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Review: Alan Jackson, Like Red on a Rose4.0
Originally intended to be a bluegrass album (the kind of project that would have stood as a logical follow-up to 2005's Precious Memories, a collection of traditional Southern gospel tunes), Like Red on a Rose, Alan Jackson's first recording with Alison Krauss as his producer, is, instead, an album of sophisticated, mellow adult pop. The album is yet more proof that Krauss makes any project with which she's associated sound classy, but for Jackson, one of country music's most predictable neo-traditionalists for well over a decade now, it's a radical departure. What surprises most about Like Red on a Rose is how well this departure suits Jackson. With a few exceptions—he's not a strong enough interpretive singer to overcome the unconventional metric structure of opener "Anywhere On Earth You Are"—Jackson sounds perfectly at ease in Krauss's arrangements, recalling the best of Mel McDaniel or Don Williams more so than any of its own hits. That he penned only one of the songs—the excellent "A Woman's Love," which first appeared on his 1998 album High Mileage—works to his advantage, as these songs avoid Jackson's weaknesses for novelties and sentimentality; choosing such well-crafted songs as Robert Lee Castleman's "The Firefly's Song" and Patrick Brayer's "Good Imitation Of The Blues" is one of the first times that Jackson can be praised for having good taste. Introspective, sensitive, and smart (the use of "Oh Susana" as a framing device on the melancholy "Where Do I Go From Here" is inspired), Like Red on a Rose is a wholly unexpected move from an artist who seemed perfectly content with his status and already-secured legacy.
Label: Arista Nashville Release Date: October 9, 2006 Buy: Amazon
Taylor Swift Drops Star-Studded, Pride-Themed "You Need to Calm Down" Video
The video takes the notion of visibility as a means of acceptance to the extreme.
After years of political agnosticism, Taylor Swift endorsed two Tennessee Democrats during the 2018 midterm elections, prompting a backlash from white supremacists and their dear leader, Donald Trump. In the span of less than a year, the singer went from being the Aryan goddess of the alt-right to being called out as an agent of sodomy in a sermon by a homophobic pastor and sheriff's deputy in her home state.
Swift's path to wokeness has been a long one, and while the launch of her new single, "You Need to Calm Down," during LGBT Pride Month might feel like the equivalent of Google slapping a rainbow flag on their logo, her activism—which included a recent $113,000 donation to a Tennessee LGBT organization—seems like more than just a branding opportunity. "To be an ally is to understand the difference between advocating and baiting," Swift posted on Tumblr after rumors circulated that she kisses former rival Katy Perry in the video for "You Need to Calm Down," the second single from Swift's seventh album, Lover.
The clip does, however, take the notion of visibility as a means of acceptance to the extreme, featuring cameos from RuPaul, Ellen DeGeneres, Adam Lambert, Adam Rippon, Laverne Cox, Billy Porter, Jesse Tyler Ferguson (whom she serenaded at a surprise performance at New York's Stonewall Inn last week), and other queer celebrities, YouTube stars, and allies.
Directed by Swift and Drew Kirsch, the video opens with the pop singer waking up in a pastel-colored trailer home adorned with kitschy paintings and a framed Cher quote ("Mom, I am a rich man"). She makes herself a cotton-candy smoothie, takes a dip the cleanest above-ground pool you'll ever see, and parades through the trailer park's pride-themed festivities, which includes a "pop queen pageant" featuring drag versions of Swift, Ariana Grande, Lady Gaga, Adele, Cardi B, Beyoncé, Nicki Minaj, and Katy Perry.
The real Katy pops up for a heartfelt reunion with Swift that makes "You Need to Calm Down"—which seems to strive for, but falls short of, the campy eye candy that Perry has honed in her own videos over the years—feel like a bachelorette party at a gay bar. But just in case you question Swift's allegiance to the cause, the video ends with a message urging viewers to sign her petition for Senate support of the Equality Act.
Watch below:
Swift's album, Lover, is due August 23 via Republic Records.
Review: Yeasayer's Erotic Reruns Is a Collection of Benign Love Songs
The album aims for an enthralling vision of infatuation, but the band's message rings hollow.2
Yeasayer's decade-plus-spanning discography is eclectic, purveying everything from world music (All Hour Cymbals) to austere electro (Fragrant World) to outlandish psych rock (Amen & Goodbye). As a relic of the bygone age of neo-hippie pantheism marshaled by the likes of Animal Collective and MGMT, the experimental rock outfit faces the quandary of evolving their sound for today's indie landscape, which favors the low-key over the baroque. On Erotic Reruns, the band dives headfirst into flowery pop-rock, accomplishing yet another stylistic about-face and pruning away their most esoteric tendencies.
Throughout their fifth studio album, Yeasayer aims to transmit an enthralling vision of infatuation, but their message rings hollow. With its truncated verses and refrain, opener "People I Loved" seems hastily assembled, and its "na-na-na" hook quickly grows tiring. The band's lyrics are often half-baked, making the rapture of falling in love on the plodding piano-driven "I'll Kiss You Tonight" feel like a rather banal occurrence.
Even when Yeasayer is primed toward eliciting the longing and lust of infatuation, their sound is fettered by exaggeration. "Let Me Listen in on You" is chock-full of sweet nothings like "I can make your dreams come true," and its florid strings give the chorus a sense of overdone theatricality. Elsewhere, a high-pitched vocal and carnival synth grant "Ecstatic Baby" a whimsy so overblown that one imagines the track would be deemed too cheesy for an Apple commercial. When Yeasayar does accomplish to tap into love's exhilaration, they relay it with a heavy hand, making already sentimental concepts feel saccharine.
Erotic Reruns is a collection of ultimately benign love songs, as the eroticism proposed by the album's title is glaringly absent across 29 scant minutes. Yeasayer are amiable, starry-eyed musicians whose sound, at its best, is inviting even as it overreaches. But while a concern for authenticity may not be pop music's primary enterprise, among its virtues is its capacity to consistently excite and enchant. Try as they might, Yeasayer fail to attain either.
Label: Yeasayer Release Date: June 7, 2019 Buy: Amazon
Review: Titus Andronicus's An Obelisk Is All Sound and Fury, Signifying Nothing
On a superficial level, the ostensibly back-to-basics album could charitably be described as workmanlike.2
It takes balls to open your rock album by screaming about "an inferior version of rock n' roll," as Patrick Stickles does on "Just Like Ringing a Bell," the opening track of Titus Andronicus's An Obelisk. The band's ostensibly back-to-basics sixth album could charitably be described as workmanlike. Stickles and longtime sideman Liam Betson's guitar tones are fuzzy and chunky in all the right ways, and Stickles has his punk-rock growl down pat. But these are mere superficialities; loud guitars and screaming have hardly been the main focal point of the band's sound. On An Obelisk, though, they're just about all that Stickles and company have to offer. Forgive the cliché, but they asked for it by naming themselves after a Shakespeare's tragedy: The album is the very epitome of sound and fury signifying nothing.
An Obelisk arrives just 15 months after the expectation-subverting A Productive Cough, but it couldn't be more different, despite the fact that Stickles wrote both albums around the same time, separating the material into the bangers found here and the prior album's more complex and mellower epics. This may sound like a welcome news for fans who struggled to embrace A Productive Cough's cavalcade of guest musicians and auxiliary percussion, horns, and other instrumentation. But anyone who's been clamoring for Titus Andronicus to make a uniformly hard and fast punk album like this one hasn't been paying attention to what the band is about.
One of Titus Andronicus's greatest strengths has always been the dichotomies in their music—those juxtapositions of the quiet and loud, the portentous and the irreverent. This is, after all, a band whose first album, The Airing of Grievances, borrowed its name from a Seinfeld episode, and whose breakthrough, The Monitor, was an epic concept album about the Civil War that they managed to somehow top five years later with a 90-minute rock opera about bipolar disorder. An Obelisk is loosely conceptual, but unlike The Monitor and The Most Lamentable Tragedy, there's no discernable narrative or character to hang onto here. We do, though, get a narrator, known as Troubleman, who serves as little more than a thin veneer from behind which Stickles can excuse his under-baked ideas. After all, one wouldn't expect the guy who wrote ambitious epics like "A More Perfect Union" and "Number One (in New York)" to be capable of penning the adolescent inanities that constitute the lazy three-chord blunders that are "(I Blame) Society" and "Tumult Around the World." But he did.
From the generic stick-it-to-the-man platitudes of "(I Blame) Society" and the 68-second "On the Street" ("There's too many police on the street/And they're all after me!"), to the clearly unintentional parody of hardcore punk that is the 88-second "Beneath the Boot," it's almost hard to believe how dumb these songs are. Stickles has successfully managed to confront his demons in increasingly creative and resonant ways, from inventing a doppelganger on The Most Lamentable Tragedy to turning those demons into a party on A Productive Cough's "Above the Bodega (Local Business)," but "My Body and Me" is insultingly glib: "My body and me, we don't always get along/He tells me it's all right, I tell him he's all wrong."
Producer Bob Mould, apparently unable to transfer whatever is powering his late-career renaissance to other artists, does capture an organic live-in-the-studio sound that shows the band's current lineup—Stickles, Betson, and rhythm section R.J. Gordon and Chris Wilson—doesn't lack for intensity. But with so many flat, unoriginal riffs and unmemorable choruses, there's just not enough meat here to reward that approach, and despite its unrelenting volume, An Obelisk just feels empty without the wide-ranging dynamics and ambitious arrangements that have, until now, defined Titus Andronicus's music.
Mercifully, most of the songs are over and done with quickly enough, though only a couple—the bright "Just Like Ringing a Bell" and the freewheeling "Troubleman Unlimited," the only tracks here that don't sound like "an inferior version of rock 'n roll"—stick to the ribs at all. A few grind on unimaginatively for over five minutes, either to the point of boredom ("Within the Gravitron") or absurdity ("Hey Ma," with its face-palm-inducing imitation-bagpipe guitar solo). Like all of Troubleman's diatribes, they just feel like a lot of hot air.
