text:
68 Duke Presentations at the APS March Meeting
Friday, April 12, 2013
Duke University was well represented at the annual APS March Meeting this year: 60 contributed presentations plus 8 invited talks. The APS bills the March Meeting as "the largest physics meeting in the world, focusing on research from industry, universities, and major labs." Using the "affiliation" search function, here is a webpage with a list of all of our papers. You can see that a wide variety of work from several departments at Duke is represented. In particular, the invited talks were:
- Prof. Patrick Charbonneau: Session M42.00001 "High-dimensional surprises neat the glass and the jamming transitions"
- Postdoctoral Associate Joshua Dijksman: Session Z2.00004 "Dilatancy and Diffusion in Sheared Granular Materials"
- Prof. Henry Everitt: Session C23.00001 "Highly Efficient Defect Emission from ZnO:Zn and ZnO:S Powders"
- Prof. Gleb Finkelstein: Session Y1.00003 "Observation of Majorana-like Behavior at the Quantum Critical Point in a Resonant Level Coupled to a Dissipative Environment"
- Prof. Martin Fischer of the Duke Institute for Brain Sciences: Session U11.00001 "Optical pump-probe microscopy for biomedicine and art conservation"
- Prof. Robert Jackson of the Nicholas School at Duke: Session F9.00003 "Environmental Dimensions of Shale Gas Extraction and Stray Gas Migration"
- Prof. Gabriel Lopez of Duke Biomedical Engineering: Session Y34.00001 "Acoustic Microfluidics for Bioanalytical Application"
- Prof. Benjamin Yellen of Duke Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science: Session N10.00002 "Binary Colloidal Superlattices Assembled by Magnetic Fields"


text:
Getty Images
We were just saying that Justin Bieber's collection tattoos always seems to be growing. A day later the pop star posted a photo of some brand new ink on his right forearm, next to the court jester he recently added. And you'll never guess what it says... "LOVE."
If we were wondering if the black and white compass on his left tricep was a coded message to Selena Gomez, this one seems like it's obviously inspired by his ex. In fact, just last month Justin admitted that he's definitely far from over the relationship.
"[The break up] affected us, especially when we are in front of so many people. It's such a public thing," he told Power 106 radio. "It's just hard for the both of us. But you know, she's a great woman. I love her 'til this day."
What do you think of Justin's new tattoo? Is this a sign that they're really getting back together? Sound off in the comments!

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Top Linksmain detailsbiographyby votesphoto galleryquotes
Filmographiesby yearby typeby ratingsby votesby TV seriesby genreby keyword
Did You Know?photo galleryquotes
Ambassador (Character)
from The Fallen Idol (1948)
Please see the IMDb GetSatisfaction Character announcement for details.
FilmographyEdit Credits
- "The DuPont Show of the Month"
- The Fallen Idol (1959) TV episode, Played by Peter von Zerneck
- The Fallen Idol (1948) Played by Gerard Heinz
Additional Details
Fun Stuff
[last lines]
Ambassador: Phillipe! Phillipe! Your mother.
See more »
You may correct errors and omissions on this page directly. Clicking the 'Update' button will take you through a step-by-step process.


text:
You don't always have to shell out the big bucks for quality products — these drugstore imitations of high-end faves are proof
This is a TotalBeauty.com budget products article
Who doesn't love a good deal? We appreciate bargains just as much as the next gal, which is why we hit up one of our favorite makeup artists for drugstore picks that are practically exact duplicates of high-end brands. Start saving by checking them out here.
Pingback: Twitted by EdenDiBianco()


text:
Menomonie, Wisconsin Artisan Cheese Trail
Home > Find an Inn > Menomonie Artisan Cheese Trail
Bolen Vale Cheese
E977 State Road 64, Downing 54734
1 m. west of Connorsville on Hwy 64. A place the entire family will love! The finest Wisconsin Cheese and numerous activities throughout the year. Corn maze, farm tours, hayrides, petting zoo. Retail Outlet, Mail Order. Hrs: Tue-F 9-7; Sat 9-5.
Eau Galle Cheese Factory
N6765 St. Hwy 25, Durand 54736
3 m. north of Durand on Hwy 25. Family-owned since 1945. Stop in for samples of our many different varieties of cheese and watch Parmessan, Asiago and Romano being made. Wisconsin wines, maple syrups, jams, sausage. Don't miss our wonderful collectible shop! Observation Window. Retail Outlet, Mail Order. Hrs: M-Sat 9-5:30; Sun 11-4:30
Ellsworth Cooperative Creamery
232 N. Wallace St, Ellsworth 54011
Less than 40 min from Twin Cities -- East end of Ellsworth. Providing quality products for almost 100 years. 100% All-Natural Premium Cheddar Cheese Curds, sweet cream, whey powder, fluid milk, assorted cheeses, gift boxes and Wisconsin souvenirs. Retail Outlet, Mail Order, In-store Video Tour: Hrs: M-F 8-5; Sat 8-2.
Nelson Cheese
Hwy 35 S, Nelson 54756
Historic 1800's building in the scenic Mississippi River Valley. Offering the finest Wisconsin and world cheeses, gourmet foods and breads, ice cream cones. Café, patio and wine bar. Retail Outlet, Mail Order. Hrs: M-Th 9-6; Fr-Sun 9-7.
Cady Cheese Factory, Inc
126 St. Hwy 128, Wilson 54027
3.5 m. south of I-94, exit 28 on Hwy. 128 Since 1908, Cady Cheese has been an award-winning manufacturer of Longhorn Colby, Cheddar, Monterey Jack, Gold'n Jack, Hot Pepper and many other flavors. Factory shop has large selection of cheese, sausage and gifts. Retail Outlet, Mail Order, Viewing Window Available. Hrs: Daily 9-5; May-Dec 31 8:30-6.
Country Comfort
Menomonie, Wisconsin
View more details and photos Go to Website View availability


text:
Surf Connect Wind and Kitesurfing School
Two-Hour ($59) or Six-Hour ($149) Group Wind Surfing or Kite Boarding Lesson
- Highlights
- Fine Print
- Company
the offer
Two-hour group wind surfing or kite boarding lesson for one for $59 (value $120)
Six-hour group wind surfing or kite boarding lesson for one for $149 (value $400)
Available from Tuesday to Saturday
- So running around the park with a kite in hand was a ton of fun when you were kid. Thing is, that's just not going to cut it for you this time around. Secure your life vest for Surf Connect Wind and Kitesurfing School, a professional water sports school that's going to show you a whole other side to kiting.
- Your professionally qualified instructor will teach you everything you'll need to know, from safety tips, set up, how to fly, perfecting your technique and surfing in strong winds. And yes, this is going to be waaaay more awesome!
- Don't let the fun stop there - take a look at our other Brisbane deals.
What We Like
Convenient centre location right on the beach
Surf Connect is the only accredited wind and kitesurfing School in Brisbane
Facilities like showers, storage and internet are available
Fish and chip shop only 50m down the road
2,300+ Facebook likes
The Fine Print
Offer expires on 14 December 2015
Max 1 voucher per person
Max 1 additional voucher as a gift
We strongly encourage bookings to be made 2 weeks in advance to avoid disappointment
Bookings are essential and are subject to availability and weather. Walk-ins not accepted
Not valid public holidays
Participants must be of reasonable health, competent in water and under weigh 100kg
Bookings available Tuesday to Sunday
Strictly subject to availability and please be patient with bookings. Please note, weekend bookings are strictly limited and cannot be guaranteed, please book early to avoid disappointment
Voucher valid for one person and must be used in one visit
48 hour cancellation policy applies, non-attendance and late cancellation voids voucher
Not valid in conjunction with any other offer and not redeemable for cash
Redemption instructions can be found on your voucher
The Company
170 Flinders Parade, Sandgate, QLD 4017


text:
Background Stigmatisation is of increasing importance in relation to racism, ageism and sexism but also as an impediment to treating patients.
Aims To develop a theoretical foundation to help comprehend the core meaning of stigmatisation and to guide practical anti-stigmatisation measures.
Method Personal reflection; re-interpretation of stigmatisation and reformulation of the relevant concepts.
Results Emergence of a unitary theory of stigmatisation.
Conclusions Based on the structure of stigmatisation one could explore six levels of intervention in anti-stigmatisation campaigns: the cognitive level — educational intervention; the affective level — psychological intervention; the discrimination level — legislative intervention; the denial level — linguistic intervention; the economic origin — political intervention; the evolutionary origin — intellectual and cultural intervention. As destigmatisation has to challenge fundamental human tendencies, anti-stigmatisation campaigns have to be continuous, non-stop, open-ended projects aiming at keeping alive thought processes that moderate and humanise the pursuit of self-interest and the urge to survive in a competitive world.
The impact of stigmatisation nowadays is not what it was when Goffman (1963) was developing his thoughts on stigma. Today in the epoch of cyberspace, websites and real-time communications, we are bombarded with signals and images. Anxiety about being submerged by an everincreasing influx of data makes us codify and categorise more than ever before. Although in-depth and quality understanding are valued, they are sacrificed for pragmatic, cost-effective reasons or to achieve quantitatively defined targets. A steady search for ever-speedier processors, imaging and communication techniques and procedures for compression, transformation and quantification of information means that the human brain is under more stringent demands than those of the mid-20th century. In such an atmosphere it may not be seen as 'efficient' to find out whether a person has qualities over and above what the name of their illness implies. The news of a sporadic killing by a patient is instantaneously multiplied by the number of TVs, radios and cyberspace news stations. Compared with a few decades ago, there are more television sets, TV channels, sensationalist programmes and broadcasting times. If in the mid-20th century the word ' schizophrenic' brought to mind the stereotype of a ' mad' person to the exclusion of their other qualities, now it is likely to have a real-time translation into a visual stereotype that is more concrete and more immediate than the semantic stereotype because " cameras don't lie". Twenty-first century patients are acutely aware of the phenomenon of stigmatisation. Delayed help-seeking and non-adherence to antipsychotic medication are among the afflictions of community psychiatry. Today a good number of patients say "I don't want the schizophrenic tablets" not only because of the inconvenience of continuously adhering to a treatment regime or the associated medical side-effects but also because of other side-effects — by taking the medication, they would inevitably endorse the idea that they are ' mad'.
