text:
Mauritania Population: 3,677,29337 VISITORS FROM HERE!
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|Independent from France in 1960, Mauritania annexed the southern third of the former Spanish Sahara (now Western Sahara) in 1976 but relinquished it after three years of raids by the Polisario guerrilla front seeking independence for the territory. Maaouya Ould Sid Ahmed TAYA seized power in a coup in 1984 and ruled Mauritania with a heavy hand for more than two decades. A series of presidential elections that he held were widely seen as flawed. A bloodless coup in August 2005 deposed President TAYA and ushered in a military council that oversaw a transition to democratic rule. Independent candidate Sidi Ould Cheikh ABDALLAHI was inaugurated in April 2007 as Mauritania's first freely and fairly elected president. His term ended prematurely in August 2008 when a military junta led by General Mohamed Ould Abdel AZIZ deposed him and installed a military council government. AZIZ was subsequently elected president in July 2009 and sworn in the following month. AZIZ sustained injuries from an accidental shooting by his own troops in October 2012 but has continued to maintain his authority. He was reelected in 2014 to a second and final term as president (according to the present constitution). The country continues to experience ethnic tensions among three major groups: Arabic-speaking descendants of slaves (Haratines), Arabic-speaking "White Moors" (Bidhan), and members of Sub-Saharan ethnic groups mostly originating in the Senegal River valley (Halpulaar, Soninke, and Wolof). Mauritania confronts a terrorism threat by al-Qa'ida in the Islamic Maghreb, which launched successful attacks between 2005 and 2010.
Mauritania is considered both a part of North Africa's Maghreb region and West Africa's Sahel region; most of the population is concentrated in the cities of Nouakchott and Nouadhibou and along the Senegal River in the southern part of the country
|Western Africa, bordering the North Atlantic Ocean, between Senegal and Western Sahara
|Geographic coordinates:
| total: 1,030,700 sq km
land: 1,030,700 sq km
water: 0 sq km
Size comparison: slightly larger than three times the size of New Mexico
|Land Boundaries:
|total: 5,002 km border countries (4): Algeria 460 km, Mali 2,236 km, Senegal 742 km, Western Sahara 1,564 km
|754 km
|Maritime claims:
| territorial sea: 12 nm
contiguous zone: 24 nm
exclusive economic zone: 200 nm
continental shelf: 200 nm or to the edge of the continental margin
|desert; constantly hot, dry, dusty
|mostly barren, flat plains of the Sahara; some central hills
|Elevation extremes:
|Natural resources:
|iron ore, gypsum, copper, phosphate, diamonds, gold, oil, fish
|Land use:
| agricultural land: 38.5% arable land 0.4%; permanent crops 0%; permanent pasture 38.1% forest: 0.2%
other: 61.3% (2011 est.)
|Irrigated land:
|450 sq km (2012)
|Natural hazards:
|hot, dry, dust/sand-laden sirocco wind primarily in March and April; periodic droughts
|Current Environment Issues:
|overgrazing, deforestation, and soil erosion aggravated by drought are contributing to desertification; limited natural freshwater resources away from the Senegal, which is the only perennial river; locust infestation
|International Environment Agreements:
| party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Wetlands, Whaling
signed, but not ratified: none of the selected agreements
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| noun: Mauritanian(s)
adjective: Mauritanian
|Ethnic groups:
|black Moors (Haratines - Arab-speaking slaves, former slaves, and their descendants of African origin, enslaved by white Moors) 40%, white Moors (of Arab-Berber descent, known as Bidhan) 30%, black Africans (non-Arabic speaking, Halpulaar, Soninke, Wolof, and Bamara ethnic groups) 30%
|Arabic (official and national), Pulaar, Soninke, Wolof (all national languages), French note: the spoken Arabic in Mauritania differs considerably from the modern standard Arabic used for official written purposes or in the media; the Mauritanian dialect, which incorporates many Berber words, is referred to as Hassaniya
|Muslim (official) 100%
|3,677,293 (July 2016 est.)
|Age structure:
| 0-14 years: 38.87% (male 717,790/female 711,694)
15-24 years: 19.86% (male 357,460/female 372,744)
25-54 years: 32.96% (male 561,341/female 650,580)
55-64 years: 4.61% (male 76,372/female 93,065)
65 years and over: 3.71% (male 57,814/female 78,433) (2016 est.)
|Dependency ratios:
| total dependency ratio: 76.1%
youth dependency ratio: 70.5%
elderly dependency ratio: 5.7%
potential support ratio: 17.7% (2015 est.)
|Median age:
| total: 20.3 years
male: 19.3 years
female: 21.2 years (2016 est.)
|Population growth rate:
|2.2% (2016 est.)
|Birth rate:
|30.9 births/1,000 population (2016 est.)
|Death rate:
|8.1 deaths/1,000 population (2016 est.)
|Net migration rate:
|-0.8 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2016 est.)
| urban population: 59.9% of total population (2015)
rate of urbanization: 3.54% annual rate of change (2010-15 est.)
|Major urban areas - population:
|NOUAKCHOTT (capital) 968,000 (2015)
|Sex ratio:
| at birth: 1.03 male(s)/female
0-14 years: 1.01 male(s)/female
15-24 years: 0.96 male(s)/female
25-54 years: 0.86 male(s)/female
55-64 years: 0.82 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 0.74 male(s)/female
total population: 0.93 male(s)/female (2016 est.)
|Maternal mortality rate:
|602 deaths/100,000 live births (2015 est.)
|Infant mortality rate:
| total: 53.3 deaths/1,000 live births male: 58.1 deaths/1,000 live births
female: 48.2 deaths/1,000 live births (2016 est.)
|Life expectancy at birth:
| total population: 63 years male: 60.7 years
female: 65.4 years (2016 est.)
|Total fertility rate:
|3.93 children born/woman (2016 est.)
|Contraceptive prevalence rate:
|9.3% (2007)
|Health expenditures:
|3.8% of GDP (2014)
|Physicians density:
|0.13 physicians/1,000 population (2009)
|Hospital bed density:
|0.4 beds/1,000 population (2006)
|Drinking water source:
| improved:
urban: 58.4% of population
rural: 57.1% of population
total: 57.9% of population
urban: 41.6% of population
rural: 42.9% of population
total: 42.1% of population (2015 est.)
|Sanitation facility access:
| improved:
urban: 57.5% of population
rural: 13.8% of population
total: 40% of population
urban: 42.5% of population
rural: 86.2% of population
total: 60% of population (2015 est.)
|HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate:
|0.57% (2015 est.)
|HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS:
|13,700 (2015 est.)
|HIV/AIDS - deaths:
|1,000 (2015 est.)
|Obesity - adult prevalence rate:
|8.6% (2014)
|Children under the age of 5 years underweight:
|19.5% (2012)
|Education expenditures:
|2.9% of GDP (2013)
| definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 52.1%
male: 62.6%
female: 41.6% (2015 est.)
|School life expectancy (primary to tertiary education):
| total: 8 years male: 9 years
female: 8 years (2013)
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|Country name:
| conventional long form: Islamic Republic of Mauritania
conventional short form: Mauritania
local long form: Al Jumhuriyah al Islamiyah al Muritaniyah
local short form: Muritaniyah
etymology: named for the ancient Kingdom of Mauretania (3rd century B.C. to 1st century A.D.), which existed further north in present-day Morocco; the name derives from the Mauri (Moors), the Berber-speaking peoples of northwest Africa
|Government type:
|presidential republic
| name: Nouakchott
geographic coordinates: 18 04 N, 15 58 W
time difference: UTC 0 (5 hours ahead of Washington, DC, during Standard Time)
|Administrative divisions:
|15 regions (wilayas, singular - wilaya); Adrar, Assaba, Brakna, Dakhlet Nouadhibou, Gorgol, Guidimaka, Hodh ech Chargui, Hodh El Gharbi, Inchiri, Nouakchott Nord, Nouakchott Ouest, Nouakchott Sud, Tagant, Tiris Zemmour, Trarza
|28 November 1960 (from France)
|National holiday:
|Independence Day, 28 November (1960)
|previous 1964; latest adopted 12 July 1991; amended 2004, 2006, 2012 (2016)
|Legal system:
|mixed legal system of Islamic and French civil law
|18 years of age; universal
|Executive branch:
| chief of state: President Mohamed Ould Abdel AZIZ (since 5 August 2009); note - AZIZ deposed President Sidi Ould Cheikh ABDELLAHI in a coup and installed himself as president in August 2008; he subsequently retired from the military, stepped down from the appropriated presidency in April 2009 to run for the legitimate presidency, and was elected president on 18 July 2009
head of government: Prime Minister Yahya Ould HADEMINE (since 21 August 2014)
cabinet: Council of Ministers appointed by the president elections/appointments: president directly elected by absolute majority popular vote in 2 rounds if needed for a 5-year term (eligible for a second term); election last held on 21 June 2014 (next to be held by 2019); prime minister appointed by the president
election results: Mohamed Ould Abdel AZIZ elected president; percent of vote - Mohamed Ould Abdel AZIZ (UPR) 81.9%, Biram Dah ABEID (independent) 8.7%, Boidiel Ould HOUMEIT (El Wiam) 4.5%, Ibrahima Moctar SARR (SJD/MR) 4.4%, other 0.5%
|Legislative branch:
| description: bicameral Parliament or Barlamane consists of the Senate or Majlis al-Shuyukh (56 seats; 53 members indirectly elected by municipal leaders by simple majority vote and 3 directly elected by Mauritanians abroad; members serve a 6-year term with one-third of membership renewed every 2 years) and the National Assembly or Al Jamiya Al Wataniya (146 seats; 106 members directly elected in single- and two-seat constituencies by absolute majority vote in two rounds if needed and 40 directly elected in constituencies with three or more seats by proportional representation vote; members serve a 5-year term)
elections: Senate - last held on 23 November 2013 (next election scheduled for 2015 but delayed because of opposition party threats to boycott election); National Assembly - first round last held on 23 November and second round on 21 December 2013 (next to be held in 2018)
