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Other segments from the episode on June 6, 2014
June 6, 2014
Guests: Jenji Kohan - Piper Kerman
DAVE DAVIES, HOST: This is FRESH AIR. I'm Dave Davies sitting in for Terry Gross. Today, Netflix is unveiling the entire second season of its most popular original production the women in prison series called "Orange Is The New Black." It stars Taylor Schilling as Piper an upper-middle-class woman in prison for a drug-trafficking crime she committed a decade earlier. On today's show we feature interviews with Piper Kerman, who wrote the memoir the series is based on, and series creator Jenji Kohan, who also created the Showtime series "Weeds." First though, we check in with our TV critic David Bianculli who reminds us where the show left off and tells us the new season begins with a strong but very unsettling start.
DAVID BIANCULLI: Last summer, "Orange Is The New Black" premiered the same way it's returning for season two this summer. Beginning today, Netflix is making all 13 episodes of the season available for instant consumption. Six of those episodes were made available for critics to preview, but even the first episode of season two is plenty to remind viewers why "Orange Is The New Black" has gotten so much attention and acclaim.
Last season ended with a holiday episode. The female prisoners put on a Christmas pageant at their prison, but the festivities didn't stay festive. Piper was threatened with death by unhinged fellow inmate Pennsatucky and responded by exposing both mentally and physically. As the new season begins, about a month after that brutal beat down, we don't know whether Pennsatucky is dead or alive, and neither does Piper. In fact, when Piper is roused in the middle of the night and transported out of the prison after a month in isolation, she does not even know where she is going next. But on the way, with a chance to talk to the prisoner seated next to her, she finally uncorks all her pent-up emotions. Taylor Schilling plays Piper.
TAYLOR SCHILLING: (As Piper) I did something kind of bad, and I was doing my time for it. And then I did this - I did this other thing, and I think maybe I'm going away for it for a long time.
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: (As character) What - did you kill somebody?
SCHILLING: (As Piper) I don't know. I don't know. I mean, this girl - this girl she was coming after me, and she was not going to stop. And she is - or was - she was relentless. I mean, just crazy - so, so crazy. And I completely lost it. I just - I just went there and I didn't really know that there was (unintelligible) there. But I don't know if it just grew there recently, or if it's always been there but that really - that dark place - that place that let me just keep on hitting her and hitting her and hitting her. I couldn't stop. I couldn't stop.
BIANCULLI: It's a great scene - powerful, gripping and totally out of the blue. Taylor Schilling carries this opening hour as Piper goes on her unexpected detour with character-illuminating flashbacks to match. But we all know Piper will be returning to the familiar cell block and all her fellow prisoners sooner or later. And thanks to Netflix, later can be as soon as you want because you can start episode two seconds after you finish episode one.
"Orange Is The New Black" is being entered in the comedy category at the Emmy's this year, which is kind of outrageous. Some scenes are as intense as there is in any drama series. Even so, its large ensemble cast is equally adept at scenes to make you laugh out loud and scenes that make you lean forward in anticipation. As a TV-viewing experience, however quickly or slowly you devour it, "Orange Is The New Black" is captivating.
DAVIES: David Bianculli is founder and editor of the website TV Worth Watching and teaches TV and film history at Rowan University in New Jersey. In a few minutes, we'll hear an interview Terry Gross recorded with Piper Kerman whose memoir "Orange Is The New Black: My Year In A Woman's Prison" is the basis of the Netflix series.
First, let's hear an excerpt of the interview Terry recorded with series creator Jenji Kohan. They spoke last year after the first season of "Orange Is The New Black" was released. Here's a clip from the very first episode. Newly arrived inmate Piper Chapman, played by Taylor Schilling, is eating one of her first prison meals with several other inmates. An inmate named Red, played by Kate Mulgrew, walks over and gives each women, except Piper, a container of yogurt. Red speaks first.
KATE MULGREW: (As Galina 'Red' Reznikov) Who's this?
NATASHA LYONNE: (As Nicky Nichols) This is Chapman. She's new; self-surrender; thinks she's fancy.
MULGREW: (As Red) Here, Fancy, have a yogurt.
SCHILLING: (As Piper Chapman) What do I have to do for it?
MULGREW: (As Red) You're new. You're one of us. Consider it a gift.
SCHILLING: (As Piper) Thank you, thank you so much. The food here is disgusting. What?
LYONNE: (As Nicky) Did I mention that Red runs the kitchen?
SCHILLING: (As Piper) (BLEEP) I'm sorry.
MULGREW: (As Red) Honey, I know you just got here, so you don't know what's what, but I'm going to tell you. You don't like the food? It's no problem.
LYONNE: (As Nicky) Holy (BLEEP) that was an epic (BLEEP).
So this is your second series about a middle-class woman who ends up doing something criminal. In "Weeds" she's dealing marijuana, and in this the main character has carried drug money, a suitcase of drug money, and years later is busted for it, and that's why she's in prison. So what interests you about the middle-class woman who has an element of criminality in her life? It's not violent criminality, but it is breaking the law.
JENJI KOHAN: I think...
GROSS: And they're both connected with drugs.
KOHAN: Yeah, particularly for this project, in a lot of ways Piper was my Trojan horse. You're not going to go into a network and sell a show on really fascinating tales of black women and Latino women and old women and criminals. But if you take this white girl, this sort of fish out of water, and you follow her in, you can then expand your world and tell all those other stories. But it's a hard sell to just go in and try to sell those stories initially.
The girl next door, the cool blonde, is a very easy access point, and it's relatable for a lot of audiences and a lot of, you know, networks looking for a certain demographic. It's useful.
GROSS: One of the things I like about "Orange Is The New Black" is the casting, the actresses. The series is an opportunity to showcase the talents of a lot of black and Latino actresses who don't seem to get a lot of roles, at least not prominent ones. Was that one of the reasons why you wanted to do the series in the first place?
KOHAN: The wealth of talent in this pool has been remarkable. Like Crazy Eyes, who's one of the real breakout characters on the show, I think it might be number 50 on the call sheet, and she's a star. They're all stars and they're dazzling and they're enthusiastic and they adore one another. And when their scenes are done, they stick around and watch other people do their scenes, and they hang out on the weekends, and it's kind of been a love-fest on set, which I'm so grateful for.
And part of that I attribute to one of our producers, Lisa Vinnecour, who moved to New York to do the show for me. And she's kind of den mother and works with all these women and plans activities. You know, they all walk across the Brooklyn Bridge and go for pizza, or they all go salsa dancing, and she's really created an environment where these actresses are supporting one another and doing such a high level of work.
GROSS: You mentioned the character Crazy Eyes, who's played by the actress Uzo Aduba.
KOHAN: Yeah.
GROSS: Tell us a little bit about the character, for people who haven't seen the series.
KOHAN: So Crazy Eyes has a lot of mental issues, and prison has become a dumping ground in a lot of ways for the mentally ill, as the safety net kind of melts away. And we wanted to talk about that. But we also just love this woman who finds herself attracted to Piper and loves her so deeply and acts out so inappropriately and can't really process her feelings and her behavior very well. And yet there's something so vulnerable and poetic about her.
GROSS: Why don't we hear a scene with her and Piper. So this is Uzo Aduba as Crazy Eyes, and Piper is played by Taylor Schilling.
UZO ADUBA: (As Crazy Eyes) Hello, baby. Look at you getting your sweat on. You look all shiny. How did you - you don't even smell funky. I really would - you're a real woman, Chapman, a real grown woman, not like all these other girls around here. I can't waste my time with these silly bitches. I need a real woman.
SCHILLING: (As Piper) I'm sure that you'll find one.
ADUBA: (As Crazy Eyes) I wrote a poem. You wanna hear it?
SCHILLING: (As Piper) You know, that's fine...
ADUBA: (As Crazy Eyes) Before I met you, the sun was like a yellow grape, but now it look like fire in the sky. Why? Because you light a fire inside me. I wrote it for you.
SCHILLING: (As Piper) You know, my fiance is a writer.
ADUBA: (As Crazy Eyes) I'm gonna call you Dandelion because they're pretty and yellow just like you.
GROSS: So that's a scene from "Orange Is The New Black" with the series star Taylor Schilling as Piper Chapman and Uzo Aduba as Crazy Eyes. How did you find her, Uzo Aduba?
KOHAN: Uzo tried out for another part. I think it might have been Taystee, I'm not sure. But I fell in love with her through this audition. I didn't think she was right for the part she'd auditioned for. And I told Jen, you know, I'm going to use this actress. Tell her she has a job, I don't know what it is yet, but she's in.
DAVIES: Jenji Kohan speaking with Terry Gross. Weâll hear more of their conversation later in the show. Coming up after a short break, Piper Kerman, whoâs 13 months in jail and subsequent memoir are the bases for the Netflix series âOrange Is The New Black.â This is FRESH AIR.
DAVIES: This is FRESH AIR. Netflix has released the second season of its acclaimed original series âOrange Is The New Black,â based on the memoir of the same name by Piper Kerman, about the year she spent at a minimum security womenâs prison. Kerman was a 24-year-old graduate of Smith College in 1993 when she flew to Belgium with a suitcase of money intended for a West African drug lord. That misguided adventure caught up with her five years later when she was named part of a drug conspiracy ring. In 2004, she reported to the federal correctional institution in Danbury, Connecticut. Kerman is now a communications consultant working with foundations and nonprofits and serves on the board of the Womenâs Prison Association. She told Terry that when she entered prison, it was easy to mess up. There was a lot to learn.
PIPER KERMAN: First of all, you have to learn and understand all of the rules of the institution, all the rules that are enforced by the guards and by the wardens. And those include things like, you know, the daily counts when every single person within a unit is counted and there's a host of rules both reasonable and unreasonable.
And what's confusing about that is that they are selectively enforced, and frequently broken by the prison staff themselves. The other set of rules that you have to learn very, very quickly are the unofficial rules. And so that could be anything from not taking someone's habitual seat at the movie night - you don't want to sit in the wrong place because, you know, you will be pretty quickly corrected on that - to, you know, not asking someone directly what their offense is because that's considered very, very rude.
You have to figure all those things out, and what you really have to figure out is where you fit in in the social ecology of the prison, and...
GROSS: Where did you fit in? Because you - I don't know what the racial makeup of your unit was, but you're a white, middle-class - maybe upper-middle-class, you know - woman who went to like, Smith College. You're very educated. So I don't know if you were totally atypical within the prison population or not.
KERMAN: Trying to figure out where you fit in isn't necessarily all about your class and your race. It's very much about you as an individual, and what do you have actually to contribute to this community. Where will you fit in? Where will you put your energy and your time?
GROSS: What did you figure out you had to contribute?
KERMAN: Well, you know, I immediately was assigned to work as an electrician. I had hoped to be a teacher in...
GROSS: Like your character in the Netflix series.
KERMAN: Yes, that is...
GROSS: Isn't that really up her alley, in terms of her particular skills?
KERMAN: I had requested and hoped to be assigned to the GED program and to teach, but I was not. I was assigned to the electric shop, and so...
GROSS: You know, that makes no sense. I mean, you're obviously so educated. I'm guessing here that you were probably an English major. You probably could have really helped in the GED program. Why would they assign you, who probably has no electrical aptitude, to that program?
KERMAN: The description is always institutional need. The prison system is very arbitrary, and not necessarily always very sensible. So I can't necessarily offer a lot of insight on the assignment other than that they needed somebody - they needed a warm body in the electrical shop.
But here's the thing. Because I worked in construction and maintenance services, I was able to fix things. And so one of the ways that I tried to find my way within that community was by being handy. And I didn't necessarily think of myself as a particularly handy person before I went to prison, but that is one of the ways that I found my footing.
I fixed things for folks. I put up hooks. I fixed people's beds. You know, when I insulted the woman who ran the kitchen, I really did need to make amends to her in some ways. She was not starving me out, in the way that the character on the TV show is punished. But, you know, she was not feeling a lot of love for me.
But it turns out that her bed was really, really giving her pain, and I managed to rig her bed up so it was less painful for her to sleep at night. And for that, she sort of allowed me back into her good graces.
GROSS: In your book, before you go into prison, your lawyer tells you, don't make any friends inside. And in the Netflix series, one of the prison officials gives that same advice to the character whoâs based on you. He says, don't make any friends inside. Did you think you should take that advice seriously, and did you?
KERMAN: I probably thought that I should take that advice seriously, but I certainly did not. And frankly, I don't know how you would survive prison without forming friendships. It seems - it seems impossibly lonely, isolating, dangerous even, to try to survive prison without friendships.
GROSS: So what do you think the warning was about? Was it a warning, really, about like, there's lesbians there; be careful? Or was the warning like, if you make friends you will be deceived; it will just be a way of using you?
KERMAN: I think that the warning for me was, you will meet people in prison who are from completely different walks of life from you; and if you leave prison with those friendships in place, those friendships will be problematic for you. And I don't agree with that. But I intuit that that is what that advice was about.
GROSS: In the Netflix series, the woman who had been your lover back in your college and post-college days, who got you into the trouble that you got into - she's the one who asked you to carry the briefcase of drug money - in the Netflix series, she's in the same prison you are, in the same unit. It wasn't that way in real life, was it?
KERMAN: It happens in a very different way in real life, and in the book, than it does in the show. But, you know, in truth, I ended up sharing a cell with my ex-lover.
GROSS: Sharing a cell with her?
KERMAN: Yes. And her sister - you know, her sister was also there. Her sister was also involved, and spent a lot of time in prison. So...
GROSS: Well, that seems so impossible to me. Like, if that was written into fiction, I'd say, oh, come on.
KERMAN: Yeah. Truth is much stranger than fiction, when it comes to the criminal justice system.
GROSS: What kind of terms were you on with each other then? Were you blaming her for the fact that you had been implicated in this, you know, quote, "drug conspiracy," you know, for telling on you? Did you...
KERMAN: Actually, I am - one of the things that I am most grateful for is the fact that this strange, you know, happenstance of the universe brought me face-to-face with her during that time because I was really holding onto a lot of blame, actually, in terms of saying, oh, you know, I'm here because of her. And actually being able to confront her brought me to the point of recognition that my situation was my own responsibility and my own fault.
She offered me a, quote-unquote, "opportunity," but I chose to take it. You know, she didn't hold a gun to my head. She didn't make me do anything. She asked me, and I said yes. And so I think that if I had not been brought face-to-face with her, I would never have gotten quite to that point of taking full responsibility for my own actions.
GROSS: Did you become close again?
KERMAN: One of the things which is really astonishing, and humbling, to me is the fact that ultimately, the things that you have in common with somebody are much more important than the things that are potentially dividing you. And so we were brought face-to-face in very, very difficult circumstances, towards the end of my experience in prison. And because we were able to confront each other in terms of, you know, hey, what am I doing here? What are you doing here? And sort of move beyond that, you know, I was able to get to a place where we were able to be friendly again, and I'm grateful for that.
DAVIES: Piper Kerman spoke last year with Terry Gross. Her memoir, âOrange Is The New Black,â is the basis of the Netflix series. Its second season was released today. Weâll hear more from series creator Jenji Kohan in the second half of todayâs show. Iâm Dave Davies and this is FRESH AIR.
DAVIES: This is FRESH AIR. Iâm Dave Davies in for Terry Gross, whoâs off this week. The second season of the acclaimed Netflix series âOrange Is The New Blackâ is now available for streaming. Weâre going to hear more of Terryâs interview with Jenji Kohan, the creator of the series, which is set in a womenâs prison. The series is based on a memoir by Piper Kerman, a Smith College graduate who did federal time at a prison in Danbury, Connecticut. Jenji Kohan also created the Showtime series âWeeds.â Terry spoke to her last year when the first season of âOrange Is The New Blackâ was released.
GROSS: Now, I have to ask you, of course, about the main character, Taylor Schilling, who plays Piper. She's obviously got the most prominent role. Casting her was key.
KOHAN: Yes, it was huge.
GROSS: What was the casting process like?
KOHAN: It was arduous and big and long, and it was difficult because, you know, I had a picture in my mind, certainly based on the real Piper and also just as I was writing, of this waspy, cold shiksa who ends up in this situation. And you know, you - it can get shallow because, oh, she looks like that, but...
GROSS: Wait, wait, wait. I'm going to stop you here. Would you say that to Piper Kerman, whose book this is based on, whose story this is based on, saying...
KOHAN: That Piper's a waspy cool shiksa?
GROSS: Yeah, casting you, yeah, I wanted to cast a waspy shiksa, thank you for writing your book.
KOHAN: Yes, exactly. I think at this point Piper and I are close enough that we can joke around like that. But there's another thing I talk about Piper herself a lot, is that Piper Chapman isn't Piper Kerman.
GROSS: Right.
KOHAN: Piper Chapman is her own character with her own journey. It started with Piper Kerman, and it became its own animal, it really did, I think to all our relief, because I can't imagine how horrible it would be to sit and watch a weird version of your life coming back at you week after week.
And when I was writing this, you know, as I said, I was talking about the Trojan horse aspect of this character, and you need to go in with the girl next door, that every girl, that unlikely Seven Sisters grad who ends up in women's prison. And I had a physical type in mind because I'm shallow, and...
