text:
Rahm Emanuel is bringing his longtime passion for dance to his new job as Chicago mayor.
"I want Chicago to be one of the cities where dance is one of its great art forms," Emanuel said in an interview with The Associated Press this week, the same week as the city's fifth annual Chicago Dancing Festival, which ends Saturday.
Emanuel, a former dancer, was 17 when he was offered a scholarship to study at Chicago's renowned Joffrey Ballet. He danced in at least one show at his alma mater, Sarah Lawrence College. Today, he is honorary chairman of the Joffrey Ballet board of directors.
That resume gives Emanuel, 51, a unique perspective among mayors of a major American city that boasts a scene with everything from larger dance companies to smaller ethnic dance groups.
"What's going to bring attention is the talent and skill of the dancers," Emanuel said. "The only thing I have to contribute is that it's not just another art form for me, given my background."
In June, Emanuel spoke to the conference of the national organization for professional dance, Dance/USA, in Chicago. He told the attendees that Chicago "will be the heartbeat of dance for the entire country."
Chicago has everything it needs to become a dance center, Emanuel said, including an eager audience, performance and rehearsal spaces, talented choreographers, dancers and stagehands.
Nationally, the dance community sees Chicago as an active and important scene, said Amy Fitterer, Dance/USA's executive director, with a range of companies that specialize in ballet, modern, contemporary, jazz and percussive dance.
She calls Chicago a "hot spot" where emerging dancers and choreographers are nurtured.
"Having Rahm Emanuel speak up so much for dance is great not just for Chicago, but great for dance and our country," Fitterer said. "It's inspiring to hear from a major political figure that they recognize the intrinsic value of dance."
Emanuel says he's "an audience goer and a reader of reviews" and has an appreciation for the art form.
The mayor's excitement for dance is very much in Emanuel's present, not just his past, said Jay Franke, director of the Chicago Dancing Festival, which brings dance companies from around the country to Chicago for free performances every August.
"In the last few months I received a few emails from Mayor Emanuel saying, 'Have you considered the San Francisco Ballet for this year's performance?'" Franke said. "He's just very much in the know of what's going on in the dance world."
Over the last four years Chicago has seen growth and appreciation for dance, said Ashley Wheater, artistic director at the Joffrey Ballet.
"There are a lot of people in this city who are embracing it," said Wheater, who danced all over the world before coming to Chicago in 2007. "Chicago, when I compare it to some other cities, it is a major city and I think it is becoming a very comparable city for the arts and for dance."
According to Dance/USA, Chicago has about 26 nonprofit, professional dance companies with budgets just under or more than $100,000 annually and three companies with budgets of more than $1 million a year.
In New York, there are 90 companies with budgets just under or more than $100,000 annually and 22 companies with budgets of more than $1 million a year.
This doesn't faze Emanuel, whose ideas for dance in the city extend to bringing the art into neighborhoods.
"Chicago's climbing in the space," he said. "Yes, we have three, but they don't have what we have: a community that wants to come together and build."
Leaders in Chicago's dance community say it's Emanuel's high-profile status that can help launch the city's reputation as a center for the art form.
"It's easy to say, 'Wow if Mayor Emanuel loves ballet then maybe I should go take a look,'" Wheater said.
Gustavo Ramirez Sansano, artistic director of the Latino company Luna Negra Dance Theater in Chicago, says the mayor "is in one of the positions that actually can really help put this art in the place it should be."
© Joffrey Ballet. All rights reserved.


text:
Traffic sucks, so why not start your morning off with some music? You provide the toast and we'll provide the jams.
The Beatles are a small band from the British town of Liverpool that made a name for themselves in the 1960s. They had one or two, or maybe 27 number one hits... I can't really keep track. They were decent.
Hey Bulldog appeared on the soundtrack to their animated movie Yellow Submarine. It's a fun tune with a nice guitar solo from George Harrison, some fun banter, and dogs barking. It didn't hit number one, but it's still awesome.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
In today's battle-hardened edition of Speak Up on Kotaku, commenter Dracosummoner asks you to square off against a corporate executive, developer, designer, or member of the gaming press in your ultimate game industry boss fight. Cue battle music!
If you could face off against any major gaming figure (other than Bobby Kotick, get creative!) in a boss fight, including journalists, who would you face off against?
I think I'd want to face Plunkett. Or Totilo.
About Speak Up on Kotaku: Our readers have a lot to say, and sometimes what they have to say has nothing to do with the stories we run. That's why we have a forum on Kotaku called Speak Up. That's the place to post anecdotes, photos, game tips and hints, and anything you want to share with Kotaku at large. Every weekday we'll pull one of the best Speak Up posts we can find and highlight it here.


text:
http://mmajunkie.com As expected Zoila Frausto's knockout win at Bellator 23 has earned her the right to replace her defeated opponent in the organization's upcoming season-three tournament.
Frausto (7-1 MMA, 1-0 BFC) upset Rosi Sexton (10-2 MMA, 1-1 BFC) with a first-round knockout at the June 23 show.
Afterward, Bellator CEO Bjorn Rebney told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) that Frausto might take Sexton's spot, and Frausto subsequently told us she wanted it.
"I've been doing this to fight the best, and I just beat one of the best," she said. "So hell yeah, I want that spot."
Bellator executives today made it official.
The tournament kicks off Aug. 12, and it includes seven other top 115-pound female fighters: Megumi Fuji, Lisa Ward, Jessica Pene, Angela Magana, Lynn Alvarez, Jessica Aguilar and Aisling Daly. The winner will be crowned Bellator's first-ever female champion.
"With a highlight knockout that's already generated over 70,000 YouTube views, Zoila stamped her ticket to our women's tournament," Bellator founder and CEO Bjorn Rebney stated. "The purpose of our women's tournament is simply to determine the best pound-for-pound female fighter in the world, and with such a dominant performance against the worlds's No. 1-ranked 125 pound fighter, there was no way to not include Zoila in this line up. She earned her place by beating the best."
Rebney said the Kentucky Boxing and Wrestling Authority first suspended Sexton for 90 days and then reduced the term to 60 days. But with the women's tournament right around the corner, the knockout spelled the end of the Cambridge University grad's tournament dreams.
Sexton, though, could be featured in a season-three non-title fight, he said.
Frausto, whose only career loss came to notable Miesha Tate in a March Strikeforce event, normally fights at 125 pounds but said she doesn't expect problems getting to 115.


text:
Though she was Snazzy Moonbeam, Diva Queen, in the evening, during the day she was a he named Dan Lazar. Dan owned a sporting goods store in Griffin, Georgia; Snazzy emceed the drag show at "The Reacher Round" bar in Atlanta. Two separate worlds, about to become one.
"Good Evening. I'm Snazzy Moonbeam, Diva Queen extraordinaire! The Reacher Round proudly presents The Helicopter Girls!" Offering soundless white-gloved applause, Snazzy graciously gave up the stage, headed into the crowd and up to the bar, sliding in next to a pair of kissing girls.
A hand touched her arm.
nice work. Scary, but nice!.
Entry 47
"You presumptuous reacher! How dare you come here!"
He flinched, trying to ignore the small dog with the cigar. "Dan Lazar told me…"
"First of all, 'moonbeam', I don't rep fantasy. Second, this is utter garbage! 'Prince Griffin, Lord of the Moon Paths'? Sappy drivel!" Miss Snark snarled.
"M-my mother liked it," he stammered, wondering if those really were brass knuckles the dog was slipping his onto paws and just why there was a hatch marked 'Emergency Escape Helicopter'.
"Also, only Saint George looks snazzy in scrubs, take those off. Not here," she added without even looking up
Those ARE brass knuckles...the kind that figure into Bad Luck and Trouble too.
