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Brandon Collwes
You're from Pittsburgh. When did you start dancing?
I started dancing when I was 6. I started with gymnastics and there was a little musical-theater school in the same building—it was actually an old elementary building that had all these different things going on. So I had the gymnastics classes on one end and I felt like everyone was having more fun at the musical-theater school, so I talked my mom into letting me start classes there and I actually started with dance.
What kind of dance, do you remember?
It was jazz.
Did anyone in your family dance?
No. I have two brothers, and they're sports people. Pittsburgh's a healthy sports town, so it was kind of random. I don't think that my mother even really had a special fondness for the arts or anything; it was sort of like I wanted to do it and they were cool with it.
So you studied it for how long or continued there for how long?
I was super-young and I started just taking general acting classes and voice classes and was part of a little performing group that they had—I think it was called Broadway Kids. But at that school they also had a satellite school of the Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre. So I got into that. I was offered a scholarship and trained there up until I went to the performing arts high school in Pittsburgh. I did The Nutcracker there and stuff like that.
I'm always interested in young boys who decided to stick with dance and probably had to deal with grief. I think that's great.
Thanks. I lucked out with the performing arts high school thing though, you know? That was important, and for me to find myself there was easier for sure. I kind of kept it quiet. Not a lot of people knew exactly what I did. I mean I was always different and there was some bullying. But I do remember I got like the prince in The Nutcracker and there was my stupid picture all over billboards and all this crap, and just being like, "Oh no! I'm found out!" It was mortifying.
How old were you?
I must have been 10. There was one other boy, Stephen Hanna. I think he was maybe a year older. He was the only boy in this satellite of the Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre. Once I moved up in levels, there were other male dancers who came from different places to go to that school because they have a pretty good training program. I always gravitated more toward modern things and didn't really love the ballet. I didn't have that thing for it. It gave me a really great base. The technique was Balanchine and it was good for me. The director at that time was Patricia Wilde. David Holliday was the director of the school.
When did you start learning about modern dance or even studying it?
Once I went to the high school, we had like a modern class. And it was just like roll-on-the-floor-kind-of-modern. It wasn't steeped in any real technique, it was just someone's vision of what modern was. Every year at the performing arts high school, there was a national conference where you would audition for different summer programs like Bates and ADF [American Dance Festival]. I got a scholarship to the Graham school. I don't think that I even had any idea who she was. I remember going to the library and being excited about it. That really just opened up a whole lot to me at that point.
So you went to the Graham school in New York?
Yeah. For a summer. I think it was '97 or '96.
It was the original building on 63rd Street.
Yeah. I took class with, like, Pearl Lang. They were all around still, all those people. It was a six- or seven-week program and the teachers just rotated, and I don't really remember many of them. The first was Armgard [von Bardeleben]. She was great. At the end of every class, she was like, "Now we have to spend time rubbing our feet for fifteen minutes." It was very important to her that you respected your feet.
Did you like the technique? Because it can be challenging for men.
I have this open-hip thing, so it wasn't that bad. I was fortunate and I was young enough and flexible—it worked for my body at that time. I remember I took work with a small modern company in Pittsburgh and the director, upon hearing that I was going to do this, said, "You might have a lot of problems with your body," and scared me a little. He said, "Just take it easy." I guess he had a bad experience with it, but it worked for me.
What was it like just living in New York for a summer?
It was crazy. I just remember not knowing where I was, ever. I had some roommates that were dancers from Pittsburgh that I sort of knew, but I wasn't really close with either, and they were much older than me. I made some friends at the school and got to see a lot of the free dance stuff. I think that was the first time I saw Cunningham; they did Lincoln Center. So I was exposing myself to a lot and taking a lot of different ballet classes and as soon as I got back, I just hated Pittsburgh even more. I totally wanted to get out.
Did you have a plan?
Not really. I just felt like I wanted to dance in a concert dance company. I didn't know what that meant, to be honest. I don't think I really figured anything out direction-wise until I went to ADF, which I did the next summer. Same thing: I got a scholarship. After ADF, I was exposed to more and had a better idea of what I wanted to do and I knew that the ballet thing, truly, wasn't what I wanted to do at all. The whole narrative and the acting part of it just didn't appeal to me.
Who did you study with at ADF?
The first year, I was with Mark Haim. Also, I worked with these really amazing Chinese choreographers from Guangdong: Li Hanzhong and Ma Bo, and they were married. They completed each other's choreographic sentences. That was great because I got to dance in this huge production. The idea of the piece was that there was something going on in the news in China that was affecting their local village and they didn't really have any information about what was really going on until they went to Australia. And then once their eyes were opened to international press and they realized how much is suppressed in the media there, they had this reaction to it and made a piece. It was pretty cool. I think I was in a suit and stripped to a dance belt. It was one of those like full-on performing weird experiences. It was good.
Did you take any Cunningham classes there?
They didn't have Cunningham. I took a Trisha Brown class. I worked with Gerri Houlihan too, which was really cool. She danced for Lar [Lubovitch] for a really long time and her class is so nice. Sort of Limn-based too. That was my summer in between sophomore and junior year. During my junior year I was just really wanting to get out of Pittsburgh, so I came up with this idea that I was going to take a leave from high school with intention of getting my GED. I was going to audition at Juilliard. I got a job at Dancing Through Barriers, Dance Theatre of Harlem's second company, because my ballet teacher at home danced there and had a good connection. Once I found out that I got into Juilliard, I quit Dancing Through Barriers because I hated it. It was like the worst thing ever. I also didn't really fit in. These were people who really want to be ballet dancers and I was so good at that at that time that people prodded me to really pursue something like that, but I was always like, It's not for me.
That's cool to have that knowledge of yourself.
Yeah. So I got into Juilliard.
What was that audition like?
It was strange. I remember showing up ten minutes late—I didn't really know how to get there and I remember being like, Oh my God, this is ridiculous. I had my tights under my jeans so I was ready to go. I put on my white shirt in the hall and they were calling everyone in and I was like, Oh crap. What an idiot. Everyone else had their parents there.
By the way, did you have to talk your parents into this?
Sort of. [Laughs] I think they just knew that I was stifled where I was. They always thought, We'll let him try something and if it doesn't work then there's always something else.
So back to the audition.
I made it through the first cut, which is just the ballet class. Then I did my first solo and I got a bloody nose at the end of it. It was sort of awesome. There was blood on my little white shirt. I felt really like mortified that that had happened, of course, and I was stressing really bad and then the rest of the day just went on. I did my second solo, no blood. Had a second white shirt, it was cool.
Did you have nosebleeds a lot when you danced?
No. This was totally like random January, radiator-dry weather. I don't know. [Laughs]
Do you remember your solos? Did you choreograph them yourself?
I choreographed one of them and it was to something from the Trainspotting soundtrack. And the other one, a dance teacher from my high school had choreographed for me. Neither were classical whatsoever. I'm sure there was a layout.
I like layouts.
[Laughs] Why not?
They're coming back. So how did you hear you got in?
Just a letter in the mail, and I was totally excited. I decided I was going to go home and get ready for school. Took my GED and passed it in a day. For the rest of my time in Pittsburgh, I taught a lot. For like a couple summers too, I would choreograph at the Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera. They have these really great summer programs for kids, so I've done every musical you can ever imagine. I performed in some when I was younger, but I didn't have that love of it. So it was always a funny approach to like figure out, How am I going to make this work? I don't really have in my repertoire standard, show-stopping things. It was kind of fun figuring out with them.
Is that how you saved money to be able to live here?
Yeah. I made a lot of money doing that.
What was the Juilliard experience like for you?
Short. [Laughs]
What happened?
I did it for a year and loved it. And then I went to ADF for the second time that summer and worked with John Jasperse and had a taste of more of a postmodern thing. Did some Trisha Brown rep. And I really felt like the training I was getting at Juilliard was great, but seemed like the same situation I had been in before. [Then-director] Benjamin Harkarvy wanted me to be a ballet dancer. He thought I had the facility to do NDT [Netherlands Dans Theater]. That was their whole thing—to do stuff like that.
He loved that crap.
He loved it. The competitive nature of the program and the amount of money that it cost started to really stress me out. Financially, it was really difficult for my family; I always knew that. I got to my second year and I made it through my first semester, and I decided to take a break because I was really struggling in the program. I was doing so many projects—I didn't know how to say no. I just pushed and pulled. At the same time, they were doing this weird documentary for American Masters, so it was my class that they followed around and it had this absurd Real World element too. I didn't feel great there.
