The Book of Mormon is a musical comedy with music, lyrics, and book by Trey Parker, Robert Lopez, and Matt Stone. The story follows two missionaries of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as they attempt to preach the faith to the inhabitants of a remote Ugandan village. The earnest young men are challenged by the lack of interest from the locals, who are distracted by more pressing issues such as HIV/AIDS, famine, female genital mutilation, child molestation, and oppression by the local warlord.

The show premiered on Broadway at the Eugene O'Neill Theatre in March 2011, starring Andrew Rannells and Josh Gad. It garnered overwhelmingly positive critical responses and set records in ticket sales for the Eugene O'Neill Theatre. The Book of Mormon was awarded nine Tony Awards, including Best Musical, and a Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album. The success of the Broadway production has spawned many stagings worldwide, including a long-running West End replica and several US national tours.

The Book of Mormon has grossed over $750 million, making it one of the most successful musicals of all time. As of December 22, 2022, it is the 13th longest-running Broadway show.

History
The Book of Mormon was conceived by Trey Parker, Matt Stone and Robert Lopez. Parker and Stone grew up in Colorado, and were familiar with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and its members. They became friends at the University of Colorado Boulder and collaborated on a musical film, Cannibal! The Musical (1993), their first experience with movie musicals. In 1997, they created the TV series South Park for Comedy Central and in 1999, the musical film South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut. The two had first thought of a fictionalized Joseph Smith, religious leader and founder of the Latter Day Saint movement, while working on an aborted Fox series about historical characters. Their 1997 film, Orgazmo, and a 2003 episode of South Park, "All About Mormons", both gave comic treatment to Mormonism. Smith was also included as one of South Parks "Super Best Friends", a Justice League parody team of religious figures like Jesus, Buddha, and Mohammed.

Development

During the summer of 2003, Parker and Stone flew to New York City to discuss the script of their new film, Team America: World Police, with friend and producer Scott Rudin (who also produced South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut). Rudin advised the duo to see the musical Avenue Q on Broadway, finding the cast of marionettes in Team America similar to the puppets of Avenue Q. Parker and Stone went to see the production during that summer and the writer-composers of Avenue Q, Lopez and Jeff Marx, noticed them in the audience and introduced themselves. Lopez revealed that South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut was highly influential in the creation of Avenue Q. The quartet went for drinks afterwards, and soon found that each camp wanted to write something involving Joseph Smith. The four began working out details nearly immediately, with the idea to create a modern story formulated early on. For research purposes, the quartet took a road trip to Salt Lake City where they "interviewed a bunch of missionaries—or ex-missionaries." They had to work around Parker and Stone's South Park schedule.

In 2006, Parker and Stone flew to London where they spent three weeks with Lopez, who was working on the West End production of Avenue Q. There, the three wrote "four or five songs" and came up with the basic idea of the story. After an argument between Parker and Marx, who felt he was not getting enough creative control, Marx was separated from the project. For the next few years, the remaining trio met frequently to develop what they initially called The Book of Mormon: The Musical of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. "There was a lot of hopping back and forth between L.A. and New York," Parker recalled.

Song alterations

Numerous changes were disclosed between the original script and the final production. A song named "Family Home Evening", which was in early workshops of the show, was cut. The warlord in Uganda was called General Kony in previews but this was changed to General Butt Fucking Naked. The song "The Bible Is A Trilogy" went through a major rewrite to become "All-American Prophet". The earlier version was based around how the third movie in movie trilogies is always the best one and sums up everything; which led to a recurring Matrix joke where a Ugandan man said "I thought the third Matrix was the worst one" which later changed to "I have maggots in my scrotum" in the rewritten version. The song "Spooky Mormon Hell Dream" was originally called "H-E Double Hockey Sticks".

Workshops

Lopez pushed to workshop the project, which confused Parker and Stone, clueless about what he meant. Developmental workshops were directed by Jason Moore, and starred Cheyenne Jackson. Other actors in readings included Benjamin Walker and Daniel Reichard. The crew embarked on the first of a half-dozen workshops that would take place during the next four years, ranging from 30-minute mini-performances for family and friends to much larger-scale renderings of the embryonic show. They spent hundreds of thousands of dollars of their own money, still unconvinced they would take it any further. In February 2008, a fully staged reading starred Walker and Josh Gad as Elders Price and Cunningham, respectively. Moore was originally set to direct, but left the production in June 2010. Other directors, including James Lapine, were optioned to join the creative team, but the producers recruited Casey Nicholaw. A final five-week workshop took place in August 2010, when Nicholaw came on board as choreographer and co-director with Parker.

Broadway premiere

Producers Scott Rudin and Anne Garefino originally planned to stage The Book of Mormon off-Broadway at the New York Theatre Workshop in summer 2010, but opted to premiere it directly on Broadway, "[s]ince the guys [Parker and Stone] work best when the stakes are highest." Rudin and Garefino booked the Eugene O'Neill Theatre and hired key players while sets were designed and built. The producers expected the production to cost $11 million, but it came in under budget at $9 million. Hundreds of actors auditioned and 28 were cast. The crew did four weeks of rehearsals, with an additional two weeks of technical rehearsals, and then went directly into previews. The producers first watched the finished production six days before the first paying audience.

Productions

Broadway (2011–present)

The Book of Mormon premiered on Broadway at the Eugene O'Neill Theatre on March 24, 2011, following previews since February 24. The production was choreographed by Casey Nicholaw and co-directed by Nicholaw and Parker. Set design was by Scott Pask, with costumes by Ann Roth, lighting by Brian MacDevitt, and sound by Brian Ronan. Orchestrations were co-created by Larry Hochman and the show's musical director and vocal arranger Stephen Oremus. The production was originally headlined by Josh Gad and Andrew Rannells in the two leading roles.

The New York production of The Book of Mormon employed an innovative pricing strategy, similar to the ones used in the airline and hotel industries. The producers charged as much as $477 for the best seats for performances with particularly high demand. The strategy paid off handsomely. During its first year, the show was consistently one of the top five best-selling shows on Broadway and set 22 new weekly sales records for the Eugene O'Neill Theater. For the week of Thanksgiving 2011, the average paid admission was over $170 even though the highest-priced regular seat was listed at $155. High attendance coupled with aggressive pricing allowed the financial backers to recoup their investment of $11.4 million after just nine months of performances.

After Gad's departure in June 2012, standby Jared Gertner played the role until June 26, when Cale Krise permanently took over the role, as Gertner left to play Elder Cunningham in the First National Tour. Two days after Gad left (June 2012), original star Rannells was replaced by his standby Nic Rouleau. The same day, Samantha Marie Ware played Nabulungi on Broadway as the start of a six-week engagement (James was shooting a film) in preparation for her tour performance. Following Rouleau's departure in November 2012 (to originate the role of Elder Price in Chicago), the role of Elder Price was taken over by Matt Doyle. In December 2012, Jon Bass joined as Elder Cunningham. Original cast member Rory O'Malley was replaced by Matt Loehr in January 2013.

In April 2013, Stanley Wayne Mathis joined the cast as Mafala Hatimbi. In May 2013, Jon Bass left the role of Elder Cunningham, and was replaced by Cody Jamison Strand. After Doyle and Strand's contracts finished in January 2014, Rouleau and Ben Platt (who had previously played the role of Elder Cunningham while in Chicago with Rouleau) joined the Broadway cast to reprise their roles as Elder Price and Elder Cunningham. On August 26, 2014, Grey Henson took over for Loehr as Elder McKinley. Henson had previously played the role on the first national tour. Rouleau and Platt left Broadway in January 2015. They were replaced by Gavin Creel and Christopher John O'Neill who played the roles of Price and Cunningham (respectively) on the first national tour. On January 3, 2016, Creel left the show after three and a half years. He was replaced by Kyle Selig, former second national tour Elder Price standby, who was scheduled to play the role through February 21, 2016.

On January 25, 2016, Christopher John O'Neill was temporarily replaced by longtime Elder Cunningham standby Nyk Bielak. Bielak has been a standby for Elder Cunningham in all three North American companies before becoming the Broadway Elder Cunningham. On February 17, 2016, Nic Rouleau announced via Twitter that he would be taking over the role of Elder Price starting on February 23, 2016. This was Rouleau's third time playing the role on Broadway; he previously played the role in Chicago, the second national tour, and most recently, the West End. O'Neill and Rouleau's first performance together was on February 23, 2016. August 21, 2016 was Grey Henson's last performance as Elder McKinley. On August 23, 2016, Henson was replaced by Stephen Ashfield who came over from the West End Production. On November 7, 2016, Nikki Rene Daniels announced she was pregnant with her second child, and would be going on maternity leave. Later that week, Kim Exum then took over the role of Nabalungi.

On February 20, 2017, Chris O'Neill and Daniel Breaker had their final performances as Elder Cunningham and Mafala Hatimbi. O'Neill was replaced by Brian Sears, who came over from the London production. Breaker was replaced by Billy Eugene Jones. On February 18, 2018, after six and a half years with the show, original cast member Nic Rouleau played his final performance as Elder Price. Original cast member Brian Sears also left the production that day. Rouleau was replaced by Dave Thomas Brown. Sears was replaced by longtime Elder Cunningham (on both Broadway and the second national tour) Cody Jamison Strand. Other Broadway cast members include original Broadway cast member Lewis Cleale as Joseph Smith/Mission President and other roles, and Derrick Williams as the General.

On March 12, 2020, the show suspended production due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and on June 16, 2021, the show announced it would be returning to Broadway on November 5.

First North American tour (2012–2016)
The first North American tour began previews on August 14, 2012, at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts in Denver, Colorado, before moving to the Pantages Theatre in Los Angeles beginning September 5, with the official opening night for the tour on September 12. Originally planned to begin in December 2012, production was pushed forward four months. Gavin Creel (Price) and Jared Gertner (Cunningham) led the cast until late December when West End performer Mark Evans and Christopher John O'Neill took over, allowing time for Creel and Gertner to begin rehearsals for their move to the West End production. After Evans left the show on June 30, 2014, Broadway Elder Price stand-by K.J. Hippensteel temporarily covered as Elder Price. Hippensteel returned to Broadway and Ryan Bondy (who was covering for Hippensteel as the Broadway Elder Price stand-by) took over the role of Elder Price. Bondy continued on as Elder Price until Creel returned from London later in the summer of 2014. When Creel and O'Neill left the touring production to join the Broadway production, Bondy again took over the role of Elder Price while Chad Burris took over for O'Neill as Elder Cunningham. The two were only leads for six weeks as they waited for replacements to come from the West End Production. Billy Harrigan Tighe and A.J. Holmes moved over from the West End production to reprise their roles as Elders Price and Cunningham, respectively. Bondy and Burris then returned to the second national tour as stand-bys for Elder Price and Elder Cunningham.