Entry 48
Fucking moonbeams.
The papers slip from his hands to swirl among the helicopter seeds. The wind infects Central Park's Literary Walk with a white plague of purple prose.
Alabaster moonbeams!
"Dan Lazar."
A griffin stands before him: beaked nose, hair coiffed into wings, voice sharpened to a talon.
"Uh, yeah?"
She digs into a snazzy Burberry handbag, removing a stack of legal pads. "Reacher here wants you for her how-to. It's entitled Bitch's Brew: Homeopathic Remedies From Park Avenue's Pooch Princess."
Dan directs his gaze to the bulldog, grinning like a gargoyle.
"We're willing to grant an exclusive."
Fucking moonbeams.
Reacher is a dog! Thankfully Lee Child is off at the Virginia Festival of the Book and will NEVER see this.
Entry 49
Mary Victor took off hurriedly in her snazzy new ultra-light helicopter. She was late because she had tried hard to not awaken from her dream about Dan Lazar, who had been snatched out of the moonbeam he was standing in and carried away by a griffin. Grinning delightedly as she flew, she planned a new short story about griffins invading D.C., though admittedly publishing it might be a bit of a reacher. Mary sighed when she landed in the employee heliport at the Agency. She decided her crabby boss would be the first victim in her story and smiled snarkily.
Miss Snark is quite glad to not have employees!
Entry 50
Jacqui Reacher was surprised when the helicopter landed on her lawn.
She was even more surprised when agent Dan Lazar, in a snazzy Armani flight suit, emerged from the cockpit.
"I usually travel by griffin-drawn chariot, but I wanted to get this here ASAP." Dan handed her a familiar number ten SASE.
Breathless, Jacqui read the letter inside.
"Thanks for sending me your novel, MOONBEAM MCBRIDE SETS HER HAIR ON FIRE, but this project is not right for me at this time."
Jacqui stifled her disappointment. "Thanks Dan," she said. "It's true. You give great rejection."
I love this! Armani flight suit!...AND a flaming coiffure, although it's sadly off the page.
Entry 51
When Dan Lazar arrived in his snazzy helicopter to a secret meeting with the head of Animal Authors' Representatives he expected to see his old pal Killer Yapp. But last night the members held a meeting in the Central Park Zoo. The two rivals - Eagle Reacher and Lion Mozzarella agreed to share the responsibilities. It didn't help that a single moonbeam was the sole source of light. The widely quoted message, tapped by Rabid Squirrel in Morse code, claimed that a griffin had been chosen and that it spelled doom for the all important nuts and seeds catalog publishing.
cheesy, very cheesy.
Entry 52
Dan Lazar sat in the moonlit helicopter teleport waiting to take control of the Snazzy 3000®. His designated moonbeam lead to MoonStation 15. "Why am I doing this?" he wondered aloud.
"Because you can't resist a challenge, Lazar!" Margaret Starshine said, eyeing him. She stood next to the flying griffin, the legendary Symbol of the Snazzy 3000®'s line of helicopters. "Ever since '15 when you got a taste of adventure."
"So they sent you?" Lazar asked, feigning indifference.
"I'll be your asteroid reacher on this trip. Guess they don't trust you," Starshine said, fingering the fierce griffin on her uniform.
"Why am I doing this"...I think that might be exactly what I'm thinking.
Entry 53
"Reacher." Dan Lazar screeched through vocal chords rubbed raw in panic. "Don't let 'er die."
Beth darted out, gulping in the dirt and stench. Moonbeam yipped, his shaggy coat slick with soot as she tightened her grasp.
Climbing onto the ledge, she grabbed hold of the griffin, apologizing for past references of ugly uselessness.
"You're quite snazzy," she prattled on, "if we get outta this, I'll fill my next place with, umn, whatever the hell you are."
Tree tops swooned in the breeze. A lone helicopter spun from its branch as Beth followed its spiraling descent to the pavement below.
I like the use of Moonbeam as a name!
Entry 54
One morning, Dan Lazar flew a snazzy young writer, Griffin Moonbeam Reacher III, to Miss Snark's office in his private helicopter.
"Now, remember," Dan said. "Be sure to address her properly, just as you would in a query letter."
Griffin nodded and left the rooftop heliport but returned quickly, appearing quite disheveled and weary.
"That was fast," Dan said. "What happened?"
"Well, sir," panted Griffin, "I've never addressed an agent before. Getting the stamp on her forehead was easy enough, but all that kicking and flailing she did while I stuffed her through the mail slot was a bit unnerving."
Miss Snark is vastly amused.
Entry 55
"Git this monster under control!" Theobold "Tex" Tsakis shouted. "I cain't reacher."
Samuel "Snazzy" Snarr twisted the throttle, but the helicopter, the latest in the Griffin XIX Series, shuddered and yawed.
"They must've hit the fuel line," Snazzy yelled. "We've got no lift."
From three o'clock, the Dan La-zar 183 lived up to its name, shooting a second bolt like a lethal moonbeam.
"Goddam, Snazzy," Tex hollared. "Why did we leave the parachutes in the back?"
"Because the yellow doesn't go with these brown flight suits, you idiot. Haven't you learned anything from seven days of shooting 'Queer Eye'?
Dan Lazar, missile man!
Entry 56
Moonbeam kicked Dan Lazar's body; retribution for sixteen flights of stairs. She pushed a finger into a hole in his snazzy Hawaiian shirt. It went through the bone.
A news helicopter roared by, hovering near the building. Moonbeam crunched across the gravel and looked over the edge. The corner of her mouth twitched upward.
"Drop the gun," she shouted, dropping her .22 onto the ledge next to the jumper. The cameraman extended his microphone reacher toward the conversation.
"Take my hand!" Moonbeam pried the jumper's fingers from the griffin. His eyes widened as he slid downward. "Thanks, man," she whispered.
I'm not sure I get this.
Entry 57
A silver moonbeam slanted across the lawn where Dan Lazar and Griffin O'Neal lay guzzling homemade gin. A regular Tuesday.
"Can't b'lieve Clooney signed with tha tramp, Snark," Lazar grumbled. "I coulda sold his erotic memoirs for more'n her."
"Clooney's a sonofabitch," said O'Neal. "Juss cuz he's gotta snazzy jet. Thinks he's God."
Lazar patted his buddy's shoulder. "Hey, you gotta helicopter."
"No," O'Neal shot back. "I gotta helicopter RIDE to the hosspital when I O.D.'ed."
"Saw Missnark in detox. Wantedta make out with her, but I couldn' reacher."
Miss Snark always carries a hatpin for straitjackets. That's one of the first things Grandmother Snark insisted on when enrolling Miss Snark in the Gin and Tonic Finishing School for Young Ladies of Salubrious Heritage.
Entry 58
Last time I saw Reacher he was running for that snazzy helicopter I'd heard about out at Central Command. Dan Lazar built her; shit, he called that sleek, black baby "the griffin." Man could feel the smooth lines of that doll; arms like eagle wings, body like a lion; legs like that dish I met outside Tokyo in forty-five. Some night; one bright moonbeam and sweet jasmine. Dame couldn't hold a candle to the baby I was looking at again; she's gonna get me outta here and into the worst fighting the big guy's are sending me to: Pynnogjung. Korea.
Who knew Tom Clancy read Miss Snark's blog??
Entry 59
"Y'all won't believe where I got this snazzy hat!!" she said, her entrance clamor to the parlor surpassing the sheer volume of her ensemble. Alyson was a reacher; new money always was. She didn't fit in. You could almost see her arms helicopter, propelling her beyond the point where others would halt. The bafflement was that she'd don the regality of a griffin around our husbands. "Moonbeam, get away from that," came Mrs. Worthington's disdain as she beckoned her butler from Alyson. She had all the subtlety of Dan Lazar on a Clamato bender, but none of the tact.