Label: Merge Release Date: June 21, 2019 Buy: Amazon
Review: The Raconteurs's Help Us Stranger Is a Robust Return to Form
The album proves that there's still more to be mined from the supposedly anachronistic guitar-rock template.4.5
The Raconteurs were initially billed as an outlet for Jack White to step outside of the self-imposed sandbox of the White Stripes. But coming after a period during which White's work—as both a solo artist and with the Dead Weather—has become increasingly untethered from his original no-frills ethos, the Raconteurs's first album in 11 years, Help Us Stranger, feels like a robust return to form for the musician.
But the Raconteurs shouldn't just be viewed through a White-centric prism. There's no better contemporary rock example of two halves of a songwriting duo, like John Lennon and Paul McCartney, uncannily counterbalancing the other's strengths and weaknesses than White and singer-songwriter Brendan Benson. Benson's irrepressible melodic instincts keep White's focus on his songcraft, while White's boundless energy coaxes new tiers of passion from Benson, a less expressive vocalist and more rudimentary lyricist than White.
As White and Benson trade vocals on the album's savage opener, "Bored and Razed," with White's spitfire verses building into Benson's soaring choruses, their twin lead guitars batter away at each other like feral animals. Add Patrick Keeler's thunderous drumming, and the band enters a dimension of pure rock power they've only ever succeeded in accessing together. The Raconteurs may lack the unconventional optics and charming minimalism of the White Stripes or the relentless power-pop hooks of Benson's solo work, but Help Us Stranger is another compelling exhibit in the band's continuing quest to prove that there's still more to be mined from the supposedly anachronistic guitar-rock template.
Almost every track here is another example of one that would never have reached the same heights without the contributions of each band member. The main guitar riff of "Sunday Driver" is far from White's most indelible, but combined with Jack Lawrence's revving bassline and White's own swaggering vocals and squealing lead guitar—contrasted with Benson's laidback, psych-tinged, harmony-drenched bridge—the result is one of the most well-rounded and satisfying straight-up rock songs White has made since, well, the last Raconteurs album.
Likewise, with White's frenzied guitar and Lawrence's fat, greasy sonic low end, the Benson-led blue-eyed soul of "Now That You're Gone" becomes a lighter-waving anthem. The band proves itself able to apply this effortless chemistry to any type of song, running the gamut from the groovy Detroit-style garage rock of "What's Yours Is Mine" to the yearning bluegrass ballad "Thoughts and Prayers." With "Help Me Stranger," the Raconteurs even uncover something fresh, with White and Benson's Everly Brothers-style harmonizing and acoustic strumming getting a quirky, modern kick from the off-kilter rhythmic foundation provided by Keeler's upside-down snare drum and Lawrence's heavy bass-pedal work.
While the disparity in fame between the band members may forever doom the Raconteurs to being remembered as one of White's "side projects," such a view is ignorant of both the band's overall chemistry and White and Benson's virtually equal songwriting talents. In fact, it's the Benson-heavy songs here that make the most lasting impression, and White was clearly responsible for the album's only misfire, "Don't Bother Me," a generic bar-band choogle over which White angrily sputters about his old nemeses, the "clicking and swiping" generation.
Both the melancholy Beatlesque pop of "Only Child" and the swooning country-soul of "Somedays (I Don't Feel Like Trying)" rank among Benson's very best work to date, with White's multi-textured, ever-inventive guitar riffs and the rock solid rhythm section elevating Benson's usual sad-sack routine toward true pathos. Help Us Stranger reaches its emotional apex during the latter's honey-sweet outro: "I'm here right now, not dead yet," Benson repeats, leaping registers as the band slowly works up to a fevered pitch behind him. Corny as it sounds, he might as well be singing about rock n' roll itself. Few other bands out there are such compelling proof of its enduring viability.
Label: Third Man Release Date: June 21, 2019 Buy: Amazon
Review: Silversun Pickups's Widow's Weeds Is a Clear-Eyed and Intrepid Renewal
The album grants us backstage access to the band at its most vulnerable and personal.4
Ever since the success of 2006's Carnavas, the Silversun Pickups have had a hard time leaving the safety of their comfort zone. Without slipping completely into self-parody, each of the Los Angeles-based rock band's subsequent releases has seen them tempering their winning formula with only cautious variations on Brian Aubert's breathy, quavering vocals and their thick Gaussian blur of sonic distortion and reverb. The group's dalliance with Depeche Mode-style synth-pop on 2015's Better Nature boasted tantalizing moments of sparkling elegance and pulse-racing throttle, but its dependence on booming yet generically applied electronics left the album feeling vacant, even lethargic.
Enter Butch Vig. For a band that can't quite quit its love for '90s alternative rock, their choice to enlist the production wizard behind Nirvana, Smashing Pumpkins, Garbage, and the Foo Fighters seems only fitting. But their fifth album, Widow's Weeds, is anything but a sentimental rehash of the good ol' days. Instead, the album profits mightily from the veteran producer's ability to transition established acts into more mature, self-assured iterations of themselves, without scrapping the essence of what made those bands great in the first place.
Widow's Weeds thus grants us backstage access to the band at its most vulnerable and personal, but also its most clear-eyed and intrepid. After years of lackluster reviews and a string of personal struggles, the Silversun Pickups were perfectly poised for renewal and, as Aubert croons on "Don't Know Yet," the band has worked hard to "reboot the machine." Under Vig's steady hand, they've stripped away the stylistic accretions of their previous albums and come up with a much tighter, more identifiably rock sound. From its opening notes, the album presents a band brimming with reclaimed confidence and vitality, one that need no longer take refuge behind endless waves of feedback and sonic distractions.
Right out of the gate, "Neon Wound," as it chugs along to the metronomic precision of Christopher Guanlao's drums, unrolls the perfectly pointed welcome mat for those familiar with the Silversun Pickups. "Hello, my friend," Aubert sings, almost winkingly, "It's nice to see you again/Now that we're on the mend." The song's taut spareness gradually drifts off into what sounds like little more than a listless B-side from Better Nature, but "It Doesn't Matter Why" hurries in to take up the slack in full-charging tempo.
To be sure, Aubert and the gang have given up no ground in creating soundscapes of great power and intensity, sculpting with staccato rhythms and relentless builds the jumpy, nervous tension of a downed power line. Where on previous efforts that tension relied on muddy guitar riffs or Lester's alchemic keyboard effects, this is an album driven by instrumentation and tightly crafted movements. Excesses of distortion have been peeled away to reveal the musical proficiency beneath, so that the finger-picked intro to "It Doesn't Matter Why," the sensuous chord bends of "Simpatico," and the poppy electronics on "Don't Know Yet" receive their full technical due. And the timely flourishes of orchestral support across the album add interesting melodrama to the streamlined arrangements. What results is a sultry, if not still-too-hesitant, intimacy that allows songs to shimmer with moments of nuance and sophistication.
In keeping with this shift toward musical accessibility, Aubert's lyrics have acquired a greater transparency. His customary blend of cerebral metaphors and visual imagery still prevails, but his language has become more plainly self-referential, lending unmitigated tenderness to the songs. And without having to compete any longer with the drone of sheer loudness, he's able to showcase a range of peaks and valleys that ventures boldly outside of his typical monotone.
But for all of Aubert's newfound reach, the punch of his vocal thrusts throughout Widow's Weeds wouldn't be possible without the harmonic parries of bassist Nikki Monninger. Her contributions on albums past have supplied softness and moderation to some of the group's brawnier impulses ("Gun-Shy Sunshine," "Ragamuffin"), and while it seems she'll always be stuck at second mic, she's no longer merely echoing Aubert's lead. Her husky alto provides flawless melodic counterpoint on the ethereal "Freakazoid" and the restless "Songbirds," and she offsets Aubert's gravelly baritone on "Widow's Weeds" with delicate grace.
The album also conjures the ghosts of exemplars past, sampling a whisper of Placebo's "Pure Morning," a hint of Radiohead's "Paranoid Android," and a whiff of the guitar crunches from Alice in Chains's "Man in the Box." Especially on "Straw Man" and "Simpatico," the sleek, cleaned-up sound does little to hide the band's influences. But if the going recommendation is to steal like an artist, then Silversun Pickups have appropriated their indulgences happily and in good faith. "Songbirds" bursts out of the speakers like a post-pubertal "Panic Switch," still bristling with angsty vigor but far more composed and sure of itself. In contrast, "Bag of Bones," a meandering blunder, just shuffles along aimlessly and repetitiously.
Elsewhere, "Simpatico" spotlights the band's calmer, quieter tendencies while offering some of the album's most intricate guitar work. And the hardest-hitting yet most nostalgic track, "We Are Chameleons," lives up to its title by mopping up virtually every color and texture of Carnavas and wringing it out into a frenzied sonic meltdown that defies the restraint and self-control that led up to it. Widow's Weeds may lack the arena-sized atmospherics and anthemic party songs of past Silversun Pickups efforts, but with each additional listen the hooks sink in deeper and the melodies stay longer in your head. It's catchy, heartfelt, and far less forgettable than…what were those previous two albums named again?
Label: New Machine Release Date: June 7, 2019 Buy: Amazon
Review: Madonna's Madame X Is a Fearless, Eccentric Musical Memoir
The album is the work of an artist reawakened, and one who's got something to say.4
Madonna's 2005 EDM opus Confessions on a Dance Floor is considered by many to be the 21st-century standard for both every new album the singer releases and contemporary dance-pop at large. Though glorious in its own right, it seemed, at the time, like the work of an artist in damage control. The damage was 2003's American Life, a personal, politically strident, and humorless album that became Madonna's first commercial failure in 20 years. It also happens to mark the last time the queen of pop appeared to make music purely on her own terms, without any consideration of the charts or what the public expected of her—a novel idea for an artist in the business of making, well, popular music.
