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Such was the title of the full page article accompanying these pictures that appeared in the Boston Globe January 1, 1988 (must have been a slow news day). The ride started at the Stoneham zoo, and wound its way to a coffee shop in Winchester, during an increasingly snowy day. Click here for the complete text of the article as it appeared in the Globe.
The magnificent seven start out from the Stoneham Zoo. Left to right, Joan McNeil, Walter McNeil, Scott Croan, ??, Jack Donohue, Robin Schulman, and ??.
Joan McNeil waiting for the ride to start, Globe caption: "Most bikers agree on the wardrobe for a wet winter: long pants, gloves with liners, glasses with vent holes, tights, a wool hat under the helmet and a turtleneck and sweatshirt under the rain gear."


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Jeannette's First United Methodist has open doors, open hearts
When the Rev. Amy Chesla was called to the ministry, there was "no saying no."
She's been the pastor at the First United Methodist Church in Jeannette for almost three years and has been in ministry for nine.
Her calling came after what she describes as a dramatic healing she received at home when she was 40 years old.
She survived a pulmonary embolism, a blockage of the main artery of the lung. Oftentimes, this condition is, at best, life-shortening and, at worst, fatal. At the time of the incident, her doctors had only given her a couple of years to live.
She said she could only speak in strings of three to four words at a time and wore oxygen. One night, while she was home alone, she received what she described as a healing. She called her doctor the next day and visited his office, not wearing her oxygen and able to talk with normal rhythm and tone, and even sing.
According to Chesla, her doctor said there was no explanation and attributed it to a miracle.
From that point on, Chesla responded to her calling to minister for Christ. She said her desire is to "use her life to help others," and that "church is a hospital for lost souls."
She said that once she began to obey God and follow his purpose for her life, door after door opened. She has been in the ministry for a total of nine years, with six being served in Deep Creek in Maryland, until she came to Jeannette.
She is mother to a son, Nicholas, who is 18 and attends classes at Westmoreland Community College for radiological techology, and she also has a stepdaughter, Anita, 33, who is a stay-at-home mother of twin boys with her husband, Eric.
Chesla received her ministerial training at United Theological Seminary in Dayton and is carrying a 22-credit load to earn her master's degree at the Methodist Seminary.
Despite her educational level, she insists she doesn't "go by Reverend. I go by Pastor, because I'm not revered or set apart. I'm one of the congregation."
Not only is Chesla the pastor of the Jeannette First United Methodist Church, she splits her time with Trinity United Methodist in Greensburg. She's a busy lady.
Her ministry is one of grass-roots.
She said she doesn't "have church clothes. It isn't about pretentiousness. Church has gotten a bad rap. It's seen by some as judgmental and cold, and not interested in what a person can do or bring. Church is about a relationship with God and fellowship with those who are seeking the same thing. We don't come because we have all the answers, we come here in search of God, Who knows all truth. Jesus called the common man."
She fears that this bad rap has contributed to low attendance in church, regardless of denomination.
"Our lives, our words, our actions are the only Bible that people read," she said.
As for her inspiration for sermons, which are sometimes as unconventional as poignant, she said she reads her Bible, asks for guidance, and listens to God.
The theme for her sermons in October, as seen on the marquee outside of the church, is "Fall Leaves, Jesus Never Does."
Interpreted by Chesla, she quotes Rudy Rathsmus: "I love you and there's nothing you can do about it."
Chesla said she shares the same concern as other pastors in Jeannette, that people are not attending church because of outside demands of a quicker lifestyle and voices a common theme again shared by her peers.
"I've found peace, healing and I've been given a second chance at life, and I will use every breath to his glory," she said.
The First United Methodist Church in Jeannette is celebrating its 125th Anniversary during the month of October. It will celebrate this event with special worship scheduled for the Oct. 27.
The church will continue with community-supporting projects, as well as some new ones. Chesla supports My Father's House, a ministry for women who have lost their way, and are referred either by court-appointment or self-referral.
The familiar chicken and biscuits lunch will be available at the church on Election Day, and, in 2014, the church is planning a joint venture Bible school. Services are held every Sunday at 11 a.m., with communion shared on the first Sunday of every month.
Chesla is eager to share her story and faith and invites anyone interested to visit her church, where she said they have "Open hearts, open minds and open doors."
Maria Tyger is a contributing writer.
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Achievement of tenure and/or promotion in rank is perhaps the most significant event in the professional life of a faculty member. It represents the culmination of years of work and excellence in teaching, research, and service; recognizes promise for future achievement; and welcomes scholars into a community of privilege and responsibility. In many cases, the Library represents a laboratory for faculty as they engage in scholarship. At minimum, the Library serves as a record of intellectual achievement and an archive of all that we have attained.
With this in mind, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Library, under the leadership of University Librarian Paula Kaufman, initiated a program in 2000 in which faculty who are newly tenured and/or promoted are able to select a book for our Library collections. These selections are book-plated in their honor, and stand as a reminder now and into the future of the remarkable accomplishments of the faculty at this university. Each selected book receives a bookplate with the faculty member's name, rank and year of selection.
Books selected by our honored faculty are listed to the right, along with their statements of why the books have been selected, and links to the selection in the Library catalog. Below are images from the event.
Manufacturing Advantage: Why High-performance Work Systems Pay Off
Eileen Apelbaum, Thomas Bailey, Peter Berg, Arne Kalleberg
I first read the book Manufacturing Advantage as part of a seminar in graduate school. The book had a pronounced influence on the way I have come to think about employment relations and the link between work practices and organizational outcomes and it motivated me to pursue a PhD in industrial relations.
Donald Woods
The struggle for freedom in South Africa was what made me interested in Development Economics.
Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting by in America
Barbara Ehrenreich
This book had a significant impact on my understanding of the working class and helped me to appreciate the freedom that can come from obtaining a degree in higher education. I am forever indebted to my parents who encouraged me to never stop learning.
Home with Hip Hop Feminism: Performances in Communication and Culture
Aisha Durham
Aisha Durham is a masterful writer and a brilliant, beautiful, generous, scholar-poet home girl. I chose this book thinking about future generations of scholars who will change the game and the system (for the better), because THIS book was published. Before, during, and after it all falls down—we remain kindred.
Volker-Psychologie Eine Untersuchung der Entwicklungsgesetze von Sprache, Mythus und Sitte
Wilhelm Wundt
Wundt's ideas about language and the origins of speech provide the foundation of modern studies of language use.
The Racer
Tim Krabbe
Simply one of my favorite books. If youkan manage the original Dutch, do so. "Niet-wielrenners. De leegheid van die levens schokt me."
the Diagram Group
As a child I received this book as a gift and spent countless hours flipping through its pages. I am sure it subconsciously played a large part in the development of my data-centric artwork. The concepts and graphics in the book break down intangible ideas from geography and science into comprehensible parts.
Mi Revalueshanary Fren
Linton Kwesi Johnson
Johnson writes in Jamaican Creole, the language in which I think and dream. His use of imagery and metaphor resonates with me. He addresses issues of race, class and religion, issues that are often at the forefront of my own mind.
Les Metiers et Corporations de la Ville de Paris XIVe-XVIIIe Siecle
Rene De Lespinasse
I chose thise book because it is a precious resource for my research on eighteenth-century France and testimony to the erudition of my predecessors in History. I also admire its physical beauty, a product of the skill of late nineteenth-century printers and publishers. The volumes are a historical artifact in their own right.
The Little Engine That Could
Platt and Munk
A favorite elementary school teacher gave me this book as a gift. The message stuck with me throughout life.
Foundations of Signal Processing
Vetterli, Kovacevic, and Goyal
This book provides a much needed contemporary treatise of signal processing.
Bach, Johann Sebastian/Wolff, Chrisoph
With its complex structures, layered voices, and stunning harmonies, the music of Bach is beautiful and moving. It can teach us much about life, that sometimes less is more and that sometimes one has to listen closely to hear what is really being said.
Instruction of Students with Severe Disabilities
Martha Snell
This text has been a core "staple" for practitioners who work with students with severe disabilities. It was the first text I purchased and each new edition becomes a permanent fixture on my bookshelf.
Flesh: Architectural Probes
Elizabeth Diler and Ricardo Scofidio
This monograph opened my eyes to architecture's possibilities beyond the normative constructed environment.
State Organs: Transplant Abuse in China
David Matas, Torsten Trey
China's organ transplant numbers are second only to the U.S, with most organs for transplants from prisoners of conscience. The killing of prisoners for their organs is a plain breach of the most basic medical ethics. In this book, authors from four continents share their views and insights on the ways to combat these violations.
Anti-Arab Racism in the USA: Where it Comes From and What it Means for Politics
Steven Salaita
Reasoned dissent is the core of the humanities.
Puerto Rico 1900
Jorge Rigau
My country has a rich and complicated history, best witnessed through the study of its arts and culture. I am grateful to Dr. Rigau for this book that includes the forgotten history of the most beautiful houses and interiors I have ever seen; masterful examples of island architecture around the turn of the 20th century.
This is Paris
Miroslav Sasek
My evening routine with my son is one of the favorite parts of my day. Since he was born three-and-a- half years ago, he has forced me to carve out time to truly relax everyday away from the grind of deadlines for work. This is Paris is his favorite book at bedtime.
