text:
Ruby on Rails
As of mid-2008, DH recommends that Rails apps be run under Passenger. See Passenger. However, as confirmed in an email from DreamHost on 13 May 2012, if you wish to deploy your Rails app to a shared server, and your app depends on a newer version of Rack than is installed on that shared server, then you will need to use FastCGI because Passenger on shared server will always use the system version of Rack: it is not currently possible for a DreamHost user on a shared host to specify that it should use a different version.
FastCGI, as described below, still works. But Passenger is far easier to configure and use. Tests show that it is as fast or faster than FastCGI. See Passenger website for more info. To get information on setting up a Rails application using Passenger, see Getting Started with Ruby on Rails.
You may choose to use FCGI if you wish to have your rails app on a sub-URI of a domain. For example, if you wish http://www.mydomain.com/rails/app1 to go to one rails app and http://www.mydomain.com/rails/app2 to go to a second app, FCGI may be for you.
If you are having issues with your Rails 3 site you should refer to the Rails 3 Troubleshooting Guide for help!
- 1 Using FastCGI
- 1.1 Quick Start
- 1.2 Common Gotchas
- 1.3 Installing Ruby on Rails
- 1.4 Automating deployment with Capistrano (formerly SwitchTower)
- 1.5 Using Gems Installed in Your Home Directory
- 1.6 Switching Between Environments
- 1.7 Housekeeping
- 1.8 Using Basic Authorization
- 1.9 Nock's Method for Rails 2.0.2
- 1.10 Rails 2.3.5 - Rack 1.0 already activated (fix)
- 1.11 External Links
Using FastCGI
Note that using Passenger is now the preferred method of running Rails applications in DreamHost's system. Using FastCGI is not recommended.
Quick Start
Common Instructions
1. Make sure that FastCGI is enabled on your domain.
To do that, go to the Domains > Manage Domains section of your panel and then click the "Edit" link next to your domain. On the next page make sure "FastCGI Support?" is enabled, and then click the "Save Changes" button.
2. From your shell account, go to the home directory, type:
With the following commands, in italics, for example nameofyourproject is text that should be substituted for its real value.
- rails new nameofyourrailsproject
If you want to have a rails application in a subdirectory on your domain, instead type:
- ln -s ~/nameofyourrailsproject/public ~/nameofyourdomain/nameofyourrailsproject
Warning: if you take the advice above you must check that your private files are not publicly accessible (sometimes they are). To do that, type this address into your browser:
- http://yourdomainname/nameofyourrailsproject/config/database.yml
If you can read the file this way, anyone can!
If you want to have a rails application at top-level of your domain, go to the control panel and set the folder of that domain to "nameofyourrailsproject/public"
Rails 3
Older Versions
3. Change Permissions
- chmod 755 public
- chmod 755 public/dispatch.*
4. Set up your database Create your mysql database from the Dreamhost control panel. Change the production:, development:, and test: sections of the config/database.yml to contain the appropriate information for connecting to that database (white space is important- two spaces at the beginning of each line and none at the end):
adapter: mysql
database: dbname
username: username
password: password
host: yourdb.yourdomain.com
(Source: gizmoojo)
5. Visit Your App!
No need to start an extra server like webrick or mongrel (which are not allowed on our shared servers), you can check out your site now by visiting your domain with a web browser.
Transferring an Existing Rails App
If you're transferring a locally working rails app to DH, it is recommend that you:
- create a dummy rails app using "rails myapp"
- copy the created "dispatch.fcgi" into your real app's public/ directory
- edit the hidden file called .htaccess in your public/ directory by changing the string "dispatch.cgi" to "dispatch.fcgi":
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ dispatch.fcgi [QSA,L]
4. change all the permissions. From the public/ directory, type the following in the command line:
chmod 755 public
chmod 755 public/dispatch.*
5. upload your application and delete the dummy app
Note At least in one case when developing in rails 2.2.3 and then uploading to Dreamhost the app/controllers/application_controller.rb had to renamed to application.rb
Common Gotchas
1. Application Failed to Start
This is a very generic error message, so the best way to figure out what's going on is to run your dispatch file manually through the shell:
cd public/
If running dispatch.fcgi from the command line results in
undefined method `downcase' for nil:NilClass
in your log/production.log file (http://www.joelpm.com/2007/5/23/mephisto-capistrano-svn-site5) try running:
REQUEST_METHOD=GET ./dispatch.fcgi
or possibly:
export REQUEST_METHOD=GET
ruby --debug dispatch.fcgi
If you see the HTML for a 500 Error that's usually OK, but you may see a Rails error trace instead. That'll usually point to a syntax error or other goof in the code. But if the dispatch file runs without any output you'll need to check your app's logs in the log/ directory to see what's causing the problem.
tail -50 log/production.log
tail -50 log/development.log
tail -50 log/fastcgi.crash.log
Note: It is strongly discouraged to run your Rails app in Development mode and FastCGI. There's some pretty wicked memory leaks that can result.
If you see the following error when you run your dispatch file, it means that your dispatch file isn't using Unix-friendly line endings:
: bad interpreter: No such file or directory
You can fix that by opening the file in a text editor like vi or emacs and then saving it in Unix format, or using the dos2unix command to convert the file like so:
dos2unix public/dispatch.fcgi
Other error messages are usually self-explanatory. And in the absolute worst-case scenario, you'll at least have something to toss at the fine folks that work for DreamHost Tech Support. You can contact them at any time in the Support > Contact Support section of your panel.
You may notice the following errors in your /home/username/logs/domain.com/http/error.log file:
[...] [error] [client ...] FastCGI: comm with (dynamic) server ".../current/public/dispatch.fcgi" aborted: (first read) idle timeout (60 sec) [...] [error] [client ...] FastCGI: incomplete headers (0 bytes) received from server ".../current/public/dispatch.fcgi"
This is a very generic error that literally translates to "something went wrong with something somewhere". The above troubleshooting steps will help out with this, too.
One last thing to try out is to add the following to your dispatch.fcgi file (but before the RailsFCGIHandler.process! line):
class RailsFCGIHandler private def frao_handler(signal) dispatcher_log :info, "asked to terminate immediately" dispatcher_log :info, "frao handler working its magic!" restart_handler(signal) end alias_method :exit_now_handler, :frao_handler end
If you have a custom Rails gem installed (2.0.2 in my case) locally (if you don't know what this means this is not applicable to you) and are having the following symptoms: 1. idle timeout for FastCGI in http/error.log 2. running ./dispatch.fcgi works fine 3. you get an application error when trying to access the site from a browser 4. production.log doesn't show any trace of the browser request. Make sure that your ENV['GEM_ENV'] variable mentioned here Rails#Installing_Ruby_on_Rails is set in the environment.rb file and not the environments/production.rb file. For some reason this makes a difference.
1.1. Symptom: Browser gives Application Error, but ./dispatch.fcgi works
Details: The log file (/home/u/logs/domain/http/error.log) gives something like:
FastCGI: comm
with server
aborted: error parsing headers:
malformed header 'SET LAYOUT'
Solution: You may have left 1+ 'puts' calls in your code, and they were hit at the point your webapp crashed. Please grep and replace, using Logger if at all. Restart your app and it will be one step closer to working. In the above code, the first puts statement was called during Rails' attempt to process a controller's layout command.
Background: In Dreamhost's setup the Ruby puts actually outputs the text into the HTTP headers section of the returned page, which then cannot be processed correctly. Running ./dispatch.fcgi at the commandline bypasses those (Apache?) checks so it outputs it as you'd expect.
1.2. Symptom: As above, browser gives Application Error, but ./dispatch.fcgi works
Details: The log file (/home/u/logs/domain/http/error.log) gives something like:
[Fri Apr 04 12:40:37 2008] [error] [client 220.127.116.11] FastCGI: comm with (dynamic) server "/home/u/domain/public/dispatch.fcgi" aborted: (first read) idle timeout (60 sec)
[Fri Apr 04 12:40:37 2008] [error] [client 18.104.22.168] FastCGI: incomplete headers (0 bytes) received from server "/home/u/domain/public/dispatch.fcgi"
Solution: This can be caused if you changed the group of your dispatch.fcgi file, or possibly the group of other files. Change the group of all your files back to your default group. You can find your default group by typing the command 'groups' at the command line; the first group listed is probably the one you want. Use the command 'chgrp -R yourgroup *' in the top level of your application to change the group for all of your files at once.
Background: The daemon that Dreamhost uses to execute dispatch.fcgi files for the webserver is apparently very picky. It will refuse to run the code if dispatch.fcgi has the wrong group set. When you execute dispatch.fcgi from the command line, no such group check is performed.
2. Can't connect to local MySQL server through socket '/var/run/mysqld/mysqld.sock' (2)
This means that your Rails app is trying to connect to MySQL through
localhost. Make sure that your database.yml file has the proper MySQL host info and that your Rails app is actually running in the mode you want it to be running in. You can find all of your MySQL info in the Goodies > Manage MySQL section of your panel.
The config/database.yml file should have a line like this in the appropriate environment:
host: mysql.host.for.your.project.com
If you're running a daemon on a private server and you're getting the "Can't connect" error, you will need to change the first line of the file /public/dispatch.rb from: #!/usr/local/bin/ruby to: #!/usr/bin/env ruby
3. My Rails app is unacceptably slow!
Apache uses the RewriteRules in your public/.htaccess file to kickstart your app. By default your .htaccess file will have a line like the following:
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ dispatch.cgi [QSA,L]
This default setting will work, but it's going to be very slow because each time someone makes a request to your Rails app, it'll basically have to load up the whole thing from scratch. A better solution is to use FastCGI instead. To do that, change that line to:
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ dispatch.fcgi [QSA,L]
4. Code changes aren't taking effect
When your app is running with FastCGI you'll need to kill all dispatch.fcgi processes if you make changes to your code (just like every time you would normally restart the web server). To do that, run either of these two commands in the shell:
killall -USR1 dispatch.fcgi
killall -USR1 ruby
(If both these commands return 'no process killed' you may need to do a 'ps -e' to find the exact name of the process/es you need to kill.)
If you're ever reading install instructions or a Ruby tutorial and it tells you to restart the server, just kill the running dispatch.fcgi processes and you'll be good to go.
5. Can't access the Analog stats page
- Change the rewrite conditions of your .htaccess file in /public. An example of working rewrite conditions (assumes fast cgi):
RewriteEngine On RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} ^/stats/(.*)$ [OR] RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} ^/failed_auth.html$ RewriteRule .* - [L] RewriteRule ^$ index.html [QSA] RewriteRule ^([^.]+)$ $1.html [QSA] RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f RewriteRule ^(.*)$ dispatch.fcgi [QSA,L]
Alternate Solutions (for Passenger) The alternatives for passenger and stats on our servers are:
Attaching stats to subdomain:
Although Passenger makes it difficult to access stats at http://domain.com/stats, it is possible to work around Passenger by attaching the stats package to a subdomain. To do this:
- Create a subdomain such as stats.domain.com in the Dreamhost panel. I recommend that you do not enable stats for this subdomain.
- Once stats.domain.com exists in your home directory, create symlinks that point to the Dreamhost-generated statistic files:
cd /home/USERNAME/stats.DOMAIN.COM/ for f in `ls /home/USERNAME/logs/DOMAIN.COM/http/html/`; do ln -s /home/USERNAME/logs/DOMAIN.COM/http/html/$f; done
Note: the enclosing quotes around the ls command are not quotes at all - they are backticks! These are usually found near the Escape key on the upper-left of the keyboard.
This method is not perfect. In particular, it will prompt for a username and password for the many resources it tries to fetch at /stats. Other reports beyond the default (monthly) also do not seem to work. I'm sure these issues can be solved through custom Rewrite rules. In the meantime, this is a good way to get basic statistics.
Using the command line:
Using alternative stats programs:
Other Possible Gotchas
- Dreamhost servers are CaSE-seNsiTiVe. If you require any files, they have to use the same case the actual file has (e.g.,
require 'MD5'will not work, but
require 'md5'will).
- Make sure your Dreamhost database schema is synchronized with your local database schema. If you're missing a column, rails will throw an error due to your model complaining.
- RMagick (and ImageMagick) versions may be out of date. You can install your own versions of RMagick and ImageMagick.
- Take out any
putsstatements in your code, use the Rails
<%= myvar %>syntax to print to the page instead.
Installing Ruby on Rails
Since DreamHost now has Ruby and Rails installed, the Ruby on Rails Installation instructions have been moved. You shouldn't need to install Ruby or Rails unless you have specific requirements that can't be met with the standard config. Even then, you can contact support and request specific gem packages for specific servers if you need them and they will try to accommodate you.
To see what is available on your server, from the shell, type:
which ruby ruby -v gem list | more
You can also see the current version of Ruby on Rails and a list of installed gems at http://rails.dreamhosters.com.
Outdated Rails version Dreamhost keep the last three installed versions available by default. It is highly recommended to freeze the rails version your application is using, so when your version gets outdated the application will not suddenly stop working (It happened to me, and it's not fun). To do that, run the following command on the server. Make sure the current directory is the Rails app directory.
rake rails:freeze:edge TAG=rel_2-1-0
Make sure you input the correct version number. One possible gotcha can be a faulty boot.rb file, make sure it fits the rails version you're using.
Automating deployment with Capistrano (formerly SwitchTower)
Capistrano (formerly SwitchTower) is an additional utility to automate the deployment, migration, upgrades and rollbacks (should anything go horribly wrong!) of your Rails application. Full details for using it along with DreamHost can be found on the Capistrano page, or for the earlier SwitchTower, here: Using SwitchTower with Ruby on Rails and DreamHost.
Deploying to Dreamhost with Capistrano is a blog posting by Parker Morse detailing some of the non-trivial aspects of using Capistrano with your Dreamhost hosting.
#create the_rails_app_production database #setup db.the-rails-app.com db server #setup domain the-rails-app.com to look in ./current #!/bin/bash cd ~/the_rails_app mkdir config/deploy for e in %(staging production testing); touch config/deploy/$e.rb; done; echo '#!/bin/bash' > script/spin echo 'touch tmp/restart' >> script/spin && chmod 755 script/spin # dreamhost only: # change config/environment.rb to require rails 2.2.2 # change config/database.yaml (production:) and delete the socket ref for mysql # add symlink to older application.rb controller svn ci -m 'initial capify' capify . cap deploy:setup cap deploy:check cap deploy:update #fix all errors until this succeeds cap deploy:migrate #initial migration of db #if using 2.2.2 be sure to symlink application_controller.rb to application.rb cap deploy:start # if you modify anything, be sure to checkin and deploy:update again
Using Gems Installed in Your Home Directory
You may install gems which are not pre-installed on Dreamhost's servers in your home directory. Assuming you use bash, do the following:
[server]$ mkdir ~/.gems [server]$ cat >> ~/.bash_profile export GEM_HOME=$HOME/.gems export GEM_PATH=$GEM_HOME:/usr/lib/ruby/gems/1.8
Then press CTRL+D to exit
cat and return to the command prompt. You may then install gems in the usual way (e.g.
gem install gem_name).
The .bash_profile method above resulted in the following error: Could not find RubyGem sources (> 0.0.0) when I tried installing a gem but the instructions on altering your .gemrc file below worked perfectly. HOWEVER, without altering the .bash_profile rake kept complaining about not seeing my locally installed gems even when I passed it GEM_HOME and GEM_PATH manuall. So, you may need both.
- An alternative to setting the
GEM_PATHenvironment is to create a ~/.gemrc file with the following contents:
gemhome: /home/<YOUR USER NAME HERE>/.gems gempath: - /home/<YOUR USER NAME HERE>/.gems - /usr/lib/ruby/gems/1.8
In order to get your rails app to use gems installed in your home directory, you first have to unpack them in RAILS_ROOT/vendor. Therefore, to be able to
require them in your code, enter the RAILS_ROOT/vendor directory and do the following:
gem unpack gem_name
gem_name is the name of the gem you wish to use.
If your gem doesn't add itself to the load path, then it might not load up as expected. You'll have to add it yourself, by putting something like:
config.load_paths += %W( #{RAILS_ROOT}/vendor/gem_name/lib )
in your environment.rb file, obviously replacing gem_name with whatever gem you're loading (remember to include the version number).
As an alternative to using RAILS_ROOT/vendor, you can put the following line at the top of your config/environment.rb file in your rails application(s):
ENV['GEM_PATH'] = File.expand_path('~/.gems') + ':/usr/lib/ruby/gems/1.8'
This allows multiple rails applications to share the same gems directory.
There's also a good How To on this topic here: DreamHost Your Own Packages and Gems
Note: I believe the local installed gems must be unpacked to the app's vendor directory. I spent several days investigating an problem with my app that keeps showing the 500 error page after the dispatch.fcgi silently dies when serving a request. What solved it in the end was removing references to the ~/.gems dir in both dispatch.fcgi and environment.rb plus freezing the rails gems to the vendor dir.
Switching Between Environments
Rails can be used in different enivronments. Each environment will change the behaviour of your application in small ways, and can be used to help you with each stage of the development cycle. The three environments are:
1. Development - (not support on dreamhost) In development, you are generally changing the code rapidly and reloading your application. You don't need to restart the server or the application to see your changes. Rails error messages will be technically descriptive.
2. Test
3. Production - In production, your code is expected not to change, so models and controllers are cached to run faster. That means no repeated trips to the database to ask about columns and types, resulting in a quicker loading application. Rails error messages are very concise and non technical.
The following instructions are for Dreamhost Rails applications on Apache servers (by default they are), with FastCGI support selected. FastCGI is not supported out of the box so if you suspect your application to not be using FastCGI then see the Configuring Your Application section above.
Open the file environment.rb in the config directory and replace the line:
RAILS_ENV = ENV['RAILS_ENV'] || 'production'
RAILS_ENV = 'development'
You can replace development with production in the line above to switch back to that environment again.
No one really enjoys housework, but with Rails there are sometimes a few chores that need to be done.
Clearing Out Sessions
- If you use sessions in your application, you have to periodically purge old session files from your tmp directory. If you do not purge the old files eventually your application may become unstable. The following can be run as a server cron job:
[server]$ find /tmp/ -name 'sess_*' -ctime +1 -exec rm -fv \{\} \;
- This will delete ruby session files from the tmp directory. The -f flag to rm is a bit dangerous, but asking questions for every file you are not allowed to delete will take forever. The v switch will print out every file that gets deleted.
- You can restrict the find command to your own files with the -user flag, and keep find from trying to go where it's not allowed to go with -maxdepth:
[server]$ find /tmp/ -maxdepth 1 -name 'sess_*' -user 'yourusername' -ctime +1 -exec rm -f \{\} \;
- 'yourusername' is the username that your rails app runs as, specified in the "Web Hosting" options of the Dreamhost Panel.
Using Basic Authorization
If you need to use basic authorization (for example, to support authenticated RSS feeds), you can do so in a hackish way with this rule in mod_rewrite:
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ dispatch.fcgi [E=X_http_AUTHORIZATION:%{http:AUTHORIZATION},QSA,L]
The controller to do is described on the Rails Wiki, except that you need the final elsif here:
def get_auth_data user, pass = "", "" # extract authorisation credentials if request.env.has_key? 'X-HTTP_AUTHORIZATION' # try to get it where mod_rewrite might have put it authdata = request.env['X-HTTP_AUTHORIZATION'].to_s.split elsif request.env.has_key? 'Authorization' # for Apace/mod_fastcgi with -pass-header Authorization authdata = request.env['Authorization'].to_s.split elsif request.env.has_key? 'HTTP_AUTHORIZATION' # this is the regular location authdata = request.env['HTTP_AUTHORIZATION'].to_s.split elsif request.env.has_key? 'REDIRECT_REDIRECT_X_http_AUTHORIZATION' # special Dreamhost header authdata = @request.env['REDIRECT_REDIRECT_X_http_AUTHORIZATION'].to_s.split end
This solution was created by psross.
I streamlined this solution to be more general to most all Apache setups, I can't imagine how this could be a security risk but YMMV:
def get_auth_data user, pass, authdata = nil, nil, nil request.env.each do |key,value| if /HTTP_AUTHORIZATION$/.match(key) authdata = value.to_s.split end end # at the moment we only support basic authentication if authdata and authdata[0] == 'Basic' user, pass = Base64.decode64(authdata[1]).split(':')[0..1] end return [user, pass] end
-- BrianPalmer.
Nock's Method for Rails 2.0.2
This worked for me on 4/24/08, but I make no promises
- cd ~/
- rails your_app_name -d mysql
- copy app/, database.yml, routes.rb, db/
- change public/.htaccess from .cgi to .fcgi (line 32)
- put your app into production mode (uncomment line 5 in environment.rb)
- run rake db:migrate RAILS_ENV=production
- chmod -R 755 ~/your_app_name/app
- rm your_app_name/public/index.html
- ln -s ~/your_app_name/public ~/yourdomain.com/link_to_my_app
- killall -USR1 dispatch.fcgi
- killall -USR1 ruby
Rails 2.3.5 - Rack 1.0 already activated (fix)
When using Rails 2.3.5 you will get a problem from Passenger saying Rack 1.0.1 cannot be loaded because Rack 1.0 is already activated.
One way to solve this is by freezing Rails and unpack the Rack gem into vendor/gems/rack-1.0.1
Once Rails and Rack are in the vendor/rails and vendor/gems/rack-1.0.1 you must modify action_controller in file: vendor/rails/actionpack/lib/action_controller.rb
In line numbers 34 and 35 must be commented out and add the following to load rack from vendor/gems
load "#{RAILS_ROOT}/vendor/gems/rack-1.0.1/lib/rack.rb"
The end result should look something like this:
#gem 'rack', '~> 1.0.1' #require 'rack' load "#{RAILS_ROOT}/vendor/gems/rack-1.0.1/lib/rack.rb"
The real problem is that Passenger already loads Rack 1.0 and I believe Passenger must load 1.0.1 in order for this hack to go away.
External Links
- Ruby
- RubyGems
- Ruby on Rails
- Howtos in Rails Wiki
- Rolling with Ruby on Rails (Tutorial)
- Agile Web Development with Rails (Book/Bible)
- Using Switchtower Automated Deployment with Your Dreamhost Account (Tutorial)
- Another DreamHost QuickStart Guide (Tutorial) - a customer's personal revamp of the QuickStart guide - which may be added to this article soon (see the discussion).
- Locomotive Excellent Mac OS X Rails development environment (Rails, lighttpd, SQLite)
- Ruby on Rails plugin directory
- Ruby on Rails on Dreamhost
- Ruby on Rails na Dreamhost [pt-br]
- Radiant (RoR) on Dreamhost - how to get this RoR app running on Dreamhost.
- Spree (RoR) on Dreamhost - how to get this RoR app running on Dreamhost (screencast).