As part of the tour, the musical was performed in Salt Lake City for the first time at the end of July and early August 2015.

The tour closed on May 1, 2016, in Honolulu, Hawaii.

Chicago and second North American tour (2012–2020)
The first replica sit-down production, separate from the tour, began previews on December 11, 2012, and officially opened on December 19 of that year, at the Bank of America Theatre in Chicago, Illinois as part of Broadway in Chicago. The limited engagement closed October 6, 2013 and became the second U.S. national tour. The cast included Nic Rouleau in the role of Price, along with Ben Platt as Cunningham.

After the Chicago production closed on October 6, 2013, the same production began touring North America. Platt never went on tour with the production and Rouleau performed in only a few cities on the tour before they both moved to New York and started rehearsals in preparation for joining the Broadway production. David Larsen succeeded Nic Rouleau as Elder Price, A.J. Holmes succeeded Ben Platt as Elder Cunningham, and Cody Jamison Strand then succeeded A.J. Holmes in the role. December 14, 2014 was Pierce Cassedy's last performance as Elder McKinley. He was replaced by former Broadway swing Daxton Bloomquist. On January 3, 2016, Larsen completed his final show as Elder Price. Larsen was replaced by his stand-by, Ryan Bondy. Gabe Gibbs replaced Bondy as Elder Price in October 2016. Oge Agulué replaced David Aron Damane as the General in December 2016. On January 1, 2017, Cody Jamison Strand had his last performance as Elder Cunningham. Strand left the show to join the West End production. Strand was replaced by Conner Pierson on January 3, 2017. On October 24, 2017, long-time ensemble member Kevin Clay assumed the role of Elder Price. Clay had been with the tour since November 2015, and worked his way up from ensemble, to Elder Price understudy, to Elder Price stand-by, before finally assuming the role. Bondy left the touring cast to take over the role of Elder Price in the Melbourne production. Other cast members include Kayla Pecchioni as Nabulungi, PJ Adzima as Elder McKinley, and Sterling Jarvis as Mafala Hatimbi. January 28, 2018 was PJ Adzima's last performance as Elder McKinley. He was replaced by Andy Huntington Jones.

The tour played its final performance on March 11, 2020, in Los Angeles, closing earlier than planned due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

West End (2013–)

A West End production officially opened on March 21, 2013, at the Prince of Wales Theatre, with previews beginning February 25. Gavin Creel and Jared Gertner reprised their North American tour performances. The London cast members hosted a gala performance of the new musical on March 13, 2013, raising £200,000 for the British charity Comic Relief's Red Nose Day. A typical London performance runs two hours and 30 minutes, including an interval of 15 minutes. In March 2014, The Book of Mormon was voted Funniest West End Show as part of the 2014 West End Frame Awards. On July 28, 2014, both Creel and Gertner left the production. Creel left the West End production to return to the first national tour and was replaced by his stand-by, Billy Harrigan Tighe. Gertner was replaced by one of his stand-bys, A. J. Holmes, who had previously played Cunningham on both the national tour and Broadway.

After February 2, 2015, Broadway actor Nic Rouleau was cast in the role of Elder Kevin Price, replacing Billy Harrigan Tighe; Brian Sears, who also starred on Broadway (as an ensemble member), replaced A.J. Holmes as Elder Cunningham. Tighe and Holmes then joined the cast of the first national tour, filling the void left when Creel and O'Neill left the tour to play the leads on Broadway. On January 25, 2016, Rouleau announced via Twitter that January 30, 2016 would be his last performance as Elder Price in the West End. On February 1, 2016, longtime Broadway stand-by K.J. Hippensteel officially took over the role as Elder Price in the West End cast. On August 6, 2016, Stephen Ashfield had his last performance as Elder McKinley, as he was transferring over to the Broadway production. On August 9, 2016 Steven Webb took over for Ashfield as Elder McKinley. On January 14, 2017, Brian Sears performed his last performance in the West End. Sears left London to join the Broadway company on February 20. Sears was replaced by longtime second national tour Elder Cunningham, Cody Jamison Strand. Strand's first performance was on January 30, 2017, as he left the West End Company to rejoin the Broadway production. J.Michael Finley and Dom Simpson succeeded Strand and Hippensteel the following year, having both been standbys for their roles in the Broadway company, previously.

Tom Xander took over the role of Elder Cunningham in 2019 making Simpson and Xander the first British pair to lead the show worldwide.

The show suspended production in March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom. It reopened on 15 November 2021 at the Prince of Wales Theatre, following a performance at West End LIVE in Trafalgar Square on 18 September 2021, with Simpson and Xander still leading.

On 26 November 2022, Tom Xander left the production with Conner Peirson taking over the role of Elder Cunningham, with his first performance on 29 November 2022. Simpson and Peirson currently lead the production.

Australia (2017–2020)
The original Australian production of Book of Mormon opened at Melbourne's Princess Theatre on January 18, 2017, where it broke box-office records before it had even opened, and despite some controversy, won several Helpmann awards. The cast starred Ryan Bondy and A.J. Holmes as Elder Price and Elder Cunningham, Rowan Witt as Elder McKinley, Zahra Newman as Nabulungi, and Bert Labonté as Mafala. This same cast then opened the Sydney season at the Sydney Lyric theatre on February 28, 2018, before the show toured to Brisbane, Adelaide, and Perth in 2019. The Show was scheduled to open in Auckland, New Zealand at The Civic from 6 March to 26 April 2020. However, due to the impact of COVID-19, all performances from 17 March 2020 were cancelled.

UK and Ireland tour (2019-2022)
A UK and Ireland tour started on 6 June 2019 at the Palace Theatre, Manchester, with Kevin Clay as Elder Price and Conner Peirson as Elder Cunningham, but performances were cancelled from 16 March as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on the performing arts.

The tour reopened on 12 October 2021 at the Donald Gordon Theatre, Cardiff and played its final performance on 26 November 2022 at the Theatre Royal, Glasgow.

US non-equity tour (2022–)
A non-equity tour kicked off on September 23, 2022, at the Stanley Theatre in Utica, New York, starring Sam McLellan as Elder Price and Sam Nackman as Elder Cunningham.

International productions
The first non-English version of the musical opened at the Chinateatern in Stockholm, Sweden, in January 2017. A Norwegian production opened at Det Norske Teatret in Oslo, Norway September 2017 to favorable reviews with demand crashing the ticketing website. The musical opened in Denmark at Copenhagen's Det Ny Teater in January 2018, as well as in Amsterdam, Netherlands on September 26, 2019. The Show opened in Cologne, Germany on November 7, 2019, and played in Zurich, Switzerland in December 2019. In Aarhus, Denmark the original Broadway production in English began on November 20, 2019, and ran until December 6. A Spanish non-replica production premiered at the Teatro Calderón in Madrid on October 10, 2023.

Synopsis

Act I
At an LDS Church Missionary Training Center, devout missionary-to-be Elder Kevin Price leads his classmates in a demonstration of the door-to-door method to convert people to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints ("Hello!"). Price believes if he prays enough, he will be sent to Orlando, Florida for his two-year mission. However, he and Elder Arnold Cunningham, an insecure, pop culture-obsessed, compulsive liar, find out that they will instead be sent to Uganda as a pair ("Two by Two"). Price is sure he is destined to do something incredible, while Cunningham is just happy to follow ("You and Me (But Mostly Me)").

Upon arrival in northern Uganda, the two are robbed by soldiers of a local warlord, General Butt Fucking Naked. They are welcomed to the village by Mafala Hatimbi, where a group of villagers share their daily reality of living in appalling conditions while being ruled by the General. To make their lives seem better, the villagers repeat a phrase that translates as "Fuck you, God!" ("Hasa Diga Eebowai").

Price and Cunningham are led to their living quarters by Nabulungi, Hatimbi's daughter. They meet their fellow missionaries stationed in the area, who have been unable to convert anyone to the Church. Elder McKinley, the district leader, teaches Price and Cunningham thought suppression ("Turn It Off"). By the time they go to bed that night, Price is riddled with anxiety, but Cunningham reassures him that he will succeed and that, as his companion, Cunningham will be by his side no matter what ("I Am Here for You").

Price is confident he can succeed where the other elders have failed, teaching the villagers about Joseph Smith through a song that begins as a tribute to Smith but eventually descends into a tribute by Price to himself ("All-American Prophet"). The General arrives and announces his demand for the genital mutilation of all female villagers. After a villager protests, the General murders him. Taking every last measure to protect her, Hatimbi commands Nabulungi to stay in their house with all the doors locked and windows closed. She protests, insisting that the women of the village will not have to stay in hiding if they listen to the missionaries, as they hold the secrets to liberation, protection, and eternal happiness. Though her protests to go out and talk to them fail, she calms down after remembering how she was moved by Price's promise of an earthly paradise and dreams of going to live in that new land with all of her fellow villagers ("Sal Tlay Ka Siti").

The mission president has requested a progress report on their mission. Shocked by the execution and the reality of Africa, Price decides to abandon his mission and requests a transfer to Orlando. At the same time, Cunningham, ever loyal, assures Price he will follow him anywhere. However, Price unceremoniously dumps him as mission companion ("I Am Here for You [Reprise]"). Cunningham is crushed and alone, but when Nabulungi comes to him, wanting to learn more about the Book of Mormon and having convinced the villagers to listen to him, Cunningham finds the courage to take control of the situation ("Man Up").

Act II
When the villagers begin to get frustrated at Cunningham's teaching of the Book of Mormon and leave, Cunningham quickly makes up stories by combining what he knows of LDS doctrine with pieces of science fiction and fantasy. Cunningham's conscience (personified by his father, Joseph Smith, Hobbits, Lt. Uhura, Darth Vader, and Yoda) admonishes him, but he rationalizes that if it helps people, it surely cannot be wrong ("Making Things Up Again"). Price joyfully arrives in Orlando but then realizes that he is dreaming when his father questions him on if he left his mission companion. He is reminded of the nightmares of Hell he had as a child and panics when his nightmare begins again ("Spooky Mormon Hell Dream"). During this dream he sees Jesus, Satan, Genghis Khan, Jeffrey Dahmer, Adolf Hitler, and Johnnie Cochran. Price awakens and decides to re-commit to his mission.