Jane Smiley
A book on big state university in the Midwest. Enough said.
Julia Hockenmaier
Since you suggested children's books, I selected Momo, a book I grew up with that has just been re-released in English. Momo is a simple fable about the importance of taking time, and of not valuing efficiency over everything. A useful reminder that there is more to life than work.
Lethal Genes
Linda Grant
This crime novel was written by the author after spending some time in a laboratory at UC Berkeley around the time I studied there. I am familiar with the laboratory, I recognize every building and some of the people. It is closely observed and an interesting historical record of plant molecular biology in the 1990s.
Silence: Lectures and Writings, 50th Anniversary Edition
John Cage
I read this book because it was discussed during lectures by Bridget Kelly (English Department). I was surprised by Cage's ideas on silence and noise. My own research is on tinnitus, a phantom noise in your head. This book made me think of tinnitus in the context of silence and music, illusory or otherwise.
The Early Days of Yeast Genetics
Michael N. Hall/Patrick Linder
This book introduces fascinating stories of outstanding scientists who made foundations for modern genetics and genomics using yeast as a model system. While we think scientists need to be smart to be successful, the stories clearly demonstrate that curiosity, good observation, and perseverance are more important.
La Memoire et les Jours
Charlotte Delbo
Delbo is a beautiful writer who is both sensitive to many other survivors' experiences of trauma during World War II and supremely illuminating about the process of living both then (during the worst) and now. I have returned to La memoire et les jours countless times and always found it gorgeous, compelling, and utterly moving.
The Shadows of Owls
John Keeble
The Shadows of Owls has been described as a "smart eco-thriller", but its depth extends beyond that, exploring relationships between family, the land, and those who violate what we hold most dear. Written by my father following a life-threatening stroke, the novel provides an exhilarating affirmation of brilliance in the wake of deep personal challenge.
The SAGE Handbook of Family Communication
L.H. Turner & R. West
The study of family communication has grown by leaps and bounds since I was an undergraduate student, and this edited collection showcases the very best the field has to offer at the moment. Who knows what lies ahead?
Codex Seraphinianus
Luigi Seraphini
This book embodies the wonder, beauty, and strangeness that printed volumes can convey.
I AM Malala
Malala Yousafzai and Patricia McCormick
This is my daughter's favorite book. I also admire her brave action.
Prairie Plants and Their Environment; A Fifty-Year Study in the Midwest
J.E. Weaver
I believe the wealth of Illinois is in her soil and the plants that grow on it. "Prairie Plants and Their Environment" by Dr. Weaver explains how wonderful and selfless our mother nature is. There is no discursiveness in nature, nothing unnecessary, all is quite raw and unique.
Man's Search for Meaning
Victor E. Frankl
I discovered this book at age 13, and it lit a passion in me to understand the resilience of the human spirit. As Victor Frankl observed, between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.
The Mysterious Island
Jules Verne
I still remember the excitement and inspiration I had when reading this book in 4th grade. Since then I always want to become someone like the people from this book who knows how to construct a battery and telegraph and how to make magic chemicals, i.e. engineers and scientists.
Art and Visual Perception: A Psychology of the Creative Eye
Rudolf Arnheim
Arnheim's book helped launch a fascinating field and spurred the asking of wonderful new questions. Due to a small act of kindness, I can say Rudy helped me launch a fascinating career and spurred me in my own asking.
Kurt Vonnegut
A book I loved since High School. I realized that science fiction can be used in a larger context and reflect today and tomorrow. I become unstuck in time. So it goes.
Digital Depression: Information Technology and Economic Crisis
Dan Schiller
Dan Schiller pulls no punches in his study that yokes the digital revolution with the economic collapse of the last decade. He demonstrates why we must always work to historicize the current moment, and inspires others to engage in similarly unrelenting critiques of past and present.
The Party's Over: Oil, War and the Fate of Industrial Societies
Richard Heinberg
The Party's Over is one of the books that opened my eyes to the profound challenges humanity faces in terms of resource depletion, climate change, and sustainability. These books have opened a new chapter in the book of my career, in the form of my work at the Institute for Sustainability, Energy, and Environment.
The Design Way: Intentional Change in an Unpredictable World
Harold Nelson and Erik Stolterman
It is thought provoking and supports the value of Design Thinking within this interdisciplinary world we live within.
The Giving Tree
Shel Silverstein
The Giving Tree is a book I loved as a child and enjoy reading to my four boys. There are many different interpretations for the relationships between the boy and the tree, including the idea of unconditional love; this could lead to interesting discussion among children and adults.
A La Recherche Du Temps Perdu
Marcel Proust
This novel evokes turning point memories for me in two areas: memories of my French instructor who helped me connect one event to a world of events through time; and the power of language. Especially now, I really appreciate how our senses and language can evoke powerful memories.
The Modern Percussion Revolution: Journeys of the Progressive Artist
Kevin Lewis and Gustavo Aguilar
To illustrate and underscore the importance of thinking about what it is that we do and why.
Area Research, Theory and Practice
Julian H. Steward
A recurring theme in my research has been the politics of knowledge about "other" places and peoples. One example of this is in the interdisciplinary field of "area studies" and the ways different regions of the world come to be thought of as distinct coherent units. In the United States, the formalization of area studies scholarship occurred in the decades after the Second World War, with a call for interdisciplinary research on the component regional parts of a complex and increasingly interconnected world. The American anthropologist Julian Steward wrote this brief book on area studies in 1950 as part of an initiative on "world area research" by the Social Science Research Council. His mid-twentieth century observations remain instructive today for scholars conducting international and interdisciplinary work in the contexts of globalization. That Steward later went on to help found the Department of Anthropology at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign makes this book even more meaningful to me.
Homotopy Limits, Completions and Localizations
K. Bousfield and D.M. Kan
This book was a great influence on me when I was first learning about my subject. Chosen in memory of Dan Kan (1927-2013), and the help and generosity he showed to me.
Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics
John Seinfeld and Spyros Pandis
Not only do I use this book on an almost daily basis, but John Seinfeld hosted me as a young student during my first visit in the US. This had a significant impact on my career, and little did I know at that time that the US would become my second home several years later.
The Cambridge Introduction to Theatre Historiography
Thomas Postlewait
The book was written by my mentor and doctoral adviser, Thomas Postlewait. The book outlines the unique work of the theatre historian and offers specific strategies and methods for analyzing and writing theatre history. It is an essential and expertly written primer for students of theatre and performance.
Culture and Truth
Renato Rosaldo
This is the first book written by a Chicano intellectual that conveyed to me the possibilities of the life of the mind.
An Introduction to Fluid Dynamics
G.K. Batchelor
For seminal contributions in the field of fluid dynamics and transport, this is truly a text that has inspired multiple generations of researchers in chemical engineering.
Guide to Reference Books
Robert Balay
The 11th edition of this iconic reference source, compiled by librarians for librarians, was the last to appear in print. I honor Bob Balay's role as my mentor in my first professional library position at Yale, celebrate my ongoing contribution to the subsequent Guide to Reference database, and affirm this resource's enduring value.
On the Origin of Species
Charles Darwin
With this book, Darwin introduced the theory of evolution by natural selection that has become the foundation of evolutionary biology. It's a beautiful example of scientific prose, empirical evidence and personal humility in the context of intellectual revolution.
The Universe Story: From the Primordial Flaring Forth to the Ecozoic Era- A Celebration of the Unfolding of the Cosmos
Brian Swimme & Thomas Berry
Alongside many others I share a deep concern for the future of our planet. This book offers profound insight into the universe story - one that the authors feel humans have to embrace if we are going to find the necessary 'psychic energy needed for the renewal of the earth'. This book changed me.
The Failure of Presidential Democracy
Linz, Juan, and Arturo Valenzuela
Eye-opening is the phrase that encapsulates this book's impact on me. It was in 1994, when I first read The Failure of Presidential Democracy as an undergraduate student in Argentina, that I realized the power that political institutions and rules have over political outcomes and individual behavior. I remember pondering whether institutions were the missing element needed to anchor Argentina's then nascent democracy and ensure its consolidation. Today, over twenty years later, I still wrestle with these ideas. Indeed, the role of institutions in the political arena of democratic societies continues to fascinate me and inspire my research.
Nobel Laureate C.V. Raman's Work on Light Scattering: Historical Contributions to a Scientific Biography
Rajinder Singh
Scientific pursuit, especially involving physical experiments is still limited to a miniscule and privileged population. I find Raman's life and work a remarkable inspiration that the quest for understanding nature is not necessarily an enterprise restricted to wealthy nations. To enterprising minds in unheralded places?
Handbook of Alcoholism Treatment Approaches
Reid K. Hester, William R. Miller
This book propelled me into an academic career focused on treatment outcomes for disenfranchised individuals with alcohol and drug problems. Early in my career, I personally experienced the science-to-practice gap when simultaneously reading this book and observing colleagues using treatments with the least empirical support. May I always practice empirical self-reflection for the greater good.
The Ants
Bert Holldobler and Edward O. Wilson
This book was instrumental in sparking my interest in the ecology, evolution and behavior of ants. I first read it as a graduate student and it remains near my desk today.
The Sports Gene
David Epstein
This book provides an interesting look into world-class athletes and what it takes to be a champion. It is focused on athletics, but the concepts discussed have relevance outside of sports. Although genetics and upbringing provide everyone with a starting point and innate potential, nearly any goal may be achieved through hard work and perseverance.
