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Click the link for daily surf reports presented by Nichols Surf Shop, 411 Flagler Ave., New Smyrna Beach
Photos by Dale Smith.
Wal-Mart at the NSB Regional Shopping Center on State Road 44 wasn't the only happening place in New Smyrna Beach for Black Friday holiday shoppers. Canal Street and Flagler Avenue merchants showcased bargains too. Bright lights and a window of a Christmas wonderland at the Pink Flamingo at Petals, 201 Canal Street, beckoned shoppers Friday night.
Editor's note: The following story was submitted by contributing writer Dale Smith:
NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- Merchants on Canal Street saw a busy day after Thanksgiving, also known as Black Friday, having hoped for a better-than-usual influx of shoppers from a year ago when the economy was bottoming out.
Please click attachment to read NSB police patrols report:
Miguel Angel Frank departed this life on earth from Halifax Health Hospice of Volusia/Flagler, Edgewater Care Center, Edgewater, on October 4, 2011, and ascended into Heaven to join his beloved Cuban Family.


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NAC around the world
The New Apostolic Church can be found all over the world. In order to give you a better picture of this global community, various regional churches now provide local information on their own websites.
Facts & Figures
Members: 8,816,990
Congregations: 60,343
Ministers: 259,069
(as of 01.01.2015)

subset: commoncrawl


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Barclays Extends English Premier League Sponsorship Through 2016
Barclays Plc agreed to a three-year, 120 million-pound ($185 million) renewal of its title sponsorship of the English Premier League, soccer's richest national championship.
The agreement runs from the 2013-14 through 2015-16 seasons, the Premier League and Barclays said in a joint statement. The previous sponsorship extension in 2009 between the two was worth 82.25 million pounds.
The 20-team Premier League last month agreed on a three-year domestic TV contract worth a record 3.02 billion pounds through 2016. Its global television rights were sold for 1.4 billion pounds.
The league was broadcast in 212 territories to more than 650 million homes and an audience of 4.7 billion people last season, according to the statement. Total attendance was more than 13.4 million fans with a stadium capacity rate of 92 percent for the third straight season
The Premier League was formed in 1992. It was sponsored by Barclaycard from 2001 to 2004, when it was changed to Barclays.
Robert Diamond stepped down last week as chief executive of Barclays, Britain's second-biggest bank by assets, after it admitted rigging a key interest rate.


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Hi Everyone,
I know am pregnant cause I been tested and all. But lately I wake up in the middle of the night really hot!. It kind of scares me, because I also have days where I have no symptoms of been pregnant. Also I'll show and next day, I'll have a smaller belly. I don't get too hungry at all. I have an Ultrasound due on the 5th. I hope everything is okay. Does this happen to anyone?


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A minister friend once told me that God does not complicate His Word. We do.
Stories this photo appears in:
Spiritually Speaking….. God Will Not be Pimped
One universal factoid is that all religions of the earth demand prayer and sacrifice to some degree in order to find spiritual well being and eternal life.


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Recent evidence indicates that the prevalence of sleep-disordered breathing is remarkably high (24% for men and 9% for women) and that the public health burden attributable to sleep-disordered breathing is substantial. This investigation examines current and former cigarette smoking as potential risk factors for sleep-disordered breathing.
Data were from 811 adults enrolled in the University of Wisconsin Sleep Cohort Study, Madison. The Sleep Cohort Study is a longitudinal, epidemiologic study that uses nocturnal polysomnography to investigate sleep-disordered breathing and other disorders of sleep. The presence and severity of sleep-disordered breathing was quantified by the frequency of apneas and hypopneas per hour of sleep.
Logistic regression analyses were used to control for potential confounding factors. Compared with never smokers, current smokers had a significantly greater risk of snoring (odds ratio, 2.29) and of moderate or worse sleep-disordered breathing (odds ratio, 4.44). Heavy smokers (≥40 cigarettes per day) had the greatest risk of mild sleep-disordered breathing (odds ratio, 6.74) and of moderate or worse sleep-disordered breathing (odds ratio, 40.47). Former smoking was unrelated to snoring and sleep-disordered breathing after adjustment for confounders.
Current cigarette smokers are at greater risk for sleep-disordered breathing than are never smokers. Heavy smokers have the greatest risk while former smokers are not at increased risk for sleep-disordered breathing. Thus, smoking cessation should be considered in the treatment and prevention of sleep-disordered breathing.(Arch Intern Med. 1994;154:2219-2224)
Thank you for submitting a comment on this article. It will be reviewed by JAMA Internal Medicine editors. You will be notified when your comment has been published. Comments should not exceed 500 words of text and 10 references.
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Starting Unemployed
How to build team?
5245 views
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swadeepc 2013-03-25 03:10
2 Posts
Hi guys. I have played fm for several years and i want to try something different instead of only taking charge of the big teams. I started as unemployed and within one month i was offered a job at german league 2nd division with 1860 MUNCHEN which i accepted. Here's the advise i need please:
1. Only 200K available for transfer
2. Only 2 coaches available and maximum allowed is 4.
3. board wants me to achieve a respectable league position but obviously i want to try get promotion
I want to go on a long run and build this team and move on to bigger clubs should i get success here. Anyway what should i do to the team first in order to start building?? dip my toes in transfer market and look for young players?? or experienced? but budget isn't there...or invest in coaches and reorganize training?? also strugling with paying wages to good coaches...
what do you guys do when building a small teams? help would be appreciated.
_Man_u_barmy_army_ 2013-03-25 05:38
2162 Posts
Look for Loans for the first divison teams in Germany, try to get youngsters with a low wage as your more likely to get the budget down. Also maybe get an experienced free-agent (look for attributes primarily (but I sometimes include looking for people experienced in that country))to mix in with the youthful loans.
man_u_barmy_army: 50k stadium will be like a new experience for u thn
A.I.K. ± Black Army: not really:P
A.I.K. ± Black Army: in FM im used to playing at big stadiums
swadeepc 2013-03-26 03:29
2 Posts
Ok that's what i have started to do also. thanks for reponse
aka1987 2013-03-28 11:34
13 Posts
I am currently doing the same, same team as well
Just won champions league were are 5 years in, i only got the job at 1860 mid way through first season
My advice is sort the defense out, schindler is a GOD, If you dont swap the back 4 every 10 mins they work better personally.
keep an eye open for free players, i got some people in that were amazing, also loans if you have a kid that will be good or if you need cover, a lot of the time they will save you buying a player and the wages too.
Personally i go with youth(average age of team being 20 now).


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Sacrum Commercium or the exchange between Francis and Lady Poverty is an enduring and poignant image in the Franciscan tradition. Not only was this encounter important for Francis, but the idea of commercium (exchange) and, more importantly, relationship is integral to all branches of the Franciscan family. While much of Franciscan life revolves around community, the Franciscan scholarly world facilitates, and at times, even encourages, scholars to work in isolation. By facilitating exchange, the journal Commercium provides a forum for this type of scholarly exchange.
Commercium is an annual peer-reviewed journal in Franciscan studies. It will publish original research of junior scholars, and provide a forum where unpublished Kalamazoo papers on Franciscan topics can be read and discussed.
Each issue of Commercium will be available online. Attached to each article, is a forum in which scholars can discuss matters relating either to the article itself, or research associated with the article. The forum is accessible through the 'Abstract and Discussion' link after each article.
The Current Issue of Commercium can be accessed directly: http://www.sbu.edu/FranciscanInstitute.aspx?id=15936


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- Subjects:Autumn Themes
- Skills:Reading
Your Fall Bookshelf
- Grades: PreK–K
Hi, folks. It's time for another collection of quality books to use in your classroom. If you haven't already, I'm sure you're about to launch a unit about fall. Before introducing the fall books, however, I want to start you off with two titles that cover all of the seasons, to give your students some context. Because we're accustomed to the changing seasons, it's easy to forget that our small students are consciously experiencing them for the first time.
Books on the Seasons
All the Seasons of the Year
Written by Deborah Lee Rose
Illustrated by Kay Chorao
Published by Abrams
My students love the cuddly kittens in this book, whose characters remind me of illustrator Garth Williams. The illustrations are warm and sunny, and just have a cozy feel to them that's strengthened by the rhyming text. The book introduces a nice vocabulary teaching moment by starting off with "autumn," and then cycling around to "fall" at the end. It was interesting to observe how few students knew what autumn was.
Snow Rabbit, Spring Rabbit: A Book of Changing Seasons
Written and illustrated by Il Sung Na
Published by Knopf
If you're interested in teaching students about how animals adapt to a change in seasons, this is a great title. It touches on migration, food gathering, and adaptation in such a gentle way, your students won't even realize that you're covering science. The pictures are pretty unique, too. The delicate designs superimposed on the illustrations add an Ezra Jack Keats-like quality to the book, and the kids love looking for the rabbit.
Books on Fall
Written and illustrated by Hannah Shaw
Published by Knopf
This zany book cracks my students up every time. When Bob discovers a squirrel in his bag of nuts, he winds up trying to feed and bathe his new friend. Some squirrel high jinks ensue before Errol is returned to his home in the woods. Every year my students burst out laughing when they see the monkey on the last page and realize the cycle may be destined to start again.
Kitten's Autumn
Written and illustrated by Eugenie Fernandes
Published by Kids Can Press
The detailed multimedia illustrations in this book create an illusion of three-dimensionality, causing the pictures to pop off the page. Created using a mix of cut-paper and clay, they are similar to Robin Brickman's illustrations in A Log's Life. My students enjoy the rhyming text and have fun spotting the cat in the illustrations.
Written and illustrated by Ken Robbins
Published by Scholastic
This is one of the most useful leaf books for the classroom. The high-quality leaf reproductions, arranged to form various creatures, make this the perfect book to introduce a leaf-based art lesson. If you can't find die-cut fall leaves in a catalog, color copy some from the book and use them to create new animals.
Classroom Activities
After reading all these colorful books, students will be eager to bring fall into the classroom in other ways. Use these hands-on extension activities to continue exploring the season.
- Use wallpaper scraps to cut out fall leaves and create a fall-themed bulletin board or collage to bring home.
- Create a lifelike mobile for your classroom by taping colored paper leaves to a branch. Click here for a clip art leaf template.
- Provide your students with acorns to bury in the sandbox/sand table. They'll have a blast playing squirrel.
- As a group activity, come up with a list of items students would need if they were to travel south for the winter.
- Use salt dough and leaf-shaped cookie cutters to create fall leaves, and then have your students paint them. Use your favorite recipe or try this one.
I hope you enjoyed this selection of fall-themed titles. If you have other favorites, I'd love to hear about them, too.


