Michel-Emmanuel Rodocanachi (1821 - 1901) was an influential Greek trader and banker of London.

Rodocanachi's parents were wealthy merchants in their home at Chios, related to the influential Vlasto and Mavrogordato families. They escaped the Chios massacre, settling in Marseilles where they rebuilt their shipping and trading business as Rodocanachi Sons & Co.
Recognising the importance of having a presence on the London market, in 1830 they sent their son Michael there to cover their interests and work with other family members who traded grain in Odessa, St Petersburg, Italy and Marseille.  In 1853 he returned to Marseilles to marry Ariadne Michael Petrocochino.

In London he obtained membership of the Baltic Exchange and, assisted by other members of the Greek diaspora, notably the Ralli Brothers, he bought ships to transport the grain that he traded, and developed a property portfolio, including the Royal Automobile Club Buildings Co.

This financial foundation enabled him to participate in the founding of the Imperial Bank with fellow Anglo-Greeks Petrocochino and Schilizzi. When the Imperial bank was acquired by the London Joint Stock Bank, his eldest son Emmanuel Michael Rodocanachi (1855–1932) became a director of that bank, in addition to the other family companies.

Michel was an active member of the Greek Orthodox community in London, and raised money for the construction of St Sophia's Cathedral there. He moved to Worthing in his later years as his health failed, calling his house Chios. However he died in London and is buried, with his son Emmanuel, in West Norwood Cemetery.

Rodocanachi Sons & Co. did not survive long after Emmanuel's retirement in 1925; it collapsed in the Great Depression as a result of bad debts due from failed German and Italian trading partners.

Sources
 Stuart Thompstone 'Rodocanachi, Michael Emmanuel' Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (subscription)
 Christopher Long, Rodocanachi Family of Chios
 The Times Rodocanachi Sons & Co 27 Nov 1929 & 2 Sep 1933

1821 births
1901 deaths
Members of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople
Eastern Orthodox Christians from Greece
Greek businesspeople in shipping
Burials at West Norwood Cemetery
19th-century Greek businesspeople
British businesspeople
Eastern Orthodox Christians from the United Kingdom
Greek emigrants to England
Businesspeople from Chios
19th-century British businesspeople

Michel Emmanuel Rodocanachi


Aosta (, ) is a city in northern Italy. It is the capital city of the Valle d'Aosta () region. It is roughly in the middle of the region, along the Dora Baltea (), the main river that flows in the valley. It is at 583 m above sea level. Around the city there are many mountains (the Alps).

Romans conquered the area in 25 BC. Later, the city was conquered by the Frankish Empire after the fall of the Western Roman Empire. Finally, it went under control of the House of Savoy in the 11th century. Many Roman buildings still survive in the city, like the east and south gates. The basic plan of the city, with rectangular blocks of streets, is Roman.

History
The valley of Aosta is a typical alpine valley, cut into a V-shape by glaciers during the ice age. It runs from an upper part near Mont Blanc to lower areas like the city of Aosta.

The area has been Roman, French and Italian (House of Savoy) before the unification of Italy. All street names are in French and Italian, and dialects of French are still spoken by many.

Roman Aosta
The Romans defeated the local Salassi tribe in 25 BC. Their commander, Marcus Terentius Varro, then founded the Roman colony of Augusta Praetoria Salassorum, housing 3,000 retired veterans.

After 11 BC Aosta became the capital of the Alpes Graies ("Grey Alps") province of the Empire.

Significance
Aosta is at the join of two rivers. It is at the end of the Great St Bernard Pass (which leads to Switzerland) and the Little St Bernard Pass (which leads to France). Its position gave it considerable military importance, and the layout of the town was that of a Roman military camp.

The valley was a way for trade and soldiers to get from Italy to Gaul (later, France). This explains its importance to the Romans. Now it sits  near the Italian entrance of the Mont Blanc Tunnel.

At present Aosta Valley is a semi-autonomous region in northwestern Italy. It is the smallest region in Italy, and is not divided into provinces.

Aostan
Aostan French () is the variety of French spoken in the Aosta Valley, where many speak some form of French. Some expressions, words and phrase constructions are different from standard French; some are similar to Swiss French. Some words come from the Piedmontese language or Italian. Both modern French and Italian mix with this local patois, valdôtain, which is Franco-Provençal in type.

References

Other websites
 Official website

Regional capitals in Italy

Aosta


Sullivan Anthony "Tripp" Welborne III (born November 20, 1968) is a former American football player.

Welborne played college football, principally as a safety and punt returner, from 1987 to 1990. He had five interceptions as a sophomore in 1988 and was selected as a unanimous first-team All-American in both 1989 and 1990.  As a senior, he set a Michigan single-season record with 455 punt return yards (a record that stood until broken by Steve Breaston in 2003) and averaged 14.7 yards per return.

Welborne sustained a serious injury in the 10th game of the 1990 season that required reconstructive surgery on his right knee.  He was unable to play during the 1991 NFL season, but attempted a comeback the following year.  He appeared in only two games for Minnesota Vikings during the 1992 NFL season before suffering an ACL injury to his left knee that required season ending surgery.

Early years
Welborne was born in Reidsville, North Carolina, in 1968. He was given the nickname "Tripp" because he was the third generation in his family to be named Sullivan Welborne. His father, Dr. Sullivan Welborne Jr., was an administrator and chemistry professor at North Carolina A&T University.  His mother, Gloria, was a kindergarten teacher.

Welborne attended Walter Hines Page Senior High School in Greensboro, North Carolina. He was a three-sport star at Page High School, playing football, basketball and baseball.  He was rated the #1 wide receiver prospect in the country while in high school and was an All-State basketball and football player on both offense and defense. The Page Pirates football team compiled a 40-1-1 record and won two state championships with Welborne in the lineup.  In the 1985 4A state championship game, he blocked a field goal attempt on the final play that a teammate returned for a touchdown to give the Pirates a 26–20 victory over Terry Sanford High School.  Welborne also became an Eagle Scout while in high school.

University of Michigan
Welborne enrolled at the University of Michigan in 1987 and played college football for the Michigan Wolverines football team from 1987 to 1990.  He arrived at Michigan as a highly rated wide receiver prospect, and played in every game. He caught two passes for 45 yards during the 1987 season.

1988 season
As the Wolverines prepared for the 1988 season, they were well stocked with receivers (including Chris Calloway, Greg McMurtry, Derrick Walker and John Kolesar) but short on talent at defensive back.  Accordingly, head coach Bo Schembechler began to use Welborne as a defensive back during spring practice in April 1988. Welborne handled the position change well, winning the 1988 John Maulbetsch Award as the freshman player best demonstrating desire, character, and capacity for leadership during spring practice.  He started all 12 games at strong safety for the 1988 Michigan football team, compiling 72 tackles, five interceptions, three pass breakups, and two fumble recoveries.

1989 season
As a junior, Welborne again started all 12 games at strong safety for the 1989 team that compiled a 10–2 record, lost to USC in the 1990 Rose Bowl, and finished the season ranked #7 in the final AP Poll.  Welborne totaled 80 tackles, four pass breakups and three interceptions in 1989.  He also became Michigan's principal punt returner in 1989, returning 32 punts for 297 yards, an average of 9.3 yards per return.  At the end of the season, he was honored as a unanimous first-team defensive back on the 1989 All-America Team.

1990 season
As a senior, Welborne started the first 10 games of the 1990 season at strong safety.  In just 10 games, Welborne had 86 tackles, seven pass breakups, a fumble and an interception.  He also returned 31 punts for 455 yards (an average of 14.7 yards per return), including returns of 60 yards against Indiana, 53 yards against Illinois, and 38 yards against Notre Dame. Welborne broke Michigan's single-season record  with his total of 455 punt return yards, a record that stood until 2003 when it was broken by Steve Breaston.  In the 10th game of the 1990 season, on November 17, 1990, Welborne sustained a serious injury to his right knee while returning a punt 31 yards to Minnesota's 20-yard line to set up the go-ahead touchdown for Michigan.  At the end of the 1990 season, Welborne was honored as the Most Valuable Player on the 1990 Michigan team.  He was college defensive player of the year, and was also selected for the second consecutive year as a unanimous first-team All-American.

Career statistics
In three years at strong safety, 238 tackles, nine interceptions, fifteen pass breakups, and two fumble recoveries.  He also returned 67 punts for 773 yards, an average of 11.5 yards per return.  During Welborne's three years as a defensive starter from 1988 to 1990, Michigan won three Big Ten Conference championships, compiled a 36-11-1 record, and finished ranked in the top ten each year (#4 in 1988, #7 in 1989, and #7 in 1990). In 1990, Lloyd Carr, then Michigan's defensive coordinator, said of Welborne: "Tripp does more than any player we've ever had.  He is an outstanding blitzer and ball-reactor, very intelligent."

Professional football
Welborne was selected by the Minnesota Vikings in the seventh round (180th pick) of the 1991 NFL Draft. He was projected to be drafted as a top 5 pick in the first round, but fell in the draft after injuring his knee and undergoing reconstructive surgery. He missed the 1991 NFL season while rehabilitating his knee, but signed a contract with the Vikings in April 1992 that was contingent on Welborne passing a physical examination on his knee. Welborne appeared in two games for the Vikings during the 1992 season. He tore the ACL in his left knee during a game against the Detroit Lions, ending his 1992 season.  He attempted a comeback in 1993, but injured his knee again, and his playing career was over.

Later years
After retiring from his playing career, Welborne formed a company to provide scholarships and seminars to young people. He then moved into the financial service field, working for Wachovia Securities, as a risk manager at Bank of America, and then with Target Financial Services. From at least 2008 to 2015, Welborne was employed as the athletic director at Shorecrest Preparatory School, a private school in St. Petersburg, Florida. In January 2012, he oversaw the opening of the school's new $7 million, 34,000 square foot athletic facility. In March 2015, he was hired to serve as the athletic director at the Lawrenceville School in Lawrenceville, New Jersey, starting in July 2015.

References

1968 births
Living people
All-American college football players
American football safeties
Michigan Wolverines football players
Minnesota Vikings players
Players of American football from North Carolina

Tripp Welborne


Mary Sidney (1561-1621) was an English poet. She was the sister of more famous poet Philip Sidney.

Biography
Mary Sidney was the daughter of Henry Sidney and Mary Dudley. She was born on 27 October 1561 at Tickenhall near Bewdley in Worcestershire. She was well educated, which was unusual for a girl at the time. She knew French, Italian, Latin and Greek.  When she was fifteen, she married Henry Herbert, Earl of Pembroke. Thus she became Countess of Pembroke. She had four children, Katherine, Anne, William and Philip. She died of smallpox in London on 25 September 1621. She is buried in the cathedral in Salisbury.