Cunningham announces several Ugandans are interested in the church. McKinley points out that unless the General is dealt with, no one will convert. Price, seeing the chance to prove his worth, sets off on the "mission he was born to do." After re-affirming his faith, he confronts the General, determined to convert him ("I Believe"). The General is unimpressed and drags Price away.

Cunningham concludes his preaching, and the villagers are baptized, with Nabulungi and Cunningham sharing a tender moment as they do ("Baptize Me").  The missionaries feel oneness with the people of Uganda and celebrate ("I Am Africa"). Price is seen in the village doctor's office, having the Book of Mormon removed from his rectum. Meanwhile, the General hears of the villagers' conversion and resolves to kill them all.

Having lost his faith, Price drowns his sorrows in coffee. Cunningham finds Price and tells him they need to at least act like mission companions, as the mission president is coming to visit the Ugandan mission. Price reflects on all the broken promises the church, his parents, his friends, and life in general made to him ("Orlando").

Nabulungi and the villagers perform a pageant for the mission president to "honor [him] with the story of Joseph Smith, the American Moses" ("Joseph Smith American Moses"), which reflects the distortions put forth by Cunningham, such as having sex with a frog to cure their AIDS. The mission president is appalled, orders all the missionaries to go home, and tells Nabulungi that she and her fellow villagers are not members. Nabulungi, heartbroken at the thought that she will never reach paradise, curses God for forsaking her ("Hasa Diga Eebowai [Reprise]"). Price has had an epiphany and realizes Cunningham was right all along: though scriptures are important, what is more important is getting the message across ("You and Me (But Mostly Me) [Reprise]").

The General arrives, and Nabulungi is ready to submit to him, telling the villagers that Cunningham's stories are untrue. She also explains that they will never see him again but protects his reputation in their eyes by saying a lion ate him. To Nabulungi's shock, they respond that they have always known that Cunningham's stories were metaphors rather than the literal truth. Price and Cunningham arrive just in time to use Cunningham's lies of the latter being resurrected after being eaten by lions to scare the General and his men away. Price rallies the members of the Church and the Ugandans to work together to make this their paradise. Later, the newly minted Ugandan elders (including the General) go door to door to evangelize with "The Book of Arnold" ("Tomorrow Is a Latter Day"/"Hello! [Reprise]").

Music

Musical numbers

 Act I
 "Hello!" – Mormons
 "Two by Two" – Price, Mormons
 "You and Me (But Mostly Me)" – Price, Cunningham
 "Hasa Diga Eebowai" – Mafala, Price, Cunningham, and Ugandans
 "Turn It Off" – McKinley, Mormons
 "I Am Here for You" – Cunningham, Price
 "All-American Prophet" – Price, Cunningham, Joseph Smith, Angel Moroni and Company
 "Sal Tlay Ka Siti" – Nabulungi
 "I Am Here for You" (Reprise)† – Cunningham
 "Man Up" – Cunningham, Nabulungi, Price, Doctor, Mormons, Ugandans

 Act II
 "Making Things Up Again" – Cunningham, Cunningham's Dad, Joseph Smith, Mormon, Moroni, Uhura, Darth Vader, Hobbits, Ugandans
 "Spooky Mormon Hell Dream" – Price, Lucifer, Hitler, Genghis Khan, Jeffrey Dahmer, Johnnie Cochran, Skeletons, Devils
 "I Believe"††† – Price, Mormons (offstage), Ugandans (offstage)
"Baptize Me" – Cunningham and Nabulungi
 "I Am Africa" – McKinley, Cunningham, Doctor, Mormons, Ugandans
 "Orlando"† – Price
 "Joseph Smith American Moses" – Ugandans
 "Hasa Diga Eebowai" (Reprise)† – Nabulungi
 "You and Me (But Mostly Me)" (Reprise)† – Price and Cunningham
 "Tomorrow Is a Latter Day"†† – Price, Cunningham, McKinley, Nabulungi, Mormons, Ugandans
 "Hello!"†† (Reprise) – Company
 "Encore"†† – Company

† This song is not on the cast album.

†† These three songs are appended to one another and appear as one track.

††† In the West End production, Cunningham, Nubulungi, McKinley, Mafala, and Joseph Smith are also part of the offstage chorus.

Instrumentation
The Book of Mormon uses a nine-member orchestra:

 Woodwinds (Flute, Piccolo, Alto, Tenor Saxophones, Clarinet, Oboe, Bansuri, Soprano and Alto Recorders)
 Trumpet (doubling Piccolo Trumpet and Flugelhorn)
 Trombone (doubling Bass Trombone)
 Drums/Percussion/Electronic percussion
 Keyboard I
 Keyboard II
 Violin/Viola
 Guitars (Electric, Acoustic, Classical and Archtop)
 Basses (Electric, Fretless and Upright)

Original Broadway cast recording

A cast recording of the original Broadway production was released on May 17, 2011, by Ghostlight Records. All of the songs featured on stage are present on the recording with the exception of "I Am Here For You" (Reprise), "Hasa Diga Eebowai" (Reprise) and "You and Me (But Mostly Me)" (Reprise). "Hello" (Reprise) and the "Encore" are attached to the end of the last track of the CD, titled, "Tomorrow Is a Latter Day". A free preview of the entire recording was released on NPR starting on May 9, 2011.  Excerpts from the cast recording are featured in an extended Fresh Air interview.

During its first week of its iTunes Store release, the recording became "the fastest-selling Broadway cast album in iTunes history," according to representatives for the production, ranking No. 2 on its day of release on the iTunes Top 10 Chart. According to Playbill, "It's a rare occurrence for a Broadway cast album to place among the iTunes best sellers." The record has received positive reviews, with Rolling Stone calling the recording an "outstanding album that highlights the wit of the lyrics and the incredible tunefulness of the songs while leaving you desperate to score tickets to see the actual show." Although the cast album had a respectable debut on the US Billboard 200 chart in its initial week of release, after the show's success at the 2011 Tony Awards, the record rapidly ascended the chart to number three, making it the highest-charting Broadway cast album in over four decades.

A vinyl version was released on May 19, 2017.

Characters and cast members
The principal cast members of all major productions of The Book of Mormon.

Original casts
Sources:

Three members of the original Broadway cast were still with the show for its 4000th performance on June 14, 2022: Lewis Cleale, John Eric Parker (Matumbo) and Graham Bowen (the show's dance captain and a swing).

Notable replacements

Broadway (2011-)
Elder Price: Gavin Creel, Matt Doyle, Kyle Selig
Elder Cunningham: Jon Bass, Jared Gertner, Christopher John O'Neill, Ben Platt, A.J. Holmes (s/b)
Nabulungi: Asmeret Ghebremichael, Syesha Mercado, Samantha Marie Ware
Elder McKinley: Stephen Ashfield, Grey Henson
Mafala Hatimbi: Daniel Breaker, Sterling Jarvis, Stanley Wayne Mathis
General: David Aron Damane

First North America tour (2012-16)
Elder Price: Mark Evans
Elder Cunningham: A.J. Holmes, Christopher John O'Neill
Mafala Hatimbi: Stanley Wayne Mathis
Joseph Smith / Mission President: Ron Bohmer

Second North America tour (2012-20)
Elder Price: David Larsen, Kyle Selig (s/b)
Elder Cunningham: A.J. Holmes
Nabalungi: Denée Benton
Mafala Hatimbi: Sterling Jarvis
Joseph Smith / Mission President: Ron Bohmer

West End (2013-)
Elder Cunningham: A.J. Holmes
Nabulungi: Denée Benton, Asmeret Ghebremichael
Elder McKinley: Steven Webb

Themes and references
The Book of Mormon contains many religious themes, most notably those of faith and doubt. Although the musical satirizes organized religion and the literal credibility of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the Mormons in The Book of Mormon are portrayed as well-meaning and optimistic, if a little naïve and unworldly. In addition, the central theme that many religious stories are rigid, out of touch, and silly comes to the conclusion that, essentially, religion itself can do enormous good as long as it is taken metaphorically and not literally. Matt Stone, one of the show's creators, described The Book of Mormon as "an atheist's love letter to religion."

The opening scenes of Act I and II parody the Hill Cumorah Pageant.

Reception

The Book of Mormon received broad critical praise for the plot, score, actors' performances, direction and choreography. Vogue Magazine called the show "the filthiest, most offensive, and—surprise—sweetest thing you'll see on Broadway this year, and quite possibly the funniest musical ever." New York Post reported that audience members were "sore from laughing so hard". It praised the score, calling it "tuneful and very funny," and added that "the show has heart. It makes fun of organized religion, but the two Mormons are real people, not caricatures."

Ben Brantley of The New York Times compared the show favorably to Rodgers and Hammerstein's The King and I and The Sound of Music but "rather than dealing with tyrannical, charismatic men with way too many children, our heroes... must confront a one-eyed, genocidal warlord with an unprintable name... That's enough to test the faith of even the most optimistic gospel spreaders (not to mention songwriters). Yet in setting these dark elements to sunny melodies The Book of Mormon achieves something like a miracle. It both makes fun of and ardently embraces the all-American art form of the inspirational book musical. No Broadway show has so successfully had it both ways since Mel Brooks adapted his film The Producers for the stage a decade ago." Jon Stewart, host of The Daily Show, spent much of his interview with Parker and Stone on the March 10, 2011 episode praising the musical.

Charles McNulty of the Los Angeles Times praised the music, and stated: "The songs, often inspired lampoons of contemporary Broadway styles, are as catchy as they are clever." McNulty concluded by stating "Sure it's crass, but the show is not without good intentions and, in any case, vindicates itself with musical panache."  Peter Marks of The Washington Post wrote: "The marvel of The Book of Mormon is that even as it profanes some serious articles of faith, its spirit is anything but mean. The ardently devout and comedically challenged are sure to disagree. Anyone else should excitedly approach the altar of Parker, Stone and Lopez and expect to drink from a cup of some of the sweetest poison ever poured."  Marks further describes the musical as "one of the most joyously acidic bundles Broadway has unwrapped in years."