election results: Senate - percent of vote by party - NA; seats by party - NA; National Assembly - percent of vote by party - NA; seats by party - UPR 75, RNRD-TAWASSOUL 16, El Wiam 10, APP 7, El Karama Party 6, UDP 6, AJD/MR 4, Burst of Youth for the Nation 4, El Vadila Party 3, PRDR 3, PUD 3, Ravah Party 3, other 6; note - parties winning fewer than 3 seats sit as independents unless they join a coalition
|Judicial branch:
| highest court(s): Supreme Court or Cour Supreme (subdivided into 1 criminal and 2 civil chambers, each with a president and 5 counselors); Constitutional Council (consists of 6 members) judge selection and term of office: Supreme Court president appointed by the president of the republic to serve a 5-year renewable term; Constitutional Council members appointed - 3 by the president of the republic, 2 by the president of the National Assembly, and 1 by the president of the Senate; members serve single, 9-year terms with one-third of membership renewed every 3 years
subordinate courts: High Court of Justice (cases involving treason and criminal acts of high government officials); courts of appeal; wilaya (regional) courts (located at the headquarters of each of the 13 regions); commercial and labor courts; criminal courts; moughataa (district) courts; informal/customary courts
|Political parties and leaders:
|Alliance for Justice and Democracy/Movement for Renewal or AJD/MR [Ibrahima Moctar SARR] Burst of Youth for the Nation [Lalla CHERIVA] Coalition for Pacific Alternation or CAP (coalition of opposition parties, including APP, El Wiam) Coalition of Majority Parties or CPM (including UPR, UDP) Coordination of Democratic Opposition or COD [Ahmed Ould DADDAH] (coalition including RNRD-TAWASSOUL) El Karama Party [Cheikhna Ould Mohamed Ould HAJBOU] El Vadila Party [Ethmane Ould Ahmed ABOULMAALY] El Wiam [Boidiel Ould HOUMEIT] National Rally for Reform and Development or RNRD-TAWASSOUL [Mohamed Jamil Ould MANSOUR] Party of Unity and Development or PUD [Mohamed BARO] Popular Progressive Alliance or APP [Messaoud Ould BOULKHEIR] Ravah Party Republican Party for Democracy and Renewal or PRDR [Sidi Mohamed Ould Mohamed VALL] Union for Democracy and Progress or UDP [Naha Mint MOUKNASS] Union for the Republic or UPR [Sidi Mohamed Ould MAHAM]
|Political pressure groups and leaders:
|General Confederation of Mauritanian Workers or CGTM [Abdallahi Ould MOHAMED, secretary general] Independent Confederation of Mauritanian Workers or CLTM and El Hor [Samory Ould BEYE] (civil society organization) Mauritanian Workers Union or UTM [Mohamed Ely Ould BRAHIM, secretary general] SOS-Esclaves [Boubacar MESSAOUD] (anti-slavery group) other: Arab nationalists; Ba'athists; Islamists; Nasserists
|International organization participation:
|ABEDA, ACP, AfDB, AFESD, AMF, AMU, AU, CAEU (candidate), EITI (compliant country), FAO, G-77, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICC (NGOs), ICRM, IDA, IDB, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, IHO (pending member), ILO, IMF, IMO, Interpol, IOC, IOM, IPU, ISO (correspondent), ITSO, ITU, ITUC (NGOs), LAS, MIGA, MIUSMA, NAM, OIC, OIF, OPCW, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UNWTO, UPU, WCO, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTO
|National symbol(s):
|star and crescent; national colors: green, yellow
|National anthem:
| name: "Hymne National de la Republique Islamique de Mauritanie" (National Anthem of the Islamic Republic of Mauritania)
lyrics/music: Baba Ould CHEIKH/traditional, arranged by Tolia NIKIPROWETZKY
note: adopted 1960; the unique rhythm of the Mauritanian anthem makes it particularly challenging to sing
|Diplomatic representation in the US:
| chief of mission: Ambassador Mohamedoun DADDAH (since 27 June 2016)
chancery: 2129 Leroy Place NW, Washington, DC 20008
telephone: [1] (202) 232-5700 through 5701
|Diplomatic representation from the US:
| chief of mission: Ambassador Larry Edward ANDRE, Jr. (since 25 September 2014)
embassy: 288, rue 42-100 (rue Abdallaye), Nouakchott
mailing address: B.P. 222, Nouakchott
telephone: [222] 4525-2660 or [222] 2660-2663
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Mauritania's economy is dominated by natural resources and agriculture. Half the population still depends on agriculture and livestock for a livelihood, even though many nomads and subsistence farmers were forced into the cities by recurrent droughts in the 1970s and 1980s. Recently, GDP growth has been driven by foreign investment in the mining and oil sectors. Mauritania's extensive mineral resources include iron ore, gold, copper, gypsum, and phosphate rock, and exploration is ongoing for uranium, crude oil, and natural gas. Extractive commodities make up about three-quarters of Mauritania's total exports, subjecting the economy to price swings in world commodity markets. Mining is also a growing source of government revenue, rising from 13% to 29% of total revenue between 2006 and 2013. The nation's coastal waters are among the richest fishing areas in the world, and fishing accounts for about 25% of budget revenues, but overexploitation by foreigners threatens this key source of revenue. Risks to Mauritania's economy include its recurring droughts, dependence on foreign aid and investment, and insecurity in neighboring Mali, as well as significant shortages of infrastructure, institutional capacity, and human capital. Mauritania has sought additional IMF support by focusing efforts on poverty reduction. Investment in agriculture and infrastructure are the largest components of the country's public expenditures.
|GDP (purchasing power parity):
| GDP (purchasing power parity): $16.71 billion (2016 est.) $16.19 billion (2015 est.) $15.99 billion (2014 est.)
note: data are in 2016 dollars
|GDP (official exchange rate):
|GDP (official exchange rate): $4.718 billion (2015 est.)
|GDP - real growth rate:
|3.2% (2016 est.) 1.2% (2015 est.) 5.4% (2014 est.)
|GDP - per capita (PPP):
| GDP - per capita (PPP): $4,400 (2016 est.) $4,400 (2015 est.) $4,400 (2014 est.)
note: data are in 2016 dollars
|Gross national saving:
|22.2% of GDP (2016 est.) 18.8% of GDP (2015 est.) 25.2% of GDP (2014 est.)
|GDP - composition, by end use:
| household consumption: 72.5%
government consumption: 23.8%
investment in fixed capital: 47%
investment in inventories: -7.2%
exports of goods and services: 25.7%
imports of goods and services: -61.8% (2016 est.)
|GDP - composition, by sector of origin:
| household consumption: 72.5%
government consumption: 23.8%
investment in fixed capital: 47%
investment in inventories: -7.2%
exports of goods and services: 25.7%
imports of goods and services: -61.8% (2016 est.)
|Agriculture - products:
|dates, millet, sorghum, rice, corn; cattle, sheep
|fish processing, oil production, mining (iron ore, gold, copper) note: gypsum deposits have never been exploited
|Industrial production growth rate:
|-1.2% (2016 est.)
|Labor force:
|1.356 million (2016 est.)
|Labor force - by occupation:
| agriculture: 50%
industry: 2%
services: 48% (2001 est.)
|Unemployment rate:
|31% (2013 est.)
|Population below poverty line:
|40% (2004 est.)
|Household income or consumption by percentage share:
| lowest 10%: 2.5%
highest 10%: 29.5% (2000)
|Distribution of family income - Gini index:
|39 (2000) 37.3 (1995)
| revenues: $1.143 billion
expenditures: $1.43 billion (2016 est.)
|Taxes and other revenues:
|24.2% of GDP (2016 est.)
|Fiscal year:
|calendar year
|Inflation rate (consumer prices):
|Inflation rate (consumer prices): 3.5% (2016 est.) 0.5% (2015 est.)
|Current account balance:
|-$1.033 billion (2016 est.) -$1.313 billion (2015 est.)
|$1.212 billion (2016 est.) $1.385 billion (2015 est.)
|Exports - commodities:
|iron ore, fish and fish products, gold, copper, petroleum
|Exports - partners:
|China 32.7%, Switzerland 11.1%, Spain 8.6%, Italy 6.7%, Cote dIvoire 6.6%, Japan 5.7% (2015)
|$1.643 billion (2016 est.) $1.93 billion (2015 est.)
|Imports - commodities:
|machinery and equipment, petroleum products, capital goods, foodstuffs, consumer goods
|Imports - partners:
|China 25.5%, Algeria 8.4%, France 6.3%, Morocco 5.1%, Spain 4.8%, Brazil 4.5%, US 4% (2015)
|Debt - external:
|$3.585 billion (31 December 2016 est.) $3.415 billion (31 December 2015 est.)
|Market value of publicly traded shares:
|Exchange rates:
|ouguiyas (MRO) per US dollar - 341.6 (2016 est.) 319.7 (2015 est.) 319.7 (2014 est.) 299.5 (2013 est.) 296.6 (2012 est.)
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|Electricity - production:
|800 million kWh (2014 est.)
|Electricity - consumption:
|800 million kWh (2014 est.)
|Electricity - exports:
|0 kWh (2013 est.)
|Electricity - imports:
|0 kWh (2013 est.)
|Electricity - installed generating capacity:
|400,000 kW (2014 est.)
|Electricity - from fossil fuels:
|66.9% of total installed capacity (2012 est.)
|Electricity - from nuclear fuels:
|0% of total installed capacity (2012 est.)
|Electricity - from hydroelectric plants:
|33.1% of total installed capacity (2012 est.)
|Electricity - from other renewable sources:
|0% of total installed capacity (2012 est.)
|Crude oil - production:
|5,247 bbl/day (2015 est.)
|Crude oil - exports:
|11,250 bbl/day (2013 est.)
|Crude oil - imports:
|0 bbl/day (2013 est.)
|Crude oil - proved reserves:
|20 million bbl (1 January 2016 es)
|Refined petroleum products - production:
|0 bbl/day (2013 est.)
|Refined petroleum products - consumption:
|16,000 bbl/day (2014 est.)
|Refined petroleum products - exports:
|0 bbl/day (2013 est.)
|Refined petroleum products - imports:
|16,390 bbl/day (2013 est.)
|Natural gas - production:
|0 cu m (2013 est.)
|Natural gas - consumption:
|0 cu m (2013 est.)
|Natural gas - exports:
|0 cu m (2013 est.)
|Natural gas - imports:
|0 cu m (2013 est.)
|Natural gas - proved reserves:
|28.32 billion cu m (1 January 2016 es)
|Carbon dioxide emissions from consumption of energy:
|2.4 million Mt (2013 est.)