Works
Mary Sidney was a poet and translator. She translated 107 Psalms, using 128 different verse forms. She wrote also the poem for her brother, named To the Angel Spirit of the Most Excellent Sir Philip Sidney. She is said to have been the most important woman poet in 16th century England save the queen.

References

Further reading
 Margaret P. Hannay, Mary Sidney Herbert, Countess of Pembroke (1561-1621).

English poets
1561 births
1621 deaths

Mary Sidney


Paradise Postponed (1986) is a British 11-episode TV serial based on the 1985  novel by writer John Mortimer. The series covered a span of 30 years of postwar British history, set in a small village.

Plot
The series explores the mystery of why Reverend Simeon Simcox, a "wealthy Socialist rector", bequeathed the millions of the Simcox brewery estate to Leslie Titmuss, the son of Simcox's accountant George Titmus, who has risen from doing odd jobs for the rector to be a city developer and Conservative cabinet minister. Simeon's sons Fred, a jazz-drumming country doctor, and Henry, once Britain's brightest and angriest writer who now works for Hollywood, conduct inquiries into their father's life as they try to understand the will. The setting of the work in an English village shows it absorbing and reflecting the upheavals of British society from the 1940s to the 1970s, and the many changes of the post-World War II society.

Cast

 Michael Hordern - Rev. Simeon Simcox
 Annette Crosbie - Dorothy Simcox
 Peter Egan -  Henry Simcox
 Paul Shelley - Fred Simcox
 Colin Blakely - Dr. Salter
 Eleanor David - Agnes Simcox, née Salter
 Jill Bennett - Lady Grace Fanner
 Richard Vernon - Sir Nicholas Fanner
 Zoë Wanamaker - Charlotte 'Charlie' Titmuss, née Fanner
 David Threlfall - Leslie Titmuss
 Colin Jeavons - George Titmuss
 Albert Welling - Rev. Kevin Bulstrode
 Harold Innocent - Jackson Catelow
 Thomas Heathcote - Tom Nowt
 Claire Oberman - Lonnie Simcox, née Hope

Production
The TV series was directed by Alvin Rakoff and was mainly shot in Henley-on-Thames and Marlow, Buckinghamshire in the second half of 1985. A three-part sequel, entitled Titmuss Regained, aired in 1991.

Reception
The New York Times described the series as a "decided disappointment," with Mortimer having perhaps taken on too much. The technique of time shifts from the present to near past is said to be confusing more than illuminating of its characters. While containing a "distinct whiff of snobbery", the character of the lower-class Leslie Titmuss who rises on his wiles is developed as the most fascinating figure in the cast. In a 2014 retrospective review, Toby Manning of The Guardian described the series as "beautifully acted", which "simply oozes nostalgia for a bygone Britain", and called the character Titmuss "quite simply one of the most compelling characters in TV history."

References

External links

 Review of Mortimer's novel, Time magazine (1986)
 Review of the TV series, The New York Times (1986)

1986 British television series debuts
1986 British television series endings
1980s British drama television series
1980s British television miniseries
ITV television dramas
Television shows based on British novels
Period television series
Works by John Mortimer
Television shows produced by Thames Television
Television series by Euston Films
English-language television shows
Television series about Christian religious leaders
Films directed by Alvin Rakoff

Paradise Postponed


Margaretha Maria Antonetta 'Margriet' de Moor (née Neefjes; born 1941) is a Dutch pianist and writer of novels and essays. She won the AKO Literatuurprijs for her novel Eerst grijs dan wit dan blauw (1991).

Life and career
Margaretha Maria Antonetta Neefjes, born in Noordwijk, 21 November 1941, married sculptor Heppe de Moor (1938 - 1992). They had two daughters: writer Marente and visual artist Lara. After junior high and the Hogere Burgerschool she attended the Royal Conservatory of The Hague, where she studied piano and singing. Afterward she studied art history and archeology in Amsterdam and taught piano. With her husband, she began an artist salon in 1984 in 's-Graveland.

De Moor began writing, and after a failed attempt at a novel, debuted with a story collection, Op de rug gezien; the collection won her a literary award, the Gouden Ezelsoor, and a nomination for the AKO Literatuurprijs. Many of her works have been translated into German.

Literary awards
1989 – Gouden Ezelsoor, nomination for AKO Literatuurprijs for Op de rug gezien
1990 – Lucy B. en C.W. van der Hoogt-prijs for Dubbelportret
1992 – AKO Literatuurprijs for Eerst grijs dan wit dan blauw

Published works
Op de rug gezien (stories, 1988)
Dubbelportret (novellas, 1989)
Eerst grijs dan wit dan blauw (novel, 1991)
De virtuoos (novel, 1993)
Ik droom dus (stories, 1995)
Hertog van Egypte (novel, 1996)
Zee-Binnen (novel, 1999)
Verzamelde verhalen (stories, 2000)
Kreutzersonate - Een liefdesverhaal (novel, 2001)
Ze waren schoolmeesters (biography, 2001)
De verdronkene (novel, 2005)
De Kegelwerper (novel, 2006)
Als een hond zijn blinde baas (essays, 2007)
De schilder en het meisje  (novel, 2010)
De verdronkene (novel, 2010)
Mélodie d'amour (novel, 2013)

External links

  Margriet de Moor at Digital Library for Dutch Literature

1941 births
Dutch essayists
Dutch women essayists
20th-century Dutch novelists
21st-century Dutch novelists
Dutch pianists
Dutch women pianists
Dutch translators
Dutch women novelists
Living people
People from Noordwijk
21st-century Dutch women writers
20th-century Dutch women writers
20th-century essayists
21st-century essayists
21st-century pianists
21st-century women pianists
University of Amsterdam alumni

Margriet de Moor


Jason Thomas Kenney  (born May 30, 1968) is a Canadian former politician who served as the 18th premier of Alberta from 2019 until 2022, and the leader of the United Conservative Party (UCP) from 2017 until 2022. He also served as the member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) for Calgary-Lougheed from 2017 until 2022. Kenney was the last leader of the Alberta Progressive Conservative Party (PC Party) before the party merged with the Wildrose Party to form the UCP. Prior to entering Alberta provincial politics, he served in various cabinet posts under Prime Minister Stephen Harper from 2006 to 2015.

Kenney studied philosophy at the University of San Francisco, but returned to Canada without completing his degree. In 1989, he was hired as the first executive director of the Alberta Taxpayers Association before becoming the president and chief executive officer of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation. Kenney was elected to the House of Commons in the 1997 federal election for the Reform Party. In 2000, he was re-elected as a Canadian Alliance candidate and then was re-elected five times as a candidate for the Conservative Party of Canada.

Following the Conservative victory in the 2006 federal election, Kenney was appointed parliamentary secretary to Prime Minister Harper. In January 2007, he was sworn into the Privy Council as the secretary of state for multiculturalism and Canadian identity. Kenney held the post of minister for citizenship, immigration and multiculturalism from October 2008 to July 2013, when he became minister of employment and social development and minister for multiculturalism. In February 2015, he was named minister of national defence. Kenney was considered a potential party leader following the defeat of the Conservative government in October 2015 and resignation of Harper as leader.

In July 2016, Kenney announced his intention to run for the leadership of the Alberta PCs in that party's 2017 leadership election. Kenney resigned his seat in Parliament on September 23, after sitting in the House of Commons for over 19 years. He was elected party leader on March 18, 2017, on a platform of merging with the Wildrose Party. He was leader until the merger was effected on July 24. Kenney was then elected United Conservative Party leader on October 28.

On April 16, 2019, Kenney led the United Conservative Party to a majority government in the 2019 Alberta general election, defeating incumbent Premier Rachel Notley of the New Democratic Party. Kenney came under criticism for his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic from members within the UCP and the general public, triggering a leadership review in May 2022. On May 18, 2022, Kenney narrowly won the leadership review 51.4% to 48.6%, but announced that this support was insufficient and that he would step down as UCP leader. Kenney remained premier until October 11, 2022. Danielle Smith was chosen to succeed him by the United Conservative Party on October 6, 2022.

Early life and career
Jason Thomas Kenney was born on May 30, 1968, in Oakville, Ontario, the son of Lynne (Tunbridge) and Robert Martin Kenney. His father was a teacher at Appleby College and was of Irish heritage. Kenney's grandfather was jazz musician and big band leader Mart Kenney.

Kenney attended the Athol Murray College of Notre Dame in Wilcox, Saskatchewan, a private Catholic high school of which his father was president. Kenney may have been inspired to enter politics following a brief discussion with former prime minister John Diefenbaker.

Kenney studied philosophy at the University of San Francisco, a Jesuit university in San Francisco, California, but failed to complete his coursework. It was there that he discovered conservatism. During his time in California, Kenney was interviewed by CNN for a segment exploring religious values. In the segment, where he was credited as "Jason Kenny – Anti-abortion Activist," he argued against Jesuit professors who declared free speech as essential to a university. Allowing pro-choice activists on campus, Kenney argued, was "destroying the mission and the purpose of this university." In the student newspaper, the San Francisco Foghorn, he suggested that giving a platform to pro-choice groups would mean the school had no basis to refuse a similar platform to pedophiles or to the Church of Satan.

The Archbishop rejected Kenney's petition that summer, and he never returned to complete his undergraduate degree. Instead, Kenney returned to Canada to begin work for the Saskatchewan Liberal Party. He was "very involved in the young Liberals" as a young man, and in 1988 was executive assistant to Ralph Goodale, the leader of the provincial party at the time. Not long after, in 1989, Kenney was hired as the first executive director of the Alberta Taxpayers Association, which advocated for fiscal responsibility. In 1990, Kenney was named president and chief executive officer of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, a self-described taxpayer's advocacy group that scrutinizes governmental expenditure from a conservative perspective.

In opposition (1997–2006)

Kenney was first elected to the Canadian House of Commons in 1997, at the age of 29. He was elected as a member of the Reform Party of Canada, which later became the Canadian Alliance. While a member of the House of Commons, Kenney was co-chair of the United Alternative Task Force, national co-chairman of Stockwell Day's campaign for leadership of the Alliance, and national co-chair of the Canadian Alliance's 2000 election campaign. While on the Opposition benches between 1997 and 2006, Kenney served in several prominent shadow cabinet roles, including deputy House leader for the Official Opposition, critic for Canada–United States relations, critic for national revenue, and critic for finance.

He was a member of a group of Reform Party MPs that were known as the Snack Pack due to their habit of eating greasy food and ridiculing the ruling Liberals.

Kenney supported the 2003 invasion of Iraq and suggested that the Chrétien government's refusal to support the war would damage Canada's relationship with the United States.

Kenney was a member of the Canada Tibet Committee and hosted the Dalai Lama in 2010.

Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister (2006–2007)

On February 6, 2006, Kenney and Sylvie Boucher were appointed as parliamentary secretaries to the prime minister, Stephen Harper. That August, when two opposition MPs suggested removing Hezbollah from Canada's list of terrorist organizations, Kenney came under fire for comparing the organization to the Nazi Party. Later, he rebuked Prime Minister of Lebanon Fuad Saniora for his criticisms of Canada, invoking the $25 million CAD that the country received from Canada in reconstructive assistance during the 2006 Lebanon War.

Secretary of State for Multiculturalism and Canadian Identity (2007–2008)

On January 4, 2007, Kenney was sworn in as the secretary of state for multiculturalism and Canadian identity and as a Privy Councillor. In this capacity, Kenney was the Harper government's representative to ethnic communities in Canada, and made frequent appearances at ethnic community events across the country.

In early 2008, Kenney posted an announcement on his website, declaring that the Canadian government recognized the flag of the Republic of Vietnam as the symbol of the Vietnamese-Canadian community. Further, he declared that "attempts to disparage [the flag] are a deeply troubling attack on one of Canada's ethnic communities and on the principles of multiculturalism." In May 2008, he made a speech at an Army of the Republic of Vietnam rally, lending support to the program.

That same month, Kenney launched the Community Historical Recognition Program (CHRP), which established $13.5 million CAD in funding over five years for commemorative projects by ethno-cultural communities that had been subject to discriminatory Canadian immigration and wartime policies. By the project's conclusion in 2013, all of the funds had been utilized, save for $500,000 that was earmarked for education about the Chinese head tax, and was left unspent when one Chinese community group failed to file the required paperwork. Because more than thirty other projects involving the Chinese-Canadian community had been funded through the CHRP, Kenney considered the project a success and declined to release the funding, citing the conclusion of the program. In 2013, Kenney said in his remarks on the end of the CHRP program that the government was "committed to recognizing and educating Canadians about the experiences of those pioneers who overcame such heavy burdens. Their experiences mark an unfortunate period in our nation's history. We must ensure that they are never forgotten."

Minister of Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism (2008–2013)

In 2008, Kenney became Minister of Citizenship and Immigration in Prime Minister Stephen Harper's cabinet shuffle of October 30, while retaining responsibility for multiculturalism, which he had been given in 2007.

In April 2009, Kenney officially launched Asian Heritage Month to "better understand the rich diversity the Asian Canadian community brings to Canada".

While speaking in Jerusalem in December 2009 about Canadian government funding of human rights organizations, Kenney said, "We have de-funded organizations, most recently, like KAIROS who are taking a leadership role in the boycott [of Israel]. We're receiving a lot of criticism for these decisions ... but we believe we have done these things for the right reasons, and we stand by these decisions." He later added in a letter to the Toronto Star that, "While I disagree with the nature of KAIROS's militant stance toward the Jewish homeland, that is not the reason their request for taxpayer funding was denied."

On June 26, 2010, Kenney announced changes to the Skilled Worker Immigration Program. For their applications to be processed, skilled worker applicants were thereafter required to either have an offer of arranged employment or be qualified in one of 29 eligible occupations out of the 520 described in the National Occupational Classification (NOC). A cap of 20,000 applications per year for the skilled workers class was also introduced. As of July 1, 2011, a maximum of 10,000 Federal Skilled Worker applications will be considered for processing in the subsequent 12 months. Within the 10,000 cap, a maximum of 500 federal skilled worker applications per eligible occupation will be considered for processing each year.

Kenney said that his reform of the immigration point system fixed problems with the previous immigration system. He also said the new system was more efficient in accepting migrants who could make the best contributions to the Canadian economy. The Canadian Experience Class Program was created to attract more international students who qualify as a graduate in the program, with an increased focus on youth, job skills, and a fluency in English or French. And at the same time, the immigration department imposed a new language requirement for the Federal Skilled Workers (FSW) program. Many of these changes were made to reduce the processing times for immigration applications. Vancouver immigration lawyer Richard Kurland said that these changes would guarantee "no more backlogs." Kenney, however, decided to delete the backlog of 280,000 skilled worker applications, and a lawsuit by the deleted applicants failed to preserve the applications.

There was significant criticism of the institution of a Designated Country of Origin (DCO) list, which attributes countries as being unlikely to persecute. Therefore, refugee claimants coming from these countries—including Hungary, Mexico, and Israel—will undergo a different refugee claimant process than those from non-DCO countries. Furthermore, refugee claimants from countries on the DCO no longer receive emergency healthcare coverage.

In 2011, Kenney imposed a ban on niqab face veils for those taking the oath of citizenship. In his appeal on behalf of the Department of Citizenship and Immigration in Citizenship and Immigration v Ishaq, 2015 FCA 194, the three justices ruled in favour of Zunera Ishaq and her right to wear the niqab, confirming that the federal requirement was unlawful.

Investigations into citizenship fraud
On July 19, 2011, Kenney announced that the government intended to revoke the citizenship of 1,800 people it believes obtained their status through fraudulent means. The decision to revoke Canadian citizenship was rare, and a large-scale proposed crackdown had no precedent. At the time of his announcement, fewer than 70 citizenships had been revoked since the Citizenship Act, 1946.

An investigation into residence fraud continued to grow, and almost 11,000 cases were being reviewed in September 2012. Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) revoked up to 3,100 citizens' citizenship, citing cheating or lies. Kenney said of the matter, "Canadian citizenship is not for sale and we are taking action to strip citizenship and permanent residence status from people who do not play by rules." CIC worked in tandem with the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA), the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), and various overseas Canadian offices to prevent citizenship fraud. Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Vic Toews said that "These efforts reinforce our government's commitment to protecting the integrity of our immigration system." The CIC estimates that about 5,000 people with Canadian permanent resident status are outside of Canada, and implicated in residence fraud.

In January 2009, Kenney made public statements critical of U.S. soldiers seeking asylum in Canada who were facing punishment for their refusal to participate in the Iraq War. Unlike in the Vietnam era, Kenney said, the current asylum seekers were neither "draft dodgers" nor "resisters", but rather "people who volunteer to serve in the armed forces of a democratic country and simply change their mind to desert. And that's fine, that's the decision they have made, but they are not refugees." He also referred to the asylum seekers as "bogus refugee claimants". These remarks were seen by some supporters of the asylum seekers as a form of interference in the asylum process. Kenney believed that Kimberly Rivera, an American soldier seeking refuge, was not a legitimate refugee. "Military deserters from the United States are not genuine refugees under the internationally accepted meaning of the term," said Alexis Pavlich, the minister's press secretary.

In 2012, Kenney took steps in 2012 to find and combat marriage fraud. His efforts were primarily focused on marriages in which one party was a Canadian citizen and the other, an immigrant, was using marriage to facilitate their entry into Canada, at which point they would leave their sponsor's home and declare the marriage to be a lie. In response, Kenney instituted a five-year prohibition on spousal sponsorship for those who had already been sponsored by a spouse into Canada. He also implemented a "conditional" permanent residency status, to ensure that a spouse or partner had to live as husband and wife for a minimum of two years with their Canadian sponsor, or else they would have their status revoked.

Admissibility decisions
As part of Kenney's Faster Removal of Foreign Criminals Act, introduced in June 2012, the Minister of Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism would have the ability to deny entry to Canada based on "public policy considerations." Kenney was quoted in The Globe and Mail as saying that present immigration laws do not allow someone to be kept out if they are seeking to promote violence. The previous year, both the official opposition New Democratic Party (NDP) and Quebec's National Assembly had asked Kenney to exercise negative discretion, but no such ability existed under Canadian law. During debate in the House of Commons, the NDP criticized this component of the bill, arguing it gives too much power to the minister.

Earlier, in March 2009, the CBSA prevented British politician George Galloway from entering Canada, where he had planned to give a series of speeches against the War in Afghanistan. The Office of the Immigration Minister stated that the Canada Border Services Agency deemed Galloway as inadmissible to Canada due to national security concerns. Galloway had openly given what he called "financial support" to Hamas, classified as a terrorist group in Canada.

Galloway pursued the matter in the Canadian court system, where it was revealed that Kenney's office had emailed the CBSA on the matter. The Federal Court found that Kenney's office had used "a flawed and overreaching interpretation of the standards under Canadian law for labeling someone as engaging in terrorism or being a member of a terrorist organization." The presiding judge also determined that the CBSA had produced its assessment of Galloway on scant evidence after receiving instructions from Kenney's staff, who attempted to bar Galloway because "they disagreed with his political views".

The Globe and Mail later pointed out that, while Kenney was quick to refuse Galloway entry into Canada, his department gave entry to controversial politician Geert Wilders, who compared Islam to fascism and campaigned to ban the Quran from the Netherlands. Wilders spoke in Toronto and Ottawa, generating further controversy.

Citizenship policy changes

A new law amending the Citizenship Act came into effect on April 17, 2009. One of the changes instituted by the Government of Canada is the "first generation limitation", considered a punitive measure by some against naturalized citizens who reside abroad for lengthy periods of time. Minister Kenney said the following in the House of Commons of Canada on June 10, 2010: "That's why we must protect the values of Canadian citizenship and must take steps against those who would cheapen it … We will strengthen the new limitation on the ability to acquire citizenship for the second generation born abroad."
The new rules would not confer a Canadian citizenship on children born outside of Canada to parents who were also born outside of Canada. Thus, for children to obtain Canadian citizenship if born abroad, they would have to have one parent who was born in Canada. Another effect of this law was to abolish automatic citizenship by birth for the children of parents in Canada in the service of a foreign government. Children born to foreign diplomats in Canada would only become Canadian if at least one parent was either a Canadian citizen or a Permanent Resident.

In 2010, Kenney introduced Discover Canada, a new citizenship guide for prospective citizens. The Canadian Press reported that Kenney blocked information about same-sex marriage from the Citizenship and Immigration study guide for immigrants applying for citizenship, although a sentence was included in a 2011 revision. The revised edition also added information about arts and culture, the War of 1812, and an admonition against importing "violent, extreme or hateful prejudices" to Canada.

Kenney took steps to restore full citizenship status to the "Lost Canadians", Canadian nationals who had "fallen through the cracks". Bill C-37 corrected the citizenship issues for 95% of "Lost Canadians," and special grants were to be made to resolve the remaining 5%. Kenney says the Lost Canadians group should not be politicizing their plight, but they should be making a "solid application and a strong case".  Kenney's predecessor, Diane Finley, had authorized a special grant of citizenship to Guy Valliere, although he died prior to receiving citizenship.

Refugee reform

On March 29, 2010, Kenney announced an overhaul of the Canadian refugee system. The reform package committed to allowing the resettlement of 2,500 more refugees living in United Nations refugee camps and urban slums. The plan also included expansion of the Government-Assisted Refugees Program to 500 places, while a further 2,000 resettlement places were added to the Private Sponsorship of Refugees Program.  In total, the new plan would lead to the resettlement of 14,500 UN-selected refugees from refugee camps and urban slums to Canada.