The Wall Street Journals Terry Teachout called the show "slick and smutty: The Book of Mormon is the first musical to open on Broadway since La Cage aux Folles that has the smell of a send-in-the-tourists hit. ... The amateurish part relates mostly to the score, which is jointly credited to the three co-creators and is no better than what you might hear at a junior-varsity college show. The tunes are jingly-jangly, the lyrics embarrassingly ill-crafted." Other critics have called the show "crassly commercial" as well as "dull" and "derivative".

Accusations of racism and script revisions
The show's depiction of Africans has been called racist. NPR's Janice Simpson notes that "the show doesn't work unless the villagers are seen mainly as noble savages who need white people to show them the way to enlightenment."  She further criticized the depiction of African doctors as well as the references to AIDS and female genital mutilation. Max Perry Mueller of Harvard writes that "The Book of Mormon producers worked so hard to get the 'Mormon thing' right, while completely ignoring the Ugandan culture". The Aid Leap blog noted that "the gleeful depiction of traditional stereotypes about Africa (dead babies, warlord, HIV, etc.) reinforced rather than challenged general preconceptions", and "the Africans are just a background to the emotional development of the Mormons".

In a retrospective interview published by Deseret News, Herb Scribner interviewed Cheryl Hystad, a retired attorney who had written an op-ed criticizing the musical in The Baltimore Sun, stated that "most reviewers have not mentioned the blatant racism in the show, points to a subtler issue, a pervasive anti-Africa bias to which white Americans have been inculcated so thoroughly that few seem to have concerns about the show's portrayal of Africans." Gad, speaking on PeopleTV's Couch Surfing with Lola Ogunnaike, in response to a potential film-adaption of the play, had stated that "I don't know that that show could open today and have the same open-armed response that it did then. It's not to say that it's any less significant or wonderful or incredible a musical; I just think it's the nature of art to adapt".

In July 2020, four months after the show had closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and two months after the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis, black actors from the original and current casts signed a letter to the creative team warning that "when the show returns, all of our work will be viewed through a new lens." In response, the team collaborated with the New York cast at a two-week workshop in the summer of 2021, reviewing the intent, comic elements, and staging of each scene. The revised script aimed to give the villagers more agency and put them, not the missionaries, at the center of the work.

Latter-Day Saint response
The response of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to the musical has been described as "measured." The church released an official response to inquiries regarding the musical, stating, "The production may attempt to entertain audiences for an evening, but the Book of Mormon as a volume of scripture will change people's lives forever by bringing them closer to Christ." Michael Otterson, the head of Public Affairs for the church, followed in April 2011 with measured criticism. "Of course, parody isn't reality, and it's the very distortion that makes it appealing and often funny. The danger is not when people laugh but when they take it seriously—if they leave a theater believing that Mormons really do live in some kind of a surreal world of self-deception and illusion," Otterson wrote, outlining various humanitarian efforts achieved by Mormon missionaries in Africa since the early 2000s. Stone and Parker were unsurprised:

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has advertised in the playbills at many of the musical's venues to encourage attendees to learn more about the Book of Mormon, with phrases like "you've seen the play, now read the book" and "the book is always better."

In Melbourne during the 2017 run, the Church advertised at Southern Cross railway station and elsewhere in the city, as well as on television with ads featuring prominent Australian Mormons, including rugby league player Will Hopoate, stage actor Patrice Tipoki and ballet dancer Jake Mangakahia.

Mormons themselves have had varying responses to the musical. Richard Bushman, professor of Mormon studies, said of the musical, "Mormons experience the show like looking at themselves in a fun-house mirror. The reflection is hilarious but not really you. The nose is yours but swollen out of proportion." Bushman said that the musical was not meant to explain Mormon belief, and that many of the ideas in Elder Price's "I Believe" (like God living on a planet called Kolob), though having some roots in Mormon belief, are not doctrinally accurate.

When asked in January 2015 if he had met Mormons who disliked the musical, Gad stated "In the 1.5 years I did that show, I never got a single complaint from a practicing Mormon ... To the contrary, I probably had a few people – a dozen – tell me they were so moved by the show that they took up the Mormon faith."

Awards and honors

Broadway production

London production

Melbourne production

See also

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Uganda
Latter Day Saints in popular culture
"Broadway Bro Down"

References

Further reading
 The Book of Mormon: the Testament of a Broadway Musical Book, Music, and Lyrics by Trey Parker, Robert Lopez, & Matt Stone. Text, New Interviews, and Annotations by Steven Suskin. Principal photography by Joan Marcus. Design by BLT Communications. NY: HarperCollins, .
 The Book of Mormon: The Complete Book and Lyrics of the Broadway Musical . Newmarket Press, 2011 .

External links

  (Except Broadway and West End)

  (archived 2011-12-05)
 "The Book of Mormon Musical Tour Update"
 "Trey Parker & Matt Stone Talk Book Of Mormon on The Daily Show", Huffington Post, March 11, 2011
 Charlie Rose – "Trey Parker & Matt Stone"
 Cast Recording for The Book of Mormon from NPR's First Listen

2011 musicals
Broadway musicals
West End musicals
Criticism of Mormonism
LGBT-related musicals
Musicals based on religious traditions
Works by Trey Parker and Matt Stone
Tony Award for Best Musical
Drama Desk Award-winning musicals
Black comedy plays
Cultural depictions of Joseph Smith
Original musicals
Works about Mormon missionaries
Tony Award-winning musicals
Race-related controversies in theatre
Musicals about Mormonism
Musicals set in Uganda

The Book of Mormon (musical)


Internet services technology is a broad field of study usually resulting in receiving an Associate of Applied Science Degree.

This two-year degree, often awarded at community colleges, is a gateway to more specialized studies, but can also be applied to immediate workforce demands.

Areas of Study
Students learn languages such as HTML, C++, ActionScript, and JavaScript.

This program of study also encompasses business courses, with an emphasis on e-commerce and macroeconomics.

Internet services technology covers a broad range of technologies used for web development, web production, design, networking, and e-commerce.

This field also covers website maintenance, database management, and graphic design.

References

Computer science education

Internet services technology


Salty liquorice, or Salmiak, is a salt candy that is eaten in Finland, Sweden and the Netherlands.  The candy comes in different strengths; in the Netherlands, it comes as Zout (salt), Dubbel zout (double salt, or DZ) and Drievoudig zout (triple salt, or 3Z).  The substance used to give salt liquorice its characteristic taste is not regular table salt, sodium chloride (NaCl), but ammonium chloride (NH4Cl). The Dutch name for this type of liquorice, Salmiak, comes from the words "sal ammoniac", another name for ammonium chloride.

Candy

Salty liquorice


The hamlet of Chichester, New York, formerly referred to as Chichesterville, is one of the northernmost communities in the town of Shandaken, being adjacent to the borderline between Ulster and Greene counties.

The hamlet of Chichester, New York, is not to be confused with the city in West Sussex, England. One difference is that, unlike the city of Chichester, England, the "i" in Chichester, New York, is pronounced like "eye" instead of a vowel sound such as in the word "chip".

History
The hamlet was founded in 1863, by brothers Frank and Lemuel Chichester, whom the town is named after. The Chichester brothers were the sons of Samuel Chichester, the contractor who built the Catskill Mountain House.  They were looking for a good location to construct a furniture factory. When they found the right place, the workers at the factory began moving in the area surrounding the factory, therefore founding the company-owned hamlet of Chichester. The narrow gauge Stony Clove and Catskill Mountain Railroad (which would later become a branch of the Ulster and Delaware Railroad) was built through the town in 1881.

As was customary in that time, workers were often paid with company scrip which could be redeemed in the factory-owned general store.

The factory was later purchased by William O. Schwartzwaelder, who was of German ancestry, and renamed the factory after him. The rest of the hamlet was starting to expand, all of the houses and buildings being built by the factory, as were the other buildings. There was one general store in the town, and sold such merchandise as saddles, animal feed, and hardware. There was also a post office and a schoolhouse in the town, the schoolhouse being a house at present.

The furniture factory went out of business decades later in 1939, a few years after the great depression, which devastated the business. The village, at the time comprising 44 houses and buildings, was put up for auction on October 28, 1939. Joseph Day was the auctioneer. The houses and building of hamlet were purchased at the auction, and it has been in the hands of private owners ever since the auction.

Geography
Chichester is within the Catskill Park, and is situated in a mountainous valley. The northern portion of the hamlet borders Greene County, directly south of the hamlet of Lanesville.

There are two major creeks that run through the hamlet. These are the Stony Clove Creek, which starts at Notch Lake in Edgewood, and Warner's Creek, which also starts in Edgewood.  The two creeks there, however, are called by the locals Stony Clove and Ox Clove.

See also
 Chichester Railroad Station
 New York State Route 214
 Shandaken, New York
 Stony Clove Creek
 Ulster and Delaware Railroad

References

External links

Hamlets in New York (state)
Shandaken, New York
Catskills
Hamlets in Ulster County, New York

Chichester, New York


Racism is the belief that one race is better than others. It means judging and treating people badly (e.g., discrimination) because they are from a different race or ethnicity.

Racism can affect many parts of society, like laws, cultures, and economies. In extreme cases, it can lead to terrible events like the Holocaust, where certain races were targeted and treated horribly.  During the Holocaust, Nazis in Germany believed that some races did not even deserve to exist. These beliefs were racist. Because of those beliefs, they killed many people who belonged to those races. Those actions, which resulted from their racist beliefs, were also racist.

Racism has been around for a long time and has caused wars, slavery, and the creation of nations. It was used by some powerful groups to justify their actions and biases. For example, during colonial times, Europeans used racism to exploit indigenous peoples and take their lands. In the United States, white people treated African American as property, using racist ideas to make it seem okay.

There are different forms of racism, some are very obvious, but others are more hidden. Everyday racism is the less obvious kind that happens in society. It's when people make others feel like they don't fully belong because of their race. This can happen through social interactions and behaviors based on racist beliefs.

Race and ethnicity
Humans often categorize themselves by race or ethnicity. They do this based on ancestry, as well as visible traits like skin color and facial features.  People of the same ethnic group are often connected by ancestry, speaking the same language, having the same culture, and living in the same places.