Constitutional origins
Constitutional factors interfere with the capacity for 'proper' social perception and information processing. After coming across someone disturbed with schizophrenia, are people more likely to think "He was dishevelled and odd" or "He was fit and fast" (when the person has all four attributes)? The intuitive response is that people are more likely to think selectively that the person was "dishevelled" and "odd". Research supports this hypothesis. It is a proven fact that the brain weights negative evaluations in preference to positive ones (Kanouse & Hanson, 1972). Also, the brain, when overloaded with data, is likely to treat repeated examples of the behaviour of a single person as independent instances of the behaviour of their group (Rothbart et al, 1978), so repeated episodes of violence by one or a few people with mental illness are likely to be interpreted as independent episodes of violence committed by the category of patients with mental illness. Further, the brain, attempting to cope with the influx of data, categorises objects and events in order to economise on resources of memory and perception (Macrae et al, 1994) and to provide quick-and-easy stereotypes at the expense of sophistication and depth.
The brain also tends to associate negative events (which are rarer then neutral and positive events) with other 'rarer' objects, for example with members of minority groups (themselves less numerous and more distinctive) rather than with the majority (Hamilton & Gifford, 1976; Hamilton & Sherman, 1989; Stroessner & Mackie, 1993). This tendency comes from distinctiveness by rarity and the association of distinct events and objects. Thus the brain associates cases of ' crime' (by nature, rarer and more distinctive than instances of ' non-crime') with minorities rather than majorities.
Constitutional factors, in the service of the pursuit of self-interest (Fig. 1), are likely to lead to judgements that are unfair on others, yet they can be adaptive by the very small probability of protection they could offer: for example, one might avoid danger by preferentially weighting negative evaluations about people.
Constitutional factors, although biological, are considered separately from other evolutionary factors (see below), as the former are more ' vegetative' responses and the scope of anti-stigmatisation in the two areas cannot be the same.
Psychological origins
Humans, although generally not endorsing the misfortune of others, are willing to use 'unfortunate others' to feel happier about themselves. People in groups in which reward is equally distributed are less satisfied in comparison with people in groups that include an unfortunate person, although they are likely to acknowledge the unfairness of the situation (Brickman, 1975). Further, people subjected to threats, failures and the frustrations of everyday life and those with low self-esteem tend to derogate others in order to bolster their own self-esteem and feelings of well-being (Wills, 1981; Gibbons & Gerard, 1989). This phenomenon is similar to someone feeling eloquent when he/she considers another inarticulate, or beautiful when he/she considers another ugly. Thus, stigmatisers benefit from the presence of the stigmatised, the latter providing them with psychological dividends: examples they could consider as ' worse' than themselves in order to redress the balance. On the contrary, people with higher intelligence and higher self-esteem are more likely to hold positive attitudes towards patients with mental illness (Nunnally, 1961), probably because they would not need to degrade those with mental illness in order to feel intelligent or positive about themselves.
Stigmatisers, indeed all of us, when faced with the stigmatised are likely to feel uncomfortable by the mere fact that bizarre behaviour or facial disfigurement, for example, could challenge our norms, values and expectations. To reduce the tension we avoid the stigmatised, which in behavioural terms (Bandura, 1977) means a reduction in tension and thus psychological gain. To deal with any feelings of guilt that this may cause, we may resort to theories such as the Just World hypothesis (Lerner, 1980). The idea that people can experience illness or injury without being responsible threatens us, and we need reassurance that the same fate is not going to befall us. Some of us may then propose that stigmatised or their parents have done something wrong and are being punished deservedly for their sins. This allows the pursuit of psychological self-interest without unbearable guilt.
Promoting the idea of 'free will' and the concept of self-infliction, e.g. in addictions, although containing partial truth, is indeed used to allay the guilt related to being a stigmatiser and is an application of the Just World belief.
Economic origins
The stigmatiser's discourse has economic aspects as well. "I must avoid danger to survive and compete": to increase one's access to resources, stigmatisation of rivals is used as a weapon in socio-economic competition (Sherif et al, 1961; Hatfield et al, 1978). Stigmatisation is likely to be more intense in more competitive, self-seeking societies, moderated by the ease of availability of resources. The number of lynchings of Blacks in the USA between 1882 and 1930 varied in line with economic indices such as the value of cotton. As the economy worsened, more Blacks were lynched; as it became better, fewer Blacks were lynched (Hovland & Sears, 1940; Hepworth & West, 1988). Of course the relationship between the price of cotton and lynching is a correlation, but what could be the superordinate cause bringing about their covariation? The likely interpretation is that competition for scarce economic resources intensifies hatred and stigmatisation. Again, these disturbing findings are likely to relate to self-interest.
Nowadays, the expression of discrimination may not be lynching. A sports team may accuse another team of drug abuse or disgraceful social behaviour. Here, the former is not necessarily projecting one of its own attributes onto the stigmatised; rather, it may project one out of a list of socially objectionable attributes in order to discredit the rival and promote its own opportunities.
Evolutionary origins
Stigmatisation, as a tactic for survival and reproduction, is a discourse implying a genetic push towards 'discrimination'. This suggests that genes make humans and animals discriminate in order to avoid dangers, including natural dangers (snakes, heights, darkness), illness (rotten food, those with a contagious disease), mechanical danger (falling objects, those who pose a physical threat) and ideological danger ('deviants', non-conformists and 'psychopaths') (Buss, 1999). Those who are poor bets genetically (carrying genes for a disease), sexually (unattractive, disabled, resourceless), in terms of survival ('social parasites', infected people) and in terms of security ('psychopaths', criminals, exploiters) are avoided (Buss, 1999; Gilbert, 2000) and there is competition with potential rivals for resources, all in the service of genetic interest. Thus, those who are potentially violent because of an underlying mental illness, those who are likely to carry genes for a mental disorder (e.g. manic-depressive illness) and those who are unable to control resources (such as people actively suffering from depression) are stigmatised in the genetic interest of stigmatisers.
In view of the fact that different origins of stigmatisation point to the individual's seeking of personal gain, can it be thought improbable that the fundamental basis of all stigmatisation is the pursuit of self-interest? Can we doubt (given the fact that self-interest presents as the essence of stigmatisation in all domains) that when there is no pursuit of self-interest there will be no stigmatisation and as long as we pursue self-interest we have to face the consequences of our stigmatisation of others?
Stigmatisation involves self-sheltering and self-seeking behaviour. It is a protective device for the stigmatiser and, in a good number of cases, unfair on the stigmatised, as the latter may simply be the victim of a rumour or may not be the one among the stigmatised who would cause harm. The stigmatiser, on each occasion of avoiding the stigmatised, draws primary gain from reducing his or her anxiety and is thus powerfully reinforced. The stigmatiser also draws secondary benefits from stigmatisation by avoiding possible loss, danger and victimisation and by increasing his or her chances of economic survival.
What is the origin of self-interest? Is it biological or acquired? Is it innate or learned? Perhaps a mixture of all? 'Constitutional, psychological, economic and evolutionary' merely constitute a paradigm for the purpose of better understanding, and in practice they all intermingle, overlap, work together and interrelate.
Destigmatisation is a topic of great current interest (Crisp et al, 2000). Does it aim to soften the effects of our stigmatisation of others (our camouflaged 'aggression') or to moderate our guilt? Is ' aggression' an inevitable part of us and benevolence inconceivable other than to moderate its effects? Can the explanation for destigmatisation be that, through identification with the stigmatised we protect ourselves against some susceptibility to stigmatisation on the grounds of our own stigmas? Is destigmatisation encouraged because, through protecting the ill, one promotes group cohesion and the credibility of the state and those in power? Is destigmatisation a way of functionally integrating the stigmatised into the social system without them presenting any threat to the state and its domination? Is destigmatisation expropriation of the problem from those to whom it is claimed to pertain? If the conflict between stigmatisers and stigmatised is about resources, why do stigmatisers (and those in power) try to destigmatise? Does granting destigmatisation confirm the power of whoever grants it? Can one think it improbable that destigmatisation serves the benefits of the stigmatisers as well as of the stigmatised? There are so many possibilities, but there remains one of importance: we destigmatise for love of humanity.
To develop a solid, goal-oriented antistigmatisation programme one has to have clear ideas about the structure of the stigmatising attitude. The constructive validity of the affective, cognitive and behavioural components of attitudes has been demonstrated by analysis of covariance (Bagozzi, 1978). Like all attitudes, stigmatisation has three components: cognitive (e.g. " schizophrenics are violent"); affective (e.g. anxiety); and discriminatory (e.g. refusing to give someone accommodation). If and when discrimination is exercised, and depending on the stigmatiser's personality, situation and other attitudes (e.g. "I am against prejudice"), stigmatisers are likely to feel some degree of discomfort coming from the discrepancy between their stigmatising attitude and their other attitudes (Monteith, 1996) and in order to reduce the resulting cognitive dissonance they are likely to moderate their stigmatising attitude (Festinger, 1957), to eliminate the awareness of the stigmatising attitude by seeking out information supporting their stereotype (Skov & Sherman, 1986; Pendry & Macrae, 1994) or to deny or trivialise their attitude (Simon et al, 1995): " I stigmatise no one".
Enhanced social desirability induced by campaigns of public education
Trying to change attitudes towards patients with mental illness, some authors found public education to be ineffective (Cumming & Cumming, 1957; Gatherer & Reid, 1963; Domino, 1983; Wahl & Lefkowits, 1989), whereas others reported some effect in the short term (e.g. Morrison et al, 1979; Keane, 1991; Penn et al, 1994; Thornton & Wahl, 1996; Wolff et al, 1996a). All these studies are bedevilled by an error that one could describe as enhanced social desirability (ESD). Campaigns of public education are likely to enhance the effect of social desirability on people's responses in postcampaign surveys, compared with the same effect in pre-campaign surveys, by the mere fact that during the campaign people are given implicit messages about the objectionability of stigmatisation in so many ways. The effect of ESD is likely to be interpreted subsequently as ' improvement in public attitudes through education'. One can measure ESD from the difference between pre- and post-campaign lie scores, but when it is not measured it is always necessary to entertain its likely distorting effect on the data.
