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Sunday, 19 February 2017
Interview with Melissa Studdard
About Melissa Studdard
Melissa Studdard's debut poetry collection, I Ate the Cosmos for Breakfast, was recently released by Saint Julian Press. She is also the author of the bestselling novel Six Weeks to Yehidah; its companion journal, My Yehidah (both on All Things That Matter Press); and The Tiferet Talk Interviews. Her awards include the Forward National Literature Award, the International Book Award, the Readers' Favorite Award, and two Pinnacle Book Achievement Awards. I Ate the Cosmos for Breakfast was listed as one of Cutthroat: A Journal of the Arts' Best Books of 2014-2015. Melissa's poetry, fiction, essays, reviews, and articles have appeared in dozens of journals, magazines, blogs, and anthologies, including Tupelo Quarterly, Psychology Today, Connecticut Review, Pleiades, and Poets & Writers. In addition to writing, Melissa serves as the host of VIDA Voices & Views and an editor for American Microreviews and Interviews. She received her MFA from Sarah Lawrence college and is a professor for the Lone Star College System and a teaching artist for The Rooster Moans Poetry Cooperative. Her website is https://melissastuddard.com/
Here, Jonathan Taylor interviews poet and novelist Melissa Studdard, whose collection I Ate the Cosmos for Breakfast was reviewed in October 2016 on Everybody's Reviewing here.
JT: Melissa, I hugely enjoyed your poetry collection I Ate the Cosmos for Breakfast, which seemed to me original, strange and often sublime. At the same time, your neo-Romanticism is also accompanied by an eye for the beauty of the everyday - so that the sublime mixes with the mundane ("Washing clothes ... is an act of prayer," you say in one poem, and another is entitled "Starry Night, with Socks"). For me, I would say this was one of the hallmarks of your style - but do tell me if I'm wrong. How would you describe your style?
MS: I love that assessment, Jonathan - especially that you called I Ate the Cosmos for Breakfast "strange." In pointing out the commingling of the mundane and sublime, you nailed not only my style, but also how I experience the world. I grew up in a secular home. My father is agnostic, and my mother is spiritual with a deep curiosity about supernatural mysteries. We didn't go to church, but I would sit at the top of the jungle gym in my back yard and talk to god. I believed and still believe that god is in my backyard. That's part of it. Also, there's something a monk said to me years ago when I was learning Buddhist meditation. He said, "When you learn to relax inside your mind, you can be on permanent vacation, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week." You don't need to go anywhere or seek anything. The beach, the flower, the mountain - they are all inside you. So, yes, I carry them with me when I vacuum and put on socks. Then I realize that vacuum cleaners and socks are sublime too. So, I think I would describe my style as you have, except to also possibly add that I think figuratively. I'm sure I have driven people crazy with my constant metaphors and analogies in everyday conversation, but if I want to understand or explain something, my mind almost always reaches for a comparison.
JT: Clearly, there's a lot of cosmic and creation imagery in the collection. What themes and ideas were you exploring in this respect?
MS: I was exploring a feminine, cyclical conception of god, time, and the universe. Rather than fashioning my poetic god in man's image, I fashioned her in woman's image. It was important to me that she be god and not the diminutive or adjunct "goddess." I wanted to convey her as the origin and the all powerful, but I also wanted her to be present in the whole of everything. So, in I Ate the Cosmos for Breakfast, most everything is pretty much a microcosm of the divine and the all. That's why a pancake is creation flattened out. It's all interconnected, all divine. As well, I Ate the Cosmos for Breakfast plays with ideas of reincarnation, god birthing the universe, and god attempting to parent the world.
JT: Would you describe yourself as a political poet? It seemed to me that the poems were sometimes overtly feminist, constructing alternative matrilinear historical narratives and creation myths, which were very powerful.
MS: I've been thinking about this a lot lately. Second wave feminism said that the personal is political. I certainly embrace feminism, as anyone who knows me knows. But is the spiritual political too? I guess I resisted it for a while. I didn't want my spiritual to be political. But it is, and the more overt I allow these connections to become, the richer and more fruitful their unions. As well, the poems I've written since I Ate the Cosmos for Breakfast was published and since Trump's election have become more and more overtly political. It's hard to look at anything the same way anymore when every day feels like a new political emergency. So, all of this is a long way of saying "yes." I would describe myself as a political poet, and more and more so all the time. Yet I would not categorize myself as a political poet, if that makes sense.
JT: How does your poetry relate, do you think, to the other forms you write in (for example, novel-writing)? Are there major differences, or do you find they overlap? How does teaching help or hinder your work?
MS: I like to think of writing in different forms as cross-training. When I talk to my students about it, we talk about how football players and runners, for instance, sometimes practice ballet and yoga. I live in Texas, so sports analogies go a long way towards aiding student understanding. We talk about how cross-training keeps you flexible, fluid, and fit. There will always be something you learn in one genre that you can carry into another genre. In particular, poetry teaches me to trust the rhythm of my thoughts - to know that I can cultivate what is arising organically instead of trying to impose too artificial a structure on my longer works. Following poems to completion time after time grows trust in the process. Though, I must say, it's never easy. Teaching helps my work in that it inspires me, but it hinders my creative work in that sometimes I give it far too much of my time and energy.
JT: There are quite a number of ekphrastic poems in the collection, which are inspired by particular pieces of visual art. Why do you think this is?
MS: Painters like Remedios Varo and Leonora Carrington just light up my imagination. They're like magical beings bringing the dream world to canvas, and when I see what they've done with their canvases, I want to do the same thing with the page. I just have to sit down and write.
JT: What are you working on at the moment?
MS: I'm happily embroiled in poetry at the moment. I do plan to write more fiction in the future, and possibly even a memoir, but I think the next two books will be poetry. I'm working on them simultaneously. One is a book about a girl who is sort of half-myth and half-dream. She has suffered some abuse, and the book is almost an out-of body response to that abuse, though there are other characters and multiple viewpoints. The other book is all the poems I am writing that do not fit into that book. Like with I Ate the Cosmos for Breakfast, I'm trusting that the organizational path will appear when I put my foot on the ground.
About the interviewer
Jonathan Taylor is an author, lecturer, editor and critic. His books include the novel Melissa (Salt, 2015), the memoir Take Me Home (Granta, 2007), and the poetry collection Musicolepsy (Shoestring, 2013). He lectures in Creative Writing at the University of Leicester. His website is www.jonathanptaylor.co.uk.
Saturday, 11 February 2017
Review by Beth Gaylard of "Collegiate" by Natalie Beech, Brigitte Adela and Written Foundations Theatre Company
Collegiate is a production by Written Foundations Theatre Company, a partnership of director Brigitte Adela with playwright Natalie Beech. Original music (by Selim Ben Rabha and Matthew Daly) and lighting were elegantly worked out to complement the drama, without distracting from it. I saw it in the Attenborough Arts Centre, Leicester.
Set on a campus in freshers' week, Collegiate is a story about friendship and pseudo-friendship, as well as sexual politics. At the heart of the play is a rape, which is not accepted as such by any of the characters, not even at times, by Tash (played by Rebecca Tubridy) to whom it happens. The brutality of the assault (not portrayed graphically) is matched by the nastiness of Tash's and Kev's friends. Tash's friends scrutinise her behaviour and withdraw their affection in the aftermath of the assault - while Kev (played by Stephen Love) is the butt of more savvy young men, whose laddism contributes to the events. It's the laddism that is really under scrutiny here – the play effectively challenges assumptions about sexual consent.
The portrayal of Tash's situation (and its consequences) avoids the 'victim' stereotypes associated with those who've suffered a sexual assault, focussing on the personal horror – the uniqueness of the experience and the isolation it brings in its wake, as onlookers decide for themselves who's at fault.
All this is conveyed through a fast-moving script and excellent acting. There is humour in the piece, but like the music, it complements the story and never detracts from the serious subject – and both actors convincingly portrayed the dilemmas of Tash and Kev.
This is a piece of work that deserves a wider audience – particularly of the young people it's aimed at, so I was pleased to hear from Written Foundations hope to stage Collegiate at the Edinburgh Festival in August. Catch it if you can. And incidentally, if you happen to have any links with sixteen plus education, it would be well worth booking a performance workshop for your students, as they think about heading off for university themselves.
About the reviewer
Beth Gaylard is a teacher, writer and MA student at the University of Leicester. She lives in Leicestershire in a weird modernist house that will one day feature in a bestselling novel or film, hopefully her own.
Beth Gaylard is a teacher, writer and MA student at the University of Leicester. She lives in Leicestershire in a weird modernist house that will one day feature in a bestselling novel or film, hopefully her own.