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|Cellular Phones in use:
|total: 3.644 million subscriptions per 100 inhabitants: 101 (July 2015 est.)
|Telephone system:
| general assessment: limited system of cable and open-wire lines, minor microwave radio relay links, and radiotelephone communications stations; mobile-cellular services expanding rapidly
domestic: fixed-line teledensity 1 per 100 persons; mobile-cellular network coverage extends mainly to urban areas with a teledensity of roughly 100 per 100 persons; mostly cable and open-wire lines; a domestic satellite telecommunications system links Nouakchott w
international: country code - 222; satellite earth stations - 3 (1 Intelsat - Atlantic Ocean, 2 Arabsat); fiber-optic and asymmetric digital subscriber line cables for Internet access (2015)
|Broadcast media:
|one state-run TV (Television de Mauritanie) and one state-run radio network (Radio de Mauritanie); Television de Mauritanie has three channels, Al Mahadra station (for Islamic content) and Channels 1 and 2, which cover news, sports, and other programming; (2013)
|Internet country code:
|Internet users:
|total: 547,000 percent of population: 15.2% (July 2015 est.)
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|30 (2013)
|Airports (paved runways):
| total 9
2,438 to 3,047 m: 5
1,524 to 2,437 m: 4 (2013)
|Airports (unpaved runways):
| total 21
2,438 to 3,047 m: 1
1,524 to 2,437 m: 10
914 to 1,523 m: 8
under 914 m: 2 (2013)
| total 728 km
standard gauge: 728 km 1.435-m gauge (2014)
| total 10,628 km
paved: 3,158 km
unpaved: 7,470 km (2010)
|(some navigation possible on the Senegal River) (2011)
|Ports and terminals:
|major seaport(s): Nouadhibou, Nouakchott
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|Military branches:
|Mauritanian Armed Forces: Army, Mauritanian Navy (Marine Mauritanienne; includes naval infantry), Islamic Republic of Mauritania Air Group (Groupement Aerienne Islamique de Mauritanie, GAIM) (2013)
|Military service age and obligation:
|18 is the legal minimum age for voluntary military service; no conscription (2012)
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|Transnational Issues
|Disputes - International:
|Mauritanian claims to Western Sahara remain dormant
|Refugees and internally displaced persons:
|refugees (country of origin): 26,007 (Western Saharan - Sahrawis) (2015); 46,640 (Mali) (2016)
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Source: CIA - The World Factbook


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GETTYSBURG, Pa. - Sweat soaking their wool uniforms, the Union and Confederate soldiers met near the stone wall to exchange handshakes, pleasantries and even a few jokes.
On this warm, sticky Sunday afternoon, both the North and the South went home happy after the Battle of Gettysburg.
Thousands of history buffs recreated the Confederate Army's ill-fated Pickett's Charge to end the first of two massive re-enactments held in honor of the 150th anniversary of the Civil War's pivotal conflict.
But the events to remember the battle that took place July 1-3, 1863 are far from over. The National Park Service holds its commemoration ceremony Sunday night, followed by a procession to Soldiers National Cemetery. The graves of the Union dead were to be adorned with luminarias.
Up to 10,000 Union and Confederate soldiers died at Gettysburg, considered the war's turning point after federal troops rebuffed what had been the northernmost advance of the South.
"This has been unbelievable. The scale of it and the intensity those men must have gone through," said Union re-enactor William Hincks, 40, of East Hampton, Conn. "It's intense without flying lead."
More than 200,000 visitors were expected to swarm the south-central Pennsylvania town of roughly 7,500 residents over the 10-day milestone anniversary period ending July 7. Organizers said things were going smoothly so far.
A different group is holding a second re-enactment, described by local organizers as even larger in scale, set to begin on Independence Day. Re-enactments are held on private properties, miles from the actual battlefield.
In between, the Park Service hosts most of the spotlight events on the actual anniversary days of the encounter, including popular battlefield historical tours led by rangers.
"We expect to be ramping up as we head into July 1," said Carl Whitehill, spokesman for the Gettysburg Convention and Visitors Bureau. "The re-enactment at the end of the week is expected to be the big, big event."
Yet another opportunity to see Pickett's Charge - the famous attack named after Gen. George Pickett, the Virginia-born U.S. military officer who went on to become one of the most recognizable names of the Confederate military. The Confederate commander, Gen. Robert E. Lee decided to use Pickett's men to lead the assault on Union lines on July 3, 1863.
On Sunday, across an open stretch of grass as wide as two football fields, Confederate re-enactors gathered in orderly lines and marched on federal counterparts as thousands of spectators snapped pictures and took video.
"I got total, complete chills when I saw the Rebel line approaching," said Jackie Ulloa, 47, of Atlanta, who cheered on a friend taking part in the re-enactment. "It was one of the most amazing things I've ever seen."
That Confederate soldier who played "dead" but sneaked an iPhone out of his pocket to snap a picture? Not realistic.
For rookie re-enactor Hincks, Pickett's Charge was a chance to follow in the footsteps of his great, great grandfather, Congressional Medal of Honor winner William Bliss Hincks. Fighting for a unit from Connecticut, Hincks' ancestor grabbed the colors of a Tennessee infantry unit during the "high-water mark" of battle, which was also the northernmost advance by Confederates on Union soil.
In a bit of cooperation unseen during the actual war, the Connecticut group contacted the Confederate re-enactors portraying the Tennessee soldiers to play out the scene again with Hincks grabbing the flag. Kierran Broatch, 30, of Milford, Conn., also raced out with Hincks for the flag - just like his great, great grandfather, John C. Broatch, did 150 years ago.
A proud Hincks has his great, great grandfather's sabre, too. It's highly unusual for a first-time re-enactor to be granted such a key role.
"It's history, you want to understand your family and your past," Hincks said when asked why took part this week.
Months of preparation later, Sandy Andrews, 55, of Hagerstown, Md., pronounced the scene a smashing success. He heads the group portraying the Tennessee unit.
"It worked to perfection," he said. "To be on the field with two descendants of the original men, you don't get more special than that. On this day, on this field."
Follow Genaro Armas at http://twitter.com/GArmasAP


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Commuters who drove between Oakland and San Francisco on the Bay Bridge before the sun came up on Tuesday only had glowing things to say about the $6.4 billion engineering masterpiece, which took more than a decade to build and came in at $5 billion more than first projected.
"It was incredible, man," Nhua Rodriguez told NBC Bay Area. "Nice, clear, no traffic. Very good, man."
Omar Hassan also liked his ride: "I thought it was excellent. Spectacular. I was blown away."
VIDEO: Bay Bridge Construction Time Lapse
And from the early morning tweets and Instagram photos taken - hopefully by passengers, not drivers - other commuters were loving the wide open vistas and views. What people liked most was the "cathedral-like" effect of the clean, simple suspension bridge, compared to the cantilever beams on the old section of the bridge, which boxed drivers in like a cage.
Bridge traffic was smooth in the early morning hours of Tuesday, though westbound Interstate 80 in Berkeley was jammed approaching the bridge.
MORE: What People are Saying About the Bay Bridge
By 10 a.m., though, the California Highway Patrol announced officers removed one motorist from the cantilever section of the bridge because he went around the contruction zone to try to take pictures. CHP spokesman Daniel Hill said a few others were either warned or cited for taking photos and "making iPhone videos" of the bridge while behind the wheel. Hard numbers, he said, wouldn't be out until later in the day.
Caltrans and the CHP opened up the new eastern span of the bridge to traffic at about 10:15 p.m. Monday night - about seven hours earlier than planned. The bridge was scheduled to be reopened by 5 a.m. Tuesday but the work was finished faster than anticipated, Caltrans Director Malcolm Dougherty said.
On Labor Day afternoon, authorities held a chain-cutting ceremony at 3 p.m. to officially welcome the new bridge.
California Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom cut the ceremonial chain with a blowtorch - just like they did when the bridge opened in 1936 - setting off a procession of California Highway Patrol motorcycles and other vehicles across the new bridge. Gov. Jerry Brown was noticeably absent from the pomp and circumstance. He was in Michigan with his wife for a family reunion.
PHOTOS: Bay Bridge Opening Ceremony
A collection of 20 cars, ranging from vintage models to modern electric vehicles were also part of the first motorcade to begin crossing the new span at about 5:40 p.m. Horns honked, drivers cheered, and the mood seemed like New Year's Eve.
MORE: 20 Cars to Give Bay Bridge a Test Spin
The workhorse bridge of the Bay Area has been closed since Wednesday night, so that Caltrans workers could get ready for the new 2.2-mile eastern span that took 11 years to build following the safety concerns after the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake. The original pricetag was about $1 billion, and the road to building the bridge was full of political football and controversy, including recently when bolts on the bridge were discovered to have had problems that have since been addressed.
But all's well that ends well.
The construction to open the bridge went off with little to no public hitches. Caltrans had given regular media tours throughout to show the public that all was going well. Crews furiously worked to pave the roadway on east and westbound portions of the new span, installed barriers, power-washed the Treasure Island tunnels, polished lights, and demolished part of the old approach to the eastern span from Oakland.
"We haven't encountered any problems beyond the occasional slowdown that you'd expect with any construction project," spokesman Andrew Gordon said of work taking place since the bridge closed Wednesday night.
RAW VIDEO: Early Ridealong Tour on the Bay Bridge
Even traffic didn't become the headache many had feared. Despite the five-day closure of the Bay Bridge, motorists made their way around in sluggish, but tolerable, commutes.
NBC Bay Area's Kyle Bonagura, Christie Smith, Terry McSweeney, Mike Inouye and the Associated Press contributed to this report.


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A Catholic high school in Dearborn, Michigan, has a unique solution to making students abide by the dress code — "modesty ponchos."