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MANHEIM, Pa. -- A car caught fire in the drive-through of the Long John Silver's restaurant over the weekend in Lancaster County.
The fire happened Sunday at the restaurant along Manheim Pike.
A firefighter pulled an elderly man from the vehicle, according to officials.
Two people were treated for smoke inhalation.
The fire also spread to the restaurant, causing about $40,000 in damage.
A u local member sent photos of the burned car. You can view those in the slideshow player above.


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Photograph by Fred Caporaso
This is the largest Asian tortoise and may reach a straight-line shell length exceeding 18 inches. The front of the forelimbs are covered with large, heavy, overlapping scales. Additionally, there is a grouping of very large tubercular scales on each thigh. The thigh scales are so pronounced that this species is sometimes referred to as the "six-legged" or "six-footed" tortoise. Because of certain characteristics such as a broad, flattened shell, wide nuchal scute, paired supracaudal scutes, and a preference for cool, moist habitats, the Asian brown tortoise is believed by Walter Auffenberg of the Florida State Museum, to be one of the most primitive species of tortoise.
Manouria emys emys, commonly called the Asian brown tortoise, is distributed from Assam and India, through Malaysia to Sumatra and Borneo. Manouria emys phayrei, usually referred to as the Burmese forest tortoise or Burmese mountain tortoise, occurs in Burma and western Thailand.
|Subspecies Characteristics
|Manouria emys emys
|Manouria emys phayrei
|• shell usually light to dark brown in color
|• shell is usually charcoal or black in color
|• pectoral scutes extend only halfway to midline of plastron
|• pectoral scutes continue to midline of plastron
|• moderate flaring of marginal scutes
|• little or no flaring of marginal scutes
|• shallow concavity of costal scutes
|• concavity of costal scutes absent or greatly reduced
Distribution and Habitat
Much of the range of this chelonian is in upland parts of Asia in temperate, moist forest habitats that come under the influence of monsoon rains. During the warmer parts of the day these tortoises prefer to soak in pools or to remain in the shade, out of the sun's rays. During the 20th century these tortoises have been recorded from India, Bangladesh, Burma, Thailand, Malaysia, and Indonesia. Their status varies from country to country. Because of their heavy exploitation by humans, they are now a species of special concern. One bright note, as far as conservation, is that in parts of Malaysia they may occasionally be found in turtle temples.
Natural History
Little is known about the day-to-day life of this species. In the wild these large tortoises are chiefly herbivorous. Much of the recent natural history information has been compiled by Ed Moll of the IUCN/SSC Tortoise and Freshwater Turtle Specialist Group.
Status in Captivity
At various times in the exotic pet trade in the U.S. one or the other subspecies of Manouria emys was more readily available to zoos and hobbyists. In 1979 Wirot, in his book Turtles of Thailand, referred to Manouria emys phayrei as Geochelone nutapundi, as he was apparently unaware of Blyth's earlier description and classification of this taxa. Since Manouria (Geochelone) emys phayrei was the more commonly imported of the two during the 1970's and 1980's, many authors writing about captive individuals in the late 1970's and early 1980's, referred to these animals as Geochelone nutapundi or "nutapundi" phase.
Captive Management
Asian brown tortoises were first bred in captivity at the Honolulu Zoo in 1978 after they were moved to large, tree shaded, grassed outdoor enclosures with natural mud wallows (soak holes). Specimens of both subspecies continue to breed well at the Honolulu Zoo to this day. The initial success at Honolulu was quickly followed by a zoo in Holland keeping their tortoises under large greenhouse conditions. Successful breeding of Asian brown tortoises has more recently occurred at the Fort Worth and Toledo Zoos.
Behavior of Female Prior to, During, and After Egg Laying
Several days before a female is ready to lay she will gather surface leaf litter. By back sweeping this material with her forelimbs from as far as 30 feet away, she constructs a large nest mound. Just before laying, she will enter the mound headfirst to further shape it to her needs. Next, she will exit the mound and place her cloaca over the shallow depression in the earth below the center of the mound and lay up to 51 eggs. When the laying is completed, with her rear feet she will gently cover the eggs with a shallow layer of earth creating a small mound within the large mound of earth, leaves, and debris. Next, through back sweeping with her forelegs, the female adds to this initial protective cover. She may continue this activity for up to several more days, creating a nest that may rise to over 2 1/2 feet in height and over 5 feet in width.
Amazingly, the female will guard the nest against all intruders for up to two or three days. She will push away any perceived predator from the nest with the front of her shell. If that technique doesn't stop the predator or if the predator moves in a manner too quickly to be dealt with effectively, the female tortoise will move to the top of the mound and lie flat on the top of the nest with her limbs extended out and downward, thus making digging into the nest more difficult. If the predator digs out one side of the nest, the female tortoise will often move to that area and back sweep additional material into the new opening. The unique guarding behavior only lasts several days and then the female Asian brown tortoise totally loses interest in the nest mound. These behaviors, first documented at the Honolulu Zoo, have since been recorded in a number of captive collections where reproduction has occurred under simulated natural conditions.
It is interesting to speculate about the evolutionary significance of this nest mounding and egg guarding behavior. A female of this species lays an egg clutch that is larger than recorded for any other tortoise species. Also, according to the existing data I have compiled from the different collections where females have produced eggs, they lay but once a year or in some instances, less frequently. A tortoise, even a relatively large tortoise, moves too slowly and awkwardly to fend off a monitor lizard, mongoose or other mammalian predator for any substantial period of time. However, with the help of frequent downpours, she may be able to temporarily confuse a passing predator. After several heavy rainstorms, her nest may very well look and smell like any other pile of forest leaf litter. This instinctive set of rather complex nest mounding and egg guarding may influence the odds in favor of her substantial genetic investment.
Suggested Reading
Ernst, Carl H. and Roger W. Barbour (1989) Turtles of the World. The Smithsonian Institute, pp. 241-242.
McKeown, S., J. O. Juvik and D. E. Meier (1982) Observations on the Reproductive Biology of the Land Tortoises Geochelone emys and Geochelone yniphora in the Honolulu Zoo. Zoo Biology 1:223-235.
Pritchard, Peter C. H. (1979) Encyclopedia of Turtles. T.F.H., Inc. pp. 311-314.
Swingland, Ian R. and Michael W. Klemens (1989) The Conservation Biology of Tortoises. IUCN-The World Conservation Union, pp. 119-120.
Originally published in the Tortuga Gazette 33(6): 3-5, June 1990


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Police wait for ballistics testing in death of teen
Rhett Goldizen
STEPHENSON — Frederick County sheriff's deputies continue the search for two men who were allegedly involved in the shooting of a local teen.
Although no new details have emerged in the case, Capt.…
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Baltimore City officials are trying to contact city employees whose information was compromised when a box was found tossed on a street containing vital and personal employee information.
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Kittitas County spans from Snoqualmie Pass in the Cascade mountain range, through the towns of Easton, Roslyn and Cle Elum, through the county seat in Ellensburg, and onto Vantage and the Columbia River, following the transportational artery of Interstate 90 (I-90). The county is divided into two distinct regions, the "Northern" part, or "Upper County" as residents refer to it, is shown in green below. This is the primary coverage area for the Northern Kittitas County Tribune, the Upper County's Very Own Newspaper. The "Lower County", or "Kittitas Valley" as it is also known, is shown in tan. Click for Useful Area Information Links
|Explore! Kittitas County Visitor's & Newcomer's Guide
Fresh editions printed annually for a Memorial Day Weekend release


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Goodhew Outdoortech Quarter - 2 Pack - Men's
Retailers' Descriptions
Here's what other sites are saying:
The best thing about the Goodhew Men's Quarter Running Sock is that the natural and synthetic blend offers necessary breathability and moisture-control. The second best thing is that you get two pairs.
- Backcountry.com
Goodhew Men's Outdoortech Quarter - 2 Pack
previously retailed for:
$12.48 - $26.95
$12.48 - $26.95
The Goodhew Men's Outdoortech Quarter - 2 Pack is not available from the stores we monitor. It was last seen December 1, 2014 at Backcountry.com.
If you're looking for a new running sock, check out the best reviewed current models.