KOHAN: You know, a lot of different women came in, and what was really special about Taylor, what is really special about Taylor, is she's a hot girl who's also funny, which is not a common occurrence. And she's got depth. And there's so much more to her than the surface, and she's just - there's just a richness there.
GROSS: There's a really big cast. There's - I didn't count, but there's like, I don't know, some like 12, 15 regulars on the show. And you want us to know all of their backstories, which is a really tricky thing to do. So, you know, basically every episode has one or two backstories in it.
KOHAN: Right.
GROSS: And so we slowly get to find out why each of the women in prison is there, what their lives outside were like, what's the crime that they committed, and it usually puts that character in a different light. So how did you come up with that as a structure, to tell the stories of multiple people?
KOHAN: Right, well, in terms of the flashback device, you know, when you're writing a show, this is your life, and I did not want to spend all my days in prison. It seemed really oppressive and potentially depressing. And I wanted to build in a structure where I could get out, and these people could get out, and we could have some blue skies, wear some actual clothes as opposed to uniforms.
And the bonus of that was you get to see a fuller picture of who these people are, because everyone wears a mask, to a certain extent, in prison. You take on a persona to survive. And there's more to these people than just what they're displaying in this extreme situation.
So what started out as, gee, I really just don't want to write scenes in the same set all the time, became a way to flesh out these people a lot more.
GROSS: Let me talk about another character who's in it, and this is the character of Sophia. And Sophia is a transsexual, male to female, and when Sophia in her earlier life was a male, she was a firefighter. And tell us about the person who you've cast in the role.
KOHAN: So Laverne Cox is a transgender woman, and, you know, came in and took it. But the greatest - one of the greatest miracles of âOrangeâ is we seem to bring in the people we need at the time, and there are little miracles that occur all the time. And our Christmas miracle with Laverne was we wanted to do a flashback episode in which she was still a man, and Laverne's a woman, and she has breasts and she doesn't have body hair, and she - you know, it would have been very, very difficult to show her as a man.
And it just so happens that she's an identical twin.
KOHAN: How does that happen? I don't know. Things like that seem to happen on this show, and her brother came in and did a great job. And we have this one scene where he goes down to rinse his face in the sink, and then she comes up in prison, and it's the same face, but it's the male and the female. And it was extraordinarily lucky.
GROSS: Did you have any idea when you cast her that you'd be able to do that?
KOHAN: No, and in fact it was a joke because we'd already been talking about stories we wanted to do, and we knew we wanted to do a Sophia flashback episode. And we were joking, God, OK, we need a transgender who's a really good actress and is also an identical twin, ha, ha, ha. And we found it. It was remarkable.
GROSS: Well, let's hear one of her early scenes, and in this scene, the main character, Piper, played by Taylor Schilling, has gone into the bathroom and there's no stall - I mean there's no door on the stall, so that's making her really uncomfortable. And Sophia, played by Laverne Cox, who we've just been talking about, is in the bathroom too and she's trying to put Piper at ease and trying to show her the ropes.
So they talk about the fact that Piper is still wearing the shower shoes that she was given because she hasn't gotten her commissary money yet. And so here's the scene.
LAVERNE COX: (As Sophia Burset) Your commissary didn't come in yet?
KOHAN: (As Piper) Oh, I think so. My ID number doesn't (unintelligible) till tomorrow.
COX: (As Sophia) You better hope they got what you need. Ain't had powder foundation in dark for three months. Can't walk around here with whiteface on - with those sad pair of shower shoes, are not going to save you. You need some of these. I made my own, couture. Commissary don't carry a Size 13.
SCHILLING: (As Piper) Is that duct tape?
COX: (As Sophia) Metallics are very in this season. Don't hold your big bathroom too long. Prison food stops you right up. You got to get it out while you can. If you want to skip that shower line, do the 5 a.m. or the 5 p.m., that's my secret.
SCHILLING: (As Piper) Why are you telling me all this?
COX: (As Sophia) Because I (bleep) your hair. That (bleep) looks broke. When your commissary comes in, swing by the salon, I'll fix it right up for you.
SCHILLING: (As Piper) Thank you.
COX: (As Sophia) There's no point in playing shy, baby. You're home.
GROSS: That's a scene from "Orange Is The New Black," and my guest, Jenji Kohan, is the creator of the series. How did you put out the casting call? Like, when you're looking for, you know, so many different main characters, do you just call the agents or what?
KOHAN: Yeah. No, a breakdown goes out, and we're looking for, you know, Latina woman, early 20s; black woman, ghetto; middle-aged Russian; you know, whatever it is. And you get a whole bunch of people. When Jen goes through casting and sends all the auditions, there's a range and there are different interpretations of the role.
And you - and sometimes it's exactly what it was in your head, and sometimes someone comes in and brings a whole other color to it that you hadn't thought of, and you suddenly realize, oh, my God, that's it, that was the right way to go.
GROSS: If you put out a casting call that says black woman, ghetto, isn't that just the kind of casting call that really annoys a lot of African-American actresses?
KOHAN: I'm sure, I'm sure, but, you know, you're not going to write a novel on a breakdown. You have to just use a few words and see who comes in, and hopefully they have enough faith in us to - or they don't, but they want the work, and you figure it out.
GROSS: âOrange Is The New Blackâ is on Netflix. Did you want to go to Netflix? Who approached who? Did you approach Netflix? Did they approach you to do something?
KOHAN: No. You know, I made the rounds. You always want to pitch...
GROSS: You made the rounds with "Orange?"
KOHAN: I did. I took it to HBO and Showtime and Netflix. And the greatest thing about going to Netflix was I pitched it in the room and they ordered for 13 episodes without a pilot. And that's miraculous. That is every show runner's dream to just go to series and have that sort of faith put in your work. They paid full freight. They were new. They were streamlined. They were lovely. They were enthusiastic about it. And I love being on the new frontier. I love being first out of the gate. It's really, really fun, because I think it is the future in a lot of ways, of how people consume media, and it's great to be in there early.
DAVIES: Jenji Kohan created the Netflix series âOrange Is The New Black.â Itâs second season is now available for streaming. Weâll hear more after a break. This is FRESH AIR.
DAVIES: Weâre listening to Terryâs interview recorded last year with Jenji Kohan, who created the series âOrange Is The New Black.â All 13 episodes of the second season are now available on Netflix.
GROSS: You are the show runner of "Orange Is The New Black."
KOHAN: I am.
GROSS: Explain what that is.
KOHAN: Wow. OK.
KOHAN: You know, I run the writer's room. I have final cut in the editing room. I approve all the casting, wardrobe, sets. I'm the big tease, I guess, on this show. This is my baby. But I'd like to think I'm a benevolent dictator and that one of my great skills is hiring people who are really good at their jobs and for the most part, letting them do them.
GROSS: Yes. And you have said in previous interviews that writing for âThe Tracy Ullman Showâ taught you how to run a healthy show where people were good at what they do and were kind to each other.
KOHAN: Yes.
GROSS: And I read that and I thought, as opposed to, what did you experience that wasn't that way?
KOHAN: Yeah. You know, there is the cycle of abuse in a lot of writer's rooms and productions and it doesn't have to be that way. And when you're spending upwards of, you know, up to 15 hours a day with people you - , think it's really important to have a no ass (bleep) policy and surround yourself with people who really good at what they do but are also pleasant to be around. Particularly in the writer's room, if there's a predatory person in there or someone who's going to attack everyone else when they open their mouths, you're not going to get the best out of people. You have to create a safe space. Not to say that all writers aren't smart asses and if you throw the ball they're going to hit it. But, you know, these are the people I spend my time with and I don't want to be with nasty unpleasant people.
GROSS: If you're just joining us, my guest is Jenji Kohan and she is the creator and show runner of "Orange Is The New Black" on Netflix.
Your father, Buz Kohan...
KOHAN: Yeah.
GROSS: ...Was is or is in television
KOHAN: Mm-hmm. Is.
GROSS: Is? It is? OK. So he - I went on IMDb and he wrote for a lot of Oscar broadcasts and other specialists.
KOHAN: Yes.
GROSS: So did he write like the quips or the straightforward, you know...
KOHAN: Oh, he wrote...
GROSS: ...And now for the best movie, a compelling drama?
KOHAN: Now he wrote - yeah.
KOHAN: He wrote musical numbers. He wrote jokes. He was - he was a machine. He is a machine. He's a very funny man. He was the king of variety television in his day. You know, every Christmas special, holiday special, "Motown 25," the Oscars, all those things, you know, he...
GROSS: "Motown 25," that's the one where Michael Jackson did "Billie Jean."
KOHAN: Yeah. He used to write the tours for the Jackson Five - the patter on the tours.
GROSS: No. Really?
KOHAN: He had an amazing career. Yes. He's a remarkable guy and set a very high bar. Yeah, but we were very separate from that. We were not, you know, he went to his office and he sat in his underwear and typed with two fingers and came home late and said hello.
GROSS: Oh, his office at home.
KOHAN: No. Separate. He had a little apartment that he wrote out of.
GROSS: Oh, but he wasn't in like some office high-rise with, in his underwear.
KOHAN: You know, if he'd been a high-rise, he might have been in his underwear there too. Oh, he, comfort first. But, yeah, you know, and he's had this remarkable career and he's won - like 13 Emmys and very prolific, very funny very gifted, and a craftsman as well. And my mother is a writer as well. She's a novelist. And I think a lot of my ear for dialogue actually comes from her. But we were very sheltered from it and we were not supposed to go into the business at all. We were supposed to be doctors and lawyers or I was supposed to marry well. And...
KOHAN: But I think when you see that this career is possible, it doesn't become this amorphous, you know, goal. It's like, oh, I could always go into show biz because that's a real career 'cause that's what was modeled for me and my brothers.
GROSS: Why did you want to go into the business knowing that your parents preferred that you not?
KOHAN: I didn't necessarily. You know, I got out of school and I was working a lot of odd jobs. And I was dating someone whose friend was having success in television. And he kept talking about his friend, Dave. And I had written a lot of short - when I was broke in college, I'd enter fiction contests and I'd often win and get a little cash. And I thought, oh, I can write. I want to try this. So my ex-boyfriend said, you have a better chance of getting elected to Congress than getting on the staff of a television show, which was the perfect thing for him to say because, you know, my entire career is, you know, well, screw you. And we broke up. And then I started writing.
My, one of my close friends was studying for her medical boards. And I quit all of my crappy odd jobs, and I moved in with her. She was living in Santa Cruz. And every day we'd go to these little cafes in Santa Cruz, and I would work on spec scripts and study these videotapes I had recorded off television of "Roseanne" and "Seinfeld" and "The Simpsons." And I'd write my specs and she'd study for her boards. And when I was done, I came back to Los Angeles and my parents said, you know, we're not going to help you. This is not our thing. And what ended up happening was, my sister-in-law's father worked in a building with an agent and gave him my scripts in an elevator. And he read them, and I was on a show by spring. So - and it took off from there, and I never stopped working.
GROSS: Was that "Fresh Prince of Bel-Air?"
KOHAN: That was "Fresh Prince of Bel-Air."
GROSS: Was that a fun show to write for?
KOHAN: No. It was a really...
KOHAN: It was a really fun set. The cast was lovely. The writer's room was wildly dysfunctional and I was the only girl. And it was a time in LA, you know, around the riots. In Farrakhan rallies, I got my nickname, you know, white, devil, Jew, bitch, which, you know, I hold dear.
KOHAN: And it was a rough entrance to the business, but, you know, I was in.
GROSS: Has being a woman made your rise in television any more challenging - do you think - than it would have been?
KOHAN: It's hard to say. You know, I've always worked and I think I have a talent for it. And whenever things didn't work out, I wrote something new and I wrote something new and I kept plugging. I was often the only girl in the room - which is hard. You know, they talk about how few women there are in the business, whatever. But, you know, it's because we don't have a farm team. There's not a lot of women being developed. You're one in this sea of men. But I've also been really blessed. You know, I've worked pretty steadily for 20 years or more - 23 years. But I think a lot of that is just I'm not very good at taking no for an answer and if you don't like this how about that or that or that? I keep, you know, buying lottery tickets.
GROSS: In the days when you were in the writer's room and you were the only woman in it, did you have to ever say, no, that's like really incredibly sexist or stereotype - you just can't, you can't say that, you can't give that dialogue or that plot twist?
KOHAN: No. It was never about gender, particularly. It was just you can't say that because that's lame or untrue or, but in terms of being offensive, that's a line I cross often, so I never pull that punch. I'm not there to be cop, to be gender police. And what offends me more than something sexist is something poorly written or unfunny or cliched.
GROSS: Jenji Kohan, congratulations on the success of the series and thank you so much.
KOHAN: My pleasure. Thank you.
DAVIES: Jenji Kohan speaking with Terry Gross, recorded last year. Kohan created the Netflix series âOrange Is The New Black.â Its second season is now available for streaming. Coming up, David Edelstein reviews âThe Fault In Our Stars.â This is FRESH AIR.
DAVE DAVIES, HOST: The film adaptation of John Green's best-selling young-adult novel, "The Fault In Our Stars", is among the year's most eagerly awaited movies. The love story about two teens with cancer stars Shailene Woodley and Ansel Elgort. Film critic David Edelstein has this review.
DAVID EDELSTEIN: I know people who cried at the trailer of the romantic teen cancer movie "The Fault In Our Stars." At the movie they'll need a life preserver to keep from drowning in a flood of tears. Me, I didn't cry. Though at times my tear ducts tingled. I was on the verge. The film is a little slick for my taste - too engineered. But it's gently directed by Josh Boone and beautifully acted. Whatever the faults, it's not in the stars. Shailene Woodley plays 16-year-old Hazel Grace Lancaster, whose life was saved by an experimental drug but who remains in stage four cancer. She has to cart around an oxygen tank connected with a tube to her nose. Hazel is a nihilist. She projects her terminal illness onto the world. She says humankind will eventually perish and no one will remember Mozart - let alone someone like her. Enter handsome high school ex-basketball star Augustus Waters played by Ansel Elgort. Who lost part of a leg to cancer but is now in remission. Augustus falls for Hazel on site. He literally gawks at her at 18 cancer support group and goes on in his witty winsome way to argue against her worldview. The film, like John Greene's novel, is a debate on the subject of - what's the point? Oblivion says the Augustus is not a design for living or dying. I found Augustus too good to be true - but hey, it's a young adult romance. A little wish fulfillment is just what the doctor ordered. The character did test my patience in his first scene with Hazel when he sticks a cigarette in his mouth.
ANSEL ELGORT: (As Augustus) Let's go watch a movie.
SHAILENE WOODLEY: (As Hazel Grace) Okay. (Laughing) I'm free later this week.
ELGORT: (As Augustus) No, I mean now.
WOODLEY: (As Hazel Grace) You could be an ax murderer.
ELGORT: (As Augustus) There's always that possibility. Come on Hazel Grace take a risk.
WOODLEY: (As Hazel Grace) I don't - really? That is disgusting.
ELGORT: (As Augustus) What?
WOODLEY: (As Hazel Grace) What do you think that that's cool or something? You just ruined this whole thing.
ELGORT: (As Augustus) The whole thing?
WOODLEY: (As Hazel Grace) Yes, this whole thing.
ELGORT: (As Augustus) Oh, man.
WOODLEY: (As Hazel Grace) Even though you had freaking cancer, you're willing to give money to a corporation for the chance to acquire even more cancer? Let me just tell you that not being able to breathe sucks.
ELGORT: (As Augustus) Hazel Grace, they don't actually hurt you unless you light them.
WOODLEY: (As Hazel Grace) Hm?
ELGORT: (As Augustus) I never lit one. It's a metaphor, see? You put the thing that does the killing right between your teeth. But you never give it the power to kill you. A metaphor.
EDELSTEIN: The constant association between tobacco and death is a good thing for teens to see, though I still think Augustus looks to glamorous waving that cancer stick around. At any case, Hazel is plainly smitten but tells Augustus, she wants to stay just friends. She doesn't want to die in break his heart. Even if he says, it would be a privilege to have his heart broken by her. To elevate "The Fault In Our Stars" to the level of myth - the film sends the couple on a trip to Amsterdam and Odyssey to meet the reclusive author of a novel Hazel loves about a girl with cancer - a novel that cuts off in mid-sentence at the moment of the character's death. Hazel needs to know what happens to the surviving characters. And obvious extension of her need to know what will happen to her loved ones in a world without her in it. The subplot offers a welcome change of scene and gives Willem Dafoe a good part as the author, who turns out to be a mean booze hound. That said, it's a might tacky when Hazel and Augustus are moved, finally, to a climactic clinch in that most aphrodisiacal of settings - the attic of the Anne Frank house. Whatever reservations I have about the film, I have none about Shailene Woodley - a young actress without a smidgen of actressness. Her pale skin is near translucent you read her emotions in her coloring. She is believable as the daughter of the wonderful, emotionally overflowing Laura Dern whose squiggly mouth opens even wider than usual. I don't think I am spoiling anything when I say the central question, will anything in their lives endure, is answered hopefully. Love such as Hazel and Augustus's is likened in the movie to mathematics - where between two fixed points there can be, well, a kind of infinity. That's an unexpectedly high flown idea - even a cynic like me can respect it. The title, of course, is from Julius Caesar - from caches, exhortation, to action - the fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars but in ourselves that we are underlings. Here though the fault does seem to be in the stars in an unjust universe - what else to blame for kids getting terminal cancer? But as Hazel and Augustus prove, we never have to be underlings.
DAVIES: David Edelstein is film critic for New York Magazine. For Terry Gross I'm Dave Davies.
Transcripts are created on a rush deadline, and accuracy and availability may vary. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Please be aware that the authoritative record of Fresh Air interviews and reviews are the audio recordings of each segment.