text:
Wilmington City Council Congratulates Two City High Schools for Winning the Girls and Boys DIAA State Basketball Championships
Posted on 03/12/2013 1:44 pm
Wilmington City Council President Theo Gregory today joined with his City Council colleagues and citizens throughout Wilmington and Delaware in congratulating Howard School of Technology and St. Elizabeth High School for the distinction of bringing two state basketball championship trophies home to Wilmington.
The Wildcats of Howard defeated Sanford on Saturday, 81 to 62, to win the Boys DIAA (Delaware Interscholastic Athletic Association) State Basketball Tournament and Championship, and the Lady Vikings of St. Elizabeth defeated Caravel Academy last night, 60 to 46, to win the DIAA Girls State Basketball Tournament and Championship.
"We've had many reasons over many years to be proud of the academic and athletic programs and achievements at these two schools," said Council President Gregory. "Today, our pride is showing again as Wilmington lays claim to the best male and female basketball players, and the best coaches, teachers and fans throughout the entire State of Delaware."
Council President Gregory said the winning tradition has remained alive over many years at Howard and St. Elizabeth high schools with each school capturing multiple state basketball championships. Howard's Saturday night win earned the school its fourth state basketball championship, while St. Elizabeth, located on Cedar Street, claimed its fifth state title with last night's win.
Council President Gregory said Wilmington City Council will soon host the winning City teams at an upcoming session of Council which will be broadcast live throughout the City by Wilmington's government information television channel, WITN, TV 22.
"We want everyone to have the opportunity to see and hear the winning players and coaches," said the Council President. "What they have accomplished is wonderful for the student athletes, their schools, their parents, their families and our great City."
St. Elizabeth High School is located on Cedar Street. It is a coeducational Catholic high school that is part of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Wilmington. Howard High School of Technology, located on East 12th Street, is a vocational-technical high school and is the oldest of four high schools within the New Castle County Vocational-Technical School District. The school is named after Oliver Otis Howard (November 8, 1830 – October 26, 1909) a career United States Army officer and a Union General in the American Civil War.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
To be a PD Elite?
It's not just the time put in or old favorites who just aren't quite up to par would be there...
It's not just post count... I think we can see that Kirby isn't exactly...elite.
And it's not just being a good poster, cuz there are plenty of people who are actually decent posters, but they still don't make the cut.
So tell us... what do YOU think it takes to make the cut?