From the Score to the Stage: An Illustrated History of Continental Opera Production and Staging
Evan Baker
Opera, a form of music theatre, is markedly shaped by its visual presentation. Baker contextualizes the development of opera, from its earliest stages, within evolving theatrical practices and approaches to scenography. His book is a tremendous contribution to English-language opera scholarship, which has tended to navigate the disciplinary divide between music/musicology and theatre uneasily.
Veeck-As in Wreck
Bill Veeck (w/Linn)
Bill Veeck was the consummate sport manager--imaginative, attentive and on occasion provocative. This choice is for my students past, present and future. May they all read this work from cover to cover, not because they think they should but because they want to.
A History of Immunology
Arthur M. Silverstein
A History of Immunology is an insightful account of the intellectual evolution of the field from the earliest concept of immunity to infection to our current understanding of this complex system. This book illustrates that many forces; technological, social and personal, that act to shape the course of scientific discovery and professional acceptance.
Concerto pour Flute (Reduction pour Flute et Piano)
Marc-Andre Dalbavie
Marc-Andre Dalbavie is one of today's leading composers whose music is not yet well-represented in our library. As a composer and as a teacher, Dalbavie has been an important influence on my music and my teaching since I studied with him briefly in 2001.
Against The Grain: Mad Artist Wallace Wood
Bhob Stewart
I befriended Bhob Stewart, publisher of some of the first comics fanzines, in the last two years of his life. His rich knowledge of comics (especially EC), film, radio, and science fiction always made for rich conversations. He advocated for me and my work on comics. Most of all, Bhob was a friend. Spa Fon!
Amir Aczel
I recall reading this book while writing my dissertation. It is a very enjoyable read that reminds us just how fascinatingly mysterious our world is, and the role that optics can play in understanding it.
On Liberty
John Stuart Mill
Mill argues forcefully against those who would deny liberty of expression to so-called "intemperate discussion," pointing out that in historical practice this condemnation is never applied even-handedly, but has reliably been used to restrain or punish writers who challenge "the prevailing opinion."
Energy Efficient Buildings with Solar and Geothermal Resources
Ursula Eicker
One of my great passions is building energy conservation, which is critical to achieving sustainable living. Buildings in the U.S. today account for about 40 percent of total U.S. energy consumption. This book presents the perspective on solar and geothermal technologies for heating and cooling buildings.
Hot Spotter's Report: Military Fables of Toxic Waste
Shiloh R. Krupar
This book is smart and funny, and models a form of documentary practice and activist scholarship that I find inspiring.
Community Informatics in China and the US: Theory and Research
Kate Williams, Han Shenglong, Yan Hui and Abdul Alkalimat, eds.
This bilingual book aims to help the field of community informatics move forward in China. Our library needs it because community informatics has deep roots here, starting with PLATO (1960). And because Chinese scholars are indeed taking up and shaping community informatics in new ways.
A time of Gifts
Patrick Leigh Fermor
This is a journey through an erea of Europe with special significance to me. The author traveled near my Grandfather's village shortly after he emigrated, so I saw a glimpse of life at that time. The author's adventures also triggered memories of my European study abroad experience, which shaped who I am today.
And the Band Played On
Randy Stilts
This book chronicles the early societal, political and scientific events surrounding the emergence of HIV/AIDS as a major global health threat. To me as a microbiologist today, this book, by a journalist who subsequently died from AIDS, poignantly illustrates how far we have come in 40 years, and how far we still have to go.
Physical Education and Activity for Elementary Classroom Teachers
Kim C. Graber and Amelia Mays Woods
I am proud of this book written with my good friend and colleague, Kim Graber.
Mathematical Understanding of Nature: Essays on Amazing Physical Phenomena and Their Understanding by Mathematicians
V.I. Arnold
This book provides a glimpse into the mind of one of the most influential mathematicians of our time: V.I. Arnold. His writings inspired my interest in mathematics and science.
The Oxford Handbook of Political Psychology: Second Edition
Leonie Huddy, David O. Sears, and Jack S. Levy
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Demand BLM Protect Chaco's Sacred Sites From Fracking
New Mexico's beautiful Chaco Canyon region is home to ancient ruins that are sacred to the Pueblo and Navajo people. Now, the government wants to let fossil fuel companies frack millions of acres of land in the area—putting this priceless cultural heritage at grave risk. The next four days are a crucial window to tell the Bureau of Land Management that's unacceptable. Send a message: don't frack near Chaco Canyon! More than a thousand years ago, Chaco Canyon was the spiritual, economic and political center of a vast civilization that stretched across much of the American southwest. Without modern tools or wheels, the ancient Anasazi people built huge ceremonial Great Houses in and around Chaco Canyon and connected them to spiritually significant places with massive roads, astonishingly straight and as wide as two-lane highways. Chacoan civilization left no written texts, so these feats of architecture and engineering are a uniquely valuable inheritance from that vanished culture, considered sacred to this day by the Pueblo—the descendents of the Chacoans—and Navajo.
Now that priceless legacy is under threat.
Fossil fuel companies are moving in around Chaco Canyon, as risky new horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing technology makes it increasingly possible to exploit shale deposits throughout the San Juan Basin. It's bad enough that the federal Bureau of Land Management (BLM) already allows extraction in the region—but now it's moving toward approving hundreds of new permits for oil and gas companies to frack and drill millions of acres. The area threatened by fracking includes 35 Chaco Great Houses and a vast network of ancient roads. Tell the BLM: that's an outrage. The BLM is currently revising its land use plan for the Chaco region. They could greatly strengthen protections for these invaluable cultural treasures—if enough of us speak up.
In the next few days, we have a valuable window: the BLM is taking public comments on environmental impact until next Wednesday, May 28. Rainforest Action Network is part of a coalition of groups—including the Solstice Project, Earthworks and CREDO Action—fighting to protect Chaco from fracking. Together, let's tell the BLM that fracking in the Chaco Canyon region is one extraction project that the public won't just rubber-stamp. The legacy of Chacoan civilization is a national and world treasure—Chaco Canyon is an official National Historical Park and a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
If we won't protect the Chacoan inheritance, then nothing is sacred. Will you add your voice?
P.S. Our friends at the Solstice Project are working on a beautiful new PBS documentary about the archaeological riches of Chaco Canyon. In response to the fracking threat, they've released a four-minute excerpt of this work in progress. See just how important it is to protect Chaco here: Fracking Threatens Chaco's Sacred American Heritage (WOTL) from matt dibble on Vimeo.
Bank of America and Drummond Coal in Colombia
This blog post has been updated.
This month, Rainforest Action Network and three allies testified at Bank of America's annual shareholder meeting, urging them to drop coal, to stop profiting from environmental destruction and human rights abuses. We're posting the statements of our three allies. Add your voice by telling Bank of America to stop funding coal—and come clean on climate change.
My name is Santiago Piñeros. I was born in Bogotá, Colombia, and I work with Pensamiento y Acción Social (Thought and Social Action), an NGO that assists communities affected by large-scale mining in the center of the Cesar region in Colombia. I have had the opportunity to see how Drummond LTD operates in these areas, a multinational company in which Bank of America invests millions of dollars to develop its extractive coal and gas business.
Three towns located in the middle of the Cesar region—El Hatillo, community we assist, Plan Bonito, and Boquerón, communities we follow up—have to be resettled by Drummond, Glencore-Xstrata and a Goldman Sachs mining company. These resettlements were ordered by the Colombian government, due to the high levels of air pollution and dust from the coal mines. These communities should have been relocated two years ago because of the dangers that coal ash poses to people's health, including respiratory diseases, such as lung cancer, skin and ocular diseases. Thus, Drummond is currently co responsible for three involuntary resettlement processes due to air pollution in El Cesar Region.1 These communities must be resettled quickly, and Drummond's investors, including Bank of America, need to make sure this happens.
Drummond directly contaminates groundwater and rivers where these communities make their livelihoods.2 Activities such as fishing, hunting, territorial and cultural relations with the environment have deteriorated and are often no longer possible due to the contamination. For communities that rely on fishing and hunting for survival, the destruction of the environment means the destruction of the community.3 For these facts, the environmental damages in this region become a violation of the human rights of these communities and so creates an obligation for its investors—you—to commit to recognize the value of the human rights of these poor rural communities, communities that are threatened with simply disappearing. Bank of America has an obligation to protect these communities.
Bank of America invests today in a company that does not respect environmental standards. According to the environmental authorities Drummond recently spilled around 1,800 tons of coal into the Caribbean Sea off the coast of Colombia. This disaster happened because Drummond chose not to implement required changes to the system of directly loading coal at port, which would have prevented these accidents.4 Pollution levels at Drummond coal mines exceed the levels permitted by law in Colombia, and they are steadily increasing.5 The pollution is affecting human health. Still, Drummond only responds to sanctions if they impact the company's ability to export coal.
Bank of America finances Drummond's coal operation and so is co responsible for Drummond, a company that operates with no due diligence regarding human, economic and cultural rights. According to the most recent study of the Contraloría General, Drummond's operations, and thus Bank of America's investments, do not guarantee a healthy life and environment, these operations only make a profit from our natural resources.6 Who holds the accounts where these profits are stashed? Bank of America.