Clamato bender!!!
Entry 60
"Snazzy tattoo," she said, tracing the outline of the eagle/lion on Reacher's forearm. "What is it?"
"A griffin, and that tickles." Reacher downed his shot. "Knock it off."
"Ooh, I love a ticklish man." The girl with pink hair walked her fingers up his arm.
Knocking her hand away, Reacher stood to leave. "Christ, you're annoying." He turned away and paused in the doorway, scanning the empty dirt road. Hearing the reassuring whir, he nodded.
"Call me," the girl yelled after him. "Moonbeam Phillips! I'm in the book!"
In the helicopter, Dan Lazar shot Reacher a raised eyebrow.
"Don't ask."
Don't ask...do tell.
Entry 61
Helicopter hovers.
"Looks snazzy," the pilot says, pointing to the Reacher Building.
The griffin atop the nearest buttress captures a moonbeam.
"No. It's superb," murmurs Dan Lazar, conscious any discussion of the aesthetics of Le Corbusier, van der Rohe, Saarinen, and the semiology of postmodern architectural criticism would only delay his enjoyment of the Prime Rib Au Jus Cabernet, garlic mashed potatoes, and napoli vegetables attente sur sa table privée in the building's penthouse restaurant. An elegant meal, he thinks, yet one that stops short of pretension.
Miss Snark looks askance at her homestyle tofu and veg.
and calls for reservations at the Reacher Building Skylight Bar and Grille.
Entry 62
Griffin, Indiana's population had, between last moonbeam and first sunlight, grown from 171 to 173.
They knew: he was Danish. He was a leper. They labeled him aptly 'Dan Lazar.'
His wife – who'd been cleanly decapitated by helicopter blades at least six years prior – began an affair with a snazzy used car salesman who said things like 'hooch,' and 'broad,' and who did not have leprosy.
Dan the lazar found his comfort in the form of a cruel pun each time he answered the phone: "Nah, she's off givin' head in a parkin' lot. Ya can reacher at the dealership."
ewwwwwwwwwwwww on every single level, and yet also, funny.
Entry 63
"Holy Snark!" Dan Lazar said, wide-eyed. He turned to his left and faced Lee Child who piloted the private Helicopter. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't that Jack Reacher that just whipped by us? As in your fictional character."
Child remained silent, dressed in his snazzy suit coat and wool derby cap, but a knowing smirk grew on his face. It was as if he expected this all along. Like he knew Reacher, riding atop a legendary griffin, would follow the same moonbeam they did in search of answers that seemed just out of reach.
Great first paragraph...then splat.
Entry 64
Dan Lazar. Famous literary agent. Bon vivant. Dead man.
Moonbeam McSwail eased her way around the smirking griffin perched along the narrow ledge outside Lazar's snazzy penthouse. A helicopter buzzed nearby. She flattened herself against the wall, cursing softly till it flew off.
Thank God.
She'd escaped the coal dust of Reacher, West Virginia and arrived in town with little besides her virtue and a carefully hoarded bottle of Bombay Sapphire. Lazar had unrepentantly stolen her gin and innocence, both.
Well. Mr. Literary Agent about to learn how hillbilly girls handled gin thieves.
With duct tape. Stiletto heels. Battery acid.
I'm sensing a developing revenge motif here.
Entry 65
Dan Lazar held the helicopter steady while Reacher steadied himself by the open door. A moonbeam reflected off Reacher's snazzy weapon, as he prepared to fire at the oncoming griffin.
Blue fire erupted from the mouth of the laser and sliced toward the mythical creature. The stench of crisped feathers accompanied the beast's list to the right.
Lazar maneuvered to maintain Reacher's line of fire. The second blast sent the creature plummeting toward earth.
Lowering the weapon, Reacher pointed in the direction the griffin arrived from. "Let's find its aerie and finish this."
Well, at least no one's killing off Dan in this one!
Entry 66
An apocryphal winged griffin makes a reacher's frail
hopes stiffen -
The query rebounds faster than Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.
In terms upbeat and jazzy comes a message less than
snazzy –
I'm a helicopter circling far beneath his rising star.
Tell me what thy earthly name is, asks a moonbeam of
the star.
Quoth the agent, "Dan Lazar."
Thank goodness Dan Lazar is not from Nantucket!
Entry 67
Dan Lazar was neither simple nor a savant, which suited him fine until his brother came to visit.
He had always been overshadowed by the attractive, Rhodes scholar, griffin brother his parents had adopted from Romania.
Reacher was a ladies man, riding on moonbeams and playing the game like no other. One night, like a helicopter, he descended into Dan's apartment through the window. A green homburg hat with a red feather topped his head. The air hinted of gin.
"Well don't you look snazzy," Dan said.
"The ladies come for the hat but stay for the talons," he replied.
Amazing what 100 words can do, isn't it.
Entry 68
Damn it. I only wanted to reason with him, explain my plot, and show some snazzy illustrations, since he obviously isn't smart enough to grasp the concept without pictures. But now that bull-headed Dan Lazar is bleeding out on his floor instead, and I'm stuck running from the Griffin Police. I'm dodging moonbeams and the light from their freakin' helicopter, all because he had to be childish and snarky and say I had no voice. Bastard.
"Get down on the ground, Reacher, or we'll send the dog!"
Crap. I knew I should have written about dancing chickens instead.
You guys are starting to scare me on this revenge motif thing.
Entry 69
"Did he reach her?"
"The hotsy totsy caught with Merv Griffin in a Crosley Moonbeam biplane?"
"Who wants to know?"
"Swifty's boy?"
"What's he want with DeeDee? She died in forty-eight. Helicopter accident."
"I told DeeDee, 'Stay outta planes.'"
"They're bad luck and trouble."
"She was beautiful in her snazzy dress with that silver moonbeam. And when she danced …"
"GRANDPA? You asleep?"
"Maybe tomorrow, Mr. Lazar."
ohhh....clever connection to Swifty Lazar!
Entry 70
It was all over - because of Dan Lazar and some helicopter . First place was mine. I was certain no one could catch me, even if they found a way to harness moonbeams. No one thought to use the waterway. But I've always been a reacher. Nothing like victory via sailboat - especially one as snazzy as the one I managed to commandeer. How did Dan Lazar get a helicopter, anyway? He'd once asked me if griffins were real, and where to get one. I'd discounted him as flying high – looks like I was right about one thing.
Its a Mad Mad Mad Mad World indeed.
Entry 71
Helen's heartbeat matched the intensity of the traffic helicopter's thumping rotors as she exited the cab in front of Random House. She admired the grand edifice, (complete with granite griffins) wondering if the pile-up on 5th Avenue would make the news.
Later, she rehashed meeting Dan Lazar (her snazzy agent) and stroked his business card for the hundredth time.
"We'd like to publish you," he'd said.
Later still, a stretch of moonbeam graced her dream-filled bed; wherein she was a published author, autographing her novel while the bookseller used a Reacher to bring down more copies from the shelves above.
ummm...agents don't say "we'd like to publish you". We're happy to figure in your visualizations for success but "we'd like to represent you" is what we say.
And Random House is at 1745 Broadway last time I checked.
Entry 72
Dan Lazar lowered the binoculars and rubbed his eyes. He punched a number into his cell and prayed Reacher would pick up.
"Helicopter over here pronto," Dan breathed. "It's the scoop of a lifetime."
"What's up?"