Was it that it was hard to have studied with John Jasperse and then you're at Juilliard taking Graham classes?
Yeah. Graham or Taylor, which I really don't like. The people that I had known who had left—I was realizing that they were having their dancing careers in college and then a lot of them got really burned out and didn't really work. Or maybe they were just too selective about the kind of work that they wanted to do. I just felt like I don't need a degree to dance, but initially I was just taking a break. I started taking class at Cunningham. I was still in the city. I got a scholarship and just really, really liked it. What is funny though, is that Benjamin Harkarvy, as much as he really did not have an appreciation for Cunningham or the aesthetic of that work, he did tell me once in a jury: "There's something about your arms that I feel could be greatly benefited by some Cunningham classes, maybe you should go down there." I think that was the first time I ever even really considered that.
Did that get you to the studio?
I guess. But I think it was more like an ad in the Village Voice for free classes. It was amazing. I was like, You still can have this really physical experience with a technique that's so modern. And to have seen some of the dancers in the company at that time, they were phenomenal. I had been having so many different experiences with so many different people with everyone telling me, "Oh yeah, you could do that," or "You could do that." This was the first time that it was something I would want to do.
How did you end up at Purchase?
Then 9/11 happened. The first time I was ever at the studio was 9/11. That was the audition day for the program. I saw the first plane—or maybe it was the second—from the 14th street stop on Greenwich and Eighth. And I think I was just like, That's crazy. I didn't take it in. I just continued to the audition. I got there and the person at the front desk said, "Do you know what happened?" It was odd to be at Westbeth because there are so many nutjobs that live in that building anyway, right? So they're all out on the roof with their binoculars, and it felt really weird. I remember leaving the studio and going to Washington Square Park—hanging out, walking home. I lived in Washington Heights. They rescheduled the audition for like the next week, but it was such a weird time in the city to be on your own. And that's what eventually made me think that I should go back to school. I should be in a program. The city just started to feel really dark to me, and I kind of wanted a break.
You did want some structure?
Yeah, and I was still hanging out with some of my Juilliard friends. At one point I considered going back there. They said that I could come back but that I would have to basically start all over again, and that didn't feel right. So I ended up going back to Pittsburgh knowing that I was going to go to SUNY the following year. I did that for a year and really didn't like it. I had a friend who moved to the Netherlands and was working with Scapino Ballet, so I thought, Maybe I'll hang out there. I'm going to go to Rotterdam Dance Academy and finish my degree there. Because at this point, I only needed minimal credits left to get a standard BA. I thought I was going to do this choreography program there; upon arriving there, they're like, "Oh yeah, we don't have that program anymore, but you can stay and be a part of the regular BA program and finish off that way." It was taking a Graham class from someone who's never taught at Graham. The ballet was good, it was Forsythe teachers; that was great. But it was super postmodern-roll-around-on-the-floor, and I like to move big. It just wasn't a good fit.
Wow. You've had an eventful life.
Yeah I've had a little adventure figuring out my own path. Mostly it was a good idea. I definitely remember being in Rotterdam: What's going on? What am I going to do now? And I think that's when I found out that Merce had made Split Sides and was working with Radiohead, and I was like, This is my calling. I love Radiohead so much. So I was like, I'm just going to go back to New York and I'm going to get a job with him. That was really my plan. And it kind of worked like that. I sold my bike to some little Dutch man, and I still had a lot of money from the summer I'd been teaching. I took one class and then I got a phone call from Robert [Swinston] saying I should come the next day to take a company class. He already knew of me from my previous time there and was considering me to be a RUG at that point, but the economy was completely tanking and 9/11, all that stuff—they weren't going to hire anyone for a really long time, no one was going to leave. So that didn't happen then for me, but it just worked out perfectly that someone was leaving. They were doing Antic Meet and they needed to replace someone really quickly, so I joined the repertory group within two days of being there. It was kind of a lot though, too. It was like, Okay, so this is what I wanted, I didn't think it was going to be like that.
Exactly. Who was in your RUG group?
Rashaun [Mitchell], Andrea [Weber], Marcie [Munnerlyn], Julie Cunningham and Kate Jewitt. I became the second man in Antic Meet, and I then think at that point, Andrea, Rashaun and Marcie already knew that they were getting in [the company]. I was the only man for a while, which was cool. It meant I had a lot of interactions with Merce. We performed Antic Meet a lot, which I'm grateful I don't have to do as a company member, actually.
Well, just because it was like theatrical and act-y.
It wasn't the Cunningham you wanted.
It wasn't the Cunningham I wanted. But it was a good time, like when I was younger, learning the technique and figuring out—I enjoyed performing it, but I sort of felt like I was watching some of the newer pieces and things that were more contemporary to that work and thinking, That's more of what I'm meant to do.
Still, it's an iconic piece in terms of dance history. What did you get out of it? What did he say to you?
That's what I got out of it. Whenever we brought anything back with Merce, you had to convince him to be interested. He wasn't immediately interested ever, so I think I came in it at the stage where he actually was interested and started to give feedback about a lot of things, and just to see the way—even though he was so bound by all this pain— he would still be able to demonstrate something in a way that would be very clear. I was amazed by that. And knowing that his timing, no matter what, was going to be spot-on still. I think that a piece like that—working with the rhythmic structures that are in it was also really helpful because I did still have this more "up" way of moving. Those fundamental mainstays of the technique are definitely in that piece. And also the kids. We performed that so many times for all these different children and they really loved it. They just thought it was so funny—the whole thing. And naughty sometimes. They got it.
When did you first meet Merce?
I guess the first time was at the class that I took. Robert introduced me to him and he asked me if I was going to come back and I was like, "Yeah, I'll come back," not knowing what that meant and I was taken to the first floor to sign my papers to be hired as a RUG. So I guess that was the approval that Robert needed to hire me. I think in that class he was giving me a note about second position, and I was standing very close to him. I just put my leg up as high as I could in second position and he was like, "No. Leg on the floor." And I was like, Oh yeah, that second position. [Laughs]
What did you work on apart from Antic Meet?
Just MinEvents. A lot of the same stuff that I still will do in an Event actually. But then we started working on Summerspace and Rune. Summerspace was really tricky for me because at that time they had hired another guy, so we rotated the parts. Everything's so circular in that piece; it used to really confuse me, actually. As much as I knew my part, I had this weird relationship to the space in that piece for some reason because some of the material was so similar and I remember struggling with that. The phrases in that dance are so tricky and really hard technically and I remember just loving that and thinking it was so meaty and substantial. The work I was doing was so important to me at that time.
What were your days like?
Class and running whatever material you were working on. Taking a very short break and being in the small studio, learning whatever new things Robert threw at you, or practicing things you already knew. And then every time the company had a break, you would just go in and dance on their breaks. And Merce watched a lot and would give feedback, which was great. Some people had the experience as a RUG when he was a little bit older, of not having that constant eye and he definitely had that with my group, which was really cool.
What feedback did you get?
I remember him saying to me very early in, "You're doing really well. You've got the technical parts of it." I feel like he was always supportive of that, that I could do things that he asked. And I think that pleased him, but I think he was always, with me, really wanting whatever thing I was working on to be clear. To be clear was the most important thing. So clear as far as the rhythm—the intention behind the steps. Moving as large as you could possibly move, or really using your back.
Not the illusion.
Yes, not the illusion. At the time, it was the 50th anniversary of the company and the company was travelling so much, but he didn't go with them. He would give us private classes on Thursdays. It would just be Merce beating out the rhythm, and normally, you would travel in rows up and down the studio in one of his classes. But this was more like, do it a million times, walk back, do it a million more times, walk back. It was intense. And he would say a lot of the same things. He was interested in you keeping your shoulders down. Technical things like that continually bothered him. It was very important that you would always have your carriage down and not have that sort of tension. And the rhythm and just the separation of movements. In those classes, if he gave a combination where you were going to do a pli and then straighten your leg, if it was on the "and" count, he wanted it exactly on that count. Everything had the same amount of weight—everything was important.
He didn't want you to start phrasing things yourself.
What did you end up teaching to company members in terms of new work?
Views for Stage. It was fine for my group. I think other people had difficulties with it. I remember being really nervous; there was a section that [the other male dancer] didn't know and Merce was like, "Remember that phrase from class yesterday? You're going to do that there." And I remember thinking, Do I remember that phrase from yesterday? I was supposed to teach that part and I remember going up to him and being like, "Merce can you just check this? Can you look at your notes and make sure I got this right before I teach it?" And I did it once and the next thing was supposed to be a reversal of the phrase and so I did that part, too, and I knew I was totally missing it, but he said, "Yes, you got it." I just had to go back and figure it out. It had to be perfect. I didn't want to misconvey his movement.