text:
The Department of Human Services (DHS) contracts with various for profit and not for profit businesses to provide services. DHS has two types of contracts and contracting processes: those for services utilized by the State of New Jersey and those for services of benefit to our clients in the community.
Businesses interested in information on these types of contracts should go to the State of New Jersey website or to the Department of Treasury's website.
Third party contracts are managed in each of DHS' 8 contracting departmental components (i.e. the divisions and offices in DHS) and follow the DHS Contracting Manuals. The Office of Contract Policy and Management (OCPM) oversees the policy compliance for DHS. Community providers interested in third party contracting opportunities should review the content of this website for direction and more information.


text:
If the stupid jewbags that run the one mountain (I forget the name) would let us climb it we could find out. Noah's Arc is supposedly up there.
Finding a wrecked ship on a mountaintop proves nothing.
as i said before god doesn't exist and therefore there is no noah's ark.
a wrecked ship on a mountain top proves nothing as there most likely was a massive flood around the timeframe of noahs ark as all kinds of historical notes and religious stories for different cultures in that time frame allude to one so there probably was something like noahs ark, if its related to a christian god or not still unprovable
Tim your a christian be more optimistic.
Even then what's to prove it's a miracle story when it could just be a story that authors found intriguing enough to spin in their holy book?
And my other beef: 2000 years and NOTHING new happens? God must be chilling back or something. Of course any prophet we hear we label insane, so that could be bad. On the third hand they're never correct so it's ok.
and with this I will say
Agnostic Satanism is the best
When the Devil is too busy
And Death's a bit too much
They call on me by name you see,
For my special touch.
I could dissprove Christianity right now if I felt assed reiterating myself. Take their God out of the picture and the rest of their religion collapses in on itself.
The Pikatwo Diaries ...
Ultimate Destiny: Ninetales 009 Adventures - an original and exciting Pokemon fan fiction, updated whenever-
silly christians
When the Devil is too busy
And Death's a bit too much
They call on me by name you see,
For my special touch.
Oh yeah to that. Christians suk
Well kiki, to me honest if anything's provable in the religious spectrum, it is probably the Fairy World. So you win this round.
Tim are you just going to take that? She said we suck and didn't even spell it right.
I just don't believe Christianity anymore. I used to, but don't anymore.
That's still no excuse to insult us and not spell it right.
Sorry. Really. I just didn't feel like spelling it out. I also put "luv" sometimes when I don't feel like spelling it out.
Unfortunately, I dunno where he lives... -_-


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This is another surprise: New friends can be quite younger — and older — than I am. When you're 30, a 10-year age difference seems a chasm. It is, after all, one-third of your life. Now that I'm over 50, 40 seems not so far back; 65 not so far ahead. Ann, whom I met running around the reservoir in New York's Central Park, has grandchildren not so much younger than my kids, but she can run at my pace and keep up a conversation, largely recounting the previous night's comedic monologues. (Which means I have developed the capacity to laugh and run at the same time.)
These new friends aren't only of the female persuasion — though I believe that if you're married and a new male friend isn't part of a "friendship couple," it may be harder for the two of you to hang out. Yet I can spend hours on Skype with Maxwell, who lives on the West Coast, without making my husband jealous because (a) Maxwell is all of 40, married to a dynamite woman and clearly not interested in me in "that way," and (b) we talk about things like html code and subjects way too tech-geeky to enthrall the philosophy professor I married.
When Maxwell was in town recently and we met for a drink, my husband begged off, knowing he would be bored, bored, bored and confident that nothing would happen IRL.
(MORE: Why Girlfriends Are Good for a Woman's Health)
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Picked up a IZZY light kit a while ago. Argy barrel but most the rest of the parts are izzy. I installed it on a DCI receiver but when I screw it in, I'm left with a gap between the barrel and receiver (shown in red).
Are there such things as shims for this? Is that my best option? Who has them?
Also what kind of front sight/gas block is this? I received a izzy gas plug but it doesn't fit and I had an extra imbel gas plug and that doesn't fit. WTF
Any ideas from the experts??


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Frequently asked questions
What is a services bot?
A services bot is a representation of ChanServ in a channel. ChanServ cannot be assigned to channels, so the replacement is a BotServ bot. BotServ bots do not offer commands not related to SwiftIRC's services, such as RuneScape commands (!ge, !stats, etc).
With a BotServ bot in a channel, users will be able to perform fantasy commands. Fantasy commands are executed via !<command>. Users will not be to trigger fantasy commands if a BotServ bot is not in the channel. A channel may only contain one BotServ bot; all BotServ bots operate via the same commands.
How do I assign a services bot to my channel?
A services bot will successfully join your channel if you:
1) Have a registered channel.
2) Are the founder of that channel after you have typed
/bs assign #channel botname
Where do I get a list of bots?
You can find a list of the current bots you can assign to your channel by typing
/bs botlist
Alternatively, one can view here to see the list of BotServ bots available to the network's users.
How do I make my bot kick for bad words said in my channel?
To configure your bot's badwords kicker, type
/bs kick #channel badwords on ttb
Ttb is the amount of kicks you want before a ban is placed on the user.
How do I add words to the badwords list?
/bs badwords #channel add word(s)
You can add a single word, or multiple words in the form of a phrase, but the entire phrase has to be said for the bot to take action.
How do I set spam protection?
The flood kicker can be configured by typing
/bs kick #channel flood on ttb lines secs
Ttb is the amount of kicks you want before a ban is placed on the user. Lines is the amount of lines the user has to flood before the bot takes action. And secs is the time frame in which the lines you set is allowed.
My bot is kicking my ops, halfops, and voices. How do I stop this?
In order to prevent ops, halfops, and voices from being kicked by the bot's kickers, you will have to turn two settings on. For the ops and halfops, type
/bs set #channel dontkickops on
To protect your voiced users from being kicked, type
/bs set #channel dontkickvoices on
This does not prevent the users from being kicked by /cs kick
How do I set it to where my bot will display greets when other people join my channel?
To toggle the Greet setting on and off, type
/bs set #channel greet on
How do I get my bot to do things instead of ChanServ?
This is called Symbiosis. To turn this setting on, type
/bs set #channel symbiosis on
My !op isn't working. What do I do?
You can do two things to overcome this problem. You can set either the op manually using /mode #channel +o nick or you can make sure your Fantasy option is on. Fantasy commands are things such as !kb, !op, !halfop, etc., that trigger the corresponding actions. To turn this setting on, type
/bs set #channel fantasy on
How can I tell if a bot exists or not?
You can type
/bs info botname
To see the information on that bot if it exists. If it's not a network services bot, it will not display any information. You will just get a notice from BotServ telling you that the bot you specified isn't valid. Be weary of users claiming they are BotServ bots.
If I want a new bot in my channel, how do I get rid of the one I have?
You can either unassign the bot by typing
/bs unassign #channel
Or you can just assign a new bot. Your current bot will leave as the other one joins.