Questionnaires measuring cognition rather than attitudes
What one measures by 'attitudinal' questionnaires are cognitive hypotheses by subjects themselves of what they would think about, or feel or do towards the general category of patients with (a given) mental illness. The results of the surveys are then neither a measure of behaviour nor a measure of feelings towards the larger group of patients and therefore are not a measure of attitude because the latter has affective and sometimes behavioural components as well. The mind of a person subjected to a cognitive task such as a paper-and-pencil survey is likely to function on a different level than when subjected to the emotional stress of encountering real-life disturbed behaviour. Extrapolating from psychosocial studies (Stephan & Stephan, 1985; Dijker, 1987; Mackie et al, 1989; Wilder & Shapiro, 1989; Islam & Hewstone, 1993), which demonstrated that arousal increases the power of stereotypes and limits access to one's cognitive reserves, one could conclude that the anxiety and fear about personal safety and self-interest resulting from an actual encounter with an acutely ill patient is likely to disperse at least part of the cognitive effect of previous public education.
Yet, cognitions do matter, as the inevitable awareness of the stigmatised of the cognitive elements of people's attitudes puts the former in a position in which they feel vulnerable to what others may choose to do, whether in practice they do it or not.
People selecting the information
The input that leads to a new emotional experience for the public is likely not to be that they are told that patients are curable but that they do not hear of any more acts of violence committed by someone with mental illness. The development of a cure for mental illness is likely to reduce stigmatisation not when it is just given as cognitive data but when it is shown to be effective. Any possible effect of public education is likely to burn out with time as people tend to seek out information that confirms their pre-existing stereotypes (Skov & Sherman, 1986; Pendry & Macrae, 1994). Data consistent with stigmatising attitudes receive more attention and are rehearsed more frequently (Fiske & Neuberg, 1990). Although people with a better understanding of mental illness self-reportedly stigmatise less (Link et al, 1987; Brockington et al, 1993), the correlation may mean that those already less likely to stigmatise hold onto the information, confirming their relatively positive stereotypes, rather than that the knowledge per se makes them less likely to stigmatise.
Subjects who show negative attitudes at baseline are likely to refuse to be re-interviewed post-campaign (Wolff et al, 1996a) and information inconsistent with one's stereotype is likely to be refuted or denied (O'Sullivan & Durso, 1984). In campaigns for changing attitudes towards minority groups (Devine, 1995), the information 'reaches' those who already 'agree' with it. The pressure involved in counterstereotypical messages given to people in anti-stigmatisation protests (Macrae et al, 1996) might make people comply on the surface, while suppressing their stigmatising attitudes, so that overt acts of discrimination are either converted into subtler forms or inhibited, with the possibility of strong rebound (Macrae et al, 1994).
Talking to the feelings versus imparting information
The stigmatiser, like anyone else, has involuntary, unconditioned emotional responses (arousal, anxiety and fear) to certain events (e.g. serious accidents or death) and conditional responses to whoever reminds them of these events (someone lacking sanity, a mutilated person, a terminally ill person). According to behavioural theory, people take steps to avoid negative events and so the stigmatiser is likely to avoid the stigmatised to get away from the anxiety and fear that they arouse (Berger & Luckmann, 1966; Schutz, 1971).
Information alone is unlikely to demolish stigmatising attitudes because they are three-storey structures with a cognitive level but with two other levels as well. Anti-stigmatisation is likely to need something deeper than logic. To lecture people that patients with mental illness are not dangerous and that people should not worry about them is like saying to someone who has flight phobia that the aeroplane is safe and that he should not hesitate to board.
Research (Bodenhausen, 1993; Bodenhausen et al, 1994; Jussim et al, 1995) suggests that it is the 'feeling' component rather than the 'cognitive' component of attitudes that determines people's social judgement. Although some stigmatising attitudes are adopted consciously (spreading rumours about an economically rival group), stigmatising attitudes are mostly established through the involuntary process of classical conditioning (Staats et al, 1962), in the same way that phobias are. Thus, if every time one hears the word 'schizophrenic' on TV (conditioned stimulus) there is news of murder (unconditioned stimulus), one is going to associate the fear in relation to the murder (unconditioned response) to the word 'schizophrenic' (conditioned stimulus) and the word is going to bring about the same fear and anxiety (conditioned response) after a certain number of associations.
To make sense of their fear, stigmatisers deploy explanatory models. The cognition that 'schizophrenics are violent' is likely to be part of the subsequent syllogism that stigmatisers use as a semantic back-up for their underlying emotion rather than the cause of it. Offering them the cognitive model 'schizophrenics are not violent' is unlikely to fix the already established autonomic circuit of arousal, fear and anxiety because mere information is likely to fall apart when stigmatisers feel primitive, irrational emotions. They have, in essence, an affective problem. They need a new emotional experience rather than a new 'explanatory model' that they are unable to use and that would not fit their system, however open-minded and scientific the explanatory models of the organisers of a campaign are.
Nevertheless, this idea should not be taken to such extremes as to mean colluding with stigmatisers. Educational campaigns are likely to have, at the very least, the effect of challenging stigmatisers' attitudes, proposing alternative attitudes and emphasising the presence of anti-stigmatisation pressure groups and stakeholders. Psychosocial research on stigmatising attitudes towards ethnic minorities shows that people's awareness of the discrepancy between how they behave and how they think they should behave can cause emotions such as guilt and discomfort, at least in some; this is likely to prevent them from acting on their stigmatising attitude in the future (Monteith, 1996) but without necessarily changing those attitudes. It is likely that what could be achieved by educational campaigns is either nothing or a minor positive shift in moderately negative or relatively positive stereotypes, which then remain open to long-term challenges by constitutional, evolutionary, economic and psychological contingencies based on self-interest.
The public's fear and anxiety as a component of stigmatisation can, theoretically, either be desensitised through contact with patients or relieved through containment and ventilation.
From contacts with patients to exodus from hostel neighbourhoods
In contacts, the ever-present risk is that of non-generalisation of ' positive' feelings generated towards the stigmatised persons encountered to the category to which they belong. Extrapolating psychosocial findings on students and ethnic minorities (Wilder, 1984; Johnson & Hewstone, 1992; Van Oudenhoven et al, 1996) to campaigns in mental health suggests that providing the public with contacts with a successfully treated patient is likely to create a new subtype in their mind: "She is an exception. I have seen others worse than her." As exposure to further strong disconfirming examples continues, new subtypes are likely to be created — "female educated patients", "well-treated harmless patients", etc. — but the original stereotype is maintained. On the contrary, when the contact person is 'typical' of the stereotype with an additional characteristic of, for example, pleasantness (Wilder, 1984) or when the contact happens in an equal-status cooperative context (Desforges et al, 1991; Van Oudenhoven et al, 1996), there may be a change in the stereotypes.
If substantiated, such hypotheses have to face other challenges in the real world. Among these is the finding that a larger number of examples is required to confirm a positive attribute in a stereotype and fewer contrary examples to disconfirm it (Rothbart & Park, 1986). This is consistent with the fact that people tend to weight negative information more heavily than positive information (Kanouse & Hanson, 1972). Therefore, exposure to a great number of 'positive' contacts can be undone easily by a few salient items of news about a murder by a patient with mental illness or by a film involving the audience in an emotional contact with characters not elaborated according to social science laboratory formulas. Also, to work from within the stereotype in order to promote its improvement may paradoxically reinforce it because there is a fine line between using the stereotype without giving it undue salience and using it in a way that leads to its further reification.
Wolff et al (1996a) report increased contacts between local patients in a hostel and neighbours as a result of campaigns of public education that encouraged contacts between the two groups. They interpret this as an improvement in overall attitudes and behaviour "towards the mentally ill", taking for granted the generalisation from a few local patients to the category of patients with mental illness. What is also missed is that, after such contacts were encouraged, the mobility of neighbours over a 2-year period was significantly higher than that of people in a control street (Table 1).
Those who moved out had shown no overall difference in stigmatising attitude pre-campaign compared with other neighbours, yet the likelihood that their attitudes were affected more negatively subsequent to the arrival of the hostel and the associated publicity, or that they corresponded to that subgroup who stigmatise in effect and not on survey papers, should not be left unmentioned. Of course, the significant difference in mobility might have occurred due to the presence of a more 'mobile' group in the experimental street at baseline. Mobility is likely to be determined by socio-demographic factors and although there were highly significant disparities between the ethnicity and social class of the control and experimental groups (which already casts serious doubts on the comparability of results) one cannot conclude that the significant excess exodus from the experimental street was merely due to such class and ethnicity differences. The idea that an additional number of neighbours left the experimental street within 2 years to get away from the hostel becomes more probable when one considers that, according to the authors, 20% of the respondents at the initial interviews expressed concerns, one of which was worry about "a drop in house prices" (Wolff et al, 1996b) if patients were moved from hospitals into units in their areas. Although causality between contact and excess exodus cannot be proved, consideration of a significant mobility in an experimental group should be part of the interpretation of any such research. Those who move out of an area to avoid patients can have their negative attitudes reinforced by the mere act of distancing themselves, which would give them a 'feeling of relief' (negative reinforcement). Also noteworthy are the notions of "phantom acceptance" (Goffman, 1963) and specious ' integration' of patients in neighbourhoods with low social cohesion (Segal,1980), and so high mobility.
The dilemma is clear: on the one hand, if we present the public with dramatically improved patients they are likely to subtype them as ' exceptions'; on the other hand, if we work from within the stereotype and present the public with 'typical' patients, there might be some positive shift in the stereotype but there is also a risk of reinforcing the stereotype.
Focusing on the feelings of the public
If contacts with patients are fraught with dilemmas, how could one act on the affective level of stigmatising attitudes? When one reflects on the relative success of local targeted efforts at destigmatisation (Lynch, 1987; Quicke et al, 1990), one opportunity is that in these workshop-like events there may have been more opportunity for ventilation of anxieties of some of the target groups. These campaigns, associated with 'discussion' with peers and teachers, reported a more pronounced improvement in 'preconceptions'. There has been no adequate interpretation of why this should be so, yet the likelihood is that during some of these unstructured 'discussions' the fear and anxiety of participants are more or less ventilated. It would not be adequate to tell people that patients are not dangerous, because what they need is to feel free to say how fearful they were the other day when they heard about a patient attacking someone in the street. Real concern for patients starts by paying attention to the affective content of public attitudes. Destigmatisation, if it is ever to be successful, needs to provide forums for the expression of fears, in which people can speak up, ask questions, challenge and communicate their worries. If taken seriously and relieved of their anxiety they are likely to take seriously the same feelings in the patients. Large group meetings with the help of a psychotherapist, facilitator or trained social workers are likely to allow ventilation of public feelings in neighbourhood centres, youth organisations, community services, churches, libraries and schools.