"You gotta see to believe. Meet me at the Moonbeam Bay overlook."
Thirty minutes later the station's snazzy new chopper settled in the deserted parking area. Reacher scuttled bent-backed to join Dan at the cliff's edge.
"What's so all-fired important you couldn't tell me over the phone?"
"That," said Dan, pointing to a griffin nesting in a snarl of driftwood on the beach below.
Dan has an eagle eye for the good stuff, no doubt about it.
Entry 73
Dan Lazar was a spiritual atheist. He worshipped nothing except snazzy Hawaiian shirts with orchids propagating on beds of fiddlehead fern and Roxbury Lanes. A timid pilgrim to its glossy altar of three- fingered balls and crashing kingpins, he savored the musk of rented
shoes and secondhand smoke. Each time he rolled a strike, he imagined himself a cunning beast, a griffin hovering like a visceral helicopter atop a supple divorcée.
Moonbeam Reacher studied Dan from a lanefront table. He narrowed his eyes, downed another Heineken, and screwed its bottle cap into a table salt mosaic. No looking back.
Give a whole new sensibility to three strikes and you're out, doesn't it.
Entry 74
The weary griffin sat watch outside, moonbeam dancing off her wings and piercing through the window to the room she watched and the man inside. Dan Lazar slept, broken leg elevated, his snazzy Reacher, a temporary necessity, propped up nearby. He thrashed in the bed – his dreams shot through with visions of the helicopter crash – the propellers, and had that been feathers? Vague memories of being supported in the air and his bumpy landing and the harsh noise of an eagle's cry. And his sleeping brain formed the word he didn't dare think of in light of day: "Mom?".
He broke his leg kicking Miss Snark I'm pretty sure.
Entry 75
An overcast sky, a new moon: It's under these conditions you're most likely to spot the Grim Reacher slinking through your neighborhood, eyeing his next challenge. Obsessed with the intangible, the locked away, the closely guarded, the Grim Reacher snatches diaries, unspoken words, fleeting facial expressions. Moving helicopter blades, a single moonbeam, lost time. He keeps his treasures in a bone-studded labyrinth, where a giant griffin stands watch at all times.
I'm telling you this, Dan Lazar, because you're next. Yes, you, in the snazzy suit! He's after your attention, your approval. You are his most ambitious target yet.
oh my!
Entry 76
"No one would know that but Dan Lazar." Moonbeam hissed. Her disposition had never been sunny, but she seemed worse than usual. Jacque fought back the urge to let his fist slip and send her and her snazzy new manuscript into orbit.
"He lived in the 21st century for dog sakes. Take a motrin." He countered.
"Pull over." She gestured toward the Griffin Ozone Reacher Experiment (GORE).
"Lunatic. We're not taking a helicopter to the LBF."
"What?" She demanded. It would be easier to land an off-shore oil driller on an asteroid than it would be to deter her.
I've heard Dan Lazar can land off shore oil drillers on asteroids while blindfolded AND reading query letters.
Entry 77
He snivelled exquisitely whilst I lay into him with my moonbeam cannon. The spectacular rays enveloped his sanity, crushing it in a snazzy pattern of silver light. Dan Lazar had no chance of escape this time--by griffin or otherwise--and he would die well before The Reacher came.
This rooftop, bathed in summoned moonlight, played host to all my fears of reprisal from Lazar's cronies. The headless mob would seek retribution. As I took in the beautiful rattling of Lazar's dying body, I heard my fear become realized. The steady whuf-whuf of The Reacher's Helicopter grew louder as it approached.
geeze, poor Dan, dead again. He's worse off than Kenny!
Entry 78
Dan Lazar watched the helicopter lift. The griffin was on board. Or so they said, "Find the Griffin, before the helicopter leaves the city." Who were they? The CIA? Teenagers wasted on moonbeam? It didn't matter. What would Jack Reacher do? Dan pulled a snazzy move, grabbed a pontoon and swung into the cabin. There was no mythical creature there. Just a Pakistani with a gun.
"Where's the griffin?," Dan said.
"Look it up. The other definition is newcomer – white man from the west. The griffin is you."
He pulled the trigger. Dan dropped toward river. They never found the body.
We need an MP3 for Another One Bites The Dust and Dan Lazar is the Number One.
Entry 79
A moonbeam through the window illuminated my coffee.
"I want you to follow Dan Lazar," I said.
Griffin snorted in his latte. "Stalking literary agents now? Real snazzy."
"I'll get representation or die trying."
"Yanno, you've only got one shot with Lazar," he said. "A run-in with the mob might not be right for him."
"Well, I know you can be a real persuader."
A helicopter droned outside.
"That's your chopper." I pushed the manuscript across the table. "You know what to do. Hell, be like Reacher."
Griffin raised a brow. "That could mean bad luck… and trouble."
It does mean that without fail and to the enemy**
Entry 80
Inter-Office Memo
To: Dan Lazar
From: Billing
Your latest expense report has been summarily denied. We appreciate your efforts to woo J.K. Rowling to Writer's House – but enough is enough.
Snazzy dinners are one thing, but helicopter rides over Diagon Alley? Mani-pedis at the Moonbeam Mall? And what the hell is a griffin?
Even if we believed these were all necessary expenses, our accounting system is not equipped to handle direct deposits to Gringotts Bank.
Next time you want to impress a potential client, I suggest a good ol' fashioned reacher-round. That's how Zuckerman landed Ken Follett.
I think Dan and I have the same accountant!
Entry 81
Dan Lazar reads novels
Never a rhyme
But the minutes are ticking
I'm out of time.
No words, sentences
Can enter my mind
I'm thinking about my pet
That I did find.
About my griffin neither
Lion nor bird
But a mix of the two
Kind of absurd.
Covered with feathers
So soft and snazzy
His call in the wild
Is upbeat and jazzy.
He whizzes like a helicopter
Through the air
Chasing moonbeams in circles
With nary a care.
And when he is tired
He lands on my wall
A reacher is needed
He won't come when I call.
at least Dan isn't dead in this!
Entry 82
"Moonbeam, the rope!" Sonny Reacher shouted down to his daughter while her little monster, Snazzy, whined in the rear of the purloined helicopter.
Dan Lazar was at the controls, struggling against a fierce wind, hovering as low as he dared over the highest point on the island of Rhodes. The rescue line danced across the boulders, but Moonbeam refused to clamber from between them.
"I'm going down," Sonny announced. He started his rappel, but halted halfway when a four-clawed hand shot from among the rocks, snagged the line and snapped it taut. The Griffin started to climb.
Dan Lazar, Colossus of Rhodes!
Entry 83
Snazzy Lazar was a helluva helicopter pilot, but his son, Dan Lazar, had no intention of following in his Dad's cockpit. While Snazzy whirled across a blackened sky, daredevil Dan zoomed through moonbeams on his griffin, Reacher.
That is, until Reacher joined the Army, and left Dan grounded.
"While you're playing soldier," Dan cried, "I'll dream up my own damn moonbeam."
Reacher went on to command a team of gargantuan griffins whose job it was to destroy missiles hidden deep within enemy territory.
But each time Reacher found one, it was mysteriously pulverized by a Lazar beam.
Lazar beam!
Entry 84
The sky was hard to see against the rooftop floodlights, but I heard the telltale thump-thump overhead. Would this be Reacher's helicopter? Dan Lazar hocked a louie to the street below.
"Nah," he said. "Just Miss Snark, again."
Suddenly there she was, all chic and snazzy, alighting like a moonbeam from the whirring griffin. Being sans culottes as usual, she didn't wave — both hands struggled to keep her wind-blown dress below her famous knees — but she smiled at me demurely. (Later, over drinks, she chided me on this. "Demurely? But adverbs are so lazy! You should avoid them, mostly.")