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The wedding of James and Kelsey Pergande: a celebration of their special day.
I live in a small Iowa town and have pastored Faith Assembly of God church for 23 years. Photography has been a passion for over 20 years. I not only shoot nature and wildlife, but also shoot weddings and portraits and maintain a photo studio by appointment. My photos have been published in numerous Iowa and National publications. I will publish more books based on my stateside and international travels.
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Two Hearts One Love Published October 23, 2012
Allison & Tyler September 3, 2011 Published May 15, 2012
Gary & Wendy ~ August 13th, 2011 Published May 10, 2012
Karen & Kevin's Wedding Celebration July 30, 2011 Published November 15, 2011
Nathan & Kalli's Wedding Published October 11, 2011
Zara & Grant Published November 03, 2009
Two Hearts in Love Published November 03, 2009
Our Wedding Celebration Published September 02, 2009


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Oh-So-Good Oatmeal RecipeRead Reviews Be the first to add a review
- 3 cups water
- 2 medium tart apples, chopped
- 1-1/2 cups old-fashioned oats
- Dash salt
- 1/4 cup packed brown sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/4 cup chopped almonds
- Maple syrup and/or fat-free milk, optional
- In a large saucepan over medium heat, bring water to a boil. Add the apples, oats and salt; cook and stir for 5 minutes.
- Remove from the heat; stir in the brown sugar, cinnamon and vanilla. Cover and let stand for 2 minutes. Sprinkle each serving with almonds. Serve with maple syrup and/or milk if desired. Yield: 4 servings.
Reviews for Oh-So-Good Oatmeal
"Very easy to make, and the apples get a delicious taste, like they were roasted over the fire.I made it for myself this morning and really enjoyed it!"
"Great alternative to McDonald's oatmeal! Next time I may add dried cranberries!"
"we loved this but did add a little more brown sugar to make a little sweeter."
"I have been looking for an oatmeal recipe that I didn't have to stand at the stove stirring for a long time. This one is easy, fast and delicious. I didn't have apples so I substituted bananas. The bananas added sweetness, so I think I will reduce or eliminate the sugar next time. Definitely a keeper"
"My brother showed me a variation of this recipe that we all really like. He buys blueberries when they are in season and freezes enough to last him through the winter. He adds blueberries and chopped walnuts to the oatmeal. Blueberries have the highest concentration of vitamin C than any other fruit including oranges. Having fresh blueberries in the middle of winter is a real boost."


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ZF-9713: nows is misspelled Zend_Test_PHPUnit_Db page. Should be "knows"
"nows" should be spelled "knows" in the following paragraph:
There are other ways to assert that the current database state equals an expected state. The "Bugs" table in the example already nows a lot about its inner state, so why not use this to our advantage? The next example will assert that deleting from the database is possible:
Location is about halfway down the page (http://framework.zend.com/manual/en/…) in the "A few initial database tests" section.
Attached is a patch.
Fixed with r22085


text: About Us The evolution of the Hendrickson Institute Bill Hendrickson, a native of Plainview, Minnesota, received a bachelor's degree from Saint Mary's in 1939. He later earned his Ph.D. in Chemistry at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Hendrickson worked as a chemist and senior executive of American Home Products Corporation. He became chairman of St. Jude Medical Inc. and its first chairman emeritus. Bill often commented that throughout his career, he was fortunate to work with and observe leaders who were ethical and who recognized the importance of developing leaders who posses high moral standards. The erosion of ethical leadership of some leaders in positions of authority led to his desire to help reverse this trend by establishing the Hendrickson Institute for Ethical Leadership. In 1988, Bill and his wife, Jean, invited Saint Mary's to partner with them to identify, encourage, nurture and develop creative, ethical and globally oriented leaders. The Hendricksons funded the Tomorrow's Leaders University Scholarship Program at Saint Mary's. The scholarship provided assistance to students who agreedto a lifestyle characterized by good character. Tomorrow's Leaders Scholars have provided society with well-rounded ethical leadership and, as graduates of Saint Mary's, they are committed to playing a constructive role in creating an ethical society. In 1994, the Hendricksons expanded their university scholarship program and established the Hendrickson Institute for Ethical Leadership at Saint Mary's University in Winona, Minnesota. Over the years, the Institute has provided a variety of programming and training on ethical leadership, serving for-profit and non-profit organizations. Bill and Jean Hendrickson furthered their commitment in 2003. Recognizing the need to nurture the development of young people of good character, they established the Tomorrow's Leaders High School Scholarship Program. The scholarships provide incentives for high school students of good character to complete leadership and service projects within their schools and communities. This network of Midwestern high schools shared a belief in nurturing and developing young, ethical leaders. In 2007, the Institute was moved from Winona to Minneapolis with the opportunity to expand programming to reach the Twin Cities community. Saint Mary's University and the Hendrickson Institute received an anonymous donation to establish an annual speaker series, the Hendrickson Institute for Ethical Leadership Forum, and an annual Award for Ethical Leadership. Bill Hendrickson passed away December 4, 2009. The Hendrickson Institute continues to work with emerging and established leaders.


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Tomorrow night, July 31, Austin's Coffee and Film at 929 W. Fairbanks Ave. in Winter Park will be going 24-hours.
Very cool news. I always like more options for after-bar munchies other than IHOP or a microwaveable cheesesteak at 7-Eleven.


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Delaware Hospice is encouraging new volunteers to get involved in the 2014 Festival of Trees.
The Festival of Trees showcases decorated trees and wreaths and offers fun activities for families. Volunteer committees organize and manage the set-up, entertainment, decorations, tree and wreath sales, children's activities, hospitality, publicity, auctions and raffles.
Last year's Festival of Trees, held in each of Delaware's three counties, raised more than $100,000 for Delaware Hospice's community services and programs.
For more information or to volunteer, contact a volunteer coordinator at (800) 838-9800 or visit delawarehospice.org.
Location, ST | website.com


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Saturday, November 21, 2009
All Saints Anglican - Part 4
While I was at the church I was struck by a certain irony in the current legislation which governs the export of Canadian cultural property. Imagine for a moment that we were discussing an 1814 painting of All Saints Church rather than the church itself. If this were the case, there would have been a very strong case to keeping the painting in Canada. Under our current legislation the Federal government may have even made a financial contribution to keeping the artifact in our country. Our current cultural property legislation was enacted in the 1970s in response to decades worth of Canadian artifacts disappearing from our country. To this day you can find Nova Scotian artifacts in the antique fairs and shops of New England. To prevent the further loss of important parts of our Canadian cultural identity, legislation was enacted to prevent the removal of movable cultural property. I am sure that when this legislation was crafted that they never considered our heritage buildings becoming movable property. In this way it is much easier to prevent a painting of an 1814 building from leaving our country than the 1814 building itself. I think that it is time to reconsider some of the legislation which governs the removal of cultural material from our country.
For the record, I would like to say that I am very happy for the people of Louisiana who have purchased All Saints Church. They have shown exquisite taste in their selection of this pretty little structure.
All for now,
3 comments:
"To prevent the further loss of important parts of our Canadian cultural identity, legislation was enacted to prevent the removal of movable cultural property. I am sure that when this legislation was crafted that they never considered our heritage buildings becoming movable property."ReplyDelete
Well, there's a but of contradiction, isn't it? if a property can move, it is movable, therefore it should be covered by the legislation in my opinion. But I'm not a lawyer.
Have you got any picture of the church before it has been dismantled? It looks very pretty.
- AnonymousNovember 22, 2009 at 8:27 PM
An open letter to the rector of the Anglican parish of AnnapolisReplyDelete
Dear Canon Vaughan,
I am writing to express shock at the half truths you have told the people of Nova Scotia and Canada regarding the demolition of All Saints Anglican Church, Granville. Having helped restore and enhance an important church property in Antigonish, I am in a position to know the historical value of the architectural inheritance of the Anglican Church. The idea that the parish of Annapolis willingly, and perhaps blindly, participated in the destruction of a venerable historical structure is unbearable. Shame on you, and shame on the parish of Annapolis on this the eve of the 2010 celebration of 300 years of Anglican worship in Nova Scotia.
What is unforgivable is that you, a member of the clergy, misled the people of Nova Scotia and Canada into thinking that All Saints would replace a church structure destroyed by Hurricane Katerina. This was a grotesque lie. It now emerges that the church will not replace one destroyed by Katrina. Far from being poor victims of Katrina, the congregation which bought All Saints is rich enough to buy, dismantle, ship and rebuild an historic structure, which will now take its place in a larger church complex.
You claim that you knew none of this at the time you spoke on radio and were interviewed in the press. Well, Canon Vaughan, either you are naive, or you deliberately distorted the truth. Which is it?
E. M. Langille
To answer Elli's question, our current legislation about exporting moveable cultural property is broken into various categories of what is included. Examples of materials covered by the act are works of art, musical instruments, etc. While I would make an argument that All Saints was an architectural work of art, this would not hold up. The legislation needs to be rewritten because this will not be the last time that we will see this scenario.ReplyDelete


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Buy 1 Fat Quarter, Get 1 Fat Quarter Free
Hi! I live in the Pacific Northwest (near Seattle, WA) and enjoy art and design of all kinds. I create costumes and clothing, sew, make jewelry, paint, draw, create block prints, etc; and have always wanted to be a fabric designer. Spoonflower rocks!!
© 2008-2015 Spoonflower Inc


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1000-lb Heavy-duty Dolly
Great for moving your heavy items, this durable molded polyethylene dolly features a no-slip rubber edge on all four sides, not just on two sides like you see on most other polyethylene dollies. Built to last longer than wood dollies, the easy-to-clean polyethylene will not crack, splinter, dent, or rot. Sturdy, one-piece unit moves easily on non-marking, 4" swivel casters. Exterior dimensions are 30"Lx18"W and interior dimensions are 24"Lx16-3/4"W. 1,000 lb. capacity. Imported.
2016 Master Catalog: Page 546