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We have listed below Send as a payment crossword clue answers based on our database. This clue was last seen on February 6 2023 in the NYT crossword puzzle.
Crossword Clue | Answer | Length |
Send as a payment | REMIT | 5 letters |
We update our website regularly with the latest clues, so whenever we find a new solution, we add it to the answers box below including length and definition.
Crossword Answer for Send as a payment
Send as a payment NYT crossword clue answer with 5 letters is:
Why this answer? Meaning: REMIT is a term used to describe when someone sends a payment, usually electronically. It is short for the phrase "remittance payment" and is commonly used in financial transactions.
Other solutions or synonyms
Are you looking for a different answer? If you are playing another crossword puzzle game (not NYT), other (less) possible solutions to Send as a payment crossword or REMIT synonyms are: draft (55%), remit (55%), bank (55%), transfer (55%), submit (55%)
For additional solutions to the NYT clues, be sure to visit our website. You can check our daily article for all NYT Crossword Answers February 6 2023 or browse the previous answers using the tool on the sidebar.
I'm a crossword creator and solver based in New Jersey. When I'm not working on puzzles, I enjoy spending time with my dog Rogan and my wife Jane, as well as reading books and binge-watching Netflix series. I have a particular passion for solving New York Times crosswords and often post my solutions on my website for other enthusiasts to enjoy.