What was it like when he was creating something new on you?
It was a slow process, with many repetitions of minute things. It would get bigger, and you would do the same thing over and over and over. And he wouldn't say a lot. After he gave the movement to you, I think he just wanted to make sure that you really had it and that he could see it, but there wasn't a note after every time you did it. I always loved his sort of method of working when he was making you repeat all the time. He would tell us to sit down. "Just sit down, take a break." He would be looking at his notes, working, and you might be down at the floor for five minutes or one minute and jump back up and do it all over again. And at that time, he was falling asleep a lot, too, so you could be doing something forever...I think we all sort of knew that he sometimes was listening, because he would just wake up at the perfect moment that he had been trying to figure out earlier, or he would give a correction about something you thought he didn't see. He must have been hearing the rhythm. So you always had to be on.
What did you do when he was sleeping?
Oh, you just kept going. You finished. We would stop sometimes and get his attention. But there were points with his health, too, where you wanted him to sleep. It was fine, you know. He was busying himself with a lot of things that were probably just to keep him going and to keep him training dancers, which I think he liked to do. But it wasn't stuff that was going to directly affect the company.
How did you get into the company?
I was a RUG for like two and a half years. The momentum slowed down. I left a couple of times over both of the summers to go teach again and make money to live. And he was cool with that. And Robert really understood that was important.
Did you teach in Pittsburgh?
Yeah, because I had this great relationship with the people at this place. I'd go home for maybe three weeks and make enough money to help me get by for at least six months. It was a really good situation to be in. I worked with a couple of other people. I made a lot of work at that time, too. I kept myself busy by doing different choreographic projects. It was okay. I was still really happy to be at the studio and to be doing that movement and working with him. It felt like the time was necessary for me. Because once you're in the company, your experience with him totally changed. And you didn't interact with him so much anymore. So I would have felt like I missed a step if I didn't have a sort of chunk of time. But at the same time, I was like, Is someone please going to leave? This is getting ridiculous.
Did Robert say anything to you?
At one point I think Cdric [Andrieux] was thinking about leaving and that was really early-on in my time. He fell in love and changed his mind, and I remember thinking, Are you kidding? But that also would have been a little too soon. When I heard that was maybe potentially going to happen, I was a little freaked out. I replaced Daniel Roberts, who gave me warning that he was leaving. I was really excited.
So you knew?
I kind of knew, but only by a week. There was another man dancing with me as a RUG, and I kind of felt like, I got it. I felt like I had Merce's attention more, but at the same time, he was always attracted to anything new. So this guy had just come in and he was getting attention, but I just always assumed that Merce was going to choose me, because I'd been so diligent. I wasn't nervous that I wasn't going to get it.
Were you close to Merce?
I wouldn't say close.
Is anyone?
I think some people had different relationships with him, and I wouldn't say that mine was less than someone else's, necessarily, but I didn't have—as my time went on as a RUG, I didn't have the casual conversations as much as maybe someone else would or could. I definitely had moments with him that I really treasure. I felt like he understood my work ethic. He would say things to you at the right time when you needed it, which was nice. I felt like he was aware of me, for sure.
What's an example?
I was in the company and we had just been to Australia and there was like a reception and he just sort of tugged on my jacket or something and I didn't even really realize he was behind me. I was probably on line for champagne and he said, "You're doing it all right. I wanted to let you know, it's gotten much better and you're doing it right." And I was like, whoa. It's crazy that he just said that to me. And I did start feeling a little bit more confident onstage and that I was having some sort of peak with my dancing, which was nice. I was like, Oh he's noticed that. And I think what he meant by the right thing is that I approached some of the things very directly. The way of doing it was going back to what he always loved, which was being clear. I was really trying to be clear and trying to be as physical with the work as I could.
Are you trying to remember that now?
I think at this point, it's sort of ingrained in me. Really, the last year of his life and making Nearly Ninety, I'd been so accustomed to pushing myself in that way that I knew that if I was going to continue doing this—even without his direction—that I would have to continue doing it the same way. I'd have to really hold on to some of those things and remember what he wanted. And I think that that's the way I enjoy doing it, too. To be as physical with the work as you can. Keeps you young, too.
How do you mean?
It keeps your body young. And sometimes when you have different injuries here or there, for me, it works to work the muscles that are sore and to dig deeper into the things that are uncomfortable, because you can figure something out. And then eventually it does get easier and less awkward.
What was your adjustment to the company like?
It felt sort of natural. It was like, Let's go dance with these people that I'm also friends with. My first show was in Ottawa. It was Split Sides. I remember it being freezing and in those days when you got in, [the company was] gone. I was left with a list of dances to learn on my own. I think I had two or three days with the person whose parts I was taking over and then once the company came back, we were running the pieces from start to finish. You have an idea of the steps but there's always going to be someone that has a different idea about this or that. So no matter what, it was always like, "Nope, that's not right, this is," and you had to like fill your head with information really quick. The week before going to Ottawa, I think I'd only done Split Sides twice—I was joining with Emma Desjardins and we're both like, "You know, we need to do this again one more time because we feel like we don't know it." I think I continued to feel like that for a year. [Laughs] But when you're awkward, you're right in this work. If you try to make this movement into some sort of understanding in a lyrical way, you're not going to figure it out. When it's really difficult and weird, that's when you're on the cusp of doing it correctly.
And that's so related to what you were saying before about how you had to be on the exact count. How did the working method change once you were in the company?
It changed a lot. I didn't have the same kind of interactions with him. The process of starting out in the company—I got a lot more attention and I remember at a point though there being a transition of just being a member of his company, which felt a little bit lonesome. You didn't get to interact with him that much. And working with the RUGs was fine, but eventually those people are going to be in the company and they're going to go through the same thing and I think it's just a cycle that you kind of understand once you're there for a while. Then at that point, the work becomes more personal, and you have to take care of yourself within the work and keep yourself going, and remain interested in whatever is fascinating to you about that. You're not going to be prodded to do that; you have to do it on your own.
What was fulfilling about being a company member even though Merce wasn't in your life much?
The travelling and experiencing different cultures and performing under different circumstances was really fun for me. I really enjoyed doing the museum Events or doing something outside. There was always something on the horizon. Or a new piece that I was really excited about doing. Things like that kept me going.
What have been some important pieces for you?
The first piece that was made new when I was in the company, eyeSpace—I felt like the person's roles that I had taken over left a little bit of something to be desired. I came in at a transition point where they got rid of three pieces, and those were maybe the three pieces that I was more excited to do. I felt like some of the roles were really small, actually. I didn't get enough stage time. With eyeSpace, I was in that first quartet, which was so challenging technically, and I remember thinking, This is the first time I get to do a whole phrase. I get to be on for the whole thing. I really enjoyed that. You had to go really fast and then stand on one leg and hold it, and so I feel like that really helped me grow as a dancer. We did it so often. I always had a real nervousness about doing that piece. The other piece that I really enjoy doing is XOVER. It was nice because I got that duet with Emma, and we joined together. It was a little interesting time with the [introduction of] double-casting. It hadn't happened in a really long time that anything was double-cast. And so that wasn't the most enjoyable experience, to be honest; the information about who was going to do it didn't really become clear until the end of the process.
Why did they start double-casting?
I don't really know what happened. There's probably a lot more to that than I know, but initially I think that I was just called in to do it with Emma and the person teaching it was Daniel Madoff, who had just joined the company and who it was made on. And then there was a little bit of drama with Julie and her health, and I remember that being a difficult day for her. It kind of stayed ambiguous like that for a while, and we didn't really know what was going on and then once we found out it was double-cast, it made sense actually that he would enjoy seeing something different ways, and I totally embrace that idea. And then also once that process was over, which maybe wasn't that enjoyable, I felt like I had more freedom than maybe I would have had if it was just always mine. The way he was working with the man partnering the woman, and the woman partnering the man, was much more even. It was the first time I'd ever really done any work like that of his. The shared weight felt really new. So pushing that to the furthest place we could was really fun. We really worked on it. And I think he really enjoyed that.
What has this experience right now been like for you, performing without Cunningham?