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4 posts tagged with beer and alcoholism.
Displaying 1 through 4 of 4. Subscribe:
Functional alcoholism and family life.
Functional alcoholism and family life. [more inside]
I drink 12 beers a week, am I an alcoholic?
I drink 12 beers a week, am I an alcoholic? [more inside]
Does my body need the booze?
You could call me an alcoholic in that I have drunk nearly every day for ten years. I am 34 years old. I am thin and healthy looking. Because I'm asking in part for medical advice I want to be very specific about the amount I drink. [more inside]
I have a drinking problem. Now what?
My girlfriend says that she's going to leave me at the end of the week if I don't attempt to seek help for my drinking problem. Now what? [more inside]
Page: 1


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We are seeking well-written, interesting submissions of 800-2,000 words on the themes below, including summaries and/or excerpts of recently completed research, new publications, and work in progress.
Civil Liberties, Human Rights, and Terrorism
The terrorist bombings in London, Madrid, New York, and Washington, DC since 2001 have led many countries to reassess the appropriate balance between civil liberties and national security. In consolidated democracies, such as the United Kingdom and the United States, the exigency of fighting terrorism has led some to question whether extensive protection of civil liberties and human rights can co-exist with the measures governments need to implement in order to protect the innocent majority from terrorists that wish to harm them. For example, many argue that in an era where terrorist organizations have a global reach, policies such the USA Patriot Act in the US and strengthening the Prevention of Terrorism Act in the UK are vital for addressing the new challenges terrorists pose. Others, alternatively, view these policies as unnecessary infringements on basic democratic freedoms. Similarly, some contend that in many fragile democracies, governments have employed the fear of terrorism as a deliberate tool for reversing previous democratic reforms. More broadly, while terrorism is a violation of human rights, a number of observers maintain that many countries unjustifiably violate other human rights, such as freedom from torture, in the name of fighting terrorism, either directly or indirectly through rendition to less democratic countries. Finally, some claim the complexity of US Anti-Terrorism Certification Rules complicate the ability of the US Government and US-based NGOs to work with civil society organizations abroad, thus impeding efforts to promote political reform overseas.
This issue of Democracy and Society will explore how nations are reexamining the balance between protecting individual freedom and ensuring national security in an age of global terrorism. We welcome submissions that explore how consolidated democracies, fragile democracies, and non-democracies are addressing this issue. Moreover, we also are interested in submissions that analyze how these policy changes are affecting foreign assistance programs, especially those seeking to encourage democratic changes abroad.
Please email submissions (MS Word preferred) to firstname.lastname@example.com. Endnotes preferred. Please include your name, department or organization, title, and contact information.


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By the time Lorraine Accardo entered the picture, the car wreck had happened, the legal settlement had been reached and the proceeds long spent.
The problem is that the money wasn't spent on the 5-year-old boy who had been hit by the car. His brain and his legs had been damaged and his parents were neglecting his medical care.
In such cases of abuse and neglect, the courts often are called in to rule on what is best for the child. But the priorities and agendas of the courts, the parents and the state's social workers do not necessarily conform to the best interests of the child.
At this point someone like Accardo gets involved. Accardo volunteers as a Court Appointed Child Advocate or CASA.
"After Katrina, I needed to do some type of volunteer work that was meaningful, " she says.
"The children are the most vulnerable in our society, " she says. "They have rights, but people's concepts of children's rights are really kind of primitive."
Taking on tough challenges
CASA is a nationwide program aimed at ensuring that juvenile judges have the information they need to rule in the best interests of children.
"It's important because we are the voice for these children, " said Dellona Davis, the executive director of CASA New Orleans.
"CASA is the only agency who these children have a one-on-one relationship with. Also, the judges really appreciate the CASA volunteers because often they can provide information others might have missed because of their work load, " Davis said.
This is taxing work, Davis and Accardo concede.
Volunteers spend 12 to 15 hours a month talking to the child's parents, foster parents, teachers, physicians and other relatives to get some sense of what would be best for the child. Those options can range from foster care and adoption to reinstatement of parental rights for the child's biological parents. Based on this research, the CASA will make a recommendation to the court.
This can be gut-wrenching work in that volunteers can come into direct contact with children who have been victims of unspeakable abuse. Accardo's young charge has had developmental difficulties as a result of the accident and subsequent lack of care.
Finding great rewards
Work as a CASA also can be thrilling. That's what Accardo emphasizes. The child she worked with was adopted into a loving home.
"The child himself was so amazing. He had this quality of happiness in him despite all that had happened to him, " Accardo said.
"It brought tears to my eyes. That's the redeeming part of this work."
. . . . . . .
CASA is in need of volunteer advocates and financial donors. For information, call 522-1962 or e-mail firstname.lastname@example.com.
Lolis Eric Elie can be reached at firstname.lastname@example.com or 504.826.3330.


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Northbound U.S. 17 near Doar Road re-opened late Saturday night after a one-car fatal accident.
The two northbound lanes of the highway were shut at about 10 p.m. because officials were concerned that pilings supporting a bridge over Awendaw Creek may have been damaged by the accident.
Officials said they were not sure when the northbound lanes would re-open. However, about an hour later, the Charleston County Sheriff's Office said the lanes were again open.
Divers found one person dead inside a car flipped upside down in Awendaw Creek, he said.
The identity of the person was not immediately available, officials said.
Officials searched the area to rule out the possibility that others were in the car. So far, no other bodies have been found, Brokaw said.
The incident, which happened at about 4:47 p.m., blocked traffic on U.S. 17 in both directions for several hours.
Southbound U.S. 17 at Awendaw Creek was re-opened at about 10 p.m.
A DOT spokesman could not be reached for comment.
The car came to rest in the creek in about four-feet of water.
A Coast Guard helicopter crew assisted in the search for others who might have been in the car. The South Carolina Department of Natural Resources, Charleston County Volunteer Rescue Squad and Awendaw, Mount Pleasant and Isle of Palms fire departments also assisted.


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on August 27, 2012 - 8:30 PM
, updated September 4, 2012 at 5:58 PM
2012 News football polls
State classification is in parentheses; first-place votes in brackets; *-tie in points.
Team (Class) Rec. Pts.
1. Orchard Park (AA) [9] 1-0 98
2. Sweet Home (A) 1-0 79
3. Jamestown * (AA) 1-0 62
3. St. Joe's * 1-0 62
3. Timon-St. Jude * [1] 1-0 62
6. Canisius 1-0 54
7. McKinley (A) 1-0 32
8. Clarence (AA) 1-0 29
9. West Seneca East (A) 1-0 28
10. Grand Island *(A) 1-0 10
10. Williamsville South *(A) 0-1 10
Others receiving votes (with points): Williamsville East (A) 7, Lancaster (AA) 6, West Seneca West (AA) 5, St. Francis 3, Starpoint (A) 2, Lockport (AA) 1.
2012 large school pollsters: Sean Bruso (North Tonawanda assistant), Jim Craig (official), Dick Gallagher (WNY High School Sports), Doug Hartmayer (official), John Lewis (Connolly Cup), Larry Michael (official), John Rutkowski (official), Bob Schreck (official), Paul Trzybinski (official) and Keith McShea (The News).
Team (Class) Rec. Pts.
1. Alden (B) [10] 1-0 100
2. Depew (B) 1-0 86
3. Amherst (B) 1-0 75
4. Cheektowaga (B) 1-0 64
5. Southwestern (C) 1-0 62
6. Cleveland Hill (C) 1-0 43
7. Fredonia (C) 1-0 39
8. Maple Grove (D) 1-0 33
9. Pioneer (B) 1-0 18
10. Lackawanna (B) 0-1 12
Others receiving votes (with points): Burgard (B) 7, Chautauqua Lake (D) 4, Salamanca (C) 2, East (B) 2, Eden (B) 1, Frewsburg (D) 1, St. Mary's 1, Wilson (C) 1.
2012 small school pollsters: Bruso, Gallagher, Charlie Jufer (Wilson), Matt Perillo (official), Dennis Sarow (Connolly Cup), Angelo Sciandra (Cardinal O'Hara coach), Jay Sirianni (Southwestern coach, Class C South), Ed Sciera (Trench Trophy committee), Mark Adair (publisher, Football Weekly) and Keith McShea (The News).
How The News voted
See how The News filled out its large and small school poll ballots - and why - every Tuesday on the Prep Talk blog at buffalonews.com/highschools.
Coming attractions
. Week Two of the football season features a prime-time Saturday night matchup as No. 1 large school Orchard Park travels to Clarence at 7 p.m. OP beat Lockport in its opener while Clarence scored a one-point victory over defending Section III, Class AA champion West Genesee Sunday at the Carrier Dome.
Friday night features a matchup of a former head coach against his old team as St. Joe's takes on Bennett at 7 p.m. at All High Stadium. Bob O'Connor was the longtime head coach at St. Joe's before stepping down; he joined Bennett's staff last year as an assistant and helped mold the Tigers into a playoff team in Class A. West Seneca's schools will try to continue their good start when West Seneca West hosts Lancaster and West Seneca East hosts Williamsville East in league games pitting 1-0 teams against each other at 7 p.m. Friday. On Saturday at 4 at All High, Cheektowaga and Burgard meet in a key showdown after both teams racked up points in winning their Class B West openers.
. The Akron boys soccer team, winner of the last five Niagara-Orleans League titles, opens defense of its title at Roy-Hart on Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. The Tigers beat one of the state's top Class AA schools, Baldwinsville, 1-0, in the first round of last weekend's Clarence Tournament.
Two championships teams from last year meet on Saturday when Lancaster, the defending Class AA champion, travels to St. Joe's, the defending Monsignor Martin Association champion, for a 3 p.m. game.
. The East Aurora girls soccer team opens defense of its ECIC III title on Wednesday when it hosts Cheektowaga at 4:30 p.m. The Blue Devils were 23-0-1 the last two years in ECIC III.
. An absolutely loaded field will take the court for this year's Eden/Pan-Am Boys Volleyball Tournament. The 35th annual event features both New York State defending champions, McQuaid (Class A) and Victor (Class B), as well as the top two ranked teams in the first WNY Coaches poll, Canisius and St. Joe's. San Ignacio of Puerto Rico, a sister school of Canisius, is in the field. The field of 16 teams also includes five of the best from Section V along with local powers Orchard Park, Frontier, Clarence and St. Francis. The tournament begins with pool play at 8 a.m. The finals will begin at approximately 5:30 p.m.
Football honor roll
. CONNOLLY CUP: The top performers from Week 1 are: Adam Carpenter (Chautauqua Lake), Steven Enlow (Panama), Tyler Hill (St. Joe's), Ben Holmes (Orchard Park), Tyler Mascio (Canisius), Austin Mietz (Akron), J.D. Recor (Bishop Timon-St. Jude), Jamar Rutledge (McKinley), Oliver Simpson (Maple Grove), Andy Smigiera (West Seneca East), Cameron Smith (Lackawana), Justin Twarog (Amherst), Nick Vallone (St. Mary's) and Daquan Walker (Burgard). Coaches are encouraged to send nominations to: email@example.com.
. TRENCH TROPHY: The Linemen of the Week for Week 1 are: Nicholas Bachman (Barker/Roy Hart), Jason Bunk (Alden), Ryan Hunter (Canisius), Anthony Pezzulo (Chautauqua Lake) and Michael Senn (Orchard Park). Coaches wishing to nominate players should contact Carl Kuras of the Trench Trophy Committee by email at: trenchtrophy.lancasterelks.com. . UNDERCLASSMEN OF THE WEEK: The Jim Kelly Football Camp Underclassmen of the Week for Week 1 are: St. Joe's junior quarterback Tyler Hill (offense) and St. Joe's junior linebacker Rodney Payne (defense).
. COACH OF THE WEEK: The Week One NFL/Buffalo Bills Coach of the Week is: Charlie Comerford of Bishop Timon-St. Jude. The Tigers opened the season with a 21-14 victory over host Williamsville South in a welcome matchup between the Monsignor Martin Association and the Section VI Federation.
2012 Coach of the Week committee: Ken Stoldt (Section VI Football Federation), Gallagher (WNY High School Sports), Michael (official), Adair (publisher, Football Weekly), Denny Lynch (Buffalo Bills), Preston Teague (Buffalo Bills, non-voting), Kevin Kelleher (Ad Pro Team Sports) and Mary Jo Monnin (The News).
Halls of Fame
. LACKAWANNA: The Lackawanna Athletic Wall of Fame will induct its second class on Sept. 21 at 4:30 in the Boland Memorial Theater of the Lackawanna High School. This year's inductees are: Bill Bilowus (basketball coach, 1960), Jack Jurek (bowling, 1981), Wade Turner (football, 1999), Marty Januszkiewicz (football, 1968), Cheryl Suffoletto-Friend (softball, tennis and volleyball, 1978), Steven Korach (football, track and basketball, 1932).
. LOCKPORT: The Lockport High School Athletic Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony will be held Friday, Sept. 14, at the Lockport Holiday Inn. Tickets are $30 and are available at the main office at Lockport High School or at Sullivan's Hair Design on Walnut Street. This year's inductees are Don Dunn (Class of 1949), Ken Smith (Class of 1952), John Fuerch (Class of 1966), Doug Langdon (Class of 1971), Beth Crossett Smits (Class of 1986), Kevin Crawford (Class of 2002) and two legendary coaches, Dick Crossett and Ron Main. For more information, call 478-4473.
PrepTalkTV Sunday
[BN] the know every week during the high school football season with PrepTalkTV's live, half-hour Web show each Sunday at 8:30 p.m. Keith McShea and Lauren Mariacher will bring you highlights, interviews, analysis and features that you can find only at buffalonews.com. Every episode will be followed with a live chat with McShea at 9.
On the web
Go to buffalonews.com/highschools for:
. Video highlights and interviews from nine of Week One's football games.
. Live chats during the week with Keith McShea this fall move to Thursday nights at 9 p.m. Discuss the upcoming football games and the fall sports season in general. Anything to do with high school sports or our coverage of them is up for discussion.
Send items to Sidelines via mail (P.O. Box 100, Buffalo, 14240), fax (849-4587) or email (firstname.lastname@example.com).