Wednesday, 8 February 2017
Review by Robert Richardson of "A Monster Calls" (2016, film, directed by J.A. Bayona)
In what seems those distant days before CGI, Walt Disney introduced to popular cinema, with Song of the South, the combining of live-action and animation, and a signature lightness of touch in doing this was further developed in Mary Poppins. Now, with CGI, it has proliferated, and sometimes applied to more weighty themes. This is the case with A Monster Calls.
Set in contemporary England, a boy, Conor O'Malley, struggles to come to terms with his divorced mother's cancer, an apparently unsympathetic maternal grandmother, and an ultimately disappointing visit from his father, remarried and living in Los Angeles. He also has to live with the attentions, including physical violence, of a school bully.
The nightmarish CGI sequences are transformations of features Conor can see from his house: a hilltop church with a graveyard and yew tree alongside it. The tree becomes the eponymous monster, voiced in ways both threatening and avuncular by Liam Neeson.
At intervals, the film includes the monster telling Conor three stories, related in an oblique way to his situation. These stories also take the form of animations, but they are in a very different style to those of the main plot. They are more like looser, sketchbook illustrations. In the final sequence, this storybook style makes sense while simultaneously providing mystery (I will avoid the detail of this, since it would be a spoiler). The monster demands of Conor that after the third story he should tell a fourth, working out the underlying truth behind his own terrifying visions.
A Monster Calls has some excellent performances. Lewis MacDougall, as Conor, succeeds in communicating awkwardness and aggression while remaining a character who is essentially likable. Sigourney Weaver gives a focused performance as the controlling grandmother, but with her own stresses and frailties occasionally showing. Toby Kebbell pitches it right as the well intentioned but failing father, and Felicity Jones, as the mother, further establishes herself as one of our finest screen actors, conveying the weakening condition of cancer in a poignant but unsentimental way. There is a brief scene where we see her naked back, and just through Jones's posture we can believe in the seriousness of her character's illness.
A Monster Calls has not been a box office hit, possibly because the writer, Patrick Ness (adapting his own book), and director, J.A. Bayona, commendably avoid easy answers, and as an audience we are confronted with both sadness and rage. There is also, though, hope when the difficult relationship between child and grandmother is resolved. It is, for sure, a film worth seeing, and there is a depth of purpose to reflect on, not least the way stories can interpret, and even negotiate through, life's tragedies.
About the reviewerRobert Richardson is a visual artist and writer. His work is included in Artists' Postcards: A Compendium (edited by Jeremy Cooper, published by Reaktion Books, London). He has recently exhibited online with the Paris based Corridor Elephant publishing project, and he is a member of the Biennale Austria association of contemporary artists. In 2014, his solo exhibition TextSpaces was exhibited at Eugen Gomringer's Kunsthaus Rehau in Germany. He is also the co-editor, with William Pratt, of Homage to Imagism (AMS Press, New York).
Tuesday, 31 January 2017
Review by Terry Potter of "Goat Music" by Will Buckingham
This review is also published on The Letter Press Project here.
The stories and myths of the Classical World remain an enduring source of inspiration to contemporary authors who reinterpret, rewrite and recreate both the stories and moral lessons the originals are so rich in. Will Buckingham, novelist, philosopher and university Reader, has added to this body of work with his take on the tale of Marsyas, the Greek satyr who challenged the God Apollo to a music competition.
One of the attractions of revisiting the original sources lies in the way the stories are so open to interpretation - character, motivation and detail can be invented and reinvented time and again without compromising the integrity of the tale. On top of the written versions, the oral tradition can also add a layer of extra interest or complexity to the stories and these versions provide more material to draw on. In crude terms the original stories of Marsyas tell of how he found the double-flute or aulos made by the goddess Athena which she has cast aside in a rage when the other gods made fun of the face she made when she played the instrument. The satyr goes on to claim his musical prowess is greater than that of the great Apollo and challenges this infamously wrathful God to a competition. Marsyas loses and is flayed alive for his presumption.
These tales are often interpreted as a warning against hubris - how could even the most talented mortal being defeat a god? How could he be so deluded? Other commentators have focussed more on the fact that Marsyas is actually defeated by a rather underhand trick that unfairly benefits Apollo and emphasise the great skill and wisdom of the satyr - qualities unusual in their kind. A line of thinking that Buckingham has seized on in his retelling.
The story Buckingham tells us gives Marsyas and the gods he associates with a much more rounded - even modern - set of characteristics and back stories that make the individuals come alive. He's largely sympathetic to the satyr who, although by no means perfect, is ultimately the flawed hero of the book and a victim of a cold, vengeful, chilling Apollo who punishes the mistakes of mortals with no hint of mercy or proportion. Indeed the tale Buckingham tells us is essentially a humanist one - the gods are largely spiteful, arbitrary, self-centred and generally driven by shabby motives and the only sense of mercy or empathy is found in the mortal but chastened Midas - who has learned the hard way that the gods are not to be trusted.
This is indeed a story of incautious hubris but in Buckingham's hands its also a tale of the arbitrariness of power and exercising that power for the pleasure of the cruelty it can inflict. Power exercised in this fashion robs the victim of their identity and their dignity just as Apollo robs Marsyas of his skin.
I read this story at one sitting and that's a tribute to Buckingham's storytelling powers - this rips along at a fair old pace - and it's full of incident and pretty graphic detail. This is, of course, one of the other advantages of using these stories of the Classical world - they are ram packed with sex and violence and Buckingham embraces these elements with glee.
Whatever messages you take way from this reinvention of the Marsyas stories the one thing I can guarantee is that you'll be drawn into a vivid and visceral reading experience that you'll find hard to put down
About the reviewer
Terry Potter is a Senior Lecturer in Working with Children, Young People and Families at Newman University, Birmingham. He is also joint founder of The Letterpress Project, a not for profit initiative that promotes the importance of the printed book.
Saturday, 21 January 2017
Review by Jayne Stanton of "Rough Translation" by Cathy Galvin
Reviewer's disclosure: No prior knowledge of the poet or her work. A biography on the pamphlet's back cover, however, lists her credentials as a journalist and a promoter of short fiction (Galvin is founder and director of the Word Factory) as well as a poet. There's also praise for a first pamphlet, Black and Blue, a 'masterclass in poetic risk-taking.'
First impressions: Beneath the title on the front cover is a poem – or what appears to be a poem. From the opening lines, 'We stake a claim, lay foundations / build and watch it fall' to the final 'Our homes are built to go' there's a return of wilderness once 'tamed, contained' and a leaving of the land by its inhabitants. Most intriguing of all is:
'Take away it all
and what is left is who we are.'
What a novel way of grabbing the reader's attention and inviting further reading between the black end papers of this slim volume. The Contents page places the title poem midway through the pamphlet but, on exploring further, the reader is re-introduced to the cover-featured lines: they form section 3 of the third poem, 'Walls.'
Rough Translation is the poet's attempt, over time (these poems were written over a three-year period) to capture, in words, the essence of her people – the Connollys of Mason Island, Connemara – their way of life, and the familial and cultural roots that continue to draw the poet back.
Throughout these poems, there are strong links between the land and the sea. In 'Kate Connolly,' limpets are fuel for the fire and shells are 'treasure to be broken,' the harshness of island life necessitating the gathering of sea bounty. In 'On the Tide', those born on the land leave by the sea. The poem has a strong, wave-like rhythm; there is tension between land, sea and air, between waiting to go and parting. And in 'Cork', there's a raft to 'carry/ his dead weight / across an ocean…or / burn bright / one the one for / the whale-road.'
Kate Connelly, the poet's namesake, has gnarled black hands and a parting kiss of 'sea, iron…' yet it is 'all we don't understand,' and 'all we thought we would never be' that engenders 'the eighth sin – / fear.' She 'Smell[s] of earth, warm milk from the cow' too, and, in 'Naming', there's vulnerability as she 'Stepped in to/ the ocean. Shed shawl, / shape. Fed on fish' while her menfolk bury at sea 'the cold babies,' the 'infants / never named.' She, and they, are seals that 'slick the under-swell/ of deep beneath the light,' reminiscent of the opening poem where child and mother are seals 'Beneath and above / the swell of birth.'
In this pronoun-rich collection, Kate Connelly is the only named individual – and the lynch pin, it seems. In reading back and forth between poems, it seems that all lead back to hers. Is the subject of the title poem, living in a Midlands tower block where 'Lifts bring us back / to you' one of 'her children,' 'freed…to stray beyond' her 'folds of wool wrapped round' or the mother herself? Is it Kate who is laid to rest 'in red Coventry clay' in the poem 'Coventry Kids'? The phrase 'her Connemara moorings' is telling; it underlines the precarious futures of those who live on islands such as this, taking the reader back to those walls without a roof, those 'homes…built to go' (in Walls) and, in Starlings, 'cottages impossible / to sell; others let to the wealthy.'
Galvin's roots run deeper than laid foundations, though, and their pull is evident in many of the poems. One of the most poignant is Borrowing Soil: the peat top-soil that 'doesn't belong,' is 'borrowed' – another impermanence – 'This earth/ so far from home.' Home, for the poet, is found in a 'going back to sources,' of spoken language:
'These are the sources that I seek. Have yer tidied pots?