It's been okay. There are a lot of things about the Legacy Plan that I would have though would have been different. When they started the actual two-year thing, I think they could have been a little more prepared. It was just so soon. I think they were jumping on the fact that there was a lot of press coverage and it was a good time to start it. I don't think we would have survived as a group. I think the group would have gotten smaller and smaller just because the economy was failing, and we already went through all the trouble with three members of the company leaving. In a way, I feel like it kept us together.
It kept the company afloat because there was work.
Totally. Of course I would prefer having an artistic director and having someone who could make a new work, which was always an important part of being a company member there, but it's been good because there's also been a whole influx of new material. Quartet I really loved doing. So there are elements about it that have been super positive, but I do think after this time is up, it's going to be a good end for me. I do want to dance more, but I want to be part of a process and I miss that. I miss that about dancing.
Do you have plans after that?
Not really. It's okay. [Laughs]
I really do feel from talking to you that's how you roll.
I will figure it out.
What is it like working with Robert Swinston?
He has changed a lot. He's the helm of the ship. He has everything to work on. He's focused on this group as it is now, but also what's going to happen next. I think he's had a little bit of trouble figuring that out and accepting things. There are some pieces that he is in and I think that's difficult when he's in a piece—that he can't watch it. I'd prefer to have a rehearsal director for something like that, which now we sort of have with Jen [Goggans]. But often times, she's in the piece, too, so that's tricky. But I've really respected that way he's been able to continue making these Events, and I think he's done as best as he could under the circumstances. It's a lot.
What you think of Trevor Carlson?
I don't really have that much to say about Trevor because I don't work with him directly. I'm an AGMA rep and have been since before Merce died, and that's been a little strange at times because there was a lot of drama right before Merce passed. To be a part of that, definitely, I have my own thoughts and that's influenced the way I think of him. I don't think it would be good to share because it's confidential. He's been able to keep this company afloat and keep different projects going and develop a couple. I think it's good. What he's done is really healthy for us.
What is it like dancing now when Cunningham is not around? How do you motivate yourself?
Yeah, now it's like, just do everything to like the nth degree. Just like balls-out dance. It's been really good. I feel like that from all of my peers. We're all just really doing it now—and for yourself, for sure. You have to love this to do it. We're performing at houses that are very warm. You know? And it feels good to represent Merce's work in this way.
Does that "warmth" feel genuine?
Yeah, for most people it does. Especially if you go to some small town and they're understanding some sort of historical significance as well, and I guess that allows them to be more open to these things. I've heard from a lot of people who have continually had problems with the music or the costumes, that now the way that people are dancing it's sort of opened them up to enjoying it a little bit more. I think that there is a little more onstage right now. Collectively—from the group. I think that energy is really phenomenal.
Do you know what solo you're performing at the Armory?
I'm doing the Rune solo. I worked on it with him and then Robert gave it to me to do in Events two years ago. And I haven't performed it that much, so I thought it would be good to do. And I do have like certain memories of things that he said about it; it had a significance for me because it was the beginning. So it feels appropriate to do it at the end, too. I kind of wanted to do something that I know that he enjoyed watching. It felt kind of cute. And it's short and sweet. It's not like one of those drawn-out things. It's like go out, kill yourself on stage, and then you're done.
What did he say to you about that?
A lot. There's this part where you slide to the ground. The whole thing's made in a box and you have to get from corner to corner. And you don't necessarily always have enough steps to get to the corners. So that was the trick of it and he would always push you to get there somehow. It's sort of old-school modern. I'm sure there are references to Graham. There's lots of going to the floor and coming back up. And also like standing on one leg and jumping a lot. It feels good.
What about the process of saying goodbye to Merce Cunningham, what was that like for you?
Weird. Really surreal. I haven't experienced a lot of death. My uncle died from cancer and it got really bad towards the end, so we were kind of shielded from that; the only other person that's died in my life is my grandfather from Alzheimer's. I've never really had that last-goodbye thing. And it was strange. The last time was before Jacob's Pillow and he was just like in this euphoric mood—he had picture of his home in Centralia that some woman had sent him. He was saying how much it looked the same and he was delighted showing us these photos, and asked us how we were. I felt very uncomfortable, to be honest. Although I was a part of this man's life, I was kind of wondering, Where's his immediate family? Where's his niece that I met? It was just Trevor and Robert and the company. I also said something really stupid. He was asking, "What does dance mean to you?" And something happened in my head where I heard something totally different—because he had just been talking about a rehearsal and someone was talking about how a musician was playing the piano, and I answered back still having thought that we were talking about the previous conversation. I said something really dumb and then he just laughed at me. He was like, "No, what does dance mean to you?" Oh, I'm such an idiot. Instead I had said something like, "We had a pianist and it was great." But it was funny, because he laughed. It was strange, for sure. That apartment is so beautiful. I just remember eerie light and feeling like, He's so small, you know? It was totally sad.
How did you hear about his death?
Oh, so we got back from Jacob's Pillow and I got a call from Trevor the next morning. I remember sleeping late and I got the call. And I was in my apartment in New Rochelle and I was like, Wow. This is really big. We met at the studio, and it felt good to just like be around my peers. We had just been dancing so much, which was crazy, too. I think everyone was so emotionally worn out, you know? There was a lot of speculation and we had just said goodbye to him. What's going to happen to him? I think a lot of us felt like he could have bounced back. Because it was sort of sudden. He had just finished making this monumental piece, and it kind of looked like he was taking a break and wasn't coming to the studio as frequently. But every time you saw him, he was still very coherent and still there and that was my experience saying goodbye to him, too. There was still light in his eyes.
Toward the end of the summer, there were the performances at Rockefeller Park? Did that make an impact on you?
Totally. I think that event was like group therapy. There were so many friendly faces. It was a very nice goodbye.
Wasn't it beautiful?
It was gorgeous. And I felt like it meant something to everyone individually, but collectively we all kind of bonded together and did it like we always did, which was nice because I thought that something would shift and get weird, but everyone held on to whatever they were feeling and stuck it out, which was good.
Like a sign of things to come?
Right. I think that was when Robert was the most supportive. He was the best leader at that time. In a different way. He was being a little bit more human to all of us.
Do you feel like the company should disband?
Yeah. I don't think it could continue without Merce, and I think it's appropriate that the company doesn't do other work. I think that it was a little ma-and-pa organization, in a way—John and Merce. And without either of them, I don't think it would have been a good idea.
Are you sad about what might happen to the work?
I'm concerned. I've seen other companies do his work, and I've never been left feeling like it's horrible. Of course there are the things like the blurry unison that I'm sure is going to disappear. He would make something unison, but he didn't demand that it happen at the same time. There are things like that, which I find so interesting, that I think probably will go away. Those things that you can't control. But I think it's going be great for students to do this work. I think it's a good tool to have as a dancer, to be able to work in this way without music, without the story. And I think that's going to be good for the dance world.
I'm worried about the school.
Yeah. They're going to City Center now. The space is booked. It's kind of sad the school won't stay [at Westbeth]. I wish they could have figured it out. It was sad to see the visa students leave, too. That was such a healthy program for international students, and that went away a couple months ago, and just to hear their individual stories—they're scrambling. I think some went home, which is sad. We'll see. I think the classes at City Center predominantly are going to be taught by Robert. I hope the Trust keeps it open to everyone. There are so many past and present company members that should be doing that work.
Yeah, we should all be doing it.
Do you have interest in that?
Yeah, but not immediately. I want to focus on performing. And although I've expressed interest to the woman who does the licensing about restaging, I think it would be better if I could do that later. I just turned 30. I'm losing my job. I need to get another company. I need to do some other project before I start teaching or think about universities. I have different ideas, and I have some people who might be interested to work with me, but I don't actually have a solid idea. I'm looking forward to taking a break mentally to recollect after this is all over. It's been so intense. I wouldn't want to just jump into anything.


text:
Why Compudyne
Compudyne drives and secures business through technology. We strategically and efficiently manage your business' IT needs, so you can focus on what you need to – operating your business. Our solutions support your evolving IT needs and help drive success. We create custom, scalable solutions that are designed to grow with your business.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Product Description
Additional Information
|First Choice Candy
|Ingredients & Allergen
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Overall investor satisfaction with full-service investment firms continues to rise, according to the J.D. Power 2014 U.S. Full Service Investor Satisfaction Study, released early Thursday. However, there's a clear satisfaction gap between young investors (35 years and younger) and older investors, the group notes.
The industry average rose to a satisfaction score of 807 (out of 1,000) from 789 in 2013. But the four wirehouses all fell below the average score this year.