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Reuters got a nice scoop with Humana CEO Bruce Broussard, who took over from the legendary Mike McAllister in January, with an interview on their approach to implementation of ObamaCare in less than 100 days. It was good enough to reprint in full below. A couple impressions:
- Broussard points out how much the industry wants the launch of ObamaCare to NOT fail. Congressional Republicans could take a lesson: the time for foaming-at-the-mouth opposition is over — it's time to roll up our sleeves and make this thing work for the good of the country.
- The comparisons to the launch of Medicare Part D, which Humana dominated with United, are appropos. There will be mass confusion and disruption in the system as outreach and marketing begin in October. There will be horror stories of administrative meltdowns keeping sick people from benefits. But it will work itself out in the latter half of 2014 and will become immensely popular. Let's just hope an eligibility screwup doesn't kill someone next year — the media frenzy will be fueled by the reporters' credo to "afflict the comfortable and comfort the afflicted," and there's nothing more afflicted than a sick American thwarted by governmental or corporate ineptitude.
- Humana was brilliant is deploying its veterans of the Medicare Advantage and Part D wars earlier this decade to the front lines of ObamaCare. The similarities between the programs are stunning and the company is way ahead of most of its competitors by leveraging their own vast experience. Most plans made the mistake of thinking "individual = commercial" when it came to product strategy; the reality is that the exchanges will much more closely resemble government business, with much sicker enrollees and more administratively complex systems to reconcile.
- Note Humana's retail strategy at the conclusion of the interview. That's the same playbook that won the day on Part D: "wallpaper" presence in places like WalMart. It'll have the same result in the 14 states they're chasing exchange business in.
Humana's CEO on the massive undertaking of health reform
By Caroline Humer
(Reuters) – Bruce Broussard took over as chief executive of Humana Inc in January, just in time to steer the health insurer's entry onto the health insurance exchanges created by President Barack Obama's reform law.
Humana plans to sell subsidized insurance plans in 14 states, including Arizona, Colorado, Florida and Kentucky, where it is based, about the same number of states as rivals like WellPoint Inc and Aetna Inc.
The exchanges are expected to bring in 7 million people in 2014. Insurers must offer plans to any individual who applies, regardless of prior health problems. The government will provide subsidies to people who earn up to 400 percent of the federal poverty level, or $94,200 for a family of four.
Humana already has experience with government healthcare programs – it has more than 2.5 million members in privately administered Medicare Advantage plans for the elderly. It also manages Medicare pharmacy benefits for more than 3 million people.
Here is a discussion that Reuters had with Broussard this week on the effort to roll out "Obamacare":
Q: What has proven harder than you thought about the development of the exchanges?
A: This is a massive project. A number of months ago the industry met with the president and he made the comment this is probably the largest healthcare project since the Truman-Kennedy era, and he is right. We are taking on a very, very large project and so there are a lot of details that the states and the federal government are working on. It's keeping up with those and being able to implement them where they are already behind schedule, and trying to keep up so that we do fulfill the needs of the public promise that has been made.
Our challenge right now is it is moving so quickly, keeping up with it and being able to assist the state and federal governments for it to be successful because I think the last thing we want is for it not to be successful. So we are dedicated to helping it. But the details are coming out and they are coming out as quickly as the federal government can get them out.
Q: What did you think about the recent U.S. Government Accountability Office report that said some states are behind?
A: I'm not going to take a different stance than the GAO. I'll just say in general there are a lot of details and everyone is working hard to get this done. The industry is working hard, the states are working hard, the federal government is working hard, but this is a big task that's been taken on and I'm sure details will be get lost in the process just because of the size and the enormous effort that is required here.
Q: When consumers decide on which plan to purchase, would you expect that access to certain doctors and hospitals will play a large role?
A: It's going to be interesting. This is where price and choice are going to come at a crossroads here. I think a more cost-effective product is going to have less choice. It is a test. Most of our products are going to be narrow networks and limited providers because we feel that is the best way we can offer a product that is going to be cost-effective.
Q: How else can consumers judge the value of these products?
A: This isn't much different from (Medicare) Part D and Medicare Advantage when it came out in 2005. There was a lot of confusion around what it meant and there was a lot of time being spent on educating both around choices and options and subsidies to the type of plan.
As we look over the coming number of months, we look at that as a responsibility that we have in educating in the 14 states we will be in. We are going to take our market point sales group that today also handles the Medicare Advantage program, we are going to expand that and they will be an active part of the individual exchange. So we are going to have people on the ground helping people.
We also believe in having relationships where people are in their normal course of life, so retail chains are an important part of that. So not only are we going to have people go to their homes, but in addition we are working with partners with retail outlets so we can staff individuals where it is convenient to a potential member to incorporate in their life.
Q: Do you mean grocery stores and pharmacies?
A: Yes, that's right.
(Reporting by Caroline Humer; Editing by Michele Gershberg and Douglas Royalty)
Gorman health group can help position you for the challenges–and opportunities–posed by health reform, designing a strategy that takes into account your service area, market environment, core competencies, and vision of the future, click here to find out how.
Listen to a three-part podcast series where GHG Executive Chairman, John Gorman discusses the Importance of a Readiness Checklist for the Exchanges for Sales Marketing Enrollment and Risk Adjustment.
Visit our website to learn more about how Gorman Health Group can help support your Medicare Advantage goals.
The rapid changes to Part D regulations make the tracking and implementation of these CMS requirements exceptionally difficult — to say nothing of actually managing to them, find out how GHG can help.


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By mid-century, the mainline consensus strongly influenced the conduct of the nation's life too. Here Henry L. Luce set the tone. The child of China missionaries, Yale trained, founder of Life, Time, Fortune, and Sports Illustrated, Luce served as one of the most influential voices in America. A lifelong Presbyterian, he remained firmly theistic, yet saw no major difference between Christianity and America. Luce felt that the nation's laws were rooted in moral laws, which in turn were rooted in a religious faith that "'man is created in the image of God.'"
Questioning the Consensus
By the end of the decade the mainline consensus had effectively established itself as the only game in town, at least to those most responsible for giving it voice. Yet a funny thing happened on the way to consensus. Mainline intellectuals themselves lived to experience the dour results of the culture shift they pioneered. They underscored the shallowness of American culture. Life, for example, might feature "'nine color pages of Renoirs … followed by a full-page picture of a horse on roller skates.'" The emptiness of mindless consumerism, the relentless quest for material comfort, the ubiquity of gadgets, and the power of suburban conformity posed severe threats to freedom.
Not a few consensus architects raised questions. Erich Fromm's Escape from Freedom (1941, 1959, 1960) depicted the masses' retreat into the security of unquestioned authority. David Riesman's The Lonely Crowd (1950) traced society's evolution from tradition direction to inner direction to outer direction. Betty Friedan's The Feminine Mystique (1963) targeted society's denial of women's autonomy. Still, the mainline's solution was pretty much more of the same: "'openness, pluralism, and empiricism.'"
To be sure, some critiques carried more clout than others. Marsden salutes Martin Luther King's articulation of the moral law built into the fabric of the universe, the prophetic words of the conservative Jewish theologian/sociologist Will Herberg, and the principled dissent of the distinguished Lutheran historian Martin Marty. He pays particular attention to the assessments delivered by the Jewish Walter Lippmann and by the (more or less) mainline Christian theologian Reinhold Niebuhr. In late life Lippmann urged Americans to restore objective values—not supernatural ones in any traditional sense, but values that reason had proved timelessly true. Niebuhr trenchantly argued that science could not control nature, and certainly not humans, who bore the stubborn residues of prideful sin.