Of course, Madonna has never been your average pop star. Though her music has deep roots in R&B and disco, she is, at heart, a rock auteur, with all of the inclinations toward upending the status quo and expressing a singular vision that designation implies. Her last album, 2015's Rebel Heart, was designed by committee, while its predecessor, MDNA, was recorded during a period when she seemed more interested in directing movies and extending her brand than making music. So it makes sense that when she decided to forgo songwriting camps and aspirations of a late-career radio hit for her 14th album, Madame X, Madonna turned to French producer Mirwais, her primary collaborator on American Life.
In other words, Madame X sounds like the work of an artist reawakened, and one who's got something to say. It's a development reportedly inspired by her time in Lisbon, where she was surrounded by musicians and art in a way she hadn't been since her pre-fame days in the East Village. The influence of Lisbon's multicultural history can be heard on tracks like the fado-meets-Motown "Crazy"—co-produced by Mike Dean, the album's other principal knob-twirler—and the polyrhythmic "Batuka," featuring Afro-Portuguese group Orquestra de Batukadeiras.
Madame X plays like a musical memoir, sometimes literally: "I came from the Midwest/Then I went to the Far East/I tried to discover my own identity," Madonna sings on the Eastern-inflected "Extreme Occident," referencing her rise to fame and spiritual awakening, famously documented on her 1998 album Ray of Light. A multi-part suite that shifts abruptly from electro-pop dirge to classical ballet and back again, "Dark Ballet" is a Kafkaesque treatise on faith and her lifelong crusade against the patriarchal forces of religion, gender, and celebrity—an existential battle echoed in the Jean-Paul Sartre-quoting closing track "I Rise."
The album's autobiography is also conveyed sonically: It's a thrill to hear Madonna singing over a '90s house beat on the smoldering "I Don't Search I Find." But despite its ballroom strings, finger-snaps, and throaty spoken-word bridge, comparing it to "Vogue" or "Erotica" would be too easy. This isn't a song so much as a mood. It's downstairs music, the distant bassline rumbling beneath your feet as you slip into a bathroom stall for a quick bump or fuck.
Madonna has a reputation for being a trendsetter, but her true talent lies in bending those trends to her will, twisting them around until they're barely recognizable, and creating something entirely new. The album's pièce de résistance, at least in that regard, is the six-minute "God Control," which begins with Madonna conjuring the spirit and disaffected monotone of Kurt Cobain—"I think I understand why people get a gun/I think I understand why we all give up," she sings through clenched teeth—before the whole thing implodes into a euphoric, densely layered samba-disco-gospel mash-up. Throughout the song, Madonna's vocals alternate between Auto-Tuned belting, urgent whispers, and Tom Tom Club-style rapping as she takes on the gaslight industrial complex and so-called political reformers. On paper, it might sound like the ingredients for a musical Hindenburg, but—somewhere around the midpoint, when she declares, "It's a con, it's a hustle, it's a weird kind of energy!"—it all coheres into the most exhilaratingly batshit thing she's done in years.
If, metaphorically, Madame X represents Madonna's rediscovery of her voice as an artist, then it also highlights the literal loss of it. Over the years, the soft edges of her voice have grown sharper, and the album's pervasive vocal effects—most gratuitous on the electro-ragga "Future" and, to a lesser degree, the haunting "Looking for Mercy"—have a distancing effect. The heavy Auto-Tune on Music and American Life was deployed in service of larger conceptual themes like imperfection ("Nobody's Perfect") and anonymity ("Nobody Knows Me"), contrasted by the bare performances of more confessional songs like "Easy Ride." Here, filters are indiscriminately thrown on nearly every song, which only serves to obscure Madonna's humanity. On "Medéllin," for example, her admission that "For once, I didn't have to hide myself" is pointlessly cloaked in Auto-Tune, keeping us at a remove.
When Madonna isn't singing with what sounds like a mouthful of gumballs on "Crave," the rawness of her voice amplifies the nakedness of her lyrics: "Ran so far to try to find the thing I lacked/And there it was inside of me." Likewise, you can hear the grit and grief in her voice when, on "Crazy," she sings, "I bent my knees for you like a prayer/My God, look at me now." The track "Killers Who Are Partying" has been flagged by some critics for its lyrics—ostensibly inspired by scripture, the post-World War II poem "First they came…," or maybe both—but the naïveté of Madonna's words would be more cringe-inducing if her delivery wasn't quite so bewitching. Mirwais's arrangement, too, casts a spell: Old world meets new world as mournful fado guitar and accordion swirl beneath the track's stuttering beats and warped synths.
Madame X is fearless, the sound of an artist unapologetically indulging all of her whims and quirks. The garish favela funk of "Faz Gostoso" and the racy reggaeton of "Bitch I'm Loca"—featuring Anitta and Maluma, respectively—feel out of place amid the album's otherwise refined sonic palette. But even when Madonna falters, at least you know you're getting the real deal and not some version of a pop icon cooked up in a songwriting lab.
Label: Interscope Release Date: June 14, 2019 Buy: Amazon
Mykki Blanco Is a Trans Joan of Arc in Madonna's "Dark Ballet" Video – Watch
The self-described transfeminine rapper stars in the video from the queen of pop's upcoming album Madame X.
While presenting Madonna with GLAAD's Advocate for Change award last month, Mykki Blanco hinted that a collaboration with the queen of pop might be imminent. Sure enough, the self-described transfeminine rapper stars in the video for "Dark Ballet," the final track to be released in the lead-up to Madonna's new album, Madame X.
Directed by Dutch Ghanaian visual artist Emmanuel Adjei, "Dark Ballet" echoes the themes of Madonna's infamous "Like a Prayer" video, awash with Catholic iconography and a storyline revolving around a persecuted black person. But that's where the similarities end. The singer only briefly appears in the clip, behind a black veil, and the burning crosses of her 1989 video are traded for a ceremonial burning at the stake.
The video is frenetic and non-linear, opening with Blanco held captive in a stonewalled room, wrapped in a dirty white robe. Wrists bound with rope, he's led by clergymen to be executed for an undisclosed crime. He's then seen dancing, first in a cathedral—pleading with the men, who forsake him—and then in the church's sanctuary, dressed in a gold corset reminiscent of the iconic one designed by Jean Paul Gaultier for Madonna's Blond Ambition Tour. Madonna is, in effect, all over the video, but her casting of a queer person of color as the oppressed, rather than herself, spotlights the disproportionate impact of the patriarchy on minorities.
Produced by Madonna and longtime collaborator Mirwais, the song itself is an ambitious electro suite featuring a heavily Auto-Tuned denouncement of gender, lies, and fame, before the track breaks into Tchaikovsky's "Dance of the Reed Pipes" from The Nutcracker accompanied by a robot Joan of Arc proclaiming her faith. (There's a brief, blink-and-you'll-miss-it shot from Carl Theodor Dreyer's 1928 film The Passion of Joan of Arc near the beginning of the video.) The song is a reminder of the wacky magic Madonna and Mirwais are capable of cooking up together.
Watch below:
Madame X will be released on June 14 via Interscope Records.
Review: Miley Cyrus's She Is Coming Feels Like Empty Posturing
The singer finds her groove when she follows a less strident tack.2.5
The only thing Miley Cyrus's critics found more problematic than her appropriation of black culture on her 2013 album Bangerz was the singer's utter abandonment of hip-hop on 2017's Younger Now. That album was marked by a more mellow pop-rock sound, complemented by a newly squeaky-clean image that found her literally frolicking in a country meadow. The move was seen as confirmation that Cyrus's interest in hip-hop is merely performative, and her recent renunciation of Younger Now and subsequent pivot back toward urban-influenced pop is unlikely to quash that impression.
She Is Coming, the first of three EPs that Cyrus plans to release throughout the year, is rife with references to her newfound toughness. Lead single "Mother's Daughter" boasts an admirable feminist-adjacent message—"Don't fuck with my freedom"—but Cyrus's standoffish pose feels like so much empty posturing, making the bravado of Taylor Swift's Reputation seem downright menacing. On the mercifully brief "Unholy," Cyrus tosses off glib vaunts like "I'm a little bit unholy/So what? So is everyone else," while an unintentionally comical quip about having sex next to takeout food may arouse little in listeners besides a sudden compulsion to sanitize their kitchen counter.
The EP's dubious employment of hip-hop tropes and graphic sexual metaphors reaches its nadir on ballroom-inspired "Cattitude," part boast track and part ode to Miley's female prowess: "I love my pussy, that means I got cattitude/If you don't feel what I'm saying, I don't fuck with you." RuPaul's presence lends a certain tongue-in-cheek quality to the song, but given the straight-faced appropriation on display throughout the rest of She Is Coming, it's impossible not to consider this one with as much seriousness—that is, not much at all. When, at the end of the track, Cyrus awkwardly raps, "You're just mad 'cause your hair is flat," it's hard to tell if she's taking the piss or deliberately provoking her critics.
Which is a shame, as Cyrus finds her groove when she doesn't try so hard, as on "D.R.E.A.M.," a hazy confessional that, true to its title, is dreamy enough to forgive its puerile conflation of chemical and romantic euphoria. Even an initially jarring coda from Ghostface Killah feels of a piece with the impeccably produced track's distorted guitars and slyly discomfiting beat. The ragga-inspired "Party Up the Street" likewise cushions its drug-induced reverie with pillowy keyboards and swoony orchestral flourishes. Unless the subsequent EPs in this series follow this less strident tack, Bangerz might start to seem like an act of cultural reverence.
