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The Magdalene Sisters
[Our Sunday Visitor, September 14, 2003]
You know how, when you're changing channels and land on an old movie, you can guess when it was made? Cinematic "looks" change with fashion, and it's easy to tell opulent, color-drenched early-60's style from the sparer 70's or smoky 40's. In "The Magdalene Sisters," a film about the "Magdalene asylums" operated by the Irish Catholic church, director Peter Mullan displays his genius for capturing the look that today's moviegoers crave-one that proclaims authenticity.
It takes hard work to achieve this look, requiring relentless attention to costumes, props, textures, gestures, makeup. Contrast this with older movies content with painted-canvas backdrops and bare-bones sets. For earlier generations, a few impressionist strokes were sufficient to suspend disbelief; for us it takes photorealism. "The Magdalene Sisters" presents itself as a near-documentary, and the main characters are even given bios at the end, in which on-screen text tells us what happened in the remainder of their lives.
But these women didn't really exist; they are fictional composites. A writer/director has to be as meticulous in choosing these character details as he is in set decor and costumes. But Mullan is so transfixed by his story that he has made some bad choices.
Start with the opening scene, in which Margaret is lured away from a wedding reception by a cousin and raped. What happens next? My guess, based on the combination of Irish blood and several hours of wedding-reception drinking, was that irate, weeping female relatives would cluster around Margaret, while male relatives frog-march the boy outside for a pounding he won't forget, or possibly survive. Instead, Margaret's stony-faced parents just pack her into a car and dump her at the asylum.
Mullan is gambling that we'll think "What parent could act that way?" and invest emotionally. But we're just as likely to think, "What parent could act that way?" and step back in skepticism.
Disbelief's suspension cables snap again when we meet the Sister Superior, Sr. Brigid (Geraldine McEwan). In hamfisted touch, she is introduced as a pair of hands counting money, while her malevolent voice over intones an order to repent. Sr. Brigid is a one-note character, motivated solely by greed. But think about it: is running a laundry really such a gold mine? Especially when she has to make the income support several dozen women? Sr. Brigid hardly lives in luxury. Wouldn't someone that venal have become, say, a card shark?
It doesn't get more believable. Every nun, every priest, every parent is a monster. None have any comprehensible human motives. You'd think that at least some of the Sisters of Mercy believed they were offering mercy, providing shelter to abandoned women in an age when the state did not. Even if Mullan is convinced they did only harm, couldn't we hear it from their perspective even briefly? We never see a nun display any sincere piety. Even if Mullan can't see how somebody can fall for that religion malarkey, couldn't he let a believer speak for herself, just for a moment?
The film's evil characters are not only one-dimensional, they're inconsistent. The nuns have a pathological disgust for sex, but when a priest is discovered to have molested one of their charges, they're inexplicably complacent. This doesn't make sense, but it fits Mullan's conviction that the only thing the nuns care about is hurting the girls. Would someone really choose the confined life of a nun for such a reason?
Sister Brigid watches the 1945 film "The Bells of St. Mary's" with evident joy, but she should have been outraged. In the older film, nuns give their eighth-grade graduates pretty dresses and high heels, and urge them to have fun in high school before even considering life as a nun. One student's mom is single and has a shady source of income. The priest tells her sympathetically, "We'll take care of your daughter. You take care of yourself." Mullan's fictitious Sr. Brigid would *hate* this movie, not beam through her tears.
That's another thing. "Bells of St. Mary's" was made in 1945, and "Magdalene Sisters" is set in 1964. Are we supposed to believe that Catholicism became radically *more* rigid in those years, which included Vatican II?
"The Magdalene Sisters" is a work of imagination based on facts, but it's hard to tell what the facts are, because Mullan is so consumed by his agenda. He is convinced that the nuns were self-righteous, vindictive, and judgmental; he has made a movie that is self-righteous, vindictive, and judgmental. The saddest thing is, he couldn't think of any honorable reason that a person would provide shelter for women rejected by society. So he imposes on his characters the only motivations that made sense to him: nuns just like to boss the girls, torture and humiliate them, mock their naked bodies, and drive them like slave labor. There may be a whole other dimension to this story, but we'll have to wait a while to hear it.
You know how, when you see a WW II propaganda film, you wince at the heavy-handed evil characters, the brutal, grunting Germans and shrill Japanese with coke-bottle glasses and splayed teeth? Times lays bare an artist's hidden agenda. Someday Mullan's film will look like a highbrow version of "Bad Girls' Reform School." Then another director can tell the story of the Magdalene laundries, in all its complexity and tragedy.
Video Club
Imitate the evil nuns of "The Magdalene Sisters" this month and view "The Bells of St. Mary's." The lasting charm of this classic is in its light touch; it's a casual, episodic view of a year at a financially strapped parochial school in New York. Bing Crosby, as Fr. O'Malley, is as good-natured and understated as usual, and produces "modern" ideas that are still radical, such as abolishing the grading system rather than discourage kids. The jewel is Ingrid Bergman's performance as the nun headmistress. Bergman was marvelously subtle actress, and conveys fine shades of emotion with such natural grace that it seems spontaneous. Note here, too, the minimalism of the sets and the unscripted behavior of the children, especially in the charming sequence of the lower grades' Christmas play. Today's hyper-realism has to be much more contrived.


