modified version, the finished version of the rough alpha channel. And the only difference is that I went in there with my Paint/Brush tool set to the Overlay mode, and I painted in white and black in order to firm up the edges a little bit. But notice that I didn't do any work toward the bottom of the image here. So I have done a great job of fixing up all the edges up here toward the top of the image, because I want to absolutely select that top grass, and deselect the model. However, down here, and I don't want to waste that much time, because I am going to deselect the grass in the foreground, right? So we've got the rough step that we've gone ahead and saved off. We've got the field step that we've gone ahead and saved off. Let's create one more variation of this mask. I will go ahead and drag the field alpha channel down here onto the little page icon and drop in order to create a duplicate of that channel.
And I am going to name it Depth, because it will serve as our final depth mask. Then I am going to go grab my Gradient tool right here, and I am going to go ahead and make sure that my foreground color is set to black as it right now. If it's not for you; you would want to press D and then X for default, and then switch. Then go up to your Option bar, and notice that I have made some changes. We will be drawing a radial gradient at this point, and I have got the Reverse checkbox turned on. So just in order to reset things, I am going to right-click on this down pointing arrow and choose Reset tool, to reset the default settings, and then I will switch from the foreground to the background gradient, to the Foreground to Transparent gradient right there. I will be creating a linear gradient of course. Now I am going drag from about this position just above the white dandelion right there, and I am going to drag upward like so.
I have got the Shift key down, so that I am constraining the direction of my gradient to perfectly vertical, and then I will release. Now you can see what I have done, is I have protected, I have gradually protected the foreground grass, the grass toward the bottom of the image, and I have revealed the background grass, the grass toward the top of the image. So that's how you go about creating a Depth Mask. I will show you how we can employ the Depth Mask by using it inside of the Lens Blur Filter, inside of the next exercise.
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All the Proudfoots - or should we say: Proudfeet - of the Shire.
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Red Velvet cake and cupcakes with cream cheese frosting, yum. Carrot cake with regular or cream cheese frosting really good. They also make chocolate on chocolate and strawberry cupcakes with white frosting.
Always helpful. They have great cakes & cupcakes also sugar free desserts! plenty of fresh donuts!!!!
My new favorite guilty pleasure. Everything I have tried is delicious. Unique taste that has you coming back for more.
Love this place. I've been coming here for years and have never been let down. Creme filled chocolate long john's are the best!
This isn't said lightly. We love a good bakery cake. Butter cream frosting is a must. I live in southern IN but needed a cake for a birthday excursion & asked for a tortoise themed sheet cake. The turtle on the cake was perfect! But, most importantly, this was the most delicious sheet cake we've ever had. The cake itself...
Love, love, love their doughnuts!! So fresh and delicious! The ladies that work there are the best! Can't say enough about how wonderful this bakery is!!
This was an unexpected treat as we passed through Owensboro. So glad we stopped in. The staff was friendly and helpful. The coffee was good, and the donuts were wonderful. I don't recall having donuts that were so light. It was like eating sugared air. Oh, and for less than a couple of coffees at a Starbucks, we had two...
I go there all the time. The donuts are great and the employees are all very nice. They do cute holiday grab and go goodies too.
Diane's makes one of the best doughnuts we have ever eaten. It's something we look forward to every time we come to town! Highly recommend!
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Blog: Northrop to Keep Global Hawk Development Program Operating
Northrop Grumman Systems Corporation, Integrated Systems Sector, San Diego, California, is being awarded an approximate $22 million contract modification and a more than $13 million modification. The first is for: software maintenance, covering the tasks necessary for the contractor to maintain and support software for air vehicle, ground and support segments; and flight test, covering the tasks necessary for the Global Hawk (GH) system integrator (prime contractor) to participate in planning, provisioning, conducting, analyzing, and documenting an integrated GH Combined Development/Operational Flight Test Program. These tasks provide the software maintenance and flight test to keep the development program operating. The second if for the infrastructure portion of the engineering and manufacturing development (EMD) block load effort, which provides for the necessary tasks that allow the contractor to manage the day-to-day EMD contract operations of the Global Hawk weapon system including air vehicle, ground segment, and support segment. These tasks provide the infrastructure necessary to keep the developmental program operational. They are not directly tied to any one specific developmental capability. Aeronautical Systems Center, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, is the contracting activity


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Interesting.... I did not realize that "Famicom" is an unofficial nickname!