Label: RCA Release Date: May 31, 2019
Review: Katy Perry Proves It's "Never Really Over" with New Single and Video
The video takes place inside a gated compound where the singer enrolls in a retreat for the brokenhearted.
Katy Perry's first solo single in two years, "Never Really Over," finds the pop singer struggling with residual ambivalence over a former flame. "Two years and just like that, my head still takes me back," she belts in her signature bellow. Co-produced by Zedd, who previously collaborated with Perry on the DJ's simmering electro-pop single "365" earlier this year, the infectious "Never Really Over" is a bright midtempo pop track that wouldn't sound out of place on 2013's Prism. And that's probably by design.
Despite the strength of its lead single, "Chained to the Rhythm," Perry's 2017 album Witness fizzled on the charts, selling a fraction of its three multi-platinum predecessors. So it wouldn't be a stretch to say that a lot is riding on "Never Really Over," the title of which could—depending on how the song is received—double as a bold statement of purpose or tragic irony.
From the sound of a ticking clock to marching-band percussion, time is a clever recurring motif throughout "Never Really Over." If Perry looked to the future on Witness, she mines the past for the music video for this track. But rather than revert to the retro, brunette bombshell look of her most commercially fertile eras, Perry opts for a long, wavy strawberry-blond coif and a '70s-inspired boho-chic aesthetic here.
Shot in Malibu, the video takes place inside a gated compound where Perry enrolls in a cult-like retreat for the brokenhearted. She her fellow romance recoverees dance merrily in a sun-kissed field and partake in cupping, acupuncture, and other forms of alternative medicine—"I guess I should try hypnotherapy/I've got to rewire my brain," Perry sings—culminating in a cheeky ayahuasca-style ceremony in which the participants drink their own tears.
Directed by Philippa Price, "Never Really Lover" is a playful and imaginative portrayal of love's intoxicating spell and the absurd lengths some of us will go to exorcise ourselves of it. The clip is ripe for repeat viewings and filled with New Age symbolism, including the compound's yin-yang-inspired logo and enough triangle imagery to keep illuminati conspiracy theorists occupied at least until Perry serves up her next visual feast.
Premiere: Heather Nova Goes Back to Her Roots with "Just Kids" Music Video
We've got the exclusive premiere of the second single from the singer-songwriter's 10th album, Pearl.
Released 25 years ago this fall, Heather Nova's breakthrough album, Oyster, earned the singer-songwriter a faithful following, due in large part to her angelic soprano, memorable pop hooks, and, above all, her alternately thoughtful and visceral ruminations on love and healing. Singles like "London Rain (Nothing Heals Me Like You Do)" and "Heart and Shoulder," from 1998's Siren, further solidified Nova as a cult pop figure at once capable of harnessing the grit of alt-rock, the candor of folk balladry, and the sleek accessibility of Top 40 music.
Following a series of more stripped-down fare, Nova's 10th album, Pearl, reprises the crisp, layered aesthetic of those early efforts, thanks in large part to the singer's reunion with producer Youth (The Verve, Dido, Pink Floyd). Nova describes the album's second single, "Just Kids," as a celebration of the "carefree sense of open possibilities" that new love can conjure in us. "It's a song about how love can make you feel like a kid again," she says.
Shot in Bermuda, where Nova was born, the music video for "Just Kids" is a charmingly simple visual depiction of the song's universal concept. Co-directed by Nova and photographer Vincent Lions, the black-and-white clip is largely composed of one long take that finds Nova lounging on the beach while Lions (Nova's boyfriend) frolics playfully in the background in a valiant attempt to make her break.
Watch "Just Kids" below:
Pearl will be released on June 28 via Saltwater Records.
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text:
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50 years ago
Dec. 1, 1960
Theft fever breaks out in county as reports come in that a sewing machine and some jewelry was taken for the Bill Barnes home in broad daylight in the Mt. Pleasant community and a portable television was taken from the Rand Hamilton's who work during the week at Lyndon and had come home for the weekend, gasoline was taken from the Peck Pike area and also from a school bus. A truck stolen in Versailles, Ind. was abandoned Saturday night on the Peck hill, just a short distance from the Alvin Liter home, and an attempt was made to set it afire, according to a report from Sheriff Cliff Pyles.
Playing the best brand of ball they had played all season during the first eight minutes at Pleasureville Tuesday night, the Trimble Raiders relaxed that style in the second period and fell 70-65 to the Bulldogs. Allen Stark had 22 points in the game; Scatman Gosman was red hot in the first half and came out with 20 points. Other Raiders scoring were West 8, Perkinson 7, Snyder 6 and Oak 2.
Deaths: Miss Cora Rowlett, 90, Carrollton, the most beloved teacher in the history of Trimble County; Charles Scott, 73, Hickory Grove neighborhood.
70 years ago
Nov. 28, 1940
A phenomenal rise in the receipts collected from toll on the Milton-Madison bridge during the first ten months of this year has caused the Highway Department to ask for bids on refunding bonds from the span. The bridge has shown a marked, though gradual monthly increase since it was taken over by the department for $915,000, late in November of 1937. In view of the $50 million powder plant development at Charleston, Ind., the peak of the increase has not been reached as yet.
Commissioner of Highways J. Lyter Donaldson, in making this announcement, went on to report that foreseeing a possible savings of some $40,000 on issues of refunding bonds, the Highway Department has set Friday of this week as the final date for receiving bids on the bonds at a lower interest rate. The bids will be opened at 10 a.m. in the offices of Commissioner Donaldson and if the expected economy could be effected it would be the equivalent of advancing the free date on the bridge six months. The bridge at Maysville is also considered in this refunding issue and should the savings on the bond be divided between the two spans, the free date on both spans would only be reduced by three months. With bonds amounting to $750,000 at 3 per cent interest outstanding against the Milton-Madison span, the proceeds from the sale of the refunding issues plus the money now available from the sinking fund would retire these bonds and reduce the outstanding indebtedness to $730,000, and the new issue bearing interest at a lowered rate. The first issue of the 3 per cent bonds mature Jan. 1, 1935, and are redeemable this January at par plus a premium of 2 per cent.
Deaths: James Oscar Rowlett, 32, Madison, as a result of a taxicab-truck collision on state road 62.
80 years ago
Nov. 27, 1930
For the first time in the history of the city, Bedford now boosts a nicely surfaced main street, hard and wide enough to accommodate the traffic, which increases day by day. During the week tile has been laid on each side of the concrete paving on Main from Church Street to Spring Street. Some fifteen feet of crushed stone has been placed on each side of the concrete, which makes the street almost fifty feet wide.
The crushed stone at each side of the street is for head-in parking, as that makes more room for parking and easier backing to get your car out as do one can drive up and block you in. This wide space on each side will take care of many cars if it is properly used, and it is hoped that drivers will please remember the simple rule to "park head-in to the curb."
Deaths: Ruby Ewing Dunn, 9, son of John and Dollie Dunn; Frederick Hamilton, 68, Carmel neighborhood.
Hilda Parrish is office manager at The Banner and a long-tie resident of Bedford. She is an avid historian and genealogist.
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Tearful goodbyes to the woman who made Downtown taste better
Nearly 250 people gathered Feb. 12 at the Downtown's Illusion Theater to remember Pam Sherman -- a risk-taking, trend-setting and beloved artist/chef often credited with making the city's restaurant scene what it is today.
Sherman. 62, died of bile duct cancer earlier this month in Tijuana, Mexico. Friends acknowledge that she was there for specialized treatment and the chance to catch a few rays in her dwindling days.
Illusion's Executive Producer Director Michael Robbins, 52, first met Sherman when he was 19. They were members of a small street theater troupe that regularly protested the Vietnam War.
Robbins and Sherman again found themselves making local history in the mid-70s when Robbins opened the Illusion Theater above Sherman's New French Caf in the Warehouse District -- back when it was really filled with warehouses.
Robbins said he and the other handful of artists in the area couldn't afford the finer offerings in Sherman's restaurant, but they were always up for a beer from the bar and a good croissant. "Back then, people didn't even know what a croissant was," he added as an example of how Sherman's French flare influenced the Minneapolis restaurant scene.
Tens of thousands of dollars contributed during December's "Raising Dough" bake sale at Uptown's Chino Latino helped Sherman pay for her Mexican trip and treatment. Hundreds of restaurant owners, chefs and patrons had contributed or purchased baked goods. According to Robbins many visual and performing artists were also volunteering their time to "schlep things around that day."
The week before she left, Robbins and two other close friends took Sherman to a movie at Block E. "It was "Catch Me If You Can,'" said Robbins, "Very funny."
Robbins said Sherman was in high spirits, "she always had a great sense of humor."
This spirit and sense of humor, he said, was reflected in her Feb. 12 memorial, despite a good deal of sadness. The memorial eulogy was given by Barbara Camms, who reminded those in attendance that Sherman, who also worked at the Minneapolis Institute of the Arts, was an excellent painter, "An artist in everything that she did."
"Anyone who knew her spirit wouldn't cotton to moping around," said Robbins. "She will be missed."
Shortly before her illness was diagnosed, Sherman wrote the "Food" column for Skyway News. At the time, she was working at the University of Minnesota and was excited about helping Downtown workers, residents and shoppers pick out the best meals and freshest food at the Nicollet Mall Farmer's Market. The staff of Skyway News mourns her passing and offers our condolences to her family and friends, and all others whose lives she touched.


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cbcr wrote:CRV is selling NZ Jersey as well as the KIWI which is a HOJO cross. https://sires.crv4all.us/shop/us/catalog/JNZ
Viking Genetics- Jersey semen is being distributed by Creative Genetics of California http://creativegeneticsofca.com/
I see Murmur still near the top of the list. My ones are coming up four and expecting their third calves in the spring; didn't use him again, he works well in some herds but is of a type I think improves with age provided the udder can hold up.