Are these environmental and human rights abuses something you recognize? What responsibility do you have for these events? Your money is being used to fund mining operations that do not represent social, environmental and economic benefits for the communities living in the surroundings of the mines. In fact, the levels of unsatisfied basic necessities in these communities increase as sanctions and fines while the resettlements do not seem to advance.
1. Resolution No. 9070 of 2010 and Resolution No. 1525 of 2010 from the Colombian Ministry of Environment, Housing and Development (MAVDT).
2. Contraloría General de la Nación. Minería en Colombia I: Derechos, políticas públicas y gobernanza. // Minería en Colombia II: Institucionalidad y territorio, paradojas y conflictos. 2013.
3. Resolution No. 54 of 2008 from the Defensoría del Pueblo de Colombia.
4. Resolution No. 0123 of 2013 and Resolution No. 001 of 2014 from the National Authority of Environmental Licenses (ANLA).
5. Resolution No. 9070 of 2010 and Resolution No. 1525 of 2010 from the Colombian Ministry of Environment, Housing and Development (MAVDT).
6. Contraloría General de la Nación. Minería en Colombia I: Derechos, políticas públicas y gobernanza. // Minería en Colombia II: Institucionalidad y territorio, paradojas y conflictos. 2013.
RAN Stands With Jaka. Will You?
Jaka, pictured here, was 14 years old when he began working on the palm oil plantation.
My name is Ratri Kusumohartono, and I've traveled here from Indonesia to bring the story of palm oil to the top executives of PepsiCo at the company's annual shareholder meeting. I work for Sawit Watch, which means "Palm Oil Watch" in Indonesian. We are one of Indonesia's leading palm oil advocacy groups, working directly with palm oil laborers who are fighting for decent working conditions and local communities who are resisting or who have lost their forest and livelihoods to large-scale oil palm expansion.
I need you to stand behind me as I tell PepsiCo about the real costs of Conflict Palm Oil. Will you add your voice to mine?
Palm oil expansion isn't just about deforestation and ecosystems; it's also having a huge impact on the communities that live here. I've seen these impacts on communities and workers first hand. Last year, I travelled to a palm oil plantation in East Kalimantan to see if workers were being treated fairly. I was faced with a stark reality. I met a 16 year old boy, Jaka, who had been working in the plantation for over two years. At 14, Jaka left his hometown because he was given false promises of a high salary and good living and working conditions. After traveling over a thousand miles by boat, plane and bus to arrive at the plantation, Jaka found a very different reality than what he was promised. But by the time he realized he had been deceived, he was trapped in debt to the labor recruiter, far from home, and the company did not even provide an adequate supply of clean water and food. The conditions were so poor that Jaka had to drink and bathe from the trench where the plantation's waste runs.
This is why Conflict Palm Oil is able to be sold so cheaply to snack food companies like PepsiCo. 14 year old boys like Jaka are bearing the real costs of palm oil production. This is not OK, it has to stop.
Please, stand with me, with Jaka, and with all of the affected communities whose homes and lands are threatened, who have had their land stolen in land grabs, or worse, have suffered violence and injury at the hands of the palm oil companies.
Jaka is not alone. His story is only one example of the exploitation and devastation that Conflict Palm Oil is causing for communities, workers and forests across Indonesia. PepsiCo needs to adopt a global responsible palm oil policy that requires all the palm oil it sources to be fully traceable, legally grown, and free of deforestation, peatland destruction and human and labor rights violations.
Working together on the ground in Indonesia and in the markets in the U.S, PepsiCo will hear our message. Call on PepsiCo to cut Conflict Palm Oil.
Ratri Kusumohartono
It's Your Turn PepsiCo: Time to Take the Conflict Palm Oil Challenge
This week marks an exciting turning point in the ambitious international effort to eliminate Conflict Palm Oil connected to rainforest destruction, human rights abuses and climate pollution from our food supply. Thanks to the hard work and consumer pressure created by RAN supporters and our allies - that's you, dear reader - the palm oil industry as a whole is finally on the move. Several of the "Snack Food 20" companies that RAN put on notice a year ago about their Conflict Palm Oil problem, including Mars, Kellogg, and General Mills have recently responded by strengthening their palm oil commitments, policies and sourcing practices.
This is huge.
But PepsiCo - the largest globally distributed snack food company in the world and the most influential of the Snack Food 20 companies yet to take action to address its Conflict Palm Oil problem – remains a major laggard falling further and further behind its peers.
PepsiCo is a global consumer of Conflict Palm Oil for its snack food brands in the US, Mexico, Latin America, Asia and Europe, yet it still has no truly responsible palm oil purchasing policy. This means while PepsiCo consumes more than 450,000 metric tons of palm oil annually, the company cannot ensure its customers that its products do not contain Conflict Palm Oil. Which is why today, PepsiCo is being singled out for its continued use of large quantities of Conflict Palm Oil by a wide range of groups that includes Showtime's Years of Living Dangerously project, Rainforest Action Network, the global consumer watchdog group SumOfUs.org and the Union of Concerned Scientists.
RAN's very own Lafcadio Cortesi appears in the premiere episode of Showtime's dramatic new climate series, where he walks Harrison Ford down the aisle of an American grocery store and explains how Conflict Palm Oil is destroying Indonesia's forests and peatlands while displacing Indigenous communities. At the end of the second episode of this star studded show, viewers are directed to the Years of Living Dangerously website where PepsiCo is targeted for its outsized role contributing to deforestation. Showtime viewers are invited to call out PepsiCo's CEO Indra Nooyi to publicly respond to the question: "Deforestation from palm oil is a leading driver of climate change. How can you ensure your customers that your supply chains do not contribute to this ongoing problem?" With this kind of exposure, now is the time for us to raise our voices together and make sure that PepsiCo hears from every one of us.
Please add your name to join RAN, Years of Living Dangerously, and thousands of people around the world demanding change at PepsiCo.
The global palm oil industry is fast approaching a tipping point and PepsiCo's global scale and influence gives it a crucial role to play in finally eliminating Conflict Palm Oil from our food supply. We've got PepsiCo's attention, and we know the company is feeling the heat. Now it is crucial that we increase the pressure to push PepsiCo over the edge to take a stand for the climate, orangutans, the rainforest, and the families who live and work there.
Thank you for your vital support - we cannot win this important, high stakes fight without you.
Key PepsiCo Facts and Statistics:
Annually, PepsiCo uses enough palm oil to fill Pepsi cans that would reach around the earth 4 times.
Annual Revenue: $65.5 billion in 2012 (50% from international)
Chairman and CEO: Indra K. Nooyi
Countries of Operation: PepsiCo is the largest globally distributed snack food company in the world. Sold in over 200 countries; Americas, Europe, Middle East, Asia, and Africa
Biggest use of palm oil: Mexico, 40% of PepsiCo's palm oil use
Total Global Annual Palm Oil Usage (2013): 457,200 metric tons
Known Palm Oil Suppliers: PepsiCo sources palm oil products originating in SE Asia from Cargill, Wilmar, and AarhusKarlshamn (AAK) and originating from plantations in southeast Mexico (Chiapas, Tabasco, Veracruz) and Guatemala from Oleofinos of Mexico.
Regions of Impact: The top 3 countries where PepsiCo sources its palm oil from are Indonesia, Malaysia and Mexico.
Best Known PepsiCo Brands using palm oil globally: Frito-Lay including Lay's and Cheetos, Chitato, Qtela and Gamesa.
Best Known PepsiCo products in the US using palm oil: Quakers Big Chewy Granola Bar, Quaker Oats Granola Bites, Quaker Oats Banana Nut Bread, Frito Lay Munchies Flaming Hot, Frito Lays Grandma's Homestyle Chocolate Chip Cookies. Facts got you ticked off? Make sure you take action here.
Revelations on illegal Indonesian logging sends clear message to governments and buyers
Last week the former governor of Riau province in Sumatra, the epicenter of deforestation in Indonesia, was sentenced to 14 years in prison by Indonesia's anti corruption court for taking bribes for illegally issuing logging permits to nine suppliers of APRIL's Riau Andalan Pulp and Paper and APP's Indah Kiat mills. This conviction follows similar convictions of Riau's Palalawan and Siak district regents (Bupatis).
This week a diverse and influential civil society network called the "anti forest-mafia coalition" released an in depth and ground breaking analysis of the Indonesian "Forest Legality Verification System" (SVLK) finding flaws in the SVLK standard and its application and detailing sweeping changes required for the system to be credible and contribute to improved forest governance in Indonesia.
The SVLK timber legality assurance system comes out of an agreement between the EU and Indonesian governments aimed at improving forest governance and ensuring that Indonesian forest products are produced, harvested and shipped in compliance with the laws and regulations of Indonesia. SLVK certification is intended to assure forest products (wood, paper, etc.) customers and trading partner governments that products are legal and to secure access to foreign markets. In Europe, the intention is that SVLK certified products gain automatic access to the market. In the US, SVLK certification will not provide a guarantee that forest products imported into the US will meet the requirements of the Lacey Act.