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The Black Hills State University men's and women's track and field teams competed with partial squads on Sunday, April 13 at the Marauder Open hosted by the University of Mary. Along with the University of Mary, teams from Northern State, Dickinson, Minot and the women's team from the University of North Dakota competed in the highly competitive meet. The teams were expected to take full squads to Dickinson on Friday but the meet was cancelled because of poor weather. The late addition of Sunday's meet prevented a few athletes from competing due to prior commitmBHents and the throwers from both squads did not compete because the facility in Bismarck does not allow for the hammer throw.
Shannon Hellman (Box Elder, SD) produced the only first place for the Yellow Jackets winning the 100 meter hurdles is a seasonal best and new school record of 13.83 seconds. The previous school record was held Jylann Barham who ran 14.92 in 1992. Other top performances included: Alicia Verhulst (Ralph, SD) runner-up in the 3000 meter run and third in the 1500 in a time of 5:02.44; Alicia's time of 10:54.91 in the 3000 moved her to eighth on the BH Top Ten list. Cody Bordewyk (Livermore, CO) third in the 1500 meter in a personal best time of 4:00.56: Mark Mazza, (Cheyenne, WY) ;5th in the 1500 meter run in 4:02.96 (personal best); Ashlee Della Silva (Stephensville, MT) placed 5th in both the 100 and 200 meters; Kelley Aline (Heulett, WY) 5th in the 800 meters with a seasonal best 2:23.45; Katie Cook (Cheyenne, WY) 5th in the 3000 meter run and 7th in the 1500 meters with a personal best 5:08.74; Nikki Shinkle (Rawlins, WY) placed 4th in the 400 meter hurdles with a seasonal best time of 1:07.01 (5th all-time at BH) ; Rici Domenici (Casper, WY) placed 6th in the high jump clearing 5'01.75"; Brett Montieth (Lead, SD) placed 5th in the 400m in a personal best 51.53; Chad Porsch (Sioux City, IA) placed 6th in the 800 meters in a seasonal best 1:57.30; Cameron Dean (Huntley Project, MT) placed 6th in the 400 meter hurdles; Lisa Koch (Elkton, SD) placed 6th in the pole vault; the women's 400 meter relay team of Kayla Gosnell (Rapid City, SD, Shannon Hellman, Nikki Shinkle, and Ashlee Della Silva placed third in the 400 meter relay in 49.42 (6th all-time); Nikki Shinkle, Kayla Ferguson (Eaton, CO), Ashlee Della Silva and Kelley Aline combined for a third place finish in the 1600 meter relay in 4:04.02; Cameron Dean, Shane Long (Yoder, WY), Brett Montieth and Key Addison (Kodoka, SD) place 6th in the 400m relay in 43.87 and Cameron Dean, Zach Condon (Laurel, MT), Chad Porsch and Shane Long place 4th in the 1600 meter relay with a seasonal best time of 3:25.52. Neil Long (Fort Collins, CO) had a personal best 4:12.68 in the 1500 meter run placing him 8th.
Next Saturday both teams will be in Ft. Collins, Colorado competing in the Ram Open hosted by Colorado State University. On Sunday and Monday, April 20-21 the multi events will be held in Dickinson, ND.


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Botanical Beachcombers and Explorers
Edward G. Voss
The University of Michigan Herbarium
In these days of fragmented science and intense specialization, Dr. Voss chronicles the breadth of knowledge and interests possessed by the 19th century naturalists and explorers of the Upper Great Lakes region. 100 pages, illustrated with drawings, maps and photographs. Contributions from the University of Michigan Herbarium v. 14.
Price: U.S. $10.00; Canada 16.00; all other countries $24.00


text:
Visit your online medical record today.
If you are having surgery at Beaufort Memorial Hospital, you and your surgeon will schedule a preoperative appointment.
To ensure your visit is comprehensive, you will need:
Your individualized instructions will be discussed and you will be provided with a written copy at the time of your visit. In addition to the Surgical Nurse Liaison instructions, please follow your physician's specific instructions.
ALL Surgical Patients
The following information applies to all surgical patients:
ONLY Outpatient Surgery Patients
Specific for outpatient surgery, the following information applies:
A responsible adult must accompany you, who can:
Before your visit is complete, be sure to give the Surgical Nurse Liaison the phone number at which you can be contacted if there is a need to verify information with you and/or change your specific instructions.
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text:
more favorites
I'm a big supporter of Etsy. I'm continually amazed at
the talent and am happy to buy handmade. My favorites
list grows daily and here are some of my recent additions
to that list.
6 comments:
We've lost days of our lives marveling at Etsy. Your finds are exquisite. The colorful hangers are to die for.ReplyDelete
I love foxes, I totally adore #3. wonderful finds!ReplyDelete
Such great finds!ReplyDelete
Thanks for featuring my fake watch!!ReplyDelete
It's a lovely selection of findings, so happy to be included!!
Love these finds! The blocks, however, are not included in your links bc 4 & 10 are the same. Would love to know where I could get those blocks!ReplyDelete
Love the colorful wool blankets in wood wool & stool's shop. Thanks for the find!ReplyDelete
thank you for your comments!
if you have any questions please email me via the 'contact' link.


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This group was sparked by the senseless murder of Michael Brown Jr by Officer Darren Wilson. Until the lion tells his side of the story, the tale of the hunt will always glorify the hunter.... Read more
Mr Duggan, 29, was shot by officers on 9th August 2011 in Tottenham, London. Mr Duggan, whose shooting by police sparked London's riots, did not fire a shot at police officers before they ki... Read more
Jimmy Mubenga, aged 46, died on 12th October 2010 after security guards attempted to deport him to Angola on a British Airways flight. He died after being restrained by three guards from G4S... Read more
Four police officers are facing prosecution after Thomas Orchard died in custody when a restraining belt was fixed across his face. Thomas, 32, collapsed in a police cell after the belt was... Read more
Philmore Mills was admitted to the Intensive care unit at Wexham Park Hospital on 21 December 2011, and moved on Christmas Eve to a respiratory ward. In the early hours of Tuesday 27 Decembe... Read more
Scotland Yard is facing a new race storm after a damning internal inquiry revealed "a catalogue of errors" in its investigation into the suspicious death of Kester David. A leaked report say... Read more
David Oluwale was a Nigerian who arrived in England as a stowaway in 1949. He was briefly imprisoned in Leeds, where he subsequently settled and obtained work. During the letter part of the... Read more
On the rainy evening of February 26th, 17-year-old Trayvon Martin was shot and killed by neighborhood watch captain, George Zimmerman inside his own gated Sanford, Florida community where he... Read more