Last year's bull market certainly made lots of investors happy. "In our model, we see that portfolio performance tied to only about 20% of overall satisfaction," said Craig Martin, director of investment services at J.D. Power, in an interview with ThinkAdvisor. Advisors play a very significant role in influencing the level of satisfaction that investors experience, Martin says.
This dynamic may be hurting the wirehouses, Martin says, since their advisors may be delivering inconsistent service across all investors. (The study polled 4,400 investors who work with advisors nationwide.)
"They have some amazing advisors with … high levels of investor satisfaction and loyal relationships versus others with inconsistency relative to the top performers," he explained.
While they have come up a little bit in their scores, several — Bank of America/Merrill Lynch (BAC), Morgan Stanley/Smith Barney (MS) and Wells Fargo/Wachovia (WFC) — are "recovering from what went on in '08-'09 with mergers and other factors that took a toll on the customer side of the business."
That's meant that investment firms like Fidelity, Edward Jones and Raymond James (RJF) have stood out.
"The firms that have above-average performance have clear corporate cultures, well-established ways in how they interact with clients and more standardized approaches," Martin explained. "For example, they may be very consistent in what investors get from a financial advisor … in terms of key performance indicators tied to developing a detailed financial plan, as well as more online and tech support to facilitate this effort."
Consistency in communications, plan reviews, risk discussions and execution is important, he adds.
"This is definitely showing up in our data, especially clear communication around what's behind a client's investment performance and the amount of interaction," Martin noted. "It's not a question of whether or not it's done weekly, but how you (as an advisor) are regularly facilitating info-sharing that meets customer needs."
For instance, the higher-performing investment firms have websites that are effective in putting a financial plan together online that investors can revisit. These are features of the firms' business model, Martin says. Demographic Drift
Investors age 18 to 35 are less satisfied with the full-service investment firms, 791, than older investors, 827.
Among young investors, less than half (or 44%) "strongly agree" that their advisors have a good understanding of their investment goals, while 71% of retirement investors (65 and up) believe their advisors grasp their objectives. Also, only 39% of young investors "strongly agree" that their reps make efforts to ensure they understand where their investments are made and why, compared with 66% of retirement investors.
The use of social media and technology come into play, Martin says, in how investors interact with their advisors and firms. "In many ways, we see the importance of social media and mobile [communications] in terms of the advisors' capability to work with investors in the manner they wish to do so," he explained.
If Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn are used "to share information and insights and to provide investors and updates, they fill the void when advisors and investors are not on the phone or meeting face to face," Martin adds.
"This can be helpful—particularly with younger investors—and when engaging in general with clients," he concluded.
See the J.D. Power survey results on the next page.
Check out J.D. Power's 2013 full-service firm rankings on ThinkAdvisor.
Full-Service Investment Firm Rankings: 2014
Related stories on ThinkAdvisor:
- Best Firms for Self-Directed Investors: J.D. Power—2013
- Fidelity Reveals 'Secrets' of Successful RIA Firms
- Best Advisor Firms Ranked by Advisors: J.D. Power 2013 Satisfaction Survey
- J.D. Power & Advisor Satisfaction: Behind the Numbers


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Happ reinstated, to start Wednesday
SEATTLE -- Left-hander J.A. Happ was reinstated from the 60-day disabled list on Monday and is scheduled to start Wednesday against Seattle. To make room on the 40-man roster, righty Michael Schwimer was designated for assignment.
Happ hasn't pitched since being struck in the head by a line drive off the bat of Tampa Bay's Desmond Jennings on May 7. The 30-year-old suffered a skull fracture and a sprained right knee during the play.
In three rehabilitation starts with Triple-A Buffalo, Happ went 0-2 with a 6.75 ERA in 13 1/3 innings. The lefty had gone 2-2 with a 4.91 ERA in seven starts with Toronto before going on the disabled list.
Happ wasn't expected to land in Seattle until just before the scheduled 7:10 p.m. PT first pitch and it is unknown if he'll wait to join the team until Tuesday.
Schwimer was a 14th-round selection by the Philadelphia Phillies in the 2008 Draft and had appeared in six game for Buffalo this season.


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It's a Mexican standoff of sorts here at La Mezcaleria on Commercial Drive.
On one side, Eric Lorenz, co-founder of the Vancouver International Tequila Festival, with a shot glass of T1 añejo tequila. On the other, Zaloren G. Fontes, a mezcal sommelier from Mexico, with a carved cup of El Jolgorio Tepeztate mezcal.
"Dixeebe!" they say before taking a sip. It's Oaxacan for "cheers," or as Fontes explains, "It means, 'I wish you the best.' It's like cheers, but also thank you to the Earth."
We are here to discuss the similarities and differences between Mexico's two legendary spirits, tequila and mezcal, which will be the focus of the city's first Agave Week (May 20 to 24) and second annual Vancouver International Tequila Expo (May 24).
Although these two spirits have much in common, there is a world of difference between them. Here's a handy primer to the similarities and differences between the two:
1. Origin
Tequila and mezcal are produced in Mexico; in fact, 26 of Mexico's 32 states produce some sort of agave-based spirit. Tequila is produced in Jalisco and four other states, while mezcal is mainly from Oaxaca, though seven other states produce it as well.
Interestingly, "mezcal" is actually the name given to all agave spirits in Mexico, while tequila is a specific type of mezcal named for the town of Tequila.
2. The agave
Both spirits are made from agave, a succulent related to the lily family.
Tequila is produced from a single species – the Blue Agave – which is commercially cultivated from shoots and clones, and can be harvested in as little as six years. By law, tequila need only contain 51 per cent agave distillate; if it is not made from 100 per cent Blue Agave, it is known as "mixto."
Mezcal, on the other hand, can be made from more than 40 varieties of agave, known in Mexico as "maguey," many of which grow only in the wild and can take more than 20 years to reach maturity. Most mezcal is made from a single species, which will be noted on the bottle. It is always 100 per cent agave distillate. And no, it does not contain any worms or mescaline.
3. Cooking method
Only the centre of the agave, the "piña," is used. It is cooked, shredded and fermented before being distilled in pot stills. For tequila, the agave is typically steam-cooked, while mezcal's agaves are roasted in wood-fired pit ovens, which is what gives it its intensely smoky flavour.
4. Dilution
Once it comes off the still, tequila is diluted with water to reach the legal standard, for instance, 40 per cent alcohol by volume in Canada. Mezcal, on the other hand, is hardly ever diluted with water, but with lower proof alcohol. "It's diluted to the taste of the distiller," Lorenz says.
5. Aging
Tequilas can be unaged (silver or blanco), reposado ("rested" in oak for two months to one year) or añejo (aged in oak for one to three years). Most brands will offer all three expressions of age; some will also offer extra añejo tequila (aged more than three years).
Mezcal, on the other hand, is very rarely aged in oak. As Fontes explains, "Where tequila is aged in the barrel, mezcals are aged in the earth."
6. Taste
Tequila has a clean, grassy, herbaceous flavour, with notes of black or white pepper and hints of citrus, especially lime. Aged tequilas can develop caramel, spice, dried fruit and vanilla notes as well.
Mezcal is noted primarily for its smokiness, but will also have complex fruit, herbal, floral, spice and earthy characteristics. You may detect notes of charred pineapple, ginger, apricot, roasted red pepper, tar, diesel, butter, cheese or chocolate.
7. How you drink it
The traditional drinking vessel for mezcal is the "jicara," the dried and intricately carved shell of a fruit called guaya. Tequila is typically drunk from shot glasses, but Riedel has also created a specific tequila glass to enhance its delicate aromas. Both spirits can be enjoyed straight, but are also versatile in cocktails.
"If you have a good tequila, it is a sipping drink, it's not a shot. And a mezcal is definitely a sipping drink." Fontes says. "But I think the best way of drinking them is with good company."
We'll drink to that. Dixeebe!
All about Agave Week
Celebrate the spirit of Mexico's most storied succulent during Agave Week in Vancouver, May 20 to 14.
The main event will be the second annual Vancouver International Tequila Festival, Friday, May 24, 6 to 9 p.m. at the Vancouver Hyatt Regency Hotel. Taste dozens of tequilas, enjoy tequila-inspired cuisine and compete for prizes including a Mexican getaway. Tickets are $60 (plus service charges). For tickets or information, go to www.vancouvertequilaexpo.com.
The week's other events include tequila-paired dinners, special cocktails and several seminars at Legacy Liquor Store, including sessions on tequila and mezcal basics, wild-harvested agaves, barrel-aged tequilas and the principles of tasting tequila. Prices for the seminars are $45 apiece. Visit www.legacyliquorstore.com for more info or to purchase tickets.