Nevertheless, Indonesian forest product companies like APRIL and their customers are already promoting their SVLK certification and hoping that SVLK will fulfill the due diligence requirements of the Lacey Act. However, given systemic governance problems and recent revelations from Indonesia, such assertions are premature. In fact, the anti forest-mafia coalition's report, and the long list of forest crime cases being considered by Indonesia's Anti Corruption Commission (KPK) suggests that the Riau former governor's crimes are just the tip of the iceberg. The Riau convictions and the anti forest-mafia coalition's report are a wake up call for governments, customers and investors alike. Forest governance in Indonesia and the SVLK certification system still have a long way to go before they can provide confidence in the rule of law or any assurance that it is being implemented and enforced.
The message to customers, investors and importing governments in the EU, Japan, China, the US and around the world is that Indonesian forest products are rife with legal risks and links to corruption and that the current SVLK system does not provide adequate assurance that products are legal or produced in an environmentally or socially responsible manner.
The message to the Indonesian government and producers is that they must tackle corruption, improve forest governance, laws and enforcement and revamp the SVLK standard and its implementation if they are to be trusted and preferred in the international marketplace.
Encouragingly, there is good news that Indonesians and the international community alike can take heart in and support amidst these sobering reports.
First, the Riau prosecutions themselves demonstrate the importance and success of Indonesia's Anti Corruption Commission (KPK), an institution that is repeatedly demonstrating its integrity, veracity and worth in the face of significant opposition from many powerful interests that it threatens. And second, last week, perhaps the nation's most well known and important political reformer for clean and improved government and the rule of law, Joko Widodo (or Jokowi as most know him), officially announced his candidacy as presidential candidate in the upcoming elections in July.
PepsiCo Says No More Land Grabbing; Now Needs To Cut Conflict Palm Oil and Deforestation
Today, food and beverage giant PepsiCo declared that it will no longer accept land grabbing in its global supply chains. Land grabbing occurs when Indigenous Peoples or local communities are kicked off their land so corporations can make profits from growing palm oil, sugar, and other crops.
This announcement comes after significant consumer pressure from Oxfam's Behind the Brand Campaign and PepsiCo investors who called on the company to adopt a zero-tolerance policy for land grabbing.
The adoption of its new Land Policy is a positive step forward for PepsiCo, but we know all too well that actions are stronger than words. PepsiCo must take real action to deal with its land grabbing problem. Given that land grabbing is also a symptom of PepsiCo's deforestation and Conflict Palm Oil problems, it must now make the next bold move and implement a responsible palm oil sourcing and no deforestation policy.
PepsiCo is a huge company, operating in over 200 countries and earning $65.6 billion in revenue each year. Its well known brands, including Pepsi, Doritos, Ruffles, Cheetos and Quaker, are found in homes around the world. RAN has exposed the dangers of Conflict Palm Oil and the fact that it ends up in chips, cookies and granola bars made by PepsiCo. PepsiCo sources its palm oil from companies like Cargill, Wilmar and AAK in Indonesia, Malaysia and Mexico.
Despite the growing concern over Conflict Palm Oil, PepsiCo has not adopted a responsible palm oil policy to remove deforestation and social conflict from its global supply chain. Instead of taking responsibility for its supply chain, the company relies solely on the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO). The RSPO continues to certify companies that are destroying rainforests and peatlands and causing high greenhouse gas emissions. It also has a poor track record of enforcing its human and labor rights standards, and resolving disputes between certified companies and local communities over land grabbing.
PepsiCo cannot rely on the RSPO.
To address these problems fully, PepsiCo must join other leading consumer companies and adopt responsible palm oil sourcing and no deforestation policies and cut Conflict Palm Oil from its products.
You can help pressure PepsiCo to tackle its deforestation and Conflict Palm Oil problems next.
On May 7th, PepsiCo will need to face up to its shareholders who will be casting their vote on a deforestation resolution at its annual general meeting. With your help, we'll convince PepsiCo to do the right thing for the forests and the people that depend on them for their survival. Add your voice here.
Banner photo via C.J. Chanco Inset photo via Oxfam
Climate Culprits Exposed In New Scorecard
APRIL Misses the Mark with New Forest Management Policy
On Tuesday, Indonesia's second largest pulp and paper company, Asia Pacific Resources International Limited (APRIL), released an updated Sustainable Forest Management Policy. While this policy is notable, especially given APRIL's recent suspension from the World Business Council on Sustainable Development (WBCSD), it falls far short of what is needed for APRIL to clean up its act. It should also be noted that over the years, APRIL has repeatedly failed to meet similar commitments, raising the possibility that this is simply another PR move to alleviate pressure and scrutiny from consumers and NGO's.
For years, APRIL has been the subject of controversy related to deforestation and human rights violations, due to ethically dubious business practices on the part of both APRIL and its owner Sukanto Tanoto.
Sukanto Tanoto, an Indonesian business tycoon, is also the head of Royal Golden Eagle International (RGE), and has dealings in palm oil and viscose staples fiber (dissolving pulp) as well. This new commitment is rife with policy gaps and, in fact, could allow the continued pulping of rainforests for paper until 2020. APRIL has not committed to stop natural forest conversion until the end of this year, and is continuing to feed its 2 million ton-capacity mill with rainforest fiber. Furthermore, the commitment does not address the fact that April and suppliers have cleared and converted vast areas of high conservation value and natural rainforest, despite these areas being identified as HCVs in need of protection.
APRIL has also omitted any safeguards to prevent ongoing land-grabs and human rights abuses by Toba Pulp Lestari (an RGE-affiliated company) perpetrated on Indigenous people in areas under development. As recently as last week, new protests over land-grabs have broken out near PT RAPP, where APRIL's massive pulp mill is located. Local community members are blocking logging trucks to the mill and organizing to resist APRIL encroachment, highlighting the continued non-cooperation with local people impacted by APRIL's operation.
In order to translate to change on the ground, the commitment must extend to all of RGE and APRIL's sister companies and suppliers, and must close loopholes on the critical issues of human rights, peatland development and high conservation value forests. Even the commitment itself is murky, as APRIL fails to disclose the most basic information needed to understand what is being promised and assess the company's performance. Transparency and reporting on progress are necessary to ensure that commitments are met.
While, this is a positive commitment, APRIL has yet to undertake a path to true reform. Pulp and paper customers must demand more before considering doing business with any of Sukanto Tanoto's vast network of companies, which still remain entirely unaccountable for the consequences of their actions. In the meantime, the WBCSD should continue high level scrutiny of APRIL's actions until APRIL has proven that it can fully turn its practices around.
Goldman Sachs Sacks Coal Export Investment
An Urgent Request from Indonesian Conservationists
//www.youtube.com/embed/uozNAWnuqPU?rel=0&vq=hd720Please take action now to protect the extraordinary Leuser Ecosystem forever! You can read more from Tezar below: Hello, My name is Tezar Pahlevie. This year I was honored by winning the 2013 GRASP Conservation award for my team's work restoring rainforests damaged by illegal palm oil plantations, but now, a dangerous push from palm oil companies could see all our hard work undone. I write from my home in Aceh, on the Indonesian island of Sumatra, because the people and the place I love most are in danger and I urgently need support from people around the world to save them. Please join me in asking the governor of Aceh to protect the world class Leuser Ecosystem by nominating it as a new UNESCO World Heritage site. This is a really scary time for me, because the governor of Aceh has on his desk a disastrous plan that would remove crucial protections from the Leuser Ecosystem, opening up huge areas of some of the world's most biologically diverse forests to major industrial development. This new plan could be signed by the governor at any time. The six million acre Leuser Ecosystem is home to the densest population of orangutans remaining anywhere and it is the only place where orangutans, tigers, elephants, rhinos and sun bears live in the same forest together.Nearly four million people depend on the rainforests of the Leuser Ecosytem to provide them with clean water for drinking, irrigation and food production. I am really sad and frustrated because every day and every month I see the destruction of the forests around my home. We in Aceh have experienced the dangerous floods that come after the logging and destroy people's homes, livelihoods and in some cases, takes the lives of our friends or family. Witnessing all this destruction breaks my heart. We have a different vision for Aceh. We must protect the Leuser Ecosystem and the people who rely on it. The Aceh people have long fought to protect these forests because they provide us with clean water, food and are important for the next generation. It is urgent that the governor of Aceh hears from you now. Just recently, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) identified the Leuser Ecosystem as one of the world's foremost "irreplaceable areas" that must be protected to preserve biodiversity. I stand with scientists from across the world who are right now calling on the governor of Aceh to protect our forests by nominating the region to become a new UNESCO World Heritage site. It gives me hope that by people across the world calling on the governor, he will listen to the people instead of the companies that want to destroy our forests, and work to find a balance that will protect the forests and the livelihoods of Aceh's people. Please take action today to automatically send a fax to Governor Dr. Zaini Abdullah asking him to listen to the traditional wisdom of Aceh's people by supporting the nomination of the Leuser Ecosystem as a new UNESCO World Heritage site. Semangat - keep the spirit, Tezar Pahlevie Conservationist and 2013 GRASP Conservation Award Winner


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BARONS CREEK. Barons (Barrons) Creek rises a mile southwest of Cherry Mountain in north central Gillespie County (at 30°23' N, 98°56' W). The stream, intermittent in its upper reaches, flows south-southeast for 16½ miles to its mouth on the Pedernales River, southeast of Fredericksburg (at 30°14' N, 98°50' W). It rises in limestone hills on the eastern edge of the Edwards Plateau and traverses flat to rolling terrain with local escarpments and a surface ranging from shallow stony and clayey soil to deeper sandy and clayey loams. Vegetation consists primarily of open stands of live oak and Ashe juniper woods. The stream was named for Baron John O. Meusebach by the German settlers of Gillespie County.