A Catholic high school in Dearborn, Michigan, offered a unique solution for making students abide by the school's prom dress code — "modesty ponchos."
According to The Huffington Post, the school came under fire for suggesting that female teens wear the "modesty ponchos" if their dresses were deemed inappropriate by teachers for the upcoming prom event.
"If your dress does not meet our formal dance dress requirements ― no problem! We've got you covered ― literally. This is our Modesty Poncho, which you'll be given at the door," read a note attached to a mannequin, according to HuffPost.
Divine Child High School dressed mannequins in the halls of the school with the ponchos, which are not unlike rain ponchos and are available in both short and long styles.
According to the Associated Press, the length "suggests it's designed to cover cleavage."
The school's prom dress code, after all, said dresses can't have plunging necklines or "cutouts below the traditional bra line," the Associated Press reported.
"The school forbids exposed cleavage and visible midriffs, and a teacher will check for compliance at the door," according to the Associated Press.
Parents and students alike complained about the ponchos, calling them a form of body shaming, according to Fox 2 Detroit.
The school backtracked on its commitment to the ponchos, sending out an apology letter to the community.
"To be clear: The poncho will not be passed out at Prom. It was on display to proactively remind students of our dress code policies and eliminate any confusion prior to this special event," the school's principal Eric Haley wrote in a letter to the community. "We recognize that it has done the opposite for some members of our community and draws away from our goal of having students adhere to the dress code policy."
A spokesperson for the Detroit Catholic Archdiocese told Fox 2 Detroit that the ponchos weren't distributed to students, nor were students required to wear them.
"Come prom night, if necessary, staff may provide wraps and shawls, as they and other schools have done in the past," spokesperson Holly Fournier said in a statement to Fox 2 Detroit.
Theology teacher Mary Pat O'Malley said she came up with the idea for the ponchos to help spread a positive message at the school.
"We are trying focus on the inner beauty and not draw attention to something that doesn't need attention drawn to it," O'Malley said.
An anonymous Divine Child student told Fox 2, "I do believe the school has gone too far with this. As we walk into prom, we are to shake hands with all the teachers and if you walk through and a teacher deems your dress is inappropriate you will be given a poncho at the door."
The Michigan controversy comes a day after a Utah teen came under fire for her own modest dress. According to the Deseret News, Woods Cross High School teen Keziah Daum was criticized online for wearing a red qipao, a traditional Chinese dress.
Critics said the dress was a case of cultural appropriation, which is defined as an "act of taking or using things from a culture that is not your own, especially without showing that you understand or respect this culture," according to the Cambridge Dictionary.
Daum defended her dress choice, saying she bought it for the sake of modesty.
"I remember being there, and I'm like, 'I want to find something that's a little more modest. Don't want to send the wrong message,'" she told the Deseret News.


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Culinary experts have called oysters "the great undiscovered palate." With their unique flavors, characterized by the waters they live in, their complexity is comparable to the world's great wines. Join us as we explore the flavors of Bay oysters paired with Virginia wines, all while overlooking the birthplace of the American oyster industry in one of the greenest buildings in the world!
What types of wine go best with oysters? How do the flavors of oysters differ between regions of the Bay? How is the recovery of the Chesapeake Bay oyster going? These questions and more will be answered by oyster experts, wine connoisseurs, and CBF staff during this unique pairing event!
Sample oysters direct from the Bay waters with Virginia wine from a local winery, and leave with a renewed energy and appreciation for why we are Saving the Bay—for shellfish reasons!
Featuring oysters from:
The event also includes heavy hors d'oeuvres, craft beer from O'Connor Brewing Company, opportunities for raffle prizes, and a souvenir wine glass from the Williamsburg Winery!
Complimentary valet parking will be available past the gate at the ramp to the Brock Environmental Center.
Space is limited, so register today. Registration is $50 for CBF members, $60 for non-members.
Questions? Call or email Erica Park at 757-644-4108 or firstname.lastname@example.com.
Thank you to our generous sponsors: H.M. Terry Co. | O'Connor Brewing Company | Pleasure House Oysters | Whitlock


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For six months, Beijing's 1,000-member Shouwang Church has attempted to hold outdoor services after officials blocked them from taking possession of a $4 million property. Today, the church's leaders are under house arrest. Any church member who shows up at the park designated for Sunday services is arrested.
The Chinese government only allows Christian services in state-approved churches where evangelism is forbidden, sermons are pre-approved by the Communist Party, children are barred, and pastors who succeed in boosting attendance beyond a few elderly find themselves demoted to serve under compliant pastors at remote, rural congregations.
Shouwang refused to seek state approval or would not cooperate with any of the other restritions — and thus came under the intense measures that continue. It would appear that the Chinese government has won. Not so, writes Liu Guan, an elder in the church, in a letter smuggled out of China. Here is his letter:
by Liu Guan
special to Beliefnet
Lately, the Shouwang's outdoor service event has caused hot debate inside and outside the church, and has brought great shock to each person who is involved. I believe that it has much greater impact and influence even than the outdoor service event and the purchase of the gathering place of ShouWang in 2009. In my opinion, ultimately, this event won't have substantial influence on one's work, life, school, career, and ministry, but it will have substantial influence on one's inner spiritual life. It is a real spiritual warfare, and is not a game! It is too early to comment on this event since we are still in the process, but I do have some observations to share with you.
The great switch in the trajectory of Gospel proclamation in China: the development in the dynamics of target people group in evangelization.
I come to this conclusion from analyzing the dynamics of the explosive development of evangelization among different people groups in China since the reform and opening up. This trajectory of Gospel proclamation can be pictured as:
1979-1989 Vast Peasantry
1989-1999 Intellectuals and Professionals
1999-2009 Entrepreneurs and Business People
2009-2019 Government Officials
The first phase: the entire 1980s
During this decade, China had a huge economic development in the countryside. At the same time, churches suffered from persecutions succeeded from the Culture Revolution, and ministers were scattered to different areas throughout the country. Christianity thus thrived in rural areas throughout China, which was marked by the building up of rural churches and the establishment of several national team-based churches. Both my parents and my grandfather came to faith during that period.
The second phase started from early 1990s
A large amount of intellectuals were called to be full time ministers, and they started to establish fellowships and plant churches. Although they were called "the third trend" (which means that they neither belong to the official Three-Self system, nor belong to traditional house church or team-based church) for a while, they come to be a main force of Chinese church due to their similar explosive development as the rural church in the 1980s; they soon get recognition and respect from mainstream house church. The establishment of these churches brings energy to urban churches and ushers in formal institution and system. This type of church usually has a formal name, a set of faith statements, an internal church management system, a formal pastoral office and team, a relatively transparent and open spiritual environment, and strict church discipline. It thus becomes a new and more mature platform for Chinese church to handle the relationship of state and church in this new era.
The third phase
After entering the 21st century, a large group of entrepreneurs and businessmen came to the Lord, and began to join the building up of the church and urban gospel ecosystem; they contributed greatly in terms of financial resources for different types of churches. There are several landmark events:
1. In 2008, churches and Christian organizations gave Wenchuang great financial support as the earthquake hit that area;
2. Shouwang church raised 27 million RMB (US $4 million) in nine months for purchasing a gathering place, mainly from the congregation;
3. During the preparation for the Third Lausanne Congress in Cape Town, South Africa, Chinese delegates, volunteers, and delegates of some neighboring countries received great financial support from entrepreneurs. No matter whether the church wants to make it public or whether the government wants to admit it, these are undeniable facts.
The fourth phase
Since 2009, out of our expectation, God used an unusual way to bring the Gospel to people who work for the government; the Gospel is proclaimed "by force" among them through administrative means by the government itself. This can be traced back to the event of Shouwang's outdoor service and purchasing a gathering place in 2009. The government gave administrative orders, asking government officials of Beijing Municipal government to take issues related to churches into concern. Therefore, from the end of 2009 to early 2010, a large amount of grass-root cadres of Beijing Municipal government first learned about Christianity and the Gospel at Shouwang Church in a passive way.
This kind of dialogue is different from the scene happened between government officials and ministers in rural areas in the 1980s when these ministers were persecuted; it was relatively carried in a rational and peaceful way, with a few exceptions who threatened believers. According to a government official in early 2010, almost 4,000 people who work in the government were involved in this process.
Another event happened in October, 2010, when Chinese delegates were prevented from attending the third Lausanne Congress in Cape Town. During this process, another big group of grass-root cadres, following administrative orders, had an "intimate contact" with Chinese house church leaders. On the day I was stopped at the airport, seven government cadres took me home. And on my way home, I shared the ABC's of Christianity with them. Other delegates also got to communicate with their local government officials in different ways. No matter how these communications happened, in a positive way or in a negative way, they are of great values.
As I have said many times early this year, the third time to proclaim the Gospel to this group of people started as Shouwang's gathering place event further develops; and the congregation of Shouwang is used by God again to evangelize the group of government officials (but we did not expect that it would be in the form of having outdoor service).
There is a concept of "UPG-Unreached People Groups" in missiology. In China, minorities belong to UPG, the emerging "Ant Family" in cities belongs to UPG, and there are also other people groups belong to this category. From my perspective, the biggest UPG in China is the group of people who work in government.
Therefore, when I see titles like "the residential committee started to move," "the job description and the limit of authority of police station," "another visitors," I am amazed by the way in which God works!
I want to remind believers whom are visited by government officials: they are brought to us by God, and they are the fields for the Gospel.
Where shall we go to find UPG? What a better opportunity can we have to share faith with these government leaders and with our neighbors? Please remember that they are our neighbors! Do not forget this just because they seem to have an opposite standing. They are not our enemies! Our real enemy is the devil Satan, who wants to prevent the proclamation of the good news of salvation! Do not take those who work in government as our enemies! From a spiritual perspective, they are the disadvantaged! They need our love, care, and help, and they have family, children, and conscience!
Therefore, I suggest that, on the one hand, we pray for ourselves so that we can face God with no shame, and face our choice with peace, and on the other hand, we pray for wisdom from God, so that we can face government officials, our co-workers, residential committee staff, and even police, with love. We need to know that they are not doing this legally.