Have yer sidey't table? Yes Mummy. Yes Daddy. Their voices
deeper than any soil.'
These poems are mysterious and sensual; truth is hard-won – 'rough' or inexact rather than invented – and therein lies a magic, of sorts. Rough Translation is a distillation of lives and their legacy, Galvin's poems giving voice to those 'tongues stilled.' Words are hooks and pins as the reader searches for a way in. The poems invite and richly reward re-reading.
About the reviewer
Jayne Stanton is a teacher, tutor and folk musician living in Leicestershire. Her poems have appeared in numerous print and online magazines and anthologies. She has written commissions for Harborough museum, University of Leicester's Centre for New Writing, and has recently completed a poem sequence about life in Leicester as part of a city residency. Her pamphlet, Beyond the Tune, is published by Soundswrite Press (2014).
Jayne blogs at jaynestantonpoetry.wordpress.com and tweets @stantonjayne
Saturday, 14 January 2017
Natalie Beech, interviewed by Sonia Tailor
Natalie Beech is the Associate Playwright for Written Foundations Theatre Company, with her play Collegiate making its debut at The Bread & Roses Theatre last year. Her short plays have won competitions with Sheer Height Theatre Company and Unmasked Theatre Company, going on to be performed at Arcola Theatre, The Hawth Theatre and Story City Festival. She also works with local universities to run workshops and create issue-based drama, with short plays The Island and Currents recently performed at De Montfort University.
ST: How do you explore modern issues through the use of drama?
NB: I think it's important to examine points of view that are not yours, in order to explore an issue properly. Audiences are intelligent and it's important that you don't insult that, or leave them feeling you are biased or haven't considered something properly. I personally want to use drama because I think live performance and theatre commands people's attention in a way almost nothing else does right now. If you're watching a film, reading a book or an article, you can easily be distracted by your phone, social media etc. With drama, there's a human being in front of you, emotionally responding to the impact of the issue you are exploring. There's something very intimate and powerful about that.
ST: Why is it important for you to present the perpetrator's viewpoint in your plays?
NB: I don't think we really get anywhere in tackling issues if we don't explore the perpetrator's point of view, or try to understand why they commit an act or their mentality at that time. Plus - I think it is fascinating to go into the mind of someone who is very different to you, that's the fun of writing!
ST: What techniques do you use to create strong voices?
NB: I often use the voice of people I have met or know, to help get speech patterns accurate and realistic. I am a firm believer that character is the most important aspect of drama, so making sure you know your characters inside out will mean that they become real people in your head, and write the story themselves.
ST: How do you maintain a balance between exposition and drama?
NB: Exposition can be used interestingly, particularly with monologues. Having your characters decide what they want to tell an audience about themselves and what they want to hide is great on stage, and allows audiences to come to some of their own conclusions about your characters and story. It's fairly obvious, but I think I would just advise not to show all of your cards at once, slowly reveal things over the course of your story, and that will create drama in itself.
ST: How do you effectively intertwine dialogue with monologues?
NB: Monologues can be quite hard going for an audience, so it works to break it up with dialogue and vary things a bit. I tend to use monologues when I want the audience to see the drama through the perspective of a character, and dialogue when I want them to see how something is in in reality. This dictates how I intertwine them and why I decide to use dialogue or monologue.
About the interviewer
Sonia Tailor is a political writer, studying an MA in Creative Writing at the University of Leicester. She has organised vigils and demonstrations, and in 2007, she travelled to Jordan to make a documentary about Iraqi refugee children. For many years, Sonia was the Youth Page editor for Peace News (newspaper) and she currently runs a book blog on Instagram: @soniareads.
Monday, 2 January 2017
Review by Siobhian R. Hodges of "The Lovely Bones" by Alice Sebold
It doesn't get much darker than a fourteen-year-old girl being raped and murdered, her body forever hidden in a sinkhole while she watches, from heaven, her family struggle to cope. Alice Sebold avoids the mystery of a 'Whodunit' plot, revealing the facts at the start to create an intimate story of Susie Salmon's death and how it affects her family and friends, but with a supernatural slant.
As narrator, Susie talks openly about her killer (neighbour and loner, George Harvey) but is unable to tell her family. They are oblivious that the monster they are searching for is living next door. Although they have occasionally seen and heard Susie when they are missing her the most, ultimately, she is bound to heaven – a place Sebold describes as being a personal world unique to everyone, made up of the individual's "simplest dreams". For Susie, it is the high school she never grew old enough to attend with soccer goalposts in the distance, her favourite magazines as textbooks and swing sets with "bucket seats made out of hard black rubber". There, she meets others with similar dreams whose heavens intertwine with hers, like Holly (who becomes her roommate) and Franny (a woman in her mid-forties who becomes their guide). Sebold paints a clear picture of Susie's heaven and you cannot help wondering what your own personal one would look like. But as she switches between settings on Earth and in heaven, it becomes evident that the author has a keen eye for detail with world-building.
Even in her own personal heaven though, Susie will never have what she desires most – to grow up. She is a young girl who will never graduate, marry or have children. This is why she is often drawn to Earth, to watch her friends and younger sister (Lindsey) experience these milestones. It is difficult not to feel some of the sadness and frustration Susie feels. Likewise, as she narrates life going on without her, we get to know the people closest to her and sympathise with them as they battle the loss of their daughter/sister/friend/lover and try to cope in a way only a torn family would understand. Susie's voice is strong and genuine throughout, written how a typical fourteen-year-old speaks – she is full of life, for someone who is dead.
There is a reason Sebold's The Lovely Bones became an instant success upon its publication in 2002. The story is gritty, heart-warming and cleverly written. Although the author deals with the rawest of emotions, her omnipresent narrator spectating from the afterlife makes for an interesting read. The Lovely Bones is memorable to say the least and Sebold manages to capture the realism of love, grief and moving on.
About the reviewer
Siobhian Hodges is an MA graduate in Creative Writing and a part-time script editor for the Leicestershire-based film company 'Gatling Gun Productions'. She is currently polishing her first novel and writes short stories and poetry in her free time.
Review by Miranda Taylor of "Matilda" by Roald Dahl
This is now my favourite book. I love Matilda, the main character. She is very cute and also very clever. In the story, she realises she has magical powers. She also loves reading. She is the cleverest person in the school. My favourite chapter is the one where Bruce Bogtrotter eats all the chocolate cake. I love the picture of him afterwards, when he is happy and fat from all the cake, and he has beaten the Trunchbull. I also like the end of the book, because the Trunchbull thinks she is being haunted by the ghost of Miss Honey's daddy. She gets very scared and runs away. Then Miss Honey lives in her house and adopts Matilda, and they live happily ever after.
About the reviewer
Miranda Taylor is eight years old. She likes My Little Pony and reading. She has a twin sister called Rosalind.
Review by Leonie Sturman of "The Heart Goes Last" by Margaret Atwood
There is always a scramble in the bookstores and online when Atwood brings out another of her books; this one was no exception. With Brooker's Black Mirror haunting anyone watching it on Netflix, The Heart Goes Last would fit right into a chilling episode.
This is probably not the book to start on if Atwood is new to you – her classics being the likes of The Handmaid's Tale and The Blind Assassin. However, this new book is engaging and frightening in its close-to-the-bone commentary on our current society. So much so, I had to put the book down for a week as I did not want it to end.
In a state of homelessness, against the backdrop of a country in economic turmoil, protagonists Charmaine and Stan sign up for Consilience – an experiment in society. Even the beginning hooked me. Atwood has the eerie ability to hit the nail on the head when it comes to writing about what matters now in the world. Stan and Charmaine could be anyone. Two wanting-to-work individuals caught out by the lack of jobs and money in their community.
Consilience feels like a dream, a new slate. For two months, they live in a happy 1950s-esque society filled with stuffy TV shows and happy faces. The next two, they swap it for the prison, where their jobs change. During that time, their 'Alternates' live in their shoes in their house and then swap to the prison when Stan and Charmaine come out after two months. Seems perfect? As with a great deal of Atwood…far from it!
Very soon Consilience starts to echo the totalitarian values of Stalin's Communism or perhaps close to our own modern society of cameras and CCTV.
Soon, you have fallen down the Atwood rabbit hole full of Elvis and Marilyn sex robots, mass surveillance, patriarchy, sexuality and exploitation of identity. And look out for that blue teddy bear! There is always something hypnotic about Atwood's prose and the way she weaves her themes throughout until they burst out of the pages, along with the chilling realisation that this is not so far from the world we live today.
About the reviewer
Leonie Sturman is an English teacher specialising in teaching A-Level Creative Writing, and a part-time writer. She sometimes delves into performing her work in the sleepy county of Suffolk, often exploring the darker aspects of femininity and society ills.