The Protecting Canada's Immigration System Act was introduced on February 16, 2012, and received Royal Assent on June 28, 2012. It was broadly criticized as it "gives Ministers broad, unfettered and unprecedented powers" among other new powers. It was sponsored by Kenney.

There was controversy around changes to Interim Federal Health, the social assistance program for refugee claimants. Physicians and allied health professionals opposed these cuts through national protests in all major cities in Canada.  Physicians opposing the cuts to refugee health care include Vincent Lam, who stated that Canada is a country known for its tolerance and diversity, but healthcare professionals are "dismayed and ashamed at the cuts for healthcare for refugees."

Afghan interpreters who served alongside Canadian troops in southern Afghanistan, and who applied for Canadian visas on the basis of facing threats from insurgents, were denied visas. Kenney backed this decision.

Kenney promised that Canada would resettle more refugees from 2011 to 2012 than in previous years. Instead, there was a 26% drop in refugee resettlement in Canada during that period, hitting a 30-year low. Loly Rico, president of the Canadian Council for Refugees, criticized Kenney for not following through on his promise.

Office of Religious Freedom

Following through on a Conservative campaign promise from the 2011 Canadian federal election, Kenney initiated the creation of the Office of Religious Freedom, an agency of Foreign Affairs Canada, to monitor religious oppression domestically and promote religious freedom internationally. Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair endorsed the office in a visit to Canada in 2013, saying, "I think it shows leadership from Canada. And Canada, by the way, in many ways is a perfect place from which to promote this ideal because of the complexion of the country." The Liberal government which formed after the 2015 Canadian federal election closed the office in 2016.

Minister of Employment and Social Development (2013–2015)
As part of the July 2013 cabinet reorganization, Kenney was named Minister of Employment and Social Development. While in this position, he focused on expanding the review process for the Canada Pension Plan and Old Age Security disability appeals, which had become backlogged under the previous tribunal process.

In January 2014, Kenney reached an agreement with all provincial and territorial counterparts, except Quebec, to implement the Canada Job Grant, which aimed to train unemployed workers who did not qualify for unemployment insurance over a period of four years. The final agreement provided more flexibility for the provinces and territories than the initial 2013 proposal, which had been rejected by Kenney's counterparts for its "take it or leave it" nature, which potentially forced the provinces and territories to forgo $300 million of the $500 million in federal funding provided to them by Labour Market Agreements if they did not accept the plan. $2.5 million were spent on advertising for the program during Stanley Cup playoffs spots in 2013 and 2014, even before the details of the federal-provincial agreements were finalized or approved, which prompted Advertising Standards Canada to label them as "misleading."

Minister of Defence (2015)

After a February 2015 cabinet shuffle in which Minister of Foreign Affairs John Baird left federal politics, with former Defence minister Rob Nicholson taking his place, Kenney was promoted to Minister of Defence. While serving in this position, Kenney took a hard-line approach to national security, saying that it was necessary for Canada to fight against Islamic State militants to prevent them from becoming a threat to the country.

In March 2015, Kenney claimed that Russian warships had confronted Royal Canadian Navy craft, and that Russian fighters had buzzed  at low altitude while it participated in a NATO maritime task force off the coast of Ukraine as part of a mission against Russian intervention in the country. NATO officials later stated that Russian ships could be seen on the horizon, but never approached the fleet, and that all flyovers had been at high altitudes.

Later that month, Kenney defended the Canadian airstrike campaign against ISIS being extended into Syria, claiming that, among the coalition air forces, only Canada and the United States had aircraft capable of using precision guided munitions. In fact, Arab allies such as Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates had won praise from general Martin Dempsey, the Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, for their use of precision guided munitions. General Tom Lawson, then the Chief of Canada's Defence Staff, issued a statement defending Kenney, but later retracted his statement and apologized, saying that its contents were incorrect. Sources within the Department of Defence say that Lawson had been pressured into releasing the inaccurate statement by Kenney's office.

Also in March, Kenney faced criticism for tweeting photos purporting to be of ISIS enslaving young girls. One of the images was taken years before ISIS came into existence and appeared to be from an Ashura procession, while another turned out to be a picture staged by actors in London, England.

In April 2015, Kenney announced that troops from the Canadian Armed Forces would be sent to Ukraine as trainers for Ukrainian forces as part of Operation UNIFIER. The soldiers, who arrived in September 2015, were from 2 Canadian Mechanized Brigade Group (2 CMBG) and were stationed in at the Ukrainian Armed Forces International Peacekeeping and Security Centre near the Polish–Ukrainian border at Yavoriv.

In May 2015, after a report was published on sexual misconduct in the Canadian Forces, Kenney promised that an independent centre at arm's length from the military would be formed to hear complaints of sexual misconduct in the military and provide support and resources for victims.

Return to opposition and entry into provincial politics
Although the Conservatives were defeated at the 2015 federal election, Kenney was reelected in Calgary Midnapore, essentially a reconfigured version of his old riding, where he was named to the Special Committee on Electoral Reform. Kenney was long considered a likely candidate to succeed Stephen Harper as leader of the Conservative Party of Canada, and had been mentioned as a prospective candidate and presumed frontrunner in the next leadership election to be held in 2017. His name was also mentioned as a prospective leader of the Progressive Conservative Party of Alberta (PC) who could potentially unite the rival Progressive Conservative and Wildrose parties. On July 6, 2016, Kenney announced that he would be seeking the leadership of the Alberta PC Party, citing his desire to unite Alberta's two major centre-right parties. The following day, he announced that he would resign his seat in the House of Commons within three months once the leadership campaign period officially opened, a decision that was severely criticized by the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, which Kenney had previously lead, for misusing taxpayer dollars. He officially resigned September 23.

Kenney was elected leader of the PCs on March 18, 2017, with more than 75% of the delegate votes on the first ballot. He re-affirmed his pledge to unite the party with the rival Wildrose Party.  Two months later, on May 18, the PC and Wildrose party announced a merger agreement that would be voted by on their respective memberships. The results, announced June 22, had 95% of Wildrose and PC members vote in favour of a merger. The new United Conservative Party was recognized as the Official Opposition by the Legislative Assembly of Alberta on July 25, 2017, and shortly thereafter registered with Elections Alberta. Nathan Cooper named interim leader while the party organized a leadership election. However, as Alberta law forbade political parties from transferring assets, the PC and Wildrose parties continued to exist on paper, and the UCP was formally a newly created party.

On October 28, 2017, the party's inaugural leadership election was held. Kenney was elected as the first full-time leader of the party, defeating former Wildrose leader Brian Jean and lawyer Doug Schweitzer. The following day, MLA Dave Rodney announced his resignation of his seat of Calgary-Lougheed in order to create a vacancy for Kenney. Kenney was elected as MLA on December 14, and sworn in as Leader of the Opposition on January 29, 2018.

"Kamikaze campaign" scandal
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police and the Alberta Election Commissioner are investigating allegations that Jason Kenney and his team were involved in orchestrating Jeff Callaway's campaign for the leadership of the United Conservative Party in an attempt to harm Kenney's biggest rival, Brian Jean. Documents obtained by The Star confirm that Kenney's campaign controlled major aspects of Callaway's campaign, including the providing of strategic plans, attack ads, speeches, and talking points intended to discredit Jean. These documents were handed over the election commissioner, according to Callaway's former campaign manager Cameron Davies. Davies also said that Kenney had attended a meeting at Callaway's house in July 2017, where the "kamikaze campaign" was discussed, and that Kenney had firsthand knowledge of this strategy.

A leaked document alleged that Jason Kenney's team first approached Derek Fildebrandt in July 2017 about running a "dark-horse" campaign, but ultimately decided against working with him. Fildebrandt confirmed this account but stated that it was he who rejected the idea.

An emergency injunction was sought to halt the probe into the financing of Callaway's UCP leadership campaign for the duration of the 2019 Alberta general election, but was denied by Court of Queen's Bench Justice Anne Kirker, who ruled it was in the public interest for the investigation to continue.

CBC News and CTV News received documents indicating that fraudulent e-mail addresses attached to party memberships were used to cast ballots in the party's leadership race in 2017, which Jason Kenney won. CBC News picked a sample of e-mail addresses based on suspicious domains, and determined that 60% of those were used to cast ballots in the leadership election.

Former UCP MLA Prab Gill sent a letter to the RCMP outlining allegations that the Kenney leadership campaign used fraudulent e-mail addresses to intercept PINs needed to vote in the leadership race, and that they were subsequently used by the Kenney campaign to vote for Kenney.

Many of the suspicious domains were traced to a network with ever-changing domains, and it is unclear who registered these domains. The majority of the fraudulent e-mail addresses were registered in the weeks preceding the leadership vote. CBC noted that it is not clear how widespread the voting fraud is outside of their selected sample of suspicious domains, and it is also possible that common e-mail providers such as Gmail or Hotmail were used with fraudulent addresses. A dozen individuals were contacted by CBC News to confirm whether or not they voted in the race, all of whom confirmed that they did not vote in the race and the e-mails on the voter's list were not their true e-mails.

The RCMP went to question at least one family to speak with them regarding the allegations of voter fraud.

Premier of Alberta (2019–2022)

Under Kenney's leadership, the United Conservative Party won a majority government in the 2019 Alberta general election, winning 63 seats and 54.88% of the popular vote in 2019 election. On April 30, 2019, Kenney was sworn in by Lieutenant Governor Lois Mitchell, becoming the 18th Premier of Alberta.

During the first session of the 30th Alberta Legislature, the Kenney government passed several notable of pieces of legislation, including the Act to Repeal the Carbon Tax, the Alberta Corporate Tax Amendment, and the Public Sector Wage Arbitration Deferral Act. The government also passed legislation allowing parties to merge, clearing the way for PC and Wildrose to legally and formally merge into the UCP, and hence dissolve. Premier Kenney established a one-year, $2.5 million Public Inquiry into Anti-Alberta Energy Campaigns and a Calgary-based $30 million 'war room' to "fight misinformation related to oil and gas". They announced their first provincial budget on October 24, 2019, which fulfilled their "promise of slight austerity" with "cuts to spending programs and the elimination of hundreds of bureaucracy jobs", according to The National Post. The Post said that these and the corporate tax cuts "were the key planks of a four-year plan to bring the budget into balance." The goal is to reduce government spending by $4-billion over four years.

Oil Sands lawsuit
On February 2, 2022, five environmental organizations filed a lawsuit in Edmonton against Kenney for defamation. The lawsuit alleged that, in public statements and in social media posts, Kenney deliberately distorted the results of a public inquiry led by Calgary forensic accountant Steve Allan investigating the possibility that the groups accepted American money to spread misinformation about the environmental impacts of oil sands development in Alberta. They were represented in the filing by Paul Champ of Ottawa-based Champ & Associates.