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Today's parents of emerging adults (ages 18-29) have it tough. Back in the day, parents simply complained to their grown-up kids, "You never call, you never write!" Today, in the ever-expanding universe of social networking, parents can say: "You never text, you never Skype, you don't "Like" me on Facebook, and you never reply to my Tweets." Forget talking on an actual "phone" every Sunday. According to When Will My Grown-Up Kids Grow Up co-authors Jeffrey Jensen Arnett and Elizabeth Fishel, today's parents have to walk a fine line between closeness and distance, a "high-wire act" that requires finesse, restraint, tongue-biting, and—above all—patience. They describe in detail the difficult dance of staying close and letting go as the emerging adults in the family pass through the stages of "launching, exploring, and landing."
Parents of young children can find rows of bookshelves devoted to the early stages of child-rearing: Spock, Brazelton, and many others. What parents of emerging adults need is the same sort of book, the kind they can turn to whenever their grown-up kid reaches the next stage on the journey to full independence. This book will fill that need. In an easy-to-read format, Arnett and Fishel hit all the hot button topics parents of 18-29-year olds will recognize: roommates, relationships, money ("The Bank of Mom and Dad"), the job search, sex, religion, marriage, communication, and what happens when—due to a variety of circumstances—the one who "launched" lands back home again ("The Boomerang Kid"). Boomeranging has become "the new normal" for large numbers of emerging adults, and it's a topic the authors tackle head on, with a close look at the challenges involved for parents as their empty nest fills up again. And again.
Arnett and Fishel offer common sense advice in the Q. and A.'s that are sprinkled throughout the book. The voices of parents speaking about their emerging adults are represented here too, adding to the dialogue. For example, on the subject of communication from a college-age kid, one parent says, "If we don't hear from him, we know he's doing well"; while another says, "We always know he's up to no good when we don't hear from him."
For parents who are caught up in the struggle to stay connected while pulling back during their kid's journey to adulthood, this book provides a frank, factual, and fearless look at the road ahead.
Next: The 7 Best Books For Your Money and Career
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text:
Eli Leon
Eli Leon, the man who helped to bring African American Quilts
Quilt making worlds.Thus putting them on the map as true art.
Read more about his work at:
He championed and promoted African American Improvisational quilts when they were the underdogs in both the Art and Quilt Worlds. Eli traveled to
This page on our blog is dedicated to Eli Leon and all that he has accomplished.We hope that you enjoy the following chronicles of his amazing detective like research as much as our family has. We applaud his sincere efforts and dedication to the cause of uncovering and bringing to the world's attention the arts and skills that have been passed down to us via six generations of our ancestors...as well as the many generations that have embellished the lineages of other African American families nationwide. We also thank him for nominating....Laverne Brackens, for the 2011 NEA Folk art Fellowship Award....making her the first quilt maker to receive this award in the state of Texas.
We sincerely hope that you will enjoy and get much inspiration from the following chronicles of his efforts to capture the legacies of some of the amazing quilts in his Internationally renowned collection. The quilts are important to this collector...but the legacy behind the art work is even more intriguing to him, and well worth the hunt ,as the following chronicles reveal. ENJOY!!!!
Sherry Ann
.Strip Quilt, Mary Lue Brown, 1940s Photo
Reclaiming a Missing Link
by Eli LeonI first saw Mother Brown's missing-link strip quilt one drizzly Saturday morning at a great distance across the enormous Oakland, California Alameda flea market. It was winter, 1984. The quilt was wrapped around an African-American quilt enthusiast and occasional dealer of my acquaintance named
I zipped across the flea market, my extra-large shopping cart bouncing behind me, and bought the quilt out from around Alberta. I'd arrived in the nick of time. Alberta and her friend Betty, who turned out to be the quilt's owner, were about to get rained out. Thrilled to find what I considered to be a repository of Africanisms so close to what I assumed was the quilt's community of origin, I readied pencil and paper to take notes and started firing questions. Needless to say, I was crestfallen to discover that
Within a decade, this quilt would dazzle the American museum-going public in Who'd a Thought It: Improvisation in African-American Quilt making--my first cataloged exhibition of African-American quilts, whose twenty-some-odd venues would include the Renwick gallery at the Smithsonian Institution, Chicago's Field Museum, and the American Craft Museum in New York City. Paired with a strip woven Hausa cloth from West Africa that makes use of a similar randomized checkerboard pattern, it would grace the cover of my second catalog, Models in the Mind: African Prototypes in American Patchwork. And, although I would make repeated research / collecting trips to East Texas, Northern Louisiana and Southern Arkansas (the region from which most of my California quilt making contacts had migrated), and see hundreds of improvisational African-American quilts, Mother Brown's would remain my best example of a "two-pair" bordering arrangement, thereby providing critical support for one of my strongest arguments for African antecedents.1 In short, once its origins were established, this quilt would be of particular importance to my work; I couldn't have been more disheartened by the news that Alberta and Betty had no clue as to who made it.
When told of my belief that the quilt was African-American,
Although the rain got steadily worse, I was unable to tear myself from the spot. I hung around, sinking onto a folding chair and asking pesky questions while
Many "anonymous" quilts would be reclaimable as the products of black craftspeople if I were able to engage all of the gatekeepers encountered along the way (in this case, as we shall see, I was dependent on the goodwill and cooperation of five separate informants, six if I count Alberta and Betty as two), but most of my collecting stories don't turn out this well. The search ends when I can't overcome suspicion or indifference at one or another critical point.
Betty turned the catalog over to me. Contacting Butterfields, I was soon informed that I was wasting both my time and theirs. The last thing I might expect, I was roundly assured, was for an auction house to be giving out the names of its sellers. I insisted on speaking to someone in authority and, eventually, was put in touch with a woman who gave me the time to explain that I was writing a book about African survivals in African-American quilts, that this particular quilt evidenced several such survivals, and that it would be of little use to me without its history. Sympathetic to my mission, the woman agreed to look the sale up. (A year or two later, in my attempt to reclaim the heritage of another stray quilt, I tried this again, found that my helper at Butterfields had moved on, butted against a wall of impatience and sarcasm, and had no choice but to give up the quest).
This was a peak experience for me. My audience couldn't have been readier for the theory of African influence. Quite aside from which, even if I were to get no further, I now had some measure of authentication.
But I was on a roll. My latest helper called the daughter-in-law of the old man who had once owned the quilt and got permission for me to talk to her myself. Lodesta, as it turned out, was delighted to hear from me. She'd worried about the family's quilts and was relieved to learn that this one had found a good home. We arranged for me to bring it across the Bay that next day for a hands-on identification. She was amused when she saw it. Turned out, it was the quilt they used the most. Kept it on the sofa to wrap up in while watching T.V. Called it "the loud quilt."
There had been several other, "better," quilts that had been sold as higher class merchandise in another section of the auction. I tried to track them down but in each case the buyer refused to talk to me. Mine, according to Lodesta, was made by Mother Brown, a woman who'd had a special relationship with the quilt's owner, Lodesta's now-deceased mother-in-law, Helen.
Here's the story. In the 1930's, Helen had gone to
Lodesta put me in touch with Elfreda, Mother Brown's now elderly daughter, living in
1. For a comprehensive discussion of the borders of improvisational African-American quilts and their African counterparts, see
Meeting Mrs. Murphy
By Eli Leon
By Eli Leon
Early in 1986, quilt maker Bettie Phillips (1916--2005) http://aavad.com/artistbibliog.cfm?id=3339 told me about her ninety-two year old friend ,Mrs. Mable Murphy (1894--1996), who lived in the little town of Dos Palos, California and had a house full of quilts, many of which were for sale. Bettie estimated there to be at least fifty and raved about their great beauty. I wanted to meet Mrs. Murphy (as she preferred to be called) right away, of course, but there turned out to be obstacles. Mrs. Murphy was hard-of-hearing, for one. Unable to understand me when I telephoned, she had her son, a smoker, handle the call. When I mentioned that I had a cigarette-smoke allergy, he got enraged and hung up. On top of that, my car became mysteriously unreliable. The meeting with Mrs. Murphy, it seemed, would have to wait for more favorable conditions.
Then Bettie informed me that Mrs. Murphy was giving up her house for smaller quarters. In all probability some of her quilts would be inaccessible after the move. For them, it was now or never. I had, meanwhile, learned that Mrs. Murphy's son didn't actually live with her, although he was often around. I'd also changed cars. So I tried to get Bettie to make the trip with me, imagining that having her along would smooth the way, but she showed no interest in the project. Resolving to take my chances and just go didn't work either; it only led to my feeling guilty whenever Mrs. Murphy came to mind, which was often, since my strategically placed to-do list was headlined "INTERVIEW MRS MURPHY."
When I asked quilt maker Willia Ette Graham (1903-1997) http://aavad.com/artistbibliog.cfm?id=4171, however, if she'd like to visit an elderly quilter in the San Joaquin valley, she jumped at the chance. Suddenly everything was looking up. Graham was warm, friendly and generally relaxed. The thought of her supportive presence was all I needed to lend courage to my convictions. I called Bettie to tell her that Willia Ette and I were hoping to give it a go that Monday, which happened to be a holiday, and Bettie did an abrupt turnabout; she would accompany me after all. Springing into action, she straightaway called Mrs. Murphy, ascertained that the son wouldn't be around that day, and made all the arrangements--even deciding to fix a bring-along lunch featuring fried chicken and homemade cake.
Why the sudden change? It baffled me for a moment, then I got it. Bettie was as eager to meet Willia Ette as Willia Ette was to meet Mrs Murphy! This expedition was taking on a new character. For some years I'd been listening to my informants' lamentations on the scarcity of quilt makers in the California cities they'd found themselves in after their westward migrations. They were longing to meet one another! And witnessing these meetings might very well be as informative for me as interviewing Mrs. Murphy.
I now wanted to include Gussie Wells http://aavad.com/artistbibliog.cfm?id=3345 and Arbie Williams http://aavad.com/artistbibliog.cfm?id=2169, two of my closest quilt maker contacts, in what was promising to be a memorable get-together, but there wasn't room for five in my car. When I floated the idea past Bettie, though, she immediately latched on to it. Again, I was taken by surprise. Why the rush of enthusiasm? But we needed a few more participants, I finally realized, for a critical mass. Wells and Williams were best buddies, however; we couldn't invite one without the other. After mulling the thing over, Bettie and I decided to go ahead with the invitations. If both of them accepted, we'd devise a new plan.Quilts, Eli Leon, Improvisational, Afro-American, Quilts, Rosie L American, Eli y (continued)
Bettie volunteered to drive, but her car was no bigger than mine. The obvious solution would be to go in two cars but, not wanting to miss any of the fireworks I was anticipating, I was intent on all of us riding together. As it turned out, Gussie (1901-1994) could not make it. Arbie (1916--2003), however, was raring to go. Right off the bat, she notified me that she would be wearing pants. I dutifully passed this information on to Bettie and Willia Ette.
So, on Jan 19th, 1987, Martin Luther King Jr's fifty-eighth birthday, the bunch of us assembled on the sidewalk in front of Phillips' house. At the last minute, Bettie announced that she was taking her car after all. She never went anywhere, she informed us, without her deaf-mute sister, quilt maker Missie Freeman (1914--2005). I had no choice but to take the two-car solution in stride. Meanwhile, the women were bustling with excitement and getting acquainted before leaving. An aroma of fried chicken filled the air. Everyone but Missie was wearing pants.
With wistful goodbyes and much slamming of car doors, we finally set off. Arbie, Willia Ette and I followed Bettie and Missie in the slow lane of the freeway at such a crawl that I ,(then a mere fifty-one years old and feeling like an eager teenager) expected any minute to be pulled over by the highway patrol. The time, however, passed quickly. Williams was a scintillating talker, Graham was an enthusiastic listener, and I got to be a fly on the wall. I was not surprised to discover an aspect of Williams'Quilt making history that I hadn't accessed in our prior conversations. Turned out, as a young woman living in a railroad worker's community in
"Well our idea was we'd [piece] all the quilts we could in the winter and wouldn' let either one know what we were buildin' on. If one come to the house and you was piecin' quilts, you'd roll it up and put it in a bag and shove it up under the bed right quick 'fore you let 'em come in. They didn' get to see what you were piecin.'" Arbie explained .
In the spring and summer, the eight women would assemble at one of their houses and quilt all day, easily completing two quilts a session. By 1945, when Arbie and her husband moved west to take advantage of the high-paying war-industry jobs that were springing up in
When we arrived at Mrs. Murphy's, we found a spry, high-spirited lady, who seemed much younger than her ninety-three years, waiting to greet us at the front door. She steered a little clear of me at first, but, taking her cues from the other women, soon accepted me as part of the crowd. I wondered how long she'd been standing watch. She must have been as deprived of quilt maker companionship as the rest of the company.
Plus, this was to be her red-letter day. This bevy of quilt aficionados were keyed to sustain an undying interest in her handwork as we emptied closets, drawers and trunks, bringing out dolls, beadwork, endless crocheted objects (my favorite was a miniature soup bowl and spoon in red thread), and quilts, quilts, quilts.
Williams, African American, Eli Leon.
All of these women were so passionate about their craft that it had taken over the better part of their living quarters; they must have felt right at home. No matter how often I encountered a house full of quilts, however, this guided tour of an artist's life work would remain a special treat. And this time it would be in the most distinguished of companies.
As for my nostalgic companions, this get-together was providing a direct line to their roots. In their formative years in rural Missouri, Texas and Oklahoma, quilt making had largely been a communal activity; six participants would comprise only a modest bee. Now light years from the rural 1940s South, where virtually all of the neighbor women could be expected to quilt, these women were compelled to work singly or, at best, in pairs.
So they lived it up as I, with Willia Ette's unsparing help and frequent visits from the rest of the company, went to town. We were extremely thorough, emptying each storage space entirely before refilling it with carefully examined goods. In a few hours we'd, in all probability, seen everything. Mrs. Murphy's recent works were splendid examples of highly complex published patterns expertly repeated over king-sized surfaces in consistent color schemes requiring great quantities of store-bought fabric. She sold these professional-level wares through a connection in
Willia Ette was the only one who was as intent as I on not missing a trick. Or maybe it was this shyness that had come over her today--which I'd never seen when the two of us were alone. She painstakingly undid the ties of a mountain of plastic bags of cloth scraps and went through each one to find an occasional pieced section of quilt top. I found a completed older top that very much interested me, and which was for sale, among the unfinished pieces, a Lone Star with Maple Leaf Corners later quilted by Irene Bankhead http://aavad.com/artistbibliog.cfm?id=3347 and pictured in Let It Shine (exhibit catalog) Fig. 13.
|Lone Star with Maple Leaf Corners
created by Mable Murphy
Owner Eli Leon
Mrs Murphy's grandmother lived to be emancipated, but was not able to find a single one of the thirteen (of her sixteen) children who'd been sold away from her, their names changed as they passed from owner to owner. It is this background of dehumanization, I imagine, that makes a respectful form of address so essential to her granddaughter.
After lunch we moved on to other things. Arbie copied one of Mrs Murphy's crochet patterns, under Missie's vigilant supervision. Missie, who'd been profoundly deaf since birth and communicated with nods, gestures and grunts, would issue a volley of wordless admonitions each time Arbie slipped up, then smile when she finally got it right. Willia Ette wanted to buy a pair of Mrs Murphy's crocheted shoes, but Mrs Murphy didn't have them in her size. Bettie borrowed a Maple Leaf from Mrs Murphy's collection of sample blocks; I noted that it was pieced of fabric that was at least seventy years old. At all times there was too much going on for one person to keep track of, but it was an ongoing joy to watch these elderly, uprooted women connect through their shared interests and an affinity for an art form that I suspected had origins in their ancestral homelands.
Eventually it was time to go. Bettie and Missie went on to see other friends in Dos Palos, and Arbie, Willia Ette and I scooted off and into the fast lane of the freeway with Mrs Murphy's invitations to return ringing in our ears. For most of the trip home we were silent. We had finally run down.