Miss Snark has famous knees?
Who knew!
Entry 85
The snazzy Apache helicopter skated through the moonbeam. Without warning, an explosion shattered the night. Weapons and fuel ignited. The impact tossed the unseen barrier downward. The airmen weren't as lucky. They were trapped inside the inferno.
Major Dan Lazar searched in widening circles, his frustration growing. They hadn't hit the hills and there was nothing else to hit. There. He saw blood. Curled in the exposed roots of the mangrove tree was a huge, injured beast. Using his reacher, Dan tentatively prodded the creature. It flinched instinctively, stretching out it's huge wings. Dan gasped. It was a griffin.
Finally, Dan Lazar in a heroic role!
Entry 86
A moonbeam gleamed as Reacher crept toward Dan Lazar. "Did you get it?"
Lazar jerked his head toward the door. "On the roof."
"We don't need it any more."
"Do you have any idea how much trouble I went to, getting that thing?"
"Yeah, but I got a griffin."
"That's it," Lazar said. "I've heard one too many of your mythical beast stories. I'm out of here."
Reacher shrugged. As Lazar stepped into the stairwell, lion paws padded down the alley.
Lazar was still trying to start the helicopter as they soared overhead. "Snazzy machine," the griffin remarked, "but unreliable."
Amazingly complete sketch here!
Entry 87
KY licked Snazzy Moonbeam's face, dragging her back to consciousness. She lifted her skirt, removed a flask from her stocking and threw back a slug of gin. The gash on her head felt like a helicopter blade had taken a swipe at her.
Who had clocked her and why?
She struck a match on the bottom of her stiletto and lit her cigarette. Faster than Dan Lazar rejecting an e-query she knew!
"Dear Dog! Griffin Reacher! The author whose hook I publicly trashed!"
KY smacked his jaws. "He's taken care of, Miss Snark."
"Good dog."
Her secret identity remained safe.
Miss Snark is secretly named Snazzy Moonbeam?? Shades of Frank Zappa!
Entry 88
Dan Lazar stood, looking less than snazzy after the plastic surgeon unraveled the bandages. Turning, he frowned in the mirror. It was his own fault really, not making sure they were on the same page. Instead of Icarus he looked more like a griffin, now needing a reacher to scratch his ass.
Since childhood he dreamt of gliding through the air on a moonbeam. During his maiden flight he tangled with a gaggle of bats, his eyes no match for echo location. To his detriment he miscalculated, broke free, and was mauled by an oncoming helicopter.
Well, at least he's not dead!
Entry 89
Eddie swam silently through the reedy pond. Spying the helicopter's searchlight, he dove.
He tried to count to one hundred, to wait out the searchers. But the image of Griffin's dead body, illuminated with moonbeams, seemed more real in the pool's depths.
Eddie escaped to the surface. Blinded by light, he couldn't see his captor. He didn't need to. Eddie knew Dan Lazar's voice. He would never forget it.
Eddie headed for the bank, to be taken to Reacher. Maybe Dan would let him change into a snazzy outfit on the way, for old times sake.
Well, at least Dan's not dead here either.
Entry 90
"THE Dan Lazar?" Her eyes lit up like moonbeams.
"No, not that Dan Lazar. He's all personal helicopters and caviar," I shrugged. My dates always start with disappointment.
The waiter brought fortune cookies before we'd even ordered. A griffin was stamped upon the note:
"Hey," said Blondie Golightly, "You don't eat the fortune."
"I'm sorry; I must leave," I said.
The helicopter on the roof wasn't private. My handler gave me a photograph.
"Reacher?" he asked.
"Must I say it?"
"The code phrase is compulsory."
"All right," I said while reaching for the rifle, "Let's Wang Chung."
Miss Snark is amused.
Entry 91
Normally Dan Lazar would have been elated to get his hands on a snazzy new helicopter. Running his hands along the shiny skin of this new bird he realized it was under armed for the task at hand. If he were going to ride this beast into the valley with little more than a moonbeam to guide him he would need a lot more fire power. The last three vessels that Reacher sent in never came back and Dan had no intention of flying in to face the griffin armed with a prayer and a pop gun.
Entry 92
"Hey,Toots, you look pretty snazzy in those stilettos."
I turned, startled. It was Dan Lazar.
"You too," I lied. His Hawaiian shirt sported nude wahines and moonbeams on a purple background. "Are we waiting for the same helicopter?"
Dan threw his chewed stogie over the railing. "Guess so, just you and me, Baby. Reacher's with Barbara Bauer and Griffin signed with Publish America."
I heard the sound of the Fox News chopper. I once told Dan if he was the last agent in America I still wouldn't date him. Funny how wrong you can be when push comes to shove.
Miss Snark is rolling on the floor. Killer Yapp swallowed his stogie. Even Grandmother Snark, genteel to the end, is laughing like a loon.
Entry 93
People say that knowledge is power. I'm finally going to have both. And the literary career I've dreamed of, too. What a piece of luck.
I turn the postcard over again. Check the address. It isn't as snazzy as those cards in the Griffin and Sabine books, all artistic, covered with moonbeams and such. This one shows a helicopter, an OH-58A, like they used back in Vietnam. But the meaning is clear, even through my methadone fog.
Dan Lazar will finally believe me. He'll represent my memoir. I have proof. Griffin Moss has left Sabine for Jack Reacher!
Intrepid mingling of titles and meanings!
Entry 94
It's 9pm. This is North American Indian News, and I'm Moonbeam with your latest headlines.
New technology will get a boost this year in the form of a special fair for laser technology. The event will be called "Laizzes Fair" and will be hosted by the tribe of Dan, said newly-named tribal chief, Dan Lazar. The snazzy publicist and media liaison was formerly known as Dan People-Reacher.
But not everyone is happy about this announcement. Dan Preserver is planning to protest the event. "It's bad enough that griffins are being replaced by helicopters," he says. "Now this."
Laizzes Fair!!!!
Entry 95
Dan Lazar jerked the steering stick and slid his snazzy new helicopter onto the moonbeam, waiting for the reacher arm to add enough thrust to send him into the atmosphere overhead.
Voices sounded over the radio implanted in his left ear.
"That red griffin is big as a dreadnaught. Watch its tail, Macy. Watch its..."
Macy's scream echoed in Lazar's ear even after the voice itself stopped. The battle was going badly, but as commander, he had his duty. G-force glued him to his seat as the reacher flung him skyward. The mythical creature filled his screen.
"Fuck!" he yelled.
Well, he's not dead!
Entry 96
Rescue and Recovery
Dan Lazar landed the helicopter in the dead zone surrounding the abandoned nickel mine and ordered the team to don their HAZMAT suits. He hoped they weren't too late for little Bobby Reacher.
Lt. Griffin led the team into the mine. A moonbeam illuminated each guard as he stepped through the adit. They reached Bobby after a two-hour slog through partially collapsed mine walls and standing water from prior flooding.
Griffin knelt by the boy. "He's barely alive."
Alive! Their dangerous trek was worth taking.
Bobby said one word before he died--snazzy.
Bobby's only dead once, he's got a long way to go to equal the number of dead Dan Lazars!
Entry 97
Griffin kept to darkness and the cover of trees. She darted between shadows and pools of silver moonbeam.
Overhead the helicopter noise chopped doplars. Dan Lazar, acclaimed taxidermist and collector of mythical creatures, was circling the sky, hunting.
Searchlights washed over the canopy of foliage, grounding in places between. Griffin was aware of Lazar's sunlight allergy, and awaited dawn horizon's snazzy bruising.