Gillespie County Historical Society, Pioneers in God's Hills (2 vols., Austin: Von Boeckmann-Jones, 1960, 1974).
The following, adapted from the Chicago Manual of Style, 15th edition, is the preferred citation for this article."BARONS CREEK," Handbook of Texas Online (http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/rbb25), accessed November 27, 2015. Uploaded on June 12, 2010. Published by the Texas State Historical Association.
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text: Cops Fatally Beat Man, Take Witnesses' Phones: Report Officials say devices needed as evidence By Matt Cantor, Newser User Posted May 14, 2013 9:25 AM CDT STORY COMMENTS (42) (Newser) – Police in the southern California community of East Bakersfield allegedly beat a man to death last week, and now a lawyer for the 33-year-old's daughters and parents is using the word "coverup"—because the local sheriff's department confiscated the phones of witnesses who filmed the incident, the Los Angeles Times reports. David Sal Silva was on the ground "and eight sheriffs ran up and started beating him up with sticks," said a woman in a 911 call. "The man is dead laying right here, right now. I got it all on video camera and I'm sending it to the news." Two witnesses were detained for hours and not released until they gave up their phones. The Kern County sheriff says the phones had to be taken as evidence in the case; the department had a search warrant for the devices, he says, and it asked a separate police department to review the clips. But the family's lawyer is not convinced. "It makes it look like a coverup. What we're all concerned about is, 'Are these videos going to be altered? Are they going to be deleted?'" Silva had left his house suddenly last Tuesday morning seeking emotional help at a hospital; after being told he couldn't sleep at the facility, he ended up falling asleep in front of a nearby house, per the lawyer. That's where the incident occurred. 23ABC News has surveillance video apparently showing the beating. Police allegedly beat a man to death in a California town. (Shutterstock) ADVERTISEMENT(Click Prev or Next to continue viewing images.) « Prev« Prev | Next »Next » Slideshow Los Angeles Times (Source Grid ») 23ABC News (Source Grid ») Crime & Courts • US California • police • police brutality • beatings • videotaped beating • David Silva CLICK BELOW TO VOTE 2% 2% 14% 2% 78% 3% RETURN TO THE STORY To report an error on this story, notify our editors.


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Plucky, well-meaning and earnest to the point of strain, Bertha Bay-Sa Pan's "Face" chronicles two decades in the lives of three generations of Asian American women who struggle to maintain their identity while remaining true to their cultural heritage, or some combination of struggling and remaining true that sparks culture clashes in a cramped New York apartment. Sound familiar? Brazilian director Marcos Bernstein's "The Other Side of the Street," which also opens today, handles related themes of alienation much more lightly, all loopy surprises and oddball warmth.
An assimilation story spanning two decades, Bay-Sa Pan's "Face" originated as a Columbia University film school thesis project, and it bears the imprint of one too many graduate courses in identity theory and race and gender politics. The movie shuffles dutifully between the 1970s, when Kim (Bai Ling), a Chinese American college student with a traditional Chinese mother (Kieu Chinh), gets pregnant after a one-night stand with a rich Chinese boy, and the 1990s, when Kim's daughter Genie (Kristy Wu) chafes against the next generation of constraints, which mainly seem to consists of hiding her cropped T-shirts and her black DJ boyfriend (Treach) from grandma.
Young Genie has lived with her grandmother since Kim, unhappy in her shotgun marriage, fled Queens for Hong Kong 20 years earlier. There she became a successful banker, and now the bank plans to transfer her back to the United States. Kim takes the felicitous, all-expense-paid opportunity to reach out to her daughter — that is, as much as seeing one's grown child for the first time since abandoning her as an infant, smiling graciously and cooing, "Genie, how nice to see you again," can be described as "reaching out." Not surprisingly, Genie doesn't exactly cotton to mom. You have to assume Bay-Sa Pan has some fondness for her characters, but as a director, she seems incapable of distinguishing between character and characterization. Determined to cement her status as American Every-teen, for instance, Genie bops, mugs and fidgets as though recently sprung from a mid-'80s Cyndi Lauper video, as grandma flogs impossibly parochial lines like "You're too skinny!" and Kim, meanwhile, remains as remote, reserved and inscrutable as a bad Asian stereotype. It's never clear whether we're meant to like her, hate her or lurch back and forth between the two emotions as she fusses on the phone to a friend about how she can't decide whether she should transfer to New York or to California, where, presumably, she won't have to endure sniffs and sidelong glances from resentful family members. But she seems out of place from the start. In her early scenes as a Queens-raised Chinese American teen, Kim acts and sounds like a foreign exchange student. Even the minor characters, such as a jovial Chinese uncle and a nerdy college boyfriend, are so crudely drawn and heavy-handed they practically inflict blunt trauma. Despite its eager good intentions, "Face" is more interested in sassing its ancestors — metaphorically as well as literally (Genie is sarcastic even when talking to her dead Grandpa) — than in shedding any light on the human condition.
There's something especially frustrating about small, personal independent movies that adhere to the stodgy conventions of small, personal, independent movies as if compelled by a cadre of militant MFA candidates. I suspect some of the positive notices "Face" has received since premiering at Sundance in 2002 are attributable to a desire to encourage alternative voices, but no amount of goodwill can rescue "Face" from its painfully literal script and acting that's all about projecting recognizable attitude rather than drawing in viewers.
Almost as small and intimate as "Face," but considerably more enjoyable, is "The Other Side of the Street," which also uses naturalistic urban settings and deals with themes of family and adapting to change. Spritely, tender and unpredictable, it draws memorable performances from great Brazilian actors Fernanda Montenegro ("Central Station," which Bernstein co-wrote) and Raul Cortez, playing skittish sexagenarians in love.
A puckish and energetic divorced woman living in the Copacabana neighborhood of Rio de Janeiro, Regina (Montenegro) is having trouble dealing with the fact that her only son has invited his father, her ex-husband, to live with him and her only grandson. Regina lives alone with her old dog, Bettina, in a comfortable middle-class apartment nearby, and we're made to understand that, even though her ex-husband's alternate living arrangements might well have involved a park bench, she feels wronged by her son's generosity to his father, and it strains their relationship.
After dropping off her grandson at her son's home, Regina returns home, slaps on a pair of leather pants and some lipstick, and heads to a nightclub thronged with people not yet quite a third her age. Things get even weirder when she steps into the ladies' room and makes a call to Officer Alcides (Luis Carlos Persy) of the Rio police department, identifying herself as "Snow White." One scene later, people are being hauled out of the club in handcuffs, and Regina is strolling down an empty street toward her apartment. The day's papers announce that a child prostitution ring has been busted.
Rio's own Miss Marple? Sort of. Regina takes part in a modest community service program in which seniors pass along tips and bits of useful information to the police. Most — like the placid "Daffy Duck," who would rather spend her days in the park knitting for nobody — don't take it very seriously, but Regina, whose growing sense of alienation is exacerbated by her sense that the city is going to the dogs, treats it like a full-time job. Energized by the prostitution bust, she parks herself by her window with a pair of binoculars and, in a scene reminiscent of "Rear Window," witnesses what she thinks is a man murdering his wife.
When the man turns out to be a prominent judge, however, Officer Alcides is embarrassed by the incident and cuts Regina out of the program. Frustrated, she decides to pursue the investigation herself. She follows him around until one day she averts a robbery at a bank and he notices her. What ensues is a somewhat sweet, somewhat jittery cat-and-mouse story in which it's hard to discern which is which.
Regina accepts a date from Camargo (Cortez) and they wind up stuck in traffic most of the night. At first she lies to him about where she lives — she tells herself she's being cautious, but what really bothers her is the relative shabbiness of her apartment building compared with Camargo's. As the crime-solving problem recedes, so does Regina's confidence in Camargo's interest in her. Even Officer Alcides catches on, and humors her into continuing her "investigation." Stripped down to the bones, the premise sounds cloying and patronizing. But Montenegro's considerable talents as an actress keep the story from dipping so much as a toe in sentimentality.
"The Other Side of the Street" has its flaws, but to my mind, genre-bending isn't one of them. Told from Regina's point of view, we can't help but see her lovely but impersonal, roiling and often dangerous city as a giant crime scene, or at least a place where bad things happen to good people like her all the time. Shortly before meeting Camargo, Regina walks out of the bank where the armed robbery has almost taken place and imagines she is alone on the busy street. Officer Alcides has stopped taking her calls, so she takes out her cellphone, dials her home number and leaves herself a long message on her answering machine detailing what she saw, how nobody did anything, how terrible life has become. "I had to tell someone!" she says, before realizing how crazy what she's doing feels.