I'm presuming Taurus still carry LIC semen, which is the other big seller of dairy bulls within NZ.


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Availability: Out of stock
Let your athlete in the making stand out at the pool in our eye-catching Drawy briefs. These high-tech trunks are printed on the back with a three-dimensional sketch of our logo and name. We've added contrasting stitching for upgraded athletic styling.
Our technologically advanced Maxlife fabric is durable enough to face your rising champion's swim sessions. Chlorine and sunlight-resistant, anti-pilling and super comfy, our state-of-the-art textile will keep his focus on swimming in a suit that fits like new.
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We create boys' swimsuits with a no-tug fit for fast swimming without distractions. These briefs measure 5.5 cm in length and will give your aquatic champion the freedom of movement and comfort he needs for training, racing and having fun at the pool. Inner brief for an extra level of protection.
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Follow the washing instructions given on your product label.
The label provides useful symbols giving information on how to take best care of it.


text:
The critics have spoken, and "Grown Ups 2" is the winner -- as the worst movie of the summer so far.
Although the Adam Sandler comedy is expected to do good business in its debut this weekend, the sequel has attracted a blizzard of critical bashes, generating only 7% positive notices, according to the aggregation site Rotten Tomatoes.
That's an improvement of sorts from the initial wave of reviews for the Sandler film, where a rock-bottom 0% of the "Grown Ups 2" reviews were listed as favorable.


text:
Chair with polished or painted aluminium fixed trestle base, mounted on self-braking castors. The wood shell is available in three colours (natural oak, bleached oak or wengè). Available steel armrests.
Catifa 53 is the spark from which an entire seating system has been created. Unique in style, the models and materials used are evolving constantly – and the focus on users' well-being and environmental balance is just as constant. A design concept that is stylishly direct in use and aesthetic appeal, it adapts to any environment and situation, depending on the model selected: kitchen or living room, office or restaurant, waiting room or hotel. The Catifa 53 collection provides scope for numerous style and customisation solutions. The shell is available in wood or one- or two-colour polypropylene using the Color-Bi procedure: an Arper patent. Catifa 53 can be upholstered in leather, faux-leather, fabric, hide or cuoietto. A range of options is also available for the base: 4-leg, sled or swivel, with or without armrests, in steel or aluminium, height-adjustable office chair, or bench. Now Catifa 46 and 53 can be further customized with fabric covers that slide on and zip up to enliven and adapt polypropelene shells. Available in a curated selection of Kvadrat fabrics, the covers incorporate contrasting top-stitch patterns to create focus and interest as well as comfort and warmth. A welcome addition to the Catifa family, these useful garments even further extend the ability of the system to adapt to almost any application or environment. Covers can be laundered, replaced, or alternated. A change of attire can create a whole new attitude. Experiment here. For the one- or two-colour polypropylene models with trestle and 4-leg base in chromed steel, Arper has obtained Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) certification. The models in non-upholstered polypropylene and base in painted steel or aluminium have been awarded Good Environmental Choice Australia (GECA) certification.
Arper is an Italian company producing and distributing office, home and contract sector furniture worldwide.


text:
Browsing Ph.D. theses (IBC) by Title
Now showing items 1-14 of 14
A Study of the Pre-implementation Phase of SundhedsplatformenKrogh, Simon (Frederiksberg, 2016)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: This study reports on the extended time period prior to the introduction of the largest ever Health IT implementation in Denmark – Sundhedsplatformen. The focus of the dissertation is on organizational implications of introducing new technology and more specifically the anticipation of organizational members waiting for changes to take effect. The 3-year period leading up to the 'go-live' of Sundhedsplatformen has been a unique opportunity to study the anticipatory phase in connection with large scale IT project and has resulted in the development of a theoretical / conceptual framework for the analysis of this pre-implementation phase. Three major findings have come out of the study. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/9396
Files in this item: 1Simon Krogh.pdf (3.024Mb)
Cross-lingual concept mapping based on the information receiver's prior-knowledgeGlückstad, Fumiko Kano (Frederiksberg, 2012)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: A Japanese acquaintance who has been living in Denmark for more than 40 years formulated his difficult mission of undertaking translation tasks in the following way: "Once I deeply understood the two cultures [Denmark and Japan] and the cultural differences/nuances of conceptual meanings existing in the two countries, it became impossible for me to translate culturally-specific terms into the other language. Existing language resources [dictionaries etc.] are in this context useless". What he was frustratingly expressing is that it becomes virtually an impossible task to precisely translate or convey the meaning of a Culturally-Specific Concept (CSC) if no exact equivalent concept exists in the Target Language (TL) culture. Despite this inherent frustration, communicators or translators are still required to convey such CSCs into a TL in an optimal manner such that a TL reader can instantly infer the original meaning of a given Source Language (SL) concept. In short, the key issue is whether there can be found a way to solve this inherently frustrating situation which even skilled human translators cannot easily cope with ? The challenge of translating CSCs from an SL is not only caused by the absence of equivalent concepts in a TL culture, but also due to differences of the background knowledge possessed by the two parties involved in a cross-cultural communication scenario. Sperber & Wilson (1986) emphasize that, although all humans live in the physical world, mental representations are constructed differently due to differences in our close environment and our different cognitive abilities. Because people use different languages and have mastered different concepts, the way they construct representations and make inference is also dissimilar. Since an individual possesses a total cognitive environment that is the set of facts based on his/her perceptual ability, inferential ability, actual awareness of facts, knowledge he/she has acquired and so on, it is much easier to achieve a so-called "asymmetric" coordination between communicator and audience (Sperber & Wilson, 1986).... URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/8546
Files in this item: 1Fumiko_Kano_Gluckstad.pdf (11.35Mb)
Insights into Language Choice from a Case Study of Danish and Austrian Multinational Corporations (MNCs)Bellak, Nina (Frederiksberg, 2014)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: International businesses like multinational corporations (MNCs) operate across national, cultural and linguistic borders both internally and externally, and thus are under pressure to make language choices. Despite the increasing tendency towards 'English only', little is known about whether language can be managed. In addressing this research gap, the present thesis explores language choice in four MNCs. A deeper understanding of language choice in its social context enables us to learn more about the manageability of language in such international business contexts. The theoretical framework draws on primarily sociolinguistic theories, combined with concepts from applied linguistics, language policy and planning/management, linguistic anthropology, translation studies, social psychology, and international business and management. The analyses in this qualitative case study are based on different empirical data, though with a focus on interview data, collected from two Danish and two Austrian headquarters and selected subsidiaries. The findings suggest that language choice is a social, contextually-bound and multilingual phenomenon. More specifically, the MNCs operate as multilingual speech communities where headquarters and subsidiaries choose their own language and English as a lingua franca only if necessary. The notions of corporate language and language policy are partly negatively connotated and point towards non-management. Furthermore, participants' language choices are informed by (1) their language proficiency (first language and possible foreign languages), (2) their roles, role relationships within the employment domain, and politeness strategies, all shaped by relative status and power, (3) their attitudes to language and motivations, and (4) social forces external to the MNC community. At a more abstract level, social context is defined by (1) social-linguistic, (2) social-relational, (3) social-psychological and (4) social-regulatory contextual dimensions that inform or impose the choices of HQ languages, local/customer languages and English (as a lingua franca). The language choices can involve code-switching/-mixing, passive multilingualism, translation and interpretation, language learning and acquisition, human resource management (selective recruitment and staff relocation). Most of the choices are in fact made at both the individual and corporate levels, which are hard to separate from one another. The corporate level is fragmented into individual executives who make language choices in their own right which are far from harmonized. An additional level is external forces (e.g. authorities, laws) that impose the use of multiple languages on the MNCs. Finally, language choices vary across the MNCs' organizational units, internal and external communications and communicative situations. It can be concluded that language choice is a social, complex, context-dependent and multilingual phenomenon which makes it hard to control or regulate. In conclusion, my research indicates that language management in international business contexts undertaken by MNCs can hardly be centralized or monolingual. Under the influence of external forces, it is even beyond their control. This suggests that language management needs to be localized, multilingual and sensitive to social context. Ultimately, one could question whether language needs to be managed at all or should be better left to individual choice. This knowledge can contribute to both research and business practice. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/8973
Files in this item: 1Nina_Bellak.pdf (2.797Mb)
An eye-tracking and key-logging studySjørup, Annette Camilla (Frederiksberg, 2013)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: This thesis, titled Cognitive effort in metaphor translation – an eye-tracking and key-logging study, is an empirical investigation of professional translators' cognitive effort during metaphor translation. Metaphors are defined as expressions in which one concept is used to characterise another concept, such as Peter is a wolf in which the characteristics of the wolf are used to define Peter. As a point of departure, the thesis adopts the direct access view of metaphors in which metaphors are regarded as unambiguous expressions which are interpreted as metaphors directly. Metaphors have primarily been researched in monolingual studies such as Glucksberg (2001) and Inhoff et al. (1984), who investigated how metaphors are processed and the cognitive effort required for this processing compared with literal expressions. The conclusion to their studies was that metaphors were not more cognitively effortful to process than literal expressions and that they were not necessarily more ambiguous either. Dagut (1987) and Newmark (1985, 1988) discussed metaphors from a translation perspective in which they regarded metaphors as a particular translation problem. Trim (2007) argued that the translatability of metaphors was related to their language-specific saliency. Neither Dagut, Newmark or Trim was empirical in his methodology, and the purpose of this thesis was to bridge the gap between the empirical methodology used in metaphor comprehension research and the more qualitative methodology used in metaphor translation research. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/8698
Files in this item: 1Annette_Camilla_Sjørup.pdf (2.263Mb)