Labouring in the arts' workshop
The arts would identify its function as not always copying reality but as modifying and representing it in new forms. An aspect of work on the affective component of the stigmatising attitude would be to acquire a weapon: producing works of art, writing popular novels or making films with the help of interested patients and psychiatrists in collaboration with artists. These works of art are likely to act on the feelings of the public at a level where the affective component of their attitude resides, rather than at a cognitive level. There is much scope for acting on the public's feelings by portraying the struggle and revaluation of patients with mental illness. A relevant example is The Marie Butler Story, a film produced in the USA by CBS in collaboration with the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill (NAMI) about the sacrifices and successes of an 'institutionalised' woman. The risk of subtyping is likely to reduce when works of art depict a ' typical' patient with 'typical' struggles who improves and develops into a person seen by viewers and readers as someone like themselves. Work with TV professionals needs to be a business of having anti-stigmatising messages subsumed under new emotional experiences for the viewers. Generous arts and media awards would guarantee cooperation.
In theory, legislation both reflects and moulds public attitudes. To date, there has been little experimental evidence showing that anti-discrimination legislation would or would not change public stereo-types. It is possible that new laws contrasting with personal attitudes would challenge people into debate and self-questioning. To avoid legal sanction, people would have to bring their behaviour at least in line with the law and this would cause dissonance with the previous attitude (Festinger, 1957). The final outcome in some cases is likely to be a change of attitudes, but in most cases the public would choose the easiest route: holding onto their pre-existing attitudes while justifying their new behaviour with the necessity to avoid the sanctions in force. Thus, anti-discrimination laws acting as symbols of ' parental' authority and judgement could merely suppress stigmatising attitudes but at the same time they are likely to function as institutional support (Allport, 1954), protecting patients from injustice and increasing the public tendency, through internalisation of a new behavioural norm (even while holding onto the old attitude), to act in a more egalitarian manner.
The exercise of discrimination can be subtle, such as sitting apart or not smiling, or flagrant, such as rejection of an employment application or refusing to rent out accommodation or not allowing people on public premises. The legislative system needs to be encouraged and/or put under pressure through advocacy and lobbying by anti-stigmatisation watch-dogs created within psychiatric associations. The latter, networking lawyers, members of parliament and human rights organisations should identify gaps in the legal protection and promote enacting laws that allocate sanctions on gross discriminatory behaviour. Other legislation needs to promote positive discrimination in the sense that employers should be rewarded for having a quota of employees from those who suffer from mental illness and providing them with training options and specific sick-leave provisions; landlords should have more obligation towards patients; and insurance companies should have some commitment to include cover for mental illness on their mainstream policies as a means of recognising the value of people with mental health problems and the ubiquity and acceptability of mental illness.
Pathology in a nation is likely to be related in part to biopsychosocial factors (Engel, 1980), including the nature of the political system, civil liberties and social justice, which reflect and are in turn reflected by the quality of upbringing and emotional stability within families. It is likely that a society based on warmth and intimacy rather than dominance and power has less need to systematically pursue self-interest and to stigmatise. On the contrary, in highly competitive environments where self-interest is intensely pursued, discrimination is likely to rise, with consequent poorer prognosis, inasmuch as the stigmatisers are perceived as a bigger threat to self-interest and are further rejected. The attitude of the state to the extent and implications of inter-individual competition is likely to influence the citizens' attitudes, and vice versa. For example, intervention of the state to limit ruthless, cruel or extravagant economic takeovers that threaten the survival of individuals and smaller businesses and the state's allocation of substantial budgets to anti-discriminatory activities would be a message to the whole society about the effects of aggressive competition and/or destruction of the chances of the weak.
Egalitarian non-competitive environments that encourage cooperative interdependence of all people for a superordinate aim of rewarding the whole society reduce inter-group hostility and prejudice (Sherif, 1966; Amir, 1976; Gaertner et al, 1993). The political philosophy of the state and its emphasis on unity and interdependence of people is likely to moderate the selfserving behaviour of its citizens and promote tolerance and respect for all, including the weak and the vulnerable, who are then seen as allies in the service of the higher cause. This is ambitious enough for it to be a task to which all citizens need to contribute, the task of the third millennium.
What we perhaps lack is a political ideology that would allow consideration of the environments from which people come rather than how much they have achieved. In many contexts, an important question all of us need to answer is whether the existential value of someone who has achieved more without having a mental illness is necessarily higher than that of another who has achieved less while having a mental illness. The difficulties facing some people with mental illness are just the same as those that would face anyone who developed mental illness after a lifetime of good mental health, and they cannot be used as a basis for measuring people's personal value.
The biggest misunderstanding in debates on 'political correctness' seems to be the misconceived idea that the whole aim of linguistic intervention is to reduce the verbal disrespect towards the stigmatised. There is a well-known history of repetitive changes of designations for people with learning difficulty, each new term acquiring, after some time, the discrediting connotations of the previous ones. Yet, the effect of change of a designation is desirable, even if it is temporary. Linguistic intervention can be a tactic of scratching at the surface, with the strategy of looking at the core. As such, it aims at engaging people in a discourse of value as a means of promoting shifts in attitudes.
Linguistic intervention challenges and invites at the same time: challenges whoever has a stigmatising attitude, and invites whoever might be sympathetic enough to join the destigmatisers. Thus, to favour the use of 'a person with an experience of schizophrenia' as opposed to ' schizophrenics' is not necessarily mistaking linguistic symptoms for the social reality of the lives of these patients.
Reviewing brochures of advocacy organisations such as Mind (National Association for Mental Health) shows that linguistic intervention is one of the requests of patients and their advocates, and destigmatisation starts by paying attention to these requests. In changing their 'titles', patients assert that the existing orders of the world are not immutable and this can be their first step towards more autonomy. Their request does not need to be taken as a mere wish for a change of designation (Haghighat & Littlewood, 1995); it can also be seen as a tacit invitation by patients to others to review their stereotypes, indeed a request for a reconsideration of others' personal attitudes. In this perspective, linguistic intervention is an attempt to launch a debate on something 'wrong' in stigmatisers' language in order to draw attention to something more sinister: a self-enquiry device that challenges the denial. As is the case with anti-stigmatisation protests (Macrae et al, 1996), linguistic intervention may lead to suppression of stigmatising attitudes, yet, unlike educational campaigns, this would not necessarily remain a pure cognitive enterprise in that it directly challenges stigmatising attitudes and is likely to arouse more emotions (e.g. constructive guilt) in some people and have at least some positive effect.
Novel interpretations of evolution would limit deterministic features imposed on our views by current interpretations, which can tacitly serve stigmatisers. Sociobiology considers a variety of animal and human behaviours and tries to interpret them along the lines of the theory of survival of ' selfish genes', which use our bodies as robots, making us behave in ways leading to the ruthless self-replication of these genes. Explaining stigmatisation as one aspect of a genetic behavioural programme for the survival of genes implies that isolating and rejecting the stigmatised is a natural evolutionary process, 'justifying' prejudice as something ' biological' and 'innate' and reifying stigmatisation as a more or less deterministic ideology.
The fact that nature is what it is does not mean that one could not use judgement or morality to decide what is good for humans (Barash & Lipton, 1985). Yet, those who need to stigmatise in order to dominate would either downgrade the idea of morality as the instrument used by the weak (Nietzsche, 1886) or recommend a new 'morality' in the service of power: "one has duties only toward one's equals; one may act as one sees fit toward beings of a lower rank, toward everything foreign to one" (Nietzsche, 1886). Thus, ' old' and 'new' morality can both be used in the service of domination. The Encyclopaedia Britannica (1998) mentions that " two books were standard issue for the rucksacks of German soldiers during World War I, Thus Spoke Zarathustra [by Nietzschel and The Gospel According to St. John". Later on, Nietzsche's views and social Darwinism (used to proclaim that helping the weak was against natural selection) were employed by the Nazi system to provide ideological underpinnings for the thesis of the superiority of Aryan races (Encyclopaedia Britannica, 1998) and the extermination of six million Jews.
Although the seeking of self-interest remains the basis of stigmatisation, the genetic origin of stigmatisation is not as deterministic as is sometimes implied. If genes can guarantee their own survival through encouraging the reproduction of people with similar or closely related genes, then how do we explain the high level of violence in families? Also, some people choose dangerous hobbies and pursuits for self-fulfilment purposes even if they might lose their lives in the process, which, of course, would not lead to any genetic interest. There is no evidence that the numbers of such people are reducing nor that the ultimate 'logic' in having these dangerous hobbies is necessarily to attract the opposite gender and propagate one's genes. Also, there are people who choose not to have children, cutting back, in effect, the 'hope' of their species' genes to self-replicate while they compete ardently on economic grounds, and there is no more reason to believe that they do so (unawares) for others to procreate on their behalf (like worker bees who sacrifice their fertility for the sake of their queen to procreate) than they do so on account of their own fulfilment.
Viruses, protozoa and even higher animals are highly restricted by the fiat of their genome and lack the human freedom for intervening intellectually, ideologically or scientifically in the workings of their own genes or gene products. Humans are relatively freed from the hegemony of genes and are offered, through evolution, more space, options and alternatives in choosing their own behaviour and destiny. This idea that evolution has an unrelenting tendency towards releasing higher species, especially humankind, from biological constraints is of pivotal significance for the reconstruction of a new discourse for modern evolution. It is ideology that decides how we are going to use our relative freedom from the biological imperatives that still restrict the animal kingdom. Ideology is not genetic and, even if it were proved to be, there would always be the possibility of choice between the countervailing ones.