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Microtel Inn By Wyndham Eagle Ridge
Microtel Inn By Wyndham Eagle Ridge
Hotel Guest Rating: 7.0/10
Amadeo Road
General Trias, Cavite
Hotel Freebies Available*
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Welcome to the Microtel Inn By Wyndham Eagle Ridge
Designed for active vacationers, the Microtel Inn by Wyndham Eagle Ridge features four golf courses, an outdoor pool, basketball courts and bowling.
Hotel Features
Cable TV and high-speed internet access are included in all 57 rooms of this low-rise resort hotel, and non-smoking rooms are available. Bring your cross-trainers, because there is plenty to do here. Start with a basketball or badminton game. Try out the four golf courses, or ditch the shoes altogether and dive into the outdoor pool. No matter how you spend your day, start it with the hotel's complimentary continental breakfast.
Hotel Location
Located about halfway between Manila Bay and Laguna de Bay, this sports-centered resort is about 15 miles from the beach. For a slightly more rugged adventure beyond the golf course, try horseback riding to the Taal Volcano in Tagaytay City, about 15 miles north of this location. Ninoy Aquino International Airport is 24 miles from the hotel.
Guest Favorites
Start the day with free breakfast at the Microtel Inn, where you're sure to like the numerous activities. From golf to basketball to swimming, there's something for everyone.
Microtel Inn By Wyndham Eagle Ridge Amenities
- Accessible facilities
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from $51
- Island Cove Resort & Leisure Park from $54 (2.6mi)
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- Coolmartin Resort from $26 (4.8mi)
- Mount Sea Resort from $53 (4.8mi)


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It is a fact…couples can't talk about doing the wedding garter toss without talking about what music will help them to relax, set the tone and get their guests in the spirit!
Ever since I started my wedding Garter 101 series, I knew that a post about good songs was a MUST. However, after talking to the awesome, super nice and extremely knowledgeable, Evan from MyDeeay, I learned quickly that there was much more to the wedding garter toss than one good, well-thought out tune.
When I first asked Evan for his suggestions for good wedding garter toss songs, he told me that he usually plays two different songs during the wedding garter ceremony…one during the removal and one during the toss. Who knew!? (Word to the wise, make sure you pick a DJ or band leader who knows that they are talking about!)
It was clear that after his years of experience as a DJ Evan had lots of great advice for couples, so I decided to break my wedding garter toss song post into three different posts…part one is today's post on wedding garter removal songs, part two on Wednesday will have good wedding garter toss songs, and part three on Friday will feature some great wedding garter advice from Evan.
The wedding garter toss ceremony can really be broken into two different actions…removal and toss. For the first act, the wedding garter is tastefully (or not) removed from the bride's leg. (Check out my wedding Garter 101 series for some advice on how to actually do this.)
Here is a list of popular wedding garter removal songs that Evan provided based on actual songs used by his clients over the years…
Wedding Garter Removal Songs
Dirrty…Christina Aguilera
Drop Dead Legs…Van Halen
American Woman…The Guess Who
You Make My Dreams Come True…Hall and Oates
Would You Go With Me…Josh Turner
Short Skirt, Long Jacket…Cake
Oh Yeah…Yello
Cherry Pie…Warrant
Business Time…Flight of the Conchords
Foxey Lady…Jimi Hendrix
Want to see more wedding garter toss song options? Check out these visitor-generated lists from Project Wedding and Wedding Wire.
So, that's the list of wedding garter removal songs. What do you think? What songs would you add? Leave a comment below so that everyone can see, learn and plan!
Thank you, Evan for being a star DJ and for sharing your insight! Check back on Wednesday for part two on wedding garter toss songs.
More questions about the wedding garter? Check out my garter 101 blog series!
1 Comment
Haha. I think Cherry Pie is a very appropriate song.


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Beginning with a Magnolia Street festival in 1998, FWSI has continued to partner with local businesses, volunteers, residents, musicians, and artists to sponsor exciting community events that draw thousands to the district. Over the years these events have become one of the most exciting and rewarding components of our organization's work.
FWSI present four signature community events: ArtsGoggle, Friday on the Green, Open Streets and Chili on the Green. In addition, the organization presents an annual banquet and monthly breakfasts and happy hours hosted by FWSI member businesses.
This section provides information on all of the FWSI events as well as others that attract thousands of visitors to the Near Southside each year.
The Near Southside combines an exciting and eclectic urban neighborhood with a regional employment center in a 1,400-acre district located just south of Downtown in Fort Worth, Texas. The Near Southside has everything you'd expect to find in a vibrant urban district: loft apartments and townhomes, restaurants & coffee shops, neighborhood pubs, live music & theater, historic landmarks, and a wide range of businesses and career opportunities.
The district is easily explored via walking, bicycle, car, or public transportation, and it's surrounded by several of Fort Worth's oldest and most distinctive historic neighborhoods. The Near Southside is easy to get to from all parts of the Dallas-Fort Worth region and beyond, with multiple access points from I-30, I-35W, and the regional commuter rail network. The district's central location in the heart of Fort Worth makes it a short trip from popular destinations in Downtown, the Cultural District, the Texas Christian University area, and Southeast Fort Worth.
Explore this section to see what's here in the Near Southside.


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Make your party the fiercest yet by using these Shark Attack Paper Cups!
These Shark Attack Paper Cups feature a great white shark ready to strike. Eight Shark Attack 9 ounce Cups are included in each package. Our Shark Attack Paper Cups may be used for hot or cold drinks and are great for smaller hands.
This tableware pattern is a Shindigz exclusive!
Please allow ample time for delivery. Our ship date for this product is noted in your shopping cart. Many items are shipped separately, so please allow extra time for these items to arrive. Shipping charges are based on the value of the merchandise and not the number of shipments. For additional shipping information, please contact our Customer Service Department at (firstname.lastname@example.com or 1-800-314-8794).


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Pick It or Kick It – New Duet With Keith Urban and Miranda Lambert "We Were Us" [AUDIO, POLL]
When Keith Urban was at work on his new "Fuse" album, he stated it was taking longer because of collaborations with other artists, players and producers. One of those collaborators is Miranda Lambert, check out their duet, "We Were Us." It's this week's Pick It or Kick It feature. Click to give it a listen and tell us what you think.


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These two girls, MY girls, make me laugh so much!
It's a great thing when your daughters become your friend…
and even better when they have a great sense of humor!
Join us each day for the month of November and share what you are grateful for, you can leave a comment or link up!