Leadership tensions and resignation
On March 8, 2021, CBC News reported that following discontent about the travel controversy and government policies around pandemic measures and coal mining, several UCP constituency associations had discussed holding a leadership review at an upcoming convention, putting Kenney's leadership of the party to a vote. On March 13, the UCP announced a leadership review will be held at the party's annual general meeting in 2022, expected to be held in October, six months ahead of the fixed election date for the next Alberta general election.

On April 7, 2021, 15 UCP MLAs, including former Minister of Municipal Affairs Tracy Allard and Speaker Nathan Cooper, signed a letter criticizing the Government's public health orders. Two other MLAs added their names to the letter after it had been released publicly. UCP MLA Dan Williams also released a video criticizing the closure of GraceLife Church by Alberta Health Services. Kenney stated that Government MLAs were permitted to dissent over COVID-19 health restrictions but breaking health rules or encouraging others to do so would result in their expulsion from the Government Caucus. This was described as a "revolt" and an unprecedented level of opposition from within a government caucus. During a three-hour caucus meeting following the release of the letter, Kenney reportedly threatened to ask the lieutenant governor to dissolve the legislature and call a snap election if dissidents did not support the government.

On April 22, 2021, a letter calling for the resignation of Premier Kenney, started circulating within the UCP party's leadership boards. The letter gained 90 signatures composed of board presidents and board members of UCP riding associations. The letter states that the boards believed that they did not believe Kenney had the moral authority or trustworthiness to lead this party into the next election or to continue to deliver on important conservative priorities and that for the sake of a strong and free Alberta and for the well-being of the conservative movement in this province, the boards ask that Kenney do the proper thing and resign. The petitioners will bring up the letter during an upcoming board meeting.

On May 13, 2021, MLA Todd Loewen stepped down from his role as UCP caucus chair and called on Jason Kenney to resign, citing "persistent issues of dysfunction within the government" and claiming that "the Premier chooses not listen to caucus".

On September 22, 2021, MLA RJ Sigurdson presented a motion of no-confidence at a UCP caucus meeting, after the government introduced new public health restrictions, including a vaccine passport, following a fourth wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in Alberta. The motion was withdrawn after it was agreed that the UCP would hold a leadership review in Spring 2022, rather than October 2022 as previously scheduled.

On May 18, 2022, Jason Kenney narrowly won a confidence vote held by the UCP with 51.4% support from members of his party. He then announced on the same evening his intention to resign as premier of Alberta and leader of the UCP, citing the clearly divisive nature of his leadership and a need for party unity. He subsequently confirmed that he would not be candidate in the leadership election to succeed himself.

Post-premiership
On November 29, 2022, Jason Kenney resigned as MLA for Calgary-Lougheed, with immediate effect. On February 1, 2023, Kenney announced that he had started a new job as senior advisor for the law firm, Bennett Jones.

His seat was retained by Eric Bouchard of the UCP in the May 2023 Alberta general election.

Political positions

Kenney has been a social conservative in his political career, voting in favor of abortion restrictions and against same-sex marriage.

Abortion
Kenney voted in favour of abortion restrictions and received an endorsement from the socially conservative lobbyist group Campaign Life Coalition. In 2012, Kenney was one of ten Cabinet ministers who voted in favour of a motion to study when life begins. In 2018, a bill to create "no-protest zones" around abortion clinics was introduced to the Alberta legislature, following similar legislation in Ontario, Quebec, British Columbia, and Newfoundland and Labrador. As leader of the UCP, Kenney refused to debate the bill and led his caucus to walk out of the house 14 times over the course of two months when the bill was at issue.

LGBTQ issues
Kenney voted against same-sex marriage as an MP, saying, "A majority of Canadians support the provision of benefits on grounds such as domestic partnership relationships, which are grounded on unions of economic dependency rather than relationships of a mere conjugal nature, and yet still two-thirds of Canadians, from every culture that exists in this country, from every corner of the globe who have come to this country to build a future for themselves and their families, recognize that marriage is, as the Supreme Court said the last time it spoke to this issue in the Egan case in 1995, 'by nature a heterosexual institution'."

In 2016, Kenney supported the removal of "traditional definition of marriage" from the conservative party policy book.

Kenney was criticized by the provincial NDP, some LGBTQ activists, and some journalists for saying in a Postmedia interview that parents generally have a right to know if their child has joined a Gay-Straight Alliance, unless it would be contrary to the best interests of the child in the circumstances.

In November 2018, Kenney faced pressure to expel an outspoken member of the United Conservative Party who compared the gay pride flag to the flag of Nazi Germany. Although Kenney had previously directed the party to cancel the membership of another member, he said that the decision to expel members rested with the party's board.

A two-decade-old audio recording surfaced in December 2018 of Kenney boasting about overturning a gay marriage law in 1989 in San Francisco. Kenney was referring to his role in organizing a petition to repeal the city ordinance that extended recognition rights of heterosexual couples to same-sex couples. This ordinance, originating during the 1980s AIDS epidemic, extended rights that were previously exclusive to heterosexual couples, such as hospital visitation, to same-sex couples. Kenney addressed the audio clip by stating that he regrets the comments he made and that, since then, his record shows he supports domestic partner arrangements and benefits for couples regardless of sexual orientation. The comments led to backlash from outside and within the United Conservative Party. One board member and campaign manager for the party resigned his positions and membership with the party, citing the audio recording of Kenney as his reason for departure.

Minority outreach
Kenney was widely recognized for his central role in reaching out to ethnic minority voters in 2011, leading to the Conservative Party's successful election campaign, and the Conservative parliamentary majority that resulted. He publicly acknowledged that his ongoing strategy of promoting conservative values and policies in government so as to capture the support of ethnic communities was in the works beginning years prior to Stephen Harper first winning government in 2006. Kenney also suggested that Harper was one of the first people he consulted with on the ethnic outreach strategy, when the latter was still an opposition Canadian Alliance MP.

Kenney's ethnic outreach strategy was also evident when, in early 2011, a letter using government stationery was sent to Conservative riding associations seeking assistance in raising $200,000 funding for an ad campaign aimed at bolstering support among ethnic communities in ridings that the Conservatives were targeting in the next election.  News of this broke when a copy was believed to have been mistakenly sent to the office of opposition MP Linda Duncan instead of that of fellow Conservative MP John Duncan (no relation). This led to criticism over the letter's labelling of certain groups and ridings as "ethnic" or "very ethnic". Kenney publicly apologized for the mailing error, citing a staffer's inexperience for the mistake.

As immigration minister, Kenney was largely credited with building bridges attracting ethnic communities to the Conservative Party, which was long dominated by the Liberal Party. In addition, he also handled the apology and financial compensation for the Chinese head tax and the official recognition of the Armenian and Ukrainian genocides.  According to an observer, "He acts as a conductor to correct historical wrongs, It might not seem important to the majority of the population, but for the concerned communities, it's huge." According to The Globe and Mail, the Chinese–Canadian community nicknamed Kenney the "Smiling Buddha" in reference to his efforts to garner ethnic votes on the basis of what some perceive as commonly held conservative values. The Toronto Star characterized him as having a "Bieber-like" following in many communities. Kenney justified his efforts to gain ethnic support by stating, "You observe how these new Canadians live their lives. They are the personification of Margaret Thatcher's aspirational class. They're all about a massive work ethic."

Personal life
Kenney is bilingual, speaking French and English. He has never been married and has no children.

Awards and recognition
Kenney received the Queen Elizabeth II Golden Jubilee Medal in 2002, and the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal in 2012.

In 2004, Kenney was named one of Canada's "100 Leaders of the Future" by Maclean's magazine, "one of Canada's leading conservative activists" by The Globe and Mail, and one of "21 Canadians to watch in the 21st century" by the Financial Post.

On May 13, 2009, Maclean's, in association with the Dominion Institute, L'actualité, and presenting sponsor Enbridge, presented Kenney with the award for "Best Overall MP".

Maclean's named Kenney the "hardest working" MP of 2011, citing overwhelming support from all political parties who recognized Kenney's constant "20-hour work days" and "permanent 5 o'clock shadow".

On November 4, 2012, he received an honorary doctorate from the University of Haifa.

In 2014, Kenney received the UN Watch Moral Courage Award for speaking out on behalf of those who had been victimized by international tyranny. At the ceremony in Geneva, representatives of the 14th Dalai Lama presented Kenney with a traditional Tibetan scarf. Also in 2014, Kenney was awarded the inaugural Benjamin Disraeli Prize by Policy Exchange, a centre-right UK think tank, in recognition of the successful outreach to Canada's ethnic and cultural communities. The award was presented by British Conservative cabinet minister Michael Gove.

In August 2016, President Petro Poroshenko of Ukraine awarded Jason Kenney with an Order of Merit, Third Class.

Electoral record

References

External links

1968 births
Athol Murray College of Notre Dame alumni
Canadian Alliance MPs
Canadian Roman Catholics
Canadian Zionists
Conservative Party of Canada MPs
Defence ministers of Canada
Living people
Members of the 28th Canadian Ministry
Members of the House of Commons of Canada from Alberta
Members of the King's Privy Council for Canada
People from Oakville, Ontario
Politicians from Calgary
Reform Party of Canada MPs
Leaders of the United Conservative Party
Leaders of the Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta
United Conservative Party MLAs
Recipients of the Order of Merit (Ukraine), 3rd class
Premiers of Alberta
21st-century Canadian politicians

Jason Kenney


Alberto Nepomuceno (July 6, 1864October 16, 1920) was a Brazilian composer and conductor.

Career and music
Nepomuceno was born in Fortaleza, the capital of the state of Ceará in Northeastern Brazil. His parents were Vitor Augusto Nepomuceno and Maria Virginia de Oliveira Paiva. He began to study music with his father, a violinist, organist, teacher and chapel-master at the Fortaleza Cathedral. In 1872, Nepomuceno and his family moved to Recife, also in Northeastern Brazil, where he initiated piano and violin studies. He went on to become an outspoken defender of Republican and Abolitionist causes in Brazil, and was active in campaigns that ultimately led to the overthrow of the Monarchy and the establishment of the First Brazilian Republic in 1889. At the age of eighteen, he became director of the Clube Carlos Gomes (Carlos Gomes Club) in Recife.

In 1885, a series of songs in Portuguese by Nepomuceno was premiered at the Brazilian Musical National Institute. The concert was intended at defying those who thought Portuguese was inappropriate for the bel canto. As criticism poured, he embarked on a battle against newspapers and music critics. His struggle on behalf of nationalism in classical music led him to work at the Popular Concert Association from 1896 to 1906, where he pushed for the recognition of several Brazilian composers.