Understanding Preparation and PlanningLindholst, Morten (Frederiksberg, 2015)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: Most scholars agree that engaging in preparation and planning is key to a negotiation's effectiveness but research has largely focused solely on what happens at the negotiation table, rather than in preparation for it. This thesis addresses the balance by clarifying which preparation and planning activities are undertaken to conduct a complex business negotiation. It examines not only what activities are conducted, but also by whom, and when. One important question for both practitioners and researchers alike is the extent to which practitioners follow the recommendations of what is an extensive and highly varied literature on negotiation preparation. A review of the literature enabled a comprehensive activity checklist to be developed which, coupled with a number of propositions about how preparation could be expected to be conducted, formed the foundation for the data collection and analysis. The bulk of research into negotiation uses data drawn from populations in experimental design settings. However, this study follows a qualitative research design, which has multiple sources of inquiry and which draws upon data grounded in a large global, industrial company and, thereby, contributes to the limited selection of negotiation research that is conducted outside of university settings. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/9198
Files in this item: 1Morten Lindholst.pdf (2.950Mb)
An Everyday PerspectiveChristensen, Elizabeth Benedict (Frederiksberg, 2016)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: In this dissertation, I qualitatively explore the everyday lived experiences of thirty-three 1.5 generation undocumented youth (1.5GUY) in the United States. Specifically, I examine how 1.5GUY experience and cope with sense of belonging (SofB) in their everyday lives in relation to their undocumented legal status (ULS). These youth, who have migrated at or before the age of twelve, have grown up and been socialized in the United States. Due to the Supreme Court Case, Plyler v. Doe (1982), primary and secondary (K- 12) educational access has been extended to all children, regardless of legal immigration status. Because the 1.5GUY have the opportunity to participate in everyday social, educational, and cultural life even despite their ULS, their experiences of belonging are relatively privileged in relation to their second generation undocumented contemporaries. However, their opportunity for participation parity is temporary, decreasing, and comes to an abrupt end during their transitions to adulthood, when the need for legal status becomes increasingly more salient in everyday life. In my exploratory and phenomenological study, I analyze narratives constructed through semistructured interviews with 1.5GUY and supplement this material with data from participant observation. In my examination, I focus on the relationship between ULS and SofB in everyday life, and especially the relationship between emotions, experiences, and performances. I analyze empirical material for the presence of emotions and experiences related to SofB, for example attachment, comfort, inclusion, participation, identification, safety, and community and conversely, insecurity, instability, uncertainty, doubt, compromised identity, and exclusion that may influence SofB. I am interested in the banalities of everyday scenarios—actions, interactions, and locations—that shape the 1.5GUY's SofB. To capture the dynamics and diversity of experiences, emotions, and coping strategies related to SofB, I incorporate theories of identity, recognition, and citizenship, and related concepts such as the right to the city, participation parity, and coming out. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/9319
Files in this item: 1Elizabeth Benedict Christensen.pdf (2.187Mb)
Kirkedal, Andreas Søeborg (Frederiksberg, 2016)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: Stød is a prosodic feature in Danish spoken language that is able to distinguish lexemes. This distinction can also identify word class and has the potential to improve the performance of automatic speech recognisers for Danish spoken language. Stød manifestation exhibits a large amount of variability and may be perceptual in nature, because stød in some cases can be audibly perceived yet not be visible in a spectrogram. The variability is the primary reason there is currently no agreed upon acoustic or phonetic definition of stød. The working definition of stød is ". . . a kind of creaky voice" (Grønnum, 2005) and "stød is not just creak" (Hansen, 2015). In the present work, we investigate whether stød can be exploited in automatic speech recognition. To exploit stød without an acoustic or phonetic definition, we need to use a (almost) zero-knowledge datadriven approach which is based on a number of assumptions that we investigate prior to conducting ASR experimentation. We assume that stød can be detected in audio input, using acoustic features. To detect stød, we need to identify features that signal stød, which requires annotated data. To select the right features, the stød annotation must be reliable and accurate. We therefore conduct a reliability study of stød annotation with inter-annotator agreement measures, rank acoustic features for stød detection according to feature importance using a forest of randomised decision trees and experiment with stød detection as a binary and multi-class classification task. The experiments identify a set of features important or stød detection and confirms that we can detect stød in audio. Lastly, we model stød in automatic speech recognition and show that significant improvements in word error rate can be gained simply by annotating stød in the phonetic dictionary at the expense of decoding speed. Extending the acoustic feature vectors with pitch-related features and other features of voice quality also give significant performance improvement on both read-aloud speech and spontaneous speech. Decoding speed increases when we extend the acoustic feature vectors and actually improve decoding speed over the baseline where stød is not modelled. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/9336
Files in this item: 1Andreas_Søeborg_Kirkedal.pdf (5.921Mb)
A Semiotic Approach to the Sentence Forms Chosen by British, Danish and Russian Speakers in Native and ELF ContextsIbsen, Olga Rykov (Frederiksberg, 2016)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: According to Durst-Andersen's theory of communicative supertypes all languages can roughly be described as belonging to one of the following supertypes: (1) reality-oriented languages such as Russian and Hindi that speak of reality through the situation being common to the speaker and the hearer; (2) speaker-oriented languages such as Spanish and Japanese that speak of reality through the speaker's experience of the situation; and finally (3) hearer-oriented languages such as Danish and English that speak of reality through the hearer's experience of it. Using the above-mentioned approach, this dissertation investigates the following hypotheses: (I) native speakers of British English prefer indirect requesting strategies; (II) Danes and Russians favour direct requesting strategies in their mother tongue; (III) Danes and Russians transfer direct requesting strategies from their mother tongue to English; (IV) British, Danish, and Russian speakers prefer interrogative sentence structures with the situations where the speaker and hearer do not 'share the same world'. Cross-cultural data consisting of the Trolley (Permission), the Window (Prohibition), and the Library (Impossibility) situations has been collected through role play from Danish, Russian, and English speakers (control group) at Carlsberg, and consists of both English Lingua Franca Data and Mother Tongue Data. The analysis of these three situations partially provided support for hypothesis I with the native speakers of English and II with the Russians though not with the Danes. By construing requests in terms of a 'problem-solving' activity, I found that almost half of the British English speakers 'solved the problem' straightaway by using the imperative sentence structure in the Trolley situation, e.g. Put your luggage on the trolley! Yet, among the three groups, the British English speakers were the only group who employed interrogatives most often. Both the Russian and Danish speakers preferred to solve the problem by offering their 'best bid for a solution of a problem' in the form of the declarative sentence structure in English, like.g. You can put your luggage on the trolley, whereas they preferred other ways of solving the problem in their native languages: the Russian mother tongue speakers overwhelmingly solved the problem on the spot with the help of the imperative form as in Stav'te svoi vešči na moju teležku! for 'Put (IPFV) your belongings on my trolley!', and the Danish mother tongue speakers mostly chose to solve the problem by 'stating' it, which is done with the hlp of the interrogative sentence structure, like Skal jeg ikke lige smide den med på min vogn ? for 'Don't you want me to throw it on my trolley?'. Hypothesis III was also partially confirmed with the Russians, who appeared to transfer the imperative sentence structure from Russian to Russian English in the Trolley and the Library situations. In addition, due to the original view on directives as trichotomous entities, it was possible to discover covert influence of Russian aspect and transfer of the imperative mood in Russian to Russian English. The analysis did not reveal any direct transfers of syntactic structures from Danish to Danish English. Finally, hypothesis IV was completely confirmed since the British, Danish, and Russian respondents largely preferred the interrogative sentence form with the Library situation. Even though the present study has analysed only a small sample, the findings for direct and subtle transfers from a mother tongue to English as a Lingua Franca can prove instrumental in improving global communication, say, in the form of developing teaching material for cross-cultural business organisations that use English as medium of communication. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/9338
Files in this item: 1Olga_Rykov_Ibsen.pdf (5.974Mb)
Understanding searchAlfort, Esben (Frederiksberg, 2013)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: This thesis provides a framework for information retrieval based on a set of models which together illustrate how users of search engines come to express their needs in a particular way. With such insights, we may be able to improve systems' capabilities of understanding users' requests and through that eventually the ability to satisfy their needs. Developing the framework necessitates discussion of context, relevance, need development, and the cybernetics of search, all of which are controversial topics. Transaction log data from two enterprise search engines are analysed using a specially developed method which classifies queries according to what aspect of the need they refer to. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/8720
Files in this item: 1Esben_Alfort.pdf (5.804Mb)
Schachtenhaufen, Ruben (Frederiksberg, 2013)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: Med udgangspunkt i det danske talesprogskorpus DanPASS undersøges tilbøjeligheden til fonetisk reduktion i dansk talesprog i forhold til en række intralingvistiske faktorer. I undersøgelsen udføres en kortlægning mellem 300.000 fonemer og foner. På baggrund af denne kortlægning er det muligt at danne et meget detaljeret billede af både hvor i sproget den fonetiske realisering afviger fra den fonologisk forudsagte form, og naturen af denne afvigelse. I afhandlingen fokuseres der på den type afvigelser der kan karakteriseres som reduktioner, dvs. svækkelse og bortfald af de enkelte lydsegmenter. De reducerede forekomster sammenlignes med de øvrige annoterede lag i korpusset, herunder grammatiske, informationsstrukturelle og prosodiske forhold. Det demonstreres at tilbøjeligheden til reduktion, såvel som reduktionernes fonetisk resultat, i høj grad er knyttet til lingvistisk faktorer, såsom ordklasse, grammatisk funktion, ny vs. kendt information, fokus, emfase mm. foruden en række fonologiske faktorer. Reduktioner bliver ofte betragtet som sprogligt ukrudt, men på baggrund af den systematiske sammenhæng med informationsbærende elementer i sproget, virker det rimeligt at betragte reduktioner som funktionelle elementer, der er understøttende for kommunikationen snarere end forstyrrende. I afhandlingen udforskes og dokumenteres en række tilbøjeligheder som ikke tidligere er undersøgt i dansk, og kun sparsomt i internationale sammenhænge. Herigennem opnås et dybere indblik i dansk lydstruktur og de mønstre som reduktioner generelt ser ud til at følge. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/8676
Files in this item: 1Ruben_Schachtenhaufen.pdf (2.520Mb)