The issue of "subject to the governing authorities" is a pseudo-proposition in this context, since none of them is able to represent the government to show us an official legal procedure or document. Their actions are no more than a threat. We also need to know that none of them has the power and authority of deciding our lives; they are brought to us by God through this special way to hear the Gospel. Therefore, we need to argue for our standing and to point out that their illegal actions are mere threats, and we also need to equip ourselves to proclaim the Gospel and to explain our faith to them.
On the outdoor worship service issue
Believers and even some co-workers hold different attitudes and opinions on "outdoor worship service." Some of them have mature response after communicating with us, but some do not respond it properly. As a brother who has served in church for many years, I want to show my deep concern for them, and give them necessary warnings.
In the past few years as I serve in church, I have seen people hurting each other due to different opinions, and the worst thing is that those differentiations are not controversies on truth, but are mere differences on detailed practice. It even hurts to see that in such a process, due to our weakness and limit, we often argue for ourselves and fight with each other by using a long list of "spiritual truth," which are often mocked by outsiders.
And we need to reflect and examine ourselves if there is further action resulting from such a differentiation.
Muslim extremists have sent text messages to at least 10 church leaders in Khartoum saying they are planning to target Christian leaders, buildings and institutions, Christian sources in Khartoum tell the Compass Direct news service.
"We want this country to be purely an Islamic state, so we must kill the infidels and destroy their churches all over Sudan," said one text message circulating in Khartoum last month.
Predominantly non-Muslim Southern Sudan formed its own nation earlier this year. Many Christians in the north have fled to the new nation, fearing increased Muslim extremism in their former hometowns. Those remaining in northern Sudan said they fear persecution as they and become targets of local Islamists, reported Compass Direct, which monitors and reports on Christian issues around the globe.
Large groups of Muslim extremists are being trained in the north, then are sent to Christian areas to preach Islam and demolish church buildings, according to a Christian source in Khartoum, Sudan's capital — who said increasing numbers are from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh.
Such a group attacked the home of Anglican Church of Sudan Bishop Andudu Adam Elnail in an attempt to kill him and two other pastors, Luka Bulus and Thomas Youhana.
Compass Direct reports:
Bulus is a supporter of the Sudan Peoples' Liberation Movement, a southern Sudan militant group long locked in battle with northern government forces, further making him a target of Islamic extremists. Bishop Elnail, whose church building the Sudanese military burned in June in war-torn Kadugli of South Kordofan region, oversees Nuba Mountain Episcopal churches as head of the Kadugli Episcopal Diocese.
All three were elsewhere and no one was hurt, but the assailants left a threatening letter warning them to leave Sudan. The letter left on the gate of the bishop's house asserted that Sudan is an Islamic land.
Christian sources in Khartoum said they take the threats seriously. "These people are not joking – they can kill any Christian," said a church leader who requested anonymity for security reasons. Islamic courts apply shari'ah law, which permits the killing of anyone who leaves Islam or refuses to convert.
"We are aware of your anti-Islamic activities," warned the letter left on Bishop Elnail's gate. "We have been monitoring the evangelization that you carry out these days, and therefore we declare Jihad against you in order to protect Muslims from your infidel influence, because you are the enemy of Islam."


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Peppermill Community Center Renovation
Project Description
A new 15,000 sq. ft.
Current Milestone Schedule
Peppermill Community Center Milestone Schedule
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Design & Interior
The design of a new community center to replace the aging Peppermill Community Center has been completed. The new center will include a larger gym that can be converted into a social space to accommodate over 200 people. A flexible multi-purpose space with attached pantry will serve multiple uses and age groups, including a dedicated space for the senior population. A large fitness room will feature new fitness equipment to serve the community. Restrooms, storage areas and staff office space will round out the design.
Building Improvements
Outside, a patio with access from the multi-purpose room will be a convenient place to eat and socialize, and the parking lot will be enlarged. Security and lighting issues will also be addressed. The building will be upgraded to full Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) compliance. Construction is expected to begin in mid-2017 and work will be completed in late 2018.


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Sunday, 13 February 2011
Who's laughing now? - The Bound & Gagged interview
'Bound & Gagged' is a self published comics anthology with a rare sense of purpose. Bucking the trend of merely collecting together a number of short pieces by comics' latest and greatest, editor Tom Neely has instead chosen to explore the artistic potential of that most classic of comics forms; the one page gag strip.
'Bound & Gagged' brings together artists who, despite their varying backgrounds and styles, seem to operate on a strikingly similar wavelength. With no unifying theme beyond that of the one page gag, it's surprising to observe that, from this simple exercise in form, there emerges an artistic kinship that verges on the telepathic. It is this surprising sense of continuity, both in tone and theme, that lends 'Bound & Gagged' a unique coherence that many bigger name anthologies have struggled to achieve.
The book has all the trappings of some long lost alt. comix gem found at the bottom of a long neglected bargain bin, stumbled upon only after many painful hours of rummaging through back issues of 'Marvel Apes' and 'Tarot'. Luckily for us, Bound & Gagged is very much in the here and now, and is a very welcome addition to the canon of contemporary comics anthologies.
Exquisite Things hooked up with editor and publisher Tom Neely and contributors Anders Nilsen, Chris Wright, Chris C Cilla, Dylan Williams and Michael Deforge to discuss Bound & Gagged and the wider world of comics anthologies.
Exquisite Things: Tom, before we dive into specifics about 'Bound & Gagged', I wanted to start by asking about the artists you approached to contribute to the anthology. There's lots of great folks from the Sparkplug Comics stable, right through to cartoonists like John Porcellino and Anders Nilsen. How did you go about assembling such a diverse range of creators?
Tom: This book stemmed from an art show that I was asked to curate for Secret Headquarters Comic Shop in Los Angeles. SHQ is one of my favorite comic shops in LA, but it's normal clientele has little interest in underground and art comics. I took this as an opportunity to try to introduce some of my favorite contemporary artists to the people who normally shop there, and hopefully get the store interested in carrying some of their books. I don't know if I achieved that goal with the art show, but I ended up with a book that I'm extremely proud of that will eventually reach a larger audience than an art show is capable of reaching.
As for who was included, I just started making a list of my favorite contemporary cartoonists. I didn't really have an agenda of saying "These are the most important cartoonists" or anything like that. Actually, I kinda did the opposite and cut out some of the bigger names that SHQ wanted me to include in the show. I just went with the simple idea that these are all artists who I think are amazing and I think everyone else should appreciate them as much as I do. And those who I thought would do a good job with the single image format.
Exquisite Things: As much as I love anthologies, I sometimes come away feeling a little cheated, as a lot of content tends to be culled from larger pre-existing works. When part of a longer piece is removed from it's original context, I sometimes find it hard to get a real feel for a particular creator.
Your choice of format for 'Bound & Gagged' does much to avoid this pitfall, forcing a more concentrated, self contained approach to each page. What motivated you to opt for the gag strip format for this anthology?
Tom: It comes from my love of painting and fine art rather than from a love of one panel gag cartoons. I do love one panel comics, though. Especially artists like Charles Addams, Hank Ketchum, Gary Larsen… But I've always been interested in telling stories with a single image. So, I used the idea of the one panel gag to force the artists to think in just one image. Almost like asking them to do a painting. I could have asked them all to do paintings, but that's a different thing than a one panel comic.
Exquisite Things: What first sparked your own personal love of gag strips, and what kind of lineage do you trace from the past to your own work? When I think of gag strips, my mind jumps to people like Herriman, Schulz and Watterson... How about you?
Dylan: I'm a descendant of all those comics, so yep, I like Herriman, Schulz and Watterson.
I'm a giant fan of Bud Blake, Hank Ketcham, David Low, Fougasse, Pont, Phil May, Charles Aadams and on and on. I don't think I had any of that stuff in mind besides maybe Pont when I was making the stuff for B&G but he's a big influence on everything I do. I think the music brought those pictures out.
Chris C: As a kid I read the New Yorker gag collections at the library, and my dad's B. Kliban books, those gave me an interest in the single panel gag form. I like some gag strips, like Nancy (Bushmiller) & Gordo in particular, of course Peanuts. Paul Kirchner's 'The Bus' in Heavy Metal. I really enjoy William Steig, Abner Dean, Robert Osborn, Tomi Ungerer and others in that vein (I think Sam Henderson called them the 'Id Cartoonists').
National Lampoon was a formative influence also, Gahan Wilson, Randall Enos & M.K. Brown all did great gag stuff in there, and Mark Newgarden & Raymond Pettibon in Weirdo and the Raw Gagz section of Raw magazine (the big ones) were mind expanding as well (exploring the definitions & nuts & bolts of the single panel). There are so many great little tributaries of gag cartooning, many good cartoonists working the panels. Jonathan Winters' book of single panel cartoons, George Booth's cluttered scenes, Reg Manning's cactus cartoons, I could go on & on (& have...)!
Chris W: In terms of single panel stuff, the old New Yorker guys were always the most interesting to me... Or at least the prettiest. I don't draw anything like Peter Arno, but I always liked his juicy, confident line work. I still envy the fact that a guy like that could make a living off of a few quickly done cartoons. Aside from him, I can really only claim my support for most of the cartoonists that Dylan and Chris C mentioned. Herriman did a single panel strip for a while called 'Embarrassing Moments', which, in terms of its content, could have been thrown on the bonfire with so many other semi topical strips of the age, but oh the drawings. That may have been passed around actually, that strip. I seem to recall a few by DeBeck as well.
Oh! for God's sake, also guys like A.B. Frost and T.S. Sullivant, and for that matter Charles Dana Gibson. Nobody draws like that anymore. And most of the humor is so out of time that it's hard to comprehend, but again, what gorgeous drawings. Sullivant in particular makes me want to open a vein.
Michael: Growing up, Peanuts, Bloom County and Calvin and Hobbes were the big ones for me, since those were the collections my parents would have around. I sort of learned to read with those books. Something like Bloom County would be weird because I wasn't old enough to get some of the topical humor in the strips, but I'd still recognize that there was a joke there - like, I wouldn't get some Kitty Dukakis punchline, but reading all those things would teach me the "rhythm" of those three-panel gags. Later on, I really dug George Booth and Gahan Wilson. Mark Newgarden's work with the single panel comic was really huge for me too.