subset: commoncrawl


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That you can't load any pre-edited animations from a file?
A little tool that bundles Ardor and jPCT to load the file, convert it into Bones' format and save it would be cool IMHO, so that one don't have to do this in code everytime.
btw, i guess Ardor guys got a little pissed of. they think they do the hard work and i copy it. kind of true indeed
edit: i removed the video because of licensing issues


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WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Pentagon for the first time used its annual report on China to directly assert that Beijing's government and military have conducted computer-based attacks against the U.S., including efforts to steal information from federal agencies.
In a new report on the Chinese military, the Defense Department goes a small step further than it has gone in the past, when it said that cyber-attacks originated in China and may be linked to Beijing's use of civilian experts in clandestine attacks against American companies. But over the past year, U.S. government officials and private cyber-security experts have increasingly stepped up accusations that the Chinese government is directly involved in cyber espionage against the U.S.
In February, a U.S.-based cyber-security firm, Mandiant, issued a report accusing a secret Chinese military unit in Shanghai of years of cyber-attacks against more than 140 companies, a majority of them American.
The Pentagon report, released Monday, said that, "In 2012, numerous computer systems around the world, including those owned by the U.S. government, continued to be targeted for intrusions, some of which appear to be attributable directly to the Chinese government and military."
It said China is using its cyber capabilities to collect intelligence against U.S. diplomatic, economic and defense programs. And the report warned that the computer skills needed for such espionage is similar to those needed to conduct cyber-warfare.
The new wording in the report continues an escalating effort by U.S. officials to call out the Chinese on the cyber-attacks and to press for a more open dialogue with Beijing on the problem.
The annual report also provides a detailed overview of China's military progression.
In assessing the latest developments, the report said Beijing's leaders are increasingly looking to the People's Liberation Army to perform missions that reach beyond China's periphery. It contributed, for example, to supporting evacuation operations in Libya, sent a hospital ship to Latin America and took on leadership roles in United Nations peace operations.
"To advance its broader strategic objectives and self-proclaimed 'core interests,' China is pursuing a robust and systematic military modernization program," the report said.
The report said China is modernizing its short-range ballistic missile force and is acquiring greater numbers of conventional medium-range missiles to increase the range at which it can conduct precision strikes against land targets and naval ships, including aircraft carriers, operating far from China's shores.
Associated Press writer Robert Burns contributed to this report.