Recipe: Oaxacan Daisy
Mezcal adds a tantalizing whiff of smoke to a simple, well-balanced sour. Expect to find this drink on the cocktail list at La Mezcaleria soon. In the meantime, you can shake it up at home.
1 ½ oz. mezcal
1 oz. Cointreau
¾ oz. freshly squeezed Meyer lemon juice
Place all ingredients in a cocktail shaker with ice. Shake well, then strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with a slice of lemon peel. Serves 1.


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Africa ICT Policy Monitor Newsletter from the APC
Issue No. 7, October 2003
WSIS PrepCom 3 – Overview and Issues for Civil Society Organizations
In this issues of Chakula:
* Editorial
* Overview of PrepCom 3
- Opening
- Working through documents
- Participation
* Africa Civil Society Participation
* Main Issues of Discussion/Contentious Issues
- Free and Open Source Technologies
- Intellectual Property
- Internet Governance
- Financing Mechanisms
- Other Stories
* Way Forward and Strategies for Intervention Including Summit Plans
- Recommendations
* Links to other Web Resources
In this month's issue of the APC Africa Internet Rights Newsletter 'Chakula'
we focus on the recently held PrepCom 3 (preparatory committee) of the World
Summit on Information (WSIS), highlighting key issues under discussion and
outcomes. We also make some recommendations for civil society organizations
(CSOs) on how to move forward with regard to upcoming and related meetings.
PrepCom 3 did not come to a conclusive closure and fell short of its own
objective: to agree on and finalise the draft summit declaration and the
draft action plan to be adopted at the WSIS in December. Many issues were
debated and negotiated with many differences in opinions between the various
stakeholders (governments, private sector and civil society entities). The
meeting is now scheduled to continue at the 'Resumed Session of PrepCom 3'
later in November.
We hope this issue of Chakula will provide a useful overview and be used as
a resource by CSOs in Africa, especially those preparing to participate in
the upcoming meetings and the Summit in December (Geneva, December 10-12).
The third preparatory meeting of the WSIS took place from the 15-26th
September in Geneva with the sole objective of refining draft documents that
came out of the intersessional meeting held in Paris, in July. The PrepCom
intended to specifically address issues where there were differences amongst
stakeholders and, through negotiations, arrive at an agreed upon Declaration
and Action Plan to be approved and accepted during the Summit.
The opening of the conference went well and was widely covered by
journalists. See stories below and read more by clicking on to the website
* PrepCom III - Opening Session
09/15/2003, Ngathie Diop, CATIA
* Prepcom3 Has Started: Samassekou Emphazises Cooperation and Solidarity
09/15/2003, Heinrich-Böll-Foundation
During the two-week conference, negotiations took place between the many
delegates who included governments, private sector and civil society
entities on the different thematic issues of the draft documents. All
negotiations follow specific rules and procedures established for the
PrepCom. Following the first week of the conference, progress had been made
in as far as agreeing on some parts of the draft declaration of principles
after a number of small working groups worked on certain thematic areas,
such as infrastructure, internet governance and enabling environments. The
deliberations of these working groups were presented to the main plenary to
finalise text on the acceptable areas while unresolved issues or text would
be left in square brackets for future negotiations as circumstances would
This process continued during the second week of the conference as delegates
continued to revise the draft declaration of principles and the draft plan
of action. Civil society participation in this process was hampered by our
limited access to working groups which in many cases were comprised
primarily of government delegates.
The methodology of using small working groups to further refine the text
proved effective in terms of allowing ongoing work on different sections of
the draft documents to take place at the same time, but it was also
ineffective in that it limited many stakeholders' participation. Many
countries, as well as civil society organizations, only had a few delegates
present at the meeting and so it was impossible for these few people to
physically participate in the nine working groups that were running
simultaneously. For example, Kenya had only two representatives who were
also chairing two working groups, and were therefore unable to contribute to
other groups. For observers (including civil society organizations) the
situation was even worse, since observers were not allowed to participate in
working group negotiations. Observers were given five minutes at the
beginning of each working group session to present their views and were not
allowed to participate in or observe government delegates' negotiations over
the final agreed texts. The upcoming 'resumed session of PrepCom 3' is aimed
at reaching an agreement between the different stakeholders who have
dissenting views on some of the contentious issues, such as internet
governance and security, as well as on a financial mechanism for
implementation of the plan of action. However, it is uncertain whether the
session will be able to finalise text for the draft documents, with some
speculation that final negotiations might actually take place just days
before the summit on December. The issue of civil society participation in
the 'resumed' session has not yet been resolved.
You can read more about the frustrations of CSOs on the WSIS process from
stories written on the issue below.
* Working Groups on Conflictive Areas, Observers are Locked Out
Geneva, 17 September 2003. After the observers from business and civil
society had initially been allowed to participate in the ad-hoc working
groups, they were essentially locked out today. The industrialized countries
declared their intention not to give additional money for implementing the
proposed action plan. They even want to delete any reference to funding in
the documents - a huge disappointment for the developing countries and a
clear backdrop for the original WSIS goal to bridge the digital divide. --
* Not Again! Governments Exclude Civil Society from Meetings
Geneva, 18 September 2003. As the need to make progress on the negotiations
of the WSIS documents becomes increasingly urgent, the never-ending story of
civil society participation once more dominates the agenda of the
preparatory process. Despite repeated claims of the openness and
" inclusivity" of this "new" type of summit, limits have again been imposed
on civil society participation. -- Heinrich-Böll-Foundation
* Divisions Between Government And Civil Society Positions
The civil society plenary this morning agreed to start drafting work on an
own declaration, separate from and in addition to the official government
declaration. This is the latest move in an increasingly critical view by
civil society of summit processes and particularly of summit outcomes, as
reflected in widespread frustration with the latest versions of the
Declaration of Principles. Governments, the WSIS secretariat, and the
PrepCom president have responded with new offers for increased
participation. -- Heinrich-Böll-Foundation
For other reports related to the proceedings of the PrepCom 3, please visit
the links below.
* PrepCom-3 Highlights
ITU Newsroom: ITU
View daily highlights of PrepCom 3 from the ITU newsroom, the highlights
cover the period from the 15th Sept to 24th September.
* Link to Official Documents as of 26th September 2003
The outcome of this process forms the official documents as made available
from the ITU website: http://www.wsis.org. You can download the latest
copies of these documents on the Africa Civil society Caucus website using
the link below.
Africa civil society organizations, alongside other civil society entities,
were actively involved in making contributions to the draft documents in
many forums. PrepCom 3 was different from previous meetings, because many
sub-groups or working groups spent time deliberating on many important
aspects of the documents simultaneously.
Africa civil society made significant input in the working mechanisms of the
Bamako Bureau, where African positions on different issues were drafted and
deliberated for input into the process. Through this mechanism, Africa civil
society issues and concerns were included as part of government's input to
the main plenary, as a number of African government representatives were
open to receiving input from civil society organizations. This was a key
opportunity to present issues of concern for African civil society
African civil society delegates also achieved significant progress during
the PrepCom by lobbying individual African government delegations on certain
issues and concerns throughout the conference. The process was quite ad-hoc
and happened while both draft declaration and action plan were being
produced and issues were being raised. CSOs took every opportunity they
could to make interventions wherever possible.
Overall civil society caucuses worked collectively and utilized any
available speaking slots at the main plenary hall. The speaking slots were
allocated and used to make interventions on several issues discussed during
the PrepCom. Africa civil society took two of these speaking slots to
contribute with statements on the issues of capacity building and financing
While the efforts by CSOs during the conference were commendable, there is
still plenty to be done by Africa civil society organizations. Ideally, CSOs
should ensure they are well informed and equipped with specific positions on
relevant issues as well as strategies to attract attention to those issues.
One case in point was the NGO Gender Strategies Working Group, which
successfully grabbed the attention of government delegates with its t-shirt
campaign to highlight the omission of a crucial paragraph on gender
differences and inequalities in the access to and use of ICT.
Follow the links below for additional information and stories on civil
society contributions and issues related to content during PrepCom 3.