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OSHA News Release - (Archived) Table of Contents
OSHA News Release – Region 1
U.S. Department of Labor
Region 1 News Release: BOS 99-194
Wednesday, October 20, 1999
Contact: Ted Fitzgerald
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) of the U.S. Labor Department has cited DB Cable Construction, Inc., a cable installation contractor based in Buckland, Massachusetts, for alleged Willful violations of the Occupational Safety and Health Act following the electrocution of a worker at a Peterborough, New Hampshire, worksite and has proposed penalties totaling $42,000.
According to David May, OSHA area director in Concord, the alleged violations were discovered during an inspection initiated August 8, 1999. On that day, an employee of DB Cable Construction, Inc., who was installing television cable on Nichols Lane in Peterborough was electrocuted when he came in contact with a live overhead electrical line while working in an uninsulated aerial lift.
"The inspection found that the power line had not been insulated or de-energized and grounded to protect employees against electric shock," said May. "In addition, the employee had not been trained in the nature of hazards associated with work in the vicinity of overhead power lines nor in the correct procedures for dealing with such hazards."
May explained that whenever employees' duties require them to work in close proximity to overhead electrical lines, those lines must be rendered safe for employees. This can be accomplished by de-energizing and grounding the lines, covering them with insulation or through some other means of protection, such as using employees specially trained and equipped to work near overhead lines.
Specifically, the company is being cited for two alleged Willful violations, with $42,000 in proposed penalties, for:
- an employee working in an aerial lift was not protected from overhead electrical lines by de-energizing and grounding of the lines, guarding by insulation or some other equivalent means of protection;
- an employee working in an aerial lift was not properly trained in the nature of electrical hazards associated with overhead electrical lines and the correct procedures for dealing with such hazards.
May urged Granite State employers and employees with questions regarding workplace safety and health standards to contact the OSHA area office in Concord and added that OSHA's toll-free, nationwide hotline -- 1-800-321-OSHA (1-800-321-6742)-- may be used to report workplace accidents or fatalities or situations posing imminent danger to workers, especially if they occur outside of normal business hours.
A willful violation is defined by OSHA as one committed with an intentional disregard of, or plain indifference to, the requirements of the Occupational Safety and Health Act and regulations.
OSHA is empowered by the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 to issue standards and rules requiring employers to provide their employees with safe and healthful workplaces and jobsites, and to assure through workplace inspections that those standards are followed.
The company has 15 working days from receipt of the citations and proposed penalties to either elect to comply with them, to request and participate in an informal conference with the OSHA area director, or to contest them before the independent Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission.
The information in this release will be made available to sensory impaired individuals upon request. Voice phone: (617) 565-2072. TDD (Telecommunications Device for the Deaf) Message Referral Phone: 800-347-8029.
|OSHA News Release - (Archived) Table of Contents