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HMRC advises VAT-registered businesses to plan for potential no-deal Brexit
HMRC has written to 145,000 VAT-registered businesses that only trade with the EU, advising them to plan ahead for a potential no-deal Brexit.
The letters outline changes to customs, excise and VAT in the event that the UK leaves the EU without a Brexit deal. UK firms are advised to register for a UK Economic Operator Registration and Identification (EORI) number. Without this, businesses will not be able to move goods in and out of the UK. HMRC also recommends giving couriers EORI numbers so that they can clear goods.
Additionally, firms will need an EU EORI number in order to 'deal with the customs processes of EU Member States'.
Commenting on the matter, Dr Adam Marshall, Director General of the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC), said: 'Businesses still need clarity on many other cross-border trade issues, such as customs procedures at borders following a no-deal exit and when the government will launch an official database to provide ease of access to information on tariffs and quotas.'
The government has started to automatically enrol UK firms into a customs system in order to simplify trade with the EU post-Brexit. HMRC stated that it will 'continue to engage with businesses, representative organisations, intermediaries and infrastructure providers to ensure they have the information and support they need'.


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I stood and stared, and immediately felt sick as I read it again—"Juárez Girl, 13, Slain." This was a real headline, only three and a half hours south of where Jennifer Lopez had played an investigative reporter on the Juárez murders; yet back in Albuquerque I doubted it had even made the papers.
My memories of Juárez are of my mother taking me and my sister with her to get her teeth done at one of those cheap dental clinics, of tortas de jamon y queso and fanta limon, and my little battery-operated radio that magically spoke Spanish as soon as we crossed the bridge. This is not my Juárez, where women and girls are brutally killed, one after another.
The phenomenon is known as the Ciudad Juárez murders. It is also referred to widely as feminicide, which means women are killed just because they are women. Since 1993, hundreds of mangled and desecrated bodies have been found dumped on the Chihuahua desert outside of Juárez, México, just across the river from El Paso, Texas, and within a few minutes of Las Cruces, N.M. The perpetrators of the ever-rising number of violent deaths target poor young women, terrifying inhabitants of both sides of the border. According to Amnesty International, over 400 women and girls have been murdered and more than 70 remain missing in Ciudad Juárez and Chihuahua, Mexico.
Ironically, I had been at the Health and Human Services Interim Legislative Committee hearing that day in Las Cruces and the topic was the Office of Border Health. Yet there was no mention of the headline that day. Was it because it's such common news? And if so, why doesn't the news reach our Albuquerque papers? After all, parts of our state, including Las Cruces, are officially included in the federal government's designated "border areas."
According to the Religious Task Force on Central America and Mexico, the Juárez murders are one of the most serious human rights abuses taking place in Latin America. And the Latin America Working Group states that authorities have often failed to investigate the murders, botched investigations they actually did, falsified evidence, intimidated victims' families and ultimately failed to produce either answers or culprits for these crimes. In the course of these investigations, authorities have managed to arrest suspects for only half of the murders.
As I passed the newspaper machines again while returning the wine opener, I inserted my quarter and pulled out the last copy of the El Paso Times—"Police Struggle to Control Protest over Killing" was the subhead. It all seemed so surreal. I'd never seen a real headline about the murders, and that, in itself, sickened me.
I couldn't believe that I live so close to where it's all happening, yet the closest I'd ever really been to the issue was when I was on a movie set or at the book signing last spring for Desert Blood: The Juárez Murders, by Alicia Gaspar de Alba. Gaspar de Alba is a native of the El Paso/Juárez border and a founding faculty member of the César Chavez Center for Inter-disciplinary Instruction in Chicana/o studies at UCLA. The novel is a mystery based on the violent deaths of hundreds of women along the U.S./Mexico border.
In an effort to convey the sympathy of Congress to the families of the young women murdered in the State of Chihuahua, Mexico, Senate Concurrent Resolution 16 encourages increased U.S. involvement in bringing an end to these crimes, and was introduced by Sen. Jeff Bingaman earlier this year. The goal is to raise public awareness about the tragedy, express congressional concern and propose a set of actions to deal with the murders and abductions of these young women. You can contact Sen. Bingaman to express your support at firstname.lastname@example.com or by calling 346-6601.
The opinions expressed are soley those of the author. Giovanna Rossi is the executive director of NARAL Pro-Choice New Mexico.


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Show All Answers
Properties developed with one standalone single-family dwelling, one standalone single-family dwelling and ADUs, or lots developed with no more than two standalone single-family dwelling condos shall follow the requirements for existing developments under the SF ADU requirement handout and section 16.79.050.
Properties developed with apartments, townhouses with shared walls and those developed with more than two standalone single-family dwellings on the same lot are considered multi-family buildings. These properties follow the requirements outlined in the MF ADU webpage and section 16.79.090.
Yes. However, for ADUs proposed with a single-family residence, or on a lot with an existing single-family residence, a new ADU that is 800 square feet or smaller in size may exceed the floor area limit and building coverage limits by up to 800 square feet if built after or concurrently with the primary dwelling unit. Additions to the area of existing ADUs may not exceed the limits for the lot that they were built on, nor can additions to the primary dwelling unrelated to the ADU exceed the limits. Please review the SF ADU webpage for additional information. New ADUs on properties with existing multi-family buildings may also exceed the floor area ratio by the gross floor area of the ADU(s). Please review the MF ADU webpage for additional information. Please review the Zoning Ordinance for the definitions of floor area, building coverage and gross floor area.
An ADU is not considered an accessory building, and therefore will not be regulated as one. This means an ADU will not count toward the maximum allowable area for accessory buildings and structures, and the proposal will not be required to maintain 10 feet of separation between the ADU and the primary dwelling. For more details about ADU regulations, please refer to Chapter 16.79 ("Accessory dwelling units") of the Zoning Ordinance. For more details about accessory building regulations, please refer to Chapter 16.68.030 ("Accessory buildings and accessory structures") of the Zoning Ordinance and the accessory buildings and structures handout.
An accessory building (including detached garages/carports) may be converted into an ADU so long as the following criteria are met:
All or any portion of an accessory building that meets the above eligibility criteria may be demolished and reconstructed to meet building code requirements based on the change of occupancy at the time of conversion. The ADU that replaces the accessory building may retain the setbacks and the footprint of the legally constructed accessory building. If the proposed ADU exceeds the permitted unit size of 1,000 square feet, a use permit may be requested to deviate from this standard.
The garage/carport of an existing residence may be converted into an ADU provided the ADU maximum unit size requirements are met. While not required, providing replacement off-street parking for the existing residence is strongly recommended (see parking question below). The replacement parking can be allowed in any configuration on the same lot, including covered spaces, uncovered spaces, tandem spaces, or mechanical parking lifts. Uncovered replacement parking must meet the dimensional requirements of the Parking Stalls and Driveway Design Guidelines, and may not extend onto the public right-of-way.
Section 16.79.080 contains the parking requirements for ADUs. In most cases, one off-street parking space is required. However, no parking is required for the ADU if the ADU is:
Please note, the City does not currently include historic districts and residents in single-family homes may only purchase temporary permits for on-street overnight parking, so exceptions b) and d) are not currently applicable. If developing an ADU or converting an accessory structure into an ADU results in inadequate parking at your property for the additional people occupying the property, you will not be exempt from the overnight parking prohibition nor other parking restrictions and may need to limit the number of vehicles at the property.
For ADUs constructed after January 1, 2020, a minimum of 30-day lease term is required to rent out an ADU. There is no minimum lease term for a JADU. For a JADU constructed after January 1, 2020 and ADUs constructed after January 1, 2025 the answer is yes, so long as the primary dwelling unit or ADU is occupied by the property owner. For ADUs constructed before January 1, 2020, JADUs, and ADUs constructed after January 1, 2025 both the main dwelling unit and the ADU cannot be rented or used as a dwelling by persons other than the property owner unless the property owner has completed the non-tenancy status registration process or received a use permit. For more information about tenancy status related to properties with ADUs, please see section 16.79.100(1) of the Zoning Ordinance. As part of the building permit application for a new JADU and new ADUs after January 1, 2025, the property owner shall be required to provide a signed tenancy acknowledgement form.
There is no daylight plane requirement for ADUs 800 square feet and smaller, or for those in zoning districts without daylight plane requirements. A detached ADU that is larger than 800 square feet in area has a separate daylight plane requirement that must be met, unless a use permit is approved to deviate from this ADU standard. The daylight plane for a detached ADU is established at a line three (3) feet from the side property lines. The daylight plane begins at a horizontal line 9 feet, 6 inches above the average grade with a slope inwards at a 45 degree angle. There are no permitted intrusions into this daylight plane. The daylight plane requirement for an attached ADU is the same as the daylight plane required for the primary dwelling.
Property taxes are assessed by the County of San Mateo Assessor's Office, not by the City of Menlo Park. For all development projects in the City, the County collects information from the City when building permits are issued to a property. Please contact the County Assessor's Office for more information about how the information is used.
An ADU is considered a new single-family residence from a building code perspective and there are a number of plan check and technical report fees that may apply depending on site conditions in given geographic regions of the City, as well as whether the ADU is proposed as a detached, attached or interior ADU. ADUs 750 square feet or smaller in size are exempt from impact fees for the City, although school impact fees may apply. The building pre-application (BPA) record type through our online permit portal is active. Prospective applicants can create a BPA through the online services webpage and email the Permit Team with questions regarding all the fees and the process for their specific proposal. The Sequoia Union School District can be reached by phone at 650-369-1411 ext. 22203 with questions regarding school impact fees.