* Statement of Civil Society In Response To The Draft Declaration Of
Presentation to Sub-Committee 2, September 22nd 2003
* "Vision Impossible" Civil Society Criticises Draft Declaration
Geneva, 22 September 2003
The civil society plenary on Monday morning heavily criticised the new draft
Declaration of Principles which had been distributed on Friday evening. A
statement drafted by several civil society caucuses expressed "frustration
and disappointment" that key concerns of civil society have been removed or
are not adequately addressed. The plenary made clear that the Declaration in
its current version will not be supported by civil society. --
* Civil Society Ponders Alternative Declaration
25 September 2003
When the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) opens this December
in Geneva, there could be two declarations on the table for delegates'
consideration – the official one made by government representatives and an
alternative by civil society organisations. -- Wairagala Wakabi, CATIA
* Does Input lead to Impact? Document Analysis Shows How Little Civil
Society input is reflected in current drafts
22 September 2003
Today, a group of volunteers from civil society compiled a comparative
analysis of three documents: The Draft Declaration of Principles that came
out of the Paris Intersessional in July, the comments by civil society
organisations as developed at the beginning of PrepCom3, and the latest
version of the Draft Declaration of Principles that came out on 19th
September. The comparison, nicely done in a paragraph-by-paragraph table,
clearly shows how little the efforts of civil society are listened to.
Roughly 60% were plainly rejected, 15% were more or less taken, and 25%
" somehow" ended up in the newest declaration draft. --
Many issues of contention arose during PrepCom and delegates could not agree
on final text for either the draft declaration of principles or the plan of
action. In trying to understand the background to the process and the many
differences, one has to remember the process adopted during PrepCom 2 and to
some extent the process leading up to the intersessional period, where
contributions were called for, received and accepted from *all*
stakeholders. All contributions received were then refined during the Paris
intersessional meeting and formed the working documents tabled for
negotiations during the PrepCom 3. As indicated earlier, the mandate of
PrepCom 3 was to further refine all these contributions without necessarily
accepting new inputs, thereby shortening the documents as much as possible
and creating a final text.
We highlight some of the contentious issues and arguments debated during
PrepCom 3.
The debate on open source and free software has been a contentious issue
since the beginning of the WSIS process. It was no wonder that delegates
came prepared to see how this would be resolved during PrepCom 3. The issue
can be referenced to section number 2, paragraph 21-22 of the draft
declaration of principles (version of 26th September). In a nutshell, the
main contention here is between those who advocate for the use of free and
open source technologies as a mechanism that would enable increased access
to the information and knowledge Society. One the other hand those who label
the use of free and open source technologies merely as an issue of choice
and even going to the extent of defining open source as merely a software
development model. They advocate for the principle of technology neutrality.
It is sad that the Free and Open Software Foundation of Africa (FOSSFA) were
not visibly active or heard during the PrepCom, as they could have made some
significant contributions to the debate while actively monitoring
developments, especially on the working group that dealt on this issue.
* The free software philosophy as advocated by Richard Stallman
Richard Stallman was very active at PrepCom 3 and ensured that the word
' Free' was inserted into the text where previously only 'open source' was
used: http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/philosophy.html
* Free Software
During PrepCom3, a regular request was for a reference document on Free
Software and its role in the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS).
This document seeks to provide such reference.
* Open Source Ardor Cools at WSIS
October 9, 2003
A push at a series of international "information society" conferences to
adopt open source software as an aspect of electronic "common land" has
assumed a lower profile with the apparent entry of lobbying from proprietary
business interests. -- Computerworld
* Free Software Prominently Represented at the UN- Conference
The Patents, Copyright, Trademark (PCT) Civil Society Working Group was
actively engaged at the PrepCom. More details can be obtained from this
caucus website.
The issue of intellectual property also dominated a good part of the debates
during the PrepCom 3. The main issue here is trying to strike a balance
between the protection of intellectual property rights to encourage
innovation and creativity and on the other hand ensuring the use and sharing
of knowledge in the information society.
* 'Letting The Cat Out of The Bag' Debate on Intellectual Property
Dublin/Geneva, 4 October 2003. The substantive issues raised by the WSIS
process include a number on which progress may be considered a 'dead zone'
i.e. powerful governments are ensuring that nothing will be done beyond
confirming the existing status quo as exercised outside of the WSIS. Thus a
number of 'inert' passages in the Declaration are intended as no more than
markers that this topic must not be touched. -- Seán Ó Siochrú, CRIS
* Promoting a Trustworthy and Non-Discriminatory Environment For
Intellectual Property.
Member states of some 30 countries attended the afternoon meeting dealing
with the "enabling environment" section (6) of the Draft Declaration of
Principles, and focused on intellectual property in the information society
(as developed at the WSIS Intersessional in Paris from 15-18 July 2003). --
Thomas Ruddy
* Intellectual Property and Why Governments Should Not Break International
Geneva, 19 September 2003. Observers, which mean civil society and private
sector, got kicked out of the ad hoc working group on Enabling Environment
after 5 minutes. The strongest fighters for closed shop working environment
in this group were Egypt and Mexico in opposition to Europe, Canada and the
USA. The Brazilian Chair first tried to let non-governmental experts stay,
under the condition that they just observe and don't raise their voices, but
in the end participation and inclusiveness were not on the winning side. --
Annette Mühlberg
* Georg Greve on behalf of the civil society patents, copyright and
trademarks working group to the Working Group on the Draft Declaration on
September 23.
The internet governance debate was one of the most contested issues and also
one where delegates agreed to disagree, thereby leaving the issue unresolved
during the PrepCom 3. At the centre of the debate is the question of how to
enhance the current governance framework so as to enable a truly global
representation, while ensuring the inclusion of all stakeholders and
especially civil society organizations. The current process is seen to be
too US-centric leaving the rest of the world on the outside. Nevertheless,
none of the proposed alternatives, such as an intergovernmental
organization, were agreed upon.
Many articles and stories with analysis on the issue have been written and
you can now read these as well as look at contributions made during PrepCom
3 on the issue.
* Internet Users Unsatisfied with their Role In Internet Governance
" Internet User groups are unsatisfied with the discussion on Internet
Governance within PrepCom3 of the World Summit of the Information Society
(WSIS)", said Vittorio Bertola, Chair of the At Large Advisory Committee of
the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) in Geneva on
September, 24, 2003 at a special meeting of the Civil Society Global ITC
Governance Caucus. -- By Rik Panganiban
* Internet Governance Group Statement to Working Group, September 23
Statement by Wolfgang Kleinwaechter, University of Aarhus and Co-Chair of
the Civil Society ICT Global Governance Caucus to the Working Group on the
Draft Declaration of PrepCom III on September 23.
* Internet governance, security and media freedom at the heart of
09/23/2003. Finalizing documents is not an easy task for delegates
participating in the third preparatory meeting for the World Summit on the
Information Society. As discussions keep on going during the first week, it
is difficult for them to reach a consensus on certain issues like Internet
governance, security and media freedom that appear to be ones of the
conflicting points between delegates. The main point of contention is who
should govern Internet. While some delegations support the idea of a
governmental governance of Internet, others say the private sector should
play the key role in Internet governance. -- Ngathie Diop, CATIA
The debates around the proposed financing mechanism came to the forefront
during the second week of the PrepCom negotiations as delegates focused on
the Plan of action. The issue become more prominent and caught the attention
of many developing countries delegates when some northern countries
delegations objected to the introduction of text referring to new funding
mechanisms dubbed the 'Digital Solidarity Fund'.
The debate continued and attracted the attention of many stakeholders
especially the CSOs who met to discuss the issue within a framework of a
' North-South and South-South Perspectives on the Information Society'. The
civil society discussion led to a position and press statement.
* A Civil Society Statement On Information And Communication Solidarity
Funding Mechanisms
09/26/2003. Submitted by the Content and Themes Subcommittee with inputs
from those present at the South-South and Friends of the South Meeting WSIS
Prep Com 3,25 Sept.2003
* Discussion on Digital Solidarity Agenda and Finance
Geneva, 25 September 2003.
The discussions on the summit declaration and action plan still have not
been resolved today. The main conflictive issue besides internet governance
and the status of human rights has been the question of how to bridge the
digital divide. The Northern countries have made very clear from the
beginning of PrepCom3 that they do not want to pay money for building
digital bridges. The developing countries, in line with civil society, were
very frustrated about this development. New and interesting alliances and
discussions have developed around this issue in the last days. --
* Digital Solidarity and the Idea of a Digital Solidarity Fund
19 September 2003.
The developed and developing worlds seem to be looking in opposite
directions concerning the issue of financing ICTs and practices in the
developing countries, as demonstrated by the recent working group on
Financing. -- Melina Skouroliakou
* WSIS PrepCom III: The CRIS Verdict
After months of hard work and negotiations, the CRIS campaign can see some
light at the end of a long, dark, eighteen months long WSIS tunnel.