In 1888, Nepomuceno left for Europe in order to further his musical studies. In Rome, he took lessons from Giovanni Sgambati. He moved to Berlin in 1890, where he studied composition with Heinrich von Herzogenberg and continued his piano studies with Theodor Leschetizky at the Stern Conservatory. In Leschetizky's class, he met Norwegian student Walborg Bang, whom he ended up marrying in 1893. Bang had been a student and friend of Edvard Grieg's. After the wedding, Nepomuceno moved to Bergen and lived in Grieg's house. As Grieg was also an advocate for nationalism in composition, the friendship was instrumental in convincing Nepomuceno to write music that reflected Brazilian culture. Before leaving Europe, he visited Paris, where he met Camille Saint-Saëns and Vincent d'Indy.

Upon his return to Brazil, he became the director and taught at the Instituto Nacional de Música (National Institute of Music) in Rio de Janeiro, where he strongly promoted the use of the Portuguese language in Brazilian classical music, instead of the preferred European languages such as French and Italian. In addition, Nepomuceno was a significant influence on many early 20th-century Brazilian nationalist composers such as Heitor Villa-Lobos, which became one of his students, Luciano Gallet, and Oscar Lorenzo Fernández.

Later on, Gustav Mahler engaged him to conduct at the Vienna Opera House, but illness prevented this from taking place. He returned to Europe in 1910 for a series of concerts in Brussels, Geneva and Paris. During this trip, he became friends with Claude Debussy. Back in Brazil, he championed the use of Portuguese in opera and song and remained the leading musical figure in the country until his death at age 56.

Among his prominent works is his String Quartet No. 3 "Brasileiro" (Brazilian). According to Nepomuceno's handwritten note, it was composed in Berlin in 1890. It is probably the earliest example of the integration of Brazilian folk melody with the Central European romantic idiom. The "Brasileiro" String Quartet remained unpublished until 2005, and was only rarely performed before then.

Also notable are the operas Abul (1905), Artemis (1898), Electra (1894) and O Garatuja (unfinished), the Orchestral Pieces (1888), the Sinfonia in G minor (1893) and the Serenata (1902).

O Guaratuja
Nepomuceno's operatic comedy O Guaratuja was written in 1904 with a libretto by the composer, but only the Preludio and the first act were completed. The debut of the Preludio took place at the Theatro Municipal in Rio de Janeiro in 1904 and was conducted by the composer himself. The work is written in a post-Romantic style and features popular motifs from 17th-century Rio de Janeiro combined with late 19th-century Brazilian popular rhythms to give the work a sense of local Brazilian character. Nepomuceno's O Guaratuja was adapted from the novel O Guaratuja: crônica dos tempos coloniais (The Scribbler: Chronicle of Colonial Times) by José de Alencar, whose historical, regionalist and Indianist novels were among the most popular and influential works of Brazilian literature during the mid-19th century. O Guaratuja is set in 1659 in the Brazilian colonial city of São Sebastião do Rio de Janeiro, which is present day Rio de Janeiro. "O Guaratuja" is the nickname of the protagonist of the story, who is an artist with a penchant for scribbling graffiti on the walls of urban buildings.

Further reading

 João Vidal. Formação germânica de Alberto Nepomuceno. Estudos sobre recepção e intertextualidade. Editora

References

External links

 Free scores, Portal Musica Brasilis

 Alberto Nepomuceno's String Quartet No. 3 with brief biography and soundbites
 Alberto Nepomuceno String Quartet No. 1, soundbites

1864 births
1920 deaths
People from Fortaleza
19th-century classical composers
19th-century conductors (music)
20th-century classical composers
20th-century conductors (music)
20th-century male musicians
Brazilian classical composers
Brazilian conductors (music)
Brazilian male composers
Male classical composers
Brazilian music educators
Romantic composers

Alberto Nepomuceno


Matt Patchan (born April 2, 1990) is a former American football offensive lineman. Patchan played college football at Boston College.

College career
Played senior season (2013) at Boston College and started all 13 games at left tackle. Was named second-team All-ACC as a left tackle after senior year (2013). Earned ACC Offensive Lineman of the Week honors after helping running back Andre Williams rush for 263 yards and two touchdowns against Maryland (11/23/13). Part of an offensive line that helped the team rush for at least 100 yards in 11 games, 200 yards in six games, 300 yards in three games and 400 yards in one game. Helped Andre Williams become the 16th running back in FBS history to rush for 2,000 yards in a single season. Prior to playing at Boston College, Patchan attended Florida where he appeared in 27 games with eight starts (2008-2011), playing on both the defensive line and offensive line. Started 7-of-12 games at right tackle in 2011. Missed 2010 season due to injury. Played in first four games of sophomore (2009) season before an injury sidelined him for the rest of the year. Played in 11 games and recorded seven tackles and 1.5 sacks as a freshman (2008).

Professional career
Patchan signed with the team on May 12, 2014 as an undrafted free agent after a good showing in the rookie free agent mini camp held by the Buccaneers. He was eventually cut during final roster cuts but during the regular season he was resigned to the team's practice squad where he would remain.

One week after the conclusion to the 2014 regular season Patchan as well as 6 other players on practice squads were resigned to 2015 contracts for the summer's training camp.

References

External links
Tampa Bay Buccaneers bio

1990 births
Living people
American football offensive tackles
Tampa Bay Buccaneers players
Players of American football from Tampa, Florida
Boston College Eagles football players

Matt Patchan


Fantástico (originally known as Fantástico: O Show da Vida, Portuguese for Fantastic The Show of Life) is a Brazilian weekly television news program broadcast on Sunday nights on TV Globo since August 5, 1973, created by José Bonifácio de Oliveira Sobrinho.

It lasts two hours, including commercials. Currently presented by Maria Júlia Coutinho and Poliana Abritta, it has been recognized as one of the best programs of Brazilian television, besides being the most watched program on Sunday.

History
Fantástico debuted on August 5, 1973 in black-and-white and began as a variety show featuring music, dance numbers, tele theater, humorous sketches and some news as well. The following year, it began transmission in color.

In 1988, the show began live broadcasts; in 1993, the format changed to a television newsmagazine. In 1996 Fantástico reported the Varginha UFO incident.

Scenographer Cyro Del Nero worked as the show's art director, designing much of the style of the series.

Format
Fantástico is an open-ended newscast with hosts introducing and reporting stories. Some segments include the work of other reporters: This typically happens when going live to a location.

Its hosts stand in front of a backdrop that changes according to the story presented. The hosts undertake original reporting and investigations led by national newspapers, sourcing typically from O Globo.

Topics for each show vary, some are political, some involve scandals, the environment, crime, science, health, sports, religion, international news or a combination. Occasionally, stories develop into specials that span over a period of a few weeks. These stories are thematic, with hosts travelling the country to find their topic in Brazilian society. Past topics have included psychics, indigenous religions, São Paulo's crime wave, and Afro-Brazilian tribal customs.

In 1995, Fantástico showed the original Mr. Bean series (starring Rowan Atkinson), in 1996 it showed the famous magician David Copperfield and in 1999–2000 exhibited the controversial magician Val Valentino known as Mr. M – Valentino became famous thanks to narration by Cid Moreira.

In 2011, the Brazilian actors Otávio Muller and Heloísa Périssé play "Lolô" and "Tavinho", and Ingrid Guimarães presents the fictional supermodel "Leandra Borges".

Now, Fantástico also brings musical acts in live from stage at the new and big studio program since April 27, 2014. Among them, the actress and singer Demi Lovato performed on stage with some hits acoustically as "Really Don't Care" and "Neon Lights", aired on May 4, 2014. The Colombian singer, Shakira was also present in July, 2014.

The Brazilian singer Michel Teló introduced his segment called "Bem Sertanejo", he invites country artists for a chat and live music.

The action star Arnold Schwarzenegger who released the Terminator Genisys movie, had an interview on May 31, 2015.

Opening credits
The opening had a traditional ballet, but in different seasons: in 1973, they had a style similar to the spectacle musical Pippin, the following years, a Moulin Rouge style. In the 1980s, the program was updated with 3D graphics, inserting a real-ballet, with special costumes. In 1987, a contemporary ballet was performed in landscapes as varied as a lagoon mono lake, the landscapes of Turkey, Egypt, Scotland and United States.

In the 1990s, all of the shows openings were made entirely in 3D, and then, the traditional ballet was replaced by simple idents. In 1995, Fantástico got a new logo, which (aside from some modifications) would be the branding of the program since then.

Since April 2010, the opening sequences were altered to run for 30 seconds: images of DNA, stars, waterfalls, schools, plant, among others are shown. In 2014, a new version of the credits was broadcast, which included French model and dancer Cathy Ematchoua, featuring her dancing on a grey background, though this was short-lived.

In 2015, the singers Luiza Possi and Chay Suede performed the first opening theme for the ending, but performed officially on April 26, 2015, on the Special Commemorative 50th Globo, with a new opening being created, on four elements with the models being incorporated into a rose plant (representing land), an iceberg (representing water), clouds (representing air) and a volcano (representing fire).

On March 24, 2017, the opening returned to dancing, this time with an urban group. Since August 5, 2018, the program sequences opened with dancers invoking natural elements with the new graphics, this time in chroma key.

Spin-off
There is a special television program in ten minutes called O Show da Vida É Fantástico. Even being an allusion to the original title, this program brings memorable music videos from the 1980s and 1990s, and now is reprising the following Destino Fantástico (Fantastic Destiny) of 2005/06, which shows the scenery and interesting things of the Brazilian territory.

Initially, presented the following "Clipes do Fantástico" ("Fantastic Clips"), Brazilian singers as Marina Lima, Paulo Ricardo (RPM band leader), Biafra, Sidney Magal, among others are present beside the former presenter of Fantástico Valéria Monteiro.

The program was broadcast on May 19, 2014 on Brazilian channel Viva, property by Globosat.

Hosts

Current hosts
Maria Júlia Coutinho (2021–present)
Poliana Abritta (2014–present)

Former hosts
Cid Moreira (1973–1992)
Sérgio Chapelin (1973–1992)
Glória Maria (1986–2007)
William Bonner (1988–1993)
Valéria Monteiro (1988–1992)
Celso Freitas (1990–1996 and 2002–2003)
Sandra Annenberg (1991–1996)
Fátima Bernardes (1993–1996; 1997)
Pedro Bial (1996–2007)
Zeca Camargo (1998–2013)
Eva Byte (a virtual hostess) (2004–2006)
Tadeu Schmidt (2007–2021)
Renata Ceribelli (2007–2013)
Patrícia Poeta (2008–2011)
Renata Vasconcellos (2013–2014)

Ratings and recognition

Ratings
Fantastico is the most watched show on Brazilian television on Sunday since its debut. While still maintaining the lead, its rating had a significant drop, as well as other programs of TV Globo. Since 2003, the program has lost about 55% of its public: lost 26.9 rating points. That was also due mainly to the growing popularity of Rede Record's Domingo Espetacular and to the growth of Pay TV in Brazil and as well as SBT's Programa Silvio Santos, which is also recorded with a live studio audience.