Also, the article doesn't mention WHY the boss ordered the red coloring..... perhaps he ordered them to use red plastic because he was aware that it was cheaper.
Rest of the World
Interesting.... I did not realize that "Famicom" is an unofficial nickname!
Also, the article doesn't mention WHY the boss ordered the red coloring..... perhaps he ordered them to use red plastic because he was aware that it was cheaper.
He talks about how his past RetroN consoles are no better than the originals..... the truth is that they're not even AS GOOD as the originals.
There are tons of reports of incorrect audio and video with these knockoffs. And the company claims not to reverse engineer the older consoles.... but without the original schematics, how else are they going to produce an accurate copy?
Plus, they need to replicate these console cheaply enough to turn a profit. So we end up getting "good enough" instead of "completely accurate." No, thank you.
I would like to weigh in on the "could (not) care less" controversy!
The syntax was originally "I could not care less," which is obvious because this is what makes sense semantically. This group of words, however, began acting a single "unit," to where the entire group of words, together, conveyed a meaning different from that of any of the individual words by themselves. And this "unit" became a fairly common, and very easily recognizable, phrase.
When groups of words start acting as one unit in such a fashion, oftentimes certain things occur. Sometimes, the meaning of the entire phrase can become imparted into a single, individual word from the phrase. This is the history of the Spanish word "nada" (nothing).
Another occurrence is that certain words from the phrase can "drop out," while the remainder of the phrase retains its meaning. This is what has happened with the phrase "I could (not) care less." The negative has dropped out, but the phrase still conveys the same significance that it always has.
I'll be buying it this weekend!
We in the USA really got shafted when it comes to the DKC trilogy. The warnings given to European Wii owners of the upcoming removals (which would be on Nov. 25) started popping up online on Nov. 16.
But here in the USA, the trilogy was silently removed that very same day, on Nov. 16 (not considering differences in time zones). So the warning given to European Wii owners did us in the USA absolutely no good, because the games were already gone.
I called NoA just a single day after the removal, so that may be why they had no information. That was a few days ago, so it's possible that their system has updated since then, and they could have record of the removal now. But who knows for sure...
I was upset because of the fact that no notice is given prior to removing games. It frustrates customers, and it means that Nintendo misses out on a ton of last-minute sales that I'm sure they would receive if people knew that certain games were next on the chopping block.
No one talks enough about the lack of component video output. That is the only thing that absolutely kills any desire I would have for this redesigned Wii.
The Wii Shop will eventually shut down, so WiFi isn't such a big loss; nor is the SD card slot, because without the Wii Shop, you don't have any games to put on a SD card.
But component video, which by default includes progressive scan support, is something I am not willing to give up. Nintendo has needlessly done this with many of their console redesigns. Find other areas to save money in! Don't mess with video output quality.


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Beautiful SwimEx Swim Spa in Berkeley, CaliforniaAugust 14th, 2014
This 500 OS SwimEx swim spa near San Jose, California was installed a few years ago and we think the pool room is still stunning. Jason Kaldis Architect Inc., located in Berkeley, provided the design. Careful consideration was given to materials by the builders and craftspeople. The complete indoor pool and remodel is here www.jkaldisarchitect.com under Remodel and Additions. Click on any image below to begin slideshow!
Indoor SwimEx Resistance Pool in CaliforniaMay 12th, 2014
This SwimEx pool resides in beautiful Belvedere, CA with a nice view of Golden Gate bridge right outside the glass block windows. It must be hard to get the motivation to exercise with that view but the SwimEx 500 OS has had hundreds of swim sessions and still looks new! With Spring finally here, now is definitely the time to check out our seven different models of resistance pools for [Read the Rest…]