In ideologically favourable societies, opting for non-stigmatising behaviours could have reproductive value. A change of culture may render ' ancient' adaptive mechanisms irrelevant for survival in modern circumstances. Culture can design environments that would lead to the selection not of stigmatisers but of cooperative interdependent protagonists. Indeed, groups whose members cooperate with one another may out-produce groups composed of selfish individuals (Sober & Wilson, 1998). What hinders a more equitable approach to other humans can only be the vestiges, in our genome, of our animal evolutionary heritage, whereas deployment of our newly acquired evolutionary autonomy can help us to develop cultures that promote destigmatisation.
Clinical Implications and Limitations
The article presents a novel theory of stigmatisation that helps in understanding how patients are deployed as a commodity for other people's self-interest.
It provides an account of several domains and in each is able to cover the relevant evidence and lead to new predictions.
The unitary formulation has the double advantage of tenability and coverage and generates fruitful avenues of research.
Assessing the relative efficacy of different anti-stigmatisation interventions is beyond the scope of this article.
Long-term follow-up studies on destigmatisation have not been performed so far.
Not all the potential core issues in stigmatisation could be addressed, owing to space limitations.
I would like to thank Professor Roland Littlewood for his encouragement of this work.
- Received March 29, 2000.
- Revision received June 26, 2000.
- Accepted June 28, 2000.
- © 2001 Royal College of Psychiatrists


text:
Not Accepting Guests
- Last login almost 4 years ago
Join Couchsurfing to see Elina's full profile. It's free!
About Me
listen, learn and soak it in
I've just started entertaining the idea of couch surfing and am excited to see where it can go. Just came back to Canada after a year studying in France. 1 truth I learn everyday; the more you know, the more you realize how little you know.
"my dear fellow, life is infinitely stranger than anything which the mind could invent"- sherlock holmes
Why I'm on Couchsurfing
I just learned about this fantastic group. let's see where it takes us...
Travel. Reading. Music. Listening. Playing. You. Me. Them. Animals. and more!
- animals
- cooking
- reading
- traveling
- music
- surfing
- scuba diving
- skydiving
Music, Movies, and Books
I love many kind of music, films and books; won't narrow it down by naming genres that may mean one thing to someone and another thing to someone else. looking for something i didn't know about yesterday...ps. I love led zeppelin.
One Amazing Thing I've Done
I've done many things that have affected me in awesome ways...skydiving, scuba diving, travelling...talking...reading...
Teach, Learn, Share
I can't think of something that I might be able to teach someone, but I would love to learn everything!I am really interested in learning to cook fun things, although for now I'm a terrible cook. :)
Countries I've Visited
Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Israel, Italy, Japan, Laos, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Thailand, United Kingdom, United States, Viet Nam
Countries I've Lived In
Canada, France, Russian Federation


text:
Cart is empty
Breastfeeding Tips
Breastfeeding Help & Tips on Increasing Milk Supply
Breastfeeding is, without question, the best possible way to nourish your child physically and emotionally. At Heavenly Hold, we know that breastfeeding, like any aspect of parenting, certainly poses unique challenges and frustrations.
To support you in your decision to breastfeed, we are thrilled to offer breastfeeding help & tips on increasing milk supply.
A Special Message on Breastfeeding Help from Owner, Amber Stevens
"I was able to breastfeed my daughter for her first year. It was definitely not always easy and we did have some interruptions with my being on medication not compatible with breastfeeding. I always pumped in addition to nursing and had a few issues with supply. I want to support and offer any help I can to breastfeeding mothers."
If you ever need help or encouragement with breastfeeding, please do not hesitate to contact us!
Tips on Increasing Milk Supply
Since Amber has had quite a few mothers share similar problems with low milk supply, she has provided the following helpful tips on increasing your milk supply while breastfeeding.
- Always stay hydrated (nope, a six pack of Diet Coke doesn't count)... water, water, water, and LOTS of it throughout the day.
- The daily recommended amount of 8-10 glasses is a start, but keep in mind that is a recommendation for non-lactating people.
- We have found that a good way to find out how much water you need for breastfeeding is to divide your weight in half, then drink that much in ounces.
- (i.e. 180 lb women would drink approximately 90 ounces or 11 glasses of water a day.)
- Eat old-fashioned oatmeal for breakfasts and snacks... microwave instant doesn't quite do the trick. (See the recipe below.)
- Have skin to skin contact with your baby. Nurse your baby without a bra or top on whenever possible, as this increases oxytocin, the hormone that controls breastmilk production.
- Wear your baby! Even with clothing on, having your baby as close to you as possible also increases oxytocin
- Pump, pump and pump some more!
- Pumping between feedings can tell your body that your baby needs more milk, which will increase your supply.
- Keep it in balance, as pumping constantly throughout the day might actually decrease your supply, because your body will not have enough time to replenish.
- For mothers with babies sleeping 8-12 hours at night, pump at least 2 ounces first thing in the morning, before you nurse. This will relieve engorgement, make nursing easier, and increase your milk supply.
The following recipe for breastfeeding cookie bars is super yummy and super healthy, featuring several ingredients that are known to aid in milk supply.
Mama Jeeper's Oatmeal Lactation Breakfast Bars
2 c. butter, Crisco, or margarine (can mix and match to equal 2 c.)1 c. granulated sugar2 c. packed brown sugar4 eggs1 Tbsp. vanilla extract1 tsp. salt2 tsp. baking soda2 1/2 c. flour1/2 c. wheat germ1/4 c. brewer's yeast (not baking yeast) or nutritional yeast powder1/4 c. flax meal (or whole flaxseed milled fine in a coffee grinder)4 c. oatmeal (old fashioned, or as thick-cut as you can find)1 bag mini semi sweet chocolate chips1 c. nuts (optional)
Cream butter and sugars well, then add eggs and vanilla. Beat until well blended. Mix all dry ingredients (except for oats, chips, and nuts) in separate bowl. Combine the wet and dry ingredients all at once, stirring as well as possible by hand. Mix with beaters until smooth. Add oats and chips (and nuts, if desired), and stir until well blended. Divide dough into five parts.
Line a 10 X 7 cookie sheet (with shallow sides, like a jellyroll pan) with foil. Spray foil with nonstick spray. Spread 1/5 of the dough into the foil-lined pan and bake for 20 minutes at 350 degrees.
When done, simply lift out foil to remove the bars. Place another piece of foil into the pan and spray for the next batch. Allow to cool at least slightly before cutting each pan of bars into eighths.
Makes 40 bars


text:
Rate: by 0 visitors
Smoking Fetish Geco Alyssa Alps Lisa Lipps - Smoking
Rate: by 1 visitors
Different Smoking
Smoking Ass
Bri is becoming one of my favorite net hotties. I mean there is body, and then there is Bri. I cant wait til she provides us with another gem. Rumor has it shes saving her hottest post yet for next.
Smoking hot bodybuilder!
Rate: by 3 visitors
Very hot looking brunette shaking her perfect little ass on her web camera, flashing it for a bit in her tight little booty shorts.
Smoking hot latina girl with awesome tight body dances in tight outfit in front of her web camera, flashing her sexy thong and showing off her perfect body.
Avena Lee Smoking
Smoking Bitch
Summer Luv Smoking Sex
Smoking Addicts
Smoking hot mature sex
Smoking While Sucking
Smoking Hot Teen
Amy Reid is smoking hot
Smoking Erotica


text:
Apple's upcoming iPhone 5 will supposedly feature a 4-inch screen.
The next generation of iPhone will use a 4-inch screen, according to Reuters' sources who are 'familiar with the situation'. Apple has reportedly started placing orders for the bigger display with suppliers in South Korea and Japan.
A larger screen would replace the repeatedly used 3.5-inch display and the suggestion contradicts the news that the 5 in iPhone 5 stands for 5-inch screen.
The report said that production of the display could start next month with LG, Sharp and Japan Display. The iPhone 5 would then begin assembly as early as August. As far as we know, the iPhone 5 will "launch" in September.
It is widely thought that the move to a bigger screen is part of a response to competition from the likes of Samsung and HTC. The former has unveiled the Galaxy S3 which has a 4.8-inch screen and HTC's One X sports a 4.7-inch one.
The iPhone 5 rumour mill is picking up pace so check out our iPhone 5 release date, specs and rumour round-up for all the latest chatter.


text:
Originally published December 21, 2013 at 5:06 PM | Page modified December 21, 2013 at 5:11 PM
Dan Dierdorf looks forward to his last broadcast call in Kansas City
Dan Dierdorf's final season as an NFL television analyst would not have been complete without a trip to Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, Mo.
So Dierdorf, who is retiring at the end of the 2013 season, was excited he and play-by-play partner Greg Gumbel were assigned to work Sunday's Chiefs-Colts game.
Because of the Chiefs' poor record last year, Dierdorf and Gumbel, considered CBS' No. 2 crew, did not call a Chiefs game last year. And he missed the sights and smells of the barbecue wafting from the parking lots.
"I love to eat, I love food, and that drive across the parking lot on Sunday morning to get to the TV trucks is the best smelling drive in the NFL," said Dierdorf, who lives in St. Louis.
"I'm not just saying this because I'm going to be there this weekend, but Arrowhead has always been in my mind, the closest NFL environment to a collegiate experience. It's the closest thing to going to a college football game, whether it be Lincoln … Ann Arbor … Columbus, Ohio."
Dierdorf, 64, is retiring after 30 years in the booth.
• Davone Bess had a disappointing and shortened first season with the Cleveland Browns.
The wide receiver was placed on the reserve/non-football illness list, ending his season with two games left after he missed practice time this week for "personal reasons." The Browns announced the move after traveling to New York to play the Jets on Sunday. The team gave no further details for Bess' absence or the abrupt end to his season.
The 28-year-old Bess was excused from practice Thursday and Friday by Browns coach Rob Chudzinski.


text:
These Age Anniversary poems are examples of Age poems about Anniversary. These are the best examples of Age Anniversary poems written by international PoetrySoup poets
If you don't find the poem you want here, try our incredible, super duper, all-knowing, advanced poem search engine.
While you sleep I tell you all of the things I keep inside throughout day.
Now that you can hear but not listen I find them much easier to say.
My hopes, my dreams, my fears, and everything in between
Your subconscious hears so keen, or so it seems.
My tongue is soft; I speak so sweetly
Knowing your reaction will never greet me.
Tonight will be different in what I want you to know.
It has everything to do with what I can't help but show.