However, scientists say that humans do not really fit well into these categories, biologically.  The DNA of people from different races is very similar.  Evidence from genetics and archaeology suggests that all humans came from the same group of early humans in East Africa.  This means that different races did not appear at different times.  All humans came from the same race, and separated into different races later. Because white people historically had more power, some people call racism against whites reverse racism.

Social Darwinism
In the second half of the 19th century, there were different ideas on how species change over time. Charles Dawin made the idea of evolution popular and spoke about natural selection. Herbert Spencer spoke about the survival of the fittest. Social darwinism is the idea that what applies to species also applies to human societies:

Between the 1870s, and the end of the Second World War, these concepts were sometimes used to justify racist ideologies.

Historical examples of racism
 The Atlantic slave trade
 The Jim Crow laws in the United States, about 1890 to 1960
 The Nuremberg Laws and The Holocaust in Nazi Germany, 1935-45
 The Apartheid laws in South Africa, after 1948
 The White Australia policy in Australia
 The Ku Klux Klan, a white supremacist group

Racist ideologies

European racism
In the late 18th century, Europeans began using the term Aryan to refer to the original prehistoric Proto-Indo-Europeans and their descendants up to the present day (i.e., the Indo-European peoples—those Caucasians who speak the Indo-European languages). It was also assumed at the time, that, Aryans were a culturally superior people. By the late 19th century, some Europeans began to use the name Aryan for only the Nordic peoples of Europe (one branch of the Indo-European peoples), as a "pure," "noble" and racially "superior" race they claimed were descended from the original Aryan tribes. The theory that the Aryans first came from Europe became especially popular in Germany and to a lesser degree in Austria and Hungary.

There was much prejudice based upon this perception of the world as the Europeans and Orientals both regarded them selves as superior to the other skin colours, which lead to African slavery, Apartheid, the Jim Crow Laws, Nazism and Japanese imperialism.

In Europe, most racism is against Romani people, also known as gypsies. Antiziganism is common in Europe.

Racism and Colonialism
When Europeans came to America, they killed thousands of Native Americans and when the European settlers got to Australia, they started killing off large numbers of Aborigines.

With the birth of their empires, many other native tribes suffered in Canada,  New Zealand, China, Pakistan, Bangladesh and India.

Japan also held similar beliefs about Chinese and Koreans in their colonies.

Anglo-French racism
Racism in the U.K., Ireland and France was usually about limiting the rights of Jews, Roma and minorities like the French Basques.

As the colonies became independent after the 1950s, many migrated to the U.K. and France, but were discriminated against. Some British cafes and hotels would not welcome in Caribbean guests and the French made Arabs feel unwelcome in some French towns as well. Since the 1960s, India, Pakistani and Bangladeshi people have moved to the U.K. and been victimised and 'Paki-bashed'. 9/11, 2001, has heightened the French and British fears about Islam and Arabs in general. Polish and Brazilian migrant labours are also discriminated against in some places. Racist parties like the U.K.'s British National Party and National Front trade on these fears to get votes.

Racism in Nazism

Alleged scientific findings of racial differences were used by Nazi Germany to justify the racialist policy with its concept of "Großdeutschland" (Greater Germany) and the Nordic race idea. The Nazis' attitude towards the Jews were anti-Semitic and falsely blamed them for Germany's defeat in World War I and the Great Depression. The Nazis and some of their anti-Semitic allies, like Hungary, committed genocide against the Jews during the Holocaust of World War II.

Both the Nazis and Romania's Iron Guard also persecuted the Roma, who were considered part of the allegedly inferior 'Indic' race. During World War II, the Nazis embarked on a systematic attempt at genocide of the Roma, known as the Porajmos. The Nazis also knowingly killed of thousands of Slavs, lesbians, Communists, liberals and gays.

Racism in Italy
Fascist Benito Mussolini, in a 1919 speech to denounce Soviet Russia, claimed that Jewish bankers in London and New York City were bound by the chains of race to Moscow, and claimed that 80 percent of the Soviet leaders were Jews.

Many Italian fascists held anti-Slavist views, especially against neighbouring Yugoslav nations, who they saw as being in competition with Italy, which had laid claim to the  Yugoslavia's region of Dalmatia.

Mussolini said Italy would get its own way and was willing to use force to settle arguments. An early example was Italy's bombardment of the Greek island of Corfu in 1923. Soon after he succeeded in setting up a puppet regime in Albania and crushed  a rebellion in Libya, which had been an Italian colony since 1912.

Italy, like Germany, Austria and Hungary regarded all Slavs and Roma as stupid, racially inferior due to the effects of Social Darwinism and undeserving of their basic rights. Anti-Arab discrimination was also used in parts of Libya.

Racism in Romania

The Iron Guard was an antisemitic fascist movement and political party in Romania from 1927 to 1941. They despised and denounced both Jews and the Roma.

Racism in America

American racism has been a major issue in the country since before its founding. Historically dominated by White settler society, race in the United States as a concept became significant in relation to other groups. Generally racist attitudes in the country have been most onerously applied to Native Americans, African Americans and some "foreign-seeming" action against Mexican immigrants among others. The Chinese, Japanese and Irish had trouble in America, during the 19th century, but the Blacks fell foul of the Jim Crow Laws which once racially separated some parts of America between Blacks and Whites. These first emerged in the late 19th Century and lasted to the mid 1960s and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

Millions of Africans were killed while they were held as prisoners or as slaves by the Europeans and Arabs. Some call this "The Black Holocaust".

The United States' legal system has been accused of racism. 40% of the prison population are black. 12% of the general population is black.
The New York Police Department stop-and-frisk program has been accused of racial profiling.

The book To Kill A Mockingbird is a well-known American novel largely focusing on race in the Jim Crow era, described earlier.

In the 21st century, certain groups of non-white people hold the idea that all white people have advantages over them based on their skin color, with disregard to family background, personal history, or current situation.

Racism in the United Kingdom
In the United Kingdom the two most popular nationalist political parties are the British National Party (BNP) and the UK Independence Party (UKIP). There is also a group called the English Defense League (EDL). They are thought to be racist by a lot of people. They are against unlimited immigration and colonization by Muslims. Although Muslims can be of any race, they are usually South Asian. In a 2013 poll, 27% of 1000 British people aged between 18 and 24 said that they did not trust Muslims.
In the United Kingdom most people are white. 7% are Asian and 3% are black. 4.83% of the British population are Muslims.

Apartheid

South African "Apartheid laws" were a system of racial segregation which was used to deny many rights of non-white people. They started in 1948. The laws allowed the white minority to keep the Black majority out of certain areas. Black people had to carry special papers (passes) or have permission to live and work in particular areas. Whites opposed intermarriage with non-whites and coloured people were also discriminated against, but not as badly as the non-whites. The Prohibition of Mixed Marriages Act of 1949 prohibited marriage between persons of different races and the Immorality Act of 1950 made sexual relations with a person of a different race a criminal offence. The blacks suffered greatly and were even banned from voting at one point. Nelson Mandela became South Africa's first black president in 1994. Mandela ended apartheid.  Currently, racial quota laws discriminate against Whites in South Africa.  The Black President Zuma of South Africa publicly sings "Kill The Boer", which means, Kill the White [Farmer]".  Genocidewatch.org reports that the White South Africans are facing genocide.

The Imperial Rule Assistance Association of Japan

The Imperial Rule Assistance Association (Taisei Yokusankai) was a coalition of fascist and nationalist political movements of Japan such as the Imperial Way Faction  (Kōdōha) and the Society of the East (Tōhōkai). It was formed under the guidance of Japanese Prime Minister Fumimaro Konoe  Prior to creation of the IRAA, Konoe had already effectively nationalized strategic industries, the news media, and labour unions, in preparation for total war with China. Japan needed more land, minerals and colonies, so they annexed Korea, Manchuria and part of China. The Japanese regarded the Chinese, Koreans and Europeans as an inferior race that should be crushed and exploited.

When Konoe's successor, Hideki Tōjō took over the IRAA he attempted to establish himself as the absolute leader, or Shogun, of Japan, under the Emperor of Japan.

Some Japanese people still believe that they did not commit as many massacres as the Western World and China said they did.

A changing world
With the revelations of the holocaust, as well as worldwide antiracist efforts, old ideas about race changed and, more slowly, some prejudices about race faded. The civil rights movement tried to liberate persons of African origin from racist white supremacist rule in South Africa and the southern USA. Blacks could vote in South Africa after a 50-year ban.

The growth of the Hispanic population through immigration from Mexico and elsewhere, combined with and high birth rates, are a factor in the USA's rising population in the last quarter-century. The 2000 census also found Native Americans/Amerindians at their highest population ever, 4.5 million, since the U.S was founded in 1776.

Related pages
 Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination
 Environmental racism
 Antiziganism
 Afrophobia

References

Racism


The Zealots were a group of Jews who lived about the same time as Jesus. They wanted to defeat the Romans, who were the rulers of Palestine at that time. They used violence to meet their goals. One of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus, named Simon, was a Zealot. The word "zealot" (not written with a capital letter) in modern English is used for any person who has a very strong idea about things and works hard to act upon their ideas. There are political and religious zealots but people can be "zealous" about other things also.

Jewish people
Jewish history
1st century
Ancient Rome

Zealot


The theater of the absurd, or the drama of the absurd, is a trend in theatre (plays or acting) that uses absurdism. It started in the early 1950s in the theatre of France.

The theater of the absurd is part of the literature of the absurd. In absurdist plays (dramas), in contrast to the logical plays of ordinary dramaturgy, the author conveys to the reader and the viewer his sense of a problem, constantly violating logic, so the viewer, accustomed to ordinary theater, is confused and feels discomfort, which is the goal of "illogical" theater, aimed at getting the viewer to get rid of the patterns in his perception and look at his life in a new way. Supporters of the "logical" theater say that the world in the "theater of the absurd" is presented as a senseless, illogical pile of facts, deeds, words and destinies, but when reading such plays, one can notice that they are made up of a number of quite logical fragments. The logic of the connection of these fragments differs sharply from the logic of the connection of the parts of an "ordinary" play. The principles of "absurdism" were most fully embodied in the dramas "The Bald Singer" (La cantatrice chauve, 1950) by the Romanian-French playwright Eugene Ionesco and "Waiting for Godot" (Waiting for Godot, 1952) by the Irish writer Samuel Beckett.