Exquisite Things: Tom, there's a wonderfully realised sense of association running through the anthology, to the point where what should be a collection of stand alone pieces, begins to form a larger, if slightly unconventional, extended narrative. I picked up on a lot of common themes, like the way J.T. Dockery and Michael Deforge's darkly comic accounts of sexual frustration segue so seamlessly into Dylan William's pitch black assessment of the opposite sex. This kind of melding of ideas crops up again and again as the anthology progresses.
How much time did you spend on sequencing the book, and did contributors have any prior knowledge of each other's pages?
Tom: It's kinda like making a mix tape actually. You wanna have a flow throughout and have ups and downs and surprises throughout. I spent a couple of weeks figuring out the sequence of the book. Then I had to rethink it once I started talking to the printer and had to group the color and black & white sections to save money on printing. I think there was a bit more of a logic to the original sequence, but it still works the way it was rearranged for print. I didn't really have any particular idea of a narrative through the book, but I like that you can read it that way.
Dylan W: I just want to say that I noticed that too and I really appreciate the way Tom did that. It is hard to layout an anthology so it works as a whole. Also my view of both genders is pitch black! "Humanity is the devil", to quote a band I shouldn't like.
Exquisite Things: Tom, did you lay down any specific guidelines for the anthology beyond the 'one page gag' remit?It seems very coherent given the diversity of the people involved. Were you looking for work along any particular lines or did you just give everyone free reign to do what they wanted?
Tom: No there were no other guidelines. Just to use the idea of a one panel gag as a tabula rasa for whatever you wanted to express as an artist. I didn't want to impose any other ideas on the artists. I selected artists who I think could do interesting work in that context, and left them to do whatever they wanted.
Talking about this reminds me of when I had to take a "creativity test" in high school to get placed in the advanced classes. The test was a page full of squares. The only guideline was you could do anything with these squares and they would judge your level of creativity based on what you drew in the boxes. Once I used them as panels to make a comic strip. Once I made a very surrealistic labyrinth with all kinds of monsters and details lurking about... But I failed the test all four times because I wasn't being "creative" by their standards.
I think that moment in my life probably explains a lot about the way I chose to curate this.
Exquisite Things: Following on from that, were you surprised to see common themes emerging?
Tom: Yeah, it was interesting. I was surprised that there were more dark gags than funny gags, and even most of the funny ones are on the dark side of humor. I could be all lofty and talk about how it's a reflection of the troubled times we live in, but I think it just says something about my own taste in darker art.
Exquisite Things: It's funny to note how Anders Nilsen's little non-sequiturs seem to mirror the feel of the anthology itself, at once seemingly random yet interconnected. Happy coincidence?
Tom: Probably a coincidence, but his pieces were some of the first I received from the artists, and he sent 8 or 9 total, so it might have had some influence on the overall feel. We had a private blog set up so the contributors could see what everyone was submitting, so maybe seeing what everyone else is doing had some influence on some of the contributors.
Exquisite Things: Anders, that brings me nearly to your pages, which follow a recurring pattern/motif; using a silhouetted figure delivering monologues against varying backgrounds. The written elements seems to draw on techniques like automatic writing and free association.
How did you decide on the images and what's the relationship between the visual and narrative elements?
Anders: I'm sort of generally on the look out for old books and magazines with imagery that I can use for this stuff. My favorite at the moment is books of semi-generic painting from the 1800s. I think there were some of those in the strips that ended up in Bound and Gagged. I look for... I don't know, landscapes that aren't too cluttered, so the figure and the content won't be overwhelmed. Something that's evocative in some way, and seems to lend an interesting ground for the content to work with (or against). The relationships aren't thought out or planned, I just look to pair imagery with subject matter that will be jarring or evocative in some way.
Exquisite Things: Was it challenging having to produce single page gags as opposed to working with a more extended narrative?
Anders: Calling the stuff I contributed "gags" is probably a stretch, I guess. But they're single panels. I work that way regularly. I think that, in a way, the single panel gag is the highest or the most pure form of the medium. When it works, when the text and the visuals are all cranking together it can be kind of sublime. But it's really hard to do. Which is why I generally take the experimental way out.
Exquisite Things: And everyone else?
Dylan: It was pretty freakin' easy! I felt really lucky that Tom asked me (I don't get asked a lot) to do stuff for his anthology and he was super supportive so I think that positive vibe really made me want to do the best work I could for him.
Chris C: I have done my share of single panel gags, and I drew a weekly strip for a few years (Swonk, written by Greg Petix), so I am fairly comfortable drawing short scenarios/jokes. I keep a sketchbook of stuff & sometimes the drawings grow into longer comics, sometimes they are fine as a single image. I sent Tom a bunch of sketchbook scans, and he picked a few, some got redrawn & some were printed as is. Some didn't make the cut for the book, but were included in the exhibit.
Chris W: I've been doing drawings that are unrelated to my comics for years, it's how I blow off steam. Working on comics can be really frustrating, and crazy making so it was nice to have a reason to just make a bunch of pictures. With the exception of Woman Sized Pipe (which didn't make it into the book or the show, probably because it made people feel bad) the images always came first and a usable caption would leap to mind as I worked.
Michael: It's obviously much more labor intensive to draw an extended narrative, but I like that when I'm working on shorter strips or one-panel gags I have to be a much more concise cartoonist. It's always challenging for me that way.
Exquisite Things: In terms of other anthologies out there, 'Kramer's Ergot' always stood out for me as a real ground breaking anthology, especially the way in which they experimented with format and form. I've also been very impressed with Raighne & Megan Hogan's 'Good Minnesotan' anthology. Do you guys have a favourite comics anthology?
Tom: It's hard for me to name an anthology I love all the way through. I love the idea of anthologies more than I love any anthologies out there. I like getting a book because you like one artist but then you discover someone new that you'd never heard of. That's part of what I hope will happen with B&G- someone will buy it because they're a fan of Anders Nilsen or Kim Deitch, but then they fall in love with Levon Jihanian and Ryan Standfest.
Kramer's is definitely a book I admire but it doesn't entirely work for me either. I think the brilliance of Kramer's is how Sammy Harkham has changed the world of comics and elevating them to the level of "fine art" by exposing the world to cartoonists that most people would otherwise never see. But the failure of the giant KE7 is that it's so expensive that the audience you reach is too limited. There are so many over-produced fancy books coming out in recent years that I purposely wanted Bound & Gagged to be a small, cheap and unpretentious collection of art comics. If i could have priced it as a $2 book I would have.
With Bound & Gagged I wanted an anthology that would introduce you to new art, but I also wanted it to feel like a fun and weird little book of comics- more like those old cheap paperback collections of Peanuts, or a beat up old funny animal comic from the '40s that you found at a garage sale. Now that I think of it, I love the idea of someone discovering Bound & Gagged for 50¢ at a garage sale in 20 years.
Dylan W: Oh man that is a good one. I love Raw, Hyena, Zero Zero, Class of Skookum' High, Slow Death, Skull, Escape, Fox, Garo, Ax, Paper Rodeo, Nome, Tante Lenny, Weirdo, Zap and so on. I think Hotwire is one of my favorites going now. I basically love the old underground style anthology. I love Good Minnesotan too. I liked the fourth Kramer's a lot.
I feel like when anthologies go too fancy, or too all over the place they loose focus and just become like channel surfing on a high end TV. Mome suffers from that (for me). I'd say that Skull may be the best anthology ever created. Slow Death being a close second. It is all about the caliber of people and the way they work together. Then theme and packaging.
Undergrounds had a feel that really worked with anthologies where as modern indy anthologies tend to be focused on name-recognition, middlemen and imaginary sales. None of which I care about as a reader. It all comes down to designing comics to be read in the bathroom and floor of you apartment vs. sitting on a coffee table or bookshelf. I want a comic that I want to read. Not one that feels like a product. Part of that is the intangible vitality that comes from good editorial direction and part of it is just luck.
Chris C: I like anthologies in theory, and wish there was an American Garo, a cheap fat monthly freaky anthology. Weirdo & Zap are very important to me, in my early understanding of comics possibilities. I also enjoyed Raw, Buzzard, Arcade, Dirty Stories, Drawn & Quarterly (magazine format), Zero Zero, lots of the underground comix anthologies (Bijou, Skull, Insect Fear, Snarf, etc). Kramers Ergot, Studygroup12, Class of Skookum High, Hotwire, & Stripburger are some of the best contemporary anthologies I've seen.
Tom: That's interesting because I love all of the underground anthologies Dylan and Chris mention, but they didn't even enter my mind because I see those anthologies as a completely different animal from something like Kramer's Ergot or Mome. I think of Slow Death or Death Rattle or Zero Zero as really exciting comic books with different artists that you read over and over and, but I think of Kramers or Mome as something else entirely.
Chris W: I like anthologies that have texture. The work doesn't have to stand on it's own necessarily, it just has to fit into the particular crevice that has been vacuumed out for it. On the other hand I also like seeing great work that doesn't fit into its allotted space. Great work is one thing, a great anthology is another.
Raw was obviously the big revolution, if anything else comes close it's Kramer's. I think Jordan Cranes 'NON' arguably paved the way for Kramer's, especially that last volume. There is a lot of stuff in the Kramer's books that doesn't do that much for me personally on an aesthetic level, yet if any of it were taken out it, the book would somehow be diminished... if that makes sense. Maybe that's the brilliance of those books.
Anders: Am I allowed to say I like Kramers if I'm in most of them? Raw is in a category of amazingness all by itself... I was super into World War III as a kid...The original Drawn and Quarterly had a lot of great stuff in it. Gotta give a shout out to Paper Rodeo too.
Michael: I don't have much to add that hasn't already been mentioned, but finding the Gary Panter edited "Go Naked" for two bucks at a used bookstore introduced me to a ton of different artists at a very formative age for me. Mark Beyer, Kaz, a bunch of others. Seeing Paper Rodeo a few years later was also very inspiring for me.