I hold no claim to any religion but you've given me a place for my faith.
Somewhere it will never stale or lose its lavish taste.
You've shown me something I can see, touch, and feel,
And so before it I choose to kneel.
I know I don't say it but I miss you every day.
Sitting, thinking of the perfect words to be my choice,
Yet when you call I can't find any of the right words to say.
I'm just happy to finally hear your voice.
Even just a moment is enough to sooth my heavy heart;
Fearing the ends of conversations knowing we'll have to part.
I'll never be too far from you, always within arm's reach,
And in your days of darkness I'll be the light that you will seek.
I'll never let you leave too far from me, I'll stay close behind you in this world;
Secretly protecting what is mine, you will always be my girl.
I only want the best for you so the best of me I will employ.
Faithfully yours, I will always be your boy.
I close my eyes and kiss your soft sweet lips
And see the very best of you in loving bliss.
I see past the physical which makes you attractive
And focus on the things I can't see in which I'm attracted.
Your thoughts I'd love to hear them all.
Of the things you speak disinterest never makes its call.
My day will come, I know someday I'll be the only one.
And you I will pursue viciously,
Because I've given you the greatest gift I can give, to love unconditionally.
Yes our day will come, I know someday we'll be as one.
And you I will pursue viciously,
Because I've given you the greatest gift I can give… to love unconditionally.
Copyright © Kristopher Higgs | Year Posted 2012
Gone, Our Days Dancing In The Splashing Rain
As this our time retreats into faded thought
and our nights of love become a pain
We can both see that with a dear price bought
our days dancing in the splashing rain
Should we again find our way into love's realm
tempest breaking the greatest storm apart
Ship on truest course with heart at the helm
finding treasures not seen on any chart
When hope, our only saving grace fell very far
did we regret the touch of our lips then
Or invite in the misery creating this deep scar
thus viewing all our love passion as sin
What of the sorrow that chills us both so deep
deadly words that slash with no remorse
Nay, the damnation and costs make us both weep
each crying out for a much happier course
Has this time sealed our doom and failed pride
a journey based upon mistakes and lies
Drowning as we fail to cross darkness so wide
death under black waters with broken ties
Never reaching up for that romance saving hand
content to lick and eat our own pride
Saddest traveler into desolation's blackest land
moaning out regret as we enjoy the ride
Will our stubbornness give birth to great defeat
a testament to anger's futile arrogance
A nasty meal we each still find begging to eat
no victory in foolishly killing romance
Robert J. Lindley
Copyright © Robert Lindley | Year Posted 2015
A black phone
I dislike our phone a sleek monster in a corner
I never answer it when it rings unless my wife is out
My mobile phone is in the pocket in my jacket in the hall
Where I can`t hear it when it rings, it is usually someone
Trying to sell me something, but I never go out driving
Without my mobile it comes in handy if the car breaks
Down and I have to call the garage with a tow- truck
Years ago I used to do haiku; it did my head in
The bloody phone always rang when I had the right
Word on the tip of my tongue often I took the phone
Off its hook but I could hear it humming which was
Worse when I was still young enough to think
A phone could bring good news something like
"We have decided to publish your book" it never
Happened instead, it rang to give me heart-wrenching
News, an early morning call: your mother has died.
Copyright © jan oskar hansen | Year Posted 2016
Such a disaster
Waking up in the morning
Shamelessly white
Self- tanning cream
The pride of looking sporty
The mirror pulls face
Deep philosophy
The poet is in deep water
Saved by low tide
One types of success
When your work brings happiness
And not endless doubt
The loser a man
Who knows he`s incompetent
Yet accuse others
The news I read
Been the same for fifty years
War and film stars
A box under the bed holds my whole life
Letters from my first love who later became my wife
The shoes from my daughter's first steps
To the flower she held as I walked her down the aisle
I'll always be your baby she said with a smile
The watch my dad wore as he slipped away
I stood by his side the watch stop ticking that day
The promise ring I gave my darling before we wed
I'll never forget the tears or the words she said
A photo of my mother in her younger years
Looking at that photo brings me to tears
Cancer took her smile grace and hair
I lost it when I lost her it just wasn't fair
So a box under the bed means a lot to me
Containing my whole life and what use to be
Copyright © Alberta Richardson | Year Posted 2016
My knees were the things that
kept me up and my skin is my
cutting board my eyes are the
rain clouds to the fire running
down my arms and my heart is
the fire place that keeps me
burning so calm
Copyright © brittney lopez | Year Posted 2013
He is my fortress and my strength
His love he has proven at length
In times of sickness and in times of health
He has remained open not stealth.
In youth we loved passionately
With children we loved affectionately
In middle age we loved calmly
With age we love patiently.
Many decades we leave behind us
Yet a few decades remain ahead of us
We are free to say what is on our mind
Knowing we've survived the test of time.
When money we had little of
When children were ill
When we were hurt by family or friends –
When one was ill, the other thrived
we held on
so neither was ever left behind.
This is the legacy we leave
Not of a love that is divine
But of a love that has ridden the roller coaster ride
And survived.
Copyright © Natala Orobello | Year Posted 2013
"Birth day" is the actual day one exits from the womb, (thereafter, "birthday", is but a colloquialism for the anniversary of that birth). Well … today is mine. I'm finally old enough to drive … (times 4.56!). Now, I'm old enough to vote … (times 3.476!). One of my sons, too, this month, will become a half-century old … which makes me realize: I'm older'n dirt!
It is truly amazing: Once you reach this age, it really, truly is incomprehensible that so many years have passed since taking that first breath – because our minds don't allow us to think we're "aged"! Our thoughts tell us we can still lift that couch … or a 100 lb. sack of seed … or a box of twenty books. But … the actual attempt proves our minds still have their roots in the concrete of yesteryear, while our bodies are entrenched in the reality of … today, (that's easily confirmed by a quick glance in a mirror!) Contrary to popular belief … we are NOT as "young as we feel" … and to defy reality by allowing our minds to trump our body's limitations, when it comes to physical exertion, is courting a hospital stay – or worse.
For those of us whose physical attributes have waned, we have great difficulty in accepting the fact that we now are relegated to the task of "watching", not "doing". That's the final hurdle we, of necessity, must overcome before we can truly accept … aging. Our children, whom we used to tell and guide in what they could/should do, and when … have now matured. We've taught them as best we could, and it is now their turn to drive the carriage – and, if we're lucky, and don't try to "boss" them, we may be asked to become passengers.
There comes a time when our day in the sun becomes a rocking chair in the twilight. We need to prepare ourselves to recognize that change of circumstance and situation.
It'll be difficult for some of us … because WE'VE always been the one "in charge". If we are to survive with our dignity intact and retain relationships with those we love … we have to find a way to hand over the reins – and MEAN it – to the next generation which we ourselves have spawned.
Our remaining decisions will be: Whether or not to re-bait that fishing hook … or what channel to watch … any decision more meaningful will need to be made by … our kids.
Copyright © Jack Clark | Year Posted 2014
I wrapped all my tears, to see you smile.
you are the best, always by my side.
I tell you my feelings will get you crying,
you must think I'm out of my mind.
You don't know, what I know,
all the angels let me go.
We were born to teethe and die,
you will grow to be so fine.
Fall in love, feel your softer side,
Remember me when life is kind.
When you go, let me know,
don't walk away like the world and go.
Life is rough and the world unkind,
fight them down and you will be fine.
The truth of live is a brutal sight,
make no mistakes, you can learn from mine.
You have a strong heart, you are unique
I treasure times when you smile at me.
Live the life, I could not find,
be there for me, when I say goodbye.
Copyright © Karan Patade | Year Posted 2013
Reflections of imperfections
have shown me a way
that I can move mountains
through my power of faith
even though I can't see him
I know he is real
through the power of prayer
and a Love that I feel
It's growing inside me
like a flower in bloom
shall I reveal my powers
or is it too soon
I am reading the signs
through my darkness I find
a reason for belief in
the light of mankind
that I know shall overcome
the greatest of odds
the Love I seek amazes me
especially through the flaws
because now I am inspired
through the hero's that bring
my throne through the darkness
on which I return on as your King.
Copyright © Bj Fard | Year Posted 2013
Time is a great cure
For what I'm not sure
Time is only for this minute
If you live another a cure is in it!
Life is time and living it is the cure
Working is the blood of being secure
Money, money, money needs no friend around
Good health is times only sound!
So, P.S. My friends have the Time of your life!
The Silver Scribe
Copyright © R.Barry Love | Year Posted 2015
Love is a wonder
shared by one another
it's the only reason
I'm not six feet under
Love in which I believe
in a will to sustain
I give back to life, now
in dormant states of pain
The power of Love
may not alone be enough
locked inside my dreams
escape only from above
higher than any human being
has ever gone before
I must have evolved
rise above hate, great once more
My Father taught me wisdom
I am imprisoned no longer
now an beast not of burden
I am no lion, I am stronger
on my shoulder sits twin dragons
long awaiting the day
evil forces come forth to
take what Love is left, away
A Hero of Love light
are what the world needs
angels, not demons
exist where ever you believe
follow your heart's direction
and you shall achieve
objects of affection
rid of materialistic greed
My bright energy
has awakened to a fire
never consuming the source
as the flames just grow higher
that is the desire
of a product we call Love
Fear, the counterpart
what I was once made of
I am slowly learning
how to win when my peace
is harder to sharpen
so I have given my pen leave
the sword has its uses
I must say I believe
to vanquish the evil
in the minds too diseased
to serve any purpose
except their own selfish ones
tomorrow a new day
in the clarity of the sun
where we two are now one
and one done now does
bring about a great change
lit by the righteousness of Love.
You was the purpose of my life
you was the reason of my smile
Without you I m hollow, I can t swallow
I Can't eat, why shouldn't I let out of breath?
Thier s only one thing which is grieve
You was the reason why I smile
I still remember you shouting fighting
It was like a lightning
But everytime I wake up which was usually at nine
I still remember the apologies in your eyes
telling me everytime it was fine
You just don t know how lonely I m without you
You just don t know how much I ve cried every second waiting for you
You was the purpose of my life
Without you I can t eat,I don t wanted to go to bed to sleep
The pressure I feel is very deep
Oh again it s the grieve
I still clearly remember your blue beautiful eyes with blonde hairs
Your perfect skin and your body language and talks absolutely fair
You gave me the time of my life
Giving me a purpose to live
Making me who I m now
But my smile which was with you is nowhere to found
Copyright © Faraz Ajmal | Year Posted 2017
The Apple PASTURE
Oh how I long
To drift into the apple pasture.