History
The term "theater of the absurd" first appeared in the works of theater critic Martin Esslin, who wrote a book with that title in 1962. Esslin saw in certain works the artistic embodiment of Albert Camus' philosophy of the meaninglessness of life at its core, which he illustrated in his book The Myth of Sisyphus. It is believed that the theater of the absurd is rooted in the philosophy of Dadaism, poetry from non-existent words and avant-garde art of the 1910-1920s. Despite sharp criticism, the genre gained popularity after the Second World War, which demonstrated the uncertainty and ephemeral nature of human life. The introduced term was also criticized, there were attempts to redefine it as "anti-theater" and "new theater".  According to Esslin, the absurdist theatrical movement was based on the productions of four playwrights - Eugène Ionesco, Samuel Beckett, Jean Genet and Arthur Adamov, but he emphasized that each of these authors had his own unique technique that went beyond the term "absurdity".  The following group of writers is often distinguished - Tom Stoppard, Friedrich Dürrenmatt, Fernando Arrabal, Harold Pinter, Edward Albee and Jean Tardieu. Eugene Ionesco did not recognize the term "theater of the absurd" and called it "the theater of mockery."

Igor Stravinsky, Alfred Jarry, Luigi Pirandello, Stanislav Vitkevich, Guillaume Apollinaire, surrealists and many others are considered to be the inspirers of the movement.

The "theater of the absurd" (or "new theatre") movement apparently originated in Paris as an avant-garde phenomenon associated with small theaters in the Latin Quarter, and after some time gained worldwide recognition.

It is believed that the theater of the absurd denies realistic characters, situations and all other relevant theatrical devices. Time and place are uncertain and changeable, even the simplest causal relationships are destroyed. Senseless intrigues, repetitive dialogues and aimless chatter, dramatic inconsistency of actions – everything is subordinated to one goal: to create a fabulous, and maybe even terrible, mood.

References

Theater

Theatre of the Absurd


Hillel Seidel (, 9 October 1920 – 14 February 1999) was an Israeli politician who served as a member of the Knesset for the Independent Liberals and Likud between 1974 and 1981.

Biography
Born in Kraków in Poland, Seidel was educated in a heder and yeshiva, before attending the College of Economic Studies in Vilnius. A member of the Akiva youth movement, he was involved with the anti-Nazi underground movement in the Vilna Ghetto, and headed the underground in the Klooga concentration camp. After World War II he headed the Akiva movement in Poland until 1947, and was a commander of the Berihah movement until the end of 1947.

In 1948 he made aliyah to Israel,  where he became head of the Immigrant Absorption department of the World Confederation of General Zionists, a post he held until 1952. He also became secretary general of the HaOved HaTzioni movement and a member of the Progressive Party's directorate.

From 1952 until 1959 he was a member of the Histadrut's organising committee, and head of its Pensions department, before becoming head of the union's Immigrant Absorption department, a post he held until 1973.

In 1973 he was elected to the Knesset on the Independent Liberals list. However, on 15 February 1977 he left the party to establish the Ahdut faction, joining Likud. He was re-elected later that year on the Likud list and chaired the Public Petitions Committee. He lost his seat in the 1981 elections.

He died in 1999 at the age of 78.

References

External links

1920 births
1999 deaths
Jewish resistance members during the Holocaust
Vaivara concentration camp survivors
Polish emigrants to Mandatory Palestine
20th-century Israeli Jews
Israeli trade unionists
General Zionists politicians
Progressive Party (Israel) politicians
Independent Liberals (Israel) politicians
Likud politicians
Members of the 8th Knesset (1974–1977)
Members of the 9th Knesset (1977–1981)
Vilna Ghetto inmates

Hillel Seidel


Richard Winyu Tsien (born 3 March 1945) is a noted American neurobiologist (or neuroscientist). Tsien has received many honours and awards.

Biography

Richard Tsien was born in Tating, Kweichow, China. He is the eldest of three brothers. Tsien's youngest brother Roger Y. Tsien, a cell biologist, won the 2008 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. He is a descendant of the King Wuyue Tsien Liu. He is the son of Hsue-Chu Tsien, a famous aeronautical mechanic who became the chief engineer for Boeing.

Soon after his birth, Tsien's family moved to the United States. Tsien received BS in 1965 and MS in 1966 both in electrical engineering and both from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.  Tsien then won the Rhodes Scholarship and studied in the United Kingdom at Wadham College, Oxford from 1966 to 1969.  Tsien obtained PhD in biophysics from Oxford in 1970.

From 1968 to 1970, Tsien was a Weir Junior Research Fellow at University College, Oxford. From 1969 to 1970, Tsien was a teaching fellow at Balliol College, Oxford.

In 1970, Tsien went back to the United States, became an assistant professor in the Department of Physiology at Yale University School of Medicine from 1970 to 1974. From 1974 to 1979, Tsien was an associate professor in the same department, and promoted to full professor in 1979 until 1988.

In 1988, Tsien went to Stanford and founded the Stanford University Department of Molecular and Cellular Physiology, where he also served the first chairman. From 1991 to 2001, Tsien was the Director Silvio Conte - National Institutes of Mental Health Center for Neuroscience Research. Since 1988, Tsien has been the George D. Smith Professor of Stanford Department of Molecular and Cellular Physiology. And since 2000, Tsien has been the Co-Director for the Stanford Brain Research Centre.

Tsien did important work on calcium channels, their mechanisms and roles in cell signaling pathways. Tsien's research also helps us understand the long-term plasticity of synapses.

From 1987 to 1988, Tsien was the President of the Society of General Physiologists. In August 2000, Tsien also served the Section Chair of Neurobiology of the United States National Academy of Sciences.

Awards
1985 - Kenneth S. Cole Award (for contributions to membrane biophysics)
1991 - 1995, 1999, Kaiser Award for Outstanding and Innovative Teaching, from Stanford University
1993 - Magnes Prize, from Hebrew University, Jerusalem
1994 - elected to the United States Institute of Medicine
1996 - Walter B. Cannon Memorial Award, from the American Physiological Society
1996 - elected to the Academia Sinica
1997 - elected to the United States National Academy of Sciences
1998 - elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
1999 - elected Charter to the Biophysical Society

References

Chinese biologists
1945 births
Living people
American biologists
Massachusetts Institute of Technology alumni

Richard Tsien


is a series of anthropomorphic animal figures. They are made from plastic and fake animal fur. They were started in Japan in 1985 by Epoch, but they are now sold worldwide. Many books, DVDs and TV series have been based on the characters. The characters were originally woodland animals like bears, rabbits and hedgehogs, but now other animals such as penguins, meerkats and elephants have been added into the mix. The word sylvan means "forest" in Latin.

Setting
Sylvanians were origanally set in Japan in the 1950's most of the families are rural middle-class with many luxuries and local businesses. They have many leisure activities such as horse riding, rowing and hosting garden parties. The simple caravan means that they can enjoy short stays on holiday. This means that they can be away from their house whether it is a small cottage or a multi-storey town house.

Growing
In 1985 Sylvanian Families were launched in both Japan and North America. They were such a success that in 1987 they moved over the Atlantic to Western Europe and to the UK. By 1988 these small toys were a major success world wide, they went on to win London toy of the year award 3 times in a row this had never been achieved before or after. They were so popular that in the late 80's an animated TV series was made, this was greatly watched and spain and the UK. In the 90's it was aired on American TV.

Stopping and Starting

By the mid 1990's Sylvanian Families, despite their major success, had gone out of business in the UK. The production company Tomy lost the rights to Sylvanian Families and American Calico Critters. In the late 90's another company, Flair, took over Sylvanian Families and reintroduced them into the UK. It was in 2007 that they celebrated their 20th birthday a special edition dalmation family (that had not been sold since they went out of production) with red party hats saying 'happy birthday'. 2012 was the 25th birthday and they sold a celebration rabbit family in honour a birthday that they never have seen if it hadn't have been for Flair.

The London Shop
The address for the Sylvanian Families Shop in London is 68 Mountgrove Road. The shop is quite small but stuffed from floor to ceiling with figures, displays and new box sets. People from all around the world to go to the Sylvanian shop to become one of the many people who have been inside the famous shop.

Japanese Musuem and Shop
In Japan there is a giant life size Sylvanian Families village, including a bakery with real bread based on the bread in watermill bakery. You can meet life size Sylvanian characters and go in life size houses made from the models themselves.

Toys
Manufacturing companies of Japan
1985 establishments in Japan

Sylvanian Families


Listvyanka () is the name of several inhabited localities in Russia.

Urban localities
Listvyanka, Irkutsky District, Irkutsk Oblast, a work settlement in Irkutsky District, Irkutsk Oblast

Rural localities
Listvyanka, Altai Krai, a selo in Chauzovsky Selsoviet of Topchikhinsky District of Altai Krai
Listvyanka, Kuytunsky District, Irkutsk Oblast, a village in Kuytunsky District, Irkutsk Oblast
Listvyanka, Izhmorsky District, Kemerovo Oblast, a village in Troitskaya Rural Territory of Izhmorsky District of Kemerovo Oblast
Listvyanka, Tisulsky District, Kemerovo Oblast, a village in Listvyanskaya Rural Territory of Tisulsky District of Kemerovo Oblast
Listvyanka, Topkinsky District, Kemerovo Oblast, a settlement in Shishinskaya Rural Territory of Topkinsky District of Kemerovo Oblast
Listvyanka, Tyazhinsky District, Kemerovo Oblast, a settlement in Listvyanskaya Rural Territory of Tyazhinsky District of Kemerovo Oblast
Listvyanka, Kurgan Oblast, a village in Kosolapovsky Selsoviet of Tselinny District of Kurgan Oblast
Listvyanka, Moscow Oblast, a settlement in Bereznyakovskoye Rural Settlement of Sergiyevo-Posadsky District of Moscow Oblast
Listvyanka, Novosibirsk Oblast, a selo in Cherepanovsky District of Novosibirsk Oblast
Listvyanka, Orenburg Oblast, a settlement in Burlyksky Selsoviet of Belyayevsky District of Orenburg Oblast
Listvyanka, Ryazan Oblast, a settlement in Listvyansky Rural Okrug of Ryazansky District of Ryazan Oblast

Listvyanka


Instrumentation is the science of measuring and controlling variables.  Variables are anything that can affect or change other things.  Instrumentation can be used to make processes faster or more efficient, meaning they use less effort, energy or money to produce the same results.

The word instrumentation may also mean the machines made to measure and control things.