Exquisite Things: Moving on to some of the content in 'Bound & Gagged'... Dylan, I wanted to ask about your contributions, as they really stood out for me, and I found myself drawn in by the stark nature of your humour.
There's a real sense of dread to your illustrations, which gives rise to a strong contrast between image and text. I noted that in each piece you've quoted lyrics from different pop bands/artists; Adam Ant, the Lightning Seeds and the Beach Boys. You turn saccharine pop into something altogether more unnerving.
What inspired this particular slant?
Dylan W: You can't give away my sources like that, I want people to think I'm a total sappy genius! And there was a Kinghorse song in that series too... It wasn't so much saccharine as songs with intense lyrics that I was working from.
I'm really into the idea of translating energy through art and thought; learning about manifesting that energy. I like the idea of text underneath a picture affecting the image and vice-versa. These themes are inevitably what I make work about. I'm an extremely morbid person so I enjoy creating work that has a "weird" (in the old sense of the word) aspect to it. I'm so glad you liked it, thank you. I felt like I dragged the book down by not being funny or super well done.
Exquisite Things: Michael, your 'Note for Note' one pagers also elicited a similar response to Dylan's work, and I get that same sense of immediacy and emotional rawness from it; they seem like very personal gut reactions to strong emotions. Where were you coming from when creating these pieces, and how do you see them as fitting into the wider gag strip tradition?
Michael: I like writing from that annoying, entitled, young adult voice. I feel like it comes up a lot in my humor. It's mostly autobiographical - I mine a ton of material from those restless, bratty, angst-filled years, since they were completely ridiculous.
I'm not sure how these ones might fit in a wider tradition. I've done one panel pieces that are much "straighter" gags than the ones I did for Bound and Gagged, and maybe these ones wound up being a bit darker.
Exquisite Things: Chris (Wright), I've spoken to you before about your striking character designs, more of which are present in 'Bound & Gagged'. You mentioned that many of them frequently start out life as a doodle whilst sketching out ideas. Your contributions struck me as very spur of the moment, like sudden flashes of creative energy. Much like Anders' pages I felt they shared a common interest in automatic writing/drawing.
Would it be fair to make that connection?
Chris W: I drew most of them in a bar across from The Center For Cartoon Studies in Vermont, so they are pretty well lubricated. I don't know whether there is a common link between Anders and myself specifically, because I don't know him, but I certainly approached the cartoons in my typical kamikaze kind of style. I've been second guessing that approach more lately though... Third guessing it really.
Exquisite Things: I wondered if you might be familiar with the English artist Austin Osman Spare? I recently stumbled upon his work, which draws heavily on automatic drawing. All in all, many strange parallels seem to have emerged from this anthology!
Chris W: I'd not heard of him, but that's some great stuff. It's sort of like if Dali got inside of Rackham's pen box. Magnificent. Thanks for turning me on to him.
Exquisite Things: Chris C, you designed the cover for 'Bound & Gagged', which looks like the fall out from some sort of anthropomorphic drugs and drink binge. Did this seem like a fitting image to bookend the work of your fellow cartoonists, and did the cover go through various iterations before you came up with the finished product?
Chris C: I like the world that cartoon characters live in, and this scene is sort of like the scene on a gag comic cover, but shortly before or after the actual gag scenario happens. Cartoon folks are waiting, freaking out or ignoring whatever is happening. I wanted something that looked funny, and suggestive of plenty of future laughs.
I sent Tom a sketch of the front cover & he liked it & suggested I make it a wraparound. I drew it a couple of times before I was satisfied, and then Tom & I went back & forth on the coloring; I provided a color guide, which Tom chewed on & improved, & he did the actual computer coloring work. I enjoyed the collaborative effort with Tom, he has a good eye and is meticulous. He also assembled the title logo from my roughs.
Tom: Yeah, it was fun collaborating on the cover. I didn't intend to at first, but Chris sent me all these ideas and I started working on the layout, I started having my own ideas about some of the coloring and design. I messed around with it and I felt kinda like I was violating Chris in a way, but he seemed okay with it and we worked back and forth and I think it all came together really nicely. It's a crazy cover! I originally imagined something more like an old issue of a '40s Funny Animal comic or something, but filter that through Chris' brain and you get something completely different and amazing.
Exquisite Things: Tom, I wanted to ask... you're little riff on 'Asterios Polyp'; that one definitely elicited a few sniggers. Personally, I enjoyed Mazzucchelli's latest effort, but I can see why some people found it a bit too technically showy. Do you really dislike the book that much?
Tom: Wait... What? I don't know which one you're talking about. I didn't do anything as a riff on Asterios Polyp, but I'm interested in how you may have interpreted something that way.
Exquisite Things: Your page that uses of the three "printer's primaries", Cyan, Magenta, and Yellow. I think I just instantly assumed it was a riff on the layouts used by Mazzucchelli.
Tom: Oh... yeah, I could see that... maybe... I've been playing around with using different colors to represent different ideas for a while, and that piece is part of a larger series I'm working on. I like to use different colors to represent different ideas, which I guess is similar to the way Mazucchelli uses color in Asterios Polyp, but the way he does it feels so sterile to me.
Unfortunately I guess anyone who uses multi colored characters is gonna be compared to Mazzuchelli after the critical success of Asterios Polyp. But for me I think it stems more from my interest in painting and the use of repeated imagery. I was thinking more about Rauschenberg than Mazzucchelli.
To be honest, I still haven't finished Asterios Polyp. I love Mazzucchelli's previous work, but this book just really irritated me with it's overly clever use of comics gimics and I can't find any motivation to finish it. It's like listening to an Yngwie Malmsteen record; you can be impressed by all the technical ability and respect him as a guitarist, but the end result is empty and unlistenable.
Exquisite Things: Staying on that topic for a moment, not Yngwie obviously... what do you all feel good comics should be? What's the most important quality to you in terms of truly good work?
Dylan W: Honesty, and not being boring. I think that the best art is based on variety and that comes from/creates honesty and not being boring. This is all, of course, highly subjective.
Chris C: I think it's pretty much impossible to boil it down to a simple answer, the qualities that make one comic great would damage a different comic. It's like comparing miso soup with menudo, or split pea; they are all great soups, and require the blending of different ingredients to varying effect.
This is why it's often hard to separate out the element that makes a comic successful, or the opposite. My favorite comics create their own standards of quality, through the work itself, the decisions made during the work, and the artist's blending of all elements to their own understanding of what this soup should taste like.
Anders: I think comics that are like Miso soup or Menudo are bad. Split pea is fine, but what I'm trying to make in my work is a really good Pozole.
I remember hearing the playwright Tony Kushner talking once about how a great play should be like a great lasagna. It should be completely stuffed with all kinds of different ingredients, to the point that it is almost going to collapse and fall apart under its own weight. But not quite. It should have just enough structure (that would be the pasta and the cheese) to hold it together.
Sometimes I think about it like that.
Exquisite Things: Coming back to you Tom, you've been self publishing your work since day one, starting with the rather sublime graphic novel 'The Blot', through to a number of mini comics and more recently this anthology. How have you found the experience of doing everything yourself, and what have the main challenges been along the way?
Tom: Actually it goes back further than 'The Blot'. I've been self-publishing my comics for a little over 10 years now. The Blot was just the first thing that got any acclaim (and thankfully because the first 7 years of comics are embarrassing now). When I started doing it ten years ago with some crappy xeroxed mini-comics, I always figured I'd eventually get a publisher and then I could leave self-publishing behind.
But by the time publishers started getting interested in me, I'd pretty much decided that I'd rather keep doing it myself. Now the whole process has become a part of my art. I'm getting close to the end of my next book now, and I'm already excited about the printing process and promotion and conventions and all that. The challenges are in getting the work out there. There are still so many roadblocks and stigmas attached to the idea of "self publishing", and that impacts on everything from press to distribution. I'm always learning and trying to figure out a better way to do things. Dylan and I spend a lot of time talking about this stuff. I think we have very similar ideals, although his ambitions are a bit more humble than mine.
It can be frustrating to run both the business end and the artistic end of the same project. I'm my own PR guy, and I almost have to become a different person when promoting my work or going to conventions, because the artist me just wants to stay in a cave and draw all the time. I try to stay positive and always moving forward and maybe if I keep doing it long enough it'll keep improving. I'm happy to say that every year has been an improvement and I am still dedicated to self-publishing my work for now. Bound & Gagged was my first real attempt at publishing other artists. I enjoyed it a lot and I'm very happy with the way it came out and I may do something like this again, but I think for the most part I much prefer to just deal with just one crazy artist (myself).
Exquisite Things: Dylan, have your experiences running Sparkplug Comics been similar?
Dylan: I think Tom and I have a ton in common. Both of us are big fans of other people's art as well as doing our own work. We talk a lot about making comics and it helps me a lot. Even though I think about comics 24/7 I sometimes forget the importance of self-publishing. It's through Tom that I've really rediscovered my total support of self-publishing as the most effective way to make comics as art. That's why I decided to make Sparkplug the distro focus on self-publishers.
Of course, this is at odds with Sparkplug as publisher but I hope we're being useful and publishing work that is important. The biggest hurdles I've encountered begin with my own laziness. I could be working on things 24 hours a day. But I guess you could say that about anything. I think, outside of that, the biggest problems are misconceptions. Sparkplug never set out to be a publisher in the way that Fantagraphics or Drawn & Quarterly were publishers. This has created a lot of logjams or roadblocks where it becomes hard to explain that our chief goals aren't to turn a profit, make fancy books or lock artists into lifelong contracts.
Also, it's incredibly hard to convince people that honest self-expression is more important to me than being taken seriously as a real publisher. I know that a lot of people see legitimacy as the most default goal for anyone involved in comics. For me, it's mutual respect and support. It is almost impossible for me to explain that well enough to jump over the hurdles that have been created in comics (or maybe life).
We've been incredibly lucky and in spite of my crazy punk rock ethics we've managed to generate a lot of interest in a lot of good books. Dealing with stores has been a breeze for the most part. Art comic friendly stores have received the Sparkplug books well. Distros are also really good. We've had some books turned down by Diamond as part of their dumping of the pamphlet comic form but often those books have all been really well received outside of their catalog.