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Column as I see 'em …
I admittedly cringed a bit when I posted on our Facebook page a guest column written by high school junior Caylee Godby that appeared in last week's paper.
Godby did an admirable job in explaining her viewpoints on the rights of transgendered people, and did so in a respectful, well thought out manner. My fear was that not everyone would respond similarly on Facebook.
Another election has come and gone.
Even though we experienced a large voter turnout than originally thought, we had very few issues.
The state average was around 17 percent and we say approximately a 26 percent turnout. As usual, the Attorney General's Office visited several of the voting locations looking for voter fraud and election officer compliance. To our knowledge, none was found.
I want to thank several for helping make election day go so well.
I will start with my staff.
For anyone who complains about getting a ticket for not buckling up when driving or riding in a motor vehicle, here's a crash course in reality:
In 2015, 761 people were killed on Kentucky's roadways. Of those 761 killed, 588 were motor vehicle fatalities.
Of those 588 motor vehicle fatalities, 300 (61 percent) were not wearing a seat belt.
In 2015, 31 children age 15 and under were killed in motor vehicles on Kentucky roadways. Seventeen (55 percent) of those were unrestrained.
Kentucky vegetable growers should be on the lookout for early blight and Septoria leaf spot of tomato.
As the most common diseases of tomato in Kentucky, homeowners or growers not on a preventative spray program always have at least some Septoria leaf spot and early blight pressure.
To the editor:
Before everyone gets their knickers in a twist about the president's executive order to allow transgender students to use the restroom of their choice, we should look at the human side of the issue.
I am not gay and I'm comfortable with my biological sex, but I have several gay friends and one or two who have powerful urges to express the side of themselves that is not represented by their genitals.
Tuesday's primary dealt the cards for the Nov. 8 general election. Who holds the good hands in Kentucky?
Not Hillary Clinton.
With a huge effort, she avoided embarrassment, but her 0.43-percentage-point win over Bernie Sanders was less a victory than an avoidance of setback.
More than 100 areas of Kentucky, from Calloway to Pike counties, have been unlucky enough to receive pop-up hailstorms within the last three weeks.
Hail is typically accompanied by driving rains and wind and can physically damage even the strongest plants. Depending on the extent, plants can usually recover from hail damage.
By Caylee Godby
Transgenders are being harassed by the government and our society.
Throughout history, people who are different from society's system of conformity are considered unequal and are treated as such.
A major issue concerning transgenders has been bathroom use. Many laws are already in place that have forced these valuable members of our society one option: using the bathroom that coincides with their gender at birth.
Transgenders should be allowed to use the restroom according to their preferred gender.
Copyright © 2017
The Anderson News is your source for local news, sports, events, and information in Lawrenceburg, KY and the surrounding area.

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After a broken bone or something as simple as a burn or cut, the body needs time to heal. Skin regrown and cell regeneration can be stimulated by certain foods
This trumpet skirt Jovani 31100 prom dress captures the spirit of old Hollywood glamour. Organza fabric gives it a soft sheen top to bottom, while princess seams provide a glove-like
Earlier, the only way you could have got rid of your car was by selling it away. But with the passage of time there has emerged a way that can
It is quite surprising really how many people are drinking green tea. Worldwide, this particular type of tea is consumed almost as much as water. Green tea was on American
Choosing the right upright vacuum cleaner is a very important decision to make. Vacuum cleaners are practically like other members of your household. You have to find the perfect match
This outstanding, sheer, beaded Jovani dress, style 26947, featuring a trumpet skirt, cap sleeves and a crew neckline, is not for the faint of hearted. While it is said that this
One of the natural things you can have in your bathroom is a pumice stone to help you with the removal of dead cells on the skin. Instead of going
For women who attend special occasions now and again, the Jovani prom dresses are an ideal option to bring out the best in you. Jovani dresses range from the floral
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Magical, fascinating, exquisite and glamorous are what describes the breathtaking wedding dresses from Mori Lee by Madeline Gardner. Her 60 years' experience in creating works of art and topping the
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Vegetable gardening has been found to be one of the most relaxing and inexpensive ways to relieve stress, work out, bond with nature and grow healthy food. Today, more people


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Quentin Tarantino uses N-word backstage at Golden Globes as he describes U.S. prison system as 'modern slavery'
- Cult movie director, who picked up the award for best screenplay, courted further controversy when discussing move Django Unchained
Controversy: Director Quentin Tarantino shocked press backstage at the Golden Globes by using the N-word
Quentin Tarantino has stirred further controversy in the wake of his slavery-themed movie Django Unchained by using the 'N-word' backstage at the Golden Globes.
The cult movie director, who won the award for best screenplay, shocked gathered press at the Hollywood event with his use of the word, before saying that the U.S. prison system is 'modern slavery'.
Tarantino, renowned for his risqué directorial decisions, has walked an even finer line with Django Unchained.
The spaghetti Western starring Jamie Foxx, Leonardo DiCaprio, Kerry Washington and Christoph Waltz sees characters use the N-word more that 100 times.
Tarantino defended his inclusion of the word in the script - and repeated it in front of gathered reporters.
'They think I should soften it, that I should lie, that I should massage,' he told the Hollywood Reporter.
'I would never do that when it comes to my characters.'
The director also said that slavery continues in the U.S. - it has just taken on a different form.
'If you go to Malaysia, there's sexual slavery going on in places like that, but I'm more concerned about the slavery that is going on in America,' he said.
'The drug laws that have put so many black males in jail that wouldn't have existed in the `70s, that is slavery. It is just straight up slavery as far as I'm concerned.'
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Cult figure: Quentin Tarantino, pictured on the red carpet at Sunday night's Golden Globes in LA, with a blonde guest and later in the night (right)
The director has made the point in earlier interviews. While on a Canadian talk show in December, Tarantino said: 'This whole thing of this ''war on drugs'' and the mass incarcerations that have happened pretty much for the last 40 years has just decimated the black male population.
'It's slavery, it is just, it's just slavery through and through, and it's just the same fear of the black male that existed back in the 1800s.'
Despite winning two awards on Sunday night at the awards ceremony in Hollywood - one for Tarantino and best supporting actor for Christoph Waltz - Django Unchained has been met with a mixed reception.
Director Spike Lee deemed the film 'disrespectful' and blasted the feature for insulting his 'ancestors'.
Lee wrote on Twitter last month: 'American Slavery Was Not A Sergio Leone Spaghetti Western. It Was A Holocaust. My Ancestors Are Slaves.Stolen From Africa. I Will Honor Them.'
Django Unchained, which opened on Christmas Day, sees Foxx as a slave Django Freeman, who fights for his freedom and to be reunited with his wife Broomhilda (Washington), who was sold to brutal plantation owner Calvin J Candie (DiCaprio).
Close bond: Tarantino and Kerry Washington at the after-party at the Beverly Hilton hotel following the Golden Globes
Screen success: Tarantino and his guest share a joke with Adele as Jamie Foxx looks on
Waltz, who plays a bounty hunter who trains Foxx's character, backed Tarantino's directorial choices given the controversial subject matter of slavery.
He told the Hollywood press: 'It should be controversial if you make a movie about a story against the backdrop of slavery.
'You better be prepared for a controversial discussion. I wish more movies gave us an opportunity to talk about subjects that matter to us today.'
His co-star Jamie Foxx opened up last month about the struggles he had on set with the racial slur constantly being repeated.
The 45-year-old actor told Jay Leno last month: 'It was a deep movie what I had to learn though was the slavery part of it was tough. I've worked so hard to get where I am as black man - strong and handling my business in 2011/2012.
'That was tough for me to act like I can't read, or be subservient to someone or to hear the N-word over and over again which is what I asked for because that's the way they labelled them at that time.'
Group shot: Christoph Waltz, Jamie Foxx, Kerry Washington, Quentin Tarantino and Samuel L Jackson pose together at the London premiere of Django Unchained
Hard hitting: Foxx stars as slave Django Freeman, who fights for his freedom and to also be reunited with his wife Broomhilda (Kerry)
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Woman Charged Over Fatal Dog Attack In Halstead
A woman has been charged in connection with the death of three-year-old Dexter Neal who was attacked by a dog in Halstead in August 2016.
Southend Council's expressed it's horror at the vandalism which has appeared at the town's Cenotaph at Westcliffe - and has promised to have it cleaned off in time for Remembrance Sunday.
Civic leaders say they condemn the actions of mindless vandals who defaced the memorial to brave Southend residents lost in the two World Wars.
Southend-on-Sea Borough Council Leader, Councillor Ron Woodley said: "Southend Cenotaph is an extremely significant monument which is far more than a piece of history. It stands in continual tribute to the men and women in our borough who made the supreme sacrifice and shows they will never ever be forgotten.