The science of instrumentation involves figuring out the best way to measure or control something, building the machine or tools, and checking if the results are good and true. It may also include setting up and using the machine or tools.

Variables
An instrument is a tool used to measure and control the variables that affect a process. Here are some variables that people use instrumentation to measure and control:
 pressure, which is the weight that air or water surrounding something has
 temperature, which is how hot or cold things are
 electric current, which is how many electrons are moving through something
 voltage, which is the steepness of the moving electrons
 inductance
 capacitance
 frequency, which is how fast or how often something happens
 electrical resistance, which is how hard it is for electrons to move through something
 conductivity, which is how easily an object allows electrons to pass through it
 flow
 level
 density, which is how much mass something has for its volume, or how heavy it is for its size
 viscosity, which is how thick a liquid or other fluid is

Instruments
Two examples of instruments are valves and flame detectors. A valve is a controlling instrument that controls the flow of fluids, which can be gases, liquids, or other fluids. A flame detector is a measurement instrument that detects a flame by analyzing the light.

Instrumentation engineering
The engineering behind instrumentation deals with mechanics and use of measuring instruments. Instrumentation engineers usually work in industries with automated processes.  For example, chemical and manufacturing plants often have robots and other machines doing a lot of the work.  Instrumentation engineers try to make things more safe, productive and stable. They sometimes use computers.

Science
Measuring tools

Instrumentation


A Sonnet (sonetto in Italian) is a type of poem. It is 14 lines long and is written in rhyme.

The sonnet first appeared in Italy during the Middle Ages and was widely  used during the Renaissance. The first poet known for his sonnets is Giacomo da Lentini who lived in the 13th century. After him many poets started writing sonnets. Two notable ones are Dante Alighieri and Guido Cavalcanti. The Italian poet Petrarch was famous for his sonnets. He was very popular and many poets imitated his poems. Francisco de Sá de Miranda introduced the form into Portuguese literature.  So did Thomas Wyatt and Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey in England. Even in distant Poland sonnets were written by Jan Kochanowski, Mikołaj Sęp Szarzyński and Sebastian Grabowiecki. It became common for poets to write sonnets in connected series, called "sonnet sequences," to tell a story, often one about a love affair. Michelangelo, a famous sculptor and painter wrote sonnets, too. He exchanged them with Vittoria Colonna. Poets in other countries quickly adopted the sonnet and sonnet sequence. William Shakespeare wrote the most famous sonnets in English literature, though other poets of his time, such as Ben Jonson, Edmund Spenser, Michael Drayton, and Samuel Daniel, wrote sonnet sequences also.

Later English poets like John Donne, John Milton, William Wordsworth, Percy Bysshe Shelley, and John Keats wrote sonnets that are still admired and studied today. In United States Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and Emma Lazarus wrote sonnets.

The rigid rhyme scheme of the sonnet went out of fashion during the twentieth century, but a few modern poets still write them sometimes. Edna St. Vincent Millay was one modern poet writing in English who often worked in the sonnet form. Modern poets have often changed the traditional rhythms and rhyme patterns of the sonnet, sometimes radically.

In a traditional "English" or "Shakespearean" sonnet, the first twelve lines are divided into three groups ("stanzas") of four lines each, called "quatrains". The last two lines usually rhyme, and make up a "rhymed couplet" that concludes the poem by summing up the story told in the previous quatrains. In the traditional "Italian" or "Petrarchan" sonnet, the poem divides into a group of eight lines ("octave") followed by a group of six lines ("sestet").

The letters of the alphabet are used to show the pattern of rhyme, or "rhyme scheme," in the 14 lines in a sonnet. The rhyme scheme

a-b-a-b, c-d-c-d, e-f-e-f, g-g

is the typical pattern of an "English" sonnet. The rhyme scheme

a-b-b-a, a-b-b-a, c-d-e-c-d-e

is typical of an "Italian" sonnet. However, the rhymes of the sestet in an Italian sonnet can vary widely: cdcdcd, cddcdd, etc. The scheme abba abba cde edc is very rarely, but its ending sequence cde edc was probably the source for Robert Browning's stanza abccba. It was used in the poem Meeting at night. Another pattern is Spenserian sonnet, invented by Edmund Spenser. It runs a-b-a-b, b-c-b-c, c-d-c-d, e-e.

Sonnets can be linked together into a crown of sonnets. In such a sequence, the last line of the first sonnet repeats as the first line of the second one, and sometimes these lines make up another sonnet. Slovenian poet France Prešeren is best remembered for his Wreath of Sonnets, an example of a crown of sonnets.

References

Other websites
 Sonnet Central

Poetry forms

Sonnet


Chen Baochen (; 1848–1935), was a Chinese official during late Qing era, hailing from Fuzhou, Fujian province in southeast/coastal China. During the last years of the Qing dynasty, he served as sub-chancellor in the Grand Secretariat and as vice minister of the Ministry of Rites (礼部侍郎). Following the collapse of the imperial order and the establishment of the Republic of China in 1912, he remained loyal to the Qing dynasty and served as tutor and adviser of the former emperor, Puyi, who was allowed to stay in the Forbidden City for more than thirteen years under the "Articles of Favorable Treatment." In 1917, Chen supported the Manchu Restoration, the loyalist general Zhang Xun's abortive attempt to restore the Qing dynasty. Chen Baochen continued to serve Puyi after he was finally expelled from the Forbidden City in 1924, but unlike his rival Zheng Xiaoxu, he refused to collaborate in the establishment of Manchukuo.

Victor Wong portrayed Chen in the 1987 feature film, The Last Emperor.

Further reading
Aisin-Gioro Puyi. From Emperor to Citizen: The Autobiography of Aisin-Gioro Pu Yi. Translated by W.J.F. Jenner. Peking: Foreign Languages Press, 2002. .

External links
Calligraphy by Chen Baochen
BaoChen Chen's calligraphic couplet

Politicians from Fuzhou
Imperial tutors in Qing dynasty
1848 births
1935 deaths

Chen Baochen


A hoplite was a citizen-soldier of the Ancient Greek city-states. A hoplite's main weapon was his spear. They fought close together in what was called a phalanx formation. In a phalanx, each man's shield protected himself and also gave some protection to the right arm of the man on his left.

The word "hoplite" comes from  the type of the shield used by the soldiers. In later texts, the term hoplite is used to denote any armoured infantry, regardless of armament or ethnicity.

The armour of a hoplite included:
helmet with face covered
shield
body armour
greaves (leg armour)
sword
spear

A hoplite was usually a free citizen who supplied his own armour and weapons. In most Greek city-states citizens received basic military training and served in the standing army for a specified time, participating in any military campaign undertaken during that period. The citizens of Sparta were renowned for their lifelong combat training and military prowess. Their great adversaries, the Athenians, were exempted from service after the 60th year of life.

The phalanx trained to work as a team eight rows or more deep. The first row would stab at their opponents while trying to maintain close formation. The ranks behind would support them with their spears and gently push them with their shields, not to force them into the enemy but to keep them steady and in position. Upon command of an officer, the phalanx  would take a certain number of steps forward.

Phalanxes tended to drift right in battle as each hoplite sought to keep his right arm behind the shield of his neighbour. Also, the right side of the phalanx, where right arms were unprotected by neighboring shields, was more vulnerable than the left. Thus the most experienced hoplites were often placed on the right side of the phalanx to counteract these problems.

Notes

Cat:Ancient Greece
Armour

Hoplite


ISO 3166 is a standard made by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and it uses short codes to name all countries and some other places. People from all over the world can use the same codes; this is helpful because different languages have different names for many countries. For example, the country English-speakers call Spain is called España by Spanish-speakers. The ISO 3166 has three codes for Spain: ES, ESP, and 724. No other country has any of these codes.

Related pages
Country code
ISO 3166-1

ISO 3166


The cuboid bone is one of the seven tarsals of the feet. It is located on the side of the foot. It articulates (connects with) metatarsals number 4 and 5. Ligaments help hold the foot in an arched position and to hold the metatarsals and medial cuneiform bones (one of many is the cuboid) together. The bone also makes up part of the arch of the foot. Most likely, the name cuboid comes from the fact that the cuboid bone is shaped kind of like a cube.

Cuboid syndrome can happen as a result of an injury to the cuboid bone.

Related pages
Phalanges
Metatarsals
Tarsals

Bones

Cuboid bone


Agustín Pío Barboza (5 May 1913 – 18 December 1998) was a Paraguayan singer and composer.

Biography

Childhood and youth
Barboza was born in Asunción, Paraguay. While still an adolescent in 1929, he went to Buenos Aires to work as a seaman aboard the  Mixu, a ship flying the Argentine flag. Alternating his work of seaman with musical activities, he met Basilio Melgarejo Molinas ("Melga"). They formed a duo and later formed the trio of Melgarejo-Barboza-Feliu.

First steps
In Buenos Aires, he worked with other singers such as Samuel Aguayo, Emilio Bobadilla Cáceres and Diosnel Chase. He served as a soloist in the orchestras of Francisco Alvarenga, Juan Escobar and Julián Alarcón, the last two served as his mentors. In 1933, he sang with José Asunción Flores; a year later he recorded "Ñasaindype" with Flores based on a poem by Felix Fernandez. It was the first "Guarania (music)" ever recorded. He was also a soloist with "Orchestra Ortiz Guerrero", a noted orchestra consisting of José Bragato, Aniceto Vera Ibarrola, Emilio Bobadilla Cáceres, Gumersindo Ayala Aquino, and others, directed by Flores. In 1943, he returned to Paraguay, with Jose Asuncion Flores, Francisco Alvarenga, and Emilio Vaesken. They were invited to participate in  Asuncion's Foundation Day parade on August 15.

He also formed a trio with Felix Perez Cardozo and Eulogio Cardozo. In 1944, he continued his studies in the Music School of Rio de Janeiro University, thanks to a scholarship granted by the government. He also gave concerts and auditions in theaters and on radio. During this time, he studied with Carlos Lara Bareiro, who encouraged him to travel and help to popularize Paraguayan music.

Travels and popularity

In 1947, he traveled from Brazil to Mexico, where he was invited by Gumersindo Ayala Aquino to join the group "Los Guaireños", with Luis Alberto del Paraná, Digno Garcia and Humberto Barua. They played in Mexico, Cuba and throughout Central America. In the early 1950s, he went on tour through the northern countries of South America and Central America, Mexico, the United States and Europe, as a soloist or with various groups.