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When I asked for people to interview for my website today, I wasn't expecting the perfect storm to form in my comments on the requesting post. I certainly wasn't expecting to get an all-day pass to the minds of a female Steampunk author and a male Erotica author.
In what turned out to be a six-hour long discussion, I interviewed both Brooke Johnson and Nobilis Reed at the same time. This is one of the most eye-opening interviews I've ever had the honor of moderating. This is uncensored, as it was given. The only changes made were minor corrections to the questions.
Before I let the interview speak for itself, this may not be an easy read for some of you. I'm not sorry for this. I think this is something we should be talking about. It's long. I'm also not sorry for this. I think this is something we should be talking about.
On with the show!
RJ to Nobilis Reed: To be honest, you're the only male erotica author I know. Are men who write erotica really so rare, or am I just surrounded in a sea of talented women?
Nobilis Reed: They may not be as rare as you think they are. First of all, there are some very talented male erotica writers out there, like M. Christian, Thomas Roche, and Bernie Mojzes. I've featured some of them on my podcast. Second, some of the erotica writers that you think are female, aren't. Some of them use female pseudonyms online, mostly as a marketing strategy. I could name names, but…I'm sworn to secrecy.
That being said, there probably are more women writing erotica than men. I think our culture has begun to find female sexuality more tolerable than male sexuality, at least in the mainstream. That's why you're more likely to see two women kissing on network TV than two men kissing, for example. Men are being told now that they need to keep their desires hidden, in order not to scare people.
Another reason, I think, is because there are more women reading erotica than men. It's not a huge proportion, probably something like 70-30 or so, but the larger pool of readers means a larger pool of writers, just because most writers start out as readers.
As for why there are more women reading erotica than men, I can't say. That difference may also be cultural. I refuse to believe it's inherent or essential to men or women.
RJ to Brooke Johnson: You are a woman writing steampunk. A notably male-dominated genre. Once again, most of the authors of steampunk I know are men. Are women as rare as it appears, or are they hiding behind different genres to avoid detection?
Brooke Johnson: From what I've seen, most male steampunk writers focus on the science, politics, and nitty gritty of steampunk, right in the gears and grease, while women steampunk writers tend to be the ones who combine their steampunk with fantasy and paranormal elements, or focus only on the posh characters of upper society. I hadn't really thought of it until you asked… but there are women in the genre. They just tend to blend genres rather than writing straight up science-based steampunk. This is off the top of my head, so I'm sure that there are some exceptions to the rule, but of the steampunk I've read or heard of, those are the divisions. Prominent women in the genre–Cherie Priest, Gail Carriger, Cassandra Clare–all combine their steampunk with fantastical creatures, whether it be zombies, werewolves, vampires, or the other denizens of the paranormal world, while the well-known men in the genre–Jay Lake, Scott Westerfeld, William Gibson–don't. Now, there are exceptions, at least with the genre-blending. Fantasy steampunk is becoming more and more prevalent, however, there are more men than women, and I can't think of any women off the top of my head who write pure science-based steampunk. I suppose I'm unusual in that regard.
Nobilis Reed: By the way, I'll also plug Philippa Ballantine as a Steampunk author of note
and no fantastical creatures
RJ to Brooke: Brooke, how do you feel about the presence of male erotica authors in the genre? Is the idea of male authors writing erotica something that bothers you?
Brooke Johnson: Not at all. I think authors should write what they want to write.
Totally boring answer, but that's how I feel about it. ::shrug::
RJ to Brooke: To take it a step further, do you find you're influenced by the fact a man wrote an erotic piece versus a woman writing an erotic piece?
Brooke Johnson: It might be different if I actually read erotica, but regardless of genre, I think as long as the author is writing what they're passionate about and entertain their readers, it shouldn't matter whether they're male or female.
RJ to Nobilis: Okay, Nobilis — is Brooke's reaction to a man writing erotica in line with normal readers? More to the point, do you find men are hiding their identities as women to avoid a perception that doesn't actually exist among the readership?
Nobilis Reed: When I first started my podcast, about six years ago (that long? Sheesh) I had a few people send feedback to the effect that they didn't want to hear male voices reading the stories. I refused to make any changes to the show, and to this day I feature male voices on a regular basis. I don't know if those people left, or if they're just not as vocal anymore, but I don't get that kind of feedback anymore. Maybe things have changed.
But in the broader culture, I think the fear of male sexuality is still there. It's changing focus, evolving, but it's still there. I can't say that using a female pseudonym now is a bad marketing decision. It may not be the no-brainer that it was before, but I don't see that it's not an advantage. So yes…I think that in at least part of the readership, the perception is still there.
For example, Cleis Press still limits submissions to "Best Women's Erotica" to people who personally identify as women. They don't allow any men (cis- or trans-) to submit to the anthology, even under a pseudonym. There are two reasons to publish an anthology like this; one is if the group you're featuring is underrepresented in the genre, the other is if it's a marketing decision. I think we can both agree that women are NOT under-represented in erotica, so the answer must be the latter.
RJ to Brooke: Do you feel like the existence of sexism in your genre (and the genre of your interview partner) is a rampant problem needing addressed, or is it safe for both fields to leave it as the status quo? Also, I want your personal answer… and I want what you think the majority of your gender would say on the subject.
Brooke Johnson: Do you mean sexism in the stories themselves, or in the writer community?
RJ to Brooke: In the writing and reading community.
We'll get to sexism in the stories themselves soon, don't worry about that!
Notes from RJ: At this point in the interview, Brooke got really quiet. Then, after a few minutes, she wrote: This is a tough question.
I thought that was worth mentioning. A lot of the questions I asked during this interview are tough in more ways than one. Sexism is not an easy subject to talk about.
Brooke Johnson : I'm going to broaden steampunk to include science-fiction for my answer, since I write science-based steampunk. There is a vocal opinion among many (male) science fiction authors and readers that women shouldn't be writing in the genre, that women can't possibly write good science fiction. Now this is mostly in the adult part of the industry. Young adult seems to have many more women writers than male writers, so you don't see much complaining about women writing in a "man's genre". However, in adult science-fiction, I do think it's something that needs to be addressed, and it seems that there has been some progress in this, especially in the wake of the recent SFWA mess.
But I think that, for a time, women are going to be vastly underrepresented among science-fiction authors, especially in traditional publishing. As to why that is… maybe the number of men who write science fiction dwarf the women who write it. Maybe a lot of that "women can't write science fiction" mentality is still prevalent in the acquisitions editors at publishing houses. I don't know. It could be because women are more likely to include romance subplots (which I've had complaints for including in my books), or that they're more likely to write soft science fiction that focuses more on the people instead of the science, which publishers and readers don't want.
It's like Nobilis said about erotica authors being primarily female. The primary readers of erotica are female, so it makes sense that females would hold the majority of erotica authorship. I'd say the opposite is true with science fiction. Men are more likely to read science fiction than women, so it makes sense that there would be more men writers in the genre.
However, that doesn't mean men should be excluded from writing erotica and women excluded from writing science-fiction. Therein lies the problem.
But I think it's a problem that's slowly going to go away. And maybe that's the optimist in me, but I think self-publishing and Indie publishing is changing those gender divides among authors in certain genres.
RJ to Nobilis: Do you feel like the existence of sexism in your genre (and the genre of your interview partner) is a rampant problem needing addressed, or is it safe for both fields to leave it as the status quo? Also, I want your personal answer… and I want what you think the majority of your gender would say on the subject.
Nobilis Reed: My answer is the same whether it's science fiction or erotica.
It is my firm belief that people should be allowed to have preferences, both in what they read, and what they create. If a comic book artist wants to create images of unnaturally buxom superheoines, and put them in spine-cracking poses, he should be able to do that. And if a comic book reader wants to read those books, then there should be a means for him to do that, as well. Additionally, someone who doesn't like that sort of art should be able to easily find comic books that don't feature that kind of art.
That's my ideal. That creators can create what they want, and consumers can consume what they want.
To me, the problem with sexism in fiction (of any sort, whether text, or comic books, or whatever) that we see out there often boils down not to who is allowed to produce or consume, but who's widely published and who's popular, both of which influence the other. Things that are widely published have a greater opportunity to be popular, and things that are popular will get widely published. There is a vocal minority out there who get very angry that blatantly sexist material is popular and widely published. When they complain that it's popular and widely published, there's an equally vocal minority that immediately stands up to defend their preference, who can't stand the idea that what they prefer would not be popular and widely published.
Given the synergistic relationship between "popular" and "widely published" there's a great deal of inertia around what sort of material becomes popular and widely published.
Any effort to make change on a short term would need to be very forceful and as a result, would do a great deal of damage. There are some who would say that this is the right course of action; if the only way to change the system would be to wreck it and rebuild it again, then let's get out the sledgehammers. Others would say that everything's just fine, or else that any effort to change things would be pointless.
My opinion is in the middle. To me, there are three ways to influence popular culture:
- 1: Create what needs to be.*
- 2: Support other people who create what needs to be. Buy their stuff, review it, promote it.
- 3: Respect others who create what they believe needs to be.
*The first part can include criticism of what other people create
The second part is where the real change happens. When people are vocal about what they like.
When people are vocal about what they like, others are more likely to look it up, check it out, and that's what makes things more popular. As they become more popular, they become more widely published, and it all starts turning the wheels and creating change.
The third part is vitally important. If you don't respect a creator's right to have preferences, why should the creator respect yours?
RJ to Nobilis: We've established sexism exists in your genres. We've touched on why, and we've talked a little about what sort of changes would need to be made to get rid of it. However, no subject is without benefits and disadvantages. Sexist exists for a reason, be it a historical reason (such as survival) or a cultural reason. What do you think the worst element of sexism is both steampunk and in erotica? Then…. reverse it. What good thing has come because of sexism in both of these genres?
Nobilis Reed: The worst thing about sexism in erotica is when it creates ideals that are hard to live up to in real life. We can't all have billionaire boyfriends whose psyches can be molded with passive-aggressive manipulation. We can't all have eighteen-year-old girlfriends with gigantic boobs and no gag reflex. This is a specific case of the broader rule, that things fall apart when people can't separate reality from fantasy.
Another bad thing about sexism in any genre, any medium, is when people think that just because their gender isn't recognized, that they should change what they write in order to be popular and widely published. The best stories happen when you write what needs to be, rather than what you think people want you to write.
One good thing that comes from sexism is that many people have an easier time finding things that speak to their interests. People who want fantastic worlds with plenty of romance know they can find it in most urban fantasy. People who want maverick heroes bucking the system to save the world from dirty foreigners can usually find it in techno-thrillers.
RJ to Brooke: We've established sexism exists in your genres. We've touched on why, and we've talked a little about what sort of changes would need to be made to get rid of it. However, no subject is without benefits and disadvantages. Sexist exists for a reason, be it a historical reason (such as survival) or a cultural reason. What do you think the worst element of sexism is both steampunk and in erotica? Then…. reverse it. What good thing has come because of sexism in both of these genres?
Brooke Johnson: I think the worst thing about the sexism in science fiction is the view that science fiction written by women is somehow lesser, inferior. It's discounted, even if the writing is on par or better than the other science fiction out there. And I think this is a bit of a follow up of what we've already been talking about. Some people will see male erotica writers as inferior to female erotica writers, for whatever reason, just as some will see female science fiction writers as inferior to their male colleagues. The opinion that one sex has a better understanding of the genre is ludicrous, in my opinion, but readers and writers perpetuate the myth, especially if they feel like the other sex is undermining what the genre is supposed to be.
I'll admit, when I first started writing steampunk, I felt like the current female authors were undermining what steampunk was supposed to be, filling it with werewolves and vampires and slapping gears and corsets on everything that moved. To me, that wasn't steampunk, and my book was a sort of retaliation against that. I don't know if I wanted to prove that women could write "real" steampunk, or if I was just frustrated because I couldn't find the kind of steampunk I wanted to read. But I definitely looked down on other female authors; they were the ones dirtying the genre with their paranormal creatures and half-assed attempts at trying to fit into the genre by tossing the story into a Victorian setting and adding a few gears for good measure. I've since come to appreciate the paranormal and fantasy steampunk subgenres, but at first, I was upset that these women were ruining my definition of what steampunk was. I can see why the male writers in the genre would be just as miffed as I was. These women changed the genre.
And that's where the positive spin comes in, I think. These women did in fact change the genre, even though they were looked down upon and disregarded for their impure version of steampunk. An entirely new subgenre exists now, and it's created the opportunity for more deviation from "normal" steampunk. And I don't know if these women created these stories in response to the science-based steampunk of male writers, if they were retaliating against the sexism in science-fiction by writing THEIR stories, the ones THEY wanted to read (just as I was retaliating against them), but they've since carved a new place in steampunk, and they belong there. Some will still see their books as inferior, but readers have come out in favor of their books. There is an audience for it, and no one can deny that.
Nobilis Reed: I agree entirely. Not only with your conclusion, but your initial reaction; I think that's a natural feeling to have.
Any group that comes along and starts creating in a pre-existing genre, whether it's women or people of color or whatever, are going to bring their perspectives to that creation, and enrich it. It's only seen as a dilution if you believe that culture is a finite thing; that there's only so
…only so much attention to go around, that if something you don't like becomes popular then by definition something you do like will cease to exist. That might have been true twenty years ago, but it's not anymore.
Culture is no longer finite.
Brooke Johnson: I agree with what he said about authors changing what they write in order to fit what's popular. For example, if I had let the state of steampunk influence me whenever I sat down to write my first steampunk novel, I wouldn't have written what I did. I'm a woman, so the only thing I can write is steampunk fantasy, or paranormal steampunk. I can't write scientific steampunk because that's the man's area of expertise. The thought is ludicrous, but I've seen it happen. I've seen young authors discouraged from writing in a certain genre because of their sex, rejected not because of their talent, but because their name fits a certain gender. My time in college was full of this. I was often ridiculed for writing science fiction because I was female. The males in my writing circles would refer to my writing as derivative or unimaginative when compared to theirs, when there was no basis for their claims (these stories were later published with various magazines and lit journals). I honestly think that had I been male, they would have hailed it as good fiction. I can see how some people might be discouraged by such criticism and would end up writing what was "appropriate" for their gender instead of what they wanted to write. I never let the criticism get to me, but I know a lot of writers who stopped writing what they loved because they were told that they couldn't. And it's a shame.
RJ to Nobilis: Moving on to questions about the writing craft itself and how you approach your erotica. Are there any elements of sexism you absolutely refuse to include in your writing? Are there elements of sexism you feel you must include in order for your story to be realistic?
Nobilis Reed: Well, let's preface…most of the time, I write spec-fic erotica. That gives me a lot of freedom.