Time passed.
Night crossed the nexus to day.
But Lazar ignored the bleeding, yellow sky, always looking downwards.
And as the first rays reflected off the rotors, Griffin heard a scream, and knew that he would not reacher.
Dan is a vampire! That explains oh-so-much!
Entry 98
As instructed, Dan Lazar carried the carved griffin home in his pocket. A gin bottle rested against his door. Snazzy Snark must have left it. Should he ask her to join him? He'd rather hand it off now. Dog phobic, he used the Reacher to knock on her door. No answer. He left a note and retreated to the fire escape, where he watched a moonbeam make its soft glide across the brick as he sipped gin from a paper cup. Crumpling, then tossing it aside, he made his way to the roof. The helicopter was here. Where was Snark?
Snark is trapped in a prison of her own making; held hostage by google heads and her own nitwittery at not limiting entries to the first 100.
Entry 99
The Griffin's blood coursed ever quick
Pushing forward through the squick
and grime-filled city skies
A moonbeam marks where his prey lies
(A helicopter pilot sees
This creature glide above the trees
and turns true tale to reacher then
Is published by Hyperion)
The splintering of glass awakes
Dan Lazar who stands then shakes
to see the Griffin making tracks
Through his snazzy knicks and knacks
The Griffin's blood coursed ever hot
Paws pressing Lazar to the spot
while asking him with voice so teary
"Why did you reject my query?"
I'm feeling the need to come and go, talking of Michelangelo.
Entry 100
Big night ahead. Time to saddle up.
He liked riding moonbeams to the stars on the back of a soaring griffin. Sure, Dan Lazar could have used the snazzy Belltronics Helicopter his grateful clients had given him, but he was a Reacher-of-Dreams and a lover of the old ways.
The waiting griffin was green, and unusually ill-tempered. "Uh-uh. You can forget that saddling-up crap! This trip ain't happening!" A gust of moist, anchovy breath enveloped Dan's head and a scatter of pizza boxes told where the missing cell phone and credit card had gone. He was left with no alternative.
Finally, Dan Lazar has been given grateful clients!!!


text:
The finalized version of this post is here.
Do you play WoW? Do you have a Twitter account? Is it party time?
Join your Twitter friends
Saturday, March 5th TBD (see below) at 5pm PST/6pm MT/ 7pm CST/ 8pm EST for a party on Fizzcrank – US.
Take the survey to determine which night we'll do it at Survey Monkey. We'll go with whatever gets the most votes!
- Go to Fizzcrank – US
- Roll a Death Knight with your Twitter name on either faction. (They can look like your main or not, as you're so inclined.)
- Meet up at the DK starting area for a fun few minutes or an entire evening of chatting, /mooning, or group-pwning the starting area.
We'll have a Vent or Mumble set up (as soon as someone volunteers one) for cross-faction talking.
I'll be there as an Alliance-flavored @DiscoPriest; see you then!
PS – Please do feel free to steal the Twitter DK for your own blog or website. I made it, so no one will come after you. My gift to the Twitterverse!


text:
On Church Leadership
- Mark Driscoll Author
- 2008 28 Jun
EDITOR'S NOTE: The following is an excerpt from On Church Leadership by Mark Driscoll (Crossway).
In the fall of 1996 we officially launched Mars Hill Church in Seattle. I was twenty-five years of age and had been a Christian since the age of nineteen. Our city was among the least churched in the nation, with more dogs than either children or Christians. Our church was about as big as a Mormon family. Our budget was meager. Our leadership structure was informal. And, as a result, our ministry was painful.
In the first few years our church experienced a great number of tensions. Many of them were about conflicting theological beliefs on everything from the Bible to Jesus, hell, women in ministry, mode of baptism, and the return of Jesus, which I hoped would happen soon so I could get out of the mess I had made by starting a church.
Without formal leaders and structures in place, it was not long before the most vocal, networked, and pushy people started asserting themselves as leaders of our little church and causing a great amount of division. Their varying demands quickly sidetracked the mission of our church to love our city and see it transformed by the power of Jesus. Our internal church strife quickly overshadowed our external cultural mission.
At the root of all of our troubles was the issue of authority. Our people, most of whom were young in both age and faith, did not have a biblical understanding of or respect for authority. The issue of authority begins with Jesus himself. During his earthly ministry, those who heard Jesus teach were astonished by his authority,1 which included the authority to forgive sins,2 cast out demons,3 heal sickness,4 and mete out our eternal judgment.5 After his resurrection from death, Jesus said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me."6
Today, Jesus is seated on his throne in heaven as glorious, exalted, and supreme King, Lord, and God in authority. There is not one inch of creation, one culture or subculture of people, one lifestyle or orientation, one religion or philosophical system that he does not possess full authority over. Jesus is in the place of highest authority, as Paul says, "For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, and you have been filled in him, who is the head of all rule and authority."7 The authority of governments and rulers,8 husbands,9 parents,10 bosses,11 and church leaders12 all proceed from Jesus.
Not only does Jesus possess all authority, but while on the earth he also gave us the perfect model of what it means to respect authority. On this point, 1 Corinthians 11:3 says, "But I want you to understand that the head of every man [or husband] is Christ, the head of a wife is her husband, and the head of Christ is God." The meaning of the word "head" in this verse has been hotly debated. But its most common use in Scripture is in reference to a position of authority. Jesus is called the head of the church because he has authority over the church.13 If Jesus is not our highest authority, then who is?
Furthermore, Jesus is ruling today through the authority of both Scripture and
God the Holy Spirit, who has been sent to teach us Scripture and empower us for obedient, regenerated lives. Scripture itself claims to be God-breathed or inspired: "All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work."14 Jesus himself also taught that "Scripture cannot be broken."15 This is because the Scriptures are from God and therefore come with his authority and power. Furthermore, the early church treated the apostles' New Testament teaching as authoritative, just as it did the Old Testament teaching of the prophets.16 Because of this we are told that the church is "built on the foundation of the apostles [New Testament] and prophets [Old Testament], Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone."17 Subsequently, Christians, including myself, rightly believe that Scripture (Old and New Testaments) is our highest authority, or metaphorical Supreme Court, by which all other things are tested.
Practically, this means that lesser courts of reason, tradition, and culture are under the highest court of truth, which is divinely inspired Scripture. During the Protestant Reformation, the slogans sola Scriptura and prima Scriptura they became popular to summarize this conviction; they mean Scripture alone is our highest authority. This should not be confused with solo Scriptura, which is the erroneous belief that truth is only to be found in Scripture and nowhere else. Scripture itself tells us that God reveals truth to us in such things as creation and our conscience, but that the beliefs we may subscribe to from such forms of lesser revelation are to be tested by Scripture.
Therefore, Jesus is our example of how we should both act when we are in authority and react when we are under authority. First Corinthians 11:3 is one of the key texts for what theologians call functional subordinationism. It is the biblical teaching that our Trinitarian God exists as a community of equals with different roles and deference for authority within the Trinity. For example, throughout his life we see Jesus constantly speaking of his submission to the authority of God the Father; Jesus continually states that the Father sent him to earth on his mission and that he was doing what the Father told him to do and saying what the Father told him to say. Other Scriptures also illustrate this principle, showing how Jesus Christ recognized the authority of God the Father while remaining equal to God the Father.18
While the authority of Jesus is always perfect, earthly authorities can at times be imperfect. If an authority is indeed acting sinfully and breaking the laws of a higher authority, rather than abandoning authority systems altogether, we should appeal to a higher authority for justice. For example, a husband is to both submit to the authority of God and his church leaders as Jesus submitted to authority, and also exercise authority over his family in a way that is loving and gracious like Jesus exercises his authority. However, if that man should become harsh with his wife or children, they should appeal to the higher authorities of church leadership and God's Word for justice. The answer to abusive authority is not an absence of authority but rather righteous authority that rules under the authority of Scripture and Jesus. The right response to abusive authority can be calling the church and even the police. Sadly, it is all too common that people in the church are guilty of the sin of Diotrephes, "who likes to put himself first, [and] does not acknowledge our authority."19
Anyway, getting back to our struggling little church of anarchy and dissent, it was at that time when I realized that I needed to install qualified leaders and empower them with the authority to help lead the church by disciplining some people, kicking others out, training the teachable, encouraging the broken, empowering other leaders, and reaching the lost before the lunatics completely overtook the asylum/church plant. We needed leaders so we could execute our mission of bringing the gospel of Jesus to our city in word and deed.