Again, a big hurdle is just that same thing about finding enough time to stay on top of things and maintain sanity. We aren't intent on being a big comic company so I haven't been going to every comic convention but we've still gone to a ton this past year. Maybe a little more focus on doing ones we like doing in places we like going to. People have responded really well to the work too, I mean I wish we could help make every artist we publish rich, but hopefully we can at least get their stuff to a wider audience and help them explore ideas they want to explore.
I do realize I sound as much like a hippie as a punk.
Exquisite Things: Well, that's all good... Thanks so much to you all for taking the time to talk to me. Any final comments? Grand declarations? Advice for the world weary?
Dylan W: Just a big thank you to you for doing this interview, to Tom for putting together the book and show and to the Secret Headquarters guys for hosting the show.
Chris C: Thanks for investigating this book, maybe we can get the ball rolling on more funky gag comic collections.
Anders: If anyone is ever in Chicago they should go to this place called Pozoleria San Juan at North and Pulaski. The best soup on earth.
Chris W: I wish I could play the guitar.
Michael: All the cartoonists in this interview are amazing. Also, thank you to Tom for putting the show and book together, it was an honor to contribute.
Tom: I feel very lucky to be able to call up a bunch of my favorite artists and get them all to contribute to a little book I wanted to put out there. I'm extremely grateful to all of them for being a part of this.
Interview by Matthew Dick.
Quick Links:
Tom Neely / I Will Destroy You
Anders Nilsen
Chris Wright
Chris C Cilla
Sparkplug Comics / Dylan Williams
Posted by Matt @ Exquisite Things at 05:21
2 comments:
- Rob Clough said...
Wonderful interview! I enjoyed this book quite a bit. Tom and Dylan are both really good comics talkers, so getting both of them in an interview was fun to see.
--Rob Clough
- 3 March 2011 at 05:36
- Matt @ Exquisite Things said...
Rob, so glad you enjoyed it. This has been in the works for a while! I suspect you'll be seeing more of Tom around these parts when 'The Wolf' drops.
- 5 March 2011 at 03:57
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The Master's in Book Publishing students and the Russian Flagship Program at Portland State have collaborated on the publication of a new Russian children's book. The book, titled City on the Hill: Tales and Legends of Nizhny Novgorod, is the senior capstone project of Jacqueline LaBerge and Christiana McGrady. The book contains several stories written in Russian and based on folklore of the Nizhny Novgorod region, where McGrady and LaBerge studied abroad. The book will be used in the Russian immersion program at Kelly Elementary School in southeast Portland.
To guide the book's design, Assistant Professor of Russian Anna Alsufieva reached out again to Ooligan Press, who published a previous Russian Flagship book project in 2010, The Giant's Wealth. "Working with students at Ooligan Press was a very good experience," says Alsufieva. Under the supervision of Ooligan Press Publisher Abbey Gaterud, students Rachel Pass, Adam Salazar, Paige O'Rourke, and Kelsey Yocum completed the book's cover and interior design.
For the graduate students, the book presented a rare opportunity to connect their work at Ooligan Press to another PSU organization: "many of us in the Publishing program are so busy fulfilling various obligations that we don't often have the opportunity to become well-acquainted with the other departments within the Humanities discipline, let alone the larger campus community," said O'Rourke. "Working on this book gave me a little glimpse into another facet of the PSU ecosystem: The Russian Flagship Program."
The Russian Flagship Program hopes that the book will be picked up by other immersion programs. The book will soon be available in Multnomah County Libraries and is currently available for purchase online at Amazon.com.


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By Robert Dixon
Industry analysts are speculating that MetLife's recent deal to acquire South American pension provider AFP Provida could position current Americas head William Wheeler, 51, to become the life insurer's next chief executive officer. The Americas division is the largest of MetLife's three operating units.
The talk comes on the heels of MetLife's announcement to buy Chilean pension fund provider AFP Provida from the Spanish bank Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria SA (BBVA) for about $2 billion.
MetLife said it plans to offer to buy the remaining shares in AFP Provida after BBVA agreed to sell its 64.3 percent stake in AFP to MetLife.
BBVA reported a net profit of 20 million euros, or $27 million, in the fourth quarter on Feb. 1. The Spanish bank, announced last year that it was seeking a buyer for its Latin American pension fund operations.
Provida is the largest private pension fund administrator in Chile and also manages pensions in Ecuador. Provida has about $45.3 billion under management. The acquisition comes as MetLife seeks to expand its presence in fast-growing emerging markets, current CEO Steve Kandarian said last week.
Kandarian, 61, faces a mandatory retirement age of 65. He has been CEO of MetLife since 2011, and is currently also its chairman and president.
A former banker with Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette, he joined MetLife in 1997 and became chief financial officer in 2003. While in that role, he worked on several major acquisitions, including the purchase of Travelers Life & Annuity from Citigroup Inc. in 2005 for $11.7 billion.
Wheeler also ran MetLife's banking operations, which the company is winding down. MetLife said in December it's planning to cut variable annuity sales by about 40 percent to as little as $10 billion this year, Bloomberg News reported.
Wheeler "probably is the next in line, potentially, to be the next CEO." said Jimmy Bhullar, an analyst at JPMorgan, told Bloomberg.
Wheeler helped MetLife steer its way through the financial crisis, and was instrumental in such deals as the sales of New York City's Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cook Village for $5.4 billion just prior to the housing market's crash.
© Entire contents copyright 2013 by InsuranceNewsNet.com Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this article may be reprinted without the expressed written consent from InsuranceNewsNet.com. Contact [email protected] with any comments.


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Media Contact Information:
Mauricio Minotta
Carlsbad, CA, USA
760-805-5266 (mobile)
Thermo Fisher Scientific to Support Forensic DNA Day 2014 on Capitol Hill
RAINN and NCVC host event to raise awareness of DNA's role in bringing resolution to victims, protecting public safety and the need for continued government funding for related programs
CARLSBAD, Calif., April 28, 2014 – In support of National DNA Day, Thermo Fisher Scientific will showcase its market-leading forensic technology for members of Congress as part of Forensic DNA Day, an awareness campaign hosted on Capitol Hill by the Rape, Abuse, Incest National Network (RAINN) and the National Center for Victims of Crime (NCVC) from 1-3 p.m. on April 29 in the Rayburn House Office Building.
Debbie Smith, after whom a law was named in 2004 to provide grants that fund analysis of backlogged DNA samples and evidence, will share her personal story and impress upon lawmakers the importance for continued support of federal grants that help lead to arrests and reduce the backlog. DNA evidence was key in identifying and convicting Smith's rapist six years after the assault. The Debbie Smith DNA Backlog Elimination Act is up for congressional reauthorization this year.
Activist Elizabeth Smart, who was abducted as a teenager from her bedroom in 2002 and rescued nine months later, will also address lawmakers in support of the Debbie Smith DNA Backlog Elimination Act to stress the need for funding of this vitally important public safety tool.
"For more than 25 years, we have remained the trusted industry partner since introducing the capillary electrophoresis DNA sequencing instrument, which to this day is still the workhorse platform for the forensic community," said Nadia Altomare, vice president and general manager, Human Identification, for Thermo Fisher Scientific. "We are committed to empowering our customers through innovative technologies and to help educate our nation's policy makers about the sophisticated tools that help solve crimes."
Thermo Fisher's Life Technologies-branded innovations have enabled scientists to maximize their use of DNA to establish identity and solve crimes. Today, the company offers the most robust, reliable and trusted forensic solutions for human identification (HID) testing under the Applied Biosystems name—and it is the only company that designs and validates its reagents, instruments, and data analysis software together as an integrated system for HID testing. For more information, visit www.lifetechnologies.com/hid.
About Thermo Fisher Scientific
Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. is the world leader in serving science, with revenues of $17 billion and 50,000 employees in 50 countries. Our mission is to enable our customers to make the world healthier, cleaner and safer. We help our customers accelerate life sciences research, solve complex analytical challenges, improve patient diagnostics and increase laboratory productivity. Our four premier brands – Thermo Scientific, Life Technologies, Fisher Scientific and Unity Lab Services – offer an unmatched combination of innovative technologies, purchasing convenience and comprehensive support. For more information, please visit www.thermofisher.com.


text: Region 1 championship tourney starts on Monday FSHP vs Lamoure the best of 3 it should be a great tourney, they split the regular season and both were very good games! Isn't it the time of the year to talk about great region tourneys and then lets talk about babe ruth after that. It is high school seasons end lets get fired up about the region tourneys and the state berths!!!!!! Good luck to all teams


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Vice President
Worldwide Parts Services
Kimberly K. Beardsley is Vice President, Worldwide Parts Services for Deere & Company, a position she has held since December 2013. She is responsible for managing worldwide parts distribution, parts pricing and parts systems, brand licensing, and John Deere Merchandise, in support of the company's equipment divisions.
Beardsley joined Deere & Company in 1990 as part of a student training program at John Deere Des Moines Works. After graduation, she held positions of increasing responsibility in manufacturing and production engineering at Des Moines Works and the Seeding Group in Moline, Illinois. Beardsley later worked in human resources before moving back into operations with assignments at John Deere Waterloo Works. Beardsley also served as the Manufacturing Manager at Des Moines Works; Operations Manager at John Deere Commercial Products; Global Director, Hydraulic Cylinders; and Director, Global Strategic Quality for the Ag & Turf Division. In 2011, she became the Global HR Director for the Ag & Turf Division.
A native of Des Moines, Iowa, Beardsley holds a bachelor's degree in industrial engineering from the University of Iowa and an MBA from Duke University.
Beardsley is an active member of the Society of Women Engineers. She also teaches Junior Achievement and is active in her church.
Deere & Company (NYSE: DE) is a world leader in providing advanced products and services and is committed to the success of customers whose work is linked to the land—those who cultivate, harvest, transform, enrich, and build upon the land to meet the world's dramatically increasing need for food, fuel, shelter, and infrastructure. Since 1837, John Deere has delivered innovative products of superior quality built on a tradition of integrity. For more information, visit John Deere at its worldwide website at www.JohnDeere.com.