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Gary May and Sheila Humphreys interviewed for Inside Higher Ed
EECS alumnus Gary S. May (M.S. '88/Ph.D. '91, advisor: Costas Spanos), the first Black chancellor of UC Davis, is the focus of an Inside Higher Ed story highlighting the unique bond between three Black Berkeley Engineering alumni in the 1980s, all of whom have gone on to lead top research institutions. Reggie DesRoches has become the president of Rice University, and Darryll Pines is the president of the University of Maryland, College Park. The three met at Berkeley where they studied different fields of engineering. The article describes the unique landscape of diversity in the era before Proposition 209, and interviewed EECS staff emerita, Sheila Humphreys for the story, who was then the EECS director of diversity, as well as Dean Liu who said this past academic year (2021-22) "is the first year that we ended up with a higher percentage [of undergraduate underrepresented minorities] then even before Prop 209." In fostering the minority engineering programs (MEP) of the 1980s, Sheila attributes the "unwavering administrative support" of the late Dean Pister, and a "comprehensive, whole-student approach."


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Tag Archives: #usergeneratedcontent
Airbnb is a US based company that operates an online marketplace that allows people to lease or rent short term lodging place at an affordable price. The dwellings range from holiday cottages, hotel rooms and hostel beds to home stays and apartments. The company doesn't own any real estate, rather it earns by charging a service fee in return for providing this online platform where customers can connect with the hosts. The company has nearly 5 million lodging listings in 81,000 cities and 191+ countries and has 300 million+ guest arrivals at all time.[1] Airbnb had a difficult end to year 2013 because of a trademark infringement lawsuit from a competitor. However, they came back with another marketing campaign that embedded the concept of user generated content within a contest to create excitement about the brand.


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The future of live graphics has arrived. Singular.Live is built on common web standards and requires no specialized hardware. The Singular suite of products allows broadcasters, live production professionals and streaming enthusiasts to deliver customized graphics to each viewer – from language localization to targeted ads, interactivity and more.
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RCS creates some of the most technically advanced and robust software solutions in global broadcast. All of our white label applications undergo a rigorous R&D process which simulates the remote and studio environments that our clients encounter. RCS Control Center, our in-house live production environment, features live video sources, switchers, replay servers, rundown lists and automation control.
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With solutions like RCS LaunchPad—the first subscription-based interactive touchscreen solution of its kind—RCS is reimagining how brands use graphics and analytics to boost fan engagement. And with virtual studios and augmented reality, we leverage next-gen camera tracking and graphics technology to build cutting-edge CG environments that complement each client's brand.
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SVG SportsTech On Demand: Reality Check Systems' Andrew Heimbold on the Rise of Remote Production
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The LittleFe project is surely a misnomer as the efforts spent on building this mega-computer are anything but little. The initiative, which is lead by Vice President of Technology Systems Dr. Michael Kress along with professional staff from the Division of Student Affairs, involves seven young adults at CSI who are actually building a parallel processing computer. These diverse individuals meet in the Center for Student Accessibility's Multimedia Resource Center at CSI every weekend and work together seamlessly on a collaborative project that will result in the grouping of six computers to form one that will perform with much better speed and efficiency than other traditional systems.
"LittleFe provides an opportunity for this CSI team to learn key concepts of parallel and distributed computing such as speed up, efficiency, and load balancing, which are more effectively done on a parallel platform," explained Dr. Kress.
The LittleFe team members are CSI students Michael Costantino, Daniel Kurzweil, Jonathan Parziale, Christopher Savo, and Brian Wong; McKee Technical High School student Alaric Hyland; and CSI College Assistant Timothy Smolka. Center for Student Accessibility staff members Nicole Dory and Maryellen Smolka supervise the group.
"This project is as much about the team as it is about the supercomputer and autonomous robot it is building. The team is comprised of some of CSI's best students, technical staff, and an exceptionally talented high school student," said dr. Kress, adding that the diverse group members include students with and without disabilities.
LittleFe weighs less than 50 pounds and can be set up in about ten minutes, making it possible to have a powerful ready-to-run computational science and HPC educational platform for less than $3,000.
Future utilization of LittleFe at CSI has not been completely determined yet, although the CSI supercomputer will be featured at the Supercomputing Conference in Salt Lake City, UT this November. This International Conference for High-Performance Computing, Networking, Storage, and Analysis will feature the "best and brightest minds in supercomputing" with unparalleled technical papers, tutorials, posters, and speakers.
Little Fe was also a major attraction at this year's Undergraduate Research Conference, and team members were filmed for NY1.


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An old video from perhaps the late 1990s has been posted on LiveLeaks and I am not sure of its title or provenance but it is an enjoyable watch as old footage from years of reports and searches are shown. The documentary is sceptical and ends with the Sturgeon theory, which I guess is a monster of sorts (a subject worthy of a future post no doubt).
Another YouTube clip I saw is from a series of videos called "Mysterious Planet" whose 21st episode concentrates on the Loch Ness Monster. Now this clip has interest for me personally as they give time to the "eel head" interpretation of the photo that was first publicised on this blog. Based on that, the editor proposes the Giant Salamander theory which seems to have gained some traction recently (I suspect the editor had read this post I previously publicised).
This is not the first video I have seen that publicises the Hugh Gray eel head, so it is nice to see the word getting out on this important piece of Loch Ness Monster evidence.


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Method Man Rodeo текст песни, слова песни Rodeo Method Man & Ludacris
Method Man - Rodeo
feat. Ludacris
Yeah... yeah (come on ride in my rodeo, come on ride in my rodeo)
This one of another one of them nasty M-E-F joints, come on, come on
Come on (come on ride in my rodeo, come on ride in my rodeo)
[Method Man]
To all the chicks with they asses thick
Out the whole click, she the baddest bitch
Dose-doh, round your partner, switch
Clan in Da Front, we be starting shit
No don't trip, dog, spark 'em, quick
Holla when a real nigga talkin', trick
We got grip, but we ain't spendin' shit
You and your friends, stop pretendin' trip
Let a nigga get nut pushed, better yet let a nigga get some head
I work 'em, work 'em or feed 'em, burp 'em, then jerk 'em, instead
I get my nuts pushed, on the bottom to the top of your gums
I feel your slurpin', slurpin, I'm skeetin' and squirtin' your tongue
And I got about 5 grand, but I won't be spendin' a dime
See cuz overspendin's a crime and I can't be spendin' my time
If you get your guts pushed, could be of cuz Luda and Meth
Could be of cuz we do it best, could be of cuz we screw 'em to death
[Chorus: Method Man (Ludacris)]
Come up out of them dirty clothes (bend on over and touch them toes)
Uh-oh, we-oh, we-oh! (Come on and ride this rodeo)
(Meth & Luda we lock and load) Round your partner, now dose-doh
Uh-oh, we-oh, we-oh! (Come on and ride this rodeo)
I wonder where about five bottles of gin, models that wanna swallow
And wobble, gobble again, tell a couple of friends
I slap that ass, bitch, take a look and see what you got in
Cuz I've been schemin' and plottin', to have you breathin' and stoppin'
[Method Man]
What we talkin' bout? Pussy poppin', car hoppin' women
See 'em watchin', clockin', pigeons
Flockin' Luda they jockin', lightin' buddha, and boots is rockin'
Nameless hoes, take 'em brainless with painted toes
Famous, she code, twerkin' pussy, hurtin', workin' that pose
They wanna raise that pussy tab, price and position
Enticin' these women, given the proper juice
Life that they livin', hope that they double deuce
Shifted ass cheeks, last week and Ludacris is backseat
Afraid so, ask son, taste them
[Method Man]
Now watch me, dog 'em, freak 'em
Out every weekend, she puttin' APB's on my dick
I keep on bettin' and breathin', where's my pants, I'm leavin'
I'm speakin' facts, mamies creepin' and they cheatin'
They even sleepin' with mats, some be eatin' that cat
I'm teasin', indecent expose, Method be tweakin'
Keep pussies leakin' through pantyhoes, marijuana smell on my clothes
This evening, these bunnies got me on swoll, I bust and reload
Honey, break out the 'dro and give me some mo', on the rodeo
[Chorus w/ Luda & Meth switching lines]


text:
I want to know what apps I've paid money for, as opposed to free apps that were downloaded.
I need to know this because I gave my little brother my old 3GS to use as an iPod which remains attached to my iTunes account because he doesn't have a credit card or an income in order set up an account. I notice that he downloads a lot of apps, games in particular, and I'm worried because I've tried a few that seem like they could easily charge for. I often download apps that I pay for, so often that I wouldn't know if he was buying things without my knowledge.
Every now and then I notice a charge from iTunes that I don't remember making, so I need to know what I've paid for. Is there a way to show what apps I've actually spent money on?