subset: commoncrawl


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A smattering from pregame. More later.
Mark Harmon and wife Pam Dawber chat it up with Laura Hoke
Da�Man. That�s Da�Shawn Hand. His world.
Mark got a tad choked up addressing the crowd
Devin Gardner wearing this tonight. Uniform Timeline updated.
Michigan �M�indy
Blimp reads �Tom Harmon�s a PIMP�
Jets over Saline, a few minutes before they headed into Ann Arbor
Guys named Steve everywhere love it
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EUGENE — In a bruising, MMA-style Civil War, Oregon senior center Tony Woods absorbed one of the night's biggest blows when he was flatted on a monster dunk by Oregon State's Eric Moreland early in the second half.
After taking the charge, Woods was escorted to the bench by a team trainer. But he was soon back on the floor, and then became a major force in Oregon jumping back to the top of the Pac-12 Conference.
On Senior Night, Woods and the No. 24 Ducks dominated inside in the second half, rallying from a seven-point halftime deficit to sweep the season's Civil War series from Oregon State with an 85-75 victory before 10,621 at Matthew Knight Arena and reclaim sole possession of first place in a tight Pac-12 race.
With two regular-season games remaining — road games at Colorado and Utah next week — the Ducks (23-6, 12-4 Pac-12) inched closer to their first conference title since 2002.
"We still have two games to go, and that's our plan — to win the Pac-2 regular season," UO senior Arsalan Kazemi said. "This was just another game we had to win to stay on top of the league and I'm glad we did."
Also back for Oregon was freshman point guard Dominic Artis, who returned from a foot injury for his first action since Jan. 23. The Ducks were 5-4 without Artis.
The bad news, however, was that Oregon's other sensational freshman guard, Damyean Dotson, left the game with a hip in jury in the first half after a hard fall. He did not return.
"He took a really hard fall and he worked hard to get it loosened up to go, but he just couldn't move," UO coach Dana Altman said. "We're fortunate we got a week (until the trip to Colorado), because I don't think he'd play Saturday."
Oregon trailed 41-34 at halftime Thursday, the most points the Ducks have allowed in the first half to a Pac-12 opponent. The Ducks trailed by six points in the teams' first meeting on Jan. 6 in Corvallis before Oregon surged for 51 points en route to a 79-66 victory.
"Naw," Singler said of his concern at halftime, "I knew we were going to win. I had full confidence in our guys. I knew we would regroup in the second half, and we did."
again scored 51 points against the Beavers (13-16,
3-13) in the second half to pull away. Of those 51 points, 24 came in
the paint
against OSU's depleted, foul-prone front line. The Ducks also hit 21 of
25 free throws in the second half, most of which were a result of their
aggressiveness inside.
Moreland's offensive foul on a would-be highlight dunk was the turning point with 17:24 left in the game. After the play, Moreland stood over Woods, who was writhing on the floor. Moreland was called for a technical foul, and Singler hit both free throws to cut the UO deficit to 45-38.
"The charge definitely got us going," said Woods, who took a knee to the chest. "When you do things like that, it's contagious with the guys."
That started a 19-6 run for the Ducks, capped by an Artis three-pointer from the corner that bounced high off the back of the rim and in to give Oregon a 55-52 lead with 11:24 left. Artis made both of his three-point attempts to finish with six points and one turnover in 12 minutes.
"Man, what a difference he made," UO coach Dana Altman said.
After two minutes on the ground, and a couple more minutes on the bench, Woods returned and had an emphatic, two-handed dunk right after Artis' three-pointer. Woods added another dunk on the next possession, and Kazemi did the same, on a feed from Woods, on the possession after that. The Ducks cruised after that, leading by as many as 13 points late.
Woods, a 6-foot-11 senior, scored 13 of his 16 points in the second half, and Kazemi added 13 of his 17 points in the second half. Kazemi also had 12 rebounds for his eighth double-double of the season.
Senior Carlos Emory had a career-high 21 points off the bench, and Johnathan Loyd had 12 points after setting the tone early for the Ducks.
"I feel like I've been a lot more comfortable out there, just being able to take in everything, all the energy, all the criticism around me and just shut it out and focus on playing," Emory said.
Singler, in his 110th consecutive start for the Ducks, had nine points in his final home game.
"It was a great night and a great game and a great crowd," Singler said. "I soaked it up, definitely."
NOTE: Nike co-founder Phil Knight, sitting courtside, got a standing
ovation from the crowd, which sang happy birthday for him four days
after his 75th birthday. ... Trail Blazers rookie Damian Lillard sat in a
courtside seat
to support Artis, a fellow point guard from Oakland.