The people who have so recklessly damaged it have shown massive disrespect - not just to the families of those honoured by this memorial - but to everyone with relatives who laid down their lives in the service of their country.
We are horrified that this ugly graffiti has scarred our Cenotaph just weeks away from Remembrance Sunday.
It is even more tragic that the vandals have struck just as the Cenotaph was undergoing conservation works to coincide with the centenary of the start of the First World War.
This was specially planned to ensure it would be preserved in the best possible condition for many generations to come.
We have contacted Police about this act of destruction and will do our utmost to make sure those responsible for such a despicable act will be brought to justice. The tag is clearly visible so I would urge anyone that recognises it or knows who did this to report it to the Police on 101."
In a statement to Heart, the authority says the graffiti will be "swiftly removed" and the Cenotaph renovation programme will continue ready for Remembrance Sunday - 9th November.
A woman has been charged in connection with the death of three-year-old Dexter Neal who was attacked by a dog in Halstead in August 2016.
A woman's been charged over the death of a three year old boy, killed by a dog in Essex.
A restaurateur has appeared in court charged with attacking a woman with a stiletto shoe in an Essex nightclub.
Fans of the iconic TV show Friends will get a chance to recreate the classic opening titles.
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Global To Open The Global Academy In September 2016
A career in the media and entertainment industry starts here...
A man has been arrested after Met Police discovered £5 million worth of Class A drugs in east London.
More than 30 kilos of a substance, believed to be Cocaine, was discovered when officers raided a property in Golden Lane, Clerkenwell, at around 9pm yesterday (Friday).
Officers discovered the drugs stored in three bags.
A man, aged 23, was arrested in nearby Fann Street on suspicion of possession of Class A drugs with intent to supply.
The man remains in custody at an east London police station.
Acting Detective Inspector Tim Grinsted from the Central Task Force East said:"This seizure demonstrates the tireless work of my officers to track down those responsible for putting drugs on the streets.
I hope this sends out a clear message to those people - our officers will find you, arrest you and you will face the full force of the law."
A career in the media and entertainment industry starts here...
A man has been fined £1,800 for flying drones over Parliament, near Buckingham Palace and over football stadiums.
Government to investigate after some restaurants accused of withholding tips
Metropolitan Police are worried a woman from Walthamstow could be travelling to Syria with her four children.
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Fields, W.C.
Posted in WB Cartoon Companion on March 5, 2004
Famed vaudeville juggler and comic who appeared in numerous editions of the Ziegfeld Follies, where he made his pool table routines famous. Fields made a career out of playing various hapless misanthropes in the 1930s. As health problems forced a cutback in movie appearances in the late 1930s, he found a career in radio, playing opposite Charlie McCarthy, the creation of Edgar Bergen, on the Chase and Sanborn radio program. His trademarks were his sonorous voice, his love of highfalutin' words and booze, and his bulbous red nose. The last two were particular targets of jibes by McCarthy.
Fields and his nose were used quite often in Warner-released cartoons. At Your Service, Madame (Freleng, 1936) features a "W.C. Squeals" pig attempting to con a widow pig out of an inheritance, until one of her sons exposes him. Note the character's pool-cue style of using the cane to ring the door bell. Cracked Ice (Tashlin, 1938) again features Fields as a pig, this time attempting to separate a St. Bernard dog from his hooch, simultaneously fending off barbs from McCarthy, who is alleged to be in the theatre's audience.
Two Freleng cartoons, Little Blabbermouse and Shop, Look and Listen (both 1940) both utilize a W.C. Fields-like mouse, complete with red nose. At one point in Shop, Look and Listen a robotic card cheat is shot by another robot, triggering the observation from the mouse that "it just goes to show you can't cheat an honest man". From the motion picture of the same name. Plug. Endquote. You Can't Cheat an Honest Man was released by Universal in 1939, and starred Fields.
Slightly less consequential Fields gags are seen in Book Revue (Clampett, 1946), Have You Got Any Castles? (Tashlin, 1938) on the cover of "So Red the Nose", Porky's Road Race (Tashlin, 1937) helping out Edna Mae Oliver, A Star is Hatched (Freleng, 1938) twice: once as a traffic cop using his nose as a stop light, and again, using his nose as a studio warning light, also seen with McCarthy here, The Coo-coo Nut Grove (Freleng, 1936) along with a Katherine Hepburn caricature and The Woods Are Full of Cuckoos (Tashlin, 1937) as "W.C. Fieldmouse".


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Watch Life According to Sam Movie Online
Published 03 13, 2015
Year : 2013
Release date : false
Country: USA
Genres: Documentary, Biography, Drama, News,
Director : Sean Fine, Andrea Nix,
Stars: Sam Berns,
Time: 90 min.
Quality: Unknown
Keywords: Watch Life According to Sam Movie Online
Life According to Sam Movie Online
'Life According to Sam' is about one family's courageous fight to save their only son from a rare and fatal disease, progeria. The average age of death from progeria is 13, there is no treatment, and no cure. Dr. Leslie Gordon and Dr. Scott Berns are set on changing this. When their son Sam, now 16 years old, was diagnosed with progeria at age two, doctors told Leslie and Scott to enjoy Sam while they could. They refused to believe this was the answer. In less than a decade, their advances have led to identifying the gene at fault, creating the first drug trials for treatment, and revealing the amazing discovery that progeria is linked to the aging process in all of us.


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Ronda Rousey is 6 feet tall, according to this drunk narrator. read news >>
Before she was the UFC's first women's bantamweight champion, Ronda Rousey made a living tending bar. Hopefully she didn't ever take things quite to the level she does on tonight's new episode of "Dr read news >>
Ronda Rousey will appear on Comedy Central's "Drunk History." Here's a sneak peek of her performance. read news >>
It was a mistake that involved Dinis Paiva's cauliflower ear that helped him find his opportunity in MMA.Filed under: News read news >>
It's a good time to be Luke Rockhold, who likely cinched up a title shot with a remarkable recent performance. However, he still takes issue with complaints that his win over Lyoto Machida resulted f read news >>
NEWARK, N.J. – While Joe Rogan seemed disappointed that Jimy Hettes was ruled ineligible to continue at UFC on FOX 15, Diego Brandao felt confident officials made the proper decision.Filed under: Fea read news >>
In a sadly ironic twist for a fighter who prides himself on his jiu-jitsu skills, Jimy Hettes was undone by his own cauliflower ear in a TKO loss to Diego Brando.Filed under: News, UFC read news >>
In MMA, many people consider it a badge of honor. Outside the combat sports world, though, it's often looked at with a grimace. Hear what fighters, including new champs dos Anjos and Jedrzejczyk, hav read news >>
UFC women's bantamweight Leslie Smith suffered one of the most disturbing injuries in MMA history at UFC 180 Saturday night, when an ill-fated punch to her cauliflower-stricken left ear caused it to read news >>
In this week's Trading Shots, Danny Downes and Ben Fowlkes discuss the gruesome ear injury that Leslie Smith suffered at UFC 180, and wonder whether stopping the fight over a cosmetic injury was the read news >>
After Leslie Smith's ear exploded on Fox Sports 1 courtesy of Jessica Eye's right hand, she received support from a surprising source... WWE Hall of Famer Mick Foley. read news >>
In one of the more gruesome scenes you'll come across in an MMA fight, Jessica Eye got a big win at UFC 180 on Saturday. Filed under: Featured Videos, News, UFC, Videos read news >>
Leslie Smith demonstrated the dangers of fighting when suffering from cauliflower ear during her loss to Jessica Eye at UFC 180 on Saturday night. Eye caught Smith with a right hand that caused Smith read news >>
Sometimes a cauliflower ear can be a nuisance. And for Leslie Smith, it was her undoing at UFC 180. read news >>


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6208 Monarch Dr El Paso, TX 79912 (Sunland Park North)See your commute times
- Single-Family Home
- 3 full Bathrooms
- 2,033 sqft
- Lot size: 8,925 sqft
- Built in 1967
- Provided By:
- Edit Home Facts
Property Details for 6208 Monarch Dr
Description provided by Trulia
This is a Single-Family Home located at 6208 Monarch Drive, El Paso, TX. 6208 Monarch Dr has 3 baths and approximately 2,033 square feet. The property has a lot size of 8,925 sqft and was built in 1967. The average list price for similar homes for sale is $162,340. 6208 Monarch Dr is in the Sunland Park North neighborhood in El Paso, TX. The average list price for Sunland Park North is $175,162.
6208 Monarch Dr Public Records
Official property, sales, and tax information from county (public) records:
- 3 Bathrooms
- Built In 1967
- 2,033 sqft
- County: El Paso
- Lot Size: 8,925 sqft
Home Expenses For 6208 Monarch Dr
Price History & Trends
|Average listing price for similar homes
|0% below listing price
|Average listing price for all homes in Sunland Park North
|0% below listing price


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Rising Star Personal Care Home
a family care home
At Rising Star, we believe that if a resident can truly enjoy their golden years just as they were young then we have achieved our goal. We like and encourage our residents to have fun and introduce to them a wide selection of activities.