'The Other Side of the Street'
MPAA rating: Unrated
Times guidelines: One circumspect love scene between the two main characters
Fernanda Montenegro...Regina
Raul Cortez...Camargo
Luis Carlos Persy...Officer Alcides
Strand Releasing presents a Pássaro Films and Neanderthal MB Cinema production, a Columbia TriStar Do Brasil, Arte France Cinema, Escazal Films co-production. Director Marcos Bernstein. Executive producer Mariza Figueiredo. Producers Katia Machado and Marcos Bernstein. Screenplay by Marcos Bernstein & Melanie Dimantas. Director of photography Toca Seabra. Art Director Bia Junqueira. Editor Marcelo Moraes. Music Guilherme Bernstein Seixas. In Portuguese with English Subtitles. Running Time: 1 hour, 38 minutes.At Laemmle's Music Hall, 9036 Wilshire Blvd., Beverly Hills, (310) 274-6869; and Laemmle's and One Colorado, 42 Miller Alley, Pasadena, (626) 744-1224.
MPAA rating: Unrated
Times guidelines: Some profanity and sexual themes
Bai Ling...Kim
Kristy Wu...Genie
Kieu Chinh...Grandmother
Will Yun Lee...Daniel
Ken Leung...Willie
An Indican Pictures release. Director Bertha Bay-Sa Pan. Producers Alexa L. Fogel, Joseph Infantolino, Bertha Bay-Sa Pan. Screenplay Bertha Bay-Sa Pan and Oren Moverman. Director of Photography John Inwood. Editor Gary Levy. Production design Teresa Mastropierro. Music Leonard Nelson Hubbard. Running Time: 1 hour 27 minutes.At Loews Cineplex Beverly Center 13, 8522 Beverly Blvd., (310) 652-7760; and the Magic Johnson Theaters, 4020 Marlton Ave., L.A., (323) 290-5900.


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Last week: 5-1
Season: 5-1
DC Picks had a decent week to start the season. In fact, the one game he missed, he's glad he did considering it turned out to be an unexpected win for Laurel Highlands. Congratulations to not only the Mustangs, but the Commodores, Scotties and Vikings on posting Week 1 wins. Keep it going in Week 2.
Connellsville at Penn-Trafford
It's a tough road for the Falcons to start the new season. Connellsville is coming off a loss to talented McKeesport in Week 1, and it doesn't get any easier against a Warriors squad that expects to contend for a WPIAL title this season. DC Picks knows Penn-Trafford is an experienced group and will be a difficult matchup for Connellsville. That said, he also knows the Falcons gave the Warriors a tough battle last season. DC Picks expects Connellsville to give Penn-Trafford its best effort Friday night, but ultimately, DC Picks thinks the Warriors' experience wins out.
Penn-Trafford, 24-6
Southmoreland at Beaver Falls
Southmoreland coach Mark Adams knows his team can play a lot better than what it showed in the season opener, but DC Picks loved the fact that the Scotties overcame their own mistakes to beat a game Charleroi squad. It should give the Scotties plenty of confidence going forward, and they will need it against a Beaver Falls team that is young, but talented. This will be a big test for Southmoreland, but DC Picks has a feeling about this team this year, and he wouldn't be surprised if the Scotties go on the road and pull out a big nonconference win.
Southmoreland, 23-20
Mt. Pleasant at Derry
DC Picks has to admit he wasn't sure how good Mt. Pleasant's offense could be with the loss of some key players to graduation. But last week, DC Picks was pleased to see the Vikings didn't miss a beat in a win over McGuffey. The Vikings seem like a team that will put up points, but may allow its share as well. However, this week, DC Picks doesn't expect Mt. Pleasant to have any trouble improving to 2-0 against a Derry team still trying to find its way.
Mt. Pleasant, 42-7
Frazier at Jefferson-Morgan
Like Mt. Pleasant, Frazier also lost some key offensive contributors to graduation, but also had no trouble piling up the points in Week 1. DC Picks believes the Commodores are a team with a lot of weapons, and it's hard to discount them in any game they play. The Rockets started the season with a nice win as well, so this one should be a great early-season match-up within the Tri-County South Conference. Although the game is at Jefferson-Morgan, DC Picks likes the visitors to come out of Greene County with a big victory.
Frazier, 26-19
Trinity at Laurel Highlands
Shame on DC Picks for going against the Mustangs in Week 1 against Elizabeth Forward. DC Picks was impressed to see Laurel Highlands hold on for a huge victory in front of the home crowd. This week, DC Picks expects Laurel Highlands to send its fans home happy again, but it won't be nearly as close. Coach Zack Just has gotten through to the Laurel Highlands players. Is Laurel Highlands a playoff team this year? Who knows? But DC Picks surely isn't betting against them — at least not this week.
Laurel Highlands, 32-14
Uniontown at Ringgold
DC Picks has to admit that even though the Red Raiders lost to West Mifflin last week, he didn't expect the game to be as close as it was. It's never fun to lose, but DC Picks can't help but think that the Red Raiders' Week 1 performance will only infuse more confidence on a team that has some talent and potential. Now, the question is whether or not Uniontown can go on the road and gain a Big 9 Conference win over the Rams. DC Picks likes what he sees from Uniontown, but he needs to see just a bit more before going with them against a Ringgold team that is also in need of a victory.
Ringgold, 30-27
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Bonnie Bleecker
CAREER NOTES: Ranked No. 6 all-time in UF history for singles wins (135)... No. 4 all-time for career winning percentage (85.4%)... No. 3 for single season winning percentage (93.3%, 28-2 in 1995)... No. 6 all-time for doubles career win percentage (83.7%, 87-17)... tied-No. 10 season doubles wins (32-3 in 1997)... UF posted an impressive 116-4 dual match record during her four-year career, which included four SEC regular season titles, four SEC Tournament championships, two National Team Indoor Titles (1996 & 97), two NCAA titles (1996 & 1998) and two NCAA runner-up finishes (1995 & 1997)...
AS A SENIOR (1997-98): Captain of the 1997-98 squad.
Singles: undefeated in dual match play this season (20-0)... logged a perfect 51-0 singles record versus SEC opponents in dual match play during her career, including the 7-5, 7-6 (3) victory over Georgias Christa Gray (April 19) which clinched UFs fourth consecutive SEC Tournament title... opened the season dropping her first two matches at the Clay Court Championships, but has been on an impressive streak since... won 20 consecutive matches to end her career... reached the finals of the SEC Coaches Fall Classic, before losing to teammate Traci Green 6-3, 4-6, 6- 4... advanced to the semifinals of the Gator Fall Classic, but lost to teammate Dawn Buth 6-2, 6-4... lost in the third round of the Rolex South Regional Qualifier to Georgia Southerns Anita Buggins 6-3, 6-3... celebrated her 21st birthday at home in front of the Gator fans, who serenaded her with Happy Birthday, before her 45 minute 6-1, 6-0 singles victory over Auburns Summa Edwards... ranked No. 6 all-time in Florida history for singles victories... 0-1 in three-set matches... 0-3 vs. ranked opponents.
Doubles: Primary dual match position: No. 3 with M.C. White... opened the season with a No. 19 ITA ranking with White, was not listed due to insufficient data (few matches played)... in the regular season finale rallied from a 7-5 pro set deficit versus Auburns Kozlowski & Edwards at the No. 3 position to post a 9-8 (7-0) win... clinched the SEC Tournament No. 1 seed for the Gators with a 8-3 victory over Georgias Christa Grey & Zoe Mellis... paired with Dawn Buth during the fall and reached the finals of the Rolex South Regional Qualifier, before losing 8-5 to No. 2 ranked Courtney Chapman & Agnes Muzamel from Missis-sippi... 34-2 all-time in doubles with White.
Honors: earned SEC Academic Honor Roll honors for the third consecu-tive year... first team All-SEC at No. 6 singles & No. 1 doubles (with White)... named Most Valuable Player (team award)...
AS A JUNIOR (1996-97): Bonnie Bleecker served as captain of the 1997 squad... sported an 18-match singles win streak entering the NCAA Championships, but dropped a tough 4-6, 6-3, 6-1 decision to Pepperdines Sophia Csapo, ranked 39th, in the first round of the NCAA Singles Champinships... recipient of the Tennis Magazine/ITA South Region Arthur Ashe Jr. Sportsmanship award... posted a 21-0 overall doubles record with M.C. White... earned a bid to compete in the NCAA Singles Championship for the second consecutive year... earned first team All-Southeastern Conference at the No. 5 singles and No. 3 doubles (with M.C. White) positions... named to the SEC Academic Honor Roll with a 3.72 grade point average in Telecommunications... recipient of the Dorothy Anderson Scholarship, presented to the teams best representative of balancing academics, character on & off the court and community service... clinched the dual match victory in three straight matches in mid-March, capped by the 5-7, 7-5, 6-1 win over Dukes Diana Spadea at the No. 6 singles slot... paired with White for the 8-2 doubles win to clinch UFs SEC Tournament semifinal win over Tennessee... the duo also cliched the National Team Indoor team victories over Southern Cal (8-6) in the quarterfinals and over Arizona (8-5) in the semifinals... won the 100th singles match of her career with the 6-1, 6-1 victory over Texas Farley Taylor at the No. 5 position on March 29... highest ranked opponent she defeated was then-No. 16 ranked Baili Camino 6-1, 6-3 of Alabama in the third round of the Georgia Invita-tional... 5-5 versus ranked opponents... 3-4 record in three-set matches.