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Anita Brookner is a historian of eighteenth- and nineteenth-century French art and a contemporary British novelist. Brookner was born on July 16, 1928, in Herne Hill, South London. The only child of Maude and Newson Bruckner, the novelist's family were Polish Jews. Brookner's father left Poland when he was sixteen and fought for the British in World War I; Brookner's mother, a professional mezzo-soprano before her marriage, was born in London. The Brookner household comprised an extended family whom Brookner described as being "of such surpassing eccentricity that with the passing of the years I honestly think most of them were mad" (Barber, March, 1983, p.26). The family ran a tobacco-importing business, an interesting fact …
Please log in to consult the article in its entirety. If you are a member (student of staff) of a subscribing institution (see List), you should be able to access the LE on campus directly (without the need to log in), and off-campus either via the institutional log in we offer, or via your institution's remote access facilities, or by creating a personal user account with your institutional email address. If you are not a member of a subscribing institution, you will need to purchase a personal subscription. For more information on how to subscribe as an individual user, please see under Individual Subcriptions.
Mayer, Peta. "Anita Brookner". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 22 December 2010
[http://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=589, accessed 30 September 2016.]


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A motorist faces drunk driving and drug charges after a city police officer found him sitting "zoned out" behind the wheel of his car with the engine running near his Memorial Avenue home.
Francis P. Fredin Jr., 26, of 1708 Memorial Ave., was charged as a result of an incident that occurred about 9 p.m. on Feb. 15 when officers were called to the 1700 block of Memorial Ave. to investigate "a suspicious car that had been sitting in the road for two hours," Patrolman Justin Ottaviano said in an affidavit.
Fredin was sitting in his car, which was in the roadway, Ottaviano said.
"He was shaking, pale, sweating and zoned out," Ottaviano said in describing the driver's condition.
"I attempted to speak with him, but when I did, he started crying and began rocking back and fourth. He wouldn't answer any of my questions," the officer said.
A second officer at the scene reached in the car and shut off the ignition.
"I saw a hypodermic needle in the lower console next to the gear shift," Ottaviano said.
At the time, Fredin, whose driver's license is suspended until 2022, admitted to having Xanax in his system.
He was then taken by ambulance to the Williamsport Regional Medical Center to be evaluated and treated.
"One minute I'm in the house and the next I'm in the car. My Xanax messes me up," Fredin remarked on his way to the hospital, Ottaviano said. Fredin later was discharged.
After obtaining a search warrant, police searched the man's car. Ten syringes and two bags of heroin were found in the vehicle, the officer said. Blood tests revealed that Fredin had in his system two prescription drugs plus morphine, Ottaviano added
Charged with driving under the influence of controlled substances, possession of heroin and drug paraphernalia, Fredin has been sent a summons to appear before District Judge James Carn.


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2009 Delas Freres Cote-Rotie La Landonne
Producer: Delas Freres
Style: Red Wine
Grape Type: Syrah/Shiraz
Origin: France
Region: Rhone
Appellation: Cote Rotie
94 Points | Stephen Tanzer's IWC - March/April 2012
Opaque purple. An explosive, heady bouquet evokes red and dark berry preserves, incense, Asian spices and potpourri; you could scent a room with this stuff. Palate-staining raspberry and blueberry flavors are lifted by zesty mineral and spice notes and show outstanding vivacity and focus. Pure, energetic and sweet on the finish, which refuses to let up. Grange told me that the reason Delas doesn't make this wine every year--as in 2008, for example--"is because we want it to be a truly great expression of Cote-Rotie or not to exist at all. If it isn't superb, it doesn't get bottled, period."