The staff at Rising Star promote a healthy lifestyle and there will be no shortage of activities to stimulate and rejuvenate the body. Health only becomes more vital as time passes and our staff want all of the occupants here to be in great health.
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Auto Trader
Auto Trader is holding a massive sale on this weekend!!
Come in and test drive your next car at Auto Trader, with the variety of quality vehicles you will not be disappointed!
The team at Auto Trader are commited to buying pre-loved, quality second hand vehicles, specialising in 4WDs, family vehicles, sedans, sports vehicles and vehicles for the new starters on the road, all at an affordable price
We can even assist with finance (tap) and the option to trade in your vehicle at the right price
Come in to Auto Trader at Yard 14 within the CarCity complex or call or email us on 0296252247 - [email protected]
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When you're on the Weight Watchers' weight loss program, your food intake is limited to a specified points allotment. If you want to eat more than your designated point allotment allows, you can earn extra points by exercising. But knowing how many points you earn based on your activity isn't a guessing game, Weight Watchers offers a formula for calculating your activity points.
- Skill level:
- Easy
Other People Are Reading
Things you need
- Points Booster
- Scale & your weight
- Number of minutes exercise
- Level of exercise intensity
Show MoreHide
- 1
Calibrate your scale before you weigh yourself. Do this by placing a known weight such as a 2.27kg. bag of flour, directly on the scale. After you make sure the scale is correct, step on the scale and weigh yourself. Write down your exact weight. If you do not have a scale at home you can also obtain your current weight at your regular Weight Watchers meeting.
- 2
Exercise for a minimum of 10 minutes. During your workout take note of the intensity of your activity. To do this follow Weight Watchers intensity level specifications: Low intensity means you aren't sweating at all during your activity; Moderate intensity means you begin sweating after 10 minutes; High intensity means you begin sweating three to five minutes after starting your activity.
- 3
Using your Weight Watchers' Points Booster tool calculate your activity points by aligning your intensity level with the number of minutes you exercised. Without moving the slide, marking your intensity level, locate your body weight. Now, look in the window next to your body weight and the Points Booster will display your activity points value.
Tips and warnings
- Activity points earned must be consumed the day you earn them, they cannot be saved for another day.
- You may choose not to consume the earned points, instead using them to increase the number of calories you burn that day.
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Q From Don Wilkins, Australia: What is the origin of take a gander, meaning to have a look at something?
A In the parody of George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-four that Spike Milligan wrote for the Goon Show in 1955, he has Harry Secombe entering an antique shop: "Good evening. Do you mind if I take a gander around the shop?" to which shopkeeper Crun replies, "No, as long as it's housetrained."
Sometimes my personal enthusiasm for old BBC radio comedy shows bursts out uncontrollably ... but that Goonish joke does make the point that to take a gander is as weird a formation as one might encounter anywhere. What can a male goose possibly have to do with looking at something?
A quick, er, gander at the word's history is illuminating. It seems the verb to gander in this sense is actually American in origin, something I find more than a little surprising, because it sounds English to me. A little more delving, however, shows that the roots of the expression are indeed from this side of the pond. A work of 1887, The Folk-Speech of South Cheshire, says, "Gonder, to stretch the neck like a gander, to stand at gaze". The next known example is from the Cincinnati Enquirer of 9 May 1903: "Gander, to stretch or rubber your neck". It is claimed that it comes from thieves' slang.
There's your source. Think of a gaggle of farmyard geese, wandering about in their typically aimless and stupid way, poking their noses in everywhere and twisting their necks to stare at anything that might be interesting. Geese are the archetypal rubberneckers. No doubt to gander became the term because to goose had already been borrowed; this was taken from the way that the birds were known to put their beaks embarrassingly — and sometimes painfully — into one's more private places.
The form you quote, to take a gander, is recorded from the USA around 1914; here, gander is a noun in the sense of a inquisitive look. In the century since, that form has become much more common while the verb has lost ground.
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text: Denton Wilde Sapte has six corporate assistants facing redundancy. The firm is looking to redeploy the six into its banking and energy practice groups or negotiate redundancy packages with them. The firm stated that there is also the option of placing the six lawyers in its overseas offices, but if they do not want to be redeployed it will renegotiate redundancy packages. First revealed on www.thelawyer.com/lawyernews on 10 September


text: After a conversation with DS's psych, it got me wondering about what other families do in regards to family time. How much quality time do you spend with your children each week? I'm talking either outings, playing outside together, Playing board games etc. Not just sitting outside and watching them play or watching tv together, but actively getting involved with them?


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Meals That Heal for Babies and Toddlers
By (author) Eileen Behan
Format: Paperback
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Meals That Heal for Babies and Toddlers by Eileen Behan
Book DescriptionFor most childhood illnesses, rest and sound nutrition are the best medicine. When your little ones are ill, the foods you serve can alleviate their symptoms and even speed their recovery. But how do you know what to feed your ailing baby or toddler? What best soothes a sore throat, eases nausea, or relieves your baby's teething pains? Here Eileen Behan, registered dietitian, professional nutritionist, and mother of two, provides the answers. You'll discover: * Comfort food classics like rice pudding and cinnamon toast * Nutritious fluids and soups to soothe the symptoms of a common cold * Easily digestible foods that can relieve an upset stomach * Imaginative, no-sugar-added snacks for healthier teeth * Iron-rich dishes, and foods that aid iron absorption * High-fiber muffins, breads, dips, and desserts for regularity * Fun foods with the right amount of cholesterol for growing bodies * Just the right home remedies for fevers and flus * Calming recipes for a good night's sleep Eileen Behan explains the connection between food and common childhood illnesses from asthma to ear infections to headaches to vomiting -- and gives you recipes for simple, delicious, kid-pleasing dishes that will actually help your child feel better faster.
Buy Meals That Heal for Babies and Toddlers book by Eileen Behan from Australia's Online Bookstore, Boomerang Books.
Book DetailsISBN: 9780671529864
(209mm x 134mm x 21mm)
Pages: 304
Imprint: Pocket Books
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Publish Date: 1-Sep-1996
Country of Publication: United States
Books By Author Eileen Behan
Fit Kids, Paperback (May 2001)
A guide to food and nutrition that gives parents the straight scoop on handling childhood obesity and providing a sensible, step-by-step diet and activity plan so kids can lose weight safely, boost self-esteem and strengthen family ties.
Pregnancy Diet, Paperback (January 1999)
Chock full of helpful information and facts that every expectant mother needs to know, this wonderful book includes an exciting eating program based on six easy-to-understand food groups--plus dozens of recipes for delicious foods that new mothers will want to prepare and eat even after the baby arrives!
Eat Well, Lose Weight, While Breastfeeding, Paperback / softbackView all books by Eileen Behan
With the revolutionary program she devised for herself, Behan shows the nursing mom how to shed pounds and work on getting her figure back while keeping her child properly nourished and happy.
» Have you read this book? We'd like to know what you think about it - write a review about Meals That Heal for Babies and Toddlers book by Eileen Behan and you'll earn 50c in Boomerang Bucks loyalty dollars (you must be a member - it's free to sign up!)
Author Biography - Eileen Behan
Eileen Behan is a member of the American Dietetic Association, a registered dietitian, and a mother of two. She has worked for the Harvard School of Public Health and the Veterans Administration. Her radio show, Food for Talk, aired on public radio in Boston for five years. She currently works as a nutrition consultant, helping families to improve their health through their diet. Ms. Behan lives with her family in New Hampshire.
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2 blocks west of 22nd and Rock 70's tie-dyed, down filled sectional, nice books, lrg ent. center, HEYWOOD WAKEFIELD BR SET, mid-cent bamboo lamps, wicker trunk, costume jewelry, stand mirror, antique treadle sewing machine, tons of patterns, puzzles, 2 twin beds, computer station, BB&T linens, nice men's clothes, coats, hats, and shoes.… → Read More
Sale, 405 Bender Ln. Newton Ks. Friday Feb 24 & Saturday Feb 25, 8 am to 4 pm both days. Moving parent into Nursing home and have to liquidate household items. Dishes , collectable glassware, office items, tools, sleeper sofa full size, Nice large dining table and chairs, and a weight machine for the serious body builder, and much more. To many items to… → Read More
This estate sale is being moved to our Sales Event Center next door to our Antique Mall.3 Buffets.... → Read More
ESTATE CHIC'S SALE in NW Wichita
ESTATE CHIC'S Sale in NW WichitaMany Beautiful Items....Including the House!Chevy Impala, only 1000.... → Read More
YardSales.net is the fastest growing yard sale site, with 96 sale photos and 13 garage sales in Newton, Kansas. YardSales.net offers you the best list of Newton yard sales every week.