Paragraph 4 of the Draft Declaration reads: "Communication is a fundamental
social process, a basic human need and the foundation of all social
organisation. It is central to the information society." Sean O'Siochru,
spokesperson for the CRIS campaign says: "We welcome the progress that has
been made but call on all governments to ensure that communication as a
central and crucial human activity remains in the final Declaration that
will be presented at the Summit in December 2003." - CRIS
* A Synthesis of Civil Society debates on the information society
10/16/2003, Mosaic, the World Forum on Community Networking
Since July 2003, the WFCN publishes Mosaic, a newsletter presenting an
overview of the discussions on the information society, especially on the
WSIS process. The objective is to present different cultural and linguistic
(English, French and Spanish) perspectives using about a dozen of civil
society discussion lists and websites. This second issue covers the
preparation period for PrepCom 3.
* Media Under Fresh Global Threat:
09/23/2003, Wairagala Wakabi, CATIA
Though several African governments continue to harass critical media, a key
United Nations summit could soon legitimise oppressive national media
* Civil Society Priorities and Recommendation for WSIS
Maputo, 1-4 September, Gil Manuel
During the recently held African Conference on e-Strategies for Development,
CSOs produced a list of priorities and recommendation for WSIS.
* WSIS: South African Civil Society Priorities Document
The South African civil society organisations endorsing this document are
well aware of the potential importance of the WSIS, which is why we are
investing in this process. While we understand that the WSIS has no explicit
normative nor programmatic objective (no treaty is expected out of it, nor
does it have decision-making power to unleash new funding), we consider that
it offers a unique framework at the international level, where not only
different visions can be shared among a variety of stakeholders and
cultures, but also basic agreements on the shape of future policies could
Currently, Africa CSOs are in the process of discussing how to best take
things forward so that issues of concern can be raised at the upcoming
' resumed' session. Discussions are mainly centred on a few number of issues
that Africa CSOs feel are priority areas that must be adequately addressed
and reflected in the final documents.
While we do not yet now to what level civil society will allowed to
participate during this session, it is very important that CSOs prepare
adequately on specific issues that they want to raise during this session.
The following are a few recommendations on how CSOs should act to ensure
some success in getting their concerns raised and included in the final
documents for the summit in December.
1. Develop a summary position of key issues or concerns and especially
reflecting on the main contentious issues that will be debated in the
upcoming session.
2. Identify and lobby governments who are likely to support the position of
CSOs and who are already holding key or influential positions at the
negotiation table.
3. Collaborate with other CSOs around the world to lobby for support on key
issues and also to consider additional/alternative mechanisms to air
concerns, should it not be possible to raise issues in the current process.
An alternative event is the World Forum on Communication Rights:
4. Ensure that whatever processes you are involved with are linked to your
local communities and national processes that involve ICT policy. Where
possible, hold a national consultation on WSIS. APC has developed a
' National WSIS Consultation Guide' that can be used for such a purpose.
5. Think beyond the summit: CSOs need to start thinking about what steps to
take with regard to activities or other related plans after the December
summit. Among the many issues that have been mentioned is their active
involvement in monitoring and evaluation of implementation of the WSIS Plan
of Action. CSOs must ensure that our issues are well documented for use
during the assessment stage planned for the second phase of the summit in
Tunis in 2005.
To join in the debate, please subscribe to the Africa Information Society
Initiative discussion list: details below or visit the caucus website:
or http://www.wsis-cs.org/africa/
Resources and other links to stories and documents that may be of relevance
to WSIS issues:
* New APC book: 'Involving civil society in ICT Policy: the WSIS':
This book is aimed at people who want to advocate for more just and enabling
policy environments. It is designed to build awareness of and capacity to
engage in ICT policy-making spaces at international, regional and national
levels, including the WSIS. You can download it free of charge in English,
Spanish and French.
* Our Side of the Divide: African Perspectives on Information and
Communication Technologies:
This booklet is part of a broad strategy called 'Speaking for Ourselves'. It
recognizes, that while the African perspective on the digital divide is
underrepresented in the context of the World Summit on the Information
Society, the people most directly affected by the digital divide have the
best ideas, analysis and opinions about how to address the issues.
* Africa WSIS Civil Society Caucus website
Visit the Africa Civil Society Caucus website on WSIS. The African Civil
Society Caucus aims to strengthen African civil society's capacity to ensure
African perspectives on the information society are articulated in the WSIS
* WSIS Civil Society Meeting Point – link to information on other civil
society organizations.
* Time Plan with side events
A detailed list with additional events within the WSIS framework (8th to
12th December) is available on the WSIS website of the Swiss government:
* The World Forum on Communication Rights
The World Forum on Communication Rights will be held on December 11th 2003
alongside the WSIS in Geneva. It is organised by a coalition of civil
society organisations, initiated by the CRIS campaign.
* African Media Village – WSIS – YOUR CONTRIBUTIONS NEEDED!!!!!!!!!
African caucus members are planning to make the installation site a cultural
centre and meeting place during the summit. Plans are advancing for the
installation of an African media village at the WSIS. The installation will
sit within a large semi-circular backdrop that will depict a typical rural
African setting and present the perspectives of people from both sides of
the African digital divide.
For more details of the installation and how to get involved, please visit
the pages below.
Contact: email@example.com for questions, comments and contributions Africa IR
Policy Monitor Project
- Chakula: Africa ICT Policy Monitor newsletter -
If you want to subscribe or unsubscribe to Chakula, please go to


text:
The OCZ Vector is one of many solid-state drives I've reviewed from OCZ Technology Group, but it's the first that's truly OCZ-made. The new drive comes with all components designed by OCZ, including the controller.
The OCZ Vector is a high-end SSD designed to compete with the recently reviewed
The drive currently costs about the same as the Samsung 840, and breaks down to just slightly more than $1 per gigabyte. If you're looking for a fast SSD for your system, be it a Windows computer or a Mac, the OCZ Vector would make an excellent choice, as far as performance is concerned. If you want a drive that offers better battery life for your portable computer, however, consider the Samsung 840 Pro, or even the
Design and features
|Drive type
|7mm-thick, 2.5-inch standard internal drive
|Connector options
|SATA 3 (6Gbps), SATA 2, SATA
|Available capacities
|Product dimensions
|7mm-thick, 2.5-inch standard
|Capacity of test unit
|OCZ Boot Foot 3
|Flash memory type
|OCZ 25nm IMFT synchronous 2-bit-per-cell MLC NAND
|OSes supported
|Windows, Mac, Linux
Coming in the now familiar 7mm chassis, the new OCZ Vector still manages to look very different from the rest of OCZ's SSDs, or the rest of the SSDs on the market, for that matter. It has a colored aluminum casing with a new, eye-catching label on top. The bottom of the drive remains much the same as the rest of OCZ's SSDs, showing the part number as well as other technical information. Still, the overall look of the OCZ Vector suggests that it's not just another SSD from OCZ.
On the inside, the drive sports OCZ-branded NAND flash memory and an OCZ-made Barefoot 3 controller. Though the previous
Supporting the latest SATA 3 (6Gbps) standard, the OCZ Vector's energy usage rating is not as impressive as those of the aforementioned Samsung SSDs. The Vector requires 2.25W when working and 0.9W when idle, much higher than the .068W (working)/.042W (idle) rating of the Samsung 840 Pro. Even the much older Samsung 830, with a 0.24 (working)/0.14(idle) rating, beats the Vector in terms of energy efficiency. While I didn't have time to test how the Vector affects a laptop's battery, my guess is it would probably cut down the battery life by 15 to 20 minutes compared with the Samsung 840 Pro.
Energy usage aside, the OCZ Vector worked well with both Windows and Mac OS in my trials. The drive comes with a five-year warranty. OCZ's warranty policy is a little interesting. The company guarantees that the drive will last at least five years if you write 20GB to it per day, every day. Consequently, the warranty of the Vector expires after five years or after 36.5TB of writes, whichever comes first. It's quite hard to determine how much data has been written to the drive, however, so keep that in mind.
The reason the daily written amount is a concern is because generally SSDs have limited program/erase (P/E) cycles, which dictate how many times you can write and rewrite information on a memory cell before it won't retain new information anymore. In real-world usage this is not really a big issue since most of us don't write more than 10GB on a computer's internal drive in a day, let alone every day. Still, heavy users, such as video-editing professionals, should pick a different type of SSD or use very fast standard hard drives for their work.