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Yesterday, I linked up the Rick Gosselin column on Troy Aikman's career that can only be reviewed as flattering. Gosselin is the Dallas representative on the Hall of Fame committee. It is his job to make a strong argument to get Aikman inducted, and I believe he did a fine job. But, in the interest of an even handed view of Aikman, I did have a few small issues with what Gosselin wrote.
Counting the postseason, Aikman started 158 games for the Cowboys in the 1990s. The Cowboys led at halftime in 98 of them and found themselves tied on 10 other occasions.
Wonder why Aikman had so few come-from-behind victories? He was rarely behind.
I don't mean to be a detractor here, but if you were ahead 98 of 158 chances, that means you were not ahead 60 times or almost 4 full seasons of his career. To suggest that he had few chances to come from behind and that explains the low number of comebacks is not telling the full truth. It just wasn't his specialty.
Aikman won more games in one decade (90) than any quarterback in NFL history. Yes, more than Young in the 1990s, Joe Montana in the 1980s and Terry Bradshaw in the 1970s. Aikman also won three Super Bowls. The only two quarterbacks who won more, Montana and Bradshaw, are enshrined in Canton.
It was never about statistics with Aikman. It was about winning.
Here, Gosselin quotes a statistic that Aikman fans quote more times than I can count. The idea here is that Aikman achieved something quite remarkable in that he won 90 games in the decade of the 90's. But, again, isn't that misleading? Allow me to show you a few names here:
Elway's career spanned from 1983 to 1998. So, just because his career did not encompass a full decade (the 1980's or the 1990's) John Elway cannot participate in this study.
Jim Kelly played from 1986 to 1996. Therefore, he cannot participate in this study.
Steve Young was not the starter of the 49ers in 1990. Therefore, he can participate in this study, but with 9 seasons as a starter, will not measure up to Troy.
Brett Favre was in the 1991 draft, and started playing in 1992, therefore he is not in this study because he did not play in 1990 or 1991.
Dan Fouts played from 1973 to 1987, and therefore does not qualify for this study. In fact, any QB before 1978 only had a 14 game season, and therefore 20 fewer games a decade to win games. And any QB prior to 1961 only had 12 game seasons, and would have 40 fewer games in a decade to catch Troy's 90 wins.
Joe Montana did qualify for this study, and Aikman's 90's beat Montana's 80's. That is very impressive. But it should be noted that Steve Deberg was the 49ers leading passer in SF in 1980, thus reducing Montana's chances. But, that isn't Troy's fault.
The point of this study is not to say Troy's accomplishment isn't impressive, because it is. But, the pool of QB's who played their career inside one decade properly is very, very short.
If Gosselin or anyone has run the numbers of any QB in any 10 year period whether it be the decade of the 1990's or the decade from 1988 to 1997, I would be quite interested where Troy's 90 win mark ranks. For instance, since I didn't care to run the numbers of everyone, I did check Favre from the time he started with Green Bay for the decade of 1992-2001 and saw that Favre had 104 wins in that 10 year span. Not comparing the two QB's, but I am attempting to discredit that statistic as a pretty misleading one.
Anyway, on to the idea of how long a QB must wait to be inducted:
The Hall of Fame Eligibility List shows that Troy Aikman is more than likely to be inducted this week.
I always compare Aikman's career to two other Hall of Fame QB's who have similar passing stats and similar winning stats:
Bart Starr: 152 TD's – 138 INT's – 5 Rings
Bob Griese: 192 TD's – 172 INT's – 2 Rings (3 Super Bowls)
Troy Aikman: 165 TD's – 141 INT's – 3 Rings
Starr went in during his very first year, while Bob Griese had to wait 5 years. Meanwhile, Sonny Jurgensen, Joe Namath, Len Dawson, Fran Tarkenton all waited 3 years. But, in the last several seasons, we have found that QB's generally go straight in. Check out this list since 2000 of the QB's who have gone right in the Hall in year 1:
Dan Marino
Jim Kelly
Steve Young
Joe Montana
John Elway
Take away Montana, and Troy has as many titles as the rest of that list combined …He is getting in this season. I am absolutely convinced of it. He deserves it based on his high level of accomplishment as a Bart Starr/Bob Griese type QB who did not have impressive stats, but did have impressive wins.
Way to go Troy.
I trust the preceding paragraphs did not offend Cowboys fans who are not willing to discuss the possibility that Troy doesn't walk on water. He is a great, great QB who will go in this year, but I think Gosselin went a little bit "homer" in this one. Of course, that is his job, and with all the trouble Cowboys have had getting in, they need a homer making their presentations, I suppose. I think most readers of this goofy blog enjoy looking at the issues from every angle. Hopefully, I offered a little context to Gosselin's glowing report.
Old Friend, Brandon Noble is having big issues …
Brandon Noble needs crutches to walk, and he has been relegated to spending much of his time at home on his sofa. When he's lying in bed at night and needs to move his left leg to get comfortable, he must lift it with his arms or nudge it with his right leg. He struggles to play with his children.
But while Noble might have the typical limitations of a broken-down football player, the career of the Washington Redskins' defensive tackle isn't threatened by damaged ligaments or cracked bones. At 31, Noble has been sidelined by a staph infection, suffered after being injured, that in some cases is potentially fatal.
"It's been an incredible couple of years here," Noble said. "It's like I'm a modern-day Job."
Peter King with gets longevity talk from Bill Cowher …
He made a good point about his longevity; I'm not sure if it'll air on HBO or not. I asked him about Jimmy Johnson saying five years in one place is enough, and John Madden's claim that 10 years in one place was enough. Those coaches had a theory: Players start to tune you out and your message gets old. The players all can't leave, so the coach has to. Cowher's theory was one I hadn't thought of -- it's an extreme rarity that players last 10 years in one place, so the message doesn't have time to wear thin.
"There's only one player here from the last Super Bowl we went to,'' he says. "Willie Williams. And he left in free agency and came back. So I've never thought the message can get old, not with players coming in and out so much.''
Terrell Owens in Denver …seems like a bad fit. He would bully Plummer within 6 weeks…
Stars win again….in Overtime …
"Don't get me wrong, I would love to win by a blowout every game, but I think this will help our team down the line," Tippett said. "The more you can learn about your team in close games, I think the better you'll be down the stretch."
The Stars stretched their winning streak to five games and improved to 35-15-2 on the season, good for 72 points. They stayed one point behind the Red Wings for first place in the Western Conference.
The Stars also got key points in a game against a Pacific Division rival as the Sharks (23-19-7, 52 points) continued to battle uphill in search of a playoff berth.
Wow! The 2006 MLS Cup is here again …Frisco must have done well in 2005, eh?
Saturday Night, UFC 57 …Liddell v. Couture 3? Take the Iceman…
Amazing Race 9 is ready
to roll …BaD Radio Forums have more…
Cincinnati paper points out that Cleveland has nothing …
Seattle's NFC title has reduced to six the number of NFL teams never to reach the Super Bowl.
They are Houston (expansion team in 2002), New Orleans, Arizona, Detroit, Jacksonville and Cleveland.
Each of those cities, except Cleveland, has hosted a Super Bowl. So that makes Cleveland the only NFL city never to have appeared in or hosted a Super Bowl.
Cleveland defenders point to Indianapolis. Though the Colts franchise appeared in the Super Bowl when it existed in Baltimore, it hasn't qualified for the big game since its move to Indianapolis in 1984.
Cracked cracks on ESPN …
Please forgive me, but media day awaits…I gotta run...


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Looking for an artistic way to build circuits? Don't want to design a PCB? The Lethal Nixie Tube Clock is a free form circuit that gives you the time one digit at a time. It uses a IN-1 Nixie tube to display the digits. This is driven by ten MPSA42 high voltage transistors. A IRF520 N-FET, inductor, and a diode are used as a switching power supply that generates the high voltage needed to drive the Nixie tube. It's probably not lethal, but there are exposed high voltages in the cube. You'd definitely regret touching it.
An ATMega8 is used to control the clock. It drives the various digits of the Nixie tube, and generates a PWM output to switch the high voltage supply. Unfortunately, the schematic has been lost. If you're interested in the switching supply, it's likely similar to the one explained here.
Check out a video of the clock after the break.


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How can universal design be applied in postsecondary education?
Universal design is an approach that strives to make products and environments welcoming, accessible, and usable for everyone. Universal design principles were developed at the Center for Universal Design. They can be tailored to specific applications such as curriculum, instruction, career service offices, multimedia, tutoring and learning centers, museums, computer labs, and web pages.
The short publication Universal Design in Postsecondary Education: Process, Principles, and Applications and the book Universal Design in Higher Education: From Principles to Practice present the following process for applying universal design in a postsecondary setting:
- Identify the application. Specify the product or environment to which you wish to apply universal design.
- Define the universe. Describe the overall population (e.g., users of service), and then describe the diverse characteristics of potential members of the population for which the application is designed (e.g., students, faculty, and staff with diverse characteristics with respect to gender; age; size; ethnicity and race; native language; learning style; and abilities to see, hear, manipulate objects, read, and communicate).
- Involve consumers. Consider and involve people with diverse characteristics (as identified in Step 2) in all phases of the development, implementation, and evaluation of the application. Also gain perspectives through diversity programs, such as the campus disability services office.
- Adopt guidelines or standards. Create or select existing universal design guidelines or standards. Integrate them with other best practices within the field of the specific application.
- Apply guidelines or standards. Apply universal design in concert with best practices within the field (as identified in Step 4) to the overall design of the application, all subcomponents of the application, and all ongoing operations (e.g., procurement processes, staff training) to maximize the benefit of the application to individuals with the wide variety of characteristics identified in Step 2.
- Plan for accommodations. Develop processes to address accommodation requests (e.g., purchase of assistive technology, arrangement for sign language interpreters) from individuals for whom the design of the application does not automatically provide access.
- Train and support. Tailor and deliver ongoing training and support to stakeholders (e.g., instructors, computer support staff, procurement officers, volunteers). Share institutional goals with respect to diversity and inclusion and practices for ensuring welcoming, accessible, and inclusive experiences for everyone.
- Evaluate. Include universal design measures in periodic evaluations of the application; evaluate the application with a diverse group of users, and make modifications based on feedback. Provide ways to collect input from users (e.g., through online and printed instruments and communications with staff).
For additional information on this topic may wish to consult the book Creating Inclusive Learning Opportunities in Higher Education: A Universal Design Toolkit.