SUMMER OF 1996: Bleecker competed in a pair of satellite tourna-ments one in Lawrenceville, Ga., and the other in Hilton Head, S.C....Spent two weeks at home in Indianapolis where she played golf everyday with her mom...Returned to Gainesville and aced both classesshe took (American Literature & Statistics), while volunteering as a Cuddler at Shands Hospital and interning at Magic 101.3 radio station.
AS A SOPHOMORE (1995-96): Bleecker was recognized by the team as its Most Improved Player...Emerged as the team leader...Very energetic and outgoing on as well as off the court...The serve-and-volleyer earned first team All-Southeastern Conference honors at No. 5 singles and No. 2 doubles (with Divya Merchant)...Finished the season ranked No. 42 in singles and no. 27 in doubles...Named to the SEC Academic Honor Roll with a 3.36 GPA in telecommunications... Won the Georgia Invitational in January as an unranked player, plowing through four ranked opponents en route to her first collegiate title...Three of her eight losses were against Florida teammates, including the semifinal match of the Lady Seminole Classic (to Lisa Pugliese), the finals at the Womens Fall Classic (to Cathrine Insteboe) and the quarterfinals of the SEC Coaches Classic (to Pugliese)...Compiled a 7-3 record against ranked opponents, including the 7-5, 1-6, 7-6 (3) upset victory over ninth-ranked Laurne Nikolaus of William & Mary in the first round of the NCAA Singles Championships...Advanced to the second round of the NCAA Doubles Championships before bowing to fourth-ranked Keri Phebus/Paige Yaroshuk of UCLA...8-1 in three-set matches.
SUMMER OF 1995: Earned two medals (gold, silver) playing on the West squad at the 1995 U.S. Olympic Festival...Captured the gold medal in womens doubles with partner Katherine Ashley and the silver medal in mixed doubles with partner Ty Braswell of Florida State...Won the singles title at the week two event of the ITA Collegiate Summer Circuit presented by the USTA...Also participated in two satellite tournaments in Dublin, Ireland, and Portugal, losing to seeded players in the second round of each.
AS A FRESHMAN (1994-95): Named to the All-SEC first team singles squad at the No. 6 position...Selected the Evelyn Puckett Most Improved Player with teammate Lisa Pugliese at the Annual Lady Gator Tennis Booster Club luncheon...Qualified with fellow freshman Dawn Buth for NCAA Doubles Championships, reaching the second round before losing a three-set match to Keirsten Alley/Pam Nelson of California...Finished the season with a 28-2 overall singles mark and 11-5 record in doubles...Posted a 26-1 dual match mark at the No. 6 position...Undefeated in SEC at 13-0 in first season...Achieved ranking of No. 17 in doubles with Buth in final listing...Posted a 22-match win streak, the longest on the team, to end the season...Recorded a 56-6 overall aggregate set record, including a streak of 32 consecutive sets...Won first collegiate match in the opening round of the Georgia Invitational with a three-set victory over Gulberk Gultekin of Alabama Birmingham, the No. 8 seed and No. 28-ranked player in the nation...Reached the third round before losing to Tina Samara of Georgia...Joined the team in January after graduating early from Indianapolis North Central High School in December.
PRIOR TO FLORIDA: Graduated early from North Central High School in Indianapolis, Ind., to attend Florida...Compiled an 88-2 record playing at the No. 1 position for NCHS, winning the individual state championship during her sophomore and junior seasons and helping her squad to the team title in 1992...List of titles also includes a sweep of the singles and doubles championships at the 1994 Western Closed Champi-onships, the 1994 Franklin Indoor Championship singles title and the 1993 National Hardcourt doubles title...Ranked No. 8 in singles and No. 1 in doubles nationally in the 16s in 1993...Also participated in soccer, basketball and Tae Kwon Do...Coached by Heather Iffert in high school.
PERSONAL: Full name is Bonnie Kay Bleecker...Daughter of Marc and Mary Lou Bleecker... Born on April 12, 1977...A 1995 graduate of North Central High School...Hobbies include mountain biking, reading and drawing...Hopes to play professional tennis and become a tennis commentator...Finished among the top 10 percent in class of 635 students...Member of the National Honor Society and Spanish Club... major is telecommunications.


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On Dec. 8, A.J. Chilson put in his two cents worth concerning same-gender marriage.
I see that it doesn't offend him if it offends God Almighty and folks with morals and those who are concerned about the wrong directions this country is going.
These people want every person to be tolerant of and accept their bizarre behavior, which includes marriage and the adoption of innocent children.
Any judge who approved the aforementioned should be ridden out of town on a rail after being tarred and feathered.
A Christian group in New Jersey was asked by a lesbian couple to rent their pavilion to get "married." The couple sued and won their case. The judge said the pavilion was for public use with a tax exemption.
How many other churches and properties could also be put in the same situation and be forced to marry these people or lose their tax exemption?
In Los Angeles, a judge ruled that an Army veteran and her "spouse" should be entitled to disability benefits. In southern Mississippi, a lot of fine, old antebellum homes are being bought by these devils' advocates.
Surely none of these people attend any church since thousands of years ago God destroyed several cities because the cities were rampant with the deviants who tried to molest two angels.
But God is merciful. If these people would turn away from what they are doing, He would be quick to forgive. But then, maybe they are agnostics or atheists or just don't care one way or another.
My fear is will God destroy us as he did the cities so long ago since these people are guilty of the same sins? I read now where Hawaii and England are allowing same-gender marriages.
I guess they would rather obey the devil than our Holy Father.
Charles Caraway


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Homestead officer awarded for saving woman's life on bridge
A woman was on the Homestead Grays Bridge getting ready to jump. She was over the rail and above the water. Death was a motion away.
Police were trying to get to the woman to prevent her from jumping, but it was a tense situation.
Homestead police officer Matt Fusco was approaching her from outside of her field of vision. Perhaps she sensed his approach because, at the last moment, she turned to look at him, then started to push herself away from the rail.
Fusco grabbed her before she could jump, however, saving her life and putting his own in danger while he was at it.
"I just reacted," said Fusco, who was among 20 police officers honored on Friday at the Amen Corner 13th Annual Senator John Heinz Law Enforcement Awards Day luncheon at Station Square. Sponsored by Amen Corner, the awards recognize officers for outstanding police work.
Police who saved civilians in perilous situations, disarmed gunmen, came to the aid of fellow officers in distress and made significant narcotics arrests were among those recognized.
Fusco said he didn't time to think about what he was doing on that day back in March when the woman started to leap. He just moved to stop her.
"I don't consider it an heroic feat," said Fusco, who received a To Protect and Serve award. "Any police officer who was in the same position would do the very same thing."
Hundreds of police officers, legal professionals and civic leaders attended the luncheon.
Allegheny County District Attorney Stephen Zappala told police their hard work is appreciated.
"I want to commend you for your bravery and thank you for your humility," he said.
Zappala also presented a Crime Doesn't Pay to four detectives who made what the DA said was the "largest drug arrest and largest seizure in the history of Allegheny County" in April.
The recipients — district attorney's detectives Ray Bonacci and Pete Grbach, Swissvale police detective Justin Keenan and McKees Rocks police detective Shaun Eisenach — confiscated 21 kilos of cocaine and about $600,000 in cash as a result of the bust, which occurred after the police followed three alleged dealers from a Monroeville motel to a residence in Penn Hills.
Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger received a special award for work his foundation does to supply specially trained dogs to partner with police departments. Noting that his foundation has delivered dogs to departments all over the country, Roethlisberger said he has been rewarded by thanks he's received from police officers in cities like Baltimore that are well outside Steeler Nation.
The keynote speaker for the day was Pennsylvania Supreme Court Justice Seamus McCaffrey. He recalled humorously his days as a beat officer in Philadelphia and spoke seriously on the matter of dealing with veterans who run afoul of the law.
McCaffrey urged officers to find out the military status of suspects they arrest. If arrestees are vets, their cases can be referred to special state courts designed to help veterans get back on the right side of the law.
North Versailles police Chief and Allegheny County second vice president of the Allegheny County Fraternal Order of Police Vincent DiCenzo Jr. was one of many police officers who attended the event.
In previous years, he said, "I've been honored and a presenter. This is always a good event. People don't realize what police officers go through every day."
Other awards presented and their recipients are:
• Negotiator — North Fayette police Sgt. David Sandora
• Shock and Awe — Allegheny County police Lt. Michael O'Keefe and Sewickley police Sgt. David Mazza
• Starsky and Hutch — McKees Rocks police officers Ryan Coll and David Finerty
• Above and Beyond — Pittsburgh police officers Christopher Kertis and Charles Thomas
• 911 Quick Response — South Park police officers John Booth and Joseph Leonetti
• In Disregard for Their Own Personal Safety — Ohio Township police officers D. Ryan Ging and S. David Rose
• Courageous Act — Allegheny County Deputy Sheriff Sgt. Kevin Faulds
• Honorable Mention — West View police Sgt. Todd Towne and officer Michael Stern, Pittsburgh police officer Corey Harcha
Eric Slagle is a staff writer for Trib Total Media.
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Beyoncé Is Totally Down With Doing a Haka Dance, Obviously Nails It
Beyoncé went to New Zealand for her tour and was greeted by her crew there with a haka, or "a traditional war dance meant to intimidate the opponent" that is also used to indicate "honor for a distinguished guest." She responded in a totally Beyoncé way, i.e. completely game and with only a smattering of surprise.… »


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