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Harvey County Fair Spring Market
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'Cordones' Slip-On (Women)
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Braided jute skirts the perforated suede of a now-classic slip-on with a signature-stitched toe.
- Suede upper/leather and textile lining/rubber and textile sole.
- By TOMS; imported.
- BP. Shoes.
- With every pair of shoes purchased, TOMS gives a new pair of shoes to a child in need. One for One.


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- Affiliations:
1 Department of Language and Business Communication, Aarhus School of Business, Aarhus BSS, Aarhus University
2 French teaching group, Aarhus School of Business, Aarhus BSS, Aarhus University
3 Department of Management - Nobelparken, Aarhus BSS, Aarhus University
4 Department of Management - Nobelparken, Aarhus BSS, Aarhus University
- Subtitle:
- Problèmes de description et de délimitation
- Abstract:
- In this article the author proposes a solution to the classical problem in European lexical semantics of delimiting lexical fields, a problem that most field-oriented semanticists involved in practical lexico-semantic analysis have found themselves confronted with. What are the criteria for saying that the word "harvest" belongs to the same lexical field as "farm", "peasant" and "cattle", and that "hospital" does not? The author proposes a test based on associative anaphoric relations and it is argued that this test constitutes a useful tool for deciding inclusion in a lexical field. The test is based on observations of the role that lexical fields play in discourse comprehension. This focus on the discoursal and interpretative functions of lexical fields constitute a new approach to the lexical field, a phenomenon which traditionally has been studied in a systems-oriented perspective.
- Type:
- Journal article
- Language:
- French
- Published in:
- Cahiers De Lexicologie, 1998, Vol 72, Issue 2, p. 131-147
- Keywords:
- Semantics; Lexical semantics; Lexical fields; Semantic fields; Discourse; Anaphora; Reception; HHÅ forskning
- Main Research Area:
- Social science
- Publication Status:
- Published
- Review type:
- Peer Review
- Submission year:
- 1998
- Scientific Level:
- Scientific
- 2185906027


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Glaring problem
I am suffering from myopia. How much likely is that I will face glaring problem and to what extent especially while driving at night after I have undergone Lasik with Allegretto technique?
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Doctor Answers (1) on Glaring problem
Dr. Sneha S M
16 yrs. of exp | Mysore | Ophthalmologist/ Eye Surgeon
It depends on your final outcome which is is based on your corneal thickness and laser procedures opted
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Erin Sweeney was quoted regarding changes between the proposed and final fiduciary rule issued by the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL). A notable change in the final rule is that it moves beyond the eight-month implementation fast track originally proposed. The "most onerous provisions of the regulation," including preparation of policies and procedures, new disclosures and new contract provisions, will become effective on January 1, 2018, Sweeney said. "In addition, the DOL eliminated some of the most contentious disclosure requirements from the proposal, including eliminating the requirement to develop investment projections and distribute an annual disclosure to investors."
Other changes include exempting plans covered by ERISA from the requirement that a fiduciary investment adviser enter into a written contract with an investor prior to making a recommendation. "Although IRAs and non-ERISA plans remain subject to the written contract requirement, the final regulation clarifies that the contract provisions can be incorporated into account opening documents," Sweeney said. "Existing clients need not execute a new written contract. Instead, advice providers can notify current clients of the amendments and, if the client does not object to the modifications, the new provisions will become part of the existing agreement between the advice provider and the investor."


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Your V-Play Sample Launcher App download has started!
This app allows you to quickly test and run all the open-source examples and demo games available with the V-Play SDK.
Displays page indicators and allows switching to the previous or next page. More...
|Import Statement:
|import VPlayApps 1.0
|V-Play 2.7.0
The PageControl displays page indicators for a number of pages and highlights the currently active page.
In addition to the default page indicators, it is also possible to display icons or a custom indicator item.
The color of the active page indicator. The default value is Theme::tintColor.
The background color of the page control area. The default color is
Whether the page indicators can be clicked to directly activate this page. Deactivated by default.
Note: This feature only works if the default indicatorDelegate is used.
This QML property was introduced in V-Play 2.10.0.
The index of the currently active page. The default value is
See also PageControl::previousPage, PageControl::nextPage, PageControl::setPage, PageControl::removePage, PageControl::addPage, and PageControl::getIndicatorItem.
Allows to hide the control whenever there's only one page. Deactivated by default.
The size of page indicator icons. The default value is based on the chosen indicatorSize.
See also indicatorSize.
Allows to set a custom delegate for the page indicator item. The following example uses a Text item that displays the page number.
PageControl { id: pageControl pages: 5 indicatorSize: dp(12) indicatorDelegate: Text { font.pixelSize: pageControl.indicatorSize text: "#"+index color: pageControl.currentPage === index ? pageControl.activeTintColor : pageControl.tintColor } }
The size of each page indicator. The default is
8 dp.
See also iconIndicatorSize.
Whether it is possible indefinitely switch through the pages. If the last page is active a call to PageControl::nextPage opens the first page again.
pageIcons : var
Allows to display icons as the page indicator for certain pages. The pages are addressed based on their index:
PageControl { pages: 5 pageIcons: ({ 0: IconType.search, 2: IconType.home }) }
This example displays a page control for five pages. The first page uses the "search" icon, the third page the "home" icon.
The color of page indicators. The default is Theme::tintLightColor.
Adds a page at the given
index. If no
index is specified, the function adds the page at the end. The configured pageIcons setting is also modified to match the changed page index values.
See also PageControl::removePage and PageControl::pages.
Returns the indicator Item for the page with the given
See also PageControl::indicatorDelegate.
Marks the next page as active.
See also PageControl::currentPage, PageControl::previousPage, and PageControl::setPage.
Marks the previous page as active.
See also PageControl::currentPage, PageControl::nextPage, and PageControl::setPage.
Removes the page at the given
index. If no
index is specified, the function removes the last page. The configured pageIcons setting is also modified to match the changed page index values.
See also PageControl::addPage and PageControl::pages.
Sets the PageControl to activate a certain page.
See also PageControl::currentPage, PageControl::previousPage, and PageControl::nextPage.
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Li L.,Korea University |
Yun J.-H.,Korea University |
Ryoo J.E.,Hankuk Academy of Foreign Studies |
Lee K.-J.,CHA Medical University |
And 2 more authors.