A survey by TV Globo in 2012 pointed out that the program was watched by 13 million views, with 23 rating points, considering the national measurement Ibope where each point is equivalent to 569 259 people.

Awards
Fantástico was nominated for Best Web Hit at the 2010 MTV Video Music Brazil, due to host Zeca Camargo being filmed yawning, live, when the show returned from commercials on June 6, 2010. The video of this incident was one of the most viewed on the Brazilian internet in 2010. It lost, however, to the parody of Justin Bieber's "Baby" titled "Justin Biba" ("Little Gay Justin"), made by Galo Frito.

References

External links
 Official Website (in Portuguese)

Brazilian television news shows
Portuguese-language television shows
TV Globo original programming
1973 Brazilian television series debuts

Fantástico


Kfar Yona () is a toun (local cooncil) in the Sharon Subdestrict in the Center Destrict o Israel. It is aboot 7 km east o the Mediterranean sea shore ceety o Netanya, an aboot 15 km wast o the border wi Palestinian-held Tulkarm. Surroondin it are mony ither sma touns, kibbutzim an veelages. Its population in 2008 wis 16,100, an its jurisdiction – 11,017 dunams (~11 km²).

History an etymology
Kfar Yona (meanin Yona's veelage) is named efter Jean (Yona) Fischer, a Belgian Zionist. It wis foondit on Tu Bishvat, 23 Januar, 1932 bi Morris Fischer, Yona's son, a member o the Warld Jewish Congress, an wis oreeginally named Gan Yona ("Yona's Garden").

Yona an his best freind wur in Europe throu the time that naitionalism wis gainin poleetical muivement, for aw ethnicities. Thay decidit tae fundraise an foond a dounset in the Haly Land, tae promote Zionism. This endeavor teuk a hantle year, an thay includit Morris when he wis auld eneuch. Acause Yona dee'd jist a few year short o seein fruition o the dream, Morris an his faither's friend decidit tae name the dounset efter Yona.

Yona is Ebreu for dove (besides bein the Ebreu form o Jonah), sae while the toun searches for new seembols, inspecially amang schuil-age childer in its quest tae big up community feelins frae a young age, the dove is a frequently uised seembol.

In the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, Kfar Yona wis on the front lines, an its defenders faced the Iraqi Airmy, whilk socht tae reik Netanya an cut the Jewish forces in Israel in hauf. The new Israel Defense Forces repelled the Iraqi attacks an forced them back intae the Samarian muntains, awtho Kfar Yona remained the eastrenmaist Jewish dounset in the aurie. As a result o the 1949 Armistice Agreements, the mairch muivit frae Kfar Yona 8 km eastwart, tae juist wast o Tulkarm.

Geography
When foondit, Kfar Yona wis surroondit bi orcharts, an its main income wis frae sellin oranges. Till this vera day, its seembol is an orange tree staundin on a field. In recent years, due tae the rapid growth o the toun (nou populatiit bi 17,000 fowk), maist o thir orcharts wur replaced bi new neighborhuids o law apairtment biggins an private hooses.

Next tae Kfar Yona is the Area 21 military base, named for Mota Gur, whilk includes paratroopers, Nahal, military polis, an ither sma bases. In addition, Kfar Yona is neist tae Pardesiya an the Lev HaSharon Regional Cooncil.

Cultur
Nouadays this relatively sma veelage serves as a community center for smawer neighborin veelages as well. The community center includes the muisic conservatory, whilk is becomin a cultural hame for mony different types o muisic. This month, thare wis a 3-oor concert in honour o 250 year syne Mozart's birth, in whilk several airtists performed, includin twa pianists frae abroad an the Ashdod Chamber Orchestra. The conservatory concerts hae includit an aa: Big Band, Spainyie guitar, childer componers, an fou operas.

Sports
Kfar Yona is biggin up its sports an aa. In 2006, 250 grade-schuil students pairticipatit in the basketbaw program. The aulder student's league haes wan championships. Kfar Yona affers programs in soccer, dance, an mony ither sports an aa. The community center haulds classes in tens o ither subjects: photography, ceramics, pottery, ceukin, an sae on.

Education
Kfar Yona schuils: Hadar, Amal, Bar Ilan for grade schuil; an a new Junior Heich. Heich schuil students at this time must traivel tae Rupin, Netanya, or ane o the ither mony schuils in the aurie. Kfar Yona childer wha pass entrance tests attend efter-schuil class in science, technology, maths, muisic, etc, in the surroondin touns.

Health and services
Kfar Yona haes twa or three heal offices, a few dentist, a few alternative halth professional. It is close tae the Netanya train station, an tae the fire station. Besides the volunteer security force, it haes a maistly-defunct police station, tho it isna far frae the Netanya police station.

Kfar Yona residents gather thair mail frae post office box centers. A post office box is assigned tae ilka faimily bi the main post office. The post boxes haes replaced hame delivery whilk wis available til the early 1990s.

Demographics
Ethnicity o the residents includes a majority o native-born Jewish Israelis.
Ithers are o Roushie, Anglo-Saxon (American, Breetish, etc), French, Argentinian, Kurdish, Tripolitan, Yemenite, Persian, an Ethiopian ethnicity.

References

Freemit airtins
Offeecial wabsteid
Kfar Yona wab steid

Local cooncils in Israel

Kfar Yona


Georges Courteline born Georges Victor Marcel Moinaux (25 June  1858 – 25 June 1929) was a French dramatist and novelist, a satirist notable for his sharp wit and cynical humor.

Biography
His family moved from Tours in Indre-et-Loire to Paris shortly after his birth. During the time of the Paris Commune, at age 13, he was sent to school in Meaux and after graduation in 1876, he went on to serve in the French military before taking a job as a civil servant. Interested in poetry and authorship, he became involved writing poetry reviews and was part of a small newspaper. By the 1890s, he had begun writing plays under the name Courteline for the theatres of Montmartre where he lived.

Gifted with a quick wit, he became a leading dramatist, producing many plays as well as a number of novels. The overall tone of his works was satirical in nature, often making fun of everything from the wealthy elitists of Paris to the bloated government bureaucracies. In 1899, Courteline was awarded the Legion of Honour and in 1926 was elected to the Académie Goncourt.

In 1929, Courteline died on his 71st birthday in Paris and was interred there in the Père Lachaise Cemetery. Rue de Lariche, the street in the city of Tours where he was born, was renamed in his honour.

Selected works

  Les Gaités de l'escadron (1886) - a novel, subsequently dramatized for the theatre in 1895.
  Le 51e Chasseurs (1887) – a novel.
  Les Femmes d'amis (1888) – a novel.
  Le Train de 8 heures 47 (1888) – a novel.
  Madelon, Margot et Cie (1890).
  Potiron (1890) - recit.
  Messieurs les ronds-de-cuir (1893) – a novel.
  Boubouroche (1893) – a theatrical play in two acts.
  Ah! Jeunesse! (1894) – a novel.
  Ombres Parisiennes (1894) – recits.
  La Peur des coups (1895) – theatre in one act.
  Les Gaitiės de l'escadron (1895) - theatre in nine scenes.
  La vie de caserne (1895)
  Un client sérieux (1896) - theatre in one act.
  Le Droit aux étrennes (1896) - theatre in five scenes.
  Hortense, couche-toi! (1897) – theatre in one act.
  Monsieur Badin (1897) – theatre in one act.
  L'Extra-Lucide (1897)  - theatre in one act.
  Une lettre chargée (1897) – theatre in one act.
  Théodore cherche des allumettes (1897) - theatre in one act.
  Godefroy (1897) - theatre in one act.
  La Voiture versée (1897) – theatre in one act.
  Gros Chagrins (1897) – theatre in one act.
  Les Boulingrin (1898) – theatre in one act.
  Le gendarme est sans pitié (1899) – theatre in one act.
  Le commissaire est bon enfant (1900) – theatre in one act.
  L'Article 330 (1900) - theatre in one act.
  Les Marionnettes de la vie (1900)
  Sigismond (1901) - theatre, a fantasy in one act with choir.
  Les Balances (1901) – theatre in one act.
  La Paix chez soi (1903) - theatre in one act.
  L'Illustre Piégelé (1904).
  L'Ami des Lois (1904) - three short plays.
  Facéties de Jean de La Butte (1904).
  Les tire-au-cul : les gaîtés de l'escadron (1904).
  Coco, Coco et Toto (1905).
  La Conversion d'Alceste (1905) – theatre in verse in one act.
  Le Petit Malade 1905
  Le père Machin-Chouette : les gaîtés de l'escadron (1905)
  Les Fourneaux (1905)
  La Cruche (1909) - theatre in two acts.
  Un visiteur sans gêne (1911)
  Les Linottes (1912) – a novel.
  Le Gora (1920)

Filmography
The Gaieties of the Squadron, directed by Maurice Tourneur and Joseph Faivre (1913, based on the play Les Gaîtés de l'escadron)
Théodore cherche des allumettes, directed by Andrew Brunelle (1923, based on the play Théodore cherche des allumettes)
Le Train de 8h47, directed by Georges Pallu (1927, based on the novel Le Train de 8 heures 47)
Fun in the Barracks, directed by Maurice Tourneur (1932, based on the play Les Gaîtés de l'escadron)
, directed by André Hugon (1933, based on the play Boubouroche)
, directed by Henry Wulschleger (1934, based on the novel Le Train de 8 heures 47)
The Bureaucrats, directed by Yves Mirande (1936, based on the novel Messieurs les ronds-de-cuir)
The Cheerful Squadron, directed by Paolo Moffa (1954, based on the play Les Gaîtés de l'escadron)
Scènes de ménage, directed by André Berthomieu (1954, based on the plays La Peur des coups, La Paix chez soi and Les Boulingrin)
The Bureaucrats, directed by Henri Diamant-Berger (1959, based on the novel Messieurs les ronds-de-cuir)

External links

1858 births
1929 deaths
Writers from Tours, France
19th-century French dramatists and playwrights
20th-century French dramatists and playwrights
French journalists
19th-century French novelists
20th-century French novelists
20th-century French male writers
Officers of the Legion of Honour
Burials at Père Lachaise Cemetery
French male novelists
19th-century French male writers
French male non-fiction writers

Georges Courteline


Oreste Scalzone (born 26 January 1947) is an Italian Marxist intellectual and one of the founders of the communist organization Potere Operaio.