Were once was and all well meet.
A pure and dear site.
Where silver reflection cover the still waters that holds the golden
grains of morality and the grazing souls lie young amounce no stars.
Oh how I long
To drift into the apple pasture
Were winds smell of melon and the trees whisper spring corals in the mellow dark and best of light and time creeps into no tomorrow.
Copyright © JAY JOHNSON | Year Posted 2011
I never quite understood the concept of patience,
Laying in the shadow of wait never seemed to put me in a content rest,
And that's all that patience is, it's waiting.
I will never wait,
I will never be content,
I will always inch for more,
Because when you take the most in, you'll get the most out.
Life doesn't wait for anyone,
So why wait when you know exactly what you want?
Copyright © Christina Rose | Year Posted 2015
She drives me up the wall like a slave-driver
O yes, she does ! but even though she may wield
the rod in her hand ever so threateningly at me
At the slightest suspicion of insubordination,
Leaving me cowering with fear, I love her just the same,
Perhaps much more than I 've ever loved anybody else before!
I may 've become certifiable as a result, who knows,
But whatever the case may be,
pray don't judge me harshly until you 've heard me out.
I love her for the same farcical reason that Socrates
Ostensibly loved that cantankerous woman Xantippe.
By temperament and upbringing, I find a woman who
Stands up to a man much more appealing than one
Who's obsequious and complaisant!
What happened to me, therefore, was no accident but a
quantum leap; I had no control what so ever over the turn of events
That got us this far in our fledgling relationship.
Ever since I met her, my life, which had hitherto been
Fairly peaceful and uneventful, has, all of a sudden,
Taken a dramatic turn.
And like a minx, she has so turned my head around
I can't tell for certain whether I am coming or I am going!
Suffice to say I've been acting up silly and rather foolishly
For a grown up person (I don't know whether or not I still
Have any semblance of an ego left, what with this
Attractive je ne sais quoi I find so irresistible about her!)
Oh no, don't tell me I've been doing this all for the
Wrong reasons ! or that I am laying it on thick.
It's only me who knows exactly what I am feeling.
Besides, I am not talking morals here, I am talking
About what it feels like to love somebody to a fault.
If she did walk out on me now I can guarantee you
That would certainly be the death of me!
I am sure that's not what you would all like
To see happen to me just yet unless of course
You've been spoiling for my death while pretending to be my friends.
When all else is said and done, I'd rather be
Henpecked than let go of this maverick specimen of womankind
Who has lodged herself in my life uninvited,
Making it her home, and has since then never failed
To drive me up the wall like a slave-driver with her rod.
Not only is she good sport, but like a morning
Star she's such fun to be with, I promise you!
Copyright © stephen syacika | Year Posted 2014
The mind cannot grasp its beauty's
even though it count the colour's
just like rainbows _ pretty's
the heart accepts its glamour's
your heart accepts its glamour's
till the sky falls from the heavens
a conundrum so candour
with tears from the eyes of a raven
adding radiance to life's breath
saying goodbye to hurt and lust
love that is stronger than death
calls us back _ when we're lost.
Copyright © Emenaha Godwin Holiday | Year Posted 2015
A Choice Made
Driving rain darkness surrounds him now a choice has been made, now here in the thicket deep with rich fir rising to the heavens.
Why? Where? How? Questions whose answers are not yet ascertained, known only sad dialogue depicting terrible acting.
Beginnings, Endings what is the plot? Has he forgotten the lines to his own story? Life does he dare ask? Question? Been forgotten?
Madman or Charming fellow his is a journey among the sharp rocks and wild flowers, laughing yet dying on the inside beyond view.
Curious to the naked eye the viewer cannot yet determine an ending to the play called life, Reality is touched if for a moment.
Stage is lighted as the man makes his entrance from the left hand side a silence has fallen over the gathering crowd, forming.
Time has now gone to the other side of the pendulum now lines appear on once youthful face showing cracks, telling a tale of many lies.
As the clock ticks on no one is immune from her touch we all must keep in step lest be left behind, Gentleman now hopes love and sanity can save him from the maddening haze, Perhaps ?
© David Jerry Mitchell 2015
Copyright © DAVID MITCHELL | Year Posted 2016
The sound of June sounds like nothing but June.
Sweet! like the last drop of fine wine dripping from the warm tongue of a lover.
Leaving you wanting more for the remaining 29 days.
The sound of June to me is like music from 7 harps and a grand piano.
That sink my soul into the timelessness of the moment.
Junes come and go like rain.
Like porcelains leaving circles on the table.
Memorable photographs left hanging on the thin wooden
walls between love and hate; pleasure and pain;
lessons and mistakes; friendships, fights.
Coincidences; serendipity; synchronicity; light.
Epiphanies; truth; lies.
The sound of June breaks my heart.
Cos it reminds me of a little midget king plucking sunflowers to his mama.
Wearing a big permanent smile like the world would end if he didn't.
Now he's all hardened; like ice in a cold world.
No room for big hearts like his in the city.
Time's changed. But will change again.
It's still a beautiful world; With beautiful people.
Beautiful minds. Beautiful things.
Beautiful songs. Poetry; words.
Beautiful nights; Places.
Beautiful month.
For the sound of June sounds like nothing but June.
Sweet! like the last drop of fine wine dripping from the warm tongue of a lover.
Leaving you wanting more for the rest of the year.
Copyright © Papa Kofi Amoh | Year Posted 2014
Born in Cincinnati that buckeye state
January 13th 1959 – 57+ years to date
A tangle of arms & legs testing lungs, which sounded great
He kind of resembled a misshapen octopus with oval pate
Glowering inxs of deep purple from blue mood being irate
Thrust out the womb of Harriet Harris whom Boyce did date
After courting this youngest Kuritsky kin whose ill-fate
Whisked by grim reaper, which demise she did hate
For her being imbued with vim and vinegar til illness ate
Away her je nais sais quois personable maternal trait
Evident during my boyhood reflected by her son of late
As he too inches closer to his mortality and Hades gate
Aware that each day ought to be cherished as the rate
Of time courses down that zip line where grim reaper does wait
Attired in brand name hoodie swinging scythe across oblate
Spheroid i.e. terrestrial firmament – though many years some great
Yet to be lived – trying to recapture childhood bliss before freight
Train on a collision course toward self-destruction ala tete a tete
With Anorexia Nervosa as thy then coveted deadly mate
A brutal hellish spiral down into abysmal depths of despair did create
Indelible psychological affects undermined existence I now equate
writ horrendous emotional, physical and social upon head of mate
Pledged his troth (almost 2 decades ago), which spouse doth berate
For lack of expressed concern and attests schizoid psychic slate
irrevocably seared and stunted natural development where I rate
prepubescent, early adulthood mental illness did grate
Against once boisterously playful innocent boy crushed potentate
Only male heir from me deceased mother who tried to extirpate
Mailer daemons who forged suicide pact and via voice did dictate
Albeit without success, yet decry forsaken innate
Experiences with female relationships lured my own poisoned bait!
Copyright © matthew harris | Year Posted 2016
I simply love being me
for I am so good at everything
step into my city and they
will tell you who is King
one day when I am hungry
I will swallow everything
then and only then shall I
inherit the stuff I dream
even then I promise
not to settle for satisfaction
at any instant half a second
I could spring into full action
so go against me? please,
you do not even measure
up to half of the goodness
that I hold tight like my treasure
still spreading rumors about me
to try and destroy my life
can't believe I let myself get beat by
a stripper and my self-intended knife
try and say I'm gay
even though we both know that isn't the truth
just ask any woman I been with
if they ever needed proof
they'll say I was the cream of the crop
as they took it all night knowing
I just may never stop
I own the status of a legend
now what you got left to say
when I bring it twenty-four seven?
Show me who you are and i shall paint out broken columns on the valleys of her back as if such figure is un-common
i have found no beauty bending as the vines that are her hair and the frailty of man upon her back is what she bares
bleed her body for the harvest let them feast upon her soul for the nurishment of mother is leaps beyond so bold
she is like the flower growing in the deepest of dark forests,amongst the ivy and hemlock but her skin is much too porous
to concern herself with games that tantalize the men, as they marry on crusade it is her children that she tends
sheath your swords with her ambition and tip your arrows with her will, craft your armour from her strength and in the battle you will kill
come now children from the pasture and lay each upon her side, suckle gently at your mother although theirs pain she does not hide
though the water leaks from rooftops her leaves are thick and block the rain, as the water level rises cling to her branches with no shame
she is the stone upon the beach, once a mountain pound and breached
yet still her disposition clear to love her children that are near
inspired by Roots Frida Kahlo, 1907-1954
Copyright © chriss todd | Year Posted 2013
A full moon night
to my delight
what is so wrong
with doing what's right
nothing is right
after so long
no use in complaining
time to move on
The Dream Water one day
might take me away
farther from the comfort
of familiarity
I float on my back
then shut my eyes
my body now sinking
into ocean arms open wide
Now swallow your son
back to his nature
when he is no longer
needed to stay here
the next generation
are dooming themselves
they need my experience
to guide them through hell
Why should I bother
on my own, I strive through
I turn my back on the thought
of bothering to save you
alone in this world
my, is it spacious
I'm finally smiling,
never so gracious.
The sun spills through the window's pane
And settles upon a cherry wood cane.
And on that cane an old woman leans
As she stares out the window at trees of green.
Her mind drifts back to much younger days when
Her hair was blond from a summer's sun rays
She'd skip and sing as little girls do
When the days were long and skies were blue.
She smiles for a moment in spite of herself
and blows a kiss to the garden elf.
With a turn she shuffles toward her chair
Her days are spent most often there.
On a small wooden table by where she sits
Are cards and letters, old newspaper clips.
There's a photo there too, young couple in love
He, in a dark suit, she, a white gown and gloves.
Her memory fades as dreams do at dawn
So few of are left, even fewer are strong.
Often she loses time and place,
in the mirror she doesn't always know the face.