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Although the salesclerk didn't seem to know the stock very well, he was so pleasant and ________________ that we were very glad to have him serving us.
I don't expect long explanations, but why must his answers to my questions be so _____________?
Every time I go to the dentist, she ______________ me for eating things that are bad for my teeth.
Before you make fun of my new automatic back scratcher, remember how people _______________ at Edison and the Wright brothers.
Although I have read 'Peter Pan' many times, the _______________ characters and imaginative story never fail to amuse me.
The project I am working on ________________ me so thoroughly that I forgot to stop for lunch.
During the twentieth century, many countries in Africa and Asia made the ________________ from colonial status to national independence.
Her early years on her family's farm ________________ her to long hours and har manual labor.
The _________________ fingers of the great violinst were guided by his deep understanding of the music.
At a well-known theater in Virginia, playgoers could ______________ various kinds of food for the price of admission.
The purpose of this meeting is to _____________ a plan for encouraging recycling in our community.
One doesn't have to be a weather specialist to know that a darkening sky is a sign of a(n) ________________ storm.
When I think of all the things that could go wrong, I view the task ahead with great _________________.
Since the artist seems to have known everyone of importance in her time, her diaries read like a(n) _______________ 'Who's who' of the period.
During those difficult year, the state was in the hands of a do-nothing administration completely lacking in _________________ and direction.


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My wife and I were eating outside at Kabuki early Friday evening, and noticed a middle-aged gentleman getting out of his car after parking in a handicap-designated space.
Before closing his door, he placed a handicap placard on the rear-view mirror. There was absolutely no evidence of any handicap, as he normally walked over to California Pizza Kitchen. No other people were in the car.
It's a good thing there were several other open handicap parking spots for those who truly should be parking in those spaces.


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Global Commission Outlines Steps for Achieving Food Security in the Face of Climate Change
16 November 2011: The Commission on Sustainable Agriculture and Climate Change, an independent commission of scientists, has released a summary for policy makers, including a set of seven recommendations. Among the recommendations, the Commission calls for significantly raising global investments in sustainable agriculture, intensifying agricultural production on existing land base while reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and reducing losses and waste in the food system.
The Commission notes that the challenge is to reorient the global food system, not just production or only focus on developing countries. In the recommendations, the Commission highlights that population growth will put agriculture systems under immense pressure. The release of the summary is timed to inform the UNFCCC Climate Change Conference in Durban, South Africa, with the final report to be issued in 2012. It also seeks to inform the UN Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD, or Rio+20) to be held in Brazil in June 2012.
The Commission reviewed the scientific evidence base to address how food is produced, distributed and consumed, with recommendations supporting climate-smart agricultural production, efficient resource use, low-waste supply chains, and adequate nutrition and eating choices. The scientists highlighted the need to focus on protecting the most vulnerable and considering better information for integrated decision making. The Commission is an initiative of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) Program on Climate Change Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS). [Publication: Summary for Policy Makers of the Commission on Sustainable Agriculture and Climate Change] [CCAFS Press Release] [The Recommendations]


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Over the heartbreaking course of Born on the Fourth of July, Ron Kovic is transformed from a crew-cut patriot to a long-haired protester against the war he once believed in. It was a war that left Kovic trapped in a wheelchair - a paralyzed veteran who became a potent symbol to a generation shattered in body and soul by Vietnam.
Director Oliver Stone is a member of that generation, and a Vietnam vet
himself. He vented his stored rage in Platoon; he's a filmmaker of unique and proven credentials on this subject. In Born on the Fourth of July, he moves


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Ingrid & Isabel founder Ingrid Carney invented her signature Bellaband belly band while pregnant with her daughter (named Isabel, of course!). Carney's belly had popped overnight, and by the following morning she could no longer button her pants. She created a makeshift band that flattened her waistband while holding up her trousers, and voilà — a successful business was born (Isabel came along a few months later). Aside from belly bands, Ingrid & Isabel also designs ruched tank tops, low-rise leggings and knit "everywhere" pants, modal cami shirts and maxi dresses, and other essential women's maternity clothing. Based in San Francisco, Ingrid & Isabel has appeared in the pages of People, Fit Pregnancy, and many other household-name publications since its 2003 debut.
Sleek wardrobe staples that'll flatter your changing curves