The obvious need for biblically based, formal, and qualified leadership led me on a lengthy study of how a church should be organized. I had never been a pastor in a church or even a formal member of any church in my life. So, I studied Scripture, read dozens of books on church government (which was as exciting as watching ice melt), read dozens more books on church history and Christian movements, and met with pastors of various churches to hear how they were organized.
In the end, I arrived at what I believed was a model of church government that was both biblically sound and practically effective. I taught our little church on these matters, and before long we had implemented the kind of church government that I was convicted was most faithful. Immediately, our church began to grow in both health and size.
However, many of the people who attended Sunday services with us in the early days left the church because they were unwilling to submit to any spiritual authority. Many do not attend church anywhere, and some have even stopped claiming to be Christians. Others have matured in their faith and returned to our church, where they respect respectable authority and have been a blessing because of their humility and teachable disposition.
To help our people understand how we are governed, I wrote a booklet that we published internally to answer their questions. Over the years, many thousands of these booklets have been given away by our church for our people to read and share with friends and leaders of other churches. After visiting our church, my friends at Crossway asked if I would be willing to rewrite and expand the booklet, which was a humbling honor. I have rewritten that booklet, and the result is this small book. My hope was to boil down some of the big concepts regarding church leadership into a manageable and understandable format. The average person should be able to read this entire book in roughly one hour. You will not read a bunch of cute stories about bunny rabbits giving their lives to Jesus and such because I do not want to waste any of my words or any of your time. My hope is that through this book, Jesus would be honored, churches would be well served, and lost people would meet Jesus and grow in their love for him and his bride, the church.
1. Matt. 7:28-29.
2. Matt. 9:6-8.
3. Mark 3:15.
4. Luke 9:1.
5. John 5:27.
6. Matt. 28:18.
7. Col. 2:9-10.
8. Rom. 13:1; 1 Pet. 2:13.
9. 1 Pet. 3:1-7.
10. Ex. 20:12.
11. Col. 3:22-25.
12. Heb. 13:17.
13. Eph. 1:10, 22; 4:15; 5:23; Col. 1:18; 2:10, 19.
14. 2 Tim. 3:16-17.
15. John 10:35.
16. Acts 2:42; 15.
17. Eph. 2:20.
18. John 3:17; 4:34; 6:38; 8:29; 12:49.
19. 3 John 9.
Copyright © Mark Driscoll
Published by Crossway Books, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers
1300 Crescent Street Wheaton, Illinois 60187
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher, except as provided for by USA copyright law.


text:
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text:
Baby girl surrendered to Houston firefighters
"She was in good shape. She was clean, in good health, with good color and good body weight," Capt. Ruy Lozano said
Houston Chronicle
HOUSTON, Texas — An energetic baby girl with large steel-gray eyes and a black mohawk was surrendered to Houston firefighters on Monday afternoon by a woman believed to be a Good Samaritan.
The 5-month-old was handed over to officials just before 2 p.m. at Houston Fire Department Station No. 35 in the 5500 block of Van Fleet in southeast Houston.
Firefighters contacted the Houston Police Department and inspected the baby.
"She was in good shape," said HFD spokesman Capt. Ruy Lozano. "She was clean, in good health, with good color and good body weight."
The person also left a small bag that included a pacifier and formula, he said.
The woman said she met the baby's mother before daylight on Monday and offered to care for the girl, Child Protective Services spokeswoman Estella Olguin said.
Medication with the infant enabled CPS investigators to contact her doctor and relatives. Officials have confirmed that the baby was born on Oct. 30.
"We know who the child is. We know who the mother is," Olguin said.
CPS officials spoke to the caretaker briefly on the phone, but were not able to interview her fully on Monday.
She claimed to have encountered the mother at a gas station and gave her a ride to a motel in the wee hours Monday morning.
"When they arrived at the motel, the little baby girl was in there by herself," Olguin said.
That's when the Good Samaritan offered to keep the baby. When she returned to the room, the mother had checked out.
"No one was around to know how to contact (the mother), so she took the baby to the fire station - thinking that was the best thing to do," Olguin said, adding that officials have not heard the mother's side of the story.
The infant was placed with a foster family for Monday night and CPS officials will be in court Tuesday requesting emergency custody.
Copyright 2014 Houston Chronicle
All Rights Reserved


text:
Sunday, March 4, 2012
Baby Names
I feel like I missed out with my older daughter. We decided to name her after my husband's mother, whose name starts with M. Once we knew we were having a girl, I made a list of all baby girl names starting with M that were acceptable to me. I gave my husband the list, and we both picked out our top three favorites plus our #1 favorite.
We both had the same exact #1 favorite name. And our middle name discussion went something like this:
Me: "Can her middle name be _______?"
Husband: "I don't care. It's just a middle name."
It was a little harder with the second baby. We decided that we were going to name the baby after one of my grandmothers. One's name started with L, the other with E. Before we knew if we were having a boy or a girl, we immediately agreed on Lauren for a girl. But we had more trouble deciding on a boy name. And I wanted to pick one, despite my husband's insistence on waiting till we knew the gender.
I really liked Elliot for a boy. That was my top choice.
Husband: "Elliot is SO NERDY."
Me: "Oh, come on."
Husband: "That's what you like about it, isn't it?"
Me: "Maybe..."
Then I started pushing for Evan. Evan seems like such a perfectly nice, normal name.
Husband: "I don't like the name Evan."
Me: "Why?"
Husband: "Because I knew a guy named Evan and he was a jerk." (Except he didn't say "jerk.")
The L names presented more of a problem for me. I didn't like Laurence because Larry would always remind me of that guy Larry from Three's Company. I dated a guy named Leo so that would be weird, and anyway, Leonard was too old fashioned.
Although I hate to be a slave to trends, I finally got taken in by the trendiness of Luke and started pushing for that name. After all, there was a really cool boy in Mel's class named Luke. And Becky's love interest in Shopaholic is Luke. Except...
Husband: "I don't like the name Luke. It reminds me too much of Star Wars."
After much more debate, we finally tentatively agreed on Edward. I had reservations because of the whole Twilight thing, but when I checked the baby name charts, the name Edward was still surprisingly unpopular. And we weren't crazy about any of the nicknames for Edward: Ted, Ned, Ed. But I supposed Eddie wasn't too bad. I knew an Eddie who was a nice enough guy.
Then it turned out we were having a girl.
And then Lauren got scrapped for a very stupid reason. But that's a whole 'nother story.
14 comments:
When pregnant I have bizarre and specific naming rules for my offspring, when not pregnant I find my pregnant self insane :) They have to have one name that starts with a T, one name that starts with an M, a family name, and one name that is a medieval occupation (I'm not even kidding about that one... I have no idea why it is a requirement, it just is). But, because they only have 3 names plus our last name at least one name has to fulfill multiple requirements (Ex: Oldest child is Mercer, which starts with an M and was the job title for a merchant).ReplyDelete
Luckily my husband is pretty laid back about everything and my friends and family were really good about keeping their negative opinions to themselves* so we didn't have a particularly hard time with our kids.