Using eye Tracking to Further user Interface DesignPram Nielsen, Louise (Frederiksberg, 2015)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: The primary focus of this PhD dissertation is an eye-tracking experiment examining target-user performance on so-called dual-entry modes representing Danish taxation terminology, to determine whether terminological ontologies should be included in the user interface. The conventional concept-oriented articles of term banks, which describe the meaning of a term by means of text, are combined with concept-oriented diagrams, which represent the meaning of a term by means of a terminological ontology displaying the underlying concepts, relations and characteristics. The latter provides the target users with overview and allows for the inference of consistent definitions, which in principle should benefit the target user. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/9168
Files in this item: 1Louise Pram Nielsen.pdf (7.491Mb)
A Cross-sector Study of Financial Service Companies and Manufacturing CompaniesSanden, Guro Refsum (Frederiksberg, 2015)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: Situated at the intersection of sociolinguistics and international business and management studies, this PhD project focuses on language management in two different industry sectors, namely the financial service sector and the manufacturing sector. Employing a multiple case study design consisting of two matched pair cases, the study examines the means by which language is managed, i.e. language management tools, in the two financial service companies Nordea and Saxo Bank and the two manufacturing companies Grundfos and ECCO. The contribution of the thesis lies in capturing the effect of industry sectors on corporate language management – a level of analysis which has largely been overlooked in previous research. The findings indicate that industry sectors embody great explanatory power with regard to the selection of language management tools at company level. The financial service companies and the manufacturing companies were found to have three sector-level factors in common, though with somewhat different outcomes. Economic geography increases the use of English for corporate level functions in the two financial service companies owing to the companies' presence in international financial centres. On the other hand, in the two manufacturing companies, this factor increases the need for multiple corporate languages and translation into the mother tongue spoken by the production workers in the industrial locations where English language skills tend to be scarce. In manufacturing, economic geography was also found to lead to the use of language intermediates as mediums of communication. In all case companies, global integration increases cross-border communication and the use of English for corporate level functions, which also increases selective recruitment of English-skilled employees in both sectors. Industry speak is found to be closely related to company-specific language in all case companies regardless of sector, and technological solutions are implemented in order to manage large term databases in both sectors. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/9174
Files in this item: 1Guro Refsum Sanden.pdf (3.766Mb)
A Corpus-Based Cross-Linguistic StudyGylling, Morten (Frederiksberg, 2013)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: Effective communication requires texts to be organised into a coherent discourse structure. But languages vary considerably in how they do this, posing a challenge for effective intercultural communication. Instead of relying on our own preferred persuasion style to be the most effective, we need to take into consideration that people with different linguistic and cultural backgrounds do not necessarily employ the same linguistic means in similar communication situations. This is of particular importance in a business context, and a profound understanding of cross-linguistic differences in the organisation of argumentative texts is needed. In order to address this challenge, this thesis presents a study of structural characteristics in argumentative texts across three different languages. The aim of the study is to examine some of the linguistic means that writers of different languages employ when creating persuasive discourses. The study is based on 150 Danish, English and Italian speeches held by Members of the European Parliament in their native language. The linguistic means under investigation are conceptualised as belonging to three different structural domains which account for different ways of linking discourse units in a text: a syntactically organised text structure, a rhetorically organised discourse structure and an information packaging organised information structure. The structural domains are defined from a cognitive-functional perspective and juxtaposed into a single analytical framework. The analyses show that writers across the three languages generally use the same rhetorical relations to build up persuasive discourses. But the analyses also reveal that the Danish, English and Italian writers textualise relations differently. The Danish writers use almost exclusively finite verb forms in coordinate and subordinate structures. The English writers tend to avoid explicating the rhetorical relations between discourse units, and the Italian writers tend to include more units inside the same sentence than the Danish and English writers. The analyses also suggest that the cross-linguistic differences in textualisation can be correlated with certain persuasive strategies. The Danish writers tend to persuade by analogy, making use of typical features from narratives. The English writers make use of presentational persuasion style, involving themselves in a more personal way than the Danish and Italian writers. And lastly, the Italian writers make use of typical features from quasilogical persuasion style, adopting a formal register and argumentation. This thesis formulates an analytical framework for a systematic investigation of the structure of discourse across languages, pairing theories and methods from the two parallel disciplines of linguistics and rhetoric in order to gain more insights into effective intercultural communication. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/8794
Files in this item: 1Morten_Gylling.pdf (2.451Mb)
The Understanding of English Emotion Words by Chinese and Japanese Speakers of English as a Lingua FrancaMosekjær, Stine (Frederiksberg, 2016)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: In this thesis I investigate the understanding and use of the English emotion words guilty, ashamed, and proud by Japanese and Chinese speakers of English as a lingua franca. By exploring empirical data I examine (1) how Japanese and Chinese participants understand and use the three stimulus words, (2) if their understanding and use differ from that of native English speakers, and (3) if so, what these differences are. In the thesis 65 participants are investigated. The participants consist of 20 native Japanese and 23 native Chinese. For comparison, a group of 22 British native English speakers is also investigated. The study is theoretically and conceptually founded in the literature of the interplay between language, culture, and thought, and draws on notions from the fields of cross-cultural semantics and emotions. As existing methods are not adequate for the purpose of the thesis, a new methodological framework is created. The design of the framework is based on features from existing methods used for testing language association, and methods for testing the universality of emotions and their expressions. Models for exploring cultural semantics are also used as inspiration. The framework, which is based on the theoretical notion of the word as an image-idea pair as suggested by the theory of linguistic supertypes, consists of three tests each addressing three different aspects of the understanding and use of the stimulus words: the Free Association test (FA test), the Context Bound Association test (CBA test), and the Picture Driven Association test (PDA test). URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/9378
Files in this item: 1Stine_Mosekjær.pdf (4.946Mb)
Now showing items 1-14 of 14


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If the public were given a test concerning speed enforcement by the local police the primary question on the test would read: Speeding is enforced in Cramerton because:
A. The police chief said so.
B. The officer must make a ticket quota.
C. It generates revenue for the town.
D. None of the above.
The best answer to the question above, of course, is D. Truly, there are few activities in which law enforcement officers can engage that have the same level of positive impact as reducing the incidence of dangerous speed violations. Speed enforcement is simply about three things: changing driver attitude, preventing injuries, and saving lives. In fact, speed enforcement, along with other proactive and consistent enforcement of the traffic laws, is the only proven strategy to reduce deaths, injuries and property damage.
Consider both national and local traffic statistics. Every three days, more than 19,000 people � almost five times the population in Cramerton � are injured in the nearly 16,000 reported traffic crashes nationwide.
1. Excessive speed is a factor in more than 12,000 of these crashes. Some victims will be disabled for life, and others will suffer unimaginable pain, while still others who have inadequate or no insurance coverage will be burdens on society or will lack the care they need to once again become productive members of society. The cost to the national economy for crash-related injuries and deaths over a typical three-day period will exceed $1.8 billion
2. That�s money that could be used to address other pressing societal problems or reduce the nation�s ballooning governmental deficits. Locally, Cramerton Police investigate an average of 150 traffic crashes each year that result in over 100 injuries and nearly $500,000 in property damage.
3 The tragic fact is that most of these annual deaths and injuries and most of the property damage and economic losses are preventable, both nationally and here at home.
Locally, speed contributes to over 40 percent of reportable traffic crashes with 72 percent of those crashes occurring on local streets within the town and not on major highways such as Wilkinson
Now that we have looked at speeding related crash statistics, let�s examine the potential answers to our initial question. Does the police chief say to enforce the speed laws within the town?
Yes. Speeding is a critical roadway safety issue that requires and deserves high priority and adequate resources. Effective enforcement is critical to changing almost any driver behavior. Every police officer has an obligation to make traffic stops and take necessary enforcement action to change driver behavior. Traffic enforcement is not designed to be an annoyance or punishment � it is designed to have an impact on driver attitude about traffic safety and to remind them to remain cognizant of the traffic laws.
So, are there quotas put in place for officers? No. Officers are not instructed to write a certain number of citations during any given time period. Enforcement in North Carolina by police officers is through officer discretion. During any traffic stop, for any violation, the officer has sole discretion whether they issue a verbal warning, a written warning, or a state citation. From time to time officers are told to increase enforcement in areas of the town based on factors such as an increase in the traffic flow in the area, a rise in traffic crashes in the area, special circumstances such as road construction or increased pedestrian traffic, and of course citizen complaints. Complaints of excessive speed in neighborhoods most often come from residents of the neighborhood and the violators are most often their own neighbors.
Does a speeding citation in Cramerton generate revenue for the town? No. The town of Cramerton does not receive any funds generated by the issuance of speeding citations or any other traffic violation. In fact, all of the court costs and penalties accessed by the court for those violations go to the operation of the courts and to the state.
Let�s examine a speeding citation written on Eighth Avenue for a driver who was traveling 51 mph in the 35-mph zone. If the driver was found responsible by the court for the violation he would owe court costs of $190. Of that $190, $129.50 would go to the general court of justice, $16 would go toward the courthouse facilities and its infrastructure (telephones, power, etc.), $7.50 would be applied toward the state�s law enforcement retirement fund, $2 would go toward law enforcement training, $5 would go toward the court�s service programs, $2 would be applied to the state�s DNA database program, and the final $10 would go toward legislative programs.