First, it gives me a lot of freedom to include something, and talk about it, by coming at it from an angle that wouldn't turn people off. If the original series Star Trek episode "Let That Be Your Last Battlefield" had included a black guy and a white guy, instead of one guy with a black/white face and one guy with a white/black face, it would have been too blatant, too confrontational, and people would have tuned it out. As it was, it had just the right tone to be a story that people come back to again and again. I do that with my fiction sometimes, often with questions of gender and identity. One of the questions in "Metharmea's Journey" comes down to, "If people could extend their healthy lifespans by a factor of ten, but would have to give up being "man" or "woman," and with it the possibility of having children, what would that do to society?"
Second, it allows me to imagine settings where things like gender bias, or race bias, or any other social problem, just isn't a problem. In several of my stories, I make mention of some technology or development that has made STI's much less of an issue for sexually-active people. This allows me to put intersectionality aside once in a while, and focus on one thing. It's not realistic, but then that's the point of spec-fic, isn't it? To be 'unrealistic.'
So to answer the first question; no. There's no element of sexism that I absolutely refuse to include in my writing. There's some that I haven't, yet, but to say that I never will would be naive. When it comes to creating art, the "what" is less important than the "how." How something is portrayed matters a great deal.
And to answer the second, no. I believe I can portray a society that has transcended gender bias and still make it believable.
RJ to Nobilis: To continue with the second point — do you feel that non-specfic erotica writers have certain elements of sexism they need to include? Are there any trends in your genre supporting the existence of a sexism theme?
Nobilis Reed: Hm.
I think a lot of that would be very specific to the setting. The world is a big place, and every location has its own subcultures and sub-environments. To go with my own personal experience, if you were to write a story about a woman who had been promoted to supervise a software development office, and there wasn't at least one sexist butthead in the office who had a problem with it, I'd be skeptical.
I also spent some time, in my youth, as the only male working in a hospital dialysis ward. Looking back, I believe that there was some bias among some of the staff, that I didn't care enough about the patients and their welfare. I remember one of them, in particular, counseling me that the comatose cancer patient deserved just as much careful attention as the conscious, friendly ones.
RJ to Brooke: Moving on to questions about the writing craft itself and how you approach your steampunk writing. Are there any elements of sexism you absolutely refuse to include in your writing? Are there elements of sexism you feel you must include in order for your story to be realistic?
Brooke: Steampunk is an inherently sexist genre, especially when set in a Victorian setting, so I think leaving sexism out of the story would be a mistake on my part. Victorian society was male-dominated. Women were meant to be wives and mothers, homemakers, ladies in society, and if they had to work, there were few fields to choose from: teaching, working as a governesses, serving wealthier families in their houses, nursing, working as secretaries and cashiers, or for more hands-on occupations, as seamstresses and factory workers, and they earned less than half the weekly wages a man did. Women didn't head the household. They didn't go to school to learn science and math, only subjects that would give them more interesting things to talk about at parties. Women were ornaments, living decorations, not people–at least not equal to men. To some, women were a man's property, extending the traditional "values" of previous generations. To disregard that in my fiction would be ignoring history and Victorian culture.
So yes, in my mind, I have to include these elements of sexism in order to make the story realistic. Not all characters are sexist, but it is the culture of that world, of Victorian Great Britain. Whether one character is or isn't actively sexist doesn't change the fact that most of society sees women as inferior.
As for refusing to include any elements of sexism, I think it would be a disservice to my story and my characters.
Both of my published steampunk novels are rife with sexism, from the public sexism of not allowing women to study science at the University to private sexism between characters. At one point, a male character tells the main character of The Clockwork Giant that she's not fit to be an engineer, that women are meant to be serve men, either as wives and mothers or prostitutes. Gender equality doesn't exist in Chroniker City, not in the least, but it's that sexism that drives my main character's ambitions. She's determined to prove that women can be engineers, that she has a right to try.
If sexism didn't exist in that world, there would be no story, at least, not the story I want to tell.
RJ to Nobilis: Nobilis, do you have any comments regarding Brooke's point of view? Also, how do you view her stance as someone who reads? Do you agree that in steampunk, sexism is arequirement to be legitimate?
Nobilis Reed: In general, I agree. I think there are a few nuances, though.
Steampunk, if it stays true to the "-punk" aspect, is often about the disruptive influence, the maverick, the individual fighting against the status quo.
As such, the status quo needs to be something worth fighting against.
One of the great things about steampunk, is that those elements can be realistically magnified; sexism, racism, imperialism, etc. were not just commonplace but expected and laudable to Victorian society.
One thing we tend to forget when looking back at Victorian society, however, is that much of the sexism of Victorian times was underlaid not by disrespect, but by fear. There are plenty of writings from Victorian times that speak of caution from what might happen if women were not carefully controlled.
I'm not going to tell anyone what they should or shouldn't write. There's lots of non-dystopic steampunk out there, and it's fine.
But if an author is going to take a historical element, then I think the author is well-served to understand that historical element in context.
RJ to Brooke: Brooke, you don't read Erotica, but I'm sure you have opinions about erotica. This is what I want you to discuss. How do you feel about the presence of sexism in erotica? What do you expect belongs in erotica? Do you feel erotica, from what you expect of the genre, is particularly sexist? If so, who does the sexism benefit. Why do you think this?
Brooke Johnson: My opinions are horribly uninformed, so I'm likely to embarrass myself here.
RJ to Brooke: Don't worry… Nobilis will get a chance to explain the reality versus the perception — but the stereotype is as important as the reality. So, don't worry about embarrassing yourself.
And, of course, if you have anything you want to address about Nobilis's comments, please do so!
Brooke Johnson: I do want to comment on his note about sexism in the Victorian era didn't always stem from disrespect, but fear. He's totally right about that. The few women who dared to go against society and carve their place in the world of men were frightening examples of how women could wield power. I hope to address that in my future steampunk novels.
It was a good point to bring up.
As for erotica, my assumptions about the genre are that it's written porn. Now, I imagine much of it has more substance than the poorly written narratives of video porn, but it seems to me that the purpose would be similar: intellectual, or mental, masturbation if you will. Now, how sexism comes into erotica, I can only hypothesize. In my mind, most erotica is likely the author's own fantasies about sex brought to life. So if they think men should be dominant and controlling and like to be treated like an object, they would write that. Or maybe they're in such a relationship, or have been, and want to be on the other side of it, so they go the other extreme, writing dominatrix type stories. Now, I'm fairly sure that erotica isn't all bondage and leather whips; that's just what gets the most attention. But regardless of the kinds of sex in the book, the focus is sex, and often, sexual objectification.
Writing about sex creates possibilities for sexism based on the authors opinions on the act of sex and the role of the people involved. Most people have very strong opinions about sex: how the man should act, how the woman should act, who should dominate, who should submit, whether there is equality in a sexual encounter, or whether there can even be equality. It takes the conflict of romance to its core, and everyone has predispositions and opinions of what the roles in romance should be, whether from experience, cultural influences, religion, or what have you. There is the possibility of creating a story devoid of sexism and gender issues, as Nobilis mentioned earlier when talking about his own writing, but it seems to me that type of erotica would be in the minority.
To me, it seems like there is a huge possibility for erotica to be sexist. I don't think it has to be inherently sexist, but people have opinions on how men and women should act toward each other, and that in itself can promote sexism.
Again, horribly misinformed and only have opinions on what I've heard about the genre. >.>
RJ to Nobilis: Okay, Nobilis. Your turn. Are Brooke's general thoughts in line with what the erotica genre is all about as a general whole? (Yes, we're using broad general stereotypical terms) — why or why not?
From your statements, Steampunk is easily generalized, but erotica seems to be a lot more… complex.
Brooke Johnson: I also want to add that I think romance can be equal between two parties, but from the outside, it could be perceived as sexist, even if the engaging parties don't think so. And I think that can have an effect on written romance, whether plain romance or erotica. The author may have intended the two parties to be on equal ground, but a reader sees it as sexist.
Nobilis Reed: There's no doubt that the author's preconceptions about sex will be expressed in erotica. That's a given! The same way an author's preconceptions about science would be expressed in SF, or an author's preconceptions about a historical figure's life would be expressed in biography. I would say that not only is it expected, it's a requirement! As such, it's a feature, not a bug.
As for the idea that erotica exists as a form of masturbation (or even as something to aid in masturbation) is certainly true of a lot of stuff out there, but I think that erotica really reaches its full potential when it goes further than that. When it talks about the whys and hows of sex, when it talks about the transformative power of sex, about how it changes things, how it changes relationships and people.
And moving into the spec-fic arena, SF and fantasy erotica allow us to talk about not only sex as it is in our current culture, but what it might be like in other situations.
And I agree that readers bring their own perceptions and expectations to a story, which is one of the reasons that the gender of the author's name on the cover matters to people.
And it's hard to talk about sex without also talking about romance. In almost all stories, the sex has some kind of emotional and relationship context. I don't think you have sexism when two people have a relationship where there's a power imbalance. I think it's sexism when a power imbalance is expected to be tilted in one particular way. Power is a complex thing.
Brooke Johnson: "I don't think you have sexism when two people have a relationship where there's a power imbalance. I think it's sexism when a power imbalance is expected to be tilted in one particular way."
That's what I meant about equality. The two parties understand their roles and accept them, even if they don't wield equal power. They're in equal understanding. But people can and will read into it differently based on their own experiences and opinions.
Nobilis Reed: I think that's one of the reasons that BDSM is so popular.
BDSM very explicitly is all about power; about giving it to a partner, about what you do with it when you get it, about the responsibilities you have when you wield it. Those are all questions people are very interested in these days when it comes to relationships, and BDSM becomes a metaphor for those thoughts.
RJ to Nobilis: We've talked a lot about sexism and its role in both erotica and steampunk. What we haven't talked about is the impact of sexism in erotica and steampunk on the readers. When you write your genre, are your worried that the things you write in fiction will impact the actual mentality of your readers? Is this something you've considered? If so, do you do anything to address it in your writing? If not, why not?
Nobilis Reed: Thinking about what kind of impact I'll have on the world with any given story is something I think about sometimes…but if I think about it too much, I get into analysis paralysis and I can't write anything. There's really no right answer to that question. As we already observed, the reader is going to bring their own biases and preconceptions to the piece.
As I said before, art reflects society, and society reflects art. It's a conversation between who we are, and what we create. I can't be anyone else but who I am, and I do my best writing when I'm true to that. I have my biases, I have my prejudices. They're going to come out in my writing. To the extent that I can, I try to let my better nature guide it, but I really can't worry too much about what some hypothetical reader might do with it. There are just too many people out there with too many different perspectives to try to filter it that way.
RJ to Brooke: We've talked a lot about sexism and its role in both erotica and steampunk. What we haven't talked about is the impact of sexism in erotica and steampunk on the readers. When you write your genre, are your worried that the things you write in fiction will impact the actual mentality of your readers? Is this something you've considered? If so, do you do anything to address it in your writing? If not, why not?
Brooke Johnson: While I'm writing, I don't worry about how the story will impact readers, at least, I don't expect it to impact them. I write to entertain. Now, if a reader draws conclusions about something I address in my fiction, whether it's sexism or religion or what have you, they're welcome to do so. It isn't my responsibility to try to deliver a message with my writing. Regardless of what I intend, someone will misinterpret my words.
In fact, on the subject of sexism, I've had a reviewer complain that my main character was weak and always needed a man's help to fix her problems, when I don't see it that way at all. In my mind, my character makes mistakes, as does the male character, and they try to fix them together. If anything, I want to show that no one is perfect, that we need other people; we can't survive alone. It has nothing to do with them being male or female.
Readers are going to make assumptions about my writing and my ideals based on what they read. It would be pointless to try to point their assumptions in a certain direction, because for every one reader that gets the right message, nine others will read it differently.
RJ to both: As my final pair of questions: If you could change one thing about the genre you currently write in, what you change? If you could change one stereotype about the genre your interview partner writes in (uneducated stereotype or otherwise!) what would you change?
Nobilis Reed on Erotica: If I could change one thing about Erotica, I'd ask authors to please stop using such TERRIBLE covers on self-pub ebooks. They really reflect badly on all of us. If your book isn't worth spending a little money to hire someone to make a good cover, then it's not worth publishing.
Brooke Johnson on Erotica: I can't say what to change about erotica. Before this interview, I thought little of erotica and its legitimacy as a written art form. I thought it was just porn, as I mentioned above, and I wonder if maybe a lot of people think the same thing. If I could change anything, it would be that assumption.
Nobilis Reed in Response to Brooke on Erotica: I'll bet a lot of people think about erotica that way. I hope that this conversation has done a little to help get the idea that it can be something more.
Brooke Johnson on Steampunk: At one time, I would have said to cut out all the vampires and werewolves, but now, I can't think of anything I would actively want to change. Steampunk is always changing. It's become such a fluid genre, adopting tropes from other genres and fitting them to the right gears so that they become part of steampunk. I hope it continues to stay in this weird genre flux where anything can happen and nothing is sacred. But if anything, I would like writers to be more tech-savvy with their steampunk. Do a little research. Know what you're talking about, rather than fudge your way through the mechanics, if of course, your steampunk includes the mechanical side of the genre.
Nobilis Reed on Steampunk: If I could change one thing about Steampunk, I'd ask folks to think about other times and places besides Victorian England. I'd love to see some more of the world than that.
Brooke Johnson in Reponse to Nobilis on Steampunk: I agree with him. While I love the Victorian setting for my steampunk novels, steampunk is such an inclusive genre that it could encompass nearly any setting. Scott Westerfeld's Leviathan trilogy is set in an alternate past during WWI. I've read of stories using Victorian India as a setting, Civil War America, Feudal Japan, Ancient Greece, Atlantis, and Imperial China, even future dystopian worlds. Steampunk is a genre that fosters diversity, and I happily welcome it. I'm just fond of the English, I suppose.
About the Victims
Brooke Johnson is the author of The ClockworkGiant and Le Theatre Mecanique, part of the Chroniker City steampunk novels for young adults.
Her geeky obsession with mechanical science and history is the driving force behind her writing, flavoring her steampunk with scientific accuracy and her fantasy with the rich cultures of ancient civilizations. When she isn't writing, she enjoys a plethora of hobbies: drawing, painting, paper-craft, sewing, and baking—a Jack of all trades, master of none, in true bardic fashion.
If the world were a tabletop role-playing game, she would be the studious bard of the party, her husband the fiercely-bearded paladin, their dog the cowardly wizard who only knows one spell, and very soon to join them, their daughter, who will certainly choose her class once she arrives. They currently reside in Northwest Arkansas, but once they earn enough loot and experience, they'll build a proper castle in the mountains, defending themselves against all manner of dragons and goblinkind.
Nobilis Reed is the most prolific erotica podcaster in the known universe. In addition to an audio fiction podcast fast approaching three hundred episodes, he has also written two novels, a double handful of novellas, and numerous short stories. He has been published by Circlet Press, Cleis Press and Sizzler Editions among others, and his short story "A Vision in Xrays and Visible Light" was chosen for "Fantastic Erotica: The Best of Circlet Press 2008-2012"
If that weren't enough, he's also the producer of the audiobook version of the "Geek Love" anthology edited by Shanna Germain, and the producer voice talent of the audio version of "The Velderet" by Cecilia Tan. His most recent release is "Metharmea's Journey," an erotic novella of bizarre erotic transformations.