European Journal of Obstetrics Gynecology and Reproductive Biology | Year: 2015
Abstract Objective A sterol regulatory element-binding protein (SREBF-1) transcription factor is a major regulator of lipid metabolism, carbohydrate, and plays a key role in energy homeostasis. The 54(G/C) polymorphism of SREBF-1 gene was reported that it is related with metabolic diseases including obesity, type 2 diabetes, and dyslipidemia. Among these, polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is known as a common metabolic-endocrine disorder of women in reproductive ages. Study design Here, we performed a comparative study of 54(G/C) polymorphism of SREBF-1 gene with PCOS. The 54(G/C) polymorphism of SREBF-1 gene was analyzed by polymerase chain reaction restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) of total 286 PCOS patients and 149 matched controls of healthy women. Statistical analysis was performed using HapAnalyzer. A p-value under 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results There was a strong association between the 54(G/C) polymorphism of SREBF-1 gene and PCOS (OR: 0.65, 95% CI: 0.46-0.90, p: 0.0129). The genotype and allelic frequencies were in Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium (HWE). Conclusion This is the first study on the genetic variation of SREBF-1 gene and PCOS. We concluded that 54(G/C) polymorphism of SREBF-1 gene is associated with PCOS. Therefore, our results suggest that SREBF-1 gene may play a role in genetic predisposition to PCOS, which is helpful in understanding the etiology of PCOS. © 2015 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved. Source
Li L.,Korea University |
Ryoo J.E.,Hankuk Academy of Foreign Studies |
Lee K.-J.,CHA Medical University |
Choi B.-C.,CL Womens Hospital |
Baek K.-H.,Korea University
PLoS ONE | Year: 2015
Monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1) is a pivotal chemokine in the inflammatory response, which plays an important role in recruiting monocytes to sites of injury and infection. However, the exact mechanism of Mcp-1 associated with PCOS risk was unknown. In this study, we explored whether the Mcp-1 -2518G>A polymorphism increases the risk of PCOS. We performed a comparative study of -2518G>A polymorphism of the Mcp-1 gene with PCOS. In addition, luciferase reporter assay was performed to evaluate the Mcp-1 transcriptional activity. A strong association was observed between the -2518G>A polymorphism of Mcp-1 gene and PCOS (p-value = 0.016, odd ratio (OR) = 0.693). A p-value under 0.05 is considered statistically significant. The genotype and allelic frequencies were assumed to be in Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium (HWE). The luciferase assays in 2 cell lines showed that the Mcp-1 -2518G>A substitution can increase the expression of Mcp-1. MCP-1 levels in serum for PCOS group were significantly higher than those in serum for controls (p-value = 0.02). Furthermore, the patients carrying a genotype A/A had significantly increased levels of MCP-1 in serum compared with levels of the MCP-1 of the patients with genotypes G/G and G/A (p-value = 0.031). This is the first study on the genetic variation of the Mcp-1 gene and PCOS. This finding suggests that the Mcp-1 -2518G>A polymorphism is associated with PCOS risk by affecting transcriptional activity, leading to an increased expression level of Mcp-1. © 2015 Li et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Source
Li L.,Dong - A University |
Lee K.-J.,CHA Medical University |
Choi B.-C.,CL Womens Hospital |
Baek K.-H.,Dong - A University
Gene | Year: 2013
Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is one of the most common endocrine disorders, which is involved in the multi-system disease, and its etiology is still not clearly understood. It is currently considered that not only the genetic factors but also the environment factors play a crucial role in the pathogenesis of PCOS. Obesity plays an important role through the insulin, leptin and endocannabinoid system in the pathological process of PCOS, leading to more severe clinical manifestations. The aim of our present study is to investigate whether there is association between single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of Gln223Arg and Pro1019Pro in the leptin receptor gene (LEPR) and PCOS in a Korean population. Interestingly, a significant association was found between the Pro1019Pro in LEPR gene and PCOS, and a highly significant association was found between the Gln223Arg in LEPR gene and PCOS (P= 0.033, OR = 1.523, 95% confidence interval and P< 0.0001, OR = 0.446, 95% confidence interval). Moreover, genotype combination and haplotype analyses indicate that Gln223Arg and Pro1019Pro polymorphisms of LEPR are significantly associated with the risk of PCOS. © 2013 Elsevier B.V. Source
Association study between the -866G/A polymorphism in the promoter of uncoupling protein-2 gene and polycystic ovary syndrome
Kim J.-H.,CHA Medical University |
Li L.,CHA Medical University |
Yun J.I.-H.,CHA Medical University |
Choi B.-C.,CL Womens Hospital |
Baek K.-H.,CHA Medical University
Molecular Medicine Reports | Year: 2011
Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is a disorder characterized by hyperandrogenism, chronic oligoanovulation and insulin resistance. A number of women with PCOS are obese and exhibit abnormal phenotypes, including high levels of androgens, an irregular menstrual cycle and increased hair growth. Studies on obese PCOS patients have proven the crucial role that obesity plays in insulin resistance and hyperinsulinemia. The uncoupling protein (UCP) gene is one of the genes known to have a strong association with obesity and insulin resistance. Thus, we analyzed the association between the -866G/A polymorphism in the promoter of UCP2 and PCOS. Genotyping was performed by polymerase chain reaction along with restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis, followed by an analysis of the genotype of the UCP2 polymorphism in PCOS and control subjects using HapAnalyzer. The study included samples from 277 PCOS patients and 152 healthy controls. P<0.05 was considered to be statistically significant. In conclusion, no association was found between the -866G/A single nucleotide polymorphism and PCOS (P=0.7168, OR=1.07, 95% CI). The present study showed that -866G/A, a UCP2 gene polymorphism, is not associated with the pathogenesis of PCOS. Source
Kim Y.-S.,Dong - A University |
Gu B.-H.,Dong - A University |
Choi B.-C.,Chosun University |
Kim M.-S.,Dong - A University |
And 5 more authors.
International Journal of Molecular Medicine | Year: 2013
Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is a common endocrine-metabolic disorder, affecting 6-10% of women of reproductive age. The etiology remains poorly understood. To investigate the differentially expressed proteins from PCOS patients versus healthy women, the protein expression in follicular fluid was analyzed using two-dimensional elec-trophoresis (2-DE). Since follicular fluid contains a number of secretory proteins required for oocyte fertilization and follicle maturation, it is possible that follicular fluid can be used as a provisional source for identifying pivotal proteins associated with PCOS. In this study, six overexpressed proteins [kininogen 1, cytokeratin 9, antithrombin, fibrinogen γ-chain, apolipoprotein A-IV (apoA-IV) precursor and α-1-B-glycoprotein (A1BG)] in follicular fluids from PCOS patients were identified with matrix-assisted laser desorption/ioniza-tion-time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF-MS) and nano LC-MS/MS. Western blot analysis confirmed that the protein expression levels of apoA-IV precursor and A1BG were increased in follicular fluid from PCOS patients compared with those from normal controls. The analysis of protein expression for other proteins revealed individual variation. These results facilitate the understanding of the molecular mechanisms of PCOS and provide candidate biomarkers for the development of diagnostic and therapeutic tools. Source


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This slide set focuses on the first discovery of an Earth-like planet orbiting a Sun-like star. It is one of a series of short, topical presentations on new developments from NASA astrophysics missions, relevant to introductory astronomy topics.... (View More) These resources are intended to help instructors include the latest discoveries (not yet in their textbooks) into their courses. The slide sets are constructed to be easily included as a lecture supplement including synopsis, references, and graphics. (View Less)
In this activity, children observe images and objects from very close up and from far away to establish what they can learn from different perspectives and how different perspectives change the way we look at things. They will consider types of... (View More) information you can gather up close and by satellite, using the Colorado Black Forest fire as an example, and finally, students will identify a geologic feature in an image of Mars. This activity was designed for use in a library program. (View Less)
Materials Cost: $1 - $5 per group of students
This series of learning modules is designed for adaptation in an introductory Earth science or planetary science course. The modules actively engage students through Mars remote-sensing data and Earth-based analogs to understanding Mars geology.... (View More) Interviews with planetary scientists and geologists present current issues in planetary sciences. (View Less)
This slide set focuses on the discovery of debris belts around Vega. It is one of a series of short, topical presentations on new developments from NASA astrophysics missions, relevant to introductory astronomy topics. These resources are intended... (View More) to help instructors include the latest discoveries (not yet in their textbooks) into their courses. The slide sets are constructed to be easily included as a lecture supplement including synopsis, references, and graphics. (View Less)
This program uses NASA data and resources to promote authentic classroom research experiences. These two complementary guides lead students through the process of conducting their own inquiry-based research on an Earth-focused topic. In their... (View More) guidebook, students read content and answer questions about each step in the research process- from formulating a question to sharing results. The separate guide for teachers provides explicit instructions, lists the standards addressed, and includes additional hints, resources and websites. (View Less)
Materials Cost: Free
This Science On a Sphere (SOS) module is designed to help the public better understand the story of water on Mars and how we're learning more about it. It portrays the mystery of what happened to the water on Mars in the context of a detective... (View More) story. NASA's MAVEN mission (Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutoN) will help solve this mystery by studying the Martian atmosphere, how it has changed over time, and how it interacts with the Sun and the solar wind. The module also delves into Mars exploration, featuring past, present, and future Mars missions, and includes an activity comparing images of water-related features on Earth and Mars. It will help people understand that a planet's climate can change over time and how learning more about Mars helps us learn more about Earth and other planets as well. Resources included are: script, SOS playlist and datasets, background and tips for the docent or facilitator, and image comparisons of water-related features on Earth and Mars. (View Less)
Learners create art inspired by authentic NASA planetary image data while learning to recognize the geology on planetary surfaces, uniquely inspiring learner engagement. This presentation and accompanying activity use the elements of art - shape,... (View More) line, color, texture, value - to make sense of features in NASA images, honing observation skills and inspiring questions. It aligns with the NGSS cross-cutting concept of Patterns. Videos, images, and an interactive poster that breaks down activity elements deepen user access. (View Less)
This is an activity about Lunar samples. Learners will see snapshots of the Moon's history and hold an important artifact of American history with a Lunar Sample Disk. Earth rocks and soil of similar types as the lunar samples may be provided and... (View More) explored with hands, eyes, noses, and tools. Please note, checking out a Lunar Sample Disk requires training, a secure storage facility, and a minimum of a 6-week lead time. This activity is part of Explore! Marvel Moon, a series of activities developed specifically for use in libraries. (View Less)
This is a set of three activities about how scientists study other worlds. Learners will explore and compare the features of Mars and Earth, discuss what the features suggest about the history of Mars, and create a model to help them understand how... (View More) scientists view other worlds. The activities help to show why scientists are interested in exploring Mars for evidence of past life, and address the question: "Why are we searching for life on Mars?" It also includes specific tips within each activity for effectively engaging girls in STEM. This is activity 4 in Explore: Life on Mars? that was developed specifically for use in libraries. (View Less)
The 9-session NASA Family Science Night program emables middle school children and their families to discover the wide variety of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics being performed at NASA and in everyday life. Family Science Night... (View More) programs explore various themes on the Sun, the Moon, the Stars, and the Universe through fun, hands-on activities, including at-home experiments. Instructions for obtaining the facilitator's guide are available on the Family Science Night site. (View Less)