Many have the misconception that the town benefits from issuance of traffic citations; they are correct in only one way � the safety of the residents and visitors of this community. Driver behavior is crucial to creating a safe environment for everyone using the roadway. Controlling speed is no accident.
It is the responsibility of each driver to ensure safety for others and themselves and it is the responsibility of the local police to ensure compliance with existing traffic laws.
Greg Ratchford is chief of police for the town of Cramerton.


text:
TRENTON, Ohio (AP) -- A southwest Ohio school district will allow administrators to walk its hallways with loaded handguns.
Edgewood Schools joins a handful of Ohio schools that have approved letting school personnel carry weapons, as schools try to improve security in the aftermath of deadly school shootings last year in Connecticut and northeast Ohio.
The Cincinnati Enquirer (http://cin.ci/136PjcW ) reports that board members this week voted to allow school principals and their top assistants to carry loaded guns on a voluntary basis in the district's five school buildings.
The administrators must hold concealed-carry licenses, and be trained and certified by the Ohio Officer Training Academy unless they have 20 years of law enforcement officer experience.
Board member Jim Miller says the move is meant to deter potential criminals.
Information from: The Cincinnati Enquirer, http://www.enquirer.com


text:
Britney Spears is an inspiration to millions — including her adorable niece!
Former Nickelodeon star Jamie Lynn Spears, 21, shared a photo of her 4-year-old daughter, Maddie, via Instagram October 2. In the sweet shot, the tot re-created her aunt's famous Catholic school girl look from the 1998 music video "…Baby One More Time" to celebrate "celebrity day" during her school's Homecoming Week, Jamie Lynn explained.
Britney's look was, of course, much more risque. At 16 years old, her midriff-baring ensemble drew heavy criticism — not that she minded. "It was such a wonderful experience," she told MTV News in 2000 of the song and video that launched her into superstardom.
Director Nigel Dick, 59, opened up about the music video shoot during a 2009 interview with MTV News. "My idea originally was just jeans and T-shirts, and we were at the wardrobe fitting and Britney holds up the jeans and T-shirts and says, 'Wouldn't I wear a schoolgirl outfit?' Every piece of wardrobe in the video came from Kmart, and I was told at the time not one piece of clothing in the video cost more than $17. On that level, it's real. That probably, in retrospect, is a part of its charm."
In a March 2012 interview with Glamour, Jamie Lynn opened up about her relationship with her big sister, 30. "[Our bond as mothers], it's such a big thing, you know? Especially 'cause there's an age gap there — she's 10 years older," the Zoey 101 star said. "I think if I were just a normal 20-year-old, I wouldn't be able to relate as much to her."
Jamie Lynn and Maddie's father, Casey Aldridge, ended their engagement in March 2009; they continued to date on-and-off until November 2010. Now engaged to Jason Trawick, Britney has two children with her ex-husband, Kevin Federline, 34: Sean Preston, 7, and Jayden James, 6.
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text:
As a foreign English speaker who never really studied too much English grammar other than the basics at high school, I am often struggling to use the correct form in certain phrases.
At being perhaps the easiest of all forms, I find it more difficult to determine when to use on or in.
I know things are on the table or in a box. I'm in a house at street XX,YY.
But are there any rules or ways to find (other than some weird exception) when to use each form?


text:
FAQ : What kind of interview is conducted for scholarship?
Student should describe his/her family and financial background and must provide the valid reasoning for the scholarship.
Other FAQs
Student should describe his/her family and financial background and must provide the valid reasoning for the scholarship.
|Fee Structure
|Are KhEC & KhCE same?
|Can a student be awarded with more than one scholarship ?
|Is there hostel facility in college?
|Does the college conduct any career based counselling programs ?
|How are students involved in the practical field of their respective courses?
|Can I get extra classes in college?
|Can any student change their running department?
|Is parent meeting conducted timely?
|When deposite can be refunded?
|What should student do for scholarship?
|Does college provide any scholarship?
|Can I get transfer or be transferred from another college?
|What is internship procedure?
|Does college provide any internship programs?
|What are some ways to stay active in college?
|Is there any online payment procedure?
|What advising and support services are available?
|How much time duration is there between eligible list publication and admission fee submission?
|What extra curriculum activities are conducted in college?
|Is college uniform compulsory?
|What is the procedure for interview?
|Can I get online form facility?
|What is the admission procedure?
|Who can apply for studying in this college?
|What courses are available now?
|How many college students take online courses?
|How good do you have to be to get a Scholarship?
|Why is it important to attend my college classes?
© 2019 Khwopa Engineering College. All rights reserved.
Designed & Developed By Er. Shiva K. Shrestha


text:
For 37 years, Elaine Lyerly has used her talents and energies to support the work of the American Red Cross
Last Thursday, she received the highest national award from the Red Cross � the Harriman Award for Distinguished Volunteer Service � which recognizes a volunteer who has provided extraordinary service that extends to people and places beyond the local community.
The award was presented at the American Red Cross Philanthropic Assembly in Washington, D.C. Also honored was was actor and humanitarian, Sean Penn who received the International Humanitarian Service Award for his extensive work in Haiti.
�I am honored to be among such incredible people. �People who have made an immeasurable commitment to help change our world,� said Lyerly. �Yet, I am also humbled in knowing there is still much work left to be done.�
Lyerly has provided dedicated service to the Red Cross for 37 years making invaluable local, national and international contributions.
In addition to her longtime commitment to her local chapter and blood services region, as well as her service on the National Board of Governors, Lyerly is one of the founding members of the Red Cross Tiffany Circle. Because of Lyerly , this philanthropic effort raised $45 million in the last six years and participation grew to more than 900 members in 70 cities and expanded to women around the world.
Lyerly�s next role will be as part of the strategic team to lay out a five-year plan for Women in Philanthropy. This initiative will further expand giving opportunities for women of the Red Cross.
Lyerly is president and CEO of the Belmont brand marketing and public relations firm Lyerly Agency. She has more than 35 years of experience in strategic marketing, advertising and public relations.
In addition to her agency experience, she is actively involved in civic activities, including the American Red Cross. She has been the recipient of many awards and honors, including the Women of Achievement Award from the Business Journal; the Schley Lyons Circle of Excellence Leadership Charlotte Award; and Woman Business Owner of the Year by the Charlotte Chapter of the National Association of Women Business Owners.


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Once again the weather held out for the Lithia Loop Trail Marathon. During the middle of the race some drizzle fell at the finish line while snow flurries swirled around runners and volunteers higher on the course. Ideal conditions for a USA Track and Field National Trail Marathon Championship.
The lead runners separated themselves immediately. A pack consisting of Aaron Saft (NC), Sam Robinson (CA), Jim Johnson (NH) and Max King (OR) pushed each other to the top of the first major climb (3000' in eight miles) at Upper Horn Gap. It was there that King made a move on the flatter section of the course to gain the lead for the rest of the race. He finished in 2:40:23. Robinson and Saft didn't make it easy for King as they finished roughly two and eight minutes behind him respectively.
In the men's master race Greg McMillan (AZ) and Dan Verrington (MA) took the early lead. McMillan worked his way through the pack, eventually passing a cramping Jim Johnson in the last mile to finish fourth overall in 2:54:50. Verrington finished second about ten minutes behind McMillan. Local harrier, JC Callans (Central Point, OR), finished third in the men's masters race in 3:08:25.
In the women's race things played out a little differently. Right from the gun, Cynthia Arnold (KY) took the lead and never looked back. At mile 23, however, she took a wrong turn and was directed by race management to retrace her steps and run the correct course. Arnold had built such a lead (14 minutes by 20 miles) that the extra mile of course correction did not affect her placing. She crossed the line in 3:08:42, seven minutes ahead of second place finisher Becca Ward (WA). Ward pushed hard to the finish in order to out-lean third place finisher Devon Crosby-Helms (CA) by six seconds. Kate Lapides (CO) finished first in the women's masters race and crossed the finish line in 3:48:57. Karla Nash finished second about 14 minutes back of Lapides. Local Ashland runner, Lisa Norvell, finished third in the women's master's division.
143 runners crossed this year's finish line. Full race results can be found here. We'd like to thank the more than thirty volunteers that spent their day on the course and made this race possible. Join us on November 6th, 2010 as the Lithia Loop Trail Marathon returns and plays host as the USA Track and Field National Trail Championships for yet another year.
Mailtribune's Jamie Lusch and Cathy Dunham.


text:
Ester Hernández grew up in California's San Joaquin Valley, where she unknowingly bathed in and drank polluted water and worked in an environment contaminated by pesticides. The Hernández family was actively involved in the struggle for farm workers' rights, an issue of great concern to César Chávez.
Questions about the effects of pesticides on agricultural workers prompted her to create Sun Mad. Her posters have been controversial. She recounts how Sun Mad began when she went "home to visit my mother in 1979, reading the articles she saved about water contamination in the barrio." After thinking about it for two years, and remembering her work as a farmhand, she focused her anger on the dangers of growing grapes for the raisin industry. "I focused on something personal, the Sun Maid box," she said. "Slowly I began to realize," she continued, "how to transform the Sun Maid and unmask the truth behind the wholesome figures of agribusiness. Sun Mad evolved out of my anger and my fear of what would happen to my family, my community, and to myself." She finds strength and inspiration in the Latina women with whom she has worked.
The quote is taken from Therese Thau Heyman's Posters American Style (New York and Washington, D.C.: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., in association with the National Museum of American Art, 1998).
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text:
Washing : Hand wash
Colour : Red
Material : Nylon
Brand : Leg Avenue Lingerie
Style : Hosiery
Size : One Size
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