Scalzone was born in Terni, Umbria. In 1968 he came to know Franco Piperno, and on 1 March that year he took part in the clashes against Italian police at Valle Giulia. A few days later his vertebral column was seriously injured by a desk thrown from a window by neofascist students, mostly belonging to the Italian Social Movement, that were occupying the faculty of Law of the University La Sapienza in Rome. About the 1968 movement, he said:

With Piperno and Toni Negri, he founded Potere Operaio in 1969. On 7 April 1979, he was arrested, along with Negri, Piperno and others members of the autonomist movement, and accused of planning armed attacks and plotting to overthrow the government. In 1981 he managed to flee first to Denmark, then to Paris, where he remained protected from extradition thanks to the Mitterrand doctrine. Scalzone revealed that his escape was helped by actor and friend Gian Maria Volonté. In 1983 he was sentenced to 16 years' jail, reduced to nine in 1989. While in France, Scalzone worked for a political solution to the "Years of Lead" that could lead to an amnesty to political refugees and prisoners.

In 1998 he briefly and secretly came back to Italy passing through Corsica: a photographic service by the newsmagazine L'Espresso later revealed the episode.

In 2002 he went on hunger strike in protest against the extradition of Paolo Persichetti.

A 17 January 2007 ruling of the Court of Milan declared his crimes ("subversive association and member of an armed organization") prescribed. He announced he had come back to Italy to "fight, under new conditions, an old battle".

See also
Autonomist movement
Battle of Valle Giulia
Primavalle Fire

References

External links
 Oreste Scalzone blog

1947 births
Living people
People from Terni
Italian communists
Autonomism
Potere Operaio
Libertarian socialists

Oreste Scalzone


Le feste d'Apollo (The Festivals of Apollo) is an operatic work by Christoph Willibald von Gluck, first performed at the Teatrino della Corte, Parma, Italy, on 24 August 1769 for the wedding celebrations of Ferdinand, Duke of Parma and Archduchess Maria Amalia of Austria.

Styled a festa teatrale, Le feste d'Apollo consists of a prologue and three self-contained acts on the model of French opéra-ballet (the court of Parma was passionately interested in French culture). Gluck knew the Archduchess Maria Amalia well as she had sung in two of his operas, Il Parnaso confuso and La corona, in Vienna. The composer recycled a lot of music from his earlier operas in the score of Le feste. In fact, the whole of the third act, Orfeo, is a shorter reworking of his most famous piece, Orfeo ed Euridice (1762). The overture to the prologue is taken from Telemaco. Gluck later reused some of the choruses in two of the operas he wrote for Paris, Iphigénie en Aulide and Iphigénie en Tauride.

Gluck travelled to Parma to supervise rehearsals from February to April 1769. The wedding was delayed by the death of Pope Clement XIII and did not take place until 19 July. The celebrations, including the staging of Le feste, followed in August.

The work
The prologue and three acts are as follows:

Prologue
The Italian libretto is by Carlo Gastone della Torre di Rezzonico (1742-1796). A group of young Athenian men and women, led by Anfrisio and Arcinia, gather to celebrate the festival of Apollo. The priest of Apollo reveals the god has sent him a vision which promises a flourishing future for the Duke of Parma and his bride.

Bauci e Filemone

The libretto, by Giuseppe Maria Pagnini (1737–1814), is based on the myth of Baucis and Philemon in Ovid's Metamorphoses. In Pagnini's version, Baucis and Philemon are not an old married couple but a pair of young lovers. The king of the gods, Jupiter, visits the world of mortals disguised as a traveller from Crete, intending to punish mankind for its wickedness. However, when he visits the countryside of Phrygia, Baucis and Philemon warmly welcome him to their cottages. Jupiter reveals his true identity and officiates at the wedding of the couple. He tells them they will live together as priests in his temple and when they die they will become demi-gods and protectors of the region.

Bauci's aria "Il mio pastor tu sei" in the third scene is notable for containing several top Gs - higher than Mozart's notoriously famous aria for the Queen of the Night.

Aristeo
The libretto, by Giuseppe Pezzana (1735–1802), is loosely based on the myth of Aristaeus taken from Virgil's Georgics, Book Four. Aristaeus, the son of the nymph Cyrene, had been in love with Eurydice, the wife of Orpheus, but as he pursued her she had trodden on a snake and died from its venomous bite. To punish Aristaeus, the wood nymphs kill his bees and make him fall in love with the nymph Cydippe, who rejects his advances on the orders of Aristaeus's mother.  Aristaeus visits Cyrene in despair and begs for her help. She tells him his sufferings are a result of what he has done to Orpheus and Eurydice and tells him to sacrifice to their shades and the wood nymphs. Aristaeus does so and the gods are appeased. New swarms of bees issue from the carcasses of bulls Aristaeus has slain and Cyrene gives Cydippe to Aristaeus in marriage.

This act includes a bravura aria which Gluck had originally composed for Il Parnaso confuso.  This aria was later incorporated into Act 1 of Orphée et Euridice, the 1774 Paris revision of Orfeo ed Euridice, as "L'espoir renaît dans mon âme".

Orfeo
This is a reworking of Orfeo ed Euridice, which had first been performed in Vienna in 1762, with a libretto by Ranieri de' Calzabigi.

Recording
 Christophe Rousset and his ensemble Les Talens Lyriques recorded two of the acts (Aristeo and Filemone e Bauci) under the title Philémon et Baucis (Ambroisie, 2006)

References
Notes

Sources
Booklet notes to the Rousset recording
Holden, Amanda (Ed.), The New Penguin Opera Guide, New York: Penguin Putnam, 2001.
Pesqué, Emmanuelle and Jérôme, Fuller version of the booklet notes (in French)

External links
Libretto (in Italian)

Operas by Christoph Willibald Gluck
Italian-language operas
Operas
1769 operas
Operas based on Metamorphoses

Le feste d'Apollo


Symeon (Simeon) of Polotsk or Symeon Polotsky (; born as Samuel Piotrowski-Sitnianowicz, ; December 12, 1629 – August 25, 1680) was an academically-trained Baroque poet, dramatist, churchman, and enlightener of Belarusian descent who came from the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth to the Tsardom of Russia.

Life

A native of Polotsk, Symeon studied at the Kiev Ecclesiastical Academy and probably continued on to the Jesuit college of Wilno: the influence of Jesuit theology and school dramas was very pronounced in his mature work. He became a Greek-Catholic monk (he described himself as "Simeonis Piotrowskj Sitnianowicz hieromonachi Polocens.[is] Ord.[inis] S.[ancti] Bas.[ilii] M.[agni] ") in 1656.

His name became known later that year, when he presented to Tsar Alexis, then visiting his native Polotsk during the war, several panegyrics in verse. The monarch was pleased to discover what looked like propaganda of the Third Rome doctrine in the modern Western style that would appeal to Ruthenian and Polish intellectuals alike. Symeon was recognized as an invaluable asset to Moscow's campaign to cast the Tsar as a champion of Eastern Rite in the region.

The Tsar invited Symeon to relocate to Moscow, where at the request of Tsar Alexis he opened the first school aimed at educating Russian clerks in Latin, then the language of diplomacy in 1664. By 1668, the school no longer was in operation. Apart from Latin, Symeon was the first to teach grammar, poetics, and rhetoric to the Russians. He revived the long-forgotten art of preaching, and his sermons proved quite popular with the Muscovite courtiers, such as Fyodor Rtishchev and Bogdan Khitrovo. His erudition made him famous in other Orthodox countries. At the request of the Oriental patriarchs, he delivered an address urging the promotion of Greek learning in the country.

A statue of Symeon was created in 2003 by Alexandr Finsky and resides in Polatsk, Belarus.

His role in the Synod of 1666

Unsurprisingly, given his background, Symeon of Polotsk took a profound stand against clerical and literary conservatives, or the Old Believers. As the Great Schism of the Russian Orthodox Church was developing, he was called upon to elaborate refutation of their tenets. It was he who drafted decisions of the church council that deposed Patriarch Nikon and anathemized his opponents. This was known as the Great Moscow Synod.

In recognition of his wisdom and erudition, Symeon was charged with the task of educating the Tsar's children: the heir Alexei Alexeyevich until his death, then the future Fyodor III, Regent Sophia, and Peter I. In 1679 he prepared the decree to establish the Slavic Greek Latin Academy but before it opened, he died at the age of 50. He was buried in the Zaikonospassky Monastery, where the Academy would be opened two years later.

Works

He is frequently cited as the first poet in the language, although the bulk of his work is either in Church Slavonic or Polish. As a poet, he clung to the principles of syllabic Polish versification which he learned as a youth.  By adopting syllabic verse, he is said to have stultified Russian verse for over a century. His poetry is primarily panegyric and didactic, and either celebrates some important court and political event or exposes some shortcoming of contemporary life. Polotsky tried to bring to the Russians the pattern and motives of Western—better to say, Polish—literature. His language is heavy and cumbersome but his choice of new topics and rather skillful command of syllabic versification won him the admiration of the tsar and the court...

During his years in Moscow, Symeon continued to develop an imperial style of panegyrical verse, rife with protracted tirades, which were enlivened by occasional allusions to classical mythology. "With Simeon, a whole museum of ancient gods, muses, heroes, authors, and philosophers entered Russian literature". His extensive collection of poetry, The Garden of Many Flowers, was not printed in his lifetime, but he did publish a verse translation of the Psalter, which was set to music within several years after his death, which took place Moscow.

As a theologian, Symeon frequently quoted the Vulgate, St. Jerome, St. Augustine, and other Latin authorities, which was perceived by his detractors as a deliberate attempt to westernize Orthodox religious thought. In fact, his faithful disciple  was later condemned for having succumbed to Catholicism. Symeon was also a dramatist; the comedy Action of the Prodigal Son and the tragedy On Nebuchadnezzar the King rank among the first dramatic works in the Russian language.

Polotsk's book, The Rod of Reign (1667)  was returned in Moscow March 9, 2021  to the Ambassador of Belarus to Russia, Vladimir Semashko, from Archimandrite Oleg

References

General

Tatarsky I. Simeon Polotsky, His Life and Activities [Симеон Полоцкий, его жизнь и деятельность]. Moscow, 1886.
Simeon Polotsky and His Book-Publishing Activity [Симеон Полоцкий и его книгоиздательская деятельность]. Moscow, 1982.

Inline

Further reading
Anthony Hippisley. "The Poetic Style of Simeon Polotsky", Slavic Review, vol. 48, no. 2
Online library of Symeon's works

External links

1629 births
1680 deaths
People from Polotsk
Eastern Orthodox monks
Russian religious leaders
17th-century Russian poets
Russian male poets
Belarusian religious leaders
Eastern Orthodox Christians from Belarus
Kyiv-Mohyla Academy alumni
Belarusian male poets
17th-century male writers
Baroque writers
Russian writers in Polish
Belarusian writers in Polish

Symeon of Polotsk