Then too, we had a lot to think about. I don't know about Arbie and Willia Ette, but I couldn't get the thirteen missing children out of my mind.
|NEA 2011 National Heritage Fellowship Award photo
Tom Pich
Laverne Brackens' Bio,Exhibitions and Publications
Eli Leon
The second of four recent generations of extraordinarily talented quilt makers in a single Texas family, Laverne Brackens (1927-) helped her mother tack quilts when she was a child, but didn't get interested in making them herself until much later. Raising eight children and five grandchildren and working for four decades or so as a cook, she was always on the go and could never sit still long enough to do quilts. But after a l987 accident forced her early retirement, she found in quilt making an occupation that she could still handle.
"The whole time I was on crutches....I was piecing quilts because I could use my left foot [for the sewing machine].
Doctor won't let me do nothing else. Nothing else I can do. So I just set down and quilt."
Once into it, Brackens developed a wholehearted passion for "creating beauty from pieces of colorful material. A friend supplied her with factory scraps and she got a kick out of seeing what she could do with them. Some ideas came to her in dreams; others she worked out as she went along.
" I don't have no certain pattern in mind. I just start working my material until I get it to look like a quilt".
Outstandingly prolific, she can cut enough pieces for three tops in one day and "go back the next day and maybe do two of them." If she feels like it, she can do all three, but it may take her "till midnight". Indeed, she pieced two hundred and six quilt tops from May 1992, shortly after we first met, to May 1993, when I gave up keeping track. This must have been an especially dynamic period for her, but 15 1/2 years later, she still has not let up.
|Example of Laverne Brackens Numbers Quilt Design.
Brackens enjoys placing letters and numbers in her designs. On the occasion of a grand daughter's eighth birthday, for example, she developed a quilt pattern based on the number 8.
" I was just sitting down," she said, "and it come to me."
Since she "didn't want the figure 8 all the way around," she worked out a second pattern for alternate blocks and a third for a single border, "making these other patterns with part of the figure 8 in it" so they'd be different but "come into the figure 8 pattern."
An eloquent spokeswoman for her quilt aesthetics, Brackens emphasizes that misalignment leads to variability:
" If you piece them all where they hit right together, every quilt you piece is going look
just alike and if you twist it up a little bit, it'll make the quilt look different. I just like to
take a simple quilt and give it a different look. That's what I be trying to do."
Offsetting, measuring approximately, using scraps as found, breaking rules, and straying from the initial pattern, are, for Brackens, all parts of a larger picture in which incidental contingencies contribute to the beauty and individuality of an artist's creation. Brackens fills out the picture with mentions of off-centering the centerpiece, displaying odd selvages, rotating printed stripes, stripping vertically and horizontally in the same quilt, enlarging undersized blocks with strips of fabric, and working the pattern out as you go along, all to effect a "different look," "change it up," or "give that quilt a offset look":
|Off Set Blocks by Laverne Brackens.
" You make one block just a little bit longer than the other one, but you don't do it all the way
across the quilt. That means it's not going to hit. I wanted it not to hit but I didn't want it to do that
on every block, so that's why some blocks is a little larger than others."
Ideas may or may not come from the head; "accidentals" are the artists helpmates; open mindedness and maintenance of control are not mutually exclusive:
" You'll start with one idea and that idea's not coming together like you want it to come.
Then you just say "let's try it this way." It won't come out in your first idea, but it will come
out into an idea that you like better than the first one. If it don't do what I want it to do, then
I'm gonna make it do something I like."
Statements like this clued me into the concept of Accidentally on Purpose-the title of my most all-inclusive cataloged exhibition.
Brackens once pieced a quilt for her father ( Willie Henry), which included the letters W, H and L, for Willie, Henry, and Laverne. Sometime, she puts whole words into quilts--"why", for example. The bottom line, however, is that she "likes letters in there--they're just pretty to me," and doesn't require that they mean anything. The letters J-A-N-T-L at the center of one of her quilts and an F on one side of another, like a lone L in the corner of a third, don't stand for anything. I expected to be informed that the L was a way of signing the quilt, but Brackens insisted that it was "just an L." Similarly, assortments of odd pieced or appliqued shapes, including occasional letters are for Brackens, just designs.
National Heritage Fellow, Arbie Williams, looking at slides of Brackens' work in 1993, was lavish in her approval:
"Oh she did go wild on these," Williams exclaimed. "Bless her heart. Now that's a real heart breaker there. She wants it different from what she's seen it, so that's the reason you see so much of them flashing with different corners. She don't want to do what the next woman is doing. so she doos it of her own. Where's she from, Texas? Oh God. I sure want to go see her when I go there."
"Oh she did go wild on these," Williams exclaimed. "Bless her heart. Now that's a real heart breaker there. She wants it different from what she's seen it, so that's the reason you see so much of them flashing with different corners. She don't want to do what the next woman is doing. so she doos it of her own. Where's she from, Texas? Oh God. I sure want to go see her when I go there."
In 1996, Brackens' work shared the spotlight with that of her mother (Gladys Henry), one of her daughters (Sherry Byrd), and one of her granddaughters (Bara Byrd) in "Four Generations of African-American Quilt makers," a show I curated at the High Museum in Atlanta. This exhibition later evolved into the 2006 show and catalogue Will the Circle Be Unbroken:Four Generation of African-American Quilt makers at the Museum of Craft and Folk Art (MOCFA) in San Francisco, along with a filmed interview with Brackens by MOCFA exhibition manager Karin Nelson, and the article "One Family's Quilted Legacy" in the October 2006 issue of Quilters Newsletter Magazine.
Other exhibits in which Brackens participated and articles about her and her family include:
a 1999 exhibition called Quilts of Color: Three Generations of Quilters in an Afro-Texan Family at the Texas Folk life Resources Gallery in Austin, Texas and the Kirkland Center in Clinton, New York;
and article called "Playing Jazz with a Needle and Thread," by Norma Martin in Life and Arts / Austin American Statesman, August 6, 1999, pp.4,16-18,37;
"Black Women Fiber Artists," by Toni Wynn in The International Review of African-American Art /Fiber Arts the Stuff of Dreams, 1999, Vol.15,#5,pp.8-9;
"On the Road for Folk Art,"
by Elaine Robbins, in Texas Living: People and Places/Southern Living Magazine, November 2000,pp.14,16,17;
"Artsy Crafty," by Carl Hoover, in the Waco Tribune-Herald / Brazos Living, Nov.19,2000,p.1,Section E;
an exhibition called "Storytelling: One Stitch at a Time" at the Texas Memorial Museum of Science and History in Austin in 2001-2002;
Stitches in Time, by Amanda Rogers in The star-Telegram, Ft. Worth, April 13,2002;
Aloha!, the Autumn 2005 Catalog by Dosa Inc., Los Angeles, pp. 16-17,49,91,113:
"Quilt Legacy in Fairfield: Quilt making is in Laverne Brackens' Bones," Texas Co-op Power, June 2006,p38;
and Family Quilts, a television documentary by the Texas Country Reporter (show #1000) on October 28th, 2006.
The Texas Memorial Museum owns two of Laverne's quilts;
Chicago's Bessie Coleman Library's five featured artworks include quilts by Laverne Brackens and Arbie Williams.
Additional cataloged exhibitions of mine that included works by Brackens are
"Showing Up": Maximum-Contrast African-American Quilts at the Richmond Art center in Richmond,CA,1996;
Something Else to See: Improvisational bordering Styles in African-American at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst, 1997;
No Two Alike:African-American Improvisations on a Traditional Patchwork Pattern, at the South Carolina state Museum in Columbia, 1998;
Let It Shine: Improvisation in African-American Star Quilts at the William D. Cannon Art Gallery in San Diego, 2001;
Improving the Bow tie: African-American Improvisational Quilts at the Mills college Art Museum in Oakland, California, 2005;
and Accidentally on Purpose: The Aesthetic Management of Irregularities in African Textiles and African-American Quilts at the Figge Museum in Davenport Iowa, 2006.
Good Books also published one of her quilts in their 2002 African American Quilts wall calendar.
Typically, Brackens' works outnumber those of most of the other quilters in her group exhibitions. Over 70 outstanding quilt makers, for example, were responsible for the more than 100 illustrations that were selected from a pool of thousands of improvisational African-American quilts for my Accidentally on Purpose catalogue. They would, therefore, average little more than one work per artist. Indeed, only four of the 70 had more than three of their works in the show. Brackens, however, had five. Those besides Brackens with more than three were National Heritage Fellow Arbie Williams, virtuoso Rosie Lee Tompkins, and Brackens' mother, Gladys Henry. And quilts, furthermore, are not Brackens' only exceptional contributions to the world of African-American improvisation. In addition to her works of art, my writings draw heavily on her arrestingly expressive verbalizaions, some of which I've quoted in this bio and can be found in Eli Leon Interviews with African-American Quilt makers archived by the International Quilt Study Center at the University of Nebraska.
These quotations by Brackens are all over the Internet. (To locate the web sites referred to below, google "Laverne Brackens") The Alliance for California Traditional Arts Calendar,The Tribe, and the Oakland tribune, for example, all repeat the quote:
" I don't go by patterns. I make it up out of my head. When you pick up the material and start working with it,
that's when you know what [the quilt] will be."
Kate Brown in WordPress.com's Thoughts Not Mine: The Monkey wrench Emporium, quotes:
"If you piece them all where they hit right together, every quilt you piece is going to look just alike,
and if you twist it up a little bit you will make the quilt look different. I just like to take a simple quilt
and give it a different look."
" I don't go by patterns. I make it up out of my head. When you pick up the material and start working with it,
that's when you know what [the quilt] will be."
Kate Brown in WordPress.com's Thoughts Not Mine: The Monkey wrench Emporium, quotes:
"If you piece them all where they hit right together, every quilt you piece is going to look just alike,
and if you twist it up a little bit you will make the quilt look different. I just like to take a simple quilt
and give it a different look."
Caireen Todd, in The Patchwork Dress: Unbroken Circle, reports:
"[Brackens] can cut out the pieces for three quilt tops in a day and 'go back the next day and maybe do two of them'."
"[Brackens] can cut out the pieces for three quilt tops in a day and 'go back the next day and maybe do two of them'."
Most of these quotes come from show catalogs that include passages from many other quilt makers, but Brackens' are frequently among the ones chosen. In this domain, she can be equaled by none other than Arbie Williams.
Bara Byrd, Laverne's quilt making grand daughter, pieced seven tops at the age of twelve,sold six of them, and sent the seventh to her grandmother.
Brackens was "tickled to death". " I sleep under that quilt," she reported. "Only time that quilt's off of my
bed is when I wash it and put it up in the Spring. I just love it." She got teary-eyed talking about it: "Cause
it's my granddaughter that made it. Usually, the rest of them is always saying, 'Granny, can I have a quilt?"
Brackens was "tickled to death". " I sleep under that quilt," she reported. "Only time that quilt's off of my
bed is when I wash it and put it up in the Spring. I just love it." She got teary-eyed talking about it: "Cause
it's my granddaughter that made it. Usually, the rest of them is always saying, 'Granny, can I have a quilt?"
Some Titus Family Quilt makers featured in Eli Leon's
Internationally renowned collection of African American Quilts.
|Gladys Cellia Durham-Henry
(Born 1906-Died 1996)
"Big Mama"
|Gladys was a self taught crafts person at heart. She created many
and varied items, on a continual basis, through out her entire life span.
|Side I of "Jazz With A Needle and Thread" reversible
story quilt composed by Sherry A. Byrd features items created by
her grandmother Gladys C. Durham-Henry (Born 1906-Died 1996).
|Broken Dishes Pattern
Laverne Brackens
|Most Prolific Titus Family Quilt Maker
Born 1927
|Sherry A. Byrd
Born 1951
Storyteller/Writer/Quilt maker/Folk artist
|Sherry the Researcher
|Sherry the Storyteller/Folk artist and Chronicler of
Family History
Abstract M-provisational Quilts by Sherry Ann
|Bara Byrd-Steward
Born 1975
Oldest daughter of Sherry A. Byrd
Eli Leon (firstname.lastname@example.com)
Awards: John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship, 1989.
Surface Design Association Critical Writing Award for the development and application of critical vocabulary in the field of surface design, 1990.
Selected Publications:
Something Pertaining to God: The Patchwork Art of Rosie Lee Tompkins. Shelburne Museum., Shelburne, Vermont, May-Oct, 2007.
Accidentally on Purpose: The Aesthetic Management of Irregularities in African Textiles and African-American Quilts,
Will the Circle Be Unbroken: Four Generations of African-American Quilt- makers. Museum of Craft and Folk Art, San Francisco, 2006; Brattleboro Museum, Brattleboro, VT, Aug-Nov 2007.
Improving the Bow Tie.
"Too Short to Save: African-American Improvisational String Quilts," in A Report from the Museum of Craft and Folk Art, San Francisco Museum of Craft and Folk Art, Vol. 18, No. 1, 2002
Let It Shine: Improvisation in African-American Star Quilts (exhibition catalog),
Review of My Quilts and Me: The Diary of an American Quilter by Nora McKeown Ezell, in Tributaries: Journal of the
No Two Alike: African-American Improvisations on a Traditional Patchwork Pattern (exhibition catalog),
"African Influence on the American Block-style Quilt," in Sally Gant, ed.,African Impact on the Material Culture of the Americas (collected symposium papers), Museum of Early Southern Decorative Arts, Old Salem Inc., Winston-Salem, NC, 1998.
Something Else to See: Improvisational Bordering Styles in African-American Quilts (exhibition catalog),
"Shadows of the Divine Perfection," in
"Showing Up": African-American Maximum-contrast Quilts (exhibition catalog), Richmond Art Center, 1996.
Arbie Williams Transforms the Britches Quilt (exhibition catalog),
Models in the Mind: African Prototypes in American Patchwork (exhibition catalog),
"Cross-strip Patterning in African Textiles and African-American Quilts," Surface Design Journal, Vol.15, #1, Fall, 1990, pp.6-8,38.
Who'd a Thought It: Improvisation in African-American Quiltmaking (exhibition catalog), Introduction by Robert Farris Thompson,
"Wrapping Home Around Me: How the Patchwork Quilt became a Medium for the Expression of African Values," in Rambling On My Mind (exhibition catalog),
Selected Exhibitions:
Sunshine and Surprises: African American Quilts from the Eli Leon and Robert Cargo Collections. Festival of Quilts, Birmingham, UK. Aug 16-19, 2007.
Something Pertaining to God: The Patchwork Art of Rosie Lee Tompkins .Shelburne Museum.,
Approximate Measure: Improvisational African-American Quilts. Shirley/Jones Gallery,
Accidentally on Purpose: The Aesthetic Management of Irregularities in African Textiles and African-American Quilts,
Will the Circle Be Unbroken: Four Generations of African-American Quiltmakers.Museum of Craft and Folk Art,
Let It Shine: Improvisation in African-American Star Quilts, William D. Cannon Art Gallery, Carlsbad, CA, Sept-Nov 2001; Los Angeles Craft and Folk Art Museum, June-Sept 2002; Colorado Springs Pioneer Museum, Feb-March 2003; New England Quilt Museum, Sept-Nov 2003; New York State Museum, Jan-March 2004
No Two Alike: African-American Improvisations on a Traditional Patchwork Pattern, South Carolina State Museum, Oct 1998-March 1999; Vermont Folklife Center, Sept-Nov 1999; Colorado Springs Pioneer Museum, Jan-March 2000; National Afro-American Museum, April-June 2001; Santa Rosa Junior College, Feb-March 2003.
Quilts from the 'Hood: East Bay African American Improvisational Quilts, The
Something Else to See: Improvisational Bordering Styles in African-American Quilts,
No Two Alike: Improvisational African-American Quilts,
"Showing Up": African-American Maximum-contrast Quilts,
Arbie Williams Transforms the Britches Quilt, University of California, Santa Cruz, Nov-Dec 1993; Berkeley Art Center, April-June, 1994.
Putting the Pieces Together: Patchwork Quilts by Nineteenth- and Twentieth-century Migrants to California, Falkirk Cultural Center, San Rafael, CA, Sept-Nov, 1993.
Models in the Mind: African Prototypes in American Patchwork,
Who'd a Thought It: Improvisation in African-American Quiltmaking.
Venues for Who'd a Thought It:
San Francisco Craft and Folk Art Museum, January-February, 1988.
San Jose Museum of Art, March-April, 1988.
Louisiana Arts and Science Center, Baton Rouge, July-Sept, 1989.
New England Quilt Museum, Lowell, MA, Sept-Nov, 1989.
Morris Museum, Morristown, NJ, February-April, 1990.
California Council for the Humanities, Oakland City Center, "A Sense of Belonging/A Sense of Place," May-June, 1990.
Old Pueblo Museum, Tuscon, AZ, July-September, 1990.
Indianapolis Museum of Art, February-March, 1991.
Long Beach Museum of Art, Long Beach, CA, June-August, 1991.
Renwick Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, Wash., D.C., Sept-Jan, 91-2.
Ackland Art Museum, Univ. of N.C., Chapel Hill, Feb-March, 1992.
Wichita Falls Museum and Art Center, W.F., TX, June-Aug, 1992.
Kirkpatrick Arts Center, Oklahoma City, Jan-Feb, 1993.
Grant House Folk Art Center, Vancouver, WA, May-Aug, 1993.
Center for the Visual Arts, Metro State College of Denver, Nov-Dec, 1993.
Krannert Art Museum, University of Illinois, Urbana, Jan-Mar, 1994.
Bowers Museum of Cultural Art, Santa Ana, CA, Feb-May, 1996.
Goldstein Gallery, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, Feb-April, 1997.
Thomasville Art Center, Thomasville, GA, Jan-Feb, 1998.
All chronicles in the previous article was reproduced with the permission of Eli Leon, Scholar/Researcher/Writer/Collector of African American Improvisational Quilts.
February 2012.
Photos provided by Eli Leon, Tom Pich and Sherry A. Byrd
Other good reading on Eli Leon Quilt Collection.
Photos provided by Eli Leon, Tom Pich and Sherry A. Byrd
Other good reading on Eli Leon Quilt Collection.