*Everyone thought the youngest child's name sounded nerdy but they loved the nickname (Myles/Milo).
My husband is like yours and was vetoing perfectly good names when it came time to name our daughter. They boys were pretty easy except when he decided to complain about the middle name of my youngest son on the way to the hospital to have him. I told him he had until we got there to come up with something he liked better... he didn't.ReplyDelete
My naming rules were pretty simple, we had to have at least one family name and I wanted to be able to find the name in a book that I enjoyed reading. My rational behind that was to give them people to look up to with the same name. It will likely not work out but at least I can be content that they are not scarred for life because I named them something crazy and that their names are spelled correctly.
Proper spelling of names is really important to me, because my name is misspelled and it drives me nuts. But even though my kids have the preferred spelling of their names, they still get misspelled a surprisingly lot.ReplyDelete
- mamadocMarch 4, 2012 at 5:29 PM
I have a clear memory of writing different girl's names on the labor bed sheet. My husband wasn't willing to consider girl's names until then, this was in the old days when you found out the sex at delivery. Turns out she was a girl, and I was glad we had a name for her. Only naming rules was they had to be diginified so they wouldn't be ashamed of them in the nursing home.ReplyDelete
- AnonymousMarch 5, 2012 at 8:17 AM
I had a family member whose pregnancy brain made her absolutely crazy about names when pregnant. Options included Pomegranate, Marshmellow, and Bingo. (The celebrity baby names, like Apple, didn't help our protest case much)ReplyDelete
Thankfully, once the baby was born her and her husband decided to wait a few days to figure out a name and came up with something a bit more sensible, like Jack!
I got into onomastics (the study of names) when I was 10; my the time I was 15, I had a database of over 10,000 names, their origins, and their meanings (most of which were, unfortunately, utterly bogus. Most baby name books have no scholarly scruples!). I started doing real, reliable onomastic research when I hit college, and have in the last 10-12 years published a number of articles on naming practices in pre-1600 Western Europe.ReplyDelete
So one of the first things my husband brought up after we got over the initial shock of a pregnancy was that he recognized the importance of choosing the right name. We had a girl's name that we'd long agreed on, Margaret, and we figured we'd wait for the 20 week scan before we started coming up with a list of boy's names. We found out we were having a girl...and both of us realized that the name we'd had for such a long time just didn't feel right. Every few weeks or so one of us would ask the other, "So, what do you think of Margaret?" "I'm not so sure..."
In the last month we started trying to come up with a list of alternatives, but because he and I both know a lot of people, are extremely wide read, and have certain TV predispositions (my other favorite girl's name, Stella, was nixed because of The Simpsons), we had a very hard time finding names that didn't have any problematic references or associations.
In the week before she was born, we had three possible names, one of which was a nickname of another, and two of which I wasn't so enthused about. The one which was the long form (and which I wasn't so keen on, to be honest) was the one my husband was pushing for, and so when we finally had a baby in our arms, and we were forced to make a decision, I decided that because I really liked the nickname form, and it would be sort of cool to tell my daughter that dad picked out her name, that's what we ended up with.
Of course, after that, everyone, knowing my history with onomastic research, wanted to know the significance of her name, and I felt a bit like a fraud having to admit that we only finally decided on it after she was born!
And even though I was lukewarm about the name to start with, I now totally love it and couldn't imagine her with any other name.
- AnonymousMarch 5, 2012 at 12:11 PM
Our rules- no family names, no names of ex boy/girlfriends, nothing from the top 10 most popular names for the last 10 years, no "individual/creative" spellings, no punctuation. I came up with a list and was done. The scientist father analyzed long lists, pored over name frequency data, looked up meanings, had a multicolor highlighter system that I ignored. Worked out- he analyzed, I napped. We accidentally ended up with a name that is a mix of 2 aliases for a character in one of our favorite books. It suits kiddo perfectly.ReplyDelete
Our rules:ReplyDelete
- No names of ex boy/girlfriends or people either of us hated
- Nothing from the top 10 most popular names for the last 10 years
- No creative spellings
- My husband and his family had to be able to pronounce it (they're Italian, and that was harder than you might think)
- My husband and I both had to like it
- Nothing that made us think of a dirty word or product
- The last name was his name, and I wanted my last name as a second middle name for the baby
- I wanted the first name to be somewhat unique (but not nutso), and the first middle name to be vanilla in case he/she didn't like the first name.
- No nicknames as full names
- We liked unisex first names for girls, but this wasn't a hard and fast rule
I came up with lists and lists of boy and girl names, and my husband would approve/veto my choices and occasionally add his own -- VERY occasionally. We came up with a short list of 5 boy and 5 girl first names to take to the hospital, and 3 middle names for each sex.
Ultimately the name we picked was one my husband suggested. The name has personal significance to me, and satisfied all of our (my) requirements. Go honey!
mamadoc: The nursing home thing is why I didn't want to use a trendy name.ReplyDelete
Sara: OK, now I really want to know what your kid is called...
OMDG: The nickname as a whole name thing ended up being a big point of contention for us because one of my favorite name choices was sort of a nickname. It wasn't a nickname like Andy or Kate or something, but there are some names that can be nicknames or entire names, like Alexa can be either a full name or a nickname, in my opinion. We ended up using the full name version, mostly because I wanted her to have a name that sounded respectable on a resume. I initially didn't want a recent "top 10" name, but I think we may have failed that one. She's still the only one with that name in her daycare class, meanwhile there are two girls named Hadley.
My husband Ed wanted to name all of our children Ed. Seriously. We came up with a pretty good compromise.ReplyDelete
We didn't have rules so much as guidelines:ReplyDelete
We like family names
We like fairly old-fashioned names
We loathe trendy names
We like unusual names but not so unusual that it is problematic
We want names that won't preclude being a senator someday
We ended up with "Zella" after my husband's grandmother. I actually don't understand why this name has not totally taken off because I think it's awesome. It took me a while to get used to it even after she was born, though. For at least 4-5 months I kept looking at her and thinking she looked more like a Natalie...
My son ended up wit Tristan, which we decided on after he was born. I have a clear memory of driving to the hospital for my scheduled c-section and saying to my husband "Seriously? We are going to have a baby in like TWO HOURS! we need to get on this name thing!"
Hi dear. This is a happy thing.ReplyDelete
We accidentally named our son (first and middle name) after a family member (first and last name) who died when I was five (and it was my grandmother's brother, guess who is favorite great grandchild?). I've had the first name of my first son picked out for years...even when I didn't want kids.ReplyDelete
My husband is Jewish and naming after dead family members is very common. So we're going to stick with at least one name being a tribute to someone close to us.
We're currently trying for our 2nd and while we have a girl's name picked out...the boy's name is SO much harder because I got the exact name I wanted for my first kid.
We did not find out what we were having, but we were quite convinced we were having a boy. We had our girl name picked out for basically my entire pregnancy. We decided on our boy name about 2 weeks before my due date and we still weren't totally sold on it. She came out a girl, though, so it all worked out! We wanted a biblical name that wasn't weird for the first name and family name for the middle name. My hubby listens to this radio show called Garage Logic and they talk about "foghornable" names which are weird names, so we couldn't go with anything weird. I also have a pet peeve about common names that are spelled in weird ways, so that was out. Picking a name is really hard! I still don't really like the boy name we had, so whenever #2 comes along i have no idea what we would name him or her!ReplyDelete