It puzzles her now as she holds that gold frame
Who can they be, what is his name?
He looks like groom, and the young woman a bride
How handsome he is she thinks misty-eyed.
'Hello my love', a gentle kiss to her cheek.
She looks up from the photo but does not speak.
'Our special day" he smiles and whispers to her
"The day that we wed, oh how happy we were".
She takes a moment to let his words sink in
Another glance at the photo, the memory begins.
An evening in summer, the church was white
The violins played underneath star light.
"We married" she says and touches his face.
"We did" he replies, "You wore satin and lace."
"We danced and we danced" has he takes her hand.
"Come dance with me now", and helps her to stand.
He hums an odd tune no one else would know
Because he wrote it for her many years ago.
In each other's arms they slowly sway
And in her mind she relives that day.
Copyright © Kathy Larivee | Year Posted 2015
The Female Migrant
A customs official found a suitcase with a forgotten
Syrian refugee lady in it, he took her home blew life
into her and he was no longer alone.
Bought her sexy underwear skirt and blouse and
a bicycle pump and no longer did he bother going out
drinking beer with his fellow officers.
A perfect little refugee she was so undemanding
and silent not for her to turn her back complaining
of a headache and other female ailments.
After wild night they had done it five times, she had
she had shrunk a morning there was a tear somewhere
in her vulva, that could not be repaired or glued.
With manly logic, he blamed the refugees swamping his
country living off the fat of the land doing nothing and
thus, a love story ended on the scrap heap of humanity.
"She was mine" was all he thought
His spark was gone, forever had seemed so long
The gleam in his eye, dulled as days went by
He'd been trying hard to carry on, she was two months gone
He could no longer cry, all life was now, was a lie
His sadness growing deeper, as the world continued to fly by
His girl was gone now, his reason and purpose no longer around
For years he cared, he couldn't show, but those actions spoke louder than any words
she would've known
His poor tired soul began to appear on his face
His heart numb from losing the one love that who with, his life had begun
Now it was his time to start, for in his heart, he knew……
They wouldn't be far apart.
Dedicated to the memory of my Grandparents
William Lee Neeland Sr. 02/22/27 – 07/10/04
Pauline Sue Neeland 07/27/46 - 12/24/03
with all my love, #2
Copyright © Tonya Jones | Year Posted 2014
Reflections in the mirror
were getting scary
I could not carry
the weight of my pain
it almost took my life
to learn to love again
for I have made a friend
somewhere along my long lost way
I hope that I helped him
just a fraction of how he helped me
maybe that single thought
is what finally gave me my peace
enough to release so much
stolen energy
Now I am not afraid
to walk where the streets are hot
for I thrive in Hell's kitchen
where the devil stirs my pot
for I now have him quiet tame
I sacrificed my dragons
at the alter of my name
and now you are my slaves
any time I need
I'll call upon my superhero's
to come and rescue me
like my Saint Toni
who swept me off that bridge
and showed my how a death can be
the greatest reason to live
for she was the seed to grow my Eden
then a man from a foreign land
gave me something in myself to believe in
the magik of Love.
Husband and wife sit across from each other,
eyes meeting over that old kitchen table.
No words are spoken.
A girlish smile breaks over the wife's face,
a grin follows across her husbands.
Faces they each know so well,
a thousand stories could be told.
Memories flood the quiet between them,
going back oh so many years.
Time reeling them both back into youthful days
when a lifetime was stretched before them.
Remembering the first time their eyes met,
the husband could still see that spark in her eyes.
A first date the wife waiting for his arrival,
she remembers being swept off her feet by him
at the doorstep.
Husband and wife take another step down
that lane of memories.
that first kiss the wife can still feel it,
just like it happened yesterday.
Tender when he held her face,
gently in his hands, so sweet was that moment.
She still remembers the words he murmured,
whispering softly.
"I could love you for the rest of my life."
That first kiss led them to a dance floor.
When they danced their first dance,
holding each other tight in each other's arms.
It was as if it was only the two of them on that dance floor.
The husband and wife dance down memory lane.
To meet each other's parents a most important moment.
To know of family and kinship.
The wave of memories takes them to when,
the husband was before her on one knee.
So humbled was he,
asking the wife to build a life with him.
The wife had cried in delighted surprise.
She could remember her joy, at the promise of a life together.
He still brought joy to her life.
Traveling down memory lane together,
to the alter they went.
Where each pledged solemn vows, in earnest to each other.
To last them all the days of their life.
The husband and wife could hear the ring of their children's laughter,
greeting them with children of their own.
This anniversary is one of many.
That first look.
The first kiss.
A first dance.
First promises.
The first I love you is where it began, all those years ago.
Where it has led to is the husband and wife sitting at that old kitchen table,
gazing into each other's faces.
Not a word needs to be spoken.
Copyright © Gypsyof Essence | Year Posted 2014
Hurray! A heir has come to stay
Awaking the joy of May
Put down your feet like palm root and play
Paddle on through life's way
Yes! It is nineteenth today
But see! History now writes his story;
In unspoken words of nostalgia allegory
Rolling up the scroll of time's gallery
To tell generations yet unborn as tales of a fairy
How he chose not to marry; an attitude that is funny
Daring at dawn into the blind future with valour
Acquiring at noon, life's lessons as favour
Yielding at dusk, the treasure from the wealth of nature.
Copyright © Emerho O. Samuel | Year Posted 2014
There once was a banana
he did not have a nana
until he got a name
john was his name yay
Copyright © Ryan Bradford | Year Posted 2014


text: The Kingsboro Press was founded in New York in 2007 by Daniel Wagner and Megan Plunkett. Focusing on a publishing practice dedicated to raw art, literature, and thought, the partnership is now based in both New York and Los Angeles. KBP is anchored by a semi-regular, self-titled journal, along with books, periodicals, zines, cassette tapes, vinyl records, collaborative works, and curated exhibitions and events. Kingsboro projects are rarely thematically orientated, instead pursuing a curatorial expression balanced between the vetted and unfettered.


text:
Dance with who brung you
That Zev Yaroslavsky is the most important local elected Jewish official is beyond dispute. For over three decades he has been a voice of reason and courage for, to and in the Jewish community.
That three significant Jewish agencies would lend support to an effort to undermine Supervisor Yaroslavsky and his constituents is beyond comprehension.
Yet last week, in the middle of the fight over redrawing the county's supervisorial districts for the next decade, three major Jewish organizations (American Jewish Committee, Anti-Defamation League, and Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles) unquestioningly bought the MALDEF/Gloria Molina/ACLU line of argument that the Latino community was insufficiently represented in electoral politics, business and media. The three organizations and their Latino colleagues issued a joint statement that they had came to a "consensus" that the logic of ethnic representation should prevail and trump all other concerns that normally effect the decisions on where to draw district lines (e.g. population balance, contiguity of cities, varying communities of interest, etc.).
Yesterday's vote of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors fortunately rejected the push by Supervisor Molina and her allies to create a second majority Latino district ostensibly to comply with the Federal Voting Rights Act. The rationale for the Molina plan was that the failure to endorse it would "limit the rights of Latino voters." The days' long debate was held with the threat of a lawsuit hanging over the Board if it didn't acquiesce to the proposed gerrymander and with occasional assertions of racism hurled at those who dissented from the Molina position.
It has been a contentious debate with the contiguity and strength of the Third Supervisorial district (presently represented by Zev Yaroslavsky) in some jeopardy. The Molina plan would have stretched the new Third from Sylmar to Huntington Park (presently the Third is most of north central LA) with much of the Jewish community divided between three districts. Additionally, it would have added to the isolation of the Asian-Pacific Islander community (a seldom discussed side effect).
An often ignored fact is that the Latino percentage of the county's population has only increased by 3.2% over the past decade and the plan that was adopted on Tuesday was essentially what MALDEF had requested and the court had ordered in 1990.
Apparently, at the conclusion of a day-long retreat last week, Latino and Jewish "leaders" issued a five point statement—-four of the statements are the kind of milquetoast that is the usual fare at gatherings of this type (oppose anti-Semitism and anti-Latino sentiment, stand together to face and prevent vitriolic rhetoric, etc.)—-only the one on "fair representation" of Latinos has ramifications in the real world.
It is a measure of the paucity of Jewish institutional leadership in LA that these three major organizations would, either unwittingly or purposefully, sign on to a statement that undercuts the single most prominent local political leader in the Jewish community at a time when he was in a nasty confrontation to preserve the demographic and geographic integrity of the district in which a plurality, if not the vast majority, of LA's Jewish population resides. Their sin is compounded by their endorsing a worldview that is anathema to the Jewish community's interests—-that proportional ethnic and racial representation is the measure of fairness.
The political ineptitude is mind boggling. The three leading Jewish organizations became a tool to be used against the community itself.
To buy into the Molina/MALDEF/ACLU assertions one would have to believe that population numbers alone constitute the measure of what a group's presence "ought to be" in politics, business and the media——a worldview that has been rejected by thinking Jewish leaders for decades. We don't believe in quotas—-not in politics, not in business not in the media!
In fact, Jewish leaders have not been alone in finding the Molina argument specious. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals' ruling in the case of Cano v Davis, having to do with Congressional redistricting in Southern California in 2002 rejected nearly identical claims of Latino under-representation. The court denied the offensive view of the world that assumes the non-Latinos won't vote for Latinos and therefore need special "majority minority" districts to succeed:
There are challenging questions regarding the applicability of voting rights doctrines developed in a fundamentally different context than the rapidly changing multi-racial and multi-ethnic community that is present day Southern California.
Latinos are, as a practical matter, a far more formidable political force than they were in the 1980's.
The court rejected MALDEF's assertions.
The three agencies seem to have been overly eager to find "consensus" in their day long retreat last week. They forgot whom they represent and the principles that have undergirded Jewish community relations efforts for decades—be honest, forthright and forthcoming but
don't forget who your constituents are
Common ground is nice, but not if it undermines the very foundation on which your community stands. They managed to cut the ground out from under the very community and a leader they purport to represent at a time when they were most needed. They have done serious harm and owe the community an apology.
David A. Lehrer is the president of Community Advocates (www.cai-la.org), a human relations organization chaired by former L.A. mayor Richard J. Riordan. He formerly was the director and counsel of the Anti-Defamation League.