In 1954, Luis Alberto del Paraná asked him to join the "Trio Los Paraguayos", with the harpist Digno Garcia. In Europe, they signed a contract with Philips, a Dutch record company. This relationship lasted for many years. They were dubbed the "ambassadors of Paraguayan music".

In 1957 he organized his own group "Barboza y sus compañeros", with Ramón Mendoza, Leonardo Figueroa and Carlos Centurion, continuing to spread his work through Europe and the Middle East.

In 1962, after settling in Paraguay, he got married la singer, Yvera (Francisca Zayas), forming an artistic couple. In 1968, while in Europe, they formed the group "Los Barboza". They recorded three long plays and did presentations on radio, television, in theaters, schools, universities and public entertainment houses. Their daughter, Diana Barboza, also loved popular singing and joined the family group in 1988.

In 1994, the government conferred on Barboza the National Order of Merit award, for his work dedicated to the composition and the spreading of Paraguayan music.

In 1996 he wrote an anthological autobiographical book named Ruego y Camino.

Last years

In 1997 the national congress granted him the National Award of Music in the popular music category, for his work "Mi patria soñada", that has verses by Carlos Miguel Gimenez.

In 1998, on turning 85 years old and celebrating 70 years of his musical career, he released a discography with the orchestration of his work. The Master, Oscar Cardozo Ocampo, (distinguished musical arranger living in Argentina, son of the great Paraguayan composer and creator Mauricio Cardozo Ocampo) provided the instrumental accompaniment. He received unanimous accolades from his fellow countrymen.

Other works

Barboza wrote approximately 80 compositions, among the following are noteworthy: "Alma vibrante", "Flor de Pilar", "Mi patria soñada", "Sobre el Corazón de mi guitarra", "Muchachita campesina" and "Mis joyas de Buenos Aires" (with verses from the poet Carlos Miguel Gimenez), "Dulce tierra mía", "Serenata", "Viva la vida, viva el amor" and "Muchacha dorada" (over words by Augusto Roa Bastos), "Oimeva che roga", "Oñomdiovemi" and "Reservista purahei" (with Félix Fernández), from his own production, lyrics and music, "Emociones de mi tierra" and "Ruego y camino", "Sombras de ausencia" (with Enrique Ganoso), "Voz del viejo río" (with Aníbal Romero).

References

 Centro Cultural de la República
 Diccionario Biográfico "FORJADORES DEL PARAGUAY", Primera Edición Enero de 2000. Distribuidora Quevedo de Ediciones. Buenos Aires, Argentina.

1913 births
1998 deaths
Paraguayan composers
Male composers
20th-century Paraguayan male singers
Musicians from Asunción
20th-century composers

Agustín Barboza


Mark Keller Dixon (born November 26, 1970) is a former American college and professional football player who was an offensive guard in the National Football League (NFL) for five seasons during the late 1990s and early 2000s.  He played college football for the University of Virginia, and received All-American honors.  He began his professional career playing in NFL Europe, then earned starting positions with the Baltimore Stallions and Montreal Alouettes of the Canadian Football League (CFL), and the Miami Dolphins of the NFL.

Early years
Dixon was born in Charlottesville, Virginia.  He attended Lucy C. Ragsdale High School in Jamestown, North Carolina, where he was a star high school football and basketball player for the Ragsdale Flying Tigers.

College career
Dixon accepted an athletic scholarship to attend the University of Virginia, and played for coach George Welsh's Virginia Cavaliers football team from 1990 to 1993.  As a senior offensive lineman for the Cavaliers in 1993, he was recognized for his achievements and under
consensus first-team All-American.

Professional career
Because of a series of injuries and related surgeries, Dixon was not selected in the 1994 NFL Draft.  He was signed by the NFL's Philadelphia Eagles as an undrafted free agent, but was released by the Eagles before the start of the 1994 season.  He played  as a member of the Frankfurt Galaxy of NFL Europe in the spring of 1995, and subsequently earned starting positions with the CFL's Baltimore Stallions in  and the Montreal Alouettes in  and .  Attracted to the "best player plays" philosophy of Miami Dolphins head coach Jimmy Johnson, he signed with the Dolphins as a 27-year-old NFL rookie.  Dixon earned a starting position on the Dolphins' offensive line, and played in 62 regular season games for the Dolphins, and started in 60 of them.

Post-playing career
Dixon is the former head coach of the Galax Maroon Tide football team of Galax High School in Galax, Virginia. In 2015, Dixon coached Galax to their first-ever state championship in football.
In 2017 Dixon resigned from Galax as head coach to pursue other opportunities. He then returned the next month to coach the Maroon Tide again.  Dixon resigned from Galax again in 2020 and took the head coaching job at Pulaski County High School (Virginia) in Dublin

References

1970 births
Living people
All-American college football players
American football offensive tackles
Baltimore Stallions players
Frankfurt Galaxy players
Miami Dolphins players
Montreal Alouettes players
Virginia Cavaliers football players

Mark Dixon (American football)


Keng Vannsak (,  ; 19 September 1925 – 18 December 2008) was a Cambodian scholar, philosopher and Khmer linguist. He invented the Khmer typewriter keyboard in 1952. He lived in exile in Paris, France, from 1970 until his death in 2008. He died at the age of eighty-three at the hospital of Montmorency in the outskirts of Paris after suffering from a chronic illness.

In modern Cambodia, Vannsak is known for being one of the influential figures for the next generations of Cambodian scholars and intellectuals. He left behind him a legacy in literature, including two drama plays, short stories, many poems and his research from the 1940s.

Politically left-wing, he was a member of the radical Democratic Party, and stood unsuccessfully as its MP candidate in the 1955 elections. He was also a friend and mentor of Saloth Sar (later known as Pol Pot) while both of them were studying in Paris.

Along with Iv Koeus and Khuon Sokhamphu, Keng Vannsak was one of the three pioneers of Khmer linguistics and grammar.

Biography
Keng Vannak was born in a small village in Kampong Cham province on 19 September 1925, the same year Pol Pot was born. Vannsak mentored Pol Pot while both were in France. Both of them appeared to share an opinion on "original Khmer", considering Buddhism and Hinduism had contaminated the Khmer original culture.

After obtaining his baccalaureate in philosophy in 1946 in Phnom Penh, Vannsak continued his studies in Paris on a scholarship and worked as a Khmer-language assistant at the National School of Modern Eastern Languages (Ecole nationale des Langues Orientales). During his studies, he spent two years teaching Khmer language at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London.

He later married Suzanne Colleville, a French national, who shared with him a passion for Eastern languages. She held diplomas in the Cambodian, Lao, and Thai languages, and also obtained a degree in physical science at the University of Caen, as revealed by the (unpublished) writing of Khing Hoc Dy, a former student as well as friend of Keng Vannsak.

Career
In 1952, he returned to Cambodia with his wife and a bachelor's degree which he obtained at the Faculty of Literature and Human Science University of Paris in 1951. He later worked as a teacher at the prestigious Lycée Sisowath in Phnom Penh, and decided to stay there from 1952 to 1958.

The most radical of his friends began distancing themselves from him. He covered for the president of the Cambodian Students Association when the group was invited to attend "youngsters' world peace celebrations" in Berlin, but was eventually asked not to go with the group just before they were due to leave.

"Half a century later, Vannsak still fulminated" at the simple idea of it, Philip Short says. Keng Vannsak explained to him that the other ones wanted to get rid of him. Short quoted him: "They knew that I was not the tough kind like them. I thought too much. I was not a stubborn person and did not act with fanaticism nor like an extremist. Ieng Sary, a former high school classmate who later became Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Khmer Rouge government himself told me later: 'You are too sensitive. You will never be a politician. In order to make politics, you have to be tough. You will not get there, brother. You are too sentimental'".

Beliefs
Strongly opposed to the Cambodian monarchy, Vannsak was also known for his role as a mentor to Saloth Sar, later known as Pol Pot, who ruled Cambodia from 1975 to 1979. During Pol Pot's rule of Cambodia, at least two million people died from execution, starvation and overwork.

A mentor for Cambodian students in Paris

Keng Vannsak became one of the key figures of the Cambodian student community in Paris. As described by historian Philip Short in his book titled "Pol Pot – Anatomy of a Nightmare", during the winter of 1950, more exclusive student meetings took place several times every month at Keng Vannsak's flat in Paris "to discuss political issues and more precisely about the future of Cambodia, a country which, for the first time, was directly affected by the war in Vietnam". The historian explains that the meetings was the beginning of Saloth Sar's political training and more involvement into the Khmer political affairs.

Philip Short also details that at that time communism was not their main concern, and recalls that Vannsak himself was more aware of political reality than most of his fellow-students. Vannsak appeared to offend a young Frenchwoman of the high bourgeoisie by offering her, a year before, to go and spend the afternoon at the Fête de l'Humanité, organised by the French Communist Party.

He said: "I had no idea it was a Communist meeting. I thought it was just a celebration for humanity, that's all." Vannsak's studies group tried to stay away from the political labels as most of the members prefer themselves to be part of a progressist trend.

Opposition to Khmerization program

Vannsak and French-oriented scholars opposed the Khmerization program invented by Chuon Nath, and chose another way for language they transformed French words into the Khmer vocabulary using the same pronunciation as much as possible with the Khmer alphabet.

Legacy
In 1952, he invented the Khmer typewriter keyboard. After his death, Prime Minister Hun Sen expressed his regret, saying Cambodia lost a well-known intellectual. Before his death, Vannsak wrote a letter to Premier Hun Sen to let him know that he wanted to visit Cambodia after many years spent abroad since the 1970s. His very close friends said that Vannsak had a very last wish to have his ashes buried inside his mother's stupa in Cambodia.

See also

 Chuon Nath
 Chuth Khay
 Hak Chhay Hok
 Khun Srun
 Kong Bunchhoeun
 Norodom Sihanouk
 Pol Pot
 Soth Polin
 Vandy Kaonn

References

1925 births
2008 deaths
20th-century Cambodian politicians
Cambodian Buddhists
Cambodian writers
People from Kampong Cham province
Cambodian expatriates in France
Cambodian emigrants to France
Cambodian male writers
Cambodian republicans
Cambodian socialists
Democratic Party (Cambodia) politicians
Naturalized citizens of France
University of Caen Normandy alumni

Keng Vannsak