text: Please Register or Log in to Remove this Advertisement! LMAO Defense scored 14 points without those TDS BEARS STILL WIN 26- 23 whats the problem ? I don't like the nail biters any more than the next guy, YES the D needs work I supposed your types feel the Oline is set for long haul ,.. Yes ?? Again it was the third game of the season , of a new regine What's with all those expecting PERFECTION ??? ' ' Like you can do better ??


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AS A DRAMATIC men's final at the Sony Open neared its conclusion in a winner-take-all tiebreaker, Andy Murray waged a 28-shot exchange with David Ferrer, who was left so exhausted by the rally he crumpled to the court.
CBS viewers missed it. They also missed seeing Murray accept the trophy after he erased a championship point Sunday and rallied past Ferrer, 2-6, 6-4, 7-6 (1), in Key Biscayne, Fla.
An 11:30 a.m. start turned out not to be early enough for CBS. The network cut away when the final went to the tiebreaker, switching to the tipoff of the NCAA tournament game between Michigan and Florida.


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The Iceberg style
In 1985 Gilmar built a space-age production plant in a new location, the town in San Giovanni Marignano.
Between cutting and sewing rooms, style offices and storehouses, people would spend many hours of the day there, so the structural design had to foster a warm and inviting environment, result in a comfortable workplace. During this same period, Patrizia and Paolo became part of the team: namely, a total of 500 employees with an average age of 36.
Taking a big step to enhance the Iceberg brand, Paolo moved to Milan in 1995 and began showing the collections on the runway. Today, in the dual role of Gilmar Group CEO and Iceberg Creative Director, he ensures that the brand's fashion content evolves quietly all while maintaining a distinctive American Pop Art slant. Paolo is in fact a passionate collector of the genre, an aficionado of this revolutionary and ever rewarding movement.


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"From a consumer packaged-good startup stand point, the best way to grow your customer user base is to basically wear blinders. You have opportunities coming out of the woodworks: people that want your product, people that think they know what's best for it. But you need to know where you want to go with this product, and wear blinders, and don't be distracted by any kind of enticing opportunities that take you off your course." — Daniel Goetz
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