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The 9 Secrets of Happy Couples
By REDBOOK
Loving couples: In a world where 40 percent of marriages end in divorce, you can't help but notice them. There they are, finishing each other's sentences or laughing in some dusky corner of a Chinese restaurant. They seem so wonderfully in sync, and they make the work of being a couple seem effortless. Of course, no intimate relationship ever is, especially once you factor in life's built-in pressures, like work deadlines, laundry and your daughter's orthodontist appointments.
But, says Jane Greer, Ph.D., Redbook Online's resident sex-and-relationships expert, there are certain core values that make some marriages more intimate and resilient than others. You could probably predict the list: trust, mutual respect, commitment and a strong sense of "we" in the relationship. What is surprising, experts point out, is that when you ask loving husbands and wives about the key to their devotion, over and over you'll hear the same things, specific habits that mirror these values. Learning these secrets can make your marriage closer too.
Related: 50 Fun, Cheap Date Ideas
1. They use terms of endearment
Sure, you may find it cloyingly sweet when you overhear other couples talking like 2-year-olds, but endearments are actually a sign of a healthy rapport.
"Pet names take you back either to the happy childhood you had or the one you wish you had," says Manhattan-based family therapist Carolyn Perla, Ph.D. "They signal a safe, supportive environment." Also, these days, when we're stretched to the limit trying to juggle jobs and kids, "pet names give us the chance to let down our guard, to be vulnerable and childlike. And they make us feel close to one another."
These same feelings of intimacy can also come from using a special tone of voice with each other, sharing silly "inside jokes," or pet-naming your spouse's intimate body parts. The point is to connect with some private message system that's meaningful to you alone, as a couple -- not to the outside world. "This type of playfulness is a statement that you're feeling comfortable with each other and with the relationship," says Dr. Perla.
Related: 25 Snacks Under 150 Calories
2. They do stuff together
When that pheromone-crazy feeling of falling in love passes and happy couples no longer spend all day in bed, they look outward. They start businesses, refinish the attic or take up cooking together.
Of all the variables in a relationship -- from commitment to communication -- the amount of fun couples have together is the strongest factor in determining their overall marital happiness, according to a landmark study by Howard Markman, Ph.D., codirector of the Center for Marital and Family Studies at the University of Denver. Time spent playing together, says Dr. Markman, is an "investment in the relationship"; it provides a relaxed intimacy that strengthens the bond between two people. So even if your life is impossibly frantic, make the time for play. And do all you can to eliminate distractions. Leave the kids with a sitter, ditch the beeper and cell phone. The activity doesn't have to be anything elaborate or costly. Exercising together, browsing in antiques stores, or renting a classic movie can help bring the two of you closer.
3. When the going gets tough, they don't call Mom or Dad
The first task facing all young couples is separating from their families of origin, points out San Francisco-area-based family researcher Judith Wallerstein, Ph.D. This doesn't mean you shouldn't go home for the holidays. But if there's a crisis over whether to have a second child or relocate for a new job, or even if there's good news about a big raise or the results of a medical test, the couple should talk about it together first before dialing Mom. "You wouldn't believe how many people who are getting divorced say to me, 'She was never mine,' or 'His mother always came first,'" Dr. Wallerstein observes.
Related: 23 Power Foods to Eat More, More, More Of
4. They stay connected to their parents
This doesn't contradict No. 3: You can talk with your mom every day and still be clear about where your attachment to her ends and your love for your mate begins.
"Staying connected to parents, siblings, cousins and the like can be excellent for a marriage because it gives a sense of family continuity," says Dr. Greer. "It generates positive feelings, especially when you incorporate your spouse into that family. You're sharing that part of you with each other."
5. They don't nickel-and-dime about chores
It's no secret that most wives continue to do more in the housekeeping and child-rearing departments than their husbands. Still, when partners become double-entry bookkeepers, adding up every dish washed and every diaper changed, they may be headed for trouble.
"Most couples think they should strive for a relationship that's 50-50," observes Dr. Perla, "but the fact is, they should each give 150 percent. In good relationships, couples give everything they can. They don't nickel-and-dime each other, and they respect that each person gives different things."
Related: 17 5-Minute Marriage Makeovers
6. They fight constructively
There's fighting and then there's fighting. When couples start yelling and throwing things, when they dredge up every single complaint they've ever had (or "kitchen-sinking," as marital experts typically call it), you can be sure that they won't be celebrating their silver anniversary together. "Studies show that the way couples handle conflict is the most important factor in determining whether or not they stay together," observes Polly Young-Eisendrath, Ph.D., a clinical associate professor of psychiatry at the University of Vermont.
"Happy couples have learned the art of constructive arguing," says Dr. Markman, whose research has demonstrated that it's possible to predict whether or not a couple will divorce after watching them argue for 10 or 15 minutes. In strong marriages, he says, the partners take control of their disagreements by establishing ground rules. They may, for example, call a mutually agreed-upon time-out if the conflict is escalating and unproductive, agreeing to continue the discussion after a cooling-off period. They also truly listen to each other and won't prematurely try to solve the problem before they've heard each other out. Above all, no matter how angry they get, they don't resort to name-calling and insults -- key danger signs, says Dr. Markman.
7. They give each other gifts
Couples who are deeply connected often give each other presents or write little notes, says Thomas Moore, Ph.D., best-selling author of Care of the Soul. What they're doing is preserving the rituals, and the magic, of their courtship.
The gift should carry no strings. Sarah sometimes comes home from work to find that her husband has prepared a candlelight dinner. "But it's not set up to be a prelude to sex," Sarah says laughingly. "John does it because he wants me to feel loved."
Related: Easy Ways to Burn 100 Calories
8. They never lose their sense of humor
Humor, as many psychotherapists have observed, is the Krazy Glue that keeps a couple together. When a couple can no longer laugh together, Dr. Moore says, it's a signal that the soul has gone out of their marriage and they are headed for trouble.
But Dr. Moore is quick to point out that lighthearted couples never mock each other. They instinctively know what is -- and isn't -- fair game. "Sam would never dream of making fun of my big butt," notes Catherine.
9. They take "for better or for worse" seriously
Contented couples encounter their share of life's miseries -- whether it's the car breaking down, a nasty cold or a missed promotion -- but they help each other get through. You don't, for example, hear them say, "How could you let that happen?" when a spouse loses a job. "Couples who do well together tend not to do anything that increases their partner's suffering, like become resentful or criticize," notes Dr. Young-Eisendrath. In good marriages, people feel safe from the outside world. Each spouse, stresses Dr. Greer, has the feeling, "I can count on you, our world is all right."
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Derek Walcott
Derek Alton Walcott (born January 23, 1930 – March 17 2017) was a West Indian poet, playwright, writer and visual artist who wrote mainly in English. Born in Castries, St. Lucia, he won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1992.
- I come from a place that likes grandeur; it likes large gestures; it is not inhibited by flourish; it is a rhetorical society; it is a society of physical performance; it is a society of style.
- Interview with Ed Hirsch (1986), Writers at Work: The Paris Review Interviews, Eighth Series (Penguin, 1988)
- Any serious attempt to try to do something worthwhile is ritualistic.
- Interview with Ed Hirsch (1986), Writers at Work: The Paris Review Interviews, Eighth Series (Penguin, 1988)
- The English language is nobody's special property. It is the property of the imagination: it is the property of the language itself.
- Interview with Ed Hirsch (1986), Writers at Work: The Paris Review Interviews, Eighth Series (Penguin, 1988)
- Good science and good art are always about a condition of awe … I don't think there is any other function for the poet or the scientist in the human tribe but the astonishment of the soul.
- Uncommon Genius: How Great Ideas are Born (Penguin, 1990), pp. 176
- I never thought I would see the day when America (which is based on the idea of liberty, from which the world Liberal comes) would become so self-centered and hypocritical. I mean if democracy considers liberal to be a term of abuse, then we should be terrified. A liberal is someone who believes in liberty. And if it is wrong to be liberal, then the other side has to be fascist.
- Conversations with Derek Walcott (University Press Mississippi, 1996, page.165)
"A Far Cry from Africa" (1962)[edit]
- The violence of beast on beast is read
As natural law, but upright man
Seeks his divinity by inflicting pain.
"The Schooner Flight" (1980)[edit]
- I'm just a red nigger who love the sea,
I had a sound colonial education,
I have Dutch, nigger, and English in me,
and either I'm nobody, or I'm a nation.- "Adios, Carenage," lines 40-44
- I try to forget what happiness was,
and when that don't work, I study the stars.- "After the Storm"
Collected Poems, 1948-1984 (1986)[edit]
- You will love again the stranger who was your self.
Give wine. Give bread. Give back your heart
to itself, to the stranger who has loved youall your life, whom you ignored
for another, who knows you by heart.- "Love after Love"
- Peel your own image from the mirror.
Sit. Feast on your life.- "Love after Love"
- Then silence is sawn in half by a dragonfly
as eels sign their names along the bottom-sand
when the sunrise brightens the river's memoryand waves of huge ferns are nodding to the sea's sound.
Although the smoke forgets the earth from which is ascends
and the nettles guard the holes where the laurels were killedan iguana hears the axes, clouding each lens
over its lost name, when the hunched island was called
'Iounalao' 'Where it iguana is from'But, taking its own time, the iguana will scale
the rigging of vines in a year, its dewlap fanned,
its elbows akimbo, its deliberate tailmoving with the island. The slit pods of its eyes
ripened in a pause that lasted for centuries,
that rose with the Aruacs' smoke till a new raceunknown to the lizard stood measuring the trees.
These were their pillars that fell, leaving a blue space
for a single God where the old gods stood before,The first god was a gommier. The generator
began with a whine, and a shark, with sidewise jaw,
sent the chips flying like mackrel over waterinto trembling weeds
White Egrets[edit]
- No masterpieces in huge frames to worship,
… and yet there are the days
when every street corner rounds itself into
a sunlit surprise, a painting or a phrase,
canoes drawn up by the market, the harbour's blue,
the barracks. So much to do still, all of it praise.
Quotes about Derek Walcott[edit]
- I love the opulent poetry of Tishani Doshi and the more formal work of Derek Walcott and Christian Wiman.