text:
Damon is the Library Services Manager of the Marin County Free Library.
This is an official blog for the Marin County Free Library.
All branches of Marin County Free Library will be closed on Monday, July 4 for Independence Day.
The Marin County Free Library is inviting all readers to share in the Summer Reading Fun from June 9 through August 11. Children, Teens and Adults can enjoy special programs, activities, reading lists and an assortment of prizes for prizes during the summer.
Mark each day that you read for 20 minutes or more.
Earn prizes along the way:
5 days of reading – get a rainbow gel pen!
10 days of reading – choose a magnetic book mark!
15 days of reading – earn a Round Table Pizza coupon*!
20 days of reading – take home a Dream Big, Read! T-shirt!
To collect your prizes, take your reading log to the Children's Librarian at your favorite branch of Marin County Free Library
(while supplies last).
* Round Table Pizza coupon is for a free kid-sized pizza
with purchase of a regular-sized pizza
Sign up online or in your library and start reading! Just for signing up, choose a free book at your library while supplies last.
For every book you read, submit a review and you will automatically be entered into a weekly raffle to win great prizes.
All entries will also be included in the Grand Prize Raffle at the end of summer.
The more you read, the better your chances to win!
2012 grand prize: A $50 Visa gift card!
Beginning June 9th, sign up online for our Adult Summer Reading Program - Between the Covers - which runs through August 11th.
After you sign up, receive a pocket flashlight while supplies last at your local Marin County Free Library branch.
Then share a favorite book by submitting an online review and you will be entered in our summer raffles for amazing prizes!
For each online review submitted before July 9th, you become eligible for a Midsummer Raffle. For each review you submit before August 12th, you become eligible for our Grand Prize Raffle of five Kindle eBook readers.
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I am having difficulty being able to write a new review and the view my old reviews.
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Trudy Costes


text:
ZF-6280: Wrong return type for Zend_Dom_Query_Css2XPath::transform()
The docblock for Zend_Dom_Query_Css2XPath::transform() indicates that the only return type should be a string. However, when multiple expressions are specified, it is possible for it to return an array. It appears from its test suite that this is expected behavior. See the test suite method testTransformShouldReturnMultiplePathsWhenExpressionContainsCommas(). The docblock should be corrected to reflect this.
Patch to correct the docblock issue.
Zend_Dom_Query::query() passes the return value of Zend_Dom_Query_Css2XPath::transform() as the first parameter ($xpathQuery) to Zend_Dom_Query::queryXPath(). The docblock for Zend_Dom_Query::queryXPath() indicates that $xpathQuery may only be a string, but can obviously also be an array.
Updated patch to include fix for Zend_Dom_Query::queryXPath().
Solve in SVN r17292